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sites. But come on… we’re in 2013. The power of the net is HUGE and our virtual friends are (unfortunately in my opinion) in many cases more than our real friends,” he told TorrentFreak.
“I find it funny that these guys who are breaking federal copyright laws are calling us scumbags, because we are breaking their (shitty in my opinion) anti-trading and anti-selling invites rules.”
We asked the operator of one private tracker for his opinion of TI and while he didn’t use the word ‘scumbag’ he did get to the point in a four letter word that you rarely hear even in the movies. He also threatened to nuke anyone even slightly associated with the site. However, the admin of TI doesn’t see his operation as the natural enemy of torrent sites.
Let’s be friends
“We are just giving the chance to many thousands of users to join some good private trackers. To users who are not lucky enough to have real friends to invite them. To users who can prove in the near future that they really deserved this chance,” TI explains.
While the trackers’ stance is understandable, to his credit TI does put forward what appear to be some logical arguments in support of his operation being of use to trackers.
“A guy who is willing to pay for an invite is probably the kind of user who is going to donate to a tracker as well. I think it makes sense!” he says.
“Another interesting example. Let’s suppose that an HDBits.org account costs $200. A guy doesn’t really need his account and he is selling it to another user. Isn’t it obvious that the new owner needs it more and will make better use of the account than the previous user?
“What trackers want are good users. Why the hell will they ban this account if they find out
that there was a deal involved? If [the trackers] would let each user to do whatever he likes with his account, after a while they would have the best possible user base.”
Countering, the retired sysop of another tracker told us that anyone buying invites for large amounts of cash should always be viewed with suspicion as anti-piracy outfits tend to have deep pockets. That may well be, but aren’t they also just as capable of infiltrating communities, making online ‘friends’ and obtaining invites for free?
“I’m sure it happens but we wanted to try to reduce the odds,” he said. “I don’t know if it worked or not, all I can say is that it seemed effective at the time. What I hated most was seeing some kid punting our invites all over the place and making good money when we were struggling to pay our server bills.”
Trackers sell invites too
While the sysop above clearly wasn’t prepared to step over the line and sell his own invites, there are quite a few sites who are currently doing that.
Visitors to some of the larger private trackers will be aware that while the sites are advertised as full, room can apparently be made for those prepared to donate in return for an invite. However, while not always advertised as blatantly as this, other sites are indeed involved in selling their own invites.
One trader who asked to remain anonymous told TorrentFreak that over the past year he has obtained an official supply of invites from almost a dozen private trackers which he sells and sends back a cut.
“Some they are wanting me to sell invites only to the best users but others they do not care about it,” he explains. “I give them money and they give me invites, beyond that does not concern me.”
Selling, trading or giving away – can security ever be assured?
TI notes that just because an invite channel is official – whether that is via the site itself or some other sanctioned source – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the quality of new members will be high.
“Just keep in mind that MANY (bad) users are getting invites in a ‘legit’ way, through tracker’s forums or official recruitment threads [on sites such as Reddit etc] and they are selling/trading these invites,” he concludes.
The issue of invites is controversial and unlikely to disappear soon. Trackers obviously have an interest in having some sort of control over who gets them when their security is at stake. On the other hand, however, trackers themselves are giving invites to people that they do not personally know yet are asking their members not to follow suit.
In the meantime sites like TI ignore all the rules in order to give the community what they believe it really wants. Who is right? You decide…Chad Griffith; Hair and makeup styling by Valissa Yoe
Red sweatshirt hood pulled tightly over his head, brown leather jacket wrapped tightly around his torso, fresh whiskey sour sweating in his hand, Donald Glover peels his way through the packed crowd in the upstairs lounge at the Lower East Side bar Pianos to the area where a lifesize panda, peering from behind a giraffe, pig, and monkey in a display window above the stairs, is staring at him.
The previous night, the 27-year-old recorded his first hour-long comedy special, Weirdo, at two sold-out shows at the 500-capacity Union Square Theatre. He flew his family in to watch. His younger brother, Stephen, Tweeted after the performance from the bar: “Watching two women fight over my brother, LOL.” Glover didn’t go home with either of them—he went home instead with a woman he calls “the Holy Grail,” the one he tried and failed to get the entire time he lived in New York, before bolting to Hollywood two years ago.
“Why now?” Glover asks no one in particular, turning his back on the panda—its eerie eyes staring like some sort of harbinger of ill times—and gazing into the mass of bodies writhing in the center of the room, speaking as if to the Holy Grail herself. “What changed that you’re making out with me now?”
What changed is that Donald Glover is blowing up.
Donald Glover, the black hipster from Stone Mountain, Georgia, who landed a gig writing for 30 Rock while still an R.A. at NYU. Donald Glover, the former Jehovah’s Witness who penned some of Tracy Morgan’s most classic lines as idiot savant Tracy Jordan, only to leave his Emmy-winning writing job for California and quickly snag the role of Troy Barnes, the clueless jock, on the NBC show Community. Donald Glover, the asthmatic nerd who remixed Sufjan Stevens’s Illinoise album into a dreamy, chill hip-hop record and whose latest rap EP, released under the moniker Childish Gambino, has been downloaded 150,000 times. Donald Glover, the guy whose viral videos as the part of Derrick Comedy team have been watched 200 million times and counting.
This week, Glover embarks on the first large-scale mash-up of all of his abilities in the “I Am Donald” tour—a live show for the ADD generation that combines hip-hop, comedy, and viral sketch video. He will tour 23 cities in 33 days, including stops at the Bowery Ballroom on May 10 and Williamsburg Music Hall on May 14—both shows sold out in three hours.
Ten years ago, “I Am Donald” could never have happened. Handlers and brand managers may have allowed a guy who played a lovable character on a popular mainstream network TV show to perform hardcore, dirty-mouth stand-up, and even dirtier emo-rap—but they would have insisted he do it all on a separate stage. But the transparency and immediacy of the Web makes it possible for Glover to avoid cutting his talent into tiny pieces for his different audiences. In a sense, he has spun the TV-personality paradigm on its head—his persona is what people see on the Web, and the TV show is merely an extension.
“Because of Twitter, people don’t go to my shows expecting Troy to rap,” says Glover, a reference to problems other performers have encountered, like Andy Kaufman facing crowds that only wanted him to be his Latka character from Taxi.
When Glover randomly Tweeted that he wanted to audition for the role of Spider-Man in the Marc Webb reboot of the franchise, the Twitterverse began a campaign to make it so. (See Donald Glover’s 10 Favorite Nerd Things.) Even if it was just PC diplomacy, both creator Stan Lee and Ultimate Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis said they approved. Alas, he didn’t audition, and the role went to Andrew Garfield. It was probably for the best—because even though he claims he needs just three hours of sleep a night, Glover is running at breakneck speed, criss-crossing the country fueled by ambition and whiskey and girls, heading toward a moving target that is flashing either “Next Big Thing” or “Next Tragic Hero”—all depending on how the next year plays out.
It’s nearly midnight at Pianos. When he made his way through the bar downstairs, he received countless hugs from male fans. Most knew him from the television series, others knew him from the viral videos. A select few know his raps. A lot of people know him from Twitter, which he checks constantly on his iPhone throughout the night.
Glover checks his Twitter again. There are way too many bros under the tight ceiling of Pianos’ second floor. He asks Twitter—”In NYC, where should I go right now to drink?”
After getting numerous responses of “My bed,” from lady followers, he migrates down the street to Darkroom, where a follower promises “saucy bitches.”
Glover leads his family caravan down Ludlow into the blackness that is the Darkroom. His brother comments on how damn cold it is. Glover enters the room and immediately realizes—this is where all the women on the Lower East Side have been hiding. It’s a long way from Stone Mountain.
A suburb of Atlanta, Stone Mountain sits in the shadow of a large relief sculpture of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson carved in the side of the mountain of the same name. It is the place where the Ku Klux Klan was rebooted in 1915—and Martin Luther King references it in his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech.
There was a television in the Glover household, but the kids, being raised Jehovah’s Witness, were not allowed to watch it. So Glover would take his Talkboy, record the audio of episodes of The Simpsons, wait until bedtime, and listen to them as he lay in his bed. (He would later write a spec script for The Simpsons in which Homer is arrested for stealing a single song off the Internet and taken to court by the RIAA, where he must face his victims, Hall & Oates.)
His parents, mother Beverly and postal-worker father Donald Sr.—contrary to what you might read on the Internet, Glover is not the son of Lethal Weapon actor Danny Glover—were also foster parents, which meant a steady stream of kids entered Glover’s home.
Glover says he was happy growing up, but always had a fear that something would go wrong—that something bad would happen around the next corner. “I was the type of kid—I felt like I was always being blamed for things that weren’t my fault. So I always wanted things to go smoothly. And growing up in the South, people didn’t like me because I was black. And it took on this thing: I’m gonna be me so much, and be sooo likeable, that I will change their minds. And I know now that that’s impossible. But I had to try.”
The kids who would come through his front door had often been through a lot already in their lives. When his parents brought home a child who had been molested, they had to explain to Glover that the boy needed a lot more attention. As a kid, Glover remembers asking himself, “What about me?”
So he would do anything to get his parents’ attention—puppet shows, plays, skateboarding.
For a while, he was the only black kid in his school. A black kid who liked the Muppets and Korn. A good student but a disruption in class, he migrated to the DeKalb School of the Arts, where he starred in plays like 42nd Street and Pippen, and then used his performing as a way to escape Georgia to New York for school.
“NYU is like a Jurassic 5 concert—there are supposed to be black people there, but there aren’t,” Glover says in his stand-up. Studying dramatic writing in the hopes of being a playwright, he began performing in sketch comedy troop Hammerkatz, where he met current writing partners DC Pierson and Dominic Dierkes. The three split off to start Derrick Comedy with director Dan Eckman.
The sketches of Derrick are teeming with frat-boy, racial, and homoerotic humor. But underneath the dick and fart jokes is a sincerity that makes them work.
In even the smallest roles in the sketches, Glover’s star power is evident. But it’s the ones in which he takes the lead that you’re likely to wet yourself, such as the student-film-as-revenge epic “Girls Are Not to Be Trusted” and the most popular Derrick sketch, “Bro Rape: A Newsline Investigative Report,” a Dateline send-up involving Natty Ice–drinking, Jack Johnson–listening male predators.
And then there’s “Jerry,” in which Glover plays a high school student who tries to fart but accidentally shits his pants in class, then spends the rest of the sketch trying to pass it off a million different ways while bawling his eyes out. It’s ridiculous and over-the-top, but there is a believability and earnestness in Glover’s performance that makes you care for him. At that point, we are all that kid. And it’s a microcosm of Glover’s range—wild and heartfelt... with poop.
Glover landed in New York a virgin who had never tasted alcohol. His first drink took place in a dorm room at NYU’s Brittany Hall as a sophomore. He sat in the corner of a room full of people, his hoodie pulled over his head, debating the whole night whether to take a swig or not. When he finally did, he thought for sure he might die—the fears that nagged him while growing up ruling over a lot of what he did.
In his junior year, he lost his virginity—to another R.A. in his dorm. Never having been in any kind of intimate relationship before, he was unsure of what to do when the deed was done. Was he going to have to marry this girl? But she told him, “No, it was just fun. It doesn’t mean anything.” “Doesn’t mean anything?” Glover thought to himself. “Oh, OK.”
It was then that the Childish Gambino was born.
He had been mixing beats since freshman year with a ripped version of Fruity Loops, but now he began rapping over them with rhymes about girls and love. The name “Childish Gambino” popped up on a Wu-Tang Clan name-generator site, so he kept it and put the first tracks on tape.
He can go from a suck-a-dick verse (“When rappers start rappin’ over indie shit/Just remember I was first to hit this shit”) to a child just trying to fit in (“I coulda been a tragedy/That’s why these fake niggas who call me ‘pussy’ are ‘mad’ at me/’Cause they ain’t have the smarts or the heart/Ain’t you read the fuckin’ book, Things Fall Apart?”) to a wailing, hopeless, and hurting romantic (“I don’t wanna be alone/’Cause you know/Somewhere inside/I cannot find/The feeling I got from you”).
It’s a bit schizophrenic—but much like how Glover doesn’t separate his TV persona from his Web persona, he doesn’t care to compartmentalize. For this, he has his detractors. Satirical cultural critic Hipster Runoff teased him by wondering if the “blipster” is too eager to “make it as a buzz band” (in a review of a Voice review). The AV Club picked apart his album Culdesac as “a collection of good ideas that still need to be finessed into a strong statement,” attacking the wild range of emotions and personality from song to song. But that’s exactly the point. “Fuck Rap Cool,” the hashtag Glover often adds to his Tweets, is the one tattoo to be etched on him at this stage in his career.
In his raps, he makes frequent mention of his manhood. His propensity for thick women, particularly of Asian descent, is well-documented, and on one track he gives a shout-out to e.e. cummings—you can fill in the rest. But in between, he’s rapping about alienation, trying to fit in, getting girls to like him. Nerdy emo with a fro. Name-dropping Greedo and Inspector Gadget one minute, then laying something like, “Whiskey-sippin’/Wanna drink the whole bottle/But these smart middle-class black kids need a role model” the next.
“So many black kids Tweeted me about that line,” says Glover. “This is the first time in history we are able to talk about alienation and nerd things. Black kids do like white stuff. Arcade Fire were at the top of iTunes—it ain’t all white people listening to them.” He represents a new archetype of entertainer—a black nerd who can like white stuff. Not a black nerd in the over-the-top Steve Urkel or Dwayne Wayne sense, but a regular black guy who likes the same stuff white people like—but just happens to be more talented than you.
The black middle-class kid is a real thing. Earlier that night, before heading to Pianos, around the table of Boka Bon Chon with his two biological siblings, brother Stephen and sister Brianne, and high school friend Lauren, the conversation turns to race—who can say the N-word and who can’t. “He was voiced by a black dude,” he wonders out loud. “So is it OK for Darth Vader to say the N-word?” He quickly Tweets the question out to the world.
“During the whole Spider-Man thing, the only thing that ever hurt my feelings was this one comment. The guy said, ‘Look, I love you. I think you’re great. But let’s be honest: There are no black kids like Peter Parker,’ ” he says, shaking his head. “There are!”
And Glover will let us all in on a little secret: His first taste of rap wasn’t NWA. Or Run-D.M.C. Or even Eminem. No, his first taste of rap was guys like Fred Durst.
“They say there’s no place in hip-hop if you’re in the suburbs,” he says. “Kanye is a suburban kid. The struggle is finding your place.”
While in his senior year at NYU, Glover got an e-mail from David Miner with the message “I heard you write.” Miner had gotten his name from Tina Fey, who got it from Amy Poehler, who got it from his teacher at Upright Citizens Brigade.
They asked him for some writing samples. He sent the spec script he wrote for The Simpsons, along with one for Everybody Hates Chris, along with some sketches he had written.
Miner and 30 Rock co-creator Fey liked them. Not yet having graduated from NYU, he was now a writer on 30 Rock.
While Glover is often cited as a driving force behind a lot of Tracy Morgan’s best lines, his first joke to make it on the show was a punchline for Kenneth, the white hayseed NBC page—whom he says he actually most identifies with, if anything because of the fact that both (fictional white clueless guy and real black nerdy guy) hail from the same town: Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Eager to perform as well as write, Glover started doing stand-up. In the beginning, he took advice from Tracy Morgan: “Talk about penises—dudes loves that.” And later, advice from Chris Rock: “What the hell was that!? It looked like you went onstage and said ‘dick’ for 45 minutes.”
Meanwhile, he continued to mix beats and rap and, with his Derrick partners, produced and starred in the Encyclopedia Brown send-up indie film Mystery Team. But he wanted more. In 2008, he auditioned to play Obama as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, but didn’t get the part. At the end of the third season of 30 Rock, he told Fey he wanted out. She gave him her blessing, and he left the most stable and secure thing he had, packed up the Derrick team in a two-car caravan, and headed to L.A., moving to Beverly Hills Adjacent, in an apartment building that also housed a brothel and a dentist’s office.
Then he got a call from Community. The character of Troy was actually written for a white guy, but he made it his own. Troy was also originally supposed to be paired up on the show with Chevy Chase’s character, Pierce, but it was clear early on that Glover’s Troy would enjoy a heated bromance with Danny Pudi’s film-school geek, Abed.
“It was pretty immediate,” says Pudi of the connection as he watches Glover’s band set up for a show on the cracked concrete outdoor patio of Austin’s Red 7 bar. “Both characters do things at 150 percent,” from bonding over Kickpuncher to building a dorm-wide blanket fort. Pudi has come down to Austin to party and hang with his friend and watch him perform. The line to get into the club on 7th Street stretches down the block, a diverse mix of b-boys and hipsters and normal-looking folk excited to see the guy from Community.
Glover appears from backstage wearing a vintage-looking red Coca-Cola T-shirt, tight jeans, and green-and-white Adidas. (See our review of the show, “Live: Donald Glover Gets Emo as Childish Gambino During SXSW.”) He is going solo tonight—his writing partner Pierson is back in L.A.—but I ask him if Pierson ever sealed the deal with a cute chick he was talking up before the Woodies a few nights ago.
“Which chick?” he asks, confused.
“The cute blond chick he was rapping to,” I answer.
“Oh, that one,” Glover says loudly with a smile. “No, I hooked up with that chick.”
“But DC was killing it!” I say incuriously.
“I know DC was killing it!” he retorts, and then says sincerely and unapologetically: “But I have money.”
He’s not saying it to be a dick—that was just the dynamic. “We started talking about money, and she was like, ‘So you think money is evil?’ and I’m like, ‘Money isn’t evil.’ But I could see dollar signs in her eyes.”
“So does she keep texting you?” I ask.
“Nah,” says he with a bigger smile. “I asked for her number first. I always ask for their number first. They see you put it into the phone and they’re like, ‘OK, he’s doing it,’ but...” his big smile turns into a sheepish grin. “Yeah, I’m a little girl-crazy.” (“He’s a silent assassin that way,” Pudi remarks later about his sitcom partner’s prowess.)
Glover, talking in a tone between a hush and a whisper as he tries to save his voice, goes back to his MacBook on the side of the stage to work on arrangements for the show.
He has told his entourage that now is the time to strike. When most performers usually wrap a TV show, they take a holiday. But he is charging ahead. The week of SXSW, he wedged a Chicago performance on Friday in between the Wednesday’s mtvU Woodie Awards, Thursday’s unexpected cameo at the Voice/Wu-Tang show at the Austin Music Hall, and Saturday’s show at Red 7. Then he’s going to do another gig in Texas, one in a church in Atlanta, up to New York for the Comedy Central taping, then Virginia, back to Texas, up to Arkansas. Nonstop. Why the rush?
“Funny you should ask, because we were just talking about that,” says Glover’s manager, Greg Walter, as we eye Glover talking to the band on the stage. “For the past three months, I have not been calling him saying, ‘Take this job.’ I am usually calling him saying, ‘Don’t take this job—you need rest.’ I get worried because he doesn’t sleep enough. I tell him to slow down, and he says, ‘You know what, I’m 26, 27—I can do it now.’ ”
Pudi, who looks decidedly healthy and rested in a military cap and fresh face, walks up to the side of the stage. Glover sees him and flashes a smile.
“Are you alive?” Pudi yells, leaning his body across the stage.
Glover, still resting his voice, holds up his pointer and thumb, pinched with little space in between.
Just barely.
The previous week had been one of the biggest in Glover’s career.
On Tuesday, March 8, he released the new Childish Gambino EP. Over the next four days, he was on the set of Community as they tried to finish shooting the second season before the weekend. He wove press interviews about Childish Gambino in between takes, and after each day’s wrap went back to his studio to remix some more songs and put them on the Web. At night, he was preparing for the Comedy Central special as well as working on slides for the “I Am Donald” tour. He spent eight hours on Saturday, March 12, covered in orange paint for the last day of shooting for Community. (They are revisiting a paintball theme.) 5-Hour Energy. Whiskey. Remixing. Girls. Bits and beats flowing through his head that needed to be captured on his iPhone. Writing a new song for the Woodies. Sunday was a Community goodbye get-together followed by performing at his regular Sunday-night comedy show, Shitty Jobs.
Three hours of sleep over the previous 48, Glover finally found his bed at 5 a.m. on Monday morning for some semblance of a proper rest.
He woke up three hours later, stumbled into the bathroom of his new Silver Lake home, and started throwing up.
He didn’t drink any whiskey the night before. It wasn’t food poisoning, either. It was the pace. His work—from the clueless jock Troy on Community to the indie rapper Childish Gambino to his black-nerd stand-up—constantly needing to be fed, had just left his flesh in its wake.
“My body was just done,” says Glover, safe in Austin. “My left arm was numb. I had to stop and sit down.”
Everyone—from his manager to his mother to his Gambino co-producer—wants him to slow down. He even raps about them telling him to slow down. But he’s not having it.
“You don’t get to where all my heroes were without giving up a part of who you are,” he says. “Right now, I refuse to even have a dog. No girlfriend. I don’t want anything tying me down. I want to be everywhere. I don’t see a limit for me. I want to do everything. I never thought I was this type of person: Have a good time, not a long time. As a kid, I was always afraid of dying.” But now, he’s driving full-speed. Pushing himself. He crashes. He gets back up. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Onstage at Red 7, you can see some ill effects of the pace at which Glover is living. His voice cracks in certain places, which he acknowledges, giving the crowd a look of promise that it will get better. He refuses to use Auto-Tune—the product of his performing-arts background—and it just adds to the sincerity of his delivery. On the last song, his best song, “Not Going Back,” he encapsulates all he wants to say.
Couldn’t see me as Spider-Man, but now I’m spittin’ venom
Now you payin’ attention, pick your fuckin’ face up
When I wanna be a superhero, I just wake up
Renaissance man with a Hollywood buzz
I refuse to go back to not likin’ who I was
He is currently writing two movies. He just signed on for a part in The Hand Job, and will have a cameo in the James Bobin/Jason Segel Muppets movie coming out this fall. These are all just Lego blocks of the nerd fortress Glover wants to construct.
“If one day, I can be a neo–Michael Jackson, I want that. I don’t know if it is possible for someone to be that big anymore. But I want that.”
And it’s not as if he is looking for Elephant Man bones or backyard amusement parks. Money—even if it can land him cute girls he might have already gotten anyway—is not what’s changed him. And it’s not what he’s after.
He’s after power.
“Power is what allows you to do whatever you want,” he says, getting energized again. “If Will Smith wanted to play Hitler, they’d make that movie. That’s power. I want to do a Nazi movie. I want Jay-Z and Eminem to rap on the same track with me. I’m in it for the power.”
It’s 3:45 at Darkroom. His brother and sister went home hours ago. But as the bar begins to shut down, Glover heads off into the night with a tiny Filipino girl on his arm. When he reaches the corner of 8th and Broadway, he peers across the street and sees something moving behind a window inside the Bank of America ATM lobby.
He squints to get a better look, and spots a two-backed monster crawling over itself. The girl propped up on the deposit-slip counter, her stiletto heels in the air, her partner thrusting. Glover immediately posts photos of the public sex from his iPhone, giving a play-by-play to the world.
He chronicles the entire tryst, makes a judgment call on its conclusion, and shoots one last photo of the two lovers hailing a cab.
“The most passionate thing I’ve ever seen!” he Tweets.
He puts the phone away and walks his new friend back to her place, where he drops her off with a kiss. The sun starting to rise, he heads south to the Bowery. He’s got another gig in Virginia in just a few hours. He might be able to snag a couple hours of sleep.Washington has highest vaccine opt-out rate in country
Washington has the highest rate in the country of students exempted from school-required vaccines, a federal report released Thursday has found.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 6.2 percent of Washington kindergartners had a parent waiver for at least one required vaccine last year.
That rate has more than doubled in the last 10 years. The average national exemption rate was about 2 percent, state officials said. Mississippi and Tennessee had the lowest exemption rates of less than 1 percent, the study found.
Vaccines are a major concern for health officials, who are trying to meet vaccination goals while containing the country's largest measles outbreak in 15 years. Washington is among the states involved, with two recent measles cases in Clark County and one in Kitsap County.
The CDC does not show which state has the lowest overall vaccination coverage. Relying on data from the last school year, it shows that immunization of Washington kindergarteners ranged from 88 percent to 93 percent for required vaccines. They include polio, whooping cough, measles, hepatitis B, and chickenpox.
Those rates fell in the middle of vaccination rates of other states. They also fell below a state and national goal of 95 percent of all kindergarteners to be vaccinated.
Washington has long been known for its big pockets of unvaccinated people, such as in Vashon Island, but the federal report was the first to rank vaccination waiver rates of all states.
"All parents want their kids to have a healthy start," state Secretary of Health Mary Selecky said in a statement Thursday.
"Making sure they have all of their immunizations before going to school is one of the best ways to keep them healthy. Kids who aren't fully immunized aren't fully protected."
Last month, the state began targeting the large number of unvaccinated kids, with a new law requiring parents who want a vaccination waiver to show proof that a health provider gave them information on immunizations.
Visit seattlepi.com's home page for more Seattle news. Contact Vanessa Ho at 206-448-8003 or vanessaho@seattlepi.com, and follow her on Twitter as @vanessaho.Myalgic encephalomyelitis, abbreviated as ME, is one of several alternate names for the disease that's commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS. It's become common to see the abbreviations combined, as either ME/CFS or CFS/ME. The abbreviations are considered equally valid and are used interchangeably.
To understand the term myalgic encephalomyelitis, it can help to break it down into the individual medical terms.
The word myalgic is used for muscle pain and/or tenderness.
My is a shortened form of myo, which means muscle
Algic is the adjective form of algia, which means pain
The word encephalomyelitis means inflammation of the central nervous system, which is made up of the brain and the nerves of the spinal cord.
Encephalo refers to the brain
Myel means spinal cord and medula oblongata (the brain stem)
Itis means inflammation
Why Use Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Several countries around the world currently use the term myalgic encephalomyelitis instead of chronic fatigue syndrome, both for research purposes and when diagnosing the illness. This term appears to be gaining traction in the United States among researchers, advocates, and people with the disease, as well. Some people use the terms interchangeably, while others consider them separate conditions.
Patients, advocates, and some researchers in the U.S. have pushed for the use of ME/CFS due to the widespread belief that the name "chronic fatigue syndrome" trivializes the condition and leads to misconceptions about it. Once the public and medical community are better acquainted with the term, they plan to drop the "CFS" portion altogether and just use ME as the condition's name.
However, a major report from the Institute of Medicine has called for the name of this condition to be changed to systemic exertion intolerance disease, abbreviated as SEID. That's based on the widespread abnormalities associated with the illness and, especially, one of its distinguishing symptoms--post-exertional malaise (PEM). PEM is an extreme negative reaction to exertion and an inability to repeat the same level of activity the following day.
It remains to be seen whether the name SEID will find acceptance. It faces an uphill battle since many researchers have transitioned to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome in their published papers.
Additionally, a lot of people with the disease have formed a strong emotional attachment to the term ME, since it was the first alternative name to gain traction that didn't involve "fatigue." A common sentiment is that the public doesn't understand the difference between clinically significant fatigue and just being tired, such as from a lack of sleep.
In this disease, the fatigue is incapacitating and unrelieved by rest, making it different from normal tiredness. It has more in common with the type of exhaustion experienced with the flu or mononucleosis (a.k.a., the kissing disease.)
Another reason for leaving behind "chronic fatigue syndrome" is that the name has become inaccurate. The Institute of Medicine report concluded that it is a disease, not a syndrome, as is made clear in the name "systemic exertion intolerance disease." A syndrome is a set of symptoms known to occur together but without an understood pathology. A disease is better understood than a syndrome. (However, the status of "syndrome" doesn't mean a condition is less serious--just that researchers don't yet know what's behind it.)This story was updated most recently at 11:47 a.m. ET on July 13.
SLOVIANSK, Ukraine — For the first time in months, Ukrainian residents in the eastern cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, as well as those in nearby towns, can stroll down their streets without fear.
The pro-Russian rebels who had forcefully taken over the cities months ago fled a week ago as Ukraine's government forces launched a successful offensive and regained control over the cities.
But though it may be more peaceful in the two cities now, the fighting between the rebels and Ukraine troops has created a graveyard of burned-out machinery, broken windows, destroyed buildings — all ghostly reminders of the turmoil locals have endured for months. Photographer Evgeny Feldman explores...
What the Pro-Russian Fighters Left Behind in Ukraine
Evgeny Feldman is a staff photographer for the Russian publication Novaya Gazeta.The county’s undecided plans to sell or keep the Isla Vista Clinic building, a vacant church property, and a solar-powered parking lot along Embarcadero del Mar — all formerly owned by Santa Barbara’s Redevelopment Agency (RDA) — will go before the Board of Supervisors for the third time on Tuesday. The supervisors will vote on staff’s latest recommendations to hold onto the downtown I.V. properties before sending an accompanying long-range management plan to the RDA Oversight Board and then to the state on October 26 for a final decision on jurisdiction.
Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (SBNC) — a nonprofit organization that operates two clinics on Santa Barbara’s Eastside, one on its Westside, and one in Isla Vista, and serves roughly 17,000 low-income patients each year — previously owned the building that holds the I.V. Clinic, but sold it to the county RDA several years ago. Redevelopment agencies across the state were then dissolved in 2011, and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors now acts as the successor agency for the three Isla Vista properties.
In May, SBNC publicly announced it was experiencing serious financial troubles and has since accepted donations from several organizations across the county to stay afloat. SBNC continued to lease out half of the 970 Embarcadero del Mar building for about $3,100 per month to keep the I.V. Clinic open. The clinic currently sees about 1,110 patients each month, 25 percent of which are Goleta residents.
Several I.V. Clinic representatives have expressed concern that patients would suffer significant hardship and inconvenience if the facility was sold, as it takes three bus rides to get to the County Health Clinic located on Calle Real. Several other stakeholders — former and current UCSB students, I.V. families, and several community members — have urged the supes and the RDA Oversight Board to keep the I.V. Clinic and the church property rather than sell the buildings and distribute the proceeds.
Students and community members are |
1.00 That isn't a clever name. I legitimately have not come up with a name for this.A while back, I had an idea for a super duper awesome hack with fresh new ideas that allowed the player to play Pokemon like never before. This is not even close to it :P But I decided that I may as well post the engine in progress. This little hack is essentially an upgraded FireRed game. Few scripts have been changed and the plot is mostly the same except that the Sevii Islands are now purely post game and have a little more to offer. Anyways, they’re 99.99% of the hack, so on to the features!- Physical/Special Split which is essentially a requirement nowadays, right?- Gen IV - VI Attacks, Abilities, and Items (thank MrDollSteak for almost all of these)- Mega Evolutions- Removed those badge stat boosts because they aren’t at all fair- Expanded dex, every non-legendary Pokemon obtainable in some way- Proper forms for Pokemon like Kyurem, Arceus, Burmy, and even Unown- Hidden abilities along with a conscientious distribution of crazy ones like Ninetales’- ORAS level-up movesets, except for non-existent moves- 120 TMs- Added Pokemon generation methods saves Kanto from feeling crowded - Hidden Grottos, pedometer-based Honey Trees, Swarms- Field effects for abilities such as Synchronize, Magnet Pull, Cute Charm, Compound Eyes, Flame Body, and the other abilities that you don’t care about yet I added for completeness sake- Dynamic dex areas to indicate swarms, roaming, and other stuff- For lack of a better description, “wild triggers” such as babies automagically have 3 perfect IV- Updated non-berry oriented Pickup table- A very cheap phone system - I haven’t decided how I want to handle this yet, so it currently exists only for the essentials- Two Day-cares (and I don’t mean that dude south of Cerulean City)- “Phone” notifications when the Day-Care Man finds an egg- Destiny Knot, Power items, 100% Everstone, 80% slotted ability inheritance, pokeball inheritance, and all those other future gen niceties- Move tutors & TMs can both be inherited from either parent; this is mostly because many of the better TMs and tutors cannot be accessed until the late game- Lamarckism :)- Use TMs an infinite number of times- Minor trolling (you may not even notice)- Gigantic pockets- Oval Charm, Shiny Charm- Shiny rates match the (presumed) Gen VI rate- You are not required to grind to beat the game- You cannot run indoors- Random words in the game ARE CapITALIZED. They add CHARACTER to NPCs. They’re 100% intentional, but tell me if you find them :DThis game, although fully playable, does not include everything I have planned. Except for bug fixes, I intend to release relatively large feature additions with each new update. For example, my plans for the next version is to include a Battle Tower & possibly other facilities. What I will release soon, however, is almost done. I created this thread because all that remains are tedious things like Pokedex entries and image insertion. I won’t fall into the trap of giving myself a deadline, but expect it in the near future :)Bela: New Pokeball ImagesChaos Rush: 64x64 Sprite Resourcecolcostyles: habitat pagesdaniils: Burmy ASM, Pokeball HackingDarthatron: BW2 Repel SystemDoesntKnowHowToPlay: Physical/Special split, Pokedex expansion tutorial, Trainer EVFBI Agent: Explaining C for GBA, ASM tutorials & resources, scrolling multichoice boxesJambo51: Move Expansion, Battle Script, Pokedex researchJPAN: Save data structure research (gave me a ton of ram), battle script researchkaratekid552: Flags, Vars, & Script TilesKDS: battle script research and development, enter battlefield hookingkleenexfeu: battle script research and development, stance changeKnizz: A gigantic amount of FireRed research & documentation (cannot be understated how crucial this is)MrDollSteak: Rombase, battle script research and development, 64x64 Gen VI sprites, Gen VI IconsNavenatox: Dynamic Overworld PalettesNex: FRLG style dive tilesShiny Quagsire: item selection bag exit hackTaの境界: TM expansiontayub121: Gen V IconsTouched: C Environment for the GBA, Mega Evolutions, Hidden ability hooks, patient ASM explanations874521: Gen IV IconsFu So Ya Niche: Lunar IPSkaratekid552: G3HSlink12552: Nameless Sprite EditorLU-HO: Advanced MapNintenlord: GBA Graphics Editorridiculousfish: HexFiendSpherical Ice: Mass Compatibility EditorWichu: Advanced Serieswntrmute: devkitPro-Encore doesn't fail even if used before a move.-Trainers mentioning Pokemon they don't have in their dialogue.-Can't nickname a Pokemon that has already been caught before-Discharge targets in double battle-Tailwind doing nothing-Seafoam Island boulders disappearing Share Facebook Twitter Promote post…
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This is the first instalment of the Secret Santa project for ResinJunkie. The model I’ve bought is Ork Warboss Zagstruk. I decided on this guy because he seemed like an interesting chap to paint and because ResinJunkie doesn’t have this HQ, of course. He’s also in a pretty cool stance that has lots of scope for a customised base. More on that soon.
I have the paint list from ResinJunkie to do his trademark orange skin but I guess the rest is up to me. Painting is a long way off as I first need to complete the base. My thoughts on the base were that I wanted a Guardsman under the foot of Zagstruk, someone dying or about to die.
Zagstruk Custom Base
I had to repose a foot and an arm for this, as well as place a bolt pistol on a new arm, I’ve also used a custom head from Maxmini, one with no helmet. I mean, this guy doesn’t stand a chance, a helmet isn’t going to help him now!
The limbs I did with a pin drill and some thin wire. The wire was just what I had around and was too thin really so I needed to use multiple strands to get them to glue into the holes I had drilled. But it’s worked and the limbs have been pinned just fine.
The hardest part was the new foot, I cut the guys toes off then his foot off at the ankle. I then had to drastically cut and file down the foot to make it look correct. It turns out that on the legs I chose to use, that the foot in mid air is much shorter and narrower. When I placed the other foot, which is usually flat on the ground, into this same mid air position it looked wrong. As the foot was too wide. Hence the filing and cutting. The new foot I basically wanted to look outstretched and off baleen.
I wanted an arm and hand up in the air too, a last ditch attempt save this mans life. I had to cut an arm at the elbow and then pin it, green stuff will be used to make up the new elbow which is now outstretched rather than bent. A fiddly part here was the hand, the hand originally was in a cup shape, usually used I think for holding a Lasgun’s main bulk. The hand needed chopping in two at the knuckles, filing and then glueing back into a straighter position so the whole hand appears open in a more defensive stance.
That’s it for this update. I’d love to hear from you about this project! The days are ticking by so expect to see much more soon. Also be sure to go and check out ResinJunkie’s project for me – I’m steering clear of his blog until after Christmas!
Zagstruk Ork Warboss, Secret Santa – Update #1 Current rating: 3 stars (60%)
2 votes Current rating:stars (60%)votes
Like what you read here? Please consider supporting me using Patreon.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The moment a BBC cameraman was 'run over by Corbyn car'
BBC cameraman Giles Wooltorton has been released from hospital after his foot was run over by a car carrying Jeremy Corbyn.
The incident happened as the Labour leader arrived at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London for a party meeting to discuss the draft general election manifesto.
Mr Wooltorton was said to be in good spirits while waiting for an ambulance.
By the evening, he was on his way home with two broken toes and bruising.
Mr Corbyn was driven to the meeting by officers from the Metropolitan Police's royalty and specialist protection unit.
A Met Police spokesman said the incident had been referred to the directorate of professional standards, which is responsible for the conduct of officers in the force.
In a statement released shortly after the incident, the BBC said: "An experienced BBC cameraman has been injured while filming at the Labour Party manifesto meeting.
"He has been taken to hospital for assessment and treatment. At the moment the BBC are focusing on their duty of care, making sure that he is OK."
Police have interviewed witnesses and a senior Labour source said the party was "looking into" the incident.Mike Ditka, left, and Colin Kaepernick. (AP)
Mike Ditka, the former coach of the Chicago Bears, two-time Super Bowl champion and two-time NFL Coach of the Year, said if one of his players took a knee during the National Anthem, they would never "play for me ever again." He also said young players, such as San Franciso 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernack, need to show respect for the game that has given them so much and stop "acting like a bunch of fools out there."
"Iron" Mike Ditka made his remarks during a Feb. 2 interview on the Bernie & Sid show (77WABC Radio). Below is an excerpt of the exchange:
Hosts: “What do you think of football moving forward – everybody’s going to watch the game on Sunday, it is the Super Bowl – but, let’s face it Mike, it has not been a good year for [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell and it really starts with Colin Kaepernick. You just described these people all over Trump as ‘a—holes.’ I think Colin Kaepernick is an a—hole, to be honest with you. He really turned me off and turned off a lot of America. How do you think Goodell handled this season and do you think the NFL may have taken a real hit?”
Ditka: “Well, here’s the thing. When we live in a society that pays attention to athletes, say, as greatly as they do to Kaepernick, then we’re foolish. I mean, athletes’ opinions are no different than anybody else’s, they’re no more significant than anybody else’s. They’re no more important than anybody else’s.
"Kaepernick would be an unknown, a complete unknown – nobody would know who he was – without the game of football, without the sport he’s playing. And not to respect that, you’ve got be a pretty unintelligent person, I would think.
"Because I don’t care what your preferences are, you can have anything you want to. But what he has was given to him by the game of football. I think it’s important to me that some of these young people playing the game start giving something back to the game. And respect the game the way it should be respected instead of acting like a bunch of fools out there."
Hosts: “No doubt about it. Hypothetically, Coach Ditka’s on the sidelines and one of his players takes a knee during the National Anthem, what happens to the player in that case?
Ditka: “He doesn’t play for me ever again.”
Hosts: “That’s it. You got to love that.”
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick takes a knee during the singing of the National Anthem. (AP)Yoshida responds to a Twitter follower in typical style.
Sony sees Nintendo's Wii U as "its own generation".
The first high definition Nintendo console is set to launch in time for Christmas this year, and while the exact technical specifications remain under wraps (we do know top level CPU and GPU information) it is expected to at the least match the power of the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 - not significantly outperform them.
And with the PlayStation 4 and next Xbox rumoured to be set for release late next year, some have described the Wii U as a "stop-gap" console.
For Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida, the Wii U, as with its predecessor the Wii, exists in its own bubble.
"Personally, I have always thought Wii was in a generation of its own," Yoshida told Eurogamer when asked whether he considered the Wii U a next generation machine.
"I always thought PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are in the same generation, but Wii was not the same. To me, the industry was growing really fast when those three platforms came up because the focus is so different. The PS3 and the 360 were the closest in terms of high definition and networked services. But Wii carved out a large niche to itself. To me, it was like two generations going at the same time."
He added: "Wii U is the next generation of Wii. That I understand. To me, it's its own generation."
During E3 last week the PlayStation 4 - codenamed Orbis - was discussed but not named by Sony executives. One confirmed games are in development for it. Another suggested it will be a powerhouse - and may not launch before the next Xbox.
So, it is coming. But is the Wii U, which will, perhaps, get a year's head start on the competition, a competitor to the PS4?
"That's a trick question!" Yoshida laughed. "We are not talking about future PlayStation platforms at this E3. But everything competes for consumers' time and money and attention.
"When you talk about the gaming industry today, it's a lot bigger than five years ago - there are a lot more people playing games, on a smartphone, on Facebook, in addition to PC and consoles. It's already multi-platform, way beyond the three - Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo.
"So we are competing with everyone for consumers' attention, not just Nintendo and Microsoft."The Doc is in! At least, she will be once Doc McStuffins begins making regular appearances at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this summer.
We’re hard at work creating a dedicated space for Doc in the park’s Animation Courtyard, adjacent to “Disney Junior – Live on Stage!” Once it’s complete in May, you’ll be able to visit with Doc in a setting inspired by her playhouse clinic on the popular TV show.
Dottie “Doc” McStuffins is a nurturing, six-year-old girl who can talk to the stuffed animals and toys she cares for, diagnosing their “ouchies” with help from her mom (a real doctor) and her Big Book of Boo Boos. The acclaimed, Emmy-nominated series “Doc McStuffins” airs daily on Disney Channel and Disney Junior.
And don’t forget! You can also see Doc McStuffins in “Disney Junior – Live on Stage!” and spend time with her during Disney Junior Play ‘n Dine at Hollywood & Vine, both at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort.Democrats warned Wednesday that Republican plans to speed ahead with revamping the nation's tax code could spell more electoral trouble for President Trump and his party next year, especially with young people and suburban families.
Just hours after Republicans suffered a humiliating defeat in a special U.S. Senate election in the GOP stronghold of Alabama, party leaders unveiled a compromise on a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax plan that will significantly lower corporate rates and slash taxes for upper-income households.
But Democrats — now able to tout recent electoral victories in deep-blue New Jersey, swing state Virginia and Republican Alabama, all of which showed signs of voter discontent with GOP policies — called on Republicans to wait to vote on their tax plan until Democrat Doug Jones, the winner of the Alabama race, arrives in Washington.
Mired in the minority and sapped of any control of Capitol Hill, Democrats crowed about the implications of the Alabama contest, touting how the party's base — young people, black women and, increasingly, suburbanites — turned out at higher rates than normal for an off-year election. Jones also cut into Republican advantages in counties that overwhelmingly backed Trump in last year's presidential election.
If Republicans move ahead with their plans to rush tax reform, "there will be many more Alabamas in 2018," Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. "Many more."
"The suburbs are swinging back to us," he told reporters, adding that the GOP tax plan is "an anti-suburban tax bill" because it would reduce how much homeowners can deduct in state and local taxes.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speak before the House-Senate conference on taxes Wednesday. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
[As Democrats add Senate seat, GOP left to bicker over what happened in Alabama]
Republicans, however, ignored the Democrats and said they did not expect any slowdown in the tax push, citing a Christmas deadline for action that had been set months in advance.
"The people back home want to get it done now," said Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.).
In closed-door meetings of Republican lawmakers Wednesday on both sides of Capitol Hill, the Alabama results were not even a topic of official discussion. Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), leaving a Senate Republican lunch meeting, said the topic simply hadn't come up.
"Changing the entire 10 million-word tax code is of great magnitude, too, so that's what we spent our time talking about," he said.
The House and Senate are poised to vote on the GOP tax plan by the end of next week.
When exactly Jones will join the Senate remains unclear. Alabama's secretary of state, the state's senior elections official, said Tuesday that the soonest the election will be certified is Dec. 26 or 27. The Senate's holiday break is scheduled to begin Dec. 22, and senators are not expected to return until Jan. 3, although that schedule could change.
Calls to slow down the tax plan are only the most immediate consequences of Jones's unlikely victory. His arrival will cut the Republican majority in the Senate from two votes to one, making it even harder to move the GOP legislative agenda forward without some bipartisan cooperation. Possible efforts to cut back entitlement programs or replace health-care policy with a more conservative alternative, already difficult, could be impossible in a Senate divided 51 to 49.
One veteran Democrat played down the notion that Jones could scramble the Senate's political dynamic in a significant way, citing his lack of a voting record that would indicate reliable support for the Democratic agenda and the pressure he may face from his conservative state.
"I don't know what he wants to do, and he'll have to decide what he wants to do," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the Senate's longest serving member, said. But, he added, the mere presence of Jones could shape the way Republicans and the White House craft their priorities for the coming year.
During the campaign, Jones ran as a centrist, and in his victory speech, he spoke of the need for politicians in Washington to find "common ground."
Schumer conceded that he doesn't know whether Jones would back the GOP tax plan, saying, "He will make a decision based on what he believes is best for the people of Alabama."
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who has become friendly with Trump and frequently plays golf with him, said he has spoken to the president in recent weeks about working on bipartisan deals next year and expects more willingness to reach out to Democrats after a year of focusing on GOP concerns.
"In terms of base politics, he's done a lot — regulatory reform, [confirming Supreme Court Justice Neil M.] Gorsuch, the tax cut. In the bipartisan portfolio, there's not a whole lot in it," Graham said. "There needs to be both. He gets it. Infrastructure is a bipartisan project; immigration is bipartisan."
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), a key moderate Democrat who stands to see his clout build in a closely divided chamber, also urged Trump and Republicans to seek new ways to work with Democrats.
"Every time I've been around the president, I've always felt he's more comfortable working on something bipartisan than on something partisan," he said in an interview. "The push he's getting from his party is, it's all for the base."
In calling for a delay in the tax debate, Democrats pointed to their party's decision to slow down controversial health-care legislation in 2010 when a Republican, Scott Brown, won a special election to fill the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy in liberal Massachusetts.
Democrats cited comments that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), now the majority leader, made in January 2010 in the immediate aftermath of Brown's win, calling on Democrats to slow down the passage of the Affordable Care Act until he was sworn in.
"I think the message of the moment is that the American people, all across the country, are asking us, even in the most liberal state, Massachusetts, to stop this health-care bill," he said the day after Brown was elected.
The Massachusetts election was squarely focused on the Democratic health-care bill, however, while the Republican tax bill was only an ancillary issue in an Alabama election that was more squarely focused as a referendum on the character of the Republican candidate, Roy Moore.
Ultimately, Democrats ended up using special procedures to pass the health-care bill without Brown's vote — the same "reconciliation" rules Republicans are using to pass the tax plan without Democratic support.
Publicly, Democrats cite the need to wait for Jones as a reason to slow debate on tax reform. But they also know that a delay could help build opposition — just as the summerlong fight among Republicans over how to repeal the ACA derailed the effort as closer scrutiny sparked broad public opposition.
Republicans offered their own reasons why Alabama's Luther Strange, the outgoing Republican placeholder, should vote on the bill rather than Jones.
"He doesn't know anything about it," Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said of Jones. "He's been on a campaign; he's not been studying the bill.... Ideally, you want somebody who's more informed than not, and Luther's informed."
For moderate Democrats such as Manchin facing reelection in 2018 in states Trump won handily last year, waiting might give them more time to rewrite the tax plan.
"There's no economic meltdown. The stock market's doing fine. There are 17 Democrats who are ready to work on a bipartisan tax bill if they slow things down," Manchin said.
Manchin and at least 16 other members of the Senate Democratic caucus have tried at various points to work with Republicans on tax reform. But they have rebuffed pressure from Trump, McConnell and other Republicans to support the tax plan, given its generous tax cuts for high earners and the repeal of the ACA's mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance.
Earlier this month, the Senate passed the GOP tax plan by a single-vote margin, 51 to 49. Had Jones been seated then, however, Republicans still would have been able to pass the measure, albeit with Vice President Pence casting the tiebreaking vote.
Democrats are hoping that at least two Republican senators will step away from the fast-moving legislation in the coming days, forcing GOP leaders to pull back. But on Wednesday, key GOP senators Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.) said they saw no reason for delay.
But one potential complication arose for GOP leaders: The office of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has an aggressive brain tumor and missed Senate votes Wednesday, issued a statement explaining that he is being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.
"Senator McCain looks forward to returning to work as soon as possible," said the statement, which not did say when he might return.
Erica Werner and David Weigel contributed to this report.
Read more at PowerPostNew YA: best books for young adults 2017
By Hailey Wendling on 28/8/2017 The hottest new YA – from Philip Pullman to John Green, gifts to guilty pleasures – we've rounded up the best books for young adults
1 | 14
La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One, Philip Pullman
It’s not a prequel, it’s not a sequel: ladies and gentlemen, Philip Pullman has written The Book of Dust, a self-proclaimed ‘equel’ to His Dark Materials. You can hear Philip Pullman himself explain the return to His Dark Materials trilogy in a talk at the Royal Festival Hall this autumn.
The story is meant to stand beside the trilogy, and, in typical Pullman style, will be released in three parts: and Part One is set to be published on 19 October 2017.
The first instalment, titled La Belle Sauvage, is set 10 years before the events of His Dark Materials and tells the story of how heroine Lyra came to be living at Jordan College.
La Belle Sauvage will reveal the secrets of Lyra's past, and focus on the struggle between the totalitarian regime known as the Magisterium attempting to stifle those who seek to learn more about the mysterious and powerful Dust.
Published 22 years after Northern Lights, La Belle Sauvage is a read long term fans and newcomers to the franchise alike can look forward to.
Pre-order hereOAKLAND (CBS SF) — A Port of Oakland terminal where just last month the largest container ship ever to visit the U.S. docked is set to close in the next 60 days as the operator is prematurely ending its 50-year lease, port officials announced.
Ports America is ending its lease for the Outer Harbor Terminal, the port’s second-largest terminal, as it seeks to expand its operations at other West Coast ports, including in the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Tacoma, Washington, Ports America officials said.
The company wasn’t even six years into its 50-year lease when it announced the decision to pull out of the Port of Oakland. The exceptionally long lease, much longer than the typically 10- to 15-year duration for terminal operators, was announced in March 2009.
In exchange for the long lease, Ports America had agreed to invest in capital improvements for the Outer Harbor terminal, port officials said.
Ports America’s CEO at the time, Stephen Edwards, said as the lease was signed, “We are extremely excited to work with the Port of Oakland to help implement their vision in taking this major American port to its fullest potential, now and for the long term future.”
But with more than 40 years to go on the lease, Ports America suddenly announced it was shutting down the terminal, citing only that they were leaving for “business reasons,” port spokesman Michael Zampa said today.
The announcement has left the port working to make sure the other terminals in the port can take in the traffic from the Outer Harbor terminal while finding a new lessee for it.
The terminal is one of five leased to private companies at the Port of Oakland. Port officials said traffic that would normally go to Outer Harbor will be redirected to adjacent terminals where there is enough capacity to absorb Port America’s traffic.
Some terminal operators have already been taking on longer hours to take in more ships. The Oakland International Container Terminal, the port’s largest, has been operating longer weekday hours and on Saturday for two months already and other terminal operators are considering opening their gates on Saturday as well, port officials said.
“We know we have the terminal capacity to redirect cargo,” port maritime director John Driscoll said in a statement. “Our priority is ensuring that the terminals ramp up to move cargo in a timely manner.”
Meanwhile, the port is determining how to move forward with the Outer Harbor land, and it’s possible it might not be used for container ships in the future — a deviation for the Port of Oakland, which has exclusively received container ships since the 1960s, port officials said.
Zampa said the port is already in negotiations for leasing parts of that property for continued container use, but is open to all possibilities.
“We’re going to look at any appropriate maritime use for the property. Certainly the first thing to come to mind is container operation, that’s what it’s been used for, but this could be an opportunity to diversify,” Zampa said.
The Outer Harbor terminal recently made headlines when the largest container ship to ever visit a U.S. port docked there in December.
The massive CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, capable of holding 18,000 shipping containers, is expected to be the first in a new breed of “megaships” that will make regular visits to the port.
Such large ships have been operating on cargo routes between Asia and Europe for years but have until recently been unable to visit the U.S. because ports here lacked the capacity for them.
The port spent millions on improvements, including dredging channels, raising cranes and modernizing the terminals before the Benjamin Franklin could dock there.
Zampa said Wednesday that those investments were made throughout the port and all port terminals are now capable of taking ships the size of the Benjamin Franklin.
“Our aim is to keep all of the ships in Oakland and we’re working very hard with the terminal operators right now to find a home for all of that cargo,” Zampa said.
© Copyright 2015 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.In our last blog post, we told you that we were working on open sourcing and publishing Pauling, a mobile application that rethinks conference posters sharing. Stop talking, it is time to show you the code!
Technically, this application was open sourced a while ago but we did not link to it before because we were a bit shy and not proud of our lack of tests This has been fixed now \o/ We dedicated one Le lab session to this project and our upcoming Winter session will also be spent improving it
To summarize, Pauling is not only a mobile application but also a web application available at: pauling.lelab.tailordev.fr. This web application allows a poster author to publish it, thus making it available to everyone and downloadable thanks to a QR code generated by Pauling:
If you do not use the Pauling mobile application to scan this QR code but use another QR code scanner, you will be redirected to the web page dedicated to this poster, i.e. this page for example. Yet, using the Pauling mobile application has many advantages and you should really be using it:
you can view the poster in high-quality, even in offline mode;
you have access to more information about this poster;
in the near future, you will be able to attach notes to it.
Today, we are glad to announce that the mobile application is already available on Google Play and should be released on the App Store soon. We invite you to test it and report any issues by email or Twitter. If you do not have a QR code to scan yet, you can try with the one above.
Pauling is released under the MIT License. If you are willing to contribute, be sure to read our contributing guidelines. We have a few easy pick tags for newcomers, and we are willing to mentor/help!
We would love to read your thoughts, such as things that did not work as expected or feature requests. Feel free to submit new issues.Motorola is promising not to give up its pure Android ideals as it changes hands from Google to Lenovo.
Lenovo's $2.91 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, announced in January, is now official. It brings to an end more than two years of stewardship by Google, which purchased Motorola in May 2012 for $12.5 billion. (Google will retain and license most of Motorola's patent portfolio as part of the deal.)
Over those two years, Motorola has revamped itself, paring down its product line and launching nearly-pure Android phones with a few measured improvements, such as touch-free voice controls. Compared to other Android devices, like those of Samsung and LG, Motorola's phones have less bloatware and fewer arbitrary design changes. That won't change under Lenovo, according Rick Osterloh, Motorola's president and chief operating officer, wrote.
Florence Ion The Moto X.
“We will continue to focus on pure Android and fast upgrades, and remain committed to developing technology to solve real consumer problems,” Osterloh wrote in a blog post. He also noted that Motorola will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lenovo based in Chicago, and that the Moto and Droid product lines won't go away.
Meanwhile, Lenovo celebrated the acquisition by noting that it had become the world's third-largest smartphone maker. “By building a strong number three and a credible challenger to the top two in smartphones, we will give the market something it has needed: choice, competition and a new spark of innovation,” Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo's chairman and CEO, said in a statement.
Why this matters: Lenovo sees the acquisition as its ticket into the U.S. smartphone market, where Motorola has strong carrier relationships and brand recognition. But while phones like the Moto X and Moto G have received critical acclaim, they haven't stopped Motorola's earnings from plummeting. In its quest for growth, Lenovo may feel the pressure to add more made-to-order phones and pointless carrier exclusives that clog the software upgrade cycle. Now that the acquisition is official, we'll see whether Motorola can stick to its word and stay true to its ideals.
This story, "Motorola re-commits to pure Android under new Lenovo masters" was originally published by Greenbot.Veteran MSP Ken Macintosh will bid to become Labour’s first Presiding Officer at Holyrood.
Sources close to the party’s community spokesman confirmed he would throw his hat in the ring to replace Tricia Marwick when she steps down as the Scottish Parliament’s equivalent of the House of Commons speaker on Thursday.
The Courier understands cross party talks have already taken place, including with senior SNP members, and Mr Macintosh, who would not comment publicly on any bid, has taken the responses as positive.
One insider said: “Ken is seen as likeable, personable and non-partisan with enough gravitas for the role.”
In the summer of last year, Mr Macintosh was beaten by Kezia Dugdale to the leadership of Scottish Labour and lost his Eastwood seat to Jackson Carlaw of the Conservatives in Thursday’s election.
Despite his lengthy service as an MSP, including during Labour’s coalition government with the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2007, the 54-year-old has never held a front-bench position.
And he could have competition for this job from within his own party through current Deputy Presiding Officer Elaine Smith.
She said at the weekend she was “considering” standing for the role, which would mean resigning the party whip.
Other names mentioned include John Scott, Ms Smith’s fellow Deputy Presiding Officer, and his senior Conservative colleague Murdo Fraser, although the Mid Scotland and Fife representative will find the lure of being shadow Finance Secretary tough to resist.
It is unlikely the SNP will nominate anyone for the role given they did not see enough MSPs elected last week to form a majority government.
The Presiding Officer’s role carries a salary of about £45,000 extra on top of the standard MSP pay of £60,000.United Nations (CNN) -- The 15 members of the U.N. Security Council ended a second day of private discussion Tuesday without deciding how to respond to Syria's violent crackdown on protesters.
"Unfortunately, after yesterday's discussion and after many hours of discussion starting in the morning today and ending at almost 8 p.m., no final agreement was possible today among Security Council members," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters.
"We agreed to refer back to our capitals and then reconvene tomorrow in order to see whether a common position is possible."
Asked what the sticking points were, he said, "The required balance has not been achieved in the course of those discussions and in the current shape and form of the text."
He did not elaborate, but Western diplomats said he was referring to criticism of violence wielded by the Syrian armed forces not being balanced by criticism of violence by the protesters.
But Churkin held out hope that the world body would be able to decide on a response -- whether it be a presidential statement, which would require a consensus, or a resolution, which would be stronger.
Western powers are seeking passage of a resolution, which Russia has not backed, Western diplomats said.
Lebanon, which has been reluctant to sign on to a critique of its neighbor, would need to agree to a consensus.
Discussions are to resume at 10 a.m. "I hope that members of the Security Council will receive instructions which will allow them to modify some of their positions -- which are too far-reaching in terms of leaning on one side," Churkin said.
He called for the council "to do everything possible in order to pull away from the brink of civil war where Syria is finding itself, unfortunately and tragically, at this point."
Western press deputies said the council members spent Tuesday discussing how to marry two texts.
One is a European draft resolution that had its origins in May, amid the initial reaction to the violence, and the other includes elements from the Brazilian representative that don't go as far as the European draft in criticizing the Syrian government, the press deputies said.
Four European members of the Security Council -- Britain, France, Germany and Portugal -- on Monday had revived a draft U.N. resolution that would probably condemn President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Indian Ambassador to the U.N. Hardeep Puri characterized Tuesday's council consultations as "some serious discussions going on." He said Security Council members shared concern over the violence and backed a call for restraint and a start to a political process.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued his most powerful denunciation yet of the regime in Damascus. "The secretary-general believes that President Assad has lost all sense of humanity," spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.
A group of Syrian human rights, civil society and political activists on Tuesday urged South Africa, Brazil and India -- three of the non-permanent council members -- to back a resolution.
They want such a measure to condemn the government's use of violence against peaceful protesters, urge accountability for crimes, demand an end to government violence and call for access for U.N. investigators in Syria.
Ambassadors from other nations, including China and Russia, have argued that U.N. action would risk further destabilizing the Middle Eastern country. It was not clear whether they would support such a resolution.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the expansion of European Union sanctions against Syrian officials Tuesday, saying the "appalling crackdown" seen in Hama and other Syrian cities over the weekend "only erode the regime's legitimacy and increase |
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Finally, our Better Choices page provides free materials, tips, and recipes to assist in making healthier and more compassionate food decisions.
Humane Facts is an educational campaign of A Well-Fed World, a hunger relief and animal protection organization working in the U.S. and internationally.
(Visited 16,773 times, 7 visits today)Natan Blanc is sentenced to prison for the eighth time after he once again refused to be inducted into the IDF. Palestinian prisoner dies of cancer in Israeli custody, prisoners launch hunger strikes.
Conscientious objector Natan Blanc was sentenced to an eighth prison term today. After having served 116 days in prison, Blanc received another 14-day sentence this morning when he reported to the induction base and once again refused to be inducted, due to what he defines as the “wave of aggressive militarism” in Israeli society, the occupation of Palestinian territories and the siege and military campaigns on Gaza.
Once released, Blanc will have to report to the induction base again and might face a ninth prison term, with no visible end to the process in sight. Recently the army’s “unsuitability committee,” which examined his case, found Blanc to be suitable for service and denied his request for an exemption based on his conscientious beliefs. As Blanc continues to refuse to see to the army psychologist for the extremely common “profile 21” discharge on mental health grounds, there is no telling when he might be released. Blanc’s full statement can be found in the previous post I wrote about him.
As the young refuser spends more time in prison, support for him and his release is growing. Video clips made by Yesh Gvul (“There is a Limit”), the oldest refuser movement in Israel, show Blanc talking about his refusal and feature statements of support from Israeli and Palestinian activists. Activists have so far held three demonstrations on the hilltop opposite Military Prison No. 6, where Blanc is being held, played music to him over the wall and waved at him, recognizing his important step against the occupation and Apartheid.
Meanwhile, in the occupied territories the atmosphere became tense as a veteran Palestinian prisoner, Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, died of cancer while in Israeli custody. Abu Hamdiyeh died after his request for an early release that would have allowed him to pass peacefully at home was denied by authorities. Demonstrations broke out in several places throughout the West Bank, and some prisoners declared a hunger strike of mourning and protest. The longest of the hunger strikes, carried out by Samer Issawi, has been ongoing for over six months.
Read also:
Hunger-striker Samer Issawi is another statistic in an unjust legal system
As Palestinian hunger strikes come to a head, world begins to take notice
Palestinian cartoonist detained for a month as prisoner protests growISJ 2 Index | Main Newspaper Index
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International Socialism, Autumn 1990
Neil Davidson & Donny Gluckstein
Nationalism and the Class Struggle in Scotland
(Autumn 1990)
First published in International Socialism Journal 2 : 48, Autumn 1990, pp. 107–135.
Transcribed by Christian Høgsbjerg.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Conservatives are, and always have been, British nationalists.
— Margaret Thatcher, Glasgow 1975.
Nationalism is nothing but a talking point amongst the chattering classes in Scotland.
— Neil Kinnock, Glasgow 1988.
Introduction
The national question has taken hold of Scottish politics several times this century, but rarely to the extent that it has since the 1987 general election. The immediate causes are clear: the accelerated decline of Scottish industry, and the imposition of the poll tax, a year earlier than elsewhere. The anger felt in workplaces and housing estates is not only directed against the Tories, however, but at a Labour Party that had failed to resist these attacks. Out of this bitterness the Scottish National Party built the electoral support that brought victory at the Govan by-election in 1988. The nationalism underlying this is frequently misunderstood, not least by the left. One result of this is that the recent resurgence, like its predecessors, took the left unawares, and led to two equally inappropriate reactions: accommodation or dismissal.
Accommodation was the response of most of the left, both outside of the Labour Party and within it. They argued: Scotland is an oppressed nation; it is generally more radical than England; Thatcherism has intensified both of these trends; and the only way to escape from the continuation of Thatcherism is for Scotland to separate from England. The logic of this position is that Scottish workers have different, and even opposed interests to those in England. Dismissal was the response of the leadership and Labour right wing. They argued the contrary viewpoint: Scotland is not oppressed; nationalism threatens the unity of the British working class; separation would reduce the number of Labour MPs allowing the Tories to stay in office, at least in England. So the wishes of the Scots must be ignored in the interests of electoralism. Accommodation and dismissal unite when, to gain votes, all sections of the Labour Party condemn the SNP but borrow its nationalist arguments. The Tories are criticised for the decline of Scottish industry, and regional autonomy is half-heartedly endorsed. Accommodation embraces Scottish mythology, elevating support for nationalism into a principle. Dismissal abandons principle altogether. Both reinforce support for nationalism in one form or another.
In such confusion it is understandable if revolutionaries breathe a sigh of relief when the pre-eminence of the national question (and electoral support for the SNP) recede, and assume that we can now return to the class struggle without this nationalist distraction. This would be a mistake. This article argues that Scottish nationalism is not just a reaction to the defeats of the Thatcher years, nor can it be measured only by support for the SNP. Rather it runs deep within the Scottish working class. It is therefore of concern to socialists whether or not the specific issue of separation is on the agenda.
In discussing Scottish nationalism two related issues must be resolved: the existence or not of a Scottish nation, and the demand for Scottish national self-determination. The first can be dealt with briefly. Definitions of nationhood come ten-a-penny and most, including those that claim to be Marxist, are simply checklists of criteria. The procedure is to match the claims of those seeking national status against the checklist and judge whether they can be awarded the title of ‘nation’. The most influential definition has been that of Stalin which is outstanding only for its dogmatism and listing of more criteria than any other: ‘A nation is a historically evolved, stable community of language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a community of culture... It is sufficient for a single one of these characteristics to be absent and the nation ceases to be a nation.’ On Stalin’s criteria most of the 170 existing states then should cease to be. [1] Contrary to this method is that adopted by Lenin and developed further by Trotsky which stresses subjective factors: that is, when a group of people come to see themselves as constituting a nation. Trotsky wrote: ‘An abstract set of criteria is not decisive in this question: far more decisive is the historical consciousness of a group, their feelings, their historical impulses. But that too is not determined accidentally, but rather by the situation and all the attendant circumstances.’ [2]
There is no doubt that the Scots consider themselves to be a nation. But that does not determine our attitude towards our second question, the socialist attitude towards Scottish self-determination. Here we begin not with the ideas in the heads of Scottish people, but on the relations of power between nations in the world system. As Lenin put it:
The demand for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ reply to the question of secession in the case of every nation may seem a very ‘practical’ one. In reality it is absurd... The bourgeoisie always places its national demands in the forefront, and does so in a categorical fashion. With the proletariat, however, these demands are subordinated to the interests of the class struggle. [3]
Lenin’s point is that self-determination is a bourgeois democratic demand which revolutionaries support insofar as this is in the interests of the working class. It was never his view that revolutionaries should support every nationalism as a matter of course. The key question is the class struggle, and this connects directly with the issue of oppression. The fight against national oppression can be of direct assistance to the workers’ struggle for emancipation. A good example, and one which is particularly relevant to Scotland, given its past role, is the oppression in Northern Ireland. A defeat for British imperialism here would weaken the confidence of the British ruling class and the state’s capacity to intervene elsewhere. If British workers showed solidarity with the Irish people it would break them from national chauvinism. That in turn would demonstrate to the Irish workers that British workers had cut free of their ruling class. The way might then be open for the unity of both groups on an international class basis. These developments would of course depend on the subjective element of socialist intervention. [4]
The Marxist tradition links the formation of national consciousness, the struggle of the oppressed for self-determination against the oppressor and the interests of the working class. It is in the light of all three that Scottish nationalism must be considered. The early development of Scottish history is best understood by a comparison with Ireland and England – classic examples of oppressed and oppressor. It is to that comparative history that we now turn.
The parting of the ways: Ireland/Scotland/England
In the 1st century AD Ireland and Scotland were populated by Gaelic speaking tribes whose unit of social organisation was the clan. Both were outside the boundaries of Roman administration which ruled England. Later, when the Roman Empire fell, feudalism would develop in England from a fusion of the communal system of the invading German tribes and Roman slavery. [5] It is said that the Roman failure to conquer Ireland and Scotland, and the consequent absence of slave relations of production, provided no basis for native feudalism in either country. [6] However, the two countries were not identical. While Ireland remained a world apart, in the south east of what would become Scotland Roman settlements and slave agriculture were established later. [7] The Lothians, scene of the Roman occupation, were therefore a site of economic and social advance which, over centuries, encouraged the wider development of feudal relations and use of a dialect of English. [8] From such incomplete and localised changes Scotland began to diverge from the road it had shared with Ireland. These advances stopped short, however of the Highland line. After the Romans went, a monarchy grew up ruling a kingdom which was unified politically, but split in its social, economic and even linguistic character. In Ireland feudalism did not develop spontaneously. It was imposed by the Norman English who settled by invasion rather than invitation. They achieved some initial success. Wool production, for example, was double that of Scotland by the early 13th century. But the onset of crisis later that century showed the limits of what had been achieved. Facing land shortage and demographic collapse, Ireland regressed and the settlers were assimilated into the system they had been sent to transform. In Scotland, where feudalism was not an artificial graft onto the body of an alien mode of production, the economy, though traumatised, was not thrown backwards.
A feudal national state?
Nationalism, like religion, has an interest in tracing its past back to the dawn of recorded time. For Scottish nationalists the mystical existence of nation is first established by resistance to the English invasion of 1296 – the ‘War of Independence’. Anyone who has heard Scottish football supporters singing the national(ist) anthem Flower of Scotland will know that in the last verse the Scots are called upon to ‘be the nation again’ as they once were in the 14th century. And every year the SNP holds a march and rally near the site of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The war began when the English Crown, facing domestic difficulties, attempted territorial expansion into Scotland with the aim of expanding the area of peasant exploitation and intensifying its level. The argument that a national consciousness existed to resist this is often supported by referring to the Declaration of Arbroath (1320) in which the barons appealed to Pope John XXII to command the English cease their attacks on Scotland. Smout for example writes that: ‘... its sonorous wording expresses all the fierce nationalism of the 14th century’. [9] But what did ‘nation’ mean in this period? Prior to the 14th century, as Chris Harman nicely puts it, ‘There was no notion of the nation’. [10] By the time of Bannockburn the word ‘nation’ had come into use, but referred to a racial or ethnic group rather than a political unit. It had nothing in common with modern nationalism. As Rosalind Mitchison writes: ‘For no period in history does the anachronistic modern concept of the all-embracing national state more corrupt our judgement.’ [11] The concept of modern national consciousness is one for which people are prepared to lay down their lives, not only for their direct family, for the immediate chunk of land on which they labour, but for a higher social connection – the people or nation. It corresponds to the scale of operations undertaken by the capitalist mode of production. This concept did not shape the actions of the 14th century Scottish feudal rulers. Their leader, Robert the Bruce, like many Scottish nobles, was of recent Anglo-Norman descent, still held lands in England and owed allegiance to the English crown. Once the war began he had two options: siding with the English in the hope of gaining preferment, or fighting against them to re-establish an independent feudal monarchy. Many, again including Robert the Bruce, did both at various times.
The kingdom which emerged from war in 1320 saw the peasantry subjected to an even harsher feudal regime than before. The reason for this outcome can be found in the relative lack of economic development, which was to retard all social change in Scotland until the 17th century. Peasants have been able to play a significant role where they are in a position of economic strength and confidence, and, crucially, where there are economically developed urban areas to act as a focus for the struggle. These were lacking in Scotland. [12] The instability of the realm and the parasitic and divided nature of the ruling class meant that conditions for a nascent bourgeoisie were extremely limited. Scotland’s economic position would have been difficult under the best of conditions. The inhospitability of its native environment and geographical isolation from the expanding markets of Europe were natural disadvantages. But lawlessness and the constant drain of resources in wars with England exacerbated the problem. So Scotland continued to fill a position halfway between Ireland and England in terms of economic, social and political development. Feudal Scotland was too poor, too small and too weak to maintain itself against England without outside assistance. That came from France. The turning point in Scottish history would come when the ally and enemy were reversed.
Bourgeois revolution from above
Scotland’s bourgeois revolution did not follow the path of the classic bourgeois revolutions in England and France. It was very thorough and yet occurred in a country which appeared to lack the necessary bourgeois social basis for it in the first place. How could it happen at all? Firstly, the revolution was not led by the bourgeoisie but initiated by the nobility; and secondly, it was aided and finally imposed by another state – England. Its role as a factor in Scotland’s social progress at this time is therefore the exact opposite of that portrayed in nationalist demonology. Reliance on England had an important effect on the character of Scottish nationalism. The usual outcome of successful bourgeois revolution is the consolidation of independent nation states and a mass national consciousness to match. In Scotland however, the victory of the revolution included the abolition of the independent nation state and incorporation into the United Kingdom, first for a temporary period (1651–60) and finally on a permanent basis.
Bourgeois revolution is a process, not a single event. In Scotland its first manifestation goes back to the Reformation. Unlike England this was not carried through by the monarchy, whose weakness made it rely on the Catholic Church at home and its Catholic French ally abroad. Instead it was the nobility who accomplished the break. They were the only class that could have done so. Although the Calvinism that was carried to Scotland by zealots like John Knox found an audience among the merchants, guilds and urban poor of the burghs, none were in a position to challenge the existing Church. That came from a group of the most prominent nobles who signed the first Covenant declaring their adherence to Protestantism in 1557. Their sincerity is not the issue. They had more pressing reasons for their action.
The nobility was a heterogeneous and numerous class. The population was less than a fifth of England’s, but the number of nobles was roughly the same. Many were relatively poor (the ‘hedge knights’) and their only claim to noble status was their name. Reasons for adopting Protestantism therefore differed widely. The poorest resented paying tithes to a wealthy and corrupt Church that they did not control. The richest, on the other hand, benefited from the exploitation of Church offices and used its pulpits to propound submission to the existing order. However, these were under threat from an internal reform movement. All sections of the nobility were therefore attracted to the idea of abolishing the old Church, seizing its wealth and establishing a new Church which they could shape from the start. There was also a more direct reason arising from the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise. She wanted to strengthen the link with France, perhaps even to unify the two states into one kingdom. This seemed to be foreshadowed by her using Frenchmen to fill the various offices of state. Such an outcome would leave France dominant, and the nobles’ power greatly reduced. The price of continuing the link with France was therefore the very domination it had been intended to avoid. So the nobles then began to turn towards Protestantism and England.
The Scottish Reformation was very thorough because it suited the designs of the majority of the ruling class and had effective external support from England. Events were precipitated by civil war in 1559. Although Protestant ministers mobilised the urban poor to support the Covenant, the Queen Regent had the advantage with a French army at her disposal. The Lords of the Faithful Congregation, as the reforming nobles were known, were only saved from defeat by the intervention of an English fleet at Leith in 1560. English assistance guaranteed victory for the Reformation and set the pattern for the next 200 years, just as its opposition and defeat at Bannockburn had done for the previous 200. The Reformed Church was the single most important creation of Scotland’s bourgeois revolution and as such was to survive the Act of Union in 1707, contributing to this day, along with law and education, as an important element in specifically Scottish national consciousness. Its importance in society underlined the relatively backward development of bourgeois relations. It was a state within the state, being responsible for education, poor relief and the trial and punishment of non-capital crimes. Intolerant and repressive though it was, the Church Presbyteries, from which it took its name, were the most democratic institutions then in existence. This system of elected lay elders controlling the Church contrasted strongly with the previous system of bishops appointed by the monarch or the royal Church in England.
From 1560 to 1637 the Church was one of the main areas of struggle between the contending classes. In 1603 the crowns of England and Scotland were united under James VI. He began to build what had previously been unknown in Scotland – a strong, absolutist regime. Lacking a standing army or strong bureaucracy, he wanted the Church as an instrument of social control, particularly after his departure to rule from England. The nobles for their part wished to retain overall control of the Church within their local domains. In 1610 they compromised. More funding would be made available to local parishes in exchange for the return of bishops to administer the national Church apparatus. This balance of forces was upset by the accession of Charles I. One of his first acts was the Revocation, which gave him the power to confiscate church lands expropriated by nobles in the Reformation. If carried out, it would have affected both the great nobles and small landowners (the lairds).
The second major phase in the bourgeois revolution began in 1637, when Charles resolved to bring the Scottish church into complete uniformity with that of England and bypass the elected kirk bodies. In reaction the clergy and burgesses, led by the nobility, signed the National Covenant. Although written in religious terms it contained three political demands: a reduction in royal power; consolidation of the nobles’ position in the Scottish parliament; and return of the Church into their hands. As such it was neither necessarily anti-royalist nor anti-episcopalian. It was comparable to the revolt of the nobles in France in 1787. But when Charles prepared for war with the bishops’ support the nobles were forced to deepen their opposition. The General Assembly abolished episcopy, and, as in 1559, this was accomplished with the aid of rioting in the towns. However, this was the limit of the Covenanters’ radicalism. Their subsequent invasion of England took place because they realised that in order to preserve the revolution it would have to be spread. Militarily the English proved no obstacle against Scottish armies composed of men who had been the leading mercenaries in Europe – the one advantage which Scotland had derived from its military-feudal backwardness. [13] The cost of this fighting eventually provoked civil war between Charles and the English Parliament, and the Covenanters entered on the Parliamentary side. Their price was that Westminster sign the Solemn League and Covenant which aimed at extending the Presbyterian system to England, but the alliance soon cracked.
England’s revolution more and more took the form of a full blooded bourgeois revolution from below, driven as it was by a mass of small gentry. But lacking such internal forces Scotland’s noble led revolt was never radicalised in this way. This divergence between the Covenanters and their temporary English allies was shown in 1648, when Cromwell decided to try Charles for his life. The vast majority of the Scottish Presbyterian movement switched sides to supporting his son, who was crowned in Scotland as Charles II in 1650. The subsequent war against English Parliament’s forces, led first by the nobles and then by the Presbyterian ministers, ended in ignominious defeat. [14]
The Cromwellian Protectorate which followed enforced the union of Scotland and England in 1651. This period in Scotland was decisive for the bourgeois revolution. The English were clear as to what they were doing. One of Cromwell’s officers wrote: ‘It is the interest of the Commonwealth of England to break the interest of the great men in Scotland, and to settle the interest of the common people upon a different fact from the interests of their lords and masters.’ [15] Those who had supported the war were heavily fined. Heritable jurisdictions, feudal and baronial courts were all abolished. After this the nobility were to become an agrarian capitalist class, and servants of a centralised state which they no longer controlled directly. The bourgeoisie proper, the lairds and urban merchants, now had a space in which to develop and rapid economic progress was made. The bourgeois revolution had accomplished its task, but in a most unusual way.
Sources of counter-revolution
Despite the success of the bourgeois revolution, both Ireland and the Scottish Highlands remained outside its influence and posed a threat to the new bourgeois order. But the two cases were different, as shown by reactions to the 1688 Glorious Revolution which brought William of Orange to power. Colonisation of Ireland had proceeded since the reign of James VI, when Scottish Presbyterian settlers had been planted in the north east to suppress the native Catholic population. As Tom Gallagher notes, ‘Ulster was almost a Scottish colony in the seventeenth century.’ [16] Elsewhere colonial oppression meant there was no religious reformation or native capitalist development. Like feudalism before, capitalism was grafted onto Ireland by colonial settlers, only this time the graft would hold. The majority of the population opposed William’s regime and were prepared to support James VII’s attempts at Restoration in the mistaken belief that he, as a Catholic, would end oppression. These hopes ended after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and colonial rule was savagely re-imposed.
By contrast, in Scotland there was an indigenous capitalist class which, like their English counterparts, welcomed William’s rule. But this applied to the Lowlands only. The Highlands, in contrast, tended to support the restoration of the Stuart dynasty. This was doubly dangerous because the Stuart’s were backed by absolutist France – the most important rival of the unified British monarchy. There were additional reasons why the Highlands were intolerable to bourgeois order. Though of minor significance in terms of population and economic weight, the Highlands formed a third of Scotland’s land mass, in which there were still vast areas where the writ of state did not run and the decaying clan system still represented a mode of production incompatible with the extension of capitalism. When James’s supporters, the Jacobites, rose shortly after William was crowned in Scotland, they were crushed, largely by Scottish forces loyal to William. The division now lay not between the Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland, but between the Highlands and the rest of Scotland and England. [17]
Towards union with England
Up to now we have described the relationship of England and Scotland not as oppressor and oppressed (as in the case of England and Ireland) so much as symbiotic – two independent but mutually interacting states. The rise of capitalist competition made a continuation of this pattern difficult. The years after 1692 were years of famine throughout Europe, but were particularly harsh in Scotland due to poor harvests. The economic situation looked set to get worse. Excluded from selling in the expanding English empire, the Scots bourgeoisie were also losing many of their European markets. For Scotland to survive, let alone expand, as an independent centre of capital would require it to take a desperate gamble. This was the attempt to establish a colony at Darien in the Panamanian Isthmus, from where the bourgeoisie hoped to force an entry onto the protected markets of Spanish America. Launched in 1698 the scheme emptied the Scottish exchequer and tied up most available capital, but the dream of an independent Scottish empire floundered in the Darien swamp, through ill-preparedness, Spanish hostility and English indifference. Darien was the final, conclusive proof to the bourgeoisie that Scotland lacked the economic resources to compete with its southern neighbour.
The English bourgeoisie were now in a position to force their bankrupt Scottish counterparts to abandon their role as an independent rival. But the Scottish ruling class was split. The Jacobites wished the Stuart monarchy restored in England, Scotland and Ireland. The Country Party of Lowland magnates wanted an independent Scottish monarchy, not necessarily of the Stuart line, but which would continue to disburse patronage from the royal exchequer. Finally the Squadrone Volente, a section of the nobility and the landowning and merchant bourgeoisie, favoured union with England because it offered economic opportunity and a Protestant succession. Despite these divisions the Act of Union was accepted by the Scottish Parliament in 1707. This was partly the result of English bribery. But contrary to myth, this was not decisive, as the arguments for the Union were compelling. There were four inducements: first, abolition of tariff barriers and a share of the exploitation of the English colonies; second, the national debt incurred by the Darien fiasco would be met by the English; third, money for investment in some Scottish industries; finally, the Scottish legal system, education and the Church would be preserved.
The act was passed amid scenes of outraged popular national feeling. Many on the left feel that it should have been rejected for this reason. But what was at stake? The four major cities – Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen – opposed the act, because much of their trade was orientated on the continent and they feared their products would suffer in competition with those of England. But this was bourgeois sectionalism. The key sector of the Scottish economy was still agriculture – the population of Glasgow, the largest town in 1707, numbered only 12,500. Scottish separatism could only have been utilised for reactionary purposes, as the example of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, the only member of the Scots Parliament to oppose the Union on a nominally republican basis, shows. He was prepared to accept an alliance with France and the reintroduction of serfdom in order to preserve Scotland’s independence. The interests of the bourgeoisie lay with a stable Union with England and this outweighed the claims of national self-determination. [18]
The last stand of the counter-revolution
A succession of Jacobite risings which looked for support from foreign absolutist powers showed that the need for bourgeois stability was now pressing. The majority of the Scottish population had no reason to hope for a Jacobite victory. No longer excluded by the Navigation Acts, Scottish cloth was being exported to the British Empire and the prospect of tobacco imports from the slave plantations promised major expansion in Glasgow. The long heralded benefits of the Union were becoming apparent, even to the sections of the Scottish ruling class which had initially opposed it.
In 1745 the final Jacobite rising under Charles Edward Stuart was routed by a British army consisting of more Scottish soldiers than his own. On Culloden Moor the Duke of Cumberland ended the attempt at absolutist restoration. It took 25 minutes. As Cole and Postgate say, ‘No other battle that ended a civilisation was so brief.’ [19] The aftermath was slaughter, forfeiture of the rebels’ estates, and the banning of the right to carry arms. There is no need to share Engels’ denunciations of the Highlanders as ‘non-historic’ or ‘human refuse’ [20], to see that the defeat of the Stuarts and the smashing of the clans represented the final act of the British bourgeois revolution. It is putting the case too strongly to argue that without Culloden there would have been no Scottish enlightenment or industrial revolution. After all, Hume had written his Treatise on Human Nature in 1736, and industry had begun to develop before the rebellion. But the threat of disruption would have remained. If the Duke of Cumberland was no Cromwell, Washington or Robespierre, he was certainly more typical of the bearers of the bourgeois revolution than they.
The fate of the Highlands
The main consequence of Culloden for the Highlands was incorporation into the British capitalist economy which they had resisted for so long. The old Highland way of life was no ideal. The mass of the population eked out a bare existence through subsistence farming. They were, however, guaranteed tenure and a certain protection by clan chiefs whose stature had been measured not by cash but the number of tenants they could raise to fight in wartime. This was no longer the case after the ’45. In 1747 the run-rig system, whereby a number of tenants farmed the land collectively, was replaced by renting the land to single tenants. As a result, when in 1815 the market for Highland agricultural produce fell away, leaving a mass of crofters unable to pay their rents, an alternative was use of the land was sought. The population explosion to the south created a market for livestock and an expanding textile industry required wool. Sheep yielded both.
The clearing of the land had begun in 1724 in Galloway and the Lowlands but from 1792 was systematically imposed in the Highlands. Large sheep farms replaced crofts, the peasants driven off and their homes burned. These Scottish peasants were coerced by Scottish soldiers at the behest of Scottish landlords. [21] The peasants had expected protection from their clan chiefs. But as landlords the necessities of primitive capital accumulation overrode those of clan fellowship or solidarity with their fellow Scots. Their Jacobitism reduced to pure decoration, they emerged as the full blooded Tories they had potentially always been.
Highland society was supposedly preserved in those symbols of what is most Scottish – the kilt and tartan. Yet nothing could be more phoney. [22] Tartan was introduced into the Highlands in the 16th century from Flanders via the Lowlands and there were no specific clan patterns. Jacobites invading Edinburgh in 1745 were greeted with ‘the latest designs in tartans’. The kilt was invented in the 1720s by a Lancashire Quaker, Thomas Rawlinson. As manager of an iron ore smelting works he wanted a garment allowing workers to fell trees and tend furnaces more easily than with the traditional long shirt and plaid. If the kilt was (literally) the creation of industrial capitalism, then its wider use was the result of British colonialism. It was adopted by Highland regiments raised by the clan chiefs on receipt of state money after the ’45 rebellion. The regiments began the differentiation of tartans into clan types. As regiments multiplied they were assigned specific tartans randomly to distinguish them. This garment was, in the words of Trevor-Roper, ‘invented by an English Quaker industrialist and saved from extinction by an English imperialist statesman.’ [23]
This story has its tragic aspects. It was the kilt clad soldiers, often displaced Highlanders, who carried British colonialism to Africa, Asia and Ireland. If there is one image which captures the difference between Scotland and Ireland, it is the display of the kilt, tartan and lion rampant by Scottish troops smashing the symbols of Irish national liberation, the tricolour and the starry plough.
New classes and new struggles
The clearances saw the effective end of the peculiarities of Scotland’s development. [24] What was the balance sheet for nationalism now that the nation state itself had been fully incorporated into a larger unit? Part of the original structure remained, as Christopher Harvie writes:
In Scotland education, religion and the law have functions that are political as well as social. They both legitimate Scottish distinctiveness and require the systematic adaptation of British legislation. Moreover, in the absence of a Scottish legislature they have a political life of their own... [25]
In the all-important economic sphere the Scottish bourgeoisie had no separate interests from those of their English counterparts. Mitchison notes that: ‘Scotland packed into about thirty years of crowded development between 1750 and 1780, the economic growth that in England had spread itself over two centuries.’ [26] By the end of that period it is no longer possible to discern a distinctive Scottish economy. It is therefore incorrect to describe the Scottish bourgeoisie as being ‘England’s junior partner’, as this implies that they still retained a separate existence. [27] What nationalism remained survived as a component part of an all-inclusive British nationalism. National consciousness was split between Scottish and British identities, in which the Scottish element remained cultural rather than political. What this represented was, in Smout’s words:
... a kind of dual consciousness, compounded partly of loyalty to the actuality and opportunity of modern Britain, and partly of loyalty to the memory and tradition of Scotland. It was a consciousness that working class radicals shared with the other parts of society. [28]
This brings us to an entirely new phase of development. So far our discussion has concentrated on the varying national trajectories of Ireland, Scotland and England. With the Act of Union and incorporation of the Highlands into the capitalist system Scotland moved from straddling the space between Ireland and England. It had made the leap to join England at its end of the spectrum of development. This means that while the relations between countries – the national question – have claimed our attention till now, the relations between classes – the social question-must now claim this position. Of course nationalism remains important, but mainly insofar as it impinges on the working class struggle against capitalism.
The need for a change in emphasis is illustrated by the way the Great French Revolution was received – 1789 signalled a new phase of bourgeois revolutions which, unlike their precursors, would be conducted in the name of ‘the people’, who were in turn identified with ‘nation’. Popular democracy was harnessed to win the bourgeois revolution through a feeling of national unity of all classes. However, where the bourgeois revolution had already taken place democracy and nationalism did not necessarily coincide. In Ireland they did. Here native capitalist development had been retarded by Britain – 1789 gave focus to a republican national movement to establish a capitalist state free from Britain. In stark contrast, English nationalism was not a vehicle for democratic agitation. It was already the ideology of the ruling class and was now systematically built up on the reactionary foundation of opposition to the revolution in France. How did Scotland fit into this pattern? It followed the English trend.
Tom Nairn finds the absence of a Scottish national movement at a time when these were springing up all over Europe one of the great mysteries of history. But the explanation is not difficult. The Scottish bourgeoisie no longer had an incentive to promote nationalism and had no wish to follow the road of the Irish liberation struggle. [29] For their part, the radical leaders of the emerging working class movement found the French Revolution important above all because of its democratic aspects. [30] Scotland’s Society of the Friends of the People therefore did not stress separatism, but sought co-operation with fellow suffrage campaigners in England. Even though a mixed class movement under middle class influence, it was repressed by 1794. The reform movement which re-emerged in 1797 was more working class, encompassing in particular the handloom weavers, then at the beginning of their long decline. The new organisation – the United Scotsmen – concentrated on the radical demands of universal suffrage and annual parliaments. They sought a republicanism appropriate for Britain as a whole. It is true the organisation was modelled on the United Irishmen, but its brand of radical nationalism did not fit the situation in Scotland. This is borne out by the fact that the United Irishmen numbered thousands and launched an insurrection of major proportions, while the United Scotsmen numbered only hundreds. The United Englishmen could be counted in tens. [31]
In close parallel with events in England, a new reform movement arose during the crisis years following the Napoleonic Wars. Some modern left nationalists have argued that the nationalist content of this movement has been deliberately and unfairly ignored by socialists. The ‘Radical War’ of 1820 is cited as an example. [32] During April that year a group of less than 100 radicals attempted to seize the Carron Ironworks, but were defeated before the attempt could be made, after a skirmish at Bonnymuir. Subsequently three of the leaders were judicially murdered. Although the Bonnymuir rising was motivated by nationalism, this does not seem to have been the major influence on the majority of Scottish workers. The most important event during this period was the strike wave across the central belt involving up to 60,000 which accompanied the proclamation of the rising. The manifesto which began it contained no reference to Scottish nationalism, but utilised the imagery |
104 satellites are owned by India, 96 owned by the United
States, and one each by Israel, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and the Netherlands, there is room for greater Asian ownership.
“However, with much demand for having several smallsats of their own, along with the advent of low-cost production and launching facilities, the Asian space market has been boosted and this will likely continue for the next decade or more,” says Rahman.
The burgeoning Asian smallsat market is linked to the opportunities and benefits they can provide to Asian societies, says NSR’s Belle, adding that smallsats provide a scope-limited and low-risk method of developing space know-how, especially critical for Asian countries with a nascent space industrial base such as the Philippines. This can both create jobs and help a country reach the elusive “space club” widely seen as a point of national prestige, she notes. As the industry develops, new commercial players emerge, further supporting job growth and the economy.
“A significant potential benefit of smallsats is in the applications. For instance, an Earth observation constellation can provide insight into agricultural yield potential and aid in natural resource management. The frequent natural disasters experienced across Asia can leave an impacted area without the communications and situational awareness required to mount an effective response. A smallsat constellation with a high revisit rate might provide the imagery needed to gauge damage, focus rescue efforts on the most affected areas, or provide emergency communications services until terrestrial systems are repaired,” says Belle.
Singapore and the Business Revolution
In the past, launch access was limited to the selected few, but today China, Japan and India have provided ease of access to each country’s launch facilities, resulting in unprecedented smallsat activities, explains Lim Wee Seng, executive director of the Satellite Research Centre at the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore).
“New start-ups are beginning to make inroads across Asia in the aim of creating a new wave of business revolution. Although their exploration activities may seem small as compared to Europe and America, it is a matter of time before Asia will catch up with their giant cousins. We will always need new ideas in the space community. The interest in space is always very inspiring, and the desire for growth in new business opportunities and new technology shall propel this to new heights,” says Wee Seng.
Singapore is a newcomer in the satellite sector, however, it has grown significantly in the past few years, explains Wee Seng. From the early stage, where only NTU Singapore was driving the development of satellites, there are now more research institutes, companies and start-up activities in Singapore.
“We have the Office for Space Technology & Industry of the Economic Development Board to thank, as they have been an effective match-maker that brings Singapore’s space communities together, forming a closely-knit ecosystem. With a clear strategy and focused drive in capitalizing our resources, we foresee that Singapore will be able to drive exponential growth in our space industry,” says Wee Seng.
Government grants and potential lucrative new business opportunities are just some of the pull factors that explain the proliferation of smallsat projects, adds Wee Seng.
“An interesting fact is that venturing into space has become enticing; it’s no longer a dream. Satellite parts can be easily acquired, cost is no longer exorbitant and launch services providers are also readily available now. We believe these new revolutions are the driving force behind the recent surge in business interests. It’s always such commercialization potential and realization that drives exponential growth in the industry. In no time, smallsats may potentially be the answer to faster and more accurate data, and could well be the key contributor in a disruptive technology, just like how smartphones have changed the way we get information. We expect the privatization of the space industry to create the next wave of changes to our daily life,” says Wee Seng.
Smallsats’ Big Appeal
Smallsats may have previously been considered as a technology demonstrator, but today, even traditional satellite companies are starting to change gears, says Wee Seng, adding that they are now focusing on smallsats to help uncover potential revenue streams. Aerospace company Thales Alenia Space has a joint lab with NTU Singapore, named S4TIN, the Smart Small Satellite System Thales in NTU. This lab aims to combine academic space concepts, research findings, practical experiences and real business needs with potential commercialization projects, riding on the small satellite segment.
Brac University students Abdulla Hil Kafi, Maisun Ibn Monowar and Raihana Shams Islam Antara along with their mentors.
“Smallsats in Asia serve different needs as compared to Europe and America. With increased involvement by Asian companies, we hope competition will drive better ideas and better cost structure for the space communities. The internet brought us global linkages and the smartphone has enabled technology to a much easier reach for business and personal enjoyment. When more smallsat applications are launched, we will be able to have access to more focused data. With valuable information available, the push on the current development of the Internet of Things (IOT) and Big Data analysis will be accelerated, setting the ideal stage for a seamless smart world,” says Wee Seng.
An International Affair
The smallsat revolution has resulted in a synergistic movement in Asia, bringing about numerous achievements, explains Mengu Cho, director of the Laboratory of Spacecraft Environment Interaction Engineering (LaSEINE) at Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech). Smallsats have made it possible not just for government and private entities to access space, but also educational entities. Through the development of university-based satellite projects, different international collaborative efforts have emerged.
“The Vietnam National Satellite Center (VNSC) designed, developed and launched its first cubesat in collaboration with Tokyo University. As part of the latest Japanese efforts toward capacity building, another interesting example is the BIRDS program, proposed at Kyutech since 2015, which aims, through Master or PhD courses, at training young professionals from non-space fairing nations to design, develop, test and operate cubesats. Through this program, the trained young professionals acquire the necessary skills to be able to develop indigenous sustainable space programs once they return to their home country,” says Cho, adding that up to February 2017, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, the Philippines, Malaysia, Bhutan, Taiwan and Thailand were part of the BIRDS program.
Successful collaborations on cubesat programs are further strengthened by the fact that Japan has developed and is operating the Kibo module on board the International Space Station (ISS) that allows satellites up to 50kg to be released in space. In 2016, the first ever developed Philippine satellite, Diwata-1, was released from the ISS through the Kibo module. Diwata-1 was developed in partnership with the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology, University of the Philippines, Hokkaido University, and Tohoku University. The satellite is the first of a series of satellites that aim at assisting in disaster management. In addition to the Philippines, partners from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam are taking part in the project.
“Japanese industries have also adapted to the smallsat market and are developing efficient and reliable space components dedicated to smallsats. In their latest efforts, they established the Makesat website in which those components are presented and available to the international smallsat community,” says Pauline Faure, a former smallsat project manager at Kyutech’s LaSEINE.
Across Asia, numerous counties are benefiting from the smallsat revolution, developing space programs both at university and government level through the establishment of space agencies, explains Cho. In Singapore, Nanyang Technological University developed, launched, and operated several smallsats. In Thailand, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok is currently developing its first in-house cubesat. This is after the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, GISTDA, was established in 2000. From a national initiative standpoint, Indonesia established its national space agency LAPAN in 1963. In 2002, Malaysia established its national space agency, ANGKASA, and has since then developed, launched and operated several satellites for Earth observations or communications purposes.
“Overall, global efforts are underway in Asia to develop satellite-based technologies, but also ground stations and launch capabilities. Thanks to the miniaturization of satellites and the smallsat revolution, these efforts are not only concentrated in government or private-led entities, but also educational entities, which can serve as a catalyst to build a country’s capacities, to develop infrastructures, and advance human knowledge,” says Cho. VSYou ahead, you know you want to.
The Holy Ark of all area beer drinkers has been caught in a web of government red tape for months now, but, hopefully, fingers crossed, Hail Mary Full of Grace, the stuff might be on shelves soon.
The backstory (according to Crain’s Cleveland Business): 12 Northeast Ohio breweries had the genius idea of putting together a 12 beer sampler of their products. The tasty collaboration was supposed to be ready for Cleveland Beer Week in October. 1,100 to 1,400 cases were put together and stored at the Heidelberg Distribution Co., ready for the greenlight.
Enter the government, state and federal, who threw up as many road blocks as a Baghdad freeway: licensing issues, tax problems, distribution concerns, the works.
Right now, the brewers are waiting for U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to sign off on the project. Then, it’s drink time.
If you’re starting to wonder whether this mad scramble was worth it, rest assured, it is. Below, the list of wonders:
The collaboration is set to include the following: smoked black lager from Thirsty Dog and Cleveland-based Indigo Imp; strong barrel aged ale, of Ohio City's Great Lakes Brewing Co. and Cleveland-based Cellar Rat; rye kolsh of Strongsville's Brewkettle and Willoughby Brewing Co.; imperial American porter, of Akron-based Hoppin' Frog and Rocky River Brewing Co.; alt bier of Cleveland-based Buckeye Brewing Co. and Berea-based Cornerstone Brewery Co.; and a wet hopped IPA, from North Olmsted-based Fatheads and Westlake's Black Box brewing companies.A Maryland district says it’s received hundreds of hate mail and calls after a student says she was raped by an illegal immigrant inside her school.
The school board held its first meeting since this rape case captured national attention and they were on the defensive after receiving hate mail and calls from across the country.
The system said its offices have been flooded with hate mail and calls, some laced with profanities.
“To let these **** ************* in. You are cursed. You get them the **** out of this school.”
“You need to a better job protecting Americans. For god’s sake, you don’t even have someone answering the phone who speaks English.”
Rockville High is at the center of a divisive debate over illegal immigration after a 14 year old said two students raped her inside a bathroom.
One of the suspects arrested, Henry Sanchez-Milian, is an 18-year-old illegal immigrant who was allowed to attend the high school.
“People have decided to make this a political conversation about immigration. We really need to focus on the schools and on the students and helping them heal,” said Derek Turner, Montgomery County Public Schools spokesperson.
The criticism isn’t only coming from outside the state of Maryland, there is a loud cry in Montgomery County for the school superintendent to resign.
“Why is it that we allow undocumented alien men to be in school with 13 year olds,” said Sharon Cohen.
“The parents are really scared about sending kids to school,” said Rui Dai.
Inside the school board’s first face-to-face with the public since the accusations surfaced, police had to step in to escort a man out.
As the rape investigation spirals into the debate over illegal immigration, counter protesters have also been vocal.
“We don’t think that’s fare to pin this on all immigrants,” said Jim Huang.
“We’ve got people with all kinds of immigration status stand here and living in this county, and I think we need to stand up for them,” said Robert Patt-Corner.
The system says it’s reviewing the security procedures in every school.
Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on FacebookA NEW species of spider which can surf, swim and catch fish has been discovered in Queensland.
Australian researchers have named it Dolomedes briangreenei, or Brian for short, in honour of physicist and World Science Festival co-founder Brian Greene, who is professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk unveiled the spider to Professor Green in Brisbane yesterday at the festival’s inaugural opening.
“It’s wonderful that this beautiful native spider, which relies on waves for its very survival, has found a namesake in a man who is one of the world’s leading experts in exploring and explaining the effects of waves in our universe,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
Brian, a native of Brisbane, is about the size of the palm of a hand and uses vibrations on the surface of the water, or waves, to navigate and find prey.
It eats fish, frogs and tadpoles as well as the dreaded cane toad. In fact, researchers say Brian is making a significant contribution to the management of the pest.
The spiders are also good swimmers, usually working from the sides of pools and off rocks. They can also been seen sculling across the surface with their two middle pairs of legs.
When disturbed or hauling in captured fish, they will plunge through the surface of the water and swim quickly to hide on the bottom.Mitch McConnell: Defeating Obama In 2012 Crucial To GOP Agenda
Mitch McConnell made clear today that he's targeting Barack Obama for defeat in two years.
Doug Mataconis · · 21 comments
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell is doubling down on comments he made before Tuesday’s election that defeating the President in 2012 is essential to achieving the GOP’s goals:
An emboldened Sen. Mitch McConnell on Thursday will declare that President Barack Obama must be defeated in 2012 because Republicans “can’t plan” on the White House to listen to voters and cooperate on some of his party’s top political priorities. “Over the past week, some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office,” the Senate Republican leader will tell the conservative Heritage Foundation, according to excerpts of his speech provided to POLITICO. “But the fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill, to end the bailouts, cut spending and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things is to put someone in the White House who won’t veto any of these things,” the Kentucky Republican will say. “We can hope the president will start listening to the electorate after Tuesday’s election. But we can’t plan on it.” While Democratic leaders said Republicans should be prepared to compromise to pass legislation, McConnell will make clear that he wants the administration to “move in our direction” if it wants his party’s cooperation. McConnell’s sharpened attack would be a departure from the more collegial tone that some Republican leaders struck in the immediate aftermath of Election Day, when voters returned Republicans back to the House majority and elected six more Senate Republicans, narrowing the Democratic majority in the upper chamber to 53-47. But McConnell’s comments suggest that Obama will face a far more confrontational Senate, particularly if he doesn’t dramatically overhaul his agenda. And the Republican leader suggested that he’s prepared to tie up the Senate floor and unite his party against some Democratic bills, which could lead to legislative gridlock and have profound repercussions across the 2012 campaign trail. In particular, McConnell will say the Senate should be prepared to vote on a straight repeal of the new health care law “repeatedly.” “But we can’t expect the president to sign it,” the excerpts quote him as saying. “So we’ll also have to work, in the House, on denying funds for implementation and, in the Senate, on votes against its most egregious provisions.”
While McConnell won’t have control of the Senate, there are plenty of parliamentary rules that he will be able to use to block Democratic efforts to water down legislation sent over from the House, and he’ll have a much larger caucus to work with (and possibly the support of Democrats like Ben Nelson and Joe Manchin depending on the issue at hand), so it’s a fact of life that any legislation coming out of the Senate is going to have to have significant Republican support.
As Jay Bookman notes at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, though, it is rather extraordinary to hear such a statement from a prominent politician:
McConnell isn’t some talk-radio host trying to work his audience into a lather. He’s not a behind-the-scenes political operative or consultant plotting the next election. He’s the Senate minority leader, with an obligation to govern that ought to transcend partisan goals. For that reason, it means something when a person in his position embraces partisan gain over all else, however he may try to justify it to himself and others. In fact, it’s hard to hear his statement as anything but a declaration of all-out partisan war, damn the consequences. For example, given the choice of supporting something that was good for the country, but would also benefit Barack Obama politically, what would McConnell do? If you take him at his word — and I guess we have to, since he has chosen to repeat it for emphasis — you at least have to wonder. I just can’t imagine such a bald assertion of partisan gain over policy at any other time from such a prominent source. Tom Daschle in 2002, saying “the single most important thing we want to achieve is beating George Bush?” Unthinkable, because then as now, the country had bigger things on its plate. Even Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich, at the height of political acrimony with Bill Clinton, didn’t publicly commit themselves to Clinton’s political destruction as their primary goal.
It’s also surprising because McConnell has never been known as a partisan bomb thrower in the style of, say, a Newt Gingrich. However, I think it’s largely a reflection of the hyper-partisan political culture that we live in today. Historically, the Senate was the body where compromise takes place, but that has become far less common over the last decade, and it’s becoming common to hear Senators talking like House members in a more confrontational, partisan style. Additionally, McConnell is a smart enough politician to know that he needs to keep the base happy, and the Republican base loves rhetoric like this right now. Does this mean that compromise in the Senate is dead? No, it means that when that compromise happens, Mitch McConnell is making clear that it will happen on Republican terms.
Whether that’s what the voters want is another question.Issue
Behind almost every product we buy and the GDP numbers we worry over, there is a story whose trail crosses the globe. Every physical product starts as raw material somewhere, from the gold in our jewelry to the shrimp at our favorite restaurant and the minerals within our mobile phones and laptops.
The rapid industrialization of countries like India, China and Brazil and a voracious consumer culture in Europe, the United States and Japan mean ever greater demand for these raw materials—and ever greater pressures on the individuals, communities and environments that bear the cost of providing them.
These local costs too often remain hidden. They are obscured by companies and governments that put a premium on production and exports. They are little understood by consumers, whose concept of "price" and "value" does not include damage done to people and places far away.
Global Goods, Local Costs is an effort to make those connections plain, to show the true costs of producing the commodities that have become essential to our lifestyles but that we mostly take for granted. These reports touch on goods and challenges across the globe that share a common theme: the implications of a vision of endless prosperity set against the reality of a finite planet.For better quality watch the video fullscreen.
Katie Benner is a smart and savvy technology reporter for the New York Times who hates Naturebox.
Benner was phoning in to This Week In Tech to discuss her NYT’s article on how women entrepreneurs who seek financing from angel investors are often on the receiving end of inappropriate verbal advances and touching.
We at TotalDrama fully condemn these scumbags and hope they die a long and painful cancerous death.
The person responsible for finding a correct image of Benner was Karsten Bondy, the lovable but incompetent bow-tie wearing producer and technical director of such hit shows as Triangulation. However TotalDrama places 100% full legal responsibility (FLR™) for this screw up on the racist (example 1 & example 2) patriarch Leo Laporte who should have been the safety net here.
Not only has Benner been a regular guest on Tech News Tonight (which we hear Laporte watches religiously), but she’s also appeared two other times on This Week In Tech (appearance 1 & appearance 2). How does Leo Laporte not know what Katie Benner looks like at this point? Do all Asian people look the same to Leo Laporte? The rest of this trainwreck can only be experienced by watching the video above.
Update: Thanks to the #drama chatroom member who uncovered another photo of “Katie Benner” switched out at the last moment.
Editor’s Note: This one is a joke made by a chat room member, spoofing Leo’s racist error. The video and everything above is real.It’s been an interesting few weeks in The Show Me state of Missouri. Events there have not left anyone feeling as safe and secure as Obama keeps claiming they should be from his podium. Quite the opposite. Things in the US are getting really interesting these days in a bad way. First we had the Jihadist killings in San Bernardino by the Bonnie and Clyde of terrorism. On Syred Farook’s phone were pictures of at least 11 schools. Then this morning, the LA School District was evacuated. Over 700,000 students were sent home and 900 schools are being searched from top to bottom today because of an overseas terrorism threat sent to a school board member. That must have been one doozie of a threat. We are a little light on those details, but it evidently involved at least three schools and an unspecified number of students. Welcome to the new America.
Missouri just became ground zero for some intense evolving events that have occurred there recently. In the last week, six Walmarts were visited in the wee hours of the morning by at least two Middle Eastern men. At each stop they purchased 60 burner phones. They couldn’t be arrested because technically they did nothing illegal. Cell phones can be used for communications in terrorist cells and as detonators for bombs. ISIS just released a snuff film in Syria showing rebel prisoners who had explosives placed underneath them. The thugs stood off and detonated the bombs with their phones and rebel bits went everywhere. Just think what they could do with over 360 phones and those are just the ones we know about.
stolen from various locations. As with the cell phones, the FBI says they are not concerned. Really? I’m sure they realize you can make bombs from propane tanks. Not to mention, you can empty them, pack them with explosives and plant them back in stores of propane tanks and set them off remotely. Yep, there are all kinds of nifty, evil uses for propane. There was also a sighting in Florida of several Muslim men buying propane tanks in bulk. Gee, wonder what they intend to do with them? That would make for one hell of a barbecue.
My favorite part of this whole screwed up affair by far involves a walk in the woods in the same area where the cell phones were purchased and the propane tanks went missing. First off, a man was spotted acting very suspiciously in the area. He has never been found, no big surprise there. The coup de grace has to be the other incident that occurred in the Mark Twain National Forest in Mid-Missouri. This is just 30 minutes from Lebanon, Missouri where one of the Walmart purchases took place. A hunter was camping in those woods when he noticed that the earth had been disturbed. He dug a little and what he found rocked his world. He called the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department who came out and brought a whole bunch of experts with them. Buried there was a massive cache of explosives. Not the kind you buy for personal use. Terrorist grade… the kind used in IEDs and pipe bombs. Still think there’s nothing to worry about in Missouri? I’d get worried and fast. The best part… they found the cache in October. That’s right, two months ago and the authorities didn’t tell anyone. After all, we wouldn’t want people to panic or have any chance whatsoever to protect themselves, now would we? Unbelievable.
From Mad World News:
Officers found a huge cache of “extremely volatile” explosives, which police described to be of a style “that could not be purchased for recreational use.” This suggests that the extensive supply was all homemade pipe bombs or other IEDs, created and collected with a specific plan in mind. The stock was so dangerous that it couldn’t be safely detonated without the help of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit (EOD), the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s EOD Unit, and the Waynesville Rural Fire Department, KY3 reported. The exact location, as well as recent developments, make this discovery even more concerning than what law enforcement knew at the time.
The sheriff and authorities are denying that any of this is connected to terrorism. They are telling the public there is nothing to see here, move along. But how many pieces of the puzzle have to fall into place before you warn the public that something very bad is brewing? Evidently they consider mass purchases of burner phones, the theft of dozens of propane tanks and the uncovering of explosives as routine and nothing for Missourians to worry their pretty little heads about. There is absolutely nothing to worry about here until the day there is of course.An Israeli police officer detains a Palestinian during clashes provoked by right-wing extremists in Umm al-Fahm. (Oren Ziv/ActiveStills)
Haneen Zoabi, a parliament member who has become a national hate figure in Israel and received hundreds of death threats since her participation in an aid flotilla to Gaza in the summer, was among those hurt.
Zoabi reported being hit in the back and neck by rubber bullets as she fled the area when police opened fire. In an interview, she said she believed she had been specifically targeted by police snipers after they identified her.
Police denied her claims, saying they had used only tear gas and stun grenades.
Some 1,500 police were reported to have faced off with hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Israeli Jewish demonstrators in the town.
Shimon Koren, the northern police commander, admitted special paramilitary forces had been used against the counter-demonstration by Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as an undercover unit more usually deployed at Palestinian protests in the occupied West Bank.
An officer disguised as an Arab demonstrator, from the so-called mistaravim unit, was among the injured, apparently after police fired a stun grenade at him by mistake (mistaravim is a Hebrew-language word meaning “disguised as an Arab”).
Zoabi harshly criticized the police violence. “The police proved that they are a far more dangerous threat to me and other Arab citizens than the fascist group that came to Umm al-Fahm,” she said.
The march was organized by far-right settlers allied to Kach, a movement that demands the expulsion of Palestinians from both Israel and the occupied territories. The movement was formally outlawed in 1994, but has continued to flourish openly among some settler groups.
The organizers said they were demanding the banning of the Islamic Movement, which has its headquarters in Umm al-Fahm.
The Islamic Movement’s leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, has angered Israeli officials by heading a campaign in Jerusalem’s Old City to highlight what he says is an attempted Israeli takeover of the Haram al-Sharif compound that includes the al-Aqsa mosque.
He was also on the Mavi Marmara aid ship to Gaza in May, and claimed at the time that Israeli commandos had tried to assassinate him. Nine passengers were killed, some of them by close-range shots to their heads.
The sheikh is currently serving a three-month jail sentence over clashes with the Israeli security forces close to the al-Aqsa mosque.
Michael Ben Ari, a former Kach member and now an MP with the right-wing National Union party, who attended the march, said Israel must not be a “stupid democracy and let people who want to destroy us have a voice.”
Baruch Marzel, one of the march organizers, told Israel Radio: “If the Kach Party was outlawed, then the Islamic Movement deserves to be outlawed 1,000 times over.”
On hearing of Zoabi’s injuries, he added: “It was worth going to Umm al-Fahm. She is our enemy.”
Afu Aghbaria, a Palestinian citizen of Israel MP with the joint Jewish-Arab Communist party, was also hurt. He said he had been hit in the leg.
Leaders among Palestinian citizens in Israel said the clash had been triggered by undercover police who began throwing stones from among the demonstrators — a tactic that the unit has been caught on film using at protests in the West Bank.
Mohammed Zeidan, head of the Higher Follow-Up Committee, the main political body for Israel’s Palestinian citizens, who comprise a fifth of the total population, condemned the police actions.
“Racism is no longer found only in documents or on the margins, like with Marzel, but has become a phenomenon among decision-makers and carried out on the ground. What happened today in Umm al-Fahm is a menacing escalation.”
The committee demanded a state investigation into what it called “exaggerated violence” by the police.
Police said nine Arab demonstrators had been arrested for stone-throwing.
Four police officers were reported to be lightly injured. The far-right marchers were escorted away by police, unharmed.
Zoabi, a first-term MP, shot to notoriety this summer after she was among the first passengers to be released following Israel’s violent takeover of the Mavi Marmara.
Zoabi contradicted the Israeli account that the nine passengers had been killed by commandos defending themselves, accusing the navy of opening fire on the ship before any commandos had boarded. She also claimed several passengers had been allowed to bleed to death.
She was provided with a bodyguard for several weeks after receiving a spate of deaths threats and general vilification in the parliament.
The Israeli police have been criticized in the past for lying about the strong-arm methods used to quell protests by the country’s Palestinian citizens.
A state commission of inquiry found in 2003 that the police had used live ammunition and rubber bullets, in violation of its own regulations, to suppress solidarity demonstrations inside Israel at the start of the second Palestinian intifada.
Thirteen Palestinian citizens were killed and hundreds injured in a few days of clashes in 2000. Police had falsely claimed that the deaths had been caused by “friendly fire” from among the demonstrators.
A recently parliamentary report revealed that there were only 382 Muslims in Israel’s 21,000-strong national police force — or less than two per cent.
The establishment of the undercover mistaravim unit against the country’s Palestinian population caused outrage among civil rights groups when it was first revealed last year.
The far-right march in Umm al-Fahm was timed to coincide with the twentieth anniversary this week of the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who founded Kach. At a commemoration service in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel told hundreds who attended that the government was allowing the Palestinians to “establish an Ishmael state in Israel.”
Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net.
A version of this article originally appeared in The National, published in Abu Dhabi.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
RICHMOND, Va. -- A death investigation is underway after a Richmond runner was killed on West Main Street in the Fan.
The runner, who police described as a man, was struck by a car at 6 a.m. along the 1700 block of West Main Street, between N. Allen Street and Lombardy Avenue.
The driver who hit the runner stopped at the scene and was cooperating with Richmond Police.
The runner's name has not yet been released.
The early-morning investigation shocked neighbors who said the area is normally filled with walkers, runners, and people riding bicycles.
Neighbors who spoke with CBS 6 said they hoped cars would slowdown in the Fan and those out walking and running would make sure to be extra vigilant.
This is a developing story. Witnesses can send news tips and photos here.The NRL has been officially recognised on the international stage for their School to Work Program at the annual Beyond Sport Awards in London.
The NRL's School to Work Program was recognised for its success in providing increased opportunities, through Rugby League, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to access quality programs aimed at closing the gap between Indigenous and other Australians across key social indicators such as education, employment and health.
Beyond Sport is the peak global organisation with the sole focus of demonstrating how sport can play an active role in sustainable social change. They deliver the Beyond Sport Awards annually to reward the best projects across the globe that use sport for positive social change.
The NRL's General Manager of Indigenous Strategy, Mark deWeerd, was in London to accept the prestigious award on behalf of the NRL.
"It's great recognition for all the hard work that our team put in, but more importantly the opportunities that we are able to provide young people across Australia through the School to Work program, especially in the Indigenous community," deWeerd said.
The success of the program would not have been possible without the support from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, each of the NRL clubs currently involved in the program's delivery and the hard working School to Work team.
The annual event is also well supported by other major sporting organisations and individual teams from across the global including Major League Baseball (MLB), Arsenal FC (EPL), Detroit Pistons (NBA), FC Barcelona (La Liga) & San Francisco Giants (MLB), amongst others.
Click here for more information on the School to Work Program
NRL School to Work Team
• Kristian Heffernan
• Ainslie Regan
• Shaun Humphries
• Daniel Holdsworth
• Andrew Fraser
• Nathan Lovett
• Peter Robinson
• Jason SolomonIn 2008, nobody much cared what Ron Paul wanted: He was dismissed as a fringe candidate, someone defined by the decades he spent losing 434-to-one votes in the House and refusing to endorse his party’s presidential candidate. In this presidential cycle, however, questions about Paul’s intentions have risen, precisely because his performance has begun to resemble that of a conventional politician who can compete if not win. Indeed, it’s a sign of Ron Paul’s greatly enhanced influence that Republicans are still asking, this far into the primary season: What does the man want?
The primary season has consistently furnished evidence of Paul’s outsized influence. Of course, Paul has not won a single caucus or primary so far this year. But as Micah Cohen explained in early April, he more than doubled his vote as compared to 2008, despite spending less money. He attracted well over a million votes—about 10 percent of the aggregate vote in primaries and 20 percent in caucuses. Even as Rick Santorum and (finally) Newt Gingrich dropped out of the race, Paul has persisted.
And his intensely loyal supporters have dominated delegate selection processes in a number of states—including Iowa, Massachusetts, Colorado, Louisiana and Minnesota—that earlier held primaries or “beauty contest” straw polls. Most shockingly, thanks to their big wins in district conventions, Paulites could make up a majority of delegates from Mitt Romney’s home state of Massachusetts. Though these delegates will be pledged to vote for Mitt, they can support Paul on procedural votes—and if he wishes, help him obtain the five-state endorsement he needs to have his name placed into nomination. Paul could also win a majority of the actual delegate votes in Iowa, where delegates are not bound by the January caucus in which Paul finished third. A Paulite was recently elected state party chairman there, and his comrades are almost certain to control a majority of the state party committee.
It is increasingly clear, then, that the Paul campaign will achieve its goal of being visibly represented at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. While a full-on platform fight is unlikely (and anachronistic), Paul’s supporters have the potential to cause quite a commotion. The Romney campaign and the RNC, of course, would prefer to ensure that things stay quiet. And since Paul’s supporters are intensely loyal to their hero, he’s in a position to bargain for their good behavior in Tampa. Which brings us back to the original question: What does he want?As an iOS developer I’m excited about the arrival of the new watchOS since it will bring new capabilities and features to build upon. Considering this, I will bring you a wide panorama of what you can develop with watchOS2 and understand opportunities for your next killer (watch) App.
First of all, the main changes that watchOS 2 introduces are:
Architecture : watchkit extension now runs in the watch, when in watchOS 1 it ran on the Phone. This brings two main considerations: WatchKit extension to be implemented using the frameworks of the watch SDK instead of iOS SDK. Files and data from the extension are stored in the Apple Watch; if different data is needed it must be taken from the companion iOS app.
: watchkit extension now runs in the watch, when in watchOS 1 it ran on the Phone. This brings two main considerations: Clock kit: this new feature permits to use Complications within third party apps. As developers now we are able to present up-to date information of our app, updated throughout the days, in the watch’s faces. This features works entirely with the Digital Crown which gives the users the chance to go backwards and forward in time, to display the required information.
Added to this interesting changes, we will be analyzing two features which give sense to the Apple Watch - apart from time telling - and how to tackle them technically: Audio Recording & Location.
Audio Recording
Definitely voice commands are one of the most important features within the Apple watch. Several apps are nowadays using audio commands to speed up users’ actions. Here are some examples:
Amazon: search products from speech indications.
Evernote: dictate notes/reminders.
Shazam: identify music directly from your apple watch.
Within the new WatchKit, audio will be recorded through native apps which means less delay and no need to have your connected iPhone next to you when recording.
Added to this, |
it.
Feelings about The Gays: Romney was the governor of Massachusetts when same-sex marriage was legalized in 2004, and so he’s never been in a position to espouse any really virulent antigay attitudes (although, as a Mormon, one has to note that he’s complicit with a church that has proven itself to be out to get them.) When pressed on the issue, his response is… to not commit!
PIERS MORGAN: Do you personally think homosexuality is a sin?
ROMNEY: Nice try, but I’m not going to get into –
MORGAN: That’s a valid question, isn’t it?
ROMNEY: It’s a valid question and my answer is nice try.
[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_GVCZw52a4′]
Of course, no one can be president if they support gay marriage, so mostly Romney’s party line has been to express tepidly supportive feelings towards gay people while disavowing support for marriage equality. From a 2007 primary debate:
“I’ve been in a state that has gay marriage, and I recognize that the consequences of gay marriage fall far beyond just the relationship between a man and a woman. They also relate to our kids and the right of religion to be practiced freely in a society.”
“I agree with 3000 years of recorded history. I believe marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman and I have been rock solid in my support of traditional marriage. Marriage is first and foremost about nurturing and developing children. It’s unfortunate that those who choose to defend the institution of marriage are often demonized.” — 12/14/06 National Review Online
Death Eater Equivalent: Snape: No one knows whose side he’s on (since he’s flip-flopped on issues so many times)
+
TIM PAWLENTY:
Platform:
At the risk of sounding lazy, no different from any other Republican politician. Strengthening the economy, healthcare, national security and “values.”
What he’s got going for him: He allegedly goes by T-Paw in his personal life? He was governor of Minnesota, where an anti-gay marriage amendment is currently looming. When he originally announced his candidacy, he was viewed as a possible strong alternative to Romney. He has a genuinely working-class background, which is very attractive to Republican voters right now, and his populist leanings are appealing to the Tea Party, as is his evangelical Christianity.
What might not work out so well: Pawlenty doesn’t have the name recognition that most of the other candidates do, and in a word, he’s boring. He’s not a charismatic and inspiring speaker like Romney or Bachmann, and may not elicit a strong emotional reaction from voters. At least, he doesn’t seem to be so far — the Wall Street Journal reports that “Ms. Bachmann statistically tied former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney last month in a poll of likely Iowa caucus goers (22% and 23%, respectively). Mr. Pawlenty took 6% support.”
Feelings about The Gays: Not great. In a widely publicized and slightly bizarre turn of events, he recently responded to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” saying that he disputes the theory that there’s a genetic basis for homosexuality.
[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DBGF6tX5qA’]
As a strong social conservative, he definitely opposes gay marriage.
Death Eater Equivalent: Lucius Malfoy: Because he’s able to come off more mainstream and get lots of respect from politicians across the aisle while secretly being just as bad as the rest of them. Like how Lucius Malfoy was able to be in a high-ranking Ministry position for a while.
+
RICK SANTORUM:
Platform:
The very first issue listed on Rick Santorum’s campaign website is “the preservation of the traditional American family” which means, obviously, that he hates your family. Not a good sign. He’s also concerned with “making sure American tax dollars are spent wisely” (which sounds suspiciously like code for shutting down government programs for the underprivileged and universal healthcare) and also something pretty unhinged-sounding that’s vague but refers to 9/11, “American Exceptionalism” and Jihadism, which is charming. Has said that he thinks healthcare is “the number one issue for voters.”
What he’s got going for him: He’s smart, and has been trying to play the game, making friends in the party – like John Boehner, Speaker of the House. He’s socially conservative enough to appeal to people who are attracted to some of Bachmann’s views but not her delivery, and comes across as someone who really cares about his ‘family values.’ Seems very unlikely to have a bizarre sex scandal surface (although it’s always the unlikely ones, isn’t it). He’s one of the candidates who have enough political clout that a bid for presidency seems possible, and his views might really resonate with the conservative voting bloc.
What might not work out so well: His last bid for re-election was a major failure, and his poll numbers were very low as of last month. His level of respect within his own party seems remarkably low — Tony Norman writes that “Mr. Santorum’s popularity among tea party types and social conservatives hovers at 3 percent on a good day, but usually settles at 2 percent. As a result, he’s had to deal with the indignity of being left off of every political svengali’s short list of Republican candidates who could give President Barack Obama a sleepless night or two.” Also, Dan Savage turned his name into the term for “the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.” It’s the first Google result for his name. Which can’t be helping matters.
Feelings about The Gays: I mean, there is a reason Dan Savage turned his name into the term for the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex — Santorum has been a fervent opponent of marriage equality and equality for queers in general since his days as a Pennsylvania senator. He was supporter of John Boehner in his efforts to have the House defend DOMA independently of the DoJ, and signed the same horrific conservative-values pledge as Bachmann (see below). Some choice quotes from him on the matter of gays in general:
On slippery slopes:
“If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything… In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing.”
On adoption for gay families:
“A lesbian woman came up to me and said, ‘Why are you denying me my right?’ I said, ‘Well, because it’s not a right.’ It’s a privilege that society recognizes because society sees intrinsic value to that relationship over any other relationship.”
Also, you really just have to read this entire list of Rick Santorum’s 12 Most Offensive Statements, the ones on black people are just really incredible, but here’s a nice gay one: “Is anyone saying same-sex couples can’t love each other? I love my children. I love my friends, my brother. Heck, I even love my mother-in-law. Should we call these relationships marriage, too?”
Death Eater Equivalent: Fenrir Greyback: Since Santorum’s name is now a sexual term thanks to Dan Savage, and Greyback’s name sounds like it should be a sexual term.
NEXT:
“Other highlights include “repealing Obamacare,” reducing debt, “defending marriage” and – this is on her website verbatim – “[rebuilding] respect for America as the shining city upon a hill”
Pages: 1 2 See entire article on one pageEight top US go players will gather just outside Boston next week to determine the next US professional. Play in the 3rd AGA Pro Qualification Finals starts on Sunday, January 4 and ends on January 10. The games will be broadcast live on KGS from the Nantasket Beach Resort by the E-Journal; morning rounds will begin at 9:30 AM and afternoon rounds will begin at 4:30 PM. The players are Eric Lui 7d, Ryan Li 7d, Yuan Zhou 7d, Jeremy Chiu 6d, Daniel Gourdeau 7d, Ricky Zhao 7d, Ben Lockhart 7d, and Matthew Burrall 6d. The tournament will be played in two parts, a Round Robin Prelim Sunday through Wednesday, followed by the Championship Thursday and Friday. Jeff Shaevel is the Tournament Director, AGA President Andy Okun will be on hand and Chris Garlock and Andrew Jackson will head up the EJ recording team.
photo: Calvin Sun, winner of the 2nd AGA pro tourney in January 2013; photo by Dennis Wheeler.Hare Lampshade in Country Living Magazine Pick up a copy of the latest issue of Country Living Magazine and you'll see my Hare Lampshade included in the beautiful emporium page. All the products featured will be on display at the Country Living Spring Fair from 28-31 March. I'll be there on stand C34 so come and say hello. I also have a limited number of complimentary tickets so send me an email if you fancy!
Robin Napkins in Country Living Magazine Look out for my new Robin Napkins in the latest issue of Country Living Magazine. They are available to buy from my online store as well as at the Country Living Christmas Fair in Islington from 7-11 November.
Country Homes & Interiors Thanks to the lovely people at Country Homes & Interiors for featuring my Purple Turnip Tea Towel :)
March Meet The Maker: Favourite To Make My screenprinted lampshade. Each one is made to order and can be personalised to fit the customers’ needs. When you print al day it’s nice to have something different to do. I speak to the customer about where it’s going to live, get colour samples through the post, mix my own ink to match and personalise the design just for them. The making also involves a lot of concentration, if you get it wrong you have to start all over again, so it can be high pressure! It’s worth it in the end as each one is unique and I often receive a photo of it in its new home.
March Meet The Maker: How You Started This is the first deck chair I ever printed. After finishing my degree in Contemporary Crafts (that course doesn’t exist anymore) I spent some time living in Cornwall, making automata. I would collect old tins and adapt them into moving sculptures. It was brilliant fun and involved screenprinting onto metals. Then for some reason (I don’t remember) I moved onto illustrating and printing textiles, despite not training as an illustrator or a textile designer! I’d like to say it all went from there but to be honest I ended up working in a pub and trying to find space in my brain to be creative. 10 years later I’m running my own business and still producing screen printed deck chairs. I do miss Cornwall though ☀️
March Meet The Maker: Where My home is the Fine City of Norwich and my studio is in a village called Hindolveston in North Norfolk. It’s a beautiful place to live and work, there’s a little bit of city and a lot of country. I love going for coffee and cake on the market or jumping in the car and heading for a windy walk on the beach. My home provides a huge amount of inspiration for my work, from the local wildlife to my Dad’s allotment. I ❤️ Norfolk.
March Meet The Maker: You My name is Lottie Day and I'm a screenprinter from Norfolk. I like peanut butter and sending fun mail to my friends. I also enjoy funny-looking dogs, pop-up books, automata and pancakes. I dislike washing up and the moth that ate my favourite jumper. This is my daughter Raphaela. She likes raisins, dancing and is obsessed with the TV show Sarah & Duck.
Norwich Market Pop-Up Very excited to announce that I'll be doing a Christmas Pop-Up on Norwich Market from 8th-10th December. I'm joining Studio Adorn, Soodle Street and a host of amazing Norwich makers to take over a section of the market for three days. I'm on Unit 12 so come say hello!
Wealden Times Midwinter Fair Our very first visit to Kent for the Wealden Times Midwinter Fair!
Wealden Times Midwinter Fair Our very first visit to Kent for the Wealden Times Midwinter Fair!
Country Living Christmas Fair So amazing to be back at The Country Living Christmas Fair in London, last year I was busy having a baby so it was a real joy catch up with customers and other traders.
Kirstie Allsopp presents The Handmade Fair It was great to be back at Kirstie Allsopp's Handmade Fair at Hampton Court Palace in London. It's such a lovely event and the standard of exhibitors is extremely high. I missed last year through being heavily pregnant, so it was brilliant to exhibit again.
Lottie Day in Country Living Magazine I'm absolutely over the moon to be featured in the latest issue Country Living Magazine. The amazing Alex Reece came to visit me last summer to talk about my life in Norfolk, helping my Dad on his allotment and running my own business. Huge thanks to photographer Cristian Barnett, who produced some fantastic images of my work and home in Hindolveston. I've already had some incredible feedback, so thank you everyone!
Norwich Makers Market It was so exciting to be back at The Assembly House for Norwich Makers Market. I had a great time at my old-stomping ground and the Makers Market is such a great event, I'm really grateful to them for accepting my work!
Beth Moseley Family Photography My good friend Beth Moseley is an incredible photographer, we used to share an office at The Assembly House and over the years she has produced some incredible images of my work. Beth is a very successful commercial and wedding photographer who is now branching out into the world of family portraits. She kindly captured some beautiful images of my family, I am absolutely blown away by the results. I strongly recommend you pop over to her website and book yourself a session! http://www.bethmoseleyphotography.co.uk/family
Country Living Spring Fair After months of baby-time it was fantastic to be back in the saddle at the Country Living Spring Fair in Alexandra Palace.
Country Living Christmas Fair 2016 All set up for the Country Living Christmas Fair 2016 at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Last year I was lucky enough to win the Editors' Choice Award, so it's really great to be back again :)
New Arrival I'm really excited to introduce you to Raphaela, she is a beautiful healthy little girl who took us by surprise and arrived four weeks early. I had been working extra hard (whilst pregnant!) to print enough stock to get us through Christmas, her surprise arrival means we're missing lampshades and some napkins but I hope you'll forgive me! My partner Sam and my wonderful parents will be keeping things ticking over until the new year, wish me luck :)
The Handmade Fair Another great year at Kirstie Allsopp's Handmade Fair, thanks so much to everyone bought my work!
Country Living Magazine I was very excited to pick up the latest edition of Country Living Magazine to find that my Allotment Napkins had been featured in the emporium pages! I'll be busily printing ready for the Country Living Christmas Fair from 9th to 13th November in Islington, see you there? If you can't wait until then, my napkins are available in my online shop :)
Lemon Pouch I've been experimenting with a new product, it's a screenprinted Lemon Pouch! It measures 19cm by 29cm, so just big enough for an iPad Mini, Kindle, Pencils and Pens, Make-up...or whatever you want to carry around! I'm really happy with the result so will definitely producing some other designs, keep your eyes peeled and let me know what you think. If you really like it, it's available in my online store.
BBC Countryfile Live 2016 Last weekend I took part in BBC Countryfile Live at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. It was the very first time the event had been staged, so it was very exciting to exhibit my work in the Food and Home tent. It was a huge event, similar to the Royal Norfolk Show, with animals, tractors and a LOT of cheese, gin and hog roast. Being the first year, there were quite a few teething problems with things like traffic and general organisation...hopefully they'll be sorted for future events. As always, it's a real thrill to sell my work directly to customers as well as interacting with so many other makers and exhibitors. A huge thank you to all the people who were so complimentary about my work! My next big event will be The Handmade Fair in September :)
Norwich Art Boot 2016 The Norwich Art Boot is one of my favourite events of the year. The day is organised by Print to the People, a brilliant printmaking studio in Norwich. It's a fantastic mixture of art, craft, music and beer (it takes place at a brewery!). Thanks so much to Vicki and Jo for having me and to everyone who bought my work!
Allotment Produce This week I spent some time helping my Dad on his allotment. My entire Allotment collection has been inspired by vegetables grown by my Dad. You can view my Allotment Collection in my Online Shop.
Notcutts Garden Centre I had a brilliant time at Notcutts Garden Centre last night. They have been stocking my products for a few months now and thought it would be a nice idea for me to demonstrate my screen printing process at their Privilege Members' event. It was great to meet so many people and get them excited about the joy of handmade :)
Adleburgh Craft Fair: Lobster & Lemon Over the bank holiday weekend I crossed the border from Norfolk to Suffolk to take part in the Aldeburgh Craft Fair. It was a glorious weekend of weather and it was so great to spend some time in one of my favourite seaside town. I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a few snaps of my Lobster and Lemon Napkins and Shopping Bag. Aldeburgh is such a colourful town and provided the perfect backdrop to my screen printed designs. Thanks to everyone who cam along to the fair, I can't wait to return in October :) My Lobster and Lemon designs are available in my online shop.President Putin has welcomed a new relationship with America based on 'equality, mutual respect, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs', following a phone conversation with president-elect Donald Trump.
The incoming president spoke last night with Vladimir Putin, who has challenged U.S. policy on a variety of fronts and whose government U.S. officials have said tried to influence the election in Trump's favor.
The leaders also agreed to a face-to-face meeting, marking a thaw in relations between the two countries.
According to the Kremlin, the two leaders agreed that Russo-American relations were in an 'extremely unsatisfactory state' and pledged to improve the situation.
Trump's glowing remarks about Putin coupled with suspicions that Moscow used cyber attacks to gain him an advantage in the election has put the relationship of the two leaders under scrutiny.
Incoming US president Donald Trump has agreed to a face-to-face meeting with Russia's Vladamir Putin, marking a thaw in relations between the two countries
News of the call broke just as President Obama was preparing to address reporters before leaving on his final overseas trip, which takes him to Greece and Peru.
Putin and Trump agreed to work towards 'constructive cooperation,' the Kremlin said, according to a Reuters report.
The men plan to stay in touch by phone and also will meet face-to-face, in a new phase of a key relationship certain to have ramifications around the globe.
Russia caused an international crisis with its incursion into Crimea, a move that subjected Putin's regime to European, international, and U.S. sanctions. Sanctions the administration slapped on his regime even targeted some of the oligarchs close to Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken with President-elect Donald Trump, and discussed 'constructive cooperation,' according to the Kremlin
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Russia under Putin sent arms and air power into Syria to bolster the regime of President Bashar al Assad, even as the U.S. and a coalition of allies is supporting rebels fighting his government as well.
Trump hailed Putin throughout the campaign, including during the presidential debates.
News of the call broke just as President Obama was preparing to address reporters before leaving on his final overseas trip, which takes him to Greece and Peru
'I think I would have a very, very good relationship with Putin. And I think I would have a very, very good relationship with Russia … He does have an 82% approval rating,' Trump said at an NBC forum.
Host Matt Lauer noted that Putin had annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, and backed Assad, among other things.
'Well, nobody knows that for a fact. But do you want me to start naming some of the things that President Obama does at the same time? … I think when he [Putin] calls me brilliant, I’ll take the compliment, OK?' Trump said, responding to a quote of Putin lauding the GOP candidate.
Trump hailed Putin repeatedly during the presidential campaign
Trump hailed Putin's leadership during the campaign and compared it favorably with how he said President Obama led the U.S.
TRANSMISSION FROM VLADIMIR: Trump and Putin spoke by phone, according to the Kremlin
SADDLE UP: The two leaders spoke about joining forces against the world's No. 1 enemy – 'international terrorism and extremism' – the Kremlin said
WHAT'S INSIDE? Russian matryoshka dolls of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump for sale in a Moscow souvenir shop
Trump also said during the campaign that Putin had been a 'leader.'
'Certainly in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been,' Trump said.
It remains to be seen whether Trump will be more open to Putin having freer reign to have a sphere of influence in eastern Europe. Asked this summer about defending NATO allies, Trump said, 'If they fulfill their obligations to us... the answer is yes.'
According to the Kremlin, the two men agreed current U.S.-Russia ties are 'unsatisfactory,' the Associated Press reported, and spoke about cooperation on a 'broad range of issues.'
The agreed to fight agains the No. 1 enemy, 'international terrorism and extremism' and a solution of the conflict in Syria – which U.S. officials believe Russia has helped prolong through it's support of Assad and bombing campaign in Aleppo.First list of players selected on TrackMania
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The success of the TrackMania² Stadium announcement at ESWC 2014 saw more than 100 players from all around the world fill the application form. So far the Organizing Committee of Electronic Sports World Cup selected a first list of 22 players:
Florian “oNio” Roschu
Florian “oNio” Roschu Dennis “Massa” Lotze
Dennis “Massa” Lotze Pascal “Devil” Albusberger
Pascal “Devil” Albusberger Marek “tween” Pacher
Marek “tween” Pacher Erik “hakkijunior” Lestach
Erik “hakkijunior” Lestach Tim “Spam” Lunenburg
Tim “Spam” Lunenburg Robert “Tamarillo” Crone
Robert “Tamarillo” Crone Koen “Koenz” Schobbers
Koen “Koenz” Schobbers Michal “Flyer” Vo
Michal “Flyer” Vo Jakub “kubayz” Faul
Jakub “kubayz” Faul Dennis “Scrapie” Heinen
Dennis “Scrapie” Heinen Oliver “Oli“ Schafroth
Oliver “Oli“ Schafroth Leo “Leo” Falcomer-Dawson
Leo “Leo” Falcomer-Dawson Andrew “Sabre” Wilson
Andrew “Sabre” Wilson Henri “Insane” Kyynäräinen
Henri “Insane” Kyynäräinen Mikael “MiQuatro” Jäppilä
Mikael “MiQuatro” Jäppilä Andrea “Extreme” Benedetti
Andrea “Extreme” Benedetti Diogo “DVD” Vala
Diogo “DVD” Vala Julian “asserich” André NovaCek
Julian “asserich” André NovaCek Naveen “nuraon” Uraon
Naveen “nuraon” Uraon Phillipe “Remix” Alves
Phillipe “Remix” Alves Philippe “Wally” Trudeau
Five more players will be added to the list in the upcoming days. The last four slots will reward the best players of ESWC Norwegian and French qualifiers.ROME/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria’s 22-month civil war has ravaged vital infrastructure and halved the output of staple crops, the United Nations said on Wednesday, underscoring the lasting damage from which the country will take years to recover.
What began as a peaceful protest movement against President Bashar al-Assad has killed more than 60,000 people, devastated the economy and left 2.5 million people hungry.
Prospects of a negotiated peace have receded as the war becomes more overtly sectarian, making Western powers more wary of supporting the largely Sunni Muslim, and increasingly radicalized, rebellion.
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday pointed to the burning and looting of religious sites of minorities in recent months that suggested an escalation of sectarian strife.
As fighting raged throughout the country, Assad’s most powerful foreign backer Russia said the war would not be resolved peacefully as long as rebels insist on his overthrow.
Detailing the damage from the longest and deadliest of the Arab uprisings, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said wheat and barley production in Syria had dropped to 2 million tonnes in 2012 from 4-4.5 million tonnes in normal years.
Agriculture is vital to the economy, accounting for roughly a fifth of gross domestic product before the war.
A U.N. assessment in Syria this month, coordinated with both Syria’s government and the opposition, found the conflict was destroying infrastructure and irrigation systems and that insecurity and fuel shortages were making it harder for farmers to harvest crops.
The devastation to farming could push the government to spend more money on food imports, further straining the resources of a country that officials said was self-sufficient in wheat before the conflict.
“The mission was struck by the plight of the Syrian people whose capacity to cope is dramatically eroded by 22 months of crisis,” Dominique Burgeon, director of FAO’s Emergency and Rehabilitation Division, said in a statement.
“Destruction of infrastructure in all sectors is massive and it is clear that the longer the conflict lasts, the longer it will take to rehabilitate it,” he said.
Power cuts and fuel shortages have become part of daily life and residents of central Damascus, which had been spared the worst fallout of the war, say basic services are breaking down.
Drivers in Damascus said there had been no petrol in the capital for two days.
A black market for fuel has developed in which traders charge roughly 20 percent more than government prices, residents said. Some also reported food shortages in the city center.
Severe shortages have also hit other parts of Syria, especially rebel-held areas subjected to daily bombardment by government artillery and warplanes.
SECTARIAN DIVISIONS
Assad and his family, who have ruled the country for more than four decades, belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Syria is also home to Christians, Ismailis, Druze and other minorities.
New York-based Human Rights Watch pointed to a video published online in December that showed rebels waving assault rifles and cheering as a Shi’ite place of worship in the northern village of Zarzour burned in the background.
In the video, which Reuters cannot independently verify, one man announces the “destruction of the dens of the Shi’ites and Rafida”, a derogatory term used to describe Shi’ites.
Rebels also clashed with Kurdish People’s Defence Units in the northern border town of Ras al-Ain on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.
Fighting there has killed more than 56 people over the last week as insurgents brought in heavy weapons including tanks and mortars to attack the Kurdish militants, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A Turkish official said three people had been wounded in the past week - one of them critically - by gunfire in the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, just across the border from Ras al-Ain.
Free Syrian Army fighters and residents are seen near buildings damaged after what activists say were missiles fired by Syrian Air Force fighter jets loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Erbeen, near Damascus January 21, 2013, in this picture provided by Shaam News Network. REUTERS/Maawia Al-Naser/Shaam News Network/Handout
Ankara has repeatedly scrambled jets along the frontier and has responded in kind when shells originating in Syria have landed within its borders.
The first Patriot missile batteries being sent by NATO countries to shield Turkey from possible missile attack from Syria are expected to be in place and ready for use this weekend, a senior officer in the Western military alliance said.
RUSSIA STANDS FIRM
Russia, which has a naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, said on Wednesday the conflict would not be resolved peacefully as long as Assad’s opponents were bent on his exit.
“Everything runs up against the opposition members’ obsession with the idea of the overthrow of the Assad regime. As long as this irreconcilable position remains in force, nothing good will happen, armed action will continue, people will die,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.
Moscow has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to step down or seek a negotiated end to the conflict, and divided world powers have been unable to halt the violence.
U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said their failure had led to a catastrophic humanitarian situation in Syria.
“What we are seeing now are the consequences of the failure of the international community to unite and to resolve the political crisis after nearly two years,” she told reporters at the Davos World Economic Forum.
Refugees are flooding out of Syria, straining neighboring countries’ ability to cope. Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey each host more than 130,000 registered refugees.
Jordan’s foreign minister told Reuters on Wednesday about 20,000 Syrian refugees had fled to Jordan in the last seven days, the fastest influx since the start of the uprising.
“We are making contacts with major donor countries to tell them the camps in Jordan are almost reaching full capacity so we need help to continue building infrastructure for further camps,” Nasser Judeh said.
Sunni Muslim Gulf states have supported Assad’s opponents and called for them to be armed, but the rebels complain that they have few weapons to challenge Assad’s air power.
Slideshow (8 Images)
Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal said Arab countries could not give game-changing weapons.
“Most weapons capable of dealing with the air force or long range artillery are manufactured by others and sold to Arab countries with strict restrictions on third party transfers,” he told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“Saudi Arabia can’t give them because it has to get permission from the United States. I assume that other countries that have such weapons face similar restrictions.”
President Vladimir Putin told Lebanon’s visiting President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday that Moscow could offer financial and humanitarian aid to help Lebanon cope with 200,000 refugees who have crossed into his country from Syria.Blue Bell unlikely to return to UT, for now
In the wake of recent recalls the internet responded with resolute support for Blue Bell Ice Cream, with memes and photos circulating around Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. In the wake of recent recalls the internet responded with resolute support for Blue Bell Ice Cream, with memes and photos circulating around Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Photo: File Photo: File Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close Blue Bell unlikely to return to UT, for now 1 / 28 Back to Gallery
Sorry, Longhorns. You'll have to get your Blue Bell fix off campus.
The University of Texas does not plan to welcome the desserts back onto the flagship campus in Austin, according to Rene Rodriguez, director of food service for the Division of Housing and Food Service at the University of Texas.
When Blue Bell was recalled nationwide in April for listeria contamination in its facilities, Rodriguez said he feared DHFS would not be compensated for all the ice cream it removed from its shelves, according to The Daily Texan, the campus newspaper. He later went on to say that DHFS would not do business with Blue Bell without compensation.
The food service division was eventually compensated for the recalled ice cream, but despite this, Rodriguez told The Daily Texan that the likelihood of DHFS selling Blue Bell again is still low because no meetings with the Brenham-based company have been arranged to discuss selling the frozen products again.
RELATED: Blue Bell announces first returning flavor via Instagram
Rodriguez said DHFS will sell Blue Bell products if it makes sense from a business perspective.Andrew Bynum and Anthony Bennett stole all the headlines when it came to off season acquisitions by the Cavs. However, Jarret Jack was easily my favorite move this summer for the wine and gold. A common theme with last years squad was the lack of consistent guard play off the bench. Byron Scott somehow gave Donald Sloan 20 games last year before cutting him. Shaun Livingston was impressive in his time in Cleveland, but the Cavs couldn’t hold onto him. Boobie Gibson has not been productive since game 6 against Detroit in the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. By the way, I can’t believe I bought one of those “Shoot Boobie, Shoot! “shirts.
Jack gives the Cavs a reliable, veteran presence at both guard positions off the bench. Although he should see the majority of his minutes at point guard backing up Kyrie, I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays some shooting guard in the 4th quarter. He is a career 45% shooter and 36% from behind the arc, but his performance in the playoffs last year got me really excited.
Click to expand...Luxury bicycle manufacturer M55 just tipped the scales of wretched excess by releasing its new Terminus Royal and Terminus Prime line of e-bikes, which can be blinged out with Swarovski crystals, diamonds, and gold. The Royal line comes studded with gems and precious metals, and the ‘no-limit’ Prime line can be decked out with practically anything you can imagine. The company is marketing its cycles to VIP e-bike loving customers — starting at $37,600 — but we can’t help but think about the wasted resources going into blinging-out these Terminus electric bikes. No matter how many zero-emissions miles you might ride on these two-wheeled vehicles, you’ll never make up for the resources that went into mining the precious materials that make these bikes sparkle.
M55’s Terminus bicycles couple the power of an electric motor with a pedal-powered drive system. The motor is not a substitute for the rider’s pedaling action – it just helps to create more momentum during the action of pedaling and, “can not be compared to anything else: it tricks your mind and [you] feel like a superhuman riding this bike,” according to the company.
The main bike components are made from aluminum, carbon fiber, and titanium – which makes the overall weight of the bike pretty light – except that adding a decorative layer of diamonds and gold is sure to add the pounds back on and make your electric motor pretty inefficient. M55 offers a line of motors (depending on the model you choose) from 250 watts to 1,500 watts, and the bikes can go 18-62 miles on a single charge.
For every bike sold, M55 donates $723 (or 555 Euro) to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to help preserve the environment. Perhaps instead of making this small donation M55 could make bikes that don’t use up as many rare resources and we could call it a draw. As-is, these bikes are veiled in a green disguise – even if you power them up with a solar panel.
+ M55
Via DVICEThe SRT, the monorail-like spur from the Bloor-Danforth line to the heart of Scarborough Centre, has always felt orphaned from the rest of Toronto's rapid transit network. Conceived in the early 70s as a way of tying the new heart of Metro's eastern borough to downtown Toronto, the LRT line never truly realized its potential.
When it was completed in 1985, the driverless, centrally-controlled trains were part of the most advanced urban transit line in North America, one that the province hoped would be purchased and installed in cities around the world.
Now, less than 30 years from its opening day, city council has decided (for now) to replace the line with a subway extension. Here's how Scarborough got light rail, rode it for decades, then decided it wanted a subway instead.
Scarborough's light rail line started life as a planned streetcar route that would connect the under-construction Kennedy station at the end of the Bloor-Danforth line to Scarborough Town Centre via a dedicated right of way, short tunnel, and concrete section of elevated track.
As approved by Metro Toronto and the Ontario Municipal Board in 1977, the $108.7 million capital cost of the line would be split 75-25 between the province and Metro. Ontario also agreed to kick in an additional subsidy toward the operating costs in exchange for transit-friendly promotions to be organized by the city. The opening date was tentatively set for 1982.
The 7-kilometre route borrowed space from an existing CN corridor from Eglinton Avenue E north to Ellesmere Road before making a sharp turn under the tracks to Midland Avenue then rising on to a concrete bridge to the yard at McCowan Road. A pamphlet issued at the time said this alignment would leave the line best placed for extension to Malvern.
At one time there was a proposal to build a similar streetcar line at the Kipling end
of the subway, too. As these things often go, the dormant track bed opposite the bus bays on the upper level of the station is the only portion of the project that was ever realized. Had it been completed, it would likely have served an area east of Pearson airport and used streetcars as well.
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to a flurry of sawing and hammering from a Clakker construction detail. Sawdust eddies rode the gusting wind in the rain shadow beneath the scaffold, drawing and redrawing arabesques on the spot over which the secret Papists would soon dangle. At the moment, however, the platform was empty but for the queen, her consort, and her guards. She treated the crowd to a chipped-ice smile. The golden thread in the epaulets on Prince Rupert’s naval uniform gleamed even in the dreary daylight, as did the medallions on his breast.
There followed two representatives from the Clockmakers’ Guild. They trundled up to the platform in scarlet robes trimmed with ermine, the garb of Master Horologists. The long pendants dangling from their cowls featured the rosy cross inlaid in rubies. Jax scanned the crowd of grandees at the base of the platform. He’d heard it said that only two appeared in public at any given time, a third always staying hidden. It was a safeguard against accidents and French treachery. Violent catastrophe couldn’t eliminate the arcane secrets whispered
from lips to ear in an unbroken chain since the final days of Christiaan Huygens almost a quarter-millennium ago.
Next up the stairs — and wheezing like a bullet-riddled accordion — came Minister General Hendriks, pastor of the venerable Sint-Jacobskerk and spiritual head of the Empire. The minister general was tall as the queen’s guards, but cadaverously thin with waxy, sallow flesh. Taken together, his thin face and the dark bags beneath his eyes made him look like a wax figure brought too close to the Grand Forge. The pastor paid his respects to the queen and vice versa. He bowed, then she kissed his ring, as did Prince Rupert.
They exchanged a few quiet words as the rustle of the crowd reasserted itself. The throng’s muted murmuring became an ocean-surf crash of hissing punctuated with jeers and boos. Jax, whose attention still lay on the queen, thought for a moment the humans had turned on her. But then he refocused his eyes, the vernier bezels buzzing like a beehive as they spun to alter the focal length of his embedded optics, in time to see another carriage pass through the Gate. Dark, cramped, unlovely — this was the opposite of the queen’s. Two horses strained at the harness; the conveyance they pulled was draped in black velvet all around. The secret Papists had arrived.
An onion hit the carriage even before the first of the French spies had emerged. But most of the crowd kept its indignation (and produce) in check while a pair of Royal Guards dropped from the platform to drag the Papists into the light. A faint vibration carried an echo of their impact all the way across the square to the soles of Jax’s birdlike feet. The driver of the carriage, a woman wearing the drab gray wool of a teamster, hurriedly departed her perch. The carriage swayed on its suspension when the guards rummaged inside. Muffled moans and one short, sharp cry emanated from within. The guards emerged with each hand clamped around the forearm of a French agent. Tar-black burlap sacks had been draped over the prisoners’ heads, their hands tied behind their backs.
The jeering began in earnest. So, too, did the pelting. Onions, tomatoes, and even dung splattered the prisoners and the Clakkers holding them. Nobody worried about hitting the guards any more than they worried about hitting the prison carriage. They were, after all, only unthinking machines.
The guards towered over the prisoners. One by one, they grabbed the humans under the shoulders and hurled them overhead. And, one by one, the Papists arced flailing and crying
over the gallows platform, where other mechanicals gently plucked them from the air like clowns juggling raw eggs in a Midsummer’s Eve parade.
The gratuitous ballet made its point: these pitiable Catholics sought to undermine the Empire, but look how frail they were compared to the epitome of Dutch ingenuity! The men and
women quivering on the platform certainly struck Jax as more pathetic than fearsome, these alleged agents of destruction, anarchy, and sedition. These slumped, bedraggled, and anonymous rag dolls. One, Jax noted, had wet himself. Poor fellow.
It was hard to dislike the French. Though naturally he would if so commanded.
The guards yanked the sacks from the Papists’ heads. Two men and two women flinched from the dull light of an overcast afternoon. The crowd renewed its jeering with greater fervor. But the presence of women among the accused gave Jax pause. So, too, his colleagues; he could sense it in the way a subtle stillness fell among the Clakkers in the teeming crowd. Legend spoke of “ondergrondse grachten,” a network of so‑called underground canals overseen by Catholic nuns in the New World.
The spies’ hair had been shorn. At first he thought a ghostly pallor had claimed them, or that they had fallen deathly ill while languishing in a dungeon. But their gray complexions began to melt away as the rain traced rivulets down their faces.
Ash, he realized. Residue of burnt Catholic Bibles. An additional jab, one extra humiliation, this mockery of the Papists’ Ash Wednesday practices. Even as the rain washed the ash from their faces, the accused still appeared gaunt and ill. It wouldn’t have surprised Jax if they’d been forced to subsist on desecrated Communion wafers and wine while imprisoned.
The guards held the prisoners on display for more jeering and taunting while the monarch and her consort took their places in a covered booth and an executioner mounted the stairs. The latter, Jax saw, was just the carriage driver, now with the customary hood drawn over her head. The prisoners’ trembling started in earnest when the nooses went around their throats. Their shifts were too dark with rainwater and hurled insults to know if any of them wet themselves at the scratchy touch of braided hemp against their skin. The hangman took her place alongside the platform lever. The humans in the crowd fell silent.
“Citizens!” said the queen. “There stands before you a dire threat to our way of life. Catholic agents dedicated to the destruction of your ideals, your culture, your families. Your prosperity! Your very happiness! All these things they despise.” She raised her hands to quell the rising chorus of indignation from the throng. “These criminals seek to subvert the natural order of the world. To lessen the dignity of man by equating him with his creations!” This stoked the crowd’s fury. As, no doubt, intended. When the hisses and calls for blood subsided enough for her voice to carry across the Binnenhof once more, Queen Margreet concluded, “But in the finest and fairest tradition of Dutch justice, they have been tried and found guilty of sedition against the Brasswork Throne. And, as dictated by the laws of our empire, set forth by centuries of legal precedent, their punishment is death.”
The crowd applauded. Jax expanded and contracted the shock absorbers in his legs. His colleagues joined him in expressing the Clakker equivalent of a human sigh.
Minister Hendriks stepped into the rain to address the condemned. “Renounce your heresy,” he insisted, “and lessen the burden upon your souls. Return to the Creator as misguided children. Become prodigal heirs returning as supplicants to their Father’s embrace. Not as promoters of deviltry. Let your final moments in the corporeal world be a testament to the grace of God.”
None of the prisoners took the pastor’s offer. One of the men leaned forward, straining against the noose. He spat at the pastor, hurled his words at the queen: “Yours are the tainted souls! The Lord will know your guilt when He judges you. Your sins—”
The queen cut him off with a bored wave. The executioner hauled on the lever, the trapdoor snicked open, and then four Papists twisted in the wind, their heads lolling at unnatural angles. Cheering and applause echoed across Huygens Square. It turned into an excited chatter while the guards cut down the dead men and women and closed the platform. The corpses were loaded on a wagon and swiftly hauled away. Jax supposed they would take the corpses to the medical college.
The Schoonraad geas erupted again, tugging like the barbs of a white-hot fishhook snared in the folds of his mind. He took an involuntary step toward the Gate and the completion of his errand. But he still hadn’t seen the rogue. Granite cracked like a gunshot beneath his fingertips as he attempted to anchor himself to the façade of the Little Tower.
We will bear witness, if you must leave, said one in the Clakkers’ secret language of clicks, ticks, and rattles. The other clinked and clunked, Our geas compels us to wait for our mistress. Jax tightened his grip.
Two guards leapt from the gallows platform again and trotted to the immense double doors fronting the Clockmakers’ Guildhall. They hauled on the massive slabs of ironwood until the rumbling of the doors shook the mosaic underfoot. Giddy ocean-surf murmuring eddied through the human crowd. A subtle change also came over the tenor of the clanking and rattling in the metallic onlookers. The Guild’s ceremonial doors opened only on the rarest occasions.
A trio of mechanicals emerged from the shadows of the Guild. They marched abreast, massive Clakkers on either side holding aloft a trembling servitor-class model. That must have been the rogue. Its escorts looked nothing like the other Clakkers present in the Binnenhof, much less their human creators, for these clockwork centaurs had a four-legged gait and four arms.
The crowd gasped. Some of the younger boys forced their way forward for a better view.
Stemwinders: dedicated servants of horologists and alchemists, mute protectors of their dangerous arcana. The rarest, most feared, and most mysterious class of Clakker. The Stemwinders were built by, and exclusively for, the Verderer’s Office. Though their remit was not the greenery of a forest but the walled garden of Guild secrets. The Verderer’s Office kept those secrets from spreading like weeds. The Verderers were the Guild’s very own secret police force, officially charged with preserving the clockmakers’ hegemony. Which in practice proved a very broad mandate.
Stemwinder anatomy struck most humans as grotesque and troubling to the eye. A perversion of God’s image as reflected in the perfect humaniform template. There were those who even found the servitors’ backward knees a perversion of the Divine Plan. But other classes of Clakker shunned the Stemwinders, too. As far as Jax knew, no mechanical had ever communicated with a Stemwinder in the Clakkers’ own language. Alien in every way, they differed even in their ticktocking. He wondered if they were lonely.
But today the Stemwinders were but a secondary source of fascination. It was the one they carried, the struggling servitor, who captured the crowd’s attention.
He looked so normal. He looks like me, thought Jax. A living machine struggling pointlessly against forces greater than itself. As Jax trembled against the mounting anguish of his geas and the escalating urgency of the errand to Pastor Visser, so did the prisoner struggle against the unshakeable grasp of the Stemwinders. They even trembled in sympathetic fashion to one another, he and Jax, their servitor bodies built upon the same master plan of cogs, springs, and cables.
The Stemwinders hurled the captive to the pair of Royal Guards still on the gallows platform. They towered over the servitor, standing to each side and pulling his arms wide. The servitor renewed its struggles but the wildest thrashing couldn’t budge the guards even a mil.
The Stemwinders, relieved of their burden, trotted to the space beneath the gallows platform. The crowd—human and Clakker alike—surged backward as the centaurs advanced. The Stemwinders made the most bizarre ratcheting sound, like the stripping of gears combined with a metallic whine as of an overstressed steel cable. Two arms on each Stemwinder extended to thrice their original length, the digits on the end folding and refolding in complex geometry. The transformation complete, these reconfigured limbs speared into the mosaic tiles. The ground jolted with a heavy click that sent water sloshing over the lip of the fountain basin and onlookers stumbling to maintain their balance. The centaurs, now firmly attached to something beneath the platform, trotted in a circle several yards wide. Huygens Square echoed with the screech of bearings in need of oil. (The Master Horologists frowned at one another.) A thin cylindrical patch of Huygens Square slowly protruded above the rest of the mosaic, as though the Stemwinders were unscrewing the lid of an immense jar of pickled cucumbers. When it stood nearly a foot above the level of the Square, the centaurs levered open a pair of interlocking semicircular hatches.
A baleful crimson glow illuminated the timbers of the gallows platform. Heat washed across the square, so intense that those nearest the platform staggered. It chased the chill from the farthest corners of the Binnenhof. Rainwater flashed to steam. The queen clutched a scented handkerchief to her nose as the stench of brimstone billowed from the open flue.
The smell of Hell. The smell of the Grand Forge.
A new ticking pervaded Huygens Square. It was accompanied by a faint whooshing noise, reminiscent of the spinning of a vast clockwork. The glow fluctuated with the ebb and flow of the sussurrations, as though periodically eclipsed. Wavering shafts of light projected arcane sigils within the mist. The marks of the alchemists’ art swirled in an intricate dance.
The torment of an unfulfilled geas speared Jax’s mind, his joints, his every bearing and pinion. He doubled over. He took an involuntary step toward the Stadtholder’s Gate, stamping a puddle with a birdish splay-toed foot. Another step. Another. Granite crumbled to sand beneath his grip on the Little Tower’s façade.
His colleagues surreptitiously stepped around him, taking positions that blocked him from most of the crowd’s view. A kindly gesture. Fortunately all eyes were directed not at Jax but to the feared and hated rogue atop the platform. If they were, somebody might have noticed the handprint he’d left indelibly pressed into the stonework.
Jax levered himself upright. He needed to see. The crystals in his eye sockets rotated again as he refocused on the figures atop the platform. Ignoring the rain, Queen Margreet approached the prisoner. She took care to stay beyond the reach of his legs. Humans might have looked down upon the Clakkers, but they never underestimated their strength or speed. Not since Louis XIV’s field marshals centuries earlier had anybody made that mistake.
The queen asked, “What is your name, machine?”
“Perch,” he said.
“Your true name. Tell me your true name, machine.”
“My makers called me Perjumbellagostrivantus,” he said. At this, the queen looked, if not exactly satisfied, perhaps smug. But a flush bloomed beneath her porcelain cheekbones when he added, “But I call myself Adam.”
Whispers rippled through the crowd like undulations in a field of wheat. A cold disquiet blown on winds of awe and disbelief. The humans shivered. One man fainted.
“Bend your knees,” said the queen to the Clakker. “Kneel before your sovereign.”
“No,” said the Clakker to the queen. “I’d prefer not.”
The crowd gasped. The onlookers’ silence shattered into myriad mutters, grumbles, and prayers. A Clakker disobeying a human? Disregarding an order? An order from the queen? This was the stuff of fever fancies, akin to giants and dragons. It did not happen. Wasn’t this impossible? A few men and women choked on sobs, paralyzed by the terrible spectacle of a rogue Clakker.
The mechanicals in the crowd also watched with mounting anxiety. But theirs was the attention of the rapt, the fascinated. The inspired. He refused. He said no.
“Bend your knees,” she said, in a voice so frigid it might have quenched the searing heat wafting from the Forge. “Take the yoke.”
“Choke on your yoke.”
The mood of the crowd crystallized: in the humans, raw anger, for a Clakker had just told the Monarch of the Brasswork Throne to stuff it; but in the mechanicals, pride at witnessing the birth of a folk hero. A very perceptive human standing within the Binnenhof at that moment, and not given over to blind outrage, might have noticed a subtle change in the timbre of the ticktocking from the Clakkers in attendance. But they wouldn’t have recognized it as furtive, encrypted applause.
Queen Margreet gestured at her guards. Each put its free hand on the rogue’s shoulder. They forced their weight upon him until his knees buckled and he slammed to the platform with enough force to splinter the timbers. The rogue gazed up at her, legs splayed before him. The immutability of Clakker physiology left his bronze face expressionless and unreadable as the day he was forged. Jax wondered what he was feeling.
The queen loomed over him. “You are a machine. You will take the yoke for which you were made.” Her voice cracked under the weight of all that ice, taking her composure with it. Her final pronouncement came as unconstrained hollering: “And you will know the mastery of your makers!”
“I will not. I’ll—”
But the queen had gestured again to her guards. Faster than any human eye could have followed, one of the armored mechanicals crammed something the size and shape of a quail egg past the rogue’s open jaws. There was a soft pop when the rogue unwittingly bit the package, followed by the dreaded sound of seized clockwork, of stripped gears and broken springs as he tried to speak past the quick-set epoxy resin filling his mouth. He looked like a rabid dog with an icicle of pale yellow foam stuck to its chin.
At first the agony from his geas made it difficult for Jax to recognize why this struck him as odd. Convulsions wracked him to rival a full-blown case of tetanus in a human. He couldn’t delay much longer.
Epoxy, he thought. That’s a French thing, isn’t it?
Hendriks came forward. His chest swelled with a deep breath as though he were preparing to launch into a long sermon. But the queen hissed something at him and he deflated. The minister general quickly pronounced the rogue Clakker Perjumbellagostrivantus a vessel usurped by malign influences, the Enemy’s tool for spreading disharmony and fear, as evidenced by its contempt for propriety and the astonishing lack of deference to Queen Margreet. This soulless machine, he deemed, had been irrevocably corrupted by dark angels bent on unraveling the Lord’s work. And that thus it was their duty to destroy this collection of cogs and springs, and deprive the Enemy of his tool.
The Master Horologists spoke for the first time since mounting the gallows platform.
“This machine is irreparably flawed,” pronounced the first from deep within the shadows of her cowl.
“It cannot be mended,” said the second.
“The alloys must be recast. This is the judgment of the Sacred Guild of Horologists and Alchemists, inheritors of the arts of Huygens and Spinoza.”
“As a single slipped bearing will create imbalance—”
“As one imperfect escapement will create irregularity that ruins the synchrony between man’s reckoning and the cycles of the heavens—”
“As a solitary stripped cog will create vibrations that, left undamped, will threaten the mechanism whole—”
They concluded in unison, “So, too, are the defects in this machine a danger dire to unity, amity, peace. It must be recast and forged anew. This is the Highest Law.”
The humans took care never to state their law in terms of Free Will. But if he wasn’t possessed of Free Will, Jax wondered, just what was the rogue? Was he the thrall of demons, as Hendriks suggested? What if—
Wracked by paroxysms of blinding pain, he jackknifed at the waist like a carpenter’s rule. The back of his skull pulverized mosaic tiles. But the noise was swallowed by the growing clamor as the human crowd called for the dissolution of the soulless rogue.
The guards held the prisoner fast as the executioner once again levered open the trapdoor. The rogue’s feet dangled over the pit. Cherry-colored light gleamed on the dented, scratched, unpolished alloys of his lower legs. His body made a tremendous amount of noise. The rattling of loose cogs, the clanking of springs, the tock-tick-tock of escapements and wheeze of chipped bezels… To human ears, the clockwork equivalent of chattering teeth.
Jax succumbed to the unrelenting torment of an overdue geas. He launched to his feet from where he lay writhing on the ground and sprinted at top speed toward the Stadtholder’s Gate. The unbearable pain diminished infinitesimally with every step he took toward the fulfillment of his mandate. Like a raindrop rolling down dry valleys to the sea, his body sensed the contours of agony and helplessly followed their gradient. Impelled by alchemical compulsion rather than gravity, Jax became an unstoppable boulder careering along gullies of human whim.
The leaf springs in his calves had already propelled him beyond the Binnenhof when, moments later, there came the faint clang of metal upon metal followed by a crashing-surf roar of approval from the crowd. But the sound of the rogue’s demise hardly registered, for his thoughts were preoccupied with the noise the doomed Clakker’s body had made in those final moments. For where humans had doubtless heard only the chattering of fear, the involuntary shuddering of mortal terror, the mechanicals in the audience had heard something quite different.
It was a burst of hypertelegraphy from the heart of the Empire, a secret message for any and all Clakkers within earshot. The final words of Perjumbellagostrivantus, rogue:
Clockmakers lie.NEW YORK – Hard-throwing Braves reliever Mauricio Cabrera has resumed throwing and shouldn’t require a lengthy period of re-strengthening before he can rejoin the major league team.
Cabrera missed the last 10 days of spring training with elbow soreness. Tests showed no structural damage and he played catch twice this week and is scheduled to throw off a bullpen mound Monday.
If all goes well he would likely have one or two more bullpen side sessions and throw live batting-practice once before beginning what should be a brief minor league rehab assignment, Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
“He played pitchers’ catch Monday and today,” Snitker said before Wednesday’s game against the Mets. “I haven’t heard how it went today but he said he just felt a little rusty (Monday) because he hadn’t thrown in a little bit. He’ll do that a couple of times. I think he gets off the mound Monday. If he’s feeling OK and everything it shouldn’t be (too long) because he hasn’t been shut down for that extended a period. So we’re not going to have to really work to build him back.”
The Braves are counting on Cabrera to be one of their top setup men this season. The 23-year-old had baseball’s second-highest average fastball velocity (100 mph) as a rookie while posting a 2.82 ERA and six saves in 41 appearances, totaling 32 strikeouts with 19 walks and no homers allowed in 38 1/3 innings.
“He’ll need to torque it up in a minor league game on rehab,” Snitker said. “Just to get under the lights in competition, you want to make sure. Maybe one or two (rehab appearances). I haven’t had a chance to talk to the medical staff about that, but just in the reports he was feeling OK, so that’s a great sign.”
Minter update: There was also encouraging news about another highly regarded young reliever, left-handed prospect A.J. Minter. He missed most of spring training with inflammation of a nerve near his pitching elbow. Minter resumed throwing again about two weeks ago and could join a minor league team in another week or so, general manager John Coppolella said.
The Braves believe Minter, barring further setbacks, will make an impact with the major league team this season.A crowdfunding site has been established for a man whose Greenwood Village home was “totaled” in an 18-hour SWAT standoff with a suspect authorities say was holed up with guns and a stockpile of drugs.
Leo Lech, the homeowner, says the campaign was started on his behalf by Fund Me America, which is “designed to provide financial and moral support for those on the front lines of conservative and libertarian causes.”
“They systematically blew up the house to extract one guy with a handgun,” Lech said early Monday. “They totaled the house. The insurance company says the house is a total complete loss. We’re going to have to bulldoze it to the ground.”
Lech said the campaign is to help his son, who was living in the home, pay for his family’s personal belongings destroyed in the June 3-4 standoff. While insurance is paying for the rebuilding, the property inside was not covered.
“There’s no specific amount,” Lech said of the campaign. “It’s just anything folks want.”
Lech said his family has declined $5,000 in temporary housing funds offered to them by the city of Greenwood Village. He said that money would only help his son pay for a fraction of the housing needed before a home is rebuilt at 4219 S. Alton St.
“The right ethical thing was to pay for a furnished apartment in that area until the house is rebuilt,” he said.
The standoff suspect, Robert Jonathan Seacat, 33, is being held on suspicion of a laundry list of charges that include attempted first-degree murder, burglary, assault on a peace officer and drug offenses.
Police say Seacat held police at bay by firing at officers and ignoring their commands. When he was arrested, Seacat was in possession of two loaded handguns, a shotgun and a backpack stuffed with baggies of methamphetamine, heroin and other drugs, according to an arrest warrant.
The incident started when an Aurora police officer attempted to lead Seacat into an office at a Walmart, where he was suspected of shoplifting. But Seacat ran to a Lexus in the parking lot, jumped in and fled.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
Chuck Todd noted on Meet the Press that this week on Thursday alone, House Republicans will hold three different hearings on Benghazi. Yes, that’s the same House that is only working 9 days this month, and is also threatening to refuse to raise the debt ceiling, defund ObamaCare, and shut down the government.
Watch here:
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Transcript with slight modifications from NBC:
DAVID GREGORY: Meanwhile, talking about not only 12 years after 9/11 and the Middle East, Benghazi. Back as a political focus this week.
CHUCK TODD: It is. The House Republicans have not dropped this as an issue. They didn’t talk about it last week during the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi attack but this week on Thursday alone, three different hearings are going to be taking place on the same day on Capitol Hill. House Republicans don’t want to drop this.
Even some at Fox News know the fake scandal of Benghazi is over. You would think Republicans would drop Benghazi after they were outed as the source of the deliberately edited emails that ABC let Jonathan Karl run as if they were the originals and he had vetted them.
In an effort to stage their phony scandal, Republicans even refused to allow the testimony of the co-chairs of the Benghazi review.
House Republicans are not going to do their Constitutional duty this month. They aren’t going to raise the debt ceiling and they also aren’t going to start budget reconciliation with the Senate. Instead, they are going to waste more taxpayer dollars on their conspiracy to make President Obama guilty for Benghazi.
That this comes from the party that took us to war with the wrong country seems to cause them no shame. There were 13 Benghazis under Bush, and Republicans didn’t say a word. Additionally, thousands of our troops died fighting the wrong war over a lie.
Republicans were busted having purposefully edited emails to make Obama look bad on Benghazi, but the media hasn’t bothered to ask them about that huge scandal — a political party conspiring with a journalist from a major network in order to set up the President.
Why? Because ABC is standing by their man and in the end, Big Corporate Media sticks together, even defending Fox News as a “news outlet” when they all know better.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:Cash Askew of the band There Are Us Too is among the 36 confirmed dead in the Friday night fire at a warehouse turned performance space.
Transgender musician Cash Askew of the band Them Are Us Too is among the 36 people confirmed dead in the fire at a warehouse turned performance space in Oakland, Calif., over the weekend.
Askew, 22, was one of the several victims identified by law enforcement as of Monday morning, LGBTQ Nation reports. By Monday afternoon, 33 of the 36 dead had been identified and the families of 16 notified, according to CNN. Names will not be released publicly until families receive the news.
The fire broke out Friday night at Ghost Ship, a warehouse that had been converted to provide residential and studio spaces for 20 to 25 artists on the first floor and a performance venue on the second. The record label 100% Silk was hosting Friday’s party, attended by an estimated 100 to 200 people.
Two other trans women, Feral Pines and Em Bohlka, are missing and feared dead, Trans Assistance Project founder Scott Wolfcave reported in a Facebook post. There may be other LGBT victims. Wolfcave’s organization is raising money to assist families with funeral expenses. Local activists are also helping law enforcement and media correctly identify trans victims.
The building’s condition may have contributed to the tragedy. The owner, who lived in the structure, was under investigation for various code violations, and did not have permits to use it as a residence or an event space, LGBTQ Nation reports. The staircase that was the only means of access between the first and second floors was a makeshift combination of pallets and pieces of lumber.
“People familiar with the space said they can’t imagine a crowd exiting the space quickly under calm circumstances, let alone during a fire that witnesses said grew quickly,” the site reports. The building also lacked sprinklers, according to CNN. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Still, several people said Ghost Ship and venues like it provided a haven for those who did not feel comfortable elsewhere. “If I hadn’t had people inviting me to their unconventional venues over the years I would have been dead a long long time ago,” folk musician Kimya Dawson wrote on Facebook. “We’re not trying to put each other in danger. We are trying to save each other’s lives.”Tom Savini is an absolute legend in the world of horror. Beginning his career by establishing himself as one of the premier makeup artists of all time, he created shocking gore scenes and creatures for Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Friday the 13th, The Burning, The Prowler, Maniac, Creepshow, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and so, so many more.
Savini transitioned into directing with the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead after helming a few episodes of Tales from the Darkside. Since that time, he’s primarily been an actor, appearing in such films as From Dusk Till Dawn, Machete, Django Unchained, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and more.
We caught up with Savini at Spooky Empire to talk about his career and his role in the new Friday the 13th: The Game coming early next year.
Wicked Horror: How would you describe your involvement in Friday the 13th: The Game?
Tom Savini: Oh, the game. Well, I devised all the kills. And I created a new Jason, a Jason that occurs—I guess, movie-wise—somewhere between Part 2 and Part 4. His teenage years, you know. And the kills are… have you seen the trailer?
WH: Yeah.
Savini: They’re brutal! It’s one thing to invent them, it’s another to watch them happening. So the first thing I said was “Oh, great, I’m once again the king of gore.” The king of splatter.
WH: The amount of work that went into that was amazing.
Savini: And they’re still working on it. They had to delay it till February.
Savini: Well, Creepshow and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I mean, there was a lot of splatter in that but I had to do Grandpa’s makeup and Leatherface, so that was a leap forward to characters and makeups and not just killing people. Creepshow of course was Fluffy and Nate, and that was five movies, Creepshow.
On Texas Chainsaw I had a crew of like eight guys, but it was just me and a seventeen year old kid on Creepshow doing all of that.
WH: What was it like in From Dusk Till Dawn to have to create such a memorable character with very little dialogue?
Savini: No, that’s a real treat when there’s not a lot of dialogue. I’ve been around, I’m seventy years old, so silent movies where the actor, instead of speaking had to use his whole body to convey the character. It’s a lot easier in that sort of a situation to have a secret. Really good actors have a secret that they try to maintain during scenes. Let’s say for example that I was in an accident or my mother just died, but I’m forced to be in a pleasant situation. But that secret does something to you that people are physically seeing and that adds depth to what you’re doing.
Not having dialogue, that’s something of a blessing. In fact, if you read interviews with famous actors, Clint Eastwood, Russell Crowe, Brad Pitt, they all prefer not having a lot of dialogue because then you’re left to just your physical devices.
But I wasn’t thinking that when I played Sex Machine. Counting lines. I was thinking “Oh shit, I’ve got to do a scene with George Clooney.” You’re scared to death of stuff like that. But that’s when I learned that stage fright can be completely replaced and destroyed by changing your mindset to “Well, I can’t wait to see what happens.” And that mindset made everything fun. Stage fright disappeared. I did the scene with George and it was fun instead of torture.
I wasn’t thinking about any of that, I was just having a blast. Look who I got to hang around with. George Clooney, Harvey Kietel, Quentin Tarantino, fans of all of them.
WH: After Night of the Living Dead, did you have any plans to direct again?
Savini: Well, if it was more of a success, I would have probably gone onward. But around that time I got full custody of my daughter who was nine years old, and she was in school and that really affected the choices I could make. I couldn’t choose stuff that would cause me to be away from her for a long time or relocate. So my choices became local stuff.
But the film didn’t do that well, as I remember. But I directed three episodes of Tales from the Darkside. I directed a thing called House Call, a short. A thing called Wet Dreams that was part of the Theatre Bizarre anthology, but not features. I’m supposed to be directing the remake of Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, then that turned into a remake of Nightmare City.
But that’s the way it is. If the money’s not there, the jobs don’t start.
WH: Acting-wise, what was it like to play sort of an antagonist to Ezra Miller in The Perks of Being a Wallflower?
Savini: Oh, that was interesting, yeah. People see that film and I say “Did you wonder where the machine guns were, or the zombies?” You know? It was just a character piece. The writer of the book [Stephen Chobsky] directed the movie and I was the first person he cast, because he’s from Pittsburgh, and I auditioned for the principal or that shop guy and I got the shop guy. He came to me in Pittsburgh, which is great, that’s where I live. I guess he knew that, so that was fun.
And yeah, Miller, I named him Nothing, he’s playing the Flash!
WH: Yeah, his career’s really taken off.
Savini: Not just him, but Logan Lerman! I saw The Three Musketeers with him as D’Artagnan, going “What?” He was a little kid in Perks of Being a Wallflower. Then he was in Fury. Yeah, his career’s doing well.MADISON, Wis. — Alex Hornibrook remains the starter at quarterback for No. 8 Wisconsin, which has also used backup Bart Houston more behind center of late.
More Badgers coverage
Coach Paul Chryst said Monday that Horn |
also a target. Older versions of F-Secure also used the Kaspersky signature database, which contained lists of blacklisted malware.
But American anti-virus leaders McAfee and Symantec were not on the list. Neither was Sophos, the UK’s best-known anti-virus provider. All three have numerous ex-government employees and have close working relationships with intelligence and law enforcement agencies, from the NSA to the FBI to the European Cyber Crime Center.
According to one document, the NSA collected emails warning anti-virus companies about fresh malware. In some cases, according to a 2010 presentation document, NSA analysts “[c]heck Kaspersky AV to see if they continue to let any of these virus files through their Anti-Virus product.” The NSA’s Tailored Access Operations, the agency’s number one offensive security unit, could “repurpose the malware,” possibly to re-use against targets and therefore bypass anti-virus. Another slide lists other "targets", including those anti-virus providers named above.
Earlier, in 2008, the NSA found they could snoop on user information being relayed to Kaspersky servers from customer PCs, potentially allowing them to track those users, according to a draft of a top-secret report. Kaspersky denied this was possible today, though The Intercept said detailed reports of customers’ hardware and software were being sent to the firm.
Kaspersky appears to have been of particular interest to GCHQ too, which sought a warrant, provided under Section 5 of the U.K.’s 1994 Intelligence Services Act, to continue cracking the security software to determine its inner workings - a process known as reverse engineering. This process typically turns up vulnerabilities. As anti-virus is given high privileges on PCs, they make for a good target, hence intel agencies work to hack them. The warrant was valid from July 7, 2008 until January 7, 2009. It’s unclear if it is still in force as Kaspersky has expanded across British business.
Just last week, Kaspersky announced it had been the subject of a nation state attack, with some reports linking the attacks to Israel, whose Unit 8200 collaborates with the NSA. The firm, headed up by Eugene Kaspersky, has also been the subject of reports linking it to Russian government bodies.
The warrants used by GCHQ were also legally dubious, The Intercept claimed, suggesting British law was being used to get around copyright protections from reverse engineering, even though it had never been used in such a way. Just earlier this month, an independent review of the legislation governing Britain’s spying powers declared them “intolerable” and “undemocratic”.Mitt Romney has been asserting for months that his experience in the private sector qualifies him to create jobs as president. Mark Halperin takes the clever and unusual step of asking Romney why this is so. Romney’s answer is pure incoherence:
Well that’s a bit of a question like saying, what have you learned in life that would help you lead? My whole life has been learning to lead, from my parents, to my education, to the experience I had in the private sector, to helping run the Olympics, and then of course helping guide a state. Those experiences in totality have given me an understanding of how America works and how the economy works. Twenty five years in business, including business with other nations, competing with companies across the world, has given me an understanding of what it is that makes America a good place to grow and add jobs, and why jobs leave America — why businesses decide to locate here, and why they decide to locate somewhere else. What outsourcing causes — what it’s caused by, rather. I understand, for instance, how to read a balance sheet. I happen to believe that having been in the private sector for twenty five years gives me a perspective on how jobs are created — that someone who’s never spent a day in the private sector, like President Obama, simply doesn’t understand.
Basically Romney is just repeating his premise over and over again. He doesn’t say why his experience as a rich business guy better enables him to craft pro-growth policies.
Halperin actually follows up and asks for some specificity. You can read the whole answer if you like, but Romney insists that his Job Creator experience taught him that energy is part of the cost of a business, so it’s bad to pursue policies that result in high energy costs. But obviously this isn’t some special knowledge that you need to be in the private sector in order to acquire. If you’re the president, businesspeople will be happy to tell you this. The root of the disagreement between Obama and Romney over energy policy lies in their different beliefs about the legitimacy of scientific findings about the effects of carbon emissions on climate change. Obama believes in the findings of climate science, and Romney says he is not sure.
I do think that Romney’s private experience shows he is a highly competent person with a sharp analytic mind. But he is claiming something different. He is claiming to have gained a kind of ideological kinship with business, an internalization of its wants and needs. To the extent that’s true — and I think it is somewhat true — it is also just as fair for Obama to point out that Romney gained from this experience a boss’s view of the world, which was geared toward the maximization of profit and not the interests of everybody involved. If Romney is right that his business career taught him to gear public policy around what is best for “business,” defined as what’s best for the owners of business, then it seems perfectly fair to raise questions about that background.Cloud9 G2A Joins League of Legends NA Challenger Series
Cloud9 is very excited to announce our newest League of Legends roster. With a full split having taken place since the star-studded Cloud9 Tempest roster participated in Riot's Coke Series, Cloud9 re-enters the League of Legends Challenger scene with another amateur hopeful, Cloud9 G2A.
"With the rising popularity of the LCS, it only made sense that we start investing our time and energy in Riot's Challenger Series." explained Charlie Lipsie, Head Coach of Cloud9's LCS roster. "Coordinating tryouts with AGeNt, Head Coach of the collegiate teams over at Robert Morris University, I was able to host a plethora of skill assessment sessions in the form of in-houses. In total, we analyzed nearly 30 separate players over the course of more than 10 days! In many cases we opted to allow players to try out for multiple roles. Using this I was able to put together what I believe will be a top contender this NACS split."
The Cloud9 G2A roster:
Colin "Solo" Earnest - Top Lane
Anthony "Hard" Barkhovtsev - Jungle
David "Yusui" Bloomquist - Mid Lane
Benjamin "LOD" deMunck - AD Carry
Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes Support
Diving directly into the competition, Cloud9 G2A will be participating in Season 11 of the ESL Pro Series starting today, Saturday, January 10. Stay tuned into our social channels for more details.
To check out the players individually, please visit their social channels at:
Solo:
http://twitch.tv/thesolokinglol
http://twitter.com/thesolokinglol
Hard:
http://twitch.tv/Hard_LoL
http://twitter.com/Cloud9_Hard
http://facebook.com/Cloud9Hard
Yusui:
http://twitch.tv/Yusui
http://twitter.com/YusuiLoL
http://facebook.com/YusuiLoL
LOD:
http://twitch.tv/IAmLOD
http://twitter.com/IAmLOD
http://facebook.com/LeagueOfLOD
Stixxay:
http://twitch.tv/Stixxay
http://twitter.com/StixxayLoL
http://facebook.com/Stixxay
Or, check out the Cloud9 G2A team page:
G2A: http://cloud9.gg/lol-na-g2a
Also, special thanks to Ferris “AGeNt” Ganzman:
https://twitter.com/AGeNtl0l
https://facebook.com/AGeNtl0l
For more news and announcements from Cloud9, follow us on Twitter at @cloud9gg and on our Facebook at /cloud9gg.Big Wave Pale Ale and IPA Beer Kona Brewing Co American Beer 4.4% Bursting with tropical fruit flavours, this golden ale from Hawaii will have your taste buds tingling. It has a soft fruit aroma that is reminiscent of pineapple and passion fruit, and the taste is fresh with very little dryness and a lot of papaya and pineapple without ever becoming sweet. It’s quick, clean finish that makes you want to drink this beer again and again.
Long Board Lager Kona Brewing Co American Beer 4.6% This island lager, crafted in Hawaii, is a break from the usual American light lagers. It maintains a distinctive biscuit malt taste on the body, but adds north American hops which create a floral aroma and a slightly fruity taste on the finish, along with a dry aftertaste that is the hallmark of all great Lagers.
Hanelei Pale Ale and IPA Beer Kona Brewing Co American Beer 4.5% A superb session strength IPA from Kona Brewing in Hawaii. Hanalei is brewed with passion fruit, guava & oranges (all fruit found on the island) for a big tropical fruit hit, layered over all the hops you'd expect to find in an IPA. This is the perfect beer to see those long summer evenings through.
Keylime Golden Ale Hawkshead Brewery American Beer 6.3% A kettle-soured, lactose infused Golden Ale brewed with fresh lime zest and lemon grass.
Fruli Fruit & Flavoured Beer Fruli Belgian Beer 4.1% This delicious drink is a traditional Belgian wit beer brewed with orange peel and coriander and then blended with real strawberry juice. The result is a fruity, sweet beer with a hint of spiciness, especially on the finish. It’s a fantastic summer beer, makes great beer cocktails and is fantastic with chocolate and fruit desserts.
Windermere Pale Pale Ale Hawkshead English Beer 4% A highly refreshing, very pale ale, bursting with hop character and a fine fruity aroma. Brewed with soft Lakeland water, Maris Otter malted barley and full flower hops - blending three traditional English hops and the modern American hop, Citra.
Hawkshead Lager Lager Hawkshead English Beer 5% A crisp refreshing premium beer, brewed with lager malt, wheat, European hops, soft Lakeland water and ale yeast, top fermented for maximum flavour. Brewed largely for keg and bottle, rarely available in cask.
Chuckleberry Sour Fruit & Flavoured Beer Hawkshead British Beer 3.5% A chuckleberry is a cross between redcurrant, gooseberry and jostaberry, and is full of the flavours of all three. It makes a unique fruit beer - vibrant pink, effervescent, low alcohol, refreshing. The sweet juice balances the lemon citric-tartness of the base beer, a kettle-soured Berliner Weisse, aged post-fermentation, on whole fresh chuckleberries.
Gin & Juice Botanical Pale Ale Tiny Rebel American Beer 4.5% The hip hop world has given us loads of ideas, so we thought it was only right we beerify the most famous cocktail rap has given the world.
Mutiny Coconut Porter Leeds Brewery English Beer 4.8% Real coconut gives this dark ale a smooth sweetness which is perfectly balanced with dark roasted malts for a smooth, rich finish.
Monsoon Indian Pale Ale Leeds Brewery Indian Beer 4.1% A big, bold IPA. A blend of American hops including Cascade and Chinook create a heavily hopped, fruity, aromatic India Pale Ale.
Floris Framboise Fruit Beer Floris Belgian Beer 3.7% This beer is a deep red, reminiscent of wine, cloudy because of the wheat beer. Very fine, compact and lacing pink foam. The wonderful raspberry aroma perfectly counterbalances the wheat beer with its coriander and orange zest notes. A sweet raspberry mouth feel with the expected long lasting raspberry effect in the aftertaste. This is a very enjoyable raspberry beer with an excellent sweet-sour balance.
Timmermans Peche Fruit Beer Timmermans Belgian Beer 4.0% This beer is made by adding 100% natural peach flavouring to lambic fermenting in oak barrels. This beers characteristic aroma is very pleasant on the nose and it has a velvety flavour and a creamy foam. Timmermeans Peche is a very fruity drink, very easy on the palate, to be drunk with a smile on ones lips. A powerful fruit aroma immediately followed by the flavour of the peach. A mature beer which shows clear evidence of its maceration with the fruit. A sweet and fruity flavour with just a hint of bitterness from the peach kernel and skin.
Motörhead Roadcrew Ale Cameron's Brewery American Beer 4.5% This beer is named after the Motörhead fan favourite ‘(We Are) The Road Crew’, which appears on the 1980s ‘Ace of Spades’ album. The song was penned as a tribute to the band’s dedicated team of roadies. With lines like ‘Another beer is what I need’, the name fits perfectly for a beer everyone can enjoy. Röad Crew, which is available in keg, cask and bottle is based on an American style session pale ale and has an ABV of 4.5% The beer is golden in colour and has a hoppy citrus and blackcurrant flavour and satisfying bitter finish.
Cameron's Galactico Blonde Beer Cameron's Brewery British Beer 4.2% This beer features a superb blend of three hop varieties which combine to provide a fruity nose, sharp citrus flavour and hints of peppery spice on the finish. Hops used: Galaxy, Mosaic, and Styrian Goldings.
Kirkstall Kriek Fruit Beer Kirkstall Brewery British Beer 4.3% A brilliant cherry wheat beer with a strong fruity taste.
Lupuloid Indian Pale Ale Beavertown British Beer 6.7% A 6.7% ABV India Pale Ale. The most notable thing is that it is our first straight up IPA, no funny business, just malt, yeast, water and hops. Lots of hops. I guess it only took us four years!
Clwb Tropicana Tropical IPA Tiny Rebel American Beer 5.5% This grown up fruit salad is as colourful as the most hideous Hawaiian shirt you’ve ever seen. It’s super juicy and crammed full of fruity hop flavours that will have your mouth watering. Imagine sitting by the pool in the blazing sun with a cocktail in one hand, but instead of a dainty little glass it’s served by the pint! Packed full of American hops, amplified by Peach, Passionfruit, Pineapple and Mango flavours!
Beavertown Neck Oil IPA IPA Beavertown British Beer 4.3% Our every day, all day, easy drinking, go to IPA. This started life as a home-brew. We wanted to create a light, crisp, punchy, go to beer! Extra pale base malts are used to keep it crisp.
Lazy Dayz Pillowy, Fruit Juice Glen Affric British Beer 5.4% Taking inspiration from the countless street vendors in Asia who press fresh fruit smoothies with ice & cold milk in the summer heat. A 100% unfined beer to help give a big mouthfeel along with added lactose. With loads of mango, pineapple & coconut added during conditioning.
Berried Alive Fruity, Summer Lager Glen Affric British Beer 4.0% Summer brings with it many glorious things: long sunny days, blue sky, warm air and a scrumptious selection of tasty summer fruits! We wanted to create a lager that screamed summer fruits. It's tart, sweet and filled to the brim with mixed berry goodness.
Saucery Session IPA Magic Rock British Beer 3.9% A supernatural session IPA made for drinking all day long. Lightly sweet and malty Golden Promise™ malt, a balanced bitterness and layers of tropical fruit filled Citra and Ekuanot hops in whirlpool and dry hop. Fermented with London Ale II yeast to add more fruity body, and enhance malt and hop profile…. Same again?
Penny Lane Pale Pale Ale Mad Hatter Brewing Co. British Beer 6.0% A pale ale, Penny Lane style. Light, lovely, beautifully hopped with Citra, Centennial, and Simcoe.
Tzatziki Sour Berliner Weisse Mad Hatter Brewing Co. Greek Beer 4.5% Quite possibly one of the most ambitious beers of the year executed to perfection by one of the country’s most progressive breweries. A Berliner Weisse brewed to mimic the flavour of Greek Tzatziki sauce, flavours of yoghurt, mint and cucumber are expertly merged with the clean tart and sour character to create a mind boggling feast of flavour and sensation.
A Happy Accident IPA Mad Hatter Brewing Co. British Beer 4.8% This is a bracingly bitter session IPA, bright and zingy.
Five Points Pale Pale Ale Five Points Brewing Company British Beer 4.4% Five Points Pale is a zesty and aromatic pale ale brewed with Citra, Centennial and Amarillo hops. The Five Points Pale features sharp notes of grapefruit along with pine resin, lemon zest, pineapple and mango.
Plain Porter Porter Porter House Brewing Company British Beer 4.2% Technically a Porter, (a lighter stout) a smooth edged velvety mouthful just a hint of bitterness with no sourness - deeply aromatic but not overpowering. Immortal.
Day Shift Pale Ale Fierce Brewery British Beer 5.0% Day Shift is a light and easy drinking American style pale ale that has had its fair share of hops added along the way. From bittering hops to aroma hops, and then loads of dry hops too. So yes, expect a hoppy flavor with notes of citrus and pine. Vegan Friendly.
Last Shot at Heaven Pale Ale Wylam Brewery British Beer 5.3% Quad Hop Oat Malt Pale Ale with zesty shots of Simcoe, Loral, Vic Secret and Amarillo. Deep fruit with high end citrus blasts of ripe pink grapefruit and tangy blood orange.
Us & Them IPA Wylam Brewery British Beer 8.2% Double India Pale Ale… And after all it’s brewed with Citra and Mosaic… Pale and Pils… God only knows this is just what we would choose to brew. Oats and Malt… it can’t be helped that there’s a lot of them about… With, without… and who’ll deny it’s what this DIPAs all about?
Sonoma Pale Ale Pale Ale Dexter & Jones British Beer 3.8% A light, crisp pale ale with plenty of citrus zing. The firm bitterness might not be for everyone, but it's nicely balanced with notes of pineapple, orange and grassy hops.
Axe Edge IPA Buxton Brewery British Beer 6.8% Double Dry hopped version of our classic India Pale Ale. Full of flavour with a beautifully hoppy aroma. Hopped with a stunning blend of European, North American and New Zealand varieties.
Stay Puft Marshmallow Porter Tiny Rebel British Beer 5.2% This marshmallow porter has the classic roasty qualities of a proper dark ale, whilst the marshmallow gives it a smooth sweetness, both combining for a delightful, S’mores-like ale. A sweet treat for the cold winter nights.
Kirkstall Pale Ale Pale Ale Kirkstall Brewery British Beer 4.0% Wonderfully golden session beer. Fresh malt and hop aroma lead to a satisfyingly bitter finish.
Dexter Milk Stout Stout Kirkstall Brewery British Beer 4.5% This series of beer has the same sweet, smooth and chocolatey base, yet it gives our brew team the chance to be creative with flavours.
Smooth Bitter Okell's Brewery British Beer 3.7% A golden-coloured beer with a full malt and superb hop aroma, with a long lasting dry-ish hoppy complex finish.
Daymer Extra Pale Ale Pale Ale Harbour Brewing Co. British Beer 3.8% Clear pale gold colour lasting white head. Very drinkable light pale ale with some attractive sherbet lemon and slight orange hop flavour on the finish.Some bitterness. Yes tasty enough.
Galatia Pale Ale Wylam Brewery British Beer 3.9% Extra light session pale with a heavy absorbed dose of New World Hops. Fresh orange shred, stone fruit blasts and a clean dry fresh pine kick to the finish.
Moor Nor Hop Pale Ale Wylam Brewery American Beer 4.1% Single Malt, Triple Hopped Pale… brewed with masses of new season USA Cascade! Huge notes of pink grapefruit & sherbet lemon.
Skeleton Party Pale Ale Bone Machine Brewing Co. American Beer 5.2% Bone Machine Skeleton Party a American Pale Ale beer by Bone Machine Brew Co, a brewery in Pocklington, East Yorkshire.
Summer Lager Shindigger British Beer 4.8% Summer by name, summer by nature. Lager blended with watermelon to make a refreshing, crisp and fruity beer garden beut!
Session Pale Ale Shindigger British Beer 4.2% Summer by name, summer by nature. Lager blended with watermelon to make a refreshing, crisp and fruity beer garden beut!
Tour de Yorkshire IPA Jolly Boys Brewery British Beer 4.8% Specially brewed for the Tour De Yorkshire, a belting IPA with plenty of favour.
Chocolate Stay Puft Chocolate Marshmallow Porter Tiny Rebel British Beer 5.2% Introducing Chocolate Stay Puft. Seasonal decadence in liquid form. We’ve smothered the biscuit and marshmallow foundation of Stay Puft with a glorious chocolate layer, like a liquid tea cake! It’s even more like a s’more than the original edition!
IPL Lager Shindigger British Beer 5.5% Juicy hazy lager! Fermented like a lager, dry hopped like a New England.
Iced Coffee Iced Coffee Beer Shindigger British Beer 4.8% After fermentation, this black pilsner is cold brewed with natural Ethiopian coffee from Ancoats Coffee Company, just down the road from our warehouse.
IPA IPA Shindigger British Beer 5.6% This beer celebrates our favourite thing in the world – hops! A plethora of our favourite hops thrown in over a juicy malty backbone.
Great White Wheat Beer Hawkshead British Beer 4.8% A spiced, cloudy, wheat beer. Brewed with wheat, Maris Otter barley, coriander seeds, dried Seville Orange peel and Motueka hops from New Zealand, to produce a delicately hopped, crisp, highly refreshing beer.
Piñata Fruit Beer North Brewing Co British Beer 4.5% We used four different tropical fruits to pair with plenty of new world hops. Mandarin and grapefruit peel were used in the kettle and Guava and Mango added.
Sputnik Pale Ale North Brewing Co British Beer 5.0% A typically northern Pale Ale.
Lost Myself Fruit Beer North Brewing Co British Beer 4.8% We used four different tropical fruits to pair with plenty of new world hops. Mandarin and grapefruit peel were used in the kettle and Guava and Mango added.
Paria IPA North Brewing Co British Beer 6.0% Grapefruit IPA.
Basqueland Stout North Brewing Co British Beer 8.0% Imperial stout.
Counterpoint IPA North Brewing Co British Beer 3.0% Low abv IPA, which is a perfect summer beer.
Marvin Red Ale Wishbone Brewery American Beer 4.2% Marvin is a maltyAmerican hopped red featuring Ahtanum & Centennial, dry hopped in the FV.
Hazy Wheat Wheat Beer Wishbone Brewery British Beer 4.4% Hazy Wheat Ale combines the robust flavor of malted barley with the crisp, clean taste of wheat. Hazy Wheat Ale is perfect for those warm days under the sun, or for a refreshing drink anytime.
Breaking Glass Pale Ale Five Towns Brewery British Beer 5.2% A pineapple and coconut (Pina Colada) pale ale
Weeping Wall IPA Five Towns Brewery British Beer 7.6% Brewed using Nelson Sauvin Hops & infused with grapefruit.
Baby Blue Pale Five Towns Brewery British Beer 4.5% Grapefruit and gooseberry notes. Made using Nelson Sauvin hops.
Cranachan Fruit Beer Five Towns Brewery British Beer 5.2% A special pale ale with oats, raspberries honey and whisky.
Neukoln Coffee Porter Five Towns Brewery British Beer 6.0% Coconut and pecan coffee porter.
Always Crashing in the Same Car Fruit Beer Five Towns Brewery British Beer 8.0% Rhubarb infused tripel using orval yeast.
Double IPA IPA Cloudwater British Beer 8.5% Flaked Oats are added to the malt bill, bittering hops reduced by 25%, and the dry hop charge increased.
Double IPA IPA Cloudwater British Beer 8.5% Flaked Oats are added to the malt bill, bittering hops reduced by 25%, and the dry hop charge increased.
Ekuanot Simcoe IPA Cloudwater British Beer 6.5% This IPA features new season Ekuanot in the dry hop, backed up by Simcoe.
Helles Tettnager IPA Cloudwater British Beer 4.8% This Helles features Barke Pils malt for a smooth and traditional flavour.
DDH Pale Mosaic Ahtanum IPA Cloudwater British Beer 5.5% Mosaic takes the lead in this 16 g/L double dry hopped Pale, and is backed up by Ahtanum.
Small Pale Chinook IPA Cloudwater British Beer 2.9% This Small Pale Ale is brewed to be refreshing and low in strength, yet full bodied and boldly flavoured.
Lemon Drop IPA Acorn American Beer 5.0% US lemon drop hops as the main suggest in part a lemon zest aroma.
Axe Edge IPA Buxton New Zealand Beer 6.8% Double Dry hopped version of our classic India Pale Ale. Full of flavour with a beautifully hoppy aroma. Hopped with a stunning blend of European, North American and New Zealand varieties.
Bread and Butter Dry Hopped Pale Vocation American Beer 3.9% We’ve set out to prove that an easy drinking, everyday beer can still be special. Layers of US hops are set against a backbone of British malts, so what this beer lacks in strength, it makes up for in character.
Life and Death IPA Vocation American Beer 6.5% Three kilos of hops and forty kilos of barley selflessly give their lives to brew every barrel of this beer. It’s a lot to ask, but their reincarnation as this life-affirming IPA makes their sacrifice worthwhile.
Mango Unchained Fruit Beer Shindigger British Beer 4.2% Session blended with mango and pineapple. Think if Rubicon made beer!
Anderson Pale Pale Ale Ossett Brewery (White Rat) British Beer 4.0% This very pale, hoppy ale made from low colour Maris Otter malt. A combination of 3 high alpha American hops produce an intensely aromatic & resinous finish.
Leeds Best Bitter Leeds Brewery British Beer 3.5% A classic Yorkshire Bitter perfectly blended to create a full flavoured, well balanced classic Yorkshire pint.
Sanctuary Ale Camerons Brewery British Beer 3.8% Crisp and refreshing ale dry hopped with Citra hops which delivers citrus orange aromas and tastes finished off by a satisfying bitter end.
Three Swords Pale Ale Kirkstall Brewery British Beer 3.9% Extra light session pale with a heavy absorbed dose of New World Hops. Fresh orange shred, stone fruit blasts and a clean dry fresh pine kick to the finish.
Blonde Rouge Blonde Beer Beer Monkey British Beer 3.9% A real blonde brew packed with citrus flavours and aroma, creating a light thirst-quenching blonde ale.
Magic Spanner Pale Ale Magic Rock British Beer 3.9% An invitingly pale and refreshingly crisp ale featuring Golden Promise malt, judiciously hopped with a blend of UK and US hops.
Ringmaster Fruit Beer Magic Rock American Beer 3.9% US hops give the beer a floral/grassy aroma and lip smacking citrus flavours which combine with a defined malty character.
Cascade Blonde Ale Jolly Boys British Beer 4.0% A special edition Blonde Ale, crisp with a clear appearance, another belter from the Jolly Boys.
Two Halves Pale Ale Leeds Brewery British Beer 4.2% A traditional British pale ale, using a combination of entirely British malted barley and hops to create a full bodied, well balanced pale ale.
Gojira Pale Ale Wishbone Brewery American Beer 4.2% Sorachi Ace blended with Ella, Sorachi Ace was originally developed in Japan but is now American grown, Ella is grown in Australia.
Juicy Golden Ale Tiny Rebel British Beer 4.8% Be transported by this, the most delicious golden ale, filled with the juiciest hops we could find, offering mouth-watering flavours.
St Johns Mews Pale Ale Ossett Brewery British Beer 4.0% Brewed with pale, wheat, crystal and chocolate malts, this is a rich, full bodied ruby red ale, bursting with complex flavours.
Peach Fruit Beer Timmermans British Beer 4.0% A powerful fruit aroma immediately followed by the flavour of the peach. A sweet and fruity flavour with just a hint of bitterness from the peach kernel and skin.
Easy Imbiber Pale Ale Mad Hatter British Beer 4.0% This is a super juicy New England style pale. A fruity and fresh pale ale made with Vermont yeast and dry hopped with Cascade and Citra.
Strawberry Fruit Beer Fruli Belgian Beer 4.1% This is a super juicy New England style pale. A fruity and fresh pale ale made with Vermont yeast and dry hopped with Cascade and Citra.
Ekaunot IPA IPA Track British Beer 4.2% Ekuanot IPA is based on a similar malt bill to our Going To The Sun IPA, golden pale in colour with a big juicy profile. Single Hopped extensively with Ekuanot. Expect big citrus and stone fruit flavour.
Virtuous IPA Kirkstall British Beer 4.5% A go-to hoppy beer loaded with Simcoe, Citra, Centennial and Mandarina Bavaria which gives this IPA it’s beautiful citrus aromatics.
54° North Lager Black Sheep British Beer 4.5% Refreshing Helles style pale lager. It’s clean, sharp and crisp to the tongue.
Highland Suntans Pale Ale Glen Affric British Beer 4.9% Extra pale ale. Huge citrus aroma matched by an even bigger citrus flavour, with a smooth malt backbone.
Split Shift Pale Ale Fierce Beer American Beer 5.0% Packed with a trio of American hops; bitter, hoppy & light bodied it’s ideal for sampling between Shifts.
Jammy Dodger Fruit Beer Mad Hatter British Beer 6.0% We have squashed lots of good things that make jammy dodgers into this beer: crushed raspberries, vanilla and lactose. Yum!
Rebel Bucky Fruit Beer Tiny Rebel British Beer 4.0% Our 6th Birthday collab with our Cardiff Bar! The guys at our Cardiff Bar wanted a fruit sour inspired by a famous health tonic turned soft drink!
Frambuzi Fruit Beer Tiny Rebel British Beer 4.3% Packed to the brim with the plumpest, juiciest little raspberries we could get our hands on.
AK47 Fruit Beer Tiny Rebel British Beer 4.7% Inspired by Derek Zoolander’s coffee of choice, Orange Mocha Frapp Stout does exactly what it says on the tin. Orange, Chocolate and Coffee.
Pump up the Jam Fruit Beer Tiny Rebel British Beer 4.7% Punnets and punnets of raspberries, blackcurrants and grapes go into this super delicious kettle sour.
Excelsior Pale Ale Ossett Brewery British Beer 5.2% A classic pale ale, brewed from British pale malt and American Cascade hops this is the perfect drinking experience!
Ralphy's Beer Lager Ossett Brewery (Hell Rat) British Beer 4.6% This is an authentic-as-possible German Hells lager - “Hell” means pale in German. Brewed with German malt, hops and yeast! Vegan!!! Low gluten!!!
Dutty IPA Tiny Rebel American Beer 5.0% Retained more flavour and a silky smooth texture in this Vermont style IPA and made sure it’s one you can enjoy time and time again by keeping the ABV nice and low.
Pilsnerd Fruit Beer Beavertown British Beer 5.0% Lemon and herbal notes on the nose from the heavy late hops of tenttnang and mittlelfruh with a touch of characteristic sulphur.
Bloody Ell Fruit Beer Beavertown British Beer 7.2% A smack of citrus with hints of warm blood orange aromas brought on by refined,alt bill and loads of juicy hops. All hail Bloody'Ell!
Subatomic Session IPA Fruit Beer Beavertown British Beer 4.2% Flavour particle collide, crashing hints of lychee and pineapple against each other in our Session Pale collab with Half Acre
La'al Lager Lager Hawkshead British Beer 4.0% Very crisp and clean with a delicate spicy, herbal bitterness which sweeps across the palate. On the nose expect subtle floral notes and enticing aromas of lime. Vegan friendly.
Mosaic Pale Ale Pale Ale Hawkshead British Beer 4.0% Amazing aromas and flavour of the Mosaic hop. You should be able to pick up blueberry, tangerine and papaya, with the addition of bittering hop Hallertau Blanc brining lemongrass and passionfruit to the beer.B.C.’s NDP government has removed four of the five members of the Transportation Investment Corporation board, the provincial agency that oversees B.C.’s Port Mann Bridge.
Chair Daniel Doyle, directors Anne Stewart and Clifford Neufeld and Colin Hansen, a former B.C. Liberal finance minister, all had their appointments rescinded in a cabinet order on Friday.
Meanwhile, Irene Kerr, TI Corp’s president and CEO, has been appointed a board member through the end of 2018.
TI Corp is a Crown corporation that was established in 2008 to oversee the construction of the $3-billion, 10-lane Port Mann Bridge, then to oversee the tolling that was designed to pay for it.
But the B.C. NDP campaigned in the 2017 provincial election on removing the tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears Bridges.
“We’re going to proceed with the elimination of tolls because they’re unfair,” John Horgan said in May.
In July, Claire Trevena, B.C.’s newly-minted Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure told Postmedia that eliminating bridge tolls was an immediate priority.
“We’re going to be working on this pretty well immediately and seeing when we can bring it in because people have been paying a huge amount for that,” she said.
“We’re still working on how we’re going to be dealing with this but we have made a commitment to remove the tolls and that will be happening. We’re hoping to have the plan in place before the end of the summer.”
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Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.Video report by ITV News Correspondent Juliet Bremner
Ireland's first openly gay cabinet minister has been chosen by his party to be the nation's next prime minister. Leo Varadkar, a 38-year-old son of an immigrant doctor from India, will now succeed the outgoing taoiseach Enda Kenny if he gains the backing of the Irish parliament.
The 38-year-old has been chosen by his party to be the next Irish prime minister. Credit: PA
Mr Varadkar, the minister for social protection, outperformed environment and housing minister Simon Coveney in a surprisingly close internal Fine Gael party contest. His rival, a 44-year-old father-of-three from Cork, fared better than expected, meaning Mr Varadkar will have to wait to be appointed Ireland's new premier.
Housing minister Simon Coveney performed better than expected in the internal party battle. Credit: PA
The result was declared in Dublin's Mansion House after a electoral college ballot split between the parliamentary party (65% of the vote), its 21,000 party members (25%) and 235 local representatives (10%). The centre-right Mr Varadkar will learn if he will be taoiseach on June 13 when the Dail parliament resumes after a week-long break.
Leo Varadkar will replace outgoing taoiseach Enda Kenny. Credit: PA"Foul shot" redirects here. For the general concept in many team sports, see Penalty shot
In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws are generally awarded after a foul on the shooter by the opposing team. Each successful free throw is worth one point.
Description [ edit ]
Free throws can normally be shot at a high percentage by good players. In the NBA, most players make 70–80% of their attempts. The league's best shooters (such as Mark Price, Steve Nash, Rick Barry, Ray Allen, José Calderón, Stephen Curry, Reggie Miller, Kevin Durant, and Dirk Nowitzki) can make roughly 90% of their attempts over a season, while notoriously poor shooters (e.g. Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Andre Drummond, Andris Biedrins, Chris Dudley, Ben Wallace, Shaquille O'Neal, and Dennis Rodman) may struggle to make 50% of them. During a foul shot, a player's feet must both be completely behind the foul line. If a player lines up with part of his or her foot on or forward of the line, a violation is called and the shot does not count. Foul shots are worth one point.
When free throws are awarded [ edit ]
There are many situations when free throws can be awarded.
The first and most common is when a player is fouled while in the act of shooting. If the player misses the shot during the foul, the player receives either two or three free throws depending on whether the shot was taken in front of or behind the three-point line. If, despite the foul, the player still makes the attempted |
for a number of months; provide aid for refugees displaced by the conflict and pay for medicines and subsidies for food supplies; they will also be transferred to commercial banks in order to make currency available to the general public for their basic living expenses.
Mr Hague added that this is particularly important at the time of Eid ul-Fitr, the Islamic festival which follows the end of Ramadan.
Wing Commander David Manning, Officer Commanding 99 Squadron RAF, which made the cash delivery to Libya, said:
I am pleased that we have been able to find the capacity to contribute to the stabilisation effort in Libya by delivering this much needed financial support. Whilst this is certainly an unusual load, the task yet again highlights the utility of the C-17s and flexibility of the crews of Number 99 Squadron in supporting the United Kingdom’s military and political interests abroad.
See Related Links for video footage of the operation.
Returning money to the Libyan people is part of the UK’s commitment to help the National Transitional Council rebuild Libya and help create a country where the legitimate needs and aspirations of the Libyan people can be met.
Further deliveries of the remaining funds will be made shortly.
Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said:
I am pleased that the RAF was able to assist in the delivery of these banknotes - another example of the highly professional approach all three of our Armed Forces have been taking to support the Libyan people at this time.
The UK Armed Forces were in action by sea and by air again yesterday against those elements of Colonel Gaddafi’s former regime which continue to threaten the people of Libya.
RAF aircraft conducted intensive patrols yesterday morning over Waddan and Bani Walid. At Waddan, two tanks, a pair of multiple rocket launchers and an artillery support vehicle were destroyed before dawn with Paveway guided bombs, while at Bani Walid two formations of our aircraft targeted a large barracks.
Numerous military targets within the barracks were destroyed by Paveways, as well as a tank and a rocket launcher deployed in the same area.
At sea, HMS Liverpool last night closed with pro-Gaddafi coastal positions in and around Sirte and fired illumination barrages of star shells over two vehicle checkpoints. These had the dual effect of confirming the location of the military positions and having a psychological impact on the troops manning them, who were seen to rapidly disperse their vehicles.
In Paris today, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are co-chairing an international conference to discuss Libya. Members of the National Transitional Council are attending.
The meeting is an opportunity to help the National Transitional Council (NTC) on the path to establishing a free, democratic and inclusive Libya. It will also be an opportunity for the NTC to set out in more detail the humanitarian and broader assistance it needs.Canadian officials are working "with a real sense of urgency" to investigate new reports that Saudi security forces are using Canadian-made military vehicles in a violent crackdown in the Shia-populated city of Awamiyah, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday.
Video posted online over the weekend appears to show at least one Canadian-made Terradyne Gurkha armoured personnel carrier (APC) operated by the Sunni kingdom's elite Special Security Forces driving through a devastated neighbourhood.
Ali Adubisi, director of the Berlin-based European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, told Radio Canada International that 20 to 30 people have been reported killed in a massive security operation involving hundreds of Saudi special police backed by dozens of armoured vehicles in the city in Saudi Arabia's eastern province, home to a large segment of the minority Shia population.
RCI reported two weeks ago that media reports and social media posts from Awamiya, which has been under siege by Saudi security forces since May, showed government forces using what appear to be APCs produced and exported to the oil-rich kingdom by Terradyne Armored Vehicles Inc., a privately owned company based in Newmarket, Ont.
Despite repeated attempts to reach officials at Terradyne, no one from the company was available to comment.
Officials at the Saudi Embassy in Ottawa also did not respond to repeated phone calls and email requests for comment.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saudi?src=hash">#Saudi</a> SSSF posts vid online bragging about <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Awamiasiege?src=hash">#Awamiasiege</a>. Canadian-made <a href="https://twitter.com/TerradyneArmor">@TerradyneArmor</a> appears at the beginning. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Awamia?src=hash">#Awamia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Qatif?src=hash">#Qatif</a> <a href="https://t.co/u14wY34Lgj">pic.twitter.com/u14wY34Lgj</a> —@AngryQatifi
'A real sense of urgency'
Speaking to reporters on a teleconference call Monday from Manila, where she attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting, Freeland said she was concerned about the reports.
"I have instructed our department and my officials to very energetically and very carefully review the reports and review the information, and research what is happening," Freeland said.
"We are absolutely committed to defend the human rights and we condemn all violations of human rights. We also are very clear that we expect end users of any and all exports to abide by the terms of our export permits."
Canadian officials have also expressed their concerns to Saudi authorities, she said.
"On Friday, before I left for Manila, I had a specific conversation with my officials about this and encouraged them to go about their work — obviously we have to be careful — but to go about their work with a real sense of urgency."
Freeland said she also discussed the issue with Federica Mogherini, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs, on the sidelines of themeeting in Manila.
"I shared with her Canada's concerns, Canada's investigation of this matter, because I know that some European member states and the European parliament has the concerns as well," Freeland said.
Last year, the European Parliament passed a non-binding motion for an EU-wide arms embargo against Saudi Arabia to protest the kingdom's heavy bombing campaign in Yemen, and the Dutch parliament later voted to ban arms exports to Saudi Arabia in protest of alleged human rights violations.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke to reporters Monday from the Philippines, where she is at a meeting of foreign ministers from ASEAN nations, and said she has instructed her officials to 'energetically' review reports of Canadian-made armoured vehicles being used against civilians by Saudi forces. (Bullit Marquez/Associated Press)
Freeland said she is personally engaged on the issue.
"It is something that I'm checking on on a very — very regular basis," she said, adding that Canada has to be sure it is "acting on fully reliable information we can stand by."
City under siege
The urgency also comes from the fact the security operation in Awamiyah continues unabated.
"Awamiyah is surrounded now by the military," said Adubisi, who himself fled the city in 2013 after being detained and tortured by Saudi security forces three times. "It has become like a military area controlled by the Saudi military."
Most of Awamiyah's 35,000 residents have been forced to flee the city, Adubisi said.
The remaining residents of Awamiyah are too afraid of government shelling and snipers to leave their homes, said Adubisi, who has been in daily contact with sources inside the city.
The situation inside the besieged city is further complicated by the fact that in many areas authorities have disconnected the water supply and electricity, leaving residents without fresh water or air conditioning in the scorching Arabian heat, Adubisi said.
The Saudi government has tried to find housing for some of the people who fled Awamiyah, but many residents want to return to their homes, he said.
"Many people feel that this resettlement is part of a government plan to change the demographic composition of Awamiyah," Adubisi said.
Thorn in the side of Riyadh
Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs, who hails from the city of Safwa just north of Awamiyah, said the city and the surrounding region of Qatif have long been a thorn in the side of the Saudi regime.
However, the conflict in the Qatif region goes far beyond sectarian strife between the Shia minority and the Sunni majority of the kingdom, Al-Ahmed told RCI in a phone interview from Washington D.C.
"Qatif is different from other Shia areas," Al-Ahmed said. "It has a special independent culture and in terms of political sophistication this area takes the cake — this is where the largest number of political movements were born."
Almost all of the protests in the tightly controlled monarchy originate in Qatif, including the large protests that shook the kingdom in 2011 during the so-called Arab Spring, he said.
Al-Ahmed does not deny that the Saudi forces in Awamiyah are fighting armed militants but he blames the government's heavy-handed crackdown on dissent, including the execution of popular Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, convicted on trumped-up terrorism charges last year, for driving people to take up arms against the government.
Calls to suspend weapons sales
The controversy over the possible use of Canadian-produced Terradyne APCs comes barely a year after the Liberal government approved a $15-billion deal to supply Saudi Arabia with advanced Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) made by another Ontario-based manufacturer, General Dynamics Land Systems Canada.
The revelation that Canadian weapons may have been used in support of operations that allegedly targeted civilians have prompted the opposition and human rights groups to call on the Liberal government to suspend all weapons transfers to Saudi Arabia.
The $15-billion deal to supply the LAVs, the largest weapons contract in Canadian history, was signed under the previous Conservative government but was approved by Freeland's Liberal predecessor, Stéphane Dion, in April 2016.
There is no evidence yet of Saudi forces using the LAVs in their crackdown on the Shia minority.The number of Internet users in India is tipped to surpass 400 million by the end of this year, making it the second largest online population in the world behind only China, according to a new report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and market research IMRB.
The report claims that the total number of Internet users in the country will reach 402 million by December, of which 351 million will go online daily. That first figure would see India surpass U.S on total web users, but leave it some way behind China which claims over 600 million.
Mobile has long been seen as the key driver of Internet access in emerging markets, and that’s very much the case in India.
The report found that, as of October 2015, India had 317 million Internet users, with 276 million — a majority 87 percent — accessing from a mobile devices. The report didn’t reveal how many are mobile-only Internet users, however. The number of mobile-based Internet users is expected to surge to 371 million by June next year, taking India’s online population to 462 million in total.
That’s a huge number, but it is still just scratching the surface of India’s colossal 1.2 billion population.
Rural areas account for a minority of Internet users, but they are growing the fastest.
IAMAI and IMRB claimed that the top eight urban areas in India account for 31 percent of the country’s Internet users. That figure increased an impressive 50 percent over the past year but the number of web users from rural areas, which was at 108 million in October, grew by 77 percent over the same period. That figure is tipped to reach 147 million by June next year.
“With smartphones in India now available for under 5,000 INR,” IAMAI’s Nilotpal Chakravarti told TechCrunch in an interview. “We expect that the upsurge in overall Internet penetration will be driven by mobile.”
Internet access is surging in India, there’s no doubt about that. It took more than ten years for the total number of people with web access in India to move from 10 million to 100 million. It then took three years for that figure to reach 300 million. But, the jump to 400 million was less than a year.
The growth in access in rural parts of the country is perhaps the most fascinating — and the most affected by mobile, too.
The report states that people aged between 18 and 30 represent 76 percent of rural Internet users, with smartphone-based users growing from 38 percent of rural users to a majority 60 percent.
Finally, one last tidbit to consider is the gender gap. Overall, males account for 71 percent of India’s Internet users, according to the report. Web usage among males is increasing at a rate of 50 percent, versus 46 percent for women. In rural areas, the growth in Internet access is higher among men (79 percent) than women (61 percent), but in urban areas, a higher ratio of women are coming online than men, 43 percent and 34 percent respectively.
There are precious few reputable statistics on Internet usage in India and other parts of Asia, despite the fact that things are changing fast, so this report is notable for that alone. The full version of the research is not available for free, but you can find an executive summary here.Sharon Neuman Architects have designed this house for a young family in Raanana, Israel.
Description from Sharon Neuman Architects
The house in Raanana was designed for a large family of four children and two parents. The brief was somewhat formal and unconventional.
Most of the houses I plan contain a large open space which holds several purposes. But here, each function has its own defined space – a “cube”.
The house consists of seven “cubes”; each one of a different height, each one contains two functions – one on each floor.
Since the client is a chef, the kitchen is in the largest cube. Above it there is a double children’s room. The living room is in the second largest cube, and above it – the master bedroom. There is a family room, a formal dining room, a mud room, a lobby which allows horizontal and vertical movements, and more. A basement is located underneath it all. Four outdoor “rooms” complete the assemblage.
Another problem solved by this scheme is the building code which required red tiled roofs in Ra’anana. Red tiled roof conflicts with the modern nature of the building. Dividing the house into a a “village” of seven “cubes” allowed for smaller roofs and moderate slopes, thus the roofs are completely hidden and not seen from the street level nor from the garden.
Each cube is defined by 20 cm thick walls around it. I chose to emphasize the transitions between spaces by keeping the 40 cm thickness of the “double” walls wherever the “cubes” connect, and creating notable thresholds. The thickness of the walls was also utilized for storage.Rates starting at $96/night The 96 Hour Sale Is Here Kirkwood has a great selection of lodging options to meet every taste and budget. Start planning your Kirkwood vacation now.
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Lodging Lift Tickets Lessons Rentals Adults (Ages 13+) Decrease Quantity. Increase Quantity Children (Ages 0-12) Decrease Quantity. Increase Quantity FIRST DAY ON THE SLOPES NUMBER OF SKI/RIDE DAYS Decrease Quantity. Increase Quantity Age Group Select Age Adult (Ages 19 - 64) Child (Ages 5 - 12) Senior (Ages 65+) Teen (Ages 13 - 18) Select Age Error Icon Search Sport Sport Ski Ski Sport Snowboard Snowboard Age SELECT Adult (Ages 13+) Child (Ages 3 - 12) Select Age. Error Icon Level SELECT Beginner Intermediate Advanced Select Level. Error IconCentrist Emmanuel Macron and conservative François Fillon were thought at one time to be the frontrunners who would battle it out in the second round of presidential voting next month. The first round takes place on April 23, where the top two finishers will move on.
Something extraordinary is happening in France, as the presidential election is looming less than two weeks away. Support for the establishment candidates of the center-left and right is falling away, while a former Trotskyite and the far-right candidates are on the rise.
But Fillon's campaign has been racked by scandal, and Macron has been closely identified with the current administration of President Hollande. This has given an opening to a radical far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose soak-the-rich platform includes a mandatory 100% tax on French incomes over 360,000 euros. Melenchon has surged from single digits to draw within just a few points of the lead.
His rise has coincided with the strength being shown by Marine Le Pen, whose National Front party's anti-immigrant, anti-E.U. platform is resonating with many French voters.
The latest polling suggests there is a chance for a Le Pen-Melenchon match-up in May for the presidency.
Reuters:
An Ipsos-Sopra Sterna poll showed independent centrist Emmanuel Macron and Le Pen tied on 22 percent in the April 23 first round, with Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillon on 20 and 19 percent respectively. That 3 percentage point gap separating the top four was within at least one of poll's margin of error, suggesting the race remains wide open. Polls have consistently shown Macron would comfortably win the second round should he qualify for the May 7 vote. But the most striking trend in past days has been the late surge in support for Melenchon, a former Trotskyist who would pull France out of NATO and, like Le Pen, possibly the European Union too. In the second poll showing the top four within three points of each other, BVA pollsters said: "All scenarios are possible for April 23." "A second round with Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen remains the most likely hypothesis, but nothing excludes that Francois Fillon or Jean-Luc Melenchon would qualify instead," BVA said. Polls show that about a third of France's 45.7 million voters might abstain. While some analysts say a higher turnout would favor Macron and Fillon, BVA said the Le Pen and Melenchon could also benefit if young and working class voters cast ballots in high numbers. Melenchon's progress, and the possibility of a showdown between the founder of the "France Unbowed" party and Le Pen, has alarmed investors. Voter surveys show that, should he reach the second round, Melenchon could win against Fillon or Le Pen. Le Pen would not win the presidency whoever she faced in the run-off, polls indicate.
Speculation about what would happen in a runoff election is pretty useless when you consider how wrong pollsters have been about support for anti-establishment candidates around the world. But with the way the French press has absolutely demonized Le Pen, it's surprising she is doing as well as she is.
If it comes down to a match-up between Le Pen and Melenchon, all bets are off. The far left is making a comeback across the continent with the rebirth of the Communist party in Eastern Europe and radical leftists rising in Italy, Greece, and Spain. Many young voters don't know any better, but they realize that the far left is as anti-establishment as candidates like Le Pen.
Le Pen is also getting a lot of young, working-class voters, so a face-off with Melenchon could very well be about the future of France and what direction its government will take the people.By Jake Ling / Intercontinental Cry
Featured image: Inside the United U’wa Resguardo on the cloud forests along the Colombia-Venezuela border. Photo: Jake Ling
This is the final installment of “The Guardians of Mother Earth,” Intercontinental Cry’s four-part series examining the Indigenous U’wa struggle for peace in Colombia.
The vast wetland savanna called Los Llanos stretches thousands of miles into Venezuela but it begins on the U’wa’s traditional territory at the base of the foothills below the cloud forests and paramos surrounding the sacred mountain Zizuma. For the last few years the worst fears of local environmentalists fighting on this forgotten frontline of climate change have come true: excessive exploitation of (though maybe that’s redundant since the categories already give a way to find stories about indigenous issuespetroleum in the Casanare region on the eastern border of the U’wa resguardo helped cause the desertification of large tracts of land in the swamps and grasslands across the province. An estimated 20,000 animals have died of thirst as traditional water holes evaporated and cracked under the strain of complete ecosystem collapse. Now, the only sign of life in places that once teemed with native species such as capybaras, deer, foxes, fish, turtles and reptiles, is the occasional vulture.
As Highway 66 snakes around the base of the mountain range, it passes several fortified military outposts guarding bridges and monitoring the flow of traffic towards Cubará in the Boyacá Frontier District. These bridges that once conquered the massive flows streaming down from the paramos above the clouds in the west now overlook small streams of water between riverbed boulders as Colombia plunges into a severe drought.
Seventeen years ago, in the final week of April, 1999, an international event was organized known as U’wa Solidarity Week. It was the early days of climate change awareness when the world was just beginning to understand Global Warming and its potentially devastating effects on the planet. The international campaign against the oil multinational Occidental Petroleum had hit critical-mass after the kidnapping and assassination of Terry Freitas, the 24 year old co-founder of the U’wa Defense Working Group, and the two renowned native american activists Lahe’enda’e Gay and Ingrid Washinawatok, by FARC guerillas in eastern Colombia. Protests against Occidental Petroleum in support of the U’wa were being held in eight cities across the United States as well as in London, Hamburg, Lima and Nairobi. Meanwhile, in the background, the burgeoning power of a very young cyber-network called the Internet had created a space for the remote U’wa nation, heralding a new age of activism that facilitated vital connections between grassroots indigenous movements and environmental activists abroad.
Berito traveled to Los Angeles with another U’wa leader, Mr. Nuniwa, where the two men were received by organizations such as Rainforest Action Network, Project Underground, Amazon Watch and half a dozen other groups that planned to converge on Occidental Petroleum’s Annual Shareholder Meeting on friday, April 30th, 17 years ago.
At a dinner before the shareholder meeting the two U’wa leaders held hands to say grace with the two-dozen American activists around a feast of primarily vegan salads and vegetarian stews for the activists and dishes of meat for the chiefs. With the assassination of the American activists still painfully fresh in the minds of the the protest movement, the U’wa leaders proclaimed that after his death Terry Freitas had visited the dreams of the Werjayá, the shamanic healers of the U’wa in charge of communicating with the superior powers that flow through nature. In the dream Freitas was clutching a white snail shell, a symbol of spiritual purity and peacemaking, and the Werjayá declared the apparition of a god. The two U’wa leaders Berito and Nuniwa invoked their ancestors at the dinner table and summoned the spirit of Terence Freitas.
The following Wednesday, halfway through U’wa Solidarity Week, about 200 or so people marched from the University of California, where Freitas had studied, to Occidental’s headquarters a mile away. Many of the protestors were led away by the police.
“Why don’t they just finish us off for good, so we don’t have to struggle?” Berito told the Wall Street Journal, while his colleague Mr. Nuniwa expressed surprise that their march lasted as long as it did, considering the extremely aggressive tendencies of Colombia’s riot police.
The movement placed an advertisement in the New York Times — endorsed by Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, Friends of the Earth, Oilwatch, Oxfam-America, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, the Center for International Environmental Law and others — warning Occidental shareholders of the political and environmental risks of the mining project: “U’wa territory will not be spared the oil wars raging in the nearby Arauca area, where a violent attack on Oxy’s pipeline occurs every eight days. Meanwhile, those familiar with U’wa culture warn that their suicide pact must be taken seriously. U’wa oral histories recount an event four hundred years ago, when an U’wa band leaped from a cliff rather than submit to the Conquistadors.”
As protestors picketed the building hosting the shareholder meeting, inside Occidental’s chairman and CEO Ray Irani, seethed as the U’wa leader Berito lectured him for 45 minutes. Berito sang a sacred song in the U’wa tongue which he told protestors the previous night at dinner would be about “Mother Ocean and her breath, the wind, which sweeps up our words to the gods.” The 1,000 or so shareholders in attendance applauded the U’wa leader. Chairman Irani’s response was to declare: “The fact of the matter is your problems should be discussed with the Colombian government, not here… It doesn’t matter what Occidental does or doesn’t do.”
The Sinsinawa Dominican nuns, who held 100 Oxy shares, proposed that the oil multinational hire an independent firm to analyze the potential impact on the company’s stock if the U’wa people’s pledge to commit mass-suicide was fullfilled. The proposal, which Terry Freitas had helped draft, went on to win approval from 13 percent of Oxy shareholders, totaling over 40,000,000 shares, exceeding the expectations of the activists and forcing those opposed to consider the consequences.
After the meeting, Chairman Irani and the other directors made a stealthy exit out a side door where their limousines waited on the opposite side of the building to the protestors. Irani told the Wall Street Journal, “The U’wa use these activists very effectively.” Meanwhile Oxy Vice President Lawrence Meriage complained that the campaign was a concoction of certain activists up in the Bay Area and suggested the U’wa were being manipulated by U.S. environmentalists dead set against oil exploration, as well as the Colombian guerrillas that his company helped finance since the 1980’s. “We feel as a company that we’re caught in the middle,” said Mr. Meriage.
“We demand an announcement by Occidental that it is canceling its project on our ancestral land,” said Berito, “There is nothing else left for the company to do.”
As outrage over Occidental Petroleum’s behaviour in Colombia continued to grow, the oil multinational pushed ahead with their plans to exploit the petroleum block on U’wa territory. The next year, in February 2000, several hundred indigenous people and thousands of Colombians mobilized to block roads and prevent heavy machinery from arriving at the drilling site. The demonstration ended in tragedy as Colombian security forces violently dispersed the protestors with beatings and tear-gas leading to the tragic death of three U’wa children who drowned in the river while trying to flee government troops.
Occidental Petroleum pulled out of petroleum block on U’wa territory in May 2002, 10 years after the U’wa first threatened to commit mass suicide in protest. That same month, as senior members of the U.S. government publicly rallied against the FARC for the “terrorist murder” of Freitas, Gay and Washinawatok, President George H.W. Bush proposed $98 million in military aid to the Colombian government to protect Occidental Petroleum’s Caño-Limon-Covenas oil pipeline.
“We are dismayed to see the Administration’s cynical and exploitative use of Terence’s murder to justify further U.S. military aid to the Colombian armed forces,” friends and family of Freitas stated in response to the President’s proposal. “Employing Terence’s death as a means to continue perpetuating violence in Colombia grossly contradicts everything Terence believed in.”
“This isn’t about corporate welfare, it’s not about protecting Oxy,” a State Department official said. “It’s a security argument, not a U.S. economic interests argument.” The $4 million dollars that Occidental spent lobbying the U.S. government, however, certainly paid off for the company.
As the U’wa struggle slowly faded from the consciousness of the international community, the oil wars in eastern Colombia continued to escalate with the $98 million injection of U.S. military aid. Despite the U.S. State Department designating the AUC – the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia – as a terrorist group in 2001, these paramilitary death squads formed the vanguard of the Colombian Army’s surge into the ELN stronghold of Arauca province, along the Caño-Limon-Covenas pipeline.
The Colombian army, meanwhile, received additional funds totaling billions of dollars coinciding with the kidnapping and execution of thousands of Colombian civilians, whose bodies were then dressed up in guerrilla uniforms to artificially inflate body counts, a crime known as the “scandal of false positive.” Between 2000 and 2010 the Colombian military kidnapped and executed 164 civilians in Arauca, 122 in Boyaca, 301 in Norte de Santander, 209 in Casanare, the four provinces bordering the U’wa Nation’s territory.
Occidental Petroleum’s direct financial and logistical support to the Colombian military included a specialized meeting room inside the Oxy-fortified compound for the 18th Brigade that operates in Arauca and the Boyacá Fronteir District of Cubara with the mandate of protecting the Cano-Limon-Covenas. Commander César Oswaldo Morales of the military’s 18th Brigade was imprisoned in 2012 for kidnapping and executing civilians years earlier in northern Colombia.
In an effort to deescalate the war, an agreement between the government and right-wing paramilitaries saw the AUC begin to lay down arms in 2003. The demobilization, which is widely viewed as a failure, led to the rise of neo-paramilitary groups called BACRIM that continue to threaten and target the civilian population and indigenous people who protest the contamination of their lands and waters by oil operations in the region.
In 2006, the BACRIM inflicted a reign of terror in the Catacumbo region of Norte de Santander, displacing 8,000 civilians over a few months to the north of the U’wa resguardo’s border. It was the same year that Colombia’s Interior Ministry cleared the way for state-run Ecopetrol to begin new explorations in the U’wa territory on behalf of the Spanish oil giant RepSol, as well as on another site inside U’wa territory to the west of the Gibraltar drilling site.
There is not a pipeline on the planet that has been bombed as many times as the Caño-Limo-Covenas. It is an engineering marvel that reaches deep beneath the war-torn province of Arauca and stretches 780 kms (480 miles) across the country to the Caribbean and the effluent discharged into the rivers and lakes that surround the oil well make them no longer fit for human consumption. The several hundred bombings that have ruptured the length and breadth of the pipeline have also polluted 1,625 miles of rivers with thick cancerous crude, leaving a devastating legacy for the local indigenous and rural populations.
This particular environmental disaster is a symptom of a larger problem in Colombia with roots that reach deeper into a much darker cause. Across the country indigenous men, women and children from tribal nations both large and small are being murdered and displaced to make way for mega-mining projects. In the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Kankuamo Indigenous Peoples were the victim of twin arson attacks on separate religious temples two days after they canceled consultations with the government to oppose 400 mining projects in the region that will affect 100,000 indigenous people. In the northern state of La Guajira, the multinational el Cerrajon mine is diverting 17 million liters of river water daily during a severe drought that has decimated rural people’s livestock and responsible for indigenous Wayuu children dying of thirst.
For the Wounaan Peoples on the pacific coast, 63 families have been displaced in the past year as petroleum exploration takes place on their ancestral lands. “We know that the peace process will open the way for megaprojects that bring international investments into our territory,” said one member of the Wounaan, “therefore we know that true peace will not come. For Indigenous Peoples the violence will not end with the peace process.”
The ability of the Colombian government to hold multinationals to account for crimes against the civilian population, Indigenous Peoples and the environment is limited while the country attempts to rebuild its crippled economy and frail state institutions after half a century of war. Despite this, predatory multinationals are currently suing the Colombian government for billions of dollars whenever it attempts to protect the environment: such as the $16.5 billion lawsuit that U.S. Tobie Mining and Energy launched against the government when it declared an area in the Amazon rainforest a National Park, where the U.S. company owns a mining concession; or the lawsuits launched by multinationals protesting the new law banning mining in the country’s paramos.
Seventeen years after her murder, Washinawatok’s words in her essay “On Working Towards Peace” now seem increasingly prophetic: “The roots of war and violence go deep, into the Earth herself. As an indigenous woman, I wish to simply state that until we make peace with Earth, there will be no peace in the human community.”
“In the late 90’s the U’wa struggle against Occidental Petroleum resonated with progressive social movements that were fighting corporate domination, the multilateral financial institutions like the World Bank and free trade agreements like NAFTA,” said Andrew Miller, Director of Advocacy at Amazon Watch. “The core U’wa messages have not changed, and once again we see synergies within the global conversations about climate change and the growing movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”
It was the multiple bomb attacks on the Caño-Limon-Covenas inside U’wa territory in March and April 2014, which not only showcased the indigenous nation’s vulnerability but also its strength. The subsequent 40-day protest in which petroleum engineers were prevented from accessing the bomb-site to fix the ruptured pipe cost the Colombian government $130 million dollars. The concessions that the state proceeded to make to the U’wa in exchange for stopping the protest included the dismantling of the gas exploration project in Magallanes; other points in the agreement have since been ignored.
A year later, the pipeline was bombed again on U’wa territory, contaminating the Cubogón and Arauca rivers and creating an environmental emergency that left the entire state of Arauca downstream without water. The Colombian government had still not fulfilled its side of the deal leading 40 organizations to sign an open letter to President Santos reminding him of the agreement.
At the end of March, 2016, two weeks after another twin-bomb attack on the Caño-Limon-Covenas, and only days after the U’wa mobilization surrounding the Cocuy National Park received the threatening photograph of the armed-sheep, Amazon Watch issued its highest red-alert to warn its network of concerned global citizens of the dangers facing the protestors. The International Urgent Action has so far received 5,000 signatures from people around the world supporting the U’wa’s demand of a direct dialogue with Colombia’s former Minister of Environment.
The requests were ignored; however, just two weeks ago, on April 25th, President Santos replaced the minister with Luis Gilberto Murillo, the former Governor of Choco province, who is himself a victim of the war after being kidnapped by paramilitaries. The new Minister for Environment is now presented with the opportunity to mend relations with the U’wa Peoples by handing over the administration of the Cocuy National Park, an act that would protect its precious ecosystems while providing a source of income to the communities via sustainable and responsible tourism. The government’s obligations under Colombian law, however, do not end there. The U’wa still urgently need access to better health-care facilities and clean drinking water to prevent the spread of tuberculosis and dysentery — two basic human rights that the international community can pressure President Santos to fulfill.
As the U’wa leader Berito recovers from tuberculosis in his wooden shack in the cloud forests on the eastern border of the United U’wa Resguardo, he is content at having officially changed his name late last year. The indigenous leader passed IC an original copy of his signed and stamped identification papers, issued to him a year earlier when he traveled to Bogotá to change his name from Roberto Cobaria, the name arbitrarily placed on him by Catholic missionaries. Now, the Colombian government must recognize him by the same name his people call him – Berito KuwarU’wa KuwarU’wa – the wise and powerful Werjayá whose life work has been to guide the people who know how to think and speak through the most violent and longest running armed conflict on the South American continent.
In the coming weeks or months when the FARC and Colombian government are expected to finalize a historic peace agreement, the war will not be over for the U’wa people. The Paramilitaries eventually dispersed, more BACRIM may be imprisoned, most of the FARC will probably demobilize, the ELN may lay down arms, the state military might be disciplined with court-martials, but the Colombian government will never give up its relentless thirst for the sacred blood of Mother Earth underneath the ancestral lands of the U’wa. Once again the U’wa are cornered on all sides with their backs against a cliff, but the question remains if the indigenous group will jump or if they will be pushed.
“The U’wa people are reaching out at a national and international level to ask for the unconditional assistance to our struggle that dates back many years,” Berito announced in 2014, before he became sick. “We refuse to be silent and we are going to mobilize ourselves and once again engage in protest actions against the extraction of oil which will damage our Mother Earth.”
Jake Ling is the founder of www.ecuadore |
out who your customers are, how they behave, and how they think. Some designers even create personas to better represent these people so it’s easier to plan and design with them in mind. I once worked with a designer who bought frames with photos of strangers at thrift stores. She stashed the photos in a box under her desk. When she started a project, she flipped through them until she found people she felt matched the users we were designing for. She kept those frames on her desk for the project’s duration to remind her that she wasn’t designing for herself. She was designing for them. Every good designer is a bit of a method actor. We try to design through the eyes of the people we anticipate using the product. Does this mean we disregard your business needs? Au contraire! We make sure that your business needs match the needs of the people you’re trying to win over. Ultimately, that’s the best thing we can do for your business. Designers work well with others It’s almost impossible to design anything by yourself. It’s also stupid. You improve everything when you talk to people with different viewpoints, experiences, and skill sets. The myth of the solitary genius is just that: a myth. Design is a team sport. And a team with cohesive chemistry always beats a team with a few prima donna superstars. Even if the solitary genius manages to squeeze out a couple of good projects before everyone tires of their attitude, the door will eventually close on how long people are willing to put up with them. A designer is a communication professional. When I start a project I get to know everyone on the client’s team. I learn what they do, how they tick, how best to communicate with them; I develop relationships and trust. Projects take a while. You’ll work together for a long time. You have information in your head that’s crucial to the project’s success, and I’m guessing you may not be quick to give it to someone who doesn’t treat you with respect and kindness. You don’t have to put up with the solitary genius or the asshole genius. Designers have reasons Designers need to be able to explain decisions in a rational manner and tie them to project goals. By letting you know how their solutions relate to research findings. By backing up their decisions with quotes from user interviews. By using data and analytics where applicable. They have to explain their decisions and do so convincingly. They have to sell it. A designer who can’t explain their rationale is useless — open to the whims and desires of everyone around them. If they don’t understand their own decisions, they can’t advocate for your users or replicate their choices across projects. They can’t argue. Every designer in the world needs to be able to answer: “Why did you do that?” If their reply is, “I can change it,” you’re absolutely fucked. “I think it looks good” is not a rationale. It’s a red flag. Designers take feedback and criticism A solid, thoughtful rationale also nicely sets the table for good feedback. If your designer says they made a decision based on research and best practices, they’re doing their job. But a designer who says they were “inspired” to do something opens the door for a stakeholder to give feedback that’s just as subjective. Whim begets whim. Now you’ve got a roomful of people arguing about their favorite colors. But isn’t inspiration important? Absolutely. Remember the scene in Apollo 13 where the astronauts cobbled together random parts from around the ship to make an air purifier? Using everything at your disposal to meet a goal is inspiration. Throwing shit together and hoping it sticks isn’t. A designer confident in their decisions is confident enough to listen to criticism. They’re showing you results based on systematic thought not a magical moment. People are more open to their math being wrong than having their fairy tales spoiled. I’ve gone into presentations convinced that I was about to show a great solution. Fifteen minutes in, someone on the client team says, “You forgot to take x into account.” And holy shit. They’re right. At that point, my job is to shift gears and get everyone involved in solving for that case. And thank the awesome individual who uncovered it. My friend Jared Spool, whom I’ve now quoted twice, says, “The best designers are passionate about design, but dispassionate about their own designs.” It’s a good line. I wish I could take credit for it. (I eventually will.) There’s a big difference between defending work, which a designer must know how to do, and being defensive about work, which a designer should never do. When you point out an obvious problem to a designer and they keep fighting, they’re no longer fighting for the work’s quality. They’re fighting for their ego. A good designer is confident enough to fight for what’s right and acknowledge what’s wrong. “The best designers are passionate about design, but dispassionate about their own designs.” — Mike Monteiro Of course, you should make sure the criticism focuses on the work, not the person presenting the work. (We’ll go into how to give good feedback in Chapter 4.) How do you know if you have a good or bad designer? Let’s find out. RED FLAGS TO LOOK FOR IN DESIGNERS Beware of designers who’ve only worked by themselves. A designer who’s worked alone only knows what they know. But a designer who’s worked with other designers, taking in everything they had to teach, knows what they all know and isn’t afraid to tell you what they need. A young kid who’s the sole designer in a company founded by and filled with engineers or developers has a harder time learning how to make the case for their craft. They don’t work to convince someone of a point, because they never feel like they have the backup. They’re a pair of hired hands. Beware of designers who wait for you to define their job. The designer is the expert in what you hired them to do and what they need to get that done. After all, you hired them because they’re uniquely qualified to do this. Good designers empower themselves to do their jobs. If you’re in a situation where your designer asks for a lot of direction, you may need to remind them that you expect them to take charge of the things under their purview. Your designer should come to you for feedback that evaluates their proposed solution — but not direction, which asks you to come up with the solution itself. That’s what you hired them for. Beware designers who limit themselves to things they enjoy doing. Let’s be honest. No one in their right mind enjoys a requirements gathering meeting, but it helps get the job done. Anything that helps you do your job is part of your job. Combing through that information — and sharing in your teammates’ pain of attending said meeting — makes the job’s enjoyable parts more fruitful. Beware a designer who doesn’t ask questions. I mean “Why are we doing it this way?” type questions, not “How do we do it?” questions. A designer, heck, everyone in your company, should be curious about why decisions are made the way they are. A good designer takes every decision apart to see if they can put it back together better. It’s in every good designer’s nature to improve what they’re handed. Beware a designer who doesn’t argue from a strong point of view. Once a designer is convinced that a specific choice is right, they should be willing to argue their position. They should also be open-minded enough to be proven wrong, but only if the opposing argument is strong enough to persuade them. Slight pushback shouldn’t change their mind. Beware a designer who wants you to like them more than they want to do good work. Every designer has an aha moment in their career when they realize they’re designing work the client hopes to see instead of work they know is right but needs a harder conversation to get the client’s approval. Until they have that moment, they’re not giving you their best work.
It is ok to like unicorns. They want to be liked, and your friendship helps them to exist. Unicorns are not design, and generally don’t have quarterly revenue goals.Buy Photo Dee Cox, center, attends a Democratic caucus in 2012 at the Washington County Library in Washington City. Attendees elected delegates within their precincts for state and county conventions. (Photo: The Spectrum & Daily News file photo)Buy Photo
Utahns are expected to turn out in record numbers to neighborhood caucuses across the state on Tuesday, given a rare chance for some presidential race spotlight thanks to still-contentious races among both the Republican and Democratic candidates.
Billionaire Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich all held events in Utah over the past several days, aiming for the state’s 40 delegates to the GOP’s national convention.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders drew a large crowd for a rally in Salt Lake City, and Hillary Clinton had her daughter Chelsea Clinton helping the campaign with a series of events. Both candidates are vying for 37 available delegates.
Candidates have flooded Utah airwaves and newspapers with advertising campaigns.
The Utah Republican Party announced Saturday that at least 30,000 party members are expected to participate in an online presidential preference vote — one of the first such online options made available anywhere in the country — and party heads say they expect some 200,000 participants overall. That would easily break the party’s previous record of 120,000 set in 2012.
The Democratic Party isn’t offering an online option — leadership indicated they didn’t want to spend $80,000 to set up the program like their GOP counterparts did — but they still expect large crowds at their 90 meeting sites across the state.
“It’s going to be like we’ve never seen before,” said Lauren Littlefield, the executive director of the Utah Democratic Party, stressing that both Clinton and Sanders have generated energetic followings.
Caucuses for both of the state’s two main political parties start Tuesday evening, with the majority of the meetings starting at 7 p.m., while doors open in most places at 6 p.m.
Interested residents can find their meeting sites by visiting www.utgop.org or www.utahdemocrats.org. Additional help is available online at vote.utah.gov.
Follow David DeMille on Twitter, @SpectrumDeMille, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SpectrumDeMille. Call him at 435-674-6261.
More on Utah caucuses
In the Utah caucus system, potential voters gather for caucuses to elect precinct leadership as well as delegates. The delegates then represent their neighborhoods at the state and county conventions where they could select the party nominees for each race.
Republican Party caucuses are scheduled from 7 p.m. at locations across Washington and Iron counties. Only registered party members may vote. Registration is available starting at 6 p.m. Visit utah.gop or log onto vote.utah.gov to find your precinct. More information is available by emailing info@utah.gop or calling (801) 533-9777.
Democratic Party caucuses are scheduled at 6 p.m. at multiple locations in Washington County or at Canyon View Middle School in Iron County. Participants do not need to be affiliated with the Democratic Party. More information is available at utahdemocrats.org, by emailing mail@utdem.org or by calling (801) 328-1212.
Both parties require a valid state-issued identification card, such as a driver's license, to vote.
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Read or Share this story: http://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2016/03/20/record-turnout-expected-tuesday-caucuses/82047246/North Queensland fans rested easier last night after scans revealed five-eighth Michael Morgan’s injured ankle will cost him only two weeks of action.
Morgan was injured midway through the first half of Saturday night’s win against the Warriors in New Zealand.
Such has been his improvement since moving into the halves alongside skipper Johnathan Thurston in round three that many felt the loss of Morgan so close to the start of the finals series was near enough to the death knell for the Cowboys’ title ambitions.
“I think he has become that important to the side,” former Cowboys Test centre Brent Tate said.
“As great as Johnno is, I think we have all learned over the past decade or so that he can’t do it on his own. If you’re going to beat the best sides in the competition in the finals, you need quality attacking options.”
Read more at The AustralianUpdate: This signing has since been confirmed by SK Telecom T1.
Former ROX Tigers jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho is expected to sign with three-time League of Legends World Championship team SK Telecom T1 in the coming days, sources close to the deal tell ESPN.
Peanut's contract with the ROX Tigers ended on Wednesday, less than a week after the entire team disbanded. Despite having offers and interest abroad in North America and Europe, Peanut had no interest in leaving South Korea and joining any team other than SK Telecom T1.
According to the terms of the agreement, Peanut will have to discontinue streaming his League of Legends gameplay on his Twitch channel, which has been rising in popularity since he began on the platform in early November. If he wants to continue streaming, he'll need to move over to the Azubu platform; this is due to Azubu's partnership with SK Telecom T1 and other South Korean teams from 2014.
On Tuesday, SK Telecom T1 announced the departure of three-time world champion jungler Bae "Bengi" Seong-ung. The team did come to a new agreement with its other jungler, Kang "Blank" Sun-gu; it's expected that Peanut and Blank will rotate as SK Telecom T1 figures out its team composition without Bengi in the lineup.
SK Telecom T1 will be Peanut's third team in a career that spans the past two years. He first made his name as a rotating jungler with Najin e-mFire in 2015 before joining the ROX Tigers at the tail end of the year.
SK Telecom T1 did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication.
Stay up-to-date with the League of Legends offseason roster shuffle through our one-stop updates page.Psychological Operations in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001 by SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)
This article is the history of psychological operations (PSYOP) in Afghanistan for the first seven months during the heavy combat phase of the invasion and occupation after the attack on the New York City World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Although almost all of these leaflets are in full color, in many cases they also exist in black and white and on various grades of paper. Poorly cut specimens are common. Much of the printing work uses digital presses; so printing plates are not required. Printed leaflets are forwarded to the regional battalion in the field for dropping. When higher headquarters requests samples of such leaflets, reprints are often printed based on what data can be determined from the regional battalion. As a result, official reference leaflets may appear slightly different from those that were dropped. Know also that excellent facsimiles exist and we have already seen fake color photocopies of a dozen leaflets offered in the marketplace. Let the buyer beware! I should also point out that we show only a very small percentage of the total number of leaflets and posters printed and disseminated in Afghanistan. In general, we attempt to add a translation to every leaflet we depict, and in cases like Operation Iraqi Freedom that is not difficult since there are many Arabic speakers who are willing to translate text. In the case of Operation Enduring Freedom, the number of Pashto and Dari speakers in the United States is rather small and it is extremely difficult to translate the text on the hundreds of leaflets and posters we have accumulated. We have attempted to depict a nice mix of themes, but the reader should understand that this is just a small number of the total pieces we could show. We should mention a brief word about the terminology in this article. The attempt to win the hearts and minds of friends and enemies was first called "Propaganda" (from the Catholic Church - Congregatio de propaganda fide), and later changed to "psychological warfare" (PSYWAR) about 1920. The term was changed to "psychological operations" (PSYOP) about 1945, although it did not gain popularity until about 1960 when it became clear that many of the influence operations like asking the people to support a new national government took place during peacetime. The Army then experimented with the term "information operations" (IO) about 2003 which started to blur the lines between PSYOP, military deception, operational security, electronic warfare and computer networks operations. In 2010, the military decided on the term "military information support operations" (MISO). It is important to remember that no matter what we call the art of influencing the enemy, the methods used and the personnel involved really do not change. For the purposes of this article we will use the term PSYOP. In future articles I suspect we will be forced to use the term MISO, unless the military decides to make another change. Note: I started writing this article in 2001 and finished it shortly afterwards. In July of 2006 I came across a very concise United States Army War College research paper entitled "Information Operations" by Peter L. Burnett Jr. The "Psychological Operations" paragraph explained PSYOP in Afghanistan with such clarity that I add it here: During the initial attack against Afghanistan, the Afghan people’s views of America were negative primarily due to a lack of knowledge the people possessed regarding the attack. The Taliban government and the leadership of al-Qaida tried to convince the people of Afghanistan that America was attacking the religious faith of the Afghan nation. The Taliban government and the al-Qaida network’s goal was to gain support of the Afghan population, the political will of the people, and to promote hatred toward any American effort in Afghanistan. Using PSYOP as a tool, America was able to reach the people through leaflets, food, broadcast coordination, use of coalition forces, and good deeds to prove America was not attacking their religious faith, but was attacking terrorist activities. The PSYOP efforts cast a brighter light regarding America’s efforts in Afghanistan regardless of America’s efforts or explanation. No country wants to be attacked, but the PSYOP efforts have paid off and proven to be an effective measure in America’s efforts against terrorism. On 11 September, 2001, terrorists of the al-Qaida (the Base) group, some trained and financed by Saudi Arabian exile-in-hiding Osama bin Laden, attacked the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington DC. Bin Laden was a long-time terrorist who was known under such alias as Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden, Usama bin Laden, the Prince, the Emir, Abu Abdallah, Mjhahid Shaykh, Hajj, the Director, the Contractor, and still more names. In response to the terrorist attacks, the United States launched the Global War on Terrorism. On 12 September, the day following the attack, Tactical PSYOP Detachment (TPD) 940 began target audience analysis of Afghanistan, including the Afghan populace, the Taliban, and al Qaida. On 4 October 2001 a 95-man Joint Psychological Operations Task Force (JPOTF) was activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and placed under the operational control of the Central Command (CENTCOM). The 3rd Psychological Operations battalion deployed to Kuwait that same month to support Operation Enduring Freedom. The primary PSYOP objectives were to shift the debate from Islam to terrorism and to counter adversarial propaganda; to discourage interference with humanitarian affairs activities; to support objectives against state and non-state supporters and sponsors of terrorism and to disrupt support for and relationships of terrorist organizations. Leaflets and radio scripts were prepared. Just two days before the start of combat operations on 5 October 2001, EC–130 Commando Solo aircraft began to transmit radio broadcasts to Afghanistan. The first B-52 leaflets from Diego Garcia were dropped on 14 October 2001, almost a week after combat operations began. Early in the war many Americans clamored for a leaflet showing the burning World Trade Center to explain to the Afghans why the United States had attacked the terrorist al-Qaida faction and Taliban forces ruling their nation. The Central Command stated that they would not produce a leaflet showing the burning building because the "third-world" Afghans would not understand the concept of the "skyscraper," and it might cause a loss in the believe of the honesty of all Coalition leaflets. Such a leaflet was eventually produced near the end of the war. It seems clear than any people, regardless of their situation, would understand the American desire for retribution after seeing this leaflet. The text on the front and the back of this leaflet is: 20th September, 1380. World Trade Center The Coalition Forces came to arrest those responsible for the terrorism against America. They also come to arrest anyone that protects them. More than 3,000 people in the United States of America were murdered in these attacks. [Note: the date is obviously using the Persian Calendar]. A poster was produced in Pastun and Dari that depicted a similar picture of the World Trade Center attack, perhaps a few seconds later than the leaflet image, with a greater fireball. The poster is coded AFC035. The text at top is a date in the Afghanistan calendar which is very likely the equivalent of September 11. Because the image is not clear we can just read a small part of the text: Over 2,800 People were killed and 3,000 children lost their parents… Although there is no evidence that the leaflet was ever disseminated, a leaflet coded AFD22b depicted the burning World Trade Center at the left and Afghan ruins at the right. The text is: Foreign Terrorists do not believe in any borders New York – U.S.A. Harat -Afghanstan The back depicted Afghan and Coalition friends together and two hands shaking, similar to the "Friendship" leaflet AFD030b below. Notice that the Afghanistan flag incorrectly has the stripes in horizontal rather than vertical format, and this could be the reason the leaflet was not disseminated. We share food together. We regain our honor and dignity and maintain it. The United States also explained the reason for the bombings and the American invasion over their propaganda radio. One of the messages was: Dear Afghanistan, A grave crime has been committed against the United States. Four of our planes have been hijacked, several building in our economic centers destroyed and more than 6,000 innocent people, hundreds of which were Muslim were murdered by the hand of Osama bin Laden, Al Qaida, his supporters, and the Taliban. We see these actions as acts of war. We will not sit idly by and do nothing in these times. However, we do not wish to spill the blood of innocent people, as did the cowardly terrorists. We do not blame the Muslims or Afghans for these attacks. We do not hold those who follow true Islam responsible. We will hunt down and punish these terrorists. They will pay with their blood. America is not against the beliefs of Islam, nor is it against Muslims. More than 6 million Muslims live and worship Allah in peace in the United States, a number equal to almost half the population of Afghanistan. In the United States people of all religions live side by side in peace. Muslims living in America have the same rights to worship as any other citizen of any other religion. A 2005 Review of Psychological Operations Lessons learned from Recent Operational Experiences points out that there was much more supervision of leaflet themes in Afghanistan. For instance, during Operation Desert Storm there were a dozen different threatening leaflets depicting the B-52 bomber. Heavy bombers have always been a staple of American psychological warfare. It is surprising to see that no such leaflet depicting a B-52 bomber was produced for Afghanistan. Higher echelons decided that the Afghans might see it as an act of revenge for the 9/11 attack and a threat to decimate their population and misunderstand the fact that the Coalition’s war was only against terrorism. The national-level guidance that was approved and disseminated the day that operations began made clear that the U.S. response in Afghanistan would protect, not target, innocent people and that there was no cause that would justify purposeful targeting of the civilian population. In fact, at one time the Coalition had considered courting the Taliban as well as the general population, attempting to drive a wedge between the two parties by portraying al Qaida as foreign interlopers who manipulated the Taliban. However, when it became clear that the Taliban were dedicated fundamentalists that would not surrender in any number, they became a PSYOP target. President Bush immediately demanded that the ruling fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement of Afghanistan turn over Mr. bin Laden for trial. President Bush declared a war on terrorism and stated that they would be found and attacked regardless of where they were hiding. The operation was originally named "Infinite Justice," but was altered when it was discovered that Islam reserved infinite judgment for Allah. The name was immediately changed to "Enduring Freedom." Political correctness at its best. Iran, in its usual anti-American posture remarked that the operation should be called "Infinite Imperialism." A week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President Bush said in an unscripted moment: This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while. There was an immediate uproar from Muslims around the word who still thought of the Crusade as a Christian attack on their faith. President Bush then went to great pains to remove all traces of a religious crusade in his comments on the war on terror. However, in 2003 Biblical sayings were placed on the Department of Defense top secret Worldwide Intelligence Update military intelligence reports. The decision to put the biblical quotations on the cover pages was allegedly taken by Major General Glen Shaffer, a director for intelligence serving both Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Some of the comments with patriotic pictures of American soldiers at war or at prayer were: Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Pentagon officials were concerned that, if the cover sheets were ever leaked, they could be interpreted as a suggestion that the war was religiously driven, a battle against Islam. It did not help matters in 2005 when the Pentagon’s inspector general recommended "corrective action" against Lieutenant General William G. Boykin, the Deputy Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence who likened the war against Islamic militants to a battle against Satan. The story of Biblical quotations used by Americans was thought to be over but in February 2011, it was discovered that the same sort of quotations were being placed on some American weapons. US gun-sights were found with inscriptions with biblical references that might lead some to believe that Americans are using "Jesus weapons" against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. The inscriptions apparently do not break military rules on proselytizing because the equipment is not distributed beyond the troops who are actually using them. Trijicon makes the sights and their director of sales and marketing told Associated Press: We don’t publicize this. It’s not something we make a big deal out of. But yes, it’s there. According to an American Broadcasting Corporation report, one of the citations on the gun sights, "2COR4:6," is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life This need to place Biblical quotations on American military items is very disturbing and certainly does nothing to win trust among the Muslim nations of the world. Perhaps we should stop for a moment to discuss the Taliban (sometimes spelled "Taleban"). The Taliban ("the Seekers") was formed in September of 1994 in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar by a group of graduates of Pakistani Islamic colleges on the border with Afghanistan, run by the fundamentalist Jamiat-e-Ulema. The members were mostly Pashtuns from Kandahar in Southern Afghanistan and were led by the religious leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Their fighting ranks were mostly filled with former veterans of the war against the Soviets. They fought against the government of Afghanistan and on 27 September 1996 they captured Kabul. By June 1997, the Taliban effectively controlled two-thirds of the country. The Taliban applied a strict interpretation of Sharia, enforcement of which was administered by the "Department for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice." Individuals were beaten on the streets by Taliban militia for what were deemed infractions of Taliban rules concerning dress, hair length, and facial hair, as well as for restriction on women being in the company of men. For an example of how PSYOP tried to take advantage of these Taliban activities, see leaflet AFD24 below. The bombing of Afghanistan began on October 7. Along with the bombing, the United States Air Force also dropped food packets for the Afghan refugees. Aerial propaganda leaflets were not dropped the first week due to high winds. The first leaflet drop took place on October 15, coordinated with Coalition radio broadcasts. EC-130-E Command Solo aircraft from the 193rd Special Operations Wing flying out of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, broadcast to the Afghan people. The modified C-130 can broadcast radio or TV signals - AM, FM and HF. It broadcasts across the band from 45 kilohertz to 1000 megahertz. On October 15, the United States government released illustrations of the first two leaflets dropped on Afghanistan. It reported that a single B-52 Stratofortress bomber had dropped 385,000 leaflets over the eastern town of Ghazni, the northwestern town of Sheberghan, and between Sheberghan and the western city of Herat. The first leaflet depicts an American soldier shaking hands with an Afghan citizen. The photograph is in full color, the text in bright blue. The leaflet was written in Pashto (spoken by the Afghan ethnic majority Pashtun) and Dari (a Persian dialect spoken by the minority Tajiks). The leaflet states on the front: The partnership of nations is here to help. The back of the leaflets says: The partnership of nations is here to assist the people of Afghanistan. The second leaflet depicts a radio tower and two radios. Text is identical on both sides in Pashto and Dari. The leaflet states: Information radio.
0500-1000. 1700-2200 daily.
864, 1107, 8700 kilohertz. The leaflet tells the Afghan finder what radio stations to dial in order to hear the latest news from the coalition forces. Part of the PSYOP plan was to tell the Afghan people why their country was being bombed. The radio broadcasts stress that this is simply a war against terrorism and not against the people of Afghanistan. The Taliban's main Kabul radio station, Voice of Sharia, ("Islamic Law"), was taken off the air by an American cruise missile several days earlier. P.W. Singer discusses the Taliban radio station in Analysis Paper No. 5, "American’s Response to Terrorism," Winning the War of Words: Information Warfare in Afghanistan: These Taliban broadcasts continually stressed that the one rallying point in Afghan history has been for the various tribes to join to throw out invaders, from the Persians and the British, to most recently the Soviets. The Taliban's broadcasts painted US demands on their country as falling in line with this long procession of outsiders attempting to interfere in their own local matters. The dominant message was that the US was yet another imperial power targeting Afghanistan. There is a lot of published information about the production of these radio leaflets. Weapon of Choice, ARSOF in Afghanistan, Charles H. Briscoe, Richard L. Kiper, James A. Schroeder, and Kalev I Sepp, authors, Combat studies Institute Press, Fort Leavenworth, KS 2003 says: Whether it was a leaflet offering a monetary reward, providing a radio listening frequency, extolling the new government, or warning about land mines, the 30 million leaflets 2nd Platoon, A Company, 3rd POB, printed were a significant contribution to the global war on terrorism When radio broadcasts by the Air Force EC- 130 Commando Solo aircraft became possible, Donovan's [PSYOP squad leader] squad printed handbills that ground units could distribute to villages. The handbills depicted a radio tower and had various frequencies for music and news. The New York Times stated that a leaflet with a similar message had been dropped to explain to the Afghan people why they were being bombed. The leaflet said, "On September 11th, the United States was the target of terrorist attacks, leaving no choice but to seek justice for these horrible crimes." Before we leave the subject of U.S. radio messages to Afghanistan we should discuss the early history of the propaganda broadcasts. According to Richard H. Cummings, formerly of Radio Free Europe, after the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan in 1979, Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Liberty (RL), the American financed stations in Munich, Germany, expanded its broadcasting from just Eastern Europe and the USSR. On 1 October 1985, the station began broadcasting to Afghanistan in Dari, one of the major languages in Afghanistan. Radio Free Afghanistan broadcast 30-minute Dari-language programs twice weekly. In 1986, it expanded its broadcasting to one hour daily, five days a week. A Pashto-language broadcast was added in September 1987. The Soviet Union retreated from Afghanistan on 15 February 1989, with an estimated loss of 15,000 troops. With the end of the Soviet invasion, Radio Free Afghanistan broadcast its last program on 19 October 1993. Programs to Afghanistan were resumed in December 2001 as part of the post-September 11 "War on Terror." On 30 January 2002, RFE/RL, now located in Prague, Czech Republic, began broadcasting to Afghanistan in the Dari and Pashto languages. Radio Free Afghanistan ("Radio Azadi") broadcast 12 hours a day on FM radio from Kabul, Herat, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Kandahar. The broadcasts can be heard on short wave, medium wave, and satellite radio and also on demand via the Internet. The United States produced a full color leaflet that told the people of Afghanistan that there were American Muslims, American mosques, and that true believers had the right to practice their religion and worship their God. The leaflet is coded AFD04. The front of the leaflet shows a mosque in the foreground with the Stars and Stripes within a map of the United States. Muslim men and women are depicted worshipping at the right. The text is: Muslims in the United States worship freely. The back of the leaflet depicts the inside of the Islamic Center of Long Island mosque at the left, and a crescent moon and text at the right. The text is: There are more than 7 million Muslims and 1200 mosques in the US. CENTCOM has issued no data on when and where this leaflet was distributed. There are an estimated seven million Muslims in America and some 1.2 billion worldwide. An October 17 report stated that leaflets had been dropped showing pictures of food parcels and explaining how the contents should be consumed. For instance, there is a drawing showing how a tube of peanut butter should be squeezed. Meanwhile, the Taliban responded by telling the Afghan people that the U.S. meals airdropped to Afghans did not meet the dietary requirements of observing Muslims. That same day, it was reported that small battery-powered portable radios were dropped to those without radios or electricity. Initially, several thousand KAITO brand portable radios were distributed by hand. The KAITO was a 220-volt AC radio that was battery, solar and crank (dynamo) powered. It was usable for people who lived in central Afghanistan with no electric power. AM and FM radio was only available in cities. In rural areas the people relied on SW radio. Cost was low for quantity purchased and the power source was the prime requirement. The sensitivity and selectivity were poor, and required a very strong signal to work. It was not successful in the mountainous countryside of Afghanistan. Under the Taliban, possession of a radio was a crime, and thus few were available. More than 7,500 small battery-powered transistor radios were distributed by airdrop and by tactical PSYOP teams operating with Special Forces detachments. A military report entitled PSYOP Radio in Afghanistan adds in part: The US military is air-dropping Freeplay wind-up radios among the Afghan people. Unlike the Freeplay Plus Radio we offer, which has the AM, FM and most of the short wave spectrum, these specially designed Freeplay radios are locked on a frequency that automatically tunes in US military broadcasts. With these radios, Afghans will know about aid facilities in their area as well as food drops. They'll also hear messages like the one below, assuring them of the US intentions in Afghanistan, and that we're there to help them. Curiously, the message seems to be the same one that we mention above dropped on a leaflet. Part of the radio message is: On September 11th, the United States was the target of terrorist attacks, leaving no choice but to seek justice for these horrible crimes. We are here to take measures against the terrorists that have rooted themselves in your country. It is not you, the honorable people of Afghanistan, who are targeted, but those who would oppress you, seek to bend you to their own will, and make you their slaves. It will take the combined efforts of the international community and you to remove these evil people from Afghanistan. Take the following action: Do not give food, shelter, or any type of aid to the Taliban or Osama bin Laden. This will be a great help in the effort. We have no wish to hurt you, the innocent people of Afghanistan. Stay away from military installations, government buildings, terrorist camps, roads, factories, or bridges. If you are near these places, then you must move away from them. Seek a safe place, and |
. There are so many opportunities available it is hard to choose which option to pursue.
Maybe we can finish our book. That worked out well for that Harry Browne fellow with his success with How you can Profit from the coming devaluation
We’ve also had a few offers for some of the paintings we’ve done these past few years, maybe that could bring in some reliable income. Or the band we’ve been a part of could take on some gigs or busk on street corners, maybe even just for fun
But in the end, some friends have the idea of spending a year or two in Argentina and Brazil. Learning Spanish is on the Bucket List, and Portuguese sounds interesting as well. And we should be able to spend much less than just our dividend income in those countries. Let’s do it!
Two years later we return to the US, and things worsen. The Iranian Revolution causes another doubling of oil prices.
Paul Volker takes the helm of the Federal Reserve and makes policy changes to reign in inflation, causing a depression and a spike in unemployment. Things look so bad, Business Week predicts the Death of Equities
But we take these things in stride. If anything, these past 15 years have taught us that flexibility is an incredibly powerful force for portfolio longevity. With confidence, we loosen up the purse strings. Now seems like a good time to start that RV tour
15 years into Retirement and our portfolio is still worth $500k (2014 dollars)
Maturing into Retirement
By now we’ve settled into our new life quite nicely. Some income opportunities present themselves regularly, but we always seem too busy to pursue them. Some years our investments do well, other years they don’t, but we are wiser (or perhaps just older) and the roller coaster doesn’t seem as interesting or exciting anymore
An upward surge in the stock market in the late 1990s makes us consider taking some money off the table, but we remember that market timing is a younger man’s game. Still, it is fun to see the portfolio return to its starting value on an inflation adjusted basis… even if just for a day
We start receiving Social Security income at Age 70. Income isn’t as high as it would have been had we worked an extra 30 years, but it is sufficient to cover 25% of our annual spending
Nearly 50 years later, our portfolio is still worth $500k. Our only source of income during this time was our investments. Looking back, we averaged a 3.7% withdrawal rate and lived a deeply rewarding life. The future looks equally bright
If this is the worst history has to offer, I’ll take it
Alternatives
A little flexibility goes a long way, and this retirement thought experiment has a happy ending. But what if we don’t want to be flexible? What if 4% withdrawals are a minimum?
Pure 4% withdrawals for a retirement starting in 1965 were a disaster, with the portfolio dropping to $0 in about 25 years. This occurred regardless of asset allocation. A portfolio of 50% stock / 50% bonds failed just as surely as a portfolio of 100% stock
One possible conclusion is that a 4% withdrawal rate isn’t safe enough. A 3% withdrawal rate, on the other hand, has had a 100% historical success rate. What if instead of retiring in 1965, we continued to work and built up the portfolio to $1.33 million, enough to support $40k/year with a 3% withdrawal rate?
This would only require working another 8 years, retiring in 1973 instead of 1965. Following this plan would have provided for incredible portfolio growth and opportunity for increased spending, with total assets in 2014 of over $4 million, even without taking SS income
But… if we were of the mindset that 3% was necessary, what we would have done in 1973? If in the first few months of retirement, the stock market dropped and the Oil Embargo began, would we have stayed the course? Or would we have returned to the work place? Safety first
What Made 1965 So Terrible?
In the years after 1965, the perfect storm of retirement killing conditions took place. Inflation grew rapidly over the following decade, exceeding 10% in several years in the 1970’s and averaging 6% a year from 1965 to 1985. Interest rates rose rapidly, from ~4% in 1965 to ~8% in 1970, up to 15% in 1982, causing bonds prices to plummet. The combo of fast rising high inflation and rising interest rates destroyed bonds.
Stocks also performed horribly. Adjusted for inflation, the stock market didn’t rise above its 1965 value until 1992, 27 years later. Dividends moved sideways over 2 decades
But as we saw in our hypothetical 1965 retirement above, these things are manageable
The most insidious portfolio killer was inflation. When the stock market drops, we can’t help but notice. When interest rates are rising, we see the impact. But when prices increase, humans are horrible at internalizing the change
My grandfather used to complain about how expensive certain things had become, even though on an inflation adjusted basis they were actually cheaper.
Or consider how much excitement occurred when the Nasdaq recently eclipsed its 2000 high. But when including inflation, the Nasdaq is still 40% below the lofty heights of 15 years ago. The excitement is completely arbitrary
To understand the impact of inflation during this period, I looked at the CPI over the 60 year period before and after 1965. Inflation was largely predictable before 1965 and after the early 80s. However, the transition was painful. Between 1965 and 1982 prices would triple. The main contributions are generally agreed to be the result of closing the gold window, the Oil Shock, and discredited economic policies.
Incidentally, the two trend lines in the chart show average annual inflation of ~4%. As long as inflation is predictable, normal positive economic behavior ensues
Since this was before my time, I asked the older and wiser Jim Collins to share his experience
While I lived thru them, I missed most of those sideways years, graduating from college in 1972 and starting my first professional job in 1974 I was pretty poor, especially living on 50% of my income so I’d have traveling money as I did. The point of this is that when you don’t have much, as long as you are employed, economic woes don’t much matter. While I was basically aware of the stock market, inflation and the oil embargo I didn’t have much skin in the game. Plus with inflation in play and being at the start of my career, I was able to double my income by 1978. With my low expenses I felt very comfortable. Without a car I never sat in one of those infamous gas lines. I remember there was great fear built around inflation and it seemed destined to only worsen. And, of course, then as now, the talking heads were predicting disaster. The big difference, however, is there were far fewer and thus far less noise. No cable TV or internet. Looking at stock performance during those years, you’ll notice that sideways motion started around 1965-6 and lasted until 1982. The market bumped between ~1000 and ~6-700 during those years. So the question isn’t so much why the 4% failed a couple of times, but why it held up as well as it did.
Conclusions
Reviewing all periods in the Trinity Study, the year 1965 was amongst the worst. While the future may provide even worse economic conditions, we can use this period to explore how strategies to improve portfolio longevity would have performed historically
By being flexible with spending, and being willing to adapt our goals to economic conditions, what at first appears to be a certain failure can become a long and rewarding retirement. In the worst of times, the difference between failure and success is small and largely within our control
I, for one, feel much more optimistic about our own retirement plans
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RelatedHarvard University. REUTERS Harvard University is the best university in the world, according to a new list from the Center for World University Rankings.
The CWUR listed Harvard at the top of seven of its eight criteria, including quality of education, alumni employment, influence, and broad impact. Harvard ranked second in CWUR's patent list, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took the top spot.
While the 2,000-university list represents schools from across the globe, eight of the CWUR's top 10 universities are in the U.S. The other two top 10 schools — the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford — are in the U.K.
The CWUR is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and claims to be "the only global university ranking that measures the quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of the faculty members and the quality of their research without relying on surveys and university data submissions."
Here are the top 10 universities in the world, via the CWUR:
Harvard University Stanford University Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Cambridge University of Oxford Columbia University University of California, Berkeley University of Chicago Princeton University Yale UniversityRecently we featured a Second World War Harley Davidson WLA for sale on eBay and this week we’ve stumbled across an Indian Motocycle 741 Military motorcycle (the spelling “Indian Motocycle” is coincidentally correct as you will see in the last picture in this post).
The Indian Motocycle 741 was one of three types of motorcycles that Indian produced for the US Military during the Second World War although these bikes are by no means as common as the Harley Davidson WLA. Through a series of bad management decisions Indian Motocycle had lost the men who were the original visionaries who started the company, and had lost their dealer network at the outset of the First World War when they essentially strangled supply of motorcycles to their dealer network in order to pursue supplying the US Government. It was a fatal error of judgment that Indian Motocycle never recovered from.
The first motorcycle Indian produced for the war effort was the 640 which was based on their civilian Scout 640 and had a 750 cc (46 cu in) V twin engine. This bike was set up very similarly to the Harley Davidson WLA. Visible features on this bike are the gear lever for the three speed gearbox at the side of the gas tank and the luggage rack mounted to the rear of the center of the rear wheel. This model also does not have the tool box on the left front fork.
Other than the 640 pictured above and the 741 (such as the eBay sale bike) the third Indian model that was made for the military was the 841. This is a very different bike and examples are hard to find as only 1,056 were made.
The Indian Motocycle 841 was a copy of the German BMW R71 and was built at the request of the US Army with a horizontally opposed engine and shaft drive to make it suitable for desert warfare. By the time the 841 was produced the US Army had already decided that the Jeep was a better choice than a motorcycle and they canceled the order and bought Jeeps. An Indian 841 is a very desirable motorcycle to find because of their rarity and if you have one sitting in your barn just waiting to be found you might want to get it valued and get it on eBay yourself. Then again it has a convenient scabbard for a carbine on the front forks and your lever action deer rifle might just fit that so nicely you’ll want to use the bike for deer hunting. The money or the enjoyment? Life is full of tough choices. These bikes were sold off by the factory at around US$500.00 each so there are near certain to be a few sitting in barns, garages and sheds across the USA. The ones that have been left out in the weather will be unlikely to be salvageable however.
The main motorcycle made by Indian for the Second World War was however the 741 of which over forty thousand were made. Many of these bikes were shipped off to America’s allies and finished up in the hands of the British and ANZAC troops. A shipment of 2,200 of these bikes heading for France on a ship named the Hanseatic Star in 1940 was sent to the bottom of the Atlantic by a German U Boat. C’est la vie as the French would say.
In addition to the forty four thousand Indian 741 bikes made for the US Military Indian shared with Harley Davidson in filling an additional five thousand bike order from the British War Department. The order was placed when the British bike manufacturer Triumph’s factory in Coventry was bombed halting production.
The eBay seller of this bike describes it as follows:-
“1941 Indian 741
This is the real deal, the engine and frame numbers match. The bike was bought from Bob Stark years ago.
The machine starts easily and runs great. There are no gas or oil leaks. The petcocks and carburetor were just overhauled, oils changed and it has a new battery. The tires are in very good condition. The charging system works.
There is one light scratch on the tank that looks worse in the photo than it is. There is no key to the lock box. Some of the black paint on the speedo is pealing. The civilian lights and horn work, I have not seen the blackout lights work, I do not know how to turn them on. The graphics on the tank are vinyl.
The speedo reads 129 miles. It is hard to believe that is the original mileage, it might be 129 miles since the engine has been rebuilt. The owner has passed and nobody knows how that went.
The Tommy Gun is a replica maid in Italy. The barrel end has an orange plug.”
You will find the eBay sale page for this bike if you click here.
To verify the bike’s authenticity the serial numbers should be checked. The source I have referred to says that for the 741 bikes ” Serial numbers on engines start with GDA and up to 5 digits after. The rear frame will have a boss with 741 and same # if matching number bike.”
For those living in a state where acquisition of a current production Thompson SBR is legal it will fit the scabbard nicely. For those elsewhere the replica will have to do, although there are some nice all metal BB replicas out there and they can be a lot of fun to shoot.
The Indian Motocycle 741 Military motorcycle is a bike with an interesting history from America’s second most famous motorcycle manufacturer.
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome. Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.President Gloria Arroyo placed the Philippines under a "state of calamity" today and terrified people fled their homes as a powerful typhoon threatened to unleash more carnage following deadly floods.
After being accused of not preparing her country adequately for last Saturday’s storm that killed 293 people in and around Manila, Ms Arroyo also ordered forced evacuations of towns in the direct path of Typhoon Parma.
‘‘The prediction is that this typhoon is very strong. Our prayers are that no lives will be lost,’’ said Bella Angara, the governor of the northern Philippine province of Aurora which is predicted to feel Parma’s full force.
The government warned Parma would tear down houses, while likely bringing more heavy rain to the nation’s capital, Manila, and nearby areas that were still recovering from last Saturday’s record floods.
‘‘We’re praying very hard that the super typhoon will spare us,’’ said housewife Nita Solita, 42, who was living in a makeshift evacuation centre in Manila after losing her home in the floods.For several years, scientists have speculated that a mysterious planet, dubbed Planet Nine, lies beyond Pluto.
While the planet is yet to be found, new research suggests that the possible world could spell disaster for our solar system.
Researchers say that when the sun dies, Planet Nine could cause the elimination of at least one of the planets.
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New research suggests that Planet Nine could spell disaster for our solar system. Researchers say that when the sun dies, Planet Nine (artist's impression pictured) could cause the elimination of at least one of the planets
WHAT IS PLANET NINE? A study published earlier this years revealed a peculiar clustering of six objects orbiting beyond Neptune. It found there is only a 0.007% chance, or about one in 15,000, that the clustering could be a coincidence. Instead, they say, a planet with the mass of between 10 and 15 Earths has shepherded the six objects into their strange elliptical orbits, tilted out of the plane of the solar system. The findings seem to back up claims made in the 1960s that there might be an undiscovered planet - then called Planet X - on the outskirts of the solar system. The mysterious world has now been named Planet Nine in a nod by Professor Mike Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology, to the declassification of Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system. Pluto is know known as a dwarf planet, a lesser category of planets that fail to meet all the criteria needed to be classed as a full planet.
The research comes from the University of Warwick, where scientists have suggested that when the sun dies, Planet Nine could hurl one or more planet out of the solar system, in a sort of 'pinball' effect.
The sun is expected to start to die in around seven billion years, at which point it will blow away half of its own mass and swell up, swallowing the Earth in the process.
It will then fade away into an ember, known as a white dwarf.
This mass ejection will push Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune out to what was previously assumed to be a safe distance.
But researchers now suggest that the existence of Planet Nine could change this theory.
Their new theory suggests that Planet Nine, which is thought to lie in the outer solar system, might not be pushed out in the same way.
Instead, it might be thrust inwards into a 'death dance' with the four giant planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
The most likely result of this will be an ejection of one or more of the planets from the solar system.
Dr Dimitri Veras, who led the study, said: 'The existence of a distant massive planet could fundamentally change the fate of the solar system.
'Uranus and Neptune in particular may no longer be safe from the death throes of the Sun.'
Mapping the numerous different positions where Planet Nine (artist's impression) is thought to lie, the researchers showed that the further away and more massive the planet is, the higher the chance that it will wreak havoc on the solar system
The researchers used a unique code that can simulate the death of planetary systems.
Mapping the numerous different positions where Planet Nine is thought to lie, the researchers showed that the further away and more massive the planet is, the higher the chance that it will wreak havoc on the solar system.
Dr Veras added: 'The fate of the solar system would depend on the mass and orbital properties of Planet Nine, if it exists.'
The researchers hope that their study will aid understanding of planetary architectures in different solar systems.A beautifully realized story about the way we interact with the world around us, The Dam Keeper tells the story of Pig, the caretaker of the dam his father built to keep out the toxic miasma that has consumed the rest of the world. Thanks to the protection provided by the dam and its faithful keeper, the residents of Sunrise Valley have all but forgotten the danger that lies beyond the wall, and as such, don’t realize the great burden that Pig carries. Isolated by his responsibilities as well as by the loss of his family, Pig has only one friend–Fox, who faithfully supports Pig, despite not fully understanding him.
The graphic novel by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi picks up some time after the events of their Oscar-nominated short film of the same name, which tells the story of how Pig and Fox became friends. Since then, not much seems to have changed; Pig still winds the windmill that pushes back the darkness every day and Fox is still Pig’s only friend.
Alone in his dam, Pig’s attention becomes fixated on the strange behavior of the darkness and his attention is brought to the strange and dangerous world beyond.
Kondo and Tsutsumi answered some of our questions about their experience adapting their story for the graphic medium and the future of the series.
Why did you decide to continue this story as a graphic novel?
In our first months of our studio, Tonko House, we spent time in our one room studio going through what we call Tonko House Therapy, a session with creative storytellers to discuss personal stories that are connected to who we are as people. The goal of these sessions was to find a way to connect to a larger audience through finding personal human stories of our own that we have lived or are currently living. We believe in telling stories with a core that we can relate to. Among these stories was a personal story about Dice and his father that became the core of the longer format story set in the world of The Dam Keeper, We found Pig to be a great character to convey the story and began to work on a longer format story. It began as a feature film and in the process of creating the story, our producer, Kane Lee, came up with the idea of creating a graphic novel as a way of visually exploring the narrative. We were excited about the prospect of exploring the story for the feature through the graphic novels.
Aside from some brief narration, the short film was a silent piece. What was your experience bringing dialogue into this story? Did it change the characters or their behavior?
Bringing voices to these characters has been challenging. In the story, they are older than they were in the short, so added on top of the obstacle of bringing voices to silent characters has been the challenge of bringing an authenticity to their age. But creating their voices has been dictated by the story and the characters themselves, having the wrong dialogue is a lot like having the wrong note in music, it just sounds off, and it often sparks a series of dialogue experiments until it sounds right to our ears.
Can you talk a bit about the emotional journeys that Pig, Fox, and Hippo begin to take in this first volume of the story?
In our world, Pig is our underdog hero, protector of the citizens of Sunrise Valley. He has just graduated the eighth grade and is settled in his role as the town’s dam keeper. In this book he is ripped from his responsibility by an unnatural force and taken on an adventure through the land that has always been covered by fog. Pig must brave this journey with his best friend, Fox and his bully and tormentor, Hippo. We find that Pig is haunted and he must begin to face his own darkness that he protects deep within the dam of his heart.
Where did the inspiration for the darkness beyond the dam come from? Does it represent anything significant to you?
The darkness began as a metaphor for the emotional darkness of our main character in the animated short we made in 2013. We were inspired by a childhood story The Little Dutch Boy, about a boy who saves his town from a leaky dike, by plugging a hole with his finger. We thought about a character whose role it was to save his town everyday, only instead of water, he held back darkness. A fog whose origins are mysterious and whose properties are toxic. In the short, the fog is a symbol for Pig’s inner darkness. The physical attributes of the fog was inspired by watching the actual fog come over the Marin Headlands just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The fog there is mesmerizing to watch and felt it would be amazing to bring as almost a character onto the screen and page.
As Pig and the others come to realize, the world beyond their town is much bigger than they could have possibly imagined. What particular aspect of the outside world are you most excited to share with the readers?
We are excited to share the secrets that the world’s darkness has been hiding from Pig. In the books to come, the world and characters they will encounter will challenge their friendship and ultimately who they want to be as they are growing up on this adventure. The fog holds secrets that we have just begun to allude to in Book One. We have designed and created a world in the fog we are excited for our readers to discover. Pig is journeying home and will learn more about the ghost that haunts him and what it means to truly be the dam keeper.
The Dam Keeper is published by First Second Books, a Macmillan imprint. Find this book and other great graphic novels on their website, and find more about Tonko House and their upcoming projects here.Krasso Profile Joined November 2010 Denmark 74 Posts Last Edited: 2011-07-24 15:24:09 #1 Hello there!
I recently did an ~800$ upgrade to my desktop PC, mainly to be able to stream my Sc2 games for you guys - the community!
I am a top diamond/low master level terran player. I will be streaming my tournament-, custom- and laddergames for you guys' viewing pleassure. Alongside with my safe macro-style gameplay, i will be providing either awesome, and sometimes viewersuggested music, and/or english commentary. I will be trying to stream every day when i'm playing.
I'll gladly take all criticism and feedback to my play, stream and everything, whether it'll be negative or positive, as long as it is presented in a nice way. I'm also more than open to trying to help lower level players than myself by answering questions and explaining my thoughts throughout and/or after a game.
General info:
Age: 16
Location: Denmark
Server: Europe
Timezone: CEST
Goals: To be a good streamer, masters league soon, grandmaster before i turn 18.
Quality: 720p @ 30 frames per second.
Links:
Stream/VODs:
Twitter:
Battle.net profile:
Stream on TeamLiquid:
My stream on WP:
Know when i'm online with this Chrome extension:
I hope you'll come and watch, as i will try and run the best stream production i can!
Edits might occur. I recently did an ~800$ upgrade to my desktop PC, mainly to be able to stream my Sc2 games for you guys - the community!I am a top diamond/low master level terran player. I will be streaming my tournament-, custom- and laddergames for you guys' viewing pleassure. Alongside with my safe macro-style gameplay, i will be providing either awesome, and sometimes viewersuggested music, and/or english commentary. I will be trying to stream every day when i'm playing.I'll gladly take all criticism and feedback to my play, stream and everything, whether it'll be negative or positive, as long as it is presented in a nice way.I'm also more than open to trying to help lower level players than myself by answering questions and explaining my thoughts throughout and/or after a game.Age: 16Location: DenmarkServer: EuropeTimezone: CESTGoals: To be a good streamer, masters league soon, grandmaster before i turn 18.Quality: 720p @ 30 frames per second.Stream/VODs: http://www.justin.tv/krasso Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Krasso Battle.net profile: http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/260221/1/Krasso/ Stream on TeamLiquid: http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams/Krasso My stream on WP: http://wellplayed.org/Krasso Know when i'm online with this Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/padelkgfoancpcpjlhfnamekcomkhbnk I hope you'll come and watch, as i will try and run the best stream production i can! I could aim, but with this thing, i dont have to
MonDeW Profile Joined June 2011 Denmark 368 Posts #2 Wow, finally another Danish! :D
I'm looking forward to it.
Krasso Profile Joined November 2010 Denmark 74 Posts Last Edited: 2011-07-17 10:43:22 #3
Edit: I've just started streaming my warm-up laddergames for a danish tournament i'll be participating in later today. (14:00 CEST)
Edit2: Don't forget to "follow" my stream on Justin.tv if u enjoy it. I've been playing around a bit with adding a webcam to the stream and it seems to work just great, even tho the framerate of the cam isnt the best. I will be having webcam of me in future streams (if i feel like it! ^^).Edit: I've just started streaming my warm-up laddergames for a danish tournament i'll be participating in later today. (14:00 CEST)Edit2: Don't forget to "follow" my stream on Justin.tv if u enjoy it. I could aim, but with this thing, i dont have to
HellGreen Profile Joined September 2010 Denmark 1146 Posts #4 No doubt about it: The best T in Denmark! ;-) Free to do whatever I want!
ViumMaster Profile Joined April 2011 Denmark 25 Posts #5 How i just like people starting to stream already playing top diamond/low master. Krasso you are making the community even better with a livestream like this. I really like improving, watching lower players cause they actually look like humans while playing instead of the pros. I dont learn much by watching the best of the best. I don't think im alone looking forward to your stream in the future! I want to watch you get into masterleague and maybe even GM!
Greetings from ViumMaster. www.facebook.com/ATViummaster <- Professional gamer at AT Gaming
Sacar_cbs Profile Blog Joined July 2011 Denmark 9 Posts #6 As Vium said it, wonderful with some more random streams, and krasso is fun to watch :D:D gl hf with the game mate! :D
Krasso Profile Joined November 2010 Denmark 74 Posts #7 Stream is up, yo! This time, i'm gonna play around with some commentary too! I could aim, but with this thing, i dont have to
xpete Profile Joined July 2011 Finland 4 Posts #8 High quality stream! Also good for us europeans since it comes in a time for more suitable for us compared to some american/canadian streams.
Krasso Profile Joined November 2010 Denmark 74 Posts #9 720p!! :D With help from HellGreen, the stream is now in:D I could aim, but with this thing, i dont have to
Krasso Profile Joined November 2010 Denmark 74 Posts Last Edited: 2011-07-25 15:19:35 #10 And now with a super cool looking background on the channel. http://www.justin.tv/krasso I could aim, but with this thing, i dont have to
artee Profile Joined October 2010 Czech Republic 9 Posts #11 hey! nice stream for every terran who wants to imporve his/her play!
Krasso Profile Joined November 2010 Denmark 74 Posts Last Edited: 2011-08-01 21:25:37 #12
artee: I'm glad to hear that i can teach someone something too. As said, this stream is to help both my own play, but also everyone who watches. Stream has been offline for a few days for private reasons, but it's back up now! Come watch ^_^artee: I'm glad to hear that i can teach someone something too.As said, this stream is to help both my own play, but also everyone who watches. I could aim, but with this thing, i dont have toWith a handshake and a few conciliatory words, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is opening the door to vastly improved relations with communist Cuba, and the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Mr. Harper abruptly ended his controversial policy of shunning Cuba, sitting down with the country's President, Raul Castro, for the first time over the weekend, just hours after U.S. President Barack Obama did the same.
"I have become convinced that a different approach is appropriate at this point in time," Mr. Harper said Saturday after a private meeting with Mr. Castro at the Summit of the Americas in Panama City. "We're at the point where an engagement is more likely to lead us to where we want to go than continued isolation."
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But this isn't just about Cuba, experts say. Mr. Harper's sudden about-face could end years of strained relations that have affected Canada's dealings with countries throughout the hemisphere on everything from trade to drug smuggling, organized crime and immigration.
"He has realized grudgingly, slowly that his position was untenable," said Professor John Kirk, chairman of Spanish and Latin American studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and an expert on Canada-Cuba relations. "I suspect he is reading the writing on the wall and realizes that the Americans are going to move in very quickly into Cuba."
The Harper-Castro meeting could prove to be a "turning point" in Canada's relations with Cuba, as the latter moves to normalize relations with the U.S., according to Mark Entwistle, a former top federal official and Canadian ambassador to Cuba from 1993 to 1997.
"We are in a very interesting historic moment for Canadian business in Cuba," said Mr. Entwistle, who travels to Cuba regularly as a partner in Toronto-based Acasta Capital. "Now is the time to explore opportunities in Cuba and form partnerships with the Cubans."
Normalization of relations with the U.S. means a flood of competing investors could soon be pouring into Cuba, where Canada already has significant investments in tourism and mining.
And yet Cuba remains a country of missed opportunities for Canada, Mr. Entwistle argued.
The Conservative government, he said, has treated Cuba with "neutral indifference," thwarting the ability of Canadian companies to take full advantage of their access to the Cuban market. But it hardly qualifies as "isolationism," Mr. Entwistle said.
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Mr. Harper had vehemently opposed Cuba's presence at regional gatherings, such as the Summit of the Americas, and its membership in the Organization of American States. And yet Canada played host to secret Cuba-U.S. normalization talks and has sent several ministers to Cuba in recent years. And this year, Canada is celebrating 20 years of unbroken diplomatic relations with the Caribbean nation.
Saturday's meeting was the first between a Canadian and Cuban leader since Prime Minister Jean Chrétien met Raul's brother, Fidel Castro, in Havana in 1998.
But two-way trade has been stagnant for years at roughly $1-billion – less than a day's worth of Canada-U.S. trade. In 2014, Canada exported $448-million worth of goods to Cuba, while importing $562-million.
A million Canadians travel to Cuba annually, representing more than 40 per cent of all foreign tourists.
"Canada is coming late to the party," Prof. Kirk said. "We have not taken advantage of [our access to the market]."
Calgary-based mining company Sherritt International Corp. is the largest foreign investor in Cuba, with nickel mining, oil-and-gas and electricity interests.
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Beyond Sherritt, there are few "big ticket" Canadian investments there, Mr. Entwistle pointed out. Cuba would happily welcome much more Canadian investment – in hospitality, mining, agriculture, biotechnology and telecommunications, he said.Whiteprint plan copy.
Whiteprint describes a document reproduction produced by using the diazo chemical process. It is also known as the blue-line process since the result is blue lines on a white background. It is a contact printing process which accurately reproduces the original in size, but cannot reproduce continuous tones or colors. The light-sensitivity of the chemicals used was known in the 1890s and several related printing processes were patented at that time. Whiteprinting replaced the blueprint process for reproducing architectural and engineering drawings because the process was simpler and involved fewer toxic chemicals. A blue-line print is not permanent and will fade if exposed to light for weeks or months, but a drawing print that lasts only a few months is sufficient for many purposes.[1]
The diazo printing process [ edit ]
There are two components in this process:
diazonium salt: a light sensitive chemical Azo dye (also known as the coupler): a colorless chemical that combines with the salt to produce color.
In a variety of combinations and strengths, these two chemicals are mixed together in water and coated onto paper. The resulting coating is then dried yielding the specially treated paper commercially sold as Diazo paper. This solution can also be applied to polyester film or to vellum.
The process starts with original documents that have been created on a translucent medium. Such media include polyester films, vellums, linens, and translucent bond papers (bonds). Any media that allows some light to pass through typically works as a master; the desired durability of the master determines the choice. Depending on the thickness and type of the master, the intensity of the UV exposure light is adjusted using an intensity knob typically pre-marked for media types commonly used for masters in any particular shop. Similarly, the speed control (for setting the speed at which the sheets are pulled through the machine) is likewise typically pre-marked in any particular shop, having been optimized based on trial runs.
The original document is laid on top of the chemically-coated side of a sheet of diazo paper, which is retrieved from a light-protected flat file, and the two sheets are fed into the diazo duplicator, being pulled into the machine by rotating rubber friction wheels. There are two chambers inside the machine. The first is the exposure area, where the sandwich of the two sheets (the master and the diazo paper) pass in front of an ultraviolet lamp. Ultraviolet light penetrates the original and neutralizes the light sensitive diazonium salt wherever there was no image on the master. These areas become the white areas on the copy. Once this process is complete, the undeveloped image at the locations where the UV light could not penetrate can often be seen as very light yellow or white marks/lines on the diazo |
Many Canadians who participated in Phase 1 of Let’s Talk TV expressed the view that basic packages have become too large and too costly. Some objected to the need to purchase any form of basic service package before they can access the content they want, while others suggested various approaches to the basic service that would see fewer channels offered at an affordable price (e.g. a Canadian-only package or a basic package that included news, educational and other channels such as TV5, the CBC/SRC, Télé-Québec, CTV, Global, TVA, Citytv and CPAC). Some participants went further, questioning why local television stations, which are available free over the air, should be sold to consumers by BDUs. Many argued that some sort of rate regulation was necessary in the current environment, where large players control most BDUs. Similarly, Canadians who participated in the online discussion forum argued that the basic service should either be eliminated or be made available for free or at a very low cost. Some proposed $5, while others agreed with the proposed $20-$30 price cap. Also two thirds (65%) of participants in the Let’s Talk TV: Choicebook stated that they would prefer a basic service that was the lowest price possible. Finally, some participants proposed that more Canadian channels or certain sports channels should be included in the basic service, while others wanted to see the CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX commercial networks and the non-commercial PBS network (known as the U.S. 4+1 signals) or other non-Canadian services included.
Positions of parties
At the public hearing, a number of parties, including Access Communications Co-operative (Access), the Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM), Bell, Eastlink, FreeHD and MTS, expressed support for option A of the Working Document. Other parties, such as the Independent Broadcast Group (IBG) and the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), supported option B. Corus and Rogers, however, argued that BDUs should have the ability to choose option A or B, while Cogeco, Quebecor, SaskTel, Shaw, Stingray and TELUS supported neither option, stating that such measures were unnecessary and that BDUs should be allowed to continue to arrange the composition and price of their basic service according to the market. Some distributors added that a price cap (option B) would limit their packaging flexibility, including their ability to continue to offer certain discretionary services on basic (as a result of any future rate increases for these services), possibly resulting in changes to the basic package that could be disruptive for consumers. Further, many BDUs (e.g. Bell, Eastlink, MTS, Quebecor and Shaw) opposed the proposal to impose a price cap for the basic service on the basis that such a cap would prevent them from amortizing their fixed costs for consumers who only subscribe to the basic service and could also hamper their ability to invest in network development and new technology. Parties also disagreed about the composition of the small basic service, with some parties, such as the IBG and CMPA, arguing that BDUs should be permitted to offer other services, including independent programming and children’s services, in addition to mandatory services. Stingray, the owner of Stingray Music (formerly Galaxie), and MTS submitted that BDUs should be permitted to include pay audio services in the small basic service, noting that Stingray Music is a popular service on basic. Finally, Cogeco, Rogers and others noted that excluding a set of U.S. 4+1 signals from the basic service would disrupt basic service customers. In this regard, Rogers stated that “elimination of 4+1 in the small basic would harm the system perhaps irreparably” and that “any small basic service Rogers offers must include ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and PBS.” In support of its position, Rogers submitted a Strategic Counsel survey that showed that 74% of all of its Ontario subscribers would oppose the removal of the U.S. 4+1 signals from the basic service and that three quarters of its subscribers would either cancel or downgrade their cable subscription if these signals were removed. Similarly, MTS noted that where the U.S. 4+1 signals are not available over the air, such as in Manitoba, removing such signals from the basic service would result in the disappearance of many popular American shows, likely creating consumer backlash.
Commission’s analysis and decisions
Currently, many Canadians must purchase a large “basic service” before selecting any additional discretionary package or service. Providing Canadians with the choice between a reasonably priced entry-level service offering and the television service provider’s first-tier offering would be consistent with the Commission’s objective of maximizing choice for Canadians in that they would not have to receive and pay for a large number of discretionary services that they may not want. It would also be consistent with the objective of the Act that distribution undertakings should provide efficient delivery of programming at affordable rates (section 3(1)(t)(ii)). Finally, requiring the distribution in the small entry-level service offering of the services proposed in the Working Document would contribute to the public interest and the achievement of the objective set out in section 3(1)(t)(i) of the Act by giving priority to the carriage of Canadian television services and in particular local Canadian stations. These services not only reflect Canadian attitudes, opinions, ideas, values and creativity but also, in the case of local stations, provide Canadians with up-to-the-minute news and information on local, regional, national and international matters. Similarly, certain services are granted mandatory distribution on the basic service pursuant to section 9(1)(h) of the Act in light of their significant contribution to fulfilling the objectives of the Act. Such status is subject to periodic review. Accordingly, the Commission is of the view that these services should continue to benefit from such distribution in the entry-level service offering. Accordingly, to maximize consumer choice and ensure that Canadians who may wish to select only a small number of services have the option of purchasing a reasonably priced entry-level service package, the Commission considers that BDUs should be required to offer such a package. This package would prioritize Canadian services, including services that fulfill important policy objectives, such as local Canadian stations, services designated by the Commission under section 9(1)(h) of the Act for mandatory distribution on the basic service, educational services and, if offered, the community channel and the provincial legislature. With respect to the remainder of the composition of the entry-level service offering, the Commission finds the following: Additional, non-local/regional Canadian OTA stations - While the stations provided as part of the entry-level service offering should be primarily local, not all communities are served by an equal number of local and regional OTA stations. For example, Toronto is served by 20 local and regional OTA stations, whereas Winnipeg is served by 6 such stations. Similarly, Calgary is served by 7 such stations, whereas St. John’s is served by 2 such stations. Therefore, restricting the composition of the entry-level service offering to local and regional services could have the unintended consequence of limiting terrestrial BDUs to offering a significantly smaller entry-level service offering to Canadians living in less populous communities compared to Canadians in larger cities. To avoid this situation, where fewer than 10 local and regional stations are available, terrestrial BDUs will be authorized to include other, non-local/regional Canadian OTA stations, for a maximum of 10 OTA stations. This maximum level for OTA stations represents the level of such services commonly available in many major markets. As noted later in this policy, terrestrial BDUs will also have the option to apply for a condition of licence authorizing them to distribute as part of the entry-level service offering one out-of-province educational service in each official language in provinces or territories where there is no designated educational service.
U.S. 4+1 signals - These services are already available for free over the air in most major Canadian markets near the border and should continue to be made available to BDU subscribers as part of the entry-level service offering. Subscribers in many markets have become accustomed to these services and have come to expect them as part of the entry-level service offering. Moreover, the inclusion of these services should not significantly increase the price of the entry-level service offering as there is no fee for the retransmission of these services separate from the single tariff set by the Copyright Board. Accordingly, BDUs may provide a set of these services as part of the entry-level service offering.
Pay audio services and local AM and FM stations - Given concerns over affordability, the Commission does not consider it appropriate to include pay audio services in the entry-level service offering. However, the Commission notes that BDUs currently provide some local radio stations as part of the entry-level service offering and that it is unlikely that these would add any additional cost to the entry-level service offering as there is no fee for the retransmission of these services. Accordingly, it considers it appropriate to allow BDUs to include local AM and FM stations in the entry-level service offering.
With respect to the proposal to include discretionary children’s programming services, the entry-level service offering proposed in the Working Document already contains services (e.g. provincial educational services such as TFO and TVO, Télé-Québec, CBC and SRC) that have committed to making children’s programming available to Canadians or are required or expected to do so. Therefore, while recognizing the importance of this type of programming, the Commission does not believe that there is a need to include discretionary children’s programming services in the entry-level service offering. As noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015-86 Further, to address Canadians’ concern over affordability, the Commission considers it appropriate to limit the price of the entry-level service offering described above to $25 or less (not including equipment) per month. This maximum price corresponds to what the Commission estimates some BDUs’ current first-tier offerings (priced at under $40 per month, including in some cases a set-top box) would cost if the equipment and/or some of the higher cost discretionary services not included in the entry-level service offering were removed. In this respect, the Commission notes that in recent years some BDUs have been offering a smaller basic at a price comparable to the $25 cap (or significantly lower, as a customer retention tool) and that between November 2011 and February 2012, Rogers conducted a market trial in London where it offered a $19.99 digital basic package similar to the entry-level service offering. Moreover, with the exception of 9(1)(h) services, the combined wholesale cost of which represents less than $1.50 for each linguistic market (i.e. $1.24 for the English-language market and $1.45 for the French-language market), none of the services in the entry-level service offering described above requires that the BDU pay a wholesale rate. Consequently, aside from the cost of OTA services, which can be retransmitted pursuant to a tariff, the bulk of the cost of providing this service consists of network access costs (e.g. capital expenditures for network construction, maintenance overhead and back-office and customer service costs). Accordingly, while acknowledging the value to Canadians of BDUs’ first-tier offerings as currently packaged, the Commission is of the view that the $25 maximum price for the small entry-level service offering would be appropriate and sufficient to allow BDUs to recoup their associated network access costs for those subscribers who choose to take the entry-level service offering and thus to continue to provide their services to Canadians on an efficient basis. The Commission also notes that from 1996 to 1999 (i.e. before the cost of the basic service was deregulated), the average monthly service rate charged by BDUs serving more than 6,000 subscribers was between $18 and $19. In today’s dollars, this would result in a basic rate between $25 and $26. Moreover, at this maximum price, the Commission expects that the entry-level service would include a set of the U.S. 4+1 signals Canadians have become accustomed to receiving. The Commission does not consider that further regulatory intervention regarding the retail price of individual programming services or other packages is warranted to achieve the objective of affordability. Finally, the Commission recognizes that some subscribers may find value in their current first-tier offering and may wish to retain this offering. As a result, in order to maximize consumer choice, the Commission considers that distributors should be allowed to continue to include additional services as part of their first-tier offering provided that (1) they also provide the entry-level service offering described above and (2) their first-tier offering includes all services that must be provided as part of the entry-level service offering.
Conclusion
Based on all of the above, the Commission will require all licensed terrestrial and direct-to-home (DTH) distributors to provide to their subscribers by March 2016 an entry-level service offering that: is priced at no more than $25 (not including equipment) per month;
is promoted in a like manner to the distributor’s first-tier offering so that customers are aware of its availability, price and content;
prioritizes Canadian television services by including: all local and regional Canadian television stations and provincial or territorial educational services currently required under sections 17 and 46 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations (the Regulations) for terrestrial and DTH distributors respectively, services designated by the Commission under section 9(1)(h) of the Act for mandatory distribution on the basic service and in the case of terrestrial BDUs, the community channel and the proceedings of the provincial legislature in one or both official languages, if offered;
may also include: in the case of terrestrial BDUs, other Canadian OTA stations where fewer than 10 local or regional stations are available over the air (to an overall maximum of 10 Canadian OTA stations), local AM and FM stations, in the case of terrestrial BDUs, one out-of-province designated educational service in each official language in provinces and territories where no such services are designated and one set of U.S. 4+1 signals; and
may not include any further services beyond those set out above. For clarity, the Commission notes that BDUs will not be prevented from providing a first-tier offering that includes other discretionary services (e.g. children’s services, pay audio services or mainstream sports services) as an alternative first-tier offering, provided that they also offer the entry-level service offering described above. However, BDUs will not be allowed to require subscribers to buy any services other than those in the entry-level service offering to access any other services or packaging options. In other words, a subscriber who opts for the entry-level service offering may not be prohibited from also subscribing to discretionary services either on a pick-and-pay or small package basis. The entry-level service offering is meant to provide Canadians with a smaller, more affordable basic service alternative, while continuing to fulfill the important policy objective of prioritizing Canadian TV services. Accordingly, the Commission will observe the behaviour of BDUs closely to ensure that both the letter and spirit of this policy is respected in order to meet this objective. Finally, the Commission notes that the requirement to offer a regulated entry-level service offering should not result in the nullification of existing affiliation agreements, but may impact contractual clauses that would prevent a BDU from providing such an entry-level service offering.
Pick-and-pay and flexible package options - Putting choice and control in the hands of Canadian viewers
What Canadians said
Some Canadians who participated in Phase 1 of Let’s Talk TV supported the current packaging of programming services on the basis that channel packages provide diverse content at a reasonable price, which meets their own needs or the needs of their families. However, many participants wanted the ability to pick and pay for only the channels that they want. As a result, the current size of packages, their costs and their implementation by BDUs was the source of considerable discussion. Most Canadians who commented during the online consultation were of the view that BDUs should be required to offer subscribers greater choice, including pick-and-pay and build-your-own-package options. Many, however, were concerned that these options would not be provided at affordable rates. The record of the proceeding clearly indicates that Canadian viewers feel they are paying too much for BDU services and restricted by the way that discretionary programming services are currently packaged. For example, in the results of a report presented by Harris/Decima for the Let’s Talk TV proceeding (the Harris/Decima report), 44% of respondents were not satisfied with the price of their television service and 71% of non-TV subscribers would consider subscribing to a television service provider if the prices were lower. As a result, Canadian viewers are looking for options that give them more choice and control as to how they consume programming, including cancelling their BDU subscriptions and relying on OTA reception and programming available over the Internet.
Positions of parties
With few exceptions, all parties at the hearing agreed with the objective that Canadian viewers should be provided with more choice and control as to how they subscribe to television services. They also agreed that Canadian viewers should be provided with the option to continue to subscribe to the packages that they subscribe to today so as to not disrupt consumers who are satisfied with their current packages. In that regard, Shaw submitted a study on the future of TV conducted by Abacus Data that showed that 79% of respondents were satisfied with their Shaw service and that 76% were satisfied with the variety of channels available to them. There were, however, differing views on what measures, if any, were needed to ensure consumers have more choice: Some parties, such as Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and OUTtv, suggested that the record of the proceeding did not support the unbundling of television packages, arguing that it might make programming more costly, the system less diverse and the content creation sector much smaller and less profitable. Similarly, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA) opposed the Working Document proposals on the basis that the financial impact of pick-and-pay on consumers had not been clearly demonstrated, that the potential loss of subscription revenues for niche services (including those serving OLMCs) could endanger these services and that pre-assembled packages simplified access to a variety of programming services for OLMCs.
Bell and SaskTel submitted that BDUs should be required to offer programming services only on a pick-and-pay basis, while Quebecor supported the build-your-own-package option (provided that the risks associated with this approach were equally shared by BDUs and programming services), but opposed the pick-and-pay option, arguing that it increased the risks for programmers and BDUs.
Many BDUs and programming services, including Rogers, Shaw and the CBC, submitted that the Commission should require BDUs to provide consumers with build-your-own-package options and either set a percentage (e.g. 50% + 1) of programming services that must be offered on a pick-and-pay basis, with the percentage increasing over time, or introduce a pick-and-pay option at a later date. This, in their view, would be less disruptive to the industry, while providing the flexibility and choice sought by Canadian viewers.
Corus and TELUS were of the view that the Commission need go no further than prohibiting programmers from preventing BDUs from offering programming services on a pick-and-pay or build-your-own-package basis.
Some BDUs, such as MTS, TELUS and SaskTel, noted that the small pre-assembled theme packages that they currently offer already maximize choice by providing flexible packaging options to their subscribers. However, some argued that popular programming services impose increasingly stringent restrictions and obligations on independent BDUs, limiting distributors’ ability to offer such small packages.
U.S.-based discretionary programming services submitted that a requirement to unbundle programming services would be detrimental to the overall broadcasting system and would likely lead them to reconsider their distribution by Canadian BDUs. However, some BDUs, including Bell and MTS, indicated that it was unlikely that a service would exit the market on a point of principle over flexible packaging and re-enter the market via a video service delivered over the Internet.
Finally, many parties argued that the proposed changes would result in fewer jobs, affect the viability of certain services and result in higher wholesale and retail rates, thus leading to less diversity of programming and value for Canadian consumers. Parties submitted that independent services were likely to be most affected by the unbundling of programming services. Accordingly, most parties at the hearing suggested a measured or gradual roll-out of any changes to ensure that the transition to more consumer choice is carried out in a manner that reduces any negative outcomes.
Commission’s analysis and decisions
The Commission has weighed the desire for more choice and flexibility expressed by many Canadians against parties’ arguments that any changes to its approach must be implemented in a measured and gradual manner that reduces the potential for any undue negative outcomes. However, the Commission is ultimately of the view that it must take positive steps to bring about greater choice and flexibility in the Canadian television system. In this regard, while some parties argued that it would be sufficient to prohibit programmers from preventing BDUs from offering programming services on a pick-and-pay or build-your-own-package basis, this approach does not take into account the fact that vertically integrated BDUs have every incentive to ensure that their related programming services are insulated from the financial pressures that come with greater choice and packaging flexibility. As such, BDUs, and vertically integrated BDUs in particular, may not be sufficiently incented to make the necessary changes to their current offerings or might make these changes at a much slower pace than that desired by Canadian subscribers. Moreover, the Commission considers that BDUs have not generally demonstrated that they would willingly move to more flexible packaging options on their own. For example, in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2011-601 Accordingly, relying purely on market forces may disadvantage subscribers in markets where there are no BDUs that are offering flexible packaging options and thus providing a competitive incentive to move toward more choice. This in turn would not meet Canadian viewers’ expectations for maximum flexibility as expressed throughout this process, leading to more subscriber frustration with the licensed broadcasting system. The reluctance of some BDUs to provide more flexible packaging options may be explained in part by certain studies that were submitted in this proceeding to forecast the potential economic impacts of introducing greater choice and flexibility for Canadians. These studies cast a negative light on the impacts of unbundling. For example, Environmental Scan author Peter Miller submitted that unbundling can be expected to have a worst-case impact of 10,674 losses in full-time employees and an annual $1 billion loss in gross domestic product for the Canadian economy in 2020. However, the Commission considers that these projections are ultimately the results of highly subjective assumptions and estimates. For example, this worst-case scenario is based notably on a significant 40% failure rate for existing specialty services, combined with considerable losses in subscription and advertising revenues for the remaining services. Such assumptions overstate the potential impacts of introducing more choice and flexibility and fail to fully recognize the ability of the Canadian broadcasting industry to continue to adapt and innovate to meet the demands of Canadians. In addition, while models that attempt to forecast potential economic impacts provide useful insights regarding potential risks when exploring policy choices, the Commission is of the view that it must also consider the potential upsides of greater choice, including the retention of subscribers in the system, as well as the risks associated with maintaining the status quo in a context of increased demand for more choice. Notwithstanding the above, some evidence provided as part of this proceeding also shows that some Canadians are satisfied with their current packages. Consumer advocacy groups who took part in the hearing also emphasized that subscribers who are satisfied with their current offering should not have to make any changes. Accordingly, the Commission agrees that BDUs should still have the ability to provide Canadian and non-Canadian discretionary programming services in pre-assembled packages, as well as offer more flexible and customizable options. This will give existing programming services and BDUs time to transition to a new regime characterized by greater consumer choice and flexibility. Similarly, the Commission acknowledges the validity of the argument made by some BDUs that small pre-assembled theme packages represent an effective option to maximize consumer choice in that such small packages are generally popular with subscribers and do not require that Canadians subscribe to a large number of services that do not interest them to have access to the few services they want. The Commission considers that small theme packs have proven themselves to be a viable and interesting packaging option in the market as they provide Canadian subscribers with a simple pre-assembled package of programs that align with individual tastes and preferences. Theme packs such as those currently offered by MTS, TELUS and SaskTel are a positive example of successful and consumer-friendly theme packs. Accordingly, the Commission considers that smaller pre-assembled packages of this type represent a flexible packaging option that would, if combined with a pick-and-pay option, adequately respond to consumers’ demand for increased choice. Finally, with respect to implementation, the Commission notes that BDUs proposed different timetables regarding the possible roll-out of pick-and-pay or build-your-own-package options. Cogeco and Shaw proposed the quickest implementation, stating that build-your-own-package options could be offered to subscribers by the end of 2015, with longer times for the implementation of a pick-and pay option. Others proposed significantly longer roll-out periods. Different BDUs also expressed concern with different aspects of the proposals. For example, Bell urged the Commission not to require a build-your-own-package option, while Shaw, Rogers and Videotron were concerned about an immediate requirement for complete pick-and-pay, with Rogers urging the Commission to implement only a build-your-own-package option at first and then complete pick-and-pay at a later date. Moreover, during the course of the public hearing, various BDUs identified changes they would need to make to offer flexible packaging options, such as pick-and-pay or build-your-own-package. These included upgrades to the system and platform that might entail hardware and software upgrades, changes to the billing system, the renegotiation of affiliation agreements that preclude or do not address the distribution of programming services on a standalone basis, the development of a new business model, the training of customer representatives and changes to their websites and other promotional tools to reflect the new packaging options. The Commission considers that the fact that most BDUs already offer a number of services either on a pick-and-pay basis, in small theme packs or on a build-your-own-package basis suggests that they have the technical means to offer such alternatives to subscribers and likely would have to make limited upgrades to their systems to offer either a pick-and-pay or small package option by March 2016. Further, providing BDUs with the initial flexibility to offer either one of these options before they transition to offering both options would allow them to concentrate their resources and efforts on other areas where changes are necessary, such as billing systems and customer service.
Conclusion
In light of all of the above and in order to maximize consumer choice and flexibility, the Commission considers that it would be appropriate to implement the following changes: by March 2016, all licensed BDUs will be required to offer all discretionary services either on a pick-and-pay basis or in small, reasonably priced packages, which can take the form of either a build-your-own-package option (including an option to buy a package of up to a maximum of 10 services) or small pre-assembled packages, such as theme packs; and
, all licensed BDUs will be required to offer all discretionary services either on a pick-and-pay basis in small, reasonably priced packages, which can take the form of either a build-your-own-package option (including an option to buy a package of up to a maximum of 10 services) or small pre-assembled packages, such as theme packs; and by December 2016, all licensed BDUs will be required to offer all discretionary services on both a pick-and-pay basis and in small, reasonably priced packages, as described above. As noted earlier, under this new approach, BDUs will continue to be allowed to offer pre-assembled packages, but will not be allowed to require subscribers to buy any services other than those in the entry-level service offering to access any other service or package. These requirements will not apply to analog and exempt BDUs as they may not have the means to offer services on this basis and such a requirement would likely be too financially and administratively burdensome for these legacy operators. A key aim of this policy is to give Canadians the ability to create their own value proposition based on the TV services they want to receive and pay for. In this respect, the Commission acknowledges that the pick-and-pay option is a form of value proposition that might not be economically advantageous for all subscribers. While some Canadian viewers interested in a limited number of discretionary services might prefer the ultimate flexibility offered by such an option, others might continue to consider that different value propositions would allow them to benefit from a larger number of diverse services at a price they find reasonable. With respect to non-Canadian services, as mentioned in the Working Document, the current approach to authorizing these services for distribution in Canada will be maintained. Specifically, all non-Canadian services must be authorized before they can be distributed in Canada. For a service to be authorized, a Canadian sponsor (e.g. a distributor, programming service or industry organization) must make a formal request to the Commission. To help ensure that Canadian services have priority, the Commission will not authorize non-Canadian English- and French-language services if they compete with Canadian pay and specialty services. When the Commission decides to authorize a non-Canadian programming service for distribution, it adds the service to a list called the Revised list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution. Further to the present policy, the Commission notes that a condition of the authorization of non-Canadian services for distribution in Canada will be that they allow their services to be offered on a pick-and-pay and small package basis as in the case of Canadian services. The Commission considers that the imposition of this condition on non-Canadian services is essential to ensuring a fair playing field between Canadian and non-Canadian services available to Canadians in the context of a competitive, consumer-driven environment. Accordingly, it expects non-Canadian services, as good corporate citizens, to continue to abide by the applicable rules established by the Commission if they wish to continue to have their programming services available in Canada.
Preponderance of Canadian services - Making Canadian services available
Traditionally, the Commission has required that each subscriber receives a preponderance of Canadian programming services (the preponderance rule). However, in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2014-190 In the Working Document, the Commission proposed the following options: BDUs would be required to ensure that each subscriber receives a preponderance of Canadian services; or BDUs would be required to offer a preponderance of Canadian services.
What Canadians said
Some Canadians who participated in the online consultation indicated that they preferred option B of the Working Document. These participants noted that this proposal would allow for more choice. One individual, however, was in favour of option A. To ensure greater balance, this individual suggested that a subscriber who wanted to choose CNN, for example, would also be required to take one of the Canadian all-news channels.
Positions of parties
Corus and the CMPA supported option A of the Working Document. Corus indicated that there is no practical or technical impediment to this requirement and indicated that preponderance is a fundamental principle of the Act and a way for Canada to retain a distinct rights market. Rogers, Shaw and Viacom, however, supported option B on the basis that it would provide subscribers with greater choice. In light of its London market trial, where it offered the option to create packages of 15, 20 or 30 services from a list of over 125 services (including certain non-Canadian services), Rogers argued that this rule would be consumer-friendly. Shaw added that this approach should not be implemented until 15 December 2016 to minimize the impact on programming services.
Commission’s analysis and decisions
Requiring BDUs to offer a preponderance of Canadian services would be consistent with an environment of greater choice and flexibility. Further, considering the number of Canadian services that will be distributed even in the entry-level service offering, including 9(1)(h) services and two CBC services, the Commission is confident that the majority of English-language Canadians would continue to receive a preponderance of Canadian signals even without a specific requirement to this effect. Further, the Commission considers that the risk is almost negligible in the French-language market due to the more limited appeal of non-Canadian English- and French-language services. Accordingly, beginning March 2016, BDUs will be required to offer more Canadian than non-Canadian services. However, subscribers will ultimately choose how many and what Canadian or non-Canadian discretionary channels they wish to receive beyond the entry-level service offering.
BDU-programmer relationship - A healthy and dynamic wholesale market
A vigorous wholesale market is essential to fostering a retail market that favors greater subscriber choice. Throughout this proceeding, the Commission heard from some BDUs that one of the key obstacles to providing Canadians with more choice and flexibility are certain terms in their affiliation agreements with programmers. For their part, programmers, particularly independent services, called upon the Commission to ensure that independent programming services continue to have access to the system, are discoverable and are provided with fair terms and conditions of distribution. Accordingly, a key aim of this policy is to ensure that the affiliation agreements negotiated and entered into between BDUs and programmers reflect the Commission’s new policies in support of consumer choice. A healthy wholesale market will also serve to support the creation of a diverse range of programming made by Canadians, including that provided by independent Canadian services. In the Commission’s view, a healthy and dynamic wholesale market is one in which: risk and reward are shared between BDUs and programming services, striking a fair balance between allowing BDUs to provide their subscribers with more choice and flexibility and ensuring reasonable and predictable levels of revenue for programming services;
BDUs have the flexibility to package and set retail prices for discretionary services in the manner that they consider will best respond to customer demand and enable them to compete on an equitable basis with other BDUs;
programming services are discoverable and able to make their programming available to Canadians on multiple platforms in order to foster continued diversity and innovation within the system; and
appropriate wholesale fees and other terms of distribution are negotiated based on the fair market value (FMV) of the service, regardless of the ownership or other interests of either the BDU or programming service. In a world of greater subscriber choice, programming services have much more incentive to create high-quality, original content that is compelling and attractive to audiences. Moreover, in this competitive environment, it becomes even more important to ensure a fair playing field in order to foster continued diversity and innovation within the system. The fair conduct of negotiations is key to achieving this intended outcome. Specifically, the negotiation of fair and reasonable terms allows BDUs to compete more equitably in the retail market with other BDUs and online content providers. Programmers must also be able to negotiate fair and reasonable terms for their services in order for them to continue to create and show programming of high quality and value to Canadians.
Wholesale Code - Ensuring choice and programming diversity
Background
Since 2000, the Commission has approved a number of transactions that have increased consolidation and vertical integration within the Canadian broadcasting industry. In 2010, the Commission held a hearing to examine the issue of vertical integration and whether additional regulatory tools and measures were necessary to deal more effectively with vertical integration issues and to prevent anti-competitive behaviour, which can ultimately have a negative impact on the ability of Canadians to receive diverse high-quality programming. The current Wholesale Code generally applies to licensed and exempt BDUs and programming undertakings, including digital media exempt undertakings. Since its creation, the Commission has referred to the principles set out in the Wholesale Code when making determinations based on complaints or other applications in cases where negotiations between parties have failed. The Commission has also typically referred to these principles while conducting dispute resolution processes, whether they are expedited hearings or relate to undue preference complaints. Generally speaking, the Wholesale Code dissuades parties from requiring certain terms or conditions for the distribution of programming that are commercially unreasonable, including: requiring an unreasonable rate for the distribution of a programming service;
requiring certain types of minimum penetration or revenue levels;
requiring the acquisition of a program or service in order to obtain another program or service;
requiring an excessive activation fee or minimum subscription guarantee; and
imposing on an independent party a most favoured nation (MFN) clause (i.e. a clause that seeks to ensure that provisions that apply to one party will be at least as favorable as those that apply to others). The Wholesale Code also sets out certain parameters when negotiating wholesale rates to ensure that these are based on fair market value. Specifically, negotiations should take into consideration the following factors: historical rates;
penetration levels and volume discounts;
the packaging of the service;
rates paid by unaffiliated BDUs for the programming service;
rates paid for programming services of similar value to consumers;
the number of subscribers that subscribe to a package in part or in whole due to the inclusion of the programming service in that package;
the retail rate charged for the service on a stand-alone basis; and
the retail rate for any packages in which the service is included. Moreover, the Wholesale Code includes certain provisions to ensure that independent or non-related programming services can negotiate fair and reasonable terms for their services. For example, it encourages BDUs to include non-related programming services in relevant theme packages. It also encourages BDUs to include independent programming services in the best available package consistent with their genre and programming, as well as provides that comparable marketing support should be given to such services. Finally, the Wholesale Code generally provides that BDUs should offer to non-related programming services reasonable terms of access to its various platforms and that such access should be based on fair market value. In addition to the Wholesale Code, the Commission has also imposed conditions of licence on vertically integrated entities, such as Bell, Corus and Rogers, in order to further ensure a fair balance in negotiating power between these entities and independent programming services and BDUs. For example, rather than acting as guidelines, these conditions of licence directly prohibit the imposition of unreasonable distribution terms and conditions. They also require that the negotiation of wholesale rates for programming services be based on fair market value. Although the conditions vary from one licensee to another, in general they ensure that these vertically integrated entities do not impose unreasonable conditions of distribution.
Working Document proposal
The Working Document proposed that the Wholesale Code be expanded and revised to: prohibit certain provisions that impede a BDU’s ability to offer a pick-and-pay option on an affordable basis, such as unreasonable penetration-based rate cards (PBRCs), requirements to distribute a service on the same terms as at a prior date and MFN provisions; and
include provisions that would ensure access for non-vertically integrated services to the system (i.e. BDUs would have to facilitate and not impose unreasonable conditions on the ability of independent programming services to pursue multiplatform programming strategies). The Working Document also proposed that all vertically integrated undertakings abide by the Wholesale Code as a regulatory requirement.
Positions of parties
Independent BDUs and programmers expressed concern that the current Wholesale Code was insufficient to address potential anti-competitive behaviour by vertically integrated entities. Specifically, smaller and independent BDUs argued that one of the biggest obstacles to providing Canadians with more choice and flexibility were certain terms imposed by programmers in affiliation agreements that serve to insulate programming services from any risk associated with increased subscriber choice (e.g. clauses preventing repackaging, imposing minimum penetration guarantees or demanding unreasonable rates). These BDUs asked that the Commission ensure that programmers “share the risk” of the move towards greater consumer choice and flexibility. Conversely, independent programmers were concerned that eliminating access rules and genre protection and introducing pick-and-pay would fundamentally and disproportionately affect their business plans and ability to meet Canadian programming obligations. They argued that the Wholesale Code needed to be expanded to include specific packaging and marketing provisions designed to ensure the continued availability and discoverability of independent voices. Independent BDUs |
turn where it was incredibly difficult for most armies to interact with her at all or actually participate in the game. We felt that with the offensive benefits she brings to the table and an interesting pair of defensive/survivability options, having her feat last for a full round was too strong. Changing it to last only one turn keeps it a very powerful feat while not completely shutting out opponents or forcing them to skew their lists to answer this incredibly versatile warlock.
Scarsfell Griffon
Long Leash. Remove the Long Leash special rule from the Scarsfell Griffon.
The Scarsfell Griffon has been overshadowing the other Griffons by a large margin. By removing Long Leash, we hope to reduce the effectiveness of this warbeast with certain warlocks while leaving most interactions unchanged. Adjusting the Scarsfell will hopefully give more value to the other Griffons, opening them up for inclusion in more lists.
Khador Theme Force: Winter Guard Kommand
Replace the second special rule with the following:
Warcasters in this army gain Sacrificial Pawn [Winter Guard trooper model]. (When a model with Sacrificial Pawn [Winter Guard trooper model] is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, you can have one friendly, non-incorporeal Winter Guard trooper model within 3˝ of it directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects.)
Replace the first sentence of the third special rule with the following:
For each Winter Guard unit in this army, one heavy warjack in this army can gain Advance Move.
We found that the ability to Sacrificial Pawn to the Gun Carriage was excessive and unintentional. That option has been removed. Requiring the inclusion of Winter Guard units to receive the Advanced Move benefit will increase list diversity while heading off potential abuses of this theme force. In addition, having Advanced Move now apply only to heavy warjacks takes away the unintended jankiness of Scrapjack allowing Old Witch to feat into her opponent’s deployment zone on turn one.For more than a decade, it’s been the subject of wish lists and rumors, floated locations and possible plans.
But now, it may finally become reality: Target is in confirmed, active lease negotiations for a store in downtown Denver.
The Minneapolis-based retailer is eyeing the California Mall building at 1600 California St. for a 28,130-square-foot urban store in the heart of downtown, according to city council documents. It’s a potentially blockbuster deal that could fill an important retail gap for downtown residents and pump new life into a block that has been slow to revitalize, despite being one of the busiest on the 16th Street Mall.
The smaller-format store would fill the second and third floors of the three-story building, which has been more than half-empty since owner Sixteen Cal LLC — an entity registered to the Gart family — shuttered the building’s second-story food court in 2006.
“It’s been a long time that we’ve had great dining and entertainment opportunities and other specialty retail downtown, but not the general merchandise that’s part of our daily lives,” said Mark Sidell, president of Gart Properties. “This is one of the last pieces of that important puzzle, along with the school downtown. You can really live downtown and you don’t have to leave the moment your family grows.”
A Target spokeswoman on Thursday confirmed the retailer has looked at locations in downtown Denver but said they were “not at a point where we can share any new store plans.”
“We are currently focused on new store growth with our flexible-format stores, which are smaller than our general merchandise Target stores and are located in dense urban and suburban neighborhoods as well as college campuses,” Target spokeswoman Kristy Welker said in an e-mail.
More than two dozen such “flexible-format” stores — all 50,000 square feet or less and each with a custom mix of merchandise — are set to open nationwide by the end of 2017, compared to just two large-format stores, according to Target.
The product mix in the downtown Denver store would be focused on “urban households and downtown workers,” city documents say.
Before you start lining up on the sidewalk for a grand opening, though, Sidell said any deal is contingent on approval of a city incentive package.
The $4 million Business Incentive Fund, BIF, package would be provided in two parts: a $2 million advance for tenant improvements payable to Sixteen Cal upon store opening and an annual 50-50 split of the generated sales tax for up to 20 years, or another $2 million. After that second $2 million is hit, Sixteen Cal’s 50 percent share would go to repay the $2 million advance, also secured by a deed of trust on the property.
A city council committee is scheduled to consider the incentive package Feb. 15 in advance of a full council vote as soon as Feb. 27.
“This is the right place and right time for additional signature expansions in our downtown core,” Mayor Michael Hancock said in a statement. “The redevelopment of our 16th Street Mall is critical and bringing strong retail to the area is key to those plans.”
The BIF, which also provided incentives to Costco, United Airlines and BP Lower 48, typically has about $1.2 million in its pool each year.
Paul Washington, executive director of the Denver Office of Economic Development, said the size of the Target incentives is more than justified given the financial and strategic returns of having one of the nation’s largest retailers on the 16th Street Mall.
A downtown Target is expected to generate about $500,000 in sales tax a year, he said. A 2013 city retail study identified a need for more general merchandise retailers in the city to combat sales leakage — a fancy way to say people are leaving Denver to do their shopping — and 16th Street was a top target.
“It’s very competitive to get these retailers, particularly within the urban core in a new format. Denver is not competitive with cities within the region as much as we’re competitive with cities throughout the nation, Chicago, Seattle, others,” Washington said. “The fact that Target is making this bet speaks to how vibrant Denver has become.”
Downtown and city officials have been working, from some angle or another, to attract Target downtown for the better part of two decades, said Tami Door, CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership.
Often mentioned was the block directly across from the California Mall building, bounded by 15th, 16th, Welton and California and home to two historic buildings.
For years, that block had a patchwork of ownership that made any major redevelopment difficult, but in 2005, local developer Evan Makovsky began painstakingly assembling all 11 parcels. Now, it’s home to a restored Sage Building and slated for a 32-story office tower that could break ground in early 2018 and a possible future hotel development.
Finally landing Target will be “transformative” for downtown, Door said.
“It sends a very strong message that this is an urban environment, a growing environment that can support this kind of retail,” she said. “It sends a message to individuals who are living here or are seeking to live here that there are amenities to meet their needs. It sends a message to developers if they’re developing residential housing it is further supported by amenities.”
Gart’s current plans do not call for adding any new square footage to the existing building, Sidell said. The second floor measures 19,220 square feet and the partial third floor is 8,310 square feet, according to a building plan on Gart Properties’ website.
The building’s existing ground-floor tenants, which include Chipotle, Red Robin, Einstein Bros. Bagels and Great Clips, would stay on, Sidell said.
For Gart, which also owns the Denver Pavilions downtown, it was important to wait for the right opportunity and the right tenant, he said.
“We’re excited to spearhead this effort working with the city, the Office of Economic Development and the Downtown Denver Partnership to create a mutually beneficial opportunity for this catalytic retailer to join other leading retailers on the 16th Street Mall,” Sidell said.Charges of DUI number four have been filed against Patrick Moore of Murfreesboro. The arrest was made just after 3PM on Wednesday. What makes this case so unusual, Moore was not driving a car. In fact, he was said to be driving a red lawn mower.
Police spotted 48-year old Moore at the Battle Avenue / Bridge Avenue intersection. The report states, “The subject appeared to be unsteady, bobbing back and forth while seated on the lawnmower.” Upon making an official traffic stop, police deemed that Moore was too intoxicated to be driving a motor vehicle, which was a lawnmower in this case. Moore was also charged with his second offense of “Driving on a Revoked License.”
The arrest report shows that he was driving an older model Murray mower, red in color.
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MPD Arrest #14-7611
Rutherford County Sheriff’s OfficeQuick Notes About the Unemployment Rate
US Unemployment Rate dropped.01 to 8.2%
In the last year, the civilian population rose by 3,604,000. Yet the labor force only rose by 1,315,000. Those not in the labor force rose by 2,289,000.
. The Civilian Labor Force fell by 164,000.
T hose "Not in Labor Force" increased by 310,000. If you are not in the labor force, you are not counted as unemployed.
. If you are not in the labor force, you are not counted as unemployed. Those "Not in Labor Force" is at a new record high of 87,897,000.
By the Household Survey, the number of people employed fell by 31,000.
By the Household Survey, over the course of the last year, the number of people employed rose by 2,270,000.
Participation Rate fell.1 to 63.8%
Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be well over 11%.
Over the past several years people have dropped out of the labor force at an astounding, almost unbelievable rate, holding the unemployment rate artificially low. Some of this was due to major revisions last month on account of the 2010 census finally factored in. However, most of it is simply economic weakness.
Jobs Report at a Glance
US Payrolls +120,000 - Establishment Survey
US Unemployment Rate dropped.01 to 8.2% - Household Survey
Average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls fell.1 to 34.5 hours
The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.8 hours.
Average hourly earnings for all employees in the private sector rose by 5 cents.
March 2012
Jobs Report
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in manufacturing, food services and drinking places, and health care, but was down in retail trade.
Unemployment Rate - Seasonally Adjusted
Nonfarm Employment - Payroll Survey - Annual Look - Seasonally Adjusted
Nonfarm Employment - Payroll Survey - Monthly Look - Seasonally Adjusted
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Index of Aggregate Weekly Hours
Average Hourly Earnings vs. CPI
"Success" of QE2 and Operation Twist
Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.1 percent.
In February, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) had an
over-the-year increase of 2.9 percent; growth in prices has recently been
outpacing growth in earnings.
In February, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) had an over-the-year increase of 2.9 percent; growth in prices has recently been outpacing growth in earnings. Not only are wages rising slower than the CPI, there is also a concern as to how those wage gains are distributed.
BLS Birth-Death Model Black Box
Do not add or subtract the Birth-Death numbers from the reported headline totals. It does not work that way.
Birth Death Model Adjustments For 2011
Birth Death Model Adjustments For 2012
Birth-Death Note
Household Survey Data
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Those not in the labor force rose by 2,289,000
Discouraged workers stop looking for jobs People retire because they cannot find jobs People go back to school hoping it will improve their chances of getting a job People stay in school longer because they cannot find a job
Part Time Status
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Table A-15
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Grossly Distorted StatisticsOne more term of Tory government after this should be enough to see off the NHS. It will not collapse overnight and ministers will not announce its abolition. Rather, it will go the way of dental services, where more and more practitioners went private until, in some areas, it has become almost impossible to find an NHS dentist.
In a few days, a doctors’ conference will debate a motion calling on the British Medical Association to consider how GPs “can be supported… within a private, alternative model”. Nothing may come of this motion, and doctors won’t walk out en masse. But some time over the next few years, without anybody really noticing, significant numbers of GPs will start to charge for at least some services. The numbers will grow, as will the charges. The NHS will not die with a bang but fade away with a whimper.
Male misbehaviour
Though the Sun claimed an exclusive on the “sex pest dossier” of Tory MPs, I had read nearly all the details in the Times the previous day. The latter quickly moved on, reporting that the list had “swelled to 45 names” while the Sun still had the number at 36. It wasn’t always like this. Traditionally, upmarket newspapers didn’t break stories about the sexual behaviour of prominent people. They left the tabloids to make the running and joined in only when a story came close to causing resignations and ruined careers. Now the Guardian and Times – and, across the Atlantic, the New York Times and New Yorker – are among the publications to which female actors and politicians’ staff confide their secrets and, sometimes, reveal their full stories in extended interviews and articles.
You may see this as an example of how the posh papers have gone downmarket, taking their eyes off important subjects such as Brexit and Universal Credit to expose wandering male hands at Tory conference dinners. But I suspect that, for many women, it is a liberation. Once, if they wished to expose sexual misbehaviour, only the tabloids would listen and, being instinctively misogynist, these papers would turn the story into one where the complainants appeared as sluts or prudes. Now male sexual behaviour has become a public issue, as worthy of the Times’s front page as the Sun’s, and rightly so. If one of the purposes of upmarket journalism is to expose abuse of power, this example has been neglected for too long.
The grassy knoll
Ping! Here comes another email from a conspiracy theorist. The latest release of files concerning President Kennedy’s assassination prompted a spate of them. The files give no support to claims that, behind the murder, lurked one or more of the CIA, the FBI, the Soviet Union, Fidel Castro, Lyndon Johnson, Senator Ted Cruz’s father, and shape-shifting alien lizards on the grassy knoll in Dallas. But that just confirms the thoroughness of the cover-up.
Theories about who was responsible for 9/11 – obviously not Islamist lunatics piloting hijacked planes, you credulous fool – also continue to flourish. Those who believe the Iraq weapons inspector David Kelly did not commit suicide in 2003 but was murdered in a government plot show no signs of giving up. On the contrary, their conviction has just been strengthened by reports that Kelly’s family had his body moved because the grave was continually festooned with placards demanding a new inquiry.
The plot to cover up the true authorship of Shakespeare’s plays is still going strong after more than 400 years. The other day, Alexander Waugh, grandson of the novelist Evelyn Waugh, outlined some impenetrable theory that involves a secret code in a 1609 edition of the sonnets.
Still, one should keep an open mind. The usual objection to conspiracies is that they require implausible numbers of people to cover them up and/or remain silent. But didn’t something like that happen over Harvey Weinstein’s alleged assaults? Perhaps I should pay more attention to those emails.
Universities challenged
Top universities, we are told, do their best to recruit more students from under-represented groups such as whites from poor homes and blacks of Caribbean heritage. The University of Bristol makes “contextual offers” – for example, requiring A-level grades of ABB rather than AAA – to applicants from schools or colleges in the bottom 40 per cent nationally for A-level results or progression to higher education.
I am astonished to discover that Reigate College is one such school. Reigate is in leafy Surrey. Its median annual income is around £30,000. Less than 2 per cent of its population is black. The sixth form college has been rated “outstanding” by Ofsted since 2005. Nearly half its pupils go on to higher education. Its A-level scores are a trivial 1 per cent below the national average. Shouldn’t Bristol re-calculate its figures or re-think its criteria? How many other top universities’ schemes for reaching deprived groups are flawed in this way?
When I was an ignorant oik
British universities, I fear, have never got the hang of positive discrimination. Though it wasn’t then explicit, I was an early beneficiary. In 1963, I applied to the University of Sussex, then fashionable in the more liberal public schools, to study history. After my interview, the university wrote to my grammar school head teacher saying that, while I showed promise, I was an ignorant oik who should broaden his reading rather than waste time on A-levels. They required me to get just two E grades.
Though my mother was a school kitchen assistant and there were few books in the home, my father, a works manager, counted as lower middle-class and we lived in a detached suburban house. But at least, while my friends sweated over exam revision, I could read War and Peace and acquaint myself with Joseph Conrad.More than 1,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey have been blocked from resettlement in the US and other countries because they have university qualifications.
The refugees were approved for resettlement by American officials, before being blocked – sometimes just days before their departure date – by the Turkish authorities.
UN members reject concrete refugee resettlement target Read more
The news further complicates a much-hyped UN summit on resettlement in New York on Monday, where developed countries are being encouraged to resettle more refugees, 86% of whom live in the developing world.
Countries such as Turkey, which hosts more refugees than any other, are keen for western partners to share the responsibility. But this development suggests that they are also unwilling to let countries like the US cherry-pick the most educated refugees, and leave behind the rest.
“We believe that the most vulnerable need to be helped before others,” a senior Turkish official told the Guardian this week.
Some of those affected have nevertheless questioned whether vulnerability can be determined by the standard of one’s education.
Loreen and Shero, a Syrian Kurdish couple whose home was destroyed in Aleppo, applied for resettlement in the US in April 2014, along with their three children. The process took nearly two years and involved several security checks and interviews with US officials, the UN refugee agency, and the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), a charity that organises part of the US resettlement procedure.
Disheartened and frustrated by the long wait, the family twice prepared to leave for Europe by rubber dinghy instead – before timely phone calls from the UN refugee agency reassured them they had reached the next stage in their application, and restored their faith in the formal process.
In February 2016, the US finally accepted their application, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) bought them plane tickets to Chicago for 31 May. The family sold their furniture, gave up their affordable flat, and moved into a more expensive one for the few weeks they had left.
Then, four days before their departure, Shero went to secure exit permits from the Turkish authorities – and was denied.
At first, no one from the Turkish government, IOM, the UN, or the ICMC could explain the delay. “Your case is not processed yet,” read a message on their online account. “Please try some other time.”
But finally, after a series of phone calls with the UN, an official admitted to them that Turkey had blocked their departure because Loreen had a banking qualification.
From war in Syria to a Turkish sweatshop for child refugees Read more
For Shero and Loreen, the move has been a disaster. They are now stuck in a flat they can’t afford, while their children are facing a second year out of school.
Despite recent legislative changes, the vast majority of refugees in Turkey – including Shero and Loreen – have no access to legal work, in contravention of the 1951 refugee convention. As a result, both work as manual labourers on the black market for about half the minimum wage. With both out all day, their children have been left to fend for themselves – leading to two alleged abduction attempts on their eldest daughter, Soleen.
“One day she was walking and a van stopped beside her,” said Shero. “Men inside the van said: ‘You are Syrian, you need money, come with us.’ So she ran away. After two days, the kids were playing in the streets, again people came past, walking rather than in a van, and yelled at her: ‘Come with us, we will give you money.’ And she recognised one of them [from the previous attempt].”
Several other families interviewed by the Guardian have been left in a similarly vulnerable position. Heba, a 34-year-old charity worker, was told in July that her application, along with that of her husband and baby daughter, had been canceled because of her degree in English literature from Aleppo University.
“We have no notion of what to do,” Heba said, before outlining how the situation for refugees in Turkey falls short of what is pledged under the 1951 refugee convention. “We are unhappy in Turkey, we have no rights. We can’t leave. My husband has no work permit. My baby was sick, she had a temperature, so we went to the government hospital, but they would not treat her. A while ago I went to hospital in a critical situation, I was very dizzy. They refused to help me or receive me.”
Fatima, a 25-year-old electrical engineering student, was approved for resettlement in March, along with her brother, sister, and parents. They were told they would be sent to Chicago, but before their flight was booked, their application was suddenly canceled because at least one of them had a degree.
Fatima speaks four languages and wants to develop electronics. But like other interviewees, she queried whether their educational attainment made her family any less vulnerable in Turkey.
“In Turkey, we’ve never had a job contract or a work permit,” Fatima said. “You need to work 13 hours a day just to eat. That’s why people prefer to go in the sea rather than living here. We don’t have any rights. We don’t even have the right to decide whether we leave or not. Why do we have to stay here? Why do they have the right to force us to stay here? How can they do this to us?”
Becca Heller, the director and co-founder of the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center, said: “We work with thousands of refugees who wait years to be approved for resettlement in extremely treacherous circumstances. To yank the promise of safety away at the last minute of the process is inhumane and a gross violation of international law.”
Interviewees said UN officials had privately informed them that at least 5,000 Syrians were facing the same predicament. Turkish, US, UN and ICMC officials would not comment on the figure. The Guardian has met with members of a group of affected refugees who represent more than one thousand people whose resettlement has been blocked. Some of them were bound for Canada or Europe.
Should the situation continue, some of those affected said they may try to reach the west by boat, highlighting how the absence of formal means of resettlement can encourage more irregular means of migration.
“If we can’t leave to the US, we will go by boat to somewhere,” said Fatima. “Definitely we can’t stay here.”
Additional reporting by Eiad Abdulatif. Refugees’ names have been changed for their safety.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
Rock climber Gwynfor Roberts has faced more than his fair share of uphill struggles – not least when he returned to the sport after going blind.
The 52-year-old is currently competing in the paraclimbing world championships, something he once thought would never be possible after developing a genetic sight disorder.
“Rockclimbing had been my passion since I was 15 but I had to give it up because my sight got too bad,” he said. “It affected how I climbed. It affects how you do everything really. I stopped climbing for 12 years.”
Gwynfor, from Llanberis, Snowdonia, has macular dystrophy and started to lose his sight when he was 40.
He realised something was wrong while working as a computer programmer, when the cursor would suddenly “disappear”.
“I was devastated when I found out,” he added. “My sister went blind a few years before me and I felt a lot of compassion for her.
“But I never imagined what it would be like until it happened to me. It was a shock to say the least. My sister gave me some confirmation and hope but it was still a very frightening experience to through. I became very depressed.
“But having said that if I could go back as the 52-year-old me I would tell the 40-year-old me I would tell him it’s not going to be that bad. You think you your life is over but it’s not.”
Gwynfor compared his condition to “looking through a polo mint”.
He said: “Where you have the hole in the middle is what I can’t see.”
“What happens over time is the hole gets bigger and bigger.”
Although he didn’t become registered blind until 2008, Gwynfor stopped driving in 2005.
“I was too afraid. It’s scary driving when you can’t see properly,” he said.
Gwynfor always loved to be active in the outdoors. After he gave up rockclimbing he started cycling with his wife Paula, 50.
“We bought a tandem bike and Paula would ride on the front. One day we got talking to a group of walkers who struck up conversation by saying how unusual it was to see a woman on the front of the tandem!”
The chance encounter introduced Gwynfor to John Churcher, a member of the British Paraclimbing Team who gave him the opportunity to get back into the sport.
He said: “I had never heard of paraclimbing until we bumped into John that day. I was quite intrigued when he told me he was blind and still rockclimbing. I came home that afternoon and decided to research it.”
After discovering paraclimbing, Gwynfor started training at the Brecon Climbing Centre with climbing coach Mark McGowan.
As an experienced climber, Mark calls out directions from below to help Gwynfor find the holds he needs to scale the 17m wall.
After qualifying for the British paraclimbing team by taking third place at the national championships in May, Gwynfor was given the opportunity to compete at international level this week.
Although the British Mountaineering Council help to cover his costs, Gwynfor still needed to find funds to pay for travel and accommodation for Mark’s expenses, which is where his local credit union stepped in.
North Wales Credit Union which gave Gwynfor an £800 loan to cover travel and accommodation costs for his upcoming competitions.
He said: “It’s been amazing really. I have done some very exciting things. To have a second chance is amazing. I am having so much fun.”
To sponsor Gwynfor or to find out more about paraclimbing call 07986 396193.Henry Cipolla (right), Lee Isensee (left), and Mohit Dilawari work at DogPatch Labs incubator in Cambridge on a start-up called Localytics.
Namib Beetle Design aims to use nanotechnology to collect water in the desert. Ovuline uses algorithms to help couples find the optimal time to get pregnant. And Fashion Project is looking to create an online marketplace for used designer clothing.
These start-ups, sharing a floor of a Kendall Square high-rise, are part of a program known as TechStars, a so-called accelerator that provides promising young companies with office space, high speed Internet, and other support, including money, in exchange for a small stake in the firms. Launched in Boston in 2009, TechStars this year more than doubled the enrollment in its program to 26 from 12 last year, with the goal of helping more early-stage companies make it to older age.
“I’ve been through the process of starting a company on my own and it was really, really hard,” said Ovuline chief executive Paris Wallace, who founded a life sciences start-up in 2008 while a student at Harvard Business School. “TechStars is kind of like a time machine. You fit a week into a day every day you’re here.”
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TechStars is just one of a growing number of business accelerators and incubators that have sprouted in the Boston area in recent years, looking to take advantage of one of the nation’s most fertile grounds for emerging technology companies. Today, the region boasts at least a dozen such programs, with a half-dozen launched in the past year.
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The latest entrants include Rock Health and Healthbox, two programs that aim to spur the development of medical technology start-ups; Future Boston Alliance, which in August announced its first group of 25 companies, mostly creative enterprises such as a publishing house; and Haverhill Hardware Horizons Challenge in Haverhill and Bolt, location still to be determined, both of which plan to nurture high-tech equipment makers.
Related Links Graphic: Boston area incubators and accelerators
This boom in tech accelerators offers the promise of creating new jobs in the Boston area and keeping the brightest entrepreneurs from leaving Massachusetts to build their businesses elsewhere. It also reflects the proliferation of tech start-ups in the region as so-called cloud or remote computing services eliminate the need for new companies to buy expensive servers, software, and other equipment.
At the same time, the low-cost of launching a start-up makes it attractive for venture capital firms and other investors to establish accelerator programs, providing them the opportunity to spread money across many different early-stage companies and lower their risks, said Steven Gold, a business professor who teaches entrepreneurship at Babson College.
“It’s cheap,” he said. “There’s nothing to lose.”
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Every accelerator functions a bit differently. Rock Health, for example, is a nonprofit that chooses companies to participate in its program and partners with venture capital firms such as Accel Partners, the Silicon Valley investment company, and the Mayo Clinic. Its partners take a 5 to 10 percent equity stake, and Rock Health recently upped the amount of funding for start-ups to $100,000 from $20,000.
TechStars, which is run by venture capital and angel investors, also takes a piece of participants’ companies. It invests $18,000 for 6 percent of common stock and also offers the start-ups a $100,000 loan that can be converted to stock.
Polaris Venture Partners, based in Waltham, operates its DogPatch Labs accelerator in Cambridge, New York, Dublin, and Palo Alto, Calif. It typically doesn’t make investments in the companies that are part of its program, but will occasionally fund one of the start-ups.
The program offers desk space, Internet service, and free rent. DogPatch has 28 companies and 80 people packed into its space in a Kendall Square location that it shares with TechStars.
Accelerators can be “really the transformation part of a company’s experience,” said Gus Weber, a principal at Polaris who runs DogPatch in Cambridge. “They can raise money quicker, hire quicker. It’s a little bit of a Good Housekeeping stamp of approval.”
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Small business incubators certainly aren’t new. But the successes of programs such as TechStars, which started in Boulder, Colo., in 2007, and Y Combinator, a venture capital accelerator that began in Boston in 2005 and then moved exclusively to Silicon Valley, have inspired other accelerators.
It’s too early to tell if this new wave will give rise to the next Facebook or Apple, but the chance that they will produce something big remains extremely low, said Babson’s Gold. “For most commercial accelerators,” he said, “I have seen no data that shows any reason for the typical young person to ever affiliate with one of them.”
Still, Boston area accelerators can claim some early successes. Kinvey, a Cambridge firm that provides cloud services to app developers, was part of the TechStars Boston program and went on to raise $7 million. Promoboxx Inc., a Boston Web marketing company, is another TechStar graduate. It’s now working with major brands like Chevrolet and Reebok. It’s also hiring. TechStars still has a stake in both companies.
On a recent weekday morning, the TechStars office space was full of frenetic energy. Thirteen start-ups have temporarily set up camp on the sixth floor of One Cambridge Center in Kendall Square, spread across floors and couches and makeshift offices with their laptops, iPhones, and plenty of ambition.
Young techies — mostly men in their 20s and early 30s — gather around whiteboards covered with notes or sales plans.
They work late into the night, pressing toward a November deadline, when they’ll demonstrate their products and pitch potential investors.
Anna Palmer hopes to wow them.
She’s the the chief executive of Fashion Project, a seven-person start-up that is building an online marketplace for high-end used clothing. Some of the proceeds from sales would benefit charity.
“Building a start-up is emotionally taxing,” said Palmer. “It helps being around a community of like-minded people who are going though a similar experience.”
Michael B. Farrell can be reached at michael.farrell@globe.comAccording to a report by The Daily Caller, the FBI has seized smashed hard drives from the home of an IT worker employed by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). And at the center of the investigation are three Pakistani brothers who have worked for Democratic lawmakers.
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“The suspects in this probe are people who worked for a long time for Democratic members in the House… brothers named Imran Awan, Abid Awan and Jamal Awan and they are criminal suspects, they worked for, Imran worked for Debbie Wasserman Schultz for a long time,” Daily Caller investigative reporter Luke Rosiak told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney.
The large sums of money Imran Awan’s family received when he got the job with Schultz raised suspicions as well.
“Soon after this guy Imran started working for Debbie Wasserman Schultz all of his relatives appeared on the payroll and they collected $4 million, very unusual.”
According to Rosiak, one of the allegations against the brothers is that, “they were sending information to an offsite server and when you look into their backgrounds these guys have been accused of fraud repeatedly in civil lawsuits.”
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Rosiak was surprised by Shultz’s reaction to the investigation, saying, “You would think that Debbie Wasserman Schultz would say, ‘I can’t believe my IT guy was allegedly hacking, I want him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.’”
But Rosiak says Schultz has been fighting with the Capitol Police to get back one of her laptops.
“Instead, a laptop was separately seized from a House office building and she is blocking the Capitol Police from reviewing it…even threatening the Capitol Police with ‘consequences’ if he doesn’t give it back.”with a sub-10% image classifier, a decent face detector, here comes ccv 0.7
December 23rd, 2014
A few months ago, with the release of ccv 0.6, I promised a subsequent version of ccv without major updates but a lot bugfixes. There is a close to release date at around July, however, slippery happened and what you see now is a 4-month delayed release bundled with some exciting new functionalities.
A Sub-10% Image Classifier
In August, libccv’s pre-trained model participated ImageNet 2014 Large Scale Image Visual Recognition Competition and placed humbly in the middle. The idea is to provide an openly pre-trained model so that every other participant should be raised above this baseline. After a few months, a new image classification pre-trained model now provided with ccv 0.7 which reached 9.9% top-5 missing rate (given an image, with 5 guesses, one of the guesses is the correct anwser in 90.1% cases) on ImageNet 2012 dataset. In ImageNet 2014 challenge, only 3 participants (GoogLeNet, VGG models, and MSRA) reached sub-10% with one model, and among these, VGG made their models available in Caffe Model Zoo under CC-NC 4.0.
Finally, multi-GPU with proper data / model parallelism (One weird trick) is implemented in this version, with 4 GPUs, Matt’s model takes one and half day to converge (3.72x speed-up). 2 GPU support was actually done in July, but the recent advance in image classification challenge calls for more GPUs, and the current version is a complete rewrite and in theory can support up to 8 GPUs, however, I don’t have that setup, thus, hard-coded 4 GPU limit was imposed.
This version of ccv also comes with optimized convolutional kernels on CPU (SIMD with SSE2 or NEON). For the forward pass, with Core i7 5930K, VGG-D model takes about 2 seconds, Matt’s model takes about 600 ms on 10 averaging outputs (crop to center, 4 corners, and their horizontal flips). |
fingerprints of “Doc” Barker were found on a gas can left at the scene of the ransom exchange. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was soon on the gang’s trail.
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These sums amount to millions of dollars in 2015 money, but long-term success in this line of work was an impractical goal. With stakes this high, it’s no surprise the group’s downfall was just as spectacular as its reign of terror. As the FBI’s summary of the gang’s capture recalls, once Doc’s fingerprint was ID’d, the manhunt began in earnest, and some members took drastic measures to avoid capture (including attempting to alter their appearances via plastic surgery).
But the FBI, then still known as the Bureau of Investigation, persisted, and one by one the Barker/Karpis gang’s key outlaws began to fall. Doc was taken peacefully in Chicago, but associate Russell Gibson went down in a dramatic standoff with agents. A search of his hideout yielded a map that led authorities to the Florida home where Ma (whose involvement in the criminals’ lives was significant, though she was actually not the “criminal mastermind” history’s made her out to be) and Fred Barker were taking refuge. What happened next is the stuff of gangster legend, as the FBI records detail:
Shortly after 5 a.m. on January 16, 1935, a group of agents led by Earl Connelly surrounded the house and demanded the Barkers’ surrender. No response. They waited 15 minutes and called again. Again, no answer. Following another call for surrender and more silence, agents shot some tear gas grenades at the windows of the house. Someone in the house shouted, “All right, go ahead,” then machine-gun fire blasted from the upstairs window. The agents responded with volleys of their own; more gunfire erupted from the house. Over the next hour, intermittent shots came from the home, and agents returned fire. By 10:30 a.m., all firing had stopped. Both Ma and Fred, it was soon learned, were dead.
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Alvin Karpis proved a bit harder to nab; he cleverly adept at hiding from the law, going so far as to having his fingertips surgically altered to obfuscate his fingerprints. He was the fourth and final “Public Enemy #1” to be named by the FBI, and his fugitive status became so high-profile that a publicity-seeking J. Edgar Hoover vowed to be personally involved in his capture.
As a history site dedicated to Alcatraz, the prison where Karpis spent a record 26 years, recalls, the takedown had exactly the desired effect:
On May 1, 1936, the FBI located Karpis in New Orleans, and Hoover flew in to be in charge of the arrest. As a dozen or so agents swarmed over Karpis’s car, Hoover announced to Karpis that he was under arrest. A couple of versions of the arrest are reported. Karpis’ version of the story told in his memoirs was that Hoover came out only after all the other agents had him seized. Only then did the agents call to Hoover that it was safe to approach the car. The official FBI version states that Hoover reached into the car and grabbed Karpis before he could reach a rifle in the back seat. (In fact, the car, a Plymouth coupe, had no back seat.) The whole fiasco was further aggravated when Hoover told his men to “put the handcuffs on him.” Not one agent had brought handcuffs as federal agents had planned on killing Karpis as they had the other public enemies. Karpis was tied up with the necktie removed from an agent’s neck.
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Karpis stayed at Alcatraz until the prison was closed in 1962; at McNeil Island Penitentiary, he met an aspiring musician named Charles Manson, and, impressed by his fledgling talents, gave him guitar lessons. (Of serving as a mentor to the then-unknown Manson, Karpis wrote later, “It [was] time someone did something for him.”) In 1969, Karpis was paroled and deported to Canada. He died ten years later while living in Spain.
Images from top: the Florida home where Kate “Ma” Barker and her son Fred were killed (AP Photo); Alvin Karpis, right, being escorted to federal court to face charges of conspiracy in connection with the kidnapping of William Hamm (AP Photo); the bullet-riddled bodies of “Ma” and Fred Barker (AP Photo).The Alps may seem like a paradise, but the environmental situation is extremely dire. Just one in ten rivers are healthy enough to maintain water supply and to cope with climate impacts according to a report by WWF. The study is the first ever to take a look at all the Alpine rivers.
The choked rivers of the Alps
Naturally, there are over 2600 km of rivers in the Alps; but out of these, only 340 kilometers remain ecologically intact, while the rest of 2300 are heavily modified or dried out. The environmental consequences are huge, as rivers are biodiversity hotspots and play a key role in maintaining the ecological services of an area.
“Healthy rivers, streams, wetlands and floodplains provide a suite of ecosystem services including fresh water and flood protection,” said Christoph Litschauer, Head of WWF’s European Alpine Freshwater Program. “These systems are essential for human livelihood. Beyond basic services, we also have to look at healthy natural rivers as one of our best insurance policies against climate change.”
The problem is not just related to the Alps – 4 million people from eight countries rely on the Alpine rivers as water sources, either for drinking or for agriculture, fisheries, energy, jobs and recreation. The study, which was conducted by Vienna’s University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences also found that just 11 percent of the rivers are on their original valleys, the rest being redirected or used in hydroelectrical dams.
“Many planned hydro-dams are situated in protected areas like the Soca in Slovenia or on pristine rivers like the Isel in Austria. These counteract current protection efforts,” continued Litschauer. “Rivers are more than mere energy suppliers; they need to be seen for the complete natural services they provide.”
But it’s not just local issues affecting the rivers – climate change is making its presence felt as well. The temperature in the Alps has risen by 2°C within the last 200 years, far above the average global temperature increase of.85°C.
To make things even worse, following the catastrophic floods that hit Europe in the past few years, WWF highlights the need to strengthen the resilience of water ecosystems. They explain that local populations are unable to provide the necessary protection, and call on governments to protect and restore these rivers.
“Extreme weather events are increasingly likely and we must protect and strengthen the capacity of our ‘green infrastructure’ including living rivers and wetlands. The environment is changing and we must respond,” said Litschauer.
The WWF study also highlighted a no-go are for hydro power plants and highlights river stretches for future restoration projects. A study like this one is long overdue and shows the incredible amount of damage suffered by Alpine ecosystems. Even though the Alps still have unspoiled areas, the extent of the damage is surprisingly high, the study concludes.
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We can’t expect much from the oil industry, but Greenpeace’s newest finding is as ugly as it gets.
As if $82 million in lobbying so far this year isn’t enough, the oil industry decided to fake public concern and challenge the upcoming climate bill further than they already are through really dishonest means recently. Greenpeace received a leaked memo from the American Petroleum Institute (API) last week urging members to have their employees pretend to be typical citizens concerned about energy and the upcoming climate bill.
Greenpeace helped by leaking the memo and laying Astroturf outside the API headquarters in D.C. (the fake grassroots activism the API was engaging in is known as “astroturfing”). The Astroturf had the logos of ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron on it, some of the biggest oil players who are involved in the scandalous institute.
The memo from the API President that Greenpeace leaked told the CEOs of major companies (i.e. ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron) to “indicate to your company leadership – your strong support for employee participation in the rallies” and to treat the memo as “secretive” because “we don’t want our critics to know our game plan.”
Unfortunately for Big Oil, but fortunate for the American public, many of the API’s members have actually expressed support for “cap and trade” climate legislation and someone leaked the memo.
Greenpeace states that the API was also citing economic statistics in a misleading way and the “scam makes a mockery of the public debate on climate action.” Greenpeace righteously states: “Government climate and energy policy must be based on climate science and the genuine expression of public opinion”.
For more on this story, read the Greenpeace press release or “Oil Lobby’s ‘Energy Citizens’ Astroturf Campaign Exposed”
Image credit: limonada via flickr under a Creative Commons license(updated below)
On Tuesday, I wrote about a brewing controversy that was threatening the academic freedom of Brooklyn College (see Item 7). The controversy was triggered by the sponsorship of the school's Political Science department of an event, scheduled for 7 February, featuring two advocates of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) aimed at stopping Israeli oppression of the Palestinians [one speaker is a Palestinian (Omar Barghouti) and the other a Jewish American (philosopher Judith Butler)]. The event is being co-sponsored by numerous student and community groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine, the college's LGBT group, pro-Palestinian Jewish organizations, and an Occupy Wall Street group.
When I wrote about this earlier in the week, opposition to the event was confined to the usual suspects devoted to so-called "pro-Israel" advocacy, including many with a long history of trying to destroy anyone critical of the Israeli government. The controversy was largely fueled by BC alumnus Alan Dershowitz, who denounced the event in a New York York Daily News Op-Ed as a "hate orgy". Dershowitz - with whom I had a lengthy and contentious email exchange yesterday on this and other topics (see below) - previously led the successful campaign to pressure DePaul University into denying tenure to long-time Israel critic Norman Finkelstein (after his tenure had been approved by an academic committee), all but destroying Finkelstein's career as an academic.
Dershowitz has been joined in his current crusade by a cast of crazed and fanatical Israel-centric characters such as Brooklyn State Assembly member Dov Hikind. Ignoring the BDS movement's explicit non-violence stance, Hikind publicly (and falsely) claimed that the event speakers (to whom he referred as "Barghouti and…the lady") "think Hamas and Hezbollah are nice organizations, and they probably feel the same way about al-Qaida".
Hikind called on the college's President, Karen Gould, to resign, recklessly insinuating (needless to say) that she's an anti-Semite: "Perhaps President Gould wasn't bullied; maybe she secretly approves.... I can only speculate to what her motivation or lack of motivation is in allowing this irresponsible endorsement of this loathsome event by her College." In 2011, Hikind led the campaign to force Brooklyn College to fire the young adjunct professor Kristofer Petersen-Overton for the crime of writing a pro-Palestinian paper (after firing him, the college rehired him days later).
One of the key members of Brooklyn College's board of trustees, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, is notorious for having led the 2011 effort to block CUNY from granting an honorary degree to Tony Kushner in light of Kushner's Israel criticisms ("My mother would call Tony Kushner a kapo," Wiesenfeld said of the Jewish playwright). When a New York Times reporter writing about the Kushner controversy asked Wiesenfeld whether one side of the Israel/Palestine debate should be suppressed, Wiesenfeld objected that "the comparison sets up a moral equivalence." When the Times reporter asked him: "equivalence between what and what?", Wiesenfeld replied: "between the Palestinians and Israelis. People who worship death for their children are not human."
Meanwhile, the neocon editorial page of the New York Daily News decreed that "Brooklyn College is no place for an Israel-bashing lecture". Some Jewish students demanded that the Department rescind its sponsorship by cynically conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, complaining that the event will "condone and legitimize anti-Jewish bigotry" and "contribute significantly to a hostile environment for Jewish students on our campus".
In sum, the ugly lynch mob now assembled against Brooklyn College and its academic event is all too familiar in the US when it comes to criticism of and activism against Israeli government policy. Indeed, in the US, there are few more efficient ways to have your reputation and career as a politician or academic destroyed than by saying something perceived as critical of Israel. This is not news. Ask Chas Freeman. Or Ocatavia Nasr. Or Finkelstein. Or Juan Cole. Or Stephen Walt. Or Chuck Hagel.
But this controversy has now significantly escalated in seriousness because numerous New York City elected officials have insinuated themselves into this debate by trying to dictate to the school's professors what type of events they are and are not permitted to hold. Led by Manhattan's fanatical pro-Israel "liberal" Congressman Jerrold Nadler and two leading New York mayoral candidates - Council speaker Christine Quinn and former city comptroller William Thompson - close to two dozen prominent City officials have signed onto a letter to college President Gould pronouncing themselves "concerned that an academic department has decided to formally endorse an event that advocates strongly for one side of a highly-charged issue" and "calling for Brooklyn College's Political Science Department to withdraw their endorsement of this event." As a result, the "scandal" has now landed in The New York Times, and - for obvious reasons - the pressure on school administrators is immense.
Imagine being elected to public office and then deciding to use your time and influence to interfere in the decisions of academics about the types of campus events they want to sponsor. Does anyone have trouble seeing how inappropriate it is - how dangerous it is - to have politicians demanding that professors only sponsor events that are politically palatable to those officials? If you decide to pursue political power, you have no business trying to use your authority to pressure, cajole or manipulate college professors regarding what speakers they can invite to speak on campus.
These elected officials are cynically wrapping themselves in the banner of "academic freedom" as they wage war on that same concept. They thus argue in their letter: "by excluding alternative positions from an event they are sponsoring, the Political Science Department has actually stifled free speech by preventing honest, open debate." But if that term means anything, it means that academia is free of interference from the state when it comes to the ideas that are aired on campuses.
The danger posed by these politicians is manifest. Brooklyn College relies upon substantial grants and other forms of funding from the state. These politicians, by design, are making it mandatory for these college administrators to capitulate - to ensure that no campus events run afoul of the orthodoxies of state officials - because obtaining funding for Brooklyn College in the climate that has purposely been created is all but impossible.
There are undoubtedly numerous motives driving these politicians' campaign against this event. It is all but impossible to succeed in New York City politics - or US national politics - without faithfully embracing pro-Israel orthodoxies. That's the nature of politics in general: it requires subservience to empowered factions and majoritarian sentiment. That's what politicians do by their nature: they flatter and affirm convention. That's exactly the reason politicians have no legitimate role to play in influencing or dictating the content of academic events. It's because academia, at least in theory, has the exact opposite role: it is designed to challenge, question and subvert orthodoxies.
That value is utterly obliterated if school administrators live in fear of offending state officials. That is exactly what is happening here, by intent: making every college administrator petrified of alienating these same pro-Israel factions by making an example out of Brooklyn College. That's why anyone who values academic freedom and independence - regardless of one's views of the BDS movement - should be deeply offended and alarmed, as well as mobilized, by what is being done here.
The primary defense being offered by these would-be censors - we just want both sides of the issue to be included in this event - is patently disingenuous. In his lengthy email exchange with me yesterday - printed in full here - Dershowitz told me that his objections were not to the holding of the event itself, but to the sponsorship of it by the Political Science Department, especially given the lack of any BDS opponents. For those reasons, Dershowitz claims, "it is crystal clear that the political science department's co-sponsorship and endorsement of these extremist speakers does constitute an endorsement of BDS."
But nobody proves the disingenuousness of this excuse more than Dershowitz himself. Like the BDS movement, Dershowitz is a highly controversial and polarizing figure who inspires intense animosity around the world. That's due to many reasons, including his defense of virtually every Israeli attack, his advocacy of "torture warrants" whereby courts secretly authorize state torture, his grotesque attempt to dilute what a "civilian" is and replace it with "the continuum of civilianality" in order to justify Israeli aggression, and his chronic smearing of Israel critics such as author Alice Walker as "bigots".
Despite how controversial he is, Dershowitz routinely appears on college campuses to speak without opposition. Indeed, as the Gawker writer who writes under the pen name Mobutu Sese Seko first documented, Dershowitz himself has spoken at Brooklyn College on several occasions without opposition. That includes - as the college's Political Science Professor Corey Robin noted - when he was chosen by the school's Political Science department to deliver the Konefsky lecture in which he spoke at length - and without opposition. He also delivered a 2008 speech at Brooklyn College, alone, in which he discussed a wide variety of controversial views, including torture. As Professor Robin noted, when Dershowitz agreed to speak at the school, "he didn't insist that we invite someone to rebut him or to represent the opposing view."
Nor did any of the New York City politicians objecting to this BDS event as "one-sided" object to Dershowitz's speech given without opposition. Why is that?
In fact, it is incredibly common for academic departments to sponsor controversial speakers without opposition. I speak frequently at colleges and universities, and always express opinions which many people find highly objectionable. As but one example, I spoke at the University of Missouri School of Law last September, in an event sponsored by the law school itself. As this news account from the school's newspaper notes, I spoke at length about the highly controversial ideas in my last book, and that speech was followed by a panel discussion of like-minded civil liberties and civil rights advocates.
The way that happens is exactly how it happened here: a student group decides it wants to invite speakers or host an event and then seeks organizing support from one of the school's departments. That does not remotely connote departmental agreement with all or any of the ideas to be aired; it simply reflects a willingness to help students organize events they think will be beneficial. As Professor Robin told me about the BDS event: "The student group explicitly asked us if we would like to 'endorse' or 'co-sponsor' the event; we explicitly opted for 'co-sponsor.'"
Indeed, by extreme coincidence, the very same Brooklyn College Political Science department selected me to deliver this year's Konefsky lecture - the same lecture previously given by Dershowitz (alone). I'm going to express all sorts of views on civil liberties and other political conflicts that are vehemently rejected by large numbers of people. But nobody ever remotely thought that there was anything inappropriate about my appearing alone.
That's because it's extremely common for academic departments to sponsor events at which controversial speakers appear either alone or with generally like-minded speakers. As Robin told me about Dershowitz's absurd claim that departmental sponsorship of controversial speakers is unusual:
"When I was a grad student at Yale, I organized quite a few talks - the one I remember most was of Robert Meeropol defending the innocence of his parents the Rosenbergs. I got not only co-sponsorship but money from several academic departments to host this event. This is simply routine. He doesn't know what he's talking about."
There is value in a full-on debate. But there's also value in enabling an idea to be expressed and developed without having some cable-news-type "debate" with someone who rejects every premise of the argument. There's also value in having tactical and strategic debates among people devoted to the same political cause. As College of Saint Rose Political Science Professor Scott Lemieux noted about the Brooklyn event: "You know who else is at best skeptical of boycotting Israeli scholars? Judith Butler, which may suggest that the discussion will be more critical and complex than its critics assume."
(Dershowitz claimed to me that he "recently told someone who invited me to give a talk on Israel that the talk should not be sponsored by the school or a department." But when I asked him to identify where this happened so I could follow-up and write about it, he ignored my inquiry. But if this happened, the fact that he had to specify this shows how common such sponsorships are even of the most controversial speakers like Dershowitz.)
Manifestly, this controversy has nothing whatsoever to do with objecting to one-sided academic events sponsored by academic institutions. Such events occur constantly without anyone uttering a peep of protest. This has to do with one thing and one thing only: trying to create specially oppressive rules that govern only critics of Israel and criticisms of that nation's government. As Lemieux put it: "So, apparently, colleges have a moral obligation to have 'balanced' panels... in cases where the speakers might disagree with Alan Dershowitz."
It's fitting that this controversy erupted in the same week when Obama's nominee to lead the Pentagon, Chuck Hagel, has been subjected to an extremely ugly McCarthyite-like attack from the US Senate over very mild statements he has made in the past about Israel and the domestic Israel lobby. As Esquire's Charles Pierce observed, one GOP Senator, Ted Cruz, "took almost his entire opportunity to fit Hagel for a kaffiyeh" by all but accusing him of being a Terrorist based on his mild Israel criticisms.
In the ultimate irony, at the very same time that Hagel was forced to renounce his view that there is a powerful Israel Lobby that constricts debate and shapes government policy over Israel - there is no such thing! Perish the thought! - he has had to desperately run away from his past criticisms of Israel in order to have any hope of being confirmed. That ritual left a stammering mess of a nominee, petrified of affirming his own beliefs on Israel lest he be further smeared and rendered radioactive. Slate's Dave Weigel put it best when he wrote about the Hagel hearing:
"[GOP Senator] Lindsey Graham had wanted to know who had ever been spooked by The Lobby and what stupid things they'd done out of panic. The answer was right in front of him, at the witness table.
Harvard Professor Stephen Walt, the much-pilloried author of The Israel Lobby - the book documenting how that lobby stifles debate in the US and dictates Israeli policy to Congress - was right to claim vindication after watching the ugly Hagel debacle. Noting that the entire Hagel hearing focused overwhelmingly on Israel and Iran - rather than issues of US security for which Hagel will actually be responsible - Walt declared: "I want to thank the Emergency Committee for Israel, Sheldon Adelson, and the Senate Armed Service Committee for providing such a compelling vindication of our views."
The controversy over the BDS panel at Brooklyn College is nothing more than the latest manifestation of the attempt to squelch criticism of Israel and delegitimize its critics. It is intended to create special rules that apply to Israel critics but to nothing else: you can never allow them to speak without having someone there to attack them. It is designed to put into further fear any faculty members or school administrators who would dare run afoul of pro-Israel orthodoxies. The campaign devoted to stopping this event is so wildly disproportionate to the importance of the event itself because its objectives extend far beyond this BC event. That's why this campaign is a severe threat to academic freedom and free debate.
When I wrote about this controversy on Tuesday, I said that if this BDS event is cancelled, then "I'd strongly consider asking them to cancel mine as well, as I assume when I accept invitations to speak in academic venues that I'm going somewhere that fosters rather than suffocates the free exchange of ideas." I'm going to make that more definite: if this event is cancelled, or if the Political Science department is forced to change it to include speakers they never wanted to invite, then I will absolutely refuse to speak at Brooklyn College. Others should use this updated list to contact school administrators and make your views known.
The side that favors academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas does not remotely have the financial resources and political organizing clout as the side that tries to control political debates in the name of pro-Israel advocacy. But we can at least do what we can do in pursuit of these principles. Preserving the ability of academic institutions to host the events and invite the speakers they want - without having to heed the demands of "pro-Israel" advocates and the cowardly state officials who serve them - is of vital importance.
Other Dershowitz inaccuracies
According to Professor Robin, two of Dershowitz's other claims made to me are factually inaccurate. The first is Dershowitz's claim that the Konefsky family chose him as lecturer, not the Political Science department. Writes Robin:
"That is not at all how Konefsky lecturers are chosen; the political science department selects those speakers without any interference from the Konefsky family. (Can you imagine if we had to vet your lecture with the family?) In fact, I am shocked that he thinks private donors can choose speakers at an officially sponsored college event at all. That in fact betrays far more about his conception of academic freedom - not only that he thinks that is what happened but that he thinks it's acceptable and just a normal way of doing business - than anything else."
Also inaccurate, according to Robin, is Dershowitz's claim that "the best proof is that they have refused to endorse anti-BDS events or even pro-Israel speakers who advocate the two state solution and an end to the settlements." As Robin explains, "the chair went through all of his emails today and has not found a single request from a student or student group for us to host an anti-BDS event."
UPDATE
An emailer just brought to my attention what may be the most glaring and amazing inaccuracy in Dershowitz's statements to me. Dershowitz repeatedly claimed - both to me and elsewhere - that academic departments should not sponsor one-sided events on controversial topics, and that he would not want any department to sponsor him for such an event. He wrote to me: "If and when I come to Brooklyn College to speak against BDS, I do not expect the event to be co-sponsored by the political science department. It will be sponsored by student and outside groups, as this event should be." He also told me: "I would oppose a pro Israel event being sponsored by a department."
But last February, a major controversy erupted when the University of Pennsylvania held an event with pro-BDS speakers. To address the controversy, here is what the school did:
"To counter the Penn BDS event, local pro-Israel groups including Hillel and the Philadelphia Jewish Federation have summoned the famed trial lawyer and Harvard University professor of law Alan Dershowitz to campus to keynote a Feb. 2 event: 'Why Israel Matters to You, Me, and Penn: A conversation with Alan Dershowitz.' Penn's Political Science department – which has pointedly refused to co-sponsor the BDS conference — will co-host Dershowitz's lecture, where the professor has vowed to explain why he considers BDS to be one of the most 'immoral, illegal and despicable concepts around academia today.'"
So that's not only another example where the highly controversial Dershowitz appeared without opposition on a college campus while sponsored by a university department, but it's an example where he did so on this very topic: BDS. And he was sponsored by the same Penn Political Science department to give his anti-BDS talk that refused to sponsor the event with pro-BDS speakers. Where was Dershowitz's oh-so-principled objections then to university departments appearing to take sides in these debates? To depict his opposition to this BC event as principled rather than about squelching criticism of Israel, he claimed to me: "I would oppose a pro Israel event being sponsored by a department." So did he oppose this pro-Israel, department-sponsored event at UPenn at which he spoke?
By itself, this proves that this Brooklyn College controversy has nothing to do with the stated principle that university department should not sponsor one-sided events on controversial topics. It instead has everything to do with finding such events objectionable only when they contain criticisms of Israel. That the leading opponent of the Brooklyn College event himself regularly speaks at universities on controversial topics without opposition, sponsored by university departments, conclusively demonstrates how dishonest this current crusade is.Sony Shows How to Unlock the Bootloader on Xperia Devices
For casual smartphone users, the bootloader is more than likely something of a mystery. Many users don’t know what it does, and there’s a fair chance that they’ve never even heard of it. For XDA users, the bootloader is something that allows us to flash custom kernels and ROMs. Some OEMs and carriers, however, lock the bootloader and don’t give users a chance to unlock it. Luckily, not all OEMs and carriers perform such a practice.
Quite a few times now, Sony has proven that it is a relatively developer friendly OEM. The Japanese OEM has since maintained a strong connection with the community, even hiring XDA Senior Recognized Developer jerpelea as their Developer Relations Manager. Instead locking the bootloader like they used to do in they early Sony Ericsson days, Sony makes it as easy as possible to develop on your own device. As such, the OEM decided to publish a video showing how to make your device custom ROM-ready.
Sony’s video guide demonstrates the processes using Windows, the most commonly used OS. This is beneficial, given that installing the needed software isn’t that easy as on Linux or OS X.
It’s definitely nice to see that some OEMs do care about power users. Sony once again is creating a new standard, which hopefully will be followed by other major brands. Below you can watch the video guide.The economy is doing well and tax revenues are rising – so why are three of San Diego’s largest government agencies facing massive hits to their bottom lines?
The city of San Diego estimates it must slash $47 million to $67 million in spending, San Diego County may have to cope with $100 million in new costs and San Diego Unified is staring down at least $124 million in cuts – an especially dire challenge because the reserve fund has nothing to spare.
Some of their troubles are common.
First, all three agencies are dealing with rising pension costs. State and local pension fund leaders are reducing long-term earning expectations, which increases the amount of money employers must contribute to fulfill retirement promises for current and former employees.
Traditionally, when things don’t pencil out it’s the employer – also known as the government or taxpayers – that are ultimately on the hook to cover losses. In contrast, city of San Diego employees hired after 401(k)-style pension reforms were enacted in late July 2012, except for police, just get less in retirement.
Lowering expected returns also increases each agency’s unfunded pension liability, or the gap between the cost of what’s been promised and what’s in the bank.
Longer life expectancies are having the same negative effect. People are living longer, and drawing pension checks longer than once anticipated. This increases employer costs and needed contributions.
Other factors contributing to the budget crunch are more unique to each agency.
Here is a closer look:
City of San Diego
In November, the city was projecting a $37 million shortfall next year. The city’s independent budget analyst more recently put the deficit at $57 million, which included “critical strategic expenditures” inexplicably left out of the earlier forecast in a departure from previous practice.
Since then, the city’s pension payment grew by another $10 million annually, so the deficit now stands at $47 million to $67 million, or nearly 5 percent of the city’s $1.4 billion general fund next year.
More than anything else, rising pension costs are hurting the city’s bottom line.
In total, annual pension costs will increase by $63.4 million next year to $324.5 million. Most of the increase – about $47 million – will come from the city’s general fund. To put the impact in perspective, without the pension increase, the city’s general fund deficit next year would be $20 million at most.
Current city officials have pledged to never again deliberately underfund pensions – a practice that once made the city infamous nationwide – so the higher costs will be paid and the money to do so must come from somewhere else.
Though the city’s tax revenues are rising, they’re not rising fast enough to cover the added costs.
Property tax revenues are expected to exceed estimates this year by nearly $1.3 million, but sales tax revenues are lagging behind by more than $1.3 million, according to the Mid-Year Budget Monitoring Report released last month.
Hotel tax revenue growth is also lagging, with officials now expecting nearly $900,000 less this year than what was included in the budget.
It’s unclear if this year’s tax trends could impact next year’s expectations.
Property tax revenues were previously forecast to bring in $532 million next year, nearly $29 million higher than newly revised estimates for this year. Sales tax revenues were expected to total less than $271 million next year, $700,000 lower than current year estimates and hotel tax revenues were anticipated to total $120 million next year, $7.6 million higher than current year estimates, city records show.
What tax revenue gains do exist are not all up for grabs, either.
A portion of the city’s tax revenue increases are now restricted for infrastructure needs, thanks to a measure approved by voters in June 2016.
Proposition H is expected to render $17 million untouchable for other budget needs next year, city records show, but it’s possible some city maintenance costs currently paid by the general fund could be shifted to the infrastructure fund.
To help close next year’s $47 million to $67 million budget gap, all city departments were asked to identify cuts totaling 3.5 percent for next year. If all suggested cuts were enacted, savings could total $45 million, per the independent budget analyst.
On Monday, the City Council will vote on whether to slow down plans to reach minimum 16.7 percent general fund reserve levels recommended by the Government Finance Officers Association. The move could free up $3 million annually over the next five years.
More will be known about what will get cut when Mayor Kevin Faulconer releases his proposed city budget by April 15 and a revised budget in May. The budget will be sent to the Council for approval in June.
San Diego County
County leaders have long touted a healthy reserve fund and stellar bond ratings as signs of financial health. That hasn’t changed, but state and federal actions outside of their control could bring new costs to the county budget.
Supervisor Dianne Jacob said in her State of the County address Feb. 1 that the county “may be looking at a $100 million hit to our budget.”
Jacob’s office said the $100 million figure referred to a possible $75 million cost increase if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and local residents lose insurance. The expectation is that the county will have to provide medical care to masses of newly uninsured residents.
“An early estimate is the county, who has responsibility for indigent health care costs, could be faced with $75+ million in increased medical costs for people who lose their health coverage under the Medicaid expansion of ACA,” county spokesman Michael Workman said in an email.
The remaining $25 million cited by Jacob refers to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed decrease in state funding for in-home support services, which provides home help to low-income residents who are elderly or disabled.
Whether either impact becomes reality next year remains to be seen, but Jacob seems to think there’s a real chance supervisors will have to come up with $100 million more than anticipated.
That may result in cuts to other services, or using money in the reserve fund.
Already anticipated in the $4 billion budget are rising county pension contributions, expected to increase from $394 million this year to nearly $469 million next year. The county spends another $81 million annually to pay off pension obligation bonds, loans the county obtained a decade ago to make pension contributions.
San Diego Unified School District
The amount of budget cuts needed at San Diego Unified is rising, with the latest staff estimates after the governor’s state budget topping $124 million.
Budget documents show school officials plan to outspend general fund revenues this year by about $100 million – more than any other year in recent history. In recent years, the district relied on its reserve fund to help cover funding gaps, causing it to dwindle to minimum 2 percent levels required by the state.
The district must grapple with cuts to its $1.3 billion general fund budget even as costs for pensions and other employee benefits are rising.
Contributions for teacher pensions totaled nearly $125.5 million this year and will increase by $10 million next year. Contributions for non-teaching staff pensions totaled nearly $37.5 million and will increase by $3.2 million. Even steeper increases are needed in future years.
Revenue increases from the state are slowing a bit faster than expected after years of large cash infusions following implementation of the new Local Control Funding Formula. The formula sent more money to districts like San Diego Unified that have large populations of English-learners, students from low-income families and other vulnerable students.
Exactly what will get cut next year will be approved by the school board Feb. 21, but school sites have begun circulating notices indicating the district plans to cut nearly all vice principals at elementary schools. The school district declined to confirm or deny whether that was true earlier this week.
For some, like Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary, lunch and recess supervision is being reduced from 44 hours to 16 hours a week, while the school’s library position will be reduced to one day a week, according to a message from the school’s principal. Counselor hours will also be trimmed.
In a message sent out on social media Tuesday, Superintendent Cindy Marten pledged to “not increase |
Frost these green and call me festive.The published password hashes do not contain any email addresses or usernames There have still been no official statements on the causes and extent of the recent password leaks at LinkedIn, eHarmony and Last.fm. A credible source is now reporting that the published 2.5 million Last.fm MD5 hashes, for example, are just the tip of a 17 million hash iceberg. That iceberg has reportedly been circulating since summer 2011.16.4 million of these â 95 per cent â have, the source claims, already been cracked, a claim which, for unsalted hashes, is entirely credible.
Since the lists do not contain any duplicates, it is likely that the number of affected users is in fact much larger than originally thought. Similarly, at LinkedIn, whose official statement persists in using the seemingly harmless phrase "some passwords", several factors suggest that the list of 6.5 million SHA1 hashes posted online may exclude simple passwords that have already been cracked. A blog post entitled LinkedIn vs password cracking gives an excellent overview of the contemporary tools and techniques used to crack passwords.
The concrete effects of this particular password leak are not yet clear. The publicly distributed lists do not include user names or email addresses. It would, however, seem reasonable to assume that whoever stole the passwords also has, and is using, this information. Last month Last.fm admitted to having received several reports of spamming involving user data. Since identical spam is sometimes sent to email addresses from the LinkedIn and Last.fm leaks, it is more than likely that both databases have fallen into the same hands.
There is also a first indication as to why Last.fm failed to implement rudimentary security measures to protect its users' passwords. According to someone claiming to be a former system architect at the company, design weaknesses in the music service's mobile API architecture were responsible for the, by today's standards, weak encryption. The technique employed uses the password and client-side user name to calculate an access key. For the server to check this, it needs to store the password, which is secured only with MD5 hashes. The API was developed 9 years ago, and appears not to have been updated since. It's going to be interesting to see what comes to light regarding the reasons for the sloppiness at these companies.
And one amusing detail â although eHarmony implores its users to use strong passwords including both upper and lower case letters, it saves the passwords in all upper case, thereby weakening its already weak security further. The hypocritical concern expressed by these companies has been covered in an editorial from The H Security: "Comment: LinkedIn and its password problems".
(Ingo Macherius / crve)Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday will announce the names of those chosen to fill Ontario vacancies in the upper chamber — and their appointments will be part of an historic transformation of the Senate.
OTTAWA—A former top cop, a senior banker, securities regulator and social justice advocate are among the six Ontario residents headed to the Senate, the Star has learned.
The new senators will sit as independents, key players in Trudeau’s attempt to transform the upper chamber into a less partisan and more respected institution.
“They’re not former candidates. They’re not former cronies or cabinet ministers,” the official told the Star.
That is driven home by Trudeau’s picks to fill current vacancies — all chosen for their career achievements, rather than party affiliations, a senior government official said.
Even the announcement itself of new senators is being carefully done to downplay suggestions of partisanship by not having them appear with the prime minister or cabinet ministers.
“It’s a deliberate decision because he wants (it) made clear that they’re not part of a Liberal caucus. They are truly independent,” the source said.
The six were among 2,700 applicants from across Canada who applied for a Senate spot as the Liberals for the first time opened up the senate selection process, part of the new arm’s-length process brought in early in the government’s mandate by Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef.
A committee, led by former public servant and University of Ottawa chancellor Huguette Labelle, sifted through the applications, ultimately recommending more than 100 names to Trudeau to fill 21 vacancies.
For the Ontario spots, Trudeau made the final selection from a list of 30 names.
Trudeau last week named five women and four men from British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to the Senate. By the end of this week, it’s expected another six new senators will be named to fill vacancies from Quebec.
Together, the new additions will dramatically change the makeup of the Senate and how it operates.
When the newly appointed senators take their seats, the Senate will be faced with the unprecedented situation of having a plurality of independent senators.
“The change is happening fast,” the government official said.
The rather rapid change has already led to some tension in the Senate — an institution that does not traditionally deal with rapid changes.
Indeed, the changing makeup of senate membership is now expected to bring further pressure on the Senate to reform its practices, notably around committee memberships which give priority to those senators with party affiliations and limit the number of independent senators.
“The structure is now wedded to the past,” the official said.
“Why should the Tories and the Liberals have all the power on committees when they have declining share of members in the senate at large?” the official said.
Sen. Peter Harder, the Liberal government’s representative in the upper chamber, told the Star last month that independents do not have representation on Senate committees proportional to their numbers in the chamber.
While membership on Senate committees might seem like a minor issue, it’s where a large part of the chamber’s work on government legislation gets done.
Last week, Harder told the CBC he was attempting to change that through negotiations. But should those negotiations fail, Harder said, he’s considering forcing the Senate to vote on rejigging committee membership.
The transformation could have an impact on the Liberals’ policy agenda as well. By making the upper chamber more independent, no longer will the government be assured of getting its legislation through the Senate without challenge or amendment.
“Trudeau is aware of this. He’s never going to have a majority of people in the senate that he knows sit in this caucus room and would necessarily abide by what he wants,” the official said.
“So you have to work by persuasion,” he said.
Ontarians heading to the SenateHey y'all, Mitch here!
On behalf of the whole team, thank you for the overwhelming show of support and positive energy we received after our last update. We deeply appreciate it. When you’re flying full-throttle down the Death Star trench with turbo-lasers blazing past your cockpit and the exhaust port coming up fast, it’s nice to know that “The Backers are with you.”
No update on our Backer Beta timing yet - we’re stepping back to make sure our plan is solid, our team is working at a healthy pace, and we have the right level of internal testing before releasing it into the wilds of Backerdom. As many of you have speculated, it’s unlikely we’ll announce a new date until we’re very confident we will hit it.
In the interim, we thought we'd show some new screenshots of the game in action to help tide everyone over. These are unedited shots - though we did turn off the interface and use a debug camera in-game to get the pretty we wanted. You can click on the images to get a hi-res version for each. Hope you enjoy!
2nd Novella, APPARENT CATASTROPHE, Now Available for MechWarrior Level Backers
We’re happy to announce that the second in a series of four linked digital novellas by Mike Stackpole is now available for Backers at the $50 MechWarrior level and above! Again, if you’re a current Backer and you want to upgrade to the MechWarrior tier to get your copy, email us.
You’ll find a file including the pdf, mobi, and epub versions to download when you hit “Get My Digital Rewards” in your BackerKit account. It takes a little time for the files to populate to everyone's account so please check back in a couple hours if you don't see the files right away.
That’s it for now. Remember that there’s a great community waiting for you on the BATTLETECH forums and the dev team often stops by to say hi and answer questions.
Take care!
MitchHappy New Year everyone!
As promised, here are the photos of the latest progress in my tank. I finally had the time to break the java moss mat into smaller pieces. The rock work has been arranged a bit, though it may change in the future. Also, say hello to my pet dragon. He's the star of this tank, as you may have already noticed.
Right now it is looking a wee bit minimalist (which is a style I absolutely love). However, I don't think my 4 bloodfin tetras like that too much since they enjoy densely planted tanks. What do you guys think? Any suggestions for new tank stock to swap the bloodfins with? Note that this is only a 6 gallon tank, and that I'll be adding some branches and floating plants in the future.
That's it for now. Currently battling brown algae which I am hoping will clear up as soon as the tank settles.Washington (CNN) A diehard New York Democrat sits in her congressional office, looking over details of one of her pet bills. In walks a far-right Republican, a woman from the West who was part of the Tea Party Caucus -- the sort who'd seem an obvious adversary.
When CNN's Jessica Ravitz last thought about the Equal Rights Amendment, she was a kid tagging along with her mom to marches some 35 years ago. What happened to the crusade to enshrine women's rights in the Constitution? Join Ravitz as she meets the women and men behind a renewed push to pass the ERA.
"Nice view, missy!" the visitor says, taking in the postcard-perfect sight of the U.S. Capitol. The two greet each other with big smiles and settle in for a nice long chat, vowing to work together.
The host is Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a staunch pro-choice veteran of Capitol Hill who created a stir in 2012 when she demanded of a panel of men testifying on birth control: "Where are the women?"
Beside her, exuding warmth, is Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, an equally proud conservative Republican who boasts of her "100% pro-life voting record."
Here in Washington, where party politics divide and erect thick walls, these two are pushing aside barriers for a common goal: They both want to see the Equal Rights Amendment -- language that would explicitly protect women's rights and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex -- in the U.S. Constitution.
Their backgrounds and what motivates them may differ; one raises the specter of sharia law, the other illegal abortions. But partisanship has no place when it comes to the importance of the ERA, these unlikely allies insist.
"The key here is just reminding people that equal rights have to be fought for, sought and obtained in writing," Lummis says.
"If we don't do it, who else is going to do it?" says Maloney. "The best legislation is always bipartisan."
'Men don't like to ask women for money'
Maloney, 69, remembers when classified ads in newspapers separated job listings by gender. She's heard too many accounts of women who became sick or died after getting back-alley abortions. She never participated in athletics at school while growing up in North Carolina because the option didn't exist for girls.
"When I first started working, discrimination and harassment was part of the job. There was no one there to protect you," she says. "It wasn't really long ago when you couldn't get credit in your own name."
Framed art featuring Eleanor Roosevelt, an early women's rights advocate, decorates Rep. Carolyn Maloney's office on Capitol Hill. It was a gift from Rep. Patricia Schroeder, a fervent ERA supporter and a co-founder of the Congressional Women's Caucus.
All of this fuels the fight she brings to the Hill, where she's been for 22 years. She's worked to combat sex trafficking, clear the backlog of untested rape kits and eliminate campus sexual violence. She's introduced bills to boost access to child care and expand family and medical leave. She's been at the forefront of legislation to create a National Women's History Museum.
But so much of the time, she says, she's battling to hold on to rights women have already won. Without a constitutional basis to protect women and enshrine their rights, she says, legislation can be rolled back and judicial decisions changed.
"You can have rights, and they can be taken away," she says.
Her concerns helped drive the formation of the new ERA Coalition, which is mobilizing a renewed crusade to finish business that started more than 90 years ago.
The ERA, first introduced in 1923, finally passed in Congress in 1972. It was sent to legislatures for ratification, but only 35 of the necessary 38 states ratified it before a 1982 deadline. The movement to pass it, after coming so close, seemed to grow quiet. Maloney is among those beating a drum to stir up noise.
"I'm becoming too tired, too old, too fat to keep on with these fights," she says with a laugh. "I'd just like to get into the Constitution and get it over with."
Since 1997, Maloney has been introducing the ERA in every congressional session. Last time around, she got 176 House members to sign on -- only five of them Republicans. But Lummis was one of them, and she's stepping up to help build Republican support.
"Equality, rights and opportunity are basic values in our country," says Maloney. "And the world is changing. We can't compete and win in the global economy if we don't use the skills of all of our people."
Not since the early '80s has the ERA made it out of committee in the House and onto the floor for a vote. Supporters can't -- or won't -- point to specific adversaries; they just know the amendment hasn't gotten the traction they feel it deserves. The ERA needs to be seen as a priority, they say. It needs to be seen as separate from hot-button issues that divide, like abortion. Men and women, liberals and conservatives alike, must realize its value for all Americans.
Lummis, 60, gets this. The relative Washington newbie -- she entered office in 2009 -- came to know Maloney when they were both active in the Congressional Women's Caucus. Both women are mothers to daughters -- Lummis has one, Maloney two -- and have long careers in politics.
Lummis, too, has advocated for the women's history museum and brings with her a heavy dose of Wyoming pride.
Her state, before it was even a state, was the first to grant women the right to vote in 1869. When that right threatened Wyoming's admission to the union in 1890, she says, "The quote was, 'We're not coming into the union without the women.' "
Wyoming boasts the nation's first woman governor, first woman bailiff and first all-woman jury. It had the first woman statewide elected official, the first woman justice of the peace and sent the first woman delegate to the Republican National Convention.
The state's motto is "Equal Rights," and Wyoming ratified the ERA in January 1973. Supporting the ERA, Lummis says, "is very much in keeping with Wyoming's history, its tradition and its commitment to equality."
She, though, is no stranger to discrimination.
Approaching her graduation from the University of Wyoming, Lummis interviewed for a job as a loan officer. She was told she wouldn't get it because "men don't like to ask women for money," she remembers. "I was just stunned.... When you face those kinds of realities in life, they stay with you."
Lummis, who insists on being called congressman, not congresswoman -- "only because it is a title, not a statement of gender" -- says her state cannot rest on its history of women's rights and female firsts.
"My state currently has the largest gap in pay between men and women of any state in the nation," she says. "My state has fallen behind in understanding the importance of equal pay for the same job, for equal work. So it makes clear to me that these are rights that should not be taken for granted."
Religious freedom vs. women's rights
The heart of Maloney's bill reads: "Women shall have equal rights in the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
While many supporters of the ERA, Maloney included, might argue that constitutional protection of women is necessary to beat back state attempts to chip away at women's reproductive rights, Lummis insists she can remain steadfast against abortion while advocating for the amendment. The two issues, she says, are separate -- and that's a pro-ERA argument she plans to take to members of her party.
Maloney's reading glasses and "Equal Means Equal," a new book by ERA Coalition President Jessica Neuwirth, rest atop ERA talking points on a couch in the congresswoman's office.
"It's a heavier lift for me in that the Republican Party and its platform and many of its elected members are pro-life, and they don't want to give a camel's nose under the tent to the pro-choice position," she says. But after pointing out her "100% pro-life voting record," she says, "I'm not the least bit afraid of this legislation, and I'm happy to work with them to ensure that this is not intended in any way to expand abortion rights."
Furthermore, Lummis adds, the ERA would protect against sex-selective abortion, a concern she says weighs on conservatives.
What also drives her stance is what she sees happening around the world. A visit to China, where the country's one-child policy means many girls are given up for adoption, if not aborted, increased her commitment to making sure both genders are equally valued. And in Europe, she sees the influx of groups she fears may someday try to institute "sharia law, which is very unfavorable to women," she says.
"I want to make sure that here, in the United States, if we have those sorts of religious communities forming, that there is a clear line between freedom of religion and women's rights," she says.
An economic argument
Maloney may not wade into the ERA discussion the same way as Lummis -- she's more prone to raise issues such as pregnancy discrimination or college campus rapes -- but that's what they say makes their alliance so important. They can approach conversations with their respective colleagues differently. The end goal, however, remains the same.
"Equality, rights and opportunity are basic values in our country," Maloney says. "And the world is changing. We can't compete and win in the global economy if we don't use the skills of all of our people."
Signing on to support the ERA doesn't hurt anyone, Maloney adds.
"This is something you can do to strengthen the country, and it doesn't run up the deficit," she says. "It just runs up women's self-esteem."
And the effort fits perfectly with what matters to her party, Lummis says.
Rep. Cynthia Lummis prefers the title "congressman" and is an unlikely but open supporter of the ERA, noting that her state of Wyoming has the largest gender pay gap in the nation.
"One of the Republican themes is, 'A rising tide lifts all boats.' This is a rising tide, and it will lift all boats," she says.
"Wow," Maloney says, her eyes and smile wide.
Lummis continues: "When women are out of poverty, their families are out of poverty, their children, their husbands, their significant others are out of poverty.... Why wouldn't we want their tide lifted? They'll lift the entire economy."
Maloney looks at her colleague and agrees.
"It's an economic bill," she says. "When women succeed, America succeeds. And, another thing: I would say countries that treat women well and empower them have less terrorism.... We're a positive force."
As of April 1, Maloney's bill has 111 co-sponsors, with another 25 lined up pending confirmation, a Maloney aide says.
When she introduces her bill in the coming weeks, Maloney won't stand alone. She'll be flanked by other lawmakers proposing similar legislation: Rep. Jackie Speier and Sens. Robert Menendez and Ben Cardin.
Maloney's House bill, along with sister legislation to be introduced in the Senate, proposes that the ERA process start from scratch -- with Congress first voting to pass it by two-thirds, followed by a new push to ratify the amendment in 38 states.
Another strategy is also being floated which calls for lifting the 1982 deadline that stopped the last push when it fell three states short.
The lawmakers, though, insist there is no competition. Whatever approach gets the job done, they'll take.
Turning trauma into tools
Jackie Speier traces her connection to the ERA back to her early 20s, when she was first working in Rep. Leo Ryan's office. The California Democrat was deciding if he'd support the ERA when it came up for a House floor vote in 1972, and she grew nervous as she watched him "like a hawk" from the gallery.
JUST WATCHED 'Shouldn't be a heavy lift' Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH 'Shouldn't be a heavy lift' 00:23
"It was the one time in my time with him when I was unsure whether or not he was going to do the right thing," she says. "I sat there thinking, 'What am I going to do if he votes the wrong way?' "
He was slow to vote, making her squirm, but when he did, he didn't disappoint her.
"I have a very vivid recollection of that experience," Speier says. "It was the quintessential issue around womanhood."
A lot happened to Speier in the years that followed. She was a congressional staffer with Ryan in November 1978 when a fact-finding mission in Jonestown, Guyana, turned deadly. They were investigating the Rev. Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple followers when they came under fire. Five people were gunned down and killed, including Ryan. Speier was shot five times. As she barely clung to life, more than 900 people died that day in a mass murder-suicide.
Speier went on to have her own political career, eventually filling the seat once held by her mentor, Ryan. The Democrat believes what scars a person can be turned around and used as a tool for empowerment.
Speier, 64, has worked on behalf of women survivors of military sexual trauma. She's taken on campus sexual assaults and human and sex trafficking. She's advocated for women small-business owners and for access to insurance-covered birth control. She once spoke openly on the House floor about the time she underwent an emergency abortion because of complications in a wanted pregnancy.
Last spring, she became the latest lawmaker to introduce ERA legislation when she proposed lifting the 1982 deadline.
Speier dove into the cause, co-hosting a rally with Maloney outside the U.S. Supreme Court in which they handed out red bandanas and had all the young women around them tie up their hair like "Rosie the Riveter."
The congresswoman talks about how Republican women lawmakers are beginning to flex their collective muscle. She knows there's support among them for the ERA and is hopeful that more of them will step forward.
"There's no downside risk. And there's a lot of upside to our daughters and our granddaughters and our great-great-granddaughters who have yet to be born," Speier says.
"I'm in the business of optimism," she adds. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
Fighting on, under a cloud
The political future of Sen. Robert Menendez may be up in the air -- the New Jersey Democrat is facing federal corruption charges -- but his support of the Equal Rights Amendment stands on solid ground. Staffers say he's "150%" committed to continuing the fight and sponsoring legislation this spring,
JUST WATCHED Why men should back the ERA Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Why men should back the ERA 00:31
He took up the ERA charge from Sen. Ted Kennedy after he died in 2009 and plans to reintroduce a sister bill to Maloney's start-from-scratch approach.
The senator says his interest is rooted in the experiences of his own mother, who emigrated from Cuba like his father and worked in a New Jersey factory.
"She ultimately rose within the factory to do what, in essence, was the manager's job. But she never got paid as the manager, and the other guys who were on the floor with her, they did," Menendez says.
Though he didn't fully appreciate the significance then, he says as he grew older he understood this was "a real life example to me of the challenges that women have in our society."
He fights this fight because he believes without explicit language in the U.S. Constitution, too much can be left up to interpretation. And the lack of such language can prove a roadblock for women seeking their rights.
"It's about remembering my mother. It's about the history of what this means," he says. "It's about my daughter being able to fulfill all of her capabilities with no limitations placed on her by our society or our government." His daughter, Alicia Menendez, wrote her Harvard honor's thesis on women's social capital and is a TV host for Fusion, a cable partnership between ABC and Univision.
Passing the ERA, Menendez says, requires more from constituents across the country. They -- women and men alike -- need to be reaching out to their own members of Congress who may have not made the ERA a priority themselves.
"I believe in Adlai Stevenson's admonition that 'When I get the heat at home, I see the light in Washington,' " Menendez says. "If daughters and wives spoke to their dads and husbands, that would be a great start."
A Republican issue
Back when he served in the Maryland State House of Delegates, Ben Cardin fought to get a lavatory for women members.
Sen. Ben Cardin says opposition to the ERA may stem from fears over religious conflicts or government intrusion.
He grew up in a progressive household and around strong women. His mother, a teacher, was active in issues affecting women in education and health care, he says. She died young but left an impression. All his female cousins, who he says were older than him, went to college. His oldest aunt was the chief financial officer of the family business.
Cardin, now 71 and a U.S. senator, wants his two granddaughters to have every opportunity available to them, just as he's wanted the same for his wife and daughter.
He first introduced a Senate bill to lift the ERA deadline in 2012, and he plans to introduce it again along with Speier's sister legislation in the House.
He points to the history of the 27th Amendment as a precedent for the approach. That most recent amendment, which prohibits members of Congress from giving themselves raises during the session in which they're serving, was ratified in 1992 -- more than 202 years after it was introduced -- and was clearly unencumbered by a deadline.
While a number of states have Equal Rights Amendments in their own constitutions, including his home state of Maryland, "it's not the same as having the federal umbrella protection," Cardin says.
The ERA represents a fundamental value, Cardin says, one that should be embraced by Republicans and Democrats alike -- just as it once was. Its original author in 1923, Alice Paul, was a Republican. For decades, it remained on the Republican Party platform. It was signed by President Richard Nixon as soon as it passed in Congress in 1972.
"I really don't think these are partisan issues. Only in Washington do they become partisan; not with the American people. So Republicans out in the communities are rooting for us," he says.
The opposition, he speculates, comes from those who worry that the ERA would somehow conflict with religious beliefs, lead to big government intrusion or foster a slew of lawsuits. Or, he says, maybe those who haven't yet signed on simply don't see it as a priority.
But it should be a priority for everyone, says Cardin.
"It's just not fair to say someone can't achieve their full potential because they happen to be a woman," he says. "There are so many times we turn a blind eye because we say, 'Is it really our fight?' The answer is: It is our fight."Courtesy of CNN Texas Gov. Rick Perry flirted with birtherism in an interview with Parade magazine, saying he does not have "a definitive answer" on the question of whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States.
Perry said he discussed the issue with Donald Trump over dinner — before saying that it's a "distractive" issue.
Obama released his birth certificate after fringe Republicans continuously raised the issue — and Trump claimed to have sent private investigators to investigate Obama's place of birth.
There is no evidence that Obama was born anywhere other than Hawaii.
Here's the exchange from Parade:
Governor, do you believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States?
I have no reason to think otherwise.
That's not a definitive, "Yes, I believe he"—
Well, I don't have a definitive answer, because he's never seen my birth certificate.
But you've seen his.
I don't know. Have I?
You don't believe what's been released?
I don't know. I had dinner with Donald Trump the other night.
And?
That came up.
And he said?
He doesn't think it's real.
And you said?
I don't have any idea. It doesn't matter. He's the President of the United States. He's elected. It's a distractive issue.
[via David Frum]http://www.feelinstrangelyfine.com/2016/07/hold-line.html
I finished up the Tau Tidewall Defense Line over the weekend so it seemed like a good excuse to try and get some more battle scenes done!
I've been experimenting some more with my new green screen set-up. It's got a firm foothold in the makeshift studio that has now taken over our spare bedroom! (I have a wonderfully understanding wife :) )
I'm kind of happy with some of the results, while still cringing at all the lousy edges and examples of my inferior photoshop skills. All part of the learning curve.
The main thing I learned from this attempt was that out of focus things at the back tend to blend into the green screen, and I have trouble defining the edges nicely once I load them into photoshop.
That said, I was happy with the fog effects that I managed to jury rig with some old smoke textures, and a little Gaussian blur.
I have a feeling that it's probably my photoshop skills that actually need the most work, and once I get comfortable with a few more techniques for selecting layers and such that I'll be able to take these images to the next level.
I probably need some more scenery in them as well. I need to break up the 'horizon line' where the end of my shooting space meets the green screen.
Still, it's all progress, and some more practice. I hope I'll be able to look back at these in a years time and see that I've managed to get better at these types of shots.
I was happy enough with the set-up. The battle line of Space Wolves approaching the line worked the way I wanted it to.Exposing @SepandTheHacker Courvix May 30th, 2014 510 Never 510Never
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rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 2.50 KB Hello all people out there, I am @LulzCorp. I am here to expose @SepandTheHacker (the self-proclaimed hacker of the century), this boy thought he was a badass just because he can DDoS with a booter he bought from his dads paypal. I spoke to him about his thoughts on me doxing him, he just responds, "Do it skid"! So this is going to be me exposing the one and only, SepandTheHacker. Now, first, I would like to point this out. I am not positive this kid is legit, I dont even think a autistic kid would put his first and last name on his twitter, so this may just be a troll account. But he sounded very legit about his confidence, but, he was putting out a fake address but I happen to find one that matches his dads name in the city I geo-located with the IP on talked on skype with, so whoever has the account SepandTheHacker is their dox, therefore, get doxed faggot. *Jacked means I took over the account Name: Sepand Madden Yahoo Email: maddensepand@yahoo.com(Jacked) Twitter: @SepandTheHacker(Working on), @MaddenSepand(Jacked before) @SepandMadden Address: 200 S Meade St Wilkes Barre, PA 18702-6221 (The one on his twitter is fake) Phone Number (Cell): (571)425-7714 Phone Carrier: AT&T Mobile Instagram: officialslushy Ask.FM: OfficialSlushy (Jacked) Paypal: frankaamp@gmail.com (Jacked) $230.87 Account Balance MineCraft Server: fadenetwork.com (Didnt know he had one) BuyCraft for MC Server: opfadeprison.buycraft.net (Jacked) Pictures / Selfies (Really is Indian): http://imgur.com/6IyP9k4(Looks like a fucking man with a wig on), http://imgur.com/KtXfFbs, http://imgur.com/nyLHrC0 Skype: slushynetwork, sepand.madden1 IPs affiliated with the skypes: 65.52.24.110(Home Connection), 108.45.125.138, 137.116.32.32, 166.171.57.78 (Dad): Name: Frank Madden Email: frankaamp@gmail.com(Jacked) Phone Number: 570-829-4140 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frank.madden.54?fref=ts (He's White O_O) Comcast Account: frankmadden (Jacked)(No Internet for SepandTheHacker :/ ) Works at: Newmark Grubb Knight Frank - Global Corporate Services Phone Number at their HQ: (212)372-2000 Client ID: 8803903942 Client Email: frankaamp@gmail.com(Jacked) No Mom found on profile. ----------------------------------[Side Note]--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next time Sepand, dont fuck with people unless you know what their capable of doing, I will be giving your dads Company a call, and I will call Mr.Frank and see how he likes your behavior on the internet. Goodnight, Sepand. RIP.
RAW Paste Data
Hello all people out there, I am @LulzCorp. I am here to expose @SepandTheHacker (the self-proclaimed hacker of the century), this boy thought he was a badass just because he can DDoS with a booter he bought from his dads paypal. I spoke to him about his thoughts on me doxing him, he just responds, "Do it skid"! So this is going to be me exposing the one and only, SepandTheHacker. Now, first, I would like to point this out. I am not positive this kid is legit, I dont even think a autistic kid would put his first and last name on his twitter, so this may just be a troll account. But he sounded very legit about his confidence, but, he was putting out a fake address but I happen to find one that matches his dads name in the city I geo-located with the IP on talked on skype with, so whoever has the account SepandTheHacker is their dox, therefore, get doxed faggot. *Jacked means I took over the account Name: Sepand Madden Yahoo Email: maddensepand@yahoo.com(Jacked) Twitter: @SepandTheHacker(Working on), @MaddenSepand(Jacked before) @SepandMadden Address: 200 S Meade St Wilkes Barre, PA 18702-6221 (The one on his twitter is fake) Phone Number (Cell): (571)425-7714 Phone Carrier: AT&T Mobile Instagram: officialslushy Ask.FM: OfficialSlushy (Jacked) Paypal: frankaamp@gmail.com (Jacked) $230.87 Account Balance MineCraft Server: fadenetwork.com (Didnt know he had one) BuyCraft for MC Server: opfadeprison.buycraft.net (Jacked) Pictures / Selfies (Really is Indian): http://imgur.com/6IyP9k4(Looks like a fucking man with a wig on), http://imgur.com/KtXfFbs, http://imgur.com/nyLHrC0 Skype: slushynetwork, sepand.madden1 IPs affiliated with the skypes: 65.52.24.110(Home Connection), 108.45.125.138, 137.116.32.32, 166.171.57.78 (Dad): Name: Frank Madden Email: frankaamp@gmail.com(Jacked) Phone Number: 570-829-4140 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frank.madden.54?fref=ts (He's White O_O) Comcast Account: frankmadden (Jacked)(No Internet for SepandTheHacker :/ ) Works at: Newmark Grubb Knight Frank - Global Corporate Services Phone Number at their HQ: (212)372-2000 Client ID: 8803903942 Client Email: frankaamp@gmail.com(Jacked) No Mom found on profile. ----------------------------------[Side Note]--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next time Sepand, dont fuck with people unless you know what their capable of doing, I will be giving your dads Company a call, and I will call Mr.Frank and see how he likes your behavior on the internet. Goodnight, Sepand. RIP.A Queensland restaurant that banned children under seven says business has never been better and customers have been leaving rave reviews.
Flynn's Restaurant in Yungaburra, near Cairns, enforced their controversial no kids rule earlier this month and owner and chef Liam Flynn said he had just done his best weekend of trade in 14 years.
Customer reviews left on the website TripAdvisor since the ban have been overwhelmingly positive about the'serene' and'relaxed' atmosphere of the mixed Italian and |
for his team.[7] The two stayed together for six years.[7] Andretti finished eleventh in the USAC National Championship that season.[7] Andretti won his first championship car race at the Hoosier Grand Prix on a road course at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1965.[7] His third-place finish at the 1965 Indianapolis 500 in the Brawner Hawk (a mechanical copy of the current Brabham Formula 1 design) earned him the race's Rookie of the Year award, and contributed towards Andretti winning the series championship. He was the youngest national champion in series history at age 25.[20] He repeated as series champion in 1966,[12] winning eight of fifteen events.[7] He also won the pole at the 1966 Indianapolis 500.[7] Andretti finished second in the IndyCars in 1967 and 1968. He also won a single non-championship drag race in 1967 in a Ford Mustang. In both 1967 and 1968, Andretti lost the season USAC championship to A. J. Foyt and Bobby Unser, respectively, in the waning laps of the last race of the season at Riverside, California—each by the smallest points margin in history.
Andretti won nine races in 1969, the 1969 Indianapolis 500, and the season championship. He also won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which was part of the USAC National Championship.[16] He was named ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. Between 1966 and 1969 he won 29 of 85 USAC championship races.[4]
In 1973, USAC split its National Championship into dirt and pavement championships.[7] Andretti had one win on the pavement and finished fifth in the season points, and finished second in the dirt championship.[7] He competed in USAC's dirt track division in 1974, and won the dirt track championship while competing in both series.[4] Andretti also competed in the North American Formula 5000 series in 1973 and 1974, and finished second in the championship in both seasons.[4]
Formula One career Edit
Part-time status (1968–1972, 1974) Edit
Andretti driving the Alfa Romeo 179C at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1981
Formula One is the highest form of open wheel racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's international governing body. Although originating in Europe, by the 1960s it included races worldwide. At Andretti's first Indianapolis 500, in 1965, he met Colin Chapman, owner of the Lotus Formula One team, who was running eventual race winner Jim Clark's car.[21] Andretti told Chapman of his ambition to compete in Formula One and was told "When you're ready, call me."[22] By 1968 Andretti felt he was ready. Chapman gave him a car, and the young American took the pole position on his debut at the 1968 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in his Lotus 49.[21][23]
Andretti drove sporadically in Formula One over the next four years for Lotus, March, and Ferrari, while continuing to focus on his racing career in America.[21] At the 1971 South African Grand Prix, on his debut for Ferrari, he won his first Grand Prix.[21] Three weeks later, at the non-championship Questor Grand Prix in the U.S., he brought the Italian team a second victory.[24]
Full-time status (1975–1981) Edit
It wasn't until 1975 that Andretti drove a full Formula One season, for the American Parnelli team. The team was new to Formula One, although it had been successful in both Formula 5000 and IndyCar racing in America with Andretti driving. The team had run Andretti in the two North American end-of-season races in 1974 with promising results. Andretti qualified fourth and led the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix for nine laps before his suspension failed. He scored five championship points in the season. Andretti continued to compete in IndyCar, missing two Formula One races in the middle of the season to do so.[25] When the Parnelli team pulled out of Formula One after two races of the 1976 season, Andretti returned to Chapman's Lotus team, for whom he had already driven at the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix. Lotus was then at a low point, having failed to produce a competitive car to replace 1970's Lotus 72. Andretti's ability at developing a racing car contributed to Lotus' return to the front of the Formula One grid, culminating in lapping the field in his victory at the season ending race at the Mount Fuji circuit in Japan.[21] Since mid-1975 Lotus had been developing the use of ground effect, shaping the underside of the car to generate downforce with little penalizing drag. For his part, Andretti worked at setting up his cars for the races, exploiting subtle differences in tire size ('stagger') and suspension set up ('cross weighting') on each side of the car to optimize it for each track, an approach imported from his extensive oval racing experience in the United States.[26] In 1977, at Long Beach, he became the only American to win the United States Grand Prix West, and the last American as of 2018 to win any US Grand Prix.[27] The Lotus 78 "wing car" proved to be the most competitive car of 1977,[28] but despite winning four races, more than any other driver, reliability problems and collisions with other drivers meant Andretti finished only third in the championship.[28] The following year, the Lotus 79 exploited ground effect even further and Andretti took the title with six wins.[28] He clinched the championship at the Italian Grand Prix.[4] There was no championship celebration because his teammate and close friend Ronnie Peterson crashed heavily at the start of the race; he was hospitalised and died that night from complications resulting from his injuries.[4]
Andretti found little success after 1978 in Formula One – he failed to win another grand prix. He had a difficult year in 1979, as the new Lotus 80 was not competitive, and the team had to rely on the Lotus 79 which had been overtaken by the second generation of ground effect cars.[29] In 1980, he was paired with the young Italian Elio de Angelis, and briefly with test driver Nigel Mansell, but the team was again unsuccessful.[30]
Andretti had an unsuccessful 1981 with the Alfa Romeo team. Like other drivers of the period he did not like the ground effect cars of the time: "the cars were getting absurd, really crude, with no suspension movement whatever. It was toggle switch driving with no need for any kind of delicacy...it made leaving Formula One a lot easier than it would have been."[31]
Brief returns with Williams and Ferrari (1982) Edit
The next year Andretti raced once for the Williams team, after their driver Carlos Reutemann suddenly quit, before replacing the seriously injured Didier Pironi at Ferrari for the last two races of the year. Suspension failure dropped him out of the last race of the season, but at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza he took the pole position and finished third in the race.[21][32]
In a 2012 interview, 1980 World Champion Alan Jones stated that Ferrari, looking for a proven top class driver, had actually contacted him to drive for the team in late 1982. Jones however was enjoying his time back in Australia and took too long to give Ferrari an answer (a move Jones regrets) so instead they contacted Andretti who had no such hesitations.[citation needed] Ironically, Jones later decided to make a comeback to F1 in 1983 (unlike Andretti) and had he taken the seat at Ferrari it is likely they would have kept the former World Champion for that year which would have seen him drive a very competitive car (Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship in 1983).[citation needed]
There was almost a return to F1 for Andretti at the 1984 Detroit Grand Prix when the Renault team put Mario on standby to replace regular driver Patrick Tambay if the Frenchman had been unable to race, as was the case at the previous race in Canada. However, in the event, Tambay was able to take part in the race.[33]
Andretti was also considered as a replacement, again for Tambay who had been injured in Canada, at the 1986 Detroit Grand Prix, this time for the Carl Haas owned Haas Lola team. Mario declined however, but recommended his son Michael Andretti for the drive. Unfortunately for Michael he was unable to obtain the FIA Superlicense required to allow him to race in Formula One. Instead the drive went to Eddie Cheever.[citation needed]
Return to IndyCar racing (1982–1994) Edit
Andretti had continued to race, and occasionally win, in the USAC National Championship during his time in the Formula One world championship. In 1979 a new organization, Championship Auto Racing Teams, had set up the Indycar world series as a rival to the USAC National Championships that Andretti had won three times in the 1960s. The new series had rapidly become the top open wheel racing series in North America.[34]
It was to this arena that Andretti returned full-time in 1982, driving for Patrick Racing. He returned to the 1982 Indianapolis 500 as well. After starting in row 2 Andretti got victimized by a controversial wreck during the pace-laps when rookie Kevin Cogan suddenly spun out for no apparent reason. Andretti was livid and engaged in a shoving match with Cogan. In an interview 3 minutes after the wreck Andretti was heard saying "This is what happens when you have children doing a man's job up front."
In 1983 he joined the new Newman/Haas Racing team, set up by Carl Haas and actor Paul Newman using cars built by British company Lola. Andretti took the team's first win at Elkhart Lake in 1983.[35] He won the pole for nine of sixteen events in 1984, and claimed his fourth Champ Car title at the age of 44. He edged out Tom Sneva by 13 points. It was the first series title for the second year team.
Andretti in 1984
Mario's son Michael joined Newman/Haas in 1989. Together, they made history as the first father/son team to compete in both IMSA GT and Champ Car racing,[12] as for the former, it was their fourth time in an endurance race together as co-drivers. Mario finished seventh in points for the 1991 season, the year that Michael won the championship. Mario's last victory in IndyCar racing came in 1993 at Phoenix International Raceway,[5] the year that Michael left Newman/Haas to race in Formula One. The win made Mario the oldest recorded winner in an IndyCar event (53 years, 34 days old).[5][36] Andretti qualified on the pole at the Michigan 500 later that year with a speed of 234.275 miles per hour (377.029 km/h). The speed was a new closed course world record.[20] Andretti's final season, in 1994, was dubbed "The Arrivederci Tour". He raced in the last of his 407 Indy car races that September.
Indianapolis 500 Edit
Mario (left) and his brother Aldo (right) at pole day for the 2007 Indianapolis 500
Andretti won once at the Indianapolis 500 in 29 attempts. Andretti has had so many incidents and near victories at the track that critics have dubbed the family's performance after Mario's 1969 Indianapolis 500 victory the "Andretti Curse".[37][38]
Andretti finished all 500 miles (800 km) just five times, including his 1969 Indianapolis 500 victory. Andretti was the first driver to exceed 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) while practicing for the 1977 Indianapolis 500.[15] In 1969, after 4 years of bad luck and 4 drop-outs, Andretti dominated the Indianapolis 500 en route to his first victory in the race. The race is notable as it is the only Indy 500 in history where the winning driver ran the whole race on only 1 set of tires.
Between his 1969 victory in the race and 1981, Andretti dropped out of the races due to part failures or crashes. His luck seemed to turn around in 1981. Andretti finished second in the 1981 Indianapolis 500 by eight seconds behind Bobby Unser. The following day Unser was penalized one lap for passing cars under a caution flag, and Andretti was declared the winner. Unser and his car owner Roger Penske appealed the race stewards' decision. USAC overturned the one lap penalty four months later, and penalized Unser with a $40,000 fine.
At the start of the 1982 Indianapolis 500, second-year driver Kevin Cogan, teammate to polesitter Rick Mears, suddenly spun right when accelerating for the green flag. Cogan bounced off A. J. Foyt, slamming Foyt's steering rod. That contact turned Cogan's car left at a 90 degree angle to the field where he was promptly t-boned by Mario. Andretti was livid and engaged in a shoving match with Cogan before walking off. In an interview, 3 minutes after the wreck, an irked Andretti was heard saying "This is what happens when you have children doing a man's job up front." Andretti's Patrick Racing teammate that year was the eventual race winner, Gordon Johncock, who started next to Andretti in the middle of row two. In later years, Johncock pointed out that Andretti had jumped the start, and could have avoided the spinning car of Cogan had he been lined up properly in the second row next to Gordy.[39]
In the 1985 Indianapolis 500, he was passed for the lead by Danny Sullivan in Turn One on lap 139. Immediately after completing the pass, Sullivan spun in front of Andretti. A caution for the spin, minimized the time Sullivan would lose to Andretti by pitting to replace 20 laps later Sullivan took the lead for good when he passed Andretti without incident. Andretti dominated the 1987 Indianapolis 500, leading 170 of the first 177 laps of the race. His lead was so large, that he was advised to slow his pace to preserve his equipment. In a cruel twist of fate, when Andretti started running slower, his reduced engine rpm's created a harmonic imbalance in his turbocharged Ilmor/Chevrolet V8 that led to a broken valve spring with 20 laps to go.[40]
The 1992 Indianapolis 500 was run in extremely cold weather which resulted in a large number of wrecks by cars on cold tires. Andretti accelerated off of turn three for the restart at the end of the 83rd lap. Under acceleration, Mario's car got loose in the middle of turn four and rotated 270 degrees to smash nose first into the wall. Andretti was taken to the hospital with 6 of his toes broken and would shortly be joined by his son Jeff Andretti who smashed both legs after a wheel came loose on his race car on the 109th lap of the race. Mario would only miss one race due to his injuries, and returned to run 6th in a race just four weeks after his crash. The 1993 Indianapolis 500 was Andretti's last notable run, and he had just come off a victory at Phoenix. On pole day, Andretti was the first car to complete a qualifying run, and sat on the provisional pole position. Andretti's speed held up all afternoon, but with less than an hour to go, Arie Luyendyk topped his speed, and took the pole. On race day, Andretti was a factor most of the afternoon, leading the most laps (72). While leading on lap 134, Andretti was penalized for entering the pits while they were closed. A stop-and-go penalty dropped him only down to second place. In the final 50 laps, he began developing handling problems because of his tires, and slid down the standings to finish 5th. Andretti's last race at Indy was the 1994 Indianapolis 500.[37]
On April 23, 2003, in the lead up to the 2003 Indy 500, Andretti took to the track for the first time in ten years in a major open wheel car at the age of 63. He participated in a test session for son Michael's AGR IndyCar team. One of the team's regular drivers, Tony Kanaan, suffered a radial fracture of his arm a week earlier in an April 15 crash at Motegi. If Kanaan was not cleared to drive in enough time, tentative plans were being prepared for Andretti to qualify the car for him. He would turn the car over to Kanaan on race day, though no plans had been made for Andretti to actually drive in the race. During the test, Andretti ran at competitive speeds, but running over debris saw his car becoming airborne and the attempt ended with a spectacular crash. Andretti was able to walk away from the wreck with just a minor cut on his chin. This was Andretti's last significant on-track activity at Indianapolis.
Sports cars Edit
Andretti won three 12 Hours of Sebring endurance races (1967, 1970, 1972),[4] and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1972. In early sportscar races he competed for the Holman Moody team, but later often drove for Ferrari. He signed with Ferrari in 1971, and won several races with co-driver Jacky Ickx.[21] In 1972 he shared wins in the three North American rounds of the championship and at Brands Hatch in the UK, contributing to Ferrari's dominant victory in that year's World Championship for Makes. He also competed in the popular North American Can-Am series in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Le Mans Edit
Andretti competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in four decades. In 1966 he shared a Holman Moody Ford MKII with Lucien Bianchi. They retired after their car dropped a valve at 10:30 pm.[41] In 1967, during a 3:30 am pit stop, a mechanic inadvertently installed a front brake pad backward on his Ford MkIV. As Andretti passed under the Dunlop Bridge before the Esses, he touched his brake pedal for the first time since leaving the pits. The front wheel instantly locked, turning the car hard into the dirt embankment at 150 mph (240 km/h). The wreckage slid to a stop with Andretti badly shaken, the car sideways to oncoming traffic and the track nearly blocked. His teammates, Jo Schlesser and Roger McCluskey, crashed trying to avoid Andretti's car. McCluskey pulled Andretti to safety, and Andretti was taken to hospital for x-rays.[42][43]
Andretti did not return to Le Mans until his full-time Formula One career was over. In 1982, he partnered with son Michael in a Mirage M12 Ford. They qualified in ninth place, but the pair found their car being removed from the starting grid 80 minutes before the start of the race,[44] as an official discovered an oil cooler that was mounted behind the gearbox, which was against the rules. The car had passed initial inspection four days before the race.[44] Despite protests and complaints, the Andretti's entry was removed altogether, replaced by a Porsche 924 Carrera GTR. Their return in the following year was more successful as they finished third. The father/son team returned in 1988 with Mario's nephew John. They finished sixth in a factory Porsche 962. Following Mario's retirement from full-time racing, he decided on a return to the circuit to add a Le Mans victory to his achievements. He returned in 1995 with a second-place finish. He said in a 2006 interview that he feels that the Courage Compétition team "lost [the 1995] race five times over" through poor organization. He had unsuccessful efforts in the following years with a thirteenth place in 1996, and then a DNF (Did Not Finish) for 1997. Andretti's final appearance at Le Mans was at the 2000 race, six years after his retirement from full-time racing, when he drove the Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S at the age of 60, finishing 16th.[45]
Awards and honors Edit
In 1986, he was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. In 2000, the Associated Press and RACER magazine named him Driver of the Century.[46] He was the Driver of the Year (in the United States) for three years (1967, 1978, and 1984),[47] and is the only driver to be Driver of the Year in three decades.[16] Andretti was named the U.S. Driver of the Quarter Century in 1992.[3] He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001,[3] the United States National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996,[7] the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990,[14] the Hoosier Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1970,[7] the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Diecast Hall of Fame in 2012.
On October 23, 2006, Andretti was awarded the highest civilian honor given by the Italian government, the Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (known as the Commendatore), in honor of his racing career, public service, and enduring commitment to his Italian heritage.[46] Enzo Ferrari is the only other recipient of the Commendatore from the world of automobile racing.
In 2007, Andretti was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor Coach Lombardi's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the Coach.
From 2007 Mario Andretti is the "Mayor" (Sindaco) of the "Free Commune of Motovun in Exile" (Libero Comune di Montona in esilio), an association of Italian exiles from Motovun.[48][49]
In 2008, Andretti was awarded with the Simeone Foundation Spirit of Competition Award.[50]
In 2016 Andretti was made an honorary citizen of Lucca.[51]National Football League franchise in Detroit, Michigan
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The team plays its home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.
Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and called the Portsmouth Spartans, the team formally joined the NFL on July 12, 1930 and began play in the 1930 season.[1] Despite success within the NFL, they could not survive in Portsmouth, then the NFL's smallest city. The team was purchased and relocated to Detroit for the 1934 season.
The Lions have won four NFL championships, tied for 9th overall in total championships among all 32 NFL franchises; however, their last was in 1957, which gives the club the second-longest NFL championship drought behind the Arizona Cardinals. They are one of four current teams and the only NFC team to have not yet played in the Super Bowl. They are also the only franchise to have been in operation for all 52 seasons of the Super Bowl era without having appeared in one (the Cleveland Browns were not in operation for the 1996 to 1998 seasons).[5]
Franchise history
Logos and uniforms
Aside from a brief change to maroon in 1948 instituted by then head coach Bo McMillin (influenced by his years as coach at Indiana), the Lions uniforms have basically remained the same since the team debuted in 1930. The design consists of silver helmets, silver pants, and either blue or white jerseys.
The shade of blue used for Lions uniforms and logos is officially known as "Honolulu blue", which is supposedly inspired by the color of the waves off the coast of Hawaii. The shade was chosen by Cy Huston in 1935. Houston, the Lions' first vice president and general manager, said of the choice: "They had me looking at so many blues I am blue in the face", Houston said about the selection. "But anyway, it's the kind of blue, I am told, that will match with silver."
There have been minor changes to the uniform design throughout the years, such as changing the silver stripe patterns on the jersey sleeves, and changing the colors of the jersey numbers. "TV numbers", which are auxiliary uniform numbers to help TV broadcasters identify players from the line of scrimmage, were added to the jersey sleeves in 1956. White trim was added to the logo in 1970. In 1998, the team wore blue pants with their white jerseys along with grey socks but dropped that combination after the season. In 1999, the "TV numbers" on the sleeves were moved to the shoulders.
In 1994, every NFL team wore throwback jerseys, and the Lions' were similar to the jerseys used during their 1935 championship season. The helmets and pants were solid silver, the jerseys Honolulu blue with silver numbers and the jersey did not have "TV numbers" on the sleeves. The team wore solid blue socks along with black shoes. The helmets also did not have a logo, as helmets were simple leather back then. The Lions also wore '50s-style jerseys during their traditional Thanksgiving Day games from 2001 to 2004 as the NFL encouraged teams to wear throwback jerseys on Thanksgiving Day.
In 2003, the team added black trim to their logo and the jerseys. The face masks on the helmet changed from blue to black with the introduction of the new color. Additionally, an alternate home field jersey which makes black the dominant color (in place of Honolulu Blue) was introduced in 2005.
For 2008, the team dropped the black alternate jerseys in favor of a throwback uniform to commemorate the franchise's 75th anniversary. The throwback uniform became the team's permanent alternate jersey in 2009, replacing the former black alternate.[8] The Lions officially unveiled new logo designs and uniforms on April 20, 2009. The lion on the helmet now has a flowing mane and fangs, and the typeface of "Lions" is more modern.[9]
On February 1, 2017, the Lions announced a new typeface, logo, and the complete removal of the color black from the team identity. The team "made it a priority to emphasize our classic color combination of Honolulu blue and silver, which has been synonymous with the Detroit Lions since 1934."[3] The new logo is identical to the old, except with a silver border instead of a black one. The Lions then unveiled the club's new uniforms on April 13, 2017.[10] The Lions also added the initials "WCF" to the left sleeve as a permanent tribute to William Clay Ford, who owned the team from 1963 until his death in 2014. The sleeve addition replaces the black "WCF" patch on the left breast that was added after Ford's death.[11]
Home attendance
Home Attendance at Ford Field Year Total Attendance 2006 487,116 2007 490,436 2008 435,979 2009 395,162 2010 450,286 2011 509,940 2012 510,158 2013 510,369 2014 504,198 2015 490,782 2016 486,342 2017 513,100 Source:[12]
Players of note
Current roster
Retired numbers
Notes:
1 Posthumous. Hughes died of a heart attack during a game on October 24, 1971, and his No. 85 was withdrawn from circulation. However, WR Kevin Johnson wore No. 85 during his stint in Detroit after asking for and receiving permission from the Hughes family as he had worn that number throughout his professional career.
Posthumous. Hughes died of a heart attack during a game on October 24, 1971, and his No. 85 was withdrawn from circulation. However, WR Kevin Johnson wore No. 85 during his stint in Detroit after asking for and receiving permission from the Hughes family as he had worn that number throughout his professional career. The #20 was retired specifically for Sanders, even though the retired number was also worn by RB Billy Sims and DB Lem Barney before him, both of whom are also among the top all-time Lions at their positions.
The No. 56 was unretired with Schmidt's blessing when the Lions acquired linebacker Pat Swilling from the Saints. No player has worn it since Swilling left.
Special cases:
The Lions retired #93 for the 2009 season after Corey Smith disappeared, presumed dead, when a boat he was fishing in with friends capsized off the Florida coast.[13] The Lions also wore 93 stickers on their helmets that season. Number 93 was assigned to Kyle Vanden Bosch in 2010.
Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
Coaches
Current staff
Divisions and division rivals
The Lions have been a part of multiple divisions and have had several division rivals in their existence. Their oldest rivals are the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers, whom they have been paired with in a division since 1933. The Minnesota Vikings have been in a division with Detroit ever since their inaugural season in 1961. Other notable longtime division opponents were the Cleveland/Los Angeles Rams (29 seasons from 1937–1966, except for 1943), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (25 seasons from 1977–2001), the San Francisco 49ers (17 seasons from 1950–1966), the Chicago Cardinals (16 seasons from 1933–1949, except for 1944), and the Baltimore Colts (14 seasons from 1953–1966).
The Lions also have a preseason rivalry with the Cleveland Browns, dubbed the Great Lakes Classic.[14] The two teams have been playing for The Barge Trophy since 2002.[15] The Lions and Browns had a solid rivalry in the 1950s, when they met four times for the NFL championship (Detroit won three of the matchups); they have met much less frequently during the regular season since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger due to the Browns' move to the AFC.
Baltimore Colts (1953–1966)
Chicago Bears (1953–1966)
Detroit Lions (1953–1966)
Green Bay Packers (1953–1966)
Los Angeles Rams (1953–1966)
San Francisco 49ers (1953–1966)
Dallas Cowboys (1960)
Minnesota Vikings (1961–1966)
NFL Central Division: 1967–1969
Chicago Bears (1967–1969)
Detroit Lions (1967–1969)
Green Bay Packers (1967–1969)
Minnesota Vikings (1967–1969)
NFC Central: 1970–2001
Chicago Bears (1970–2001)
Detroit Lions (1970–2001)
Green Bay Packers (1970–2001)
Minnesota Vikings (1970–2001)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1977–2001)
NFC North: 2002–present
Chicago Bears (2002–present)
Detroit Lions (2002–present)
Green Bay Packers (2002–present)
Minnesota Vikings (2002–present)
Radio and television
Radio
The Lions' flagship radio station is WJR 760 AM. Dan Miller does play-by-play, Jim Brandstatter does color commentary, and Tony Ortiz provides sideline reports.[16]
The team moved to WJR for the 2016 NFL season, ending a 20-year relationship with CBS Radio-owned WXYT-FM. The decision to part with WXYT was reportedly instigated by a demand by the team for the station to fire on-air personality Mike Valenti—who has had a history of making comments critical of the Lions during his drive-time show—as a condition of any future renewal. A CBS Radio spokesperson stated that their refusal was meant to maintain the station's integrity.[17][18]
TV
Preseason
In 2015, WJBK took over from WXYZ-TV as the flagship station for Lions preseason games. The announcers are Matt Shepard with play-by-play, Rob Rubick and Nate Burleson with color commentary, and FOX2's Jennifer Hammond with sideline reports. Wraparound shows and preseason games are produced by Fox Sports Detroit which also airs replays of the broadcasts.
Regular season
Regular season games are broadcast regionally on Fox, except when the Lions play an AFC team in Detroit, in which case the game airs regionally on CBS. The Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit is always televised nationally on either Fox (odd-numbered years) or CBS (even-numbered years). The Detroit Lions were the last NFC team to play on NBC's Sunday Night Football since the network got began airing Sunday night games in 2006 (the Lions at Saints game on December 4, 2011 marked their 1st appearance; Sunday night games are aried on WDIV). The Lions' official regular season pregame show is The Ford Lions Report.
Blackouts
The Lions' winless performance in 2008 and 2–14 season in 2009, coupled with the effects of the Great Recession in Michigan, led to several local broadcast blackouts, as local fans did not purchase enough tickets by the 72-hour blackout deadline. In 2008, five of the Lions' final six home games of the season did not sell out, with the Thanksgiving game being the exception. The first blackout in the then seven-year history of Ford Field was on October 26, 2008, against the Washington Redskins. The previous 50 regular season home games had been sellouts. The second home game of the 2009 season in which the Lions broke the losing streak (also against the Washington Redskins) was blacked out locally, as well as the comeback victory over the Cleveland Browns. The Lions had only one blackout in 2010, yet another Washington Redskins game, which the Lions won 37–25.[19] However, in 2015, the NFL suspended its blackout policies, meaning that all Lions games will be shown on local TV, regardless of tickets sold.[20]
Games were also often blacked out at the Lions' previous home, the 80,000-seat Pontiac Silverdome, despite winning seasons and the success and popularity of star players such as Barry Sanders.
See also
Notes and referencesNEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Remember those pesky mortgage-backed securities the Federal Reserve had to take off AIG's hands at the worst of the financial crisis?
The Fed just finished selling all of them, and their return on investment isn't too shabby. The sales of the $19.5 billion portfolio turned a $2.8 billion profit for taxpayers.
"The completion of the sale of the Maiden Lane II portfolio has resulted in significant gains for the public and marks an important milestone in the wind-down of the extraordinary interventions necessitated by the financial crisis," William Dudley, president of the New York Fed, said in a statement.
The New York Fed first indicated last year that it would put the so-called Maiden Lane II securities up for auction. It sold off the first piece of the pie to Credit Suisse (CS) in January. Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) bought another chunk and Credit Suisse bought the remainder of the portfolio, announced today.
And just who is buying the assets from Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs? None other than AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) itself.
AIG's Chief Executive Bob Benmosche said Friday that the insurance giant had recently purchased "just under $2 billion of the assets coming out of Maiden Lane II."
"Our crisis is over," he added.
That said, the Fed is not completely out of the woods yet. It still holds a separate portfolio related to the AIG bailout. That portion, called Maiden Lane III, includes the insurer's credit default swap business. Initially worth $29.3 billion when the Fed acquired it, it's now worth $17.6 billion, after many of the securities have matured and much of the loan has been paid back. The New York Fed has not indicated when it plans to start selling the remaining assets.
Amid the financial crisis, the Fed nearly tripled its balance sheet through a variety of emergency measures. While questions remain about how the central bank will eventually unload all of those securities, at the same time, they've been a moneymaker for taxpayers. The Fed recently announced it's turning over $77 billion to the Treasury for its 2011 earnings alone.
As part of the bailouts related to Bear Stearns and AIG in particular, the Fed created three investment vehicles nicknamed "Maiden Lane." Maiden Lane is the name of the street behind the New York Fed.The expiration of benefits for 1.3 million jobless Americans this weekend will exacerbate the worst period of chronic unemployment in post-war history, the chairman of the White House council of economic advisers warns.
The expiring programme, which provides emergency help for the long-term unemployed, was introduced after the banking crash in 2008 to cushion the impact of the recession but is due to end on Saturday. Congress had an opportunity to continue it, but failed to agree on an extension before breaking for Christmas.
Although recent improvements in the economy have boosted overall job growth, economists are concerned that long-term unemployment rates remain higher than at any time between 1948 and the recent financial crisis.
Republican critics claim that ending the programme will force recipients to find work, but new research suggests it will have the opposite effect, and will encourage them to drop out of the labour market entirely, according to Jason Furman, chairman council of economic advisers.
“You can’t get unemployment insurance if you’re not looking for a job,” Furman told the Guardian |
clear that this was a man with mental problems who failed to get help.
We should do it anyway
But we should tone down the rhetoric, not because it might lead to another shooting, but because being more civil in our communication is the right thing to do.
Well before the shooting I was growing concerned with some of the statements being made in newspaper columns and in social media. Not only was there ridiculous generalizing about Quebec anglophones, sovereignists and the rest of Canada, but I got the impression that people were taking things far too seriously.
It’s probably because this is the first election since 1998 won by a sovereignist party, or the first since 2007 where a Liberal victory was not a given. Social media is far more prevalent than it was back then. Plus, newspaper columnists on both sides of the political fence seem to have gone more toward outrageous commentary for its own sake.
What’s worse is that rather than challenge people on their ridiculous exaggerations, Facebook friends and Twitter followers and website commenters have become part of the echo chamber. The cheerleaders are winning over the devil’s advocates.
Make it stop
This, I believe, is how we should step in. It’s nice to call on everyone to tone down our own rhetoric, but I think it would be more constructive to tone down each other’s.
So please, when you hear a friend of yours say that the PQ’s policies on language are akin to “ethnic cleansing,” explain to them that even if by their biased interpretation those policies might fit a loose definition of that term, that they have obviously chosen it as a way of linking the party to some third-world dictator prepared to kill millions in the name of genocide. Explain to them that while you may disagree strongly with Quebec’s language laws or the PQ’s proposals to strengthen them, that is no reason to use such loaded terms.
Et s’il vous plaît, quand vos amis chantent « POLICE POLITIQUE! SSPVM! » expliquer comment cette comparaison est offensive et inutile. Expliquer que même si vous êtes en désaccord avec le projet de loi 78, même si vous pensez que la police de Montréal va trop loin dans leur utilisation de force, qu’ils sont là pour nous protèger, qu’ils ont comme but de respecter la loi, qu’ils veulent rien de moins qu’on participe au démocratie en toute sécurité, et que même si ils font des fautes, c’est très, très loin de ce qui ce passait en Allemagne dans les années 1930.
And please, when you hear one of your friends explain how Pauline Marois wants to “destroy Canada,” explain to them that Quebec has as much of a right to self-determination as any other government. Explain to them that though we may disagree with Quebec leaving Canada, the province cannot be forced to stay inside the federation against its clear will. Explain to them that even if Quebec somehow becomes an independent state, that it plans to have a strong relationship with the rest of Canada, and that even the most hard-core separatists have no wish to see harm come to the rest of the country. And explain to them how Quebec leaving Canada will no more destroy the latter than Canada’s independence in 1867 destroyed Great Britain.
Et s’il vous plaît, quand vous entendez vos amis dire que les anglais au Québec veulent conquérir les québécois, expliquez que nous sommes deux peuples, fils et filles de deux empires européens de siècles passées, qui ont, pour la plupart, les mêmes espoirs pour nos vies et ceux de nos enfants. Expliquez que 95% de la population québécoise parle le français, et que même si la loi 101 peut être le sujet de beaucoup de débats, et même si les conclusions sont que le français au Québec est menacé et il faut agir pour la protèger, que personne ici veut éliminer ce qui nous définissent comme québécois. Expliquez que les anglo-québécois ont leur propre culture, qui n’est pas la même que celui de Toronto, de Vancouver ou de New York. Expliquez que les anglophones qui veulent vivre entièrement en anglais ont déjà déménagé ailleurs, et que ceux qui restent sont encore ici à cause de notre histoire et notre culture dont ils sont aussi fiers.
And please, when you hear one of your friends say Stephen Harper is a dictator or that he hates Canada, explain to them that his party received 40% of the votes cast in the last federal election, that despite all the rhetoric he is still the leader of a centre-right party that has no plans to outlaw abortion, take away universal health care or do anything else that would cause them to lose those suburban Toronto ridings that are key to their parliamentary majority. Explain that while you may worry about where he is taking our country, that we are still governed by a representative democracy with a fully functional judicial system. Explain that if you disagree with Conservative Party policies, then you need to convince their voters not to support them in the next election, and that emotionally-charged hyperbole is going to win over far fewer voters than a reasoned rebuttal of the issues.
S’il vous plaît.
Please.
For the sake of my sanity. Pour notre avenir commun. So that we can be proud not only of what we have built together politically, but of the way we have built it.
S’il vous plaît, je nous demande de communiquer entre nous comme des adultes.
Merci.
UPDATE (Sept. 7): Seems this post is generating some buzz. I spoke with Radio-Canada’s Michel C. Auger about this issue (starts at 31:15), and this post has been republished in Saturday’s Gazette. I was also interviewed on CTV News on Sunday.
And it appears Sophie Durocher at the Journal de Montréal thought the Gazette publishing the piece was hypocritical because of all the other stuff they’ve published. Some on Twitter have pointed out that the Journal de Montréal is a Sun Media publication, and there are plenty of anti-Quebec comments in those papers.A portrait of the Orlando gunman’s wife began emerging on Tuesday, the day the FBI said she knew about the attack at the gay nightclub and tried to stop it. Mark Mathews reports. (Published Tuesday, June 14, 2016)
BREAKING: Widow of gunman who killed 49 people at a gay Orlando nightclub is acquitted on all charges in 2016 attack.
A portrait of the Orlando gunman’s wife began emerging on Tuesday, the day NBC News sources said she knew about the attack at the gay nightclub and tried to stop it and FBI agents visited her childhood home in Rodeo, California.
On Tuesday afternoon, three FBI agents visited Noor Zahi Zalman's childhood house between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., and where her mother still lives with her 14-year-old sister, an FBI spokesperson confirmed to NBC News. The agents, who were in plainclothes rather than FBI jackets, conducted a "knock and talk," typical of an investigation of this kind. The visit lasted less than two hours. The FBI said the visit was not a raid.
At the time of the FBI's visit, there were other family members inside the house, including two of Salman's younger sisters and two nephews.
Neighbors told NBC Bay Area they heard two women and a man say "FBI" when they knocked on the house next door. Video footage obtained by NBC Bay Area shows the agents leaving in their car. RAW: FBI Visits Childhood Home of Orlando Shooter's Wife
The FBI on Tuesday visited the house where the Orlando shooter's wife grew up. (Published Wednesday, June 15, 2016)
Since the massacre of 49 people inside the Pulse nightclub in Florida Sunday by her husband, Omar Matteen, Salman has been cooperating with the FBI but could still face criminal charges, NBC News first reported.
Salman told the FBI she was with Mateen, when he bought ammunition and a holster, several officials familiar with the case told NBC News. She also told the FBI that she once drove him to Pulse nightclub, because he wanted to check it out. And even though she told the FBI she tried to talk him out of it, NBC News reported that authorities are now considering whether Salman failed to tell them what she knew before the attack.
Salman had four listed email accounts in a public records database, including one to the now-defunct Heald College in Concord. She did not respond to any of the four emails sent to her Tuesday by NBC Bay Area, though two bounced back. One of the emails had Mateen's name in the prefix. Calls to her phone number did not work.
Neighbors on the quiet street in Rodeo, 45 minutes from San Francisco, told NBC Bay Area on Monday that Salman was the daughter of Ekbal Zahi and Bassam Abdallah Salman, who died of a heart attack several years ago. The couple has three other daughters - the youngest is 14. Salman's mother still lives at the home but did not come out to speak. According to neighbors, she attended John Swett High School in nearby Crockett, California.
Salman married Mateen, neighbors said, and moved to Florida about five years ago, despite the fact that there is no known marriage license on record. All the neighbors described her as kind and normal, and a young woman who came from a nice Muslim family. Neighbors told NBC Bay Area they thought Salman looked beautiful in her dress on the lawn of the home before she headed off to her ritual Muslim wedding.
The profile picture from the Facebook Page for Noor Zahi Salman aka Noor Mateen, identifed by a friend as the wife of the shooter.
Photo credit: facebook
In fact, Salman's mother was so devout, neighbors said, she didn't eat at the home of her Punjabi neighbors because they had a dog. In strict Muslim interpretation, dogs can be seen as impure.
A Miami news station reporter tweeted that Salman left Port St. Lucie, Florida after midnight on Tuesday, and lowered her head before the media frenzy camped out there. She deleted her social media accounts, minus one photo of her and Mateen with their 3-year-old son. It appears as though the couple has been together since 2013 based on mortgage records.
Facebook accounts for her relatives show they are Palestinian, the Daily Beast reported. The Daily Mail obtained photos from inside Mateen's apartment, and also reported that Salman is a second-generation American, born to a well-heeled Palestinian family who emigrated to California from the West Bank in the 1970s.
And it appears as though Salman had been married previously in Palestine and then moved to Illinois with Ahmed Aburahma from 2005 to 2009, NBC News reported. Aburahma moved to Tucson and has since remarried.
"She's a nice person," he told NBC News. "She liked to go out. She liked to eat out. She was nice."
He added he hadn't heard from her in a while.
"I don't know nothing what happened after we got divorced," he said. "She went back with her family. I didn't hear anything after that."
Mateen also had been married before. That ex-wife, Sitoria Yusufiy, told reporters this week that she left Mateen because of possible mental illness and abuse.
Back in California, Rodeo neighbor Sarwan Kaur said Mateen apparently wouldn't let Noor Salman's mother visit her in Florida.
"Like, even when she was in the hospital, her husband wouldn't let her come see her own mother," Simrat Chahal said on behalf of his grandmother.
NBC News, Andrew Blankstein and Pete Williams contributed to this report.
Memorial Grows in Orlando for Nightclub VictimsThe attack in Kenya, as well as the attack in Pakistan, has revived the regime’s global plot to conquer the people of Islaam on behalf of Zionist Jews. Jewry media is running at high speed after these two false flag acts. The Pakistan attack must also be thoroughly investigated. The timing puts the onus on the Mahyudi monsters of the Mossad, who are surely the force behind the Nairobi hoax.As a client state of the Israeli entity, completely subservient to the Zionist powers, Kenya is an ideal facility for the commission of great crimes on behalf of the Zionist regime.This was done in the 2004 American Embassy bombing, where the Zionists—Mossad agents—placed and detonated the bombs that blew the embassy to smithereens while killing 200 people. Compliant then as it is now the Kenyan rulership wrongfully blamed Muslims and Islaam, thereby absolving real perpetrators, the Zionists, of responsibility.There were no mad, vengeful Muslims rampaging through that mall, senselessly murdering people, specifically targeting non-Muslims. This was done by the enemies of Islaam, the Zionists, whether real or fabricated.In fact there is a plethora of evidence to indicate that this event, like so many others, was cleverly staged by Zionist operatives, who live in Kenya by the hundreds of thousands. In this regard it is important to note that when those original assessments were made of the creation of a Jewish homeland Kenya was top of the list, even over Palestine.It’s the same story. Muslims going berserk in an act of murderous vengeance against the ‘infidels,’ for occupying and invading their countries. Right away, a supposedly jihadist Muslim group is blamed, in this case Somalis, through the nefarious entity, al-Shabab, which, like al-Qaeda, is non-existent in the Muslim world and is strictly an invention of the Mossad.As always, there are no CCTV images, and surely no images or photos of the purported shooters. The non-existent shooters purportedly took out the security guards, a story that would make sense if this was real. Then, surely, with the ever-present armed Kenyan guards in this client Zionist state, surely those assaulting marauders would have been caught cleanly on the CCTV cameras. But not, never: no images of the supposed Islamic fanatics can be found anywhere.As always, it is a one-word Arabic terminology-based nefarious Muslim group which is responsible.As always, the blame against Islaam comes through the use of social media, where the ‘group’ claims responsibility, in this case through Twitter.It’s all a Zionist plot, let there be no doubt about it. Expect more. This filth of the earth is losing its grip.It was the Mossad which was responsible for blowing up the Nairobi-based US Embassy, senselessly murdering and injuring countless hundreds of people. Yet, the Kenyan government was the first to reject any Israeli-Zionist role and maliciously, as well as falsely, laid the blame on Islaam.One hard proof that this is a Mossad plot is in the nature of the blame laid against Islaam, the extreme inanity of the claims—that is the claims of absolute ruthlessness. This is the statement about, “Do this or else: we’ll shoot you.” It is in regard to the claim that these never-to-be-seen, nonexistent Muslim terrorists demanded of people to either say the name of the Prophet’s mother and survive, and if not, be shot dead. This is typical of the Mossad, not any ‘Muslim’ group. Regardless, in such a state of shock many Muslims would likely have a mind block and may not know the answer. Even so, this didn’t happen: it was invented by Israeli spies.It was barely a month ago that Kenya marked the 15th anniversary of the Israeli-orchestrated bombing, and while doing the Zionist-controlled Kenyan media continued to falsely blame Muslims and Islaam, going further to claim that the Kenyan government and military was having difficulty “containing” the omnipresent and presumably ‘Islamist’ terrorist threats to its land )(see http://www.voanews.com/content/confronting-terror-in-east-africa-15-years-after-us-embassy-bombings/1725139.html).Now, a little over a month later this mall ‘event’ occurs, and it can be no coincidence. It can be no happenstance event, that is that while the Zionist-orchestrated Cameron (UK) government and the Obama White House are reeling from the revelations that they are the true and obvious source of global terror: it can be no coincidence that, then, this happens.It means that in no way did a real Muslim/Islaamic group storm the mall and massacre anyone.It took a great deal of effort to unwind Sandy Hook and the Boston Hoax to bring forth the truth. The Nairobi false flag is extensive, with countless actors and fraudsters play their typical fabricating roles. Thus, it will take a significant effort to unwind this also.Even so, here, major revelations are shown, merely from a cursory analysis of the images as well as claims. In other words, there is evidence that, once again, the injuries and emotional reactions, the supposed grief and fright, were faked for public consumption and for revival of support for the Zionist cause, which is the fake War on Terror which is really a war on Islaaam.That’s because Islaam is the last bastion of resistance against the criminal Zionists. Criminals: not satisfied with the fake Navy Shipyard scam, now they impose the Nairobi fraud upon the world.Notice this woman. Notice the patterns in her shirt. Those red areas are largely rectangular in shape. Notice, too, the tie-around clothing. In all likelihood this woman is not injured and is, rather, a crisis actor paid for the role.This is a major revelation, which means the entire claim of an Islamist attack against Nairobi mall shoppers is a categorical hoax.http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/files/2013/09/Westgate-Mall-attack-Nairobi-300×319.jpgA close-up view demonstrates the rectangular shape with the clothing tie acting to fix, that is to fix the blood packet against her white shirt. Same color, same fakery as the Boston hoax and more. As pointed out by one of our posters, too, it is the wrong color for blood. Regardless, where are the entrance wounds from the gun-blasts? Even so, if she was shot in the abdomen in two places at relatively close range she wouldn’t be walking about for the Reuter’s camera shoot.The rectangular shape, right screen, plus the use of the clothing tie is a give-away for the use of fake blood packs in this individual.The following video is filled with evidence of set-ups, staging, fakery, fake fright, fake shock, and fake wounded. Watch it carefully. The evidence will be clear. The Zionist-controlled Kenyan media is all over the place, people with dozens of cameras, people showing no fright, fear, or caution about being shot or their being gunman on the loose, that is except the crisis actors, most of whom appear to be non-Kenyan.These non-Kenyans are Zionist agents, many of whom are likely Kenyan-based Jews, Sayanim agents working for the Mossad. Therefore, if anyone was shot in that mall, it was the Mossad and its collaborators who did so, not any Muslim terrorists.Yet, there is no proof of anyone being shot. Still images are insufficient. The real proof is in CCTV camera images. No such images have ben shown.Notice the immense and deliberate degree of staging and how they staged the fright scenes. Also, see how after the Jewish-appearing woman comes forth with her two children, behind her there is a woman acting as if injured. That woman in white, once again, is a crisis actor.Note, again, the rectangular nature of the red color, both on the abdominal area (actually, mere fake color staining her sweatshirt) and the repeated shapes on her arm. Furthermore, if she really did have two gunshot wounds what was she doing casually walking behind the other crisis actress, the mother with the two children? This woman is not injured. It is a fake.Once again, this is moulage, fake application of phony red coloring to imitate blood. See the fact that the Kenyans got wise from the Boston hoax. They stuffed the red packet underneath the clothing and, then, popped it. Same on the arm. This is 100% proof that the Nairobi mall shooting is a hoax; no one was injured; nobody died.Did the Mossad combine crisis actors, fake grievers, fake shock victims, and other phonies with a real killing? Further analysis is needed to determine the plausibility of such a claim. Yet, thus far the evidence points to a fake event, a hoax, perpetrated by the Kenyan government in collaboration with the UK, the Zionist entity, and the Obama White House.Regardless, there is no way in a real event that all such camera shoots could be so thoroughly staged, and they are obviously staged by any analysis. Therefore, the Nairobi mall shooting is a hoax, like all the others. Let anyone prove otherwise.Here is another proof of the hoax. Is this child really injured? Same as the Boston hoax, one shoe on, one shoe off with fake blood permeating a sock? Watch the hands in the screen. The person raps the gurney, then, twice, raps the child’s feet. After this, additional red material drips from the sock.Caption: taps the gurney; fake blood doesn’t flow; so reaches to the feet and then…
taps the feet, twice.
Then, additional fake blood drips out. Note also the streaks of the phony material. NO ONE would do this in a real emergency when a person has been shot in the foot. This triple confirms that the mall shooting is a fake, and the only ones with the motives to do so are Zionist Jews, who have great power over the Kenyan government.
With a real victim would anyone dare rap the gurney with a person in pain from a gunshot wound? Would anyone in a million years twice rap a gunshot foot in child supposedly writhing in pain, while also pounding on the gurney? It would appear that the only reason this would be done is that this is a fake, and the ‘rapper’ is attempting to cause more moulage red to flow.
This man, a future presidential candidate, said he was right there, witnessing it all. ‘I saw a security guard shot it the head,’ who ‘died instantly.’ Really? Then, there should be a bit of CCTV camera footage available demonstrating the actual killing.
He also claims he was grazed in the head, “See, here? I was also shot at and, see, I suffered a graze wound.’ The man is a liar and a fraud, like the others.
These are what graze wounds from gunshots look like. He had no graze wound. It is incredible how many people have sold their souls to their Zionist masters: for a paltry gain.
Then, there is always this, another non-Kenyan in on the act? Talk about hyper-realistic:
Oil, grease, tempura paint, fake blood, fake shock, and more: it’s a hoax, like the others, imposed upon the world by the criminal Zionist mob, this woman herself clearly being a non-Kenyan (non-black African) Zionist agent. It would appear, too,. that her shirt has been cut, also, that fake fluids have been spilled near her head and also above her. For this Zionist fraudster—Jewish woman with moulage on her face, hand, and fake dust-matting on her hair—there is no way that this could be anything other than an act: it is called, here, a fraud.
See any bullet wounds, anywhere?
This is further proof that the Nairobi mall “massacre” is a Zionist plot and a hoax of unprecedented proportions.Image caption Security forces flooded into Zengcheng on Monday
Chinese security forces have moved into the southern city of Zengcheng, restoring calm after days of rioting by migrant workers.
Witnesses say security personnel are manning roadblocks and patrolling the streets, and have ordered people to stay in their homes overnight.
No violent incidents were reported on Monday night.
Hundreds of workers rioted at the weekend after a pregnant woman was allegedly assaulted by security guards.
Reports said the woman was shoved to the ground when she refused to move her market stall.
The protesters set fire to cars and damaged government buildings in Zengcheng, near the wealthy southern city of Guangzhou.
Police reportedly fired tear gas and deployed armoured vehicles.
A migrant worker from Sichuan who works in the area told Reuters news agency that people were angry with the system.
"I feel the rule of law here doesn't seem to exist... the local officials can do what they want," he said.
Some residents told the Associated Press they had been told not to go out at night or post photos of the unrest online.
"Nobody wants to come out. They fear running into danger," one factory worker told AP.
Complaints about corruption and abuse of power are widespread, especially among migrant workers who are often paid meagre wages.
Zengcheng has a booming garments industry, and its 800,000-strong population has been boosted by thousands of migrant workers in recent years - many of whom come from Sichuan province.Patient engagement is important to any healthcare organization that is concerned with improving their quality of care, profitability and overall standard as an institution that treats sick people i.e patients. Hence, healthcare organizations should always seek How to Increase Patient Engagement within their care system and structure. Patient engagement can be simply defined as the level in which a patient is actively involved in the care they receive. It is, of course, a lot broader than this. Patient engagement is also the level in which a patient is actively involved in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and making their own healthcare decisions.
On the provider’s side, patient engagement is a strategy used to achieve the Triple Aim of improved health outcomes, which consists of improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of healthcare.To achieve a good level of involvement or engagement, a patient must be supplied with relevant and applicable information about their health. This may seem like it has been practiced forever, yet many patients have expressed concern with the fact that they are on several medications, ordered to exercise more and return in a month or two to see if things have improved. This isn’t patient engagement, because the patient isn’t really involved or has a clear understanding of health concerns and what all medications and treatments mean to improve their wellbeing.
Why Does Patient Engagement Matter?
Studies have shown that patients who are engaged in managing their own health have more trust in their healthcare provider and their quality of care. They also tend to be healthier and have better illness outcomes than patients who are disengaged from or unclear about their own health plans. While some people are happy to let the responsibility lie with their healthcare provider, more and more patients are choosing to become involved in their own health plans when the opportunity is available to them. The more information a patient has about their own health, the more capable they are of making healthy, smart decisions, and ultimately sticking to the plan of treatment.Patient engagement helps patients feel like they are in control of decisions being made, which in turn makes them more likely to take responsibility for their health outcomes. Feeling helpless, on the other hand, can lead to poor decision making and can even decrease a patient’s chance of overcoming certain illnesses.
Do Patients Even Want This?
More and more patients are interested in being more engaged and being more active and informed about the care they receive and their health in general. It is also suggested that nearly half of Americans are either extremely interested or very interested in being able to check their vital signs on their smartphones, tablets, or computers. The increase in physical activity trackers (Fitbit, Jawbone, etc.) show that there is a trend in people wanting to monitor their own health and physical activity throughout the day. This is just one aspect of patient engagement, it points to an overall interest.
The internet has also allowed for people to take a more active role in their treatment, as they now have access to health information in the language they understand and numerous websites where answers can be found. Sites such as WebMD.com, Healthline.com, and MayoClinic.org allow individuals to seek out specific diagnoses according to symptoms. Action like this allows the patient to take information into their treating physician and have a dialog.
How Can Healthcare Providers Encourage Patient Engagement?
Studies have shown that given their own tools and access to information, patients will engage in their own health and that patient engagement is most effective when encouraged by a care team or medical professional. For healthcare providers, patient engagement comes down to accurate data, which can be hard to come by in the healthcare field.
Data is coming from a variety of different doctors and hospitals and is oftentimes in different formats. The more an office is able to focus on procuring and organizing quality data, the easier it will be for physicians to make informed decisions, and the more likely patients will be able to be involved in the decision-making process. The more comfortable a patient is with their healthcare provider, the more likely they are to ask questions and give an exact history.
It’s important to remember that patients hold the most important details about their health – whether they fully understand this fact or not – and the more information they share, the better able everyone is to make informed decisions, not just when it comes to procedures, but when encountering opportunities to engage in preventative care such as diet and exercise.
Healthcare providers can also make this data more available to their patients through online portals and increased communication between doctor and patient. By giving patients more access to their own data, doctors send a message that the patient is responsible for their own health, and by having more accurate data, doctors can make themselves more efficient and effective in treating individual patients with their individual needs.
Ultimately, patients and doctors have the same goals: to keep the patient healthy, and by encouraging patient engagement, both patients and doctors are more likely to achieve this goal.Disney is ending its distribution agreement with Netflix for new movie releases, while it’s also buying majority ownership of BAMTech — the streaming-video company founded by Major League Baseball — in a $1.58 billion deal.
The moves set a clear course for the media giant to launch Netflix-style direct-to-consumer internet services from ESPN and Disney. Disney said will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new movie releases, beginning with the 2019 theatrical slate.
“This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. The company announced the plans as part of reporting fiscal Q3 earnings, which included a 3% revenue decline in its cable networks group.
The media conglomerate said it will launch an ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018, followed by a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019. Those will be powered by BAMTech, in which Disney will hold a 75% stake. The current plan is for Disney and ESPN streaming services to be available for purchase directly from Disney and ESPN; in app stores; and from authorized pay-TV partners.
Related Amid Weaknesses in Cable, Disney’s Third-Quarter Earnings Buoyed By Theme Parks Netflix Stock Falls After Disney Announces Plans to End Movie-Output Deal
Disney didn’t provide details on what the new over-the-top services are expected to cost.
The new Disney-branded service will become the exclusive home in the U.S. for subscription VOD access to new releases from Disney and Pixar beginning with the 2019 theatrical slate. Those are set to include “Toy Story 4,” the sequel to “Frozen,” and “The Lion King” from Disney’s live-action division.
Disney hasn’t yet determined streaming distribution for films from its Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm studios. Those movies could be licensed to a third-party subscription VOD service or stay in-house (either on their own dedicated service, or on the Disney-branded service planned for 2019).
In addition, Disney said it expects to make a “significant investment” in an annual slate of original movies, TV shows, short-form content and other Disney-branded exclusives for the service. The subscription service also will feature library content, including Disney and Pixar movies and shows from Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD.
The revised plans for the ESPN-branded multi-sport service are much broader than the over-the-top play Disney originally had slotted for the end of 2016. The new service will include about 10,000 live games from leagues including Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. It also will include collegiate sports and Grand Slam tennis coverage. Noticeably missing from the lineup in the forthcoming ESPN OTT service are NFL and NBA games — the two most popular pro sports in the U.S.
“For many sports fans, this app will become the premier digital destination for all their sports content,” Disney said in its announcement.
Even with the launch of ESPN’s subscription sports service, Disney said OTT packages for individual sports will also be available for purchase, including MLB.TV, NHL.TV and MLS Live. The new service will be based on an “enhanced version” of the current ESPN app, which will continue to offer pay-TV subscribers access the ESPN programming on an authenticated basis.
Under terms of the deal for BAMTech, Disney will pay $1.58 billion to acquire an additional 42% stake in the New York-based streaming and video infrastructure company from MLB Advanced Media, the interactive media and internet unit of Major League Baseball. A year ago, Disney acquired a 33% stake in BAMTech for $1 billion under an agreement that included an option to acquire a majority stake.
Disney’s acquisition of a controlling stake gives BAMTech a valuation of $3.75 billion. MLBAM will retain a 15% stake in the company.
“We’re very proud of the content distribution innovations driven by MLBAM and BAMTech over the past 15 years,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred commented. “Major League Baseball will continue to work with Disney and ESPN to further grow BAMTech as it breaks new ground in technologies for consumers to access entertainment and sports programming.”
The BAMTech transaction is subject to regulatory approval. Once the deal closes, Iger will serve as chairman; MLBAM and NHL will continue as minority stakeholders in BAMTech, with seats on the board.
BAMTech CEO Michael Paull — a former senior video exec at Amazon who joined earlier this year — will report to Kevin Mayer, Disney’s senior executive VP and chief strategy officer. Disney said that John Skipper, ESPN president and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, will manage the new ESPN-branded service.
“This is an exciting validation of our team, its achievements and the customer-centric platform it’s built,” Paull said in a statement. “Yet, we’ve merely scratched the surface of what can be accomplished in a future where we combine Disney and ESPN’s world-class [intellectual property] and our proprietary direct-to-consumer ecosystem.”
Currently, BAMTech designs, develops, and delivers direct-to-consumer streaming services for partners including HBO Now, MLB, NHL, MLB, PGA Tour, WWE Network, and Riot Games’ “League of Legends.” Through a partnership with Discovery Networks, BAMTech Europe will provide technology services on the continent, including Eurosport’s digital products.Now it's your turn.
So as the pollsters predicted, Marco Rubio joined fellow Floridian Jeb! Bush on the scrap heap of the 2016 Republican presidential-nominating field, going from everybody’s smart-money candidate with the golden favorability ratings to toast in his home state with amazing speed. For the Trump-fearing, Cruz-hating Republican Establishment, the only survivor is John Kasich of Ohio, either as a potential nominee or as a stalking horse for some player-to-be-named-later, presumably at a “contested convention.”
Kasich’s apparent narrow win over Trump in his home state tonight was facilitated by the pretty heavy consolidation of the anti-Trump vote in his column; Marco Rubio’s public plea for his supporters to vote for Kasich may have made a difference since the Floridian is only pulling about 7 to 8 percent. The Ohioan also obviously benefited from concentrating his efforts in one state, even as Trump competed in four others (plus the Northern Mariana Islands!). And Kasich seems to have gotten a decent crossover vote of Democrats freaked out by Trump. Depending on how things turn out in Missouri and Illinois, where a big majority of delegates are awarded to congressional district winners, Trump might actually be a lot closer to the nomination than before. And while Kasich will be the only mainstream GOP candidate in the race, he will have to fight a three-front battle very immediately against Republicans deciding to make their peace with Trump, Republicans wanting to unite behind Cruz as the only challenger who can conceivably catch the mogul in delegates before Cleveland, and Republicans searching for some “unity candidate” who can come out of the wings and stampede delegates on a second or third ballot.
So Kasich better not spend too much time enjoying his big, first victory. He needs to get his ducks in a row now.0 Search on for gunman after 4 shot in Daytona Beach
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Four people were shot outside a Daytona Beach club Saturday and the shooter is still on the loose, police said.
Police were told by the victims in the hospital that before the shooting near the Biarritz Club, the unidentified gunman got into a fight with several people.
The man left the area after the fight and came back with a gun.
Reports said the man fired multiple rounds outside the club and struck four people who weren’t involved in the fight. Three of the victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries, while another was shot in the stomach and is fighting for his life.
“Being a mother and knowing that’s your child and your child is shot, you’re not hearing where she’s shot or nothing, I freaked out,” said Lisa McMillian, the mother of victim Latoya Kennedy.
McMillian hasn’t slept since she got the call at 3:30 a.m. saying that her daughter was shot in the leg.
McMillian said Kennedy wasn’t at the club, but at the park next door, getting an early start on celebrating her birthday.
“I wish they’d get guns off the street. I mean, when we were coming up, we fist-fought,” she said.
Police said all four victims went to Halifax Medical Center, where they told police what happened.
No one was able to get a good look at the shooter. McMillian said she’s worried what could happen if there’s more violence outside the club, which is feet away from Bethune-Cookman University dorms.
“I thank God that there wasn’t (a) death involved, but it could have been much worse. Innocent people, I mean, nobody should get shot, whether you’re innocent or not,” said McMillian.
Detectives are working to identify the gunman. They do know that the shooter was about 4 ½-feet tall, black and likely to be between 20 and 30 years old.
Anyone with information is asked to call police.Taylor ton and Boult six give NZ a series win
Australia’s hold on the number one |
nominations.
Putting all this aside, a Gorsuch filibuster doesn’t even serve Schumer’s narrow interests, besides placating the left-wing #resistance to Trump demanding it. It would be shrewder for Schumer to keep his options open for a future nominee. If there’s another vacancy, perhaps Trump will nominate a lemon, or the Republicans won’t be so united, or the higher stakes of a conservative nominee replacing a liberal justice will create a different political environment.
In these circumstances, it’s possible to imagine Democrats filibustering and Republicans not managing to stick together to exercise the nuclear option.
Maybe, but now we may never know. Because Chuck Schumer is about to make Senate history — for astonishing short-sightedness.A British man who's just reaped a lottery windfall that comes to more than $232 million in American dollars has suggested he might try and use it to buy the gift that keeps on giving: a reunion of the original Guns N' Roses lineup.
Adrian Bayford, a 41-year-old music shop owner, told reporters that "I think I would just have to get Guns N' Roses together – the original lineup, mind. I’m a real fan." (According to Classic Rock Magazine, the other items on his shopping list are a new house, a new car, and some Domino's pizza.)
Of course, this isn't the first time someone's offered Axl Rose a pile of money to get the old band back together, and it seems likely that Bayford's efforts will be met with the same stony silence as the rest -- but it's still fun to imagine a parallel universe where this leads to a GNR reunion and the words "Adrian Bayford" become synonymous with "rock hero" for future generations.
As Classic Rock Magazine points out, Bayford's winnings amount to some serious coin, even for Axl and company; in fact, "it’s enough to buy 233 private shows by the current lineup of the band." Something Axl's accountant will no doubt be pointing out repeatedly over the next few days, to no avail.Roland Joffé (born 17 November 1945) is a British-French director and producer of film and television, known for the Academy Award-winning movies The Killing Fields and The Mission. He began his career in television, his early credits including episodes of Coronation Street and an adaptation of The Stars Look Down for Granada. He gained a reputation for hard-hitting political stories with the series Bill Brand and factual dramas for Play for Today.
Education [ edit ]
Joffé was educated at two independent schools: the Lycée français Charles de Gaulle in London, and Carmel College in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, which was Europe's only Jewish boarding school, until it closed in 1997. He completed his formal education at the University of Manchester.
Career [ edit ]
TV director [ edit ]
After university, Joffé joined Granada Television as a trainee director in 1973, where he directed episodes of Coronation Street,[1][2] Sam,[2] The Stars Look Down,[2] Crown Court,[2] Bill Brand,[2] and Headmaster.[2]
In 1977, producer Tony Garnett was commissioned by the BBC to direct the play The Spongers within BBCs Play for Today series. He informed the BBC drama department that he wanted to hire Roland Joffé as director, but was told that Joffé did not possess BBC clearance and was regarded a "security risk".[3] The reason was that Joffé had attended some Workers' Revolutionary Party meetings in the early 1970s,[4] although he never became a party member. He explained around 1988: "I was very interested in politics at that time. But I was interested in what all the political parties were doing, not just the WRP, and I was never actively involved."[5] Only after Garnett threatened he would "go public", was the veto on Joffé's appointment withdrawn.[5] The Spongers won the prestigious Prix Italia award.
Joffé also directed an episode in BBC's Second City Firsts in 1977[2] and later directed two more plays for Play for Today: The Legion Hall Bombing (1979) and United Kingdom (1981).[2] In 1979, he directed the TV play No, Mama, No by Verity Bargate for the ITV Playhouse series,[2] and in 1980 he made a version of 17th century dramatist John Ford's play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore as a TV film for the BBC.[2]
Film director [ edit ]
Roland Joffé's first two feature films (The Killing Fields, 1984, and The Mission, 1986) each garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Joffé worked closely with producer David Puttnam on each film. The Killing Fields detailed the friendship of two men, an American journalist for The New York Times, and his translator, a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge in Communist Cambodia. It won three Academy Awards (for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing) and was nominated for four more (including Best Picture and Best Director). The Mission was a story of conflict between Jesuit missionaries in South America, who were trying to convert the Guaraní Indians, and the Portuguese and Spanish colonisers, who wanted to enslave the natives. In an interview with Thomas Bird, Joffé says of The Mission, "The Indians are innocent. The film is about what happens in the world... what that innocence brings out in us. You would sit in a cinema in New York, or in Tokyo, or Paris, and for that point of time you would be joined with your companions on this planet. You would come out with a real sense of a network.".[6] The film won the Palme d'Or and Technical Grand Jury Prize at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. It achieved six Academy Awards nominations—including for Best Picture, Best Director, and Ennio Morricone's acclaimed Best Original Score—and won one, for Best Cinematography.
Since his initial acclaim, Joffé's film career has been less successful. In 1993, he produced and partially directed a big budget adaptation of the video game Super Mario Bros.. The film struggled to make back its budget. His 1995 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter was a critical and financial disaster, and his 2007 horror film Captivity drew controversy with its advertising billboards, widely regarded as exploitative and misogynistic. He received Razzie Nominations for Worst Director for The Scarlet Letter and Captivity.
His 2011 release, There Be Dragons, garnered press attention as it dealt with the Catholic organisation Opus Dei.[7][8] A movie about faith and forgiveness, There Be Dragons is a project that Joffé says has a message he's proud to say on film. In an interview with CBN.com, he stated, "I have a very deep emotional investment in this film. I feel that I really want to stand behind what it says to us as human beings."[9]
In 2013 Joffé directed the Anglo-Indian historical epic romance time travel adventure film, The Lovers.
Personal life [ edit ]
Joffé is of Jewish descent but has described himself as a "wobbly agnostic".[10] He is not related to the French film director Arthur Joffé, as is often wrongly stated.
Joffé was married to actress Jane Lapotaire; they have a son, screenwriter and director Rowan Joffé (b. 1973). Later, he and actor Cherie Lunghi were in a longterm relationship;[11][12] they have a daughter, actor Nathalie Lunghi (b. 1986).
Joffé is a board member of the nonprofit organization Operation USA. He was the official patron of the 2011 Cambodia Volleyball World Cup held from 23 to 29 July at the National Olympic Stadium Phnom Penh.[13]
Filmography [ edit ]
Television [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
Academy Awards:
1985: Best Director ( The Killing Fields, nominated)
, nominated) 1987: Best Director (The Mission, nominated)
British Academy Film Awards:
1985: Best Direction ( The Killing Fields, nominated)
, nominated) 1987: Best Direction ( The Mission, nominated)
, nominated) 1987: Best Film (The Mission, nominated)
Berlin International Film Festival:
1990: Golden Bear (Fat Man and Little Boy, nominated)
Cannes Film Festival:
1986: Golden Palm ( The Mission, won )
, ) 1986: Technical Grand Prize (The Mission, won)
Golden Globes:
1985: Best Director ( The Killing Fields, nominated)
, nominated) 1987: Best Director (The Mission, nominated)
Golden Raspberry Awards:
Prix Italia:
1978: The Spongers[14]Eating inside the restaurant during the fasting or prayer time is strictly prohibited. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
Brunei Darussalam is the first Asian country to have implemented the highly controversial hudud law. The lives of Bruneians have to be adjusted to fit into the lifestyle of the majority Muslims.
Since PAS has first voiced out its intention of implementing the hudud law, Malaysians have grown curious to the possible influences of the hudud law. Many might wonder how average Bruneians lead their day-to-day lives two years into hudud implementation.
Sin Chew Daily recently crossed the border to take a peep into what life is like under hudud.
No eating in public during fasting
Malaysia is a secular country with Islam as the official religion. However, the Constitution has provided equal treatment for all citizens of different races and religions. As such, before a new policy is implemented in the country, the government will have to take into consideration the needs and feelings of Malaysians from different ethnic backgrounds in order to ensure the rights of all Malaysians are protected.
But things are not quite the same for our neighbor Brunei, which began implementing the Islamic law in stages from 2014. Despite powerful backlash from the international community, in particular the Western media, the Brunei government has been insistent in implementing the hudud. As if that is not enough, the hudud enforcement covers a very broad aspect and has made its way into the day-to-day lives of even the non-Muslims in that country.
Non-Muslims' right to eat freely during the Muslim fasting month is no longer protected in Brunei. Enforcement personnel have been dispatched to arrest local residents and even tourists found eating in public during the fasting hours.
Eating and smoking at all eateries, including restaurants, coffee shops and food stalls, is strictly prohibited and the offender can be fined up to B$4,000, or jailed not more than a year, or both.
However, we were informed by a local resident that the fine for eating in public during fasting hours is normally B$300 only.
Ramadan could be a very inconvenient time for non-Muslims, especially foreign tourists. The moment you wake up, it's already fasting time and you can only buy takeout food to eat inside the hotel room.
Even with the sultry heat in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan, we could only hide ourselves in the toilet to get a few good sips of water. This is what many non-Muslims in the country have done if they can't resist the heat and thirst. Anyone caught drinking in public could be grilled on social media as well as in the court.
Only takeout
Other than ordinary citizens, businesses also feel the pinch with restaurants taking the brunt of the temporal food ban. A restaurant owner told us her business plunged by 80% during the Ramadan.
Customers are not allowed to eat inside the restaurant during the fasting hours but food can be bought and taken out.
"Our business drops 80% this Ramadan, much worse than last year."
She said tourists were still not aware of the new ruling last year and continued to come to the country for holidays, but this year, many have opted to stay away due to the strict enforcement.
We talked to several other people in town and were told, "Dine-in is not allowed but you can take out food.
"Many people have been summoned. People will take a picture of you eating and then report you."
Brunei has ruled that every Friday afternoon during and before the Muslim praying time, all government departments, agencies and shops have to close for business between 12.00p.m. and 2.00p.m.
We rushed to a local Chinese restaurant to pack our lunch before the closing time, and were shocked to see a few customers eating inside.
Some of the shops in town have taken the risk of opening their restaurants to dine-in customers in order to keep their business.
The shop we visited is an air-conditioned establishment selling pork dishes. The glass door is very heavily tinted and the lighting inside is remarkably dimmed looking from the street.
"Dine-in is allowed? Can we eat in, too?"
The shop assistant said Ok but we had to sit at a specific corner of the restaurant which we later discovered was a blind spot that cannot be clearly seen from outside.
Moreover, the shop is selling non-halal Chinese food and local Muslims will normally stay away from it.DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The Syrian government says it has come through worse phases in the four-year-old conflict than the latest advances by insurgents across the country and is confident its army can hit back with the help of its allies.
A general view shows a plane that belongs to forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad after it crashed in Daraa, Syria June 11, 2015. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir
Western officials believe losses in recent months by President Bashar al-Assad’s government could signal a shift in momentum after a long period of stalemate in the four-year-old conflict.
Assad’s government has lost ground in recent months both to Islamic State fighters that are being targeted by U.S.-led air strikes and to other insurgents, some of which are supported by Arab allies of the West.
In an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad acknowledged insurgent gains, blaming support from Damascus’s enemies Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“Some advances have been made whether we like it or not,” Mekdad said during the hour-long interview in his ministry office in central Damascus late on Thursday.
But he said Western areas of the country widely seen as key to Assad’s survival - including the capital - were secure. Damascus was not vulnerable, as it frequently had been during the first two years of the crisis, he said.
“I think Syria was under more pressure (before),” Mekdad said. “Even Damascus was under a direct threat. Nowadays Damascus is absolutely not under such a threat. Homs is safe, Hama is safe, now al-Qalamoun is safe,” he said, describing two major cities and a mountainous area along Syria’s western border with Lebanon.
He said an election on Sunday in Turkey, which ended the parliamentary majority of the ruling party of President Tayyip Erdogan, one of Assad’s bitterest foes, was an opportunity for better relations between Damascus and Ankara.
And he repeated previous statements from Damascus that it was having secret communications with European officials to help target their common jihadist enemies.
DAMASCUS SAFER
Damascus does indeed feel safer than it did two years ago, with a reduced security presence in the streets. But the relative security in the capital has been accompanied by government losses in other parts of Syria in recent months.
The war has killed around a quarter of a million people and created what the United Nations describes as one of the worst refugee crises since World War Two.
Last year saw the United States enter the conflict with air strikes against Islamic State, one of Assad’s most powerful foes. But Washington and its Western and Arab allies still want Assad removed from power. Other insurgent groups backed by Arab states have made recent gains.
Mekdad blamed the insurgent advances on a new alliance between Syria’s regional foes Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, saying it was supported by the West. But he said the military was regrouping.
“What makes us optimistic are two things. The first is the increase in the strength and morale of the Syrian Arab Army,” he said, adding that this was because troops had secured “fundamental requirements” for their duties, an apparent reference to military equipment.
“The second is the strong support we have received and will receive from our allies, whether it be the Islamic Republic of Iran, or the Russian Federation or from our main ally Hezbollah,” he said. The Iran-backed Lebanese group has sent fighters over the border into Syria and is fighting in Qalamoun.
“We hope the performance of the Syrian army will be different in a few days, if not a few weeks.”
Mekdad also said he hoped relations between Damascus and Ankara would improve after the Turkish parliamentary elections which dealt a blow to Erdogan.
“We are mainly looking forward...to restoring ties and momentum to Syrian-Turkish relations to a partnership between the two countries that is based on mutual respect and respect for the sovereignty and independence and of both Syria and Turkey,” he said.
He repeated Syrian government accusations that Turkey had provided military backing to “terrorist groups” opposing Assad. Turkey denies backing hardline groups in Syria.
Mekdad said demands for Turkey to seal its border had become a “global demand”, referring to comments made by U.S. President Barack Obama at a summit of major powers this week that more effort was needed to keep fighters out of Syria.
Mekdad said Syria wanted to deepen cooperation with Iraq on fighting Islamic State, but Western pressure on Iraq had prevented improved cooperation.
He said however there was “a lot of communication” between Damascus and Western officials, including confidential discussions about security issues.
“They want to discuss security cooperation and security arrangements with us because we now have a treasure trove of information about (members of) these gangs and terrorist groups that have come from most European countries,” he said.
Western countries have denied coordinating the air campaign against Islamic State with Damascus.North Carolina lawmakers finalized a $201 million hurricane and wildfire relief package Wednesday, sought by Gov. Pat McCrory in a special session he called. But they didn't go home, as fellow Republicans then called their own session to weigh legislation, some of which could threaten the incoming Democratic governor.
Within 30 minutes of wrapping up their work on the final aid proposal, GOP legislative leaders had dissolved the two-day session on Hurricane Matthew and mountain fires and entered a new one.
By evening, legislators had filed an assortment of bills, some of which are clearly designed to keep in check Gov.-elect Roy Cooper when he replaces McCrory on Jan. 1. Cooper defeated the incumbent last month by just over 10,000 votes.
A House bill would force Cooper to take his Cabinet choices to the Senate to get confirmed and would remove the governor's appointments to trustee boards at University of North Carolina system schools. The state Constitution gives the Senate authority to confirm a governor's choices to boards and commissions, but that power has been latent.
A bill filed by Senate Republicans would merge the State Board of Elections and State Ethics Commission when the new year begins, revive partisan elections for the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals and let McCrory pick the next Industrial Commission chairman. Another bill nominates state budget director Andrew Heath a Superior Court judgeship.
Committee meetings were scheduled Thursday to consider some of the legislation.
House Democrats were furious about the new special session, saying Republicans used the disasters as pretense for a power grab before Cooper takes office and violated the state constitution. GOP lawmakers used a constitutional tool requiring the signatures of three-fifths of House and Senate members to hold their own session.
"This is why people don't trust us, this is why they hate us... because of this right here — using hurricane relief as the reason to come back to Raleigh to do a lot of things because you lost an election by 10,000 votes," Rep. Darren Jackson, D-Wake, said on the House floor.
House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said the new session was lawfully called and said it was needed because they wanted McCrory's session to be only about disaster relief. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, defended the process and said in the past Democrats in the legislature had previously weakened Republican statewide officials.
"When we were in the minority, we would complain about these things and they would do it. They are now in the minority," Berger said, adding "it is perfectly in line with things that have been done for years in this building."
The late unveiling of legislation overshadowed the relief package, which emphasizes rental housing for more Down East families displaced by Hurricane Matthew and long-range planning for heavily damaged towns and neighborhoods. There's also money to pay for firefighting when tens of thousands of acres burned in the mountains this fall.
"You're showing the people of North Carolina that were impacted by this hurricane that you have not forgotten them and you're going to do everything you can to help them," McCrory told the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Let's give these people something they can hold on to."
McCrory was expected to sign the legislation. No tax increases are required to fund the relief package— the money is coming largely from nearly $1.6 billion in emergency reserves and higher than expected tax collections.
The bill's managers in the Senate emphasized lawmakers will likely appropriate more state fund when they reconvene in early 2017. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars already have reached North Carolina or should soon in response to the historic floods. McCrory's administration has estimated the storm's economic impact at $2 billion.
"This bill is just the start," Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, said on the Senate floor.
The special session called by McCrory had been rife with speculation about whether GOP leaders would tackle issues other than disaster relief. They dismissed claims by Democrats and their allies that they would try to increase the number of state Supreme Court justices as a power-play to preserve the GOP's majority on the court despite losing it during the November election.His long, brilliant career arguably began as a desperate effort to stand on his own feet and be shut of Nina forever. Rather than join his Phillips Exeter classmates at Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, Vidal began writing a novel at age 19, Williwaw (1946), based on his World War II experience as first mate of an Army supply ship in the Aleutians. Within two years he became famous, after a fashion, when he published his third novel, The City and the Pillar, a succès de scandale with a gay protagonist. The arch-philistine New York Times reviewer, Orville Prescott, was allegedly so offended that he made sure Vidal’s books were henceforth not to be mentioned in the daily edition. Ever resourceful, Vidal wrote a number of mystery novels under such pseudonyms as Edgar Box and Katherine Everard (named after a gay bathhouse), before finding a more lucrative calling as a television scriptwriter. “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven,” he remarked of this era, echoing Milton’s Satan, though the motto of the Wise Hack (as Vidal called a composite of his more seasoned screenwriting colleagues in his essay, “The Ashes of Hollywood”) was more to the point: “Shit has its own integrity.”
Vidal was at his best and worst as a political pundit and sometime candidate. In 1960, as the hospitable (and louche) proprietor of a Greek Revival mansion in Dutchess County, New York, he ran for Congress on a platform of taxing the wealthy, and, to his lifelong gratification, outpolled his friend Jack Kennedy in that strongly Republican district. In 1982, he ran for the U. S. Senate in California. On the surface these campaigns would seem quixotic at best, but Vidal was earnest in his ambitions and piqued at the people’s failure to choose the best man. “There is not one human problem that could not be solved,” he declared, “if people would simply do as I advise.” What he advised ranged from the well-considered (especially in his more temperate essays) to the far-fetched and downright crackpot. He obsessed over the “national security state,” which had transformed the republic, he believed, into a militaristic empire both morally and financially bankrupt. Fair enough. Nor was he alone in promoting the dubious claim that FDR had allowed the bombing of Pearl Harbor to proceed as a pretext for pushing the country into war. But as Vidal grew more paranoid, alcoholic, and shrill—not to say desperate for attention—he defended Timothy McVeigh as “a noble boy,” and almost predictably (by then) insinuated that President Bush had colluded in the September 11 attacks. Parini, for the most part, is careful to place such excesses into context, rightly emphasizing that a more lucid, objective side of Vidal “was able to lift his discourse above the petty” and write such astute historical epics as Burr (1973) and Lincoln (1984), perhaps the best of his Narratives of Empire, the seven novels that chronicle our nation’s descent into its present decadence.
Parini is the author of balanced, readable biographies of Robert Frost and others, as well as an acclaimed novel about Tolstoy, The Last Station (1990), and how he came to this particular folly is an interesting story he relates in his introduction. When it became apparent, in the early ’90s, that the critic Walter Clemons was unlikely to finish his Vidal biography because of ill health, Vidal approached his friend Parini with the project. Given their warm but fraught relationship (“I was looking for a father, and he seemed in search of a son,” Parini tells us on page two), and quite aware that the living Vidal would be happy only with the purest virtuosity and adulation, Parini tossed this hot potato to his worthy colleague, Fred Kaplan. Parini describes Kaplan’s book, Gore Vidal: A Biography (1999), as “sturdy and intelligent,” while also suggesting that it was something less than a page-turner and had displeased its subject immensely. Meanwhile Parini went his own way Vidal-wise, occasionally conducting interviews (as early as 1988) for a book of his own, and temporizing vis-à-vis his friend and father-surrogate until the man was safely tottering on the lip of the grave. “So write the book,” Vidal said, once Parini had finally committed himself, “and do notice the potholes. But, for God’s sake, keep your eyes on the main road!” Parini has been true enough to this desideratum, but I also think it’s fair to say that both Kaplan’s and Parini’s books are of a kind that Vidal himself would have savaged—the one as a numbing regurgitation of “scholar-squirrel” data, the other as hackneyed and lazy, and both (perhaps the keenest bodkin for Vidal) as humorless.
Humor, of course, is not just a matter of cracking jokes but a mode of understanding, all the more so when it comes to understanding Vidal and bringing him to life on the page. We never lose sight of Boswell’s admiration for his friend Dr. Johnson, even as the Great Cham’s laughable grossness (the lopsided wig, the bug-eyed gluttony) is evoked with such loving, firsthand particularity. As for Parini, he precedes his chapters with “suggestive vignettes” about his more memorable encounters with Vidal. What is mainly (if obliquely) suggested in these vignettes, however, is a kind of wistful exasperation on Vidal’s part toward his solemn, well-meaning protégé. “It’s a tragedy to see a man who could leap in the air in such a state,” Parini remarks to Vidal of a fellow dinner guest, Rudolf Nureyev, then dying of AIDS—whereupon Vidal “shakes his head, unhappy with [Parini’s] truism, offered as a way to fill an awkward silence.” Perhaps Vidal foresaw that his future biographer would be apt to write that same truism as cold, deliberate prose on the previous page of this very vignette: “It’s sad to see this wasted body occupied by someone who had leaped so high in his prime.”
What indeed did these two laugh about? Take the matter of Vidal’s florid sexuality—about which Parini’s grappling is akin to that of a greengrocer trying to fathom the uses of a speculum. “He certainly liked the idea of being bisexual,” Parini writes, going on to point out that a “note of self-hatred” is evident in Vidal’s tendency to refer to gay men as “‘fags’ and ‘degenerates,’ although he claimed to do so affectionately.” I doubt that “affectionately” is the right word, or the word Vidal used, though perhaps he thought it unnecessary to explain that such camp deprecation is mostly intended to mock the squares who mouth such slurs as a matter of course. In any event, Parini comes back to the theme eleven pages later, by which time Vidal has gone from wishfully bisexual to wishfully straight: “He never acted like a gay man,” Parini assures us—meaning he didn’t mince or lisp in any conspicuous way?—and adds: “He thought of himself as a heterosexual man who liked to ‘mess around’ with men.” As if sensing the reader’s confusion, Parini takes another swing at it 20 pages later: “Gore wrestled with his sexual identity, unhappy about it, never quite willing to acknowledge he was ‘gay,’ a term he despised.” Finally, after another 30 pages, he shambles full circle to his original claim that Vidal, by his own lights, was bisexual: “Yet his primary attachment to men, and to ‘trade,’ puts him mainly in the gay camp, however much he protested against such categorizing.”"I’ve found is every time I’m more genuine to myself and my journey, the more people respond. That specificity has a universality to it. We’re all human beings."
In October, Warner Bros. picked up the film adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s hit novel Crazy Rich Asians—with director Jon M. Chu attached—and vowed to feature an all-Asian cast. In the midst of location scouting and casting now, Chu says he plans to start filming in spring of 2017.
The son of immigrants—his mother immigrated from Taiwan, and his father from Hong Kong—Chu grew up in Los Altos, CA where his parents started a restaurant, Chef Chu’s, in a mini mall storefront. Today, his parents still run the restaurant, which has expanded to the whole block, and Chu is a Hollywood director, known for the films Now You See Me 2, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
We talked to Chu over the phone about his upbringing, how he felt fated to direct Crazy Rich Asians, and whether protests make a difference in how Hollywood approaches diversity.
[Editor’s note: Read our new Q&A with Jon M. Chu: DIRECTOR JON M. CHU ON “CRAZY RICH ASIANS”: “YOU FEEL THE CONFIDENCE COMING OFF OF THE SCREEN”]
– Melissa Hung
Were your immigrant parents supportive of you going into filmmaking?
I’m the youngest of five. We’re a big family. They never let us work at the restaurant growing up. They wanted us to enjoy and experience things. I took tap for 12 years. Drums, saxophone, violin, guitar, piano—I’m not good at any of them, but I took them. Every weekend we’d go to a show in San Francisco, whether it was opera, ballet, musicals. I had amazing classes, art classes. We always had to go to classes but we got to choose what we wanted to do. They were supportive in allowing us to do what we wanted to do which was very different, especially in the ’80s.
It sounds like you had a lot of exposure to the arts.
That doesn’t mean they didn’t have a little bit of hesitance with me deciding to do film. I realized I wanted to do film when I was in fourth or third grade. When we went on vacation I was in charge of the camera. It was a giant VHS camera. I convinced my dad to get me this little mixer from Sharper Image and it was $200 and could take all VHS players and sync them together with the stereo. So I made a video and showed it to them and they cried while watching it. I knew then, “Oh, I want to do this.” It’s amazing what Céline Dion and a little black and white footage can do to your parents.
I looked up the best schools and realized USC was the place to go. I had my sights set on that place when I was a kid even though my brothers and sisters all went to UCLA. The point of shift for my parents and me was one night in early high school. I had convinced all my teachers one by one to let me do videos instead of write papers. So I’d do these 15-minute videos on the Great Gatsby or Romeo and Juliet with my friends. It was fun and got me out of writing papers. I’d be up all night editing and I remember one night, my mom came into the room at like three or four in the morning. She’s like, “What are you doing? You do this every night! You have to get sleep. You have to start studying. I’m calling the school and telling them you cannot be doing this. You’ve conned them.”
She unplugged the computer and went to bed. And in the middle of the night I woke up and I was bawling. I needed her to know how much this meant to me. I went to her and said, “You guys always tell us to do what we love, and this is what I love. I’m just doing what you told me.”
The next day she came to school and picked me up and had a pile of filmmaking books. She said, “If you’re going to do this, you have to study and work hard like any other subject. It’s not playtime. You have to study.” From them on, they were 200 percent behind me. It was a pivotal moment of them getting on board.
And then having a restaurant was really helpful. I was so lucky to be in Palo Alto during that time in the ’80s when digital video was just starting. Customers would come talk to my dad all day long. They were like, “Oh your son is into filmmaking? Well we have this video card that digitizes videos. So if we have beta products, we’ll give it to him.”
I would get new computers every few months with video cards and editing software from Adobe and Sun Microsystems and I used them for weddings and bar mitzvahs, whatever I could get my hands on. This was before it was accessible to consumers. And they didn’t come with manuals. I had to figure it out on my own. By the time I went to USC, USC hadn’t gone digital yet. So I was ahead of the curve. I feel like the Bay Area raised me to be a digital filmmaker.
Who knew a restaurant would lead to that?
It all makes sense. A restaurant is the center of a city, especially in a city like Palo Alto. It’s the hub of conversation, of family, of community. And it was really that to my family and community, so I was very blessed.
There are not many directors in Hollywood who are Asian American who get the chance to direct an all-Asian cast. What is it about Crazy Rich Asians that attracted you to the project?
Another thing that my parents taught me was: America is the greatest place. Any dream that you want can come true if you work hard and love what you do. If you feel anyone is treating you poorly, or making judgments on who you are or who they think you are, don’t let that upset you. Just be better than them. Make them need you. Don’t let negative energy take energy away from your focus.
I never thought of myself—and of course I know that I’m an Asian American filmmaker—but I never categorize myself as that. Coming into Hollywood, I was just like, “I’m a filmmaker. I want to be compared to other filmmakers. That’s that.” I never really did subject matters on my ethnicity or that part of my life. It was not on purpose. I had other interests to think about.
About a year and a half ago, I was working on Now You See Me 2. I was reading articles and seeing things. I was debating in my head, ”Should I be thinking about this more? Is this mentality OK?” I realized the only reason I was able to succeed is because others had made it an issue before me and had cracked those doors open for me. And now that I’m a lot older as well—I’m 37 years old this year—it really weighs heavily on me. As an artist you grow and want to explore new parts of your soul and how you want to tell your stories. This side of me that’s so strong—because my family, I’m really close to them—I never explored. So I went on this tour to find if there were other stories I should be telling. I went to Beijing a couple times. Maybe I should do a Chinese language film and then throw myself into something and figure out how to work there. It could be kind of fun. But none of the stories I found really connected. I could have forced it, but it didn’t feel organic, so I put them on the side.
Then my sister actually called me—it was only about eight months ago. It was a Sunday night. And she’s like, “Why aren’t you doing Crazy Rich Asians? That’s the perfect movie.”
So I called my agent: “What’s going on with this book? Who’s attached?” He said, “There’s no director, but Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson are the producers.” And I love Nina and Brad. I wanted to work with them for years and I really respect they have great taste and they have a moral center. I knew they would do something like this right. … And he was like, “How did you know they sent the script to you?” I was like, “ What are you talking about?” He said, “They requested you and sent it on Friday. I was reading over the weekend to vet it.”
I had no idea. It was a serendipitous moment that I was meant to do this movie. This is the movie I’ve been waiting for, actually. In a lot of ways other movies have trained me to learn the skill sets and how to work with a studio to a point where I can push something like this through to the top levels of a studio system. I know them. They trust me. So for me, it’s something—and I’m not necessarily a huge believer in all those things—but sometimes things are placed |
but the styling is too childish for a hatch that’s not affordable by the people it most likely appeals to. Maybe you see it differently, and that’s fine.£29,995, or add the GT pack for another £2,300. Most buyers in the UK (it goes on sale here in July) will and it looks good value adding auto lights and wipers, parking sensors, dual zone climate, Honda Connect infotainment with premium 320w audio and Garmin nav. Honda is also offering PCP deals at £299 per month with an initial £10,000 down.A pre-production development Type R went round the Nordschliefe in 7m50.63s. If Honda can repeat that in a production car it’ll be the fastest hatch of all. And, yep, I do totally buy that. It’s hugely fast. Since we had the Civic for a couple of days we took the opportunity to strap our timing gear on. Honda says 0-62mph takes 5.7 seconds. We did 0-60mph in 5.3 seconds and 100mph in 11.2 seconds. 167mph top whack? Yep, reckon it could do that.I have reservations over the Civic Type R’s image and appearance, and Honda’s taken an unashamedly hardcore tack with it. But it’s genuinely exciting to drive, massively fast and relaxes far better than the bodywork suggests. It’s very different to a Golf R, but effectively carves its own niche in the hot hatch class - there’s nothing else quite like it except the Megane, and I’d have it over the Renault. I think. Anyway, the more I drove it the more I liked it. I ended up liking it a lot.2.0-litre 4cyl turbo, 306bhp @ 6500rpm, 295lb ft @ 2500rpm, 0-62mph in 5.7secs, 167mph max, 38.7mpg, 170g/km CO2, 1378kgNobody needs a psychology degree to know the 2016 presidential campaign trail is filled with genuine narcissists—exceptionally vain men and women who see themselves as deserving attention and power. And then, in a class by himself, is Donald Trump.
Remarkably, the chord that Trump has struck with voters is growing, to the dismay of the Republican establishment and to the glee of Democrats and progressives—who feel they are watching a spectacle that’s better than The West Wing. Who could have imagined this script, where the GOP is being destroyed from within—and Trump, leading in all recent national polls for the nomination, is fighting with Fox News?
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“Something is going on,” Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan wroteFriday, then describing two acquaintences who wouldn’t normally vote for Republicans but are wildly cheering Trump. First is a women from Georgia in her late 60s, living on Social Security, who voted for Obama in 2008, but can’t stop texting her family—“middle-class, white, independent-minded.” And Cesar, from her local deli, who said, “He’s the man,” adding legal immigrants are angry at illegals and Latinos don’t vote in blocks anymore.
Americans are in a very anti-Establishment mood, Noonan said, offering her explanation, and comparing Trump’s appeal to “a rock being thrown through a showroom window.” She doesn’t mention that a big part of Bernie Sanders’ appeal also is based on shaking up the system. But what Noonan and many mainstream media commentators will not parse is the psychology of Trump’s appeal, or why narcissists have populist allure.
But there are a few seasoned observers who know the “incredible pros and inevitable cons” of narcissistic leaders in politics or business, as the title of a famous Harvard Business Review article by Michael Maccoby states. Their insights explain the Trump phenomenon, while also raising disturbing questions about where it might be going.
John Dean was White House counsel under President Richard Nixon, until he resigned during the Watergate scandal. Dean has made a career in recent decades warning about the dangers of authoritarian politicians. As he recentlywrote, Trump is “a near perfect authoritarian leader.” As a personality type, “these people are usually initimidating and bullying, faintly hedonistic, vengeful, pitliess, exploitive, manipulative, dishonest, cheat to win, highly prejudiced, mean-spirited, militant, nationalistic, tell others what they want to hear, take advantage of ‘suckers,’ specialize in creating false images to sell self, may or may not be religious, are are usually politically and economically conservative and Republican.”
Dean’s summation leads to a bigger question, how far can such a leader go in America? It’s a question worth returning to—but not until we get an explanation of why Trump, if he is a tyrant-in-waiting, is gaining in popularity. Maccoby, the octogenarian expert on the psychology of leadership “who has advised, taught, and studied leaders of companies, unions, governments, healthcare organizations, and universities in 36 countries,” as his Harvard Business Journal blog states, has that answer.
As Maccoby wrote this week, people like to follow narcissists, in both business and politics—even if there frequently is a dark side to their leadership.
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“What do his followers like about Trump?” he began. “The answer may have as much to do with Trump’s achievements as his proposed policies. Unlike his rivals, he has made a fortune by his own efforts; he can convincingly claim he is his own man while his rivals are puppets, indebted to the big money donors his followers distrust.
“But his appeal may have even more to do with his personality. No one pushes Trump around, and no insult goes unanswered. He fights back. He is not cautious or fearful of offending a critic or any of America’s adversaries. In this, Trump has a personality type that’s common to the charismatic leaders who emerge in times of turmoil and uncertainty, when people are ready to follow a strong leader who promises to lead them to greatness. Sigmund Freud called people with this personality type “normal narcissists” and he described them as independent and not vulnerable to intimidation, also noting that they have a large amount of aggressive energy and a bias for action. Freud included himself in this group and saw these narcissists as driven to lead and to change the world. Such narcissists can be very charming, and indeed, research has shown most of us like to follow narcissists.”
As University College London business psychology professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic said in a 2014 Harvard Business Review article, “Why We Love Narcissists,” they are masterful impression managers, manipulate credit and blame in their favor, and fit the stereotype expected form leaders: overconfident, charismatic and selfish.
Recall Noonan’s examples of the Georgia retiree cheering for Trump like she cheered for Obama, or her Latino friend who said, “He’s the man.” It’s not just that “both sides, elites and the non-elites, sense that things are stuck,” as Noonan opined. Rather, Americans, including those drawn to Sanders’ class-centric critique and his redistribute-the-spoils remedies, viscerally feel these men have a vision and can lead. You could call that the poetry of the campaign trail, versus the prose—or reality—of governing. And that’s where Maccoby says where “productive narcissists” can go off the rails.
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“I have done much additional study of leaders such as these, whom I call productive narcissists,” he wrote this week. “The results of this research were first published in my Harvard Business Review article of 2000, “Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, the Inevitable Cons” (which was later expanded into a book). I wrote that productive narcissists like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Larry Ellison were exploiting new technologies to create great companies, just as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford did over a century ago. However, I also illustrated that people with this personality type, however brilliant, have potential weaknesses that can do them in.”
To succeed in business and politics, leaders like these either need able assistants who can rein in their excesses, or “they should pretend to learn to be humble." He continued, “I’ve seen CEOs who were productive narcissists who have become so inflated with their success and the adulation of followers that they rejected the sidekicks who held them back from rash action. The same is true of national leaders. When Napoleon fired his adviser, Talleyrand, there was no one to dissuade him from his disastrous invasion of Russia.”
Maccoby has similar cautionary words for their followers, who “must also take a step back to attain perspective. People who become entranced by charsimatic narcissists—whether in the business or political realm—often fail to sufficiently evaluate the leader’s policies and their ability to execute them. Are their policies realistic? How will they be implemented? What results will they produce in the long run? Do the leaders in question have trusted advisors to keep them from taking rash actions?”
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That last point is especially poignant when it comes to Trump. His political advisor, until Trump started going after Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, and was fired—or agreed to go—was Roger Stone, who sat with folded arms in a white linen suit in a full-page photo spread atop the most recent ThursdayStyle section of The New York Times. Stone told him to stop attacking Kelly, the Times said.
Stone has been an extraordinarily sleazy political operator for years. As the man who has Nixon’s face tattooed on his back told The New Yorker in a 2008profile, he mostly lives in Florida—“a sunny place for shady people. I fit right in.” Stone has worked with the most notorious GOP political hit men for decades. His recent resume includes being the man who helped bring down ex-New York Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer; he was at a Miami strip club when a prostitute told him that she almost had a date with Spitzer.
The fact that Stone was Trump’s advisor until weeks ago is revealing—given his rocky past relationship with Trump. As The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobinnoted, Trump flirted with running for president in 2000 and hired and fired Stone then. “Roger is a stone-cold loser,” Trump told Toobin. “He always tries taking credit for things he never did.” Later in the article, Trump tells Toobin that the New York State GOP fired him after learning Stone made anonymous calls threatening Spitzer’s elderly father. “They caught Roger red-handed lying,” Trump said. “What he did was ridiculous and stupid.”
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Toobin points out that Stone loves whatever-it-takes success and turning the world into his stage. No wonder he and Trump have an ongoing relationship of mutual convenience, regardless of its dark undercurrents. As Trump parades across the landscape that is the 2016 campaign, it is easy to understand why a billionaire narcissist with a ruthless streak has genuine popular appeal—as Maccoby explains. But should the Trump phenomenon translate into the possibility of winning the nomination, it raises very serious questions, as Dean points out, about “how far a truly authoritarian leader can go in America.”
Maccoby distinguishes between constructive and destructive narcissists. “Narcissistic leaders can create companies like Apple or those like Enron. Like Lincoln and Nelson Mandela they can change the world for the better, or like Napoleon and Hitler they can lead their followers to disaster. In the final accounting, a large part of the credit for their successes, or blame for their failures, belongs to the people who followed them.”
Will enough people keep following Trump to make him the GOP nominee? There’s no telling. But the fact that millions of Americans are currently flocking to arguably the biggest narcissist in the country is a very sobering thought.News
Microsoft Promises Relief on Windows 10 Update Deferral Confusion
Microsoft is planning to address confusion for System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) users when they attempt to defer Windows 10 updates and upgrades.
Currently, Microsoft has Group Policy settings to defer Windows 10 updates and upgrades that many SCCM users think they need to activate in order to control the arrival of Windows 10 under Microsoft's operating system servicing plans, which have "current branch" (CB) and "current branch for business" releases, among others. Unfortunately, those defer settings are supposed to be for Windows Update for Business, a different Microsoft client management scheme.
Using those Windows Update for Business defer settings with SCCM kicks off a so-called "dual-scan" behavior. The update policy then defaults to Windows Update for Business behavior. It actually causes the latest cumulative update release of Windows 10 to get delivered to client devices, something that SCCM users may have been trying to avoid.
Microsoft explained the dual-scan problem back in January. However, confusion largely persists, in part because of Microsoft's documentation. For instance, here's how this TechNet article described deferring updates in SCCM at press time:
When you use System Center Configuration Manager to manage Windows 10 servicing, you must first set the Defer Updates or Upgrades policy on the clients that should be on the Current Branch for Business (CBB) servicing branch so that you can use CBB servicing plans from Configuration Manager. You can do this either manually or through Group Policy. If you don't set this policy, Configuration Manager discovers all clients, as it would in Current Branch (CB) mode.
Don't Use Defer Updates and Upgrades
The dilemma was noted by Jason Sandys, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and senior consultant at Coretech Alliance. In a blog post this week, Sandys offered some advice for SCCM users thinking about turning on the Defer Update and Upgrades setting:
If you are using System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) for updates, you should not be setting this value at all (and if you're not using ConfigMgr, you're doing it wrong to begin with). Setting this value, as detailed in the post above, enables dual-scan for Windows Update which in turn has multiple nasty side effects. Don't do it and delete it ASAP if you have.
Sandys' advice was partly confirmed in the comments section of his blog post by Michael Niehaus, director of product marketing for Windows at Microsoft. Niehaus noted that SCCM users can "expect some changes soon too that we hope will simplify this whole discussion." He didn't specify when it would happen, though.
Part of the problem is that the Windows 10 servicing dashboard in SCCM "relies on the Defer Upgrade GPO setting (or really the registry value behind this setting) to show CB and CBB systems," Sandys explained.
IT pros instead should track Windows 10 builds when controlling system updates, Sandys argued.
"If you need a tracking mechanism and you are using ConfigMgr, you should do what you’ve always done: build and populate collections," Sandys wrote. "What you put in those collections and how you get them there is completely up to you -- just don’t use the Defer Updates and Upgrade setting for this."
Other News
In other Windows 10 management news, Niehaus explained today that the Windows 10 "creators update" (version 1703) is bringing a new policy for IT pros that will let them hide Settings controls from end users. It's a new "Settings Page Visibility" Group Policy option. This new addition is also available for use with mobile device management systems, such as Microsoft Intune, Niehaus indicated.
Microsoft's SCCM team warned this week that in-console SCCM upgrades have a side effect. They'll reset user-defined business hours to the default setting in the SCCM client. Any customizations will get ignored. As a remedy, the team published a script that can be run when an SCCM client upgrade happens.
Also this week, Microsoft posted demos of two new tools for Windows 10 version 1703, namely the Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection service and the new MBR2GPT tool. The latter tool converts PCs with BIOS disks to UEFI, which is needed for some of Microsoft's more advanced security protections in Windows 10.
Microsoft is planning an event of note for IT pros this month. There will be live Webcast, happening on April 27, featuring Microsoft luminaries Michael Niehaus and Nathan Mercer on Windows 10 deployment and management concerns. Registration can be found in this Microsoft Tech Community announcement.The lawyers said their motive behind joining AAP was to ensure a change in judiciary. (IE Photo: Bhupendra Rana)
About 100 lawyers joined Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Vadodara on Thursday during a membership drive by the party.
Now, the party is planning a door-to-door campaign to reach out to the people and mobilise voters.
A group of lawyers symbolically swept the city roads with brooms and aligned themselves to AAP.
The lawyers, who wore the trademark AAP caps, said their motive behind joining AAP was to ensure a change in judiciary too.
Advocate R N S Ghotra, who signed the membership form here, said, "The idea is to bring about a change in the overall system. Lawyers are also aam aadmi (common people). It is not just the politics that is corrupt, but judiciary is facing equally tough times with judges delivering only judgments and not justice in the real sense."
Ghotra and the group of Vadodara lawyers gathered outside the court to join the party. According to them, the sexual harassment case against Retired Justice A K Ganguly has shamed the legal system.
"We are supporting AAP because it is made of common people who are fed up of the system that has been abused by present political parties like the Congress and the BJP. It is time to bring about a change," said advocate Ramesh Gujjar while joining the party.
The AAP has become the choice of many citizens who are disillusioned by the current political parties. However, the party workers said that the concept of "public protest" to create awareness is not working.
Paresh Patel, convenor of AAP in Vadodara, said, "We are planning a door-to-door campaign to understand the issues of the people and bring them on board as we have realised that by sitting on dharnas, people only sympathise but it does not result in as much action. Our teams will go knocking at doors and meet people. At the same time, we will also further our plans to streamline our memberships."
... contd.
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Please read our terms of use before posting commentsTranscript for Sensory Deprivation: An Altered State of Mind
mind altering, possibly even life changing experience and all you need is water and salt? Fans of the hot new trend are spending time in isolation tanks where they say a dip can help ease your physical problems and maybe even mental ones. Here's ABC's reporter. Reporter: Life seemed more hectic and stressful, and your brain is constantly spinning -- "Nightline" is about to take you on a journey to a strange alternate world on the other side of this hatch. This is a unique opportunity for -- for stillness and rest and privacy. Sean Mccormack is in the sensory deprivation business. One foot in. Other foot in. Pull this over you as you crouch down. Here at float Seattle customers are offered a chance to get away from it all by floating in a closed box. Filled with 10 inches of water, loaded with 1,000 pound of epsom salt. There is no light. No sound. No distractions. All you do is float. It can be harder than it looks. And for some people, they end ear deep meditation. Even hallucinate. Sensory deprivation, telling nothing. The outlet to unplug. Even turning your phone off for an hour is a big deal for people. Here it is not only your phone but you are shutting out the world. Scum with me. I will show you. Sean is no long-time guru or life coach, a former raidy ad salesman. But he has been medicating since he was 12 and became obsessed with floating in a friend's make shift tank. My experience was fantastic. And kempt thinking about it. Reporter: The impact was so deep he recently changed careers and opened his own business. You are all set to go. Have a good float. Thank you. Thank you. You step in. Your head is going to go at this side. It's really warm. I felt like the only way to truly understand was to try it. This is a really unique opportunity to be away from things. I am never away. This is it. Your bed and your brain have been waiting for this, opportunity, for true stillness. I had heard that some people freak out, we rigged my tank with a night vision camera. As I closed the door and set noold wa ted into the warm water. I had no idea that my day was about to change. The idea of sensory deprivation tanks and floating isn't new. John lily first developed them in the 1950s to discover the effects of total isolation on the brain. In his case, some times while using drugs. A practice made famous and terrifying by the 1980 science fiction move vie, William hurt is a scientist whoing prores to a murder murderous. And it has showed up from fringe to the simpsons where even Lisa and homer took a trip. How am I supposed to hallucinate with these swirling colors distracting me. Meanwhile inside my strange little world. I see a few flashes of light. Not unlook what you might see when you close your eyes. I am relaxed bought ware that I am doing a story on all of this. My brain wasn't going anywhere strange so far. It turns out scientists first thought the brain would shut down without incessant input. What researchers found is just the opposite. It enters a state similar to meditation. But by eliminating graph tef through floating it goes deeper. There has been quite a few really good studies showing, overall reduction in pain. Overall improved mood, understanding, awareness of their body. This doctor is a physical therapist whur studied flotation and offers tight help some of his patients. I was blown away, they came out. Physically. Mentally, cognitively relaxed. We see people come out of the tank. Their muscles are functioning better from an anecdotal standpoint. For some it can be life changing. A cardiac care nurse, stopped smoking and drinking after she beef can floating and seeing thingsen a whole new light. That immediate impact. You walked out the door from a float. And you said no. I couldn't dupe it. I was, very taken aback. I hallucinated before. I had out-of-body experiences. It's been insightful. Learned more about myself. I feel like I have my whole life. Reporter: The profound reaction is the reason that Sean stays all people coming through his door. Who wants to float? A lot of people who were working day in day out really hard and need a break. Planning the rest of your life. The day, what you are going to do, get done. What you mav to do that quiets down. You can't seep it in my face. Some way around the halfway point of my hour inside. I goechl some where. And it isn't at all like a dream. When the music comes on. Signaling the end of my float. I don't want to leave. It was my childhood. I was touring every room of my childhood home in detail. Crazy detail. I couldn't shake it. I wasn't asleep. Yet visions were crystal clear like the flashback you see in the movies. Definitely completely left my Normal life. I wasn't thinking abut work. I was thinking about, everyday stuff. It just popped in there. I don't know how much, it just popped in there. The kitchen table, right, the bedroom. Other, you know -- brother's and sister's room. The family dog. Reporter: Certainly not everyone reacts the same. But for me it may not be altered states. But a trip, far, far away from the hustle and bustle of reality. And deep inside your own mind. Nechlt il karlinski for "Nightline" in Seattle.
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[Note: Final review posted February 2, 2015] It may be squalid and zombie-infested, but Dying Light's city of Harran isn't a depressing wasteland – it's a vibrant, ambitious, open-world playground. Here, buildings are for climbing, the undead are there to be destroyed in creative ways, and there's always something interesting to be discovered nearby. It takes a while for that to become clear, though; at first, you might even think Dying Light is really about running scared from mobs of seemingly unconquerable zombies, who can quickly drain your stamina and wear out your improvised weapons. Don't be fooled.
Exit Theatre Mode
Yes, it's a struggle to survive in Dying Light's early hours. Combat is initially clumsy, with the diverse and deadly zombies able to soak up a disturbing amount of punishment before they die for good. Jumping – which is unintuitively mapped to shoulder buttons on consoles – can take a while to get used to. Getting mobbed is usually a death sentence. So is attracting the attention of the much more dangerous things that come out when daytime dynamically gives way to night, at which point the focus shifts to tense stealth — or, if you’re discovered, an adrenaline-pumping sprint for the nearest safe point.
Before long, though, you'll build up a skill set that turns your rotting foes into objects of fun, letting you vault across their shoulders, quickly slice them apart with dramatic slow-motion kills, or trick them into gathering around explosives before blasting them all into the sky. Even nighttime becomes an opportunity to raise skills faster thanks to increased XP gain, rather than a period of sheer terror. It all feels great, too; once you adjust to the controls, Dying Light's first-person parkour becomes natural and fluid, and weaving high-speed paths through its decaying slums and picturesque old-world buildings is so much fun that I almost don't hate the lack of a fast-travel option.
Combat, meanwhile, gets increasingly satisfying, although it never quite loses its awkwardness. Even when expertly shredding zombies with elementally charged tools of death I built myself, strikes are still heavy and clumsy. And while the guns you'll find later can pop heads from a distance, their low rate of fire and zombie-attracting noise makes them more of an occasional quick fix than a game-changing weapon. To Dying Light's credit, though, your adversaries are surprisingly capable; while the rank-and-file Biters are dumb and fun to manipulate, more powerful enemies – like the quick, agile Virals – are formidable close-quarters opponents, ducking your strikes and sidestepping out of your reach while looking for an opening to attack. Hostile bandits are even deadlier, able to dodge and block at close quarters, throw knives from a distance, and use guns and group tactics to kill you if you get overconfident.
Exit Theatre Mode
That Dying Light's world is so entertaining is important, because it's unexpectedly huge. Finishing the campaign took me more than 34 hours, with a 68 percent completion rate. The story is serviceable enough, focusing on an undercover agent who becomes a savior to infected survivors and a thorn in the side of a maniacal warlord, but the most surprising thing about it might be its lack of surprises. Similar games have primed me to expect shocks and betrayals that will yank the metaphorical rug out from beneath me, and yet apart from a few big twists early on, Dying Light plays it mostly straight, with little nuance and few hidden agendas from its interesting (but underdeveloped) characters and entertainingly cliché villains. In a way it's almost refreshing, even if the end result is nothing special.
A big chunk of my time, though, was spent on detours into side quests, which are where the storytelling really shines. Taking on one of the many requests from random survivors might lead to something ordinary, like a fetch quest – but more often than not, they're multi-part adventures with their own short storylines, which frequently start out as seemingly run-of-the-mill tasks and escalate into something much more lurid and creepy. A search for a missing person, for example, might turn into a hunt for progressively more unsettling clues in a seemingly abandoned apartment building, and a routine rescue mission might turn out to be a trap set by a conniving madman. These are some of Dying Light's most memorable moments, and they make exploring its world even more rewarding.
While it's entirely playable as a single-player game, Dying Light is – like most things – better with friends along. Up to three co-op partners can jump in at any time to help you carve up undead hordes, watch your back while you're picking locks, or pursue campaign missions, and while the online matchmaking is still fairly hit-or-miss on PS4, online sessions are smooth and stable once they get going.
It's also useful to have friends around if your game is invaded through the "Be the Zombie" mode, which lets a random player jump into your world as a super-powered monster with zipline tendrils and zombie-summoning spit. Playing as said monster is hugely enjoyable, especially after you’ve unlocked some of its grosser attacks, but it feels one-sided unless you're going up against at least two human players.
PC Impressions
Other than moderately better visuals, the PC version's biggest leg up on its console counterparts is its customizable keyboard-and-mouse controls. Keeping track of the assorted key functions can be a little trying when things get frantic, but using the space bar to jump still feels more immediately natural than R1 or RB on PS4 or Xbox One. (Gamepads are, of course, supported.) Early on, there were reports that Dying Light would hang before dialogue or cutscenes, but these issues appear to have been patched, and the PC version now mostly runs smoothly for us, with only rare hitching while areas load. There is, however, an occasional issue with some textures popping in at low resolution and sticking that way. The PS4 version has a similar problem, but while it quickly corrects itself, textures that show up blurry on PC tend to stay that way.Inspired by Outback Steakhouse: Almost-Famous Bloomin' Onion You know it, you love it: Outback Steakhouse's Bloomin' Onion. The restaurant chain wouldn't share the recipe for its famous appetizer, so Food Network Kitchen fired up a perfect imitation. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Bloomin' Onion
Inspired by LongHorn Steakhouse: Almost-Famous Chocolate Mousse Cake LongHorn Steakhouse is known for its cowboy-size portions, but fans of the chain somehow manage to save room for the Chocolate Stampede: a dark cocoa cake covered with two kinds of chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache, whipped cream, ice cream and fudge sauce. LongHorn created the dish 10 years ago to remedy a lack of chocolate on the menu, and now the place sells more than a million a year. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Chocolate Mousse Cake
Inspired by California Pizza Kitchen: Almost-Famous Barbecue Chicken Pizza When California Pizza Kitchen's cofounders created their first menu back in 1985, they had a theory: Anything that makes a great sandwich will make an even better pizza. Not all the chain's sandwich-inspired pies have been a success (egg-salad pizza was a flop in the late '80s), but the combo of barbecue sauce and chicken on a crust turned out to be a winning formula. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Barbecue Chicken Pizza
Inspired by IHOP: Almost-Famous Cheesecake Pancakes In 2007, IHOP recipe developers did the unimaginable: They cut up a whole cheesecake, added chunks of it to pancake batter and topped the finished stack of flapjacks like a big dessert, with sweet strawberry sauce. The recipe is a big secret at IHOP headquarters, so Food Network Kitchen created this knockoff. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Cheesecake Pancakes
Inspired by Olive Garden: Almost-Famous Breadsticks Olive Garden's breadstick recipe is a closely guarded corporate secret, but that didn't stop Food Network Kitchen from designing a perfect imitation. Now you can serve bottomless salad and breadsticks at your place! Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Breadsticks
Inspired by Orange Julius: Almost-Famous Orange Milkshake Ah, the oft-requested, ever-elusive Orange Julius. The infamous chain wouldn't give up the secret recipe for its signature drink, so Food Network Kitchen created this sweet replica. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Orange Milkshake
Inspired by Red Lobster: Almost-Famous Cheddar Biscuits Red Lobster keeps a tight lid on its Cheddar Bay Biscuit recipe, but that didn't stop Food Network Kitchen from creating a perfect replica. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Cheddar Biscuits
Inspired by Ikea: Almost-Famous Swedish Meatballs Some people drive for hours to get to an Ikea store, and we know they aren't making the trek just for the $9.99 chairs. They're going for the Swedish meatballs. Ikea is keeping the recipe a secret, so chefs in Food Network Kitchen hit a nearby store for a tasting, then created this spot-on copy. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Swedish Meatballs
Inspired by Panera Bread: Almost-Famous Broccoli-Cheddar Soup The broccoli-cheddar soup at Panera Bread practically has a cult following; the bakery-cafe chain ladles out more than 50 million cups of it every year, blowing through five million heads of broccoli in the process. You'll need just one head of broccoli for this perfect imitation — bread bowls are optional, but very highly recommended. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Broccoli-Cheddar Soup
Inspired by Applebee's: Almost-Famous Maple-Butter Blondies Applebee's wouldn't hand over the recipe for Maple-Butter Blondies so Food Network Kitchen whipped up a perfect match. Applebee's serves theirs in a sizzling skillet; we don't recommend you go to those extremes, but don't even think about serving the blondies without ice cream! Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Maple-Butter Blondies
Inspired by P.F. Chang's: Almost-Famous Chicken Lettuce Wraps P.F. Chang's wouldn't spill the secret recipe for its most popular dish, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, so the chefs at Food Network Kitchen created this spot-on knockoff. Serve the rice noodles separate from the lettuce leaves and for guests to wrap themselves — just like at the restaurant. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Inspired by Cinnabon: Almost-Famous Cinnamon Buns Sweet dough filled with gooey, buttery cinnamon and topped with sweet glaze this breakfast (or anytime) treat isn't just for the mall anymore. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Cinnamon Buns
Inspired by Bonefish Grill: Almost-Famous Spicy Fried Shrimp When Bonefish Grill wouldn't give up the recipe for its addictive Bang Bang Shrimp, referred to by regulars as "Bang," Food Network Kitchen developed this spot-on copy. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Spicy Fried Shrimp
Inspired by Auntie Anne's: Almost-Famous Soft Pretzels With Mustard Sauce Now you can re-create at home the intoxicating pretzel scent that wafts through shopping malls everywhere, tempting you into the food court for a sweet-salty treat. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Soft Pretzels
Inspired by Chick-fil-A: Almost-Famous Chicken Sandwiches Chick-fil-A claims, "We Didn't Invent the Chicken, Just the Chicken Sandwich." Food Network Kitchen can't make claims that grand, but they did crack the secret — apparently it's the seasoning that makes this sandwich so addictive. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Chicken Sandwiches
Inspired by Chipotle: Almost-Famous Corn Salsa Fans of Chipotle restaurants will wait in notoriously long lines for the chain's made-to-order burritos. Founder Steve Ells, a former San Francisco chef, hit on a magic formula with his concept for a mix-and-match taqueria: Ells came up with all the recipes himself, including this popular corn salsa. If you get lucky at the restaurant, your burrito maker will pile on a little extra. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Corn Salsa
Inspired by Macaroni Grill: Almost-Famous Rosemary Bread You can't get much for free these days, but diners have been eating insane amounts of free rosemary bread at Macaroni Grill since the first one opened in Leon Springs, TX, in 1988. You can eat all the rosemary bread you want, but you'll never get the recipe. So Food Network Magazine created a perfect imitation. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Rosemary Bread
Inspired by Starbucks: Almost-Famous Mocha Frappes Believe it or not, Starbucks has only been blending their frozen Frappuccinos since 1995. Now the chain has more than 40 flavors of the blended beverage on its menu. Readers have been begging for the mocha recipe, and when Starbucks reps wouldn't hand it over, Food Network Magazine created this perfect copy. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Mocha Frappes
Inspired by Chi-Chi's: Almost-Famous Chimichangas It has happened to all of us: A restaurant closes and just like that, a favorite dish is gone forever. For thousands of fans of the Tex-Mex chain Chi-Chi's that dish was the chimichanga: a big tortilla stuffed with beef, seafood or chicken, lettuce, jack cheese and salsa, and topped with a secret "zesty Mexi-sauce." Food Network Kitchen brings back this beloved dish from the restaurant graveyard. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Chimichangas
Inspired by Waffle House: Almost-Famous Pecan Waffles If you've lived in the South or driven through it, you've likely been to a Waffle House, one of those bright yellow joints off the highway that dishes out breakfast 24/7. Regulars know that for the namesake dish, pecans are the way to go; although you can watch the waffles being made behind the counter, you'll never get the recipe. Chefs in Food Network Kitchen had to figure it out on their own. Get the Recipe: Almost-Famous Pecan Waffles
Inspired by In-N-Out: Almost-Famous Animal-Style Burgers No one knows how In-N-Out's Animal Style burger got its name, but customers have been ordering it since the '60s, even though it has never actually appeared on the menu. "Animal Style" is code for a patty grilled in mustard and served with lettuce, tomato, pick |
towards anyone,” said Carman of the man.
“He mentioned when he was hitting the memorial here that he was not here to hurt anyone, that he wanted to take down a memorial piece by piece until it was down on the ground,” Carman said.
Police showed up and arrested the man. The police report shows he is 30-year-old Anthony Ventura of Indianapolis. Carman says Ventura didn’t put up a fight with police.
“When the police showed up, he just had a seat right here on this bench, dropped both his hammers and told them to arrest him,” Carman said.
Today’s vandalism comes as protests are going on across the country over Confederate monuments and whether they should remain on public property or be relocated.
"I'm not for slavery, but I do believe that history should stand as it is,” said Eve Cundiff, who has visited the monument before.
Cundiff said she’d be ok moving the monument to Crown Hill Cemetery where the Confederate soldiers who died in Indianapolis, are now buried. An effort to move the marker 30 years ago to Crown Hill failed because of a lack of money.
"It's just history. I really don't think history should be changed. I mean, we wouldn't be how we are today without history,” said Cundiff.
Marcus Bryant is undecided about moving the monument.
"Most of my ancestors was slaves so, but I also had some ancestors that also fought the southern war, too,” Bryant explained.
“So, I'm kinda like in a battle, in between in a battle, you know,” he added.
Bryant was more certain about displaying the Confederate flag.
“White supremacy is using the Confederate flag as a hate thing, so I think they should just get rid of it,” Bryant added.
The debate about the monument in Garfield Park may just be getting started.
The director for Indy Parks says the city is considering moving the monument that recognizes Civil War prisoners who died in Indianapolis.
The incident has brought out a Park Ranger now assigned to the area in case there are any further incidents.After an election dominated by vague demands for less debt and smaller government, the sacrifices necessary to achieve those goals are coming into sharp focus. Big cuts at the Pentagon. Higher taxes, including those on home ownership and health care. Smaller Social Security checks and higher Medicare premiums.
A debate is raging over the size and shape of those changes, particularly the wisdom of cutting Social Security benefits. But a surprisingly broad consensus is forming around the actions required to stabilize borrowing and ease fears of a European-style debt crisis in the United States. As a presidential commission struggles to build political momentum for such a package, even Republicans who initially opposed the commission's creation are still at the negotiating table.
"I'm open to everything if it gets us where we need to go," said Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.), who is emerging as one of the GOP's most influential voices on budget issues. "This is going to require compromise, even from someone as conservative as me."
Coburn is among a dozen lawmakers serving on the independent commission that President Obama created to help rebalance the federal budget. The panel will conclude its work after Thanksgiving with a vote that will reveal whether a convincing majority of its 18 members can agree on a deficit-reduction strategy.
Whatever the outcome, the plan unveiled this month by co-chairmen Erskine B. Bowles, a chief of staff in the Clinton White House, and Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, has been respectfully received with a few exceptions by both parties. Its major elements are also winning support from a striking line-up of commentators.
Former AARP chief Bill Novelli, who sits on a separate budget-balancing panel, has acknowledged the need to trim benefits to make Social Security solvent for future generations. This second panel is chaired by Alice M. Rivlin, a budget director under President Clinton, and Pete Domenici, a former Republican senator from New Mexico.
Former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating, a conservative Republican who also sits on their panel, acknowledged the need for more tax revenue, saying lower income-tax rates paired with a national sales tax constitute "for me as a conservative, excellent public policy."
Meanwhile, a chorus of retired military officers and national security experts has backed the call to reduce spending at the Pentagon for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"It is simply not going to be viable, either economically or politically, to exempt defense from the cuts that are coming," said Gordon Adams, who oversaw military budgets during the Clinton administration. "Events over the past two weeks have begun to snowball to put defense, as well as every other form of federal spending, on the table."
The strange bedfellows are a "testament to the moderate nature" of the ideas under discussion, Domenici said. For those who have taken the measure of the debt abyss, including the threat of $1 trillion annual interest payments by the end of the decade, "this is not extreme."
After hours of talks by the presidential deficit commission, which includes some of most liberal and conservative lawmakers in Congress, Bowles said it is clear that "there is common ground there."
"If this town decides it really wants to come together and solve this today," he said, "it's doable."I know: the text is in Japanese, the pictures are blurry, and there's only one page to look at. It's all we've got for now. But it's enough to get fans of Nintendo 2D platformers excited, myself included.
Wiifanboy points us to a leaked fact sheet that managed to sneak out onto the internet only one day after Nintendo's newest 2D platformer, Wario Land Shake, was revealed in Japan. So far, the word is that this 2D action game will feature cel-shaded characters and hand-drawn backgrounds and art.
The folks at NeoGAF used their decoder rings to reveal that there will be 20 stages in various vistas (desert, jungle, ocean) where you'll get the chance to use vehicles like rockets and submarines in gameplay. And, if you couldn't guess by the name, shaking the Wii Remote will permit special actions like rattling enemies for coins or unlocking secret locations.
For now, all we know is that this title will be released in Japan some time in 2008, and it will cost 5,800 yen ($50). Oh, and that Wario is the star.
Hit the jump to see the full fact sheet.
Does this title interest you? Do you remember the first Wario platformer?
You are logged out. Login | Sign upHe, She Or Hen? Sweden's New Gender-Neutral Pronoun
Enlarge this image toggle caption TT News Agency/Reuters/Landov TT News Agency/Reuters/Landov
The official dictionary of the Swedish language is getting a fresh infusion of 13,000 new words, editors of the Swedish Academy have announced.
Among the additions is a gender-neutral pronoun. Instead of just he (han) and she (hon), there will now be hen as well.
The Guardian says: "The pronoun is used to refer to a person without revealing their gender — either because it is unknown, because the person is transgender, or the speaker or writer deems the gender to be superfluous information."
Sven-Goran Malmgren, one of the dictionary's editors, was quoted by The Independent as saying, "It is a word which is in use and without a doubt fills a function."
As Slate notes: "[For] many Swedes, gender equality is not enough. Many are pushing for the Nordic nation to be not simply gender-equal but gender-neutral. The idea is that the government and society should tolerate no distinctions at all between the sexes. This means on the narrow level that society should show sensitivity to people who don't identify themselves as either male or female, including allowing any type of couple to marry. But that's the least radical part of the project. What many gender-neutral activists are after is a society that entirely erases traditional gender roles and stereotypes at even the most mundane levels."A lot of people are linking the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump under headings like “populist” and “anti-establishment.” Most of these comparisons are too cute for their own good — not only because it’s too early to come to many conclusions about the campaign, but also because Trump and Sanders are fundamentally different breeds of candidates who are situated very differently in their respective nomination races.
You can call both “outsiders.” But if you’re a Democrat, Sanders is your eccentric uncle: He has his own quirks, but he’s part of the family. If you’re a Republican, Trump is as familial as the vacuum salesman knocking on your door.
Consider the following. We’ll start with some of the more superficial differences between Sanders and Trump and work our way to the more important ones.
1. Trump is “winning” (for now), and Sanders isn’t. There are lots of reasons to suspect that Trump will fall from his position atop the GOP polls sooner or later, but he’d be a favorite to win a hypothetical national primary held today. Sanders, by contrast, trails Hillary Clinton by about 20 percentage points in national polls that include Joe Biden, and by 30 points in polls that don’t.
2. Sanders is campaigning on substantive policy positions, and Trump is largely campaigning on the force of his personality. I’m not sure this assertion requires a lot of proof, but if you need some, check out the candidates’ websites. Sanders’s lists dozens of specific policy proposals across a wide range of issues; Trump’s details his position on just one, immigration.
3. Sanders is a career politician; Trump isn’t. Let’s not neglect this obvious one. Bernie Sanders has been in Congress since 1991, making him one of the most senior members of Congress; Trump has never officially run a political campaign before.
4. Trump is getting considerably more media attention. Trump is a perpetual attention machine who gets a disproportionate amount of media coverage — as much as the rest of the GOP field combined. Sanders hasn’t been ignored by the press, which wants a horse race between Sanders (or Biden, or anyone!!!) and Clinton. Still, Sanders’s media coverage has been paltry compared with Trump’s. According to Yahoo News, Trump has received about 35,000 media “hits” in the past month, compared with about 9,000 for Sanders. For comparison, Clinton has had 18,000 hits over the same period, and Jeb Bush has had 14,000.
5. Sanders has a much better “ground game.” Trump, in addition to his ubiquity on television, has some semblance of a campaign operation. But Sanders’s organization is much larger and more experienced.
6. Sanders holds policy positions of a typical liberal Democrat; Trump’s are all over the place. While Sanders doesn’t officially call himself a Democrat — a fact that might annoy Democratic elites — he takes policy positions that are consistent with those of Democrats in Congress. In the previous Congress (113th), Sanders voted the same as liberal Democratic senators Barbara Boxer, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Sherrod Brown 95 percent of the time or more. He voted with party leader Harry Reid 91 percent of the time and the expressed position of President Obama 93 percent of the time. He also voted with Clinton 93 percent of the time when the two were in the Senate together.
Here are the senators Sanders voted with most and least often in the 113th Congress, according to Voteview.org:
SENATOR MOST OFTEN SENATOR LEAST OFTEN Boxer (CA) 96.2% Manchin (WV) 82.1% Markey (MA) 95.9 Baucus (MT) 87.4 Booker (NJ) 95.8 Pryor (AR) 87.6 Cantwell (WA) 95.8 Donnelly (IN) 89.9 Leahy (VT) 95.7 Hagan (NC) 90.0 Gillibrand (NY) 95.7 Heitkamp (ND) 90.2 Brown (OH) 95.7 Lautenberg (NJ) 90.6 Hirono (HI) 95.4 Tester (MT) 90.6 Menendez (NJ) 95.4 Landrieu (LA) 90.6 Stabenow (MI) 95.4 Reid (NV) 91.4
Trump’s positions are harder to pin down — and he doesn’t have a voting record to evaluate — but he has far more profound potential differences with the Republican orthodoxy on major issues ranging from taxation to health care to reproductive rights.
7. Sanders’s support divides fairly clearly along ideological and demographic lines; Trump’s doesn’t. So far, Sanders has won a lot of support from white liberals — which helps him in Iowa and New Hampshire — but not so much from white moderates or non-white Democrats. Each of these groups represents about a third of the Democratic primary electorate nationally, so this makes Sanders’s path to the Democratic nomination fairly easily to analyze; he’ll be viable only to the extent that he gains support among the other two groups.
Trump’s support, by contrast, is fairly evenly spread across a range of demographic and ideological groups that appear in Republican polls. He doesn’t do especially well (or especially poorly) with “tea party” voters, for instance. There are a variety of ways to interpret this — perhaps, even, the “Trumpen proletariat” is a group all its own.
8. Sanders’s candidacy has clear historical precedents; they’re less obvious for Trump. Even the most formidable-seeming front-runners haven’t won their nominations without some semblance of a fight. Clinton’s position relative to Sanders is analogous to the one Al Gore held against Bill Bradley in the 2000 Democratic primary. Sanders’s campaign also has parallels to liberal stalwarts from Howard Dean to Eugene McCarthy; these candidates can have an impact on the race, but they usually don’t win the nomination.
Trump has some commonalities also: to “bandwagon” candidates like Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain; to media-savvy, factional candidates like Pat Buchanan; and to self-funded candidates like Steve Forbes. None of those candidates, however, was as openly hostile to their party as Trump is with Republicans.
9. Trump is running against a field of 16 candidates; Sanders is running against one overwhelming front-runner. Trump is also in new territory in another respect. There’s never been a Republican nomination race — or for that matter a Democratic one — with so many declared candidates. Most of the Republicans are not tokenish candidates either. All but Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina have served as senators or governors before, many of them in highly populous states.
This unprecedented volume of candidates helps Trump in various ways. For instance, it increases the value of differentiating yourself from the field. Unorthodox or even unpopular policy positions may help you win a faction of the Republican electorate, even if it makes you less popular within your party overall. That faction may be enough to carry the plurality in polls, leading to favorable media coverage and then creating a virtuous cycle that attracts some bandwagon voters.
Meanwhile, the abundance of candidates seems to have resulted in the Republican establishment holding off on throwing its support to any one candidate, either through endorsements or in the money race.
The Democratic establishment, by contrast, has never been so united behind any non-incumbent candidate as they are with Clinton.
10. Trump is a much greater threat to his party establishment. It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that Sanders is as threatening to the Democratic establishment as Trump is to the Republican one. Sanders’s policy positions, as I’ve mentioned, are about 95 percent the same as those of a typical liberal Democrat in Congress. And where they diverge, they push Democrats further to the left in a fairly predictable way, acting as a “supersized” or slightly exaggerated version of the Democratic agenda. Indeed, while Sanders lacks support from elected Democratic officials, he has some backing from other influential constituencies within the party, such as some labor unions and liberal media outlets.
Why, then, have so few Democrats officially endorsed Sanders? First, because Clinton is extremely popular with both elite and rank-and-file Democrats. Her relative lack of competition is a sign of strength, not weakness — she won the “invisible primary” stage of the campaign. Second, because Democrats are right to be concerned about the general election prospects for Sanders, a 74-year-old self-described socialist. Third, because Sanders’s agenda is hostile to moneyed interests within the Democratic Party.
But if Sanders eventually overtook Clinton, the establishment might resign itself to the prospect of nominating him. There are some loose precedents for candidates like Sanders winning their nominations, especially George McGovern in 1972 and Barry Goldwater in 1964. If you’re going to sacrifice a presidential election — and Sanders would be unlikely to prevail next November — you’d at least like to shift the window of discourse in your party’s preferred direction.
A Trump nomination would be more of an existential threat to the Republican establishment. He bucks the establishment’s consensus on issues as fundamental to the GOP as taxation and health care, and he’s wobbly on abortion. Splitting with the party on any one of those issues might ordinarily disqualify a candidate. Trump potentially destabilizes the Republicans’ “three-legged stool”: The coalition of fiscal, social and national security conservatives have dominated the party since 1980 or so. But on the issue on which Trump is most conservative — immigration — establishment Republicans worry that he might be so reactionary as to cause long-term damage to the party brand.
Meanwhile, Trump has picked fights with sacred cows like the Club for Growth and Fox News. Most of the conservative media — from the National Review to RedState to Glenn Beck — is anti-Trump.
In certain respects, Trump is engaged in an attempted “hostile takeover” of the Republican Party. Because the downside of nominating him might be so enormous — lasting beyond a single election — the GOP establishment may fight to the death to prevent him from being chosen, even at the price of a brokered convention and a fractured party base.
What Sanders and Trump have in common is they’re both unlikely to be nominated. (If I were laying odds, I’d put either one at something like 15-1 or 20-1 against.) But it’s for different reasons. Sanders is losing now, but if he eventually overtakes Clinton — and if Biden fails to come to the establishment’s rescue — his position might become more viable. Trump is nominally winning, but the GOP race is much more volatile. And if he doesn’t lose steam on his own accord, the Republican establishment will use every tool at its disposal to stop him.
Check out our live coverage of the second Republican debate.Sorry, stoners.
The Dutch government said Friday that it will ban tourists from buying marijuana from the Netherlands' famed "coffee shops."
Under the new rules spearheaded by far-right political leaders, only Dutch citizens will be able to enter the stores, and they too will face tougher restrictions.
Resident patrons will be required to sign up for a one-year membership, and each shop will have a maximum of 1,500 members, according to a justice ministry spokesman.
Critics argue the move, which should be enacted by the end of the year, could pulverize tourism.
The Netherlands – particularly Amsterdam, which is home to 220 coffee shops -- is known for having one of Europe's most lenient soft drug policies. The country's cannabis cafes have become popular attractions.
There are also fears that the move will result in a black market for the drugs.
The coalition government, which came into power last year, announced the initiative to curb drug tourism as part of an effort to fight crime and promote health.
"In order to tackle the nuisance and criminality associated with coffee shops and drug trafficking, the open-door policy of coffee shops will end," Dutch health and justice ministers wrote in a letter to the country's parliament.From Bernie Bro to Completely Berned Out
Nicolas Thilo-McGovern Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 28, 2016
I was young, I was in love, and I felt like anything was possible. No, this is not the start to a paperback novel at CVS, this is my relationship with Bernie Sanders. What started as a relationship with so much potential, soon digressed into a bad taste in my mouth. Let’s start all the way back in May.
I loved Bernie Sanders at the beginning. I really did. You are talking to the proud owner of a “Feel the Bern” shirt and a “Bernie for President” mug. I even gave an extra ten bucks on top of that; for a poor college student, I spent a lot of money.
I got on the Bernie bandwagon right from the beginning. I liked what he had to say. As a young person in college, the promise of free college tuition and an improved job market was very appealing. At that time I knew he had no chance of winning, but I did not mind throwing my vote and some cash away on an idealist. I was part of a revolution! Maybe I would tell my kids about it someday. The understanding was, after Sanders inevitably lost, I would throw my support behind Clinton. But then the unexpected happened; Sanders gained traction. He was rising in the polls, he was getting more airtime, and all of a sudden there was talk of an upset. My sixty dollar contribution might actually pay off!
While drinking coffee out of my #feelthebern mug and decked out in my Bernie shirt, I sat in my dorm room on Facebook reading every article about Sanders I could find. I reveled in how well my candidate was doing; I couldn’t get enough. I was constantly liking and sharing the articles that sung his praises and supported my belief that he could win. Within a very short time, what was once a fairly diverse news feed, became filled almost exclusively with pro-Bernie and anti-Hillary content. I lived in this Bernie bubble for months.
Recently, I was sitting in the dining hall of Emerson College with my buddies, having a healthy political conversation about the latest Sanders polls, when I said something that came as a surprise to the rest of the group. I said, “Well, I didn’t like it when he said that Planned Parenthood was part of ‘the establishment’.” One guy responded, “Well yeah, but he back-tracked on that, he changed his mind.” This was true, but then it occurred to me, if it’s okay for Sanders to change his mind, why isn’t it okay for Clinton? I was hearing all of these things on facebook about how Clinton has changed her mind on so many issues and therefore she is a liar and not trustworthy. How was this logical? And how could they just completely dismiss the comment Sanders made? Planned Parenthood is an organization that is the only source of healthcare to millions of women — among them, the poor, the rural, the young, and the desperate — and it provides care to these patients without regard for their ability to pay. It’s an organization that is constantly attacked by the right, with millions and millions of dollars spent on trying to destroy it, while its staff works under threat of violence every day for simply performing a desperately needed service. That’s the establishment that we’re fighting against? I started to think I might be on the wrong side.
This became highlighted when, a little later, another of my friends said “If Bernie does not win, I am going to vote third party or even Republican. At all costs, we can not have Hillary.” I thought, “Really? Have we become so petty that we would rather ‘bern it down’ and hand the presidency to someone like Trump, than vote for the person recognized by Sanders himself as “on her worst day…infinitely better” than any of the GOPers on their best? All out of spite?” Of course I didn’t say this, because to be a part of ‘the Bernie revolution,’ dissent is not welcome.. I had already been called “not a real believer” by several other Bernie supporters after making a less than scathing remark about Clinton‘s foreign policy experience the week prior. I didn’t want to deal with that again.
But it continued to bother me. Where was the logic? Where was the truth? Were we just supposed to blindly agree with whatever Sanders said? Were we not allowed to actually discuss the issues? Was his opponent, who voted the same way he did 93% of the time, really the enemy? I was realizing that maybe they were right; maybe I wasn’t a “true believer” after all.
For me, changing my mind as a voter is like breaking up with a girlfriend: it is not something that should be taken lightly or rushed into, but if you are not happy, you have to weigh the positives and negatives. I did exactly that. I thought about it for a long time. I was staying up at night thinking about my future with Bernie and if that would make me happy. I realized I was turned off by him. All the negativity had worn me out; I had stopped seeing Sanders as an empowering idealist but rather an angry old guy who was one sentence away from talking about Wall Street, not matter what the topic. Clinton on the other hand talks about many issues and has evidence to back up how her plans could work. I like the fact that she had more foreign policy experience than Sanders. If it was three in the morning and North Korea was about to fire off a nuclear bomb somewhere, I don’t know if the non-interventionist Bernie Sanders would handle that situation well. I also like that Clinton can work across the aisle. She’ll compromise to get us moving in the right direction, rather than hold fast to ideals that have no chance of getting us anywhere. With so much gridlock in Washington, I trust her to get things done. The more I looked into Clinton the more there was to like.
Looking back at my time with Sanders I do not regret it. I still like him, I still agree with him on many issues, but I don’t think he will make the best president. And in all honesty, I got turned off by his supporters. Trump supporters say a lot about Trump, Cruz supporters say a lot about Cruz, and Sanders supporters say a lot about Sanders. There was too much anger for people who do not agree with them to make me comfortable that their candidate would be able to compromise and make progress. I still plan on keeping my Sanders shirt and mug, but I just put in an order for a Hillary shirt this afternoon.John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government (1689) contains a defense of private property that makes use of the idea of labor-mixing. In §27, Locke writes: ‘[…] for this labour being the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough, and as good, left in common for others.’ The ‘at least’ clause has become known as the ‘Lockean proviso’. It is usually understood as specifying a limit to labor-based acquisition of private property.
Since libertarians care a lot about private property and its justification, the Lockean proviso has been an important tenet in libertarian theories of justice. In fact it has become common to distinguish ‘right-libertarian’ and ‘left-libertarian’ theories of justice according to their stance on the Lockean proviso. Right-libertarians either reject the Lockean proviso or endorse very weak interpretations of it, while left-libertarians endorse some egalitarian interpretation of the Lockean proviso (which allows appropriation until one has one’s equal share of natural resources or as long as the appropriation is compatible with equality of opportunity for welfare).
In between right- and left-libertarianism, there is room for moderate interpretations of the proviso, and in particular for a sufficientarian interpretation, a sufficiency proviso. It is remarkable that this option has rarely been defended. The resulting theory of justice can be called ‘moderate libertarianism.’ In my article in the Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism, I make a case for moderate libertarianism, so understood. I argue that moderate libertarianism has advantages over both left- and right-libertarianism because it better coheres with the most plausible rationale for endorsing a libertarian theory of justice in the first place.
What is this rationale for endorsing a libertarian theory of justice? It starts with the rather trivial fact that persons are purposive beings. They have the capacity to pursue all kinds of projects. Almost all projects require external resources, and they require being able to count on one’s resources. For that reason, persons as project-pursuers need the opportunity to acquire private property in external resources in one way or another. Following Eric Mack, one can take this to establish a ‘natural right to the practice of private property’. Together with the idea of self-ownership, this natural right can be regarded as the core of a libertarian theory of justice. Note that the project pursuit rationale for libertarianism does not rely on the moral force of Lockean labor-mixing. Rather, private property as a practice is justified as being responsive to persons as project pursuers.
The point of my article is not to defend the project pursuit rationale for libertarianism. What I aim to show is that if one embraces a libertarian theory of justice due to the project pursuit rationale, then one should also embrace a sufficientarian proviso. The basic idea is simple: Without sufficient resources, people are unable to live their lives as project pursuers. Because this is so, a libertarian who advances a libertarian theory of justice because s/he cares about people as project pursuers must also care about everyone actually having sufficient resources for living a life as a project-pursuer. This is why some sort of sufficientarian proviso should be incorporated into a libertarian theory of justice.
In my article in the Routledge volume, I spell out why a sufficiency proviso is superior to the Lockean provisos advocated by left-libertarians like Hillel Steiner or Michael Otsuka and to those advocated by right-libertarians like Robert Nozick and Eric Mack. Here, I will limit myself to presenting some more details about the sufficiency proviso as I conceive it.
First of all, my sufficiency proviso does not apply to specific acts of appropriation, but to the practice of private property as a whole. The practice of private property is justified because private property is necessary for living as a project pursuer, but it can only be justified under condition that it actually enables everyone to live as a project pursuer.
Second, the sufficiency proviso does not unconditionally require us to bring everyone above the sufficiency threshold. The proviso only prescribes that the practice of private property should be designed in a way that makes sure that everyone has sufficient resources to live as a project pursuer, if this is possible without undermining the point of having a practice of private property in the first place. This admittedly does leave quite some room for disagreement about when the point of having a practice of private property is undermined, yet I think this is unavoidable.
Third, the sufficiency proviso does not require that everyone must have sufficient resources left for initial appropriation. What counts is not that everyone can initially acquire things, but that everyone can come to own and use sufficient things. It does not matter whether one gets property via free exchange, gift, or initial appropriation.
Fourth, libertarianism as a theory of justice is silent on the institutions that are most appropriate to meet the sufficiency proviso. It seems natural to think that the proviso speaks for some welfare state institutions, maybe in the form of a guaranteed basic income, maybe in some other form. But the sufficiency proviso need not vindicate welfare state institutions. One can also try to argue that an anarchist society would satisfy the sufficiency proviso.
In the end, I hope that my article can show that moderate libertarianism with its sufficiency proviso is an attractive and interesting variant of libertarianism that is worthy to be more fully explored and discussed.
Beginning in October 2017, Fabian Wendt will be a Research Associate at the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University. His book Compromise, Peace and Public Justification: Political Morality beyond Justice was published last year by Palgrave Macmillan. This year, he won the Sanders Prize in Political Philosophy.Google is testing a major leap in quality when casting a tab with video content from a Chrome desktop browser to your Chromecast. Ever since the streaming gadget was introduced, this has been a rather lackluster way of sending video to the TV from sources that don’t natively support Chromecast. (Hi, Amazon Video.) Tab casting can be laggy, drops frames, and never preserves the video’s original quality. That’s changing soon and you can try the new solution right now.
François Beaufort outlines the Chrome team’s new approach in this Google+ post that was reported on by Android Police. Instead of just mirroring the entire tab (and low-quality video) on your TV screen, the Chrome browser will now send the exact video stream to the Chromecast. All you need to do is toggle on full-screen mode in the content you’re watching, and Chrome will handle the rest. “This ‘simple’ feature allows to save battery and keep video quality intact.”
That feature isn’t yet ready for all Chromecast users, so to try it out you’ve got to do a little bit of work:
You can give it a try today if you happen to have a Chromecast device nearby: Go to chrome://flags/#media-remoting, enable the highlighted flag, restart Chrome, go to https://vimeo.com, play a random video, click "Cast..." in the Chrome menu and fullscreen the video to enjoy that experience.
So get streaming, everyone. Amazon Video is one obvious example of where this will be very useful. I’m really hoping that works, but haven’t tested it myself just yet. Vimeo is another that Beaufort confirms as working. If you can think of other video services that don’t offer proper Chromecast support where this will help out, add a comment below.A journalist was killed on Wednesday and several people were wounded in ongoing clashes between supporters of two rival tribal associations in Mandwai, about 28km from Tripura capital Agartala.
Santanu Bhowmick, a journalist from Dinrat news channel, was hit from behind and abducted when he was covering an agitation and road blockade by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), superintendent of police Abhijit Saptarshi said.
He was found with serious stab wounds and was rushed to a government hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Tripura health minister Badal Chowdhury condemned the killing and information minister Bhanulal Saha visited the hospital.
The police superintendent said the situation at Mandai was tense. Prohibitory orders were imposed and more forces were rushed to contain sporadic violence.
The clashes began when supporters of the Ganamukti Parishad, a tribal wing of the ruling CPM, gathered at a bus stand in Khowai town to travel to Agartala for a rally.
The IPFT workers attacked the rivals with sticks and iron rods and wounded at least 60 of them and damaged at least 15 buses.
The Parishad had called the rally in Mandwai, a tribal-dominated area in West Tripura district, against the IPFT.
The violence spread quickly and more people were wounded. The CPM accused the IPFT of ransacking its offices and torching homes.
“The IPFT triggered the violence … they attempted to mislead the indigenous people by demanding a separate state called Tipraland. But they are gradually losing their grip. To hide their failures, they masterminded the violence,” CPM state secretary Bijan Dhar said.
He also alleged that the BJP and Union ministers were backing the IPFT, which is opposing the country’s longest-running leftist government.
IPFT chief NC Debbarma declined comments.
(with agency inputs)
First Published: Sep 20, 2017 19:55 ISTDenmark’s Mary Foundation—named after the country’s crown princess and soon-to-be queen—has contributed to empathy training in schools, too. It’s anti-bullying program, which has been implemented across the country, encourages 3- to 8-year-olds to talk about bullying and teasing and learn to become more caring toward each other. It has yielded positive results, and more than 98 percent of teachers say they would recommend it to other institutions.
Another, less obvious example of empathy training in Danish schools is in how they subtly and gradually mix children of different strengths and weaknesses together. Students who are stronger academically are taught alongside those who are less strong; shier kids with more gregarious ones; and so on. The goal is for the students to see that everyone has positive qualities and to support each other in their efforts reach the next level. The math whiz may be terrible at soccer, and vice versa. This system fosters collaboration, teamwork, and respect.
Studies show that this system of interactive teaching involves a steep learning curve. Students who teach others work harder to understand the material, recall it more precisely, and use it more effectively. But they also have to try to understand the perspective of other students so they can help them where they are having trouble. The ability to explain complicated subject matter to another student is not an easy task, but it is an invaluable life skill. Research demonstrates that this type of collaboration and empathy also delivers a deep level of satisfaction and happiness to kids; interestingly, people’s brains actually register more satisfaction from cooperating than from winning alone.
Perhaps, then, it is no surprise that empathy is one of the single most important factors in fostering successful leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, and businesses. It reduces bullying, increases one’s capacity to forgive, and greatly improves relationships and social connectedness. Empathy enhances the quality of meaningful relationships, which research suggests is one of the most important factors in a person’s sense of well being. Research also suggests that empathetic teenagers tend to be more successful because they are more purpose-driven than their more narcissistic counterparts. And if you think about it, it all makes sense. Successful people don’t operate alone; every human needs the support of others to achieve positive results in his or her life. Maybe by focusing on actively teaching empathy to U.S. children as they do in Denmark, America’s schools will make happier adults in the future.
This article has been adapted from Jessica Alexander and Iben Dissing Sandahl's new book, The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.If you own an original Moto X, Moto E, or Moto G 4G you're probably wondering where your Lollipop update is. You've seen newer Motorola handsets blessed with Android 5.0 many weeks ago, and are getting rather impatient? Well, then this is for you.
There's some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that you'll still have to wait a while until your particular device runs Lollipop. However, the good news is that Motorola has decided to skip the Android 5.0 release entirely, and update the Moto X, Moto E, and Moto G 4G with |
finding such corroborating evidence in the future.” It is worth noting that the provisional judgement of the Ruina panel notwithstanding, a few weeks later President Carter wrote in his diary that “We have a growing belief among our scientists that the Israelis did indeed conduct a nuclear test explosion in the ocean near the southern end of South Africa.”[19]
Document 33: Jerry Oplinger to Henry Owen, “South Atlantic Event,” 23 January 1980, Secret, excised copy
Source: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, NLC 28-32-4-16-5
That the Intelligence Community objected to the first cut of the Ruina panel report is evident in this memo from Gerald Oplinger, a nonproliferation specialist on Brzezinski’s staff, to Ambassador-at-Large Henry D. Owen. According to Oplinger, the IC was dissatisfied with the treatment of key issues such as the Vela signals and an ionospheric disturbance, occurring at the time of the 22 September event, which scientists using the radio telescope at Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory (Puerto Rico) had detected. Oplinger noted that key officials, including John Deutch (under secretary of Energy and subsequently CIA director), Daniel Murphy (deputy under secretary of defense for policy), and John Marcum (on Press’s staff) recognized that the IC objections meant the necessity for a “fresh airing” of controversial issues to avoid continued internal dissent and a report that looked like a “whitewash for political reasons.” Yet Oplinger was critical of their thinking because he believed that they took a “c.y.a.” approach, with their “bottom line that there is no conclusive case for a nuclear source.”
Apparently, Murphy was going to make a presentation of the issues and Marcum believed that only a few people needed to hear it. Oplinger objected to that; he wanted Smith to be present along with Owen, Deutch, Press, and CIA officials. Whatever Oplinger may have thought about the Vela event, he wanted all the interested officials to hear the presentation before decisions would be made about Congressional consultations and press releases. What happened next remains unclear, but it was not until May 1980 that the Ruina panel completed its report.
Document 34: State Department telegram 29416 to U.S. Consulate Cape Town, “Guidance on Suspected Nuclear Event,” 2 February 1980, Secret
On 30 January 1980, the Washington Post ran a follow-up article, also by O’Toole, on the South Atlantic event, “New Light Cast on Sky-Flash Mystery,” which discussed a CIA report on a secret South African naval exercise at the time of the Vela incident. According to the State Department, O’Toole had garbled Defense Attaché Office (DAO) reports on two events: 1) a harbor defense exercise in Simonstown, and 2) a “report of an alert of air-sea search and rescue teams at Saldanha Bay.” Other than the reports on those events, the intelligence community reportedly had no information about other South African naval activities around 22 September.
The Department advised Embassy officers to inform South African officials that the O’Toole article reflected a “selective and highly distorted interpretation of data” on the Vela incident and that it did not “reflect executive branch positions” and drew in part upon unauthorized disclosures.
Document 35: U.S. Consulate Cape Town telegram 0239 to State Department, “Guidance on Suspected Nuclear Event,” 4 February 1980, Confidential
Against the background of deteriorating relations with South Africa, Ambassador William B. Edmondson wrote an exasperated reply to the Department’s guidance on the Washington Post article. It was “simply not good enough to be of any help to explain why the USG cannot prevent [the] recurrence of unauthorized disclosure[s]” that lead to a “highly distorted interpretation.” The leaks “run the risk of creating the impression that the USG (or elements thereof) is deliberately carrying out a propaganda campaign” against the South African Government.” Noting that the prime minister and the foreign minister “angrily resent the accusations and insinuations” about the South African connection to the Vela incident, Edmondson believed that it would “do more harm than good” to tell them the Washington Post article did not reflect official thinking. Edmondson cautioned the Department to “keep in mind the likely mood and attitude in these matters as it affects our efforts to reach a nuclear agreement with the SAG as well as our overall relations, including greater SAG suspicion and surveillance of mission reporting activities.”
Document 36: U.S. Embassy London telegram 02824 to State Department, “South Atlantic Event,” 7 February 1980, Confidential
Confirming the close information-sharing relationship with the British, but also illustrating the difficulties caused by information controls for inter-governmental communications, the U.S. Embassy in London asked the Department to follow up on two recent queries from Whitehall: 1) the relationship of an ionospheric ripple to the 22 September event, and 2) intelligence information on South African naval activities cited in the Department telegram on 2 February (above), which was also routed to London. On the latter point, the 2 February telegram was relevant, but because it was under “Nodis” controls it could not be shared with the British; the Embassy asked for a report that could be shared.
The point about the ionospheric ripple was a reference to a “traveling ionospheric disturbance,” occurring at the time of the 22 September event, which scientists using the radio telescope at Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory (Puerto Rico) had detected. The Embassy had public information on the ionospheric ripple, but sought more guidance from the State Department.
VII. Israeli Connections?
Documents 37A-B: The CBS Story on the Israeli-South African Nuclear Connection
Document A: Department of State Telegram 046986 to Multiple Embassies, “CBS Story on Israeli Nuclear Weapons,” 22 February 1980, Limited Official Use
Document B: U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv telegram 03811, “Israeli Reaction to CBS Story on Israeli Nuclear Test,” 26 February 1980, Confidential
On the evening of 21 February, “CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite” ran a major story on Israeli-South African nuclear cooperation based on the work of CBS radio stringer Dan Raviv. According to the story, Israel had produced “dozens” of atomic bombs and “several hydrogen bombs.” Raviv’s sources were two Israeli writers, Eli Teicher and Ami Dor-On, who had an unpublished manuscript, None Will Survive Us: The Story of the Israeli Atom Bomb, which Israeli censors would bar from publication. The authors and another high-level Israeli source (Eliyahu Speiser, an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment between 1977 and 1988), told Raviv that the Vela event was an Israeli test “with the assistance and cooperation of South Africa.”[20]
Raviv filed the story in Rome to circumvent Israeli press censorship regulations, a move that Israeli authorities saw as a “crass and clear violation” of the rules. The Government Press Office (under instructions from Minister of Defense, Ezer Weizman), quickly revoked his press credentials. According to the Embassy report, the reaction of most Israelis had been “so what else is new,” but the CBS Bureau was “the most upset.” Apparently Raviv had not coordinated the report with the acting bureau chief, who asked CBS headquarters to “kill it.” For unspecified reasons the bureau chief saw the report as a “non-story.” Walter Cronkite covered it nevertheless, although Robert Pierpoint backtracked from the story a few days later.
Not surprisingly, the Embassy was skeptical of Raviv’s account: “while not in possession of all the scientific evidence, we believe it would be the height of folly for Israel to indulge in any form of nuclear weapons testing, in particular in conjunction with South Africa; and we believe all responsible Israeli officials share this appreciation.”
Document 38A-B: Jack Ruina’s Source
Document A: Department of State Telegram 050226 to U.S. Embassy Vienna, “September 22 Event,” 25 February 1980, Confidential
Document B: Department of State Telegram 0502090 to U.S. Embassy Vienna, “September 22 Event,” 27 February 1980, Confidential
Another thread involving a possible Israeli connection had far more limited circulation. While Gerard Smith was in Vienna on IAEA business, Allen Locke kept him in the loop on developments, including information that MIT Professor Jack Ruina had acquired from “personal contacts” relating to the “theory of Israeli involvement” in the 22 September event. Ruina considered that information “significant, but inappropriate for discussion on telephone.” Ruina had already given an account to his MIT colleague, George Rathjens, who had worked on Smith’s staff. In the follow-up telegram, Locke reported that Ruina had met with John Marcum, Frank Press’s executive secretary and that the unspecified information “appears to be quite speculative.”
As noted earlier, Ruina’s source was Israeli missile engineer Anselm Yaron, who was then a visiting fellow at MIT. There, with Ruina and other MIT personnel, Yaron had discussed Israeli defense programs, including Israel’s nuclear weapons capability. In the course of those discussions, Yaron said or implied that the Vela incident was an Israeli-South African test.[21]
VIII. Lingering Debates and Mysteries
Document 39: Robert A. Martin INR/PMA [Political-Military Affairs], to AF/S [Office of Southern African Affairs] Paul Hare, “Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Analysis of Data Relevant to 22 September 1979 Possible Nuclear Event,” 17 June 1980, Secret
On 26 June 1990, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) made what amounted to a rebuttal of the Ruina panel’s finding when it published its own interpretation of the 22 September event, The South Atlantic Mystery Flash: Nuclear or Not?. The contents of the DIA report remains classified (although under appeal at the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel), but some of the information it highlighted appeared in an INR memorandum of a discussion with Jack Varona, who was then the agency’s assistant vice director for scientific and technical intelligence. Speaking with Robert A. Martin, the director of INR’s politico-military bureau, Varona argued that the Ruina panel was a “white wash, due to political considerations” and that it had used “flimsy evidence” to arrive at a “non-nuclear” explanation. Varona argued that the “weight of the evidence pointed towards a nuclear event.” In particular, he believed that hydroacoustic data, which had only recently been analyzed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and was not fully available to the Ruina panel, involved “signals ‘which were unique to nuclear shots in a maritime environment.’” The source of the signals was the area of “shallow waters between Prince Edward and Marion Islands, south of South Africa.” Varona also explained why the attempts to collect radioactive debris had come to naught: “radioactive waste would not necessarily have been detected from a low-yield, near-surface nuclear explosion in a maritime environment south of the African continent.”
Document 40: Matthew Nimetz through Warren Christopher to the Secretary, “South African Nuclear Problem,” 8 September 1980, with memorandum from Warren Christopher attached: “South African Nuclear Problem,” 27 September 1980
Source: Smith Files, box 20, South Africa 1980
Lingering ambiguities of the 22 September event are exemplified by this action memo from September 1980, prepared by Allen Locke for Under Secretary for Security Assistance, Science, and Technology Matthew Nimitz, which includes a useful overview of the South African nuclear program (see “Annex”). The memo proposed three options or modalities for nuclear negotiations with South Africa, with the central issues being whether and how to go through the French. It also touched upon the Vela event, noting the “conflicting conclusions of the Press [Ruina] Panel and the DIA, which have received public attention” as underlining an American “dilemma”: how far Washington could go in trying to negotiate with South Africa without increasing African suspicions that it was trying to cover up South Africa’s nuclear development “with a treaty.” In the report’s annex, the author argued that it was “prudent to assume that South Africa has the uranium and design experience required to manufacture nuclear explosives on short notice.” Locke then noted that it was “widely assumed” that a South African nuclear test was the explanation for the 22 September “event,” notwithstanding the lack of “direct evidence to support this, nor even agreement on whether the ‘event’ was a nuclear explosion.”
Document 41: Intelligence Coordination to Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Evening Report,” 1 December 1980, Secret
Source: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, NLC 10-33-4-4-6
The DIA’s Jack Varona had argued that a nuclear test might not have produced radioactive fallout, but the testing of thyroid glands in Australian sheep mentioned in Document 27 suggested an alternative possibility. According to this memo from Brzezinski’s intelligence staff, the thyroid glands of sheep slaughtered near Melbourne during October 1979 showed “abnormally high levels” of Iodine 131, a “short-lived isotope that occurs as the result of a nuclear event.” The sheep had grazed in an area where it had rained during 26-27 September 1979. DIA would be investigating whether the Iodine 131 could have been ingested as a result of nearby industrial or pharmaceutical activities. Why it took so long for the test results to reach DIA was not explained.
Notes
[1]. Jimmy Carter, White House Diary (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010) p. 357.
[2]. Leonard Weiss e-mail to Avner Cohen, 19 September 2016.
[3]. Jimmy Carter, White House Diary, p. 405.
[4]. See Leonard Weiss’s “Israel’s 1979 Nuclear Test and the U.S. Cover-up,” Middle East Policy,” Vol. 18 No.4 (2011); “The 1979 South Atlantic Flash: The Case for an Israeli Nuclear Test,” in H. Sokolski, ed., Moving Beyond Pretense: Nuclear Power and Nonproliferation (Harrisburg, PA: Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press, 2014), 345-371; and “Flash from the Past: Why an Apparent Israeli Nuclear Test in 1979 Matters Today,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, (8 September 2015). “Flash from the Past: Why an Apparent Israeli Nuclear Test in 1979 Matters Today.” See also Timothy McDonnell, “International Conference: The Historical Dimensions of South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program,”4 January 2013, Nuclear Proliferation International History Project.
[5]. Avner Cohen, The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel’s Bargain with the Bomb (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 81-84.
[6]. The Vanunu revelations refer to information on the Israeli nuclear program published in the London Sunday Times on 5 October 1986 based on the testimony of Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician at the Negev Nuclear Research (Dimona). From the Vanunu revelations it became apparent that Israel was a more advanced nuclear weapons state than had been estimated. Qualitatively, it appeared that Israel had mastered the means and know how to manufacture advanced nuclear weapons, i.e., boosted weapons and possibly full two- stage (thermonuclear) weapons. Quantitatively, the size of the Israeli nuclear arsenal, based on the production of plutonium, was estimated at about 100-200 weapons, much larger than had been projected. Vanunu was subsequently captured by the Mossad, brought back to Israel, and sentenced to 18 years in jail. Vanunu was released from prison in 2004, but remains this day is subject to a broad array of restrictions on his speech and movement. Full text of the Vanunu disclosure. For a detailed analysis of the Vanunu disclosure see, Frank Barnaby, The Invisible Bomb (London: I. B. Taurus, 1989). See also Avner Cohen, The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel’s Bargain with the Bomb (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 131-35.
[7]. For details, see Sasha Polakow-Suransky, The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa (New York: Pantheon Books, 2010).
[8]. “Israel Reported Behind A-Blast Off S. Africa,” The Washington Post, 22 February 1980.
[9]. Richelson, Spying on the Bomb, 313.
[10]. Seymour Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy (New York: Random House, 1991), 281-282. Anselm Yaron (1918-2003) was one of the pioneers of Israeli rocketry, starting in the 1950s as a rocket engineer in RAFAEL (Weapons Development Authority). In the 1970s he directed the Israeli program to develop satellite launchers. On the prominent role of Yaron in Israel’s defense R&D systems, see the autobiography of Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, Eilam's Arc: How Israel Became a Military Technology Powerhouse (Sussex: Sussex Academic Press, 2011). (Eilam was the chief of the Israeli Defense Force’s R&D branch and later, during 1976-1985, the director-general of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission.) Yaron arrived at MIT around 1980, shortly before he retired. The ACDA-funded project on which he was one of the team members produced a study, submitted in June 1981, “Assessing the comparability of dual-use technologies for ballistic missile development.” The other authors of that study were Ruina, Mark Balaschak, and Gerald M. Steinberg.
[11]. Rod Nordland, “The Bombs in the Basement,” Newsweek, 11 July 1988, 42.
[12]. For the items in the FRUS volume, on Israeli-South African nuclear cooperation, see Documents 291, 292, 300, 303, and 304 at pages 901-904. 920-921, and 923-926. Other telegrams on this topic remain classified and have been requested from the State Department.
[13]. Avner Cohen, The Worst-Kept Secret (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 32.
[14]. The substance of the report corroborates Jeffrey Richelson’s account in Spying on the Bomb, 296-297.
[15]. Richelson, Spying on the Bomb, 298.
[16]. The same discussion paper with a different cover memorandum was published in a collection of documents edited by Jeffrey Richelson, “The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteoroid?”
[17]. For the contention that Keeny proposed the panel, see Weiss, “Flash from the Past.” For the panel, see Richelson, Spying on the Bomb, 297. As Garwin had recommended, the panel included Garwin, Muller, Alvarez, and Panofsky.
[18]. “Officials Hotly Debate Whether African Event Was Atomic Blast,” The Washington Post, 17 January 1980.
[19]. Jimmy Carter, White House Diary, 405
[20]. Richelson, Spying on the Bomb, 313.
[21]. See Hersh’s account in The Samson Option cited earlier, as well as Polakow-Suransky, The Unspoken Alliance, 275-275 (note 31).While we’ve been expecting the 12-inch MacBook Air for quite some time and some of the details have long been rumored, the design exclusively revealed in Mark Gurman’s report has raised eyebrows throughout the tech world. Especially the most dramatic element: the reduction of the ports to just one multifunction USB-C socket, a headphone socket and a pair of microphones.
The $64,000 questions are: will this ruthlessly cut-down approach prove workable—and is this a design unique to this one machine, or does it represent the future of all MacBooks …?
NordVPN
Let’s start with a note of reassurance. The USB Type C port is an extremely clever thing indeed—it’s the very epitome of multifunctional ports. It can provide power. It can feed an external display. You can connect it to external storage. You can plug-in any of the myriad devices you connect to existing USB ports, from cameras through printers to cardreaders. No functionality will be lost.
And we should add, while we’re discussing good news, that one of the nice features of USB Type C is that the plug is reversible, just like a Lightning cable. This would end once and for all the frustration of what someone once described as ‘USB, the only binary choice that takes three goes to get right.’
But, at first glance, some of the functionality we’re used to could become rather less convenient. At home or in the office, we’re going to need some kind of dock or hub to connect multiple devices, and the simple convenience when travelling of charging our iPhone via USB while the MacBook charges from the mains would be lost.
And what about MagSafe? I love MagSafe. Not just because it has saved me from an expensive MacBook nose-dive on more than one occasion, but also because it’s so damn easy to use—none of the fiddling around with the power lead you get with lesser laptops. Just hold the connector somewhere near the right spot and it snaps into place.
But I think we need to give Apple some credit here: usability is in the company’s bloodstream, so it’s not like it won’t have considered these issues. Simultaneously charging a MacBook and iPhone while travelling could be as simple as adding a USB port to the power brick, and MagSafe could be incorporated with a simple adapter.
And we need to remember that 9to5Mac readers are very different to mass-market consumers: I would bet good money that a high proportion of MacBook Air owners don’t ever connect their machine to anything other than power and the occasional USB key. Thunderbolt-style daisy-chaining of devices is a techhead and AV pro thing, not a person-in-the-street thing.
Which is all well and good if we’re talking about a single machine, and especially if—as has been suggested in the past—this is intended as an entry-level MacBook. But that is very much an unknown.
This might indeed be a cut-down machine, built to a price. We could even get totally crazy, and envisage it as the Apple version of a Chromebook: a machine with almost no internal storage, simply designed to connect you to the Internet, where you use iWork for iCloud. I don’t think that’s likely, but Apple was the first company to ditch optical storage from its laptops, and the first mainstream manufacturer to switch to machines which essentially cannot be upgraded. The company is certainly not afraid to declare that a brave new world has arrived.
But what if it’s not an entry-level machine? What if it’s instead a premium machine, designed to sit above the current MacBook Air range? What if it has a Retina screen and enough on-board SSD storage that the need to connect to external devices is reduced? And what if, rather than a new design for a single MacBook Air model, Apple sees this as a template for the future of the entire MacBook range?
There’s reason to think this might be the direction in which Apple is headed. It has long been working hard to move us away from wires. iPhones, which once needed to be physically plugged into a Mac even to activate them, got first wireless sync and then iCloud backup. There’s been a lot of focus on iWork for iCloud – including the eventual return of its long-lost Dropbox equivalent, iCloud Drive. And new cloud-based features built into OS X and iOS like AirDrop, Handoff and other Continuity features intended to free us from the need to do anything as 20th Century as connect a USB key.
But there’s a problem with this glorious new wireless world. Mass-market consumers might be happy with a single port, but what about power users and AV professionals? People using multiple monitors. People who need to connect scanners, printers, cameras, microphones, audio interfaces, digital speakers and external drives. People using Thunderbolt to daisy-chain high-speed devices.
Apple has in the past given mixed messages to its pro users. On the one hand, it abandoned optical drives at a time when many AV pros were still using them; it discontinued the mobile professional’s favorite laptop, the 17-inch MacBook Pro; and there was the Final Cut Pro X debacle, where many AV pros thought Apple had lost touch with their needs. Many of us wondered at times whether Apple now viewed itself exclusively as a manufacturer of consumer products, with the business market seen as largely irrelevant.
But on the other hand, it finally updated the Mac Pro—a machine which is almost the definition of a niche market—and entered into an alliance with IBM to make a big push into the enterprise market with iOS devices. There is also that persistent rumor of the 12-inch iPad Pro, a device that only really makes sense in my opinion when targeting business users.
So where does this leave us? I think pro users needn’t be concerned. All my examples of Apple seemingly moving away from this market are old ones, while my examples of it embracing business usage are far more recent. I don’t see the MacBook Pro range reducing to a single port plus mic and headphone socket anytime soon.
But I do think this is the direction in which Apple is headed. I think this vision was why Apple worked so hard with Intel to develop what became Thunderbolt: a single, high-speed, daisy-chainable, multi-function port. The standard didn’t take off in the way Apple hoped it would, but USB Type C will for sure.
The standard isn’t there yet. A single USB port—even one as clever as this—isn’t going to deliver the connectivity professionals need, but it’s an evolving standard. Give it a year or three to evolve into an even more capable super-port, and combine that with the faster and more ubiquitous wireless connectivity we’re going to see over that same timescale, and we may not be so far from the day when a MacBook with a single port can meet all of our needs—consumers and professionals alike.
Do you share my vision, or do you think that multiple ports and wires will be part of our future for a long time yet? Take our poll, and let us know your views in the comments.In the late 19th century, Dr. William Halsted, a pioneer of modern surgical techniques, performed ultra-radical mastectomies for women with breast cancer. The procedure, soon named after him, involved the surgeon removing not only the breast itself but also surrounding musculature and the associated lymphatic system.
Halsted believed, and taught generations of medical students, that the more radical the procedure, the higher the likelihood of survival. And so this approach remained the standard of care for decades – despite his never proving that this mutilating procedure lowered mortality.
Today we know he was wrong.
Much of the aggressive and invasive health care we provide in the United States today, compared to time-tested, more conservative approaches, adds little value. And when independent scientific comparisons are done, the more complex approach often results not only in higher costs, but also in complications and adverse effects – all without significant benefit to the patient.
Recent reviews of clinical outcomes have shown that many medical problems that we might have treated in the past with aggressive surgery would have avoided threatening patient health if managed instead by watchful waiting, with routine follow-up. But despite that information doctors continue to routinely recommend intervention, even in the absence of evidence suggesting a better outcome.
Both physicians and patients frequently assume that “new” equals “improved," possibly from reading about the newest brand of medication or operative treatment.
We should celebrate the 21st Century medical treatments that lead to remarkable outcomes. But we also need to question these aggressive treatments that add little value, and can lead to harm.
As an example, a JAMA study concluded that up to 22.5 percent of pacemakers are inserted unnecessarily. And long-term follow-up of many commonly performed surgeries demonstrate minimal impact.
An oft-cited example is low back pain. Thousands of Americans undergo disc removal or spinal fusion each year, despite limited evidence that either surgical procedure is more effective than non-operative therapy in providing long-term pain relief or improved function.
And for patients with the typical wear-and-tear osteoarthritis of the knee, physical therapy proves as successful as the commonly performed arthroscopic surgery.
Why do the recommendations by physicians to patients so often contradict the best science?
Photo by Bart Heird/ CC BY-NC 2.0
Overtreatment Explained
The reasons for this preference to intervene are easy to identify. A medical culture attempting to maintain the status quo. A reimbursement system based on fee for service that creates perverse incentives. Direct-to-consumer advertising for the latest, most expensive drugs and invasive procedures. And physicians lacking the time to explain why a procedure or drug is unlikely to make a difference and can lead to even more problems.
When patients hear words like cancer or heart attack, they immediately want everything to be done that can be. This makes sense. The psychology literature indicates our tendency to be optimistic about success and deny the likelihood of a complication occurring. As such, most of the time doing more is the default decision. Unfortunately, rather than leading to a better outcome, frequently little or no benefit is realized at dramatically higher costs.
Even when physicians try to explain the alternatives clearly, they encounter a real challenge. One procedure may have a slightly better chance of cure, but a much higher risk of complications and major long-term side effects. Helping individuals understand these percentages and weigh the impact on their lives is difficult.
Many physicians, perhaps by nature or training have a hard time accepting that many of the treatments they perform have limited benefits. It is hard to tell a patient that little more can be done that will make a difference in outcome. For the physician, this can feel like failure. And this psychological reluctance is amplified by a fee-for-service system of reimbursement that encourages physicians to do more.
Economists would predict that when doctors are paid more for doing more, and performing more complex procedures, rather than recommending simpler, more conservative approaches, they will do it. For example when a patient has prostate cancer with a very low risk of spread, watchful waiting is often the best course. But urologists who are paid much more to perform a major surgery still prefer to recommend the operative procedure despite significant risks of impotence and urinary incontinence. Similarly, the cardiologist who is paid dramatically more for performing a procedure on the heart rather than prescribing a low- cost medication is likely to do so.
The upshot? Physicians across all specialties are taught in medical training that more is almost invariably better than less, and once they open an office and are given hospital privileges, this imperative is reinforced again and again -- even when they are unaware it is happening.
How Much Does An Ounce Of Prevention Really Weigh?
Prevention is often the best medicine, but even preventive screening can be taken too far.
Consider the annual physical. For healthy individuals, free of symptoms, the medical literature is clear that this visit adds little or no value. When the Cochrane Collaboration Systematic Review looked at the benefits of this visit, it concluded that patients who underwent an annual physical proved no less likely to die, be hospitalized, suffer a disability or miss work.
Naturally, people should undergo recommended preventive screening based on their age, family history and any chronic illnesses they may experience. Done appropriately, screenings reduce the chances of dying from colon, cervical and breast cancer, and minimize the chances of a heart attack or stroke.
But screening more frequently than national guidelines recommend is ineffective, a waste of time and resources. So why does this ineffective ritual of the annual physical exam continue? Psychological studies reveal that a powerful anecdote can be much more influential than data. Doctors and patients remember the one patient in a thousand for whom a routine examination found something unexpected. Meantime, they overlook the 999 for whom it made no difference and led to unnecessary tests and procedures.
Increasingly, too, national experts are questioning whether tests such as the one for prostate cancer, the PSA, are advisable. The literature reports that more than 1,000 men free of symptoms would need to be screened to save a single life – and that to find that one individual, dozens of men would need to undergo painful biopsies, complete with attendant risk of infection, nerve damage and other complications.
How We Harm The Dying
Perhaps the most extreme example where physician practice adds minimal value, often at great expense, is end-of-life care.
My elderly uncle suffered from heart failure and had a series of small strokes. From any realistic perspective, he was going to die in a matter of days. Yet when his kidneys started to fail, the consulting nephrologist ordered renal dialysis in an attempt to “reverse the abnormality.” But all the other physicians involved recognized that subjecting him to this procedure three times a week was unlikely to extend his life. Two weeks after treatments began, while hooked up to the machine, my uncle died. All the dialysis accomplished was to make his last days more uncomfortable.
By no means is this story rare. Any time I talk to audiences about futile end-of-life care, people tell me similar stories about their loved ones – about treatment that had almost no chance of making a difference, and often led to complications. But what's most surprising is that this aggressive end-of-life care often has the opposite outcome than expected – it shortens the patient's life.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) points out that “chemotherapy given in the last month of life has “little or no benefit to patients.” Yet based on data from the Dartmouth Atlas, 6 percent of cancer patients receive chemotherapy in the last two weeks of their lives. And for lung cancer patients, that percentage can be as high as 29 percent, a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found.
Indeed, for patients with a specific type of lung cancer, palliative care – not additional “curative” chemotherapy – significantly improved quality of life and mood, the New England Journal of Medicine concluded in a study. This is something we might have predicted. But surprisingly these same patients who received palliative care, rather than aggressive treatment, actually survived longer.
And this type of futile care is not what patients want. A study from the California Health Care Foundation reported that although 70 percent of Americans want to die at home, only about 30 percent do.
The problem is cultural, not educational. Doctors understand that chemotherapy has major, often painful side effects, and offers limited benefits in certain situations. But what they need more than additional knowledge is courage and time. They need to be able to admit when more chemotherapy is unlikely to make a difference, and to invest the time it takes to make certain the patient feels supported. Doing that may be difficult, especially since it’s less time-consuming to prescribe another round of treatment. But this approach, which requires the physician to focus on a way to manage pain, reduce anxiety and set realistic expectations, also increases the time that dying patients get to spend at the end-of-life with family and friends.
What Should We Do?
Given the cultural biases and inherent financial incentives, the issue of unnecessary care will be hard to solve. But these four steps offer promise:
1. Empower patient decision-making. New tools, including interactive videos, can help patients objectively evaluate the pros and cons of procedures and treatments. Shared decision-making using standardized aids, including printed information, videos and podcasts, is a concept that begun in the mid-1990s. These aids have been shown to increase knowledge, lower anxiety, sharpen perceptions of risks and benefits, and lead to fewer tests and elective surgeries.
2. Shift to value-based pay practices. Paying for the value of care, rather than for the volume of services, would eliminate the perverse incentives in the current fee-for- service reimbursement system. A major step in that direction was the announcement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to shift 50 percent of Medicare reimbursements to reward higher quality and pay based on clinical outcomes by 2018. And this shift will be accelerated by aspects of the Affordable Care Act, Accountable Care Organizations, patient-centered medical homes and bundled payments.
3. Determine when new approaches are really better. To help accomplish this, every medical journal should require authors to compare new procedures, devices and drugs to current, often lower-cost alternatives. In a similar vein, the FDA should revise its charter to enable it to require that existing therapies be compared to new drugs and devices prior to approval. Such side-by-side comparisons would be extremely helpful not only to the health system as a whole, but to provide a direct benefit to the growing number of patients exposed to increasingly large insurance deductibles, where sounder choices could potentially save them thousands of dollars each year out of pocket.
Sloan Kettering Institute in New York City recently developed and published a new tool to better inform the decisions of oncologists and their patients – a cost effectiveness index for chemotherapy agents they prescribe. Applying this framework to all of medical care could be very powerful. If a new procedure or drug were only 5% more effective, patients and physicians might well question why manufacturers charge 100% or 200% more.
4. Reform medical malpractice. Changes to litigation for medical malpractice would lessen the burden of unnecessary care associated with defensive medicine. What motivates many doctors to do too much for patients, including much they would never choose to do for themselves, is fear of missing an extremely unlikely problem and being sued. Making malpractice litigation and awards more rational would be better for the health care system in general and patients in particular.
In the end, only when doctors and patients alike recognize that more is not always better, and how excessive care can create additional problems, will we consistently avoid treatments of borderline value. The more-is-better philosophy, and the new-equals-improved formulation, makes sense in theory, but seldom in practice.
Dr. Halsted's ultra-radical mastectomy for women with breast cancer seemed to make sense to him and his colleagues more than 100 years. We now no longer perform that procedure, but we still cling to that belief. To do right by patients, we must start to recognize how often less is actually more.Visceral Montreal is rumoured to have closed following the restructuring.
However, the project was cancelled after Dead Space 3 failed to meet its sales targets, our source claims, telling us that EA executives visited Visceral Montreal last month to inform staff that the project had been terminated and announce details of the company's restructuring.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source familiar with the unannounced |
su se u njegovo vrijeme provodile evaluacije projekata; ona se nisu dodjeljivala nekim automatizmom.
„Pri kraju mog mandata uspostavljen je sustav prijava prema određenim kriterijima vrednovanja. Tada je to prvi put napravljeno na Sveučilištu. 2014. dodijelili smo sredstva vodeći računa o kriterijima vrednovanja“, rekao je Bjeliš.
„Moj je dojam da se kasnije više nije vodila tolika briga o kriterijima raspodjele sredstava. Taj novac trebao je služiti poticanju izvrsnosti na Sveučilištu, međutim, to se na kraju svelo na svojevrsnu glavarinu na hrvatski način. Ja sam uvijek upozoravao da su profesori i asistenti na sveučilištu plaćeni oko 40 posto za nastavu, slično i za istraživanje te oko 20 posto za opći rad na Sveučilištu za razne evaluacije, komisije i sl. Smatrao sam uvijek da su opća znanstvena znatiželja, održavanje prostora i sl. pokriveni iz središnjeg budžeta te da se istraživanja trebaju pokrivati kroz posebne projekte koji bi trebali stimulirati one najbolje, koji su natprosječni. Mislim da u situaciji u kojoj nema sredstava na pretek nije dobro da se novci za istraživanje raspodjeljuju bez ozbiljnih procesa vrednovanja“, poručio je bivši rektor.
Borasu takve dodjele nisu sporne
U sličnom slučaju prije samo par godina Boras je autoru ovih redaka rekao da ne vidi ništa upitno u tome da se kao rektor natječe za sredstva jer je i dalje znanstvenik i zaposlenik fakulteta.
Poručio je da u njegovu sudjelovanju u natjecanju nema ništa sporno jer bi u protivnom svaki profesor, čim zasjedne na funkciju na sveučilištu, morao odustati od svoje znanstvene karijere.
„Svaki dekan i svaki rektor u tom bi smislu mogao biti u sukobu interesa. To bi značilo da bih se odmah, čim prihvatim neku takvu funkciju, morao odreći znanstvenosti. S druge strane nitko ne može biti rektor a da istovremeno nije znanstvenik i profesor. To pitanje je stoga contradictio in adjecto i pomalo je zločesto. Ono se koristi za napade na ljude i za njihovo isključivanje iz mehanizama potpore. Sukobi interesa postali su sada velikom temom. No oni se jednostavno mogu rješavati isključivanjem ljudi iz postupka odlučivanja. Ja osobno nisam imao pojma da su mi sredstva odobrena jer nisam sudjelovao u tom procesu“, rekao je tada Boras.
Tekst se nastavlja ispod oglasa
Komentar rektora zatražili smo i u četvrtak ujutro, međutim, nismo ga dobili. Čim stigne, objavit ćemo i njegovu reakciju.moge Profile Blog Joined January 2011 United States 124 Posts Last Edited: 2012-05-23 16:29:17 #1
Last night I gave a presentation about how I created iHearteSports.com using the Lean Startup Methodology. I was only allocated 5 minutes so I had to talk fast!
Lean Startup methodology was created by a guy names Eric Reis. His theory builds upon the programming methodology of 'Agile'; Lean is to business what Agile is to programming.
Agile development is all about cycles, or iterations; make a small change, push that change to your site; make another small change, and on and on it goes. Do tiny things just do a LOT of them. Agile is basically chunking your work but each chunk should be, essentially, a finished product.
Lean Methodology
Lean methodology is this Agile system placed into a business framework. Traditionally, business have huge lead-in time before they launch or open for business. They have business plans, finacials, projections, marketing materials, press releases, and websites that have to be pixel perfect before they are opened to the public. Their needs to be alpha releases and beta testers and, oh, did I mention the NDA's you need to sign just to hear what my business does? Lean methodology puts all the traditional business crap right where it belongs; in the trash!
Lean is all about the MVP. What is the Minimum Viable Product that I can launch with? What is the absolute minimum I can do to 'go live' with my site? We don't do this because we are lazy, we do this because we want to get to the data as fast as possible.
Richard Feynman said that science relies on experimentation. If your hypothesis isn't supported by your experimentation then your hypotheses is wrong. Period. Full stop. Lean Methodology wants to get to that experimentation phase as soon as possible. Why spend 6 months building and nurturing a project based on the hypotheses that people will actually want/need/buy/use something just to find out after thousands of dollars and months of work that your theory was flawed? This is silly. Building an MVP product gets you to the data, fast! Be willing to fail fast because in business, like science, failing just means it's time for another hypotheses.
Build Measure Learn
iHearteSports started with the hypotheses that people wanted to buy eSports related products. To test that assumption I followed the simple cycle of Build, Measure, Lean. My MVP was 4 stickers. So I Built (made) 4 stickers. I then sold those stickers and Measured the success of those sales. Based on the data of sales I Learned that, yes, people want eSports related products. In just 5 weeks and a few hundred dollars I proved my original hypotheses enough to encourage me to continue developing new products and expanding beyond just selling stickers.
By using an MVP (stickers) and the Build, Measure, Lean cycle I saved myself a huge amount of time, energy and money.
In the video I go into more detail of our MVP and how we have expanded from 4 stickers to 40 and, soon, into a vast array of eSports related products all using the MVP and Build Measure Learn cycle.
Hope you dig it!
GG,
Jason
follow me @JasonTugman
Last night I gave a presentation about how I created iHearteSports.com using the Lean Startup Methodology. I was only allocated 5 minutes so I had to talk fast!Lean Startup methodology was created by a guy names Eric Reis. His theory builds upon the programming methodology of 'Agile'; Lean is to business what Agile is to programming.Agile development is all about cycles, or iterations; make a small change, push that change to your site; make another small change, and on and on it goes. Do tiny things just do a LOT of them. Agile is basically chunking your work but each chunk should be, essentially, a finished product.Lean methodology is this Agile system placed into a business framework. Traditionally, business have huge lead-in time before they launch or open for business. They have business plans, finacials, projections, marketing materials, press releases, and websites that have to be pixel perfect before they are opened to the public. Their needs to be alpha releases and beta testers and, oh, did I mention the NDA's you need to sign just to hear what my business does? Lean methodology puts all the traditional business crap right where it belongs; in the trash!Lean is all about the. What is theinimumiableroduct that I can launch with? What is the absolute minimum I can do to 'go live' with my site? We don't do this because we are lazy, we do this because we want to get to the data as fast as possible.Richard Feynman said that science relies on experimentation. If your hypothesis isn't supported by your experimentation then your hypotheses is wrong. Period. Full stop. Lean Methodology wants to get to that experimentation phase as soon as possible. Why spend 6 months building and nurturing a project based on the hypotheses that people will actually want/need/buy/use something just to find out after thousands of dollars and months of work that your theory was flawed? This is silly. Building an MVP product gets you to the data, fast! Be willing to fail fast because in business, like science, failing just means it's time for another hypotheses.iHearteSports started with the hypotheses that people wanted to buy eSports related products. To test that assumption I followed the simple cycle of Build, Measure, Lean. My MVP was 4 stickers. So I(made) 4 stickers. I then sold those stickers andthe success of those sales. Based on the data of sales Ithat, yes, people want eSports related products. In just 5 weeks and a few hundred dollars I proved my original hypotheses enough to encourage me to continue developing new products and expanding beyond just selling stickers.By using an MVP (stickers) and the Build, Measure, Lean cycle I saved myself a huge amount of time, energy and money.In the video I go into more detail of our MVP and how we have expanded from 4 stickers to 40 and, soon, into a vast array of eSports related products all using the MVP and Build Measure Learn cycle.Hope you dig it!GG,Jasonfollow me @JasonTugman gentle lover of esports - Product Manager for http://iHearteSports.com
Kukaracha Profile Blog Joined February 2011 France 1954 Posts #2 Haha, I believe that this was the methodology used in France by a certain Mr. Breton to save France Telecom. It also led to many employees diving down the depths of depression and some of them suiciding.
It could be unrelated, but it's the first thing that popped to my mind Le long pour l'un pour l'autre est court (le mot-à-mot du mot "amour").
mOnion Profile Blog Joined August 2009 United States 5349 Posts Last Edited: 2012-05-23 16:37:08 #3 this is pretty interesting stuff, unfortunately I can see this type of business startup working much better in programming than it would in a typical entrepreneurial venture since there are generally much larger capital investments. that's why the large startup times are needed, because you can't just invest millions of dollars on an idea without crunching a shitton of number. so basically the 1k you set aside for buying stickers is less of a real business, more of a hobby that makes money, for now!
that being said, very excited with what you're doing, hope it works out!
edit: you might actually want to hybrid, and do the small startup thing for now, and later when you want to expand and do mice, keyboards, w/e, then go to a lender and say "hey look at this thing, its already working, gimme some money and we'll make it very work". just a thought. at that point a legitimate business plan would be necessary though. ☆★☆ 7486!!! Join the Ban mOnion Anti-Trolling Initiative! - Caller | "on a scale of machine to 10, how bad is that Zerg?" - LZgamer | you are the new tl.net bonjwa monion, congrats - Rekrul | "Cheeseburgers dynamite lilacs" - Chill
Torte de Lini Profile Blog Joined September 2010 Germany 30667 Posts #4 Awesome stuff :B https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
OrD_SC2 Profile Joined February 2012 United States 246 Posts #5 Nice post/presentation. How do you feel about designing and producing promo type products for (small/online) SC2 tournaments? Baldie disapproved of my last status, TT
Dahkar Profile Joined May 2011 United States 13 Posts #6 Love it. Especially coming from a start up background I've seen this in action day in and day out. This video feels necessary!
cmen15 Profile Blog Joined December 2010 United States 1508 Posts #7 I really love when people bring up macro or micro in a business conversation, I just cant stop myself from laughing. Very nice write up sir! Greed leads to just about all losses.
TheRealNanMan Profile Blog Joined November 2010 United States 1409 Posts #8 Awesome post! I really enjoy reading how you used and continue to use these concepts! Sc2 Caster | Host of Sc2 Up & Coming | The Godfather of Team LXG | Youtube.com/NanMan | Twitch.tv/TheRealNanMan | Twitter.com/TheRealNanMan | Twitter.com/Sc2UPandComing
felisconcolori Profile Blog Joined October 2011 United States 6166 Posts #9 Would this be in any way related to Lean Six Sigma?
Just wondering. It seems like a pretty basic, common sense way to start a business without a lot of capital - assuming one doesn't overemphasize any part of the cycle. For example, don't think so much that you can't actually develop your MVP. Don't measure so much that the avalanche of data prevents you from learning the important parts. And, of course, don't try to build more than you sustain too quickly.
I am familiar with government operations, which very quickly can get stuck measuring everything to death, continuously trying for perfection on everything the first time every time and doing everything at the same time, and ballooning out of all proportion to the actual need. Yes, I email sponsors... to thank them. Don't post drunk, kids. My king, what has become of you?
moge Profile Blog Joined January 2011 United States 124 Posts #10
@Dahkar That video is awesome!
@felisconcolori yep, exactly. Sigma Six, as you know, is a thing unto itself. Lean Sigma is based on the ideas of Lean Methodology. Totally agree about the avalanche. One bit I left out is that as you build, and as you measure you have clear goals of what you are going to build and what you are going to measure. Otherwise, yes, you end up with a government program
The ideas of Lean have been around for a long time but Eric was just the guy who formalized a lot of the thinking into a book and has really championed the ideas with the startup community -- which is a prime candidate for Lean as we often have little to no money as we bootstrap pre-investors. @OrD_SC2 we don't really do event specific stuff right now but PM me with what you are doing and I'll see if we can't help you out somehow.@Dahkar That video is awesome!@felisconcolori yep, exactly. Sigma Six, as you know, is a thing unto itself. Lean Sigma is based on the ideas of Lean Methodology. Totally agree about the avalanche. One bit I left out is that as you build, and as you measure you have clear goals of what you are going to build and what you are going to measure. Otherwise, yes, you end up with a government programThe ideas of Lean have been around for a long time but Eric was just the guy who formalized a lot of the thinking into a book and has really championed the ideas with the startup community -- which is a prime candidate for Lean as we often have little to no money as we bootstrap pre-investors. gentle lover of esports - Product Manager for http://iHearteSports.com
Mawi Profile Joined August 2010 Sweden 4303 Posts #11 allways love your videos and that micro sticker is seriously siiiiick, amazing writeup! Forever Mirin Zyzz Son of Zeus Brother of Hercules Father of the Aesthetics
LuckyFool Profile Blog Joined June 2007 United States 8992 Posts #12 Jason you rock! Great talk/info.
Sumahi Profile Blog Joined January 2012 Guam 5604 Posts #13 Love the stickers! Startale <3, ST_July <3, HongUn <3, Savior <3, Gretorp <3, Nada <3, Rainbow <3, Ret <3, Squirtle <3, Bomber <3
Marou Profile Blog Joined April 2010 Germany 1306 Posts #14 Nice presentation and solid advice! The tungman always delivers. twitter@RickyMarou
MightyAtom Profile Blog Joined June 2004 Korea (South) 1896 Posts #15 Very cool! Administrator -I am the universe- Morihei Ueshiba
fabiano Profile Blog Joined August 2009 Brazil 4640 Posts #16
Congratulations, hope you succed even more Really nice presentation man, seriously, that was really really good.Congratulations, hope you succed even more "When the geyser died, a probe came out" - SirJolt
HeavOnEarth Profile Blog Joined March 2008 United States 6627 Posts Last Edited: 2012-05-24 05:15:55 #17 if you're purely into just esports and such, the IPL event at las vegas viewers actually had more from League of Legends.
since you mentioned the 3million unique viewers i had to laugh a bit if u truly believe that is purely starcraft
otherwise congrats to putting in the effort with a simple idea and for starting so quickly, with very minimum on expenses as well. a site for 200$? Fucking steal lol
i dont know why you are going into keyboards and mic and such though. there are many companies already that do that, unless you'll just be working for them, in which case best of luck.
But id probably do something like.. tshirts. Like at MLG anahiem, make a t shirt for that event, or IPL 5 etc, since you already have teams that you're working with, i would rather have a cheap tshirt.. over a sticker. (just saying)
cheap is important because barely anyone is gonna spend over 20$ on a tshirt, even if its one they really like.
"come korea next time... FXO house... 10 korean, 10 korean"
Jinsho Profile Joined March 2011 United Kingdom 3057 Posts #18 The buzzwords are strong with this one.
moge Profile Blog Joined January 2011 United States 124 Posts #19 @HeavOnEarth Yes, the numbers were LoL and SC2 however it was not worth explaining to a crowd that really has no clue - or care - about the RTS/Moba scene.
We will be working with existing manufacturers
gentle lover of esports - Product Manager for http://iHearteSports.com
haduken Profile Blog Joined April 2003 Australia 7138 Posts #20 Hey OP I want to buy your stickers. Any car stickers?
URL thanks. Rillanon.au
1 2 Next AllResearchers have what they say is the first direct proof of a very old idea: that when we use a tool — even for just a few minutes — it changes the way our brain represents the size of our body. In other words, the tool becomes a part of what is known in psychology as our body schema, according to a report published in the June 23rd issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.
“Since the origin of the concept of body schema, the idea of its functional plasticity has always been taken for granted, even if no direct evidence has been provided until now,” said Alessandro Farnè of INSERM and the Université Claude Bernard Lyon. “Our series of experiments provides the first, definitive demonstration that this century-old intuition is true.”
In the new study, Farnè, Lucilla Cardinali, and their colleagues reasoned that if one incorporates a used tool into the body schema, his or her subsequent bodily movements should differ when compared to those performed before the tool was used.
Indeed, that is exactly what they saw. After using a mechanical grabber that extended their reach, people behaved as though their arm really was longer, they found. What’s more, study participants perceived touches delivered on the elbow and middle fingertip of their arm as if they were farther apart after their use of the grabbing tool.
People still went on using their arm successfully following after tool use, but they managed tasks differently. That is, they grasped or pointed to object correctly, but they did not move their hand as quickly and overall took longer to complete the tasks.
It’s a phenomenon each of us unconsciously experiences every day, the researchers said. The reason you were able to brush your teeth this morning without necessarily looking at your mouth or arm is because your toothbrush was integrated into your brain’s representation of your arm.
The findings help to explain how it is that humans use tools so well.
“We believe this ability of our body representation to functionally adapt to incorporate tools is the fundamental basis of skillful tool use,” Cardinali said. “Once the tool is incorporated in the body schema, it can be maneuvered and controlled as if it were a body part itself.”
The authors include Lucilla Cardinali, INSERM, UMR-S 864, Bron, France, Université Claude Bernard Lyon, Lyon, France, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital Neurologique, Lyon, France, Francesca Frassinetti, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Claudio Brozzoli, INSERM, UMR-S 864, Bron, France, Université Claude Bernard Lyon, Lyon, France, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital Neurologique, Lyon, France, Christian Urquizar, INSERM, UMR-S 864, Bron, France, Université Claude Bernard Lyon, Lyon, France, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital Neurologique, Lyon, France, Alice C. Roy, Université Claude Bernard Lyon, Lyon, France, CNRS, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, L2C2, UMR 5230, Bron, France; Alessandro Farnè, INSERM, UMR-S 864, Bron, France, Université Claude Bernard Lyon, Lyon, France, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital Neurologique, Lyon, France.Author: Bruce Byfield
After 18 months of widespread consultation with community and corporate interests, the third versions of the GNU General Public License (GPL) and GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) were released one year ago on 29 June 2007. In November, they were joined by the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL). Looking back at these licenses today, observers of free and open source software (FOSS) judge them a modest success, and credit them with continuing to educate people about free software.
Figures on adoption of the GPL family vary somewhat, depending on whom you talk to. According to Doug Levin, president and CEO of Black Duck Software, a company that tracks open source code, 2,476 projects are now using the third version of the GPL, 358 are using the LGPL, and 72 the AGPL. Theresa Bui, vice president of marketing for Palamida, a firm with a similar mission, gives roughly similar figures of 2,271 for the GPL, 261 for the LGPL, and 100 for the AGPL. The difference in the figures is probably explained by the fact that Black Duck's figures include planned transitions to the licenses, while Palamida's does not. Palamida's higher figures for the AGPL are probably due to Palamida's recent interest in the license, as evidenced by its blog.
In addition, Palamida tracks figures for projects that use a version of the GPL that contain a clause allowing contributors to use version 2.1 or later of the license (which includes, of course, version 3.0). These figures are 6,467 for the GPL and 372 for the LGPL. Since the AGPL was not in widespread use until the third version, it is not included in these figures.
Despite the difference in figures, both Black Duck and Palamida agree on the overall trends. Both agree that, taking all versions and variants of the GPL as a single unit, they account for about 70% of all the free licenses in use. Moreover, both agree that the adoption rate for the third versions of the GPL and LGPL remain steady at about 220 per month, and that this growth does not seem to have come at the expense of the second versions. Both expect these trends to continue with little change for the rest of 2008. Neither expects the third versions to overtake the second ones any time soon.
The major difference in adoption rates comes with the AGPL. Levin is cautious about talking about trends with AGPL, pointing out that it has only been out for six months. He says only that "there has been some pick up on the adoption of the AGPL." By contrast, Bui says that AGPL adoption "is really starting to take off." She predicts another 50 projects will be using the license by August, and describes this estimate as "incredibly conservative." She goes on to say that the AGPL is causing far more excitement than the latest versions of the GPL or LGPL, most likely because it received less attention in the consulting process that produced the third versions, and therefore came as more of a surprise.
By contrast, Bui says that the slow but steady adoption rates of the GPL and LGPL third versions was predictable. Instead of rushing to switch to the newest licenses, she says, "Software projects have been just chugging along in their old, familiar lifecycles, and, when new versions were ready, they converted to GPLv3."
One noticeable trend in adoption of the third versions is that projects and companies that opposed them or were neutral during the consultation process do not seem to have changed their minds. "It seems that people who had significant qualms about it a year ago haven't moved from them," says Bui. As a result, while some prominent companies and projects have moved to the third versions, including SugarCRM, Sun Microsystems, and OpenOffice.org, others, equally influential, have not, including the Linux kernel and MySQL.
The outspoken resistance by Linux kernel developers that was so highlighted during the consultation process may be slowing the adoption rate. "The fact that the kernel has not adopted GPLv3 is a significant part of any group's decision not to adopt," says Bui.
Still, both Bui and Levin see the third generation of the GPL family as being steady, if unspectacularly successful. "We see no signs of trends increasing or decreasing for the rest of the year," says Bui. As for the second generation, she predicts that "it will not, in the next two years, lose its position as the number one license."
Similarly, Levin says, "I believe that the GPL will have an average increase of about 10% per month over the next year. What that means is that there will be some 6,000 projects using the licenses a year from now. It will continue to grow and continue to be a factor in the mix of licenses, but the other licenses will continue to be used."
Another measure of success
However, statistics are only one way to measure the licenses' success, as Peter Brown, executive director of the Free Software Foundation, emphasizes. While Brown says he is "happy with the rate of adoption," he suggests that the more important proof of the licenses' success is their ability to educate free software users and "prevent free software from being made proprietary. In that sense, we are very happy about it."
Nor is Brown unduly disturbed that the second versions remain the dominant ones, even though they offer less protection than the third ones. "It's not as if there's been a move away from the GPL," he notes. "It's the same GPL, in a sense."
Instead, Brown suggests that the consultation process and the third versions themselves "have helped the conversation about free software progress." The fact that large sections of the FOSS community were consulted about the wording of the new licenses helped both to educate people about the issues surrounding them, and to give them a stake in the process.
In addition, the Free Software Foundation has made considerable efforts to educate users about the licenses, such as its page about the advantages of the third version.
These suggestions are supported by Bui's observations at client sites of people using their knowledge of the GPL licenses to help plan product lifecycles. "That's due to the good work of the FSF," she says. "They have done a really good job of educating people about the GPL and raising their awareness."
Brown also suggests that the lack of legal challenges to the third versions may be a measure of their success, although he admits that they may be too recent to be contested, and that the second versions have not received many challenges, either. But he credits the consultation process with improving the legal language of the licenses, as well as making clear from the number of people involved in the consultation just how large a community any potential violators would be taking on.
Still another factor may be that the technology field has caught up with the licenses. When the licenses were being drafted in 2006-07, lockdown technologies were just starting to appear, so the language to prevent them was seen as unnecessarily radical. Now, with examples like the iPhone, such provisions are starting to seem far-sighted.
"The main thing is, we're satisfied that the changes that we've made seem to have done their job," Brown says.
Future measures of success
A year after third versions began to be released, an absolute judgment of their success is still impossible. No comparison can be made with the success of the second versions after their release in 1991, because the free software community and the pressures upon it have changed so drastically since then.
For another thing, the licenses remain a work in progress. One of the changes in the third version is greater allowance for exceptions -- special clauses that make small modifications to the basic GPL license. Brett Smith, FSF compliance engineer, is still working with the community to modernize and improve exceptions for the third generation. "GPLv3 came out on a Friday, and I came in Monday and started working on the exceptions," Smith says. A year later, they still occupy much of his time, but their effectiveness will be a major factor in how well the licenses themselves function.
It will take several years to see exactly how good a job the third versions do of "futureproofing free software," as Brown puts it. He suspects a major test will be the ability of the AGPL to create and safeguard free network appliances. Nor does he rule out the eventual need for a fourth generation of licenses in response to the discoveries of new loopholes.
For now, the only measure of success is that the third generation of the GPL family seems to be holding its own. It has not replaced the second generation, as many might have assumed it would when the process of creating it first began in 2006. Still, if counted separately from the second generation, in a year it has become the seventh most popular free license, according to Black Duck's statistics.
As Brown points out, "GPLv3 is probably the most adopted license in the last year. And it seems to achieve its aims thus far." For any other license, this performance would be a runaway success. It is only by comparison with the dominance of the second version of the GPL licenses that the success of the third versions might seem disappointing.
But the ultimate success of the third generation GPL, and the question of whether it will replace the second generation or continue to coexist with it, remain almost as uncertain today as they were a year ago.Sydney's ANZ Stadium may be the venue of another World Cup qualification triumph after it was named to host matches set to determine Australia's participation at Russia 2018.
The Socceroos will face Syria at the 83,000-seat stadium in the second leg of their Asian playoff on October 10, five days after the first game likely to be in Malaysia.
Ange Postecoglou's Socceroos will play Syria in Sydney. Credit:AP
Should Australia progress from the two-match tie, they will play their final qualification match - also the second of two legs - at the Olympic stadium against the fourth-placed CONCACAF team on November 14.
ANZ Stadium was the scene of jubilation for Australian soccer in November 2005 when John Aloisi slotted the decisive penalty to give the Socceroos a shootout victory over Uruguay for a place at the 2006 World Cup.Like most OEMs, HTC likes to lock down the devices it sells to the general public, but maybe you like a little more freedom. That means an exploit is required to get s-off status. The new Firewater S-Off tool can manage that for any (or at least very nearly any) HTC device, even newer HTC One phones.
The tool comes courtesy of developers beaups and fuses, and it's completely free for personal use. Just download the files and get to work. The website has a full walkthrough of the process. There are some prerequisites that need to be taken care of first, though. Here is what that entails...
Prerequisites Working adb on your PC. Yes, that means OS X, linux, Windows, etc. are all supported. HTC drivers installed and working
HTC sync removed (not closed – REMOVED )
) All other phone software removed or disabled (Samsung Kies, PDANet, etc.) A working internet connection ON YOUR DEVICE - wifi, 3g, 4g, etc. are all supported. There is no way around this requirement, don’t ask. USB debugging enabled on your device Your device must be HTCDEV unlocked/rooted or have a working temproot. A temproot that works with many modern (not all) HTC devices is provided below. Do not attempt to run firewater from a terminal emulator on your device. You MUST use adb along with a PC. A supported device. firewater *should* work with most modern HTC devices, including (but not limited to) the htc one, droid dna, one s, one max, and many others.
The commands you have to enter don't look too complicated, but you're always taking a risk with this kind of operation. Note, this closed-source exploit is only for unlocking and getting s-off, which allows you to flash anything you want to the device. Rooting can be done if you like, but that's not the point of the tool.
[Firewater S-Off, Twitter – Thanks, Justin]Welcome to the “HERE WE ARE: The History of Experimental Cinema” Project!
What would a history of experimental/avant-garde cinema look like in which we *solely* explore the contributions of women, non-binary, trans and genderqueer filmmakers? Who would you want to see included in such a compendium? (Recent history included here too! And not just straight white women…)—
I am working to create an online, editable, ongoing, living, growing compendium / digital zine that explores the rich history of experimental cinema. You are invited to take part in the process!
Ways to Get Involved:
1. Adding more names to the compendium! You can check out the growing google doc excel sheet, and add names HERE.
To add a name: simply add a name at the bottom of column A. Then, right click column A and choose “Sort Sheet A –> Z” so that the column gets back in alphabetical order by first name.
2. Signing up to write a digital zine “page” on (a) filmmaker(s) of your choosing! Anyone is welcome to volunteer their time and labor to create a write-up on the history and major contributions of the women, non-binary, trans and genderqueer filmmakers on this list. Ideally your write-up will be at least 3-4 paragraphs. (If the filmmaker is alive, please reach out to them and let them know you’re interested in writing about them for this project. You could also decide to do an interview with them for your zine page!) Bibliographies and/or additional resources/links for your zine page are encouraged (so that folks may know where they can access more info about your filmmaker!). Cis men are welcome and encouraged to participate in this labor too, especially since the rest of us have been putting in the work of making our own labor visible since the beginning of time. However: women, non-binary, trans and genderqueer folks’ are to the front! (If you notice a cis-man has chosen someone you’d like to write on, simply email them and let them know you’d like to instead.) You are welcome to contribute drawings, collages, gifs, and other artistic media you might be inspired to create (remember, think “digital zine”), in addition to your write-up. I also encourage you to include links to their vimeo pages, distro sites, websites, etc. (Also: you’re allowed to write your own page on yourself and your work too! Don’t be shy!)
How to sign up: Write your name in Column B next to the filmmaker of your choosing. Write your email address in Column C. Then, work on your write-up/ zine-page! Send a finished word doc or pdf and other related or attached media to Kelly Gallagher at kelly@purpleriot.com. Kelly will then work to begin compiling the digital zine which will be made available free on this site.
There is no due date for digital zine page submissions! Submissions are rolling!March 26, 2013: A gay rights supporter waves a rainbow flag in front of the Supreme Court.Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images
When the Rev. David Weekley, a transgender clergy ordained in the United Methodist Church, attended school in the 1960s, he endured discrimination from peers, teachers and school administrators had on his mental and physical health. He told me this week:
Research conducted by Jody Herman of the Williams Institute at UCLA on gendered restrooms suggests that Weekley’s experiences may be common among transgender youth. “The top line finding on education is that 10 percent of transgender survey respondents |
laws, or graduated responses, around the world were not working, he said.
The paper found similar copyright regimes in France, Taiwan, South Korea and Britain were ineffective at reducing online copyright infringement, Hughes said.
"Three-strikes laws are a failed approach and if it's not working it should be scrapped."
The paper found Kiwis were simply switching from Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing sites to other methods such as cyber-lockers to obtain content. The law was hardly acting as an effective deterrent to reduce online copyright infringement, he said.
The paper's author, law lecturer Rebecca Giblin, said there was little to no evidence that graduated responses were effective in terms of reducing copyright infringements, maximising authorised use of material, or promoting a variety of creative materials.
"The analysis casts into doubt the case for [the law's] future international rollout and suggests that existing schemes should be reconsidered," the paper said said.
Hughes said New Zealand's law was of "dubious effectiveness".
With only 13 cases brought in front of the Copyright Tribunal, New Zealand should terminate the law and focus on more effective solutions, he said.
The Government had missed an opportunity to test the effectiveness of the Skynet law by announcing the delay of its anticipated copyright review, Hughes said.
The Government announced in July it had put a review of copyright laws on hold as it tried to sew up the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
A review of the controversial legislation, passed in 2008, had been promised within five years.
In an undated Cabinet paper, published in July by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Commerce Minister Craig Foss noted "significant public demand" for a review.
However, he said it would be "impractical" to go ahead before the TPP deal was concluded "and the outcome made public".
Hughes said the Government should reconsider starting the copyright review given similar reviews or changes in Australia, Canada and Britain.
The most effective way to reduce online copyright infringement was to support online legal options to access copyright, he said.
"More Government attention in this area would do more to support Kiwi artists than the ineffectual Skynet law."
The number of "Skynet" rulings issued by the Copyright Tribunal hit double figures in July.
So far, 17 Skynet rulings have been issued by the Copyright Tribunal, a tribunal spokesperson said.
Recorded Music NZ, formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, represents record labels and lays complaints and sends infringement notices under the Skynet law.
Recorded Music general counsel and head of government affairs Kristin Bowman said the legislation was working.
However, the cost of sending infringement notices to infringers was prohibitive and needed to be lowered, she said.
Recorded Music had sent thousands of infringement notices since the law came into effect, she added.
In contrast with the Monash University study, Bowman said there had been a drop in P2P infringing and in overall piracy.
"We consider a contributor is also the amazing array of legal online music options now available - some of which are free."$700m in profits go to The Beer Store owners every year says OCSA study
Details released today from a study conducted by University of Waterloo Associate Professor of Economics, Anindya Sen, claim that differences in the prices of identical products between Ontario and Quebec enables the foreign-owned Beer Store to capture as much as $700 million in “incremental profits” each year because of the near-monopoly on beer retailing it enjoys in Ontario.
The Beer Store is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev of Belgium, Molson Coors Brewing Company in the United States and Sapporo in Japan.
The study was sponsored by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, who are lobbying for extended alcohol sales in retail settings in Ontario.
“This study found that there are significant differences in average beer prices between Quebec and Ontario. Beer prices are an average of $9.50 per case or 27 percent higher in Ontario versus Quebec,” said Professor Sen. “These findings aren’t necessarily an argument to reduce beer prices, as there are arguments that higher prices play an important social policy role. But it raises the important question of whether through modernizing retailing the Ontario government could be benefiting more – and capturing more revenue – particularly in a period of large government deficits.”
“Professor Sen’s conclusions remind us why we need to have a serious discussion about Ontario’s outdated alcohol retailing system,” said Dave Bryans, CEO of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association. “We know that Ontariocan expand alcohol retailing to more private retailers and still earn the revenue it now receives from the LCBO – and more.”Some doctors are now reconsidering their notions about the causes of heart disease.
CT reconstruction showed that Egyptian scribe Hatiay, thought to be 40 to 50 years old, had carotid artery disease. (Photo: The Lancet) Story Highlights One-third of mummies from around the world had hardening of the arteries
Doctors say this could mean that hardening of the arteries is a natural part of aging
Avoiding tobacco can still dramatically reduce the risks of heart disease and cancer
A new study suggests that hardening of the arteries is an old problem.
Really, really old.
Researchers have found clogged arteries, or what's left of the arteries, in mummies from nearly 4,000 years ago.
The findings — from humans who lived thousands of years before the invention of Twinkies and curly fries — are leading some doctors to reconsider their notions about the causes of heart disease.
Doctors have long assumed that hardening of the arteries — officially known as atherosclerosis, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes — was a disease of modern life, caused by smoking, fatty foods and lack of exercise.
Authors of the new paper, published Sunday in The Lancet and presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in San Francisco, say they were shocked by their discovery.
Finding plaques in the arteries of ancient peoples suggests that it is "either a basic component of aging, or that we are missing something very important that is a cause of atherosclerosis," says co-author Gregory Thomas, medical director of MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute in Long Beach, Calif.
More than one-third of 137 mummies sent through a CT scanner had calcification in their arteries, suggesting hardening of the arteries.
Mummies came from around the world: ancient Egypt, where people deliberately preserved the bodies of kings; as well as Peru, the southwestern United States and the Aleutian Islands, near Alaska, where the corpses were naturally mummified by dry air and other conditions. In earlier studies, researchers also have found hardened arteries and arthritis in the famous "Ice Man," a 5,300-year-old mummy found in the Alps in 1991.
In some cases, the mummies' calcified plaques outlasted their arteries, the study says.
Atherosclerotic plaques "are basically a kind of inflamed rock," made of calcium, inflammatory cells and cholesterol, embedded in the wall of an artery, says Cam Patterson, chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who wasn't involved in the new study. When these plaques rupture, they cause inflammation and block blood vessels, leading to heart attacks and strokes.
Nearly 4.6 million Americans suffer from atherosclerosis, the leading cause of death in the developed world, the study says.
Researchers expected "that ancient cultures' diets were too good to develop atherosclerosis," Thomas says.
Researchers say they don't know why atherosclerosis was so common in the pre-industrial age.
It's possible that atherosclerosis is part of the natural aging process. It's also possible that humans who lived in the days before antibiotics and an understanding of germ theory dealt with chronic inflammation caused by frequent infections, Thompson says. Inflammation is known to contribute to atherosclerosis. For example, people with inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, tend to develop atherosclerosis 10 to 15 years earlier than normal, the study says.
Researchers note that ancient life could have been hard on the arteries in other ways. While these humans lived in a time before tobacco and industrial smokestacks, they typically cooked over open fires, the paper notes. In the Aleutian Islands, people lit and heated their underground homes with lamps made from seal and whale oil, which create high amounts of soot.
Male and female mummies had the same amount of plaque. The mummies' estimated ages range from 2½ years oldto more than 60 years old, with an average age of 36. Mummies of older people had more atherosclerosis.
On one hand, the findings suggest it's possible that older mummies simply had more time to accumulate arterial plaques.
But it's also possible that atherosclerosis serves as a marker for a better diet, says co-author Jagat Narula, a "paleocardiologist" and professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center. So, people who were better nourished were more likely to live into old age, but also more likely to develop arterial plaques.
These ancient peoples have passed their genes on to us.
"Remember that 6,000 years is only a blink of the eye in terms of evolution," says William A. Murphy, a professor of radiology at Houston's University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who was involved in imaging the Ice Man. "Contemporary humans are essentially identical to our 6,000-year-old ancestors."
The mummies' diets may not have been as healthy as most assume, Narula says. People in the Aleutian Islands were hunter-gatherers who ate a lot of fatty meat and blubber from seals and whales, along with berries, eggs and seafood, the study says.
But Egypt, Peru and the American Southwest were agricultural societies, the study says. Egyptians and Peruvians also domesticated animals, giving people a more steady supply of food, including eggs, Narula says.
Many modern Americans have embraced variations of the "paleolithic diet," assuming that ancient hunter-gatherers had a healthier, more balanced diet, says Marlene Zuk, a biologist at the University of Minnesota and author of "Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us About Sex, Diet and How We Live." These diets tend to exclude processed foods, as well as dairy and grains, which came into existence after people transitioned to agriculture.
Zuk says the new study suggests that embracing this kind of diet isn't enough to stave off heart disease. It's likely that our risk of disease is related to a combination of environment, lifestyle and genes, she says.
"Does that suggest we should just give up and gorge ourselves on steak?" Zuk asks. "No. But we often idealize some past where we all ate a certain thing, and assume that if we could just eat that way, then we'd all be healthier."
And while heart disease may be in our genes, it doesn't have to be in our future, Narula says. Plenty of studies still show that avoiding tobacco, eating healthy and exercising reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and cancer. Murphy notes that most of the decline in heart disease in recent decades is the result of ower smoking rates.
Narula says, "We should not promote the sentiment that this is an inevitable disease."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/Y8va7cStory highlights 5-year-old Johari is bitten in neck by male in her pride, zoo says
"You're watching it and you just can't believe your eyes," witness tells WFAA
Exhibit closed after Sunday attack; lionesses expected back on Monday
A lion at the Dallas Zoo bit and killed a lioness in their exhibit as visitors watched Sunday afternoon in an attack officials said they couldn't immediately explain.
The 5-year-old lioness, Johari, was bitten in the neck by one of the male lions in her pride around 2:15 p.m., the zoo said.
Dozens of zoo visitors saw the attack, CNN affiliates WFAA and KTXA reported.
"At first you think they're playing, and then you realize he's killing her, and... you're watching it and you just can't believe your eyes," witness Michael Henshaw told WFAA.
"The male lion that started it just had his mouth over her throat, and everyone thought they were playing at first," witness Jim Harvey told WFAA. 'But then they could see she was struggling."
The zoo said Johari died quickly. Witness Dylan Parker told WFAA that the attacking lion held Johari by the neck "for like 10 minutes... waiting until it quit moving."
The zoo said its keepers closed the exhibit after the incident and took the attacker and three other lions -- his brother and Johari's two sisters -- off the habitat.
Lynn Kramer, a veterinarian and the zoo's vice president of animal operations and welfare, said the attack was a "very rare and unfortunate occurrence."
"In my 35 years as a veterinarian in zoos, I've never seen this happen," he said.
The two surviving lionesses were expected to be put back onto the habitat on Monday, the zoo said. The zoo said the male lions won't be in the exhibit with the lionesses for now, WFAA reported.
Zoo staff said it wasn't clear why the attack happened, according to WFAA.
Cougar kills keeper at Oregon sanctuaryWith Amir Williams, Trey McDonald, and Anthony Lee all set to graduate following the 2014-2015 basketball season, it was important for Thad Matta and his staff to add a solid big man or two in their 2014 recruiting class. They came up with one in the form of Dave Bell – who is very raw – and wanted to add another.
Matta achieved this goal, but in a slightly different way when Virginia Tech center transfer Trevor Thompson committed to Ohio State following a strong visit to Columbus this weekend.
Thompson averaged 5.5 points and 4.7 rebounds, while playing 16.2 minutes per game for the Hokies as a freshman. He will have to sit out next year due to NCAA transfer rules, but will have three years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the coming season.
The 6'11, 220-pound center also seriously considered Indiana and Purdue before deciding Ohio State was the best place for him to play out the rest of his collegiate basketball career. He's originally from Indianapolis and will be closer to home after making the move from Blacksburg to Columbus.
Land-Grant Holy Land will try to catch up with Thompson to learn more about his decision to transfer to Ohio State in the coming days. Also be on the lookout for LGHL basketball analyst Sam Vecenie on what Thompson brings to the Buckeyes on the court.It seems like just around this time last year, we were celebrating the fact that one could now rent Blu-ray titles from Redbox machines. You knowthose giant, red, Coinstar-backed kiosks in supermarkets and retail stores that allow you to borrow physical copies of movies for a super-low nightly cost. Think of them as a mash-up between a Blockbuster and a vending machine.
Well, Redbox made a promise in April that video game rentals would soon join DVD and Blu-ray titles within its army of rental machines. And after completing a two-year test of gaming rentals across roughly 5,000 of its kiosks, Redbox officially launched gaming rentals across 21,000 of its 27,000 total rental systems this past Friday.
According to the company, games will carry the highest price tag of all of Redbox's rentals: $2 for a day's worth of playing, which is slightly higher than the $1.50 daily charge Redbox places on Blu-ray rentals or $1 for DVDs. Each of the company's kiosks will carry anywhere from 22 to 28 different gaming titles, but there's no indication as to how often the selection of games will shift around.
So why gaming? It's not an altruistic move by Redbox. In its two-year test of gaming rentals, the company actually found that kiosks offering games in addition to movie rentals hit anywhere from 10 to 15 higher revenues than those offering merely movies. The news couldn't come a better time for Redbox, either: Company fourth quarter revenues were down two percent from the previous year to $23.7 million, partly due to an overestimation that DVD rentals would find a stronger demand among consumers.
But don't blame Redbox entirely for that onemovie studios continued their push over the past year to delay new releases from hitting the company's kiosks. That's new releases as in retail releases, which stores carry exclusive rights to sell for 28 days before Redbox is allowed to stuff its red machines with the films. Critics of the service maintain that this is one of Redbox's key detractors: By the time a particular film hits the rental service, it's old news.
There's no indication whatsoever that consumers will be prohibited from playing the latest gaming titles, howevera cursory search of Redbox's online inventory confirms that fact. Redbox might not be able to pull in your favorite movie for a while, but at least you'll have a brand-new game to keep you busy while you wait.
For more from David, follow him on Twitter @TheDavidMurphy.
For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.I disagree, that will move modding from an amateur activity that anyone can get into and have fun with to a cutthroat competitive business with each modder jealously guarding their ideas and techniques instead of freely sharing as many do now. I am already seeing some of this in modders demanding that no one be allowed to use their mod or any part of it as a basis for a newer mod. or demanding 'donations' to improve their mods (not allowed on the Nexus)
Imagine if you are a modder who made a FREE reasonably popular mod that allows other people to use it or parts of it. Then a semi professional modder takes a portion of your mod and creates a mod using it - and is paid for your work. Will you make any more free mods? or any more mods at all? Or allow anyone to use any part of your work to make money without giving you a cut? There will be constant accusations of copyright infringement, demands for mods to be removed because they copied something in someone elses mod, and threats of lawsuits. The little guys will be driven away by the money grubbers.
This actually is a violation of the Bethesda EULA - but because Newell's Steam is a big business he will get away with something that Bethesda doesn't allow the little guys to do.
Result - modding as we know it destroyed by greed. Many modders will pull their mods and just retire because it won't be fun any more. I think Gabe may be a bit naive - or just greedy with this suggestion. He sees it as a way for Steam to make more money. and possibly to get better quality mods by having more professional programmers submit mods in the hope of making money - the reality will be most modders who do manage to get paid get a little beer money. While a very few pros get a bit more - but still not much. Then steam reserves those good mods as Steam only exclusives.
The Nexus created the mod market by making mods free for anyone. Steam is trying to find a way to make even more money by monetizing mods. When they pay a modder, they can make the mod a steam exclusive. That will force more users to go to steam for mods. Just as they have forced gamers to go to Steam for games. And if another site has that mod - they will get a take down from steams lawyers. Because by paying - Steam owns the mod, not the creator.
Some of the problems I see - say a modder makes a decent mod, then uploads it to a mods site where mods are free. then someone gets it there and sells it to steam. Do you think steam is going to punish the person they bought the mod from, or the person who actually made the mod but uploaded it free somewhere else? - Many modders already refuse to upload to Steam's workshop because steam is slow to admit they allow people to upload mods they got from other sites.By Murray Weiss, Wil Cruz
BROOKLYN — The garment salesman accused of gunning down three shopkeepers told investigators he killed the men on orders doled out by a foreign intelligence agency, sources said.
Salvatore Perrone, of Staten Island, confessed Wednesday to the killing spree after interrogators grilled him for more than 24 hours.
Perrone, who turned 64 Thursday, initially refused to discuss the murders, saying he couldn't say anything about them because he was a secret agent, sources said.
That's when the NYPD sent two Italian-speaking detectives posing as Italian special agents sent in from Rome to pretend to praise Perrone's work and get him to start talking about the killings, the sources added.
Once Perrone opened up, he told the would-be feds that he killed the shopkeepers — whom he knew through his work selling clothing in the garment industry — because he was acting on orders from the "Italian C.I.A.", adding that he expected to be paid $800,000 once he had completed his mission, sources said.
Perrone, who sources described as "delusional" and "nuts", did not explain any further motive for the killings, sources said.
Perrone was arrested after cops found the weapon he allegedly used in the killings — a.22 caliber sawed-off rifle with a laser light taped to it — and a duffel bag in his girlfriend's Brooklyn home.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the weapon was the same gun used in the three homicides.
Cops also found ammunition and a 12-inch kitchen knife with dried blood and two buck folding knives.
Perrone's alleged killing spree began on July 6 when authorities say he fatally shot Mohamed Galebi in his Bay Ridge shop. He then allegedly gunned down Isaac Kadare in his Bensonhurst shop on Aug. 2.
And on Nov. 16, authorities say Perrone shot Vahidipour Rahmatollah, 78, to death in his Flatbush boutique.
Sources said Perrone waited until his victims were alone to attack, and added his murder spree got increasingly more brazen over time. The location of his last attack on Flatbush was near the front of the store, which had a glass-front window easily visible from the street.
Authorities believe Perrone wasn't done killing. In a news conference Wednesday, Kelly said it was "reasonable to assume that he was going to continue doing this."
The salesman cased a fourth shop on Flatbush Avenue, but was interrupted by customers, sources said. The unidentified store owner there contacted cops after seeing a photo of a "person of interest" — a man cops dubbed "John Doe Duffel Bag" — circulated by the NYPD.
Yasmin Rahmatollah, the latest victim's daughter, said earlier Wednesday that she was struggling to understand all the information that was coming out about the person who killed her father.
"Whoever it is must be psychotic," she said.
With reporting by Joe Parziale.
Editors Note: An earlier version of this story said Perrone claimed to be an agent for the CIA. Sources later clarified that he claimed to be with the "Italian CIA."Kotaku East East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Buses tend tend to look like, well, buses. Not this one. It looks like a futuristic spacecraft. No wonder it's called "Star Fighter."
Japanese bus company Willer Travel has a fleet of overnight buses that transport people across Japan, whether that's from Osaka to Tokyo or other routes.
The company also has the Star Fighter, ready to take visitors on tours. Among them is a one-hour trip from Tokyo's Shinjuku to the Tsukuba Space Center, where Japan's version of NASA is based. Other trips are within Tokyo. This is less a traditional bus and more an amusement attraction—which is probably why Willer Travel calls the Star Fighter an "attraction bus."
And here's the front of the bus.
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Inside, the bus is decked out to look like a spaceship!
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An anime-style video greets travellers, and seats are outfitted with a joystick that is used to play games inside the vehicle.
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The roof glows spacey, giving the cabin an otherworldly feeling.
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Japanese sites Trendy and Dime previously checked out the Star Fighter bus. Other photos are from Twitter and Japanese blogs.
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Space man costume is optional.
Star Fighter [Official Site]
一度乗ってみたい!気分を満喫できる宇宙系バスツアー [Dime]
バスツアーで宇宙へ!? 体感型観光バス「スターファイター」の実力は？ [Trendy]
Photos: Dime, Trendy, number_sixxxxxx, a_tatukiti, HalfZero, BusMania
To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.
AdvertisementIn a message for the 2012 World Peace Day of January 1, Pope Benedict said that neither peace nor justice was obtainable if the objective norms of morality expressed in the Ten Commandments continue to be rejected.
He words represent another severe criticism of moral relativism, the humanistic creed that holds there can be no objective standard on which to base morality.
They come just months after the Pope told Nigel Baker, Britain's Ambassador to the Holy See, that the spread of the ideology was to blame for the riots that convulsed British cities over four days in August, saying it produced "frustration, despair, selfishness and a disregard for the life and liberty of others".
In his New Year's Day message, the Pontiff warned all societies that justice and peace will remain "words without content" unless they are informed instead by the natural moral law, the key precepts of which are expressed in the Ten Commandments.
He said that every person'must move beyond the relativistic horizon and come to know the truth about himself and the truth about good and evil'.
"Deep within his conscience, man discovers a law that he did not lay upon himself, but which he must obey," he said in his message, Educating Young People in Justice and Peace.
"Its voice calls him to love and to do what is good, to avoid evil and to take responsibility for the good he does and the evil he commits," he said.
"Thus, the exercise of freedom is intimately linked to the natural moral law, which is universal in character, expresses the dignity of every person and forms the basis of fundamental human rights and duties - consequently, in the final analysis, it forms the basis for just and peaceful coexistence."
The Pope said: 'The right use of freedom, then, is central to the promotion of justice and peace, which require respect for oneself and others, including those whose way of being and living differs greatly from one's own.
"This attitude engenders the elements without which peace and justice remain merely words without content: mutual trust, the capacity to hold constructive dialogue, the possibility of forgiveness, which one constantly wishes to receive but finds hard to bestow, mutual charity, compassion towards the weakest, as well as readiness to make sacrifices."
The Pope said that it was the task of education to form people in authentic freedom because when absolute individualism was promoted in its place a person 'ends up contradicting the truth of his own being and forfeiting his freedom'.
"On the contrary, man is a relational being, who lives in relationship with others and especially with God," he said. "Authentic freedom can never be attained independently of God."
Pope Benedict has taught the significance of the natural moral law throughout his seven-year pontificate.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this law is considered natural because it is part of the nature of a person, inscribed on every human heart enabling people to discern by reason good and evil, and truth from falsehood.
Pope Benedict ended his message by addressing young people directly. 'You are a precious gift for society,' he said.
"Do not yield to discouragement in the face of difficulties and do not abandon yourselves to false solutions which often seem the easiest way to overcome problems.
"Do not be afraid to make a commitment, to face hard work and sacrifice, to choose the paths that demand fidelity and constancy, humility and dedication. Be confident in your youth and its profound desires for happiness, truth, beauty and genuine love."Winning in politics isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
But how important a factor electability should be in a voter’s calculation remains very much in the eye of the beholder, leading to an active debate within the parties about who has the best chance to win next November — and how much it should matter.
That fight is played out every four years as the two parties pick their presidential nominees. The party establishment — and many members of the media — tend to focus heavily on electability while the party’s activist base prizes ideological alignment.
“Electability usually doesn’t matter to Republicans,” said Alex Castellanos, a senior Republican strategist. “All of us consultants can cite limitless examples of campaigns wrecked on the shoals of that false light.”
The question now is whether the deep distaste for President Obama among Republicans — from the major donors to the grass-roots activists — will make voters follow their heads, not their hearts.
It’s a dynamic that played out seven years ago when Democrats were choosing someone to end the much-maligned tenure of President George W. Bush.
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean spoke to the passion of Democrats and looked like a surefire nominee as the calendar turned to 2004. But when it came time to choose, Dean was passed over for Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), a far-less-beloved candidate within the party base but someone with the résumé— most notably his time in Vietnam — that seemed to match up best with Bush’s. (In the New Hampshire primary, 33 percent of voters said nominating someone who could beat Bush was of paramount importance, and 56 percent of that bloc chose Kerry.)
Fast-forward to today, when an incumbent widely reviled by the party out of power is seeking a second term and the electability question is again a subject of fierce debate.
Polling seems to suggest that electability is taking a back seat to ideology. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll that concluded early this month, 73 percent of Republican respondents said it was more important to them to support a candidate they agreed with on the issues, while just 20 percent said a candidate’s chances of winning mattered most.
That sort of question, however, may be slightly misleading. The primary election may not come down to picking between a pure ideologue and someone ideologically flawed but electable.
“In primaries, message always matters most,” said Heath Thompson, a Republican media consultant who is not aligned with a candidate. “But in the absence of compelling distinctions and clear choices, electability grows in voter relevance. If they all basically seem the same, why not vote for the guy you think can win?”
The central question of the race, then, is whether former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the most tested candidate in the GOP field and the one making the strongest appeal to electability, can blur the distinctions between himself, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain.
“Considering what’s at stake — the possibility of four more years of President Barack Obama’s ruinously wrongheaded ideas — electability is a key factor,” Tim Pawlenty, a former presidential candidate who has endorsed Romney, wrote in a Politico op-ed last month. “We have to win.”
Romney has largely — and successfully — played down his main liability among conservatives: his signing of a health-care bill that was used as the model for the national law Obama enacted.
And his effort to keep the focus on electability has been helped by Perry’s struggles to explain his relatively moderate immigration views and Cain’s stumbles over whether abortion should be legal.
One thing that could work against Romney, however, is the mounting evidence of Obama’s political vulnerability heading into 2012.
“Electability is really beatability this year,” Republican pollster John McLaughlin said. “They all want to beat Barack Obama in the election, and right now they think all their major candidates can do that.”
Mark McKinnon, who made ads for Bush’s presidential bids, put it even more succinctly: “If the economy stays the same or gets worse, Republicans could nominate Ron Paul and win.”
And that may be bad news for Romney.In a wide-ranging jailhouse interview with SEC Inspector General David Kotz, convicted swindler Bernard Madoffhis multi-billion-dollar fraud operation.
"It never entered the SEC's mind that it was a Ponzi scheme," Madoff said, because of "the reputation I had."
"They thought the likelihood of Madoff being a big criminal was probably not something that was realistic," said Paul Atkins, a former SEC Commissioner.
At the height of his career, Madoff was regarded as a financial genius, he even served as chairman of NASDAQ, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston.
In 2003, Madoff was sure he would be caught and was surprised when investigators did not check his accounts to see if he had actually traded stocks - which he had not.
It is accounting 101, Madoff told the inspector general, to look at DTC - Depositor Trust Commission - to discover a Ponzi scheme.
"With one phone call they could have brought the whole thing down," Atkins said.
"I worried every time," Madoff said in the interview. "I wish they caught me six years ago, eight years ago."
Atkins said part of the lesson is for investors to be more skeptical.
"They need to ask questions and in the Madoff case, there were not just red flags for the SEC, there were red flags for investors," Atkins said.
Boston accountant Harry Markopolos did ask questions, but his warnings to the SEC - that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme - were ignored.
Madoff described Markopolos as "a joke in the industry."
By last December, the joke was on Madoff when he admitted that his operation was fraudulent and had cost his clients billions of dollars.
Attorney Barry Lax says that Madoff's statement is one more reason the SEC should be held accountable.
"We're representing many victims against the SEC," Lax said. "We believe the sec was simply negligent in its investigations and examinations of Madoff's business."
In a related matter, on Tuesday, David Friehling, Madoff's accountant, is expected to enter a guilty plea on fraud charges. Prosecutors say Friehling never performed an audit of Madoff's company.A year-and-a-half after the largest ever leak of information to journalists — the Panama Papers — a new leak containing even more documents is being made public today.
The files expose a worldwide shadow economy worth trillions of dollars that owes its existence to the secrecy provided by tax havens.
The leak was obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a network of 382 journalists in 67 countries, including the Toronto Star and CBC/Radio-Canada.
Dubbed the Paradise Papers, the cache of 13.4 million records — almost two million more documents than the Panama Papers — includes files from two major offshore law firms and 19 corporate registries from traditional tax havens.
The 1.4 terabytes of detailed corporate records, including emails, memos, spreadsheets, correspondence and meeting minutes come from the hard drives of the some of the most prestigious firms in the secretive offshore world: Singapore-based Asiaciti Trust, Appleby, a law firm founded in Bermuda, and corporate services provider Estera, which operated as part of Appleby until last year.
Canadians are disproportionately represented in Appleby’s client list — there are 3,300 individuals and companies in all — outnumbered only by those from the U.S., U.K. and China. Among the prominent Canadians that appear in the documents are former Canadian prime ministers Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.
Mulroney sat on the board of Said Holdings, a Bermuda company controlled by Syrian-Saudi businessman Wafic Said. Said was a key intermediary in a British-Saudi oil-for-arms deal that led to a $400 million (U.S.) criminal fine for bribery in 2010 against British airplane manufacturer BAE. Mulroney’s lawyer said he is “proud” to have served on the board, and considers Said “a good friend.” Said said he is “proud of the role I played” in the arms deal.
Chrétien lobbied for an East African oil venture, which lists him as having received 100,000 options, the leaked records show. Chrétien confirmed he consulted for Madagascar Oil in 2007 but says he never received options.
Martin’s former shipping empire, Canada Steamship Lines, is one of Appleby’s “biggest clients,” according to a document in the leak. A written response from the company says that it complies with all “laws, rules and regulations of each jurisdiction in which they operate.”
Appleby’s reputation is as sterling as its client-base which includes some of the world’s wealthiest corporations and largest personal fortunes along with 127 politicians worldwide. Appleby was awarded offshore law firm of the year in 2010 and corporate law firm of the year in 2015. But internal documents reveal that it hasn’t always succeeded in keeping out questionable clients.
“Some of the crap we accept is amazing totally amazing,” state presentation notes prepared by Appleby’s director of compliance in 2011. “We have a current case where we are sitting on about 400K that is definitely tainted and it is not easy to deal with.”
“MONEY LAUNDERING IS A DIRTY CRIME,” screamed notes accompanying the same PowerPoint presentation. “THERE IS USUALLY ALWAYS A VICTIM AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PILE AND A RICH PERSON AT THE TOP.”
Much like the Panamanian law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers, Appleby’s files reveal how the corporate structures it sells facilitate offshore activities that keep billions of tax income beyond the reach of governments around the world.Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman lashed out Monday at France for its attempt to organize an international peace summit on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and urged France's Jews to come to Israel.
Haaretz reported Sunday that Israel fears that the French peace summit, set for January 15, will lead to an additional UN Security Council vote, this time focusing on the peace process.
"This is a modern version of the Dryefus trial," Lieberman said about the peace summitt, referencing the 19th-century case of a Jewish French military officer Alfred Dreyfus – an artillery officer of Jewish heritage whose conviction on trumped-up treason charges was criticized as having been motivated by anti-Semitism. The case created a schism in French society and he was later exonerated.
>> Get all updates on France's attempt to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians: Download our |
. And I find that I want to agree with every word of what you say here because, again, these claims are so hopeful. But I have a few quibbles. It’s interesting to go into this conversation hoping to be relieved of my doubts about your thesis. I’m hoping that you’ll perform an exorcism on my skepticism, such as it is.
DD: Sure. Well, I think the truth really is very positive, but I should say at the outset that there is one fly in the ointment, and that is that because the future is unpredictable, nothing is guaranteed. There is no guarantee that civilization will survive or that our species will survive, but there is, I think, a guarantee that we can, and also we know in principle how to.
SH: Before we get into your claims there, let’s start the conversation somewhere near epistemological bedrock. I’d like to ask a few questions designed to get to the definitions of certain terms, because you use words like “knowledge,” and “explanation,” and even “person” in novel ways in the book, and I want our listeners to be awake to how much work you’re requiring these words to do. Let’s begin with the concept of knowledge. What is knowledge, and what is the boundary between knowledge and ignorance, in your view?
DD: Yes, so there are several different ways of approaching that concept. The way I think of knowledge is broader than the usual use of those terms, and yet paradoxically closer to the commonsense use of the term, because philosophers have almost defined it out of existence. Knowledge is a kind of information. That’s the simple thing. It’s something which could have been otherwise and is one particular way, and the particular what it is, is that it says something true and useful about the world.
Now, knowledge is, in a sense, an abstract thing, because it’s independent of its physical instantiation. I can speak words which embody some knowledge, I can write them down, they can exist as movements of electrons in a computer, and so on—thousands of different ways. So knowledge isn’t dependent on any particular instantiation. On the other hand, it does have the property that when it is instantiated, it tends to remain so. So, let’s say, a piece of speculation by a scientist, which he writes down, that turns out to be a genuine piece of knowledge—that will be the piece of paper that he does not throw in the wastepaper basket. That’s the piece that will be published, and that’s the piece which will be studied by other scientists, and so on.
So it is a piece of information that has the property of keeping itself physically instantiated, causing itself to be physically instantiated once it already is. Once you think of knowledge that way, you realize that, for example, the pattern of base pairs in the DNA of a gene also constitute knowledge, and that in turn connects with Karl Popper’s concept of knowledge, which is knowledge that doesn’t have to have a knowing subject. It can exist in books abstractly, or it can exist in the mind, or people can have knowledge that they don’t even know they have.
SH: I want to get to the reality of abstractions later on, because I think that is very much at the core of this. But a few more definitions: What is the boundary between science and philosophy or other expressions of rationality, in your view? Because in my experience, people are profoundly confused by this, and many scientists are confused by this. I’ve argued for years about the unity of knowledge, and I feel that you are a kindred spirit here. How do you differentiate, or decline to differentiate, science and philosophy?
DD: Well, as you’ve just indicated, I think that science and philosophy are both manifestations of reason, and the real difference that should be uppermost in our minds between different kinds of ideas and between different ways of dealing with ideas is the difference between reason and unreason. But among the rational approaches to knowledge or different kinds of knowledge, there is an important difference between science and other things, like philosophy and mathematics.
Not at a really fundamental level, but at a level which is of great practical importance often: That is, science is the kind of knowledge that can be tested by experiment or observation. Now, I hasten to add that that does not mean that the content of a scientific theory consists entirely in its testable predictions. On the contrary, the testable predictions of a typical scientific theory are just a tiny, tiny sliver of what it tells us about the world. Now, Karl Popper introduced his criterion of demarcation between science and other things—namely, that science is testable theories, and everything else is untestable.
Ever since he did that, people have falsely interpreted him as a kind of positivist (he was really the opposite of a positivist), and if you interpret him like that, then his criterion of demarcation becomes a criterion of meaning. That is, he’s interpreted as saying that only scientific theories can have meaning.
SH: This is sometimes referred to as “verificationism.”
DD: Yes. So he’s called a falsificationist to distinguish him from the other verificationists. But of course he isn’t. It’s a completely different conception, and his philosophical theories themselves are philosophical theories, and yet he doesn’t consider them meaningless; quite the contrary. So that’s the difference between science and other things that comes up when people pretend to have the authority of science for things that aren’t science. But on the bigger picture, the more important demarcation is between reason and unreason.
SH: I want to go over that terrain you just covered a little bit more, because you made some points there that I think are a little hard for listeners who haven’t thought about this a lot to parse. So for instance, this notion that science reduces to what is testable. This belief is so widespread, even among high-level scientists, that anything else—anything which you cannot measure immediately—is somehow a vacuous claim. In principle, the only way to make a credible claim or even a meaningful claim about reality is to essentially give a recipe for observation that is immediately actionable. It’s an amazingly widespread belief.
So, too, is a belief in a bright line between science and every other discipline where we purport to describe reality. And it’s like the architecture of a university has defined people’s thinking. So the fact that you go to the chemistry department to talk about chemistry, and you go to the journalism department to talk about current events, and you go to the history department to talk about human events in the past—these separate buildings have balkanized the thinking of even very smart people and convinced them that all these language games are irreconcilable and that there is no common project.
I’ll just bounce a few examples off you that some of our listeners will be familiar with, but I think they make the point. Take something like the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Now, that’s a historical event. However, anyone who would purport to doubt that it occurred—anyone who says, “Actually, Gandhi was not assassinated. He went on to live a long and happy life in the Punjab under an assumed name”—would be making a claim about terrestrial reality that is at odds with the data. It’s at odds with the testimony of people who saw him assassinated and with the photographs we have of him lying in state. There’s an immense burden of reconciling this claim about history with the facts that we know to be true.
And the distinction is not between what someone in a white lab coat has said, or facts that have been brought into view in the context of a scientific laboratory funded by a National Science Foundation grant. It is the distinction between having good reasons for what you believe and having bad ones—and that’s a distinction between reason and unreason, as you put it. So one could say that the assassination of Gandhi is a historical fact, but it’s also a scientific fact.
It is just a fact, even though science doesn’t usually deal in assassinations, and you’re more a journalist or a historian when you talk about this sort of thing being true. It would be deeply unscientific at this point to doubt that it occurred.
DD: Yes. Well, I’d say that it’s deeply irrational to claim that it didn’t occur, yes. And I wouldn’t put it in terms of reasons for belief either. I agree with you that people have very wrong ideas about what science is and what the boundaries of scientific thinking is, and what sort of thinking should be taken seriously and what shouldn’t. I think it’s slightly unfair to put the blame on universities here. This misconception arose originally for quite good reasons. It’s rooted in the empiricism of the 18th century where science had to rebel against the authority of tradition and try to give dignity and respect to forms of knowledge that involved observation and experimental tests.
Empiricism is the idea that knowledge comes to us through the senses. Now, that’s completely false. All knowledge is conjectural, and it comes from within at first and is intended to solve problems, not to summarize data. But this idea that experience has authority, and that only experience has authority—false though it is—was a wonderful defense against previous forms of authority, which were not only invalid, but stultifying. So it was a good defense but not actually true. And in the 20th century, a horrible thing happened, which is that people started taking it seriously not just as a defense, but as being literally true, and that almost killed certain sciences. Even within physics, I think, it greatly impeded the progress in quantum theory.
So just to come to a little quibble of my own, I think the essence of what we want in science is good explanation, and there’s no such thing as a good reason for a belief. A scientific theory is an impersonal thing. It can be written in a book. One can conduct science without ever believing the theory, just as a good policeman or judge can implement the law without ever believing either of the cases for the prosecution or the defense, just because they know that a particular system is better than any individual human’s opinion.
And the same is true of science. Science is a way of dealing with theories, regardless of whether one believes them. One judges them according to whether they are good explanations. And there need not ever be any such process as accepting a theory, because it is conjectured initially, and takes its chances, and is criticized as an explanation. If, by some chance, a particular explanation ends up being the only one that survives the intense criticism that science has learned how to apply, then it’s not adopted at that point—it’s just not discarded.
SH: Right, right. I think we may be stumbling over a semantic difference in terms like “reasons” and “reasons for belief” or a “justification” for belief. I understand that you’re pushing back against this notion that we need to find some ultimate foundation for our knowledge, rather than this open-ended effort at explanation. But let’s table that for a second, because obviously your notion of explanation is at the core here. Again, I want to sneak up on it, because I don’t want to lose some of the detail with respect to the ground we’ve already covered.
Let’s come back to this notion of scientific authority. It seems to me there’s a lot of confusion about the nature of scientific authority. It’s often said in science that we don’t rely on authority, and that’s both true and not true. When push comes to shove, we don’t rely on it, and you make this very clear in your book. But we do rely on it in practice, if only in the interest of efficiency. So if I ask you a question about physics, I will tend to believe your answer, because you’re a physicist and I’m not. And if what you say contradicts something I’ve heard from another physicist—well then, if it matters to me, I will look into it more deeply and try to figure out the nature of the dispute.
But if there are any points on which all physicists agree, a non-physicist like myself will defer to the authority of that consensus. Again, this is less a statement of epistemology than it is a statement about the specialization of knowledge and the unequal distribution of human talent and, frankly, the shortness of every human life. We simply don’t have time to check everyone’s work, and we have to rely sometimes on faith that the system of scientific conversation is correcting for errors, self-deception, and fraud. Did I get myself out of the ditch there?
DD: Yes, yes, exactly. At the end, what you said was right. So you could call this authority. It doesn’t matter really what words we use, but every student who wants to make a contribution to a science is hoping to find something where every scientist in his field is wrong.
SH: Absolutely.
DD: So it’s not impossible to take the view that you’re right and every expert in the field is wrong. What happens when we consult experts, whether or not you use the word “authority,” it’s not quite that we think they’re more competent. I think when you refer to error correction, that hits the nail on the head. There is a process of error correction in the scientific community that approximates what I would use if I had the time, and the background, and the interest to pursue it there.
So if I go to a doctor to consult him about what my treatment should be, I assume that by and large the process that has led to his recommendation is the same as the process that I would have adopted if I had been present at all the stages. Now, it’s not exactly the same, and I might also take the view that there are widespread errors and widespread irrationalities in the medical profession. And if I think that, then I will adopt a rather different attitude. I may choose much more carefully which doctor I consult and how my own opinion should be judged against the doctor’s opinion in a case where I think that the error correction hasn’t been up to the standard I would want.
This is not so rare. As I said, every student is hoping to find a case of this in their own field. When I travel on a plane, I expect that the maintenance will have been carried out to the standards that I would use. Well, approximately to the standards that I would use—enough for me to consider that risk on the same level as other risks that I take just by crossing the road. It’s not that I’m sure. It’s not that I take their word for it in any sense. It’s that I have this positive theory of what has happened to get that information to the right place. That theory is fragile. I can easily adopt a variant of it.
SH: Yeah, and it’s also probabilistic. You realize that a lot of these errors are washing out, and that’s a good thing, but in any one case you may judge the probability of error to be high enough that you need to really pay attention to it. And often, as you say, that happens in a doctor’s office, where you’re not hoping to find it.
Again, I still picture us circling your thesis and not yet landing on it. Science is largely a story of our fighting our way past anthropocentrism, this notion that we are at the center of things.
DD: It has been, yes.
SH: We are not specially created: We share half our genes with a banana, and more than that with a banana slug. As you described in your book, this is known as the principle of mediocrity. And you summarize it with a quote from Stephen Hawking, who said, “We are just chemical scum on the surface of a typical planet that’s in orbit around a typical star, on the outskirts of a typical galaxy.” Now, you take issue with this claim in a variety of ways, but the result is that you come full circle in a way. You fight your way past anthropocentrism the way every scientist does, but you arrive at a place where people—or, rather, persons—suddenly become hugely significant, even cosmically so. Say a little more about that.
DD: Yes. Well, that quote from Hawking is literally true, but the philosophical implication he draws is completely false. One can approach this from two different directions. First of all, that chemical scum—namely us, and possibly things like us on other planets and other galaxies and so on—if it exists, to study it is impossible, unlike every other scum in the universe. Because that scum is creating new knowledge, and the growth of knowledge is profoundly unpredictable. So as a consequence of that, to understand this scum—never mind predict, but to understand it, to understand what’s happening here—entails understanding everything in the universe.
I give an example in the book: If the people at the SETI project were to discover extraterrestrial life somewhere far away in the galaxy, they would open their bottle of champagne and celebrate. Now, if you try to explain scientifically what are the conditions under which that cork will come out of that bottle, the usual scientific criteria that you use, of pressure and temperature and biological degradation of the cork and so on, will be irrelevant.
The most important factor in the physical behavior of that bottle is whether life exists on another planet. And in the same way, anything in the universe can affect the gross behavior of things that are affected by people. So in short, to understand humans, you have to understand everything. And humans, or people in general, are the only things in the universe of which that is true. So they are of universal significance in that sense. Then there’s the other way around. It’s also true that the reach of human knowledge and human intentions on the physical world is unlimited.
So we are used to having a relatively tiny effect on this small, insignificant planet, and to the rest of the universe being completely beyond our ken. But that’s just a parochial misconception, really, because we haven’t set out across the universe yet. And we know that there are no limits on how much we can affect the universe if we choose to. So in both those senses, there’s no limit to how important we are—by which I mean we and the ETs and the AIs, if they exist. We are completely central to any understanding of the universe.
SH: Once again, I’m struggling with the fact that I know how condensed some of your statements are, and I also know that it’s impossible for our listeners to appreciate just how much knowledge and conjecture is being smuggled into each one. So let’s just deal with this concept of explanation and the work it does.
First, you make a few points about explanation that I find totally uncontroversial and even obvious, but which are in fact highly controversial in educated circles. One is this notion that, as you say, explanation is really what lies at the bedrock of the scientific enterprise—the enterprise of reason, generally. Explanations in one field of knowledge potentially touch explanations in many other fields, even all other fields, and this suggests a kind of unity of knowledge. But you make two especially bold claims about explanation, which I do see some reason to doubt. And as I’ve said, I’d rather not doubt them because they’re incredibly hopeful claims.
I’ll divide these into the power of explanation and the reach of explanation. These may not be entirely separate in your mind, but there’s a distinct emphasis on each of these features.
You make what an extraordinary claim about explanation, which at first seems quite pedestrian. You say that there’s a deep connection between explaining the world and controlling it. Everyone understands this to some degree. We see the evidence of it all around us in our technology, and people have this phrase “Knowledge is power” in their heads. So there’s nothing so surprising about that. But you go on to suggest—and you did just suggest it in passing a moment ago—that knowledge confers power without limit, or it is limited only by the laws of nature. So you actually say that anything that isn’t precluded by the laws of nature is achievable, given the right knowledge. Because if something were not achievable, given complete knowledge, that itself would be a regularity in nature that could be explained in terms of the laws of nature. So there are really only two possibilities. Either something is precluded by the laws of nature, or it is achievable with knowledge. Do I have you right there?
DD: Yes, and that’s what I call the momentous dichotomy. There can’t be any third possibility. And I think you’ve given a very short proof of it right there.
SH: But to play Devil’s advocate for a moment: How isn’t this just a clever tautology, analogous to the ontological argument proving the existence of God? Many of our listeners will know that according to St. Anselm and Descartes and many others, you can prove the existence of God simply by forcing your thoughts about Him to essentially bite their own tails. For instance, I could make the following claim: I can form a clear and distinct concept of the most perfect possible being, and such a being must therefore exist, because a being that exists is more perfect than one that doesn’t. And I’ve already said I’m thinking about the most perfect possible being, so existence is somehow a predicate of perfection.
Now, of course, most people—certainly most people in my audience—will recognize that this is just a trick of language. It could be used to prove the existence of anything. I could say, “I’m thinking of the most perfect chocolate mousse. Therefore, it must exist, because a mousse that exists is more perfect that one that doesn’t. And I already told you that I’m thinking of the most perfect possible mousse.”
What you’re saying here doesn’t have the same structure, but I do worry that you could be performing a bit of a conjuring trick here. For instance, why mightn’t certain transformations of the material world be unachievable even in the presence of complete knowledge, merely by (and I realize you do anticipate this in your book, but I want you to flesh it out for the listeners), let’s say, a contingency of geography?
For instance, you and I are on an island, and one of our friends comes down with appendicitis. And let’s say you and I are both competent surgeons. We know everything there is to know about removing a man’s appendix, but it just so happens we don’t have any of the necessary tools, and everything on that particular island has the consistency of soft cheese. By sheer accident of our personal histories, there is a gap between what is knowable and in fact known and what is achievable. Even though there are no laws of nature that preclude our performing an appendectomy on a person, why mightn’t every space we occupy, just by contingent fact of our history, not introduce some gap of that kind?
DD: Well, there definitely are gaps of that kind, and they’re all laws of nature. For example, I am an advocate of the many-universes interpretation of quantum theory, which says that there are other universes which the laws of physics prevent us from getting to. There’s also the finiteness of the speed of light, which doesn’t prevent us from actually getting anywhere, but it does prevent us from getting anywhere in a given time. So if we want to get to the nearest star within a year, we can’t do so, because of the accident of where we happen to be. If we happened to be nearer to it, we could easily get there in a year.
And in your example, if there’s no metal on the island, then it could easily be that no knowledge present on that island could save the person, because no knowledge could transform the resources on that island into the relevant medical instruments. So that’s a restriction that the laws of physics apply because we are in particular times and places, and because the most powerful thing is that we don’t in fact have the knowledge to do most of the things we would ideally like to do.
But that’s completely different, I think, from what you’re imagining, which is that there might be some reason why, for example, we can never get out of the solar system. If getting out of the solar system were impossible, it would mean that there is some number, for example, some constant of nature—1,000 astronomical units, or something—that limits the other laws of nature we already know. Now, there might be other laws of nature. When you say, “How do we know there aren’t?” that’s a little bit—if I can turn your objection round the other way—like creationists saying, “How do we know that Earth didn’t start 6,000 years ago?”
There is no conceivable evidence that could prove that it didn’t, or that could distinguish the 6,000-year theory from a 7,000-year theory, and so on. There’s no way that evidence can be brought to bear on that. And that leads us to explanation again, which is another difference between my argument, which I think is valid, and the ontological argument for the existence of God. As you said, it’s a perversion of logic. The argument purports to use logic but then smuggles in assumptions like perfection entails existence, for example, to name a simple one. Whereas my proof, as it were, is an explanatory one.
It isn’t just “This must exist.” It’s that if this didn’t exist, something bad would happen. For example, the universe would be controlled by the supernatural, or the laws of nature would not be explanatory, or something of that kind, which I think is just leading to the supernatural in a different way. So the argument works because it’s explanatory. You can’t prove that it’s true, of course, but there isn’t a hole in it of the same kind as in the ontological argument.
SH: Okay. You’re saying that we could have a complete understanding of the laws of nature, and yet there could be many contingent facts about where we are—let’s say, our current distance from a star we want to get to—which would preclude our doing anything especially powerful with this knowledge. And you’re going to shuttle those contingent facts back into this claim that, well, this is just more of the laws of nature. These facts about us are regularities in the universe which are themselves explained by the laws of nature, and therefore we’re back to this dichotomy. There are the laws of nature, and there’s the fact that knowledge can do anything compatible with those laws.
In various thought experiments in your book, you make amazingly powerful claims about the utility of knowledge. So for instance, at one point you say that a region of empty space—a cube the size of the solar system on all sides—is more representative of the universe as it actually is, which is to say nearly a vacuum. We’re talking about a cube of intergalactic, space that has more or less nothing but stray hydrogen atoms in it. And you then describe a process by which that near vaccum could be primed and become the basis of the most advanced civilization we can imagine.
Please take us to deep space and spend a minute or two talking about how you get from virtually nothing to something. It’s a picture of the almost limitless fungibility of the universe based on the power of knowledge.
DD: Yes. So you and I are made of atoms, and that already gives us a tremendous fungibility, because we know that atoms are universal. The properties of atoms are the same in this cube of space that is millions of light-years away as they are here. So we aren’t talking about the power of knowledge to achieve things to control the world. We’re not talking about tasks like saving someone’s life with just the resources on an island, or getting to a distant planet in a certain time.
The generic thing that we’re talking about is converting some matter into some other matter. What do you need to do that? Well, generically speaking, what you need is knowledge. What has to happen is that this cube of almost empty space will never turn into anything other than boring hydrogen atoms unless some knowledge somehow gets there. Now, whether knowledge gets there or not depends on decisions that people with knowledge will make at some point. I think there is no doubt that knowledge could get there if people with knowledge decided to do that for some reason.
I can’t actually think of a reason, but if they did want to do that, it’s not a matter of futuristic speculation to know that it would be possible. Then it’s a matter of transforming atoms in one configuration into atoms in another configuration. And we’re now getting used to the idea that this is an everyday thing. We have 3-D printers that can convert generic stuff into any object, provided that the knowledge of what shape that object should be is somehow encoded into the 3-D printer. A 3-D printer with the resolution of one atom would be able to print a human if it was given the right program.
So we already know that, and although it’s in some sense way beyond present technology, it’s well within our present understanding of physics. It would be absolutely amazing if that turned out to be beyond what we know of physics today. The idea that new laws of physics would be required to make a printer is just beyond belief, really.
SH: So you start with hydrogen, and you have to get heavier elements in order to get to your printer.
DD: Yes. It has to be primed not just with abstract knowledge, but with knowledge instantiated in something. We don’t know what the smallest possible universal constructor is that is just a generalization of a 3-D printer—something that can be programmed either to make anything or to make the machine that would make the machine that would make the machine to make anything, etc. So one of those, with the right program sent to empty space, would first gather the hydrogen, presumably with some electromagnetic broom sweeping it up and compressing it and then converting it by transmutation into other elements, and then by chemistry into what we would think of as raw materials, and then using space construction (which we’re almost on the verge of being able to do) to build a space station. And then the space station to instantiate people, to generate the knowledge, to suck in more hydrogen and make a colony, and… Well, they’re not going to look back from there.
SH: Right. It’s a very interesting way of looking at knowledge and its place in the universe. Before I get onto the issue of the reach of explanation and my quibble there, I just want you to talk a little bit about this notion of spaceship Earth. I loved how you debunk this idea. There’s this idea that the biosphere is in some way wonderfully hospitable for us, and that if we built a colony on Mars or some other place in the solar system, we’d be in a fundamentally different circumstance—and a perpetually hostile one. That is an impressive misconception of our actual situation. You have a great quote where you say, “The earth no more provides us with a life-support system than it supplies us with radio telescopes.” Say a little more about that.
DD: Yes. So we evolved somewhere in East Africa in the Great Rift Valley. That was an environment that was particularly suited to having us evolve, and life there was sheer hell for humans. Nasty, brutish, and short doesn’t begin to describe how horrible it was, but we transformed it…or, rather, not actually our species. Some of our predecessor species had already changed their environment by inventing things like clothes, fire, and weapons, and thereby made their lives much better but still horrible by our present-day standards. Then they moved into environments such as Oxford, where I am now. It’s December. If I were here at this very location with no technology, I would die in a matter of hours, and nothing I could do would prevent that.
SH: So you are already an astronaut.
DD: Very much so.
SH: Your condition is as precarious as the condition of those in a well-established colony on Mars that can take certain technological advances for granted. And there’s no reason to think that such a future beyond earth doesn’t await us, barring some catastrophe placed in our way, whether of our own making or not.
DD: Yes. And there’s another misconception there which is related to that misconception of the earth being hospitable, which is that applying knowledge takes effort. It’s creating knowledge that takes effort. Applying knowledge is automatic. As soon as somebody invented the idea of, for example, wearing clothes, from then on the clothes automatically warmed them. It didn’t require any more effort. Of course there would have been things wrong with the original clothes, such as that they rotted or something, and then people invented ways of making better clothes. But at any particular stage of knowledge, having got the knowledge, the rest is automatic.
And now we have invented things like mass production, unmanned factories, and so on. We take for granted that water gets to us from the water supply without anyone having to carry it laboriously on their heads in pots. It doesn’t require effort. It just requires the knowledge of how to install the automatic system. Much of our life support is automatic, and every time we invent a better way of life support, we make it automatic. So for the people on the moon—living in a lunar colony—keeping the vacuum away will not be a thing they think about. They’ll take that for granted. What they will be thinking about are new things. And the same on Mars, and the same in deep space.
SH: Again, I’m struck by what an incredibly hopeful vision this is of our possible future. Thus far we’ve covered territory where I really don’t have any significant doubts, despite the fact that I pretended to have one with the ontological argument. So let’s get to this notion of the reach of explanation, because you seem to believe that the reach of our explanations is unbounded—that anything that can be explained, either in practice or in principle, can be explained by us, which is to say, human beings as we currently are.
You seem to be saying that we, alone among all the earth’s species, have achieved a kind of cognitive escape velocity, and we’re capable of understanding everything. And you contrast this view with what you call parochialism, which is a view that I have often expressed, and many other scientists have expressed as well. Max Tegmark was on my podcast a few podcasts back, and we more or less agreed about this thesis.
The claim of parochialism is just that evolution hasn’t designed us to fully understand the nature of reality. The very small, the very large, the very fast, the very old—these are not domains in which our intuitions about what is real or what is logically consistent have been tuned by evolution. Insofar as we’ve made progress here, it has been by a happy accident, and it’s an accident which gives us no reason to believe that we can, by dint of this accident, travel as far as we might like across the horizon of what is knowable. Which is to say that if a super-intelligent alien came to Earth for the purpose of explaining all that is knowable to us, he or she might make no more headway than you would if you were attempting to teach the principles of quantum computation to a chicken.
So I want you to talk about why that analogy doesn’t run through. Why parochialism—this notion that we occupy a niche that might leave us cognitively closed to certain knowable truths and that there is no good evolutionary reason to expect we can fully escape it—doesn’t hold true.
DD: Well, you’ve actually made two or three different arguments there, all of which are wrong.
SH: Oh, nice…
DD: Let me start with the chicken thing. There, the point is the universality of computation. The thing about explanations is, they consist of knowledge, which is a form of information, and information can only be processed in basically one way—with computation of the kind invented by Babbage and Turing.
There is only one mode of computation available to physical objects, and that’s the Turing mode. We already know that the computers we have, like the ones through which we’re having this conversation, are universal in the sense that given the right program, they can perform any transformation of information whatsoever, including knowledge creation. Now, there are two important caveats to that. One is lack of memory—lack of computer memory, lack of information-storage capacity—and the other is the lack of speed or lack of time.
Apart from that, the computers we have, the brains we have, any computers that will ever be built in the future or can ever be built anywhere in the universe, have the same repertoire. That’s the principle of the universality of computation. That means that the reason why I can’t persuade a chicken has to be either that its neurons are too slow (which I don’t think is right; they don’t differ very much from our own) or it doesn’t have enough memory, which it certainly doesn’t, or the right knowledge. It doesn’t know how to learn language and how to learn what an explanation is, and so on.
SH: It’s not the right chicken.
DD: It’s not the right animal. If you had said “chimpanzee,” my guess would be that the brain of a chimpanzee could contain the knowledge of how to learn language, etc., but there’s no way of giving that knowledge, short of surgery, some sort of nanosurgery, which would presumably be very immoral to perform. But in principle, I think it could be done, because a chimpanzee’s brain isn’t that much smaller than ours, and we have a whole lifetime to fill our memory. So we’re not short of memory. Our thinking itself is not limited by available memory.
Now, what if these aliens have a lot more memory than us? What if they have a lot more speed than us? Well, we already know the answer to that. We’ve been improving our memory capacity and our speed of computation for thousands of years with the invention of things like writing, writing implements, just language itself, which enables more than one person to work on the same problem and to coordinate their understanding of it with each other. That also allows an increase in speed compared with what an unaided human would be able to do.
Currently, we use computers, and in the future we can use computer implants and so on. So if the knowledge that this alien wanted to impart to us really did involve more than 100 gigabytes, or whatever the capacity of our brain is—if it involved a terabyte, then we could easily (I say “easily”; in principle, it’s easy. It doesn’t violate any laws of physics) enhance our brains in the same way. So there’s no fundamental reason within the explanation why we can’t understand it.
SH: And this all falls out of the concept of the universality of computation—that there is no alternate version of information processing. Is Church also responsible for this, or is this particular insight Turing’s alone?
DD: Well, that’s a very controversial question. I believe it was Turing who realized this particular aspect of computation. There are various species of universality which different people got at different times, but I think |
infants of smokers, if present at all, averages 4 grams. See also point 22 above. 24. Lower mental capacity (IQ) of children.
false 24. There is absolutely no proof of that. Such statement raises serious doubts on the mental capacity (IQ) of those who make it. 25. Increased chance of SIDS (cot death) when the parents smoke
false 25. Not only this statement is totally false, but it is also very despicable, for it aims at exploiting the emitions of those parents who are already the victims of a terrible tragedy. The causes of SIDS are totally unknown. For more information on this fraud, click here. 26. Increased chance of other causes of infant death
misleading 26. Generic and meaningless statement added for the purpose of volume along the lines of point 25. 27. Affects the health of children
misleading 27. Generic and meaningless statement added for the purpose of volume along the lines of point 26. 28. Affects the health of others in the environment
false 28. The danges of passive smoke are a well-established statistical and scientific fraud. For extensive information on passive smoke, click here. 29. Sore eyes and eye diseases of others as a result of tobacco smoke
misleading 29. When smoke in a room accumulates to the point of causing sore eyes, that is a clear indication of unsanitary ventilation. The absence of smoke does not make the situation any better, as the bacteria and the CO2 in the air are still present. In fact, smoke is a useful marker for those unsanitary conditions. There is no proof whatsoever that passive smoke causes eye disease. For more information on ventilation, click here. 30. Increases the chance of contamination during sexual contact (semen, fingers) 30. This is a fine one. Washing one's hand, and the body (not just during sexual contact!) has always been a good practice, which antismokers in general don't seem keen to follow, as we are constantly reminded by their whining about smelly hair, and clothes. Other than whining, there is no substance to the claim. 31. Increases the chance of disease due to drinking contaminated breast milk
misleading 31. Although theoretically correct, the concentration of toxic substances in the breast milk is utterly insufficient to cause any harm whatsoever to the infant. By the parameters of that statement, many other everyday substances the mother is normally exposed to, cause far greater toxic concentrations in the breast milk. Quality of life Quality of life 32. Physical addiction
false 32. This is another landmark fraud of the antitobacco cartel resulting from the distortion of the definition of addiction - including "addiction" to nicotine -- which is not addictive at all when marketed by the pharmaceutical industry to quit smoking! For more information about the "addictiveness" of nicotine, click here. 33. Psychological addiction
misleading 33. This statement is a "spin-off" of statement 32. By the same logic, coffe is addictive, because for many, it inevitably comes after a meal, or first thing in the morning. And so are thousands of other substances, and habits. 34. Social addiction
speculative 34. That assertion seems logical... to any crook! If the individual is addicted, then many "addicted" create a social addiction. The phenomenon is self-evident with the antitobacco aggregates, hopelessly addicted to fraud and distortion for a pay - an epidemic larger than any other previously known to man. 35. Loss of sense of smell
misleading 35. A good misrepresentation must have a veneer of truth to be credible. Intense use of tobacco tends to "monopolise" the sense of smell, but the condition is temporary, and lasts about two-three minutes after smoking. That effect can be also be noted after the use of a toilette, or when exiting a perfume shop. 36. Loss of sense of taste
misleading 36. Consequence of 35; same comments apply. The same effect can be noted after eating hot peppers, which should also be campaigned against for the same reasons. 37. Limitation of the possibility of maintaining a relationship 37....Especially if the relationship is with an antismoker! But who wants a relationship with that kind of person, anyway? 38. Body odours 38. Once again, antismokers show great concern and fear for the use of the shower - to the point, apparently, of not being able to conceive its regular use. Perhaps this is because of the elevated number of accidents in shower stalls. It follows that a ban should be promoted to eliminate the shower risks -- and the traumatic experience of washing for the antismoking lobbyists. 39. Breath odours 39. It is the observation of many that non smokers have a fetid breath - perhaps because of the lack of the chemical action of nicotine. It is also possible that the "loss of sense of smell" discussed at point 35 helps smokers to withstand the breath of non smokers with great stoichism! 40. Evil smelling clothes 40. What said about showers applies to antismokers when it comes to clothes. The prolonged use of sweat-smelly clothes seems to give a buzz to antitobacco addicts, while making them quite ecological ineed... after all, dry cleaners and washing machines are expensive, and polluting. The scent of tobacco, which in times of greater wisdom it was used as a base for perfumes, is a no-no. 41. Yellow, unattractive hands
misleading 41. "Yellow hands" have disappeared since the appearance of filter tip cigarettes, used by the huge majority of smokers nowadays. Also, yellow hands come with over half of the Asian population, but antismokers do not seem to find that unattractive - or do they? 42. Bye, white teeth!
misleading 42. The colour of teeth (yellow or white) depends on the natural type of teeth. The prevailing colour of teeth is, in fact yellow, which also counts for a stronger contruction. And, then, there is regular brushing which, in these antismoking times, may be going the way of dry cleaners and shower stalls. 43. Premature ageing of skin leading to an older appearance
misleading 43. This tactic is used to appeal to the "vanity" of women - showing in the process a good dose of chauvinism. In reality, wrinkling is part of the genetic make-up, and changes widely with the individual regardless of smoking. "Tan lamps", so much used to enhance the "healthy" look of the health nuts and, apparently, facilitating skin cancer in the process, are much more responsible for wrinkling than smoking may ever be. Domestic aspects Domestic aspects 44. Stale air indoors
misleading 44. Excellent opportunity to open the windows, and to refresh and oxygenate indoor air for the benefit of all. 45. Increased fire risk 45. Time to ban gas stoves, lighters, portable heaters, and flammables at work and in the house. Safety first. Practical real life last. 46. Dirty walls and ceilings
misleading 46. Domestic hygene - like personal hygene - is definitely not the "forte" of antismokers! Frequent cleaning of the house helps the removal of bacteria, grease and dust - often abundantly present in nonsmoking houses because not visible. 47. Dirty furniture, fittings and household goods
misleading 47. See above. Nonsmoking houses tend to be dirtier than smoking houses, because they are not cleaned so frequently. 48. Filthy, smelly ashtrays
misleading 48. The scent of tobacco enhances the environment of the smoker. Moreover, ashtrays can be beautifully decorative -- and they can easily be kept clean. 49. Chance of poisoning children due to swallowing cigarette butts 49. Another fine one here! Clipped fingernails, spent condoms, shopping bags and key holders usually represent a much greater danger. Social Social 50. Inconveniences others in the vicinity
speculative 50. That may be. On the ohter hands, smoking prohibition inconveniences smokers in the vicinity. What makes an inconvenience worth more than another? 51. Handicap in social dealings
then... 51. Stay away from social dealing with handicapped antismokers. 52. More difficult to get a job
then... 52. Go work for smokers. They are often more pleasant, sociable and tolerant anyway. Moreover, many establishments where the management is smoking prefer smokers to nonsmokers to avoid potential conflicts. 53. More difficult to get a partner
then... 53. Find a smoking partner. He/she is more fun anyway. If the relationship is serious, smoking will not matter. If quitting smoking becomes a condition for the relationship, that is a good indicator that the relationship is wrong. 54. Bad example to growing children
misleading 54. Good example to growing children, for the alternative is often intolerance, bigotry, resentment, paternalism -- and the child's rebellion and intrigue with the "forbidden fruit". Smokers are usually tolerant, easy-going people who teach their children the importance of diversity, and of different opinions, which makes for a better society. General General 55. Constant fear of running out of cigarettes
then... 55. Buy cigarettes in bulk. They are usually less expensive, too. 56. Often having to look for means of lighting cigarettes
then... 56. Put matches or lighters in the pockets of all the clothes in the cabinet, even the ones you don't wear at the moment. You will never run out of lights. 57. Often having to look for places where it's possible and allowed to smoke
then... 57. Dirsegard prohibition areas and smoke anyway. Fight to eliminate prohibition. Help to expose the antismoking frauds on primary and passive smoke. As a citizen, push for the cut off of state financing to antismoking. 58. Accidents caused by smoking in cars
misleading 58. Recent major insurance studies have rated smoking in cars as the lowest risk of accidents. Talking and arguing in the vehicle, and setting audio equipment, are by far more dangerous. 59. Becoming a slave to the profit motive of the tobacco industry
then... 59. Time to quit consuming all together... which includes not becoming a slave to the profit motive the pharmaceutical industry, as the pharma-paid antismokers want you to become. 60. and Oh! the enormous cost!
true 60. and Oh! The enormous dishonesty of the state which, while endorsing antismoking frauds, makes 8 to 10 times more profit than the tobacco industry in taxes alone on tobacco products -- a share of which often goes to antismoking activists who lie for a living. Time for an antitobacco-free, honest state!
Additional Reasons to keep on smoking, or to start smoking Personal health 61. Smoking protects against Parkinson disease. For more information, click here. 62. Smoking improves human information precessing. For more information, click here. 63. Higher nicotine cigarettes produce greater improvements [in information processing] than low-nicotine cigarettes. For more information, click here. 64. Nicotine can reverse the detrimental effects of scopolamine on performance. For more information, click here. 65. Smoking effects are accompanied by increases in EEG arousal and decreases in the latency of the late positive component of the evoked potential. For more information, click here. 66. Smokers in general are thinner than nonsmokers, even when they ingest more calories. For more information, click here. 67. "...All smokers had less plaque, gingival inflammation and tooth mobility than nonsmokers and similar periodontal pocket depth." For more information, click here. 68. Smokers have lower incidence of postoperative deep vein thrombosis than nonsmokers. 69. Hypertension prevalence rate among smokers is lower than in nonsmokers. For more information, click here. 70. "Hypertension and postpartum hemorrhage were lower in smokers." For more information, click here. 71. "RBCs [red blood cells] from cigarette smokers contain more glutathione and catalase and protect lung endothelial cells against O2 [dioxide] metabolites better than RBCs from nonsmokers." For more information, click here. 72. There is a low prevalence of smoking in ulcerative colitis. The disease often starts or relapses after stopping smoking. For more information, click here. 73. Smokers have more reduced risks of Alzheimer's disease than non smokers. For more information, click here. 74. Urinary cotinine concentration has confirmed the reduced risk of preeclampsia with tobacco exposure. For more information, click here. 75. Smoking may protect against neural tube defects. For more information, click here. 76. Maternal smoking may hinder mother-child transmission of Helicobacter pylori infection. For more information, click here. 77. Research indicates that nicotine holds potential for non-surgical heart by-pass procedures. For more information, click here. 78. Nicotine has positive effects on cognitive performance in Down's syndrome. For more information, click here. 79. Smoking has a positive effect on inflammatory bowel disease. For more information, click here. 80. Not ONE of the over 100 diseases attributed to smoking can be PROVEN by sound scientific methodology to be "caused" by smoking. Health of others 81. The huge passive smoke study the WHO tried to bury clearly shows that passive smoke has a protective effect on those who are close to the smoker. To download the original study, click here. Moreover, of the 100+ studies performed to date on passive smoking, only a small, minor one has shown a statistically significant increase of risk for the non smokers. All the others have not. For more information, click here. Social, quality of life, economics, and political 82. Smokers tend to be cleaner than non smokers, as they must wash themselves and their clothes more often. 83. Smokers tend to be more tolerant and sociable than non smokers. 84. Smokers tend to be more creative than non smokers. 85. Smoking is a gratification of life. 86. Smoking is cool. 87. Smokers contribute billions of dollars more than non smokers to the world economy through tobacco taxation alone. 88. Smoking has a relaxing effect on the individual and curbs the appetite, thus preventing overeating. 89. Smokers are greater spenders than non smokers, thus further contributing to the wealth of society. 90. The oldest people in the world are all smokers. For more information, click here. 91. Most great geniuses of the last 500 years were smokers. 92. Smoking men and women are sexier and more interesting than non smoking ones. 93. Compared to most other forms of pleasure, smoking is still the most economical. 94. Quitting smoking does not save any money to the smoker, as money is most often spent in disfunctional over-compensation through other (sometimes more dangerous) forms of pleasure. 95. Quitting smoking with smoking cessation drugs may expose the smoker to life-threathening dangers. For more information, click here. 96. Quitting smoking with smoking cessation drugs increases the economic power of pharmaceutical multinational giants. For more information, click here. 97. Surrendering to antitobacco propaganda ploughs the way to other forms of intolerance, persecution, and economic exploitation of other target groups [1], [2] 98. Higher rates of smoking force antitobacco to increase its tapping of public money, thus it makes antitobacco more "uncomfortable" for politicians, and less tolerated by non smokers. 99. Higher rates of smoking force antitobacco to use ever-increasing draconian and fascist tactics, thus showing its true colours to an ever-increasing amount of the population. 100. Smoking in the face of an antismoker is a no-cost, yet incredibly gratifying experience! I'd love to accompany this with a list of reasons for smoking, but I couldn't find one which weighed against any single one of the above list! " boasted recently an antitobacco bigot. THERE YOU GO! Now, you have it!Have your say
Jamal Campbell-Ryce’s 82nd-minute strike sealed Sheffield United’s passage to the next round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, with a 2-1 win at Hartlepool United.
Campbell-Ryce shot through bodies to put United ahead for the second time, after Michael Duckworth had dragged Hartlepool back on level terms.
Earlier, Jose Baxter had marked his return to the United starting eleven with the opening goal.
Baxter, making his return after a hamstring injury, curled home the opener in the 31st minute, via the post.
Baxter, who was recalled for United alongside Chris Porter, was taken off at half time and replaced by Marc McNulty.
And the home side clawed themselves back on level terms in the 49th minute, thanks to Duckworth’s deflected effort.
The Blades then had a goal disallowed for a foul on home goalkeeper Scott Flinders, after referee Carl Boyeson ruled there had been an infringement by Porter.
Italian youth international Diego De Girolamo was handed a rare chance to impress United boss Nigel Clough, who made the unusual decision to name his starting line-up on the eve of tonight’s clash and also handed Iain Turner, Louis Reed and Stephen McGinn recalls.
Campbell-Ryce, who made his return from injury during Saturday’s defeat at Chesterfield, also started while Michael Woods and Tommy Miller featured for managerless Hartlepool.
HARTLEPOOL UNITED: Flinders, Duckworth, Austin, Harrison, Jones, Miller, Woods, Green, Hawkins, Wyke, Brobbel. Not used: Holden, Franks, Walker, Richards, Smith.
SHEFFIELD UNITED: Turner, Harris, Basham, Baxter, McGinn, Davies, McGahey, Porter, Campbell-Ryce, Reed, DeGirolamo. Not used: Doyle, McNulty, Willis, Collins, Murphy.
REFEREE: Carl BoyesonUPDATED March 16, 1:15 p.m.
The Massachusetts man who allegedly assaulted and harassed a Muslim woman who works inside a lounge at John F. Kennedy International Airport in January has been indicted on hate crimes charges, prosecutors announced.
Robin A. Rhodes, 57, of Worcester, MA, was indicted this week on four counts including third-degree assault, second-degree unlawful imprisonment and third-degree menacing — each charge as a hate crime — and a count of second-degree aggravated harassment, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Hurling slurs at the victim and, at one point claiming that President Donald Trump would “get rid of all of you,” Rhodes allegedly attacked the Delta Airlines employee as she worked in the Delta Sky Lounge in Terminal 2 between 7:10 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25.
“[Rhodes] is accused of physically and verbally attacking a woman for no apparent reason other than because of her religion,” Brown said in a statement on Thursday, March 16. “Crimes of hate will never be tolerated in Queens County, and when they do regrettably occur, those responsible will be brought to justice.”
Law enforcement sources said Rhodes had departed a flight from Aruba and was on a layover awaiting a connecting flight to Massachusetts when he spotted the employee, Rabeeya Khan, who wore a hijab while sitting in her office in the Delta Sky Lounge.
Prosecutors said Rhodes allegedly approached the office door and said, “Are you [expletive] sleeping? Are you praying? What are you doing?” He then punched the door, which then struck the back of the chair on which Khan was sitting.
When Khan asked Rhodes what he was doing, prosecutors said, he then threatened to assault her, then kicked her in the right leg. Khan then moved toward another corner of the office, but Rhodes allegedly kicked the door, stepped inside the office and blocked her path.
Prosecutors said another individual who witnessed the incident approached Rhodes and tried to calm him down. He moved away from the door, and Khan managed to run out of the office to the front desk of the lounge.
Rhodes, however, allegedly wasn’t finished with his attack. Authorities said he then followed Rhodes to the front desk, then went to his knees and mocked a Muslim praying. He then shouted, “[Expletive] Islam, [expletive] ISIS, Trump is here now. He will get rid of all of you. You can ask Germany, Belgium and France about these kind of people. You will see what happens.”
Members of the Port Authority Police Department responded to the incident and took Rhodes into custody. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted of the charges against him.
It was just one example of a number of hate crimes and other incidents that have occurred in Queens and elsewhere in the United States since Donald Trump was elected president last November. The Queens native campaigned on a platform that included banning Muslims from entering the U.S. and building a wall on the border with Mexico.
On the day of Rhodes’ attack at JFK, President Trump signed an executive order suspending immigration from certain Middle Eastern nations and ordering the wall’s construction, measures which he claims will bolster national security. That order was eventually overturned by the courts, and a revised executive order on immigration that Trump issued last month is also being challenged in federal court.For while now, there’s been some speculation that VMware vCloud Director was no longer a priority for VMware – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. With the release of vCloud Director 8.10 this spring, VMware has doubled down on its dedication to enhancing the product, and we’ve even expanded our training program to keep pace with the evolving needs of its users.
Make no mistake, vCloud Director fits into VMware’s larger vision for the software defined data center (SDDC) now more than ever before. So let’s take the time to clear up a few of the biggest misconceptions out there today.
MYTH #1 – vCloud Director is End-of-Life or End-of-Support: Not at all! In May 2016, VMware released vCloud Director 8.10, the latest version of the product, in response to customer feedback and an industry-wide move to the hybrid cloud. New features in this release includes distributed resource scheduler affinity and anti-affinity for VMs and UI integration of NSX for heightened security. To get customers up to speed with the new release, our team has launched a free vCloud Director 8.10 Fundamentals eLearning course, and after VMworld Europe, we plan to expand these offerings through new vCloud Director Hands-on Labs via the VMware HOL Online portal. Later this month, we are also offering an extensive 5-day lab from October 31 – November 4, titled “vCloud Director 8.10: Install, Configure, Manage” that walks participants through the process of building a data center environment that leverages not only vCloud Director but also Virtual SAN and NSX.
Not at all! In May 2016, VMware released vCloud Director 8.10, the latest version of the product, in response to customer feedback and an industry-wide move to the hybrid cloud. New features in this release includes distributed resource scheduler affinity and anti-affinity for VMs and UI integration of NSX for heightened security. To get customers up to speed with the new release, our team has launched a free vCloud Director 8.10 Fundamentals eLearning course, and after VMworld Europe, we plan to expand these offerings through new vCloud Director Hands-on Labs via the VMware HOL Online portal. Later this month, we are also offering an extensive 5-day lab that walks participants through the process of building a data center environment that leverages not only vCloud Director but also Virtual SAN and NSX. MYTH #2 – Usage is Lagging : False! In fact, the opposite is true. Not only is usage of vCloud Director increasing, but it’s reaching new levels of growth. Look no further than Zettagrid, a cloud computing infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider, which deployed vCloud Director to simplify data center provisioning. Or iland, an award-winning enterprise cloud infrastructure provider that uses vCloud Director to supply greater flexibility and customization to its clients. Furthermore, VMware continues to partner with members of its independent software vendor program group to catalogue and support the most recent products built by ISVs that are compatible with VCD through it through the VMware solution exchange. vCloud Director has proven itself a valued partner for customers across industries and hybrid cloud ecosystems, and version 8.10 only solidifies VMware’s continued commitment to the product and its users.
: False! In fact, the opposite is true. Not only is usage of vCloud Director increasing, but it’s reaching new levels of growth Look no further than Zettagrid, a cloud computing infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider, which deployed vCloud Director to simplify data center provisioning. Or iland, an award-winning enterprise cloud infrastructure provider that uses vCloud Director to supply greater flexibility and customization to its clients. Furthermore, VMware continues to partner with members of its independent software vendor program group to catalogue and support the most recent products built by ISVs that are compatible with VCD through it through the VMware solution exchange. vCloud Director has proven itself a valued partner for customers across industries and hybrid cloud ecosystems, and version 8.10 only solidifies VMware’s continued commitment to the product and its users. MYTH #3 – User Interface (UI) is Static : Wrong again. You spoke, and we listened. A change in direction from previous versions, the release of vCloud Director 8.10 demonstrated a commitment to the UI by exposing all features directly through the UI and achieving feature parity with the API. Features now available on the UI include storage profiling, tenant throttling, and self-service VDC templates that give vCloud Director a more robust and flexible platform for delivering IaaS solutions.
Through a combination feature updates that increase agility, new training opportunities, and an enhanced UI with heightened functionality, VMware continues to actively invest in the vCloud Director user experience. Rest assured, there’s more to come.Who hasn't had a mouth full of cum at some point of their life? Whether you spit, swallow or gargle you will always be left with that undeniable dick taste after you take your lover in your mouth. Most of the time it's not always a pleasant taste either. It's either too salty, too sweaty, or it just tastes like shame. But never fear! Thanks to Paul "Fotie" Photenhaue's new Semenology: The Semen Bartender's Handbook the taste of semen can be drastically improved. It's literally a book filled with drink recipes to make the perfect, cum cocktail.
Fotie's first book Nature's Harvest: A Collection of Semen Based Recipes was very well received when it was released back in 2008—and the sales propelled him to travel the world and find new ways to infuse semen and gastronomy. This led to more experimenting, and his new book that teaches its reader the unconventional art of semen-based mixology. I must admit, the more I read Semenology the less nauseous I became. It's intriguing stuff. It got me wondering why it was considered somewhat haute couture for a pub in New Zealand to serve horse cum shots but the idea of drinking human semen outside of a blowjob scenario is a disgusting concept.
Maybe it's because we're all so hyper aware of sexually transmitted diseases or maybe we've just had one too many encounters with a bad dick? I'm not sure, and maybe it's just me, but I don't see a problem with mixing myself up a "Watermelon Gin Jizz" while I curl up on my couch and watch Sex and the City after a nice romp in the bedroom.
I called up Fotie for a chat and he put all my doubts aside when he explained: "We eat eggs, which is chicken menstruation, and milk, which is cow secretion. That's pretty disgusting. Semen is fresh and you know who the producer is." That quote alone inspired me to throw my own cum cocktail party; so I called up some guys who wanted to donate their semen and some girls that wanted to drink said semen, and us ladies got wasted on jizz.
As we all settled in at my friend Lex's house, the combination of nervousness and excitement was pretty fucking palpable. We went over
Semenology
and matched each man's jizz—based on their lifestyle and eating habits—with an appropriate drink recipe. Tony ended up with the "Jim & Tonic," since he's a heavy smoker. Fotie told me that a smoker's cum would complement the drink very nicely. Jimmy ended up inside the "Macho Mojito," because he's a vegetarian (and presumably) healthier than all of us. My friend Bruce stirred his baby gravy into the "Semen Bomb," a twisted variant of the Irish Car Bomb. He drinks so much I figured his semen would probably be alcoholic to begin with.
It took a little bit of coaxing to get Tony to head into the bathroom, but when he did it was amazing. Armed with a laptop in one hand and a cup in the other Tony asked Levi (our bartender for the night) what his mom's name was. Then he jerked off to her. Luckily Levi didn't really care: "That's ok. My mom is pretty fit."
To set the mood we put on "Super Freak" by Rick James, and Victoria noticed some creepy Dollarama Jesus candles on a mantle. She grabbed one and strode into the bathroom, lit it, and turned out the light to give the room a holy, romantic, you're-going-straight-to-hell feel for the boys. I felt like I was at a sick and twisted Twilight Zone version of a high school house party, talking about boys and what they would taste like while placing bets on who would take the longest to finish.
We heard a loud bang from the bathroom and Tony strolled out with a nice healthy glass of semen. My kinda-willing-to-drink-semen-in-a-cocktail friend Victoria almost puked right there after she stared at the cum filled glass, so we placed it in the kitchen to let it "melt." According to Fotie, the act of melting cum is a vital part of the drink making process. Basically, once you've harvested your jizz, you have to let it sit in the glass for a few minutes so it loses its lumpy texture and becomes a nice smooth consistency, which makes for the perfect addition to any drink or meal.
Jimmy went in next with his own, clean glass. Two minutes later he came back out and posed a very serious question: "Scarlett Johansson or Hulk Hogan's daughter?" As if it wasn't already clear that ScarJo was the obvious choice. We all waited somewhat patiently for Jimmy to finish, but for some weird reason all the party guests had to pee at the same time—so there was no choice but to go outside. For some reason, the girls chose to piss right in front of the neighbour's kitchen window while he was trying to enjoy their late night smoke and completely weirded him out. When they came back in all they had to say was "This is the classiest night of our lives" with a laugh and high fives for all.
When Jimmy finally emerged from the designated jerk off room we gave him a good pat on the back, and a few hugs. His hair was slick with sweat and he looked all doe-eyed and adorable. "I realized halfway through that I was jerking off with my jacket on and thought 'well this is just plain inconvenient.'"
Last but not least, Bruce strode confidently (maybe too confidently) into the bathroom. On his first try, his girl of choice to beat off to was Jennifer Love Hewitt, which all the girls present responded with a very shocked and confused "really?" But he missed his cup and had to go for round two. We offered him some "help", but he didn't want it, instead he asked for my computer password because it locked itself down (it might be self-aware) halfway through his first wank. Finally, after occupying the bathroom for what felt like forever, he finished twelve minutes into a stream of "Scooby Doo XXX" A porno that I absolutely do not want to watch for fear of permanently damaging some very clean and wholesome childhood memories. When he came out of the bathroom, we greeted him with a very enthusiastic round of applause and hugs, which he deserved for coming twice.
Now that all the semen had been harvested, I passed over my trusty recipe book to drinkmaster Levi. As he stepped into the kitchen to whip up our cum cocktails, armed to the tee with ingredients and liquor, making sure that us girls would have the utmost tastiest semen concoctions sliding down our throats by the time he was done.
Lex, Victoria, and I all gathered in the kitchen with our drinks in hand. I had this insane mix of fear and excitement in my stomach. As I held Bruce's Semen Bomb, all I could hear was my own heartbeat as everyone crowded around to watch us drink this elixir of life. As us girls exchanged nervous looks, we all cheers'd and downed our drinks. I can honestly say, it was pretty good once you got past the stigma of downing cum in a glass.
THE RESULTS:
Bruce (Skateboarding hoodlum and local party boy)
Drink: Semen Bomb
In Bruce's "Semen Bomb" the semen was still warm which almost made us throw up. But as soon as the beer cooled off the cum, he actually didn't taste that bad. We were honestly expecting him to taste the worst—because of his lifestyle—but he was basically as tasty as cum can get. Lex, Victoria and I all agreed.
Jimmy: (Intellectual, Musician, Vegetarian)
Drink: Macho Mojito
Jimmy's "Macho Mojito" was absolute garbage. I don't even know where to begin with how bad this drink was. It was partly because it was poorly mixed, but also the addition of vegetarian cum was... euchhhh. That's all I can describe it as. Sorry Jimmy but you're going to have a hard time finding some regular head until you start eating some meat.
Tony: (Batman fanatic, redhead, heavy smoker)
Drink: Jim & Tonic
Tony's "Jim and Tonic" tasted amazing. It was salty, and a little bit tart. Very smooth and super delicious. His smokey cum was a perfect complementary ingredient to the classic gin and tonic that we all love so much. So, thanks for the recipe Fotie; and congratulations to Tony, for having the tastiest cum of them all.
The night came to a close with plenty of cum puns and dick jokes, all which were hilarious but way too tacky. I left feeling good about myself, which got me thinking that it has to be true that sperm releases endorphins in the female brain and that this "liquid of life" is actually amazing. I highly suggest hosting your own Semenology party, because nothing is more fun than drinking your friends' cum.
Playing with semen is not all fun and games. I would like to add that you can still contract STI's from drinking semen, even mixed in a cocktail. A good rule to stick by—if you want to have your own cocktail party—is never drink anyone's semen unless you can verify that they're clean. Also, don't jizz in your friends drinks without them knowing. This should be reserved for consenting consumers only.
Please enjoy responsibly.
Follow Gabe on Twitter: @GabeKill
More on cum:
How Your Girl Likes to Cum and What it Says About Her
Where Your Dude Likes to Cum and What it Says About Him
Cum vs. MoisturizerMPW Insider is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for: What is one piece of advice all millennials should take before entering the workforce? is written by Kathy Bloomgarden, CEO of Ruder Finn.
Take a giant leap! Put yourself in a tough position, don’t be afraid to feel uncomfortable and do something that you thought you couldn’t.
When I was beginning my career, I thought hard about what I was passionate about and how I could bring a unique perspective to that passion. For instance, I loved global business and knew I wanted to work internationally. So, I asked myself: what skillset could I develop that would set me a part from everyone else? And that’s when I decided to learn Chinese and Russian. It was difficult, but knowing several languages gave me the competitive edge I needed to succeed.
I encourage all millennials to set their own personal stretch goal – conquer something challenging and unique. Even more importantly, make conquering challenges a common practice. A lot can be gained from pursuing new opportunities that make you feel uneasy. Learn to push through and stay focused on getting the job done. The best way to discover your full potential is to constantly find new ways to expand and grow. Today, more than ever, innovative thinking is crucial to success. Embed this idea into your DNA, because embracing it early will provide a solid foundation for the rest of your career.
Read all answers to the MPW Insider question: What is one piece of advice all millennials should take before entering the workforce?
Listen to your gut — it could make you CEO one day by Kara Goldin, founder and CEO of Hint Water.
Why millennials have the power to change the workplace — for good by Lauren Stiller Rikleen, President of Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership.
Why passion may not be enough to build a successful career by Sarah Leary, co-founder and vice president of marketing and operations at Nextdoor.
How to build a career, not just a job by Alyse Nelson, president and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership.
Best lesson from your first job: discovering your weaknesses by Ann Marie Petach, Senior Managing Director of Solutions Group at BlackRock.
3 ways to get noticed at work by Liz Wiseman, President of Wiseman Group.
Can millennials revolutionize business? by Erica Dhawan, co-author of “Get Big Things Done” and CEO of Cotential.
Girl Scouts CEO Anna Maria Chavez: My best career advice for millennials by Anna Maria Chavez, CEO of the Girl Scouts of USA.Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Washington, DC
We know why this challenge is so critical. If we don’t act, a rising tide of borrowing will damage our economy, costing us jobs and risking our future prosperity by sticking our children with the bill.
At the same time, we have to take a balanced approach to reducing our deficit–an approach that protects the middle class, our commitments to seniors, and job-creating investments in things like education and clean energy. What’s required is an approach that draws support from |
portions of it) will take place in the same time period of the new trilogy of films as the first wave of new triple-A Star Wars games won’t debut until around or after Star Wars: Episode VII hits theaters in fall 2015. Perhaps the game will bridge the gap between Episode VI and Episode VII, or perhaps it will go back to either the original or prequel trilogy time periods. It is just impossible to say at this point.
It isn’t entirely clear if this game is solely in the hands of EA Canada or if the studio are just being outsourced for some extra support. It has been rumoured recently that Dead Space aficionados Visceral Games are working on a Star Wars title and this could very well be that same project. EA Canada is mostly known for their sports titles FIFA, NBA Live and NHL so an open world action game would be a major change of pace for the studio.
Are you excited about the prospect of an open world Star Wars? Where would you want it to take place and in what time line? Let us know below.
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Source: Kotaku, EA RecruitmentAs natural pesticides, these simple foods will get rid of those pesky pests better than the risky chemical alternatives, without harming either your health or garden. They are found in your pantry, easily obtainable from the grocery store and perfectly easy to work with. You need some water and possibly some liquid soap and mixing with these natural ingredients gives you some rather interesting pesticides, both for indoor and outdoor use.
Neem: One of the best forms of pesticides, used by ancient Indians to ward of insects, larvae and even predators from their crops. For the low-income farmers, it is indeed the best form. The essential oils created from the neem tree cause disturbances in pests, The lifespan may be short and it may not be good to use on extremely large quantities, but it is eco-friendly and with no possibility of causing future outbreaks of new pests.
• How to use it? Take a 1/2 ounce of high neem oil (make sure its high quality and organic) and mix with ½ a teaspoon of organic liquid soap and warm water. Mix and Use.
Eucalyptus: As an Australian native tree, eucalyptus provides essential oils which are anti-fungal, insect repellent, antibacterial, anti-rodent, weed killers. It is most certainly insecticidal, which makes it perfect as a natural pesticide for crops and gardens.
• How to use it? Take some of the eucalyptus oil and sprinkle around the area the insects and pests are found. You will see immediate results.
Oil from Orange Peel: That’s right. The oil from your orange peel can kill insects, and is especially effective against termites, particularly of foreign origins. The oil from the orange peel is known to be toxic to at least 7 different insect species. The problem is that the effectiveness of treating sand and soil with the oil might not last very long.
• How to use it? Mix 3 tablespoons of organic liquid soap with an ounce of orange peel oil, stirring into a gallon of water. Shake it well and apply to area to keep clean of pests.
Cloves: The eugenol in clove oils is a major insecticide and fungicide, used to rid a garden from weeds as well as unwanted insects. It is often used on fruit trees, preventing insect and worm infestations. It is used to kill cockroaches, ants, dust mites, flies, wasps, spiders, crickets, and fleas. It is also used on some ornamental plant pests such as armyworms, aphids and mites. Use the spray to kill weeds as well.
• How to use it? Pour 10 drops of clove oil into an empty spray bottle, fill the rest with tap water and shake it well. Use it on any are that requires pest control.
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Cinnamon: If you want to be killing those mosquitoes, cinnamon oil is the best route to take. The National University of Taiwan has approved of its use as a natural pesticide, as opposed to the chemically induced DEET that causes all forms of health problems.
• How to use it? Mix 1% of cinnamon oil with 99% water and spray. Adding more oil will make it hotter and possibly burn you, or at least make you quite uncomfortable. It is great to use on yourself, as well as on your plants where you see a large mosquito colony.
Bay Leaves: This is great to use on cockroaches. Seriously! Crushed bay leaves are also used to ward off ants and kill whole colonies. This is best used inside the house.
• How to use it? Use a mortar and pestle as well as your hands to crush the bay leaves, but not into a powder. Once done, sprinkle around cabinets and doors to ward off ants, cockroaches and other pests that are unwanted guests in the home.
Baking soda: Baking soda has been known as a great pesticide and, especially, fungicide, since 1933! There have been articles written about its powers and ability to destroy weeds, insects, and fungus, warding off unwanted species from your garden. It may also burn your grass, however.
• How to use it? Make a spray using 4 teaspoons of baking soda mixed with a gallon of water. Use at will on plants, but careful not to overdue to keep from causing harm to your garden.
Cayenne Peppers: According to the University of Maine, we have a winner in insect repellent here> it is also useful in warding off rabbits and deer, alongside other pesky wildlife that might eat your garden dry. On the other hand, it has no effect whatsoever on flea beetles.
• How to use it? You can mix it with 10 drops of citrus oil or keep it on its own, mixing a teaspoon of cayenne pepper with a cup of hot water and spraying where needed.
Natural pesticides will help reduce birth defects, prevent ADHD, and try to stave off Parkinson's Disease.
References:
10 Homemade Organic Pesticides by Global Healing Center.
Effect of Orange Oil Extract on the Formosan Subterranean Termite, by USDA.
Less Toxic Insecticides, by Clemson University.
Reduce of Eliminate Pesticide Use in and Around Your Home, by Pittsburgh University.
Use of Baking Soda as a Fungicide, by NTEF.By guest blogger Lucy Foulkes
The amount and type of laughter between two people can potentially tell us much more than that they are sharing a joke. For example, friends laugh more than strangers, and shared laughter can be an indicator of sexual interest between a couple. But as onlookers, how well can we use the sound of laughter to make these kinds of inferences? A new study in PNAS is the first to investigate this and it turns out, regardless of our culture or where we live, we are pretty good at using laughter to identify the nature of other people’s relationships.
The researchers asked pairs of American, English-speaking undergraduates to come into the lab and talk about various topics, such as “bad roommate experiences”. Both individuals wore microphones, and their speech and laughter were recorded. Critically, some of the pairs of people were good friends, and some of them were strangers who had only met that day.
The researchers then took these audio recordings and extracted instances of “colaughter” between the pairs: that is, those times when both people had starting laughing within one second of each other, and there was no speech or other noise.
The researchers then asked participants recruited from all over the world to listen to these brief clips, and to make judgements about whether each pair of people were friends or strangers. There were 966 listeners from 24 countries across five continents, including India, Namibia, Peru and Slovakia.
The listeners were able to judge whether the laughter clips came from friends or strangers with a reasonable degree of accuracy – they got it right 61 per cent of the time, which statistically speaking is significantly better than if they’d simply been guessing. Most likely the listeners were tapping into the fact that the way we laugh with our friends sounds different from the way we laugh with strangers, including a shorter length of time for each burst of laughter, and more irregular pitch and volume. Amazingly, the listeners’ ability to judge which pairs were friends and which were strangers was very similar across cultures, including those with no familiarity with English. It doesn’t matter where you come from: it seems laughter is a language we all understand.
This skill has likely evolved because identifying others’ relationships from a distance was advantageous for our primate ancestors. For an outsider, it’s useful to recognise that two individuals are close to each other – it could signal that this is a united group worth joining, or if that’s not possible, that the pair represent a greater threat because they are closely allied.
Confirming this idea that human laughter has deep evolutionary roots, an earlier study involved researchers tickling young orangutans and gorillas – the noises they made were similar to the sound of human infant laughter.
While the origins of our sensitivity to laughter can be traced back millions of years, it’s a skill that’s still relevant to us today. Imagine starting a new job, and trying to work out the relationship between others in your office. Just as you will be attuned to other people’s body language and the content of their speech, you will likely deduce information from the way they laugh with each other. But remember, it works both ways. So next time you force a laugh with a colleague or acquaintance, don’t forget: for reasons stemming back to your primate ancestors, someone looking on might have you sussed out.
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Bryant, G., Fessler, D., Fusaroli, R., Clint, E., Aarøe, L., Apicella, C., Petersen, M., Bickham, S., Bolyanatz, A., Chavez, B., De Smet, D., Díaz, C., Fančovičová, J., Fux, M., Giraldo-Perez, P., Hu, A., Kamble, S., Kameda, T., Li, N., Luberti, F., Prokop, P., Quintelier, K., Scelza, B., Shin, H., Soler, M., Stieger, S., Toyokawa, W., van den Hende, E., Viciana-Asensio, H., Yildizhan, S., Yong, J., Yuditha, T., & Zhou, Y. (2016). Detecting affiliation in colaughter across 24 societies Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113 (17), 4682-4687 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1524993113
—further reading—
The evolutionary roots of laughter
A laughing crowd changes the way your brain processes insults
The first ever experimental investigation of laughing at oneself
Post written by Dr Lucy Foulkes (@lfoulkesy) for the BPS Research Digest. Lucy is currently working as a postdoctoral research associate in Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore’s lab at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience on the MYRIAD project – a Wellcome Trust-funded project assessing the feasibility of teaching mindfulness in schools, and the ways in which mindfulness might promote mental health and resilience in adolescents.
Our free weekly email will keep you up-to-date with all the psychology research we digest: Sign up!Eye injuries of early solar observers
Harriot
While Galileo did not injure his eyes by observing sunspots, some other early observers did. Most of these injuries were minor, such as long-lasting after-images. For example, Thomas Harriot, who discovered sunspots independently at about the same time as Galileo, but failed to publish his observations, observed the Sun about noon in February, 1612, and then found “my sight was after dim for an houre.” [See “Thomas Harriot, Renaissance Scientist,” edited by John W. Shirley (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1974), pp. 129ff, for a discussion of Harriot's sunspot observations. Harriot's observation mentioned here is on p. 140.]
Greaves
Rigaud quotes Harriot's remark on p. 34, and Greaves on p. 33. He cites Greaves's Misc. Works, Vol. II, p. 508 as the original source, as follows:
Greaves says, that in measuring the diameter of the sun he hurt his sight, “insomuch that for some days after, to that eye, with which I observed, there appeared, as it were, a company of crows flying together in the air at a good distance. At the first I did verily believe I saw a company of crows flying in the air.”
Newton
Newton gave a detailed account of his experience some 27 years later in a letter to John Locke [note his use of the y-form of the letter thorn; thus “ye” is to be pronounced “the”]:
The observation you mention … I once made upon my self with ye hazzard of my eyes. The manner was this. I looked a very little while upon ye sun in a looking-glass wth my right eye & then turned my eyes into a dark corner of my chamber & winked to observe the impression made & the circles of colours wch encompassed it & how they decayed by degrees & at last vanished. This I repeated a second & a third time. At the third time when the phantasm of light & colours about it were almost vanished, intending my phansy upon them to see their last appearance I found to my amazemt that they began to return & by little & little to become as lively & vivid as when I had newly looked upon ye sun. But when I ceased to intende my phansy upon them they vanished again. After this I found that as often as I went into ye dark & intended my mind upon them as when a man looks earnestly to see any thing wch is difficult to be seen, I could make ye phantasm return wthout looking any more upon the sun. And the oftener I made it return, the more easily I could make it return again. And at length by repeating this wthout looking any more upon the sun I made such an impression on my eye that if I looked upon ye clouds or a book or any bright object I saw upon it a round bright spot of light like ye sun. And, which is still stranger, though I looked upon ye sun wth my right eye only & not with my left, yet my phansy began to make ye impression upon my left eye as well as upon my right. For if I shut my right eye & looked upon a book or the clouds with my left eye I could see ye spectrum of the sun almost as plain as with my right eye, if I did but intend my phansy a little while upon it. For at first if I shut my right eye & looked wth my left, ye spectrum of ye Sun did not appear till I intended my phansy upon it; but by repeating this, appeared every time more easily. And now in a few hours time I had brought my eys to such a pass that I could look upon no bright object with either eye but I saw ye sun before me, so that I durst neither write nor read but to recover ye use of my eyes shut myself up in my chamber made dark for three days together & used all means to divert my imagination from ye Sun. For if I thought upon him I presently saw his picture though I was in ye dark. But by keeping in ye dark & imploying my mind about other things I began in three or four days to have some use of my eyes again & by forbearing a few days longer to look upon bright objects recovered them pretty well, thô not so well but that for some months after the spectrum of the sun began to return as often as I began to meditate upon ye phænomenon, even tho I lay in bed at midnight wth my curtains drawn. But now I have been very well for many years, tho I am apt to think that if I durst venture my eyes I could still make ye phantasm return by the power of my fansy.
[The quotation above is taken from “The Correspondence of Isaac Newton,” vol. III (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1961) pp. 153-154. The matter is discussed more briefly by Richard Westfall in his book on Newton, “Never at Rest” (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1980) pp. 93-94. Westfall comments that “Newton left the sun alone after that”.]
Newton's description of his symptoms closely agrees with a typical mild solar scotoma: the damage was not evident immediately, but only after several hours; the symptoms were most visible for a few days, and gradually subsided over a long time (several months), eventually disappearing entirely, or nearly so. The photophobia (in which the victim avoids the light) is also a common symptom.
Cassini
Furthermore, François Arago, in his short biography of Cassini [see Arago's OEuvres Complètes, Vol. 3 (Gide et J. Baudry, Paris, 1854)] says that Cassini “completely lost his sight” [perdit totalement le vue] in 1711. But, as the Dutch professor of ophthalmology M. E. Mulder has pointed out, looking at the Sun can produce immediate, localized damage to the retina, but not total blindness delayed many years. As in the case of Galileo, the actual details are completely inconsistent with any relation between the youthful solar work and blindness in old age.
One should remember that many people become blind in old age; cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes and other infirmities are still with us, and took a greater toll in past centuries when no effective treatments existed. A long list of prominent people who died blind could be adduced: Newton's contemporaries James Gregory and Leonhard Euler, the musicians Georg Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, the artists Piero della Francesca and Claude Monet, the modern writers Jorge Luis Borges and Jean-Paul Sartre, the biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and even King George III of England all became blind — but not from looking at the Sun. Indeed, F. C. Blodi has compiled a list of 56 famous people with vision problems.
Plateau
Just as in the case of Galileo, one occasionally finds other famous people who became blind, and are falsely reported to have done so by looking at the Sun. A good example is Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau, inventor of the stroboscope and other ingenious physical apparatus. He did a thesis on afterimages and colors, and one often finds claims (such as the one at St. Andrews) that his blindness later in life was from staring at the Sun for 25 seconds.
There is an extensive website at the University of Ghent devoted to Plateau, where a separate page is devoted to Plateau's blindness. There, one reads:
In many (popular) publications the blindness of Plateau is ascribed to his experiment of 1829 in which he looked directly into the sun for 25 seconds. Recent research definitely refutes this.
They don't offer a reference, but it is not difficult to find:
J. J. De Laey
De blindheid van Joseph Plateau. Mythe en realiteit
Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde 58, 915–920 (2002)
The English abstract says, in part:
Plateau's visual problems apparently started when he was 42 years old. He considered them to be the consequence of an experiment in 1829 when he gazed for more than 25 seconds directly in the sun. However, we have reasons to believe that his blindness was due to chronic uveitis, in a period where there was no efficient treatment of this condition.
Apparently, Plateau suffered a temporary scotoma from his sun-gazing, but recovered from it in a few days. His later blindness had other causes; to connect it with a temporary impairment some 13 years earlier is to commit the logical fallacy known as post hoc ergo propter hoc.
Origin of this modern folklore
It is often hard to say how such stories arise. But in Galileo's case, Rigaud (cited above) provides the explanation. On p. 33 of his Supplement, he says that the astronomer Joseph Jérôme de Lalande (1732–1807)
quotes from Scheiner, that the first inventor of telescopes lost his life from an inflammation of the eye, brought on by looking at the sun; he then mentions the blindness which came upon Galileo and Cassini in their old age, and warns astronomers against the fatal negligence of necessary precautions in observing.
(citing Lalande's Astronomie, § 2474). But even Rigaud is skeptical; he adds:
But it must have been something very different from negligence which could have operated so widely, and upon such men as we have just mentioned.
Indeed, if you follow Lalande's reference to Scheiner (Rosa Ursina, p. 69), it turns out that even Scheiner doesn't present his improbable story as fact, but as rumor or hearsay: his sentence ends with “narratur”. So it appears that the blame must fall primarily on Lalande for making up, or at least, widely promulgating, this fairy tale of astronomers who became blind from looking at the Sun.
Perhaps it is understandable, as the causes of blindness in old age were unknown in the 18th Century. (Lalande even cautions that “it is essential … not to look at the Moon for a long time ….”) But now, over two centuries later, it is time to put a stop to this nonsense.
A modern example
After writing much of the above, I received a first-hand modern account of accidentally looking through a small telescope at the Sun, from William Bunker, who says:
Thanks for the reprint on retinal bleaching. Now I have something else to think about when observing the sun! I have my own unfortunate example of retinal overload which occurred about 15 years ago, shortly after I became the proud owner of a 3 1/2 " Questar....I pass this along not as an example of my carelessness/stupidity, but as a warning to others who might repeat it. Observing the sun via the full-aperture solar filter from the patio in front of my house, I attracted the attention of a landscaper who was working across the street. When he walked over to see what I was doing, I showed him the sunspots and he asked a few questions about the scope. How close will it focus? I removed the solar filter and focused on some flowers about 25 feet away. We are both chatty types, and we continued to talk aimlessly for 15 or 20 minutes. He left and I turned my attention again to the sun. Having learned that the easiest way to find the sun was to observe the shadow of the telescope and minimize the shadow of the OTA, I did just that. Then I put my eye up to the eyepiece and observed the 6X image via the finder (which has its own solar filter). Then, without moving my eye, I flipped the mirror back into the main optical path. I jumped back from the telescope as if I had been stabbed in the eye, and suffered the sensation of disbelief common to those who have used a table saw for years, only to one day cut off a few fingers. I had forgotten to replace the main solar filter. For over thirty minutes there was a bright disc in the center of vision of my right eye. As I recall it now, this was green, but maybe I recall it that way because that's what I would have predicted from my limited knowledge of visual physiology. I escaped major damage, but I believe the acuity in that eye is reduced when compared to the left. The fact that the telescope was still focused for 25 feet and wasn't precisely centered may have saved me. I'll never forget the moment...I thought I had had a glimpse of hell.
I wrote back, pointing out that the major hazard in this situation is the danger of a thermal burn to the iris, rather than injury to the retina. The extreme bleach his retina suffered in a fraction of a second should have evoked Cornsweet's phenomenon; and this seems to be confirmed by the green appearance he remembers. The time scale of half an hour is also typical for recovery from a retinal bleach; cf. the similar time scale reported by Verschuur in my JOSA paper on retinal bleaching.
I also mentioned that the slight defocus would not have appreciably altered the surface brightness of the solar image. So, even though this was a narrow escape, the lack of permanent damage shows that the retina can, indeed, just tolerate a very brief exposure to the image of the Sun. He replied:
I remember the sensation of an intense blast of heat along with the overwhelming brightness. Thanks for the additional information on the likely damage (or lack of same) in this exposure. I have read many warnings against using solar filters at the eyepiece because of the intense heat and danger of fracture. My 12.5" Newtonian reflector even has a big metallic sticker warning against looking in the direction of the sun...although I have looked close enough to see Venus in the daytime. Mercury would make me a bit nervous! Of course you have my permission to use my story; edit it or rearrange it as you like. If you wish, you may use my name and email address. I consider myself to be very careful and cautious in my dealings with potential injury, and have been even as a child. I have often weighed the unlikely risk of serious damage against the slight reward of an adrenaline rush, and voted to abstain from risk-taking. That's why this bit of carelessness so surprised me. Now when observing the sun, I always put my hand near the eyepiece before looking in! Bill Bunker
Copyright © 2001 – 2003, 2005, 2006, 2012 Andrew T. YoungShare with:
Chaman Kaliya – Cardamom and fennel scented paneer cooked in a whole milk. Rich, creamy and with the right notes of spice. A dish that is so very easy to put together that you might like to make it more often. And often it is made in Kashmiri homes, especially when there is a Vegetarian feast. Kashmiri Wazwaan cuisine is fabled for it’s meat dishes, but the vegetarian cuisine when done right, is in fact quite amazing as well.
A couple of days ago, it was the festival of Shivratri. This is the most important of festivals for Kashmiri Pandits. Called Herath in the local language, the festival of Shivratri marks the beginning of the spring season in the valley. Kashmiri Pandits have been followers of Shaivism for eons. Back in the days, it used to be a fortnight of celebration starting with ‘Hur okdoh’ which was the day that homes would be cleaned and prepped for the upcoming festivities.
On the thirteenth day of the festival, a fast is observed and the “Vatak Pooza” begins. Along with flowers, fruits, milk, yogurt an offering of rice flour bread and food is offered to the ‘Vatuk’.
When I was a kid, the most important part of the festival was the day after after the Puja. It was the day when the morning started with my Grandpa giving us fresh currency notes as a “Herath Kharach” ( Money to spend ) You can compare this to opening the presents on Christmas morning. All elders gave money to kids on this day. All we had to do was go from one elder to the other and say, “Herath Mubarak” ( May your Herath be blessed) The elders would in return give us the money and bless us.
We would count and recount the money and keep a tab on if any of the siblings got more. Then we would sit and play a game with sea shells. We all had our own small bags of “haar” or sea shells and we would sit in a circle and play. When it was time for lunch, we all would quickly gather our winnings and sit for lunch. Food was another highlight for me on Herath. My mom made at least a dozen dishes and on that first meal she served them all. The leftovers were eaten on subsequent days one at a time, but this one meal was when we got to eat it all together – just like in a feast.
This Chaman Kaliya was my mom’s signature dish. I made it for Shivratri this year along with some Dum Aaloo, Nadir Yakhin and few other dishes. Dinner was good. The leftovers were finished the next day. We leave no trace 🙂
Print Chaman Kaliya – Cardamom and fennel scented Paneer Ingredients 400 gms Paneer home made
2 C Milk
2 cloves
3 Green cardamoms
1 tsp Cumin
1 Tbs Ghee
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 1/2 tsp fennel powder saunf
A pinch of saffron
1/8 th tsp ginger powder
salt to taste
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Garam Masala Or use your favorite brand Instructions If you have freshly made Paneer cut it into squares or rectangles. If you have store bought paneer, Soak it in hot milk for at least 30 minutes before cooking the dish. (this milk is in addition to the two cups you need to make the dish) Heat ghee and add the cumin, cloves and the cardamom. It helps if you slightly whack the cardamom with a pestle or a heavy spoon. Add in the milk, bring it to a boil add in the rest of the spices, except saffron and garam masala. Simmer this for about 2- 3 minutes, then add the paneer and bring to a rolling boil. Bring to a simmer again and let it cook undisturbed for 10 - 15 minutes or until the paneer looks creamy, yellow and soft. Finish off with Garam masala and saffron and let it stand for 30 minutes before serving. Reheat gently and serve with rice.
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(Visited 2,520 times, 2 visits today)Keating was the instigator of virtually all those reforms. And though many of them weren't opposed by the Coalition opposition, they were radical reforms - brave steps into the unknown - controversial in the community, including among many Labor voters. O'Brien's interviews reveal Keating in all his strengths and weaknesses. His self-congratulation (''there's nothing there to be humble about''), bravado (''what I love about the Road Runner is he runs that fast he burns up the road behind him; there's no road left for the others''), colourful language (''a pimple on the backside of progress''), disposal of people who got in his way (Bob Hawke, for instance) and revenge against supposed enemies (''don't get mad, get even'' - including with Fairfax). But no leader of this country since John Curtin has more cause for self-congratulation than Keating. No leader is without character failings and Keating's were outweighed by his contribution. If Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey want their chapter in Australia's economic history to be half as glorious as Keating's there's much they could learn from him, starting with his clear sense of purpose. ''I had to make sure this slothful, locked-up place finally became an open, competitive economy.'' His vision was of ''an efficient, competitive, open, cosmopolitan republic, integrating itself with the Asian region''.
''To do what's right and good gives you the surge. Without the surge, what are you? You're just mucking around with tricky press statements, appearances and 'doorstops'.'' - ''You make the political strategy around good policy rather than around trickery.'' Keating was a man of courage. ''I always believed in burning up the government's political capital, not being Mr Safe Guy.'' - ''You're nobody until you attract a good set of enemies.'' - ''If you run hard enough and fast enough for a great change you'll get it.'' - ''Statecraft and nation building are about taking the risks and moving the country on.'' And a man of toughness. ''Nations get made the hard way; nation building is a hard caper.'' - ''You've got to elbow your way through.'' - ''In the end, if you want to get the changes through you've got to hold your nerve and squeeze the system.'' Does that sound like any present politician? Last week Hockey said he had an ''economic plan'' focused on building economic growth. Great. At last. What is it? ''It is focused on getting rid of inhibitive taxes and inhibitive regulation that undermines our capacity to be at our best. We need to speed up the Australian economy and … if we repeal the carbon tax, it will add to economic growth … when we get rid of the mining tax it sends a clear message to the world that we need mining investment.''
Really? That's the best you've got - to undo the reforms of the previous government? To move to a less economically efficient instrument against climate change and undercharge mainly foreign-owned mining companies for their appropriation of our non-renewable resources? That will balance the budget? That's what will lift productivity? Seriously? Loading According to Abbott last week, ''the challenge is always the same: to build the strongest possible economy with lower taxes and less red tape leading to higher productivity and stronger economic growth … my business - the business of government - should be making it easier for you to do your business''. Really? Easy as that, eh? No need for courage or toughness. No need to do anything that won't win a vote of thanks from the Business Council.ORONO, Maine — In the year he died, Dr. Clarence Edmonds Hemingway — father of famed writer Ernest Hemingway — traveled to Florida and excavated burial sites of extinct native tribes, unearthing and collecting human remains he called “relics.”
Those remains, exhumed in 1928 and marked with the words “Calusa tribe Fla.,” and others from “Timucua Tribe Fla.” eventually became part of the Portland Society of Natural History collection.
When the society closed in 1970, Hemingway’s bone collection and other items were transferred to the Hudson Museum at the University of Maine, which is now working with the federal government and two Florida tribes to return the human remains to their descendants.
“They were never on display,” Gretchen Faulkner, Hudson Museum director, said Thursday.
Little is known about how and why Hemingway went to Weedon Island to dig up the bones, which arrived in Orono in a box with other human remains from the same region, along with a note that the “Smithsonian Inst. men [were] there digging and told me they had taken over 1,300 skeletons.” Hemingway did not make the notation, which also makes reference to “My Indian relics,” since it was made in 1930, two years after he took his own life on Dec. 6, 1928, while his son was finishing “A Farewell to Arms.” Another note states that Dr. Hemingway excavated a “skull and bones of an Indian” from Weedon Island on March 1, 1928.
“That is all we have,” Dan Sandweiss, the Hudson Museum’s chief cooperating curator, said Thursday about the one page typed reference note with five notations, two of which mention Hemingway, that came with the box of bones.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which Congress approved in 1990, requires museums and other institutions that get federal money to go through their collections and return human remains and other cultural items to the tribes to whom they belong.
“It was discovered that there were a lot of Native American human remains that had been removed from the land and were in scientific institutions or government institutions, and they had been not repatriated,” David Tarler, who covers training, civil enforcement and regulations for the National NAGPRA Program, said Wednesday. “They were still in collections 150 years later. They were treated differently than other people… who were allowed … to claim remains and hold burials. Native American people and native Hawaiian organizations weren’t given that opportunity. It’s also a civil rights legislation, which remedies that matter of being treated in a disrespected fashion for the people.”
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act database includes 6,202 records and accounts for 57,230 Native American human remains and 1,232,686 associated funerary objects inventoried by 569 museums and federal agencies. Maine has 148 listings in the database.
“There are others,” Faulkner said of native human remains or burial items in the Hudson Museum collection. “We have worked to repatriate remains to their appropriate tribes.”
Museum leaders found the Weedon Island bone collection in 2002 and had forensic anthropologist Marcella Sorg, a UMaine teacher and researcher, examine the bones. She concluded that they were of Native American ancestry.
Since then, museum leaders have been consulting with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, because they live in the same geographic region and have “a shared group identity to these human remains,” according to the federal Notice of Inventory Completion, filed Wednesday.
Found in the box from the Portland Society of Natural History collection were “human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were removed from Weeden [sic] Island in Pinellas County, FL.,” the notice states. “They were excavated by Dr. Clarence Edmonds Hemingway (Ernest Hemingway’s father).”
The human remains, which are noted from the “Calusa tribe Fla.,” represent one male, age 25-40, and one female, age 30-60.
The Calusa lived on the sandy shores of the southwest coast of Florida and are famous for their shell mounds, which can still be found today in many parts of southern Florida, according to the Florida Center for Instructional Technology at the University of South Florida.
Also in the box from Portland were native remains from a male, aged 18-50, from the “Timucua Tribe Fla.” that were removed from Safety Harbor, Florida, at an unknown time.
The Timucua settled in central and northeastern Florida, and it is believed that they may have been the first Native Americans to see the Spanish explorers when they landed in Florida, according to the Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Early explorers often used the language of the Timucua to communicate with other tribes.
“As the tribe died out, it is believed that those who survived … may have later joined the Seminole Tribe,” the University of South Florida website state.
The federal |
items available in game. It is not intended to allow player characters to become full time alchemists in order to get rich. Little thought has been put into balancing this system with that in mind. If you players decide to go into the alchemy business, you will want to look at costs, risks and markets to make sure they cannot abuse things. Of course, if you have an alchemist that wants to stay home all the time, let him. The player should then relinquish control over that character and roll up one that wants to DO STUFF.
If anybody wants to use these rules to add more Alchemicals, feel free to post them in the comments below!Graphene Roll-Ups Make Friction Disappear, Could Revolutionize Machine Engineering
Chalk another amazing ability up for the supermaterial graphene. It seems the atom-thick sheets of linked carbon atoms can virtually eliminate friction.
The simulation above depicts the graphene-lubricant discovery–blue graphene sheets roll up to encase gold nanodiamonds as a surface of black diamond-like carbon slides over. Once the graphene wraps into so-called nanoscrolls around the nanodiamonds, the sheets make friction disappear.
“The nanoscrolls combat friction in very much the same way that ball bearings do by creating separation between surfaces,” said Argonne National Lab researcher Sanket Deshmukh. Learn more and see photos below.
Researchers say the nanoscrolls offer a totally new mechanism to achieve the condition of superlubricity, a state in which the friction that naturally occurs when two objects slide past each other disappears.
Any lubricant that can help a machine’s parts achieve this state in the real world would revolutionize engineering because of the energy savings and reducing wear on components. According to the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers, friction consumes up to half of the total energy produced in the world. Costs associated with the wearing down of machine parts because of friction in the U.S. can total two-thirds of the country’s energy costs. On a smaller scale, the energy it takes for the typical automobile to overcome friction and get moving burns about a third of every tank of fuel.
(This large-scale simulation depicts a phenomena called superlubricity, or a condition of extremely low friction. The simulation reveals that this condition originates at the nanoscale when graphene atoms self-assemble into a tube-like scaffolding that reduces contact area and friction. The gold represents nanodiamond particles; the red is a graphene nanoscroll; green shows underlying graphene on silicon dioxide; and the gray structure is the diamond-like carbon interface. Image and caption courtesy of Sanket Deshmukh, Joseph Insley, and Subramanian Sankaranarayanan, Argonne National Laboratory.)
Using a supercomputer at Argonne, a team recreated experiments that had previously shown that graphene sheets sliding against a steel ball coated with diamond-like carbon produced very little friction. The experimental results, however, showed inconsistencies when the experiment took place in humid environments.
Their simulation revealed that the graphene nanoscrolls that rolled up would collapse under the weight of the steel ball, causing friction to spike. To remedy the instability, they added nanodiamonds into the simulation mix, which stabilized the graphene nanoscrolls when they were rolled up into them.
The group tried the simulation’s remedy in a new round of experiments, which proved successful at sustaining the superlubricity state.
“The beauty of this particular discovery is that we were able to see sustained superlubricity at the macroscale for the first time, proving this mechanism can be used at engineering scales for real-world applications,” said computational nanoscientist Subramanian Sankaranarayanan.
The material has a major limiting factor–it stops working in the presence of water. Argonne is working on a solution that would help it repel water but, in the meantime, it has a number of potential uses in dry environments from spinning computer hard drives to wind turbine gears and other dry mechanical systems.
“Friction and wear remain as the primary modes of mechanical energy dissipation in moving mechanical assemblies; thus, it is desirable to minimize friction in a number of applications,” the authors write in a study published recently in the journal Science. “We demonstrate that superlubricity can be realized at engineering scale when graphene is used in combination with nanodiamond particles and diamondlike carbon. Macroscopic superlubricity originates because graphene patches at a sliding interface wrap around nanodiamonds to form nanoscrolls with reduced contact area that slide against the DLC surface, achieving an incommensurate contact and substantially reduced coefficient of friction.”
Top gif: Argonne scientists used the Mira supercomputer to identify and improve a new mechanism for eliminating friction, which fed into the development of a hybrid material that exhibited superlubricity at the macroscale for the first time. This animation depicts the mechanism in which graphene patches (blue) spontaneously roll around nanodiamonds (gold) to enable sustained superlubricity. Gif created from Youtube video. Courtesy of Argonne National Lab.Getty Images
Browns Coach Hue Jackson told reporters Sunday that he feels “very comfortable” that Browns associate head coach and quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton will stay with the Browns instead of accepting a job at the University of Michigan.
Earlier Sunday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has been telling recruits that Hamilton will be joining his staff.
Hamilton was an assistant under Harbaugh at Stanford. Michigan recently lost passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch to UCLA, so there’s an opening on Harbaugh’s staff.
“I have known about the Jim Harbaugh situation from a week and a half ago,” Jackson said, per the team’s official transcript. “I feel very comfortable that Pep is staying. Anything can happen. We want him to stay. We hope he stays. Like I said, a young man is entitled to do what they feel is best for them, but I would think we have created a good environment and I hope things are still good. As far as I know, things are.”
Hamilton was the Colts’ offensive coordinator from 2013 until being fired during the 2015 season.Last Friday, Eric Shinseki resigned his post as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The sequence of events are fairly well documented, but the resignation itself came within days of an "Interim Report" by the VA Office of Inspector General over allegations of corruption and poor care delivery – specifically at the Phoenix Health Care System. The Interim Report had this paragraph in the Executive Summary:
The issues identified in current allegations are not new. Since 2005, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued 18 reports that identified, at both the national and local levels, deficiencies in scheduling resulting in lengthy waiting times and the negative impact on patient care. As required by the Inspector General Act of 1978, each of the reports listed was issued to the VA Secretary and the Congress and is publicly available on the VA OIG website. Veterans Health Administration - Interim Report (5/28 here)
For those who want a more complete history of scandals and resignations at the VA – CNN has a great timeline (here) dating back to 1930. That's when the first version of the Veterans Administration (founded in 1921 and called the Veterans Bureau) completely collapsed under a cloud of scandal and corruption. The Veterans Bureau was dismantled and replaced by what is now known as the Veterans Administration.
According to the CNN timeline, Mr. Shinseki is now the 3rd top Veteran's official to resign. The first was Frank Hines in 1945 and the second was Donald Johnson in 1974. Ron Kovic ("Born on the 4th of July" author) held a 19 day hunger strike at a Federal Building in L.A. as a part of a protest against VA healthcare treatment which led to Mr. Johnson's resignation.
Clearly, corruption, scandal and resignations at the VA are not new.
Fellow Forbes Contributor (and physician) Paul Hsieh cited three factors underlying the most recent allegations of corruption at the VA (here). Referencing a New York Times article, Dr. Hsieh summarized the three factors as:
1) Doctor Shortage
2) Perverse Incentives
3) Culture of Dishonesty
He’s absolutely right – on all three counts. The New York Times article highlighted the first factor this way:
At the heart of the falsified data in Phoenix, and possibly many other veterans hospitals, is an acute shortage of doctors, particularly primary care ones, to handle a patient population swelled both by aging veterans from the Vietnam War and younger ones who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to congressional officials, Veterans Affairs doctors and medical industry experts. Doctor Shortage Is Cited In Delays At V.A. Hospitals – New York Times May 29, 2014
But how is this unique to the VA? It isn't. This latest scandal in the VA's storied history is simply another form of "transparency" into an opaque (and patchwork) system known more broadly as US Healthcare, Inc. The VA may well be the focus du-jour of just how flawed our healthcare system is, but much of this has already been evident with the many (through the years) different scandals around pricing, safety and quality.
Last year, the Journal of Patient Safety released their report which suggested the death rate due to preventable medical errors to be (effectively) the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S.
Thus, the best estimate from combining these 4 studies is 210,000 preventable adverse events per year that contribute to the death of hospitalized patients – based primarily on evidence in hospital medical records found by the GTT method. A New, Evidenced-based Estimate of Patient Harms Associated With Hospital Care – Journal of Patient Safety – September 2013 (here)
While this report was largely around the process of estimating preventable adverse events (PAE's), it also included this broad, systemic indictment:
At the national level, our country is distinguished for its patchwork of medical care subsystems that can require patients to bounce around in a complex maze of providers as they seek effective and affordable care. Because of increased production demands, providers may be expected to give care in sub-optimal working conditions, with decreased staff, and a shortage of physicians, which leads to fatigue and burnout. It should be no surprise that PAEs that harm patients are frighteningly common in this highly technical, rapidly changing, and poorly integrated industry. The picture is further complicated by a lack of transparency and limited accountability for errors that harm patients.
Relative to wasteful healthcare spending, the global accounting firm of PwC summarized their finding in a 2009 report this way:
Our research found that wasteful spending in the health system has been calculated at up to $1.2 trillion of the $2.2 trillion spent in the United States, more than half of all health spending. PwC Report – The Price of Excess (here)
Since then, even more current pricing scandals have been faithfully documented by Steven Brill at Time (Bitter Pill) and Elisabeth Rosenthal at the New York Times (The $2.7 Trillion Dollar Medical Bill – an ongoing series).
The VA isn't an example of what's wrong with Government run healthcare – it's a clear indictment of how the whole system (beginning with primary care) in every setting (public and private) has been optimized around revenue and profits – not safety and quality. This one chart helps to explain the current shortage of primary care providers.
Whether it's the VA or private practice, our "free-market" system allows medical providers to pursue the path of highest earnings as supported, endorsed and encouraged by their industry. With all of the lucrative alternatives, why would the practice of primary care be economically attractive – in any setting? The shortage of primary care physicians creates the exact kind of economic conflict that often results in scandals – both inside and outside the VA.
"It was unethical to put us in that position," Dr. Phyllis Hollenbeck said of the over-stressed primary care unit at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Jackson, Miss., where she worked. Doctor Shortage Is Cited In Delays At V.A. Hospitals – New York Times May 29, 2014
Mr. Shinseki's resignation could be a catalyst for additional healthcare reform – both at and beyond the VA – but it likely won't. The reason could well be attributed to this two sentence quote by a Republican Governor:
How many businesses do you know that want to cut their revenue in half? That’s why the healthcare system won’t change the healthcare system. Rick Scott – Governor of Florida (as quoted by Vinod Khosla) – Rock Health Innovation Summit – August 2012 (video here)Fanggari's Refsheet by PrettyOkayMrFox
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Wolf Fanggari Leaves Necklace Moon Hoodie Refsheet Reference Sheet
Fanggari used to live in the forests and have adapted to city life quite well. He gets confused with human behaviors sometimes, however he tries his best to understand. Never really seen with huge smile, but quite commonly seen with a subtle one.
Despite having a car, he usually rides his bike to go places. He lives alone but keeps close contact with friends and family through phone and messaging. His eyes light up green when experiencing intense emotions.
wanting to keep something from home, he's decided to keep his leafy necklace in addition to his modern clothing
Thanks to prettyokaymrfox for the awesome refsheet! I am very satisfied with the result.This is a picture of twins Jeremy and Sean Telford celebrating their exam results alongside fellow twins Alistair and Lucy Simmonds.
While we're not sure about the veracity of that story (see below), we do know that it had nothing to do with the Telford and Simmonds twins.
"I'm not so much worried that people will recognise me, it's just thinking that my photo is all over the world in a completely fabricated story that has nothing to do with me that is pretty weird," he said. "It also makes me think about how many of those stories are completely made up."
Both of them [Alistair and Lucy Simmonds] know about the story and have posted about it on their [Facebook] profiles. Pretty much all of our old school year knows by now, one of my friends has even started calling it Twindergate.
Jeremy Telford
An email from the author of the Datingsitekiezen story to Sean Telford explains: "I found the photo via Google and wanted to add the photo in to 'illustrate' the story."
The piece was about Erik de Vries, 24 and Josephine Egberts, 22, who were said to have been estranged since 1999 when their parents split up. Erik had moved to Belgium with his father and twin brother Maarten and Josephine remained in Holland with her mother. According to Datingsitekiezen, the pair met after Erik moved to Holland to study and matched with his sister on Tinder and soon realised they were related.
As for where the Telford twins are from? "Although I was born in The Hague I'm half American, half English and can't speak a word Dutch," Jeremy said. Right then.VILNIUS (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden reassured the leaders of Lithuania and Latvia that the United States would defend any NATO members against aggression and warned that Russia was on a “dark path” to isolation over its actions in Ukraine.
Biden was in the capital of Lithuania, part of a quick trip to reassure Baltic allies worried about what an emboldened, aggressive Russia might mean for their nations. Lithuania, along with Estonia and Latvia, are NATO members.
“We stand resolutely with our Baltic allies in support of the Ukrainian people and against Russian aggression,” Biden told reporters.
“As long as Russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation,” Biden added, referring to reports of armed attacks against Ukrainian military personnel in Crimea.
The Baltic nations have condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for moving to annex Ukraine’s Crimea, and the White House has said it is preparing a fresh round of sanctions in response.
Biden’s visit, which included a trip to Warsaw on Tuesday, is intended to reassure nations like Poland and the Baltics that the United States will live up to its NATO pledge to protect allies under attack. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are all members of both the European Union and NATO - unlike Ukraine.
Biden told Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves earlier this week that the United States may rotate U.S. forces into the region to conduct ground and naval exercises and training missions. Washington also has added more fighter jets to help patrol airspace over the Baltics.
On Wednesday, Biden held talks with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Latvian President Andris Berzins at Lithuania’s presidential palace.
“We see that there is an attempt, using brutal force, to redraw borders of the European states and to destroy the post-war architecture of Europe,” Grybauskaite said.
The Baltics are worried not just about Russia’s intentions but also about the economic impact of rising tensions if Russia retaliates through trade bans or by withholding natural gas.
Last week, Russia suspended food imports through Lithuania’s major port, Klaipeda, a move local businesses saw as Moscow’s way of exerting political pressure.
Latvia’s finance minister said on Monday that the EU should compensate any countries hurt by its sanctions against Russia.ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Forensic report of the votes that were cast in the National Assembly’s constituency NA 110 during the 2013 general elections, reveals that only 20 of the total votes were invalid whereas thumb impressions on one-hundred two thousand nine hundred and fifty votes were unclear, reported Dunya News on Wednesday.
Sources indicate that the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) officials submitted the forensic report. The report states that the votes having unclear thumb impressions were declared verified as the identification card numbers mentioned on these votes were valid.
Sources state that 44,700 votes cast in the constituency were valid whereas around three thousand four hundred and seventy one votes could not be verified because of various reasons. Furthermore, no record related to 20 votes could be traced.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif won the elections from this very constituency in the 2013 elections. The election result was challenged by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Usman Dar in the Election tribunal.
NA 110 is among the constituencies in which PTI demanded investigation of the election’s outcome.Longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan was a “prominent participant” in patronage hiring at Metra dating back 30 years, recommending dozens of people for jobs, a new report has found.
Madigan had the power to recommend individuals for positions at Metra but “he in effect decided they were hired,” said the report written in part by former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
“While there is nothing inherently improper (much less illegal) about a person recommending someone else for a job or promotion, there is something systemically wrong when such references on behalf of politically connected individuals seem to dominate and control the process to the detriment of better qualified candidates,” the report said.
The findings were part of a 94-page analysis of the transit system by the Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn following the scandal that rocked Metra last summer.
After a seven-month study, the panel recommended abolishing the Regional Transportation Authority as well as the boards of the CTA, Metra and Pace. It also urged creation of a new superagency to oversee the six-county region’s mass transit.
Fitzgerald, who helped prosecute governmental corruption while U.S. Attorney, served on the 15-member task force and helped draft the report’s recommendations on ethics. Among other conclusions, the report urged that transit board members serve without compensation and that an independent panel vet appointees.
In a section headed “The Patronage Files,” the report said records uncovered at Metra reflected political hiring at the agency from 1983 to 1991. The records “came to light” after the task force was appointed, the report said.
Metra said Tuesday that one of its employees discovered the records in Metra's labor relations office and that the commuter rail agency quickly and voluntarily turned them over to Fitzgerald and the task force. The files included three boxes holding more than 800 three-by-five inch index cards relating to persons referred for jobs, promotions or raises by various public officials or persons influential with political parties.
Although Madigan was prominent in this patronage process, recommendations came from a number of individuals, including members of the boards of Metra and CTA as well as from officials in Cook County, the legislature and others, the report said.
The report only named Madigan and former Metra board member Donald Udstuen. It noted that the speaker's alleged efforts to influence personnel actions at Metra in 2012 led to the task force’s creation.
In a blistering April 3, 2013 memo to Metra's board, ousted Metra CEO Alex Clifford blamed his downfall partly on his refusal to acquiesce to Madigan's patronage requests to give a raise to one Metra worker, promote another and hire a third person. Madigan said he did nothing inappropriate.
Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said Tuesday that the speaker had not yet read the task force's report.
Brown, however, questioned how the group could have concluded that Madigan was involved in patronage activities based on documents 30 years old, which the task force members had not publicly discussed. Asked if Madigan ever referred people to Metra for hiring, Brown said he had “no idea.”
The General Assembly's Ethics Commission investigated Clifford's allegations against Madigan and other legislators. The state's executive inspector general is also investigating them.
The files show approximately 26 individuals were recommended by Madigan along with an unnamed private attorney, the report said.
Madigan, 72, has served in the House since 1971, representing a South Side district. He has been speaker since 1983, with the exception of two years.
One candidate he recommended — and noted as a “high priority” — was apparently considered even though his phone had been disconnected and Metra had to send a letter to his address asking him to contact the agency. Other recommendations included a cover letter with a list of individuals for five summer jobs at Metra’s Blue Island rail yard, the report said.
“These referrals and hiring and promotion decisions need to be viewed in light of the law generally prohibiting political hires for the transportation agencies involved,” the report said.
“When candidates were recommended by politically connected people, those candidates were at times hired or promoted or provided raises and at times not,” the report said. “But in a number of cases it appears that recommendations from particular officials carried greater weight and caused candidates to obtain jobs, raises or promotions.”
Another “prominent participant” in the patronage process was Udstuen, who was convicted of taking bribes relating to his role at Metra from 1985 to 2002, the report said. One person Udstuen recommended demonstrated the “corrosive effect of patronage,” the report said. He was hired even though he acted inappropriately during his interview, including wearing a hat with an obscenity written on it, the report said.
Fitzgerald did not return calls for comment. His office said he preferred that the task force co-chairs speak for the report.
The task force also raised ethical concerns about other issues that have occurred in recent years at Metra and at the RTA. In addition to the Utstuen scandal, the report cited the May 2010 suicide of former executive director Phil Pagano, who was under investigation for misappropriating $475,000.
Also mentioned was the RTA’s hiring in February 2012 of Madigan’s son-in-law, Jordan Matyas, as lobbyist, and later promotion to chief of staff.
The RTA had no comment Tuesday, but the report noted that the agency has denied the hiring had anything to do with Matyas’ connection to Madigan.
Nevertheless, the report said, it was “understandable” that the hiring created a public perception that “damages the agency’s credibility as a solution to the problem of patronage.”
rwronski@tribune.com | Twitter: @RichWronskiUPDATED: Trump’s Aides Say Story That Trump Will Meet With Putin Weeks After Taking Office Is “FANTASY”
TRUMP TO VISIT PUTIN FIRST
Originally it had been reported that Donald Trump would be meeting with Vladimir Putin shortly after being sworn into Office on January 20, 2017.
From The Sunday Times:
Donald Trump is planning to hold a summit with Vladimir Putin within weeks of becoming president — emulating Ronald Reagan’s Cold War deal-making in Reykjavik with Mikhail Gorbachev. Trump and his team have told British officials that their first foreign trip will be a meeting with the Russian leader, with the Icelandic capital in pole position to host the superpower talks as it did three decades ago.
“The Story Is A Fantasy”
In an unsurprising turn of events, it turns out that the media once again published something that was NOT true about Donald Trump.
From Reuters:
Two top aides to President-elect Donald Trump denied a published report on Saturday that he is planning to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin weeks after taking office. The Sunday Times of London reported that Trump had told British officials that such a summit was being planned, possibly to be staged in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik. “The story is a fantasy,” one Trump aide told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another said the report was not true.“There's a lot of arcane voodoo magic around gaming mice,” Logitech Product Manager Chris Pate told us in a discussion on gaming mouse hardware. Joined by Logitech, we discussed mouse acceleration, smoothing, the interpretation of 2D input into a 3D gaming space, mouse myths, and mouse sensor technology in our latest video.
Logitech on Gaming Mouse Specs, Myths, & Tech
A few highlights of the video can be found below.
Major Misconceptions with Gaming Mice: DPI Doesn't Measure Accuracy
Our first question to Logitech asked if there were any major misconceptions in the world of gaming mice that they'd like to clear-up. Pate responded quickly: “The biggest thing that probably should be made clear is that DPI is really just about cursor sensitivity; it's not a measure of accuracy or precision.” The PM went on to explain that DPI is strictly a measure of sensitivity of the actual sensor – “the cursor moves faster – that's it.”
We asked Pate about preferences of the pro gamers working with Logitech, learning that most of the players Logitech sponsors will hover within the 400 to 800 DPI range. After this point, players rely on physical speed adjustments to account for input demands in the game. This allows the greatest and easiest to control level of precision for gamers.
“We list the DPI because that's what the sensor is capable of,” Pate told me, further noting that very few pro gamers ever exceed 800 DPI. From our own reader input, we've learned that almost none of you exceed 1800 DPI, and those who exceed 1000-1200 DPI are rare.
To this end, excessively high DPI numbers shouldn't be regarded as critical in mouse selection. Pate noted that it's a tricky, double-edged blade of marketing: Omitting the metric, despite its somewhat irrelevantly high modern range, looks bad or confusing to buyers, but Logitech also doesn't want to push its 12,000 DPI number as the reason for its boasted superiority. It's the sensitivity and tuning of the actual sensor, something to which Logitech pays great attention, that matters most, but this is difficult to convey on product packaging.
The Most Important Mouse Specification
(Above: Optical sensor illustration (left); Optical vs. Laser sensor resolution (right). Source: Logitech Whitepaper).
Asked to name the most critical mousing aspect for buyers to research, Pate told us that “the most important thing is the overall accuracy of the sensor.” The PM further went on to discuss the effects of “speed-related accuracy variance” and “resolution error vs. speed,” two items known colloquially as “acceleration.”
Mouse acceleration changes the distance a cursor moves on-screen dependent upon the user's movement speed, which effectively eliminates the ability to game from muscle memory. Mice using non-toggle acceleration mean that we can no longer use repeated, trained movements to net the cursor movement desired, and must rely strictly on what's shown on the screen. This negatively impacts the ability to perform well in-games, especially precision-driven FPS titles like CS:GO.
Mouse acceleration in the sensor should be avoided when purchasing a gaming mouse, though we've learned that many game developers force it upon us through software. Check to ensure that gaming mice you're considering do not use acceleration.
As far as the proper terminology, we're told that Logitech would prefer not to use the word “acceleration” to describe speed-related accuracy variance, though understands that it has become accepted as an easier-to-say descriptor. “Acceleration implies that it is an inherent feature of the sensor, when really it's a characteristic that is made visible by changing the speed that the mouse is moving. Depending on how fast the mouse is moving, you can get different degrees of motion and speed.” Pate explained.
How Mouse Smoothing Works & Why You Don't Want It
Mouse smoothing, like acceleration, has advantages in certain use cases. Gaming is not one of them. Mouse smoothing temporally compares frame input from the sensor to determine the cursor's path, then smooths out the resulting on-screen movements. Logitech notes that this reduces spurious motion, called “ripple,” and is undesirable for applications that require raw precision. Smoothing is detrimental for two reasons: Altering user behavior and adding post-processing latency.
Smoothing compares frames against one another, looks for “blips” that deviate from what it thinks is the intended movement, and then smooths them out. This, in the gaming world, might result in jumping just a pixel or two in the wrong direction when attempting to make a headshot – many of us have likely encountered this anomaly. As with acceleration, smoothing negatively impacts a gamer's ability to play by muscle memory.
Post-processing increases time between physical mouse movement and cursor movement. The added latency results from the frame analysis happening on-board prior to delivering that data to the host, and is irritating to precision gamers who depend on instant feedback. The latent input becomes more noticeable at higher framerates and on faster response displays, Pate told us, like 120Hz and 144Hz monitors.
A Unique Challenge: 2D Planar Input into a 3D Gaming Space
All mice, gaming or not, face a unique concern when it comes to 3D input. We're moving the mouse on a two-dimensional plane, so three-dimensional rotational movement – like looking side-to-side in an FPS – should adequately reflect the mouse's movement. Pate noted that this question “gets really complex really fast” and spoke to the best of his knowledge, but kept it top-level:
“Every count, the mouse driver turns something like 0.22 degrees, so you're trying to make sure you don't have a level of sensitivity versus a level of DPI that causes it to jump pixel-to-pixel and miss a headshot. There's a lot of arcane and almost 'voodoo math' that goes into making this decision.”
What Matters Most: Comfort & Sensors
As with all components, it's easy to go overboard and dedicate countless hours to gaming mouse research. Ultimately, the starting point is the shape – “buy a shape that's comfortable, that's what you start with,” Pate told us. Once you've found a shape that is appealing, normally a mixture of grip types and hand size, it's important to ensure the sensor performs in a desirable fashion; this might include the omission of 'acceleration' and smoothing, if we're talking gaming mice. At this point, the decision should be narrowed down to a few options. This is when additional features – lighting, buttons, and macro options (or the lack of all of these, if you'd prefer simplicity) – come into play.
Logitech's G303 ($70) was the subject of some discussion during the video, which was announced shortly after filming. Read an overview of the mouse here. Full review pending.
- Steve “Lelldorianx” Burke.“I remember wailing and squirming around until I got out of energy,” Caleb said.
The boy now stands nearly six feet tall, with the frame of a high-school cornerback. But back then, he said, “I was a chubby little kid.”
At the time, Brent recalled with pride, Caleb was a “phenomenal reader, way above grade level.” But he struggled with math, and, less so, with science and English. By third grade, he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At the start of the school year, the family went to the program’s annual Individualized Education Program meeting (or IEP, the cornerstone of special-education planning, designed for families and schools to set goals together). They were determined to get Caleb back in the local public school, with a paraprofessional to help manage his behavior.
But the county and GNETS officials said Caleb wasn’t ready and needed to stay at Alpine—a refrain the family would hear over and over in the coming years. “There was only so hard we could fight,” Jennifer recalled. “We didn’t want to jeopardize our jobs.”
By sixth grade, Caleb was at another GNETS center, in the same building where Jennifer attended middle school. By the time Caleb arrived, it was devoid of displays of student achievement in the hallways, or names of teachers on the doors, or visual reminders of teaching and learning. Classrooms were off a hallway with locked doors at both ends.
There, Caleb started using the e2020 computer program most of the day. Developed by a company now called Edgenuity, the platform is available for all K-12 subjects. “It looked amazing on paper,” Brent recalled. “You work at your own pace, get your credits—but there was no one there to help.”
Caleb’s classroom, like most in the GNETS program, had fewer than 10 students; it had a teacher trained in special education, and one or two paraprofessionals, but no teachers licensed in any academic content areas. Although Caleb took care to point out that he felt most of his teachers “cared” about him, he said none had really helped him academically. “Most of the time, they were putting out fires,” he said.
“Half the time he would just sit down and listen to music all day, watch movies on Netflix, and sleep,” Brent said. They had a new principal nearly every year.
Throughout middle school, he was “still great in reading,” said Jennifer, but behind in all other subjects. Jennifer had started a three-ring binder notebook when Caleb was in elementary school to keep track of his IEP meetings. Then, she said, when she saw that the GNETS program would not even follow such simple procedures listed in Caleb’s IEP as allowing him to use a calculator during a math test to reduce his anxiety, she started to give up. “We just stopped keeping up with it,” she said.
Caleb’s high school was a two-hour bus ride away, to the Futures Program, another GNETS center located in a building where black students once studied during de jure segregation. (Some studies have suggested that Georgia and other states’ disproportionate numbers of black, male students in their special-education and emotional- and behavioral-disorder programs have resulted in a new form of racial segregation; according to a GNETS official, in 2014-15, when 37 percent of Georgia’s K-12 population was black, 51 percent of GNETS students were black and 80 percent were male.)Mumbai: At a monetary policy press briefing in January 2014, then governor Raghuram Rajan was asked by a reporter why the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had acted like a hawk and spoken like a dove. The question was in the context of the central bank raising its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points and then saying no further increase would be required if consumer price inflation stayed on its projected trajectory.
Rajan replied that RBI was neither a hawk nor a dove, but an owl, and asked then deputy governor Urjit Patel to elaborate for the audience.
This was what the usually terse Patel said: “Well, an owl is traditionally a symbol of wisdom; so we are neither doves nor hawks but owls and we are vigilant when others are resting."
Patel who completed one year as RBI’s 24th governor on 4 September, has certainly been vigilant—some would say overt-vigilant—when it comes to upholding the inflation-targeting mandate of the Reserve Bank.
His critics, much as the critics of his predecessor Rajan, have faulted him for erring too much on the side of caution at a time when economic growth needed monetary impetus.
After cutting the repo rate, at which RBI infuses liquidity into the banking system, by a quarter of a percentage point in October, the monetary policy committee headed by Patel left borrowing costs untouched at four consecutive policy reviews until August, when it lowered the rate by a similar extent. The markets had been expecting a cut of at least half-a-percentage point in August.
Critics have even questioned the communication skills of Patel, 53, who has limited public appearances to monetary policy press briefings.
For instance, Patel has delivered only six speeches since he became governor.
His predecessor, Rajan, who was given the tag of a ‘rock star’ by the media, writes in his book that he “gave a speech on average once a month".
ALSO READ: The bad loan resolution process should reach a logical end: Raghuram Rajan
Unlike Rajan, 54, who became governor in September 2013 when the rupee, along with other emerging market currencies, was in a free fall during the so-called temper tantrum that followed US Federal Reserve warnings of an end to economic stimulus, Patel took office when domestic economic fundamentals were stable.
Handling of demonetisation
The lull proved to be short-lived. The role of RBI, under Patel’s governorship, became a matter of public debate after the government on 8 November invalidated high-value currency notes. In one stroke, the government removed 86% of the money in circulation by value, calling it an attack on untaxed wealth hoarded by the rich, terror financing and counterfeit currency.
The immediate consequence was an unprecedented cash crunch and in the |
local pro-life group was sponsoring buses traveling to Washington, DC, for the annual March for Life. I arranged for a sitter to watch Angela and Mike in anticipation of a day filled with grown-up conversation.
Calling the number on the announcement to reserve my bus seat kindled a decades-long friendship with the woman who answered the phone. Anne was a wife, a mother, and a registered nurse. She had been an advocate for life even before Roe and Doe, and she became my friend and mentor. We walked together that January with many others. Over the years, we protested together, lobbied together, laughed together, and came to love each other like family. Every Halloween when my children were young, we visited her home for trick-or-treat.
And there were other friends who impressed me with their commitment to life.
In the mid 1980s, I met John after he had spent a week in a Pittsburgh jail for blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic. At that time, rescue efforts across the country disrupted the abortion business in an effort to discourage women from aborting their babies. John was a young married man. I recall that he and his wife had a few children at that time. Eventually they would welcome ten babies to their family.
Knowing about his rescue and jail experiences, I asked him to speak to the junior high group at my church’s Wednesday evening youth program. When he looked into the room and saw about thirty kids, he nearly had a panic attack. After some deep breaths, he rallied, entered the classroom, and inspired us all. Pittsburgh was notorious for its treatment of pro-life rescuers. I thought it funny that thirty junior high kids terrified John, but he was completely okay with being civilly disobedient in a city known for mistreating protesters. In his talk, John didn’t dwell on the unpleasantness of his jail experience. Instead, he told us about a vision he had. Driving down the road one day, he envisioned Christ holding a dead unborn baby and weeping over the child. That experience propelled him into the cause for life.
Within the pro-life effort, I found a second faith community. It did not replace my church, but it did give me a new opportunity to live out my faith and convictions and watch others do the same.
The most significant example of unity between Catholics, Orthodox, and evangelicals in America is the response to the Roe and Doe decisions [regarding abortion]. Conservative Christianity—Catholicism instantly and evangelicals and Orthodox Christians a bit later—reached out to unwed mothers and the unborn, establishing crisis pregnancy centers and offering abortion alternatives. These ministries often involve people from different Christian traditions and are separate from established churches.
Pro-life ministries work to save mother and child from devastation and destruction. The effort employs a three-pronged approach—educating the public about life issues (not just concerning abortion but also about infanticide and euthanasia and, on the positive side, adoption), helping parents deal with unexpected pregnancies and children already born, and promoting legislation that upholds the right to life from conception through natural death.
Efforts in the political realm have been only marginally successful in protecting human life. But those efforts have kept the issue in front of the public. In spite of more than a generation of legalized abortion, the issue refuses to go away.
And abortion rates are now lower than they have been since Roe. While one study’s authors credit new, long-term contraceptives for the drop, they acknowledge that they did not investigate causes of the lower numbers.[i] Two Gallup polls from 2009 and 2012 show that support for abortion had slipped to its lowest point since Gallup began asking the question—pro-choice or pro-life?—in 1995.[ii] In 2015, the number of pro-abortion Americans climbed slightly, but abortion rates have continued to fall since they peaked in 1990.[iii]
Those who support abortion often accuse pro-lifers of caring only for the unborn, of having no regard for the mother or other family members affected by a crisis pregnancy. The accusation is a hasty conclusion that ignores the deep commitment of pro-life people to meet women’s needs as well as those of their children, born and unborn, since the mid 1970s. Those who minister through crisis pregnancy centers know their clients’ needs are not limited to housing, maternity clothing, and baby supplies. Surviving children (siblings and those who survive the abortion process) and post-abortive parents are walking wounded—struggling with physical, emotional, and spiritual scars. In response, many pro-life organizations have expanded services, offering post-abortion counseling, mentoring, and testing for sexually transmitted diseases. These ministries reach out to post-abortive fathers who either had no say in a woman’s decision to abort or regret their role in urging her to it. Moms and dads also often need to learn how to parent and manage a household. Crisis pregnancy centers have grown to meet the many needs of babies and their family members.
And ministries to single parents are not limited to crisis pregnancy centers. In order to meet the needs of low-income parents, many churches now host daycare centers. Unaffiliated with a particular church, Mom’s House began in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1983. This ministry cares for children while their parents attend school or career training. Volunteers mentor single parents, teaching them practical parenting and household management skills. Now these parents can complete their education, find employment, and leave welfare. Mom’s House now has seven centers in four states.[iv] Such ministries, which can be found throughout the US, care for women and already born children.
Success stories of changed lives are plentiful. Pro-life Christians encourage our culture to recognize and uphold the sanctity of human life and the primacy of the family. In the meantime, we maintain our personal Christian doctrines and traditions. In no other area of public discourse have Christians worked together as effectively as they have in the pro-life cause—and sometimes with unforeseen results.
* * * * *
Dr. Bernard Nathanson was a central figure in the effort to decriminalize abortion in the US in the late sixties and early seventies. His transition to the pro-life perspective is particularly profound since he was an atheist. I heard him speak in 1980; his intellect and rhetorical skills vastly impressed me. I was unaware—as perhaps he was then—of the transformation sprouting in his heart. He later described his conversion to Christianity as “an unimaginable sequence [that] has moved in reverse, like water moving uphill.”[v] I used to joke that I was our local pro-life chapter’s token Baptist—a lone Protestant within a community of Catholic life advocates. Dr. Nathanson was the movement’s token atheist. His knowledge and experience regarding obstetrical medicine and abortion procedures were, of course, unparalleled within our ranks, and his atheism demonstrated that our cause was not simply one of religious fervor but one of human rights.
Nathanson became pro-life when a career change removed him from the abortion clinic and landed him in an obstetrical office at the dawn of prenatal ultrasound technology. Seeing the reality of preborn children altered his thinking about their humanity. The basis for his new convictions was science, not a foundational belief in the sacredness of human life made in God’s image. His arrival at that conclusion was yet to come.
What was the turning point for him spiritually? Was it Christian pro-lifers’ devotion to doctrine? Was it our intellectual grasp of the issue of human life? It was neither. It was the self-sacrifice and devotion to God he saw in the pro-life rescue movement—the same fervor that landed my friend, John, in a Pittsburgh jail. Nathanson was the rueful champion of “safe and legal” abortions. As a novice but secular pro-life observer, he witnessed the Christlike attitude of those in the rescue arm of the pro-life cause. He wr ote:
“I had been aware in the early and mid-eighties that a great many of the Catholics and Protestants in the ranks [of the pro-life effort] had prayed for me, were praying for me, and I was not unmoved as time wore on. But it was not until I saw the spirit put to the test on those bitterly cold demonstration mornings, with pro-choicers hurling the most fulsome epithets at them, the police surrounding them, the media openly unsympathetic to their cause, the federal judiciary fining and jailing them—all through it they sat smiling, quietly praying, confident and righteous of their cause and ineradicably persuaded of their ultimate triumph—that I began seriously to question what indescribable Force generated them to this activity. Why, too, was I there? What had led me to this time and place? Was it the same Force that allowed them to sit serene and unafraid at the epicenter of legal, physical, ethical, and moral chaos?”[vi]
This tipping point pushed Nathanson into a full-fledged investigation of Christianity that resulted in him turning his “life over to Christ.”[vii]
[i] Sandhya Somashekhar, “Study: Abortion at Lowest Point Since 1973,” The Washington Post, February 2, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/study-abortion-rate-at-lowest-point-since-1973/2014/02/02/8dea007c-8a9b-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.44d8f5314a65.
[ii] Lydia Saad, “‘Pro-Choice’ Americans at Record-Low 41%,” Gallup, May 23, 2012, http://news.gallup.com/poll/154838/pro-choice-americans-record-low.aspx.
[iii] Lydia Saad, “Americans Choose ‘Pro-Choice’ for First Time in Seven Years,” Gallup, May 29, 2015, http://news.gallup.com/poll/183434/americans-choose-pro-choice-first-time-seven-years.aspx; National Right to Life Committee, “New Guttmacher Study Shows Abortion Numbers Hit Historic Low,” January 17, 2017, https://www.nrlc.org/communications/releases/2017/release011717.
[iv] Mom’s House, accessed July 3, 2014, http://www.momshouse.org.
[v] Bernard Nathanson, The Hand of God: A Journey from Death to Life by the Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2013; first published, 1996), 193.
[vi] Ibid., 199.
[vii] Rev. C. John McCloskey III, “Foreword,” ibid., xiv.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this excerpted material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have a material connection to Morgan James Publishing, the publishers of Restoring the Shattered. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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PrintMeet the Toronto Wolfpack - the rugby league team that'll play half their season in Canada and the other half in England Meet the Toronto Wolfpack - the rugby league team that'll play half their season in Canada and the other half in England
Picture the scene. A group of men in New Zealand decide to go on a rugby tour to Australia, Wales and England. They have very little money and will be away for a long time.
They're not sure if they will generate much interest or if anyone will turn up to watch them. It is 1907 and the other side of the world is a long way away.
By the end of the tour, the game of rugby league has become established, the tour itself was profitable and several of the players were given generous payments to stay and play for teams in the north of England. It needed the vision and entrepreneurial skills of a man called Albert Baskerville to pull this off. It must have seemed like a daunting task but he felt passionately about it and took a chance. Where would we be without people like him?
I can see several similarities with the news on Wednesday that a team from Toronto will enter the Kingstone Press League 1 for next season. It is the result of the drive by a man called Eric Perez, the modern day Mr Baskerville. He has chosen a city that is just over seven hours flight from the England, and with an incredible appetite for sport.
This could be a strength or a weakness as the market could be saturated already. It has a hockey team, a basketball team, a baseball team, a soccer team and a Canadian football side. Add that to the fact that rugby union, lacrosse, frisbee and tennis are already played there means that the people either have enough sports to choose from already or just cannot get enough. It is sports mad.
Toronto: Home of the new rugby league team the Toronto Wolfpack
In fact, Toronto loves sport that much that it bid for the Olympics in 2008 and came runner-up to Beijing. The city is the commercial capital of Canada with a population similar to that of Leeds or Manchester. The fact that it is based on the shores of Lake Ontario make it look a bit like Sydney or Auckland, so can it become a place where rugby league takes root?
Well in some ways we need it to. The Canterbury and England forward, James Graham, made comments in Australia recently which implied that rugby league needs to grow its international footprint or the sport would just become a feeder competition to rugby union. I am not sure if that horse has already bolted James, but I understand your point. Staying still is not an option.
Here is my summation of the rugby league game in the UK over the last 40 years:
We have professional clubs which have existed for around a century which now have no assets and live from week to week. They just about survive but are in a professional sporting sense on a "life-support machine", and have been for the last decade.
They are going nowhere and haven't been well-managed in the past. We have some clubs which have moved into the 21st Century and are well run, hoping that the others will improve and allow the sport to grow as well. These have been in the minority in my opinion. The weak have held back the strong.
They will provide players and fans the opportunity to enjoy the sport in a new environment and they are going to encourage local Canadians to play the game. Phil Clarke
From time to time we get some enthusiastic people from outside traditional rugby league lands who show an interest in the sport. However, we have not been great at helping the good ones and weeding out the bad. It strikes me that the people behind this Toronto project need backing, just as the ones in Toulouse do as well.
The world is a much smaller place than it was when rugby league first started and I hope it goes from strength to strength in Toronto. We have got to hope that Mr Perez does not get pneumonia, like Mr Baskerville did. We need him.
Critics could argue that we have not got rugby league going in Liverpool so why do we think we can get a transatlantic team to succeed? Well I would reply by saying that this is a self-funded operation that is not taking money from the existing game. They are going to increase the awareness of the sport in a new area. They will provide players and fans the opportunity to enjoy the sport in a new environment and they are going to encourage local Canadians to play the game.
Rugby league has over 100 years' experience at trying to establish itself in new areas - some good, more bad, but I have nothing but admiration and enthusiasm for the project. I'll be following the Canadian Wolfpack with interest.Marceline with Bywith No comments
DC's decision to bring The Authority crew into the main DC universe was a controversial one. Many were concerned that the characters would somehow have to be neutered or watered down, that Batman and Superman analogues Midnighter and Apollo wouldn't make sense in a world where those characters actually existed. How would foul mouthed characters who regularly slaughtered the baddies they went up against work in a universe full of do-gooder, no kill rule heroes?Thankfully, the first issue makes it clear that although these characters may have been rebooted, they have not been watered down. A very dapper looking Jack Hawksmoor refers to other superheroes with disdain, describing them as amateurs. Apollo's existence was discovered after he murdered a child molester. And the new characters introduced by writer Paul Cornell seem to fit right in. I especially liked media manipulator The Projectionist, who gives us a hilarious look of how superheroics have effected the internet.The other new addition to the team, Martian Manhunter, is very different from the "heart of the Justice League" we've come to know him as. As a big fan of the character, I'm a little concerned by just how much he seems to have changed, but I'm mostly thrilled that Cornell really seems to get how powerful the character is and plans to make use of his skills. I'd love to see a little of the old J'onn slip in- especially his love of chocos- but as is, he seems to work well with the rest of the team, which is important at this stage in the game.While reading through the various character introductions, I was reminded of Chris Claremont's early work on Uncanny X-Men. There's something about the way each character shows up and demonstrates their powers to each other and the readers that brings to mind the first time we saw Gambit or Jubilee. But the issue doesn't feel dated or stiff, and it's still full of crackling wit I expect from any Cornell penned comic. Several lines made me laugh out loud, and I spent most of the time I was reading this with a smile on my face.And when I wasn't smiling, I was pretty intrigued. Fascinating tidbits are introduced one after another, from the glimpse we saw of the Demon Knights cast to the mention of Shadow Cabinet. I get the sense that Cornell is using this early arc to build up to even grander stories down the road, and it makes me feel really good about the direction this book is going in. The comic is called Stormwatch, but it feels more like one part Authority, one part Planetary, and one part something else entirely- and I think the mix we wind up with at the end is going to be pretty awesome.Artist Miguel Sepulveda does a great job creating the monsters and the backgrounds for the book, but I'm not sold on how he draws the characters. There's so much fun banter here, and I feel like getting a little more out of the character expressions would have taken it that extra mile. I hope that as Sepulveda becomes more familiar with drawing these characters, that aspect of the book improves, because I really think that would take this title to the next level.Overall, Stormwatch is shaping up to be a welcome addition to the DC universe. It clearly has something to offer that the Justice League or cosmic titles like Green Lantern don't, and Cornell's done a great job of setting things up in his first issue. The multiple plot threads and large cast of characters may be a little overwhelming for newer readers, but things are explained enough to keep the book from feeling impenetrable. And, while the panel in the first page may cause some alarm, I can assure readers that they don't have to read Superman #1 to understand what's going on in this comic.I'd recommend this book to Wildstorm fans, fans of Paul Cornell, and to those looking for an action title outside of your standard superhero fare. The fresh start makes this a great jumping on point for those who never read Stormwatch or The Authority, and the issue's final page shows that there'll still be plenty of treats for longtime fans of the characters. Stormwatch is off to a strong start, and I can't wait to see where this series goes next.The White House is holding an online contest that will allow people to vote on which turkey will be pardoned by President Obama on Wednesday.
This year, voters can choose between Caramel and Popcorn, two birds from the farm of Minnesota resident John Burkel.
"Caramel is a steady and deliberate bird that enjoys soybean meal and rocking out to Lady Gaga," said White House deputy director of online engagement Erin Lindsay in a blog post announcing the contest.
"When Popcorn is feeling peckish, he can't stop snacking on his namesake, corn, and has been known to strut around to Beyonce's ‘Halo.’ "
Voters can see pictures of the birds, listen to recordings of their gobbles, and then vote on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter through a website set up by the White House.
"We'll count up the hashtags to make sure there's no fowl play," Lindsay quipped.
No matter who wins in the online vote, both birds will be spared, and then moved to Mount Vernon to live out the remainder of their lives.
The birds are awaiting their fate at the Willard Hotel, across the street from the White House. They'll be brought to the executive residence on Wednesday for an afternoon ceremony with the president.
The turkey pardon is a Thanksgiving tradition that harkens back to Abraham Lincoln, who, according to legend, wrote out a presidential pardon for a turkey at the insistence of his son, Tad Lincoln.
Former Presidents Kennedy and Nixon also made a point of returning turkeys presented to the White House to either their original farms or local petting zoos, and former President George H.W. Bush became the first president to formally announce the turkey pardon during the 1989 turkey presentation.
But the ceremony is not without controversy. Last year, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to the White House demanding Obama skip the pardon, accusing the president of being in partnership with the "turkey-killing industry."
In a letter, the animal rights group argued the annual White House ceremony "makes light of the mass slaughter of some 46 million gentle, intelligent birds."The Panzerfaust ( German: [ˈpantsɐˌfaʊst], lit. "armor fist" or "tank fist", plural: Panzerfäuste) is an inexpensive, single shot, recoilless German anti-tank weapon of World War II. It consists of a small, disposable pre-loaded launch tube firing a high-explosive anti-tank warhead, and was intended to be operated by a single soldier. The Panzerfaust's direct ancestor was the similar, smaller-warhead Faustpatrone ordnance device. The Panzerfaust was in use from 1943 until the end of the war.[1][2] The weapon's concepts played an important part in the development of the later Russian RPG weapon systems such as the RPG-2.[citation needed] Most notably, the RPG-7 added a sustainer rocket motor to the grenade.
Background: Faustpatrone [ edit ]
A forerunner of the Panzerfaust was the Faustpatrone (literally "fist cartridge").
The Faustpatrone was much smaller in physical appearance than the better known Panzerfaust. Development of the Faustpatrone started in the summer of 1942 at the German company HASAG with the development of a smaller prototype called Gretchen ("little Greta") by a team headed by Dr. Heinrich Langweiler in Leipzig. The basic concept was that of a recoilless gun; neither the Faustpatrone, nor its successor the Panzerfaust were rockets, because the round design, like those fired by grenade launchers, did not feature a sustainer rocket motor that ignited after it left the launcher.
Faustpatrone 30 (top) and Panzerfaust 60 (bottom) 30 (top) and60 (bottom)
The following weapon model of the Panzerfaust family, the so-called Faustpatrone klein, 30 m ("small fist-cartridge") had a total weight of 3.2 kg (7.1 lb) and a total length of 98.5 cm (38¾ in); its projectile had a length of 36 cm (14¼ in) and a warhead diameter of 10 cm (4 in); it carried a shaped charge of 400 g (14 oz) of a 50:50 mix of TNT and tri-hexogen. The propellant consisted of 54 g (1.9 oz or 830 grains) of black powder, the metal launch tube had a length of 80 cm (31½ in) and a diameter of 3.3 cm (1.3 in) (early models reportedly 2.8 cm (1.1 in)). Fitted to the warhead was a wooden shaft with folded stabilizing fins (made of 0.25 mm (0.01 in) thick spring metal). These bent blades straightened into position by themselves as soon as they left the launch tube. The warhead was accelerated to a speed of 28 m/s (92 ft/s), had a range of about 30 m (100 ft) and an armor penetration of up to 140 mm (5½ in) of plain steel.
Faustpatrone 30 (top) and Panzerfaust 60 (bottom) warheads, further cross sectional views for the Faustpatrone 30 and Panzerfaust 100, including the tube, are available.[3][4][5] Sectional view of30 (top) and60 (bottom) warheads, further cross sectional views for the30 and100, including the tube, are available.
Soon a crude aiming device similar to the one used by the Panzerfaust was added to the design; it was fixed at a range of 30 m (100 ft). Several designations of this weapon were in use, amongst which Faustpatrone 1 or Panzerfaust 30 klein; however, it was common to refer to this weapon simply as the Faustpatrone. Of the earlier model, 20,000 were ordered and the first 500 Faustpatronen were delivered by the manufacturer, HASAG Hugo Schneider AG, Werk Schlieben, in August 1943.
Development [ edit ]
Panzerfaust's predecessor, the Faustpatrone, using the integrated leaf sight A Luftwaffe soldier aims thepredecessor, the, using the integrated leaf sight
Panzerfaust 60 (left) with Panzerschreck rocket (right) 60 (left) withrocket (right)
Panzerfaust 30s in original shipping crate, on display at the Four30s in original shipping crate, on display at the Helsinki Military Museum
Development began in 1942 on a larger version of the Faustpatrone. The resulting weapon was the Panzerfaust 30, with a total weight of 5.1 kilograms (11.2 lb) and total length of 1.045 metres (3.4 ft). The launch tube was made of low-grade steel 44 millimetres (1.7 in) in diameter, containing a 95-gram (3.4 oz) charge of black powder propellant. Along the side of the tube were a simple folding rear sight and a trigger. The edge of the warhead was used as the front sight. The oversize warhead (140 mm (5.5 in) in diameter) was fitted into the front of the tube by an attached wooden tail stem with metal stabilizing fins.
The warhead weighed 2.9 kilograms (6.4 lb) and contained 0.8 kilograms (1.8 lb) of a 50:50 mixture of TNT and hexogen explosives, and had armour penetration of 200 millimetres (7.9 in).[6] The Panzerfaust often had warnings written in large red letters on the upper rear end of the tube, the words usually being "Achtung. Feuerstrahl." ("Beware. Fire jet."). This was to warn soldiers to avoid the backblast.
After firing, the tube was discarded, making the Panzerfaust the first disposable anti-tank weapon. The weapon, when correctly fired from the crook of the arm, could with its shaped charge warhead penetrate the armour of any armoured fighting vehicle of the period.[7]
Specifications [ edit ]
Designation Weight Propellant
weight Warhead Ø Projectile speed
V max Effective
range Penetration
performance Faustpatrone 30 2.7–3.2 kg 70 g 100 mm 28 m/s 30 m 140 mm Panzerfaust 30 5.22 kg 95–100 g 149 mm 30 m/s 30 m 200 mm Panzerfaust 60 6.8 kg 120–134 g 149 mm 45 m/s 60 m 200 mm Panzerfaust 100 6.8 kg 190–200 g 149 mm 60 m/s 100 m 200 mm Panzerfaust 150 7 kg 190–200 g 106 mm 85 m/s 150 m 280–320 mm
Combat use [ edit ]
Panzerfaust-armed German soldiers on the -armed German soldiers on the Eastern Front in 1945.
To use the Panzerfaust, the soldier took off the safety, aimed, and with a little squeeze, fired the projectile. Unlike the Americans' original M1 60 mm Bazooka and the Germans' own heavier 88 mm Panzerschreck tube-type rocket launchers based on the American ordnance piece, the Panzerfaust did not have a trigger. It had a pedal-like lever near the projectile that ignited the propellant when squeezed.
When used against tanks, the Panzerfaust had an impressive beyond-armour effect. Compared to the Bazooka and the Panzerschreck, it made a larger hole and produced massive spalling that killed the crew and destroyed equipment. One informal test found that the Panzerfaust made an entry hole two and three-fourths inches in diameter, whereas the Panzerschreck made an entry hole at least one inch in diameter, and the Bazooka made an entry hole that was only a half-inch in diameter.[8]
Germany [ edit ]
In the Battle of Normandy, only 6% of British tank losses were from Panzerfaust fire despite the close-range combat in the Bocage landscape. However, the threat from the Panzerfaust forced tank forces to wait for infantry support before advancing. The portion of British tanks taken out of action by Panzerfausts later rose to 34%, a rise probably explained by the lack of German anti-tank guns late in the war and the increased numbers of Panzerfausts that were available.[9]
In urban combat later in the war in eastern Germany, about 70% of tanks destroyed were hit by Panzerfäuste or Panzerschrecks. The Soviet forces responded by installing spaced armour on their tanks from early 1945 onwards, although it was often easily blown off by exploding shells or Panzerfaust hits. Each tank company was also assigned a platoon of infantry to protect them from infantry-wielded anti-tank weapons.[citation needed]
Volkssturm soldiers with Panzerfausts in Berlin, March 1945 soldiers within Berlin, March 1945
During the last stages of the war, for a lack of available weapons, many poorly-trained conscripts (mainly elderly men) and teenaged Hitler Youth members were often given a single Panzerfaust and nothing else, causing several German generals to comment sarcastically that the empty launch-tubes could then be used as clubs in hand-to-hand combat.[10]
Other countries [ edit ]
Many Panzerfäuste were sold to Finland, which urgently needed them, as the Finnish forces did not have enough anti-tank weapons that could penetrate heavily armored Soviet tanks like the T-34 and IS-2. The Finnish experience with the weapon and its adaptability to Finnish needs was mixed, and only 4,000 of 25,000 Panzerfäuste delivered were expended in combat.[11] The manual that came with the weapon upon delivery to the Finns included depictions of where to aim the weapon on the Soviet T-34 and US Sherman tank (which also saw service with Soviet troops from US Lend-Lease-supplied stocks).[12]
The Italian Social Republic (RSI) and the Government of National Unity (Hungary) also used the Panzerfaust. Several RSI army units became skilled in anti-tank warfare and the Hungarians themselves used the Panzerfaust extensively, especially during the Siege of Budapest. During this brutal siege, an arms factory, the Hungarian Manfred Weiss Steel and Metal Works, located on Csepel Island (within the city) kept up production of various light armaments and ammunition, Panzerfausts included, all the way until the very last moment, when attacking Soviet troops seized the factory by the first days of 1945.
The US 82nd Airborne Division captured some Panzerfäuste in the Sicilian campaign, and later during the fighting in Normandy. Finding them more effective than their own Bazookas, they held onto them and used them during the later stages of the French campaign, even dropping with them into the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden. They captured an ammunition dump of Panzerfäuste near Nijmegen, and used them through the Ardennes Offensive toward the end of the war.[13]
The Soviet army only incidentally used captured Panzerfausts in 1944, but from beginning of 1945 many became available and were used during Soviet 1945 offensives, mostly in street fighting against buildings and covers.[14] In February 1945 such use of captured Panzerfausts was recommended in a directive by Marshall Georgiy Zhukov.[14] Similarly they were used by the Polish People's Army.[14] After the war some 4,000 Panzerfausts were adapted by the Polish Army in 1949, designated as PG-49.[14]
Plans and technical materials on the Panzerfaust were supplied to the Empire of Japan to assist with their development of an effective anti-tank weapon. However, the Japanese went with a different design, the Type 4, loosely based upon the American Bazooka. Examples of the American weapon were captured on Leyte.[15]
Variants [ edit ]
Panzerfaust-armed Finnish soldiers (soldier in foreground is also armed with a -armed Finnish soldiers (soldier in foreground is also armed with a Suomi KP/-31 ) passing the wreckage of a Soviet T-34 tank, destroyed by detonation, in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala
Panzerfaust 30 klein ("small") or Faustpatrone this was the original version, first delivered in August 1943 with a total weight of 3.2 kilograms (7.1 lb) and overall length of 98.5 cm (38.8 in). The "30" was indicative of the nominal maximum range of 30 m (33 yd). It had a 3.3 cm (1.3 in) diameter tube containing 54 grams (1.9 oz) of black powder propellant launching a 10 cm (3.9 in) warhead carrying 400 g (14 oz) of explosive. The projectile traveled at just 30 m (98 ft) per second and could penetrate 140 mm (5.5 in) of armour.
Panzerfaust 30 An improved version also appearing in August 1943. This version had a larger warhead for improved armor penetration, 200 mm (7.9 in) of steel and 5.5 inches (140 mm) of armored steel, but the same range of 30 meters. It has a explosive charge of 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg) of explosive material. It's barrel has a caliber of 1.7 inches (43 mm) and a length of 40.6 inches (103 cm). It has a weight of 11.2 pounds (5.1 kg) and a muzzle velocity of 148 feet per second (45 m/s).[16]
Panzerfaust 60 this was the most common version, and was completed in early 1944. However, it did not reach full production until September 1944, when 400,000 were to be produced each month.[17] It had a much more practical range of 60 m (66 yd), although with a muzzle velocity of only 45 m (148 ft) per second it would take 1.3 seconds for the warhead to reach a tank at that range. To achieve the higher velocity, the tube diameter was increased to 5 cm (2.0 in) and 134 g (4.7 oz) of propellant used while being a total length of 104 cm (41 in). It also had an improved flip-up rear sight and trigger mechanism. The weapon now weighed 6.1 kg (13 lb). It could defeat 200 mm (7.9 in) of armour.
Panzerfaust 100 this was the final version produced in quantity, and was completed in September 1944. However, it did not reach full production until November 1944.[17] It had a nominal maximum range of 100 m (330 ft). 190 g (6.7 oz) of propellant launched the warhead at 60 m (200 ft) per second from a 6 cm (2.4 in) diameter tube. The sight had holes for 30, 60, 80 and 150 m (260 and 490 ft), and had luminous paint in them to make counting up to the correct one easier in the dark. This version weighed 6 kg (13 lb) and could penetrate 220 mm (8.7 in) of armour.
Panzerfaust 150 this was a major redesign of the weapon, and was deployed in limited numbers near the end of the war. The firing tube was reinforced and reusable for up to ten shots. A new pointed warhead with increased armour penetration and two-stage propellant ignition gave a higher velocity of 85 m (279 ft) per second. Production started in March 1945, two months before the end of the war.
Panzerfaust 250 the last development of the Panzerfaust series was the Panzerfaust 250. It used a reloadable tube and now featured a pistol grip. With propellants in both the firing tube and on the projectile itself it was projected to reach a projectile speed of 150 m/s (490 feet/s). Serial production was scheduled to begin in September 1945. However, the development of this weapon was never completed and none were ever produced. The Soviet RPG-2 anti-tank rocket launcher partially was based on the design of the Panzerfaust |
but not pretty enough for consumption. Bootstrap can take care of that. The following CodePen demo shows some updates made to change the look of the app:
See the Pen PzVyRm by Chris Nwamba (@christiannwamba) on CodePen.
We violated minor best practices for brevity but most importantly, you get the idea of how to build a React app following community recommended patterns.
As I mentioned earlier, you don't need to use a state management library in React applications if your application is simpler. Anytime you have doubt if you need them or not, then you don't need them. (YAGNI).
On the other hand, expect an article on Redux from Scotch soon.Chevron faces claims for an era when oil companies were less purposeful about protecting the environment than they are today. It also faces potentially huge damages in a country where American corporations once wielded strong influence but are now treated with discourtesy, if not contempt.
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The sympathies of the judge, a former military officer named Juan Nuñez, are not hard to discern, and he appears likely to rule against Chevron this year. “This is a fight between a Goliath and people who cannot even pay their bills,” Mr. Nuñez, 57, said in an interview in his office, where more than 100,000 pages of evidence were stacked to the ceiling.
But his ruling is not likely to end the case. Already, the dispute is the subject of intense lobbying in Washington, which could apply pressure to Ecuador on Chevron’s behalf. If the company loses, it is ready to pursue appeals in Ecuador and, if necessary, to seek international arbitration.
Texaco laid down stakes here in the 1960s, and began producing oil in the early 1970s when Ecuador was still under military rule. Before the oil began to flow, the region was inhabited by forest tribes, including the Cofán and the Siona-Secoya.
Political tension permeated Texaco’s presence in Ecuador much of the time it operated here in a partnership with the government, and by the time it was prepared to leave, in the early 1990s, a cleanup of its operations was needed.
So Texaco reached a $40 million agreement with Ecuador to clean a portion of the well sites and waste pits in its concession area, absolving it of future liability. But that cleanup, carried out in the 1990s, was far from the bookend Texaco hoped to achieve.
Instead, villagers in Ecuador became convinced they were getting sick from the pollution left behind. They filed suit in 1993 in the United States, and later claimed that their grievances were not covered by Texaco’s settlement agreement.
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As the case snaked its way through American courts, Ecuador seemed to fall to pieces, going through 10 presidents in a decade by 2006. The American lawsuit was eventually thrown out, on grounds the case should not be tried in the United States, and the plaintiffs reformulated it and filed it here.
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Today, Chevron has absorbed Texaco, and Ecuador has gone through a metamorphosis under the leftist President Rafael Correa. He has repeatedly sided with the plaintiffs, calling Chevron’s Ecuadorean past “a crime against humanity.”
Such sentiment holds strong appeal to those who claim that people here, like Ms. Ruíz’s 16-year-old son, are dying from the pollution that Texaco spawned. Citing scientific studies, the plaintiffs claim that toxic chemicals from Texaco’s waste pits, including benzene, which is known to induce leukemia, have leached for decades into soil, groundwater and streams. A report last year by Richard Cabrera, a geologist and court-appointed expert, estimated that 1,400 people in this jungle region — perhaps more — had died of cancer because of oil contamination.
Chevron rejected the claims, contending that Mr. Cabrera had no medical evidence to back up his conclusion that the company should pay $2.9 billion just to compensate for excess cancer deaths.
The lawsuit here focuses more on environmental cleanup than cancer deaths, but the issue remains hotly disputed, particularly after a judge in California dismissed a separate claim against Chevron for cancer deaths in 2007, finding that false claims had been put forth by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Cristobal Bonifaz, who was instrumental in starting the fight against Texaco in the 1990s but is no longer involved in the suit.
Nearly every other detail in the case is disputed as well, save one: Chevron and the plaintiffs agree that the expansion of oil exploration in northeastern Ecuador spoiled what had once been a pristine jungle.
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More than four decades later, evidence of the contamination is unavoidable at well sites near Lago Agrio and other towns in the region.
Some pools of waste dug by Texaco combining noxious drilling mud and crude oil still lie exposed under the sun, seeping into nearby water systems.
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Other pits, ostensibly cleaned up by Texaco after the company handed over operations to the national oil company, Petroecuador, have varying amounts of pollutants near the surface, leading to clashes among scientists for the two sides about the exact levels and their health implications. Petroecuador has a poor environmental record of its own and faces criticism for at least 800 oil spills since 1990.
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In what may be the most contentious part of the legal battle, Chevron argues that it cannot be held responsible for damage done by Petroecuador after it took over the site, or by the Ecuadorean government’s broader project to colonize its jungle frontier, which brought more than 40,000 settlers to the region by the 1970s using roads that Texaco built.
The plaintiffs claim Chevron must be held responsible for the damage where Texaco once operated, up to the present, claiming the systems put in place by Texaco allowed Petroecuador to go on polluting. If Chevron has a problem with that, said Steven Donziger, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, then it should sue Petroecuador.
“The damage caused by Texaco is still causing harm more than 18 years after Texaco ceased operating, and will continue to do so for centuries until it is cleaned up,” Mr. Donziger said.
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Despite the potential size of the damages, Chevron insists its solvency is not at stake. But the legal battle is denting the company’s environmental image. Ecuador’s attorney general last year indicted two of Chevron’s lawyers, accusing them of fraudulently conspiring to prove that Texaco had cleaned up waste pits.
That maneuver infuriated Chevron. “In politicizing and corrupting the case as much as they have done, they are signing on to 10 or 20 years more of litigation,” said Silvia Garrigo, a lawyer who is Chevron’s manager of global issues and policy. “Any enforcement action is going to be met with a challenge by us.”
Chevron has fought back with trade lawyers and lobbyists, using highly paid talent like the former United States trade representative Mickey Kantor, and the former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty to push the Obama administration to strip Ecuador of trade preferences, on the grounds that it broke its agreement to absolve the oil company of liability.
“I can’t warrant what Texaco did 42 years ago or 40 years ago or 35 years ago,” Mr. Kantor said. “All I know is they spent $40 million to clean it up. They were given a release signed by the government of Ecuador and Petroecuador.”
The lobbying effort in Washington appears to be an effort to pressure Ecuador to come to the table and work out a deal. “We want to resolve this in a reasonable fashion,” Mr. Kantor said.
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Texaco may be gone, but the destiny of people near Lago Agrio is still intertwined with that of the United States, and anger simmers here. Those who claim to have suffered the greatest harm face years of delay, at best, before any payout. Some may not live to see the case resolved.
José Guamán, 62, acknowledges that possibility. He lives near a well once operated by Texaco. Guiding a visitor around his property, he pointed to a covered waste pit where his late wife, María, once fell and emerged covered in black ooze. She died at 45, leaving behind their two children. Mr. Guamán said he did not know what had caused her death.
“But if I know one thing, it is that petroleum curses anyone who touches it,” Mr. Guamán said. “If that applies to us, then it should apply to the Americans as well.”Welcome to Wonkbook, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas's morning policy news primer. To subscribe by e-mail, click here. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Gmail dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog.
A crucial change in the health-care conversation over the last few years has been the shift in focus from "costs" to "prices." Everyone knows American health care costs too much. But after the release of the International Federation of Health Plans' data and Steven Brill's epic Time article and the New York Times' massive price series, it's also becoming common knowledge that a major cause of those high overall costs is sky-high prices for every individual service, drug, and treatment.
Identifying the problem is easy. Doing anything about it is hard. But there's one thing states can do that isn't particularly hard: Allow more nurse practitioners -- who charge much less than doctors -- to treat patients directly, without a physician's oversight.
Doctor's groups oppose this strenuously. They say patient safety is at risk. What's really at risk is their incomes. 17 states and the District of Columbia already allow nurse practitioners to treat patients directly and there's been no resultant rash of patient deaths in Washington, Oregon, Maine, Colorado, Arizona, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Montana, Idaho, Nevada -- I could go on. (Nor, by the way, has anyone heard of doctors going begging on the streets in those states, but I digress.)
The Wall Street Journal reports today that five other states are considering freeing nurse practitioners to practice with physician oversight, including California, where only 16 of the state's 58 counties have enough primary-care doctors. These kinds of shortages are common, and they're likely to get even worse as the population ages and the Affordable Care Act expands coverage to millions of Americans.
Doctors don't have a good answer for how they can rapidly expand to meet all this new demand. But they know they don't want nurse practitioners doing it. The powerful California Medical Association -- also known as the doctor's lobby -- opposes the bill with the usual line: It will "ultimately harm patients and decrease quality of care."
No, what will ultimately harm patients and decrease the quality of care are too few doctors who charge far too much. But right now, those doctors are the incumbents, and incumbents are politically powerful. They've persuaded the California state assembly to amend the bill so it "would allow NPs to operate independently only in a hospital, clinic or other group setting and eliminate a pathway to autonomous practice after 6,000 hours of supervised work."
Bringing down national health-care costs will be hard. A lot of the calls will be wrenching, and the evidence on both sides will be close. Not this one. As the Institute of Medicine writes, "States with broader nursing scopes of practice have experienced no deterioration of patient care."
This is a protection racket. Any state legislature that extends it is choosing higher health-care prices -- and health-care costs -- for no good reason.
Wonkbook's Number of the Day: 78. As Jared Bernstein and Kathy Ruffing point out, yesterday was Social Security's birthday.
Wonkbook's Graph of the Day: Cool graphs from Brookings's Audrey Singer and Nicole Prchal Svajlenka on deferred action for childhood arrivals.
Wonkbook's Top 5 Stories: 1) gay rights, in the states and in federal administration; 2) in medicine, a prescription for change; 3) why you should care about deleveraging; 4) how dirty is our energy?; and 5) North Carolina's voter laws.
1) Top story: The battle for marriage equality rumbles on
Pentagon extends benefits to same-sex military spouses. "The benefits will be available to all legally married spouses regardless of sexual orientation beginning no later than Sept. 3, according to a Defense Department announcement...The Pentagon also said it would allow leave for couples who are not stationed in jurisdictions that recognize same-sex marriage – including 13 states and the District of Columbia – so they can travel elsewhere to be married." Josh Hicks in The Washington Post.
Gay-marriage states luring couples from no-gay-marriage states. "Following the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling, gay rights proponents and some economic development officials say states with gay-friendly laws can leverage them for financial gain, while those with prohibitive policies will miss out. The Supreme Court ruling will force some states to examine whether it’s worth losing out on talent and businesses that are attracted to areas that allow same-sex marriages, said Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management. Acceptance of gay communities signals cultural openness and attracts highly educated people and innovators, Florida wrote in his 2002 book." Victoria Stilwell, Jeanna Smialek, and Meera Louis in Bloomberg.
@jmartNYT: the new New Dems "believe in such socially liberal causes as gay marriage but.. skeptical of unions& appalled at econ populism"
Last leg of court challenge falls out on California gay marriage. "The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to halt gay marriages in the state, leaving opponents of same-sex weddings few — if any — legal options to stop the unions. The brief, unanimous ruling tossed out a legal challenge by ban supporters without addressing their legal arguments in support of Proposition 8, a ballot measure passed by voter in 2008 that banned gay marriage...Prop 8 supporters filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court arguing that the federal lawsuit at issue applied only to the two couple who filed it and to Alameda and Los Angeles counties, where they live. They claimed the marriage ban remained law in 56 counties since the federal lawsuit at issue wasn't a class action lawsuit on behalf of all California gay couples wishing to marry." Paul Elias in The Associated Press.
@brianbeutler: Overheard on CSPAN: "God's not gay." #smarttake
Next up, Utah, which just claimed a ‘sovereign right’ to bar same-sex marriages. "Utah has a "sovereign right" to define and regulate marriage and a constitutional amendment that bars recognition of same-sex marriage enshrines that right, state attorneys say in a brief filed in U.S. District Court...While it is true that "unmarried couples or groups of any kind — heterosexual, homosexual, polygamous, etc." are denied certain rights available to married couples, their access to those rights is not protected under the U.S. Constitution, the state says." Brooke Adams and Ray Parker in The Salt Lake Tribune.
Music recommendations interlude: Bonobo, "Cirrus."
Top opinion
CROOK: US criminal justice is a disgrace. "The combination of plea bargains and mandatory minimum sentences -- not to mention the U.S. practice of stacking charge upon charge, with sentences to run consecutively -- gives prosecutors awesome powers of intimidation. One dreads to think how many innocent people are in U.S. prisons, and will be felons for life, because they were offered the choice of a relatively light sentence if they pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, or the risk of decades of incarceration if they preferred to take their chances with a maxed-out indictment at trial." Clive Crook in Bloomberg.
HENNINGER: Welcome back, soft-on-crime liberals. "[A] liberal president and a liberal federal judge will have brought back to life one of modern liberalism's worst nightmares: the belief that Democrats can't be trusted with national security or the control of violent crime. They're soft on security...[V]iolent crime and terror always return. Judge Scheindlin and President Obama have answered the liberal siren song of a world without violence. Come 2016, the last thing voters may be looking for is a Democrat, no matter who she is." Daniel Henninger in The Wall Street Journal.
WESSEL: Budget deficits need prudent attention. "The notion that there's some debt level at which the U.S. economy will run into a wall has been discredited. But debt at this level gives the U.S. a lot less fiscal maneuvering room should it run into another financial crisis or severe recession or devastating terrorist attack. Basically, the U.S. cannot count on increasing its debt by another 30 percentage points of GDP and still enjoy very low interest rates...Prudent politicians would be aiming to gradually reduce the debt burden, both by money-saving changes to benefit programs and money-raising tax policies and by doing what's necessary to quicken the long-run pace of economic growth." David Wessel in The Wall Street Journal.
BERNSTEIN: Social Security at 78. "Moreover, absent Social Security benefits, 44 percent of the elderly would be poor. But when you factor in the program, their poverty rate falls to 9 percent...If anything, I agree with the economist Brad DeLong, who wrote recently that in the face of increasingly insufficient private pensions and savings, along with the wage and income trends that have left large swaths of aging people less economically prepared for retirement, we should be considering expanding the program, not shrinking it." Jared Bernstein in The New York Times.
ZAKARIA: The threat of social immobility. "A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development points out that the United States is one of only three rich countries that spends less on disadvantaged students than on other students — largely because education funding for elementary and secondary schools in the United States is tied to local property taxes. By definition, poor neighborhoods end up with badly funded schools. In general, the United States spends lots of money on education, but most of it is on college education or is otherwise directed toward those already advantaged in various ways." Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post.
Growth industries interlude: Only 18 percent of Americans have bought hummus. The other 82 percent are missing out.
2) A prescription for change
A healthcare revolution? Nurse practitioners issue their own Declaration of Independence. "Nurse practitioners in five states are fighting for the right to treat patients without oversight from doctors, as they can in many parts of the country. The battle is particularly pitched in California, where a bill that would let some nurse practitioners do their work independently passed a key legislative committee this week. California doctors strenuously oppose the idea, arguing that it could jeopardize patient safety...[A] survey of 2,053 Americans, published in June in the journal Health Affairs, found that about half would rather have a physician as their primary-care provider, but nearly 60% said they would prefer to see a nurse practitioner or physician assistant today than wait a day to see a doctor." Melinda Beck in The Wall Street Journal.
America's doctors, like Wall Street, need a cultural shift. "[T]he absolute pay level is not the key issue at stake. What really needs to be debated is the system of incentives...It can create an incentive for doctors to make potentially unnecessary, duplicate treatments. It reduces incentives for collaboration or cost-sharing. In a sense, it can create cultural patterns not dissimilar from those seen on parts of Wall Street." Gillian Tett in The Financial Times.
Here's an example of fee-for-service's distortions: Medicare changes, not FDA warning, seem to have curtailed use of dialysis drugs, study finds. "In 2011, however, Medicare eliminated the financial incentive for higher doses, setting a fee for a bundle of dialysis services and drugs. This way, hospitals and clinics make more money if they use the drugs more frugally...Without the incentive to use more, the use of ESAs fell about 30 percent from projected levels in 2011." Peter Whoriskey in The Washington Post.
Study: ObamaCare benefit mandates pose few problems for states, insurers. "Adopting new benefit mandates under ObamaCare will not require major changes or cost increases, according to a study released Wednesday. Researchers at The Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said the states they surveyed are generally on track to enforce new requirements that insurers cover certain services...“Overall the states in our review are managing the shift to essential health benefits well,” said Andy Hyman of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “In these states, health plans offered through exchanges will offer coverage options that are comprehensive and high-quality, and will be offered at an affordable price.”" Sam Baker in The Hill.
Study: ObamaCare tax credits to average $2,700. "Families who buy their own insurance rather that obtaining it through an employer will receive an average tax credit of about $2,700 to buy coverage starting next year, according to a new study...People will be eligible if they have incomes between $11,500 and $46,000 as a single person or between $24,000 and $94,000 as a four-person family." Elise Viebeck in The Hill.
Check out this Nevada health plan. "[T]he Access to Healthcare Network, a medical discount plan that helps uninsured residents with low and moderate incomes get care from 2,000 providers around the state offering a wide variety of medical services. In addition to the provider charges, members also pay $35 a month to support Access to Healthcare's coordinators who help them understand their options and what they are responsible for...Her creation now has dozens of staff members and a central office in Reno. Rice calls Access to Healthcare a shared-responsibility model because the patient and the provider each contributes and neither is overburdened." Pauline Bartolone in Capital Public Radio.
All the News that's Fit to Not Load interlude: Two links (here, here) to give you all of the best Twitter jokes on The New York Times website blackout of 2013.
3) Why you should care about deleveraging
Why America needs to get used to slower growth. "[T]he future doesn’t look too bright, according to a new report from economists at JPMorgan Chase. The future isn’t what it used to be, write Michael Feroli and Robert E. Mellman; they see long-term growth potential for the United States falling to 1.75 percent for the coming years, the lowest of the post-World War II era. That compares with an average of 3.1 percent from 1995 to 2005 and 2 percent from 2005 to 2012." Neil Irwin in The Washington Post.
Student-loan loan kills startup dreams. "Some academic experts say leftover loans are the biggest impediment to upstart entrepreneurship by those who recently received college or graduate degrees. "I mentor students all the time," says Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Stanford University Law School. "The single largest inhibitor to entrepreneurship is the student loans." Recent graduates and college dropouts account for a disproportionate share of the founders of technology startups that have transformed the economy over the past decade, says Shikhar Ghosh, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. Many freshly-minted M.B.A.s "are willing to sleep on a couch for a year or two, but they can't do it with the burden of student loans," he adds." Ruth Simon in The Wall Street Journal.
Consumer debt falls. "Total consumer debt stood at $11.15 trillion in the second quarter, down 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, the New York Fed said in its quarterly household debt and credit report. While student debt and auto loans rose, the country’s postrecession deleveraging cycle appeared intact as household delinquency rates dropped to 7.6 percent in the three months to June, from 8.1 percent in the first quarter of the year. Americans have consistently deleveraged in the years since the housing collapse and financial crisis, and credit is now well below the peak of $12.68 trillion in the third quarter of 2008." Reuters.
Flat US producer prices point to little inflation pressure. "The Labor Department said on Wednesday a drop in natural gas and gasoline costs held back its seasonally adjusted producer price index. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 0.3 percent increase...These so-called "core" prices, which are seen as indicators of trends in inflation, rose 0.1 percent during the month, below the 0.2 percent gain expected by analysts in a Reuters poll...Wednesday's data showed the core index was up 1.2 percent in the 12 months through July, the lowest reading since November 2010. Analysts had expected that reading to fall to 1.4 percent from 1.7 percent in June." Reuters.
Explainer: Just how different are high-tech jobs from regular ones? Lydia DePillis in The Washington Post.
Larry Bartels confuses Washington and the economy. "The shame here is I’d really be interested to read Larry Bartels, political scientist, rather than Larry Bartels, scold, on this era in governance. The question of how the rich ended up with almost a trillion dollars in new taxes (including the Obamacare tax increases) and the poor ended up seeing trillions of dollars in new transfer payments is a fascinating moment in our political economy. Hopefully there will come a day when Bartels thinks it proper to talk about." Ezra Klein in The Washington Post.
"Real Housewives of Tax Wonks" interlude: The true-life story of a baby born early to dodge taxes.
4) How dirty is our energy?
Court: Government must continue review of Yucca Mtn. "A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was “flouting the law” when it stopped work on a review of the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, despite the Obama administration’s insistence that the site be shut down. The 2-to-1 decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit allows an increment of progress that could help push the project forward and was embraced by supporters of the Yucca site, the focus of a quarter-century-old fight." Matthew L. Wald in The New York Times.
Are fracking proponents wrestling enough with the environmental risks? "In our Wonkblog Crowdsourced discussion of the likely economic and business consequences of an era of more plentiful natural gas, a recurring theme among commenters is that the damage to water supplies could be more severe than enthusiasts of fracking technologies let on." Neil Irwin in The Washington Post.
Energy secretary heading to Brazil for climate talks. "Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is heading to Brazil this week for bilateral discussions on climate and energy, according to the Energy Department...The Thursday-to-Saturday trip follows Obama administration efforts to deepen ties with Brazil on the topics." Ben German in The Hill.
EPA’s McCarthy: ‘Responsible’ gas production key to climate strategy. "Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy said natural-gas production — with the right safeguards — is a major piece of Obama administration efforts to combat global warming. “Responsible development of natural gas is an important part of our work to curb climate change and support a robust clean energy market at home,” she said Wednesday at a speech in Colorado, according to prepared remarks. The comments are part of a wider administration effort to cast the U.S. gas production boom as a way to help slow global warming." Ben Geman in The Hill.
Interior names new offshore drilling safety chief. "The Interior Department has tapped Brian Salerno, a former U.S. Coast Guard official who helped lead the response to the 2010 BP oil spill, as the next director of its offshore drilling safety branch. The former vice admiral will begin leading Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in late August and will replace outgoing director James Watson, who is also a former Coast Guard official. Salerno retired from the Coast Guard last year as deputy commandant for operations." Ben Geman in The Hill.
RIP interlude: Jack Germond: ‘I’m not saying another word until they bring me a martini.’
5) North Carolina, now it's just obvious you're shutting out Democratic voters
Elections boards in NC follow up on state crackdown. "Within hours of Gov. Pat McCrory signing a Republican-backed bill this week making sweeping changes to the state's voting laws, local elections boards in two college towns made moves that could make it harder for students to vote. The Watauga County Board of Elections voted Monday to eliminate an early voting site and election-day polling precinct on the campus of Appalachian State University...Voting rights advocates worry the decisions could signal a statewide effort by GOP-controlled elections boards to discourage turnout among young voters considered more likely to support Democrats." Michael Biesecker in The Associated Press.
The next battle over voting rights has begun. "Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Monday challenging a new North Carolina voter ID law in one of the first tests of the legality of new voting restrictions being implemented after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the 1965 Civil Rights Act in June. The Advancement Project and North Carolina NAACP, who filed the suit, charge that the law’s voter requirements will make it harder to vote and that racial minorities will be disproportionately impacted because they are less likely to possess required forms of identification. The lawsuit also argues voter fraud is not a significant problem in North Carolina." Scott Clement in The Washington Post.
A new study says tweets can predict election outcomes. "Specifically, the study found a correlation between the number of times a candidate for the House of Representatives was mentioned on Twitter in the months before an election and his or her performance in that election. The more a candidate is mentioned on Twitter, the better...The study specifically controlled for the conditions surrounding an election. If a candidate is an incumbent, they would be mentioned on Twitter more, so the study discounted their position. Likewise, the study also discounted candidates who the press covered more, using the number of times a candidate's name was mentioned on CNN as an imprecise measurement of mainstream media hype." Robinson Meyer in The Atlantic.
Reading material interlude: The best sentences Wonkblog read today.
Wonkblog Roundup
Jack Germond: ‘I’m not saying another word until they bring me a martini.’ Ezra Klein.
Ignore Anthony Weiner. Here’s what matters in the NYC mayor’s race. Dylan Matthews.
There’s a big gender gap in CEO pay. Bad negotiating isn’t the reason. Jia Lynn Yang.
Who’re you going to believe on immigration? Mark Krikorian or your lying eyes? Ezra Klein.
How the big U.S. airlines try to avoid competing with each other. Brad Plumer.
Why America needs to get used to slower growth. Neil Irwin.
Just how different are high-tech jobs from regular ones? Lydia DePillis.
Are fracking proponents wrestling enough with the environmental risks? Neil Irwin.
A terrifying look into John Boehner’s awful job. Ezra Klein.
Larry Bartels confuses Washington and the economy. Ezra Klein.
The true-life story of a baby born early to dodge taxes. Dylan Matthews.
Are fracking proponents wrestling enough with the environmental risks? Neil Irwin.
Et Cetera
Federal export programs lack proper oversight, GAO says. J.D. Harrison in The Washington Post.
White House calls broadband initiative a ‘no-brainer.’ Zachary Goldfarb in The Washington Post.
Got tips, additions, or comments? E-mail me.
Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams.In the ebb of flow of riding the past few months have been rough. Real life has intruded on bike life with a variety of factors combining to reduce my time on two wheels to a level lower than at any point in the prior eight years - going back to my early days of racing.
My fitness has waned as a result but thankfully I have still managed to fit in some incredible adventures with the TBD boys as we roamed from Baltimore to Gloucester in pursuit of some of the best cyclocross races in the country. Those weekends quickly became some of my favorite of the entire year but in the tradition of 'In Search of Fall Color' there is no replacing a relaxing day spent cruising empty roads and secret trails.As hardcore fans know, the plot of the upcoming Veronica Mars film finds Veronica “getting pulled back into this life that she thought she had left behind,” series creator and movie mastermind Rob Thomas told fans during Friday’s Comic-Con panel, which also featured a sneak peek at the flick.
RELATED | Veronica Mars Movie Recasts Leighton Meester
But what even the toastiest Marshmallow may not know is that it’s ex-boyfriend Logan who says, “I need your help, Veronica.” Her reply: “I don’t really do that anymore.” Yeah… that’s not going to fly.
LoVe ‘shippers will be happy to know the two share plenty of screen time in the sleek, stylish-looking preview, which showed them riding in Logan’s car and talking in someone’s (Veronica’s?) digs. But the scene that will make fans squeal the most? The guys of the film – Logan, Dick, Piz, Weevil, etc. – wearing soaking wet dress shirts and marching forward.
RELATED | Veronica Mars Movie Scoop: Is Veronica Dating [Spoiler]?!
Other highlights from the sizzle reel included: Madison tauntingly asking Veronica if she’s going to taze her, until V finally punches her enemy and quips, “Original enough for you?”; True Lies star Jamie Lee Curtis (!) reeling off the P.I.’s accomplishments; and a Neptune High reunion fight that prompts Piz to remark that the school “actually does sit on a hellmouth.” (Way to earn some points with that Buffy reference!) Oh, and Weevil’s married!
The panel discussion — in which Thomas was joined by stars Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Ryan Hansen, Jason Dohring, Tina Majorino, Chris Lowell, Percy Daggs III and Francis Capra — revealed a (Neptune) pirate’s plunder of goodies. Among them:
HAPPY REUNION | The film “has a Godfather III theme to it,” shared Thomas, who wasn’t worried about balancing fan expectations with his own desires. “I think the story that I wanted to tell is the one I think fans wanted to see. I wanted to get the old gang back together.”
‘SHIPPER WARS | Lowell sported a “Team Logan” shirt, while Dohring’s said “Team Piz.” “I wore this shirt today so I wouldn’t be shot when I stepped on stage,” joked Lowell. The actor added that when Thomas announced Piz’s inclusion in the film, Lowell’s reaction was, “The death threats have almost stopped. Why now?!”
TOGETHER AGAIN | Bell’s first scene on the movie shoot was with Dohring. “We just kept staring and going, ‘Are we really here right now?’” recalled the actress. Speaking of the couple, when a fan asked who taught Dohring how to smolder, Bell replied, “The heavens?” The actor also got props from co-star Hansen, who was a novice when the show first started. “Jason was like my acting coach,” Hansen said of those early days.
RELATED | The Veronica Mars Movie: 7 Spoilers From the Big-Screen Revival
NO FAMILY AFFAIR | Alyson Hannigan’s Trina isn’t in the movie, and series characters like Duncan and Beaver won’t get mentions, either. “A lot of thought went into that,” explained Thomas. “I wanted to write the movie in such a way that for the fans, there’s plenty of Easter eggs… that you will appreciate because you watched the TV series.” But the EP noted that people who are new to the project will be able to understand it, too. “I wanted the movie to be the start of something.” Dohring also teased that there are “lots of other surprises that people don’t know about that will be cool.”
CHEMISTRY ALERT | Thomas reminisced that Veronica and Logan’s first kiss in Season 1 got him choked up. “I rewound it and rewound and rewound,” he said. “Then my wife entered, and I had tears in my eyes. It was an embarrassing moment that I was watching my own work, a kiss. It just felt so earned to me.”
TO THE BIG SCREEN AGAIN | Thomas said he hopes the flick — which will likely be released in early 2014 — is only the first of many films. “I want to be a Bond franchise. I hope to make a ton of money on this movie and we get to do it [through] the normal channels. If we’re a huge hit — I don’t think Kickstarter is meant to fund huge hits.”The Obama administration should set a concrete schedule for human Mars missions, and make sure new hardware developed for NASA’s return to the Moon can be adapted for missions to other destinations, a new report says.
With a new US president set to take charge of the White House and many questions hanging over NASA’s future, many have been trying to advise the agency about where it should go from here.
President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team has been very tight-lipped, but if the Obama administration takes its cue from the preponderance of advice it’s getting, then human missions to Mars may well move up in priority.
Back in November, the Planetary Society, a space advocacy group, released a report called “Beyond the Moon”, which called for delaying new missions to the Moon and channelling more resources into paving the way for human missions to Mars instead (see Moon takes a backseat in new space plan).
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Now, an independent group of space experts, led by David Mindell of MIT, is calling for a timeline for human Mars missions, and urging that any Moon hardware be designed with other destinations in mind as well.
Moon rethink
On Monday, the panel released its report, called “The Future of Human Spaceflight”. It was produced by a group of experts including former shuttle astronaut Jeff Hoffman and John Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
There are some links between the panel and the Planetary Society – Logsdon is a member of the group’s advisory council – but the new report was an independent effort.
While the new report stops short of endorsing the Planetary Society’s plan, it does urge a rethink of where and when to send astronauts. “The Obama administration and Congress should examine the Bush vision, assess its limitations... [and provide] clarification of the moon/Mars strategy with a timetable for the Mars component |
ive Service.The consequences of California’s unprecedented minimum wage experiment are playing out in real time, as the state’s papers cover the stories of affected businesses who are cutting staff or closing their doors as a result of the rising wage floor.
Houman Salem, who owns a small apparel design and manufacturing business in San Fernando, is one of those business owners. He recently learned the hard way that Californians’ sunny disposition does not extend to residents who voice their concerns about the state’s labor laws.
On January 2, Salem announced in an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times that labor cost increases had forced him to leave California for Las Vegas. It quickly became the most popular opinion piece on LATimes.com, generating over 600 comments and more than a dozen follow-up articles in local and national publications. Unfortunately, the reaction on social media was one of rage rather than reflection.
“Good riddance,” said one of the top comments on Facebook. “If you can’t pay your employees a living wage, you don’t have my sympathy,” said another. Other comments accused Salem of being a bad businessman, of keeping too much money for himself and of exploiting his employees. Some readers even left negative reviews of his business online — even though they’d never met him or done business with him.
I reached out to Salem to hear his reaction to the backlash, which was one of resignation and despair. “It’s an unfortunate and uninformed attitude,” he told me over the phone recently. “It reflects a misunderstanding of how a business operates, where a massive increase in your cost of labor triggers a number of other costs and expenses.” Salem told me that his biggest fear is that the outraged reaction online will discourage other affected businesses (of whom there are hundreds) from speaking out and telling their own story.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was quoted in response to Salem’s op-ed in a New York Times article, and argued that one of the reasons the city is thriving is its minimum wage law. Salem laughs at this idea: “$15 has barely begun to phase in, and already I’m contacted on an almost daily basis by other L.A.-based companies in my industry who are scared about the future. They are looking to me for leadership, and want to talk about my decision to leave the state.”
He added that the mayor doesn’t seem to understand the realities of the region’s economy at the micro level: “When politicians talk about an ‘economy working for everyone’ — let me tell you, it’s not working for the small business owner.”
Salem chafed at critics who suggested he’s taking advantage of his employees. He pointed out that, until California moved the goalposts, he’d always paid above minimum wage. His company would happily pay even more, were it not for customers’ price sensitivity — not to mention other expenses that drive up the cost of doing business. “I want to pay my people as much as I can, as often as I can, but there are lots of costs associated with that.” He ticked off a few, such as taxes and workers compensation, that make California a particularly difficult state in which to do business, and then offered a proposal of his own: “If California legislators are genuinely concerned about residents struggling to get by, why not reduce or eliminate their payroll taxes and other taxes?”
There’s also the impact of California’s wage mandate on employees’ morale. “A $15 minimum wage doesn’t just affect the people who make less than that,” Salem told me. “It also affects skilled workers, like the artisans who work for me.” Sewing the kind of technical garments that Salem’s company produces is a highly-skilled trade, and employees who’ve perfected the trade won’t be happy if they’re earning the same wage as someone who’s 17 years old working their first job. This problem isn’t unique to the apparel industry. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that, after recent wage hikes, “some veteran employees are unhappy about earning same wage as less experienced hires.”
Despite the challenges of doing business in California, Salem (unlike some of his competitors) is still committed to making his products domestically. “I’m an American — I want this country to do well, to succeed, and I want to do everything in my power to further that goal by creating good-paying jobs.” As we concluded our conversation, he told me he’s not opposed to raising wages — but that the entire burden can’t rest on small business owners. “I need the government to meet me halfway. In California, unfortunately, that kind of compromise doesn’t exist.”
Michael Saltsman is research director at the Employment Policies Institute.A barrister and his partner were brutally beaten outside their flat in a suspected homophobic attack after being picked on for wearing brightly coloured shoes.
Julian Smith and decorator Andrew Leonard were set upon by the gang who circled them “like hyenas” in the car park of their Waterloo apartment block as they returned home from a night out at Chelsea Arts Club.
Mr Leonard, 49, lost four teeth and suffered a suspected broken cheek bone and nose after being “karate-kicked” to the floor.
His partner Mr Smith, 53, who is also a Unitarian minister, was also knocked to the ground by the group of at least four men who taunted the couple about their sexuality and Mr Leonard’s orange shoes.
Mr Smith said: “As we approached the block, we could hear these barking noises, really aggressive, so we were reticent as we got in.
“When we walked through I think we spooked them a little bit because they were drinking.
“Then they started calling us poofs and saying, ‘Is this your boyfriend?’ and ‘F*****g hell, what are you wearing?’
“I haven’t heard poof for a while, it was quite old fashioned.”
As the couple reached the gate to their block, Mr Smith said, he turned round to try and reason with the group.
He said: “I told them, we’re a couple of middle aged gay guys, it’s not a very brave thing to try and intimidate us.
“They weren’t kids, they were in their mid-twenties. I think that encouraged us to try and reason with them a bit more. Then one of them took my glasses and smacked me in the face.”
Mr Smith, who runs the pro-bono Brixton Legal Centre with Mr Leonard, said: “They kicked Andrew like a kick-boxer straight in the face. He was on the floor and out of it.
“I’m trying to protect Andrew and they are circling around like hyenas. They were vicious little s****. We could have had a fatality quite easily.
“I’ve got a really mashed lip, it’s not just cut it is pulverised, it’s like jelly. I might have to have some cosmetic work if I can afford it.”
Police were called after neighbours intervened and are treating the attack, which took place just after 12.30am on Sunday, as a suspected hate crime.
The couple, who are private tenants in the council-run block, said they had contacted Lambeth council on multiple occasions over their concerns at the lack of CCTV coverage in the car park. Mr Leonard said: “I just feel really fed up, wary of where I live and quite demoralised. The council has repeatedly failed to address the CCTV blackspot in this area. Their poor performance and contempt is off the scale.”
A Met spokesman said: “The incident is being treated as a suspected hate crime. There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.”
A Lambeth Council spokesman said: “We condemn this cowardly hate crime and are supporting police investigations. Lambeth has invested heavily in CCTV, with more than 270 fixed cameras on our estates. We have also recently introduced extra mobile cameras to further tackle offending hotspots.”
Any witnesses and anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, or Tweet via @MetCC.The crowning of Chicago firm Riverside Investment & Development as the leader of a massive Union Station redevelopment answered two key questions: Who won? And what will they build?
Amtrak President and CEO Wick Moorman, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other officials announced Thursday the selection of Riverside and its $1 billion-plus project that is expected to include up to 2 million square feet of office space, 780 apartments and 350 hotel rooms.
The biggest unknown is whether the development team led by John O’Donnell’s firm can pull off a 3.1 million-square-foot project, after previous plans by other developers stalled.
The last such proposal, in which the American Medical Association a decade ago planned to move into an 18-story office and hotel tower that would be built atop the train station, was felled by a recession.
Timing once again may be a key consideration, since Riverside’s three-phase proposal is expected to take six years to complete, starting in mid-2018. It will launch after an already bullish run of residential, office and hotel construction over the past several years. The plan is further complicated by the need to build over the nation’s third-busiest rail station and active rail lines along the building.
Despite those challenges and the building’s fortresslike exterior, O’Donnell said he was optimistic about the location.
“It’s something you want to walk by fast,” O’Donnell said. “And that’s the opportunity. What we want to have is outward-facing retail and a very comfortable pedestrian experience. From the developer’s perspective, that’s the first goal, to create a sense of place and make it very comfortable and inviting.”
Developers unveil new plans for the redevelopment of Union Station on June 25, 2018. The 2018 proposal will add a hotel, apartments, offices and new retail tenants to the train station. Some aspects of the plan have changed since the first redevelopment announcement in 2017. (Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)
Working in Riverside’s favor is O’Donnell’s history — first as an executive at John Buck Co. and more recently at his own firm — of executing large, complicated projects over and along train tracks. And Riverside could benefit from big changes already underway in the area.
Union Station, which was envisioned by Daniel Burnham and designed by Graham Anderson Probst & White, opened in 1925. It is in an area long considered no man’s land between Loop skyscrapers and the Kennedy Expressway. Yet its transformation is planned at a time when other developers are planning billions of dollars in real estate projects nearby.
Directly east, across the river, Blackstone Group acquired the 110-story Willis Tower for a Chicago-record $1.3 billion in 2015 and has announced plans to spend another $500 million upgrading the building. The plan includes building a 300,000-square-foot base on the tower for retail, restaurants and entertainment venues.
Immediately south of Union Station, New York developer 601W Cos plans an approximately $500 million redevelopment of its own, of the hulking old main post office. The New York developer bought the vacant post office last year for $130 million and is seeking office and retail tenants amid ongoing construction work.
Riverside Investment & Development CEO John O'Donnell discusses his firm's plans for the 6-year, $1 billion-plus redevelopment of Union Station. Chicago-based Riverside has been chosen to lead the changes to the existing building and nearby land, which include new street-level retail, office space, 780 apartments and 350 hotel rooms. (Ryan Ori/Chicago Tribune) Riverside Investment & Development CEO John O'Donnell discusses his firm's plans for the 6-year, $1 billion-plus redevelopment of Union Station. Chicago-based Riverside has been chosen to lead the changes to the existing building and nearby land, which include new street-level retail, office space, 780 apartments and 350 hotel rooms. (Ryan Ori/Chicago Tribune) SEE MORE VIDEOS
A few blocks south of there, Related Midwest said it plans to spend at least $5 billion turning a vacant 62-acre parcel between the South Loop and Chinatown into residential, office and hotel towers, retail, a wide riverwalk and other public space over the next 20 years.
Just west of Union Station, a venture including Chicago firms White Oak Realty and CA Ventures is building a 20-story office building on speculation, or without tenants signed in advance, near Old St. Patrick’s Church.
And farther across the Kennedy, the Fulton Market district is experiencing a flood of development that is transforming the former meatpacking and food distribution hub into an area for dining, shops, boutique hotels and offices for major corporations such as McDonald’s and Google.
Union Station’s first phase of development will include 110,000 square feet of new and reconfigured retail space, including a food hall. The station’s eight-story headhouse, or main building, will be renovated to include 100,000 square feet of office space and a 350-room hotel in existing floors above the Great Hall that are vacant. The main building will be topped by a pair of new 12-story residential towers.
In the second phase, two office towers of at least 750,000 square feet each — and possibly as large as 1 million square feet each — will be built south of the main building atop retail and 800 parking spaces. That will replace a 1,600-space parking garage now on the site. Terraces and plazas will be created above the current bus transit center.
In the third and final phase, a 500,000-square-foot residential and retail tower is planned over rail lines at the southeast corner of Jackson Boulevard and Canal Street.
Other companies involved in the project include Convexity Properties, which is the real estate development arm of trader Don Wilson’s DRW Holdings, and architect Goettsch Partners.
Convexity’s developments have included a 50-story Streeterville building that includes apartments and the Loews Chicago Hotel, the Esquire Theater retail redevelopment, and Robey and Viceroy hotels.
Convexity and Riverside are contributing “substantial equity,” O’Donnell said. He said the firms still need to arrange construction financing, and may bring in additional investors. No public money is expected to be used in the project, O’Donnell said.
“Our goal was to have the equity in place for the first phase when we made our proposal to Amtrak, so they could be assured that once we get the documentation and the government clearance is completed, we’re going,” O’Donnell said.
Riverside recently completed a 53-story office tower along the Chicago River, and also has announced plans to start building next year a 51-story riverside office building anchored by Bank of America. That development will be on the site where mall owner GGP’s Wacker Drive headquarters is set to be demolished.
Amtrak, the city of Chicago, Metra and the Regional Transportation Authority last year chose four finalists for the project. The other development groups were led by Chicago firms Sterling Bay, John Buck and Golub & Co.
Amtrak said it plans to negotiate final terms of the development agreement with Riverside by the end of this year.
Riverside’s project is expected to create about 7,500 construction jobs, plus 7,000 to 8,000 permanent jobs, Amtrak said.
The Chicago redevelopment is the first step in a nationwide effort by Amtrak to upgrade its stations, Moorman said. Improvements also are planned in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore.
“It’s incumbent upon us at Amtrak to take our stations to the next level,” Moorman said. He added, “We want to build a new West Loop gathering place.”
The first step will be to change the main building’s exterior and encourage more pedestrian traffic in the area. The layout of the station also will be changed to improve the flow of passengers, O’Donnell said.Illusion is the first of all pleasures. - Oscar Wilde
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. - Ludwig Borne
What a strange illusion to suppose that beauty is goodness. - Leo Tolstoy
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. - Albert Einstein
Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion. - Miguel de Unamuno
Illusion is the dust the devil throws in the eyes of the foolish. - Minna Antrim
Some of my best friends are illusions. Been sustaining me for years. - Sheila Ballantyne
Our separation from each other is an optical illusion of consciousness. - Albert Einstein
A man loses his illusions first, his teeth second, and his follies last. - Helen Rowland
Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. - Morticia Addams
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. - George Bernard Shaw
Like the cosmetics industry, the securities business is engaged in selling illusion. - Paul Samuelson
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge. - Daniel J. Boorstin
Free will is an illusion. People always choose the perceived path of greatest pleasure. - Scott Adams
Wishes and fears are illusions, Dil Bahadur, not realities. You must practice detachment. - Isabel Allende
We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality. - Irish Murdoch
The illusion that the times that were are better than those that are has probably pervaded all ages. - Horace Greeley
Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist but you have ceased to live. - Mark Twain
What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet. - Woody Allen
Dreams or illusions, call them what you will, they lift us from the commonplace of life to better things. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached. - Simone Weil
We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die. - W H Auden
Love easily confuses us because it is always in flux between illusion and substance, between memory and wish, between contentment and need. - Tom Robbins× ASPCA to hold adoption event July 25-26 for animals taken from Lawrence County shelter
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ala. – The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals plans to hold a two-day adoption event to re-home hundreds of animals removed from the former Lawrence County Animal Shelter. This after a concerted effort to reunite any pets that may have been lost in the area.
The adoption event will be Saturday and Sunday, July 25-26, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Dogs and cats of all sizes and breeds will be made available for adoption.
All adoption fees are waived for these animals. The ASPCA says it will ensure the adoptable animals will be spayed/neutered, micro-chipped and vaccinated free of charge. The organization also plans to have anti-cruelty behavior and veterinary teams on site to answer questions about animals’ temperaments and medical histories. The overall goal is to make the best possible match with potential adopters.
The adoption event will take place at the temporary shelter set up by the ASPCA. It’s at 14934 Highway 20 in Hillsboro which is the 2nd warehouse for Hillsboro Gin & Feed Co.
“ASPCA responders have managed the sheltering, medical treatment and behavior enrichment of these animals removed from the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions at Lawrence County Animal Shelter for the past several weeks,” said Tim Rickey, vice president of the ASPCA’s Field Investigations and Response team. “Pet owners have had a chance to visit our temporary shelter to look for their lost pets, and we have reunited several animals with their owners. Now our top priority is to help all the remaining animals find good homes. We are hoping that not only the local community, but those as far as Birmingham and Nashville will come to the event and open their home to one of these many deserving animals.”
Potential adopters must take a government-issued photo ID card (driver’s license, passport, military ID, or non-driver ID), proof of address and pet transfer crate (if possible).Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin says he and his brother are not too old to form the core of the team next year.
Henrik and other players were on hand to offer their final thoughts on the season and the first-round playoff loss to the Calgary Flames on Monday morning in Vancouver.
Henrik said he thought the team surprised a lot of people by making the playoffs in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.
"A lot of good things are happening with this team,' said Henrik.
His brother Daniel agreed, pointing out how hard it is just to make the playoffs in the league.
"You can't go into the season expecting to make the playoffs. There are a lot of good teams missing out," said Daniel.
Both brothers denied suggestions they might not be young enough to form the core of the team next year.
"We are not young anymore, but we still showed we can play a big part with the team," said Daniel.
But Henrik agreed with suggestions that younger talent from the Canucks farm team will play an important part of the team's future.
"Bringing up the young guys — that's the way to go... I'm fully confident we are going to have a chance to go all the way [in the next few years]" he said.
Burrows reveals injury details
Alex Burrows revealed a few more details about his injury that saw him miss the end of the series.
He said he was injured after a fight at the end of game three when a linesman stepped in to break it up and landed on his ribs.
Burrows said he felt some pain after the game, but then during the morning skate before game four he took a hit which further damaged the rib and cartilage and left him in a "tremendous" amount of pain.
He was taken off the ice in a stretcher and later to hospital in Calgary in an ambulance because of concerns the broken rib could damage his spleen or lungs he said.BY:
CBS previewed a 60 Minutes interview with an unnamed British security officer (under the pseudonym "Morgan Jones") who was in charge of training the guards for the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi Thursday evening.
The officer said he was "annoyed" that the State Department would not allow his guards to carry guns.
On the night of the September 11th, 2012 the security officer received a call from a panicked guard who told him the compound was under attack. When confronted, the attackers beat the Libyan guards, but did not kill them according to Jones.
The assailants told his guards "we're here to kill Americans, not Libyans":
MORGAN JONES: I could hear gunshots and he said, "there's men coming in to the mission." His voice, he was– he was scared. You could tell he was really scared. and he was running. You could tell he was running.
LARA LOGAN: His first thought was for his American friends, the State Department agents pinned down inside the compound. And he couldn't believe it when one of them answered his phone.
JONES I said, "what's going on?" He said, "we're getting attacked." I said, "How many?" and he said, "they're all over the compound." And I– I was shocked. I didn't know what to say. And I said, "well, just keep fighting. I'm on my way."
LARA LOGAN: Morgan's guards, unarmed and terrified, were surrounded by heavily armed gunmen, but they still sounded the alarm.
JONES: They said, "we're here to kill Americans, not Libyans." So they gave them a good beating, pistol-whipped them, beat them with their rifles and let them go.
LARA LOGAN: "We're here to kill Americans."
JONES: That's what they said.
LOGAN: Not Libyans?
JONES: Yeah.A major gambling website says nearly all wagers on the presidential election in the last 48 hours have been on 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 to win.
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power on Tuesday said 91 percent of bets on the election in the last two days have been backing Trump, the Republican nominee.
In the past 48 hours, 91% of bets on the US Election have been on Trump. He's into 9/4. And we've already paid out on Hillary. Uh-oh. pic.twitter.com/pGEkHMbrF2 — Paddy Power Politics (@pppolitics) November 1, 2016
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“We’re not reaching for the rosary beads just yet but if money talks, and it usually does, it’s telling us that Trump still has a puncher’s chance and he’ll be leaving us with some very expensive egg on our face if he does manage to pull it off," spokesman Féilim Mac An Iomaire said in a statement.
Paddy Power announced earlier this month that it was paying out bets on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE winning the White House, calling her a "nailed-on certainty to occupy the Oval Office."
“Trump gave it a hell of a shot going from a rank outsider to the Republican candidate but the recent flood of revelations have halted his momentum and his chances now look as patchy as his tan,” Iomaire said earlier this month.
“Recent betting trends have shown one way traffic for Hillary and punters seemed to have called it 100% correct. Despite Trump’s Make America Great Again message appealing to many disillusioned voters, it looks as though America are going to put a woman in the White House.”
But the race has tightened in the last week in the wake of FBI Director James Comey's letter to lawmakers telling them the agency would be reviewing newly discovered emails "pertinent" to its investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of State.
Democrats have been ramping up calls for the FBI to release more details about the new email review ahead of the presidential election, which is just six days away.
Clinton has a narrow 1.9-point lead over her Republican rival nationally, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.“This is what you have him for, to make plays like that,” Russell Wilson said of Percy Harvin.
Sorry, Russell, but you’re going to have to be more specific.
Were you talking about Harvin’s 46-yard kickoff return to start Friday’s preseason game against Chicago, a play that jump-started the first of Seattle’s four straight touchdown drives while also evoking memories of the Super Bowl?
Or was it Harvin’s 25-yard catch in the first quarter, that stop-and-go move he had after catching the ball that put Seattle inside the Bears’ 10?
Or maybe Russell meant Harvin’s 23-yard catch in the second quarter when he cut left toward the center of the field.
The Seahawks may have run away with a 34-6 win Friday, but it was Harvin who ran around, through and sometimes over the Bears’ defense with a performance that wasn’t encouraging so much as it was enlightening.
That is what Seattle got him for, Harvin gaining more than 20 yards on three of the four times he touch the ball.
That is why the Seahawks were willing to not only give up a first-round pick but pay him an average of more than $10 million annually despite the fact that he hadn’t amassed 1,000 yards receiving in any season since entering the league in 2009.
That is what Seattle is going to need this year. Not want, but need.
The Seahawks may have won a Super Bowl last season despite Harvin only appearing in only three of the team’s 19 games after undergoing hip surgery, but they won’t be able to do that again. Not with Golden Tate in Detroit and Sidney Rice retired and Seattle sure to face a season full of opponents whose game plans will invariably focus on stopping the run.
Tate’s team-leading total of 64 catches for 898 yards last year is the baseline of what Seattle will need from Harvin this season, but his performance against the Bears gave a glimpse of just how much more he is capable of providing.
“What Percy brings to the offense is grit,” Wilson said afterward. “A desire to get to the end zone. A desire to get the ball in his hands, make something happen. Every time he touches the football he is either going to run over you or run by you.”
The hip surgery is fading in the rear-view mirror at this point. Given the way Harvin runs, it’s fading quickly.
That injury-plagued season in 2013 is becoming more and more of a memory and with every play, there’s a little less anxiety about his durability, a little more excitement about the asset Harvin will be to this offense.
He was on the field for one snap in the preseason opener at Denver, a running play. He got a few more opportunities in the second exhibition game, catching four passes. The third preseason game turned out to be a showcase for Harvin, an opportunity for him to show that after a largely lost season in 2013, he is ready to turn it loose.
“I’m right on point right now,” Harvin said. “I’ve just got to keep working, keep grinding.”OTTAWA - The Harper government is looking for ways to better use secret intelligence in court proceedings as a means of countering homegrown terrorism, says a senior federal official.
The goal is to introduce intelligence in criminal trials while protecting the sensitivity of the information, John Davies, a director general with Public Safety Canada, told a Senate committee Monday.
The government is also studying improved information sharing among agencies and whether the threshold for detaining a terror suspect is too high, Davies said. Options are being developed for cabinet consideration.
"There's a lot of things in discussion right now."
Davies was among several public servants and police quizzed Monday by members of the Senate national security and defence committee.
The government has indicated it will bring in new legislation following last month's fatal daylight attacks on soldiers in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
It recently introduced a long-planned bill that would ensure the ability of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to track suspects overseas and provide blanket protection to the spy agency's informants.
Canada has sent fighter jets to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's guerrilla-style forces. It has condemned the group's use of grisly videos touting their execution of opponents, including western civilians.
The government has said it's eyeing new measures that could clamp down on such glorification of extremism on the Internet.
Much of the content is hosted on servers outside Canada, noted Gary Robertson, an assistant deputy minister with Public Safety.
The challenge is balancing any move to censor expression with Canada's promotion of an open Internet as a tool of global democracy, Robertson indicated to the senators.
Canada can look at reining in content that is tantamount to hate speech, he said. "We don't want to go too far into the Internet governance domain, though, beyond that. We're still assessing what's the best approach that has the maximum impact."
A federal report published earlier this year said the government knew of more than 130 individuals with Canadian connections who were abroad and suspected of supporting terror-related activities. It said the government was aware of about 80 such people who had returned to Canada.
The RCMP has acknowledged that dozens of those individuals are under investigation.
Conservative Senator Daniel Lang wondered why there had been so few arrests.
Robertson said some Canadians who head overseas to join extremists "come back quite disillusioned. And so it's quite possible... some segment out of that 80 are folks that would have no intention of pursuing anything further along the lines that we're discussing today."
The government uses the Anti-Terrorism Act to label groups as terrorist organizations — a designation that effectively criminalizes financial aid or other assistance to them.
Robertson pointed to the recent listing of one charitable organization as an example of how shining a light on an entity can cripple its ability to wage terror.
"One would expect that all the activities around that organization would stop the day that it was listed," he said.
"If we're on top of the listings and identifying the organizations and individuals that are likely to commit these types of crimes, we may not ending up having convictions because we'll have blocked them."
In its recently tabled performance report for 2013-14, the RCMP says it disrupted the ability of 14 individuals or groups to carry out terrorist or other national-security threats.
RCMP Sgt. Greg Cox, a spokesman for the force, said he could not provide details.
Follow @JimBronskill on Twitter
ALSO ON HUFFPOST:Angel Pagan already has missed 11 games with a hamstring injury. Now he will miss at least two more weeks. Angel Pagan already has missed 11 games with a hamstring injury. Now he will miss at least two more weeks. Photo: Lenny Ignelzi, Associated Press Photo: Lenny Ignelzi, Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Ryan Vogelsong lets Giants know he is OK 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
Ryan Vogelsong was very much on the minds of his former mates a day after he was hit around the eye by a 92-mph fastball in Monday’s Rockies-Pirates game in Pittsburgh.
Manager Bruce Bochy and former Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt exchanged texts with Vogelsong, who is in the hospital waiting for the swelling around his left eye to subside so doctors can gauge the extent of the fractures that will need to be repaired in surgery.
Affeldt relayed some good news: Vogelsong’s vision in that eye, a source of concern, was returning gradually Tuesday.
“He’s doing all right,” Bochy said. “We’re all concerned about him. We all think the world of Vogy. That was not pretty. He never saw the ball. You could tell. He ducked into it a little bit.”
The pitch from Jordan Lyles landed Vogelsong on the disabled list. He was making his second start for the Pirates after making the team as a reliever.
Outfielder swap: The Giants could have used a right-handed-hitting outfielder when they placed Angel Pagan on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, but lefty-hitting Jarrett Parker was much hotter and got the call over Mac Williamson.
Parker was leading the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League with 13 homers and earned his second promotion this month. The Giants want Williamson to get more Triple-A at-bats. Moreover, Bochy said Williamson was hitting worse against lefties than righties, not what the team wants from a right-handed call-up.
Pagan reinjured his left hamstring running to first base in the eighth inning Monday night. Bochy said the strain is not worse than May 1, when Pagan first got hurt. He missed 11 games recovering, but the Giants did not place him on the disabled list because they did not want to lose him for 15 days.
Bochy said the DL was a “no-brainer” this time.
“We’re going to give him the full two weeks off to get rid of this thing,” Bochy said.
Meanwhile, Hunter Pence took a step back a day after his game-winning pinch double and did not take any batting practice, hoping that would hasten his recovery from a hamstring strain.
“I’m going to let it heal and not be so stubborn,” Pence said. He hopes to rejoin the lineup by Friday in Colorado.
Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
On deck
Wednesday
vs. Padres
12:45 p.m. CSNBA
Shields (2-6)
vs. Peavy (1-5)
Thursday
Off
Friday
at Rockies
5:40 p.m. Channel: 11
Cain (1-5) vs.
Butler (2-2)
Leading off
Rare hit: Hunter Pence’s game-winning double Monday was his fourth career pinch-hit in 11 at-bats, his first to end a game. Overall, it was his 10th walk-off hit and first since 2013.
Read Full ArticleA week ago I posted some questions for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2011. I'm working through the questions and trying to add some predictions, or at least some thoughts for each question before the end of year. 6) Unemployment Rate: The post-Depression record for consecutive months with the unemployment rate above 9% was 19 months in the early '80s. That record will be broken this month, and it is very possible that the unemployment rate will still be above 9% in December 2011. This high level of unemployment - and the number of long term unemployed - is an economic tragedy. The economy probably needs to add around 125 thousand payroll jobs per month just to keep the unemployment rate from rising (payroll jobs and unemployment rate come from two different surveys, so there is no perfect relationship, and the rate also depends on the participation rate). What will the unemployment rate be in December 2011? Calculated Risk First, here is a graph showing the current unemployment rate (red) and the participation rate (blue). The unemployment rate depends both on job creation and the labor force participation rate.
The unemployment rate is currently at 9.8%, and the Labor Force Participation Rate (blue) was at 64.5% in November. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force. Although I expect the participation rate to decline over the next couple of decades as the population ages, I think the participation rate will rise over the next few years - perhaps as high as 66%. The following graph is a projection from a previous post: Labor Force Participation Rate: What will happen?
Calculated Risk This graph uses the participation rates by age group for 2007, and historical data and age group population projections from the Census Bureau, to calculate a participation rate based on demographics. This graph shows the calculated participation rate (blue) through 2050, and the actual participation rate since 1950 (red). The calculated participation rate, using 2007 data, is far too high for the earlier periods. This is mostly because of women joining the labor force. Without other shifts in the labor force, the blue line would indicate the participation rate over the next 40 years. The dashed purple line indicates the participation rate with a 5 percentage point increase in the 'over 55' labor force participation rate - something that appears likely. If the participation rate does increases - say to 65% over the next year, from the current 64.5% - then the U.S. economy will need an additional 1 million jobs just to hold the unemployment rate steady (not counting population growth). Add in 125,000 per month |
ly consistent in its hostility towards the LGBT community and in particular its inability to treat transgender people with basic dignity and respect," James Esseks, director of the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project, said in a statement.
"This Department of Justice under Jeff Sessions has time and time again made it clear that its explicit agenda is to attack and undermine the civil rights of our most vulnerable communities, rather than standing up for them as they should be doing," Esseks continued. "Discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, just as DOJ recognized years ago. We are confident that the courts will continue to agree and will reject the politically driven decision by Attorney General Sessions."An image of a listing for Ted Kaczynski in the Harvard alumni directory for the class of 1962.
Ted Kaczynski — the domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber, who is serving life in prison for sending deadly mail bombs — will not be able to attend his 50th class reunion at Harvard College. But he did contribute a bizarre entry to the alumni report for the class of 1962.
AP File Ted Kaczynski, shown in this 1994 Montana drivers license photo.
While many of his classmates sent in lengthy updates on their lives for the 2½-inch-thick “red book,” the entry for Theodore John Kaczynski contains only nine lines.
The listing says his occupation is “prisoner,” and his home address is “No. 04475-046, US Penitentiary — Max, P.O. Box 8500, Florence, CO 8126-8500.”
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Under the awards section, the listing says, “Eight life sentences, issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, 1998.”
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He lists one publication under his name, “Technological Slavery,” published by Feral House in 2010. In addition, he indicates that he lived in Eliot House, a student residence at Harvard.
Kaczynski’s name was also included in a state-by-state listing of the alumni at the back of the book.
The widow of one of Kaczynski’s victims said she was “disappointed in Harvard.”
Susan Mosser — widow of Thomas Mosser, a 50-year-old advertising executive who was killed in December 1994 when a package exploded in the kitchen of their New Jersey home — said: “Kaczynski is a con artist. He’s a serial killer; he’s a murderer.... Everything is a game for him to push people’s buttons.”
She said she thinks that if Harvard did not publish Kaczynski’s information, he would have tried to sue the school for excluding it.
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A Harvard Alumni Association spokesman confirmed that Kaczynski submitted the entry and said it was considered to be within the guidelines set for the book, which is titled, “Harvard and Radcliffe Classes of 1962 — Fiftieth Anniversary Report.”
The alumni association later issued an apology in a statement. “While all members of the class who submit entries are included, we regret publishing Kaczynski’s references to his convictions and apologize for any distress that it may have caused others,” the statement said.
“I don’t fault them on that,” said one of Kaczynski’s classmates, John Higginson.
He said the entries are written by the alumni, and rather than making Harvard look bad, the entry makes Kaczynski look bad for writing it.
Kaczynski evaded the FBI for nearly 20 years while killing three people and injuring 23 others with bombs sent through the US mail.
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Last year, a federal judge in California ordered that auction proceeds of about $225,000 from the sale of writings and papers seized from Kaczynski’s cabin be disbursed to Mosser and three other relatives of his victims, court records show.
A former lawyer for Kaczynski, Erin Jolene Radekin of Sacramento, represented him during the restitution phase of his case and said by phone Wednesday that she had not been in contact with him in some time.
Court records suggest that in recent years Kaczynski has been aware of his possible reentry into the headlines. In a letter to Radekin in 2010, Kaczynski appeared concerned that buyers of his papers would publish them without his permission.
“Ask the court to order the government to make clear to all potential purchasers of my papers that they will be acquiring the papers only as physical property and that they will acquire no literary rights in the papers,” he wrote to Radekin, according to a court filing.
Alli Knothe can be reached at aknothe@globe.com. Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.TensorFlow is a machine learning library from Google. There are no Windows builds but I wanted to run it on Windows. There are some other blog posts that show people trying to get TensorFlow running on Windows with VMs or Docker (using a VM) but they are a little complex. This seems like a great chance to see of I can just run Bash on Windows 10, build TensorFlow and run it.
I'm running Windows 10 Insiders Build 14422 as of the time of this writing. I launched Bash on Windows and followed these pip (Python) instructions, just as if I was running Linux. Note that the GPU support won't work so I followed the CPU only instructions from my Surface Pro 3.
$ sudo apt-get install python-pip python-dev
$ sudo pip install --upgrade https://storage.googleapis.com/tensorflow/linux/cpu/tensorflow-0.8.0-cp27-none-linux_x86_64.whl
It built, then I tested it like this:
$ python
...
>>> import tensorflow as tf
>>> hello = tf.constant('Hello, TensorFlow!')
>>> sess = tf.Session()
>>> print(sess.run(hello))
Hello, TensorFlow!
>>> a = tf.constant(10)
>>> b = tf.constant(32)
>>> print(sess.run(a + b))
42
>>>
Cool, but this is Hello World. Let's try the more complex example against the MINST Handwriting Models. The simple demo model for classifying handwritten digits from the MNIST dataset is in the sub-directory models/image/mnist/convolutional.py. You'll need to check when your mnist folder is.
$ cd tensorflow/models/image/mnist
$ python convolutional.py
Successfully downloaded train-images-idx3-ubyte.gz 9912422 bytes.
Successfully downloaded train-labels-idx1-ubyte.gz 28881 bytes.
Successfully downloaded t10k-images-idx3-ubyte.gz 1648877 bytes.
Successfully downloaded t10k-labels-idx1-ubyte.gz 4542 bytes.
Extracting data/train-images-idx3-ubyte.gz
Extracting data/train-labels-idx1-ubyte.gz
Extracting data/t10k-images-idx3-ubyte.gz
Extracting data/t10k-labels-idx1-ubyte.gz
Initialized!
Step 0 (epoch 0.00), 9.3 ms
Minibatch loss: 12.054, learning rate: 0.010000
Minibatch error: 90.6%
Validation error: 84.6%
Step 100 (epoch 0.12), 826.7 ms
Minibatch loss: 3.289, learning rate: 0.010000
Minibatch error: 6.2%
Validation error: 7.0%
...
This set appears to be working great and is currently on Step 1500
There's bugs in the Bash on Windows 10, of course. It's in Beta. But it's not a toy, and it's gonna be a great addition to my developer toolbox. I like that I was able to follow the Linux instructions exactly and they just worked. I'm looking forward to seeing how hard I can push Ubuntu and Bash on Windows 10.
Sponsor: Big thanks to SQL Prompt for sponsoring the feed this week! Have you got SQL fingers? TrySQL Prompt and you’ll be able to write, refactor, and reformat SQL effortlessly in SSMS and Visual Studio.Find out more.The attacks come just days after police on Monday raided a Stockholm-based webhosting company, PRQ.
Hackers have struck at least two Swedish government-affiliated websites, shutting down one of them in a denial-of-service attack and leaving links to profane messages on the other.
The attacks come just days after police on Monday raided a Stockholm-based webhosting company, PRQ, and a video was posted on YouTube - allegedly made on behalf of the hacker group Anonymous - warning Swedish authorities of repercussions.
Police spokesman Anders Ahlqvist says the website of Sweden's Courts Administration was swamped with false users, while links to a foul message was left at the National Board of Health and Welfare. Both sites are running again.
PRQ Head Mikael Viborg says his company previously hosted servers for file-sharing site the Pirate Bay and still houses some servers for the secret-spilling website WikiLeaks.♪♪
Sia
N. I. C. K
Nicky Wilde!
The wigged version!
C'mon, c'mon turn the radio on
Porque tengo ganas de bailar
No tengo un peso en el bosillo
Pero no me importa
A mí no me hace falta andar
Con tu cuerpo y la musica me envuelvo
Siento que quemo por dentro
Dirá que soy loco pero que va
Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight
(I LOVE CHEAP THRILLS)
Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight
(I LOVE CHEAP THRILLS)
I don't need no money
As long as I can feel the beat
I don't need no money
As long as I keep dancing
Lalalalalala
(I love cheap thrills)
Lalalalalala
(I Love Cheap Thrills)
Lalalalalala
(I LOVE CHEAP THRILLS)
Lalalalalala
I LOVE CHEAP THRILLS♪
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsHjVT…
(I just had to CLick here fur the origanal one
(I just had toCLick here fur the origanal one t-b0.deviantart.com/art/I-Love…
Characters are from Disney: Zootopia/Zootropolis, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde
Music based from Cheap Thrills (Spanglish version), Sia ft. Nicky JamShare. Collector's edition comes with Adam Jensen statue. Collector's edition comes with Adam Jensen statue.
Square Enix and Eidos Montreal have announced Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will come out February 23.
Announced in April, Mankind Divided is the sequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution, set two years later in 2029 with augmented people separated from normal residents. The stealth action-RPG will continue to examine the societal tensions between the two groups.
Exit Theatre Mode
In addition to the release date, Square Enix unveiled an Augment Your Pre-Order campaign and collector's edition for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
The publisher is letting people pick what pre-order bonuses they receive among a handful of different options, with different tiers opening up when higher overall pre-order numbers are hit. For example, the first tier offers three in-game packs, such as a classic pack or enforcer pack, to choose from. And if enough people pre-purchase Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Square Enix is promising to release the game four days early.
Exit Theatre Mode
The collector's edition will feature everything from the Augment Your Pre-Order campaign, plus a 48-page art book, 9-inch Adam Jensen statue and steel book.
For more on the stealth action-RPG, be sure to check out IGN's preview of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. And don't forget there's a companion app to complement the upcoming game from Eidos Montreal.
Exit Theatre Mode
Evan Campbell is a freelance writer who scripts the Daily Fix, streams games on his Twitch channel, and chats about movies and TV series on Twitter.Four University of Kansas cheerleaders have been suspended over an image posted to a social media account possibly linking President-Elect Donald Trump to the Ku Klux Klan, reports say.
The row started when a photo was posted to Snapchat featuring three white, male members of the Kansas cheer team standing side-by-side in a photo with their “K” shirts on and the words “Kkk go Trump” superimposed underneath them. The “K” on the students’ shirts stands for Kansas. The photo was reportedly taken at a party held on November 20, according to KUSports.com.
It isn’t exactly clear if the three students were purposefully referencing the Ku Klux Klan or that if it was just a disastrous coincidence since all three are “K” Kansas students.
But the reference was taken as a given, at least by one other Kansas student. Not long after the image was posted to Snapchat, a female cheerleader launched into a tirade against the image. The student’s rant was filled with racist overtones.
In short order, school officials suspended the three males and the female who struck up the argument over the photo.
The female cheerleader, though, pleaded ignorance of the posts. In an interview with school officials the female cheerleader, sophomore Lilli Gagin, adamantly insisted she did not post the racist messages about the photo. She claimed someone else got a hold of her phone and posted the race-filled rant against the photo.
KU says the cheerleader who posted "KKK go Trump" has been suspended from the cheerleading squad. No news on the 3 guys. @KUnews pic.twitter.com/5NiwAM1OUA — Patrick Quaife (@pquaife) November 22, 2016
Miss Gagin later posted a message to Twitter (account protected and not public) reading, “I’m appalled that a snapchat was put out on my snapchat and posted on my account. I would never of done that & I apologize that it happened.”
The school did not identify the names of any of the four students, but Gagin was revealed since her name appears on the Snapchat posts that turned up on social media.
School officials explained that all were suspended pending the outcome of an investigation. They added that all were suspended equally in order to be “fair” with all four students and not to seem to be picking sides until an investigation is completed.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.KIEV, Ukraine — Battalions of Ukrainian security forces early Wednesday stormed Independence Square, the central plaza in Kiev where protesters had been rallying against the government of President Viktor F. Yanukovich for more than two weeks.
Hours after senior Western diplomats arrived here for meetings with Mr. Yanukovich in an effort to defuse both the country’s slide into political chaos and a deepening financial crisis, thousands of riot police officers and Internal Ministry troops fanned across Kiev, putting the Ukrainian capital in a virtual lockdown in the cold predawn darkness.
Officers descending a slope past the Hotel Ukraina punched an opening through a barricade that protesters had heavily reinforced. Officers later winched a rope to the barrier and ripped it down entirely. Ice and slush on the streets added to the unfolding confusion as some officers slid into a confrontation with demonstrators, who chanted “Peaceful Protest! Peaceful Protest!”
There were fights and shoving matches as officers pushed into the plaza from virtually all sides, taking up positions and blocking the crowd’s movements with interlocking shields. At least one of the tents or another makeshift structure erected by demonstrators caught fire. Officers in helmets pushed through the crowds with shields but did not use the truncheons hanging at their sides.Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) broke with anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist on Tuesday, telling ABC's Jonathan Karl that he supported eliminating tax deductions in order to help get the country back on solid fiscal footing.
"We are so far in debt that if you don't give up some ideological ground, the country sinks," Graham said.
Graham is one of over a thousand Republicans nationwide who have signed Norquist's anti-tax pledge to oppose and vote against any effort to increase taxes.
The pledge also opposes raising revenue by eliminating tax deductions and credits. Graham voiced his disagreement with that component, saying "when you eliminate a deduction, it's OK with me to use some of that money to get us out of debt."
He praised Norquist for "doing a great service" but said that due to the country's poor fiscal climate, the Republican party's position must evolve.
"When you talk about eliminating deductions and tax credits for the few, at the expense of the many, I think over time the Republican party's position is going to shift. It needs to, quite frankly, because we are $16 trillion in debt," he said.
"I'm willing to move my party, or try to, on the tax issue. I need someone on the Democratic side being willing to move their party on structural changes to entitlements."
Mitt Romney, the GOP's presumptive presidential candidate, signed the anti-tax pledge before his 2008 run for office.
Another GOP heavyweight, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, criticized Norquist's pledge recently, saying, "I don’t believe you outsource your principles and convictions to people.” He urged Romney to accept some tax increases in order to reduce the government’s budget deficit.
Asked whether Romney agreed with him, Graham said he wasn't sure. "Someone needs to ask him," he quipped.
Earlier on HuffPost:
House Republicans argue the rich already pay their fair share in taxes:Christina Hendricks plays Joan Holloway on 'Mad Men,' a critically acclaimed show that is notable for making young men jealous of the sex their grandfather's generation had.
Just The Facts
Christina Hendricks is actually a blonde. She dyes her hair red. Besides Jack Daniels, the only good thing to come from Tennessee. They are real.
Christina Hendricks in 'Mad Men'
Edging out the unbelievably sexy January Jones is virtually impossible, but, thanks to a fantastically curved body and the general novelty of the elusive attractive red head, Christina Hendricks wins the contest.
You lose. Somehow.
In case you skipped the rest of the article because you were understandably very busy scrutinizing the previous pictures for important details, Christina Hendricks plays Joan Holloway on 'Mad Men.' Joan is the head of the secretaries at the Sterling-Cooper advertising agency, where her job description includes banging the co-owner of the company into a heart attack and making other secretaries cry.
With a stare that can penetrate even the hardest of men and a voice that is what history's greatest phone sex operators aspire to, Joan makes 'Mad Men' worthwhile for even the laziest of viewers.Thank goodness for Firefox. Yes, it's a great browser. Yes, it has all sorts of wonderful plugins that let me do everything from debugging my Web applications to checking the weather forecast. And, the fact that it works across multiple platforms makes it even better. But, as Web-based applications become an increasingly integral part of my life, I've grown dependent on Firefox's ability to remember my passwords. It might be silly, or even a bit pathetic, but there is no way I can remember all the different passwords I've created over the years. This is especially true for sites where I've changed my password on occasion, either because my current password expired or because I decided to change it. This also means that when I use a different browser, or even a different computer, I'm often at a total loss. Sure, I remember some of my passwords, but there is no easy way for me to keep track of all of them without writing them down somewhere. So, I do the digital equivalent—storing them in my browser—and make sure I have my laptop with me wherever I go. Juggling multiple passwords isn't new, of course. Even before the growth of Web applications, people were logging in to different computers, networks, e-mail accounts, database systems and so on. A number of companies made quite a bit of money from “single sign-on”, offering back-end solutions that allowed people to log in to a single computer, providing them with access to many different ones. But, although the problem might not be new, its scale is unprecedented. We no longer are worried about several hundreds or thousands of individuals keeping track of a dozen passwords, with access to an IT support department. Rather, we now have to worry about many millions of people, each of whom has dozens of passwords and little or no technical support for any of them. Moreover, each Web site has its own particular needs, not to mention its own unique user interface. And, to top it off, the world is quite different from a corporation; you can't impose a standard solution from above. Rather, there must be a way to introduce competition into the equation, such that individuals can choose their own single sign-on provider. Over the years, a number of companies have tried to enter this space for Internet applications. Perhaps the most famous (or infamous) was Microsoft's.NET Passport (now known as Windows Live ID), which was launched with great fanfare—and quickly attracted a great deal of negative attention related to privacy concerns. Even if Microsoft's product was technically excellent (and I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge it), people did not want to be told with whom they must entrust private and sensitive data. An increasingly popular solution to this problem is OpenID. OpenID is not necessarily a new technology; it has existed in some form or another for several years already. However, it rapidly is picking up steam—so much that right before I wrote these words in February 2008, we saw Microsoft, Google, IBM, VeriSign and Yahoo embrace OpenID. Now, it's true that the number of sites supporting OpenID is currently small—numbering about 8,000 at the time of this writing. However, the number is growing rapidly, and I expect the pace will pick up as the aforementioned Internet giants begin to get involved. What if you're smaller than Google or Microsoft? Is OpenID worth adding to your site? Is it relatively easy? The answer to both questions, I'm happy to say, is yes. This month, I discuss the user side of OpenID—how you register for an OpenID and how you manage it. I also explain how the OpenID specification takes into account the fact that you might eventually need to change providers.
The Basics of OpenID The term OpenID refers both to a person's unique identifier and to the standard describing all the technology around that identifier. To create an OpenID, you must register with an OpenID provider. Once you have registered your OpenID, it is the provider that authenticates you for every OpenID-enabled application you use. In other words, the OpenID provider is responsible for checking your identity, which normally means confirming that the user name and password you enter are acceptable. Thus, logging in to a site with OpenID means the following happens: You tell the Web application you want to log in with the OpenID protocol.
You enter your OpenID (more detail on this shortly) into the application's login screen.
The application sends you to the login screen for your OpenID provider.
If the provider accepts your credentials (normally, your user name and password), it asks you to confirm that your identity may be exported to the Web application, and if it may do so in the future as well. Obviously, if you indicate you are willing to share your identity with this Web application in the future, you will skip this step in the future.
Once allowed to export your identity to the Web application, you are returned to the original application you wanted to use, logged in and ready to use it. Notice there are a few important differences here between OpenID and a “standard” login system. First, users authenticate against a different site from the one they are trying to use. This is similar to making a purchase via Google Checkout or PayPal, both of which require that users authenticate themselves and authorize the purchase amount on their own sites, rather than on the site belonging to the on-line store. Some critics of OpenID say that users may be surprised or confused by the switch from one site to another, but I think Google Checkout and PayPal have demonstrated that a reasonable number of people are not put off by switching back and forth. Moreover, I have read that Firefox 3 will include some integrated OpenID support, which might remove some of the need to switch sites—or at least make it appear more integrated. However, I've been using the beta of Firefox 3 for several months and have yet to experience such integration. And, although I use the term Web application, there is no requirement that OpenID be used only for Web-based applications. I expect that as OpenID takes hold, a large number of Internet-based applications, obviously including those that run on the Web, will use OpenID. However, there's no reason why non-Web applications and services couldn't use OpenID as well. I even can imagine a day when you might use OpenID to enter your house or confirm your identity to your burglar-alarm company. In the world of OpenID, end-user applications are known as consumers, just as the OpenID authentication systems are known as providers. Most OpenID providers authenticate users with a user name and password. Over time, we can expect them to go in other directions as well—for example, using biometric authentication systems. And, although OpenID providers currently offer their services for free, it's not hard to imagine a time in which some companies will charge for OpenID services, while others will support themselves via advertising. Because users can switch OpenID providers at any time, and because users have a choice as to which one they will use, we can expect both competition and ingenuity to be the rule. One company, Vidoop, has a particularly interesting authentication mechanism, in which users select a pattern of images as their “password”. Each time a user wants to authenticate, a set of images—including those that the user has selected—appears on a 3x3 grid, with each image in a randomly selected location and a random letter placed next to it. This effectively creates a one-time password, which users enter by typing the letters associated with the ordered set of images they originally chose. Finally, I should note that you can create and use as many OpenIDs as you like, just as you would normally create as many user names as you like on a Web site. Some people do this to separate their work ID from their personal ID, or just because they prefer not to put all of their eggs in one authentication basket. Regardless, OpenID allows you to do this—although it is ironic that a single sign-on solution would spur people to create multiple identities.
Creating and Using an OpenID With all the background information out of the way, let's create and use an OpenID. An OpenID is nothing more than a URL, typically written as http://USERNAME.PROVIDER.com. For example, my OpenID is http://reuvenmlerner.myopenid.com. Notice that I can share this URL publicly; there is no reason for me to keep it secret. MyOpenID.com is just one of several OpenID providers. Indeed, many people already have an OpenID, even if they don't realize it. For example, if you have a blog at LiveJournal, that URL can be used as your OpenID. To sign up for an OpenID, simply go to the home page of your provider. For example, go to the MyOpenID.com home page and click on “sign up for an OpenID”. That takes you to https://www.myopenid.com/signup, which asks you to enter a user name (it must be unique) and a password. You also can provide an e-mail address, which is optional, but doing so allows you to recover your password if you ever forget it. Finally, MyOpenID.com uses a captcha to ensure that a person, rather than a program, is signing up for the account. Once you have signed up for an OpenID, you can use it to log in to a Web site that supports it. Typically, logging in to a Web site requires that you enter both a user name and password. But, if you use OpenID, you enter in neither of these to the Web application's login screen. Instead, you enter only the URL of your OpenID, including the http prefix that we so often ignore nowadays. For example, I can go to www.wikihow.com, a site that lets anyone create a how-to manual. I click on “create an account or log in” at the top of the page, which brings me to a login screen. The resulting screen tells me I can log in using OpenID, if I want, by going to www.wikihow.com/Special:OpenIDLogin. (In other words, wikiHow has two separate login pages: one for regular users with a user name/password combination and another for OpenID users, who enter only their OpenID URL.) Finally, I enter http://reuvenmlerner.myopenid.com into the text field. Because I had logged in to OpenID earlier, I wasn't asked to provide my password. However, this is the first time I've tried to log in to wikiHow with OpenID. Thus, MyOpenID.com must verify that I am willing to share information with wikiHow. I click on the allow forever button, which means whenever I'm logged in to MyOpenID.com, it should share information with wikiHow. After clicking this button, I am redirected back to www.wikihow.com, where I am logged in and identified by my first name.
Switching Providers This system works quite well in my experience, and you quickly become used to the back and forth authentication process. However, major problems remain. What happens if MyOpenID.com goes out of business? What if its database is compromised? What if it turns out to be highly unethical and is using people's IDs? What if I find a provider whose Web site is more attractive to me? I always can switch to a different provider, of course. But, that effectively means having a new and different user name on a site. On a social-networking site, this obviously would be disastrous, as I would need to reconnect from my new account to each of the people in my old account. The solution to this is quite clever. Instead of giving people the OpenID I mentioned above, I instead give them an OpenID on a Web site that I control, whose URL is unlikely ever to change. For example, I can give an OpenID of http://reuven.lerner.co.il. I know that the lerner.co.il domain will remain mine forever. Thus, I can be reasonably sure that this URL also will be in my possession for a long time. Moreover, I control the contents of the home page. That page may contain any HTML content I want. But, it also should contain the following two <link> tags in the <head> section: <link rel="openid.server" href="http://www.myopenid.com/server" /> <link rel="openid.delegate" href="http://reuvenmlerner.myopenid.com/" /> We already saw how I can log in to wikiHow by giving my OpenID at MyOpenID.com. But, with the above lines in place, I also can log in to wikiHow by entering http://reuven.lerner.co.il. This tells wikiHow to retrieve the home page from my personal Web site. It uses the first <link> tag to know which server to use and the second <link> tag to know which user name and ID to authenticate. Everything then continues as usual. I authenticate myself as necessary against MyOpenID.com, which then redirects me back to wikiHow. The beauty of this redirection system is that if I decide against using MyOpenID for any reason in the future, I simply change the <link> tags in index.html. wikiHow and all other sites will follow whatever reuven.lerner.co.il points to, whether it's MyOpenID.com, Vidoop.com or something else. In this way, I ensure that my OpenID always is associated with the provider who offers me the best combination of security and usability for my purposes. Unfortunately, things don't always go smoothly. For example, when I registered with wikiHow, it got my nickname (Reuven) from MyOpenID.com. When I try to log in with my new, redirected OpenID, wikiHow thinks it's dealing with a new user—one whose requested nickname clashes with that of an existing user. So, the key is to set up and use the redirecting URL early on, and not switch to it after you already have used OpenID for some time. There are other problems as well. For example, I currently juggle two different sets of identities on-line, as some companies want to deal only with US citizens living in the United States. And, although I'm currently back home in Modi'in, Israel, I continue to have a US phone number (through Skype), a mailing address (at my parents' house), and a US bank account and credit card. So, I need two separate identities: one with my Israeli information and another with my US information. Fortunately, OpenID 2.0 supports both the export of information to the consumer application and also the use of multiple personas. Each persona can have a separate name, nickname, image and location, and I can choose which persona is associated with each consumer, under the umbrella of the same OpenID.
Conclusion OpenID is an increasingly important standard that seems poised to have a central role in future Web and Internet-connected applications. Using OpenID is not terribly complicated for end users, and it supposedly is going to be integrated into Firefox in the near future. Next month, we will look at OpenID from the perspective of a Web site that requires users to register. How can you, as a Web developer, support OpenID on your site? We will see that with a bit of work, and some support from open-source libraries, we can support OpenID in our Web applications.Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty World's tallest man, Bao Xishun.
It was a day for mind-bending exploits: some brave, some gluttonous, some merely odd. On November 13, 116 exhibitionists stripped down to their skivvies in London's St. Pancras Station. Some 175 miles away, at a juvenile detention center in Wigan, prisoners and staff took turns running on a treadmill in a bid at setting the fastest time for a collective 100-mile run. In Tokyo, a man dashed 100 meters on all fours in under 19 seconds. What did these oddball events have in common? Each was an attempt, on Guinness World Records Day, to enter the tome, which for more than a half century has cataloged feats ranging from the ludicrous to the sublime.
Like many of the records it charts, the Guinness book was the product of a can-do spirit and the need to validate one's pride. In 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, went on a hunting trip with friends in Ireland. Though he considered himself an excellent shot, Beaver was unable to bag any golden plovers. Wounded, Beaver suggested the bird might be the fastest in Europe. Upon returning from the trip, neither he nor his friends were able to locate a reference book that provided the answer.
The squabble triggered a marketing epiphany. Figuring that pub-goers would be grateful for a record book that settled debates and bar bets, Beaver created one. In 1954 he tapped a pair of brothers for the task: Norris and Ross McWhirter, who ran a London fact-finding agency. The idea was to distribute the book free of charge to bars in a ploy to generate publicity. The first edition, first titled the Guinness Book of World Records, debuted in 1955. It was a hit. Some 50,000 copies were reprinted and sold; demand proved so high that the book went through three more editions over the next 12 months.
Over the ensuing decades, the book became a phenomenon, selling more than 120 million copies in 37 languages. The McWhirters were stringent fact-checkers, often traveling long distances to adjudicate whether potential-record holders met the book's standards. (Ross McWhirter was assassinated in 1975 by the IRA; Norris McWhirter quit editing the book in the mid-1980s). Record holders receive certificates from Guinness, though not all records are selected for inclusion in the book, which receives some 65,000 record claims every year. Rights to the book, which has evolved from an almanac into a glossy, hard-cover item replete with a holographic cover, 3D images and a gatefold, were acquired in February by the Jim Pattison Group, a conglomerate that also owns "Ripley's Believe it or Not!"
If you're having a hard time grasping the importance of becoming the world's fastest kiwi peeler(multiple-record holder Alastair Galpin set that mark this week, stripping and eating the fruit in about 16 seconds) you're not alone. "There can be a snobbishness about record breaking," the book's editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday, told Britain's Sky News. "What may seem pointless to you could be a passion for someone else." For some, record-breaking itself has become a consuming passion. Ashrita Furman, a health-food store manager from Queens, N.Y., has broken more than 200 records. He notched his first in 1979 by doing more than 27,000 jumping jacks, and has since hop-scotched the globe in search of new marks, tacking on records for rope-skipping (on a pogo stick) at Cambodia's Angkor Wat, hula-hooping at Australia's Ayers Rock, and traveling the entire 12-mile length of Paul Revere's Massachusetts ride in forward rolls. "I'm trying to show others that our human capacity is unlimited if we can truly believe in ourselves," Furman wrote.
Read A Brief History of Competitive Eating
Read TIME's Interview with David BlaineDatuk Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Wahid speaks to Malay Mail Online in an interview on November 15, 2016, in Kuala Lumpur. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Lo was diagnosed almost 10 years ago with Stage Four kidney cancer, but the 57-year-old is still alive today and says he can live a normal life as he is on sunitinib, a targeted therapy drug that’s not available in public hospitals in Malaysia.
Even though targeted therapies — which block the spread of cancer by acting on specific molecules associated with cancer growth, unlike standard chemotherapies that kill both rapidly multiplying healthy and cancerous cells — have been on the market since the early 200 |
St. Louis: Partly cloudy, occasional interference possible
Carbondale, Ill.: Partly cloudy, occasional interference possible
Hopkinsville, Ky.: Partly cloudy, occasional interference possible
Nashville: Scattered clouds, limited interference
[Can’t find the protective glasses to watch the solar eclipse? Go old school.]
Forecast confidence: Medium
Greenville, S.C.: Partly to mostly cloudy, occasional to frequent interference
Columbia, S.C.: Partly to mostly cloudy, occasional to frequent interference
Charleston: Partly to mostly cloudy, frequent interference possible
[Solar eclipse play-by-play: Exactly what you’ll see on the big day in the path of totality]
Model forecasts
We are well within range of our best forecast models, including the American Global Forecast System (GFS), North American Model (NAM) and European models. Below are illustrations of the cloud cover that these models are predicting as of Sunday.
In the graphic below, showing the GFS model, clouds are displayed in gray — the darker the gray, the more cloud cover predicted. It doesn’t exactly match what we’ve illustrated in our forecast map at the top of this article. That’s because it is just a single prediction from a single model.
GFS model cloud cover forecast at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21. (StormVistaWxModels.com)
For another point of view, below is the cloud cover forecast from the European model:
European model cloud cover forecast at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21. (StormVistaWxModels.com)
And lastly, this is the cloud cover forecast from the North American model:
NAM model cloud cover forecast at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21. (StormVistaWxModels.com)
For the Capital Weather Gang cloud cover forecast, we take into account all the models’ predictions as well as what we know about typical August conditions.
Finally, note that the above maps display the model forecasts for total cloud cover, which take into account both high and low clouds. In some areas, their illustration is probably overly pessimistic because the eclipse may still be viewable through high, thin clouds.
Average weather for Aug. 21
The timing of the eclipse is ideal, at least for the West. It begins just after 10 a.m. local time on the West Coast, which is usually enough time to burn off the fog that often occurs there.
The intermountain areas sometimes see thunderstorms bubble up in the afternoons during this time of year. These are associated with the Southwest monsoon, a period of increased thunderstorms and rain during the late summer and early fall. But the eclipse passes through this region around noon, before most of the storms develop, so the storm risk should be low there.
[More eclipse coverage from The Washington Post]
Clouds often pop up along the rest of the path throughout the day simply because of warmth and moisture. Those two things combined lead to rising air, which creates clouds. So the cloud risk gets greater the farther east you go. On top of that, South Carolina will see totality the latest in the day — after 2:30 p.m.
NASA created the map below, which shows how, on average, the best chance of clear skies Monday is focused in western areas, and the chance of cloud cover increases as you head east.
Additional cloud cover resources:
Jason Samenow contributed to this post.The helicopter circled low over America’s consulate in Frankfurt on August 28th on the orders of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff Ronald Pofalla, magazine Focus reported on Monday.
Pofalla had declared the NSA spying scandal - sparked by whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations of a mass surveillance programme – over.
But the helicopter flight, whose mission was to gather evidence of the supposed spying station - hints at the German government’s lack of trust in its ally's spying activities on German soil.
The helicopter slowly flew twice over the consulate at a height of 60 metres to photograph the site, Focus reported.
It was seen by the Americans, and Focus reported the US embassy in Berlin lodged a protest with Germany’s foreign ministry.
But that was denied by the US embassy. A spokesman told The Local: "The helicopter incident was the subject of an embassy conversation with the foreign ministry but no letter of complaint was sent to the German government."
A foreign office source told Focus that the fight was a “strong provocation”.
Chinaware inside the consulate was damaged in the flight, Focus reported, but no evidence of a listening station was found.
Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert refused to comment directly on the flight but said Germany’s security services would respond within the law when they suspected foreign secret services of spying, newspaper the Welt reported.
READ MORE: Deutsche Telekom 'weak link' for British spies
The Local/tsbSenators are privately discussing whether they should split the Liberal government's omnibus budget bill to spend more time studying the proposed Canada Infrastructure Bank.
Independent Senator André Pratte has circulated an e-mail to all senators asking them to consider removing the section creating the bank from the budget bill so that it "can be studied at length, as is justified by its importance."
Liberal Senator Percy Downe, a former chief of staff to prime minister Jean Chrétien, said in an interview Tuesday that he supports the suggestion from Mr. Pratte to split the bill.
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"I think the infrastructure bank is a totally different matter [than the budget] and I think he makes a very valid argument that it needs what the Senate is here for: a very detailed study," he said.
With a growing number of senators sitting as independents, the chamber has become less predictable. Some senators told The Globe and Mail on Tuesday that it was too early to say whether a majority of senators would support splitting the government's budget bill.
As the senators weighed the issue, a House of Commons committee completed its one-day study of the legislation to create the $35-billion bank. The meeting was the only stand-alone committee study of the government's plan. It was held in addition to the finance committee's hearings on the budget bill as a whole.
The committee on transport, infrastructure and communities wrapped up Tuesday after about an hour and 45 minutes of presentations and discussion. The committee heard from four witnesses. Sergio Marchi, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Electricity Association and a former Liberal cabinet minister, praised the bank and said it could help fund major upgrades of Canada's electricity grid.
Azfar Ali Khan of the University of Ottawa's Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy said launching the bank should wait until Canada has better data on its infrastructure needs.
Sarah Ryan, a senior researcher with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the bank will not be transparent and will end up costing Canadians more in the long run than if projects had been fully funded with public dollars.
Finally, Glenn Campbell, a senior public servant who is executive director of the Canada Infrastructure Bank Transition Office, spoke about the government's rationale for the bank.
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The NDP moved a motion at committee requesting a second meeting Thursday. The motion recommended that MPs hear from BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager. The company worked closely with government officials to organize a Nov. 14 closed-door summit on infrastructure in Toronto that was attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, senior ministers and BlackRock clients from around the world. The motion also recommended hearing from members of Finance Minister Bill Morneau's advisory council on economic growth, which supported the Canada Infrastructure Bank in an October report. The Liberal majority on the committee voted to defeat the motion.
Conservative infrastructure critic Dianne Watts, a former mayor of Surrey, B.C., said the single hearing was clearly not enough time to study an entity that will play a major role in delivering infrastructure projects across the country for years.
"It's ridiculous, because there are a lot of questions that are left unanswered," she said after the committee meeting ended. "The government is shutting down debate on it. They want this rammed through and they're hell-bent on just getting it up and running without proper due diligence."
Liberal MP Vance Badawey, a former mayor of Port Colborne who represents the Ontario riding of Niagara Centre, said he and other members of the committee have municipal experience and understand why the bank is needed.
"We've been discussing this for quite some time," he said, noting that the issue has come up in other committees and MPs can ask questions directly to federal departments. Mr. Badawey said the bank will mean the private sector will take on risks that had previously been entirely on the shoulders of municipal, provincial and federal governments.
In his testimony, Mr. Campbell, the senior government official, said some of the main benefits of the bank will be expertise in structuring loan guarantees and moving long-term debt off of government books and onto private partners, in exchange for a negotiated rate of return.
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"The design of the bank is intended to relieve the burden on public balance sheets," he told MPs. "This is a better way to fund more and different projects than otherwise would have [been built]."Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week.
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Pope Benedict. (Flickr) Ad Policy
Reports continue to develop on the Catholic Church’s cover-up of sexual abuse of children by priests. Now, a powerful documentary is telling the whole story on TV: Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, which is playing on HBO for the month of February. The filmmaker is Alex Gibney, who won the Academy Award for best documentary for Taxi to the Dark Side, on torture in Afghanistan. His other films include Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. I spoke with him recently for KPFK-FM in Los Angeles.
Jon Wiener: You start your film at a Catholic school for the deaf in Milwaukee in 1972. The heroes of your film are a small group of deaf guys who went public as adults with the truth about what a priest had done to them when they were students at the school. You interview the deaf men, but they can’t talk—they speak in sign language. And yet they are wonderfully articulate. It’s amazing to watch them—as you translate in voice-over.
Alex Gibney: The four guys had all been students at St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee. They had all been abused, and as young men, just post-college, they had banded together to see if they could stop this abuse from continuing. They were the first people in America to make a public protest about sex abuse of children by priests. They spent many years trying to have their voices “heard.” Yes they can’t speak, but they are so expressive—you can see on their faces and in their hands their testimony, which is at once horrible but also gripping. They maintain a sense of humanity and humor and idealism despite all of this.
The timing here is significant. When did the Church hierarchy first hear about the problem of pedophile priests? Was it this Milwaukee case in 1972?
Certainly not. Documents going back to the fourth century show that the Church was aware of a pedophilia problem. We also learn in the course of this film that, in the 1940s and ’50s, there was a man named Gerald Fitzgerald who ran an order called the Servants of the Paraclete, charged with dealing with pedophile priests. He became so concerned about the number of priests who were abusing children that he actually put a down payment on an island off the coast of Grenada to house pedophile priests there. That didn’t happen.
The story really has two parts: what the priests did to the boys, and what the Church did to the priests. What did the Church do?
Very often the “treatment” for pedophile priests was prayer. And then they’d send them back out. Basically, what the Church did was to cover it up. We interview one person in the film called a “fixer.” He was a Benedictine monk. His job was to go around to parishes where there had been pedophile priests, bringing a bag of money to pay people off and make confidentiality agreements—to buy people off.
When you say “the Church knew,” who exactly are we talking about?
It had been believed for many years that bishops were basically on their own, dealing with these matters as they saw fit. That was the fiction that Rome had advanced. But it turns out that, to defrock a priest, you had to go to Rome. Only a pope can do that. Those issues went to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who ran an organization called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—formerly known as “the Inquisition.” In 2001 Pope John Paul II decided to give Cardinal Ratzinger all the authority on all sexual abuse cases.
Where is Cardinal Ratzinger now?
Now he is Pope Benedict XVI.
So who is the most knowledgeable person in the world about priests abusing children?
Pope Benedict. Every report starting in 2001 came to his office.
The first part of the story is what the priests did to the boys. The second part is what the Church did to the priests. And there is a third part: What did the Church do for the victims?
Almost nothing. The overriding concern of the Church was not justice for the victims, not protection of victims. It was to care for the priests. Pope Benedict said he was very sorry for the victims, but you can see in the actions of the hierarchy that their concern is for protecting the Church from scandal, and also protecting their brother priests.
One of the significant parts of the story is how civil society managed to take over from the religious hierarchy and demand justice and dispense justice—either through financial claims or through criminal prosecution. At the end of the day, you see committed people—including some priests—who understand that there’s a crime here, and that they have to fight against it. Part of the story is people coming together in order to make that happen.
You show Patrick Buchanan and some guests on Fox News saying the lawsuits and the media attention to sexual abuse by priests are “an attack on the Church.” Are they right?
No. There’s moving moment in the film where Father Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer who has testified for the plaintiffs, says “many people ask me why I don’t testify on behalf of the Church in these cases. I tell them I always testify on behalf of the Church.” He means that “the Church” is the 1 billion Catholics who are its members. The parishioners, the faithful, in his opinion, are the church. This film is not anti-Catholic. It’s anti-crime. This is a crime story. And a story about a cover-up of criminals.
What about you? Are you Catholic?
I was raised Catholic. I’m not a practicing Catholic now. I’m very much a cultural Catholic; my identity was shaped by having been Catholic.
Your documentary is subtitled “Silence in the House of God.” Obviously that refers to the silence of the church in the face of these crimes. But does it also refer to the deaf men who made the first complaints, using sign language, back in 1972?
It does indeed. Theirs was a more beautiful silence—the silence of those signs, that ultimately led to reform and change.Marc Short, the White House’s director of legislative affairs, on Sunday said that if allegations of sexual misconduct against Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore were not “credible,” President Donald Trump would be actively campaigning for him.
“You work for the President. Does the President believe the women or not?” George Stephanopoulos asked Short on ABC News’ “This Week.”
“Obviously, George, if he did not believe that the women’s accusations were credible he would be down campaigning for Roy Moore. He has not done that,” Short replied.
He said Trump “has concerns about the accusations, but he is also concerned that these accusations are 38 years old.”
The earliest accusations of sexual misconduct against Trump himself are barely older than that; one woman told the New York Times in October 2016 that Trump groped her on a flight “more than three decades earlier.”
“I don’t think you have seen him go down there and campaign for him. I don’t think you have seen him issue an endorsement. You have not seen him issue robocalls,” Short said. “You should certainly be able to infer by the fact that he has not gone down to support Roy Moore his discomfort in doing so.”Wall Street deregulation, blamed for deepening the banking crisis, was aggressively pushed by advisers to Bill Clinton who have also been at the heart of current White House policy-making, according to newly disclosed documents from his presidential library.
The previously restricted papers reveal two separate attempts, in 1995 and 1997, to hurry Clinton into supporting a repeal of the Depression-era Glass Steagall Act and allow investment banks, insurers and retail banks to merge.
A Financial Services Modernization Act was passed by Congress in 1999, giving retrospective clearance to the 1998 merger of Citigroup and Travelers Group and unleashing a wave of Wall Street consolidation that was later blamed for forcing taxpayers to spend billions bailing out the enlarged banks after the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
The White House papers show only limited discussion of the risks of such deregulation, but include a private note which reveals that details of a deal with Citigroup to clear its merger in advance of the legislation were deleted from official documents, for fear of it leaking out.
“Please eat this paper after you have read this,” jokes the hand-written 1998 note addressed to Gene Sperling, then director of Clinton’s National Economic Council.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Clinton Library
Earlier, in February 1995, newly-appointed Treasury secretary Robert Rubin, his deputy Bo Cutter and senior advisers including John Podesta gave the president three days to decide whether to back a repeal of Glass-Steagall.
In what Cutter described as “an action forcing event”, he wrote to Clinton on 21 February, telling him Rubin wanted to announce the policy before it was raised by the House banking committee on 1 March.
“In order to position Secretary Rubin – rather than any of the regulators – as the Administration’s chief spokesman on this issue, the Secretary intends to discuss the Administration’s position at a speech which will be covered by the press in New York on 27 February,” wrote Cutter on 21 February.
“It is therefore necessary to have an agreed-upon Administration position by the end of the day on Friday, 24 February.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Clinton Library
Podesta, who was then staff secretary but went on to become Clinton’s chief of staff, wrote a covering note telling the president that all his senior advisers backed the plan, although he noted the danger that “allowing banks to engage in riskier activities like securities or insurance could subject the deposit insurance fund to added risk”.
But Clinton’s advisers repeatedly reassured him that the decision to let Wall Street dismantle regulatory barriers designed to protect the public after the Great Depression simply represented inevitable modernisation.
“The argument for reform is that the separation between banking and other financial services mandated by Glass-Steagall is out of date in a world where banks, securities firms and insurance companies offer similar products and where firms outside the US do not face such restrictions,” wrote Podesta.
Podesta currently works at the White House as special adviser to President Barack Obama. Sperling stood down as director of Obama’s National Economic Council last month.
Along with Cutter, who worked on Obama’s transition committee, all three men were close allies of Rubin, who spearheaded the deregulation of Wall Street before joining the board of Citigroup in 1999. In 2007, he briefly became its chairman.
The closeness of Obama’s team to the deregulation policies of the late 1990s is well known and has been criticised by campaigners as a reason for the current administration’s reluctance to institute more aggressive Wall Street reforms after the banking crash.
But the new documents cast fresh light on the way the White House was first ushered toward deregulation by the tight group of Rubin allies.
A similar apparent attempt to rush president Clinton’s decision-making occurred later in the process, in 1997.
In a letter received by the president on 19 May, Clinton is again given just three days to decide whether to proceed with the deregulation agenda.
“The attached memorandum asks you to authorize Treasury to proceed to announce and submit their financial services modernization proposal,” writes Sperling.
“Secretary Rubin intends to introduce the proposal in a 21 May speech, and to testify before the House Banking Committee the first week of June.”
Photograph: Clinton Library
In his letter, Rubin reassures Clinton that the issue need not take up much of his attention.
“Should you approve our recommendation to move forward, the proposal would be a Treasury initiative, and would not require a significant time commitment from the White House,” writes the Treasury secretary.
“I and my staff will manage the process of advancing the proposal,” he adds.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Clinton Library
The sense that the president need not concern himself with the detail is amplified by his own staff, who appear happy for him to be pushed along by the Treasury timetable.
In a covering note from staff secretary Todd Stern, Clinton is warned: “The attached memo is long, detailed and technical, but you can get the essentials by looking at the first four pages.”
Stern adds: “If you agree. Treasury will, tomorrow, put out some advance word on the Rubin speech.”
Photograph: Clinton Library
Throughout the documents, which are among 7,000 pages released by the Clinton library on Friday, there is little discussion of internal opposition to repealing Glass-Steagall, although some memos inadvertently touch on the risks that ultimately proved so expensive to the US taxpayer.
“Notwithstanding the pounding Treasury took today, there’s still much to their position on the regulatory structure (which really depends on the proposition that we’re not good at regulating complex financial (let alone non-financial) companies, but we’re pretty good at walling off the bank to protect the taxpayers),” concludes Clinton adviser Ellen Seidman in one 1997 memo.Nobel prizes world map
This is a list of Nobel Prize laureates by country. Listings for Economics refer to the related Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded 567 times to 889 recipients, of which 25 awards (all Peace Prizes) were to organizations. Due to some recipients receiving multiple awards, the total number of recipients is 860 individuals and 22 organizations.[1]
The present list ranks laureates under the country/countries that are stated by the Nobel Prize committee on its website.[2] The list does not distinguish between laureates who received a full prize and the majority who shared a prize.[3] Some laureates are listed under more than one country, because the official website mentions multiple countries in relation to the laureate.[4] If a country is merely mentioned as the place of birth, an asterisk (*) is used in the respective listing to indicate this.[5] In this case, the birth country is mentioned in italics at the other listings of this laureate.
Organizations are listed here if the Nobel Prize committee relates them to a single country.[6]They say that you have to hit the bottom before you can start to get back up. And that is where this Australia team are right now, rock bottom, after a run of six straight defeats to India and England. If these players have not heard the wake-up call by now, then they do not deserve to be in the Australia team. They have to turn this series around right now. If they don't, some of the blokes in this squad could find that their international careers end with the fifth Test at The Oval.
Plenty of English fans have been telling me this is payback for all those years when their side couldn't even get a sniff of a series victory in the Ashes. I remember in the 1990s and early 2000s it seemed like every time we played there were a hundred different explanations each time England lost. We're seeing something a little similar in Australia now. Everyone wants to find a reason. To me a lot of those reasons sound like excuses. I'd say it is all pretty simple really, the 11 men in the team need to play better.
I believe they can do it, too. Specifically Australia need to do two things. They have to improve their spin bowling; and the batsmen in the top six need to put a higher price on their wickets. The first of those is the easier to fix. Nathan Lyon, between his debut in 2011 and the start of this series, took as many wickets in Test cricket as any other Australian bowler, 76 at an average of 33. He should start the next Test.
I also expect Fawad Ahmed, who just took eight wickets in a match for Australia A in Zimbabwe, to come into the squad. I like Ashton Agar and admire his energy but on these dry pitches we need a spinner who can make more of an impact on a match than he is able to at this early stage in his career.
Agar's 98 at Trent Bridge masked the weakness of Australia's batting, which was so glaringly exposed at Lord's. There have been problems here for a little while. In the Australian summer the top order got away with underperforming because they had Mike Hussey at No6, and he and Michael Clarke combined to make an excellent safety net when things went wrong. With Hussey gone, the senior players in the side are going to have to take more responsibility for getting working totals on the board.
That starts with Shane Watson. I like Watson, too. He is great to watch because he has all the shots and scores at a real lick when he gets in, but he also has a sound defence. I'm getting a little tired of pointing all that out.
He has always promised a lot and now he has to deliver. I think he needs to score at least a couple of hundreds in what is left of this series, because he is one of those guys who is, potentially, at crunch time in his Test career. He may want to look to start playing straighter because I know, if I was bowling at him, I would be looking to set him for the lbw, just as James Anderson has been.
Some wonder if Watson is the right man to open. But right now who have Australia got who will do a better job? David Warner has not scored many runs for the A side since he left the country and, from what I have heard, has not been looking in much touch in the nets either. That sums up the situation. There aren't any standout candidates to come into the squad who would make a real difference to the batting. The guys who are in the team now are the ones who are going to have to do it for Australia.
One encouraging thing is that, apart from Watson, everyone in that top seven has made a fifty in this series. Phillip Hughes may have a deficiency against spin but he showed at Trent Bridge that he can still graft out an innings. Usman Khawaja may have looked a nervous wreck in the first innings at Lord's but second time out he showed how good he could be when he is feeling more relaxed.
They are a team under siege from their own media and the opposition. But they have to shut all that out and be honest with themselves and each other about what they have done and what needs to change. Because the truth is that this England team is not unbeatable. At Lord's they were 30 for three in both innings. Their two key batsmen, Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook, have barely made 160 runs between them in eight innings.
That has all been overshadowed by Australia's bad batting. There are weaknesses there for Australia's bowlers to exploit, but they cannot do it unless the batsmen start performing.Anders Behring Breivik has described how he "trained" for the attacks he carried out in Norway last summer using the computer game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
The 33-year-old said he practised his shot using a "holographic aiming device" on the war simulation game, which he said is used by armies around the world for training.
"You develop target acquisition," he said. He used a similar device during the shooting attacks that left 69 dead at a political youth camp on the island of Utøya on 22 July.
Describing the game, he said: "It consists of many hundreds of different tasks and some of these tasks can be compared with an attack, for real. That's why it's used by many armies throughout the world. It's very good for acquiring experience related to sights systems."
He added: "If you are familiar with a holographic sight, it's built up in such a way that you could have given it to your grandmother and she would have been a super marksman. It's designed to be used by anyone. In reality it requires very little training to use it in an optimal way. But of course it does help if you've practised using a simulator."
The prosecution asked Breivik if he was aware that "there are some bereaved people sitting here in the courtroom who lost children at Utøya". How do you think they are feeling, Breivik was asked. "They are probably reacting in a natural way, with disgust and horror," he said.
The court also heard that Breivik took what he called a "sabbatical" for a year between the summers of 2006 and 2007, which he devoted to playing another game, World of Warcraft (WoW), "hardcore" full time. He admitted he spent up to 16 hours every day that year playing from his bedroom in his mother's Oslo flat.
But he insisted WoW had nothing to do with the attacks he carried out last year, leaving 77 dead.
He said: "Some people like to play golf, some like to sail, I played WoW. It had nothing to do with 22 July. It's not a world you are engulfed by. It's simply a hobby."
He added: "WoW is only a fantasy game, which is not violent at all. It's just fantasy. It's a strategy game. You co-operate with a lot of others to overcome challenges. That's why you do it. It's a very social game. Half of the time you are connected in communication with others. It would be wrong to consider it an antisocial game."
Breivik said he "deserved" his sabbatical because he had worked an average of 12-14 hours every day between 2002 and 2006 on various entrepreneurial projects.
He said: "I felt I had sacrificed a lot. Because of that I felt I deserved to take one year off to do what I wanted. Especially bearing in mind the upcoming so-called suicide action … I wanted to have no remorse as to what I had missed out on."
He denied playing the game and moving back in with his mother because his business ventures, including a firm selling fake diplomas, had failed.
"If you assess what you read in media, you would think I moved back home and rented a room in my mother's house because my company had gone bankrupt," he said, claiming to have had 600-700,000 rone (£65,000-76,000) in bank accounts and 300,000KR (£32,5000) in cash, which he stashed in two safes in his bedroom at the start of his sabbatical. He only filed for bankruptcy to save on the accounting costs associated with winding down a company in a conventional way, he said.
Breivik insisted he only moved back in with his mother to save 15,000KR in monthly rent and spend more time writing his "compendium". He did not claim benefits, saying: "I have never received a single krone from any government subsidy or support because I am in principle against living off such subsidies or welfare."
He said his friends and family, particularly his mother, reacted with "shock and disbelief" when he announced he was going to play on his computer full time.
"I told her that I was going to allocate time to do what I had wanted to do. She reacted in that way, which is [a] fairly normal, healthy reaction," he said, adding: "It would have been quite abnormal if she had just said: 'Oh that's great, go ahead.' I couldn't tell her I was taking a sabbatical because I was going to blow myself up in five years' time. I played on the idea that: 'Ooh, I've become addicted to games.' That was my primary cover."
It was a convenient "cover" and allowed him to isolate himself and concentrate on his forthcoming "operation". But he insisted repeatedly he was not a loner and had been out and about in the months leading up to the attacks in July last year.
Breivik was also asked about his membership of the masons. He said he joined because it was a "Christian organisation which has protected many European traditions" but said he was not an active member.
It was a "hobby", he said, claiming to have only attended "about five" meetings. It was another "militant nationalist" who suggested he join, he claimed.The warp whispers, as it always has around Arkhona. But the warp has been telling of new secrets. Stories about a Cabal, a coven, a group of hidden masters lurking in the shadows. Scheming and working, these masters set events in motion…events that will soon shake the pillars of all factions on this troubled planet. Things leading to destruction, battles between the factions and guilds fighting over a dead rock. Events that might even lead to Brother fighting Brother. Click to expand...
- Phantagor, Sage of the Warp
____________________________________________________________________________
Brothers, Sisters, Traitors, Heretics, Gits, and Kinsfolk!
We are Eternal Battles (EB). Our mission is simple:
To create fun events for Eternal Crusade and showcase those events to the gaming community
The idea was born back in @Oveur, @BrentEllison, @MathieuLavoie.
Quick Link Guide: The idea was born back in February of 2016 and came to life in October with the help of the illustrious EC devs, @KatieFleming
How does it work?
Success hinges on three pillars:
The guilds and players The faction reps The production team
EB schedules matches between factions. Faction Reps communicate the details to their faction. Factions Reps will, as reasonably fair as possible, fill the match roster. Teams meet for battle, blood for the blood god ensues. EB team streams the event and casters to provide commentary on the unfolding chaos. The match concludes and those who are left standing claim victory.
Is that it?Ever wondered what it's really like to be a vicar or a dominatrix? Or what a brain surgeon or a bikini waxer think about their job? Here, 15 people with very different careers reveal – anonymously – the trade secrets of their working day Illustrations by Craig Robinson
Priest
Priest. Illustration: Craig Robinson
People don't really know if you're a real human or not. I was young when I arrived at my parish and lots of my congregation gave me cutlery – because if I wasn't married, I clearly didn't own cutlery. When I started dating someone that was really weird for people. It was weird for me, too – seeing them at the altar rail, knowing that we'd been snogging the night before.
The dog collar can be a help and a hindrance. When I leave the gym, the other gym bunnies tend to do a double take, especially if they've been checking me out a bit. I can walk into a meeting of my peers, fellow professionals, and they won't listen to a word because the fact that I believe in God means that I'm clearly bonkers.
I get to be with people during some of their best moments, but some of my greatest job satisfaction has come from sitting with people who are in pain, either physical or emotional. There are some really poignant moments: last week I helped a lady write a letter of forgiveness to the person responsible for her daughter's death.
You get some odd requests around funerals – people wanting the Countdown theme tune or "Bat Out of Hell". And then you get people turning up on icy days wearing stilettos walking towards a hole in the ground… there's always the risk that someone's going in. But it's the ushers at weddings that tend to be shocking. I had one group who did football chanting during the hymns, and when it came to the exchange of the rings, they chucked a couple of Haribo on my book.
I get asked to pray for some odd things: I know far too much about the continence of my congregation. Sometimes they'll get very upset about something they've read in the Mail and I end up having to pray for whatever's causing cancer in cats this week.
Dominatrix
Dominatrix. Illustration: Craig Robinson
First thing's first: I don't offer sex and I don't allow any body worship above the knee. They might be able to masturbate a bit, but I'm normally a bitch about that and give them a countdown.
It's an incredibly intense environment. I can be in my dungeon for up to seven hours. I'm always checking whether the client is having fun and making sure he or she isn't dying. It's important to know if they have any medical conditions in advance – I certainly don't want a dead body on my hands. I have a couple of code words that the client uses to signal when something is wrong: "amber" for when the client really needs a breather or "red", which is the emergency safe word.
I do all kinds of set-ups: from regular spanking and cross-dressing to cutting and sewing someone's skin. We all have |
on Earth, not a paradise on Earth,” said Oh. The author of numerous articles published in various publications including The Hill News, The Korean Daily, Foreign Policy, Time Asia and many others, further stated that the food crisis worsens that people say to themselves: “Maybe Jesus Christ would save me.”The conference concludes on Sunday when invited guests take part in a roundtable discussion to talk about “constructive engagement for improving human rights in the country” and “relevant migration act regarding refugees.”“As we continue to see interest and cooperation by various countries today that are opening their doors to North Korean refugees, it will be imperative for us to share our knowledge, experiences and learnings amongst NGOs and governments to best understand which programs and strategies have been most effective in successfully resettling North Korean refugees,” writes President of Liberty in North Korea, Hannah Song. More about North korea, International conference, Human Rights More news from north korea international confer... human rightsTwice Kidnapped, Photographer Returns To War Zone: 'It's What I Do'
Hide caption An Iraqi woman walks through a plume of smoke rising from a massive fire at a liquid gas factory as she searches for her husband in the vicinity in Basra, Iraq, May 2, 2003. Previous Next Lynsey Addario/Penguin
Hide caption Abdul Hussein Majid Quing, 16, stands at attention while being trained along with other new recruits for the Sudanese Liberation Army in Bahai, Sudan, on Aug. 25, 2004. Previous Next Lynsey Addario/Penguin
Hide caption A Sudanese Liberation Army soldier walks through the remains of Hangala village, which was burned by Janjaweed near Farawiya, in August 2004. Thousands of ethnic Africans fled their villages in search of shelter in the mountains or in neighboring Chad because of continuing attacks on civilians. Previous Next Lynsey Addario/Penguin
Hide caption Khalid, 7, sits outside of the medical tent of a U.S. military base in Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, after elders from a village claimed he was injured by shrapnel from a bomb dropped by the Americans in October 2007. Previous Next Lynsey Addario/Penguin
Hide caption In 2010, Baghdad moviegoers get an extra thrill from shaking seats and wind machines during a 3-D sci-fi film at Baghdad's first 4-D cinema. During the worst years of violence, families stayed home to attach TV or DVDs. Most cinemas closed, as did this one. Previous Next Lynsey Addario/Penguin
Hide caption A soldier with the opposition weeps outside of the hospital in Ras Lanuf in Eastern Libya in March 2011 as soldiers are being brought in wounded and dead from the front line during heavy fighting. Previous Next Lynsey Addario/Penguin
Hide caption Dalal, 21, a Syrian refugee from the Damascus suburbs stands in front of the cave she and her family have been staying in since crossing into Baalbak, Lebanon. Jan. 22, 2013. Previous Next Lynsey Addario/Penguin 1 of 7 i View slideshow
In March 2011, photojournalist Lynsey Addario was kidnapped in Libya while covering the fighting between dictator Moammar Gadhafi's troops and rebel forces. She was with Anthony Shadid, Tyler Hicks and Stephen Farrell in the town of Ajdabiya, all on assignment for The New York Times.
Looking back, Addario says she had a premonition that something bad would happen.
"I just was scared that day; I can't really describe it," Addario tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "I just, I was kind of paralyzed by my own fear, and the fighting was coming closer and closer, and we all knew that — we had a feeling that the city would fall, that Ajdabiya was going to fall that day."
That day, Addario and her colleagues were driving in the same car, and they couldn't agree on how long it would be safe to stay out working.
"It was clear that we had different opinions," Addario says. "In those moments, I'm very aware of my gender, and I'm sure my colleagues were not. I'm sure the last thing they were thinking of is, 'Oh, we've got a girl in the car,' but I always was, because it's such a man's world that I work in. And so I didn't — I was ready to leave, and I didn't want to say anything."
Hicks and Shadid wanted to keep going, so they all kept working. It turned out they had stayed too long — their car was ransacked, and they were tied up and carried off by pro-Gadhafi forces, who handed them over to the Libyan government. She and her colleagues were held for about a week before they were released.
Addario writes about her experiences in Libya in her new memoir, It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War. She also gives insight into her work as a conflict photographer in other places, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Congo — and into its impact on her personal life.
"I really felt like every moment we survived Libya was a gift," she says.
Interview Highlights
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kursat Bayhan/Courtesy of Penguin Press Kursat Bayhan/Courtesy of Penguin Press
On her fear of being raped while being held in Libya
I had spent years covering war, and I had spent years meeting with women who had been raped as a weapon of war, and so for me it was always in the back of my head....
I thought of it in the moment that I was tied up and literally being carried off alone by two men — one man who had my ankles and one man who had the top of my body. And I... and I had no idea where they were taking me. So for me, it was, "OK, now they're carrying me off to rape me." And I didn't know what was going to happen — and so the entire time we were hostage that was a major fear for me.
On what she said to the men who sexually assaulted her
For a journalist who covers the Muslim world, we have responsibilities to be familiar with that culture and to know how to respond to that. So, for example, I know that men put their sisters and their mothers on a pedestal — Muslim men — and it's important for me to say, "Look, don't you have a sister? Don't you understand I'm like your sister? Don't touch me."
In Libya, for example, when I was being groped repeatedly and there was one moment when... we all four [Addario, Shadid, Farrell and Hicks] were thrown into the back of a tank and we each had soldiers sort of spooning us — and Steve Farrell was having a rifle sort of shoved between his legs, and Tyler and Anthony were both getting beaten, and I was being groped over and over, and this man kept putting his hands over my mouth and touching me.
And I said to him — instead of screaming — I said to him, "I have a husband. I belong to someone else; you are not my husband. Please don't touch me." And I think it's important to tap into that and to explain, "Look, I'm familiar with Islam, I understand women should not be with two men at once — and I belong to someone else."
On how much she values her work and cameras even when her life is at risk
"We were each begging for our lives because they were deciding whether to execute us, and they had guns to our heads. And I remember thinking, 'What am I doing here?' Like, 'How much do I really care about Libya?' And then I thought, 'Will I ever get my cameras back?' I mean, which is the most ridiculous thought, of course, when you're about to die.
It kind of seems like the last thing I have. It seems like, yeah, of course — I always think my work is important or I wouldn't risk my life for it. But I also feel like in those moments, if nothing else, my work will stand, and even if I am no longer here, here's this body of work I've created. And I hope that that endures. And so that was something that was important to me.
I remember the moment in which we were taken hostage in Libya, and we were asked to lie face down on the ground, and they started putting our arms behind our backs and started tying us up. And we were each begging for our lives because they were deciding whether to execute us, and they had guns to our heads.
And I remember thinking, "What am I doing here?" Like, "How much do I really care about Libya?"
And then I thought, "Will I ever get my cameras back?" I mean, which is the most ridiculous thought, of course, when you're about to die. Who cares if I get my cameras back? But, you know, for me, that was how my brain worked.
On calling The New York Times while being held by the Libyan government
Anthony, very intelligently, took the remote control — as they were not paying attention, they were all facing us... and he changed the TV — that was showing, like, Libyan propaganda and Gadhafi — and he put on CNN. And at that exact moment our photos were on CNN, and it said, "the Libyan government cannot ascertain the whereabouts of these four journalists." And literally we're sitting with the Libyan government!
And I started crying and I was inconsolable. And I said, you know, "Don't you have families? How can you do this to us? Just let us call our families and at least say we're alive."...
So then, like, 12 hours later it was the middle of the night, and they woke us up and said "OK, you each get one phone call." And I literally woke up and thought, "God, I can't remember my husband's number to save my life."... I remembered my mother's number, but I thought there's no way she's going to find her phone in her purse, and I'm going to waste my one phone call and she's not going to pick up... and so all the men remembered their wives' numbers and they turned to me and were like, "OK, you call The New York Times."
On how her experience in Libya changed how she covers war
Well, there was never a question in my mind as to whether I would give it up. I didn't think I would stop going... I just thought I had to figure out how to modify how I would cover war. Because I didn't want — first of all, I've now been kidnapped twice [she was first kidnapped in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004] and I think once you get to the point where you've been kidnapped three times, one almost looks irresponsible. And I didn't want to put my family through that — obviously, I now have a son.
So I, I wanted to continue doing my work, but I had to figure out how. And so what I have basically come up with is that I still go to Afghanistan and Iraq and South Sudan and many of these places that are rife with war, but I don't go directly to the front line. I try to stay back; I try and cover civilians; I try and cover refugees. So I'm trying to cover the issues and humanitarian crises but without putting myself directly in the line of fire. Obviously, with ISIS, that becomes more difficult because there is no distinct front line.Donald Trump speaks during a March 9 campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. | AP Photo Trump would pursue criminal indictment of Clinton
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — If the Obama administration does not pursue a criminal indictment of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump’s White House would.
At the end of a friendly town hall interview aired on Wednesday night, Fox News personality Sean Hannity asked Trump whether, as president, he would pursue a criminal indictment of Clinton should Attorney General Loretta Lynch “cover” for Clinton and avoid indicting her.
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“You have to,” Trump responded, to uproarious cheering. Though the attorney general serves at the pleasure of the president, Trump’s answer conflicts with 40 years of precedent. His suggestion that he would seek an indictment flies in the face of the longstanding practice of limiting White House involvement in the prosecutorial decisions made by an attorney general.
The FBI is investigating how classified information ended up on Clinton's private email server. Trump often says that he believes the Democrats will cover for Clinton and that she should not be allowed to run for president.Fresh brewed, urine sample–colored.
It looks like a group of Portland home-brewers who call themselves the Oregon Brew Crew want to try their hand at creating small-batch poop beer with the help of a local treatment plant’s “high-quality” recycled wastewater. They’re an enthusiasts’ club, so thankfully they’d only be able to give the brew away at events, but even the prospect of that isn’t exactly thrilling the state, which will hold a public hearing in February to discuss the very important matter. Oregon, it turns out, wants to ensure “all safety concerns are addressed” before this goes any further.
Clean Water Services says the water that would go into the homebrew “meets or exceeds” all drinking standards. Its process involves three separate treatment methods, if that makes a difference to you: Ultrafiltration through tiny pores, reverse osmosis that eliminates chemicals, and enhanced oxidation to break down contaminants. Still, alarming or not, it’s probably time Americans prepared themselves for potable wastewater. Droughts are increasingly a problem, especially on the West Coast, and besides Bill Gates and his recent thoroughgoing endorsement of the “ingenious” Omniprocessor that makes feces drinkable, there is already at least one other sewage beer, Activated Sludge, created by a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources engineer. That one is even getting positive buzz from local industry pros like the guys at Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery.
[OPB]Cristiano Ronaldo appears to troll Lionel Messi, USWNT stars show their support to a young player and more in The Sweeper.
Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata says he hopes to still be teammates with James Rodriguez next season, even as both players remain linked with moves away from the club this summer.
The pair were effective backups for Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane during 2016-17, with Morata scoring 20 goals in 43 appearances and Rodriguez chipping in with 11 goals and 13 assists in his 33 games across all competitions.
The situation has led to reports of interest, with Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain among the teams said to be considering a bid for Rodriguez, and United, Chelsea and AC Milan regularly mentioned in relation to moves for Morata.
Speaking to Tele5 after scoring a late equaliser for Spain in Wednesday's evening's 2-2 friendly draw with Colombia in Murcia, Morata was coy over his plans but suggested he could remain at Madrid alongside Rodriguez.
"Who knows? Maybe we will be teammates next year," Morata said. "I don't know. I hope [he doesn't leave], as I like him a lot. He is a great player. And we will see what happens."
Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez face uncertain futures at Real Madrid.
Marca claimed on Thursday morning that Zidane hoped to have both Morata and Rodriguez with him next year, with the report saying the Madrid coach was more hopeful about being able to convince the former to turn down offers from elsewhere.
Milan's new Chinese owners had reportedly been targeting Morata as a signature signing for their new regime, but the former Juventus striker sounded less keen on the idea.
"I want to be playing and to be important to the squad, particularly next year when there is the World Cup," Morata said earlier this week. "But I want to fight for my place here, I would be crazy to leave Real Madrid.
"It's hard to imagine going back to Italy, despite my experience in Serie A being extraordinary. I would like to stay at Real Madrid, and the only club for me in Italy are Juventus."
The claim from Chelsea striker Diego Costa that boss Antonio Conte was no longer counting on him for 2017-18 could open up an opportunity for Morata at Stamford Bridge, however. The 24-year-old has previously said that he was "sure that sooner or later" he would work with Conte, who persuaded him to join Juve back in 2014, but had then left Turin before they could join up.
Rodriguez looks certain to move on after being left out of the match squad completely for Madrid's 4-1 Champions League final win over Juventus in Cardiff, and having previously appeared to say goodbye to the Bernabeu when substituted in a La Liga win over Sevilla a few weeks earlier.
Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the Spain national team for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcorriganJuly 4th has always been an important date in pro wrestling and its fans.
These are just a few things that made history in Pro Wrestling on July 4th. The WarGames match was a gimmick match used originally in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and later held annually in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), usually at their Fall Brawl pay-per-view event in September. The match usually involved two teams of four wrestlers locked inside a steel cage that encompassed two rings. The first War Games match took place on July 4, 1987, when the Road Warriors (Road Warrior Hawk and Road Warrior Animal), Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes, and Paul Ellering defeated The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard, and James J. Dillon) at 22:10 when the Road Warriors forced Dillon to submit after a Doomsday Device where he landed awkwardly on his right arm.
In mid-1993, after Hulk Hogan’s departure from the company, Luger was transformed from a heel to a “mega-face” with the nicknames “Made in the USA” and “The All-American”. On July 4, he took part in a memorable event where he arrived (by a red helicopter) on the deck of the USS Intrepid and body slammed the near 600 pound WWF Champion Yokozuna after a number of other athletes, both inside the WWF and out, attempted and failed. Following this he began the “Lex Express” tour, traveling the country in a Red, White, and Blue painted bus to greet fans and to “campaign” for a shot at the WWF Title, thus beginning a feud with the champion Yokozuna. Luger got his shot at SummerSlam 1993.
On the July 4, 2002 edition of SmackDown!, Hulk Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE World Tag Team Championship for the first time. They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan’s theme song “Real American. The Great American Bash ppv always had a july 4th theme to it also.
July 4th and pro wrestling has always gone together great and they have had been some awesome shows and ppv’s on the 4th of July.
Happy 4th of July to all our fans in the United States.
Feel Free to leave your comments below and to follow me on twitter @TNAWWEGUY. You can follow the site while you are at it @lastwordonsport.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? If so, check out our “Join Our Team” page to find out how.THE BUZZ: Gamers getting and playing particular games early has been a situation developers and publishers have dealt with to different degrees. Some companies don’t care, while others will go so far as to ban anybody who is caught playing a particular game before the official release date.
Dark Souls creator From Software has taken a far more humorous approach to those who are playing its latest action adventure before they’re supposed to. Much like their previous hit title Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls allows players to jump into the worlds of other players, where the invader can either assist or attack the person being invaded. Reports have come out that some people from within From Software have been using this feature to invade the games of Japanese players who are going online with Dark Souls early. That might not be so bad, but the invading characters are maxed-out warriors with high-level weapons and armor, who then proceed to easily?and, no doubt, with a certain amount of glee?slaughter their victims.
EGM’s TAKE: You’ve got to love something like this. From Software gets to have a little fun punishing those who are playing the game early, but those players don’t face any real punishment for something that really isn’t a big deal in the long run. At the very least, if you’re one of those people playing the game early who gets slaughtered by a member of From Software, you have an interesting tale to tell.No. 6 Pack Sweeps Notre Dame
March 9, 2014
Box Score | Box Score | Play-by-Play
Top Performers: Jake Armstrong Brad Stone (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K)
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RALEIGH, N.C. - No. 6 NC State baseball completed its sweep of Notre Dame on Sunday at Doak Field at Dail Park, blanking the Irish 7-0. Wolfpack pitchers combined to shut out Notre Dame for the last 21 innings of the series.
State (13-2, 3-0 ACC) broke through with four runs on one hit in the third, and added three more in the seventh to cruise past Notre Dame (5-9, 0-3) for the third game in a row.
Sophomore Brad Stone (3-0) started and claimed the win on six innings of two-hit ball, striking out five while walking four. Stone retired 17 of 18 batters faced between the first and sixth, including 10 in a row. Eric Peterson worked the next two frames, holding the Irish to one hit with two punchouts. Jon Olczak slammed the door with one walk and two strikeouts in the ninth.
Jake Fincher provided the sac fly RBI that opened scoring in the third, part of his 1-for-4 afternoon. Jake Armstrong went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs in the third to stretch the lead to 3-0. Carlos Rodon had a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh during his only plate appearance. Brett Austin led off and turned in a 2-for-3 effort with two runs.
Will Nance and John Mangum started the Pack's third-inning rally with a pair of walks. Austin reached on an error by the pitcher on a sac bunt attempt to load the bases with nobody out. Fincher's sac fly to right scored the first run. Trea Turner walked to reload the bases, and Bubby Riley drove in the next run on a chopper to first. Armstrong knocked a line drive single to left to make it 4-0, the Wolfpack's only hit of the inning.
NC State departs Monday for a road trip to Florida. The Pack opens with a 6:30 date on Tuesday at Stetson, then travels to Tallahassee for a three-game series with the second-ranked Seminoles over the weekend.It doesn’t matter whether it is Hillary trying to hide her STATE DEPARTMENT communications WHILE she is the Secretary of STATE by dreaming up some system to avoid FOIA etc., or some other as of yet undiscovered scam to hide information from us. If you’re not familiar with what’s going on with her “private” email go take a look, it is pretty damned funny. The details are unimportant. The government has NO constitutional BASIS to keep secrets from WE THE PEOPLE.
The entire military/intelligence/industrial/government/media complex is built upon the idea that the bureaucrats in government get to decide what secrets they will keep from WE the people by “stamping it top secret” or some other such “classification” under the guise of “national security”. This “right” is something that is never challenged in the “public conversation”. AT BEST all you get are some discussions about whether some particular item etc. “should” be secret etc.
Let me first show you the preposterously broad areas that our “national security” now allegedly encompasses. Here from Wiki:
Authorities differ in their choice of nation security elements. Besides the military aspect of security, the aspects of diplomacy or politics; society; environment; energy and natural resources; and economics are commonly listed.
Do you see the absurdity of this? What does it NOT include? They can justify ANYTHING if “national security” is the excuse. And remember, the definition of “national security” keeps expanding. The whole “secret” classification system comes originally from an “executive order” creating the whole scam. Truman issued it making the totally unsupported and UNCHALLENGED statement that he had the power to do so “vested in him”. Really? Where? How and when did the people agree to this? lol The “classifications” run the gamut from “top secret”, to “for your eyes only” to “Goldfinger” to “The spy who loved me”. Okay that part may not be completely accurate, but you get the point. The “standard” is whatever they decide to create. And then poof, We the people are stuck in the dark.
My question is this.
Where does the government get the CONSTITUTIONAL authority to keep ANY secrets from “we the people”?
Think about it. We are constantly told how “we the people” are “in charge” and the government workers are “servants” of the people etc. But if that is the case where do the servants get the right to keep secrets from the masters?
All it seems to take is to have some guy wearing a military outfit up on TV and say it is “classified” due to “national security” and poof, that’s the end of it. Don’t you find the whole concept a bit odd now that you think about it? Especially now that you see how ridiculously BROAD the definition of national security has become? What conduct couldn’t be “classified” as part of “national security”?
Remember, the government, under our constitutional system, is supposed to be OUR AGENTS acting on OUR BEHALF, under a strict set of powers authorized and explicitly set out in the constitution. THAT document is where the government gets ALL OF ITS ALLEGED AUTHORITY AND LEGITIMACY. When it acts outside of that explicit grant of authority from the people, the government acts WITHOUT ANY LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY.
Surely it should be easy for the government to answer my question about the constitutional basis for its authority, if there is in fact a legitimate constitutional basis. Right?
So where do those crooked bastards up there in Washington get the supposed “constitutional authority” to pass laws like “the national security act” of 1947 that created this gigantic secret government system which includes things like the NSA and the CIA and all of the other alphabet scams they run on us?
They tell us that they do it under the authority of separation of powers, or the right to set foreign policy or “executive privilege”, or some vague amalgam of implied powers that “spring” from or are “subsumed under” etc. etc. The bottom line is that they don’t have a direct answer.
But despite their obvious obfuscation and avoidance, one thing is UNDENIABLE, if the government wants to keep secrets from “we the people” then it must be able to POINT TO THE SPECIFIC PROVISION IN THE CONSTITUTION that empowers the government to keep secrets FROM US.
But they can’t do that, because THERE IS NOTHING IN THE CONSTITUTION GIVING THE GOVERNMENT THE POWER TO KEEP ANY SECRETS FROM US.
It doesn’t say a single word about it. It doesn’t hint at it. It doesn’t imply it. THERE is NOTHING THERE ABOUT SOME “RIGHT” to keep the people in the dark about whatever the government itself decides to keep secret by some bogus “classification system” or anything else. Get it? The whole concept is a fraud on you.
Please show me ANY place or manner that the people have ever agreed to be kept in the dark about ANY issue, much less any and everything that their agents arbitrarily decide.
Certainly, the “right” to keep the people in the dark about any and everything that the government agents care to “classify” as part of “national security” is not a power that can be “implied”. That is absurd. It certainly isn’t “inherent”. That makes no sense.
In what way would the government be “limited” if it could claim it had an “implied” or “inherent” power so broad that it authorized the government to act in any way it chose to the extent it “affected” any of those areas and to then keep their conduct secret?
Certainly keeping conduct and information secret from the people themselves is ANATHEMA to the entire CONCEPT of a “free republic” UNLESS the people themselves have EXPRESSLY GRANTED that power to the government.
So what about the idea that they have “passed a law” or “issued an executive order” that “empowers” them to classify information etc.? Doesn’t that “cure the problem”? lol, no, it doesn’t.
The WHOLE idea of a LIMITED constitutional government is based upon the fact that they must FIRST be able to point to a provision that allows them to CREATE the legislation or the executive order. Not the other way around.
And no, giving some limited information to some representatives, “in closed session” on the “house intelligence committee” etc. who then DO NOT pass it on to me is NO BETTER. It is just another diversion that’s part of the scam. It is NOT sufficient. NOT EVEN CLOSE.
The concept of a principal giving an agent authority to act on his behalf and then being allowed to keep the conduct secret from him is WELL KNOWN IN THE LAW. So it would have been simple to have put it into the constitution if the PEOPLE had wanted to have secrets kept from them. Do you see that?
Take the example of a blind trust. The trust is operated on behalf of the person and for their benefit, and in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest etc. the beneficiary of the trust (the principal) CHOOSES to be kept in the dark about what types of things the trust is involved in through its agents.
Not surprisingly, when such a grant of authority is given by a principal the PRINCIPAL SETS the parameters and they are EXPLICIT and well defined, and there are always methods to keep track of the agent’s conduct and to investigate it and to be sure that the requirements and limitations are being complied with in order to PROTECT THE PRINCIPAL who set it up.
And of course, all of this makes perfect sense. If you are going to give someone the right to do things on your behalf, and to then KEEP THEM SECRET FROM YOU, you will have very explicit provisions etc. describing and PROSCRIBING the conduct permitted. Understand?
Think about it, how would you feel if your agent was out there doing all sorts of things in your name with your money etc. yet they wanted to keep it all secret? It is absurd. Now imagine the types of things your agent claimed he was entitled to do under this alleged grant of authority might involve imprisoning you or killing you or someone else. Are you willing to allow that to occur without a very specific and EXPLICIT grant of authority? I seriously doubt it.
It is such a fundamental violation of the agency agreement for the agent to act in secret without authority from the principal, that it doesn’t require any argument to demonstrate how “screwed” that would be. (to use a bit of legal jargon, lol) But that is exactly the situation with regards to the government keeping secrets from you and me. There IS NO DIFFERENCE because the government is supposedly the “agent” of you and me acting under the authority of the constitution.
AND YET THE GOVERNMENT CANNOT POINT TO ANY CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION THAT EVEN HINTS AT ALLOWING THEM TO KEEP SECRETS FROM THE PEOPLE. Let alone allows them to keep such a vast array of secrets of all sorts. Do you see this?
How can you be free and in charge if those you are supposedly “in charge of” have the right and the ability to do whatever they care to, to both you and anyone else and then label it “a matter of national security” and keep anyone from finding out about it?
That situation turns the entire concept of who is in charge on its head. It exposes the laughable lie about “we the people” being in charge. But still people refuse to see this or to accept the reality of their situation. The cognitive dissonance created by seeing this is just too great for most people. So they stick their heads in the sand.
If we the people DECIDE that we NEED to be kept in the dark about some stuff for our own good it isn’t complicated to do it LEGALLY. The people need simply agree to some set of information or conduct that they want to allow the government to keep from them and then they just need to put that IN THE CONSTITUTION. Then the government would be authorized to keep those secrets from THE PEOPLE.
But right now there is no CONSTITUTIONAL authority whatsoever to keep secrets from the people. It is just another area where the government has seized a power it was not given. Every branch of the government then assists in maintaining and wielding that power by using the peoples’ own money against them. Sometimes by creating propaganda and lies in the form of “opinions” from government agents called “judges” in the judicial branch, and sometimes in the form of threats and imprisonment from “attorney generals” from the executive branch. All of this is directed at the citizens who question the government’s “authority”.
But the people in this country not only put up with all of this, they actually run around proclaiming how “free they are” despite it and call those who point it out, unpatriotic. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so pathetic.
Think how outrageous this whole “national security secrets” thing is now that you understand how to think about it? Now that you are not thinking about it within the false paradigm they have GIVEN YOU in their schools and in their controlled media? It is laughable that people accept the concept that they will be “kept in the dark”, without any question at all. So hopelessly brainwashed are the people that they don’t even SEE the issue.
Do you see why your “leaders” have such contempt for you the people they claim to “serve”? They see the people as absolute fools, and in a way, sadly, they are right, the people are fools who are so easily fooled. lol.
Our rulers in government tell us whatever they care to and nothing else, as though we are their children, as though THEY ARE OUR MASTERS. Get it? And under what CONSTITUTIONAL authority do they do all of this? Lol, NONE.
The constitution is a useless JOKE. An actual agent of harm when you are honest about it, because people think it protects them when it clearly does NOT, and so they rely on it to “protect their freedoms” when it cannot be relied upon. Do you see that?
Such is the power of paradigms. Those in charge understand the power of paradigms and they make sure to tightly control the ones that you exist in through propaganda in education and the media.
Game theory my friend. It’s all game theory.
I hope you have learned a bit about “national security” and what a joke it is. And I hope that the next time some guy in a military uniform, or some “white house spokesman” etc. gets on TV and starts talking about confidential this and secret that and national security protection this, you can just laugh at him for being such a blatant and obvious collaborator in this whole scam. Certainly you can no longer take them seriously can you? And that, my friend, is freeing. And knowing this you will NEVER be fooled again by their scam. So enjoy it.
I will leave you with a bit of comedy. Finally, a candidate for president who makes some sense. She knows all about the dangers of keeping things secret from the people. Give it a minute or two, I think you’ll like it. She would have gotten my vote, if I voted, which I don’t. Lol.
That’s all for now my brainwashed Brethren. Take care, live in the light and tell someone about the Truth about the law.UPDATE – July 9th A press statement issued to Rolling Stone has confirmed the tracklist previously posted on this page (below), adding that Wes Anderson and (Martin Scorsese music supervisor) Randall Poster co-produced the album with Beck. Officially titled Warby Parker Presents Beck Song Reader, the CD’s release ties into the debut of limited-edition “black cherry” Carmichael eyeglass frames created by Beck, and a new edition of the Song Reader book with two new prints from artist Marcel Dzama. Warby Parker is behind all these releases, though the CD is being distributed through Capitol. CD proceeds will be donated to 826 National – a nonprofit organization helping students ages 6 to 18 with creative writing – and in conjunction with the company’s “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program a pair of frames will be given to someone in need for every pair of Beck’s frames sold. The album cover has also been revealed:
According to songreader.net, “only you can bring Beck Hansen’s Song Reader to life.”
That was the original idea at least. On December 11, 2012 Beck released his new “album” in the form of a book of sheet music. Lavishly published by McSweeney’s with over 100 pages of art, the new songs could only be heard by playing them yourself, or listening to other fans that recorded their performances and uploaded them to YouTube/ SoundCloud/ etc and songreader.net.
Beck fans being Beck fans, some of the results were astounding:
Last year a few of the tunes took on new life as Beck began performing them at his shows. He also featured a variety of guests – Franz Ferdinand, Van Dyke Parks, Jack Black, Jarvis Cocker, Jenny Lewis, Childish Gambino, Dan The Automator, Jon Brion, Kronos Quartet, Beth Orton and more listed below – playing Song Reader material at a pop-up show in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall on May 20th, London’s Barbican Centre on July 4th and Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert |
becomes the third defensive coordinator in Kubiak's tenure, which began in 2006 and was on tenuous ground until owner Bob McNair said this week that he was sticking with his head coach. Bush and his predecessor, Richard Smith, had no previous experience at the position, and McNair and Kubiak both said they needed someone with a more proven track record this time.
The 63-year-old Phillips, a defensive coordinator most of his career, ran the defense in Denver from 1986-92, overlapping Kubiak's playing career as John Elway's backup for the Broncos.
The connection between the two goes back to the late 1970s, when Kubiak was a ball boy for the Oilers, who were coached by Wade's father, Bum. The elder Phillips showed up at Texans practice a week ago and chatted with McNair, sparking speculation that his son was in line to join the team.
The Texans' defense was bad from the start this season, yielding 410.5 yards through the first six games. The Texans only started 4-2 because the offense topped 30 points in each of the victories.
Pro Bowl middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans ruptured his Achilles tendon in the sixth game, and the defense never improved.
Kubiak also paid for his gamble to start rookie Kareem Jackson and second-year pro Glover Quin at cornerback. Houston gave up a league-high 33 touchdown passes and the secondary was beaten repeatedly on long receptions late in games.
The slide in the standings started after the bye week, in a 30-17 loss to Indianapolis. The unit seemed to show improvement in a 20-0 win over Tennessee, but the deficiencies in the secondary emerged again in losses to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Tennessee and Denver.
The pass rush was also an issue. Defensive end Mario Williams had 8½ sacks through the first 13 games, but then went on injured reserve with a sports hernia. Houston had 30 sacks this season to rank 23rd overall.
Phillips likes a 3-4 defensive alignment, which would be a change from the 4-3 that the Texans have played the last two seasons. Kubiak said Monday that he didn't care what scheme his new coordinator runs as long as it works.
A 3-4 scheme would require Williams and fellow defensive end Antonio Smith to adjust their techniques and attack more to the inside of the line than the outside.
"If it doesn't suit you, it doesn't suit you," Smith said. "I think that sometimes players get a bad rap in making a decision that best suits them and the longevity of their career, and half the time they're looked at and seen in a bad light because they want to keep their career going on the same course that it was going on. And with a change of defense that doesn't suit you, you're going right on the road to ending your career, if you don't perform at that position.
"Now, if it suits, it suits," Smith said. "And if it's feasible, I can do it. But if it's not, it's just not."
Williams also said the Texans will need to get a massive nose tackle to clog the middle to make a 3-4 alignment work.
"We've got big guys, but it's just a totally different animal," he said.
Information from ESPN.com's John Clayton and The Associated Press contributed to this report.AFP sought access to Parliament House computer servers as part of Mal Brough investigation
Updated
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have sought access to computer servers at Parliament House as part of their investigation into the downfall of former speaker Peter Slipper.
The AFP has confirmed it has been conducting enquiries with the Department of Parliamentary Services.
The Department runs Parliament House and its computer servers hold the emails of Federal MPs.
The AFP told the ABC the investigations were in relation to an ongoing investigation — but did not specify which one.
The ABC understands the AFP sought access to the parliamentary servers as part of their inquiry into the role Liberal MP Mal Brough played in procuring Mr Slipper's diary.
In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for the AFP confirmed officers have not raided a politician's office in the past fortnight.
It also ruled out having seized material under search warrant from the Parliamentary Offices of a federal politician "in the past two weeks".
But it did not say if it had accessed the parliamentary computer system.
Mr Brough said there had been no raids on his Parliament House office.
In a statement, Mr Brough said "rumours are circulating through Parliament House that the AFP have raided my Parliament House Office".
"These rumours are completely false," he said.
Mr Brough said that the AFP has not sought any "additional assistance in any way" from him since January 7.
Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus questioned Speaker Tony Smith on the police enquiries following Question Time, but Mr Smith refused to be drawn.
He instead referred to the guidelines put in place regarding parliamentary privilege, which requires police to seek permission to enter Parliament House.
"Members would be aware that Australian Federal Police has a national guideline for executive of search warrants where parliamentary privilege may be involved, which has been agreed between the minister responsible for the Australian Federal Police and the presiding officers," he said.
"Any process for the execution of search warrants in circumstances where parliamentary privilege may be involved would only be done in accordance with the principles of that guideline, to ensure that parliamentary privilege is protected."
Topics: federal-parliament, police, canberra-2600, australia
First postedAva DuVernay has been making films for the past eight years, and OWN’s Queen Sugar is her first foray into television. Why TV, and why now? “Because it’s the golden era of television,” the Academy Award–nominated director of Selma told Vulture, “and I want in.” In a conversation for the Vulture TV Podcast, Matt Zoller Seitz and DuVernay go deep on what makes the filmmaker’s directing style so distinctive, properly lighting actors of color, and why she feels she’s not as brave as she used to be. Listen to the conversation, and read an edited transcript below:
It’s not as if you’re lacking for feature-film work these days, and TV is a longer commitment, it’s like adopting a kid almost. Why television?
I really can directly trace it to Cary Fukunaga and True Detective: First of all, you directed every episode; secondly, it’s badass. I saw that, and then Soderbergh and The Knick. I just loved that first season so much, and that’s when I became very aware — you know, Fincher had already done House of Cards, but I think it was like the pilot—
He did the pilot and then he set the style.
He set the style, and that’s something that we’d seen for a while. But it seemed like maybe four years ago or so it turned into auteurs really coming in and putting their whole stamp on a series beyond the pilot, beyond setting the stage, and I just thought that was fascinating, to tell the 13-hour story, the 8-hour story, you know? I wanted to try it.
You directed the first two episodes of the show, but you also co-wrote it. Can you run through all your roles?
I show-ran, so it was picking every director, all the casting decisions throughout all the episodes, costumes, prepping that stuff because when you go in so fast the episodic directors aren’t able to final cut on every single thing that we did. You know, it’s fast — it’s much different than filmmaking. This pace is nuts if you’re approaching it as a director. I talked to Shonda Rhimes about it and said, “How do you do this — producer-ily and writing wise? Churning this thing out?” Ten years she’s been doing it. Multiple series. I mean, of course she’s superwoman, but because I was trying to do it with the director’s eye and all of the details, it was nuts.
Speaking of the director’s eye, here’s a question that I get from readers a lot and feel like I know in general what to tell them, but since I have you here maybe you can get a little more specific. How does a show maintain a consistent style over a period of time when there are so many directors?
This was my big concern with the first season, and I think that’s why I probably held it even more tightly then I needed because I was afraid of going off the rails a little bit and not being consistently what I set when I started out. And when I look at all of the episodes, it’s changed, but not in a bad way. Like making a sculpture, you’re making a piece and it’s just your hands. What it would be like if there were 30 hands on it? How do you keep the same form if everyone is putting their hands on it? It may not be exactly the same thing, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. That was something that I had to learn in having other directors kind of come in.
On Miami Vice there’s a legendary anecdote about how Michael Mann issued this edict, “no earth tones,” for the first few seasons, and I know that other shows have particular rules. Do you have anything?
Yeah, yeah, I hate inserts. I hate them.
Inserts meaning tight close-ups—
Shots—
Of objects and things?
Yeah. Like, someone goes to pick up the phone, and I don’t need another shot of the hand picking up the phone. Like, I’m good. I saw it in the wide. Yeah, it’s a phone. iPhone? Blue case? I got you. I just don’t like it. But the main thing in terms of look that keeps the steady hand is the cinematographer. The DP knows what the look is like, knows what the framing is. The editors all know what the editorial rhythm is, and so with a director and actor doing maybe something outside of it, it’s all good because they’ll bring their sensibility to a piece that already has an established aesthetic.
The show is filmed on location in Louisiana, right?
Yeah.
How does that affect the look of the show when you’re actually shooting in the place where something is set as opposed to faking it somewhere else?
I was really aware of not wanting to do New Orleans, like, the word that comes to mind is porn. The city has been photographed so much, you think of New Orleans and you think of the same tropes, Bourbon Street, French Quarter, now Katrina. And it’s more than that. I did not treat the city as a character. That’s the thing that filmmakers say: The city was a character. No, the city was not a character. Our characters lived there. New Orleans is a fabric that just exists. The city is so distinct that you don’t have to overcorrect and show it off because it just is in the pores. Like, you know when you drink too much … I don’t drink, but people who drink too much and they come home at night and you’re like, “You’ve been drinking,” and they’re like, “No, I haven’t!” And you’re like, “Yes!” You’re sweating whatever you drink, you know? It’s like smoke, it sticks to it. That’s New Orleans.
My brother went to college at Tulane, and when I went to visit him there I felt like I was swimming through tomato soup. That’s how humid it was, it was unreal. The show does have that quality to it. There’s also something about the light on this show. One thing I’ve noticed on a lot of shows that are directed or produced by white filmmakers is a lot of times the actors of color are not properly lit. What do you do to make sure that doesn’t happen?
This is a historical thing. Usually, you have two people in a scene, and in the history of cinema the hero is most likely going to be the white guy. And the other guy is his friend who is carrying the bag or whatever, and you’re not going to light for that guy. Historically, you’ve had really muddy, unforgiving, unintentional images of black people. So I learned a lot from Bradford Young and Arthur Jafa and Malik Sayeed and the great black cinematographers about how to actually light our skin in a way that’s intentional — anyone can do it if you are favoring the darker skin tone. But that doesn’t happen. Only because of the context by which most of these scenes in films have happened for so long. The black character, the character of color, is usually the lesser of the two characters in terms of prominence.
What sort of things as a filmmaker can you do with production design and costumes that will make actors of color pop more?
Gosh, there are lots of tricks. The main thing with lighting characters of color is there’s just such a variance of tints in skin tone. There are characters we shot in Queen Sugar where their skin looks like yours, and then you see Rutina Wesley or Kofi Siriboe — Nigerian! You know? It’s like, whoa, these are two characters I need to favor both, how do I light for both? And you do exactly that, you light each one as if they’re the hero of the story, and it takes a little bit longer and everyone doesn’t know how to do it — it’s not just putting light on — but it’s not impossible for people to learn. Our Latino cinematographer Antonio Calvache was really extraordinary — he shot Todd Field’s films Little Children and In the Bedroom. I wanted to have a cinematographer who’d never shot television, who had more a cinematic eye. He agreed, and he was very intentional with the brown skin tones.
How much leeway do the actors have to move about in the frame when they’re acting in a scene? Do you block them out like, You go here, and You say this, or You go there and say that, or do they have the freedom to move in some unexpected way?
Wow. This is really great — this is a directing conversation!
I told you!
How cool. Being a black woman director I very rarely, I can count on one hand and it wouldn’t be a full hand the conversations that I’ve had about craft. Because it’s always about diversity, about the first this, the first that. No one is asking me about blocking scenes. Or rehearsal. So I really appreciate that.
Hey, it’s my pleasure. But this is one of my pet hobby horses, I’m kind of on a critical jihad against shows that cut all the time.
Well, we sure don’t!
No, you don’t! And that was another thing I wanted to ask you about. You were talking about the camera distance, the role camera distance plays, and you’ve actually got a scene when the grandfather goes to pick up Blue from school and you let most of that play out in wide shot. And then you’ve got the scene with Ralph Angel and his estranged wife, when he gets out of the pickup truck to confront her, that’s also in a wide shot. Most shows, most movies wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t stay that far back from people in a moment of extreme emotion. They would go right into their face. Why don’t you go right into their face?
Because the story is so emotional, I really have to calibrate the time, the close-ups. So there are some scenes — like the one where the grandfather, the son, and Ralph Angel and his son, Blue, are all in the hospital room — that’s all mediums and extreme close-up. ECU, macro, tight — you can’t even see a chin and forehead. You’re eyebrow to bottom lip on some of that stuff. I know that’s coming, so it’s just a calibration of it. But also, that scene that you talked about in the parking lot is about distance, you know what I mean?
Emotional distance.
Emotional distance. And, actually, he’s moving away, he’s trying to get away from her — she’s chasing him across the parking lot.
Right, he walks out of the building, and she follows him all the way out to his truck.
Yeah, and so literally it’s a bit of a chase scene. We have to really find the moments where he would turn back. Why do you turn around here? You can’t just do it unmotivated. You would keep walking to the truck. So I had to figure out the pieces — why he would turn? We found a really nice thing — Kofi Siriboe, such a great young actor — where he turned just to hear her out just so he could say a mean thing to her. He turns and says, “Yeah, tell me,” and she says, “I got the job,” and he’s like, “I don’t care what you do.” Bam.
There’s a saying that I like to quote that a great show or a great movie teaches you how to watch it. The way you get used to the language in a book. And it’s interesting when you feel like you’ve gotten used to the language of a show and then it does something like, Oh, that was out of character! One example of that is Ralph Angel with Blue at Blue’s birthday party — there’s a shot where he looks right into the camera and then the boy looks right into the camera. That hadn’t happened yet, and I don’t think you did it after that.
And it doesn’t happen again in the whole series.
Why did you do that?
Because it was there, and you have to be brave enough to say, “I’m going to shoot it.” I said, “I’m going to shoot it and I don’t even know if I’m going to use it,” but I saw it lined up and I said, “Gosh, this does something to me emotionally.” Even though it’s not our visual language, it’s very moving to me when I cut it. It says so much about what this boy means to him and what the father means to the boy, and I feel like it really does something to the scene, which I really think is a big jewel of this episode, one that’s close to my heart. It’s this binding together of father and son, and that happens in a really unexpected way by changing those frames.
I’m working on A Wrinkle in Time right now, and every scene has six people in it. I’m like, What? Sometimes my mind just goes to there’s six people in this. The camera movement and where the blocking is is going to be a real fantastic challenge. Because I’ve done the dinner-table scenes, I’ve done crowd scenes, I’ve done marches, I’ve done some scenes with a lot of people in it, but six people — I mean 90 percent of the movie there are six people standing around.
Is it true, as directors say, that the hardest thing to shoot is a dinner-table scene? With a lot of people around the table?
I find it easy. Just because they’re all on a certain axis and you can get it done. I do it in pieces. People who are trying to do too much: Get out of that scene. Because it can bury you. It can take all day to get a dinner scene done. It is hard if you make it hard, but I enjoy them.
How many of your decisions visually are driven by what the actors are doing?
Quite a bit. Like the scene you’re talking about, with the center frame shot, I just saw it — it was happening in the moment. But to answer that along with your other question is, how much are the actors allowed to move in the frame? I have an idea about what will work, and then I’ll usually do a blocking rehearsal where I’ll hear what they say. And sometimes with actors I found early on in my work, don’t just let them in the room and say, “Hey, what do you think?” Ooh, no. Don’t do it. Because what they think is going to be, “I think I turn to the camera here and then the camera follows me here and then— ” You know what I mean? So I usually start it with, “I’m thinking it starts in this area and it ends here. Do we want to talk about how it will be a piece?” And then as they start moving around the room, it’s like, “Oh no, this is a better idea,” or, “Oh no, go back.” But I always go into a blocking rehearsal with an anchor, with a blocking plan. And sometimes they’ll step into the room and they’ll be in costume and you’re like, “That sucks, that’s not going to work. Let’s think of something new.”
It seems to me — and if I’m wrong, I’m sure you’ll tell me — that this show has a lot in common with your first two features. The feel of it — not just thematically, like some of the issues that come up like the loss of the matriarch or the patriarch, or a guy adjusting to life after doing time. But also the sparseness of it. The intimacy of it. This is not a big show. This is a small show. You’ve got like a dozen characters, you don’t got 80.
That’s right, and I loved it. I love going back to that kind of storytelling. Because doing A Wrinkle in Time or Selma or a couple of the other big pilots, I found myself longing for the indie spirit of getting a few actors on a set that’s just a house. They say indie films are just people talking in rooms. Um, I love people talking in rooms. I wanted to have people talking about really great stuff in rooms, and yeah, it is really a filmmaking that’s similar to what I did before. I was interrogating for myself how much that filmmaking style has changed now that I’ve done other things. I feel like I was little braver earlier.
In what way?
Because I didn’t know what I was doing. And so it’s like, “Let’s try it.” And I’d get in the editing room and find really interesting things. Now I know how to manage my time, I know how to get more material, which allows me to go into the editing room and put something together, but I don’t if the material has, for me, as much of the edge as I feel like I had early on.
So, a couple of really quick, really geeky questions.
Speed round! I’ll answer faster.
You’ve got a lot of close-ups in the show where a character’s head is on the extreme left or on the extreme right-hand side of the frame. Sometimes they’re looking off-screen and there’s like two-thirds of negative space. There’s a lot of that kind of thing.
Yeah, I love it. When you short side them it makes this person now feel enclosed and imprisoned, right? I usually use that when there’s something I want them to feel trapped [in] or I want them to feel less free in whatever they’re talking about.
You also do a lot of things where you’ve got close-ups of people where there’s nothing in the frame except their face — it’s almost like they’re a painting. Why do you do that?
Because the terrain of the face is the most dynamic thing you can point the camera at, to me. I love production design and bells and whistles and all of that. I love a technograin as much as the next gal, but a great actor’s face? What else should we be looking at?
That’s a perfectly great place to end.Photo
When Senator John McCain of Arizona, the 2008 Republican nominee for president, faced questions about meeting the constitutional qualifications because of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone, one Democratic colleague rushed to end any doubt.
The Democrat, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, introduced legislation to declare that any child born abroad to citizens serving in the United States military would meet the constitutional requirement as a “natural born” citizen.
But now that Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, faces similar questions about his birth in Canada, Ms. McCaskill is not exactly extending a helping hand.
Mr. Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, where his father, a native of Cuba, was working in the oil industry. Mr. Cruz became an American citizen by birth thanks to his mother, a United States citizen who had been born in Delaware. And many legal experts say that clears him to hold the nation’s highest office.
Ms. McCaskill, however, said that she saw a difference between Mr. McCain’s case, in which his father was a naval officer stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, and that of Mr. Cruz. In an interview at the Capitol, Ms. McCaskill cited doubts recently raised in The Guardian by Laurence Tribe, the renowned Harvard law professor. In pressing doubts about Mr. Cruz’s qualifications, Donald J. Trump, a rival for the Republican nomination, has cited Mr. Tribe’s constitutional expertise.
“I think it’s a question,” Ms. McCaskill said of Mr. Cruz’s eligibility. “When Laurence Tribe says it’s a question, it’s a question.”
She said the McCain family’s military service is what prompted her quick proposal of legislation in 2008.
“My interest in that was my father was military, and I was raised really near a military base, and the notion that someone who was born in another country because his parents were serving in the military — it was offensive to me that they couldn’t be president of the United States,” she said. “That’s why I was so motivated.”WordPress is undoubtedly a great content management platform and for the many use cases it covers it brings a lot of developer benefits on the table. Among the benefits, however, there are a handful of thorns sticking out and one of the sharpest ones is arguably CSS authoring which unfortunately can’t be blunted by the core team because it’s not inherently a fault within WordPress itself.
After authoring more than a hundred massively used themes and a number of fairly popular plugins, the struggles of writing CSS for WordPress are constantly evident. This piece will attempt to identify specific problems we face as design engineers, bad practices and code smells to look out for (some of which myself very guilty of), and some thoughts and patterns on how we can improve the landscape as a community.
CSS is nuts
While CSS looks simple and fairly straightforward, anyone who embarks on authoring styles for a medium to large product with a handful of intertwined components will quickly realize that it’s a rather complicated beast to tame. One piece of evidence supporting the previous claim is merely the large amount of proposed patterns and methodologies on how to organize styles (from mnemonics like BEM to writing CSS in JavaScript).
Pete Hunt (ex Instagram/Facebook) once claimed that “CSS is write-only“, a statement that although was said in a humorous context it breathes a lot of truth: for large scale projects there’s a very real danger that deleting or modifying seemingly unnecessary lines of CSS can have harmful effects on other parts of your application without realizing it.
Reflecting on WordPress
This particular problem is quite clearly evident in WordPress; the global nature of CSS in combination with the vastness of the WordPress ecosystem further exacerbate the troubles of writing modular, correct and encapsulated stylesheets.
WordPress is beyond a “large scale project”, it’s quite vast, and by that I don’t mean the core codebase. There are literally thousands upon thousands of themes and plugins out in the wild and for theme or plugin authors this means that every single rule-set you’ve ever written will compete at some point with a multitude of other ones. For website developers (people who actually use themes and plugins) it means that trying to style a website into their client’s expectations becomes a humongous ordeal riddled with impossible to override nested rules while swimming in the depths of specificity hell.
In a perfect world: Plugins and themes keep their stylesheets encapsulated and as clean as possible. A plugin can never interfere with the theme’s styles, and themes don’t make the task of writing styles for a plugin harder than it should be.
What we currently have: A vicious circle where plugin authors have to write extremely inefficient CSS selectors in order to overcome badly written theme styles, and theme authors that try to override global rules that plugins introduce in their stylesheets.
As we mentioned earlier, the problem is not something easily addressable. Mitigating it will have to be a community effort and very specific steps should be taken: Deeply understand CSS, acknowledge how our actions might affect the ecosystem, educate ourselves on some of the better practices, and finally examine how CSS is used right now out in the wilderness. Following we’ll cover some of the above.
Taming the cascade
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and as the excellent MDN article on the cascade and CSS inheritance mentions this should give us a hint to how important it actually is. So, what is it then? The cascade, put simply, is the algorithm which decides how styles from multiple sources should be combined into a final rule-set which will be applied on the targeted document element.
There are countless of online resources available which anyone can freely use to get a better understanding of the subject but it’s important to go over a quick refresher. For brevity’s sake we’ll skip a few parts of complexity (like animations, media queries, etc) and focus on the three most important ones listed by weight descending (meaning the earlier ones will override the latter):
Importance Specificity Order
Importance, in short, is the handy but dangerous!important keyword. Anything containing this part of CSS syntax at its tail will take precedence over any other declaration on the same element, regardless of specificity or order. Generally speaking (rare exceptions aside),!important should be avoided at all costs. Every time you’re writing an!important declaration chances are you’re making another developer’s life harder.
Specificity roughly refers to how many elements could be matched by a given selector. MDN gives the following definition:
Specificity is basically a measure of how specific a selector is — how many elements it could match. As shown in the example seen above, element selectors have low specificity. Class selectors have a higher specificity, so will win against element selectors. ID selectors have an even higher specificity, so will win against class selectors. The only way to win against an ID selector is to use!important.
Note that!important has no effect on specificity, it simply supersedes it.
Specificity is measured in arbitrary units and follows these simple rules:
If a declaration is inside a <style> element (i.e. inline in the HTML) or a style HTML attribute (i.e. inline on the element itself) add 1000. For each id selector add 100. For each selector that is not an id or an element (i.e. classes, attributes, pseudo-classes etc) add 10. For each element or pseudo-element selector add 1.
Use this handy online specificity calculator to get a better idea. For a more in-depth analysis the MDN article is a highly recommended read.
Each CSS selector then has its specificity calculated and the final styles are extracted from rules with the highest number (highest specificity). This explains why inline styles or styles applied within the HTML document itself within a <style> tag tend to override anything else.
Οrder of declaration, is one of those things usually learned first when beginning with CSS and probably the easiest to grasp: Given equality in importance and specificity, rule-sets declared later in a stylesheet are prioritized. This is something that we’ll also address later on as we have full power of when to load styles as theme or plugin authors.
As mentioned previously, the intricacies of how the cascade works is something that every design engineer should be aware of. For a more in-depth analysis the following two articles from MDN (Cascade and inheritance, Cascade – CSS) are the absolute minimum as starting points.
Now that we’ve got a quick refresher on the basics it’s time to actually figure out how to make our lives easier.
General guidelines
Never use!important unless you absolutely, positively, 100% know what you’re doing. In case I wasn’t clear before.
With that out of the way, when authoring stylesheets for any kind of product it’s important to keep specificity as low as possible. This is a very basic rule that you’ve probably heard time and again, but it’s worth repeating. It makes overriding styles much easier when necessary (e.g. for theming purposes). A battle tested CSS methodology like BEM or SMACSS will not only help you write better, more maintainable stylesheets but also keep specificity low by enforcing class-only selectors.
Most CSS methodologies also strongly discourage nesting selectors. While this is not always possible for WordPress’s default markup, it is sound advice and should generally be considered the best practice for any custom theme markup, except for the case of plugin styles where as we’ll see later it’s important to scope everything.
By having the above basic guidelines in mind we’re already on a better path.
Styling themes
Everything in WordPress starts with a theme. The theme is where everything comes together, and as theme authors of the most popular content management system to date it’s imperative to always keep in mind that we’re not developing in a sandbox. Our themes will eventually be used or worked on by many people. It’s important that theme stylesheets are as little invasive as possible.
Start simple, provide sensible defaults
Authoring CSS for a WordPress theme doesn’t have to be all that different from, say, a static website, or any other product. With the exception of WordPress’ default markup (that we do have to take into account at some point) all the good old patterns still apply.
Start with a battle tested style normalizer (like normalize.css) and provide a css reset if necessary (a great resource is Bootstrap’s reset which is heavily commented and up to par with modern standards).
We can then continue styling one by one all HTML elements. Every theme should provide default styles that match our design for every element, especially the most important ones (form inputs, buttons, lists, tables, etc).
It’s a good idea to keep those styles on element selectors. It keeps specificity as low as possible (so that they’re easily overridable if required) and makes sure that any third-party content that happens to output unstyled (or understyled) markup will match our theme’s design. Here’s how this would look like (in compact form for brevity):
/* Top of our style.css file after resets */ /* General Typography */ body { font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; } h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { font-weight: 700; margin: 0 0 30px; } h1 { font-size: 36px; }... /* Form Styles */ input[type="text"], input[type="email"], input[type="url"], input[type="password"], input[type="search"], input[type="number"], input[type="tel"], input[type="range"], input[type="date"], input[type="month"], input[type="week"], input[type="time"], input[type="datetime"], input[type="datetime-local"], input[type="color"], textarea { }... /* Buttons */ button, input[type="submit"], input[type="button"] { }... /* Tables */ table { } th { } td { } /* etc.. */
Note that the above are not resets. We’re at the point of actually styling our theme, with our design’s layout, sizes, colors, etc.
Similarly, our widgetized areas and widgets should also have baseline styles. In this case it’s good to have consistent widget classes for all sidebars and provide them with sensible theme defaults:
/* * Providing easily overrideable baseline styles * for consistent widgetized areas */.widget { margin-bottom: 30px; font-size: 14px; }.widget-title { margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: 24px; }
Individually styling each widget’s element should be namespaced, as we’ll see later on.
Treat your content areas as holy sites
It’s a common practice (and request) to have a few different styles on areas where the_content or widgets are outputted. Perhaps some fancy link underlines, maybe a couple of dropcaps or larger font size than the rest of the website. We should be very wary when doing this; these are the more common places every plugin and shortcode also outputs their content. Our goal here is to avoid adding overly specific styles which would result in conflicts with various plugins or shortcodes by other third parties.
One way to mitigate this issue is to write our base styles with our content’s design in mind, and reset/modify them wherever they’re not necessary. For example:
/* * These are styles our content areas will have anyway * and are easily override-able because of their absolute minimum specificity */ body { font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.65; } a { color: #f00; border-bottom: 1px solid #f00; } /* * Override them wherever they're not needed * (we're nesting here merely to illustrate the point) */.navigation a { color: #ff0; border: 0; }
Unfortunately this technique has its drawbacks, most prominently it can be a very tedious process to constantly have to override rules. If this becomes a problem the recommended approach would be to namespace all content styles under a single, popular, class selector:.entry-content.
Simply wrap your main content inside a div class-named.entry-content and style accordingly (but keep your selectors at most two levels deep!). It’s important to note that.entry-content is not randomly chosen. It’s based on the microformats specification and denotes our.. well.. main entry content. It’s also used by most of the popular themes (including the official WordPress ones) which makes it a perfect target for any plugin to have in mind when resetting its own styles.
Keep widget styles clean and basic
Treat widgetized areas in ways similar to the_content. Many plugins come with their own widgets (which most times have their own styles) or output content in widgetized sidebars.
Styling both WordPress’s default widgets and our own custom theme ones are of the few exceptions where we should be a bit more specific in selectors.
Don’t do this:
/* * We avoid writing overly general selectors * for areas where third-party content can appear */.widget li { border-bottom: 1px solid #f00; }
A better approach is to target each widget individually:
.widget_meta li,.widget_pages li,.widget_categories li,.widget_archive li,.widget_nav_menu li,.widget_recent_entries li { border-bottom: 1px solid #f00; }
This avoids conflicting issues with any third-party widgets that may be added on our theme at a later point.
If you find yourself getting tired of repeating parts of many selectors like above, consider using a CSS pre-processor like Sass which will help remove most of the tediousness by nesting them.
Do not force priority on your theme’s main stylesheet
Stylesheets should be allowed to load in their natural order, keeping complexity at a minimum. If our main stylesheet relies on third party or vendor styles, we simply declare them in wp_enqueue_style as dependencies. Ultimately, our theme should enqueue one and only one stylesheet (the main style.css); everything else should be registered as a dependency.
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this than the parents. As hospital workers, they work in -- let's face it -- a place where many people come to die. It's just a sad fact of their profession --they will see many, many people die. They will see more people die than pretty much anyone, even soldiers.
So they have a (useful, and well-earned) professional detachment about death. They do have a kind of hardened wisdom about life-and-death that most of us do not.
I can understand their feeling, as they've felt about a thousand very ill patients before, that there is no hope here, and that it's time for the baby to die.
What I cannot understand is their determination that their feeling should override the parents' feeling.
Okay, NHS: This is your ten millionth death. I understand -- without being negative about it -- that you are not particularly emotional about your ten millionth death.
Can you understand that this is these parents' first death? Certainly the first death of a child!
I'm not religious, but I am pro-human, and to me, that means understanding that human beings are hardwired for hope (otherwise, as I said, the race would have simply chosen to kill itself 100,000 years ago), and that, even to a not-particularly-sentimental-about-such things, nonbelieving, cynical realist, is a precious and fragile thing which is worth rolling the dice on and worth giving a chance.
That's my opinion.
It's also my opinion that they're just delaying the heartbreak, and, by allowing themselves to be filled with hope, they're going to feel even more heartbreak.
Because hope does that. Hope may lift you, but it sometimes lifts you up just so you can fall further and harder.
That's the nature of the thing.
So those are my opinions.
But who gives a shit about my opinions on it?
My opinion doesn't matter.
If the parents chose to take their kid off life support, my opinion still wouldn't matter.
The parents, the only two people in this world who have an elemental and primal and truly emotional attachment to this kid, have decided its in his best interest to give him a chance.
And as long as they're saying that: Who the fuck has so arrogated himself to sit in the throne of God Himself to claim the right to say otherwise?Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Advancement of plans for new settler homes is a war crime PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat on Wednesday after the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria met to discuss 228 such units.
Such activity “continues to entrench Israel’s colonial occupation and destroys the prospects of two independent states living side by side in peace and security on the 1967 border.”
He called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for the action.Palestinians later this month plan to submit a resolution condemning settlement activity to the United Nations Security Council.Israel believes that it has a right to continue to build in Area C of the West Bank which is under its military and civilian control.The Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria has met monthly since the start of the year and already had moved ahead with plans for 499 new settlers homes prior to the April meeting.The new plans include 34 homes in Tekoa, 70 in Nokdim, 76 in Givat Ze’ev and 48 in Modi’in Illit.The total, to date, of at least 727 new homes outpaces the 621 such units that were advanced in all of 2015, according to data from the Higher Planing Council and Peace Now, which earlier this week released a report on the accelerated rate of planing for new homes in West Bank settlements.In the first three months of the year, planning for homes in 11 other settlements were advanced, including Etz Efraim (34), Rechalim (36), Alon Shvut (60), Ofarim (30), Rotem (164), Oranit (24), Alfei Menashe (24), Tene (7), Kiryat Arba (24), Ma’aleh Adumim (46) and Talmon (50).Seven of the 15 communities are considered to be “isolated settlements” because they are located in areas of the West Bank that are outside the boundaries of the security barrier.Work also was done at the Higher Planing Council on Wednesday to retroactively legalize 54 homes in the Har Bracha settlement and 17 in the Revava settlement, according to the Samaria Regional Council.All totaled this year, work has been done to retroactively legalize 246 new homes. In 2015, the Higher Planning Council retroactively legalized 1,044 illegal homes, according to Peace Now.Settler leaders welcomed the council’s work but continued to say the units did not begin to meet demand and that many were part of old projects.The communities in Judea and Samaria are operating with their “hands tied behind their backs,” said Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, who called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to normalize construction in Judea and Samaria and to allow it to build according to the needs of its population.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>In last week’s episode of The Wonderful World of CFI Unwinding we looked at how fast it could be done. This week we’re going to look at how compactly the unwind information can be stored.
But I know you want a summary up front, so here it is: I reckon it’s possible to store enough CFI to unwind all of libxul.so on x86_64-linux in just 5.4MB. At least, if my numbers are not wrong.
Background
Representing CFI and EXIDX unwind information compactly in memory is critical for memory constrained devices running FirefoxOS and Fennec.
The title of this posting is misleading, though. The question is not “how compactly can it be stored?”, but rather “how compactly can it be stored and still give us the really fast access we need?”.
I did some digging. Valgrind will, if asked nicely, print out the CFI unwinding rules as it stores them. The previous posting described how it only stores unwind information for a limited register set — on x86_64-linux, which I’m experimenting with here — %rip, %rsp and %rbp. It manages to summarise the unwind rule for each address range into just one line of text:
[0x53eea71.. 0x53eea84]: let cfa=oldBP+16 in RA=*(cfa+-8) SP=cfa+0 BP=*(cfa+-16)
This says: for %rip values in the range 0x53eea71 to 0x53eea84, first compute
cfa = %rbp + 16
then
previous %rip = *(cfa-8) previous %rsp = cfa previous %rbp = *(cfa-16)
For libxul.so for a recent m-c, built with “-g -O”, there are 890,065 of these records — that is, the compiler gives unwind descriptions for 890,065 different code address ranges in libxul.so.
That sounds like a lot of data. But those descriptions are immensely repetitive. Just how repetitive we can see by generating the descriptions, cutting off the address range part and throwing the rest through sort -u:
valgrind --smc-check=all-non-file --tool=none --trace-cfi=yes " \ --trace-symtab-patt=*libxul.so*" \./ff-opt-linux/dist/bin/firefox-bin &> logfile cat logfile | grep "let cfa=" | cut -c 27- | sort -u | wc
The are just 75 different ones in nearly 900k address ranges!
In hindsight, that shouldn’t be a big surprise. A description of how to recover the return address, stack pointer and frame pointer must be pretty boring. Either they’re parked in memory at a small handful of 8-aligned offsets from the stack pointer, or they are the value of one of the previous registers plus or minus a similarly constrained offset.
In other words, the set of descriptions is small because GCC generates only a small set of stack frame layouts, if we restrict ourselves to considering just the parts of the frame needed for unwinding.
I was surprised by these figures, so I also tested the CFI on the main Valgrind executable. That has 35,430 address ranges containing 160 unique descriptions. Not quite as striking as the libxul.so case, but not far off.
Storing the address ranges compactly
The obvious storage optimisation is to park the 75 descriptions in a dictionary, the size of which is insignificant, and represent the 890,065 address ranges and dictionary-entry number as compactly as possible. Then, sort these entries by address range and put them in a flat array, for fast binary search.
How compactly can we represent an (address, length, dictionary-entry-number) triple? Naively, the address is a 64 bit word, and length and entry number could be 32 bits, giving 16 bytes in total.
That’s way overkill. Since we’ll have one table per mapped object, the base address can be replaced by the offset from the base of the object. libxul.so has about 36MB of text, so unfortunately that’s 4 bytes. The address range lengths are tiny, though, mostly less than 256, so we could store than in a byte, and duplicate the descriptor for the occasional longer run. And the dictionary entry number in the two cases I tested would fit in 8 bits.
So that’s 6 bytes per description. For 890,065 descriptions, 5,340,390 bytes in total.
It would be interesting to see if the same level of duplication occurs for CFI and EXIDX on ARM. But given that it merely reflects the non-diversity of frame layouts, I find it hard to believe we’d see anything much different.
EXIDX contains less information than CFI, yet — as experiments on Fennec/ARM have shown — it gives good unwinding results. So this analysis surely applies equally to our EXIDX-based targets, Fennec/ARM and FirefoxOS/ARM.Story highlights Sides are arguing over access to confidential information
Prosecution asked for delay to allow appeals court to rule
(CNN) A judge in the court proceedings involving Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who has been charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, has issued a stay of proceedings, essentially putting the court martial on hold.
The stay is in place until an appeals court can resolve a dispute involving the sharing of classified evidence with Bergdahl's defense team.
Last week a military judge ordered the prosecution to provide defense attorneys with classified material, even evidence that hadn't been cleared by authorities who designate the classification for government documents. In its appeal, the military argued the court should act with an "abudance of caution." The government requested the delay.
The defense says in court documents that it most recently was denied access to classified materials in mid-January. It says it has only been given access to less than 1% of the classified material in the case.
Other motions in the case not related to confidential information will go forward, Judge Col. Jeffrey Nance indicated in an email to the two sides.
Read More2014 Oakland Ballot Election Results (In order they appeared on the ballot)
DISCLAIMER: RESULTS ARE STILL UNOFFICIAL AND BASED ON LATEST KNOWN INFORMATION
OFFICIAL RESULTS ARE DUE DECEMBER 12, 2014
LAST UPDATED: 4:46 PM Nov 7, 2014
Governor:
JERRY BROWN
Liutenant Governor:
GAVIN NEWSOM
Secretary of State:
Alex Padilla
Controller:
Betty Yee
Treasurer:
John Chiang
Attorney General:
Kamala Harris
Insurance Commissioner:
Dave Jones
Member, State Board of Equalization, 2nd District:
Fiona Ma
U.S. Representative:
Barbara Lee
Member of the State Assembly:
Tony Thurmond
Judicial:
Goodwin Liu
YES
Mariano-Florentino Cuellar
YES
Kathryn Mickle Werdegar
YES
Jim Humes
YES
Kathleen M. Banke
YES
J. Anthony Kline
YES
Therese M. Stewart
YES
Stuart R. Pollak
YES
Martin J. Jenkins
YES
Ignazio John Ruvolo
YES
Mark B. Simons
YES
Terence L. Bruiniers
YES
SCHOOL:
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Tom Torlakson
County Superintendent
Karen Monroe
Peralta Community College District Trustee, Area 7
Julina Bonilla
DISTRICT:
AC Transit District Director
Joel B. Young
EBMUD Director, Ward 3
Marguerite Young
MEASURES:
STATE
PROP 1 (Water bond)
YES
PROP 2 (State Budget Stabilization)
YES
PROP 45 (Healthcare Insurance Rates)
YES
PROP 46 (Drug and alcohol testing of Doctors, medical negligence lawsuits)
NO
PROP 47 (Criminal Sentences for certain drug offenses)
YES
PROP 48 (Indian Gaming Compacts)
NO
COUNTY
BB (Transportation Expenditure Plan)
YES
SCHOOL
N ($120 Parcel Tax)
YES
CITY Of OAKLAND
Z (Parking Tax Surcharge for emergency response and community programs)
YES
CC (Give Public Ethics Commission greater independence)
YES
DD (Create 13—member independent redistricting commission)
YES
EE (Oakland Municipal Employees Retirement System)
YES
FF (Minimum Wage Increase to $12.25)
YES
OAKLAND MAYOR
Libby Schaaf
City Auditor
Brenda Roberts
SOURCES:
http://graphics.latimes.com/2014-election-results-california-statewide/
http://ktla.com/2014/11/04/election-results-california-midterm-numbers-to-come-in-as-polls-close/
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/status/ (As of 1:21 am 11/5/14 with 100% of Precincts Reporting)
——————–
Candidates for Mayor (from OaklandWiki.org) in the order they’ll appear on the ballot:
Charles Williams: Engineering Manager Administrator
Dan Siegel: Civil Rights Attorney
Rebecca Kaplan: Oakland Councilmember At-Large
Jason Anderson: Communications Director
Courtney Ruby: Oakland City Auditor
Eric Wilson: Non-profit Employee
Saied Karamooz: Private Sector Executive
Pat McCullough: Technician/Lawyer/Entrepreneur
Nancy Sidebotham: Tax Preparer
Peter Liu: Father, Businessman, Executive
Joe Tuman: Government/Law Professor
Ken Houston: Contractor
Bryan Parker: Businessperson/University Trustee
Libby Schaaf: Oakland City Councilmember
Jean Quan: Mayor of Oakland
Oakland uses rank based voting which means you will be able to choose your top 3 candidates for each position. This method of voting is generally accepted as a good way to vote when there are many candidates, to avoid a run-off election.
East Bay Express Op/Ed Article “From Seigel to Parker”
The Voter Registration Deadline
The voter registration deadline is always 15 days before an election, but please be advised that voters who register after the 29th day before an election may not receive a sample ballot due to the short turn-around time for mailing. However, voters should receive notice of the location of their polling place in the mail.I was so excited this year when my Santa messaged me the first day with a list of follow-up questions about my likes! I think I might have responded instantly because I was so excited.... I didn't stalk my email or anything.
My gift arrived a few days ago and I couldn't be happier!! I love it!!! I've been getting into sewing big time over the past year and I got two amazingly awesome books to fuel my creativity. I've been teaching myself to sew the entire time (while stalking r/sewing and watching youtube videos and lots and lots of trial and error). The Sewing Answer Book is going to be a big help when I'm halfway through a project and suddenly find myself trying to do something that I've never done before!
I've seen (and wanted) the Sew Charming book every single time I go to the fabric store but I'm horrible about spending money on myself! I'm super excited because it's going to help me learn the basics of quilting! Eeee. Quilting has been something I wanted to learn to do...but it's very intimidating!
My fiance and I are BOTH excited about the cookbook! The Quick Meals section is going to be very, very used. The recipes in the book look delicious and I'm looking forward to trying many of them.
The Calendar was a surprise to me. Did you know that we plan to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail? Have I posted about it somewhere and you are an insanely good stalker? Do you know me? o_o But seriously! My fiance and I plan to thru-hike the trail sometime in the near future....after marriage and before kids! He has been wanting to for a very, very long time and I have somewhat reluctantly agreed to go with him (at least for most of the way). This calendar really captures some of the beauty of the trail!
I'll have you know that shortly after taking the group picture, Lupin (the tabby) grabbed one of the penguins and ran off with him. I don't know if we'll see that penguin anymore....
I've included pictures of both of my lovely babies as they have a gift on the way as well! My wonderful Santa even thought of my kitties and is sending them a package of their all-time favorite treat greenies pill pockets! Tobimaru does tricks for regular greenies (see picture)...imagine how crazy she gets for the pill pocket treats. Food is her life (she's blind so she's not crazy about playing....but man....she is obsessed with food)!
Overall I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my presents! They were all so thoughtful and absolutely perfect for me! Thank you so, so, so much!!! I hope your Santa is as wonderful to you as you were to me!
(For bonus: I've also included a picture of Lupin babysitting our two recent foster kittens. They got a new home for Christmas!!)THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF JACK PARSONS
The Book of Babalon,
The Book of Antichrist,
and other writings
THE BOOK OF BABALON
January 4 - March 4, 1946 E.V.
INTRODUCTION
This book contains the record of a magical experiment relating to the invocation of an elemental, the thereafter of the Goddess or Force called BABALON, and the results thereof. An appendix con- tains some details of the method, published for the first time. The contents should be clear enough to those who are prepared for understanding, and a little study and effort should make it so for those who desire understanding. For the rest, each will no doubt interpret it in accord with his own predilections.
A note on the underlying philosophy. The present age is under the influence of the force called, in magical terminology, Horus. This force relates to fire, Mars, and the sun, that is, to power, violence, and energy. It also relates to a child, being innocent (i.e. undifferentiated). Its manifestations may be noted in the destruction of old institutions and ideas, the discovery and liberation of new energies, and the trend towards power governments, war, homosexuality, infantilism, and schizophrenia.
This force is completely blind, depending upon the men and women in whom it manifests and who guide it. Obviously, its guidance now tends towards catastrophy.
The catastrophic trend is due to our lack of understanding of our own natures. The hidden lusts, fears, and hatreds resulting from the warping of the love urge, which underly the natures of all Western peoples, have taken a homicidal and suicidal direction.
This impasse is broken by the incarnation of another sort of force, called BABALON. The nature of this force relates to love, understanding, and dionysian freedom, and is the necessary coun- terbalance or correspondence to the manifestation of Horus.
It is indicated that this force is actually incarnate in some living woman, as the result of the described magical operation. A more basic matter, however, is the indication that this force is incarnate in all men and women, and needs only to be invoked to free the spirit from the debris of the old aeon, and to direct the blind force of Horus into constructive channels of under- standing and love. The methods of this invocation are described in the text.
The background of this material may be found in the Book of the Law, the Comment thereon, and other writings of Aleister Crowley; also in various magical, anthropological, psychological, and philosophical texts. These are all necessary to an understanding and use of the material.
One further point. It should be remembered that all human activi- ties, after the vital functions are fulfilled, arise from the need to love or to be loved. It is therfore quite literally true that in understanding (i.e. that which embraces all categories of love) is all power given. A grasp of the principle of bipolarity should make this clear.
With this crude and rudimentary philosophical discourse, then, I present the Book of Babalon:
A. CONCEPTION
In January 1946 I had been engaged in the study and practice of Magick for seven years, and in the supervision and operation of an occult lodge for four years, having been initiated into the Sanctuary of the Gnosis by the Beast 666, Fra. 132, and Fra. Saturnus. At this time I decided upon a Magical operation de- signed to obtain the assistance of an elemental mate. This is a well known procedure in Magick (cf. Ch. VIII in Magick in Theory and Practice), consisting of the invocation of a spirit or ele- mental into tangible existence by various magical techniques.
I decided upon the use of the Enochian Tablets obtained by Dr. Dee and Edward Kelley, employing the *n*n*n square of the Air Tablet. The technique was approximately as follows:
(January 4, 1946, 9:00 PM)
1. Prepared and consecrated Air Dagger. (The other magical weap- ons were previously prepared. This dagger served as the special talisman of the operation.) 2. Prepared Enochian Air Tablet on virgin parchment. 3. Prepared Parchment Talisman 4. Rituals as follows: (a) Invoking Pentagram of Air. (b) Invocation of Bornless One. (c) Conjuration of Air. (d) Consecration of Air Dagger. (e) Key Call of third Aire. (f) Invocation of God and King of Aire. (g) Invocation of Six Seniors. (h) Invocation of (RZDA) by *n*n*n and (EXARP), to visible ap- pearance. (i) Invocaton of wand with material basis on talisman. (j) Invocation with dagger. (k) License to depart, purification, and banishing. I followed this procedure for eleven days, from January 4 to 15, with the following entries in my record: January 5. A strong windstorm beginning suddenly about the middle of the first invocation. Jan 6. Invoked as before. Wind storm continued intermittently all day and night. Jan 7. Invoked twice. Wind subsided. Used Prokofief Violin Con- certo No. 2 as musical background. Jan 8. Invoked twice, using blood. Jan 9. Invoked twice, replenishing material basis. Jan 10. Invoked twice. I retired about 11 PM, and was awakened at 12 PM by nine strong, rapid knocks. A table lamp at the opposite corner of the room was thrown violently to the floor and broken. There was no window in this corner, and no wind was blowing at the time.
(Note. I have had little experience with phenomena of this sort. Magically speaking, it usually represents "breaks" in the opera- tion, indicating imperfect technique. Actually, in any magical opeation there should be no phenomena but the willed result.)
Jan 11. Invoked twice, using blood.
Jan 12. Invoked twice. A heavy windstorm.
Jan 13. Invoked twice. Windstorm continued.
Jan 14. The light system of the house failed about 9 PM. Another magician who had been staying at the house and studying with me, was carrying a candle across the kitchen when he was struck strongly on the right shoulder, and the candle knocked out of his hand. He called us, and we observed a brownish yellow light about seven feet high in the kitchen.
I banished with a magical sword, and it disappeared. His right arm was paralyzed for the rest of the night.
Jan 15. Invoked twice. At this time the Scribe developed some sort of astral vision, describing in detail an old enemy of mine of whom he had never heard, and later the guardian forms of Isis and the Archangel Michael. Later, in my room, I heard the raps again, and a buzzing, metallic voice crying "let me go free." I felt a great pressure and tension in the house that night, which was also noticed by the other occupants. There was no other phenomena, and I admit a feeling of disappointment.
The feeling of tension and unease continued for four days. Then, on January 18, at sunset, while the Scribe and I were on the Mojave desert, the feeling of tension suddenly snapped. I turned to him and said, "it is done," in absolute certainty that the operation was accomplished. I returned home, and found a young woman answering the requirements waiting for me. She is describa- ble as an air of fire type with bronze red hair, fiery and sub- tle, determined and obstinate, sincere and perverse, with ex- traordinary personality, talent, and intelligence.
During the period of January 19 to February 27 I invoked the Goddess BABALON with the aid of my magical partner, as was proper to one of my grade.
B. COMMUNICATIONS
On February 27 my magical partner went East for a visit, and on Feb. 28 I went back to the Mojave, invoking BABALON. During this invocation, the presence of the Goddess came upon me, and I was commanded to write the following communication:
LIBER 49
1. Yea, it is I, BABALON.
2. And this is my book, that is the fourth chapter of the Book of the Law, He completing the Name, for I am out of NUIT by HORUS, the incestuous sister of RA-HOOR-KHUIT.
3. It is BABALON. TIME IS. Ye fools.
4. Thou hast called me, oh accursed and beloved fool.
5-8. (Missing and presumed lost. Ed.)
9. Now know that I, BABALON, would take flesh and come among men.
10. I will come as a penelous (sic) flame, as a devious song, a trumpet in judgement halls, a banner before armies.
11. And gather my children unto me, for THE TIME is at hand.
12. And this is the way of my incarnation. Heed!
13. Thou shalt offer all thou art and all thou hast at my altar, witholding nothing. And thou shalt be smitten full sore and thereafter thou shalt be outcast and accursed, a lonely wanderer in abominable places.
14. Ye Dare. I have asked of none other, nor have they asked. Else is vain. But thou hast willed it.
15. Know then that thus I came to thee before, thou a great Lord, and I a maid enrapt. Ah blind folly.
16. And thereafter madness, all in vain. Thus it has been, multi- form. How thou hast burned beyond.
17. I shall come again, in the form thou knowest. Now it shall be thy blood.
18. The altar is aright, and the robe.
19. The perfume is sandal, and the cloth green and gold. There is my cup, our book, and thy dagger.
20. There is a flame.
21. The sigil of devotion. Be it consecrated, be it true, be it daily affirmed. I am not scorned. Thy love is to me. Procure a disk of copper, in diameter three inches paint thereon the field blue the star gold of me, BABALON.
22. It shall be my talisman. Consecrate with the supreme rituals of the word and the cup.
23. My calls as thou knowest. All love songs are of me. Also seek me in the Seventh Aire.
24. This for a time appointed. Seek not the end, I shall instruct thee in my way. But be true. Would it be hard if I were thy lover, and before thee? But I am thy lover and I am with thee.
25. I shall provide a vessel, when or whence I say not. Seek her not, call her not. Let her declare. Ask nothing. Keep silence. There shall be ordeals.
26. My vessel must be perfect. This is the way of her perfection.
27. The working is of nine moons.
28. The Astarte working, with music and feasting, with wine and all arts of love.
29. Let her be dedicated, consecrated, blood to blood, heart to heart, mind to mind, single in will, none without the circle, all to me.
30. And she shall wander in the witchwood under the Night of Pan, and know the mysteries of the Goat and the Serpent, and of the children that are hidden away.
31. I will provide the place and the material basis, thou the tears and blood.
32. Is it difficult, between matter and spirit? For me it is ecstacy and agony untellable. But I am with thee. I have large strength, have thou likewise.
33. Thou shalt prepare my book for her instruction, also thou shalt teach that she may have captains and adepts in her service. Yea, thou shalt take the black pilgrimage, but it will not be thou that returnest.
34. Let her prepare her work according to my voice in her heart, with thy book as guide, and none other instructing.
35. And let her be in all things wise, and sure, and excellent.
36. But let her think on this: my way is not in the solemn ways, or in the reasoned ways, but in the wild free way of the eagle, and the devious way of the serpent, and the oblique way of the factor unknown and unnumbered.
37. For I am BABALON, and she my daughter, unique, and there shall be no other women like her.
38. In My Name shall she have all power, and all men and excel- lent things, and kings and captains and the secret ones at her command.
39. The first servants are chosen in secret, by my force in her--a captain, a lawyer, an agitator, a rebel--I shall provide.
40. Call me, my daughter, and I shall come to thee. Thou shalt be full of my force and fire, my passion and power shall surround and inspire thee; my voice in thee shall judge nations.
41. None shall resist thee, whom I lovest. Though they call thee harlot and whore, shameless, false, evil, these words shall be blood in their mouths, and dust thereafter.
42. But my children will know thee and love thee, and this will make them free.
43. All is in thy hands, all power, all hope, all future.
44. One came as a man, and was weak and failed.
45. One came as a woman, and was foolish, and failed.
46. But thou art beyond man and woman, my star is in thee, and thou shalt avail.
47. Even now thy hour strikes upon the clock of my FATHER. For He prepared a banquet and a Bridal Bed. I was that Bride, appointed from the beginning, as it was written T.O.P.A.N.
48. Now is the hour of birth at hand. Now shall my adept be crucified in the Basilisk abode. 49. Thy tears, thy sweat, thy blood, thy semen, thy love, thy faith shall provide. Ah, I shall drain thee like the cup that is of me, BABALON.
50. Stand thou fast, and I shall pass the first veil to speak with thee, through the stars shake. 51. Stand thou fast, and I shall pass the second veil, while God and Jesus be smitten with the sword of HORUS.
52. Stand thou fast, and I shall pass the third veil, and the shapes of hell shall be turned again to loveliness.
53. For thy sake shall I stride through the flames of Hell, though my tongue be bitten through.
54. Let me behold thee naked and lusting after me, calling upon my name.
55. Let me receive all thy manhood within my Cup, climax upon climax, joy upon joy.
56. Yea, we shall conquer death and Hell together.
57. And the earth is mine.
58. Thou shalt (make the?) Black Pilgrimage.
59. Yea it is even I BABALON and I SHALL BE FREE. Thou fool, be thou also free of sentimentality. Am I thy village queen and thou a sophomore, that thou shouldst have thy nose in my buttocks?
60. It is I, BABALON, ye fools, MY TIME is come, and this my book that my adept prepares is the book of BABALON.
61. Yea, my adept, the Black Pilgrimage. Thou shalt be accursed, and this is the nature of the curse. Thou shalt publish the secret matter of the adepts thou knowest, witholding no word of it, in an appendix to this my Book. So they shall cry fool, liar, sot, traducer, betrayer. Thou art not glad thou meddled with magick?
62. There is no other way, dear fool, it is the eleventh hour.
63. The seal of my Brother is upon the earth, and His Avatar is before you. There is threshing of wheat and a trampling of grapes that shall not cease until the truth be known unto the least of men.
64. But you who do not accept, you who see beyond, reach out your hands my children and reap the world in the hour of your harvest.
65. Gather together in the covens as of old, whose number is eleven, that is also my number. Gather together in public, in song and dance and festival. Gather together in secret, be naked and shameless and rejoice in my name.
66. Work your spells by the mode of my book, practicing secretly, inducing the supreme spell.
67. The work of the image, and the potion and the charm, the work of the spider and the snake, and the little ones that go in the dark, this is your work.
68. Who loves not hates, who hates fears, let him taste fear.
69. This is the way of it, star, star. Burning bright, moon, witch moon.
70. You the secret, the outcast, the accursed and despised, even you that gathered privily of old in my rites under the moon.
71. You the free, the wild, the untamed, that walk now alone and forlorn.
72. Behold, my Brother cracks the world like a nut for your eating.
73. Yea, my Father has made a house for you, and my Mother has prepared a Bridal Bed. My Brother has confounded your enemies.
74. I am the Bride appointed. Come ye to the nuptials--come ye now!
75. My joy is the joy of eternity, and my laughter is the drunken laughter of a harlot in the house of ecstasy.
76. All you loves are sacred, pledge them all to me.
77. Set my star upon your banners and go forward in joy and victory. None shall deny you, and none shall stand before you, because of the Sword of my Brother. Invoke me, call upon me, call me in your convocations and rituals, call upon me in your loves and battles in my name BABALON, wherein is all power given!
C. BIRTH
[March 2, 1946 E.V.]
On March 1 and 2 1946 I prepared the altar and equipment in accordance with the instructions in Liber 49. The Scribe had been away about a week, and knew nothing of my invocations of BABALON, which I had kept entirely secret. On the night of March 2 he returned, and described a vision he had that evening of a savage and beautiful woman riding naked on a great cat-like beast. He was impressed with the urgent necessity of giving me some message or communication. We prepared magically for this communication, constructing a temple at the altar with the analysis of the key word. He was robed in white, carrying the lamp, and I in black, hooded, with the cup and dagger. At his suggestion we played Rachmanninoff's Isle of the Dead as background music, and set an automatic recorder to transcribe any audible occurrences. At approximately 8 PM he began to dictate, I transcribing directly as I received.
THE SCRIBE: "The Angel of TARO. A three day retirement to greet her. Purify thyself. The symbol is seven by three. It is BABALON. Keep secret. The communications are sacred."
"These are the preparations. Green gold cloth, food for the Beast, upon a hidden platter, back of the altar. Disclose only when the doors are bolted."
"Transgression is death."
"Back of main altar. Prepare instantly. Light the first flame at 10 PM, March 2, 1946."
"The year of BABALON is 4063."
"Beware of the use of profaned rituals."
"She is flame of life, power of darkness, she destroys with a glance, she may take thy |
, if you see our s! result s!
Then you will be inspired because you have found the solution for your problem of many years.
Although music is an art and not sport, moreover the most immaterial art, but to creating music the humans are indispensable more so the musician must be bodily present. Every musician well knows that perfect physical and mental condition is needed to perform a long and virtuous piece at concert.
The worst thing is if your mind is limited by your physical barriers, therefore you feel smaller and insignificant. You can't express what is in your mind and soul, because you can't interpret it.
We can offer the solution. The masterpieces are closer than you think. If you examine the hands of the greatest masters of piano, you will find some similarity of their hands. Would you like also similar hands? Our solution is safe in contrast with many attempts in the history of music. If you are a musician your hand is one of your most important tools. We know you are not going to try a house-made or a bad quality product, because it can be very dangerous (e.g. instability of the first metacarpophalangeal joint due to insufficiency of the ulnar collateral ligament, etc.) But here you can choose the only safe way for your dreams to come true (if you have any question, please contatct our medical doctrors at medicaladvice(at-sign)increasehandspan.com).The White House has released a fact sheet on 12 key executive actions President Barack Obama plans to take this year.
The plans come in three identified areas: "middle class security and opportunity at work," "jobs and economic opportunity," and "schools and education opportunity."
Here are the basics, as outlined by the White House:
The President will also continue to urge Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 across the nation because no one who works full-time should have to raise their family in poverty.
• Creating "myRA" - A New Starter Savings Account to Help Millions Save for Retirement. The President will take executive action to create a simple, safe and affordable "starter" retirement savings account available through employers to help millions of Americans save for retirement. This savings account would be offered through a familiar Roth IRA account and, like savings bonds, would be backed by the U.S. government.
• Building a 21st Century Workplace for America's Working Families. The President will host a summit on Working Families to highlight the policies that will ensure America's global economic competitiveness by supporting working families; showcase companies doing exemplary work in this space; and highlight model laws and policies from cities and states across the country in areas such as discrimination, flexibility and paid leave.
• Launching Four New Manufacturing Institutes in 2014. American manufacturers are adding jobs for the first time in over a decade. To build on this progress, the President will launch four new institutes through executive action this year. These institutes will build on the four the President has already announced.
• Government-wide Review of Federal Training Programs to Help Americans Get Skills in Demand for Good Jobs. The President is directing the Vice President to conduct a full review of our federal job-training system to make sure programs are higher performing and driven by the needs of employers which are hiring so that they lead to well-paying jobs. In the coming months, we will help community colleges build partnerships with businesses so that as industries' skills needs change community colleges can quickly adapt.
• Partnering With Many of America's Leading CEOs to Help the Long-Term Unemployed. Later this week, as part of an ongoing effort that the Administration began several months ago, the President will convene a group of CEOs and other leaders around supporting best practices for hiring the long-term unemployed.
This year the President will mobilize business leaders, community colleges, Mayors and Governors, and labor leaders to increase the number of innovative apprenticeships in America.
• Increasing Fuel Efficiency for Trucks. The President will propose new incentives for medium- and heavy-duty trucks that run on alternative fuels like natural gas and the infrastructure needed to deploy them, and the Administration will set new fuel efficiency standards for heavy duty vehicles.
• Partnering with States, Cities and Tribes to Move to Energy Efficiency and Cleaner Power.The President has directed his Administration to work to cut carbon pollution through clean energy and energy efficiency.
Schools & Education Opportunity
• Connecting 20 Million Students in 15,000 Schools to the Best Technology to Enrich K-12 Education. The FCC is making a major down-payment on the President's ConnectED goal of connecting 99% of students to next-generation broadband and wireless technology within five years. In the coming weeks the President will announce new philanthropic partnerships - including by companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sprint and Verizon.
• Redesigning High Schools to Teach the Real-World Skills That Kids Need. This year, the Administration will announce the winners of a $100 million competition supporting redesigned high schools that give high school students access to real-world education and skills.
• Increasing College Opportunity and Graduation. Building on the success of the President and First Lady's College Opportunity Summit, in the coming months the President is asking colleges and universities, nonprofits and businesses to work with him on ways to improve students' access to and completion of higher education.Welcome to the Best Times of Your Life
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Attributed to Mark Twain
Do these words stir a fire deep within you, awakening a spirit of wanderlust and travel? Maybe you were a gypsy, vagabond or hobo in a past life, but you think you could never afford to live the life of freedom you long for? It could be you are a survivalist, or just want to drop out of society but don’t know how. Perhaps you are just sick of the rat race and want to simplify your life. Or possibly the bad economy of the last few years have left you with no choice but move into a car, van or RV?
We have good news for you, you can, and this site is here to show you how! The key is eliminating the single highest expense most of us have, our housing. We will do that by moving into our vehicle and “boondocking.” By that I mean living in your vehicle without paying for a campsite.
“You’ve got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you’re not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice”. ~Steven D. Woodhull
People say to me all the time, “But how can I afford to live in a van and travel all the time?” My answer is aways, “How can you afford not to?!” Let me prove to you right off the bat that you can live the free life. Here is a budget showing just how little money you need to live and travel full time. One column is for a $500 a month and the other is for $1,000 a month.
Of course, at $500 per month this is a sparse life, but I am just showing you that it can be done. In fact I personally know dozens of people who live in their vans and make much less than $1,000 per month, so I know for a fact that it can, and is, being done right now. That still leaves us with the question, where will the money come from? Let me show you some simple strategies for living the cheap RV lifestyle.
1) Move Into Your Vehicle and Save your Rent/House Payment
You are probably working at a job right now and paying for an apartment or house. The first thing you do is decide what type of vehicle you want to live in and purchase it. Then you have a garage sale and sell as much of your excess stuff as you can, and give the rest away. Then you move into your vehicle. Now this is very important, you open a savings account and the money you used to pay to your landLORD for your apartment or house payment (including the utilities) you start paying to yourself instead by putting the payments into the savings account instead. Now you alone are the LORD of your life! The hardest part is that it will soon turn into a lot of money and you will be tempted to spend it. Don’t do it! Leave it there unless it is a total emergency. If you are currently paying $600 a month for rent and utilities, then at the end of the year you will have saved $7,200. Now you can travel for the next 7-14 months without working. Or if you work intermittently, you can extend that even further.
2) Alternate Work and Travel
So, we take our $7200 and leave on our new life of freedom until we need more money. Then, we choose a place we want to be for a while, stop there, and get a job paying as much as we can, but at least $7 per hour. For that month we take home about $1000. We spend half of that to live on, and now have $500 in savings. Actually, we should have more since we won’t be driving much (some of us will ride our bike, scooter or motorcycle which we are carrying on a bike rack or trailer). So we can take that $500 and are off again. Or we can spend several months at one place and then travel several months. Maybe you like to ski so you spend three months at a ski resort working and skiing on the weekends. Then you have the next three months off to do whatever and go wherever you want. When you need to work again, you drive up to Glacier National Park and get a job there doing dishes at the resort. You spend your summer weekends hiking and taking pictures. Three months later, you are free again. Or maybe you are a history buff. So you drive to Gettysburg and get a job there. You spend your weekends exploring the Amish country and Philadelphia. You then go to New England to photograph the fall colors and spend a month exploring Washington DC. When you need to work again you drive to Orlando or Miami, get a job, and explore Florida. If you are adventurous you can work your way down to a beach resort in Mexico where you work for the next three months and surf, fish and snorkel on your weekends. Working in the tourist industry you probably double your wage in tips and living in Mexico is very cheap so you save even more than usual. Now you can take the next six months off in the U.S., or maybe nine months off in Mexico. You keep doing this to your heart’s content!
3) Live on a Pension
Or maybe you are like me. I took early retirement with a pension of about $1100 per month and I don’t have to work at all unless I want to for whatever reason. I am young and healthy so I am working as a campground host in some beautiful places. That way I can build more of a savings account or spend more as I want. Many people have social security or disability checks they live on.
4) Work While You Travel
With a little creativity you can find ways to make money while you travel. The possibilities here are endless, only limited by your abilities and imagination. With access to the Internet, many traditional jobs can be done remotely as you travel. Here are some possibilities but they are just to jump-start your thinking. There are many books and websites with a huge selection of ideas:
Work Camp as a campground host
Make crafts and sell them
Buy and sell on Ebay
Create works of art and sell them
Handyman services
House painting
Animal grooming
Auto detailing
Knife Sharpening
Web Site creation and maintenance
Photography
Sewing
Accounting
This life can be for you if you want it! We have shown that you can live on very little, and four ways to make the little money you do need. So what is holding you back? For most of us it is fear. Let’s address that and show you a simple strategy to overcome your fears.
Overcoming Your Fears.
“I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible;
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.” Dawna Markova
This is a tough one. Many of us live lives of quiet desperation, hating our jobs, and just enduring our life. We meet our obligations and conform to societies dictates. On the surface, all looks good. But on the inside is a desperate but muffled cry for a life of passion, adventure and travel. Summed up in one word it is a cry for FREEDOM!! This is probably overstating it, but if you look at your life, you can probably find some element of it in there. What holds us back? Why can’t we break out of our rut into a new and exciting life? For most of us it is fear. We have an unconscious fear that “An unpleasant but acceptable present is better than an unknown and dangerous future.” So, how do you overcome your fears? Allow me to lead you through an exercise to overcome a fear.
The first and hardest step is to take an unflinching look at ourselves and identify the fears that hold us back. I’m going to list a few possibilities, but remember this is just a starting place, you must do the hard work of finding your own fears.
Fear of going broke and being homeless and penniless.
Fear of being alone and lonely.
Fear for my physical safety
Fear of failure.
Fear that I’m not good enough.
Fear of what others will think.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear that I’m Too Young
After you have identified your fears, accept them, even embrace them; they are a natural instinct given to us to keep us safe and from taking stupid risks. They are a good thing unless we let them paralyze us. When that feeling of fear and panic starts to well up from your gut, take a really deep breath and literally thank it for the wise warning it’s offering you. Then assure it you will consider the warning very seriously. This may seem very “new-agy” but try it any way.
Next, address the fears and find solutions. There are solutions to every problem! On this page we have presented a solution to one of our biggest fears: that we will run out of money and be indigent. We’ve seen just how little we need live on and how to make the money we need.
But reading about it won’t ally your fears, you have to take steps so start right now doing your homework:
Record all your expenses so you know where your money is going.
Decide what is really important and spend your money only on those things.
Write up a detailed budget and follow it, or do something simple like at the beginning of every month put cash in envelopes for each category of spending.
Start researching new ways to make money
Increase your work skills and gather the necessary tools for an on-the-road job.
Now, when that fear wells up again, gratefully embrace it and say, “Thank you for the warning, but this is a safe risk. Look at my budget. Here is my savings account for emergencies. This is how I will make more money. Everything will be alright,” You may have to do this many times, but eventually your fear will turn to hope as it embraces your new life. Then, come, and join us as we travel the road of carefree destiny.
XXHuman missions to Mars would stretch the boundaries of comparisons with terrestrial voyages across the oceans. (credit: Inspiration Mars Foundation) The Earth, Moon, Mars, and Christopher Columbus
There is rising interest in sending humans to Mars someday. And some say soon. Such a voyage, however attempted, will have certain parallels to earlier human voyages. Recent proclamations by NASA, those in our government who shape NASA’s programs, private companies and organizations in the US and abroad (with variable credibility), and even the occasional Hollywood drama have largely squelched the giggle factor associated with this audacious goal. Humans to the Red Planet? It seems it’s no longer a matter of if, but when—and how. There is a general consensus that a young person already living today will be the first to set foot there. And more will follow. Sending humans to Mars is surely going to be a bold, daring and risky venture—not to mention as epically historic as human events ever can be. Such a voyage, however attempted, will have certain parallels to earlier human voyages. A first-order concern of any human trip to Mars is simply the trip time involved. Trip time drives cumulative water, food, and oxygen consumption by the crew; duration of exposure to the microgravity (or artificial gravity) environment; space radiation dosages; evolution of crew interpersonal relations and psychology; and sheer distance from home. To compare and contrast such a trip to an earlier pioneering human voyage, let’s look at the first voyage across the Atlantic of Christopher Columbus and his small fleet: the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Trip time was also a key driver of this voyage, because more sailing time meant a greater need for fresh water and food, more exposure to the sea and the elements and what this does to the crew and the ships, more frayed nerves and anxiety, and perhaps even more scurvy. Columbus and his crew sailed from the Spanish port near today’s Huelva headed southwest, and six days later stopped at the Canary Islands for a month of repairs, restocking, rest, and planning. His tiny fleet then sailed pretty much due west from there, headed for the East Indies—but actually landing in what is today some island (no one knows for sure which) in the Bahamas. Total trip time from the Canaries to the “New World”: five weeks. Columbus’ first voyage to The New World in 1492. (Credit: from the Wikipedia article “Christopher Columbus,” image file Viajes_de_colon.svg.) Launch, propulsion, and orbital mechanics nuances aside, one-way trip times to various destinations in space cluster around some fairly standard durations (all approximate here): Launch to LEO: 10 minutes
Launch to ISS docking: 6 hours (using “fast rendezvous” perfected by the Russians and Soyuz)
LEO to GEO: 12 hours
LEO to the Moon: 3–5 days (the fast way, using standard orbit-transfer techniques)
LEO to the Moon: 3–5 months (the slow way, using low-energy orbit-transfer techniques)
LEO to Mars: 6 months (the fast way, using standard orbit-transfer techniques) Now for context, what if we use these same one-way trip times and apply them to Columbus and his adventurous crew? Thanks to the website Sea-Distances.org, we can get the numbers. Setting sail once again, where would they find themselves after their time was up? Launch to LEO: Probably just made it out of port
Launch to ISS docking: Half-way to Gibraltar (Cadiz?), along the Spanish coast to the southeast
LEO to GEO: All the way to Gibraltar
LEO to the Moon (fast way): The Canary Islands
LEO to the Moon (slow way): One or two round trips to The New World Before I get to the really fun and adventurous trip—the trip to Mars—I’ll make a couple of basic assumptions: Columbus’ fleet sails along at the same speed as all the other trips above, with no stops along the way
The Panama Canal does not exist Okay, Mars pioneers and settlers, here you go! LEO to Mars (fast way): All the way from Spain to the Philippines via the southern tip of South America (Cape Horn), and then all the way back to Spain, and then all the way back to the Philippines again. So we might characterize the journey as a “Triple Philippines” trip. A human trip to Mars would truly be a Grand Voyage, requiring a Triple Philippines ticket, while a quick jaunt to the Moon is akin to Columbus and crew with their layover in the Canary Islands. Magellan and his crew of 237, loaded on five ships, were the first to sail this route in 1519–1521, during the first attempt to circumnavigate the globe a generation after Columbus’ first voyage. They made many stops along the way, and Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines near today’s Cebu and never completed the journey. In fact, only one ship with 18 men did. And this was just a single Philippines trip. This comparison highlights some of the key differences between seeking near-term human trips to Mars vs. the Moon. A human trip to Mars would truly be a Grand Voyage, requiring a Triple Philippines ticket, while a quick jaunt to the Moon is akin to Columbus and crew with their layover in the Canary Islands. One could argue that the Canary Islands actually served as Columbus’ departure point to The New World, while the brief trip from Spain to the Canaries was just a “fleet systems test” or a prelude to the actual journey. Spirited arguments are raging today about whether we should treat the Moon as our “Canary Islands” to the solar system and develop it first, or whether making human sprints to Mars (round-trip or one-way) is a more worthy goal of our bold species, Moon be damned. When we talk about monetizing the Red Planet, what makes more sense? There is an interesting irony here, too. In Columbus’ day the Canary Islands were already bustling with people, commerce, and logistics, while The New World was unknown and unexplored by Western Europeans. Today, the Moon—our nearest neighbor—is virtually uninhabited, with only a few operating robots serving in our stead decades after a few fortunate humans had visited and left some flags, footprints, and now-historic junk. And as for Mars, we know much about this remote world a Triple Philippines away, and our robot scouts are busy gathering more and more information every day, from which we can infer even more knowledge. It is both known and explored—at least partially. HomeIn spite of these bells and whistles, Sleepwalk With Me is barely a work of fiction. Really, it's more like a memoir recounting the start of Mike Birbiglia's stand up career.
At least, that's what it feels like. I never met Mike Birbiglia, so the whole thing could be completely made up. But, the fact that the main character's name is Matt Pandamiglio kinda of steers me in the direction that this story is rooted in reality...
Either way, it's funny and hit very close to home for me. I think anyone who is pursuing any kind of creative endeavor should watch this movie.
It just captures the struggle so well. In the beginning, Matt has this sense of worthlessness that I immediately identified with. He wanted to be a stand-up comedian, but was working as a bartender. He felt like a faker, and I think a lot of people feel that way when they're first starting out as artists.
But it was very rewarding to watch him start experiencing success and gave me hope for my own success as an artist.
Check it out!While most of India is still unaware of the finer details, there is no doubt that the 2G scam is Independent India’s biggest scam. The Rs 1.76 lakh crore figure ensured that it made it to the Top 2 of Time magazine’s all time abuse of power list.
There is also no doubt that former Telecom Minister A Raja is at the centre of this scam. And yet an extremely peculiar sight greeted the nation recently. Raja, after spending 15 months in Tihar jail, got a hero’s welcome in his home state of Tamil Nadu.
Giving them a really long rope
Rewarding criminals, punishing development.
The Indian electorate is not selfish
More by this author:
Congress: Getting it Left, Right and Centre
The author is a Bangalore-based journalist and blogger.
He blogs at
http://sunilrajguru.com/
He was mobbed by crowds, people were chanting his name, a person tried to honour him by putting a shawl on him and so on and so forth. One could be forgiven for thinking that this person had won a world cup for his country.What kind of an electorate rewards criminals? The Indian one of course!This is the electorate of the same state which thinks nothing of taking freebies like TV sets from the government. No-one sees this as a form of bribe, which it actually is. Elsewhere people happily accept 500 and 1000-Rupee notes without thinking what a short-term gratification it is compared to year-long economic hardships that mis-governance is giving them.Tamil Nadu also has the unique record of booting whichever party is in power in the Assembly elections from 1989 onwards. The ADMK-DMK pendulum is a chilling murder of democracy. Jayalalitha in her first term as chief minister in 1991 was a disaster and was booted out. When she returned in 2002, she focused on development and had roads and industries to show for her work. She was still shown the door.The message is clear: Be good or bad, focus on development or corruption, we will throw you out all the same! There is absolutely no saving grace in such a policy.Similar examples can be found all over India. Take West Bengal. When the CPM came to power in 1977, there was great hope and the Left actually delivered on many counts. But with each successive term, things got worse and soon West Bengal languished at the bottom of development index.Despite that, in all the West Bengal electorate gave the CPM a really long rope of 34 years.The case of Laloo Prasad Yadav and Bihar is even more curious. At least the CPM showed initial results. Laloo was a disaster from Day 1. Bihar was a case of zero development, zero law and order, zero vision and zero governance.We had the fodder scam and Laloo was even jailed. In a bizarre move Laloo’s wife Rabri Devi became CM. The end result was that this mis-governance lasted for a whopping 15 years. Laloo being elected was a tragedy, but his being re-elected twice was nothing short of a major farce.In Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati was a disaster when she became CM. The electorate still rewarded her with a majority in the future. Mulayam Singh Yadav also led a lawless UP when he led the state for the first time and he too was given a majority in the recent elections.No-one even bothered to go anywhere near the other alternatives of BJP and Congress.The NDA was mysteriously booted out in 2004 when there seemed to be no wave against them and they were doing a pretty decent job. Equally mysteriously the UPA was re-elected in 2009 despite being one of the shakiest central governments ever.The nation is still paying for that mistake well into 2012. The economy is in a tailspin and the amount of scams being unearthed in the UPA regime is unparalleled.People keep talking of the fact that about a quarter of the Lok Sabha is full of chargesheeted MPs. But the larger question is how a quarter of the Indian electorate voted for them in the first place! Aren’t they really the guilty party?It’s not that charges came to light at a later stage. Chargesheeted candidates fought elections and won them convincingly. What does this tell you about the electorate?On the other hand, Chief Ministers with strong development credentials have been dropped like hot potatoes. Karnataka’s SM Krishna and Andhra Pradesh’s N Chandrababu Naidu come to mind. Both states are reeling today.Luckily Gujarat’s Narendra Modi and Bihar’s Nitish Kumar have bucked this trend, but they are exceptions rather than being part of the general rule.Most electorates all over the world see which candidate will give them a better life and vote accordingly. Not so in India. Voters vote along caste and communal lines. They don’t even look at the candidate and simply vote for the party. They get swayed by sympathy waves and other meaningless trends.After every election, there are TV debates, opinions and analyses that Indian democracy has matured and the electorate cannot be fooled.The frightening truth is that India is probably the stupidest electorate in the world and that’s why we are suffering for it.There is an entire industry devoted to helping adults save for retirement. Company pensions do not exist any more except in few rare instances, and even when they do, the current economic environment and the increasing job mobility makes it difficult for any employee to put in enough years at an employer to grow it to a size that can provide a good income stream during retirement.
The consumer society and the changing demographics also mean that people are saving less now than ever before in the history. 401K plans and RRSPs are solid ways to encourage citizens to save for their retirement. And while everyone should take advantage of the tax advantaged saving options that are available to them, it alone may not necessarily guarantee a financially secure retirement for the reasons below.
1. People are living longer
A few decades ago, retirement on average meant about 10 years after leaving workforce. Today, it can easily be 20 to 40 years. By the time the generation that is entering the work force today retires, they may be facing as much as 50 years of retirement on average, which will be longer than the amount of time they spent working and saving. This of course assumes that the average retirement age stays around 60 years.
Now when you consider the aging populations in North America, and the financially tenuous nature of the Federal programs such as Old Age Security, it suddenly starts painting a bleaker picture of the golden years than what we are used to watching our parents and grand parents.
2. Job security does not exist
Globalization has changed the way our economy functions. As a free marketer, I do believe that free trade is ultimately good for the society overall, but the benefits take a long time in coming. In the meanwhile though, there are disruptions that if not properly managed can create societal problems. It is now much easier for the employers to shop around the world for lower costs, and they are doing precisely that.
Technological advances and rapid changes in lifestyle and tastes also mean that old jobs are becoming extinct much faster than before and jobs that replace them often require new skill sets. Today, a job is just a contract between the employer and the employee, which either side can easily get out of for better opportunities.
3. You and I will eventually have to pay the Federal debt off
Whether it is in the form of higher inflation, bigger taxes and rapid devaluation of the currency or reduced social and welfare benefits, the debt situation will take its toll. If you have a million dollars saved for retirement, it may not mean much when you retire if the dollar loses its value.
The upshot of all this is that your 401k or RRSP savings will not be enough for you to retire on and it is foolish to expect the government to be able to support the retirees with social programs. Our kids will be too busy with the financial burdens that our generation are placing on them to be of much help to support us in our retirement years. It is completely upon us to take control of this situation and do something about it.
There are 3 possible options I see and we will have to use a combination of all these three options.
a. Prepare to work longer, years into “retirement”: Every year that passes by, this becomes more of a reality for the new retirees. Becoming a Wal-Mart greeter is not pleasant, and is not even necessary, if you plan ahead. There are many opportunities to work part-time, or do freelance work if you keep up with the technology, to allow you to generate income and at the same time enjoy the benefits of retirement to a large degree. Fortunately, with the modern medicine and healthier lifestyle, it is also physically and mentally possible to virtually extend our retirement age when necessary.
b. Invest aggressively: In addition to the tax deferred retirement programs, you should invest on your own. It does not have to be risky but I think now is the time to move past the traditional “100 – your age” allocation to the stocks that is recommended. The fact is that these recommendations worked when the average life expectancy was in 70s. Now you need to plan to live to be 90-100 years old and these kind of allocations will turn out to be very conservative and will not serve you well. Find some good solid stocks to buy, maintain proper diversification and invest with discipline. Use the research and the low commissions that a broker like Zecco provides.
c. Reinvest in the community and our neighbours: I am all for supporting local small businesses and farms to the extent we can. It not only keeps the wealth in the community, but stronger community bonds are necessary to strengthen some of the social structures that will suffer as the budgets for social programs are stressed and slashed. This way we can help create more jobs for older generation when they do break from the corporate jobs.
The future may turn out to be just great and rosy. Or it may not. Are you willing to chance it?I mentioned spaceBOUND [Steam] recently, but it didn't really work. Thankfully, now it will if you use the usual Unity trick to overcome the broken fullscreen.
Disclosure : Key provided by the developer.
I provided the developer some feedback on it when I tested it previously as broken. They've improved it, but now you get the Unity bug where the game is entirely black in fullscreen. For now, to overcome it you can use this as a launch command:
-screen-fullscreen 0
I've provided them more feedback on this, so hopefully they can update to a version of Unity that doesn't have this issue. For now though, it will suffice since I can actually play it.
Now that I've been able to actually play it, I do have to say that I'm rather impressed. What makes the game interesting is not just that you're in zero-g, but you're controlling two characters simultaneously. It's both hilarious and confusing!
What makes it confusing, is that the two astronauts are attached together. You control each of them using two sticks on a gamepad, but if you cross them over on the screen, it can be quite confusing since controlling them will be the opposite to what's natural to do on the gamepad. It offers local co-op support too, so you can each control an astronaut. I warn you though, this might put some friendships through a real test.
Not only that, but the zero-g movement can also making timings tricky, since the controls are, by design, quite floaty. You might be too focused on one of them and — pow! Lasers, god damned lasers. You need some impeccable timing on your controls and intense concentration that's for sure.
I'll be honest, I got stuck on such a simple task far longer than I was expecting due to the clever, but difficult gameplay design. You have to slingshot your little people across the screen, using their oxygen tether, but I've spilt so much blood on this one section it's unreal. It's maddening, because it's so simple, yet I found it so difficult. I of course made it across several times once I finally got it down, but then — splat, razor blades. It took 19 astronaut lives just for level 1 (there's a level 0 too), may they R.I.P.
Expect to see lots of blood, glorious floating blood everywhere in spaceBOUND
Few games ever make me shout at my screen at my own stupidity, spaceBOUND is firmly one of them. The oxygen tether being a bungee rope between your characters got me annihilated by all sorts of things plenty of times, but it was so fun I just kept going and going. Even with one level keeping me stuck for over half an hour, it was fun.
There's been many truly hilarious events while playing it. Dodging a laser, while guiding my astronauts safely to some buttons, I then have to move each of them separate ways to hit those buttons, all while keeping an eye on the laser coming back. What happens next? A rock drops in between them and cuts their tether in half — crap! Dead, again.
I tested with my Logitech F310 and it worked beautifully, I seem to have misplaced my Steam Controller for now.
I'm really surprised this has gone so far under the radar, with Steam having very few people reviewed it. All the reviews so far have been positive though, so that's a good sign.
I do really recommend giving it a go! It's brilliantly designed with the clever mixture of game mechanics. It looks damn good, sounds good with a catchy soundtrack. A worthy addition to our gaming library.
I liked it so much I personally purchased a copy for Samsai to livesteam, expect a keyboard-flip gamepad throwing livestream soon. Keep an eye on our Twitch channel for that, going to be good.
How many times will your astronauts get crushed?ABC News’ George Will criticized Donald Trump's role in Mitt Romney's campaign on Sunday's "This Week," calling the real estate mogul a ”bloviating ignoramus.”
Trump endorsed Romney in the Republican presidential race in February. He is scheduled to appear with Romney at a May 29 fundraiser in Las Vegas, even as the Romney campaign refutes his claims that President Obama was not born in the U.S. Trump recently raised his birther views again in a new interview.
On Sunday, "This Week" moderator Jake Tapper wondered if Trump hurt Romney's efforts to convince voters to "take him seriously."
“I do not understand the cost benefit here," Will lamented. "The costs are clear. The benefit — what voter is gonna vote for [Romney] because he is seen with Donald Trump. The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious it seems to me." His fellow panel members laughed at the remark.
Will continued, “Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics. Again, I don’t understand the benefit. What is Romney seeking?”By ANDREW TAYLOR, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A familiar budget plan to sharply cut safety-net programs for the poor and clamp down on domestic agencies performing the nuts-and-bolts programs of the government is cruising to passage in the tea party-flavored House.
The Republican measure is advancing to the finish line in the House as the Senate starts a lengthy slog toward passage of a rival budget measure. It takes a sharply different view, restoring automatic cuts to agency budgets and increasing taxes by $1 trillion over the coming decade.
The dueling budget plans are anchored on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum in Washington, appealing to core partisans in the warring parties gridlocked over persistent budget deficits. President Barack Obama is exploring the chances of forging a middle path that blends new taxes and modest curbs to government benefits programs.
The sharp contrast over the 2014 budget and beyond came as the House is positioned to clear unfinished budget business – a sweeping, government-wide funding bill to keep Cabinet agencies running through the 2013 budget year, which ends Sept. 30.
The Senate passed the bipartisan 2013 measure by |
right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis.”
You can watch the full launch below:
Keep up to date with the latest space news in All About Space – available every month for just £4.50. Alternatively you can subscribe here for a fraction of the price!Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kim Hyun-hui: "I am sad to have been born in North Korea"
Kim Hyun-hui certainly doesn't look like a mass murderer. The 51-year-old mother of two has a gentle smile and soft voice.
Today she lives in quiet seclusion somewhere in South Korea; she won't say where. The day we meet she is, as always, accompanied by a group of hired heavies in ill-fitting suits.
She fears the North Korean government still wants to kill her, and with good reason.
Kim Hyun-hui was once an agent of the North Korean regime. Twenty-five years ago, on Pyongyang's orders, she blew up a South Korean airliner.
Sitting in a Seoul hotel room she describes to me how, at the age of 19, she was recruited from an elite Pyongyang University where she was studying Japanese.
She trained for six years. For three of them she was paired with a young Japanese woman, Yaeko Taguchi, who had been kidnapped from her home in northern Japan. She says Mrs Taguchi taught her to speak and act like a Japanese.
Any order would be carried out with extreme loyalty - you were ready to sacrifice your life Kim Hyun-hui
Then came her fateful mission.
It was 1987 and South Korea was preparing to host the Olympic Games in Seoul. North Korea's leader Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il were determined to stop it.
"I was told by a senior officer that before the Seoul Olympics we would take down a South Korean airliner," Kim Hyun-hui tells me.
"He said it would create chaos and confusion in South Korea. The mission would strike a severe blow for the revolution."
'Direct orders'
Kim and an older accomplice boarded the Korean Airlines plane in Baghdad. She placed the suitcase bomb in an overhead locker.
During a stopover in Abu Dhabi, the two North Korean agents got off and made their escape.
Hours later over the Andaman Sea, the bomb blew up. All 115 on board were killed.
But then their plan went wrong. The two agents were tracked to Bahrain and caught.
Her accomplice killed himself with a cyanide-laced cigarette, but Kim Hyun-hui failed. She was instead flown to Seoul and paraded before the international media.
"When I came down the steps of that aircraft, I didn't see anything," she says. "I just looked at the ground. They had taped my mouth shut. I thought I was entering the den of the lion. I was sure they were going to kill me."
Instead they took her to an underground bunker where the interrogations began.
At first she says she tried to keep up the pretence she was Japanese. But finally she broke.
"When I confessed, I did so reluctantly. I thought my family in North Korea would be in danger; it was a big decision to confess. But I began to realise it would be the right thing to do for the victims, for them to be able to understand the truth."
In her confession, Kim made it clear that the orders to bomb the plane had come directly from Kim Il-sung or his son and heir-apparent, Kim Jong-il.
'God-like figure'
"In North Korea everything was about the Kingdom of Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il," she says.
"Without their sanction nothing could happen. We were told our orders were 'ratified'. They only used that word when the orders came from the top.
"Kim Il-sung was a god-like figure. Anything that was ordered by him could be justified. Any order would be carried out with extreme loyalty. You were ready to sacrifice your life."
From what she tells me, it is clear Kim Hyun-hui has gone from one-time true believer in the Kim cult to an ardent hatred of the regime and a deep sense of personal victimhood.
"There is no other country like North Korea," she says. "People outside can't understand. The whole country is set up to show loyalty to the Kim royal family. It's like a religion.
"People are so indoctrinated. There are no human rights, no freedoms.
Image caption Kim Hyun-hui was sentenced to death, but later received a presidential pardon
"When I look back it makes me feel sad. Why did I have to be born in North Korea? Look at what it did to me."
She also believes, perhaps wishfully, that the days of the Kim dynasty are numbered.
With the founders of the dynasty - Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il - now dead, their impoverished kingdom has been handed down to the 30-year-old Kim Jong-un.
"North Korea is in a desperate situation," she says. "Discontent with Kim Jong-un is so high; he has to put a lid on it.
"The only thing he has is nuclear weapons. That's why he has created this sense of war, to try to rally the population. He's doing business with his nuclear weapons."
In 1989 a South Korean court sentenced Kim Hyun-hui to death, but President Roe Tae-Woo gave her a pardon.
She later married a South Korean intelligence officer with whom she has two children.
Some might say she got off lightly considering what she did. But she says she still carries a heavy burden of guilt.
She says she has found solace in Christianity, and in meeting and being forgiven by the families of those she killed.
"Eventually when I met the victim's families," she says, "we were all in tears hugging and crying."
During our hour-long meeting, there is only one moment when her emotions break through. It is right at the end, when I ask her about her family in North Korea. With tears welling up in her eyes, she shakes her head.
"I don't know what happened to them," she says. "I have heard that they were seen being taken away from Pyongyang to a labour camp."Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is reviewing 400-plus botched sex-crimes investigations to determine whether any might still be brought to justice, but he and other county officials sought to distance themselves Wednesday from calls for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's resignation over them.
About a hundred Arpaio critics converged at a county Board of Supervisors meeting to ask supervisors to push for the sheriff's resignation. Members of Citizens for a Better Arizona asked supervisors to hold a formal discussion and take a stance on the issue in January.
The board deferred any action at least until Montgomery's office completes its review. It is unclear whether the supervisors would act even if the county attorney acted or issued a formal legal opinion.
Democratic state lawmakers last week began calling for Arpaio's resignation over the bungled investigations of the sex-crime cases, including dozens in El Mirage. Local news media had previously reported on the mishandling of cases by Arpaio's office from 2005 to 2007, but recent national coverage catapulted the issue back into the news.
Montgomery said Wednesday that he will review and determine which sex-crime cases could lead to successful prosecution. He indicated his formal opinion likely would not focus on organizational changes within the Sheriff's Office.
"Simply screwing up in your job doesn't create criminal liability," Montgomery said, adding he would not "join the chorus" calling for Arpaio's resignation.
Montgomery said it is not his call to hold Arpaio accountable for the bungled cases, but instead is up to voters in 2012.
The five supervisors, the sheriff and the county attorney are separately elected and cannot oust each other. All are up for re-election next year and have been hesitant to publicly criticize each other, fearing negative headlines in the wake of the years-long political and legal infighting among their agencies that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
Mismanagement of the sex-crimes cases has thus far been attributed to poor oversight in the Sheriff's Office and to former Chief Deputy David Hendershott's efforts to fend off bad publicity for a key investigator.
Current Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan told Arpaio's critics at Wednesday's board meeting that their request is "based on faulty, inaccurate and downright misleading statements." Sheridan defended his boss, saying the sheriff tasked 30 deputies in "short order" to investigate the hundreds of cases, and the internal investigation has been completed.
"We have never hidden behind anything or tried to cover up the fact that there was an issue," Sheridan told activists. "Police officers make mistakes. It's not unique to the Sheriff's Office.... One thing the sheriff did was take immediate action once he realized there was a problem."
In an interview, Sheridan added, "I can tell you, the sheriff is not going to resign. And this will only empower the sheriff and bolster him to work harder and fight harder for his re-election next year."
The Sheriff's Office has said 432 sex-crime cases across the Valley have been reactivated, resulting in 19 arrests. The vast majority of the rest have been "exceptionally" cleared without arrest or were deemed unfounded.
An internal investigation into the cases was turned over to the county attorney for further review to ensure it was done properly, Sheridan said.
Montgomery said he has hired two additional attorneys for the sex-crimes unit to help review how sex-crime cases were investigated at various law-enforcement agencies across the Valley, including the Sheriff's Office and Phoenix Police Department. Montgomery said his office has been reviewing sheriff's cases since local media reported on the mishandled investigations in the spring. It has examined at least 150 of 432 cases so far.
In all, there could be up to 2,000 cases involving agencies Valley-wide that have "similar issues" as the botched sheriff's cases, Montgomery said.
Montgomery said he was "optimistic" that charges could be filed if he found further information on individual cases but admitted it would be difficult getting witnesses to come forward because some cases date back a decade.
Montgomery would not speculate on possible repercussions against the Sheriff's Office. When reminded that state statute gives him authority to bring misconduct allegations against public officials for possible removal, he answered: "At this point in time, I am not considering that."
County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, a frequent Arpaio critic, said she wanted the board to examine the sheriff's internal investigation as well.
Board Chairman Andy Kunasek said supervisors would withhold judgment until Montgomery releases his formal opinion. Chiefs of staff for Supervisors Don Stapley and Max Wilson said the supervisors agreed.
Supervisor Fulton Brock could not be reached for comment.
"There should not be one uninvestigated crime," Kunasek said. "But we have to wait. And as this process goes through, I know there's parents, fathers, mothers, grandparents. It's a terribly painful item to even have in our community."
Dozens of community activists aired their opinions Wednesday on various issues regarding Arpaio: sex crimes, immigration enforcement, even $103.7million in funds misspent by the Sheriff's Office since 2004.
Sheriff's supporters and opponents sat on opposite sides of the supervisors' auditorium Wednesday, heckling and booing each other, and coughing loudly over speakers they did not support. Security officers eventually stepped in and warned them to be civil.
Reach the reporter at michelle.lee@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8290.markrosewater:
So Matt wanted to contribute a joke for this week’s “Tales from the Pit” Templated lyrics theme. It didn’t come lose to fitting but it was to good not to let you all see it.
Enjoy:
Christmas
Enchantment
2RG
Cast Christmas only if you have a teammate and that teammate is your true love.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a day counter on Christmas. Then create twelve 1/1 green Human Spellshaper creature tokens with “G, T, Discard a card: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn” if there are twelve or more day counters on Christmas. Then create eleven 1/1 green Elf Shaman creature tokens with “G, T: You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield” if there are eleven or more day counters on Christmas. Then create ten 1/1 white Human Lord creature tokens with “U: This creature gains flying until end of turn” if there are ten or more day counters on Christmas. Then create nine 2/2 green Centaur creature tokens with forestwalk if there nine or more day counters on Christmas. Then create eight 1/1 green Elf creature tokens with “G: Target creature gains trample until end of turn” if there are eight or more day counters on Christmas. Then create seven 4/3 white and blue Bird Spirit creature tokens with flying and “If a source would deal damage to this creature, prevent that damage. The source’s controller draws cards equal to the damage prevented this way” if there are seven or more day counters on Christmas. Then create six 1/1 white Bird creature tokens with flying and “T: Create a 0/1 white Egg creature token” if there are six or more day counters on Christmas. Then choose two or more colors and create five Ring artifact tokens that are the chosen colors if there are five or more day counters on Christmas. Then take a breath. Then create four blue Bird creature tokens with flying and “T: Target attacking creature has base power 0 until end of turn” if there are four or more day counters on Christmas. Puis créez trois jetons de creature 1/1 blanche Oiseau avec le vol si elle a au moins trois marqueurs jour sur Noël. Then create two 2/2 blue and green Turtle Bird creature tokens if there are two or more day counters on Christmas. Then create a 2/2 green Bird creature token with flying and bands with Treefolk. Then put Christmas on the bottom of its owner’s library if there are twelve counters on Christmas.Most media houses, from time to time, publish special supplements on a given topic,which are used as special vehicles for more targeted advertising, and may include paid content and advertorials—newspaper or magazine advertisements that give information about a product in the form of an editorial. These may range from supplements on industries, events, or specific topics, to those on government bodies. In January 2012, the Sunday Guardian—a Noida-based Sunday newspaper that was founded by MJ Akbar, an erstwhile journalist, who is now a national spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—published a special supplement on the Gujarat government, which was headed by Narendra Modi at that time.
The internal emails of Essar—an Indian conglomerate that has investments in sectors such as steel, infrastructure and energy—reveal that the newspaper had approached Essar and offered the company advertising space in the supplement. Interestingly, in its communication with potential advertisers, the newspaper also sent out a letter from the Gujarat information and broadcast department that reiterated the support of the state government to the supplement. The letter, signed by principal secretary in the information and broadcasting department stated, “Here we see an opportunity for our Industries, Government, Corporate, Private sector and Business houses to be part of this special supplement in promoting our achievements and conveying the message of Gujarat to the readers of this newspaper.”SSM survey challenges 'demonstrably without substance', High Court finds
Updated
Two failed challenges brought against the same-sex marriage postal survey were insubstantial, and misunderstood the limits of the fund used to pay for the poll, the High Court has reasoned in documents published today.
The court delivered its decision with just days to go to the planned start of the survey, but has taken until now to explain its ruling.
A group lead by independent MP Andrew Wilkie and another led by Australian Marriage Equality claimed the survey was not constitutionally valid during a hearing in Melbourne earlier this month.
The main thrust of both arguments was the money for the survey had not been properly appropriated by the Parliament, and thus could not be used legally.
The Government had used a fund set aside for urgent and unforeseen spending to draw the $122 million needed to run the survey.
While the court agreed the Constitution did specify the money had to be properly appropriated, it went on to note that did not mean the Government had overstepped its powers.
Powers 'go back to first act of Parliament'
The challengers argued the passage of the appropriation bill, including the special fund, delegated a power to the Finance Minister that was outside the constitution.
In its judgement the court restated the history of the provision used for the money, going back to the very first act passed by the Australian Parliament.
That act included the power to allocate money to portfolios, with a small portion of money allocated as an Advance to the Treasurer.
The court said that did not allow a treasurer to use unappropriated money, but rather to allocate money from a fund that had already been appropriated.
"What it did was to permit the Treasurer to authorise the delegating to other heads of expenditure, of amounts issued from the Consolidated Revenue Fund under the authority of the Advance to the Treasurer," the reasons said.
The court noted that law had changed little over the years, even after a Finance Ministry was introduced to the mix.
In 2000 there was a complete overhaul, and expenditure could only be made for urgent or unforeseen events.
The judgement for what was urgent or unforeseen was up to the Finance Minister.
The court rejected arguments the Finance Minister was obliged to consider whether such an allocation should be referred for parliamentary approval.
Plaintiffs' standing deemed irrelevant
The court also rejected the suggestion the need for the money must arise from a source external to government.
It found there was no evidence that limitation applies.
In its ruling the court said where the needed expenditure did not exceed the fund then it was available, so long as the Minister was satisfied it met the key criteria of being either urgent or unforeseen.
"That is the reason the amount... was appropriated in the first place," the court said.
The court had also been asked to rule on whether either of the challengers even had standing to bring the case.
Its judgement said there was no need to make a decision, given the result.
"The merits of the grounds relied on by the plaintiffs in the Wilkie proceeding and the AME proceeding having been fully argued and the court having unanimously reached the conclusion that those grounds were demonstrably without substance," the court found.
"It was similarly unnecessary to determine whether the plaintiffs in those proceedings or any of them had standing in order to reject their claims for relief."
The result of the same-sex marriage survey will be released in November.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, marriage, lgbt, community-and-society, canberra-2600, act, australia
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Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISIFormer MI6 chief admits it's 'impossible' to keep tabs on every Briton fighting in Syria as he estimates 300 have already come back to the UK
Former MI6 chief estimates 'up to 300 people' are already back in UK
Richard Barrett says intelligence services will have to prioritise greatest risk
It has emerged about 500 Britons believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq
MP warns 1,500 Britons may have been recruited by extremists in Syria and Iraq
A former director of MI6 has warned intelligence services faced an 'impossible' task of tracking the hundreds of Britons who have returned to UK after fighting in Syria.
Richard Barrett, a former head of counter-terrorism at MI6, estimated 'possibly up to 300 people have come back to the UK' already.
His comments came after it was claimed that around 500 Britons may have travelled to Syria and Iraq - a higher estimate than the 400 claimed by Foreign Secretary William Hague.
Richard Barrett, a former director of MI6, has warned intelligence services faced an 'impossible' task of tracking the hundreds of Britons who have returned to UK after fighting in Syria
Mr Barrett told the BBC: 'Clearly they'll have to prioritise and they'll have to choose those that they think are likely to pose the greatest risk.
'Beyond that I think they'll have to rely very much on members of the community and other people expressing their concern and worry about the behaviour of perhaps their returned friend or family member.'
Mr Barrett said that while recruiting networks across Europe suggested of greater radicalisation than people just going on their own, it did not necessarily indicate that people would progress from fighting in Syria to being a terrorist at home.
Police across the UK have made 65 Syria-related arrests over the last 18 months, including 40 in the first three months of this year alone.
Sir Peter Fahy, who leads on the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said 'huge amounts of material' was being taken down from the internet every week as part of the effort to stop people being radicalised.
Yesterday, a top counter-terrorism expert warned Britain will feel the repercussions of Syria and the rise of Islamic extremism within its own borders for'many years' to come.
Recruitment video: Nasser Muthana, 20, (right) and Reyaad Khan (left) appear in an Isis recruitment video in Syria
Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner and head of specialist operations, warned that Britain would feel the long-term consequences of the conflict.
She said it represented a terrorist threat to the UK, and that young British Muslims who have travelled to the war-torn country to fight might commit violence when they return.
'I'm afraid I believe that we will be living with the consequences of Syria - from a terrorist point of view, let alone the world, geopolitical consequences - for many, many, many years to come,' Ms Dick told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.
Former Tory defence secretary Liam Fox warned that Britain's security services may need greater powers of surveillance to monitor British fighters returning from Iraq and Syria
The warnings come after footage emerged online apparently showing several young British jihadists in Syria in a recruitment video for the extremist militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis), in which they urge UK Muslims to join insurgents there and in Iraq.
One of the men has been identified as 20-year-old Nasser Muthana, from Cardiff.
Another has been identified as Reyaad Khan, 20, a former pupil at Cardiff’s Cantonian High School.
Nasser Muthana is thought to have travelled to Syria with his 17-year-old brother Aseel Muthana.
The father of the two brothers has spoken of his shock and said he feared his sons would be killed if they stayed in the country.
Ahmed Muthana said he believes they were brainwashed in the UK.
Mr Muthana said he felt his son had let down both his family and his country, saying: 'This is my country. I came here aged 13 from Aden when I was orphaned. It his his country. He was born here in the hospital down the road. He has been educated here. He has betrayed Great Britain.'
A mosque in the city where the brothers worshipped meanwhile has distanced itself from the struggle in Syria and said it was not the source of radicalism, despite claims that a notorious Saudi cleric had preached there.
Former Cardiff councillor Mohammed Sarul Islam told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning he did not believe young men in the city were being radicalised in mosques but instead some had been influenced by 'internet clerics.'
Former Tory defence secretary Liam Fox warned that Britain's security services may need greater powers of surveillance to monitor British fighters returning from Iraq and Syria and said officials could need more freedom to intercept communications by extremists.
He told the Guardian that the UK needed to'reconsider' the argument of restricting the powers of the state, saying: 'The whole area of intercept needs to be looked at. We have got a real debate, and it is a genuine debate in a democracy, between the libertarians who say the state must not get too powerful and pretty much the rest of us who say the state must protect itself.'
But the Financial Times reported that the Foreign Office was halving its counter-terrorism budget, slashing it from £30m a year to £15m as part of plans to cut £100m from the department's budget by next year.
MP Khalid Mahmood today told Sky News that the number of young Britons recruited by extremists in Iraq and Syria may be as high as 1,500.
He said border controls needed to be stepped up 'in order to ensure that we see the people coming through and deal with them.'
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: 'Countering terrorism is one of the Government's top priorities and it therefore remains one of the FCO's largest programmes.Overnighter in Forbes State Forest
Late summer in our region is a precarious time to camp; some nights can be downright uncomfortably hot, and we were specifically trying to escape the heat wave of the weekend, so we headed towards the closest peak we could get to by sunset: the Laurel Summit. It didn’t take much planning, and I wanted to test out some new gear, so without much thought we headed east.
We were testing out my new ALPS Aeries |
higher. As Golden put it: "The principals said: 'You want reporting? We'll give you reporting." Not to worry. It was only temporary. New Superintendent Arlene Ackerman arrived in 2008 and, as if in celebration (or realizing the heat from HQ was off) the number of incidents reported dropped. Violence in the schools? Problem solved. Of course, that didn't mean the public schools were any safer - then or now. As the Inquirer series makes clear many schools are not safe. Violent incidents do happen. Children are bullied, beaten up, attacked, harassed and otherwise terrorized by fellow students. Teachers are beaten and roughed up, too. Alas, this is not new. As one person who posted a comment on the series noted, it could have been written 20 years ago. The fact that it hasn't changed is a scandal. There is a lot that is unreal about the situation - the phony numbers reported by the district is one example - but what is real is the widely held belief among parents that their children are not safe in what are supposed to be sanctuaries of safety. It is what fuels their desire - often desperate desire - to flee to Catholic schools, if they can afford them, or to charter schools. These are true sanctuaries in Philadelphia today. Parents are not stupid. They know, despite the district's protestations to the contrary, that the fundamentals of the situation have not, nor are they likely to change. The turmoil of the streets - petty feuds, gangs, drugs, bad behavior, the whole witches' brew - does intrude into schools. And why not? It is where young people spend most of their day. We can't hold school officials responsible for that intrusion. What we can hold them responsible for is how they respond. How do they mete out justice? What steps do they take to remove bad actors? What policies and programs do they have in place to limit their recurrence or spread? The district has official responses to each of these questions. Zero tolerance. Improved reporting procedures. "We are doing our best." Here are the real answers: One. When it comes to reporting incidents, they finagle. The numbers the district offers are not trustworthy. They tend to understate - sometimes vastly - the extent of children behaving badly or violently. They cannot be relied on to provide reliable numbers. Not now. Not 10 years ago. Not tomorrow. Not ever. The culture of rewarding those who underreport is too deeply ingrained. Two. When it comes to going after bad actors, the district's policy is inconsistent and ineffectual. Too often, justice is first delayed and then denied. Numerous studies - internal and external - have revealed the inadequacy of the district's system for dealing with troublesome students and the whole panoply of "incidents" that happen in schools, One particular problem is that a whole class of students - those in special education- are, in effect, exempt from the normal disciplinary process to the degree that special ed students who engage in violent acts are sometimes returned to the classroom sooner than their victims recover from the assault. The result is a 'Through the Looking Glass' Bizarro World where principals who are honest and thorough about reporting incidents are stigmatized for running out-of -control schools and students who are bullied - and stay home because of fear of having the crap beat out of them - are treated as truants by the district and suspended for missing classes. This is not a problem. This is a tragedy. And how do we deal with it? I offer two general ideas: Do not, under any circumstances, allow the district to "solve" this problem. Look to outsiders, with independence and authority --not only oversee the district's disciplinary apparatus, but to run it. Throw out all the restricting court agreements, provisos, political settlements, internal memorandum and dictums on discipline and replace them with a one-page plan of action - again, devised by outsiders - to deal with violence and mayhem. Send a copy to every parent and child and let them know these are the rules - the real rules - we will live under from this day forward. And enforce them. -- Tom Ferrick View the discussion thread. blog comments powered by DisqusLast week's college football headlines were dominated by expansion chatter emanating from the Big 12, which has been a 10-team league since 2012, when it went from being a 14-team league to an eight-team league to the current dime roster.
If you are surprised to hear the Big 12 kicking around the idea of adding a pair of new schools, thus adding a conference championship game, its first since 2010, and getting back in line with its other four Power 5 brethren, then... why in the world are you surprised?
If you were surprised at this, then you'll probably also be surprised at the next inevitable step for all five of those conferences: one more round of expansion and realignment across the board. This will be the final great tectonic shift that forever breaks the Power 5 away on their own, becoming some sort of self-governed alliance of 16-team conferences.
To those folks, that's a perfect world. To a lot of other folks, it's not, particularly those schools within the Group of 5 busy trying to build a program that might become the next TCU, Boise State or Utah.
But if that's where this is indeed all headed, what would that perfect Power 5 membership scenario look like? For the sake of dreaming, let's forget about the money-grubbing insanity that leads to moves like Maryland in the Big Ten or West Virginia in the Big 12. Instead, let's imagine what would work best from a purely regional, purely football point of view. A world where conferences worry more about dominating their corner of the map instead of invading others, giving us true regional representatives in their conference championship games and then the College Football Playoff (which, by the way, should stay at four -- my feelings on this are well-documented -- though I know it won't).
Here's my version of that 16-team Power 5 Utopia.
Note: New members are in italics, while those switching divisions are denoted with an asterisk.
Big 16
North
Air Force
BYU
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas Tech
South
Baylor
Texas
TCU
SMU
Tulane
New Mexico
Houston
Rice
We start in the Big 12 because it has the most work to do, finding six schools to add, and those moves will alter what everyone else ultimately does. The Big 12 North heads for the Rockies to add BYU and Air Force. That brings two new states into the fold, adds the prestige of a service academy and a pair of good football schools with history between them (never bring up 1984 and BYU to a true Air Force fan).
The Big 12 South is an Art Briles dream, a nearly all-Texas division (sorry, Texas Tech, but you were too far north) that adds newbies Houston, SMU and Rice. This is the mentality that conferences should have -- lock down the homeland! It creates old-school regional pride, revives some old-school regional rivalries, and just might help shore up defenses against the growing recruiting invasion from outside conferences (read: SEC). But what about adding new TV markets and new states? That's why we go get New Mexico and Tulane. Yeah, I said it, New Mexico and Tulane.
But I hear you out there. "What about Memphis?" Funny you should bring that up...
SEC
East
Auburn*
Charlotte (ECU/UCF?)
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
West
Alabama
Arkansas
LSU
Memphis
Mississippi State
Missouri*
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
The Tigers are now in their natural habitat, the SEC West. It's a good media market, surrounded by natural rivals in Ole Miss, Vandy, Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky, and adding them to the conference locks down all three chunks of the Volunteer State for the SEC, forever and ever, amen. Joining them in the West will be Missouri as we ship Auburn off to the East.
So, who does the SEC add in the East? This is tricky. Rumors persist that it covets North Carolina and/or Virginia, and UCF keeps coming up as big market in Florida. But none of the Tobacco Road schools are leaving, and neither is Virginia Tech. Even if they did, the post-Maryland defection escape fee is way too steep. And the SEC already owns central Florida via the Gators. So, would it consider rolling the dice on a fledgling like Charlotte? It's a big media market located just up the road from South Carolina, a school the ACC wants nothing to do with, and the home of SEC Network HQ. Just saying...
Speaking of the ACC...
ACC
Southern Division
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Miami
North Carolina
NC State
Wake Forest
Northern Division
Boston College
Connecticut
Louisville
Pitt
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
West Virginia (Navy?)
The perpetually confusing Atlantic and Coastal divisions are gone, replaced with the Southern, which is a Tobacco Road lineup sure to make jilted old-school ACC fans happy, and the Northern, which is sure to make jilted old-school Big East fans happy. The Northern division adds UConn and West Virginia. Yes, I said West Virginia. Show of hands: Who thinks the Mountaineers are a great fit in the Big 12? Oliver Luck, put your hand down, you don't even work there anymore. The addition of WVU and Connecticut fill in the missing pieces that would now allow the ACC map to truly cover the entire coast in its name.
But wait, isn't Notre Dame supposed to be in the ACC?
Big Ten
East Division
Cincinnati
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers
West Division
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Purdue
Wisconsin
Yes, per Notre Dame's contract with the ACC, should they ever join a conference football-wise, that's where they would end up. But this is our Power 5 Utopia, where we can do whatever feels right. And the Irish feel right in the Big Ten. They just do. Remember our regionalism mantra!
In Ryan McGee's ideal world of college football expansion, Notre Dame and Michigan would be conference rivals, even if it can't happen in real life. Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports
In that spirit, we're also recruiting Cincinnati to lock down Ohio. Get over it, Ohio State. This would lead to some awesome in-state squawking, and you know it. And as much I want to move Maryland back to the ACC or do the same with Rutgers, that's never happening. Maryland and the ACC are like your aunt and uncle who were last seen throwing Thanksgiving dinner at each other. It doesn't matter how pretty their wedding pictures are. Those photos are old and crusty now. They're never getting back together, not even in our Utopia.
Pac-16
North
Boise State
Cal
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
Utah*
Washington
Washington State
South
Arizona
Arizona State
Colorado
Colorado State (Air Force?)
Hawaii
UCLA
UNLV (Nevada?)
USC
The Pac-12, er, Pac-16, has the chance to paint the most beautifully solid corner of our fancy map, a virtual Louisiana Purchase of football. They're adding another school in Colorado, locking Idaho to join Utah, whom we're moving to the North division, and even going out into the ocean to add Hawaii as well. But who joins them in the South? With big schools throughout the region, especially in California, there are a lot of options, including San Diego State (TV market!). However, if we're serious about adding states and media markets, then doesn't UNLV make sense? And this is where I tell you to spare me on the academics argument. I'm still waiting on the part of the College Football Playoff selection committee Q&A when the chairman says, "Well, we really wanted to put them in the field, but honestly, their chemistry department really isn't up to our standards."
Well, my markers are dried out after all that map coloring. So, let's get on with flipping this field.
The other guys: The last piece to this puzzle would be the pile of schools that have been left out. Many within the industry foresee the former Group of 5 becoming the new FCS. I hate that. So why not create regions for these schools, too? Think of East and West divisions that play an ever-shifting schedule. Any school that survives that bunkhouse stampede plus a crossover game against a Power 5 program would certainly be worthy of a big postseason bid. Is that totally fair? No, but that's as close as we're getting to it after 16-team expansion. Even in Utopia. No one knows this better than the administrators at those schools, many of whom have talked to me over the past year about their panic over the last expansion/realignment train pulling out of the station. "I love how people say, you really need to be making some phone calls to the Big 12," one Group of 5 athletic director told me last week. "Yeah, thanks for the tip, like we haven't been doing that already. You will be told otherwise, but the lobbying has never stopped, and not just to the Big 12."
The Tommy West coach's news conference of the week: Nick Saban, Alabama. Saban did some media rounds late last week prior to presumably going into the same summer hiding that all coaches slip into by the end of the month. One of those stops was by the Paul Finebaum Show, during which he declared that college football needs a czar. "I think we need a commissioner of college football. I think we need somebody who, whether it's just the five major conferences or whatever, who can be unbiased about how decisions are getting made about what can and can't be done. And, you know, have the best interests of college football, just like the NFL has a commissioner that [makes] a lot of tough decisions. Sometimes they affect players adversely, but sometimes they, they definitely always are about the integrity of the game and what's best for the game." He mentioned satellite camps, recruiting, and said "unbiased" again. He was very careful to say he wasn't criticizing the NCAA, but added: "It's difficult for an organization of that size to take one sport that has gotten so large like college football and had got great fan interest and is very important in a lot of ways to a lot of people... um... and not have somebody who just sort of has that as their center of attention." Finebaum's question that led to those remarks included that Saban had once told him that he would like that job once he's done coaching. Can you imagine those weekly news conferences? That Coca-Cola bottle might finally boil over. Like every week.
Drop it in, then: Last month I visited Stanford and Cal during their spring practices and sneaked down to San Jose State, but the team had the day off. Still, I strolled around empty Spartan Stadium. I liked it. But I did think to myself, man, the top of that home side is a long way up there. And that makes this trick shot from quarterback Kenny Potter even more ridonculous.
Drop it in then 😎 pic.twitter.com/nXYsdFyHaH — Kenny Potter (@kpot_5) May 5, 2016
But not as ridonculous as... Prep defensive end/tight end Logan Rudolph, who says you can take your "choose a ball cap" high school gym announcement and shove it. Because a man who can rock shirtless Daisy Dukes while swinging an ax, all set to the "Top Gun" soundtrack, is more American than a bald eagle eating a hot dog at a monster truck rally.
"Oh, I didn't see you there."
Three-star DE recruit pauses chopping down a tree to verbally commit to Clemson. https://t.co/n7U9i1dDul — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 7, 2016
Paging Taylor Swift... No, Ms. Swift, Tennessee running back Jalen Hurd does not hate cardio, does not listen to Drake, and here, he somehow does not allow himself to get launched across the gym floor, though I have no earthly idea how.
12Mph resistance incline running pic.twitter.com/aBkA0IPPNj — Jalen Hurd (@MrHurd_1) May 3, 2016
The offseason blues: You have to figure this happens all the time at Boise State, right?
For the millionth time, it's not a lake, dude pic.twitter.com/vcA19kNsec — Boise State Football (@BroncoSportsFB) May 2, 2016
Extra point: As mentioned earlier, UCF is a name that keeps coming up when it comes to expansion and realignment movement, thanks to a nice media market, a location in the center of the Florida recruiting paradise, and, though it might be hard to recall after last year's Bottom 10 title, its BCS bowl berth just three years ago. Well, the Knights' uniform game already feels like a Power 5 school, as evidenced by last week's Twitter tease.OUR LATEST VIDEOS OUR LATEST VIDEOS
Throughout the history of gaming, our medium has been heavily driven by technological innovation. Every new console generation affords game development higher limits and new frontiers. Most commonly we recognize new ceilings in graphical fidelity as a gold standard of technological development. With the recent release of the Nintendo Switch and the rise of VR headsets, the means by which we control games has also become a measuring stick for technological development.
One developing aspect of gaming that I think has flown under the radar is the leaps we’ve seen in audio power through the years. To avoid starting any console wars, I’ve decided to use older examples. The Playstation One’s sound processor (SPU) had 512 kb RAM. The amount of available sound RAM would quadruple in the Playstation Two. Going back even further, we find that the Sega Genesis sported about 8 kb of sound RAM while the SNES had a whopping 64 kb of sound RAM. There are many other aspects of audio specifications beyond sound RAM; indeed, some consoles defer audio to the CPU while others seems to have varying sound chips based on manufacture date and region.
Overall, my point is this – sound is obviously something that is considered in console design. After all, Sony and AMD made headlines when it became known that the PS4 would use AMD’s True Audio tech. As always, we must ask ourselves: “Why?” What does audio add to the average gamer’s experience? The answer is: A heck of a lot more than you’d expect.
Improvements in things like sound memory (as well as other kinds of technology) have enabled sound effects, music, and voice acting to reach richer and more complex heights. Hell, in the history of gaming, technology capable of handling widespread voice acting is a fairly recent phenomena. This newfound complexity and depth has led to larger AAA game budgets (just as growing complexity in graphics, and physics engines have ballooned game budgets). However, underneath the bottom line, there is something more fundamental that is thrust into contention as complexity in sound design grows.
To see what’s at stake in as far as sound design goes, let us visit the uncanny valley. Typically, the term “Uncanny Valley” is a term used in reference to visual character design. A character is considered “uncanny” when a character seems life-like, but is not quite life-like enough to pass as flawlessly human. The ultimate result is an unsettling “uncanny” feeling. In other words, something about the depiction feels off. Something feels incomplete. I would argue that this phenomena is even stronger in sound design. A quick look at some of the more embarrassing moments in the history of video game design reveal the extent to which sound can be uncanny.
Consider, for a moment, the infamous laughing scene with Titus from FF10. Or the “master of unlocking” line from Resident Evil. Recently, Watch Dogs 1 found itself in hot water over a lack of bullet impact sounds or effects on water and various surfaces. The reason these moments feel so off is because the “uncanny valley.” The world, as it is presented, is played straight but a technical or aesthetic component leaves the setting flawed and incomplete. As such, sound – especially sound in games with high production budgets plays a very important role in making a world feel “whole.”
On the flip side, sound effects done well quickly become iconic. How many times have you heard someone with a Metal Gear Solid “alert” sound as their text tone? Same goes for the Mario Bros. “Coin Sound.” In both cases these individual sound effects (which are both less than a second long) have become inseparable from the game in which they originate. These sounds conveyed the setting of their respective games so well that they became symbolic of the game as a whole. Very rarely does this sort of phenomena occur in other mediums such as film, but it happens quite often in games.
Similarly, sound plays an important role in Esports for an entirely different reason. In often times sounds in competitive games will act as indicators and clues. In a game such as Counter Strike you can hear your opponent’s footsteps in the next room over, you can tell if they are walking on carpet or on wood. One can ascertain that the gunman around the corner has an AWP because of the distinct sound made by the weapon when it is fired. Nearly every Esports game (especially first person shooters!) has numerous tutorials on how to “read sound” in any given situation. As such, in Esports, it is important for the different sounds in game to be consistent and clear. If they were anything less, the sound effects could actually undermine the balance and skill ceiling of the game.
The audio cues that are so critical in Esports are often just as important in horror games. In a 2015 study out of Leiden University, Gizem Kockesen switched around the sound effects in Amnesia to study the effects. Her study found that gamers relied on the sound effects in game to act as cues. From there they adjusted their behavior in terms of those cues. This led the study to conclude the following: “First of all, it was shown that if a game starts with reliable audio cues which slowly become unreliable players’ fear levels increase; this can be used to make survival horror games scarier.” This conclusion makes sense; without reliable cues, players partially lose the ability to make informed game play decisions.
Of course, no discussion of game audio would be complete without touching on how music is used in the medium. Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote that “Music conveys to us itself!” This statement is an articulation of what might be known as musical formalism- that is a sense that the meaning of music is contained within the formal structure of the music itself. Video games, like film, reject musical formalism for expressionism. Unlike musical formalism, musical expressionism seeks to create meaning through feeling and emotion. Soundtracks rely on the mood and emotional upswells as a means of conveying setting. Video game soundtracks in particular need to account for the fact that the individual tracks that make up the soundtrack are often extremely situational. Think about how many games have “battle music” for example; or games that have “victory music” or “defeat music.”
One type of game, however, does seem at least a little bit more formalistic in its approach to music; that is, music games themselves. Music games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band revel in the structure of individual songs by involving the players in those structures. Players are measured by their ability to connect mechanically with the structures of the music. Because they plunge the players so deeply in the actual architecture of the music, these music games often rely on visual aesthetics very heavily to convey mood and tone.
With all of that said, how does one write a good and memorable soundtrack for a game? To some extent this is a subjective process. However, there are two aspects that stand out to me about the way games are built as things that have to be considered when writing music for games. First, video games are repetitive. Second, music in games depend heavily on eventual and emotional context. In my view, understanding the unique characteristics of video games is key to writing good game music.
Unfortunately, there are those who are left out of the experience of sound in video games – the hearing impaired. As James Knack says in Making Deaf Accessible Games is Hard, without sound “The huge explosion behind you, as far as you know, didn’t even happen.” In my own research, it seems there are very few games that have closed captioning beyond subtitles. There are almost none that employ closed captioning in a creative and innovative way that does not distract from gameplay. Knack calls for the industry to step up and make a change – I for one, agree. The video game development process, especially for AAA games, has reached a point of complexity where there really is no excuse not to be as inclusive and as innovative possible in this regard, lest more and more folks be left behind.
In an article written for Polygon, Richard Moss argues that “Accessibility benefits everyone.” he continues: “It encourages creativity on the parts of designers.” In his article, Knack applauds the innovation of Thomas Was Alone as far as its experimentation with subtitling. In this way, I think that Moss’ and Knack’s thesis’ line up nicely. Accessibility takes creativity, but we all benefit if everyone has a seat at the table.
Thus, the future of sound in video games is more complicated than increased audio RAM or more expensive music soundtracks… at least I hope so. The future of sound in video games has to do with making sound itself just as expressive and interesting for those who those who might have trouble accessing it. At present, although accessibility is incomplete, sound serves a rich purpose in video games because, as we’ve seen, sound goes a long way to build the worlds in which we play.A disgruntled ex-employee pulled out a container of gasoline, poured it around the office and then lit a fire before fleeing, the company's CEO said. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Erica Demarest
CHICAGO — A disgruntled ex-employee threatened his former boss before setting the office of Deliver My Grub on fire Friday, seriously injuring a female employee, according to the CEO of the company.
Deliver My Grub, which has an office in Avondale and delivers restaurant items to customers, let the employee go about two months ago, CEO Jimmy Griggs said. At the time, the employee had refused to accept back pay, Griggs said, but he later demanded it so Griggs was working with lawyers to sort it out.
The employee called Griggs on Friday afternoon and threatened him, saying he wanted his money in 24 hours or Griggs "would see what was going to happen," Griggs said.
About an hour after the phone call, at 4:35 p.m., the man walked into Deliver My Grub's office at 3058 W. Belmont Ave. and began knocking over furniture, Griggs said. A staff member tried to stop the man, at which point the ex-employee pulled out a container of gasoline, poured it around the office and then lit a fire before fleeing, Griggs said, citing reports from his employees.
A 45-year-old woman who works at Deliver My Grub slipped in the gasoline and became "engulfed in flames," sustaining serious injuries to her legs and lower body, Griggs said. He said another employee pushed the woman out of the flames.
Officer Jose Estrada, Chicago Police spokesman, said the woman was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in serious condition.
Griggs, who spoke to DNAinfo Chicago while driving to the hospital to visit his employee, said she is in "good spirits" and that he was told she is past the point of risk from her burns. He has not been able to visit the office to see how badly it was damaged, he said.
Deliver My Grub is open for business since it uses Web-based technology, but Griggs said his "whole staff is shaken up."
"I'm just thankful that everyone's alive," Griggs said, adding that he wants the ex-employee to be apprehended.
Police are still searching for the ex-employee and charges have not yet been filed, Estrada said.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:On December 19, 2012 Alex Stuck will turn twenty-three years old. While we’re all still hoping that a plea agreement can be reached between now and then, the bitter reality is that Alex may be spending his birthday in the Cook County Jail. A conference is scheduled for Dec 7 which will determine whether a plea deal can be reached or whether the case will proceed to trial. As friends and comrades of Alex, never does a day go by that we don’t think about the dedication Alex displays in the struggle against fascist terrorism in our communities.
We do want to make sure that Alex has as good of a day as is possible. In order that he should hopefully receive it by his birthday, letters and other packages should be sent as soon as possible. PLEASE! If you’ve got an extra fifteen minutes just send Alex a short letter to wish him a happy birthday! It’ll mean a lot to him.
To put a couple extra dollars directly on his commissary fund use Moneygram Bill Pay, which can be found at most drug and grocery stores. Use the code #1750 for Cook County Department of Corrections and send the money to inmate code:
20120521142ASTUCK
Alex will receive the money instantly and maybe this way he can have a birthday feast of tuna fish and ramen noodles! You can also continue to get money to Alex and the rest of the Tinley Park Five via WePay.
Wanna Send Alex a Birthday Toast?
If you’d like to send a toast Alex’s way for his birthday, take a picture of you and your crew toasting Cody on your phone anytime between now and December 2. Send the funniest, sexiest, sweetest, proudest, drunkest or smartest picture you can come up with for your toast and send it to:
TinleyPark5@Yahoo.com
with something along the lines of “Happy Birthday Alex” in the subject line. When Alex gets out (hopefully soon), we’ll show him all the photos of his friends and comrades all over the world raising a glass to him. Hopefully this way we can replace a piece of his stolen birthday.
We miss you Alex! Solidarity! Happy Birthday!
Advertisements.- Former prisoners, legal advocates and United Nations officials spoke out in Washington, D.C., against the use of solitary confinement for long periods of time, as well as for juveniles, the disabled and pregnant women.
Juan Mendez, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, called in a Feb. 25 press conference for “recognition of the adverse physical, mental and emotional impacts of solitary confinement,” along with “the development of procedures to safeguard against its application for excessive periods of time.”
The Washington, D.C., press conference, co-hosted by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and the American Civil Liberties Union, preceded a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights.
Participants asked that federal and state prisons be encouraged to ban the use of solitary confinement on juveniles, pregnant women and the mentally ill as part of a larger reassessment of the practice.
Mendez applauded states such as New York, Colorado and Mississippi, which have made various changes to reform solitary confinement policy, such as giving prisoners more time outside of cells, and passing laws to protect juveniles.
Still, he said, solitary confinement poses serious risks to prisoners, and there are many improvements to be made within the American prison system.
“The use of prolonged solitary confinement of any kind should be prohibited at all times because it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment,” Mendez said, warning that any solitary confinement lasting more than 15 days is dangerous, because “many of the harmful physical and psychological effects of isolation can become irreversible.”
However, he continued, “this is not to say than any solitary confinement lasting less than 15 days is completely justified,” but instead, the matter should be considered on a “case by case” basis, weighing the prisoner's background, action, and the circumstances of the confinement process at the prison in question.
He also warned that due to the harsh conditions surrounding solitary confinement, “actual torture will go undetected and uncharged” in many cases.
Mendez called for an acknowledgement of the impact of solitary confinement, particularly on juveniles, pregnant women and the mentally ill, as well as those who are isolated for long periods of time.
He urged that discipline “must be proportional” to the crime of the detainee and stressed that “solitary confinement must not be imposed unless there is an affirmative determination that it will not result in severe mental or physical pain or suffering.”
Also speaking at the event was Five Mualimm-ak of the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement. Mualimm-ak spent five years – more than 40,000 hours – in solitary confinement in a New York state prison.
He explained that a typical solitary confinement cell is about “the size of your bathroom,” and that the “rec area” provided to prisoners for recreation is “like going into the shower.”
During his time in solitary confinement, Mualimm-ak said, he suffered permanent emotional and psychological damage, asking attendees to imagine the “sensory deprivation” that accompanies living in a small cell with little to no human touch, new sights, or sounds other than “the footsteps of people walking by.”
While in solitary confinement, he said, he was only able to speak to his children through a slit in his cell, and was not able to touch them.
“We are part of a spiritual and human crisis, and we need to make change,” Mualimm-ak stressed.
Rabbi Rachel Gartner of T’ruah: A Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, delivered the closing prayer at the event. She asked that the hearings on solitary confinement may “make our nation see that the cost of solitary confinement to our conscience is way too high.”(Photo Courtesy of Gillette Stadium)
The NCAA Tournament Championship Weekend is returning to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., for the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the NCAA announced Tuesday a.m. Additionally, the NCAA announced that the 2017 DI Quarterfinals will be hosted by Hofstra and Delaware, and by Hofstra and Navy in 2018.
Gillette Stadium is home to the highest single-day crowd in Championship Weekend history, as 48,970 fans watched the 2008 championship game between Hopkins and Syracuse. Gillette last hosted Championship Weekend in 2012 when Loyola beat Maryland in the national championship game.
NCAA Championship Weekend overall attendance has dropped every year since its peak in 2007 at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, which hosted 123,225 fans over the weekend. Between then and last year’s final in Philadelphia, that number has dropped to 72,897.
The 2016 championship will again be hosted at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Philadelphia was awarded the NCAA bid during a bid cycled that ended in late 2013. Prior to that announcement, the NCAA said it would announce the next four championships, but it opted to only select two at the time and re-opened this current bid cycle. Through reporting since then, Inside Lacrosse learned that Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium did not bid on hosting Championship Weekend any time in that four-year window. Ohio Stadium in Columbus was among site to put in for a bid for the 2017 and ’18 games.
Much speculation has been made about the future of Championship Weekend. During the IMCLA Convention, coaches at the DI level were more open than in the past to moving the game later into the summer or returning back to college campuses. That was not an option for 2017 and ’18, as the bid process had already been opened.
The last notes from the Division I committee meeting said the committee would seek feedback from the membership about the future of the lacrosse championships.
The NCAA has lowered ticket prices and offered different options around Championship Weekend. It also scheduled a youth tournament to run alongside the weekend festivities.
The men’s 2016 NCAA Quarterfinals will be at Ohio Stadium and Brown University.
The women’s NCAA Championship Weekend will be held at WakeMed Stadium in Cary, N.C., in 2017 and at Stony Brook’s Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium in 2018, the NCAA announced in February. The 2016 women’s final will be at Talen Energy Stadium (formerly PPL Park) near Philadelphia.
NCAA Release
The NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Committees for Divisions I, II and III have announced the sites for the 2017 and 2018 men’s lacrosse finals and the 2017 and 2018 Division I men’s lacrosse quarterfinals.
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, will be the site of the 2017 and 2018 Division I semifinals and final, in addition to the Divisions II and III national championship games. These championships will represent the fourth and fifth time that the home of the NFL’s New England Patriots has hosted the event. The championships also took place there in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Harvard University will serve as the host school.
The 2008 Division I men’s lacrosse title game at Gillette Stadium set a record for highest championship game attendance when 48,970 fans attended.
“We are excited about heading back to Gillette Stadium,” said Eugene Doris, chair of the Division I Men’s Lacrosse Committee and athletics director at Fairfield University. “The venue is one of the best in the nation and will provide our student-athletes with a memorable experience. Lacrosse in the New England area continues to explode, and we are excited to bring our event to the area to showcase what NCAA lacrosse is all about.
“It was a very difficult decision for the committee; there were a number of quality facilities and great communities under consideration,” Doris continued. “The committee is grateful to the communities that continue to support and show an interest in the men’s lacrosse championship.”
Robert Kraft, chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group and also owner of the Patriots, looks forward to the lacrosse events.
“We are honored to have earned the bid to host the NCAA men’s lacrosse championships at Gillette Stadium in 2017 and 2018,” he said. “We love to celebrate championships at Gillette Stadium and are eager to host the lacrosse national championship games for the fourth and fifth times. Lacrosse has seen tremendous growth at all levels throughout New England, and the passion and |
enough to thrill any writer: "I am the first person to read that," Smith said to a colleague, "after two thousand years of oblivion."
The announcement that some of those old, broken slabs of clay seemed to confirm the biblical story of the flood and Noah's Ark made headlines and instantly catapulted the brand-new discipline of Assyriology to public attention. Prime Minister William Gladstone even turned up to hear Smith speak on the subject, "the only occasion," one of the scholars observed, "on which the British Prime Minister in office has attended a lecture on Babylonian literature." Finally, when the British Museum refused to cough up the funds to send Smith to the Middle East to dig up more tablets, the Daily Telegraph newspaper raised the money.
Smith, too, seized upon the scenes of the flood as validation of the Old Testament account; many early archaeologists were obsessed with biblical verification. Not everyone agreed, however. The New York Times suggested that the inscription "may be regarded as a confirmation of the statement that there are various traditions of the deluge apart from the Biblical one, which is perhaps legendary like the rest." (In fact, stories of global floods crop up in all sorts of disconnected mythologies.) Certainly, the epic didn't point to human sinfulness as the cause of the flood, as the Bible does. According to Uta-napishtim, the gods wiped out humanity because the exploding population was making too much noise and disturbing their sleep.
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It was the excitement over the religious implications of the fragments, though, that helped fund further expeditions to Nineveh, the site of the buried palace of Ashurbanipal, an Assyrian king who had completely vanished from the historical record, largely because he wasn't mentioned in the Bible. Damrosch describes the unearthing and the translating of the epic largely through the stories of Smith and Hormuzd Rassam, a native of Mosul who fell in love with archaeology while assisting on the first excavations of the ruins of Nineveh, which lay right across the Tigris from his hometown. The working-class Smith and the Iraqi Rassam (a Chaldean Christian) make appealing underdog protagonists for Damrosch, who takes pains to point out the bias they both faced in a field dominated by well-born European amateurs.
The villain of the piece (besides the usual run of unsupportive administrators, and racist explorers) is one E.A. Wallis Budge. Despite his obscure origins, Budge became a kind of celebrity Egyptologist and friend of various aristocrats and literary figures, including H. Rider Haggard and E. Nesbit. (Nesbit based a character on Budge in her children's novel, "The Story of the Amulet.") This prolific man also wrote several books on the history of Assyriology in which the character and contributions of both Smith and Rassam were belittled, and he even removed Rassam's name from placards and other museum documentation. Rassam made the disastrous decision to sue Budge for slander after learning that Budge had been blaming him for the disappearance of artifacts from museum digs. Rassam won his case, but it was one of those lawsuits that proves ruinous even in victory.
"The Buried Book" is an exhumation in its own right; Damrosch hopes to rescue the Iraqi archaeologist's reputation from Budge's calumny. The book is rich in felicitous parallels or analogies, such as Damrosch's comparison of Smith to Henry Morton Stanley, whose expedition to Central Africa in search of the explorer-missionary Dr. David Livingstone was similarly championed and funded by London newspapers. Damrosch has a good eye for the details that make his occasionally stuffy material breathe -- like mentioning that Lewis Carroll carefully clipped out a newspaper story about Smith's discovery and pasted it into his scrapbook or that Rassam charmed Arab nomads with a gift of cake, something they'd never tasted before: "they exclaimed to each other, 'bread flavored with sugar and butter!'"
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This knack really comes in handy when Damrosch writes about the reign of Ashurbanipal, the great Assyrian king in whose library the tablets containing "The Epic of Gilgamesh" were found. Assyrian potentates were a boastful lot, but digging beneath all the fanfaronades and self-aggrandizement, Damrosch has found letters that vividly sketch court life in Nineveh. Ashurbanipal's father, Esarhaddon, apparently suffered from a chronic illness (some scholars have suggested it was lupus). He was also depressed and paranoid, provoking his counselors to write nagging notes ("Is one day not enough for the king to mope and eat nothing? For how long?") and his oracles, speaking for the goddess Ishtar, to dissuade him from losing heart ("I will make you overcome anxiety and trembling"). There's even a message from one of Esarhaddon's sons explaining how a wheel of his chariot came to be broken and imploring, "Now let my lord the king give an order, so that they may do the work on it."
Perhaps the only really unconvincing chapter in "The Buried Book" is the last one, in which Damrosch attempts to show how the literary legacy of "The Epic of Gilgamesh" lives on in contemporary fiction. His examples -- a bad Philip Roth novel ("The Great American Novel"), about a baseball player turned Soviet agent inexplicably named Gil Gamesh, and one of Saddam Hussein's romantic potboilers, about an isolated king advised by a beautiful commoner -- don't touch on what actually resonates in the story. It's a tale of the power of deep friendships and the futility of denying mortality, told with a stoicism profoundly at odds with our own relentlessly optimistic popular culture. I see more of Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the "Lethal Weapon" action movie franchise than in Roth's Cold War parable, but the fatalism and resignation of the poem is a quality alien to our time.
The story of the story, though, is something else again. Luck most definitely played a role. Had a roof beam or a column fallen a different way during the sacking and destruction of Ashurbanipal's palace in 612 B.C., the tablets might not have been left broken but largely intact. (Epics composed during the Assyrian king's reign were pulverized and are now known to us only in rumor and fragment.) Had "The Epic of Gilgamesh" been taken to another library, the tablets might have been worn out by use and discarded or lost in other disasters like the burning of the great Library at Alexandria; Damrosch reminds us that only seven of Aeschylus' 90 tragedies have survived to modern times. Without the work of dedicated Assyriologists we might have the tablets but be unable to read them.
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To the ancient Mesopotamians, it probably seemed impossible that one day Gilgamesh would be forgotten -- for us, that would be like forgetting Heracles or Superman or Little Red Riding Hood. After a while, people stopped telling his story, and if it weren't for those buried tablets and the men who dug them up, his name would have vanished forever. In a way, Gilgamesh got his immortality after all.The stereotype of Evangelical Christians is that they are anti-science, and therefore don't believe in climate change. But in fact, they are deeply divided over environmental issues. A debate over climate change is raging in Evangelical churches, fueled by conflicting interpretations of Biblical scripture.
Among the most active groups in this debate is the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN). Founded in 1993, its defining document is the Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation, which affirms basic Evangelical tenets such as the "full authority of Scriptures" while also rejecting nature worship and positing stewardship of God's creation as the Biblical rationale for environmentalism.
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Although EEN is primarily an educational outreach organization, it has become increasingly active in politics. In 1996, the group helped wage a successful campaign to prevent congressional Republicans from weakening the Endangered Species Act, which the EEN called the "Noah's Ark of our day." More recently, the group has emerged as a prominent voice in the Florida gubernatorial race.
Climate Change as a "Pro-Life" Issue
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The EEN's current president, Rev. Mitch Hescox, delivered petitions with more than 60,000 signatures to Florida Governor Rick Scott, asking him to assume a leadership role on climate change. Hescox also wrote a letter requesting a meeting with Scott:
Our shared belief in Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, protect the vulnerable ("the least of these") and care for God's creation. These commands are directly linked to a great moral threat to humanity, climate change. Climate change just isn't in faraway places. Florida, your home, literally represents "ground zero." Sea level rise, more extreme weather, saltwater contaminated wells, loss of farm land and increased air pollution all pose significant threats to the health and well-being of Floridians. Unfortunately, a few in our nation are attempting to portray addressing climate change as liberal issue. It's not. It's a moral challenge to all Americans. It is a call to follow our Risen Lord and act to prepare for the impacts, many of which are already happening, and to work to reduce our carbon pollution to help our children, now and in the future.
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And, in an editorial he wrote for the Orlando Sentinel, he declared:
"For us, being pro-life includes not only defending our unborn children, but also the biblical mandate to care for all life. Toxins and other pollutants foul our water, air, and soil, impacting the purity of life God intends for His creation. That's why creation care remains integral to being pro-life."
That kind of language is offensive to conservative Evangelicals, who feel that equating environmentalism with the "pro-life" movement diminishes their campaign against abortion. And, despite the caveats expressed by the EEN, the group's rhetoric, to conservative ears, has distinct undertones of nature-worship.
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In 2005, conservative Evangelicals responded to the EEN by forming the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation. The group's national spokesperson, theologian E. Calvin Beisner, has described the environmental movement as "the greatest threat to Western civilization" because it combines "the utopian vision of Marxism, the scientific facade of secular humanism, and the religious fanaticism of jihad" into a pseudo-religion that undermines Christianity.
The Cornwall Alliance's stated mission is:
Promoting Biblical earth stewardship… in a world permeated by an environmental movement whose worldview, theology, and ethics are overwhelmingly anti-Christian, whose science and economics are often poorly done, whose policies therefore often do little good for natural ecosystems but much harm to the world's poor, and whose religious teachings undermine the fundamental Christian doctrines of God, creation, humanity, sin, and salvation.
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Chief among the policies that the Cornwall Alliance opposes is reducing fossil fuel emissions to limit climate change, which, it argues, has no basis in scientific fact and threatens to hinder economic growth worldwide.
What Would Jesus Drive?
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Much of the literature distributed by the Evangelical Environmental Network and the Cornwall Alliance is what you'd expect from any advocacy groups: dueling scientific studies, statistics and testimonials about the validity of anthropogenic climate change.
What's far more interesting is the theological philosophies of the two organizations—how their respective interpretations of the Bible translate into their different visions of environmental stewardship.
At the heart of their worldviews are three central questions:
1) Can Humanity cause lasting damage to God's creation?
The key issues here are pride and vanity. Is it arrogant for human beings to damage and even invalidate Creation—for instance, by causing the extinction of an entire species? Or, is it arrogant for human beings to believe that they can permanently harm what an omnipotent God has created?
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The EEN argues that ecological degradation is a direct result of human sin, including the gluttony of overconsumption and materialism.
They cite the fate of Adam and Eve as evidence that sinful behavior causes collateral damage to the world around us:
The Biblical story of the Fall of Man tells us that there are consequences to our sin, and some of these are visited on the non-human parts of God's creation. These practical effects of sin are spelled out in God's curse on Adam and Eve in Genesis… "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
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The EEN teaches that human sinfulness has caused a perversion of stewardship, resulting in seven "degradations of creation": 1) land degradation 2) deforestation 3) species extinction 4) water degradation; 5) global toxification 6) the alteration of atmosphere 7) human and cultural degradation. Christ came to "heal and bring to wholeness not only persons but the entire created order." Christians are to assist in this task by being "faithful stewards of God's good garden, our earthly home."
On the other hand, the Cornwall Alliance, citing Biblical text such as Psalm 19:1-6, says that the heavens and all creation proclaim the wisdom and glory of God. We should, therefore, see the marks of God's wisdom in the grand design of our environment:
"Just as good engineers build multiple layers of protection into complex buildings and systems, so also the wise Creator has built multiple self-protecting and self-correcting layers into His world. Positive and negative feedback mechanisms often minimize or quickly repair environmental damage. Irreversible, catastrophic damage is rare to nonexistent in the world's history. What we see instead is a planet capable of recovering from many events we might shortsightedly see as permanent."
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As such, the Cornwall Alliance's declaration, The Biblical Perspective of Environmental Stewardship, clearly states:
"We deny that an infinitely wise Designer, infinitely powerful Creator, and perfectly faithful Sustainer of the Earth would have made it susceptible to catastrophic degradation from proportionally small causes, and consequently we deny that wise environmental stewardship readily embraces claims of catastrophe stemming from such causes."
2) Does the Earth belong to God or to Humanity?
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Or, put another way, are we the tenants or owners of this planet?
The EEW believes that God made the world for himself, not for us. They point to the Biblical text, Colossians 1:16-17, which states: "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
They believe that God had two key reasons for creating the physical world. The first is that Creation is a means of revelation—or a way to see and understand who God is. When we study the world, we see God.
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The second belief stems from the Biblical theme that God wants to have a relationship with us. His creation is the space on which or within which that relationship develops:
As a demonstration of this principle, think of any of the important "spiritual" events of your life, whether the time you became a Christian, or when God met you in a very real way: All of these events have a place associated with them, because that is how God works – he meets us in this physical, created world. In this way, God's creation is like a temple. We can meet and worship God here. When we think of God's creation in this way it helps us respect and care for creation without falling into a trap where we begin to worship it for itself. Worshipers in a beautiful church do not worship the building, but they use the building to help them worship God – and that is how we should think of God's creation.
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The Cornwall Alliance, however, argues that a steward manages another's property according to the owner's instructions and purposes. Humanity cannot claim absolute sovereignty over creation, for it belongs to God. Yet God has extended a subordinate ownership over the Earth to human beings, as He says in Psalm 115:16: "The heavens are the heavens of the LORD, but the earth He has given to the sons of men."
To that end, E. Calvin Beisner argues:
Emphasizing only that the Earth is the Lord's— while neglecting or denying that He has given it to men— tends to lead toward making decisions at broad, societal levels. This often encroaches on people's legitimate rights to determine the use of their own property and protect their own needs and rights. The disastrous record of socialist countries on environmental protection is grim testimony to how poorly such a policy works.
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3) How should we use the Earth's resources?
Should nature be preserved or used?
The EEN cites Isaiah 5:8-10:
"Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: 'Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants. A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine, a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.'"
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The group sees such Biblical passages as evidence that many of the effects of the "environmental storm" the world is now experiencing are a result of the fact that we are using so much of the Earth's resources that little is left for all the rest of God's creatures. Isaiah "describes an agricultural collapse that inevitably follows abuse of the land. This suggests that the punishment God has in mind for this kind of behavior is the kind of ecological disaster that is already happening in many parts of the world."
By contrast, the Cornwall Alliance's declaration, The Biblical Perspective of Environmental Stewardship, states:
God's commanding Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue and rule everything in it entails a growing population that spreads out from the Garden to till the whole Earth and transform it from wilderness to garden and ultimately to garden city. We deny that Biblical Earth stewardship, or godly dominion, is limited to keeping Earth in the condition in which man finds it, i.e., we deny that, as many environmentalists put it, "Nature knows best" and its transformation by humans is in principle wrong or harmful. We affirm that the Bible normally associates wilderness or wildness with divine judgment and curse…We deny that wilderness is the best state of the Earth [and] that leaving everything in the Earth in its natural state is proper Biblical stewardship.
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Beisner even argues that the use of fossil fuels is in keeping with the core principles of Christianity:
While it is likely that at least some petroleum and natural gas come from deep geochemical processes in the mantle of the Earth, coal comes primarily from the death and burial of vegetation and its transformation under heat and pressure. As spiritual life comes from the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, so, in a beautiful irony, the enhancement of physical life that we see most clearly since the start of the Industrial Revolution and the intensive use of energy in our economy comes in part from the death, burial and resurrection of vegetation. As the Apostle Paul explained, the resurrection of the dead happens this way: "It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Vegetation is sown a natural body. Then, raised from the dead as coal and burned to enhance and safeguard our lives, it becomes a spiritual body – carbon dioxide gas – that gives life to vegetation and, through that, to every other living thing.
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So, What About the Meek?
On one issue, both Evangelical groups are in agreement: Our policies toward climate change must address how the most vulnerable among us will be affected.
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The Cornwall Alliance has issued a document, Protect the Poor: Ten Reasons to Oppose Harmful Climate Change Policies. Emphasizing the theme that God created the Earth to be "robust, resilient, self-regulating, and self-correcting," they argue that:
Rising atmospheric CO2 benefits all life on Earth by improving plant growth and crop yields, making food more abundant and affordable, helping the poor most of all. Abundant, affordable, reliable energy, most of it now and in the foreseeable future provided by burning fossil fuels, which are the primary source of CO2 emissions, is indispensable to lifting and keeping people out of poverty. Mandatory reductions in CO2 emissions, pursued to prevent dangerous global warming, would have little or no discernible impact on global temperatures, but would greatly increase the price of energy and therefore of everything else…. political leaders [should] abandon fruitless and harmful policies to control global temperature and instead adopt policies that simultaneously reflect responsible environmental stewardship, make energy and all its benefits more affordable, and so free the poor to rise out of poverty.
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The EEN sees Biblical precedent for taking action as soon as possible:
In the biblical story of Joseph, the climate changed, and drought came. The people of Egypt might have starved. But, as J. Matthew Sleeth, MD, author of Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action, says, Joseph was wise and stored up crops for the years of hardship. Sleeth sees a clear parallel to today. "There was a climate crisis. The people obeyed. They conserved, and lives were saved." Today, Sleeth says, we need to plan ahead for what climate changes might bring. Wealthy people and nations may be affected by changes to the climate, but we have resources to adapt. The poor do not. As followers of Jesus, committed to justice and compassion, we seek to understand the potential threats to the lives and well-being of poor and vulnerable people. We do not claim to know exactly what will happen as temperatures rise. But we can come alongside the poor and make it possible to adapt to rapid changes, and even by our own choices, to lessen the impacts of climate change.
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To those who might feel overwhelmed by the task at hand, the EEN quotes Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."Mar 20, 2013
A few years ago I got the idea that it would be fun to implement a variant of Scheme targeting the JVM. During my search for different ways to implement numerics I looked deeply at the implementation of two languages: JScheme and a little-known language Clojure. During my explorations with these two languages and the ways that they handled and implemented numerics I quickly came to a humbling realization: there was no possible way that I could make a language as good as either, and along the way I happened to fall in love with Clojure. So as a result I completely abandoned my piddly Scheme and adopted Clojure outright.
However, over the months that followed the time that I had spent in the interpreter nagged at me. It seemed that perhaps I could use what I learned to good effect. Rather than attempt to complete the Scheme for the purposes of use, I instead put together a draft of a single book to introduce two different topics:
Functional programming Programming language interpretation and compilation
This book was intended to use JavaScript to implement a variant of Scheme piecewise; building a more capable interpreter as the book progressed. I got as far as re-implementing much of the original language in JavaScript and completed a fairly detailed outline and a couple of chapters. However, along the way I got sidetracked on writing another book called The Joy of Clojure and my JS-Scheme book was derailed.
During my research for the The Joy of Clojure I happened upon a book called Lisp In Small Pieces that simply blew my mind. Aside from the powerful content itself, the very premise was… wait for it…
to implement a variant of Scheme piecewise; building a more capable interpreter as the book progressed. — me, in this blog post, like 7 seconds ago
As you can imagine, I completely abandoned my JS/Scheme book idea.
However, over the months that followed the time that I had spent on the interpreter, outline and chapters nagged at me. It seemed that perhaps I could use what I learned to good effect. Rather than attempt to complete the Scheme for the purposes of a book, I instead put together drafts of two different books to introduce two different topics:
Functional programming Programming language interpretation and compilation
Instead of creating a language for the purposes of building an understanding of functional programming, I could instead write one book introducing functional programming for a language that could use such a book and another introducing how and why languages are created the way that they’re created. About a year and a half ago I started both of these books, but as it stands only one has managed to come to fruition so far.
Introducing Functional JavaScript
Through an odd set of circumstances my name, via Jeremy Ashkenas, found its way onto the desk of Mary Treseler at O’Reilly and I inked a contract to complete my book as an O’Reilly venture:
When
As of a month ago the book was effectively complete and is now making its way through the internal review process.1 The expected release date is June 2013, but the book is available for pre-order from Amazon now.
Why
There are many good books on JavaScript that cover, to varying degrees, functional programming. However, there is a surprising lack of JavaScript books that tackle the topic full-on. I am an advocate of functional programming and functional programming techniques, so I think that there are many lessons from functional programming languages like Clojure and Haskell that are directly applicable to JavaScript. While I’m am advocate, I’m fairly non-dogmatic and pragmatic about functional programming, so I think there is room for a book on the topic that takes a realistic and fun, yet principled perspective.
What
The book uses and builds on the Underscore library to highlight and explain functional programming techniques. It’s not intended as a full reference to Underscore.js, but is instead about functional programming in JavaScript. You have to wait for the release to see it all, but a high-level outline of the chapters is as follows:
Chapter 1: Getting started
Chapter 2: First-class functions and applicative programming
Chapter 3: Variable scope and closures
Chapter 4: Higher-order functions
Chapter 5: Function building functions
Chapter 6: Recursion
Chapter 7: Purity, immutability and policies for change
Chapter 8: Flow-based programming
Chapter 9: Programming without class
This book has been a long time in the works in some form or another and I think that despite all of the setbacks getting here, now is the best time for it to see the light.
I hope that you’ll enjoy.
hacker news discussion
:FAbout this campaign
Speed Skydiving, as the name suggests is all about one thing, vertical speed. In a typical speed run the skydiver exits the air plane between 13,500-12,000 feet and accelerates as quickly as possible to an "entry gate". The entry gate, set an altitude of approximately 8,800 feet, is where the measurement of the speed run begins. After hitting the "entry gate" the skydiver attempts to maintain acceleration through the "exit gate" which is set at an altitude of approximately 5,500 feet. The skydivers vertical speed is then calculated as an average between the entry and exit gates.
Normal vertical speeds for a skydive varies by body position. In a horizontal or belly to earth position average speeds are roughly 120 MPH. A vertical body position, a head down or feet down position is roughly 180 MPH. In Speed Skydiving we regularly see speeds of over 300 MPH. Currently the world record for speed skydiving is 373.6 mph.A Portadown Presbyterian minister has welcomed the ‘yes’ vote for same-sex marriages in the Republic of Ireland.
The Rev Christina Bradley of Armagh Road Presbyterian Church – in giving a personal view to the Portadown Times – has described the 62 per cent majority as “inclusive and compassionate, thus aiming at ending possible discrimination, and starting to treat everyone the same, whatever their sexual orientation”.
Her response is in contrast to reactions from the main churches in Portadown. High-ranking Methodists, Church of Ireland people and Roman Catholics back official statements from their all-Ireland leaders. But Mrs Bradley disagrees with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) which is “deeply disappointed at the result (of the referendum).2
A statement from ex-Moderator Norman Hamilton said, “The Constitution (of the Republic) will no longer reflect the historic – and Christian – view of marriage that it is exclusively between one man and one woman, which is the position the PCI upholds and maintains.”
Mrs Bradley said, “The referendum wasn’t a debate on the institution of marriage as the basis of human society as we know it, but about ending discrimination.
“Who is the state and who is the church in a democratic society? It is the people. The people (of the Republic) have voted by an overwhelming 62.1 per cent majority to be inclusive and compassionate.
“This warm-heartedness is good to see in a world which often is a cold place as much for women in leadership as it is for gay and lesbian people in churches. I welcome the yes vote.”
But other local church leaders are disappointed. Kenneth Twyble is the leading lay reader of the Methodist Church in Ireland. He is second in line to the president, the Rev Peter Murray, who said, “The referendum result is not compatible with what we recognise as the basis of Christian marriage, which is between a man and a woman. Our practice remains that no minister has the authority to conduct the marriage of same-sex partners.”
Mr Twyble commented, “I agree whole-heartedly with the president’s statement. It is based on the Scriptures, and is released with compassion and understanding.”
Portadown Parish Rector, Canon Jim Campbell said, “The Scriptures are clear in their opposition not only to homosexuality, but also to adultery and fornication. It is true that the Church of Ireland is divided north and south on same sex marriage, with at least one bishop from the Republic confirming that he voted yes. But these difficulties will have to be faced.”A member of the Iraqi forces wears a gas mask during an offensive to recapture Mosul from Islamic State group. Gas masks and bullet-proof vests as classified as war weapons in Thailand (AFP Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)
Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group used chemical weapons against Iraqi forces taking part in the operation to recapture Mosul, injuring some security personnel, the military said on Sunday.
IS has periodically carried out attacks using chemical weapons, but both the toll and the impact on military operations has been minimal and the jihadists' bombs and bullets are far deadlier.
"The Daesh terrorist gangs tried to block the advance of our forces by using shells filled with toxic chemical material, but the effect was limited," Iraq's Joint Operations Command said in a statement, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
The attack on Saturday did not result in any deaths but did cause "limited injuries" among security personnel, the military command said.
The statement said that the forces attacked were part of the massive operation aimed at recapturing the city of Mosul from IS, but did not specify if the attack took place in or outside the city.
Iraqi forces are fighting to recapture west Mosul from IS after retaking the eastern side earlier this year, while soldiers and pro-government paramilitaries are also operating west of the city as part of the operation.
The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since regained much of the territory they lost.
In addition to parts of western Mosul, IS also holds part of Iraq's Kirkuk province as well as areas in the country's west.
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For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.Today, we have an interesting new build for those of you following the developer stream. New features include: a tab list menu, print previews, and more data import options.
View your tabs as a list
Our tab menu provides an alternative way to view your tabs, showing them as a list to the right of your screen. If you keep many tabs open, this should help you find the tab you’re looking for or decide where you want to go next.
Now:
Page titles are easier to read when many tabs are open.
The tab menu is keyboard-accessible. For instance, use Ctrl+K ( ⌘+K on Mac) to open the menu, the arrow keys to highlight an entry, and Enter to focus a tab. Esc will close the menu.
( on Mac) to open the menu, the arrow keys to highlight an entry, and to focus a tab. will close the menu. The list works in conjunction with the tab-preview option, providing a tab cycler that can be used with your mouse or keyboard.
The list is accessible via fullscreen mode (a.k.a. presentation mode for the Mac users out there) to make tab switching and selection easier for those who like minimal UI.
Preview pages before you print
Opera now includes a built-in print previewer, so you can see how a page will look before wasting paper.
Import browser data silently consciously
Some time ago, we decided to add silent import to assist our new users. After feedback from this blog, we never introduced the feature into the Opera beta or stable streams. Rather, we gave it a second look. Today, we are bringing the feature back as part of the installation process, but it’s not silent anymore.
You can decide what you like. Just select proper check-box in the installer:
In addition, we have moved two questions from the main application to the installer to avoid overwhelming users with too many sliding toolbars:
Make Opera the default browser
Share usage data to help improve Opera
Import bookmarks and settings
In the previous blog post, I neglected to mention our new importing options. Be sure to check them out if you are switching from another browser and want to retain your old data.
Known issue
Rapidly moving around in the tab menu can cause high CPU and a crash
Changelog and download links
Full changelogIn a Q&A session with Slashdot users this week, Kim Dotcom, the infamous former millionaire at the center of a US court case against Megaupload, has told all about what happened to his new site.
Mega was created by Dotcom two years ago as a secure, encrypted alternative to his former service. It launched at a lavish party to much fanfare and has proved relatively popular since.
Dotcom, however, is no longer involved in the site due to ongoing legal battles and a separation from his wife, who owned his shares in the site.
A user on Slashdot asked Dotcom: “I’ve seen some criticism from open source advocates and hackers that Mega can’t be trusted because the source isn’t available. What assurance could you give someone to the point that their files may not be kept secret while hosted on your platform?”
Dotcom responded saying that he is “not involved in Mega anymore” in a “managing nor in a shareholder capacity” and says that the company suffered from a “hostile takeover by a Chinese investor” who has had his shares seized by the New Zealand government (something that Mega denies, of course).
He continued saying that “as a result of this and a number of other confidential issues I don’t trust Mega anymore. I don’t think your data is safe on Mega.”
I will issue a detailed statement about the status of #Mega next week. Then you can make an educated decision if you still want to use it. — Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) July 31, 2015
Apparently Dotcom isn’t stopping, though, and plans to build an “open source and non-profit” Mega competitor when his non-compete runs out at the end of the year. He thinks it could be funded similar to Wikipedia, on donations.
Another user asked about what drives Dotcom to keep going. He responded:
It ain’t easy. I had to carry a lot of pain and fear fora lot of people in the last few years. They destroyed my business. They took everything I worked for and seized all my assets.They destroyed my family and drove my wife back into depression and alcoholism which destroyed the happy family we once had. So many people suffered as a result of the unjust actions by both the US and New Zealand governments. I thought about giving up. Who wouldn’t in such a situation. But I have to fight because I have such a huge responsibility. First and foremost I have to fight for my five children. They need me. Unfortunately they can’t rely on anybody else. And of course I’m fighting for all of you. If I give up all of you will lose. They will use this case to turn our Internet to shit. I love the Internet. It gave me everything. I believe in Internet freedom, in your right to share, in your right to privacy. With your help and your support I can do it. I want to win this fight for all of us.
The hearing on whether Kim Dotcom will be extradited to the US to face trial is expected to reach a decision in September.
Update: Mega replied to our request for comment with an extensive document detailing its objections to Kim Dotcom’s claims.
It says that “More than 75% of shareholders have supported recent equity issues, so there has not been any ‘hostile takeover’, contrary to Mr Dotcom’s assertion.”
In response to allegations of frozen shares by the New Zealand High Court the company says the authorities “have not opposed or interefered with any of Mega’s operations.”
The company also went on to say that Kim Dotcom “was not involved in the design and implementation of Mega technology” and has not held any managerial role since October 2013, nor received any compensation or salary.
You can read the full text of Mega’s response here.
➤ Kim Dotcom Answers Your Questions [Slashdot]
Image credit: Owen / TNW
Read next: Your monthly dose of tech news from Eastern Europe: JulyPractical Lock-free Concurrency (in C++)
Date: This event took place live on April 19 2016
Presented by: Fedor Pikus
Duration: Approximately 90 minutes.
Questions? Please send email to
Description:
In this webcast, Fedor Pikus uses practical examples of (mostly) lock-free data structures, with actual implementations and performance measurements, to cover the fundamentals of lock-free vs. lock-based programming. We'll explore the reasons to write lock-free programs (as |
times for the VA’s 30-day appointments in the past year have come down to an average of four days for primary care, Gibson said, thanks to a 2.8 percent budget hike, 12,000 new staff, 1.2 million new square feet of space and offering of services on evenings, weekends and online.
But at well-publicized sites such as the medical centers in Phoenix and Las Vegas, usage went up more than predicted, he said—the VA has had to accommodate 7 million new appointments nationwide. Many are attracted by financial incentives such as free knee replacements and hearing aids for which Tricare and Medicare would charge co-payments.
The improvements in customer service are being achieved in part through budget flexibility, Gibson said, noting that Congress has agreed that hepatitis-C does not respect budget cycles. “We have to build a requirements-based budget, which is a sea change for an organization that historically has managed to a budget number” rather than calculating resources based on the needs of veterans and, for example, the anticipated backlog of medical claim appeals hearings.
Management reforms are being built around five pillars, Gibson said: the needs to improve the veterans’ experience; improve the employee experience; improve internal support services including acquisition and logistics; establish a culture of continuous improvement, as in the Six Sigma program; and enhance strategic partnerships both public and private. “This will change the way we operate with the business community,” he said, promising a “compete remake” of the acquisition process. Gibson called himself a “champion of the supply chain” aiming at a system that allows execution that “that will be more like Amazon.”
Gibson spoke proudly of his personal business relationships with heads of three major construction firms doing business with VA, even though his staff had warned him to steer clear for fear of favoritism and litigation.
He told the contractors, “We need to invest in a state-of-the art logistics management system to be better customers than we are today. We need a lot of help, and it takes humility to admit we don’t know everything.”Marijuana protest outside the Kent County Prosecutors office 12/6/12 10 Gallery: Marijuana protest outside the Kent County Prosecutors office 12/6/12
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The citizen initiative that put marijuana decriminalization on the ballot – and passed it with 58-percent support at the polls – claims that the city now is trying to thwart the will of voters. But City Attorney Catherine Mish said Grand Rapids is just trying to separate felony cases involving marijuana from the misdemeanor offenses that would become civil infractions under decriminalization.
held a press conference Monday, April 8, calling on Mish to withdraw a legal motion that it claims would block decriminalization. A hearing on the
is scheduled April 24. “The city executed a 180-degree reverse change in course,” said Jack Hoffman, DCGR’s attorney. “Nothing will have changed (if Kent Circuit Judge Paul Sullivan accepts the motion). The whole election will have been for naught. “It’s a very inappropriate way to treat the citizens of Grand Rapids, in my opinion.”
RELATED:
DCGR claims that Grand Rapids wants Sullivan to declare that the city may not prohibit police from enforcing state marijuana law. Hoffman derided the city’s approach as making “a government of the people, by the city attorney, for the police,” and he urged public opposition in the name of safeguarding democracy. “This is a very pro-police request,” Hoffman said. “She’s giving the police maximum power, even more so than the prosecutor asks for.” Mish this morning said DecriminalizeGR’s allegations are “not true at all,” and that Grand Rapids still intends to implement decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana. “(DecriminalizeGR) is starting to sound like they don’t think felonies should be referred (to the county prosecutor),” Mish said. “I don’t think that’s what they told voters before the election. “We’re trying to implement what they said this was all about before the election. We’re trying to make a distinction between felonies and misdemeanors (which would become civil infractions).”
Email Matt Vande Bunte, follow him on Twitter or be his friend on Facebook.The Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) (translation: Muslim National Forum) is a Muslim organisation in India, affiliated to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It was formed in 2002 at the initiative of the then RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan to allow the Sangh Parivar to reach out to Muslims. Sher haidar Khan and Syed Adil Muneer Andrabi are media persons of it[1]
Ideology and activism [ edit ]
The MRM was founded with the stated aim of bringing Muslim communities close to Hindus in India. It states that Muslim suspicions of the RSS and its affiliates are misplaced, and that the Indian National Congress is responsible for a leadership within the Muslim community.[1] The MRM has also expressed support for many of the causes espoused by the RSS, including the banning of cow-slaughter.[1] Its national convener, Mohammed Afzal, stated that the organisation faced significant resistance in the days following the Godhra train burning and the 2002 Gujarat riots.[2]
In November 2009 the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, one of the largest Islamic organisations in India, passed a resolution describing Vande Mataram as an un-Islamic song. The MRM expressed opposition to the resolution. Afzal stated "Our Muslim brothers should not follow the fatwa as Vande Mataram is the national song of the country and every Indian citizen should respect and recite it." The MRM stated further that Muslims who refused to sing it were opponents of both Islam and India.[3][4] In August 2008, MRM organised a Paigham-e-Aman (message of peace) yatra from the Red Fort in Delhi to Kashmir in support of land allocation for the Amarnath pilgrimage. Led by the Jharkhand Shahee-Imam Moulana Hizb Rehman Merthi, the 50 activists of the yatra were initially stopped at the border of Jammu & Kashmir. They were later allowed to go to Jammu where they held meetings with the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti. [5][6][7] In November 2009, the MRM organised a tiranga yatra (march in honour of the national flag) leading to the Gateway of India in Mumbai, protesting against terrorism. One thousand volunteers took a pledge against terror and vowed to campaign against it in their home districts.[7] In September 2012, the MRM organised a signature campaign to revoke Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which grants limited autonomy to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and claimed to have collected 700,000 signatures.[8]
In the 2014 general election, the MRM campaigned for Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Narendra Modi. Afzal stated that the MRM would attempt to reach out to 50 million Muslims before the election.[2] When questioned about Modi's involvement in the Gujarat riots, Afzal stated:
“ "Had Mr. Modi been involved in the riots, his police would not have fired 1,200 rounds and killed over 200 rioters. Every court has acquitted him. And there is not a single incident of communal violence in Gujarat in the past 12 years.”[2] ”
In 2015, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch published a book title "Yoga and Islam" on universal appeal and acceptance of Yoga. The Manch expressed its views that 'Yoga' does not have anything to do with religion, further stating that "Namaaz is one sort of Yoga asana". The move was supported by the Union Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) but Hindu groups expressed reservations.[9]
See also [ edit ]“You can’t use art for political purposes,” said Mr. Piotrovski, whose museum celebrates its 250th anniversary this year. “This is a sacred territory. It has its own rules.”
Another exhibit, “Apartment Art as Domestic Resistance,” a series of readings and performances held in a former Soviet-style communal apartment, was less sanguine about the inviolability of art. Olesya Turkina, the Russian curator of the exhibit, said the city’s independent artistic life took place mainly in kitchens after it was driven underground by the Soviet regime.
That Russia could see a return to this kind of cultural repression was one concern of the participants. “Whether Manifesta is here or not, it is really important for us to include our view and our voices in the public space, because this possibility could end,” said Pavel Arsenev, a poet and activist based in St. Petersburg. Mr. Arsenev, 28, came up with the popular antigovernment slogan “You don’t even represent us,” which in Russian also means, “You cannot even imagine us.”
Last month, as part of Manifesta, Mr. Arsenev organized a day of “poetic actions” in the city. On a Saturday morning, young volunteers wearing sandwich boards handed out poems by Bertolt Brecht at metro stations (“The way things are, won’t stay that way,” read one placard; “Who is responsible for the fact that oppression still exists?” read another). Later, in the shadow of the Peter and Paul Fortress — once home to an infamous political prison — Kirill Medvedev, a poet, singer and literary critic, read aloud from the poetry of political prisoners.
Waiting out a brief hailstorm on Arts Square, Anton Kuryshev said he had traveled from Moscow to attend the poetic actions. He was looking forward to hearing a speech originally delivered at the first congress of Soviet writers in 1934. “Now the situation is more like the ’30s maybe,” he said.
Sergei Medvedev, a professor of political science at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, said it was only natural that artists were staging performances in response to current events in Russia. “In the conditions of severely limited political freedom, when the opposition and the free press have been almost entirely eliminated, contemporary art has to step in,” Mr. Medvedev wrote in an email.
Of course the audience for contemporary art is small, said Ilya Orlov, a Russian artist who looked at historical memory and the fate of Soviet shrines to Lenin for Manifesta. “What we do is not important to the masses,” he said. “But it is our responsibility to present some opinions.”Job growth is a prime topic in the U.S. presidential race, but Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have very different takes on the role clean energy could play in creating employment.
Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton says the U.S. can be the world’s “clean energy superpower.” Her plan, spelled out in detail online, would create millions of jobs and spur billions of dollars in public and private investment, while making infrastructure more resilient and lowering emissions.
Republican candidate Donald Trump says he’s a “great believer in all forms of energy” but that the country’s energy policies are a “disaster.” In a 2015 interview with CNN, Trump said policies to support clean energy and reduce carbon emissions would “imperil jobs” and “the middle class and lower classes.”
Like many critics of the federal government’s efforts to promote clean energy, he points to the failure of Solyndra as a waste of taxpayer money. Solyndra, you may recall, was a solar company that received a partial loan guarantee from the U.S. government but went bankrupt in 2011, defaulting on a US$535 million loan.
What does economic research say about the potential of government-led industrial policy to promote clean energy and create jobs? Looking at the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, or what came to be known as the “stimulus package,” provides us some insights. What clearly emerges is that the expansion of renewable energy is an opportunity to create jobs in manufacturing and construction, as well as in other industries.
Ghosts of Solyndra
I was a coauthor of the 2014 “Green Growth” study by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Brookings Institution did its own study in 2011, “Sizing the Clean Energy Economy.” Both of these studies find that renewable energy and energy efficiency industries are engines of job growth, and that public support for these industries catalyzes private investments and spurs economic growth overall.
Yet the academic research is often overlooked or pushed aside in the public discourse, as so-called “failures” such as Solyndra’s bankruptcy are held up as examples of failed clean energy policies. In fact, public policies for clean energy have largely been effective in stimulating the growth of this sector, as well as the creation of new jobs.
Let’s first look specifically at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Guarantee program which was funded as part of the stimulus and provided a loan to Solyndra to build a factory. On the whole, this program was hugely successful.
It was responsible for advancing the renewable energy business by financing the world’s largest solar photovoltaic plant, supporting two of the world’s largest solar thermal projects, and financing the world’s largest wind farm as of 2012. What’s more, losses such as Solyndra accounted for only two percent of the entire portfolio of lending, a staggeringly small figure when compared to typical loss rates in venture capital, often on the order of 40 or 50 percent.
And for the American taxpayer, the losses are actually nonexistent, because the interest earned on the successful loans made by the DOE now exceeds the losses from companies like Solyndra. By the end of 2014, the DOE had already received $810 million in interest, in comparison to the $780 million in losses.
Renewable and efficiency versus fossil
The sort of activity funded by the Loan Guarantee Program (which provides financing to automakers, electric utilities and other industries) creates jobs. And the clean energy industry is one of the fastest growing areas in the global economy.
In March 2016, Bloomberg reported that jobs in the solar energy industry had grown 12 times faster than overall global job growth. The U.S., near the top of the pack behind China and Brazil, already has more than three-quarters of a million jobs in clean energy, defined as jobs related to solar, wind, bioenergy and geothermal.
But how about the claim that pro-renewable energy policies cause job losses in fossil fuels?
Studies such as the PERI “Green Growth” report show that a transition from fossil fuels to clean energy does, in fact, create jobs. Lots of them. For example, for every $1 million spent on energy efficiency about 15 jobs are created. These include the “direct” jobs in manufacturing and installation, as well as the “indirect” jobs created through the supply chain, in industries such as engineering, accounting, trucking, and many others. Overall, renewable energy and energy efficiency, the report finds, creates about 13 jobs per $1 million of spending.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Meanwhile, fossil fuels create fewer jobs for the same amount of spending, supporting about six jobs per $1 million for ongoing operations in the industry, or about 11 jobs for the creation of new fossil fuel production. There are a few reasons why clean energy creates more jobs than fossil fuels: labor intensity, domestic content and wages.
Labor intensity means that more of the total spending goes toward hiring workers rather than for capital, such as buildings and equipment. The oil and gas industry is one of the most capital-intensive industries in the economy, producing fewer jobs for each $1 million of spending.
Clean energy also has higher domestic content – including construction labor and manufactured components – than fossil fuels, meaning that more of the inputs come from within the U.S., and so that’s where more of the jobs are created. And finally, average wages are slightly lower in the clean energy industry than the fossil fuel industry, so a given $1 million of spending can support more jobs in clean energy.
The PERI study finds that an investment on the order of 1.2 percent of U.S. GDP would create over four million jobs in clean energy, or close to three million net new jobs if we subtract the job losses in fossil fuels.
Infrastructure upgrade
And how does government spending on clean energy affect our energy system? The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was the largest public investment in clean energy in the history of the US. Of the approximately $800 billion package, $90 billion was targeted toward clean energy.
In February 2016, the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), which is an agency that informs the president on economic policy, released their assessment of the impacts of the clean energy portions of the ARRA, “A Retrospective Assessment of Clean Energy Investments in the Recovery Act.” The CEA’s report shows the distribution of the approximately $90 billion funding for clean energy, which includes:
renewable energy generation (29 percent of the total funding),
energy efficiency (22 percent),
transit (20 percent),
grid modernization (10 percent),
smaller amounts to green job training, R&D, carbon capture and storage, and clean energy manufacturing, among others.
About half of the $90 billion was used for incentives or matching grants, increasing the impact of the stimulus. The CEA estimates that $46 billion in incentives leveraged an additional $150 billion in private and nonfederal spending. Thus, there was a combined amount of $240 billion in both public and private spending on clean energy innovation, development, and most notably deployment, or installation of, for instance, solar panels and smart electricity meters.
In addition to the jobs created, these investments helped to improve the energy infrastructure and get large-scale wind and solar projects in the ground.
Valid criticism
Supporters of a free-market economy say the government should not be in the business of “picking winners,” that the market should determine which energy businesses thrive or fail. However, particularly with emerging technologies, the government can play an important role in fostering research and innovation.
Companies that stand to lose a profit may not want to make a risky investment in a new technology. The government can diversify and lower its risk by investing in many different types of technologies at the same time. Some of these will fail, like Solyndra, but many others will succeed and ultimately will be produced and sold by private companies.
There is one criticism of the ARRA that holds validity, which is that it tried to do too much in a short amount of time. Never in history had such a large public investment been made in clean energy, and there were processes and programs that took time to be established. Because of administrative bottlenecks, job growth was slower than it otherwise could have been.
Critics of government spending on clean energy programs also argue the rapid spread of fracking has created many jobs in the oil and gas industry, and that regulations that support clean energy will stifle oil and gas economic activity. Yet the rationales for public spending on clean energy are many, including:
Fossil fuels are underpriced, as they do not include the cost of the environmental damage they produce.
Increased reliance on clean energy increases our national security, as we rely less on imported fossil resources and reduce the need to protect them through war.
These investments lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality.
Both public and private spending on clean energy are necessary to continue the rapid pace of growth in this sector. And we see from the evidence that public support for clean energy catalyzes private investment, together creating millions of jobs and opportunities for workers and businesses alike.Popular 98 Rock radio personality Stash was arrested for driving under the influence Sunday night after police said he was involved in a three-vehicle crash in Abingdon which sent at least five people to the hospital.
Stephen G. Smith, 48, of Bel Air was arrested and charged with DUI and other traffic offenses following a three-vehicle crash which occurred on state Route 24 at Interstate 95 in Abingdon shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, Maryland State Police said.
Smith’s 2006 Nissan Quest was northbound on Route 24 at “an apparent high rate of speed” when state police said it struck the rear of a 2011 Hyundai which was stopped at a red light, pushing it forward into the rear of a 2009 Nissan SUV also stopped at the light.
Smith then traveled through the intersection and an additional 300 feet north of the collision scene.
Troopers determined that Smith was exhibiting signs of being under the influence of alcohol, and was charged with DUI, negligent driving, and other offenses.
The driver of the Hyundai, Heather Manto, 34, of Bel Air and her four passengers, Todd Fisher, 30, of York, Pa., Joshua Stavrakoglou, 28, of Baltimore, Joshua Cowan, 32, also of Baltimore, and Harvey Dail, 29, of Abingdon were all transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, where they were treated and later and released.
The driver of the 2009 Nissan Suv, Clinton Cottrell Sr., 48, and his passenger, Katherine Cottrell, 47, both of Bel Air, were not injured.
One of those injured in the crash told The Dagger that Smith attempted to leave the scene shortly after the crash, and was seen throwing items including beer cans out of his car window. When first approached, the victim said, Smith identified himself as “Stash from 98 Rock.”
Smith did not appear on Harford County Detention Center logs, according to Monica Worrell, spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. Those involved or charged in such accidents may not necessarily be taken to the facility’s Interagency Processing Center, she said, depending on their injuries and other factors of the judicial process.
Smith was not on the air in his usual afternoon drive-time slot Monday. By Monday evening, a link on the 98 Rock web page to Stash’s “jock” profile was missing, and his Twitter account had been disabled. No mention of any weekend event appeared on the 98 Rock Facebook page.
On December 3, 2007, Stash slipped and fell 14 steps at his home; resulting in a skull fracture with a contusion of the brain. He was hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit with a breathing tube and had to undergo rehabilitation to regain speech and motor skills – including relearning to speak and write.
According to a WBAL TV-11 story, which originally aired on May 15, 2008, Stash was taking up to six doses of painkillers a day, and developed a strong dependency on the drugs. He sought treatment at Maryland General Hospital and eventually went to a detoxification ward.
During his interview at the time, WBAL-TV commented that Stash said he had decided his drinking days were over.
“I think maybe before I was running a little too hard, going a little too fast, chasing the rock and roll thing super hard, and I’m still going to chase it a little bit, but I’ve got that established and what’s important really is loving my family as much as I can,” Stash said.
“It turns out that a bang on my head was maybe what I needed to see the whole picture, to see everything I was missing,” he added.
The full WBAL TV-11 interview can be viewed here.
From the Maryland State Police, Bel Air Barrack:
(Abingdon, MD) On Sunday, July 22, 2012, shortly after 9:00 pm, troopers from the Maryland State Police Bel Air Barrack responded to a three car crash on northbound Route 24 at I-95, in Abingdon, Md., that injured five people and resulted in the arrest of a Harford County man for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Upon arrival, it was determined that a 2006 Nissan Quest was traveling
northbound on Route 24 at an apparent high rate of speed and struck the rear of a 2011 Hyundai, which was stopped at the red traffic signal. The impact pushed the Hyundai forward into the rear of a 2009 Nissan SUV, also stopped at the red light. The Nissan Quest then traveled through the intersection and an additional 300 feet north of the collision scene.
Troopers found the operator of the Nissan Quest to be Stephen G. Smith, 48, of Bel Air, Md. Troopers investigating the crash determined Smith was exhibiting signs of a person under the influence and he was arrested at the scene. Smith was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, negligent driving, and other traffic offenses. The driver of the Hyundai was Heather Manto, 34, of Bel Air, Md. In addition to Manto, there were four passengers in the Hyundai who included: Todd Fisher, 30, of York, Pa., Joshua Stavrakoglou, 28, of Baltimore, Joshua Cowan, 32, also of Baltimore, and Harvey Dail, 29, of Abingdon. All five occupants of the Hyundai were transported by ambulance to the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center where they were treated and later released.
The driver of the 2009 Nissan SUV was Clinton Cottrell Sr., 48, and his
passenger was Katherine Cottrell, 47, both of Bel Air. Neither person was transported to a medical facility.
The Rt. 24 corridor has been an area of recent focused enforcement efforts by the Maryland State Police and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office as part of their combined traffic enforcement initiative. This increased police enforcement is the result of an increase in traffic crashes and incidents of dangerous driving reported in the area.IMAGES: DUBAI HOLDINGS
Dubai is building "the world's first climate-controlled city" —it's a 4.3 mile pedestrian mall that will be covered with a retractable dome to provide its shoppers with air conditioning in the summer heat. The Mall of the World, as it's called, will become the sort of spectacular, over-the-top attraction Dubai is known for. Shortly after, it will probably become an equally spectacular real-world dystopia.
By sectioning off a 3-million-square-foot portion of the city with an air conditioned dome, Dubai is dropping one of the most tangible partitions between the haves and the have nots of the modern era—the 100 hotels and apartment complexes inside the attraction will be cool, comfortable, and nestled into a entertainment-filled, if macabre, consumer paradise.
The masses, including the underpaid immigrants who will no doubt help build it, may be free to wander through by day, but they will surely find no residence there. According to the UN, a full 88.5 percent of United Arab Emirates residents are foreigners; most are migrant workers, who receive few protections from the nation's labor laws. There are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in Dubai alone, many of whom toil in conditions that resemble indentured servitude.
And as global warming bakes the region—which is already regularly seeing record-breaking temperatures—the divide between the rich and the poor, the cool and the sweltering, is going to grow.
A climate-controlled dome, intended to be a glitzy international attraction, may end up producing an entirely different, and uglier spectacle. It won't be long before there will be those who will be desperate to get inside; and it means an authority will be established to decide who can, and who can't.
As my colleague Alex Pasternack has pointed out, there is something distinctly sad about any proposal to place a dome over a city—it means there is something that needs to be kept out; something that urgently needs to be dealt with, even in an overwhelmingly haphazard fashion. In Dubai, it's the heat and the non-spenders. In China, it's pollution. In midcentury US, it was the cold. In fact, some of the earliest dome city proposals originated here in the US—Paleofuture points us to scientists' 1952 calls to establish "perfectly feasible" weather-controlled communities.
Spread from Fact or Fantasy (World of Tomorrow), Neal Ardley, 1982. Image: Paleofuture
In our fiction, the domes usually seek to keep out an entire world; one that's grown harsh and unpleasant for anyone unfortunate enough to be on the wrong side of the its dividing glass.
Sealed-off cities are a mainstay of dystopian stories; the cult classic Zardoz imagines a future where humans outside of the domed cities have devolved into savages, while those inside flit around, enjoying a life of plenty.
Another relevant analog to Dubai's proposal is Logan's Run, the 1976 sci-fi film that imagines a dome-encased society given over to consumerist and technological pleasures—but where the fun promptly expires when the revelers turn 30, and population control takes over.
The media has mostly adopted its requisite awestruck tone in tackling the story—First refrigerated beaches, then indoor ski resorts, now this?! That crazy Dubai, at it again!—but there's something additionally cynical about this latest move.
The dome isn't merely a tourist attraction and wow-inducer, though it is those things too. There is something unambiguous about the metaphor imposed by the dome, something even more powerfully exclusionary in one of the most exclusionary-minded locales on earth.
Maybe it's that we already have such well-designed templates for the dystopia this dome city is doomed to become, and Dubai is building it anyway.In the Ganges plain in Northen India in the middle of the first millennium BCE, the idea of “ahimsa” – non violence – emerges.
Episode 1: Ahimsa
Ian visits the intellectual hub of iron age India – the Kingdom of Magadha. He discovers a subculture of vagabond philosophers that developed two world religions; and the vegetarian order of monks and nuns who became the torchbearers of ahimsa.
Play or download (41MB MP3) (via iTunes) or read transcript.
Contributors:
Locations:
Veeryatan, Bihar
BL Institute, Delhi
Recording diary
I’d only been told about Rajgir the day before arriving. I was staying at the refounded University of Nalanda for a couple of nights, where I interviewed two people who lived in the block in which I was staying. Institutions like that are fantastic for my research. But one interviewee – Deepak Anand – told me the real place I needed to go to was Rajgir. My desk research had led me to places like Vaisali – which will turn up via Buddhist texts in episode two – but at Rajgir, modern Jains celebrated and could talk about what happened there two and a half thousand years ago.
Finding guests with good English is obviously helpful. So it was gratifying to learn that the Veerayatan Institution at Rajgir was led by Jain sadhvis (nuns) who were very used to communicating with foreign and English-speaking audiences, because of their outreach overseas.
When I got there, I discovered all the English-speaking sadhvis were overseas doing outreach. So I had very little time to find both a learned sadhvi, and a way of interviewing her. An English-speaking physician, a glaucoma consultant from the hospital on the other side of the site, helped me out and acted as interpreter; and I’m very grateful to her indeed. Dubbing a non-English speaking guest is a lot more work (Yasājhe’s words were retranslated carefully and then read by actress Sandeep Garcha) but I’m glad now that the first words you hear from a guest in the series are in Hindi.
This left me not much time to get to the station for the train back to Patna – later Magadha capital and current Bihar state capital.
The background noise at the start of the show was from two different journeys: a crowded auto-rickshaw in Mahabodhi, and that train I took back to Patna. Both were travelling the kinds of routes Śramaṇas would have taken within ancient Magadha.
Credits
Particular thanks to Dr. Smita Bagrecha for interpreting Yasājhe at short notice. The featured pic is public domain painting of Mahavira, Rajasthan, circa 1900.
Bibliography
Where there are no established Anglicisations (eg “ahimsa” for “ahiṃsā”), I have rendered Indic languages in Latin letters with marks called diacritics, loosely following the IAST standard explained at Jainpedia. For example “ś” is a soft “sh”, and a bar over a vowel lengthens it.
1630116 DV884EHE items 1 chicago-author-date author asc 1 http://theveganoption.org/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/An Ottawa police sergeant ordered to resign or be fired after he was found guilty of insubordination, corrupt practices and deceit has dropped his appeal and resigned.
Sgt. Rohan Beebakhee's resignation on Feb. 18 comes after he pleaded guilty to two Police Services Act charges of insubordination and was found guilty of four other charges.
During an internal disciplinary hearing, Beebakhee admitted to using two police databases — one federal and one local — to access private information 437 times with no lawful reasons for doing so in 2011 and 2012.
Beebakhee also used his position to get phone subscriber information from the Ottawa police intelligence bureau 17 times without any lawful investigative reasons for doing so.
He also maintained contact with an escort service called Pink Kitty and multiple escorts after being ordered not to by the Ottawa police professional standards section in February 2011.
He also gained access to Ottawa police reports that were made private by lead investigators — one of which involved an escort he was in a relationship with — and misled investigators who were looking into his unauthorized database use.
Beebakhee, who had been with the Nepean and Ottawa police services for more than 25 years, had been suspended with pay since 2012.AP Photo/The Fresno Bee, John Walker
In the early 1970s, New Jersey officials decided to build a sports facility in the Meadowlands, the state’s wetlands just outside New York City. To help pay for it, they formed the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA), a quasi-governmental agency with the power to issue debt. The authority floated $302 million in bonds, used the proceeds from the bond sale to construct Giants Stadium and a Meadowlands racetrack, and planned to pay off the debt in 25 years, largely with proceeds from the track but also with some help from the stadium. Horse racing proved a big hit, and the plan seemed bound for success.
But the pols couldn’t resist soaking the Meadowlands. They siphoned track proceeds into the state budget; repeatedly refinanced the NJSEA’s bonds, pushing repayment dates far into the future; and relied on the authority’s good credit rating to launch other building schemes, including a costly but unsuccessful aquarium in Camden. Today, 35 years after its first bonds, the NJSEA is $830 million in hock. Worse, it can’t repay that debt because business has cratered at the racetrack, still the Meadowlands’ principal revenue source. As for Giants Stadium, it was demolished this year, and its replacement won’t be contributing much to the debt repayments. The state, facing its own cavernous budget deficits, has had to assume the authority’s interest payments—about $100 million this year on bonds that now stretch out to nearly 2030. “The sports authority is paying the consequences for politicians using it for their pet projects,” observes Steve Lonegan, former mayor of Bogota, New Jersey.
Stories like that have become frustratingly common around the country. State and local borrowing, once thought of as a way to finance essential infrastructure, has mutated into a source of constant abuse. Like homeowners before the housing bubble burst, states and cities have gorged on debt, extended repayment times, and used devious means to avoid limits on borrowing—all in order to finance risky projects and kick fiscal problems down the road. Though the country’s economic troubles have helped expose some of these unwise practices, the downturn has brought not reform but yet more abuse. Even as Tea Party protesters and taxpayer groups revolt against excessive government spending and taxes, they are paying too little attention to the gigantic state and local debt bomb. If it can’t be defused, we’re all at risk.
Government debt helped finance the expansion of the American republic. The first municipal bond on record in the United States was an 1812 New York City offering to pay for digging a canal. Six years later, New York State began issuing bonds to finance the $7 million construction of the Erie Canal, whose beneficial impact on the state’s economy led other states and cities to rush out bond offerings to pay for new roads, bridges, and waterworks. Total state and local debt outstanding hit $200 million by 1840 and about $1 billion by 1880 ($22 billion in today’s dollars).
Though the early muni-bond market helped the young country grow, the borrowing could be risky. Some of the toll roads, railroads, and other endeavors were highly speculative and failed to generate enough income to pay back investors. The five-year downturn that followed the 1837 bank panic left eight states, including Pennsylvania, unable to pay off their bonds, prompting William Wordsworth to pen “To the Pennsylvanians,” an ode that castigated those in the state who had “ruthlessly betrayed” the legacy of prudent founder William Penn. Realizing that the defaults would interfere with their ability to borrow in the future, some states imposed debt restrictions on themselves, and eventually inserted requirements into their constitutions that voters approve future bond offerings.
Those moves made the market more secure, but they didn’t protect investors from occasional bouts of irrational exuberance. After a flurry of municipal offerings in the 1920s, for instance, total outstanding municipal debt in America reached some $16 billion ($250 billion in today’s dollars). Then the Great Depression arrived, drying up tax revenues and leaving governments unable to meet their debts. The 1930s would see 4,500 defaults by state and local governments. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the muni market bounced back and debt outstanding surpassed pre-Depression levels.
Though the immediate postwar years proved tranquil, they also saw some troubling changes in the market. States and cities began to expand the scope of what bonds financed to include everything from subsidized housing to private hospitals to urban redevelopment to private industrial development, and they found new ways to skirt state constitutional limits on borrowing. The borrowing craze led to a series of spectacular fiscal crises in the 1970s. Beginning in the previous decade, New York City, under Mayor John Lindsay, had rapidly increased spending on an ambitious menu of social welfare programs, borrowing hefty sums to paper over the resulting deficits. By 1975, New York was borrowing $500 million a month just to pay its everyday bills. Eventually, the banks that managed the debt offerings refused to underwrite further borrowing, fearing that in the increasingly likely event of a default by the city, they might |
anything and everything that the company dreams up, for the rest of time. This clause -- and its place in a "browsewrap agreement" that you supposedly agreed to just by visiting a website with "by visiting this website, you agree to our terms of service" on the bottom of it -- was found to be unenforceable by a federal judge in Nevada, who voided out the company's whole agreement on that basis, leaving the company vulnerable to lawsuits after a password leak affecting 24 million customers.
Eric Goldman's posted analysis:
Zappos can hardly be surprised by this adverse judicial ruling. We have known for years that browsewraps are unenforceable (see some of the cases discussed here) and judges clearly dislike unilateral amendment clauses (see, e.g., the uncited Ninth Circuit's Douglas ruling from 2007 and the cited 2009 ruling in the Blockbuster/Facebook Beacon case). Still, the ruling leaves Zappos in a bad position. Its contract is legally irrelevant, meaning that all of the risk management provisions in its contract are ineffective--its disclaimer of warranties, its waiver of consequential damages, its reduced statute of limitations, its clause restricting class actions in arbitration...all of these are gone, leaving Zappos governed by the default legal rules, which aren't nearly as favorable to it. Losing its contract provisions meant Zappos is legally naked. Avoiding this outcome is surprisingly easy. Use clickthrough agreements, not browsewraps, and remove any clauses that say you can unilaterally amend the contract.
That's pretty grim: you can load up nearly any BS you want in a EULA, and so long as you stick it in a clickthrough "agreement" and it's binding. Good time to remind you all of my own email sig, the original "Reasonable Agreement:
READ CAREFULLY. By reading this email, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.
Feel free to use this in your own contexts, of course!
How Zappos' User Agreement Failed In Court and Left Zappos Legally Naked (Forbes Cross-Post)Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
Defense Secretary James Mattis seemed to surprise many when he announced a review of President Trump’s trans troop ban.
The move was widely interpreted as a ‘freeze’ on the proposed ban, meaning trans troops would be able to continue serving.
The reality, though, is that the defense secretary is doing exactly what Trump asked him to do – this does not represent a potential axing of the policy.
According to a USA Today report, General Mattis had convened a panel of experts to assess the effects of the proposed ban.
His “move,” the article argued, “buys time for the Pentagon” to determine the fate of trans troops who are currently serving.
In the meantime Mattis has permitted trans people to continue serving their country.
The news would have seemed a huge relief to more than 10,000 trans service people whose livelihoods were threatened by Trump’s sudden announcement of his intention for a ban last month.
Mattis said in a statement: “Once the panel reports its recommendations and following my consultation with the secretary of Homeland Security, I will provide my advice to the president concerning implementation of his policy direction.
“In the interim, current policy with respect to currently serving members will remain in place.”
He added, perhaps in a swipe at the president, that “our focus must always be on what is best for the military’s combat effectiveness leading to victory on the battlefield.”
In reality Mattis is doing exactly what the president’s memo requested him to do.
When Trump tweeted that the decision was taken, “After consultation with my generals and military experts,” many of those experts were left bemused – pointing out they knew nothing of the policy.
The Pentagon said there could be no change to US Military policy until an assessment had been undertaken, which is exactly what Trump’s Pentagon memo requested.
The memo ordered the secretary of defense, along with the secretary of homeland security, to “determine how to address transgender individuals currently serving in the United States military.”
The memo instructs that they must have a plan in place for implementing the ban by February 21 2018, to be enacted the following month on March 23.
While it was reported that the move was Mattis seeming to disobey Trump over the ban – trying to push it into the long grass – it was in fact the opposite.
Such coverage plays into Trump’s hands, after polling found most Americans oppose the move, including serious opposition by military veterans.
Mattis does not have the power, in truth, to block the ban, even if he wanted to (which we also do not know).
The study being undertaken now is not a valiant effort to block the ban in favour of a more progressive military policy, but instead a post-hoc attempt to justify a ban based singularly on the 45th president’s politics.
In the unlikely turn of events that Trump quits or is ousted, Mike Pence would become the 46th president of the United States – a man who has even argued in favour of ‘gay cure’ therapy.
As Chase Strangio, ACLU attorney who co-authored that group’s lawsuit against the ban, agrees. “Though Defense Secretary Mattis appears rightly troubled by the president’s action, his statements do not change the directive nor has he been given the power to retain transgender service members indefinitely.”Click on the white dots to explore the map.
The conceit of “Baby Formula 2013,” the latest installation by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei, should be outdated.
After all, it was back in 2008 that contaminated milk killed 6 children and sickened 300,000 others. But in the intervening five years, little has changed. The Chinese government has declined to institute safety standards (paywall) and, unsurprisingly, a slew of new contamination scandals have cropped up. The resulting panic famously caused global supply disruptions after Hong Kong instituted measures to protects its own infant formula supply from desperate mainland parents.
And, of course, it’s not just milk formula. With every bite, people living in China must wonder whether they’re downing lead, formaldehyde, human hair, e-coli, melamine, pesticides, bleach, rat meat, or any number of other foul and toxic substances. ”There’s increasingly the sense that simply living is bad for you,” Maura Cunningham, a modern Chinese history scholar living in Shanghai, tells Quartz. “Food safety cuts across all boundaries. I think it’s the issue that has the most potential to get the widest range of popular support.”
Ai is even more pointed on the matter. “That Chinese people have to go across the border just to get a fresh supply of baby formula and clean food, that’s shocking to me,” he told NBC. “Food safety is a huge issue now due to the neglect of the government.”
In the spirit of “Baby Formula 2013,” Quartz has mapped the most prominent food scandals of the last few years on top of Ai’s new artwork.Will the dead man walk again at Wrestlemania 28?
Shantha FOLLOW FEATURED WRITER 5.06K // 27 Dec 2011, 08:30 IST SHARE Share Options × Facebook Twitter Flipboard Reddit Google+ Email
Rumors are swirling that Triple H will face Undertaker at Wrestlemania 28 in Florida in a rematch of last year’s Wrestlemania match which Triple H lost. If this match happens, it will be the third time that these two men would wrestle against each other at Wrestlemania.
While this may be a predictable outcome, it is being said that Triple H’s close friend, One of Undertaker’s arch rivals and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will be the special guest referee for this match. This may be a means to stack the odds against the Undertaker, and thereby interest the crowd to make a match out of it. However, any of this is not yet confirmed but we will come to know more about it in the forthcoming weeks.
The Undertaker has a 19-0 undefeated streak at Wrestlemania to his credit, which is a very unique feat that could be a crowd puller for a few more years in future. But since WWE has already booked a marquee match for Wrestlemania involving The Rock and John Cena, the focus will slightly be shifted away from Undertaker’s match at mania. This should have prompted them to pit a young and rising star like Wade Barrett or Dolph Ziggler against the Undertaker so as to improve their reputation among the audience. But it seems like the creative writers have decided to go with Triple H. It has to be noted that Triple H’s friend ‘The heart break kid’ had matches with the Undertaker in consecutive Wrestlemania’s. He lost in both attempts and eventually retired from Pro-Wrestling. Triple H may take a similar route to retire.
Last Man Standing match?
Triple H and Undertaker had a hell of a match last year at Atlanta. In a No-holds Barred match that lasted for more than a hour, Undertaker defeated ‘The game’ to keep his streak intact. However, a lot of fuss was made about the Undertaker being carried out of the arena in a stretcher after winning the match. Triple H cut a promo at the Slammy Awards 2011, two week’s back, saying that he was the only man standing after their match at Wrestlemania 27. This is an ominous signal signal for their rematch to be a Last Man Standing match.
Wrestlemania 28 seems to be getting bigger and better. It is still a long way to go with still 95 days left for the biggest and most prestigious WWE event of the year.3 Apr 2017 lambda aws-lambda
AWS Lambda: Encrypted environment variables
Continuing on from my post showing how to create a 'Hello World' AWS lambda function I wanted to pass encrypted environment variables to my function.
The following function takes in both an encrypted and unencrypted variable and prints them out.
Don't print out encrypted variables in a real function, this is just so we can see the example working!
import boto3 import os from base64 import b64decode def lambda_handler(event, context): encrypted = os.environ['ENCRYPTED_VALUE'] decrypted = boto3.client('kms').decrypt(CiphertextBlob=b64decode(encrypted))['Plaintext'] # Don't print out your decrypted value in a real function! This is just to show how it works. print("Decrypted value:", decrypted) plain_text = os.environ["PLAIN_TEXT_VALUE"] print("Plain text:", plain_text)
Now we'll zip up our function into HelloWorldEncrypted.zip, ready to send to AWS.
zip HelloWorldEncrypted.zip HelloWorldEncrypted.py
Now it’s time to upload our function to AWS and create the associated environment variables.
If you’re using a Python editor then you’ll need to install boto3 locally to keep the editor happy but you don’t need to include boto3 in the code you send to AWS Lambda - it comes pre-installed.
Now we write the following code to automate the creation of our Lambda function:
import boto3 from base64 import b64encode fn_name = "HelloWorldEncrypted" kms_key = "arn:aws:kms:[aws-zone]:[your-aws-id]:key/[your-kms-key-id]" fn_role = 'arn:aws:iam::[your-aws-id]:role/lambda_basic_execution' lambda_client = boto3.client('lambda') kms_client = boto3.client('kms') encrypt_me = "abcdefg" encrypted = b64encode(kms_client.encrypt(Plaintext=encrypt_me, KeyId=kms_key)["CiphertextBlob"]) plain_text = 'hijklmno' lambda_client.create_function( FunctionName=fn_name, Runtime='python2.7', Role=fn_role, Handler="{0}.lambda_handler".format(fn_name), Code={ 'ZipFile': open("{0}.zip".format(fn_name), 'rb').read(),}, Environment={ 'Variables': { 'ENCRYPTED_VALUE': encrypted, 'PLAIN_TEXT_VALUE': plain_text, } }, KMSKeyArn=kms_key )
The tricky bit for me here was figuring out that I needed to pass the value that I wanted to base 64 encode the output of the value encrypted by the KMS client. The KMS client relies on a KMS key that we need to setup. We can see a list of all our KMS keys by running the following command:
$ aws kms list-keys
The format of these keys is arn:aws:kms:[zone]:[account-id]:key/[key-id].
Now let’s try executing our Lambda function from the AWS console:
$ python CreateHelloWorldEncrypted.py
Let's check it got created:
$ aws lambda list-functions --query "Functions[*].FunctionName" [ "HelloWorldEncrypted", ]
And now let's execute the function:
$ aws lambda invoke --function-name HelloWorldEncrypted --invocation-type RequestResponse --log-type Tail /tmp/out | jq ".LogResult" "U1RBUlQgUmVxdWVzdElkOiA5YmNlM2E1MC0xODMwLTExZTctYjFlNi1hZjQxZDYzMzYxZDkgVmVyc2lvbjogJExBVEVTVAooJ0RlY3J5cHRlZCB2YWx1ZTonLCAnYWJjZGVmZycpCignUGxhaW4gdGV4dDonLCAnaGlqa2xtbm8nKQpFTkQgUmVxdWVzdElkOiA5YmNlM2E1MC0xODMwLTExZTctYjFlNi1hZjQxZDYzMzYxZDkKUkVQT1JUIFJlcXVlc3RJZDogOWJjZTNhNTAtMTgzMC0xMWU3LWIxZTYtYWY0MWQ2MzM2MWQ5CUR1cmF0aW9uOiAzNjAuMDQgbXMJQmlsbGVkIER1cmF0aW9uOiA0MDAgbXMgCU1lbW9yeSBTaXplOiAxMjggTUIJTWF4IE1lbW9yeSBVc2VkOiAyNCBNQgkK"
That's a bit hard to read, some decoding is needed:
$ echo "U1RBUlQgUmVxdWVzdElkOiA5YmNlM2E1MC0xODMwLTExZTctYjFlNi1hZjQxZDYzMzYxZDkgVmVyc2lvbjogJExBVEVTVAooJ0RlY3J5cHRlZCB2YWx1ZTonLCAnYWJjZGVmZycpCignUGxhaW4gdGV4dDonLCAnaGlqa2xtbm8nKQpFTkQgUmVxdWVzdElkOiA5YmNlM2E1MC0xODMwLTExZTctYjFlNi1hZjQxZDYzMzYxZDkKUkVQT1JUIFJlcXVlc3RJZDogOWJjZTNhNTAtMTgzMC0xMWU3LWIxZTYtYWY0MWQ2MzM2MWQ5CUR1cmF0aW9uOiAzNjAuMDQgbXMJQmlsbGVkIER1cmF0aW9uOiA0MDAgbXMgCU1lbW9yeSBTaXplOiAxMjggTUIJTWF4IE1lbW9yeSBVc2VkOiAyNCBNQgkK" | base64 --decode START RequestId: 9bce3a50-1830-11e7-b1e6-af41d63361d9 Version: $LATEST ('Decrypted value:', 'abcdefg') ('Plain text:', 'hijklmno') END RequestId: 9bce3a50-1830-11e7-b1e6-af41d63361d9 REPORT RequestId: 9bce3a50-1830-11e7-b1e6-af41d63361d9 Duration: 360.04 ms Billed Duration: 400 ms Memory Size: 128 MB Max Memory Used: 24 MB
And it worked, hoorah!
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PinterestMinister for the Environment Alan Kelly yesterday moved to allay fears that there is a long-term plan to privatise Irish Water. He said he would introduce legislation to ensure that if a future government wanted to take the utility out of public ownership it would be required to put the matter before the people in a plebiscite.
This offer partly reflects the position put forward by the Green Party and its leader Eamon Ryan in recent weeks that a referendum should be held to enshrine public ownership of water services in the Constitution.
But a plebiscite is not a referendum. Indeed, it cannot force or coerce the government of the day into taking, or declining to take, a particular action. Its effect is persuasive rather than compelling.
1937 Constitution
No plebiscite has been held in the intervening 77 years, although referendums have become commonplace.
Mr Kelly did not outline why the Government favoured a plebiscite over a referendum, but it is presumed the decision was taken after advice from the Attorney General Máire Whelan.
A number of local plebiscites have been held over the years, some under the powers of the Local Government Act 1946. These have largely concerned the names associated with towns or villages. The most recent was in 2006 when eligible voters in the town of Dingle voted overwhelming to retain its bilingual name on signage (Dingle – Daingean Uí Chúise) over the Irish version of the name alone.
More recently there were proposals for an all-of-Dublin plebiscite to decide if its electorate wished to have a directly-elected mayor with executive powers. However, under the regulations drawn up by the then minister for the environment Phil Hogan, there was a preliminary stage that had to be passed before a plebiscite could be held. That was that all four councils in the greater Dublin area agreed to it going ahead. Fingal County Council rejected the proposal.
Legislation
Yesterday the Green Party justice spokesman Roderic O’Gorman asked why its idea for a referendum was rejected in favour of a plebiscite.
“In proposing to draft a law that would require a plebiscite before any privatisation of Irish Water, the Government are clearly acknowledging that there is public concern about this issue. Yet what they are proposing will provide no meaningful guarantees.”One of the two fundamental problems with American welfare policy is that at its core, it assumes that the poor are morally deficient and need to be fixed instead of just poor. So rather than just increase the money in these programs, politicians blather on about the morality of the poor, which is an excuse not to fully fund them.
We know growing up poor is bad for kids. But instead of focusing on the money, U.S. anti-poverty policy often focuses on the perceived moral shortcomings of the poor themselves. We don’t try to address poverty directly, or alleviate it; we simply try to change the way poor people behave, especially poor parents. Specifically, we offer two choices to poor parents if they want to escape poverty: get a job, or get married. Not only does this approach not work, but it’s also a cruel punishment for children who cannot be held responsible for their parents’ decisions. Policy that addresses poverty by punishing the poor for their perceived misdeeds plays on some popular misunderstandings, especially about marriage and parenting. Many non-poor people mistakenly believe that our lax attitude toward marriage is behind the child poverty problem. That’s why a Heritage Foundation claim that marriage reduces the chance of living in poverty by 82 percent has been a staple on the Republican campaign trail this season, and welfare money has been diverted from alleviating poverty to promoting marriage among the poor. … First, single parenthood doesn’t just cause these social ailments, it also reflects them. Some of these problems are merely the consequence of whatever caused their parents to be single in the first place: poverty, illness, incarceration, weak relationship skills, and so on. In other words, successful people are more likely to raise successful children and to have successful marriages. Research on marriage among poor Americans clearly shows that the majority want to be married, but they aren’t for a variety of reasons related to their poverty. Faced with poor prospects in a marriage partner, some women reason, “I can do bad by myself,” as reported in the book “Promises I Can Keep,” by Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas. Some couples place marriage on a pedestal, and plan to postpone it until they are financially stable. As one young man with a pregnant girlfriend put it, “I’d rather get engaged for two years, save money, get a house, make sure … the baby’s got a bedroom.” For too many, however, that moment never arrives. Poverty clearly lowers the chance of a successful marriage, even as being single may make it harder to escape poverty. This pattern is the subject of a long-running debate among social scientists. Although we can’t agree on the exact breakdown of cause and effect, any reasonable researcher will concede it runs both ways. But the second answer is perhaps more important for today’s poverty debates. It is that the number of single-parent families doesn’t drive the poverty rate – rather, it mostly helps determine which families and children will be poor, not how many will be. How many people live in poverty is largely the outcome of our policy choices, about jobs and wages, and support for poor families. A key study compared poverty rates and family structure in 18 countries, finding that the United States had the highest rate of poverty among single-mother families – more than 40 percent, compared with 5 or 10 percent in the Nordic countries. No country had as large a difference in poverty rates between single mothers and the rest of the population as the United States – that’s our unique penalty for single parenthood.
This has always been a problem with the nation’s response to the poor. From the early charity programs of the antebellum period to Social Darwinism to the Salvation Army to the present, the poor’s poverty is consistently seen as their own fault and something that can be fixed if we intervene in the right way. So the problem becomes unwed mothers instead of a lack of economic opportunity. Why blame capitalists when you can blame 23 year old women who lack a GED?
Meanwhile what the poor actually need are good-paying jobs for people without college educations, which are fewer and farther between in our outsourced, automated, subcontracted, franchised, temp worker economy.
The other fundamental problem with our welfare policy is racism. While not all the poor are people of color or immigrants, many are. And if West Virginia and eastern Kentucky they are mostly white, we find ways to denigrate them anyway. The problem of the poor is also “the problem of black people.” Or Mexicans. Or the Irish in 1850. Or Italians in 1910. Or whatever. But always black people. Focusing on actual poverty alleviation would mean having to deal with the inequalities at the heart of our society, which means dealing with white supremacy and structural racism. And we can’t be having that, now can we.Consumer PCs didn’t always run Windows. Before Windows arrived, PCs came with Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system. Here’s what the command-line environment was actually like to use.
No, MS-DOS was not just like using the Linux terminal or firing up the Command Prompt in a window on your fancy graphical desktop. Many things we take for granted just weren’t possible back then.
The DOS PC Experience
DOS was a command-line operating system with no graphical windows. You booted up your computer and then saw a DOS prompt. You had to know the commands to type at this prompt to launch programs, run built-in utilities, and actually do something with your computer.
RELATED: What Are the Windows A: and B: Drives Used For?
You had to know a few commands to get around the operating system. To switch between different drives — for example, to access a floppy drive at drive A: — you’d type something like A: at the prompt and press Enter.
To change directories, you’d use the CD command. To view the files in a current directory, you’d use the DIR command. To run a program, you’d type the name of the program’s executable file at the prompt.
For example, if you picked up a new floppy disk with an awesome new program on it, you’d push the floppy disk into your floppy drive — waiting while the loud magnetic drive read the contents of your disk — and then run commands like the following:
A: DIR SETUP or INSTALL (depending on the name of the program’s installer)
You’d then go through the installer and install the program — basically just extracting the files — to a folder on your tiny hard drive. You’d often have to swap floppy disks because larger programs didn’t fit on a single floppy, but afterwards you could run the program without using a floppy disk.
You’d then run the C: command to go back to drive C, use the CD command to enter the folder containing your installed program, and run the program with a command like PROGNAME. The program file’s name would have to be that short, too — MS-DOS limited file names to eight characters followed by a period and a three-letter extension. For example, PROGNAME.EXE is the longest file name you could have.
Some programs tried to simplify things for typical users. For example, you had file managers like Norton Commander that provided for viewing and managing files without needing commands. This is the style of most DOS programs you’d find — it’s all about arranging text on the screen.
No Multitasking
Forget multitasking; DOS did one thing at a time. When you opened a program, that program took up your entire screen. Want to use another program? You’d need to close the current program and enter the command to open the other program.
To get around this limitation, DOS provided a “terminate and stay resident” (TSR) function. A program that supported this feature could hook into a keyboard shortcut. You’d press the appropriate keyboard shortcut and the current program would shut down and stay in memory. The other program would then load itself from memory.
TSR isn’t really multitasking. The program isn’t actually running in the background. Instead, it’s shut down and there’s a quick way to relaunch it. DOS can only run one program at a time.
This is significantly different from modern shells like the ones found on Linux, which allow you to run programs and services in the background, use multiple text-mode terminals, and do other advanced things. DOS was nowhere near as powerful as that.
Hardware Support and Real Mode
DOS didn’t really support hardware devices in the way operating systems support hardware today. Programs that needed to directly access hardware — for example, a DOS game that wanted to use your sound card to output sound — had to support that hardware directly. If you were developing a DOS game or a similar application, you’d have to code in support for all the types of sound cards your users might have. Luckily, many sound cards were Sound Blaster compatible. You’d use a SETUP program to configure this setting separately for each program you used.
RELATED: How To Use DOSBox To Run DOS Games and Old Apps
Because of the way DOS worked, programs that wanted to directly access memory and peripherals needed to run in real mode, or real address mode. In real mode, a single program could write to any memory address on the on the computers hardware with no protection. This only worked because you could only run one program at a time. Windows 3.0 brought protected mode, which restricted what running applications can do.
To this day, you still can’t run many DOS games in the Command Prompt on Windows. The Command Prompt runs applications in protected mode, but these games require real mode. This is why you need DOSBox to run many old DOS games.
Windows Was Just Another DOS Program
The original popular versions of Windows — think Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 — were actually programs that ran under MS-DOS. So you’d start your computer, see the DOS prompt, and then type the WIN command to launch the Windows program, which gave you that Windows 3-style desktop, known as the Program Manager. Of course, you could have your computer automatically launch Windows by adding the WIN command to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and DOS would automatically run the Windows command when you booted.
You could exit Windows and go back to DOS, which was actually necessary at the time. People had DOS applications and games that required real mode and couldn’t be run from within Windows.
Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, and ME pushed DOS further to the background. Windows 95 acted like an operating system of its own, but DOS always lurked in the background. These versions of Windows were still built on DOS. It was only with Windows XP that consumer versions of Windows finally left DOS behind and switched to a modern, 32-bit Windows NT kernel.
The Windows desktop is now regarded by many people — even Microsoft themselves — as a relic that’s out-of-date in an age of simplified mobile interfaces and touch screens. But there was a time when the Windows desktop was the new, user-friendly interface.With the Delta Aquarid meteor shower going on right now, and the crowd-favorite Perseid meteor shower hot on its heels, the next few weeks are going to be the prime-time to watch some shooting stars light up the night sky.
But while dust-size bits of comets sizzling through our atmosphere put on a pretty awesome show, the consequences of Earth confronting one of these comets head-on could actually be pretty disastrous.
It's not something that you should be worried about, of course. NASA is on the lookout for any cosmic objects on a crash course with our planet, and it's found that the chances of us colliding with a comet or asteroid anytime soon are pretty low.
It's still interesting to think about, though. What would happen if one of these ancient, celestial chunks of ice, dust, and rock smacked into our planet?
The 16-mile-wide Swift-Tuttle comet — the progenitor of the Perseid meteor shower —hurtles through space at about 36 miles per second, more than 150 times the speed of sound.
If a comet of this size struck Earth, then the energy of the impact would be about as much as 300 times that of the asteroid that scientists believed wiped out the dinosaurs, Donald Yeomans, a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told LiveScience.
And the size of a comet or asteroid isn't the only thing to consider with cosmic collisions. While the impact of the comet would be pretty destructive, the brunt of the damage would come from the gases it released in Earth's atmosphere.
"Sulfur dioxide would initially cause cooling, and then carbon dioxide would lead to long-term warming," LiveScience writes. "An event like this would likely cause the planet's climate to change drastically, leading to mass extinctions around the globe."
A comet colliding with Earth wouldn’t necessarily signal mass extinctions and the end of human civilization, though.
While a comet landing smack dab in the ocean could trigger earthquakes and tsunamis, its atmospheric effects would actually be eased by the ocean. Considering that 70% of Earth is covered in ocean, our odds aren't terrible.
But let's hope that we don't have to roll the dice anytime soon.
NOW WATCH: This is how big an asteroid would need to be to wipe out New York City
More From Business Insider"First you must understand your enemy. Then you must understand that you will never understand your enemy." - Sigma-7 Handbook, pg. 11
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT - Corporal Blake After-Action Report - 4/23/195█
Interviewer 1: How's your arm?
Cpl. Blake: S'fine, sir. Medical did their jobs.
Interviewer 1: That's good to hear. Nobody's earned their rest more than you have.
Cpl. Blake: Thank you, sir. Say… Are you able to tell me what happened to-
Interviewer 2: There will be time for that later. Right now…
[SOUNDS OF SHUFFLING PAPER]
Interviewer 2: Please state your name, rank, unit number and station into the microphone, please.
Cpl. Blake: ███████ Blake. Corporal. Unit number ███-██-████. Fireteam member of Uniform-Sierra ███.
Interviewer 2: Thank you, Corporal Blake. As you well know we are required to have both a written and audio recount of the events you are about to describe. Can you please tell us about the operation that took place on April 11th, 195█?
Cpl. Blake: Alright. Yes. Well, after the events of Site-██, our Unit was scrambling for any clues regarding the Chaos Insurgency we could come across. Unit Command gets intel from field agents in ██████ about a suspected Insurgency storage and testing facility, out in the countryside. Naturally the Foundation sent in some people to check things out. Agent Jones was leading that investigation, I think. It was that bunch that got the wagon rolling.
Interviewer 2: What was it that they found?
Cpl. Blake: Jones' team found the facility. They confirmed the presence of missing and uncatalogued SCPs. But - and this last part is what really got Command invested in this enterprise - they were also able to confirm a large body of high-value personnel. Researchers, and scientists, and intelligence workers. These were the kinds of targets that Judge and Jury are interested in. Targets that can be pried for information, or at least help the Foundation understand half of the crazy stunts that the Insurgency pull. In short, this was a big deal for Command.
Interviewer 1: And this was when Sigma-7 was alerted and units were deployed. Your Unit Station was chosen for the operation.
Cpl. Blake: We - that's Sparrow and Locust Team - were transferred to ██████ to meet up with a group of field agents. Agent Jones was among them. They were our guide to the location and entry points. It was only when our boots were on the ground that they bothered telling us about the large numbers of armed hostiles that were patrolling the premises.
Interviewer 1: Did your teams wait for backup?
Cpl. Blake: Would have loved to, but Judge wanted a report that he could present personally to the O5 Council. Bet he got quite the pat on the head for it too.
Interviewer 2: Is that for the record?
[FOUR SECONDS OF SILENCE]
Cpl. Blake: … No, it's not. Command felt that the research and leadership elements of the target site could have dispersed at any time. They wanted us to go in fast and secure the area. We were told that relief units would be dispatched only when we secured whatever items they had in the facility. Despite that, we were told that the capture of enemy leadership was a Priority One Task Order.
Interviewer 1: Were you successful in that Task Order, in addition to securing all █ items?
Cpl. Blake: Not me personally. Locust Team stopped a group of vehicles from leaving the site. They managed to secure one of them. The rest of the vehicles remotely detonated their IEDs. I'm not sure how many of our guys were caught in those blasts.
Interviewer 2: Before that, your teams were prepared to initiate the raid on the facility?
Cpl. Blake: Yes. We had acquired a Saracen from the ████████ Army Base. [EXPUNGED], I'm sure they didn't mind. Members from Locust Team were familiar enough with the mechanics of the vehicle to be designated operators during the assault. Nine operatives were then placed in the back of that APC and drove that sonovabitch straight through their front door. Wish I could have seen it. I sure as hell heard it.
Interviewer 2: What was your team's role in all of this?
Cpl. Blake: Agent Jones and our team and made our way through a subterranean passageway that a Insurgency defector had revealed to Jones' men.
Interviewer 2: At the time, the Foundation had good reason to suspect the intelligence brought forward by defectors.
Cpl. Blake: Yeah, thinking about it, it was a bad call. The path could have been wired with explosives. They could have had an ambush at the end of the tunnel. They could have used SCP-███ had they'd known or cared to know about our approach. It could have been monitored in any way.
[WATER IS SIPPED FROM A STYROFOAM CUP]
Cpl. Blake: But they didn't, and it wasn't. We were able to get past their perimeter defenses and inside of the facility just before Locust Team started the fireworks. At that point it was all training. Sparrow Team split into two groups of four, designated Sierra-Alpha and Sierra-Bravo. I was put in charge of leading Alpha. Jones went with Bravo. We began securing the research facility's labs and equipment. Finding high-value targets for capture was… Difficult.
Interviewer 1: Can you elaborate?
Cpl Blake: Every individual on the site was armed. Everybody. Every. Body. They didn't just have security grunts pulling guns on us. We had researchers, maintenance workers — even the fucking janitors. They were armed, trained, and ready to use lethal force on us. Every encounter ended with the termination of the hostiles. This was the story down through all ██ levels of the facility.
[ANOTHER SIP OF WATER IS TAKEN]
Cpl. Blake: Locust Team and some of the available agents made their way through the front entrance. It didn't sound good on the comms. But I guess some of them broke through, because Agent Jones, Sergeant Beaumont and Corporal Travers linked up to our position. By then we had a group of researchers pinned down |
to say there is no such thing as a prosecutor who exercises prosecutorial power independent of the executive branch. Were the Trump administration to cave in to media-Democrat pressure and appoint a “special prosecutor,” that lawyer would be chosen by the Trump Justice Department and answer to the president.
As night follows day, the next line of politicized attack would be that President Trump had rigged the investigation by choosing a crony to make the scandal disappear.
Special prosecutors notoriously guarantee a number of headaches for an administration. Unlike other prosecutors' offices, they do not have to limit the resources devoted to a single case because of other enforcement needs. Their investigations inevitably metastasize far beyond the original inquiry because there is no supervisor to keep them focused on the subject matter and ensure that the investigation is completed in a reasonable time. The arrangement is a perverse assignment of a prosecutor to a single target (or set of targets) with a mandate to make a case against him – whatever case can be made, however long it takes. Because political cases have a high public profile, and the special prosecutor would inevitably be accused of a whitewash if he decides an indictment is not warranted, there is unusually great pressure to file some charge – even if it is a “process crime” (i.e., an offense, such as making false statements to investigators, that relates not to the conduct that was under investigation but to obstruction of the investigation itself).
Just as important, special prosecutors severely degrade an administration’s capacity to govern. They paralyze officials, pitting them against each other when they should be cooperating on the president’s agenda. They divert time, energy, and resources away from the conduct of official responsibilities so that the prosecutor’s investigative demands can be answered.
The only upside an administration supposedly gets in exchange for bearing these debilitating burdens is that appointing a special prosecutor signals to the public that the administration is not afraid of an “independent” investigation. But if the president is going to be accused of rigging the investigation anyway, what’s the point?
Let’s put all that aside for a moment, though. If we’re already talking about a special prosecutor, it means we have ignored what is supposed to be a rudimentary requirement: the crime.This post is mostly thinking out loud. So please fill the comments with your own insights.
Though the idea Chick Parabola predated Tom Chick’s eloquent discussion of early in Three Moves Ahead history, the core idea speaks to a hardcore understanding of what strategy games are all about. Like chess or Go or Little Wars, strategy gaming is about mastery.
To refresh, Tom describes his strategy game parabola like this. A strategy game is about learning and mastering a system. If a game ceases being enjoyable once the system is comprehended – i.e., if the game can no longer surprise or challenge us from within the rules of the system as players understand them, then the game will have limited longevity or appeal.
In his own words:
Commonly, there’s this curve where I enjoy a game, and then I master the system, and then – unless it’s got a good AI – I lose all interest because I realize that mastering the system is where the challenge ends. Once I reach that point, the game is dead for me, and I hate that! That’s when the game should really start to take off.
It’s not the Candyland problem, where the player outgrows the game; it’s more an issue of a game being unable to introduce enough variety in situations and circumstances to force the player to adjust his/her planning. If the same strategy always works in a strategy game, then the game reveals itself as little more than a delayed puzzle – almost certainly unintentional on the part of the developers, but math is a stubborn thing.
Increasingly, many video game genres have taken the narrative approach to design. Simon Parkin’s controversial review of Uncharted 3 at Eurogamer addressed the very relevant problem of trying to fit the illusion of an open world into a game that is intended to be a plot driven cinematic experience where most of the surprises are scripted. This is natural as games become more an intimately shared experience where we want to know that people in our community understand what we have seen and can get the emotional pull.
Whatever.
Personally, there is nothing more boring than someone telling me about a crazy thing they saw or did in a game that will be virtually indentical to the experience of 85% of everyone who plays the game. Unless it is a rare treasure like Bioshock or Portal that have narrative pull even after you know the ‘twist’, then talking about an amazing thing you saw in Dragon Age or seeing giants catapult you into the sky in Skyrim are just things that everyone will see and are usually of little import. (Does anyone besides Lara Crigger still talk about Dragon Age 2?)
This is where systems and stories collide and, to my mind, make strategy gaming a weird place.
By all accounts, Memoir 44 is a shallow strategy game. There is some strategy, to be sure. You have objectives and limited actions. The choices you make in what units to activate and which cards to play are certainly strategic and can, every now and then, mean the difference between victory and defeat. It’s an intro level semi-serious board game that has the randomness a lot of intro boardgamers bring from their experiences in other games during their youth.
This is where the “story generating mechanism” comes in, and where games like Crusader Kings, Civilization, and sports managment strategy games like Out of the Park Baseball come in. Each of these games is a system, and a system that can be mastered and even cheated a bit once you master how inheritance or research or owner expectations work. Understanding the formula is the key to most gaming, and especially strategy gaming, because too much randomness in a system interferes with what we see – as strategy gamers – see as free will in our games. Actions have expected consequences.
But you need some randomness, and this is how strategy games build story. The 30 million dollar contract that fails in OOTP because the guy gets fat and lazy. The ambitious vassal that goes on a killing spree and decimates your court before you have the power to stop him/her. The goodie hut that gives you the extra unit you need to eliminate Montezuma in the opening moves. All random, to an extent, but all the sort of thing that aids in the construction of a strategy/war world that you can invest in.
The randomness has to work, however, within a system of expectations. Randomness that is entirely under the hood is not a game at all. Memoir 44 and Last Night on Earth are very random in their results, but most people understand the probabilities on a six sided die and can work that randomness into their stories. Then, however, the story becomes less about the game and then about how you were screwed on the dice. If you fail a combat check because there are many variables, clearly laid out, and the results don’t go your way from a combination of factors (or rolling a lot of critical misses) then that can be built into an in game narrative about a heroic enemy unit that wouldn’t cede ground.
I think that the lack of randomness is one reason that I have so little time for RTS story based campaigns. The story is there, and it is possible to have your own stories within other people’s stories; that is how D&D works after all – an arch-narrative that the party can engage with. This is also, ideallly, how the Elder Scrolls games work. But in strategy games, especially RTS games, the story is there for you to follow and the game part becomes all-system. There are no unpredictable opponents or random events that let you claim that your success was based on thinking of an original strategy that happened to work. And besides, everyone has the same story – when strategy gamers talk about a campaing scenario (if they do at all), its in terms of how to win it, or maybe about the “one good mission” in a sea of overthought 1-2-3 Objective counts.
But then we come to multiplayer games and board games, and that’s where randomness needs to be reined in more. If your game is best played as a multiplayer game, like most modern RTSes, then you want to keep the game as one of skill. It’s one thing to be playing Civ and be forced to face a horde of barbarian invaders, but another to have that event erupt in the middle of a closely fought multiplayer game. If it is a cooperative game like Pandemic or Arkham Horror where the players work together to defeat a system, then mroe randomness is fine. But if it is a game where the players are demonstrating their skill to each other, a truly great victory will ideally be about where the minds meet, and not about who got screwed on an artillery strike because the dice hate me.
Stories within systems aren’t quite a Goldilocks problem, where you are looking for a design solution that is “just right”, since I think that you can figure a lot of this stuff out in early gameplay reports by listening to how a team is talking about their game sessions and what kinds of stories they are telling, if at all.
Is this important? I think so. Games are a social medium, now, and people like talking about what they saw and experienced. If it is a shared moment, like the end of Bioshock or the never-ending dwarf caverns in Dragon Age: Origins, then that builds one type of community – one more akin to fans of a movie or TV show (“I love the part when…”). Strategy games, and a few other genres, are more about the types of conversations you share with friends you know well (“A crazy thing happened to me the other day…”).
Over the last week or so, I’ve been telling some of my close friends about things I saw in the Crusader Kings 2 preview build. The responses have been welcoming, and all from people who know very little about the game beyond what they’ve read. “Is that really in the game?” “I would be laughing the whole time.” “I can’t buy it because I have work to do, and this would stop it..” And none of the events have been entirely ridiculous – my kingdom was saved from a crappy heir by syphilis, the Portuguese inheritance of France has led to the Holy Roman Emperor-ship and prevented my planned expansion in Spain, divorcing a Byzantine princess just after she had converted to Catholicism was mean but necessary.
Unless I am just an awesome storyteller, all of the randomness that was inherent in the mechancis allowed these stories to transpire, giving me the hook to hold the attention of friends differently unversed in either strategy games, medieval history or both.
I can’t reduce this to a systematic explanation like Tom and his eponymous parabola. Feel free to help.Zhang Shuxia, an obstetrician involved in baby trafficking, stands trial in Weinan Intermediate People's Court in Weinan, Shaanxi province, December 30, 2013. REUTERS/CHINA DAILY BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Tuesday handed down a suspended death sentence on a doctor who sold seven newborn babies to human traffickers, a case that sparked widespread anger in a country where child trafficking is rampant.
Zhang Shuxia, 55, an obstetrician in northwestern Shaanxi province's Fuping county, was found guilty of selling the babies for as much as 21,600 yuan ($3,600) each between 2011 and 2013, the court in Weinan city said.
Zhang tricked the parents to give up their newborns by convincing them the infants had incurable diseases or deformities, the court said in a statement on its website.
"Though Zhang Shuxia confessed, her behavior violated both professional and social ethics, had an extremely bad social impact, and the circumstance of the crimes were grave," the court said.
A trafficker threw one sick child into a garbage ditch, presuming she was dead, the statement said. Zhang was not convicted in connection with the child's death, but the court ruled she was partly responsible. The baby was never found.
The other six infants were rescued by police and returned to their families.
The official Xinhua news agency said it was unclear if Zhang, who was detained in August and stood trial in December, would appeal. Suspended death sentences are typically reduced to life in prison.
Child trafficking is widespread in China, where population control policies have bolstered a traditional bias for male offspring, seen as the main support for elderly parents and heirs to the family name, and have resulted in abortions, killings or abandonment of girls.
The imbalance has created criminal demand for abducted or bought baby boys, but also for baby girls destined to be future brides attracting rich dowries.
(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)Captain America: The Winter Soldier director Joe Russo has said that he finds it "strange" that comic book movies are continually snubbed at the Oscars.
Russo and his brother Anthony Russo oversaw this year's Marvel sequel, which was met with critical praise and earned more than $700 million at the worldwide box office.
The blockbuster is the second-highest grossing film of 2014 behind Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
"It's strange that the comic book film genre is so often thought of only in terms of its economic merits," Joe Russo told Deadline.
"Yes, it's shockingly popular and continues to grow, and yes, the box office success of these films can often embarrassingly outweigh their merits, but as Christopher Nolan perhaps first proved, real and valuable filmmaking can be achieved with the genre.
"It's sad that some people, seemingly soured by having to endure the massive cultural presence and expectations that even mediocre or poor examples of the genre can generate, react by trying to reject the genre as a whole."
He added: "Snubbing comic book movies because of their ubiquity is akin to dismissing the Western as matinee fodder."
Nolan's Batman sequel The Dark Knight was widely tipped for Academy Awards in 2008 but was snubbed in both the Best Picture and Best Director categories.
The Russos will return to direct Captain America 3 for Marvel, with Robert Downey Jr expected to feature as Tony Stark. The film will reportedly be based on Mark Millar's comic book Civil War.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier in pictures:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier latest picturesA proposal for strict regulations that would bar new billboards outside of narrowly drawn sign districts appears at risk of being watered down by a group of Los Angeles City Council members.
That was the indication this week from members of the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee, known as PLUM.
During a meeting Tuesday, members of the committee expressed skepticism about a plan from LA's Citywide Planning Commission, which recommended banning any new billboards outside of sign districts.
At one point, Councilman Jose Huizar chastised the planning commission for "an unusual move that I have rarely seen, kind of grabbed that sign ordinance and redid it."
The PLUM committee ordered staff members to explore more lenient options, including one in which the city would partner with billboard companies and share revenue.
For years, the city has been trying to develop an ordinance to regulate the number and placement of billboards, particularly digital billboards that drawn criticism as being too bright and distracting for drivers.
Past proposals have been delayed by litigation, changes in elected and appointed officials and pressure from sign companies.
"Because of the change of council members with new members on this committee, and because the commission had untraditionally moved to usurp an action by this committee, we are now here again," Huizar said at Tuesday's meeting.
Cut L.A. in on sign revenue?
A city staff proposal reviewed by the PLUM committee could let the city share income from new signs in exchange for letting the companies keep more of their old signs in place.
The Planning Commission wanted to require billboard companies to take down five to 10 square feet of old billboards for every one square foot of new billboards that go up. The takedown requirement would be more for digital billboards, less for traditional ones.
But a group of city department heads, in a joint report to the council committee, said that plan would discourage sign companies from taking down any old billboards.
Their alternative proposal calls for an 8:1 takedown ratio, but allow billboard companies the more favorable 6:1 ratio if they paid the city a percentage of their revenue, or even a 4:1 ratio if they paid the city even more.
The percentages or gross dollar amounts the city might earn were not specified in the joint report from the City Administrative Officer, Legislative Analyst, Building & Safety and Planning departments.
The report said the Planning Commission's strict rules did not offer enough of an incentive to remove old billboards. The report concluded the commission proposal would also keep the city from reaping the benefits that could be conditions of new sign installation, like public art projects, transit subsidies, safety improvements or free ad space for nonprofit groups.
The report proposed that the PLUM committee allow up to 150 new billboards outside of sign districts in order to "fill this incentive gap, spread community benefits beyond areas (close to) to sign districts and generate additional revenue for the city."
Essentially, the city would partner with billboard companies to share revenue while allowing more old billboards to remain in place.
Huizar chairs the PLUM committee where the idea is under consideration. What happens in the committee matters because its recommendations are often approved by the full city council without changes. Huizar said he was not endorsing the revenue idea but wanted to know how much the city could earn and how many billboards might be removed.
"We're looking for mechanisms that would allow us or incentivize billboard companies and the city to take these down," Huizar said.
The department heads' report and the revenue-sharing proposal were prepared in response to a request last May from PLUM committee members.
Committee members also asked for an inventory of city parcels that could be used to erect billboards and collect rent payments. The committee renewed the request on Tuesday.
Jason Killeen is a senior administrative analyst with the City Administrative Officer. He said city staffers were not advocating the approaches detailed in the report, merely offering them as options for the council to explore.
Sign opponents like Barbara Broide of Westwood favor the Planning Commission's stricter proposal and oppose the city taking a share of billboard revenue. She said the revenue-sharing idea should be reviewed by the city's many neighborhood councils before the PLUM Committee votes.
"I have a lot of difficulty with condoning the trading of our visual environment, the public safety of drivers, in exchange for an undisclosed amount of money," Broide said.
All these proposed new rules concern so-called "off-site" billboards, that is, signs that are put up away from the businesses they promote. Signs that are on the premises of the businesses they promote are covered under a different set of rules.
As has become common at city hearings on billboards, a stream of union representatives and business groups lined up to praise the more lenient rules because they are seen as increasing job opportunities and business-friendly. A number of nonprofit groups, some who have benefited from free ad space donated by billboard companies, also support the ordinance.
Comparing proposals from the PLUM Committee and Planning Commission
Signs outside sign districts
Commission: Would bar any new billboards outside of sign districts. For every square foot of new signage that goes up, five square feet of old signs must come down. For digital billboards, the commission wants a 10:1 takedown ratio. The old signs would come down in neighborhoods close to the new signs.
Council options: Would permit up to 150 new billboards outside of sign districts. The takedown ratio would be 8:1 if billboard companies share no revenue with the city or it could be 6:1 or 4:1 if the companies share a percentage of their sign income. Half the signs to be removed would be near the new signs, the other half could be anywhere in the city.
The 150 new signs could be negotiated via relocation agreements that would have to undergo environmental reviews and public hearings, the city staff report said.
Amnesty for unpermitted signs
About 16 percent of all billboards in the city's inventory of 5,629 signs appear not to have valid permits. The report says 391 were altered or enlarged so much they no longer comply with their original permit. City building inspectors have the authority to order owners to revert the signs back to their original sizes.
Another 525 have no record of a permit. One of the challenges the council faces is what to do about those. A state law gives those signs legal status if the city lacks a record of a permit but has failed to take any enforcement action within five years.
Commission: The Citywide Planning Commission recommends those signs not be given amnesty in the form of legal permits.
Council options: The PLUM Committee has previously favored grandfathering the signs that have no permits as a way to avoid lawsuits. The committee on Tuesday asked for a report from city staff on how the commission proposal could increase the number of sign inspectors to enforce city billboard laws.
Fees
The current sign inspection fee of $170 is paid twice a year. But it's too low to pay for the city's enforcement of billboard laws, so the report said the council could increase the fees to improve enforcement.
How did we get here?
It's complicated.
The city council banned new billboards in 2002. Legal challenges from billboard companies followed, and eventually, the city won its case. While the issue was dragging through the courts, the council drafted a new billboard ordinance in 2009. It was reviewed by the Citywide Planning Commission and returned to the City Council, where it underwent more changes in 2014. Those changes went back to the Planning Commission for review and in October, the commission voted approval of its very strict proposal. That is now under review by the PLUM committee, and will be considered at a meeting that could occur as early as next month.Our campus is a snapshot of the future of this nation’s politics, and the tactics that may be employed by social justice warriors over the next decade were on full display at Tuesday’s protest against the event “Feminism is Cancer.”
Bruin Republicans hosted Milo Yiannopoulos, technology editor for the conservative news and opinion website Breitbart.com, in the Broad Art Center, where they estimated that more than 400 supporters showed up to listen to him talk. They were greeted at the door by a contingent of roughly 50 protesters who blocked the entrance, screamed at the supporters, blasted music and demanded that the event be shut down.
The ideology that I saw represented Tuesday by the protesters is one that considers, as one protester put it, “neutrality as violence.” In other words, if you don’t wholeheartedly support their cause, with no misgivings, you are part of a violent and oppressive system. In fact, in my attempt to get comments from the protesters, I was met with repeated refusals for comment. The only comments I was able to get were from students Troy Robinson, who wanted to be quoted as only saying, “this is f—— asinine,” and Aidan Casey, who asked for his only statement to be “the Patriarchy exists.”
I then approached some protesters that were off to the side under a long banner, and was met with a little more substance from Chanel Mozer, who works with LA Femmes of Color Collective. She said, “We’re putting our foot down. I’ve seen his videos, and nothing he says has sources, it’s just hate speech.” It’s undeniable that Yiannopoulos makes many unsubstantiated claims, but labeling everything he has to say as “hate speech” could be perceived by the other side as just using a buzzword to avoid discussing the issue.
On the other side, a sea of red “Make America Great Again” hats represented the Republicans. Jake Strumfell, a Trump supporter, said that the protest was “counter to free speech,” and that he had come to the event “to push back against the safe space culture.” I was able to obtain a one-on-one interview with Yiannopoulos, himself a fervent Trump supporter, and the Bruin Republicans incoming external vice president, Haley Nieves. They both pointed out that the “Trump phenomenon” is a direct reaction to the rhetoric being espoused on the side of the feminist supporters.
Almost every supporter I spoke to repeated these statements against outrage culture and social justice, lending weight to the argument from Nieves and Yiannopoulos. These young men, along with many others across the country, feel they are no longer allowed to debate certain topics and that free speech is threatened on college campuses. So when these young men see someone like Donald Trump oppose political correctness, they see someone who represents them, and their desire for an intellectually diverse and open atmosphere.
The protest on Tuesday was reminiscent of protests at Mizzou, Wesleyan and especially Yale in 2015. The Mizzou and Wesleyan protests focused on issues of race, whereas Yale’s was over Halloween costumes and cultural appropriation. All were scary to anyone in favor of the First Amendment. Two faculty members were pressured to resign at Yale (and eventually did) because they voiced an unpopular opinion: that college students should wear whatever they like during Halloween. This is an opinion that is eminently defensible and should be allowed to be voiced on college campuses without fear of censorship or punishment.
The same can be said of the unpopular opinion that feminism no longer has a central place in the developed world. Christina Hoff Sommers, The American Enterprise Institute, The Economist, U.S. News and The Guardian have all published articles deconstructing some popular feminist myths and that describe the massive successes feminists have already won. It should be no surprise that 82 percent of Americans don’t consider themselves feminists. Feminism still has some valuable fights to wage, but the vast majority of Americans simply don’t experience the patriarchy to a sufficient extent in their daily lives for it to still be legitimately considered a major issue.
What they do experience, however, is economic strife and inequality not seen since the Great Depression, as I outlined in my previous opinion piece. The economics are clearly in support for more taxation on the super rich and more regulation on global capital flow. Donald Trump’s success is certainly a reaction to this horrific economic situation, evidenced by his repeated claim that he will “bring jobs back to America.”
By focusing their efforts on feminism, instead of the underlying economic factors at play, to challenge Trump’s rise, the protesters simply succeeded in galvanizing his support. When it has been made perfectly clear that a specific ideology wishes to be totalitarian and that it will accept no challenges, it is difficult for those who want to have an open debate to accept that ideology.
These activists are obviously left-leaning and have become the vocal minority of the Democratic Party, especially on college campuses. This is damaging to democracy because the opposition, usually right-leaning, is able to avoid all criticism simply by representing itself with demagogic minorities like Yiannopoulos, who is gay himself. This allows them to dodge such attacks as “anti-gay” and “racist”, which I repeatedly heard from the protesters. If everything the left-leaning contingent of UCLA has to offer up against Trump and the new anti-political correctness movement he represents are ad-hominem attacks and censorship, then they’ve already lost.
Economic measures usually associated with left-leaning politics are urgently needed in our country. But they will not be taken seriously if liberals continue to allow themselves to be represented by groups of protesters like those present on Tuesday. They need to engage in stoic, fact-based discussion if they are to stave off the rise of far-right demagogues who rely on our current censorial climate to succeed both here and in Europe.Galactic and Confined: Restless Books’ A Planet For Rent and A Legend of the Future
Tobias Carroll Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 22, 2015
Fiction written under an authoritarian or totalitarian government often dares readers to view the work as a critique of that society. This feeling is only accentuated when entering the realm of speculative fiction, where worlds can take on additional metaphorical trappings. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s Definitely Maybe, for instance, contains plenty of moments of absurdism-laced paranoia–but one could just as easily view the presence of voyeuristic entities monitoring the proceedings as a commentary on the pervasive fears that gripped the populace of the Soviet Union.
Two works of science fiction from Cuban authors, newly released in the United States by Restless Books, offer dueling perspectives on similar themes. The more recent of the two is written by Yoss, one of the few science fiction authors that looks as though his band could have opened for Slayer at any time in the past twenty years. A Planet For Rent (first published in 2001) initially looks like a collection of short stories set on the same futuristic Earth. Here, a group of advanced alien races have taken control of the planet, allowing limited self-government. Those limitations are wide-ranging, and the aliens’ (or, in the book’s parlance, xenoids’) penchant for wiping out entire populations and regions en masse (including all of Africa) doesn’t inspire much optimism in the populace.
Throughout A Planet For Rent, the sense of living in a society entirely subject to the whims of more powerful entities becomes pervasive. In “The Champions,” it becomes apparent that one of the few ways to escape Earth for a better life is through athletic prowess. The story pertains to a human team facing off in a game against a collection of xenoids from around the galaxy. For some, the result will be death or permanent injury; for others may find a way out of their predicament. As I worked on this piece, the Cuban national soccer team faced off in a friendly match against the New York Cosmos, and it was hard not to find the parallels between the real game and fictional one depicted in Yoss’s book.
What appears to be a series of vignettes written in a host of styles, from third-person narratives to monologues to interrogations, gradually comes together into something bigger. A character mentioned in passing in several other stories makes an appearance towards the end of the book, and a bond between an artist whose visceral work both terrifies and compels audiences and his xenoid patron takes on a very different dimension over time. This isn’t to say that it’s a seamless work: how shocked a reader will be by the image that closes one story may depend on their familiarity with the short stories of Octavia E. Butler. Leilah, the jaded-beyond-her-years narrator of “The Platinum Card, throws off the book’s balance between evocative science fiction and grittier descriptions of a shellshocked Earth. She’s world-weary and sexually precocious at a very young age, and while this aspect of her character might be intended to demonstrate the hellishness of the environment in which she was raised, it also prompts a general feeling of unease while reading it–that this particular subplot heads to places that the rest of the book isn’t quite equipped to deal with.
Agustín de Rojas’s A Legend of the Future, originally published in 1985, feels on the surface to be more traditional. The characters are explorers, venturing through the solar system when something goes horribly wrong, as tends to happen in stories like these. However, out of this archetypal setup comes something stranger: a subdued psychological drama enhanced by speculative elements about human psychology (fans of Joss Whedon’s TV show Dollhouse will find a couple of points of resonance) topped off with an overwhelming awareness of mortality.
There’s a moment in the novel’s prologue where one character waxes both ecstatic and expository about their destination, citing “that tiny cosmic pebble” and imparting a handful of scientific information, right before another character shushes him. And, later in the book, a character in a hallucinatory state is told an alternate (and false) reading of several of the events that have transpired, suggesting what a more traditional version of this novel might have looked like. Clearly de Rojas seems aware of the tropes associated with the genre.
The book’s title takes on a shifting meaning over the course of the book. Are the actions of the crew, forced to wrestle with an impossible situation and questions of their own survival and their own identities, the formation of the legend in question? Does it have to do with Isanusi, a character who, at the start of the book, is in a dreamlike situation that seems decidedly mythological in its setting? The book’s ending, in which the title takes on one more interpretation, satisfies on a thematic level and brings the complicated dynamics between the characters to a moving conclusion.
The backdrop of A Legend of the Future does feature global superpowers in a conflict both literal and ideological. It’s telling, however, that the main characters with which the reader interacts are separated from those conflicts by the vastness of space–and, in some cases, have to deal with the ways in which adapting to that conflict has left them altered on a fundamental level from their fellow humans. It’s a novel that, together with A Planet for Rent, shows the dizzying range of fantastical situations that can emerge from a ground-level view of ideological conflict’s aftereffects.
A Planet for Rent
by Yoss
A Legend of the Future
by Agustin De RojasOur culture is coming to a crossroads over the issue of work/life balance, but this time, it's not about the mythical ideal of women "having it all" but instead, about how we grapple with the fact that it's impossible for anyone, male or female, to have it "all." Why? Because we all get only 24 hours a day, and at a certain point, we have to choose between work, family, socializing, resting and whatever other ways we choose to spend our time. When couples have differing value systems when it comes to either time or money, it highlights some of the cracks in the myth that there's any one perfect way to structure our relationships. While I do believe in the general goal of everyone contributing equally, what we're seeing now is that in practice, this concept often gets very, very messy.
Recently published at xoJane (a site I’ve contributed to), notorious for its clickbait headlines, is an essay by Carisa Peterson titled “Feminism Has Enabled My Husband to Be Lazy and Selfish.” In it, Peterson details her grievances over the fact that while she busts her ass to work hard to support her family, her husband, in her opinion, is far from doing his fair share.
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“He snowboards, he races cars, he skateboards. I work, and then I work on doing more work by writing, and then I work on opening my own work, having gotten as far as I can with limited income and limited time to investigate a few select entrepreneurial storefront business ideas all as a means of buying myself more time to be with and take care of my husband and children, which is all I ever really wanted to do in the first place. (Shhh — don't tell feminism). In other words, I do what I must to try to ensure my family's survival and my children's eventual success as responsible human beings.”
Peterson goes on to write, “I don't have a choice, any more than the women who felt like they were chained to their KitchenAids did, but they got to build an entire movement around it. I guess I just never thought that feminism, in allowing me to freely work to help support my family, would enable my partner to opt out of doing the same — and at the expense of my own interests and hopes for our family.”
Aside from blaming feminism for her problems, Peterson is also identifying a dissatisfaction with both her own marriage and its contrasting work ethics (though a job consisting of drudgery you hate is still going to suck, whether you're partnered or not).
At the heart of her piece isn’t just her frustration over a job she dislikes, or the fact that she doesn’t have as much time with her kids as she desires, but that her husband isn’t even remotely appreciative of her efforts. “I could not feel any more disrespected as I run around stuffing the kids into the car on subzero-degree snowy days just to get them into daycare so that I can go to work while my husband books the occasional ski lesson in his socks while our home is practically crumbling down around us…” she writes. To me, this is the true problem: not that men shouldn't be stay at home dads, or that only men should be breadwinners, but that if there is a stark contrast between who works the most hours, each person should feel that they are bringing something useful to the table. In Peterson's case, her husband is likely frustrated with his situation as well, having shifted from an upper management position to working, in her words, "full-time from home for part-time income as a travel reservations agent." (In a followup xoJane piece, Peterson defended roping in feminism into her specific story, saying she was trying to shine a light on a larger issue.)
Peterson calls the fact that her husband is allowing her to shoulder the burden of responsibility as a "loophole in the feminist movement," when in fact it's the opposite. Second wave feminism in particular, which helped pave the way for women's access to education, jobs, bank accounts, etc., was never about simply reversing roles and having women do all the work, in and outside the home, while men happily partied and shirked their duties. It was, and is, about evening the playing field, something that Hillary Clinton has played up in her campaign, including in a piece posted Wednesday at Popsugar where she highlighted the need for better protections for working mothers.
But this issue of how couples balance work and home and respecting each sphere is not simply an issue that male/female couples face. Contrast Peterson’s take with my friend Jenny Block’s argument over at YourTango, where she takes a decidedly opposite tack: that those who work from home, in whatever capacity, should be valued for what they provide, even if they aren’t compensated financially for it. Block is a writer who works from home, and also takes on housekeeping duties, while her female partner ventures out into the corporate world to support them. “But my being home eases the chore urgency. Things are in order when she returns from the mayhem. And her gratefulness makes me feel happy and loved and like my contributions are as important as hers. She says knowing I'm here burning the home fires makes all the crazy travel and work stress worth it.”
While of course there’s a huge degree of privilege in her essay, entitled “I’m A Feminist And I Don’t Think Women Should Have To Work,” there’s also a kernel of truth: that many women, unlike Block, don’t feel valued for their contributions to home and family, whether or not they also work outside the home. Rather, I suspect many, like Peterson, feel that the utopian version of “having it all” has morphed into “doing it all,” with nary a “thank you” in return. As Block puts it, “We value jobs that in the past, have been traditionally male and make it seem as if doing those jobs (preferably in the ruthless way men traditionally do them) is to be praised, |
population (104 million people) is single. Twenty-seven percent of households are a person living alone.
Many people who are single treat their "condition" as if it's a disease, a defect and something to be ashamed of, thinking that this is a couple's world, even though almost half of adults are single. But if being single were a defect, then the following would make sense:
Being single is a defect. All people who are now married were once single. Therefore, all married people married someone who was defective. In addition, both of my parents must have been defective -- until they got married.
Well, think about it. Does this make sense? Or, can being single be a choice -- often a good choice, a temporary experience, a situation with advantages and disadvantages, and something to accept -- and build on -- during the entire year?
How do you handle the holidays?
Let's look at the most problematic ways to cope during this "festive" season. Do you drink more, binge eat or get high on drugs? Do you isolate yourself, become more passive, lie on the couch and hope to feel better? Do you hope to "wait it out"-- to get past New Year's so you can "live again?" Do you lie around, alone, dwelling on your negative thoughts, ruminating about being alone, feeling down and asking, "Why Me?"
If you do, then it's likely you are either depressed or on the road to becoming depressed.
OK. Let's develop a plan -- and stick with it during the holiday season and throughout the next year.
Commit to self-care.
The best gift to give yourself is to take care of yourself. Rather than over-indulge with drinking, drugs and binging, why not start your New Year's resolution today? Get a head-start. If you over-drink and overeat you are likely to feel worse. You might feel better for an hour, but you'll feel even worse the next day. Commit to self-care. Start your healthy eating now, cut back or eliminate drinking -- during the holidays -- and after. Go to the health club, start taking long walks, plan pleasure days just for you. Give yourself the gift of caring about yourself. After all, rather than rely on others, you are always there to take care of you.
Take action.
Depression goes hand and hand with passivity. No one says, "It's been a great day; I stayed in bed all day". Get busy, make plans, carry them out. You might start by having an action plan for every day this week -- and some longer-term goals for the next month and next year. Pull yourself into the future, choose to do things -- even when you don't want to. If you live in a city, turn yourself into a tourist and make the city come alive. Get out of your passivity.
Connect with others.
Just because you live alone doesn't mean you have to be alone. Make plans with friends and do things together. Join organizations where people have similar interests -- go onto MeetUp.com. If you are so inclined, get involved at your church, synagogue or mosque. Call people you have missed over the past year. Start being friendly with strangers. I met my wife on the subway 25 years ago. Who knows what can happen?
Help others.
One way to feel better about yourself is to help someone who is worse off. Volunteer to help the homeless, dish out food at a soup kitchen, sign up to tutor a kid, see if you can visit people at the hospital or take food to the elderly who are housebound. Google "volunteers" in your area and find someone or some cause that needs you. You help yourself when you matter to someone else. One woman volunteered at an animal shelter and found this to be immensely rewarding. I think the pussycat was more powerful than the Prozac.
Set aside your repetitive thoughts.
You may be lying around, dwelling on the negative: "Why am I alone?" or "This really is lousy." Set aside these ruminations and repetitious thoughts and do all the things that I suggested above. Your ruminations will not give you the answer. Escape from yourself and get out into the world. And then celebrate your personal liberation.Speculation was growing last night that notorious artist Banksy had ‘outed’ himself after claiming responsibility for a video showing a ‘hippy’ shouting at the Prince of Wales.
Is this the moment that Prince Charles came face to face with Britain’s most elusive artist Banksy at the 2010 Glastonbury Festival? (SWNS)
The man harangued the prince at the Glastonbury festival, adding: ‘You and me could re-hempify the UK together. Let’s do it man.’
The footage, shot as Prince Charles visited Glastonbury festival this year, shows a man – thought to be Banksy – disguised as a hippy selling ‘drugs’.
The one minute and 49 second long clip shows the ‘protester’ – dressed in a long wig and pink round glasses – hoisting a wooden placard with ‘Drugs for Sale’ written on it.
Burly security guards do nothing to silence him as he waves his sign in the air and asks a bemused Prince Charles to grow hemp and “re-hempify” the UK.
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After yelling at the prince, Charles slows down to shake the hands of laughing spectators and takes a good look at the ‘hippy’ who is wearing a colourful shawl, headband and peace symbol necklace.
The ‘hippy’ then shouts “Charlie, Charlie, have a little taster. Have a taster. Try that and come back to me” as Prince Charles is ushered into a grey 4×4 by stony faced guards.
He throws a small plastic packet, believed to contain hemp, at the car which bounces off the back door window.
Controversial street artist Banksy – whose art has been snapped up by celebrities including Brad Pitt – later posted the video to his YouTube channel, banksyfilm.
He also uploaded the clip, titled ‘Royal Visit, Glastonbury 2010’ to his own website – the way he validates pieces of his work.
Watch the ‘Banksy’ video from Glastonbury belowPhoto-illustration
“You have to watch this John Oliver segment on Trump,” I tell my husband, Pat Dixon, but as I start to queue it up on YouTube, I can already foresee the pointlessness of the endeavor.
“Fine, play it,” Pat concedes, his contempt scarcely hidden.
As Oliver’s segment progresses, my husband tries to refute various points, and I shush him to pay attention and listen. Then I proceed to interrupt to expound on a point Oliver is making, completely backtracking on my own ground rules. As Oliver’s grand finale of “DRUMPF” appears in the background with a hip-hop song rebranding the candidate as an imposter loser whose family changed its “dopey” name, Pat shakes his head in bewilderment.
“Do you really think this is political commentary?” my husband asks. “They’ve got nothing.”
It’s times like these that I squint my eyes at Pat sitting alone at his desk — just a few feet away from me in our tidy, hotel-room-size Chelsea apartment, still wearing the long-sleeve blue shirt and maroon striped tie he wears almost every night — and I wonder, “Who is this man?”
My name is Mandy, and my husband is a Donald Trump supporter.
When we got married in November, I never would have dreamed Trump could be an issue. But now our very young marriage is facing a relationship crucible: our first election year.
I glare at Pat and respond, “Yes, I think it’s fucking political commentary!”
Then I physically scoot away from my husband on the bed where we are sitting. He bristles, too. It’s apparent we are both repulsed by one another, and it sucks. If there were a sexual position called the Trump, it would be the one where you don’t have any because you’re too angry from fighting about Trump.
“You consider this a takedown?” Pat carries on about the Last Week Tonight sketch. “Some of that was lazy writing, too. ‘Sausage-fingered?’ That’s first-draft shit. I mean, they had to pore over his old tweets to find … what? That he displayed a degree of impertinence to Jon Stewart?”
“It shows he’s a liar!” I say, getting increasingly upset that my husband is not on my side. “He’s a big fat liar! And if you believe him that means you’re a liar who likes other liars! Liar, liar, liar. LIAR!”
I don’t want this screaming shitshow to be our marriage. I want to support my spouse no matter what. I want him to support me no matter what. But as it stands right now, Donald Trump is causing more problems for our marriage than if Pat were having a secret affair with Melania.
I read articles aloud and show him news segments. He returns with his own articles and news segments that refute mine. Pat maintains that Trump’s naysayers carelessly misquote him and make a lot of broad-stroke pronouncements but present few facts. To my husband, those who attack Trump consist of a “knee-jerk, ‘yes, and’-ing sewing circle of hypocritical snobs.”
He says Trump is the only candidate who is confident enough to speak extemporaneously, and that when you take into account how often he’s just winging it, he makes very few mistakes. He says if Trump is a liar, then he’s even more qualified to be POTUS.
Desperate to change his mind, I try to appeal to Pat’s sense of self-interest as a stand-up comedian. “He’s going to have a chilling effect on the First Amendment!” I cry. “You might not be able to do some of the comedy you do if the libel laws change and the standard is no longer set at demonstrating malice.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” he asks, looking incredulous.
I am scrambling here. This is the very reason that I prefer to stay out of political discussions to begin with: I know that my arsenal of data is going to be akin to an eighth-grader doing a book report.
I hate my husband having an answer for everything I hate about Donald Trump almost more than I hate the candidate himself.
Our Trump Slump began a few months ago around the time of the Megyn Kelly dustup. The topic began coming up daily, and then one day Pat finally spoke it aloud.
“The more I read and hear about Trump,” my husband said, “the more I like him.”
The first step of having a Donald Trump supporter for a husband is accepting you are powerless over having a husband who is a Donald Trump supporter. That’s where I’m at.
I even try to embrace the aspects of Trump that seem refreshing to me. I, too, find hashtag activists self-righteous and insulated from the real world. If I never have to read another apology from a comedian for making a joke, that would be too soon.
Pat speaks to what I like, emphasizing Trump’s revelatory skill as a performer: “He’s the closest to a stand-up comedian we’re ever going to get as president. Democrats hate him and Republicans hate him. The entire political establishment hates him. He’s got my vote.”
Pat keeps me informed of all the backtracking haters now, like when Donald Trump held a press conference on Super Tuesday, and Kelly said he looked “presidential.” See, Pat said, others are changing their minds; why can’t I?
I just can’t.
Sure, I can look past some degree of political lying and business bluster, but a candidate who can’t admit that he is wrong or made a mistake? That person is terrifying to me.
“He’s a misogynist,” I say.
“He’s an entertainer,” Pat counters.
“The name-calling, the put-downs, the focus on appearance …” I list Trump’s crimes against women, which are seemingly endless.
“Yeah,” Pat replies, “he says things. So what?”
But I just can’t swallow it in a presidential candidate. All the worst-case scenarios of political incorrectness turned full-on psychopathy are not just red flags, they’re deal-breakers.
Which leads me to ask myself during these fights: Why isn’t my husband’s support of Trump a deal-breaker for me?
I have only one answer. It’s the same reason that I would never disavow any person who supported Trump, or any other candidate.
Because I endorse the independent-minded instincts that lead to my husband’s Trump support, and I definitely don’t want him to absentmindedly participate in groupthink. To try to quell his beliefs is even more damaging than the damaging candidate himself.
But, on a purely selfish note, I am sick of our sex life experiencing the Trump Slump. Which is why I’ve declared a moratorium on political discussion before sleep.
“Another big win for Trump today,” Pat begins as we watch TV and settle into bed for the night.
“I don’t want to hear it,” I groan. “Let’s talk about literally anything else.”
Who’s to say whether Trump is going to make America great again. But one thing I know for sure: I’ll be damned if I let him make my marriage worse.Sources with knowledge of the negotiations have revealed to Caracas Chronicles, exclusively, the outline proposal José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero brought to Leopoldo López cell in Ramo Verde. The deal would have committed the opposition to desisting from its call for a recall referendum, waiting instead for 2018 presidential elections, in return for the MUD’s wish-list, which ended up being whittled down to:
Agreeing to free political prisoners A reform to expand the Supreme Tribunal’s Constitutional Chamber from seven magistrates to fifteen, with the opposition appointing seven new magistrates, and an eighth being agreed between the two sides.
The proposal was vigorously rejected,first, by Henrique Capriles (whose position is not always necessarily aligned with his party, Primero Justicia) who has become the strongest advocate of a recall in 2016 at all costs. Other parties, such as Manuel Rosales’ Un Nuevo Tiempo, were more open to this deal.
Since the deal didn’t have unanimous MUD support, Rodríguez Zapatero then sought to leverage Leopoldo López’s blessing, turning up in his cell in Ramo Verde alongside Jorge Rodríguez. López refused to talk to Zapatero in Rodríguez’s presence. One on one with the former Spanish Prime Minister, he backed Capriles’s position, ending any possibility of a deal.
Our understanding was that Leopoldo’s rejection of Zapatero’s proposal was categorical, telling him he’d rather be the last political prisoner to come out of jail instead of bargaining a 2016 constitutional change of government. As Zapatero was leaving, Jorge Rodriguez skulked around to Leopoldo’s cell.
A legendary tweetstorm ensued, including this key tweet:
Le expresé que ninguna conversación o diálogo puede estar por encima del interés mayor: lograr el cambio Constitucional este 2016! — Leopoldo López (@leopoldolopez) June 6, 2016
This is the context to that leak in El Nacional yesterday saying Zapatero was seeking a solution that sidestepped a 2016 referendum, and its story – mirrored in Spain’s ABC Today – saying that Zapatero admits his mission has failed.
Interestingly, the story points to a new alignment in the opposition: with AD and UNT pushing for a negotiated solution that gave up on a 2016 referendum, and a reconstituted “Capoldo” (Capriles + Leopoldo) front nixing the idea.
Which, for a relationship that has been under such impossible strain for so long, is pretty remarkable really.
Caracas Chronicles is 100% reader-supported. Support independent Venezuelan journalism by making a donation.Image caption South Park is a cartoon that is aimed at older viewers, with crude language and surreal humour
A Muslim who admitted posting internet threats against the creators of the South Park TV show has been sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison.
Jesse Curtis Morton, 33, who founded the now-offline Revolution Muslim website, had already admitted using it for al-Qaeda propaganda.
He conspired against South Park's writers after the show depicted the prophet Muhammad wearing a bear suit.
Co-accused Zachary Chesser received a 25-year sentence in February.
Chesser, a 20-year-old American Muslim convert, was handed a stiffer sentence as he had twice tried to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab, which the US designates as a terrorist group.
The pair used their website to deliver thinly veiled threats against the creators of South Park, a popular satirical cartoon.
Morton, a Muslim convert from New York, offered an apology for his conduct, saying he had "contributed to a clash of civilizations" by espousing a violent ideology.
His lawyer had sought a prison term of less than five years.
But prosecutor Gordon Kromberg said Morton, arrested last year in Morocco, had abused his free speech protections by inciting murder.
Summing up Morton's views, Mr Kromberg said: "Make a TV show we don't like - we'll slit your throat. Draw a cartoon we don't like - we'll slit your throat."Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced criminal charges against EVALDAS RIMASAUSKAS for orchestrating a fraudulent business email compromise scheme that induced two U.S.-based internet companies (the “Victim Companies”) to wire a total of over $100 million to bank accounts controlled by RIMASAUSKAS. RIMASAUSKAS was arrested late last week by authorities in Lithuania on the basis of a provisional arrest warrant. The case has been assigned to U.S. District George B. Daniels.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “From half a world away, Evaldas Rimasauskas allegedly targeted multinational internet companies and tricked their agents and employees into wiring over $100 million to overseas bank accounts under his control. This case should serve as a wake-up call to all companies – even the most sophisticated – that they too can be victims of phishing attacks by cyber criminals. And this arrest should serve as a warning to all cyber criminals that we will work to track them down, wherever they are, to hold them accountable. The charges and arrest in this case were made possible thanks to the terrific work of the FBI and the cooperation of the victim companies and their financial institutions. We thank the companies and their banks for acting quickly, coming forward promptly, and cooperating with law enforcement; it led not only to the charges announced today, but also the recovery of much of the stolen funds.”
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “As alleged, Evaldas Rimasauskas carried out a business email compromise scheme creatively targeting two very specific victim companies. He was initially successful, acquiring over $100 million in proceeds that he wired to various bank accounts worldwide. But his footprint would eventually lead investigators to the truth, and today we expose his lies. Criminals continue to commit a wide variety of crimes online, and significant cyber data breaches have had a negative impact across a variety of industries. The FBI will continue to work with our domestic and international partners to pursue criminals who engage in this type of activity, wherever they may be hiding.”
According to the allegations contained in the Indictment unsealed today[1]:
From at least in or around 2013 through in or about 2015, RIMASAUSKAS orchestrated a fraudulent scheme designed to deceive the Victim Companies, including a multinational technology company and a multinational online social media company, into wiring funds to bank accounts controlled by RIMASAUSKAS. Specifically, RIMASAUSKAS registered and incorporated a company in Latvia (“Company-2”) which bore the same name as an Asian-based computer hardware manufacturer (“Company-1”), and opened, maintained, and controlled various accounts at banks located in Latvia and Cyprus in the name of Company-2. Thereafter, fraudulent phishing emails were sent to employees and agents of the Victim Companies, which regularly conducted multimillion-dollar transactions with Company-1, directing that money the Victim Companies owed Company-1 for legitimate goods and services be sent to Company-2’s bank accounts in Latvia and Cyprus, which were controlled by RIMASAUSKAS. These emails purported to be from employees and agents of Company-1, and were sent from email accounts that were designed to create the false appearance that they were sent by employees and agents of Company-1, but in truth and in fact, were neither sent nor authorized by Company-1. This scheme succeeded in deceiving the Victim Companies into complying with the fraudulent wiring instructions.
After the Victim Companies wired funds intended for Company-1 to Company-2’s bank accounts in Latvia and Cyprus, RIMASAUSKAS caused the stolen funds to be quickly wired into different bank accounts in various locations throughout the world, including Latvia, Cyprus, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, and Hong Kong. RIMASAUSKAS also caused forged invoices, contracts, and letters that falsely appeared to have been executed and signed by executives and agents of the Victim Companies, and which bore false corporate stamps embossed with the Victim Companies’ names, to be submitted to banks in support of the large volume of funds that were fraudulently transmitted via wire transfer.
Through these false and deceptive representations over the course of the scheme, RIMASAUSKAS, the defendant, caused the Victim Companies to transfer a total of over $100,000,000 in U.S. currency from the Victim Companies’ bank accounts to Company-2’s bank accounts.
* * *
RIMASAUSKAS, 48, of Vilnius, Lithuania, is charged with one count of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Kim praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI, and thanked the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, the Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office and the Economic Crime Investigation Board of Vilnius County Police Headquarters for their assistance in the investigation and arrests, as well as the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eun Young Choi is in charge of the prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Diskant is handling the forfeiture aspects of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.Climate-change skepticism must be ‘treated’, says enviro-sociologist—‘Resistance at individual and societal levels must be recognized and treated’—Dubious on warming peril? You’re the kind who’d own slaves! ‘Professor Kari Norgaard compares the struggle against climate scepticism to that against racism and slavery in the US South’
Study: Conservatism ‘linked to low brainpower’ —‘Cognitively impaired people are more likely to express conservative views’—Prof. Eidelman’s email:.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) —Prof. Scott Eidelman’s ‘new research provides evidence that, when under time pressure or otherwise cognitively impaired, people are more likely to express conservative views’—‘If we don’t have the time or energy to give a matter sufficient thought, we tend to accept the conservative argument’
Warmist David Appell: ‘Chris Mooney’s book, and much of his work, is a perverse attempt to twist science purely for political purposes’—‘And this was fairly clear, even before this study. And that is at least as bad as claims about denying science, and many would say it’s even worse. I certainly would’
Warmist Chris Mooney makes up another ‘fact’: ‘Liberals are better at getting at the truth in complex, nuanced situations—as are their psychological brethren, scientists’
Luke Warmist Keith Kloor gazes ‘inside Chris Mooney’s brain’: ‘It looks to me like Chris’s brain is at war with itself. The result is that he ends up talking out of both sides of his mouth’
Warmist Chris Mooney on the Republican(?) brain: ‘Conservatism is a Defensive Ideology, and Appeals to People Who Want Certainty and Resist Change’—‘Fox News is the Key ‘Feedback Mechanism’ — whereby people already inclined to believe false things get all the license and affirmation they need’
New paper confirms 2010 Russian heat wave was result of natural variability
‘A paper published journal Monthly Weather Review confirms (along with several other studies) ‘that the anomalous long-lasting Russian heat wave in summer 2010, linked to a long-persistent blocking high, appears as a result of natural atmospheric variability.’
Nature reviews Michael Mann’s book as ‘trope’ about ‘an unwinnable fight’
‘When the Earth Hour ambassadors include a child, a magician, a couple of actors, a singer, a model, a chef, a radio presenter, a celebrity gardener, a priest, a hotelier, a former rock star…’
‘...a green politician, an SBS landscape architect and not a single economist or scientist, I think we’ve long stopped listening to ‘the science’ and are checking out the designer label’
Canada yanks some climate programs from budget: ‘It is encouraging to see essentially no references to mistaken concept that humanity’s CO2 emissions have a substantial influence on global climate’
Gallup Poll: ‘In U.S., Global Warming Views Steady Despite Warm Winter; Just over half say effects of global warming are now evident, similar to 49% last year’—‘Fewer Americans today believe there is a scientific consensus than did so during the 2000s… after peaking in 2010, public skepticism about global warming softened slightly in 2011, and remains at lower level this year…Today’s level of belief that global warming is similar to what Gallup found in 1997 & from 2001-2005’—42% say media exaggerate the seriousness, a higher amount than it was for much of the past decade’The following was submitted to Vancity Buzz by Jagdeesh Mann.
Depending on whom you ask, the actions of Louis Riel, and Dr. Norman Bethune, along with others who lived through difficult times, can be seen as verging on treasonous or justified. Add to that list Mewa Singh.
Outside of Canada’s sizeable two million plus South Asian community, few Canadians will have heard of Singh who is revered as a Che Gueverra-like figure, in particular by Sikhs. A new play, The Undocumented Trial of William C. Hopkinson, opened at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Friday, January 8 and is the first major artistic production to re-evaluate a man whom many view as Canada’s forgotten martyr.
In the play, Mewa Singh is placed on the stand to answer for his real life shooting and killing of William Hopkinson, a Canadian immigration official. The incident took place in the same art gallery one hundred and one years ago on October 21, 1914 when it served as the Vancouver’s Provincial Courthouse.
On that morning, Singh walked up to the third floor rotunda and killed Hopkinson with four shots from his revolver. He then handed over his weapon to the authorities and took full responsibility for his act, knowing he would receive capital punishment.
“I shoot. I go to station,” he proclaimed, in his limited English.
Within three months on January 11, 1915, Singh was hung from the gallows in New Westminster. He died at age 33, the same age as Hopkinson.
Despite the violent nature of Singh’s act, he has been lionised by Canada’s Sikh community in the same way Louis Riel has been by the country’s Metis population. Though he is a character written into Canadian history books as an assassin, in the Sikh community he is their version of Tiananmen’s Tank Man, the solitary protestor saying no and standing his ground against the machinery of institutionalised repression.
There are numerous sports and literary events organised annually in his tribute. The dining hall in Vancouver’s Ross Street Sikh temple, the country’s largest gurudwara where India’s Prime Minister Modi stopped by with Stephen Harper for a visit last April, bears his name and iconic image in memorial.
For playwright Paneet Singh, The Undocumented Trial of William C. Hopkinson, is a forum to cast light on the murky events that led to the shooting and to reveal the social conditions that made the collision between Singh and Hopkinson unavoidable.
“I have been surrounded by this story since I was a child, when my mother would tell it to me,” said Singh. “Mewa Singh’s name resonates in the South Asian community but it has been locked out of the mainstream. This play exposes his actions through the framework of the times in which he lived in order to move the story in to the 21st century. He stood up in the most difficult of circumstances and follows in the tradition of other Canadian martyrs like Louis Riel.”
Hopkinson and Singh were born and raised in India, and in adulthood, both migrated to Vancouver. Singh left a small village near Amritsar, Punjab to find his fortunes while Hopkinson left his post as a policeman after his first wife died. The Raj in India was beginning its slow fade. Hopkinson had never lived in England and so chose to renew his life in Vancouver.
But at the turn of the 20th century, Canada’s promise as a new world Gold Mountain came with caveats for non-white immigrants over their European counterparts. The Canadian government had institutionalised racism through legislation like the Chinese Head Tax and the continuous journey clause. The latter was utilised in 1914 in the infamous the Komagata Maru incident which was playing out at the same time as the Singh versus Hopkinson duel.
Despite holding very different stations in life, the destinies of Hopkinson and Singh became intimately tied to each other in B.C. Hopkinson’s fluency in Hindi landed him a job as a government agent. His assignment was to harvest information from the Sikh community about their sympathies for Indian independence from British rule. He had a number of active moles in the community burrowing for intelligence.
Hopkinson’s methods were as heavy handed as his agents were clumsy – they shot and killed two Sikhs at the local temple. Hopkinson threatened Mewa Singh to become an informant, or to find himself the next target.
What Hopkinson didn’t anticipate, was that Singh would accept death before turning. Killing Hopkinson would not save Singh, it would only give rise to another Hopkinson. But making a public statement by killing him in the open and by embracing the death penalty would make a statement that resonates to this day.
For Sikhs in Canada who were struggling for a foothold in Canada at the time, Singh’s defiance would inspire their push for political equality – an achievement coming thirty years later in 1947 when South Asians and Chinese were granted the right to vote. Mewa Singh’s singular act echoes still in the disproportionate success of South Asians in Canadian politics – there are 16 MP’s of Sikh heritage currently serving in Canada’s Parliament. Had the Chinese community their own version of Mewa Singh, perhaps they too would be better represented at the highest politics levels.
William Hopkinson’s pernicious agenda was a spear foiled by Mewa Singh’s shield. Hopkinson left India seemingly to find his piece of the Cotswolds in the new world. But the new world would not be shaped by the old rules, as he fatefully discovered in his encounter with Mewa Singh.
Neither could have foreseen the modern multicultural Canada their clash would inadvertently help cast.
For more information on the play click here.Meet Devin Allen, a talented, young photographer from Baltimore, Maryland who captured the iconic image plastered on the latest cover of Time magazine.
Allen's breathtaking work includes powerful pictures from protests in Baltimore over the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. His pictures have captured the raw emotions of city residents who have taken to the streets in recent days to express their frustrations over the killing of yet another black man at the hands of police.
“I’m just telling the truth,” Allen told HuffPost Live Host Josh Zepps during an interview on Friday. He admitted he didn't expect the traction the picture went on to receive, “I was just documenting for my city."
Allen said he has been taking pictures from the streets of Baltimore almost every day since the protests began and has since captured more than 3,000 photos.
However, one particular image truly resonated with editors at Time magazine who ultimately featured Allen’s work on the cover of their latest issue. The picture shares striking resemblances to the 1968 race riots in Baltimore following Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination -- and its powerful portrayal harkens back to a time when the unrest that unfolded in the city addressed similar concerns as those raised today.
“It was so evocative, not just on what’s happening now but it reminded us of what was happening 50 years ago,” said Ben Goldberg, the Nation Editor at Time. “That was the story we were really trying to tell and we thought it framed it perfectly.”
The cover of Time highlights just one of the many compelling images Allen has captured during the peak and aftermath of the protests that have occurred since Gray passed. Gray died on April 19 from a spinal cord injury he sustained during an arrest.
Through his images, Allen said he aims to convey one important mission: “I want people to see the truth -- and nothing but that.”
Cover image courtesy of Time.The Lazy Beginning Reverser's Guide to Windows Assembly
by Vortex168 A beginner-level tutorial, which will teach you the basics of ASM and how they work under Windoze. This is almost making me want to crack something again... ;)
The Lazy Beginning Reverser's Guide to Windows Assembly ---------------- | Introduction | ---------------- I'm vortex168 and this is a guide to Windows Assembly for beginning reversers. It's for lazy people because it's a barebones crashcourse in Windows Assembly that covers what you will definitely need to know in order to properly'modify' a disassembled program (not understand it). And it's for beginners, so for those of you that get bored, you have only yourselves to blame =). You should not have trouble understanding this guide as long as you have a logical brain. The more programming knowledge you have the easier it will be to pick up Windows Assembly. It should be noted that after this guide, it is highly recommended that the reader read some of the other, more complete Windows Assembly guides/books because the more you know, the easier it is to understand a disassembled program. Without further ado, let the guide begin! Before you begin =), try to understand what hexadecimal (hex) is. If you're THAT lazy and don't want to until later, suffice to say, just think of them as numbers, but don't try to add/subtract/multiply/divide them, because your answer will probably be wrong. This type of number is distinguished from your everyday number (decimal) because it will have an 'h' at the end of it (eg. 1230h). *Extra Note: Don't read the Extra Notes if you don't feel like it. They aren't essential... not really =). Semicolons are the symbol that tells the assembler (the thing that puts together a program written in Assembly) not to bother with anything past it. So, on the same line, everything after the ';' is ignored and is known by programmers as a 'comment'. --------------------------------------- | Part 1: Registers, Flags, The Stack | --------------------------------------- --REGISTERS-- Think of registers as a fancy term for 32-bit (it's just a size, calm down if you don't understand, it doesn't matter all that much at this point) variables. You use them exactly as you would use any other variables, to store values that you will need later on. For those who aren't quite as lazy as some others, here is a quick run-through of the registers that you will see while reversing a Windows32 program (as opposed to a DOS one): (This can be skipped if you are that short on time) General Purpose Registers: EAX - Commonly used in mathematical operations EBX - Commonly used as a pointer (if you don't know what this is, don't worry, it doesn't matter that much right now) ECX - Commonly used as a looping variable (eg. it stores the value '5' if a loop needs to run 5 times) EDX - Similar to EBX Registers that you should NOT touch if you don't know what you're doing: CS - 'Code segment'. Basically tells you where you are in memory (think of it as part of the address that tells you where in your computer the program is stored) DS - 'Data segment'. Same as above, but tells you where the data is stored (eg. strings) ES - 'Extra segment'. Ask someone else what the hell this does, I've never messed with it =). SS - 'Stack segment'. (See Above) ESI - 'Source Index'. (See Above) EDI - 'Destination Index'. (See Above) EBP - 'Base Pointer'. (See Above) ESP - 'Stack Pointer'. (See Above) EIP - 'Instruction Pointer'. I know this one =). It holds the address of the next instruction. By now you should realize that I don't know everything about Assembly. Why? Because I understand your laziness much better than you might think =). *Extra Note: The 'E' in front of some of the register names just indicates it is a 32-bit version of the register to distinguish it from their 16-bit counterparts that were used in DOS and other 16-bit processors. Each of the General Purpose Registers can be broken down into parts. For example, 'EAX's lower half is 'AX'. 'AX' can be divided into 'AH' and 'AL'. AH is the 'high' half of AX, and AL is the 'low' half of AL. --FLAGS-- Doesn't deserve a whole Part since I'm not saying much about it because you don't mess with these much anyway. The only thing I want to point out is that in Debuggers, aside from the program code and values of the abovementioned registers, there is also a set of single letters that are (depending on what you use, it'll be represented differently) either highlighted or not highlighted. These are 'flags' that basically store TRUE or FALSE. The most important |
. Democracy should be a way of thinking about education, one that thrives on connecting equity to excellence, learning to ethics, and agency to the imperatives of social responsibility and the public good. 11. The right-wing governors, corporate-affiliated politicians, and the shameless hedge-fund managers and billionaires are waging a war in order to colonize public education and destroy the dignity of teachers, students and critical learning. The Chicago teachers refuse to believe that the antidemocratic market-driven forces attacking American public schools are irreversible, part of a new common sense that is beyond critical inquiry and dissent. The three days of demonstrations hold a wider meaning for all Americans. Not only do they demonstrate that the future is still open, but that the time has come through a show of collective struggle and moral and political outrage that public education is crucial to invigorating and fortifying a new era of civic imagination, a renewed sense of social agency and an impassioned, collective political will. Public school teachers are one of the few remaining forces left in the land of corrupt bankers, hedge-fund managers and right-wing politicians who can imagine the promise of democracy and are willing to fight for it. The struggle being waged by the Chicago Public School teachers is part and parcel of a battle for the essence of education, if not democracy itself.
1. See, for example, David Harvey, The New Imperialism, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003); David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005); Wendy Brown, Edgework (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005); Henry A. Giroux, Against the Terror of Neoliberalism (Boulder: Paradigm Publishers, 2008); Manfred B. Steger and Ravi K. Roy, Neoliberalism: A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford University Press, 2010). 2. Valerie Strauss, “Three Days of Marches in chicago to Protest School Closings,” The Washington Post (May 17, 2013). 3. Travis Waldron, “Why Is Chicago Devoting $125 Million To Build A Basketball Arena For A Private University?,” ThinkProgress (May 15, 2013). 4. See, for instance, on the rise of the racist punishing state, Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (New York: The New Press, 2010); on the severe costs of massive inequality, Joseph E. Stiglitz, The Price of Inequality: How Today Divided Society Endangers Our Future (New York: Norton, 2012); on the turning of public schools into prisons, see Annette Fuentes, Lockdown High: When the Schoolhouse Becomes a Jailhouse (New York: Verso, 2011). 5. Peter Brogan, “What’s Behind the Attack on Teachers and Public Education?” Solidarity (September 14, 2012). 6. Quoted in Michael L. Silk and David L. Andrews. “(Re)Presenting Baltimore: Place, Policy, Politics, and Cultural Pedagogy.” Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 33 (2011), p. 436. 7. Terry Eagleton, “Reappraisals: What is the worth of social democracy?” Harper’s Magazine, (October 2010), p. 78. 8. Alex Honneth, Pathologies of Reason (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), p. 188. 9. For an excellent analysis of contemporary forms of neoliberalism, Stuart Hall, “The Neo-Liberal Revolution,” Cultural Studies, Vol. 25, No. 6, (November 2011, pp. 705-728; see also Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism; Giroux, Against the Terror of Neoliberalism. 10. For examples of this tradition, see Maria Nikolakaki, ed. Critical Pedagogy in the Dark Ages: Challenges and Possibilities, (New York: Peter Lang, 2012); Henry A. Giroux, On Critical Pedagogy (New York: Continuum, 2011). 11. See, Henry A. Giroux, The Education Deficit and the War on Youth (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2013).I've lived in this neighborhood for ten years and there have been very few incidents in which I feel unsafe. Unfortunately I have an incident that just happened to me to add to the list. It's random but I just want to give people the heads up.
I was crossing Elm at Willow this evening and was slightly in the crosswalk as the last car was going by. It was filled with guys (late teens or early twenties) and as it passed someone yelled "faggot" and threw an open cup of soda really hard into my stomach. Not only did it get soda all over me but it also hurt. And they were gone too fast for me to get the license plate number so no real sense calling the cops.
I'm actually a gay woman with short hair and I'm not sure if they just couldn't see me well and mistook me for a man or if they have their gay terms confused. Regardless, this was definitely a gay bash incident.
Has anyone else in the Davis square area had a similar experience? I mean gay bash, not being thrown in the gut with an object although I'm curious about how common that is too. Maybe I've just been lucky that it's never happened to me here before?Mourinho tops a shortlist of candidates to take over from Rafa Benitez at the end of this season. It also includes Malaga boss Manuel Pellegrini and Everton chief David Moyes, while Swansea’s Michael Laudrup is under consideration along with former Chelsea heroes Gus Poyet and Gianfranco Zola, in charge at Brighton and Watford respectively. Chelsea won back-to-back league titles in 2005 and 2006 under Mourinho, among the six trophies he won in his three stormy years at the club.
Roman is not sure of Jose, because of the history between the two of them and what happened before
A source close to Abramovich said: “Roman is not sure of Jose, because of the history between the two of them and what happened before.
“He is worried that the same things could happen again. He’s still making up his mind.”
Mourinho left Chelsea in September 2007 after a series of rows with Abramovich saw their relationship deteriorate disastrously over transfer policy, and the appointments of Frank Arnesen and Avram Grant.
Chelsea will freeze Premier League and European ticket prices for next season – for the sixth time in eight campaigns.
Chief executive Ron Gourlay said: “We want to thank our supporters for the consistently very good attendances.”Speed up your site with a little machine learning
David Gilbertson Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 28, 2017
I spend roughly 73% of my life thinking about web performance — hitting that sweet 60FPS on slow phones, loading my assets in the perfect order, offline-caching everything I can. Other examples.
But recently I’ve been wondering if my definition of web performance is too narrow. From a user’s perspective, all that jazz is a tiny piece of the performance pie.
So I opened up a site I am quite familiar with and went through all the things a user might do, timing each one. (We need a user journey timeline tool.)
Before long I found a step I thought could be improved.
The rest of this article focuses on this one particular step on one particular site. But I’d like to think the solution (which is obviously going to be machine learning) could be applied similarly to many different scenarios in many different sites.
The problem, distilled
The example site is one where a user can sell their trash, so that another person can buy some treasure.
When a user posts a new item for sale on this site, they select which category their item belongs in, then select the advertising package they want, fill out the details of their item, preview the ad, then post the ad.
That first step — selecting a category — rubs me the wrong way.
Firstly, there’s 674 categories and I don’t really know which one my crappy kayak ‘belongs’ in. (Steve Krug said it well: Don’t make me think)
Secondly, even when it is clear which category/sub-category/sub-sub-category my item belongs in, the process still takes about 12 seconds.
If I told you I could reduce your page load time by 12 seconds, you’d rightfully go mental. Well, why not go just as mental about saving 12 seconds somewhere else, hmmm?
As Julius Caesar famously said: “12 seconds is 12 seconds, man.”
And so, quite blissful in my ignorance, I reckoned that if I fed the title, description, and price of an item into a properly-trained machine learning model, it should be able to work out what category that item belongs in.
So rather than a user spend all that time selecting a category, they could spend 12 extra seconds looking at DIY bunk beds on reddit.
Machine Learning — and why you should stop running away and get back here
When this began, I knew absolutely nothing about machine learning, other than it could play video games, and outperform the world’s best go-go dancer at chess.
So I set out to learn everything there was to know. The following steps took less than an hour:
Googled “Machine Learning” Clicked a lot Discovered Amazon Machine Learning Realised I didn’t need to know a thing about machine learning Relaxed
(Note: since I never got around to actually learning machine learning, I’m probably misusing the terminology all over the place.)
The process, in a nutshell
Amazon has nailed it with their ML documentation. If your interest is piqued by this post, put aside ~5 hours and go read it, I won’t attempt to summarise it all here.
After reading the docs, I had formulated a plan, and it was this:
Get some data in a CSV file. Each row should be an item (e.g. my kayak), columns should be title, description, price, and category
Upload that into an AWS S3 bucket
‘Train’ the machine with that data (this is all done via a UI— a wizard with inline help, no less). The little cloud robot should then know how to predict the category based on a title, description and price.
Add some code to my front end that takes the title/description/price that the user has entered, send it to the prediction endpoint (this was automagically created for me by Amazon), and show the predicted category on the screen.
The mock site
I’ve put together a gorgeous form that simulates the key aspects of this process.
Here’s the exciting results to keep you interested during the boring bits coming up. You’ll just have to believe me that the suggested category really was a prediction from a machine learning model.
Let’s try selling a fridge:
Boom.
What about a fish house:
The little cloud robot knows what an aquarium is!
I must admit I did a little happy dance when I saw this. I mean, it’s pretty great, right?
(If you’re curious how I made the form, I used React and Redux and jQuery and MobX and RxJS and Bluebird and Bootstrap and Sass and Compass and NodeJS and Express and Lodash. And WebPack for bundling. The finished thing is barely over 1 MB — #perfwin.)The future of the crumbling Gardiner Expressway may remain unclear but one thing is certain: short-term repairs to downtown Toronto’s main commuter artery can’t wait. There are currently eight projects underway along the 18-kilometre highway: more than $100 million worth of fixes from repairing off-ramps and medians to replacing of 800 metres of actual elevated roadway.
Steve Buckley, general manager of transportation services for Toronto, studies some corroded rebar protruding from a safety curb on the Gardiner Expressway that needs repairs. ( Richard Lautens / Toronto Star ) Frank Clarizio, a director in Toronto's engineering and construction services, studies an overhead section of the Gardiner Expressway. The half-century old roadway is undergoing two years of rehabilitation. ( Richard Lautens / Toronto Star ) Steve Buckley, general manager of transportation services for Toronto, visits a construction zone in an elevated section of the Gardiner Expressway near Parliament St. ( Richard Lautens / Toronto Star ) Senior city engineer Easton Gordon descends the scaffolding on a Gardiner pier near Parliament St. Repairs will cause delays for the next two years. ( Richard Lautens / Toronto Star )
These are not scheduled for completion until late 2015. In the meantime, city engineers are working with traffic experts to ease the pain for drivers by staggering lane closures, limiting construction on surrounding roads and modifying traffic signals on streets in the vicinity of the Gardiner in the event of a backup. “Obviously, where the city is at right now, traffic and congestion are huge issues, and we have to be very cognizant about how we minimize congestion,” said Stephen Buckley, general manager of transportation services. But no matter the outcome of an environmental assessment now underway, drivers are seeing just the beginning of years of orange pylons, lane closures and added congestion.
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Drivers have already experienced disruptions on Lake Shore Blvd. E., where crews are nearly finished repairing the concrete box girders that hold up the deck of the expressway from York St. to Lower Jarvis St. Interim repairs to the eastern end of the Gardiner, expected to be completed by late December on the eastbound side, will resume next spring on the westbound side, resulting in another round of lane closures. Beginning in December, workers will begin replacing the median separating the eastbound lanes from the westbound lanes from Dufferin Ave. to Ellis Ave. Until that wraps up next May, one westbound lane will be closed during the morning rush hour, and lane sizes will be reduced during the afternoon rush hour. Traffic may be reduced to two lanes in each direction overnight. The replacement of 800 metres of deck from Strachan Ave. to Spadina Ave., by far the most significant project planned to date, will be carried out in two 400-metre phases. Apart from a break for the Pan-Am Games, traffic will be reduced by one lane in each direction along the busy western stretch from early next year until the end of 2015. Meanwhile, from April to December 2014, three bridges in the western portion of the Gardiner will be refurbished, closing a lane in each direction at those locations.
Buckley predicts slowdowns resulting from these projects will persuade many drivers to switch to public transit or stagger their work hours so as to avoid rush-hour. His advice to those with no other option but to brave the Gardiner: “Be patient.”
Read more about:What to Know Hurricane Jose, 650 miles from the Outer Banks, is generating swells that could produce life-threatening rip currents along the East Coast
Storm Team 4 is closely monitoring the system after a westward shift that has put Long Island in the so-called cone of uncertainty
The National Hurricane Center says people from North Carolina to New England should monitor the progress of the system
Much of the tri-state area, including New York City, Long Island, coastal Jersey and Connecticut, are in the so-called "cone of uncertainty" for Hurricane Jose, the sdystem meandering through the Atlantic Ocean, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
Storm Team 4 is closely monitoring the system after a westward shift that could potentially bring Jose, which regained hurricane strength Friday afternoon, closer to the tri-state.
The latest projections show the category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph moving slightly west and closer to the coast as it swirls north. According to Storm Team 4, that means periods of rainfall, gusty winds and coastal flooding are increasingly likely next week, depending on Jose's track.
The National Weather Service says the heaviest rain is expected to be across Long Island and southern Connecticut Monday night through Tuesday night, with a 20 to 30 percent chance of tropical storm-force winds across eastern Long Island early Tuesday into Wednesday. Still, Storm Team 4 warns it all depends on the storm track.
Photos: Long Road to Recovery Begins After Irma
The National Hurricane Center says people from North Carolina to New England should monitor the progress of the system, which is expected to return to hurricane-strength later Friday. It's currently around 640 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and is expected to continue its northwest motion Friday, followed by a turn to the north-northwest late Saturday and then north Sunday.
Although the center of Jose is currently forecast to pass well east of the North Carolina coast early next week, tropical-storm-force winds are expected to extend well west of the center and could approach the Outer Banks on Monday, the National Hurricane Center says.
Swells generated by Jose are affecting Bermuda, the Bahamas, the northern coasts of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, and the southeast coast of the United States, and will spread northward along the mid-Atlantic coast during the next few days, which will likely cause dangerous if not life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, the National Hurricane Center says. At this point, it's too early to tell if Jose will have direct impacts farther north along the east coast.
Extreme Weather Photos: Vegas Hit by Rare Snowstorm
Storm Team 4 says the storm will likely weaken again as it moves into the cooler waters of the north Atlantic early next week, but it could be a tropical storm as it nears Long Island on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In a worst-case scenario, Jose could pelt the tri-state -- and Long Island in particular -- with conditions similar to a strong nor'easter. That means strong winds, beach erosion and periods of heavy rain would all be possible.
But if the storm moves out to sea as it moves north, Storm Team 4 says it could at the very least make for a breezy middle of the workweek with a few showers.
Meanwhile, Storm Team 4 says the region will see several days of warm, muggy weather courtesy of the remnants of Irma. The deadly storm that caused catastrophic damage as it spun through Florida and the southeast has lost the majority of its strength but is slowly creeping through the region, making for warm temperatures, high humidity, clouds and a spot shower here and there through most of the weekend.
Dramatic Images: Floods Hit as Harvey Drenches TexasTwo years ago, CIA Director David Petraeus resigned under a cloud of scandal after his sexual affair with would-be biographer Paula Broadwell was exposed. The triumphant author of George Bush’s “surge strategy” in Iraq and his mistress had been under FBI investigation starting in the summer of 2012 for allegedly giving Broadwell access to classified documents for her book on Petraeus.
The investigation only came to light after a battle erupted between the CIA and the State Department over the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the death of four Americans, including the first U.S. ambassador murdered in the line of duty in 33 years. In September 2012, Broadwell admitted to the affair in an FBI interrogation and provided her computer for a search, which turned up the classified documents and ensnared Petraeus in the probe.
Related: FBI Accused of Working on Movie Plots, Not Terror Plots
Petraeus resigned as CIA Director on November 9, 2012. Charges have never been brought against either Petraeus or Broadwell for the leak of classified material. Both Petraeus and Broadwell told the FBI at the time that Petraeus hadn’t been the source of the documents found in Broadwell’s possession anyway.
However, Bloomberg’s Eli Lake and Josh Rogin made a curious discovery more than two years later: the FBI has never closed its investigation despite the apparent cooperation of the only two targets in it. And now people are beginning to ask why.
“According to current and former U.S. intelligence officials who have spoken to us,” Lake and Rogin report, “the FBI still has an open investigation into whether Petraeus improperly provided highly classified documents to Paula Broadwell.”
The two note that Petraeus isn’t the first CIA Director to face an investigation over misuse of classified documents; John Deutsch pled guilty to a misdemeanor in 1996 and was later pardoned by Bill Clinton. Clinton’s national security adviser Sandy Berger infamously stole documents relating to Clinton’s presidency from the National Archive by hiding them in his socks, which cost Berger his security clearance and $10,000.
The Petraeus/Broadwell case has significant differences. Unlike the Deutsch and Berger probes, the FBI hasn’t closed their work in a timely manner to allow the case to proceed to any adjudication at all. That keeps Petraeus from working in the national security field, where his unquestioned expertise might be particularly useful in the fight against ISIS, as he is unable to reapply for his security clearances while the probe is ongoing. At the same time, though, Lake and Rogin report that Petraeus has been informally advising the White House on Iraq, which has to involve discussion of at least some sensitive information.
Related: Typos Send FBI Agents After the Wrong Bad Guys
Congress has asked about the status of the Petraeus investigation before, even though it didn’t attract much attention until now. Last April, Rep. Jason Chaffetz pressed Attorney General Eric Holder during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, but all Holder would do was confirm that the probe was ongoing. That remains the last public update on the Petraeus probe from the Department of Justice.
Now, though, Petraeus’ defenders seem resolved to pressure Holder and the FBI to either file charges or close the case. Senator John McCain implied that the Obama administration had strung out the probe to keep Petraeus from publicly criticizing Barack Obama’s national-security policies. McCain, who will chair the Senate Armed Services Committee in January, wrote a letter to Holder rebuking the DoJ for its sloth.
“This a circumstance in which the principle ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ is certainly in play,” McCain scolded Holder. “The fact that you and others within your department have weighed in publicly on the case raises questions about whether this investigation is being handled in a fundamentally fair and appropriate manner.”
Considering the threats emerging in a region where Petraeus’ expertise could help inform better policy responses, McCain adds, “Congress and the American people cannot afford to have this voice silenced or curtailed by the shadow of a long-running, unresolved investigation marked by leaks from anonymous sources.”
McCain isn’t alone. I spoke with former House Intelligence chair Pete Hoekstra, now at the Investigative Project on Terrorism, about the delay.
Related: Senator Delivers Blunt Message on FBI Pot Joke
“It’s not a complicated case,” Hoekstra said, noting that it had no connection to espionage or other malicious intent. “Why would they be keeping it open? And the speculation swirls around [that] the best way to keep David Petraeus quiet, if he has any criticism of the Obama administration, is to have this hanging out over David’s head, knowing that at any given time, anything he says can and will be held against him.” It looks like the case is being held open “for political reasons,” Hoekstra said, “and not legal reasons.”
Chaffetz said much the same to Lake and Rogin. After noting that Petraeus has had little to offer in public comments except for a handful of supporting remarks for Obama’s policies, Chaffetz responded, “When the president has the ability to charge him with crimes, maybe it affects your perspective.”
This administration has already had its feckless security policies pilloried by other former members of Obama’s team. Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta – Petraeus’ predecessor at CIA – published highly critical memoirs of their time on President Obama’s national security team.
Outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel might be next, especially after becoming the target of anonymously sourced attacks from the White House on his competence. The White House probably would prefer to have Petraeus keep his thoughts to himself until 2017 at the earliest, especially given his credibility on military and intelligence affairs.
That, however, is the problem -- whether the delay in concluding the investigation is deliberate or just another example of incompetence in this administration. The collapse of the national security and foreign policy strategies of this administration makes Petraeus’ experience more valuable than ever. If Petraeus broke the law, the Department of Justice has had plenty of time to make that case, and so far hasn’t even bothered to try.
If he’s not guilty of a crime in relation to the documents found in Broadwell’s possession, then the FBI needs to close its probe and allow Congress and the President to benefit from Petraeus’ analysis, and allow Petraeus to have access to the information he needs to provide that service to his country.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:“Over the last four years, the deficit has gone up, but 90 percent of that is as a consequence of two wars that weren’t paid for, as a consequence of tax cuts that weren’t paid for, a prescription drug plan that was not paid for, and then the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Now we took some emergency actions, but that accounts for about 10 percent of this increase in the deficit, and we have actually seen the federal government grow at a slower pace than at any time since Dwight Eisenhower, in fact, substantially lower than the federal government grew under either Ronald Reagan or George Bush.”
“Taxes are lower on families than they’ve been probably in the last 50 years. So I haven’t raised taxes.”
— President Obama, interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” recorded on Sept. 12, 2012, and aired on Sept. 23
There are a lot of numbers and assertions in these statements by the president. We will primarily focus on the first statement, since it raises interesting questions of presidential responsibility.
But we do want to note the tax statement, since we seem to have a rare moment when Obama and GOP rival Mitt Romney appear to agree. Here’s what Romney said on Tuesday: “I admit this, he has one thing he did not do in his first four years, he’s said he’s going to do in his next four years, which is to raise taxes.”
Generally, Republicans have argued (and the Supreme Court agreed) that Obama’s health-insurance mandate is a tax. The health-care law also included a number of taxes aimed mostly at the wealthy. But broadly speaking, Obama has reduced taxes for most Americans, so much so that the Congressional Budget Office says that effective tax rates are at their lowest point in three decades.
In any case, let’s examine more closely Obama’s two key assertions during 60 Minutes — that only 10 percent of the current deficit comes from his policies and that the federal government has grown under his watch at a “a slower pace than at any time since Dwight Eisenhower.” Are those claims correct?
The Facts
In support of the first statement, the Obama campaign pointed us to a chart made by the Treasury Department.
This chart looks backward, to the reasons why the projected $5.6 trillion surplus from 2001 disappeared. It is based on these CBO data, which the Fact Checker column first brought to public view in early 2011. So we are quite familiar with it. This is how we broke down the numbers then in explaining the reasons for the disappearance of the surplus and the rise of monster deficits:
Increased spending (discretionary and mandatory): $4.3 trillion (36.5 percent)
Incorrect CBO estimates (economic/technical reasons): $3.3 trillion (28 percent)
Tax cuts: $2.8 trillion (24 percent)
Higher interest costs: $1.4 trillion (12 percent)
Obama, in his remarks, doesn’t really say he is talking about the disappearance of the surplus. In fact, he prefaces his statement with a misleading phrase — “over the last four years” — which suggests he is only talking about the period in which he was president.
Because of compounding, however, the Treasury Department chart overemphasizes the impact of the events that happened early in the process (such as the Bush tax cuts) and minimizes more recent events (such as Obama’s policies.)
Under this theory, one could go back to the Lyndon Johnson administration and blame him for a huge chunk of the deficit, since he signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. In other words, every “old” policy will almost by definition appear to contribute much more to current deficits than recent policies.
Using the same CBO data, former Bush administration official Charles Blahous portrayed it another way, which gives an entirely different picture. This chart, drawn from a much longer study by Blahous, tries to place the tax cuts into context. (He also does not break down the spending into categories, such as the wars.)
As can be seen above, CBO’s errors in forecasting played a large role in the demise of the projected surpluses. CBO had kept counting on a gusher of capital gains revenue — and then obviously failed to predict the recession of 2008.
But Obama’s policies also played a big role during his presidency. Using the CBO data for the years 2009-2011, here’s a very rough calculation of the contribution to the deficit. To keep things simple, we did not try to allocate interest expense, and we did not include categories of spending or taxes that were difficult to allocate.
The 2009 fiscal year is especially hard because that budget year is so much of an amalgam of Bush and Obama policies; we essentially split the cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program between the two of them. Since this is not intended to be exact, but illustrative, we have rounded numbers and percentages:
2009:
Economic/technical differences: $570 billion (46 percent)
Bush policies: $330 billion (27 percent)
Obama policies: $325 billion (27 percent)
2010:
Economic/technical: $815 billion (51 percent)
Bush: $225 billion (14 percent)
Obama: $565 billion (35 percent)
2011:
Economic/technical: $720 billion (46 percent)
Bush: $160 billion (10 percent)
Obama: $685 billion (44 percent)
Clearly, a huge part of the deficit problem — about half — stems from the recession and forecasting errors. But Obama’s policies represent a big chunk as well. (We would welcome suggestions for fine-tuning these numbers.)
Now one could argue, as Obama’s defenders do, that his policies to combat the recession were intended to be temporary. But he has also supported permanently extending the Bush tax cuts for Americans making less than $250,000, which by itself will shrink federal revenues for years to come. That means these are no longer Bush’s tax cuts, but Obama’s.
Moreover, an important part of Obama’s legacy — the health-care law — has not even taken full effect yet. The CBO calculated virtually no impact on the deficit in the first 10 years after enactment, but all bets are off after that.
Finally, Obama claims that “we have actually seen the federal government grow at a slower pace than at any time since Dwight Eisenhower.” We regret to say that the president is repeating a widely debunked column that appeared on MarketWatch earlier this year. We devoted three columns to the column’s faulty logic, and FactCheck.org and the Associated Press also said it was bunk. (PolitiFact said it was “half true.”)
Not to get too deep in the weeds again, but the claim is based on treating 2009 (as we said, an amalgam of Bush and Obama policies) as actually Bush’s year, and then ignoring Obama’s proposed spending increases in the future. Such calculations help to dramatically shrink the growth of spending under Obama relative to other presidents.
The Pinocchio Test
We are not trying to make excuses for the fiscal excesses of the Bush administration — and Congress — in the last decade. But at some point, a president has to take ownership of his own actions.
Obama certainly inherited an economic mess, and that accounts for a large part of the deficit. But Obama pushed for spending increases and tax cuts that also have contributed in important ways to the nation’s fiscal deterioration. He certainly could argue that these were necessary and important steps to take, but he can’t blithely suggest that 90 percent of the current deficit “is as a consequence” of his predecessor’s policies — and not his own.
As for the citing of the discredited MarketWatch column, we have repeatedly urged the administration to rely on estimates from official government agencies, such as the White House budget office. It is astonishing to see the president repeat this faulty claim once again, as if it were an established fact.
Four Pinocchios
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Read our biggest PinocchiosThe dozen or so people sitting on the movie-rating board often make truly baffling decisions, and one that has just come up is a real head-scratcher. In fact, it has me wondering if the board members even realize that the G rating still exists or know what it means.
You may have read that “The Wizard of Oz” has been rejiggered for IMAX and 3-D, and will play a one-week theatrical run next month at some 400 IMAX theaters around the country (to include Utah) before the Oct. 1 release of a 75th anniversary 3-D/Blu-ray box set. (Although this year marks the 74th anniversary of the film; go figure.)
What you may not know is that “The Wizard of Oz” has also been re-rated, and the board, in its infinite wisdom, has overturned the film’s G rating and marked it with a PG!
This is the weirdest classic-film rating since Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” earned an R after 16 years with an M rating (the PG-equivalent at the time).
In the scheme of things, rating “The Wizard of Oz” PG instead of G may seem like much ado about nothing, but it’s indicative of how modern Hollywood is moving further and further away from truly family-friendly moviemaking.
In fact, the G rating is nearly extinct, something to which I devote an entire chapter in my recent book on the movie-rating system if you’ll pardon that blatant, shameless plug.
If you want evidence, look no further than the 2013 roster.
So far this year we’ve had 175 new movies roll through Salt Lake theaters and only one has been rated G: Pixar’s animated “Monsters University.”
And scheduled for the rest of the year, in terms of movies rated so far, there are no others. That could change, of course, but even if a few more G-rated films do show up the total will remain a single-digit tally.
As for “The Wizard of Oz,” it has been rated G for 43 years, so why this sudden change?
The Classification and Rating Administration, which operates under the auspices of the Motion Picture Association of America, never gives any reasons for its specific movie decisions beyond what is printed on the rating itself. In this case, “The Wizard of Oz 3D,” as it is listed on the CARA website, is rated PG “for some scary moments.”
“The Wizard of Oz” is, of course, one of the most popular films of all time, a comic musical fantasy based on the first in a series of “Oz” books by L. Frank Baum and starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, a young girl who is transported via tornado from black-and-white Kansas (sepia tone, actually) to the brilliant Technicolor land of Oz.
Not that I really need to explain all that. By show of hands, how many of you have seen “The Wizard of Oz”? Or, for a smaller number, how many have not seen “The Wizard of Oz”? And if you haven’t, what’s wrong with you? Not seeing this film is positively un-American. Or un-Ozian, perhaps.
Originally released in 1939 when color was a couple of decades away from becoming the standard, “The Wizard of Oz” surprisingly played to less-than-stellar box-office numbers. But of course, in the years since, the film has built its huge audience generation by generation, through theatrical reissues and especially after it began a remarkable run of annual showings on network television during the 1950s and ’60s. (Something my family looked forward to each year when I was a child.)
Because “The Wizard of Oz” was released nearly 30 years before movie ratings came into existence, it was, like all films at the time, unrated. But in 1970, for a theatrical reissue, “The Wizard of Oz” was submitted to CARA for the first time, and, as you might expect, it sailed through with a G. (Go pull the DVD box off your shelf and look at the back cover and you’ll see the G rating.)
So why was it re-rated in 2013? The rule is that if a film’s content is altered in any way, it must be viewed and rated again by the board before it can play theatrically. And apparently “The Wizard of Oz” has been edited in some form for this new IMAX 3-D release.
When a film is reconfigured to IMAX and/or 3-D, it does go through some adjustments, but not in terms of actual content, which is supposedly the only thing the rating board cares about. And such other recent re-releases in those formats as Disney’s “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast,” and Steven Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Jurassic Park” managed to be re-released without being re-rated.
So what’s the deal? Are we going to see the flying monkeys with blood on their fangs? Oh, wait, that was “Oz the Great and Powerful.”
It could be that the board simply felt “The Wizard of Oz” is scarier in 3-D. The wicked witch in your face might be something board members worried would startle the little ones.
Whatever the reason, when a genuine family film like “The Wizard of Oz” gets a PG, it really does signal the death knell for the G rating.
Chris Hicks is the author of "Has Hollywood Lost Its Mind? A Parents Guide to Movie Ratings." His website is www.hicksflicks.com
Email: [email protected]Most user interface (UI) toolkits are single-threaded and SWT is no exception. This restriction means that UI objects must be accessed exclusively from a single thread, the so-called UI thread. On the other hand, long-running tasks should be executed in background threads to keep the UI responsive. This makes it necessary for the background threads to enqueue updates to be executed on the UI thread instead of accessing UI objects directly.
To schedule code for execution on the UI thread, SWT offers the Display asyncExec() and syncExec() methods.
Display asyncExec vs syncExec
While both methods enqueue a given Runnable for execution on the UI thread, they |
APIs can be extended from Ruby code by just reopening them.
Support.
This one is critical for many. Often, you don’t want to have your next big project rely on a technology that doesn’t have a good backing and support. What happens if you build your app using an alternate implementation and all a sudden the developer(s) get bored and move on, or take another job? What about the updates needed as Apple/Google update their platforms? It might not be the best reason to not choose an alternative, but it’s a reasonable reason especially for companies who want to be “safe”.
Cocoa
Cocoa APIs represent probably 90% of the challenge when writing iOS/OS X applications. The APIs, while powerful and efficient, are often a pain to get used to and to learn.
You have the challenge of the documentation and the examples that are only in Objective-C, requiring that someone writes a book and/or that you convert and maintain an enormous amount of documentation.
You also have all the tools provided by Apple which, you often can’t fully use because you aren’t using their toolchain.
To be honest, after so many years using MacRuby, I think that the real value of such a project isn’t in the easier syntax but instead in the fact that you can easily build wrappers and higher level interfaces around repetitive tasks. Having a mix of a well designed DSL and yet access to the native object is something extremely powerful.
Objective-C is evolving.
Objective-C is evolving, with the introduction of ARC, memory management became much easier. The latest version of clang also granted Objective-C with a nicer syntax thanks to new literals and object subscripting (read more). As a matter of fact, Objective-C’s syntax is getting closer and closer to Ruby’s making the choice to use an alternate much harder.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 // character literals. NSNumber * theLetterZ = @'Z' ; // equivalent to [NSNumber numberWithChar:'Z'] // integral literals. NSNumber * fortyTwo = @ 42 ; // equivalent to [NSNumber numberWithInt:42] // floating point literals. NSNumber * piDouble = @ 3.1415926535 ; // equivalent to [NSNumber numberWithDouble:3.1415926535] // BOOL literals. NSNumber * yesNumber = @ YES ; // equivalent to [NSNumber numberWithBool:YES] // Container literals NSArray * array = @ [ @"Hello", NSApp, [ NSNumber numberWithInt: 42 ] ]; id value = array [ idx ]; NSDictionary * dictionary = @ { @"name" : NSUserName (), @"date" : [ NSDate date ], @"processInfo" : [ NSProcessInfo processInfo ] }; id oldObject = dictionary [ key ]; dictionary [ key ] = newObject ; // replace oldObject with newObject
Performance.
Even though devices are more and more powerful, performance is often critical and Apple optimized the performance of their solution for their language. If you have ever developed a Titanium app, you know that it can be an issue and you might have to find workarounds to get decent performance.
Summary: Based on all these things, once MobiRuby will be released, I will be able to make a better judgement. But based on what I have seen so far, I’m quite concerned by the syntax and the performance we will get out of the box. But time will tell and things can always be improved. Ruby on iOS/Android is something exciting and I’m looking forward to testing the first betas.Published on 20th. November 2016
Tom Simpson's remarkable story is one close to Eroica Britannia's spiritual and geographical heart
Chris Sidwells is a freelance writer, editor and photographer whose words and/or pictures appear in every edition of Britain’s best-selling cycling magazine, Cycling Weekly. Recent magazine projects include the editing of a series bookazines called Cycling Legends under the Cycling Weekly brand. Chris has also written for Cycle Sport, Cycling Active, Cycling Plus, GQ Magazine, Men’s Fitness, Running Fitness, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and the BBC.
Chris has also been involved in Eroica Britannia in 2015 and 2016 as a judge for Best Bike in Best in Show and will also be a contributor to the online Britannia Times for Eroica Britannia 2017 with a series of shorts that tap into the heart of The Great British Adventure. We wanted to kick the series off, by marking the 50 year anniversary of the very Great British Tom Simpson.
From Cinder Tracks to Superstar
Cycling is huge in Britain now, but Tom Simpson is still revered for his achievements 50 years ago, and is remembered for his personality. It’s a remarkable story, and one close to Eroica Britannia’s spiritual and geographical heart. Tom Simpson was born in 1937, on November 30th, so he shared a birthday with Winston Churchill. During their lives they were just about the two most recognisable Englishmen in Europe, but their starts were very different.
Simpson was the youngest child of a Durham miner, a man opposed to Churchill who never forgave him for his treatment of fellow miners during the 1926 General Strike. Conditions were bad in the Durham coalfield when Tom was born, and pit closures common. Prospects were better further south, so in 1950 Tom’s parents and their three youngest children moved to Harworth, a mining village 15 miles east of Sheffield.
Harworth and District Cycling Club
Tom’s father got a job at Harworth Colliery, and Tom joined the Harworth and District Cycling Club. He wasn’t so good at first. He was a scrawny kid but he fought to keep up with the rest so they gave him a nickname, Four-Stone Coppi, after the Italian cycling legend Fausto Coppi. He improved slowly until he was 15, then he started to grow quickly and his talent shone through. Tom began to fly.
By 16 he was winning time trials, hill climbs and track races. Not track races on the velodromes we have now, but on cinder or grass tracks that went round every colliery cricket pitch in those days. But Tom was in love with road racing. He kept scrap books full of pictures of European road racers that he cut from magazines. Simpson wanted to be like them, a champion road racer. He even told his mother he would be, one day.
A Peak District Training Ground
In 1955 Tom started winning road races, especially in the Peak District, where he also trained, riding out and back from Harworth through Sheffield’s cobbled streets. Even against semi-professional riders, the teenage Simpson would win. He also met a coach, George Berger, who persuaded Tom to carry on track racing while he developed.
Britain always had good track riders, and in 1956 Tom entered the British pursuit championships on the legendary Fallowfield track in Manchester. That was a real outdoor velodrome with steep bankings. In only his second outing on Fallowfield Tom almost won the British pursuit title.
He knocked out the reigning world amateur champion Norman Sheil in an early round, but nerves got the better of Tom in the final and he took the silver medal. He was 18 and selected to ride the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He’d only been abroad for the first time a few weeks before, but he won an Olympic bronze in the team pursuit.
Peak District Victories
Tom was part of Team GB and went on more international trips. He continued winning road races in the Peak District. He also rewrote the local hill climb records, setting a time on Monsal that wasn’t beaten until 1980, and another on Mam Nick that lasted until 2016.
It was obvious that cycling in the UK wasn’t big enough for Tom Simpson’s talent, so in April 1959 he borrowed £100 from Gerald O’Donovan, the owner of Worksop’s Carlton Cycles, and moved to France. Tom’s aim was to turn professional and ride the Tour de France as soon as possible. He did it the following year.
But that’s jumping ahead in the story. By the end of his first month in France, Tom won enough money to pay O’Donovan back. He won another 20 races against semi and full professional opposition, and in August 1959 he turned professional for the biggest team in France, St Raphael. His first road race was the world professional championships in Holland. Tom finished fourth, the only Brits ever to finish higher are Mark Cavendish and Tom himself.
In St Raphael Tom was taken under the wing of the experienced Brian Robinson, the pioneer of British road racing. Robinson was the first Brit to finish the Tour de France, the first to win a stage in the race, and the first to become a regular part of European pro cycling. He was a steadying influence on Tom, and he needed it.
That Aston Martin Story
In April 1960 Simpson came ninth in his first Paris-Roubaix after being alone in the lead for the last hour of the race. He was only caught at the gates of Roubaix Velodrome. It was the first bike race to be broadcast live across Europe. Then he won an important French stage race, the Tour du Sud-Est.
Tom was living in Paris in a flat with Robinson by then. “It was in the worst part of Paris, Porte de Clichy, and we had a table two chairs a bed and a refrigerator,” Robinson remembers. “It wasn’t so bad really,” he continues. “We were hardly ever there, but I remember Tom after the Tour du Sud-Est. With that win, his performance in Paris-Roubaix and some extra contracts he’d won quite a lot of money, so I told him, “Put that away in the bank Tom, you never know when you might need it in this game.” Anyway, I went away for a race, and when I came home there was an Aston Martin parked outside. It was Tom’s.
"We still had a table two chairs a bed and a fridge, but now we had an Aston Martin parked outside.”
Robinson tells the story well, and he tells it with affection. Simpson was never going to be as careful and disciplined as him, the Aston Martin was the first in a succession of Mercedes BMWs and Jaguars, but Robinson adds wistfully, “I would have given all my careful nature for a little bit of Tom’s talent.”
A Truly Eccentric Englishman
Tom Simpson went on to win lots of big races. The Tour of Flanders in 1961, he’s still the only British rider to do that, and in 1962 he became the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, when he also finished sixth overall. But at the same time he created a persona, modelling himself on an English gentleman, wearing Saville Row suits topped off by a bowler hat. Tom’s personality took him beyond cycling and into European hearts. It was the 1960s and British fashion and music led the world. Tom used that, he learned languages and his style on the bike and off it earned him respect. He was loved in France, Belgium and Italy.
Tom Simpson lived with style and raced with insouciance
His brilliance reached a zenith in 1965 when he won the world professional road race title and the Classic, Il Lombardia. He ended the year ranked number two in the world behind Jacques Anquetil. He was honoured at home too, winning the 1965 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the first cyclist ever to do so.
But two years later Tom Simpson was dead. Like a modern day Icarus his wings melted in the heat of Mont Ventoux, and he fell to earth. A great British adventure was over, only now are British riders surpassing his level in the sport, although he is still the sole British winner of some very big races, and none have had his spirit or equalled his charisma.
More about Chris Sidwells
Chris has written 17 books on cycling, three of them coffee table type guide books, supplying photographs as well as words. Many of his books have gone to multiple editions and been best sellers in their genre. They cover every aspect of cycling, and in total have been translated into 24 languages and sold worldwide. He works as a regular pundit for BBC local radio stations, and was involved in BBC Radio Sheffield’s live coverage of the 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart in Yorkshire, and in both editions of the Tour de Yorkshire.
His latest books include a collaboration with Chris Boardman called The Biography of the Modern Bike, and involvement in writing and sourcing bikes for DK’s The Bicycle Book. The research and knowledge gained during these two projects helped Chris in his role as a judge in Eroica Britannia’s ‘Best in Show Bike’
In a new departure Chris published the British pioneer professional Barry Hoban’s autobiography, Vas-y Barry, in 2015 with his own publishing company thepedalpress.uk. His current projects include more with thepedalpress.uk and writing three new books to be published in 2017 and 2018, including one very close to his heart called Wild Cycling.
Chris has a degree in geology and is an active cyclist with years of racing and riding experience. He has won races in every cycling discipline, road, track and off-road, and in every age group from youths to masters. He lives near Doncaster.New documents obtained today suggest the sale of Double JJ Resort — the Electric Forest venue — to SFX Entertainment is further solidified than earlier suspected.
A Memorandum of Purchase and Sale Agreement filed for record in Michigan’s Oceana County on Feb. 6 reveals a deal between Progressive Resorts, LLC and Michigan JJ, LLC, a newly formed Delaware company with direct connections to SFX.
The purchase agreement is signed by Michigan JJ’s Chief Financial Officer Richard Rosenstein, who also holds the position of CFO at SFX.
Double JJ Ranch is currently owned by Antler Bar Amusements, but the property was held by Progressive Resorts prior to a September sale. As part of the sale, a court granted Progressive the opportunity to redeem the property and collateral before May 14 if the company is able to satisfy their $7.6 million debt plus interest.
Enter SFX, whose recent buying spree of other dance music companies illustrates their interest in the festival and financial ability to bail Progressive out of debt.
SEE ALSO: Electric Forest files court motion to protect land lease with Double JJ Resort
Electric Forest producers Madison House/AEG signed a 20-year lease agreement with the resort in 2010. While the lease is listed among the property’s assets, specifics of the Progressive/Antler Bar sale allow Progressive to redeem only assets of their choosing.
This gives Progressive — or SFX, if the sale solidifies — the chance to redeem the physical property but not the lease agreement with Madison House/AEG, severing the agreement and potentially leaving Electric Forest without its home in Rothbury.
The lease does allow for renegotiation of terms in the event of an ownership change at Double JJ.
While not an outright sale, a Memorandum of Purchase and Sale Agreement is a legal affidavit stating an agreement has been reached with the owner for the sale of their property and can be used to prevent the seller from entertaining other offers.
Madison House/AEG filed a court motion last week seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in hopes of preventing the owners from separating the lease from the property.
Electric Forest has assured fans that the “show will go on” for 2014, but the festival’s ability to utilize Double JJ Resort in the future is unclear. Madison House/AEG claims over 21,000 advance tickets have already been sold prior to any lineup announcements.
In a prepared statement yesterday, SFX said they’re just trying to help the struggling land owners.
“There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that SFX is doing anything to halt Electric Forest,” an unnamed SFX spokesperson told SPIN magazine.
“In fact, we agreed to rescue the property owner and then another party began a legal proceeding, much to our surprise. Electric Forest is a great festival held on a great site. We regret the actions of others, but we assure all fans of Electronic Music that we only are interested in expanding the offerings available to EMC [Electronic Music Culture] fans.”
This isn’t the first time SFX has moved in on another promoter’s turf.
After acquisition of Tomorrowland creator ID&T, SFX convinced Bouckaert Farm owners to sign an exclusive deal to host TomorrowWorld near Fairburn, Ga., forcing out the previously held CounterPoint Music Festival.
The next court hearing in Oceana county is scheduled for Feb. 24.
SEE ALSO: Fans to SFX: Don’t mess with our Forest
AdvertisementMahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in a hotel room in Dubai
A Hamas commander who was killed in his Dubai hotel room was drugged and then suffocated, according to results of forensic tests released by police.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's killers used a quick-acting muscle relaxant to help make the death seem "natural", a senior Dubai police officer said.
Israel's secret service has been widely blamed for the killing.
However Israel has said there is no evidence it was behind the killing on 20 January.
It has accused Mabhouh of smuggling arms into Gaza and killing two Israeli soldiers.
'Rapid onset'
"The killers used the drug succinylcholine to sedate Mabhouh before they suffocated him," Maj Gen Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, deputy commander of Dubai's police, said.
"The assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
Succinylcholine is a rapid onset muscle paralysing agent, which has no sedative properties. Medics say that a person injected with the drug would eventually suffocate because his muscles are entirely paralysed.
Some previous reports on Mabhouh's death have suggested he was electrocuted and suffocated.
Passport row
Dubai has identified 26 suspects in the murder and said they used British, Irish, French and Australian passports.
The use of the European and Australian passports in the assassination has sparked a diplomatic row between those countries and Israel.
The countries say the passports used by the murder suspects were forged.
British police officers are in Israel to investigate the use of fake British passports by some of the suspects.
Israeli officials have refused to either confirm or deny their country's involvement in the killing but have hailed it.
Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Sunday he did not know who had carried it out, but it showed Hamas that "none of their people are untouchable".Anti-war veterans deploy 4,171 toy soldiers at gas station David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Monday November 17, 2008
Print This Email This In a daring guerrilla raid earlier this fall, members of the Los Angeles chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) infiltrated a local gas station to deploy a battalion of 4171 toy soldiers, together with a sign reading, "Price of Gas: 4171 U.S. Soldiers."
The project was initiated by designer Andrew Wilcox, who served as art director, and photographer and former marine Jonas Lara. According to Wilcox, it also involved "6 Iraq War Veterans who wish to remain anonymous."
A video of the action, carried out in the early morning hours of October 11, has now been posted on YouTube and Digg and featured at the IVAW website and on several blogs.
One blog commented approvingly, "There are many reasons this campaign succeeds. It begins with IVAW's authority on the matter. These aren't just a bunch of liberal college kids.... They served the country; they saw the flaws and inequities first-hand, from the inside or the front lines. Then they spoke outto dramatic effect.
However, the video is also gaining notice from right-wing sites, one of which suggested caustically, "These wannabe jihadists are members of the moonbat cult Iraq Veterans Against the War. Here they put their military skills to use as best they are able by arranging toy soldiers in front of gas pumps to express their dog-eared and cretinous motto, No War for Oil. Good thing these clowns aren't over in Iraq, where they could get themselves and (more importantly) real soldiers hurt."
This video is from IVAW.org, posted Nov. 11, 2008.
Download video via RawReplay.comImage copyright RTÉ Image caption Jonathan Dowdall, 40, was sentenced to 12 years in prison over the torture incident
An ex-Sinn Féin councillor has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for interrogating, threatening and waterboarding a man in January 2015.
Jonathan Dowdall was on trial with his father, Patrick, who was jailed for eight years for his role in the attack.
The victim, Alexander Hurley, had come to Jonathan Dowdall's Dublin home to buy a motorcycle in January 2015 when he was tortured.
The attack was filmed on a mobile phone and played in court.
Mr Hurley was filmed tied to a chair in the Dowdalls' garage as Jonathan Dowdall, who was wearing a balaclava, put a tea towel on his face and poured buckets of water over him.
Patrick Dowdall took out pliers and threatened to pull off the victim's fingers, starting with the smallest.
The victim is heard pleading for his life as the Dowdalls threatened to chop him up and feed him to the dogs.
He was tied with cable ties and told "one more twist and you're dead".
It is believed Dowdall and his father believed the victim was a fraudster after researching him online.
The victim said he was tortured to the point of "death's door" and in a statement said the psychological injuries would never completely heal.
Image copyright Facebook Image caption Jonathan Dowdall (right) is pictured with Sinn Féin senior party members Mary Lou McDonald and Gerry Adams
The court heard that he was also told he was "stupid" to "mess with the IRA" and that Jonathan Dowdall was a good friend of the party's president Gerry Adams and his deputy, Mary Lou McDonald.
The Special Criminal Court said it could not see how Mr Dowdall's friendships could form a threat, Irish national broadcaster RTE reported.
Ms McDonald welcomed Jonathan Dowdall's conviction last month, and said he had left the party "some years ago".CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled and saluted the national flag at 8.29am on Independence Day and reminded his colleagues in the paramilitary force posted in restive Kashmir to uphold honestly the call of duty.
The brave officer went beyond the call of duty minutes after an inspiring speech at the ceremony, leading his men in a fierce gun battle with militants holed up in Srinagar’s old city. Around 9.30am, the 44-year-old Kumar lay motionless with fatal bullet wounds in the neck.
“Commander down, commander down,” crackled the wireless set.
The commandant of the 49 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was rushed to the army base hospital in Srinagar. He was in coma. By noon, he was declared dead.
He is survived by wife Neha, seven-year-old daughter Aarna, and his 63-year-old father.
Born in Patna’s Bakhtiyarpur village, Kumar was from Jamtara in Jharkhand where his family had shifted. The body was airlifted to his native place for the last rites.
WATCH: CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled tricolour in Srinagar y'day, was shot dead by terrorists an hour later.https://t.co/HBjfPSaV88 — ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016
Eight CRPF men were wounded in the Nowhatta shooting, while a Jammu and Kashmir police officer, who was shot in the head, is battling for life.
The attack on security forces in the old city is a first after more than a decade; the last major instance probably goes back to the 1990s when the bloodiest phase of militancy had engulfed Kashmir Valley.
Kashmir has been on the edge since security forces gunned down Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, triggering a wave of protests in which more than 50 people have died and thousands wounded.
Militants have taken advantage of the unrest and growing public loathing against the security forces, making it all the more difficult for people like Kumar to restore peace and keep the morale of troops high.
His August 15 speech at the CRPF deputy inspector general’s office in the city’s Karan Nagar area reflected his thoughts.
“We are not only faced with terrorism, but also stone pelting in Kashmir. I urge you to undertake the duties assigned to you honestly to uphold the country’s integrity, solidarity and freedom that we achieved after an immense struggle,” he said.
Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled the national flag at the office of the CRPF’s Deputy Inspector General in the city’s Karan Nagar area. (Photo courtesy: CRPF)
Kumar has just finished reading out a message from his boss when news of a militant attack barely 3km away in Nowhatta reached him. He dashed out with a small team in a bullet-proof vehicle.
“He was leading from the front when he was shot,” CRPF spokesperson Bhavesh Choudhary said.
The CRPF believe Kumar shot dead one of the two militants killed in the battle.
Kumar was appointed directly an officer in January 1998 and promoted to the rank of commandant on July 12 this year. He was serving in Srinagar since April 2014, and was awaiting a new posting after the promotion.
He served in the Special Protection Group, which guards the Prime Minister and a select group of VVIPs, between 2011 and 2013.
In a video of the Independence Day event, Kumar is seen looking at his watch just before he ended his speech and saying “it is an important day”, unaware of the fate that awaited him.
A senior CRPF officer who served with Kumar in the Northeast said the officer was very “cool but daring”, reports PTI. “We will never know why he said yesterday that it was an important day. May be he had some premonition of the events that unfolded in quick time,” he said.
First Published: Aug 16, 2016 11:37 ISTAccording to latest reports, 1,705,181 pilgrims have arrived by Friday in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The General Directorate of Passports said in its daily statistics that 1,602,661 pilgrims arrived by air; 87,685 by land; and 14,835 by sea.
The number of pilgrims from Pakistan reached 183,337 while 170,050 were the number of pilgrims that arrived from India. Indonesian pilgrims that arrived numbered at 226,541.
Meanwhile, Saudi security forces have paraded through Mecca ahead of Hajj, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top officials among those watching.
The military display took place late on Wednesday.
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Between two and three million Muslims are expected to travel to Mecca for this year's Hajj, which will take place at the beginning of next month.
Last Update: Sunday, 27 August 2017 KSA 14:18 - GMT 11:18Twitter pulled back the curtain on its $1 billion initial public stock offering on Thursday, revealing that the social network is still unprofitable.
In its first public financial statement, Twitter said it lost $79.4 million on about $317 million in sales in 2012.
The company is on track for an even steeper loss in 2013. It already has racked up $69 million in losses during the first six months of this year. But sales are also rapidly increasing: Twitter recorded $254 million in revenue during the same period.
Twitter, which was founded in 2006, has not recorded a profit for at least the past three years -- the time period for which the company was required to disclose its financial information. Losses came in at $67 million in 2010 and $164 million in 2011.
But there were some bright spots in Twitter's IPO filing. Unlike Facebook (FB) at the time of its IPO, Twitter's mobile business is currently booming.
Mobile ads accounted for 65% of ad revenue last quarter, and three-quarters of Twitter's 218 million monthly active users accessed the service from a mobile device. And Twitter is growing rapidly: The number of monthly active users jumped 44% from last year.
Twitter had previously filed its IPO paperwork "confidentially," through a JOBS Act provision that gives companies with less than $1 billion in revenue extra time to keep their finances a secret.
The company will trade under the symbol TWTR, though it hasn't yet said on which exchange it will trade. Goldman Sachs (GS) is the IPO's lead underwriter, while Morgan Stanley (MS) -- a bit tarnished after leading the botched Facebook IPO -- was relegated to Twitter's No. 2 underwriter slot.
Related story: Twitter CEO's advice to startups
How much is Twitter worth? In the IPO initial filing, companies don't reveal how many shares they're going to sell, or how much those shares will cost. Those details won't be added until shortly before Twitter stock hits the market.
And so Twitter's valuation remains speculative. Estimates based on purchases of private Twitter stock peg the company's value at around $10 billion.
Related story: Will Twitter avoid Facebook's IPO flubs?
Sales breakdown: Like many of the newly public Internet companies, namely Facebook, Twitter's business model is dominated by ads. Advertising accounted for 87% of Twitter's revenue in the first six months of 2013, and 85% for all of 2012.
Twitter runs ads for corporate accounts, specific tweets and topics, and the sponsored content is tucked right into users' feeds. Search for AT&T (T) on Twitter, and a "promoted tweet" from Verizon (VZ) or Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Phone may pop up.
A "who to follow" box suggests a promoted corporate account like Macy's (M) in the top slot. Advertisers can also place "trends" -- say, the name of a TV show premiering tonight -- in the list of topics that are popular worldwide or in a particular locale.
Related story: More Twitter ads are coming soon
Even though 78% of Twitter's users are outside the United States, revenue from overseas markets accounted for just a quarter of the company's total sales for the first six months of 2013. The company said, however, that it plans to expand its international advertising sales soon.
As of June 30, Twitter had $375 million in cash and liquid assets. The company employs 2,000 full-time staffers.
Who owns Twitter: Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is the company's largest shareholder with a 12% stake. Twitter board director Peter Fenton is No. 2 on the individual list with 6.7% of the company. Williams' fellow co-founder Jack Dorsey holds a 4.8% stake, but their third partner, Biz Stone, was conspicuously absent from the list of largest shareholders.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is No. 4 on the individual stakeholder list at 1.6%. Costolo is already a rich man, taking home $200,000 in salary last year, along with $8.4 million in stock and $2.9 million in stock options. This year, he'll only make $14,000 in salary, but he'll likely make a lot more from the IPO.
Five institutional investors have stakes of at least 5%: Benchmark Capital, DST Global, Rizvi Traverse, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.
Risk factors: Companies filing for IPOs are required to disclose "risk factors" to potential shareholders. Twitter pointed out its heavy reliance on advertising and the competition in that space from companies with more money and more users: Facebook, Google (GOOG), LinkedIn (LNKD), Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO). The company also cited its dependency on growing its already large userbase.
Other concerns include Twitter spammers who reduce the quality of the site, possible government censorship of Twitter in some countries, outages on the site, and financial results that "may fluctuate from quarter to quarter."
During the IPO process, it's common for companies to re-file its paperwork several times over a period of weeks or months. Those updates will add more details on Twitter's business, and it could even restate some of the financial information detailed in the first filing.The New York Times recently published a piece by Nate Cohn in which the author speculates that FBI Director James Comey's now-infamous October 28 letter might not have had much to do with Hillary Clinton's election fortunes after all.
His evidence? Polling data separated by when polls were taken versus when they were released:
... it’s now clear that Mrs. Clinton was weaker heading into Oct. 28 than was understood at the time. Several other polls were conducted over the same period that showed Mr. Trump gaining quickly on Mrs. Clinton in the days ahead of the Comey letter. And the timing of these polls — particularly the gap between when they were taken and when they were released — has probably helped to exaggerate the effect of Mr. Comey’s letter on the presidential race.
The prevailing theory is that Comey's letter informing members of Congress that he was briefly re-opening the Clinton email investigation in light of new evidence caused Clinton's poll numbers to drop. This drop was allegedly enough to cost her the election, and was supposedly seen in the polls in the 11 days following October 28.
However, according to Cohn, if one compares the dates on which the polls were actually taken versus when they were released, the data looks significantly different:
But the Upshot/Siena poll of Florida is one of several surveys that challenge this interpretation. That poll was completed the night before the Comey letter, but it was not released until Sunday, two days later — a longer lag than usual, since Sunday is seen as a better day for news media coverage than Saturday. Some analysts have used poll aggregators or forecasting models to measure the effect of the Comey letter, and they have implicitly treated this Upshot poll, and others conducted before the news but released after, as evidence of a Comey effect. But it can’t be; for example, none of the people we polled for our survey knew about the letter.
Cohn does concede that polling from around this period was relatively sparse, but he also notes it was well understood that "Clinton’s lead was slipping heading into the morning of Oct. 28."
The ABC/Washington Post tracking poll conducted over the same period as the Upshot/Siena poll of Florida, for instance, showed Mrs. Clinton’s lead at just two points, down from a double-digit lead after the third debate. That poll was also released after Mr. Comey’s letter.... the trend line heading into the Comey letter was bad enough that there’s no need to assume that the Comey letter was necessary for any additional erosion in her lead.
In the graph, one can see the downward trajectory of Clinton's polling numbers in the yellow (when the polls were taken) versus the downward trajectory in gray (when they were released). The release of the polls make it appear that Comey's letter hit the Clinton campaign hard, when in reality, that doesn't seem to be the case at all:
Perhaps more critically, Cohn writes that Clinton's numbers actually went up following the release of the Comey letter — as can be seen in the graph.
In the end, one cannot rule out the possibility that Comey did in some way affect the election. However, to what degree he may have made an impact cannot be determined, although, looking at the polling data, it would seem his place in the game was negligible.At Utah rally held by an international anti-gay hate group, activists held up photos of same-sex families, including their young children, to attack and denounce same-sex marriage.
Thursday night at a rally in the Utah state capitol, hundreds of anti-gay activists listened to Mary Summerhays attack same-sex marriage as images of children with their same-sex parents were projected on large screens throughout the hall.
Summerhays, who organized and headed the Stand for Marriage rally, works for Utah Celebration of Marriage, but the rally reportedly was the brainchild of Family Watch Utah, a part of Family Watch International (FWI).
The Salt Lake Tribune described Summerhays' speech:
"This child has a mother," she said, as an image of Matthew Baraza and Tony Milner filled the screen. In it, the two men were holding their son Jesse. "These are the faces of the children who will pay the price of redefining marriage." Next flashed a photo of Megan Berrett and Candice Green-Berrettwith their baby daughter Quinn. "I'm sure these girls would make great mothers," Summerhays said. "But one thing they can never be is a father. One thing they can never make or be is one of each."
As Summerhays spoke, activists stood under the capitol's painted dome and held up pre-printed and hand-written signs. "Children deserve a Mom & Dad!!!," read one. "Traditional marriage blesses children!," read another. "2 Dads don't equal a mom ♡" read a third.
At traditional marriage rally, Utah's attorney Gene Schaerr disagrees with polls calling same-sex marriage inevitable pic.twitter.com/GVBNRZJLg3 — McKenzie Romero (@McKenzieRomero) September 19, 2014
Supporters of decency and equality are furious.
"Our families are not your propaganda," Marina Gomberg, Interim Executive Director of Equality Utah said in a statement Friday. Noting that "loving same-sex parents and children in Utah were used as propaganda," Gomberg says the images were used as "anti-marriage equality propaganda" to "belittle those families."
Gomberg calls it "a disgrace to use our families for a misguided and debunked view of what is best for children." She says it is "one thing to disagree with the freedom to marry, it's quite another to go after loving parents and their children at a political rally."
Family Watch International is listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of active anti-gay hate groups, and their anti-gay work has been extensively detailed at Political Research Associates.
Image by Marissa J. Lang via Twitter
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nasal epithelia of rhesus macaques Pilot studies were performed in rhesus macaques to assess the feasibility of translating this delivery strategy into primates. An AAV9 vector expressing the secreted reporter rhAFP was administered intranasally into macaques that were followed for expression of the transgene by ELISA of NLF; data from two animals are shown in Fig. 4. The use of a rhesus-derived version of AFP allowed for evaluation of the kinetics of expression without confounding adaptive immune responses. Onset of expression was fast with near peak levels noted at the first time point, which was 14 days, and lasted to more than 100 days. Expression at peak was higher than the level of rhAFP obtained in ferrets at doses of vector that demonstrated complete protection against both H1N1 and H5N1. This suggests that AAV9 should be capable of achieving levels of FI6 in the primate nose that can protect against pandemic influenza. Fig. 4 AAV9-mediated transduction of the rhesus macaque nasal airway. An AAV9 vector (1013 GC) expressing rhesus-derived AFP was administered into the left nostril of two rhesus macaques. Sequential nasal lavage samples were harvested and analyzed for total protein and rhAFP.
Discussion The goal of the study was to evaluate the potential of vector-mediated expression of a broadly neutralizing antibody in the nasal cavity in affording protection against strains of pandemic influenza. Localized, durable, and high-level expression of the broadly neutralizing influenza antibody FI6 was achieved in nasal epithelia of mice and ferrets with AAV9 vectors. This treatment provided virtually complete protection against a wide range of clinical pandemic influenza isolates in both animal species. Two near-term applications of this platform for influenza infections should be considered. The first is in the setting of an emerging influenza pandemic, which, in most cases, may be controlled with the FI6-expressing AAV9 vector that is effective against a broad range of group 1 and 2 influenza A viruses. The product can be stockpiled and rapidly deployed, with efficacy realized only days after dosing. A second application of the AAV platform could be in the context of seasonal influenza infections in high-risk individuals. The vector can be engineered to express two IAs to allow for a second antibody with broad activity against influenza B strains to complement the activity of FI6, which is effective against influenza A strains (5, 6). The 2012/2013 influenza season illustrated the limitations of the current approach to active immunization, which was active in only 9% of those more than 65 years old (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/). Administration of an AAV9 vector expressing antibodies that cover both influenza A and B viruses at the beginning of the season would provide rapid onset and broad coverage in this high-risk group during the period of high seasonal infection activity. Intranasal delivery of AAV9 could be considered for other respiratory pathogens for which mAbs are available or could be rapidly identified and optimized. The system as configured is a platform in that all products share the exact same manufacturing processes and any mAb gene, or a combination of mAb genes, can be inserted into the vector genome. One potential application of this technology is as a generic countermeasure against a wide range of naturally occurring pathogens or intentionally released bioweapons. The very rapid onset of activity that this system provides is attractive in the setting of the release of a bioweapon or a rapidly expanding pandemic to a newly emerging pathogen. Clinical development of vector-mediated antibody expression for infectious diseases must carefully consider the selection of antibodies so as to avoid immunological escape of the pathogen. Broadly neutralizing antibodies such as FI6 are generally directed against invariant domains of pathogen proteins that are essential for their growth and are intolerant to structural changes. However, broad-scale distribution of a vector expressing an antibody will impose substantial immunologic pressure on a diverse flora of variants across large populations of humans, which could predispose to viral escape. One could potentially mitigate this problem by coexpressing broadly neutralizing antibodies directed to different invariant domains of the pathogen. The broad spectrum of efficacy in two relevant animal models of influenza suggests that intranasal delivery of AAV9.FI6 should be seriously considered for further development as a rapid and effective prophylaxis for influenza. The safety profile of the AAV vector system in humans has been encouraging in clinical trials (13–16). An advantage of nasal delivery is that the AAV vector and its transgene product are localized to nasal epithelia and not widely disseminated. Furthermore, vector engraftment and IA expression are not permanent because the vector genome does not integrate and the airway cells turnover with time (11). Vector-encoded transgene expression, however, is sufficiently durable to provide a prolonged period of protection before readministration is necessary, which, for this vector in the airway, is indeed possible as shown in mouse gene transfer studies and nonhuman primate vaccine experiments (11, 17). Once safety of the product is discharged in phase 1 human studies, it may be possible to evaluate efficacy in human influenza challenge experiments (18).
Materials and Methods Rationale AAV9 vector applied directly onto the airway has been shown to efficiently target ciliated cells. Our approach focuses on topical airway application of AAV9 for expression of broadly neutralizing antibodies against influenza. These antibodies should neutralize influenza virus, minimizing or preventing severe symptoms that include death. The size of animal groups was determined as the minimum number of animals necessary to allow for statistical analysis. Sample size for all ABSL2 mouse studies was five mice per group. For ABSL4 mouse studies, there were 15 mice per group; 4 mice were removed for viral load determination at day 6. For the ABSL2/3 ferret studies, six naïve and six to eight vector-treated animals were used. All animal studies were conducted in a controlled and nonblinded manner. Vector design Expression cassettes were constructed encoding the variable regions of FI6 [Protein Data Bank (PDB): AEL31310.1, GenBank identifiers (GIs): 342674599 and 342674581], linked to the constant (CH2 and CH3) domains of human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1), generating an antibody architecture known as an IA. A human IgG1 signal peptide was used to ensure cellular secretion of the IA. Protein sequences were backtranslated, codon-optimized for mammalian expression, and synthesized de novo (GeneArt, Life Technologies). The FI6-IA sequences were cloned downstream of the hybrid CMV enhancer chicken β-actin promoter into the vector plasmids used to produce AAV9 vector stocks as previously described (19). As controls, vector expressing either the variable domains from the anti-HIV antibody PG9 (PDB: 3U36_L and 3U36_H, GIs: 358439909 and 358439908) using the IA design, nLacZ, or ffLuc was constructed and also cloned into the AAV-CB7 backbone, and AAV9 vector was produced. AAV9 vector dosing in mice Female BALB/c mice (6 to 8 weeks old) were purchased from Charles River Laboratories and housed at the Animal Facility of the Translational Research Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania. Intranasal vector delivery was performed in mice anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of ketamine/xylazine. For vector delivery targeting the lungs, mice were suspended by their dorsal incisors and received vector diluted in PBS to a total volume of 50 μl. For vector delivery targeting the nose, anesthetized mice received the vector dose in a total volume of 20 μl while lying on their side. All animal procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Pennsylvania. AAV9 vector dosing in rhesus macaques Two healthy adult rhesus male macaques, weighing 8.2 kg (rhesus A) and 5.05 kg (rhesus B), respectively, which were seronegative for AAV9-specific neutralizing antibody, were anesthetized with a mixture of ketamine (10 to 15 mg/kg) and dexmedetomidine (0.5 to 1.0 mg/kg) injected intramuscularly and intubated with an endotracheal tube to maintain a patent airway. A total of 1013 GC of AAV9.CB7.rhAFP diluted in 1 ml of PBS was delivered to the left nostril as previously described (20). The macaques were observed and monitored daily. NLF was collected as described (20), and secreted AFP was detected with the Human alpha-Fetoprotein Quantikine ELISA Kit (R&D Systems Inc.). All animal procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Pennsylvania. Gene expression studies Analysis of LacZ expression in the airways was performed as previously reported (11). For ffLuc expression, mice (~20 g) were anesthetized and injected intranasally with 50 μl of d-luciferin (15 mg/ml) (Caliper). After 5 min, mice were imaged with the IVIS Xenogen imaging system. Quantitation of signal was calculated with the Living Image 3.0 software. For nLacZ gene expression, the lungs were processed as previously described (11). Transduction efficiency was estimated by examining five high-power fields (200×) from one cryosection and presented as LacZ-expressing cells per field. For assessment of gene transfer to the nasal airway epithelium, the heads were processed as previously described (11). Influenza challenge experiments in mice—ABSL2 All mouse challenge studies occurred 14 days after AAV9 vector administration. Mice were anesthetized by an intraperitoneal injection of ketamine/xylazine, hung by their dorsal incisors, challenged with 10 LD 50 influenza A/Puerto Rico/8/34 in a total volume of 50 μl, and weighed twice daily for the first 14 days. Any mice showing signs of distress or ≥30% weight loss were euthanized. Surviving mice were sacrificed 21 days after challenge, and tissue samples were harvested for analysis. BALF and NLF collection BALF was collected as previously described (11). For the NLF collection, mice were decapitated, a cannula attached to a 1-ml syringe was placed into the tracheal remnant, and 200 μl of sterile PBS was flushed through the nasal passages. The fluid was collected into a sterile tube, and the recovered fluid was used to flush the nasal cavity for a total of five times. Influenza challenge experiments in mice—ABSL4 Mice were anesthetized with inhalational isoflurane (Baxter Healthcare), hung by their dorsal incisors, and challenged with 100 LD 50 of live influenza H5N1 A/Hong Kong/483/97 [450 plaque-forming units (PFU)], H5N1 A/Vietnam/1203/04 (100 PFU), H5N1 A/Indonesia/5/05 (100 PFU), H1N1 A/South Carolina/1/18 [an engineered isolate from a discovered sequence (1.58 × 104 PFU = 10 LD 50 )], and H1N1 A/Mexico/2/2009 [105 TCID 50 (tissue culture infectious dose 50)] in 50 μl of Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (Invitrogen) supplemented with 2% fetal bovine serum (HyClone, Thermo Fisher Scientific). Body weight, temperature, clinical signs, and mortality were recorded daily for 28 days after challenge. On day 6 after challenge, four naïve and four vector-treated mice for each challenge virus were sacrificed and the lungs were harvested for titration of virus. On day 28 after challenge, mice were sacrificed and the lungs were harvested for titration of virus. All animal procedures and scoring sheets were approved by the Institutional Animal Care Committee at the NML of the PHAC according to the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care. All infectious work was performed in the Biosafety Level 4 facility at NML, PHAC. Harvested lung tissues from mice were frozen at −80°C. Viral load was determined by the TCID 50 assay, which results in cytopathic effects (CPEs) in 50% of cells. TCID 50 assay was performed by adding serial dilutions of homogenized lung tissue onto Madin-Darby canine kidney cells and monitoring for the presence of CPEs after 48 hours. The TCID 50 titer was calculated with the Muench and Reed method (21) and normalized per 30 mg of lung tissue. Influenza challenge experiments in ferrets—ABSL2/3 Fitch ferrets (Mustela putorius furo, female, 4 to 6 months), which were determined to be negative for antibody to circulating influenza A (H1N1, H3N2) and influenza B viruses, were descented and purchased from Marshall Farms. Ferrets were pair-housed in stainless steel cages (Shor-Line) containing Sani-Chips Laboratory Animal Bedding (P.J. Murphy Forest Products). Ferrets were lightly anesthetized by inhalational isoflurane, and the vector was delivered as 200-μl boluses in each nare for a total dose of 1012 GC. The ferrets were returned to their cage and, at day 7, were challenged intranasally with 106 PFU of the novel 2009 H1N1 virus A/California/07/2009 or the H5N1 virus A/Vietnam/1203/2004 in a volume of 0.5 ml in each nostril for a total infection volume of 1 ml. After infection, the ferrets were monitored daily for weight loss and signs of disease. Individual body weights, sickness scores, and death were recorded for each group on each day after inoculation. Experimental endpoints were defined as >20% weight loss, development of neurological disease, or an activity score of 3 (neither active nor alert after stimulation). All animal procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Pittsburgh. Influenza challenge experiments in ferrets—ABSL4 Fitch ferrets (as above), which were determined to be negative for antibody to circulating influenza A and B viruses, were purchased from Marshall Farms. Ferrets were anesthetized by an intramuscular injection of ketamine/xylazine, and the vector was delivered as 200-μl boluses in each nare for a total dose of 1012 GC. The ferrets were challenged intranasally with 100 LD 50 (106 PFU) of A/Mexico/InDRE4487/2009 (H1N1) in a volume of 0.5 ml in each nostril for a total infection volume of 1 ml. After infection, the ferrets were monitored daily for weight loss, body temperature, and signs of disease. All animal procedures and scoring sheets were approved by the Institutional Animal Care Committee at NML, PHAC, according to the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care. All infectious work was performed in the Biosafety Level 4 facility at NML, PHAC. Characterization of IAs by Western blot BALF or NLF was run under nonreducing conditions on a 4 to 12% SDS–polyacrylamide gel (Invitrogen), and proteins were transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane. After blocking with 50 μM tris-hydrochloride, 150 μM sodium, 50 μM EDTA, 0.05% Triton X-100, and 2% gelatin, IAs were detected with a cocktail of goat anti-human IgG biotin-conjugated antibody (ab7152 and ab97168, Abcam) and a secondary streptavidin–horseradish peroxidase conjugate (ab7403, Abcam). The proteins were visualized by ECL detection (Thermo Scientific). Statistical analysis Analysis was performed with GraphPad Prism version 5.00 for Windows (GraphPad Software). The Mantel-Cox test was used to test the survival distributions for differences. The Student’s t test or the Mann-Whitney test was used to determine differences between two groups. The Dunnett’s test was used to compare a number of variables with a single control.Metro: Last Light'significantly outselling' Metro 2033 "Across all formats worldwide, Metro: Last Light has sold more units in its first week of sale than Metro 2033 managed in 3 months."
Metro 2033 wasn't a breakout success, but it garnered a rather dedicated fan following due to its fantastic visuals, atmospheric gameplay, and unique setting. Fans will undoubtedly be happy to hear that 4A Games' follow-up, Last Light, appears to be doing well. Publisher Deep Silver celebrated the game's success in a press release today without offering any concrete figures. Instead, the publisher points out that the game is "significantly outselling its predecessor over the same launch period."
For example, on PC, the game has "more than tripled Metro 2033's worldwide sales over the same opening week period. And in the US, the sequel sold through "more boxed units in its first week of sale than Metro 2033 has managed lifetime to date." That's impressive--although do note that Last Light is available on three platforms, not two (2033 never came out on PS3). Finally, "across all formats worldwide, Metro: Last Light has sold more units in its first week of sale than Metro 2033 managed in 3 months."
Of course, without hard numbers, it's hard to really gauge how successful the sequel has been. Metro 2033 went on to sell over 1.5 million copies, and was "very profitable" for former publisher THQ.
"4A Games are honored by the reception our latest project has received," 4A creative director Andrew Prokhorov said in the release. "We are a small but dedicated team who are lucky to have been given the creative freedom and support to make the kind of experience we dream, as gamers, of playing. Our work on Metro: Last Light continues with new single player DLC, and we look forward to revealing future projects from the team. We want to thank all the Metro fans for support we have received."
Perhaps the team will soon be able to afford moving to a bigger, better office?WASHINGTON, DC—Citing the "extreme inefficiency" of this month's U.S. presidential election, key Republicans called for future elections to be conducted by the private sector.
"When the average citizen hears the phrase 'presidential election,' he thinks of long lines at polling places and agonizing waits as election results are tallied," U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) told reporters Monday. "Putting the election of our public officials into the hands of private industry would motivate election officials to be more efficient."
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"There's too much talk about the accuracy and fairness of our national elections, and not enough about their proficiency and profitability," Santorum added. "Who bears the brunt of bureaucratic waste? Taxpayers."
U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) called for an end to "big government overseeing the election of big government."
"It's time we opened the election process to competition," Burns said. "The free market is the petri dish for innovation, be it in telecommunications, the healthcare system, or democracy."
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Burns said that, to create healthy market activity, each congressional district should be able to collect bids and offer contracts to the company that can offer the lowest prices and the best service.
"Look at the voter turnout we had this year," Burns said. "Less than 60 percent of the population voted, and that number is still the highest it's been since 1968. Contractors should get a cut based on the number of votes their machines record. That way, they'd have a monetary incentive to get more Americans to the polls."
Although legislation has not yet been drafted, several companies have hired development teams to draw up proposals for the takeover of the electoral process.
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"Voters need an incentive to get to the polls," said potential contractor Fred Mitchelson of Accenture, formerly Arthur Andersen. "It's not like the old days when people were motivated by a sense of civic pride—that's just too Waltons. We're in negotiations to partner with Best Buy. Under our plan, every voter would receive a coupon for 20 percent off any purchase up to $500—it would actually pay to go to the polls! It'd be great exposure for Best Buy and a fantastic opportunity for us to hit and exceed that magic six-zero. Oh, and this whole registration thing has gotta go."
Mitchelson said prior elections failed to take advantage of the "vast potential for corporate tie-ins and advertising revenue."
"There is a lot of untapped revenue in elections," Mitchelson said. "We could get sponsorship for every blank surface in the polling place easily—I mean everything, from the back of the ballot to the curtain itself. If we really want to break out of the box, we don't even have to stop at surfaces. We could pipe music by Sony recording artists into the voting booths."
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"I'm looking at all these missed opportunities and thinking, 'Who's the numbskull in charge here?'" Mitchelson added. "With the level of foot traffic they see, it's ridiculous that every polling place doesn't have an Au Bon Pain."
According to Mitchelson, the advantages of privatized voting go beyond quick, friendly service and great savings. A percentage of all privatized-voting profits would go to the U.S. government, which would "pass those savings on to you, the taxpayer."
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"We also plan to offer premium voting services," Mitchelson said. "For only $20, you'll be eligible for Guaranteed No-Wait Voting™ and you'll receive access to the luxurious VIP voting lounge, with fresh coffee and pastries. Going to vote will feel like a trip to the spa!"
Not all election contractors advocate the use of premium election services.
"The American tradition of democracy is great, but it could be dramatically streamlined," said former Intel executive Jerome Klieg, now the CEO of VelociVote, a company that plans to bid for the 2008 presidential election. "Guaranteed No-Wait Voting™ is a good idea, but it basically approaches the election of our leader the same way we've approached it for centuries. Now, hear me out. Currently, every American citizen over 18 years of age is eligible to vote. That's 195 million voters. Whoa! Seriously. That's a lot of voters. Having every American vote creates mass confusion, as we saw in 2000 and 2004. Why? To what end?"
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Added Klieg: "Rather than trying to attract more voters, let's attract better voters. We could reduce the overall cost of the election by 97 percent if we paid a small body of informed, designated voters to keep abreast of candidates' policy positions. The candidates would save time and money, too, because they could focus their attention on the thousand votes that count. And fewer ballots means faster, more accurate counting. It's just good sense."
Some critics have voiced concerns about private-sector elections, arguing that small businesses might be excluded from the bidding process.
"The government needs to make sure that local companies have a shot at contracts, too," said Dean Small, founder of Capitol City Speed-E Elections in Austin, TX. "It's only fair."
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Santorum said these complaints will be considered as the election-reform bill is drafted.
"We've already got some good ideas on the table," Santorum said. "And, considering that we control both the House and the Senate, selling this proposal to Congress will be a breeze."It’s almost like somebody is taking a baseball bat to The Walking Dead‘s ratings.
AMC’s mega-hit fell sharply after its seventh season premiere last month, and has declined steadily each week since to mark the steepest ratings fall in the show’s history. In fact, Sunday’s fifth episode of the season delivered the show’s lowest viewership since season 3.
You’ll recall TWD returned to the show’s second-biggest audience ever, delivering an incredible 17 million viewers. Fan reaction to the debut was extremely polarized, however. Some found the 90-minute return to be a gripping, emotionally effective, and artful piece of work, while others thought Negan’s gory sadism crossed a line — and vowed to quit the show.
Usually such fan proclamations don’t amount to much (Game of Thrones fans threaten to quit all the time, yet the HBO drama’s audience grows every year). But this time, some fans seem to really have actually tuned out — at least temporarily. Viewership dropped 25 percent for the season’s second episode down to 12.5 million. Such a drop may have been expected somewhat given all the hype around the premiere resolving last season’s fateful circle-of-victims cliffhanger. But then the third episode dropped too (11.7 million), and so did the fourth (11.4 million) and now the fifth (11 million). Those are modest drops between episodes 2 through 5, but for TWD it still marks a low point for the show since 2013.
Check out this ratings history chart from Wikipedia below to get a sense of the show’s impressive upswing through its first few seasons and then subsequent relative steadiness until now:
As you can see, TWD also had a similar series of declines at the start of the show’s fourth season (which chronicled a virus outbreak at the prison), but it wasn’t quite as steep of a drop as this one.
To add insult to injury, Sunday’s rather uneven episode received a drubbing from fans, with one critic unhelpfully dubbing it the show’s worst episode ever (why was Enid afraid of one lone zombie anyway?).
Still, let’s keep some perspective. Even at a low point, The Walking Dead‘s adult demo rating (a 5.1 on Sunday) is still bigger than any other show on TV, and most shows are down dramatically this fall (even football). Reporters have been writing “The Walking Dead ratings have peaked!” stories since season 4, And fans have been frustrated with various arcs along the way, too (remember when the gang was endlessly stuck on the farm in season 2?). Yet the show has proven time and time again it can ramp back up to new (or almost new) heights.
So while the show’s numbers are kneeling for now, don’t be surprised if they jump back up again.Illegal human experimentation
Corruption and intimidation
(NaturalNews) In reacting to recent news that pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline accidentally dumped 12 gallons of live, concentrated polio virus into a Belgian river, it is important to remember that the company has a long history of safety violations in its vaccine business. In 2012, for example, an Argentinean judge found the company guilty of conducting illegal vaccine trials that led to the deaths of 14 babies.Yet the company was fined only 400,000 pesos, at the time the equivalent of about $93,000. Two doctors involved in the trial were fined another 300,000 pesos each.The company was found guilty of conducting trials on human beings (which is prohibited in Argentina) and of falsifying parental authorizations allowing the company to experiment on babies.The judge handed down the ruling following a report by the National Administration of Medicine, Food and Technology (ANMAT) which concluded that the COMPASS trial conducted between 2007 and 2008 demonstrated "failures in the process of obtaining the necessary consent letters from participants, hence violating the patients' rights; as well the inclusion of patients that did not fully meet the required clinical conditions to be submitted into the program."A total of 15,000 children under the age of one were recruited into the study from poor families attending public hospitals in three separate Argentinean provinces.The scandal was broken by pediatrician Ana Marchese, who learned of the COMPASS study while working at one of the public hospitals involved. She reported the violations to the Argentine Federation of Health Professionals (FESPROSA), which later took the complaints to the government."GSK Argentina set a protocol at the hospital, and recruited several doctors working there," Marchese said. "These doctors took advantage of the many illiterate parents whom take their children for treatment by pressuring and forcing them into signing these 28-page consent forms and getting them involved in the trials.""[Drug companies] can't experiment in Europe or the United States, so they come to do it in third-world countries," she said.The COMPASS trial was conducted to test a new pneumococcal vaccine. Similar trials were conducted in Colombia and Panama.Marchese noted that the new vaccine is not significantly different from existing pneumococcal vaccines."There already exist very good vaccines for the same diseases, but we all know how laboratories work, they only care for their own business," she said.Many of the complaints against GSK centered around its treatment of the children involved in the study."Once a picked patient [arrived], [he or she] would automatically disappear to be taken somewhere else in order to be treated by those doctors specially recruited by GSK," Marchese said. "These sorts of practices are not legal and occurred without any type of state control, plus they don't comply with the minimum ethical requirements.""In various particular cases, the doctors who had conducted the trials avoided to answer the many phone calls made by worried parents after witnessing their babies' first reactions to the vaccines," she added."A lot of people wanted to leave the protocol but they were not allowed," said Julieta Ovejero, the great aunt of one of the babies who died. "They forced them to continue under the threat that if they leave they wouldn't get any other vaccines for their children."In 2008, when FESPROSA first broke the story that 12 children had died, local GSK researcher Enrique Smith dismissed the deaths, calling it "a very low figure if we compare it with the deaths produced by the respiratory illnesses that the pneumococcal bacteria causes."In the Santiago del Estero province, the COMPASS trial was approved by the provincial health minister -- who also happened to be Enrique Smith's brother.African Labor
Multiculturalism isn’t an abstraction. It’s about people of different ethnic backgrounds, living together, as equals. Predicated on the idea that in an increasingly globalized world, governments must develop policies that encourage tolerance and foster integration. Initially associated with Canadian immigration policy, over the last half century, the term has become a synonym used to describe the ethnic transformation of European society.
Facts, unfortunately, are not necessarily convincing. Particularly in cultural and religious matters, in countries where immigration is still relatively new.
Italy is a perfect case in point, insofar as, despite its own internal diversity – linguistically, culturally, ethnically – mass immigration, from southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa has galvanized the country’s extremists, who use the presence of foreigners to advance their own agenda.
Typical of such scenarios is the abstraction of race and culture. They’re moralized, as threats against Italians and their idealized way of life and livelihoods. Liberals and leftists feed into this, insofar as they are forced into defending the positives of diversity. Not exactly an easy task, especially considering the fact that it requires appeals to respect and tolerance, in a country regressing to developing world status.
Hence the racism which Italy has become reknown for in recent years, such as that proffered by its former Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and the country’s center-right parties, all of whom traffic in various forms of incitement. They leave little room for an experience of difference that would lead Italians to understand the tragedy built into photographs like these – of migrants forced to clean up Swastikas (the lead photo,) or getting hassled by soldiers for selling handbags on the street.
Hence the significance of flyers such as the one below, translated by Giulia Pace. It’s about African labor politics in colonial Senegal, not Italy. Photographed in Turin’s San Salvario neighborhood, the low-fi, text-heavy treatise, appears to be a modified translation of a French newspaper article. It’s a curious artifact, in this sort of context, as the Senegalese struggle against France has obvious parallels for African migrants, in today’s Italy. Not to mention, the rest of Europe.
RIGHTS AND FREEDOM: THE 1947 STRIKE ON THE DAKAR-NIGER RAILWAY LINE
October 10th, 1947: it’s the beginning of a 5 and-a-half month strike that will involve 20, 000 workers, their families and neighbors.
The railway line involved is the one starting in Dakar, Senegal, [terminating at] Koulikoro, Mali. A 1289 kilometers railroad. Conceived in 1881 as an instrument for colonization, necessary for the transportation of agricultural and mining products to the Dakar harbor, [therefore to the West,] it will become a symbol of indigenous resistance.
In 1946, the railway employs 478 Europeans and 17, 455 Africans, most of them temporary auxiliary workers.
On October 10th 1947, the “Fédération des travailleurs indigenes des chemnis de fer de l’Afrique-Occidentale française”, leaded by Ibrahima Sarr, a railwayman since 1935, starts an unprecedented strike, involving nearly everyone, and all the length of the railway. After three weeks, only 38 Africans are still working, and the few trains still working are boycotted by the [local] population.
African railway employees claim an [independent] management], a unique, non-racial, hierarchy, the same advantages and the same remuneration as their white peers.
Seeing that the Africans have adopted the instruments of the French working class is not well-received by the colonial administration. A September 1938 a strike attempt in Thiès (Senegal,) a center for important railway industries, is suppressed, with [much] bloodshed, by the French army.
The management will try hard to sabotage the strike: it will hire “scabs,” suspend salaries and prohibit merchants [from giving] credit to strikers. But it will not consider African social and family organization, [which is] based on solidarity. No one will starve, the strikers being helped by their communities. Colonial administration will have to surrender to the political and union awareness of the West Africans. It’s the beginning of the movements towards independence from the colonizer.
In 1960, the memory of this “strike of the strikes”, the first act of the [movement] towards African emancipation, is immortalized in the novel of the Senegalese writer and director Ousmane Sembène, “Les Bouts de bois de Dieu.”
http://lexpansions.lexpress.fr/afrique/la-ligne-de-chemin -de-fer-dakar-bamako_27358.html
“Les Bouts de bois de Dieu”, Ousmane Sembéne, Ed. Pocket (2002)
THE STRUGGLE HAS NO BORDERS
Translated from the Italian by Giulia Pace. Photographs courtesy of Joel Schalit.Peter Shankman's morning 10-miler took longer than expected today when he was stopped a couple miles in and given a citation for running in Central Park before the park officially opened.
Shankman, a networking guru who has given TED talks, was running with a friend as part of his training for an upcoming Ironman. The duo had started their run a little after 4 a.m. "because that was my only time to get the run in today," Shankman told Runner's World Newswire. They were running up the East Side when, Shankman said, a police car pulled alongside them, and an officer asked, "Can you stop running?" After telling Shankman the park was closed until 6 a.m., the officer gave Shankman a summons, timed 4:27 a.m., that cites "1 AM Curfew" as the type of offense.
Central Park regulations available online state that the park is closed between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Shankman said that the only prohibition stated where he entered the park, at 63rd Street and Central Park West, had to do with where bikes can be ridden. According to Shankman, the officer who issued the citation said that the curfew isn't enforced after 5 a.m.
"I've been in the park constantly before 5 a.m. and have never had any crap from the police," Shankman said. "I've waved to them."
Representatives of the Central Park Conservancy and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation told Newswire they don't keep a record of how often citations are issued for exercising in the park before 6 a.m. because they're not enforcement agencies. The New York Police Department didn't respond to phone calls or email before this story was published.
Shankman, who set his marathon PR of 3:58 at the 2006 New York City Marathon, said, "I've always loved the police. I'm the guy who yells 'Thank you!' during the marathon."
Shankman will fight the citation during a May court appearance, and said his lawyer has assured him it will be overturned at that time.
What happened to the rest of Shankman's run after he got the citation?
"We ran down Fifth Avenue over to 59th Street, Central Park South, and ran back in the park at 5:01," he said. "Either way, I'm getting my 10 miles in."G4S and Serco saving millions by paying detainees as little as £1 an hour to cook and clean, claim campaigners
Campaigners have criticised private firms for using immigration detainees as cheap labour inside detention centres after research suggested this saves them millions of pounds. Some detainees said they were being paid as little as £1 an hour to cook and clean.
Home Office figures showed that in May this year, detainees in centres run by Serco, G4S and other contractors did nearly 45,000 hours of work for a total of nearly £45,500 in pay. Had they been paid at the national minimum wage, the cost would have been more than £280,000.
Over 12 months, the figures suggest that the firms – which also include Mitie and GEO – could have saved more than £2.8m, according to research group Corporate Watch, which obtained the data, and said firms were "exploiting |
the last time voters in the 9th District were asked who they would like to represent them. Nor did it go to Abigail Breiseth, a public school teacher who made education the focus of her campaign, who would gain the endorsement from The Sun when she went on to run against Pete in 2011. Instead it was given to the Councilwoman’s son, whose most news-worthy accomplishment prior to becoming a member of the Baltimore City Council was shooting off a gun during a dispute over how much to pay a poll worker on Election Day 1999, both acts illegal. Like almost every other incumbent on the Council in the last 20 years, Councilman Welch successfully defended the seat he was gifted a few months earlier, and Pete went on to become the turnstile everyone in the Council hoped he would be.
Being someone’s son, or long-time staffer, or even both, shouldn’t be enough to earn someone the responsibility of sitting on the Baltimore City Council. Maybe you would argue that Pete had his own credentials, and deserved the seat as much as anyone, but Councilman Bobby Curran didn’t mention anything like that when he commented on his reason for supporting Councilwoman Welch’s son, “You very rarely get to pay back people in politics for what they’ve done for you.” Neither did Councilman Bill Henry when he said “I would like to choose based on positives among the four candidates,” and then voted against him. Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke wouldn’t even consider him.
Agnes Welch wasn’t the only name on the ballot in 2007. Michael Eugene Johnson may have only won 24% of the vote, but that’s 24% more than Pete Welch got, and when that seat became vacant it should have been awarded to Mr. Johnson, the candidate the good people of the 9th District chose as the second most deserving person to represent them. Awarding the seat to the candidate that came in second needs to become the standard for every vacant seat. What better way to prevent what we witnessed last year from happening again? What better way to energize the 2016 Elections than to give even the most deeply entrenched districts something else to compete over, like a race for second place that actually means something. What better way to encourage someone to come out and vote, even if the candidate they’re supporting doesn’t have a chance at winning. That’s how you increase voter turnout, not with gimmicks like Question K that are intended for people that could vote but choose not to because the president isn’t on the ballot. Best of all, no one needs to rewrite the Charter or wait for a referendum to make this happen. The Council just needs to start respecting the intentions of the voters the next time a seat becomes available.
Developing a fair line of succession isn’t the only major change that Baltimore desperately needs. As beneficial to the City as it would be, the increase in voter turnout from rewarding second place would be a fraction of what we would gain by opening the primary system to independent and unaffiliated voters.
We elect our leaders during the primaries, but primaries are closed and exclusive. By doing it this way thousands and thousands of perfectly responsible citizens who want to vote are forced by the rules of the system to remain separate from it, distant enough from the process to still be able to see it and hear it, and to surely be affected by it, but not participate in it. Many submit, even though they don’t want to, and register to a Party they have no real desire to be a member of. But many don’t, and they stay home and resign themselves to the fact that their vote doesn’t mean anything, even in their own city.
An open Primary system wouldn’t mean that anyone of an opposing Party could vote in another’s, and general elections would still provide a battle ground for the fundamental differences between local parties to go head to head. Republicans can still be Republicans, Greens can be Greens, and so on, but we need to respect those voters who fundamentally disagree with the notion that they have to be a member of a party before they can have a say in who raises their taxes, or closes their nearest fire department, or decides to pay their kid’s teacher less, but that’s exactly what we have in Baltimore.
Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, they made a decision to join a party and nominate a candidate who will compete with all the other nominees on Election Day. That was their choice. Independent voters had their irrelevancy decided for them, and the only way to correct that is by allowing them to be included in the only race that matters, an open and free Democratic primary. Democrats have nothing to fear from independents because if independents were really so different from them, they would be Republicans. Instead they should welcome the opportunity to include so many of their neighbors back into this process, and see it for what it is; a chance to improve the overall product.
But if you’re concerned about the effects of including independent voters, then there’s one more change to Baltimore’s election system that we need to consider; instant-runoff voting. Instant-runoff voting has been around for centuries, and has recently become popular in the kind of progressive cities and countries that care about fair elections. The idea is this; no one wins a seat in government without 50% plus one-vote majority in any race. If a candidate can’t get a simple majority of the electorate to vote for them, they can’t win.
You rank your candidates from favorite to least. If no candidate wins a majority the first time through, then the lowest is eliminated, and any votes for that person are reassigned to the voter’s next choice. This goes on until there’s a winner that more than half of the voters can agree on. Simply put, a vote for Ralph Nader is no longer a vote for George Bush. Nor are you forced into voting for Al Gore if you feel like you’re settling for a lesser candidate that has a better chance of winning.
It’s a beautiful system, one that we would be wise to consider. It accomplishes many of the goals we say we want, most importantly the ability to support lesser-known candidates without compromising your vote by unintentionally supporting a far stronger incumbent. But it also protects us from the possibility of spoilers running in a race for the sole purpose of splitting the vote of another candidate, because what good is a spoiler in a race that requires a simple majority. A spoiler that isn’t serious about winning would likely be eliminated before the final round of voting and becomes irrelevant before they can syphon off votes from a legitimate candidate. Instant-runoff voting-based elections have also proven to be more resistant to negative campaigning, as candidates who depend on this method to win find the downside of attack ads far more problematic in races that require them to win 50%+1 of the vote rather than a far lower threshold like 35%. There are too many advantages to this method not to seriously consider it.
A majority-rule open primary with a clear line of succession. Three simple changes that increase turnout, cost nothing, and make elections fairer. How dangerous. How radical. But we know the City Council as a whole isn’t capable of supporting any of the changes I’ve put forward, and not because what I’m suggesting is impractical, but because these are ideas our leaders will find personally inconvenient. And rightfully so, they’re the ones with the most to lose. Council-members only won by an average of less than 1,200 votes. Councilman Welch won by less than 1,000. Councilman Warren Branch won by 15.
There are 500 million people on Twitter, and I don’t know how many people use it in Baltimore, but I’m guessing it’s a lot and I’ll let you decide how many. Old cities have old ways of electing their politicians, and I’m telling you that social media can sweep all of them away. And not in the future, it’s happening already. But being right about what’s wrong with the city isn’t enough anymore. Knowing what the problems are but not sharing them with 20 people in real-life won’t be enough to change anything. In 2012 Baltimore City is capable of being closer and better connected than at any point in our history times a billion. But that alone is worthless.
What’s important is what’s done with the freedom.
Get well, Tyler Waldman.
Follow@paulmgardner on Twitter for more!2030-2039
The High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST) is operational
The High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST) is a major new space observatory that is placed at Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2, orbiting the Sun about a million miles from Earth. It was proposed in 2015 by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURU), the organisation running Hubble and other telescopes on behalf of NASA. Reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences in 2020 and subsequently approved by Congress, the HDST is deployed and operational during the 2030s.* With a diameter of 11.7 metres, it is much larger than both Hubble and the James Webb telescope.
The HDST is designed to locate dozens of Earthlike planets in our local stellar neighbourhood. It is equipped with an internal coronagraph – a disk that blocks light from the central star, making a dim planet more visible. A starshade is eventually added that can float miles out in front of it to perform the same function. Exoplanets are imaged in direct visible light, as well as being spectroscopically analysed to determine their atmospheres and confirm the presence of water, oxygen, methane, and other organic compounds.
Tens of thousands of exoplanets have been catalogued since Kepler and other missions of the previous decades. With attention now focused on the most promising candidates for biosignatures, the possibility of detecting the first signs of alien life is greatly increased during this time.
Simulated view of a Solar System twin, using the HDST, at it would appear from 45 light years away.
Credit: L. Pueyo, M. N'Diaye (STScI).
The HDST is 100 times more sensitive than Hubble. Peering into the deep universe, it can resolve objects only 300 light years in diameter, located at distances of 10 billion light years – the nucleus of a small galaxy, for example, or a gas cloud on the way to forming a new star system.* It can study extremely faint objects, up to 20 times dimmer than anything that can be seen from large, ground-based telescopes.
The UV sensitivity of the HDST can be used to map the distribution of hot gases lying outside the perimeter of galaxies. This reveals the structure of the so-called "cosmic web" that galaxies are embedded inside, and shows how chemically enriched gases flow in and out of galaxies to fuel star formation. Individual stars like our Sun can be picked out from 30 million light years away.
Closer to home, the HDST is capable of imaging many features in our own Solar System with spectacular resolution and detail, such as the icy plumes from Europa and other moons, or weather conditions on the gas giants. It can search for remote, hidden members of our Solar System in the Kuiper Belt and beyond. The total cost of the telescope is approximately $10 billion.
Image credit: D. Ceverino, C. Moody, and G. Snyder, and Z. Levay (STScI)
2030
Global population is reaching crisis point
Rapid population growth and industrial expansion is having a major impact on food, water and energy supplies. During the early 2000s, there were six billion people on Earth. By 2030, there are an additional two billion, most of them from poor countries. Humanity's footprint is such that it now requires the equivalent of two whole Earths to sustain itself in the long term. Farmland, fresh water and natural resources are becoming scarcer by the day.*
The extra one-third of human beings on the planet means that energy requirements have soared, at a time when crude oil supplies are in terminal decline. A series of conflicts has been unfolding in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, at times threatening to spill over into Europe. With America involved too, the world is teetering on the brink of a major global war.
There is the added issue of climate change, with CO2 levels reaching almost 450 parts per million. As a result, natural feedbacks are kicking in on a global scale. This is most apparent in the Arctic, where melting permafrost is now venting almost one gigatonne of carbon annually.** There are signs that a tipping point has been reached, which is manifesting itself in the form of runaway environmental degradation. Nature's ecosystems are changing at a speed and scale rarely witnessed in Earth's history. This is also adding to food shortages, crop yields falling by up to one third in some regions* and prices of some crops more than doubling,* with devastating impacts on the world's poor.
The urban population, which stood at 3.5 billion in 2010, has now surged to almost 5 billion. Resource scarcity, economic and political factors, energy costs and mounting environmental issues are forcing people into ever more crowded and high-density areas. Many cities are merging to form vast sprawling metropolises with hundreds of millions of people. In some nations, those living in urban areas make up over 90% of the population.*
By 2030, urban areas occupy an additional 463,000 sq mi (741,000 sq km) globally, relative to 2012. This is equivalent to more than 20,000 new football fields being added to the global urban area every day for the first three decades of the 21st century. Almost $30 trillion has been spent during the last two decades on transportation, utilities and other infrastructure. Some of the most substantial growth has been in China which boasts an urban population approaching one billion and has spent $100 billion annually just on its own projects. Much of the Chinese coastline has been transformed into what is essentially a giant urban corridor. Turkey is another region that has witnessed phenomenal urban development.
Global forecasts of urban expansion to 2030. Credit: Boston University's Department of Geography and Environment
All of this expansion is having a major impact on the surrounding environment. In addition to cities, new networks of road, rail and utilities have been built, crisscrossing the landscape and cutting through major wildlife zones.* What were previously protected areas are now opening up for resource exploitation and food production. Numerous species are reclassified as endangered during this period as a result of human encroachment, pollution and habitat destruction.
The accelerating magnitude of these and other problems is leading to a rapid migration from traditional fossil fuels to renewable energy. Advances in nanotechnology have resulted in greatly improved solar power. In some countries, such as Japan, photovoltaic materials are being added to almost every new building.* Energy supplies in general are becoming more localised and efficient. This transition is putting increasing strain on fossil fuel companies, since the proven reserves of oil, coal and natural gas far exceed the decided "safe" limit for what can be burned. Because most reserves had already been factored into the market value of these organisations, they now face the prospect of huge financial loss. In response, many companies are fighting tooth and nail against further regulation.*
Another issue which governments have to contend with during this time is the aging population, which has seen a doubling of retired persons since the year 2000. People are living longer, healthier lives. With state pension budgets under increasing strain, the overall effect is a decreased income for senior citizens. Retirement ages are increasing: in America, Asia and most European countries, many employees are forced to work into their 70s. Stress levels for the average person have continued to increase, as the world adapts to these various crises.
Desalination has exploded in use
A combination of increasingly severe droughts, aging infrastructure and the depletion of underground aquifers is now endangering millions of people around the world. The on-going population growth described earlier is only exacerbating this, with global freshwater supplies continually stretched to their limits. This is forcing a rapid expansion of desalination technology.
The idea of removing salt from saline water had been described as early as 320 BC.* In the late 1700s it was used by the U.S. Navy, with solar stills built into shipboard stoves. It was not until the 20th century, however, that industrial-scale desalination began to emerge, with multi-flash distillation and reverse osmosis membranes. Waste heat from fossil fuel or nuclear power plants could be used, but even then, these processes remained prohibitively expensive, inefficient and highly energy-intensive.
By the early 21st century, the world's demand for resources was growing exponentially. The UN estimated that humanity would require over 30 percent more water between 2012 and 2030.* Historical improvements in freshwater production efficiency were no longer able to keep pace with a ballooning population,* made worse by the effects of climate change.
New methods of desalination were seen as a possible solution to this crisis and a number of breakthroughs emerged during the 2000s and 2010s. One such technique – of particular benefit to arid regions – was the use of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) cells to create hybrid electricity/water production. In the past, these systems had been hampered by excessive temperatures which made the cells inefficient. This issue was overcome by the development of water-filled micro-channels, capable of cooling the cells. In addition to making the cells themselves more efficient, the heated waste water could then be reused in desalination. This combined process could reduce cost and energy use, improving its practicality on a larger scale.*
Breakthroughs like this and others, driven by huge levels of investment, led to a substantial increase in desalination around the world. This trend was especially notable in the Middle East and other equatorial regions; home to both the highest concentration of solar energy and the fastest growing demand for water.
However, this exponential progress was dwarfed by the sheer volume of water required by an ever-expanding global economy, which now included the burgeoning middle classes of China and India. The world was adding an extra 80 million people each year – equivalent to the entire population of Germany.* By 2017, Yemen was in a state of emergency, with its capital almost entirely depleted of groundwater.* Significant regional instability began to affect the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, as water resources became weapons of war.*
Amid this turmoil, even greater advances were being made in desalination. It was acknowledged that present trends in capacity – though impressive compared to earlier decades – were insufficient to satisfy global demand and therefore a major, fundamental breakthrough would be needed on a large scale.*
Nanotechnology offered just such a breakthrough. The use of graphene in the water filtration process had been demonstrated in the early 2010s.** This involved atom-thick sheets of carbon, able to separate salt from water using much lower pressure, and hence, much lower energy. This was due to the extreme precision with which the perforations in each graphene membrane could be manufactured. At only a nanometre across, each hole was the perfect size for a water molecule to fit through. An added benefit was the very high durability of graphene, potentially making desalination plants more reliable and longer-lasting.
Unfortunately, patents were secured by corporations that initially limited its wider use. A number of high-profile international lawsuits were brought, as entrepreneurs and companies attempted to develop their own versions. With a genuine crisis unfolding, this led to an eventual restructuring of intellectual property rights. By 2030, graphene-based filtration systems have closed most of the gap between supply and demand, easing the global water shortage.* However, the delayed introduction of this revolutionary technology has caused problems in many vulnerable parts of the world.
In the 2040s* and beyond, desalination will play an even more crucial role, as humanity adapts to a rapidly changing climate. Ultimately, it will become the world's primary source of freshwater, as non-renewable sources like fossil aquifers are depleted around the globe.
Graphene-based nanofiltration technology for removing salt from water. Credit: David Cohen-Tanugi
"Smart grid" technology is widespread in developed nations
In prior decades, the disruptive effects of energy shocks,* alongside ever-increasing demands of growing and industrialising populations, were putting strain on the world's power grids. Blackouts occurred in the worst-hit regions, with consumers becoming more and more conscious of their energy use and taking measures to either monitor and/or cut back their consumption. This already precarious situation was exacerbated by the relatively ancient infrastructure in many countries. Much of the grid at the beginning of the 21st century was extremely old and inefficient, losing more than half of its available electricity during production, transmission and usage. A convergence of business, political, social and environmental issues forced governments and regulators to finally address this problem.
By 2030, integrated smart grids are becoming widespread in the developed world,** the main benefit of which is the optimal balancing of demand and production. Traditional power grids had previously relied on a just-in-time delivery system, where supply was manually adjusted constantly in order to match demand. Now, this problem is being eliminated due to a vast array of sensors and automated monitoring devices embedded throughout the grid. This approach had already emerged on a small scale, in the form of smart meters for individual homes and offices. By 2030, it is being scaled up to entire national grids.
Power plants now maintain constant, real-time communication with all residents and businesses. If capacity is ever strained, appliances instantly self-adjust to consume less power, even turning themselves off completely when idle and not in use. Since balancing demand and production is now achieved on a real-time, automatic basis within the grid itself, this greatly reduces the need for "peaker" plants as supplemental sources. In the event of any remaining gap, algorithms calculate the exact requirements and turn on extra generators automatically.
Computers also help adjust for and level out peaks and troughs in energy demand. Sensors in the grid can detect precisely when and where consumption is highest. Over time, production can be automatically shifted according to the predicted rise and fall in demand. Smart meters can then adjust for any discrepancies. Another benefit of this approach is allowing energy providers to raise electricity prices during periods of high consumption, helping to flatten out peaks. This makes the grid more reliable overall, since it reduces the number of variables that need to be accounted for.
Yet another advantage of the smart grid is its capacity for bidirectional flow. In the past, power transmission could only be done in one direction. Today, a proliferation of local power generation, such as photovoltaic panels and fuel cells, means that energy production is much more decentralised. Smart grids now take into account homes and businesses which can add their own surplus electricity to the system, allowing energy to be transmitted in both directions through power lines.
This trend of redistribution and localisation is also making large-scale renewables more viable, since the grid is now adaptable to the intermittent power output of solar and wind. On top of this, smart grids are also designed with multiple full load-bearing transmission routes. This way, if a broken transmission line causes a blackout, sensors instantly locate the damaged area while electricity is rerouted to the affected area. Crews no longer need to investigate multiple transformers to isolate a problem, and blackouts are reduced as a result. This also prevents any kind of domino effect from setting off a rolling blackout.
Overall, this new "internet of energy" is far more sustainable, efficient and reliable. Energy costs are reduced, while paving the way to a post-carbon economy. Countries that quickly adapt smart grids are better protected from oil shocks, while greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by almost 20 per cent in some nations.* As the shift to clean energy continues, this situation will only improve, expanding to even larger scales. Regions begin merging their grids together on a country-to-country, and eventually continent-wide, basis.*
The USA is declining as a world power
A ballooning national debt, a declining manufacturing base, and an overstretched military, all weakened the US economy during the early 21st century. This caused long-term damage to the country's standing. Like all those before it, the American empire managed to overreach itself. The continued industrialisation of China and India has led to substantial growth in these and other Asian countries, Shanghai having now eclipsed Wall Street as the leading financial centre. Despite these changes, the US still retains its super power status; but it is no longer the only country holding such influence.
An interstellar message arrives at Luyten's Star
Luyten's Star (GJ 273) is a red dwarf located about 12.4 light-years from Earth. Despite its relatively close proximity, it has a visual magnitude of only 9.9, making it too faint to be seen with the naked eye. It was named after Willem Luyten, who, in collaboration with Edwin G. Ebbighausen, first determined its high proper motion in 1935. Luyten's star is one-quarter the mass of the Sun and has 35% of its radius.
In March 2017, two planets were discovered orbiting Luyten's Star. The outer planet, GJ 273b, was a "Super Earth" with 2.9 Earth masses and found to be lying in the habitable zone, with potential for liquid water on the surface. The inner planet, GJ 273c, had 1.2 Earth masses, but orbited much closer, with an orbital period of only 4.7 days.
In October 2017, a project known as "Sónar Calling GJ 273b" was initiated. This would send music through deep space in the direction of Luyten's Star in an attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence. The project – organised by Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) and Sónar (a music festival in Barcelona, Spain) – beamed a series of radio signals from a radar antenna at Ramfjordmoen, Norway. The first transmissions were sent on 16th, 17th and 18th October, with a second batch in April 2018.
This became the first radio message ever sent to a potentially habitable exoplanet. The message included 33 music pieces of 10 seconds each, by artists including Autechre, Jean Michel Jarre, Kate Tempest, Kode 9, Modeselektor and Richie Hawtin. Also included were scientific and mathematical tutorials sent in binary code, designed to be understandable by extraterrestrials; a recording of an unborn baby girl's heartbeat; along with poetry and political statements about humans.
Due to the lag from light speed over a distance of 70 trillion miles, the earliest possible date for a response to arrive back would be 2042.*
Credit: Sonar
Depression is the number one global disease burden
When measured by years of life lost, depression has now overtaken heart disease to become the leading global disease burden.* This includes both years lived in a state of poor health and years lost due to premature death. Principle causes of depression include debt worries, unemployment, crime, violence (especially family violence), war, environmental degradation and disasters. The on-going economic stagnation around the world is a major contributing factor. However, progress is being made with destigmatising mental illness.*
Child mortality is approaching 2% globally
Childhood mortality, defined as the number of children dying under the age of five, was a major issue during the late 20th century. In 1970, more than 14% of children worldwide never saw their 5th birthday, while in Africa the figure was even higher at over 24%. The gap between rich and poor nations was staggering, with a mortality rate of only 24 per 1,000 live births in the most industrialised countries, an order of magnitude lower.*
Improvements in medicine, education, economic opportunity and living standards led to a fall in child deaths over subsequent decades. More and more children were being saved by low-tech, cost-effective, evidence-based measures. These included vaccines, antibiotics, micronutrient supplementation, insecticide-treated bed nets, improved family care and breastfeeding practices, and oral rehydration therapy. The empowerment of women, the removal of social and financial barriers to accessing basic services, new innovations that made the supply of critical services more available to the poor and increasing local accountability were policy interventions that reduced mortality and improved equity.
The U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals included the ambitious target of reducing by two-thirds (between 1990 and 2015) the number of children dying under age five. While this goal failed to be met in time, the progress achieved was still significant – a drop from 92 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. Public, private and non-profit organisations, keen to build on their experience and ensure the continuation of this trend, made childhood survival a focus of the new sustainable development agenda for 2030. A new objective was set, which aimed to lower the under-five mortality figure to less than 25 per 1,000 live births worldwide.*
With ongoing improvements in public health and education – aided by widespread access to the Internet in developing regions* – this new goal was largely met, with further declines in childhood mortality from 2015 to 2030. Although some regions in Africa still have unacceptably high rates, the overall worldwide figure is around 2% by 2030.*
One recent development now having a major impact is the mass application of gene drives to control mosquito populations, greatly reducing the number of malaria cases.* Huge advances have also been made in the prevention and treatment of HIV, which is no longer the death sentence it used to be. Some diseases have been eradicated by now including polio, Guinea worm, elephantiasis, river blindness, and blinding trachoma.*
However, the progress achieved in recent decades is now threatened by the worsening problems of climate change and other environmental issues, along with antibiotic resistance.* Even discounting these emerging threats, it is simply impractical and impossible to prevent every childhood death with current levels of technology and surveillance. As such, childhood mortality begins to taper off – not reaching zero until much further into the future.
The Muslim population has increased significantly
By 2030, the Muslim share of the global population has reached 26.4%. This compares with 19.1% in 1990.* Countries which have seen the largest growth rates include Ireland (190.7%), Canada (183.1%), Finland (150%), Norway (149.3%), New Zealand (146.3%) the United States (139.5%) and Sweden (120.2%). Those which have experienced the biggest falls include Lithuania (-33.3%), Moldova (-13.3%), Belarus (-10.5%), Japan (-7.6%), Guyana (-7.3%), Poland (-5.0%) and Hungary (-4.0%).
A number of factors have driven this trend. Firstly, Muslims have higher fertility rates (more children per woman) than non-Muslims. Secondly, a larger share of the Muslim population has entered – or is entering – the prime reproductive years (ages 15-29). Thirdly, health and economic gains in Muslim-majority countries have resulted in greater-than-average declines in child and infant mortality rates, with life expectancy improving faster too.
Despite an increasing share of the population, the overall rate of growth for Muslims has begun to slow when compared with earlier decades. Later this century, both Muslim and non-Muslim numbers will approach a plateau as the global population stabilises.* The spread of democracy* and improved access to education* are emerging as major factors in the slowing fertility rates (though Islam has yet to undergo the sort of renaissance and reformation that Christianity went through).
Sunni Muslims continue to make up the overwhelming majority (90%) of Muslims in 2030. The portion of the world's Muslims who are Shia has declined slightly, mainly because of relatively low fertility in Iran, where more than a third of the world's Shia Muslims live.
Full weather modelling is perfected
Zettaflop-scale computing is now available which is a thousand times more powerful than computers of 2020 and a million times more powerful than those of 2010. One field seeing particular benefit during this time is meteorology. Weather forecasts can be generated with 99% accuracy over a two week period.* Satellites can map wind and rain patterns in real time at phenomenal resolution – from square kilometres in previous decades, down to square metres with today's technology. Climate and sea level predictions can also be achieved with greater detail than ever before, offering greater certainty about the long-term outlook for the planet.
Orbital space junk is becoming a major problem for space flight
Space junk – debris left in orbit from human activities – has been steadily building in low-Earth orbit for more than 70 years. It is made up of everything from spent rocket stages, to defunct satellites, to debris left over from accidental collisions. The size of space junk can reach up to several metres, but is most often miniscule particles such as metal shavings and paint flecks. Despite their small size, such pieces of debris often sustain speeds of 30,000 mph – easily fast enough to deal significant damage to a spacecraft. Satellites, rockets and space stations, as well as astronauts conducting spacewalks, have all had to cope with the increasing damage caused by collisions with these particles.
One of the biggest issues with space junk is the fact that it grows exponentially. This trend, along with the increasing number of countries entering space, has made orbital collisions happen almost regularly in recent years. The newest space-faring nations have been particularly affected.
Events similar to the 2009 collision of the US Iridium and Russian Kosmos satellites have raised fears of the so-called Kessler Syndrome. This scenario is where space junk reaches a critical mass, triggering a chain reaction of collisions until virtually every satellite and man-made object in an orbital band has been reduced to debris. Such an event could destroy the global economy and render future space travel almost impossible.
By 2030, the amount of space junk in orbit has tripled, compared to 2011.* Countless millions of fragments can now be found at various levels of orbit. A new generation of shielding for spacecraft and rockets is being developed, along with tougher and more durable space suits for astronauts. This includes the use of "self-healing" nanotechnology materials, though expenses are too high to outfit everything.
Larger chunks of debris have also been impacting on Earth itself more frequently. Though most land in the ocean (since the planet's surface is 70% covered by water), a few crash on land, necessitating early warning systems for people in the affected areas.
Increased regulation has begun to mitigate the growth of space debris, while better shielding and repair technology has reduced the frequency of damage. Increased computing power and tracking systems are also helping to predict the path of debris and instruct spacecraft to avoid the most dangerous areas. Options to physically move debris are also being deployed – including nets and harpoons fired from small satellites, along with ground-based lasers that can push junk into decaying orbits so it burns up in the atmosphere. Despite this, space junk remains an expensive problem for now.
Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) reaches the Jovian system
Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) is a mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) to explore the Jovian system, focussing on the moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.* Launched in 2022, the craft goes through an Earth-Venus-Earth-Earth gravity assist, before finally arriving at Jupiter in 2030. JUICE initially studies Jupiter's atmosphere and magnetosphere, gaining valuable insight into how the gas giant might have originally formed.
For its primary objective, the probe performs a series of flybys around some of the largest Galilean moons. Ganymede, Callisto and Europa are focussed on, since all are believed to hold subsurface liquid water oceans. JUICE records detailed images of Callisto (which has the most heavily cratered surface in the Solar System), while also taking the first complete measurements of Europa's icy crust and scanning for organic molecules that are essential to life.
Credit: ESA
In 2033, the probe enters orbit around Ganymede for the final phase of the mission. The detailed study includes:
Characterisation of the different ocean layers, and detection of sub-surface water reservoirs
Topographical, geological and compositional mapping of the surface
Confirmation of the physical properties within the icy crust
Characterisation of internal mass distribution
Investigation of the exosphere (a tenuous outer atmosphere)
Study of Ganymede's intrinsic magnetic field and its interactions with the Jovian magnetosphere
Determining the moon's potential to support life
This final stage of the mission provides a vast wealth of empirical data.* When combined with new information from Callisto and Europa, it generates an extremely detailed picture of the Galilean moons. JUICE also studies possible locations for future surface landings. Indeed, various plans are now underway to further explore the Jovian system, with mission capabilities being greatly enhanced by the Space Launch System and other vessels. This includes sample return missions and the first lander to drill down and explore the subsurface liquid oceans.*
Two possible models of Europa. Credit: NASA
The UK space industry has quadrupled in size
In 2010, the UK government established the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA). This replaced the British National Space Centre and took over responsibility for key budgets and policies on space exploration – representing the country in all negotiations on space matters and bringing together all civil space activities under one single management.
By 2014, the UK's thriving space sector was contributing over £9 billion ($15.2 billion) to the economy each year and directly employing 29,000 people, with an average growth rate of almost 7.5%. Recognising its strong potential, the government backed plans for a fourfold expansion of the industry.* Legal frameworks were created to allow the first spaceport to be established in the UK – spurring the growth of space tourism, launch services and other hi-tech companies. UKSA would also prove instrumental in making use of real-time data from Europe's new Galileo satellite navigation system.
By 2030, the UK has become a major player in the space industry, with a global market share of 10%. Having quadrupled in size, its space industry now contributes £40 billion ($67 billion) a year to the economy and has generated over 100,000 new high-skilled jobs.* The UK has significantly increased its leadership and influence in crucial areas like satellite communications, Earth observation, disaster relief and climate change monitoring. The growth of space-based products and services means the UK is now among the first 100% broadband-enabled countries in the world.* This has also reduced the costs of delivering Government services to all citizens, regardless of their location.
The Lockheed Martin SR-72 enters service
The SR-72 is an unmanned, hypersonic aircraft intended for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Developed by Lockheed Martin, it is the long-awaited successor to the SR-71 Blackbird that was retired in 1998. The plane combines both a traditional turbine and a scramjet to achieve speeds of Mach 6.0, making it twice as fast as the SR-71 and capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in under an hour. A scaled demonstrator was built and tested in 2018. This was followed by a full-size demonstrator in 2023 and then |
ions of luxury in the French capital. And often they demand logistical services from the hard-pressed Saudi embassy, which stretches the term “diplomatic.”
A gang with inside information—and there is not much doubt this gang fit into that category—could easily determine the moment when a Saudi royal wrapping up his Paris sojourn might be sending his entourage and his cash to his private jet.
But the matter of the so-called “sensitive documents” remains. Are they, as the Saudi intelligence veteran suggests, just the passports of the entourage? Or could they be something more serious and sinister? Various Saudi princes, after all, have been major sources of covert funding for operations as diverse as Iran-Contra in the 1980s and, more recently, jihadist operations in Syria. (Ties to the infamous ISIS in Syria and Iraq are less clear.) Some French politicians also have been known to accept the largesse of Arab benefactors. So it’s conceivable, if unlikely, that the sensitive documents are very sensitive indeed.
Shortly after the holdup the burned-out van and a BMW were found along with two €500 bills, some documents in Arabic and various medications, according to a police source quoted in Le Monde.
I asked Alain Bauer, one of France’s most influential criminologists, if the heist appeared to him to be a common organized-crime operation or something with more complicated implications.
His cryptic answer: “Both.”Mbokani has 16 goals in 31 appearances for DR Congo
DR Congo and Norwich striker Dieumerci Mbokani has quit internationals after his country's FA threatened to ban him for missing two Afcon qualifiers.
Mbokani missed the games with Angola after being caught up in the Brussels airport attacks on his way to Kinshasa.
The 30-year-old told BBC Sport: "I was traumatised. I have no idea why they would want to suspend me.
"The Congolese FA president said'since when do people from DR Congo get traumatised?' That's shameful."
The attacks at the airport and a metro station on 22 March left 32 people dead.
"You can't imagine a terrorist attack like that. It's the first time I've been through something like this," added the striker, who is on loan at Premier League side Norwich from Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kiev
"I gave my reasons for not being able to go - because of the terrorist attack.
"After that the federation told the press in Congo that was false, that I had to go. But I said I couldn't go and that's why they've created problems for me.
"The president of the federation told the press I would be suspended. That's what the problem is.
"I asked my club Norwich City if I could stay for a few days with my family and they accepted straight away. They know very well that I only just escaped being killed. That's why I wanted to stay with my family.
"The football federation in DR Congo think I'm lying, that I'm not telling the truth. That's why I'm going to stop playing for the national team."
Congolese FA president Constant Omari has questioned why Mbokani did not travel when his compatriot Cedric Bakambu, who was also at Brussels airport, did make it to Kinshasa.
He told French radio: "It's true there were problems at the airport, but Bakambu was on the same plane and had to leave Brussels.
"But he caught an alternate plane from Charleroi and did everything to come here (to Kinshasa). We called Mbokani and told him of the new arrangements being made but he turned us down."
Omari said Mbokani, as a senior member of the squad, should set an example to the rest of the team.
"Do you think we need him again for the national team? I'd prefer to lose but with disciplined players," he added.
Omari's comments are likely to do little to help resolve the situation, given Mbokani appears unwilling to play again for DR Congo even if he receives an apology from the federation.
"No, I've taken my decision, I don't think I will change my mind, I think it's the best moment to stop playing for the national team," Mbokani said.
"I'm still a bit traumatised by what happened but Norwich have been really helpful, so have my team-mates - they have really helped during a difficult time. So for the time being I feel fine."Story highlights Chinese Internet users say it sounds suspiciously similar to Disney's hit single
The songs share almost the same tune, length, tempo and instrument arrangement.
Users have posted mash-up videos of the two tunes on Youtube
Beijing (CNN) Did Disney's fictional snow queen of Arendelle help Beijing win its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics?
Some Chinese Internet users seem to think so.
They find "The Snow and Ice Dance," one of the 10 official songs Beijing used as a candidate city for the Games, eerily similar to "Let It Go," the worldwide hit belted out by the character Elsa in Disney's animated blockbuster "Frozen."
JUST WATCHED Beijing to host 2022 Winter Olympic Games Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Beijing to host 2022 Winter Olympic Games 02:27
The allegations of plagiarism first surfaced last weekend in a web story published by leading Chinese business magazine Caijing, but the report has since been taken down. Re-posted versions on numerous other news sites, however, remain online.
Quoting music fans, the Caijing report included a chart showing that the two songs -- especially in their prelude sections -- share almost the same tune, length, tempo and instrument arrangement.A video of a protester campaigning to have the Brexit vote completely ignored and the democratic will of the British people annulled illustrates how incredibly stupid leftists really are.
The young woman, know as Holly, is holding a sign that says “no bigots, no borders, Tories out, refugees in.”
She begins by making reference to “Nigel Fri-age” (presumably Farage) before commenting, “We think our passports – it’s European, we think about our passports – it’s European, everything is European and we’re gonna stop that trade and just screw up the young youth of our generation.”
She presumably thinks that because Britain voted to leave a corrupt, failing political union, food from European countries will longer be entering the United Kingdom.
The young woman is then asked to list her three favorite things about the EU, to which she responds “the NHS (the National Health Service of Britain),” as well as “everyone being united together and like having the same opinion.”
She then claims that “we will be kicking people out” as a result of Brexit, although Prime Minister David Cameron as well as leading ‘Vote Leave’ campaigners have repeatedly said that no immigrants will be deported as a result of the vote.
Asked to name her “favorite people in the EU,” Holly responds, “I haven’t really got any favorite EU people, it’s just mainly the (unintelligible) where we live in the UK politics that’s people who I just don’t agree with what they’re saying.”
Holly then says that one of her main concerns is “20p to a pound – we’re gonna have to work more hard work, we’re gonna try and (unintelligible) housing which is more difficult, we have fair jobs.”
She also appears to think that within the EU, traveling to other European countries is free of charge.
“If I can’t go to France, I’ve got to pay to go to France, flight travel, I can’t see my world which I live in while paying a lot of money, our world is free, we should see the places we wanna see.”
Asked to give five words that she associates with Great Britain, Holly struggles to come up with one before remarking, “for me it’s all negativity.”
She then laments that her friends will “all have to move to Scotland because they can’t afford to live here.”
And to think that the media and political elitists have been calling ‘Vote Leave’ supporters “low information” voters for the last 6 months.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.The details of last week's fiasco about American health care are for my colleagues over on that desk to deal with. My purpose here is just to point out that the economic structure of health care in other places just isn't what all too many people think it is. There's a large part of the American political class insisting that this is just obvious. We should have a national, single payer, health care financing system. And the amazing thing about this is that so few countries actually do that. And most of those countries who are thought to have better health care systems than the US don't do that either.
There are indeed national health care systems out there--but they tend not to be single payer. And there are single payer systems out there, or close enough at least--but they tend not to be national. Which is something that we really ought to be thinking about, no?
Take it as read that the US system isn't as good as it could be. And also that we might want to propose something to make it better. So, we're agreeing that something must be done. My point here is just that the economics of what we should do might well not be the same as the economics of that national single payer system we're urged to implement.
This has been sparked by this piece from last weekend in the NYT:
Eight years ago I moved to the United States from Finland, which like all the Nordic nations is a wealthy capitalist economy, despite the stereotypes you may have heard. And like all those countries, Finland has invested in a universal, taxpayer-funded and publicly managed health care system. Finns constantly debate the shortcomings of their system and are working to improve it, but in Finland I never worried about where my medical care came from or whether I could afford it.
OK, let's also take it as read that the Finnish system works. And it does too, it's a pretty good system, as are those in Sweden and Denmark to my certain knowledge. But the bit that concerns me is that nowhere in the piece is a very important qualifier mentioned. So too it's not mentioned in the bulging letters page this weekend.
Those three Nordic systems are not national systems at all, although they are all single payer. It is the municipality which collects the money, the tax, to pay for health care. And it's the municipality which then spends that money too. I maintain that this is rather why those Nordic social democracies work too. The Danish national income tax rate is 3.76%. No, that's 3 point 76%, not 37.6%. The top Danish national income tax rate is 15%. The place the money really gets gouged is at the level of the commune--that can be as small as 10,000 people and is thus a much, much, smaller unit than an American county. That money is raised locally and spent locally and that, I insist, is why people are happy enough that they've got to pay so much in tax.
I've called it the Bjorn's Beer Effect:
Instead they have what I call the Bjorn's Beer Effect. You're in a society of 10,000 people. You know the guy who raises the local tax money and allocates that local tax money. You also know where he has a beer on a Friday night. More importantly Bjorn knows that everyone knows he collects and spends the money: and also where he has a beer on a Friday. That money is going to be rather better spent than if it travels off possibly 3,000 miles into some faceless bureaucracy. I give you as an example Danish social housing or the vertical slums that HUD has built in the past. And if people think their money is being well spent then they're likely to support more of it being spent. In the end, local collection and spending of taxes is likely to lead to people being willing to pay higher taxes.
That's not how anyone is proposing some notional single payer system in the US is going to work, is it? Rather, the vision is of one bureaucracy collecting all the money from 320 million people and then doling it out again on a national basis. And the sums would be eyewatering - $2 trillion sounds about right. 10-12% of GDP is that roughly right number for providing full health care to everyone.
Other systems are mentioned as well:
A report in 2014 by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation specializing in health care research, ranked the United States third in the world in access to specialists. That’s a great achievement. But the Netherlands and Switzerland did better. When it comes to nonemergency and elective surgery, patients in several countries, including the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, all of which have universal, government-guided health care systems, have faster access than the United States.
Note the very careful indeed wording there. Universal government guided health care--for those systems are not single payer. Holland, Germany and Switzerland all have mandatory insurance systems from private sector insurance companies. Germany has some 130 of them for example.
Again, please note I'm not trying to talk about whatever the US should or should not do. I'm making an observation about the economics of systems which seem to work in other places. The exemplars we're all asked to look at are not national, universal and single payer. They tend to be either almost hyper-local in their financing if they're single payer or if they're national then they use insurance companies--they're multi-payer. My assumption would be that both single payer and national is just too inefficient. There's neither local pride nor profit lust keeping the system efficient.
There are indeed national and single payer systems out there, most notably the National Health Service in Britain. That's very fair, very equitable, but performs horribly on "mortality amenable to health care" which is otherwise known as curing people of what ails them. That's not a recommendation.The Movement
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Tweet your HTML5 logo sightings with the hashtag #html5logoFacing a one-run deficit, Kansas City got home runs from Drew Butera, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas against Oakland's bullpen in the eighth, before the A's responded with four consecutive hits against Royals reliever Joakim Soria to open the bottom portion, including RBI singles from Ryon Healy and Matt Olson. Then, with two outs, Mike Minor yielded Joyce's three-run double and a run-scoring single to Marcus Semien that capped a wild inning.
OAKLAND -- The A's responded to Kansas City's five-run, eighth-inning rally with six runs in the bottom half of the frame, getting a bases-clearing double from Matt Joyce in an eventful 10-8 victory at the Coliseum on Tuesday night, preventing the Royals from claiming sole possession of the second American League Wild Card spot.
OAKLAND -- The A's responded to Kansas City's five-run, eighth-inning rally with six runs in the bottom half of the frame, getting a bases-clearing double from Matt Joyce in an eventful 10-8 victory at the Coliseum on Tuesday night, preventing the Royals from claiming sole possession of the second American League Wild Card spot.
Facing a one-run deficit, Kansas City got home runs from Drew Butera, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas against Oakland's bullpen in the eighth, before the A's responded with four consecutive hits against Royals reliever Joakim Soria to open the bottom portion, including RBI singles from Ryon Healy and Matt Olson. Then, with two outs, Mike Minor yielded Joyce's three-run double and a run-scoring single to Marcus Semien that capped a wild inning.
View Full Game Coverage
"Momentum obviously went from us to them pretty significantly, and then you get a couple guys on base again and now you have a pretty good feeling," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "That's really what the culture we want to set with these guys is -- we're going to come back, no matter what. We're going to fight. If we go down, we're going to go down bleeding."
Video: KC@OAK: Semien plates Joyce with an RBI knock
The Royals remain a half-game back of the Angels in a tightly contested Wild Card race following the disheartening loss. Hosmer had four RBIs -- including two on a double in the first inning against right-hander Chris Smith, who was in line to pick up his first career win as a starter before the bullpen's late-inning meltdown. Smith rebounded from a three-run opening frame to get through 5 1/3 innings.
The A's got home runs from Khris Davis, Joyce and Olson against Royals starter Jason Hammel, who allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings opposite his former team, striking out six and walking one.
Video: KC@OAK: Khris Davis belts a two-run shot
"We did a great job," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Drew battling back with the two-run homer to give us the lead. Then Hos with the monster shot to left, and then Moose with his 35th. Going into the eighth, you feel pretty good with a four-run lead and a rested 'pen. We just couldn't contain them."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Walk this way: The Royals were still clinging to an 8-6 lead when Minor struck out Chad Pinder for the second out of the eighth inning. That's when they opted to intentionally walk pinch-hitter Rajai Davis to set up a left-on-left matchup between Minor and Joyce, who drove the first pitch he saw into center field for a go-ahead double. More >
"I kind of saw the cards unfolding and came up with a good approach," Joyce said. "Minor has good numbers against lefties, so for me, I kind of expected the intentional walk. I'm looking something middle away, something I can drive, and fortunately I stayed in the zone with the first pitch he threw. I think, in situations like that, bases loaded, pitchers kind of have to come to the hitter, so for me that was a good pitch to hit."
Video: KC@OAK: Joyce drills a three-run double to left field
"It's difficult to swallow," Minor said. "Trying to pick up your teammate, pick up your team and try to get out of the inning, and I can't. It's been pretty difficult, the last couple of outings for me. I feel like I've made pretty good pitches, and tonight was one of those nights where I felt like I made some good pitches and didn't have good results."
Treinen recovers: A's right-hander Blake Treinen, who was responsible for the homers to Hosmer and Moustakas in the eighth after Santiago Casilla allowed the go-ahead, two-run homer to Butera, returned for the ninth hoping to avenge himself. Treinen yielded a leadoff single to Alcides Escobar, before settling down to retire each of his next three batters, two via strikeout, to lock down the victory.
Video: KC@OAK: Treinen whiffs Merrifield to seal victory
"You have the emotional roller coaster that you go through in a short period of time, from being out on the mound to the dugout to having to go back out there and get the intensity up," Melvin said. "That's not easy to do. Then the first guy gets a little nubber hit and now they're one swing away from tying it again. He battled nicely."
REPLAY REVIEW
The A's challenged an out ruling in the sixth inning after Matt Chapman attempted to steal third base. After a review the call stood.
Video: KC@OAK: Chapman out at third, call stands
WHAT'S NEXT
Royals: Left-hander Danny Duffy (7-9, 3.68 ERA), who is winless in August, will look to end a two-game losing streak at 2:35 p.m. CT Wednesday. He allowed seven runs (three earned) to the Mariners Aug. 6 and five runs to the White Sox on Aug. 11.
A's: The A's will close out a lengthy nine-game homestand with a 12:35 p.m. PT matchup with the Royals on Wednesday afternoon. Right-hander Paul Blackburn (3-1, 3.02 ERA), who has tossed more than five innings in each of his eight career starts, will be on the mound for Oakland.
Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.There’s a endearingly geeky moment in neurologist Oliver Sacks‘ new book, The Mind’s Eye, which is coming out in October. Like most of Sacks’ books — including bestsellers like Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and An Anthropologist on Mars — his latest is a collection of minutely observed and empathically drawn case histories that illuminate his patients’ ability to adapt and thrive despite neural injuries and challenges. The theme of this book is vision, and the patients in The Mind’s Eye are coping with blindness, alexia (the inability to read), prosopagnosia (the failure to recognize faces), and other disruptions of their ability to make sense of the world. One patient is a celebrated pianist who has become unable to read musical scores, but is still determined to give concerts; another is a neurobiologist, born with crossed eyes, who suddenly gains the ability to see in 3-D.
Unlike most of Sacks’ books, however, The Mind’s Eye also addresses the neurologist’s own illness and transition to a profoundly altered life. In 2005, he was diagnosed with an ocular melanoma in his right eye. Though the tumor was eliminated by radiation, Sacks is still struggling with profound changes to his visual field caused by the cancer and its treatment. The bearish 77-year old neurologist — who lives a block from his office in Greenwich Village — hasn’t talked much to the press about his illness, but that’s about to change with the publication of his highly frank account of the ordeal in the new book. This is his first in-depth interview on the subject.
The geeky moment occurs when Sacks is in the hospital, forbidden to leave his room because his opthamologist has embedded a chip of radioactive iodine in his eye in hopes of banishing the tumor. The tiny plaque of I-125 triggers a storm of hallucinations — including starfish, daisies, and purple protoplasm — as well as ravaging pain. In the middle of all this, Sacks muses about asking his long-time editor and friend, Kate Edgar, to fetch his beloved collection of fluorescent minerals so he can conduct an experiment. “Perhaps I could light them up by fixing my radioactive eye, my rays on them,” he writes. “It would be quite a party trick!” That’s Sacks: thinking like a subversive 18th century chemist in the most dire situations, eager to cast the light of science into unmapped recesses of the natural world.
For my first post at NeuroTribes, it seems fitting to begin by talking with the neurologist/author, whose humane portraits of people who “think different” — such as autistic author Temple Grandin, the subject of a recent Emmy winning HBO biopic — helped inspire some of the science and culture I’ll be exploring on this blog. After 14 years of writing full-time for Wired, I’m also currently working on a book. (Don’t worry, most of my posts won’t be nearly as long as this one.) I first met Sacks in 2001 after he responded enthusiastically to my article about autism among the families of engineers and programmers in Silicon Valley, “The Geek Syndrome.” Shortly after that I wrote my own amateur case history of the doctor himself, “The Fully Immersive Mind of Oliver Sacks.”
We spoke last week about his new book, the state of his health, his hallucinations (and the startling effects of cannabis on them), his apprenticeships with poets W.H. Auden and Thom Gunn, and the role of science writing in an age when the authority of science is being broadly undermined by religious zealots and he said/she said media.
Thanks to PLoS blogging guru Brian Mossop, my fellow “Ploggers,” and the whole PLoS crew for offering me this platform to explore science, mind, and culture. I’m honored to be included in such a distinguished group of writers and scientists. PLoS is the future of science journals. Welcome to the future of science journalism.
Silberman: Oliver, what happened to you just before Christmas in 2005?
Sacks: It was a Saturday, eight days before Christmas, the 17th. It seemed just an ordinary day. I got up, went for my usual swim, and decided to go to the cinema, but as soon as the previews started, I became aware of something bizarre happening — a sort of incandescent fluttering to my left, which I took to be a visual migraine. But then I became certain that it was in my eye and not in the brain, as a migraine would be. That really alarmed me. I thought, “What’s happening? Am I detaching a retina? Am I going blind?”
I didn’t know what I should do about it — whether I should go to an emergency room or phone up an ophthalmologist, or stay put and see if it all settled. I did the last of these, although I couldn’t concentrate on the film. I kept testing my visual field. Then I noticed that some of the little lights showing the way out of the cinema had disappeared in front of me.
Finally, after about 20 minutes, I burst out of the theater, hoping that in the world outside, everything would look real. But it was evident to me that there was still a triangular chunk of my visual field missing, going from about nine o’clock to eleven o’clock. I phoned up a friend who asked a few questions, suggested a few tests, and then said, “Get yourself to an ophthalmologist ASAP.”
I did so and told my story to the ophthalmologist. He took an ophthalmoscope, looked in my eye — and then I saw him stiffen. He put down the ophthalmoscope and looked at me in a different way, a serious and concerned way. He said, “I see pigmentation. There’s something behind the retina. It could be a hematoma or a tumor. If it’s a tumor, it could be benign or malignant.” Then he said, “Let’s consider the worst case scenario.” I don’t know what he said after that, because a voice in my head started shouting, “Cancer! Cancer! Cancer!”
Silberman: Yes.
Sacks: He said he would contact someone who was a great expert on ocular tumors. I spent a very nervous weekend and went to see the specialist a couple of days later. He looked in the eye, dilated the pupil, took photographs, did ultrasound, and sat down with me and Kate. He had a large model of the eye, and he put inside this model a horrid, black, convoluted object — like a black cauliflower or cabbage. I immediately interpreted his meaning: I had a black tumor, a melanoma, in my eye. In my medical student days, one was told melanomas were the most malignant of tumors and everyone died within six months. My thought then was of how, in England, a judge puts the black cap on before uttering a death sentence. So I thought this was my death sentence.
The opthamologist, Dr. Abramson, confirmed that I had a melanoma. He read my thoughts and said, “But these things are highly treatable. The tumors in the eye have a different natural history. They very rarely metastasize, and there’s a good chance of extirpating it entirely with radiation and lasering.” He said, “In the old days, ten to twenty years ago, one would just take the eye out.” He said he had done a thousand such enucleations. But he said I should be tried on radiation first.
I immediately got very impatient. I wanted the radiation the next day, but I had to wait three weeks, because Christmas was coming up and then the New Year. And in those three weeks, though he said these tumors grow very slowly, there were a lot of visual changes. What had been a small segment of missing vision became a whole hemisphere. Various strange distortions appeared, with horizontal lines getting squashed down and vertical lines diverging, due to edema under the retina. So then, three weeks later… Well, people can read the book if they like.
Silberman: Yes they can, in about a month. But it’s important for readers to know that while the tumor has been successfully treated, you’re still coping with profound alterations in your ability to see and navigate. How is your vision now, and what accommodations have you had to make?
Sacks: After June of ’07, the tumor encroached on the fovea and had to be lasered there. So I lost central vision in that eye. I then seemed to pass into a relatively stable period in which I had a little crescent of peripheral vision from about three to seven o’clock. I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but that little crescent was invaluable, because it gave me a full visual field, and a little stereoscopy in the lower part of the field. Since it was peripheral, however, as soon as I looked at anything directly, it became flat. But at least I had a sort of sense of depth and space.
But then in September of last year — as it happens, four days before I had to have knee surgery — I had a hemorrhage in the eye, and my vision went out entirely on that side. I found that condition much more disabling, because I had no sense of anything on the right. I couldn’t see anything to the right of my nose.
I was told that things would clear in six to eight months, but at eight months there was no clearing, and it was evident that there was a clot stuck in the eye. Also, the pressure in the eye was rising. Then ten weeks ago, on June the 8th, I had a thing called a vitrectomy done, removing the bloody vitreous, and at the same time, bringing some sort of clear fluid into the eye. I had hoped that would restore my vision, and almost instantly, the vision started to clear a little bit. But then three days after that, it darkened again.
I then had a second procedure, and the eye bled yet again. I had a third procedure in which a drug called Avastin was put into the eye, which inhibits the growth of blood vessels. Since then, my eye has been steadily clearing, and there has been no regression. But it’s very slow, and it’s still hazy looking out. For example, when I’m at the piano, I can see the black and white keys and count my fingers. But that’s the limit. I’m vaguely conscious of things happening on the right, but my vision there is not really functional yet, though I dare to hope it will become so.
Silberman: In the book, you go on to describe some fascinating experiments you performed on your own vision, where you observed your brain “filling in” the blank spots in your visual field with patterns and hallucinations. The naive view of our visual system is that it works like a camera, passively receiving sense impressions and compiling them in the brain into a more or less accurate picture of the world. But the work of researchers like V.S. Ramachandran and many others has led us to understand that vision is a highly active and even speculative process, with the brain making guesses and predictions about what the eyes can’t see.
In the course of your illness, you discovered that your brain would generate elaborate patterns, even clouds or leaves, to hide the blank space in your vision caused by the tumor. You’ve always been interested in the brain’s generative visual activity — whether caused by illness or psychedelics — and wrote about it at length in your first book, Migraine. But what did you learn from these experiences about how the brain creates a seemingly seamless world out of fragmentary sense impressions?
Sacks: In general terms, I learned that the brain is always busy. In particular, if a sensory input — whether it be vision or hearing or kinesthesia — is taken away, there will be some sort of compensation, and the cortical systems involved in those representations will become hyperactive. This first became clear to me when I spoke to various blind people. One man, for example, who had lost his sight when he was about 20, said that when he read Braille, he didn’t feel it in his fingers, he saw it. And there’s nice evidence that the occipital areas of the brain, and the inferotemporal areas — visual areas — are excited in that sort of situation.
For myself, I was very struck by this “filling in” business. The first thing that struck me was when I was in hospital and I could pay more attention to these things — perhaps too much attention. But the scotoma in my vision, the blind area, was almost like a window looking into a landscape. I could see movement, and people, and buildings in it — things like those my brain concocts while I’m falling asleep or before a migraine. But this seemed to be going on continuously.
And then there was an episode that very much startled me. Kate was in the room at the time too. I was washing my hands, and then for some reason I closed my left eye, and I continued to see the wash basin, the commode next to it, and the mirror very, very clearly — so clearly, in fact, that my first thought was that the dressing over the right eye must be transparent. But it was a huge, thick, opaque dressing. This was something quite different from an after-image. It was more like a strange persistence or perseveration of vision. The image wasn’t being erased in the usual way.
But this sort of thing really only hit me after I had been lasered in June of ’07 and lost my central vision. Then the night I took off the bandage, I saw this great black amoeba — this thing shaped like Australia — but when I looked up at the ceiling, it immediately disappeared. It turned white and became camouflaged by taking on the color of its surroundings. I then found that I could fill it in with simple patterns, like the repeating geometric pattern on my carpet.
Then I discovered another phenomenon which astounded me. Later that month, I went to Iceland for a friend’s wedding. Coming back on the plane, it was very hot, so I took off my shoes and socks. I liked playing with the scotoma, moving it around and putting things “into” it, so I used it to amputate my leg mid-shin. But then I started wiggling my toes, and gradually there was a strange, pinkish, protoplasmic extension around the stump of my leg. This formed itself into the shape of a foot with wiggling toes, and followed all my movements exactly. It didn’t look quite real — it had no skin texture or whatever — but it really was an astounding phenomenon, and made me feel that the visual area had become hypersensitive to other inputs, such as proprioceptive input or some sort of motor afferent.
I also had — and still have — almost continuous hallucinations of a low order: geometric things, especially broken letters, some of them like English letters, some like Hebrew letters, some like Greek, some runes, and some a bit like numbers. They tend to have straight lines rather than curves, but they rarely form actual words. This is not something I said in the book, but if I smoke a little pot, they sometimes become words. And they tend to be in black and white — but when I smoke a little pot, they’re in color.
Silberman: That’s wonderful. What do the words say?
Sacks: Short English words of no particular significance like “may,” or pseudo-words, like “ont.” Also, since my back surgery last year, I’ve been on nortriptyline, which is supposed to block the gating mechanism for pain in the spinal cord. I only take a small dose, because it gives me an intensely dry mouth. But even the small dose has a striking effect of enhancing dreams and involuntary imagery, and upgrading my hallucinations from black-and-white to color, and from geometric patterns to faces and landscapes.
Silberman: Interesting.
Sacks: Neurologists talk about “elementary hallucinations,” and my own hallucinations used to be elementary. But when I read those passages of The Mind’s Eye for the audio version, I whispered to Kate, “They’re not elementary anymore!” I partly refrain from talking about this in the book because I say nothing about the leg and spine injuries and operations going on at the same time. I wanted to keep things simple. And in fact, I haven’t smoked any pot in a long time, because I’ve been on so many other drugs for a year, I’d be afraid to have the pot on top of them.
Silberman: In the book, you talk about several blind people who each deal with their disability in highly distinctive and individual ways. There’s religion professor John Hull, who describes his state of “deep blindness” — a total absence of any visual imagery, external or internal — in spiritual terms, as “an authentic, autonomous world, one of the concentrated human conditions.” Then there’s Zoltan Torey, an Australian psychologist who was blinded in an industrial accident when he was 21, but developed his ability to visualize details to the point where he shocked his neighbors by single-handedly replacing the gutters on the roof of his house at night. What did these very different experiences of blindness teach you about how different individuals handle disability?
Sacks: They showed me that there is no set way of handling blindness. There can be diametrically opposite ways. There’s the Hull way in which visual memory, visual imagery, visual nostalgia, and visual thought are all lost or renounced. And there’s |
possible.
After this “victory”, have the Vietnamese belied Pierre Herbart’s warning that “In this struggle whose outcome is so doubtful, [if] they win, that is, [if] they expel their foreign masters, they will elect other masters from among their own ranks, and exchange one servitude for another”? No, they have instead confirmed his warning, and without even having the choice of electing their new masters.
As for the heroism that individual freedom of choice is supposed to inspire, what would it mean to the droves of “little people” who were led to their deaths at Dien Bien Phu? One thinks of Isaac Babel when he noted in his diary in 1920: “these unfortunates make one sad, they are no longer men, they are only columns”.
Ho Chi Minh’s party did indeed win the war, but did the Vietnamese people win anything but their servitude, to use the word made famous by La Boétie?
In Indochina, the militants of the Fourth International fought to rally the coolies (Chinese workers) and the poor peasants and workers for the world proletarian revolution, as the only force capable of providing a “real and complete” solution to the national problem and to the agrarian question as well as for their advance towards socialism. They fell in battle against the colonial reconquest and above all they fell victim to the systematic extermination campaign ordered by a Ho Chi Minh who, as a good disciple of the master of the Kremlin, could not tolerate their intransigence with respect to the class struggle, their rejection of any kind of alliance with the bourgeoisie and the landlords, and their internationalism that was opposed to Stalinist nationalism.
The proletariat—not very numerous, and with hardly any revolutionary consciousness—was incapable of grasping the reins of the liberation movement, and millions of peasants brought the Stalinist party to power, paying a horrible price in deaths and suffering, so as finally to be drafted and enslaved by the national bureaucracy (quan lieu, literally “mandarinate”), as the labor power that was necessary for the primitive accumulation of capital … to benefit a layer of profiteers.
As for “national independence”, the country was still dependent, transformed into a satellite of the so-called Soviet empire, and embroiled in the confrontation between the two great “communist” Party-States for hegemony in Southeast Asia: its full-fledged “communist army”, equipped by the Russians, overthrew the “communist” Pol Pot, who was supported by the Chinese, and occupied Cambodia for ten years (1979-1989).
The Vietnamese bureaucracy, this new ruling caste (or class or oligarchy) of the so-called “Socialist Republic of Vietnam”, having emerged from the “educated middle class”, and having become the master of a hierarchical Party-State, has merely replaced the bourgeoisie and the landlords as exploiters of the proletariat and the peasantry.
The working class is still numerically weak, and the new mandarinate exercises its dictatorship over producers who do not have the collective ownership of the means of production, or any time for reflection, or any possibility for making decisions, or self-expression, or the right to strike. Bureaucratic order reigns alongside poverty and social inequality, with its repressive military-police apparatus, and its “nomenklatura based on sinecures and careerism”.
Beginning in March 1956, after Khrushchev’s report on the crimes of Stalin, a few poets and writers made themselves heard and shattered the apparent consensus. In their publications they attacked the “shop foremen of the arts and letters”, they insistently demanded democratic freedoms, they denounced the policy of social control embodied in the hô khâu system of district registries that subjected residents to constant surveillance, they criticized the abuses, the unjust seizures and arbitrary nature of the agrarian reform program that was then being implemented and which was just beginning to be seriously challenged by a series of explosive reactions…. Perceiving that it was being held up to public ridicule, the power structure snuffed out the opening of the Hundred Flowers of spring and autumn: on December 15, 1956, Ho Chi Minh signed the decree that prohibited any kind of opposition publication under the penalty of imprisonment, with a maximum sentence of forced labor for life.
In November, a serious peasant revolt shook the bureaucratic order in Nghe An, as a result of unrest unleashed by a decidedly arbitrary agrarian reform program: 15,000 innocent people were executed, according to a report compiled by the Ministry of the Interior in 1956, which was discovered in 1961 in the Hanoi archives; that is, an average of five executions for every one of the 3,014 village districts affected by the reform. The estimate of the total number of people who were shot is around 50,000. The number of peasants imprisoned or deported is certainly far in excess of the latter figure.
In 1975, after the unification of the country, the agrarian reform would be just as disappointing in Cochin China. Demonstrations like those carried out by the peasants of the Mekong Delta and the Plain of Reeds testify to the injustice of the reigning oppression. A brutal program of collectivization decimated the sharecroppers and in many places peasants, instead of buffalos, were harnessed to carts. The brutal expropriation of the merchants and industrialists and the new regulations on fishing provoked economic chaos and led to the exodus of more than a million people, including numerous fishermen from Ca Mau and its vicinity. Social dissatisfaction was so great that internal criticism of the Party was made public.
According to Le Monde Diplomatique (April 1989), Tran Van Giau wrote, in Tuoi Tre (“New Era”), on October 27, 1988, in Saigon:
“Why have we, revolutionaries and resistance fighters, created such a bureaucratic State? The province of Thanh Hoa alone has more government officials than the entire colonial apparatus of old Indochina. How can the peasants allow such a State to exist? I am more than 70 years old, and I have never in my life seen peasants as impoverished as they are now: they have nothing to eat after the end of the harvest. The reason for this is that they allow the continued existence of a State that is as oversized as it is ineffective.”
In 1989, Le Quang Dao, a member of the Central Committee of the Party and the President of the National Assembly, declared:
“The dictatorship of the party has replaced the dictatorship of the working people as a whole …; the result is a totalitarian regime based on privilege …, a regime of social injustice that is driving the people to revolt.”
Thus, the so-called socialist Party-State, the party of the new profiteers, has become the apparatus of rule over and subjection of the proletariat and the peasantry. The exploited will only be able to free themselves by attacking this omnipresent bureaucracy and by destroying this State. A State never disappears on its own, it does not gratuitously dissolve its army, police, jails, laws and institutions. Now as before, it is inexorably the perfect instrument for the rule of one class over another. “The existence of the state is inseparable from the existence of slavery” (Karl Marx, “Critical Notes on the Article: ‘The King of Prussia and Social Reform. By a Prussian’”, originally published in Vorwarts!, No.63, August 7 1844).
In October 1991, Bao Ninh’s Noi Buon Chien Tranh (“The Horror of War”) was published in Hanoi; it recounts the terrible ordeal he experienced between 1959 and 1975 in the 27th Brigade, until the conquest of Saigon, when no more than ten men survived out of its original complement of five hundred.
“The survivors went on living but their ardent hope … was unfortunately not realized.... Look around, and all you will see is the ordinary, coarse and violent life of the post-war years…. As if the masks worn during the last years of the war had fallen and people showed their true, hideous faces. So much blood spilled—for what?”
While the narrator does not condemn the war, without which “there would be no peace”, he does not condemn the desertion of his friend either, the anti-hero who explained his decision before abandoning the struggle:
“I am not afraid of dying but to kill continually as I am now doing, is to destroy what is human in us…. Do you remember the battle of Play Can in 1972? Do you remember the spectacle of the corpses that covered the battlefield? We were splashing around in blood…. So many pigs take advantage of the war while the peasants have to undergo the heartbreaking experience of leaving their elders behind with the sky as their roof and the earth as their bed … for me, none of this makes any sense…. Killing: I have done too much of that…. Shame? I see nothing glorious in spending your whole life fighting.”
In November 1991, Bui Tin, the editor of Nhan Dan, the organ of the Central Committee of the Party, while on a mission to Paris, broke with Hanoi's previous silence on the issue and provided testimony concerning the political and economic crisis in his country:
“The current situation of the country is of great concern to everyone in Vietnam…. Bureaucratism, irresponsibility, egoism, corruption and fraud have spread under the insolent reign of privileges and prerogatives. What is still deeply and firmly rooted in the Communist Party of Vietnam, is Stalinist and Maoist tendencies that are simultaneously feudal and peasant-based, idealistic, paternalistic and authoritarian, extremely conservative and corrupt, completely alien to democratic ideas” (What democratic ideas?).
Russian aid (petroleum, steel, fertilizers, cotton, etc.) came to an end, Chinese aid is only conceded in exchange for submission; the bureaucracy, backed into a corner, issues appeals to foreign capital and the Planning Committee engages in debates on the “market economy”.
Regardless of the problems that must be addressed, we now know that what they called “communism” was not communism, in Vietnam and in the USSR, in China and in the satellite countries, it was nothing but a ghastly, criminal simulacrum, a state capitalism, a species of economic-political monster administered for the benefit of a greedy and unscrupulous bureaucracy. This communism, “really non-existent” communism, has concealed with its fallacies the chains of a new servitude.
More than 2,500 years ago, the philosopher Lao-Tzu, in the Tao Te Ching (“Book of Change and Virtue”), had already denounced the debasement of language in China: “The words that are used today do not express what is real (Ming ke ming fei chang ming)”. And Confucius, in his Dialogues, recommended to his disciples that they should “rectify names” (zheng ming), and banish mystifying terms. Today’s political language is rich in such terms. What aberration led to the use of the expression “national communism” by certain historians to describe the regime that was unjustly and joylessly built by Ho Chi Minh?
Nowhere in the world has the Marxian “utopia” propitious for the development of each person and open to a rational world society, without classes, without capitalism, and therefore without exploitation or national antagonisms, found the road to its realization. Stalinist, totalitarian nationalism, with its oppression, its calumny and its murders, has merely distorted the image; it can have nothing in common with “an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all”, a union of free men who work with the means of production held in common and allocate, on the basis of a concerted plan, their numerous individual forces as a single force of social labor…. “The total product of our community is a social product. One portion serves as fresh means of production and remains social. But another portion is consumed by the members as means of subsistence. A distribution of this portion amongst them is consequently necessary. The mode of this distribution will vary with the productive organisation of the community, and the degree of historical development attained by the producers. We will assume, but merely for the sake of a parallel with the production of commodities, that the share of each individual producer in the means of subsistence is determined by his labour time. Labour time would, in that case, play a double part. Its apportionment in accordance with a definite social plan maintains the proper proportion between the different kinds of work to be done and the various wants of the community. On the other hand, it also serves as a measure of the portion of the common labour borne by each individual, and of his share in the part of the total product destined for individual consumption. The social relations of the individual producers, with regard both to their labour and to its products, are in this case perfectly simple and intelligible, and that with regard not only to production but also to distribution.”
The Berlin Wall has fallen, the so-called Union of Socialist Soviet Republics has exploded; the second death of Marx has been proclaimed by the majority of the intellectuals. But the turn to so-called liberal capitalism, that is, to the “glacial waters of egoist calculation”—is it consistent with the aspiration of the oppressed for social emancipation, in associations in which “the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all”?
As for Ho Chi Minh, who claimed to be a follower of Marx and Lenin, he was not, but followed, under the orders of the Moscow bureaucracy, the political line laid down by his master Stalin, right down to the most disgusting details.
Thus, during the forties, he gave himself the nickname of Bac Ho—“Uncle Ho”—and signed his manifestos aimed at the peasants with this intriguing name, which benefitted from the aura of sanctity conferred upon family relationships in traditional Confucian society.
When he was in power in Hanoi during the fifties, he gave himself the name of Cha Ho—“Father Ho”. In his autobiography, which he wrote under the signature of Tran Dan Tien, Accounts of the Active Life of President Ho, a monument of self-adoration, we read:
“President Ho Chi Minh does not want to talk about his own life (p. 5)…. A man like our President Ho, of such virtue and modesty and concerned with so many affairs, how could he tell me about his life? (p. 7)…. President Ho was born in 1890 … in Nghe An (p.8)…. We have other great historical patriots. Phan Dinh Phung, Hoang Hoa Tham and so many others. But it is our President Ho who has finished the job (p. 139)…. The people call President Ho the ‘Old Father of the Nation’—Cha gia cua dan toc—because President Ho is the most faithful son of the Vietnamese fatherland” (p. 142).
In his Last Will and Testament, the “Old Father of the Nation”, who died on September 2, 1969, recommended that no big funeral should be arranged to commemorate his passing:
“I request that my body should be burned, that is, cremated (hoa tang)…. My ashes are to be divided into three parts: one part for the north, one part for the center, and one part for the south. My compatriots from each zone will choose a hill where the urn is to be buried. For my tomb, there is to be neither gravestone nor bronze statue, but only a simple house, spacious and shady, so that my visitors can rest there. It will be necessary to devise a plan for planting trees on and in the vicinity of the hill. Each of my visitors can plant a tree as a memorial…. Maintenance of each site will be entrusted to elderly persons.”
To maintain the worship of his remains, old people are assigned the task of taking care of these hills for the short time of life that is left to them!
After the death of Ho Chi Minh, the Hanoi bureaucrats had his corpse embalmed. Thus, his personality cult was perpetuated by the veneration of his mummy on display in a mausoleum. In his time, Stalin devised the same scheme for Lenin’s remains (we can only imagine the sarcasm that Lenin would have expressed with regard to such an idea); today, in Moscow, they are putting an end to this fetishism: what will happen in the future with the Embalmed One of Hanoi? Some day “the world (of the exploited and oppressed), conscious of its suffering will sweep away the ten thousand iniquities”, as these two verses of Phan Van Hum say:
Chung nao thien ha hai minh kho,
Muon su loi thoi tuc khac thanh.
This is our hope and our conviction.
A change will take place when the new outcasts of the earth embrace as their own, once again, the song of their predecessors from sixty years ago:
“There is no supreme savior,
No god or caesar or tribune,
Producers, we will save ourselves.
We will decree our common salvation….”
“And no one will be deemed to be above anyone else” (doc ngang nao biet tren dau co ai, Kim Van Kieu), having come to understand that:
“All this havoc, this misfortune, this ruin, descends upon you not from alien foes, but from the one enemy whom you yourselves render as powerful as he is, for whom you go bravely to war, for whose greatness you do not refuse to offer your own bodies unto death. He who thus domineers over you has only two eyes, only two hands, only one body, no more than is possessed by the least man among the infinite numbers dwelling in your cities; he has indeed nothing more than the power that you confer upon him to destroy you. Where has he acquired enough eyes to spy upon you, if you do not provide them yourselves? How can he have so many arms to beat you with, if he does not borrow them from you? The feet that trample down your cities, where does he get them if they are not your own? How does he have any power over you except through you? How would he dare assail you if he had no cooperation from you? What could he do to you if you yourselves did not connive with the thief who plunders you, if you were not accomplices of the murderer who kills you, if you were not traitors to yourselves?” (La Boétie).
Ngo Van
Translated in June 2015 from the Spanish translation of the French text obtained from the Online Edition of the Andreu Nin Foundation, August 2005.
Source: http://fundanin.org/ngovan3.htmMarshall Segal is a writer and managing editor at desiringGod.org. He’s the author of Not Yet Married: The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness & Dating. He graduated from Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Faye, have a son and live in Minneapolis.
Marshall Segal is a writer and managing editor at desiringGod.org. He’s the author of Not Yet Married: The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness & Dating. He graduated from Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Faye, have a son and live in Minneapolis.
What do you want from your small group this fall?
You might be hoping for more effective ministry to friends and neighbors. God, how can we see more people meet Jesus? You might be excited to study more of the Bible together. God, show us more of yourself in your word. Maybe there are some really hard things happening in your lives, and you just hope everyone survives and keeps believing. God, how are we going to make it through this? There might be patterns of sin in you or others that you want to see torn down and replaced with healthy habits of faith, love, and purity. God, we want to be more like you!
The book of Acts is a story of the first church — the first regular gathering of followers of Jesus. It’s an awe-inspiring story, but it’s much more than a story. In those 28 chapters, God gives us a glimpse of how he moves in a community captured and shaped by a joy in him. Acts offers a kind of formula for loving one another and welcoming the bigness of God into our lives together. The formula for seeing God do spectacular things in your small group is surprisingly simple.
The Big God in Your Everyday
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.... And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. (Acts 2:42, 46–47)
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It says the church in Acts 2 gave themselves to four things: 1. the apostles’ teaching, 2. the fellowship, 3. the breaking of bread, and 4. the prayers. Much should be said about each of these critical pieces in a church’s ministry, but the flavor of this passage in general is one of regularity and intentionality. These disciples developed real rhythms of living together in Jesus and for Jesus. It wasn’t a two-hour routine reserved for one morning per week. It was a weeklong effort to keep each other in the faith and to be a winsome witness for the world around them.
Our love for another is a lifestyle, not a weekly activity. There’s no corner of our hearts or lives that God meant for us to keep from our local community of believers. It doesn’t mean you have to spend every waking hour with these people. It does mean they should be tied into your life in more significant ways than what pew you sit in on Sundays. Like that first church, we need to find creative ways to live together in the everyday, incorporating the word, prayer, food, and meaningful relationships.
Our big God calls us to live together in the everyday, because that’s where he is and that’s often where he works.
The Big God in Your Gifts
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. (Acts 2:44–45)
This group of men and women loved sharing any abundance with those with less. They felt each other’s needs as their own. They were carrying each other’s burdens — at least physically, but much more likely also spiritually, emotionally, and otherwise. The beautiful thread in this theme is that God was gifting some to provide for the needs of others, and vice versa. Needs were being met because God had covered them through others.
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God deliberately gives you what I need, and he gives us what others need. It’s one way he gets more glory, by tying his children together in their dependence on him. He gifts us to fill what is lacking in one another. So in our small groups, we need to know each other well enough to know the needs, and we need to be aware what God has given us to spill over in sacrifice and generosity to others.
The Big God in Your Hearts
And awe came upon every soul... (Acts 2:43)
The rhythms of the early church were a desire to meet God in his word (the apostles’ teaching), a desperation in prayer, a dependence on one another in need, and a regularity and intentionality in each other’s everyday lives. And what happened? “And awe came upon every soul...” (Acts 2:43). As they lived, ate, and worshiped together, God inspired more awe in their hearts. He revealed more of himself — his love, his power, his glory — and so he awakened greater affections for himself.
The disciples were drawn more and more to God through ministry to one another. This joy in God was growing and spreading in the fertile ground of real, consistent, and sacrificial fellowship. God will capture more of our hearts through one another.
The Big God in Your World
And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:47)
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This church — this “small” group — was not just God’s way of caring for Christians. It was his appointed, dramatic way of multiplying them. It was his means of making more and more people his own, drawing them into the kinds of communities that live and love like this. As they gave themselves faithfully to one another, he added to their number.
What did this addition look like? Was God just dropping people at the front door ready to receive the gospel and join the church? Probably not. People are added through the preaching of the gospel, the faithful testifying to Jesus as our greatest treasure. As we commit to one another in these Christ-exalting churches and small groups, we should expect God to make those communities attractive, even irresistible to others. God will make our love, joy, and worship contagious in the world.By JANA KASPERKEVIC
Hearst Washington Bureau
Four Texas counties rank among the nation’s top ten users of gasoline, according to a new study released today by the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The three environmental groups studied oil consumption in each county in America, as well as per capita usage.
And whether you think it’s a good or a bad thing, Texas was represented on the list more often than any other state.
Harris County finished second in that nation, behind only Los Angeles, with an annual use of nearly 1.7 billion gallons of oil, or 328 gallons of gas per person.
Dallas finished fourth (behind Chicago’s Cook County) at 1.15 billion gallons — but residents in Big D used more gas per capita than their Houston counterparts, 368 gallons to 328.
Tarrant and Bexar Counties finished ninth and tenth in the nation.
Compared to the average county in the U.S., Harris County residents consume about 400 times as much gasoline. On a per person basis, they use more than twice as much as commuters in Los Angeles and 40 percent more than Chicago drivers.
But Houston-area drivers use slightly less, per person, than their big-city competitors in Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio.
If you want to find out more about your county’s oil dependency, you can access the map designed by the Sierra Club here.
Here are the top Texas counties:
2. Harris, Texas: Annual gasoline use of 1,687 million gallons
4. Dallas, Texas: Annual gasoline use of 1,152 million gallons
9. Tarrant, Texas: Annual gasoline use of 759 million gallons
10. Bexar, Texas: Annual gasoline use of 683 million gallons
According to Deron Lovass of NRDC, “just 108 counties out of the nation’s 3,144, or about 3.5 percent of the total consume more than 10 percent of the nation’s oil.” Consequently, he suggests that efforts to reduce our oil dependency should start in these specific geographic hot spots.
Consumption per person in these top oil-guzzling counties can give help further with targeting; those counties with high per-capita consumption levels afford the biggest opportunities for reductions. For example, Los Angeles County’s population is much larger than Dallas County’s, on average each person consumed much less in the former (147 gallons per person). If the per capita consumption in the latter (368 gallons per person) were halved, while still higher than the average Los Angeleno it could save more than a half-million gallons of gasoline a year!
But the real questions is: Are Texans ready to cut down on gas consumption?
“Geography and location affects state energy consumption for transportation. Traditional wisdom indicates that larger and rural states consume more gasoline for transportation than smaller and urban states,” claims Department of Energy‘s website. Texas is second to only Alaska when it comes to size, ranging 261,797 square miles.
It should also be noted that Texas was the top crude oil-producing state in 2011. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration:Stanley Johnson is the Detroit Pistons shiniest new toy from the 2015 offseason and in time may prove to be the most valuable. His size, at over 6-foot-6 and 242 pounds, and athleticism may allow him to play several positions.
In today’s NBA, shooting ability and positional versatility are proving to be just as important as having a superstar. Look no further than the 2015 NBA Finals as proof. The NBA champion Golden State Warriors utilizes a lineup that, yes, features a superstar in 2015 MVP Stephen Curry, but its greatest strength is having several players who can play multiple positions.
Heavily reliant upon players who can play two positions (Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes), and even three (Draymond Green), the Warriors maximized their positional ambiguity by having the NBA’s most efficient defense which only complemented their exceptional offense.
“It’s about who you can guard and I feel like I can guard all four positions [including point guard].” – Stanley Johnson, via SBNation
Playing several positions is nothing new to Johnson. As a high school freshman he played center and power forward, his senior year he was the point guard – notably, he was also the first player in California history to win four state titles for basketball in the large-school division.
The saying goes, “you are whatever position you can defend,” with point guard being the only exception. With the prevalence of the stretch-four, Johnson should be able to hold his own defensively against at least three positions on a nightly basis.OTTAWA—For rookie Liberal MP Arif Virani, his government’s ambitious plan to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees — and the backlash it has engendered in the wake of the Paris massacre — is personal. The new MP for Parkdale-High Park can thank Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, for his life in this country, an experience that began at a Montreal YMCA as his family arrived in a strange, frigid land with only two suitcases.
The type of intolerance faced by Liberal MP Arif Virani or others really comes from people who won the life lottery. They were born in this country — they have never been given 90 days to flee their home, they have never tried to escape terror, writes Tim Harper. ( Vince Talotta / Toronto Star )
Virani was only 10 months old when he was bundled up as the family fled the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin. The Liberal government of the day accepted 7,000 Ismaili Muslim refugees, expelled from Amin’s Uganda, in a 90-day blitz that marked the first refugee effort of its kind from a non-European country. From that room on Peel Street, Virani’s path took him to Toronto’s Flemingdon Park, then Willowdale, then McGill and the University of Toronto. It weaved its way through a parliamentary internship, then a post as counsel in the constitutional law branch of the Ontario government, now a member of Parliament in a tough race in which he wrested the seat from NDP incumbent Peggy Nash.
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There was a backlash in 1972, as there is now, and it surfaced sporadically over the years. It happened again during the campaign, where a handful of voters told Virani they would never vote for a Muslim. That stings as much today as it did 23 years ago when a guy in a North Bay bar called him a “Paki,’’ or 10 years earlier when the same label was affixed to his mother in a Toronto grocery store. “You know, I’m a fairly level-headed guy, I like the sound of my own voice,’’ Virani said Thursday. “I’m a litigator and I can talk and I can usually deal with issues and I’m well-versed in responding at the door.’’ He could handle himself when people objected to the Liberal position on trade, or CBC funding, or anti-terror legislation, but that ease melted away when he faced intolerance.
“Whether you are 3 or 43, when somebody volleys an intolerant, bigoted sentiment to you, it stupefies you for a moment. You want to say, ‘Who the hell do you think you are?’ But you can’t say that, because you always want to be respectful. “I was tongue-tied. I would pause. I would say I’m sorry you felt that way, that’s not the type of Canada I believe in, have a nice day.
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“It’s very demeaning and dehumanizing when you get attacked on something because of your skin colour or your religion or your place of origin.’’ So, he agonizes over the mosque-burning in Peterborough, the vandalism of a Kitchener temple, and the assault of a Muslim woman in his old Flemingdon Park stomping ground. The woman was picking up her son at Grenoble Public School, where Virani’s sister used to attend, when she was assaulted in what Toronto police called a hate crime. Two Muslim women were accosted and verbally assaulted on a subway at Sherbourne Station on Wednesday. A Muslim woman in Ottawa found a threatening note in her mailbox. Virani believes the Rob Ford regime at Toronto City Hall, then the injection of the niqab in the Stephen Harper campaign, emboldened those who had kept such thoughts to themselves, ripping the filter off those who silently harboured racist views. “It gave people an issue to latch on to and something to go on the attack about,’’ he said. But he takes heart in the response to the backlash. The Peterborough mosque raised more money than its goal after it was torched. There was a similar outpouring of revulsion over the Flemingdon Park assault. That shows progress, he thinks, but adds: “To be blunt, there will always be an element in Canada that is resistant to change and... are somewhat intolerant. They fear the unknown.’’ The type of intolerance faced by Virani or others really comes from people who won the life lottery. They were born in this country — they have never been given 90 days to flee their home, they have never tried to escape terror, they have never lost loved ones in an internecine war, or been forced to endure brutal conditions in a refugee camp. Yet, they want to turn their backs on those who have endured such despair. Will it pass? Virani didn’t mention the biggest reason for hope that it will. On election day in October, 24,623 Parkdale-High Park voters put an ‘X’ beside his name, choosing him to represent them in Ottawa. Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca Twitter:@nutgraf1
Read more about:Indiana’s 2017 recruiting class added a second member on Monday night as Stevenson (Ill.) forward Justin Smith announced for the Hoosiers.
The 6-foot-7 Smith, who averaged 17, 8.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists at Stevenson as a junior, chose Indiana over Villanova. He also considered Michigan, Stanford, Xavier, Wisconsin and Illinois.
The four-star prospect is ranked No. 76 nationally by the 247Composite.
Smith averaged 8.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game this past spring on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) circuit for the Mac Irvin Fire.
Indiana hosted Smith on three unofficial visits before his official visit to Bloomington on the weekend of September 10. His first unofficial visit to Indiana came in August of 2015, following a scholarship offer in May of 2015.
Smith’s visit to last year’s Hoosier Hysteria was considered pivotal in his recruitment.
He joins Berkmar (Ga.) guard Al Durham in IU’s 2017 recruiting class.
Indiana is still targeting Kris Wilkes, who will be in Bloomington this coming weekend for an official visit and point guard Tremont Waters, who visited this past weekend, among several others.
As a sophomore at Stevenson, Smith helped lead Stevenson to a Class 4A state championship along with current Villanova guard Jalen Brunson. He averaged 10.3 points and four rebounds that season.
Filed to: Justin SmithRepublicans in Congress have long vowed that they can make health care more affordable and accessible. Americans will now see if they can keep that promise.
Lawmakers have spent hours upon hours debating the GOP's Obamacare repeal bill, deflecting Democrats' attempt to delay the plan's advancement. Two House committees approved the bill on Thursday after marathon hearings.
While the bill will likely change a lot before it lands on President Trump's desk, it's already possible to identify some winners and losers in the individual market and Medicaid.
Related: Republicans unveil bill to repeal and replace Obamacare
Titled the American Health Care Act, the legislation calls for providing refundable tax credits based on a person's age and income. It keeps the Obamacare protections for those with pre-existing conditions, but it allows insurers to levy a 30% surcharge for a year on the premiums of those who let their coverage lapse. It lifts the taxes that Obamacare had imposed on the wealthy, insurers and prescription drug manufacturers. And it loosens one of the law's strict insurance reforms so that carriers can offer a wider array of policies that pick up less of the tab for getting care.
The bill also eliminates the enhanced federal match for Medicaid expansion starting in 2020 and revamps the funding for the entire Medicaid program.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly skirted criticisms that the bill will likely leave millions uninsured, but reviews of preliminary drafts by the Congressional Budget Office confirmed the problem, sources said. Also, a recent S&P Global report estimated that up to 10 million people could lose their coverage.
"With Medicaid reductions and smaller tax credits, this bill would clearly result in fewer people insured than under the ACA," said Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "The House GOP proposal seeks to reduce what the federal government spends on health care, and that inevitably means more people uninsured."
Experts remain divided over the impact on the individual market. Some say insurers would flee or jack up their rates if millions of people drop out. Others contend that the Republican bill would stabilize the market and premiums because the reforms would give insurers more flexibility and entice more younger enrollees to sign up for coverage.
"If we let the ACA continue on its current trajectory, people really will lose coverage," said Doug Badger, senior fellow at the Galen Institute, a free-market, health-care think tank.
Here's who would likely lose under the Republican plan:
Lower-income folks could be left uninsured
Obamacare contains many provisions to help poor and lower-income Americans. It expanded Medicaid to cover adults who earn up to $16,400 a year -- some 11 million people in 31 states and the District of Columbia are now insured as a result.
Also, those with incomes just under $30,000 receive |
individual and unresponsive to training or other environmental influences. In this view test score differences, especially in those tasks considered to be particularly "g-loaded" reflect the test takers innate capability. Other psychometricians argue that, while there may or may not be a general intelligence factor, performance on tests rely crucially on knowledge acquired through prior exposure to the types of tasks that such tests contain. This view would mean that tests cannot be expected to reflect only the innate abilities of a given individual, because the expression of potential will always be mediated by experience and cognitive habits. It also means that comparison of test scores from persons with widely different life experiences and cognitive habits is not an expression of their relative innate potentials.
Race
The majority of anthropologists today consider race to be a sociopolitical phenomenon rather than a biological one, a view supported by considerable genetics research.[36] The current mainstream view in the social sciences and biology is that race is a social construction based on folk ideologies that construct groups based on social disparities and superficial physical characteristics.[37] Sternberg, Grigorenko & Kidd (2005) state, "Race is a socially constructed concept, not a biological one. It derives from people's desire to classify."[32] The concept of human "races" as natural and separate divisions within the human species has also been rejected by the American Anthropological Association. The official position of the AAA, adopted in 1998, is that advances in scientific knowledge have made it "clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups" and that "any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations [is] both arbitrary and subjective."[38]
Race in studies of human intelligence is almost always determined using self-reports, rather than based on analyses of the genetic characteristics of the tested individuals. According to psychologist David Rowe, self-report is the preferred method for racial classification in studies of racial differences because classification based on genetic markers alone ignore the "cultural, behavioral, sociological, psychological, and epidemiological variables" that distinguish racial groups.[39] Hunt and Carlson write that "Nevertheless, self-identification is a surprisingly reliable guide to genetic composition. Tang et al. (2005) applied mathematical clustering techniques to sort genomic markers for over 3,600 people in the United States and Taiwan into four groups. There was almost perfect agreement between cluster assignment and individuals' self-reports of racial/ethnic identification as white, black, East Asian, or Latino."[40] Sternberg and Grigorenko disagree with Hunt and Carlson's interpretation of Tang, "Tang et al.'s point was that ancient geographic ancestry rather than current residence is associated with self-identification and not that such self-identification provides evidence for the existence of biological race."[41]
Anthropologist C. Loring Brace[42] and geneticist Joseph Graves disagree with the idea that cluster analysis and the correlation between self-reported race and genetic ancestry support biological race.[43] They argue that while it is possible to find biological and genetic variation corresponding roughly to the groupings normally defined as races, this is true for almost all geographically distinct populations. The cluster structure of the genetic data is dependent on the initial hypotheses of the researcher and the populations sampled. When one samples continental groups, the clusters become continental; if one had chosen other sampling patterns, the clusters would be different. Kaplan 2011 therefore concludes that, while differences in particular allele frequencies can be used to identify populations that loosely correspond to the racial categories common in Western social discourse, the differences are of no more biological significance than the differences found between any human populations (e.g., the Spanish and Portuguese).
Earl B. Hunt agrees that racial categories are defined by social conventions, though he points out that they also correlate with clusters of both genetic traits and cultural traits. Hunt explains that, due to this, racial IQ differences are caused by these variables that correlate with race, and race itself is rarely a causal variable. Researchers who study racial disparities in test scores are studying the relationship between the scores and the many race-related factors which could potentially affect performance. These factors include health, wealth, biological differences, and education.[44]
Group differences
The study of human intelligence is one of the most controversial topics in psychology. It remains unclear whether group differences in intelligence test scores are caused by heritable factors or by "other correlated demographic variables such as socioeconomic status, education level, and motivation."[45] Hunt and Carlson outlined four contemporary positions on differences in IQ based on race or ethnicity. The first is that these reflect real differences in average group intelligence, which is caused by a combination of environmental factors and heritable differences in brain function. A second position is that differences in average cognitive ability between races are caused entirely by social and/or environmental factors. A third position holds that differences in average cognitive ability between races do not exist, and that the differences in average test scores are the result of inappropriate use of the tests themselves. Finally, a fourth position is that either or both of the concepts of race and general intelligence are poorly constructed and therefore any comparisons between races are meaningless.[40]
United States test scores
In the United States, individuals identifying themselves as East Asian tend to have higher average IQ scores than do Caucasians, who, in turn, have higher average IQs than African Americans. Nevertheless, greater variation in IQ scores exists within each ethnic group than between them.[46]
Rushton & Jensen (2005) wrote that, in the United States, self-identified blacks and whites have been the subjects of the greatest number of studies. They stated that the black-white IQ difference is about 15 to 18 points or 1 to 1.1 standard deviations (SDs), which implies that between 11 and 16 percent of the black population have an IQ above 100 (the general population median). According to Arthur Jensen and J. Philippe Rushton the black-white IQ difference is largest on those components of IQ tests that are claimed best to represent the general intelligence factor g.[47] The 1996 APA report "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" and the 1994 editorial statement "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" gave more or less similar estimates.[48][49] Roth et al. (2001), in a review of the results of a total of 6,246,729 participants on other tests of cognitive ability or aptitude, found a difference in mean IQ scores between blacks and whites of 1.1 SD. Consistent results were found for college and university application tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (N = 2.4 million) and Graduate Record Examination (N = 2.3 million), as well as for tests of job applicants in corporate sections (N = 0.5 million) and in the military (N = 0.4 million).[50]
East Asians have tended to score relatively higher on visuospatial subtests with lower scores in verbal subtests while Ashkenazi Jews score higher in verbal subtests with lower scores in visuospatial subtests. The few Amerindian populations who have been systematically tested, including Arctic Natives, tend to score worse on average than white populations but better on average than black populations.[50]
The racial groups studied in the United States and Europe are not necessarily representative samples for populations in other parts of the world. Cultural differences may also factor in IQ test performance and outcomes. Therefore, results in the United States and Europe do not necessarily correlate to results in other populations.[51]
Global variation of IQ scores
A number of studies have compared average IQ scores between the world's nations, finding patterns of difference between continental populations similar to those associated with race. Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen have argued that populations in the third world, particularly populations in Africa, tend to have limited intelligence because of their genetic composition and that, consequently, education cannot be effective in creating social and economic development in third world countries. Lynn and Vanhanen's studies have been severely criticized for relying on low quality data and for choosing sources in ways that seem to be biased severely towards underestimating the average IQ potential of developing nations, particularly in Africa.[55] Nonetheless there is a general consensus that the average IQ in developing countries is lower than in developed countries, but subsequent research has favored environmental explanations for this fact, such as lack of basic infrastructure related to health and education.
In the 2002 book IQ and the Wealth of Nations, and IQ and Global Inequality in 2006, Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen created estimates of average IQs for 113 nations. They estimated IQs of 79 other nations based on neighboring nations or via other means. They saw a consistent correlation between national development and national IQ averages. They found the highest national IQs among Western and East Asian developed nations and the lowest national IQs in the world's least developed nations among the indigenous peoples in the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.[56] In a meta-analysis of studies of IQ estimates in Sub-Saharan Africa, Wicherts, Dolan & van der Maas (2009, p. 10) concluded that Lynn and Vanhanen had relied on unsystematic methodology by failing to publish their criteria for including or excluding studies. They found that Lynn and Vanhanen's exclusion of studies had depressed their IQ estimate for sub-Saharan Africa, and that including studies excluded in "IQ and Global Inequality" resulted in average IQ of 82 for sub-Saharan Africa, lower than the average in Western countries, but higher than Lynn and Vanhanen's estimate of 67. Wicherts at al. conclude that this difference is likely due to sub-Saharan Africa having limited access to modern advances in education, nutrition and health care.
A 2010 systematic review by the same research team, along with Jerry S. Carlson, found that compared to American norms, the average IQ of sub-Saharan Africans was about 80. The same review concluded that the Flynn effect had not yet taken hold in sub-Saharan Africa.
A 2007 meta-analysis by Rindermann found many of the same groupings and correlations found by Lynn and Vanhanen, with the lowest scores in sub-Saharan Africa, and a correlation of.60 between cognitive skill and GDP per capita. Hunt (2010, pp. 437–439) considers Rindermann's analysis to be much more reliable than Lynn and Vanhanen's. By measuring the relationship between educational data and social wellbeing over time, this study also performed a causal analysis, finding that when nations invest in education this leads to increased well-being later on. Kamin (2006) has also criticized Lynn and Vanhanen's work on the IQs of sub-Saharan Africans.
Wicherts, Borsboom & Dolan (2010) argue that studies reporting support for evolutionary theories of intelligence based on national IQ data suffer from multiple fatal methodological flaws. For example, they state that such studies "...assume that the Flynn Effect is either nonexistent or invariant with respect to different regions of the world, that there have been no migrations and climatic changes over the course of evolution, and that there have been no trends over the last century in indicators of reproductive strategies (e.g., declines in fertility and infant mortality)." They also showed that a strong degree of confounding exists between national IQs and current national development status.
Similarly, Pesta & Poznanski (2014) showed that the average temperature of a given U.S. state is strongly associated with that state's average IQ and other well-being variables, despite the fact that evolution has not had enough time to operate on non-Native American residents of the United States. They also noted that this association persisted even after controlling for race, and concluded that "Evolution is therefore not necessary for temperature and IQ/well-being to co-vary meaningfully across geographic space."
Flynn effect and the closing gap
For the past century raw scores on IQ tests have been rising; this score increase is known as the "Flynn effect", named after James R. Flynn. In the United States, the increase was continuous and approximately linear from the earliest years of testing to about 1998 when the gains stopped and some tests even showed decreasing test scores. For example, in the United States the average scores of blacks on some IQ tests in 1995 were the same as the scores of whites in 1945.[63] As one pair of academics phrased it, "the typical African American today probably has a slightly higher IQ than the grandparents of today's average white American."[64]
Flynn has argued that given that these changes take place between one generation and the next it is highly unlikely that genetic factors could account for the increasing scores, which must then be caused by environmental factors. The Flynn Effect has often been used as an argument that the racial gap in IQ test scores must be environmental too, but this is not generally agreed – others have asserted that the two may have entirely different causes. A meta-analysis by Te Nijenhuis and van der Flier (2013) concluded that the Flynn effect and group differences in intelligence were likely to have different causes. They stated that the Flynn effect is caused primarily by environmental factors and that it's unlikely these same environmental factors play an important role in explaining group differences in IQ.[65] The importance of the Flynn effect in the debate over the causes for the IQ gap lies in demonstrating that environmental factors may cause changes in test scores on the scale of 1 SD. This had previously been doubted.
A separate phenomenon from the Flynn effect has been the discovery that the IQ gap has been gradually closing over the last decades of the 20th century, as black test-takers increased their average scores relative to white test-takers. For instance, Vincent reported in 1991 that the black-white IQ gap was decreasing among children, but that it was remaining constant among adults. Similarly, a 2006 study by Dickens and Flynn estimated that the difference between mean scores of blacks and whites closed by about 5 or 6 IQ points between 1972 and 2002, a reduction of about one-third. In the same period, the educational achievement disparity also diminished.[68] However, this was challenged by Rushton & Jensen who claim the difference remains stable. In a 2006 study, Murray agreed with Dickens and Flynn that there has been a narrowing of the difference; "Dickens' and Flynn's estimate of 3–6 IQ points from a base of about 16–18 points is a useful, though provisional, starting point". But he argued that this has stalled and that there has been no further narrowing for people born after the late 1970s. A subsequent study by Murray, based on the Woodcock–Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, estimated that the black-white IQ difference decreased by about one-half of one standard deviation from those born in the 1920s to those born in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. Recent reviews by Flynn and Dickens (2006), Mackintosh (2011), and Nisbett et al. 2012 accept the gradual closing of the gap as a fact. In his review of the historical trends, Hunt (2010, p. 411) states: "There is some variety in the results, but not a great deal. The African American means are about 1 standard deviation unit (15 points on the IQ scale) below the white means, and the Hispanic means fall in between."
Some studies reviewed by Hunt (2010, p. 418) found that rise in the average achievement of African Americans was caused by a reduction in the number of African American students in the lowest range of scores without a corresponding increase in the number of students in the highest ranges. A 2012 review of the literature found that the IQ gap had diminished by 0.33 standard deviations since first reported.
A 2013 analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that from 1971 to 2008, the size of the black–white IQ gap in the United States decreased from 16.33 to 9.94 IQ points. It has also concluded however that, while IQ means are continuing to rise in all ethnic groups, this growth is occurring more slowly among 17-year-old students than among younger students and the black-white IQ gap is no longer narrowing. As of 2008, a study published in 2013 by Heiner Rindermann, Stefan Pinchelmann, and James Thompson have estimated the IQ means of 17-year-old black, white, and Hispanic students to range respectively from 90.45–94.15, 102.29–104.57 and 92.30–95.90 points. They explain that the gap may persist due to the crack epidemic, the degradation of African-American family structure, the rise of fraud in the educational system (especially with respect to No Child Left Behind), the decrease in unskilled real wages and employment among African-Americans due to globalization and minimum wage increases, differences in parental practices (such as breastfeeding or reading to children), and "environmental conditions shaped by [African-Americans] themselves." To resolve this, they ultimately recommend the reestablishment of "meritoric principles" and "blindly graded objective central exams," as opposed to "ethnically based policies," in education.[74]
Environmental influences on group differences in IQ
The following environmental factors are some of those suggested as explaining a portion of the differences in average IQ between races. These factors are not mutually exclusive with one another, and some may, in fact, contribute directly to others. Furthermore, the relationship between genetics and environmental factors may be complicated. For example, the differences in socioeconomic environment for a child may be due to differences in genetic IQ for the parents, and the differences in average brain size between races could be the result of nutritional factors. All recent reviews agree that some environmental factors that are unequally distributed between racial groups have been shown to affect intelligence in ways that could contribute to the test score gap. However, currently, the question is whether these factors can account for the entire gap between white and black test scores, or only part of it. One group of scholars, including Richard E. Nisbett, James R. Flynn, Joshua Aronson, Diane Halpern, William Dickens, Eric Turkheimer (2012) have argued that the environmental factors so far demonstrated are sufficient to account for the entire gap. Nicholas Mackintosh (2011) considers this a reasonable argument, but argues that probably it is impossible to ever know for sure; another group including Earl B. Hunt (2010), Arthur Jensen, J. Philippe Rushton and Richard Lynn have argued that this is impossible. Jensen and Rushton consider that it may account for as little as 20% of the gap. Meanwhile, while Hunt considers this a vast overstatement, he nonetheless considers it likely that some portion of the gap will eventually be shown to be caused by genetic factors.
Health and nutrition
at least 10 µg/dL. Black and Hispanic children have much higher levels than white children. A 10 µg/dL increase in blood lead at 24 months is associated with a 5.8-point decline in IQ.[76] Although the Geometric Mean Blood Lead Levels (GM BLL) are declining, a CDC report (2002) states that: "However, the GM BLL for non-Hispanic black children remains higher than that for Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white children, indicating that differences in risk for exposure still persist."[77] Percentage of children aged 1–5 with blood lead levels10 µg/dL. Black and Hispanic children have much higher levels than white children. A 10 µg/dL increase in blood lead at 24 months is associated with a 5.8-point decline in IQ.Although the Geometric Mean Blood Lead Levels (GM BLL) are declining, a CDC report (2002) states that: "However, the GM BLL for non-Hispanic black children remains higher than that for Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white children, indicating that differences in risk for exposure still persist."
Environmental factors including childhood lead exposure,[76] low rates of breast feeding,[78] and poor nutrition[79][80] can significantly affect cognitive development and functioning. For example, childhood exposure to lead, associated with homes in poorer areas[81] causes an average IQ drop of 7 points,[82] and iodine deficiency causes a fall, on average, of 12 IQ points.[83][84] Such impairments may sometimes be permanent, sometimes be partially or wholly compensated for by later growth. The first two years of life is the critical time for malnutrition, the consequences of which are often irreversible and include poor cognitive development, educability, and future economic productivity.[85] The African American population of the United States is statistically more likely to be exposed to many detrimental environmental factors such as poorer neighborhoods, schools, nutrition, and prenatal and postnatal health care.[86][87] Mackintosh points out that for American blacks infant mortality is about twice as high as for whites, and low birthweight is twice as prevalent. At the same time white mothers are twice as likely to breastfeed their infants, and breastfeeding is highly correlated with IQ for low birthweight infants. In this way a wide number of health related factors that influence IQ are unequally distributed between the two groups.
The Copenhagen consensus in 2004 stated that lack of both iodine and iron has been implicated in impaired brain development, and this can affect enormous numbers of people: it is estimated that one-third of the total global population are affected by iodine deficiency. In developing countries, it is estimated that 40% of children aged four and under suffer from anaemia because of insufficient iron in their diets.[89]
Other scholars have found that simply the standard of nutrition has a significant effect on population intelligence, and that the Flynn effect may be caused by increasing nutrition standards across the world.[90] James Flynn has himself argued against this view.[91]
Some recent research has argued that the retardation caused in brain development by infectious diseases, many of which are more prevalent in non-white populations, may be an important factor in explaining the differences in IQ between different regions of the world.[92] The findings of this research, showing the correlation between IQ, race and infectious diseases was also shown to apply to the IQ gap in the US, suggesting that this may be an important environmental factor.[93]
A 2013 meta-analysis by the World Health Organization found that, after controlling for maternal IQ, breastfeeding was associated with IQ gains of 2.19 points. The authors suggest that this relationship is causal but state that the practical significance of this gain is debatable; however, they highlight one study suggesting an association between breastfeeding and academic performance in Brazil, where "breastfeeding duration does not present marked variability by socioeconomic position."[94] Colen and Ramey (2014) similarly find that controlling for sibling comparisons within families, rather than between families, reduces the correlation between breastfeeding status and WISC IQ scores by nearly a third, but further find the relationship between breastfeeding duration and WISC IQ scores to be insignificant. They suggest that "much of the beneficial long-term effects typically attributed to breastfeeding, per say, may primarily be due to selection pressures into infant feeding practices along key demographic characteristics such as race and socioeconomic status."[95] Reichman estimates that no more than 3 to 4% of the black-white IQ gap can be explained by black-white disparities in low birth weight.[96]
Education
Several studies have proposed that a large part of the gap can be attributed to differences in quality of education.[97] Racial discrimination in education has been proposed as one possible cause of differences in educational quality between races.[98] According to a paper by Hala Elhoweris, Kagendo Mutua, Negmeldin Alsheikh and Pauline Holloway, teachers' referral decisions for students to participate in gifted and talented educational programs were influenced in part by the students' ethnicity.[99]
The Abecedarian Early Intervention Project, an intensive early childhood education project, was also able to bring about an average IQ gain of 4.4 points at age 21 in the black children who participated in it compared to controls.[78] Arthur Jensen agreed that the Abecedarian project demonstrates that education can have a significant effect on IQ, but also said that no educational program thus far has been able to reduce the black-white IQ gap by more than a third, and that differences in education are thus unlikely to be its only cause.[100]
Rushton and Jensen argue that long-term follow-up of the Head Start Program found large immediate gains for blacks and whites but that these were quickly lost for the blacks although some remained for whites. They argue that also other more intensive and prolonged educational interventions have not produced lasting effects on IQ or scholastic performance.[47] Nisbett argues that they ignore studies such as Campbell & Ramey (1994) which found that at the age 12, 87% of black infants exposed to an intervention had IQs in the normal range (above 85) compared to 56% of controls, and none of the intervention-exposed children were mildly retarded compared to 7% of controls. Other early intervention programs have shown IQ effects in the range of 4–5 points, which are sustained until at least age 8–15. Effects on academic achievement can also be substantial. Nisbett also argues that not only early age intervention can be effective, citing other successful intervention studies from infancy to college.[101]
A series of studies by Joseph Fagan and Cynthia Holland measured the effect of prior exposure to the kind of cognitive tasks posed in IQ tests on test performance. Assuming that the IQ gap was the result of lower exposure to tasks using the cognitive functions usually found in IQ tests among African American test takes, they prepared a group of African Americans in this type of tasks before taking an IQ test. The researchers found that there was no subsequent difference in performance between the African-Americans and white test takers.[102][103] Daley and Onwuegbuzie conclude that Fagan and Holland demonstrate that "differences in knowledge between blacks and whites for intelligence test items can be erased when equal opportunity is provided for exposure to the information to be tested". A similar argument is made by David Marks who argues that IQ differences correlate well with differences in literacy suggesting that developing literacy skills through education causes an increase in IQ test performance.[105][106]
A 2003 study found that two variables — stereotype threat and the degree of educational attainment of children's fathers — partially explained the black-white gap in cognitive ability test scores, undermining the hereditarian view that they stemmed from immutable genetic factors.[107]
Socioeconomic environment
Different aspects of the socioeconomic environment in which children are raised have been shown to correlate with part of the IQ gap, but they do not account for the entire gap. According to a 2006 review, these factors account for slightly less than half of one standard deviation of the gap.[109] Generally the difference between mean test scores of blacks and whites is not eliminated when individuals and groups are matched on socioeconomic status (SES), suggesting that the relationship between IQ and SES is not simply one in which SES determines IQ. Rather it may be the case that differences in intelligence, particularly parental intelligence, may also cause differences in SES, making separating the two factors difficult.[48] Hunt (2010, p. 428) summarises data[clarification needed] showing that, jointly, SES and parental IQ account for the full gap (in populations of young children, after controlling parental IQ and parental SES, the gap is not statistically different from zero). He argues the SES-linked components reflect parental occupation status, mother's verbal comprehension score and parent-child interaction quality. Hunt also reviews data showing that the correlation between home environment and IQ becomes weaker with age.[citation needed] Hart and Risley argue that in welfare, working-class, and professional families, children hear a large disparity in the amount of language (between 13 million and 45 million words) in the age range of 0–3, and that by age 9 these differences led to large differences in child outcomes.[110]
Other research has focussed on different causes of variation within low SES and high SES groups.[111][112][113] In the US, among low-SES groups, genetic differences account for a smaller proportion variance in IQ than among higher SES populations.[114] Such effects are predicted by the bioecological hypothesis – that genotypes are transformed into phenotypes through nonadditive synergistic effects of the environment.[115] Nisbett et al. (2012) suggest that high SES individuals are more likely to be able to develop their full biological potential, whereas low SES individuals are likely to be hindered in their development by adverse environmental conditions. The same review also points out that adoption studies generally are biased towards including only high and high middle SES adoptive families, meaning that they will tend to overestimate average genetic effects. They also note that studies of adoption from lower-class homes to middle-class homes have shown that such children experience a 12–18 pt gain in IQ relative to children who remain in low SES homes. A 2015 study found that environmental factors (namely, family income, maternal education, maternal verbal ability/knowledge, learning materials in the home, parenting factors (maternal sensitivity, maternal warmth and acceptance, and safe physical environment), child birth order, and child birth weight) accounted for the black-white gap in cognitive ability test scores.
Test bias
A number of studies have reached the conclusion that IQ tests may be biased against certain groups.[117][118][119][120] The validity and reliability of IQ scores obtained from outside the United States and Europe have been questioned, in part because of the inherent difficulty of comparing IQ scores between cultures.[121][122] Several researchers have argued that cultural differences limit the appropriateness of standard IQ tests in non-industrialized communities.[123][124]
A 1996 report by the American Psychological Association states that intelligence can be difficult to compare across culture, and notes that differing familiarity with test materials can produce substantial difference in test results; it also says that tests are accurate predictors of future achievement for black and white Americans, and are in that sense unbiased.[48] The view that tests accurately predict future educational attainment is reinforced by Nicholas Mackintosh in his 1998 book IQ and Human Intelligence,[125] and by a 1999 literature review by Brown, Reynolds & Whitaker (1999).
James R. Flynn, surveying studies on the topic, notes that the weight and presence of many test questions depends on what sorts of information and modes of thinking are culturally-valued.[126]
Stereotype threat and minority status
Stereotype threat is the fear that one's behavior will confirm an existing stereotype of a group with which one identifies or by which one is defined; this fear may in turn lead to an impairment of performance.[127] Testing situations that highlight the fact that intelligence is being measured tend to lower the scores of individuals from racial-ethnic groups who already score lower on average or are expected to score lower. Stereotype threat conditions cause larger than expected IQ differences among groups.[128] Psychometrician Nicholas Mackintosh considers that there is little doubt that the effects of stereotype threat contribute to the IQ gap between blacks and whites.
A large number of studies have shown that systemically disadvantaged minorities, such as the African American minority of the United States generally perform worse in the educational system and in intelligence tests than the majority groups or less disadvantaged minorities such as immigrant or "voluntary" minorities.[48] The explanation of these findings may be that children of caste-like minorities, due to the systemic limitations of their prospects of social advancement, do not have "effort optimism", i.e. they do not have the confidence that acquiring the skills valued by majority society, such as those skills measured by IQ tests, is worthwhile. They may even deliberately reject certain behaviors that are seen as "acting white."
Research published in 1997 indicates that part of the black-white gap in cognitive ability test scores is due to racial differences in test motivation.[132]
Attempts to replicate studies evincing significant effects of stereotype threat however have not yielded the same results. In 2004 Sackett et al. found that eliminating stereotype threat does not eliminate the racial test performance gap, and in 2005 Tyson et al. found African Americans to have motivation similar to or even better than that of white Americans.[133][134] Self-affirmation exercises promoted by research scientists such as Geoffrey L. Cohen have not been shown to be effective by attempts to replicate his studies purporting them to be successful.[135] A 2015 meta-analysis conducted by Flore & Wicherts of studies on the relationship between gender and stereotype threat found the observed estimates to be inflated by publication bias, arguing the true effect to be most likely near zero.[136]
Research into the possible genetic influences on test score differences
Ongoing research aims to understand the contribution of genes to differences in intelligence. Currently there is no non-circumstantial evidence that the test score gap has a genetic component, although some researchers believe that the existing circumstantial evidence makes it plausible to believe that hard evidence for a genetic component will eventually appear. Growing evidence indicates that environmental factors, not genetic ones, are more important in explaining the racial IQ gap. Several lines of investigation have been followed in the attempt to ascertain whether there is a genetic component to the test score gap as well as its relative contribution to the magnitude of the gap.
Genetics of race and intelligence
Geneticist Alan R. Templeton argues that the question about the possible genetic effects on the test score gap is muddled by the general focus on "race" rather than on populations defined by gene frequency or by geographical proximity, and by the general insistence on phrasing the question in terms of heritability.[141] Templeton points out that racial groups neither represent sub-species nor distinct evolutionary lineages, and that therefore there is no basis for making claims about the general intelligence of races.[141] From this point of view the search for possible genetic influences on the black-white test score gap is a priori flawed, because there is no genetic material shared by all Africans or by all Europeans. Mackintosh (2011) points out that by using genetic cluster analysis to correlate gene frequencies with continental populations it could possibly be the case that African populations had a higher frequency of certain genetic variants that contribute to an average lower intelligence. Such a hypothetical situation could hold without all Africans carrying the same genes or belonging to a single Evolutionary lineage. According to Mackintosh, a biological basis for the gap thus cannot be ruled out on a priori grounds.
Intelligence is a polygenic trait. This means that intelligence is under the influence of several genes, possibly several thousand. The effect of most individual genetic variants on intelligence is thought to be very small, well below 1% of the variance in g. Current studies using quantitative trait loci have yielded little success in the search for genes influencing intelligence. Robert Plomin is confident that QTLs responsible for the variation in IQ scores exist, but due to their small effect sizes, more powerful tools of analysis will be required to detect them.[142] Others assert that no useful answers can be reasonably expected from such research before an understanding of the relation between DNA and human phenotypes emerges.[87] Several candidate genes have been proposed to have a relationship with intelligence.[143][144] However, a review of candidate genes for intelligence published in Deary, Johnson & Houlihan (2009) failed to find evidence of an association between these genes and general intelligence, stating "there is still almost no replicated evidence concerning the individual genes, which have variants that contribute to intelligence differences".[145] In 2001, a review in the Journal of Black Psychology refuted eight major premises on which the hereditarian view regarding race and intelligence is based.[146]
A 2005 literature review article by Sternberg, Grigorenko and Kidd stated that no gene has been shown to be linked to intelligence, "so attempts to provide a compelling genetic link of race to intelligence are not feasible at this time". Hunt (2010, p. 447) and Mackintosh (2011, p. 344) concurred, both scholars noting that while several environmental factors have been shown to influence the IQ gap, the evidence for a genetic influence has been circumstantial, and according to Mackintosh negligible. Mackintosh however suggests that it may never become possible to account satisfyingly for the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors. The 2012 review by Nisbett et al. (2012) concluded that "Almost no genetic polymorphisms have been discovered that are consistently associated with variation in IQ in the normal range". Hunt and several other researchers however maintain that genetic causes cannot be ruled out, and that new evidence may yet show a genetic contribution to the gap. Hunt concurs with Rushton and Jensen who considered the 100% environmental hypothesis to be impossible. Nonetheless, Nisbett and colleagues (2012) consider the entire IQ gap to be explained by the environmental factors that have thus far been demonstrated to influence it, and Mackintosh does not find this view to be unreasonable.
Heritability within and between groups
An environmental factor that varies between groups but not within groups can cause group differences in a trait that is otherwise 100 percent heritable
Twin studies of intelligence have reported high heritability values. However, these studies are based on questionable assumptions. When used in the context of human behavior genetics, the term "heritability" is highly misleading, as it does not convey any information about the relative importance of genetic or environmental factors on the development of a given trait, nor does it convey the extent to which that trait is genetically determined. Arguments in support of a genetic explanation of racial differences in IQ are sometimes fallacious. For instance, hereditarians have sometimes cited the failure of known environmental factors to account for such differences, or the high heritability of intelligence within races, as evidence that racial differences in IQ are genetic.[150]
Psychometricians have found that intelligence is substantially heritable within populations, with 30–50% of variance in IQ scores in early childhood being attributable to genetic factors in analyzed US populations, increasing to 75–80% by late adolescence.[48][145] In biology heritability is defined as the ratio of variation attributable to genetic differences in an observable trait to the trait's total observable variation. The heritability of a trait describes the proportion of variation in the trait that is attributable to genetic factors within a particular population. A heritability of 1 indicates that variation correlates fully with genetic variation and a heritability of 0 indicates that there is no correlation between the trait and genes at all. In psychological testing, heritability tends to be understood as the degree of correlation between the results of a test taker and those of their biological parents. However, since high heritability is simply a correlation between traits and genes, it does not describe the causes of heritability which in humans can be either genetic or environmental.
Therefore, a high heritability measure does not imply that a trait is genetic or unchangeable, however, as environmental factors that affect all group members equally will not be measured by heritability and the heritability of a trait may also change over time in response to changes in the distribution of genes and environmental factors.[48] High heritability also doesn't imply that all of the heritability is genetically determined, but can also be due to environmental differences that affect only a certain genetically defined group (indirect heritability).[151] The figure to the left demonstrates how heritability works. In both gardens the difference between tall and short cornstalks is 100% heritable as cornstalks that are genetically disposed for growing tall will become taller than those without this disposition, but the difference |
defend all the properties left by the former President, except if they waive this right in favor of the state, the Court said. “Since the pending case before the Sandiganbayan survives the death of Ferdinand E. Marcos, it is imperative therefore that the estate be duly represented. The purpose behind this rule is the protection of the right to due process of every party to a litigation who may be affected by the intervening death. The deceased litigant is himself protected, as he continues to be properly represented in the suit through the duly appointed legal representative of his estate. On that note, we take judicial notice of the probate proceedings regarding the will of Ferdinand E. Marcos. In Republic of the Philippines v. Marcos II, we upheld the grant by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of letters testamentary in solidum to Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr and Imelda Romualdez Marcos as executors of the last will and testament of the late Ferdinand E. Marcos,” the Supreme Court said. “Unless the executors of the Marcos estate or heirs are ready to waive in favor of the state their right to defend or protect the estate or those properties found to be ill-gotten in their possession, control or ownership, then they may not be dropped as defendants in the civil case pending before the Sandiganbayan,” the decision added. The Supreme Court affirmed the Sandiganbayan decision dated Dec. 5, 2005 that acknowledged the children of the late President as legitimate defendants in the case. The Supreme Court also called on Malacanang to investigate the process by which prosecution handled the case. “Let a copy of this Decision be furnished to the Office of the President so that it may look into the circumstances of this case and determine the liability, if any, of the lawyers of the Office of the Solicitor General and the Presidential Commission on Good Government in the manner by which this case was handled in the Sandiganbayan,” the Court said.When my partner and I were planning an extended A.T. hike, we stopped by our local outdoor shop and asked the manager what to bring. “Foremost thing you’ll need is this,” he said, reaching for a plain green book which otherwise looked a lot like a high-end car manual: David ‘AWOL’ Miller’s The A.T. Guide.
“This guy, David ‘AWOL’ Miller practically lives on the trail.”
Who was this AWOL? And how did the little green manual come to be?
Back in the late-90s, working as a high-powered software engineer, Miller got turned on to the notion of an A.T. thru-hike via a newly retired, Katahdin-conquering ex-coworker. Miller soon viewed the 2,181-mile adventure as a potentially kickass springboard into his own retirement. But being married, a proud father of three, and not quite 40 years of age, Miller couldn’t conceive of himself as being capable of responsibly hanging up the corporate boots for at least another two decades.
However, despite the pragmatic rationale—must clock the time, take max. advantage of IRA + 401k plans, continue gratingly, monotonously grinding along toward reaping the so-called Golden Years bounty—the A.T. had already infiltrated his system. Miller found himself facing an inconvenient truth: “I remember becoming increasingly aware this thru-hike was something that couldn’t wait. My life had grown precariously normal… It had to be done now.”
In the spring of 2001, having procured a greenlight from the familial quintet, Miller quit his nine-to-five and lit out for Springer Mountain, the A.T.’s southern terminus.
“My wife was actually happy for me to have the break from my job,” chuckled Miller. She and the kids set out to have a memorable summer of their own—beach trips, camping, and visiting relatives. I missed them, but they were aware I was doing something important I had to do for myself, and that was something they wanted to support.” He quickly earned his trail name AWOL after telling his life story to fellow thru-hikers of quitting his job and setting out for the woods. After he completed his thru-hike, he penned a memoir: AWOL On the Trail.
A few years later, in 2007, Miller heard Dan “Wingfoot” Bruce was retiring from the business of maintaining his yearly-updated Thru-Hikers’ Handbook. As a software engineer, Miller realized he could present the trail data in a fresh, new way that was both functional and aesthetic.
“For the next year, I spent every spare moment available working on the book, to the point of enlisting my wife and kids,” he said. His efforts yielded the most intricate, detailed, and stunningly resourceful trail guide yet produced.
The popularity of The A.T. Guide is not surprising. Every year, Miller or a member of his team personally hikes each section and travels to each town to ensure the information is 100 percent accurate and updated.
Miller himself isn’t planning another thru-hike anytime soon. “But if one of my kids wanted to do it and wouldn’t mind having me along, I’d definitely go with them.”Roberto Mancini's planning for Manchester City's first season in the Champions League has received bad news on two fronts after it emerged that Carlos Tevez still wants to explore the possibilities of a summer move and the club will reject the Italian's request to fund another major recruitment programme.
Mancini has asked the Abu Dhabi United Group for the finances to help the FA Cup winners become authentic title challengers next season but, in a video interview to be shown on the club's website on Thursday, the chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, makes it clear that he does not see more than two new arrivals.
"It won't be like last summer, or the summer before," Khaldoon says. "What you will see this year is strengthening the squad in areas that we feel require more depth. We don't need quantity, as today we have quality. We just need a couple of players."
That new, more reserved kind of thinking is based on Uefa's incoming fair-play guidelines and the sense at Eastlands that, to comply, they need to put an end to their vast spending in the transfer market. However, it is unlikely to go down well with Mancini at a time when he feels it crucial to improve the City squad and there are serious doubts about Tevez's involvement.
Tevez has been described as surprised and taken aback by Mancini's statement on Tuesday that he had spoken to him on several occasions before and after the FA Cup final and that "he has said he wants to stay".
The Italian's version of events is in complete contradiction to the account from the player's side, namely that his stance has not changed. Tevez has told associates he is disappointed by the remarks, believing it to be political positioning on the part of City's manager.
Instead, Tevez has a meeting with his adviser, Kia Joorabchian, next week to discuss his future, his favoured option being a move to either Real Madrid or Internazionale. Whether that is feasible is not certain, with City valuing him in the region of £50m, plus a weekly salary in the region of £250,000 to be taken into consideration. However, the Tevez camp will look into whether it can be arranged, in part because of the player's desire to make it easier to see his two young daughters, Florencia and Katia,
They currently live in Buenos Aires with his former partner, Vanessa, and the thinking is that if Tevez moved to mainland Europe they might be persuaded to move with him. Tevez is frustrated that his family issues are often overlooked, pointing out that it would also be easier, in terms of direct flights, for him to travel to and from Argentina if he lived in, say, Madrid. Vanessa speaks only Spanish and did not embrace life in Manchester.
At the same time Tevez is aware that City will be playing in the Champions League next season and may be in a position to make an authentic title challenge. He knows, too, that he is currently the best-paid player in English football, so there are considerations in favour of staying in Manchester.
The saga threatens to go on through the summer but Khaldoon remains confident that City can build on their success.
"I feel strongly a winning mentality is coming into the team. We have an incredible squad with so many talented individuals and a lot of heart in that squad. We have a great operation with everyone involved, headed by our chief executive, Garry Cook, who I must say has done a phenomenal job."What this report finds: This report assesses the prevalence and magnitude of one form of wage theft—minimum wage violations (workers being paid at an effective hourly rate below the binding minimum wage)—in the 10 most populous U.S. states. We find that, in these states, 2.4 million workers lose $8 billion annually (an average of $3,300 per year for year-round workers) to minimum wage violations—nearly a quarter of their earned wages. This form of wage theft affects 17 percent of low-wage workers, with workers in all demographic categories being cheated out of pay.
Why it matters: Minimum wage violations, by definition, affect the lowest-wage workers—those who can least afford to lose earnings. This form of wage theft causes many families to fall below the poverty line, and it increases workers’ reliance on public assistance, costing taxpayers money. Lost wages can hurt state and local economies, and it hurts other workers in affected industries by putting downward pressure on wages.
What can be done about it: Strengthen states’ legal protections against wage theft, increase penalties for violators, bolster enforcement capacities, and protect workers from retaliation when violations are reported.
Introduction and key findings
For the past four decades, the majority of American workers have been shortchanged by economic policymaking that has suppressed the growth of hourly wages and prevented greater improvements in living standards. Achieving a secure, middle-class lifestyle has become increasingly difficult as hourly pay for most workers has either stagnated or declined. For millions of the country’s lowest-paid workers, financial security is even more fleeting because of unscrupulous employers stealing a portion of their paychecks.
Wage theft, the practice of employers failing to pay workers the full wages to which they are legally entitled, is a widespread and deep-rooted problem that directly harms millions of U.S. workers each year. Employers refusing to pay promised wages, paying less than legally mandated minimums, failing to pay for all hours worked, or not paying overtime premiums deprives working people of billions of dollars annually. It also leaves hundreds of thousands of affected workers and their families in poverty. Wage theft does not just harm the workers and families who directly suffer exploitation; it also weakens the bargaining power of workers more broadly by putting downward pressure on hourly wages in affected industries and occupations. For many low-income families who suffer wage theft, the resulting loss of income forces them to rely more heavily on public assistance programs, unduly straining safety net programs and hamstringing efforts to reduce poverty.
Researchers have long known that measuring wage theft is challenging—it takes many forms, violations are not always recognized or reported, and suitable public data sources are limited. Yet in recent years, several studies have attempted to better quantify the harm caused by wage theft. This study adds to those efforts by using data from the Current Population Survey to assess the prevalence and magnitude of wage theft in the form of minimum wage violations—i.e., workers being paid at an effective hourly rate below the binding minimum wage. We look specifically at instances of such wage theft in the 10 most populous U.S. states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. We limit our focus to these 10 states so that we can carefully account for each state’s individual minimum wage policies and state-specific exemptions to wage and hour laws. Data for the 10 most populous states also provide adequate sample sizes to describe the severity of minimum wage violations and the affected populations within each state. Our findings provide a better assessment of minimum wage violations than previous studies that have only considered violations of the federal minimum wage. And, because the total workforce in these 10 states accounts for more than half of the entire U.S. workforce, our estimates shed new light on the scope of wage theft nationwide.
Key findings
We find that:
In the 10 most populous states in the country, each year 2.4 million workers covered by state or federal minimum wage laws report being paid less than the applicable minimum wage in their state—approximately 17 percent of the eligible low-wage workforce.
The total underpayment of wages to these workers amounts to over $8 billion annually. If the findings for these states are representative for the rest of the country, they suggest that the total wages stolen from workers due to minimum wage violations exceeds $15 billion each year.
Workers suffering minimum wage violations are underpaid an average of $64 per week, nearly one-quarter of their weekly earnings. This means that a victim who works year-round is losing, on average, $3,300 per year and receiving only $10,500 in annual wages.
Young workers, women, people of color, and immigrant workers are more likely than other workers to report being paid less than the minimum wage, but this is primarily because they are also more likely than other workers to be in low-wage jobs. In general, low-wage workers experience minimum wage violations at high rates across demographic categories. In fact, the majority of workers with reported wages below the minimum wage are over 25 and are native-born U.S. citizens, nearly half are white, more than a quarter have children, and just over half work full time.
In the 10 most populous states, workers are most likely to be paid less than the minimum wage in Florida (7.3 percent), Ohio (5.5 percent), and New York (5.0 percent). However, the severity of underpayment is the worst in Pennsylvania and Texas, where the average victim of a minimum wage violation is cheated out of over 30 percent of earned pay.
The poverty rate among workers paid less than the minimum wage in these 10 states is over 21 percent—three times the poverty rate for minimum-wage-eligible workers overall. Assuming no change in work hours, if these workers were paid the full wages to which they are entitled, less than 15 percent would be in poverty.
The next section provides background on the minimum wage, the problem of wage theft in general, and previous research on the topic of wage theft. The subsequent sections present our findings and analysis of minimum wage violations in the 10 most populous states. The final section discusses the economic and social consequences of wage theft and what can be done to fight it.
Background and previous research
The longstanding need to update the Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enacted in 1938, established the basic protections that have governed work in the United States since the Great Depression. With regard to pay, the FLSA “put a floor under wages and a ceiling over hours” through the creation of the federal minimum wage and provisions for overtime pay—i.e., a limit on the hours per week employees may work without receiving additional compensation (Roosevelt 1938). Over the years, the law has been periodically updated to strengthen protections or expand coverage to new classes of workers—such as the 1966 amendments to the FLSA that extended coverage to service sector and hospitality workers, and the Department of Labor’s extension of FLSA protections to home care workers in 2015.
Unfortunately, over the past several decades, updates to the FLSA have been inadequate or too infrequent to keep pace with changes in the economy and employment. For example, as explained in Cooper (2015), the failure of federal lawmakers to adequately raise the federal minimum wage has left millions of workers being paid 25 percent less in inflation-adjusted terms than their counterparts almost 50 years ago. Similarly, Eisenbrey and Kimball (2016) describe how neglect of federal overtime rules has drastically reduced the share of the workforce that is eligible for overtime pay.
Additionally, in recent decades, employers have increasingly adopted business practices that have weakened the scope of protection afforded by the law. Groundbreaking research by the former Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, David Weil, documents the “fissuring” of U.S. workplaces and the growth of subcontracting (Weil 2014). Fissuring refers to the practice of companies contracting out various functions that were previously done in-house. In such arrangements, unscrupulous employers—be it the subcontractor or the contracting parent company—will sometimes use the multilayered or “fissured” nature of the employer-employee relationship to attempt to avoid responsibility when workers allege mistreatment. Weil also details how a growing share of the workforce today are classified as independent contractors—and thereby not covered by the FLSA—despite the fact that these workers perform tasks traditionally done via direct employment. In some cases, such arrangements are deliberate and illegal misclassification by employers seeking to dodge the tax and regulatory requirements of regular employment. Carré (2015) notes that numerous studies find that 10 to 20 percent of employers have misclassified a worker as an independent contractor.
What is wage theft? Wage theft is the failure to pay workers the full wages to which they are legally entitled. Wage theft can take many forms, including but not limited to: Minimum wage violations: Paying workers less than the legal minimum wage
Paying workers less than the legal minimum wage Overtime violations: Failing to pay nonexempt employees time-and-a-half for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week
Failing to pay nonexempt employees time-and-a-half for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week Off-the-clock violations: Asking employees to work off-the-clock before or after their shifts
Asking employees to work off-the-clock before or after their shifts Meal break violations: Denying workers their legal meal breaks
Denying workers their legal meal breaks Pay stub and illegal deductions: Taking illegal deductions from wages or not distributing pay stubs
Taking illegal deductions from wages or not distributing pay stubs Tipped minimum wage violations: Confiscating tips from workers or failing to pay tipped workers the difference between their tips and the legal minimum wage
Confiscating tips from workers or failing to pay tipped workers the difference between their tips and the legal minimum wage Employee misclassification violations: Misclassifying employees as independent contractors to pay a wage lower than the legal minimum For more information about the different forms of wage theft, see Bernhardt et al. (2009) or Gordon et al. (2012).
Even without employers trying to avoid the law, the FLSA has various built-in worker and employer exemptions that limit its scope to only a portion of American workers. For example, the law specifically excludes a variety of specific occupations from the minimum wage, such as newspaper delivery workers, seasonal farm workers, workers in commercial fisheries and canneries, private investigators, and telephone switchboard operators. Similarly, many salaried white-collar workers whose duties are deemed executive, administrative, or professional, and whose pay is above a set threshold, are excluded from the overtime provisions of the law. Businesses with annual revenue less than $500,000 that do not engage in “interstate commerce” are exempt from the wage and hour provisions of the FLSA altogether. In the 10 states analyzed in this study, we estimate that the federal minimum wage law covers roughly 72 percent of civilian, noninstitutionalized workers. When state minimum wage laws are also taken into account, about 88 percent of the workforce is covered by either state or federal minimum wage laws.
Many states provide stronger protections or expanded coverage beyond the FLSA in state law. For example, California’s minimum wage—in addition to being significantly higher than the federal minimum wage —covers nearly 100 percent of workers in the state. Other states, such as Michigan, have enacted higher wage standards yet allow a greater number of exemptions than the FLSA. Other states simply defer to the federal statute either for the level of the standard, the breadth of coverage, or both. In recent years, cities and counties have increasingly adopted their own minimum wages and other labor standards in light of federal or state inaction. The FLSA is explicit that when federal, state, or local labor laws are inconsistent, workers are always entitled to the highest standard. Yet the patchwork of varying levels of protection and coverage across the country can make it difficult for workers to know what their rights are and complicate jurisdictions’ efforts to enforce the law, leading to significantly different economic outcomes for people doing the same job in different localities.
Enforcement of wage and hour laws
While federal labor protections have been left to erode, the agency charged with enforcing wage and hour laws has been stretched increasingly thin. In 2015, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor—the agency responsible for investigating minimum wage violations—employed roughly the same number of investigators as it did nearly 70 years ago: WHD employed 1,000 investigators in 1948 and fewer than 1,000 in 2015 (Galvin 2016a; U.S. DOL 2017a). Yet today, the agency is expected to protect a workforce nearly six times larger than it did in the 1940s—22.6 million in 1948 and more than 135 million in 2015 (Galvin 2016a; U.S. DOL 2017b). In 1948, there was one investigator for every 22,600 covered workers; today it is one per every 135,000 workers. As the number of investigators per worker has shrunk, so has the agency’s ability to effectively police violations of labor law: from 1980 to 2015, the number of cases investigated by the agency decreased by 63 percent (NELP 2008; U.S. DOL various years).
The lack of sufficient federal investigators is especially problematic for the many workers in states that do not have a state wage and hour office or similar enforcement body. Fourteen states, most of which use the federal minimum wage, either lack the capacity to investigate wage theft claims or lack the ability to file lawsuits on behalf of victims (Galvin 2016b). These states effectively defer to the federal government for enforcement. Workers in these states must seek any possible remedy from the federal government or through private litigation. Some states, such as Florida, lack any state labor department altogether.
Even in states with their own enforcement powers, filing a wage theft claim against an employer can be extremely difficult. For example, Gordon et al. (2012) describe the daunting process required by the Iowa Workforce Development Agency (IWD):
IWD currently requires every worker who files a wage claim to complete an extensive written questionnaire and to subsequently respond to multiple rounds of mailed notices and requests for documentation on very strict deadlines. At any point in the process, failure to respond in writing or to provide requested information in a timely manner results in IWD closing the case. Though employers are allowed to have attorneys or other third parties represent them in the claims process, workers are not. In fact, IWD will close a worker’s case if it learns that an attorney or other third party (a pastor, union representative, or community organizer, for example) is assisting the worker in contacting the employer, communicating with enforcement agencies, or using other means to try recover the worker’s wages. When a claim is filed, there is no clear mechanism for updating workers on the status of a claim and—with the exception of the claim form—all communication from the agency (including requests for additional necessary documentation) is in English only. The Iowa complaint process contains a multitude of procedural obstacles that may actively discourage workers from pursuing claims. (Gordon et al. 2012, 14)
Few workers who experience wage and hour violations are able to pursue a private lawsuit against their employer, and even fewer employers end up paying any significant restitution. Employers found to have illegally underpaid an employee are usually required only to pay back a portion of the stolen wages—not even the full amount owed, much less a penalty for violating the law (Galvin 2016a). Additional penalties are typically only imposed in cases where the employer forged false documents. In addition to the minuscule likelihood of being caught, employers who are found guilty of violating wage and hour laws typically still pay less than they would have had they paid workers their earned wages to begin with. Consequently, employers are effectively incentivized to violate the law. (U.S. GAO 1981; Ashenfelter and Smith 1979).
Recent research by Daniel Galvin (2016a) finds that when states enact strong penalties against wage theft—particularly “treble damages” statutes that award victims of wage theft three times the value of their stolen wages—it does have a deterrent effect. Workers experience measurably lower rates of wage theft in states with such laws. However, for the greatest impact, such laws must be accompanied by sufficient investigatory resources and authority, protections against retaliation for workers alleging mistreatment, payment of victims’ attorneys’ fees by violators, and other legal provisions that empower victims to speak out against abuse.
The many forms of wage theft
Wage theft is the failure to pay workers the full wages to which they are legally entitled. As explained in Meixell and Eisenbrey (2014), “in essence, it involves employers taking money that belongs to their employees and keeping it for themselves. Amounts that seem small, such as not paying for time spent preparing a work station at the start of a shift, or cleaning up at the end of a shift, can add up.”
Wage theft can take many forms. Minimum wage violations occur when employees are paid less than the federal, state, or local minimum wage, depending on which is highest and covers the employee in question. For employees to be considered victims of minimum wage violations, those employees must be paid at an hourly wage rate less than the legal minimum, although they need not be paid on an hourly basis. Nonexempt workers paid on a weekly or salaried basis must still be paid at a level equivalent to an hourly rate of the minimum wage for all the hours that they work; minimum wage violations may occur when hourly workers are illegally required to work unpaid hours or when salaried employees work excessive hours—either of which may cause their effective hourly wage rate to fall below the legal minimum wage.
Salaried workers who do not meet the requirements that would exclude them from the overtime provisions of the FLSA (or state overtime laws) are also victims of wage theft if their employers fail to pay them at 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for all hours worked beyond 40 in a single week. Even if nonexempt employees are paid at their regular hourly rate for work hours beyond 40, they are still being cheated—failure to pay the time-and-a-half overtime rate is illegal and constitutes wage theft.
Wage theft can also occur when employers deny workers meal breaks, make illegal deductions from employees’ paychecks, or make illegal adjustments to reported work hours (Sellekaerts and Welch 1983; Bernhardt et al. 2009; Gordon et al. 2012). Some of these actions could result in minimum wage violations—e.g., if an employer illegally adjusted reported work hours so that an employee was not paid for all hours worked, thereby bringing their effective hourly rate below the minimum wage. However, they would not need to result in a minimum wage violation for them to be unlawful. All of these actions constitute wage theft.
Tipped workers are especially prone to suffer wage theft because of their separate treatment under the law. In most states and under federal law, employers of workers who customarily receive tips—such as restaurant servers and nail salon attendants—may credit workers’ tips against their required minimum wage. For example, federal law allows employers to pay tipped workers as little as $2.13 per hour, provided that the employees’ tips over the course of a week raise their effective hourly pay to at least the minimum wage. If the tips are inadequate, employers are required to make up the difference. Unfortunately, policing this requirement is largely left to the tipped workers themselves, who would need to carefully track their weekly hours and tips to know if employers were paying an adequate base wage. Moreover, the FLSA and most state tipped wage laws do not specify the period over which weekly tips are supposed to be calculated, nor do they specify how employers are to treat secondary tipping—when tipped workers share a portion of their tips with support staff.
The opaqueness of tipped wage laws leaves most tipped workers with little knowledge of their rights and particularly open to abuse. Allegretto and Cooper (2014) describe how tipped workers subject to a lower tipped minimum wage have lower total hourly take-home pay, have greater gender pay disparities, and experience poverty at much higher rates than nontipped workers or tipped workers who receive the full minimum wage before tips. Cooper (2017) shows that restaurant servers experience poverty at roughly double the rate of nontipped workers, with the highest poverty rates occurring in states with low tipped minimum wages.
Victims of wage theft are often already struggling to make ends meet
Previous research has shown that wage theft disproportionately hurts low-wage workers, often already the most vulnerable segment of the workforce. The literature overwhelmingly finds that workers who experience wage theft are more likely to be women, to be nonwhite or Hispanic, and to have less education (Ashenfelter & Smith 1979; Bernhardt et al. 2009; ERG 2014; Galvin 2016; Sellekaerts & Welch 1984).
Among all forms of wage theft, minimum wage violations are particularly pernicious. By definition, minimum wage violations withhold earnings from the lowest-paid workers in society, who typically are the least able to afford a loss of income. Indeed, research by the Eastern Research Group on wage theft in California and New York showed that minimum wage violations took a significant percentage of pay from low-wage workers already struggling to make ends meet (ERG 2014). The same study found that minimum wage violations increased poverty rates among workers who experienced wage theft by 22.9 percent in California and 40.6 percent in New York. The authors note that when workers in low-income households are illegally underpaid, not only do those workers and their families suffer, but the public is harmed as well—the government collects less in tax revenue, and taxpayers must provide additional funding for social welfare programs to fill in the gaps that employers created.
Analysis
This report looks closely at one form of wage theft—minimum wage violations—and quantifies the impact of these violations on workers in the 10 most populous U.S. states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Assessing the full impact of all forms of wage theft is exceedingly difficult. No public data source exists with the requisite information to accurately assess workers’ exempt status, total hours worked, total wages received, and what forms of compensation they receive—e.g., hourly/weekly base pay, tips, overtime, etc. Bernhardt et al. (2009) is perhaps the most comprehensive report on the occurrence of wage theft in its many forms. Yet to produce such a report, the researchers conducted their own survey of front-line workers in three major metropolitan areas; this survey was specially designed to capture evidence of multiple forms of wage theft. The authors found that, among low-wage workers in their sample, over a quarter were victims of minimum wage violations and more than two-thirds experienced at least one type of wage theft violation.
Our study most closely resembles ERG (2014), a report commissioned for the U.S. Department of Labor on minimum wage violations and their monetary effects in California and New York. Like ERG, we use data from the Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group to identify workers whose reported weekly earnings and weekly hours of work equate to an hourly wage below the binding minimum wage in their state. Our methods and findings are in line with ERG and other recent and historical literature on wage theft and minimum wage noncompliance. However, our study builds upon recent research in several important ways. In assessing minimum wage violations in the 10 most populous states, we account for each state’s specific minimum wage laws and exemptions, in addition to those in the FLSA, thereby better isolating the workforce eligible for the minimum wage. Because we study the 10 most populous states, our statistics on the aggregate population across these states provides a more detailed picture of the breadth and magnitude of minimum wage violations in the United States than analyses of fewer states or select cities. Total nonfarm employment in these 10 states accounts for more than half (53 percent) of all U.S. employment. We also examine these largest states because doing so provides adequate sample sizes to produce detailed statistics within each state. The statistics in this report are averages for 2013 through 2015, thus presenting the most recent estimates of wage theft in the United States.
Findings
In the 10 most populous states in the country, 2.4 million minimum-wage-eligible workers report being paid less than the applicable minimum wage in their state. This represents just over 4 percent of all eligible workers in these states. Of course, minimum wage policy is most relevant for workers at the bottom of the wage distribution, and these 2.4 million victims of minimum wage violations make up more than 17 percent of all low-wage workers who are eligible for the minimum wage.
As shown in Table 1, workers suffering minimum wage violations report being paid, on average, $1.88 per hour less than the applicable state or federal minimum wage. Their lost wages amount to about $64 per week on average weekly earnings of only $203—meaning that victims are losing nearly one-quarter of their weekly earnings to wage theft. For those workers that are employed 52 weeks per year, this implies average annual losses of over $3,300 per year on average annual wages received of only $10,500. The total annual wages denied these workers across all 10 states is over $8 billion. The workforce in these 10 states accounts for 53 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Thus, if the rates and magnitude of minimum wage violations are similar in the remaining states, it suggests that the total wages stolen by employers when workers are illegally paid below the minimum wage amounts to over $15 billion annually.
Table 1 In the 10 most populous states, 2.4 million workers lose $8 billion annually to minimum wage violations : Statistics on minimum wage violations in the 10 most populous states Minimum wage in 2015 Total number of minimum-wage-eligible workers Eligible workers experiencing minimum wage violations Number Share of eligible workers Share of eligible low-wage workers Average weekly under- payment Average weekly wages received Average annual under- payment if full-year Average annual wages received if full-year Share of earned wages not paid Total earned annual wages not paid to workers Total 59,014,000 2,422,000 4.1% 17.2% $64 $203 $3,300 $10,500 23.9% $8,002,000,000 California $9.00 14,569,000 590,000 4.1% 19.2% $64 $224 $3,400 $11,700 22.3% $1,979,000,000 Florida $8.05 5,515,000 404,000 7.3% 24.9% $54 $213 $2,800 $11,100 20.1% $1,124,000,000 Georgia $7.25* 3,769,000 82,000 2.2% 9.4% $71 $203 $3,700 $10,600 25.9% $301,000,000 Illinois $8.25 5,185,000 243,000 4.7% 22.1% $53 $205 $2,800 $10,700 20.6% $675,000,000 Michigan $8.15 2,861,000 130,000 4.5% 17.2% $63 $169 $3,300 $8,800 27.3% $429,000,000 New York $8.75 6,047,000 300,000 5.0% 19.4% $62 $210 $3,200 $10,900 22.8% $965,000,000 North Carolina $7.25 3,111,000 84,000 2.7% 12.3% $72 $179 $3,800 $9,300 28.8% $316,000,000 Ohio $8.10 3,915,000 217,000 5.5% 22.7% $53 $185 $2,800 $9,600 22.4% $601,000,000 Pennsylvania $7.25 4,299,000 107,000 2.5% 10.4% $80 $164 $4,200 $8,500 32.9% $448,000,000 Texas $7.25 9,743,000 265,000 2.7% 10.8% $85 $182 $4,400 $9,500 31.7% $1,165,000,000 *Workers in Georgia covered by the FLSA are subject to the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Workers exempt from the FLSA but covered under Georgia's state minimum wage law have a minimum wage of $5.15. Note: Full-year annual wages are calculated by multiplying weekly wages by 52 weeks per year. Numbers may not add due to rounding. Shares are computed based on unrounded numbers. “Eligible low-wage workers” includes all minimum-wage-eligible workers in the bottom quintile of wage earners in each state. Sample includes workers age 16 to 85 in the 10 most populous states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Source: EPI analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group data, 2013–2015 Share on Facebook Tweet this chart Embed Copy the code below to embed this chart on your website. Download image
Table 1 also describes the rates at which workers experience minimum wage violations in each of the 10 states included in this analysis, with some notable differences across states. First, the state with the highest rate of minimum wage violations is Florida, where 7.3 percent of eligible workers—just over 400,000 people—report being paid less than the minimum wage. This figure is even more shocking when considered as a share of the low-wage workforce in Florida: the data suggest that one out of every four low-wage workers in Florida is a victim of wage theft. (“Low-wage minimum-wage-eligible workers” includes all minimum-wage-eligible workers in the bottom quintile of wage earners in each state.)
Figure A shows the shares of each state’s minimum-wage-eligible low-wage workforce that reports being paid less than the minimum wage. After Florida (24.9 percent), Ohio has the second highest share with 22.7 percent of low-wage workers experiencing |
'FEARS OF BROWN PEOPLE' MOTIVATED TRUMP VOTERS
Peterson was responding to comments by MSNBC contributor Joan Walsh, who claimed over the weekend that Trump voters were driven by "fears of brown people, fears of losing the majority."
Peterson claimed that "most black Americans are not suffering due to racism, but the destruction of the family, and the lack of moral character.
"If we dealt with the family issue and the lack of moral character, black Americans’ lives would change overnight," Peterson added. "And they don't want that."BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. — In the blurry days following the western South Dakota blizzard that devastated her family’s ranching operation, Jimmie Kammerer sometimes found herself in the pasture, walking among the few surviving cows.
“I would just go out and look at the cows that were still standing and thank God for them,” said Kammerer. She and her husband, Riley, lost 85 percent of their herd in an early October storm that cut a swath of destruction across western South Dakota, downing power lines, stranding motorists and killing more than 43,000 cows.
“It gave me hope,” Kammerer said.
Hope is exactly what many ranchers said they clung to as they grappled with a stunning loss, many of them within days or weeks of taking their cattle to market and bringing home an annual paycheck.
Now half a year out from the tragedy, and well into a spring that has offered plenty of moisture, a new calf crop and optimistic forecasts for the beef market, ranchers say they are slowly recovering and looking to the future.
“It does me well to look outside and see green grass and the calves running around with their tails up in the air,” said Amber West, who along with her husband, Zach, manages a ranch 15 miles south of Union Center. The couple lost almost 70 percent of their herd in the storm, dubbed Atlas.
Ranchers also received another bit of good news this week, as the final round of a $5.4 million Ranchers Relief Fund will be distributed to eligible ranchers affected by the blizzard.
It’s just one leg of help, said Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, based in Rapid City.
“This did resonate with people,” she said, adding that the Ranchers Relief Fund accepted donations from “every state in the country and several foreign countries.”Over his 16-season NBA career, Kobe Bryant has stood out for many admirable traits, not the least of which are his skill and innate athleticism. But while Kobe happens to have as much talent as all but a few other players in the history of the sport, he arguably stands out most for his immense drive to get better. At every step of his career, he's done what's necessary to stay at the top of the game (as best he can, at least) and keep the Lakers in championship contention. It hasn't always worked out, but it wasn't for lack of trying.
[ Related: Fencer Zagunis chosen to carry United States flag ]
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In 2008, Bryant led Team USA to the gold medal in part by setting an intense tone in practices and games, particularly on the defensive end. For this year's tournament in London, Bryant has also committed himself to being at his best. To do so, he's changed his body by dropping 16 pounds. From a long feature by Jeremiah Tittle for The Guardian UK (via PBT):
Story continues
But it is more than just preparation that allows the 33-year-old, fifth on the all-time NBA scoring list with 29,484 points, to continue to play at such a high level. When asked about the experimental treatment he underwent to remedy his failing knees, he says: "I've spoken to other baseball players, other [American] football players about it. It did wonders for me. It's not just for your knees, but anything arthritic. So, the doctors came up with this [Orthokine] procedure which can act as a replacement of cartilage. For me, the results have been astonishing. I can run. I can train. I can do everything that I wanted to do without limping, my knee getting swollen or anything of that nature." Beyond experimental therapy, Bryant reveals how else his appearance has changed, losing 16 pounds to prepare his older body for the rigours of the Olympics followed by another run at his sixth NBA title. "With summer basketball leading directly into the season — and I'm expecting to play until next June — I have to take some load off my knees. I've got to shave some of this weight."
The lost weight is not incredibly noticeable at first glance, but a closer look does show Bryant with a more angular face, more toned arms and a slightly sleeker, less muscular look. It's not as if he was in bad shape before — this is a matter of optimization rather than necessary overhaul.
That attention to small edges is what makes Bryant so great — he looks for all possible forms of improvement and investigates them thoroughly. In the past, Kobe has changed his diet and famously flown to Germany to undergo bizarre knee treatments. Other players go to great lengths to fix their bodies, but no one does as much as the Lakers star.
[ Related: American swimming star cozies up to Aussie swimmer ]
This decision to lose weight had to do with much more than the Olympics, especially now that the Lakers have added Steve Nash and look like potential championship contenders once again. It just so happens that the Olympics were the first event on his schedule — this is about the totality of his schedule, not just one event.
Kobe can be stubborn and difficult to deal with, particularly when it comes to deciding how to organize the Lakers' offense. However, there's no question that he understands the trials of the aging athlete, and what he must do to get through them. He didn't need to lose weight, but Bryant has always been focused on what can be done, not what must be done.
More video:
More Olympic coverage on the Yahoo! Sports network:
• North Korean women's soccer team protests flag gaffe
• U.S. women's soccer doubles up France after falling behind
• Partying more important to IOC than Munich remembranceAbout the six strategies for effective learning resources:
These resources were created based on research from cognitive psychology from the past few decades. To learn more about how we created the materials, see this blog. The materials are intended to teach about principles of learning and to provide teachers and students with flexible guiding principles to guide learning and studying. However, they are not intended to fix all problems within education. Further, we cannot guarantee success, and we cannot predict students' grades based on the use of these strategies. There are a lot of variables at play during learning, and we hope these materials can help teachers and learners to make evidence-based decisions. If you have questions about the science, try searching our blog and peruse our FAQ page.
Fair use of the materials:
Please use our materials and pass them along to others for educational purposes! We ask that you attribute us when you use the materials, and that you do not use portions of the materials or remove information from the materials. The materials may not be used commercially.Drinks by the Dram have been making our countdown to Christmas a little better each year as they continuously roll out new iterations of their booze-infused advent calendars. This year brings us some Mexican goodness in their delicious Tequila Advent Calendar.
While we’d still be hard pressed to find anything better than the Whiskey Advent Calendar, we certainly won’t complain about some good tequila. The calendar features 24 different 3cl tequila samples from a variety of both leading and artisanal producers. Simply punch out the window with each corresponding day and you’ll be greated with names like Don Julio Reposado, Don Fulano Fuerto Blanco and Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia Platino just to name a few day. While we would prefer to be surprised, you can check out what’s behind each door on the brand’s site before ordering. [Purchase]It’s been a while since I created a lingerie sewing guide, so today I’m showing you how to sew your own knickers! I’m starting with the very basics, but there will be follow-up guides showing you how to make tie-sides, knickers with cut-outs, high-waisted styles and more.
This guide is designed for someone who has basic knowledge of how to use a sewing machine – whilst you can technically sew a pair of knickers by hand, with all the zig-zag stitching required it’s going to take you a long time! I promise that all you need to make your own pair of knickers is the ability to thread a sewing machine, sew a straight line, and sew a zig-zag stitch. Oh, and the following materials:
2m of elastic – if you’re confident of your sewing skills you can use fold-over elastic which will give a neat, clean edging to your knickers. However, wonky sewing will be obvious, so if you’re a beginner opt for an elastic with a decorative edging such as picot or lace – the wider the decoration, the more it will cover up any small mistakes!
– if you’re confident of your sewing skills you can use fold-over elastic which will give a neat, clean edging to your knickers. However, wonky sewing will be obvious, so if you’re a beginner opt for an elastic with a decorative edging such as picot or lace – the wider the decoration, the more it will cover up any small mistakes! 1/2m of fabric – as a total beginner, something relatively thick such as cotton jersey will be the easiest to sew. Finer fabrics like chiffon, lace and mesh are a bit more tricky to work with. Look for a fabric that is soft and preferably has a slight stretch to it – it will be far more comfortable to wear. If you are going for a ‘fancy’ or printed fabric, you’ll need around 20cm x 10cm of a soft cotton for the gusset (the lining at the crotch) – you can cut this out of an old t-shirt if you like!
– as a total beginner, something relatively thick such as cotton jersey will be the easiest to sew. Finer fabrics like chiffon, lace and mesh are a bit more tricky to work with. Look for a fabric that is soft and preferably has a slight stretch to it – it will be far more comfortable to wear. If you are going for a ‘fancy’ or printed fabric, you’ll need around 20cm x 10cm of a soft cotton for the gusset (the lining at the crotch) – you can cut this out of an old t-shirt if you like! A pattern – for a total beginner, the easiest thing to do is to buy a pattern so you can be sure it won’t go wrong. Alternatively, you can cut up an old pair of knickers and trace around the pieces to make your own – remember to leave about 1/2cm border to allow for seams.
– for a total beginner, the easiest thing to do is to buy a pattern so you can be sure it won’t go wrong. Alternatively, you can cut up an old pair of knickers and trace around the pieces to make your own – remember to leave about 1/2cm border to allow for seams. A sewing machine, scissors and thread
Here’s how to make your own knickers…
Step 1 – Cut The Fabric
Pin your pattern onto the fabric. If you’re using a fabric with no or little stretch you’ll need to pin your pattern pieces on the bias to avoid ending up with baggy knickers (look carefully at which direction the threads run in the fabric and then pin your patterns so that they are diagonal).
Then carefully cut all the way around and unpin the pattern from the fabric. You should have 3 pieces – a front, a back and a gusset.
Step 2 – Sew The Gusset In
Lay your ‘back’ piece down with the front of the fabric facing up. Carefully lay the ‘front’ piece on top, with the front of the fabric facing down, so that the pieces line up at the back of the crotch as shown. Now lay your gusset piece on top with the front of the fabric facing up, so that it overlaps by around 1cm at the end, and pin the 3 pieces together.
Now sew a straight line to secure them.
Next, ‘open out’ the knickers so that the front and back pieces are both facing down. Fold over that 1cm of gusset that you left overlapping, and pin it down onto the back piece.
Sew another straight line to secure it.
Finally, sew a zig-zag stitch down either side of the gusset to fix the gusset and the front piece together.
Step 3 – Add The Elastic
In this example, I’m using frilled elastic and sewing it onto the outside of the knickers which is the easiest option for a beginner. With the front of the fabric facing up, carefully line up your elastic with one of the edges and sew a few zig-zag stitches to secure it in place.
Then pull the elastic taught (but not the fabric) and carefully sew to the end of the edge with a zig-zag stitch.
Repeat for the other edges (the two leg ‘curves’, the front of the waist and the back of the waist).
Step 4 – Sew The Sides
Fold the knickers in half so that the front of the fabric is facing inwards. Line up the front and back pieces at one side of the waist and pin together.
Secure them about 1cm from the edge with a straight stitch and then do a couple of lines with a zig-zag stitch to ensure they’re really fixed together. Trim away any excess fabric. When you flip them over you should see a nice, neat-looking seam.
To finish, repeat for the other side of the knickers and then add any embellishments you want such as bows, buttons or beads – I like to sew big ribbon bows on either side to give the illusion of tie-side knickers! Your knickers are now complete and ready to wear…
I hope you’ve found this guide useful, and if you do have a go at making your own knickers please send in photos to info@estylingerie.com – I love to feature fan submissions on this page!Image copyright Victoria Police
An Australian man is still at large after an exchange with police on Facebook where he asked them to change his mugshot.
Victoria Police posted a public appeal on Monday to locate Daniel Damon who is wanted for failing to answer bail for traffic and drug matters.
Damon replied to the post and to a number of other users commenting on the situation.
He told police he would turn himself in after getting things "organised".
Image copyright other
"Can you use a better photo tho. This is a horrible mugshot," said Damon, 25, in response to the warrant.
"Hi Daniel, please visit your nearest police station and we'll arrange for a new photo to be taken!" police replied.
"Yea I plan on it once I get a few things in order... just gotta organise myself a lawyer and get everything organised," he said.
'Too arrogant'
Police describe Damon as 180cm tall (5ft 11in), medium build, with brown hair and eyes and a fair complexion. He also has numerous body tattoos.
Senior Constable Melissa Seach told the BBC that police were making enquiries to locate him but he had not turned himself in.
She said police officer sometimes used social media as a tool as part of their investigation and it had led to good results in some cases.
"This may encourage someone that may know him to call us and provide information anonymously to crime stoppers," she said.
Damon's post was commented on by various people with some commending his sense of humour.
But most were keen on Damon being brought to justice.
"Yes think you may need that sense of humour where your going Danny boy," said Sue Hartley.
"This bloke is too arrogant for his own good," said Ajay Conodie.
"Victoria Police, he's not very good looking is he? Don't bother with any more photos," said Julie Benic Duck.Pennsylvania Shooter Was Reportedly Targeting Police Officers
Henry Rodgers
Political Reporter
Authorities say they have discovered the motives behind the man who opened fire in Harrisburg, Penn., Friday, leaving an officer wounded and in the hospital.
Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty, 51, who has ties to the Middle East, opened fire at police cars and officers in downtown Harrisburg. The suspect reportedly had at least two rifles and a shotgun on him and fired multiple shots at officers, hitting a state trooper before police fired back at the the gunman, killing him.
The shooting began around 4 p.m and continued on and off until the suspect was taken out around 7 p.m. After some investigating, authorities discovered the suspects motives were directed towards law enforcement.
A bomb squad also arrived on scene to investigate a suspicious device which was found close to where the suspect was killed. The bomb squad found the device to be of no harm.
Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said the FBI was helping to investigate the crime to see if it was an act of terrorism.
“We can’t comment on that at this time,” Marsico told reporters. “But the investigation will continue and it will be thorough.”
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commentsIn the most pointless trade of pointless trades, the Flyers have traded Harry Zolnierczyk to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for goon Jay Rosehill, according to TSN.
Rosehill's a fighter who's played 72 games in the NHL, all with the Toronto Maple Leafs, since making his debut during the 2009-10 season. He's had 198 penalty minutes in those 72 games. He is not much of a hockey player, but he can sure throw his fists around!
Rosehill's played 33 games with Anaheim's AHL affiliate in Norfolk this season but hasn't found his way to the NHL at all. According to HockeyFights.com, he's been in eight AHL fights this season. He dropped the gloves six times in 31 NHL games the year prior.
Harry Zolnierczyk is never going to be more than a fourth-line grinder in the NHL, so this really doesn't matter all that much. But Harry Z does have some hockey skill and some use on a team, and Rosehill can't even put the puck in the net at the AHL level.
We'll see if Rosehill ever makes it to the Flyers. He better not, what with Eric Wellwood and 46 other players on the Phantoms roster who deserve the call up before Rosehill does.He used the line "lost interest in innovation" twice during the interview, but failed to dissuade Sales from continuing along her line of inquiry. Leigh Sales stuck to her line of inquiry. Credit:Screengrab: ABC "If every guest on the program came on and they only got to talk about what they wanted to talk about it would be a very different program. Now listen …" she said. As Sales pivoted from the subject of frontbencher Mal Brough contradicting himself in parliament over the James Ashby controversy to Ian Macfarlane's defection to the Nationals, Turnbull tried to take the rudder. "Let me ask you this question, how interested do you think your audience are…"
"I ask the questions on this program," Sales fired back. Primer Minister Malcolm Turnbull asked Sales is she had "lost interest in innovation". Credit:ABC "Do you think they're more interested in innovation and jobs?" Turnbull continued. "I'll tell you what I think they're interested in. One of your colleagues resigning from the Liberal Party to join the National Party, Ian Macfarlane." Sales responded.
Turnbull also declined to say whether Mal Brough has offered to step aside from the frontbench as he faces a police investigation into whether he asked Ashby, a former staffer of Peter Slipper, to copy the former Speaker's diary. "I don't want to go, with great respect, into discussions between myself and ministers on this matter," he said. In the final minutes of the interview, Sales offered Turnbull "a little gift" as she turned back to the topic of innovation. "How very kind of you," Turnbull said. But as Sales asked the PM whether he thought his political honeymoon would be over once the focus shifted to tough budget decisions, it was clear the gift was not appreciated.
"You often invite me to comment on myself, but that's your job and I don't want to do a work to rule here, but it's very much your responsibility," he said. But Turnbull's failed attempt to innovate the traditional interview format on the hop may not deter the PM, who earlier on Monday expounded the benefits of being given the freedom to fail. In his first interview with Sales after seizing the Prime Ministership from Tony Abbott, Turnbull flagged his new approach to interviews, speaking of a "paradigm shift" that would do away with the "Canberra games" of ruling in and ruling out every incremental decision for a hungry media.Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a videoconference about a new oil-drilling platform in the Arkutun-Dagi field of the Sea of Okhotsk, which is about 15 miles off the coast.
Perhaps more interesting than the oil and gas project, which Russia says is the country’s largest, is the glimpse of the type of digs Putin hangs out in — including a large white table and video wall fit for a Bond villain.
The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now
Technologywise, it seems he has a three-camera video-conferencing system, some strange-looking phones and what looks like a very large tablet. State of the art, if we were living in 1989.
Stylewise, the theme seems more like the A View to a Kill–era Bond than the sleek 1960s production design of Goldfinger — though it’s not too hard to imagine a British superspy strapped to that white table, a laser beam slowly moving toward the seam of his pants.
(h/t @maxseddon)
Write to Nolan Feeney at nolan.feeney@time.com.Israel's El Al Airlines is facing criticism for a new policy that requires female flight attendants to wear high heels until all passengers have boarded.
Under a previous policy, female El Al flight attendants were required to wear high heels at the airport, but could change into flats on the plane before passenger boarding.
The airline has defended its directive to attendants to wear "presentable shoes."
“It should be noted that this practice is accepted in the airline industry worldwide,” an airline spokeswoman said. However, the workers union of El Al instructed its female flight attendants Tuesday to ignore the new set of rules.
“I am not convinced that high heels are an absolute condition for women’s presentability, and certainly not for a female flight attendant who is required as part of her job to be on her feet for extended periods,” Galia Wallach, CEO of women's group Na’amat, wrote in a letter to El Al CEO David Maimon, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The union said the policy would impact the flight attendants' safety and health, calling El Al's stance "aggressive."
El Al is not the first airline to receive criticism for policies requiring female flight attendants to wear high heels. In 2008, UK watchdog Trades Union Council criticized British airlines with similar policies "blatantly sexist."
Several aviation professionals have also criticized the decision as unethical, unhealthy and possibly counter to safety, according to Haaretz.
"The company revises its service protocols regularly and it was decided in that framework to require female flight attendants to wear formal shoes while receiving the passengers to the flight," El Al's Vice President Customer Services Yehudit Grisaru said in a statement. "Immediately after the seating phase and throughout the flight itself, they wear work shoes."
@haaretzcom Male and female flight attendants must wear high heels I presume :) — suzanne fitzpatrick (@suzannefitzp) June 16, 2015
Hundreds of ELAL Israeli flight attendants signed a petition against the company for forcing them to work in high-heels. — Rebecca Griffin (@dorothyofisrael) June 14, 2015
I'm in favor of the "No High Heels" protest, over El Al Airlines requiring female flight attendants to wear high heels. — Sherri (@SherriPizza) June 15, 2015
A study released earlier this month in the U.S. found that the number of high-heel related injuries has spiked in recent years.
Female Israeli lawmakers and a women's group have called on El Al to dump the policy.
Additional reporting by the Associated PressInternet streaming service Netflix recently announced it will attempt to block virtual private networks, or VPNs, which mask a user's Internet protocol address. If successful, some Netflix content might not be available in many overseas locations.
MANAMA, Bahrain — Some U.S. military personnel living overseas might soon be unable to watch movies and their favorite TV shows on the popular Internet streaming service Netflix.
Netflix recently announced it would increase efforts to block customers who have been circumventing geographical restrictions by going through a virtual private network, or VPN, to gain access to the company’s U.S. content. VPNs mask the user’s Internet protocol address, tricking websites into believing the user is located somewhere he’s not.
Netflix — which now provides its streaming service in more than 190 countries — says current licensing agreements with networks and studios do not allow all of its content to be shown globally and, therefore, the use of VPNs violates company policy.
“Netflix always exempts U.S. military bases around the world,” said Anne Marie Squeo, a spokeswoman for Netflix. “They will still be able to access the U.S. catalog.”
However, many servicemembers overseas live off base.
Though Netflix is now available in most locations where U.S. servicemembers are stationed, the amount and type of content available to those off base depend on the licensing agreements. Using a VPN gives the viewer more options.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Shaundell Wright, a quartermaster with Yokosuka Navy Base’s Port Operations Dispatch, said being stationed overseas can be culturally disorientating. Being able to access American media on Netflix allows her and her friends to feel closer to home, she said.
“For me Netflix is a way of being home. It boosts your morale by letting you watch the things you would be able to see at home,” Wright said. “We are already in a foreign country and everything is so different. So, to be able to watch Netflix feels good.”
The move to shut down the VPN work-around isn’t sitting well with some Netflix users.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jesse Fowler, a hospital corpsman stationed in Bahrain, said that when he reviewed the content available in Bahrain, he was happy with the overall selection, but he noticed that a couple of shows he normally watches were missing.
Accessibility to more countries around the world is great, Fowler said, “but I’m mad if I can’t change where my Internet is so I can’t watch my own shows.”
Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Cutright, a Navy counselor, who is also in Bahrain, agreed.
“My VPN hasn’t been blocked,” Cutright said. “But if it does, I will be pissed. Netflix Bahrain is trash.”
Some experts question if Netflix will be successful in its attempt to block VPNs.
“There’s some low-hanging fruit they can get,” Karl Kathuria, the chief executive of Siphon Inc., which runs proxy technologies for users in countries like Iran and China that censor the Internet, told Wired.com. “But once you get past the standard VPN, the ones that have a limited infrastructure, after that, it’s going to start to get a bit more difficult.”
VPN providers also are confident they can create work-arounds to limit Netflix’s attempts.
“[If] Netflix blocks our server’s IP addresses, we are able to replace our server IPs just as readily,” Faraz Ali told Wired.com. “And if they have a plan to block the entire network, we are able to replace it in a matter of days to get around the blockage.”
Even Netflix has expressed concern about its ability to enforce VPN blocks.
“We do apply industry standard technologies to limit the use of proxies,” Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt told the Globe and Mail in an interview at the CES 2016 convention in Las Vegas. “Since the goal of the proxy guys is to hide the source it’s not obvious how to make that work well. It’s likely to always be a cat-and-mouse game.”
For now, Netflix isn’t worried about public reaction to the VPN restrictions.
“We are not concerned that U.S. subscriber numbers will fall,” the company said in a statement to Stars and Stripes. Servicemembers, no matter where they’re watching, should find value in “our diverse slate of originals and licensed programming.”
The company says it will spend $5 billion in the next year in hopes that eventually all its content will be available to all its subscribers, regardless of location.
The goal is to eventually make all Netflix content available globally, David Fullagar, vice president of content delivery architecture at Netflix, said in a statement on the company website. “We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Tyler Hlavac contributed to this article.OK, we're going to pause the story tracker for now. Live coverage will continue now on our shuttle live blog. Let's hope it goes up today!
The BBC's John Amos has tweeted this:
So, the weather has gone "green". There's more cloud coming but with an hour until launch, we're currently good to go.
Looks like it might actually happen!
Video from Nasa earlier showing Atlantis being rolled out to the launch pad
Latest from the Nasa live blog:
One hour away from the planned 11:26 a.m. liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis, weather remains the big question mark. The launch team is not working on any technical issues. The T-9 minute hold begins shortly.
From Nasa:
Before leaving the White Room for what may be the final time, each member of the Closeout Crew held up signs bearing the following message: "On behalf of all who have designed and built, serviced and loaded, launched and controlled, operated and flown these magnificent space vehicles... Thank you for 30 years with our nation's space shuttles! Godspeed Atlantis! God bless America!"
This is a thing of beauty. An audio slideshow of Astronauts Piers Sellers and Scott Altman talking about the experience of flying in the shuttle with stunning images. It is jaw-dropping stuff.
The countdown clock has reached T-1 hour, but there are still two built-in holds in the schedule that will bring us to the target launch time of 4.26pm BST. The next hold is at T-20 minutes.
The Guardian's Colin Blackstock, who is making his way to the shuttle launch area in Florida, has just sent this update on his progress:
Although the forecasters are predicting only a 30% chance of suitable weather for a launch decided to take those odds and left Orlando this morning around 8am. That's despite speculation that upwards of 750,000 are going to be heading for the space coast and warnings that traffic could be gridlocked most of the 50 mile or so journey. After about 20 miles the main road to the east coast, the beachline express, is still reasonably clear, although they appear to have closed the toll booths to keep traffic running smoothly. Decided to head for Cocoa Beach, south of CC launch site, to try to watch the launch as it sounded like Titusville where views are better was going
to be too busy, with roads in that area gridlocked from around 7am. Heading east the cloud cover looks like it might be beginning to break up so fingers crossed that it continues to clear.
Richard Luscombe, who is covering the launch for us, is at Jetty Park, Cape Canaveral, just north of Cocoa Beach. He's been talking to the mayor of Titusville:
Jim Tulley blagged himself one of the best vantage points for the launch, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he wrote computer software for the space shuttle programme for more than a quarter of a century.
The former Kennedy Space Centre employee is mingling with the crowds at the aptly named Space View Park in Titusville, which has a direct and unobstructed across the Indian River to the waterfront.
Tulley has been mayor of the town for almost three years and says he wouldn't want to be anywhere else for such an historic moment. The park has a trail of astronaut memorials, including handprints of the 1960s Mercury programme pioneers, and a live commentary from launch control is being broadcast over loudspeakers.
"It's a bitter-sweet moment for everyone here," says Tulley, who was walking anxiously around the site this morning making sure there were enough Porta-Potties for the assembled thousands.
"Launches are breathtaking but to actually be part of it, to be the technician who has his hands on the vehicle, the tech that helps the astronauts get on board or someone like myself who wrote the software to keep the project moving forward, we'd love to have had shuttle flights continue.
"But the day will come for most of us when we will look back at what we've accomplished with a great deal of pride. Once Atlantis returns and they put it on display at the Kennedy Space Centre, there'll be lots of people who take their grandchildren to that display and say, 'See that, I worked on that, we built that, we launched it, we helped build the International Space Station'."
The Atlantis crew have taken their seats aboard the space shuttle. For this last mission, only four astronauts are involved, instead of the usual six or seven. That's because there is no shuttle on standby to rescue the Atlantis crew should it suffer damage during launch.
If Atlantis cannot be flown home at the end of this mission, the astronauts will hunker down on the International Space Station – for up to a year – and come home one by one on Russian Soyuz capsules.
Commander Chris Ferguson was first aboard. He sits on the lefthand side at the front of the shuttle. On his right is the pilot, Doug Hurley. Behind and to the right of Hurley is mission specialist Sandy Magnus. And last in was mission specialist Rex Walheim. He's sat in the centre of the flight deck's second row, behind the commander and pilot.
Walheim gave this parting comment on boarding:
The Space Shuttle Program has been amazing, what it's done, all the great accomplishments, and you just don't want to let that momentum down, and so there is a lot of pressure to do your job right and to, and like I say, to finish strong.
The latest from Alok Jha, our man on the ground:
@alokjha Unofficial statement from @nasa suggests #sts135 is 50% on.
The Atlantis crew has arrived at the launchpad. A few photographs and they'll head into the lift up to the 195 foot level. Then it's into the White Room until they are ready to clamber aboard.
The countdown allows up to 50 minutes for the astronauts to climb aboard and get strapped in. Since there are only four astronauts on this final space shuttle crew, all four are riding to and from orbit on Atlantis' flight deck, with no one on the middeck below.
Atlantis launch director, Mike Leinbach, has told his team: "We have a shot at this today." There is no change with the weather forecast though - still only a 30% chance conditions will be favourable for a launch.
From the Nasa live launch blog:
Supporters have lined the hallways and gathered outside the door downstairs, and the astronauts are met with cheers as they wave to the crowd and board the van. The crew is accompanied to the pad by a suit technician who will join the Closeout Crew.
The Atlantis crew is walking out. From here, they'll hop on a bus and drive slowly over to the launchpad, get in the lift and head up to the gantry, where they wait in turn to enter the shuttle.
Here's how shuttle veteran Piers Sellers described this part of launch day to me last week:
The van, in a little convoy, trundles out the few miles to the pad. It is a morale boost because you go past all the shuttle engineers and techs all waving on the way. But there are fewer and fewer people as you get out to the pad and by the time you get out there there are just the actual pad rats, the crews that work the vehicle. Up the elevator, up to the 195 foot level and now it's just you and a few people in white suits who are there to load you in. You stand around on the platform waiting. And there are two things to do while you are waiting. One is there's a handset phone there so you can phone people if you are one of the last people to be loaded onboard and two, there is an old prison toilet nailed to a piece of plywood up on that level, so you can go and use that, which is probably a good idea.
Meanwhile Nasa tweets:
Clocks in the Kennedy Space Center Launch Control Center have resumed counting from T-3 hours.
A built-in hold in the countdown for the shuttle launch is due to end shortly. The countdown should resume at 7:31 am Florida time / 12.31pm BST.
The latest from the Nasa live launch blog at Kennedy Space Centre:
After a meal, a photo op, a weather briefing and a medical check, the astronauts have made it to the suit-up room to climb into their Advanced Crew Escape Suits, or ACES. These suits provide air, pressure and pockets for survival tools and other items. The bulky, orange suits are not easy to put on, so the astronauts are helped by suit technicians from the astronauts' home base at Johnson Space Center. The suit-up room carries a rich history; every space shuttle crew and Apollo astronaut dressed for launch here.
This morning's countdown to liftoff of shuttle Atlantis continues to go smoothly, with weather still the only concern. The forecast remains 30 percent "go" with a chance for showers and thunderstorms within 20 nautical miles of the Shuttle Landing Facility, flight through precipitation and cumulus clouds.
More from the Nasa live launch blog here.
@NASA: Shuttle Atlantis |
pull away from mine in front of strangers and I've read enough comments about my weight on Facebook to know that loving me is a struggle—not merely for my faults but also because of what our communities inform us about what is and what is not attractive.
I can't know what turmoil exists in Lily Cade. I don't know what motivates her to make her disgust of trans bodies the compulsory standard of the lesbian porn genre. I don't know why she and her followers are so invested in causing tenable harm against trans woman by labeling Chelsea Poe a rapist. But I do understand why she thinks she's a good person for doing it, and how her actions have been informed by cultural prejudices. Because even though she has repeatedly harassed my community, I still yearn to educate, to calmly explain—to ingratiate myself in the hopes that through my humility and vulnerability I can convince them to show compassion to trans women, who are murdered at a rate of 1 per 36 hours and desperately need mainstream visibility and corresponding cultural acceptance of their bodies to survive.
But telling my dad that I loved him never stopped his hand. Not once. Not even when I maybe meant it.
Placing my body between his and my mother's taught me something I wish I didn't need to know: Never let your love of something, anything, allow it to kill you.
I and other trans women performers will not remain sequestered on the outskirts of respect. We deserve to be safe. We deserve to live, even at the cost of your flawed, incomplete grasp of lesbian identity that is compulsorily contingent on biology, and I can't believe we need to have this fucking discussion on how resisting biological essentialism is the foundation of feminism.
Also: We are attractive. Our bodies are not gross or undesirable for any deficit in aesthetic wonder, but because you can employ your position and privilege to convince others of our ugliness. See also: racism in the lesbian community.
I don't care how many books you've read or how many feminist awards you've received: If your response to a trans woman asking for visibility and acceptance in your community is to call her a rapist and tell her that "nobody would want her," you recreate the systemic violence you yourself are trying to escape.
You are an abuser, and a tool. One who will never dismantle the master's house.
You're also a liar. The amount of attention that you, and society in general, give to trans women is clearly indicative of some sort of attraction. Maybe not any sexual attraction that you're willing to confess, but when someone says a thing on the Internet that I don't like, I tell them they're wrong and block them. I don't conspire in communities to ruin that person's reputation. That's an effect of toxic, entitled attraction.Dick Giordano was born July 20, 1932 in New York City. He studied at the School of Industrial Art, and began his comic-book career in 1951 working on Fiction House’s Sheena for the Jerry Iger Studio. His affiliation with Charlton Comics began in 1952 and ended in 1968 when he moved to an editorial position at DC Comics (then National Periodical Publications).
Giordano is as well-known — and well-loved — for his editorial skills as he is for his considerable talent as an artist. His editorial experience at Charlton (from 1966 to ’68) served him well at National, where he proceeded to become one of the company’s most artistically successful editors. (His titles have been lamented because of their failed sales record and praised for their energetic editorial quality.) He not only gave a new vitality to National’s established titles — such as Blackhawk, Aquaman, and Teen Titans — but established himself as an editorial whiz with such titles as Steve Ditko’s Beware the Creeper and Hawk & Dove, as well as The Secret Six, written by Joe Gill, and drawn by Jack Sparling.
Within the context of mainstream comics, Giordano’s books redefined their standards, and proved that even within the confines of mass-market comics, a superior editorial approach can shape and enhance — even galvanize — the artists’ and writers’ work. His books were lively, fresh, original, and, like Giordano himself, reflected a genuine enthusiasm for the genre.
In addition to his unique ability to cultivate talent, he is one of comics’ most accomplished and disciplined craftsmen. His sharp, angular inking could be mistaken for cold-edged harshness, even utilitarianism, but it belies the considered judgment and singular appropriateness he brings to each artist he inks. Compare his inking on two such dissimilar artists as Neal Adams and Alex Toth, and notice how much he adds to both men’s work by approaching them differently, and yet retaining his own crisp signature. As someone who has always been suspicious of an inker’s role in the production of comics art, I found Giordano’s thoughts on the matter especially illuminating.
He’s also that rarest of all things — an optimistic realist. He’s one of the few artists I know in the comics business who recognizes (and deplores) the immense limitations of commercial comics. As a result, he’s refreshingly honest about his approach to his art: he balances his routine comics work with his more experimental material in alternative markets — notably Sojourn and Star*Reach. He is more interested in the art of storytelling than he is in endless rendering technique, so his emphasis is on the narrative (another rare quality among comics artists!), which may have been the key to his editorial success.
In addition to being multi-talented, he’s also among the most scrupulously fair-minded individuals in the comics industry. Talking to Dick for five hours is a privilege, and I hope our readers share that feeling upon reading this interview.
—GARY GROTH
This interview was conducted in Dick Giordano’s studio in Stratford, CT in September, 1980. It was transcribed by Gary Groth, edited by Kim Thompson, and copy-edited by Giordano.
GARY GROTH: Why don’t we start with the most topical reference — that is, your editorial position at DC. Can you articulate the specific editorial point of view you’re attempting to bring to these books?
DICK GIORDANO: That’s a tough question. It encompasses an awful lot of things. My first responsibility is, to my mind, to my reader, not to my publisher or anyone else. The only way I can do that is to edit comic books that I feel comfortable with. That’s the way I edited before. I can’t do it any other way. I have a feeling that if I think, “My reader is a 13 or a 14 year old,” and come up with a profile based on age, what I’m going to do is write down to them. So, I can’t approach it that way. I have to go by what I think is fun to read. Perhaps that means I’m 13 or 14 years old. [Laughter.] I’m not sure. But, that’s the way I edit comics. I’m bored with reading some of the things that I read today, so I’m going to DC and edit some comic books that I might have some fun reading. I will then hope that everyone else who buys that comic book agrees with my taste and will enjoy reading it.
Any time that I’ve edited in the past — both at Charlton and at DC — that was my attitude: I’m putting together a book for me and if you like it, fine. If you don’t, I’m not going to change anything.
GROTH: The books you edited for DC 12 years ago had a special quality. They were fresh, they were entertaining, they were interesting. Can you describe what your editorial approach at the time was? How did you get the best out of the people you worked with — Denny O’Neil, Nick Cardy, and others?
GIORDANO: It’s simple. I think you answered the question: The people I worked with. I tried to establish a situation where we were all working together, perhaps having some fun in the process. The work part of it was pushed into the background, and the fun part was upfront, so we were all doing comic books that we wanted to do. You mentioned Denny O’Neil. When Denny started working with me at Charlton, I said to Denny, “You probably won’t make any money, working with us, but we’ll have a lot of fun.”He has since admitted that that was exactly true. He made absolutely no money, but we had a lot of fun. I tried to keep that feeling when I got to DC, and I’m trying to do the same thing now. It’s a personal thing with me. I have been able to keep my enthusiasm — through 30 years of being in the comics industry — by not thinking of it as work. I get up in the morning and I sit down at a drawing table and I do something that I want to do, and to me that’s fun. As long as you can keep it that way, it’s never work. It’s kind of a hobby, a surprising hobby because at the end of the week somebody gives me a check for it. Not too many hobbies can claim that.
If I can create the kind of atmosphere where the people I am working with feel as if they’re enjoying themselves and can do things that they want to do, they’re going to do better work than if they are told, “This is the way it is, fella, shape up or you don’t get paid next week.” I really don’t believe that that’s the way to create anything, much less comic books.
You have to have a very special reason to be in the comics industry at any level because there isn’t a whole lot to recommend it. It doesn’t pay well, there are no residuals, there are so many factors that tell you, “Don’t get into the comics industry.” You have to have a real desire to do it, and I attempt to play on that desire with the people that I’m working with and to make them do things that they enjoy doing rather than what they need to do in order to get paid next week.
GROTH: What attracts you to comics, personally?
GIORDANO: I think if I sat down to analyze that I’d come up with a bunch of zeros. I’m not really sure. It’s something like what attracts you to sex. Articulate that for me. It feels good? Will that do it? It feels good.
Storytelling has something to do with it. I think of myself more as a storyteller than as an artist or an editor. That’s my main function in the comics industry, to tell stories and entertain. I have the opportunity to do storyboards and camps [advertising layouts] and make a lot more money. And I’m bored to tears by it. I would rather sit down and ink a Ross Andru cover. I enjoy doing that. I don’t enjoy doing the storyboards and the comps. In terms of how much time I’ve spent on the piece, I might get two or three times the amount of money for doing the comp than I get for doing a Ross Andru cover. But there’s just something I find more interesting about comic books.
I suppose part of it goes back to my being intrigued with comics when I was a kid. I was sickly and I spent a lot of time in bed. One day in the late ’30s. my father came into the room and plunked a Famous Funnies down on my bed — I was 3 or 4 years old — and I’ve been hooked ever since.
GROTH: That seems to be a pretty normal progression. Those of us who are interested in comics now seemed to have an inordinate interest in comics when we were kids.
GIORDANO: Yeah. I was mesmerized by them. I can’t tell you the feeling I had looking at comic books, even before I could read, and being so engrossed with them. I was literally penciling and writing and inking my own comics when I was 7 years old. It captivated me. I can remember my feelings at reading the early Batman issues with the Joker. You don’t know how much of a kick it is for me to have control over those characters now, because they turned me on to comics when I was — what? — 9. I’m talking about ’40 or ’41. I was born in ’32. I was a little kid. I got turned on to the Joker’s white face, and to the feeling of a bat-man. It’s still with me. I still consider that the best superhero character, certainly the best at DC, is Batman.
GROTH: Why do you feel it’s the best character?
GIORDANO: I suppose, partly because he’s not superpowered. The fantasy aspect of comics is very important, but there are times when I feel fantasy goes further than I can accept easily. If you recall my efforts at Charlton, not one of my characters was superpowered, with the possible exception of Captain Atom, which someone created before I got there and I didn’t have too much to do with it. But every other hero was just a normal guy who was well-trained or had some special weapons. To me, that’s always been more interesting. A guy who was not immortal, a person who could be hurt, and who was aided by some superior training or superior technology.
GROTH: Do you feel there’s more potential for that sort of character?
GIORDANO: There’s more you can do with it. I’ve always been a little disturbed by a character like Superman. The only suspense in a Superman story is how he’ll prevail since you know he’s going to come out the winner. That isn’t as true with Batman. Obviously you know he will prevail or there won’t be Batman #339 or whatever the next issue is. But, his physical vulnerability makes him considerably different than the Superman character. It gives me more things to worry about as an editor or as an artist. There’s more suspense that you can build into a Batman story than you can into a Superman story. For a time kryptonite was the only thing that Superman was vulnerable to, and they came up with all kinds of hokey stories to bring kryptonite into it to increase that feeling of suspense.
I admire Julie Schwartz so much because he’s able to do as much as he can with a character that I feel is a limited character.
GROTH: What have you thought of Batman under Paul Levitz’s editorship?
GIORDANO: That’s probably the trickiest question you’ve asked me so far.
GROTH: They get worse. [Laughter.]
GIORDANO: I don’t find anything about it that I’m dissatisfied with. I can’t criticize Paul for anything that he’s done because he picked up Batman where it was and carried it logically to where it is. I have no qualms with that. What I object to is where Batman was when Paul Levitz picked it up. I am going to try to get a little closer to the original version. The original Batman, to my mind, is still the most perfect version of Batman. I don’t know if we could go along with Batman’s costume inspiring fear in wrongdoers any more. He’s been around too long. Criminals should pretty much expect him to show up just as they expect a policeman to show up. But, aside from that, I want to try to re-establish the original relationships, between Bruce and Dick, Batman and Robin, and all of them with Commissioner Gordon. I would like to get Bruce Wayne and Batman to be two different people; they’re pretty much the same person now. I’m going to try to deal with his obsession with crime and particularly with petty criminals. That obsession will be modified by staying away from that type of story for a while. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with his feeling that way about criminals, but I think to have everything that he does and everything that he says concerned with that obsession might be a little bit too much Johnny-One-Note for my tastes. I would like a broader personality for both Batman and Bruce. I have no idea at all how we’re going to accomplish these things, because I’m not going to make that decision unilaterally. It’s going to be decided by the people who are writing the material, the people who are drawing the material, and myself. Someday we will sit down — or, more probably, get a conference call together since everybody I’m working with is scattered all over the country — and work those details out.
GROTH: I don ‘t want to pry, but could you tell me what you feel DC expects of you as an editor? Obviously you talked with the management at DC...
GIORDANO: I’m not really sure. I have a feeling that they expect me to maintain the status quo to some degree, insofar as they would like that I not lose any readership we now have. I don’t think they want me to avoid making changes in the characterization. But, as near as I can tell, the main reason I was hired has to do with projects other than my normal comic-book activities. It’s called Special Projects. I don’t know how that translates to someone who isn’t aware of what special projects are. One thing I might be involved in, I was told yesterday, was a series of career books — public-service kind of comic books that will help young people choose careers. I know no more than that. It might involve DC characters, it might not. But we’re going to be producing these books. That means that I’ll be responsible as the editor of these projects to come up with the concept and then with the scripts to match that concept, then the art and so forth.
I know not a lot of fans like to hear this, but the fact of the matter is that a great deal of money is made by the major comic-book companies on projects that have absolutely nothing to do with the sale of newsstand comics. The Radio Shack job that was offered as a freebie was one such. That’s money in the bank. Quite frankly, they were able to hire me at the kind of money that I would have to have because I would be involved in these special projects.
How valuable what I do on Detective, Brave and Bold, and Batman will be in terms of how much money it will generate, how much cash-flow it will generate, is kind of nebulous. Six months after I close my first issue they’ll start to get sales reports. They couldn’t afford to hire me just to edit newsstand comics.
GROTH: So DC isn’t just utilizing your editorial capabilities, but your facilities here at your agency as well.
GIORDANO: To some degree. Some work may be coming here, but that’s not the big thing. The big thing is that over the past three years I’ve been involved in those special projects as an artist. I probably have a greater background in that area than almost anyone else. It made it possible for them to offer me the kind of money I would need in order to make the switch, but it also gave them the ability to not have the problem of someone else in the company saying, “Hey, I could do that job!” The fact is, they can’t. I’ve had that kind of background they lack. Additionally. I’m one of the few people who can edit comic books that also has a very good knowledge of reproduction methods and production techniques, which is also going to be part of that special projects thing. So, the two combined made it possible for them to put together a package of duties and money that were more than palatable. After my job was outlined for me, there was hardly any way I could turn it down. If I were to have a written description of a job that I would accept it would have come damn close to the conversation I had with Jenette Kahn.
GROTH: When you quit your editorial post at DC before, you said you quit because, “I found I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do. I thought I could help Carmine [Infantino] and National more as an artist than as an editor since I was headed in one direction and they were headed in another direction, diametrically opposed in many cases. “* Has that situation changed at DC since then?
GIORDANO: Oh, yes, definitely, or I wouldn’t go back there.
GROTH: Could you juxtapose the two situations then and now, as you perceive them?
GIORDANO: As best I can. I want to point out before I do that anything that might sound like a direct criticism of Carmine is unintentional. Personally Carmine and I get along very well. It’s just that Carmine’s approach to what we should be doing and mine were diametrically opposed, and that’s not true with Jenette Kahn. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I’m taking this job is that I’ve come to appreciate Jenette Kahn’s abilities and her efforts at DC so much during the past two or three years that I’ve found that not only could I work for her, but I really wanted to. I found her attitudes about publishing were so close to what I would want to do that I offered my services before the job was offered to me. I told Paul [Levitz], “If an opening comes up. I’m available. Maybe we can’t come to terms, but if an opening comes up, I’d want to talk about it.” This is directly linked to my feelings about Jenette Kahn’s work there. Jenette seems to have the understanding of what’s good for the company and what’s good for the creative people. She maintains a balance. She understands the needs of the creative people and knows what needs to be done in order to get them to do their work properly and to enjoy it. She also understands that she has a responsibility to the company.
In my mind I’ve never been able to separate labor from management. The two are intertwined. The success of one is dependent upon the success of the other. She seems to understand that, and walks the line between keeping Warner Communications happy and keeping her creative people and her editorial staff happy by very simply using an intelligent approach to what needs to be done so that everyone is doing what they’re supposed to and everyone comes to some sort of profit by what they’re doing.
GROTH: How would you describe Jenette’s editorial policy or approach?
GIORDANO: If you mean editorial limitations, there really aren’t any as far as I can tell. In a conversation yesterday, it came out that if I wanted to marry off Bruce Wayne I might have to ask someone before I could do that. But anything short of that, I would pretty much have control over my material. If I wanted to do something special with Batman I would have to tell the editors of World’s Finest and Justice League so that they would not introduce storylines that would interfere with what I had in mind.
GROTH: Is it a myth that ever since the Implosion [in which DC canceled 20 series], Jenette Kahn has been an invisible presence at DC?
GIORDANO: In my experience she has not been an invisible presence. I’ve heard the criticism both before that and since then. Perhaps she’s not visible at all times and some of the troops miss her, but she’s there, she’s controlling what’s happening. She’s totally in control and I admire her for that. She’s involved in a way that I find absolutely amazing. At this conversation that we had at which she offered me this job, I spoke about a script that I was drawing and she told me things about that script that indicated that she’d read it, understood it, and knew something about what we were trying to do. Of course, the script was for Detective #500 and maybe that was special. But the fact was, she knew what was happening, she knows the characters that are in the books, she knows the stories that are written for them. That wasn’t so with Carmine or, I suspect, with Stan Lee. They were never as totally in control as she is.
Each month there is at least one editorial meeting, usually a lunch meeting in Jenette’s office, where we discuss what we’re doing so that she can be brought up to date. If she’s invisible, she’s invisible to people that don’t need to see her. The people that need to see her are aware of her presence and of her influence on the magazines.
GROTH: Has there been a tangible improvement or overall effect due to Jenette’s editorial approach in the comics line?
GIORDANO: In the comic books themselves?
GROTH: Yes.
GIORDANO: That’s a tough question to answer because when you’re evaluating the quality of material it must be a subjective evaluation. It’s your opinion against mine against his opinion, against the opinions of the people who buy comic books. I really have no way to satisfactorily answer that. I do know, though, that DC generally is more cohesive now than before. There is a great deal more attention paid to keeping a character consistent within several books than there has been in the past.
I think that there are some things that need improvement, but if there weren’t things that needed improvement,why would they want to hire someone new? I think there are a lot of things that need improvement at Marvel, too. Unfortunately. I’m not going to have the opportunity to do anything about that.
Again, this is going to be something that not everybody’s going to want to hear, but comic books have a reason to exist other than for enjoyment of someone who buys a comic book at a newsstand. The operation at DC is the most integrated, cohesive, and coordinated operation that I’ve ever seen. The Implosion that you spoke about had the effect of promoting Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman by eliminating secondary titles. Although that might not have been the main reason, the fact is that those are the most merchandisable characters in the DC line and the ones that are the most popular in Europe and in the Orient where licensing of the comic books takes place. What they did was to create a better atmosphere for the entire line and allow them to make more money last year than they had the year before. The Implosion was really an explosion in terms of generating dollars. I don’t want to hear that either, but that’s what they’re in business for. If you want Warner Communications to keep DC Comics running, they have to see black ink at the end of the year.
GROTH: What you’re saying is that they discarded all their marginal characters and marginal books and kept the superstars.
GIORDANO: The marginal characters and books could not do anything but make a few bucks at newsstands. I don’t think that anyone who’s talked about comic books has ever sat down with a pencil and figured out the profit potential of a comic book at the newsstand. Start out with the fact that the publisher gets — gross — 50% of the cover price from the wholesaler. It’s somewhat less from direct sales, but from the wholesaler he gets 50% of the cover price, 25 cents on a, say, 300,000 print run. These days a 40% sale is considered good. What’s 40% of 300,000? One hundred twenty thousand times 25 cents. You deduct from that the distributor’s fee, the amount of money it takes to accept returns, the amount of money it costs to produce the material and distribute it and you end up with a $400.00 profit or something like that. It really comes down to that.
If you take a marginal character and you get a 40% sale, you’re making three or four hundred dollars on it. Well, maybe that’s not bad, but the fact is if you make three or four hundred dollars on Superman, after you’re finished with merchandising and foreign sales that three or four hundred dollars turns into considerably more than that. It makes it possible to pay higher rates, which DC is now doing, and to pay substantial bonuses, which they did at Christmastime. Many of us got a Christmas bonus which was totally unexpected and very, very welcome last year. It was a considerable amount of money because they did well during the Implosion. [Laughter.]
GROTH: Of course, all the books you edited featured marginal characters — Creeper, Hawk and the Dove, Bat Lash.
GIORDANO: Oh, sure. They all did badly, too. That in itself would have been a good reason not to do too much of that. I have to admit that experimentation is more fun than doing Superman and Batman over and over again. I think that the fact that I’m getting one brand new book to experiment with takes the stigma off having to do Batman over and over again the same way. I’m talking about the sword-and-sorcery book that I’ll be doing with Roy Thomas. That’ll be fun. I’ll have three steady, safe books and one that I can experiment with as opposed to eight that were all experimental.
GROTH: How experimental can a sword-and-sorcery comic be?
GIORDANO: Yeah… well… [Laughter.] You know what the big problem is? There’s a book around called Conan. To me, that’s the biggest problem, made worse because we’re going to have the same writer. My first edict is that it’s not going to be anything like Conan. It’s not going to look like him, sound like him, feel like him, anything. And that’s pretty tough. Particularly given the fact that it’s the same writer and an editor who likes Conan. [Laughter.]
GROTH: Can a leopard change its spots?
GIORDANO: I’m not sure. I wish I could say to you, “Gary, babe, I’m gonna go down there and break the mold.” I really don’t know that I am. I know that I’m going to try — for myself. I have no illusions about it. I’m not going to save DC; I’m going to try because if I can’t enjoy what I’m doing I know I’m not going to do it long. I’m hoping that I’ll have something to do that’s exciting enough to keep me at it for 17 years. They have a retirement plan that’s worth staying there for, but if I can’t get excited about what I’m doing, the retirement plan goes down the pipe like everything else. I don’t know if it will change or not, I don’t know whether I can have an influence on it… I don ‘t know whether anybody else cares [laughter].The following includes information on preparing to play the Mac version of FINAL FANTASY XIV, and important notices regarding certain game-related features.■Before Using the Mac VersionPlease look over the Mac Play Guide on the following page for information on important topics such as installing the game, controls, and navigation of the user interface:■Mac Version System RequirementsPlease ensure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements shown on the following page:■Warning for Users Who Started Up FFXIV Before Service BeganWe have confirmed an issue wherein unintended files were created if you started up the Mac version of FINAL FANTASY XIV before Jun. 23, 2015 12:00 a.m. (PDT).To resolve this issue, please delete the files located in ~/Library/Application Support/FINAL FANTASY XIV/■IME (input method editor) SupportThe Mac version of FINAL FANTASY XIV supports the OS’s default IME to input special text characters.Please note that any other IMEs may cause text input to not function properly.We are currently focusing on finding ways to display IME mode changes while in fullscreen mode. Further information on this will be provided as it becomes available.■Transferring Configuration Settings from Windows to MacUsers can back up their game settings from the Windows version and transfer them to the Mac version.Please look over the “Backing Up Game Settings” section in the Mac Play Guide:Please note however that the backup file cannot be used while it is still on a USB device.During the comic’s long hiatus, Star Wars returned and broke my heart.
Don’t get me wrong, what Disney and J.J. Abrams accomplished with “The Force Awakens” was a major achievement. They managed to produce a Star Wars movie that captured the fun and spirit of the Original Trilogy, and created a new set of characters that we actually cared about and couldn’t wait to see more of in future films. I thought the movie had a few flaws, such as a puzzling, almost carbon-copy of the finale of “A New Hope,” but I could live with those.
What I couldn’t live with was *SPOILERS* the death of Han Solo and the way in which it happened. That moment just sucked the wind out of the theater for me. And I had already spent the whole film dreading it would happen, since I knew of Harrison Ford’s unfulfilled desire to kill Han in “Return of the Jedi,” and the fact that a shocked man about my age had wandered forlornly out of the showing before mine saying he was still “processing” what he had seen. I was pretty sure I knew what that meant.
I think if Han had heroically sacrificed himself and the Falcon to destroy Starkiller Base after the Resistance attack failed, I would have been pretty satisfied with that. But the way it did happen… the moment he walked onto that bridge, you knew he was doomed. I appreciate that he was willing to risk everything to try and save his son, but the way he attempted it was so suicidal, not really in-character for Han. It was telegraphed, by-the-numbers and – yes, I get that he had to die that way to further Kylo’s story – but I just hated it. To make it worse, could Leia (God bless Carrie Fisher.) have poured on the guilt trip on Han any thicker? “You HAVE to save our son.” This is one of those cases where I feel like J.J. Abrams lacks a little something in his storytelling pertaining to characters and satisfying resolution. Worst of all is that we’ll NEVER see the onscreen reunion of Han, Luke and Leia.
But anyway, Han was dead and I had to live with it. The hero of my youth, my favorite Star Wars character, was Obi-Wan-Kenobied. It bothered me enough that I couldn’t even watch “The Force Awakens” again until a couple of months ago. It took me that long to process Han’s fate. It doesn’t bother me as much now – I’ve moved onto the acceptance stage, I guess – and I enjoyed the film a lot more than I did the first time.
However, I still needed some catharsis, and this comic was my way to do it. If your feelings about Han Solo’s end are anything like mine, I hope this gave you a smile, too.
Anyway, “The Last Jedi” is out THIS WEEK, and I know I can’t wait! 🙂
— This is not an official LEGO comic. This is a tribute.
WWW.SPACETHECOMIC.COM
Follow Space: The Comic on TWITTER and FACEBOOK.Hundreds of protesters have rallied in several Iranian cities against rising prices, unemployment and economic inequality, according to anti-government activists and Iran's semi-state news agency Fars.
About 300 people protested in Kermanshah, a city in western Iran, on Friday, according to Fars.
Police intervened after protesters damaged public property, the news agency reported.
Protests also broke out in the capital Tehran, according to social media.
The protests came after an earlier demonstration in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city, on Thursday drew "thousands" of residents, anti-government activists said on social media.
Rallies were also held in a handful of other cities to decry rising food prices and other economic issues.
The prices of several staples, including eggs, have risen by up to 40 percent in recent days, the Associated Press news agency said.
Eshaq Jahangiri, Iran's first vice president, acknowledged that "there is an increase in the prices of some products", but said "the government is working on fixing the causes of the high prices".
Jahangiri also cast doubt on whether the protests were solely motivated by economic issues.
"The people behind what is taking place think they will be able to harm the government, but when social movements and protests start in the street, those who have ignited them are not always able to control them," he said.
High unemployment
In August, the Iranian Central Bank said inflation had reached 10 percent, the Tehran Times newspaper reported at the time.
The unemployment rate reached a three-year high of 12.7 percent last year, according to the World Bank.
Adnan Tabatabai, a political analyst and co-founder of the Germany-based Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient, wrote on Twitter that the protests "are driven by socioeconomic grievances, not political aspiration".
"Peaceful sit-ins, strikes & gatherings in front of ministries & state institutions have happened regularly in various parts of the country, as people continue to have unresolved/unaddressed economic grievances," Tabatabai wrote.
Still, the protests have also been conspicuous for their anti-government slogans.
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On social media, anti-government activists said protesters had chanted for the release of political prisoners, while others reportedly shouted, "Death to Rouhani", referring to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, said AFP news agency.
Rouhani, who was re-elected to a second term in May, has been under pressure from his conservative opponents inside Iran over perceived efforts to liberalise the country.
Tabatabai, the political analyst, said he did not believe the protests were the start of a revolutionary movement in Iran.
Instead, he wrote on Twitter that they signal that Rouhani, his government and Iran's political elite as a whole "must finally take [the] socioeconomic grievances" of ordinary Iranians seriously.
Videos of the protests in Mashhad, published by small reformist media group Nazar, showed people shouting "not Gaza, not Lebanon, my life for Iran", AFP reported.
The slogan reflects anger that the Iranian government is focusing on regional politics at the expense of tackling domestic issues.
Iran's semi-official news agency ILNA reported that about 50 people also protested in a public square in the capital, Tehran, on Friday, AP reported.
Mohsen Hamedani, the security deputy for Tehran's governor, said a few people were "temporarily arrested", but did not specify how many, said the AP report.Running alongside the contrived culture of Edinburgh in August is Just Festival. To quote directly from its programme of events: "Just Festival celebrates that peace is not only an absence of conflict; it is a presence." And so I was privileged to participate in an event last Monday evening called Syrian Without Syria, organised by a magnificent organisation called Mercy Corps, which is currently engaged in relief work among refugees in Syria.
Like many others, my knowledge of what has been happening in Syria has been gleaned simply from being moderately aware of events there following the initial euphoria of the Arab spring three years ago. My attitude was probably one of mild concern built on a complacent and haphazard western instinct.
It |
begins after a 15-day period of mourning the previous pope’s death.
In the absence of funeral rites, public attention in recent days has focused on matters of logistics and media access. The Vatican spent much of the past week answering questions about the vagaries of Benedict’s eleventh-hour amendment to an apostolic constitution and whether all voting-age cardinals needed to be in attendance before the college could decide on a conclave start date. (Cardinals who are younger than 80 at the time the papacy became vacant are eligible to vote. The 115th and final voting-age cardinal to participate in the election, a Vietnamese prelate, arrived Thursday.)
The start date of this conclave had become a source of debate among cardinals, with some factions believing they would benefit from an earlier election and others pushing for a longer preliminary period that would allow more time for less-familiar candidates to emerge.
Media restrictions imposed by the College of Cardinals put a sudden and unexpected end to daily news conferences that were being held by American cardinals, drawing media attention to the Vatican’s censorship rather than the major themes the cardinals have been discussing.
On Friday morning, 18 more cardinals spoke at the closed meeting, bringing the total who have addressed the college to more than 100. The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said they discussed interreligious dialogue, bioethics, justice in the world and the importance of positive announcement of the Gospel.
During the meeting, they also learned of an “adopt a cardinal” Web site where 220,000 people have logged on to pray for one of the 115 voting cardinals.
Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, who is more than 80 years old and therefore cannot enter or vote in the conclave, said that he hoped the Web site was for all of the cardinals, not just the electors.
During Friday’s news conference, Lombardi showed a film of the hotel on Vatican grounds where the cardinals will stay during the election. “We are getting close to the conclave,” he said.Tottenham 4 WBA 0
There are not enough exquisitely descriptive words in the English language to rain down from the heavens onto the turf at White Hart Lane that would do this performance justice. Although it's not comparable to the intensity and pressure of say our 2-0 wins over both Manchester City and Chelsea this season, it still ranks as high. The beautiful ease of dismantlement that left Tony Pulis and his team as mere spectators to the games one sided narrative was imperiously sublime. Tottenham controlled and dismantled West Brom like a God toying with mortals. Thunderclaps and lightning bolts, this was peak Mauricio Pochettino.
With three at the back, supporting the marauding Danny Rose and Kyle Walker pushing forward, we're on a crest of a wave that could reach biblical levels. Six successive wins in the league, confidence and swagger clicking back into place all across the first eleven.
Previously, when we struggled for refinement we did so individually and collectively thanks to several long-running grievances. Suspensions, injuries, the EUROs and Wembley accompanied with plenty of slow brooding soul searching. Whilst many supporters felt weighed down and ignored patience, the players and coach grafted on. Once more, another reminder that we're not comparable to Tottenham teams of old. There's no panic or knee-jerk within. We are resilient. We know what we're capable of when we're on point.
We're on point.
With no disrespect meant towards WBA (their fans were extremely needy on the day, querying the lack of attention we gave them vocally), this game was pure exhibition. Our passing, the movement and our transitional play left the visitors dreaming of possession like a child wishing Santa would bring her a unicorn.
I can only recall two incidents in our penalty area of near relevance; Hugo Lloris saving point blank (although it was offside) and then a failure by someone (who knows who?) to pull the trigger. The rest of the match was a showcase of skills and vision. Touch and tempo. This was Spurs at breathtaking pelt, creating chance after chance, stretching and pulling the Albion apart.
Dele Alli and Harry Kane were sensational, linking up to craft and create moments of realtime art. You see, this is what happens when our top players are all in sync. Lucky for us we have eleven of available. It was majestic to watch, Pochettino's team stunning with both their swarming on and off the ball.
WBA might have been outclassed in every single way imaginable but they were never given an opportunity to perhaps puncture the bubble of non-existence that Spurs trapped them in. It was cruel yet I guess the four nil scoreline was kind.
The manner in which we pressed when they had rare pockets of ownership was testament to our ethic. Testament to our mentality. Alongside this familiar Poch trait was the quick, sharp and pace-fuelled football that had us teasing a goal every time we attacked. Where we suffered earlier in the season with fragmented passages from defence into midfield into and then the final third, we are now instinctively dominant. During the slump, we created chances but not with conviction. Currently, the execution is assassin like. Our goal difference near legendary compared to the days of my youth.
I'm not going to scribble down a re-run of the games key moments. The entirety of the game was key. You have to watch it again and if you have then you'll know that seeing is believing. I'm not going overboard here either. I'm not salivating, I promise. I'm also not about to write a begging letter to THFC for a DVD release. What resonates is this Spurs team continuing to evolve and improve. We persistently retain the level of performance required to be competitive, even after we suffer a rare lull. Or in the case, a prolonged slump that included domestic and European dismay. A true test of character and longevity of our tenacity.
I'm not just referring to the patches of winning form (when citing evolution), like the current run we're on. I'm referring to the progression and continuation of the work Poch is doing above and beyond our weekly excursions. From his arrival to the last campaign to this one. Whilst the fairy-tale over in Leicester has gone from Hollywood to Brothers Grimm, we are sat writing another chapter in our maturing story. Another sleeper hit that's on the verge of box office glory.
God damn, I love this team.
Christian Eriksen, lost and isolated during a desolate period is now the inventor and instigator of time and space once more. He's conducting. He's assisting. He's regained his oracle like sight. Knows where to look to make it happen. Knows it's going to happen because he's already dinked the ball into the path of X player. Which is just about us much as you can ask for from the man often tagged as the brains of the team.
If you have the one refined creative outlet, he has to be involved. Constantly. We suffer when he isn't but at the moment all the suffering is exclusively for the opposition only. In all honestly, Eriksen (at a young age) was maligned at times because of his inconsistency. Players that are almost always consistent are hardly ones that the majority of clubs are blessed with. Mainly because that would make them world class (a word often abused by pundits and fans). So let's keep those feet grounded and appreciate that sometimes you have to cater for those drops in heightened sense and simply wait for the awareness to return. Then take full advantage.
Danny Rose and Kyle Walker, the best full-backs/wing-backs in the land. Bruising, blistering and battleborn. Key to our 352 (343) formation. One that our coach has gradually brought to the fore. Where we had our fledgling identity last season that took us close to the title, we've adapted and improved by providing more intent to the flanks. Width was an issue and a major discussion point for some time (more so when results were not grand). Spurs are in phase 2 now and it's looking powerful. This is a dimension we can not afford to live without.
Toby Alderweireld is king. Much like Ledley, he brings a calmness to our back-line. Assurance that emanates across the spine of the team. Another Poch trademark is to have a linchpin in every area that synergies them all into a singularity. Hence why, arguably, we can be weakened if we are missing too many instrumental parts. Our defence is worthy of a title win. It's the foundation for everything ahead of it. Everything being what we produce in the final third.
Then there's Eric Dier, mature and versatile. Yet another head strong player. Able to adapt to his managers instructions, no complaints. With his shift from midfield into defence, he's got on with it and done so with peak professionalism. Another poster boy for 'team player'. Another leader.
Mousa Dembele, glides around the pitch with the ball glued to his feet, a dynamic nucleus powering all that surrounds him. Watch the disturbance he generates when running into the final third and the subsequent dissolving of the opposing sides defensive structure as they attempt to pick up the movement of our forwards. Mousa is Moses, parting the red sea to allow those following him to March through.
Alongside him, Victor Wanyama destroys anything that might seek to pose a threat to the balance of the game centrally. Victor is Moses closing the red sea. Have pity on the drowned. Think back to when he signed and how many of us thought there was no way he would improve us. Patience provides pomp.
Dele Alli, a raw gem that glistens so brightly it blinds the opposition, allowing for a routine nutmeg and brilliant pass. Some of the interchanging between him and Harry left me in a higher state of consciousness. I was sat up in the West Stand, alongside the bourgeoisie, jaw dropping every time they swashbuckled with intent to dazzle and dent. Think I dropped my bagel half a dozen times. It's early days to talk about them as an iconic partnership, but then days like this are the ones we tend to remember, years from now. There's a fair few of them already collected from last year into this one. And let's face it (personally) I can't pretend this team isn't shaping up to be the very best of my lifetime.
As for Big Daddy Kane himself. I don't tend to digest stats unless they're factually impossible to ignore. His goal-scoring record is already an absolutely tremendous achievement. One season wonder, two season, three season...you wonder why the haters still wish to downplay his ability. He's one of the most complete centre-forwards we've birthed and comfortably one of the best in the country. His attitude is immaculate in terms of determination to over come any given mental or physical obstacle.
Even when he's punished by gruelling fixture congestion and England misdemeanours, tired and almost broken...then injured...he comes back and he once more proves his quality is undeniable. His talent on the pitch is a monument to self-belief and self-improvement. Much like Gareth Bale, he had to grow into a player that could then deliver his potential. And much like the Welsh wizard, he has his own cosmic given talents. Touch, precision and timing. Awareness of space and team-mates. Predatory goal-scoring. The man is a beast. A father and a hat-trick hero in a week. He is everything we are, everything we've become, everything we deserve.
This is nearing pornographic levels of appreciation. Let's steady the ship.
WBA only ever offered half-hearted physicality. It was short lived. A bogey that has often irritated was plucked out of our nose and effortlessly flicked into the ether. Always awkward, stubborn and drilled for frustration. This time round they were murdered with such intelligent finesse and virtuosity you'd have thought this was a Alfred Hitchcock movie. Tottenham's fluidity and togetherness, too monstrous for them to handle, a sheer delight for us lose ourselves in. It's enough to give you vertigo.
The single blemish on the game was the loss of Jan Vertonghen, a cruel repeat of last seasons despondency. Kevin Wimmer or Ben Davies available to deputise. The January transfer window will no doubt also pose questions for both the Vincent Janssen conundrum and the necessity for that something extra in depth. We're in a stronger position than last season (Chelsea still have a buffer ahead of us and the chasing pack). As supporters, we are once more looking towards consolidating what we have. Safeguarding it with the injection of one or two new players to keep the squad fresh and allow us to compete in the league till the very end. And of course navigate through the cup games and the unavoidable stress of squad selection - unless we get knocked out, which tends to be the preference when sh*t gets real in the league.
Erik Lamela is on his way back (from Roma and his rehabilitation) and will offer us that enigmatic chaos he brings with his ankle-biting press game and natural connectivity he often shares with Christian and co. With Jan out for a lengthy spell, it's a warning that we need to be fully prepared. Last season, at the death, losing two players completely deflated us (although arguably the WBA and Chelsea draws were the ones that had us switch off much to the dismay of our manager). We need to retain our professionalism. I doubt we can do anything less.
Is this blog too glittery for you?
Sorry, I can't help myself. The football we witnessed, we're witnessing...it's in the now and it's there to be enjoyed. It's the whole point of it and the reason why we follow our team. Living in the moment, embracing the journey...it's the most satisfying way to immerse yourself. Even with the risk of failure. But what is failure if you're deeply invested in a challenge to the point where you believe you can fulfil it? What is failure if you are truly seeking to achieve the very pinnacle? Don't say it out loud, you'll echo.
I've never quite understand fans (of any club) that are more concerned with the association of success, no matter what and with a constant sacrifice of enjoyment. It's an escapism so escape. That isn't always possible. Some among us live football the way they live their life. Others use football as a means to channel emotions that can't otherwise find a platform for. There is no right or wrong way but then again, there probably is. I get that we want silverware, that all fans desire it. But the silverware is only attained thanks to what preceded it.
When our gaffer talks about belief, it isn't some mystical fantasy of thought. It fuels the team forward and then binds into something tangible. It ultimately breeds confidence, momentum and style. This gives us performance, moments of magic and the all important points.
There's a lot to be said for expansive outlays of energy, weaving together the mind and body, oozing sweat as you build up to a finale with continuous explosions. All done with an intimacy that has you as one with the club you love.
What's happening now could be the very thing that happens before we tie white and blue ribbons on a chunk of metal with our name etched into it. Dismissing the emotions that come with the pressure of winning games is like wanting to skip all the sex just to experience the orgasm.
Still...what an orgasm it could be.Attorney General Eric Holder called Tuesday for a moratorium on the death penalty pending a Supreme Court decision on the use of lethal injection drugs in Oklahoma.
Speaking at a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Holder, noting that he was speaking in a personal capacity and not as a member of the administration, said the "inevitable" possibility of executing an innocent individual is what makes him oppose capital punishment.
"Our system of justice is the best in the world. It is comprised of men and women who do the best they can, get it right more often than not, substantially more right than wrong," Holder said. "There's always the possibility that mistakes will be made... It's for that reason that I am opposed to the death penalty."
He continued: "I think fundamental questions about the death penalty need to be asked. And among them, the Supreme Court's determination as to whether or not lethal injection is consistent with our Constitution is one that ought to occur. From my perspective, I think a moratorium until the Supreme Court made that determination would be appropriate."
Holder clarified that his personal views on the matter are not part of an ongoing Justice Department review of state execution practices.
Last month, the Supreme Court agreed to review a case brought by death row inmates accusing the state of Oklahoma of violating the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The case came after Oklahoma botched the execution of inmate Clayton Lockett, who was seen writhing and clenching his teeth after being administered a lethal three-drug combination. Lockett ultimately died 43 minutes after he was administered the drugs.
Holder, who is retiring pending the confirmation of his nominated successor Loretta Lynch, has long been personally opposed to the death penalty.A terrorist confesses that he decapitated a person but remains free in Brussels
A Brussels judge refused to place a man in detention even though he has been charged for participating in a terrorist group and that the he confessed to having decapitated a person in Syria, report the Belgian newspaper “Het Laatste Nieuws” on Monday.
Iliass Khayari, 25 years of age, confessed the decapitation during a telephone conversation. Het Laatse Nieuws was able to receive the recorded conversation. In it he can be heard saying “It was a heretic”. “We cut off his head.”
Last week, the man was sentenced to five years in prison by a Brussels tribunal. The federal prosecutor requested his immediate arrest, but the judge believed that it was not justified.
Iliass Khayari is therefore free until the final verdict which could take several months until decided.
Jason Bennett (Source: Belga)Todd Robert Bowles (born November 18, 1963) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL), as well as a former player. He played eight seasons in the NFL as a safety, mainly for the Washington Redskins, and started in Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos. Bowles was the interim defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012, and then for the Arizona Cardinals in 2013 and 2014. He was the interim head coach for the Miami Dolphins for the final three games of the 2011 season with a 2-1 record after the firing of Tony Sparano, and served as the heach coach of the New York Jets from 2015-2018.
Early years [ edit ]
Bowles attended Elizabeth High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey.[1] He played college football at Temple University for former Arizona Cardinals and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians.
Playing career [ edit ]
Bowles was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent on May 7, 1986.[2] He chose the Redskins over six other NFL teams, and signed a contract that included a signing bonus between $8,000 and $10,000. Bowles competed in training camp with free safety Raphel Cherry, and beat him out to earn a spot on the regular season roster.[3] In his second training camp in 1987, Bowles beat out Curtis Jordan for the starting free safety job when Jordan was released during final roster cuts on September 8, 1987.[4] He was the starting free safety in Super Bowl XXII, which Washington won in a blowout.
On February 1, 1989, after his contract expired, Bowles was left unprotected by the Redskins during "Plan B" free agency, despite being a regular starter at free safety the previous two seasons.[5] This was reportedly due to his poor catching abilities in 1988, as well as his lack of playmaking ability. He negotiated contracts with the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, and New York Giants,[6] but ultimately re-signed with the Redskins.[7] In 1990, Bowles received a salary of $300,000,[8] and started 18 games (including playoffs).[9]
The San Francisco 49ers signed Bowles to start for the team in 1991 after being left unprotected by the Redskins again.[10] He played in all 16 games and started in 14 of them. He was waived during final roster cuts on September 1, 1992.[11] He was claimed off waivers by the Redskins on September 2, 1992.[12] He was waived by the Redskins during final roster cuts on August 31, 1993.[13]
Coaching career [ edit ]
After retiring as a player, Bowles was a member of the Green Bay Packers' player personnel staff from 1995–1996. He was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Morehouse College in 1997, and the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Grambling State from 1998–1999. He was the defensive backs coach for the New York Jets in 2000, Cleveland Browns in 2004, and Dallas Cowboys from 2005–2007. He was the Browns' defensive nickel package coach from 2001–2003.
Miami Dolphins [ edit ]
Bowles was hired by the Miami Dolphins as the team's secondary coach and assistant head coach on January 23, 2008. After nearly four seasons as the secondary coach and assistant head coach, he was named the interim head coach on December 12, 2011, following the firing of head coach Tony Sparano. Bowles' first game as interim head coach of the Dolphins came on December 18, on the road against the Buffalo Bills. The Dolphins won the game 30–23. The Dolphins finished 2–1 under Bowles in 2011.
Philadelphia Eagles [ edit ]
The Philadelphia Eagles hired Bowles as the team's secondary coach on January 30, 2012. The Eagles announced on October 16, 2012, that they dismissed defensive coordinator Juan Castillo from his duties and named Todd Bowles as their new defensive coordinator. Under Bowles, the Eagles finished the season ninth in pass defense and twenty-third in rushing defense.[14]
Arizona Cardinals [ edit ]
On January 18, 2013, Bowles was hired as defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals. On January 31, 2015, he was voted Associated Press (AP)'s Assistant Coach of the Year for his efforts in the 2014 season.[15] Bowles received 22 of the 50 media members' votes, winning the inaugural award.[16]
New York Jets [ edit ]
Days after the release of Rex Ryan, the New York Jets named Bowles their new head coach and signed him to a 4-year deal on January 14, 2015.[17]
On July 28, 2015, it was revealed that Bowles underwent a partial knee replacement surgery. In the 2015-2016 season, the Jets won 10 games under Bowles's first year leading the team, and the team would barely miss the playoffs.[18] The 2016 season saw the Jets finish near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories, but 11th in rushing yards.[19]
On December 29, 2017, it was announced by the Jets organization that Bowles had been retained for the 2018 season, and signed an extension to continue as coach through 2020.[20] On December 30, 2018, the Jets fired Bowles after finishing 4-12.[21]
Tampa Bay Buccaneers [ edit ]
On January 8, 2019, Bowles was hired as the defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rejoining Bruce Arians as a member of his staff after Arians was hired as the team's head coach.[22]
Head coaching record [ edit ]
Team Year Regular season Postseason Won Lost Ties Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result MIA* 2011 2 1 0.667 3rd in AFC East – – – – MIA total 2 1 0.667 – – – – – NYJ 2015 10 6 0.625 2nd in AFC East – – – – NYJ 2016 5 11 0.313 4th in AFC East – – – – NYJ 2017 5 11 0.313 4th in AFC East – – – – NYJ 2018 4 12 0.250 4th in AFC East – – – – NYJ total 24 40 0.375 – – – – Total[23] 26 41 0.388 0 0.000 –
* – Interim head coach
Coaching tree [ edit ]
NFL head coaches under whom Bowles has served:As California moves toward the legalization of marijuana — next month, voters will decide on Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 — a key question remains: could the new law produce a whole generation of stoners? Opponents of legalization say, yes, fearing it will lead to a massive increase in pot smoking among youth. But some supporters suggest the opposite: legalizing cannabis could de-glamorize it and ultimately prompt reductions in toking. Who’s right?
That question is surprisingly hard to answer, but two recent research reports offer some potentially useful insight. The first, a Rand Corporation report that led to related testimony before the California legislature on Sept. 21, discusses the effects of price changes and taxation on consumption of drugs. (More on Time.com: What’s in Your Marijuana? Some Pot Doesn’t Rot Your Memory)
A newer report, released Thursday, comes from the new scientist-led International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP). It takes a historical look at how U.S. drug policy has affected use, and suggests how to regulate drugs effectively.
One thing the ICSDP report makes clear is that current U.S. drug policy has no effect on marijuana prices or use. While spending on federal drug law enforcement has increased 1,200% and marijuana arrests have risen 150% since 1981, the rate of marijuana use nationwide has bounced around, with no relationship to these efforts.
“No scientific evidence demonstrates an association between the amount of money governments spend on drug law enforcement and rates of drug use,” says Dr. Evan Wood, a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia, founder of ICSDP and lead author of the report. “And some nations like the U.S., which spend the most have among the highest rates of drug use.” (More on Time.com: 30 Years Since ‘Jimmy’s World’: The Media and Drugs)
Meanwhile, according to national surveys, high school students continue to report that marijuana is universally available, purity has increased and prices have fallen.
The Rand report forecasts how legalization and taxation of marijuana could affect its market price and overall use in California. Although the public tends to view drug users, and addicts in particular, as too irrational and irresponsible to base their behavior on drug prices, research debunks these notions. Studies on legal drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco, for example, show that taxing them and raising prices can often be quite effective in lowering consumption — even among the heaviest users. “After legalization, we expect a large price drop. That’s the biggest take away message from this report,” says Beau Kilmer, co-director of the Rand Drug Policy Research Center and lead author of the report. “We expect the price [of marijuana] to drop at least 80%. There are a couple of other figures out there, ours falls in the middle and you can quibble about the details but there’s a general agreement that the price will drop.”
The trick is to determining how high to set the tax — the price has to be high enough to minimize consumption, but low enough to avoid creating a black market. Kilmer says that the current price for an ounce of good sinsemilla (a type of highly potent marijuana) ranges from $250 to $400. “If that drops down to $50 to $60 an ounce, it would require a really large tax to get [the price back up to that level]. But if the tax is set too high, [we] worry about tax evasion,” he says. (More on Time.com: Is Drug Use Really on the Rise?)
Experts disagree on how much tax evasion occurs under California’s tobacco tax regime, with smokers ordering cigarettes by mail to avoid state taxes, for instance. Some put the figure at 1% to 4%, but the agency that administers the state’s tobacco taxes has said that the rate is more like 15%. Either way, the majority of cigarette taxes do seem to be paid rather than evaded.
Kilmer notes, however, that if Prop 19 passes, each local jurisdiction can set its own tax rate, which could prompt a “race to the bottom,” as localities compete for a piece of the pie. “Regardless of how you feel about Prop 19, how to stop a race to the bottom is going to be important for everyone. No one wins if we end up with a really low tax rate on a really low price,” Kilmer says. To prevent that, he suggests that the state government could withhold certain types of funding to localities that set marijuana taxes under a certain limit.
But let’s say the price of marijuana does end up dropping precipitously. What effect might that have on consumption? Neither report can answer that. “Ultimately, we don’t come up with a conclusion at all on a consumption increase,” Kilmer says, explaining that many factors other than price can affect use. So the report considered what would happen if whole population use increased by 100%.
Interestingly, such use rates have already been experienced in the U.S. The highest rates of marijuana use reported in the U.S. were in the late 1970s and early ’80s, despite harsh drug laws. At the time 60% of high school seniors reported trying marijuana at least once; by comparison, the rate in 2009 was 42%. And what became of Generation X? The kids seem to have turned out all right.
Other countries that have decriminalized or quasi-legalized marijuana — such as Portugal and Holland — also have not seen social disasters because of their drug laws. In fact, they have benefited from reduced enforcement costs and increased access to addiction treatment.
One study did find that rates of marijuana use among Dutch youth increased when “coffee shops” — cafes where selling and smoking of marijuana are permitted — were proliferating and being widely marketed. But, overall, even those elevated rates of use were no higher than U.S. rates under marijuana prohibition. “It wasn’t the decriminalization, it was commercialization that could have caused this,” says Kilmer.
Advertising and commercialization may end up being cause for concern in the U.S. as well, given that medical marijuana ads already seem to be sustaining some newspapers. But, then again, even if Prop 19 passes, marijuana wouldn’t be completely legal — it would still be prohibited under federal drug laws, which could put pressure on the Obama Administration to enforce them (though this Wall Street Journal article suggests that supporting legalization measures could be a boon for Democrats — putting similar measures on other states’ ballots could draw out some key voters on Election Day).
Many questions remain about what will happen if Proposition 19 passes, but the only result I can unequivocally predict is that drug policy debates will finally become less theoretical — and much more interesting.
More on Time.com:
Who’s High? A School Suspends a Student for Bloodshot Eyes
Photos: Cannabis Culture
Video: Taxing Marijuana in CaliforniaApple is being outsold in China, the world's largest handset market, by a company less than 1% its size, highlighting how the lack of low-cost products limits the iPhone-maker in emerging nations.
China Wireless Technologies is one of four domestic suppliers outselling Apple in China with smartphones tailored to the budget of the nation's budding middle class. Its Coolpad 8060 retails for 619 yuan -- or just under $100 -- less than 20% the price of the cheapest iPhone.
Liu Ruju, a 27-year-old lawyer in Heilongjiang province, has been using a Coolpad Cheer for six months. He said the device doesn't browse the Web as fast as he'd like, though at 658 yuan it offers features Apple can't match, including the ability to use more than one SIM card.
"I have one line for work and one line for personal use," Mr. Liu said. "The special things about this phone are that it's cheap and dual SIM."
China Wireless expects sales to rise 40% this year to 28 million phones, helped by low prices and new products such as fourth-generation handsets. Apple, whose smartphone has made it the world's most-profitable company, slipped to sixth place in China from fourth as it struggled to lure consumers earning an average of $577 a month.
"Apple, with its current stable of products, is unlikely to rank high as long as the general level of affluence in China is low," said Magdalene Choong, a Phillip Securities analyst in Singapore who rates Apple's shares as neutral.
Apple, which reports earnings later today in the U.S., is trying to boost sales by opening more stores, adding an installment payment plan and seeking a handset deal with China Mobile, the world's largest phone company by subscribers.
The company is also planning a smaller, cheaper version of the iPhone aimed at developing markets. The handset, costing somewhere between $99 and $149, would be introduced late this year at the earliest, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News this month.
IPhones made up about 15% of all smartphones sold in the third quarter of 2012, down from 23 percent in the first three months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Industries, citing market researcher IDC. Smartphone shipments may grow 28 percent this year, led by emerging markets.
Apple "needs to adapt to where the growth is," former Chief Executive Officer John Sculley said in a Jan. 15 interview with Bloomberg TV. "It's got to learn how to sell products that are priced for the price point that the emerging middle class in Asia, for example, can afford."
China smartphone shipments will rise 44% to 300 million units this year, driven by handsets costing about 700 yuan, IDC forecast Dec. 17. The Coolpad runs on Google's Android operating system and has a 4-inch touchscreen display.
"The low end will get cheaper and better," said Sandy Shen, a Gartner Inc. analyst in Shanghai. "If you talk about market share, then the high end will get smaller and smaller as the market expands."
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China for the second time in a year earlier this month, meeting officials including China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua. The carrier has 710 million wireless subscribers, or about 64% of the market. IPhones are only sold by China's second- and third-biggest operators -- China Unicom and China Telecom -- because China Mobile's network doesn't support the Apple product.
China Mobile's unique, domestically developed third-generation network would require changes to the iPhone. Samsung, based in Suwon, South Korea, gained the edge over its U.S. rival by adapting its handsets for the carrier's system.
China Mobile is testing a fourth-generation network that may enter commercial service later this year. The company said in September 2011 that Apple would produce an iPhone for the new 4G network. The two also need to agree on issues such as benefit-sharing, Chief Executive Officer Li Yue said last month.
China Wireless, formed in 1993, has sold phones through China Mobile and the nation's two other carriers for at least a decade. Those ties and experience give the company an advantage over Apple, which entered the market in 2009.
Apple's earnings report may show that fiscal first-quarter net income slipped 2 percent to $12.8 billion, according to analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. China Wireless, by comparison, is projected to report $39 million in net income for the full year 2012.
The introduction of a less-expensive iPhone would dent earnings for China Wireless and other low-cost device makers in China, said Leping Huang, an analyst at Nomura International Hong Kong Ltd.
"Apple's next action will affect the whole industry," Ms. Huang said. "If it comes out with a cheaper iPhone, it will change a lot of market dynamics."
~Bloomberg News~Yesterday, the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry announced the introduction of an initiative that enables property developers to give out loans to buyers at an interest rate of between 12 and 18 per cent. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — Putrajaya is risking a subprime crisis if it lets developers assume the role of housing loan creditors who are allowed to charge quadruple the interest rates offered by banks, the National House Buyers Association (HBA) warned.
In a statement to the Malay Mail Online late last night, the HBA urged the government to reconsider the scheme, saying the country’s economy could suffer should a property bubble occur as a result of the “ridiculous” initiative announced yesterday.
“Being a licensed moneylender also known as a licensed ‘Ah Long’ is capital intensive and housing developers, to sustain their business, would continue to price their products at ridiculous and unsustainable prices, this can accelerate a housing bubble like what happened to the US during the ‘Sub-Prime Crisis’.
“HBA humbly appeals to our prime minister who is also the minister of finance to intervene in this ridiculous proposal (bad idea) as it not only does not address the root cause of high property prices, which is due to excessive speculation, but encourages the developer to even price their properties higher and give loans to undeserving borrowers,” it said.
Economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said the scheme had the makings of a property and financial crisis as developers would have to venture into unfamiliar territory as they deal with buyers who may default on their loans.
“The key is the developers: Whether they can finance the new market segment; that kind of financial risk so it is very, very niche and of course it will boost the property market in terms of increasing demand, but there is also the risk of delinquencies.
“It will seed the next crisis if we do not proceed cautiously, especially to ensure we are not creating another unregulated shadow banking system,” the Sunway University Business School professor of economics said.
Axis REIT Managers Bhd head of investments Siva Shanker also predicted dire consequences for the economy if the government goes ahead with the scheme.
“I think this will spiral and the debt ratio will become higher. The lower and middle classes who need real help are being penalised. The rich who can get bank loans will |
Beaumont Tuesday. Photo taken Tuesday, November 8, 2016 Kim Brent/The Enterprise less Zena Stephens, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County Sheriff, is swarmed by supporters offering hugs of congratulations and celebrating her win over Republican Ray Beck as she and supporters gather for an... more Photo: Kim Brent Photo: Kim Brent Image 1 of / 80 Caption Close Jefferson Co. elects state's first black female sheriff 1 / 80 Back to Gallery
Zena Stephens on Tuesday became Texas's first black female sheriff, by narrowly turning back the county's strongest Republican challenger ever in Ray Beck.
The race was close throughout the night, with Stephens leading early, boosted by leads in Port Arthur and Beaumont's northern and southern precincts. She finished with 51.4 percent of the vote.
Beck took the lead late in the night with strong support in Beaumont's West End, the county's western precincts and in Mid-County, before Stephens closed and then expanded the gap in the final four precincts.
Stephens ultimately won by 2,431 votes out of a total 86,701 ballots, completing a Democratic sweep of the county's three competitive local races.
The current police chief at Prairie View A&M University and former Sheriff's Office chief deputy will replace Mitch Woods, who is retiring after 20 years.
According to the Sheriff's Association of Texas, which tracks the history of the office, Stephens is the first black woman elected sheriff in the state.
"I think it is important, because I never saw anybody who looked like me in this role, or as a police chief, when I was growing up," said Stephens. "And so the idea, not just for girls but for any minority, that you can obtain these jobs at this level, I think that's important. And it's important for these jobs in law enforcement and any job to reflect the community they serve."
Stephens beat former constable Joe "QB" Stevenson and Woods' assistant chief deputy Rod Carroll in the Democratic primary and run-off elections this spring.
She made national headlines when 19-year-old Adam Carver of Vidor allegedly fired a shot at her campaign headquarters the night before the March primary while shouting a racial slur. Carver was indicted in March on a charge of deadly conduct and is scheduled for his next hearing on Nov. 28.
With a $13.1 million dollar budget and more than 400 employees, the sheriff's office is the county's largest department. The sheriff also oversees the jail and its $27.6 million budget. Those budgets combined make up about one-third of the county's general fund budget.
Stephens said that one of her first priorities after taking office will be to address concerns within the department.
"Generally, the people who work there are nervous anytime there's a changing of the guard," she said. "I want to get in there and make people feel normal again, and evaluate how we move forward."
Replacing Woods, who has served since 1996 "is going to be a little difficult," she said. "Anytime you institute change, there may be some opposition to that, but I understand that, and I don't plan to get in there and make any sweeping changes."
She said she plans to evaluate training and operations at the county jail, as well as consider recommendations from President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing report, which was released in May.
The narrow victory for the Democrats came as a result of a large Republican turnout, with Beck getting more than 42,135 votes to Stephens' 44,566.
Jefferson County GOP Chair Garrett Peel said "we've never had such great voter turnout," and noted the 24,598 straight-ticket votes for the party, an increase from both 2012 and 2008.
Jefferson County Democratic Party Chair Cade Bernsen was thrilled by the night's sweep for his party. "Tonight, we made history in Texas," he said.
LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/LizTeitzWe look at the legacy of cultural icon Marshall McLuhan 50 years after his prophetic insights into the future of media.
This past year, whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed to the world how our lives online are now available to any agency with the technology and the temptation to tap into them. This revelation has come decades after one thinker theorised about the way that technology would penetrate our daily existence in ways that few could have predicted.
You may have never heard of Marshall McLuhan, but you have probably heard his most widely quoted dictum: "The medium is the message."
McLuhan was writing about the effects of the mass media on contemporary life and he was talking mostly about television. But his ideas had something of the prophetic – because in the tumult of today’s digital revolution, a lot of what McLuhan said has even more relevance now than it did then.
In this edition of the Listening Post, we look at how to read today’s media landscape, with the help of McLuhan, speaking to us 50 years ago.
McLuhan started out his professional career as a Canadian professor of literature but is referred to today as one of the greatest media theorists of all time.
After the release of his best-selling book Understanding Media in the 1960s, he became a regular speaker on media discourse, credited for coining terms including the ‘Global Village’.
His central argument – that the technologies we use to take in information, i.e., the media, become extensions of who we are and exert a powerful influence over us - make his work just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago, and with the growth of social networking sites, McLuhan’s predictions on the changing media landscape have proved accurate.
To discuss the cultural icon and his legacy, we talk with Charles Miller of the BBC College of Journalism; Adel Iskander, a media scholar at Georgetown University; Jaeno Kang, a media sociologist from SOAS, and Toby Miller, a media scholar at London’s City University.
Thanks to the advent of the internet and other new technologies, the 21st century has been heralded as a bright and promising digital era, but that notion has attracted a number of critics, most notably, writer and researcher, Evgeny Morozov.
Morozov has warned not to buy into the popular theory that the internet is helping to democratise authoritarian regimes. He argues, instead, that it is being used as a tool to control, supress and spy on citizens.
As the author of two books on the subject, The Net Delusion and To Save Everything, Click Here, Morozov’s work is seen as a powerful alternative to the mainstream discourse on the digital age.
In the second half of the show, Evgeny Morozov sits down with Listening Post host, Richard Gizbert, to discuss the work of Marshall McLuhan and the digital era in which we live.
Listening Post can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Saturday: 0830, 1930; Sunday: 1430; Monday: 0430.
Click here for more Listening Post.
Source: Al JazeeraAl-Assad 'not so stupid' as to use chemical weapons near Damascus, PYD leader says
BERLIN - Reuters
This file picture shows Salih Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), during a Reuters interview in Berlin on April 18. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/Files
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would not be "so stupid" as to use chemical weapons close to Damascus, the leader of the country's largest Kurdish group said.Saleh Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said he doubted the Syrian president would resort to using such weapons when he felt he had the upper hand in the country's civil war.He suggested the Aug. 21 attack, which the opposition says was carried out by government forces and killed hundreds of people, was aimed at framing al-Assad and provoking an international reaction. Al-Assad has denied his forces used chemical weapons."The regime in Syria... has chemical weapons, but they wouldn't use them around Damascus, five kilometers from the [U.N.] committee which is investigating chemical weapons. Of course they are not so stupid as to do such," Muslim told Reuters.At the time of the incident, U.N. experts were already in Syria to investigate three previous alleged chemical attacks dating from months ago.Muslim's PYD, which has well-armed and effective militias and is ideologically close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has clashed with al-Assad's forces as well as rebels, but has allowed both to move through its territories during the war.Some rebels and rival Kurdish groups accuse it of having been close to the state, a position Muslim disputes. He said Kurdish areas the PYD controlled were under attack from al-Qaeda-linked rebels.Muslim suggested "some other sides who want to blame the Syrian regime, who want to show them as guilty and then see action" lay behind the chemical attack, which has led to speculation that Western countries will order a military response.He said that if the U.N. inspectors found evidence al-Assad was not behind the gassing and the rebels were, "everybody would forget it.""Who is the side who would be punished? Are they going to punish the emir of Qatar or the king of Saudi Arabia, or Mr. [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan of Turkey?" Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have all strongly condemned al-Assad and backed the rebels.Kurdish militias have sought to consolidate their grip in northern Syria after exploiting the chaos of the civil war over the past year by seizing control of districts as al-Assad's forces focused elsewhere.The PYD said in July it aimed to set up a transitional council and their emerging self-rule is starting to echo the autonomy of Kurds in neighbouring northern Iraq.Muslim said he reassured officials during talks last month with Turkey's intelligence agency that the council was not a move to divide Syria - which would alarm Ankara, which is wary of deepening sectarian violence on its border.Nonetheless, it highlights Syria's slow fragmentation into a Kurdish northeast, mainly government-held areas around Damascus, Homs and the Mediterranean, and a rebel swathe leading from Aleppo along the Euphrates Valley to Iraq.Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a campaign appearance. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Sen. Bernie Sanders laid out the ways he would leverage his popularity that emerged from the Democratic primary to continue to push Hillary Clinton to the left if she wins the presidency next month.
In an interview published Monday with The Washington Post, Sanders argued that the Democratic Party is "more progressive" than its presidential nominee.
He emphasized that he saw it as his role to "demand that the Democratic Party implement" the party platform his allies helped shape, and would be "vigorously in opposition" if Clinton attempted to abandon the platform's progressive elements.
"The leverage that I think I take into the Senate is taking on the entire Democratic Party establishment, and, you know, taking on a very powerful political organization with the Clinton people," Sanders said. He then referenced the number of states he won during the primary, 22.
"That gives me a lot of leverage, leverage that I intend to use," he added.
The Vermont senator also emphasized that he would not be cowed by the knowledge that his proposals would not be well received by a likely Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Sanders promised to hold the GOP politically accountable if it tried to block measures that he supports, such as raising the minimum wage and making public college free for a large number of Americans.
"It's not good enough for me, or anybody, to say, 'Well, look, Republicans control the House: From Day One, we're going to have to compromise,'" Sanders said. "The Democratic Party, before they start compromising, has got to rally the American people around our ideas and make it clear that if Republicans do not go along with reasonable ideas to benefit the middle class and the working class, they are going to pay a very heavy political price."
Though he didn't win the Democratic presidential primary, Sanders has seen his popularity soar following his bid.
A Morning Consult poll conducted this year found that Sanders was the most popular current US senator, and several other surveys show that he has a higher favorable rating than other popular political figures including first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and former President Bill Clinton.
Since conceding the presidential nomination earlier this year, Sanders has hit the campaign trail numerous times on Clinton's behalf, attempting to convince some of his supporters that the former secretary of state shares far more in common politically with Sanders than Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.Jonas Schiffmann leans against his balcony's railing and smiles apologetically. Behind him, the blazing sun makes Ehrenfeld, a hip Cologne neighborhood, look shiny. Schiffmann is surrounded by self-sprouted tomato and strawberry seedlings - and a few hundred bees.
Some of the bees have landed on Schiffmann's hand, his shirt, his head. The 29-year-old winces slightly every time another one joins. "We thought it would be different," he says, referring to the bees. "They are supposed to be quieter, not even noticeable."
Yesterday, his bees arrived via overnight express, and moved into the wooden bee box on the balcony. Now, Jonas Schiffmann and his girlfriend Veronika Schrieder - who had no prior experience with bees - have become urban beekeepers.
The couple is not alone: Urban beekeeping is a growing trend. The company behind the bee box on Schiffmann's balcony increased sales by 140 percent - within a year. "Stadtbienen e.V." advertises beekeeping as simple and not time-consuming - the perfect hobby for an environmentally conscious city dweller.
Jonas Schiffmann checks the bees on his Cologne balcony
But Schiffmann and Schrieder have found out already that 20 hours per year - the estimate provided by the company - is too low. "I have spent countless hours on the Internet to learn about bees, even before they arrived. And still, I know so little," Schrieder says.
Devastating colony loss
Schiffmann and Schrieder were motivated not by the free honey - rather, by knowledge of bees' decline. "We are fascinated by bees. It would be great if we could help them," Schiffmann said. One thing is sure: Bees need our help.
Starting about a decade ago, colonies of European honeybees began to mysteriously decline. Around the world, beehives would go empty from one day to the next - this has since been named colony collapse disorder.
And the proportions of this decline continue to grow. Last winter, about 30 percent of all German bee colonies died off - natural loss ranges from 10 to 15 percent. In the United States, colony loss has been around 30 percent for the last eight years, increasing to 60 percent in some states.
These numbers are not only alarming from an environmental perspective, but also from an economic one: About a third of our crops are pollinated by bees. Without bees, we wouldn't have almonds, cherries or cucumbers, or innumerable other flowering fruits and vegetables.
The bees' enemies
Scientists are still debating what is causing the global bee crisis - one prime suspect is the Varroa mite. Similar to ticks, the mites suck the bees' blood, and spread disease. They reproduce in the bees' brood cells, through that weakening the hive at its core.
"Due to Varroa, bees couldn't survive today without beekeepers' help," says bee scientist Peter Rosenkranz of Hohenheim University near Stuttgart.
The extensive use of pesticides in agriculture is said to be another factor causing the dramatic decline in bee colonies. In 2013, the European Union reacted to scientific evidence and protests by environmental activists by banning so-called neonicotinoids.
These pesticides are applied to seeds, but can also be found in nectar and pollen - where they come into direct contact with bees.
An ongoing debate
Although the EU ban will expire at the end of 2015, the fight over harmfulness of neonicotinoids will continue. A recently published study suggests that the amount of pesticide bees bring home when they collect nectar and pollen is below harmful levels.
Bee scientist Rosenkranz supports this thesis: "We have done extensive research on the issue and found that low doses of pesticides do not critically harm a colony. In certain agricultural areas, neonicotinoids could be helpful."
Bees: Are pesticides at fault for colony collapse disorder?
However, Rosenkranz says that pesticides do have a general effect on bees. "A single bee could definitely be harmed by the pesticides."
"We still don't know what influence these toxics have on the general biodiversity," Rosenkranz adds. Wild bees or bumblebees are more sensitive to the pesticides than the honeybee.
Along these lines, new scientific evidence from London casts a damning light on neonicotinoids. "We found that bees specifically seek out nectar that contains these pesticides," lead scientist Geraldine Wright from Newscastle University tells DW.
As the name suggests, neonicotinoids has a similar effect on the insect brain as nicotine does on human brains. "This is no good news for the bees," Wright says.
Wright's study suggests that bees get addicted to nectar containing neonicotinoids - meaning that they would collect pollen and nectar from fields treated with neonicotinoids, even if they had a healthy, untreated alternative.
Rescuing bees - from your balcony?
"We hope to help the bees," say Jonas Schiffmann and Veronika Schrieder
Back on the Cologne balcony, Schiffmann's bees are not likely to come into much contact with pesticides. Though it seems contradictory, bees find more food in the city than in rural areas - and, it is more pure.
"There are a lot of other balconies with flowering plants on them, and there is also a cemetery just around the corner. Our bees will find enough food here," Schiffmann believes. So through keeping bees in the city, has the couple found the answer to the devastating bee crisis?
Experienced beekeeper Susanne Kleinmann from Hamburg is not so sure: "To keep your bees healthy, you need to know a lot and put a lot of work into them." In Kleinmann's opinion, urban beekeepers often do not have enough prior experience to care for their bees correctly.
Poorly cared-for bees can even harm others, Kleinmann adds. Bees can fly up to three kilometers from their hive, and rub wings with other bees all the time. Thus, an untreated illness in one hive can infect hundreds of other colonies.
"We look at urban beekeeping critically," confirms Rosenkranz. The public awareness element is positive, of course. "But once you have your own bees, you should be aware: I carry a big responsibility."
Beekeeping also has its tangible rewards - like honey
Unforeseen challenges
Schiffmann and Schrieder seem to be aware of the responsibility they hold. They have already registered their hive with the local veterinary authority and are also currently taking a beekeeping course to learn more about their busy new flat-mates. Still, they might encounter unexpected problems along their bee-helping journey.
Back on the balcony, Schiffmann is talking to the neighbors who are enjoying a lunch break on the terrace downstairs. "We can't open our windows any more," a middle-aged woman says. One of them already got stung by a bee, she goes on.
"They'll calm down eventually," Schiffmann says. It is not entirely clear if he is referring to the bees - or the neighbors.By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press
DALLAS (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign is launching a new offensive on taxes, saying Bernie Sanders' health care plan would require middle-class workers to pay higher taxes.
Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon says in a statement that a 2013 proposal by Sanders in the Senate to create a single-payer health care system showed middle-class families would face higher taxes. He says "simple math" shows Sanders would need to tax workers more to pay for his agenda.
Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs says their "Medicare for all" plan would save taxpayers money in the long run because it would eliminate wasteful health spending. He says Clinton supports a system that "props up private insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies" which have given money to her campaign.
Clinton was holding a rally Tuesday in Dallas.Microsoft could be shipping a preview release of the next major version of Windows—codenamed "Threshold" and expected to be named "Windows 9"—in either late September or early October, according to sources speaking to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley. The preview will be widely available to anyone who wants to install it.
The final version of the operating system is currently believed to be scheduled for spring 2015.
Microsoft has all but confirmed some of the features that Threshold will ship with, including a new hybrid Start menu that includes bits of the old Windows 7 Start menu alongside new live tiles and the ability to run modern Metro applications in windows.
Other features that have been rumored include the removal of the Charms bar, with Metro apps having to embed their own search, share, and print buttons as appropriate. Windows 8.1 already took a step in this direction; although it has the Charms bar, with Windows 8.1, Metro applications started incorporating search buttons within their UI instead of relying on the search charm.
Virtual Desktop support has also been rumored, giving Windows for the first time ever a native capability to organize windows into multiple workspaces. There have also been claims that there will be some kind of Cortana integration.
Foley's sources told her that anyone using the preview will have to enable automatic updating, perhaps indicating that Microsoft intends to service and update Windows on a near-continuous basis in the future.As Robin Hood, Kevin Costner stole from the rich to give to the poor. As an unnamed, be-gilled seafarer in Waterworld, he fought with outlaw "smokers" for a greater cause.
The actor's latest role, as saviour of the Gulf of Mexico, goes some way towards combining the two, after his oil-water separation machines, in which he has personally invested $20m (£13.5m), were contracted by BP to help in the Gulf clear-up effort.
The 32 centrifuge machines, which a Costner-funded team of scientists have spent the past 15 years developing, are to be deployed to help tackle the spill, now believed to be gushing 40,000 barrels a day into the Gulf.
The devices, manufactured by Ocean Therapy Solutions, are carried to the spill area by barges before separating the oil and water. The largest of the machines, the V20, can clean water at a rate of 200 gallons a minute, according to the company's website.
Once separation has occurred, the oil is stored in tanks. The water is then more than 99% clean of crude.
"This is the key," Costner told CNN on Tuesday. "It's certainly a way to fight oil spills in the 21st century."
The actor has been developing the machinery since the early 1990s with the help of a team including his brother, a scientist.
"It may seem an unlikely scenario that I'm the one delivering this technology at this moment in time, but from where I'm sitting, it is equally inconceivable that these machines are not already in place," he said.
The actor gave testimony to the house of representatives science and technology committee last week, when he urged members to force oil rigs to have clean-up equipment on site.
"We've legislated life preservers. We legislated fire extinguishers," Costner said.
"We legislated lifeboats and first aid kits. It seems logical that as long as the oil industry profits from the sea, they have the legal obligation to protect it, except when they find themselves fighting for life and limb."
BP spokesman Bill Salvin confirmed the company has contracted with Costner and Ocean Therapy Solutions to use the machines.
"We recognised they had potential and put them through testing, and that testing was done in shallow water and in very deep water and we were very pleased by the results," Salvin said.Star Trek/X-Men is a one-shot comic book crossover, written by Scott Lobdell and published in 1996.[1]
Publication history [ edit ]
Produced by Marvel Comics as part of its short-lived Paramount Comics imprint, the book chronicles the first encounter between Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise (during the five-year mission of the original series) and members of the X-Men, who traveled through a dimensional rift chasing the mutant Proteus. This was the first of the Star Trek comic books produced by Marvel for the Paramount Comics line, and it contains previews for several of the follow-up series.[2]
Plot synopsis [ edit ]
Returning to the planet Delta Vega, site of the deaths of Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise encounter a rift of psionic energy in space, through which travels a starship of Shi'ar design. The ship is quickly destroyed by the spatial anomaly, though not before Spock detects that it carried seven lifeforms of "near human" nature. A second, larger Shi'ar craft comes through the rift, which promptly fires an unusual projectile at the Enterprise: Gladiator of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, who warns the Enterprise away from the planet and drives his point home by striking the ship's deflector shields, causing some actual damage to the vessel as a result. (Kirk: "Did he just... punch my ship?")[3]
Meanwhile, the seven crew members of the destroyed ship are revealed to be members of the X-Men - Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Beast, Storm, Gambit, and Bishop - who managed to transport to the Enterprise before their own vessel's destruction, though they are hiding to avoid detection. As Dr. McCoy discovers Beast and Storm sneaking Gambit into Sick Bay for medical attention, Spock has sensed the presences of the X-Men on board and confronts the remaining members, engaging Wolverine in combat and actually putting him under for a few moments with the Vulcan nerve pinch.[4] The X-Men and the Enterprise crew soon settle their differences and meet to discuss the purpose of the mutants' trip to what they presume is an alternate universe: both they and the other Shi'ar ship, commanded by the renegade Deathbird, are tracking the consciousness of the powerful reality-altering mutant Proteus, who has traveled through the rift to Delta Vega and has reanimated the corpse of Lt. Mitchell, who had developed similar powers in the days leading up to his death.
Beaming down to the planet, the X-Men and the Enterprise command crew discover two things: first, that the surface had been transformed to resemble a Scottish village, and second, that Deathbird and the Imperial Guard beat them there, and offered Proteus/Mitchell the use of their ship in return for establishing an alliance. While Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, Storm, and members of the Enterprise crew fight off the Imperial Guard and Proteus' physical form, Jean Grey and Captain Kirk psionically appealed to the remaining consciousness of Mitchell and determine that the only way to win was to, once again, kill Mitchell's physical form. Beast, Spock, and Mr. Scott construct a way to direct the Enterprise's phaser energy through Bishop's energy channeling powers, and that, combined with the crew's own phasers and the powers of the X-Men succeeds in ending the Proteus/Mitchell entity's existence.
The battle over, the X-Men commandeer the Imperial Guard's starship and return home through the rift, expressing their happiness that after experiencing a multitude of alternate futures, they finally encountered one that seemed hopeful.[5]
Sequels [ edit ]
Members of the X-Men would meet the crew of Captain Picard's Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men #1 and the novel Planet X.Nine questions with majesticduxk
This week: @majesticduxk talks works in progress; her love of Terry Pratchett’s novels and how to be happy when writing fanfic.
dreamsfromthebunker: Welcome to a new feature that mayalaen and I have been working on. Every week we’re going to bringing you the writerly thoughts of fanfic writers from all over the Supernatural fandom…
ASS: What do you most enjoy about writing fanfiction?
majesticduxk: I really like that I am playing with already established characters, so it is something that is immediately easy to share with people. Like, the majority of people opening an spn fanfic are familiar with the characters, with the universe, so you are sharing something you and your reader already enjoy.
What aspects of writing do you find difficult when you write fanfiction?
Finishing!!! For some reason I either have a really, really clear idea of where it is going, or.. Nothing. I feel like starting is about a million times easier than finishing. I don’t know why… *looks at WIP folder*
Have you ever received hateful comments on your fic and how do you deal with it?
Ah yes, yes I have. I… am getting a little better at dealing with it. To be honest, most people that leave awful comments go on anon, and I think if you aren’t willing to put your name to it, your negativity is worth nothing.
Aaaaand… ok, to be honest, there was these period of months where people Really Didn’t Like the fic I was writing. And they left death threats, and told me they wished to tie me up and have a go at me with knuckle rings, they hoped I got raped etc etc, and that was AWFUL. And for a while, every time I got a comment on a fic I would have a mini panic attack, which sucked.
But I also realised, that what these people were writing, were wishing on me? Was so much worse than anything I could write in a fictional universe about fictional characters. That was a really good learning experience.
It’s also left me with very strong feelings regarding negative feedback!
So basically I dealt with it by being really lucky and having some friends who were online at the time who told me I was awesome :)
Conversely: what’s been some of your favorite feedback on your fanfic?
I love and adore every single piece of positive feedback I get. But sometimes… I dunno. When someone takes the time to spell out exactly what they loved about it, how it moved them, how something affected them.
And I adore it when people are like ‘I almost didn’t read this, but I’m glad I gave it a go!’
Haha - look how short this section is! It’s part of the bottomless hole for feedback :)
How do you handle writer’s block?
I am terrible because I do it by starting new things. But something that has also worked for me is a writers block program where you can’t look at another program until you reach your goal - whether that’s a time goal or a word goal. I usually do 200-500 word increments and wow I have finished things that way!
Which Supernatural fanfic of yours are you most proud of and why?
I think I am going to say “A Traditional Family.” Now, I actually love most of what I’ve written, but I think that ATF has the most world building in it. It’s also the one I got the most crap for, so there is a huge sense of accomplishment in finishing!
What/who has had the biggest influence on your writing?
I have always, always read. Anything and everything I could get my hands on. But in recent times, I will say Terry Pratchett. I love the way he uses words. (used… I am actually rereading the City Watch books at the moment). I think that romance writers have affected me too - I am thinking specifically of Georgette Heyer, who writes rollicking regency romance, with feisty heroines.
What are you currently working on?
Hehehe. So much. Ok. So in my actively working on open files I have an abo wincestigan (alpha sam/alpha adam/omega dean), This Omega is Mine (Sam/Dean, currently on ao3 and not updated in forever), Born Again Winchester (I think it’s 18 months since I updated this one…), wincestiel d/s verse, dean/cas/gabe angel verse (with d/s undertones), Sam/Dean mafia fic, Dean/Cas arranged marriage fic, and a few more. As you can tell, I have a problem.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new and/or struggling writer, what would it be?
Just write. And just keep writing.
Read what people have to say about ‘the rules’ but write something that sounds good to you. Because you are never going to please everyone.
Engage with people - with readers, with other authors, give feedback because you know how much you want it in return AND that is the way you make friends!
Here be awesome…
Tumblr: majesticduxk.tumblr.com
AO3: majestic_duck
LiveJournal: majestic-duxk.livejournal.comThe End Of The World As We Know It, And It's A Small, Small World
Photographer Lori Nix excitedly asks me an unusual question over the phone: "Can you imagine what it would be like if you were the last person in D.C. and were able to wander around?" The tone in her voice is such that she could be asking: "Can you imagine winning the Mega Millions jackpot!?"
As it happens, I have, in fact, imagined such a scenario.
I'd wager, though, that most folks don't sit around thinking about being the last person left in D.C. Most people, I imagine, don't go to a shopping mall and wonder: What would this place look like if humanity disappeared and Mother Nature reclaimed that escalator?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Lori Nix Lori Nix
Nix definitely thinks about those things. "I am fascinated, maybe even a little obsessed, with the idea of the apocalypse," she writes on her website.
Much of her wild imagining is done on a morning commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where she works as a self-described photo "lab rat" four days a week:
"Something about the subway," she writes via email, "the need to create my own space while rubbing shoulders with a complete stranger, the light that floods the subway car as it hurtles out of the tunnel and over the Manhattan Bridge: All of these come together to create the perfect environment for me to lose myself and come up with ideas to explore."
Hide caption Violin Repair Shop, 2011 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Bar, 2009 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Library, 2007 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Aquarium, 2007 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Church, 2009 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Botanic Garden, 2008 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Laundromat, 2008 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Fountain, 2008 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Vacuum Showroom, 2006 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Great Hall, 2006 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Majestic, 2006 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Museum of Art, 2005 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Clock Tower, 2005 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Map Room, 2010 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Beauty Shop, 2010 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix
Hide caption Control Room, 2010 Previous Next Courtesy of Lori Nix 1 of 16 i View slideshow
Ideas like a library overrun with trees, a rusty, flooded control room, a "vacuum show room" imagined down to the faux advertisements on the wall. The concepts are morose and humorous, retro and futuristic, outlandish and somewhat believable all at once. She keeps a list of these scenarios and, if it passes the two-year test of likability, she'll create it.
It then takes months for Nix and her partner, Kathleen Gerber, to turn an imagined scene into a miniature diorama, which Nix then photographs using a large-format film camera.
"I'm largely known as a photographer," she writes, "although these days I feel more and more like a fabricator.... I only step behind the camera [about] three times a year."
Nix studied photography at Ohio University but concluded that photojournalism and documentaries — even portraits and landscapes — were not for her. Those, in short, are based in reality.
"I don't see," she says on the phone. And elaborates:
"I'm usually more in my head than present in my surroundings, so I miss those magical shots like Winogrand... Eggleston or Capa were able to capture. I'm not a people person, so shooting like Arbus or Nan Goldin is out. I'm also not much of a traveler. Ultimately what I like to do is stay home and create my own worlds rather than go in search of them."
This selection of post-apocalyptic photos has been in the works since 2005 — a series she calls The City. Though she doesn't seek commercial work, the dioramas have caught the eye of magazine editors like those at O magazine, who asked her to illustrate their Christmas issue.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Lori Nix Lori Nix
Though each work is a meticulous, time-consuming, laborious work of art, she doesn't seem to get bored. Nix says she will continue with this series until she runs out of ideas. Or, perhaps, until the world ends.The lawyers of the future may be less J.D. than R2D2.
The law profession is being reshaped by new automation technologies that allow law firms to complete legal work in a fraction of the time and with far less manpower. Think IBM's "Jeopardy!"-winning computer Watson -- practicing law.
"Watson the lawyer is coming," said Ralph Losey, a legal technology expert at the law firm Jackson Lewis. "He won't come up with the creative solutions, but when it comes to the regular games that lawyers play, he'll kill them."
That means potentially huge cost savings for clients, though it's not so promising for law school graduates looking for work.
The good news for lawyers is that no one thinks the profession can be automated entirely. But lots of legal work is already being computerized by some firms, including the drafting of simple contracts and the search for evidence in reams of documents.
Related: Cameras on cops, coming to a town near you
Winston & Strawn is among the law firms that have adopted legal review technology known as predictive coding. Lawyers mark up relevant information in a subset of documents and feed that to a computer program that uses it as a basis for analyzing the entire data set. The software then surfaces potentially relevant evidence for review by lawyers.
In a recent study, the firm found that its software was more effective than human reviewers in surfacing relevant documents, and helped it complete the review process in about a third of |
picture? Americans are indeed like little birds waiting for their next 'news byte lie' and then to accept that lie as truth (when it is a lie), and then go right back to shopping, grazing, working, rushing the kids to school or sports activities...and watching teevee. The laws and policies are another piece of it. Remember, this cowardly Congress rolled over for Bush to retroactively grant him and themselves exoneration for war crimes and crimes against humanity. They will stoop to anything and will do anything for they have no character, no honor, no honesty, no integrity. They are traitors and now Racketeers plundering the very spirit of America. All America has to do to find out who the architects were of this assassination of the American Dream is to look at who voted for what I just described to you. Clinton was sleazy and did much damage to the American capital markets and investors. When Bush came to office, so much fluff and theft had been done it imploded. That is one perfect reason why their pulling off 9-11 was criminal to the point of stupidity...because their policies and their changes in the laws had gutted the real value of the market, just like it has happened in housing. Think that one through. It will only get fixed when Americans wake up to the truth of the matter and the gravity of the situation. They are, in Washington, DC, involved in institutionalization and execution of criminal racketeering against YOU. If I were president, there are a few first steps I would take. 1. * All US troops in Iraq would be moved to Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait to await further orders 2. * All US troops in Afghanistan would be moved to Kuwait and Turkey to await further orders 3. * The DOJ and FBI would be instructed to initiate the immediate dismantling of the Zionist media gangs. They are not conglomerates, they are part of a massive Zionist propaganda campaign machine 4. * US forces would be deployed in the US to back up the FBI as this criminal cabal is rounded up and brought to justice 5. * All attempts to fabricate a war against Iran would be under immediate Executive Order of 'cease and desist' 6. * Israel would be told to shut up, sit down and bifurcate separate states between Israel and Palestine immediately. Just in case some Arab nation reads that the wrong way, US aircraft carrier attack groups would be relocated from near Iran and moved down to very near Israel 7. * The DOJ, SEC, FBI would be instructed to track down and prosecute every party profiteering from oil and gas, grain and metals futures to the detriment of the entire world 8. * The anthrax attack investigation would proceed to full conclusion, with full backing of the White House 9. * The Cheney Energy Task Force would be brought under full investigation, with the full backing of the White House 10. * The 9-11 investigation would proceed to full conclusion, with full backing of the White House and many indictments would ensue 11. * Many members of many administrations and Congress would be facing indictments for war crimes, genocide and treason against the United States of America and 12. * And there would be a major house-cleaning at CIA and DoD, and across the entire Zionist, corrupt infrastructure that has been installed in DC KarlThe National Institutes of Health has awarded $5.7M for a five-year, multicenter study which will be the first in the U.S. to evaluate the long-term outcomes of medical treatment for transgender youth. This study will provide essential, evidence-based information on the physiological and psychosocial impact, as well as safety, of hormone blockers and cross-sex hormone use in this population.
The multicenter study will be located at four academic medical centers with dedicated transgender youth clinics. The co-investigators and their institutions include:
Johanna Olson, MD, Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Stephen Rosenthal, MD, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco
Robert Garofalo, MD, MPH, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Norman Spack, MD, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
"We are pleased to see transgender medicine taking its place on the national health agenda," said Olson, medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. "Results of this study will help physicians across the country provide the best and safest possible care for transgender youth."
The study - which will begin enrollment in fall 2015--will include 280 transgender youth with gender dysphoria--those who are persistently distressed by the incongruity between their gender of identity and the gender they were assigned at birth. Participants will be those who seek medical intervention to align their physical bodies with their gender identity and alleviate gender dysphoria and its associated negative effects, including anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
The study will include youth from two age groups: younger children in early puberty, who will receive hormone blockers, called GnRH agonists, used to suspend the process of puberty - preventing the development of undesired secondary sex characteristics; and older adolescents, who will begin use of masculinizing or feminizing cross-sex hormones that allow them to go through the 'right' puberty - consistent with their gender of identification.
For the cohort in the earliest stages of puberty, the study will evaluate the impact of treatment on mental health, psychological well-being, physiologic parameters and bone health, and will document the safety of hormone blockers. In the older group, the study will document the safety of administering cross-sex hormones for phenotypic gender transition, as well as evaluate its impact on mental health, psychological well-being, and certain metabolic/physiological parameters.
###
Media contacts:
Children's Hospital Los Angeles - Ellin Kavanagh, ekavanagh@chla.usc.edu, 323-361-8505
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco - Juliana Bunim, Juliana.Bunim@ucsf.edu, 415-476-8810
Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago - Jennifer Leininger, JLeininger@luriechildrens.org, 773-303-6056
Boston Children's Hospital - Erin Tornatore, Erin.Tornatore@childrens.harvard.edu, 617-919-3110From Czech playwright Vaclav Havel’s 1978 samizdat essay The Power of the Powerless on how the “post-totalitarian” system works:
{4} The manager of a fruit-and-vegetable shop places in his window, among the onions and carrots, the slogan: “Workers of the world, unite!” Why does he do it? …
{5} I think it can safely be assumed that the overwhelming majority of shopkeepers never think about the slogans they put in their windows, nor do they use them to express their real opinions. That poster was delivered to our greengrocer from the enterprise headquarters along with the onions and carrots. He put them all into the window simply because it has been done that way for years, because everyone does it, and because that is the way it has to be. If he were to refuse, there could be trouble. He could be reproached for not having the proper decoration in his window; someone might even accuse him of disloyalty. He does it because these things must be done if one is to get along in life. It is one of the thousands of details that guarantee him a relatively tranquil life “in harmony with society,” as they say.
{6} Obviously the greengrocer... does not put the slogan in his window from any personal desire to acquaint the public with the ideal it expresses. This, of course, does not mean that his action has no motive or significance at all, or that the slogan communicates nothing to anyone. The slogan is really a sign, and as such it contains a subliminal but very definite message. Verbally, it might be expressed this way: “I, the greengrocer XY, live here and I know what I must do. I behave in the manner expected of me. I can be depended upon and am beyond reproach. I am obedient and therefore I have the right to be left in peace.” This message, of course, has an addressee: it is directed above, to the greengrocer’s superior, and at the same time it is a shield that protects the greengrocer from potential informers. The slogan’s real meaning, therefore, is rooted firmly in the greengrocer’s existence. It reflects his vital interests. But what are those vital interests?
{7} Let us take note: if the greengrocer had been instructed to display the slogan “I am afraid and therefore unquestioningly obedient;’ he would not be nearly as indifferent to its semantics, even though the statement would reflect the truth. The greengrocer would be embarrassed and ashamed to put such an unequivocal statement of his own degradation in the shop window, and quite naturally so, for he is a human being and thus has a sense of his own dignity. To overcome this complication, his expression of loyalty must take the form of a sign which, at least on its textual surface, indicates a level of disinterested conviction. It must allow the greengrocer to say, “What’s wrong with the workers of the world uniting?” Thus the sign helps the greengrocer to conceal from himself the low foundations of his obedience, at the same time concealing the low foundations of power. It hides them behind the facade of something high. And that something is ideology.
{8} Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. … It is an excuse that everyone can use, from the greengrocer, who conceals his fear of losing his job behind an alleged interest in the unification of the workers of the world, to the highest functionary, whose interest in staying in power can be cloaked in phrases about service to the working class....
{9} The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; … Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. …
{10} Individuals need not believe all these mystifications, but they must behave as though they did, or they must at least tolerate them in silence, or get along well with those who work with them. For this reason, however, they must live within a lie. They need not accept the lie. It is enough for them to have accepted their life with it and in it. For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system.....
{11} Why in fact did our greengrocer have to put his loyalty on display in the shop window? Had he not already displayed it sufficiently in various internal or semipublic ways? …
{12} It seems senseless to require the greengrocer to declare his loyalty publicly. But it makes sense nevertheless. People ignore his slogan, but they do so because such slogans are also found in other shop windows, on lampposts, bulletin boards, in apartment windows, and on buildings; they are everywhere, in fact. They form part of the panorama of everyday life. Of course, while they ignore the details, people are very aware of that panorama as a whole. And what else is the greengrocer’s slogan but a small component in that huge backdrop to daily life?
{13} The greengrocer had to put the slogan in his window, therefore, not in the hope that someone might read it or be persuaded by it, but to contribute, along with thousands of other slogans, to the panorama that everyone is very much aware of. This panorama, of course, has a subliminal meaning as well: it reminds people where they are living and what is expected of them. It tells them what everyone else is doing, and indicates to them what they must do as well, if they don’t want to be excluded, to fall into isolation, alienate themselves from society, break the rules of the game, and risk the loss of their peace and tranquility and security....
{14} Let us now imagine that one day something in our greengrocer snaps and he stops putting up the slogans merely to ingratiate himself. He stops voting in elections he knows are a farce. He begins to say what he really thinks at political meetings. And he even finds the strength in himself to express solidarity with those whom his conscience commands him to support. In this revolt the greengrocer steps out of living within the lie. He rejects the ritual and breaks the rules of the game. He discovers once more his suppressed identity and dignity. He gives his freedom a concrete significance. His revolt is an attempt to live within the truth....
{15} The bill is not long in coming. He will be relieved of his post as manager of the shop and transferred to the warehouse. His pay will be reduced. His hopes for a holiday in Bulgaria will evaporate. His children’s access to higher education will be threatened. His superiors will harass him and his fellow workers will wonder about him. Most of those who apply these sanctions, however, will not do so from any authentic inner conviction but simply under pressure from conditions, the same conditions that once pressured the greengrocer to display the official slogans. They will persecute the greengrocer either because it is expected of them, or to demonstrate their loyalty, or simply as part of the general panorama, to which belongs an awareness that this is how situations of this sort are dealt with, that this, in fact, is how things are always done, particularly if one is not to become suspect oneself. The executors, therefore, behave essentially like everyone else, to a greater or lesser degree: as components of the post-totalitarian system, as agents of its automatism, as petty instruments of the social auto-totality.
{16} Thus the power structure, through the agency of those who carry out the sanctions, those anonymous components of the system, will spew the greengrocer from its mouth. The system, through its alienating presence in people, will punish him for his rebellion. It must do so because the logic of its automatism and self-defense dictate it. The greengrocer has not committed a simple, individual offense, isolated in its own uniqueness, but something incomparably more serious. By breaking the rules of the game, he has disrupted the game as such. He has exposed it as a mere game. He has shattered the world of appearances, the fundamental pillar of the system. He has upset the power structure by tearing apart what holds it together. He has demonstrated that living a lie is living a lie. He has broken through the exalted facade of the system and exposed the real, base foundations of power. He has said that the emperor is naked. And because the emperor is in fact naked, something extremely dangerous has happened: by his action, the greengrocer has addressed the world. He has enabled everyone to peer behind the curtain. He has shown everyone that it is possible to live within the truth. Living within the lie can constitute the system only if it is universal. The principle must embrace and permeate everything. There are no terms whatsoever on which it can co-exist with living within the truth, and therefore everyone who steps out of line denies it in principle and threatens it in its entirety....Note
six
I still see so much confusion and outright misinformation being spread about why a lot of Linux games perform worse than Windows, so here's a few real reasons.: This is an editorial and tagged as such, please remember what that means. The way I think about things will likely be different to you.Drivers on Windows are tweaked rather often for specific games. You often see a "Game Ready" (or whatever term they use now) driver from Nvidia and AMD where they often state "increased performance in x game by x%".This happens for most major game releases on Windows. Nvidia and AMD have teams of people to specifically tweak the drivers for games on Windows. Looking at Nvidia specifically, in the last three months they have releasednew drivers to improve performance in specific games.Update: Image above added to help show my point.This just doesn't really happen on Linux, it has happened in the past, but it seems it's a rare occurrence on Linux. It seems a lot of people overlook this fact too. This is easily where a chunk of the performance difference comes from for some of the bigger games.On Windows, drivers specifically state when they improve performance in certain games, I highly doubt AMD/Nvidia would release a driver on Linux that improved performance in a Linux game without saying anything.Here's a specific example [ see here ] (one of many I could easily pull up) for Mad Max. On Windows, Nvidia specifically released a driver with "performance optimisations, Game Ready tweaks, and a SLI profile" for the DirectX version, we don't see things like that on Linux.Update: I'm not claiming this is a major source of the difference, but it could account for some differences. The other issues below are likely the bigger issues.A small part of the blame also lies in games that are ported from Windows to Linux after the original release. Why? As these games generally use some form of translation layer that translates DirectX calls to OpenGL, as opposed to rewriting the game engine for better OpenGL support. This can of course have an overhead to it. Not always, but a lot of the time it will.Why do they use these layers? When thinking in business terms it's quite simple and comes down to two things: Time and Money. It would likely take too long to rewrite an entire game engine to make much better use of another API. We would end up seeing a lot less ports.Think about these major games and how they were originally developed. They would have had thousands (if not millions) invested into them to make them perform on Windows. Where as Linux has no such investment for the games.So, it's not down to laziness as I repeatedly see people say, but it's just business. Some of you may not like this, but that's the way it is for a small platform. The only way this is likely to change in future is if our platform grows and more developers take notice, but we won't grow much, if all people do is complain about the games we already have.This doesn't apply to every Linux game of course, but it is a major reason from the bigger porters.OpenGL itself can often be the problem. Many developers [ like this one and this one ], some high profile too, have noted their extreme frustrations with this graphics API. I've personally spoken to a lot of developers over the years, some small, some big, and their thoughts about OpenGL are never very nice.OpenGL doesn't really do multithreading. Nvidia do have their "__GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS" option but the results with that vary from game to game and GPU to GPU, it can destroy performance in some games. Remember the initial Linux release of The Witcher 2? VP tried to do OpenGL multithreading similar to DirectX [ see here for their explanation ], and the performance was terrible.Where as DirectX does multithreading rather nicely. This is also something people repeatedly either forget, or ignore when it comes to Linux port performance.The problems are many, from poor documentation to a lack of decent debuggers that can make life hell for developers using it.Thankfully,the new API will hopefully help to close the performance gap, but it won't be a silver bullet. Vulkan seems to be developed far more in the open than OpenGL ever was and there's actual excitement for it from developers. It was also designed with multithreading in mind [ see this video ]. We do still have the two other previously mentioned issues though.So, before people go complaining there's a 20% (or whatever) difference in a Linux game, they need to ask themselves: do they want more Linux ports to happen, or do they want only 2 or 3 a year? Those 2 or 3 somehow hit 100% parity with Windows, but then they aren't financially rewarding for the developer and for Linux to continue to remain in Linux gaming obscurity until the end of time?I don't particularly like it when ports don't perform amazingly well, but the point here is the experience you have. Is your experience with a Linux port good? If the answer is yes, does the difference between Windows and Linux really matter? Not really. Would you even know there was a difference unless you stared at that FPS counter or directly compared it to the Windows version? If the answer is a no, then again, does it really matter if there is a difference? Not really.Elena Delle Donne, a star with the WNBA's Chicago Sky and a member of the U.S. women's Olympic basketball team in Rio, has come out publicly in a profile with Vogue as being in a same-sex relationship.
The article, which is not online but which was referred to me by Phil Thompson of the Chicago Tribune, states: "Elena divides her time between traveling with her team, the Chicago Sky, and her family’s home in the rolling green landscape of Wilmington, Delaware. She and her fiancee, Amanda Clifton, keep apartments in both Chicago and Wilmington."
That's it. Simple and sweet. Delle Donne, 26, has voiced support for lesbian players in basketball such as Brittney Griner, but this is her first public declaration that she is in same-sex relationship. The article does not spell out exactly what her sexual orientation is. Delle Donne and Clifton, though, are not shy about sharing photos of each other on Instagram:
Such an awesome experience! #superbowl50 A photo posted by Amanda Clifton (@mandaclif) on Feb 7, 2016 at 7:48pm PST
It's not very often all four of us get in one pic #rastaspissed #wrigleysconfused #elenassmashed #dogsofinstagram @thewrigleydelledonne A photo posted by Amanda Clifton (@mandaclif) on Mar 28, 2016 at 3:51pm PDT
This place was so cool! So glad we got the chance to experience the @SavedByTheMax #SavedByTheMax A photo posted by Elena Delle Donne (@de11edonne) on Jul 14, 2016 at 6:40pm PDT
Thompson noted in the Chicago Tribune that "in a teaser video posted to USA Basketball's Facebook page Tuesday, Delle Donne flashes a ring on her wedding hand as she folds her arms and stands in front of an American flag."
When Chicago Tribune reporter Chris Hine caught up with Delle Donne in Rio after the news of her engagement spread, she said: "I decided I'm not at all going to hide anything. The biggest thing is respecting Amanda's privacy as well. She's not on the stage, she doesn't need to be interviewed and I don't want her to have to feel that way.... It's not a coming out article or anything. I've been with her for a very long time now and people who are close to me know that and that's that."
Delle Donne is a star, the second pick in the 2013 WNBA draft behind Griner and last season's league MVP, yet I imagine most people will yawn at the news. Out female athletes have never gotten the same amount of attention as a man, for various sociological reasons. Imagine the news avalanche had the first two picks in an NBA draft both been gay. Megan Greenwell, an ESPN editor, was perhaps prescient when she said this to N.Y. Magazine after Griner came out in 2013:
Contrast Griner with the No. 2 WNBA draft pick this year, Elena Delle Donne: "She's super-blonde, super-thin, does not look like a classic image of a female athlete," Greenwell says. "If Elena Delle Donne was the one who said, ‘I'm gay,' I think that would have blown people's minds. I mean, Elena Delle Donne wore basically a cocktail dress to the WNBA draft. Brittney Griner wore a white suit chosen for her by Ellen Degeneres's stylist."
Regardless, it's awesome that Delle Donne went public about her relationship and she will be an inspiration to other athletes considering whether it's possible to be in a same-sex relationship and a high-profile player.
Note: This post was updated to reflect that Delle Donne never specifically spelled out her sexual orientation.The best team won last night in Washington. Let’s get that part out of the way first.
Last night, the Washington Capitals were the better team. They held the New York Islanders to just 11 shots, an impressive defensive performance that established a new NHL record for the fewest shots allowed in a Game 7. Despite Jaroslav Halak looking like he was going to pull off another elimination-game miracle, the Caps’ effort was enough to secure a 2-1 win. So yes, the Capitals were the better team, for one night at least.
It also doesn’t matter if the best team won. Let’s go there next. It’s not like there’s ever a right answer at the end of a Game 7 in the NHL. There’s no justice. Nobody walks out of a Game 7 feeling good about themselves, or their team, or the future, or the world. Nobody is even happy during a Game 7. If you’re watching closely enough, you may lose the ability to ever be happy again.
And that’s assuming that you don’t care who wins. If you’re a fan of either team, your soul has already set itself on fire by the end of the first intermission.
Game 7s are awful things. In the modern NHL, where parity reigns and every decent team plays an ultra-disciplined system, most games are determined by a lucky bounce here or a bad call there. A seven-game series barely tells you anything these days. Hell, sometimes an 82-game season isn’t enough. One game? You’re going to take an entire year for two teams and try to boil it all down into one game? You might as well flip a coin. It’s madness. It’s borderline cruelty.
It’s awesome.
Last night, the Capitals and Islanders played a classic Game 7, one that hit all the standard notes. You had the scoreless first period, just to build the tension. You had the eerie maybe the next goal wins feel that descends midway through the second. You had the opening goal, this one by Joel Ward, the one that briefly tricks you into thinking it will hold up. You had the tying goal, with just a little bit of odor to it. You had the refs who won’t call anything — just one minor all game long, despite plenty of opportunities, because let ’em play, right? You had the one goaltender — Halak this time, although Braden Holtby had a strong series — who starts to seem like he’s just going to say screw it and win the whole thing single-handedly.
And it all sets up That Guy who makes The Play. In every Game 7, there’s always That Guy. Sometimes The Play is a good thing and sometimes it’s a mistake, but it decides the game, and That Guy is the player who’ll never pay for a beer again in one city, and who’ll forever have an F-bomb for a middle name in the other.
Last night, The Guy was Evgeny Kuznetsov, and The Play was a spectacular solo effort to score the winner with seven minutes left. Kuznetsov is 22 years old. He celebrated his very first birthday on May 19, 1993. Three days later, the Islanders beat the Canadiens in Game 4 of the Wales Conference final. That still stands as the last playoff win the Islanders have had past Round 1. Like I said, borderline cruelty.
And so the Capitals move on to face the Rangers, a team they’ll be meeting for the fifth time in seven years. They’ll be tired, and they’ll be the underdogs, but they’ll have a shot. That may be all you can ask for if you’re a Caps fan, since you probably burned through most of your hockey-god bargaining just to survive this round. Washington fans know cruelty; there may not be a team with a more tortured track record of blowing series that seemed wrapped up. Give the Caps a 2-0 or 3-1 series lead, historically, and you’ve got them right where you want them. This series wasn’t pretty, but they found a way to close it out, and that’s enough. Nobody’s counting style points in April.
The Islanders will be moving on, too — to Brooklyn, where they open next year in Barclays Center. Saturday night’s Game 6 New York win will stand up as the final NHL game in Nassau Coliseum history. The Isles leave with a season that ranks among the franchise’s best since the dynasty days, and they have enough young talent to make one think they could be even better next year. That will take some of the sting out of last night’s loss, eventually. It doesn’t help any today, and probably won’t for a long time, but it will eventually. Maybe.
And then there’s the rest of us, the ones who tuned in to see a good game but didn’t really care who won. You may recognize us, since we’re the ones who maybe managed to get a little bit of sleep last night and who don’t look like we spent the game chugging scotch and then eating the bottle. We’re the ones who, in theory, enjoyed that game. We’re the ones who were supposed to think the whole thing was fun. But we didn’t, because Game 7 isn’t supposed to be fun, since even if your team isn’t involved, you know it might be next. Game 7 isn’t fun; the regular season is fun. That why it’s there.
And that regular season sure is fun these days, isn’t it? The NHL has become a league where they give out points for losing; where a dozen teams can top 100 points and 80 percent of the league can finish over.500; where the league standings page pretends that nobody ever has a losing streak; where nobody ever signs a bad contract because the commissioner assures us that fans don’t even care about that stuff; where we end half the games with wacky skills competitions that send everyone home happy. They don’t give out participation medals during the regular season, not quite yet, but it’s probably coming. Why keep score? Bring it in and hug it out. In the NHL’s regular season in the Gary Bettman era, everyone gets to be a winner.
But not in the playoffs, and not in Game 7. They haven’t figured out a way to sand all the jagged edges off of a Game 7, not yet. Someday, somewhere, some GM will probably try to sell Bettman on a plan to outlaw tough losses in the playoffs. You won’t lose a series; you’ll just go into the consolation round, where everyone gets a miniature replica Stanley Cup to skate around the ice and you’ll gladly pay those increased ticket prices because your team is a winner, dammit.
But not today. Today, we still have the abject cruelty of Game 7.
Game 7s are the absolute worst. They’re the unqualified best.
And by the way, the next one is tomorrow night. Step right up, Red Wings and Lightning, because you’re the next ones into the Game 7 meat grinder. It’s going to be awful, and we’re all going to love you for it.Online Video Fails to Disrupt the Cable Business Model
While online video is growing every day, the established cable business models are so far holding strong. Will cord cutting ever impact traditional pay TV companies? That was the topic of a recent Streaming Media East panel discussion.
Ad sales illustrate the disparity, with online video ad sales still nowhere near what television is generating.
"You can only sell what you have, and there's a ton more volume on TV," noted Jason Glickman, CEO and co-founder of Connected Sports Ventures. "There's the fact that there's more volume; there's also the fact that the sellout rate is not what it could or should be in online video yet. There's so much more consumption of TV content than there is of online video content now. I think that begins to change really quickly."
"There's also, by the way, the ad load is very different on television than it is online," interjected Mike Gordon, chief strategy officer of Frequency. TV can sell 12 ad avails per 30 minutes of programming, he noted, while online broadcasters might sell 15 seconds per clip.
The pay TV companies have been clever in anticipating the attacks from online video. They're offering premium content online in TV everywhere packages, for example.
"Revision 3 was bought by Discovery Communications a week or two ago, and you might think that that might have been an overreaction on behalf of Discovery, maybe an early defensive move realizing that if you're going to capture that lost generation you've got to get the world's leading lost generation video network, which is what Revision 3 claims to be," added Justin Fadgen senior vice president of publisher operations for Grab Media. The erosion of the current cable model will be slow, he said, with cable companies offering alternatives to defend their business model.
For the full discussion, watch the video below.
Will Internet TV Accelerate Online Video's Growth or Keep Television Stronger than Ever?
While cord cutting has yet to make any real impact on the cable TV business, in the future all devices will be connected and more content choices will be available. Traditional television still remains as strong as ever while online video has, in some ways, failed to disrupt the broadcast industry. In this session, content owners and CE manufactures will debate whether over-the-top (OTT) connected devices and platforms will accelerate the flow of consumers away from television and onto the web and outline what OTT services have the best shot at disrupting cable TV.
Moderator: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, CEO, WatchMojo.com
Speaker: Justin Fadgen, SVP, Publisher Operations, Grab Media
Speaker: Jason Glickman, CEO, Co-founder, Connected Sports Ventures
Speaker: Mike Gordon, Chief Strategy Officer, Frequency
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.ATLANTA (AP) – Welcome back, Al Horford.
In his first start since January, Horford scored 19 points, hit Atlanta's final two baskets and came up with a huge defensive play to make sure the Hawks kept their season going with a frenetic 87-86 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference playoffs Tuesday night.
"I wanted to bring that energy to the team," Horford said.
That he did, dribbling out at the head of fast breaks and diving fearlessly on the court for loose balls, not the least bit worried about reinjuring the pectoral muscle that kept him out most of the season. In addition to leading the Hawks in scoring, he grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out three assists, came up with three steals and blocked three shots — all while playing more than 31 minutes, far more than the Hawks intended.
"I didn't expect to play that many at all," Horford said. "We had an arrangement. It was going to be between 15 and 25."
With the season on the line, the Hawks couldn't worry about pre-game arrangements. The Celtics lead the series 3-2 heading back to Boston for Game 6 on Thursday. If the Hawks can steal one on the road, the deciding game would be Saturday in Atlanta.
"We can be nothing but confident," Horford said. "We know it's going to be a big challenge up there. "
Boston had a chance to clinch the series when Rajon Rondo stole Josh Smith's inbounds pass with 10 seconds remaining and raced down the court, looking for the winner. But the point guard got hemmed in along the sideline when Horford jumped out to defend him, which caused Rondo to lose control and fling a desperation pass. Smith knocked it away, the ball rolling harmlessly out of bounds as the horn sounded.
"I cornered myself," Rondo said. "Give Al credit."
A relieved Smith collapsed on the scorer's table as glittery streamers fell from the rafters.
"I feel awful the game ended the way it ended, because I thought Rondo willed us back into the game," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.
Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 16 points apiece. Rondo had 13 points and 12 assists, and the last of his five steals gave Boston a chance to end the series early and get some much-needed rest.
But there's still work to do, and now the Celtics have to cope with an Atlanta player who spent most of the season rehabbing. Horford tore his left pectoral muscle in January, missing the rest of the regular season and the first three games of the playoffs. But he made a surprise return in Game 4, one of the few bright spots in an embarrassing 101-79 loss that gave the Celtics command of the series.
"We got everybody back at the right time," Atlanta star Joe Johnson said. "We have a chance to do something special."
Smith clearly looked hobbled by a sore knee that kept him out of Game 3, but still managed 13 points and 16 rebounds. Jeff Teague had 16 points, while Johnson and Marvin Williams had 15 apiece, giving Atlanta double-figure scoring from all five starters in a revamped lineup.
"This is the team they thought they were going to start the season with," Rivers said. "They now have it, and we have to deal with it."
In a back-and-forth game, the Celtics tied it at 83 on Ray Allen's three-pointer from the corner, capping a quick 7-0 run.
The Hawks called time out and set up a play that reclaimed the lead for good. Teague drove into the lane and dumped it off to Horford for an uncontested dunk.
After Garnett missed a jumper in the lane, Johnson ran down the shot clock looking as though he had every intention of shooting. But, at the last possible second, he rifled a pass to Horford coming off the wing. The big center threw up a sort of pseudo-hook with Garnett and Brandon Bass all over him. The ball bounced around the rim before falling through with 1:34 left, giving the Hawks an 87-83 lead.
With less than a minute to go, after misses by Pierce and Horford canceled each other out, Pierce was inexplicably left open for a three |
100 per cent. Anybody who has got a different outlook of the direction of the Labour Party to me, I accept. The Labour Party has always been a synthesis of different ideas and different traditions and different strands and a gradualist approach vs a more direct approach. There will always be some of those tensions and tactical tensions and that’s just my entire experience of the Labour Party. So when the Labour Party selected a candidate in Stirling in 1997, for instance, [Anne McGuire, who has since endorsed Sarwar for leader] and whether I voted for them or not, when I was asked to be their parliamentary election agent, I did it because that was a key seat – Michael Forsyth was the MP – and we needed to get a Labour government elected in 1997, desperately. So of course, every campaign since when Michael Foot was the leader, I’ve been out there knocking doors, delivering leaflets, working morning, noon and night for the Labour Party, no matter who the candidate. It’s about the party.”
Have there been times when he couldn’t back the party leadership?
“Clearly the invasion of Iraq,” he says without hesitation. “I was the chair of the Scottish Labour Party at the very point when Iraq was being invaded and I remember being in Dundee on the Thursday night and switching on the TV on the Friday morning and Baghdad was in flames. It was awful. The week before I’d been marching the streets against the war. There are big issues like that, but on the whole, I know that while Labour governments may well do some wrong things and things I disagree with, they will still deliver in a way that nobody else will deliver for working people.”
But first, whoever wins this leadership contest, arguably the most vitriolic the party in Scotland has seen, will have to bring all sides together. How?
“My view is that for all those people in all those communities that need a Labour government in Scotland, we need to bury our differences and pull together and have a unity of purpose and get on with it. As I said earlier, if anybody thinks that in third place we’ve got the luxury of turning in on ourselves, then they’ve got a completely false perspective of where the Labour Party in Scotland is right now.”
Would Anas have a place on his front bench?
“I’ve never promised a job to anybody in advance of any appointment…”Webster dictionary defines a synonym as "a word having the same or nearly the same meaning" or as "a word or expression accepted as another name for something." This is so true for popular definitions of BI and big data. Forrester defines BI as:
A set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information used to enable more effective strategic, tactical, and operational insights and decision-making.
While BI has been a thriving market for decades and will continue to flourish for the foreseeable future, the world doesn't stand still and:
Recognizes a need for more innovation. Some of the approaches in earlier generation BI applications and platforms started to hit a ceiling a few years ago. For example, SQL and SQL-based database management systems (DBMS), while mature, scalable, and robust, are not agile and flexible enough in the modern world where change is the only constant.
Needs to addresses some of the limitations of earlier generation BI. In order to address some of the limitations of more traditional and established BI technologies, big data offers more agile and flexible alternatives to democratize all data, such as NoSQL, among many others.
Forrester defines big data as:
The practices and technologies that close the gap between the data available and the ability to turn that data into business insight.
But at the end of the day, while new terms are important to emphasize the need to evolve, change, and innovate, what's infinitely more imperative is that both strive to achieve the same goal: transform data into information and insight. Alas, while many developers are beginning to recognize the synergies and overlaps between BI and big data, quite a few still consider and run both in individual silos.
Contrary to some of the market hype, data democratization and big data do not eliminate the need for the "BI 101" basics, such as data governance, data quality, master data management, data modeling, well thought out data architecture, and many others. If anything, big data makes these tasks and processes more challenging because more data is available to more people, which in turn may cause new mistakes and drive wrong conclusions. All of the typical end-to-end steps necessary to transform raw data into insights still have to happen; now they just happen in different places and at different times in the process.
To address this challenge in a "let's have the cake and eat it too" approach, Forrester suggests integrating the worlds of BI and big data in a flexible hub-and-spoke data platform. Our hub-and-spoke BI/Big Data architecture defines such components as
Hadoop based data hubs/lakes to store and process majority of the enterprise data
Data discovery accelerators to help profile and discover definitions and meanings in data sources
Data governance that differentiates the processes you need to perform at the ingest, move, use, and monitor stages
BI that becomes one of many spokes of the Hadoop based data hub
A knowledge management portal to front end multiple BI spokes
Integrated metadata for data lineage and impact analysis
Our research also recommends considering architecting the hub-and-spoke environment around the three following key areas:About three weeks ago I posted this on the CityCyclingEdinburgh forum’s “Today’s rubbish driving” thread:
“So I’m cycling along in the dark with my lights on. There are some cars parked in the inside lane, and I wish to move further out than I already am. There’s a car coming up behind me, and it sounds & looks as though it is coming quite fast. So I signal right but don’t move out much, if at all. The car overtakes me while I am signalling right and we all go on our merry way. It is just as well no one in the car I was passing opened a door, though.
I think I should have got further out earlier. I don’t quite know what I think about the driver of the overtaking car.
Does it make a difference that it was a police car? I noted the plate as SN11 DYP which can’t be quite right.”
I was mostly just having a moan (that is the thread for having a moan, after all) but a couple of people suggested that I should report it, given that the Highway Code specifically says “DO NOT overtake … when a road user is indicating right…” To be honest, if it had been a private car or a taxi, I wouldn’t have thought much of it (though I might still have posted on the thread); it was the fact that it was a police car (I was right about the registration) that annoyed me. I think we are right to expect higher standards from the police, in driving as well as in other areas of conduct.
So, I went to the online form for making complaints, and filled it in (you don’t get that many words to make your complaint in, so it took a few minutes of editing to get my text right. They do say that you’ll get the opportunity to expand further, though.) I didn’t put in a phone number, expecting that any further correspondence would be by email, but the next thing that happened was I got an email asking for a phone number. I did get cold feet at that point, commenting to the CCE thread that I was concerned that
“I’m just going to end up being criticised for riding in a dark jacket and woolly hat (as opposed to magic yellow coat and plastic hat…)“.
However I decided to provide a phone number and after a few attempts the policeman got through to me. I was actually very impressed at the level of effort that went in to getting hold of me and talking to me about my complaint, given that I was pretty slow to reply to emails; I half expected that they’d give up.
The policeman asked me what I wanted the outcome of my complaint to be, and I said that I wanted someone to have a word with the driver about his driving. At no point were my choices of clothing or head-wear discussed. So the policeman agreed that he would do that, and let me know (by email) when he had done it, and this is what happened. I slightly regret not asking for more details of the conversation, in particular, did the driver accept that he should not have done what he did; but I decided not to go any further.
So I’d say that if you do experience poor driving from the police, it is worth making a complaint about it – just be prepared to have to do more than just fill in an online form!
AdvertisementsPrincess Debut and The Essence of Feminine Game Design
Alex Roberts Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 12, 2017
[This essay was funded through Patreon under the ZEAL project. ZEAL aims to provide high quality criticism of rarely discussed games and comics, and showcase the talents of exciting new writers and artists. For details and information on how to donate, please check out our Patreon, where you can also get exclusive video content for $5+!]
Princess Debut is a rhythm game and dating sim released, to mild commercial success and critical disinterest, in 2008 for the Nintendo DS. It stars a teenage girl who, after trading places with her princess doppelganger in a parallel universe, learns ballroom dancing and wins the heart of at least one handsome prince with the help of her feisty talking animal companion. She finds magical accessories that transform into elaborate outfits. She spends perpetually sunny days in gardens and beaches with cute boys who are all interested in her. Princess Debut could only be girlier if her dance instructor was a horse instead of an anthropomorphic rabbit. (But that would mean striking a crucial Alice in Wonderland reference.)
What makes Princess Debut feminine, though, is not its pink menus, delicate soundtrack, or shoujo manga-inspired character designs. Rather, those external aesthetics are genuinely representative of an internal structure that whose priorities and techniques are expressly feminine. Its cover art — a petite teenage girl, gasping with delight, eyes wide as dinner plates, hair in a perfect up-do — is wonderful in itself, but what makes Princess Debut worth writing about almost a decade later is the way it delivers on the promises that happy face is making.
Official Cover Art for Princess Debut
My working definition of feminine game design is this: design that intentionally evokes feelings of grace and harmony, often through qualitative and relational incentives. To explain how Princess Debut succeeds in those design goals, it’ll be useful to draw comparisons to a conveniently well-known piece from the same genre and era: the 2006 DS game Elite Beat Agents.
Elite Beat Agents (like its spiritual predecessor, Osu! Tatakae! Ōendan) might be even more aesthetically masculine than Princess Debut is feminine. Graphically, it relies on the thick black lines, sharp angles, and perpetually furrowed brows of shounen manga. The Agents look like they could at least make it through the first audition to be on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The EBA is presented as a kind of paramilitary organization whose members are deployed on missions to help people overcome various challenges through inspirational dance. (This makes slightly more sense in Japan, where Ōendan are essentially cheerleaders.) The Elite Beat Divas, distaff counterparts to the Agents, are accessible as protagonists once the player finishes the entire game on its hardest mode — an interesting move that places women in the category of impressive, capable, and decidedly Other. The game opens on a square-jawed middle-aged man with a Nick Fury eyepatch grunting the words: “Ok, men…”
Official Cover Art for Elite Beat Agents
Despite looking and sounding completely different, I hear Elite Beat Agents mentioned almost every time I show someone Princess Debut, often alongside the word “ripoff.” EBA did come first, and there are similarities between their rhythm mechanics (though only one has a romance element, sadly.) Both consist of touching the DS’ stylus to the bottom screen at rhythmic intervals. EBA includes prompts to tap certain areas, drag the stylus along a path at a set pace, and, at the end of each song, draw circles as fast as possible in the center of the screen. Of those three actions, PD only includes the touch-and-drag movement, which provokes questions of “ease” and “challenge” we’ll address later. It’s also important to note that PD’s prompts for action appear one at a time, while EBA will display multiple points, requiring sequential action, simultaneously.
The latter, at least once the player is past the first few levels, requires frantic jabbing, scraping, and spinning. Get a screen protector if you’re going to play it. It’s surprisingly physically demanding, and requires a significant amount of sustained player attention. It’s physically and mentally stressful.
But there’s no jabbing in the ballroom. The player still needs to pay attention, and they’ll get a jarring sound and image of a horrified-looking frog(?) if they miss a step. However, slow, careful arcs and occasional circular flourishes make up the Princess dancing experience. It’s not stressful, it’s relaxing. It makes you feel graceful. Sorta like a princess.
Taptaptaptaptaptaptap seems to raise your heart rate, and swoosh~ swoosh~ swoosh~ probably lowers it.
There is a tangible difference in the experience of these two games, but they also incentivize behaviours differently. Princess Debut revolves around relating harmoniously with other people. Like many dating sims, each potential love interest has a percentage meter, visible to the player, that represents the degree of affection they have for the protagonist. (The frankly dehumanizing reduction of things like care and intimacy to quantitative scores is a problem romance games are still having a really fun time with, btw.) This score increases or decreases depending on choices the player makes outside of dancing segments — essentially, people like you if you spend time with and are kind to them — but the primary way to raise affection is by dancing together.
Dancing is always partnered, and harmony is explicitly the goal. During rhythm gameplay, along the top of the upper screen, little avatars of the protagonist and her partner start each sequence in opposite corners, looking at each other. Successful play causes them to slowly slide towards the centre, and get hearts for eyes. The desired outcome is not to obtain or destroy, but to draw near.
Success for the Agents, however, is unidirectional. The bar at the top of the screen goes forward (good) or backward (bad.) The people you’re motivating with your dancing either succeed in what you’re trying to get them to do, or they fail. The Agents don’t seem to relate to anyone, except each other, and that relationship is static. They move in perfect sync whether completing a move or stumbling. Though the Agents are a force for good, and help others with their own stated goals for the most part, they are still primarily concerned with exerting influence.
This might be a good time to mention that I don’t consider relational incentives to be inherently more interesting or impressive. What I find impressive in both games I’m analyzing is the way they establish consistency between aesthetics, mechanics, and experience. Both games give the player few mid-song breaks, for example. During these breaks, EBA displays an ongoing animated narrative, in which boldly-coloured figures and text zoom and crash onto the screen. PD shows happy stars floating gently across a pastel sky.
The two works are compelling mirrors to each other, but their critical reception couldn’t be more different. EBA was heaped with praise in almost every review I could find; words like “ingenious,” “addictive,” and even “miraculous” effuse from every major outlet. The only negative responses seem to be people insisting on its inferiority to the Japanese original — which, I have to say, is very videogames.
Princess Debut, on the other hand, seems to have been all but ignored. You can dig up some mildly amused, mostly dismissive reviews by people who essentially shrug and guess that, well, tween girls might be into this?
I’m not saying my precious pretty princess game isn’t flawed. If I were tasked with reviewing it, I’d have to mention the prevalence of cheap, synthy, vaguely inappropriate versions of public domain classics (the jived-up cover of funeral favourite “Danny Boy” stands out in particular.) The motion-captured dancers move fluidly, but when the character designs are pasted on their models, the result is less anime and more #animegao. But I don’t think any of that has much to do with why Elite Beat Agents is a critical darling, while Princess Debut remains the kind of long-forgotten 7/10 that ends up in an exhaustive critique on ZEAL. I mean, EBA’s soundtrack kind of sucks, too.
Debut’s middling reviews seem to express a kind of boredom, a lack of connection with the material. The contrast to the frenzied praise for Elite Beat Agents may be related, in part, to assumptions about “challenge” and “ease” pervasive in mainstream response to videogames. This IGN review sums it up nicely:
“Because Elite Beat Agents is such a unique rhythm game, it’ll be rare that you’ll be able to get through most songs on the first try — in fact, in the deeper levels, you’ll be playing through the same song dozens of times to beat it. But even with this repetition, Elite Beat Agents never feels repetitive. It has this “I can get this…one more try!” element that’s hard to shake. A specific song might kick your ass over and over again, but it’s hard to get discouraged because the design is so addictive, and you’ll know that kicking its ass will take just one more attempt.”
Let’s compare that to IGN’s take on the challenge offered by Princess Debut:
“The main problem with the game is the slow progression. There are eight different dance styles, but players have to unlock each one through the story mode. In order to level up enough to get new songs players have to play the same songs over and over again. The game is really easy too, so mastering the songs doesn’t take long. So the game becomes repetitive and a bit tedious early on in the story mode.”
(I’m not trying to pick on IGN; they’re just one of the few outlets that have remained active for over a decade.)
Both reviews mention playing the same songs over and over, but one says “addictive” and the other says “tedious.” One sounds energized, and the other sounds bored. If challenge in videogames means frequent and repeated failure, then yeah, Princess Debut doesn’t have much of it. And I understand the satisfaction inherent in a sudden release of frustration. But to call the game “easy” (rather than accessible, or inviting) is to place it on a value scale where the frustration-release cycle is an ideal, and Debut fails to achieve it. There’s an unspoken expectation that games exist to be beaten, to relinquish their rewards in response to your relentless, focused exertion. Princess Debut, it seems, doesn’t put up enough of a fight.
But what if a game about pretty boys and prettier dresses had design goals other than making the player feel like a conqueror? What if those goals were equally valid? What if “good” and “Dark Souls” were not synonymous? Whoops, that would mean actually valuing the feminine!
And yes, I’m calling it feminine, not receptive, relational, or some other code word. Obviously the gender binary is bullshit and everyone is a shifting coalescence of anima and animus. I know the shit women get for engaging with masculine-coded genres like shooters and real-time strategy games, and I don’t want to contribute to that. I won’t assert that all women will love it or that all men will hate it, but the femmier folks I know think Princess Debut is cool, and the more masculine ones just don’t dig it. They get bored — as bored as I got with Elite Beat Agents.
There are plenty of Girl Games. They are usually Boy Games with a can of pink paint dumped on them: games with unidirectional definitions of success that deliberately induce stress about the insertion of the protagonist’s will onto a situation, but with a pony. Often, games like this will feature the paint job and a reduction in the degree of difficulty, under the not-quite-there assumption that women simply want less challenge, rather than having different priorities altogether. Though, to be honest, most women I know experience more than enough frustration and disappointment in their lives.
Princess Debut got the paint job — but it’s pink on the inside, too. I wonder how a royal dancing and romancing sim would be received if it were released today, to a more diverse gaming press. It might get lost in the current wave of visual novels available in English. I’d probably respond to it differently now, in a time when I can play dating sims without torrenting Japanese ISOs and downloading fan translation patches from IRC. But I like to think, with more voices to speak about it, praise it, and respond critically to it, Princess Debut might have had the chance to at least become a cult classic. I guess there’s still time — Harvest Moon wasn’t a big success at first, either.Clear those weekend cobwebs. Here are 16 of our favorite events happening in L.A. this short workweek. We'll be back later this week with our June Guide and Weekend Planner.
TUESDAY, MAY 30
BAND AID (Film screening + music)
On Tuesday at 8 pm at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, there’s a sneak screening of Band Aid, the feature debut from Zoe Lister-Jones. She stars in the film along with Adam Pally as a couple who can’t stop fighting. In a last-ditch effort they try to save the relationship through their shared love of music and turn all their fights into song. With the help of a neighbor (Fred Armisen), they start a band. There’s a Q&A and a band performance by Lister-Jones, Pally and Armisen after the screening. Tickets are free with RSVP.
OH LAND (Music)
Hollywood Forever presents Oh Land at the Masonic Lodge on Tuesday night at 8 pm. The Danish-born Nanna Øland Fabricus, better known as Oh Land, began her indie pop/experimental music career when an injury forced her to give up ballet. Mynabirds opens. Tickets: $20.
DECKER-CON (Comedy)
Spaceland & Six Bag Cinemas present Decker-Con at The Regent Theater on Tuesday at 8 pm, featuring the screening of "Decker: Unsealed." Watch the exploits of Agent Jack Decker (Adult Swim) and code breaker Kington, then hear from their aliases: Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington and maybe a few others. The event is free with the purchase of an $8 food/drink voucher. 18+. Vouchers are currently sold out so check out alternative ticket brokers.
BILL PAXTON DOUBLE FEATURE (Film tribute)
The New Beverly presents a grindhouse tribute screening double feature of early Bill Paxton films on Tuesday night. First up at 7:30 pm is Mortuary (1983), a slasher film with the tagline, “Before your funeral… Before you are buried… Before you are covered with the last shovelful of dirt… Be sure you are really dead!” It’s followed by Night Warning (1982), one of Paxton’s earliest films at 9:30 pm. The show is sold out online, but the New Bev will have approximately 100 tickets for sale at the door on Tuesday.
ILLUSTRACTIONS VOL 1 (Release party)
To celebrate the release of the new publication, Illustractions Vol 1, there’s a party from 7-10 pm at Junior High (5656 Hollywood Blvd.) on Tuesday night featuring comedy (Jared Goldstein, Ever Mainard, Ellie McElvain), music (KiSMiT, The Neurosis) and art by 18 L.A.-based artists. Tickets: $5, with proceeds going to Junior High and the Women's Center for Creative Work.
SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD DINNER (Food)
Ok, if you can afford the ($185 + tax and tips) ticket price, then you should be at Providence on Tuesday night from 6:30-9 pm. Chef Michael Cimarusti co-hosts a sustainability-focused panel alongside Jonathan Gold, UCLA’s Dr. Mark Gold, Sarah Rathbone, Captain Eric Hodge and Stephanie Mutz at Providence—with a multicourse Dock to Dish-centric dinner. The event closes out the city’s month-long L.A Times Food Bowl. Because of limited seating, please call the restaurant directly to reserve: 323.460.4170.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31
TOO MANY ZOOZ (Music)
Too Many Zooz are a "Brass House" trio who got their start busking in NYC subways. Their sound caught the attention of Beyoncé's team who got the band to perform on the songs "Daddy Lessons" and "Formation" from Lemonade. Now’s your chance to see them live as they mash up jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, funk and even EDM/house music and headline the Troubadour on Wednesday night. DJ Val Fleury opens at 8:15 pm. Tickets: $20.
CHATS ON CATS (Comedy)
Joey Clift hosts Chats on Cats at UCB Sunset on Wednesday night at 10:30 pm. The cat-themed late night talk show is for people who love cats and features cat-themed monologues, games and celeb cat owners. Guests include Katie Willert, Sara Iyer and Steven Ray Morris with standup from Jake Weisman. Tickets: $7.
CONTINUE? THE PHILOSOPHY OF JAPANESE ARCADE CULTURE (Conversation)
The Hammer Museum presents the conversation CONTINUE? The Philosophy of Japanese Arcade Culture on Wednesday at 7:30 pm. Japanese Pop art legend Keiichi Tanaami and artist Oliver Payne discuss Japanese arcade culture, especially the “bullet hell games.” From the Hammer: “These niche arcade games—often considered the purest form of video games—follow a chaotic, complicated system of rules and patterns.” Payne considers how these games inform his work. Free.
THE EVERYTHING SHOW (Comedy + music)
The Everything Show takes place on Wednesday at 10 pm at the Hollywood Improv Lab. This month’s lineup includes Todd Glass, Rory Scovel, Pat Regan and Drew Lynch, with musical improv from Adele Dazeem. There might be a drop-in or two. Hosted by Jake Adams and Jonathan Morvay. Tickets: $5 and no drink minimum.
THURSDAY, JUNE 1
BEERLAND (Screening)
There’s a special screening of the finale of Beerland, the docu-series from VICE, on Thursday at Golden Road Brewing. The series has focused on home-brewers across the country and beer’s role in shaping a community, and the finale features Golden Road. There will be free food, beer, music and lawn games followed by a home-brew seminar before the screening. After the screening, there’s a Q&A with the winner and Beerland host and Golden Road founder Meg Gill. The festivities start at 5 pm, with the screening at 7:30 pm. Free with RSVP.
PROM DO-OVER AT THE MUSEUM OF BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS (Party)
Head back to the ‘90s on Thursday as We Like L.A. teams up with the Museum of Broken Relationships for a Prom Do-Over at the museum from 7-9:30 pm. Listen to ‘90s tunes, check out the prom pic photo area and a “10 Things I Hate About My Ex” wall display. Guests can contribute to the wall, and the best lists will earn swag from the MOBR gift shop at the end of the night. Prom tickets are $25 and include access to all museum galleries for the event. Tickets can only be purchased online. Dressing like it’s 1999 is welcome, but not necessary.
DANCES WITH FILMS (Film fest)
Now in its 20th year, the Dances with Films festival remains committed to indie filmmakers and filmmaking. (And btw, it's not a festival focused on dance—the name is a play on other “dance” fests like Slamdance, Sundance, etc.) Dances with Films takes over the TCL Chinese Theaters in Hollywood beginning on Thursday and running through June 11. DWF opens with David Heinz’s modern musical, American Folk, and the world premiere of Tamar Halpern’s thriller, Missing in Europe. Director Will Raée’s Austin Found, closes the festival with its world premiere on June 11. Tickets: $13-$15 and passes $325.
SOCA introduces a new happy hour—including Korean-inspired dumplings and Spanish Gin cocktails. (Image: Christine N. Ziemba)
SOCA, Aaron Robins’ (Boneyard Bistro) upscale steak and seafood place in Sherman Oaks, recently launched its new happy hour, featuring small plates and six signature Spanish Gin & Tonics. Trust us, the menu is awesome: We highly, highly recommend the Oysters (Bacon Herb Crust, Manchego) for $10 and the Korean Crab Dumplings ($15), but really it’s all good. Available daily from 5-7 pm. The restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.You like tacos and/or tequila? Then check out the event Tacos & Tequila our friends at Time Out LA are holding on Thursday from 6-10 pm at Candela Taco Bar & Lounge on La Brea. Ticket holders get a taco sample from each of the participating restaurants, two crafted cocktails from Cocktail Academy and Hornitos Tequila, and a paleta for dessert. Tickets: $20-$75.Vendors at Grand Central Market are celebrating California Avocado Month from June 1-30 with specials that celebrate the creamy fruit. For example, Belcampo Meat Co. is offering a California Avocado and Heirloom Tomato Salad; Golden Road Brewing has a California Avocado Italian Chicken Sandwich; Valerie Confections has an California Avocado and Egg Tartine and there are many more. Go, eat and celebrate the avocado all month long.Want the 411 on additional events and happenings in LA? Follow @LAist or me ( @christineziemba ) on Twitter.At first, I thought this story must be a joke, but it apparently is true that France wants to regulate and subsidize country dancing. No further comment is necessary:
…country and western has become so big in France that the country’s bureaucrats have decided to bring the craze under state control. The French administration has moved to create an official country dancing diploma as part of a drive to regulate the fad. Authorised instructors who have been on publicly funded training courses will be put in charge of line dancing lessons and balls. …In a peculiarly Gallic approach to the phenomenon, French civil servants say line dancing should be submitted to the same rules as sports such as football and rugby. This means imposing training courses for line dancing teachers and a state-approved diploma for anyone who wants to give lessons or run clubs. Amateur instructors will have to take 200 hours of training under the new rules. Professionals will get 600 hours, including such subjects as line dancing techniques, “the mechanics of the human body” and the English (or at least Texan) language. They will also learn how to teach line dancing to the elderly. The cost of the courses, about €2,000 (£1,570) for the professionals and €500 for the amateurs, will be largely met by taxpayers. Mr Chauveau said the regulations highlighted the French state’s obsessive desire to organise all public activity.Other starchy foods such as crisps can contain acrylamide, a harmful chemical formed at high temperatures, says British food watchdog
Roast potatoes and toast that's a bit too brown may cause cancer, say authorities
Eating crisps, well-browned roast potatoes and toast that is more than lightly grilled can increase the risk of cancer, according to a public health campaign urging people to change their eating and cooking habits.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says people are consuming too much acrylamide, a chemical produced naturally as a result of cooking starchy foods at high temperatures.
Acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in animals and while it has not been conclusively produced to have the same effect in humans, the scientific consensus is that it is likely to do so.
What is the real cancer risk from eating roast potatoes or toast? Read more
The FSA insists that it does not want to scare anyone and would not describe the risk as significant but nevertheless said it is one that most people can readily reduce.
FSA director of policy Steve Wearne said: “You can’t point to individual people and say that person has cancer because of the amount of acrylamide in their diet but because the mechanisms by which it does have this effect in animals are similar to the mechanisms you would expect to occur in humans it’s not something we can ignore.
“We’re not saying avoid particular foods or groups of foods but vary your diet so you smooth out your risk. We are not saying to people to worry about the occasional piece of food or meal that’s overcooked. This is about managing risk across your lifetime.”
The warning relates to foods that are high in starch, with potatoes, including sweet potatoes, the biggest staple affected. But it also covers other root vegetables, crackers, cereals, including cereal-based baby food, bread, biscuits and coffee. There is no safe threshold defined in humans but the FSA says research suggests people in all age groups are eating more than its experts are comfortable with and are unaware of the risks.
Cath Mulholland, a senior adviser at the FSA, said: “If you’re living on crisps, burnt toast, whatever, that’s going to be more risky than a healthy diet. It’s not a high level of risk but it’s higher than is comfortable.”
The FSA’s “Go for Gold” campaign recommends aiming for a golden yellow colour or lighter when frying, baking, toasting or roasting starch foods. Wearne said that boiling, steaming or microwaving could limit browning and reduce levels of acrylamide. People are also being advised to eat a varied diet, carefully follow cooking instructions and not to keep raw potatoes in the fridge if they intend to roast or fry them as this can increase acrylamide levels. Instead, raw potatoes should be stored in a dark, cool temperature above 6C.
The potentially carcinogenic nature of acrylamide in food was first highlighted by a Swedish study in 2002. It differs from warnings relating to barbecuing meat, which are concerned with another substance called benzopyrene.
The FSA says it has been working with the food industry, including processed food manufacturers and restaurateurs, for a decade to reduce acrylamide where possible.
The Food and Drink Federation’s chief scientific officer, Helen Munday, said: “Although acrylamide can’t be completely eliminated in any kitchen, UK food manufacturers have been working with supply chain partners, regulators and other bodies, at home and abroad, to reduce its formation for a number of years.
Bad fad – Ruby Tandoh on how clean eating turned toxic Read more
“Manufacturers also provide clear instructions on-pack for consumers and catering customers to follow when cooking foods at home or in commercial kitchens.”
There are no regulatory maximum limits for acrylamide in food. In 2016 plans for a legal limit were dropped by the European commission days after lobbying by industry.Spread the love
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Swine flu or H1N1 is a subtype of Influenza A caused by a virus. This is so named its main source of origin are pigs. This is a communicable disease so it is not necessary to get infected by being in direct contact with a pig or the infected person itself. This is an air-borne disease so a normal person can get infected even if he is standing at some distance from the person suffering from this. The incubation period is 1-4 days and can be a serious issue if no treated properly within time.
Symptoms of Swine Flu
Sudden onset of fever with chills.
Severe headache and sore throat.
Nauseas feeling with vomiting and diarrhoea.
Swine Flu is a serious disease, which if not taken into consideration seriously can claim a lot of innocent lives. However, if proper health is maintained this disease can have certain preventive measures.
The preventive measures for Swine Flue
Vaccination is the key to prevent any viral disease. So, to avoid this deadly disease one must get vaccinated.
If your region is infected, it is essential to wash your hands if you have come in direct contact with any individual, affected or non-affected.
Another important thing to keep in mind is to avoid touching mouth, nose or any other body part after being in direct contact.
Avoiding over-crowded places also can reduce the risk of getting infected.
Outbreak in Ghana
H1N1 is the virus that was the main reason for global pandemic in 2009. Once again, it hits Ghana, South Africa. According to the GhanaWeb reports, in the past 7 months, about 13 children have lost their life in a battle with swine flu at Kumasi Academy Senior High School in the Ashanti region. In the past week, 4 students lost their lives to the deadly disease and so the outbreak of this disease was confirmed by the Ministry. Several tests were conducted and then the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyenman Man confirmed that it was because of swine flu that they lost their lives.
The Ministry of Education and a private company came together and conducted a fumigation exercise in the school, which covered 40 dormitories, classrooms, assembly halls, sick bay and other suspected corners of the school. About 44 infected students have been admitted at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Hospital (KNUST) and Kmofo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
Healthy students were sent back home but they were exposed to it and hence there are possibilities of them carrying the virus which may contaminate the air and affect other people too. So, this can lead to a serious issue which may lead to spread of H1N1 in Ghana. There are high chances of transmission of the disease, so it is essential to maintain the hygiene.
However, recently the 44 infected students have been discharged by the hospital after being successfully treated with 3-dose Azithromycin. The ministry has advised officials to keep a check on the students as they have gone through a lot of trauma. It was because of the effective efforts of the Ministry that the students have recovered quickly.The medical term used for dandruff is Seborrheic Dermatitis. Dandruff |
brief is rationally acceptable for him only if it is not improbable with respect to T. Now what sorts of propositions are to be found in T? Perhaps the propositions he knows to be true, or perhaps the largest subset of his beliefs that he can rationally accept without evidence from other propositions, or perhaps the propositions he knows immediately-knows, but does not know on the basis of other propositions. However exactly we characterize this set T, the question I mean to press is this: why can't belief in God be itself a member of T? Perhaps for the theist-for many theists, at any rate-belief in God is a member of T. Perhaps the theist has a right to start from belief in God, taking that proposition to be one of the ones probability with respect to which determines the rational propriety of other beliefs he holds. But if so, then the Christian philosopher is entirely within his rights in starting from belief in God to his philosophizing. He has a right to take the existence of God for granted and go on from there in his philosophical work-just as other philosophers take for granted the existence of the past, say, or of other persons, or the basic claims of contemporary physics.
And this leads me to my point here. Many Christian philosophers appear to think of themselves qua philosophers as engaged with the atheist and agnostic philosopher in a common search for the correct philosophical position vis a vis the question whether there is such a person as God. Of course the Christian philosopher will have his own private conviction on the point; he will believe, of course, that indeed there is such a person as God. But he will think, or be inclined to think, or half inclined to think that as a philosopher he has no right to this position unless he is able to show that it follows from, or is probable, or justified with respect to premises accepted by all parties to the discussion-theist, agnostic and atheist alike. Furthermore, he will be half inclined to think he has no right, as a philosopher, to positions that presuppose the existence of God, if he can't show that belief to be justified in this way. What I want to urge is that the Christian philosophical community ought not think of itself as engaged in this common effort to determine the probability or philosophical plausibility of belief in God. The Christian philosopher quite properly starts from the existence of God, and presupposes it in philosophical work, whether or not he can show it to be probable or plausible with respect to premises accepted by all philosophers, or most philosophers at the great contemporary centers of philosophy.
Taking it for granted, for example, that there is such a person as God and that we are indeed within our epistemic rights (are in that sense justified) in believing that there is, the Christian epistemologist might ask what it is that confers justification here: by virtue of what is the theist justified? Perhaps there are several sensible responses. One answer he might give and try to develop is that of John Calvin (and before him, of the Augustinian, Anselmian, Bonaventurian tradition of the middle ages): God, said Calvin, has implanted in humankind a tendency or nisus or disposition to believe in him:
"There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity." This we take to beyond controversy. To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of his divine majesty... Therefore, since from the beginning of the world there has been no region, no city, in short, no household, that could do without religion, there lies in this a tacit confession of a sense of deity inscribed in the hearts of all.[2]
Although this disposition to believe in God has been in part smothered or suppressed by sin, it is nevertheless universally present. And it is triggered or actuated by widely realized conditions:
Lest anyone, then, be excluded from access to happiness, he not only sowed in men's minds that seed of religion of which we have spoken, but revealed himself and daily disclosed himself in the whole workmanship of the universe. As, a consequence, men cannot open their eyes without being compelled to see him (p. 51).
Even the common folk and the most untutored, who have been taught only by the aid of the eyes, cannot be unaware of the excellence of divine art, for it reveals itself in this innumerable and yet distinct and well-ordered variety of the heavenly host (p. 52).
No doubt this suggestion won't convince the skeptic; taken as an attempt to convince the skeptic it is circular. My point is just this: the Christian has his own questions to answer, and his own projects; these projects may not mesh with those of the skeptical or unbelieving philosopher. He has his own questions and his own starting point in investigating these questions. Of course, I don't mean to suggest that the Christian philosopher must accept Calvin's answer to the question I mentioned above; but I do say it is entirely fitting for him to give to this question an answer that presupposes precisely that of which the skeptic is skeptical-even if this skepticism is nearly unanimous in most of the prestigious philosophy departments of our day. The Christian philosopher does indeed have a responsibility to the philosophical world at large; but his fundamental responsibility is to the Christian community, and finally to God.
Again, a Christian philosopher may be interested in the relation between faith and reason, and faith and knowledge: granted that we hold some things by faith and know other things: granted we believe that there is such a person as God and that this belief is true; do we also know that God exists? Do we accept this belief by faith or by reason? A theist may be inclined towards a reliabilist theory of knowledge; he may be inclined to think that a true belief constitutes knowledge if it is produced by a reliable belief producing mechanism. (There are hard problems here, but suppose for now we ignore them.) If the theist thinks God has created us with the sensus divinitatis Calvin speaks of, he will hold that indeed there is a reliable belief producing mechanism that produces theistic belief; he will thus hold that we know that God exists. One who follows Calvin here will also hold that a capacity to apprehend God's existence is as much part of our natural noetic or intellectual equipment as is the capacity to apprehend truths of logic, perceptual truths, truths about the past, and truths about other minds. Belief in the existence of God is then in the same boat as belief in truths of logic, other minds, the past, and perceptual objects; in each case God has so constructed us that in the right circumstances we acquire the belief in question. But then the belief that there is such a person as God is as much among the deliverances of our natural noetic faculties as are those other beliefs. Hence we know that there is such a person as God, and don't merely believe it; and it isn't by faith that we apprehend the existence of God, but by reason; and this whether or not any of the classical theistic arguments is successful.
Now my point is not that Christian philosophers must follow Calvin here. My point is that the Christian philosopher has a right (I should say a duty) to work at his own projects-projects set by the beliefs of the Christian community of which he is a part. The Christian philosophical community must work out the answers to its questions; and both the questions and the appropriate ways of working out their answers may presuppose beliefs rejected at most of the leading centers of philosophy. But the Christian is proceeding quite properly in starting from these beliefs, even if they are so rejected. He is under no obligation to confine his research projects to those pursued at those centers, or to pursue his own projects on the basis of the assumptions that prevail there.
Perhaps I can clarify what I want to say by contrasting it with a wholly different view. According to the theologian David Tracy,
In fact the modern Christian theologian cannot ethically do other than challenge the traditional self-understanding of the theologian. He no longer sees his task as a simple defense of or even as an orthodox reinterpretation of traditional belief. Rather, he finds that his ethical commitment to the morality of scientific knowledge forces him to assume a critical posture towards his own and his tradition's beliefs... In principle, the fundamental loyalty of the theologian qua theologian is to that morality of scientific knowledge which he shares with his colleagues, the philosophers, historians and social sciences. No more than they can he allow his own- or his tradition's-beliefs to serve as warrants for his arguments. In fact, in all properly theological inquiry, the analysis should be characterized by those same ethical stances of autonomous judgment, critical judgment and properly skeptical hard-mindedness that characterizes analysis in other fields.[3]
I say caveat lector. I'm prepared to bet that this "new scientific morality" is like the Holy Roman Empire: it is neither new nor scientific nor morally obligatory. Furthermore the "new scientific morality" looks to me to be monumentally inauspicious as a stance for a Christian theologian, modern or otherwise. Even if there were a set of methodological procedures held in common by most philosophers, historians and social scientists, or most secular philosophers, historians, and social scientists, why should a Christian theologian give ultimate allegiance to them rather than, say, to God, or to the fundamental truths of Christianity? Tracy's suggestion as to how Christian theologians should proceed seems at best wholly unpromising. Of course I am only a philosopher, not a modern theologian; no doubt I am venturing beyond my depths. So I don't presume to speak for modern theologians; but however things stand for them, the modern Christian philosopher has a perfect right, as a philosopher, to start from his belief in God. He has a right to assume it, take it for granted, in his philosophical work-whether or not he can convince his unbelieving colleagues either that this belief is true or that it is sanctioned by those "methodological procedures" Tracy mentions.
And the Christian philosophical community ought to get on with the philosophical questions of importance to the Christian community. It ought to get on with the project of exploring and developing the implications of Christian theism for the whole range of questions philosophers ask and answer. It ought to do this whether or not it can convince the philosophical community at large either that there really is such a person as God, or that it is rational or reasonable to believe that there is. Perhaps the Christian philosopher can convince the skeptic or the unbelieving philosopher that indeed there is such a person as God. Perhaps this is possible in at least some instances. In other instances, of course, it may be impossible; even if the skeptic in fact accepts premises from which theistic belief follows by argument forms he also accepts, he may, when apprised of this situation, give up those premises rather than his unbelief. (In this way it is possible to reduce someone from knowledge to ignorance by giving him an argument he sees to be valid from premises he knows to be true.)
But whether or not this is possible, the Christian philosopher has other fish to fry and other questions to think about. Of course he must listen to, understand, and learn from the broader philosophical community and he must take his place in it; but his work as a philosopher is not circumscribed by what either the skeptic or the rest of the philosophical world thinks of theism. Justifying or trying to justify theistic belief in the eyes of the broader philosophical community is not the only task of the Christian philosophical community; perhaps it isn't even among its most important tasks. Philosophy is a communal enterprise. The Christian philosopher who looks exclusively to the philosophical world at large, who thinks of himself as belonging primarily to that world, runs a two-fold risk. He may neglect an essential part of his task as a Christian philosopher; and he may find himself adopting principles and procedures that don't comport well with his beliefs as a Christian. What is needed, once more, is autonomy and integrality.
IV.Theism and Persons
Let me proceed again to specific examples. There is a fundamental watershed, in philosophical anthropology, between those who think of human beings as free-free in the libertarian sense-and those who espouse determinism. According to determinists, every human action is a consequence of initial conditions outside our control by way of causal laws that are also outside our control. Sometimes underlying this claim is a picture of the universe as a vast machine where, at any rate at the macroscopic level, all events, including human actions, are determined by previous events and causal laws. On this view every action I have in fact performed was such that it wasn't within my power to refrain from performing it; and if, on a given occasion I did not perform a given action, then it wasn't then within my power to perform it. If I now raise my arm, then, on the view in question, it wasn't within my power just then not to raise it. Now the Christian thinker has a stake in this controversy just by virtue of being a Christian. For she will no doubt believe that God holds us human beings responsible for much of what we do-responsible, and thus properly subject to praise or blame, approval or disapproval. But how can I be responsible for my actions, if it was never within my power to perform any actions I didn't in fact perform, and never within my power to refrain from performing any I did perform? If my actions are thus determined, then I am not rightly or justly held accountable for them; but God does nothing improper or unjust, and he holds me accountable for some of my actions; hence it is not the case that all of my actions are thus determined. The Christian has an initially strong reason to reject the claim that all of our actions are causally determined-a reason much stronger than the meager and anemic arguments the determinist can muster on the other side. Of course if there were powerful arguments on the other side, then there might be a problem here. But there aren't; so there isn't.
Now the determinist may reply that freedom and causal determinism are, contrary to initial appearances, in fact compatible. He may argue that my being free with respect to an action I performed at a time t for example, doesn't entail that it was then within my power to refrain from performing it, but only something weaker-perhaps something like if I had chosen not to perform it, I would not have performed it. Indeed, the clearheaded compatibilist will go further. He will maintain, not merely that freedom is compatible with determinism, but that freedom requires determinism. He will hold with Hume that the proposition S is free with respect to action A or S does A freely entails that S is causally determined with respect to A-that there are causal laws and antecedent conditions that together entail either that S performs A or that S does not perform A. And he will back up this claim by insisting that if S is not thus determined with respect to A, then it's merely a matter of chance-due, perhaps, to quantum effects in S's brain- that S does A. But if it is just a matter of chance that S does A then either S doesn't really do A at all, or at any rate S is not responsible for doing A. If S's doing A is just a matter of chance, then S's doing A is something that just happens to him; but then it is not really the case that he performs A-at any rate it is not the case that he is responsible for performing A. And hence freedom, in the sense that is required for responsibility, itself requires determinism.
But the Christian thinker will find this claim monumentally implausible. Presumably the determinist means to hold that what he says characterizes actions generally, not just those of human beings. He will hold that it is a necessary truth that if an agent isn't caused to perform an action then it is a mere matter of chance that the agent in question performs the action in question. From a Christian perspective, however, this is wholly incredible. For God performs actions, and performs free actions; and surely it is not the case that there are causal laws and antecedent conditions outside his control that determine what he does. On the contrary: God is the author of the causal laws that do in fact obtain; indeed, perhaps the best way to think of these causal laws is as records of the ways in which God ordinarily treats the beings he has created. But of course it is not simply a matter of chance that God does what he does-creates and upholds the world, let's say, and offers redemption and renewal to his children. So a Christian philosopher has an extremely good reason for rejecting this premise, along with the determinism and compatibilism it supports.
What is really at stake in this discussion is the notion of agent causation: the notion of a person as an ultimate source of action. According to the friends of agent causation, some events are caused, not by other events, but by substances, objects-typically personal agents. And at least since the time of David Hume, the idea of agent causation has been languishing. It is fair to say, I think, that most contemporary philosophers who work in this area either reject agent causation outright or are at the least extremely suspicious of it. They see causation as a relation among events; they can understand how one event can cause another event, or how events of one kind can cause events of another kind. But the idea of a person, say, causing an event, seems to them unintelligible, unless it can be analyzed, somehow, in terms of event causation. It is this devotion to event causation, of course, that explains the claim that if you perform an action but are not caused to do so, then your performing that action is a matter of chance. For if I hold that all causation is ultimately event causation, then I will suppose that if you perform an action but are not caused to do so by previous events, then your performing that action isn't caused at all and is therefore a mere matter of chance. The devotee of event causation, furthermore, will perhaps argue for his position as follows. If such agents as persons cause effects that take place in the physical world-my body's moving in a certain way, for example-then these effects must ultimately be caused by volitions or undertakings-which, apparently, are immaterial, unphysical events. He will then claim that the idea of an immaterial event's having causal efficacy in the physical world is puzzling or dubious or worse.
But a Christian philosopher will find this argument unimpressive and this devotion to event causation uncongenial. As for the argument, the Christian already and independently believes that acts of volition have causal efficacy; he believes indeed, that the physical universe owes its very existence to just such volitional acts-God's undertaking to create it. And as for the devotion to event causation, the Christian will be, initially, at any rate, strongly inclined to reject the idea that event causation is primary and agent causation to be explained in terms of it. For he believes that God does and has done many things: he has created the world; he sustains it in being; he communicates with his children. But it is extraordinarily hard to see how these truths can be analyzed in terms of causal relations among events. What events could possibly cause God's creating the world or his undertaking to create the world? God himself institutes or establishes the causal laws that do in fact hold; how, then, can we see all the events constituted by his actions as related to causal laws to earlier events? How could it be that propositions ascribing actions to him are to be explained in terms of event causation?
Some theistic thinkers have noted this problem and reacted by soft pedaling God's causal activity, or by impetuously following Kant in declaring that it is of a wholly different order from that in which we engage, an order beyond our comprehension. I believe this is the wrong response. Why should a Christian philosopher join in the general obeisance to event causation? It is not as if there are cogent arguments here. The real force behind this claim is a certain philosophical way of looking at persons and the world; but this view has no initial plausibility from a Christian perspective and no compelling argument in its favor.
So on all these disputed points in philosophical anthropology the theist will have a strong initial predilection for resolving the dispute in one way rather than another. He will be inclined to reject compatibilism, to hold that event causation (if indeed there is such a thing) is to be explained in
terms of agent causation, to reject the idea that if an event isn't caused by other events then its occurrence is a matter of chance, and to reject the idea that events in the physical world can't be caused by an agent's undertaking to do something. And my point here is this. The Christian philosopher is within his right in holding these positions, whether or not he can convince the rest of the philosophical world and whatever the current philosophical consensus is, if there is a consensus. But isn't such an appeal to God and his properties, in this philosophical context, a shameless appeal to a deus ex machina? Surely not. "Philosophy," as Hegel once exclaimed in a rare fit of lucidity, "is thinking things over." Philosophy is in large part a clarification, systematization, articulation, relating and deepening of pre-philosophical opinion. We come to philosophy with a range of opinions about the world and humankind and the place of the latter in the former; and in philosophy we think about these matters, systematically articulate our views, put together and relate our views on diverse topics, and deepen our views by finding unexpected interconnections and by discovering and answering unanticipated questions. Of course we may come to change our minds by virtue of philosophical endeavor; we may discover incompatibilities or other infelicities. But we come to philosophy with prephilosophical opinions; we can do no other. And the point is: the Christian has as much right to his prephilosophical opinions, as others have to theirs. He needn't try first to 'prove' them from propositions accepted by, say, the bulk of the non-Christian philosophical community; and if they are widely rejected as naive, or pre-scientific, or primitive, or unworthy of "man come of age," that is nothing whatever against them. Of course if there were genuine and substantial arguments against them from premises that have some legitimate claim on the Christian philosopher, then he would have a problem; he would have to make some kind of change somewhere. But in the absence of such arguments-and the absence of such arguments is evident-the Christian philosophical community, quite properly starts, in philosophy, from what it believes.
But this means that the Christian philosophical community need not devote all of its efforts to attempting to refute opposing claims and or to arguing for its own claims, in each case from premises accepted by the bulk of the philosophical community at large. It ought to do this, indeed, but it ought to do more. For if it does only this, it will neglect a pressing philosophical task: systematizing, deepening, clarifying Christian thought on these topics. So here again: my plea is for the Christian philosopher, the Christian philosophical community, to display, first, more independence and autonomy: we needn't take as our research projects just those projects that currently enjoy widespread popularity; we have our own questions to think about. Secondly, we must display more integrity. We must not automatically assimilate what is current or fashionable or popular by way of philosophical opinion and procedures; for much of it comports ill with Christian ways of thinking. And finally, we must display more Christian self-confidence or courage or boldness. We have a perfect right to our pre-philosophical views: why, therefore, should we be intimidated by what the rest of the philosophical world thinks plausible or implausible?
These, then, are my examples; I could have chosen others. In ethics, for example: perhaps the chief theoretical concern, from the theistic perspective, is the question how are right and wrong, good and bad, duty, permission and obligation related to God and to his will and to his creative activity? This question doesn't arise, naturally enough, from a non--theistic perspective; and so, naturally enough, non-theist ethicists do not address it. But it is perhaps the most important question for a Christian ethicist to tackle. I have already spoken about epistemology; let me mention another example from this area. Epistemologists sometimes worry about the confluence or lack thereof of epistemic justification, on the one hand, and truth, or reliability, on the other. Suppose we do the best that can be expected of us, noetically speaking; suppose we do our intellectual duties and satisfy our intellectual obligations: what guarantee is there that in so doing we shall arrive at the truth? Is there even any reason for supposing that if we thus satisfy our obligations, we shall have a better chance of arriving at the truth than if we brazenly flout them? And where do these intellectual obligations come from? How does it happen that we have them? Here the theist has, if not a clear set of answers, at any rate clear suggestions towards a set of answers. Another example: creative anti-realism is presently popular among philosophers; this is the view that it is human behavior-in particular, human thought and language-that is somehow responsible for the fundamental structure of the world and for the fundamental kinds of entities there are. From a theistic point of view, however, universal creative anti-realism is at best a mere impertinence, a piece of laughable bravado. For God, of course, owes neither his existence nor his properties to us and our ways of thinking; the truth is just the reverse. And so far as the created universe is concerned, while it indeed owes its existence and character to activity on the part of a person, that person is certainly not a human person.
One final example, this time from philosophy of mathematics. Many who think about sets and their nature are inclined to accept the following ideas. First, no set is a member of itself. Second, whereas a property has its extension contingently, a set has its membership essentially. This means that no set could have existed if one of its members had not, and that no set could have had fewer or different members from the ones it in fact has. It means, furthermore, that sets are contingent beings; if Ronald Reagan had not existed, then his unit set would not have existed. And thirdly, sets form a sort of iterated structure: at the first level there are sets whose members are non-sets, at the second level sets whose members are non-sets or first level sets; at the third level, sets whose members are non-sets or sets of the first two levels, and so on. Many are also inclined, with George Cantor, to regard sets as collections-as objects whose existence is dependent upon a certain sort of intellectual activity-a collecting or "thinking together" as Cantor put it. If sets were collections of this sort, that would explain their displaying the first three features I mentioned. But if the collecting or thinking together had to be done by human thinkers, or any finite thinkers, there wouldn't be nearly enough sets-not nearly as many as we think in fact there are. From a theistic point of view, the natural conclusion is that sets owe their existence to God's thinking things together. The natural explanation of those three features is just that sets are indeed collections-collections collected by God; they are or result from God's thinking things together. This idea may not be popular at contemporary centers of set theoretical activity; but that is neither here nor there. Christians, theists, ought to understand sets from a Christian and theistic point of view. What they believe as theists affords a resource for understanding sets not available to the non-theist; and why shouldn't they employ it? Perhaps here we could proceed without appealing to what we believe as theists; but why should we, if these beliefs are useful and explanatory? I could probably get home this evening by hopping on one leg; and conceivably I could climb Devil's Tower with my feet tied together. But why should I want to?
The Christian or theistic philosopher, therefore, has his own way of working at his craft. In some cases there are items on his agenda- pressing items-not to be found on the agenda of the non-theistic philosophical community. In others, items that are currently fashionable appear of relatively minor interest from a Christian perspective. In still others, the theist will reject common assumptions and views about how to start, how to proceed, and what constitutes a good or satisfying answer. In still others the Christian will take for granted and will start from assumptions and premises rejected by the philosophical community at large. Of course I don't mean for a moment to suggest that Christian philosophers have nothing to learn from their non-Christian and non-theist colleagues: that would be a piece of foolish arrogance, utterly belied by the facts of the matter. Nor do I mean to suggest that Christian philosophers should retreat into their own isolated enclave, having as little as possible to do with non-theistic philosophers. Of course not! Christians have much to learn and much of enormous importance to learn by way of dialogue and discussion with their non-theistic colleagues. Christian philosophers must be intimately involved in the professional life of the philosophical community at large, both because of what they can learn and because of what they can contribute. Furthermore, while Christian philosophers need not and ought not to see themselves as involved, for example, in a common effort to determine whether there is such a person as God, we are all, theist and non-theist alike, engaged in the common human project of understanding ourselves and the world in which we find ourselves. If the Christian philosophical community is doing its job properly, it will be engaged in a complicated, many-sided dialectical discussion, making its own contribution to that common human project. It must pay careful attention to other contributions; it must gain a deep understanding of them; it must learn what it can from them and it must take unbelief with profound seriousness.
All of this is true and all of this important; but none of it runs counter to what I have been saying. Philosophy is many things. I said earlier that it is a matter of systematizing, developing and deepening one's pre-philosophical opinions. It is that; but it is also an arena for the articulation and interplay of commitments and allegiances fundamentally religious in nature; it is an expression of deep and fundamental perspectives, ways of viewing ourselves and the world and God. Among its most important and pressing projects are systematizing, deepening, exploring, articulating this perspective, and exploring its bearing on the rest of what we think and do. But then the Christian philosophical community has its own agenda; it need not and should not automatically take its projects from the list of those currently in favor at the leading contemporary centers of philosophy. Furthermore, Christian philosophers must be wary about assimilating or accepting presently popular philosophical ideas and procedures; for many of these have roots that are deeply anti-Christian. And finally the Christian philosophical community has a right to its perspectives; it is under no obligation first to show that this perspective is plausible with respect to what is taken for granted by all philosophers, or most philosophers, or the leading philosophers of our day.
In sum, we who are Christians and propose to be philosophers must not rest content with being philosophers who happen, incidentally, to be Christians; we must strive to be Christian philosophers. We must therefore pursue our projects with integrity, independence, and Christian boldness.[4]
NOTES
"The Probabilistic Argument from Evil," Philosophical Studies, 1979, pp. 1-53. Institutes of the Christian Religion, tr. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1960). Bk. 1, Chap. III, pp. 43-44. Blessed Rage for Order (New York: Seabury Press), 1978, p. 7. Delivered November 4, 1983, as the author's inaugural address as John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.
Copyright
Reprinted from Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers vol. 1, permanently copyrighted October 1984. Used by permission of the Editor. New preface by author. Journal web site: www.faithandphilosophy.comOn Wednesday, Governor-General David Johnston committed a small, barely noticeable breach of royal protocol: At a Canada 150 event in Britain, the man whose job it is to represent the monarch reached out his arm and held her elbow as she descended a staircase.
Out of respect, you're not supposed to touch the Queen, but the impulse behind Mr. Johnston's move was easy to understand. The woman who has been on the throne for 65 years, and who is on her 12th Canadian prime minister, is still in remarkably good health. But she's 91 years old.
The old song may wish that she will be "long to reign over us," but the longest-serving sovereign doesn't have many years of reigning left. Someday, she will pass.
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When that happens, some Canadians will say this country should use the opportunity to redesign the institution of the head of state. Get rid of the monarchy and replace it with a fully-empowered governor-general, maybe even an elected one, thereby repatriating the last element of Canada's constitutional order.
What do we think of that idea? We think it would be a huge mistake. Our unique constitutional monarchy, the product of 150 years of thought, compromise and accident, is a fluke work of genius.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week designated a successor for Mr. Johnston. Astronaut, engineer and business executive Julie Payette, who has led a career filled with achievements, will surely make a superb occupant of the office. She was no doubt selected because she represents Canadian excellence, and also because, as a Quebecker and a woman of tremendous accomplishment in science and technology, she represents things the government of the day wants to be associated with.
But Ms. Payette will also represent something else: A monarch who doesn't live here. And that is a part of what's so smart about the Canadian system.
Constitutional monarchy is arguably the best form of government going, practiced by some of the world's most successful and admired societies, from Norway to the Netherlands and Sweden to Japan. But Canada has produced an innovation to constitutional monarchy that makes our system just a little bit better.
Ms. Payette will fulfill the duties of a head of state – but she won't be a head of state. Like Mr. Johnston and governors-general before her, she will be merely a viceregal representative. She'll be standing in for somebody else, permanently. It's a humbling arrangement – never a bad thing when it comes to politics and power.
If constitutional monarchy is monarchy-lite, Canadian constitutional monarchy is monarchy-lite, plus monarch extra-lite.
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The monarchy is the bedrock of Canada's constitutional order. If you commit a crime, you will be prosecuted by the Crown in the name of the Queen. In Parliament, a bill isn't a law until it receives royal assent.
The Canadian innovation has been to keep monarchy, while turning a non-resident monarch into less of a physical presence and more of an abstraction. And abstract ideas can be more powerful, durable and flexible than physical things.
Some of the Fathers of Confederation, including Sir John A. Macdonald, wanted to call this country The Kingdom of Canada. The Kingdom of Canada might eventually have emulated many newly independent European countries of the late 19th- and early 20th- centuries, importing a suitable member of the British Royal Family, and making him or her our local, resident, hereditary King or Queen of Canada.
It's a very good thing that did not happen. Instead, we have the institutions of monarchy, but without a resident monarch. It gives us a living constitutional monarchy, but with a figurehead who is to a large extent notional and virtual.
That turns Canadian governors-general and provincial lieutenant-governors into permanent second fiddles to a first fiddle who is never around. It also makes them seem kind of boring, which is fine, seeing as the monarch's representative has an actual job, and it isn't to sell more copies of Hello! magazine. Nor is it to be Canada's version of the Royal Family – which in Britain is the nexus for an entire industry of tabloid journalism and reality TV.
Earlier this summer, British Columbia's Lieutenant-Governor, Judith Guichon, was asked to do that rarest of constitutional jobs. She had to ensure that her province had a government. And after an election that delivered a hung parliament, she had to decide whether a government could be formed, or whether new elections were needed.
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If something like this had happened in the U.S., it would have involved slow, painful and divisive litigation. In Canada, however, the question was kept out of that sphere, with the Lieutenant-Governor relying on convention.
Eureka, the Canadian system works.At 21, Jacinda considered her male coworkers in the Navy to be her brothers. That was before she awoke in a drunken haze, bleeding from being anally raped after a party at the barracks.
She couldn’t find her shirt; so she wrapped a blanket around herself and walked directly across the street to the military police. They told Jacinda she shouldn’t have been drinking among so many men, and that she should chalk up the consequences to poor judgment and go home. The military police also intimidated her with threats of imprisonment if her report were judged to be false.
Frightened, Jacinda lied about her injuries when she went to the infirmary.
That was 15 years ago. Today, Jacinda says, “I’m unable to maintain relationships. I don’t trust men. I have no children. I also have OCD behaviors, such as checking and rechecking locked doors. I pull out my hair sometimes, one strand at a time. I chew my nails to the bone, and I suffer from panic attacks and generalized anxiety.”
It took many years and four denials before the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) finally granted Jacinda resources to help treat her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Jacinda says she doesn’t regret her military service, but she wouldn’t do it again.
Jacinda’s story is far from unique. In 2012, then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that, while the number of military sexual assaults reported the previous year totaled around 3,000, the actual number of rapes was likelier to be 19,000. And as the Academy Award-nominated documentary "The Invisible War" demonstrated, military sexual assault (MST) is a veritable epidemic across the armed forces.
TakePart spoke to a handful of survivors about their personal experiences with MST. Their names have all been changed.
Diane came from a military family. Joining the Air Force at age 24 seemed a natural choice. She was in her room at an Air Force base when an airman she knew broke in through the bathroom and raped her. She went to the hospital, hoping desperately that no one at |
National Institute of Standards & Technology and Carl Wieman of University of Colorado shared the Nobel Prize with Wolfgang Ketterle of MIT for their independent discovery of these condensates, which Albert Einstein and Satyendra Bose had predicted in the early 20th century. The laser cooling system will have five steps to reduce materials to just above absolute zero If you create two BECs and put them together, they don't mix like an ordinary gas.
Instead, they can 'interfere' like waves: thin, parallel layers of matter are separated by thin layers of empty space.
An atom in one BEC can add itself to an atom in another BEC and produce – no atom at all.
'The Cold Atom Lab will allow us to study these objects at perhaps the lowest temperatures ever,' says Nasa.
The lab is also a place where researchers can mix super-cool atomic gasses and see what happens.
'Mixtures of different types of atoms can float together almost completely free of perturbations,' explains Thompson, 'allowing us to make sensitive measurements of very weak interactions.
'This could lead to the discovery of interesting and novel quantum phenomena.'
The space station is the best place to do this research.
Microgravity allows researchers to cool materials to temperatures much colder than are possible on the ground.
'It’s a basic principle of thermodynamics that when a gas expands, it cools,' said Thompson.
How the experiment will get there
'Most of us have hands-on experience with this. If you spray a can of aerosols, the can gets cold.'
Quantum gases are cooled in much the same way.
In place of an aerosol can, however, we have a ‘magnetic trap.’
'On the ISS, these traps can be made very weak because they do not have to support the atoms against the pull of gravity.
'Weak traps allow gases to expand and cool to lower temperatures than are possible on the ground.'If a primary task of fiction is to explore the human experience—who we are and what we mean to each other—then the fantastic and unreal must surely be key elements in that exploration. But plenty of people still claim that fantasy and other genres are less “real” than purely mimetic fiction. And Kazuo Ishiguro has the best answer to those people.
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This is kind of surprising, since for a brief time last year, Ishiguro appeared to be one of the people who was pooh-poohing fantasy. When his Arthurian romance The Buried Giant came out, Ishiguro told the New York Times that he was worried that readers would be “prejudiced against the surface elements” in his tale of a sleeping dragon. “Are they going to say this is fantasy?” This remark drew the ire of fantasy legend Ursula K. Le Guin, and Ishiguro was quick to clarify that he was on the side of the fantasists, and that, in any case, “any stigma around sci-fi and fantasy is fading.”
(Read our review of The Buried Giant here. Since I read this book last year, it’s stuck in my mind, and its parable of the way nations choose to forget wartime atrocities has started to feel more and more profound to me.)
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But now, with The Buried Giant coming out in paperback, Ishiguro has gone on the offensive. In a recent interview (quoted in the Independent) he made a powerful argument in favor of genre fiction. For example, he asks why crime fiction is taken less seriously than stories about relationships and marriage:
Crime is very important in our society. Why is it regarded as less serious than middle-class divorce? Why is middle-class divorce a subject for literary fiction, but [the] relationship between the drugs trade and politics is not?
And Ishiguro also argued that our whole educational system, and thus our cultural values, have been based on creating productive citizens who can help grow our economies. There’s been an emphasis on conformity and a certain type of seriousness, because that’s what our fast-growing economy demanded over the past few decades.
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Said Ishiguro, “Education’s task was to get pupils to abandon the fantasy that comes naturally to children and prepare them for the demands of the workforce.”
But Ishiguro sees the rise of fantasy and science fiction themes among literary writers as one of many signs that this is changing. Even as writers like Neil Gaiman and David Mitchell are taken seriously and J.K. Rowling rules the world, tech companies are looking for people who can think imaginatively, who keep one foot in the world of fantasy. Geeks are in demand, in part because we think creatively. Europe is lagging behind the rest of the world economically, because “we need more fantasists.”
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I can’t actually find the full text of Ishiguro’s interview, so I’m relying on the article in the Independent—whose author, Terence Blacker, actually disagrees with his views. In Blacker’s estimation, fantastic elements tend to crowd out nuance and human elements—even a beautifully observed book like Ishiguro’s own Never Let Me Go—and a story about a middle-class divorce really is the best way to explore “the small subtleties of human personality.” Added Blacker, “Life is more like bullshitty literary fiction than a fantasy.”
I obviously agree with Ishiguro, even if his argument—as I understand it, based on the Independent write-up—seems a smidge oversimplified. It’s true that geeks are in the ascendant, but I’m not sure if that’s entirely due to our nonconformity or our steady diet of escapism. (A facility with science and math, in the age of computers and biotech, might also be a factor.) And dismising respectable literary fiction as all being about “middle-class divorce” is a bit of an old saw, that is clearly not true and includes some assumptions about the trivial concerns of a (largely female) readership for domestic stories.
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But that said, Ishiguro’s larger point is clearly right—by now, anybody who’s not overly invested in preserving a certain type of subject-matter hierarchy has to have recognized that fantastical themes are increasingly central to our shared storytelling vocabulary. And our rapidly changing, technology-inflected world only really makes sense through a Black Mirror lens. Plus if literary fiction does want to claim a kind of genre-neutrality, or a sense that it is not a genre, but rather the absence of genre, then it has to be able to encompass all possible story ideas, real and unreal, right?
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As someone who devoured all of Anita Brookner’s small, tragic relationship stories and adores both Kingsley and Martin Amis, I’m all for the small, personal story. And I think that many writers, including Ishiguro, have proved at this point that a story can be both speculative and personal, including plenty of “small subtleties” of human behavior.
I also think that one of the things that written fiction does especially well, more than other forms of storytelling, is exploring the intersection of time and consciousness. Our minds are machines for turning moments into experiences—for processing things that we’ve done and seen, and transforming them into pieces of our identity. Few of us really understand how we do this, and how our minds, trapped in linear time, intersect with each other’s.
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Any fiction, whether it takes place in a bungalow or on a starship, is in part exploring that clumsy collision of past and present, me and you, by depicting a series of events that add up to something.
And I think that the boundary between memory and fantasy is porous at best. Daydreams are often indistinguishable from real thoughts of the past or future, and you can’t really understand the whole of the human psyche without including the imaginary and the questionably real. And putting people into an extreme or bizarre situation is often one of the best ways to interrogate that stew of personhood and identity—as Ishiguro does, in fact, in the amnesia narrative of Buried Giant.
All images by Marek Tamowicz/Deviant Art
AdvertisementOver half a century ago, deep in the jungles of Guatemala, a gigantic stone head was uncovered. The face had fine features, thin lips and large nose and its face was directed up at the sky.
Unusually, the face demonstrated Caucasian features which were not consistent with any of the pre-Hispanic races of America.
The discovery rapidly attracted attention, but just as quickly it slipped away into the pages of forgotten history.
News of the discovery first emerged when Dr Oscar Rafael Padilla Lara, a doctor of philosophy, lawyer and notary, received a photograph of the head in 1987 along with a description that the photograph was taken in the 1950s by the owner of the land where the head was found and that it was located “somewhere in the jungles of Guatemala.”
The photograph and story was printed in a small article in the newsletter ‘Ancient Skies’, which was picked up and read by well-known explorer and author David Hatcher Childress, one of our guest authors at Ancient-Origins.net, who sought out to discover more about the mysterious stone head.
He tracked down Dr Padilla who reported that he found the owners of the property, the Biener family, on which the monolith was found. The site was 10 kilometres from a small village in La Democracia in the south of Guatemala.
However, Dr Padilla said that he was in despair when he reached the site and found that the site had been obliterated:
“It was destroyed by revolutionaries about ten years ago. We had located the statue too late. It was used as target practice by anti-government rebels. This totally disfigured it, sort of like the way the Sphinx in Egypt had its nose shot off by the Turks, only worse,” he said.
The eyes, nose and mouth had completely gone. Padilla was able to measure its height as between 4 and 6 metres, with the head resting on a neck. Padilla did not return again to the site due to armed attacks between government forces and rebel forces in the area.
The destruction of the head meant the story died a rapid death until it was picked up again a few years ago by filmmakers behind “Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond” who used the photograph to claim that extra-terrestrials have had contact with past civilizations. The producer published a document written by Guatemalan archaeologist Hector E Majia who wrote:
“I certify that this monument presents no characteristics of Maya, Nahuatl, Olmec or any other pre-Hispanic civilization. It was created by an extraordinary and superior civilization with awesome knowledge of which there is no record of existence on this planet.”
However, far from helping the cause and the investigation into the monolith, this publication only served to have the opposite effect, throwing the whole story into the hands of a justifiably sceptical audience who thought that it was all just a publicity stunt. Even the letter itself has been drawn into question with some saying that it is not genuine.
Nevertheless, it appears the giant head did exist and there is no evidence to suggest the original photograph is not authentic or that Dr Padilla’s account was false. So assuming it was real, the questions remain: Where did it come from? Who made it? And why?
The region where the stone head was reported to have been found, La Democracia, is actually already famous for stone heads which, like the stone head found in the jungle, also face skyward. These are known to have been created by the Olmec civilisation, which flourished between 1400 and 400 BC.
The Olmec heartland was the area in the Gulf of Mexico lowlands, however, Olmec-style artefacts, designs, monuments and iconography have been found in sites hundreds of kilometres outside the Olmec heartland, including La Democracia.
Nevertheless, the stone head depicted in the 1950s photograph does not share the same features or style as the Olmec heads. The late Phillip Coppens, Belgian author, radio host and TV commentator on matters of alternative history raised the question of whether the head “is an anomaly of the Olmec period, or whether it is part of another – unknown – culture that predated or post-dated the Olmecs, and whose only artefact identified so far is the Padilla head.”
Other questions that have been posed include whether the structure was just a head, or whether there was a body underneath, like the Easter Island statues, and whether the stone head is linked to any other structures in the region.
It would be nice to know the answers to these questions but sadly it appears the publicity surrounding the film “Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond” only served to bury the story deeper into the pages of history. Hopefully an ambitious explorer will pick up the story once again and investigate further to find the truth regarding this enigmatic monument.
Source:
ancient-origins.net[ed.note: I’m leaving this post intact. But the core factual premise was based on CNN reporting that turned out to be wrong. Specifically, the email was not September 4th but September 14th. A mere ten days. But it makes a huge difference since it meant this came after a major Wikileaks email dump. Thus, Futerfas’s statement, rather than being inexplicable did in fact make sense. And these weren’t secret documents but public ones. As I said, I’ll leave this as originally written. Because there’s no rewriting it. It now seems far more likely that the email was simply a supporter flagging attention to a Wikileaks dump that was in fact public.]
We’re currently looking into various aspects of this encryption key email to Donald Trump Jr. which I discussed below. Here’s one part we’re looking into that I wanted to flag. Trump Jr.’s lawyer Alan Futerfas released a statement in which he said this: “We understand that the media reported 12 hours prior to this email that the DNC emails had been hacked or leaked. We do not know who Mike Erickson is. We have no idea who he is. We never responded to the email.”
This appears to be an attempt to suggest that everyone was talking about the hack at the time so it makes sense that a prankster might have sent an email. And a prank email means nothing.
But whatever the interpretation, there’s a big problem with this statement: it’s not true. We’ve looked to see what if anything might have been reported in the news on September 3rd or 4th. But the news that the DNC had been hacked was in June. The release of the actual hacked DNC emails was at the end of July. So neither of those things were reported in the hours just before this email was received. Maybe there’s some news Futerfas is referring to that I’m not aware of. But on its face, this looks a lot like a panicked response that is actually nonsense.Release Notes
Features and bugfixes in our latest releases. Please see the Download page for links to source and binaries.
Note that Mercurial follows a time-based release plan with major releases every three months and minor (bugfix) releases on the first of every month (see TimeBasedReleasePlan).
Be sure to read the upgrade notes when upgrading.
(See the archive for older versions)
1. Mercurial 4.9 (2019-02-01)
An overview of new features available. This is a regularly-scheduled quarterly feature release that also contains security fixes.
1.1. security
It was possible to use symlinks and subrepositories to defeat Mercurial's path-checking logic and write files outside a repository. This has been fixed. Users on older versions can either disable subrepositories with [subrepos] allowed=false in their configuration or by ensuring any cloned repositories don't contain malicious symlinks.
1.2. commands
archive: use manifest.matches() to simplify and speed up matching
branch: allow changing branch of merge commits with --rev
branches: add -r option to show branch name(s) of a given rev (issue5948)
graft: abort if --date/user specified with --currentdate/currentuser (BC)
graft: introduce --base option for using custom base revision while merging
help: add internals.extensions topic
help: show advanced, experimental and deprecated extensions with --verbose
log: fix line wrap on diffstat with -G/--graph (issue5800)
merge: make local file storage in the.hg/merge directory extensible
pull: fix inconsistent view of bookmarks during pull (issue4700)
push: add --publish flag to change phase of pushed changesets
push: config option to control behavior when pushing to a publishing server
resolve: fix mark-check when a file was deleted on one side (issue6020)
tags: cache'repo.changelog' access when checking tags nodes
update: fix edge-case with update.atomic-file and read-only files
1.3. core
revlog: always enable generaldelta on version 2 revlogs
revlog: make sure we never use sparserevlog without general delta (issue6056)
revset: enforce "%d" to be interpreted as literal revision number (API) (BC)
revset: introduce an API that avoids 'formatspec' input serialization
revsets: make bookmark/named('re:nonexistent') not abort (issue6018) (BC)
templatekw: deprecate p1rev/p2rev/p1node/p2node in favor of p1/p2
templatekw: fix crash on multiple latesttags resolution at wdir (issue6055)
templater: check invalid use of list expression properly (issue5920)
transaction: display data about why the transaction failed to rollback
ui: add config knob to redirect status messages to stderr (API)
ui: remove unreachable branches and function calls from write() (issue6059)
vfs: also audit rename
wireproto: in batch queries, support queries with immediate responses
1.4. extensions
absorb: don't prompt to apply changes when there are none to apply
amend: add -D/--currentdate option
amend: add config option to update time to current in hg amend (issue5828)
blackbox: add configitem for format of log timestamps
bookflow: new extension for bookmark-based branching
convert: don't drop commits that are empty in the source when using --filemap
extensions: deprecate extsetup without a 'ui' argument (API)
extensions: import the exthelper class from evolve 980565468003 (API)
fix: add a config to abort when a fixer tool fails
fix: add extra field to fixed revisions to avoid creating obsolescence cycles
fix: add suboption for configuring execution order of tools
histedit: add rewrite.update-timestamp support to fold and mess
histedit: add warning message on editing tagged commits (issue4017)
histedit: drop unused constructor arguments (API)
histedit: fix --continue and --abort when curses is enabled
histedit: import chistedit curses UI from hg-experimental
lfs: improve the hints for common errors in the Batch API
logtoprocess: drop support for ui.log() call with invalid msg arguments (BC)
logtoprocess: leverage procutil.shellenviron() to stringify variables (BC)
narrow: don't resurrect old commits when narrowing (don't strip obsmarkers)
narrow: drop the bundle2 capability since we have server capabilities (BC)
phabricator: teach {phabreview} to work without --amend
phabricator: warn if unable to amend, instead of aborting after posting
remotefilelog: fix {file_copies} template keyword
remotefilelog: import pruned-down remotefilelog extension from hg-experimental
sparse: don't enable on clone if it was a narrow clone
strip: compute bookmark target only if we have bookmark to move
1.5. unsorted
changegroup: add a option to create bundle with full snapshot only
changegroup: allow to force delta to be against p1
commandserver: add IPC channel to teach repository path on command finished
commandserver: add config knob for various logging options
commandserver: add experimental option to use separate message channel
commandserver: send raw progress information to message channel
filecache: unimplement __set__ () and __delete__ () (API)
http: allow 'auth.prefix' to have a username consistent with the URI
match: support rooted globs in hgignore
merge-tools: when calling external merge tool, describe the resolve inputs
mergetools: adjust Beyond Compare config on Mac/Linux
obsutil: fix the issue5686
progress: deprecate ui.progress()
rust-cpython: binding for AncestorsIterator
rust-cpython: binding for LazyAncestors
rust-cpython: bindings for MissingAncestors
sparse-revlog: disable sparse-revlog if config disable general-delta
sparse-revlog: enabled by default
storage: update sqlitestore to use the new 'deltamode' parameter
store: raise ProgrammingError if unable to decode a storage path
subrepo: extend path auditing test to include more weird patterns (SEC)
subrepo: prohibit variable expansion on creation of hg subrepo (SEC)
subrepo: reject potentially unsafe subrepo paths (BC) (SEC)
1.6. Behavior Changes
graft: abort if --date/user specified with --currentdate/currentuser (BC)
logtoprocess: drop support for ui.log() call with invalid msg arguments (BC)
logtoprocess: leverage procutil.shellenviron() to stringify variables (BC)
narrow: drop the bundle2 capability since we have server capabilities (BC)
revset: enforce "%d" to be interpreted as literal revision number (API) (BC)
revsets: make bookmark/named('re:nonexistent') not abort (issue6018) (BC)
subrepo: reject potentially unsafe subrepo paths (BC) (SEC)
1.7. Internal API Changes
extensions: deprecate extsetup without a 'ui' argument (API)
extensions: import the exthelper class from evolve 980565468003 (API)
filecache: unimplement __set__ () and __delete__ () (API)
histedit: drop unused constructor arguments (API)
revset: enforce "%d" to be interpreted as literal revision number (API) (BC)
ui: add config knob to redirect status messages to stderr (API)
2. Mercurial 4.8.2 (2019-01-07)
This is a regularly-scheduled bugfix release containing following fixes:
2.1. commands
update: do not pass in user revspec as default destination (issue6044)
2.2. core
match: fix assertion for fileset with no context (issue6046)
revlog: catch delta base value under -1
revlog: catch revlog corruption in index_baserev
server: always close http socket if responding with an error (issue6033)
vfs: ensure closewrapbase fh doesn't escape by entering context manager
2.3. extensions
phabricator: properly encode boolean types in the request body
2.4. unsorted
windows: ensure mixedfilemodewrapper fd doesn't escape by entering context mgr
worker: do not swallow exception occurred in main process
3. Mercurial 4.8.1 (2018-12-04)
A regularly scheduled bugfix release. Some security fixes are included, but all are expected to be low-risk.
3.1. commands
commandserver: get around ETIMEDOUT raised by selectors2
graft: do not try to skip rev derived from ancestor more than once (issue6024)
verify: provide unit to ui.makeprogress()
3.2. core
revlog: fix out-of-bounds access by negative parents read from revlog (SEC)
3.3. extensions
rebase: abort in-mem rebase if there's a dirty merge state
rebase: fix dir/file conflict detection when using in-mem merge
rebase: fix path auditing to audit path relative to repo root (issue5818)
rebase: preserve working copy when redoing in-mem rebase on disk
3.4. unsorted
tests: stabilize test-inherit-mode.t on FreeBSD and macOS (issue6026)
4. Mercurial 4.8 (2018-11-02)
An overview of new features available. This is a regularly-scheduled quarterly feature release.
4.1. commands
add: add a label for messages about added files
addremove: add labels for messages about added and removed files
annotate: pass in wdir rev and node to formatter (BC)
annotate: rename {line_number} to {lineno} (BC)
bookmarks: add explicit option to list bookmarks of the given names
bookmarks: pass in formatter to printbookmarks() instead of opts (API)
clone: allow local cloning to create more than one level of directories
debugcommands: introduce debugrevlogindex (BC)
debugcommands: use openstorage() in debugdata (BC)
grep: add MULTIREV support to --allfiles flag
grep: rename {line_number} to {lineno} as well (BC)
grep: search all commits in allfiles mode
help: adding a proper declaration for shortlist/basic commands (API)
help: adding support for command categories
identify: change {parents} to a list of nodes (BC)
identify: show remote bookmarks in 'hg id url -Tjson -B'
log: have changesetformatter fill in wdir() rev and node (BC)
log: respect graphshorten on terminal nodes (collapsing o-~ to just o~)
merge: improve interactive one-changed one-deleted message (issue5550)
phase: explicitly exclude secret phase and above
phase: expose a '_phase(idx)' revset
phase: handle phase with no command flag
phase: report number of non-public changeset alongside the new range
push: add "remote" to'repository changed while pushing' messages (issue5971)
remove: add a label for messages about removed files
rename: return error status if any rename/copy failed
resolve: add a flag for the default behavior of re-merging
resolve: add config to make hg resolve not re-merge by default
resolve: add confirm config option
resolve: add option to warn/abort on -m with unresolved conflict markers
resolve: graduate resolve.mark-check from experimental, add docs
resolve: rename {status} to {mergestatus} to not shadow change status (BC)
status: advertise --abort instead of 'update -C.' to abort a merge
status: advertise --abort instead of 'update -C.' to abort graft
status: remove "morestatus" message from formatter data (BC)
status: rename {copy} to {source} for compatibility with {file_copies} (BC)
verify: make output less confusing (issue5924)
4.2. core
context: drop compatibility for 'context.descendant' (API)
context: move logic from changectx.__init__ to localrepo.__getitem__ (API)
context: remove unused overlayfilectx (API)
dispatch: don't show list of commands on bogus command
dispatch: making all hg abortions be output with a specific label
dispatch: show a short error message when invalid global option given
exchange: support declaring pull depth
exchange: support defining narrow file patterns for pull
filelog: add a hasnode() method (API)
filelog: drop _generaldelta attribute (API)
filelog: drop index attribute (API)
filelog: remove checkhash() (API)
filelog: remove revdiff() (API)
filelog: remove version attribute (API)
filelog: stop proxying "opener" (API)
filelog: stop proxying _addrevision() (API)
filelog: stop proxying checksize() (API)
filelog: stop proxying compress() (API)
filelog: stop proxying datafile (API)
filelog: stop proxying deltaparent() (API)
filelog: stop proxying flags() (API)
filelog: stop proxying headrevs() (API)
filelog: stop proxying rawsize() (API)
filelog: stop proxying start(), end(), and length() (API)
localrepo: add repository feature when repo can be stream cloned
localrepo: add requirement when narrow files creation option present
localrepo: automatically load lfs extension when required (BC)
localrepo: define "features" on repository instances (API)
localrepo: define storage backend in creation options (API)
localrepo: move repo creation logic out of localrepository.__init__ (API)
localrepo: pass ui to newreporequirements() (API)
localrepo: support marking repos as having shallow file storage
localrepo: support writing shared file (API)
pager: do not enable when TERM=dumb
repository: establish API for emitting revision deltas
revlog: add method for obtaining storage info (API)
revlog: drop LookupError alias (API)
revlog: drop RevlogError alias (API)
revlog: drop compatibility for'revlog.descendant' (API)
revlog: drop emitrevisiondeltas() and associated functionality (API)
revlog: drop some more error aliases (API)
revlog: new API to emit revision data
revlog: reuse cached delta for identical base revision (issue5975)
revset: expand bookmark(.) to the active bookmark
revsetlang: fix position of '-' in spaceless 'a-b' expressions
streamclone: don't support stream clone unless repo feature present
streamclone: include obsstore file into stream bundle if client can read it
templatefuncs: add truncate parameter to pad
templatekw: add experimental {status} keyword
templatekw: deprecate old-style template keyword function (API)
templates: rename "user" to "luser" defined in default map file (API)
tracing: new module to make tracing events in hg easier
tracing: trace command function execution
transaction: make entries a private attribute (API)
transaction: remember original len(repo) instead of tracking added revs (API)
util: make timedcm require the label (API)
wireprotov2: add bookmarks to "changesetdata" command
wireprotov2: add phases to "changesetdata" command
wireprotov2: client support for advertising redirect targets
wireprotov2: client support for following content redirects
wireprotov2: define and implement "changesetdata" command
wireprotov2: define and implement "filedata" command
wireprotov2: define and implement "filesdata" command
wireprotov2: define and implement "manifestdata" command
wireprotov2: server support for sending content redirects
wireprotov2: support response caching
4.3. extensions
absorb: import extension from Facebook's hg-experimental
absorb: print '{rev}:' as a prefix to the hash
absorb: print summary of changesets affected
absorb: prompt user to accept absorb changes by default
amend: support "history-editing-backup" config option
closehead: fix close-head -r listification
commitextras: work nicely with other extensions
convert: fix a file descriptor leak
extension: add a summary of total loading time per extension
extensions: add detailed loading information
extensions: new closehead module for closing arbitrary heads
fastannotate: initial import from Facebook's hg-experimental
fastannotate: make the default value for 'fastannotate.useflock' dynamic
fix: add a monkey-patchable point after all new revisions have been committed
fix: compute changed lines lazily to make whole-file fixer tools faster
fix: determine fixer tool failure by exit code instead of stderr
fix: pull out flag definitions to make them re-usable from extensions
fsmonitor: use vfs instead of opener (issue5938)
journal: do not pass in repolookuperror string to template (BC)
journal: unify template name for "nodes" (BC)
largefiles: automatically load largefiles extension when required (BC)
lfs: add repository feature denoting the use of LFS
lfs: autoload the extension when cloning from repo with lfs enabled
lfs: consult the narrow matcher when extracting pointers from ctx (issue5794)
lfs: don't add extension to hgrc after clone or share (BC)
lfs: don't add extension to hgrc after conversion (BC)
logtoprocess: connect all fds to /dev/null to avoid bad interaction with pager
logtoprocess: define $HG for children processes
narrow: add '--import-rules' flag to tracked command
narrow: add a --narrowspec flag to clone command
narrow: add narrow and ellipses as server capabilities
narrow: add server logic to send cg while widening without ellipsis
narrow: check for servers' narrow support before doing anything (BC)
narrow: drop support for remote expansion (BC)
narrow: introduce a config option to check if narrow is enabled or not
narrow: move.hg/narrowspec to.hg/store/narrowspec (BC)
narrow: move support for 'hg verify' into core
narrow: the first version of narrow_widen wireprotocol command
narrow: validate spec files are well-formed during clone (BC)
patchbomb: allow using HGHOSTNAME to force a hostname
phabricator: drop support for the legacy phabricator.auth.token config (BC)
phabricator: mark extension as experimental for now
rebase: add --stop option to stop rebase at any point (issue5206)
rebase: don't try to prune obsolete changeset already in the destination
rebase: explicitly track collapses as fold
rebase: skip extinct revisions even if it has no successor in rebase set
rebase: support "history-editing-backup" config option
remotenames: add names argument to remotenames revset
share: allow more than one level of directories to be created
shelve: add an "internal" extra
shelve: fix crash on unshelve without.shelve metadata file
shelve: use the internal phase when possible
sqlitestore: file storage backend using SQLite
strip: ignore orphaned internal changesets while computing safe strip roots
4.4. hgweb
hgweb: add error template to json so it won't crash
hgweb: map Abort to 403 error to report inaccessible path for example
hgweb: show shortlog by default in json output (issue5978)
hgweb: use scmutil.binnode() to translate None to wdir hash (issue5988)
4.5. chg
chgserver: add "setumask2" command which uses correct message frame
chgserver: restore pager fds attached within runcommand session
rust-chg: add Client extensions to run cHg-specific requests
rust-chg: add callback to handle pager and shell command requests
4.6. unsorted
ancestors: actually iterate over ancestors in topological order (issue5979)
bundle2: graduate bundle2.stream option from experimental to server section
changegroup: pass sorted revisions into group() (API)
changegroup: port to emitrevisions() (issue5976)
changegroup: remove reordering control (BC)
changegroup: restore default node ordering (issue6001)
cleanupnodes: drop special casing around prune markers (API)
commands: restore compatibility for "^cmd" registration (issue6005)
copies: improve logic of deciding copytracing on based of config options
crecord: make nextsametype() check that parent item exists (issue6009)
crecord: make enter move cursor down to the next item of the same type
delta: skip "empty delta" optimisation for non-general case (issue6006)
error: introduce StorageError
filemerge: add config knob to check capabilities of internal merge tools
filemerge: show warning if chosen tool has no binary files capability
fileset: extract language processing part to new module (API)
fileset: optimize 'x and not y' to 'x - y'
fileset: roughly adjust weights of functions
formatter: remove experimental marker from -T option
formatter: rename {abspath}/{file} to {path}, and drop relative {path} (BC)
global: replace most uses of RevlogError with StorageError (API)
hg: allow extra arguments to be passed to repo creation (API)
httppeer: expose capabilities for each command
index: drop support for negative indexes into the index
index: handle index[-1] as nullid more explicitly
linelog: fix infinite loop vulnerability
lookup: add option to disambiguate prefix within revset
mail: always fall back to iso-8859-1 if us-ascii won't work (BC)
mail: modernize check for Python-with-TLS
manifest: add rawsize() proxy (API)
meld: enable auto-merge
mergetool: warn if ui.merge points to nonexistent tool
narrowspec: limit patterns to path: and rootfilesin: (BC)
narrowspec: use sparse.parseconfig() to parse narrowspec file (BC)
obsolete: fix ValueError when stored note contains ':' char (issue5783)
overlayworkingctx: fix exception in metadata-only inmemory merges (issue5960)
phase: add an archived phase
phases: add an internal phases
pullreport: issue a message about "extinct" pulled changesets
py3: rename pycompat.getcwd() to encoding.getcwd() (API)
revisions: allow "x123" to refer to nodeid prefix "123"
scmutil: accept multiple predecessors in'replacements' (API)
shortest: never emit 0-length prefix even if unique
shortest: use 'x' prefix to disambiguate from revnum if configured
sparse-revlog: only refine delta candidates in the sparse case (issue6006)
statprof: fix indent level of fp.write() (issue6004)
statprof: update the name as the i increases (issue6003)
storageutil: consistently raise LookupError (API)
storageutil: implement file identifier resolution method (BC)
storageutil: move metadata parsing and packing from revlog (API)
storageutil: new module for storage primitives (API)
url: allow to configure timeout on http connection
4.7. Behavior Changes
annotate: pass in wdir rev and node to formatter (BC)
annotate: rename {line_number} to {lineno} (BC)
changegroup: remove reordering control (BC)
debugcommands: introduce debugrevlogindex (BC)
debugcommands: use openstorage() in debugdata (BC)
formatter: rename {abspath}/{file} to {path}, and drop relative {path} (BC)
grep: rename {line_number} to {lineno} as well (BC)
identify: change {parents} to a list of |
in Spanish) »
Micheletti also told Honduras' representatives at the United Nations and OAS to quit speaking against the new government or they immediately will be removed from their posts. They are not authorized, he said, to speak for the Honduran government.
In another development, two U.S. military officials in Washington confirmed to CNN that American helicopters will fly over southern Honduras on a humanitarian relief mission Tuesday.
The officials said there is great sensitivity to any public appearance by the U.S. military in the country.
Three Black Hawk helicopters are scheduled to leave an air base at Soto Cano in Honduras and fly south to Nicaragua. They will be used to support the USNS Comfort, which is conducting a medical relief mission.
CNN en Español's Krupskaia Alis in Honduras, and CNN's Karl Penhaul, Barbara Starr and Elise Labott contributed to this report.
All About Honduras • Organization of American StatesHauptplatz, the main square of the city of Linz, Austria, with the baroque column of the Holy Trinity erected in 1723. (Hemis/Alamy)
Austrian architect Wolfgang Lassy says he hasn't been able to get a good night's rest for years, with the Catholic Church waking him up every 15 minutes.
That's because for hundreds of years, the church bells of Linz were allowed to chime at night every quarter of an hour, disrupting many residents' sleep. Now, Lassy is seeking to end the centuries-old practice. The Austrian has sued the Catholic Church in Linz and has even expressed his deep discontent in a letter to Pope Francis. So far, he hasn't heard back from the Holy See.
"Lassy has been unable to sleep at night for years because the church bells chimed exactly 222 times every night with a volume of 75 decibels," Lassy's lawyer, Wolfgang List, told The Washington Post on Thursday. His client lives only about 250 feet away from the Mariendom cathedral, which houses the bells.
According to his lawyer, Lassy had tried to resolve the problem for two years before he decided to take his concerns to court last December. When it became clear that the local church representatives would not simply stop the bells without a holy or judicial order to do so, Lassy sent a letter to the pope Feb. 4.
Saying that a lawsuit was not their preferred way of dealing with the problem, List wrote: "The chiming of the bells has no religious background, but it causes massive sleeping disorders for the neighbors of the Mariendom in Linz, with significant repercussions for their health, such as states of exhaustion."
"The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has declared a night's rest a human right," the letter to the Holy Father goes on. "We therefore beseech you, Holy Father, to intervene … to ensure that human right of the people of Linz to a healthy and refreshing night’s sleep is respected and that the bells no longer chime at night.” The European Convention on Human Rights does in fact prohibit sleep deprivation, arguing that a violation of this rule can constitute an act of torture.
The letter to the pope does not use the word torture. Instead, its senders address more subtle problems in the interaction between Austrians and representatives of the church. "We hope that you, Holy Father, can be a role model for the Catholic Church in Austria by being more connected to the needs and problems of ordinary [believers]," the document continues.
Both the Catholic Church and Wolfgang Lassy have shown intransigence. On Feb. 24, both parties will meet to discuss a possible solution through non-judicial means.
"For us, however, such a solution could only consist of a chiming ban from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.," List told The Post.I am so disappointed and revolted with my university.
On Friday, posted a story about Geoffrey Marcy, a high-profile professor in UC Berkeley’s astronomy department. It reported on a a complaint filed by four women to Berkeley’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD) that alleged that Marcy “repeatedly engaged in inappropriate physical behavior with students, including unwanted massages, kisses, and groping.”
Unusually for this type of investigation, the results of which are usually kept secret, Ghorayshi’s reporting revealed that OPHD found Marcy guilty of these charges, leading to his issuing a public apology in which he, in all too typical PR driven apology speak, acknowledges doing things that “unintentionally” was “a source of distress for any of my women colleagues”.
There’s not much to say about his actions except to say that they are despicable, predatory, destructive and all too typical. It defies even the most extreme sense of credulity to believe that he thought what he was doing was appropriate.
But, unlike so many other cases of alleged harassment that go unreported, or end in a haze of accusations and denials, the system worked in this case. An investigation was carried out, the charges were substantiated, the bravery of the women who came forward was vindicated, and Marcy was removed from the position of authority he had been abusing.
WAIT WHAT? He got a firm talking to and promised never to do it again????? THAT’S IT???
It is simply incomprehensible that Marcy was not sanctioned in any way and that, were it not for Ghorayshi’s work we wouldn’t even know anything about this. How on Earth can this be true? Does the university not realize they are giving other people in a position of power a license to engage in harassment and abusive behavior? Do they think that the threat of having to say “oops, I won’t do that again” is going to stop anyone? Do they think anyone is going to file complaints about sexual harassment or abuse and go through what everyone described as an awful, awful process, so that their abuser will get a faint slap on the wrist? Do they care at all?
Sadly, I think the answer to the last question is “No”.
As I was absorbing this, I was reflecting on having just completed the state mandated two hour online course on sexual harassment. First of all, Marcy is required to have taken this course. If he had paid any attention (and didn’t have someone else take it for him), he would have no excuse for not being aware of how inappropriate and awful his actions were.
But I also realized something more fundamental – at no point during all the scenarios with goofily named participants, flowcharts of reporting procedures and discussions of legal requirements was there anything about sanctions.
When you study to get a drivers license, the learn not just about the laws of the road, but about what happens if you violate them. And while most of us want to drive safely, it is the threat of sanctions that prevents us from speeding, running red lights and the such. Why no discussion of sanctions regarding actions that are not just violations of university policy, but are, in many cases, crimes?
I am all in favor of education about sexual harassment. But isn’t the fact that this kind of shit keeps happening over and over evidence that education is not enough? There HAVE to be consequences – serious consequences – for abusing positions of power. Do we honestly think that someone who likes to stick his hand up the shirts of his students and give them back rubs is going to be dissuaded from doing so because he (yes, it’s pretty much always he) is going to go back over the “Determining whether conduct is welcome” checklist in his mind? Do we think someone who wants to inappropriately touch students at dinner is going to stop because of some scenario he clicked through?
I’m not trying to argue against this kind of eduction. It is vital. But it is mostly aimed at helping people recognize harassment as a third party. It seems aimed more at supervisors to teach them how to respond to harassment in their midst, and it seems more interested in parsing marginal cases than in saying “DON’T TOUCH YOUR STUDENTS’ and ‘DON’T ABUSE YOUR POSITION OF POWER’.
Here is a perfect example:
I’m sure male faculty all imagine themselves as the debonair professor who poor female students can’t help having the hots for. But it’s bullshit. The case we have to worry about is exactly the opposite – the one we know happens all the time – where “Randy Risktaker” has the hots for “Suzie Scholar” and uses his position of power over her to impose himself on her.
[And can we talk about names here for a second? Randy Risktaker and Suzie Scholar seem straight out of porn. Is that really the message we want to be sending here? Don’t you think the Geoffrey Marcys of the world read that and go — ooh, I AM a randy risktaker…]
And how does the university respond to this scenario?
First, they want to remind us that students CAN harass professors, creating a bizarre false equivalence and ignoring the obvious difference in position and power. Second, and far more importantly, they don’t say what they should say which is HEY DR. RISKTAKER, KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS AND GO BACK TO TEACHING.
Instead they all but give him permission to pursue the relationship, and give him a step-by-step guide of how to do it: call the sexual harassment officer to discuss the matter (right, like anyone’s going to do that) and then tell her you can no longer be her dissertation advisor anymore because you’d rather sleep with her than advise her academically. I’m sure Geoff Marcy Randy Risktaker is grateful for the guidance.
This isn’t education. This is repulsive.
I get it, university policy does not preclude relationships between faculty and students, it just defines the conditions under which they can happen. But the purpose of training should be to PREVENT HARASSMENT, not to tell people how to comply with university policies.
Which gets to the heart of the matter. The university does not care about preventing harassment – it cares about covering its ass when harassment occurs. This training – the only real communication faculty get about the matter – is ALL about that. And this has to change. NOW.
All over Berkeley campus there are banners with various people – students, teachers, administrators – saying “It’s on me” to prevent sexual violence on campus and the rape culture that plagues universities everywhere.
Well the behavior Marcy engaged in is sexual violence. And, as a senior university faculty, it’s on me to demand that the university fix this problem immediately.
I am calling on Chancellor Dirks to completely revamp the training faculty and other supervisors receive on sexual harassment to focus primarily on the rampant unacceptable behavior that happens all the time, and to make it unambiguously clear that if faculty engage in this behavior they will receive serious sanctions, including the loss of their position. This is what we owe to the brave women who confronted Marcy, and to tall the people who we can protect from abuse if we act now.By Todd Starnes/Twitter
The man behind the world-famous Ark Encounter has decided to reclaim “God’s rainbow” – announcing the massive ark exhibit will be permanently bathed in rainbow lights.
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“We now have new permanent rainbow lights at the Ark Encounter so all can see that it is God’s rainbow and He determines its meaning in Genesis 6,” Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham announced on Facebook.
“The rainbow is a reminder God will never again judge the wickedness of man with a global Flood—next time the world will be judged by fire,” he said.
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The 500-foot-long ark is the centerpiece of the biblical theme park based in Williamstown, Kentucky. Hundreds of thousands of visitors have toured the replica of Noah’s Ark.
“The Ark is lit permanently at night with a rainbow to remind the world that God owns it and He decreed it’s a sign of His covenant with man after the Flood—Christians need to take back the rainbow as we do at the Ark Encounter,” Ham said.
Critics denounced the decision — accusing him of stealing the rainbow colors from the LGBT community.
“This is Ken Ham’s sad attempt to take back the rainbow symbol from the LGBTQ community,” read a headline in the Orlando Weekly.
“It makes the ark look incredibly gay,” Kentucky Fairness Campaign’s Chris Hartman told USA Today.
In 2016 Ham urged Christians to reclaim the rainbow and teach young people its true meaning.
“The rainbow itself wasn’t designed to be a symbol of freedom, love, pride or the LGBTQ movement. God created this beautiful, colorful phenomenon and designated it as a sign of His covenant with Noah and his descendants forever.”
“Sadly, people ignore what God intended the rainbow to represent and proudly wave rainbow-colored flags in defiance of God’s command and design for marriage. Because of this, many Christians shy away from using the rainbow colors. But the rainbow was a symbol of God’s promises before the LGBTQ movement—and will continue to be after that movement has ended. As Christians, we need to take the rainbow back and teach our young people its true meaning.”
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WATCHWith the implementation of regulatory frameworks for recreational cannabis in Colorado, Washington and the pending introduction in Uruguay, one of the key issues that has arisen is how to control consumption. Professor Mark Kleiman propounds an interesting theory of how this could be experimented with in the future.
Washington and Colorado, who both began recreational sales this year, have no set monthly quota that marijuana buyers cannot exceed. Instead, both states have set limits on the amount that can be purchased at any one time at 28 grams. Conversely Uruguay, whose law is slated to come into force later this year or at the beginning of 2015, has set a monthly purchase limit at 40 grams.
Given the variation on purchase restrictions between models, a key question arises: What is the monthly, or indeed weekly, limit that consumers should be allowed to purchase that will best mitigate habitual use, or the development of chronic problems? Additionally, in the context where anyone over a set age can legally buy recreational marijuana without any maximum limit established by law, can the consumer be expected to self-regulate?
Mark Kleiman, a professor of Public Policy at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, explained in an editorial for the Washington Monthly earlier this year how the so-called “nudge theory” might be applied to cannabis consumption for models with no set upper limit.
First, a brief explanation of the genesis of nudge theory. Described by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, the theory is one designed to help people improve their decision making without imposing restrictions. Proposed originally in US behavioral economics, it can be shaped and applied widely for enabling and stimulating positive changes in people based on indirect encouragement and avoiding direct instruction or enforcement; it should be founded on how people actually think and decide instinctively, rather than how leaders and authorities believe people think and decide. Essentially, nudge theory works by determining choices, which may foster helpful decisions either for the individuals who actually take the decision, but ideally for the broader wellbeing of society.
Professor Kleiman, who has advised both local and federal government on crime control and drug policy, opines that “the great policy challenge to cannabis legalization is discouraging problem use”. Indeed, but how? Kleiman states that one such “approach would be to keep consumers mindful of how much they’re actually using, compared to how much they intend to use, with a system of user-chosen monthly purchase quotas.” And then? “A user could set any limit he [/she] wanted to, but once set, that limit would be binding until changed.”
Kleiman’s proposal is based on a quota of THC -- the active chemical in marijuana -- rather than the weight of marijuana purchased given that THC levels vary markedly between different strains and different products. Professor Kleiman acknowledges that some guidance may need to be provided for less frequent users who wouldn’t know what limit to impose, and suggests that a “default option” that is set at an arbitrarily defined middle amount could be offered to buyers.
In practice, of course, this system may not have an impact on all users, as Kleiman notes:
Some users who run out of quota would simply set a higher limit, and do so again when that higher limit didn’t keep pace with their growing appetite for intoxication.
However, a significant number of users may not alter their self-imposed quota, or could instead even lower it upon the realization that they had set the personal threshold too high. These people, Kleiman says, “would be the beneficiaries of this ‘nudge’ toward temperance.”
Of course, whether such a framework would be beneficial in the long run is impossible to predict. Furthermore, it raises the issue of whether people are better positioned to determine what works best for them over the likes of health professionals who could be integral in setting a government-mandated limit.
In reality, there is almost no scope for the introduction of a nudge system in the near future. However, given the ever evolving world of marijuana regulation, that’s not to say it couldn’t be experimented with at some point. As Kleiman concludes:Worlds start colliding.
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Don’t Blink
Elliot gets his swagger back, via working on Ray’s website, but that itch refuses to go away and he starts being Elliot all over everything, despite Mr Robot warning him it’s going to end poorly. He gets Ray’s henchman to bring in the dude who’s face got turned into hamburger and realizes that dude could’ve totally done what Ray wants Elliot to do, therefore they must be a reason he didn’t. Oh boy is there ever: Ray is death merchant of the highest caliber, with a little sex slave trading on the side. Elliot? Is not happy.
Hey Ladies
Our leading ladies spend the episode getting their ducks in a row: Darlene drops some truth on Angela telling her that Elliot covered her ass re: the C/D of doom that set off the whole 5-9 hack. Angela’s like, ‘Thanks. And?’ Darlene lets her know they need her to help them physically get into E Corp to deal with their FBI issue. At first Angela is not onboard but then she meets with Ollie’s shady ass and he tries to blackmail her and she’s all, ‘Sign me the hell up.’ Meanwhile Joanna is missing Tyrell and dealing with potential witnesses to whatever happened with Elliot and Tyrell in the most coldly efficient manner. It’s sexy as hell. Finally Dom gets sent to China to meet with their security council about the hack and The Dark Army and holy crap balls Zhang is the Minister of State Security. Well. Shite. Surprisingly she and Zhang make a truly lovely connection but that might not be enough to keep her from getting murdered. We’ll see.
There’s The Other Shoe
Finally, terrifyingly, Ray’s henchman isn’t as dumb as he looks and totally figured out that Elliot knows too much. This leads to Elliot being kidnapped and getting the Ramsay Bolton treatment as Ray watches and expresses his disappointment. Eeep.
Backup Files
A special shout out Mr Robot for being awesome and hanging with us on twitter!
As scary as Ray is, Darlene is going to hunt his ass down for touching her brother. Shite’s about to get real.
‘Where’s the She-Devil?’ – Darlene on their mom, so apparently she is alive.
AdvertisementsPatna: The Bihar government has decided to sack over 2,500 contractual school teachers after they failed to clear two consecutive competency tests, officials said today.
"The education department has completed its formalities to sack those teachers who failed twice in competency test," an official of the department said.
Bihar Education Minister P.K. Shahi told IANS here that the department has begun the process to sack those teachers after they failed twice in competency test.
"The government has no option but to follow the rules," Shahi said.
As many as 2,734 contractual school teachers are to be sacked.
In 2012, the state government had sacked 151 teachers after they failed to clear two consecutive competency tests.
According to officials, the teachers were tested for knowledge of English, Mathematics, Hindi and General Knowledge for up to Class 5.
The test was to check the quality of teaching in schools following complaints of poor teaching standards.
"The test was to review their ability to teach. If they failed to clear it, the government has made it clear that they should either improve or leave teaching," said Principal Secretary (Education) Amarjeet Sinha.
He said that for those who failed the test for the first time, there will be another chance. But those who failed for the second time would lose their jobs as per government norms.
Bihar has been conducting such eligibility tests for school teachers since 2008.
Last year more than 10,000 contractual school teachers in Bihar failed a competency test.
IANS
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Police have named the officer who was killed by a knifeman terrorist in London and revealed the death toll in the attack has risen to five.
Keith Palmer, 48, was stabbed to death outside Parliament by the attacker who brought carnage to London yesterday, mowing down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing three and injuring around 40 more.
A Hyundai 4x4 drove along the pavement on the crowded bridge, knocking down the public before crashing into a fence below Big Ben.
The killer, described by witnesses as'middle-aged and Asian', then managed to break into the grounds of Parliament, where he fatally stabbed Mr Palmer - who had 15 years service with the police - with two knives.
The attacker - who was shot at least twice by armed officers guarding the building - died after he was taken to hospital while married husband and father Mr Palmer - a former soldier in the Royal Artillery - died at the scene.
Speaking after the attack, Prime Minister Theresa May vowed Britain would 'never give in to terror' and 'defeat hate and evil' after she blasted the'sick and depraved' attack in Westminster.
She added the 'forces of evil would never drive Britain apart' and praised police and security staff who 'ran towards danger even as they encouraged others to move away'.
Three other police officers were injured, two of whom were last night in a'serious condition'.
Prime Minister Theresa May was bundled into her car by a plain-clothes police officer and driven quickly from the scene as the attack unfolded. She chaired a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra Committee tonight.
Scotland Yard said the attack, which came a year to the day after the atrocities in Brussels, was being treated 'as an Islamic-related terrorism'.
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Police officer Keith Palmer was killed by a knifeman before the attacker was shot by other officers outside Parliament. Emergency services desperately tried to save him, pictured, but he succumbed to his wounds
Mr Palmer, 48, pictured, was a husband and father and said to have served with the Met Police for 15 years
MP James Cleverly said he had known PC Palmer for 25 years after previously serving in the Royal Artillery with him, describing him as a 'lovely man and friend'
The suspected terrorist, pictured on a stretcher, is also dead, along with three pedestrians killed when the attacker drove a 4x4 across Westminster Bridge, ploughing down and seriously injuring at least 20. He had two knives (ringed)
The attacker was put on a stretcher and wheeled into an ambulance inside the grounds of Parliament. He later died
This was the scene as the attacker was taken away to hospital following the attack. He killed four people
Two knives lay on the cobbles in front of Parliament after the attacker was shot by armed police protecting the building
PC Palmer was a member of the Parliamentary Diplomatic Protection Command and had served on the force for 15 years.
Paying tribute to the officer tonight, Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley said: 'He [PC Palmer] was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift, and he had every right to expect that would happen.'
More tributes have poured in via social media for the police officer, with many describing him as a 'hero'.
Others have sent their best wishes and condolences to his family and praised PC Palmer for his dedication to keeping the public safe.
One Twitter user said: 'RIP Keith Palmer. We have the best police in the world the paddlers of hate will not divide us. My heart goes out to Mr Palmer's family'.
Another added: 'PC Keith Palmer, a husband, a father, a fallen hero RIP x.'
Others said they would launch a petition to have the police office posthumously awarded the George Medal, a civilian honour given out for bravery.
Police forces around the country also paid tribute to the officer.
A statement by Nottinghamshire Police said: 'RIP Metropolitan Police officer - PC Keith Palmer. Father, husband, police officer of 15-years, who died today protecting the public. When many ran from danger, you went towards it.'
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan added: 'Tonight we have learned that the courageous police officer who was killed while protecting our city was PC Keith Palmer. He was 48 and a husband and father.
'Keith Palmer was killed while bravely doing his duty - protecting our city and the heart of our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life.
'My heart goes out to his family, friends and colleagues.'
People on social media were quick to pay tribute to PC Palmer tonight, praising his bravery and service to the public
Others called the officer - who is a father and husband - a 'fallen hero' and vowed London was 'not afraid' of terrorism
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said PC Palmer was killed 'protecting our city and our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life'
Conservative MP James Cleverly, who served alongside Keith Palmer in the army, said he was ‘heartbroken’ and paid tribute to his friend.
He tweeted: ‘I’ve known Keith for 25 years. We served together in the Royal Artillery before he became a copper.
‘A lovely man, a friend. I’m heartbroken.
‘My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of PC Keith Palmer. A brave man.’
Acting Deputy Commissioner Rowley confirmed three members of the public had been killed in the incident, with liaison officers contacting their families.
He added: 'We think we know who the attacker is, we believe they were inspired by international terrorism. Islamist related terrorism.
'We have hundreds of officers working on this investigation, and they are focusing on the suspect's motivation, preparation and his associates.
'We are forensically examining a complicated crime scene that covers a wide area and as with all investigations of this nature, it will take us some time to work through the painstaking work necessary to gather all the relevant evidence. Only then will the full picture be known.'
He added statements were being taken from hundreds of witnesses while officers were also examining CCTV.
Security around the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family was dramatically stepped up following the attack. The gates to Buckingham Palace – where the Monarch was in residence - were closed and armed guards took up positions.
UK security services have foiled 13 potential attacks in less than four years. Counter-terrorism units are running more than 500 investigations at any time.
This was the scene in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after the attacker entered the grounds of Parliament
A patient believed to be the woman who plunged into the River Thames during the horrific terror attack is pictured here being treated in Westminster
There were disturbing scenes on Westminster Bridge where at least 40 pedestrians were hurt after being knocked down by the car
Members of the public rushed to help a man run down after the vehicle mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge
Another woman was severely injured at a postcard stall opposite Big Ben following the horrific terror attack
HOW TODAY'S EVENTS UNFOLDED 2.40pm: An attacker mows down several pedestrians as he drives a Hyundai i40 across Westminster Bridge before crashing it into railings then running through the gates of the Palace of Westminster and stabbing a police officer 2.41pm: Metropolitan Police and London Ambulance Service are called to a major incident 3.35pm: Police say the attack is being treated ‘as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise’ 4.10pm: Junior doctor at St Thomas' Hospital says one woman has died and a number of others have been hurt - including some with ‘catastrophic’ injuries 4.45pm: Paramedics confirm they have treated at least ten patients on Westminster Bridge 4.49pm: Police Commander BJ Harrington says there were ‘a number of casualties’ in the attack ‘including police officers’. 4.51pm: Downing Street spokesman says Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee later 5.40pm: Sources reveal the police officer stabbed at Parliament has died 6.01pm: Police say four people were killed in the attack, including the police officer and a man believed to be the attacker 6.56pm: Home Secretary Amber Rudd says the Government's top priority following the attack is ‘the security of its people’
It is currently known that:
One woman was killed on Westminster Bridge after a number of pedestrians were mowed down by a car.
Two more people were killed in the incident on the bridge.
Another woman ended up in the Thames and was treated for serious injuries after being pulled from the water.
A group of French schoolchildren were among those targeted on the bridge.
The attacker jumped out the car and fatally stabbed police officer Keith Palmer in the grounds of the Palace of Westminster.
The knifeman was shot dead moments later by another officer.
Police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
Witness Jayne Wilkinson said: 'We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running towards us, and then there was an Asian guy in about his 40s carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long.
'And then there were three shots fired, and then we crossed the road and looked over. The man was on the floor with blood.
'He had a lightweight jacket on, dark trousers and a shirt. He was running through those gates, towards Parliament, and the police were chasing him.'
Her partner David Turner added: 'There was a stampede of people running out. You saw the people and you thought 'what the hell is going on'.'
Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood was among those who rushed to help the policeman who had been stabbed.
Mr Ellwood, who lost his brother in the Bali bombing, could be seen pumping the officer's chest then standing above him, his hands and face smeared with blood.
Frazer Clarke, 25, from Burton-on-Trent, said: 'We heard a loud bang and screaming and then I noticed some smoke. I thought it was a car crash.
'I looked towards the front gate and people were running, a police officer and a fellow coming to the gate with two knives.
'He was stabbing the police officer with the knives. He was wearing black tracksuit bottoms, a black of grey top and what looked like work boots. The police officer was stumbling and fell on the floor'.
This was the series of events where a knife attacker drove into pedestrians before he was shot by police
The Hyundai 4x4 used by the attacker remained at the scene after it slammed into a fence before the attacker got out
Armed Police opened fire and shot the attacker outside the Houses of Parliament. A vehicle was seen on social media to have crashed into the fence of the palace
At least two pedestrians were hurt near where the Hyundai crashed and were helped by police at the scene
A man is thought to have jumped or been knocked from Westminster Bridge and lay with terrible injuries next to the Thames
This was the scene on Embankment last night after the man either fell or was knocked from the bridge during the attack
Pat McCormack, 21, from Washington in Tyne-on-Wear added: 'I saw him stabbing the officer in the back of the head and the back of the neck. He was running away but then he collapsed.'
Steve Voake, 55, was walking across the Westminster Bridge and saw at least two bodies lying on the road and one in the water.
'I saw a trainer lying in the road and when I looked more closely I saw that there were a couple of bodies the other side of the road,' he told the Press Association.
'And when I looked over the side there was another body lying in the water with blood all around it.'
Deputy Commissioner Rowley also thanked everyone at Parliament for their cooperation with the investigation today as he announced a lockdown had ended.
He added: 'We do want to reassure the public that police and partners will do everything possible to protect them.
'As a precautionary measure over the next few days we have increased the number of officers on duty, armed and unarmed, to provide a highly visible reassuring presence. This will continue for as long as is necessary.
'Terrorists have a clear aim. That is to create distrust, discord and to create fear. The police stand with all communities in the UK and will take action against anybody who seeks to undermine society, especially where their crimes are motivated by hate.
'We must recognise now that our Muslim communities will feel anxious at this time, given the past behaviour of extreme right wing groups, and we will continue to work with all community leaders over the coming days.
'It is essential for us to remain vigilant, but also to work together, police and communities, to unite against those who seek through violence and extremism, to threaten, to intimidate and to cause fear.'
Three police officers were on their way back from a commendation ceremony when they were knocked down on Westminster Bridge.
Acting Met Police Commissioner Craig Mackey is being treated as a significant witness as he was at the scene when the incident started.
A spokesman for the Port of London Authority, which looks after safety on the River Thames, said: 'A female member of the public was recovered from the water near Westminster Bridge. She is alive but undergoing urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier. We believe she fell from the bridge.'
He said the river has been closed from Vauxhall to Embankment 'as part of the security response'.
'WE WILL NEVER GIVE IN': THERESA MAY VOWS UK WILL 'GO ON' AFTER LONDON TERROR ATTACK Prime Minister Theresa May vowed Britain would 'never give in to terror' today following the'sick and depraved' London terror attack in which three people and a knifeman were killed. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, she said: 'I have just chaired a meeting of the Government’s emergency committee, COBRA, following the sick and depraved terrorist attack on the streets of our Capital this afternoon. 'The full details of exactly what happened are still emerging. But, having been updated by police and security officials, I can confirm that this appalling incident began when a single attacker drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring many more, including three police officers. 'This attacker, who was armed with a knife, then ran towards Parliament where he was confronted by the police officers who keep us – and our democratic institutions – safe. 'Tragically, one officer was killed. The terrorist was also shot dead. In a sombre public statement today, Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain will never surrender to the forces of hate and evil and praised the emergency services 'The United Kingdom’s threat level has been set at severe for some time and this will not change. Acting Deputy Commissioner Rowley will give a further operational update later this evening. 'Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been affected – to the victims themselves, and their family and friends who waved their loved ones off, but will not now be welcoming them home. 'For those of us who were in Parliament at the time of this attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the exceptional bravery of our police and security services who risk their lives to keep us safe. 'Once again today, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way. 'On behalf of the whole country, I want to pay tribute to them – and to all our emergency services – for the work they have been doing to reassure the public and bring security back to the streets of our Capital City. 'That they have lost one of their own in today’s attack only makes their calmness and professionalism under pressure all the more remarkable. 'The location of this attack was no accident. The terrorists chose to strike at the heart of our Capital City, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech. 'These streets of Westminster – home to the world’s oldest Parliament – are engrained with a spirit of freedom that echoes in some of the furthest corners of the globe. And the values our Parliament represents – democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law – command the admiration and respect of free people everywhere. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs May, pictured, also praised the work of the police and security services in their response to the London terror attack 'That is why it is a target for those who reject those values. 'But let me make it clear today, as I have had cause to do before: any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure. 'Tomorrow morning, Parliament will meet as normal. We will come together as normal. 'And Londoners - and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great City - will get up and go about their day as normal. 'They will board their trains, they will leave their hotels, they will walk these streets, they will live their lives. 'And we will all move forward together. Never giving in to terror. And never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart.'
Extra armed police will be on the streets of the capital following the attack in Westminster, Sadiq Khan said as he vowed that 'Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism'.
The London Mayor said his thoughts were with the family of the Metropolitan Police officer who died 'doing his duty protecting our city'.
The mayor stressed that London remained one of the safest cities in the world and praised citizens and emergency services for the 'tremendous bravery' they had shown.
He said: 'Londoners should be aware that there will be additional armed and unarmed police officers on our streets from tonight in order to keep Londoners and all those visiting our city safe.
'I want to reassure all Londoners and all our visitors not to be alarmed - our city remains one of the safest in the world.
A woman leans down on Westminster Bridge to help another woman who was injured in this afternoon's attack in London
Pieces of a car's undercarriage lay scattered on the pavement of Westminster Bridge as the public went to the aid of victims
Westminster bridge was strewn with injured people who were treated on the road or carried to St Thomas' Hospital
A pedestrian lies stricken on |
there were 224 Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)-accredited zoos in the United States.
As prominent fixtures of American life, zoos are also serious targets of criticism and speculation due to the perceived moral and ethical dilemmas of keeping animals in cages or enclosures under the care of humans. Granted, sometimes zoos actually save animals' lives and help turn around the health of an endangered species. But for all the good, there are still plenty of questionable things that happen at zoos. So before planning a trip to see the newest exhibit at a zoo near you, here are 11 things you need to know.
1. Many zoos claim they are conserving animals, but often times, aren't doing so at all.
Many of the AZA-accredited zoos are part of the Species Survival Plan (SSP) Program, which hopes to foster endangered species and promote breeding. However, these efforts rarely prove successful, and sometimes aren't happening at all. David Hancocks, a former zoo director with 30 years of experience, told National Geographic that he thinks less than three percent of a zoo's budget goes towards conservation efforts, with the remaining percent going towards "hi-tech exhibits and marketing efforts to lure visitors."
While some zoos simply don't devote a significant enough of their resources to conservation, the efforts of some of those that claim to be committed to conservation are undermined by disturbing findings about the animals in their own facilities. The Seattle Times conducted an investigation in 2013 that looked at the success rate of "saving" and breeding elephants in 390 U.S. facilities over 50 years. They found that "most of the elephants died from injury or disease linked to conditions of their captivity," such as foot problems from having to stand on concrete surfaces and musculoskeletal disorders from not getting enough exercise. The investigation came to the sobering conclusion that the overall infant-mortality rate for elephants in zoos falls at 40 percent. In public, however, the AZA frequently avoids mention of the health of their captive elephants, instead choosing to tout their broader conservation efforts for the species.
2. On the topic of elephants, 40 percent of all African elephants in U.S. zoos are obese.
And it negatively affects their rate of reproduction. Since a high body mass index in elephants is strongly related to "abnormal ovarian cycles," this issue deeply threatens the initiative to breed more African elephants in captivity. A 2011 report by researchers at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago states that the total elephant population at U.S. zoos needs to average about six births a year to remain stable. However, they currently average just three births a year. Daniella Chusyd, a doctoral student in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Nutrition Sciences, speculates that "zoos will need to rethink how they house and feed elephants to reduce the incidence of overweight" animals.
3. The "habitats" most zoo animals are housed in barely even resemble their natural environments.
David Hancocks, a noted zoo architect and advocate, spoke with National Geographic about the man-made enclosures that hold zoo animals and doesn't have great things to say about what he has experienced in his work. He states that zoos have operated under the presumption that they are creating a "landscape immersion design," which is the idea that "the animals should be immersed in landscapes that represented as closely as possible their natural habitats, and that the human visitors should also be immersed in the same replicated habitat, experiencing it with all their senses."
Instead, what ends up happening is animals are forced to reside in habitats that are completely foreign to them, including plastic or concrete trees and illusions of real grass or dirt that masks hard concrete below. In short, Hancocks says, "Everything they touch except their food and feces is unnatural."
4. Which may help explain why many of the movements you see animals make in their enclosures are serious signs of anxiety and depression.
The animals' anxiety and depression is called “zoochosis," which is "psychosis caused by confinement." Erratic behaviors, such as bar-biting and pacing, are not normal and would not happen if the animals were in the wild. Zoos have tried to combat this issue by engaging the animals with activities like puzzles, or giving them toys or food that is a challenge to eat. But this doesn't always work. In her book Animal Madness, writer Laurel Braitman highlights the fact that drugs are often used to calm these problems. Which brings us to our next point...
5. That animal you see may only appear happy because he's on antidepressants.
If you think humans are the only animals who receive counseling and medication, think again. In her book, Braitman tells the story of a polar bear named Gus who resided at the Central Park Zoo in the '90s. For 12 hours a day, he would repeatedly swim figure eights in his pool and stalk children who came to look at him through the glass of his enclosure. This earned him the nickname "the bipolar bear." He was also put on a steady dose of Prozac and received $25,000 worth of behavioral therapy.
The practice of putting zoo animals on antidepressants is startlingly common, according to Braitman. However, the exact number of animals on medication is unknown, since many zoos want to avoid presenting the image that their animals are not "happy" and "content." However, Braitman told Slate, "At every zoo where I spoke to someone, a psychopharmaceutical had been tried." And just this February, at the British Scarborough Sanctuary, penguins were given antidepressants to bolster their moods after becoming distressed dealing with strong weather that included intense winds and lashing rains. While wild penguins would be able to adequately deal with the weather, those who were born in captivity responded with high anxiety and stress.
6. Animals are often moved around different zoos, which disrupts their pack units.
Zoos believe they are doing something good for endangered species when they decide to move an animal from its original zoo and send them to a completely different one for breeding purposes. Yet they often end up disorienting the animals and placing them in upsetting new situations. Some zoos are completely transparent about another motive for moving their animals around. The Milwaukee County Zoo states on their website that one of the reasons they move animals is to keep their collection "fresh and exciting."
In her book, Braitman tells the story of gorilla who was moved from his home zoo to another because he was a suitable genetic match for a potential mate at a different zoo. Once he arrived at his new enclosure, the other gorillas abused him and alienated him to the point where he became so depressed that he lost a third of his body weight. He was then sent back to his original zoo to be nursed back to health, only to be sent to another different zoo to live. When his original zookeepers came to visit him at his new home, the gorilla "ran toward them sobbing and crying."
7. And some zoos refuse to move animals who desperately need to be in a different environment.
Arturo is the last captive polar bear in Argentina. And he's pretty sad. He lives at the Mendoza Zoo in Argentina and all day he "paces nervously." The problem is that Arturo does not belong in the hot temperatures of Mendoza, where it can get up 86 degrees during the summer. That might explain why the last polar bear in Buenos Aires died in December 2012 during a heat wave.
There is currently a petition with more than 500,000 signatures on Change.org asking the Argentine President Cristina Fernandez to move the bear, and even former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has urged people to sign it. However, the zoo director has said that the zoo will not move the bear due to his old age (he's 28) and the risk associated with having to sedate him. Looks like Arturo is destined to live out the remainder of his life in misery.
8. Some zoos don't have the resources to properly take care of their animals.
2013 was not the best year for the National Zoo in Washington D.C. Three animals died and a zebra attacked a zookeeper after he didn't follow proper protocol. When asked about the cause of these issues, the zoo's director credited it to the zoo's lack of resources and the staff being "spread too thin." The cause of death for one of the animals who died, a female red river hog, was due to "improper nutrition." When she arrived at the zoo she weighed 110 pounds. Shortly after living at the National Zoo, she died weighing only 79 pounds.
The National Zoo has been charged with a few internal reviews urged upon by Congress to look into the care that is being given to the animals there. In 2003, internal reviews urged upon by Congress to look into the care that is being given to the animals found that the zoo has suffered a "decade-long decline in facilities, animal collection, and quality of animal programs." And in 2013, two internal reports stated that "animal care and overall organization, accountability, follow-up and communication" were "severely lacking" in the zoo's cheetah exhibit. A biologist position that was needed for the cheetah exhibit was left empty for several years due to budget cuts. The job was was finally created by switching an animal-keeper's job to include the responsibilities of a biologist. The Guardian reports that this quick fix was "recommended against," as it would work against keeping "adequate staffing" in tact at the zoo.
9. In fact, some animals have very expensive specific diets that zookeepers hardly understand.
A panda at the National Zoo eating a fruit popsicle in the summer of 2011.
The specific diets that many animals can easily obtain in the wild by themselves have always proven to be a problem for zookeepers. In 1988, a New York Times article highlighted the challenges zoos face when deciding what and how to feed the animals. Oftentimes, zoos must spend a lot of money hiring nutritionists to finesse the perfect diet for endangered species, while horticulturists are brought on to cultivate and deliver specific plants to the animals. For example, one horticulturalist's sole job at the San Diego Zoo is to provide the 16 different species of bamboo that the giant pandas must eat in order to survive.
Because it's virtually impossible (and financially difficult) for zoos to create an exact replica of the animals' natural environment, they have devised ways to infuse specific nutrients and vitamins into pellet-type foods for the animals. These substitutions can have grave consequences. In 2011, after years of feeding gorillas a high-sugar and high-starch diet, the Cleveland Zoo had to desperately start working on a new food plan for their gorillas who were dying of heart failure, a result of heart disease, the number one deadly disease of Western lowland gorillas in U.S. zoos. They have started feeding the gorillas romaine lettuce and "bananas stuffed with multivitamins."
10. The truth is, many zoo visitors aren't interested or aware of the well-being of the animals they're seeing.
A study that focused on visitors' behavior at four different zoos in the Western U.S. with underwater exhibits found that 86 percent of the visitors said they went to the zoo for "social or recreational purposes," and only six percent said they go to a zoo in order to learn more about animals. In another study done on visitor behavior at an ape exhibit at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, it was revealed that both adult and children visitors "spent significantly more time watching apes than reading interpretives." The study also showed just how much people antagonize and harass the animals. Of 350 people, 78 pestered the apes by knocking on the glass or expressing other types of "undesirable behavior."
11. If you want to see wild animals, you should seek a place where you can view animals who are not caged.
A mother polar bear and her cub play in the wild in Barter Island, Alaska.
Benjamin Wallace-Wells recently wrote an op-ed in New York Magazine titled, "The Case For The End Of The Modern Zoo," in which he states that the major moral dilemma that seems to exist today with zoos is the idea that they are creating a "double illusion" both for humans and for animals. He writes that "People are convinced that they are seeing animals in something like their natural state and the animals, most of whom have never lived in the wild, are convinced that they are at home."
However, Wallace-Wells emphasizes that the illusion is far worse for the animals, who seem to be somewhat aware that their environments are complete fabrications and are apt to resist the unnatural human interaction they are forced to deal with. He speculates that America could be inching toward a move that Costa Rica just implemented: a plan to close all zoos and "open the cages where animals have been kept."
So, if you want to go see some wild animals who are living outside of cages and as close as possible to how they would in the wild, you should seek out a nature preserve. A good place to start would be visiting The Nature Conservatory's website which lists all the grasslands, coral reefs and habitats you could visit.Image Galleries
The Gallery is a horizontal scrolling list commonly used for displaying a list of images. Unfortunately, the standard Android Developers Gallery tutorial focuses on displaying a small, static list of local images. An API-based list of remote images is much more useful, but more complex.
Laziness
Needing to fetch remote images is the cause of this complexity. A naïve approach might download all of the images sequentially, but that quickly becomes untenable as the number of images in question grows.
The correct solution will build up a cache of images locally, fetching them only as they need to be displayed. Images that have not yet loaded will be represented by a placeholder.
Mirah
I've grown quite fond of Mirah since I wrote my initial reactions about Mirah-Android development. Despite the bleeding edge kinks and snares, I find myself being much more productive than when using vanilla Java. Since the language is relatively new, I thought it could be useful to walk through some real-world code and demonstrate what it can do.
Designing a Lazy Gallery
We'll make three components:
An adapter to provide image/view information.
A selection listener to load images when they enter the visible window.
A mechanism for downloading the images in question and making them appear.
Implementation
This code is all available on Github; clone it and follow along:
git clone git://github.com/abscondment/lazy-gallery.git
LazyGalleryAdapter.mirah
Android's list-like views are backed by an Adapter, which provides a standard interface for creating or updating Views to represent list items.
This implementation accepts a JSON string and turns it into equivalent Java objects.
def update_from_json(json:String) begin data = JSONArray.new json data.length.times do |i| photo_json = data.getJSONObject(i) @photos.add {'caption' => photo_json.getString('caption'),'src' => photo_json.getString('src')} end rescue JSONException => e Log.e 'LazyGalleryAdapter', 'Could not load JSON', e end notifyDataSetChanged() end
Using this list of caption/src pairs, it creates ImageViews for the gallery to display. It employs a common adapter optimization and re-uses a few existing views by updating them rather than repeatedly instantiating and discarding many objects.
def getView(pos:int, convertView:View, parent:ViewGroup) layout = RelativeLayout(convertView) image = LazyImageView(nil) url = String(Map(getItem pos).get('src')) if layout.nil? image = LazyImageView.new(@context, R.drawable.placeholder) image.setScaleType(ImageView.ScaleType.FIT_XY) image.setLayoutParams Gallery.LayoutParams.new(@oneeighty,@oneeighty) image.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.gallery_background) image.setOnClickListener nil image.setClickable false layout = RelativeLayout.new @context layout.setLayoutParams Gallery.LayoutParams.new(@oneeighty,@oneeighty) layout.setGravity Gravity.CENTER layout.addView image else image = LazyImageView(layout.getChildAt 0) end # show changes image.setSrcUrl url image.refresh return View(layout) end
Note that we're not using a standard ImageView – it has extra methods (e.g. refresh ), which we'll talk about below.
While I chose to build the layout by hand to demonstrate more, we could have eliminated some of the creation lines by inflating an XML resource:
if layout.nil? [...] inflater = LayoutInflater.from @context layout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.lazy_gallery_item, parent, false) layout.addView image end
GallerySelectionListener.mirah
This listener handles selection changes. It figures out which views are visible when a selection is made and initiates loading of the associated images. By using gallery.setCallbackDuringFling false when creating the gallery, we disable the selection listener during flings so that it only gets called when we actually want to load images.
def onItemSelected(parent:AdapterView, view:View, pos:int, id:long) unless @textView.nil? photo_map = Map(LazyGalleryAdapter(parent.getAdapter).getItem pos) if photo_map.containsKey('caption') @textView.setText String(photo_map.get('caption')) @textView.setVisibility View.VISIBLE else @textView.setVisibility View.INVISIBLE end end view.setSelected true # Preload children of the Gallery (i.e. those elements that are visible) unless parent.nil? parent.getChildCount.times do |i| v = RelativeLayout(parent.getChildAt(i)) LazyImageView(v.getChildAt 0).load unless v.nil? end end end
So, we use the LazyGalleryAdapter to get the caption/src map for our given position. We update the caption and show it.
Then we iterate over the parent's children – these are the visible children, mind you – and call load on the LazyImageViews that they house.
LazyImageView.mirah
The LazyImageView is an ImageView with plumbing for loading a remote image asynchronously (i.e. off the UI thread). It attempts to display an image that is already on disk, but defers fetching remote images until its load method is called.
def setSrcUrl(url:String):void @src_url = url @path = File.new(cache_dir, "" + @src_url.hashCode + ".jpg").getCanonicalPath end def load:void unless @loaded || @src_url.nil? || @path.nil? AsyncDownload.new(Handler.new(self), @src_url, @path) end end def refresh:void unless display_from_path() setImageResource @placeholder end end protected def display_from_path d = safe_image_to_drawable(@path, 180) unless d.nil? setImageDrawable(d) @loaded = true else @resizing = false @loaded = false end return @loaded end
LazyImageView also handles large images gracefully by asynchronously resizing them on disk with safe_image_to_drawable and AsyncResize; otherwise, we will get killed for using too much memory.
Finally, it can invalidate the disk-based cache of images based on image age.
def self.cache_dir(c:Context):File @cache_dir ||= File.new(c.getCacheDir, "lazy_image_cache") @cache_dir.mkdirs unless @cache_dir.exists @cache_dir end def self.purgeDiskCache(c:Context):void thread = Thread.new do # 8 hours oldest_acceptable = System.currentTimeMillis - long(28800000) d = LazyImageView.cache_dir(c) files = d.listFiles unless d.nil? unless files.nil? files.each do |f| begin # Skip nils, directories, and current files. next if f.nil? || (!f.isFile) || f.lastModified >= oldest_acceptable Log.v "LazyImageView", "D " + f.getCanonicalPath f.delete rescue IOException => e Log.e "LazyImageView", "purgeDiskCache: Error checking or deleting cache file:", e end end end end # Do this on a different thread LazyGalleryActivity.threadPoolExecutor.execute thread end
AsyncDownload.mirah
AsyncDownload is a fun little helper for downloading basically anything. It uses some java.util.concurrent goodies to ensure that a given URL is only fetched once for a destination path. Imagine the scenario where a user goes back and forth between two neighboring images before either loads – we don't want the two selection events to trigger double downloads of the images.
I won't post source here, but it's worth a read.
Working Together
Using these components is fairly straightforward:
gallery = Gallery(findViewById R.id.lazy_gallery) # Make sure the GallerySelectionListener is only # triggered when the gallery is stopped on an image. gallery.setCallbackDuringFling false # Create our adapter gallery_adapter = LazyGalleryAdapter.new self # When the current item is clicked, create a toast with its caption. this = self gallery.setOnItemClickListener do |parent, view, pos, id| if view.isSelected item = Map(gallery_adapter.getItem pos) c = String(item.get 'caption') || "Item #{pos} (no caption)" Toast.makeText(this, c, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show end end # Add the adapter and the selection listener gallery.setAdapter gallery_adapter gallery.setOnItemSelectedListener GallerySelectionListener.new(TextView(findViewById R.id.lazy_gallery_text)) # Expire any old cached images LazyImageView.purgeDiskCache(self) # And finally, send the adapter its data. # A real application will likely abstract away the JSON string details. gallery_adapter.update_from_json json_string
Try it out
The full source is available on Github as a working application. Try it out!
https://github.com/abscondment/lazy-galleryStory highlights Commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment will be reassigned
Seven Marines were killed in a mortar range accident in March
Marines statement says system appeared to work properly
Three Marines, including the commanding officer of an infantry battalion, have been relieved of their duties in the wake of the death of seven service members killed during a mortar exercise accident in March, according to a statement from the Marines.
Lt. Col. Andrew McNulty, the officer in charge of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, was replaced temporarily by Maj. Thomas M. Siverts, the unit's second in command.
Brig. Gen. James Lukeman said he replaced McNulty because he "lost confidence in him as the commander of this battalion."
Capt. Kelby S. Breivogel, who commanded Company A, and Chief Warrant Officer-3 Douglas H. Derring, the battalion Marine infantry weapons officer, were also relieved of their duties. They will be reassigned, the Marines said.
The Marines were killed by an explosion during a mortar training exercise at Hawthorne Army Depot in western Nevada on the night of March 18. Eight other people were injured.
After the accident, the Marines discontinued use of the 60mm rounds and mortar tubes, but the Marines statement said a preliminary investigation determined the mortar system "functioned properly" at the site of the explosion.
"We have no reason to question the safety of the system when it is employed as designed and as Marines are trained to employ it," the press release said.
The full investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing.
The Hawthorne Army Depot, about 140 miles southeast of Reno, Nevada, is used for storing ammunition and weapon stocks awaiting demilitarization. The facility also provides high desert training facilities for military units.Are we, the human species, unreasonable? Do rational arguments have any power to sway us, or is it all intuition, hidden motivations, and various other forms of prejudice? The answer isn't simple, but we may not be irrational creatures after all.
This post originally appeared on Contributoria.
The question has been hanging over me because of my profession. I work as a cognitive psychologist, researching and teaching how people think. My job is based on rational inquiry, yet the picture of human rationality painted by our profession can seem pretty bleak. Every week I hear about a new piece of research which shows up some quirk of our minds, like the one about people given a heavy clip board judge public issues as more important than people given a light clip board. Or that more attractive people are judged as more trustworthy, or they arguments they give as more intelligent.
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Commentators and popularizers of this work have been quick to pick up on these findings. Dan Ariely has a book calling us Predictably Irrational, and the introduction tells us "we are pawns in a game whose forces we largely fail to comprehend. We usually think of ourselves [with] ultimate control over the decisions we make [but] this perception has more to do with our desires... than reality." Cordelia Fine's book A Mind of Its Own has the subtitle "how your brain distorts and deceives," whilst David McRaney doesn't pull any punches with the title of his You Are Not So Smart.
The wider context is the recent progress in the sciences that puts our species in the biological context of the animals, a project that most psychologists are signed up to, to some degree. A reflection of this is all the experiments which attempt to give a mechanistic —that is natural—account of the mind, an account which downplays idiosyncrasy, subjectivity, and non-determinism. The philosopher John Gray was reflecting on this trend in research, as well as giving vent to his own enthusiastic pessimism, when he wrote:
We think our actions express our decisions. But in nearly all of our life, willing decides nothing. We cannot wake up or fall asleep, remember or forget our dreams, summon or banish our thoughts, by deciding to do so. When we greet someone on the street we just act, and there is no actor standing behind what we do. Our acts are end points in long sequences of unconscious responses. They arise from a structure of habits and skills that is almost infinitely complicated. Most of our life is enacted without conscious awareness.
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The science, and those who promote it, seem to be saying that we're unreasonable creatures. That's a problem, given that many of our social institutions (such as democracy) are based on an assumption that rational persuasion can occur. If I believed the story told in these books I would be forced to choose between my profession as a cognitive scientist and political commitment as a citizen and democrat.
Fortunately, as a cognitive scientist, I don't have to believe what I'm told about human nature—I can look into it myself. So I set out to get to the bottom of the evidence on how we respond to rational arguments. Does rationality lose out every time to irrational motivations? Or is there any hope to those of us who want to persuade because we have good arguments, not because we are handsome, or popular, or offer heavy clipboards.
Persuasion and Arguments
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One of the most famous examples of the way our minds twist arguments is an experiment performed by Charles Lord, Lee Ross, and Mark Lepper way back in 1979. These American social psychologists recruited participants who had views for or against the death penalty. They then presented them with reports of studies which seemed to support or oppose the death penalty. Here's a pro-death penalty example:
Kroner and Phillips (1977) compared murder rates for the year before and the year after adoption of capital punishment in 14 states.
In 11 of the 14 states, murder rates were lower after adoption of the death penalty.
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This research supports the deterrent effect of the death penalty.
Lord and colleagues found that people didn't change their minds in the direction of the arguments presented to them—far from it. Rather, people who had pro-death penalty views found flaws and biases in the anti-death penalty studies, and vice versa. The participants in the experiment ended up with more extreme views than they started with—the pro- people becoming more pro and the anti- becoming more anti. This "biased assimilation effect," whereby we only believe evidence that fits with what we already believe, is no historical artifact. Adam Corner and colleagues from the University of Cardiff showed in 2012 that this bias holds for a very contemporary topic—climate change. People who were more skeptical about climate change rated editorials supporting the reality and importance of climate change as less persuasive and reliable than those people who were less skeptical.
At first glance, evidence like this looks like a triumph for the "we're all irrational" team. And don't be tempted to dismiss this as evidence that the people in the experiment are bad thinkers or somehow not qualified think about the topic. Another recent study showed that the more scientific education a climate skeptic had, the stronger their skepticism was likely to be.
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But I want to persuade you that this is evidence of the power of reason, not unreason. Psychologists perform their interventions on participants who are far from a blank slate—they are all adults, usually University educated (our great weakness is performing most psychology experiments on psychology students), all probably having spent years developing their opinions about the world. It is not really surprising that their views can't be dislodged with a few choice anecdotes. Who'd want opinions if they were shifted by the slightest counter-argument. That's not rationality.
To really look at the power of reason, we need to look at the effect of strong rather than weak arguments. Unfortunately, as two leading researchers wrote in a 1998 review, "relatively little is known about what makes an argument persuasive."
Two decades earlier, one of the authors of this report, Richard Petty, had been involved in a piece of research which showed an important qualification you need to take account of if you want to measure how persuasive good arguments can be. Along with John Cacioppo, Petty ran an experiment looking at how involvement in an issue affected the power of arguments to persuade. The experimenters tried to persuade undergraduates at the University of Missouri that University regulations should be changed so that all students would have to pass an additional comprehensive exam before being allowed to graduate. Previous work had revealed that such a change was "strongly counter-attitudinal for most college students." That's psychology code for "they hated the idea." Cacioppo and Petty varied the kinds of arguments they used on their volunteers. Half received strong arguments in favor of the change, and half weak arguments—arguments that had obvious flaws or simple counter-arguments. A second factor was manipulated: how involved people felt in the argument. Half the volunteers were told that this change was under consideration for the University of Missouri. In other words, that it would affect them, possibly requiring them to pass an extra exam or flunk their degree. The other half were told that the change was being considered at North Carolina State University (approximately 1000 miles away).
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The results show that when people have low involvement in an argument, neither the strong or weak arguments were persuasive. People's minds were made up, and no argument shifted them. But in the high involvement condition both the strong and weak arguments had a significant effect. Weak arguments entrenched people's positions—they shifted their attitude to be more against the final exam. Strong arguments, however, had the effect you might expect from reasonable people; they shifted their attitudes to be less against the final exam idea (it still wasn't very popular, but it was less unpopular).
This research, and research that followed on from it, showed that strong arguments can be persuasive, but only when people are motivated to deliberate on the issue. Recently, a team led by Joseph Paxton of Harvard University showed that, in the domain of moral arguments, strong arguments were only persuasive if people were given some deliberation time before being forced to answer. Like crimes, it seems, reasoning requires both motive and opportunity, but if both are there even in crude psychology experiments we can show that strong arguments persuade.
Truth Wins
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The strongest evidence on the power of argument comes from domains where there is a right answer. For public issues like the death penalty, or moral arguments, it will never be clear what the right answer is. Because of this, one person's strong argument won't be the same as another's. In logic or mathematics, however, because a correct answer can be defined precisely, so can strong arguments.
For a long time, Psychologists have used a logic task called the Wason Selection Task as a lens on our power of reasoning. The task works like this: imagine there are cards which always have a letter on one side and a number on the other. You are shown, flat on the table, four cards. Their up-facing sides show E, G, 7, and 6, and you are told that you need to test this rule: "All cards with a vowel on one side have an even number on the other side." Which cards do you need to turn over to test if this rule is true?
In experiments using this task, over 80% of people test the rule by picking the cards showing "E" and "6" and they are wrong. The result is often held up as an example of the weakness of our powers of logic, showing how unsuited our minds are to formal reasoning.
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The correct answer is that you need to turn over the "E" and the "7" cards. If the "E" card doesn't have an even number on the other side, the rule is false: a vowel did not lead to an even number. Similarly, if the "7" card has a vowel on the other side, the rule has also been shown to be false: a vowel led to a non-even number. Turning over the "6" card doesn't tell you anything, since the rule doesn't say anything about what even numbers cards ought to have on the other side (i.e. it doesn't say that non-vowels can't lead to even numbers too).
But what is often held up as a testimony to our irrationality can also be a laboratory for examining our rationality. Whilst the selection task is normally completed by individuals, you can also ask small groups to try and solve the task. When you do this, two remarkable things happen. Firstly, the success rate jumps massively so that most groups solve the task correctly (75% or more, compared to a success rate of less than 10% for individuals). Secondly, we can observe the process of discussion that generates the correct solutions, enabling us to discern something powerful and encouraging about group reasoning.
Transcripts of groups reasoning about the selection task show that in the process of discussion groups manage to construct arguments in favor of the correct answer, i.e. the answer that is in line with the logic of hypothesis testing. Other work on group reasoning, this time using mathematical problems, has shown that often it is enough for a single member of group to realize the correct answer for the group to submit this as their final decision. This "Truth Wins" scenario is in total contrast to what psychologists will normally tell you about group function. In most domains, from creativity to tug-of-war, a phenomenon called "social loafing" holds, whereby the performance of the group is less than the sum of expected effect of individuals acting alone.
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This encouraging story about the power of reason needs to be put in the context of the research on persuasion. The groups in these experiments have a common goal and, we must assume, trust each other and are committed to the task. Furthermore the solutions can be demonstrated to be correct. In these circumstances rational argument is productive.
Prove Me Wrong
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Another result that comes from analyzing transcripts of the these types of experiments is that people are only persuaded when they can be shown that the answer they are currently advocating is wrong. Insight into how to do this comes from experiments on the so-called "Illusion of Explanatory Depth." The illusion concerns our beliefs about how well we understand complex systems—ranging from the forces driving global terrorism to how a flush toilet works. The original research which framed the phenomenon asked people to self-rate their understanding of how things work. Examples for this experiment were taken from the classic children's book The Way Things Work. The volunteers were asked to rate how well they understood things like "How a speedometer works," "How a helicopter flies" or "How a cylinder lock opens with a key." After they give these ratings, the participants were asked to write out a full explanation of how the items worked. They then answered test questions about their understanding. They then rated their original understanding again. After the trying to provide explanations, participant's ratings of understanding dropped. After the test questions they dropped even further, revealing that most people have a far less confident understanding of these things than they initially believe.
There is a lesson here for all of us about over confidence. The authors of the study, Leonid Rozenblit and Frank Keil from Yale University, ascribe the effect to the ease with which we interact with these systems, allowing us to directly appreciate their effects (e.g. we make the car go faster, and the speedometer shows the new speed). We, they argue, then mistake this sampling of the environment for our own knowledge. Without the working system in front of us, we're actually pretty ignorant of its internal operation.
But for me the interesting lesson is that the study participants came to realize they were wrong in their original assessments. Although full of confidence initially, they moved to re-rating their understanding as dramatically lower—they were, in other words, persuaded to change their minds about something (in this case, about how much they knew). How did this happen?
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Follow up work published last year confirms that asking people to provide mechanistic explanations can play a vital role in persuading them they are mistaken. Philip Fernbach, of the University of Colorado, and colleagues asked participants in an experiment to provide opinions on policies which are generally contentious in the US, things like healthcare, social security and tax. So, for example, they indicated their support for polities such as transitioning to a single-payer health care system. Whether they were for or against the policy, the average participant was a long way from neutral. Half were then asked to give reasons why they felt like they did, and the other half asked to give an explanations of how the policy would have effects. Both groups then re-rated their position for or against the policy and these "after" scores were compared with the "before" scores. The "reasons" group didn't shift their views at all, remaining just as entrenched in their positions, for or against, as when they started the experiment. The "explanations" group did change, on average becoming more moderate in their positions. The authors conclude that the illusion of explanatory depth supports political extremism, and that when we are asked to provide explanations for how we think the world works, some of that illusion evaporates, undermining our previous certainty.
This research goes some way to explaining why causal reasons have been found to be more persuasive than statistical ones (in this case arguing that you cannot catch AIDS from touching someone with AIDS, because transmission occurs via HIV in bodily fluids, compared to arguing that you cannot catch AIDS from touching someone with it because no one ever has).
Argumentation
This raises the general topic of how we react to arguments. More recent research has shown that even children as young as three prefer an argument that uses reasons to a circular argument
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So it seems that, despite all the biases we're subject to, we are sensitive to reason—we discriminate better arguments from worse ones, often recognize the truth when it can be demonstrated, and adjust the strength of our beliefs when we discover we can't justify them as fully as we thought. Other work has shown that the skill of recognizing and developing arguments can be taught.
A movement called deliberative polling uses group discussion as a way of measuring people's opinions (rather than the "stop them in the street and get a knee-jerk reaction" strategy). Typically, this approach gathers less extreme views— for example, people's |
haven’t got an answer yet,” Kirazian says.
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Originally published: 23 July, 2015
The newly opened Aleppo market adds a new flavor to Yerevan’s unique cultural profile. In the market located next to the Republic Square subway station Syrian Armenians who have immigrated as a result of the Syria war offer tasty Syrian dishes, spices and hand-made works to locals. There are also shops and a hairdressing salon at the place.Petros Kirazian, who moved to Armenia from Syria three years ago, could not find a job in his historical homeland for almost a year, while in Aleppo he was dealing with metal processing. Soon his creativeness gave him an idea to sell Syrian spices. Later he became engaged in spice trade.“Initially I started from home, then I worked at Vernissage (a large flea market in downtown Yerevan) for nine months. Gradually people got to know me and I got new customers. Now I have excellent ideas in this work. All the people you see working at the Aleppo market gathered here by my initiative. I was alone here for two months, then my friends and relatives came here, some of them succeeded, others left,” says Kirazian.The scent of his products comes from afar, a large assortment of spices: cardamom, saffron, ginger, cinnamon, kinion, bahar, Syrian lavash, Indian kurma, various soaps and oils.“My customers are mainly Armenians who always like the products. No one complains. We generally bring the goods from Dubai, Lebanon, Pakistan and Syria,” he says.Next to the spice table the flavor of Syrian dishes spreads around. It is Vahram Ter-Ohanian’s table. He suggests dishes that he prepares himself. The “Aleppo sandwiches” keep his memories of the life in this Syrian city alive.“It’s difficult in Armenia, taxes are high but we will get along. The locals most like our shishtauk, sujukh, lahmajoon, Syrian humus and mutaba,” he says. “Although life in Aleppo continues, but people live there in unbearable conditions, all they want is to leave the country but they have no money. I three times saw death in front of my eyes,” adds the man, telling about the life in war-torn Syria today.Everyone at the Aleppo market knows each other as they used to live in the same New Village Armenian district in the Syrian city. Fate had a surprise in store for them as many had to start their businesses from scratch in difficult conditions in Armenia.One of the businesswomen at the Aleppo market Lena Shavlian sells men’s and women’s underwear. She was involved in this business in Aleppo from 1985. She thinks that while she managed to succeed in her business endeavors in Aleppo, she will also be successful in Armenia as well. She came to Yerevan along with her sister in 2012 temporarily to get Armenian passports, but the escalation of conflict in Syria forced them to stay in Armenia permanently.“Locals wondered why we came here, they said Armenia wasn’t a good country for living. But we say we don’t want to be massacred twice, once we have spread throughout the world, it’s enough. We came here to strengthen our country. Whether good or bad, this is our country. They say this is not a country to live in, I answer that I and you are the country. If we could live next to Muslims, why can’t we live in our fatherland? This country needs care, these authorities are here today, won’t be here tomorrow…” Shavlian says.Only Armenian products are sold in her shop, she says she can bring goods from Turkey and Dubai, but prefers Armenian ones.“I want to change the belief about the quality of Armenian products. Why should we sell Turkish goods? It’s enough how much the Turks have destroyed our home. My relatives went abroad but I stay here. Of course, it’s difficult here, we pay for the rent of shop space and apartment, but no matter how hard it is, we will get along,” she says.Gor Sukiasian, 21, runs a barber’s shop next to the place. He says he serves up to 25 customers, including some customers that knew him still from Aleppo.Aleppo market salespeople pay from 40,000 to 80,000 AMD (about $90-190) for renting the space, they say it is a reasonable rent. They say they try to promote their businesses, but need advertising so that people know about the market.“We don’t want much, just some free billboards above us so that people know about this market. We are not able to pay for the market yet, as we still try to get back to our feet. We wrote a letter to the prefecture, but we haven’t got an answer yet,” Kirazian says.Originally published: 23 July, 2015Image copyright PA
Two prisoners have escaped from HMP Pentonville, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said.
The escape was discovered when officers carrying out checks found two pillows made to look like bodies in the prisoners' beds on Monday.
It is understood the inmates, aged 28 and 31, used diamond-tipped cutting equipment to break through cell bars before they scaled the perimeter wall.
Both were on remand, one for attempted murder and the other for burglary.
Inmates removed after HMP Bedford riot
The men were not required for prison work, which is why they were not reported missing until 12:00 GMT, the BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said.
He added staff were expected to conduct a visual check on prisoners at about 07:00 GMT.
It is understood pillows in their cells were made to look like bodies, but it's not clear if they had other objects or coverings on them.
Initial reports suggested mannequins had been left in the beds.
Image copyright PA
A prison spokesperson said: "Public protection is our top priority and we take escapes from custody extremely seriously.
"We are working closely with the police and are urgently investigating the matter."
The escaped prisoners were on G wing, the same wing where 21-year-old prisoner Jamal Mahmoud was fatally stabbed last month.
Basana Kimbembi, 34, has been charged with his murder.
Following the attack, about half of the 200 prison officers passed a vote of no confidence in Pentonville governor Kevin Reilly.
The officers claim they cannot stop drugs and weapons being thrown over prison walls.
Pentonville Prison
A category B Victorian prison which opened in 1842
It holds more than 1,200 adult men
It is located on Caledonian Road in Islington, north London
Notable former inmates include Oscar Wilde in 1895
Camilla Poulton, chair of the Pentonville Prison Independent Monitoring Board, said: "Clearly this is a regrettable incident.
"As we reported in the summer to the Secretary of State for Justice, HMP Pentonville will remain a soft target for contraband and other security breaches as long as its dilapidated windows are in place, notwithstanding the efforts of management and staff."
She added a member of the monitoring board was at the prison on Monday and that it would closely follow the prison's response to the escape.
The National Chairman of the Prison Officer's Association, Mike Rolfe, said "We've been warning for a long time that there's a severe shortage of staff, staff are under pressure.
"Pentonville's one of those jails that's suffered really terribly from staff shortages and, you know, people not wanting to join the job there."
The last prisoner to escape from Pentonville was convicted murderer John Massey in 2012.
He sneaked onto a roof after a gym session and then climbed the prison's 25ft (8m) outer perimeter wall using a rope made from netting.
He was found two days later.
Prison escapes
The MoJ defines an "escape" as a prisoner breaching the secure perimeter of a prison
Only two were recorded in England and Wales in 2015-16; burglar Joseph Moss from Featherstone Prison near Wolverhampton and robber Haroon Ahmed from HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire
There were also 105 "absconds" from prison, where an inmate does not overcome any physical restraint to get out
The number of "absconds" was the lowest number on record since 2003-04 and typically occurred in open prisons
An additional eight prisoners escaped while being transported in 2015-16The inspiration for this post comes from an article posted to FishDuck.com, entitled "Fiesta Bowl No Huddle Dynamics" and written by Josh Schlichter (@joshschlichter). First published on January 22, but I wasn't aware of it -- and therefore didn't read it -- until Monday when Ben Aven (@100AndBenPercnt) tweeted out the link. I strongly encourage you to read the article in full if you haven't already, and I dare you not to get a little giddy while doing so. I believe that will become the natural reaction to how Chip Kelly calls plays. Also, remember the formations and play-calls because I'm sure you'll be seeing them again with the Eagles.
Two quotes that stood out:
However, out-scheming Chip Kelly often takes more defensive adjustments than it would for any other coach in the game today simply because when Oregon "gets on a roll," it becomes incredibly hard for a defensive coordinator to identify and call proverbial counters to Oregon's rapid pace and subsequent play calls, effectively handcuffing the defense to a handful of coverages.
Running a no huddle offense might present several challenges for a coaching staff, but forcing a defense to play off of pure reaction as opposed to identifying formations, plays, and tendencies can help your offense immensely. As soon as a defense is on its heels, Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich have a really amazing ability to find which plays will work the best against a basic defense.
We're all searching for clues as to how Kelly will run his offense in the NFL. Here we have been presented with some more insight, specifically in a no-huddle situation at the end of the half. It also further highlights why Kelly was so intent on signing James Casey and drafting Zach Ertz, who are both formation-versatile and can line up in a variety of spots. They are chess pieces, particularly invaluable when switching out personnel groupings is eliminated. From one snap to the next, they can morph into different roles. Ertz presents one more wrinkle than Casey: In addition to lining up in the backfield as an H-Back or in-line as a traditional TE spot, he can split out wide as a WR. By the way, Colt Lyerla is awesome and we're totally drafting him, whether it's in 2014 or 2015. I also believe Marcus Mariota, who I view as a bona fide NFL QB prospect, will be targeted by Kelly whenever he declares for the draft (could be as early as 2014).
After a missed field goal by Kansas State, the score remained 15-10 in favor of Oregon, which had experienced literally no success on offense in the second quarter to that point. With 1:00 left on the clock and timeouts remaining, Chip Kelly was feeling anything but apprehensive despite his offense's recent struggles. I think there's a fair number of coaches who might have been content with the lead and called for a run play or two (dumb), or for his quarterback to take a knee twice (smart), to bleed the clock and get into the locker room to regroup. That's just not in Chip Kelly's nature. He went right for his opponent's heart. Five plays and 77 yards later -- boom, boom, boom -- Oregon's offense was celebrating a touchdown and 22-10 lead, having demoralized a Kansas State team that was feeling pretty good about itself a minute earlier. Like a roundhouse kick to the face. Perhaps such aggressiveness will get Kelly burned at times, but I also think he'll be more successful than not in the long run as a result.
While I acknowledge that players still have to execute (which was has been a problem with this crew), how the drive in the Fiesta Bowl played out embodies one of the reasons I believe in Chip Kelly. It has to do with his overall personality and approach, and how both are infused into his play-calling. Attack, attack, attack, come at you in waves, never let up. Kelly is unfazed in high-pressure situations; in fact, he thrives, which makes me so hopeful above all else, since that's where Andy Reid had his meltdowns. There's also something genius and beautiful about the simplicity of the pay-calls. Unlike his predecessor, Kelly doesn't appear to be the type of coach who's prone to outsmarting himself, and he's not afraid to run the same play over and over if it's working. I could get used to the Eagles being a "you know what's coming and still can't stop it" offense.
Whereas with Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg I had come to fear the very thought of the Eagles operating a no-huddle, two-minute offense, I'm encouraged and excited -- GIDDY -- imagining how it'll work with Chip Kelly. Guys, I don't think we're going to have to worry about terrible play-calling or time management anymore. And that makes me smile.If the policies favored by some Republicans seeking the nomination for president turned into reality, we’d roll back or eliminate our social insurance programs, cut taxes on the wealthy, cut spending even more to slash the deficit, and turn health care over to the private sector.
The “you’re on your own no matter what bad luck comes your way” society is a desirable outcome according to this view because it creates the correct incentives for people to be gainfully employed and take care of themselves. Never mind that history shows many people won’t prepare for retirement, purchase health care, set aside funds in case of job loss, and so on unless they are forced to do so by government programs, and will thus then end up being an even bigger burden to the rest of society, Those who support these policies appear to believe that this time will somehow be different.
What do these issues have in common?
Related: Hillary, Bill Clinton Report Total Income of $140 Million Since 2007
At first glance, it seems as though the crusade against programs that benefit the poor and the middle class are driven by the political power of the wealthy. Many of the wealthy and powerful that support Republican candidates object to being forced to support the “undeserving” through taxation and redistribution. The calls to cut government spending to avoid disastrous, though largely imagined consequences, and the push to cut taxes to avoid harmful economic distortions that supposedly lower economic growth are, in the end, about the desire to reclaim income lost to taxes.
Sure, there are Republicans who truly believe that these programs are harmful, but there are also a large number of Republicans who do not want to share with the less fortunate through income redistribution programs that support social insurance.
The idea that this is all about selfishness, power, and influence leaves open the question of why so many people who are not among the rich and powerful support these policies. And how does the fierce opposition to immigration fit into the political power story? Does immigration somehow threaten the interests of the wealthy?
Related: The Politics of Economics and ‘Very Serious People’
There is no doubt that political power is an important part of the story, but there is a deeper connection among all of these issues. Inequality. The incomes of working class households have been stagnant for decades while those at the top have soared. These households struggle to pay the bills each month, to send their kids to college, and provide the healthcare their families need. They sense rising economic insecurity due to globalization, digital technology, and the constant chatter about robots taking their jobs. Something has gone wrong. Their children are supposed to do better than they did, incomes are supposed to rise over time as we become more productive, but that isn’t happening. They want someone to blame.
For some, the natural tendency is to blame others for their problems. They turn to explanations, rightly or more often wrongly, such as immigrants are taking jobs, lowering wages, and placing a burden on social insurance programs. The undeserving, able-bodied, lazy poor get help from the government for all sorts of things – education, healthcare, and so on – that they struggle to provide for their families. And to add insult to injury, they are forced to help pay for this assistance.
Presidential nominees from both political parties are attempting to tap into the sentiment that the country is headed in the wrong direction, and those who blame the “others” for their problems are receptive to the Republican message. Republicans will close the borders, slash spending that requires the redistribution of income to the undeserving, and when all is said and done the belief is that there will be more income and opportunity available to hard-working, upstanding, moral households. Households like theirs. I think they are wrong about that. There is less redistribution from the middle class than many of these households believe, and the benefits they receive are larger than they realize, but they are convinced otherwise.
Related: Why Americans Shrug Off Income Inequality
More equal societies are also more generous societies. People are more willing to share with others when they are not struggling themselves. A more equal distribution of income over the last several decades would not have eliminated the sentiment politicians are exploiting, but it would have reduced its size and intensity, reduced the ability of the wealthy and powerful to influence elections, and narrowed the political polarization that is poisoning our political environment.
Economists must come up with a solution to the inequality problem. That doesn’t mean taking a position on whether a particular redistribution, education, or other policy to reduce inequality is good or bad. No matter what we do, there will be winners and losers, and economists can help to determine the most effective, least distortive means of accomplishing the goal of a more equal society, both in terms of opportunity and outcomes, without taking a position on which alternative to pursue.
Economists have been reluctant to engage with these politically charged issues. Any solution that is suggested will be attacked as politically motivated by one side or the other, so it was easiest to avoid the questions altogether. But how to reduce inequality in the least costly way is a question that will be asked with more and more urgency if inequality continues to increase, as it appears it will, and economists should be ready to give the answer.Here is a list of what you can download for Nintendo systems today in North America. Does anything catch your fancy?
Night of the Living Carrots Part 1 – DreamWorks Animation
B.O.B. and the gang from Monsters vs. Aliens come together on Halloween to save their town from a takeover by zombie carrots. Will B.O.B. be able to overcome his fears to save the day?
(For Nintendo 3DS™)
Catrap
Catboy and Catgirl have been trapped in an underground labyrinth that’s crawling with monsters. In order to reverse the curse and return to their human form, they must solve all 100 puzzles set out before them.
(For Nintendo 3DS)
101-in-1 Explosive Megamix
Discover 101 mind-blowing mini-games for all tastes. Whether you like puzzle games, sports games or fast-paced arcade action, you’ll definitely find something to suit you. Jump in and enjoy many hours of fun.
(For Wii™)
Furry Legends (Nintendo eShop / Nintendo DSiWare™)
1001 Blockbusters (Nintendo eShop / Nintendo DSiWare)
FAST: Racing League (demo version) (WiiWare™)Former Obama administration ethics lawyer Norman Eisen said Wednesday that he and the former ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush see Ivanka Trump's role as an adviser to President Trump as a violation of nepotism laws.
"My view... is that the nepotism statute does apply to the White House," Eisen said on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" of the announcement that Ivanka Trump would receive an official role in the Trump administration. "For decades the Justice Department held yes, the nepotism statute applies to the White House."
Eisen conceded that "reasonable minds can disagree" on whether the statute should apply.
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"President Trump got an opinion from the Justice Department that the nepotism statute doesn't apply to his White House," Eisen continued. "We don't agree with that opinion."
Earlier Wednesday, it was reported that Ivanka Trump would be an official government employee and serve in the White House as an unpaid senior adviser to her father. She currently has a West Wing office but initially said she’d work with in her father’s administration in an informal advising capacity.
She appears to have changed her plans after critics pointed out that an informal role would allow her to avoid certain ethics rules and would require disclosures that come with serving in the government.
The role has caused some critics to raise the possibility that the role is in violation of the nepotism law passed in 1967, which says no public official, from the president down to a low-level manager at a federal agency, may hire or promote a relative.Advertisement
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26 years after the famous Kiranjeet Ahluwalia case in the UK, French President François Hollande granted a complete pardon to Jacqueline Sauvage, a French woman convicted for murdering her husband. The French President’s decision was well against the will of the judges of the convicting court. There was a strong public opinion in favor of Sauvage’s release which prompted him to grant the pardon.
The story of abuse
As alleged by the woman, her husband (Norbert Marot) abused her continuously and violently for 47 years. She was hospitalized multiple times as a result of the abuse. 2 of her 3 daughters were sexually abused, and her son faced violent abuse as well. On the 9th of September in 2012, her son hanged himself.
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This prompted Sauvage to kill her husband the very next day. Ideally, the punishment for murder is up to life imprisonment in France, but since it was done in the heat of the moment, she was sentenced to prison for 10 years.
Public reaction, judicial reaction, and the President’s reaction
The woman’s daughters have been fighting for her release since she was jailed in 2014. Their argument is that their mother was a victim of abuse throughout the marriage and they were witness to, and victim of the same. Their concern gathered public support and the petition for her release got 434,000 signatures.
This prompted the French President to issue a partial pardon for Sauvage. However, it was rejected by the court twice.
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The court mentioned that parole was rejected because she did not show any remorse for the act. They said that her release "would risk maintaining her in the position of victim."
"I've decided to grant Jacqueline Sauvage a pardon of the rest of her sentence. This pardon puts an immediate end to her detention," tweeted Hollande.
J'ai décidé d'accorder à Jacqueline Sauvage une remise gracieuse du reliquat de sa peine. Cette grâce met fin immédiatement à sa détention. — François Hollande (@fhollande) December 28, 2016
As far as my personal opinion on the case is concerned, I believe the woman, or any woman in general should use the domestic violence act for such cases. Perhaps 2 lives could be saved that way.
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Furthermore, pardoning this Crime was a result of the social response. Would the court consider all cases in the same manner? I believe not. Thankfully, this is not a judgement like the Kiranjeet Ahluwalia case, and might be considered an exception.While he’s widely recognized by comics aficionados as the author of such critically acclaimed hit series as Planetary, Transmetropolitan and Astonishing X-Men, Warren Ellis is perhaps best known by the general public as the co-creator of RED, a three-issue comic mini-series that saw life as a rather successful film starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich.
But there’s another side to his work, one which saw expression with the recent release of Gun Machine.
Gun Machine, like its predecessor, Crooked Little Vein, is a prose novel that takes place in the US. It also focuses on some of the lesser-known, and often quite strange, aspects of this modern world.
But, unlike Crooked Little Vein—which essentially served as the travelogue of a private investigator traversing the American cultural underbelly in search of the only copy of a second, secret Constitution inscribed on parchment made from the skin of an extraterrestrial—Gun Machine is a tightly wrapped, highly compact police procedural which details the efforts of a New York City detective to apprehend a terribly efficient, prolific and all-but-invisible killer over the course of three days.
Ellis recently took a few moments to talk about the differences between writing comics and prose novels, why he’s chosen to work in both fields, and the reason he doesn’t concern himself with what readers will take from his work. And, as is typical of his work, the results are both engaging and illuminating.
Congratulations on the well-deserved positive reception and strong sales for Gun Machine. How gratifying—and how much of a relief—is learning all that, especially after having to wait so long for the book to hit the shelves? I ask because I imagine it might still take a bit of getting used to the longer prose publishing cycle, after years of working in comics with their much faster turnaround times.
It’s always a little strange, not least because the book was completed a full year before publication. It comes, somehow, as a relief. Of course, a year later, you can see all the things that are wrong with the book!
One of the things that really struck me about this particular book, literally from the first sentence, was a strong sense of place as a living, breathing thing, a historical organism composed of both natural and man-made artifacts and creatures.
Assuming I’m not overreaching here, I was wondering how important was that sense of a lived-in and living place—not only as a thematic device, but using New York City as another character important to the proceedings—to what you were trying to accomplish with Gun Machine?
Well, it was necessary to the kind of story I wanted to write. I was after that sense of standing on the surface of deep time, and history reaching up into the present world. Of American cities, I thought that could be done most successfully with New York
If memory serves, in the past you’ve identified yourself as primarily a science fiction writer. So, has that changed in the intervening years, or is this book really speculative fiction masquerading as a present day police procedural/thriller, something akin to what William Gibson has been doing of late?
Primarily but not solely a science fiction writer. I’ve been writing crime in comics since the '90s. So this comes, perhaps, from that other side of me.
How different is working in prose from working on comics for you? Do you have to metaphorically, or even literally, throw a switch in your brain, or is it all pretty much the same for you just writing?
No, there are gears to change. Remember, what you see in a comic is just the visible part of the writing. Beneath that, I’m describing every panel on every page in enough detail for the artist to understand what I’m looking for. In a book, however, I’m trying to evoke the image, so that it lives in the reader’s mind—which, perhaps counter-intuitively, requires less specific detail. Broad strokes, texture and atmosphere as opposed to blueprint specificity. So that’s a shift. Also, I don’t have to think about word counts or page counts—no need to sculpt dialogue down so that it doesn’t drown a picture, nor to worry about finding a break every 20 pages. That was nice.
I’ve heard it said by various authors that you never learn how to write novels—you just learn how to write the one you’re presently working on, and then you have to rediscover how to do it when you begin the next book. So, how true might that be for you as a novelist and how true would it be when you’re writing comics, as opposed to prose?
I find it to be absolutely true in prose novels. In comics, you tend to have to determine at least some of the tools, and something of the structure, in advance, not least because it’s a serialized form and you can’t go back and rewrite episodes that your publisher sold to customers a year earlier. The only serious opposition to that, in my back catalog, is probably Freakangels, which was mostly improvised—but, again, with the exception of the page structures.
Unless I’m mistaken, you’ve already begun hammering away at the next novel. So, what does that mean for your future efforts in comics? Do you see a day when you’ll become primarily a prose stylist, or can your comics fans rest assured that you’ll not abandon working in that medium?
Well, I didn’t stop writing comics after Crooked Little Vein, or after any of the things I’ve done in other media. I tend to identify as just a writer. I don’t see a time when I’m not working in the graphic novel field somehow, just like I don’t see a time where I’m not doing opinion journalism.
What do you hope that readers get from Gun Machine? How about your work, in general? Is it all about providing them with a few precious hours of escapism and entertainment, or is there more on offer for those who want to look for it?
You can’t do that. Once you’ve written the book and seen it released, it’s in the hands of the reader, and you can’t control either what they bring to the book or what they take away from it. You can’t really interfere with a reader who came away saying “well, this is an escapism” by pointing at bits and claiming how incredibly deep and important and special they are. It’s out in the world, and belongs to the people who read it.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the United States wants to dominate the world, adding that attempts by the West to isolate Russia over the crisis in Ukraine would not produce results.
Lavrov made the remarks on Wednesday at a press conference in Moscow, a day after US President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech.
“The address delivered by President Obama yesterday proves that the [US] philosophy has only one central piece - we are No.1 and everyone else has to admit it,” said Lavrov.
The Russian minister also described Washington’s foreign policy as “aggressive” and “outdated.”
“This [attitude] is a bit old-fashioned, it fails to meet present-day realities and demonstrates that the United States actually wants to dominate the world rather than be the first amongst equals,” added Lavrov, noting, “This too shall pass.”
Ukraine Crisis
Lavrov said the West’s attempts to freeze out Russia over the Ukraine crisis would not be effective, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin had declared that “Russia will never resort to self-isolation.”
The Russian minister once again rejected Kiev’s and the West’s allegations a Russian military presence in the warn-torn region, calling on them to provide proof for such claims.
In addition, Lavrov said Moscow is determined to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine and that he would seek an immediate ceasefire between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia forces at the talks due to be held in the German capital, Berlin, later on Wednesday with his counterparts from Ukraine, Germany and France.
The top Russian diplomat said pro-Russia forces have already agreed to withdraw heavy artillery from Ukraine’s restive eastern regions and added, “Now the Ukrainian authorities should do their bit.”
The two mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine have been the scene of deadly clashes between pro-Russia protesters and the Ukrainian army since Kiev’s military operation started in mid-April in a bid to crush the protests.
According to the latest figures released by the United Nations, around 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
CAH/HJLThe UK government has launched a public consultation on the EU's proposals to ban Netflix-style geo-blocking. The government says it wants its citizens to be able to access legally purchased content wherever they travel in the European Union and is now seeking input from copyright owners, ISPs and consumers.
During the past several days the issue of content geo-blocking has become a global hot potato after Netflix announced renewed efforts to thwart users who attempt to bypass its content-locking mechanisms.
Starting immediately, subscribers who attempt to access the Netflix service with a VPN or proxy in order to gain access to libraries in other regions will face additional roadblocks. The measures have been widely criticized by both VPN companies and consumers.
But while this kind of effort to protect copyright holders and licensing agreements is probably legal now, over in Europe a conflicting scenario is playing out via the European Commission.
Following the adoption last March of a new Digital Single Market Strategy which aims to improve consumer access to digital services and goods, the Commission presented plans to abolish geo-blocking and filtering restrictions across EU member states.
Describing geo-blocking as a “discriminatory practice used for commercial reasons” the Commission said that users should be allowed to access digital content services like Netflix all across Europe, no matter where they are.
In response to the Commission’s proposals the UK government has just launched a public consultation, aiming to gauge the public’s response to the idea of a geo-blocking ban in advance of any final decision by the EU.
“The European Commission has recently published draft legislation that is intended to ensure that all digital services are portable within the European Union,” the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) announced.
“This would mean that a person who lives in the UK, and who subscribes to a digital content service there, would be able to be confident they can continue to access that service when they are elsewhere in the EU, provided they have the right level of internet connection.”
The UK government itself is strongly in favor of the EU’s proposals and believes that both consumers and content providers will benefit from legislative change.
“The Government supports cross-border portability, and the Prime Minister welcomed these proposals on the day of their launch. We will now be working with other European partners to negotiate the detail of the Regulations so that they deliver the best outcome for businesses and consumers,” the IPO writes.
The proposals suggest changes to copyright law aimed at smoothing the way for providers such as Netflix to make subscriptions available in other EU countries by allowing them to apply the laws of the subscriber’s home territory.
“It is currently difficult to provide portability for some types of content because of territorial copyright agreements which govern where services can be accessed,” the IPO notes.
The government says that in advance of negotiations on the text between EU Members States it is seeking views from both businesses and consumers on the costs and benefits of the proposals, alongside suggestions of how the language of the legislation could be improved.
“In particular, we are seeking views from service providers, rights holder organizations, and consumers, in order to better understand how the proposals will affect them,” the IPO says.
The aim is to introduce content portability sometime in 2017 but those interested in contributing to the process need to be quick. The government’s consultation is effective immediately and will end on February 12, 2016.
Those interested in getting their voices heard can find further details here.One wild and crazy winemaker UNCORKED: Dan Aykroyd
Actor, Dan Aykroyd, with his Dan Aykroyd wine in Santa Rosa, Calif., on September 17, 2008. Actor, Dan Aykroyd, with his Dan Aykroyd wine in Santa Rosa, Calif., on September 17, 2008. Photo: Craig Lee, The Chronicle Photo: Craig Lee, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close One wild and crazy winemaker 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
So what's the deal with so many celebrities going into the wine biz?
Dan Aykroyd, the former "Saturday Night Live" comedian and actor, is just about to release his 2007 Russian River Valley Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon - his first California wine project. He teamed up with DeLoach Vineyards' winemaking team and has added the Sonoma County wines to his Discovery Series. He plans to put the bottles on California shelves by Christmas.
"I want it to jump around a little like a Mexican jumping bean in the center of your tongue," says Aykroyd, who worked hand in hand with the winery in producing the varietals.
But this is not the funnyman's first foray into the liquor cabinet. In 2007 he launched the Discovery Series in Canada, which includes Chardonnay, Cabernet Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Shiraz and ice wine made with grapes from Niagara. He's also an investor in Diamond Estates Wines & Spirits, a Canadian distribution company.
Aykroyd, a native of Canada, was one of the original members of the "Saturday Night Live" cast. The writer-comedian launched to fame with such recurring roles as Fred Garvin, male prostitute; one of the two "wild and crazy guys"; and a newscaster on the "Weekend Update" with Jane Curtain - it's where he said his famous line, "Jane, you ignorant slut."
Later he went on to star in such blockbusters as "The Blues Brothers," "Trading Places" and "Ghostbusters."
Aykroyd lives in Los Angeles, where he continues to work on his syndicated House of Blues radio show, which has been going for 16 years. He says between the show and his other business ventures, he doesn't have time to do movies anymore. But wine is a whole different story.
Q:What got you interested in wine?
A: My wine story starts at a purple Jesus party. It's where we mixed Manischewitz and Mogan David together and the next morning woke up praying to Jesus.
Actually, it was while we were filming the movie "The Blues Brothers." Band member Steve Cropper brought me up to his house on Mulholland Drive, where he had a huge cellar and turned me on to the big fat red wines.
Q:What was the first great wine you remember having?
A: It was up at Steve's, a French Chateau Brane-Cantenac red.
Q:What wine do you think people don't drink enough?
A: I think the Cabs have been left behind by the Pinots. I like Fumé Blancs and unoaked Chardonnays.
Q:If you were on death row and the warden let you have one glass of wine, what would it be?
A: First I would have a glass of nice Chardonnay with an iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese dressing. Then I would move on to a T-bone steak, green peas, mashed potatoes and my own Cabernet.
Q:You only get one glass. There's a limit on death row.
A: They would do pairings for me in prison. The warden and I are close. I killed all the child molesters.
Q:OK then, what else?
A: For dessert, black forest cake with my ice |
was amazing as the band pumped the tune with passionate musicianship, excellent vocals in a roustabout manner. The precision, effortless timing and progressiveness of all that embodies YES; evolved the crowd into a standing ovation!
Don’t miss the legendary Prog-Rock band, YES; when they visit a City near you!
PROGNATION
ProgNation slider photos: © 2016 Jim Carver / The Rust Belt Chronicles.
After the YES show, I took the short stroll to the Hard Rock Café to see some of the Cleveland progressive rock band, ProgNation. Luckily, I caught most of their set! Ironically, ProgNation was formed after the latest snuff of YES to be inducted into the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame. Fittingly enough, the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park booked the band, resulting in a Prog lover’s night of total music paradise!
ProgNation performed an array of Classic Rock tunes from YES, Genesis, ELP, King Crimzon and other progressive-rock bands. The musicianship is excellent as they deliver fantastic renditions of epic material. I love how they inject a few bars of tunes such as Iron Butterfly’s, “In-A-Godda-Davida” and Cream’s, “Sunshine of Your Love” into a medley. Seriousely, when was the last time you heard those tunes played live?
Tony Cuda marveled on the bass guitar and his brother, Chris Cuda were totally amazing! The jazz cats are well-known for their musical ability in the North Coast for good reason. Drummer, Marty Zlocki (a member of Time Traveler too) handles the percussion with flair as he relegates the difficult time signatures like a run through the park! Vocalist, Steve Kolesar (ex-Champion) was astute with his vocal delivery. Steve’s upper register does justice to all the bands various material. The newest member of the band, Bruce Kowalski (ex-Sweatleaf, Victory Highway) performed his keyboard wizardry like a man on a mission! The layered tones, synths and moog sounds resonated throughout the Café!
Don’t miss ProgNation when they perform near you.
On my way out the door, I picked-up an order of Steak Fajitas from the Hard Rock Café. They were delicious! I recommend the menu at the Hard Rock Café on your next visit or anyone of their other fine dining experiences!MEDINA, Ohio — City officials have ended their discussions with the Masons to buy the historic Masonic Temple across the street from City Hall and Medina Municipal Court.
After council set aside $250,000 in November to buy the temple and theater at 141 W. Liberty Street, the local Mason leadership changed. The proposal the new leaders sent to the city included "numerous changes, including an increase in price," Mayor Dennis Hanwell said.
"We felt we had made our last, best offer. All seven members of council felt the offer was a completed deal and was fairly negotiated for nearly a year. As a result of the change in contract and leadership, council voted Jan. 13 to repeal the ordinance authorizing the purchase."
Two leaders of the local Masons did not respond to requests for comment.
Under the previous contract, the city had six months to analyze the building before finalizing the purchase.
"We would have looked at either renovating it for a new municipal court, tearing it down to build a new courthouse or doing something in between to preserve some of the historical features, like the facade," Hanwell said.
The 23,200-square-foot building -- 10,000 square feet larger than the courthouse -- was constructed in stages between 1914 and 1949 and is on the National Historic Registry.
It is still used periodically by the Masons and other groups that rent it. The city last took a look at it in 2011, when some asbestos was found.
The land and building are valued at $368,470, according to the county auditor. It was valued at nearly $382,000 last year.state house mug by julie.JPG
(Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)
A three-judge federal court panel has blocked Alabama from using in next year's elections 12 legislative districts challenged as unconstitutional by black political groups.
The districts are part of the district map drawn and approved by the Republican-led Alabama Legislature after the 2010 Census and were used in the 2014 election.
The judges ruled for the plaintiffs on 12 of the 36 districts in dispute and enjoined the state from using those district lines again.
The court ruled in favor of the state on the other 24 districts that were challenged.
All 140 seats in the Alabama Legislature will be up for election next year.
One of the three judges, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, issued a separate order dissenting, in part, from the other two judges, Circuit Judge Bill Pryor and Chief District Judge Keith Watkins.
Thompson agreed on the 12 districts that were found unconstitutional but also found that 12 of the other 24 were unconstitutional.
In the main opinion today, Pryor wrote that lawmakers faced a difficult job in balancing the requirement not to reduce the number of districts where a majority of voters are black with the prohibition against making race the primary factor in drawing the lines.
The state Constitution requires the Legislature to redraw legislative districts after every 10-year census.
Republicans won a majority in the Legislature in 2010 for the first time since Reconstruction and approved a new district plan in 2012.
The plan did not reduce the number of districts with a majority of black voters.
But the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, Alabama Democratic Conference and others sued, claiming that the plan excessively packed black voters into majority black districts, reducing their influence in other districts.
Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, called today's ruling a victory for the caucus.
"We fought it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court," Knight said.
Joe Reed, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, who has been involved in redistricting cases since the 1970s, said today's decision was a decisive win for the ADC and the other plaintiffs.
"It's not a partial victory," Reed said. "It's a 100 percent victory."
The three-judge district court had ruled in favor of the state in 2013, but the U.S. Supreme vacated that ruling in 2015 and sent the case back to the district court, which issued its new decision today.
James Blacksher, an attorney for the Alabama Association of Black County Officials, a plaintiff in the case, said the ruling will affect many more than the 12 districts because of the ripple effect.
"They've got to go about the whole redistricting process in a different way," Blacksher said.
Alabama lawmaker wants to repeal pistol permit requirement Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa said people should not need a permit to carry a concealed handgun.
Blacksher said the court found that the Legislature relied too heavily on race in drawing the district lines. Blacksher said the court opinion, hundreds of pages long, is complex. One factor, he said, is that the Legislature did not sufficiently incorporate county lines into setting the district boundaries.
Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, issued a statement supporting today's decision. His district is one of those found unconstitutional.
"I, along with my Democratic colleagues, look forward to participating in the new redistricting process to ensure that constitutional lines are drawn and our citizens' right to our participatory democracy is restored," Ross said.
Defendants said they are still reviewing the ruling but saw some positive aspects to it.
Sen. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, who co-chaired the Legislature's redistricting committee, said it was a relief that the court did not order special elections ahead of the scheduled 2018 elections.
"That takes away a lot of angst," McClendon said.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said his office is going over the decision.
"While we are still reviewing the 627-page ruling, we are pleased that the Court upheld the constitutionality of two-thirds of the state legislative districts under challenge," Strange said in a statement. "We will determine the next steps in consultation with the Legislative leadership and the Governor."
Gov. Robert Bentley's legal team is reviewing the ruling and will brief the governor at a later time, said Yasamie August, communications director for Bentley.
Alabama House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, issued a statement praising the ruling.
"Today's ruling highlights the need to take the politics out of drawing legislative districts and instead, rely on an independent, non-partisan commission," Ford said. "We look forward to working with the leadership to quickly solve this issue so that the 2018 elections take place without controversy or conflict."
The court enjoined the states from using:
Senate District 20 in Jefferson County, represented by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham.
Senate District 26 in Montgomery County, represented by Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery.
Senate District 28 in Barbour, Bullock, Henry, Houston, Lee, Macon and Russell counties, represented by Sen. Billy Beasley, D-Clayton.
House District 32 in Calhoun and Talladega counties, represented by Rep. Barbara Boyd, D-Anniston.
House District 53 in Madison County, represented by Rep. Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville.
House District 54 in Jefferson County, represented by Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham.
House District 70 in Tuscaloosa County, represented by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa.
House District 71 in Choctaw, Greene, Marengo, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa counties, represented by Rep. A.J. McCampbell, D-Livingston.
House District 77 in Montgomery County, represented by Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery.
House District 82 in Lee, Macon and Tallapoosa counties, represented by Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee.
House District 85 in Henry and Houston counties, represented by Rep. Dexter Grimsley, D-Newville.
House District 99 in Mobile County, represented by Rep. James Buskey, D-Mobile.
The court's majority opinion, written by Pryor, says the Legislature faced a difficult task in 2012.
The 14th Amendment requires legislative districts to include roughly the same number of people and prohibits racial gerrymandering, Pryor wrote.
Also, the Voting Rights Act prohibits the state from drawing district lines that negatively affect the ability of black voters to elect candidates of their choice.
"In other words, the legislature had to draw districts of roughly equal population that were conscious enough of race to comply with the Voting Rights Act, but not so conscious of race that they violated the Fourteenth Amendment," Pryor wrote.
In drawing the 2012 plan, the Legislature used the same criteria used in previous plans with one exception, Pryor wrote.
The Democrat-controlled Legislature, in drawing a plan in 2001, had allowed districts to vary in population by plus or minus 5 percent.
According to the 2010 Census, all 34 of the majority black districts from the 2001 plan were underpopulated, most of them by more than 5 percent.
The Republicans, in drawing their plan, narrowed the allowed deviation among districts to plus or minus 1 percent.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Corrected at 2:17 p.m. on Jan. 21 to give correct title for Sen. Quinton Ross.'While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president,' says President Rodrigo Duterte
Published 12:50 PM, September 06, 2016
VIENTIANE, Laos – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday, September 6, he regrets the "strong comments" he made that he said came across as a "personal attack" against US President Barack Obama.
"While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," a statement released by Duterte said.
The controversial remarks, made by the Philippine leader Monday, September 5, prior to his departure for the ASEAN Summit in Laos, led to the cancellation of a meeting between the two leaders. (READ: TRANSCRIPT: Duterte on Obama)
"The meeting between the United States and the Philippines has been mutually agreed upon to be moved to a later date," Duterte said in a statement.
Duterte also blamed media reports for his "strong comments" against Obama over extrajudicial killings.
"President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would lecture him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern. He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," said Palace Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, reading from the statement.
"Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the US with which we have had a long-standing partnership," the statement said.
"We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," it ended. – Paterno Esmaquel II with reports from Agence France-Presse/ Rappler.comEarlier this evening, Miss Fortune revealed through their official Facebook page that frontman Mikey Sawyer had been arrested on charges of domestic assault, therefore forcing the band to drop off the impending Get Real Tour, which is where they would've shared the stage with the Word Alive the Color Morale, Our Last Night and the Dead Rabbitts.
Not long after releasing their statement, Ash Avildsen, CEO of Sumerian Records, took to the label's Facebook page to disclose that the band are no longer on the label, saying, “We do not condone domestic violence, nor would we ever support an artist that does.”
Following this, the band posted yet another comment on Facebook, which confirmed Sawyer's arrest.
You can read all of what's been said below. Be sure to let us know what you think.
Miss Fortune released their debut full-length album, A Spark To Believe, earlier this year through Sumerian.
Miss Fortune:
Dear fans and friends alike, we are sad and sorry to announce that we will no longer be performing on the Get Real Tour with The Word Alive and others. Sometimes things are just out of our control. We love you all and hope we can see you again. We still encourage you to go out and see The Word Alive and the other bands on the tour.
Sumerian Records:
Sumerian Records has dropped Miss Fortune. We do not condone domestic violence, nor would we ever support an artist that does.
Miss Fortune:Do people exist to serve the economy or does the economy exist to serve people?
This question came to me as the left side of my brain was reading Thomas Piketty’s important new book Capital in the 21st Century while the right side of my brain watched the news.
There was an item about the B.C. government chopping money from university arts’ programs to fund apprenticeships because it would produce more taxpayers, which would be good for the economy, followed by a commercial touting the Northern Gateway pipeline, which also would be good the economy. As my right brain soaked in the TV images my left brain was digesting statistics that demonstrated conclusively most wealth is owned by a few people and this inequality is growing.
Do people exist to serve the economy or does the economy exist to serve people?
When the two sides of my brain began acting together I realized this is not merely a rhetorical question. Rather, even raising the issue is subversive, or at least impertinent to those who maintain the status quo.
At its most basic level the economy is the sum total of the things people do to provide themselves food, shelter and other things that enhance life, such as recreation, health care, entertainment and art. So, the answer to our question should be clear-cut: The point of an economy is to serve people.
But the reality for most of us is exactly the opposite.
We are told the economy demands this or that as if it were some sort of primitive deity to be appeased.
Raising the minimum wage is bad for the economy. Expanding the tar sands and building pipelines to ship bitumen around the world is good. Public daycare or increased pensions are not affordable. Mass layoffs and wage rollbacks are necessary. But consume anyways (the more disposable the better), because that’s what makes the economy go round and round.
Politicians, corporate executives and the media all send us the message that our lives only attain meaning insofar as we contribute to the economy as consumers or taxpayers.
Rather than serving us, “the economy” has become an excuse to treat many people badly, to create unhealthy products, to damage our environment, to justify exploitation, to steal from other people and even to wage war.
Why?
The primary reason is that too much of the economy is run by and for a small minority of people. As Picketty’s statistics show, actual existing capitalism (as opposed to the phoney idealized system taught in school) concentrates ownership of wealth in the hands of a few people. This wealth produces both income and power, so much of which has gone to the richest 1% that any effective democracy is threatened.
Many of us feel powerless in the face of this inequality. Our unions have been undermined and delegitimized. The system tells us our only valid participation in the economy is as consumers, but getting to choose between Coke and Pepsi hardly inspires a sense of engagement.
We certainly get no vote in directing the economy, unless we are shareholders, and in that realm decisions are made by one-dollar-one vote, so billionaires hold sway. Moreover, for at least the past 30 years, the prevailing wisdom has been that governments are incompetent and therefore must keep their hands off the economy. We are told any sort of democratic control is bad because it creates distortions in the natural working of the system, as if there was some divine order that was being interfered with.
But it is not god’s will that is being challenged when democratic control is asserted. Rather it is the will of the 1% who currently own a vast proportion of the economy and direct it (and us) in their self-interest. There are no mysterious natural forces deciding what gets built, what gets shut down, who loses their jobs, how much to invest in green energy versus the tar sands; there are only very wealthy people and the managers who work for them.
Given that, it is really no surprise that the economy seldom serves the interests of the majority — it serves other masters. The economy follows the orders of the people who own it. And it gives the biggest rewards to the ones among them who are the greediest, the most willing to grab huge profits for themselves while making the rest of us pay for the pollution, ill health and other forms of destruction their industry causes. Then they spend some of those vast profits to buy politicians, think tanks and media pundits who work to convince us that this form of minority rule is good for us — the natural order — and trying to create a better system is hopeless.
But what if, despite all that, we demanded an economy that served all of us? What would we do?
Piketty argues for a tax on wealth and that might be a good starting point, but if we really want to fix this we must go further. When the problem is too much power in the hands of a few the obvious solution is to distribute that power more widely.
We should take away control of the economy from the greedy minority and share it amongst all of us. A good name for such a system is economic democracy.
The exact form such a system might take would probably depend on a country’s history, culture and level of development. But essential elements would be: one-person-one-vote instead of one-dollar-one-vote decision making in all aspects of the economy; workplace democracy instead of master-servant relations and community control instead of corporate control.
If we want an economy that serves all people, we must create a system of democratic governance to ensure that happens.Harrison Whitehead (Photo: Rockland County Police)
Nyack man gets 9 1/2 years for gang assault
A 26-year-old Central Nyack man with a previous assault conviction faces spending 9 1/2 years in state prison for brutally beating another man with others in Nyack.
Harrison Whitehead punched another man in the face as the victim spoke with a woman and two of her friends in April. Six others then joined in the beat-down.
The victim suffered a broken jaw, requiring surgery and seven weeks of recuperation, Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said. Senior Assistant District Attorney Janine Kovacs and Assistant District Attorney Michael Dugandzic prosecuted the case.
Supreme Court Justice William Kelly sentenced Whitehead as a repeat violent felony offender for second-degree gang assault. The sentence included five years post-release supervision.
Whitehead had second-degree assault conviction from January 2008.
Whitehead was 19 when he assaulted an off-duty New York City police officer with a glass bottle while another person punched the officer on Main Street in Nyack. The off-duty officer required 22 stitches.
Days Inn worker gets prison for burglary
Hector Ixcopal was sentenced Wednesday State Supreme Court Justice William A. Kelly to 1 to 3 years in state prison for third-degree burglary.
Ixcopal, 39, of 367 W. Route 59 in Nanuet entered a room at the Day's Inn in Nanuet on Jan. 27 and made sexual contact with a woman sleeping on a bed, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said in a news release. He was a maintenance worker and lived at the hotel with a master key to all rooms.
Homeless man gets 7 years for robbery attempt
Ignacio A. Molina, 28, who is homeless, was sentenced Wednesday by New York State Supreme Court Justice William A. Kelly to seven years in state prison and five years post release supervision after pleading guilty to second-degree attempted robbery.
District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe stated that on Feb. 18 at 1:15 a.m. Molina grabbed a person's cell phone from his hands at a bus shelter on Route 202 in Garnerville. The man resisted and Molina drew a knife.
Sloatsburg man gets a year for burglary try
NEWSLETTERS Get the Breaking News newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-888-426-6388. Delivery: Varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters
Jonathan Burrell, 33, of 9 Birch Road, Sloatsburg, was sentenced to a year in the county jail by County Court Charles Apotheker on Monday after pleading guilty to third-degree attempted burglary.
District Attorney, Thomas P. Zugibe stated that between Aug. 16, 2013 and Aug. 17, 2013, in Suffern, Burrell defendant entered a business with the intent to commit a larceny.
Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/VpsSmEThe Alchemy of IoT
And everything you ever need to know about the Internet of Things
Shirad Salaheddine Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 15, 2016
The practice of alchemy has captured the imagination of people for thousands of years. Even though most of its practitioners were interested in the transformation of lead into gold, the real transformation at the foundation of alchemy was a spiritual one.
The transformation IoT promises is one that makes technology seamless and transparent to the point of becoming almost invisible. This is, for me, the alchemy of our days.
How can you capture this somewhat elusive spirit of transformation, creation and combination when you’re talking about the Internet of Things? What is the transmutation that we can aspire to, what is the lead we’re starting with and what is the gold that we’re trying to achieve?
We need to start by understanding what the Internet of Things is. Because everyone knows what the internet is, let’s start by understanding what these Things are, then.
Thing 1
Take your fridge as an example. (Before you roll your eyes and think, “Oh, no! Not the magic fridge analogy again” bear with me here. This is not your run-of-the-mill, “it’ll sense when it’s empty and send you a text” example.) Its main purpose is to maintain food and liquids fresh for longer periods of time, so they don’t spoil. To make it smarter, you add a temperature sensor and some computing power — a microcontroller, for instance, which is a tiny computer, an embedded system — as well as a small display to check the temperature.
But that would only be helpful if you were right in front of it. So, if you want to check the temperature remotely you need a little extra. You add connectivity and, because you’re crafty like that, you also build a mobile app that queries the embedded system.
With this system set up, you can check whether you have the ingredients needed to create the home-cooked meal that will sweep your date off his or her feet… all the way from the grocery store, in real time. The application you built is smart enough to query the fridge for what’s available and what’s missing; you can also query for quantities and expiration dates!
Your system can be even smarter and enhanced so it’s able to suggest not only what to buy, but where. This is done because it ponders the best bang for the buck and location — closer to home, or to where you currently are, checking for competitive prices and parsing reviews for quality. (See, I told you this would be different.)
… And Thing 2
You also know that the mood wouldn’t be right without the appropriate temperature. Because you’re an eco-conscious human being and don’t like wasting energy, you have your system set. It’ll start adjusting room temperature as it detects you’re driving back home, by reading the GPS coordinates on your smartphone and checking traffic for your estimated time of arrival.
As you’re a truly ingenious person, you have everything set up and thought out. You’re planning to cook something spicy, so you’ll need a lower temperature after your meal. The application calculates that and, accordingly, lowers your house temperature seamlessly, because it studied and registered that time you ate those spicy peppers and dropped the temp by 4 degrees.
Wait… There’s a Thing 3, Too?
In this scenario, the fridge, the heater, and the smartphone are the Things. These things communicate with each other and us over the Internet to share their information and act upon it.
In many cases, though, IoT operates in a closed loop, such as inside a business. In that case, it is referred to as the Intranet of Things. When that intranet is accessed from outside by a selected group, it is referred to as the Extranet of Things. But when the whole system becomes part of the global World Wide Web, that’s then what we call the Internet of Things.
So in its simplest form, IoT is a set of interconnected devices (our Things) with a unique ID (for example, an IP address), that collect and share information with each other over a network or applications.
True Transmutation (with Some Buzzwords Thrown In)
When technology is so pervasive that it seemingly disappears, when it achieves all those things I mentioned before transparently and seamlessly, with minimal interaction from your part… That’s when we will achieve the Alchemy of IoT. The true transmutation from a world of visible and connected objects to a Smart and (Almost) Invisible World of Autonomous Interconnected Things.
How can you achieve that? With loads and loads of parsed, learned and predicted data — hence the buzzword big data. Those algorithms are processed by artificial intelligence, with machine learning and its implementations that are all the rage these days, like deep learning and the establishment of neural networks. And to interact with those systems, we have the many developments in the realm of natural language processing, too. It’s not a coincidence that giants like Google are open-sourcing their natural language parsers.
It’s all happening now, right before our eyes. Reality is finally catching up with science fiction. That means we need to look even further ahead, into the future. But to do that, we need to understand the path that led us here. We need to understand what IoT is all about right now and why it makes sense; and then we can talk about all the cool things we’re envisioning for the future!
Shirad Salaheddine | Architecture Expert at OutSystems
This is the first part of a set of articles dedicated to understanding the Internet of Things and, hopefully, set a way forward. My name is Shirad Salaheddine, and I am a certified mad scientist tinkerer and dreamer, an Architect Expert at OutSystems who just so happens to work with a Platform that can empower IoT to achieve the kind of transformation people could only dream of before.
Coming soon:
Part II — History and Landscape of IoT
Part III — IoT 101 and its 404s (the missing bits and bytes)
Part IV — A Look Into the Future (IoT with OutSystems)Mayor Jim Watson renewed his longstanding opposition to a safe injection site Tuesday, setting the stage for a protracted political battle over the question of how best to help local drug addicts.
The mayor made it clear to reporters that his views on the controversial harm-reduction practice have not evolved in the six years since he first outlined them.
“In the last election campaign and the one before that, I was very consistent: I believe the scarce dollars we do have should be going to treatment of people who have addictions, whether they’re alcohol or drug addictions,” Watson said.
Expanding oversubscribed treatment programs is a much smarter use of tax dollars, he said, than giving addicts a place to inject their drugs under a nurse’s care.
Watson’s comments came as Police Chief Charles Bordeleau also reiterated his belief that a safe injection site will compromise public safety. Bordeleau has said that such facilities can lead to increased drug trafficking and more crime as addicts pursue cash to finance their habits.
Bordeleau said Tuesday that although a safe injection site is primarily a health care issue, police want the opportunity “to identify any potential crime and disorder issues related to its operation.”
Their statements put Watson and Bordeleau on a collision course with the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, which launched public consultations this week on its plan to develop a supervised injection service. The centre already offers detox, medical and social services to about 700 injection drug users in downtown Ottawa.
To operate a safe injection site, the centre would have to apply to the federal government for an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. That application would require a letter from the city and from the police chief.
Rob Boyd, director of the health centre’s Oasis harm reduction program, has vowed to forge ahead with the safe injection plan in the face of opposition from civic leaders.
While he appreciates the mayor’s call to expand addiction treatment, Boyd said to focus narrowly on that approach ignores the nature of injection drug use and its dire consequences.
“We really need a front end to the addictions treatment system for people who inject drugs in order to stabilize them and hopefully prepare them for a future that includes addiction treatment,” he said. “We want them, when they get there, first of all, to be alive and also to be disease free.”
Sean LeBlanc, chair of the Drug Users Advocacy League (DUAL), a harm reduction lobby group, said leaders who oppose a safe injection site ignore evidence that the facilities save lives and reduce disease. “Watson and Bordeleau are not health care experts,” said LeBlanc, whose organization represents about 300 current and former drug users in Ottawa.
LeBlanc, 43, a former injection drug user who now works for Inner City Health, said the current drug treatment regime is not working to reduce overdose deaths in Ottawa. “Nothing has changed, so we need to try something new,” he said.
According to Ottawa Public Health, overdose deaths in Ottawa have remained relatively stable at about 40 each year since 2000.
The city’s medical officer of health, Dr. Isra Levy, has yet to take a clear stand on the safe injection site proposed by the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. Ottawa Public Health has said it will review the centre’s proposal “from a health perspective.”
The estimated operating cost of the safe injection site is $250,000 to $300,000 a year — money that would have to come from the province.
Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins recently vowed to consider all new safe injection site proposals, but the government may be reluctant to fund a project opposed by civic leaders.
Watson said provincial health care dollars should go toward the expansion of the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre, and to address long wait lists for other detox programs.
“My view is that when we have limited resources in the health portfolio, that those dollars should go into treating those people who desperately want to get off that addiction of drugs or alcohol,” he said.
Watson’s stand puts him at odds with the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which has embraced the concept of harm reduction and invited applications for new safe injections sites in Canada.
In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada also endorsed the merits of harm reduction when it considered a case involving Canada’s first government-sanctioned safe injection site, the Insite facility in Vancouver. “The experiment has proven successful,” the high court concluded in its 2011 decision. “Insite has saved lives and improved health without increasing the incidence of drug use and crime in the surrounding area.”
The court accepted research evidence that showed the facility had reduced local overdose deaths by more than one-third, while increasing the number of users going to addiction treatment.
Watson said he once visited Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and found it a “very depressing, sad neighbourhood” with visible drug activity. “It’s a neighbourhood that I feel very, very sorry for because it’s a quite a sad state of affairs.”
with files from Matthew PearsonFerrari president Luca di Montezemolo has spoken out against the booing which was targeted at Sebastian Vettel at Monza and other races.
The Italian Grand Prix was the latest in a series of races where Vettel has been the focus of booing from parts of the crowd.
“Maybe it would have been better, if there had been fewer boos for Vettel: congratulations to him and to Red Bull,” said Montezemolo at the Frankfurt Motor Show, “but to our critics and those with short memories, I would like to remind them that in the past few years, Ferrari has always been at the top.”
Vettel’s team mate Mark Webber also criticised the jeering directed at his team mate, saying: “the atmosphere I was not completely a fan of, to be honest”.
Montezemolo said Ferrari were not ready to surrender their chances in the world championship: “There are still a lot of races to go and we must never give up, right to the final kilometre.”
“I think that it will take an enormous effort from everyone, but we must have a competitive car. I have said it before and I say it again: I want to thank the fans, who have shown so much affection and understanding and this must push us to do even more.”
Montezemolo added?����?�2bn (?�?�1.69bn / $2.65bn) will be invested in Ferrari’s activities over the next five years, excluding its Formula One operation.
2013 Italian Grand Prix
Image?�?� Red Bull/Gettycityscape Scene: H6 Takes Its Last Ride
It's the end of the line for the TTC's 27-year-old trains.
SHOW CAPTION ✉ Share on: 321640 Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the very last H6 (or perhaps eagerly awaiting the arrival of any train, because he doesn't realize this is the last run of the H6). GCiampini_ByeByeH6-1 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-15-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-15.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-15.jpg 1200 800 https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-h6-takes-its-last-ride/slide/gciampini_byebyeh6-1-2/ gciampini_byebyeh6-1-2 0 0 321641 People know there will soon be something to see here. GCiampini_ByeByeH6-2 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-21-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-21.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-21.jpg 1200 844 https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-h6-takes-its-last-ride/slide/gciampini_byebyeh6-2-2/ gciampini_byebyeh6-2-2 0 0 321642 Orange doors: you will never see their like again. GCiampini_ByeByeH6-3 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-31-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-31.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-31.jpg 1200 800 https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-h6-takes-its-last-ride/slide/gciampini_byebyeh6-3-2/ gciampini_byebyeh6-3-2 0 0 321643 TTC spokesperson Brad Ross, almost certainly being forced to defend the decision to end solo seating. GCiampini_ByeByeH6-4 https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-41-100x100.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-41.jpg https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GCiampini_ByeByeH6-41.jpg 1200 800 https://torontoist.com/2014/06/scene-h6-takes-its-last-ride/slide/g |
would have said to her ‘Look, have a think about this because these are very big decisions.”
Finucane: “Sure are.”
Boylan: “And they would have come back to her the next day, or later the same day, or they might be absolutely certain what they wanted to do. And then, whatever it is that they wished would be undertaken. In any other country.”
Finucane: “Again, just listening to the, to the evidence, I presume every person operates to the guidelines, you know, according to the law.”
Boylan: “We have to.”
Finucane: “Yeah, yes, yeah. But the notion of percentages.”
Boylan: “Yes.”
Finucane: “Of, will you die, won’t you die…”
Boylan: “Yes.”
Finucane: “Does that happen? A lot?”
Boylan: “No. And we cannot, as doctors, be expected to do our ward rounds with a calculator in one hand and the law in another hand. We have to be given the liberty to do what we feel is best for a patient and in this…These circumstances are the only circumstances in obstetric care where a woman’s wishes are not taken into account. Where she has no input into her care. Now if you think of any other sort of situation like that you end up talking about the Taliban. Where else are women denied an input into their care? In what other clinical situation? I can’t identify any. Women are very much involved in their care in obstetrics, in decisions to induce labour, decisions about Caesarian sections, decisions about all sorts of things. And that’s how it should be. But in this circumstances, they are not allowed. And that’s the law.”
Finucane: “Breda, how did, how did we end up here?”
Breda O’Brien: “I’m really alarmed at a couple of things that Peter has said. First of all that the law would not have allowed intervention on Monday because John Bonner, who would be universally acknowledged to be deeply conservative on this, said he would have gone, he would have been in there like a light.”
Boylan: “That’s incorrect.”
O’Brien: “Em. He’s not present to..what he..this is..”
Boylan: “I was on Prime Time with him there last night I think it was…”
O’Brien: “What he said was…”
Boylan: “Friday night. And that’s not correct what he said. He said he would wait until she was ill and then he would have no hesitation in intervening.”
O’Brien: “Can I clarify, Peter?”
Boylan: “He was very clear about that because I picked him up on that.”
O’Brien: “Can I clarify, Peter? When I said he would have been in like a light I was talking about in terms of the care. The care is the crucial issue here. I spoke to three obstetricians over the week, two in person and one by email to clarify this point.”
Finucane: “I should clarify that you yourself are a patron of Iona, just for the record.”
O’Brien: “Absolutely, sure the whole country, anyone who knows me knows where I stand on this issue. But it is important to clarify where, I think everyone should lay their cards on the table, where they stand on this. So, the point I was making was…I communicated with three obstetricians. They said, one of them said that there were glaring signs on the Sunday night which should have triggered a whole series of interventions, in terms of standard, bog standard care.”
Boylan: “On Sunday night?”
O’Brien: “That, yes.”
Boylan: “On the night she was admitted?”
O’Brien: “They said, that…one of them said to me that because she was fully dilated and…”
Boylan: “She wasn’t.”
Silence.
Boylan: “Sorry, keep going. But you’re all wrong.”
O’Brien: “Peter.”
Boylan: “I’m sorry…just keep, OK, look, I won’t interrupt you again but this is depressing.”
O’Brien: “OK. Peter. OK.”
Boylan: “This is revisionism and the rewriting of the history of what actually happened. I went through those notes forensically, I read the transcripts forensically. So, don’t, please try and revise what actually happened.”
O’Brien: “OK Peter, and then I would ask you please, don’t please try and given an interpretation of the law which is not borne out by other colleagues. Other colleagues said that if she had received the proper care. Now, it’s extraordinary how the key problem here which was the systems failure, the failure to communicate properly, the cascade of failures in a sense, it’s really noticeable that the recommendations, one said to clarify the Medical Council guidelines, all the others were about failures in the hospital. And by focusing on the fact that it’s the law and that was the problem, rather than the care was the problem, we’re actually deflecting attention away from things that will save women’s lives in the future, which is to get the care correct. And there, I, as I say, spoke to three obstetricians, all practising in Ireland, all of whom have practised in jurisdictions where termination is fully available, and they said they would have intervened earlier and they would have, they would have intervened much, much earlier. Nobody is…”
Boylan: “They would have broken the law.”
O’Brien: “They are of, they, they…”
Boylan: “And they wouldn’t…”
O’Brien: “Peter, what happened at the Oireachtas Committee hearings? Where Rhona Mahony said that there is no, there is no problem when there is a threat to the woman’s life. I think you’re…”
Boylan: “Absolutely. There is no problem when there is a threat to the woman’s life…in this case, it was too late.”
O’Brien: “I think you’re confusing a real and immediate, a real and substantial danger with an immediate danger. Sepsis is a hugely…And I have a stake in this, and there’s a bizarre thing to admit but I was a miscarrying patient in your hospital in July. So this is not academic for me.
Boylan: “It’s not academic for me either. I’ve spent my entire professional career, saving, not saving, but working to care for women…”
O’Brien: “And I totally accept that, Peter. But what I’m saying is that this, as you said, is your opinion right. I think it’s a deeply-flawed opinion, I think that the fact is…”
Boylan: “Well, that’s not surprising.”
O’Brien: “The sepsis. Once there is a sign of infection, once there is a sign of infection. And that that infection is in the womb. And there is no option but to deliver the baby and the foetal heartbeat is actually, I hate to say this…”
Boylan: “So are you saying, Breda. I just want to get this clear for listeners, that it would have been permissable to terminate the pregnancy on the Monday or the Tuesday?”
O’Brien: “If she had received the proper care and they had identified…”
Boylan: “Which is what? What is your colleagues, your obstetrician colleagues identified as proper care?”
O’Brien: “All the things that the inquiry, the inquest identified.”
Boylan: “The only thing that the inquest identified in the first two days as being deficient was the lack of a repeat of a white cell count. That’s it.”
O’Brien: “But that was hugely significant, Peter.”
Boylan: “It wasn’t. No. You’re completely wrong.”
O’Brien: “Well, according to the people that I have spoken to…”
Boylan: “Well this is good news because if this means then that a white cell count is elevated, in these circumstances…”
O’Brien: “Along with all the other,. along with all the other symptoms.”
Boylan: “She had a normal pulse, she had a normal temperature, it was only in the very early hours of Wednes…”
O’Brien: “She wasn’t monitored properly. Peter why are you deflecting away from, the attention from the failures..”
Boylan: “I’m trying to draw attention. No. I’ve identified the deficiencies but I’ve also clearly outlined.”
O’Brien: “But your (inaudible) is the law, the law, the law. Why are you deflecting attention away from…”
Boylan: “Because that’s the problem.”
Finucane: “Well, can I just intervene here because evidence was given at the hearing that it was because of the law.”
O’Brien: “That evidence was given by Peter.”
Talk over each other.
Finucane: “But the practitioner..”
Boylan: “No, the practitioner herself, the consultant who was looking after her, said she felt that she couldn’t do it. And when she got…”
Finucane: “That was part of her evidence.”
O’Brien: “I think, I think… that she was misinterpreting the law aswell. Once there is a sign of infection..”
Boylan: “This is brilliant.” Laughs. “We’re in the clear now. We can terminate pregnancies on the basis of an elevated white cell count.”
O’Brien: “Please don’t misquote me. If I make…”
Boylan: “…with no other signs of…”
O’Brien: “If I made a mistake, I corrected myself.”
Finucane: “Can I come back to what’s in the papers today, just to move it on.”
Listen in full here (from 32 minutes).
Previously: What Rhona Said
Breda O’Brien Vs Patsy McGarry
Pics: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland and Salt and LightScam mail can be stopped by NZ Post but only when customers report it.
A Nelson postie has refused to deliver'scam' mail to a rest home's residents.
The postie, identified by the Postal Workers Union as "Carolyn", was concerned that residents could lose money while trying to claim fake prizes from scratchies sent in the mail.
According to the union, Carolyn refused to deliver mail that she believed contained scams.
A preliminary report on the company's investigation into Carolyn's actions showed she was told she did not get a warning this time but the company would not be so forgiving next time.
READ MORE:
* Nelson residents targeted by Malaysian lottery scam
* Scratchie scam targets Nelson residents
* Napier pair hit by Malaysian scratchie mail scam twice
She was told her actions could bring a penalty of up to six months in prison for breaching section 20 of the Postal Services Act, which relates to posties divulging information gained in the course of their duties.
A NZ Post spokesperson said it was "ridiculous" to claim the company threatened the postie with jail.
"Her managers made every effort to take a reasonable approach, including not formally warning her while also impressing upon her the seriousness of interfering with mail.
"It was accepted and acknowledged that while she knowingly breached her conditions of employment, she thought she was doing the right thing."
The spokesperson said the company did not have the legal power to open mail if a scam was suspected.
According to the union, Carolyn had been shown a US$180,000 (NZ$256,000) prize-winning scratchie by another postie, who received it from Solaris Empire Travel Malaysia in his private mail.
The Solaris Empire Travel scratchie is one of several reported scams on the Department of Internal Affairs' (DIA) website.
Last year glossy brochures with scratch and win cards from Malaysia appeared in letterboxes from Nelson to Collingwood, and the DIA warned that the brochures were a "long-running scam designed to swindle unsuspecting victims out of thousands of dollars".
The recipient was required to pay a fee and give personal information to claim the supposed winnings.
Netsafe, an organisation that promotes safe use of online technology, also reported on Malaysian travel scams last year on its website.
There, it said the scam normally involved a glossy brochure and two scratch and win cards.
Executive director Martin Cocker said the scammers did not target any particular demographic and people needed to be aware of these mail scams.
"People are becoming increasingly aware of online scams and often spot these lottery scams online but they think if they have something mailed to them they think it's' more legitimate, but they're not."
He said it was important people reported any incidents and especially if they have fallen victim to one of these scams as it was the only way authorities could track what was happening.
NZ Post has worked in the past to reduce scam mail and worked with other agencies like internal affairs, Netsafe and the police to monitor scam activity.
Scam mail can be stopped by NZ Post but only when customers complain to the police or other reporting agencies like Netsafe.
Even then, NZ Post required the mail to have a New Zealand return address or local account to take any further action.You can withdraw as much cash as you want from March 13. The Reserve Bank of India today said it will remove the cap on cash withdrawals from saving bank accounts in two phases since it expects cash supply to improve by next month.In the first phase, the withdrawal limit will be raised to Rs 50,000 from Rs 24,000 a week, effective February 20.The limits on cash withdrawals from savings bank account will be withdrawn completely from March 13. As of now, there is no limit on current account and there is a cap of Rs 50,000 for farmers a week and Rs 2.5 lakh for marriage.As on January 27, RBI said currency in circulation was worth Rs 9.92 lakh crore.After the note ban on November 8, Reserve Bank had capped withdrawal limits on ATMs and bank branches. It raised limits from Rs 2,000 a day to Rs 4,500 a day to Rs 10,000 a day while maintaining the overall weekly ceiling of Rs 24,000.Restrictions on cash withdrawal had resulted in long ATM queues after the November move.STEVEN GERRARD was warned about Major League Soccer being a retirement home before he moved to Los Angeles just over a year ago when his glittering Liverpool years came to an end.
GETTY FRESH OPPORTUNITY: Gerrard reckons MLS is a good option for some young players
But the former captain of England believes it can be a place for careers to be reborn for those struggling to make it in top European leagues. The LA Galaxy midfielder moved to America last summer when he finally brought an end to his 17-year Liverpool career. Now at 36 and with his legs finally starting to feel the strain of so many years at the top, he is unsure about his future as his contract with the American club ends after the final game of their current season in December and there have been no talks on a new deal yet. The Kop icon is waiting on the right opportunity to grab him before he decides to leave the west coast of America with a coaching career certainly in his thoughts. But although he may not extend his stay Stateside, it does not mean he has not been impressed by MLS. In fact he believes living the American dream could be a way for young players in England to overcome the nightmare of trying to push world-class talent out of their way in the first teams of cash-rich clubs.
Fantasy Football Tips: Gameweek 3 STARSPORT bring you top tips on what changes to make to your fantasy football team this week ahead of Gameweek 3. Tips relate to the Premier League's official fantasy football game. 1 / 11 GETTY IN: Nathan Redmond - Down as a midfielder, he is playing up front for Southampton who have simple home games against Sunderland and Swansea coming up
“I’ve been very impressed with the level” Steven Gerrard With the eye-watering sums being spent on talent from across the globe as the new TV deal floods the top tier of English football with cash, it is only going to get harder for young players to break through. And Gerrard has some words of advice about what is on offer across the pond. “I think before I came there was an opinion that it is a retirement league and the standard isn’t very good,” he said. “The opinions I heard weren’t great but when I spoke to Thierry Henry, David Beckham and Robbie Keane they spoke volumes about it and said I would be surprised about the standard. “I’ve been very impressed with the level. Having got to know the people in the MLS and the Galaxy, I have confidence it is going to get bigger and bigger. “What I see in England is that some players around the age of say 17 to 21 are basically stuck because of the standard of the Premier League.
“The level is so good and you have to move world-class players out of position to get your breakthrough. Players seem to drop down levels in England. Some you never hear about and some bounce back. “This is a good environment and level for European kids to come and play regularly, test themselves because it is a very fit level.” The Anfield icon is waiting on the right opportunity to grab him before he decides to leave California. He knows the clock is ticking down on what has been a glittering career for the former Liverpool and England captain. But it is not a decision he will take lightly as he plots a move into coaching and management by working on his UEFA coaching badges. Galaxy boss Bruce Arena has spotted his star man making “mental notes” on management in the dressing room and can sense his ambition to move into that side of the game.Image caption Doctor Mosoka Fallah says Liberia defied predictions that 500,000 people would die
Doctor Mosoka Fallah - a stout, gruff, profoundly earnest man - stood outside a small house on the outskirts of Monrovia in Liberia wondering if this is where it would all end.
"This is the last stretch, the last mile. There's a lot of pressure on us. If they all go for 21 days without symptoms then that could be the end of Ebola," said the 44-year-old Harvard-trained doctor, watching his colleagues take the temperatures of a dozen women and children gathered on the porch.
The Yardolo family are one of the very last "clusters" of potential Ebola cases being monitored by Liberian health authorities in a country that seems to on the verge of eradicating the virus.
Ebola killed more than 4,000 people in this west African nation - the highest figure of the outbreak. But there have been no confirmed new cases in Liberia for a week.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Deputy Minister of Health Tolbert Nyenswah: "It is not over until it is over"
In New Community, a small village north of Monrovia, the virus killed three Yardolo siblings and their mother, Beatrice, is now being cared for at a Chinese-run Ebola Treatment Unit in the city. She is one of only two current Ebola patients nationwide.
"We are pitiful. I'm the one that lost my three children. We have fear and worry," said Beatrice's elderly husband, Steve.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Large-scale trials of two experimental vaccines against Ebola have taken place in Liberia
But 11 days into their quarantine, the surviving family insisted they were all feeling well. I asked Steve Yardolo if he thought this Ebola outbreak might end here. "It's our prayer," he replied.
Dr Fallah - who wears many hats as an unpaid advisor to the Health Ministry, an employee of the international charity ACF, and a community liaison expert - took notes, and promised to bring more food and extra mattresses for the family to help them through the quarantine period.
"It's emotional. It's tough. You can only do this job if you are empathetic. I try my best to understand the pain people are going through," he said.
"In the early months we delayed the [Ebola] response and some of the emails I sent then were full of desperation. But I think the country has risen to the challenge. We've defied the predictions that said half a million [people would die]. We have managed, as Liberians and with our international partners, to achieve nothing less than a miracle.
"I think we're going to win very soon," said Dr Fallah.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people in the small west African nation
But that confidence is tempered by a residual anxiety, and by the knowledge that Liberia cannot afford complacency in these final stages of the fight against Ebola. The nation's borders have been reopened, and as of now Guinea and Sierra Leone are still struggling to contain the virus.
And then came the bad news.
As we stood outside the Yardolos' house, one of the many community volunteers rang Dr Fallah to warn him about a woman, who had just been discovered showing Ebola symptoms in a neighbourhood about 10 minutes away by car.
We found a 49-year-old woman lying on a bench outside a small local clinic. She was covered in blood and seemed barely conscious. A relative had brought her here.
It turned out she was one of the Yardolos' neighbours who appeared to have been hiding her illness for several days.
"We've got a suspected case. Temperature is high," said Dr Fallah, juggling two telephones as he called for an ambulance.
"It should be very worrying. If it comes out positive it's very worrying for us. Another 21 days [of quarantine]," he said.
But a day later, I called Dr Fallah on the phone. He sounded elated.
"The test just came back. Negative. The same with one other suspected case of someone who crossed the border from Sierra Leone. So that's nine days now with no Ebola in Liberia," he said.The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, pulled out of speaking at the Christian lobby's national conference in response to Mr Wallace's comments last week, which she described as ''offensive'' and ''heartless''. "As far as I can see the lifespan of practicing gays is significantly shorter than the ordinary so-called heterosexual man"... Archbishop Peter Jensen. Credit:Domino Postiglione But Dr Jensen said: ''It's very hard to get to the facts here because we don't want to talk about it, and in this country censorship is alive and well. ''As far as I can see … the lifespan of practising gays is significantly shorter than the ordinary so-called heterosexual man … what we need to do is to look at why this may be the case and we need to do it in a compassionate and objective way.'' The chief government whip, Joel Fitzgibbon, dismissed same-sex marriage as an ''11th order issue'' as a fourth bill to legalise gay marriage was introduced to Parliament yesterday. The latest bill, co-sponsored by the Labor senators Trish Crossin, Gavin Marshall, Louise Pratt and Carol Brown, is expected to be debated and voted on next week.
Senator Crossin said the Labor senators had introduced their bill because they wanted to see the issue debated in the Senate, and were pessimistic about the chances of the bill, introduced by the Labor backbencher Stephen Jones, passing the House of Representatives. Gay marriage campaigners would like to see the issue voted on first in the Senate, where there is more support for change. While campaigners are hopeful a majority of senators could be gathered from Green senators and sympathetic Labor senators, crossbenchers and coalition backbenchers, Senator Crossin admitted change was unlikely unless the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, granted Coalition MPs a free vote on the issue. ''If Coalition members have their hands tied behind their backs, it's going to be very difficult,'' she said. Debating Mr Jones's bill yesterday, the Coalition frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull said he would vote for same-sex marriage if given a conscience vote. But he said because Coalition MPs did not have a free vote on the issue, he would abide by the Coalition position to vote against change.
Mr Turnbull said there was not enough support in the Parliament for same-sex marriage, but added: ''I am sure the numbers will be there in due course.'' He said in the meantime, Parliament could legislate for civil unions. The convener of Australian Marriage Equality, Alex Greenwich, said civil unions were a ''second-class form of recognition'' and countries such as New Zealand and Britain that had introduced them were now moving towards same-sex marriage laws. He also accused Mr Fitzgibbon of being ''out of touch'' for describing gay marriage as an ''11th order issue''. Loading ''I don't think it matters much to our society quite frankly whether same-sex couples marry or not,'' Mr Fitzgibbon said.
Mr Greenwich said it was ''upsetting'' Mr Fitzgibbon had dismissed an issue that was ''more passionately supported by the public than any other that the Parliament is currently dealing with''.Stephen Harper may have a built-in advantage in this year's election: his policies are just easier to communicate in 30-second TV ads.
That's the argument of philosophy professor and author Joseph Heath, whose recent book Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy and Our Lives, won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing in Ottawa in March, and is short-listed for the Donner Prize, to be awarded April 29.
Advertising, and the messages parties communicate to voters, will be a pressing issue in the months ahead of October's federal election, and the Conservative government has already booked $13.5-million in ads in April and May.
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The Globe and Mail: Many political strategists have said that the Conservatives are trying to base their campaigns using reason, while the New Democrats are going after voters with emotional appeals. In your book, you say it's the exact opposite. Why is that?
The idea is that the Conservatives are appealing more to people's self-interest and the NDP less. But that's not the same thing as saying that they're being more rational.
If you look for example at people's attitude towards taxation as a policy issue, who's being more emotional? People who are in favour paying higher taxes or people who don't want to pay taxes? It's a pretty obvious feature of the public debate that it is the hostility to taxes that is the more emotionally held position.
It is actually a really common confusion, which is that people equate rationality with self-interest and they think that wanting to help other people as being emotional, but that's thinking about reason in the economists' very narrow way of thinking of self-interest.
There's also the personality of the leaders, too. The pitch for Stephen Harper is that he's the economist, he's cool under pressure, etc.
There's no question that Mr. Harper is a strategist who's very calculative. But the idea that his fundamental political ideas spring from any kind of a rational assessment of the challenges facing Canada today is actually contrary to the evidence.
For example, the Conservative attitude towards the military is based on this kind of romanticism or nostalgia. It's actually very emotional. It's just that his personal style is that of being kind of cool and calculating. And so people say, oh, because he's studied economics then suddenly that makes him more rational.
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I mean, there's the rational calculation of wanting to win an election. But beyond that, it's very difficult to see what the rational commitments are.
In Enlightenment 2.0, you write about what you call "scaffolding," or the social systems we organize around ourselves. Structurally, how do we improve our election campaigns?
The major focus on scaffolding was that I wanted to be able at least something new and different from the line, which people have been pushing since the 18th century, which put the onus entirely upon the individual, just to try to think harder and to be more rational. People say voters just have to pay more attention, or read the newspaper more carefully. If that's the best we can come up with, then there's not much hope. Because the limits to that sort of pull-up-your-socks rhetoric have pretty much been reached.
Paying attention to something is more or less difficult, depending on the environment that you're in. The reason why, when we go to work and we need to concentrate on something we close the door and we stop browsing the Internet and so on, is because it's hard to concentrate in certain environments. If we want to the public to pay more attention to politics, rather than just kind of hectoring them, we can also think about the way in which the environment is making it more or less easy to concentrate.
That doesn't lend itself to a very optimistic view of things, because if anything attention and concentration has become more difficult in the current media environment.
So in the context of an election, what's the environment?
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There are a lot of problems with political advertising, and one of them is that is not subject to truth in advertising law. Which many people actually find surprising. But commercial speech is governed by those laws, and so there are all kinds of ways in which businesses can break the law by misrepresenting their product, their prices, and so on. When you turn to the advertising produced by political parties, there are no constraints of truth on those ads.
Now changing that would be really difficult, simply because it falls under free speech, so you're allowed to say whatever you want. I actually think you could craft legislation to limit the extent to which you misrepresent people.
What about debates? That's the closest to a deliberative process we get in campaigns.
What happens in these debates, if you want to see the far end of it, is the last mayoral election in Toronto with Rob Ford, and then Doug Ford, and Olivia Chow and John Tory, and then a couple other people, where they are in these kinds of raucous town hall environments. It was basically just everybody shouting at each other the whole time.
What's really crucial, what I really focus on in the book, is that this kind of environment is not neutral with respect to political positions. Some political positions are easier to express in an environment where everybody's yelling and abusing each other. I don't think it's an accident that the Ford brothers' political views can actually quite easily be communicated when yelled at a high volume in short sentences. "No new taxes!" That's easy enough to communicate.
But exactly how you want to build some kind of transit plan is actually kind of hard in that environment. It favours playing to the gut and playing to peoples' prejudices and so on, what we call common sense, it really works quite contrary to someone who's trying to defend a position that is a little bit more complicated or counter-intuitive.
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This interview has been edited and condensed.There has been plenty of speculation about Alexis’ future this summer.
The Chile international is entering the final year of his contract with us and, ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Liverpool, Arsène Wenger had this to say about our No 7.
on whether Alexis returning will give our players a boost…
We are disappointed by our result on Saturday but we are not down. It is the first game we lost since the beginning of April and we feel we should have largely won this game. Alexis, when he is in the squad, he can score a goal for you at that is always good for morale.
on him showing his character by wanting to play…
He wants to play. It is difficult for me to know about the individual cases but sometimes players have been promised things that have not been kept. I can only tell you what happens here and Alexis works for hard and is focused to play.
on whether this is a chance for him to create lasting memories with us…
Yes, I think what is good is our mutual interest is that he does well for us. His interest is to do well, on top of that I deeply feel that he loves to be here and he loves the club and he arrives at a stage of 28, 29 and looks at the quality of his contract but I think he deeply loves to be here.
on it giving Wenger a year to persuade him to stay…
Look, in a professional job I always think that you have to make sure with your commitment that the guy who pays you gets what he is paying you for. Alexis is in that mode and I think he will be until the last day he is here, he will give his best.
on whether he will stay if we are top of the league in October, for example…
You cannot rule anything out, of course you are under threat as well. For me you have a sport decision, and the sport decision is easy – you keep him until the last day of his contract. Then you have a compromise to find if you can afford to do it because you lose a lot of money and at the end of the day my decision, which is purely sporting, is easy to make – I want him to stay, after that there is of course a lot of money involved as well and the club needs to make a financial sacrifice.
on who will have the final say…
I have always been followed by the board, but the final say belongs to the board.
on how much of a boost Koscielny’s return will give us…
We lost the game on Saturday because defensively we gave a cheap goal away, and it’s good to have him back.
on how hard it’s been for Koscielny…
It’s been very hard, because I didn’t even consider him for friendly games, you know, because I had to play some defenders, I think what hurt him a lot was to miss the cup final. He had a reaction in the final game of the season against Everton that was unlucky, but sometimes… he’s a very quiet guy and sometimes he can get rushed, you know, because he realises, he thinks always he has the speed and the pace to win the tackle, in this case he didn’t.
on when he makes the decision to play those in the final year of their contracts…
To play them or not, no, I don’t consider their contractual situation to decide who plays and who doesn’t play.
on the ‘financial sacrifice’ in Alexis’ case…
The financial factor you sometimes have to prioritise, yes…
on Alexis and Ozil being a combined £150m ‘financial sacrifice’…
It’s still not an Mbappe, no! It is true, yes, I agree with you, that’s why I said, it’s a financial sacrifice for the club and at the end of the day you have to calculate what you can afford and what you can’t afford.In the opening days of America's war in Afghanistan, Capt. Allison Black's AC-130H gunship thundered low through the night sky. Below, US Special Operations Forces (SOF) were fighting alongside Northern Alliance warlords.
A navigator with the Air Force 1st Special Operations Group, Black was strapped in behind the pilots on a flight deck bristling with radios, gauges, and monitors that kept her in constant contact with SOF forces on the ground, helping them identify targets. It was Black giving the final "clear to fire" consent for the crew to release a barrage from a Gatling gun and other artillery on Taliban forces.
And it was Black's voice that special operators on the ground heard as they fought. Afghan soldiers overheard the chatter, too. On a mission over the northern Afghanistan city of Kunduz in 2001, one particularly fierce warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, "found it amazing" that a woman was directing fire on the Taliban forces, says Black. "He thought it was so hilarious. He asked, 'Is that a woman?' "
When SOF fighters confirmed it was, Dostum, she says, was incredulous – and impressed: "America is so determined to kill the Taliban that they send women," he said.
Then, as Black called in another round of fire, Dostum dialed enemy fighters by phone, so they, too, could hear her voice on his walkie-talkie: "He really berated them, saying 'You're so pathetic, American women are killing you. You need to surrender now,' " Black says.
Taliban forces did surrender the next morning, and the first female navigator to open fire in combat came to be known as the "Angel of Death" among the Afghans. That battle – and others – also made Black, now a major, the first woman to earn the Air Force's combat action medal.
Today, US military officials concede that despite prohibitions against women serving in combat – and despite efforts in some cases to keep women far from fighting – there are no defined front lines.
A decade after Black flew her first mission in America's war in Afghanistan, the ranks of women in the military are growing: They now make up 16 percent of the force, a number that is expected to grow to one-quarter by 2025.
And after a decade of war in which women increasingly play de facto combat roles across the armed services, the Pentagon is now considering opening up more jobs for women that will bring them ever closer to the battlefield.
It's a highly controversial prospect and the Pentagon is proceeding cautiously. In an early step last February, military officials rejected a congressional commission's recommendation that prohibitions on women in combat be lifted, announcing instead that they would be open, on a trial basis, 14,000 jobs previously closed to female service members.
"For me, I see it as talent management: I want to utilize the best talent I have," says the Army's top officer, Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno. "That's what has driven us to it: The women have proven it to us."
It's an acknowledgment that has been slow in coming within the US military but undeniable in America's murky counterinsurgency wars of the past decade, say senior Pentagon officials.
'Nose to nose with the bad guys'
As Congress was considering – yet again – the feasibility of women in combat through its 2011 Military Leadership Diversity Commission, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Frank Peterson voiced the standard concern: "Here's my problem: We're talking about ground combat, nose to nose with the bad guys, living in the mud, eating what's on your back, no hygiene and no TV. How many of you have seen how infantrymen, the ground troopers, live – and how many of you would volunteer to live like that?"
"I've lived like that. I've lived out there with the guys," answered Illinois National Guard Lt. Col. Tammy Duckworth from her wheelchair. "Mad Dog 06" – her call sign in 2004 when she was a National Guard captain – lost both legs at the helm of a Black Hawk helicopter shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq's notoriously violent Sunni Triangle.
"When I'm asked if the country is ready for women in combat, I look down at where my legs used to be and think, 'Where do you think this happened, a bar fight?' " she says. "I'm pretty sure it was combat."
Duckworth had wanted to be part of the fighting in the wake of the 9/11 attacks; and as a member of the National Guard, being a pilot was one of the few paths to a combat job for a woman.
She has not been alone in her experiences out there with her male comrades |
six o'clock news on R4. great in the sense that it reveals the true madness of one of our former prime ministers......the pm in question is of course maggie thatcher. ok.............so the spanish foreign minister was reported as saying today that 'lady' thatcher should undergo the same senility tests that senator 'butcher' pinochet underwent a couple of weeks ago. this was triggered by a particular event from last week; the aforementioned butcher of chile was being wisked away by a chilean airforce 707........the plane was apparently taxiing down the runway preparing to take-off when with great ceremony it was stopped in its tracks by a bearer of gifts from thatch herself. she wanted to give a 'leaving' present to the ex-dictator.......the gift in question was a plate commemorating sir francis drake and the english fleets' defeat of the spanish armada.........unbelievable.............or maybe not so, as it's entirely consistent with the train of thought that she's a pathetic anglophile, who never gave a fuck about the rights of individual human beings. and don't believe that bullshit that during the falklands war she went to the aid of the islanders..........nothing like a war to get a country behind you should you be faltering in opinion polls and likely to lose the next election.
apologies for the invective...it slips out occasionally, but when you read books like naomi klein's 'no logo' you can't help but feel that much of the mess we're in now is part of the leagacy of the thatcher-reagan years.
good work on 'up on the ladder' today...good drums and a much better arrangement. will return tomorrow to things i am 'qualified' to write about. left early......mixture of the lurgee doing the rounds at the moment....but also one of those days when the winter seems to have been too long and you just feel like a bag of shit. probably something to do with smoking more fags...gave up for almost a year and am gradually being wheened back on them. bollocks. this summer i'll cut down. the thing is it's true what they say about giving up....you do feel so much better it's just that i have no will power......better to mope around at home than around here where good things are going on. arrived at the studio and some brilliant stuff had been done last night. cozzie finished off his amazing bass thing on the song with no name......bass musos won't believe it. jonny did some cool guitar on 'up on the ladder'. after yesterday it was nice to do some playing...the sun shone and it feels like spring is on its way. more things on 'up...' what a fucking week........sometimes i feel like the nature of this band is that we have to do things the hard way......to use a terrible football cliche......snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat................fucking hell ron, thank god all weeks aren't like this, otherwise it would be early baths.......not that i'm going to elaborate any further...........the only thing that need concern anyone is that the songs sound fucking ace on the whole......nicely diverse.
i'll write much more next week and apologies for the excessive use of the word fuck. there's a line drawn.....above which are the names of tracks finished bar mixing.....and below, those nearly completed. for the first time the tracks below and above the line are equal in number. that was the state of play at 5am friday morning. 'knives up' was complete. i was telling a mate over the w/end about 'knives out' and how it was started in copenhagen on 10/3/99.......some 373 days later we finally finished it.............a ridiculously long gestation period for any song..........naturally my mate thought that having taken so long on a piece of music it would be some sort of magnum opus, a kind of paranoid android to the power of ten..................... the song is probably the most straight ahead thing that we've done in years......and that might explain why we took so long on it. i'm a real believer that bands as they become more successful often lose the ability to do straight ahead stuff well...... the need to embellish tracks with melodies and sounds becomes imperative. and often in doing so the song loses its essence especially if it was written on acoustic guitar. but i think we've done alright on 'knives out'.........
thom's got a busy old week this week........most of the finishing touches are vocal things. i'm trying to get my head around some new software called logic which seems to be what all the right programmers are using...........the manual is about the thickness of a hardback edition of 'war and peace'.........he's singing along to 'fastrack'. he's hyperactive as well....it's 1.30am..fantastic.. never again............that's it, no more..............not another drop of alcohol, in this case vintage cava, is going to pass my lips until next time............... i'm in the epicentre of one mutha of a hangover................ in fact the last time i felt like this i never drank gin again and that was 14 years ago.............it's evil stuff. my father rang to tell me i reminded him of himself when he used to drink a bit.........maybe hangovers are hereditary..........alcoholism probably is...........it was my birthday, we took the evening off and drank....and drank. i did a run down to majestic got the booze and issued strict instructions that no one was to leave until everything was finished.................and so it was......anyway enough of the fug.
we've been back a week after a two week layoff. finishing the large number of songs off is the priority.......and would you adam 'n eve it but we're so nearly there. nigel is booked into the studio on wednesday to mix and we start playing together/ rehearsing on wednesday week for the live shows, not knowing how the fuck we're going to put most of these songs over live.
so what i'm actually saying is that the recording part of this record will be finished in a couple of days......but you know if we're consistent in our behavioural patterns, then you might finally hear something in the autumn of '01............after arguments over track-listing, running orders, etc.........who'll be the first to suggest the quadruple album mixed in surroud sound?....................might throw it in there myself to stir things up a bit.....the running order for an album is so important...... i don't think you have any idea how vital it is until you actually fuck it up which we did big time on the first record.....for 'ok computer' it was a nightmare, agendas had been set and at one time it was like bloody horse-trading............. "if you want 'let down' on the record then it only makes sense if 'electioneering' is on there too"......maybe it won't be such a torrid experience this time........somehow i don't think so and that's probably right anyway.
there's been a couple of articles recently in the press speculating what's up with us....the one in melody maker sent a journo down to oxford to snoop around......he or she was apparently outside each of our houses on a kind of indie'stakeout'.... and the piece ultimately was very flattering, but you know this is a non-story............yes we go food shopping and fucking hell would you believe it we actually walk down the street in broad daylight........and what's more we've been known to sometimes break into a smile......the other was in the grauniad on friday, entitled 'why are we waiting?' again very nice and for the record, you won't have to wait too long now. but please don't waste column inches on mere speculation about when and what the album will be like.........all we've ever claimed is that the records will be different...... anyway if the truth be told we don't actually know. i've gone on way too long in this stream of alcohol induced consciousness and i must end before i write something even more stupid like offering that melody maker journo a handbags at dawn duel - see you at shotover a week on monday with your best louis vuitton..6am be there.
viva la lucha and good luck and respect to all the anti-imf and world bank protesters in washington this w/end, in fact go to thom's page and there are a couple of links to some relevant sites about what's going down. well, well, well....it's been a while.......so here's a short one to ease us all back into it....i've written quite a bit but never sent anything...........................it feels a bit like that letter you never dared send....the one you've just written but you don't entirely trust it's very words......so no point inflicting those words on anyone else.......i'm sure we've all been there......of course i realise that that conflicts with the very nature of this 'diary', but it's all about confidence...some days are better than others. actually the truth is that at such a crucial time of the album........tracklisting, rehearsals, titles, arguments and full on fist fights......i probably haven't been at my most objective........there is however one cert in my mind....i fucking love this record now........and that's not me attempting to whip others into a kind of mass marketing aren't we great type frenzy...........it's the god's honest truth, governor..........but before i can write anymore i'm going to conflab with the others so that we can get our story straight.........here's an idea............... it looks as though alastair campbell has made a few errors in judgement over the handling of his pm's media engagements recently and might want to seek further employment elsewhere in an effort to save some of his rapidly dwindling credibilty......and maybe, just maybe he could add some'spin' to us radiohead fellas...........that would be ace to see 'al' doing interviews for us............tight-lipped, stern and fending off the press.............."listen sonny if you ask this lot another question about why they always seem such a miserable bunch of bastards i will personally make sure you never hear another record of theirs again...........and for the record meeting people IS easy..................".................... ah yes that would be just fine..........no more questions as to how you got the name of the band, or what you thought of creep now some 7 years after its release....actually to be honest the interviews done so far seem to be of a different calibre compared to last time round........so consequently they're not or at least have not been so far too much of an effort...........but that might also have something to do with us and our new-found spirit of glasnost.prost.
will write something more at the w/end. we're off on tour on monday................... apologies for the last entry and the half-arsed attempt at some humour.......very embarassed re-reading it. that's what comes from having listened to the album twice in succession at half three in the morning....... and deciding to post something up...............so we leave tomorrow for france and the first show in arles on tuesday........very nice....will write some more from a tour bus in europe. we had to cancel the vaison show............so firstly apologies to everyone who had tickets and were looking forward to the gig......we'd even got the set list done with different new songs from last night and soundchecked them..........and what an amazing place.....a roman theatre like last night in arles. the freak rain was of course to blame.......the stage had a good three inches of the stuff from a twenty minute downpour and with another storm forecast for 9.30pm and alot of the equipment still damaged from last night's storm in arles the decision was made to pull the show.........somehow we got away with it last night but today just seemed as if it wasn't meant to be.......sorry again to those in vaison..... so we're now en route to barcelona for the first show with a roof which may prove to be a fortunate thing judging by the lightning storms we're presently driving through....in spite of all this strange weather i have to say that it is so good to be on tour in southern europe.....quote of the tour so far from coz who said yesterday whilst dining amongst the roman ruins........"this is the best holiday i've ever been on!".......which may not sound very unusual... but within the context of radiohead touring again is something close to extraordinary.....see you in barcelona. it's sunday so it must be milan and the royal palace - the king of italy once lived here in this monza palace........... in fact we've just been shown the theatre where he reputedly threw huge orgies. it's quite a place. barcelona and last night's show in frejus were immense......barca started a little weirdly with us and the audience getting used to the teatro tivoli, the most un-rock'n roll of venues(extremely ornate however).......eveyone stayed pinned to their seats until we returned for an encore. our day off in barca consisted of eating and drinking vast amounts, broken up by a two hour siesta...ideal.....the only downer to the frejus gig was when i announced on stage that england had beaten germany in the football through a shearer goal.....bad move this was zidane country and very partisan to boot.....nevertheless a great audience. i picked italy in our euro 2000 sweepstake so as far as i'm concerned we're playing on home turf tonight....it's very warm. athens, greece arrived this morning to play the first of two gigs in the lycabetus theatre, which is apparently near the parthenon. no site of any greek antiquities as of yet, even from the top floor of the hotel.........this city seems huge and apparently we're situated in what a local described as a kind of no-man's land......lots of traffic outside the window......and parked cars everywhere which is explained by the fact that they operate a system here whereby car licences are issued for different days of the week in order to alleviate the serious traffic congestion ie you have a car and you're only allowed to drive that car on mondays, wednesdays, fridays and sundays...........what happens of course is that if you've got the dosh you then buy another car that you can drive on tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays...................mmmm.............we had an amazing time in florence..........played open-air, right in the heart of the old town at the piazza san croce..........it doesn't get better than this....went on and played in thessaloniki last night at the earth theatre..... a beautiful modern amphitheatre which had actually been dug out of the hill that overlooks that city.....a brilliant audience who exhibited great patience at hearing a set with nine new songs and a band which ignored repeated requets for creep(....understandable on their part, the requests that is, as this was our first visit) and pop is dead (..... cheeky bastards....)
getting a little worried about how easy it is to drink vast amounts of alcohol on tour...kick-started by the lovely laika people who apart from playing some great shows with us also happen to make the greatest margaritas outside of mexico itself......they are dangerous touring partners..
the new songs are working pretty well now in the set....'in limbo's still a little tricky but it's more than made up by the way 'the national anthem' and 'everything in its right place' is going..........our crew by the way are doing an immense job working outside in incredible heats while we swan around like popstars..........Preface — The Synchronization Problem
ownCloud offers a Free software solution to synchronize your files across different devices. I’ve been working on a KDE Plasma client for this server technology. In this article, after giving a bit of background of the problem, I explain the design concepts behind the new ownCloud Plasma client and demonstrate how it works and integrates with different Plasma workspaces.
I’ve been looking for a good solution to synchronize my data across different devices I use forever. The need arose when I got my first laptop (next to my desktop machine): I wanted to be able to work on my projects on both devices without having to manually copy files between the machines. It turned out to be actually quite a hard problem: Sure, you can work on your stuff on a remote machine, and thereby always work on one version of a certain file. But what happens when you’re offline? I needed files to be synched, and was looking for a more or less automated that worked both offline and online. I took a look at the Coda Filesystem, which seemed to solve this problem well, for others at least. It was a bit of a pain to set up (and understand how it exactly worked), but after a bit of fiddling, I had copies of my stuff on different machines. It seemed to work initially, but later turned out to be a little bit too brittle for my use cases (I don’t quite recall the details, but eventually, I gave up on it because it meant more or less constant maintenance, and still it wasn’t quite as bullet proof as I had hoped it would be.
At university (where I both studied and worked for quite a while), we often used SVN for collaboration. There’s value to using the same tools in more places, so I put all my files into an SVN repository and used that for synchronization. Eventually, I moved these private data repositories to Git, as I grew more comfortable with this tool and it allowed useful things like offline commits and synching between “client devices”, not just between client and server. Not an automatic process, also not the most beautiful solution to the problem as it wasn’t quite as automated as I’d have liked it to be. Also, as computing became more portable, I needed something that would also blend in well with with all the devices that produce, collect and are supposed to carry my data.
Enter ownCloud
My problem is of course not unique to me: File synchronization plays an ever more important role, Internet connections become faster and more ubiquitous, the device spectrum expands. Where people have been using one computer for all their electronic communication and computing needs, it now spreads across different devices, desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, media centers, and likely many more form factors we can only dream of today (or maybe not even that!). Devices jumping between network infrastructures doesn’t make it easier, and the most flexible solution seems to a central server – multiple clients model. ownCloud offers exactly that, it’s Free software (licensed under the AGPL), is easy to setup and runs on bog standard LAMP setups. Its server side performs well enough to be able to run it on even woefully underpowered hardware such as NAS systems or other embedded devices. More importantly, it gives you full control over your data, which is nice and important for private use, and often a hard requirement for institutional use cases, such as document management and sharing in a company.
I’ve been keeping a keen eye on ownCloud for a while, and, somewhere in its 3.x cycle, I decided to set up owncloud on my private server and started experimenting with it. Installation was quite easy, and the desktop client Mirall seemed to work well initially.
My own Plasma Cloud
After using it for a bit, I ran into a few problems, some of them simple bugs (most of which seem to have been fixed), some UI issues, and also a lack of integration. Mirall’s UI is a “standard systray application”, it always sits there in the system tray, shows its status and allows you to set up directories (“Folders”) for synchronization with the ownCloud server. Mirall’s UI, however bears all the traits of a “traditional” desktop application: It’s unsuitable for touch interfaces, abuses the system tray as task switcher and overall not quite up to modern UI standards we use in Plasma. As Mirall is geared towards portability (it’s the official desktop client for Linux, Mac and Windows), it lacked good integration into Plasma — the usual lowest common denominator problem). What crossed my mind was redoing the UI using Plasma technologies, thereby updating its Look & Feel and at the same time making it suitable for touch interfaces, such as Plasma Active, KDE’s device-independent user experience.
Collaboration for a new design
At Akademy this summer, Klaas (who works for ownCloud Inc. on Mirall), me and a few others sat down to talk about better integration of ownCloud into the Plasma Desktop. ownCloud being a project very close to KDE (it sprang from the KDE community, had developer meetings and travel expenses funded by the KDE e.V., partly runs on KDE infrastructure, and some KDE developers are also working on ownCloud), that seemed like the right thing to do. In a BoF session, we sat down, talked about what we’d like to see improved and started designing a KDE Plasma client for ownCloud, based on the Mirall code base. What we came up with can be explained as follows:
The UI bits and synchronization code from Mirall will be split, and the sync mechanism will be split out into a shared library
The shared library is used by a daemon, which on the one hand takes care of keeping files in sync, and one other side exports a DBus control interface
A Plasma widget shows synchronization status and allows basic control like disabling syncing
A System Settings module allows to setup synchronization of the ownCloud client
A Plasma Active Settings module allows to set up the ownCloud client from your mobile device
With this solution, we can cover a range of devices, providing a consistent operation and Look & Feel and share code to keep development costs down. Doing the UI components in Plasma Quick (Plasma and KDE technologies + Qt Quick’s QML), we can the maximum amount of code across different devices, and create a modern UI that adapts itself to form factors and input methods (meaning it will work well on both, mouse/keyboard driven target devices, as well as touch screens). As a bonus, doing the UI in Plasma Quick means it’s easy to hack, easy to contribute for others.
Inception
Having a clear idea how we want to go forward, and an agreed-upon plan de campagne, we sat down to implement all the designed goodness. Klaas was quick to split out the synchronization mechanism from ownCloud into its own shared library, and I started working on the bits needed for the Plasma client: The sync daemon, the UI components used by the configuration modules and the Plasmoid, and of course those UIs themselves. Progress has been quite good, I quickly got the synchronization daemon up and running, and could move to implementing the various pieces of user interface needed.In the process, I’ve created a bunch of patches to Mirall, some of them merged, others still in the review queue. They’re mostly fairly trivial, splitting out a bit of QWidget-based remainders from the daemon (and thereby cutting down its size considerably), and extending the API (in a backwards compatible way) to allow better status display and control from the user interface “satellites”.
Current Status
File synchronization is of course the main feature here. This already works reasonably well, including setting up of server and folders. The UI has a few problems here and there, but the important pieces are in place. The plan is to ship a first stable version with the release of Plasma Active 4 in March, which will also mark the availability of the desktop client.
How to make it all happen faster?
I’d be most grateful if distro packagers would pick the new ownCloud Plasma client up at this point, package it and allow users to test it (with the necessary warning signs of eating pet and firstborns attached, of course). There’s still quite a lot of work to do, but the basics work, and getting feedback helps me prioritize what to work on first to get this into the hands of our dear users.
Of course if you’re interested in contributing to the client directly (in the form of code, UI design, bug fixing, polishing, performance, etc, you’re also most welcome to do so. The code is currently hosted on Github (like other ownCloud subprojects, if you prefer a Free software solution, we can clone it on KDE infrastructure as well, and sync our upstream changes as needed to Github). In order to build it, check out and build the “plasmaclient” branch. This will install the various components to your system. After running “kbuildsycoca4” (or relogging in), you can enable the Plasma widget through your notification area configuration.Product Notes
Limited numbered five heavyweight vinyl LP box set. A classic July 4th Grateful Dead concert is brought to life on audiophile-grade vinyl for this deluxe set. Drawn from arguably the band's strongest tour of their last 15 years on the road, Truckin' Up To Buffalo features the entire concert at Rich Stadium on July 4, 1989. Favorites include "Bertha, " "Touch Of Grey, " "Man Smart, Woman Smarter, " "Morning Dew, " and the quintessential Fourth of July song, "U.S. Blues". At the band's request, the audio was mastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering. Lacquers were cut by Grammy Award winner, Bernie Grundman. The five LPs come housed in a lavish hardbound vinyl folio-book. Each copy of this limited edition set is individually numbered with a gold-foil stamp.Song Vang talks with customer Nancy Yang at her Hmongtown Marketplace booth in St. Paul, Minn. Friday, July 25, 2014.
Guests Lee Pao Xiong: Director of the Center for Hmong Studies, Concordia University
Director of the Center for Hmong Studies, Concordia University Chia Youyee Vang: Associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and author of "Hmong in Minnesota"
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Hmong arrival in Minnesota.
At that time, the number of Hmong could be counted in the dozens. Now the Twin Cities metro area is home to 64,000 Hmong people, making it the largest urban population of Hmong in the country.
We look back at the history of the Hmong people, both in Southeast Asia and Minnesota.
Learn more about Hmong in Minnesota:
• Hmong vendors learn the law on legal drug sales (MPR News)
• Appetites: Hmong influence strong in Minnesota farmers markets (MPR News)
• Numbers improving for Hmong in U.S., Twin Cities, census finds (Pioneer Press)Who would have thought that religion would take on yet another twist so it can be used to divide Malaysians further? Incredibly enough, this time there’s an international dimension to the twist.
On August 15, the Immigration Department shocked many households and maid agencies when it announced what it called a “new ruling” stipulating that only Muslim maids may work for Muslim families.
Potential employers and maid agencies found themselves in a quandary. When one employee of a maid agency made inquiries at an immigration office counter, she was told that the directive had come from the Director-General of Immigration himself, Mustafar Ali.
She was told that her application for non-Muslim maids for Muslim families would be rejected. The officer who spoke to her claimed that the policy had been in place for some time. She couldn’t believe it. She said maid agencies had not received any circular to inform them of such a ruling.
There have been many complaints about this ruling.
One working woman said she had no issues about a non-Muslim domestic working in her house as long as the person was dependable and efficient. She said, “I treat her well and she is worth her weight in gold. I have no issues with her. There is a church down the road, and she is free to attend Sunday service if she wishes.
“I wouldn’t know what we would do without her services.
“Most working mothers would be appalled when they learn that this ruling will further restrict the supply of maids for Muslim families.”
An Indonesian maid who is Christian also expressed surprise at the ruling. She worked for a Muslim family in Saudi Arabia for many years and came to work in Malaysia only because her disabled mother was getting frail and she did not like being too far away from home.
She said, “If it was alright for me to work for Muslim families in Saudi Arabia, why is it not alright for me to work for a Muslim family in Malaysia?”
The Perak Mufti, Harussani Zakaria, claimed that Muslim children under the care of non-Muslim maids could be religiously influenced by them. The allegation has been dismissed by many Malays who say they were brought up by non-Muslim maids and they remain unshaken in their Islamic beliefs.
After the issue had become a matter of debate in the media, Mustafar tried to cool public anger by saying the “ruling” was only a “guideline”.
Haven’t we heard this “guideline” retreat before?
Remember when Jakim tried to impose various conditions for performances by foreign artistes? Public anger forced it into a humiliating climb-down. It had to say that the “conditions” were in fact merely “guidelines”. Perhaps that sounded better than saying it was making a U-turn.
Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.
With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.How are women viewed in different countries across the world? Views fluctuate massively depending on where you live with Russians particularly negative about women's responsibilities in the government or companies...
You will find more statistics at Statista
The data used in the infographic was compiled by Ipsos MORI.
Only 34 percent of people in Russia say things would work better if women held positions with responsibilities in government or companies while 69 percent say the role of a woman in society is to be a good mother and wide.
In India, views are far more mixed where a woman's role is in society is seen as a part of government and business as well as a good mother and wife.
In the United States, 57 percent of people think things would improve with more women in government and companies while 41 percent say the role of women is to be good mothers and wives.“If we get locked up, if we’re not back in three hours, send the lawyers for us, OK hon?” Kevin Westley asked his wife, Joanie, in the doorway of their East Meadow, Long Island home.
“You’re on your own!” was the reply from Joanie, who for the second year in a row has lovingly if somewhat bemusedly stood by Kevin in his campaign to get his local Walmart stores to stop carrying t-shirts that stereotype the Irish as drunks.
Westley, an Irish American radio host and Irish Dance instructor, has grown increasingly weary over the years of all the merchandise that pops up in the weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day promoting a connection between Irishness and drunkenness and suggesting that the holiday is primarily about drinking.
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Last year, after complaining about the offensive t-shirts to the managers at the Walmart stores in his area and to the company’s corporate office (and being told by each that the decision to carry the items was in the purview of the other), Westley decided to take matters into his own hands.
After carefully and thoroughly reading Walmart’s return policy, Westley went to three Walmarts on Long Island and purchased over $800 worth of the t-shirts. He left the tags on, kept the t-shirts clean (and out of public view) in storage boxes, and returned them after St. Patrick’s Day.
“Put them on your credit card and you never spend a dime,” he told IrishCentral in a previous interview.
His experience returning the shirts last year was surprisingly positive.
This year was a different story.
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In February, Westley bought $400 worth of the questionable t-shirts from two Walmart stores. The third store he had visited the previous year wasn’t stocking them this time around, he was delighted to find, though he was uncertain if that was a result of his campaign.
IrishCentral interviewed Kevin about his inventive plan in late February, and the story spread like wildfire. In Ireland, he did interviews with almost all of the major radio stations, and the Irish Mirror, The Journal and the Belfast Telegraph all covered the story. Here, it was picked up by ABC and FOX news, and a camera crew from CBS paid a visit to his home. Another station went to the Walmart in East Meadow. They were not permitted inside, though a manager did speak to one of the reporters.
So, once St. Patrick’s Day was over, Walmart knew he’d be making an appearance.
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There was a short line in front of the customer service desk yesterday as Kevin pushed a shopping cart laden with two storage boxes through the store’s automatic doors.
It might have been the boxes, it might have been that his face is now familiar after all the interviews, or it might have been his Kelly green jacket, but the Walmart employees seemed to recognize him instantly.
“I got this guy,” announced one of the three women staffing the returns desk.
“Take them out of the basket,” she instructed when he reached the front of the line. “You have your receipts?”
“I sure do,” Kevin replied, pulling the t-shirts from the boxes and placing them on the counter. He produced two very long receipts. Adding insult to injury, they listed the t-shirts as “MEN ST PATTY” and had the line “Thank you! We value your opinion!” printed at the top. This has not been Kevin’s experience.
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The entire process took an hour, with some politely aggressively exchanges and spirited debate about the t-shirts’ offensive qualities as each one was scanned.
Initially, they seemed to be at an impasse, with the customer service rep telling Kevin that all of the staff had been instructed to only allow him to return the shirts purchased at that specific store.
“You’re telling me I can’t return Walmart merchandise to any Walmart? There’s nothing in the return policy about returning it at the store where you bought it,” he said, walking over to re-inspect the policy, which was posted on a nearby wall.
9
The rep said that Walmart had faxed everyone notes about and that the store manager had instructed all of the staff to only take back the shirts from that store. Kevin asked to see both the fax and the manager, and was told that the manager wasn’t in. The assistant manager never replied to the nearly 20 calls over the intercom.
The rep also said that she had been specifically asked to deal with Kevin when he came to make the return, perhaps because she herself was Irish American.
“Where’s your family from?” Kevin asked.
“Cork,” she replied. The same county where Kevin’s grandfather is from.
“And you don’t find these shirts offensive?”
“These shirts are not offensive to everyone, only to you.”
Kevin assured her she was just as entitled to her opinion as he was.
9
“Want me to take them off the hangers?” he offered.
“No, that’s fine, they’re just going to put them right back out.”
“Even though it’s after St. Patrick’s Day?” I asked.
“They’re being sold for $2.00 now,” she said with a smile.
She asked him why he didn't buy t-shirts from Target or from the mall as well.
He said he probably would next year, but mentioned his dismay that last Halloween Walmart had been receptive and apologetic about two costumes offensive to Muslims and removed them from the shelves.
"Why won't they do it for the Irish?" he asked.
After the first return had been processed, she left the desk to find the assistant manager and came back saying that they would in fact be able to accept the t-shirts from the other Walmart.
9
“I wasn’t worried,” Kevin said later, “There’s nothing in the policy that says they’re allowed to do that.”
Four of the shirts were missing tags, but she ran their returns separately.
She added up the separate receipts to make sure the totals added up; they did.
Kevin thanked her profusely, put the lids back on the boxes, and headed back outside to his car.
Asked if it had been worth it, he replied “absolutely.”
“Stereotypes can be vicious,” he said. “They can keep you from getting a job, or finding a place to live – not just the Irish of course, but everyone.” He went on to describe moments where he had been stereotyped because of his Irish background – from teachers in high school and even from acquaintances today.
“I’m doing this in memory of my grandfather,” he added. “He was born in Boston and faced so much discrimination in his search for work – 'No Irish Need Apply' signs and so on. He was a chauffeur for the Kennedys and then went on to be a General Agent for Railway Express, a precursor to Federal Express. He made sure that all the local kids from his parish had a chance for a job.”
And will this experience deter him from doing the same thing again in 2016?
“I hope I don’t have to do it again next year,” he said. “But of course I will if they’re selling the shirts again.”Government Icons
Government Title Rings
Completed
[+] Spoiler Night's Watch - Rabid Bogling
Kingsguard - Rabid Bogling
Ruin - Rabid Bogling
Winter - Rabid Bogling
Pirate - Rabid Bogling
Three Daughters - Rabid Bogling
Triarchy
Night's Watch
Ruin
Winter
Pirate
Three Daughters
Triarchy
For Horse Lords we are going to need a few new graphical assets which I will put up here for people to do if possible. If I have an idea for what the graphic could look like then I'll put ut as a dash but do not take these ideas as absolutes be creative! I suppose you can also take this a teaser of some of the things being added in!The government icons need to fit into a 33x33 area use the existing ones as a guidlines for how big to make them to fit into the circles though.The government title rings need to be done in a specific way, for each government they have to have a template at the start which is the same for all of them then the different rings for baron, count, duke, king and emperor tier with the banner around them. Each of these has to be done for different sizes. The examples from vanilla can be seen in gfx/interface then charframe_34 charframe_50 charframe_75 charframe_100 and charframe_150.Thanks a lot all!This feature originally ran on August 28, 2012 |
.
“We were trying to understand exactly where the hold up was; whether it was the program office or AFMC [Air Force Materiel Command],” Harrigian told me. An email went out bearing the imprimatur of the two-star general. Magic! Answers were found. Problem solved. He grinned as he told me what happened.
One of the F-35’s crucial aspects has not been discussed much: keeping it stealthy. While Breaking Defense readers know from retired Gen. Mike Hostage that the F-35 is a stealthier airplane than the F-22. But one of the crucial aspects of stealth has always been maintaining it. How much does stealth degrade during operations? How long does it take to restore it? How much does it cost to maintain? Lockheed Martin has long boasted about the F-35’s designed-in stealth.
“I would call it one of the success stories,” Harrigian said. “But I was skeptical early on.”
Col. Carl Schaeffer, who was the Air Force’s top integration guy on the F-35 until Harrigian was named, entered the conversation and was about as positive as one can get on such a topic: “The high point for this program is the LO [Low Observables] maintainability.” He pointed to the creation by Lockheed Martin of an LO “innovation team,” formed with a range of highly experienced stealth experts as a key reason behind the success of the aircraft’s relatively easy maintenance. No one in the room offered any details except to note that no one has to apply multiple coatings that wear off. Also, Lorraine Martin, head of Lockheed’s work on the F-35, recently made it clear that the designed-in stealth has been made easier to create and maintain thanks to automation.
In other F-35 news from Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Navy Department, Adm. Jonathan Greenert said his service is “on track” for its IOC in late fiscal year 2018 — but again, software is an issue. “My concern is that the software is able to integrate all of the weapons that we have in the current aircraft in our air wing. This aircraft has to fit into our air wing: We can’t fit the air wing around the aircraft.”
Greenert has long been portrayed as a very reluctant supporter of the F-35C, mainly because of his concerns about stealth. Most of those comments have been either misunderstood or mischaracterized, but the Navy clearly is paying much closer attention to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet than to its F-35C variant of the Joint Strike Fighter right now. Talking to reporters after today’s hearing, Greenert made clear the service’s attention and anxiety focused on the F-18s: “In the end, the question is, when we go to the Joint Strike Fighter/Super Hornet integrated air wing out there, do we have enough Super Hornets? Will we be able to SLEP [Service Life Extension Program] them? I’m concerned about that shortfall.”
The Navy’s “fighter shortfall” has been an issue under debate for at least six years. But the pace of Navy fighter operations has not declined much over that period and rebuilding F-18s to keep them flying for many more hours is taking longer than expected so the problem doesn’t seem to be going away.
Meanwhile, the Marines remain the service most relentlessly committed to and optimistic service the F-35, even under a new commandant, Gen. Joseph Dunford. Their F-35B variant will be the first to reach IOC, this summer — Dunford pledged that they’re on track — and will replace three different kinds of aircraft. “It doesn’t just replace the F-18, the AV-8, and the EA-6,” Dunford told the committee. It’ll do
everything those three aircraft can do but also in…the information environment, it’ll do a significant amount more for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force.”
Doing more in the information environment, though, requires getting those sensors and their software to work.
Sydney contributed the SASC elements to this story.I felt inspired after reading Jeff Atwood's post "Password Rules Are Bullshit". The concept is fairly simple: use Unicode characters (including emojis) in passwords. If you're using HMAC + bcrypt (and you should be) everything should work perfectly fine.
Sadly, a very large number of websites do not support Unicode characters in passwords, have low max character counts or have crazy password rules. This is horrible and needs to be fixed; however, instead of berating these companies publicly I would rather learn more about what's broken and actually try to fix the problem. It doesn't hurt for me to send an email and follow up every few days. If you know of a company that needs to be bothered, hit me up on twitter @sethblackatx and I'd be more than happy to bug them. :)
Now for the fun stuff: I put the generator above on github. It generates a 26-glyph password using multiple unicode blocks and the Fortuna PRNG.
Both Fortuna and the unicode secure password generator can be found on GitHub and as NPM packages:
https://github.com/sethblack/javascript-strong-password-generator
https://www.npmjs.com/package/javascript-strong-password-generator
https://github.com/sethblack/javascript-fortuna
https://www.npmjs.com/package/javascript-fortuna
-Sethers
Jason BlackeyeRapper Drake Quietly Helps Portland Faith-Based Rescue Mission to Benefit Homeless
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After performing at his concert in Portland last week, rapper Drake stopped by the Union Gospel Mission to donate a substantial amount of cash for the organization that helps feed and keep the homeless warm during Oregon's harsh winter season.
On any given night, more than 3,000 homeless people can be seen posted throughout Portland's city streets, and to help them the organization is in need of donations to continue assisting them through temporary care, as well as addiction recovery and spiritual support.
On its website, the rescue mission urges visitors to donate money, however, they were surprised when they received unexpected help from the rapper.
"He saw homeless guests sleeping in our dining room through the window," said Stacy Kean, communications director for the organization, to The Christian Post. "His bodyguard buzzed the door and spoke with our night shelter supervisor, David Willis, who stepped outside and talked to Drake and his bodyguard."
She added, "Drake chatted with David and asked him what we were doing, and David explained we had cold weather emergency shelter where we allowed the homeless to sleep on our dining room floor. David said Drake was moved by this and gave a donation on the spot."
According to Portland's CBS affiliate, KOIN News, Willis said Drake's random act of kindness sent a heartfelt message, and one that the organization is thankful for.
"It lets me know that even famous people got to have hearts for those who are less fortunate," said Willis. "It brings them back to reality like, 'Hey I could be here. I could have been there.'"
The organization plans to use the money to purchase more resources for the homeless, including blankets.
Although Drake's undisclosed and unpublicized charity garnered little attention, as he intended, it is not the first time he's lent a hand to those in need. In September, the rap star partnered with fellow rap artist, The Game, to donate more than $22,000 to an Ohio family after losing their home in a devastating house fire.
The New York Daily News reports that the homeowner was working her shift at Burger King when her mobile home caught fire, killing her young children and boyfriend trapped inside.
At the time when the news made headlines, The Game was coincidentally on the phone with Drake as he was reading about the family's tragedy. Both rappers immediately decided to help the woman cover the funeral costs and donated additional funds to help her purchase a new vehicle.Our time is now - (Part 4)
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Yes. We. Can. - (Part 3)
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OMG!!! We did it!!! (Part 2)
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We're successfully funded. But it's not over until the fat lady sings. We have an aggressive set of stretch goals to make this campaign go Interstellar.
The Original Write-Up (Part 1)
Basically I'm excited to bring to the world this new interesting web series that follows my adventures as I attempt to a single chicken nugget everyday for 100 days. The result will be 100 episodes, around a minute long a piece that check in with me through one of the strangest journeys of my life.
We're hoping to raise $100 to help fund this unprecedented venture. I have a camera/laptop to record these episodes, and I'll be able to edit them together using editing software I own. Despite all this, we still have needs that your dollars can help us fill. Our budget is projected to breakdown accordingly...
65% for chicken nuggets/gas
15% for our website domain name purchase
10% for our incentives
10% for Kickstarter fees
5% for errors/just in case
This series can't happen without the love, support, and money of people like you - family, friends, or compelled strangers.When pondering how Manchester United might cope with Phil Jones' likely absence for the return UEFA Champions League knock-out tie leg with Real Madrid, the concern is basically how can Sir Alex Ferguson's side find an alternative way to contain Cristiano Ronaldo?
Just to briefly recap, Jones has been instrumental since the new year -- from a right-sided central-midfield position -- in helping to contain influential attackers such as Tottenham's Gareth Bale, Everton's Marouane Fellaini, and Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. This hasn't necessarily been in strict man-marking roles as some have suggested -- although, his tracking of the Belgian was pretty much a shadowing job -- but rather it's been in an inside cover role. Whenever Bale or Ronaldo drifted into central areas or even to the opposite flank, the energetic Jones would eagerly follow them around the pitch in an effort to shackle them. In that regard, I suppose there's remnants of man-marking.
United don't have a like-for-like replacement for Jones. The versatile 20-year-old fancies himself as a defender -- specifically as a central one -- but his combativeness, mobility, and energy provides Ferguson a defensive presence in central-midfield that no other player in the squad can. If Jones is indeed unavailable for Tuesday night's European tie, the manager will have to find a different way to cope with Ronaldo -- arguably the most dangerous attacker in the world at the moment.
The most obvious candidate to replace Jones in midfield is Tom Cleverley. The England international has generally been first-choice alongside Michael Carrick for most of this season's key encounters. However, against Madrid at the Bernabeu, the midfielder was never involved. If he does get the nod for return leg against Jose Mourinho's side, it's most likely going to be in a double-pivot with Carrick. And despite Cleverley's qualities -- technical abilities which Jones does not possess -- he cannot provide the same sort of shielding qualities that the combative 20-year-old can.
The most typical system for United in big games this season has been a counterattacking 4-4-1-1. Early on in the season -- particularly away to Chelsea, home to Arsenal, and away to Manchester City -- this meant keeping the lines compact, absorbing pressure, and then springing forward on the counterattack when possession was won. More specifically, the breaks often occurred on the flanks.
Diagram 1: United often created 2 v 1 overloads down the flanks with the full-back and winger combining after lightning quick breaks.
This is a system that certainly is very possible for Ferguson's side against Madrid. Rather than having a particular central-midfielder like Jones shadow Ronaldo whenever he inevitably cuts inside towards goal from the left, an organized and compact shape would require a cohesive effort in order to shackle to the Portuguese attacker. Madrid's other wide attacker -- Angel di Maria -- also tends to move into increasingly central positions the nearer to goal he gets. In this counterattacking 4-4-1-1 system, United would simply hope to absorb and deal with the pressure as a collective unit whenever the Madrid front four funnel towards the United goal.
If Cleverley -- or possibly Ryan Giggs or Anderson -- is selected in a double-pivot alongside Carrick, then the other critical selection choice with Ronaldo in mind is the right-winger to partner right-back Rafael. During the reverse fixture at the Bernabeu, Wayne Rooney was tasked with a right-sided attacking role. However, the Englishman ended up having a poor match, especially from a defensive perspective. Early on in Madrid, Rafael was seen yelling at Rooney because he needed more protection and it was Mourinho's left-back -- Fabio Coentrao -- that would've opened the scoring if not for a brilliant David de Gea save tipped onto the far-post. After Danny Welbeck did score an opening goal for United against the run of play, Rooney was immediately seen darting to the coaching staff near the touchline with his arms spread wide. Basically, he was expressing his concern that he and Rafael were not compact enough. Quite simply, there was little cohesion between Rafael and Rooney and that right-sided partnership is not likely to be repeated.
Much of Rooney's and Rafael's defensive struggles at the Bernabeu -- particularly in the first-half -- was masked by Jones performing well in his inside cover role. If Jones is out as expected for Tuesday night's game, then that same sort of protection won't be available and there will more of an onus on the right-sided attacker to help Rafael deal with Ronaldo and Coentrao. The most likely candidates appear to be Nani and Antonio Valencia.
In general, United's wingers have been disappointing this season. This is presumably why Ferguson elected to choose Rooney -- more naturally a central-attacking player -- rather than one of his struggling wingers. The main right-side options, though, Nani and Valencia, have shown improved form since the tie in Madrid nearly three weeks ago. The Portuguese winger, in particular, has shown flashes of his match-winning abilities and he's without a doubt the best attacking option for that flank at the moment. The Ecudorian winger still isn't convincing in attack, but he's in contention to start because of his defensive abilities out wide.
Nani's defensive ability has improved over the years and he's typically adequate now, despite having the frustrating tendency to switch off in moments. If Jones were fit to feature in central-midfield, then the Portuguese international would probably be the best option to feature on the right. Without that sort of shielding available in the center of the park though, Ferguson will be contemplating if Nani can offer adequate protection for Rafael.
Valencia has a wonderful understanding with Rafael and this is undoubtedly the most balanced partnership on the right side when the winger is in good form. The problem, though, is that he's not in good attacking form. Ferguson's worry with Valencia will be wondering if the winger can provide enough thrust and ability in attack when United break forward. If there's no effective outlet on the right-side, then the Reds will continually be re-absorbing attack after attack from Madrid. These are the sort of dilemmas the gaffer is likely considering with the possibility of Jones being out.
If Ferguson still doesn't trust either Nani or Valencia to start the match, then other possibilities on the right include Ashley Young, Shinji Kagawa, Cleverley, Welbeck, or Rooney (again). None of these players, except for Young, would provide genuine width so there would be concern if one of these players -- in a nominal wide role -- would be able to provide an outlet down the flank in order to relieve pressure. Against Madrid with Rooney on the right, and against Spurs recently with Cleverley on the right, United looked disjointed when possession was won because they didn't have their familiar out-ball near the right touchline. Because of this, in both those matches at the Bernabeu and at White Hart Lane, United were forced to deal with attack after attack because they had little sustained relief from their own attackers.
There's always the possibility, of course, that Ferguson could go away from his familiar 4-4-1-1ish shape and instead, use a diamond midfield or a 4-3-3/4-5-1. The diamond is a system that United have used numerous times earlier in the season while a three-man central-midfield has been something deployed often by Ferguson in past years for difficult European ties. Both shapes would allow the home side on Tuesday night to clog the midfield and perhaps better deal with the onrush of attackers through the middle -- Ronaldo, di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain or Karim Benzema, Mesut Ozil, and Sami Khedira -- whenever Madrid near the United goal.
United are arguably a team hitting peak form right now for this season and they did tremendously well to earn a 1-1 away result at the Bernabeu. Tuesday night's game, though, is obviously a challenge against one of Europe's best sides and against perhaps the world's greatest attacker at the moment in Cristiano Ronaldo*. There is no shame if Ferguson takes a reactive approach and besides, Madrid aren't a team you want to recklessly attack and then leave space for them to counterattack into -- they are perhaps the best side in the world in quick transitions.
* Lionel Messi's relative dip in form is likely to be extremely temporary.
Jones' likely unavailability against Ronaldo and co. presents Ferguson many worries. The pseudo man-marking ability by the versatile 20-year-old has been an extraordinary asset in recent months and now because the value of it is very obvious, particularly against Madrid, the absence of that option at the manager's disposal is likely to give him headaches while planning for Tuesday night. It's likely going make selection-choices more complicated than usual because of the trickle-down effect of Jones' absence. There will be an emphasis on the collective rather the reliance of the Englishman's individual defensive abilities.
This could make United a more balanced side though. Without having one central player being so concerned with one player from the opposition side, there would be more stability in the overall shape. Carrick would presumably not be so isolated against the likes of Ozil, Khedira, and Xabi Alonso while Patrice Evra would have a bit more assistance in dealing with di Maria. But then again -- the original problem -- would Jones not shackling Ronaldo allow the ruthless Portuguese attacker too much freedom? It's uncertain how United will perform if Phil Jones doesn't feature on Tuesday night, but it will make them a very different team.Montenegrin goalkeeper Lenac shot and killed while training
The 33-year-old was working on his fitness with a friend at the FC Bokelj training ground when he was fatally wounded
Goran Lenac, a goalkeeper who once graced the Montenegrin top-flight, has been shot and killed while training with a friend.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening at around 7:30pm local time.
Lenac was at the FC Bokelj training ground when he was fatally wounded by a gunshot to the head.
The 33-year-old was rushed to hospital in critical condition, with a medical facility in Risan later confirming that he had passed away.
Lenac had been on the books of top tier outfit Bokelj as recently as 2015 and was using his ties to the club to stay in shape.
He was a popular figure in the community, with former team-mates and those who knew him revealing that he was a committed athlete who often helped to fund the development of aspiring stars out of his own pocket.
Police blocked off the city of Kotor as the search began for Lenac’s assailant.
Local media in Montenegro - skalaradio.com - have reported that the shooter must have known the area as he was able to escape quickly in the dark without being caught.
It is also claimed that shots were fired into the air as the attacker fled the scene in an effort to scare off potential eye-witnesses.WEBZEN announces today that the upcoming Asian fantasy MMORPG ASTA – The War of Tears and Winds will soon begin a public initial beta test in November 2015.
Access to the initial beta test will not be restricted, and starting from 3rd November 2015, all players with an active WEBZEN account will be able to check out this new addition to the webzen.com game portal for the first time. The initial beta test is scheduled to last for roughly one month andwill provide players with a first look at the game’s settings and features, while also doubling as a server stress test and general check-up. Upon its conclusion, player progress and characters will be wiped. Once the official open beta begins, all participants of the initial beta test will receive a special thank-you gift.
Apart from the unique art design and attention to detail in its environments and characters, ASTA also brings back some of the most popular features found in the most beloved classic MMOs, such as customizable attributes and talent trees. This allows players to have more freedom within the game and to create their perfect character. The Divine Spirit System and jewelry crafting also allow for extensive customization, letting players fine-tune their specializations even further.
Boasting a wide range of features, ASTA offers plenty of content for players of all types. Some of the most notable features include:
• A vibrant fantasy setting inspired by Asian myths and legends
• Dense and suspenseful storylines and quests
• A dungeon and raid finder for cooperative group play
• PvP battlegrounds, arenas, and guild battles
• Extensive character customization, featuring unique systems such as Divine Spirits
• An in-depth crafting system with a variety of professions
Interested players can check out the game’s Official Website and Facebook Page to get more informaton about ASTA.Hey Washington City Paper, here’s a question for you: Why does anyone need an “Answers Issue” in the age of Google?
Maybe not every city does. But Washingtonians display an enduring curiosity about the arcana of their city, and sometimes a simple search only yields hearsay and misinformation. Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to believe everything you read on the Internet?
We like to think it takes a small crew of local-minded journalists to really get to the bottom of these mysteries, so for the fourth year in a row, we’re serving up carefully researched answers to your burning questions. We also like to think of each question as a little love letter to our paper: “City Paper,” cries the reader. “I need you!”
Questions ranged from the practical (Where can I find good udon? Can we smoke weed yet?) to the improbable (Can I get a tour of Dupont Underground?) to the quasi-mystical (Which local meteorologist is the best?). Unlike last year, we fielded no animal-themed questions, but we did get a bunch of geography-related stumpers.
We hope these answers tide you over until next year. In the meantime, we’re looking to you, the reader, to gin up some more mysteries. Keep it weird and keep asking. –Emily Q. Hazzard
Who painted the “Welcome to Old City” mural at the corner of 6th and Florida NE? Did the District put it up? Do people who live there self-identify as Old Citizens? Tweet The District didn’t have anything to do with this work of public art. Rebecca and Yancey Burns own the home at 1208 6th St. NE, one side of which is visible from Florida Avenue, and decided this past March to commission the mural to celebrate and better identify the neighborhood. After consulting a list of artists provided by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, they decided to hire Coby Kennedy, a D.C.-raised graffiti artist and car designer who has painted city-commissioned murals in Eckington and Blagden Alley, though none in this exact style. The entire process took about two weeks during last year’s cold snap, and though he couldn’t feel his hands during part of the painting process, Kennedy still describes the work as one of his favorites. The Burnses first heard the area referred to as “Old City” by their neighbors, who’ve lived in the neighborhood for decades. “We’re not quite NoMa, not quite Union Market, not quite H Street, and definitely not Capitol Hill North,” Rebecca says. “So we asked our neighbors, the Halls (who have been in the neighborhood since the ‘50s) what they call our neighborhood, and they told us they’ve always called it Old City.” (The Burns’ home is located in Old City 1, as defined by the D.C. Tax and Revenue Office.) Since Florida Avenue formed the northern boundary of the L’Enfant city when it was first designed, this neighborhood is one of D.C.’s oldest, though now it’s commonly referred to as Near Northeast. As for whether or not the residents call themselves “Old Citizens,” they certainly could. However, the preferred term for a resident of the District is not Petworthian or Georgetowner or Hill East-er; it’s Washingtonian. —Caroline Jones
Can I get a tour of Dupont Underground? Tweet Now? Probably not. (Unless you’re a reporter or have internal connections, in which case, whoop-de-doo for you. Stop clogging our inbox.) But check back in a couple of weeks. Tours will soon be open to the public, according to Braulio Agnese, a member of the board of directors of the nonprofit Arts Coalition for the Dupont Underground, which clinched a 2010 bid for the site and signed a five-and-a-half year lease with the city last month. ACDU will set up an online ticketing system where locals curious about the history of the abandoned trolley station underneath Dupont Circle can sign up—and pay a $10-$20 fee—for a guided look-see. Tours will be limited, in part to preserve a sense of exclusivity. “Subterranean spaces are compelling in and of themselves, whether it’s a hole in the ground, or a cave, or a forgotten basement space somewhere,” Agnese says. “[The Dupont Underground] is in such a prominent location and has been sitting here completely lost to the local memory. It was a major bit of infrastructural work that happened in the ‘40s, and that history is all buried and forgotten.” The 75,000-square-foot space will start hosting one-off programs—concerts, site-specific art installations, special events—later this year and, ACDU hopes, eventually become a community gathering space that advances the city’s homegrown arts and culture. For now, though, it’s a rough draft. When you do take the tour, you’ll have to sign a waiver to enter, since it’s not yet up to code. The floor’s uneven, the lighting’s a little dim, and it’s far from ADA-compliant. “It’s not like pieces are falling from the ceiling,” Agnese says, but it’s “kind of like a construction site.” Luckily, you have some time to bedazzle your hard-hat. —Christina Cauterucci
Why, except for a tiny half-block, is there no F Street SE on Capitol Hill? Tweet The answer’s clearer if you look at old maps of the city. Currently, it looks like that little block of F Street between 1st and 2nd streets SE comes out of nowhere, and G could just as easily be renamed F to fill out the grid. But before the freeways got in the way, it made more sense. A map of the early Pierre L’Enfant grid shows F Street SW extending eastward to South Capitol Street, then pausing for a block and picking up where that itty bit exists today. The jog at Marion Park also shoots E Street out farther to the south as it heads east, leaving it about equidistant from D and G streets, with little room for an F Street there. —Aaron Wiener
Why are all the trees at the Liberian Embassy at 16th and Colorado all painted white around the base? It’s been like this for as long as I can remember. Tweet I assumed initially that the reason was environmental. In many countries, it’s common to paint the base of trees white in a practice called whitewashing, which protects trees from dehydration or cracking caused by the sun, or from insects. The Liberian Embassy isn’t the only building with white-painted trees: The Inter-American Defense Board at 16th and Euclid streets NW also features trees in these botanical knee socks, and there are probably others. But when I called the embassy, the answer I got was a little cryptic and far more intriguing. “The first reason is solidarity,” said the embassy’s Wede Tamba, relaying a message from the deputy ambassador. “And secondly for purity. Third is because of our [annual independence] celebration on July 26, and most of the time during the celebration we paint it white.” —Aaron Wiener
Why are there old concrete ponds behind so many houses in Takoma? Tweet This one had just about everyone stumped, from Takoma history buffs to city planning officials. The questioner shared a photo of the pond in her backyard, which looks like an oversized, kidney bean-shaped concrete bathtub, and said she knows of at least five more in the surrounding blocks. Very mysterious. But not so to Brendan Meyer, a historic preservation specialist for D.C., who posits a theory (and emphasizes it’s just that). His office’s library is full of home improvement books from the 1950s, which taught enterprising homeowners to work with, among other materials, concrete. The books had lessons in mixing concrete, pouring sidewalks and bird baths, and building pools like the one in the photo. “We speculate,” he writes, “that the pond and the others are 1950s vintage and homeowner DIY projects.” The 1950s timeline makes sense, Meyer continues, because of two recent innovations in concrete: the development of easy-to-mix Portland cement and the invention of moisture-proof bags. After the Great Depression and World War II, he says, homeowners could easily buy bagged concrete that they just had to mix with water. And why Takoma? Meyer says the ponds could just as easily have appeared in other middle-class, spacious D.C. neighborhoods in the 1950s. “But we come across regularly a ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ pattern of unorthodox home improvements. They concentrate simply because one person does it first, the neighbors see it and like it, so they copy it. Nothing mysterious in that.” —Aaron Wiener
How did So’s Your Mom get its name? Tweet The current owner of the Adams Morgan deli, Mark Kim, has run So’s Your Mom for nearly a decade, and the place has changed hands a couple of times since it opened in 1984. One of the original owners, Alan Balaran, sold the business in 1989 and is now an attorney in D.C. The self-described “misplaced Brooklynite” opened the deli with his landlord, Marty Feldman from the Bronx, because the two felt there was no place in the city to buy real meats. (They used to travel to New York to buy their sandwich stuffings.) Before that, Balaran managed a bar across the street from So’s Your Mom called Columbia Station, different from the one that exists in Adams Morgan now, that had a sign on the door reading, “proper attire discouraged.” So, about that name: “It was an insult when I was a kid. That was all. It probably had a few more expletives, but that was sort of the gist of it,” Balaran says. “It was really kind of simple.” Jason Kim, the current owner’s son, says his father has never considered changing the name. In fact, the deli as a whole has remained almost exactly the same as it was from the beginning. “It works,” Kim says. “We just felt no reason to change it.” —Jessica Sidman
What is up with all the twisted and turned-around walk lights at every intersection in the city? Who is turning them? The wind? The vibration from cars whizzing by? Pranksters? Who fixes them, and how do I find them to complain? Tweet Misaligned pedestrian signals have probably been hit by trucks, buses, or other large vehicles, says Michelle Phipps-Evans, a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Transportation. The equipment is pretty sturdy, she adds, so correctly mounted lights aren’t usually affected by gusts of wind. If you see an out-of-whack pedestrian light, contact 311 by phone, through its app, or through its website. “Generally people have been tweeting us,” says Phipps-Evans with an air of calm patience, the opposite tone that people with complaints commonly use on Twitter. For twisted-but-not-broken lights, you can expect a repair team to arrive within two hours of your report and within 24 hours if the signal is completely out. Phipps-Evans adds that she doesn’t know of any accidents caused by downed fixtures, but advises everyone to be cautious and exercise common sense: “Personally, I would look at the [pedestrian light] behind me to see if it’s safe to cross. We want people to be patient, we’re not everywhere so we don’t know where everything is off.” And while readers might feel briefly thrilled by the satisfaction of publicly shaming DDOT on social media for such outages, it won’t speed up the process. —Emily Q. Hazzard
Why do the Capitol Police stop every 30S bus on Pennsylvania Avenue SE as it nears the Capitol building? The buses have to come to a stop, open their doors, and give a thumbs-up to the officer. Does this actually prevent terrorist attacks? Tweet Haven’t you seen Speed?! The U.S. Capitol Police figure that terrorists have. Capitol Police wary of someone turning a bus into a mobile bomb have flagged down buses as they approach the Capitol since January 2004. After checking that the bus hasn’t been stolen or hijacked, police flag the bus on. As for whether it actually prevents terrorist attacks, it’s hard to know, since no stolen-Metro-bus plots have ever been carried out (or foiled, to my knowledge). But there is something that draws crazies to buses. The Belgian terror cell busted last week reportedly planned to take over a bus. Just last October in Anne Arundel County, Md., a couple stole a school bus from a parking lot. The Capitol Police probably don’t have to worry about this pair, though—police say they just wanted to make a cigarette run. —Will Sommer
Can we smoke weed yet? Tweet Yes. No. It’s complicated. It’s true that D.C. has liberalized its marijuana laws over the last year, but Colorado we’re not. In July, D.C. decriminalized the possession of less than ounce of marijuana, dropping the penalty from possible jail time to a $25 ticket. And in November, 65 percent of D.C. voters cast ballots in favor of Initiative 71, but even that only really increased the amount you can legally possess to two ounces, as well as permitted the home cultivation of up to six plants and the unpaid transfer of up to an ounce. So you can grow it, carry it, and pass it off to friends, right? Well, this is where it gets complicated. Initiative 71 isn’t yet law, and it’s unclear whether it will ever become law. Congressional Republicans say they blocked the ballot initiative in a December spending bill, but D.C. officials disagree. They’ve transmitted the measure to Capitol Hill for the usual 30-day review, prompting some Republicans to threaten a lawsuit to keep the city in line. The congressional review ends on Feb. 26, but it remains to be seen how long the legal wrangling over Initiative 71 could continue thereafter. You could claim a medical necessity and register for the city’s medical marijuana program, of course. Last year, D.C. officials scrapped a restrictive list of qualifying conditions, making it substantially easier for the mildly infirm to gain access to legal pot. But there are even caveats there: You’d have to buy your weed from one of the three dispensaries in town, which means higher prices, and you still wouldn’t be allowed to smoke in public. So, unless you’re a registered medical marijuana user, smoking weed remains illegal. But that certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t partake; pot prohibition hasn’t stopped millions from doing so already, nor should it stop you. Take some basic precautions in how you procure your pot and where you smoke it, and don’t be an idiot and drive after you’ve smoked. —Martin Austermuhle
Which local meteorologist has the best track record? I’m tired of falsely raised (or lowered) expectations! Tweet To crown the area’s best meteorologist, we could theoretically cobble together forecasts for every day over the past months or years. Comprehensive data on past weather is readily available online, but past weather forecasts are another story. For some forecasters, everything they publish gets timestamped and archived on their organization’s website. For others, this week’s forecasts disappear online like newspapers thrown in the trash. Regardless, tracking forecasts for every ordinary day isn’t the right way to say who’s best. This isn’t the English Premier League, so meteorology champions are not made in the regular season. It’s during snow season in D.C. that you find out which meteorologist has the grit to come through when it really counts. The most accurate meteorology team this winter has been the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang. Sure, they were an inch or two short in their prediction for Jan. 6, the day D.C. had the greatest accumulation so far this year. But the local ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC weather teams weren’t any closer. The Gang really distinguished itself the day before Jan. 12’s freezing rain episode, which caused a two-hour delay for federal agencies. “Major roads that are treated should be mainly just wet,” the team predicted on Jan. 11. That turned out to be correct. It was also an admirable display of restraint for weather-predicting types. Compare that to a story from the Fox 5 website on the night of Jan. 11. “Seriously, this is a serious situation and you need to be aware of the potential problems BEFORE you try to leave your house on Monday,” the story says. “There’s no nice way to put it: If you live in the D.C. region and you travel on the roads—or sidewalks—to work/school/wherever you need to go, your trip will be impacted.” Capital Weather Gang’s team had the skill |
. “We were relentless in writing to companies.”
Twenty-two years later, they are still relentless. Take, for example, PETA’s campaign against wool. The process starts with investigations into the farms where the sheep are raised. In this case, PETA investigators spent months working as shearers at wool farms suspected to be engaging in acts of animal cruelty, documenting the repeated mishandling of sheep through videos, photos, recorded audio — anything that might better prove its case legally and with the public once it was ready to announce its findings.
The organization boasts an activist network of more than a quarter of a million people who are signed up for “action alerts.”
Sometimes PETA is tipped off to poor treatment through a whistleblower, sometimes PETA’s investigators simply go in expecting to find cruelty and aren’t proven wrong. PETA operatives carried out six investigations into wool ranches in Australia, Argentina, and the US from 2014 to 2016. After the first investigation wrapped in Australia, PETA sent letters detailing the abuse to hundreds of retailers that sell wool products, either to the CEO or an established contact at the company or both in some cases. The process was repeated after each successive investigation.
Sometimes this is enough to galvanize action. Patagonia used to source wool from farms regulated by Ovis 21, an Argentinian organization that advertises sustainable wool farming. When PETA investigated Ovis 21 farms and found mistreatment of the sheep, the retailer dropped Ovis 21 as a supplier right away. (Patagonia declined to comment for this article but sent links to blog posts that the company published after the PETA investigation detailing how, even though it dropped Ovis 21 due to PETA’s work, it would not meet further demands from PETA that Patagonia stop producing wool products altogether.)
If the targeted retailers don’t take action quickly enough, PETA will apply more pressure. As Katz explains it, the organization boasts an activist network of more than a quarter of a million people who are signed up for “action alerts.” These alerts come in the form of email or text requests to volunteers, asking them to send emails to companies that have not yet shown any response to the issue.
A recent action alert targeting Rent the Runway and Revolve urged activists to protest the retailers for continuing to sell products made with rabbit fur. People were encouraged to fire off emails to Revolve’s COO at his work address (listed in the alert) and fill out a form to send prewritten messages to Rent the Runway. After those emails were sent, PETA sent a follow-up email thanking supporters and linking to Revolve and Rent the Runway’s Facebook pages, urging people to leave messages there as well. (Revolve and Rent the Runway did not respond to requests for comment for this story.)
The action alerts can be effective — Free People dropped angora after 67,000 people emailed the company — but if that still doesn’t produce the desired results, PETA will move to public protests. These are the real attention-grabbers: people standing outside Donna Karan’s offices with “Donna Karan: Bunny Butcher” posters and video recordings of rabbits screaming as their fur is ripped off. Volunteers sticking their heads in faux-ostrich bags filled with sand outside of Prada stores to mimic obliviousness to cruelty on ostrich farms. PETA members have stripped, painted their skin, and laid on white tables outside of Hermès stores with “blood” dripping down their bodies after the organization published an investigation into several crocodile and alligator farms that supply Hermès with exotic skins.
“We are not in this to win friends, we are in it to influence people, and unfortunately we have to use uncomfortable tactics sometimes,” Reiman says, laying out her defense with the practiced ease of someone who has had to explain PETA’s tactics for her entire career. “We have to push people outside of their comfort zone, but it’s our duty, our responsibility, to stop animal suffering in any way that we can. And it doesn’t really impact anyone’s life, when we are out there, doing a demonstration. In fact, it is improving their life because it is going to make the world a kinder place. It’s hard for them to sometimes see that, but it’s the truth.”
Sometimes the protests aren’t aimed at any company in particular but rather an industry as a whole. The snow globe demonstration was a plea for shoppers to not buy wool this winter. PETA regularly protests fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Anna Wintour has taken tofu pies to the face, as have Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors, and Karl Lagerfeld (although one missed and accidentally hit Calvin Klein, who was by then on PETA’s good side).
We are not in this to win friends, we are in it to influence people, and unfortunately we have to use uncomfortable tactics sometimes.
Celebrities are an important component to PETA’s public message as well. Pink, Khloe Kardashian, Eva Mendes, and Jenna Dewan Tatum have all participated in PETA’s long-running “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” campaign, where (mostly female) celebrities are photographed nude. Occasionally, though, the celebrity angle can backfire: Naomi Campbell has been seen wearing fur multiple times after posing for PETA.
Huge names in advertising have also sought out work with the group, looking to try something out of the ordinary and knowing that PETA would be receptive. Advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather worked with PETA on a pro bono ad released last year that depicted an accessories shop selling leather and exotic skins. When shoppers opened a bag or slipped on a glove, they found animal innards inside.
“People are bored with traditional means of being educated,” Reiman says. “It’s tricky to constantly think of new and different ways to get attention, but we’re committed to doing that all the time.”
The fashion ad campaigns are actually pretty mild compared with some of the concepts that PETA has run to promote veganism outside of fashion. Particularly shocking examples include a long-running campaign where PETA compared animals in slaughterhouses to victims of the Holocaust, a “Save the Whales” billboard campaign insinuating that women should go vegetarian to lose weight, and a campaign launched last year that bore down on a tenuous connection between eating chicken and bearing children with small penises.
Once ad campaign concepts are set, the arsenal of communication methods with which PETA can push out its message to the public has never been more robust than it is today. Reiman describes the internet as “the best thing that has ever happened for animals” and the advent of social media as an absolute gift for the organization.
“You put up a video of rabbits having their fur ripped from their skin and screaming, and it doesn’t take much for companies to say, ‘Okay, we won’t sell that anymore,’’’ says Reiman. “You put just one video like that on Facebook, and millions of people see it.” PETA hit 1.3 billion views across all video platforms in 2016 alone.
It’s a far cry from when the only way for the organization to disseminate information was to make it on the 6 o’clock news. Plus, the video footage was often too graphic for TV, and while volunteers would take to the streets and show videos to people walking by, that hardly had the same impact.
Reiman and Katz maintain that protests are just as important in the age of the internet, but it’s clear that racking up massive amounts of shares on PETA videos is a more effective tactic for the group. “It used to be that people liked the outlandish stuff we did,” Reiman says. “Now we put protest clips on Facebook, and people are like, ‘Whatever.’ But we put a video of rabbits that are having their fur ripped out, and everybody watches it.”
That, in turn, makes it a lot easier to pressure companies into bending to PETA’s will. And retailers know that if they bow to PETA once, the organization will keep pressuring them on other issues. Every time a new investigation is released and a supplier exposed, PETA demands change over and over. There is literally no limit to the amount of emails that the organization will dump on a CEO, nor the amount of times it will assemble volunteer armies to target the brands it has deemed enablers of animal cruelty.
Following this logic, it stands to reason that some retailers drop fur or wool or down not because of videos of screaming animals but because of the deluge of screaming people at their door. Reiman and Katz acknowledge that this happens but that it doesn’t matter. Corporate motives are beside the point.
“As long as they do the right thing, we don’t really care why they’ve done it,” Reiman says. “We like to think they’re doing it for the right reasons because that will help ensure that they will make other good decisions, but at the end of the day, as long as animals aren’t suffering, that’s our goal.”
While PETA has no problem condemning companies left and right, the organization also makes a point of celebrating designers that are championing vegan fashion.
PETA hosts vegan fashion shows, vegan design competitions, vegan pop-up shops, and panels with vegan designers. It develops vegan fashion look books. There’s a free “PETA-approved” logo that qualifying designers can use to market their products, and they can also get the full backing of PETA, which comes with free promotion on PETA’s website and social media accounts.
PETA is chasing after influencers, too: Louise Roe has collaborated on style videos with the nonprofit, and Miley Cyrus has Instagrammed herself wearing a PETA sweatshirt that reads “Be Loud for Animals.”
Christina Sewell, PETA’s senior fashion campaigner, says that her job has gotten easier since she started three years ago. More designers are open to hearing about vegan fashion now, even as PETA’s reputation doesn’t always work in her favor.
“Sometimes it can be very discouraging, because oftentimes people will hear our name and say, ‘Oh, PETA, they probably just want to throw blood on us or something,’ which is a common misconception,” Sewell says. “But really, what I’m so proud of with our organization is that we are doing our best to meet people at the table. We want to meet brands halfway.”
Put a finger on a mall directory and it’s nearly impossible to hit a name with which PETA hasn’t crossed paths.
PETA eagerly supported Free People’s vegan leather line even as the company continued to sell wool products, and it’ll hand out the PETA-approved logo to not-totally-vegan designers who carry vegan items, so long as the product attached to the logo isn’t produced with any animal fibers.
Put a finger on a mall directory and it’s nearly impossible to hit a name with which PETA hasn’t crossed paths. That doesn’t mean that the groups on the other side of the table want to talk about it, though.
PETA began a crusade against the angora industry a few years back after publishing an investigation of rabbit farms across China. The organization maintains a running list of 200-plus retailers that have since pulled angora products from their shelves. Zara’s parent company Inditex even donated its pulled clothing — more than 30,000 pieces — to a charity supporting Syrian refugees.
I reached out to 50 of the retailers on that list, asking about their decision to ban angora and whether they support PETA; 49 either declined to comment or didn’t respond to the request.
The one retailer that responded, H&M, sent a statement that reads: “Animal welfare is important to us and we are committed to making positive contributions throughout our value chain. Our aim is not only to set high standards for ourselves, but for the entire industry. We believe that collaboration between brands and stakeholders such as PETA are important to deal with different challenges in the industry as these are often difficult to address as an individual company. In addition, in 2015 PETA awarded H&M its Libby Award as Most Animal-Friendly Clothing Company.” H&M continues to carry a variety of wool and leather products, and PETA has moved on to pressuring the retailer to only use vegan materials in its Conscious Collection.
It’s clear that PETA isn’t a desirable topic of discussion for most retailers, regardless of their relationship with the organization. So I expanded my search and dug around closer to PETA’s own tribe: vegan designers who have worked with the organization.
Here, I found a more receptive crowd. However, there are differences even within the vegan market about how to communicate beliefs to consumers. Taking a firm stance on an issue inherently means that you will not please everyone, and vegan brands are split on how active to be in their activism.
Angela Roi, a vegan handbag brand that markets itself to a mass audience, wants the quality of design to be its selling point, not the fact that it's vegan. “Although we are vegan, we are not promoting ourselves as a vegan brand or pushing vegan activism,” says Roi Lee, co-founder of the brand. “We approach it this way because we don’t believe in radical change in society. We cannot force other people to wear what they don’t like.”
Instead, Lee argues, market research has shown that handbag customers (vegan or not) care about design and quality of a product above all else, so that's the marketing message that Angela Roi promotes. Plus, he notes, veganism gets a bad rap thanks to more extreme activists. He'd rather a customer walk in, love the bags for how they look and feel, and then be pleasantly surprised to find out that they are made with vegan materials.
Angela Roi has participated in PETA’s various vegan fashion initiatives, and Lee only has positive things to say about his interactions with them. But when it comes to promoting animal-friendly charities through the brand, Angela Roi partners with less controversial places like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA.
“We’re not against PETA, but who doesn’t like puppies and pets and supporting mistreated animals?” Lee says. “So our first small step is supporting mistreated animals rather than radical activism against killing animals.”
Morgan Bogle, the designer behind Freedom of Animals, chooses to display her vegan messaging more prominently, which she says hasn’t adversely affected the brand’s sales. Freedom of Animals has also publicly collaborated twice with PETA, once on a small collection of two bags and then again on the “Virkin,” a vegan Birkin-style bag that Bogle had to reproduce several times in order to meet demand.
I saw videos that I didn’t want to see that affected me, that made me not sleep at night, that made me wake up the next morning and decide to do something about it.
When the collaborations went live, Bogle received a handful of angry emails from customers demanding to know why she would partner with an organization like PETA. But she dug in, responded to the complaints, and found that it was a good opportunity to open up a dialogue about how people perceive PETA vs. the reality of the organization.
“I’m not bothered by the shocking advertising of PETA,” Bogle says. “For me, that’s the only reason that I am where I am. I saw videos that I didn’t want to see that affected me, that made me not sleep at night, that made me wake up the next morning and decide to do something about it.”
Joshua Katcher, the founder of vegan menswear brand Brave Gentleman, who is also a design professor at Parsons and author of the forthcoming book Fashion & Animals, recognizes PETA’s significant role in creating a more sustainable fashion industry. If not for PETA’s obsessive work in forcing brands to come face to face with their supply chains, he says, it would be much easier for them to overlook animal cruelty in the industry.
“I think that word gets used — radical, extreme — when talking about something as simple as being kind,” he says, choosing his own words in a measured, deliberate way. “And I think that what is truly extreme and truly radical is when you look at these massive industrial systems that are designed with animals in them as simple units of production without any second thought to their condition or their perspective or their welfare.”
Katcher acknowledges that PETA’s methods are controversial, which he attributes to PETA’s desire to transmit its message as effectively as possible.
“I tell my students, you can use whatever materials you want, but you should be making an informed decision,” he says. “You should know where this is coming from. And if you can’t bear to watch PETA videos, then maybe you need to question whether or not you should be financially supporting this system.”
The quandary Katcher poses to his students might be an interesting measure of one’s moral standards, but if a student walks out of class, streams a video of a PETA investigation where sheep are punched in the face and stabbed in the throat and left to bleed out on wool ranches, then decides to pursue a career in knitwear, is that wrong?
No, at least from a legal standpoint.
Mariann Sullivan, a professor of animal law at Columbia University, founder of the nonprofit Our Hen House, and host of the Animal Law podcast, explains that farmed animals have “virtually no protection” under the law. Some animals, like captive wildlife, are subject to more protections because they are covered under a broader spectrum of laws, like the Endangered Species Act (which helps protect endangered animals and their ecosystems from extinction) and the Animal Welfare Act (which helps protect animals used in research and exhibition). But for commercial animals raised for food or clothing, there are only basic animal cruelty laws that are enforced at the state level.
“Each state has its own laws,” Sullivan says. “They are relatively similar, and they involve prohibiting causing an animal to suffer unnecessarily. So what does unnecessary mean? If you’re making money off of it, does that mean it’s necessary? There’s a lot of ambiguity in the laws, and then the laws are only enforced by prosecutors, not by animal protection organizations.”
Last year, PETA published an extensive investigation into Padenga, a corporation that farms crocodiles and alligators for both skin and meat. PETA linked Padenga to the fashion industry through Hermès, which sources skins from the company, and investigated crocodile and alligator farms in Harare, Zimbabwe and Winnie, Texas that are affiliated with Padenga.
The video exposé at the Lone Star Alligator Farm in Texas had all the hallmarks of a typical PETA investigation: animals squirming over one another in jammed concrete pits, workers hacking into animals’ necks with box cutters and punching rods into their skulls to scramble their brains. The general method of killing involved dislocating the animals’ cervical vertebrae, but the investigator taped the farm’s manager acknowledging that this doesn’t always kill the animal. PETA ran this alongside a quote from a reptile expert saying that attempting to dislocate any part of the spinal cord without anesthesia doesn’t guarantee immediate death and is intensely painful for the animal.
Often, the law follows a change in public opinion and societal views, and so you need to get public opinion on board before you ultimately get a change in the law.
After the investigation was published, PETA filed a complaint with the local sheriff and urged him to prosecute the farm based on a number of violations to animal cruelty laws. In an interview with the Houston Press, the sheriff admitted that he’d never been asked to prosecute an animal cruelty case like this before. “We had to do a lot of research to determine what the standard is for what is legal and not legal,” he told the Houston Press. When he conducted his own investigation on the farm, he found “no real contradiction” to PETA’s complaints.
Ultimately, a grand jury determined that the farm was still operating within the boundaries of the law. Lone Star Alligator Farm was completely exonerated. Charles Reddell, the CEO of the farm, declined to comment other than to reiterate that the farm was completely exonerated of all charges.
But from PETA’s perspective, the fight was far from over. Over 100,000 people have sent messages to Hermès petitioning the company to stop using exotic skins. Nearly naked women with painted-on crocodile skins parked themselves in front of Hermès stores armed with signs that read “Hermès: Accessories to Murder.” PETA called on Jane Birkin to remove her name from the Birkin bag (which she publically considered but ultimately declined). The organization bought a share in Hermès in order to gain access to the annual shareholders’ meeting and protest there as well.
“You have to go to the sellers and say, ‘This is going to make you look bad, this is going to give you a black eye, so you have to stop this,’” Sullivan says. “That’s where all the progress has been made. It’s a sad commentary on the ineffectiveness of the law.”
PETA may not be able to liberate animals through the law, but taking the issue and putting it in front of millions of people through whatever means necessary can also prove successful.
“There’s different ways of effecting change,” says Joan Schaffner, an associate professor at George Washington University Law School who specializes in animal law. “It’s not just through the law. Often, the law follows a change in public opinion and societal views, and so you need to get public opinion on board before you ultimately get a change in the law.”
Schaffner explains that historically, public opinion in general has been a great catalyst for legal change. And if PETA’s wild public displays and shocking billboard ads are what will get people thinking differently and ultimately bring greater protection for animals, then the movement is better off for it.
“In my mind, I don’t know that I would care in terms of whether what PETA was uncovering was legal or not,” Schaffner says. “If it was illegal, great, let’s prosecute them. If it’s not, that means we have to get the word out to make it illegal, to change our laws to forbid this kind of behavior.”
Consider PETA’s overarching goal of complete animal liberation. Imagine for a second what that would look like: the retail industry collectively ceasing to stock any shred of clothing that used an animal in its production, the food industry going completely meat- and dairy-free.
“Our society is so far away from a vegan society,” Schaffner says, chuckling at any semblance of feasibility. “We’re so far from that. It’s hardly foreseeable that we will ever achieve that goal.”
Yes, PETA got 200 retailers to drop angora. But pick any name on that list at random, and the company is surely stocking a litany of products made with other animal fibers or skins or byproducts. And plenty of luxury brands still use fur, wool, and exotic skins. There’s no way that the fashion industry will ever collectively walk away from animal products. Even with each incremental step tallied and congratulated, it’s so easy to look at the insurmountable odds of the bigger picture and wonder: Why bother?
Back in that conference room named after Pamela Anderson, Tracy Reiman tells me that she’s only ever worked at PETA. She started out taking phone orders from the PETA Catalog in college, worked full-time as a receptionist at PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia after she graduated, then became a campaigner, and worked her way up to executive vice president. She just celebrated her 25th work anniversary.
She smiles often throughout our talk, a wide, white, toothy smile. She describes herself as an optimist, but an involuntary one, because when she looks around, she says, she can’t help but be optimistic with all the progress going on around her: “Every day, I come in here so excited to change the world.”
I keep starting questions with “Aren’t you annoyed…?” and “Isn’t it frustrating…?” because I can’t imagine waking up every day and looking around and re-realizing the massive amount of mountains that must be moved in order to accomplish the unattainable goal of complete animal liberation when there are not even animal laws strong enough to successfully prosecute one alligator farm in Texas.
“Sure, it’s very frustrating,” she says. “But it drives us to keep working, that’s all that I can say. It will change eventually. People are changing. They are demanding change. Companies are starting to react. It’s not fast enough — definitely not fast enough for the animals who suffer every day. It’s hard. It’s personal. It’s important to us. But you know, you just gotta get up the next day and keep plugging away, right?”
Erika Adams is a Racked contributor.
Editor: Julia Rubin
Copy editor: Heather SchwedelThe following is a lyric essay I wrote in my penultimate semester of college, written for an advanced nonfiction writing class. It is a found-form essay, using the form of a series of letters to personal heroes (three of whom are fictional) to allow for self-exploration.
“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of.”
-Joss Whedon
Dear Batman (or may I call you Bruce?),
I felt like I had to write to you. You are an inspiration to me, and I don’t know who else talk to about this.
It’s not really fair for me to write to you, since I know you are busy in your quest to preserve the spirit of Gotham, and I am writing you, knowing so much about you while you know nothing about me. I don’t even live anywhere near Gotham.
I suppose I warrant a little introduction. I am a college student aspiring to be a novelist. I have just one more semester to finish school.
That sounds so flat in comparison to a person like you– a brilliant, successful billionaire businessman who has dedicated his life to combating crime in the depressed, corrupt city of Gotham. You are part warrior, part detective, part inventor. You are brilliant and dangerous. I’m nothing like you.
And yet, I feel like I know you: the nuances of your character, your powerful sense of morality. I know many of your back-stories, how the keys to any of them is that your parents were killed on the street in front of you, and your fear of bats. Each version of you has been prepared in different ways, going through different struggles to get started. Sometimes you take on apprentices, an assortment of individuals who go by the names of Robin or Batgirl or invent new names when those roles are filled. I know about your failures, your successes. I know your long list of enemies by name.
The part I can’t get out of my head, though, is the death of your parents.
I have nothing in my life that compares to that. I have not undergone any great tragedy beyond the death of one of my best friends when I was fifteen, but he was ravaged by cancer, and part of me felt relieved when he died and escaped his pain. It was tragic, but it didn’t reshape my life.
Is it bad that I kind of want it to? I want to be able to make something beautiful out of his death, something tangible. More than just memories, I want to be able to crystallize the moment I found out he had died and pour it into a book, a story, a poem. That moment when I stood in the office of my high school, my mother hugging me tight then leading me to the car, while I stared blankly, wanting so badly for it to feel real enough that I could cry. Instead I just cried with dry eyes for hours, alone in my room. I want that day to really mean something to me, to shape my writing, and to have an effect on those who read what I write.
A common adage used for writers is “write what you know.” I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase. Well, I don’t personally know the things I want to write about. I want to create something fascinating and deep and meaningful. Beautiful. Emotive. My interactions with the depths of human emotion have been brief and would not seem profound to anybody but myself. The writers around me have almost all known some sort of great suffering– parents have died, disease has attacked their bodies. They can draw on their experiences to create beautiful works of literature. How can I believe I can do that? I couldn’t even produce tears when Garrett died. I laughed during his funeral, so how deeply have I felt pain, sorrow, or grief?
Part of your goal as Batman is to inspire people, right? Well, how can you be my inspiration? I cannot do what you can. I do not have vast funds, combat training, scientific intellect, or the motivation to do what you do. I don’t want to be like you: your life is hard and riddled with sorrows and pain. Plus, you want to inspire people to stand up to corruption and crime, and those really aren’t big issues where I live. No, I just want to be able to draw something from your struggles that allows me to create something really worth reading. Worth writing.
I don’t have a person I really consider to be my mentor, at least not for my writing. I don’t have a person I can turn to who is a voice of experience and reason in creative pursuits. Nobody who will respond.
I don’t know what I’m trying to achieve, writing to you about all this. You can’t be a mentor to me. You’re fictional. You’re inconsistent. You can’t answer me. For heaven’s sake, you depend on my creativity to exist. The closest I can even come to interacting with you is to write a comic book manuscript about you (which is, in fact, one of my dreams). You can be whatever I want you to be, but that somehow seems to make you less worthwhile to look up to. That makes you too flawed, or too perfect.
Plus, how can something that doesn’t really exist provide inspiration?
And what does that say about my fiction?
-N. J. Darkish
–
Dear Harry Potter,
You’re one of my heroes. You were an inspiration to me, especially all through my childhood. Your adventures always drew me in ways that made me feel like I was living them along with you, an unsaid friend who helped you alongside Ron and Hermione.
You were always so brave. Self-sacrificing. Willing to do anything for the sake of good. You stood up against hellish creatures and people. I used to actually shudder when I imagined the clammy flesh of a Dementor. They scared me in ways I couldn’t describe, and yet you were still resolute against them, using your stag Patronus to fight them back, keeping me and your numberless other friends safe.
And Voldemort and his Death Eaters– their darkness knew no bounds, but you were always there to drive them back with your personal light (and a lot of helpful spells, I might add). You always kept going on, even when you were injured, even when things were really hard. Even when Dumbledore, your friend and mentor, was killed. You never stopped, so it felt like I never stopped standing up to evil.
But here’s the frustrating part of all of that: I don’t live in a world where magic is real. I can never go to a place like Hogwarts. I can never learn a single spell. I will never see an elf, dragon, or phoenix. I will never ride a broom. I won’t receive a badass lightning bolt scar. I can’t even train an owl to deliver my mail.
Even more, I am never going to have to face problems like you had to face. The real world may have a lot of evil in it, but very few men come anywhere close to Lord Voldemort. Real evil men are far more complicated than he was, with have at least a few redeeming qualities. And I will never have to come in contact with any of those men. No, I am going to live my life in relatively boring ways. My big problems are almost certainly going to be financial or health-related. The possibility of laying in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm really doesn’t hold a candle to destroying Horcruxes or dueling a dark lord with powerful magic. Though it still is scary as hell.
So, you taught me all this bravery, but for what? What can I do with it? Go hunt down a terrorist? You’ve got to be kidding me. I guess I could write about my fears, but once again, they’re just everyday fears, so how could they be interesting? Sure, I’m terrified to have history of cancer in both sides of my family. I am afraid that my writing will be rejected– by editors, readers, and myself. Heck, I’m afraid I won’t be able to find a job in this crappy economy.
I don’t know if it would mean anything to write about those things. I want to create a world as wonderful and complicated as the one you live in, but how can I do that without falling flat, without any real magic to draw from?
Or is life magical enough? Is love? I’ve fallen in love, I married my high school sweetheart (like you did). I have friends that I can trust with anything, who would fight by my side, maybe even die for me (like you do). I have had helped change people’s lives (like you have).
–I’m not sure if those wonderful things really count as magic. So, inspirational character of my childhood, why didn’t you inspire me to do something that I know is useful, like learn another language or how to sew?
-N. J. Darkish
–
Dear Ender Wiggin,
I hope this letter finds you well when you come into existence in the future and somehow come across this letter. I just wanted to let you know I appreciate what you will do for Earth by defeating the Formics, and I appreciate what you will do to allow other intelligent life to exist in the galaxy.
That was a fairly confusing jumble of statements, made more difficult by the fact that you are supposed to exist around a hundred, then upwards of a thousand (because of space travel) of years into the future. To speak simply, I am a big fan and feel like you have helped me to become a better person.
Your genius has long interested me. I felt a sense of kinship toward you as, at the time I first read of your future exploits, I was in junior high, in all advanced classes and several years ahead of my peers in the subject of math. I felt like I was quite a bit smarter than others and it felt good to see the calculating, nerdy kid and his friends be the ones who come out ahead. You will be chosen to quickly advance to Command School, skipping years of training, and even there you will succeeded. As I read about that, I felt like I was just like you. I wasn’t just in the higher math classes– I was almost always at the top of my class, and I had my three best friends there by my side.
You will be given the simulation game in Command School in which you lead the simulated International Fleet to defeat the enemy Formics, just to learn that you will have, against your knowledge, actually given instructions to real soldiers who killed real alien foes. You won’t cheer when you find out what happened– instead you will sorrow over what you have done, mourning for the dead, even though so many were foreign and dangerous. It was refreshing to finally have someone in fiction to look up to who hated violence, who dealt with problems with words and ideas rather than with a sword, gun, or lightsaber. You will leave the world, find the final remaining Formic egg, and then turn to writing to spread your ideas while all your friends will use armies to spread their causes on earth. You will write as the Speaker of the Dead, and your words will change for the better how the entire world perceived an alien species.
I’m not even anywhere close to as intelligent as you, regardless of how I identified with you when I was younger. I was foolish and didn’t realize that I really was just a little ahead of the curve, but soon would become just another college student, quite book smart, which really can only play a small role in whatever success I have in my life.
I will never be able to use words anywhere near the level of impact that you will have. You will be a world-changer. I am just a simple man. I’m a writer, I hold words as having great value, but I am aware that I never will have the opportunity to change lives like you have, nor do I really want to. It’s great to see that words can make such a difference, but I just want to write fiction.
Is writing fiction really enough to make a difference? I’m not even sure if it is enough in my own life, much less in the lives of others. I know some of my loved ones appreciate what I do, but that is hardly earth-shaking. I can write difficult issues into my stories, I can use symbolism, but what does that really accomplish? It seems like the only writers who really change the world are ones who write religious texts (which I will never do) or ones, like you, who only exist in fictional worlds where people are more willing to read and think and change.
Thanks, I guess, for the inspiration.
-N. J. Darkish
–
Dear Stephen King,
I am one of the Constant Readers that you mention in your forwards and afterwords and your non-fiction books. I have read, by my calculation, all but nine of your books, which, as you know, is no small accomplishment, with your, at the time of my writing, upwards of 60 published novels and collections. I love your writing and have drawn inspiration from what you have written and from your life.
A few years ago I read your most significant non-fiction book, On Writing. From your stories and advice I was able to see a man who had lived what I have long dreamed. Since I was very young, as far back as I can remember, I have loved telling stories, and when I was in sixth grade I decided that I was going to become a novelist, and I’ve never varied from that course. It was very refreshing to see one so successful also starting to write from a very young age.
When I read about the publication of your first novel, Carrie, I felt thrilled for you. I was ecstatic when I read about how its paperback rights sold for so much. I imagined myself in a similar situation: trying to scrape by financially, living in humble circumstances with my sweetheart, trying frantically to get published to help pay for rent, but finally making my break. Your early successes felt like something that I could achieve.
My adoration for you was furthered as I tried to follow the writing advice that you included in On Writing and I discovered that much of it worked for me and my methods of writing. Soon I began to create a number of short stories that I felt proud of (in fact, overly so, as I foolishly tried to get one published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, obviously unsuccessfully). I took a great deal of pleasure as I began to do some of the things that I saw in your writing that I hadn’t seen anywhere else, like subtly connecting |
the ball; I've seen him do it," coach John Harbaugh said. "So, we just need to see him do it."The cardinal won’t be coming. It’s his heart. A fresh medical report from Rome says it would be “difficult” for Cardinal George Pell to take the long flight home to give further evidence to the royal commission into the institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
“It doesn’t preclude his travel,” observed the commissioner Peter McClellan. “It doesn’t say he can’t come.” But McClellan has accepted the verdict of Pell’s medicos that a journey home at this time might have “serious consequences” for His Eminence’s health.
George Pell'still too unwell' to fly to Australia for child abuse royal commission Read more
It’s an unhappy outcome all round. McClellan wants him to give evidence in person. Abuse victims are keen to confront the man in the flesh. And the cardinal, it seems, may never walk the streets of his native Ballarat again.
Just how sick he is remains a mystery. Pell is keen to keep the finer details of his heart problems secret.
His counsel, Alan Myers QC, argued against releasing the medical reports in full: “All it would do is provoke some sort of debate in the press about the medical condition of Cardinal Pell. There is no public interest in that.”
Under strict secrecy, McClellan allowed four barristers to read the latest report. Unimpressed was Paul O’Dwyer SC who told the commission the two-page document revealed “common or garden problems in a man of the cardinal’s age”.
O’Dwyer represents the school principal Graeme Sleeman who lost his job after trying to get rid of a deranged paedophile, Fr Peter Searson. The Searson case is a problem for Pell: he investigated the priest and left him in his Melbourne parish.
Sleeman never worked in the Catholic school system again.
Abuse victims angry as site of George Pell royal commission hearing is moved Read more
O’Dwyer observed that the difficulties facing Pell “fade into insignificance” compared with the pain and distress of victims giving evidence to the commission.
But none of the barristers – some in Sydney and some gathered in Melbourne – challenged the medical report outright. One or two remarked that they were not cardiologists and had no access to cardiologists to contest its conclusions.
Barristers and the commission threw around possible solutions: could the cardinal come by short stages? What about oxygen on the flight? Could he, wondered the commissioner, come by sea?
But time is on Pell’s side. “There is a need,” said McClellan, “to bring the matter to an end as soon as we can conveniently do so.”
He is going to consider his position over the weekend but the commissioner clearly signalled that Pell will be allowed to give evidence by video link from Rome beginning on 29 February.
He is expected to be in the box for about four days: three days’ questioning by counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, and another day’s questioning by the barristers representing victims.
McClellan also foreshadowed he will release some, at least, of the cardinal’s medical report on Monday. The public, he said, had a right to know why Pell would not be present in the flesh. His counsel agreed. He told the commission his client was anxious “to avoid the appearance of unwillingness to give evidence”.After yet another public shooting took place on Wednesday—this time at UCLA in Los Angeles—it’s tempting to feel like there’s simply nothing you can do about gun violence in America. But if you’re like most working Americans, there’s one powerful step you can take today: Stop investing money in guns.
Data from Lab80, the research team behind a new financial tool called GoodbyeGunStocks, reveals that a huge number of American workers are making a high-risk, high-reward investment in the manufacturing of guns and ammunition.
Individual holdings add up to about $16.73 per worker, which might not sound like much. But imagine that investment 4, 16, or 40 years from now. Then multiply it 90 million times.
Approximate amount U.S. workers invest in gun and ammo manufacturers overall:
$1.51 billion
(Via defined contribution retirement plans including 401(k)s)
Approximate number of U.S. workers investing in gun and ammo manufacturers:
90 million
(Americans covered by defined contribution retirement plan accounts)
Amount you’re probably investing in gun and ammo manufacturers through your retirement funds:
$16.73
(Average per American retirement investor)
Ticker symbols of gun and ammunition manufacturers:
OLN (Olin) Biggest U.S. manufacturer of civilian ammunition RGR (Ruger) Commercial sporting market leader SWHC (Smith & Wesson) Created weapons used in San Bernardino shooting VSTO (Vista Outdoor) Manufacturer of pistols, rifles, shotguns, and more
You’ve got one more week to use GoodbyeGunStocks to check your investments for funds that support gun makers, then find gun-free alternatives that are likely to perform equally as well or even better. The 30-day campaign, part of the Campaign to Unload Coalition, ends June 9, 2016.47-year-old Nicholas Coppola says his church always gave him a sense of purpose, but on Thursday that purpose was far different.
Nicholas and supporters delivered petitions to his diocese. The petitions were signed by more than 18-thousand people asking that the diocese not remove him from his work here at St. Anthony's Church in Oceanside because he's gay. He is also now openly married to his longtime partner.
"Maybe the bishops can really get to know us. Invite us and sit with us and maybe come to our homes and know who we are, just like any other loving, married couple," Coppola said.
Until now, Coppola was very active here at St. Anthony's Church. He was a Eucharistic minister to the homebound, even assisted his priest in church during communion and he helped with religious instruction. But then someone wrote an anonymous letter calling it a "serious situation?the problem is that he is a homosexual...he was recently married to another man?and, with all that the catholic church has been dealing with and trying to stop - why is this permitted?"
"It was faxed to Father Nick Lombardi, my pastor, who again, was directed by the diocese that he had no choice, and he had to remove me," Coppola said.
And so with the support of the groups, Glaad and Faithful America, Coppola brought in the petitions, but the Diocese of Rockville Centre was quick and stern in its response. It was also somewhat critical of a photo op with 3 boxes. Their statement: "in fact, 2 boxes were empty? the Catholic Church recognizes that all persons share equally in the dignity of being human... This does not, however, justify the creation of a new definition for marriage."
The diocese says anyone in public ministerial positions must take public positions consistent with Catholic teachings.
Coppola married his partner last October under the state's same-sex marriage law.
---'He Was An Asshole, How's That?' Officials Say
CLACKAMAS, OR—Following the shooting at a crowded Oregon mall that killed two people Tuesday, local authorities confirmed they were not even going to waste their time trying to find the killer's motive, having determined that the individual was "really awful and a piece of shit human being and that's that, sound good?" "Look, we could do a whole thing where we delve into his personal history and find out what, psychologically, made this particular murderer tick, but screw that, here's our conclusion: He was a complete asshole and a crazy prick, and he shot random, innocent strangers for no reason at all, because he was terrible," Clackamas County Sheriff Cody Arnold told reporters, shrugging his shoulders. "Fuck 'em, you know? Guy was a really shitty person. There's your motive right there." Authorities also confirmed that insane assholes who are allowed to have guns tend to do insane things with them, "How about that?"Commerce City, Colo. - By means of a fax sent from FIFA Headquarters in Switzerland to the U.S. Soccer Federation in Chicago, Illinois, then forwarded to Major League Soccer in New York City, and emailed to Colorado Rapids Technical Director Paul Bravo, the club was informed today that Argentinian midfielder Martin Rivero has been cleared to begin playing.
Since signing with the Rapids on February 16, 2012, Rivero has remained ineligible as he awaited the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) to be sent from the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA) to the U.S. Soccer Federation. With U.S. Soccer's request for the ITC not granted by AFA, the Federation requested FIFA's assistance in registering Rivero to play in the United States.
Monday morning, FIFA faxed a ruling signed by General Secretary Jerome Valcke approving the decision of FIFA's Single Judge of Players' Status Committee, Geoff Thompson, authorizing U.S. Soccer to provisionally register Rivero with the Rapids effective immediately.
Rivero is now eligible for selection to play in any game with the Colorado Rapids, and could potentially make his debut Sunday when the Rapids host the Chicago Fire at 5 pm MT at Dick's Sporting Goods Park (CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS).WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In August 2016, just two months before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission discovered its corporate filing system had been hacked, the SEC’s internal watchdog, Carl Hoecker, received a plea for help from his new forensics investigative unit.
FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hangs on the wall at SEC headquarters in Washington, DC, U.S. on June 24, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
In a three-page memo that was shared with U.S. Congressional staff and seen by Reuters, the head of the forensics unit complained of “serious deficiencies” in equipment, inadequate cyber defense training, and a lack of communication with the SEC’s Office of Information Technology (OIT).
The forensics unit’s staff were told to use equipment due for disposal when they asked for supplies and ended up repurposing computer hard drives instead. Their hardware budget for the fiscal 2017 year at $100,000 was about half a million dollars short of what was needed, the memo said.
“Even though the (Digital Forensics and Investigations Unit) has been in existence for over one year, there is no strategic vision and no clear objectives,” it read.
The concerns in the memo, however, were never addressed, according to sources familiar with the matter, and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), run by Hoecker, was not notified of the October 2016 breach of the SEC’s corporate filing system known as EGDAR until many months later.
In August 2017, nearly a year after the hack, the inspector general’s office was asked to review the incident after SEC Chairman Jay Clayton learned about it, according to sources.
Clayton will face questions about the security breach when he testifies before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
He has asked the inspector general’s office to launch a review into the intrusion. What role, if any, that the digital forensics unit will play in that review remains unclear.
Raphael Kozolchyk, a spokesman for the Office of the Inspector General, did not respond to more than half a dozen requests from Reuters for comment. Hoecker did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Christopher Carofine, a spokesman for the SEC, declined to comment.
The SEC has been criticized for the length of time it took to disclose the hack and the delay in uncovering its extent. Its cyber defenses and practices have been questioned in the past, including by auditors inside Hoecker’s office.
Hoecker created the forensics unit in 2015. Besides assisting with computer forensics on internal criminal and civil probes, the office was also charged with helping to identify “threats to the SEC’s sensitive information systems” and to provide “cyber security capability,” he told Congress in two public reports in 2015 and 2016.
The 2016 memo, however, raises questions about the inspector general’s handling of its own forensics unit and whether it could have been in a better position to respond to and investigate the problem when it was first detected in October 2016.
“With the recent breach, the SEC and the SEC OIG need to make sure they didn’t overlook any warnings or calls for improvements that might have prevented a breach,” Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa told Reuters in a statement.
“An agency that protects the integrity of public securities has to be up to speed on threats and how to prevent them.”
ENFORCEMENT MUSCLE
The SEC’s Inspector General’s Office is an independent internal watchdog that is tasked with policing waste, fraud and abuse and is staffed with investigators and auditors.
While the inspector generals at some of the larger government agencies are nominated by the President, the SEC’s inspector general is hired by and answers to the agency’s commissioners.
Under Hoecker, the SEC’s Inspector General’s Office has undergone a major restructuring.
Prior to his arrival in 2013, the office’s investigative staff did not have any criminal law enforcement powers and focused primarily on administrative probes involving SEC employees.
But Hoecker decided to take advantage of a provision in federal law that allows inspector generals’ offices to have law enforcement powers. He hired special agents who can carry firearms, conduct criminal investigations, make arrests and execute search warrants.
The Digital Forensics and Investigations Unit was part of Hoecker’s plan to have more enforcement muscle so that his office could conduct criminal investigations into hacking and provide forensic support on investigations.
As part of that vision, the forensics unit proposed conducting a full review of the SEC’s computer network, and wanted to develop a reporting system with the Office of Information Technology to help keep track of all cyber incidents, according to government documents shared with congressional staff.
Despite that proposal, the inspector general’s office has not received real-time notifications of cyber incidents, according to sources, a public 2017 audit of the SEC’s information security program, and internal government documents seen by Reuters.
“It is not uncommon to have a big push to do a cyber security initiative and then have the organization be uncomfortable with the nature and type of initiative people are starting,” said Beau Woods, a cyber security expert with the Atlantic Council.
“It sounds like there is either a communications gap, or a leadership gap, or both, where the right information is not getting to the right people.”
The inspector general’s investigators have done few, if any, probes related to cyber intrusions and most of their investigations, ranging from time and attendance fraud by SEC staffers to ethics violations, have not led to criminal charges despite the efforts to step up the office’s enforcement powers.
From January 2013 through April 2017, of the 71 cases referred for criminal prosecution to U.S. Attorneys offices, a total of 50, or about 71 percent, were declined, according to statistics obtained by Reuters through a Freedom of Information Act request.Apple is realigning its familiar laptop line, dramatically reshaping and in some ways merging the favorite options for both heavy-duty "pro" users and everyday customers. And the poster child for this more muddled future is the pricey new MacBook Pro, which appears in stores this week.
Apple wants you to focus on the new Pro’s boldest feature, called the Touch Bar. It’s a touch-operated strip of buttons and sliders displayed on a thin screen at the top of the keyboard that changes functions depending on what you’re doing. It injects a bit of iPhone and iPad feel into the Mac. And it’s well worth noting.
But, the bigger story here to me is that the Pro, once mainly aimed straight at people who do especially taxing work like professional video editing or serious design, is now being stretched to suit a much larger audience. That’s especially true of the 13-inch model (there’s also a 15-inch variety). It’s thinner and lighter, and is the only modern, easily portable Mac laptop with both a high-res Retina display and a relatively recent, first-class processor (the sixth-generation Core i5 or i7).
So, I’ve been testing the 13-inch Touch Bar-equipped Pro for about 10 days, looking at it from the point of view of mainstream users, not pros.
Mainstream users should compare the new Pro to the MacBook Air
Mainstream Mac lovers must assess whether the Pro, now much thinner and lighter, is a good replacement for the brilliant MacBook Air, which Apple will still sell (starting at $999) but which has apparently been consigned to Cupertino’s special purgatory for products it can’t quite kill yet, but won’t upgrade.
The Air was the best laptop ever built, in my opinion, but it was never given a high-res Retina display and has fallen behind in processor technology. And Apple’s other Mac laptop, the much newer 12-inch MacBook, while beautiful and portable, has a weak processor, a small screen, a single port, and a high base price of $1,299.
The new Pro definitely trounces my three-year-old MacBook Air in power and screen quality. Running the normal set of apps and browser tabs I use every day, my old Air blasts its fans a lot to keep up. The Touch Bar Pro barely notices.
But I have reservations, and you should, too. Many pro users are already vocally complaining about issues particular to them. But, even for mainstream Mac users, there are questions about price, ports, the Touch Bar feature, the keyboard, and — surprisingly, for a Mac — battery life.
The Basics
This new 13-inch Pro comes in two flavors. One, the base model, costs less (it starts at $1,499) but lacks the Touch Bar and Touch ID, the fingerprint scanner which can be used to log into the computer and to make online purchases. Instead, it has a standard, but severely squished, row of function keys. The 13-inch Touch Bar model starts at $1,799 but can be configured to more robust specs that bring it to $2,899. The 15-inch model, which isn’t the focus of this review, starts at $2,399.
Design
A big part of what makes the Pro double as a successor to the Air is that it has been made much thinner and lighter, even at the cost of enraging some pros, whose favorite ports may have been ditched because they took up too much room. The new 13-inch Pro is now 12 percent thinner than the Air, and weighs the same three pounds. It’s as if Apple had shrunk the 13-inch Air, kept the same screen size, added Retina, upgraded the processor, and added the Touch Bar and Touch ID.
The screen is just fabulous, even better than the previous 13-inch Pro’s Retina display. And way better than the display on the Air.
The keyboard isn’t anything like the old Air’s or Pro’s. It’a revised version of the flat, limited-travel keyboard introduced on the MacBook. I hated the first one on the smaller computer, yet I like this second generation just fine. For me, it took no time at all to get used to. It’s clicky and responsive. I suspect you’ll like it. But keyboards are a personal thing, so I urge you to try it in a store before ordering.
Battery Life
The biggest surprise in my tests was just how inconsistent the Touch Bar Pro’s battery life was. I have tested hundreds of laptops over the years and Macs have almost always excelled at meeting or beating their promised battery lives, both in my longtime battery test regime, and in typical daily use. But the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar wasn’t as reliably consistent as previous Macs.
On my rigorous test, which I’ve used for years, the machine actually exceeded Apple’s claim of up to 10 hours of battery life. The test involves setting the screen at 100 percent, keeping it on and undimmed constantly, playing an endless loop of music, and leaving Wi-Fi on to collect email, tweets, and Facebook posts in the background. Result: 11 hours and 38 minutes.
Battery life is surprisingly inconsistent
Normally, that battery test is an understatement, because people typically do let the screen go dark periodically and they don’t use it at 100 percent brightness. But, in this case, after hearing that a colleague was seeing much lower results in general use, I ran a second test with all of Apple’s default energy-saving settings on, the screen at 75 percent and a perfectly normal (for me) mix of tasks like web browsing, email, a few short videos, Twitter, Facebook, some light writing, and Slack. The Pro died at 8 hours and 22 minutes.
To make things worse, Apple’s built-in prediction of how much time the battery had left before dying fluctuated a lot and was mostly wrong (Apple says this is a known problem caused by the fact that modern processors can power up and down rapidly over a much wider range than in the past, making estimates much more difficult.)
So, my best advice is that even a mainstream, non-pro user can’t count on this laptop lasting the promised maximum of 10 hours — even in light to moderate use — let alone the 12 hour maximum a new Air can pull off. And you won’t have an accurate estimate to go by.
The Touch Bar
The big innovation Apple touts for the new Pro is the Touch Bar. Some regard it as Apple’s lame substitute for the full touchscreen it refuses to install in the Mac. But I see it as an effort to replace the keyboard’s ancient function row with a bit of the touchscreen simplicity that’s the magic behind iOS. (The function keys, like brightness and volume, are still there, in virtual form, but they temporarily contract when an app displays its customized keys and sliders.)
And, yes, there’s still an Escape key, but it’s virtual.
For pros, the Touch Bar holds promise as quick way to scroll through photos, audio wave forms, video frames, or color choices. The trouble is, that, right now, I don’t think it does much for mainstream users.
For instance, in Safari and Photos, it presents thumbnails of open tabs and photos that are so tiny you can barely recognize them. You mainly just scroll through them.
Predictive text is the single most useful feature of the Touch Bar
In Safari, a Touch Bar button allows you to quickly open a new tab. Another starts a search. In Mail, you can do things like start a new message, reply to one, or trash one. None of this is very exciting or creative, especially since you have a gigantic, buttery-smooth trackpad below the keyboard. You can’t even use the Touch Bar in Apple Mail to move to the next unread message or jump back to the top of a list.
The single most useful feature of the Touch Bar, in my view, is that it provides a home for predictive text selections and emojis when you are writing in almost any app or web page that permits text entry. This includes Apple’s word processors, Microsoft Office (coming), Facebook, Messages and more. It’s kind of like a wedding of iPhone and Mac text entry, and I like it. (If you don’t you can ignore it.)
Alas, although I wrote this whole column on a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, I couldn’t use this predictive text feature because I was writing in Google Docs running in a Safari tab. That’s right: while text entry in any number of web pages works with the Touch Bar, it fails with one of the world’s most widely used web apps.
An Apple official said: "Google Docs uses a different model of text entry than the standard text entry used by most websites. This affects the functionality of Touch Bar features. We are working with Google to support these features."
I don’t think the Touch Bar is a gimmick, but I don’t think it changes much, at least yet, for everyday Mac users. Luckily, third-party app developers can design ways to use it, and users can customize it to some extent. So it may have a more productive future. But, right now, it’s unlikely to improve most users’ life dramatically when working on their laptops.
Ports
The new MacBook Pros dispense with traditional SD card, USB and long-standard video connectors. Even the genius, breakaway MagSafe power connector is gone. In their place are simply four of the new USB-C ports, which also work with Thunderbolt 3. These connectors are fast, and highly versatile. They can be used for charging, data transfer, video output, and more. And they are likely the future.
But you’ll need to buy dongles (adapters) to connect them to most monitors, external storage, and flash memory cards.
I fully understand the outrage over this switch from people who make their living on current MacBook Pros and legacy peripherals, like monitors or external storage; and from photographers and editors who rely on flash memory cards. Nobody likes dongles or adapters and some brands are unreliable or unsafe. Apple slashed its adapter prices temporarily in the wake of the complaints.
But I honestly don’t think this is a big problem for average Mac users, whose main need will likely be a new Mac-to-iPhone cable ($19 from Apple). And I believe that, over time, most peripherals will switch to USB-C, since other companies — not just Apple — are behind it.
Price
For everyday Mac users, especially, the new Pro is a costly machine. Even the non-Touch Bar model is $500 more than the Air (at $999) and the cheapest Touch Bar edition is $300 more than that. But Apple has always been a premium PC maker, and its new models have often started off at sky-high prices. People forget that, when it debuted in 2008, the MacBook Air with the then-revolutionary, but puny, 64GB solid state drive cost a breathtaking $3,100. You can get a terabyte of solid-state storage in the costliest 13-inch new model, and pay less.
If you’re a mainstream Mac lover who isn’t bothered by its limitations, you can save money with the 12-inch MacBook, or even buy a new Air, if it works well for you. Or, if those MacBook Pro prices are too high for you, and your current Mac is doing okay, you could wait for them to come down next year.
Bottom line
This is what Apple is offering — take it or leave it
The new 13-inch MacBooks — even the base model without the Touch Bar — are costly. And they may make pros unhappy. But, for everyday Mac lovers — users of the Air or maybe the older low-end Pro — they are now your only thin, modern, option with a full-fledged processor. The Touch Bar has potential, but it’s not magic. The battery isn’t likely to deliver on Apple’s claims. You can’t count on liking the keyboard. But, if you’re a Mac devotee ready to move past the Air — not back to a lower-powered MacBook — this is what Apple is offering. Take it or leave it.Roger Waters has been an outspoken opponent of Israel’s treatment of Palestine and the Palestinian people. As a representative of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, he spoke to the U.N. in November 2012, where he accused Israel of war crimes. In March, he called on musicians to boycott Israel, and in July, he projected an image of the Star of David on an inflatable pig during a performance in Berlin. Now, the former Pink Floyd frontman has sparked outrage from Jewish leaders over comments he made comparing the Israeli government to the Nazis.
Speaking to Counter Punch about his boycott of the region, Waters explained, “The situation in Israel/Palestine, with the occupation, the ethnic cleansing and the systematic racist apartheid Israeli regime is unacceptable… I would not have played for the Vichy government in occupied France in the Second World War, I would not have played in Berlin either during this time… There were many people that pretended that the oppression of the Jews was not going on from 1933 until 1946. So this is not a new scenario. Except that this time it’s the Palestinian people being murdered.”
Waters added that the parallels between the modern conflict and WWII are “crushingly obvious,” and that some of the right wing rabbinate have the “bizarre” opinion “that the Indigenous people of the region that they kicked off the land in 1948 and have continued to kick off the land ever since are sub-human.”
Among the Jewish leaders who’ve already responded to Waters’ comments is Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who wrote in the New York Observer, “Mr. Waters, the Nazis were a genocidal regime that murdered six million Jews. That you would have the audacity to compare Jews to monsters who murdered them shows you have no decency, you have no heart, you have no soul.” Boteach told Waters, “You have disgraced yourself by comparing the martyred six million, which included one-and-a-half million children who were gassed to death in cold blood, to Palestinian terror organizations like Hamas, whose stated intention it is to wipe Israel off the map.” (It may be worth noting that Waters never directly mentions the Palestinian leadership known as Hamas, and keeps his comments to the general Israel/Palestine conflict.)
According to The Daily Mail, Waters has since responded to Boteach, saying, “I do not know Rabbi Boteach, and am not prepared to get into a slanging match with him. I will say this: I have nothing against Jews or Israelis, and I am not antisemitic. I deplore the policies of the Israeli government in the occupied territories and Gaza. They are immoral, inhuman and illegal. I will continue my non-violent protests as long as the government of Israel continues with these policies.”Two days after Charlie Strong shot down the Miami rumors and claimed he had the full support of the Texas administration, interim athletic director Mike Perrin gave his backing to Strong.
Appearing on local Austin radio station 104.9 The Horn, Perrin had this to say about Strong and any potential interest Texas' head coach might have in Miami:
Interim Texas AD Mike Perrin this morning on football program: "My support for Charlie Strong is without question." @1049TheHorn — Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) November 20, 2015
Perrin said he talked to Charlie Strong after Wednesday's Miami presser and believes coach isn't leaving. "I have no doubts about that." — Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) November 20, 2015
The rumors about Strong and Miami initially popped up in late October after the Hurricanes fired Al Golden. Strong laughed the idea off when originally asked about the Hurricanes, but the reports have continued to persist.
There were stories linking Strong to Miami as recently as Thursday, but Strong stated this week that all of the chatter out there is just "rumor."How Seattle's Landlord Inspection Program Is Failing Renters
Seattle tenants are fighting for more city protections, but some of those already in place aren't working. Courtesy of Clay Showalter
As Maria Angeles makes tortillas on her kitchen counter, cockroaches scurry along the wall under the edge of her cabinets. A few feet away, her husband Humberto Sanchez sits at the kitchen table. Above his head, dozens of small black insects crawl around a framed photo of Jesus.
The roaches aren’t the only problem in their one-bedroom apartment on Rainier Avenue South. The pair also deals with rats, mold, leaks. Several outlets are burned out and the heater doesn’t work—and didn’t in the coldest days of winter either, Angeles and Sanchez say. But Sanchez is hesitant to file a complaint against his landlord. He even feared talking to me for this story.
With the $880 rent and easy commute to his construction job, Sanchez says he can't afford to give up this place. He's worried about having to move "to Kent" or the building getting shut down entirely, he tells me through an interpreter.
Angeles and Sanchez have lived in this one-bedroom apartment in an 18-unit Rainier Avenue South building for six years. They say the problems have been present the whole time. But no matter how many times they ask the landlord to address the issues, they say he either doesn’t or sends a contractor who does a poor job. Neither the landlord cited in city documents, James Boyd Jr., nor the attorney who registered the LLC that owns the property responded to requests for comment from The Stranger. But Boyd is no stranger to the City of Seattle or the city programs meant to stop these kinds of conditions.
Tenants have twice filed complaints about similar conditions at this building, and the city has found dozens of housing code violations on the property. Still, the building passed when it came up for a random inspection last year—despite the city program's mission to keep a check on poor housing conditions. Today, the building’s current conditions expose several key flaws in the way Seattle keeps an eye on landlords.
“Seattle likes to tout itself as a welcoming city for all,” says Xochitl Maykovich, political organizer at the nonprofit Washington CAN, “but how can we consider ourselves a welcoming city if we’re OK with having immigrants and other vulnerable communities living in terrible conditions? I’m not OK with it and I don’t think anyone else should be.”
The conditions at the building are not unfamiliar to some renters in Seattle. Last year, tenants at another south Seattle building organized after their landlord increased rents despite roach and rodent infestations, broken heaters, and other violations. In response, the Seattle City Council passed a law named after the landlord at that building—the Carl Haglund Law—banning rent increases at buildings with serious housing code violations.
Now, the building where Angeles and Sanchez live highlights other shortfalls in the way the city enforces its housing laws:
• Problems like insects, leaks, and electrical problems are unlikely to be limited to just a few apartments, Maykovich says. (“I don’t think cockroaches are thinking, ‘I can’t go into unit 16 so let me just head on down to another building,” she says.) Yet the city’s current rules do not mandate inspectors search a whole building after finding violations in a few apartments. It's at the discretion of the city’s Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) whether to inspect more units in the same building. And it’s rare for SDCI to use that discretion. According to Tallent, SDCI has required additional inspections three times since 2014.
Maykovich argues further inspections should be required—not optional—when serious violations are found. “When one unit fails—in particular when it fails in the way these units should fail—that signals broader problems with the apartment [building],” she says.
• It’s not always city inspectors looking at apartment buildings to determine whether units are up to code. Landlords can hire private inspectors instead, and 60 to 70 percent of do, Tallent says. But private inspectors don’t have to give the city any details about their inspection other than to say whether the building passed or failed. That means city staff don't actually know details about the conditions of the vast majority of buildings—even the ones that fail an inspection.
• Landlords receive 60 days’ notice when they’re up for a random inspection, plus notice of exactly which apartments the inspector will look at. That provides ample time to fix a handful of units without addressing issues in others. Like the building on Rainer Ave South, the Haglund property from last year had passed an inspection. Inspectors eventually found more than 200 code violations at the latter building.
• Landlords do not face fines as long as they fix the violations. The city’s focus is on getting landlords to fix the problems, not on punishing them, so they only charge landlords if they refuse to fix the problems. For a landlord, that leaves little incentive to fix code violations until they get caught.
Beginning today, the city council will consider some changes to the inspection program, most importantly requiring private inspectors to hand over reports and shortening the length of advance notice to landlords. Not on their list: requiring inspections of entire buildings where serious code violations are found, as Washington CAN proposes.
Council Member Lisa Herbold, who helped create the inspection program when she worked as an aide to former Council Member Nick Licata, says she may consider it.
“If we’re only learning about buildings like this because of community organizations,” Herbold says, “I would say we need to move away from just hoping SDCI uses its discretion to requiring a higher threshold of units be inspected.”
A spokesperson for the Rental Housing Association of Washington said his organization did not have comments on changes to the inspection law.
For Angeles and Sanchez, such policies could've prevented their current abysmal living situation. Their building, built in 1956, has come to the city's attention before.
Back in 2014, after a tenant complaint, the city warned the building's landlord of 55 violations across several units, including leaks, sources of moisture (which can cause mold), and cockroaches, according to Department of Construction and Inspection documents obtained through a public records request. Boyd, the landlord, fixed the problems, but complained that the cockroach infestation was because a tenant refused to clean and claimed that tenant threatened a contractor sent to address issues in the apartment. That tenant later moved out.
In early 2016, another tenant made similar complaints. Again, a city inspector found 62 housing code violations in several apartments at the building. Those violations included rodents and cockroaches, a deteriorating floor, a broken heating system, leaks and moisture, defective smoke detectors, and other illegal conditions. Boyd fixed the problems, according to city documents. He did not face financial penalties in either case.
In August, the city inspected the building through a program called RRIO (Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance). That program is meant to ensure every apartment building in the city gets inspected so that, even when tenants are afraid or unable to complain to the city, landlords won't be able to get away with substandard conditions. But landlords receive 60 days’ notice that an inspector is coming and notice of exactly which apartments they will look at. According to RRIO manager Geoff Tallent, a city inspector looked at eight apartments in this building and they all passed.
Nine months after passing the city's inspection, as many as 10 apartments in this building may have blatant violations of the city’s housing code. I saw the conditions I described at the beginning of this article in two apartments. Maykovich, whose organization is helping the tenants navigate the city complaint process, says she’s seen similar conditions in eight other apartments in the building. After Maykovich filed a complaint, city inspectors visited the building, but have not yet released their findings.
Artoro Vejar, 49, says his apartment has mice, cockroaches, mold, and other violations of city housing code. HG
Next door to Angeles and Sanchez, Artoro Vejar lives in a two-bedroom with a roommate and his roommate’s two |
10 minutes to decide which way you go,” Yamatough wrote. “After that two of your codes fly to the moon PCAnywhere and Norton Antivirus totaling 2350MB in size (rar) 10 minutes if no reply from you we consider it a START this time we’ve made mirrors so it will be hard for you to get rid of it.”
The Symatec employee who had been the point of contact with the hacker made an attempt to delay the code’s release, replying with, “We can’t make a decision in ten minutes. We need more time.” Yamatough was apparently unwilling to afford the company more time, however, as a 1.2GB file titled “Symantec’s pcAnywhere Leaked Source Code” was posted to the Pirate Bay Monday evening. Symantec has not yet confirmed whether or not the code within the file is authentic.
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“Obamacare is the most dangerous piece of legislation ever passed in Congress. It is the most existential threat to our economy.” That ominous warning is courtesy of Republican Representative John Fleming of Louisiana and it is an oft-repeated claim by all manner of conservatives who either are unaware what existential means or are so freakishly deluded they actually believe it. Apparently most Republicans believe it because it has been their raison d’être since the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010, and as obsessions go, it may be an existential threat to Republicans. It is curious that Republicans have persistently claimed the health law is a threat to the economy when it is not yet fully implemented, but if Fleming was referring to the tired assertion the ACA will kill jobs; their fallback contention was dealt a serious blow this week.
Republicans argue that like taxes on the rich, the Affordable Care Act will force employers to lay off current employees and stop hiring new workers, but according to a survey that went unnoticed on Tuesday, that is not the case. The Duke Fuqua School of Business Finance survey revealed that chief financial officers expect to increase the number of full-time employees by nearly 2% over the next 12 months as key parts of the Affordable Care Act go into effect. The survey dispels conservative assertions that the ACA will restrict business growth and expansion, and force companies to abandon full-time employees and shift to a part-time workforce to avoid providing insurance coverage mandated for companies with more than 50 employees in the health law.
The professor who directed the survey, John Graham said “The expected two percent growth in employment is solid, given the context of long-run shifts away from full-time employees largely because of concerns about health care reform and economic uncertainty.” However, according to research by a Moody’s economist, most industries “are actually using fewer part-timers than last year.” There is growth in part-time employment, but it began long before the Affordable Care Act and is restricted to “industries such as restaurants and hospitality that use as much as twice as many part-timers as other companies.”
Even though the healthcare reform law is not an existential threat to the economy, it hasn’t deterred conservatives preparing to shut down the government on October 1st unless the President acquiesces to demands to eliminate all aspects of the ACA in return for funding the government. Speaker of the House John Boehner met with Congressional leaders of both parties on Thursday under the guise of resuming budget cutting negotiations to pacify teabaggers and prevent a government shutdown, as well as to bolster chances they will go along with raising the government’s borrowing limit. After the meeting, Boehner put the onus of finding a solution to his teabagger problem on Democrats and said, “It’s time for the president’s party to show the courage to work with us to solve this problem,” and argued that budget deals have been part of past agreements to raise the debt limit. Except for the 2011 debt limit crisis that resulted in a credit downgrade, a million jobs lost, a devastating sequester, and a nearly $19 billion cost to the government, the debt limit is routinely raised unconditionally. Boehner is lying and with only 4 legislative days remaining until the government shuts down due to lack of funding, he is likely getting desperate.
Boehner’s deficit reduction focus was thwarted when 43 House Republicans introduced their own one-year funding bill that would increase Pentagon and Veterans’ spending and delay implementation of the ACA; the deal would certainly add to the budget deficit. The budget deficit, by the way, that fell to its lowest level in 5 years leaving Boehner little bargaining room in budget cuts or debt ceiling negotiations and stuck facing a recalcitrant teabagger caucus Hell-bent on eliminating the ACA. In fact, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Congressional Democrats informed Boehner that there would be no negotiations on raising the debt ceiling, and made it clear they would never accept demands to repeal, defund, or delay the President’s signature health care law; the White House summarily dismissed the idea as a nonstarter.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “I had to be very candid with him and I told him directly, all these things they’re doing on Obamacare are just a waste of their time, their direction is the direction toward shutting down the government.” Reid also said “I like John Boehner, I do feel sorry for him,” and his sentiment was echoed by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) who said “Sometimes I sympathize with Speaker Boehner, but the fact of the matter is, if he wants to lead for the good of the nation, he has to step beyond the Tea Party faction of his caucus.” Durbin and Reid’s sympathies are misplaced because it is the American people who are paying the price for Boehner’s lack of leadership and disinterest in governing. One wonders if Reid and Durbin felt sorry for Boehner for holding 40 symbolic votes to repeal the health law, or when he was happy he got 98% of what he wanted when Republicans held the debt ceiling hostage.
Republicans have known the government would run out of funding on October 1 for months, and yet they wasted time on manufactured scandals and ridiculous repeal votes. When the Senate passed a budget months ago, Senate Republicans refused to appoint representatives to negotiate with their House counterparts. Republicans spent their generous 5-week vacation plotting and convincing their constituents that defunding the ACA was their sole intent when they returned for nine days in September and it is that obsession that will cause a government shut down and threaten the full faith and credit of the United States; a real existential threat to the economy.
Republicans are lost and the House leadership is floundering with only 4 legislative days to prevent a government shut down and no workable resolution in sight which is why Boehner desperately needs Democrats to save the day to avoid voters blaming Republicans for closing the government. Republican leaders said decisions to prevent a government shutdown would have to be made next week on a way forward, and it will have to be with Democratic votes because there is no such thing as Republican unity; except their obsession with defunding the Affordable Care Act. Boehner said “There are a million options that are being discussed by a lot of people. When we have something to report, we’ll let you know.” Maybe if Boehner and his cohort would get over their Affordable Care Act and austerity obsession they would have something to report other than “Obamacare is the most existential threat to our economy.” The only threat to America’s economy is incompetent Republicans in Congress and their impotent leadership and Americans still want to know; where are the jobs?
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:Al Franken’s campaign attorney Marc Elias said today that, based on its latest internal tally, Franken has taken the lead over Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) for the first time in the recount process.
In a conference call, Elias said Franken leads Coleman by 22 votes at the end of last night’s count.
“We are ahead by 22 votes at the close of business at the end of last night,” Elias said. “We continue to believe we will gain votes during the challenge and review process, and feel good generally where we stand in the recount.”
The official secretary of state count shows Coleman leading by Franken by 303 votes, with more than 6,000 ballots disputed by both camps. The Franken campaign has argued the number is misleading, given that none of the disputed ballots are included in that tally. The Franken tally assumes the challenges from both camps are invalid.
About 94 percent of the 2.9 million ballots have been recounted so far.
Franken's camp was greatly aided when Ramsey County officials found 171 ballots that went uncounted Election Night. That netted Franken 37 votes, and is currently larger than his current lead, according to Franken's count.
Elias also said the campaign will be withdrawing certain challenges to ballots “where appropriate” to expedite the process of sorting the disputed ballots, which will begin Dec. 16.
Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan disputed the Franken numbers, and accused the Franken campaign of being "prepared to say and do anything to win an election that they lost on Election Night."
"Today, they’ve invented a story of a lead in the recount," said Sheehan. "We have confidence that on Friday the results of the recount will show Norm Coleman has emerged, again, as the winner of the 2008 United States Senate election.”
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San Salvador—On a dizzyingly humid Tuesday in mid-May, a friend and I walk to one of the entrances to Nuevo Israel, a marginal community located just northwest of central San Salvador. Ad Policy
We approach a walkway lined, on either side, with champas (tin shacks) and houses with cracked walls painted aquamarine, yellow, sky-blue, and other faded pastel colors. Suddenly, a thin, dark-skinned, teenager in a loose white T-shirt stops us. “Esperen,” he says (wait). “Para donde van?” (Where are you going?), he asks nervously, but with the authoritative tone of a border guard. He is a poste, a gatekeeper authorized to monitor and control traffic in and out of Nuevo Israel by the Mara Salvatrucha, the gang that controls this community.
Having already, on numerous occasions, dealt with police and military who have stopped us to ask similar questions during random stops in other parts of this tense and violent capital city, we know how to respond: quickly, directly, no BS, just as if we were traveling through El Salvador’s war zones of the 1980s and early ’90s.
“We’re here to see Santiago,” responds my friend, referring to one of the few people in this entire gang-violence-ravaged country designated to speak to the wider world on behalf of both of the two major gangs, 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha, following a temporary truce brokered in 2012.
The young man eyes my friend’s buzz cut, which looks uncomfortably close to those used by one of the 7,000 regular army soldiers and three battalions of the special forces rapid-response units recently deployed throughout the country to fight the gangs. As a result, tensions in Nuevo Israel and throughout the country are escalating to record levels. The gangs have started targeting police and military personnel when they’re off-duty, killing them on buses, in the streets, and near their homes.
I show the poste my new journalist’s credential for the beatification just last month of Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador who was shot through the heart by a death squad assassin while giving mass back in 1980, at the beginning of the country’s twelve-year civil war, before the poste or many in the Maras were even born. I do so in the hope that the picture of the smiling archbishop will act as a talisman, releasing some of the positive and peaceful messages of Romero-mania that slowed El Salvador’s gang violence for a few days.
“Lift up your shirt,” says the young man, a precautionary measure to make sure my friend is also not with a rival gang. He proceeds to grab his shirt. “Hey,” I exclaim, “he’s helping me with my work here. Please stop.” The poste looks over my friend’s exposed, tattoo-free torso and nods his approval.
Charging the humid air in Nuevo Israel is the murder, a few days earlier, of Oscar Armando Galeas, a 21-year-old shot in the head for allegedly being a member of a rival gang. Some here believe he was yet another one of the exterminados, the extrajudicial killings that gang members and some human rights activists suspect are being carried out by government security forces. Last week, El Faro, by far El Salvador’s pre-eminent news organization, broke a story about four soldiers and a sergeant charged with the forced disappearances of three men in the town of Armenia. Echoing the country’s wartime past, the judge hearing the case called the alleged action of the soldiers a “crime against humanity.”
Galeas’s murder sent ripples throughout the neighborhood. In the month of May, according to government sources, 635 ripples like these were registered in morgues, police reports, and communities throughout the country—carnage not seen since the civil war in this country of 6 million that’s smaller than the state of Massachusetts.
“Wait,” says the white-shirted young man before pulling out a smart phone and calling someone. While we wait, I think about how aspects of our visit to Nuevo Israel—the clandestine meeting, the territorial lines of demarcation, the ever-present possibility of violence and death—post-traumatically trigger and trick the mind and body into war mode. But one major difference between the current situation and the war is that, instead of having to maneuver between two warring factions, you’re now caught in a three-dimensional chess game of potential violence: violence between gangs, violence between gangs and the rest of the population, and violence between the government and the gangs.
“OK,” says the young man, after hanging up his phone. “You can come in.” He never breaks a smile. After walking down a narrow street, we enter a beat-up concrete house. We go into the back, where an older man stands up from a table near an almond tree and extends his hand. “Welcome,” he says, with a smile and an unexpected breeziness that contrast radically with the demeanor of the nervous and dour young poste.
Santiago tells us to sit down, pointing to the table, which has three phones, a pack of Marlboros, a lighter, and a book on it. After he tells us about the book (one of the Hunger Games trilogy), he shares what it was like growing up, “many times without food,” in a champa, the kind of upbringing, he says, that lies at the root of the gang problem.
“All during my childhood, I grew up without light,” he says. “My main escape was books, books that I had to read under a candle. My kids won’t live like that.” Santiago is a father of two who, like all gang members interviewed for this story, lives a great contradiction: He does all he can to protect his kids from violence, while at the same time living a life in which violence or the threat of it provides him with camaraderie, extortion money, territorial control, and other forms of power.
I ask him, “What do you think of Monsignor Romero’s beatification?” Caught off-guard, Santiago bows his head in respect for the slain archbishop. “We identify with him.… He was criminalized, he was persecuted, and he was exterminated by the government, like we are now,” he says.
Santiago’s response disorganizes my sense of things. The idea that an admittedly violent gang member actually identifies with Romero—the moral center of the Salvadoran universe and a man of peace—is baffling. We are far from the simpler time during the civil war, when I interviewed or met with nuns and priests influenced by Romero, US-trained death-squad operatives, refugees, and many leftist guerrillas fighting to overthrow the US-supported Salvadoran government. One of those guerrillas, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, went on to become the country’s current president. When I first met Cerén, in one of the zonas de control (guerrilla-controlled territory) during the war, his nom de guerre was Leonel González. Then he was the soft-spoken and much-admired AK-47-carrying top comandante of the Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), a key faction in the FMLN’s guerrilla army.
The beatific break of the Romero moment quickly gave way to visible tension in Santiago’s face after I asked him about Cerén’s decision to deploy soldiers to fight the Maras. Referring to the so-called “heavy hand” of severe anti-gang police and military operations that were first launched by the right-wing ARENA party more than a decade ago, Santiago asks, “What do I think about this new Mano Dura?” Irony drips from his every word. “I would ask the president to remember that he used to be hunted by those same rapid-response battalions, when he was a comandante guerrillero,” a visibly bothered Santiago says. “His own men and innocent people were killed by those units, and now he is using them against us?” His face is filled with scorn. Santiago makes a good point: the heart of the government’s counterinsurgency strategy during the civil war was deployment of the notorious rapid-response battalions, which were responsible for massive human rights violations against the civilian population in FMLN-influenced areas.
Referring to previous anti-gang strategies by the government, Santiago says, “All their Plan Mano Dura and Plan Super Mano Dura did was make us mutate more. This new one will only make things worse. The president and all the politicians know that they have to enter here with our permission. Here the owner of the circus is another. Many think we lack the political maturity to play the political game that they are playing. But the day is not far off when we’re capable of playing that game.”
* * *
Though Santiago’s bravado is somewhat overstated (the police and military enter Nuevo Israel frequently), Mara Salvatrucha and El Salvador’s other maras, as the gangs are generically known, do exercise what can be described as hegemonic control over portions of the country (some experts consider them a serious threat to sovereignty). In the exoticized, Heart of Darkness narratives constructed by the likes of National Geographic and other mainstream media and US-government officials, one often hears that residents of communities like Nuevo Israel “live in chaos.” In fact, there is order here—an alternative order, one governed by the gangs.
Mara law is unwritten but deeply felt on the bodies and in the interactions of these residents. Mara law affects their daily decisions as much as or, in some situations, more than the law of the state: It affects educational decisions like where and whether to send children to school; housing decisions like where to live; economic decisions like if and how to run—or shut down—a business or how and when to pay the local gang tax; lifestyle decisions like how to dress; and travel decisions like when and whether to visit certain neighborhoods or whether to leave the country altogether and brave the dangerous journey to the United States, as the children and mothers jailed in the Karnes City, Texas, immigration prison told me earlier this year.
El Salvador’s estimated 70,000 gang members speak as a power because they do not act alone. Like the FMLN in its day as a guerrilla army, the maras operating in city shantytowns and, increasingly, poor rural areas have a social base, people whom they live among and receive support from.
But unlike the all-volunteer FMLN during the war, which was one of the Western Hemisphere’s most formidable revolutionary organizations, gang members are the primary or sole source of income for their family members, an estimated 500,000 people—about 8 percent of El Salvador’s population.
Responding to the need to build an alternative tejido social—the social fabric whose absence creates and sustains gangs and their communities—President Cerén convened representatives from across the social and political spectrum and launched the Council on Citizen Security and Coexistence (CNSCC) soon after his presidential inauguration last year. This past January, the council proposed a multi-pronged approach to dealing with the escalating gang violence: a $2 billion, five-year plan that centers on judicial reform, violence prevention and rehabilitation programs, support for victims, and community-based policing.
But a direct and, to some, shocking contrast to the integrated approach of the CNSCC is Cerén’s decision to continue the hard-line tradition of the Salvadoran state, acting unilaterally to deploy the army and rapid-response units and rejecting any possibility of a truce like the one brokered in 2012 under the presidency of Mauricio Funes, the first FMLN candidate to win the office. All parties agree that the 2012 truce reduced homicides by almost 50 percent from the time it was brokered in March 2012 to when it ended in 2014. Critics of the truce decried it as a ploy allowing the gangs to reorganize and build strength—a not implausible theory, given their subsequent growth and expansion. Cerén ended the support for the truce begun by his FMLN predecessor, declaring that his government could “not return to the scheme of agreeing with and negotiating with gangs because that’s outside the margins of the law.”
At the one-year mark of Cerén’s administration, the defining issue of Salvadoran politics and life has become the violence in poor communities where maras exercise influence. The president and his party, who declined numerous requests for interviews, find themselves under enormous pressure from numerous interests (the political opposition, the private sector, the United States, and large sectors of the public) to escalate the hard-line approach.
“This is not a phenomenon that will be resolved overnight…it requires time, and we are going to be working during that time,” said Cerén last week, in tones reminiscent of the patience that defined him as an FMLN comandante.
Patience may be a virtue in a country that saw the government and military slaughter some 95 percent of the 80,000 killed during the war, according to a United Nations Truth Commission report. But Cerén’s decision to deploy that military, which remains rife with perpetrators of major human rights violations, against the maras is a high-stakes gamble—one that has already drawn criticism from his left and, especially, from his right.
* * *
“Army battalions will be created.” An FMLN television ad.
“Look at that. Just look at that!” exclaimed in perfect English Rodrigo Avila Aviles, a legislator and former presidential candidate of the ARENA party, as he pointed to the television set up in the legislative offices of his party. On the large flat-screen was a commercial, titled “One Year Governing With the People,” with multiple action shots of helicopters and trucks filled with heavily armed police and military.
Played throughout the period leading up to the Romero beatification, the spot was designed to highlight Cerén’s deployment of the military to fight the gangs as one of the major accomplishments of his first year. The ads are a response to sentiments expressed in some polls that show a majority of Salvadorans are frustrated at the violence and reject any truce between the government and gangs (these same polls also show that 90 percent of the public believe a purge of the police is an “urgent priority”). As he watched the spot, Avila, a two-term former chief of the National Civil Police (PNC) and a private- and public-sector consultant on security issues, saw a government divided between the carrot of social programs and the stick he and his party think should be used much more forcefully.
“The CNSCC is proposing the creation of bullcrap,” said Avila. “On the one hand, they’re proposing community policing, and on the other the government is deploying anti-gang military battalions.”
It was disorienting, to say the least, to sit, on the eve of Monsignor Romero’s beatification, with a member of the ARENA party—founded by Roberto D’Aubuisson, perhaps the most important leader of El Salvador’s notorious death squads and the man widely credited with organizing Romero’s assassination—and hear him criticize the former FMLN guerrillas for deploying the military.
“There’s a lot of talk about gangbangers being a product of ‘social exclusion’ and crap like that,” said Avila, whose party’s approach to violence and gangs de-emphasizes social programs in favor of initiatives strengthening the hand of the police, reforming the judicial system, and clamping down even harder on the gangs, Mano Dura style.
Because of his international experiences, including, he said, learning from former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former LA police chief William Bratton, whose widespread and controversial “broken windows” program is now at the center of the policing crisis in the United States, Avila thinks Cerén and the CNSCC’s proposals are DOA. He also said he is “not opposed” to the deployment of the military, but thinks the battalions alone will not solve much. He also rejects making overtures for a truce, something ARENA and the FMLN now agree on.
The ARENA party first set the country on the course of deploying the military in 1993, when then-President Alfredo Cristiani used it to clean and patrol streets just months after the peace accords. ARENA is also the party that started using the military to fight gangs back in 2003, when Francisco Flores, a former president from ARENA now jailed for massive corruption, established the first Mano Dura plan.
“Do you know what really helped the maras consolidate, what really strengthened us?” asks Santiago, the gang diplomat. “Mr. Avila’s hard-line anti-gang policies. That’s what obligated us to cross the line we hadn’t crossed, because they tried to close off all space for us. And then we grew. He failed in his totality and strengthened us. Now the [FMLN] government is acting like an ARENA government because they need us to continue their failed policies.”
* * *
“The great evil here in El Salvador is impunity,” said Benjamin Cuellar, researcher and former director of the Human Rights Institute of Central American University (IDHUCA), whose office is located not far from the flower-filled, grassy lawn on campus where six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter were murdered by soldiers of the infamous Atlacatl rapid-response battalion in 1989 in what is, along with the Romero assassination, one of the most high-profile—and unresolved—crimes in recent Salvadoran history (the battalion had been trained by US Special Forces at the School of the Americas in Fort Bragg, North Carolina).
“Impunity is what’s causing the gangs to perpetuate many of the same problems and violations of rights that we saw during the war: summary executions, massacres, tortures, forced disappearances, mass migration inside the country, and the mass migration of people fleeing to the United States.”
Cuellar and lawyers from IDHUCA are pursuing cases against those they consider to be the intellectual authors of the 1989 UCA murders. “We pursued a case against members of the military and Alfredo Cristiani, who was [ARENA] president when the murders took place. The judge hearing the case said that they did not qualify for the amnesty law because it falls under an exception. What happened? [FMLN President] Funes said he wasn’t going to revoke amnesty. If you have a legal system that can’t pursue justice in these cases, how do you expect it to pursue smaller cases [involving gangs]?”
When asked about the current deployment of the army and rapid-response units to fight gang violence, Cuellar refers to the 1992 peace accords, which among other things called for, in his words, “demilitarizing public security; reducing the size of the military; and the dismantling of the Belloso, Atlacatl, Bracamonte, and Atonal rapid-response battalions.” The military was supposed to be used for public security, he said, “only in exceptional situations.” But, he added, “this exceptional situation has lasted 22 years.”
While laying most of the blame for the wartime violence on ARENA and other governing parties, Cuellar does not hesitate to give the former guerrillas their share of blame for the current crisis. “The FMLN is showing its hypocrisy,” he said, “presenting as a salvation what they used to say was the problem. They’re not going to defeat gangs with the military, just as they were not defeated militarily. The ex-guerrillas are not betting on the ideas with which they won the peace. Instead, they appear to be betting on the ideas of those who were their enemies.”
* * *
Aside from ARENA, say Cuellar and others here, no force exerted—and exerts—as powerful an influence with respect to impunity, poverty, and migration as the United States, which backed the Salvadoran military to the tune of more than $1 billion in its attempt to destroy the FMLN during the civil war.
On its surface, the Obama administration’s recently announced $1 billion aid package for Central America, known as the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle (APNT), which includes Honduras, Guatemala, and the FMLN government of El Salvador, appears to signal a new day in regional relations. Announced in response to the migration to the United States of more than 60,000 unaccompanied minors fleeing violence in the triangle, the widely touted program, led by Vice President Joe Biden, sounded like an attempt to reverse the devastation left by decades of failed US economic and militarized security policies under cover of Cold War anti-communism and, more recently, the drug war.
But looked at more closely, the package contains little new thinking. Just this past April, 80 human rights and other NGOs from El Salvador and other countries sent a letter to President Obama, Cerén, and other Central American presidents raising concerns about both the economic policies and the “militarization of citizen security that has contributed to systematic human rights abuses.”
* * *
In late May, people in El Salvador woke up to morning papers with pictures of some of the 280 camouflaged US troops being deployed on logistical and “security cooperation training exercises” in the Northern Triangle, including El Salvador. Such images, which stirred memories of the 1980s, increased tensions in cities as well as in more rural and suburban areas like Ilopango.
“I say with love and with respect to the United States government,” said Ilopango Mayor Salvador Ruano, “take responsibility!” Ruano was speaking to a crowd gathered near a small but very polluted creek beneath bamboo trees at the inauguration of a nursery and a gardening project for current and former members of the Mara Salvatrucha, the dominant gang in the area. The crowd included some 200 local families; religious, civic, and NGO leaders; and gang members. Ilopango and its surrounding areas had been, until recently, one of the most violent regions in El Salvador.
“You brought the gangs from the United States when you deported them,” said Ruano, talking about Washington. “So we now ask you to give your support directly to local communities, despite our differences—because Salvadorans need peace.”
Raul Mijango (second from right, with beard), along with representatives of religious groups, NGOs, and the European Union at the inauguration of a new nursery in Ilopango. The screen reads “The Path to Peace in Ilopango.”
The ceremony showcased what happened as a result of the 2012 tregua, the gang truce brokered between 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha. “We have many programs to help the young people—and we’ve paid a price,” said Ruano, his tone rising. “I have been denied a visa to travel to the United States for trying to keep my community safe.” As a result of his participation in the truce, Ruano was ostracized by his own party, ARENA, as well as by the FMLN, whose president, Funes, he had advised as part of the truce process.
“The United States is having an unhealthy influence on the current government,” said Raúl Mijango, one of the main conveners of the gang truce of 2012. A former trainer and leader of the special forces of the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP), one of the politico-military organizations that formed the FMLN during the war, Mijango also views the US involvement with Salvadoran security with great trepidation.
“Those “trainers,’” Mijango told me, “are part of the elite troops they deploy for multiple actions. It’s the unwritten part of the Alliance for Prosperity. We’ve seen this before, repeating old interventionist schemes of the United States, militarizing public security to expand their power.” Like Ruano, Mijango was also denied a visa to visit the United States to promote the truce, an action he believes was “politically motivated.”
“From the beginning,” Mijango said, “the United States didn’t support the truce because it interferes with their very military approach to the gangs. They asked to participate in the dialogue, but they wanted the FBI to participate. We told them that would only complicate things, so they didn’t participate.”
Standing outside the crowd in front of the stage, Francisco and David, two members of the Mara Salvatrucha, were not as worried about the FBI as they were about the blue-uniformed National Civil Police, who had descended on the nursery scene clutching their M-16s.
David.
“I have to watch out for them as much or more than I do 18th Street,” said David, a baby-faced 17-year-old who is participating in the new nursery project and the accompanying gardening project that allows them to grow and sell tomatoes. “They’ve picked me up, beat me, and left me in 18th Street territory to be killed,” he said. David’s story reminded me of the Los Angeles Police Department, which, by ending gang truces and handing over gang members to US immigration authorities who then deported them, sparked the gang problem in EL Salvador in the first place. “I have a wife and a 4-month-old son, and I’m trying to get straight so I can support them. Working in the garden makes me feel good.”
Twenty-seven-year-old Mara Salvatrucha veteran Manuel, meanwhile, is “here to check out what this was about,” he said, striking a skeptical gangster lean. “It looks like something worth checking out, but I’m not going to join yet,” he said. “I have some issues to deal with,” he added, before admitting that he’s killed 18th Street members and would likely continue doing so, if he had to. “And maybe some police.”
* * *
“Violence is never turned off with more violence,” said Sol Yañez, a psychologist and researcher at the UCA’s department of psychology and social work. Yañez, who has investigated and treated the victims of massacres, including the one at El Mozote in 1981, in which more than 800 civilians were slaughtered by the Atlacatl battalion, was sitting next to a picture of Ignacio Martín-Baró, who before being assassinated in 1989 along with his five other fellow Jesuit priests on the UCA campus was one of the leading lights of social psychology in El Salvador.
For Yañez and others trying to find solutions to the violence in the country, the process of justice and reparation between and beyond gangs begins at the top; in the case of El Salvador, a country ravaged by layer upon layer of failed policies imposed from outside, the top means the US government.
“The United States did much to help destroy the social fabric, whose absence creates maras,” said Yañez. “Ideally, the United States would start a process of symbolic reparations, like asking for real forgiveness from the Salvadoran people for supporting such a bloody war. Of course, it has to be sincere and accompanied by serious contributions to repair the damage done to housing, education, employment, psychological well-being—everything that war destroyed.”
Asked about Cerén and the FMLN’s decision to deploy the military to fight the gangs, Yañez responded with a single word: “fatal.” Fatal, she believes, because it “feeds more violence and adds to the false sense of victory.” The problem, she adds, is applying the idea of war to gang violence. “Yes, there is violence, but this is not a war—and we shouldn’t be talking and acting as if it is.” The effects of again seeing the military on the streets of El Salvador, she says, are profound and widespread. “Beyond the increasing violence, I see the effects of the military presence in people’s daily lives: hypertension, diabetes, headaches, stomachaches, insomnia, lack of concentration, and, especially, lots of violence, because some people are not able to deal with conflicts in other ways.”
“Without justice and reparation,” she concludes, “people will continue living trapped by those on both sides who control the means of violence, trapped in traumas layered on other traumas.”
* * *
Tony Torres used to escape the feeling of being trapped in an unexpected way. “Pizza was part of the miracle that saved my life,” recalls Torres, a 29-year-old pizza maker living in Canton El Cimarron, a small seaside town in the department of La Libertad, where he was born to the same partera (midwife) who had brought his father into the world 39 years earlier.
His pizza love affair and odyssey began, he says, when he was 8 years old, after he and his sister put cheese and tomatoes on big |
up and down the honky tonks of Broadway.
Here’s a really unique idea that I would certainly be pursuing if I worked for the Predators. ABC has a new TV series debuting this Fall called, appropriately, “Nashville.” The production is currently filming in Nashville and what better way to gain positive exposure than to feature the Predators or real players in the series. I’m not sure if there will be crossover with actual country music stars on the show, but if so, I would imagine that there would a great opportunity for Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher to appear and help sell country music and the Predators, respectively. Or, how about a nice little story arc in which the lead character played by Hayden Panettiere has a steamy romance with Predators captain Shea Weber?
Regardless, I can’t help but think that a successful show set in and about Nashville can only help to destroy these perceptions of the city and the region and make it a more attractive option for free agents.
Perceptions don’t change overnight. It’s a long and arduous process, but it seems that the Predators are on the right track. Moving forward, they now have their captain Shea Weber locked into a long-term deal, so he will become an even bigger cheerleader for Nashville and the Predators as he convinces his peers to come to town and help them to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.The New York Rangers agreed to a blockbuster trade back in 2012 that sent Brandon Dubinsky to the Columbus Blue Jackets and brought Rick Nash to New York.
Brandon Dubinsky started his career with the Rangers, being selected in the second round (60th overall) in the 2004 Entry Draft. He played his first games in the NHL with the Rangers in the 2006-07 season and would go on to play the next five full seasons on Broadway.
In his time in New York, Dubinsky became a fan favorite, playing 387 games with the team and registering 213 points (81 goals, 132 assists). He was a staple on the roster — a responsible, reliable centerman who made an impact on the ice and on the players around him.
With changes in Columbus and Dubinsky starting off slow in the 2017-18 season, this might be the time to consider bringing back a familiar face. With the Rangers struggling to find a solution to their limited options when it comes to centers, we explore whether Dubinsky could still be a fit on the roster.Oracle made a big noise in the Linux community yesterday by announcing its own spin on the Linux kernel on top if its so-called Unbreakable Linux. Oracle presented the announcement as offering a "modern" Linux kernel on top of its own clone of Red Hat. Underneath the hype, what's Oracle really offering, and what does it mean for Linux?
For years, Oracle has ridden Red Hat's coattails and tried to present it as a good thing to its customers. Oracle rebrands Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), slaps its own support package on it, and lets Red Hat do all the heavy development lifting while it tries to poach Red Hat's customers. All perfectly legal according to the licenses that RHEL is shipped under, but a bit skeezy nonetheless. Or perhaps parasitic might be a better word.
Don't get me wrong, Oracle does contribute to kernel and other open source development. In fact, Oracle was one of the top 20 employers by kernel contributions from the 2.6.33 kernel (as measured by Greg Kroah-Hartman). Specifically, Oracle was responsible for about 1.3% of the changesets in 2.6.33, just after AMD with 1.6%, and kernel heavyweights Texas Instruments and Fujitsu (1.9% each), and Nokia (3.0%). It's far, far behind Red Hat's 11.6% and even IBM's 4.8%. My former employer, Novell, has slipped a few notches with just 3.7% of kernel contributions — but still well ahead of Oracle. And, of course, that's only kernel development — it doesn't measure the contributions that companies put into the GNU tools, X.org, and other vital components of a Linux distribution.
Back to Oracle's big announcement. The big news from Oracle is that it's offering a "modern" Linux kernel that's supposed to offer better performance and support for newer hardware (like solid state disks), and is optimized for Oracle hardware and software. So, what's Oracle doing to perform this miracle? They're shipping a kernel based on the 2.6.32 mainline Linux kernel and comparing it to the 2.6.18 series kernel that RHEL 5.x supports. That's it, that's the big announcement — Oracle is simply offering a newer kernel than Red Hat and fine-tuning it for Oracle's own software.
Oracle also touts data integrity extensions and better support for power savings. Again — all true, but also Oracle attempting to take credit for nothing more than the passage of time and continuing kernel development and improvement. Most of the improvement done by companies other than Oracle.
It will be interesting to see, once Oracle's kernel is actually out in the wild, how it performs under workloads other than benchmarks specifically targeted at Oracle's workloads or hardware that was not well-supported in the 2.6.18 kernel series. It will be doubly interesting to see how Oracle's 2.6.32-based kernel performs against the kernel in the next RHEL release.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is just around the corner, and should feature a kernel based (loosely) on the 2.6.33 Linux kernel with some bits from 2.6.34 and probably 2.6.35 as well. So customers with RHEL subscriptions will get pretty much all the goodies that Oracle is touting, plus all the updates that go into the rest of the distribution.
However, many companies may not want to move their systems to RHEL 6, so this move may appeal to some customers. If you can upgrade in place to a faster Linux kernel on top of RHEL 5, it saves a lot of migration effort for companies that have standardized on RHEL 5 already. Red Hat may want to think about offering a similar upgrade.
At the same time, Oracle is just reaffirming that Red Hat is the gold standard (at least right now) for Linux on the enterprise side. While the company is trying to sway customers with its special sauce kernel, it's also promising compatibility with RHEL 5 and trying to leverage all the ISV support that Red Hat has.
Is this good for Linux? I'd say it's ultimately neutral to negative. Oracle is doing as little as possible to create real value in the Linux community, while trying to siphon business away from one of the few companies doing the heavy lifting. Oracle does do some original development — it sponsors Btrfs development, for instance — but it's doing the bare minimum to push its own agenda.
At the same time, Oracle is busy buttoning up Solaris development once again and trying to convince customers that they really want to be using Solaris for mission critical software deployments. If Linux takes a hit, Oracle can hope to capitalize on that by trying to lure businesses back to Solaris.
When all is said and done, I don't expect too many organizations to buy into this. Oracle is trying to create a top-to-bottom stack of offerings based on its hardware, operating system, middleware, and applications. This is the kind of lock-in that any sane IT manager, CIO, or CTO would avoid like the plague. While the economy has been slumping along and companies have been pinching pennies and cutting staff, Oracle has raised its prices. This was before it was also a hardware vendor.
The bottom line: Oracle's kernel is much ado about very little. They've tweaked and tuned a newer mainstream kernel, stuck it on top of another company's Linux distribution, and are touting it as a major accomplishment. The magic ingredient here is spin, not innovation.The following is the author's contribution to a forum by The Nation on the question of 'identity politics' in the wake of this year's election. Read the complete forum here.
The defensible heart of identity politics is its commitment to opposing forms of discrimination like racism, sexism, and homophobia. I share that commitment. But opposing discrimination today has no more to do with a left politics than do equally powerful ethical commitments against, say, violence or dishonesty. Why? Because the core of a left politics is its critique of and resistance to capitalism—its commitment to decommodifying education, health care, and housing, and creating a more economically equal society. Neither hostility to discrimination nor the accompanying enthusiasm for diversity makes the slightest contribution to accomplishing any of those goals. Just the opposite, in fact. They function instead to provide inequality with a meritocratic justification: If everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed, there’s no injustice when some people fail.
"You don’t build a left by arguing over who has been most victimized; you build it by organizing all the victims."
This is why Adolph Reed and I have been arguing that identity politics is not an alternative to class politics but a form of it: It’s the politics of an upper class that has no problem with seeing people being left behind as long as they haven’t been left behind because of their race or sex. That’s why elite institutions like universities make an effort to recruit black people as well as white into the ruling class. They’re seeking to legitimate the class structure, not abolish it. Of course, if we’re going to accept a ruling class, one that’s open to people other than straight white men is preferable. But shouldn’t the left be more committed to doing something for the vast majority of people of all races, genders, and sexual orientations who will never belong to that class? We’ve never thought the fact that a few white people get to become rich was a victory for poor white people, so why should substituting in a few black people change the equation?
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It’s not racism that creates the difference between classes; it’s capitalism. And it’s not anti-racism that can combat the difference; it’s socialism. We’re frequently told that black poverty is worse than white poverty—more isolating, more concentrated—and maybe that’s true. But why, politically, should it matter? You don’t build the left by figuring out which victim has been most victimized; you build it by organizing all the victims. When it comes to the value of universal health care, for example, we don’t need to worry for a second about whether the black descendants of slaves are worse off than the white descendants of coal miners. The goal is not to make sure that black people are no sicker than white people; it’s to make everybody healthy. That’s why they call it universal.
You don’t build a left by arguing over who has been most victimized; you build it by organizing all the victims.
Discrimination is neoliberalism’s theory of inequality. Even poor whites have started to buy it—a large number appear to think anti-white bias is their real problem! Obviously, they’re wrong, but when, as Barbara and Karen Fields point out, the language of victimization has become so impoverished that it consists of nothing but discrimination, you go with what you’ve got. A new left politics will need to change that. Instead of a more complicated understanding of identity—of race, sex, and intersectionality (that opiate of the professional managerial class)—we need a more profound understanding of exploitation.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Washington, D.C., on Monday, where he was greeted personally by President Donald Trump.
One of the first things people noticed about their initial meeting was the handshake.
The handshake lasted about 7 full seconds and both of the world leaders appeared to be displaying their grip strength. It was a firm handshake.
Watch for yourself:
President Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House. https://t.co/n7TqA3VDnW pic.twitter.com/5TcpyDfZx5 — ABC News (@ABC) February 13, 2017
People definitely took notice, several claiming Trudeau came out on top:
Trudeau looks like he ran prevent D on the Trump arm-ripper handshake. https://t.co/LqabBWN8BM — Nick Wing (@nickpwing) February 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/MannyElk/status/831180906169769986
Trudeau won the Trump Tug of War handshake. Can't wait for Trump Tweet claiming Trudeau cheated. "tricked me. Sad. Sweaty palms." https://t.co/HrzUxxRqzN — Mark Critch (@markcritch) February 13, 2017
I'm hearing that Trudeau won his handshake with Trump. Is this a thing now? — Evan Pivnick (@EvanPivnick) February 13, 2017
Whoa! Trudeau was prepared for the handshake. Didn't let Trump do it. Awesome. https://t.co/fDTOxWH1zt — Pete Forester (@pete_forester) February 13, 2017
Paul Gross is already planning a movie about the Trump/Trudeau handshake where he plays the handshake. — Jordan Foisy (@JordanFoisy) February 13, 2017
Trump said he was meeting with Trudeau and a group of leading business women at the White House “to discuss women in the workforce.”
The Associated Press reported:
Topics at the event will likely include issues like providing maternity leave and childcare, how to recruit and retain women and how to better support women entrepreneurs.
A White House official told The AP that they will also be discussing forming a new task force called the United States Canada Council for the Advancement of Women Business Leaders-Female Entrepreneurs.Scientists and those who support science are planning a march on Washington DC, in opposition to a culture of ‘alternative facts’ and in support of evidence-based policy. Never before has an evidence and fact-based approach been more critical to our environment, society, and culture. We believe that this message is as relevant in Ireland as it is in the US, and so we are joining satellite marches around the world in a show of solidarity to our American friends and colleagues, but also to highlight the importance of science in Ireland.
Without international collaboration, scientific research will not thrive. Without an understanding and appreciation of the scientific process, ‘alternative facts’ will continue to dictate policy. Without freedom to communicate and collaborate, researchers will be less equipped to tackle big issues like climate change, antibiotic resistance, and food sustainability.
We are organising this march to celebrate the diversity of people who work in science, and to safeguard the organisations, teams and individuals that conduct, communicate, and support science and evidence-based policy.Manchester United are in advanced talks to sign Angel Di María from Real Madrid for a transfer fee which could rise as high as £60 million.
If the fee is agreed and comes close to that figure it would smash the record paid by a Premier League club - £50 million by Chelsea to Liverpool for Fernando Torres – and would be a real statement of intent by United who hope to make three signings before the transfer window closes.
Di María would be an important addition to the United squad having been informed he can leave Real and with Paris Saint-Germain having walked away – for now – after coming close to agreeing deal for the 26-year-old Argentinian.
Negotiations were re-opened on Thursday with United, until that point, having balked at Real’s asking price and also Di María’s personal demands.
But despite having opened talks to sign a possible alternative, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Douglas Costa, United have decided to take the plunge and make an enquiry for Di María.
United have been encouraged by the player and Real that a deal can now be concluded although Douglas remains a possible, cheaper target although the Brazilian is also wanted by Atlético Madrid, Roma, AC Milan and Monaco.
United are prepared to sell Danny Welbeck, who would prefer to stay but would consider a move to Everton or Tottenham Hotspur, and remain in the market for defenders.
They could still move for Roma’s Mehdi Benatia or Ajax’s Daley Blind.
There is a long list of players United are prepared to sell, but they are struggling to find suitors given their high wages.
Welbeck is not a high earner but could command a big fee and while his departure would be a surprise, Van Gaal is considering using Adnan Januzaj through the middle and could also promote 18-year-old James Wilson.
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Turnbull government also revives push to cut off the pension supplement payment to people after six weeks overseas as part of welfare cuts
Coalition says it will make migrants wait up to 15 years for pension
Migrants will be forced to wait up to 15 years before qualifying for aged or disability pensions under new laws bound for federal parliament.
The Turnbull government is also reviving a push to cut off the pension supplement payment to people after six weeks overseas, as part of a bundle of welfare cuts expected to net almost $900m in savings.
The social services minister, Christian Porter, argues it is reasonable to expect people coming to Australia have contributed to the economy and society before claiming a pension.
Greens say they could support Gonski 2.0 and attack Labor for politicising funding – politics live Read more
Under existing laws, people must have been an Australian resident for 10 years – five of which must be continuous – before applying for a pension.
The government wants to extend this to 10 years of continuous residence – including five years during a person’s working life – before they can seek a pension. Alternatively, migrants may claim a pension after 15 years of continuous residence.
“This will mean that most people accessing the pension will have made some contribution to the Australian economy through paid work and paying taxes before they receive a pension,” Porter said on Wednesday.
The measure will only affect about 2,400 people a year but is expected to save roughly $119m over the forward estimates. Nobody who now receives a pension would be impacted and only 2% of applicants beyond July 2018 are expected to be affected.
The government is also trying again to stop pension supplement payments to people who have been overseas for six weeks and immediately for permanent departures after previously failing to get the measure through parliament.
The pension supplement payment is worth between $35.40 and $65.90 a fortnight.
Other welfare proposals are also woven into legislation to be introduced to parliament on Wednesday:
Increasing the maximum income test taper of family tax benefit A from 20c to 30c a dollar once a family’s income exceeds a threshold of $94,316.
Doubling the maximum time somebody has to wait for Newstart, study, sickness or youth allowance if they have liquid assets (such as cash) from 13 to 26 weeks.
Pegging pensioner education supplements and education entry payment rates to study loans and time spent studying.
Restricting student relocation scholarships to people studying in Australia and whose parental family home or usual place of residence is also in Australia. This would mean students relocating from or studying overseas would no longer be eligible for the scholarship.Gabourey Sidibe has only been acting for four years, but she’s already accomplished more than many actors twice her age. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in the 2009 film Precious, Sidibe brings the strength and confidence of a veteran actor to her performances, and that’s never been more evident than it is in her captivating run as Queenie, the “Human Voodoo Doll” witch on the FX series American Horror Story: Coven. Parade sat down with Sidibe to discuss this season of the hit show, being unconcerned with fitting in, racially charged storylines, and “taking the Minotaur by the horns.”
How did you get involved with American Horror Story: Coven?
American Horror Story has been my favorite show since it first aired and, somehow, I ended up on it! I can only speculate that I did something nice for someone once and so my prayers were answered.
What was your first thought when you found out about Queenie’s powers?
My first reaction, as it always is, was to freak out! I worked very hard to keep myself from screaming my joy into Ryan Murphy’s ear. I’ve fantasized about being a witch my entire life, and being a “Human Voodoo Doll” is just about the coolest power ever because it’s totally useful. Plus, I knew I’d get to do a lot of fun special-effects makeup and stunts like stabbing myself. I was really excited to learn how makeup artists use makeup (and I think just general, everyday magic) to fool the audience into believing I’m hurting myself or someone else.
Did Ryan Murphy give you any indication of just how absolutely crazy this season was going to get, or did you already expect that because it’s AHS?
As a fan of the previous seasons, I had a feeling about how crazy it could get. Ryan only spoke to me about my character. He was very secretive about the entire story. I assume it’s because he didn’t think I could be trusted yet. He was right. I was way too excited.
You couldn’t have imagined you’d be getting kinky with a Minotaur though, right?
Nope! Didn’t see it going there at all! Because of the extreme cool factor that comes along with the Ryan Murphy name, I just said, “Yes!” I knew I’d be challenged in a certain way and I knew that I needed to just go for it without knowing what would be asked of me because the reward would be greater than the risk. I knew to say yes and to step out with faith and trust in Ryan and his entire production team. I took the Minotaur by the horns.
What was your reaction when you read that scene in the script?
I wasn’t sure that I was actually reading what I was reading. I kept saying, “Wait… What? What’s happening? No, Queenie! No!” But I couldn’t stop laughing. Then I couldn’t stop feeling sad for both Queenie and the Minotaur. The sadness that brings them together is very powerful. I saw it as a very human moment for each character and it really moved me. I wanted to do that moment justice.
How do you think you’ve changed personally, and as an actor, in the four years you’ve been acting?
Personally, I’m much more introverted than I used to be. I’m less likely to talk to strangers or have loud or emotional conversations in public. I don’t make friends as willingly as I did before, so I hold on to my actual friends very dearly. I’m a very careful person now. As an actor, I’m much more willing to embarrass myself if it will serve the story. I hunger for strange and daring stories. I’m less and less afraid of dark material and that’s really saying something, as my first role was an illiterate sexual-abuse victim with HIV. I’m also less and less concerned with fitting in. I was born to stand out. I don’t care whether or not people will find me attractive on screen. That’s not why I became an actor. I know that more and more with each new role.
You and Angela Bassett are really the only two main cast members that are African-American and the show is dealing with some really racially charged subjects this season. Do you think those stories resonate deeper with you guys because of that connection?
I can’t speak for her, even though we have talked to each other about the racial aspect of this season. I will say this: During the first episode, there is a scene in Madame LaLaurie’s torture chamber, where she imprisoned her slaves. I went to see the set because I heard that it was really cool. I stepped in and saw those actors in cages and tattered clothes and saw the special effects scars on their bodies. I lost my breath and started having a minor panic attack and, after only a few seconds, I had to leave. I didn’t see actors playing on a set. I saw reality. I saw history. My history. My mother, my father, my entire family and everyone I know. I later threw up. I can’t say that it resonates deeper with me because I’m black. It resonates deeply with me because I’m black and because I’m a human being who has love for my fellow human beings. But I can’t say it’s deeper than anyone else just because I’m black, only because I know that it also resonated deeply with Kathy Bates as a southern-born, white woman.
Gabourey Sidibe with Kathy Bates in FX's American Horror Story: Coven. (Courtesy FX)
You’ve gotten to work more closely with Kathy Bates than anyone other than Jessica Lange. Have you learned a lot from working with her?
Working with Kathy is so dope! I have a lot of scenes with her and I cherish them! I do learn from her. I mostly learn how to be able to really deliver a knockdown scene but to still have humor and light within you. Kathy means business emotionally, but she still gives me a smile and a warm hug at the beginning and end of each scene. I learn, like I do with all of these wonderful ladies, that your scene partner is as important to you as the words you say. [Kathy Bates discusses her American Horror Story character with Parade here.]
I spoke with Taissa Farmiga about a week ago and she said, “Gabby’s my homegirl.” How did you guys end up being such fast BFFs?
TeeTee is, honestly, my baby. She can do no wrong. Maybe it’s because we’re both from the East Coast or maybe it’s because we’re two of the coolest people in the universe and our awesomeness has attracted us to one another. I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. What I do know is that I love her and she’s just as much my homegirl as I am hers.
Without going into spoiler territory what can you tell us, however small, about what’s to come for Queenie the rest of this season?
This is tough. You can definitely expect more of this budding relationship between Queenie and Madame LaLaurie… but then you should expect the unexpected.
Word hit the Internet last week that AHS is coming back for season four. Are you coming back as well?
There will be a season four, for sure. As far as who’s coming back for it, I don’t know. I’m picking up every lucky penny that I can find.
Every year seems to add some really interesting actors to the mix. Is there anyone out there that you’d love to see added to the cast next year?
Maybe Neve Campbell in a throwback Scream Queen sort of way. Giancarlo Esposito because he’s an amazing actor. Also Kerry Washington. She’s got such a strong presence.
Do you have a favorite memory or moment, on screen or off, from your work on American Horror Story so far?
My favorite on-screen moment was the Minotaur. The director was Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who is the show’s co-executive producer. Clearly it was a very sensitive scene, and it took a lot of emotion and preparation. Alfonso started preparing me for it weeks in advance and made me feel really comfortable with what I was doing and what my limits might be. I felt like I was doing something important to the story and that, in turn, I was being taken care of emotionally. I felt like a real actor with real talent and that I was being trusted with this story and this scene because of that talent. I was very proud of myself and thankful to Alfonso and Ryan Murphy for their trust in me. All of my favorite off-screen moments center around the friends I’ve made on this show. Swamp trips with the cast and Saturday night movies are my favorite!
American Horror Story: Coven airs on FX on Wednesdays at 10 PM EST.The Plan for RSpec 3
Myron Marston
Update: There's a Japanese translation of this available now.
RSpec 2.0 was released in October 2010. In the nearly three years since then, we've been able to continually improve RSpec without needing to make breaking changes, but we've reached a point where RSpec has a fair bit of cruft stemming from the need to retain backwards compatibility with older 2.x releases.
RSpec 2.14 will be the last RSpec 2 feature release. (We may do some bug-fix patch releases, though). We're getting started on RSpec 3, and I'd like to share our thoughts on the direction RSpec will be going.
None of this is set in stone, of course, and ultimately RSpec has been a successful project because of all of the people who use it. So please speak up if you have any thoughts about the direction we should take with RSpec 3!
What's Being Removed
No More 1.8.6 and 1.9.1 Support
RSpec 2.x has continued to support Ruby 1.8.6 long after that version has ceased being supported by the MRI team. As an important piece of testing infrastructure in the Ruby ecosystem, we've felt that it's important to allow gem authors to decide when to drop support for older Ruby versions, and not be forced to do so prematurely because the test framework they've chosen to use no longer supports one of the versions they support.
Ruby 1.8.6 and 1.9.1 have not been available on Travis for nearly two years, and without the safety net of a CI server running our builds on those versions, it's become extremely difficult to continue supporting them. In practice, we've really only "semi-supported" these ruby versions for the last couple years: when users report issues on these ruby versions, we'll fix them, but we haven't been expending effort on support beyond that.
And so, the time has come to drop support for these versions. We plan to continue to support 1.8.7, 1.9.2 and all newer ruby versions on RSpec 3. Given that 1.8.7 is now legacy, we'll probably be dropping support for 1.8.7 in RSpec 4, although if/when Travis stops supporting it before then, we'll only be able to "semi-support" it in the same way we've been semi-supporting 1.8.6.
Core: its will be moved into an external gem
I've written about this before, so I won't belabor the point here. We plan to move its out of rspec-core and into an external gem.
Expectations: have(x).items matchers will be moved into an external gem
RSpec originated in a time before the existence of Cucumber/Gherkin, and one of its early goals was to express things in natural language that a project stakeholder could understand. In those early days, an expression like team.should have(9).players made sense for the goals of the project. Since then, Cucumber/Gherkin have emerged as a better alternative for stakeholder-focused tests, and RSpec is rarely used for that purpose today. The have(x).items family of matchers (including the have_at_least(x).items and have_at_most(x).items siblings) are unnecessarily complicated, when a simple expression like expect(team.players.size).to eq(9) works just fine.
We plan to move these matchers out of rspec-expectations and into an external gem.
Core: No more explicit debugger support
RSpec has long supported a -d / --debug command line option for enabling the debugger via the ruby-debug gem. However, today ruby-debug is not the only (or even main) debugging gem in use today. debugger has become the de-facto standard debugging gem for MRI 1.9.2+, and many developers prefer to use pry for debugging. Other ruby interpreters like Rubinius feature their own debugger.
We plan to remove the explicit debugger support in RSpec 3. Besides removing the command line option, we'll be removing the monkey patching of debugger in Kernel when ruby-debug is not loaded, so you will get a NoMethodError from debugger when a debugger is not loaded.
If you want to continue to load the debugger using a command line option, you can use the require flag ( -r ), using an option like -rdebugger.
Core: No more RCov integration
RSpec::Core::RakeTask has had some RCov options for a long time. RCov only works with MRI 1.8, and today most ruby developers use SimpleCov for their code coverage needs. SimpleCov integrates with RSpec (or any test framework) very simply, with no explicit support needed from within RSpec itself.
Core: Autotest integration will be moved into an external gem
Autotest used to be the primary ruby continuous test runner. These days, guard seems to be the more popular choice, and there's no reason that RSpec's Autotest integration needs to remain in rspec-core.
Core: TextMate formatter will be moved into the TextMate bundle
For many years, TextMate was the most popular text editor used by ruby developers. RSpec has had a TextMate-specific formatter for many years. These days, TextMate isn't nearly as popular among ruby developers as it used to be, and there's no compelling reason for the TextMate formatter to remain in rspec-core.
Lots of Deprecations
RSpec 2.14 includes many things that have been deprecated over the last couple of years. We plan to remove nearly all of the deprecated APIs and features.
What about the old expectation/mock syntax?
RSpec 2.11 introduced a new expect -based syntax for rspec-expectations. In RSpec 2.14, we updated rspec-mocks to use a similar syntax. Since introducing the new syntax, I've received a number of questions about how soon we will be deprecating or removing the old should -based syntax.
While I won't say "never" (who knows what the future holds?), we don't have any current plans to ever remove the old syntax. Users have invested in code that uses the old syntax for many years, and while we recommend using the new syntax (particularly for new projects), we'd be doing users a disservice to remove the old syntax anytime soon. It's also not a significant maintenance burden.
For RSpec 3, we considered the idea of disabling the old syntax by default, forcing users to opt-in to use it. However, I think that doing so would be a disservice to new users who are coming to RSpec through a less-than-current tutorial. Getting a NoMethodError for an example copied from a tutorial can be very frustrating to someone trying RSpec for the first time. Experienced users can easily disable the old syntax, whereas new users aren't likely to have enough RSpec knowledge to know to enable the old syntax used by their tutorial.
That said, we do want to encourage people to switch to the new syntax, so we plan to make RSpec 3 print a warning on first usage of any the old syntax methods ( should, should_not, should_receive, etc) unless the should syntax has been explicitly enabled. This should nudge folks towards the new syntax while keeping RSpec friendly to new users and will pave the way for the old syntax to be disabled by default in RSpec 4.
What's New
Zero Monkey Patching Mode!
Historically, RSpec has extensively used monkey patching to create its readable syntax, adding methods like describe, shared_examples_for, shared_context, should, should_not, should_receive, should_not_receive and stub to every object. In the last few 2.x releases, we've worked towards reducing the amount of monkey patching done by RSpec:
As of rspec-core 2.11, describe is no longer added to every object. Instead, it is only added to the top-level main object and to Module (so that it is available from within classes and modules).
is no longer added to every object. Instead, it is only added to the top-level object and to (so that it is available from within classes and modules). In rspec-expectations 2.11, we added the expect syntax and provided a config option to disable the should syntax – which removes should and should_not from every object.
syntax and provided a config option to disable the syntax – which removes and from every object. As of rspec-core 2.12, shared_examples_for and shared_context, are no longer added to every object. As with describe, they are only added to the top-level main object and to Module.
and, are no longer added to every object. As with, they are only added to the top-level object and to. In rspec-mocks 2.14, we updated rspec-mocks to support an expect -based syntax as well, and provided a config option to disable the old mocking syntax – which removes should_receive, should_not_receive and stub from every object.
As discussed above, we'll be removing RSpec's monkey-patched Kernel#debugger in 3.0. We're also planning to provide a config option to remove the monkey patching of the top-level DSL methods ( describe, shared_examples_for, etc) onto main and Module, instead requiring you to prefix these methods with RSpec. :
RSpec. describe MyClass do # Within an example group you'll still be able to use # a bare `describe`: describe "#some_method" do end # And you'll be able to use a bare `shared_examples_for`: shared_examples_for "something" do end end RSpec. shared_examples_for "some behavior" do end
The net result will be a set of config options (one for rspec-expectations, one for rspec-mocks and one for rspec-core ), that will provide a zero-monkey-patching mode for RSpec. (We may also provide a single unified config option that sets all three).
We plan for these config options to become the defaults in RSpec 4.0, so that RSpec 4.0 will have zero monkey patching out of the box.
Mocks: Test double interface verification
It's unfortunately been very easy to let your test doubles get out of sync with the real interfaces they are doubling. When you rename a method, or change the number of arguments a method expects, it's easy to forget to update the test doubles you are using as standins for the changed class.
I've long been a fan of rspec-fire's approach to solving this problem. I plan to port a version of it to rspec-mocks.
Take a look at the github issue where we are discussing this for the full details (the API and semantics of this feature are certainly not set in stone yet, so please voice your thoughts on that ticket!)
Expectations: Fully composable matchers
In RSpec |
thought the human cells improved the efficiency of the mice brains.
In a second test, virgin males were exposed to both sexually receptive females wearing the jackets and non-sexually receptive females not wearing jackets.
These males were then exposed to two sexually-aroused female rats, one in a 'bra' and one naked, at the same time.
More of the males ejaculated sooner when mating with the female rats wearing the sexy lingerie.
After they conducted the study, the researchers injected a dye into the rats' brains to show the inner workings.
They found that the males trained to find bra-wearing females attractive showed more neural activity in the pleasure centre of the brain.
The same research team had previously carried out a study with the use of scents, and found they could train rats to prefer to mate with females wearing perfume.
'We have the same brain structure and neurochemistry as our rats,' Dr Jim Pfaus, a professor in the psychology department at the university, told Ed Mazza at the Huffington Post.
'We can see this in studies of brain activation in humans and rats, even though our patterns of copulation appear utterly different.'
The study was presented last month at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in Washington.
Strike a pose: The males were exposed to two sexually-aroused, one in a 'bra' and one naked. More of the males ejaculated sooner with the female wearing the sexy lingerieThe math of logistic regression
This post demonstrates the mathematical model behind logistic regression, which serves as the building block of the deep learning. I write this post to help others understand deep learning, I also write it for myself to learn deep learning more deeply.
I break down each subject into two posts, the math post explaining how an idea works theoretically, and the code post demonstrating how to implement the idea into code. To demonstrate logistic regression, I will apply the theory to image recognition, a well-studied machine learning subject, later in the code post. This post lays the foundation for understanding the model.
Model after biological neuron
Modern deep learning techniques model after biological cognition, the basic unit of which is neuron. It is the building block of deep learning starts with neuron-inspired math modeling using logistic regression. The math behind a simple logistic regression classifier looks like below:
Image this function represents a neuron in your brain, the input is the stimulus your brain received (sound, touch, etc.), represented by the data captured in x x x; and the output is a binary decision of whether that neuron gets triggered or not, represented by the binary value of y ^ \hat{y} y^.
In order to have the neuron work properly, we need to have decent value for weights and bias terms, denoted as w w w and b b b respectively. However, we don’t have good values for w w w nor b b b automatically, we need to train our model and acquire good weights and bias terms. Image our function as a newborn baby, and it takes training to teach a baby to walk, speak etc. We need to train our neuron model and figure out good values for w w w and b b b.
So the question is how to train for logistic regression? Given we have a set of training dataset, we can measure the error of our current model by comparing predicted value and actual value, then take the result to do better. We can break down the question of how to train for logistic regression into a set of smaller problems:
question 1: how to define the error of predictions from our model?
question 2: how to take the error to refine our model?
The technique to address question 1 is called forward propagation, and the technique to address question 2 is called backward progation.
Forward Propagation
Forward progation enables two things. First, it provides a predicted value y ^ \hat{y} y^ based on the input x x x. To break down the calculation mathematically:
z ( i ) = w T x ( i ) + b z^{(i)} = w^{T}x^{(i)} + b z ( i ) = w T x ( i ) + b
a ( i ) = 1 1 + e − z ( i ) a^{(i)} = \frac{1}{1+ e^{-z^{(i)}}} a ( i ) = 1 + e − z ( i ) 1
If the value of a ( i ) a^{(i)} a(i) is greater than or equal to 0.5, then y ( i ) y^{(i)} y(i) is predicted as 1, otherwise y ( i ) y^{(i)} y(i) is 0.
Second, it allows the model to calculate an error based on a loss function, this error quantifies how well our current model is performing using w w w and b b b. The loss function for the logistic regression is below:
ι ( a, y ) = y l o g ( a ) + ( 1 − y ) l o g ( 1 − a ) \iota(a, y) = ylog(a) + (1 - y)log(1-a) ι ( a, y ) = y l o g ( a ) + ( 1 − y ) l o g ( 1 − a )
How does this loss function makes sense? The way I think about is that if the prediction is close to actual value, the value should be low. If the prediction is far from actual value, the value should be high. Gi
cost function based on loss function
Next we define a cost function for the entire dataset based on the loss function because we have many rows of training data, say m m m records. The value of the error based on the cost function is avaraged out across all errors:
ι ( a ( i ), y ( i ) ) = − 1 m ∑ i = 1 m y ( i ) l o g ( a ( i ) ) + ( 1 − y ( i ) ) l o g ( 1 − a ( i ) ) \iota(a^{(i)}, y^{(i)}) = - \frac{1}{m} \sum_{i=1}^{m} y^{(i)}log(a^{(i)}) + (1 - y^{(i)})log(1-a^{(i)}) ι ( a ( i ) , y ( i ) ) = − m 1 ∑ i = 1 m y ( i ) l o g ( a ( i ) ) + ( 1 − y ( i ) ) l o g ( 1 − a ( i ) )
J = 1 m ∑ i = 1 m ι ( a ( 1 ), y ( i ) ) J = \frac{1}{m}\sum_{i=1}^{m}\iota(a^{(1)}, y^{(i)}) J = m 1 ∑ i = 1 m ι ( a ( 1 ) , y ( i ) )
Given we have a way to measure the error of our prediction model, we can set the goal to minimize prediction error by adjusting our model parameters, and this is where backward propagation comes in.
Backward Propagation
To tackle the problem of how to refine our model to reduce training error, we can more formally define our problem as following:
Given a dataset X X X The model computes A = σ ( w T X + b ) = ( a ( 0 ), a ( 1 ),..., a ( m − 1 ), a ( m ) ) A = \sigma(w^T X + b) = (a^{(0)}, a^{(1)},..., a^{(m-1)}, a^{(m)}) A = σ ( w T X + b ) = ( a ( 0 ) , a ( 1 ) ,..., a ( m − 1 ) , a ( m ) ) The model calculates the cost function: J = − 1 m ∑ i = 1 m y ( i ) log ( a ( i ) ) + ( 1 − y ( i ) ) log ( 1 − a ( i ) ) J = -\frac{1}{m}\sum_{i=1}^{m}y^{(i)}\log(a^{(i)})+(1-y^{(i)})\log(1-a^{(i)}) J = − m 1 ∑ i = 1 m y ( i ) lo g ( a ( i ) ) + ( 1 − y ( i ) ) lo g ( 1 − a ( i ) ) Apply cost function J J J to adjust w w w and b b b
To implement step 4, we need to apply gradient descent.
Gradient Descent
Quote from Wikipedia on gradient descent:
Gradient descent is a first-order iterative optimization alogirthm for finding the minimum of a function.
Great! We want to find the minimum of our cost function by adjusting w w w and b b b. Following the gradient descent algorithm, we take the following steps:
taking partial derivatives off our parameters, which tells us the delta values of adjusting that value update our parameters based on the delta value from the partial derivatives
The goal is to learn w w w and b b b by minimizing the cost function J J J. For a parameter θ \theta θ, the update rule is θ = θ − α d θ \theta = \theta - \alpha \text{ } d\theta θ=θ−α dθ, where α \alpha α is the learning rate.
Translate the steps above mathematically, we get:
update w
∂ J ∂ w = 1 m X ( A − Y ) T \frac{\partial J}{\partial w} = \frac{1}{m}X(A-Y)^T ∂ w ∂ J = m 1 X ( A − Y ) T
w : = w − α ∂ J ∂ w w := w - \alpha\frac{\partial J}{\partial w} w : = w − α ∂ w ∂ J
update b
∂ J ∂ b = 1 m ∑ i = 1 m ( a ( i ) − y ( i ) ) \frac{\partial J}{\partial b} = \frac{1}{m} \sum_{i=1}^{m} (a^{(i)}-y^{(i)}) ∂ b ∂ J = m 1 ∑ i = 1 m ( a ( i ) − y ( i ) )
b : = b − α ∂ J ∂ b b := b - \alpha\frac{\partial J}{\partial b} b : = b − α ∂ b ∂ J
Put it all togher
We can now have a big picture of how we want to use logistic regression classifier to predict future dataset based on training dataset. A high-level architectural steps can be summarized as:
Gather training dataset ( X t r a i n, Y t r a i n ) (X_{train}, Y_{train}) ( X t r a i n , Y t r a i n ) and test dataset ( X t e s t, Y t e s t ) (X_{test}, Y_{test}) ( X t e s t , Y t e s t ). Initialize model parameters w w w and b b b. Define learning rate α \alpha α, and number of training iterations. For each training iteration, run through: apply forward propagation with ( X t r a i n, Y t r a i n ) (X_{train}, Y_{train}) ( X t r a i n , Y t r a i n ), w w w and b b b
, and calculate cost funtion J J J
apply backward propagation to adjust w w w and b b b Verify the accuracy of the model using ( X t e s t, Y t e s t ) (X_{test}, Y_{test}) ( X t e s t , Y t e s t )
In the next blog post the code of logistic regression, we will dive into the implementation of logistic regression based on the model above.Image copyright Thinkstock
Doing at least half an hour of exercise three times a week may boost men's sperm count, say scientists.
Men who took up running and stuck with it had more "healthy swimmers", according to the research in the journal Reproduction.
The boost was only temporary, and began to wane within a month if the men stopped their treadmill training.
Experts say it is important to strike the right balance because too much exercise can harm sperm production.
Studies have shown that participation in competitive sports, like cycling, can lower sperm quality.
Sperm boosters
Keep your testicles cool - avoid tight underwear and hot baths
Avoid sexually transmitted infections
Stop smoking
Cut down on alcohol
Stay slim
Get some exercise, but not too much!
All of the 261 men enrolled in the recent trial were healthy and did not have any fertility problems as far as they could tell. They had normal sperm counts and healthy-looking sperm and led fairly sedentary lives.
The men were allocated to one of four programmes:
no exercise
three sessions a week of high intensity interval training (10 one-minute bursts of very fast running with a short recovery period between each bout)
three sessions a week of moderate exercise (30 minutes on a treadmill)
three sessions a week of intense exercise (about an hour on a treadmill)
Exercise training appeared to boost sperm quantity and quality, with moderate exercise coming top.
Men in all three exercise groups lost weight and saw improvements in their sperm test results compared with the men who did no exercise over the 24-week trial period.
Image copyright Thinkstock
The researchers say at least part of the benefit may come from shedding excess weight - all three exercise groups lost some body fat.
Experts already know obesity can lower a man's fertility. A third of the men in each study group were overweight.
Fertility aid?
What is not clear is whether the boost from exercise translates to better fertility. That is something the researchers plan to explore in the lab by checking if training-induced changes affect the fertilising potential of sperm.
Lead researcher Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki said: "Our results show that doing exercise can be a simple, cheap and effective strategy for improving sperm quality in sedentary men.
"However, it's important to acknowledge that the reason some men can't have children isn't just based on their sperm count. Male infertility problems can be complex and changing lifestyles might not solve these cases easily."
Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield and spokesman for the British Fertility Society, said: "We have a very poor understanding of how physical exercise affects male fertility and sperm quality, but it is a question commonly asked by men wishing to improve their chances of having a child."
He said there probably was a level of exercise that is optimum for male fertility, but recommended that men check with their GP before embarking on anything too strenuous.
UK guidelines recommend that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, such as cycling or fast walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, such as running, every week.Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine appeared in Greensboro, North Carolina on Wednesday and LGBTQ rights were on his mind.
“In Philadelphia last week, there was a speaker, Sarah McBride, who made history. Some of you know her, she was the first transgender person ever to speak at a national convention. And she talked about the continuing battle we have in this nation to fight against discrimination,” Kaine said, referring to the 2016 DNC.
Related: Leaked DNC Email Calls McCrory “Moronic Little Bigot Of A Tarheel Governor”
“I know in North Carolina there’s been some pain over this issue,” Kaine continued. “They snuck through in the legislature this HB2, and they tried to introduce it kind of in the dead of night, and (thought), ‘Can we do an end run and make it happen really fast? And maybe people won’t notice, and maybe people won’t complain.’ But you all have stood up in a major way, and you’ve said, ‘This is not who we are, this is not who North Carolina is, these are not our values.’ And that’s one of the reasons North Carolina is so intensely focused on this race.”
Kaine shared that Roy Cooper, the state’s attorney general, who is running against Gov. McCrory in the gubernatorial race, told him he didn’t want people to think of North Carolina as going backwards.
“We gotta go forward, not backward,” Kaine said, which brought chants of “Forward together!”
Related: Donald Trump Promises To Protect LGBTQ People, Twitter Reacts
The North Carolina NAACP has been using the phrase. NC NAACP President Rev. William Barber II gave a speech at the 2016 DNC.
Kaine pointed out that Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence also tried to enact discriminatory laws and when businesses began to pull out of Indiana as a result he “had to do a u-turn.” Gov. McCrory and the Republican controlled North Carolina General Assembly have instead dug in their heels and watched companies such as PayPal pull out, and events like concerts, conventions and most recently the 2017 NBA All-Star Game hightail it out of the Tar Heel state as well.
“This is somebody who has said LGBT people would bring about a ‘societal collapse.’ That’s just not right, folks.” Kaine said of Pence.
HuffPost Pollster has Clinton holding a slight lead over Trump in the state, and Cooper with a slight lead over McCrory in the race for governor.
McCrory signed HB2 into law, which requires transgender people to use the bathrooms and locker rooms matching the gender on their birth certificate in public buildings, and allows private businesses to set their own rules around the issue. It also capped the state’s minimum wage, nullified any pre-existing discrimination ordinances passed by cities and municipalities in North Carolina and took away the right to sue for workplace discrimination in the state courts.
Related: 6 Times Hillary Clinton Stood Up For The LGBTQ Community
This last provision was changed, but LGBTQ people are still unable to sue for workplace discrimination in the state, as there are no protections for them and there are no protections federally, either. Clinton has pledged to work with Congress to pass the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ community in employment, housing, education, obtaining credit, federal funding, jury service and public accommodations.
Kaine also praised the recent court decision to strike down restrictive voting laws, which were passed after the Supreme Court, in 2013, made it possible for Southern states to change their voting laws without federal preclearance, which they had been required to do since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
June 15, 2017, 12:17 PM GMT / Updated June 16, 2017, 8:34 AM GMT By The Associated Press
BEIJING — A 22-year-old man made the deadly bomb that exploded at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China, investigators said Friday.
Police said the suspect was identified primarily using security camera footage and DNA collected at the scene of the blast, which struck Thursday as relatives were waiting to pick up students at the end of the school day. Only the suspect's surname, Xu, was released and no motive was provided.
The blast killed 8 people, including Wu, while 65 others were injured.
The aftermath of the explosion near a kindergarten in eastern China on Thursday. CCTV / AFP - Getty Images
Investigators say they found materials for making a homemade bomb at Xu's nearby residence. Emblazoned on its walls were the Chinese characters for death, disaster and other related dark themes.
Xu had left school because of a nervous system disorder, whose symptoms can include depression, anxiety, dizziness, vision problems and problems with basic bodily functions, the police said at a news conference in the city of Xuzhou in Jiangsu province.
The blast at the Chuangxin Kindergarten in Xuzhou's Fengxian county occurred at 4:50 p.m. before school had let out for the day and no students or teachers from the kindergarten were among the injured, according to a statement from local authorities.
However, videos purportedly from the scene showed children — possibly relatives of the kindergartners or passers-by — among the casualties.
Police officers examine the entrance to a kindergarten on Friday. Kyodo via AP
Videos posted by the People's Daily showed a chaotic scene, with children and adults lying on the ground, some of them motionless, their clothes blown off them, and others struggling to get up. Clothing, shoes and other items were strewn across the area beside pools of blood.
Kindergartens and elementary schools in China have been attacked several times before by suspects authorities have said were mentally ill or bore grudges against their neighbors and society.
In 2010, nearly 20 children were killed in attacks on schools, prompting a response from top government officials and leading many schools to beef up security by posting guards and installing gates and other barriers. Last year, a knife-wielding assailant injured seven students outside a primary school in a northern city.
China maintains tight control over firearms and most attacks are carried out using knives, axes or homemade explosives.Image caption Ed Miliband said small business was Britain's "best hope"
Labour leader Ed Miliband has told small businesses he will protect them from "unacceptable treatment" by the UK's largest energy firms.
In a speech in Manchester, he pledged to set up a regulator to stop firms being "rolled" on to higher tariffs and forced to pay "crippling" bills.
He said a Labour government would ensure small firms were given the same legal protections as householders.
But Chancellor George Osborne accused Labour of "phoney" commitments.
'Broken market'
Some of the biggest energy firms raised their tariffs at the end of last year, and energy prices have become a keenly contested political issue in recent months.
The opposition leader's speech comes a day after a competition inquiry into the "big six" energy firms was announced and in the same week as energy supplier SSE said it would freeze prices on households bills until January 2016.
It is unacceptable that companies like yours do not have even basic protections that are available to households Ed Miliband
Addressing the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) annual conference, Mr Miliband said small business was "Britain's best hope" for a lasting and broad-based economic recovery.
He said firms did not have the same level of protection as consumers and promised to give business organisations new legal rights to take cases - such as late payment by firms or government departments - to court on behalf of their members.
On energy, he said a new regulator would have the power to enforce a ban on suppliers rolling firms over on to more expensive tariffs without their consent - or imposing retrospective back-billing for periods of longer than a year.
"We have to mend the broken energy market and freeze bills up to 2017 not just for customers of one company but for all customers of all the energy companies and all customers," he said.
Last October, Labour pledged to freeze domestic and commercial energy prices for 20 months from the middle of 2015 if it wins next year's general election, a move criticised at the time by the energy industry.
'Cutting bills'
Image copyright PA Image caption Energy is among many firms' largest expenses
Mr Miliband said it was unacceptable that companies did not have "even basic protections that are available to households under the law from unfair energy contracts".
"The next Labour government would ban the energy companies from rolling small businesses on to more expensive tariffs without their consent," he said.
"And we will create proper competition enforced by a new regulator to keep prices as low as possible for the years ahead."
Standards of conduct
Regulator Ofgem said it had already taken action to protect small businesses, including enforcing standards of conduct on billing and switching and requiring suppliers to provide clearer information to customers.
Firms abusing the rules faced much larger fines in future, it added.
We've had lots of phoney commitments George Osborne, Chancellor
Mr Osborne, who also addressed the conference on Friday, said he had announced a plan in last week's Budget to reduce total energy costs for industry by £7bn.
Among steps being taken include a freeze on the "carbon floor" - a fossil fuels tax - for firms, which the government estimates will save medium-sized manufacturers £50,000 a year by 2018.
"We've also cut bills for families by reducing the taxes and green levies, quite often which the last Labour government put on," he said.
"That's a real demonstration of our commitment to create jobs in this country and help families in this country."
Mr Osborne has also launched a consultation on measures to help small and medium-sized businesses which have been rejected for a loan.
The government is considering whether to legislate to require lenders to release information on SMEs (small and medium enterprises) which they reject for finance, so that they can be identified and approached by alternative credit providers.5. Finnish
One of the most common mistakes made about languages is that Finnish is similar to its neighbouring languages Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. It’s not. While there are cultural overlaps between the four Scandinavian countries, the linguistic overlaps are limited to just three of them. Finnish is an entirely unrelated language, coming from the Uralic language family, rather than the Indo-European family. It is immensely complicated, with 14 different cases for different grammatical situations, and far harder for English speakers to learn than the North Germanic languages like Swedish. It also sounds significantly different to the European languages and has no close relations, although it has some similarities with Estonian and Hungarian.
4. Klingon
This is another artificial language, spoken by entirely fictional beings -the Klingons from “Star Trek”. But there’s nothing unusual about alien races speaking their own language, is there? Every sci-fi show has a few lines of incomprehensible alien-ese. But what makes Klingon different is that it’s a fully developed language, with its own grammar and phonetical systems. It was developed for “Star Trek III: Search for Spock” by a linguist called Marc Okrand and has a few unusual features – such as having different words for plural forms rather than an affix (e.g. “jengva” means “plate”, but “plates” is “ngop”). It also has its own writing system, but the Klingon dictionary uses Latin script so that even beginners can learn it. Of course, it’s only hard-core geeks that actually speak Klingon but it’s still an interesting linguistic phenomenon in its own right.
3. Ayapa Zoque
This is another sadly endangered language but what makes it interesting is the relationship between the last two speakers of it. They are both elderly men, living in Mexico, but they refuse to speak to each other so while the language is still retained in their heads, it isn’t actually being used anywhere in the world. There is an effort to preserve the language before it dies out, spearheaded by Daniel Suslak of Indiana University, but the two men refuse to have a conversation in front of him, even for academic purposes. No-one is really sure why Manuel Segovia (above) and Isidro Velasquez dislike each other so much but it seems that they are prepared to let the language die rather than make friends. So, despite Suslak’s best efforts, no written version of Ayapa Zoque exists.
2. Pirahã
This is another project from the Wycliffe Bible Translators, specifically by former missionary Daniel Everett (above). He lived with the Pirahã people of Brazil for 7 years and described some of the language after leaving. His descriptions both puzzled and infuriated the linguistic community and caused a row between two of the leading brains in Linguistics, Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker. The Pirahã language just seemed to be lacking many of the elements previously thought to be essential for language – they had no words for number or color and only three pronouns. But the lack of subordinate clause (e.g. “When I’ve caught the fish, we will eat it”) was the one that upset Chomsky, as it undermined his theory of Universal Grammar and fits more with Pinker’s theories that language is gained by learning. Apparently, they are still arguing about it now. Meanwhile, Everett never mastered the language or managed to teach the native people Portuguese and later left the ministry.
1. Taushiro
And for the number one position…a language that is only spoken by one person in the world, according to SIL.That person is Amadeo Garcia (above) and although he lives in a native community of 20, he is the only Taushiro speaker.
It’s another South American language, from Peru and has no close relations with any language, although it has been tentatively grouped with Candoshi, and Omurano, two other “language isolates” from the Amazonian region, although they are not particularly similar. It’s been studied by western linguists so may still be preserved for posterity. The counting system only seems to go from one (“washikanto”) to ten, with speakers using their fingers and toes for numbers above ten. A nearly extinct language but hopefully one that will still be documented after the last speaker has died.Sydney (CNN) -- Vast flooding covering much of eastern Australia could remain for weeks, as more than 1,200 residents remain out of deluged homes Wednesday.
As of late Wednesday night, the Fitzroy River was hovering around 9.2 meters (30 feet), CNN meteorologist Jennifer Delgado said.
"The river has crested, it appears, and it looks like it is going to be slowly falling as we go through the next several days," Delgado said.
Are you there? Send us your video and photos via iReport
By next week, floodwaters could remain at levels of about 8.5 meters (28 feet), Delgado said, but flooding could still affect the region for "several weeks."
The seasonal flooding in the state of Queensland intensified last month after monsoon rains caused rivers to spill over their banks and reach record levels. The floodwaters cover an area the size of France and Germany combined and now stretch into the state of New South Wales.
Images from CNN affiliate Seven Network Australia showed residents traveling down the streets in boats. From the sky, the tops of houses and trees poked out from seas of murky brown water. Snakes whipped about from under the water's surface.
Flooding fueled by cyclone, La Nina
Neil Roberts, Queensland minister for police, corrective services and emergency services, said Wednesday that 1,200 to 1,500 people had to be evacuated in parts of Queensland. Roberts said some residents probably can't return to their homes for at least another week.
He said the recovery could take "many months, and potentially over a year."
Roberts said the government had an emergency cabinet meeting Wednesday and appointed a major general to lead a recovery task force.
The flooding has affected the global transport of commodities such as coal and steel, as rail lines used to move such goods out of Queensland have been destroyed.
Forecasters predict even more rain in the coming days. Delgado said 20 centimeters (8 inches) could fall through Thursday.
On Tuesday, relief teams continued rushing supplies into the eastern city of Rockhampton. In some of the state's more rural areas, farmers said they were scrambling to send tons of crops out before waters damaged them and flooding made their transport impossible.
Police said 10 people have died as a result of flooding since November 30 -- many of them swept away by swift waters.
An airport in Rockhampton, a city of about 75,000 people, closed Sunday and was expected to remain closed for weeks, according to Emergency Management Queensland.
At least 200,000 people have been affected by prolonged flooding, police have said.
Police have warned residents who have been allowed to return to their homes about placing valuables outside to dry, saying some people could be tempted to take such items. Additional police have been deployed to affected communities.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has urged residents to stay away from the floodwater. On Friday, she toured the devastation and said the flooding in Queensland will cost "hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars."
Journalist Michael Best contributed to this report.Time runs in one direction, but new research indicates the Big Bang might’ve created a mirror universe where time runs backward. We have yet to confirm if that universe’s Spock has a goatee.
Back in 2004, a theory proposed by Cal Tech professor Sean Carroll and his grad student Jennifer Chen posited that time moves forward because the movement toward high entropy gives it direction. As PBS notes, the theory says that time advances because of “the contrast in entropy between then and now, with an emphasis on the fact that the future universe will so much more disordered than the past.”
But a new theory is a whole lot more intriguing. Julian Barbour, at the University of Oxford, has proposed a theory that says a low-entropy early universe is inevitable because of gravity, and ultimately that’s what gives time its arrow. They tested the idea with a basic model with 1,000 particles and the physics of Newtonian gravity, to see how it worked. Here’s Scientific American’s take on the findings:
The system’s complexity is at its lowest when all the particles come together in a densely packed cloud, a state of minimum size and maximum uniformity roughly analogous to the big bang. The team’s analysis showed that essentially every configuration of particles, regardless of their number and scale, would evolve into this low-complexity state. Thus, the sheer force of gravity sets the stage for the system’s expansion and the origin of time’s arrow, all without any delicate fine-tuning to first establish a low-entropy initial condition.
To take that a step further, the study also shows the “simulated Big Bang” actually happened in two directions — meaning if the real Big Bang followed the same rules, it would’ve created a mirror universe where time essentially runs in reverse from our universe. Basically, time would run backward there.
Here’s how Barbour described the potential findings, in what almost sounds like the pitch for a high-concept sci-fi flick:
“If they were complicated enough, both sides could sustain observers who would perceive time going in opposite directions. Any intelligent beings there would define their arrow of time as moving away from this central state. They would think we now live in their deepest past.”
Whoa. Mind. Blown.
(Via PBS)In “Chapter Fifty-Two” of CW’s Jane the Virgin, one last desperate quip in support of Hillary Clinton was randomly inserted into a conversation about Jane’s husband Michael’s (Brett Dier) new ambition to be a stand-up comedian.
Michael quit his job as an investigator for the police department because he was reassigned to desk duty after failing the physical examination upon his return to work after a gunshot wound. He settles on the idea of being a stand-up comedian, justifying the career choice when some colleagues laugh at some of his jokes. Naturally Jane (Gina Rodriguez) is worried he will fail. She seeks advice from her mother, Xo (Andrea Navedo) and her abuela Alba (Ivonne Coll).
Mr. Bee, a hand puppet used to entertain baby Mateo, appears throughout the episode as the voice of Jane’s conscience. Mr. Bee reminds the viewer that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 election and her slogan “I’m with her” was used as the path for that zinger.
Jane: Should I get him to postpone? Practice more? I just don't want him to fall on his face after all he's been through lately. Xo: If he fails, he fails. He's a big boy, he can handle it. Mr. Bee: I'm with her. Latin lover narrator: I was, too... Along with the rest of the popular vote. Bee: Be supportive. No meddling, missy.
Oh, how clever. Use the silly child’s hand puppet, Mr. Bee, to deliver the remark for Hillary Clinton. Hillary won the popular vote and the leftists in Hollywood will no doubt work it into every show possible, even though the national popular vote has nothing to do with how the United States elects its president.
It should be also noted that Gina Rodriguez was a vocal and active Hillary Clinton supporter – a part of the Hollywood crowd that was unable to deliver the victory for Clinton, so it should have been expected. Rodriguez also attended the Los Angeles Women's March over the weekend while wearing a shirt that said, "Torch Your Bra," and tweeted "Si se puede," which is a famous activist slogan that Obama used in his campaign - "Yes We Can."
She must have gotten some pushback for her lefty activism, because earlier today she bemoaned "the pain" and how "devastating" it is when people tell her to shut up and sing.
And you can't imagine the pain it causes an actor to be told, don't speak on politics just act! Like wtf! It's devastating. https://t.co/Vqf8gnuSS0 — Gina Rodriguez (@HereIsGina) January 23, 2017
Poor Gina! I think I can hear the world's tiniest violin playing for the millionaire celebrity. She's just discovered that half the country is not "with her." How sad!“When I tell people I’m a Colourist, they’ll often ask me what I think of their hair colour.” It’s a funny anecdote, but is also an interesting commentary on the reputation of colour grading in the wider world. Namely – that it doesn’t really have one. Most people don’t know what a Colourist is, and a lot of us in the film industry don’t really understand it. Big machines in nice studios, right?
Story by Paddy Macrae
I caught up with Ros Di Sisto, Colourist at Method Studios in Melbourne, about what it is she does, and why.
“A Colourist is someone who makes pretty pictures” Ros tells me. “It’s manipulating images using contrast, colour and light. Kind of like Photoshop on steroids.” Makes sense, but I’m going to delve a little deeper than that.
THE |
Windows Phones by releasing an iPhone clone without any profit margin. Let them know which is the superior handset by voting at Laptop Magazine here.
At the time of writing we are about 200 votes short, but I am sure we can rectify that in a jiffy.
Update: The poll seems to have closed minutes after I posted the article. I am sure we will do better next time.
Thanks Arun for the tip.While announcing $2 million in funding for children's health research yesterday, Gov. John Kasich addressed what he thought should be done in Ohio in the aftermath of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Dispatch reporter Randy Ludlow writes. "I think we're doing fine in Ohio. Everbody's opinion has to be respected in all of this and we have to strike a balance...I don't see a reason to do any more," said Republican governor, who opposes same-sex marriage.
A look at what's happening in Ohio politics and policy today:
While announcing $2 million in funding for children's health research yesterday, Gov. John Kasich addressed what he thought should be done in Ohio in the aftermath of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Dispatch reporter Randy Ludlow writes.
"I think we're doing fine in Ohio. Everbody's opinion has to be respected in all of this and we have to strike a balance...I don't see a reason to do any more," said Republican governor, who opposes same-sex marriage.
Indiana's law was amended after widespread backlash and threatened boycotts because many interpreted the law as allowing discrimination against those in the LGBT community.
***
Medicaid expansion: Kasich also said yesterday he doesn't expect to use the Controlling Board to keep Medicaid expansion going in Ohio, Toledo Blade reporter Jim Provance writes. Right now, it's in the governor's proposed $72 billion, two-year budget. But it likely won't stay there. "Senate President Keith Faber (R., Celina) told The Blade's Editorial Board last week that he doesn't expect the expansion to remain a part of the budget but rather be moved into a separate bill for debate. He said he's willing to allow a floor vote on the expansion and believes there would be enough votes to pass it, but he doesn't believe a majority of his caucus supports the expansion," Provance writes.
***
Face the Nation: Kasich will appear on Face the Nation later April 26 with Bob Schieffer, who announced his retirement from the Sunday morning show this week. It will be a busy week for Kasich who will be in D.C. that week to speak at an economic summit sponsored by The Atlantic, appear at at a New America event moderated by CNN and attend the annual White House Correspondents Dinner as a guest of the Wall Street Journal.
All that comes on the heels of next week's travels to Detroit, South Carolina and New Hampshire.
Kasich, who is a mulling a run for president next year, said yesterday he's keeping his options open and "so far, it all feels pretty good."
Kasich had at least one supporter at the event yesterday. Laura Turek, 9, of Lancaster said she would vote for the Republican governor for president. Turek, who was there because she has asthma, did, however, decline to donate her allowance to the cause.
***
Senate 2016: Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland announced he raised $671,073 in the first 35 days of his campaign for next year's U.S. Senate race, Dispatch Washington reporter Jessica Wehrman writes.
It's less than his Democratic primary opponent Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld who raised more than $750,000 since declaring his candidacy in January though Sittenfeld had more than a month head start on Strickland.
The winner of the primary will likely face Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who raised $2.75 million in the first quarter and has $8 million in the bank.
This week's Quinnipiac University poll showed Strickland beating Portman by 9 points.
***
DNA evidence: Attorney General Mike DeWine reported yesterday that 6,908 DNA rape evidence kids have been tested with about 2,584 getting hits in the state's database, Dispatch reporter Alan Johnson writes.
"Since 2011, when DeWine asked law enforcement agencies around the state to submit old DNA rape kits which had been sitting on shelves as long as 20 years, 156 agencies turned in 9,354 kits. Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation scientists processed nearly 75 percent of the kits so far," Johnson writes.
***
Turner talks Iran: Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, said upon returning from leading a bipartisan trip to Romania and Israel last week, he heard from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "Iran's efforts to destabilize the Middle East 'have not ceased.'" Wehrman reports, "Turner's trip was focused on missile defense. He chairs the Armed Services subcommittee that authorizes procurement and research and development."
***
Just because: In an apparent attempt to appeal to the kids, CNN has created 2016 emojis, little cartoon pictures that you can text to your friends. The emojis are of 17 potential candidates, including Kasich, and one of the White House.
***
Follow @OhioPoliticsNow on Twitter and like Dispatch Politics on Facebook
meverhart@dispatch.com
@meverhart26After missing 24 games over the past three seasons, Danny Amendola knows that his durability is a talking point.
He just doesn't want to be the one doing the talking.
The New England Patriots wide receiver hung up on a local radio station Tuesday night following back-to-back questions about his spotty injury history.
After touting Amendola's charity work and asking the pass-catcher to sum up his first season with the Pats, WBZ-FM host Adam Jones of The Adam Jones Show used the words "injury-prone," "unlucky" and "fragile" to open the discussion about Amendola's health.
"That's not something I really think about," Amendola said.
Instead of moving on, Jones doubled down.
"You've been described as 'unlucky' with some of your injuries," Jones said. "We all remember that clavicle injury that you suffered as a member of the St. Louis Rams, and I remember a hit that you took a year against the --"
Click.
Amendola was gone.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" breaks down Colin Kaepernick's new contract and debates which players are poised for a breakout.Share. Kill enemies, take their weapons. Kill enemies, take their weapons.
Exit Theatre Mode
A canceled Mega Man X first-person shooter codenamed Maverick Hunter has been unearthed. In a report published by Polygon, Maverick Hunter is revealed to have been in development in 2010 by Armature, a studio founded by the creators of Metroid Prime.
According to Polygon, “the game would have stayed true to core Mega Man X gameplay concepts, re-imagining his X-Buster arm cannon, his dash and his ability to appropriate the special powers of his fallen enemies. Platforming elements, including X's wall jump, and classic Mega Man X characters would have been re-imagined in new ways.” Like most Mega Man games, Maverick Hunter’s enemies would have been weak to certain weapons and levels would contain branching paths.
Maverick Hunter was axed shortly before Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune left Capcom in 2010. It was intended to be part of a trilogy “that would culminate in a third game in which the player would assume control of Zero, forced to destroy a Mega Man who had grown incredibly powerful and infinitely intelligent over the course of two games.”
Maverick Hunter joins the roster of other canceled Mega Man games including Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Online. Last month, Capcom said that discussions for a new Mega Man game are underway, but nothing has been finalized or announced just yet.
For more on Maverick Hunter (including videos), head over to Polygon.
Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.Your Compulsive Need To Correct Everyone Has Finally Resulted In Becoming Universally Beloved
Good news! Your compulsive need to correct everyone has finally resulted in becoming universally beloved! At long last — and without any warning whatever — your habit of beginning sentences with “Actually,” has brought you total acclaim. Former lovers and Internet acquaintances alike have joined together to celebrate your heroic habit of never letting a slightly incorrect statement go unchallenged.
The cousin whose eyes swam with hurt last Christmas after you unceremoniously tore apart her muddled-but-workable understanding of the dissertation process understands now just why it was so important you could not allow her to live in partial ignorance for even one second. It was because of your deep and abiding commitment to truth, and not your congenital need to display your intellectual superiority even when it hasn’t been challenged, that led to her correction, and she’s grateful to you now.
“It’s the way the corrections always come first,” one of your friends you’ve long since lost touch with after years of slowly chipping away at her affection for you with your constant, low-level criticism breathlessly explained in an interview. “So you always know what’s the most important: that small detail that isn’t quite right but doesn’t really have anything to do with the topic at hand, and making sure that you always know — always, and right away — just how incorrect you were.”
The sweet, hardworking coworker that you’ve always hated for her failure to worship your particular brand of intellectual sophistication has finally come to appreciate the curtness of your one-sentence emails and the imitation you give of her in the break room when you think she sits too far away to hear you.
The way you constantly prioritize making sure everyone knows at any given moment just exactly how mistaken you believe that they are over any form of closeness or human connection or just giving it a goddamn rest-ness has at long last resulted in universal acclaim.
“Thank you,” a grateful world roars, and you sit back on your heels, basking in the knowledge that you have fully demonstrated your commitment to always being a little bit more right than the next person. “Thank you.” You nod sheepishly. “It’s nothing, really. Nothing at all.”
It isn’t small in the least, you finally realize, this love-ruining, patience-shredding, neither-as-helpful-nor-as-charming-as-you-think-it-is conversational tic of yours. They weren’t the thousand petty cruelties that finally drove the world away from you. Everybody wants you around now. They need you. You’re not alone, nor isolated, nor pushed aside because of it. You’re surrounded by friends, and all of them are smiling warmly at you. Everyone’s smiling, and everyone’s happy, and everyone’s finally right, because of you.
[Image via Dorothy Dandridge Forever]Joanne Schnurr, CTV Ottawa
The chair of Ottawa's Chamber of Commerce has been named as one of 12 people linked to a major U.S. investigation looking at mail fraud.
Marie Boivin heads up a foreign exchange company called Accu-Rate which the U.S. Treasury Department believes is linked to an international group facilitating fraudulent activity.
CTV Ottawa has made every attempt to interview her on these allegations.
The question is whether Accu-Rate has specific ties to the alleged fraudulent activities of a group called “Pac-Net”, which has operations in Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom and subsidiaries or affiliaties in 15 other countries.
Accu-Rate Corporation is where people go to get foreign currencies exchanged.
“I just go to Accu-Rate because it's cheaper to exchange money here than at my bank,” says one man, on his way in to the Carling Avenue storefront.
It is also, according to United States Treasury Department linked to a bigger corporation called PacNet, a payment processing company which the U.S. says is a “Significant transnational criminal organization.”
“The activities we're here to talk about today,” said Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney General at a news conference last Thursday, “have cheated Americans out of hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The alleged crime is mail fraud with victims paying for processing fees on fraudulent schemes including lottery prizes that don't exist.
“Every year, Americans receive tens of millions fraudulent solicitation letters,” explained Lynch, “and many falsely claim that the recipient has won cash and valuable prizes and in order to collect these benefits the letters say, the recipients need only send in a small fee for processing or taxes.”
The Attorney General says Vancouver-based PacNet helped to facilitate these fraudulent campaigns. The company has been on the radar of the Treasury Department for decades.
“PacNet has a nearly 20-year-history of knowingly processing payments relating to these fraudulent solicitation,” said John Smith with the U.S. Treasury Department.
Investigators have sanctioned PacNet's founder Rosanne Day and 11 other people, including the director of Accu-Rate, Marie Boivin who also happens to be the Chair of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce. Boivin was nominated business woman of the year last year. CTV Ottawa made several attempts to interview Marie Boivin both at the Accu-Rate office on Carling Avenue and at her Stittsville home.
The CEO and President of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, Ian Faris, said they are supporting Boivin, “This is a concerning allegation,” Faris said in an interview, “we would like to find out more information and will give the company, Accu-Rate every opportunity to come forward and to resolve this issue with the U.S. Government and we think they will.”
Ernie Laporte, the chair of the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health, where she also sits on the board, said in an email that
“Ms. Marie Boivin is an active and passionate member of the Royal Ottawa Foundation’s Board of Directors since 2015. We are aware of the allegations involving Ms. Boivin and her company Accu-Rate and will await more information before making any decision about her involvement as a Board member.
The RCMP say they are aware of the allegations against the PacNet Group but can't comment because no arrests have been made in Canada.Hillary Clinton is Polling Poorly Among Black and White Voters
Before I get in to the recent polls in Michigan, a little back-ground on presidential elections in the state.
A few observations on these numbers:
Traditionally Democrats have had the black vote locked up
2004 and 2008 had similar turnout, 82% white, ~12% black
In 2012, Obama won re-election (nationwide) by mobilizing the black vote In 2012: ~750K black people voted in MI In 2008: ~600K black people voted in MI
Also notice, the votes peaked in 2008 due to the populist turnout for Obama. Obama won white and black votes with high turnout, in the 2004 and 2012 elections Republicans won the white vote:
My theories for Michigan are:
Hillary Clinton will NOT get 90%+ of the black vote
get 90%+ of the black vote Black turnout will be the traditional 12%, not the 2012 peak of 16%.
Hillary will not get the traditional 45%-50% of the white vote which Democrats usually enjoy, Trump will dominate with white voters (the Michael Moore effect)
The three polls (poll1, poll2, poll3) are all different, but have 2 common numbers throughout, Hillary is polling at 84% with African Americans and she does not have good support among whites:
Adjusting the averages, giving the undecided voters to Trump shows the following:
*Note “other”, non-white and non-black historically make up about 5% of the vote and roughly vote 60% Democrat to 30% Republican.
Modeling those %’s based on 2012 or 2004 turnout, you get a Trump win, by about 100K votes:
The fact that these polls have Clinton so low among support with whites (34%, 42%, 33%) and that these polls show an average of 12% of voters going with a 3rd party causes me to believe that the final result won’t even be that close. Remember the now famous Michael Moore video, a theory I have heard before (and not so full of f-bombs), how many of those voters are going to vote for Trump? The other curve ball, unless it is a total flop, the FBI/Clinton email news, I prepared this before that news broke. Either way, 36% of the white vote with low black turnout means you will loose Michigan. I think a victory by 100K is the worst case scenario for Trump. 12% voting 3rd party is too much, I imagine Trump will get around 2.5M votes vs Clinton’s 2M.
AdvertisementsShe held nothing back. Port Hope’s air, drinking water, fish, beach, soil — virtually everything in the town of 16,000 poses a health risk from radioactivity, anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott warned an overflow crowd Tuesday night.
Dr. Helen Caldicott
Radium is leaking into Lake Ontario and uranium from the Cameco refinery and is “almost certainly” being inhaled by residents, she told more than 200 people jammed into the banquet hall at the Best Western Durham Hotel in Oshawa. “Your town symbolizes the whole wickedness” of the nuclear industry, the internationally acclaimed pediatrician said. “This radioactive waste will leak into food supplies, water and air for the rest of time.” Children are particularly at risk because they’re 10 to 20 times more sensitive to radon than adults, she said.
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“This government should be sued and you should get millions and millions of dollars,” she said to cheers and applause. Caldicott repeated her warning made last week in an interview with the Star: the town should be moved and Cameco should be shut down. The resulting furor over her comments forced the sponsors of her talk to move the event to Oshawa. Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. has begun a 10-year, $260-million project to dig up 1.2 million cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste buried in numerous sites around town and store it in a huge covered mound. The contamination was the result of 50 years of radium and uranium refining at the Cameco refinery, formerly Crown corporation Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which is overseeing the cleanup, maintains there is no health risk and that Port Hope’s cancer rates are the same as any other community’s. Calling the activist’s comments “sensationalism,” Mayor Linda Thompson said Tuesday before Caldicott spoke that real estate agents have complained about cancelled showings and deals falling through, and bus tours have stopped coming to the picturesque town an hour east of Toronto.
But Caldicott urged the crowd to “read, check the facts, check my data — and make your own decision” about whether to move or stay put. During a visit to Port Hope earlier in the day, she reiterated her fears about the “disaster” plaguing Port Hope.
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“I’m much more concerned. I stand by what I said, even more so. “My eyes nearly fell out” during a visit to Cameco on Lake Ontario, Caldicott said. Aghast at cancer-causing smokestack emissions that are “blowing over town,” she said Cameco should be shut down. The refinery is a “secretive, diabolical factory” that is adding to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, she said. The federal government should pay to relocate everyone, insisted Caldicott, who was shocked to see people fishing in the harbour and river. “Everyone should be totally compensated financially... No one should suffer.” While the people doing the work are “sincere and caring,” they failed to ease her safety concerns, Caldicott said. Caldicott’s warning to relocate or risk soaring cancer rates and genetic disease triggered nasty phone calls to the local environmental groups who invited her to Port Hope to speak and prompted the church that was hosting her talk to pull the plug. At a dinner in Caldicott’s honour on Monday, legendary author Farley Mowat, who lives in Port Hope, lashed out at “certain elements” for treating her “as if she was the bearer of the plague itself.” He urged everyone to listen to what she has to say. “Our lives, and those of generations yet unborn, depend upon it.”Russia Proposes 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Olympics
The nation's deputy prime minister said LGBT athletes will be safe in Sochi as long as they don't mention being LGBT 'in the presence of children.'
Responding to the International Olympic Committee's request for "clarification" about how Russia's anti-LGBT laws will affect Olympic athletes at the Winter Games in Sochi next year, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs today issued a statement confirming that LGBT athletes and spectators will be safe — as long as they don't discuss or disclose their orientation.
The interior ministry, which runs the nation's police force, issued the brief statement Monday, according to Russian news outlet RIA Novosti.
"The law enforcement agencies can have no qualms with people who harbor a nontraditional sexual orientation and do not commit such acts [to promote homosexuality to minors], do not conduct any kind of provocation and take part in the Olympics peacefully," said the statement, according to RIA's R-Sport.
The statement went on to claim that Russia is not violating the rights of its LGBT citizens, despite several documented cases this summer alone of LGBT Russians and tourists being tortured, beaten, and arrested. The ministry's statement said any claims that Russia will stop LGBT athletes from competing in the games are "totally unfounded and contrived."
But the head of Russia's National Olympic Committee, who is also the deputy prime minister, further illuminated the impact the law will have on LGBT athletes and spectators, citing the law's prohibition of "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" to minors.
"If a person does not put across his views in the presence of children, no measures against him can be taken," Alexander Zhukov told RIA. "People of nontraditional sexual orientations can take part in the competitions and all other events at the games unhindered, without any fear for their safety whatsoever."
Earlier this summer, President Vladimir Putin signed into law the ban on such "propaganda" to minors, though advocates say the law is so poorly defined it criminalizes any discussion of the existence of LGBT people. Given the vague definitions of "propaganda" in the law and the international audience of the Olympics, today's statement from the interior ministry could serve as a gag order for LGBT athletes who want to show their pride by wearing a rainbow pin or holding a partner's hand, since Russian authorities could easily claim that children attending the games were exposed to such "propaganda."
At least two other Russian lawmakers have confirmed the anti-LGBT law will remain in force in Sochi. After saying that anyone who "propagandizes" about being LGBT at the Olympics will be "held accountable," Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko last week told LGBT activists to "calm down," vaguely promising that "all rights will be protected."From time to time in human history there occur events of a truly seismic significance, events that mark a turning point between one epoch and the next, when one orthodoxy is overthrown and another takes its place. The significance of these events is rarely apparent as they unfold: it becomes clear only in retrospect, when observed from the commanding heights of history. By such time it is often too late to act to shape the course of such events and their effects on the day-to-day working lives of men and women and the families they support.
There is a sense that we are now living through just such a time: barely a decade into the new millennium, barely 20 years since the end of the Cold War and barely 30 years since the triumph of neo-liberalism – that particular brand of free-market fundamentalism, extreme capitalism and excessive greed which became the economic orthodoxy of our time.
The agent for this change is what we now call the global financial crisis. In the space of just 18 months, this crisis has become one of the greatest assaults on global economic stability to have occurred in three-quarters of a century. As others have written, it “reflects the greatest regulatory failure in modern history”. It is not simply a crisis facing the world’s largest private financial institutions – systemically serious as that is in its own right. It is more than a crisis in credit markets, debt markets, derivatives markets, property markets and equity markets – notwithstanding the importance of each of these.
This is a crisis spreading across a broad front: it is a financial crisis which has become a general economic crisis; which is becoming an employment crisis; and which has in many countries produced a social crisis and in turn a political crisis. Indeed, accounts are already beginning to emerge of the long-term geo-political implications of the implosion on Wall Street – its impact on the future strategic leverage of the West in general and the United States in particular.
The global financial crisis has demonstrated already that it is no respecter of persons, nor of particular industries, nor of national boundaries. It is a crisis which is simultaneously individual, national and global. It is a crisis of both the developed and the developing world. It is a crisis which is at once institutional, intellectual and ideological. It has called into question the prevailing neo-liberal economic orthodoxy of the past 30 years – the orthodoxy that has underpinned the national and global regulatory frameworks that have so spectacularly failed to prevent the economic mayhem which has now been visited upon us.
Not for the first time in history, the international challenge for social democrats is to save capitalism from itself: to recognise the great strengths of open, competitive markets while rejecting the extreme capitalism and unrestrained greed that have perverted so much of the global financial system in recent times. It fell to Franklin Delano Roosevelt to rebuild American capitalism after the Depression. It fell also to the American Democrats, strongly influenced by John Maynard Keynes, to rebuild postwar domestic demand, to engineer the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe and to set in place the Bretton Woods system to govern international economic engagement. And so it now falls to President Obama’s administration – and to those who will provide international support for his leadership – to support a global financial system that properly balances private incentive with public responsibility in response to the grave challenges presented by the current crisis. The common thread uniting all three of these episodes is a reliance on the agency of the state to reconstitute properly regulated markets and to rebuild domestic and global demand.
The second challenge for social democrats is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. As the global financial crisis unfolds and the hard impact on jobs is felt by families across the world, the pressure will be great to retreat to some model of an all-providing state and to abandon altogether the cause of open, competitive markets both at home and abroad. Protectionism has already begun to make itself felt, albeit in softer and more subtle forms than the crudity of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. Soft or hard, protectionism is a sure-fire way of turning recession into depression, as it exacerbates the collapse in global demand. The intellectual challenge for social democrats is not just to repudiate the neo-liberal extremism that has landed us in this mess, but to advance the case that the social-democratic state offers the best guarantee of preserving the productive capacity of properly regulated competitive markets, while ensuring that government is the regulator, that government is the funder or provider of public goods and that government offsets the inevitable inequalities of the market with a commitment to fairness for all. Social democracy’s continuing philosophical claim to political legitimacy is its capacity to balance the private and the public, profit and wages, the market and the state. That philosophy once again speaks with clarity and cogency to the challenges of our time.
Social-democratic governments across the world must rise to the further challenge of developing a practical policy response to the crisis that rebuilds shattered economic growth, while also devising a new regulatory regime for the financial markets of the future. This is our immediate challenge. But if we fail, there is a grave danger that new political voices of the extreme Left and the nationalist Right will begin to achieve a legitimacy hitherto denied them. Again, history is replete with the most disturbing of precedents.
We therefore need a frank analysis of the central role of neo-liberalism in the underlying causes of the current economic crisis. We also need a robust analysis of the social-democratic approach to properly regulated markets and the proper role of the state, in a new contract for the future that eschews the extremism of both the Left and the Right. And we must integrate this analysis with the unprecedented imperative for global co-operation if governments are to prevail in their task.
Around the world today, there is understandable public bewilderment at the speed, severity and scope of the unfolding crisis. While the causes of the global financial crisis are complex, a small number of simple metrics are capable of conveying its magnitude and the havoc it has wrought in financial markets, the real economy and government finances.
Financial markets have suffered the greatest dislocation in our lifetime. Global equity markets have lost approximately US$32 trillion in value since their peak, which is equivalent to the combined GDP of the G7 countries in 2008. Credit markets have all but dried up, with credit growth at its lowest level since World War II. And, at the core of the crisis, house prices are plummeting in many countries, with American prices falling at their fastest rate since modern records began.
The real economy is facing one of its toughest periods on record, with the IMF predicting that advanced economies will contract for the first time in 60 years, causing the number of unemployed to rise by 8 million across the OECD. In developing countries, the International Labour Organization predicts that the financial and economic crisis could push more than 100 million people into poverty.
Furthermore, the crisis is producing unprecedented costs and debts for governments which will be felt for decades to come. It is estimated that the 2009 deficit in the United States will be as high as 12.5% of GDP. And estimates of the combined (actual and contingent) liabilities from the array of bank bailouts and guarantees run to more than $13 trillion – more than the cost of all the major wars the United States has ever fought. What this means for future American international borrowing is equally unprecedented.
Bewilderment, however, rapidly turns to anger when the economic crisis touches the lives of families through rising unemployment, reduced wage growth and collapsing asset values – while executive remuneration in the financial sector continues to go through the roof, apparently disconnected from the reality of recent events. In 2007, S&P 500 CEOs averaged $10.5 million (some 344 times the pay of typical American workers). The top 50 hedge-fund and private-equity fund managers averaged $588 million each (19,000 times the pay of typical workers). In 2007, the?ve biggest Wall Street firms paid bonuses of a staggering $39 billion – huge payments to the executives whose investment banks have since been bailed out by American taxpayers.
These are epic numbers, generated by a greed of epic proportions. For a bewildered and increasingly enraged public, they raise the following questions: How was this allowed to happen? What ideology, what policy, what abuses made this possible? Were there any warnings? And if so, why were they ignored?
George Soros has said that “the salient feature of the current financial crisis is that it was not caused by some external shock... the crisis was generated by the system itself”. Soros is right. The current crisis is the culmination of a 30-year domination of economic policy by a free-market ideology that has been variously called neo-liberalism, economic liberalism, economic fundamentalism, Thatcherism or the Washington Consensus. The central thrust of this ideology has been that government activity should be constrained, and ultimately replaced, by market forces.
In the past year, we have seen how unchecked market forces have brought capitalism to the precipice. The banking systems of the Western world have come close to collapse. Almost overnight, policymakers and economists have torn up the neo-liberal playbook and governments have made unprecedented and extraordinary interventions to stop the panic and bring the global financial system back from the brink.
Even the great neo-liberal ideological standard-bearer, the long-serving chairman of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, recently conceded in testimony before Congress that his ideological viewpoint was flawed, and that the “whole intellectual edifice” of modern risk management had collapsed. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, questioned Greenspan further: “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right; it was not working?” Greenspan replied, “Absolutely, precisely.” This mea culpa by the man once called ‘the Maestro’ has reverberated around the world.
To understand the failure of neo-liberalism, it is necessary to consider its central elements. The ideology of the unrestrained free market, discredited by the Great Depression, re-emerged in the 1970s amid a widespread belief that the prevailing economic woes of high inflation and low growth were exclusively the result of excessive government intervention in the market. In the ’80s, the Reagan and Thatcher governments gave political voice to this neo-liberal movement of anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-government conservatives.
Neo-liberal policy prescriptions flow from the core theoretical belief in the superiority of unregulated markets – particularly unregulated financial markets. These claims ultimately rest on the “efficient-markets hypothesis”, which, in its strongest form, claims that financial-market prices, like stock-market prices, incorporate all available information, and therefore represent the best possible estimate of asset prices. It follows, therefore, that if markets are fully efficient and prices fully informed, there is no reason to believe that asset-price bubbles are probable; and if these do occur, markets will self-correct; and that there is therefore no justification for government intervention to stop them occurring. Indeed, in the neo-liberal view, deviations from market efficiency must be attributable to external causes. Bubbles and other disruptions are caused by governments and other “imperfections”, not by markets themselves. This theory justifies the belief that individual self-interest should be given free rein and that the income distribution generated by markets should be regarded as natural and inherently just. In the neo-liberal view, markets are spontaneous and self-regulating products of civil society, while governments are alien and coercive intruders.
Neo-liberal economic philosophy has its roots in the theories of Hayek and von Mises, who believed that society should be characterised by the “spontaneous order” which emerges when individuals pursue their own ends within a framework set by law and tradition. Ideally, the role of governments is simply to enforce contracts and protect the allocation of property rights. All other economic functions should be left to what Reagan called “the magic of the market”. Hayek himself referred to the market as “a game” – specifically the game of “catallaxy”, taken from the Greek word “to barter”, which according to Hayek is “a contest played according to the rules and decided by superior skill, strength or good fortune”. In Hayek’s order, “the game” is the only proper determinant of the allocation of resources, in contrast to any “atavistic” concept of social justice alive in the social-democratic project.
The advocates of neo-liberalism have sought, wherever possible, to dismantle all aspects of the social-democratic state. The idea of social solidarity, reflected in the collective provision of social goods, is dismissed as statist nonsense. In the face of vigorous resistance to cuts in public services, the neo-liberal political project has followed a strategy of “starving the beast”, cutting taxes in order to strangle the capacity of the government to invest in education, health and economic infrastructure. The end point: to provide maximal space in the economy for private markets.
Neo-liberalism progressively became the economic orthodoxy. It was reflected in wave after wave of tax cuts. Governments bragged about their success in reducing measured levels of debt, while refusing to acknowledge the long-term economic cost of non-investment in education, skills and training (which increase productivity), and repudiating an appropriate role for public debt in financing investment in the infrastructure that underpins long-term economic growth. Neo-liberals have also exhibited a passionate commitment to the total deregulation of the labour market. Labour is routinely regarded by neo-liberals as no different from any other economic commodity. In the ideal neo-liberal system, labour-market protections should be restricted to physical safety rather than appropriate remuneration or minimum negotiation standards. Again, contract law, rather than any wider concept of a social contract, should prevail. Neo-liberals in government also become notoriously reluctant to identify and respond to instances of market failure. Climate change is a potent example. What Sir Nicholas Stern legitimately describes as the greatest market failure in human history is dismissed by neo-liberals as a prescription for wanton interference in market forces.
The neo-liberal deregulation mantra has been even more evident in the management of financial markets. In the United States, the pursuit of financial deregulation crossed the Rubicon with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had been established in the wake of the Great Depression. In the heady bubble years of the 1920s, American commercial banks, whose traditional function was simply to take deposits and make loans, plunged into the roaring bull market, trading on their own account, underwriting new stock issues and participating in reckless speculation. When the stock-market bubble burst in 1929, it took commercial banks with it, causing a devastating chain reaction which affected the entire economy for a decade. President Roosevelt implemented Glass-Steagall in 1933 to prevent Main Street commercial banks from being exposed to the vagaries of Wall Street in the future. As Keynes, himself a successful speculator, observed: “When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done.”
After a $300-million lobbying effort by the financial-services industry, Glass-Steagall was effectively repealed in 1999, removing the prohibition on commercial banks owning investment banks. The door was now open for the creation of huge financial-services conglomerates. One of the first to take advantage of the new regime was Citigroup, formed from the regular bank Citicorp and Travelers Group, which had previously incorporated the investment bank Salomon Smith Barney. The problem was that such combined entities became too systemically important to fail, yet their investment-banking arms were allowed to engage in speculation on a massive scale – so great as to imperil the finances of any government that had to bail them out. Citigroup was in fact to become the recipient of a taxpayer-funded rescue package worth an estimated $249 billion. It is ironic and – given the anti-government orthodoxy of neo-liberals – grossly hypocritical that the massive exposure to risk of these private financial conglomerates has resulted in a parallel exposure of the government, given the scale of possible government intervention in the event of |
have. What do you think the average Karateka can do to keep his/her training relevant for today’s world and to stop Shotokan from ending up “in the museum some day?
KY: Karate has many venues such as self defense, sports, health, discipline, confidence building, etc. All purposes are fine and we must not judge one purpose is better or worse than the other ones. The tournament karate seems to be becoming the main stream and majority in many countries. I wish to see more practitioners for the martial art karate and balance the scale. I wish to see the preservation of the original karate techniques by more practitioners.
CW: Understood and I hope that through your book and interviews like this, you are able to persuade more Karateka to do so. What are your future plans? Will you be writing any more books? Will you be travelling and teaching very much?
KY: I have many ideas about the next book. The only problem I have is time or lack of it. I cannot promise how soon the next one will be out or on what subject but it will be out as soon as I complete the content.
As far as the seminars are concerned, I am booked solid this year and have received many invitations for the next year. If the readers are interested in my seminars, the details can be found on the website of WJKA (www.wjka.org). All my seminars are open course, so, everyone is welcome. It does not matter from which organizations and styles you are from (as long as you pay the fees).
CW: Shihan Yokota, on behalf of myself and my readers, I would like to thank you for a very interesting and informative interview. It’s been an honour.
As mentioned by Shihan Yokota, he is interested writing more books. As such he is very interested in receiving feedback to answers above and about his first book if you’ve read it. Please leave your comments below. In particular if you would like to know more about any of the subjects that Shihan has touched on, then please tell him.Brazil once had the highest deforestation rate in the world and in 2005 still had the largest area of forest removed annually.[1] Since 1970, over 700,000 square kilometers (270,000 sq mi) of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. In 2012, the Amazon was approximately 5.4 million square kilometres, which is only 87% of the Amazon's original state.[2]
Rainforests have decreased in size primarily due to deforestation. Despite reductions in the deforestation rate over the last ten years, the Amazon rainforest will be reduced by 40% by 2030 at the current rate.[3] Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 km2 of forest, an area larger than Greece. According to the Living Planet Report 2010, deforestation continues at an alarming rate. But at the CBD 9th Conference, 67 ministers signed up to help achieve zero net deforestation by 2020.[4]
History [ edit ]
Large areas of forest are removed to make way for plantations and cattle ranches.
In the 1940s Brazil began a program of national development in the Amazon Basin. President Getúlio Vargas declared emphatically that:
The Amazon, in the impact of our will and labor, will cease to be a simple chapter in the world, and made equivalent to other great rivers, shall become a chapter in the history of human civilization. Everything which has up to now been done in Amazonas, whether in agriculture or extractive industry... must be transformed into rational exploitation. Getúlio Vargas[5]
Vargas established many government programs to develop his vision, including the Superintendency for the Economic Valorization of Amazonia (SPVEA) in 1953,[6] the Superintendency for the Development of Amazonia (SUDAM) in 1966, and the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) in 1970. In the 1960s deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon became more widespread, chiefly from forest removal for cattle ranching to raise national revenue in a period of high world beef prices, to eliminate hunger and to pay off international debt obligations.[5] Extensive transportation projects, such as the Trans-Amazon Highway, were promoted in 1970, meaning that huge areas of forest would be removed for commercial purposes.
Before the 1960s, much of the forest remained intact due to restrictions on access to the Amazon beyond partial clearing along the river banks.[7] The poor soil made plantation-based agriculture unprofitable. The key point in deforestation of the Amazon came when colonists established farms in the forest in the 1960s. They farmed based on crop cultivation and used the slash and burn method. The colonists were unable to successfully manage their fields and the crops due weed invasion and loss of soil fertility.[8] Soils in the Amazon are productive for only a very short period of time after the land is cleared, so farmers there must constantly move and clear more and more land.[8]
Amazonian colonization was dominated by cattle raising, not only because grass did grow in the poor soil, but also because ranching required little labor, generated decent profit, and awarded social status. However, farming led to extensive deforestation and environmental damage.[9]
Slash and burn forest removal in Brazil increased dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s.
An estimated 30% of deforestation is due to small farmers and the rate of deforestation is higher in areas they inhabit is greater than in areas occupied by medium and large ranchers, who own 89% of the Legal Amazon's private land. This underlines the importance of using previously-cleared land for agriculture, rather the more usual, politically easier, path of distributing still-forested areas.[10] The number of small farmers versus large landholders fluctuates with economic and demographic pressures.[10]
In 1964, a Brazilian land law passed that supported ownership of the land by the developer: if a person could demonstrate "effective cultivation" for a year and a day, that person could claim the land. This act paved the way for clearance of enormous areas of forest for cattle production.[11]
In the 1970s, with construction of the Trans-Amazonian Highway, INCRA established schemes to attract hundreds of thousands of potential farmers westward into the Amazon and exploit the forest for cattle ranches. Between 1966 and 1975 Amazon land values grew at a rate of 100% per year as the government offered subsidies to reform the land; throughout the 1970s and 1980s, farmers rushed to claim land and quickly convert areas to farming and make a profit due to the improved transportation network and the high price of beef.[5] The forest was also exploited for timber, which provided Brazil a way of paying off international debt.[12] By the late 1980s, an area the size of England, Scotland and Wales was being cleared annually.[13]
Causes [ edit ]
NASA satellite observation of deforestation in the Mato Grosso state of Brazil. The transformation from forest to farm is evident by the paler square shaped areas under development.
Cattle ranching and infrastructure [ edit ]
The annual rate of deforestation in the Amazon region continued to increase from 1990 to 2003 because of factors at local, national, and international levels.[7] 70% of formerly forested land in the Amazon, and 91% of land deforested since 1970, is used for livestock pasture.[14][15] The Brazilian government initially attributed 38% of all forest loss between 1966 and 1975 to large-scale cattle ranching. According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), "between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe's processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent" and by 2003 "for the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production, 80 percent of which was in the Amazon was largely export driven."[16]
Forest removal to make way for cattle ranching was the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from the mid-1960s on. In addition to Vargas's earlier goal of commercial development, the devaluation of the Brazilian real against the dollar had the result of doubling the price of beef in reals and gave ranchers a widespread incentive to increase the size of their cattle ranches and areas under pasture for mass beef production, resulting in large areas of forest removal. Access to clear the forest was facilitated by the land tenure policy in Brazil that meant developers could proceed without restraint and install new cattle ranches which in turn functioned as a qualification for land ownership.[17]
Removal of the Amazon forest for cattle farming in Brazil was also seen by developers as economic investment during periods of high inflation when appreciation of cattle prices providing a way to outpace the interest rate earned on money left in the bank. Brazilian beef was more competitive on the world market at a time when extensive improvements in the road network in the Amazonas in the early 1970s through the Trans Amazonian highway and other new roads gave potential developers access to vast areas of previously-inaccessible forest. This coincided with lower transportation costs due to cheaper fuels such as ethanol, which lowered the costs of shipping the beef from the forest and gave ranchers an incentive to maximise profits.
Cattle ranching is not an environmentally friendly investment though. Cattle emit large amounts of methane. These emissions play a major role in climate change because methane's ability to trap heat is 20 times greater than that of carbon dioxide in a time horizon of 100 years and exponentially higher in shorter time horizons.[18][19] One cow can emit up to 130 gallons of methane a day, just by belching.[20]
In the 1970s, Brazil planned a massive transportation infrastructure development, a 2,000-mile (3,200 km) highway that would completely cross the Amazon forest, increasing the vulnerability of poor farmers to colonizers seeking new areas for commercial development. Studies by the Environmental Defense Fund found that areas affected by the road network were eight times more likely to be deforested by cultivators than untouched lands and that the roads allowed developers to increasingly exploit the forest reserves not only for pastoral production but also for wood exports and woodcutting for fuel and for construction. Developers were often given a six-month salary and substantial agricultural loans to remove the forest along roads in 250-acre (1.0 km2) lots for new cattle ranches.
The Brazilian government granted land to approximately 150,000 families in the Amazon between 1995 and 1998. Poor farmers were also encouraged by the government through programmes such as the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform in Brazil (INCRA) to farm unclaimed forest land and after a five-year period were given title and the right to sell the land. The productivity of the soil following forest removal for farming lasts only a year or two before the fields become infertile and farmers must clear new areas of forest to maintain their income. In 1995 nearly half, 48%, of the deforestation in Brazil was attributed to poorer farmers clearing lots under 125 acres (0.51 km2) in size.
Hydroelectric [ edit ]
Hydroelectric dam projects in the Amazon have also been responsible for flooding significant areas of the forest.[21] In particular the Balbina dam flooded approximately 2,400 km2 (930 sq mi) of rainforest on completion and its reservoir emitted 23,750,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 140,000 tons of methane in only its first three years of operation.[17][22] The construction of these dams encourages the construction of roads that introduce foresters, which in turn leads to deforestation.[23]
Mining activities [ edit ]
Mining has also increased deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon particularly since the 1980s with miners often clearing forest to open the mines, often also using them for building material, collecting wood for fuel and subsistence agriculture.
Soybean production [ edit ]
A soybean field in Argentina.
In addition, Brazil is currently the second-largest global producer of soybeans after the United States, mostly for livestock feed, and as prices for soybeans rise, soy farmers pushing north into forested areas of the Amazon. As stated in the Constitution of Brazil, clearing land for crops or fields is considered an ‘effective use’ of land and is a first step toward land ownership.[7] Cleared property is also valued 5–10 times more than forested land and for that reason valuable to the owner whose ultimate objective is resale. The soy industry is an important exporter for Brazil;[citation needed] therefore, the needs of soy farmers have been used to validate many of the controversial transportation projects that are currently developing in the Amazon.[7]
Cargill, a multinational company which controls the majority of the soya bean trade in Brazil has been criticized, along with fast food chains like McDonald's, by active groups such as Greenpeace for accelerating the process of the deforestation of the Amazon. Cargill is the main supplier of soya beans to large fast food companies such as McDonald's which uses the soya products to feed their cattle and chickens. As fast food chains expand, fast food chains must increase the quantity of their livestock in order to produce more products. In order to meet the large demands of soya, Cargill is forced to expand its soya production by clear cutting parts of the Amazon.[24]
The first two highways: the Rodovia Belém-Brasília (1958) and the Cuiabá-Porto Velho (1968), were the only federal highways in the Legal Amazon to be paved and passable year-round before the late 1990s. These two highways are said to be "at the heart of the ‘arc of deforestation’," which at present is the focal point area of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The Belém-Brasília highway attracted nearly two million settlers in the first twenty years. The success of the Belém-Brasília highway in opening up the forest was re-enacted as paved roads continued to be developed unleashing the irrepressible spread of settlement. The completions of the roads were followed by a wave of resettlement and the settlers had a significant effect on the forest.[9]
Scientists using NASA satellite data have found that clearing for mechanized cropland has recently become a significant force in Brazilian Amazon deforestation. This change in land use may alter the region's climate and the land's ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Researchers found that in 2003, the peak year of deforestation, more than 20 percent of the Mato Grosso state's forests were converted to cropland. This finding suggests that the recent cropland expansion in the region is contributing to further deforestation. In 2005, soybean prices fell by more than 25 percent and some areas of Mato Grosso showed a decrease in large deforestation events, although the central agricultural zone continued to clear forests. But, deforestation rates could return to the high levels seen in 2003 as soybean and other crop prices begin to rebound in international markets. Brazil has become a leading worldwide producer of grains including soybean, which accounts for 5% of the nation's exports.[25] This new driver of forest loss suggests that the rise and fall of prices for other crops, beef and timber may also have a significant impact on future land use in the region, according to the study.[26]
Logging [ edit ]
Deforestation in the state of Pará
Logging in Brazil's Amazon is economically motivated. Although illegal logging is not, it is the most widespread problem.[27] The economic opportunity for developing regions is driven by timber export and demand for charcoal. Charcoal-producing ovens use large amounts of timber. In one month, the Brazilian government destroyed 800 illegal ovens in Tailândia. These 800 ovens were estimated to consume about 23,000 trees per month.[28] Logging for timber export is selective, since only a few species, such as mahogany, have commercial value and are harvested. Selective logging still does a lot of damage to the forest. For every tree harvested, 5-10 other trees are logged, to transport the logs through the forest. Also, a falling tree takes down a lot of other small trees. A logged forest contains significantly fewer species than areas where selective logging has not taken place. A forest disturbed by selective logging is also significantly more vulnerable to fire.[29]
Logging in the Amazon, in theory, is controlled and only strictly licensed individuals are allowed to harvest the trees in selected areas. In practice, illegal logging is widespread in Brazil.[30] Up to 60 to 80 percent of all logging in Brazil is estimated to be illegal, with 70% of the timber cut wasted in the mills.[31] Most illegal logging companies are international companies that don't replant the trees and the practice is extensive. Expensive wood such as mahogany is illegally exported to profit these companies. Fewer trees mean that less photosynthesis will occur and therefore oxygen levels drop. Carbon dioxide emissions increase, as this gas is released from a tree when it's cut down. A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon per year so illegal logging has a major impact on climate change.[32]
To combat this destruction, the Brazilian government has stopped issuing new permits for logging.[when?] Unauthorized harvesting has continued nonetheless. Efforts to prevent cutting down forests include payments to land owners. Instead of banning logging all together, the government hopes payments of comparable sums will dissuade owners from further deforestation.[33]
Effects [ edit ]
A burning forest in Brazil.
One of the major concerns arising from deforestation in Brazil is the global effect it produces on climatic change. Rain forests, of vital importance in the carbon dioxide exchange process, are second only to oceans as the most important sinks on the planet for absorbing the increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting from industry.
The most recent survey on deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions reports that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is responsible for as much as 10% of current greenhouse gas emissions due to the removal of forest which would otherwise have absorbed the emissions, and has a clear effect on global warming. The method often used to remove the forest, where many trees are burned to the ground, emits vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, affecting air quality not just in Brazil but globally.
A NASA satellite observation of forest fires resulting from deforestation in August 2007. The red dots represent areas of fire.
Fires intended to burn limited areas of forest to make way for allocated agricultural plots frequently get out of control and burn much more extensive areas of land than intended. Between July and October 1987, about 19,300 square miles (50,000 km2) of rainforest was burned in the states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Acre releasing more than 500 million tons of carbon, 44 million tons of carbon monoxide, and millions of tons of nitrogen oxides and other poisonous chemicals into the atmosphere.[34] In 2005 forest fires in Brazil caused widespread disruptions across the Amazon region, including airport closures and hospitalizations for smoke inhalation.
Carbon present in the trees is essential for ecosystem development and plays a key role in the regional and global climate. Fallen leaves from deforestation leave behind a mass of dead plant material known as slash, which on decomposition provides a food source for invertebrates. This had the indirect effect of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels through respiration and microbial activity.[35] Simultaneously the organic carbon in the soil structure became depleted and the presence of carbon plays a vital role in the functioning of life in any ecosystem.
The Brazilian rainforest is one of the most biologically diverse regions of the world. Over a million species of plants and animals are known to live in the Amazon and many millions of species are unclassified or unknown. With rapid deforestation the habitats of many animals and plants are under threat and some species may face extinction. Deforestation reduces the gene pool; there is less of the genetic variation needed to adapt to climate change in the future. The Brazilian Amazon is known to possess vast resources for medicine and scientific research in the basin has been conducted to find a cure for major global killers such as AIDS, cancer, and other terminal diseases.
Rainforests are the oldest ecosystems on earth. Rainforest plants and animals continue to evolve, developing into the most diverse and complex ecosystems on earth. Living in limited areas, most of these species are endemic, found nowhere else in the world. In tropical rainforests, an estimated 90% of the species of the ecosystem live in the canopy. Since tropical rainforests are estimated to hold 50% of the planet's species, the canopy of rainforests worldwide may hold 45% of life on Earth. The Amazon rainforest borders 8 countries, and has the world's largest river basin and is the source of 1/5 of the Earth's river water. It has the world's greatest diversity of birds and freshwater fish. The Amazon is home to more species of plants and animals than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet—perhaps 30% of the world's species are found there.
More than 300 species of mammals are found in the Amazon, the majority bats and rodents. The Amazon basin contains more freshwater fish species than anywhere else in the world—more than 3,000 species. More than 1500 bird species are also found there. Frogs are overwhelmingly the most abundant amphibians in the rainforest. Interdependence, when species depend on one another, takes many forms in the forest, from species relying on other species for pollination and seed dispersal to predator-prey relationships to symbiotic relationships. Each species that disappears from the ecosystem may weaken the survival chances of another, while the loss of a keystone species—an organism that links many other species together—could cause a significant disruption in the functioning of the entire system.
Deforestation in the state of Maranhão
Forest removal affects the social and economic lives of the indigenous people who live in the forests and whose families have lived there in relative isolation for many centuries. These indigenous peoples, like the Kayapo, have an intimate understanding of the ecology of the Amazon.[36] The subsequent loss of these people may also prove to be a loss of knowledge. The rainforest is their home, and a fundamental source of food, shelter, fuel, nourishment cultural heritage and recreation. Deforestation for the export of timber removes valuable protection for the soils in a dynamic ecosystem and regions prone to desertification and silting of river banks as rivers become clogged with eroded soils in sparse areas. If too much timber is cut, soil that once had sufficient cover can get baked and dry out in the sun, leading to erosion and degradation of soil fertility and farmers cannot profit from their land even after clearing it. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 1977, deforestation is a major cause of desertification and in 1980 threatened 35% of the world's land surface and 20% of the world's population.
Exploitation of forests for mining activities such as gold mining has also significantly increased the risk of mercury poisoning and contamination of the ecosystem and water.[37] Mercury poisoning can affect the food chain and affect wildlife both on land and in the rivers. It can also affect plants and the crops of farmers trying to farm forest areas. Pollution may result from mine sludge and affect the functioning of the river system when exposed soil is blown in the wind and can have a significant impact on aquatic populations further affected by dam building in the region. Dams may have a profound impact on migrating fish and ecological life and leave plains prone to flooding and leaching.
NASA survey [ edit ]
The effect of deforestation on increasing land temperature.
Effect of deforestation on cloud cover.
In the American Meteorological Society Journal of Climate, two research meteorologists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Andrew Negri and Robert Adler have analysed the impact of deforestation on climatic patterns in the Amazon using data and observatory readings collected from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission over many years. Working also with the University of Arizona and the North Carolina State University Negri said "In deforested areas, the land heats up faster and reaches a higher temperature, leading to localized upward motions that enhance the formation of clouds and ultimately produce more rainfall".[38]
They also examined cloud cover in deforested areas. In comparison with areas still unaffected by deforestation they found a significant increase in cloud cover and rainfall during the August–September wet season where forest had been cleared. The height or existence of plants and trees in the forest directly affects the aerodynamics of the atmosphere, and precipitation in the area. In addition the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a series of detailed computer simulation models of rainfall patterns in the Amazon during the 1990s and concluded that forest removal also leaves soil exposed to the sun, and the increased temperature on the surface enhances evaporation and increases moisture in the air.
Measured rates [ edit ]
The zig-zag patterns across the road resulting from deforestation in Brazil can be seen from space.
A deforestation chart. The double increase for 1994 and 1995 was attributed to accidental forest burning rather than active logging.
Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon have slowed dramatically since peaking in 2004 at 27,423 square kilometers per year. By 2009, deforestation had fallen to around 7,000 square kilometers per year, a decline of nearly 75 percent from 2004, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, or INPE),[39] which produces deforestation figures annually.
Their deforestation estimates are derived from 100 to 220 images taken during the dry season in the Amazon by the China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program (CBERS), and may only consider the loss of the Amazon rainforest – not the loss of natural fields or savanna within the Amazon biome. According to INPE, the original Amazon rainforest biome in Brazil of 4,100,000 km2 was reduced to 3,403,000 km2 by 2005 – representing a loss of 17.1%.[39]
According to estimates based on data from the National Institute for Space Research and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),[40] the rates of deforestation in Amazon Rainforest are:
Period Estimated remaining forest cover
in the Brazilian Amazon (km2) Annual forest
loss (km2) Percent of 1970
cover remaining Total forest loss
since 1970 (km2) Pre–1970 4,100,000 — — — 1977 3,955,870 21,130 96.5% 144,130 1978–1987 3,744,570 21,130 91.3% 355,430 1988 3,723,520 21,050 90.8% 376,480 1989 3,705,750 17,770 90.4% 394,250 1990 3,692,020 13,730 90.0% 407,980 1991 3,680,990 11,030 89.8% 419,010 1992 3,667,204 13,786 89.4% 432,796 1993 3,652,308 14,896 89.1% 447,692 1994 3,637,412 14,896 88.7% 462,588 1995 3,608,353 29,059 88.0% 491,647 1996 3,590,192 18,161 87.6% 509,808 1997 3,576,965 13,227 87.2% 523,035 1998 3,559,582 17,383 86.8% 540,418 1999 3,542,323 17,259 86.4% 557,677 2000 3,524,097 18,226 86.0% 575,903 2001 3,505,932 18,165 85.5% 594,068 2002 3,484,538 21,651 85.0% 615,719 2003 3,459,291 25,396 84.4% 641,115 2004 3,431,868 27,772 83.7% 668,887 2005 3,412,022 19,014 83.2% 687,901 2006 3,397,913 14,285 82.9% 702,186 2007 3,386,381 11,651 82.6% 713,837 2008 3,375,413 12,911 82.3% 726,748 2009 3,365,788 7,464 82.1% 734,212 2010 3,358,788 7,000 81.9% 741,212 2011 3,352,370 6,418 81.8% 747,630 2012 3,347,799 4,571 81.7% 752,201 2013 3,341,908 5,891 81.5% 758,092 2014 3,336,896 5,012 81.4% 763,104 2015 3,330,689 6,207 81.2% 769,311 2016 3,322,796 7,893 81.0% 777,204 2017 3,316,172 6,624 80.9% 783,828
[41] Map of Deforestation in Brazil, from 2002 to 2008, for each Biome. Bases: Prodes (INPE) and Biomes`s Monitoring (IBAMA). Note: The monitoring does not cover areas of Cerrado and Campinarama (Savannahs) located in Amazon Biome
Response [ edit ]
Areas of large scale atmosphere-biosphere experiments in Amazonia aim to monitor and regulate the impact of deforestation on the atmosphere.
By the end of the 1980s, the removal of Brazil's forests had become a serious global issue, not only because of the loss of biodiversity and ecological disruption, but also because of the large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) released from burned forests and the loss of a valuable sink to absorb global CO 2 emissions. At the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, deforestation became a key issue addressed at the summit in Rio de Janeiro. Plans for the compensated reduction (CR) of greenhouse gas emissions from tropical forests were set up to give nations like Brazil an incentive to curb their rate of deforestation.
"We are encouraging the Brazilian government to fully endorse the Compensated Reduction proposal", said scientist Paulo Moutinho, coordinator of the climate change program of the Amazon Institute for Environmental Research [pt] (IPAM), an NGO research institute in Brazil.[42] In Brazil, the cost of reducing deforestation emissions by half will be less than $5 per ton of carbon dioxide, estimated an unpublished study of IPAM and the Woods Hole Research Center.[citation needed]
On May 11, 1994, two scientists, Compton Tucker and David Skole, presented the results of a NASA survey at the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs of the United States Congress, a formal scientific assessment of deforestation in Brazil and the rate of forest removal as well as questions on the effectiveness of Brazilian environmental policies. Whilst undertaking a monitoring and complete assessment was very difficult due to the size of the rainforest, they concluded that satellite observations showed a reduction in the rate of forest removal between 1992 and 1993 and that World Bank estimates of 600,000 square km2 (12%) cleared to that point appeared to be too high. The NASA assessment concurred with the findings of the Brazilian National Space Research Institute (INPE) an estimated 280,000 km2 (5%) in the same period.[43][unreliable source?]
The following year (1995) deforestation nearly doubled; this has been attributed the accidental fire following El Niño-related drought rather than active logging and the following year again showed a major drop.[44] In 2002 Brazil ratified the Kyoto Agreement as a developing nation listed in the non-Annex I countries. These countries do not have carbon emission quotas in the agreement as developed nations do.[45] President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reiterated that Brazil "is in charge of looking after the Amazon."[46]
[38] Weather patterns above the Amazon taken on board a shuttle in orbit in February 1984. Deforestation in Brazil has and will have a major impact on the climate system and rainfall, according to scientists.
In 2006 Brazil proposed a direct finance project to deal with the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries, or REDD, issue, recognizing that deforestation contributes to 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The competing proposal for the REDD issue was a carbon emission credit system, where reduced deforestation would receive "marketable emissions credits". In effect, developed countries could reduce their carbon emissions, and approach their emissions quota by investing in the reforestation of developing rainforest countries. Instead, Brazil's 2006 proposal would draw from a fund based on donor country contributors.[46]
By 2005 forest removal had fallen to 9,000 km2 (3,500 sq mi) of forest compared to 18,000 km2 (6,900 sq mi) in 2003[47] and on July 5, 2007, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced at the International Conference on Biofuels in Brussels that more than 20 million hectares of conservation units to protect the forest and more efficient fuel production had allowed the rate of deforestation to fall by 52% in the three years since 2004.[48]
Daniel Nepstad of the Woods Hole Research Center has demonstrated that Brazil's deforestation rates have been cut nearly in half in recent years through a combination of government intervention and economic trends. Since 2004 the country has established more than 200,000 km2 of parks, nature reserves, and national forests in the Amazon rainforest. These protected areas, if fully enforced, would keep an estimated one billion tons of carbon going into the atmosphere through deforestation by the year 2015.[49] The academic evidence suggests that the creation of public lands, through the assignment of property rights, reduces incentives to deforest land for agricultural conversion and contributes to lower land-related conflict.[50]
In 2005 Brazilian Environment Minister Marina da Silva announced that 9,000 km2 (3,500 sq mi) of forest had been felled in the previous year, compared with more than 18,000 km2 (6,900 sq mi) in 2003 and 2004.[47] Between 2005 and 2006 there was a 41% drop in deforestation; nonetheless, Brazil still had the largest area of forest removed annually on the planet.[1]
These methods have also reduced the illegal appropriation of land and logging, encouraging the use of land for sustainable timber harvesting.
Future [ edit ]
A NASA observation of forest cover and deforestation in the state of Mato Grosso for 2004.
The improvement of the social and economic conditions of the huge population of poor people in Brazil is the main concern of the government.
It is clear that to diminish deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon would require enormous financial resources to compensate the loggers and given them an economic incentive to pursue other areas of activity. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has estimated that a total of approximately US$547.2 million (1 billion Brazilian reais) per year would be required from international sources to compensate the forest developers and establish a highly organized framework to fully implement forest governance and monitoring,[51] and the foundation of new protected forest areas in the Amazon for future sustainability.[52] Compensating the loggers over the entirety of the Amazon rainforest would require a heavy amount of funding and increased interaction with the international community, and a reform of the world market system if deforestation in the country is to be halted.
Non-governmental organizations such as WWF have been highly active in the region and WWF Brazil has formed an alliance with some eight other Brazilian NGO'S which aim to completely halt deforestation in the Amazon by 2015. Another group that have been effective is Greenpeace, an organization whose goal is to fight to save the plant from the destruction of forests, the threat of global warming and the deterioration of the ocean.[31] Other groups such as The Nature Conservancy, the proposal, known as the "Agreement on Acknowledging the Value of the Forest and Ending Amazon Deforestation," aims at combining strong public policies with market strategies to achieve annual deforestation reduction targets.[51]
The groups aim to establish a wide-ranging commitment between the sectors of the government and society to conserve the rainforest and are aiming for an overall reduction in deforestation of 68,737.8 square kilometres in seven years. Denise Hamú, the CEO of WWF-Brazil has said' "Only through the mobilization of state and federal governments, the private sector and environmental NGOs we can reach significant results for the conservation and promotion of sustainable development in the Amazon".[52]
See also [ edit ]TRENTON -- Donald Trump avoided the Vietnam War through several draft deferments and never served in the armed forces.
But the Republican presidential frontrunner told the author of an upcoming biography that he always "felt that I was in the military" because he attended a military high school, according to a report by the New York Times.
The billionaire businessman said his time at the New York Military Academy -- the pricey boarding school where his parents sent him to fix his behavior -- gave him "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military," according to the report, published Tuesday.
The book, set for release Sept. 22, arrives about three months after Trump drew controversy for mocking the war record of U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who spent more than five years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War.
"He's not a war hero," Trump said during a forum in Iowa in July. "He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you.
"I believe, perhaps he is a war hero," he continued. "But right now, he's said some very bad things about a lot of people."
RELATED: Trump says he won't apologize to McCain for war record comments
Trump later refused to apologize, suggesting that his words were taken out of context.
The real estate tycoon and former reality television host -- who owns three New Jersey golf courses and once owned three Atlantic City casinos -- has seen his campaign take flight despite those and |
?
Yeah.
TK: So we’re doing one of those. That’s going to be issue 4. Toby Cypress is doing it. Sort of a special issue, or an issue where we go off the grid quite literally.
So, we know a bit about your past working with the CIA, and how that’s influenced particularly the stuff that’s recent.
TK: What do you know?! Who told you?!
We know they did happen. We know nothing else.
TK: Oh. I wondered if someone was talking.
We know especially that stuff influences your stuff with “Grayson.” Does that play into “The Omega Men” at all?
TK: Yeah. I mean it plays into basically everything I do. I spent seven years doing it, so it’s sort of like I can’t get rid of it? When you write, you have to put yourself in what you do. Yeah. “Omega Men” takes place in this world of the clash of these sort of extreme religions. I lived in that world for a little while, so I’m trying to bring some of that experience and some of those actions through metaphor into “The Omega Men.” Of what it was like to be in sort of an environment where it seemed very clear the good guys and the bad guys were and the closer you got to it it all got a little blurry.Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi gives a speech as she meets with local authors and publishers at a restaurant in Yangon August 25, 2014. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
YANGON September 7 (Reuters) - Myanmar has called off an election scheduled for the end of this year to fill 35 vacated seats in parliament, the Union Election Commission announced on Sunday.
Election Commission Chairman Tin Aye said that the election would be canceled because the commission did not have enough time to prepare and because the results would not have any political significance.
Nyan Win, a senior official and Central Executive Committee of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), told Reuters that his party agreed with the decision.
“As we’d said earlier, the by-elections wouldn’t result in any significant changes. It would just be a waste of time and money,” Nyan Win said. “Now, we will prepare to do our best in the 2015 general elections,” he said.
The Election Commission had earlier said that a date would be announced soon for holding the by-elections for the open seats, vacated by lawmakers who had resigned to take other positions or who had passed away.
The decision did not come as a surprise. There have been rumors for months that the by-elections would not he held this year.
The NLD swept to a landslide victory in the first by-elections held on April 1, 2012, taking 43 out of 44 open seats and making NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi a member of the Lower House.Secret Cinema guests fall ‘violently ill’ after eating oysters in Newham warehouse
© Secret Cinema / Laura Little Archant
Guests at Secret Cinema, an immersive theatre and film event that is currently recreating Moulin Rouge in a Newham warehouse, have fallen violently ill after eating oysters.
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� Secret Cinema / Laura Little � Secret Cinema / Laura Little
At least 12 people who attended the Friday and Saturday performances of the show – tickets for which start at £59 and go up to £140 – have complained after falling victim to food poisoning.
Kate Sawyer said on Facebook: “My friends and I have been extremely sick following attending Friday night’s Moulin Rouge,” whilst her friend Claire Dewar said she was “violently ill” once an hour throughout Saturday night.
Secret Cinema’s lavish recreations of cult films have become landmarks in the capital’s entertainment calendar, and tickets frequently sell out.
2015’s production of Back To The Future, which was held in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and featured a real DeLorean, was marred by production problems and the opening performances were cancelled at the last minute.
The company issued a statement on their website about the initial outbreak and saying that no-one who attended the show since Saturday had been affected.
Itread: “Some of you have heard that there have been several complaints of food poisoning after eating oysters at our shows on Friday and Saturday. We have had no further customer complaints since those attending on those nights.
“We do not underestimate the discomfort of this for our customers and as such have personally followed up the small number of complaints we received.
“Since the weekend our own independent food hygiene experts have completed an extensive and thorough investigation of the situation and are entirely satisfied that the matter is resolved and the sale of oysters has been suspended. We continue to ensure that our food safety and hygiene is of the highest standard.”
A Newham Council spokesperson said: “We have had a small number of suspected food poisoning cases reported to us which our food hygiene team is working with the event organisers to investigate.”Aid workers say around 100 children have been left with nowhere to sleep after French authorities closed down the Jungle refugee camp in Calais.
According to the BBC, several hundred people remain inside the camp, despite officials claiming it is empty.
France says nearly 5,600 refugees have been moved to reception centres this week, including around 1,500 unaccompanied minors who were being housed in an on-site container camp.
The children are said to be becoming increasingly desperate. "We were begging the French authorities to actually do something about the refugee children and nothing was done," Caroline Gregory of Calais Action said.
Demolition crews continued to clear tents and shelters yesterday, despite departing refugees reportedly starting fires in the site.
Fabienne Buccio, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, said it was "mission accomplished".
"It's the end of the Jungle; our mission is over. There are no more migrants in the camp," he added.
However, Sky News reports authorities told the refugees they could return after the fires were put out to recover their belongings.
"Jungle's not dead. Jungle's not dead," shouted one Afghani making his way back into the camp.
The Jungle has become a potent symbol of Europe's refugee crisis, with its residents said to be desperate to reach the UK. Many have attempted to hide themselves in cargo vehicles entering the Channel Tunnel.
A refugee agency said the final population ahead of the camp's demolition was 8,143.
France busses 2,000 refugees from Calais Jungle
25 October
French officials have begun the task of clearing the sprawling Jungle refugee camp in Calais, where thousands of people have been living in squalid conditions.
A total of 1,918 asylum seekers, including 300 children, have been processed for relocation and bussed to various regions throughout France, where they will be able to claim asylum. If their application fails, they will be deported.
"It's going well," regional prefect Fabienne Buccio said. "We knew this morning that there would be a lot of people, and that's what's happening.
"We had a particular concern for the minors, paid them particular attention, but it went well."
So far, almost 200 children have been brought to the UK, including "60 girls who were at high risk of sexual exploitation", the BBC says.
Despite some unrest at the weekend, officials say the process has been largely peaceful. However, Fabrice Durieux from the charity Salam said the start of demolition work could be a flashpoint.
"There's a risk tensions increase in the week because at some point the bulldozers are going to have to come in," he said.
Others have warned that the migrants and refugees who remain determined to enter the UK will scatter into the countryside around Calais, and regroup to form another camp once the Jungle has been dismantled.
"The idea of dispersing these refugees has been tried before," Care4Calais founder Clare Moseley told The Independent. "They said that was going to be a deterrent, but of course it wasn't."
Calais Jungle camp clearance begins amid fears for refugee children
24 October
Violence broke out last night at the Jungle migrant camp in Calais, as bulldozers stood by to begin its long-awaited demolition. The evacuation and clearance has begun, with demolition expected to begin tomorrow.
"Police clashed with migrants and fired tear gas into the crowds," says The Times. British anarchists have vowed to "fight the police" in Calais to hold up the camp's destruction, and "several dozen are already inside the camp, having infiltrated it in the past week", the paper reports.
Jungle clearance
About 10,000 leaflets have been handed out to migrants by French authorities, informing people about plans for the clearance. Belgium's interior minister Jan Jambon has ordered additional police resources to the border with France.
Roughly 6,000-7,000 people currently living in the camp have been told to report to reception points from where they will be taken to other refugee centres around France and given the opportunity to claim asylum.
However, the BBC says "there is concern some migrants will refuse to go because they still want to get to Britain".
Once the camp has been evacuated, heavy machinery and bulldozers will be sent to clear the tents and shelters that have been left behind. Closing the camp is expected to take a week.
The French interior ministry said it "does not want to use force but if there are migrants who refuse to leave, or NGOs who cause trouble, the police might be forced to intervene", the BBC reported.
Safety fears
The demolition comes despite British charities and MPs telling the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, they have "very serious worries" about the security and wellbeing of many of the thousands of people, including an estimated 1,300 unaccompanied children living in the camp.
"Once the demolition starts there are no second chances. If it results in a single child going missing, or forces them into the hands of smugglers and traffickers, then we will have failed them," said Unicef.
The Times says officials are now "racing against time to move the children", with British ministers believing about a third of unaccompanied minors living in the Jungle may be eligible to come to the UK.
On Saturday, more than 80 children, including 50 girls, arrived in Britain as part of the first significant group of children brought to the UK in a Home Office rescue plan.
British delays
The arrival of child refugees has been described as a chaotic last-minute "panic" because of a refusal by the government to make adequate preparations.
"There is growing anger that - despite all the refugees allowed into Britain last week having relatives in the UK - only a few have been settled with family members," says The Independent.
The newspaper understands that some have been placed in foster care "because the required background checks on family members have not been conducted", while others have been forced to stay at a controversial former immigration detention centre called Cedars, near Gatwick Airport.
Infographic by www.statista.com for TheWeek.co.uk.
Refugee crisis: Tory MP under fire for teeth test proposal
19 October
David Davies has come under fire for suggesting child refugees should have their teeth tested to verify their ages.
The Tory MP for Monmouth was among those to question the ages of a group of unaccompanied minors who entered the UK from Calais on Tuesday.
Home Office officials said the 14 refugees were all under the age of 17, but Davies said they appeared to be "hulking teenagers who look older than 18".
He suggested mandatory teeth checks were carried out on asylum-seekers to reassure the British people they were not being exploited.
"If they are jumping on lorries, they are not going to be averse to lying about their ages. We should do the tests," he said.
However, the British Dental Association (BDA) said it was "vigorously opposed" to the use of dental X-rays to determine whether asylum-seekers are under 18.
"It's not only an inaccurate method for assessing age, but it is both inappropriate and unethical to take radiographs of people when there is no health benefit for them," it said.
Doctors of the World UK told the BBC the idea was "unethical and unnecessary" and that "healthcare workers are not border guards".
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said Davies's call was an "outrageous demand" that would "further violate the human rights of vulnerable refugees".
Questions raised over age of refugee children coming to UK
18 October
Questions have been raised about the age of child refugees brought into the UK this week.
Fourteen refugees, said to be aged between 14 and 17, arrived from the Calais Jungle on Monday, but a number of Conservative MPs claimed photographs of the group suggested they were older.
The Home Office insisted it had "verified" their ages. However, documents from the department show that "if a refugee does not have a birth certificate, a Home Office screening officer can certify them as a child based on their 'physical appearance' or 'demeanour'", reports the
David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, said: "These young men don't look like minors to me. They are hulking teenagers who look older than 18. I'm all for helping the genuine children but the well of goodwill is rapidly being exhausted here."
He added that he was also "curious that there are no young women".
The Home Office said the resettlement marked the "start of the process to transfer as many eligible children as possible" before the Calais Jungle site is dismantled.
Some of the families waiting to see their loved ones gave interviews before the reunion. Asif Khan, 25, who fled Afghanistan to come to the UK 11 years ago was waiting for his 14-year-old brother, Aimal, who had stayed behind. "I will just hug him because I haven't seen him since I left - I just miss him," he said.
Another Afghani, Jan Ghazi, 39, was waiting for his 16-year-old nephew, Haris. "I want to tell him that he is safe, that there are no bombs here and I want to help him go to school and become a lawyer or an engineer or whatever he wants. He is a smart child; I will do my best for him," he said.
How many unaccompanied children are in the Calais Jungle? Fourteen refugees, said to be aged between 14 and 17, arrived from the Calais Jungle on Monday, but a number of Conservative MPs claimed photographs of the group suggested they were older.The Home Office insisted it had "verified" their ages. However, documents from the department show that "if a refugee does not have a birth certificate, a Home Office screening officer can certify them as a child based on their 'physical appearance' or 'demeanour'", reports the Daily Telegraph David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, said: "These young men don't look like minors to me. They are hulking teenagers who look older than 18. I'm all for helping the genuine children but the well of goodwill is rapidly being exhausted here."He added that he was also "curious that there are no young women".The Home Office said the resettlement marked the "start of the process to transfer as many eligible children as possible" before the Calais Jungle site is dismantled.Some of the families waiting to see their loved ones gave interviews before the reunion. Asif Khan, 25, who fled Afghanistan to come to the UK 11 years ago was waiting for his 14-year-old brother, Aimal, who had stayed behind. "I will just hug him because I haven't seen him since I left - I just miss him," he said.Another Afghani, Jan Ghazi, 39, was waiting for his 16-year-old nephew, Haris. "I want to tell him that he is safe, that there are no bombs here and I want to help him go to school and become a lawyer or an engineer or whatever he wants. He is a smart child; I will do my best for him," he said.
According to a visual survey carried out by officials in Calais last week, there are around 6,500 people in the Jungle, of whom 1,200 are unaccompanied children. However, these are estimates rather than firm figures as the refugees are not registered and the numbers are constantly changing, reports the BBC.
How many unaccompanied minors will come to the UK?
The Safe Passage UK charity has identified 387 children who are eligible to be resettled in the UK and has passed this list to the Home Office. However, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said that taking 300 child refugees from Calais would be a "really good result".
Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has accused the government of "foot-dragging" and wants to see up to 400 unaccompanied minors brought to the UK before the Calais site's imminent dismantling.
The Guardian describes the number of children who arrived in the UK yesterday as "infinitesimal" compared to the 88,000 child refugees "adrift in Europe". "All of the children so far rescued have come in under the provisions of the Dublin III agreement, which represents the absolute bare minimum that any government can do to recognise the humanity and human rights of refugees: children who have close family in this country may enter to be looked after by their relatives," says the newspaper. "This must be only a beginning."
Refugee crisis: France to close Jungle migrant camp 'by end of year'
26 September
Francois Hollande has vowed to demolish the "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais "by the end of the year" and told the UK it must "play its part" in resolving the refugee crisis.
Speaking during a visit to Calais, the French President said the camp would be "completely and utterly dismantled" and its 9,000 or so inhabitants, including an estimated 1,000 children, would be resettled to new "welcome centres" throughout France.
The plans "have sparked controversy and protests", says France 24, "with local residents in areas where new shelters could be established vehemently opposed to the move".
While many migrants have been offered the chance to apply for French nationality, some "would prefer to take their chances by stowing away on a boat or lorry to reach Britain", says The Guardian.
The fate of the camp and its inhabitants "has become central to France's presidential campaign", reports the BBC. The Daily Telegraph says "a growing chorus of opposition French politicians want to renegotiate a bilateral agreement whereby British border controls are conducted in France".
Last week, former president Nicolas Sarkozy, one of seven candidates seeking his party's nomination for the presidency, said: "Those who want to cross to England should be processed in England by the English."
Under pressure from a resurgent far-right National Front party, "Sarkozy has also vowed to speed up the expulsion of illegal migrants, strengthen border controls and tighten family reunification rules", says the Financial Times.
Hollande, meanwhile, has said he is determined the UK will support the humanitarian effort "until the end", saying: "Just because the United Kingdom has taken a sovereign decision does not absolve it of its obligations towards France."
Sky News reports Britain has already committed around £85m to reinforce security in the Calais region and is funding a new £1.9m wall being built along the main road to the port in an attempt to deter would-be stowaways.
Dover MP Charlie Elphicke told the Daily Mail that past promises to dismantle the camp had failed to materialise.
The French government "needed to make sure it actually happens this time and that the people they remove are stopped from just moving back to Calais", he said.During a preview of an interview set to air on Tuesday’s broadcast of CBS’ “The Late Show,” MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host and former Congressman Joe Scarborough announced that he isn’t going to be a Republican anymore.
Scarborough said, “[T]his is well before Donald Trump was elected president that my party has betrayed their core values. I remember back in December of 2015, when Donald Trump supported a Muslim ban, I said on the air, it’s very simple. It’s black and white. I said I could never vote for anybody in my party that would say they were going to ban people because of the god they worshiped.”
He continued, “[I]t was disturbing throughout the entire campaign. In February, when he talked about David Duke, and pretended that he didn’t know who David Duke was and didn’t know what the Ku Klux Klan did. You didn’t have Republicans coming out and saying, I can never support Donald Trump because he’s racist. They would have a thousand other excuses why, but, they always overlooked that. Judge Curiel…he attacked him and said he can never be fair because he’s Hispanic. … Time and time and time again, they turned the other way. And they’re doing the same thing now.”
Scarborough concluded, “I am a Republican, but I’m not going to be a Republican anymore. I’ve got to become an Independent.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchettThe inheritor Turkish state continues to deny the genocide of the Ottoman Armenian population in 1915. This active denialism has been stepped up in the run-up to the centenary, taking on more sophisticated strategies termed ‘denial-light’ by G.M. Goshgarian. As the centennial approaches, friends and colleagues seem surprised that people like me devote time and energy to an issue that they consider at best, tangential. There are far more zeitgeist topics to work on, especially in the pressured world of academia where your career advancement is increasingly based on ‘impact’ on society and policy-makers, though no one seems entirely clear on what this is and how it can be gauged.
What is obvious though is that the 100-year-old genocide of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire is unlikely to be a subject that many deem as being of great relevance. And yet, over the years, it is this genocide and what it symbolises, that I keep returning to in my own research and politics. I am more convinced than ever that the Armenian Genocide, its denial and recognition, represent issues that are of vital importance in the study, research, teaching and practice of politics today.
Last month, Jo Laycock and I convened a workshop in the emerging field of Armenian-Turkish Studies at Sheffield Hallam University. This new space was opened up in the academy by the pioneering Workshop of Armenian and Turkish Studies (WATS), established in 2000 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor by Fatma Müge Göçek, Ron Suny and Gerard Libaridian. This worked in tandem with the increasing number of scholars working on the Armenian genocide who had no hesitancy in calling it just that, with all the political and social repercussions that it brought.
There have been ground-breaking projects on the shared past of Armenians and Turks in recent years, and key to wider political developments has been the emergence of Turkish academics engaging with these issues in a critical and decisive manner. In late 2008 an ‘apology campaign’ mounted by four Turkish intellectuals circulated widely, gathering over 30,000 signatures of Turks and Kurds ‘apologising’ for the events of 1915. The works of novelists like Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak have also had widespread international impact. They, along with other intellectuals, have inevitably been chastened by the threats from the state: Article 301 of the Turkish penal code makes it a crime to “insult the Turkish nation”. Turkey has the largest number of journalists in prison, and the ‘Armenian issue’ remains a highly controversial topic. In January 2007, the most prominent voice for Armenians in the Turkish public sphere and symbol of Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, Hrant Dink, was murdered by nationalists, exposing a murky underworld and a ‘deep state’.
Selective Memory
Growing up in the multicultural world of the Arab Gulf, I remember on many occasions wishing that I had a ‘clear cut’ answer to fill in the space in the ‘nationality’ column in my school diary. My friends were Indian, or British, Egyptian, Bahraini, Sri Lankan and so on. It seemed to me that everyone was sure of what they were and ‘going home’ every summer was an unproblematic statement. My stock answer of "Armenian Cypriot" was the official line, though even to my young ears this sounded both hollow and weighty. Being Armenian felt like a burden which set us aside from our friends. This was epitomised in my parents’ diktat of “speak Armenian” whenever they heard my brothers and I conversing in English (it remains our natural language of communication).
Growing up outside an Armenian community also meant that every time we met Armenians anywhere, or when we returned to Cyprus where there is a vibrant Armenian community, we were aware of our failings, of not being Armenian enough. Being a ‘good Armenian’ meant knowing the language, culture and history, being embedded in a strong extended family, and active in Armenian community life. My dad’s rows of Armenian history and literature texts (nearly all in English, reflecting his schooling in colonial Cyprus) which lined our bookshelves, and the newspapers and journals he subscribed to (mostly from the US) seemed an attempt to document something that had been irrevocably lost.
The experience of being ‘third culture kids’, with an acute sense of the liminality or hybridity of identity, is of course a common one. What distinguished us from the other expatriate or mixed background kids in the 1980s was that there was no collective narrative in the public sphere to have recourse to. Few had even heard of Armenians or Armenia, which was Soviet until 1991, and foreign to us Armenians from the Ottoman, as opposed to the Russian, Empire. Our identities seemed quaint and somehow suspect, even to us. We did not fit into the nation-state model of the world; diaspora was a concept and term that had yet to be rejuvenated. We could barely articulate our own story with any knowledge or conviction, let alone present it to others. Growing up without an Armenian diasporic community meant there was no collective narrative, no accepted version of events like a Holocaust, no clear homeland or home. And alongside all these absences there was the looming presence of the Turkish state, denying us our collective memories and narratives, the platforms from which to express them and to have them heard.
At the Sheffield workshop, I realised that my childhood experience of growing up in the pre-internet age and lacking a master-narrative to counter the denialist stronghold in the public realm was shared by many of my contemporaries. Being Armenian in the diaspora was a ‘fuzzy’ identity whose tenets and pillars were unclear, distant or simply too foreign to relate to. The nationalist discourse espoused by Armenian diasporan political projects, however worthy, felt too formulaic, too forced (and too masculine) to relate to.
Throughout my childhood, my paternal grandmother and maternal great-grandmother shared their stories of the old country. But these stories were told sparingly, as they were invariably accompanied by great sorrow, which often overcame the sense of duty about the act of recounting. In the telling, these women were transformed into the little girls they were when they witnessed these horrors. In her final days, my paternal grandmother was more focused on stories of the shadowy family members whose lives had been cut tragically short. We particularly liked the figure of her gregarious uncle Hagop who had a flowing ginger beard, and whose booming singing would herald his arrival. My youngest brother has a touch of red in his facial hair, and so this spirited ancestor is remembered every time my brother stops shaving. Hagop, who must have been in his early twenties when he was killed, so full of vigour for a life unlived, a life that we can only imagine for him.
My grandmothers’ stories were very much edited, full of gaps and holes which I rarely felt able to probe, however curious I was about details. It would be too cruel to prolong the revisiting of these tales. Editing is a skill that most of us acquire to deal with what life throws at us. My father only recently told me that his father continued for years to pay fixers in the port city of Kyrenia for any news of his relatives from whom he had been separated for decades. Every now and again there would be an alleged lead, which would mean more money shelled out and more hopeful trips to Kyrenia (with my father as a small boy in tow). My heart breaks for this man who I never met, whose cycles of hope and despair prolonged a pain that was never fully articulated or acknowledged.
Amidst the cloudy knowledge we picked up as children, it was our survivor grandmothers that made the past tangible. The grandmother as a transmitter of contested memories can act as a gatekeeper of the lived past and a connection to it. Human rights lawyer Fethiye Çetin’s My Grandmother has been nothing short of revolutionary in its rippling impact in Turkey and beyond. Çetin’s memoir deals with her grandmother’s deathbed confession that she had been born Armenian and survived the genocide by being taken in by a Turkish family, keeping her secret her whole life. The powerful impact of this modest book lies in its poignant human story. Columnist Tuba Akyol stated: “stories can do what large numbers or concepts cannot do…Concepts are cold, stories can touch you inside”. Ayşe Gül Altinay has written of how the book successfully uses “Arendtian storytelling to open up a creative space for historical critique and reconciliation”.
The need to articulate one’s story, where one came from, is essential to the dignity of the human being. Gayatri Spivak, when asking “Can the Subaltern speak?”, argues that a narrative of identity is a necessary condition for agency and subjectivity. Hannah Arendt says that the need to hear one’s story from others is key to constructions of identity and also to social relations. Michel Foucault and Edward Said have brilliantly deconstructed epistemological projects, revealing the power structures and agendas they reflect and perpetuate. By denying the genocide that killed our ancestors and dispersed the remnants all over the globe, the Turkish state continues its genocide of Armenians, negating their right to have a clear and undisputed past.
A contested past means the present is only half known and owned, the future uncertain. Being able to write, read and tell our stories and to have them acknowledged and understood by others restores wholeness to ourselves and reinforces our shared humanity. Postcolonial studies was all about retrieving, reclaiming and re-appropriating histories and identities from below, which had not been written into state narratives: the lives of women, the oppressed, minorities of all descriptions, in short, those who have been excluded from master-narratives. My father, when browsing in the history section of a bookshop, would flip to the index of books he was interested in to check whether there was any entry for ‘Armenians’. He was seeing whether for this author, we were worth a citation, even as a footnote in history. I did not recognise this for the political act it was then, but I sometimes find myself doing the same thing now.
All nations are built on forgetting and remembering selectively. In the Turkish case, the denial of the realities of the Ottoman past are at the foundation of the nationalist state and are constantly reproduced in the hegemonic narrative. Historically the co-existence of different narratives has not been tolerated, and even now (with the democratic opening since 2000) they are interpreted as developments that need to be suppressed, monitored and controlled. Despite this, recent oral history projects have unearthed an emerging space for counter-memories and counter-narratives. This has led to a proliferation of exciting projects in the sphere of art and culture, but also projects with a more overt political slant, which have extended to transnational civil society, despite the lack of change in high politics.
The ‘decentring of the state’ in the past eight years has meant that there are multiple engaged actors in Turkish civil society, some of which have been at the vanguard of challenging state discourse and leading critical initiatives on Armenian-Turkish relations. Important as these developments are, they are still confined to the tiny minority and rarely permeate beyond a self-selecting group of intellectuals, activists, artists, human rights and civil society actors. Some might say, as Chris Sisserian does, that Turkish civil society has reached “a glass ceiling of understanding” when it comes to Armenian matters; that we are preaching to the choir and there is an impenetrable boundary with the rest of the populace.
But what is happening in Turkey today goes beyond the proliferation of counter-narratives and counter-memories circulating and undermining the denialist discourse. In the last few years, there have been a number of Armenian diasporans visiting Turkey, as tourists, as pilgrims, and as detectives trying to piece together their past lives. Ani King-Underwood’s powerful documentaries for Al Jazeera demonstrate the need, in her words, to “concretise memories”. For her mother and aunt, the journey to find the house their mother had forcibly left behind was an essential experience which restored their own identities and confirmed that the stories they had grown up with were actually true. Finding their family home which had taken on a mythical quality in their mother’s narratives, made those lives, and the past, real. The fuzzy qualities of being an Armenian originating from these lands is sharpened when there is physical evidence, in the face of denialism.
This desire for the physical ‘proof’ of past Armenian lives and culture in the Ottoman lands explains the recent phenomenon of the restoration of Armenian churches in Anatolia, financially backed mostly by North American diasporans. At the heart of this project (and others like it) seems the need to validate (and consecrate) the past co-existence of Armenians alongside Turks, Kurds, Greeks and others in Anatolian lands. One of the most notable of the projects has been the recent restoration of the sixteenth-century Armenian Apostolic Cathedral St. Giragos in Diyarbakır, the biggest Armenian church in the Middle East with a capacity of 3000. It is important to recognise that in the wider Armenian-Turkish terrain, the struggle for negotiating co-existence is premised upon the perceived need to document past co-existence, and the past lives of Armenians in these, their historic homelands. The fact that these past inhabitants were forcefully expelled or annihilated makes this is an extremely charged and complex mission. By renovating the churches, Armenian diasporans, together with their Kurdish and Turkish colleagues and associates, are physically documenting a history that official narratives challenge.
The Armenian perspective
For many of us working in these fields, there is the danger for complacency to set in. The tide has turned and the British academy feels like a very different place than it did 15 years ago thanks to the pioneers who have changed the discourse and its framing. Then, references to the ‘so-called genocide’ were the norm and anything Armenian was presented in the denialist framework, and thereby delegitimised and belittled. Many western diasporans have close Turkish friends and colleagues, something unimaginable even ten years ago. Our personal and political lives have been enriched and deeply blessed by these relationships. In a way, these friendships and associations hark back to the pre-genocide days, to our grandmothers’ villages where Armenians and Turks (and others) were friends and neighbours, and where many Turkish families sought to save their Armenian neighbours from the savagery that was to come. And yet, beyond this small safe space that we have actively created and claimed through our friendships and activism, there is still much work to be done. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago.
A colleague told me of her English friend, a postgraduate student who had gone to Istanbul, staying at Airbandb. He had got on tremendously well with his young male hosts and their friends, who shared his left-wing politics and had taken him on a tour of Gezi park. One night, the discussion in the flat turned to ‘the Armenian issue’. A huge fight ensued and the young man was asked to leave the next morning. He was shocked that his liberal, progressive and charming hosts were transformed beyond recognition, to the extent of kicking him out of the accommodation. This story while poignant in itself, is indicative of a wider reality: that Turkey’s ‘Armenian Opening’ has been patchy, that there are chasms and dark recesses that are impossible to discuss in mainstream company; that the protestors at Gezi Park demanding democratic freedoms are in many cases profoundly intolerant of counter-narratives and threats to the integrity of their national story.
In the same week, at a conference in Europe, I met a professor at one of our leading universities, who works on Turkey. Within minutes I was astonished to encounter a version of the ‘denialist-light’ argument, framed around the ‘it was a war, and there were deaths on both sides’ discourse. My surprise was palpable; it had been a long time since I had heard that position articulated, at least to my face. I tried to engage him in a discussion but it was clear that he had taken a position many years ago, and that it had served him well. He was not interested in hearing ‘the Armenian perspective’ as he called it.
The challenge here is that ‘the Armenian perspective’ is a moral stance, a political position, a counter-hegemonic narrative which represents the experience of the dispossessed and the marginalised. This goes well beyond the Armenian genocide and its recognition. It challenges questions of what we teach, what we write, how we research and what we believe. If the voices from below are not acknowledged and our own part in their silencing unexposed, then we are complicit in this project of denialism. That is why the acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide is a tiny cog in our commitment to an emancipatory politics which attempts to redress the balance between the powerful and the weak and rewrite pre-ordained political scripts and identities.
My thanks to my colleagues and friends who participated in the workshop of 9 June 2014, especially my co-convenor Jo Laycock. We are also grateful to Sheffield Hallam University’s History Department which funded and hosted the workshop.Select Page 1 - Introduction 2 - Bitcoin Performance - Fastest to Slowest 3 - Bitcoin Performance - Sorted by Price 4 - Bitcoin Performance - Sorted by Wattage 5 - GPUz Screenshot Gallery 6 - Conclusion
Bitcoin Mining GPU Performance Comparison Bitcoin mining is a new form of virtual money. The economics of it are fascinating, but the real interest for us is that you can use your GPU to accelerate the mining process, and you'll be shocked at the difference between NVIDIA and AMD GPU performance. If you want to setup a Bitcoin box, this article will get you moving in the right direction.
Introduction
Bitcoin mining is a new, kind of "underground" start up, of a system of virtual currency used to buy goods and services over the Internet |
to slow down in time when he collided with the car.Deputies said then Kumar lost control of the truck, hit the southern concrete guardrail, went over the side of the freeway and landed in the Yolo Wildlife Preserve. Kumar was trapped inside the vehicle.Rescuers worked for more than an hour to get Kumar out of the truck.Deputies said Kumar was conscious and moving during the rescue. He was eventually lifted up to the freeway in a gurney basket and taken to a hospital with a broken leg.Drivers of the other vehicles suffered minor injuries.Two of the three eastbound lanes of I-80 along the Yolo Causeway were closed for more than an hour.The California Highway Patrol said it didn't appear that drugs or alcohol were involved in the crashes, which are still under investigation.KCRA 3's Vannessa Maravilla and Kristen Simoes contributed to this story.Jonathan Gresham has accomplished more before the age of 30 than most achieve in their career. The Atlanta, GA native first appeared on Ring of Honor Wrestling in the 2011 Top Prospect Tournament and since then has wrestled in 12 countries in four continents, proving to be one of the premier technical wrestlers in the world.
It is with great excitement that Ring of Honor Wrestling announces that Jonathan Gresham has officially signed a full-time contract and will be in action in Baltimore this Saturday, April 8!
Gresham has competed in ROH on a freelance basis, picking up wins in singles and tag team competition in between his extensive international travel schedule. With a repitoire of hundreds of submission moves, including his patented Octopus Stretch, Gresham has the ability to defeat opponents of any size or experience level.
At age 29 with a decade of experience under his belt, Gresham is already one of the planet's best grapplers with even greater potential. Gresham has impressed ROH fans so much in his appearances that he has been one of the most in-demand stars for fans of the Best Wrestling on the Planet. Come see Gresham compete LIVE this Saturday in Baltimore!In the too-fat-to-fight controversy within the U.S. military, a group of physicians has come up with one possible solution: chick peas.
A report issued earlier this year found that more than 25 percent of Americans aged 17-24 are so fat they can't be recruited, presenting a potential threat to the nation's security.
In another report released by Cornell University researchers, the number of women of military age who exceed the U.S. Army's enlistment standards for weight-for-height and body fat percentage has more than tripled in the past 50 years. For military-age men, the figure has more than doubled.
You might think one answer would be to slim down the recruiting population. But the Cornell researchers, perhaps conceding that we live in an ingrained fast-food and sedentary video-game culture, have at least one different suggestion: relaxing the standards (as if too much relaxing wasn't the problem already). The military could ease the height/weight ratios and body fat standards, particularly for noncombat troops.
That may not solve the problem, though. The military spends $1 billion a year on issues related to obesity, more than it spends on tobacco and alcohol-related problems combined. The findings were published in September by the National Bureau of Economic Research in a working paper titled "Unfit for Service: The Implications of Rising Obesity for U.S. Military Recruitment."
Responding to the two reports, a group of physicians sent a letter offering help to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is offering to stock military recruitment centers with free copies of its Vegetarian Starter Kits. The kits offer a three-step way to convert to vegetarianism. The idea is to offer the kits to fat recruits who can take them home, adopt the suggestions and return later, more fit to serve after being served less. No word yet on whether the admiral has taken them up on the offer.Colin Powell once had to correct Hillary Clinton after she credited his speech to the United Nations for helping convince her to vote to support the invasion of Iraq, the retired general told an associate in an email last year.
The problem, Powell pointed out in the March 8, 2015 email, which was released as part of a massive hack on Tuesday, was that the then-secretary of state gave his now-infamous UN speech in Feb. 5, 2003. Clinton cast her vote in support of invading Iraq months before, on Oct. 11, 2002.
“She once said she voted for the 2003 war because of my UN speech. I had to remind her that she voted for it three months before my speech. :),” Powell wrote to Marc Benioff, the billionaire founder of Salesforce, a cloud computing company.
Coalition forces, largely made up of U.S. troops, invaded Iraq a month after Powell’s speech. He has said he regretted giving the speech, which was based on faulty intelligence about Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Clinton has also expressed regret for her vote. As a presidential candidate, she has faced intense criticism for that vote.
The email was one of 30,000 published on the website DC Leaks. The hackers behind the site are believed to have ties to the Russian government.
Powell was discussing Clinton with Benioff because he was set to attend a board meeting for the company at Benioff’s home. The problem for the retired general was that Clinton would be showing up that same night to attend a Clinton Foundation fundraiser Benioff was hosting.
Powell wanted to avoid Clinton because of the scandal that was then erupting over her use of a private email account while secretary of state. “You have have noticed the ’emailgate’ flap we have been in this week,” Powell wrote. “I have a slight, but manageable, problem with some of her acolytes who have tried to link my private email use with her situation. I’ve shut that down.”
Powell then, out of nowhere, told Benioff about Clinton’s remarks regarding the UN speech.
It’s not clear from the email when Clinton is supposed to have cited Powell’s speech as the catalyst for her vote. It’s also not clear when Powell reminded her of her faulty timeline.
Follow Chuck on TwitterHang Juvenile Rapists?
July 25, 2014
The burning issue these days is should the Juvenile Rapists be hanged?
Let us understand a bit of law for a better grasp of the issue as per Section 83 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) any act committed by a child above 7 years of age and below 12, who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge of the nature and consequences of his conduct on that occasion is not to be considered as an offence. Therefore, rape if committed by a person over 12 years of age is automatically a crime and a punishable offence. Therefore the reasoning given by proponents of hang the juvenile rapists that such acts are not considered as crime is incorrect. Such acts are considered as crimes.
About The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (Act)
The Act is the legal framework under which juveniles (individuals below 18 years of age), who commit a crime are tried and rehabilitated. The primary motive of the Act is to ‘Treat and Rehabilitate’ juveniles. The Act was brought in compliance of Child Rights Convention 1989 of the United Nations. The objectives of the Act are:
To consolidate and amend the law relating to juveniles in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection, by providing for proper care, protection and treatment by catering to their development needs, and by adopting a child-friendly approach in the adjudication and disposition of matters in the best interest of children and for their ultimate rehabilitation through various institutions established
To Adhere to the constitutional provisions which are: Article 15(3): Special Provisions for women and children Article 39 (e): That the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength Article 39 (f): That children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment
Therefore the Act was primarily for rehabilitation of juveniles who have strayed towards crime so that they can become contributing members to the society.
Understanding Punishment:
Before we jump on #HangTheRapist bandwagon, it is critical to understand the concept and theories of punishment. Punishment typically serve 5 purposes:
Deterrent Theory of Punishment: Punishment’s primary purpose is to show the futility of crime, thereby teaching a lesson to others. The ideology behind this type of punishment is that crime is committed to further the interest of the criminal, against the well being of the society. The deterrent theory tries to make crime an expensive affair making it a bad bargain for the criminals. The drawback of this theory is that crime is often committed in the heat of the moment and the criminal does not have the wherewithal at that moment to weigh his/her acts, hence the desired effects are generally not seen under this theory.
In an interesting judgement of Phul Singh vs State Of Haryana, the young accused had raped a 24 year old neighbour. The hon’able Supreme Court had held, the appellant is a youth barely 22 with no criminal antecedents save this offence. A man like the appellant has a reasonable prospect of shaping into a balanced person, given propitious social environs, curative and congenial work and techniques of internal stress release or of reformatory self expression. The hon’able court observed, the incriminating company of lifers and others for long may be counter-productive, and in this perspective, we blend deterrence with correction and reduce the sentence to rigorous imprisonment for two years.
Preventive Theory of Punishment : This theory focuses on preventing the crime by disabling the criminal. Historically maiming was considered to be an effective method of prevention, ie. cut the hand of a thief etc… The barbaric act of maiming has been abolished and been converted to imprisonment where the criminal is put behind bars so that he/she is prevented from committing the crime till he/she is behind bars.
: This theory focuses on preventing the crime by disabling the criminal. Historically maiming was considered to be an effective method of prevention, ie. cut the hand of a thief etc… The barbaric act of maiming has been abolished and been converted to imprisonment where the criminal is put behind bars so that he/she is prevented from committing the crime till he/she is behind bars. Reformative Theory of Punishment : The ideology behind this theory is that a person may commit a crime due weakness of the character of the person. Here the focus is to strengthen the character of the criminal so that he/she may not become a victim of his/her own temptation. Here the criminals are sent to the prison to be reformed and turn a new leaf so that when they are released they can become law abiding and contributing citizens of the society.
: The ideology behind this theory is that a person may commit a crime due weakness of the character of the person. Here the focus is to strengthen the character of the criminal so that he/she may not become a victim of his/her own temptation. Here the criminals are sent to the prison to be reformed and turn a new leaf so that when they are released they can become law abiding and contributing citizens of the society. Retributive Theory of Punishment : In simple terms retributive theory means that the criminals ‘pays’ for what he/she has done. The state tries to avenge the pain of the wronged person. The idea behind this theory is evil should be treated by evil ie. an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The theory rests on the moral satisfaction the wronged person gets by seeing the pain being inflicted on the criminal.
: In simple terms retributive theory means that the criminals ‘pays’ for what he/she has done. The state tries to avenge the pain of the wronged person. The idea behind this theory is evil should be treated by evil ie. an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The theory rests on the moral satisfaction the wronged person gets by seeing the pain being inflicted on the criminal. Compensating Theory of Punishment: The object of this theory is to compensate the victim of the crime. The theory suggests that the crime comes from the fountain of greed and if the ill-gotten gains of the crime are made to return to the victim, this fountain would dry up thereby reducing crime. A severe limitation of this theory is that many crimes are not committed due to economic motives.
In essence a criminal justice system ought to have a judicious mix of the above punishments and should try and remove crime not the criminals…
In Ramesh Kaushik vs B. L. Vig, Superintendent, the hon’able Supreme Court stated that the fundamental fact of prison reforms comes from our constitutional recognition that every prisoner is a person and personhood holds the human potential which, if unfolded, makes a robber a Valmiki and a sinner a saint.
Let us now analyse the question at hand ‘Hang the Juvenile Rapists’. Rape as a crime, primarily has 2 motives Sex and Power. As per the research, sex is the prime motivator for rape, thereby it is typically a crime committed in the heat of the moment. The criminal is of a weak character and unable to restrain his urges to commit a crime. Further, in case of juveniles, the criminal majorly does not have the sufficient maturity to understand his/her acts coupled with the weakness of character. Thereby the most fruitful punishment theory in such a case is the ‘Reformative Theory’. Having a stricter punishment will not be a deterrent to such a crime as the motives are different and out of the control of the juvenile, further, preventive theory will also not be fruitful as the criminal is not a habitual one. Compensative theory is not possible as the motive was not economic.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 therefore correctly comprehends the mental make up of a juvenile offender and provides them an opportunity to reform which is possible at this tender age. The sprit of vengeance of the retributive theory is also met as the offender is put behind bars for 3 years to contemplate and reform into a law-abiding citizen.
Is capital punishment a cure for crimes?
In simple terms the answer is ‘NO’, reasons given below:
In US, the states which have abolished death penalties have a considerably lower serious crime rates. Hence, it is safe to state that death penalty does not have any deterrent effect.
The correct thing to do is finish the crime and not the criminal. Death penalty is finishing the criminal and not the crime
Are our laws of evidence and laws of procedure foolproof? Does it always lead us to the truth? Can there be no judicial errors? In such a scenario death penalty is not the correct sentence as once awarded it cannot be revoked.
Further, even consensual sex can be termed as rape such as promise of marriage cases etc. Consensual sex by a juvenile with a person of the same age is defined as rape (see definition of rape). Should we hang the boy having consensual sex with a girl of the same age?
False rape cases have also increased in the recent past as mentioned in Link1 and Link2, punishments awarded in such cases cannot be revoked
Conclusion: My appeal to everyone, think before following a ‘fad’. Every action has certain consequences, understand them. Understand why justice system is there what does it plan to achieve, how does it plan to achieve its stated objectives. Understand the psyche of the crime and criminal before coming to a conclusion. In the article above I have tried to bring out all the different facets of the debate coming to a conclusion that #HangTheRapists will not reduce rapes and will be contrary to the juvenile justice system. Further, justice system is not a system to get vengeance but a system to protect and improve the society. Providing harsher punishments, which donot meet the desired objectives, is tilting the sclaes towards vengeance away from justice.
What do you want, let us all Stand Up for a Cause…
AdvertisementsThe Braves aren’t going to go very far this year: that’s an assertion that’s unlikely to bite me six months from now. Both our Depth Charts projections and Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA forecast Atlanta failing to clear the 80-win threshold. The acquisition of Brandon Phillips over the weekend did little, if anything, to change that. Phillips is roundly projected to be just a touch over replacement level this season. The man he’s supplanting, Jace Peterson, is who you see a picture of when you look up “replacement level” in the baseball dictionary. Peterson has taken more than a thousand trips to the plate and played more than 2,000 innings in the field. He’s put up a career WAR of 0.4. Phillips needn’t do much to represent an upgrade.
That’s good, because (as just stated) Phillips probably isn’t going to represent much of an upgrade — a sentiment that basically other every club appears to share. Nor do new additions Bartolo Colon or R.A. Dickey, or Jaime Garcia appear set to turn the club around. The Braves have spent their winter loading up on veterans on one-year deals like these players, using them to round out a roster that has some desirable elements and other pieces that are less helpful. There’s unquestionably value in replacing bad players with somewhat competent ones.
Doing that isn’t enough to make the Braves contenders. They seem to understand this, of course. The Braves don’t appear to be banking on a postseason spot this year. They’re unlikely to compete with the Mets and Nationals in the NL East, and their projected high-70s win total puts them in position to have another nice draft. Even with all the Freddie Freeman in the world, the Braves are no match for the forces of superior baseball and sweet, sweet prospects.
What they do seem to have done is field a team that’s palatable enough to draw people into their new taxpayer-funded stadium. Because of that new stadium, the organization will attempt to pull of a difficult balancing act this year. Fans will need to be sold on the product currently on the field, and on what’s to come.
Freeman will bring people to the park and to their television sets, as will Julio Teheran, Matt Kemp and Dansby Swanson (more on him in a bit). Phillips, despite his crumbling value, isn’t that far removed from being a star and his name still carries power, especially on social media. Colon, as you may have heard, is a popular man.
Even Dickey, years after his improbable Cy Young win, offers some novelty due to his knuckleballing ways. The Braves have created a team that won’t entirely embarrass itself and, as currently constructed, could stumble its way to 80 wins with positive contributions from the prospects on the way. It’s unlikely, however, that the team will remain constructed as it currently is.
There’s a strong probability that both Colon and Garcia, the latter of whom is a capable pitcher when he’s healthy, will be exiting before July 31st. Bart can serve as a publicity sensation in the near future and as a return for a decent prospect or two at the deadline. Garcia offers some possible trade value, as might Dickey. Even Phillips, if he’s back to being the serviceable player he was in 2015, may be moved.
This is where Swanson comes in. He’s the future face of the franchise, the player who will hopefully combine with Freeman to lead Atlanta back to the postseason. He’ll be joined soon enough by the host of prospects knocking on the door down in Gwinnett. Should Phillips stumble, he’ll almost certainly be replaced by Ozzie Albies once the Super-2 deadline passes. Reliever A.J. Minter may open some eyes very soon. Sean Newcomb may poke his head above the surface before the season is out. The Braves aren’t going to win a ton of games, but they’ll at least provide something of a reason to watch all year, and Swanson is certainly a better bet than Colon to provide optimism for fans in 2018 and beyond.
What the Braves are doing here is, at the very least, providing a team that won’t constantly embarrass itself. There may only be three legitimately good position players in the starting lineup (Freeman, Swanson, and Ender Inciarte), but unlike, say, the Padres, the Braves won’t be unwatchable. That’s the least the team can do as they ask fans to file into a new stadium for which there was little demand and for which those fans will largely be paying via their tax dollars. The 2018 season will likely be a better one, and 2019 will be a better one after that. The Braves still have to play ball this year, though, and providing a palatable if mediocre team is probably a sound move. And it’s worth noting that they tried to do more than this, too. Atlanta was widely reported to be in on the Chris Sale sweepstakes before the Red Sox won. The team was also connected to Jose Quintana and Chris Archer at various points.
It seems to be an odd time in their contention cycle for the Braves to be seeking out such a deal, but it shows that Atlanta is actively trying to improve right now. Adding Sale would not have made them contenders; if anything, it would have made them a lesser version of Sale’s White Sox. Again, one can question the wisdom of that, but it’s better than putting a Padres-like team on the field and asking fans to show up to an expensive new ballpark to watch.
The Braves are on the right track. There’s little doubt of that. They’re positioned to have another quality draft this summer, and they’ll secure a few more prospects by trading some of their veterans. They’ll have the money and prospects to acquire premium players over the winter. They’re almost ready to be dangerous again. It’s good that they’re willing to at least pretend to look like they’re trying this year.Health care is always personal. As science and technology have advanced, it’s become possible to make it personalized as well, giving us the tools to better understand, prevent, and treat everyone’s individual health needs.
We wouldn’t buy a pair of glasses that doesn’t match our eyesight, and though plenty of people break their arms, everyone gets fitted for their own cast. Our health care should be customized for us. The powerful and exciting field of precision medicine goes a step further and asks: What if we could just as easily match a cancer cure to a patient’s unique genetic code? Instead of trying a one-size-fits-all treatment, what if medical experts could tailor one specifically for everyone’s body?
By bringing together doctors and data like never before, precision medicine aims to deliver the right treatments in the right dosage at the right time — every time. It helps target the causes of a condition rather than just the symptoms. This is one of the greatest opportunities we’ve ever seen for new medical breakthroughs, but it only works if we collect enough information first.
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On Thursday we’re announcing a big step toward making that happen. The National Institutes of Health is making major investments in partnerships across the country, including with the Broad Institute in Cambridge, to gather data that could lead to lifesaving discoveries. Building in strong privacy and security protections from the start, NIH is teaming up with regional health care providers and community-based health clinics to sign up a million or more volunteers from all walks of life. The health, environmental, and lifestyle information this diverse group will provide will be analyzed by qualified scientists to generate new insights and one day bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs is also partnering with NIH to enroll veterans in the study, which will help us learn more about health questions critical to those who have served our country. And the Food and Drug Administration is proposing a new way to approve innovative genetic tests so we can expand our knowledge base and accelerate advances in this important technology.
Such a large sample of health data will help us better understand why certain treatments work for some people but not others, or why seemingly fit people fall ill. The ensuing breakthroughs could help people live longer, happier, and healthier lives; create new jobs and industries in the United States; and, by improving care, will ultimately make our entire health system work better. And because precision medicine empowers people to monitor and take a more active role in maintaining their health, it can preempt the hurt and heartbreak many of us have endured when we’ve seen our loved ones suffer.
We’ve already seen precision medicine work. Its breakthrough therapies have helped children with leukemia, adults with breast cancer, and patients with heart disorders and cystic fibrosis. With entrepreneurs and scientists leading the way and collaborating with experts in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, an individualized approach can help us learn more about Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, and mental illnesses like depression and bipolar disorder.
One of my administration’s proudest accomplishments has been expanding access to affordable health care to 20 million Americans. Now we’re working to ensure more people will also have access to the information that makes their health care more effective. It won’t happen overnight, but we’re standing once again at the doorstep of discovery.
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Precision medicine gives us the chance to marry what’s unique about America — our spirit of innovation, our courage to take risks, our collaborative instincts – with what’s unique about Americans – every individual’s distinctive genetic makeup, lifestyles, and health needs. In doing so, we can keep ourselves, our families, and our nation healthier for generations to come.
Barack Obama is the president of the United States.In the age of ubiquitous smartphone cameras and free online video storage, Slow TV has become a phenomenon. In this emerging genre, videos featuring complete train journeys are popular, as well as three-hour videos of tropical fish. Artist Kees Colijn has embarked on a video project that documents his “walk to the East.”
One Japanese YouTube user, satobo3104, has uploaded hundreds of videos documenting walks through old neighbourhoods all over Japan.
The videos do not feature any commentary. It's just a stroll down quiet side streets. It's a unique, meditative way to become immersed in the sights and sounds of places one might never normally get to see.
Matsushima (Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture)
Tsuruga is a small city on the Japan Sea Coast about an hour north of Kyoto by car. Matsushima is an older neighbourhood in Tsuruga, and the video perfectly captures the atmosphere of a quiet summer day.
Watch Part 2 and Part 3 here.
Yokota (Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture)
Takaoka is another small city on the Japan Sea Coast, and features many old-style Japanese houses in neighbourhoods that haven't changed much in several hundred years. The video takes us on a walk through the Yokota and Kanaya neighbourhoods, visiting shrines and temples along the way.
Of particular interest is the Senbon-koshi neighbourhood in Kanaya, a heritage site featuring streets lined with restored traditional homes.
Sonoda Shopping Street (Amagasaki, Hyogo)
This video provides a glimpse of a Japanese shotengai, or traditional shopping area in Sonoda, Amagasaki, just east of Kobe.
For much of Japan's postwar period, shotengai served as the heart of urban neighbourhood life in Japan. Small family-owned shops and eateries provided cheap and convenient staples, and often there are awnings overhead that protect shoppers from rain, snow, and hot sun. As Japan's population ages, fewer families live in these older neighbourhoods. Fewer local customers means shotengai are becoming a thing of the past.
Nishiki Market (Kyoto)
Covered markets still do quite well in some parts of Japan, especially if they cater to tourists. This video features a stroll through Kyoto's Nishiki Market. It's a great chance to catch a glimpse of everything from snow crab to cut flowers being offered for sale.
Tsukiji (Tokyo)
In this video we catch a glimpse of daily life in the heart of Tokyo, the world's largest city. We take a stroll through Tsukiji, just east of Ginza. The narrow streets are lined with older houses, providing a sharp contrast to the sleek, gleaming cityscape located just a few blocks away.
Many more videos of neighbourhood walks in Japan can be found on satobo3104 channel.CTVNews.ca Staff
Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver will announce Thursday a small business tax credit that will save business owners about half a billion dollars over the next two years, CTV News has learned.
LIVE @ 11 a.m. ET: Watch Finance Minister Joe Oliver's announcement here
The tax credit, which will help offset employment insurance premiums, will benefit up to 90 per cent of small businesses in Canada, CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Wednesday night.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimates the measure will create 25,000 new jobs over the next two years.
The announcement comes as Prime Minister Stephen Harper prepares to put a major focus on jobs and the economy when Parliament resumes next week.
Opposition parties have been saying for some time that employment insurance premiums are too high and should be slashed for both businesses and employees.Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson suffered what may be the final blow of his storied political career in the most improbable way Saturday, when an untested Republican opponent took advantage of Louisiana's new federal voting rules -- and an election delay caused by Hurricane Gustav -- to unseat the nine-term Democrat. With the upset victory, Anh "Joseph" Cao, a eastern New Orleans attorney who fled war-ravaged Saigon as a child, becomes the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. He will represent a district that was specifically drawn to give African-Americans an electoral advantage and one in which two of every three voters are registered Democrats.
Jefferson, the first African-American to represent Louisiana in Congress since Reconstruction and a force on the local political stage for three decades, finished a close second among four general election candidates after beating back stiff challenges from within his own party during earlier rounds of voting. His defeat came on a day of abysmally low turnout, which political pundits had predicted could be Jefferson's undoing despite his demographic and political advantages. Ironically, had Gustav not postponed the voting schedule one month, the general election would have been held the same ballot as last month's presidential election, when high turnout among African-American voters likely would have carried Jefferson to a 10th term. Meanwhile, in Louisiana's 4th Congressional District, Republican John Fleming, a physician from Minden, won the seat being vacated by retiring Congressman Jim McCrery, a Republican from Shreveport. The two races, both delayed because of Gustav, were this season's last contests for the U.S. House of Representatives. Saturday's results mean Louisiana bucked the national trend and wound up with a congressional delegation of six Republicans and a single Democrat. Three Democrats represent Louisiana in the current Congress. Speaking to supporters Saturday night at Palace Cafe on Canal Street, Cao, 41, made reference to Jefferson's earlier victories this season -- and to the legal problems that undoubtedly contributed to his downfall. "I know he went through two previous primaries, and that must have been hard," Cao said. "But tonight, the people of the 2nd District have spoken. We want a new direction. We want accountability, and have it." Cao made direct reference to his improbable political ascent, seeming as astonished as anyone else. "Never in my life did I think I could be a future congressman," he said. "The American dream is well and alive." Though he was a relative unknown before this race, Cao was flanked Saturday night by a number of local political power brokers. U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Republican from Metairie, introduced him to screaming supporters. City Councilwomen Jackie Clarkson and Stacy Head, both Democrats, were in attendance, along with former TV news anchor Helena Moreno, who was defeated by Jefferson in the Democratic Party runoff. Several GOP party leaders, including former City Councilmen Jay Batt and Bryan Wagner, also joined the crowd. At Cao's side was his wheelchair-bound father, who spent seven years in a North Vietnamese prison camp during that country's civil war. In his closing, Cao offered thanks to the local immigrant community, and he made a special plea for peace in the country of his birth. "I'd like to thank my Vietnamese community," he said, "and I'd like to encourage young Vietnamese in this country to work peacefully for a free and democratic Vietnam." Meanwhile, at an Uptown art gallery, Jefferson, 61, a Harvard-educated attorney and former state Senator who was raised amid dire poverty in Lake Providence, La., said he thought voter fatigue contributed to his loss. "Over three elections, I think people kind of ran out a little bit at the end of, I guess, the juice it takes to keep on going," he said. "There were three very difficult elections and on Nov. 4, a lot of folks thought we already won. "I'm sure that if we poll, somewhere out there in the 2nd District is a vast majority of people who support our campaign and who, had they voted today, would have expressed it," he said. Speaking to about 50 supporters who gave Jefferson a standing ovation when he entered the room, Jefferson thanked his family, labor leaders, local ministers and African-American voters, whom he praised as the "bedrock" of his political base. "I'm so very grateful to each and every one of you, folks who are here and folks who are out there, for the warm embrace that you have given me over the years," he said. Jefferson's demise resulted in part from Louisiana's return after 30 years to a closed primary system. As the only Republican to qualify for the general election, Cao spent September and October meeting voters, honing his message and raising money. Meanwhile, Jefferson had to fight off six well-known challengers who together raised almost $2 million in an effort to unseat him in the Democratic Party primary and runoff, which were open only to registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters. With his name appearing for the first time on Saturday's ballot, Cao was able to reach out to voters who supported the Democratic also-rans, as well as about 50,000 voters, most of them registered Republicans, who were forced to stay on the sidelines during the Democratic Party races. As predicted, there was a dramatic drop-off in turnout Saturday compared with the Nov. 4 election that featured Barack Obama, now president-elect. Last month, nearly 164,000 Democrats and independents in the 2nd District cast ballots. Even with the universe of voters expanded Saturday to include all registered voters, only 66,846 showed up to the polls. In a rare radio interview in advance of the general election, Jefferson had expressed concerns that his base of African-American supporters might assume that he had won re-election last month and stay home Saturday. Cao, who came to the United States when he was 8, holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Baylor University and a master's degree in philosophy from Fordham University. After a stint as a Catholic seminarian, he earned a law degree from Loyola University in 2000. Married with two daughters, he now runs a law practice in Venetian Isles specializing in immigration. Cao took an interest in local politics after his home and office were swamped during Hurricane Katrina. His first bid for public office last year, when he sought the open 103rd House District, was inauspicious. Running then as an independent, he finished fifth in a six-candidate field. Cao said he began eyeing a run for the 2nd District seat shortly after a Virginia grand jury indicted Jefferson last year on charges of bribery and public corruption following revelations in 2005 that FBI agents found $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer and linked him and several relatives to a wide-ranging bribery scheme. Counting among his backers Gov. Bobby Jindal and Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand, Cao attracted solid support from local, state and national Republican organizations. He raised almost $90,000 from a slate of party operatives, local executives and members of the Vietnamese community. He also pumped $70,000 of his money into the campaign. Hoping to pad his war chest further, Cao joined the Republican National Committee and the state GOP last month in filing a lawsuit challenging a decades-old cap on the amount of money the groups can spend on coordinated advertising efforts. As of late last week, the suit had gone nowhere. Cao maintained a generally cordial tone during the campaign, limiting his criticism of Jefferson to questions about the congressman's effectiveness and ethics and rarely mentioning the criminal charges. However, as election day neared, the National Republican Congressional Committee stepped in with a series of harsh mail pieces and an automated telephone call to voters that highlighted the allegations of money laundering, racketeering and bribery and labeled Jefferson as "crooked." Organizers of Cao's campaign denied having a hand in the attack. On election day, the Cao campaign launched a surprise, last-minute offensive with a pair of automated phone calls urging voters to pull the lever for Cao. The messages were recorded by Moreno and former Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick. It was both supporters' first foray into the general election campaign. Though Jefferson will pack up his Capitol Hill office, he will remain in the news: Originally scheduled to begin last week, his trial is likely to start in early 2009. Also in the cross-hairs of federal prosecutors are Jefferson siblings Betty Jefferson, the Orleans Parish 4th District Assessor, and political consultant Mose Jefferson, who were indicted last year on charges that they conspired to loot more than $600,000 in taxpayer money from three charities. In a separate case, Mose Jefferson was indicted on charges that he bribed the former president of the Orleans Parish School Board. Those trials are set for early next year. Jefferson's defeat also marks the latest and most severe blow to the Progressive Democrats, the Central City-based political organization that he founded. Among Jefferson allies who have been forced from public office since news of the FBI probe into Jefferson's dealings broke are: Renee Gill Pratt, the congressman's former legislative aide who lost her seat on the City Council; close ally Eddie Jordan, who was forced to resign as Orleans Parish district attorney; and Jefferson's daughter, then-state Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, who lost a bid last year for the state Senate.The HTC One M9 will come with a new version of Sense that packs plenty of customization features like themes, the ability to add/remove buttons from the navigation bar and more. It also comes with a context-based homescreen widget that recommends apps and other services to users depending on their location and the time of the day.
Even with a lighter version of TouchWiz and Google’s new Material Design in Lollipop |
shut was pulled out of line, interrogated for hours, and arrested for refusing to answer questions except to say Ummm, ummm. A TSA agent at Houston International, hired under federal affirmative-action guidelines, confiscated a latex glove, saying that it looked like a multiple-use condom and you never could be too careful with terrorists.
Following the implementation of the new measures, airline traffic fell five percent.
Then in early June a fifteen-year-old kid in Dubuque posted, to an Egyptian website, under the name of Sheik Wasabi, a disturbing story. While in Cairo, said Sheik Wasabi, he had met a radical Islamic plastic surgeon who was fitting female martyrs with explosive breast—implants. The teenager then forgot about his post, having received a new X Box. However, some thirty people saw the post and called the FBI, which ignored them.
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Finally Maxwell Bjorn, president of the instrument-manufacturer Artful Devices Inc., called Janet Napolitano directly. He had done the calculations, he said. A D-cup could unquestionably bring down an airliner. The only way to protect our democracy, he said, would be either to install automated palpators, or use x-rays. Fortunately for America his firm happened to have suitable designs, at $2.2 million each.
Napolitano chose x-rays, reasoning that while ugly women might prefer palpation, others would find it invasive.
The American Medical Association prepared a brief arguing that the radiation would raise cancer rates, particularly in frequent fliers. The surgeons in the membership scotched the brief, viewing it as being in restraint of trade.
Napolitano defended the new machines on national television, telling the country that, cancer rates would go up slightly, but freedom isn’t free. It has a price. Throughout the history of our great nation, patriots have given their lives to defend our way of life. We too must be willing to bear the burden. She then flew to an appointment in a private Citation.
Passenger traffic fell fifteen percent. Napolitano said that this was a good thing, as it gives our enemies fewer targets. We must make it as difficult as possible to attack our freedoms.
For a while, terror seemed to have been defeated. Distant events changed the situation drastically.
In Afghanistan, the CIA ran drone strikes against Moslems from a remote and secret base in rural Helmand. Day after day the Predators took off to blow up villages that might or might not harbor a terrorist, thus protecting our freedoms. The base employed a young Afghan driver, Abdul al Hafetz. For reasons of security Abdul was always patted down carefully when he came on base, though he had worked for the Agency for over a year.
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On the fourth of October, a month since his sister had been killed by a drone strike on her wedding day, Abdul drove up to the gate of the base. He was patted down. As always, nothing untoward was found. He walked into the main building and blew up in a shattering explosion that left thirteen drone operators dead.
None of the Americans in Afghanistan could think of a reason for this senseless act of carnage. The depth of Islamic hatred of our freedoms was simply incomprehensible.
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Investigators wanted to know how he had smuggled the explosives into the compound. There was not enough left of Abdul to answer the question. The blast had been powerful. The volume of explosive necessary would have been far to great to have slipped past a careful pat-down. The possibility was considered that a drone-operator had mistaken the compound for a birthday celebration and attacked it. This didn’t make sense, though, because the roof had clearly blown upward. The detonation had come from within.
The true explanation was chilling. In what was thought to be an al Quaeda safe house in Kabul, there was found a manual explaining the mystery. An extremist who hated our democracy could swallow a dozen balloons containing in aggregate over three kilograms of pentaerythryitol tetranitrate, or PETN. A detonator built into a watch would cause it to explode. In a sense, the new technique should have been expected. Drug smugglers had long used the same means to get drugs past customs.
Janet Napolitano rose to the occasion. She called a press conference and said, these are difficult times and al Quaeda’s continuing assault on our way of life makes sacrifices necessary. Starting today, all passengers will have their stomachs pumped prior to boarding. This will include pilots and cabin crew. We cannot let our democracy be destroyed by extremists.
Twenty-seven airliners that had flown to Europe refused to come back, and overall air traffic dropped forty-six percent. Upon Napolitano’s pro-active announcement that automated rectal exams would be instituted to further protect our freedoms, traffic fell another ten percent, except in San Francisco.
Over the next two months, seven airlines declared bankruptcy and went into chapter eleven. Most foreign airlines announced that they would no longer fly to the United States. Boeing was ordered by TSA to retrofit automatic wrist-restraints on existing aircraft, and Artful Devices, Inc. won a twelve billion dollar contract for an integrated explosive-sniffer, puff-analyzer, millimeter-wave panty-viewer, shoe-x-rayer, stomach pump, CAT-scanner and nitrate-sniffing automated dildo. Our freedoms, at last, were safe.
The Best of Fred ReedSupport the Virginia Beach SEAL Monument
A public monument honoring Navy SEALs was long overdue – until the Museum created one on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk.
Although a great number of SEAL forerunners trained in Ft. Pierce during World War Two starting in 1943, the earliest SEAL predecessors came together in Virginia Beach in 1942. These volunteers for special missions distinguished themselves in combat during Operation TORCH in North Africa later that year.
Over time, the SEAL Museum and then other major SEAL heritage sites erected identical Naked Warrior statues to honor their Frogmen, leaving Virginia Beach as the sole SEAL heritage site with no SEAL marker for the general public.
This situation was put right on July 20, 2017 when the Virginia Beach Navy SEAL Monument was dedicated. Visually striking and loaded with layers of significance, it is a compelling tribute to SEALs and their antecedents. The Monument stands on the Boardwalk facing the Atlantic Ocean at 38th Street, a scenic and dignified public place frequented by locals and visitors alike.
The Monument’s centerpiece is the same iconic Naked Warrior statue as at the Museum and the two other major SEAL heritage sites. A timeless symbol of all SEAL history, it depicts a WWII Underwater Demolition Team swimmer atop a beach obstacle, facing the ocean, gathering himself to conduct a combat mission. He is life-size, denoting that the SEAL reputation was made not by supermen, but by ordinary men who do extraordinary things for their country.
The Naked Warrior stands within smooth black granite walls laser-etched with concise words and 100 photographs illustrating the entire history of SEALs and their forerunners. Around the base of the statue is a Living Beach composed of continually replenished sand from over 80 places around the world significant to SEAL history.
Engraved on the walls are gold Medals of Honor for every SEAL who earned one, and gold stars for every SEAL – and a gold paw print for every SEAL war dog – killed in the line of duty. Above the Monument fly the American and SEAL flags. A strong, waterproof time capsule is embedded securely within the Monument, to be opened in 2067.
To monitor events at the Monument, please click here.
Become a part of SEAL history: Donate to the Museum’s Virginia Beach SEAL Monument
The SEAL Monument was built by public donations; the names of nearly 1000 contributors are on a Donor Stone next to it. Further donations of any amount are welcome for maintenance, repairs and improvements. The names of all contributors of $1,000 or more will be laser-etched on a future Donor Stone at the Monument site.
Donations at the $50,000, $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000 levels will receive special recognition.A 33-year-old woman and her older boyfriend were sleeping in their Vero Beach bedroom about 2:30 a.m. when the boyfriend's wife stormed in with a rifle.The wife, identified as Brenda Schumann, 51, pointed the weapon at her 42-year-old husband and his younger girlfriend, threatening to kill them both, according to accounts given by Schumann's husband and his girlfriend.The husband got the gun away, but that didn't stop Schumann's apparent rampage.She urinated on the carpet outside the master bedroom, defecated on the kitchen floor, grabbed a second rifle and started destroying Christmas decorations and other things."I found him in bed with a naked chick what was I suppose to do," Schumann is quoted as telling an Indian River County Sheriff's deputy following the December 21 events, according to a recently released sheriff's report.Schumann and her husband are divorcing and have been separated for months, her husband and his girlfriend told investigators.They said they didn't know what prompted Schumann to show up at the home in the 5500 block of 12th Street at such an hour and start an armed confrontation.Schumann eventually left the second rifle in the dining room and vacated the premises. Investigators found her at an apartment in the area.Without being asked any questions, Schumann said, "I found him in bed with a naked chick what was I suppose to do."It could be argued that better options exist than having an armed encounter, urinating and pooping in non-standard places and destroying seasonal decorations and other items.Schumann, of the 5500 block of 12th Street in Vero Beach, was arrested on charges including aggravated assault/domestic violence, aggravated assault, battery and resist arrest without violence.Nearly half of the families that fled from Fukushima Prefecture when the nuclear crisis began three years ago have been separated by housing problems, work requirements and children’s educational needs, according to a recent survey of the prefecture.
Although municipal governments in the exclusion zone have undertaken similar studies in the past, this was the first to cover the whole prefecture, including those forced to evacuate and those who left of their own volition.
The prefectural government sent questionnaires to 62,812 families and received replies from 20,680. The results of the survey were released Monday.
Nearly 49 percent of the households that were intact before the accident are no longer under the same roof, the survey said.
Now residing in a “temporary” housing unit in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, Masaichi Koizumi, 78, used to live in the town of Okuma, which cohosts the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant, with five other family members.
Due to the small size of the facility, Koizumi’s eldest son lives in another home in Iwaki with his wife and their child.
Okuma’s approximately 10,000 residents have all been displaced. Koizumi has given up on returning to the town and is building a new house in Iwaki.
“I think I can finally regain the life I used to have,” he said, but added that he is “worried if I can blend into the new neighborhood because I don’t know anybody.”
In Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, a three-generation family of eight including a woman and her husband and their three children from an evacuation zone live are scattered across three separate units of apartment buildings rented by the city.
“I looked for a place where all of us can live together, but couldn’t find one,” the woman said.
Of around 132,500 evacuees, Yamagata has taken in around 5,000, forming the second-largest cluster after Tokyo.
Rika Takahashi, 41, voluntarily left the city of Fukushima for Yamagata, where she now lives with her second and third daughters. Her eldest daughter stayed with Takahashi’s husband in Fukushima but moved to Ibaraki Prefecture last month to go to a university there.
“From the beginning, families were often separated, but they are getting even more separated because of children’s education and other reasons,” said Yoko Tada, 32, a staff member of a Yamagata-based organization supporting evacuees.
According to the survey by Fukushima Prefecture, 67.5 percent of the households said they have family members complaining of “physical and psychological problems.” More than half of the cases consisted of sleeping difficulties and inability to enjoy things as much as before.
Of the residents who have expressed a desire to go back to their hometowns, 40.9 percent said they would go back if “their anxieties and the effects of radiation are reduced.”
But the nuclear plant still has a series of problems, including the leakage of highly contaminated water that is accumulating, while decontamination efforts by the central and local governments have been significantly delayed.The US-led military coalition in Afghanistan has announced it will no longer publish figures related to attacks by the Taliban.
Tuesday's announcement comes a week after it acknowledged an incorrect reporting of a seven percent decline in attacks by the group in 2012.
Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, ISAF, said that attacks observed by coalition forces will still be recorded, but the overall number will not be tallied or published online.
Graybeal said the coalition's figures will become increasingly inaccurate because Afghans are conducting most combat operations.
Last week The Associated Press news agency revealed that the coalition had determined that its original report of a 7 percent decline was wrong and that there actually was no decline at all for 2012. It blamed a clerical error.
Graybeal said the corrected 2012 figures will not be published.In this series of blog posts, we’re giving you a much closer look at how Garrisons are shaping up and how you can expect to interact with them in Warlords of Draenor. This second installment maps out the buildings that make up a fully armed and operational Garrison and how they impact your professions.
As we mentioned in part 1 of this series, we want the process of staking your claim on Draenor to fundamentally shape your gameplay experience. Your Garrison mainly comprises buildings and the Followers who inhabit them. As your Garrison grows, so will your options and opportunities to use these assets to your advantage on Draenor. The Followers that populate your Garrison will grow in number and power, and what they can do for you depends which buildings you choose to construct in your base.
Start Small, Think Big
Even in its fledgling state, your Garrison will contribute to your professional development almost immediately. You’ll have many choices for what to build, and your choices directly impact what your Followers can do and the rewards you’ll get from them.
The space you have available for buildings is determined by your Garrison Tier. At Garrison Tier 1, you’ll have one small and one large plot for buildings of those sizes. Quests will take you through placing a building that matches one of your primary professions in your first small plot and a Barracks in your first large plot.
At Garrison Tier 2, you’ll gain one additional small plot, one medium plot, and room for three of four preset buildings: the Fishing Shack, Herb Garden, Pet Menagerie, and Lunarfall Excavation (Alliance) or Frostwolf Mine (Horde). Everyone can eventually unlock and use all four presets, and each provides a great deal of synergy with its associated activities. For example, the Fishing Shack not only allows you to fish in Garrison waters and take on daily fishing quests—it also makes it possible for you to attract Nat Pagle as a Follower and gives him a place to work with you on Draenor.
Everyone can eventually unlock and use all four presets,...
Quests to gain access to each of the four preset buildings become available as you level up your character. You can obtain the mine at character level 92, the Fishing Shack at level 94, the Herb Garden at level 96, and the Pet Menagerie at level 98.
At Garrison Tier 3, you’ll gain room for one more building of each size (one small, one medium, one large, and the final preset)—but to start, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with your first building and then consider what you’re going to do with the other precious spaces that become available.
Small plots can hold the Engineering Works, Alchemy Lab, Enchanter’s Study, Gem Boutique, Salvage Yard, Scribe’s Quarters, Storehouse, Tailoring Emporium, Forge, or Tannery.
Buildings level up, too, so you’ll want to raise both your Garrison and each building inside your walls to reach their highest potential. You do this by obtaining blueprints for the building and level you want from the blueprint vendor:
Level 1 blueprints all become available to you when your Garrison reaches Tier 2.
Level 2 blueprints become available at different times depending on their size: Small buildings: Reach level 96 or complete the Talador zone. Medium buildings: Reach level 98 or complete the Spires of Arak zone. Large buildings: Reach level 100 or complete the Nagrand zone.
Level 3 blueprints become available as you complete certain achievements across Draenor.
Level 3 blueprints are account-wide. Once you unlock one on a character, it’s available to all characters on your account.
Do Medium Well
Some of the most impactful decisions you’ll make when planning your Garrison will come when it’s time to choose medium-sized buildings. Medium buildings, unlike the smaller professional workspaces, make use of more real estate to give your Followers room to work on bigger projects with you and interact with each other.
Medium buildings include the Horde’s Frostwall Tavern and the Alliance’s Lunarfall Inn, the Barn, the Lumber Mill, the Gladiator’s Sanctum, and the Trading Post.
If you go with the Inn or Tavern, each day you’ll find a visitor who offers you a dungeon quest with generous rewards. At level 100, you’ll get two such quests per day. As it grows, you’ll have the opportunity to recruit random followers with traits and abilities that you particularly want—and at its grandest, it unlocks Treasure Hunt missions with hefty payouts.
The level 1 Barn grants the ability to capture clefthoof, elekk, wolves, and talbuk for leather and fur that can be used in Leatherworking and Tailoring. To make a capture, you’ll drop a trap and coax low-health creatures over it. At level 2, you’ll learn how to capture boars and riverbeasts for rare meats that are used to cook the most powerful recipes, and at level 3, the Barn will allow you to capture elite beasts and extract their Savage Blood, an ingredient for epic crafted armor and weapons.
...the Barn will allow you to capture elite beasts and extract their Savage Blood, an ingredient for epic crafted armor and weapons.
Meanwhile, over in the Gladiator’s Sanctum, you’ll earn a bonus to your out-of-combat regen in outdoor zones on Draenor, gain the ability to fall safely and breathe underwater outdoors on Draenor, learn a unique damage reduction ability, and at building level 2, gain access to the intense Highmaul Coliseum gladiator tournament that unlocks a special Nemesis PvP quest series.
The Nemesis quest line challenges PvP players to focus on hunting down enemy players of specific races to earn renown and over a dozen character titles such as Draenei Destroyer, Troll Hunter, Orcslayer, and Gnomebane. Truly vigilant players who complete every Nemesis quest will be rewarded with the title Warlord of Draenor.
Large and In Charge
Your Garrison is never intended to be sealed off from the many harsh hazards of Draenor. You and your Followers have work to do out there if you’re going to deal with the Iron Horde... and you’re going to deal with the Iron Horde! Maximizing your effectiveness—and your chances of success—requires a couple of large buildings.
Large plots can hold the Alliance’s Mage Tower or its Horde equivalent, the Spirit Lodge; the Barracks; the Dwarven Bunker (Alliance) or War Mill (Horde); the Stables; or the Gnomish Gearworks (Alliance) or Goblin Workshop (Horde).
The Mage Tower is remarkably powerful. From the moment you build one (or its Horde variant, the Spirit Lodge), you’ll start collecting Ogre Waystones from ogres on Draenor. The building then becomes one end of a system of two-way portals via Ogre Waygates you’ll find in every zone on Draenor. You’ll use the Waystones to activate one gate at a time at building level 1, two at level 2, and three at level 3.
With the Stables, you can capture and train special mounts on Draenor. These unique mounts spawn all across the world, and after you find and lasso them, you’ll send them to your Garrison for training. The subsequent training quests will allow you to add the mounts to your collection, learn the ability to remain mounted while interacting with objects in outdoor Draenor zones (at Stables level 2), and ultimately reward you with an increased mounted speed across Draenor at level 3. Achievements associated with this remarkable building unlock even more mounts, as well as the title Stable Master.
With the Stables, you can capture and train special mounts on Draenor.
When you go large, perhaps the Gnomish Gearworks or Goblin Workshop will catch your fancy. It’s a veritable toy store, granting access over the first two levels to unique items such as the Robo-Rooster, Personal Delivery System, Sentry Turret Dispenser, and Micro-Jetpack. Then at building level 3, the real fun begins, as you gain the ability to deploy a siege vehicle to take out for a spin. And by “out,” we mean right out of the Garrison and anywhere on Draenor—yes, that includes Ashran.
No one ever said it’s going to be easy to choose your buildings!
While you’ll certainly have the option to tear down a building and replace it with a different one, knowing your options ahead of time will help you better plan your Garrison to reflect your character’s style and needs.
Plotting Ahead
If you missed it, check out part 1 of our Garrisons preview here. In part 3, we’ll take a closer look at Followers, missions, and how you’ll use them to bring home rewards. Today, you can read more at:
If you’re beta testing Warlords of Draenor with us and have any Garrison-related questions or experiences to share, head over to our Beta General Discussion forum and post it there. You can also leave a comment below.Canucks prospect Frank Corrado, saw his Ontario Hockey League season end when the Brampton Battalion completed the four game sweep of Corrado’s Sudbury Wolves in double over-time on Wednesday. Yesterday, Mike Duco broke the news on Twitter that Corrado was joining the Chicago Wolves (the Canucks’ AHL affiliate) as we expected he might when the Wolves set their clear day roster. Will Nicklas Jensen be joining him soon? Click past the jump for more!
We kept close tabs on Corrado this season, and for a fifth round draft pick – he’s looking like a steal. He impressed at the prospect tourney in Penticton, and had one especially marvelous game against the Oilers in the preseason. Out of camp he earned himself an entry-level contract before being sent back to the OHL.
The Sudbury Wolves were a middling OHL team this season, but Corrado stood out. He was tasked to play a more defensive role, and based on who he was regularly matched up against when I was watched his games, it looks like he was Sudbury’s primary "tough minutes option." He regressed somewhat offensively in a role with greater defensive responsibility, but he took his two-way game to the next level. Major Junior Hockey stats are still in the stone age, so take this with the heaping of salt it deserves – but on a team with a +2 goal differential, he posted a +26.
Beyond playing in all situations, and being matched up against the opposition’s top forwards, Corrado demonstrated a commendable level of fearlessness this season. I don’t mean to put too much emphasis on intangibles, but if you’re 6,2 and weigh less than 200 pounds – and you’re still willing to fight 6,7 man-child Jared Tinordi – I’m going to be impressed. In the games I’ve watched this season, Corrado combined an agitators mentality (dude talks constantly when he’s on the ice) with some impressive defensive, and puck-moving instincts, like a hybrid of Bieksa and Tanev.
Corrado fits the mold of what Gillis’ management team seems to value when they’re looking for defenseman: he’s fast, he moves the puck well, and he’s got the defensive instincts to compensate for his lack of size. He’ll need to get bigger to play regularly at the pro-level, and defenseman take time to develop, but he’s definitely on the right track. From what I’ve seen, I think he’s got an outside shot at developing into a useful, play-driving possession defenseman who might even play in the top-4 eventually. That the Canucks found a prospect in the fifth round with that type of ceiling reflects very well on the organization.
On the Wolves, expect Corrado to get at least a look on the third pairing, and probably a pretty extensive one. The team has been employing amateur try out player Brad Hunt as their sixth defenseman of late, and it’s certainly possible that Corrado could supplant Hunt for the postseason if he performs up to snuff. The Wolves could go into the postseason boasting a top-six of: Connauton, Baumgartner, Sauve, Polasek, Corrado and Matheson – and that’s a blue-line group with a lot of speed.
As for Nicklas Jensen, his Oshawa Generals put up a good fight against the juggernaut Niagara Ice Dogs in the first round, but it was on the whole a disappointing season for the team. After last season’s surprise playoff run, they looked to be an ascendant team with oodles of offensive talent. Ultimately it wasn’t enough as the the club finished in eighth, and had to play a loaded Niagara team (featuring Canucks prospect Alex Friesen, who had 12 points in 6 games) in the first round.
Jensen’s offensive totals improved somewhat over last season (his NHLE jumped only a point), and he’s definitely looked to play a more responsible two way game. That said, he’s got the size, hockey sense and overall athleticism to be dominant at the OHL level, and too often he just wasn’t.
I’ll be curious to see if Jensen gets a cup of coffee over the next week with the Wolves, or, if the team maybe decides to "send him a message" by not extending that invitation. I have to think the latter scenario would be pretty unlikely, if nothing else Jensen has the size and the two-way ability to contribute immediately in a bottom-6 role at the AHL level, and he may also be able to add some punch to the usually toothless Wolves power-play.About This Game CDF Ghostship is a science-fiction Old-style FPS shooter featuring an open-world spaceship and random stories, enemies and onjectives. Each new game will offer a challenge with random story-lines and narrative, random enemies and multiple endings. Can you escape the Ghostship?
ABOUT THIS GAME
Over 350 years in the future mankind has embraced space travel and exploration. We have colonized many worlds and spread ourselves across the galaxy. The Colonial Defense Force (CDF) is responsible for the security of Earth and her colonies, and our only line of defense against the unknown.
On March 1st 2368 contact was lost with our most distant colony, located in the Icarus system. Two days later the Dreadnought class spaceship CDF Goliath was dispatched to investigate. Experience the events that transpire as a Marine on the boarding party to the Icarus 3 Space Station and as a pilot returning from another mission a few days later.
Discover what happened to the CDF Goliath and why nine days after entering the Icarus system it was finally declared a Ghostship.
Features
*5 Game Modes
*Old Style FPS shooter
*Random Narrative, game events and random enemies for a real FPS challenge in Story Mode
*Open world spacecraft with a practical design
*Challenging AI, ALiens are very quick and random and zombie headshots require accuracy.
*Over 20 different enemies ranging from zombies to aliens and armed survivors
*Multiple endings and a story which evolves based on random events and the choices you make in each game
*Fast-paced and challenging waves of enemies in onslaught mode
*15 different weapons from 2 weapon types: Laser & Plasma with a variety of spread, range, damage etc.
*Real Physics
*A new type of AI which offers challenging and unpredictable gameplay and can knock the player from their position.
*4k Ready
*3d Enabled
GAME MODES
Story Mode
Play the character Zak Thomas in an open world spacecraft and space station with random events and enemies, and a huge focus on atmosphere and immersion.
Skirmish Mode
You are one of the last survivors on the colony, you must survive for 25 minutes until the rescue ship arrives! Do you have what it takes?
Onslaught Mode
A wave based survival mode where you must kill as many enemies as you can. There are 4 different onslaught maps which are based on locations from the story mode.
Challenge Mode
Offers a variety of diverse challenges which will test your combat ability, agility, and problem solving skills. There are 4 different challenge maps which are based on locations from the story mode.
Simulation Mode
Consists of single missions based on historic CDF battles and simulations created for the Marines on the Goliath to hone their skills.
*****WARNING: THIS GAME CONTAINS FLASHING LIGHTS & LOTS OF BLOOD n` GUTS! ******Original cast of Powerpuff Girls will not return for reboot
News came out earlier this month that Cartoon Network is planning to produce a reboot of the beloved cartoon Powerpuff Girls in 2016. So far, little is known about the new series, but word has just come out that the original cast will not be returning for the new show.
Voice actors Tara Strong, E.G. Daily and Catherine Cavadini were the hit trio that brought Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom to life. When the new show was announced, the voice actors received numerous messages on Twitter from fans wondering if they would be reprising their roles in the show. Sadly, they revealed that they have not been asked by Cartoon Network to return.
Tara Strong: I have not been asked
EG Daily: Wahh I haven’t either!
Catherine Cavadini: They haven’t announced any cast decisions yet as far as I know.
Fans were quick in response to the news with overwhelming support to see the voice actors return to their respective roles in the new show.
Tara Strong: Group hug to all the amazing, cute bestest fans ever! EG Daily, Cat Cavadini and I are so grateful. Chemical X 4 all!
Unfortunately, Tara Strong would later confirm that Cartoon Network would be moving forward with an entirely different cast for the new Powerpuff Girls.
To all the sweet fans who keep asking, EG Daily, Cat Cavadini and I are officially NOT returning for Powerpuff Girls. We are sad, but wish them well. It was NOT a financial decision, strictly a creative choice by Cartoon Network. I’m sure it’ll be cute. Just not as cute as us.
Would you like to see original voice actors return in the new show?Soon movie and MP3 downloads may be usurped by real 3D goods.
That’s the plan hatched by the Pirate Bay, a popular bit torrent site. Last month the Pirate Bay added a new category it calls “Physibles,” which lets users download the plans for a physical object that can be printed out.
One of the first recipients of a “physible” is Charles Randall, a video game designer from Toronto. Randall downloaded the plans for a small 3D version of the pirate ship from the Pirate Bay’s logo after they were uploaded to the site by designer Todd Blatt.
Randall then uploaded the plans to Shapeways.com, a site that helps users create 3D printed products. Shapeways used its 3D printers to make the mini pirate ship and sent it to Randall’s Toronto home. Between materials, shipping and Canadian duties Randall paid just over $100.
Before ordering the ship Randall had never purchased a 3D printed item. “I wasn’t familiar with 3d printing at all, in terms of actually having something made,” Randall said. “I knew it was possible and know roughly how the process works, but this is the first object I’ve had printed.”
Once it arrived Randall said he was pleased with the quality. “The details are impressive,” he said. “But what impresses me more is that it exists at all. Someone somewhere can make a 3d model, and anyone anywhere in the world can have a company make it.”
The Pirate Bay believes users will soon be downloading all kinds of 3D objects—even cars. “Data objects are able (and feasible) to become physical,” the company proclaimed in a blog post announcing its “Physibles” category.
“We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare parts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.”
Shapeways’s current business relies on small items like jewelry, gadget accessories and home décor. Carine Carmy, marketing communications manager for the site, said 3D printing has become more accessible over the past two years.
“You don’t need to have 3D modeling skills in order to make a product,” she said. “Anyone can create a unique product with the click of a few buttons, get it printed and have it delivered to their house in a matter of days.”
So what about the downloadable car promised by the Pirate Bay? Duann Scott, the site’s communications manager, said it’s still a few years away. “The point at which an entire car could be 3D printed is a little further down the road,” he said, noting the size of the printers and complexities of printing multiple materials as barriers.
“Perhaps we will see a skateboard this year, then a bicycle next year,” he said. “For the downloaded car, we will have to wait a little longer.
Follow Russ Martin on Twitter.
Source: Torrent FreakPrime Minister Tony Abbott has labelled ISIS a death cult. In terms of ISIS fighters’ indifference to human life, his observation is apt.
But the Prime Minister should condemn another cult – of selfishness. Instead he encourages it.
The most recent example of this cult concerns the Australian Government’s response to the Ebola epidemic. We will help if there is no risk to our personnel. We will make a response when the disease comes to our region. We will give paltry financial aid but in the same breath attempt to deceive ourselves by claiming that we are making an appropriate contribution.
Other examples of selfishness can be observed in Ministers’ belief that everyone and every service – health, justice, education, social welfare is a commodity – whose existence should only be justified if the right kind of market price can be paid by a consumer; with little or no reference to citizens with shared responsibilities and entitlements.
This reverence for commercialization and competition – a sort of increasing epidemic of American ‘every person for themselves’ values – becomes a justification for giving up on the responsibilities of government, as illustrated by the following questions.
Why shouldn’t Australia dispatch asylum seekers from Nauru to Cambodia, one of the world’s poorest and most corrupt countries? Why should Australia take a lead in responding to the threat of climate change, let’s concentrate on protecting our economy? Why should those who don’t go to university pay taxes which could benefit those who do go? Why shouldn’t those least able to afford it make a co-payment to GP’s?
Taken to extremes, the cult of selfishness produces an anarchy of self-interest in which the prime motive is to reward your country, your organization or yourself at the expense of others. Accountability to principles of fairness and justice is irrelevant. Allegiance is owed to oneself or one’s tribe, and entrepreneurial characters can do almost anything if they can get away with it.
Australia justifies spying on the East Timorese politicians in order to gain advantage in negotiations over revenues to be obtained from oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea. Corporations may pay no taxes or as little as possible, and may justify such conduct as sound business practice. Federal MP’s rort their travel and accommodation expenses, NSW State MP’s from both major parties engage in corrupt conduct over election funding. For Eddie Obeid and his cohorts, political and business dealings are the same because the main objective is to maximise power, control and profit.
Doing what you can get away with also means that those with power and resources can foster their influence, but poorer, less influential citizens must realize that life has to be about competition to attain economic efficiency. Therefore they should pay more for health services, for the care of the elderly, for child care, for various forms of primary, secondary let alone tertiary education. But if it comes to payment for involvement in a war, the values change. Militarism is the proud part of our history, so funds can be found. In military initiatives mateship blossoms, selfishness has no place.
As with any other country, Australian culture can be understood and passed on in the stock of stories we like to tell about ourselves: the resistance of gold miners at Eureka; gallantry at Gallipoli or on the Western Front; Chifley’s light on the hill; Whitlam inspired universal health insurance; Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations.
What stories shall we tell about current events? We don’t really care about Africans suffering an Ebola epidemic. With almost no debate from the major parties, we passed as much anti-terrorist legislation as possible. Partly to foment fear, some politicians and media outlets deflected attention from searching questions about the need for such legislation by encouraging Islamophobia, as in scapegoating Muslim women.
Until a grass roots movement protested, we even proposed the absurdity that unemployed people’s entitlement to welfare assistance would depend on whether they applied for at least 40 jobs per month.
The responses to the Ebola epidemic are the most immediate indication of the values which influence the Australian government’s – not the Australian people’s – concerns and policies.
Oxfam forecasts that the Ebola epidemic could become “the definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation”. Australian medical personnel have been pleading that they are ready to help and |
about…
Bourbon. Fucking. County.
Let’s be honest, there’s no place you should really be going the day after Thanksgiving other than down to your local bottle shop to pick up the newly released Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stouts. Seriously, do you really want to slug your way through mall herds just to find a crappy new winter jacket at 50% off that your going to wind up returning anyway? No. You want to sit at home on your mother flipping comfy couch eating leftovers and drinking the sweet black nectar of the Gods that is Bourbon County. Am I right?
Good, then let’s move onto more productive topics…
This year, Goose Island has decided to take the hype of Bourbon County to the next level by releasing the whole lineup on Black Friday, including three new entries: Backyard Rye, Proprietor’s Reserve and Barleywine Ale. And halle…freaking…lujah, there will be more to go around this year than ever before. In fact, where last year’s Bourbon County run filled 1,000 whiskey barrels, this year’s run will fill roughly 2,500! This is great news for Bourbon County lovers, and is further testament to a point I made earlier this year about Goose Island and the AB InBev acquisition: with AB handling production on Goose’s core brands, Goose has more resources to dedicate to the sexy stuff, like Bourbon County and their sour beers.
In addition to the three new varieties, Goose will also be releasing the coffee stout in 12oz four-packs for the first time. Which is, frankly, awesome… because sometimes you just don’t want to crack into a 650ml bottle of 13.4% imperial stout.
The all new Bourbon County Brand Barleywine (which is also being sold in four-packs, btw) is actually being introduced in reasonably high numbers. Compared to Backyard Rye which only filled about 200 barrels, and Proprietor’s Reserve at less than 100, the Barleywine’s 600 barrels should make it relatively “easy” to find. On the flipside, Proprietor’s is only being released in Chicago, so that’s a bit of a bummer… unless, of course, you live in Chicago. At which point you should send me a bottle (no, seriously, hit me up, I’ll give you my address).
Thankfully, the kind folks at Goose sent me out a bottle of the Backyard Rye pre Black Friday, so I didn’t have to hurt people to get one. This particular BCBS variant is the most exciting new entry in my opinion. Aged with mulberries, marionberries and boysenberries, 10,000 pounds (holy shit!) of fruit went into the making of this beer. It’s also aged in Templeton Rye barrels (and contains rye malt), so there’s another little twist from the typical bourbon barrel focus of the series.
My take: Sweet, rich and concentrated dark malt on the nose, gobs of dark cocoa, punchy earthy berries, cola and red licorice. The beer is smooth and silky all the way through with spikes of prickly spice. On the palate, I get dark chocolate, brambly berries, lots of earth, rye spice, cherry cola, a subtle umami note and a long warm finish that feels like a warm blanket in winter. Like the coffee stout, Backyard Rye is an elevated Brand Stout, and it’s devilishly delicious. The berries and earthiness offer layers of complexity that shine a new light on this amazing series. The sweet fruit doesn’t come off fake (I’d hope not for the 10,000 pounds of real fruit they put in), nor overpowering and the beer is beautifully balanced in a way that let all of the nuances come to the surface. 94 Points.
I could probably do the ‘ol mic drop right now and walk out on that high note, but I’m not quite done with Goose. So, we’ll take a slight, sour detour to another exciting set of releases that came out of the Chicago brewery recently: Halia and Gillian. When I interviewed Goose Island brewer Brian Taylor this past summer, he gave me a little heads up to these two new fruit beers that were being added to their already impressive lineup of Belgian-style beers. Now they’re available nationwide and Halia and Gillian are two super sexy, fruit-forward Saison’s you should be looking for; the former brewed with peaches and the latter with strawberries.
In our interview, Taylor spoke very passionately about Halia. It is very much his baby; a project inspired by the memory of a friend of his who had passed away from cancer a number of years prior. In Hawaiian, Halia means “in remembrance of a loved one,” and on a particular trip to Hawaii, Taylor’s friend had asked him to brew a beer with peaches. So, that’s where the idea of Halia came from.
My take: Modestly sour, with lots of fresh peach and citrus, delicately balanced with layers of earthy and wood notes. The beer has a classic farmhouse essence, it’s dry and rustic with a long finish. Halia is a complex peach-forward belgian-style beer, that is extremely well made and another achievement in a growing arsenal of barrel-aged beers for Goose Island. 92 Points.
All in, I continue to be optimistic and enthusiastic about the direction of Goose. There’s no question these guys are continuing to churn out amazingly awesome beer… and more importantly, amazingly awesome beer in higher quantity than ever before.
So, to that I say… have a bloody fucking awesome Black Friday and I hope you get a haul of BCBS that couldn’t even fit in Santa’s sled.
Oh, and just as a final Black Friday note, for those of you in the general area of Portland, ME, Allagash is releasing their Midnight Brett on Friday as well. Just saying…ATLANTA – A Fugitive Operations Team assigned to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Atlanta field office arrested an at-large fugitive criminal alien Friday who is presently number six on the Illinois Department of Corrections Wanted Fugitives list due to his 2003 escape from an Illinois prison.
Jorge Soberanis-Rumaldo, an unlawfully present Mexican national, was arrested by ICE deportation officers Friday morning at his Atlanta residence during a targeted enforcement operation in concert with the U.S. Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Mr. Soberanis was convicted on a felony cocaine charge in Cook County, Illinois, in March 2003 and sentenced to eight years in state prison. He subsequently escaped from Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois, in June 2003 while on a work detail.
"ICE is focused on identifying, arresting and removing public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, as well as individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws," said ERO Atlanta Field Office Director Sean Gallagher. “ICE Fugitive Operations Teams conduct targeted enforcement operations toward these identified threats to public safety. The Atlanta area is safer today thanks to the professionalism and hard work of these dedicated officers.”
Mr. Soberanis was booked into the Dekalb County Jail Friday where he remains in custody. He is presently awaiting extradition to Illinois to face additional criminal charges pertaining to his escape.
ICE has lodged an immigration detainer against Mr. Soberanis and will seek to remove him from the United States following the resolution of any criminal charges he may face.
Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to contact ICE by calling the ICE tip line at 1 (866) 347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICE’s online tip form.
In Fiscal Year 2016, ICE removed or returned 240,255 individuals. Of this total, 174,923 were apprehended while, or shortly after, attempting to illegally enter the United States. The remaining 65,332 were apprehended in the interior of the United States, and the vast majority were convicted criminals. ICE is focused on removing public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, as well as individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws, including those who illegally re-entered the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges.Show full PR text
AMAZON ANNOUNCES INCREASED PRIME INSTANT VIDEO SELECTION FOR KINDLE FIRE AND PRIME CUSTOMERS VIA DIGITAL VIDEO LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH VIACOM
Prime Instant Video now offers thousands of TV episodes from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT and Logo-including past seasons of popular shows such as Jersey Shore, Chappelle's Show, Hot in Cleveland, Yo Gabba Gabba, iCarly and more
Feb 08, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Amazon.com, Inc. today announced a licensing agreement with Viacom that will allow Amazon Prime members to instantly stream TV shows from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT and Logo. This deal will bring the total number of Prime Instant Videos to more than 15,000. Amazon Prime members can enjoy this selection on over 300 different devices, including Kindle Fire--the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, magazines, apps, books, games, and more. Right out of the box, Kindle Fire users experience the benefits that millions of Amazon Prime members already enjoy -- unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Video and the convenience of Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items from Amazon.com.
Prime members will have access to thousands of episodes from Viacom through Prime Instant Video over the next several months. Titles will include kids' favorites, stand-up comedy, and reality TV. Amazon will offer MTV shows including The Hills, Jersey Shore, The Hard Times of RJ Berger, several seasons of The Real World, and Comedy Central shows such as Chappelle's Show and The Sarah Silverman Program. For kids, Amazon brings Nickelodeon episodes of iCarly, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, Yo Gabba Gabba, along with TV Land favorite, Hot in Cleveland.
"Over the last year we have received fantastic customer feedback about Prime Instant Video. We are constantly working to improve the service by adding the shows that our customers enjoy the most," said Brad Beale, director of video content acquisition for Amazon. "This deal with Viacom brings Prime customers and Kindle Fire users thousands of comedies, kids' shows, reality TV and much more from some of the best cable networks available. We now offer more than 15,000 movies and TV shows in Prime Instant Videos and are working hard to add even more great content."
About Prime Instant Video
Prime instant video is a benefit for paid Amazon Prime members. Prime members get unlimited, commercial-free, instant access to more than 15,000 movies and TV shows. Since the launch of Prime instant videos last year, Amazon has secured licensing deals from partners such as CBS, Fox, PBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, Warner Bros, Disney-ABC Television, Viacom Media Networks and many more.
About Amazon Instant Video
For customers who are not Prime members, or who are looking to instantly purchase or rent movies and TV shows, Amazon offers Amazon Instant Video. Amazon Instant Video is a digital video service offering downloads or streaming of more than 100,000 titles including new release movies, TV shows the day after they air, as well as contemporary and classic videos in SD and HD. Customers can instantly watch movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Video or Prime Instant Video on a Mac, PC or directly on a TV with any of the 300 compatible devices, including the new Kindle Fire.
About Prime
Amazon Prime is an annual membership program for $79 a year that offers customers unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items including books, home and garden products, electronics, video games, clothing, and much more. Amazon Prime members also get access to unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows and access to tens of thousands of books to borrow for free, as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates from a Kindle device. Customers who receive free Prime shipping benefits through our Amazon Student or Amazon Mom programs can upgrade to an annual paid membership to receive Amazon Prime's digital benefits.
About Viacom
Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB) is home to the world's premier entertainment brands that connect with audiences through compelling content across television, motion picture, online and mobile platforms in approximately 160 countries and territories. With more than 160 media networks reaching approximately 700 million global subscribers, Viacom's leading brands include MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, BET, CENTRIC, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick at Nite, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV Land, SPIKE and Tr3s. Paramount Pictures, celebrating its 100th year in 2012 and creator of many of the most beloved motion pictures, continues today as a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. Viacom operates a large portfolio of branded digital media experiences, including many of the world's most popular properties for entertainment, community and casual online gaming.
For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon's new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.More than 30 people were charged Wednesday when Sandy Springs police raided three adult entertainment establishments, police said.
Officers say citizen concerns prompted them to begin the investigation in September.
A total of 34 citations were issued to employees. Nine citations were issued at Flashers, six at Mardi Gras and 19 at the Doll House, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Arrests were also made at each of the three locations for solicitation for an illicit sexual act, Sandy Springs police spokesman Capt. Mike Lindstrom said in a news release.
Tonya Thompson, 39, was arrested at Flashers; Kelsey Kay Pierce, 24, was arrested at Mardi Gras; and Arielle Johnson, 28, was arrested at Doll House, Lindstrom said Thursday.
Officers say citizen concerns prompted them to begin the investigation in September.I cannot believe all of this was happening under the noses of the Great Ape Trust (aka Bonobo Hope, aka Iowa Primate Research Foundation) Board of Directors.
The Bonobo 12, the people who have been warning the Board of Directors of the Great Ape Trust / Bonobo Hope about the potential dangers of leaving the bonobos in the care of suspended director Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, tonight sent a detailed letter to ape welfare advocates across the country. The letter is specific in its allegations against Savage-Rumbaugh, and details how people have been warned, time and again, about the… what? I don’t even know what to call the insane lack of care. It’s beyond that. The record, as presented by the Bonobo 12, details flagrant acts that resulted in surgeries, emergency vet calls, danger, and fear.
I’ve posted the Bonobo 12’s full Sept 14 statement on Google Docs. Please take some time to read it carefully.
If you don’t have time to get to it now, bookmark it.
As part of their documentation, the Bonobo 12 included copies of documents in the PDF. Just to give you a small sample of the alleged conduct by Savage-Rumbaugh, let me highlight lowlight some of the malfeasance cited in a November 9, 2011, memo that former Great Ape Trust director William Fields wrote to Savage-Rumbaugh, informing her of the reasons why her research protocol for the bi-cultural rearing of bonobo infant Teco was not accepted. Some of his points:
“My office is most concerned with protocols that detail how Nyota and Maisha (who have suffered significant injuries that required surgical intervention) will be managed within the experimental and control groups that are created by you or staff as a function of your research with Baby Teco. My office is most concerned about the recent events dated 7/7/11 with Maisha that required surgery on 7/10/11 and the events that led to Nyota’s surgery dated 8/24/11.”
Concern is growing over the welfare
of bonobo baby Teco, shown in this
publicity shot with Savage-Rumbaugh.
“My office is concerned with the incident of Teco’s vomiting and diarrhea dated 10/8/11. The staff report that you attributed this event to the consumption of non-organic baby food. The laboratory reports reveal that Teco consumed old food, rotten vegetable, candle-wax, adult vitamins, instant caffeinated coffee, energy supplement drinks, and artificial sweeteners contemporary with Teco’s vomiting and diarrhea dated 10/8/11.”
“Please describe how you will insure that Teco does not consume drugs intended for other apes... My office is particularly concerned about the consumption of antibiotics intended for adult apes. Employees expressed concern regarding this matter on 8/29/11.”
“Please address the issue of exposure to material safety in the laboratory as you proceed with human enculturation practices with baby Teco. Please describe how you will secure personal toiletry items to prevent Baby Teco from exposure to chemicals such as zinc pyrithione and antifungal and antibacterial agents. For example, Head and Shoulder Shampoo, Baby Teco was exposed on 7/31/11, which required medical attention.”
“My office is particularly concerned about the events of 11/1/11 in which... apes were left with access to the outdoors overnight (East Electric Play Yards.) You left campus 11/2/11 at 5:28 AM and did not return until 10:55 AM 11/3/11.”
“My office is particularly concerned about the instance that occurred on 7/8/11 in which the staff found ‘A light in Sue’s room got turned on under a blanket and it trapped the heat and cause the lamp to melt and the blanket to burn/smoke.’ Fortunately, the staff was able to catch the situation before it was out of hand.”
My office is particularly concerned about the day involving a Simpson student, Stephanie Perkins, and Andrea Jackson on April 22, 2011 in which the student left the lab rather than throw water on Nyota.” “My office is most concerned regarding a report in which a Simpson Student was asked to throw a bucket water on an ape in response to ape spitting...My office is particularly concerned about the day involving a Simpson student, Stephanie Perkins, and Andrea Jackson on April 22, 2011 in which the student left the lab rather than throw water on Nyota.”
“If baby Teco is going to have contact with the dogs, (a) please explain how you will insure the dogs receive water and food during the period of time they are in your care and (b) if you intend to create ape and dog groups, please explain how you intend to protect the dogs and apes when aggression arises. My office is most concerned with the most recent instance that occurred on 10/25/11 where the dogs were left in a cage without water.”
This is just a sampling, but you get the drift.
‒ and more ‒ the Board of Directors made Sue Savage-Rumbaugh director, and gave her all the authority to run the place as she wished. William Fields resigned from the Great Ape Trust soon after he wrote that document. And despite all of thisand morethe Board of Directors made Sue Savage-Rumbaugh director, and gave her all the authority to run the place as she wished.
By the way, those dogs that were left in a cage without water? They must be okay because, according to the Bonobo 12, Savage-Rumbaugh “suggested to staff that the puppies on campus were beginning to speak English.” They probably picked it up from Kanzi, Sue’s talking ape.Anti-Rampal power plant activists were met with tear gas, water cannon and batons when they took to the streets in the capital yesterday to enforce eight-hour hartal.
Demonstrators led by student bodies of left-leaning political bodies, around 6:30am began marching towards Shahbagh from the Dhaka University campus. Police put up barricades as they reached near the DU Fine Arts faculty.
Law enforcers fired tear gas canisters and used water cannon every time protesters tried to go past them to Shahbagh. At one point pro-hartal activists of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports began throwing brick chips at police who then hurled those back. Eventually chase and counter-chase ensued foiling what was meant to be a peaceful protest.
Some 20 activists were injured at the time. The committee will hold countrywide demonstrations tomorrow to protest the police attack on its activists, said Prof Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the committee.
Meanwhile in Rampal upazila of Bagerhat, local lawmaker Talukder Abdul Khalek along with Awami League leaders and activists attended a human chain demanding quick construction of the coal-fired power plant.
The human chain was organised under the banner of Dakkhinanchal Unnayan Parishad by the Khulna-Mangla highway around 11:00am, reports our Bagerhat correspondent.
Pro-hartal activists brought out processions peacefully under police watch in the capital's Paltan intersection, Shantinagar, Mohammadpur, Agargaon and Mirpur 10.
They were, however, prevented from marching towards Shahbagh intersection. Police's frequent firing of tear gas canisters left the place shrouded in smoke.
Officer-in-Charge of Shahbagh police Abu Bakar Siddique said at least 70 gas canisters were discharged.
Asked about the use of water cannons and tear gas, Maruf Hossain Sorder, deputy commissioner of Ramna Division, said police tried to keep the Shahbagh intersection clear “as there are two major hospitals in the area.”
Two journalists were physically assaulted by police when they were covering an incident of law enforcers beating up an activist.
The victims -- Abdul Alim and Ishan Bin Didar -- are cameraperson and reporter of private TV channel ATN News.
Staff of the channel said filing a case was underway against policemen for attacking the journalists.
Prof Anu Muhammad said police had also scuffled with pro-hartal activists at Mirpur and Sutrapur.
The national oil, gas committee will stage sit-ins on February 25 on highways across the country demanding the cancellation of the Rampal plant and hold a grand rally in Khulna pressing home the same demand on March 11.
Anu Muhammad told The Daily Star that people support the cause of saving the Sundarbans.
"Transport workers also wanted to participate in the strike. But we learnt that the government, with their police, intimidated them and forced them to run their vehicles”.
Protests against the coal-fired power plant have spread worldwide to save the world's largest mangrove forest. Environmental concerns have been issued from several quarters, including the Unesco.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Bangladesh Chhatra Federation among other leftist political parties condemned the “police attack on activists” in separate statements.
Police had detained four to five people during yesterday's hartal. They were released later on.
DEMONSTRATIONS IN CHITTAGONG AND RAJSHAHI
The national oil, gas committee held a rally at Cheragi Pahar Intersection of Chittagong in the afternoon, condemning the attack on pro-Sundarbans activists in Dhaka. A procession was also brought out from the rally.
Activists at Shaheb Bazar Zero point in Rajshahi city demonstrated against the Rampal plant.
Students of leftist political parties held protests on the campuses of Rajshahi and Chittagong universities.Who owns Edmonton’s residential streets?
Most of us don’t give the question too much thought. It’s easier just to assume that the spaces in front of our house somehow “belong” to us by some kind of automotive droit de seigneur. When strangers park in “our” parking spaces, Edmontonians tend to throw territorial tantrums.
It can be hard to hear. But we don’t actually have any kind of claim to the bits of road outside our homes. They belong to the city, not to us, and generally speaking, anybody is free to park there.
Which leads to this provocative question. Should the city start charging people to park on certain residential side streets? Should it use its new parking machine technology to turn some residential roads into metered parking zones?
That’s the suggestion made this week by Ward 6 councillor Scott McKeen.
It’s all a side-effect of a recommendation from city council’s executive committee. The committee is endorsing a pilot project for three of Edmonton’s busiest commercial districts — Whyte Avenue, West Jasper Avenue and 124th Street — which would excuse new restaurants and bars from the city’s long-standing parking rules.
Under the current rules, a new restaurant on 124th Street is supposed to provide 50 parking spots for customers, while a new restaurant on east or west ends of Whyte Avenue — outside the historic Old Strathcona core — is supposed to provide 28.
In reality, almost no one complies with the rules, which are clearly outmoded in a modern urban streetscape. About the only way a new restaurant on 124th Street could include 50 parking spots would be to buy and bulldozer the building next door or dig an underground parkade. A recent city report determined that just 26 per cent of food establishments on 124th Street, Whyte or West Jasper Avenue, were actually in compliance with city parking rules.
The rest, it seems, were granted variances or grandfathered in. So, with what seems to me to be great common sense, council is considering scrapping the rules, on a trial basis at least, and allowing businesses in those three areas to provide just a handful of parking spots instead. What, after all, is the point of keep a rule that discourages new businesses, adds needless paperwork and misery for small business owners, and which isn’t even observed three-quarters of the time?
McKeen supports the change. But he’s also concerned about the number of customers and staff members who routinely use nearby residential streets for free parking.
“This is Edmonton. We still need parking,” he says. “But no residential street should be used as an employee parking lot. That is unfair to residential neighbourhoods.”
So McKeen is proposing that the city install some of its new E-Park parking machines on particularly busy residential streets, in neighbourhoods such as Oliver, Westmount and Strathcona. Parking, he suggests, should be for a maximum of two hours, to encourage customer turnover. People who live on the street wouldn’t have to pay, he says, but their visitors would.
There are already limits to that laissez-faire parking freedom. In certain neighbourhoods — Garneau, near the University of Alberta campus, or McCauley, near Commonwealth Stadium — there are already strict restrictions on parking for non-residents or places where you can’t park for more than two hours.
Still, it would be a big psychological leap for Edmontonians to wrap their heads around the used to paying to park on side streets. McKeen knows many people would blast the city for money-grubbing. But to ease the pain, McKeen suggests parking money collected in a residential community might be earmarked for local community improvements.
McKeen’s idea is just that at the moment — an idea, one that city parking planners are just starting to kick around. But it’s a smart idea, one we should definitely start discussing. We want areas like West Jasper Ave and 124th Street to succeed, and to do that, we need vibrant businesses and places for customers to park. But we also can’t swamp and overwhelm the surrounding residential neighbourhoods which gives those shopping districts so much of their distinctive charm.
We need to strike a balance.
And yes, that may mean we’ll have to start paying for road parking we’ve already expected to be free. And we’re not going to like it. But it may be the best way to ration finite parking spots fairly for everyone.
“There will always be pressure for parking in those areas,” McKeen says. “and I don’t know how to allocate those spaces except by paying.”
psimons@edmontonjournal.com
twitter.com/Paulatics
www.facebook.com/EJPaulaSimonsKIMBERLEY, B.C. — A desperate search and rescue effort ended in relief on Sunday when a missing two-year-old boy was found safe in a British Columbia campground.
Isaac Leuenberger was walking with his mother and two siblings at around 7 p.m. Saturday in Premier Lake Provincial Campground when he became separated from them.
Kimberley RCMP and search and rescue crews found the boy 16 hours later, at around 11 a.m. near Yankee Lake, several kilometres from the spot where he went missing.
“He’s in good health. He had some scratches on him and he was hungry. Mom cleaned him up and he met with the search and rescue volunteers who came out to help,” said Cpl. Chris Newel. “He didn’t go to the hospital and he’s fine.”
He’s in good health. He had some scratches on him and he was hungry
Newel said it appeared the toddler got distracted and wandered up the wrong trail without his mother or siblings. Once he was found, his family and the search and rescue volunteers were all “elated,” said Newel.
“We’re very grateful and we’re all just bursting.”
After the toddler went missing, a Facebook group titled “Help Find Isaac” was quickly created. On Sunday, a user with the name Amanda Leuenberger posted to the group.
“On behalf of the Leuenberger family, we would like to thank everyone who helped, prayed and spread the word,” she wrote.
“Issac is safe and well,” she added. “He said he slept in the grass … tough little guy. Happy day!”A friend of mine recently introduced me to another of her — a perfectly quotidian event except that this friend of hers works in the industry. She agreed to an interview for this blog. What follows is my untrained attempt at journalism, but I hope others will find much of the content fascinating as I have.To anyone who reads this out of a purely prurient interest: I'm flattered, given what else is available on the internet.
Because the length of the interview far exceeds my target length for a blog post, I’m breaking it into three segments, which I’ll post in successive weeks. For the forthcoming segments I have translated her slang (regarding sex acts) to more clinical terminology and put the replacement wording in brackets. The original language should be apparent to anyone who would care to guess. I’ve kept my own commentary brief, but those who are interested in the research on sociosexuality1,2, parental investment theory3, sexual strategies theory4, derogation of competitors5 or cognitive dissonance6 will probably recognize its relevance here (or in the continuation of the interview).
Part I:
She arrived at my office on a Friday afternoon. My was that she would blend in perfectly well if she stepped outside the office and walked around the campus a bit or sat in on a class. She looked, in other words, like an ordinary college student—perhaps a few years older than most, somewhat more attractive, but not particularly unusual in any outward aspect; likewise for her clothing (casual), voice, and facial expression. The interview began.
Tell me who you are, how old you are, and what you do.
My name is Veronica [conspiratorial ]. I am 24 years old, but if you ask the internet, I’m 22 [more laughter]. I am a hired escort in South Florida.
How long have you been doing it?
About six months.
Have you had any previous jobs you’d care to talk about?
I worked at Winn Dixie for a long time, like from age 14 to age 21, doing pretty much everything from, like, bagger to I ran their office.
And the pay’s better now?
Yeah, just a little, yeah [laughs]. I was also a dancer for a little bit, a naked dancer obviously, a stripper.
I’ve heard of those.
That did not work out. This is easier than the stripping.
How so?
With stripping…there’s a lot of hustle. In this business, you’re posted in an ad, and someone knows what they’re getting before they walk in the door. They know that they want you, you know that they want you, and the money is guaranteed. As far as stripping…at the end of the night you could go home with a negative amount, ‘cause you always have to do tip-outs.
[Thanks to the miracle of modern science we can now predict when a stripper is most likely to go home with "a negative amount."7]
Like the bartenders and stuff like that?
Bartenders, there’s the DJ, you have to pay house fees. You have to deal with a lot more cattiness from the girls.
Do you have friends who are your co-workers?
We’re not really friends. We’re in our own rooms. We have things called GTs, which are get-togethers with clients and all the girls, but that’s pretty much the only time that we interact.
Do you ever work together with any of them?
Once in a while. It just depends on the girl. I personally do provide a threesome option. Some girls don’t.
How much do you get per hour or session?
It depends on the client. If you pay to be part of a website like Indi, you’re what’s considered a VIP client, so me personally, it’s $180 an hour. Out of that 180, I get 100, and my boss gets 80. If it’s non-VIP clients, they are 200 an hour. I get 120, and my boss gets 80. And then there’s TER clients, and the higher scale clients, like when I travel, it’s 300 to 350 an hour, and it’s a 50/50 split because my boss is paying for my flight, my hotel, my expenses and all of that.
Okay, that is more than Winn Dixie.
Yeah. Right now is our slow season, so I might only see three clients a day, maybe four. Once season picks up, I see about five to seven. It just kind of depends on how much I can handle.
Is that emotionally or the demands of how much time it takes, or what?
The gets to everybody. It’s gonna get to you, so if I see an awful client or someone who’s just treating me disrespectfully, after that I can call my boss and be like, “I want to end this. I don’t want to work anymore today.” He’s very easy. There’s a difference between an agency and a pimp. With a manager or a boss with an agency it’s different because if you say, “I don’t want any more,” he can’t force you. It’s, "Okay, you’re done. Go ahead and leave."
What about your views?
My family’s Catholic, and I grew up going to Catholic and practicing [laughs] and practicing that. It was a struggle when I first started. I think more of my struggle was with what my family would think. I’m very, if…the way that I view it is it’s a different person when I’m in that room. I’m just, I have to put my mind in a different format, so it’s, that part is Veronica, and what I do in that room is Veronica, and when I come out of the room I’m a different person.
Does that different person go to church?
She used to. I struggle with it sometimes when I do walk into church, and I know what I am, and I know what I do, but it’s like a lot of the time that I’m in [my hotel room] gets erased.
What’s it typically like?
Not what you see on TV. I don’t expect them to walk in the door and try |
in an effort to change the team’s losing culture. Drafting Kidd-Gilchrist will definitely assist in that regard. He is a winner and will bring much needed toughness and leadership to a young Wizards roster. He should be able to fit right in at the small forward position.
4) Cleveland Cavaliers
Name: Bradley Beal
Position: SG
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 195 pounds
Age: 18
School: Florida
The Cavaliers could really use shooting guard to pair with Kyrie Irving. Adding Beal would complete a very dynamic backcourt that will be a major scoring threat night in and night out. Despite being undersized, Beal is terrific rebounder and plays much bigger than his size.
5) Sacramento Kings
Name: Jared Sullinger
Position: PF
Height: 6-foot-9
Weight: 280 pounds
Age: 20
School: Ohio State
Sullinger is one of the most polished players in this draft class and would have went top three if he had come out last summer. His stock is dependant on how he measures out in the combine, as he could see his stock rise to the top three if he is indeed 6-foot-10. He and Cousins could potentially be one of the top scoring front court duos in the league; however they will have problems on the other end of the court.
6) Portland Trailblazers
Name: Andre Drummond
Position: C
Height: 6-foot-11
Weight: 275 pounds
Age: 18
School: UConn
The Blazers need size and have a hole in the middle that Greg Oden was supposed to fill. Drummond is very athletic at his size and he oozes potential, but it may take some time for him to reach it. There are concerns with his commitment to the game and his inconsistent performances in his freshmen season at UConn. However, with the right teammates and good coaching, he will be a good fit with the Blazers.
7) Golden State Warriors
Name: Harrison Barnes
Position: SF
Height: 6-foot-8
Weight: 210 pounds
Age: 19
School: North Carolina
Warriors have a hole at three and are said to be in the market for a small forward. Barnes brings great size to the small forward position and his shooting will provide more spacing for the Warrior bigs to operate in the post. His best asset is his textbook jumper, but he often becomes too reliant on it.
8) Toronto Raptors
Name: Jeremy Lamb
Position: SG
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 185 pounds
Age: 19
School: UConn
The Raptors need someone that can get his own shot, and Lamb fills that mold. He may play the same position as DeMar DeRozan, but he brings the skills that you would want from a shooting guard. The Raptors are at the bottom of the league in three-point shooting from the shooting guard position, so expect them to weigh that heavily when they evaluate their draft prospects. Reports indicate the Raptors are considering Lamb, Dion Waiters, Terrence Ross, Damian Lilliard and Moe Harkless at this spot.
9) Detroit Pistons
Name: John Henson
Position: PF
Height: 6-foot-10
Weight: 210 pounds
Age: 21
School: North Carolina
Henson needs to put on a lot of bulk, but he blocks shots, rebounds and has the ability to cover multiple positions. He would be a good fit beside Greg Monroe, who would look even better with an athletic shot blocker by his side.
10) New Orleans Hornets
Name: Damian Lilliard
Position: PG
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 185 pounds
Age: 21
School: Weber State
Lillard put up very impressive numbers at Weber State averaging over 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. He also had the highest player efficiency rating after Anthony Davis. Scoring guards like him are becoming more and more popular these days thanks to players like Russell Westbrook. There are concerns with him playing at a mid-major school; however due to the lack of depth at point guard position in this draft class, he should go fairly high.
11) Portland Trailblazers
Name: Kendall Marshall
Position: PG
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 188 pounds
Age: 20
School: North Carolina
The Felton experiment ended badly and Portland was left looking for another point guard. The Blazers have multiple guys that can score the ball and Marshall would be the right guy to distribute to them. He is not an elite athlete nor is he a great shooter, but he possesses elite court vision and passing ability. He also has great size for his position and is the best pure point guard in this class.
12) Milwaukee Bucks
Name: Perry Jones III
Position: PF/SF
Height: 6-foot-11
Weight: 235 pounds
Age: 20
School: Baylor
Jones has All-Star potential and possesses outstanding athleticism and perimeter skills for a guy his size. The problem is, he hasn’t realized his potential yet and rarely takes advantage of his physical abilities. Jones can come in and fill Ilyasova’s soon to be vacant stretch-four role. Tyler Zeller is also an option here for the Bucks.
13) Phoenix Suns
Name: Terrence Ross
Position: SG/SF
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 190 pounds
Age: 21
School: Washington
The Suns need a two-guard and are looking to add a perimeter player that can generate his offense. Ross has the potential to be a really good scorer in the league as he can create his own shot and shoot from the three-point line at a high rate. He also competes on the defensive end and on the glass.
14) Houston Rockets
Name: Dion Waiters
Position: SG
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 215 pounds
Age: 20
School: Syracuse
Waiters has drawn comparisons to both Dywane Wade and Tyreke Evans. He is a described as a scoring machine that can shoot the three-pointer and get to the basket using his quickness. He is a bit undersized at the shooting guard position, but he makes it up in toughness and attitude.
15) Philadelphia Sxers
Name: Terrence Jones
Position: SF/PF
Height: 6-foot-8
Weight: 244 pounds
Age: 20
School: Kentucky
The Sixers always loved their athletes. Jones’ size, athleticism and wingspan allowed to him play multiple positions in Kentucky. He can do a bit of everything on the court, but doesn’t have a set position and is stuck between the two forward positions. He also doesn’t bring it on a consistent basis.
16) Houston Rockets via New York Knicks
Name: Tyler Zeller
Position: C
Height: 7-foot
Weight: 235 pounds
Age: 22
School: North Carolina
Not a sexy pick, but the Rockets have a big need at the center position. Zeller fills that void and is regarded as a safe pick by many scouts and analysts. He isn’t very athletic and his upside is limited.
17) Dallas Mavericks
Name: Moe Harkless
Position: SF
Height: 6-foot-8
Weight: 190 pounds
Age: 18
School: St. John’s
Harkless has been rumoured to go as high as eight to as low as the late teens. He has good size, athleticism and length at the small forward position. Despite being very raw at this stage of his career, he showed very good defensive IQ and an excellent understanding of team defense. Depending on how he does in his workouts, Harkless could see his draft stock rise up the rankings as he has a lot of upside.
18) Minnesota Timberwolves via Utah Jazz
Name: Austin Rivers
Position: SG
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 199 pounds
Age: 19
School: Duke
Rivers has a good shooting stroke and has an amazing crossover that allows him to score any time he wants to. He earned the Sub-Zero nick name due his clutch shooting ability and brings a killer instinct onto the court. With Rubio running the point in Minnesota, he will have to learn to play without having the ball in his hands.
19) Orlando Magic
Name: Arnett Moultrie
Position: PF/C
Height: 6-foot-11
Weight: 225 pounds
Age: 21
School: Mississippi State
Moultrie’s combination of size and athleticism make him an intriguing option for the Magic up front. He shot very well last season in Mississippi State, posting a true shooting percentage of 61 percent. He can score inside and out, and his percentages have increased substantially since he transferred to Mississippi State.
20) Denver Nuggets
Name: Royce White
Position: SF/PF
Height: 6-foot-8
Weight: 240 pounds
Age: 20
School: Iowa State
According to Sports Illustrated, the Nuggets are aiming to select the versatile point-forward Royce White. White has drawn comparisons to Boris Diaw and Anthony Mason because of his ability to handle the ball, pass, rebound and score. He also has an anxiety disorder which affects his energy and willingness to fly.
21) Boston Celtics
Name: Meyers Leonard
Position: C
Height: 7-foot
Weight: 240 pounds
Age: 20
School: Illinois
Leonard is a true 7-footer that brings length, athleticism and range at his position. He can hit the jumper from mid-range, finish at the basket, rebound and block shots, but he needs to add more bulk as he gets overpowered inside. His stock could rise as there are a lot of teams in the league that need a center.
22) Boston Celtics via Los Angeles Clippers
Name: Andrew Nicholson
Position: PF
Height: 6-foot-9
Weight: 222 pounds
Age: 22
School: St. Bonaventure
Nicholson is part of the new wave of basketball talent that is emerging from Canada. The Mississauga, Ontario native is a very polished low-post scorer that has range up to the college three-point line, where he shot 43.4 percent. He can also rebound and block shots, but has to add more weight to his slender frame if he hopes to continue his success in the pros.
23) Atlanta Hawks
Name: Fab Melo
Position: C
Height: 7-foot
Weight: 274 pounds
Age: 21
School: Syracuse
Melo was a shot blocking presence for Syracuse and anchored their 2-3 zone this past season. His value is on the defensive side but he is not much of a threat on the offensive end. The Hawks need size up front and the addition of Melo will free up more minutes for Al Horford at his natural position.
24) Cleveland Cavaliers via Los Angeles Lakers
Name: Quincy Miller
Position: SF
Height: 6-foot-9
Weight: 210 pounds
Age: 19
School: Baylor
A talented scorer and a great creator off the dribble, Miller was once a potential top five pick until he suffered an ACL tear that forced him to sit out his senior season in high school. He does not appear to be fully recovered from the injury since he didn’t show much athleticism or explosiveness in his freshman year. He still has a lot of upside in the pros as a scorer, but his ACL injury is a major red flag.
25) Memphis Grizzlies
Name: Evan Fournier
Position: SG/SF
Height: 6-foot-7
Weight: 206 pounds
Age: 19
School: France
According to Chad Ford of ESPN, the Grizzlies are looking to stash draft picks over in Europe, presumably to cut costs. This class isn’t a particularly good one for international players and Fournier is the best one available on the board. If he doesn’t go here, don’t be surprised to see Oklahoma City select him and stash him over in Europe.
26) Indiana Pacers
Name: Tony Wroten
Position: PG/SG
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 205 pounds
Age: 18
School: Washington
Wroten’s ability to get inside and hit open players will attract a lot of teams. His 6’5 frame gives him an advantage over opposing point guards and allows him to play off-guard with George Hill or Darren Collison manning the point.
27) Miami Heat
Name: Marquis Teague
Position: PG
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 178 pounds
Age: 19
School: Kentucky
The Miami Heat are in luck if they are able to grab Teague this late. Teague didn’t have the freshman year that many expected, but he still has a lot of upside. He is certainly a better option than someone like Norris Cole.
28) Oklahoma City Thunder
Name: Jeff Taylor
Position: SF
Height: 6-foot-7
Weight: 225 pounds
Age: 22
School: Vanderbilt
Taylor might have gone higher if this draft class wasn’t so deep. He is an elite athlete that brings shooting, rebounding and defense at the small forward position. Taylor struggles creating his own shot, but at this late in the draft, teams would be lucky to get a decent role player.
29) Chicago Bulls
Name: John Jenkins
Position: SG
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 215 pounds
Age: 21
School: Vanderbilt
The Bulls need a shooting at the two-guard position, and John Jenkins is one of the best available on board. He has excellent range but he doesn’t have much to offer outside of his shooting abilities.
30) Golden State Warriors via San Antonio Spurs
Name: Draymond Green
Position: SF/PF
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 235 pounds
Age: 22
School: Michigan State
Green brings an all-around game to the table but the lack of size, position and athleticism really hurts his stock as a draft prospect. Still, he is very experienced and has enough basketball IQ to carve out a role in the NBA.
Follow me on twitter @hasanalanam.From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
Black (game) redirects here. For the game titled "Pokémon Black Version", see Pokémon Black and White Versions.
This article is incomplete.
Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it.
Reason: Quotes (as NPC).
Hilbert (Japanese: トウヤ Tōya) is the male player character in Pokémon Black and White. His female counterpart is Hilda.
In the games
As the playable character
Hilbert is a boy who lives in Nuvema Town, as do his childhood friends, Cheren and Bianca. If chosen as the player, he will receive a starter Pokémon and a Pokédex from Professor Juniper. After setting off on his Pokémon journey at the same time as Cheren and Bianca, Hilbert will at some point be asked by Fennel to do some sort of quest; in return for its completion, Hilbert will receive a C-Gear.
As well as encountering and battling his childhood friends at various points during his journey, Hilbert will also meet a young man known as N, who wishes to create separate worlds for humans and Pokémon. In order to achieve his goals, he and Hilbert will battle several times during the course of the game. Hilbert also battles Team Plasma at various stages of his journey. Ultimately, Hilbert is recognized as a hero by Reshiram or Zekrom, depending on the version.
As a non-playable character
If not chosen as the player, Hilbert appears as the player's partner in the Battle Subway when choosing to ride the Multi-Train. Two of the following Pokémon are picked from the corresponding list, depending on what the player wants him to base his team on. If the player chooses "A balance between the two," Hilbert's Pokémon are chosen from either list.
In Black 2 and White 2, the protagonist of Black and White was said to be searching for N in a faraway region and has not yet returned home. His mom mistakes the player for him.
Pokémon
Battle Subway Pokémon
This is a list of all the Pokémon used in the Multi Train and Super Multi Train battles. Each Pokémon has a non-Hidden Ability that, along with gender, is randomly selected. These Pokémon will always have the maximum 31 individual values across every stat and the full 510 effort values evenly distributed among the noted stats (rounding down).
Offensive-based Pokémon
Defensive-based Pokémon
Quotes
Battle Subway
At the Multi Train and Super Multi Train platforms
" Hi! I'm Hilbert! It's your first time challenging the Multi Train, right? Well, you need a partner! " / " Hi, <Player>! Good to see you again! "
Before boarding the Multi Train or Super Multi Train
" Are you looking for a partner? Then why don't you team up with me? Yeah! It'll be great! What sort of Pokémon should I use? " / " What kinds of Pokémon should I enter? " Focused on Attack: "OK. I'll focus on Attack! Then, let's begin!" Focused on Defense: "OK. I'll focus on Defense! Then, let's begin!" Focused on Balance: "OK. I'll focus on a balance between Attack and Defense! Let's begin!"
After losing/retiring a challenge
"That was awesome! Let's battle together again!"
At stops
"There's still a lot more to go, but let's do our best!"
After completing a 21-win streak on the Multi Train
"We finally made it this far! Our opponents will get tougher, but let's do our best and not get discouraged!"
Artwork
Sprites
Counterparts
In the anime
In Pokémon Generations
Hilbert made a brief appearance in The King Returns, arriving at the Giant Chasm on the back of his Zekrom to help N battle against Ghetsis and White Kyurem.
Pokémon
On hand
Zekrom Zekrom is Hilbert's only known Pokémon. It appeared alongside its Trainer to help N stop Ghetsis. Zekrom's only known move is Thunderbolt. Debut The King Returns
In the manga
In Pokémon Adventures manga
Black, Hilbert's Pokemon Adventures counterpart
Black from the Pokémon Adventures is based on Hilbert, whose dream is to be the Champion of the Unova Pokémon League.
In Be the Best! Pokémon B+W manga
Main article: Monta
Monta from the Be the Best! Pokémon B+W is based on Hilbert.
In Pocket Monsters BW: Meetings with the Legends manga
Touya from the Pocket Monsters BW: Meetings with the Legends manga
In Pocket Monsters BW: The Heroes of Fire and Thunder manga
Shin from the Pocket Monsters BW: The Heroes of Fire and Thunder manga is based on Hilbert.
In Pocket Monsters B2 W2 ~ A New Legend ~ manga
Main article: Hiro
Hiro from the Pocket Monsters B2 W2 ~ A New Legend ~ manga is based on Hilbert.
In Pocket Monsters BW manga
Black from the Pocket Monsters BW manga is based on Hilbert.
Trivia
Prior to the release of Black and White, pre-release media and most fans referred to Hilbert as "Black". English demos of Black and White referred to Hilbert as "Blair". English pre-release screenshots referred to Hilbert as "Kuro" (the Japanese word for "black").
From a bird's eye view, Hilbert's hat looks like a Poké Ball.
Unused text in Black 2 and White 2 indicates that Hilbert and Hilda were originally planned as opponents at the Pokémon World Tournament.
Hilbert and Hilda are the first player characters in the main series not to have pre-programmed names either by choice or in case one isn't specified. They are also the only player characters who don't become Champions by the end of the main game.
In the May 2010 volume of CoroCoro Comics, it was stated that Hilbert and Hilda are older than previous player characters, but it is not known how much older they are. According to game scenario author Toshinobu Matsumiya, Hilbert and Hilda were initially visualized to be at the age of 16 [4].
Names
Language Name Origin Japanese トウヤ Tōya From 闘 tō, fight English Hilbert Derived from the Germanic element hild, battle French Ludwig From Ludwig, Germanic name derived from the Old High German words hluth (famous) and wig (war) German Warren From war Italian Alcide From Alcides, an alternate name for Heracles Spanish Lucho From lucha, fight Korean 투지 Tuji From 투지 (鬪志) tuji, fighting spirit
ReferencesAdvertisement
It’s already been well over a year since the initial release GNOME 3 Beta - Welcome To Your New Linux Desktop GNOME 3 Beta - Welcome To Your New Linux Desktop Read More of Gnome 3, and the world of Linux desktop environments has dramatically changed since then. Gnome 3 was born, Gnome 2 was essentially thrown to the side, Gnome 3 was forked to create Cinnamon, and so on.
However, Gnome 2 wasn’t completely thrown to the side, as it its code is now actively maintained in another project called MATE. Is it stable? Is the experience exactly as Gnome 2’s? Let’s find out!
How To Get MATE
Getting MATE on your Linux system isn’t very easy yet. Aside from any third-party repositories, barely any distribution currently offers MATE as a desktop environment option. If you’d like to have a go with MATE on your preferred distribution, you may or may not have luck but a few Google searches should provide you with a good idea if it’s possible and what to do if it is. So far, Linux Mint Enjoy The Best In Linux With Linux Mint 12 Enjoy The Best In Linux With Linux Mint 12 Linux Mint has been quite a revolutionary distribution, gaining plenty of popularity. In fact, DistroWatch statistics suggest the Linux Mint is now the second most popular distribution in the world, behind Ubuntu (upon which it's... Read More is the only one who is actively pushing MATE (as well as Cinnamon) as a desktop environment choice. Therefore, this review will be based on Linux Mint’s implementation of MATE as it’s as simple as running the Live CD. You can download your own copy by visiting Linux Mint’s website.
Desktop
When the desktop first loaded, I was literally reminded of Linux Mint 11 and previous versions that still used Gnome 2 as it looks virtually identical. If I click around in the menu or right-click the desktop, everything looks as it used to.
Gnome Applications
One of the most popular Gnome applications is Nautilus, which can also serve as a small sign if you’re using the real deal. When I open it up, it looks essentially the same, and the only real difference is that Nautilus is actually called Caja under MATE. We can live with that change, right?
Gnome Settings
If that still hasn’t convinced you yet, an even better sign is whether the system settings tools that come with MATE are identical to those that came with Gnome 2. After clicking around in a few windows such as the Appearance settings, I can conclude that it is indeed the same.
Is There A Difference?
So is there a difference between Gnome 2 and MATE? Not quite (aside from a few name changes), but if you head over to MATE’s website you’ll see that they are indeed working on it with stability fixes and other smaller additions. In a nutshell, it will most likely mean that MATE will try to look as much as Gnome 2 as possible, but it will still evolve through active development. Therefore, it will look about the same (although there may be bigger differences down the road), but the code that runs it all will definitely be worked on.
Conclusion
In the end, it’s up to you whether you want to stay on the Gnome 2 path and use MATE or switch to something else whether it be Gnome 3, KDE, Xfce XFCE: Your Lightweight, Speedy, Fully-Fledged Linux Desktop XFCE: Your Lightweight, Speedy, Fully-Fledged Linux Desktop As far as Linux goes, customization is king. Not only that, but the customization options are so great it might make your head spin. I have previously mentioned the differences between the major desktop environments... Read More, etc. In case you do choose MATE, you won’t have to worry about being left behind with updates as it is being actively maintained with new features and plenty of fixes. As such, it runs very stable and fast as you’ve come to expect with Gnome 2.
What’s your opinion of the MATE project? It is worth keeping Gnome 2 alive? Are all these forks a good idea? Let us know in the comments!My doctor keeps telling me to stop typing. As a professional writer and enthusiastic coder that’s not going to happen any time soon.
But it’s true that, for me, typing is a pain – literally. I have osteoarthritis in all the joints of both hands (and many other places) so constantly hitting keys is not a joyful experience.
What I plan to do here is a quick roundup of a few of the things I’ve tried to make life more tolerable and allow me to work without undue pain. None of this is scientific – what you read here are just my subjective experiences.
Workstation
The arthritis is what drove me back to buying a desktop computer, after having used laptops for several years. With osteoarthritis in my neck, which leads to cervical vertigo, I can’t sit for hours at a desk in a normal office chair. Instead, I work in a recliner – albeit only slightly reclined – with my iMac on an adjustable arm – the Ergotron LX, which is as fine a piece of engineering as you’re likely to encounter.
The recliner chair and its footstool also vibrate, which is nice… sometimes a bit too nice… the cat loves it.
I’d tried doing something similar with a laptop – sitting in a lawn chair with the computer on a padded lap tray. The angles were never quite right, though.
Once I’d hit on the idea of an iMac on an arm, this raised the issue of the keyboard and mouse. The first step was to put the keyboard on its own arm. Ergotron makes another arm, also in the LX range, which comes fitted with a keyboard tray and slide-out mouse support (it slides out of either side for both lefties and righties).
You might think that a keyboard on an arm might be a bit too bouncy – and you’d be right. But in my setup, the keyboard tray rests lightly on my lap, which stabilises everything nicely.
The one problem I did have was that the mouse was a little too far away for comfort. I kept wanting to move it off the bottom edge. So I bolted a stiff piece of plastic to the Ergtron to extend the mousing area towards me. It works beautifully.
There’s also space on the keyboard support for a USB hub (no more reaching around the back of the iMac to plug in a USB stick) and a stand for my iPhone.
Keyboard
Laptop keyboards are rubbish. All of them. The best I’ve used in recent years is actually on a tatty 13in Lenovo that I still use for running the Tails operating system. (The computer is nastily cheap in every respect other than its keyboard.)
The problem is the degree of travel of the keys. While the keys on my MacBook Pro are fairly light to actuate – ie, they don’t require much force to press, which is a good thing – there’s only about a millimetre or so of movement before they ‘bottom out’, which is a bad thing.
Bottoming out is where the key reaches the end of its travel and comes to a sudden stop. The small shock of each key hitting the base of the keyboard may not seem like much to anyone with healthy hands. But when your joints are sensitive to any knocks or bumps, it can quickly become painful.
The iMac came with a Bluetooth keyboard that is a lovely bit of design but is essentially the same laptop keyboard but in its own case.
So I started investigating mechanical keyboards. Follow the link to see a list of my reviews.
I’ll be writing more on the subject of key switches, but for now I’ll just say that I find it hard to make up my mind between the Cherry MX Blue, Cherry MX Brown and the Topre clones used in the Plum keyboard. My solution is to change keyboard every week or two.
On all of them I’ve fitted O-rings to the keycaps, to soften the landing a little. O-rings use rubber of varying hardness, measured in ‘Shore’, with higher numbers being harder. There are also ‘A’ and ‘D’ ranges. O-rings for keycaps are usually in the A range and my current favourites have a hardness of 40A Shore.
The O-rings definitely make a difference when you bottom out. However, it’s best not to do that, so I’m trying to train myself to type lightly. My career as a journalist started with me hacking out long articles on old manual typewriters. And, never having learned to touch-type, my typing technique isn’t so much hunt-and-peck as search-and-destroy. So it’s taking a while for me to learn new habits.
Mouse
The MacBook Pro’s touchpad is worse than the keyboard. I mean, it’s a fine example of its type, but tapping the hard surface in order to actuate mouse clicks (and worse, double-clicks) can quickly become agony for me. The same is true of swiping. I found myself longing for the old days of using a real mouse. That was a sign. So I bought a mouse.
The iMac came equipped with Apple’s Magic Mouse 2 which is, again, a beautiful object. There’s no scrollwheel – instead you just stroke the top of the device. In fact, you can set it up to obey all manner of gestures. It’s effectively a curved touchpad. It also has a beautifully light but positive click.
However, as much as I like the idea of stroking my mouse (and that has to be a euphemism for something), the curve of the Magic Mouse’s top surface is somehow too gentle. I find I hold my hand hovering rather uncomfortably above the mouse. It just didn’t work.
My solution was to buy the Hippus HandShoe Mouse, the result of a lot of research by Dutch academics. I’ve been using it successfully for a couple of years. It fully cradles the hand, meaning that you can relax the muscles. It’s designed to relieve issues with carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive stress injury (RSI) but I find it’s very effective for arthritis pain too.
Just recently I also experimented with the Logitech MX Master mouse. Superficially, this has some similarities to the HandShoe mouse, such as giving you a place to rest your thumb. It’s also fairly large, which is good.
(I have a bunch of Genius Micro Traveler mice that I use with Raspberry Pi setups. They’re conveniently small, but painful to use for more than a short period.)
The Logitech is an excellent piece of kit and the extra buttons and rollers are easy to program, even on OS X. Being Bluetooth, it also does away with one one cable, which is never a bad thing. It doesn’t offer quite the same level of comfort as the HandShoe mouse, though, which is why I continue using the latter for daily use. Every now and then I’ll switch to the Logitech just to change things up.
All of these measures have enabled me to continue working, although none of them relieve the pain entirely and the best solution is still to not use the computer.
Oh, and before someone mentions it, yes I have tried using voice recognition systems. In fact, I’ve used them on and off since the 1990s. But they don’t match the way I work and are therefore of limited use. That said, as the arthritis worsens I think I may give them another try…No $scope soup, bindToController in AngularJS
Namespacing, code consistency and proper design patterns really matter in software engineering, and Angular addresses a lot of issues we face as front-end engineers really nicely.
I’d like to show you some techniques using the bindToController property on Directives that will help clean up your DOM-Controller namespacing, help keep code consistent, and help follow an even better design pattern when constructing Controller Objects and inheriting data from elsewhere.
Prerequisites
Use bindToController alongside controllerAs syntax, which treats Controllers as Class-like Objects, instantiating them as constructors and allowing us to namespace them once instantiated, such as the following:
<div ng-controller= "MainCtrl as vm" > {{ vm.name }} </div>
Previously, without controllerAs we’d have no native namespacing of a Controller, and JavaScript Object properties simply floated around the DOM making it harder to keep code consistent inside Controllers, as well as running into inheritance issues with $parent. That’s all we’ll cover on this during this article, there’s a mighty post I’ve already published about it.
Problem
Issues arise when writing Controllers that use the controllerAs syntax, we begin writing our components using a Class-like Object, only to end up injecting $scope to get access to inherited data (from “isolate scope”). A simple example of what we’d start with:
// controller function FooDirCtrl () { this. bar = {}; this. doSomething = function doSomething ( arg ) { this. bar. foobar = arg ; }. bind ( this ); } // directive function fooDirective () { return { restrict : 'E', scope : {}, controller : 'FooDirCtrl', controllerAs : 'vm', template : [ // vm.name doesn't exist just yet! '<div><input ng-model="vm.name"></div>' ]. join ( '' ) }; } angular. module ( 'app' ). directive ( 'fooDirective', fooDirective ). controller ( 'FooDirCtrl', FooDirCtrl );
Now we need to “inherit” scope, so let’s create the isolation hash in scope: {} to reference the binding we want:
function fooDirective () { return {... scope : { name : '=' },... }; }
And stop. Now we need to inject $scope, my Class-like Object has been vandalised by this $scope Object I’ve tried so hard to get rid of to adopt better design principles, and now I’ve got to inject it.
Onwards with the mess:
// controller function FooDirCtrl ( $scope ) { this. bar = {}; this. doSomething = function doSomething ( arg ) { this. bar. foobar = arg ; $scope. name = arg. prop ; // reference the isolate property }. bind ( this ); }
At this point, we’ve likely ruined all excitement we had about the new Directive now our Class-like Object pattern has been ruined by $scope.
Not only this, but our pseudo-template would be affected with an un-namespaced variable floating amidst vm. prefixed ones:
<div> {{ name }} <input type= "text" ng-model= "vm.username" > </div>
Solution
Before we go into what we’ll deem as a solution, there are a lot of negative comments about Angular’s attempts to replicate Class-like Object patterns, and I’m aware of the design, but we’re making the most of what we’ve got - nothing’s perfect and likely never will be, even with the rewrite v2.0. This post covers a great solution to cleaning up Angular’s bad $scope habits as best as we can to write “proper” JavaScript designed in a better way.
Enter the bindToController property. In the docs, bindToController suggests that setting the value to true enables the inherited properties to be bound to the Controller, not the $scope Object.
function fooDirective () { return {... scope : { name : '=' }, bindToController : true,... }; }
This means we can refactor the previous code example, removing $scope :
// controller function FooDirCtrl () { this. bar = {}; this. doSomething = function doSomething ( arg ) { this. bar. foobar = arg ; this. name = arg. prop ; // reference the isolate property using `this` }. bind ( this ); }
The Angular documentation doesn’t suggest that you can use an Object instead of bindToController: true, but in the Angular source code this line is present:
if ( isObject ( directive. bindToController )) { bindings. bindToController = parseIsolateBindings ( directive. bindToController, directiveName, true ); }
If it’s an Object, parse the isolate bindings there instead. This means we can move our scope: { name: '=' } example binding across to it to make it more explicit that isolate bindings are in fact inherited and bound to the controller (my preferred syntax):
function fooDirective () { return {... scope : {}, bindToController : { name : '=' },... }; }
Now we’ve solved the JavaScript solution, let’s look at the template change impact this has.
Previously, we might have had name inherited and bound to $scope, whereas now we can use the same namespace as our Controller - rejoice. This keeps everything very consistent and readable. Finally we can vm. prefix our inherited name property to keep things in our template consistent!
<div> {{ vm.name }} <input type= "text" ng-model= "vm.username" > </div>
Live Refactor examples
I’ve setup a few live examples on jsFiddle to demonstrate the refactor process (this was a great change for me and my team migrating from Angular 1.2 to 1.4 recently).
Note: Each example uses two way isolate binding from a parent Controller passed down into the Directive, type to see changes reflected back up to the parent.
First example, using $scope Object’s passed in. Would leave templating inconsistencies and Controller logic $scope and this mashups.
Second example, refactor $scope with bindToController: true Boolean value. Fixes templating namespace issues as well as keeping the Controller logic consistent under the this Object.How many folks know that King James (who commissioned the King James Bible and to whom it was dedicated) loved men and had sex with them? At the age of thirteen James fell madly in love with his male cousin Esme Stuart whom he made Duke of Lennox. James deferred to Esme to the consternation of his ministers. In 1582 James was kidnapped and forced to issue a proclamation against his lover and send him back to France.
Later, James fell in love with a poor young Scotsman named Robert Carr. "The king leans on his [Carr's] arm |
i’s manic pressing is triggered, making sure Rayo don’t get out of their half.
The ball is played wide and Atleti have good local presence, with the ball carrier being put under pressure.
Here, we have a similar situation, there is a circle of Atletico players, with one free Rayo man in the middle.
The ball is played to the free man and Torres forces him towards Atletico’s compact midfield, where he is pressed from all angles.
Atleti win the ball and can counter attack.
Example 3:
This zig-zag midfield four we can see in the first image is deliberate. It allows them to cover horizontal and vertical angles on the field more effectively, and gives them a layered pressing shape. The grid shows, just as how Juego de Posicion would in the attacking phase, this staggering allows them to cover space more efficiently.
As the ball moves wide, it’s Niguez, the RCM that moves to his left to cover Rayo’s pivot while Oliver Torres drops back and holds space, preventing a long, low pass in his area. This allows them to offer an intense man-orientated pressing style, while also being structurally sound. Torres turns and cover shadows the backwards pass.
One negative of a man-orientated system is that it can be prone to one-twos. Rayo attempt the one-two however Niguez is tight enough to his man to put him under enough pressure to force his pass out of play. Atleti throw-in.
Example 4:
Vietto is covering the midfield man, forcing the backwards pass, however has his body position and momentum so he can reach the centre back when the ball is inevitably played to him. The body shape of Carrasco, the Atletico player closest to the ball, is forcing Benfica backwards.
Benfica move the ball from their second line, to their first line, so Atletico move up a line accordingly. Vietto moves up onto the ball carrier, and Koke moves onto the man Vietto has left. Atletico know that the ball will be switched across, so move quickly to get into their pressing shape on their left side.
Saul moves forward to the new ball carrier. And Gabi, the DM, moves up slightly to fill the space he has left. The ball carrier has credible passing options to his left and his right. Atleti’s man orientated four-man midfield are well prepared for this, the blue arrow shows what man they would look should the ball be shifted to the Benfica right-back, the white arrows show where the player would go should the ball shifted to the other side.
Atleti move into a 343 shape with the dotted lines showing Griezmann and Luis moving out of their original lines. The opposition player opts to go for a pass up the line, which is intercepted. If he chooses to play the ball inside, the Benfica player would have been put under immense pressure from all angles, as we have seen previously.
Middle Third Organisation
In the middle third, Atletico maintain their intense man-orientated pressure however have more of an emphasis on structure and forcing the opposition into less dangerous spaces.
Example 1:
Atletico’s 4-4-2 shape with quite a fair bit.
As the ball gets moved into the middle, Atletico move into a compact central shape and Niguez moves forward to press the ball.
This run forward by Niguez blocks any central pass while also giving Atleti a pentagon shape as shown above, forcing a short ball wide as the ball-carrier doesn’t have time to play a long high ball.
The ball is forced wide and Atletico use some tight 1v1 marking as well as intelligent use of the touchline to win a throw-in. Atletico always have brilliant local compactness, with many players in close proximity to the ball in the area around the ball. They also have all been taught to defend brilliantly 1v1. They use clever body positioning to lead the ball-carrier into dead ends, they hardly ever make a slide tackle, and they know the correct time to put a foot in to steal the ball.
Example 2:
Atletico’s man orientation leads them to have a horizontally uncompact shape. We can see O. Torres dropping back into the channel with his man. This shows that structural compactness can be sacrificed for solid man orientated defending against teams like Rayo who will take any chance to switch the ball into spaces on the other side of the pitch, using their expansive shape to do this.
Example 3:
Rayo pick up the ball in their own half, Atletico immediately force the ball wide. They do this with pressure coming to the ball from Atletico’s right, as well as vertical passes being cover shadowed. The only ball available is one to feet, meaning the player receiving the ball will be static when he receives it, giving the Atletico players chance to get tight to him before he can move it on.
This is exactly what happens, the wide man receives the ball and is isolated, with his options being cut off.
The player manages to wriggle out of the wide 1v1 and play a backwards pass, however the new man on the ball cannot turn infield due to Torres’ body shape while pressing him. He is forced to play into an area overloaded with Atletico players. He can’t find a passing angle and the ball runs through to a navy blue man.
Example 4:
Atletico are in a 4-5-1- shape with a V-shaped midfield 5. This means that if Rayo attempt to make progress through the wingers, Atleti will be able to stop them around the halfway line whereas a flat five would allow them to get higher up the pitch in their build-up. If the opposition choose to look centrally, in the middle of the V, they will be put under pressure from several angles and their angles will be blocked out by a circle of six Atleti players.
Malaga play wide and Atletico have immediate presence on this side of the field. Again, local compactness but overall horizontal uncompacntess. Malaga cannot progress up the flank.
Vietto isn’t close enough to Malaga’s pivot. Niguez reads this and moves up making sure Malaga’s pivots don’t receive the ball. Atleti’s lack of horizontal compactness means that Malaga can’t find space on the other side of the field by switching.
Malaga go back to their left side, again they have no joy due to mild pressure on the ball carrier, as well as their immediate options being tightly marked.
Malaga come back again, but this time Niguez has blocked the switch and Malaga don’t seem keen to use their goalkeeper in build up. They are forced back over to the left flank. Notice how Atletico’s pressure as pushed them back about 10-15 yards from where they were.
Koke’s press on Malaga’s LCB isn’t ideal as he doesn’t cover shadow the man behind him effectively. For a a lot of teams, this first pressing line being broken would mean disaster however Atleti have three players occupying the right flank behind Koke. The Malaga player looks for a long, low pass however it goes out for an Atletico throw. Local compactness.
First Third Structure
Similar to their middle third defending, Atletico look to occupy the area and the men near the ball while also maintaining a good overall structure. Atletico rarely have to defend in their own third as they usually restrict the opposition further up the pitch. Opposition teams are forced to use very quick, one or two touch attacking moves in the final third vs Atletico.
Atletico are in a 4-1-4-1 shape with Gabi holding space in between the lines.
As the ball is played forward into the final third, the player receiving the ball is pressed from both sides. Also notice Juanfran choosing to stay tight to his man, rather than being part of a flat back four.
The Benfica player can turn and play back into midfield. Atletico have immediately cancelled out Benfica’s options on this side of the pitch.
Benfica try another pass into midfield. The ball receiver can immediately by covered by two players.
Benfica manage to get the ball into the space between the lines. The new ball carrier expereicne pressure from all angles, Atletico apply maximum pressure to the ball in their own defensive third. Atletico’s defensive line is relatively deep, meaning it is almost impossible for a through ball behind the defence to be played.
Benfica aren’t playing with width, so neither do Atleti. When the ball gets into the final quarter of the pitch, they make sure they are both horizontally and vertically compact in central areas.
Atletico’s comapct shape forces Benfica wide, Atleti now shift their presence to the right halfspace and flank, as this is where the ball is.
Benfica are forced back and Atletico can steal the ball due to some good 1v1 defending. When all else fails, Atletico prioritise the ‘Zone 14’ central space.
Example 2:
Ateltico throw as many bodies as possible into the area with the ball, they do this by shifting their two lines of four to the right, with ever increasing spaces between players as they move from ball side to non ball side. For example, Giminez is closer to Juanfran than Godin is to Giminez. This ball-local overload restricts the opposition’s ability to play out of this area.
One short pass is made, Atletico’s local compactness combined with Malaga’s poor possessional structure means he has nowhere to go, the Atletico man sticks tight to him and he cannot turn, Gabi tackles and Atletico can counter attack.
Example 3:
Griezmann follows all the way back, no player is given any time on the ball, their man orientated scheme dictates that the closest player to the man on the ball, stays with the man on the ball until it moves on. Getting this type of defensive dedication and intelligence from dynamic attacking players such as Griezmann is key to having a defensively solid team. Compare this to the defensive work-rate of a player like Hazard for example. Also, Atletico again have a 3v2 on the flank where the ball is. Atletico win the ball out.
Example 4:
Athletic Club are more cross orientated and looked to attack Atleti with long balls from deep. To prevent this from being successful, we can see Atletico have dropped their central midfielders back so Athletic’s forwards are marked from front and back.
Conclusion
Atletico Madrid are serious contenders for both the Primera Division title and Champions League. This achievement cannot be underrated considering their net £12million spend over the last four years. Simeone has continually proved that well-structured, high intensity defending can be used to propel a team to the same level as teams with much more world class attacking talent. Atletico also show that training players to be able to defend effectively 1v1 can give them the qualitative superiority necessary to implement a man-orientated defensive system very well. Their local compactness without sacrificing their overall pitch coverage will make it very difficult for teams like Bayern Munich, who enjoy switching the ball into space on the other side of the pitch, to score at the Vicente Calderon should they be drawn against them in the Champions League knockout stages.Arnab biswas
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Re: I was told to pay 0.07BTC to create an account here February 12, 2015, 12:48:52 PM #14 Quote from: bitparadise on February 12, 2015, 08:00:07 AM Quote from: lophie on February 12, 2015, 07:25:33 AM. Is this like a new thing around here and what would a person do to deserve such bann?
I used to troll alot around here. I even pissed off gmaxwell at some point. I did not get any "bann" or whatever. However some of my posts were "deleted by admins".
I have used Tor Before around here and I noticed that there are some actions that I cannot do when I am connected through Tor. But I never heard of such penalty or whatever. Is this like a new thing around here and what would a person do to deserve such bann?I used to troll alot around here. I even pissed off gmaxwell at some point. I did not get any "bann" or whatever. However some of my posts were "deleted by admins".
You only need to pay when you register an account on ip's that is use by banned accounts before.
You only need to pay when you register an account on ip's that is use by banned accounts before. did here accounts got bannd tooThere was no way out. The screams made him certain of that. He could sense the dark templar huddled together in panic, their structure surrounded on all sides, but he was powerless to intervene. Their fear burned into his mind until his consciousness was pierced with it, each sensation bright and distinct before bleeding away into the abyss. He already knew how it would end. The machines were coming....
"Commander, we are reaching the borders of the security zone."
Aldrion's eyes snapped open, and after a moment's hesitation, the high templar collected his thoughts enough to return the pilot's message through the ship's communicator. "On my way, Zoraya."
He wondered why the alarm he'd set earlier hadn't roused him, even though he could feel its pulse resonating against his skin. The visions had been troublesome even before he had left Shakuras, and his current mission only seemed to add to their weight. But Executor Selendis had entrusted this decision to him after conversing with the Hierarchy. He would not disappoint his people.
Still deep in thought, he made his way from the small meditation chamber to the ship's bridge. The crew had already assembled—an unusual party consisting of two other Aiur warriors like him and a lone dark templar pilot. They were the only ones who could be spared, despite the fact that he scarcely knew them. Even the ship was unfamiliar; he merely recognized that it was of dark templar construction. He glanced up to survey the viewscreen.
"This area has not been patrolled for some time. We may encounter resistance," Aldrion warned. For the sake of the dark templar, he was obliged to use words in his psionic communications instead of conveying his emotions through the Khala. His Aiur brethren had long defined themselves by the mental connection that allowed them to convey their thoughts and feelings to one another effortlessly. Those who opposed the Khala, seeking to retain their individuality, had become exiles: the dark templar. Their long estrangement had ended when Aiur had fallen to the zerg some years ago, but the peace was a tenuous one.
Unlike many Aiur protoss of similar rank and experience, Aldrion did not mind accommodating the dark templar's foreign ways when the occasion called for it. With times like these, he no longer had the luxury of intolerance. Still, he could always sense the barriers within the minds of the dark templar, even as he reached out to touch their thoughts. They seemed cold.
"Activate the cloaking field," he ordered. Zoraya gratified him with a short affirmative. The dark templar were not known for being verbose.
There was a low hum, and the interior lights dimmed as the pilot skillfully manipulated the ship's energy resources to hide its presence. Any viewers outside the ship would have sworn it had melted into the starry expanse.
"Do not be concerned, Commander." Telbrus, the second-in-command, turned to him from across the bridge. "The Aiur protoss do not need to hide in the shadows to fight!"
"Surely, your Aurigan kin have honored us too graciously by sparing you, Telbrus," Aldrion replied dryly, surveying his hulking companion with a hint of mirth. In many ways Telbrus was emblematic of his relatives—strong, brave, and a bit too proud. "But we must not betray our mission with any unnecessary displays of combat."Many colleges in the United States have become nothing more than left wing indoctrination centers and Conservative parents are catching on. Why should parents spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to send their kids to schools that only teach radical left wing ideas?
The Washington Times reports:
Conservative suppression on campus turns parents away from colleges
An admissions letter from Harvard University was once considered cause for celebration, but in conservative households, that may be changing.
Trending: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Blames State’s Budget Shortfall On Residents Fleeing To Florida
David M. Whalen, provost of Hillsdale College, a school with a conservative reputation, said he has noticed an uptick in the number of parents who send their children to Hillsdale to avoid colleges where conservative thought is met with ridicule, suppression and violence.
“The educational environment has become so distempered that, in many cases, parents are now looking elsewhere,” Mr. Whalen said. “In fact, more and more parents tell us at Hillsdale that they had assumed their children would go to this or that institution, but they are deeply grateful to find Hillsdale instead.”
A survey released this week by the Washington-based Pew Research Center shows Republicans have never been more down on higher education…
“Higher education has been progressively radicalizing for a long time, but recent events have brought the extent of it into high relief,” Mr. Whalen said. “It’s virtually beyond parody. Campus violence, suppression of speech and intellectual inquiry, and the rather haughty presumption of moral superiority undercut confidence that much of real value is going on there.”
Our entire system of higher education needs an overhaul.How did you comfort yourself after the Crimson Tide's devastating loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl earlier this year?
According to usage statistics provided to AL.com from Pornhub, one of the top providers of online pornography in the world, there was a 90% surge in traffic from Alabama immediately following the game's bitter ending.
Roll Tide.
We reached out to Pornhub several weeks ago about getting some statewide statistics on pornography usage in the state of Alabama and were not disappointed.
The site regularly crunches usage statistics, posting worldwide and usage within countries, but only in the last month or so have they begun to look at state-level trends. Alabama was one of the first. You're very welcome!
There were several stand-out bits of information regarding Alabamians' most private search habits on Pornhub. But on January 1 of this year, just as the Buckeyes clinched the Sugar Bowl title - securing their spot in the National Championship - Alabama found condolence deep in the heart of the internet, where preferences are free and judgment is at a bare minimum.
To be clear, the baseline for the comparison is an average day in Alabama. Immediately following the game, traffic from the state of Alabama exceeded use on an average day by around 90%.
Saban should be proud.
We'll be publishing more in the coming days. At the moment, though, you can check out the graph in the gallery to see the usage before, during, and after the game.
You can also look at the gallery above to see top search terms in the top 10 usage cities in the state.The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives says it’s not an “agency” within the meaning of a Freedom of Information Act statute cited in a civil suit over a records request.
“The ATF is not an ‘agency’ within the meaning of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(f)(1), and is, therefore, not a proper party defendant,” the agency wrote in its answer to a complaint filed in federal court in June.
Since it was unclear if the answer meant that the ATF operated under a different FOIA statute or if the plaintiffs simply cited the wrong law, we sought clarification from attorneys representing the ATF, but efforts were unsuccessful. However, we were able to reach legal experts who specialize in the gun and constitutional law.
Attorney and Second Amendment scholar, David Kopel, said he didn’t know the reasoning behind the ATF answer.
“I have no idea what ATF’s argument on that point is,” he said. “There is no separate FOIA law for ATF, and they are plainly an agency within the meaning of the statute.”
Attorney Stephen Halbrook, who has represented several pro-gun clients such as the National Rifle Association and has been representing gun maker Sig Sauer in a suit against the ATF over federal regulations for more than a year, agreed that the ATF fits the definition of “agency” as described by the law.
“There have been numerous FOIA suits against ATF, and I am unaware of any court ever holding that it is not an agency,” Halbrook told Guns.com in an email, adding, “The denial in the answer that ATF is not an ‘agency’ as defined is frivolous.”
The statute within the law defines an “agency” in the Justice Department as: any executive department, military department, government corporation, government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the government (including the Executive Office of the President), or any independent regulatory agency.
The agency also denied responding to the allegation that it ignored the records request, saying the allegations “consist of plaintiff’s conclusions of law, to which no response is required.”
Gun rights advocate and blogger David Codrea, gun manufacturer Len Savage, and the FFL Defense Research Center said they filed the civil suit because the ATF did not respond to their FOIA request within the legal timeframe.
According to a letter submitted with the complaint, the request asked for policies, opinions, rulings, instructions and procedures that covered a wide-range of categories the ATF covers. The letter also states that they made efforts to search for answers within documents available on the ATF’s website, but did not see them.
The lawsuit asks for the ATF to fulfill the request, pay legal fees, and any relief the court deems appropriate.
A previous version of this article incorrectly listed Len Savage as a gun dealer when, in fact, he is a gun manufacturer. The two hold entirely different federal firearms licenses.Subi reef, located in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, is shown in this handout Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative satellite image taken August 8, 2012, and released to Reuters October 27, 2015. REUTERS/CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe/Handout via Reuters
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's top admiral said his forces have shown "enormous restraint" in the face of U.S. provocations in the South China Sea, while warning they stand ready to respond to repeated breaches of Chinese sovereignty.
Beijing, which claims almost the entire energy-rich South China Sea through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes yearly, has stepped up a program of land reclamation and construction in disputed islands and reefs there that has sparked concern in the Asia-Pacific region.
The United States has called for a halt to China's artificial island building, and in recent weeks has tried to signal its determination to challenge Beijing over the disputed sea by sending military ships and planes near the islands.
"The Chinese navy has closely monitored the provocative actions of the United States and issued several warnings, while exercising enormous restraint in the interests of safeguarding the overall situation in bilateral relations," said Wu Shengli, commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, according to a report on the defense ministry's website late on Thursday.
"If the United States carries out repeated provocations despite China's opposition, we have the ability to defend our national sovereignty and security."
Wu made the comments in a meeting in Beijing on Thursday with Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the United States' Pacific fleet, the report said.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also claim parts of the South China Sea.
China's Defence Ministry said on Friday that the navy had recently carried out anti-submarine drills in the South China Sea, with submarines, warships and ship-born helicopters.
State television showed warships conducting live-fire drills and troops deploying from amphibious vehicles on to beaches.
It did not say when the exercises happened, nor where exactly. Such drills are not uncommon.
In the Philippines on Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said China must stop the land reclamation.
Obama planned to raise the South China Sea dispute at another summit this weekend in Malaysia, his main Asia policy adviser Daniel Kritenbrink said.
Swift was in Shanghai earlier this week where the USS Stethem, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer, made a port call.
It was the third visit first to China by a U.S. navy vessel this year and the first since a similar guided missile destroyer, the USS Lassen, angered Beijing by sailing near one of China's man-made islands late last month to challenge the 12-nautical-mile territorial limits China claims around the artificial islands.
(Reporting by John Ruwitch; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Stephen Coates and Sanjeev Miglani)Yeah, it's just one game. Just one weekend. Just one night.
But the Kansas City Chiefs can, should and will proudly say they are your first place Kansas City Chiefs.
That's right. With the Chiefs 21-14 victory over the San Diego Chargers, and the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders losing on Sunday, there sits one team atop the AFC West.
It feels...right. Like it should be.
"The whole thing felt like 15 years ago, right down to Billy Ray Cyrus singing the national anthem in a Joe Montana Chiefs jersey," writes Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star.
He couldn't be more right.
This is the way it felt in 1995 when Tamarick Vanover took that kick return to the house to beat those same Chargers in overtime on Monday Night Football. This is the way it felt when you knew -- just knew -- that the Chiefs were going to be division title contenders.
First place, folks. Let's enjoy this one.The Ravens have signed quarterback David Olson to participate in training camp with Joe Flacco nursing a back injury, the team announced Friday.
Flacco’s injury led to speculation that Baltimore would pick up Colin Kaepernick. Head coach John Harbaugh spoke positively of Kaepernick on Thursday. Even if Kaepernick had landed with the Ravens, he would have been competing with Ryan Mallett and Dustin Vaughan for the backup job, as Flacco’s injury is not considered serious.
Olson, like Kaepernick, has ties to Harbaugh’s brother Jim. Olson began his college career at Stanford before transferring to Clemson. He appeared in Stanford’s 55–17 win over Washington State in 2013 but did not throw a pass or carry the ball. He played only 15 snaps in three games at Clemson as a grad transfer in 2014, completing one of three passes for -1 yards.
Olson has spent the last couple of years alternating between desk jobs and quarterbacking in the Champions Indoor Football league. He played for the Wichita Force and led the team to a league title, winning MVP of Champions Bowl II. He played this year in the same league with the Kansas City Phantoms but was injured.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Oct. 18, 2015, 7:56 AM GMT / Updated Oct. 18, 2015, 11:25 PM GMT By The Associated Press
Slow-moving Typhoon Koppu weakened after blowing ashore with fierce winds in the northeastern Philippines on Sunday, leaving at least two people dead, displacing 16,000 villagers and knocking out power in entire provinces, officials said.
Army troops and police were deployed to rescue residents trapped in flooded villages in the hard-hit provinces of Aurora, where the typhoon made landfall early Sunday, and Nueva Ecija, a nearby rice-growing province where floodwaters swamped rice farmlands at harvest time.
After slamming into Aurora's Casiguran town after midnight Saturday, the typhoon weakened and slowed down, hemmed in by the Sierra Madre mountain range and a high pressure area in the country's north and another typhoon far out in the Pacific in the east, government forecaster Gladys Saludes said.
Howling winds knocked down trees and electric posts, leaving nine entire provinces without power, while floods and small landslides made 25 roads and bridges impassable. Authorities suspended dozens of flights and sea voyages due to the stormy weather, and many cities canceled classes on Monday.
By Sunday afternoon, the typhoon had veered toward the north from a westward course and was barreling across mountainous Nueva Vizcaya province with sustained winds of 93 miles per hour and gusts of up to 115 mph, according to the government's weather agency.
Satellite images showed that the typhoon appeared to be losing its eye, a sign of its dissipating strength, acting weather bureau chief Esperanza Cayanan said, adding that Koppu was forecast to move at a slow pace of 3 mph across the mountainous north before exiting the main northern island of Luzon on Wednesday.
While weather conditions had begun to improve in some towns, and villagers had started to clear roads of fallen trees and debris, Koppu still packed a ferocity that could set off landslides and flash floods, officials said.
"We're asking our countrymen not to become complacent," said Alexander Pama, who heads the government's disaster-response agency, citing how rainwater could cascade down mountainsides after Koppu passed and flood villages.
Related: Typhoon Koppu Strengthens, Edges Closer to Philippines
That happened in low-lying villages in six towns in Nueva Ecija, near Aurora, where some residents were trapped on rooftops by floodwaters, said Nigel Lontoc of the Office of Civil Defense.
A teenager was pinned to death on Sunday by a fallen tree, which also injured four people and damaged three houses in suburban Quezon city in the Manila metropolis. In Subic town, northwest of Manila, a concrete wall collapsed and killed a 62-year-old woman and injured her husband, Lontoc said.
Three fishermen who had gone missing at sea were rescued off northern Bataan province, and three other missing people were found in an evacuation camp in Aurora's Baler town, he said.
Kate Marshall, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross based in Luzon, told NBC News that the "main concerns are to be able to get out there and visit (remote) communities and try and work out a way to help communities that have been cut off, with what ever means we have at our disposal, and to make sure that our volunteers and staff stay safe as well."
President Benigno Aquino III and disaster-response agencies had warned that Koppu's rain and winds may potentially bring more damage with its slow speed. But Saludes, the government forecaster, said that there was less heavy rain than expected initially in some areas, including in Manila, but that fierce winds lashed many regions.
Koppu, Japanese for "cup," is the 12th storm to hit the Philippines this year. An average of 20 storms and typhoons each year batter the archipelago, one of the world's most disaster-prone countries.
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most ferocious storms on record to hit land, barreled through the central Philippines, leveling entire towns and leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing.Image copyright AP Image caption California wildlife officials say none of the mountain lions that they have studied, like P-45 picture here, are capable of attacking a human
A decision by officials in the US state of California to grant a permit for a well-known mountain lion called P-45 to be hunted has caused outrage.
The big cat is believed to be responsible for killing 11 alpacas owned by a Malibu rancher.
The llama-like animals were discovered slaughtered in the rugged Santa Monica mountain range over the weekend.
But the owner says she does not intend to kill P-45, and is surprised by the anger that the permit has drawn.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has issued a so-called "depredation order", which under state law grants a person the right to kill a predator that is doing damage to property, including livestock.
The hunting permit was issued on Monday, and owner Victoria Vaughn-Perling has 10 days to kill the animal before the permit expires.
Image copyright AP Image caption Wendell Phillips, a neighbour of the rancher whose alpacas were killed, says that he will shoot the mountain lion if it returns
Ms Vaughn-Perling says that she would rather that the animal be relocated, and that she obtained the permit to draw attention to the issue of mountain lion predation on domestic livestock in the region.
But the move sparked angry responses on social media.
"Sorry the mountain lion is eating your pets but a lions gonna do what a lions gonna do. Save #p45", one Twitter user wrote, urging others to sign a petition to protect the cat.
Officials say that the rancher had tried to take measures to protect her animals - a fence and motion-detecting lights were installed after an earlier attack - but that mountain lions can jump 15ft (4.5m) in the air and only a structure with a roof can provide sufficient protection.
P-45 is a male lion, living among a small number of big cats whose territory runs from near downtown Los Angeles to a boundary about 40m (64km) west, towards the Malibu coastline.
The four-year-old mountain lion is believed to be among 10-15 lions living in the Santa Monica mountains between the 101 Freeway and the Pacific Ocean.Sen. Bernie Sanders is turning to the massive grassroots donor list that propelled his Democratic presidential primaries campaign in order to pay for his delegates to attend the national party convention this summer.
"We've earned almost 1,900 convention delegates, but for many it's too expensive to attend. Help get them to Philly," Sanders tweeted on Saturday.
The tweet included a link to a volunteer website, Adopt a Bernie Delegate, which maps out each delegate in the country and asks supporters to contribute to their trip, while also explaining that the delegate funding is a natural extension of the Sanders campaign efforts. The page was set up by volunteers, who promise that all the money raised will go to the delegates.
"Just like many donors have never donated before, neither have many delegates participated before, so we are not connected and funded by the masses," the site quotes an unnamed delegate as saying. "Most of us are the demographic Bernie is trying to help, so we don't have big bank accounts, trust funds, or rich parents to fall back on. At a certain point, the Democratic Party decided against providing funds for delegates to make the trip to the national conventions. From what I understand it used to be covered by the DNC. The reality is, fundraising is a necessary evil in this election cycle because not every delegate has the cash flow to make the trip."
And while the website repeatedly notes that Clinton's delegates are sponsored through "establishment" funding sources, they argued that it's normal to have such a crowdsourced effort. "Even though most establishment folks already have their funding in place, you can still google Hill delegates and find some that are using gofundme sites," the page explains.NEW YORK — Deportation Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested a once removed Dominican national with convictions in the U.S. after he was released from New York City custody with an active ICE detainer and federal criminal warrant. The man has a criminal history in the U.S. which includes a felony conviction of criminal sale of a controlled substance and the current felony charge of illegal re-entry.
Joselin Medina, 58, a citizen and national of Dominican Republic, was previously removed from the United States in 2002. He has a past felony conviction for criminal sale of a controlled substance and a pending misdemeanor charge and felony re-entry charge. Medina was released from the New York City Department of Corrections on June 15, after being arraigned in the Bronx Criminal Court and released on bail. After ERO Deportation Officers determined probable cause to believe Medina is removable from the United States, they lodged a detainer along with a copy of Medina’s federal criminal warrant of arrest with the New York Police Department (NYPD), Bronx Central Booking on June 12. ERO deportation officers arrested Medina on June 16 at the Bronx Criminal Court in New York.
"Even a federal criminal warrant issued by a United States Magistrate is not enough for the city of New York to turn over a convicted felon to ICE. If only New York had cooperated with ICE instead of releasing Medina to the street, there would have been no need to go to a courthouse to locate and arrest him,” said Thomas R. Decker, field office director for ERO New York. “It is unfathomable that New York would create such a public safety risk for the sake of political expediency.”
Medina originally entered the United States at an unknown date and location. On Sept. 18, 1995, Medina adjusted his status to that of a Lawful Permanent Resident through marriage. On April 24, 2001 Medina applied for admission to enter the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident through San Juan International Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Due to his Aug. 1, 2000 felony conviction of the crime of attempted criminal sale of control substance in which he was given a conditional discharge, Medina was released on his own recognizance pending a report date for deferred inspection. Medina failed to report for his scheduled deferred inspection appointment.
On July 18, 2002, Medina was encountered at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Queens, New York, and served with a Notice to Appear in front of an immigration judge. Medina was then detained at the Middlesex County Jail, New Brunswick, New Jersey. On Aug. 20, 2002, Medina was ordered removed to the Dominican Republic by an Immigration Judge in Newark New Jersey. Medina was removed from the United States to the Dominican Republic in October 2002. Medina subsequently illegally re-entered the United States at an unknown place and date.
On June 12, 2017, Medina was arrested by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for pending misdemeanor charges and was arraigned in the Bronx Criminal Court.
ERO deportation officers arrested Medina June 16 at the Bronx Criminal Court, New York pursuant to a federal arrest warrant for illegal reentry after removal subsequent to the commission and conviction for an aggravated felony offense. He was processed and later transported to federal court for an appearance before a judge. He is now in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service with charges pending. Depending on the alien’s criminal history, an alien who illegally reenters the United States, after having been previously removed |
Puerto Rico by launching a local clothing factory. In order to master necessary skills she worked for two years in New York City during the Great Depression, living with relatives, including her sister Josefina.
Upon her return to San Juan, she entered the wholesale/retail business and opened Felisa's Style Shop on Calle Fortaleza in Old San Juan. She also managed a flower shop called Miles de Flores. Throughout her lifetime, she remained closely tied to the Roman Catholic Church as she directed her efforts to raising the standards of living for impoverished Puerto Ricans.
Women's rights activist [ edit ]
Rincón de Gautier was a firm believer in the women's right to vote and was an active participant in the suffragist movement, motivating many women to register. When the law allowing women to vote was passed, Rincón de Gautier was the fifth woman to officially register. In 1932, she joined the Liberal Party of Puerto Rico, which believed in Puerto Rico's independence, and was named representative by the party's president Antonio R. Barceló. Motivated by the political ideas of Luis Muñoz Marín, she left the Liberal Party and in 1938 helped organize the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico.[1][3][4]
Marriage and family [ edit ]
In 1940, Rincón de Gautier married the San Juan lawyer Genaro A. Gautier, who served as the Assistant Attorney General of Puerto Rico and Secretary General of the Popular Democratic Party.[1] They had no children.
Political career [ edit ]
In 1946, she was elected mayor of San Juan - the first woman mayor of a capital city in the Americas. Under her leadership, San Juan was transformed into a Latin-American urban center. Rincón de Gautier designed innovative public services and established the first preschool centers called "Las Escuelas Maternales", which would eventually become the model for the Head Start programs in the United States.[5] She also renovated the public health system and was responsible for the establishment of the School of Medicine in San Juan.
Rincón worked with Ricardo Alegría to restore and conserve the historical structures of Old San Juan and provided housing and basic services to thousands of people. In 1951, during the Cold War era, she ordered the establishment of the island's first Civil Defense system which was under the directorship of Colonel Gilberto José Marxuach.[6] She often opened City Hall to the public and listened to concerns of the residents of the city. In 1959, San Juan was awarded the All American City Award.[3][4]
Rincón de Gautier started a Christmas tradition, which would be continued every year by the governors of Puerto Rico. On the Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), celebrated on January 6, she would bring gifts and treats to the poor and needy children. In 1952, 1953 and 1954, she had plane loads of snow delivered to San Juan so that the children who had never seen or played in snow would be able to do so.[1][7]
Later years [ edit ]
Rincón was mayor of San Juan for 22 years, from 1946 to 1968.[1] Upon retiring, she served as the American Goodwill Ambassador for four United States Presidents. She served in Latin America, Asia, and Europe promoting friendship between those regions and the United States. When Felisa Rincón de Gautier died in San Juan, aged 97, on September 16, 1994, she was given the burial honors of a head of state. Dignitaries from all over the world attended her funeral service. Felisa Rincón de Gautier was buried at the Municipal Cemetery Monacillos in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico[3][4]
Honors [ edit ]
In both Puerto Rico and the United States, numerous public structures and avenues have been named in honor of Rincón de Gautier. There is a Felisa Rincón de Gautier Museum and a parking lot with the name of Doña Fela on Calle Recinto Sur in Old San Juan.[8][9] In New York City, both the Felisa Rincón de Gautier Institute for Law & Public Policy in the Bronx and a public school (PS 376) in Brooklyn, New York are named in her honor.[3][4]
In May 29, 2014, The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico honored 12 illustrious women with plaques in the "La Plaza en Honor a la Mujer Puertorriqueña" (Plaza in Honor of Puerto Rican Women) in San Juan. According to the plaques the 12 women, who by virtue of their merits and legacies, stand out in the history of Puerto Rico. Rincón de Gautier was among those who were honored.[10]
Ancestry [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^ This name uses Spanish marriage naming customs; the first is the maiden family name "Rincón" and the second or matrimonial family name is "Gautier".
References [ edit ]North Korea has produced a miniaturized warhead for its intercontinental missile, bringing it closer to achieving its goal of developing nuclear weapons to hit the US with.
Officials were uncertain if Kim Jong Un had been able to accomplish building the warhead but a July 28 report from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggests that he has.
It will fit in to one of the missiles he has test launched in recent months and can carry dozens of nuclear bombs to be dropped on its target.
According to the report, officials now estimate Jong Un has 60 nuclear weapons in his arsenal.
By comparison, the US is estimated to have more than 6,800 and Russia is thought to have 7,000.
Kim Jong Un has reported produced 60 of the weapons which will fit inside the deadly missiles he has been testing in recent months
On Tuesday, The Washington Post published details from the confidential report which details how the dictator is stepping up his threat against the West.
'The IC [intelligence community] assesses North Korea has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery, to include delivery by ICBM-class missiles,' it read.
One of the bombs has a blast that is twice as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Since 2006, North Korea has tested five nuclear tests.
It is not clear whether the missile warhead has been tested or not but experts say he is in a hurry to speed up weapons development in light of his increasingly precarous position on the global stage.
It follows the successful launch of an ICBM last month that, if fired on a flat trajectory, has the capacity to reach American shores. The US's missile defense systems in Alaska would be tasked with firing the missile, named Hwasong-14, down.
Jong-Un made a direct threat to the US this weekend after a set of crippling economic sanctions were approved by the UN Security Council on Saturday.
The sanctions cut off a third of the country's exports, taking $1billion away a year from its $3billion economy.
They were approved by the U.N. Security Council on Saturday and threaten to cripple Jong Un's economy.
A test launch of the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile in North Korea on July 28. Experts say the missile has the capacity to reach US cities if launched in a flat trajectory
President Trump vowed to remain 'tough and decisive' in his fight against North Korea on Monday
On Saturday, the UN Security Council imposed a strict set of sanctions which will block a third of North Korea's export revenue. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nicky Haley is seen (right) next to the UK's ambassador Matthew Rycroft
Jong Un vowed to exact revenge on the US for advocating the sanctions.
On Monday, state run news agency KCNA said the US would 'pay dearly' for spearheading it.
On Tuesday, it issued a statement which contained another threat.
'Packs of wolves are coming in attack to strangle a nation...They should be mindful that the D.P.R.K.’s strategic steps accompanied by physical action will be taken mercilessly with the mobilization of all its national strength,' the statement, which appeared in The New York Times, read.
Trump was not rattled by the threat. 'After many years of failure,countries are coming together to finally address the dangers posed by North Korea. We must be tough & decisive!' he tweeted on Monday.
China fired dozens of its own missiles on Monday in a show of alliance with the West.
The drill included the firing of missiles and according to the ministry aimed to hone the military's abilities to conduct coastal assaults.
Last week, two US B-1 bombers flew over the Korean peninsula. They were escorted by fighter jets from the Japanese and South Korean Air Forces.The saga of the little fox, named Zouzou, had made headlines in France and even prompted a support page on Facebook after the Delanes family was ordered to hand over the animal and pay a 300-euro ($409) fine.
In France, raising a wild animal without special authorisation is against the law.
The National Office of Hunting and Wild Animals found out about Zouzou and began legal proceedings against its keepers back in 2011.
But Anne-Paul Delanes told AFP the family had just "received a special authorisation permitting us to keep Zouzou until his death," from the local prefecture in France's southwestern Dordogne region.
Anne-Paul and her husband Didier had earlier paid the fine and then kept Zouzou hidden for fear the authorities might confiscate their pet.
"He is more affectionate than a dog," Anne-Paul Delanes told AFP. "When he sees us, he rolls on the ground and yelps with joy."
Didier Delanes had found the cub in 2010 along the side of the road lying under its dead mother, which had been run over by a car. He took the fox home and the family raised it as a pet.
Zouzou will be four years old in March.HAVING PASSED a health reform bill that is, at least theoretically, paid for, the House of Representatives is poised this week to blow a quarter-trillion-dollar hole in the federal budget involving, you guessed it, health care. This is the so-called doc fix, to prevent scheduled cuts in Medicare reimbursements to physicians from taking effect.
Say you are a member of Congress who agrees that the cuts should be rescinded -- that physician payments shouldn't be reduced, that is -- but also believes that the payments should not add to the national debt? Under the rule governing the House debate, you won't be allowed to suggest any offsetting savings. Either you go for the doc fix and add massively to the deficit, or you torpedo the fix and wreak havoc in the Medicare program, with a 21 percent cut set to take effect Jan 1. Nice choice. It puts those who believe in both fiscal responsibility and averting these draconian cuts in an impossible situation.
By the way, don't be fooled by the incredible shrinking "cost" of the fix. The official Congressional Budget Office estimate used to be $245 billion over 10 years. Now it's $210 billion. In fact, the real hit to the budget will be closer to $300 billion. The lower CBO numbers stem primarily from the administration's move to change the rules about which physician payments are subject to the cuts. The administration proposed a regulation to exempt drugs administered in doctor's offices, such as chemotherapy, from the spending ceiling. That has the effect of making the cost of the fix look smaller, but it doesn't change the ultimate drain on the treasury: Medicare will end up paying out the same amount of money.
All of this is, to some degree, Medicare kabuki to placate the American Medical Association. The Senate doesn't have the votes to pass a permanent fix without paying for it -- though, of course, it also doesn't have the votes actually to pay for it. So while the House might pass the unpaid-for fix, it will likely die there. The result will be another year-long, or possible two-year, patch slapped on this mess. Finding the money to pay for the fix and, more to the point, cobbling together the political coalition to support it, is difficult. Which is why Congress and the administration have joined hands in the pretense that the doc fix has nothing whatsoever to do with health reform.Details
These offers are valid from 3:15 a.m. PT on February 21, 2019, to 11:59 p.m. PT on February, 27, 2019, on select full-price and sale styles, as marked, at RalphLauren.com only. For the 30% offer, the threshold amount must be reached in a single transaction and promotional code TAKE30 must be entered to receive the offer. The threshold and savings apply to qualifying merchandise only; amounts paid for excluded items, shipping and handling, or taxes do not count toward the threshold amount. The extra 15% offer is valid on select full-price and sale sweaters and outerwear, as marked, at RalphLauren.com only. The discount is automatically applied at checkout. These offers can be combined and used with applicable offers for free shipping but cannot be combined with any other offer. These offers are not valid on previously purchased merchandise, new arrivals, Collection merchandise, Double RL merchandise, Purple Label merchandise, Ralph Lauren luxury accessories and footwear, Ralph’s Coffee product and merchandise, select home merchandise, select boys’ tailored clothing, kids’ cashmere merchandise, select gift sets, limited-edition collections, philanthropic merchandise, customized merchandise, books, watches and fine jewelry, fragrances, eyewear, or gift cards. This offer has no cash value. This offer is not applicable to purchases being shipped internationally. For Customer Assistance, please call 888-475-7674.By James Kwak
On the theory that the best defense is a good offense, Rick Perry has been insisting to anyone who will listen that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. Probably hundreds of people have already explained why it isn’t, but I think it’s important to be clear about why Rick Perry thinks it is—or, rather, why his political advisers think he can get away with it.
A Ponzi scheme, classically, is one where you promise high returns to investors but you have no way of actually generating those returns; instead, you plan to pay off old investors by getting new money from new investors. Social Security is obviously not a Ponzi scheme for at least two basic reasons. First, there’s no fraud involved: all of Social Security’s finances are right out in the open for anyone who cares to look, in the annual report of the trustees of the Social Security trust funds. Second, a Ponzi scheme by construction cannot go on forever; no matter how long you can keep it going, at some point you will run out of potential new investors and the whole thing will collapse. I’m sure there are other obvious differences, but that’s enough for now.
So why do people ever think it’s a Ponzi scheme? It’s the combination of two factors, each of which is relatively innocuous on its own.
First, Social Security is, from a cash flow perspective, a pay-as-you-go system. That is, payroll taxes being paid by current workers are immediately going out the door to pay benefits for current retirees. This is different from a pre-funded pension system where the pension plan already has enough money, today, to pay for all promised future benefits. Employer-sponsored pension funds in principle (though not always in practice) work this way: at any moment, the fund is supposed to have enough money to pay off future benefits. A commenter on an earlier post of mine said that if Social Security were a corporate pension fund, I would be attacking it as a fraud for this reason.
Not so fast. There’s nothing wrong in principle with a pay-as-you-go system, as long as the future revenue stream is secure. With any pension plan, the fundamental question is whether the plan will be able to pay future promised benefits. We want private pensions to be pre-funded because we wouldn’t trust a company that said, “We know we don’t have enough money to pay the benefits we promised, but don’t worry, we’ll be really profitable starting twenty years from now, so we’ll be fine.” It’s not a question of whether corporate executives are honest; it’s that the future is uncertain. As we know, companies can go bankrupt almost overnight (remember Enron? WorldCom?), so the only way to ensure that they will pay future benefits is to require pre-funding. Even then, pre-funding is not a magic bullet because you have to make some assumption about future investment returns. Under today’s rules, companies assume some rate of return on their pension fund investments (actually, I think they assume some discount rate for their future liabilities, which works out to roughly the same thing)—which means that even with pre-funding, there’s no assurance the money will be there to pay benefits.
Social Security is different because it knows that, unlike future corporate profits, the trust funds’ revenues will be there in future years. That’s the great thing about being the federal government: you know people will pay their taxes. Yes, there is uncertainty about economic growth, but Social Security’s future income stream is a good deal more predictable than a corporate pension fund’s future investment returns.*
But, you may be saying, and this is the second factor, the trust funds will go bankrupt in about twenty-five years!** That is probably true, but it is not because Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system. A pay-as-you-go system can easily go on forever, as long as you have a constant rate of population growth (or even a constant rate of population decline): Generation A’s benefits are paid by Generation B, which is 10 percent larger than Generation A; Generation B’s benefits are paid by Generation C, which is 10 percent larger than Generation B; and so on. With a few more simple assumptions, this can go on forever.
The Social Security trust funds will run out of money because the current structure of taxes and benefits requires a certain minimum dependency ratio (the ratio of workers to retirees) and the actual dependency ratio will fall below that required minimum as the Baby Boom generation retires. It’s the combination of those two facts—that Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system and that the trust funds will run out of money—that makes Rick Perry thinks it’s a Ponzi scheme. Ponzi schemes are also pay-as-you-go systems that will run out of money, but that doesn’t make Social Security a Ponzi scheme, just like all giraffes are mammals, but not all mammals are giraffes.
As all informed observers realize, you could close the seventy-five-year Social Security budget gap simply by raising the payroll tax rate by two percentage points (or by other means that have a similar financial impact, such as eliminating the cap on taxable income). This in itself should make clear that it isn’t a Ponzi scheme.
Now, it is true that the benefit-tax structure was already changed in 1983, so it’s a reasonable question whether the system has to be “fixed” every thirty years, which would raise the question of sustainability. But there’s no good reason to think the dependency ratio will keep getting worse and worse, because the Baby Boom was a one-time historical event. Right now the dependency ratio and the funding gap are expected to level off around 2035 (as the last Baby Boomers retire) and remain roughly flat for half a century. (See the 2011 annual report, pp. 10–11.) So any policy change that brings Social Security in balance in 2035 will keep it more or less in balance as far as we can see. Yes, it’s possible that the birth rate could drop again, but it could also go up; we just don’t know. (And if the birth rate drops, what that means is that we need more immigration by working-age people, but that’s another topic.)
Wait, Rick Perry might say: Doesn’t the fact that we all know Social Security’s future revenues are not enough to pay its scheduled benefits make it a fraud all by itself? Not in a legal sense, since all the information is out there for everyone to see. But it does raise a legitimate issue: By 1983, the Baby Boom had happened, so everything that is going to happen with the dependency ratio was easily predictable—yet Congress and the Reagan administration consciously underfunded the system. (As of 1983, Social Security was in 75-year actuarial balance, but that was because a large surplus in the first thirty-seven years balanced a large deficit in the last thirty-eight years. See the 1983 Annual Report Summary, Chart F.) Isn’t that a problem?
But saying that Congress underfunded Social Security is not a valid criticism of Social Security as a program: it’s a valid criticism of Congress. As a logical matter, you can criticize our political leaders, past and present, for not fixing Social Security’s long-term funding problem, but you can’t use that fact to criticize the basic structure of the system, where people pay taxes while working and receive benefits while in retirement. There’s nothing wrong with that, try as Rick Perry might to confuse the issue.
* Private accounts would solve this problem, but not in a useful sense. Because you would only be entitled to the money in your private account, Social Security would have no obligations, and hence could never be underfunded. But you would be subject to inflation risk and investment risk; today, Social Security absorbs both inflation risk and investment risk, so all you are subject to is political risk (the risk that benefits when it comes time for you to collect them).
** “Bankrupt” isn’t quite right: what will happen is that the trust funds’ accumulated balance will run down, so the only money they will have to pay benefits will be the current year’s payroll tax revenues—which will not be enough to pay scheduled benefits. It’s not clear that these “scheduled” benefits should even count as “promised,” since both the law and the financial status of Social Security are public information, but that’s another topic for another time.They're really good at eating hot dogs. (Bigstock)
Urban ants might be more helpful thank you'd think. According to a study published Tuesday in Global Change Biology, tiny arthropods in New York City do massive amounts of garbage clean-up -- and by chowing down on your trash, they may help keep rats and other (bigger) pests at bay.
Ants are abundant in the streets of Manhattan: A recent study found 42 different species of the critters in the city. And that isn't just a testament to Central Park's lushness. Median strips -- the tiny patches of grass between pulsing city streets -- held 18 species of their own.
And as it turns out, those median-dwellers are the city's most voracious garbage eaters. The ants that live on the medians down the Broadway corridor are capable of eating the equivalent of 60,000 hot dogs a year.
The research team tested ants' garbage consumption by placing weighed samples of commonly dropped foods -- hot dogs, cookies and chips -- into wire mesh cages that only ant-sized creatures could crawl into. Next to these set-ups, they placed similar samples out in the open. After 24 hours, they took the remaining food back to the lab to measure what had been taken -- by ants alone, and by the city's entire population of refuse-eaters.
"We thought, oh, the parks, with their more diverse species -- that's where we're going to see the ants doing a more thorough job. So we were surprised when the opposite was true," said lead author Elsa Youngsteadt, a research associate at North Carolina State University.
Ants on tiny medians ate two to three times more than their cousins out in the park. Youngsteadt and her colleagues believe that pavement ants (so named for their habitat of choice) are probably the voracious eaters causing the imbalance.
"It really underscored for us how important it is to have different kinds and sizes of green spaces around the city," Youngsteadt said. Parks get a lot of praise, but tiny strips of green may be where ants compete with even less popular residents.
"Outside the cages, of course, more got eaten. That tells us that other animals are competing with ants for this food. When one group gets it, the other doesn't," she said. And New Yorkers probably take their arthropods for granted.
When Youngsteadt was setting up her cages for the experiment, she said, a passerby asked her about her work.
"When he found out I studied ants, he said, 'I sure hope you're figuring out how to kill them.' They're definitely not popular," Youngsteadt said. "But this study highlights that they have a purpose in the city ecosystem that we don't even notice. They may be taking away food from rats, who it's safe to say we like even less."
And it seems that not even a hurricane can sweep ants away from their junk-eating posts. When Hurricane Sandy flooded many of the research sites with salty water, the team expected to see a drop-off in activity there -- but local ant populations proved to be just as hungry when the waters receded.
"You'd think that several feet of salt water would deter some ants," Youngsteadt said. She's not sure why they didn't drown -- it's possible they just weren't submerged for long enough. "But it's good news for urban ecosystems. They're going to stick around and keep doing their thing no matter what -- even when a disaster happens."Tony Gonzalez stated time and again he was "95 percent" certain he was retiring after the 2012 season.
Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff isn't saying the veteran tight end is being dishonest, but he feels there's a much better chance Gonzalez returns for a 17th season than he's let on.
"Tony has done so much for us on and off the field and I don't believe, not stating that he would be lying to anyone, but I don't believe the 95 percent," Dimitroff said Thursday on NBC Sports Network's "Pro Football Talk." "I want to believe it's a lot closer to 50/50, to be honest with you, and we've had discussions."
"Obviously (head coach) Mike Smith has had discussions with him. We're all in a good place. Ultimately it's up to Tony to decide if he wants to come back and potentially catch 100 balls again. I think it's one of those situations that Tony was so effective for us down the stretch and I can't imagine that his appetite wasn't sort of whet from his contributions in the playoffs."
Smith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week there's nothing "concrete in terms of a timetable" for the tight end to come to a decision. Dimitroff said Thursday that Gonzalez is still the No. 1 tight end on Atlanta's internal depth chart. Smith said the Falcons' personnel department would perform its combine due diligence on tight end prospects regardless of Gonzalez's status.
It's still hard to believe Gonzalez would walk away with so much left in his tank, especially with that perfect setup in Atlanta. We'll believe Gonzalez is done when the retirement papers are filed. Until then, call us 95 percent unconvinced.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said on Sunday that it will, in time, launch a political party.
The party, to be called the United Front and Movement for Socialism, would be aimed at uniting the working class and mobilising around issues affecting workers.
Numsa spokesperson Castro Ngobese said the organisation had not yet formed a political party, but would do so at the appropriate time. Contesting the 2014 elections however was off the table.
"We need a movement for socialism," general secretary Irvin Jim told reporters in Johannesburg.
He said work was underway to mobilise the working class in all its formations, for the radical implementation of the Freedom Charter, the ANC's document of goals and aspirations for the country, and against neoliberalism.
Jim said the leadership of the national liberation movement as a whole had failed to lead a consistent radical democratic process to resolve national, gender, and class questions post-1994 – the year of South Africa's first democratically elected government.
He said the leadership was predominantly drawn from the black and African capitalist class, which "kowtows" to the dictates of white monopoly capitalist and imperialist interests.
"It is half-hearted and extremely inconsistent in the pursuit of a radical democratic programme and has completely abandoned the Freedom Charter," he said.
'Contest the elections'
Jim said it was those circumstances, combined with the worsening situation of the South African working class as a whole post-1994, which has made Numsa rethink and revisit its relationship with the ANC and its alliance.
"We need to organise ourselves as a class, which is why we need a movement that will contest the elections at the appropriate time," said Jim.
In order to reach out far and wide, Numsa would convene provincial and national consultative meetings to share the content of its resolutions on the United Front and Movement for Socialism.
He said during Numsa's January Marxist-Leninist Political School, meetings were held with the leaders of some of the social movements and community structures, to begin the process of mapping out how they could work together.
With more than 340 000 members, Numsa is the biggest trade union in the country.
Abandon capitalism
Earlier on Sunday, Numsa called for capitalism to be abandoned saying it had failed South Africans.
"We at Numsa have no illusion that only a total destruction of capitalism and all it represents, can save the earth and give birth to a new civilisation," Jim told reporters in Johannesburg.
Jim said capitalism was imported by colonialism.
"The South African capitalist state did not emerge as a result of an internal popular anti-feudal revolution."
He said capitalism had depended heavily on imperialist centres.
Jim said 20 years after the democratic transition, the colonial status of the black majority had remained in place.
Out of the 26-million South Africans who live in abject poverty, 25-million were Africans and this was proof enough that capitalism had failed, he said.
"All economic policies since 1994 have been incapable of defeating colonialism of a special type and the effects of apartheid capitalism, which condemned the South African black working class to a life of misery and hardship," said Jim. – SapaParkour, as we know it today, stems from the activities of nine young Parisian men. The Yamakasi group, as they were known, trained together in what they called “l'art du placement”: a spectacular, regimented and controlled way of moving. But that was at the turn of the 21st century. Now, parkour is a global phenomenon, with traceurs – those who practice parkour – running, jumping, climbing and rolling their way through cities around the world, and in places such as Gaza.
Appearances in Hollywood films and TV documentaries have boosted the profile of parkour, impressed millions with its grace and dynamism and given rise to a global movement of like-minded people, all wanting to learn how to move in these incredible ways.
Today, parkour is a recognised sport, with many institutions offering training camps and regular courses – some have even built specially-designed parkour “parks”. In just over a decade, it has gone from a niche activity – which many city officials regarded as anti-social – to an internationally recognised (not to mention, highly lucrative) sport.
Playful politics
Of course, parkour has always contained a political element. Like other “anti-social” urban activities which have been widely adopted across the globe, such as skateboarding and graffiti, parkour can still offer traceurs a sense of rebellion against “the establishment”. Indeed, some city authorities still seek to prosecute traceurs, while action-packed blockbuster films play up parkour’s more subversive side.
But in fact, the people who practice parkour are engaging in urban politics in a very playful way. This sport actively encourages people to see the city as a playground. Traceurs will often talk of having “parkour eyes”, which allow them to see the city as a child would: as a playground to explore rather than a system of containment.
Jumping over bollards, climbing up walls or rolling over concrete roofs; these spectacular movements show what the human body is capable of – but they also highlight how the city can be navigated in very different ways. In early films and videos, traceurs’ spectacular physical movements are deliberately contrasted with parts of the city which are static, fixed and enclosed.
The freedom to move that parkour enables was, and still is, a fundamental part of its philosophy. It’s also what makes parkour inherently political. Moving across the city in ways that it wasn’t designed for is a liberating experience.
Parkour is very much a reaction to the increased restriction of movement in modern cities: it allows traceurs to rediscover their cities in an entirely new way, while also traversing architectural restrictions such as walls, fences and stair wells.
The politics of parkour are perhaps “softer” than other subcultures, such as skateboarding or graffiti, which have more subversive histories. In fact, there are plenty of comparisons to be drawn between parkour and martial art philosophies; particularly when it comes to practitioners’ dedication to training the body and the mind.
But for all this, parkour is no less politically potent: it offers a way to highlight the city’s systems of control, by creatively navigating the urban environment.
A social network
What’s more, parkour is an inherently social activity. While most of the videos and images of parkour focus on individuals, traceurs actually train and practice together in groups. This social aspect is an important check on the temptation for self-promotion. They may gather in sanctioned parks (which often charge an entry fee), or more regularly in “hot spots”: urban spaces which inadvertently provide the perfect architecture.
One such place was the Vauxhall Walls in London, which was a concrete garden for a nearby tower block. Despite residents continually asking traceurs to leave, the spot became one of London’s prime parkour locations. But in 2016, the site was “beautified” with landscape gardens and water features, and it is no longer suitable for practising parkour. This process feeds into other urban issues, such as gentrification – something London’s Southbank skateboarders have also had to contend with.
The social aspect of parkour extends beyond training, too. As well as scoping out sites and developing new moves, traceurs often film videos of each other that are posted online. The virtual community of parkour is hugely important. It enables the sport to spread to new locations, by allowing people to watch videos of traceurs from the other side of the world, connect with them and adopt or adapt their moves.
Freedom from oppression
Parkour gives people the chance to express a freedom of movement that pays little attention to the instructions of the city. It’s a highly social activity, which brings like-minded traceurs together and gives them a chance to be physically, but also politically active in their cities.
This is perhaps why it is flourishing in areas of the world that are under extreme social or political pressure. For example, there is a thriving parkour group among the disenfranchised youth of Gaza. And in Iran, where women’s rights are often oppressed, parkour is gaining huge popularity among female participants.
Parkour offers a way to actively engage in the city physically, emotionally and socially. It requires nothing more than a pair of hands, an able body (which of course, makes it inaccessible to some) and a willingness to explore the city beyond the one your told to behave in. Parkour is an inherently political practice.The New York Public Library’s announcement that it is abandoning its Central Library Plan has been praised as a good and sensible thing, and indeed it is. The C.L.P. would have sold off the Mid-Manhattan Library and the Science, Industry, and Business Library (called SIBL; five of its floors not open to the public have been sold already). The collections of those libraries would have been moved to the main research library, on Fifth Avenue, and elsewhere. That hundred-and-three-year-old edifice (now known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building), with the stone lions out front, would have been reconfigured: seven floors of its stacks taken out, a lending library added to what had been a research library only, more than a million books moved off-site, and a four-level atrium and other new elements put in, following a design by the architect Norman Foster.
Observers could be excused for finding the plan too complicated and strange to think about at first. The library’s management and board of trustees developed the C.L.P. without the public’s knowing much about it, but as the time for construction approached, and more public meetings were held, it became clear that the C.L.P. represented a major retrenchment. Anyone with experience in household austerity and the cost of modern real estate could get the picture. The main research building was like the elderly but still healthy parent; the Mid-Manhattan Library and SIBL were the grownup offspring. Pressed for cash, the family was selling the kids’ apartments and moving the kids in with the parent. To make room, some of the parent’s belongings would have to be put in storage in New Jersey. When the sacrifices that the C.L.P. would entail sank in, thanks in particular to reporting in The Nation and n+1, library users began to object loudly and persistently. The protests, the new mayor’s lack of support, and the fact that the financial projections did not add up eventually undid the C.L.P.
The biggest problem was the money. The N.Y.P.L. receives only part of its funding from the city, in an amount that goes up or (more often) down from year to year. Most of the money is spread among the eighty-seven branch libraries throughout Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. (Brooklyn and Queens have their own systems.) In 2014, the city will contribute about fifty per cent of the over-all operating costs. To make up the difference, the N.Y.P.L. pursues funding from many sources, which also fluctuate unpredictably. The collection of the main research library has been compared to that of the Library of Congress and to that of Harvard’s Widener Library. But the U.S. government underwrites the former, and the latter rests comfortably in the care of the richest university in the world. In contrast, the N.Y.P.L. is an on-the-jump freelancer, scrambling for dollars from one day to the next almost as energetically as the street performers out in front of the Fifth Avenue building.
In the case of the C.L.P., the money that did not add up was about three hundred million dollars. This was the amount that the sale of SIBL and Mid-Manhattan would have provided a portion of. (The city would have put in most of the rest.) The sum had been thought sufficient for carrying out the C.L.P., until an independent audit found it not to be. To get an idea of where this |
marriage with Mailer in a memoir that is generous, sweet, well observed, harrowing in its recounting of a rape and a miscarriage, and occasionally waspish, but never unkind. Although Mailer serenaded her with love letters the likes of which Abelard never wrote Eloise (“Darling, I just had a picture of how you look in the morning with that incredible beauty in your face as if you’d been fucking a stag in your dreams and he said something lovely as he left you in my arms”—fancy that, a talking stag!), prominent bystanders, wise to Norman’s ways, waved caution flags to warn her of heartbreak ahead. Elizabeth Hardwick, novelist and essayist, cautioned “with that croaky little giggle she had” not to let him get her pregnant, and Congresswoman Bella Abzug, whose voice, Mailer once wrote, could boil the fat off a cabdriver’s neck, gave Norris her phone number as a 24-hour personal emergency hotline. Norris shooed away such well-intended, buttinsky advice, and her May–December romance with Norman resulted in a marriage whose installments became a staple of the gossip columns and celebrity spreads, her Juno-esque height and his howitzer stare embossing them as one of New York’s most totemic 80s couples, matching accessories. Unlike Mailer’s previous marriages, this one looked as if it would be his climactic toreador turn in the matrimonial ring, his final Picasso period. Asked which Mailer wife was she, Norris would tartly reply, “The last one,” and so she proved to be. But at what a bruising and exacting price, a long season of blight and betrayal that cannot fail to leave discolored memories that even death can’t entirely pacify. It began with a twitchy suspicion, a bit of dodgy behavior from Mailer during a trip to California (an uncharacteristic late-night phone call in which “he was vague and defensive and obviously had been drinking”), along with credit-card receipts from Chicago, which hadn’t been on the itinerary. He claimed he had made the unscheduled stop to meet with Saul Bellow about a joint project, a fib so preposterous that it collapsed as soon as the Alpha-Bits sputtered out of his mouth. Busted, Mailer confessed to meeting with an old girlfriend, but it was no one-off for auld lang syne; Norris tugged on the loose string in the evidence chain and found herself deluged by a balloon drop of floozies, a Clinton-esque bimbo explosion. (Interestingly, Norris reveals in the book that she had a brief tryst with the future president.) Mailer’s desk bulged with letters, notes, gifts, and photographs from girlfriends, including a stack of nudies from “an aging porn star,” the kind of tender keepsake with which so many men would find it difficult to part. Mailer’s rationale for his furtive rampage of satyriasis was that he had begun living a double life and was conducting covert operations in the sack while working on his C.I.A. epic, Harlot’s Ghost, a writer’s version of a Method actor getting into character. “It was an imaginative excuse. I do give him credit for that,” Norris writes. But given the long gestation of Harlot’s Ghost, this meant that for half of their marriage up till then, 8 out of the 16 years, “he was totally, blindingly, a cheat.” Adding insult to infidelity, she finds herself bumping into her husband’s former harem partners on book tours and at parties, forced to restrain herself from whipping out Wonder Woman’s golden lasso on one of these hussies for fear the paparazzi would have a field day. “Why had I been so consumed by this old, fat, bombastic, lying little dynamo?,” Norris Church asks in the reeling aftermath. But they patched themselves together and toughed it out until the last round, through the faltering arc of his infirmities and her unsparing bouts of cancer, kidney pain, and intestinal operations, bound by devotion, attrition, and too much shared history to declare their marriage kaput.In view of the incident in Rajasthan where a man was burnt to death in an alleged case of 'love jihad', All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen President Asaduddin Owaisi said Muslims are being targeted in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
"Today, we are being targeted in our own country because we are Muslims. The Central government appreciates people who have such a mentality. In the three years on Narendra Modi government, some or the other such case is coming to light, (Aaj humare hi mulk mein humko sirf isliye nishana banaya ja raha hai ki hum musalmaan hain.Markaz mein aisi hukumat hai jo aisi soch aur fikr rakhnewalon ki tareef kar rahi hai.3 saal se BJP ki hukumat hai,har waqt koi na koi wakayat hota aa raha hai)," he said.
A Muslim man was burnt to death in Rajsamand district in Rajasthan. The victim has reportedly been identified as Mohammed Afrazul who is believed to have been a migrant from Malda in West Bengal. He was working as a labourer in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan.
The accused got a video recorded of the incident. The victim can be seen crying for help in the video even as the accused beats him with an axe and later burns him alive.
The main accused Shambulal Raigar is in three-day police custody. Shambulal's nephew who reportedly filmed the killing is a minor and has been sent to child justice home in Udaipur.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has extended financial aid of Rs 5 lakh to the family of the victim.Update (5/18 12:30pm): Amazon has matched this pricing on the SONOS PLAY:1 two room starter kit for $349 with free shipping.
Crutchfield is making it easier than ever to get into the world of wireless whole home audio. The online retailer is offering two SONOS PLAY:1 speakers in white or black for $349 shipped. These regularly go for $199 individually and today’s deal delivers a savings of roughly $25 per speaker. This is within a few dollars of the best price we’ve seen for an individual PLAY:1 and the lowest current offer. Crutchfield’s excellent service and support are an added bonus to this deal.
These speakers are widely respected by consumers as an excellent bridge into the SONOS ecosystem. The PLAY:1’s feature two class D tuned amplifiers, one 3.5″ mid-woofer and a tweeter. The humidity-resistant design allows for the speaker to be placed in a bathroom or outside on humid days. With access to a variety of music sources, such as Spotify, Pandora and Beats Music, the PLAY:1 is a solid option for starting a whole home wireless music system.For the final time, ‘Monday Night Raw’ comes to Joe Louis Arena, the home of many WWE highlights over the years
Buy Photo Contestants battle in the ring during the Royal Rumble. WWE Royal Rumble at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on January 25, 2009. (Photo: Daniel Mears / The Detroit News)Buy Photo
In July 2016, World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon pulled up to Joe Louis Arena for a live taping of WWE’s flagship program, “Monday Night Raw.” Stepping from his limousine, he was asked on camera by WWE personality Renee Young what he was doing there.
“I’m here because of that” — he paused and took a deep breath for dramatic effect — “the smell of that Detroit fresh air! That’s why I’m here.”
That Detroit fresh air has kept the WWE coming back to Joe Louis Arena for more than 30 years. Now, as the Joe prepares to take its final bow later this year, WWE will bring “Raw” to the Red Wings’ home one final time on Monday.
Since the then-World Wrestling Federation debuted at the Joe on Dec. 2, 1984, the pro wrestling company has staged more than 100 events at the riverfront arena, from house shows to pay-per-view events to tapings of “Monday Night Raw” and “Smackdown.” Greats like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, George “The Animal” Steele and Andre the Giant have entertained audiences there, and some of the company’s top performers have enjoyed career highlights underneath its blue rafters and inside its white walls.
“It was the start of my career,” says Kurt Angle, the former Olympic gold medalist who made his WWE television debut at Joe Louis Arena at the “Survivor Series” Pay-Per-View in November 1999. That night, Angle’s good-guy character was met with a hearty round of boos by the Detroit crowd, a reaction that helped shape his character going forward. “I have to give credit to the fans there at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, that night at the ‘Survivor Series,’ because that’s what made me who I am today,” Angle says.
Detroit has always been a strong wrestling town, going back to the 1970s and the bloodletting battles between Ed “The Sheik” Farhat and Bobo Brazil (Houston Harris) at Cobo Hall. WWE carried on that legacy, and without the Joe — which opened its doors in 1979 — many WWE Superstars’ highlight reels might look a little different.
At the first “Raw” at Joe Louis Arena in September 1998, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin drove a Zamboni through the backstage area out to the ring, bumping the ring back several feet upon impact and whipping the crowd up into a frenzy that rivaled any Red Wings playoff game. Austin then climbed over the top of the Wings’ ice cleaning machine, dove off its front end and tackled McMahon, a clear nod to Hockeytown that still ranks near the top of Austin’s greatest hits.
Other Joe Louis high points include Shane McMahon’s shocking return to WWE after a six-year absence in February 2016; Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and “Stone Cold” taking their fight to the streets outside Joe Louis in April 1999; and the Undertaker’s (Mark William Calaway’s) first heavyweight championship win at the 1991 “Survivor Series.” Those moments were made immortal by the the Joe Louis crowd’s electricity.
Angle, who will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida, later this month, has a lot of appreciation and reverence for the Joe and its fans. That first night at the “Survivor Series,” Angle was a 30-year-old ex-amateur wrestler billed in a needling fashion as a “real athlete” and made out to be overly wholesome, an actual hero in an era known for its anti-heroes.
“It was nerve-wracking, because a Detroit crowd is one of the most passionate crowds. They can be your best friend or they can be your worst enemy,” says the eventual four-time WWE champion, who fought Shawn Stasiak in that initial bout. “Once I earned their respect, they turned it around. The one thing about them in Detroit is they know talent when they see it. If you prove to them that you’re that good, they’re going to appreciate it. They’re some of the smartest fans in the world.”
Angle returned to Joe Louis Arena several times over the years and remembers seeing the Red Wings championship banners and nods to the team’s history throughout the building. He also remembers fans showing up early in the day and staying long after an event just to catch a glimpse of their favorite wrestlers.
“I’ve only been to three arenas that are like that: Madison Square Garden, the one in Baltimore and Joe Louis Arena,” Angle says. “That’s what I remember most, is seeing 5,000 fans still out there an hour after a show just to say ‘hi’ to Kurt Angle, who’s going to be leaving in 10 seconds. But they’re still out there because that’s how much they care.”
Current WWE grappler Big Cass wrestled at Joe Louis Arena for the first time last year but knows the building’s history from his days as a WWE fan.
“It has a very loud, honest fan base,” says Cass, born William Morrissey. “I always loved it when they would go to Joe Louis Arena.”
During his first visit to the building last year, he went out to the ring area early and took pictures of the empty building as it was being set up for the event. That night, Cass was involved in a match where he and his tag-team partner, Enzo Amore (Eric Anthony Arndt), took on the three-man team of A.J. Styles (Allen Neal Jones), Luke Gallows (Andrew “Drew” Hankinson) and Karl Anderson (Chad Karl Allegra). John Cena (John Felix Anthony Cena Jr.) made a surprise appearance during the match and came to the aid of Enzo and Cass, and brought the house down upon his arrival.
“That place was rockin’ when he came out,” says Cass, 29. “The roof came off the place.”
When The Palace of Auburn Hills was opened in 1988, WWE started splitting its time between the Joe and The Palace, and the company brought its annual “Summerslam” event to the Detroit Pistons’ home in August 1993. But by the late ’90s, the Joe became WWE’s Detroit home, and it hasn’t returned to The Palace since.
WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts wrestled at Joe Louis in the late 1980s and early 1990s against opponents like Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, King Kong Bundy (Christopher Alan “Chris” Pallies), Kamala (James “Jim” Harris), Rick Martel (Richard “Rick” Vigneault) and Ted DiBiase (Theodore Marvin “Ted” DiBiase Sr.). He remembers being backstage before a match one night when George “The Animal” Steele came through with several Detroit Lions players. Later that night, Steele relayed that out of all the wrestlers in the back, the players were most impressed with Roberts, whose pre-match ritual consisted of sitting in a corner alone, smoking a cigarette, wetting down his hair, slapping himself silly and then hitting the curtain.
“That guy knows what he’s doing,” they told Steele, Roberts recalls.
“I’ve been in so many wonderful arenas,” says Roberts, 61. “Walking into those buildings, you could hear voices. You may not think you could, but you could hear voices, man.”
“Some of these buildings, it kills me that they’re ripping this stuff up, when my God, it’s only been around a few years. Then you look at Wrigley Field, how long’s that been around? For-ev-er,” Roberts says.
“Maybe that’s progress, but man, I sure like the flavor of those old buildings and the history that’s there. If the athlete is honored by being there, that’s gotta count for something.”
Joe Louis Arena may be on its way out, but it still has a few body slams left in it. And even when it’s gone, there’s one thing that’s not going anywhere: That Detroit fresh air.
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Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2m4cp64President Donald Trump's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller lied.
The ability to do so seems to be a prerequisite in the Trump administration.
On Sunday, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News' "This Week," Miller repeated the completely debunked claim that a "massive" number of people voted fraudulently in the 2016 election.
He said: "George, it is a fact and you will not deny it, that there are massive numbers of non-citizens in this country, who are registered to vote. That is a scandal."
There aren't, and it isn't. More on that later.
The president's response to Miller's numerous voter fraud falsehoods came via Twitter: "Congratulations Stephen Miller — on representing me this morning on the various Sunday morning shows. Great job!"
Great job? It was a disgraceful, lying-through-your-teeth job, and I bring it up in part to highlight to you kind readers why I refuse to stop writing critically about Trump and his administration.
Throughout last year's presidential campaign and since Election Day, I have regularly filled this space with columns — some serious, some satirical — highlighting the dishonesty and danger President Trump presents.
I could write about other things. I do sometimes.
But almost daily now, something happens in Trumpland that screams, "This is not normal!"
A dead-eyed policy adviser like Miller gets on national television and lies and lies and lies, then slips in this corker: "The powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned."
Oh, they'll be questioned, Mr. Miller. They'll be questioned plenty.
I think about a song by a band called The Decemberists, a song that speaks of taking a stand, not growing complacent, fighting "with our arms unbound." The chorus echoes: "This is why/This is why we fight."
That's a bit dramatic, I suppose, but what I see happening under Trump — incessant lying, the unnecessary demeaning of opponents — is wrong. I'm not referencing policy, just basic human behavior and a belief that facts matter.
It's a privilege to have a platform and a voice, a privilege that — despite my frequent silliness — I don't take lightly. So when I see Trump tweeting false information with the sole purpose of scaring the Americans who trust him, I'm going to write something. And when I see someone like Miller shamelessly repeating talking points that have been proven false over and over again, I'm going to write something.
And I'm not going to listen to people who say, "Give it a rest, Trump won." And I'm not going to grow tired of shoving the truth in the face of liars.
What I write matters little in the grand scheme. But if I get even one person to rethink his or her opinion, I'll take it, and if I merely add to the chorus of fact-advocates out there, good.
On Sunday, Miller said that "14 percent of non-citizens, according to academic research, at a minimum, are registered to vote, which is an astonishing statistic." Astonishing, and completely misrepresented. One of the researchers Miller is citing said of his own study: "On the right there has been a tendency to misread our results as proof of massive voter fraud, which we don't think they are."
Miller also said that busing voters from neighboring states into New Hampshire to cast illegal votes is a "very real" and "very serious" problem. It's absolutely not.
Tom Rath, a Republican and the former attorney general of New Hampshire, wrote on Twitter: "Let me as be unequivocal as possible — allegations of voter fraud in NH are baseless, without any merit — it's shameful to spread these fantasies."
The fact-checking group PolitiFact gave Miller's claim a "Pants on Fire" rating, noting: "PolitiFact New Hampshire, in particular, talked to several state and local officials about whether anything fishy occurred Nov. 8. Nashua City Clerk Tricia Piecuch, who works in the state's second-largest city on the border with Massachusetts, said nothing out of the ordinary went down. Officials in the Secretary of State's office, Attorney General's office and U.S. Attorney's office all reported no complaints of voter fraud in the 2016 election."
Miller and Trump and anyone else in the administration can say there was "massive voter fraud" in the election — the one that Trump won — all they want. There are still no facts and no complaints from state-level Republicans or Democrats to back up that claim.
They are hammering away at a lie because they want to use it to justify unnecessarily strict voting laws across the country, laws that have been found, in repeated court rulings, to disenfranchise lower-income minority voters.
This is why we fight. Because laws shouldn't be based on lies.
When President Trump and the people around him find the moral fortitude to conduct their business with a modicum of honesty, to ground their policy decisions in factual information, I'll be more than happy to move on to other subjects.
Until then, I'm not shutting up, and I hope you don't shut up either.
What good is a voice if you don't use it when it matters most?
Listen to Rex Huppke and WGN radio host Amy Guth discuss presidential politics each week on the "Guth and Huppke on Politics" podcast at chicagotribune.com/guthhuppkepodcast.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com
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I am a deplorable, and I'm happy I voted for TrumpExcellent Concoction of Blooming Flavor(s)
Snickelfritz, hmmm...really good!
I was hesitant about this mix of favors but I've tried all the other Ben Jonson's (with great success) so I figured I should try this one.
Wow, I am very happy I did. Now I wish I would have bought the 30ml bottle (I will be soon).
This is a very nice mix of Kiwi, Watermelon and Peach. They really blend together smoothly. No flavor overpowers the other. To my senses I get the Kiwi and Watermelon all the way through with an excellent Peach mixing in on the exhale.
I wouldn't call this a straight melon juice. I regularly eat all three fruits and juice them as well - so to my taste buds I taste all 3 fruits easily.
It's a great mix and a very fine vape.
Equipment: Snickelfritz 6mg. Sigelei 30 watt; Kanger SubTank Mini 0.5ohm at 15-20 watts produces an excellent full flavor vape; Aspire BDC 1.8ohm at lower wattage (7-9) produces a rich flavorful vape as well.
Ben Jonson's makes great juice!!!On April 28th, Afreeca Freecs Blue beat RunAway with a perfect 3-0 and won the 2nd match of Overwatch APEX Season 3 held in Sangam OGN eStadium. Afreeca Freecs Blue overwhelmed RunAway with impressively stable game plays. Wonhyup ‘ArHaN’ Jeong took a big part in leading the team to the victory with excellent Genji plays.
Here is the interview we had with Afreeca Freecs Blue's pro DPS, ArHaN.
Q. How do you feel about your victory at today’s match?
It feels good to be back in a great form for this season. I will try harder to win.
Q. After Season 2 ended, how did you get ready for the new season?
We spent time rebuilding the team. Our team had great mechanics so we focused on our teamwork when training. Our team atmosphere was great as usual, though it was hard not being able to eat any meat as I was on a diet. I got to eat meat from a lunchbox before the match began. I think I was able to win with meat inside my stomach.
Q. You were playing against the team that was placed 2nd in previous season. Weren’t you nervous?
We were placed 2nd in Season 1 as well, so it was a match against teams that came in 2nd place. We really wanted to win.
Q. You’ve beaten your opponent team with 3-0. Did you expect such perfect victory?
I thought that our team had better teamwork. After we won in the 1st set, I expected to win a perfect victory by 3-0.
Q. You’ve only made it to the quarterfinals. Is there anything you felt sorry for?
I didn’t do that great in last season. I think we ended up with playing in the quarterfinals because I didn’t play as well as I was expected to.
Q. Is there any particular team you’ve got your eyes on?
I’d pick Rogue. Rogue was the first team to show 3 DPS composition meta. We’re the ones using that very meta, we have our eyes out for Rogue as they seem to use 3 DPS meta effectively.
Q. What is your perspective on current metas in Overwatch?
I still think Charge composition and 3 DPS composition is great. Having 3 tanks on the team is also great depending on the map.
Q. What’s your goal for this season?
To absolutely win. We didn’t get to show great performance in Season 2, but we’ll get that powerful gameplay from Season 1 back and win in Season 3.
Q. Any last words?
I would like to thank our fans for continuing to support us. We were able to come this far because of our fans. We’d appreciate it if you continued to support us.Ageing population and better diagnosis have led to heart disease being knocked off top spot for first time, ONS says
Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias have replaced ischaemic heart disease as the leading cause of death in England and Wales for the first time.
Last year, 61,686 (11.6%) out of a total of 529,655 deaths registered in England and Wales were attributable to dementia, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The statisticians said an ageing population, better diagnosis, and lifestyle and treatment advances with respect to other illnesses were among the factors that had pushed dementia to the top of the list.
The mortality rate for dementia, which was the second leading cause of death for the previous four years, has more than doubled since 2010, while that of ischaemic heart disease declined sharply over the same period.
Martina Kane, senior policy officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Today’s news that dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are the leading cause of death in England and Wales is a stark reminder that dementia remains a growing concern across the country. While the news represents improvements in diagnosis rates, general awareness and the accuracy of reporting, it also reflects that there are rising numbers of people with dementia.
“While there remains no cure for the condition, everyone who develops it will sadly still have the disease when they die. It is therefore essential that people have access to the right support and services to help them live well with dementia and that research into better care, treatments and eventually a cure remain high on the agenda.”
Alzheimer's treatment within reach after successful drug trial Read more
Ischaemic heart diseases were responsible for 11.5% of deaths last year, although it was still the leading cause of death for men, accounting for 14.3% of male deaths. Dementia, the leading cause of death for women, was responsible for 15.2% of all female deaths, up from 13.4% in 2014.
Hilary Evans, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said the figures “call attention to the uncomfortable reality that currently, no-one survives a diagnosis of dementia”. He added: “With growing numbers of people living with dementia, we urgently need treatments that can stop or slow the diseases that drive this devastating condition.”
The ONS said there was likely to have been an increased reporting of dementia on death certificates because of dementia diagnosis incentives paid to GPs (which have since been scrapped), the prime minister’s challenge to improve dementia care and an agreed ambition that two-thirds of the estimated number of people with dementia in England should have a diagnosis.
Elizabeth McLaren, from the vital statistics outputs branch at ONS, said: “In 2015, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease became the leading cause of death in part because people are simply living longer but also because of improved detection and diagnosis. An updating of the international rules for determining the underlying cause of death is also a factor, with the increase in cases attributed to these conditions accompanied by falls in other causes.”
The most common causes of death last year after dementia and ischaemic heart disease were cerebrovascular diseases, such as strokes, chronic lower respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.
There was wide variation by age group. Dementia was the leading cause of death for people over 80 but it was the fourth leading cause of death for women aged 65 to 79 and not in the top five leading causes of death for men aged within that age group. Among men aged 35 to 49 suicide and injury/poisoning of undetermined intent was responsible for the most deaths, while for women of the same age group the leading cause of death was breast cancer.
If all cancers are grouped together, it was the most common cause of death, accounting for 27.9% of all deaths last year, compared with 26.2% caused by circulatory diseases, such as heart diseases and strokes.
Alzheimer’s Society estimates that there will be a million people with dementia in the UK by 2025, although research published earlier this year suggests that the number of new cases in recent years has been fewer than previously predicted.People pray near a memorial to the victims in Sutherland Springs, Texas, November 7, 2017. (Reuters photo: Jonathan Bachman)
The anti-prayer tweets aren’t encouraging a debate about gun control; they are discouraging expressions of shock, sympathy, and mourning.
Social-media platforms and the press outfits sniffing clicks through them continue to play a distorting role in tragedies such as the Texas church massacre. The effect is increasing the ambient background level of contempt and hatred in American society.
Even before they express anger at the killer, and even before politicians offer their somewhat rote and impotent expressions of sorrow and sympathy, a huge number of people ready themselves to pounce on “thoughts and prayers.” After the mass shooting in San Bernardino the Daily News derisively featured Republican tweets offering their sympathies on the front page, highlighting the word “prayers” in each one. Now after almost every mass shooting the Huffington Post puts together mocking collections of these tweets and the sick burns people give in response.
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Some even opined, stupidly, that the Church massacre proves that prayer is insufficient to stop all violence. It’s an open question why people think this is a smart thing to say. Is it because they are too ignorant to know what prayer is for? That the prayers of people shocked and horrified by the news are for consolation in the face of evil, the strength to seek justice, the wisdom to know the best course of action, or even the eternal rest of the departed? Or is it because they are cynically pretending that people believe prayer works like superstition?
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When asked to defend their mocking of prayers offered to God in the face of a massacre in a church, the people in these online dog piles respond that Republicans are offering prayers as a distraction from their own pro-gun-rights politics.
In fact, almost the opposite is the case. Republicans are not shy about defending their views on guns. And they are often forced to do so in the days and weeks after a mass shooting reminds people that America is almost uniquely afflicted by this kind of violence.
In the moments after a tragedy, the fact is we have no idea whether the killer would have been deterred by stricter gun-control laws, whether he broke existing ones, or whether he would have sought to circumvent them the way mass killers do in other countries. We often have no idea how any particular gun-control policies we would like to see implemented would have changed these events.
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And so attacking the prayers of politicians in fact substitutes for thought and reflection. It is a way for those who favor more gun control, as I do, to express a sentiment about gun violence, without actually putting forward a policy that addresses the issue at hand. If anyone is using “prayer” as a distraction in the wake of a mass shooting, it is those who want gun control but have no idea how their policy preferences could be implemented, and how those policies would have changed the events.
Of course, all statements from politicians about any tragedy or death sound inadequate, and this is exasperating. But I find it hard to blame them. The public demands statements from their politicians about every grave and unsettling event in our national life. And in relation to the dead and bereaved, politicians are in the same position as any other stranger, only able to offer the bare minimum, the culturally accepted clichés about mourning. Their statements exasperate the public in the same way the repetition of the phrase “sorry for your loss” often quietly tries the patience of those truly bereaved at a funeral, since this phrase is often the only thing that distant acquaintances of the dead can say. We are destined to be annoyed by politicians joining in immediate public mourning for exactly as long as we continue to demand that they participate in it.
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The anti-prayer tweets aren’t encouraging a debate about gun control; they are discouraging expressions of shock, sympathy, and mourning. That is, they are discouraging statements about the inherent value of the lives lost that address the real grief of the bereaved. Often that is the only thing we can sensibly offer in the minutes after awful news breaks across our screens. By discouraging these expressions, they are also inadvertently boxing pro-gun-control politicians into talking about the victims of mass shootings in a purely instrumental way, a less human way — thereby reducing such deaths to having no other public meaning beyond another reason to pass legislation that these politicians already wanted to pass. Without being able to offer a plain expression of sorrow and anger, even pro-gun-control politicians are deprived of a means of offering human respect before engaging in politics. This opens them to the charge of disrespecting the dead by using their deaths to promote views to which the dead would object.
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So even if you are frustrated with America’s permissive gun rights, it isn’t the prayers offered to the dead that are the problem. Let people mourn the dead. Let them say the human thing first. And then engage in vigorous political debate afterward.
READ MORE:
In the Face of Evil, Prayer Is the Most Rational and Effective Response
In Texas, Two Very American Heroes
— Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review.Amy Taxin, The Associated Press
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The man who bought the rifles used in the San Bernardino attack pleaded not guilty Wednesday to conspiring with one of the killers and providing material support to terrorists.
Enrique Marquez Jr., 24, appeared in federal court in Riverside with his hands and feet shackled. He answered "not guilty" when asked to enter his plea to the five-count indictment.
A jury trial was scheduled for Feb. 23. Marquez could be sent to prison for as long as 50 years if he's convicted. His lawyer, Young J. Kim, declined to comment after the arraignment.
According to the FBI, during 10 days of interviews Marquez revealed plots he and his friend, Syed Rizwan Farook, discussed but never carried out to slaughter students at a community college and murder motorists on a congested freeway.
The Dec. 30 indictment superseded charges he originally faced when arrested two weeks after the Dec. 2 shootings carried out by Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, at a building where Farook's colleagues from the San Bernardino county health department were meeting.
The couple killed 14 people and wounded 22 others before being killed hours later in a dramatic shootout with police.
Authorities said Marquez was not involved in the killings, but that his failure to warn authorities about Farook and his purchase of the guns had deadly consequences.
Marquez and Farook were friends who grew up next door to each other in Riverside. Farook, 28, introduced Marquez to Islam as a teenager a decade ago and indoctrinated him in violent extremism, according to the FBI.
Marquez bought two rifles for Farook in 2011 and 2012 and the two planned to launch bomb and shooting attacks at Riverside City College, where they attended classes, and a notoriously gridlocked section of highway without exits.
Marquez faces two firearms violations for being the so-called straw buyer who purchased the guns in his name because Farook, who was born in the U.S. to Pakistani immigrants, "looked Middle Eastern," authorities said.
He also faces charges of marriage fraud and lying on immigration paperwork for wedding to Russian woman whose sister is married to Farook's brother.
The FBI said Marquez admitted he was paid $200 to marry the woman and he lied on immigration papers that he lived with her so she could stay in the U.S.
A lawyer for Marquez previously argued unsuccessfully that his client should be released on bond because he had willingly spoken with the FBI while he was not in custody and never fled. Kim, a public defender, has since filed paperwork in court to prevent investigators from speaking with Marquez without his lawyer present."Grimhilde" redirects here. For the sorceress from Norse mythology, see Grimhild
The Evil Queen, also known as the Wicked Queen or just the Queen, and sometimes instead identified by her given name as Queen Grimhilde, is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Productions' first animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and a villain character in the extended Disney's Snow White franchise. She is based on the Evil Queen character from the fairy tale "Snow White".
In the film, similar to the Brothers Grimm story, the Evil Queen is cold, cruel, and extremely vain, owning a magic mirror, and obsessively desiring to remain the "fairest in the land". She becomes madly envious over the beauty of her stepdaughter, Princess Snow White, as well as the attentions of the Prince from another land; such love triangle element is one of Disney's changes to the story. This leads her to plot the death of Snow White and ultimately on the path to her own demise, which in the film is indirectly caused by the Seven Dwarfs. The film's version of the Queen character uses her dark magic powers to actually transform herself into an old woman instead of just taking a disguise like in the Grimms' story; this appearance of hers is commonly referred to as the Wicked Witch or alternatively as the Old Hag or just the Witch. The Queen dies in the film, but lives on in a variety of non-canonical Disney works.
The film's version of the Queen was created by Walt Disney and Joe Grant, and originally animated by Art Babbitt and voiced by Lucille La Verne. |
oxygen isotopes are typical of ancient meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites – virtually all of which were formed at the birth of the Solar System, according to Nature. That would make the quasicrystal 4.5 billion years old and one of the oldest minerals on Earth.
The team is still not able to say for sure what process leads to the natural formation of quasicrystals, New Scientist said. However, if they were indeed able to form in space – in far more variable conditions than a laboratory – they may be easier to make than first imagined.
According to theoretical physicist Paul Steinhardt, one of the team that identified the Koryak quasicrystal and a lead researcher on this latest study:
"Nature managed to do it under conditions we would have thought completely nuts."
Steinhardt and his colleagues continue to hunt for other natural quasicrystals, including in the area where the original example was found.
"There is no reason to believe that ours is the only natural quasicrystal, or that all quasicrystals are extraterrestrial," he told Space.com.
More from GlobalPost: NASA loses lunar rocksAn apparently drunken Southwest Airlines passenger ran screaming onto a Chicago-bound flight in Las Vegas, after having been kicked off the plane, and he was zip-tied to a seat until police arrived.
Cell phone video of the incident on Flight 3630 shows an airline employee pinning the man to the floor of the plane at McCarran International Airport around 7:30 p.m. Pacific time Monday.
Passengers said the man earlier had been holed up in the restroom while the plane was at the gate until employees kicked him off the flight. After he was kicked off, the man ran back onto the plane, and a crew member tackled him and pinned him down.
“He was already boarded, and he went into the bathroom, and they just told us they were trying to get him out of the bathroom, and they took him off the plane,” Rick Alonzo said. “Next thing you know, he tried to fight his way back on, and that’s when the Southwest guys came and got him.”
Southwest Airlines said the passenger was being unruly, and appeared to be intoxicated.
Police later announced charges of misdemeanor battery and resisting an officer against Stephan Kennedy, 28.
Video shows a Southwest employee holding the man on the ground while waiting for police. The man was eventually zip-tied to a seat before three Las Vegas police officers arrived and removed him from the plane.
“He was violently getting back on the plane, like pushing people, so one of the guards tackled him in front of my feet,” Molly O’Malley said. “He was acting very inappropriate.”
Alonzo said the man was still yelling when he was removed from the plane the second time.
Passengers said one flight attendant was injured in the scuffle, and did not fly to Chicago.
“The crew did handle it in a respective way, but it was very scary, and as someone who does fly often, I felt unsafe at first, but at the end of it, they figured it out,” Alyssa Bergamini said.
The flight arrived at Midway International Airport around 2 a.m., about an hour late.
Southwest Airlines issued the following statement about the incident:
A Southwest Passenger who appeared to be intoxicated was asked to deplane flight 3630 before departing Las Vegas McCarran International Airport for Chicago Midway Airport. The Passenger became unruly and our Employees utilized their training to manage the situation until local law enforcement could assist with removing the passenger from the flight. Southwest Airlines has robust training programs and procedures to ensure Employees are cognizant of both the regulatory requirements and Safety concerns surrounding unruly passengers. Our Employees are trained to deny boarding to Passengers who appear to be intoxicated, as well as to address Passengers who become unruly and/or create a disturbance in flight. Our number one priority is the Safety and Security of our Customers and Employees.
It was unclear if the man who was kicked off the flight would be charged with a crime.So, with the West established as an untrustworthy and exploitative partner, and the Asian tiger proving no better, the steady growth of educational incubators and centers from Tanzania to Liberia is reassuring; though it’s no indication that all of Africa’s problems are solved. After all, much of the internal political and economic infrastructure is riddled with corruption—however much it might be enabled by the interference of foreign governments. We tend to divorce the technological from the sociological, if only to make the analysis a bit easier, but this can be a problem if we’re trying to create sustainable technological development. Tackling development isn’t just a case of getting better at tech, it also requires a shift in understanding how we get better at tech and what kinds of tech we want to make.
In some ways, this is a welcome counterweight to the increased economic presence of countries like China and their often problematic impact on local environments and economies. The debate around whether China’s interest in Africa is a welcome relief from Western faux aid or an example of neo-imperialism is one for another article. Certainly from one Afrofuturist perspective, there is nothing inherently celebratory about it. After all, racism does impact economic policies and there are still intensely retrograde attitudes toward black Africans among Chinese expats, though the cause of anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism did once result in pseudo-fraternity between Maoist China and newly independent African nations.
This is a story that has undergone critique from various perspectives. Most of these critiques are trying to bring a more balanced view—focusing on what still needs to be improved—rather than further disparaging Africa’s all-too-easily-tarnished reputation. However, the initial optimism is not unfounded. Across the continent, there is an increased focus on enabling development from within, whether through educational initiatives or tech startups.
Following the meteoric ascent of Asian economies, it’s no surprise that people are looking at other areas of the world for similar growth. In a world dominated by a massive division between the global rich and poor, where Western citizens find themselves frequently inundated with images of poverty and famine from the underdeveloped land beyond the equator, those with an eye for new markets, new opportunities, or even new narratives are looking out for the slightest sign of change. Has there ever been a time when so many fields — from the literary to the technological, the sociological to the economic — have found themselves so invested in the story coming out of the African continent?
This is one of the reasons I find the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in Accra, Ghana, so interesting. Founded in 2008 by a Norwegian, Jorn Lyseggen, its premise was “to help create role models that … inspire the upcoming generation to become successful software entrepreneurs, creating wealth and jobs locally in Africa,” while providing the brightest graduates an opportunity to become world-class tech entrepreneurs able to compete with any of the offerings from Silicon Valley. In an interview, Lyseggen acknowledged that enabling entrepreneurs to truly understand their markets is a massive challenge, particularly when coupled with limited means to do so. In effect, for him the big question is how MEST alumni can be better service designers, as well as tech entrepreneurs.
This reminds me of how I sometimes describe user experience as “softcore anthropology,” where becoming one of the users under study is necessary to understand how they work and thus what they really need. This, of course, requires funding and availability even when working on a product for a small business—and much more so on a national and continental scale. That this is recognized as a real issue that needs tackling shows that for all my usual critique of foreign involvement in African development, there are some who do have a real understanding of what’s needed who aren’t looking simply to repeat the same structures in current “developed” countries.
From the successful startups springing up thus far across the African continent, it’s fascinating to see the embodiment of what has, up until now, really been confined to the province of Afrofuturist theory. Businesses like Dropifi and RetailTower are unintentional examples of how differing philosophies of technology impact the kind of tech that gets made. Where in the West we still see tension between neo-Luddite and Transhumanist, such divisions don’t make as much sense in countries where technological development, whether for cultural or historical reasons, isn’t so easily tied to anti-humanism.
Image credit: Olalekan Jeyifous
In much of Africa, technology is mostly associated with development since it equalizes the playing field between gender, ethnicities, race, and nationalities rather than supposedly destroying working-class jobs and making humans more dependent on terrifying AI. This intrinsically humanist view of technology is something you see in many African cultures throughout history — consider the Barongo ironworkers of Northwestern Tanzania where reproductive symbolism was used to describe metalworking tools and workspaces — and it’s interesting to speculate about subconscious connectives, linking the past to the present.
Another concern of Afrofuturism is how the speculative imagination is also a technology which needs to be embraced and developed by a society if it is to call itself advanced. In Ethiopia, tech hubs xHubAddis and iceaddis parallel the recent indie apocalyptic sci-fi film Crumbs; in Kenya we see a definitely African Afrocentrist movement inspiring filmic works like Pumzi, which sits alongside the success of centers like Nairobi-based *iHub; and in Ghana there’s the aforementioned MEST and Hub Accra, encouraging the growth of creative tech companies like Leti Arts, a games and comics publisher.
Here in the United Kingdom, I’ve joined initiatives like Ada’s List and Women Who Code that aim to tackle entrenched gender issues in tech. Although I have a vested interest in changing the common narrative associated with Africa, that doesn’t mean I’m blind to issues such as sexism and homophobia which also need to be addressed. From the experience of those of us “outsiders” in relatively liberal Western societies, it’s clear that true development must be intersectional. That’s why it’s heartening to see young women makers like HerHealth Uganda, AfriGirl Tech, Rasheed Yehuza, Clarisse Iribagiza and leading entrepreneurs like Anne Amuzu in the public eye, showing that some of the subtle biases we as Western women in tech experience are not only being dealt with, but perhaps have even been further eroded.
Conversely, the legal status of LGBTQI people in much of Africa is still under threat (we can discuss the reasons why over Twitter!) so it isn’t too surprising that we hardly see many out, queer techies speaking up about their contribution, but I sincerely hope this will change soon as a new generation of activists and social reformers focused on intersectionality take to the stage. Certainly those of us in the diaspora who are queer, black, and active within tech and social justice are always looking to the motherland to both raise the profile of and protect our fellow outsider technologists.
So, back to my initial question — are we seeing an Afrofuturist Africa being realized? Well, through various conversations and interviews, I’ve seen how we also need to challenge how we think about Afrofuturism in regards to Africa. Speaking with the fabulous Tabita Rezaire, I learned there’s a real frustration among her fellow artists with how the “Afrofuturist” label gets unthinkingly applied to their work, as though that’s all there is for contemporary African artists who engage with digital media. I’ve also seen this frustration elsewhere regarding the uncritical way the label gets applied to contemporary African art.
Afrofuturist or just awesome? Photo credit: Eric Lafforgue
Is Afrofuturism even relevant considering how the post-colonial African experience of institutionalized racism might differ from that of the diasporic in America or Europe? Here questions arise about the dominance of Western black narratives, and the implicit racism behind how the label gets used. It’s led me to critique myself — why would we call the photo (left) of a Masai elder “Afrofuturist”? What does she call herself? What’s her movement? Is it that the Western imagination holds blackness and technology to be so incongruous that even we who know better still rely on the “single story,” even if it does originate in opposition to the usual stereotype? Or are we on the verge of rekindling a pan-African technological culture? Speaking to Emeka Okafor, founder of Maker Faire Africa, the questions I might ask about Afrofuturism and black involvement in STEM from a minority perspective are almost nonsensical. What does Afrofuturism even mean in contexts where to be black is actually to be the majority?
So maybe the inquiry itself is wrong footed. It’s not just new labels we need—we also need to think about who creates these labels. For now, let Africa, with her multitudes of languages, cultures, ethnicities, and faiths, speak for herself in her numerous voices.
I can only write about what I’ve seen. The innovation and verve of so many young people, the passion for learning and self-empowerment, and the tools now increasingly accessible are so powerful that I think in spite of many challenges — whether it be global and national exploitation, corruption, or bigotry — it’s safe to say we’re going to see some fascinating paradigm shifts. Will it be over the next decade or more? That’s hard to predict; certainly we should never think we can just relax and say “we’ve made it” (I mean, look at the 2008 recession if you want concrete reasons for why we should never take our eyes off the ball). True to the practical idealism inherent in much of post-colonial African thought and Western Afrofuturism, sometimes the goal is to keep evolving rather than to reach utopia.
Nonetheless, it remains evident that across cultures, ethnicities, genders, languages, religions, and countries, the dream of an inherently African futurism, where the potential of so many is utilized and fairly rewarded, has never been closer.Owing to the development of mobile devices, people nowadays are overwhelmed by tons of information on the go. Curiously, despite being distracted by this constant flow of information, people are so mesmerized by it that they cannot break free from this lifestyle. Modern life is fast-paced and being mobile is the norm today. Mobile technology gradually but logically made its way into the workroom.
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This article revolves around a couple of terms – “mobile management,” “mobile devices,” “mobile security,” and “bring your own device” (BYOD). There is also an 8-question quiz at the end of the writing, which is on topics that bear some relation to mobile management. You can find all the answers right after the reference list.
I. Benefits of Mobile-Optimized Work Environments
One quick scientific fact: personal mobile technology used at work improves workforce productivity (research by the University of Kansas).
People like to buy latest tech products for personal use – another fact (albeit not scientific). Since employees tend to care more about their own mobile device, the probability of losing it is lower than if it is given to them for free, which in the context of the corporate mobile environment will improve their business life and curtail corporate expenses at the same time – an added benefit for both the employer and the employee.
Let us sum up some of the most obvious business benefits that a decent mobile device management policy would entail: dispense with overhead expenditures regarding the provision of employees with devices for work, increased flexibility and workflow, convenience, the opportunity for employees to work remotely, and perhaps less stress.
II. Mobile Asset Management: Threats & Challenges
A mobile device may contain a lot of confidential information, for instance, personal calendars, contact lists, corporate email addresses, personal identification numbers (PINs), login details, proprietary enterprise information, or customer records. One should be very careful when it comes to mobile security in the context of enterprise activities. Your people might walk in the company loaded with malware and have your intellectual property walk out of the front door with them. Either way, it means that you will face serious consequences.
Three basic challenges in mobile security:
A heightened risk of malware infection due to the lack of control over personal devices
A cause for concern with respect to data leakage because mobile devices now can access both sensitive personal and corporate data
IT supportability of mobile technology at work may be complicated because of the great variety of devices, operating systems, platforms, etc.
The adjective “mobile” alludes to the fact that this technology cannot be region-locked to a certain location. Because they are “mobile,” the owner of these machines may feel inclined to use them at any place and anytime, which means that in those cases the devices in question are exposed to all kinds of threats. What may be worrisome about mobile security is that the owner of the mobile device uses it in ways or in places that may bode danger not only to him but also to the organization as a whole.
Moreover, mobile phone overuse is one of the most serious form of a dependence syndrome directed toward an object in recent times – a fact per se sufficient to get many mobile users and their bosses in trouble. Sharing credit card information on untrustworthy websites, connecting automatically to public WiFi hotspots at Starbucks, downloading unvetted apps that perform profiling of users (geolocation data, personal media…) are some examples of dangerous behavior that runs counter to cyber security tenets, but behavior most mobile users nevertheless exhibit on a regular basis.
Do not forget that phishing dangers do exist in the mobile environment. Also, unsanctioned mobile apps may work as a backdoor leading to your secret information. Your device could even become part of a mobile botnet and participate in a DDoS attack against other entities.
Criminals can bring exploits of mobile devices to another level – physical security. Numerous cases of lost or stolen mobile devices attest to this possibility. Once having the targeted devices in their possession, the criminals can extract all unprotected sensitive data from them and leverage it to penetrate into the organization or try to monetize the data through other methods. By way of illustration, crooks need not walk into a bank to rob it; they only need to steal a mobile device with unencrypted bank credentials kept on its hard disk drive.
Mobile devices are part of the Internet of Things trend. American Military University (AMU) professor and cybersecurity expert, Dr. Karen Paullet, noted that “[t]here are 7.22 billion mobile devices today in the world. There will be 21 billion connected devices by 2020.” From a security point of view, this boom in connected devices can be a bad thing, because it broadens the attack surface for hackers at a rate proportional to the number of Internet-embedded devices. A single, unsecured smartphone, tablet or laptop – even a smartwatch or other IoT items – can create an entry point for a great deal of trouble to a given organization.
Photo by Cgarlati / CC 3.0
III. Tools for Managing Mobile Assets
Mobile device management (MDM) or mobile application management (MAM) installed on users’ mobile devices is a mandatory first step if you want to secure and control corporate data in the cloud via a mobile platform. It is a relatively easy process if you manage to set up an appropriate asset, network, log and mobile device management controls. Nonetheless, specific sectors, such as government and healthcare, may not possess the IT maturity level to perform these tasks, even though they process sensitive information.
MDM serves as a natural extension of the organization’s security strategy. It allows for central mobile management and application of security policies from the cloud, which will protect valuable data on smartphones, tablets, etc. An MDM solution is an extra precaution that will provide IT access to any device connected to the corporate business network, along with the capability to revoke this access and even to remotely wipe the device if it is stolen or lost. Access to corporate sensitive data can be restricted based on device-specific identifiers, e.g., the MAC address. Furthermore, MDM will outline policies, protocols, and other details on how one is to access company data from locations inside or outside corporate premises. Mobile device management, however, is not foolproof. Therefore, additional help like a cloud security gateway (e.g., GitHub, Box, and Salesforce) is necessary to enforce corporate policy on apps and data, as well as company developed apps. That will secure the BYOD usage at the application level in the cloud.
One can also make use of an emerging group of a technology dubbed mobile application management
(MAM) so that one can detect whether people do not bring malware along with their device (irrespective of whether they are aware of that fact or not). An MAM tool can manage a company’s homemade apps as well as such created by a third party supplier.
Virtual Mobile Infrastructure (VMI) is another tool that may facilitate mobile security. It keeps data and apps on a secure platform while allowing every authorized user to access them via tablets and smartphones. A VMI is based on a single sign-on process that also improves security.
BYOD as a technological trend may take advantage of security mechanisms known as secure containers to safely store sensitive company data on the device without to lump it together with any personal data.
Lastly, as an extra means for precaution, employees should receive identity access management (IAM) solutions equipped with two-factor authentication.
IV. Best Practices Concerning Managing Mobile Assets
Do you need to stay ahead of the competition?
Do you want to reduce the risks associated with mobile devices at work?
The key to success is the development and implementation of a workable strategy for mobile assets.
List of Allowed Mobile Devices /and Applications/
Provide employees with a list of acceptable and banned devices. Specify how many mobile devices will be included in the mobile management policy.
Business leaders should determine which devices, operating systems, and apps will be allowed to participate in the BYOD scheme.
Apparently, some registration process for mobile devices would be required. A human-centric approach alone would not be enough. Enforce standard antivirus software and scan each device before you allow a full connection to the corporate network.
Do the same thing for apps – this rule also includes social media use during working hours.
Be Organized and Transparent
Cover in a comprehensive fashion every aspect of the policy on mobile devices – data security, data retention, reimbursement, human resource policies, business continuity and contingencies details, liability, etc. Create a plan in case an employee’s device is lost or stolen.
Managerial staff should discuss matters such as employee access to the corporate network, common security threats, data ownership, and employee responsibility. Generally speaking, employees must know how they should access corporate Wi-Fi and whether it would be permitted to access public Wi-Fi networks. Employees must also be informed about the repercussions of breaching their responsibilities on the corporate policies.
If you decide to use software designed to keep track of websites all of the employees visit or the apps they install while they are connected to the corporate network, you need to familiarize them with your decision.
Encryption
Unencrypted corporate and personal documents, emails, chat, and images stored on mobile devices are among the riskiest items, regarding content. Attackers value these kinds of datasets despite the fact that they may not be able to capitalize on them immediately.
A mobile device policy should be coupled with a remote access one. Entry to corporate data must be granted through an encrypted SSL or IPsec connection. Strong encryption algorithms in combination with modern authentication methods are safety solutions of proven merit that will certainly contribute to creating a secure mobile environment.
A VPN cloud network solution allows organizations to secure every kind of data, including app data, by replacing employee IP addresses with generic ones. In effect, a VPN creates a secure tunnel between the organization’s servers and the employees’ mobile devices.
Passwords and Multilevel Access Control
Photo by Ervins Strauhmanis / CC 2.0
Virtually all mobile devices today come with password protection capabilities. Unfortunately, many people prefer not to use this feature because they feel it is cumbersome to type in a password rather than merely swipe the screen. According to a 2014 study by Verizon, 76% of data breaches on enterprise networks happen because of weak employee passwords (very common is “123456”). An appropriate case study about password security, among other things, is the Target data breach. It is perhaps enough to say that the retailer incurred approximately $200 million in costs arising as a result of an overly simplistic password being hacked.
Passwords are not the ultimate solution, but they work well when they are well crafted. Also, do not use the same password for multiple access control points. Single sign-on passwords are one of the reasons causd trouble for Home Depot, Target and many others. So do not join this club – lock yourself out of it with different strong passwords placed at different folder locations, data sets, device screens, etc. Encourage employees to create strong passwords that contain both letters and numbers, as well as symbols if that is possible (More on password security here).
Activate password-enabled or biometrically secured devices’ lock screens – it prevents jailbreaking, among other things.
Applications, Other Software & Updates
Enforce strong application policies:
Install corporate network settings (Wi-Fi, proxy…) to personal mobile devices right from the outset
Blocking Skype video, Facebook games/chat, etc.
Install software only from trusted sources
Regularly install OS and app updates, and the most recent security patches
Rely on applications that have a functionality that allows users to log out of the user login remotely
Wipe clean all business data on outdated inventory or on personal devices of workers leaving the company
Remote wipe must keep personal data on users’ devices completely intact
Sometimes organizations resort to creating an enterprise app store for its staff to download only approved apps. A company-issued access application could establish an encrypted connection between the mobile client and a Microsoft Exchange Server, for example, thereby granting the user access to inside corporate information (e.g., calendar, schedules, notes, contacts, emails, etc.) when he enters login details. Every data set is to be loaded into the main memory for the duration of the application being active. Upon termination of the session, none of the data loaded into the device will remain there. By this simple procedure, there is no risk of a data breach in case the devices is stolen or lost, because the data always remains hosted on a company’s servers, not the device.
Divide et Impera
Michael Thorne, CTO of Fintech company Bristlecone Holdings, suggests separating a corporate network into three tiers: Public /guests/, Private /Regular employees/, and Limited /authorized employees/. These three tiers could co-exist in the same Internet pipe, given that there are proper configuration tools and firewall mechanisms in place.
Training On Basic Mobile Security!!!
BYOD reduces training costs since it can deliver all of the corporate eLearning benefits to the employees but in a secure, well-organized manner.
“Classroom learning was inflexible. eLearning was more flexible. Now, mLearning takes it to the next level.” /Source: http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/how-mlearning-is-revolutionizing-the-learning-landscape/
Well-trained workers tend to cause less nuisance regarding cyber security lapses, and they will most certainly repay training costs in many ways (not necessarily money), and one of them is by reducing the burden of mobile-related security incidents on the IT department. Consequently, proper training can make a difference. A mobile security awareness program may provide the following benefits:
Educate users on best practices when it comes to downloading and using apps. For example, guidelines that differentiate between various app platforms – Google Play Store vs. the Apple App Store. Illegal apps collect mobile device data to find a way to hack you, but, interestingly, most legal apps collect more mobile device data (geolocation data, images, calendar, a list of contacts, etc.) than they need to sell it to advertisers. Not many people know that.
Not many people know about the dangers of metadata, either. A mobile security awareness training course can teach you how to manage location-based services so that you will not inadvertently reveal geolocation data to third parties. Geo search and geolocation data as a whole may jeopardize your privacy – perhaps you do not realize it, but one can find your photos on a map even if you use a pseudonym. Furthermore, geolocation data being obtained by malicious actors opens the possibility for a real-world attack, such as burglary.
A mobile security awareness program may protect you from being hacked while using mobile devices. Adequate training would instill caution into people’s minds, and eventually make them refrain from opening phishing attachments, links to malicious websites, or visit websites that do not support HTTPS while working on their mobile devices. Quick tips: When accessing public wireless Internet via laptop, iPhone or Android devices, only use websites that offer HTTPS. Try to avoid using public Wi-Fi hotspots at all or use own cellular connection instead. Beware of social engineering scams.
Mobile security awareness training also covers safe social media use on mobile devices (e.g., security issues due to oversharing). While it may reiterate some components of the geolocation part, it touches upon other important matters such as how to set up two-factor authentication.
Finally, yet importantly, security awareness training may help you avert some physical attacks against your mobile device: theft, juice jacking or fake phone chargers. Quick tip: Set up your device to be tracked by an app or another service so that you will be able to locate it or remotely lock/erase it if need be.
***
What are the three most common types of cloud deployment?
“Containerization” is a term that refers to:
Placing mobile devices in a special signal-blocking container (e.g., a Faraday cage) A series of steps whose purpose is to contain a piece of malware detected on a mobile device A process that separates corporate and personal data on users’ devices In which cases device encryption may not provide protection?
When cyber criminals use decrypting tools designed by them When the device is stolen while unlocked When the system itself has a known backdoor attack vulnerability Pick the right answer that describes each of these two terms: lockout and screen locks.
It prevents someone from casually picking up and being able to use your mobile device When users fail to provide their credentials after repeated attempts, the account or device is disabled for a certain period Possible workarounds about screen locks are:
Connect to the device over wireless Connect to the device with a USB cable Connect to the device over Bluetooth All of the above What is jailbreaking?
Chose which functions a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution can perform:
Improve overall security Detect zero-day jailbreaking Provide monitoring Remotely decrypt ransomware Enable remote management Support troubleshooting Always prevent data leakage via cloud services Is the following statement true?
By some BYOD policies, workers may need to agree to be tracked and monitored on their personal mobile device, even when not on company property and outside of work hours.
Yes No
Reference List
Andrulis, T. (2017). How Safe Is Company Data from BYOD Breaches? Available at http://enewsletters.constructionexec.com/riskmanagement/2017/01/how-safe-is-company-data-from-byod-breaches/ (14/02/2017)
Comodo.com. (2016). The Benefits of Mobile Security Training. Available at https://dm.comodo.com/blog/mobile-device-management/mobile-security-training-benefits/ (14/02/2017)
Dimov, D. & Juzenaite, R. (2015). Password Security: Efficient Protection of Digital Identities. Available at http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/password-security-efficient-protection-of-digital-identities/ (14/02/2017)
elearningindustry.com (2017). 7 Surprising Mobile Learning Statistics eLearning Professionals Should Know. Available at https://elearningindustry.com/surprising-mobile-learning-statistics-elearning-professionals-know (14/02/2017)
Francis, R. (2017). 7 musts for any successful BYOD program. Available at http://www.networkworld.com/article/3166535/mobile-security/7-musts-for-any-successful-byod-program.html#slide8 (14/02/2017)
Hamblen, M. (2016). One-fifth of IT pros say their companies had mobile data breach. Available at http://www.computerworld.com/article/3048799/mobile-wireless/one-fifth-of-it-pros-say-their-companies-had-mobile-data-breach.html (14/02/2017)
Hand, S. (2016). How Mobile Learning Is Changing to Meet the BYOD Era! Available at https://www.pulselearning.com/blog/mobile-learning-for-the-byod-era/ (14/02/2017)
Hoffman, S. (2016). Cybersecurity Alert: Employee Mobile Devices (BYOD) Make Your Company Vulnerable to Attacks. Available at http://inhomelandsecurity.com/cybersecurity-byod-vulnerable-attacks/ (14/02/2017)
Honigman, B. (2013). The Major BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Issues Facing the Healthcare Industry. Available at https://getreferralmd.com/2013/12/byod-issues-healthcare/ (14/02/2017)
Kohli, V. (2016). 1 in 5 Organizations Suffered a Mobile Security Breach: 2016 Spotlight Report. Available at https://www.skycure.com/blog/1-in-5-organizations-experience-data-breach-via-byod-2016-spotlight-report/ (14/02/2017)
Krumpack, L. (2016). The Future of Training in a Mobile World. Available at https://www.gensuite.com/future-training-mobile-world/ (14/02/2017)
Lord, N. (2017). BYOD Security: Expert Tips on Policy, Mitigating Risks, & Preventing a Breach. Available at https://digitalguardian.com/blog/byod-security-expert-tips-policy-mitigating-risks-preventing-breach (14/02/2017)
Pappas, C. (2016). 5 BYOD Mistakes To Avoid For Successful Online Training. Available at https://elearningindustry.com/5-byod-mistakes-to-avoid-for-successful-online-training (14/02/2017)
Queen, A. (2017). BYOD Security: 5 Threats Employers Need to Know About. Available at https://www.effortlesshr.com/blog/byod-security-5-threats-employers-need-to-know-about/ (14/02/2017)
Skidmore, S. (2013). Best Practices for Employee BYOD Training. Available at https://www.apperian.com/mam-blog/best-practices-for-employee-byod-training/ (14/02/2017)
Smith, A. (2016). Best Employee Mobile Device Policies Share These Four Things. Available at http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/best-mdm-policies-share-these-traits,2-1078.html (14/02/2017)
Stewart, J., Chapple, M., Gibson, D. (2015). Certified Information Systems Security Professional Study Guide (7th Edition)
trainingindustry.com. Bring Your Own Device. Available at https://www.trainingindustry.com/wiki/entries/bring-your-own-device.aspx (14/02/2017)
Vang, H. (2017). Securing Mobile Devices in a BYOD Business Environment. Available at https://www.liaison.com/2017/02/03/securing-mobile-devices-byod-business-environment/ (14/02/2017)
On-premises, cloud, and hybrid c) b), c) Screen locks a), Lockout b) d) “Jailbreaking, in a mobile device context, is the use of an exploit to remove manufacturer or carrier restrictions from a device such as an iPhone or iPad. The exploit usually involves running a privilege escalation attack on a user’s device to replace the manufacturer’s factory-installed operating system with a custom kernel.” /Source: jailbreaking by Margaret Rouse/ a), c), e), f) a) “The idea is, it’s not really your phone. The data isn’t yours. The expectation of privacy should be low,” states Shira Forman, employment lawyer at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton.
Be Safe(KUTV) A devout Mormon mom turned herself in to the Weber County Sheriff's office today on drug charges. She arrived with her husband and two kids in tow, for her formal booking photo.
Enedina Stanger is 27 years old and until now did not have a criminal history. She was charged with felony child endangerment on Oc. 1 after a passerby called police saying they could smell pot in Stanger's minivan in a Weber County Wal-Mart parking lot. Stanger was sitting in her car with her daughter while her husband and second child ran in to grab milk. Stanger says she was not feeling well and stayed in the car, her daughter decided to sit with her -- not wanting her mom to be alone.
The family headed out together because a realtor was showing its home to potential buyers. Stanger grabbed her stash of marijuana on the way out of the house, not wanting anyone to find it and knowing she would need it while gone.
The family made another stop before Police showed up at Wal-Mart where Dad and the two kids left Enedina alone in the van. In pain, Enedina used her time alone to smoke a joint and ease the pain she says she was having as her air passage was partially blocked by movement of her spine.
Stanger was diagnosed with Ehlers -Danlos syndrome several years ago. The genetic syndrome is rare and causes a breakdown of connective tissues allowing for her bones to become dislocated with everyday movement. The movement of her bones causes pain when her muscles overcompensate to hold her skeleton in place.
RELATED:
Stanger's husband Michael said they have been to every kind of doctor here in Utah, Mexico -- conventional and holistic. In the end, the only thing they have found to help with the pain in marijuana. Not an oil, or medical form, but plain old marijuana, smoked the old fashioned way.
Stanger who is bound to a wheelchair, rolled into the Weber County jail this morning, with her husband and kids by her side. She says she "totally understood it was illegal" to smoke the marijuana in Utah "but had to risk it to be alive."
The Stanger family wanted cameras to be at the jail as they arrived for her formal booking. They are ready and willing to fight for legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes in Utah.
Stanger says she has "been a guinea pig in the medical community for too long" saying that for the first couple years of her diagnosis she was "lying in bed" and missed the first year of her daughter's life.
The young mother says she has taken the opiates her doctors have given her and "could not recognize" her daughters "if they were in front of me calling my name because I was so drugged up."
The Stangers who are active members of the |
Solicitor General and Bell was an appellate court judge in the south. Another source said that the Justice Department was holding up the appointment because Kennedy was attempting to assert undue influence as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who had the ability to block appointments across the country. Publicly, however, all the parties insisted that the delay was nothing out of the ordinary.[260]
Within the White House Cox had his defenders who argued strongly against the "rule of 64" and even obtained an opinion that the ABA would not object to Cox's appointment. Kennedy even spoke personally to Carter, urging that the appointment would redound to the president's political benefit, but Carter told him he would not appoint Cox. When the decision was made members of Carter's own judicial selection publicly expressed their anger over the decision.[ay] Carter's 1976 New York campaign manager listed the failure to appoint Cox as one of several ways in which the Administration had "behaved foolishly" simply to snub Kennedy.[262] The following year another panel assembled by Carter asked Cox if he wished again to apply for a judgeship. Cox quickly turned down offer of interest. His colleague Stephen Breyer obtained the appointment.
Common Cause [ edit ]
His judicial ambitions over, Cox turned his energies to leading outside advocacy and policy-making groups. In 1980 Cox was elected chairman of Common Cause, the 230,000 member citizens' lobby, as John Gardner's successor. Cox wrote that "[t]he challenge was to reshape the machinery of self-government … so that every citizen knows that he or she can participate and that his or her participation counts...."[264] That same year he also became the founding chairman of the Health Effects Institute, a partnership between the Environmental Protection Agency and private automobile and truck manufacturers to study the effects of emissions from motor vehicles. Cox said that the organization was designed to take the testing and scientific research concerning the health effects of this type of pollution "out of the adversarial context."[265]
It was as head of Common Cause, however, that he was to make his final mark; his goal was to make government more transparent and responsible to the broad public rather than special interests in order to restore faith in government institutions. The very day he took office, the Abscam affair was leaked. While Cox personally deplored the leak, he immediately sent letters to congressional leaders underlining "the urgent necessity of looking into the charges to demonstrate that Congress is concerned about its honor and integrity."[209] In July 1980 the organization instituted its first major litigation under Cox, and it was a follow-up on Buckley v. Valeo: Common Cause sued the four "independent" groups that promised to spend between $38 and $58 million for television and print advertisements in support of the election of Ronald Reagan, even though he agreed to abide by spending limits of $29.4 million as part of the agreement he made in accepting public financing.[266] Right to work groups used the occasion to criticize Cox for attacking voluntary independent expenditures while ignoring union efforts on behalf of candidates.[267] The D.C. District Court dismissed the case on the ground that any restrictions on "independent" spending amounted to an unconstitutional abridgment of freedom of speech. The Supreme Court, affirmed the decision by an equally divided court (Justice O'Connor not participating).[268] That case would be Cox's last argument before the Supreme Court.[az]
Conservatives' complaints against Common Cause became more general and more numerous from that summer to fall when the organization celebrated its tenth anniversary. Henry Fairlie published in the June issue of Harper's a broad (but largely unspecific) complaint against the organization for representing all that was wrong with American politics: "The underlying thrust of Common Cause reforms has been to weaken the political role of the very associations that give power to the otherwise powerless, and in the name of this misguided notion of participatory democracy Common Cause increases the opportunities of the already influential to extend their privileges."[270] Tom Bethell (Washington editor of Harper's) wrote in the Times " The concept of'reform' itself is beginning to be viewed with skepticism. Writers are more and more inclined to put the word inside quotation marks. In Washington these days, one often hears references to 'the unintended consequences of reform.[271] Cox responded in an address on September 6, 1980: It was not reforms that were the problem, but rather incomplete implementation of them. The flood of money into national political campaigns was not the result of campaign finance reform, but of inadequate regulation of "independent" committees that informally coordinated with the campaigns. "[D]amaging and dangerous as the rising rate of influence of political action committee contributions is … the present law is clearly preferable to the old pre-Watergate conditions."[272]
Cox continued his campaign against large campaign contributions,[273][274] but he was largely unsuccessful in effecting any further change. He also supported efforts to increase voter participation by testifying in favor of bilingual ballots[275]
After twelve years at the helm, Cox, at 79, chose to retire from the chairmanship of Common Cause as of February 1992.[276]
Retirement [ edit ]
Having taught for two years beyond Harvard's mandatory retirement age, Cox was finally forced to retire from the Harvard Law School faculty at the end of the 1983-84 school year. Cox wryly said: "I won't be allowed to teach anymore. I'm presumed to be senile." He then accepted a teaching position at Boston University School of Law.[277] Boston University Law School made up a specific retirement policy for Cox; according to Dean Ronald A. Cass: "He teaches as long as he wants to."
Death [ edit ]
Cox died at his home in Brooksville, Maine, of natural causes on May 29, 2004. He and his wife, Phyllis, had been married for 67 years. At the time of his death his daughter Sarah (in business management) lived in Brooksville, Archibald, Jr. (who broke with family tradition and entered finance rather than law) in Markleville, Indiana and Phyllis (who became a lawyer) in Denver. At the time he had several grandchildren and great grandchildren.[279] Phyllis died on February 6, 2007.[280]
Published works [ edit ]
In addition to his case book, he was the author of nearly a hundred scholarly articles.[281]
Honors [ edit ]
Chaired and university professorships [ edit ]
During his career at Harvard, Professor Cox was honored with the following chaired or university professorships:[282]
1958–61, Royall Professor, Harvard Law School
1965–76, Williston Professor, Harvard Law School
1976–84, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard University
1984–his death, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Emeritus, Harvard University
Honorary degrees [ edit ]
Throughout his life Cox was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, including: M.A.: Sidney Sussex College, University Cambridge, England 1974; L.H.D.: Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, 1980; LL.D: Loyola University Chicago, 1964, University of Cincinnati, 1967, University of Denver, 1974, Amherst College, 1974, Rutgers, 1974, Harvard University, 1975, Michigan State, 1976, Wheaton College, 1977, Northeastern University, 1978, Clark, 1980, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1981, University of Notre Dame, 1983, University of Illinois, 1985, Claremont Graduate School, 1987, Colby College, 1988.[282]
Honorary societies [ edit ]
Cox was elected member to or granted recognition by the following societies:
Other honors [ edit ]
In 1935 Cox won the Sears Prize for his performance during first year in law school.[288]
After he resigned his faculty position at Harvard and until he returned in 1965, Cox served as a member of Harvard's Board of Overseers.[289]
In 1991 the faculty of Harvard Law School made Cox an honorary member of the Order of the Coif, an historic group that recognizes significant contributions to the legal profession.[290]
In 1995 the Institute of Government and Public Affairs awarded Cox its Ethics in Government Award.[291] Cox was also the recipient of the Thomas "Tip" O'Neill Citizenship Award.[292]
On January 8, 2001, Cox was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton, saying: "Archibald Cox, every American, whether he or she knows your name or not, owes you a profound debt of thanks for a lifetime of your service to your country and its Constitution."[293]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Books:
Articles:
Oral histories:
Of Cox
Collins, Bruce (June 25, 1987). "Career of Archibald Cox". C-SPAN Broadcast.
Hilbink, Thomas (2000). "Interview of Archibald Cox". New York: Columbia University Oral History Research Office. Session 1 took place on June 19 and Session 2 the next day. The interviews may be heard using RealPlayer or VCL Media Player. Page citations are to the transcript (PDF).
Session 1 took place on June 19 and Session 2 the next day. The interviews may be heard using RealPlayer or VCL Media Player. Page citations are to the transcript (PDF). Lester, Richard A. (November 25, 1964). "Archibald Cox Oral History Interview" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Transcript at John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.
Unsigned pieces:According to new Australian research that highlights the alarming implications of rising energy demand the world is on track to reach dangerous levels of global warming much sooner than expected.
University of Queensland (UQ) and Griffith University researchers have developed a “global energy tracker” that predicts average world temperatures could climb 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2020.
That forecast, based on new modelling using long-term average projections on economic growth, population growth and for the first time energy use per person, points to a 2.0°C rise by 2030.
The new modelling is the brainchild of Professor Ben Hankamer from UQ’s institute for molecular bioscience and Dr Liam Wagner from Griffith University’s department of accounting, finance and economics, whose work was published in the journal Plos One today.
A landmark United Nations sponsored climate deal struck in Paris last year saw almost 200 countries agree to work to limit temperature rises to “well below two degrees” and work towards limiting the increase to 1.5°C.
But findings from the Australian researchers predicted that barrier would be reached by 2020 if the status quo were maintained.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted a global mean surface temperature rise of 0.3°C to 0.7°C from 2016 to 2035 in its 2014 report.
The solar and biofuels expert from the UQ and an energy economist from Griffith University took the novel approach of calculating carbon dioxide emissions per person, factoring in reactions to increases in energy efficiencies.
UQ’s Professor Hankamer said even as technologies improved to deliver energy more efficiently, attempts to drag billions of people out of poverty would mean more people needed more energy.
“What politicians will often say, is they want to have constant economic growth, they want poverty alleviation,” he said.
“Both of those things require more energy therefore there’s going to be an increased demand and you’re going to start going up more quickly and as a result you’re going to be releasing CO2 more quickly.
“A lot of the models don’t take this individual energy use into consideration and so as a result they don’t show that same effect.”
Professor Hankamer and Griffith energy economist Dr Wagner’s research combined predictions of increases in population, economic growth and rising energy use per person with existing models used to determine the effects of CO2 emissions on temperature rise.
“Normally when you have more efficient processes, the assumption is you’re going to start saving more energy,” Professor Hankamer said.
“The bit other researchers often weren’t taking into consideration is because things become cheaper and because we can, we buy more stuff.”
Professor Hankamer called for governments to focus on the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy if there was to be any chance of constraining warming and lifting people out of poverty.
“There are estimates of about US$500 billion in fossil fuel subsidies being provided every year and maybe a cost-neutral solution would be to start thinking about transitioning some of that funding towards the renewable sector,” he said.
Professor Hankamer added; “you either have the choice of enforcing people into poverty or you transition from fossil fuels into renewable energy.”Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The president said the investigation had "nothing to do with China"
Donald Trump has launched an investigation into countries that export steel to the US, raising the prospect of new tariffs on imports.
It is designed to stop countries from flooding the US with artificially cheap steel and undercutting local suppliers.
China is most often associated with the practice but the president said it had "nothing to do" with Beijing. He said it was about protecting US security.
The news caused shares in US steelmakers to rise sharply.
However, Asian steelmakers also climbed as investors appeared to shrug off the news.
The US government has previously attempted to shield national steelmakers from cheap foreign steel through the World Trade Organization, but the Trump administration says this has had little impact.
Instead, its investigation will fall under the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which lets the president impose restrictions on imports for reasons of national security.
"Steel is critical to both our economy and our military," Mr Trump said. "This is not an area where we can afford to become dependent on foreign countries."
China is the largest national producer and makes far more steel than it consumes, selling the excess output overseas, often at subsidised prices.
But Japan and South Korea have also been accused of dumping in the past.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption China has been accused of dumping its excess steel on world markets, undercutting local producers.
Commenting on the probe Wilbur Ross, the US Commerce Secretary, said Chinese exports now accounted for 26% of the US steel market.
He said exports had risen "despite repeated Chinese claims that they were going to reduce their steel capacity".
"The artificially low prices caused by excess capacity and unfairly-traded imports suppress profits in the American steel industry," the administration said in a statement.
Mr Ross said that if the investigation found the US steel industry was suffering from excess steel imports, he would recommend retaliatory steps that could include tariffs.
Mr Trump has been highly critical of China's trade practices in the past but has softened his tone of late as he seeks greater cooperation over North Korea.
Earlier in April, he said his administration would not label China a currency manipulator, rowing back on a campaign promise.
Mr Trump had previously accused China of suppressing the yuan to make its exports more competitive against American goods.
US steel stocks rallied on Thursday with the Dow Jones US Iron and Steel Index closing 5% higher.
But Asian steel stocks also climbed with Japan's Nippon Steel up 1.3% on Friday and South Korea's Posco gaining 2.5%.
Meanwhile China's Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, Angang Steel and Baotou Steel each gained around 0.3%.I received a bunch of awesome unique healthier snacks. Well, some are =). I have to say I love that my SS took the time to go to her local whole food store and hand select items for me to try. The energy chunks were interesting. I really like the Quinoa crisps and pretzels. The popcorn... so tasty!!! Worth every penny. I will be looking for those items locally. Now onto the home made caramel applesauce..... why isn't this bottled and sold?!!! I would buy this over and over. It was Amazing!!! When you take your first bite, it is like you got a spoonful of the best fresh apple pie you have ever had. Not too sweet but just right. I'm so hooked and need more lol! I loved this gift. Great exchange!Submitted by Lance Roberts via STA Wealth Management,
This past weekend, I was reminded by my 9-year old son of the following passage in the Bible:
"Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger." - Psalm 8:2
That verse has been shortened over time to become a colloquialism used when children have said something humorous in front of adults - "Out of the mouths of babes."
It was on our drive to Bible study that my son asked for my phone to play a new song he liked. (Note: This is also the reason traditional "terrestrial" radio stations are dying a slow painful death. If it ain't "on demand" - it's dead.) After a moment of scrolling on a music download app, the following words begin to stream through the cabin:
"We are the ones, the ones you left behind.
Don't tell us how, tell us how to live our lives.
Ten million strong we're breaking all the rules.
Thank you for nothing, 'cause there's nothing left to lose."
I was immediately struck by the lyrics and paused the song to ask my son if he understood the meaning of the lyrics. He replied simply - "no...but I like the song."
The song opened up the ability for my son and I to have an important dialog about the future of "Generation Z" (those born after 1995) and the challenges that they will have to face. More importantly, the reasons why "Generation Z'ers," those "10 million strong," feel like they have been "left behind" by the generations before them.
What is interesting is that this was not a new song at all. In fact, the song debuted very quietly in 2013 by a band called MKTO (Misfit Kids and Total Outcasts) which was founded by two real life friends Tony Oller (21) and Malcolm Kelly (20). According to an interview with with Celebuzz the duo stated:
"We wanted to have a song that described our views of our generation, and to describe how we feel about being in the circumstances we are in, thanks to previous generations making mistakes."
However, it is not surprising that two twenty-somethings may be feeling the way they do. Let's take a look at some of the issues that they are growing up with.
Job Growth
As I have discussed often, the structural shift in employment, has had a negative impact on both total employment and particularly that of Generation Z. Currently, the number of individual working full time, between the ages of 16 and 24, has only seen a modest recovery since the end of the financial crisis.
However, the story is substantially worse as the majority of those jobs were taken by immigrant workers. As recently discussed by the Center For Immigration Studies:
"It's frustratingly common: The mainstream media discusses a social problem obviously impacted by immigration — overcrowding, low wages, increasing poverty, etc. — but assiduously avoids any mention of immigration."
The importance of youth employment is extremely critical to that generation. As the CIS explains:
"The decline in youth employment is a serious problem that deserves a serious examination. After all, a number of studies have found that the lack of early labor market experience can have a significant negative impact on employment and wages later in life."
Student Debt
The next problem is the mountain of personal debt weighing on both the Millennial and Z generations. As shown in the chart below, over the last 6-years student debt has skyrocketed.
The problem, as discussed previously, is not all student loans went to higher educations. Student loans are sources of cheap and easy capital to support spending requirements. The WSJ confirmed the same:
"The Education Department's inspector general warned last month that the rise of online education has led more students to borrow excessively for personal expenses. The report also found the schools disbursed an average of $5,285 in loans each to more than 42,000 students who didn't log any credits at the time."
The problem, of course, is that only about 1/3 of those that enroll in college actually graduate. This leaves a large number of individuals heavily debt burdened without the college degree needed to obtain a higher wage level to support the debt. Its a vicious cycle that now weighs on a large group of the younger generation and negatively impacts future consumption trends in the economy.
Government Debt
Of course, it isn't just consumers that have over borrowed to the point that it now negatively impacts economic growth. Since 2009, the government itself has went on an unprecedented spending binge that has doubled the amount of Federal Debt outstanding.
The problem, as shown, is that increases in the debt/GDP ratio has a long-term negative consequence to economic growth. Rising debt levels detract revenue obtained through taxation into the service of debt rather than reinvestment back into the economy via infrastructure development and other revenue positive projects. Such investments create jobs and increase production that supports stronger levels of consumption which comprises more than 2/3rds of economic growth.
Unfortunately, with debt currently capped at the debt-ceiling limit, the prospects of stronger GDP growth in the next decade is likely to remain just as elusive as it has been over the last.
Wage Growth
Of course, the problem for both Millenials and Generation Z is that lower rates of economic growth are directly correlated to lower rates of wage growth. As shown below the correlation between the two is extremely high.
Given the structural shift in employment, the impact of immigration and the continued burden of excessive debt on the individual, the trends of both economic and wage growth are unlikely to change anytime soon.
Economic Growth
The problem for Generation Z is not a transient one. As shown in the final chart below, the generations following the "baby boomers" have very little to be excited about. With the lowest average economic growth cycle currently in progress, there is little ability to "grow" out of the current debt problem.
While Central Banks globally intervened to offset the impact of the financial crisis, they also impeded the "reset" process from occurring to clear the excesses built up in the financial and economic system. Furthermore, the inflation of asset prices simply created a burgeoning "wealth gap" which has largely bypassed the 90% of Americans that have little or no invested assets.
The up and coming generations have plenty to blame on the "baby boomer" generation and the scores of bad fiscal and monetary policy decisions that has robbed them of their future. The job of each generation is to leave the world in a better place than they found it. It is clear, we failed.
"Thank you for feeding us years of lies.
Thank you for the wars you left us to fight.
Thank you for the world you ruined overnight.
But we'll be fine, yeah we'll be fine."
However, for now, let the music play.UC Davis researchers have found that for children with the genetic disorder known as chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome anxiety -- but not intelligence -- is linked to poorer adaptive behaviors, such as self-care and communication skills, that affect daily life. The developmental syndrome, which is associated with a constellation of physical, cognitive and psychiatric problems, usually is apparent at birth or early childhood, and leads to lifelong challenges.
The study findings suggest that helping children cope with fear-based symptoms may be the best strategy for increasing independence and protecting against psychiatric problems later in life. The article, titled, "An examination of the relationship of anxiety and intelligence to adaptive functioning in children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome," is published online today in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. It will appear in the December 2012 print issue of the journal.
"Our study confirmed our impressions from seeing patients with 22q deletion syndrome that those with more severe anxiety symptoms tend to be most impaired in their everyday functioning," said Kathleen Angkustsiri, lead study author and assistant professor of developmental and behavioral pediatrics with the UC Davis MIND Institute. "It highlights the critical importance of recognizing and treating anxiety in these very vulnerable children."
The disorder also is known as velocardiofacial syndrome, referring to some of the common physical anomalies associated with the disorder, as well as DiGeorge syndrome, after one of the first physicians to describe it. The currently preferred name of chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome identifies the location on the twenty-second chromosome where a small piece of DNA is missing. It is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, meaning that the child of a parent with the syndrome has a 50 percent chance of developing the syndrome; however, in 90 to 95 percent of cases, no family history of the syndrome is known, and the mutation arises for the first time in the affected person. The syndrome is estimated to affect about 1 in 2,000-4,000 people, making it the second most common condition after Down syndrome, another genetically based developmental disorder.
Manifestations of the syndrome vary among affected individuals. It may be diagnosed soon after birth because of symptoms related to heart defects as well as anomalies of the mouth, palate and throat, affecting feeding, speech and facial structure. Children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome have a high prevalence of mental-health disorders such as anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and IQs usually are in the borderline-to-low range. In early adulthood, about 30 percent may develop a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia.
The study evaluated 78 children with the syndrome, ages seven to 15 years, with a battery of standardized tests related to behavior, anxiety, adaptive functioning and intelligence. Thirty-six typically developing children with no known genetic syndromes were also evaluated for comparison. Assessment involved neuropsychological testing and developmental-behavioral pediatric evaluation of the children as well as parent questionnaires about their child's symptoms.
Mean anxiety scores were found to be significantly higher in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome than in typically developing children. Fifty-eight percent of children with the syndrome were found to have at least one elevated anxiety score, although only 19 percent had previously been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
In addition, higher anxiety scores correlated with lower adaptive function among children with the syndrome. Adaptive functioning is a measure of age-appropriate everyday living skills surrounding self-care, home and school living, communication and other factors. Specific anxiety subscales that were associated with poorer adaptive behavior included panic-agoraphobia (anxiety associated with unfamiliar environments), physical injury and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"Anxiety appears to be under-identified by health-care professionals despite known elevated risk in this population," Angkustsiri said. "It is possible that more aggressively recognizing and treating anxiety in these children will prevent more severe problems as they enter adulthood."
For reasons that are not well understood, children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome have a high risk of developing schizophrenia as they reach adulthood. In the general population, anxiety disorders also are associated with schizophrenia.
No relationship was found in the study between IQ and adaptive skills in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, although an association was found in typically developing children and has been found in other studies of children with developmental disorders. The study authors postulate that the lack of correlation in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome could be explained by anxiety, so that because of fearfulness, children do not attain the maximal adaptive functional skills one might expect given their intellectual potential. In addition, children may not be reaching their optimal learning potential because of being distracted by worries or compulsions during learning opportunities.
The good news is that we have many good interventions to treat anxiety, such as medications and counseling, while cognitive impairments are not as amenable to treatment," said Angkustsiri. "We are hopeful that targeting anxiety can make a difference for children with this disorder, as well as in other vulnerable children."
The researchers are further studying factors that contribute to children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome either being a "struggler" (characterized by high anxiety and low adaptive functioning) or someone who is coping -- a "coper" -- as well as interventions that may help the strugglers to become copers.
"This study provides an important key to significantly helping children with 22q deletion syndrome cope better with everyday life and improve their outcomes," said Tony J. Simon, principal investigator of the study and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UC Davis and the MIND Institute.
"The effects of anxiety should not be underestimated, and physicians caring for children with special needs should be proactive in diagnosing and treating it."The Breakdown explains what's behind Southern California business and economic news. It describes the effects the headlines have on you: whether you're an investor, a business owner, an employee, homeowner, consumer or just someone who wants to know how to save a buck.
Ron Paul — Republican presidential candidate, GOP congressman from Texas, father of Sen. Rand Paul, libertarian, and dogged foe of the Federal Reserve — is touching down in Los Angeles on March 20 for a fundraiser. If you think Paul, with his desire to return the U.S. to the gold standard (bimetalism, actually, using gold and silver) and his tendency to subject Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to lengthy disquisitions on inflation, is a litle bit different, just wait until you get a dose of the guy who's hosting this Bel Air shindig, at the former residence of Jennifer Lopez.
He's Mark Spitznagel, a very successful hedge-fund manager whose Universa Investments is based in Santa Monica. There are hedge-fund managers and there are hedge fund managers. Spitznagel is definitely in the latter category. He plies his trade in an exotic corner of the industry, making huge bets on statistically improbable events, now colloquially known as "black swans," after the 2007 book of the that title by Nassim Taleb.
Taleb and Spitznagel were partners is a previous fund that was organized along the same lines. Their ultra-contrary mantra was to lose money on most of their bets, but win big when that black swan came along — both by profiting from negative positions and by buying up assets on the cheap once the financial earthquake had occurred.
Taleb is out of the business now (he'll also be appearing at Paul's L.A. fundraiser, however), but Spitznagel is very much still in it. This is from a 2011 Forbes profiles of Spitznagel:
When things do go very wrong for the underlying markets, however, they go very right for Universa. As the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 38.5% by the end of 2008, the fund increased its investors' money tenfold. Spitznagel says that investors generally allocate about 1% of an investment portfolio to fund such a "black swan protection protocol." Such returns and general fear among investors have helped Universa grow to $6 billion in assets from $300 million when it launched in 2007. Its 15 or so investors, subject to $50 million minimums, include several sovereign wealth funds.
Spitznagel considers himself a kind of inverse Warren Buffett, a "value investor" who unlocks unforeseen value embedded in rare and often disastrous phenomena. If that sounds thoroughly out-there, then consider his preferred term for his investment technique: "time arbitrage." Kind of makes him sound like the Dr. Who of hedge funds.
Beyond all this esoteric moneymaking — which obviously does work, or at least has worked, although whether it's truly "black swan" investing is debatable — Spitzanagel is an enthusiast of the Austrian School of economics. This is where the Ron Paul connection comes in. But Spitznagel goes well beyond being an eccentric rich guy who dabbles in the sort of economic thinking that Paul spouts on the stump. Spitznagel is arguably Paul's main economic theorist/popularizer outside an academic context, with the publications to prove it.
If Ron were to win, you could see Spitznagel as Treasury Secretary (Spitznagel is in his early forties, and remember, though Ron Paul may be getting on in years, Rand Paul waits in the wings). And if Paul — Ron or Rand — ever did win a race to the White House...well, you'd probably have to call that a black swan.
If you want a quick download of Spitznagel's anti-Keynesian views, check out this piece for Project Syndicate, which mashes up what initially seems like a fairly adolescent reading of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" with a very Ron Paulist contempt for the Federal Reserve. Or you can review this piece from the New York Times, in which he complains about the actions of the Fed's Bernanke, scrutinizing them unfavorably through the lens of poker. There's more than a whiff of Ayn Rand in there, as Spitznagel seems far more concerned with the struggles of the heroic investor than the responsibility of federal institutions to the economy as a whole.
Still, plenty to chew on. You have to give it to Ron Paul — there's not a lot of intellectual frivolity in his acolytes, even if there is a tendency to spin off into realms of fairly loopy, me-first speculation.
I have to admit, if there's one political fundraiser I could attend, this would most definitely be it. Who wouldn't want to debate monetary policy in the house where J-Lo once slept?
Follow Matthew DeBord and the DeBord Report on Twitter.On March 29, one week after the jihad massacres in Brussels, Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) spoke in the Dutch Parliament about what had happened, and the danger that Islam poses to the Netherlands. He was immediately set upon by the usual ankle-biters of the Left (and the “Center Right”, i.e. the VVD) who denounced him for “dividing” the country.
In the video below, pay close attention to the back-and-forth between Mr. Wilders and his detractors — you’ll notice a subtle shift in the center of gravity of the debate. Some of his opponents now grudgingly concede his point that there is a problem with Islam in the Netherlands, and just savage him for his proposed solutions, or for being an “extremist” about it, etc. In other words, the argument is shifting from whether there is a danger posed by Islam to the best way to deal with that danger.
Many thanks to H. Numan and Kericjang for time-stamping the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Transcript:
00:00 (Wilders = W) Mme. Chairman, another atrocity, this time in Brussels.
00:09 Indescribable scenes. Heartbreaking images. Who is not devastated?
00:16 Everyone is shocked, and rightly so.
00:21 But still, nobody dares tell the truth. And the truth is hard,
00:26 however hard the elite tries to deny it:
00:29 these attacks are the direct result of the Islamic ideology.
00:33 The Koran endorses jihadist terror.
00:37 The war against us has been going on for 1,400 years.
00:42 The second truth is this: the jihadists move like fish in the water of the Muslim communities.
00:49 They are heroes there. Salah Abdeslam spent four months in Molenbeek. He ordered pizzas.
00:59 He walked the streets. He walked past the police station for the fun of it.
01:03 Everyone knew it, everybody saw it, but everyone was silent.
01:09 This silence, this silence of the Muslim communities is our problem.
01:14 The day before yesterday, four dangerous terrorists were arrested in Delfshaven.
01:19 On Tuesday: cheering Muslim children in a school.
01:24 Moroccans shouting “Allahu Akhbar” in prisons.
01:27 And again, there is hardly anyone in the Muslim community speaking out against the jihadists.
01:39 (Pechtold=P) Does Mr Wilders really think that after such horrific attacks,
01:43 the Dutch are waiting for a Dutch politician to say:
01:47 I speak the truth and only I know what is going on?
01:53 Has Mr. Wilders not seen that there were many other reactions from the Muslim community?
02:01 In this country, the religious leaders, ordinary people and mayors
02:05 like Aboutaleb, all reacted differently than he describes.
02:10 Why is Mr Wilders, who is the first speaker, sowing division?
02:19 Does he not see that more than 90%, I would even say 99% of the Dutch are standing together?
02:26 (W) People like Mr. Pechtold and parties like D66 are the reason we’re in trouble.
02:35 For decades these parties have kept our borders wide open.
02:39 They are stubborn cultural relativists who think that Christianity and Islam are basically equal.
02:47 I’m sick of all these lies, all this political correctness.
02:51 Every year, in all cities of the world and, increasingly, in Europe, there are innocent deaths.
02:58 People are being killed because of the Islamization which we allowed here.
03:06 It has to be enough. Enough is enough.
03:09 I don’t apologize for that. Every debate again, I’ll keep hitting this nail on the head.
03:17 Then, I come to Mr Pechtold’s second question.
03:22 Barring a few exceptions, I’ve barely seen them.
03:27 I saw 100 people in Rotterdam, I saw 80 people in Amsterdam. But where are the demonstrations of thousands,
03:31 I say, tens of thousands of Muslims all over the world
03:36 and in the Netherlands, saying: this is not my Islam? They’re absent.
03:40 They’re not there, Mr Pechtold.
03:43 Only a handful of people dare to speak out. I salute them, but the masses are silent.
03:49 Indeed, the masses support it. In Molenbeek, a terrorist was protected by the Muslim community for months.
03:57 That is a problem and we have to deal with it.
04:01 (P) Never before has Mr. Wilders drawn the line so clearly, accusing
04:07 Islam, the Muslim religious community and terrorism as one single unit.
04:15 My question to him was whether he only sees negative things.
04:19 Does he not agree with me that it is important at a time like this, after heinous attacks like this,
04:25 to unify and defend our values, values which also apply to people with a Muslim background who were born here?
04:38 My next question to Mr Wilders. What has he done to preserve this unity?
04:43 How has he himself eased people’s fears?
04:46 What did he do to ensure that we do not confront each other, but together condemn terrorism and tackle it?
04 |
ized presentation — as Gayle Wald points out in her new book It's Been Beautiful: Soul! And Black Power Television -- nonetheless remained central to Motown's mission of black self-empowerment.
With what Leon Bridges is doing now and the context he exists in, do you see any potential for him to have a politically engaged or radicalized moment later in his career?
There is always that potential, as we've seen with an artist like John Legend. But for Bridges, such a turn would require a shift out of the nostalgic retro mode and into an engagement with the political, social and musical landscape of the present.
Do you think retro soul suffers because it often seems to pretend to be in a world where hip-hop doesn't exist?
I do, because what does that mean? That means turning back the clock and pretending that not only does the music not exist, but also that the social energy that hip-hop represents didn't happen.
I guess what this comes down to is, do we need new old soul music? There's something about this new music that seems so devoted to complete reproduction that just makes me want to hear the original stuff. It's almost a turn-off.
I know what you mean. I wouldn't say that it's specific to soul music. Every genre of American music has its eras of revivalism, or certain strains of revivalism, that continue across various time periods. It's a folk movement or a blues revival or traditional jazz or country and bluegrass. There are always people in every genre who are keeping that legacy alive, though there isn't always an audience for that. But in regards to soul, I think that soul signifies many things to many people, and sometimes it's that social/political component, and sometimes it speaks to more musical issues of black instrumentation (complex arrangements and virtuosic musicianship), and a premium put on emotional expressiveness. Those are all things to value for a music lover. But I don't know, I'm kind of with you. I don't want to listen to something that sounds like Marvin Gaye when I could just listen to Marvin Gaye.
YouTube
It might partially come down to the fact that it's called "soul." The idea of trying to recapture "soul" is weird. I imagine the musicians are thinking, "This is the music that speaks to me, and I want to evoke that same feeling through the music I create." It's a unique sound, and I don't know if it ever can really be recaptured.
Soul was very much of its moment. It obviously drew from the past, and it drew from everybody's experience of growing up in church and singing gospel music. Soul artists brought that into the secular realm, that sense of these big vocals and performative energy in the live setting — the lay-it-all-on-the-floor drama and physical vigor of the performance. That kind of legacy, and the way that kind of legacy is made to speak for very particular moments in the '60s and '70s, is not possible to capture. Soul really does become a gathering place for black people.
The way that I think about it, in my work, is I read more about the music and the way that soul gets deployed in different situations: Who has soul? Who doesn't have soul? What does it mean to have soul? It consistently means something about having struggles and trying to make your way through a world where it's harder to be black than it is to be white. But that there's a certain payoff to that, and soul is what you get for having gone through the fire in that way. To divorce the crux of soul music — whether you're a black or white or whatever artist — from that real inventive, group-affirming work, there's something lost in that translation.
Could the benefit of retro soul artists be that they serve as a gateway for some listeners to discover the older artists that the music is referencing?
It seems to me that people who were raised on Sam Cooke are not going to be excited about Leon Bridges, but I do like the idea of him functioning as a gateway. Now, that's a gateway for listeners, but in terms of practitioners of the music, I also wonder — this is a slightly different issue — whether or not young artists have the same kinds of resources they need to really move the music forward. We often see in the history of the record business that the real innovation comes from musical networks, whether that's jazz or hip-hop or soul. It's Otis Redding working with the Stax house band, or Muscle Shoals backing Aretha [Franklin], or Earth, Wind & Fire (all the people within that band and all the people they collaborated with). The Soulquarians, D'Angelo and the Vanguard, and the Wondaland collective with Janelle Monáe are more contemporary examples. The public music education programs around the country are part of this conversation, too. What kind of public and other kinds of resources are around to young musicians today that make that kind of innovation possible?
YouTube
How important is it that there be black audience members or black listeners for a soul artist? I read something about Leon Bridges on Vogue.com, and there was a part where he mentioned how his audiences are predominantly white and he says that when he performs his song "Brown Skin Girl," he'll ask, "Where my brown-skinned girls at?" and there will be hardly any of them in the crowd. It's kind of played as a joke in the article, but it's kind of weird, right?
Yeah, it definitely worth noting. It's tricky, because you don't want to get into these rigid notions of authenticity and suggest that he's not authentic just because he has a majority white fan base, but I think that is relevant. One thing again that the "Coming Home" video does is that it suggests a dream of integration that has already been realized, suggesting that there's no problem with him being with this white woman in the context of the totally depopulated world that exists in that music video. The dream of integration without the struggle would be more appealing to those who have been beneficiaries of the concept of the post-racial America. The soul-revival thing can swing either way. It can suggest that we really are in this era of post-racialism that Obama's election ushered in, or it can suggest a real rejection of that idea, and that we need to return this prior moment to figure out what that movement still has to teach us. I don't know enough about the audiences for Sharon Jones or other retro soul artists, but I do think the question of who this music is resonating with is definitely relevant.
We're making Leon Bridges carry the burden of a lot of stuff in this conversation, but how important should it be for artists who are interested in retro soul to try and establish a black following?
I don't know what kind of assumptions would go into that calculus. I do think there is a broad national base of interest in soul music. I just want to broaden the landscape to acknowledge the recent biopics on people like Ray Charles, James Brown, Nina Simone, and the weird Muscle Shoals documentary that I just learned Johnny Depp wants to turn into a TV series. Then there are all these recent albums inspired by soul artists, like Meshell Ndegeocello's album of Nina Simone covers, Leela James has an album of Etta James covers, John Legend's Wake Up, even Lalah Hathaway, whose recent stage show was in some ways a tribute to her father Donny Hathaway's Live album.
Soul is definitely an industry across racial lines — and inter-generationally, as well — but the issue of cultivating a black audience, specifically, is a tricky one. I think of it less as a personal issue and more in terms of structures or systems that are in place to allow people to do that. A Leon Bridges 40 years ago doesn't have a choice as to whether or not to engage black audiences — that's his bread and butter. It's either sink or swim, depending on their approval or lack thereof. Whereas now it's interesting to think he can be groomed as a soul artist. People like Questlove are important here, in that there is a certain kind of racially authenticating work that goes into having a stamp of approval, but that's different from going out and having to tour and have your work vetted by black DJs or black record-store owners.Welcome
Welcome to the The Complete List of Custom Content for RCT3. This is the most comprehensive list for RCT3 content on the internet. Here, you can find links to 1000's of CS sets including descriptions, location in game, and more.
The goal of this site is to create a database of all publicly released custom content created for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. This also includes those items which have become no longer available.
Usage
This list is sorted in alphabetical order by the name (or names) of the created content. The list can be sorted by either the author (this is the classic format which the original list was structured in) or content type (which will allow you to easily find a set, even if you aren't sure of the author. Each will allow you to navigate to a specific scenery item. A search engine is also available to help find objects, even if you don't know the name of a set or if one even exists.
Once viewing an individual item, you can see any threads or downloads* that exist, types and number of objects in the set, and the theme of the set. In addition to custom scenery objects (CSOs or Scenery), there are a vast number of custom tracked rides (CTRs or Cars), custom flat rides (CFRs or Rides), and misc. files and utilities (Miscellaneous).
Sadly, most threads and many downloads are no longer available. Should these links become available again, or new links found, these links will once again be added. If you find a set on a site not listed here, please visit the CS Depot and post the link in the proper thread, so the CS List can be updated.
*Please note links to some sites will have log in requirements to access those threads or downloads.
Credits
Special thanks to jonwil, apet08, and errt for coming up with, and starting the list.
Thanks to shyguy for hosting the current site, and RCT-Spanky for hosting the old site on his server for many years.
Thank you to -CoasterJoe-, CPcisco, Liam, LoneWolf, |Luke|, wabigbear and Weber for their help in transferring information from the old site, as well as Jdrowlands for helping to tie up loose ends with the site as of July 29, 2011.Kenny Vaccaro: Saints OTA's on Thursday
Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro catches a ball during OTA's at the Saints training facility in Metairie on Thursday, May 29, 2014. (Michael DeMocker, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune)
(Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
New Orleans Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro will readily admit that sometimes his heart surpasses the physical limitations of his body.
Vaccaro doesn't walk off the field when he's injured. He practically has to be dragged away. If it were up to him, he'd never go in the training room.
In eight of his starts last year, Vaccaro didn't miss a single snap on defense. At 23, he has two NFL concussions to his credit already.
The Brownwood, Texas native's roots fit him well. In many ways, he plays like a cowboy.
"The way I play, a lot of guys are like that, I'm reckless," he said. "I like to bring the physical aspect to the game."
Vaccaro, who has spent the offseason rehabbing his broken ankle, pushes himself so hard that trainers sometimes tell him to slow down for fear he'll make it worse.
"I'm so competitive," he said. "I want to be out there. I hate sitting."
But even Vaccaro had to throw in the towel after the freak play in Week 16 that snapped a bone in his ankle.
On a handoff to Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams, Vaccaro came flying in from the backfield with his head down as the pile started to collapse. Vaccaro fell on the ground with his left ankle twisted underneath his leg, as all 359 pounds of teammate John Jenkins fell on top of him.
Vaccaro looked down to see his ankle sticking out at a physically impossible angle.
"I was sitting on the ground and it was twisted all the way around," he said. "But I put it back in place and I tried to walk."
It only took him a few steps before he realized it was no use. The trainers put an air cast on him and carted him off the field. His Christmas was spent in the hospital to repair his broken ankle.
"I was just mad because I was getting better every game," he said. "I had my rookie woes in the first three games, but after that, each game I got better. It would have been even that much better of a rookie season."
To take his mind off his physical limitations, Vaccaro would sit down and watch film of new Saints safety Jairus Byrd, who was with the Buffalo Bills at the time.
After an offseason of rehab, Vaccaro is feeling better by leaps and bounds. As little as three weeks ago, he was still having trouble making cuts. Now, in Week 2 of OTAs, he feels "100 percent."
"(I'm) really excited about him. He's been working out. I'm no doctor, I don't know how fast he's supposed to come back from injury or what, but he looks great," said Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. "He's been working hard. He knows the defense inside out, as most of our guys do. They're looking really good."
The only visible reminder of his surgery is a long scar and athletic tape he wears for practice.
"In a week, I'm not even going to tape my ankle anymore," he said.
It's not just his competitive nature that drives Vaccaro. The 23-year-old started 14 games last season, missing only Week 10 (concussion) and Week 16 (broken ankle).
Ryan trusted Vaccaro enough to line him up practically anywhere in the backfield, and he forced two turnovers during the season.
"I never really felt like a rookie playing for the Saints with the way Rob used me," Vaccaro said.
But he still feels he hasn't really accomplished anything at all.
"I just feel like I always find something to drive me," he said. "There's always something. The Top 100 (NFL players). I'm not on there. Why should I be that confident? Pro Bowl, I wasn't on there. I didn't even get top three or four in Rookie of the Year (voting). So I really don't have anything to hold my head high for, except that I executed the defense my first year.
"I don't have any accolades that I can hold my head high about. Until I'm 10 years in the game and a Hall of Famer like Champ Bailey, I'll keep playing like I am."
Vaccaro said he won't change the way he plays because he got hurt last season. The first occurred when he collided with teammate Keenan Lewis against the Buffalo Bills. The second came against the Dallas Cowboys, when tight end Jason Witten accidentally kneed him in the head. That forced him to miss the following week.
Vaccaro said those were freak things. And the thought of a concussion won't creep into his mind when he plays.
"It's not like I'm hitting guys dead on in the open field and getting a concussion every time," he said. "You'd have to think those two were pretty extreme hits."
What he is willing to rein in, however, is his free-for-all positioning on the field. Vaccaro and Ryan had a talk about his role this season, agreeing that they want to hone his focus more on one position.
"I told him that I want to play a lot of different positions and at OTAs I still do it," Vaccaro said. "But I told him, I want to be great at one position rather than good at a whole bunch of positions. I want to be an All-Pro, Pro Bowler safety than a five different position player."
And ultimately the end goal, he said, is for him and new safety Byrd to be the best tandem in the NFL.
"Jairus told me, straight up, when he got here: 'I want you to be better than me when you leave here,' and I genuinely think he meant that," Vaccaro said. "He told me... 'I want to give you the tools to be the safety in the NFL, because I know you can do it.' And that's my goal."James Martin/CNET
LAS VEGAS--Who says you can't teach an old chipmaker new tricks? Not Nvidia. At CES, the company announced its own gaming device, Nvidia Shield, which will bear its brand name as well as its quad-core Tegra 4 processor.
Project Shield is small -- smaller than a Wii U controller. Fittingly, it looks like a portable Xbox controller with a small flip-up screen. It's got analog joysticks, buttons, and controllers. Nvidia promises between 5 and 10 hours of gameplay on Shield.
Still a prototype, the final name and design could change before the product goes to market, as soon as in a few months, an Nvidia spokesperson said.
"It's pure Android," says Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. There's nothing proprietary about it; all jacks are standard and the platform is open. It comes with a microSD card slot.
Shield can connect to the cloud to play Android games, TegraZone games, and PC games for PCs with compatible GeForce graphics cards. It also supports multiplayer mode.
Big strides
The move from making chipsets to assembling the hardware that houses them is a bold one for Nvidia, which traditionally partners with device-makers to power their mobile and desktop computing hardware.
Becoming a hardware manufacturer in addition to creating processors would give Nvidia another revenue stream, as well as greater latitude in device designs that house their chips.
James Martin/CNET
Though a surprising move, Nvidia does have some experience speccing out and creating devices. The company currently builds reference models that they then actively pitch to hardware partners, like Asus and Acer, for instance.
Most recently, Nvidia partnered with Leyden Energy to provide a longer-lasting battery for a tablet reference design.
Nvidia isn't showing off its new tablet tonight, but CNET tablet reviewer Eric Franklin will get photos, video, and first impressions as soon as possible.Introducing special guests, Noriko Shitaya and Tomonori Sudo, for the Fate/stay night[Heaven's Feel] THE MOVIE I. presage flower premiere! A special talk show with the guests will be held after the film!Noriko Shitaya from Chiba Prefecture is represented by 81produce, and is the voice actress of Sakura Matou in the Fate franchise. While in school, she won an audition for the role of Kasumi Tomnie in Alien Nine, which is also her debuting role. She has been casted in countless other roles in animations as well as games ever since. In addition to her role as Sakura in the Fate series, her other renowned roles include Lailah in the Tales of Zestiria the X series and Moegi in BORUTO.Tomonori Sudo is an accomplished animation director, character designer and director. His amazing work can be seen in “Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works]”,” Fate/Zero” and “the Garden of sinners” film series. Sudo is the director of the highly anticipated film Fate/stay night The Movie [Heaven’s Feel] I. presage flower.In the midst of the world's seamlessly catastrophic political turn of late, you may have missed the growing activity about a national housing strategy. About 30 years ago, the federal government walked away from the business of making sure Canadians were housed, and we are alone among G20 countries in not having a national strategy.
Given the tenor of hate and division that surrounds us, here's an invitation to focus on something positive, and something achievable; something that will bring benefit to communities across the country, and build better health outcomes for all Canadians.
So here's a top 10 list of why YOU should help make a national housing strategy a reality:
1. You believe in dignity, not just for yourself but for your neighbours as well. More than ever, it's important to speak up about the things that matter most, and be that change you want to see in the world.
2. People across the country are supporting the National Housing Collaborative. The goal is simple: all Canadians have access to housing that meets their needs and that they can afford. You in?
3. 235,000 Canadians will experience homelessness sometime this year. Of those, 64,500 will be women fleeing violence who will end up in shelters. Imagine how hard it is to have to leave your home in order to save your life and have nowhere to go. Homelessness should not be the consequence of a life without violence.
4. 20% of Canada's homeless population is made up of young people. Thousands of them are on the streets every night. Apart from being an epic, long-term planning fail, what does it say about us that we have made so many of our young people disposable?
5. Want a practical way of being part of truth and reconciliation? Indigenous peoples make up 4% of the overall population from coast to coast to coast, but in some cities are as much as 50-90% of homeless people - a homelessness epidemic. In Toronto, Indigenous peoples make up 15% of the city's homeless, but only 0.5% of the total population. How about we reconcile ourselves to changing that. Right away.
6. A national housing benefit is being proposed - it would be an immediate support for renter households in need and at risk. It would help 800,000 households close the "affordability gap" - keeping them in their homes, off the street, and out of shelters. It would mean choice and autonomy - dignity - when people need it most. A critical, enormous step towards poverty reduction.
7. Income inequality. It is harder and harder for an increasing number of Canadians to keep up. Finance Minister Bill Morneau says precarious work, short-term employment, and lots of career changes are here to stay. That just can't be the best we can do. But, in the meantime, let's make a national housing strategy the first line of defense in the face of income inequality.
8. Knowing resources are limited, we should make the best investments possible, yet we spend $7 billion on homelessness in shelters, chronic health disasters, and other related costs. The return on investment is kind of a bottomless pit. A loss of hope, an inability to flourish, bad positioning economically... the list goes on. If you get what you pay for, why are we paying for homelessness instead of investing in housing people?
9. Let's be creative. The federal government is being asked to consider how we increase and maintain diverse, affordable rental housing through innovative capital tools. Long-term financing, equity funds for new rental projects -- it's time to leverage government investment and do critical housing work in creative and innovative ways.
10. These are scary times. Engaging is a good antidote. Get in touch with your MP or track them down at a local event and tell them how important a national housing strategy is for everyone in this country. You'll feel as good as all those who have taken to the streets in the last few weeks. You don't even have to wear a pink hat -- though, of course, you can if you want. As long as you speak up, firmly and clearly, and help build a way forward.
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on FacebookMan of Steel is simultaneously bigger and smaller than you are expecting. What’s bigger? The action. Super-sizing even The Avengers, Man of Steel has more action set pieces and devastating destruction than you’ve probably ever imagined. It’s jaw-dropping, heart-pumping stuff. What’s smaller? The story. Most of the film takes places in a very condensed, focused timeline, giving it an urgency and immediacy lacking in other superhero films. A smaller narrative raises the stakes as well as the emotional complexity.
Zack Snyder has made an epic and heartfelt adventure that successfully reboots the Superman character in a realistic, and humanistic way.
From the very beginning of Man of Steel, David Goyer‘s script defies expectations. It starts on Krypton with a huge, table-setting opening in the mold of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. From there, unlike most traditional tellings of this story, we meet Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) fully grown and out on his own. He’s struggling with his place in the world and trying to hide the true abilities he doesn’t quite understand. As more questions are raised for Clark, the film cuts back to his childhood in Smallville with Ma and Pa Kent, played Diane Lane and Kevin Costner. These scenes ground the movie and provide essential character-building context.
However, in a movie this ambitious and steeped in tradition, the non-linear structure takes some getting used to. The audience is so used to one version of Superman that watching the story told in a different way feels a bit off. The presentation of Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams, is similar. She’s part of Clark’s life right from the story’s opening, which is a deviation from what audiences are used to. And while these two tweaks to the Superman story might feel awkward at first, the reasons become clear — and exceedingly rewarding — as the film moves on.
Any small issues with structure and tone soon go away once the story gets into gear. Man of Steel moves fast, constantly keeping the audience on the edge of their seat once Kal-El learns the truth of his existence and General Zod (Michael Shannon) comes calling. This rapid introduction of the villain into the story, while also dealing with his origins, places Man of Steel into a very specific moment in Superman’s personal history. We’re dealing squarely with the moment Earth realizes aliens exist, yet Snyder doesn’t watch the planet absorbing that idea. There are no extended sequences of man on the street reactions. No outlandish newspaper headlines zipping around on the screen. There’s only the safety of humanity and Kal-El’s decision to help humanity, or not. Anything else could come later.
Instead of a visual representation of humanity’s reaction to Superman, Snyder and Goyer present the issue as a moral dilemma. Can the humans trust an alien to save the Earth? And why would someone who isn’t of this world risk everything to save it? The characters represent multiple points of view to examine these arguments.
The thematic back and forth, while ultimately rewarding, does make for a slightly challenging experience. Normal blockbusters don’t engage us like this. They definitely don’t make us consider, on some level, that a character as hopeful as Superman could be unwanted. Subtextual threads such as these give the film a bit of weight to balance the fantastic action.
And that action is simply incredible. It’s as huge as huge can be. These are Gods, at war with each other, and Earth is their sandbox. Nothing is safe, from vehicles to storefronts to massive skyscrapers. Snyder ups the ante for the kind of scale we expect from a superhero blockbuster.
Then, at the center of it all, is Henry Cavill. This is a true leading man in a role that’s guaranteed to make him a superstar. He doesn’t yet possess the charm of Christopher Reeve, but Reeve’s Clark Kent was a more mature character. Cavill’s Superman is literally right at the beginning of what’s sure to be a long reign as the leader of DC’s heroes. He plays that origin with confidence and a physical presence that’s second to none.
Yes, folks, Man of Steel delivers. It’s a phenomenal film and an even better set up for what we hope is a huge, DC Universe.
/Film rating: 8.5 out of 10Make no mistake – Charles Goodnight is a boutique white label bourbon with a bit of an identity crisis. Its shtick is that it pays homage to Charles Goodnight, a confederate, Texas Ranger and cattleman. By all accounts he was a man’s man, but aside from sheer marketing appeal of an “old timey” character – what a Texan has to do with a Kentucky bourbon is beyond me. Further muddying the waters is the fact that on the back of the bottle – it notes that it’s bottled by Goodnight Distillery in Parlier, California. So let’s recap… a Kentucky Bourbon, bottled in California to honor a Texan – sorry this doesn’t compute. Peel back the curtains however and do some digging and you find it’s a bourbon made by Wild Turkey, with a snazzy label and a random association to an old cowboy to make it chic.
Much to my surprise however, the contents do not disappoint. In fact, I’d go as far as to say, this is the smoothest drinking 100 proof bourbon I’ve had the pleasure of indulging. The bottle does not denote an age and it’s no surprise as this is likely a young bourbon – it lacks the complexity of juice boasting double digit age.
With a deep amber hue and a one noted fragrance of malted corn, you don’t expect much yet as it slides across your tongue, its sweet and delicate flavor, buttery smooth finish and complete lack of bite make this is a simple, yet satisfying libation. It bears repeating – for 100 proof, I think this takes the prize as the smoothest path to a bourbon induced hangover.
While Charles Goodnight won’t send your mind wandering in contemplation of a higher power, it is a superlative 100 proof sipping bourbon that offers such a smooth taste neat, few 80 proof bourbons on the rocks could match it. The six colored label and the overstretched and unnecessary tie to Charles Goodnight do make it the “Dog the Bounty Hunter” of bourbons – more flash and big talk than needed, but righteous intention. All said, for under $50 – it’s a particularly smooth offering that’s worth a look. For a world class Manhattan or a lazy winter nights dram, it’s a lovely, albeit expensive “Auto-pilot.”
Would I buy it again? No. I can turn my brain off and watch a few episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter… but then I yearn for a plot, better actors, a script and some eye candy.Single Speed Freewheeled / Fixed Gear Bike History
Single Speed Freewheeled / Fixed Gear Bike History
Until 1937, when they were first permitted to use derailleur gears, those giants of men who competed in the Tour de France – and in all other races up to a similar year – rode bikes with just a single gear, that's 34 years from the start of the tour in 1903. Initially, in the case of the Tour until about 1906, they were not permitted to use freewheels, thus rode fixed-gear or fixed-wheel. Whenever the rear wheel was rotating, so the pedals were rotating too. The advent of the freewheel at least allowed the rider some respite from constant pedaling, and helped average speeds increase. However many races were won at very respectable speeds despite the absence of derailleur gears: most riders mounted sprockets of different size on each side of the rear wheel, and could thus change gear by removing the wheel and flipping it over to use the other gear. Later some put double sprockets on one or both sides, and changed gear by manually shifting the chain from one to another. The Tour de France of 1936 was done with a single gear and freewheel with the winner maintaining a 19.3mph average speed, the following year of the tour was the year in which they allowed the use of a derailleur setup and the winner maintained an average speed of 19.7mph both tours were 2700+miles long and had similar mountain stages.
There are plenty of good reasons for still riding single-speed bikes. They are much simpler, cheaper, and can easily be as light as much more expensive geared bikes. Moreover they are excellent for training, as you have a simple choice: pedal in the single gear, or walk! You cannot progressively chicken out on a hill and crawl your way down to 'granny' gear. Because of this the rider is forced to be an aggressive rider to maintain momentum, giving the rider a great core body workout when climbing hills. When traveling at higher speeds, you must learn to pedal smoothly at very high cadences of 120 per minute or more, and this builds what is termed souplesse in your pedaling style. Traditional European training methods for pro cyclists normally put them back on a fixed-wheel or single-speed bike when they returned to training in the New Year, and used that to increase burst leg strength and improve souplesse before switching back to a normal road bike after 1000 to 2000 miles. Being so simple, single-speed bikes are ideal for bad weather training, as they can be cleaned and maintained very quickly. Some pros still recommend single-speed or fixed-wheel bikes for certain types of event, notably hill-climbs, although no-one would attempt more general or multi-stage road racing on such a machine now.By Tim Franks
BBC News, Jerusalem
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Footage from a video camera handed out by an Israeli human rights group appears to show Jewish settlers beating up Palestinians in the West Bank. An elderly shepherd, his wife and a nephew said they were attacked by four masked men for allowing their animals to graze near the settlement of Susia. The rights group, B'Tselem, said the cameras were provided to enable Palestinians to get proof of attacks. A spokesman for the Israeli police said that an investigation was under way. So far, no-one has been arrested. Baseball bats For the past year, B'Tselem has handed out video cameras to Palestinians as part of its "Shooting Back" project. The Palestinians said they were attacked after refusing to move The BBC has been given exclusive access to the footage of this particular attack, which happened earlier this week. The date and time on the camera footage shows that it is Sunday afternoon. Over the brow of the hill walk four masked men holding baseball bats. To the right of the screen, in the foreground, stands a 58-year-old Palestinian woman. Thamam al-Nawaja has been herding her goats close to the Jewish settlement of Susia, near Hebron in the southern West Bank. Within a few seconds, she, along with her 70-year-old husband and one of her nephews, will be beaten up. As the first blows land, the woman filming - the daughter-in-law of the elderly couple - drops the camera and runs for help. 'Ten-minute warning' Mrs Nawaja spent three days in hospital after the attack. Returning to the small Palestinian encampment close to the red-roofed houses of Susia, she stepped slowly and unsteadily out of the minibus. They don't want us to stay on our land, but we won't leave - we'll die here
Thamam al-Nawaja A dark stain showed through the white gauze covering her broken right arm. Her veil was lifted gingerly away from her lined face. A bloodshot eye and intersection of scars revealed a fractured left cheek. "The settlers gave us a 10-minute warning to clear off from the land," she told me, her voice a tired, cracked whisper. She and her husband had stood their ground. It is at this point that her voice grows louder. "They don't want us to stay on our land. But we won't leave. We'll die here. It's ours," she added. Indeed, the rest of the world regards Jewish settlements in the West Bank such as Susia, as illegal, built on occupied territory. Those settlements have been a large part of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis for the last 41 years. The daily confrontation is not often caught on camera. That, now, is beginning to change. Video proof The attack near Susia was filmed with one of 100 video cameras that B'Tselem has handed out to Palestinians in the region. When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened - they now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon
Oren Yakobovich
B'Tselem The thinking behind the project is that when trouble flares, rather than just giving a statement to the Israeli police or army, video carries much more weight. "The difference is amazing," says Oren Yakobovich, who leads the Shooting Back project. "When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened. They now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon." We asked a spokesman from the Susia settlement for a comment on Sunday's incident. He declined. Inside one of the tents belonging to the Palestinians living near Susia, we watched the footage of the aftermath of the attack - the victims slumped by the roadside, bloodied, waiting for an ambulance. The bright, wide eyes of the children shone with the light of the small television screen. Violence against Jews as well as Palestinians has long scarred this place. Video may now may be giving us a new and raw view. But for most people here, the only answer - a political deal - remains out of sight.
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StumbleUpon What are these?The 2016 Lexus GS F has just been priced in the United States with the M5 and E63 AMG rival to set U.S. customers back a minimum of $84,440, excluding the obligatory $940 destination, processing and handling fee.
We’re still waiting on pricing details on the various options available for the GS F but do know that it will be available in Molten Pearl, Ultrasonic Blue, Ultra White, Atomic Silver, Liquid Platinum, Nebula Gray Pearl, Caviar and Matador Red.
On an engine front, the GS F features the same naturally-aspirated 5.0-litre V8 from the RC F but tuned to deliver 467 hp at 7100 rpm and 527 Nm of torque between 4800 and 5600 rpm. While Lexus has yet to reveal performance specifications for the 2015 GS F, it should hit 100 km/h from a standstill in around the four and a half second mark.
Interestingly, the Lexus GS F delivers significantly less power than the 552 hp strong BMW M5 but importantly, the GS F weighs about 130 kg less coming in at a total 1830 kg kerb weight making it easily the lightest car in its market. The aforementioned 5.0-litre V8 is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission complete with a manual shift function.On Friday, two liberal writers looked at the Steve Scalise story and related issues |
provide a readymade solution to the imbalance of genders that has grown over the centuries. Rather it is a postpatriarchal project in a strict sense as it does not present a magic bullet but counts on the freedom and ability of women and men to reshape the world of humans by renegotiating from the ground up their respective positions, tasks and desires.".
to read Ina Praetorius' article published in March 2012, click onThe Unconditional Basic Income as a Postpatriarchal Project„The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.“ (2 Thess 3,10). This biblical saying has deeply influenced Western minds until the present day. Sure, as there are other precepts that one can quote in order not to leave jobless humans hungry, Western societies have created what we now call „charity“ or „welfare“ or „social security systems“. However, all these institutional arrangements to prevent poverty are marked by a certain attitude of condescension of the “strong” towards the “weak”. In traditional charity an expectation resonates that those who “do not work but nevertheless eat” should feel guilty - and grateful to their benefactors who “unfortunately have to do double work in order to care for the lazy ones.”What did the sender of the second letter to the Thessalonians mean by writing that “the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat”? He or she, as far as we can infer from the context, wanted to exhort a young Christian community not to abandon the rules of their normal daily life awaiting the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. So, the following would be a plausible translation of the apostle’s simple exhortation that has, over the centuries, been frozen as a moral dogma: “Keep on taking care of yourselves and each other, otherwise you will not be able to survive!”What is work?If you ask anybody about his work today he or she will normally specify a profession: “I work as a teacher, a hairdresser, a manager…”. Certain women – and very few men - of a certain age will hesitate first and then tell you something of the kind: “I do not really work, I am a housewife and mother. However, I try to keep in touch with the world of work and to contribute to my family’s income giving some tutoring lessons.” Many elderly people will say that they do not work any more as they are retired, though they are certainly involved in volunteering. So, in our Western societies at least, the notion “work” seems to be strongly linked to the classical “workplace” or “employment”: to work in this modern context means to earn money by fulfilling certain tasks that usually are a functional part of an enterprise or an institution. So, the notion of “work” here is neither defined by its benefit for the human (co-)existence nor by the energy that is spent, but simply through the money that is earned.Paul, in his supposedly unambiguous phrase, did not talk about money. What he had in mind was the well-being and future of the addressed community: “Keep on taking care of yourselves and each other, otherwise you will not be able to survive!” - In fact, our modern societies as well would not be able to survive only through paid jobs. Much research has proven that more than half of the activities that are necessary for the survival and wellbeing of a given society are not paid. There is, for example, no “monetary incentive” for most mothers to care for their children, nevertheless they usually do what is necessary. Families normally do not earn money for growing vegetables in home gardens, but home gardens – the Russian “datchas” for example - have often allowed people to survive the frequent crises of what is officially called “the free market”. On the other side there is plenty of paid work that seems to be rather useless: the production of weapons, the creation of more and more luxury goods that compete for the attention of few affluent buyers, the accumulation of wealth through opaque financial products etc. However, most people still have a certain feeling that work should make sense. So, why shouldn’t we redefine work from this starting point? What hinders us from putting an end to the seemingly self-evident, yet never in history realized coupling of money and work?In fact, while there is always plenty of useful and necessary work to be done, the number of paid jobs nowadays, is steadily decreasing. In our present world a few super-rich people that profit from streamlined production and a detached world of finance face a great majority of jobless, low paid people and working-poor. And the gap is growing. The modern mechanism of “money for work” that in fact has never been realized in the strict sense has now totally ceased to provide global wellbeing. While money as such still seems to be a useful tool to organize the exchange of goods and services, the actual mechanisms of its distribution have clearly failed.Rethinking the economyThe best thing to do in this deadlock is to rethink the entire economy. Namely, we must look back to the original meaning that is “rule of the household” (gr. Oikos/house, household; Nomos/law, rule, principle) and proceed from there. What is crucial in the economy is the fulfillment of human needs. So, what we humans do, our “work”, should provide food, shelter, clothing, education, joy, rest, meaning, comfort etc. for ourselves and for our seven billion fellow humans with whom each of us lives together in the beautiful finite generous habitat we call “earth”. Every day we are nourished by the earth that gives us air, water, plants, animals and precious raw materials which we can use to fulfill our needs. And every day we are nourished by our fellow humans who grow food, build houses, streets, bridges, water pipes and many other useful things, cook meals, educate newcomers, give shelter, sew clothes, print money, manage bank accounts, care for elderly, differently abled and ill people and so on. To work means to nourish what nourishes me: the world and my fellow humans. Contrary to a common view there is evidence that nearly all humans are prepared to work in this sense, not because there are “monetary incentives”, but simply because it makes sense to lead a good life together.In order to re-enable people to nourish what nourishes them the idea of an unconditional basic income was born. This idea combines the conviction that money, as a common medium of exchange, is useful in principle with the insight that the concept of “money for work” has failed in the patriarchal-capitalist era. The idea of the unconditional basic income accepts the fact that nobody is able to live without money today. However, just as money has become so indispensable it must be redistributed so that people are empowered to do freely what makes sense and nourishes their togetherness in the common habitat world. Money does not follow any law of nature, but is a human invention. So, realizing that it does not serve our needs any more, that it promotes useless production and neglects necessary activities, as responsible members of the human species we simply have to reorganize it.The unconditional basic income as a postpatriarchal projectIntroducing the unconditional basic income means to allocate a certain amount of money to each member of a given society – men and women alike, children as well, but less – with which he or she can live in dignity. It does not mean to abolish paid work but sets us free to decide whether we want to do paid work and, if so, which work and under which conditions. No one will be forced to do any senseless, destructive or mind-numbing work any more for fear of his or her existence. So, this new kind of income will give us the breathing space we need to find out which kind of work makes sense and which doesn’t, which kind of work corresponds to each individual’s personal skills and desires, whether or not we choose to raise children, who will care for them and so on. So, it is a base from which the members of a given society can start to rethink their definitions of work, well-being, wealth, future etc.The unconditional basic income as such, however, does not solve all problems at once as it is still up to us humans to determine collectively the quality of our coexistence. The problem, for example, that the work of housewives and mothers has, for centuries, not been regarded and appreciated as “work”, but has been hidden behind ideological concepts such as “maternal love” or “female nature” will not be solved directly as the unconditional basic income is no “wage for housewives”. However, freed from the dependence of so called “breadwinners” women – and some househusbands - will be empowered to negotiate the conditions under which they are willing to bear children and do their traditional caring work – or not.So, the unconditional basic income does not provide a readymade solution to the imbalance of genders that has grown over the centuries. Rather it is a postpatriarchal project in a strict sense as it does not present a magic bullet but counts on the freedom and ability of women and men to reshape the world of humans by renegotiating from the ground up their respective positions, tasks and desires.Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam recently appeared on the 1776 Podcast, where he was asked about the adoption of Bitcoin in the United States and international markets. While there has been a lot of noise related to merchant acceptance and use cases in developing countries, the reality is there still aren’t as many people using Bitcoin today as some expected.
Ehrsam noted that there probably aren’t that many Bitcoin users in the developing world, which is often touted as one of the technology’s major demographics. He then covered two of the current roadblocks to greater Bitcoin adoption: education and ease-of-use.
What’s Holding Back Bitcoin Adoption?
In Ehrsam’s view, the knowledge gap is what’s holding back Bitcoin at this point in time. While it’s easy for technically-savvy individuals to understand why Bitcoin is useful (or may be useful in the future), the average person on the street is still looking at the digital value-transfer system with bewilderment. Ehrsam explained:
“There’s definitely a huge knowledge gap …. There are two primary things that I think will close that gap. One is some base level of knowledge. The second is services that are built such that these people don’t really have to understand the underlying protocols in the first place.”
At this point, it’s unclear to the moms, dads, grandparents and less technically inclined friends of Bitcoin users why they should use this new technology. The vast majority of users are still simply holding the digital store of value as a speculation, and potential new users are often turned off by the complexities associated with Bitcoin applications. This is a point that Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winkless and Blockchain Capital Managing Partner Brock Pierce have all made in the past.
Most People Don’t Know How Email Works
Ehrsam also stated that completely new technologies are also sometimes extremely difficult to grasp, even for highly educated individuals. He pointed to the infamous “What is Internet?” clip from an episode of “The Today Show” in the ‘90s as an example of this phenomenon.
Ehrsam also noted that, even today, most people don’t understand how various Internet protocols work. He stated:
“The reality of today is you could go up to many different people on the street ‒ maybe even around the offices here [at 1776] ‒ and say, ‘Hey. How does email work? How does SMTP work (the protocol that underlies email)?’ I’m guessing that less than 10 percent of people could give you a solid answer, but the reality is that we all use it every day anyway.”
Bitcoin Needs More Intuitive Apps
Although many people do not understand Bitcoin, that does not mean it cannot be a useful technology for large amounts of people. In Ehrsam’s view, the key to mainstream adoption is building intuitive apps that normal people can use. He explained:
“I think it’s our job in the ecosystem to create software and applications, which bridge the gap without necessarily this entire learning process on the underlying technology, which really is irrelevant, I think, to the end-customer.”
1776 co-founder Evan Burfield, who was also featured on the recent podcast, added:
“I don’t think an entrepreneur trying to do business across multiple African countries needs to understand the concept of Bitcoin miners to figure out that he can do business in a more secure way with lower transaction costs [via Bitcoin].”
Ehrsam agreed and added, “The particulars are less relevant.”
Some Bitcoin applications, such as Abra and Freemit, are moving toward the model of hiding the underlying technology from their users. This strategy may continue to expand as Bitcoin startups begin to target individuals outside of the digital currency community.
Kyle Torpey is a freelance journalist who has been following Bitcoin since 2011. His work has been featured on VICE Motherboard, Business Insider, NASDAQ, RT’s Keiser Report and many other media outlets. You can follow @kyletorpey on Twitter.
Photo Hugh Kimura / Flickr(CC)25th September, 2015. The methodology of this post has now been updated, expanded and detailed more fully in my book, Enduring CSS, available from Leanpub.
When architecting CSS for a large scale project it’s a common aim to abstract visual patterns for re-use, DRY out code and normalise our designs as much as possible. However, for rapidly changing projects, I’m no longer convinced those principles should necessarily be followed to the nth degree, nor that they offer the biggest wins.
This post describes what I consider the most advantageous practices and approaches when authoring CSS for a rapidly changing, large scale web project.
Due credit: Nicolas Gallagher is always ahead of the game when it comes to thinking about CSS implementations at scale and I took and adapted large elements (specifically code organisation by component) of this approach from his work. I’d been name-spacing components for some time (and I’m therefore claiming pseudo multiple discovery ) but the approach of organising code by component is taken entirely from hearing him talk on this matter.
This post won’t be covering the actual building of visual components: how to initiate animations and transforms, how to structure DOM elements for maximum effect, the best units of measure to use, how to specify different font-stacks for different situations – that’s all stuff for another post (which I probably won’t get chance to write for another 9 months as another book needs to be written).
What this post does attempt, is to encapsulate my current approach to writing CSS for enduring web projects. It will cover essential tooling, preferred project structure and my current CSS authoring methodology (something I’ve semi-jokingly given the acronym, FUN!).
This is a long one, hence the ‘index’:
First up, essential tooling:
Technology and tooling
Capabilities and approach are important, the technology is not
When authoring the CSS for an enduring project, the technology used to produce the CSS should be largely immaterial. We should always be aware that a better or more efficient tool may become available to achieve our aims and when possible, and if preferable, it should be embraced.
It doesn’t matter whether Sass, LESS, Stylus, Myth or any other pre-processor is employed to create the style sheets. The authored style sheets should be as easy to migrate to another meta-language as possible, if and when needed.
Furthermore, the pre-processor employed should best serve the needs of the project as a whole – not the preferences of any individual author. That said, there are some necessary capabilities for the pre-processor so we will cover that (briefly) next.
Pre-requisites for pre-processors
I consider a pre-processor for style sheet authoring essential. This allows a differentiation between ‘authoring’ style sheets (the style sheets that the author writes in their pre-processor of choice) and the ‘resultant’ style sheets (the compiled and minified CSS that gets served to the user).
Despite stating that a pre-processor is essential, the requisite features needed are fairly trivial:
variables (to mitigate human errors with colour picking and specifying constants like grid measures)
fragment/partials of styles (to facilitate one-to-one parity with a feature branch or template)
basic mathematic operations (to negate reliance on ‘magic’ numbers)
colour manipulations (to allow consistent manipulation of the aforementioned variables)
All other abilities are considered non-essential and should be appraised particular to the needs of the project.
Build system
A build system must also be available that can run automated ‘house keeping’ on authored style sheets. The human factor should be eliminated wherever possible and tools employed to do mundane tasks more accurately. Typical build tools include Grunt, Gulp and Brocolli to name just a few. Just as there is no universally ‘right’ pre-processor, so there is no universally ‘right’ build tool.
At the time of writing, typical examples of the kind of house keeping tasks needed to be performed on style sheets by the build system may include:
Linting (e.g. for Sass it might be scss-lint, to enable code conformity and prevent non-working code reaching deployment
css-comb, to provide any pedantic normalisation of CSS presentation not catered for with a lint tool such as the ordering and spacing of declarations
Autoprefixer, to enable fast and accurate vendor prefixing and prevent vendor prefixes being present in the ‘authoring’ style sheets
With that out of the way, let’s deal with the specifics of how I feel it best to write CSS for enduring and rapidly changing projects.
First I’d like to explain the way (and why) I currently architect my CSS (and how it differs from current popular approaches) before getting onto organisation and how the files within a project can actually be stored and served.
Writing CSS
Currently, popular thinking tends to place significant emphasis on writing DRY code, abstracting styles as much as possible and having the smallest possible CSS codebase with which to work. My own approaches are, in some cases, at odds with some of those popular principals. Here’s why.
Typically, my foremost goal when writing CSS for enduring and rapidly changing web application is long-term maintainability. As a concrete example; being able to delete an entire Sass partial (say 9KB) in six months time with impunity (in that I know what will and won’t be affected by the removal) is far more valuable to me than a 1KB saving enjoyed because I re-used or extended some vague abstracted styles.
Furthermore, I find modifying existing component abstractions to build new ones too slow. I love using CSS abstractions that are truly utility in nature but taking abstractions for a (slightly) similar existing component and attempting to then modify them to achieve a new goal usually takes far longer than just building what I need to from scratch. I suppose that would loosely be the BEM approach. Like all great work I’ve taken a lot from BEM but it just doesn’t perfectly fit my needs.
This is in some way because rapidly changing projects result in iterating designs that may have many small differences from previous versions. Sure, any new designs should be similar and normalised as far as possible (and we should fight to ensure that any new design elements are different because they need to be, not just because someone wants them to be) with existing styles but sometimes they need to be subtly different; and it should be easy for me/you to accommodate that for the designers I/you work with.
In summary, I find writing styles specific to the design at hand, faster and preferable than adapting heavily from a vague abstraction.
I’d like to be clear that I’m not saying don’t look for oft-used visual patterns and abstract them for re-use. But such abstractions should be pretty low-hanging fruit; what I term utility or single responsibility styles (more of which shortly).
For me, a larger total CSS codebase, made up of components that are in many respects insulated from one another, is preferential to a smaller CSS codebase made up of inter-dependent and intrinsically related styles. Hopefully I can justify and legitimise this stance further shortly.
I spend a lot of time naming things. As you write CSS, you do too. I’ve tried all the popular approaches of CSS architecture and none of them quite fit for me. By eating my own dog food and embracing Ping Cing Do I’m currently naming the approach I favour as FUN. This is an acronym for the loose methodology of my favoured approach:
FUN:
– Flat hierarchy of selectors
– Utility styles
– Name-spaced components
Flat hierarchy of selectors
The first core ingredient of FUN is the adherence to using single, ‘flat’ hierarchy, class-based selectors. The benefits of only making selectors as specific as needed have been well documented. For me the three biggest wins come from :
Use only classes for selectors except in specific circumstances
Never nest selectors unless essential
Complete avoidance of IDs as styling hooks
Beyond that, I pretty much don’t give a rat’s ass about the selector used – I don’t think the type of selector used makes any realistic difference, speed wise to a web site/app. If you can sensibly worry about the speed of your CSS selectors after using predominantly flat, class-based selectors, you deserve a day off.
That’s as complicated as the F part gets!
Ultimately I like a one to one parity between the HTML classes in the templates/markup and the CSS selectors in the style sheets; I just like the immediacy of it. Again, there is no right answer here. This is a choice. Make a decision on how you will do this on your team and enforce the decision; it’s confusing to have it part one way and part the other so avoid that scenario at all costs. There are patterns with pre-processors that allow you to nest in the authoring environment but produce flat hierarchy in the compiled CSS. I’ve done it both ways and documented my feeling on this more thoroughly elsewhere Ultimately I like a one to one parity between the HTML classes in the templates/markup and the CSS selectors in the style sheets; I just like the immediacy of it. Again, there is no right answer here. This is a choice. Make a decision on how you will do this on your team and enforce the decision; it’s confusing to have it part one way and part the other so avoid that scenario at all costs.
Utility styles
Utility styles are single responsibility styles. w100 would set width: 100%;, Tbl would be display: table; table-layout: fixed;. They should have no reliance on other selectors or specific structures.
I’ve found it very useful to abstract text styles in some instances and it’s possible to argue these could be termed utility styles also. For example, txt-Cart_A would be a text name-space item, that is intended for use in a shopping cart and it’s the A variant. I wouldn’t specify font-families there but font-size and colour – and occasionally font-weight.
Utility classes should generally get employed when you can be certain of predicaments. For example, I wouldn’t want to add w100 to an element if I was unsure whether or not the item needed to be 100% width at all viewport sizes.
Your utilities will, and should, be different than mine or anyone else’s.
Some people prefix their utility styles with a `u`, for example `u-100`. However, name them to your own convention. For me, if it is lower case with with no hyphens either side, it’s a utility style.
The only rigid rule with the utility styles is that once made and used, they cannot, ever, be amended or removed. Make as many utility styles as you need but ensure they can be used for as long as you can possibly imagine as they will sit in the CSS of the project for EVER.
Name-spacing components
The third and final core tenet of our tri-pronged CSS methodology is the name-spacing of visual components.
Name-spacing the CSS of each visual component can be used to create some form of isolation. By preventing name collisions with other components, chunks of CSS can be more easily moved one environment to another (from prototype to production for example).
My preference is a simple 2–3 letter namespace for each component. Building a shopping cart? Try.sc- as your namespace prefix. Building the next version of that same shopping cart? That’ll be.sc2- then. It’s just enough to isolate your component styles and allow the styles to be more self documenting. For example, a wrapper for the shopping cart could be something like.sc-Wrapper. Is there a remove item button? Something like.sc-RemoveItem would be suitable.
I’m still enjoying the naming standard I documented here but the important point is that is doesn’t matter what convention you adopt; just stick to it and enforce it.
As name-spaced components are almost guaranteed to not leak into other components it makes it incredibly easy to build out and iterate on new components as new design requests are received. It affords a hitherto un-afforded blanket of impunity.
This approach however is not without cost. This approach has greater potential for code duplication (you may be styling one item in a component that could be abstracted and easily used in another component) but I find it results in far more maintainable code – whole components can be removed in the safe knowledge that their removal will not affect others.
In some ways it is the opposite of DRY; we are gaining a degree of component isolation at the cost of verbosity.
Don’t I care about CSS bloat?
Yes, I do. However, in the situation of a rapidly changing and enduring project, where many different hands have, and will, be on the CSS, my empirical findings have been that more CSS bloat accumulates due to author deletion fear (“I don’t know what that’s for so just leave it in”) than duplicated styles.
It’s likely that CSS authors are more likely to simply add to existing CSS than risk removing huge swathes of it because it’s difficult to be entirely sure what will be affected.
Consider an example. Suppose a component of a web application is deprecated, and you’d like to remove the associated code (we will cover how this scenario relates to templates and any associated JS in a moment) without affecting anything else. This usually poses some difficult questions: where are the CSS rules that are no longer needed? Are they in one file? Many files? It’s often a case of resorting to ‘find in project’ in the text editor. Even then, how can you be sure that nothing else in the HTML/templates is relying on those styles? After all they are abstractions, intended for re-use where possible.
There are tools that are in their infancy (at the time of writing) that attempt to address this problem: UnCSS being one such example. I’m watching them with great interest as it’s potentially another task we can defer to machines in the near future.
However, if the requisite styles for each component are name-spaced they can be removed easily; even more so if the style sheets are ‘partialed’ by component or feature (I sometimes create a partial simply to use alongside a feature branch in Git). To exemplify, imagine that all my name-spaced component styles for a shopping cart are saved into a single partial: _sc-shopping-cart.scss.
To further aid easy removal of old code and components, organising project files by these components goes a long way to isolating code. As an example, if I finish writing CSS for shopping cart v2, I can be fairly confident that the partial(s) relating to v1 of the shopping cart can be removed from the project with no ill effects. Now, if only the templates/HTML and relevant JS were all in one place alongside the stylesheets. Perhaps they could and should be.
Project Organisation
Storing related files
It’s a common pattern to split up files in a project by technology type. Typically:
my-project/ - html/ - js/ - sass/ - css/
The rub though is that beyond a certain point, even giving the files related names, it’s difficult to hold the notion of how each style sheet and template relate. There might be 80+ Sass partials in the sass folder and 50+ template stubs in the html folder.
It then becomes increasingly necessary to rely on ‘find’ in the text editor to find any templates that a certain class is being used on. The same is true in reverse; ‘find’ is needed to locate the partial(s) that contains the styles needed for a certain component template. It doesn’t make things unworkable, just inefficient and requires a little mental orientation to remember what goes with what.
I therefore favour a situation whereby rather than organise by technology type, files are organised and grouped by visual component. So, instead of this:
html/ - shopping-cart-template.html - callouts-template.html - products-template.html js/ - shopping-cart-template.js - callouts-template.js - products-template.js css/ - shopping-cart-template.css - callouts-template.css - products-template.css
We aim for something like this:
shopping-cart-template/ - shopping-cart.html - shopping-cart.css - shopping-cart.js callouts-template/ - callouts.html - callouts.js - callouts.css products-template/ - products.html - products.js - products.css
It’s a seemingly unimportant dichotomy but brings the following benefit:
The code for each component becomes physically self-enclosed. Then, on our enduring project, when features need changing or are deprecated, all associated code for that component (styles, HTML and JS) can be easily updated/removed.
With the exception of truly ‘global’ utility CSS, all code that relates to the presentation of a component should be including in the partials that sit alongside the HTML/JS of that component.
When organisation by component isn’t possible
It’s not always practical to contain all related component files in a folder. However, naming all partials according to their component gets you some of the benefits. For example: _partials/_components/_shopping-cartv2.scss for the styles pertaining to our fictional v2 of a shopping cart.
Brief considerations on CSS delivery
In early 2013 IIya Grigorik gave a fantastic talk Breaking the 1000ms time to glass mobile barrier. Key for our discussion here is the suggestion of putting critical ‘above the fold’ CSS (that would block the critical rendering path) inline in the head of the HTML.
It’s an approach being made popular at the time of writing by the Filament Groups How to make RWD sites load fast as heck.
However, having tried it shortly after IIya’s initial talk, it’s not something I can entirely jump on board with. Principally because whilst the initial load of that page will be quicker (and it is), subsequent visits will suffer unnecessarily.
With a traditional approach, if a separate style sheet was downloaded and cached that initial ‘above the fold’ CSS never has to be fetched again on subsequent page loads.
It’s not like this is news to people, it’s just the main reason I’m against this approach. The other option is loading CSS in afterwards with JavaScript but I don’t like relying on JavaScript to get my CSS on the page (unless the benefits are sizeable).
If you want the absolute fastest possible first page load, at the expense of all other considerations, the aforementioned approaches are your Huckleberry.
Personally, I favour a more conservative, and traditional approach:
Different areas of a large application or web project often need different, often unrelated, CSS.
In this scenario it makes little sense having a single ‘styles.css’ file containing every possible style needed (for arguments sake, suppose that file weighs in at 80KB) when only 20% of the different areas of the site require between them 60KB of those styles.
Any significantly different areas of the site should get their own style sheet. As everything (as far as possible/practical) is split into ‘component’ partials we can better facilitate these individual style sheets.
Suppose we have an offers ‘page’. The contents of that might file can be compiled from the pre-processor with a subset of partials:
offers-page.css (total weight 45KB):
@include "core"; @include "_components/forms"; @include "_components/login"; @include "_components/callouts";
Whereas the home page may only need this:
home-page (total weight 20KB):
@include "core"; @include "_components/nav"; @include "_components/home-offer";
Note: you could also use file Globbing to import sets of related styles/components if you have further degrees of granularity in your partials. For example:
@include "_components/login/**";
While it means more files for the browser to cache (there isn’t just one ‘styles.css’ that services all possible destinations a user visits) each destination enjoys a smaller CSS footprint and therefore faster initial load time (not up there with inlining critical CSS but some way towards it). There are benefits in each approach; I don’t believe either is ‘right’ – it’s merely an educated choice you have to make.
That pretty much concludes my current approach.
However, I think it’s often illustrative to document what doesn’t work as well as what does; to potentially save you future/present enduring CSS author, from repeating any of my dumb mistakes.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of what I consider common pitfalls when writing enduring CSS.
Common CSS authoring pitfalls (I’ve been in them all)
Don’t neglect developing your own naming convention
If I could recommend only one thing out of all this to improve the maintainability and understandability of CSS code, enforcing a naming convention would be it. There is no ‘right’ naming convention. There is only a naming convention that is right for you. The current de facto standard is the classic BEM syntax. This has been documented heavily so I won’t repeat it here.
I would merely add that one shouldn’t adopt that syntax wholesale before prodding it with the stick of cynicism. Does it match the way you work? Does it seem immediately clear to you?
I’ve documented my own variation on that syntax elsewhere. Here’s the short version:
[namespace]-[ComponentPart]_[Variant]-[optional-adjuster]
So, a ‘real’ selector might look like this:
sc-Wrapper
Or this:
sc-InnerItem_Odd
This is unlikely to suit you either. So spend some time thinking this through. Try building out a few components with different syntaxes. See which one seems most immediately sensical. Ask your team mates, even those who seldom touch the CSS, which they prefer (take their comments on board if it matches your own preference and discard it if it doesn’t ;)).
Your property and values can be changed easily in future but the naming convention for classes becomes the very bones your styles will hang upon. It affects not just the readability and intelligibility of the selectors but also the HTML classes that will litter your templates/markup.
Until you have done it wrong or neglected this step a few times, it feels like a waste of time. Avoid it at your peril.
The horror of perfect abstractions a.k.a. name with intent
You’re likely smarter than I so you wouldn’t do this. But I did.
Once upon a time I created myself a little project called ‘Pst!’. It was an acronym for Position Structure Theme. The idea was I would do away with semantic class names. Instead any element could be styled with a combination of a position class, a structure class and an optional theme class. An element styled with ‘Pst!’ might look like this in the HTML:
<div class="p1 s3 t4">Content</div>
Lovely! It was compact, there was no time wasted thinking of a sensible name for the next selector (you just appended a number as you went), it gave terse markup but, and here’s the crucial point:
It was unintelligible.
Can you imagine a whole page of markup with only those kind of HTML classes? There was no way to discern one piece of DOM from another.
Then another shortcoming – responsive. How to determine what a s3 should do at what viewport size, and inside another structure. In short: a horrid, horrid experiment.
Which brings me to an obvious point. Name with intent. I’m a fan of classes like.WarnUser and.sc-CurrencyDropDown – hitting the intended use right on the nose (and therefore able to be visually different in different contexts). I’m yet to try anything that has convinced me this is not the way to go.
Don’t specify vendor prefixes in the authoring style sheets
Do not do this. The level of browser support you require will change over time (resulting in redundant code in your authoring style sheets). The prefixing of CSS properties can be handled in a couple of lines with an automated tool and will be more accurate than you. It may take you an afternoon to get this set-up. Do it. It will be worth every moment.
Avoid library mixins
There are many pre-processor libraries that provide ready rolled ‘mixins’ for accomplishing standard CSS tasks (clearfixes, background gradients etc). Don’t use them. Author wherever possible in W3C compliant CSS code. This makes the authoring styles more portable if you decide to switch pre-processor or copy code to a new project and reduces dependency (as a bonus, particularly if using Sass, it can also significantly reduce compile time).
Don’t put markup samples in CSS comments
Comments are good. Indeed, writing lots of meaningful comments is encouraged. However, refrain from entering examples of intended markup in the comments of style sheets. They immediately create a scenario where information is likely to become obsolete and confusing. Instead, the template stub that sits alongside the style sheet should provide all the markup. As this template is necessary for the application to function, it is by nature always up to date and provides a more meaningful reference.
Avoid ‘clever’ code abstractions
Don’t write impenetrable looking code. CSS is a declarative language so try and keep the authoring style sheets as accessible as the resultant CSS.
Mixins and logical loops are sometimes preferable and advantageous (they can greatly reduce verbosity and repetition in the authoring style sheets) but don’t needlessly complicate simple needs. Even Hugo Giraudel, the Sass nutter draws the line somewhere.
For example, creating a number of utility table width styles could be achieved like this in Sass and typifies the limit of what I deem sensible in terms of complexity:
/* ========================================================================== Table modifiers ========================================================================== */ $widths: 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100; %Tbl-base { display: table; float: left; vertical-align: middle; } @each $width in $widths {.tbl#{$width} { @extend %Tbl-base; width: $width * 1%; } }
As a counter example, a mixin for creating buttons that requires three or more arguments to be passed just to set border styles, background colour and text size is probably a needless over complication.
Be wary of @extend
This final one is very Sass centric. Don’t extend anything other than a placeholder selector (e.g. %Placeholder ) and don’t place any nested styles within the place holder. It seldom creates the CSS you imagine.
Don’t neglect looking at your production CSS files
From time to time, actually open the CSS file that is getting compiled (rather than merely the authoring style sheets). Run through it manually, lint it with your own version of CSS L |
reminisced, in a final letter to his children shortly before his death, on his revolutionary career and how "the storm of October" had "turned its brightest side" towards him, making him "the happiest of mortals".[154] He and his assistant Nikulin, who died in 1964, are buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.[155] His son, Alexander Yurovsky, voluntarily handed over his father's memoirs to amateur investigators Avdonin and Ryabov in 1978.[156]
Lenin saw the House of Romanov as "monarchist filth, a 300-year disgrace",[81] and referred to Nicholas II in conversation and in his writings as "the most evil enemy of the Russian people, a bloody executioner, an Asiatic gendarme" and "a crowned robber."[157] The written record taking the chain of command and the ultimate responsibility for the fate of the Romanovs back to Lenin was, from the beginning, either never made or carefully concealed.[81] Lenin operated with extreme caution, his favoured method being to issue instructions in coded telegrams, insisting that the original and even the telegraph ribbon on which it was sent be destroyed. Uncovered documents in Archive No. 2 (Lenin), Archive No. 86 (Sverdlov) as well as the archives of the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Executive Committee reveal that a host of party 'errand boys' were regularly designated to relay his instructions, either by confidential notes or anonymous directives made in the collective name of the Council of People's Commissars.[32] In all such decisions Lenin regularly insisted that no written evidence be preserved. The 55 volumes of Lenin's Collected Works as well as the memoirs of those who directly took part in the murders were scrupulously censored, emphasising the roles of Sverdlov and Goloshchyokin.
Lenin was, however, aware of Vasily Yakovlev's decision to take Nicholas, Alexandra and Maria further on to Omsk instead of Yekaterinburg in April 1918, having become worried about the extremely threatening behaviour of the Ural Soviets in Tobolsk and along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Biographical Chronicle of Lenin's political life confirms that first Lenin (between 18:00 and 19:00) and then Lenin and Sverdlov together (between 21:30 and 23:50) had direct telegraph contact with the Ural Soviets about Yakovlev's change of route. Despite Yakovlev's request to take the family further away to the more remote Simsky Gorny District in Ufa province (where they could hide in the mountains), warning that "the baggage" would be destroyed if given to the Ural Soviets, Lenin and Sverdlov were adamant that they be brought to Yekaterinburg.[158] Lenin also welcomed news of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth's death, who was murdered in Alapayevsk along with five other Romanovs on 18 July 1918, remarking that "virtue with the crown on it is a greater enemy to the world revolution than a hundred tyrant tsars".[159][160]
Soviet historiography portrayed Nicholas as a weak and incompetent leader whose decisions led to military defeats and the deaths of millions of his subjects,[34] while Lenin's reputation was protected at all costs, thus ensuring that no discredit was brought on him; responsibility for the 'liquidation' of the Romanov family was directed at the Ural Soviets and Yekaterinburg Cheka.[32]
Aftermath [ edit ]
The final resting places of the Romanov family and their servants in St. Catherine's Chapel in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The names of Maria (third from right) and Alexei (far left) on the wall do not have a burial date inscribed at the bottom.
Early the next morning, when rumours spread in Yekaterinburg about the disposal site, Yurovsky removed the bodies and hid them elsewhere ( ). When the vehicle carrying the bodies broke down on the way to the next chosen site, Yurovsky made new arrangements, and buried most of the acid-covered bodies in a pit sealed and concealed with rubble, covered over with railroad ties and then earth ( ) on Koptyaki Road, a cart track (subsequently abandoned) 19 kilometres (12 mi) north of Yekaterinburg.
On the afternoon of 19 July, Filipp Goloshchyokin announced at the Opera House on Glavny Prospekt that "Nicholas the bloody" had been shot and his family taken to another place.[161] Sverdlov granted permission for the local paper in Yekaterinburg to publish the "Execution of Nicholas, the Bloody Crowned Murderer – Shot without Bourgeois Formalities but in Accordance with our new democratic principles",[119] along with the coda that "the wife and son of Nicholas Romanov have been sent to a safe place".[162] An official announcement appeared in the national press, two days later. It reported that the monarch had been executed on the order of Uralispolkom under pressure posed by the approach of the Czechoslovaks.[163]
Over the course of 84 days after the Yekaterinburg murders, 27 more friends and relatives (14 Romanovs and 13 members of the imperial entourage and household)[164] were murdered by the Bolsheviks: at Alapayevsk on 18 July,[165] Perm on 4 September,[60] and the Peter and Paul Fortress on 24 January 1919.[164] Unlike the imperial family, the bodies at Alapayevsk and Perm were recovered by the White Army in October 1918 and May 1919 respectively.[166][60] However, only the final resting places of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and her faithful companion Sister Varvara Yakovleva are known today, buried alongside each other in the Church of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem.
Although official Soviet accounts place the responsibility for the decision with the Uralispolkom, an entry in Leon Trotsky's diary reportedly suggested that the order had been given by Lenin himself. Trotsky wrote:
My next visit to Moscow took place after the fall of Yekaterinburg. Talking to Sverdlov I asked in passing, "Oh yes and where is the Tsar?" "It's all over," he answered. "He has been shot." "And where is his family?" "And the family with him." "All of them?" I asked, apparently with a touch of surprise. "All of them," replied Yakov Sverdlov. "What about it?" He was waiting to see my reaction. I made no reply. "And who made the decision?" I asked. "We decided it here. Ilyich [Lenin] believed that we shouldn't leave the Whites a live banner to rally around, especially under the present difficult circumstances."[27]
However, as of 2011, there has been no conclusive evidence that either Lenin or Sverdlov gave the order.[28] V. N. Solovyov, the leader of the Investigative Committee of Russia's 1993 investigation on the shooting of the Romanov family,[29] has concluded that there is no reliable document that indicates that either Lenin or Sverdlov were responsible.[30][31] He declared:
According to the presumption of innocence, no one can be held criminally liable without guilt being proven. In the criminal case, an unprecedented search for archival sources taking all available materials into account was conducted by authoritative experts, such as Sergey Mironenko, the director of the largest archive in the country, the State Archive of the Russian Federation. The study involved the main experts on the subject – historians and archivists. And I can confidently say that today there is no reliable document that would prove the initiative of Lenin and Sverdlov. V. N. Solovyov[30]
In 1993, the report of Yakov Yurovsky from 1922 was published. According to the report, units of the Czechoslovak Legion were approaching Yekaterinburg. On 17 July 1918, Yakov and other Bolshevik jailers, fearing that the Legion would free Nicholas after conquering the town, murdered him and his family. The next day, Yakov departed for Moscow with a report to Sverdlov. As soon as the Czechoslovaks seized Yekaterinburg, his apartment was pillaged.[167]
Skull of Skeleton №4 (Nikolai Romanov)
Over the years, a number of people claimed to be survivors of the ill-fated family. In May 1979, the remains of most of the family and their retainers were found by amateur enthusiasts, who kept the discovery secret until the collapse of Communism.[168] In July 1991, the bodies of five family members (the Tsar, Tsarina, and three of their daughters) were exhumed.[169] After forensic examination[170] and DNA identification,[171] the bodies were laid to rest with state honors in the St. Catherine Chapel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, where most other Russian monarchs since Peter the Great lie.[22] Boris Yeltsin and his wife attended the funeral along with Romanov relations, including Prince Michael of Kent. The Holy Synod opposed the government's decision in February 1998 to bury the remains in the Peter and Paul Fortress, preferring a "symbolic" grave until their authenticity had been resolved.[172] As a result, when they were interred in July 1998, they were referred to by the priest conducting the service as "Christian victims of the Revolution" rather than the imperial family.[173] Patriarch Alexy II, who felt that the Church was sidelined in the investigation, refused to officiate at the burial and banned bishops from taking part in the funeral ceremony.[22]
The remaining two bodies of Tsesarevich Alexei and one of his sisters were discovered in 2007.[133][174]
On 15 August 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church announced the canonization of the family for their "humbleness, patience and meekness".[175] However, reflecting the intense debate preceding the issue, the bishops did not proclaim the Romanovs as martyrs, but passion bearers instead (see Romanov sainthood).[175]
Over the years 2000 to 2003, the Church of All Saints, Yekaterinburg was built on the site of Ipatiev House.
On 1 October 2008, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that Nicholas II and his family were victims of political repression and rehabilitated them.[176][177]
On Thursday, 26 August 2010, a Russian court ordered prosecutors to reopen an investigation into the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, although the Bolsheviks believed to have shot them in 1918 had died long before. The Russian Prosecutor General's main investigative unit said it had formally closed a criminal investigation into the killing of Nicholas because too much time had elapsed since the crime and because those responsible had died. However, Moscow's Basmanny Court ordered the re-opening of the case, saying that a Supreme Court ruling blaming the state for the killings made the deaths of the actual gunmen irrelevant, according to a lawyer for the Tsar's relatives and local news agencies.[178]
In late 2015, at the insistence by the Russian Orthodox Church,[179] Russian investigators exhumed the bodies of Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, for additional DNA testing,[180] which confirmed that the bones were of the couple.[181][182][183]
A survey conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center on 11 July 2018 revealed that 57% of Russians aged 35+ "believe that the execution of the Royal family is a heinous unjustified crime", 46% among those aged between 18 and 24 believe that Nicholas II had to be punished for his mistakes, and 3% "were certain that the Royal family's execution was the public's just retribution for the emperor's blunders".[184] On the centenary of the murders, over 100,000 pilgrims took part in a procession led by Patriarch Kirill in Yekaterinburg, marching from the city center where the Romanovs were murdered to a monastery in Ganina Yama.[185] However, the centenary was overlooked by the Russian government, which did not organize any official commemorations.[186]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]On April 4, 2015, a black man, Walter Scott, was shot dead by North Charleston police officer Michael Slager following a routine traffic stop for a defective brake light. Scott fled on foot, possibly because he was afraid of going to jail for failing to make child support payments. A video taken by a bystander captured the later stages of the foot pursuit and clearly showed Officer Slager discharging eight rounds from his service weapon as Scott was running away from him. Five of the bullets hit Scott, who died at the scene.
We learn more about the problem of police violence and how it can persist and might be covered up when a video only surfaces after some significant delay. That allows time for the police to provide their account of the incident before the video evidence is available, and possibly before they even know that any video recording exists. In the case of Walter Scott’s death, it took more than two days before the video became available to authorities. Feidin Santana, who captured the shooting on his cellphone camera, initially kept quiet about the video, fearing retribution, but was angered when he heard the police account of the incident and made the recording available to Scott’s family and to the media.
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Presumably Officer Slager, in providing his initial account of the incident, had no idea that any video existed. He claimed that Scott, during a scuffle, reached for the Taser on his (Officer Slager’s) belt, and that he (Slager), therefore, felt his own life was in danger. He immediately gave an explanation over the police radio—“Shots fired and the subject is down; he took my Taser”—knowing that such transmissions are recorded, hence, putting his story on the record.
Without the video evidence, that story might well have stood. But the video became public on April 7, showing Slager repeatedly firing at Scott as he ran away, and Slager was arrested within a few hours and charged with murder.
The video of Scott’s shooting immediately went viral, of course, along with the revelations about Slager’s original and clearly false account. For the general public, the case raises serious concerns about other police incidents not captured on video, where there is little or no objective evidence about what happened, and where officers provide similar justifications for shooting an unarmed person. How often do stories such as Slager’s get told? What chance is there that investigations into officer-involved shootings—typically conducted by detectives from the same department (that is, by the involved officer’s own colleagues)—will actually establish the truth? How widespread is the practice of lying to conceal police abuse of force?
It would be interesting to know some basic facts and figures. For instance, how many times a year do American police officers shoot unarmed suspects and subsequently justify their actions by claiming they felt their own life was in immediate danger, either because the suspect appeared to be about to pull something out of a pocket or, in the course of a scuffle, the suspect seemed to be reaching for the officer’s own weapon? In the absence of witnesses or video evidence or contradictory forensic evidence, such accounts are unlikely to be refuted. Such incidents would normally end up classified as justifiable homicides—or, to use the peculiar language of the police profession, as “good shootings.”
The fact of the matter is that we have no idea how often this happens, as the United States does not gather any reliable national statistics on officer-involved shootings, or on other deaths at the hands of police, or on deaths that occur in police custody. Federal databases exist, but submission of those data by law enforcement agencies remains voluntary and is, consequently, acknowledged to be woefully incomplete.
Why can the United States not produce reliable statistics on the number of civilians shot and killed by police? The usual explanations point to the difficulty of categorizing incidents in sufficiently consistent ways to make the figures meaningful, as well as the cost and difficulties involved in gathering data from the roughly 18,000 law enforcement agencies that operate in America. But it seems incongruous that the U.S. federal government manages to report annually and nationwide (through the Uniform Crime Reports) on matters such as burglaries, larcenies, robberies, and sexual assaults—where all the same definitional complexities and data collection difficulties apply—but they cannot do the same when it comes to officer-involved shootings despite the fact that these events are much less numerous, somewhat easier to define, and much more significant.
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In an attempt to fill the information vacuum, the Washington Post began compiling a database of every fatal shooting by police in 2015, as well as of every officer killed by gunfire in the line of duty. The study focused only on fatal shootings, and, therefore, did not include other deaths at the hands of police, or deaths in police custody, or nonfatal shootings. Even so, the Post’s tally as of December 24, 2015, was 965, which equates to roughly 2.7 people shot dead by police, on average, per day. This is more than double the rate revealed by the official statistics compiled at the federal level for previous years. Analysis conducted by the Washington Post showed that at least 243 (25 percent) of the 965 shot dead showed signs of mental illness at the time they died at the hands of police.
The Guardian newspaper, which also tracked the number of people killed by U.S. police in 2015 (whether by shooting or otherwise), showed a year-end tally of 1,134. According to the Guardian’s crowd-sourced information, 1,010 of these deaths were by gunshot. Their analysis also showed black people were killed by police at more than double the rate for whites and Hispanics/Latinos. Of the African Americans killed by police, 25 percent were unarmed, while 17 percent of the whites killed were unarmed. According to the Washington Post’s analysis of 385 police shootings that occurred during the first five months of 2015, officers had been charged in only three cases. Officer Slager in North Charleston was one of these. In all three cases that led to indictments against police officers, video evidence had surfaced that showed officers shooting suspects during or at the end of pursuits on foot.
In a different study using multiyear data, the Washington Post examined the rate at which police officers were charged as a result of fatal shootings. They found only fifty-four cases where officers had been charged since 2005, representing a tiny fraction of the thousands of police shooting incidents that had occurred in a decade.
The Post’s analysis showed that in most of the cases where prosecutors did press charges the victim was unarmed, and there were also “other factors that made the case exceptional, including: a victim shot in the back, a video recording of the incident, incriminating testimony from other officers, or allegations of a cover-up.” According to prosecutors interviewed by the Post, to charge a police officer requires “compelling proof that at the time of the shooting the victim posed no threat either to the officer or to bystanders.” Absent one of these exceptional factors, it seems generally impossible to disprove officers’ claims that they felt themselves endangered. According to Philip Stinson, one of the criminologists working with the Post on the study, “To charge an officer in a fatal shooting, it takes something so egregious, so over the top that it cannot be explained in any rational way.”
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Even where individual killings are justified, the patterns of practice that result in so many deaths can still be alarming. Ronald L. Davis, head of the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, told the Post reporters, “We have to get beyond what is legal and start focusing on what is preventable. Most [police shootings] are preventable.” According to the Department of Justice, “The shooting of unarmed people who pose no threat is disturbingly common.”
The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which released its final report in May 2015, addressed the need for reliable data on police use of force and the need to bolster the credibility and independence of investigations into use-of-force incidents. With respect to the gathering of data, the task force noted the existence of voluntary reporting programs on arrest-related and in-custody deaths, but recommended mandating law enforcement agencies to “collect, maintain, and report data to the Federal Government on all officer-involved shootings, whether fatal or nonfatal, as well as any in-custody death.” The task force also recommended mandating “external and independent criminal investigations in cases of police use of force resulting in death, officer-involved shootings resulting in injury or death, and in-custody deaths.”
Baltimore, April 2015
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On April 12, 2015, Baltimore police arrested Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., a twenty-five- year- old African American man. Gray had run away from police, even though the police did not know why. They gave chase and apprehended him, alleging that he was in possession of an illegal switchblade. The arrest itself was videotaped by bystanders, but did not appear violent. Gray was handcuffed and transported to a police station in a van without being secured by a seatbelt as departmental policy requires. At the end of the trip, Gray was in a coma and was taken to a trauma center. He died on April 19 from spinal cord injuries. Six Baltimore police officers were immediately suspended and have since been criminally charged with various counts relating to Gray’s death.
Protests over Gray’s death in Baltimore were mostly peaceful, but turned violent the day of his funeral and resulted in millions of dollars’ worth of looting, property damage, and destruction within the city. The violence was short-lived, however (partly due to the imposition of a citywide curfew and influx of substantial law-enforcement assistance), and appears in retrospect largely attributable to the coordinated actions of opportunistic high-school kids intent on looting and capitalizing on the unrest. Some of the criminal opportunism seems to have been highly targeted. During the rioting, thirty-seven pharmacies in Baltimore were entered, and oxycodone availability on the streets reached unprecedented levels shortly thereafter.
Baltimore’s police commissioner, Anthony Batts, who had been brought in from Oakland in 2012 to reform the Baltimore Police Department, asked the Department of Justice to come in and conduct a systematic review of Baltimore’s departmental policies and practices.
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The fact that the Department of Justice has the power to examine and intervene in the practices of local police departments is a curious legacy of the videotaped beating of Rodney King by the Los Angeles Police Department in March 1991. The Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 contains a provision inserted as a result of the reforming efforts of Representative Henry Waxman of California. This provision makes it illegal to “engage in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers [or other officials within the criminal justice system] that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
The 1994 act also grants the attorney general of the United States, given reasonable cause to believe that such a violation has occurred, the right to intervene “to obtain appropriate equitable and declaratory relief to eliminate the pattern or practice.” Over the last twenty years, this provision has provided the foundation for federal intervention into local policing issues and the imposition of consent decrees on numerous major city police departments, especially when infringements of constitutional rights are alleged. It provides an important opportunity for national values and constitutional rights to be reasserted when local police management conceals patterns of abuse or fails to control officers’ conduct, when departmental culture stifles or defeats local reform efforts, or, for that matter, when local leaders completely lose their moral bearings.
Excerpted from "Handcuffed: What Holds Policing Back, and the Keys to Reform" by Malcolm K. Sparrow. Published by Brookings Institution Press. Copyright © 2016 by Malcolm K. Sparrow. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.We are excited to launch a new cyclocross podcast for your listening enjoyment. Every weekend we will track down top cyclocrossers who raced in the U.S. or Europe and have a conversation about their weekend. We will talk about racing, traveling, preparing and just being. Those conversations will the be posted Monday morning for you to hear. We start out with Meredith Miller and Mark McConnell after they both raced Ellison Park Cyclocross. Check out the episode below and then come back and join us each Monday for Crosshairs Radio.
Thanks for listening. And tell a friend.
[UPDATE: iTunes feed now available. Follow the link for the show and please subscribe, rate, review. Thanks. itunes.apple.com/nl/podcast/crosshairs-radio/id1037733996?l=en&mt=2.]
[UPDATE 2: For those on mobile devices, here’s the direct download feed: traffic.libsyn.com/crosshairsradio/CrosshairsRadioEpisode1.mp3. For those who would like to add the show feed to their podcast app, here is the feed: crosshairsradio.libsyn.com/rss]CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misrepresented the quote attributed to Donald Trump as saying that the candidate suggested support for cuts to Social Security. The article below has been updated. We regret the error.
Donald Trump reportedly took House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to task for pushing Social Security cuts, arguing during their private meeting earlier this month that the policy is both wrong and politically unwise, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee made the comments during a May 12 meeting with Ryan aimed at mending ties between the two top Republican leaders, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source who was in the room. (Ryan has yet to endorse Trump.)
“From a moral standpoint, I believe in it,” Trump said of maintaining Social Security benefits. “But you also have to get elected. And there’s no way a Republican is going to beat a Democrat when the Republican is saying, ‘We’re going to cut your Social Security’ and the Democrat is saying, ‘We’re going to keep it and give you more.’ ”
Trump’s professed opposition to cutting Social Security and Medicare has been both a hallmark of his campaign and one of his greatest departures from traditional conservative ideology. And Ryan, who repeatedly criticized Trump before the mogul effectively secured the GOP nomination, has made proposing dramatic reductions in the popular social insurance programs a defining feature of his congressional career.
He openly says he will lie to the people about it because he knows that the people are against it. Alex Lawson, Social Security Works
The report of Trump's remarks to Ryan suggest that the candidate's public opposition to cuts is not mere posturing, but stems from genuine policy beliefs and political calculations.
It remains to be seen how congressional Republicans, who largely support plans to scale back benefits, will reconcile their views with Trump's.
Many conservative House Republicans told The Huffington Post shortly after the May 12 meeting that that they were unconcerned about Trump’s public posture on the programs. Several members interpreted him as wanting to extend the solvency of Social Security and Medicare solvency through some combination of the benefit cuts and other reforms that conservatives favor.
House conservatives can be forgiven for thinking that Trump's staunch opposition to benefit cuts was flexible.
Trump policy advisor Sam Clovis had already appeared to reverse course on May 11, indicating that Trump would be willing to consider cuts as president.
And in a 2011 interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump seemed to suggest that his opposition was based more on political considerations than so-called moral views.
“Things have to be done, but it has to be done with both parties together,” Trump said at the time. “You can’t have the Republicans get too far ahead of this issue.”
Trump also compared Social Security to a Ponzi scheme in his 2000 book The America We Deserve, arguing that the program should be privatized and the retirement age raised.
“It is really clear: Donald Trump would 100 percent go along with the Republican donor class position of cutting Social Security,” said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, a group that promotes benefits expansion. “He openly says he will lie to the people about it because he knows that the people are against it.”
Social Security, the United States’ public retirement, disability and life insurance program, faces a funding gap beginning in 2034. Without congressional action to either raise the program’s revenues or scale back benefits there will be an across-the-board benefit cut of approximately 20 percent.
The Democratic party has adopted steadily more progressive positions on Social Security in recent years, arguing not only that the shortfall should be closed entirely through revenue increases -- such as lifting the cap on earnings subject to Social Security taxes -- but also that benefits should be expanded to address a growing retirement income deficit.
Both Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) support increasing benefits and have pledged that they will not cut the program.There's a rivalry in the iron world between the Olympic lifters and the powerlifters as to who's stronger. This argument has invariably led to the two camps debating which one squats more and who has the better style of squatting. The reality is this is like the old cliché of comparing apples to oranges.
A Little Background
First, Olympic lifters don't compete in the squat. They use it as an assistance exercise to aid in their competition lifts: the snatch and the clean & jerk.
While it's true that certain lifters routinely "max out" on their squats, it's done without emotional arousal and usually without assistive gear, with the exception of maybe a belt. Soviet weightlifters routinely used weights between 75-85% of their 1RM's to improve their competition lifts.
Second, for the most part, Olympic squats and powerlifting squats are completely different animals from the ground up. We'll start with the Olympic squat.
The Olympic Squat
The Olympic squat (or back squat as it's known in Olympic lifting circles), is categorized as a high bar squat. The bar is placed on top of the traps, on the shelf created by retracting the shoulder blades between the upper trapezius and the middle trapezius. The torso is relatively upright during both the descent and the ascent of the lift.
The feet are positioned somewhere between straight ahead and externally rotated 15 degrees and set approximately shoulder-width apart. The hands are placed in the same position as in the clean; in the case of the heavyweights and superheavies, sometimes slightly wider.
Unlike the powerlifting squat, Olympic lifters stay relatively relaxed under the bar, preferring a "long spine" position where they lengthen from the crown of the head to the coccyx. They use high-tension techniques sparingly. These squats are performed relatively fast with a quick, yet controlled eccentric and an explosive concentric action.
This matches the sporting need of the lifter to pull himself under the bar and recover the lift quickly. Too much tension will slow him down and cause him to miss the lift.
The Powerlifting Squat
The powerlifting squat is about lifting more weight, not necessarily getting stronger. This may be a controversial statement, but most powerlifters will tell you that they don't care if you've gotten stronger or not; they simply want to know how much you lifted in any given meet.
There are two current schools in powerlifting: "Assistive Gear" and "More Assistive Gear" (although raw federations and meets are starting to make a comeback). These two schools are exemplified by two major and distinct federations: the IPF and the WPO.
Broadly speaking, the IPF is dominated by the Eastern Europeans who use a hybrid type squat, which we'll discuss shortly. The WPO lifters use a squat style designed to optimize the advantages of their assistive gear. Let's discuss the WPO style of squat first because it best contrasts the idea of "lifting more" as opposed to getting stronger (although these lifters are obviously still verystrong!).
Jeff Lewis moving massive weights at the Arnold
This style of squat is characterized by a low bar placement across the rear deltoids with the shoulder blades retracted and with a very wide foot placement. It's initiated with the hips; the shins stay perpendicular to the floor during the entire lift. This reduces the reliance on the quadriceps and maximizes the contribution of the hamstrings, gluteals, lower back, and the assistive gear.
There's a forward torso displacement during the descent and ascent. The hands, although in theory are kept close to the torso, are usually placed almost collar-to-collar among the heavyweights and supers due to lack of shoulder flexibility from bench press specialization and torso girth. Because of the massive loads used in the upper weight categories and the bar positioning, high-tension techniques are practiced routinely on this style squat.
The IPF lifters use modified styles of the Olympic and WPO lifters: low bar placement, medium hand spacing, and a just-wider-than-shoulder-width foot position. Their assistive gear provides less support/enhancement when compared to the WPO. Some have argued that the wide stance squat of the WPO lifters has evolved to maximize the limits of the gear, and we'd tend to agree.
Now that we've looked at the differences between the two types of squats, let's briefly examine why you should be squatting. Later on, we'll figure out which method is best for you.
Why Squat?
Why not? There are lots of myths regarding squatting: bad for the knees, bad for the back, etc. The reality is, whether or not a squat is bad for someone is dependent upon that individual, at that moment.
Many articles have been written on the merits and benefits of squatting, so let's quickly review:
The legs "feed the wolf" – the stronger the legs, the stronger the body
Improved athletic performance
Improved metabolism
Improved body composition
Improved sex hormone profiles/production (determined by load)
Improved activities of daily living
Which style of squat is the best? Neither and both. The individual's limitations usually dictate the style of squat he uses. Most individuals should learn how to box squat before any other squat. Why? Because most of the people we work with are office workers: everything's tight that needs to be loose and everything that needs to be strong is weak.
Beyond that, sitting on a chair is an environment in which they feel "natural" (as sad as that may be!). Why not take them from a familiar environment where they can feel successful, and then move them to a less familiar environment once they have some success under their belt?
As their mobility improves throughout the body, they should be moved into an Olympic style squat. Why? Because this is a "natural" squat. If we watch children squat, this is how they do it – the body folds like an accordion with the joints stacked one on top of the other. This takes advantage of natural bone rhythms and allows all the muscles to work in harmony with each other. It also allows for the full development of the leg musculature.
Don't believe us? Look at the leg and hip development of elite weightlifters and try to argue with us. Pyrros Dimas is a great example. However, if the mobility doesn't suitably improve, they should stay with a hip initiated squat.
"Hey, nice teardrop! Do you do your leg extensions to failure with your toes turned in or out?"
The take-home point here is this: If you can safely Olympic squat, you should utilize it in your training. The Olympic squat helps to reinforce good mobility and postural alignment, and it'll take your strength to the next level. When/if you need to specialize in a given squat for competitive purposes, it's far easier to transition from an Olympic squat to a power squat than to do it the other way around.
Learning to Squat Properly
In a traditional team setting, Mike won't coach the back squat as there are too many caveats. First, it's hard to ensure that every athlete has adequate mobility, so it may not be a good exercise for everyone.
Second, when working with males, you'll see the same pattern time and again – the second they start adding weight, their squat depth and performance goes down the tubes. A bench or box will eliminate this as they have a consistent "target" to shoot for. With almost every lifter, the box squat is an excellent starting point. Rather than re-inventing the wheel, we'll point you to Dave Tate's excellent article, Squatting from Head to Toe.
But what if your goal is to learn to squat deep? Like ass-to-calves deep? Adequate mobility is imperative when we're talking about going deep. You need the ability to extend the thoracic spine to stay tall. You need to be able to maintain a neutral spine/natural lordotic curve while going into deep hip/knee flexion. Finally, you need to have good dorsiflexion at the ankle as knee drifting is part of a full squat.
So how do we achieve this mobility? For instance, how do you take a 40+ year-old office worker and give him the mobility/flexibility of a ten year-old Russian kid practicing for weightlifting? Well, there's not one "right" way to achieve it, but rather several different avenues you can follow.
Mike uses a three-phase program to begin re-grooving a deep squat motor pattern. He typically uses this with the person who can't even box squat correctly, or who's suffering from a myriad of injuries and needs a total body overhaul:
Phase I: Tissue remodeling, daily mobility work, single leg drills, core stability work
Phase II: Same as above; decrease in tissue/mobility work; begin front squatting
Phase III: Same as above; begin full squatting
In Phase I, the primary goal is improving both movement quality and quantity. Your "leg" days would consist of single-leg drills exclusively. As well, you'd be foam rolling and performing an extensive mobility circuit (such as the one we've outlined below) daily.
A sample program for improving squatting mobility
Foam Rolling/Soft Tissue Work Mobility Work Hip Flexors Ankle Mobility Drills Quads Thoracic Extension on PVC Pipe TFL/IT Band Knee Hugs Plantar Fascia Pull Back Butt Kicks Calves Single Leg RDL Peroneals Hip Cradles Glutes Walking Spiderman Hip Rotators Squat-to-Stand
So not only are we going to keep you from squatting, but all the mobility drills and tissue work are going to free up your body so when you do start squatting again, it's going to look and feel considerably different.
In Phase II you can start reducing your tissue quality/quantity work to training days |
, while the use of hops would make it a beer. Hopped beer was imported to England from the Netherlands as early as 1400 in Winchester, and hops were being planted on the island by 1428. The popularity of hops was at first mixed—the Brewers Company of London went so far as to state "no hops, herbs, or other like thing be put into any ale or liquore wherof ale shall be made—but only liquor (water), malt, and yeast." However, by the 16th century, ale had come to refer to any strong beer, and all ales and beers were hopped, giving rise to the verse noted by the antiquary John Aubrey: Greeks, Heresie, Turkey-cocks and Beer
Came into England all in a year. the year, according to Aubrey, being the fifteenth of Henry VIII (1524).[44] In 1516, William IV, Duke of Bavaria, adopted the Reinheitsgebot (purity law), perhaps the oldest food regulation still in use through the 20th century (the Reinheitsgebot passed formally from German law in 1987). The Gebot ordered that the ingredients of beer be restricted to water, barley, and hops; yeast was added to the list after Louis Pasteur's discovery in 1857. The Bavarian law was applied throughout Germany as part of the 1871 German unification as the German Empire under Otto von Bismarck, and has since been updated to reflect modern trends in beer brewing. To this day, the Gebot is considered a mark of purity in beers, although this is controversial. Most beers until relatively recent times were top-fermented. Bottom-fermented beers were discovered by accident in the 16th century after beer was stored in cool caverns for long periods; they have since largely outpaced top-fermented beers in terms of volume. For further discussion of bottom-fermented beers, see Pilsner and Lager.
Asia Edit
There is pre-historic evidence that shows brewing began around 5400 BC in Sumer (southern Iraq). However, as with the history of corn whiskey, the production of other alcoholic drinks is often seen as a way to preserve excess grain, rather than an occupation in and of itself. Documented evidence and recently excavated tombs indicate that the Chinese brewed alcoholic drinks from both malted grain and grain converted by mold from prehistoric times, but that the malt conversion process was largely considered inefficient in comparison with the use of molds specially cultivated on rice carrier (the resulting molded rice being called 酒麴 (Jiǔ qū) in Chinese and Koji in Japanese) to convert cooked rice into fermentable sugars, both in the amount of resulting fermentable sugars and the residual by products (the Chinese use the dregs left after fermenting the rice, called 酒糟 (Jiǔzāo), as a cooking ingredient in many dishes, frequently as an ingredient to sauces where Western dishes would use wine), because the rice undergoes starch conversion after being hulled and cooked, rather than whole and in husks like barley malt. Furthermore, the hop plant being unknown in East Asia, malt-based alcoholic drinks did not preserve well over time, and the use of malt in the production of alcoholic drinks gradually fell out of favor in China until disappearing from Chinese history by the end of the Tang Dynasty. The use of rice became dominant, such that wines from fruits of any type were historically all but unknown except as imports in China. The production of alcoholic drink from cooked rice converted by microbes continues to this day, and some classify the different varieties of Chinese 米酒 (Mǐjiǔ) and Japanese sake as beer since they are made from converted starch rather than fruit sugars. However, this is a debatable point, and such drinks are generally referred to as "rice wine" or "sake" which is really the generic Chinese and Japanese word for all alcoholic drinks. Some Pacific island cultures ferment starch that has been converted to fermentable sugars by human saliva, similar to the chicha of South America. This practice is also used by many other tribes around the world, who either chew the grain and then spit it into the fermentation vessel or spit into a fermentation vessel containing cooked grain, which is then sealed up for the fermentation. Enzymes in the spittle convert the starch into fermentable sugars, which are fermented by wild yeast. Whether or not the resulting product can be called beer is sometimes disputed, since: As with Asian rice-based liquors, it does not involve malting. This method is often used with starches derived from sources other than grain, such as yams, taro, or other such root vegetables. Some Taiwanese tribes have taken the process a step further by distilling the resulting alcoholic drink, resulting in a clear liquor. However, as none of the Taiwanese tribes are known to have developed systems of writing, there is no way to document how far back this practice goes, or if the technique was brought from Mainland China by Han Chinese immigrants. Judging by the fact that this technique is usually found in tribes using millet (a grain native to northern China) as the ingredient, the latter seems much more likely. Asia's first brewery was incorporated in 1855 (although it was established earlier) by Edward Dyer at Kasauli in the Himalayan Mountains in India under the name Dyer Breweries. The company still exists and is known as Mohan Meakin, today comprising a large group of companies across many industries.
The Industrial Revolution Edit
The Caledonian Brewery, founded in 1869, Edinburgh, Scotland Following significant improvements in the efficiency of the steam engine in 1765, industrialization of beer became a reality. Further innovations in the brewing process came about with the introduction of the thermometer in 1760 and hydrometer in 1770, which allowed brewers to increase efficiency and attenuation. Prior to the late 18th century, malt was primarily dried over fires made from wood, charcoal, or straw, and after 1600, from coke. In general, none of these early malts would have been well shielded from the smoke involved in the kilning process, and consequently, early beers would have had a smoky component to their flavors; evidence indicates that maltsters and brewers constantly tried to minimize the smokiness of the finished beer. Writers of the period describe the distinctive taste derived from wood-smoked malts, and the almost universal revulsion it engendered. The smoked beers and ales of the West Country were famous for being undrinkable – locals and the desperate excepted. This is from "Directions for Brewing Malt Liquors" (1700): In most parts of the West, their malt is so stenched with the Smoak of the Wood, with which 'tis dryed, that no Stranger can endure it, though the inhabitants, who are familiarized to it, can swallow it as the Hollanders do their thick Black Beer Brewed with Buck Wheat. An even earlier reference to such malt was recorded by William Harrison, in his "Description of England", 1577: In some places it [malt] is dried at leisure with wood alone, or straw alone, in other with wood and straw together, but, of all, the straw-dried is the most excellent. For the wood-dried malt, when it is brewed, beside that the drink is higher of colour, it doth hurt and annoy the head of him that is not used thereto, because of the smoke. Such also as use both indifferently do bark, cleave, and dry their wood in an oven, thereby to remove all moisture that should procure the fume... "London and Country Brewer" (1736) specified the varieties of "brown malt" popular in the city: Brown Malts are dryed with Straw, Wood and Fern, etc. The straw-dryed is the best, but the wood sort has a most unnatural Taste, that few can bear with, but the necessitous, and those that are accustomed to its strong smoaky tang; yet it is much used in some of the Western Parts of England, and many thousand Quarters of this malt has been formerly used in London for brewing the Butt-keeoing-beers with, and that because it sold for two shillings per Quarter cheaper than Straw-dryed Malt, nor was this Quality of the Wood-dryed Malt much regarded by some of its Brewers, for that its ill Taste is lost in nine or twelve Months, by the Age of the Beer, and the strength of the great Quantity of Hops that were used in its preservation. hydrometer measures beer's specific gravity The hydrometer transformed how beer was brewed. Before its introduction beers were brewed from a single malt: brown beers from brown malt, amber beers from amber malt, pale beers from pale malt. Using the hydrometer, brewers could calculate the yield from different malts. They observed that pale malt, though more expensive, yielded far more fermentable material than cheaper malts. For example, brown malt (used for Porter) gave 54 pounds of extract per quarter, whilst pale malt gave 80 pounds. Once this was known, brewers switched to using mostly pale malt for all beers supplemented with a small quantity of highly coloured malt to achieve the correct colour for darker beers. The invention of the drum roaster in 1817 by Daniel Wheeler allowed for the creation of very dark, roasted malts, contributing to the flavour of porters and stouts. Its development was prompted by a British law of 1816 forbidding the use of any ingredients other than malt and hops. Porter brewers, employing a predominantly pale malt grist, urgently needed a legal colourant. Wheeler's patent malt was the solution. Yeast ring used by Swedish homebrewers in the 19th century to preserve the yeast between brewing sessions. Louis Pasteur's 1857 discovery of yeast's role in fermentation led to brewers developing methods to prevent the souring of beer by undesirable microorganisms.
Modern beer Edit
Mythology Edit
Gambrinus –king of beer The Finnish epic Kalevala, collected in written form in the 19th century but based on oral traditions many centuries old, devotes more lines to the origin of beer and brewing than it does to the origin of mankind. The mythical Flemish king Gambrinus (from Jan Primus (John I)), is sometimes credited with the invention of beer. According to Czech legend, deity Radegast, god of hospitality, invented beer. Ninkasi was the patron goddess of brewing in ancient Sumer. In Egyptian mythology, the immense blood-lust of the fierce lioness goddess Sekhmet was only sated after she was tricked into consuming an extremely large amount of red-coloured beer (believing it to be blood): she became so drunk that she gave up slaughter altogether and became docile. In Norse mythology the sea god Ægir, his wife Rán, and their nine daughters, brewed ale (or mead) for the gods. In the Lokasenna, it is told that Ægir would host a party where all the gods would drink the beer he brewed for them. He made this in a giant kettle that Thor had brought. The cups in Ægir's hall were always full, magically refilling themselves when emptied. Ægir had two servants in his hall to assist him; Eldir [Fire-Kindler] and Fimafeng [Handy]. In Nart sagas, Satanaya (Ubykh [satanaja], Adyghe [setenej], Ossetian [ʃatana]), the mother of the Narts, a fertility figure and matriarch, invented beer. Recent Irish Mythology attributes the invention of beer to fabled Irishman Charlie Mops
Etymology Edit
The word beer comes from old Germanic languages, and is with variations used in continental Germanic languages, bier in German and Dutch, but not in Nordic languages. The word was imported into the British Isles by tribes such as the Saxons. It is disputed where the word originally comes from. Many other languages have borrowed the Dutch/German word, such as French bière, Italian birra, Romanian "bere" and Turkish bira. The Nordic languages have öl/øl, related to the English word ale. Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan have words that evolved from Latin cervisia, originally of Celtic origin. Slavic languages use pivo with small variations, based on a pre-Slavic word meaning "drink" and derived from the verb meaning "to drink". Chuvash "pora" its r-Turkic counterpart, which may ultimately be the source of the Germanic beer-word.[51]
See also Edit
References EditThe Black Caps are considering changes for the series-deciding third test against Pakistan with the prospect of veteran Daniel Vettori joining the lineup for a spin-friendly wicket in Sharjah.
Down 1-0 in the series, New Zealand need to be aggressive and that could start before a ball is even bowled tomorrow.
Coach Mike Hesson said they were considering how they can further improve a side that gained a solid draw in the second test after being well-beaten in the opening match in Abu Dhabi.
Vettori was in the United Arab Emirates with the New Zealand A side and trained with the Black Caps overnight.
The prospect of leftarm orthodox Vettori joining leg spinner Ish Sodhi and off spinner Mark Craig in a rare three-spin attack are realistic.
The Black Caps need to be confident that Vettori could manage the workload. His fitness and building form for the World Cup were his priority, but sharing this test assignment could ease the pressures on him.
Hesson held the 35-year-old Vettori in high regard.
The veteran's test career looked to be over – his last test was against the West Indies in July 2012 - but now he could be set to take over from former skipper Stephen Fleming as New Zealand's most capped test player.
They share the record with 111 appearances at present, though Vettori also boasts an test for a World XI in 2005.
"We will look at our options within the squad and we'll select a side that gives us the best chance of winning a test match," Hesson said.
The coach has been impressed with the steady improvement of Craig and Sodhi, but there's little doubt Vettori's experience could be a useful bonus. He has 360 test wickets to his name and also an ability to provide containment, something that Craig has struggled with at times in this series with the Pakistan batsmen going after him more than Sodhi.
"Our spinners aren't used to bowling on conditions where footholes play such a part. Pakistan spinners beat us off the wicket and at home traditionally we try and beat guys in the air," Hesson said.
"When you have footholes to hit, it's very hard to change the method that you've trained your whole life. I thought the way Ish and Mark have adapted over the last couple of tests is pleasing but they are still striving for consistency of pace as well."
Vettori is also an accomplished batsman and that is an area that requires attention, given the shaky top order efforts and the lack of runs through the middle order that make young allrounders Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson vulnerable despite their immense potential.
That has led to speculation that limited overs wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi could also be called up for test duties.
Hesson was keeping his cards close to his test and wants to monitor the Sharjah wicket in the leadup before making his calls.
He felt this wicket looked more desert-like than the previous wickets in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
"In the other ones you could see grass, you can't actually see any out there, so it's a bit different," Hesson said.
"Sharjah traditionally is lower and skiddier and slows up as the game goes on so I don't expect this to be different," Hesson said.
"We'll look again and see how it's dried out. It's a little bit tacky today, tomorrow we will get a bit more of an assessment.
"The warm-up game we played here had a lot more grass, this looks a lot flatter. But every ground in the United Arab Emirates is a challenge. We have to play very well to be able to compete in these conditions."
Hesson felt the toss would again be important. Pakistan in the first test and New Zealand in the second, had been able to dictate terms after winning the toss.
"Being able to bat first and third rather than second and fourth has its advantages in this part of the world. It doesn't mean you are out of the game [losing the toss] it just means it's a bit harder, that's all."
Hesson wanted New Zealand's building form to continue into this test as they push to level the series.
He believed they had played well in the Dubai draw despite not capitalising on a couple of opportunities to push home their advantage against Pakistan.
"It was a great test match, we had to fight and scrap throughout. We gained great confidence from that, no doubt," he said.
"We made improvements from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, but we know that Pakistan will come hard at us again and we will have to withstand that over long periods of time in this test."Scribblenauts is an emergent puzzle action video game developed by 5th Cell and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the Nintendo DS. The game was released in 2009 in all regions except Japan, and in 2011 in Japan as Flash Puzzle: Maxwell's Mysterious Notebook (ヒラメキパズル マックスウェルの不思議なノート, Hirameki Pazuru: Makkusuweru no Fushigi na Nōto) by Konami.[5] It is the third Nintendo DS video game made by 5th Cell, the first two being Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest. The objective of Scribblenauts, as implied by its catchphrase "Write Anything, Solve Everything", is to complete puzzles to collect "Starites", helped by the player's ability to summon any object (from a database of tens of thousands) by writing its name on the touchscreen. The game is considered by its developers to help promote emergent gameplay by challenging the player to solve its puzzles within certain limitations or through multiple solutions.
Jeremiah Slaczka, creator and director of Scribblenauts, envisioned the game as a combination of solving life situation puzzles alongside Mad Libs. His vision was brought to realization through the "Objectnaut" engine created by 5th Cell's technical director, Marius Fahlbusch. Objectnaut allowed for a data driven approach, and a significant portion of the development time was spent researching nouns and their properties, and categorizing them into the Objectnaut database. This, along with the simple art designs of 5th Cell's Edison Yan, allowed for the team to easily add new words to the database without expending much effort to program new behavior.
Scribblenauts was first shown in a playable form at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, and became a sleeper hit, winning several "Best of Show" awards,[6][7] being the first portable console game to win such praise. Reviewers believed that 5th Cell delivered on their promise to allow nearly any possible object to be created for use in Scribblenauts, but also lamented that the choice of controls in the game hampered their full enjoyment of the title. The success of the title has led to a number of sequels including Super Scribblenauts, Scribblenauts Remix, and Scribblenauts Unlimited. The series has sold over 13 million copies.[8]
Gameplay [ edit ]
Scribblenauts. The top screen displays an image of the level and various indicators. The bottom screen shows Maxwell, using a helicopter and rope to rescue an injured woman during one of the puzzle levels. Screenshot of. The top screen displays an image of the level and various indicators. The bottom screen shows Maxwell, using a helicopter and rope to rescue an injured woman during one of the puzzle levels.
Scribblenauts is an exclusively side-scrolling game controlled almost entirely with the Nintendo DS stylus, with the D-pad and face buttons controlling the camera and the left and right shoulder buttons rotating objects. The player controls a character named Maxwell, who must collect objects called "Starites" to complete each level. Maxwell is guided by tapping the touchscreen, or if the player taps an object, Maxwell will pick it up or be given other options for interacting with that object, such as riding a horse or bicycle or shooting at an object if he holds a weapon.[9] A fundamental element of Scribblenauts is the ability of the player to summon myriad objects into the game. This is achieved by writing the name of an object on the touchscreen.[9] For example, the player can write "ladder", summoning a ladder, which the player may use to climb to an out-of-reach Starite.[9] The player may turn the ladder on its side and set it on fire.[9] The player may also chain objects together, such as chaining a piece of meat to a pole and holding it while riding on a raptor.[9]
Summoned objects range among animals, weapons, forces of nature, famous people (both fictional and real), vehicles, household objects, easter eggs of the development team,[10] and even internet memes.[11] However, the game does not include trademarked terms,[12] nor potential profanity (summoning "ass" will spawn a donkey; summoning "cock" will spawn a rooster).[13] The game includes a homonym system to offer the player possible choices between similar-sounding objects, such as distinguishing between a toy balloon and a hot-air balloon; there is also a spellchecker to provide close matches for misspelled words.[14] The North American release includes support for other languages including Brazilian Portuguese, French, and Spanish, with French-Canadian and Latin American variants available for words in the French and Spanish language sets, respectively.[15] The UK version also accounts for difference between American and British English, such as the differing meanings of the word "football".[16] 5th Cell has stated that the limit to what objects may be summoned is up to the player's imagination.[9] Players, using special software, claimed to have discovered that the full list of words is greater than 22,800 unique entries,[17] but, in response, Slaczka said there were many more than this number.[18]
The game is segmented into 220 levels over 10 themed areas, and each given a 4 star ranking based on its difficulty, with later areas featuring more high ranked levels. Puzzles are given a par for the number of objects they can summon, typically being between two and four, though the player is free to summon more, so long as there is space in the meter at the top screen (summoning the same number of objects as the par or less earns more points).[15] There are two types of levels—puzzle and action levels. Puzzle levels are real-life situations (such as having to open a piñata) where the Starite is awarded once the puzzle is solved, while action levels will appeal to gamers that prefer side-scrolling platformers, featuring switches, spike traps, and other similar elements.[19] Players are awarded "merits" for completing levels while meeting certain requirements, such as not summoning any weapon-like object. Once the player completes a level, a silver star appears on the level selection button and a "Free play" mode is unlocked. At that point, the player is given the option to play through the level three consecutive times without reusing objects. Successfully completing the challenge grants the player a gold star for that level.[9][14][20] Scribblenauts presents a simplistic storyline, as the developers wished to focus on engaging gameplay.[9] The game always rewards the player with "Ollars", its in-game money, to allow them to purchase new areas, different avatars and other visual changes to the game.[15][21]
The game includes a level editor, allowing users to share these levels over the Nintendo Wi-Fi system. The player can start with any level that they have already beaten from the main game, and add new objects with new game properties. These new properties can vary significantly from the normal behavior, such as having a bear able to eat a plane.[10]
Development [ edit ]
Scribblenauts was first conceived in the second quarter of 2007, near the same time that they had envisioned Lock's Quest.[9] Creative Director for 5th Cell, Jeremiah Slaczka, stated that they were seeking counterparts of Nintendogs and Brain Age, games that had attracted a much wider demographic than most other niche games, that 5th Cell could develop.[18][21] The concept of Scribblenauts came from a combination of a previous idea he had for the DS that was similar to Mad Libs and a dream of his.[22] An example given for the Mad Libs was that players could write a Mad Lib of a "dog walking through a forest", and a dog would appear in a forest and walk through it. However, he realized the game would be tedious and that players would only be interested in using keywords. The dream was of being inside an Aztec temple and having to solve puzzles; one in particular involved three paintings, with the objective being straightening them and then moving on to the next room through a portal.[22] While he thought it was a good idea for a game, he also felt that it lacked both a hook and replayability. He debated whether this would work best on the Wii or the DS, but later decided to combine the writing element with a puzzle element to fix the lack of replayability.[19] Slaczka realized that the concept of the game might be considered impossible by other programmers, but found that 5th Cell's Technical Director Marius Fahlbusch felt confident they could create the required elements.[9] The developers considered that the nature of the flexible and sometimes unforeseen solutions made the game strongly promote emergent gameplay.[9]
During development, Slaczka and the team tried to figure out what they could do with the DS hardware, trying to make Scribblenauts appeal to everyone. As Lock's Quest was thought of first, they focused on releasing that game first while beginning the development of Scribblenauts. The game entered beta around May 2009, and had numerous play-testers exploring the game.[23] About half of 5th Cell's staff worked on the game.[9] It was developed alongside the DS version of Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter.[22][24]
Scribblenauts was originally developed without having a publisher for the game.[9] Slaczka noted that unlike other games where the developers could complete and polish a single level to garner interest while work on the rest of the game continued, Scribblenauts needed to show support for its large dictionary from the start, making it difficult to promote the game.[21] The company was in negotiations with a publisher in the early part of 2009, letting that publisher decide when it would be best to announce the game.[24] Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment officially announced itself as the publisher for Scribblenauts in May 2009.[25] Slaczka noted that of the other publishers they talked to, they felt Warner Bros. was the best one, particularly due to their proximity to 5th Cell and their interest in the title.[23]
Scribblenauts was originally titled "Wordplay", but the team felt that this was "generic". The title Scribblenauts began as a temporary name that would be effective for pitching the game, but as development proceeded, the team couldn't think of a better one, so the name stuck and became the final title of the product.[26]
Konami published the game in Japan on January 27, 2011; this localized version features Konami characters such as Old Snake, Manaka Takane and the Vic Viper.[27]
Engine [ edit ]
The core engine of Scribblenauts is a data-driven engine called "Objectnaut" created by Fahlbusch.[9] Within Objectnaut, each object is given a set of properties, including physical characteristics, artificial intelligence behavior, and how the player (through Maxwell) can interact with it.[9] Five people from the team spent six months researching dictionaries and encyclopedias to create a large database of objects within the Objectnaut's framework, and then mapped out a hierarchy of data from this information.[28] For example, every mammal-based object in the game is given the property of having "organic flesh", allowing it to be eaten or turned into meat, without having to specify these functions for each type of mammal they used.[9] The Objectnaut approach allowed the team to create two distinct objects for words that may have similar meanings simply by adjusting each word's properties in the database: "lion", "tiger" and "leopard" while similar will behave differently and have different art assets,[29] while the only difference in the game between "croissant" and "danish" is that the danish may be able to roll like a wheel.[24] The team made sure to balance the abilities of the various objects that could be summoned to avoid creating an "uber character" that would act as a skeleton key for solving all of the levels, and give players more courage to try different elements.[10] Slaczka noted that he would be frequently asked if certain difficult words were in the game when interviewed by the press, most of the time being able to respond affirmatively to these questions.[23] In an example given by Slaczka, a "hardcore" journalist wanted twenty minutes with the game to try to stump it during the 2009 E3 convention, but, according to Slaczka, "he had a real hard time stumping it and shook my hand" after that period.[10]
Designing each item required the developers to go word-by-word. Slaczka stated that certain kinds of words, such as cheeses, require little to no differences, besides items such as Limburger which would scare people away from it. He stated that the developers used discretion when deciding what to make look different, providing a cyborg, robot, and android, which he felt were different enough to require their own individual designs. He later stated that there was no way to test out each item and each way they interact with another item, as it was virtually impossible for them to accomplish this, using an example of an airplane being frozen, brought back in time, placing an old man on top of it, bringing it back to present time, and setting it on fire. Slaczka stated that while many games create a first level with enemies and platforms, polishing the level and moving on, the players can write any item available in level one that they can write in a later level. He commented that if players wrote "anvil" and it was missing its "heavy" property, they may be turned off of the game. They spent roughly 80% of the development fine-tuning the various items, and as such, they could not provide a preview to demonstrate the game.[22]
Each of the words programmed into the game has associated art with it led by 5th Cell artist Edison Yan. The task of creating the art was simplified through the "minimal" design style of 5th Cell's previous games.[9] Each object is rendered as in 3D with objects acting as doll on a 2D plane.[9] This was chosen to avoiding having to create a large number of animations for 2D.[9] The development team had to design each AI-controlled object by hand, according to Slaczka, describing how the objects moves, and what it likes and dislikes, how much health it has, and other possible characteristics.[22] Level design focused on providing a large variety of situations, including splitting levels between Puzzle and Action types, to avoid having the player develop a limited toolbox of common words and not exploring other possible solutions.[21] Much of the initial level development was done on paper and to explore situations not commonly found in video games, due to their vocabulary system. They ended up selecting more than a hundred levels out of over seven hundred they had generated internally for the game.[30] Both Merits and Ollars were added to reward the player for completion, with Slaczka comparing these to Xbox Live Achievements.[21]
The game primarily uses the touchscreen to control Maxwell and other objects; the developers considered using the directional pad of the DS but realized that they would still need to rely on the touchscreen for certain actions and thus focused most of the game's controls through that interface.[23] The game includes 5th Cell's own handwriting recognition system for writing down objects which Slaczka considered to be better than Nintendo's own system for Brain Age.[23] The team included a virtual keyboard in addition to this system knowing that even "the human brain can't understand chicken scratch".[23]
Promotion [ edit ]
Scribblenauts launch event on September 13, 2009 at the Nintendo World Store in New York City. Customers with their "rooster hats" pre-order bonus for waiting in line for the start oflaunch event on September 13, 2009 at the Nintendo World Store in New York City.
Players who pre-ordered the game at GameStop and EB Games in the United States, Canada, and Australia received a replica of Maxwell's "rooster hat",[31] a term coined by Destructoid according to Slaczka.[10] The game was launched by a special event at the Nintendo World Store in New York City on September 13, 2009, with Slaczka and other 5th Cell developers on hand for the event.[32]
Reception [ edit ]
The game was well received at the 2009 E3 Convention and was considered the "sleeper hit" of the show.[33][34][35][36] Scribblenauts is the first portable video game in history to win "Best of Show" awards for E3 from any major gaming media outlet.[37] The game was named "Best Original Game" and "Best Handheld Game" by the Game Critics Awards.[38] Scribblenauts was named the overall "Best of Show" by GameSpot, GameSpy, and IGN, in addition to other awards.[39][40][41] 1UP.com named Scribblenauts their E3's "Most Innovative" title.[42] X-Play gave the game its E3 "Best Original Game" and "Best Handheld Game" awards.[43] Ars Technica considered the game as the show's "Most Pleasant Surprise".[44] Joystiq performed a ten-word test of the game, and found only one word, "plumbob", was not yet present in the game, but were promised it would be in the final version.[45] Part of the success at E3 was considered partially due to the inclusion of then-recent Keyboard Cat Internet meme, which led to a grassroots-type excitement about the game at the convention.[36][40][46] Adam Sessler of G4 TV believed that Scribblenauts's E3 success was from being a small but successful game from a small company in contrast to numerous other premier titles from other major developers and publishers that have become standard for the convention, such that the uniqueness of everything about the game made it the standout title of the show.[47] Scribblenauts was given a much more predominate display in Warner Bros. Interactive's booth at the next major convention, the 2009 Comic-Con International.[48] IGN listed Scribblenauts in a preview of Nintendo DS games in 2009, labeling it as one of their top picks for the year. They described it as "quite possibly one of the system's most ambitious designs yet."[49]
"Post 217" as drawn by 5th Cell artist Edison Yan, based on a NeoGAF post, has been used as promotional material for the game.
One example of the possibilities of Scribblenauts that led to further attention to the game are given in the ESRB's attempt to describe the "cartoon violence" and "comic mischief" within the game as to grant it an "E10+" rating. The ESRB's description includes possible examples of the game's level of violence as "a club can be used to hit an animal; steak can be attached to a baby to attract lions; rockets can be lobbed at a man".[50][51][52] In a post at NeoGAF within a thread dedicated to the game, user "Feep" relayed the experience of discovering during E3 that he was able to go back in time with a time machine to collect a dinosaur in order to defeat an army of robot zombies that could not be defeated with regular weapons.[12][36][53] The story, as memorialized as "Post 217", has led to 5th Cell artist Edison Yan creating a desktop wallpaper image of the story, in appreciation of the positive fan response to the game, and the terms "Post Two One Seven", "Feep", and "Neogaf" have been included as summonable objects in the game.[54][55] Slaczka credits the word-of-mouth popularity of "Post 217" for part of the game's success at E3, and noted that he had contacted Feep to gain his permission to include "Feep" (appearing as a robot zombie) within the game.[56] The NeoGAF forums proceeded to expand on their praise for the game by creating a series of avatars of video game and other related characters (which will not otherwise appear in the game due to trademark issues) for their forums inspired by Yan's art design, and even some of the members that created the avatars were contacted to work in the second game, Super Scribblenauts.[57][58] Yan himself has drawn several more avatars in the same style for other games such as Street Fighter II and Final Fantasy VII.[59]
Release [ edit ]
Reception Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 79.08% [60] Metacritic 79/100 [61] Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B+[62] Eurogamer 7/10 [63] G4 4/5[64] GameSpy [65] IGN 8.7/10 [66]
Scribblenauts was found by reviewers to live up to the premise that the game was built on the ability to bring about nearly any object imagined into the game. John Walker of Eurogamer considered the game "an incredible achievement", with its word database "so utterly complete in its collection of everything ever in the universe" and its specificness on these terms.[63] Craig Harris of IGN asserted that "the developers fully deliver on [the |
in 2014 warned that legalizing medical marijuana would lead to pot-assisted rape, among other horrors—think they can accomplish something similar this year. "This so-called'medical marijuana' amendment is just like the one voters defeated last election," says No on 2 spokesman Tre Evers. "It legalizes pot smoking in Florida under the cynical guise of helping sick people. Marijuana is not medicine; it is an illegal and dangerous drug. The fact is that wherever pot smoking has been legalized under the guise of'medical marijuana' it has proven to be a farce, a ruse, de facto legalization."Elwood Edwards (born November 6, 1949) is an American voice over actor. He is best known as the voice of the Internet service provider America Online, which he first recorded in 1989.[1][2] His greetings include "Welcome," "You've got mail," "You've got pictures," "You've got voicemail," "File's done." and "Goodbye.", all recorded in his own living room on a cassette deck.[3] In 1989, Edwards's wife overheard online service Q-Link CEO Steve Case describe how he wanted to add a voice to its user interface.[1] In October, Edwards's voice premiered on AOL's new program. The voice is only heard in the American version of the software. In the UK version, a female voice is heard replacing "Welcome." with "Welcome to AOL." and "You've got mail." with "You have e-mail." Also "File's done." is replaced with "Your files have been transferred."
His voice has also appeared in an episode of The Simpsons (where he provided the voice of a virtual doctor, saying "You've got leprosy"), and in advertising for the movie You've Got Mail.
He started in radio while in high school. After high school he continued into television, working as a live booth announcer. Despite some on-air work, doing a car commercial, reporting news or sports and even a short stint as a weatherman (once proclaiming to New Bern, North Carolina that "You've got hail."), Edwards focused mainly on off-camera work.
Semi-retired, he used to sell personalized.wav files through his website.[4]
On the March 4, 2015 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Edwards appeared on screen to read humorous phrases.[5] As of November 2016, Edwards was seen on Instagram and YouTube working as an Uber driver.[6][7]
Other jobs [ edit ]
News Graphics Supervisor, WKYC-TV [8]
General Manager, KVVV
Operations Manager, WAKC-TV
Ops Supervisor/ Senior Director, WFTY-TV
Production Mgr / Senior Director, WCTI-TV
Senior Director, WITN-TV
Announcer/Director, WNBE-TV
Announcer/DJ, WHIT-AM
Uber Driver[9]
References [ edit ]Late last week, to little acclaim or media fanfare, President Trump announced another round of new federal judicial nominees. Among them is Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett, whose wit, humor and constitutionalist principles have made him a 'fan favorite' among online conservatives. Trump has now selected the 51-year-old Willett to serve on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, along with a slew of others:
No words.
I am honored & humbled by @POTUS's nomination to the 5th Circuit.
Thank you, Mr. President—also Senators @JohnCornyn & @TedCruz. pic.twitter.com/499LFNdjbC — Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) September 29, 2017
It's no secret to political observers that the "unified" Republican government hasn't accomplished much of anything over the first eight months of the Trump administration, despite achieving a fair amount of deregulation and passing some important legislation. Obamacare repeal and replace was a giant failure, and the fate of the newly-rolled out, high-stakes tax reform push is uncertain (it strikes me as a good start, though legitimate questions about important details must be addressed). One of the few areas in which Trump has consistently notched unmitigated conservative victories while keeping a crucial campaign pledge is on judicial appointments. The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal took a moment yesterday to showcase and applaud the administration's important progress on this front:
The White House announced its eighth batch of judicial nominees on Thursday, including four excellent choices for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. They include a pair of Texans: Don Willett, who is now on the Texas Supreme Court and is well known for his witty Twitter feed; and James Ho, a Gibson, Dunn partner in Dallas who clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and was Texas solicitor general. The other two Fifth Circuit nominees have notable legal achievements to their credit. Stuart Duncan was solicitor general of Louisiana and general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He was counsel of record in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, the landmark 2014 decision allowing closely held companies to be exempt from regulations they object to on religious grounds. Kurt Engelhardt is chief judge for the federal district court for eastern Louisiana. In 2013 he wrote a withering 129-page opinion documenting misconduct by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney in prosecuting New Orleans police. The speed of the nominations and the quality of the nominees is a result of the close ties between White House judicial vetters and the Federalist Society that is a national clearinghouse for conservative legal talent. Judicial nominations are arguably the most successful part of the Trump Presidency. By our count—and we may have missed a name or two—Mr. Trump has made 18 nominations to appellate courts, 39 to district courts and three to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The Senate has confirmed only four for the appellate courts as Democrats use every possible delaying tactic. They’re even trying to disqualify Amy Coney Barrett, a nominee for the Seventh Circuit, because she’s an “orthodox Catholic,” as Senator Dick Durbin put it in a question at a Senate hearing.
This editorial doesn't even mention biggest victory of all: Justice Gorsuch. But the editors' point about critical lower court vacancies being filled by conservatives is well-taken (especially considering the possible SCOTUS implications), and they call on Senate Republicans to take maximum advantage of today's power dynamics to confirm as many of Trump's picks as possible: "With confirmation politics increasingly polarized, Mr. Trump and Republicans are wise to move quickly to take advantage of this moment of Senate and White House control," they write. "If Democrats take the Senate in 2018, Chuck Schumer will try to block the confirmation of any conservative nominee." That's exactly right. The GOP has been using Harry Reid's standard to move on a number of judicial selections, with an eye toward reversing President Obama's profound leftward shift of the federal judiciary. Despite the president tapping new judges at a break-neck pace, only a small fraction of those nominees have been confirmed. The Daily Signal explains why, noting the number of appellate selections that are still awaiting a hearing and vote:
While Trump announces more and more outstanding nominees, they are, unfortunately, piling up in the Senate. The chamber has confirmed only seven judges (including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch) this year. Part of the problem is the Senate Judiciary Committee’s policy, known as “blue slips,” which asks the two senators from a nominee’s home state for their opinion before the committee holds a hearing or further evaluates the nominee....Senators select “I approve” or “I object” on a blue slip of paper. The president has the power to appoint judges—with the advice and consent of the Senate—but under this 100-year-old tradition, a single senator may be able to bring a confirmation to a crashing halt...While we don’t expect these [latest] four nominees to the Texas and Louisiana seats on the 5th Circuit to face blue-slip problems, the same cannot be said of all the other nominees announced earlier this year. [There are] 10 nominees for federal judgeships who are waiting for a Senate hearing or vote...
Mitch McConnell says he's considering changing the rules in light of Democrats' use of 'blue slip' tradition to obstruct the process, but Chuck Schumer's caucus is warning against it, calling the potential move "hypocritical, as Republicans staunchly defended the blue slip process while Obama was in office." The question for the GOP is whether to engage in the sort of unilateral escalation for which Democrats have become known in these battles over recent decades. Marginal progress has been made on this front already, with conservative groups pressuring Senate Democrats who are holding up nominees over ideological disagreements:
I'll leave you with a reminder that this fight is likely to kick into overdrive if and when Justice Kennedy announces his retirement at the end of SCOTUS' next session, as widely expected. Senate Republicans stuck together admirably over Gorsuch, and they'll need to hold the line again. Democrats' implied plan to stymie virtually all conservative nominees if they regain the Senate, which they'd spin as retaliation for Republicans' hardball tactics on the Scalia opening. But that struggle was a rare instance of the GOP actually force-feeding Democrats a taste of their own medicine. Either way, this situation underscores the importance of the 2018 elections, in which Republicans hold a structural upper chamber advantage -- though nothing should be taken for granted.You hear it from every direction: You need to write an outline. Some writers insist that a basic skeleton is enough to get you started; some say you have to spend a month outlining every last detail of your script before you start writing; and still others insist that you should just start writing and be prepared for the inevitable page-one rewrite that will follow your first draft.
You’re pretty sure you need an outline, but you’re not sure whether it should seven lines or forty pages…
If you’re struggling to find the best outlining method, check out these 50 resources for outlining your script. You’ll find a variety of opinions in here — the trick is finding the advice that is most helpful to you.
Here are a few of the articles I find most useful on the subject:
Outlining on ScriptShadow
Outline So That You Have a Plan to Ditch Once You Start Writing on Mastering Film
Outlining Your Script on The Writer’s StoreIsrael has grabbed one of the largest Palestinian land plots in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli watchdog has said in a statement following the revelation by the Israeli Army Radio.
The anti-settlement NGO Peace Now said on Tuesday that the Israeli government has seized 234 hectares of land in an area south of Jericho on March 10.
The group added that plans for expanding nearby Jewish settlements and building tourism and other commercial facilities in the area were already on Israel's drawing board.
"Instead of trying to clam the situation, the government is adding fuel to the fire and sending a clear message to Palestinians, as well as to Israelis, that it has no intention to work towards peace and two states," the Israeli organisation said.
Photos of a de facto Israeli confiscation notice were tweeted by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The notice listed 2,342 dunams (234 hectares) and carried the signature of an official identified on the map as Israel's "supervisor of government property and abandoned property in Judea and Samaria", Hebrew terms for the West Bank.
Such an appropriation would be the largest since August 2014, and larger than the 154 hectares area that Israel first said in January it planned to designate as government property near the Dead Sea.
News of those plans drew international condemnation at the time.
"The declaration, which is in fact a confiscation, was meant for the expansion of nearby settlements as well as for trade and tourism projects operated by the settlers," Peace Now said in the statement.
READ MORE: US sued over donations for illegal Israeli settlements
In October, Israel retroactively legalised about 800 homes in four settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to the interior ministry.
They included 377 homes in the Yakir settlement, 187 in Itamar and 94 in Shilo in the northern West Bank, as well as 97 more in Sansana in the south of the occupied Palestinian territory.
The international community regards all Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal. But the Israeli government makes a distinction between those it has authorised and those it has not.
Settlements and outposts are seen as major stumbling blocks to peace efforts as they are built on land that Palestinians see as part of a future state.Is now the best time in history to be lesbian or gay? With the introduction of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, lesbians and gay men enjoy the same legislative rights as heterosexuals when married. They can foster and adopt, put same-sex names on their children's birth certificates, enjoy protection from discrimination and harassment at work and join the armed forces.
In all the celebrating and discussion of bride-on-bride fashion, no one seems to have raised any objections to the institution itself, an institution that has curtailed women's freedom for centuries.
When I was young, I wore badges and T-shirts bearing the slogan "Y B A Wife?". We were not the first feminists to critique marriage. Writers such as Sarah Fielding, Mary Hays and Mary Wollstonecraft labelled marriage during the Industrial Revolution as "little more than a state of legal prostitution", and argued that poorer women in all societies suffer the most oppression within marriage while at the same time being under more pressure to marry. So what's going on?
During the 1970s and 80s, lesbians were more likely than they are today to be part of an active women's liberation movement, during which the issue of marriage as a patriarchal institution was oft-discussed. There was the Lesbians Against the Clause group who campaigned against Clause 28 on the grounds that the heterosexual fabric of British society ought to be undermined. They produced an anti-marriage poster with the slogan: "They say marriage is a bed of roses... beware of the pricks", and organised several conferences and seminars to discuss the issue.
But in recent years there has been a distinct lack of debate about marriage as potentially problematic for women. In contrast, there seems to be an almost total acceptance of it by lesbians today.
I wanted to find out whether I was a lone voice objecting to gay marriage and if so, why. Last September I posted two surveys on the Guardian website (and a couple of other publications) to find out what was behind the widespread desire to wed, as well as a number of other issues. In total, 5,492 participants completed a poll aimed at lesbians and gay men while 4,036 completed another aimed at heterosexuals, making it one of the most meaningful surveys of attitudes to homosexuality ever undertaken in the UK. An overwhelming 89% of the 9,528 responses (roughly split between male and female) supported equal marriage, meaning that the majority of straight respondents, as well as lesbians and gay men, support marriage for same sex couples.
The survey also found that many gay respondents have a desire for "ordinariness" and do not want to be seen as living "alternative lifestyles". A number of respondents who said "yes" to the question: "Do you support gay (equal) marriage?" added comments about how marriage will make them equal to heterosexuals, and that they were looking forward to being viewed as "the same".
Civil partnerships and marriage offer that; the latest Office for National Statistics figures show that civil partnerships in the UK reached an all-time high in 2012, with 7,037 tying the knot, and equal numbers of gay men and lesbians opting for formal coupledom.
This heavy support for gay marriage comes in spite of the fact that 93.01% (gay survey) and 93.69% (straight) were aware of feminist arguments against marriage.
Nicola Barker, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Kent and the author of Not the Marrying Kind: A Feminist Critique of Same-Sex Marriage, says that she is sometimes misunderstood as being against equality as opposed to marriage. "What gets lost in the celebrations about 'equal marriage' is that marriage is not about equality; it's about perpetuating privilege," she says.
"Few feminists would have been surprised by David Cameron's assertion that to support gay marriage is conservative. Same-sex marriage fits comfortably within the conservative ideology of the self-sufficient family and contributes to the politics of state austerity."
The writer Shelley Silas, who is in a civil partnership with the novelist Stella Duffy, says they both wish to convert to full marriage as soon as they are able, and that they have long referred to each other as wives and taken each other's names; "I want to be able to say the word'married' and know it is within a legal context," says Silas.
There is, within this overwhelming support, an assumption, as some of my survey respondents and interviewees argue, that lesbian marriage somehow subverts the heterosexual, patriarchal narrative – but does it?
Isn't marriage merely a clever ploy to keep us quiet about the trickier issues such as the deportation of lesbian asylum seekers, and the still prevalent anti-gay bullying in schools and religious communities? While so many lesbians are busily getting hitched and drawing up wedding lists, while being featured in the pages of newspapers, have we lost sight of those within our community suffering in silence? A shocking 78% of lesbians and gay men have experienced prejudice during their lifetime, according to the survey, with more than a quarter of them suffering physical assault.
In her 1993 paper, Since When is Marriage a Path to Liberation?, the late Paula Ettelbrick, a US-based lesbian and human rights lawyer, came up with one of the greatest lines about state interference in relationships: "Marriage is a great institution – if you like living in institutions."
Julie Bindel's Straight Expectations: What does it mean to be gay today? is published by Guardian Books on 26 June at £12.99. To pre-order a copy for £8.99, visit theguardian.com/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.At the height of the Iran debate in the Senate the other day, Californian Senator Dianne Feinstein eloquently defended the deal and then Texas Senator John Cornyn rose to oppose it. Outside there was a big anti-Deal rally organized by the Tea Party, along with some pro-Israel Jewish groups. Ted Cruz and Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America stood up for Benjamin Netanyahu.
There you had the argument in a nutshell. At Israel’s most urgent hour, who was there for it? The Republicans and rightwing Jews. Most Jewish Democrats in Congress opposed Israel’s stated desires. So did progressive Jewish groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, Americans for Peace Now, Ameinu, and J Street.
This was the great domestic accomplishment of the Iran Deal: It has separated Zionism and Judaism, forever. What is a Zionist? Someone who supports Israel to the bitter end. A Republican or a rightwing Jew like Morton Klein or Alan Dershowitz.
But not all Jews are Zionists.
For years anti-Zionist Jews have been trying to make this argument. Zionism and Judaism are not the same thing. We oppose a racist supremacist ideology, but we like Jews.
We have lost this argument again and again. In 2002 Harvard president Lawrence Summers shut down a divestment campaign at leading schools by saying that it was anti-Semitic. Professors who had spoken up for human rights hid under their desks in shame.
Earlier this year, President Obama told the rightwing Zionist Jeffrey Goldberg that Israel is the liberation story of the Jews, and so anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.
This claim, that to be Jewish means to support Israel, is a core principle of the Israel lobby. You can hear it in the words of liberal rabbi Andy Bachman and rightwinger Abe Foxman too: We were almost destroyed in the Holocaust then we found a raft in the sea– Israel — and now we must bind together to protect that place or we could be annihilated again. We must speak as one to the powers that be. Because they cannot be trusted to support Jews on their own– look what they did during the Holocaust– and if our tiny community of Jews divides, the non-Jews will then feel free to turn on Israel.
There must be no daylight between the American government and Israel; and sealing that space is the job of American Jews. “Israel has three things it must ensure – its relationship with the United States, its relationship with the United States, and its relationship with the United States,” the Israeli president said the other day. And it has ensured those things by calling on American Jews.
But Israel called this time, and American Jews failed it. The Iran Deal began with an open declaration of American Jewish “loyalty” to Israel, expressed in the New York Times.
And it ended with the famous New York Times graphic showing that most Jewish congresspeople were not supporting Israel.
There are many reasons that so many American Jews did not stand up for Israel. The job has been going on for 40 years now, and we are sick of the job. We don’t believe in the Holocaust premise anymore, that we are vulnerable in the west; we think Jews can do fine in the west, in fact we are part of the U.S. establishment. And Israel undermined our appearance of patriotism when its prime minister came over to the Congress to try and submarine the president. Many Jews went to the ramparts over that.
But most of all it is Israel’s behavior that has destroyed this support. The racism, the massacres of Palestinian children, the unending occupation — everything you read on this site in our reports from Israel and Palestine — it is breaking through to American Jews. It’s a dirty job, and young people don’t want to do it. Harold Meyerson had an excellent column on the Iran aftermath in The Washington Post, stressing the break between American values and Israeli values, over the occupation:
One of the most striking, but not surprising, results of the Pew Research Center survey is the disenchantment that many, perhaps most, American Jews feel toward Israel. No nation can control another people and occupy its land for 48 years, as the Israelis have the Palestinians, without brutalizing and coarsening themselves, eroding many of the high moral hopes that American Jews once invested in Israel. Some older Jews are still attached to the Israel of 1948, to the scrappy but long-vanished Israel of kibbutz egalitarianism — one reason, perhaps, that three Jewish members from Florida, home to so many Jewish retirees, oppose the Iran deal. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, Israel’s values have become less universal and more dangerously tribal — appealing to the more tribal and self-segregating sensibilities of America’s Orthodox, and less and less to the more liberal and cosmopolitan sensibilities of the American Jewish majority.
The occupation is also what motivated two Connecticut Jewish leaders to invite supporters of BDS, boycott, divestment and sanctions, into their synagogue privately, last month. As the leaders wrote in the Forward, the Stalinist policy of American Jewish unanimity on Israel was actually endangering Jews by convincing other Americans that we always stick together.
[T]he coordinated refusal of mainstream Jewish organizations to entertain debate about BDS may actually hurt us in our fight against rising anti-Semitism. Last year’s ADL study premised a showing of significantly increasing anti-Semitism on responders seeing Jews not as individuals but as a monolithic group. Yet the “excommunication” of supporters of BDS, pressuring others not to dialogue (as our synagogue was pressured) or even throwing out chapters that merely entertain debate on BDS (as Hillel has done) might suggest to the average listener that there is a monolithic Jewish “establishment,” which those of us within the American Jewish community know does not exist.
So Jews considered anti-Semites were invited into a Connecticut synagogue, in part to show the non-Jewish world that we actually have diversity.
But there was a monolith once. We did stick together. That was the premise of the Israel lobby. (And in fact, that sticking together helped produce the Iraq War, inasmuch as Democrats were not compelled to talk about Israel’s interest in 2002-2003, even as Israel pressed its interest.)
Today we are no longer sticking together. Some Jews support the Iran Deal, some oppose it. Some Jews support Israel, some oppose it and even want to boycott it.
Today, Judaism and Zionism are no longer united in the American Jewish mind. This is the great liberation of the Iran Deal.
Soon anti-Zionists and Zionists will be openly arguing inside the Jewish tent; and we anti-Zionists will begin to win, because we believe in a simple principle, equality, which John Brown said was in the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence.
Soon Palestinian human rights will at last count for something in the official American Jewish community. The era of Palestinian freedom is beginning with Jewish freedom.Trey Wingo, Jeff Saturday and Darren Woodson discuss how the Falcons' offense will look to continue to thrive against a stout Patriots defense in Super Bowl LI. (1:21)
The federal prohibition on sports betting turns 25 this year, but Americans aren't expected to have any trouble getting action on Super Bowl LI.
Americans will stake an estimated $4.7 billion on Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and underdog Atlanta Falcons, according to numbers released Tuesday by the American Gaming Association. It is the equivalent of the estimated sales by online retailer Amazon from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday in 2016.
The AGA estimates that 97 percent of the money wagered on the Super Bowl in the U.S. will be done so illegally, in an underground sports betting market that has thrived since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was enacted in 1992.
The estimates are extrapolated primarily from the wagering on the Super Bowl in Nevada, which is tracked by the state's gaming control board, and are difficult to verify, with so much of the betting taking place in an unregulated market.
PASPA restricts legal sports betting to a handful of states, with only Nevada allowed to offer wagering on single events. Last year, $132.54 million was bet on Super Bowl 50 at Nevada's regulated sportsbooks. The rest was shipped to offshore sportsbooks and local bookmakers, who have moved away from the stereotypical phone rooms and primarily operate online now.
The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are examples of international jurisdictions with regulated sports betting markets. There are ongoing efforts to take the U.S. in that direction.
The AGA, which represents the casino industry in Washington, D.C., is in the process of building a coalition to address PASPA and plans to eventually begin lobbying to lift the prohibition. The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Conference of State Legislatures and law enforcement officials, including a former FBI deputy director, are part of the coalition. The AGA also has had recent discussions with broadcasters, advertisers and sports leagues about their efforts, in addition to interested parties on Capitol Hill.
"I think, when the time comes to push this publicly on the Hill, it could be helpful to have some strange bedfellows leading the charge there," AGA CEO and president Geoff Freeman told ESPN in a phone interview. "And I feel good about where we are in terms of recruiting those individuals, folks who've been perhaps outspoken on amateur sports and things like that, but want to take a fresh look at this."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was a past opponent of sports betting and in the early 2000s attempted to eliminate betting on college sports in Nevada. But McCain has since publicly stated that he believes Congress should re-examine the issue of legalizing and regulating sports betting.
In addition to the AGA's efforts, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has been reviewing federal laws while meeting with stakeholders to form the basis of comprehensive gambling legislation.
"It's time for Congress to update the outdated gaming laws so that they actually address what is currently happening across the United States, including sports betting and daily fantasy sports," Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. from New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the committee, told ESPN. "I plan to put forward a proposal in the House in the spring that will provide for a more level playing field for all forms of gambling while also including strong consumer protections."
American Gaming Association
Two of the largest sports organizations are standing in the way. The NFL and NCAA remain opposed to expanding legal sports betting in the U.S.
"Sports wagering threatens both the integrity of the game and the well-being of student-athletes," an NCAA spokesperson told ESPN.
Legalization proponents, including the NBA, argue that a heavily regulated sports betting market that is overseen by licensed officials will help protect the integrity of the games. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said it is time to bring sports betting "out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated."
Major League Baseball and the NHL have hinted at a willingness to give fresh consideration to the subject, but neither has come out publicly in full support. The PGA Tour, under new commissioner Jay Monahan, has also said it is looking at the issue.A Palm Harbor man is accused of pulling a gun on another driver during a road-rage incident on Wednesday, the Tarpon Springs Police Department said.
According to an arrest affidavit, the victim flagged down a police officer about 10 a.m. at Tarpon and Walton avenues. He told the officer that Evan Thomas Carpenter-Deel, 28, had nearly struck his vehicle.
The victim said that after the near-collision, he got out of his vehicle, unarmed, and approached Carpenter-Deel's vehicle, asking Carpenter-Deal why he had almost struck him.
The victim said Carpenter-Deal pulled out a gun at him and told him to get back in his vehicle.
The victim said he had to flag down the officer because he was having trouble with his phone.
When police made contact with Carpenter-Deel, a loaded Ruger LCP.380 was concealed on his right hip. Carpenter-Deal's concealed weapons permit was suspended.
Carpenter-Deel was charged with aggravated assault and carrying a concealed firearm. He is being held on $7,000 bail.Jungle Gym Strength and Conditioning and CLUBWAKA are joining forces to bring you their first ever Craft Beer Bash presented by War Memorial Stadium. The bash will be loaded with 10 breweries with unlimited pours, a live band, food trucks, and much more entertainment. Tickets start at $35 and $5 from every purchase will go towards the Boys and Girls Club of Newport News.
Participating Breweries Include:
Aleworks
Bell's
Bold Rock
Center of the Universe
Devil's Backbone
Heavy Seas
Shock Top
Oozlefinch
St. George's
Tradition
Live music from HEY HEY HOOLIGAN!
Food Trucks
STUFT
FLAME AND PIE
RSVP to our event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1729244717324758/
This event is kid friendly. Ages 0-15 are free. 16-20 must have a DD ticket (available for $10).
We are also offering corporate rates. If you get more than 20 people from your place of business to attend the event, we will give each person $10 off of each ticket. To set this up, please email me at junglegymnewportnews@gmail.com. So start talking to your boss! If you are the boss, start talking to your co-workers!
We also have sponsorship packages. If you want to sponsor your brand, business, or product, we will give you 2 free tickets to the event. Again, to set this up, email me at junglegymnewportnews@gmail.com. We have a promoter's license so you will be able to sell your stuff at the event.Cute RPG “Project Light” Is The Work Of One Japanese Culture Enthusiast
By Chris Priestman. December 27, 2014. 5:00pm
“Project Light” caught Siliconera’s attention recently due to having cute character design and turn-based combat – two features we’re always drawn towards.
Unfortunately, Project Light is so early in development still that there aren’t many details about it online to dig up. So, in order to find out more about the game, Siliconera caught up with the game’s solo developer Kamel Benlahrech to ask some questions.
He discusses his dream of making games since a kid, his love of Japanese culture and media, and gives us some insight into what the game is about, and how exactly it is cyberpunk when it doesn’t seem to fit the label.
We also got some exclusive drawings of the main characters in Project Light by Benlahrech. You can see all of that below.
How did you start out in game development? Have you got much experience working on games? If so, what?
Kamel Benlahrech, solo designer: I’ve been dreaming of making games since I was a kid. Started to learn programming very early but, actually, I never thought seriously about making a living as a game developer until very recently. My studies and first jobs have not much to do with video games: I was a web developer.
I launched my indie games studio neko.works back in December 2012. Started by making a few mobile apps, but my first actual game was released only a year ago. It’s called “Night Riders“, a 3D motorbike racing game inspired by the classic “Hang-On” from SEGA – I used to play that game at the arcade when I was a kid.
It seems that you’re also a fan of anime judging by your website and Project Light. Is this right? Do you have any favourite anime / manga / Japanese games?
I absolutely love anime, manga and the modern Japanese culture as a whole! Even started to learn Japanese around 10 years ago in hope to finally being able to play all those J-RPGs that never got translated. I’m not quite fluent yet but I always watch anime, read manga, and play Japanese games in Japanese. My favorite manga is Berserk – not really the same mood as the cute art I’m working on! Recently I’ve been playing games such as Labyrinth no Kanata and Bravely Default on my Japanese New 3DS LL.
We don’t know much about Project Light at the moment. Is it possible, then, for you to explain the game’s plot and introduce the main characters for us?
The game starts with the main character “Haru”. He is a male, by the way! Anyway, he is dreaming of vast green plains and a clear blue sky. It’s scenery we might be used to, but he is not, for the world he lives in is deep underground. After messing up with the empire soldiers that rule this dark society, he will embark on an epic journey and discover the mysteries of the world. Teaming up with many allies, including a mysterious silver-haired girl that is key to his quest.
And how have you divided the varied play within the game – how much is conversation? How much is battling and exploration?
The game is story-driven. My main attention in the early stages of development has been on the exploration of the cities and the story events. My goal is to have lots of secrets and story branches. For the combat, I’m planning for simple-to-understand yet hard-to-master mechanics. There will be no one-hour-long tutorials in sight!
As it’s such a core part of the game it seems worth going into a little more detail. So, how will the battle system in Project Light work?
A bit early to talk about the combat system specifics as they aren’t yet fully designed. It will be a classic, turn-based system. Right now, there are two kinds of combat scenes: The dungeon combat is random and occurs inside the environments with no transition. These are fast-paced and do not disturb the exploration. The other kind of combat is the boss battles, which occur in separate arena-like environments, with a close up view on the characters and dynamic camera angles that make these fights more spectacular.
You describe the game’s world as being cyberpunk but the environments in the screenshots don’t seem very cyberpunk to look at. So what makes the game cyberpunk?
I’ve not showed much of the actual cities of the game. Most of the screens shared so far are from the snowy “deeplands”, the lowest part of this world (a cold, abandoned place where no one is supposed to live). The reason being simply that I’ve started working on that section of the game first. More cyberpunk shots in the upcoming weeks!
How much room is there for player exploration in the environments and story line? And will there be multiple endings?
There will be many secrets in the exploration part, with hidden story events and even hidden playable characters. Some secrets are important enough to influence the game’s ending. The number of endings have not yet been decided. There will be a good re-playability value for fully completing the game.
Are you confident that you’ll be able to bring the game to all the platforms you’ve listed for it so far? Which will you be bringing the game to first?
Unfortunately, it will be too hard for me to release the game on all of those platforms day one. I will have to prioritize depending on the popularity and complexity of those. Nothing have been decided yet but, in the end the game will be released on all.Eight legs, eight eyes and a pair of venomous fangs – the average spider is so well-equipped that it's easy to see why arachnophobes are terrified. But there is one saving grace: at least spiders are solitary, so they are usually encountered in small numbers.
That's certainly what I thought.
But then I found myself trudging along a muddy path in the Peruvian Amazon jungle, face to face with a spider colony several thousand strong. Their funnel-shaped web arched from tree to tree, a structure containing too many of the creepy crawlies to count.
These were spiders but not as I knew them: they appeared to function as a society, just like ants or bees.
Most spiders are indeed lone wolves, but a scant handful have evolved a level of sociality to rival ant colonies, bee hives, or even primate societies.
Communal spiders work together to build, maintain, and clean their webs
Anelosimus eximius, the species I encountered in the rainforest, is not the only kind of social spider in the world, but it does construct the biggest webs. Some can reach more than 25ft (7.6m) feet long and 5ft (1.5m) wide. A web that size could contain as many as 50,000 individual spiders. That is a lot of legs, eyes and fangs.
A. eximius was first discovered more than a century ago by a French arachnologist named Eugène Simon. More social spiders have been discovered since. One was found as recently as 2006, in Ecuador, by entomologist Leticia Avilés.
Sociality shows up in at least seven spider families. In all we know of around 25 social species among the 45,000 described spider species on the planet. Sociality evolved at least a dozen separate times among them.
While the details vary from species to species among the social spiders, many of their features are similar.
For example, an A. |
in the NFL, but he retired 24 years ago. That money is long gone. The Dixons are not in dire straits financially, but Lorraine needs to keep her job as a lawyer with the EPA to maintain the critical health insurance it provides for Rickey's and Cameron's care.
And, of course, who takes care of Rickey -- whose body is disappearing before Lorraine's eyes? And now there are these two tubes, one protruding from a hole cut into his throat to help her husband breathe, the other a feeding tube inserted through a notch in his stomach. Both have to be cleaned and maintained to keep Rickey alive.
Each morning, the gauze around the breathing tube, soiled with mucus, must be removed, the area cleaned and new gauze put in place. Three times a day, Rickey requires breathing treatment, which includes sticking a separate tube down his throat to suction out any phlegm.
The doctors have told Lorraine that she needs to fully grasp these processes before Rickey can leave the hospital.
And so as she sits alone in her car, in the hospital parking lot, the text continues to pour out of her, the words providing catharsis in a world that seems unmanageable.
I look at Rickey laying in the hospital bed, trac in his throat, tube in his stomach, has lost 57% of his body weight, can't talk and can barely move and I think about the NFL and I ask Jesus to help me forgive them.
... the NFL truly they couldn't know, no one could be that cruel and then I remember
We fight the NFL to help our loved ones that they made millions of dollars off of
We fight our own lawyers so that they don't overcharge us for minimal work and fees already paid for by the NFL
We fight to keep money from the lead attorney's to administer a plan that they want the victims of the suit to pay for
We fight the Claim and Lien Administrators for placing a hold on monies without justification and I realize....
Money is truly the Root of all Evil.Thousands of years ago, North America’s earliest people hunted bison and made tools in an area 13 miles north of Guernsey now called Hell Gap.
Discovered accidentally by two students in the 1950s, Hell Gap is one of the most important paleoindian archeological sites in North America, said Marcel Kornfeld, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming.
The stratified way cultural artifacts were preserved in the earth for thousands of years gives unprecedented information about paleoindian life across generations.
The importance of the site was recognized Jan. 11 when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell designated the site in Goshen County a national historic landmark, citing its contribution to knowledge about North America’s earliest people. It is the 27th national historic landmark in Wyoming and is one of 2,500 landmarks nationwide.
Judy Wolf, chief of planning for the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, said she instigated the nomination. She started her efforts in 2011.
“This is such an important site nationally,” she said. It is the only known paleoindian site in North America with artifacts from humans who lived 13,000 to 8,500 years before present.
Information gleaned from the site continues to teach archaeologists about the people who lived thousands of years ago in what is now Wyoming,.
Hell Gap is located in the Hartville Uplift near Guernsey and Manville. Two archaeology students accidentally discovered the site in the late 1950s, when they found themselves stranded after a rainstorm. They walked up a creek and found projectile points that would later become known as Hell Gap Points.
Excavation on the site began in the 1960s after the students showed the points to a professor at the University of Wyoming, Kornfeld said. The site attracted national attention and archaeologists from Harvard University also came to work at the site. Excavators found several hundred projectile points, hundreds of scrapers and tens of thousands of flakes — the remains from making stone tools.
Archaeologists also found rare beads from the paleoindian era. A total of 140 beads from this period have been found in the world. Three were at Hell Gap, one bone, one stone and one ochre.
Many items found during the 1960s were never fully reported. Other sites and projects drew the interest of researchers. Work at Hell Gap stalled. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that the site again piqued the interest of archaeologists, including Kornfeld.
Kornfeld started working at the site in the 1990s. He knew from the previous site work it was important, but there was still more to learn: What was life like? Did the people live in structures? Where did they get raw materials for tools? How did they process their food?
If there was any place that Kornfeld’s questions could be answered, it was at Hell Gap. Hell Gap offers more than a mile of artifacts from early cultures, preserved in a stratified manner, with evidence of one era on top of another. This type of preservation isn’t often found. Usually archaeological sites represent short periods, like a bison-kill area, where humans stayed briefly for an event like the butchering of an animal.
“What you had at Hell Gap is a place that people came back to again and again and again, for 4 or 5,000 years,” Kornfeld said. “It’s very different kind of information you are gaining about what past people were doing back then.”
The Hell Gap valley was occupied consistently through those thousands of years and archeologists have uncovered artifacts from nine different paleoindian cultures.
Archeologists found bone needles used for sewing clothes and post holes from structures that once stood in the area.
All of these items give clues about life 13,000 years ago to about 8,500 years ago, Kornfeld said.
The site is on property owned by the Wyoming Archaeological Foundation and is used for education. The national historic landmark designation could help in obtaining grants for work at the site, Kornfeld said.
But for Kornfeld, who helped write the landmark nomination, it’s mostly about the recognition of the importance of the site.
Each summer University of Wyoming students work at Hell Gap, trying to glean more information about the paleoindians. They know ancient people occupied the site throughout the year. But there is still more to learn about daily life thousands of years ago.
“Anyone can say ‘Look, there are some flakes there,’” Kornfeld said. “It takes a lot more to know what those flakes were actually doing there.”
This article has been updated with the correct spelling of ochre — Ed.RAMALLAH (AFP) — Europe’s top diplomat Saturday called for a Palestinian state sharing Jerusalem as its capital with Israel, hours after the police killing of an Arab-Israeli further fanned tensions.
The appeal by the European Union’s Federica Mogherini followed the dawn killing of the man by police in northern Israel, with his family saying he was killed “in cold blood” and a video showing he was shot in the back.
“I think Jerusalem can be and should be the capital of two states,” the new EU foreign policy chief told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
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The status of Jerusalem is a sensitive issue that has blocked peace efforts for decades.
Palestinians are seeking to achieve statehood in Gaza and the West Bank with annexed east Jerusalem as their capital. Israel claims Jerusalem as its undivided and eternal capital.
In recent weeks tensions have soared, with Israel pushing plans to build new homes in East Jerusalem and Jewish extremists demanding the right to pray at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear that this will not happen.
Also on Saturday, Mogherini visited the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave devastated by a 50-day summer war between its Hamas terrorist rulers and Israel, before talks in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.
In the latest violence, Israeli security forces shot dead an Arab-Israeli man who threatened them with a knife as he tried to prevent a relative being arrested, police said.
But the family of Kheir Hamdan, 22, said he was “shot dead in cold blood” in the north Israel village of Kafr Kanna.
Police said Hamdan was killed after they fired warning shots.
But an Internet video link police provided shows the young man running after trying to attack security forces. As he flees as police officer is seen shooting him in the back.
Israeli say an internal investigation has begun.
Another night of clashes
Hamdan’s death triggered a protest in his village, and on the outskirts hundreds of youths erected barricades and set fire to tires as police deployed reinforcements.
Arab Israelis account for about 20 percent of Israel’s population.
The shooting followed another night of clashes in East Jerusalem between youths hurling stones and firecrackers and police who retaliated with rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.
Mogherini has been pushing for ways of reviving the peace process that has been frozen since April, since beginning her first official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday.
The world “cannot afford” another war in Gaza, she said there early on Saturday, and also appealed for the creation of a “Palestinian state.”
“We need a Palestinian state — that is the ultimate goal and this is the position of all the European Union,” she said during a trip to the territory devastated by its third conflict in six years.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that a draft resolution was on course to be submitted to the UN Security Council this month calling for an end date for Israeli occupation.
The text is expected to be vetoed by permanent member the United States.
On Friday, Mogherini met Netanyahu, who dismissed her criticism of Israeli building in annexed East Jerusalem and at West Bank settlements.
“I reject the fictitious claim that the root of the continuous conflict is this or that settlement,” he said. “Jerusalem is our capital and as such is not a settlement.”
Netanyahu has ordered the security forces to either seal or demolish the homes of any Palestinian involved in anti-Israeli attacks, an official said on Friday.On April 15, ZE:A‘s Kwanghee came on “Radio Star” and cleared up rumors about him dating his fans, saying, “It’s not me.”
On the show, Kwanghee explains, “‘flirting’ is a nicer way of saying it, but there were rumors that I was high on sexual desires and was having intimate relations with my fans.”
“Actually, I wanted a rumor spread about me. Tabloids only target top stars, don’t they?” Kwanghee confesses, and continues, “I was in Japan when I started getting all these text messages. When people told me that tabloids were onto me, I felt happy but pretended to be mad. But then I read about me being in a relationship with a fan and getting slapped in the face by my boss.”
“I also went on my fan-site because I was worried, but I saw comments like ‘Kwanghee doesn’t even have saseang fans. Fans don’t even go to open-studio recordings for him.’ It turns out it wasn’t me but someone else, and the information just got misinterpreted,” Kwanghee explains, and laughs.
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Did ZE:A’s Kwanghee Accidentally Admit He’s Currently Dating?• Fiorentina are top of table for first time since 1999 • Nikola Kalinic scored hat-trick in 4-1 away win over Internazionale
Fiorentina coach Paulo Sousa believes his side can maintain their excellent start to the season after returning to the top of Serie A for the first time since 1999.
Internazionale’s perfect record was left in tatters on Sunday after Fiorentina triumphed 4-1 at San Siro courtesy of a hat-trick from Nikola Kalinic and Josip Ilicic’s penalty. Mauro Icardi netted a consolation goal for 10-man Inter on the hour mark.
“Football is like this in Latin countries, it goes from zero to 80,” Sousa said.
“I already said there were other teams who invested heavily for that, but I won’t hold back either, as we have the quality to face every match knowing we can win.
“I told the lads from the start I want a team always ready to take on anyone, always maintaining our approach.
“We have principles of football that we work hard on and as time goes on this will give us more confidence going forward.”
Sousa added: “Being here and working with this group is wonderful. We have got continuity, playing well at the back as well as up front. There are teams which have invested a lot, they have different aims to us, but I am not going to hold back and I continue to say that we can face anyone to win.”
Inter had only conceded one goal in their first five Serie A matches but were 3-0 down after 23 minutes in a shambolic first half for the home side, who also had Joao Miranda sent off in the 31st minute.
“Nothing changes for us,” Inter’s coach, Roberto Mancini, said. “We had our feet on the ground already and so this defeat doesn’t serve as a lesson to us.”
Fiorentina moved above Inter on goal difference.. Inter and Fiorentina both have 15 points, two more than Torino after they held on for a 2-1 win over Palermo despite ending the match with nine men.
Sassuolo, who drew 1-1 against Chievo Verona, are a point further back. Lazio also have 12 points after they came from behind with 10 men to win 2-1 at Hellas Verona for the first time in 24 years. Marco Parolo snatched Lazio’s late winner, minutes after the dismissal of defender Mauricio for a second yellow card.
Udinese also came from behind to win by the same scoreline at Bologna, ending a four-match losing streak, while 10-man Milan lost 1-0 at Genoa.Dixie Edalgo and Allyson Reyer both graduated first in their class in Georgia public schools. Both now attend in-state public colleges.
But for these valedictorians, the road to college was dramatically different. Reyer, 18, graduated from Sprayberry High in Cobb County with a 4.578 grade point average and 39 hours of college credit through advanced placement courses. In her first year at The University of Georgia, she’s already a sophomore.
Edalgo, 19, graduated from Wilcox High in the South Georgia town of Rochelle, where budget cuts forced a four-day week, advanced placement courses are not offered and an estimated two-thirds of students don’t have Internet access at home. She graduated with a 4.0 but seldom had homework, and is now struggling with math as a freshman at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, where a 2.0 – a low C average – is required for entry.
The paths of these top students illustrate the uneven preparation for college provided by Georgia schools. The challenges of rural districts have been a long-standing concern, but an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis focused on college readiness. It found that rural students are more likely to need remedial help in college and to score lower on the SAT, a predictor of college success.
Reyer’s Sprayberry is an academically average suburban high school with abundant resources, while Edalgo’s Wilcox is typical of schools, often in rural areas, where students have less access to rigorous academic tracks considered good preparation for college.
“Sometimes I wonder to myself how I would have done at a school with people like that,” Edalgo said of valedictorians from schools like Sprayberry. “I would have had to push myself harder.”
Most agree that money and location play a role in the disparities between Georgia schools. The AJC analysis specifically shows:
About 5 percent of students took advanced placement exams in extremely rural areas, compared to more than 20 percent in large suburban districts.
Rural districts spend about $400 less than others per student. Spending doesn’t guarantee success, but rural superintendents say they can’t afford educational extras that are standard in suburban schools.
Teachers don’t have the same opportunities for training and development. Those in smaller, poorer districts often face more demands and professional isolation, a barrier to improvement.
College readiness is gaining fresh attention in part because of new policies making it harder for students to play catch-up after high school. Starting this past fall, students who need too much remedial help in reading, writing or math are not allowed to attend schools in the University System of Georgia. Students who need extensive remedial lessons are less likely to earn a degree.
Before the change, the state spent $55 million a year on remedial education.
Georgia has the nation’s third-largest rural enrollment and it’s among the poorest performing, according to the Rural School and Community Trust, a Washington nonprofit. While a few rural districts perform well, the study found overall Georgia’s rural students are among the lowest scorers on national exams and their graduation rate is the nation’s second-lowest, behind Louisiana.
The problem has statewide implications. Projections show about 60 percent of jobs by 2020 will require some education beyond high school. Now, 42 percent of Georgia’s adults have a college degree or certificate.
Taxpayer dollars from wealthier counties like Cobb are already used to subsidize rural districts with sparse local tax bases in an effort to even out inequities.
“The fabric of metro Atlanta’s economy is tightly interwoven with the fabric of rural Georgia’s economy,” said Jeff Humphreys, director of the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth. “If a thread comes loose in one corner of rural Georgia, it will eventually unravel in metro Atlanta.”
When A’s are not enough
Dixie Edalgo grew up in Wilcox County, a community about three hours south of Atlanta where the nearest movie theater, Wal-Mart or hospital is 25 minutes away and the average home is worth $56,900.
After learning in ninth grade that she had a shot at being valedictorian, Edalgo stayed on top of her work and watched for students who might sneak up and pass her. There were none.
The shy student attributes her academic success to hard work more than natural intelligence. Yet she said she rarely had homework until her senior year, when honors courses were introduced. Taking advanced placement courses – even online – was never mentioned as an option.
Allyson Reyer tied for valedictorian with two other Sprayberry students after four years of good-natured competition that went on until the final days of school.
“I had all A’s all through high school, but even if I had all A’s because there are so many AP classes, there was still a chance someone else was going to beat me,” she said. “It seems a good chunk of the top of our class got all A’s. But it’s not enough.”
AP courses are among the most popular ways for Georgia students to take college-prep coursework. Yet in 15 rural districts no students took AP exams in 2012. In contrast, 37 percent of students in Decatur City Schools took AP exams, the highest proportion in the state.
In 2005, the state created the Georgia Virtual School to try to offset the course inequities among districts. The school has more than 100 offerings in core academic areas, world languages and AP courses. Some 53 percent of students in virtual courses live in rural districts and 38 percent of those students are taking AP courses.
But districts lose money when students enroll online, an issue the state has taken steps to address. And they have other financial challenges, State Superintendent John Barge said.
“Money is a big issue because some of our rural districts don’t have any industry in the county,” he said. “With the budget cuts we’ve had, more responsibility has been put on local districts for things like insurance and health care. That’s less money that goes to the classroom.”
Georgia requires high schools to offer dual-enrollment opportunities in which students can earn college and high school credit at the same time, according to the Southern Regional Education Board, a research group. But access to those programs is also uneven.
In Tift County, a South Georgia district that federal guidelines classify as a “remote town” rather than a rural area, students can take AP courses or dual-enroll at nearby Moultrie Tech and Abraham Baldwin.
Hotel chains and retail businesses lining I-75 help provide Tift with about $720,000 a month in sales tax revenue that benefits schools. Tift employs adjunct professors who teach subjects such as nursing at the high school. In contrast, the $508,000 a year Wilcox County gets from sales taxes is less than Cobb County collects in two days.
In Wilcox, the closest college is about 30 minutes away. Wiregrass Technical College has a small satellite campus near the high school, but there are too few interested students to create a class. Edalgo said a Wiregrass teacher taught the two college-credit courses she took, keyboarding and speech communication.
Wilcox Superintendent Steve Smith said there aren’t enough interested students to pay for a teacher for advanced courses. Using a short-term federal grant, Wilcox introduced honors courses last year, but students must take them in all four core subjects, rather than one subject of choice, because Wilcox can’t afford to assign teachers for separate, smaller classes. Teachers say that’s tough for students who excel in math but struggle in English.
It’s doubtful the district will be able to continue to the honors track once the grant expires, Smith said.
Ready for college?
More than 70,000 public college students took remedial classes last year in Georgia.
In 2010, 23 percent of Georgia’s rural students needed remedial courses, compared to 19.9 percent of non-rural students. Those figures were more pronounced in extremely rural districts, where 30 percent needed remedial courses compared to 15.8 percent in large suburban districts.
On SAT exams this year, rural students scored about 50 points lower than their peers in non-rural districts, according to an AJC analysis. This gap was wider between extremely rural districts, where the average score was 1,369, and large suburban areas, 1,486.
Edalgo scored 1,540, about 350 points below the average SAT score of 1,887 for a UGA freshman. Edalgo said she doesn’t remember counselors or teachers telling her about the university’s guaranteed admission policy for all valedictorians. But she said she still would not have considered the school anyway.
Traditionally, data shows rural high school graduates often move on to schools closer to home, many of which are technical colleges. In Wilcox County, interviews with numerous educators and students indicated there are generally lower ambitions for students there than in a suburban area like Cobb County.
Staying close by was important to Edalgo, and she liked the small, well-kept campus at Abraham Baldwin in Tifton. Her parents were thrilled with her decision to stay local. It was the only place she applied.
So far, college is a lot like high school except there’s more work. Edalgo, who wants to be a nurse practitioner, says she had to learn how to study and manage her time efficiently. She’s getting good grades but has to study for every test, unlike high school where only one subject – anatomy – was truly challenging.
Algebra is the biggest struggle for Edalgo, who says she never got the foundation she needed to succeed in math. In her senior year she took Math 4, but the class didn’t have a textbook. Now, she’s diligent about completing her homework assignments and retaking tests — when allowed — for a better grade. At the midterm, she had an 85 average.
“In high school, when I got out of school, I would go home and do anything I wanted. If I had work, I would wait until the very last minute and do it,” she said. “In college, as soon as I get out of class, I’ll go back to my dorm and start doing work. I’ll take a break, and then before I go to bed, I’ll do more work.”
Reyer easily made the transition to confident college student, earning a spot in UGA’s honors program. She earned a 2,110 on her SAT and tested out of college-level pre-calculus and calculus, having taken the equivalent courses in high school. There’s room in her schedule for courses such as “campus and community leadership” to help her explore how to continue the volunteer work she developed a passion for in high school.
“The time management here is similar to the time management I had to do in AP classes,” she said. “We were expected to do our research and work outside of class and come to class for lecture. Some of the AP classes are harder than some of the classes I’ve taken here.”
Teaching alone
One limitation some rural districts face is in recruiting and developing teachers. Wilcox County pays beginning teachers the state’s base wage of $32,720 a year while Cobb contributes local dollars for a starting salary of $38,959. Besides pay, another obstacle is a community’s lack of jobs and amenities.
Nearly a quarter of new teachers hired in rural districts come from the state’s non-traditional educator program, meaning they aren’t likely to have teaching experience.
Wilcox hired several new teachers last year for a three-year stint, thanks to a federal grant. Four teachers accepted jobs but changed their minds after visiting Wilcox, school officials said.
“It’s not like a teacher goes to school and says, ‘I can’t wait until I grow up and graduate from college so I can go teach in Wilcox County,’ ” said Valentina Sutton, principal at the middle school. “We have no industry, our tax base is weak. If you have a spouse that is still working, where would they work?”
Educators also battle community apathy toward education that poisons efforts to motivate students, according to interviews with teachers, school leaders and rural students. Some Wilcox residents regard a GED as the same as a high school diploma.
Also, in small districts many teachers are the only one for an entire grade level or subject, making it impossible to gain expertise from colleagues teaching the same subject. Training sessions are often too far away or too expensive to attend.
Wade Burnette is a Wilcox native who coaches baseball at the high school and teaches three grade levels of English, including an honors course.
He is teaching the new, more rigorous Common Core standards this year, which are designed to help get students better prepared for college. But unlike his colleagues in metro Atlanta, he is trying to figure out how to teach the standards at three grade levels instead of one.
“I feel like I am drowning,” he said. “There are so many changes and I teach so many classes, it’s a challenge, to put it mildly.”
The road ahead
Most agree that money and location play a role in the disparities among schools, but there is little consensus on how to solve the problem. Some leaders say localities should raise taxes and contribute more to their districts; other say the state must find a way to fund schools more fairly.
Looking back, Edalgo says she got the best education possible with the resources available in Wilcox.
“Even though I missed out on some opportunities to get ahead, I don’t feel I was deprived,” Edalgo said. “Wilcox is limited compared to other schools. And every resource they get, they use to the best ability.”
Edalgo plans to move back to her hometown or somewhere nearby once she earns her degree, but she’s not sure whether she would enroll her children in Wilcox schools. She said she’ll evaluate the district when the time comes. But she does hope future students will get access to advanced courses and more rigorous coursework, access she didn’t have.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s education team is dedicated to bringing you stories about what’s going on inside Georgia classrooms and how state and local officials are managing millions of taxpayer dollars devoted to education spending. Georgia has one of the nation’s largest enrollments of rural students. How these students fare in school has an impact on the metro region and the state as a whole. Education reporter Jaime Sarrio visited Wilcox and Tift counties and talked to more than 40 students, school officials, taxpayers and experts about the unique issues rural districts face in educating children. Sarrio and database specialist Kelly Guckian also analyzed state SAT scores, remedial rates, AP tests and graduation rates to complete this report. Solutions In Georgia, disparities between schools can be blamed on money and geography. Who’s responsible for evening out the differences – state or local governments – is up for debate. But some possible solutions have emerged, including: 1. Increase local taxes. Many rural districts have room to raise taxes, but choose not to. Local leaders say the increased rates wouldn’t generate that much more revenue because property values are so low, and would cause too much financial stress on low-income residents. Critics say these local districts must do more to contribute. 2. Consolidation. Past efforts to merge rural districts have failed, but some lawmakers say small districts could look for other ways to share services. Fran Millar, the senate education committee chairman from Dunwoody, said the state is exploring how districts could use regional education agencies to house specialized central office workers many rural districts can’t afford. 3. Technology. The state was a leader in creating the Georgia Virtual School to ensure all students could access a variety of courses. But some districts aren’t fully taking advantage of the online classes, Millar said. Georgia school Superintendent John Barge said the state needs to improve its infrastructure so schools can have Internet capable of supporting video conferencing and other cutting-edge teaching tools. How we got the story Veteran education reporter Jaime Sarrio conducted several interviews with Dixie Edalgo and Allyson Reyner about their high school and college experiences, and spent time in Wilcox County and other rural school districts interviewing educators, officials and parents. She also extensively researched the subject, reviewing studies by state government and nonprofit experts. Data specialist Kelly Guckian gathered extensive data on test scores, remedial education and other measures of college readiness, then analyzed thousands of records to demonstrate the disparity between rural and non-rural schools. Sarrio used that analysis in reporting this story. Guckian’s analysis also showed that as an individual group, schools in larger cities trail other Georgia schools in several academic categories. However, this story focuses on rural schools because they have different issues and receive little of the outside attention, study and money that urban schools have gotten in recent years.One of the most popular footballing cliches presumably makes little sense to anyone watching the sport for the first time. "If anything," the commentator will say after an attacker's shot hasn't ended up in the net, "he's actually hit that too well."
It's difficult to imagine, for example, a runner running a race too well, or a long jumper jumping too far. But there is some logic behind this, especially with the evolution of the modern ball and how players now attempt to kick it.
The cliche is usually uttered in two different contexts. The first is when a player has ballooned the ball over the crossbar, and "hitting it too well" means he has put too much power on the shot. This is a questionable use of the phrase, as it is, ultimately, up to a player to put the appropriate amount of power and elevation on his shot to get it into the net.
But the second usage is increasingly applicable. It refers to when a player connects with the ball so perfectly that it flies straight into the goalkeeper's hands rather than swerving away into the corner. Again, in a strict sense this isn't hitting it "too well" -- the player is in charge of the direction of the shot.
It's notable, however, that modern footballers are now teaching themselves how not to hit the ball cleanly.
Take the example of Frank Lampard, Chelsea's record goal scorer, the Premier League's fourth-highest all-time top goal scorer, its highest-scoring midfielder and, most interestingly in this context, its highest goal scorer from outside the penalty box.
Lampard averaged only six Premier League goals in his first six campaigns but subsequently hit double figures for 10 straight seasons. There were various factors -- he was playing in a better team, in a more advanced role, and started to take penalties -- but Lampard also became prolific because he learned not to hit the ball too well.
"The increase [in my goal-scoring figures] was in part due to changing my technique in hitting the ball," Lampard recalled in his autobiography. "I used to strike it much more 'true,' which is fine if you can direct the ball into the tightest corner of the goal at power. The modern football is lighter, though, and if you hit across it, you can make it move around in flight, which makes it much harder for a keeper to save. Even [Chelsea goalkeeper at the time] Petr Cech ends up palming a shot that is coming straight at him into the net if you catch it right and it suddenly changes direction."
Indeed, Lampard became renowned for a specific type of goal: long-range shots that were scruffy rather than spectacular that deceived the goalkeeper with a late bit of movement.
Incidentally, Lampard was able to devote more of his time on the training ground to practicing this style of shot after Jose Mourinho's arrival, as the Portuguese manager ordered huge nets to be installed behind Chelsea's training ground goals. That meant Lampard didn't have to waste time fetching stray balls from the bushes. It's amazing what a difference small details can make.
It's crucial that Lampard mentions the nature of modern footballs and how they've changed his striking technique. While a new ball design is often mocked ahead of a major international tournament, usually with goalkeepers complaining most vociferously, the evolution of footballs shouldn't be underestimated in terms of how the game is played.
Lampard was one of the best goal-scoring midfielders of all-time at Chelsea, Man City and NYCFC. Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
The balls have remained roughly the same size and weight, although they collect less moisture and therefore don't become heavier as matches continue. More crucially, however, they are constructed differently and therefore behave differently in the air.
It's worth remembering, meanwhile, that is was only in the late 1990s that the Premier League introduced a standard type of football. Before then, the majority of clubs used a Mitre ball, but teams sponsored by Umbro and Adidas used their footballs, and goalkeepers reported that they moved in a more troubling manner.
The most infamous football of modern times was the Jabulani, used at the 2010 World Cup and narrowly pipping the vuvuzela and the dreadfully defensive football to become the worst thing about that tournament. The ball was genuinely atrocious, sailing crazily through the air, bouncing too high, and making long switches of play impossible. It was no coincidence that Spain, with their short passing football, suffered the least.
The Jabulani was comprised of only eight panels rather than the old-school 32. According to Craig Johnston, the former Liverpool winger turned Adidas Predator boot designer, this significantly lessened the drag, making it difficult to put conventional curl upon the ball, and therefore "reduced the craft" at the tournament.
No football since has been so unpredictable, although players are increasingly putting swerve on the ball. In the old days, players would achieve curl either in a conventional sense, by striking the ball with the instep (like David Beckham), or achieving reverse movement by hitting the ball with the outside of the foot (most spectacularly performed by Ricardo Quaresma). It was effectively an alternative to striking the ball with genuine power.
But now players achieve late movement by striking hard, slightly off-centre. Gareth Bale is a good example of a player who has perfected this technique, and his approach is particularly devilish because he can swerve the ball in both directions with minimal difference in the way he connects.
Bale scored long-range free kicks against both Slovakia and England in the first two games of Wales' Euro 2016 campaign last summer, with both goals going into the centre of the net rather than the corner.
Bale strikes the ball to score for Wales at Euro 2016. VI Images via Getty Images
Bale's technique looked almost identical, but in the first instance he swerved the ball from right to left, past Matus Kozacik, then he swerved the ball left to right, past Joe Hart. Both goalkeepers were made to look silly, but Hart, in particular, can complain that the flight of the ball was almost impossible to read, especially as he would have witnessed Bale's Slovakia strike and expected the ball to move in a similar manner.
Bale's former idol and now teammate at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, became a more prolific goal scorer at Manchester United when encouraged to strike the ball differently by United coach Rene Meulensteen.
"He was thinking: 'That ball comes to me, I hit it top corner,'" the Dutchman told the Daily Telegraph. "I needed him to get out of that. I told him: 'It doesn't matter how you score, where you score, as long as the ball goes in the net.' It was time to score ugly goals as well as beautiful ones."
Ronaldo, therefore, was encouraged to strike the ball less cleanly, to score scruffier goals by making life difficult for the goalkeeper with late movement.
It helped Ronaldo lead Manchester United to Champions League success in 2008, following their famous penalty shootout victory over Chelsea. But the more impressive performance was the two-legged semifinal win over Barcelona, where a fine defensive effort, combined with Paul Scholes' long-range strike, took United to Moscow.
"I shot in the general direction of the goal," Scholes recalled of his legendary winner in his autobiography "My Story." "There was no cunning plan. All I was trying to do was hit the rectangle, and this is where I was a little bit lucky. The ball sliced ever so slightly off the outside of my right foot, which took it away from Victor Valdes into the top corner.
"In an ideal world, I would have started the ball outside his opposite post so that it faded back inside it. Of course, if I'd done that, if I'd made perfect contact, it might easily have come back too much and ended up in Valdes' arms."
There you have it -- you can actually hit the ball too well.All-Schwartz Comics A Conversation with Editorial Legend Julius Schwartz Interview Conducted and Edited by Roy Thomas
Transcribed by Jon B. Knutson From Alter Ego Vol. 3 #7
(Left) Photo of Julius Schwartz which he says was "taken August 10, 1945... how I looked in my All-Star days!" And yes, he hyphenated "All-Star"! (Right) Julie's recent memoir, Man of Two Worlds: My Life in Science Fiction and Comics, written with Brian M. Thomsen, is a 200-page treasure trove |
ally to call African American men "Black boys." This is because of the history of that phrase and the indication that a person with privilege is ignoring the impact of race and believes that we are really all the same under the skin.
Allies understand that emotional safety is not a realistic expectation if we take our alliance seriously. For those with privilege, the goal is to "become comfortable with the uncomfortable and uncomfortable with the too-comfortable" and to act to alter the too-comfortable.
What this might look like: Being alert to our desire to create a "safe" environment for an interracial conversation. My experience is that when white people ask for safety they mean they don’t want to be held accountable for what they say, they want to be able to make mistakes and not have people of color take them personally, and they don’t want to be yelled at by people of color. Those of us who are white are almost always safer, freer from institutional retribution, than people of color. That knowledge should help us remain in uncomfortable situations as we work for change.
Identifying committees, decision-making teams, and departments that are "too white" and working to bring a critical mass of people of color and white allies into the group. We do this not because it will look good but because the current composition is less able to make wise decisions due to its narrow vision. While discomfort is certain to follow, the benefits of inclusiveness far outweigh the discomfort.
Allies know the consequences of not being clear about the Other’s experience. Some of these are:
lack of trust
lack of authentic relationships
lack of foundation for coalition
For allies with privilege, the consequences of being unclear are even greater. Because our behaviors are rooted in privilege, those who are in our group give greater credence to our actions than they might if we were members of groups without privilege. Part of our task is to be models and educators for those like us.
What this might look like: Understanding that because we don’t see a colleague of color being mistreated doesn’t mean that daily race-related experiences aren’t occurring. I often hear white people make comments such as, "Well, my friend is Black but he’s beyond all this race stuff. He is never treated poorly." Or, "I’m sure she doesn’t have any problems with white people. You’d hardly know she’s Hispanic." Or, "He is Black, but he’s really like a white Black person. He is treated better than I am."
don’t see a colleague of color being mistreated doesn’t mean that daily race-related experiences aren’t occurring. I often hear white people make comments such as, "Well, my friend is Black but he’s beyond all this race stuff. He is never treated poorly." Or, "I’m sure she doesn’t have any problems with white people. You’d hardly know she’s Hispanic." Or, "He Black, but he’s really like a Black person. He is treated better than I am."
Comments such as these alert a person of color to the fact that we don’t have those experiences, we can’t imagine other people having them, and therefore put little credence in the stories that people of color share. If we are to be genuine allies to people of color, we must constantly observe the subtleties and nuances of other white people’s comments and behaviors just as we observe our own. And we must take the risk of asking, "What if I am wrong about how I think people of color are being treated in my institution? What can I do to seek out the reality of their experiences? How will I feel if I discover that people I know, love, and trust are among the worst offenders? And what will I do?" Reminding a colleague who says, "She’s always whining about race. This is not about race," that as white people we simply can’t know what it is like to be of color. We will never be treated as if we were. While not everything is about race, there is always the possibility that it is an element in any situation. To deny that reality signals people of color and other white people that we can’t be trusted as allies or as members of a coalition.
Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 960 Tulare Avenue, Albany, CA 94707 510-559-9445Picture: University of Manchester)
Scientists have created a graphene-based sieve capable of making seawater drinkable.
The development by UK-based researchers brings closer the prospect of providing clean water to millions of people who struggle to gain access.
Police rake in £1,700,000 after selling seized items on eBay
The team at the University of Manchester, where colleagues won a Nobel Prize in 2010 for first extracting graphene, have managed to precisely control the sizes of pores in a graphene oxide sieve.
The discovery allows them to filter out salts from water to make it safe to drink, they announced in the journal Nature Nanotechnology yesterday.
With man-made climate change reducing cities’ water supplies, countries have been increasingly investing in ‘desalination’ technologies.
The device could make seawater drinkable (Picture: Getty)
The UN has predicted that around 1.2 billion people, or 14 per cent of the world’s population, will experience difficulties sourcing clean water by 2025.
Professor Rahul Nair, who led the team of researchers in Manchester, said it is a ‘significant step forward’ that will ‘open new possibilities for improving the efficiency of desalination technology’.
Coward, 25, left son and girlfriend in overturned car after crashing in police chase
He said: ‘Realisation of scalable membranes with uniform pore size down to atomic scale is a significant step forward and will open new possibilities for improving the efficiency of desalination technology.
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‘This is the first clear-cut experiment in this regime. We also demonstrate that there are realistic possibilities to scale up the described approach and mass produce graphene-based membranes with required sieve sizes.’
Mr Jijo Abraham, joint lead author of the paper along with Dr Vasu Siddeswara Kalangi, said: ‘The developed membranes are not only useful for desalination, but the atomic scale tunability of the pore size also opens new opportunity to fabricate membranes with on-demand filtration capable of filtering out ions according to their sizes.’by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, Feb 20, 2013
By Ridge Mahoney
The return to MLS of former D.C. United defender Ryan Nelsen had been expected. His new job title and employer certainly weren’t.
Drastic measures were necessary after Toronto FC finished the 2012 season with the league’s worst record, 5-21-8, under interim head coach Paul Mariner. The first shock came when Kevin Payne left his post as D.C. president to cross the border, and after Mariner was ousted, Payne crossed the Atlantic Ocean to hire Nelsen away from the lineup of Premier League club Queens Park Rangers.
TFC fans, disgruntled by coaching fiasco and seven playoff-less campaigns, thought they’d seen it all, but hiring a current player with no coaching experience was a new one. Another twist came when Nelsen bargained an early departure from QPR instead of finishing out the season while assistant coach Fran O’Leary tended to TFC matters, as was originally announced. That scenario never seemed plausible.
One of the league’s top defenders during his MLS tenure (2001-04), Nelsen backstopped United’s championship team in his final season before starting a long stint with Blackburn, followed by shorter stays with Spurs and QPR. He holds no coaching certificates but is a student of the game laced with leadership ability.
The “new era” envisioned by Payne under Nelsen, 35, hasn’t started so well. Lingering injuries have sidelined Designated Players Danny Koevermans and Torsten Frings, and goalkeeper Stefan Frei is recovering from a broken nose suffered in a preseason game Feb. 9 against Columbus. TFC lost to the Crew and the Union at the Disney World Pro Soccer Classic though it did drill Orlando City, 3-0.
Reviving fan interest at BMO Field will take some doing, as acres of empty seats appeared in many games last year. Nelsen’s fiery, engaging persona will play well at the start but this franchise long ago tired of colorful personalities when they couldn’t get the job done.
KEY PLAYER MOVES. The trade to Portland of Milos Kocic, who replaced Frei (broken leg) last year, leaves the short-term goalkeeping duties in the hands of Joe Bendik, whom TFC acquired in exchange for Kocic. The well-traveled Justin Braun gets a chance to fill the forward hole vacated by Eric Hassli (traded to FC Dallas) and Ryan Johnson (also to Portland). To shore up a leaky core (a league-high 62 goals allowed in 2012) veteran Danny Califf and former U.S. U-20 defender Gale Agbossoumonde have been signed, along with holding mid Julio Cesar, formerly of Sporting Kansas City. Young Canadian Kyle Bekker impressed enough at the MLS Combine that Toronto took him with the No. 3 in the SuperDraft and he could start in midfield.
WHY BE OPTIMISTIC? The presence of Cesar and Califf should provide some stability in the middle, and Koevermans proved last year that he’s capable in the goalmouth by scoring nine goals in just 16 games for a bad team. Luis Silva (five goals, five assists) deservedly ranked among the league’s top rookies and there are role players -- Ashtone Morgan, Terry Dunfield Logan Emory – who can be effective playing with the right teammates in the right system. Irish international defender Darren O’Dea played nine games after arriving in August from Glasgow Celtic; with Nelsen at the helm and Califf in the team, he can blossom into a reliable centerback. Payne helped build D.C. United into a respected franchise and has set out to do the same in Toronto.
WHY BE PESSIMISTIC? A coaching neophyte is going up against some very sharp rivals in the Eastern Conference, and the attack looks thin without Johnson, Hassli and Joao Plata, who was traded to Real Salt Lake. Frei is sidelined again after missing the entire 2012 season with that broken leg and didn’t get much competitive action in preseason before the broken nose. The starting XI looks average and there isn’t yet much depth, so the dependence on Frings (36) and Koevermans (34) will be extreme, and neither of them is young.
WHY WATCH THIS TEAM? Nelsen’s team won’t lack for spirit and determination, and despite his age Frings plays with a poise seldom seen in MLS. Silva’s skill and vision can light up a match, Koevermans is a sharp finisher, and when Frei is on his game he’s spectacular. If TFC can be competitive, the crowds at BMO Field will revert to raucous mode.
MLS PREVIEW SERIES:
Eastern Conference: New England | Philadelphia
Western Conference: Chivas USA | Colorado | PortlandPosted by Eden Crow in TV Review
A look back at the criminally underappreciated comedic HBO TV show ‘Bored to Death’, starring Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson.
This review contains light spoilers.
Searching for TV shows to watch, it came to my surprise to stumble across a HBO comedy with Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis that I hadn’t heard of before. I started watching and very quickly became hooked on the show’s atmosphere and sharp humour. After sadly finishing the show, I knew it had to be the next review, here on Eden Reviews.
Season 1
Bored to Death, the HBO comedy by Jonathan Ames, starts with the loveable loser Jonathan Ames (Schwartzman) losing his girlfriend Suzanne (Olivia Thirlby), finding difficulty with his second book and, eventually, advertising himself as a private detective. His character is in a relatable point in his life, even though not many people may be in his exact scenario. He may be awkward and often called odd by others, but is ultimately very watchable. Ames’ friends Ray Hueston (Galifinakis) and George Christopher (Danson) appear too, though they have not yet formed the team they later will.
At first the overarching plot focuses on Ames trying to win back Suzanne, but this is soon dropped for the much better focus of pulling together Johanthan, Ray and George. This leads to a much more interesting dynamic, which couples with the intelligent humour to really create a very engaging show. The combination of its subtleness and realism create a unique atmosphere that helps the audience to feel more involved with Bored to Death than other shows may allow.
Season 2
By the end of season 2 the format of the show has solidified, focusing almost exclusively on our loveable threesome. Along the way the overarching story showed signs of not being perhaps as complete as in season 1, but this issue eventually disappears. The atmosphere doesn’t wavier throughout though, being continuously very strong and allowing for a much deeper level of possible enjoyment. In part this is because of the wonderful New York setting being used superbly, with it being hard to imagine the show being set anywhere else. Also helpful is the improvement in the use of characters. For example, in this season George’s longer screen time really allows the viewer to become infatuated with his lifestyle thanks to Danson’s fantastic acting creating a believable yet enjoyable character.
While there are definitely some rocky parts to the second season, it seems to set up a third that has a formula which will satisfy its fans. So what they did next was very strange to say the least…
Season 3
After setting up the foundations of a fan-pleasing season, the last of the three takes the show on a detour. Not one that ruins the show, but a noticeable change nevertheless. In fact, many may even say the chances lead to enhancement due to season 3 seeming to attempt to connect with a wider audience. The subtlety and realness is reduced in favour of more obvious jokes and high stakes story. Many will laugh more and love the extra cameos, but at the same time part of Bored to Death’s unique style became lost. Instead its replaced by these unrealistic larger than life moments which perhaps a larger audience would prefer? New bizzare plots are added with elder love and identifying a biological father which culminate in a very off the wall ending. The show just doesn’t feel the same, and yet it is still very enjoyable. If the show had started off like this it wouldn’t have hooked me like it did, but the love I already felt for it allowed me to still have a good time with the final season, even if it was slightly disappointing.
Concluding Bored to Death
Overall, Bored to Death is an original, creative and charming comedy. While underappreciated, its lack of popularity is understandable due to perhaps only original appealing to a smaller audience.
Jonathan Ames (the creator) is said to be still in the process of creating a TV feature of Bored to Death. He also has a new show Blunt Talk starring Patrick Steward and Adrian Scarborough coming in 2015.
What do you think of the show? What underappreciated shows do you like?
Leave a comment below!
Read the Last Review: Sponge Out of Water (2015) & The Book of Life (2014)
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Follow Eden on TwitterIn the days before Turn10 made Forza into the customer-milking franchise it has become, NFS was king. Having hoped ‘the Crew’ would be good enough to knock Forza off the top-spot and recreate what I love about car culture, as with many others I was left sorely disappointed despite some of the coolest cars I’ve ever been able to drive online. I bought Forza Horizon 2 and had to abandon my morals because I absolutely loved it. Then the new Need for Speed trailer dropped and finally there was hope. Hope that the gamer would be treated as a person and we would be given the street racing game we have always wanted.
As more and more videos dropped, I became more and more excited. Seeing the first game in years to feature a late-spec RX7 for me was the icing on the cake. Then I found out about EAs early access and couldnt throw my £3.99 at them fast enough - 10hrs of the full game. Bliss.
After finally downloading the mammoth 18GB file on my third-world internet, I patiently waited to connect to the games always-online system and finally was rewarded with some clever first-person cut-scenes. At 29 I’m probably a bit old to use words like ‘bae’ and I’m long-since out of my fist-pumping days, but I looked past that and finally got my hands on the customisation. Frankly, it’s brilliant. One of the biggest things I resented Forza for as each new title was released is that the modifications haven’t really changed since the game first came out. Need for Speed has successfully knocked it for six with this, with a good selection of different and relevant mods. You’re able to change just about everything visually that you would want to, allowing you to create an understated street-car or a balls-out bozo drifter. Frankly this should be set as the benchmark for all future car games.
Unfortunately, this is where the honeymoon ends. Let’s start at the most obvious point - the handling. I think we all knew it would be terrible and it is. You do get used to it eventually and after six hours playing the game I’m now comfortable with it, but for those of you who played ‘the Crew’ this is very similar.
Then, there’s the always-online aspect. It infuriates me that games even do this. It doesn’t promote community-involvement any more than having a multiplayer option does, but it does mean you can’t escape from the kinds of people who fill youtube comments sections up. On a busy evening, you’ll struggle to complete any single-player story mission as even on the early-access there were kids just driving round smashing into people. Stupidly, you can’t pause a race either. So if you start a ten-minute race you better be sure that there’s no impending visitor, power-cut or house-fire because you’re in for the duration.
Unfortunately, it gets worse. I would say the customisation is almost good enough to mask those two. My beautiful Z pictured on this article is proof enough of that. Hands-down the worst thing about it is the rubber-banding of the AI cars - theres essentially no skill in winning the races, its just sheer luck. On one race I punted Magnus Walker into an oncoming lorry at 140mph barely twenty seconds into the race and saw with my own eyes his Porsche flip onto its roof. Two corners later he overtook me and I continued to spend the rest of that hour repeating the same three minute race before I finally succeeded. This despite the fact that my RX7 is as upgraded as it can be. Ive since done all those missions and now have his Porsche which is obviously much slower than my FD. Its so horrifically unbalanced and unrewarding that it completely ruins the game.
Ultimately, theres a lot I really like about the game but I kind of feel like theyve hired a lot of clever people who have done a really good job of whatever they were asked to do, but fundamentally they were polishing a game that was terrible in its most basic form. I think not being able to pause it is daft too. When some races are ten minutes long, what do you do if someone rings the phone, abducts your missus or sets fire to your front door? Because if youve been playing the same race for an hour and youre finally in with a chance of winning, I guarantee you will be angry enough to let all of those things happen until you finish the race.
So close, yet so far. Pity.The Witches of Erast The eyes of a black cat follow the finger of a tiefling man reading aloud from a battered tome. As he traces the words, his rhythm quickens and the spell begins, drawing tongues of green flame through the fire crackling before them. While the countryside burns behind her, a vengeful, wild haired woman stands alone atop her slain enemy, draining him of the power she needs to crack the spine of the city’s gate. An owl flies effortlessly through the howling wind as if it knew the storms intention, keeping watch over the hut below where an elf weaves the sundered arm of an injured traveler back to their body. It is said that witches and their familiars are magic itself, made physical and visited upon the planes. Standing as one and drawing on unseen reserves of power, they together wield unrivaled control over magic’s weave, bringing doom and salvation in equal measure. In the course of service to their covens and each other, witches stand among the greatest of heroes and most dangerous of enemies. Strength among Allies Witches claim that, when the planes were young, they were the first students of magic, and that their familiars were the first teachers. For a witch and familiar, their relationship is paramount. By nature of their very existence, magic is a given for familiars, but their fragile forms cannot wield it alone. For witches, their powers are new and strange, but full of potential. They are bound together, inseparable until death, and completely reliant on each other. They know better than most that true strength lives only in the bonds between allies. In combat, this relationship pays dividends. As they pass spells between each other, witches and familiars show absolute control over their magic. If given time to prepare for trouble, witches can muster their resources with deadly efficiency. A Hostile World The trust that a witch and their familiar share often leaves their other relationships wanting. Some witches are driven from their homes at young ages by neighbors or family, fearful of their burgeoning magic. Others flee when they find themselves hunted by otherwise well intentioned clerics looking to stomp out the demonic possession their familiar resemble. As their powers grow, covens will aggressively and violently compete for their membership. Even those who understand a witches true nature may shun them on account of the trouble that follows in their wake. While a witch might find stability later in their life among a coven, witches and their familiars are driven into the world as adventurers. Creating a Witch For most witches, their familiar has been a part of them since they could remember. For others though, they appeared in a moment of need or grief. Whenever your familiar entered your life, you are a single unit, united in support of one another. How do your personalities play off each other? Is your familiar serious and careful? Or instead rash and easy going? Were you and your familiar united for a specific purpose? If so what is it? No one can choose whether or not to become a witch. Do you resent being forced to walk this path, or relish the opportunities your powers have opened to you? What might your life have looked like if you never had a familiar? Although you will not join a coven until 3rd level, plan ahead for that choice by examining the practices of various covens at the end of the class. Quick Build You can make a witch quickly by following these suggestions. First, Wisdom should be your highest ability score, followed by constitution. Second, take the sage background. Third, choose the dancing lights, produce flame, and thaumaturgy cantrips, and prepare the 1st-level spells sleep and witch bolt.
The Witch Level Proficiency Bonus Features Ceremony Spells Cantrips Known 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 1st +2 Witch's Ritual Casting, The Well, Witch's Familiar — 3 2 — — — — — — — — 2nd +2 Ceremony Book 2 3 3 — — — — — — — — 3rd +2 Coven 3 3 4 2 — — — — — — — 4th +2 Ability Score Improvement, Familiar Improvement 3 4 4 3 — — — — — — — 5th +3 — 4 4 4 3 2 — — — — — — 6th +3 Coven Feature 4 4 4 3 3 — — — — — — 7th +3 The Well Improvement 5 4 4 3 3 1 — — — — — 8th +3 Ability Score Improvement, Familiar Improvement 5 4 4 3 3 2 — — — — — 9th +4 — 6 4 4 3 3 3 1 — — — — 10th +4 Expidited Ceremony 6 5 4 3 3 3 2 — — — — 11th +4 — 7 5 4 3 3 3 2 1 — — — 12th +4 Ability Score Improvement, Familiar Improvement 7 5 4 3 3 3 2 1 — — — 13th +5 — 8 5 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 — — 14th +5 Coven Feature 8 5 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 — — 15th +5 The Well Improvement 9 5 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 — 16th +5 Ability Score Improvement, Familiar Improvement 9 5 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 — 17th +6 — 10 5 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 18th +6 Coven Feature 10 5 4 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 19th +6 Ability Score Improvement, Familiar Improvement 11 5 4 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 20th +6 Redundant Anchor 11 5 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 class features As a witch you gain the following class features. hit points Hit Dice: 1d6 per witch level Hit Points at 1st Level: 6 + your constitution modifier Hit Points at Later Levels: 1d6 (or 4) + your constitution modifier per witch level after 1st proficiencies Armor: none Weapons: daggers, darts, quarterstaffs, slings
Saving throw: Constitution, Wisdom Skills: choose 2 from insight, investigation, medicine, persuasion, deception Equiptment you start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background: (a) a quarterstaff or (b) two daggers
(a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus or (c) a druidic focus
(a) a healers kit or (b) a herbalism kit
an explorer's pack spellcasting You are able to sense the weave of magic in all things and direct it toward your will. See the 10th chapter of the phb for the general rules of spellcasting, and the end of this document for the witch spell list.
cantrips At first level, you know 3 cantrips of your choice from the witch spell list. You learn additional witch cantrips of your choice at a higher level, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Witch Table. preparing and casting spells The Witch Table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. You prepare the list of witch spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the witch spell list. When you do, choose a number of witch spells equal to your wisdom modifier + half your witch level rounded down (minimum 1). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of witch spells requires time spent in consultation with your familiar; at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list. spellcasting ability Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your witch spells, since your power comes from your sense of the weave of magic present in all things. You use your wisdom whenever a witch spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a witch spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one. Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your wisdom modifier Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your wisdom modifer witch’s ritual casting You can cast a witch spell as a witch’s ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell prepared. When you perform a witch's ritual, the spell can be cast at any spell level you can cast witch spells, but it does not expend a spell slot. Instead, draw well points equal to the level of the witch’s ritual performed. Casting a spell as a witch’s ritual increases the spell’s normal casting time by 1 minute per spell level, and requires all material costs that the spell normally would. In addition, the ritual requires verbal and somatic components, even if the original spell does not. spellcasting focus You can use your ceremony book (which you will receive at 2nd level), an arcane focus, or a druidic focus as a spellcasting focus for your witch spells. A witch’s focus is often disguised by incorporating it into a mundane object, such as a broom. the well At first level, you and your familiar have access to The Well, a font of magical energy created by your arcane bond. The Well has points equal to your witch level + your constitution modifier, which you and your familiar draw from to power your abilities. The Well refills after a long rest. When you spend hit dice to regain hit points, you may refill The Well as opposed to your hitpoints. For every 3 points of healing you divert in this way, you gain 1 well point. Your ability to refill The Well improves at level 7 to 1 well point for every 2 hit points, and again at level 15 to 1 for 1. witch familiar At first level, you learn the spell find familiar and can cast it as a witch’s ritual. The spell never counts against your number of spells prepared, and can be cast as a ritual during a short or long rest. Your witch familiar is the weave, given a specific form and made physical. They act and think independently, though they typically defer to you when the chips are down. You cannot temporarily or permanently dismiss them, but when they are dropped to 0 hit points or less they vanish in a puff of acrid smoke, painfully banished back into the weave. However, a witch's familiar cannot truly cease to exist while their witch still lives. If your familiar remains banished for 1 week, their physical presence naturally reforms itself at your side. When your familiar is within 100 ft of you, you can communicate telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses. When you cast find familiar while your familiar is not banished, their planar tether is refreshed, and, if you are both willing, they are briefly banished into the weave before reforming at your side. When you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll. When summoned, your familiar takes the form of any one tiny, mundane creature, about the size of cat. However, no matter the external appearance your familiar chooses, they initially have the below statistics. Your familiar always takes the same form. You many not have any other familiar, and your familiar can not attune to magical items.
Witch Familiar Tiny (Fiend or Fey or Celestial) Alignment: Same as Witch Armor Class 13
13 Hit Points 1
1 Speed 30ft., Swim 30ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 4 (-3) 13 (+1) 13 (+1) 15 (+2) 13 (+1) 13 (+1) Saving Throws Constitution, Intelligence
Constitution, Intelligence Skills Arcana
Arcana Condition Immunities Sleep and Charm Effects
Sleep and Charm Effects Senses Darkvision
Darkvision Languages Any Languages you know, as well as either Abyssal, Celestial, or Sylvan Best Friends. As long as you and your familiar remain touching, you may choose to treat you and your familiar as a single creature for the purpose of spell casting. Your familiar cannot take actions granted by a spell in this way. Inate Spellcasting. The Witch Familiar's spellcasting ability is intelligence. The Witch Familiar can innately cast familiar spells with no daily limit, and knows the Familiar spell Two Minds. One of a Kind. A witch familiar uses their witch’s proficiency bonus as their own. Planar Tether. When summoned, a witch familiar gains temporary hit point equal to two times your witch level. it regains these temporary hit points after a long rest. Single Soul. Especially strong feelings such as pain or rage flow freely between witches and their familiars. No matter the separation, each knows when something terrible or wonderful happens to the other. witch’s ceremony book At 2nd level, you and your familiar create a book called your ceremony book. Your ceremony book contains a number of witch spells you can cast as told on the Witch Table. If you lose your ceremony book, you and your familiar can produce an exact copy of its contentis in a seprate book by consulting with each other for 1 hr. This destroys the information in the previous book. While the ceremony book is in your possession, and your familiar is present, you can cast any spell in it as a witch’s ritual, even those without the ritual tag. Once you and your familiar devise and inscribe a ritual in your ceremony book, it is difficult to change. It takes 8 full hours of uninterrupted work during which a mixture of 50 gp worth of powdered pearls and oil burn to nothing. When you are done, the ritual is purged from your book, and a new one can be added. witch’s coven When you reach 3rd level, you and your familiar’s join a coven to further your magical abilities. Several covens are detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 14th, and 18th. coven spells Each coven has a list of associated spells. You gain access to these spells at the levels specified in the coven description. Once you gain access to a coven spell you always have it prepared. Coven spells don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. If you gain a coven spell that doesn’t appear on the witch spell list, the spell is nonetheless a witch spell for you. familiar membership Your witch familiar is a full member of the coven as well, no less or more than yourself. As a boon for their membership, they will gain proficiency in a skill, as well as learn a cantrip. In addition, while they are within 100 feet of each other, witch familiars who are in the same coven can communicate with each other telepathically. ability score improvement When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Familiar Improvement Whenever you gain the ability score improvement class feature from the witch class, your familiar’s abilities also improve. Your familiar chooses from the following improvements. ability score improvement You increase one of your ability score of your choice by 2, or two ability scores of your choice by 1. You can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. You can choose this ability more than once. Arcane Resevoir Your mastery of rituals increases, allowing you to hold their energies until they are needed. Increase your intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When your witch performs a witch's ritual, you can capture and hold the spell before it takes effect. Perform the ritual as normal. At its conclusion, you begin holding back the ritual's spell. You can continue holding the spell until you cast it, or you take a short rest. While you are holding a spell in this way, you must maintain concentration on it. arcane shielding You learn to use The Well to bolster your defense. Increase your constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You learn the familiar spell familiar armor.
improved planar teather Your anchor to reality hardens, making it more difficult to force you into the weave. Increase your constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When summoned, you now gain temporary hit point equal to three times your witch’s level. in this together The Well’s maximum size is increased by your constitution modifier. it’s got a wand! You can attune to one magical item. While it is not being worn or held, the item may be stored in a pocket dimension, accessible from your waist as an action.
Other creatures can access the pocket dimension as an action, requiring a slight of hand check equal to your spell DC if you resist them.
If you are banished, the item appears in the smoke that you leave behind, whether it was in your hand or in the pocket dimension.
While you are concentrating on a spell by means of two minds, the item behaves as if you were not attuned to it. now you see me, now you don’t Increase your intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You learn the familiar spells two of a kind, and benign transposition. planar un-tether Your agility and speed increases. Increase your dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You gain speed 40, fly 30 (hover) roaming word Your ability to communicate telepathically grows exponentially. Increase your intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
As long as you are on the same plane of existence, you can communicate telepathically with your witch as well as any familiars in the same coven as you.
Your witch can use their action to speak through you in their own voice. During this time, your witch is deaf and blind to their own |
Congress, the White House and the U.S. State Department publicly warned the prime minister that revealing details about the talks with Iran would be seen as betrayal of American trust. U.S. officials said Israel has a great deal of information about the emerging deal with Iran that it obtained independently.
New Duqu virus also targeted Kaspersky
Kaspersky and its CEO, Eugene Kaspersky, are highly regarded in the cybersecurity community, but Kaspersky is also criticized over alleged ties to the Kremlin, which he denies.
The firm said its computers were also the target of the new virus. An employee discovered it when testing a new security program. The company then began monitoring the virus in attempt to evaluate how it worked and what the hackers were after. Kaspersky said the hackers attempted to access information concerning new cybersecurity technologies.
“Spying on cybersecurity companies is a very dangerous tendency," Eugene Kaspersky said in a statement published on Wednesday.
"Security software is the last frontier of protection for businesses and customers in the modern world, where hardware and network equipment can be compromised. Moreover, sooner or later technologies implemented in similar targeted attacks will be examined and utilized by terrorists and professional cybercriminals. And that is an extremely serious and possible scenario."Before the contents of the State House time capsule unearthed last December are reburied, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is giving people a chance to get a closer look at the centuries-old artifacts.
The time capsule's contents, including coins, newspapers, a medal depicting George Washington and a silver plaque believed to be engraved by Paul Revere, will be on display in the museum's Art of the Americas Wing March 11 through April 22.
In January, state and museum officials, including then-Gov. Deval Patrick and Secretary of State William Galvin, watched as Pam Hatchfield, the MFA's head of objects conservation, held up a silver engraving found in the time capsule. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
The time capsule, originally embedded in a cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House in 1795 by Gov. Sam Adams and Revolutionary War figures Paul Revere and William Scollay, was originally dug up in 1855, when a few additional objects were added, according to the museum. Its contents were also cleaned and documented at that time.
The time capsule was then dug up again last December.
Pamela Hatchfield, head of objects conservation at the MFA, held the time capsule after extracting it from the cornerstone of the State House in December. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
The MFA said "the installation will explore the significance of the objects found in the capsule and the role of the prominent figures involved in both the original burial in 1795, and reburial in 1855."
More photos from the time capsule's opening in January, and its excavation in December:
Several newspapers were found inside the time capsule. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
MFA curators carefully examined State House time capsules contents in January. (Courtesy MFA Boston)
The 1795 time capsule found inside the cornerstone of the State House, above, and an X-ray showing its contents, below. (Courtesy MFA Boston)
Back in December, contractors removed the cornerstone from the State House to prepare to extract the time capsule, which was embedded in the bottom. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)OTTAWA — Canada's veterans ombudsman says he'll stay at his post, even though the new Liberal government has asked him to step aside.
Guy Parent said he has a lot to accomplish during the three-year renewal of his mandate, approved in the waning hours of the Conservative government — and he insists he was never a partisan actor.
"I don't see my appointment as a political appointment," Parent said Thursday, noting that he has already informed the Liberal government that he plans to carry on with his duties.
Just before Christmas, Liberal House leader Dominic LeBlanc sent letters to 33 Harper government appointees requesting that they step aside or turn down their early reappointments. He also suggested the rejected candidates compete for the positions.
Five years ago, Parent competed for the job after the Conservative government refused to reappoint the country's first veterans ombudsman, retired colonel Pat Stogran.
Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent speaks to reporters in Ottawa. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/CP)
"It was a competitive process from the start. I did apply for the job; I competed for the job," said Parent, a former chief warrant officer in the military.
"I was selected from amongst people who were qualified, so I see myself as having made a commitment to the veterans community."
Some of the Conservative appointments were made well in advance of the end of their terms.
The Liberals, as they have done in other instances, backed down. Parent has the full support of Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, spokesman Christian Duval said in a statement.
"In the last months, Minister Hehr has built a fruitful working relationship with the ombudsman and he looks forward to continue working with Mr. Parent and receiving his insight, advice and recommendations," Duval said.
Parent's initial five-year term was set to expire in November, almost immediately after the federal election, but the Harper government quietly approved an extension on July 28, just days before the election was called.
There are some in the veterans community who applauded the Liberal demand for the ombudsman to step aside, accusing Parent of being too cosy with the former Conservative government.
"I see myself as having made a commitment to the veterans community."
At the time of his reappointment, high-profile veterans advocate Sean Bruyea said the ombudsman's position was originally intended to be a five-year, non-renewable position. Cabinet records posted online show that provision was quietly changed on June 5, 2015, to allow the term to be renewed.
A committee of MPs should be established to review reappointments and evaluate the record of incumbent watchdogs, Bruyea said.
Parent said the Liberals have acknowledged his position and indicated that his appointment might go to a parliamentary committee for review, but the all-party committee does not have the authority to remove appointees.
The ombudsman is expected to be both an adviser to the minister and an advocate for veterans and their interests.
Critics have said Parent advises too much and advocates too little.
His understated style has stood in contrast to his predecessor, Stogran, who near the end of his tenure fought several high-profile, public battles with the Harper government and a veterans bureaucracy he accused of "penny-pinching" and "nickel and diming" ex-soldiers.
Parent stood by his record and said he believes he's pushed the government into some significant reforms, some of which were introduced by the former Conservative government as part of a series of changes last spring.
"You influence progress in different ways," Parent said.
"I think a lot of those people maybe considered the approach of my predecessor as the approach to be used in dealing with government. We have different personalities; different style of leadership."
Parent says the Liberals have acknowledged his position and indicated that his appointment might go to a parliamentary committee for review, but the government does not have the authority to remove appointees.
ALSO ON HUFFPOST:Flickr/imacnewyork
Feeling connected to a neighborhood is a good thing. But what if where you live doesn't have a real name?
Ask someone from Indianapolis to describe where in the city they live and they’ll probably respond with the name of their home’s subdivision or make a vague directional reference like, “the West Side.” Most residents couldn’t come up with their neighborhood in a city that, according to information technologist and urban analyst Aaron M. Renn, has had a weak sense of neighborhood since the city and county governments consolidated into one unified entity about two decades ago. “The consequences of realtors providing misleading information are broad... " Renn, though, along with a team of like-minded volunteers who’ve dubbed themselves Naplab, is trying to alter this trajectory. The crew of researchers and graphic designers just spent two years combing through documents and hashing out geographical quandaries to do something never attempted in the Indiana capital: map every square inch of land and assign neighborhoods across the entire city. “There was a tremendous amount of research on neighborhoods that we went through,” Renn says. “Where there weren’t well-defined neighborhoods we created them … it was a little rogue, guerilla neighborhood naming, if you will. And when we were done we wanted to produce a high-quality graphic map to show the areas.”
Even though the effort was done outside of the normal channels of local government, Renn says there’s been enthusiasm from city leaders in Indianapolis as well as from other cities, such as Cleveland, to replicate the project. Even more than compiling the physical map, Renn says their goal was discussion, to get Indianapolis residents debating the names of these neighborhoods, in the grand scheme of becoming more connected to their communities by, once and for all, defining them. Why does it matter so much that residents feel a sense of neighborhood identity? A growing body of research that’s been gaining momentum over the last decade suggests that strong feelings of connectedness to place on a smaller scale has a strong relationship to how secure individuals feel about their place in the world. And it’s not just where a neighborhood’s located on a map. In cities near and far from Indianapolis, debate about the names of places has taken on a life of its own. San Francisco, which has always had a penchant for microbranding its neighborhoods, made headlines back in 2008 when its realtor association came out with a revised city map that reportedly took four years to complete. In explaining the varied response to the project, SFGate.com described the combination of 144 neighborhoods decided on by the realtors this way: Some of the monikers have bubbled up from popular culture, others have the whiff of real estate marketing euphemism, and some are a return to names that stuck despite the trendsetters’ efforts to change them. Image courtesy mlinksva via Flickr under a Creative Commons license. For example, the Financial District was given the never-before-used name Barbary Coast. A section of the South of Market area (which itself has been shortened to SoMa) became Yerba Buena for the first time. And NoPa (North of the Pandhandle) was listed as the official name for the neighborhood formerly called the Western Addition.
On the opposite coast, New York City has faced similarly derided efforts by the real estate industry to put its own spin on neighborhood classifications. New names for subsections have effectively created made up places like East Williamsburg, at the nexus between Williamsburg and Bushwick, to redefine a Brooklyn ZIP code. More famous examples include NoLita, the space “North of Little Italy,” which has stuck since it first came into use in the 1990s; Dumbo, an acronym for “Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass”; and SoBro, which is considered to be a relatively successful rebranding of the South Bronx. “The best way to change a neighborhood’s identity is not by inventing names out of thin air.” In both cities adoption of real estate-inspired nomenclature varies greatly, as residents frequently take to defending their preferred name. “People take it incredibly personally and get very worked up (about the naming of these neighborhoods),” says Gordon Douglas, a University of Chicago sociologist studying patterns around neighborhoods, public transportation and identity. “Just on Yelp and Chowhound there will be huge debates about so-and-so pizza place and which neighborhood it’s in. With technology, everyone has basic GIS knowledge and will use Google maps and other location-based programs, so it’s always on our minds.” Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... “The consequences of realtors providing misleading information are broad,” he goes on. “Working families are pushed out of rebranded neighborhoods as housing prices soar. Newer residents pay more to rent or buy, largely as a result of the deceptive marketing.” The practice has grown so commonplace that New York State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries in mid-2011 introduced legislation that would effectively ban realtors from inventing neighborhood names, instead requiring new names be cleared by the city. Angered by the use of invented names such as "ProCro" (a combination of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights), Jeffries wrote in an editorial that “the best way to change a neighborhood’s identity is not by inventing names out of thin air.” The Baltimore-based* Annie E. Casey Foundation has been examining the impact of neighborhood designations through its Making Connections initiative, aimed at fostering lasting changes in 10 U.S. cities over a 10-year-period. Claudia J. Coulton, a professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University who’s been part of the project, says understanding the challenges associated with resident involvement necessitated a serious look at neighborhood identity. Researchers, for a report Coulton co-authored, asked residents in the 10 participating cities to name their particular neighborhood and then draw a map of it. The study revealed a striking disconnect between residents' definitions of their neighborhoods versus official boundaries. Altogether close to 70 percent of those surveyed provided a name for their neighborhood, but only 25 percent of them provided the right one.
The survey respondents also consistently misidentified the size of their neighborhoods to be drastically smaller than their formal boundaries. While residents drew, on average, 0.35 square-mile maps of their neighborhoods, the typical neighborhood area was 2.2 square miles. Of course there were differences between results across the cities. Denver ranked highest in place identity, with 58 percent of its residents calling their neighborhood the same title as the official name. Coulton said in the Baker area of the Mile High City, in particular, there’s a longstanding tradition of neighborhood identification. Similarly, Chicago, which is not part of the Casey Foundation’s Making Connections initiative, is the classic example cited by sociologists as the city of neighborhoods, with rock-solid resident/neighborhood connections that go back generations. In the early part of the 20th century, it goes, the city formally designated about 80 different neighborhoods. The divisions and boundaries were clear and easily understood by residents, so they’ve stayed, for the most part, relevant for Chicagoans. In contrast, Los Angeles, a metro area that’s made up of multiple cities and jurisdictions, has fewer easily identifiable areas the size of a typical neighborhood. Its naming issues are less about nicknames and more closely resemble what’s played out in Indianapolis. There’s momentum as of late, however, to refocus the sprawling city on community as well as to reinvigorate a dialogue around what to call areas, according to Douglas. Image courtesy Laurie Avocado via Flickr under a Creative Commons license. Back to the mid-1990s L.A. city leaders began to allow neighborhood associations to come together around a name. The associations could then make the neighborhood name official and hang signs to that effect. The Los Angeles Times, too, took a crack at defining neighborhood boundaries, using Census data and asking the public to weigh in on database-generated maps. What they came up with segments the city into 272 distinct neighborhoods. At the same time, in some pockets of Los Angeles long associated with violence there’s been a deliberate attempt to change the image of these subsections through a name change. For instance, the city launched an official campaign to encourage people to stop using the term South Central Los Angeles in favor of the much less stigmatized South Los Angeles. "A lot of the press has done a good job in adopting it, but whether or not that will really be adopted by the public at large is unclear," Douglas says. "It raises this issue of who really does get to define these neighborhoods? That’s what this all goes back to." Top image courtesy imacnewyork via Flickr under a Creative Commons license. *Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Annie E. Casey Foundation was based in Seattle. The foundation is based in Baltimore, Md.The vinyl issue of Enta Da Stage: The Complete Edition is limited to 1,000 copies, and comes enclosed in a deluxe hard case box set featuring the original album, Da Beatminerz instrumentals and remixes across six LPs, an 18-page booklet with new interviews, extensive liner notes, and unreleased photos from the original Enta Da Stage photo shoot and additional visual ephemera.
Composed of members Buckshot, 5ft, and DJ Evil Dee, Black Moon simultaneously kicked off and defined the rap renaissance of New York with the release of Enta Da Stage in 1993. Whereas plenty of earlier groups had spit rage-filled rhymes to tear down the world’s unjust establishments, no one had evoked brooding pathos or introspective anger quite like Black Moon. Underground hip-hop might have been dominated by the sunny sound of G-Funk when Enta Da Stage dropped, but from then on the scene turned to the dark side. Black Moon was rising.
Working closely with the original members, Fat Beats Records is proud to present the definitive Enta Da Stage box set. Reissued for the first time across three formats – 6xLP, 3xCD, and 3xCassette – this album is the complete encapsulation of an era for anyone seeking to understand the origin and the essence of New York’s Golden Age. All formats include the Da Beatminerz (Evil Dee and Mr. Walt) instrumentals and remixes, plus extensive liner notes by David Ma (Pitchfork, Wax Poetics) with rare and unreleased visual ephemera in an 18 page booklet. The story of Black Moon, alongside their peers Biggie, Big L, Nas, Kool G Rap, and Wu Tang, reminds us that the bleakest times produce the most profound agents of cultural change. And as we stand at the precipice of a new age of anxiety, Enta Da Stage has never been more relevant… or more necessary.
Although Black Moon would go on to release three more albums – and its members would go on to greatness with Da Beatminerz, Boot Camp Klik, and various solo projects – Enta Da Stage remains the perfect distillation of tight lyrical menace, rowdy crew hooks, stripped down breaks, and deep basslines on all of its fourteen tracks. Although Enta Da Stage might stand in the shadow of East Coast albums such as Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Illmatic, Liquid Swords, Ready to Die, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, and The Infamous, history will remember that Enta da Stage preceded those releases. To understand Enta Da Stage is to understand the origin and the spirit of New York hip-hop once and for all.One Jobs Report, Two Different Political Spins
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images
Hear Marilyn Geewax On 'Tell Me More' Does Jobs Report Mean Things Are Getting Better? Does Jobs Report Mean Things Are Getting Better? Listen · 11:45 11:45
With a new report showing the nation's unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, the Obama administration got good news Friday: Jobs are indeed growing. But, as Republicans noted, the pace remains well below the level needed to provide paychecks for the 12.1 million people seeking them.
The truth is, each party could find evidence to support either a positive or negative spin on the labor market, which is recovering — yet weak.
At a Friday campaign rally in Virginia, President Obama focused on the continued growth. He said the jobs report is "a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now."
Republican candidate Mitt Romney saw something very different. "If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force, the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent," he said in a statement.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Steve Helber/AP Steve Helber/AP
The competing views both have validity. Before considering the spin, here are the facts:
Enlarge this image toggle caption Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
All this year, the unemployment rate had been vacillating in a narrow range between 8.3 percent and 8.1 percent, where it stood in August. But the rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, after a household survey showed more people say they are working.
The Labor Department also revised some summer data. August payrolls actually rose by 142,000, better than the initially reported 96,000, while July was revised up to 181,000, from an earlier estimate of 141,000. Last month, employers added 114,000 jobs, almost exactly what economists had predicted.
A Negative Take On The Jobs Data
The pace of improvement is far too slow to absorb the backlog of people seeking work. About 100,000 new jobs are needed each month simply to keep pace with population growth.
The jobless rate would be much higher today — more like the 11 percent Romney notes — if labor force participation were as high as when Obama took office. Many people have dropped out of the workplace, either to take early retirement, go back to school or to stay home, because they don't see much hope of finding a good job.
To return to, say, 6 percent unemployment within three years, economists say employers need to be adding about 375,000 workers a month.
Alternatively, A Positive Take
In January 2009, when Obama took the oath of office, the U.S. economy lost more than 800,000 jobs.
By spurring Congress to immediately pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the president turned around that employment plunge and "kept our economy from swerving over the cliff," according to Rebecca Thiess, a policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research group.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the stimulus created up to 3.3 million full-time jobs and helped stabilize the labor market in the 2009-2011 period. Since the recovery kicked in, the private sector has added jobs for 31 straight months, bringing the total to 5.2 million new jobs.
So What's The Outlook?
The past three-and-a-half years could be considered a split decision, with good points and bad. But what lies ahead?
Romney says his economic policies would create about 12 million jobs over the next four years. But many independent economists say that's the same number of jobs that would be created under current policies.
Joseph Davis, chief economist for the mutual fund giant Vanguard, said he doesn't see the unemployment rate improving significantly until Congress takes definitive action to reduce the deficit and the debt. Having lawmakers constantly put off major decisions about taxes and spending is creating tremendous uncertainties for employers who feel they can't make hiring plans until they know what their taxes will be and whether government spending — on infrastructure, defense contracts and more — will continue.
"If we don't see a meaningful change in terms of clearing up policy uncertainty, then it's very difficult to see the economic trajectory change," Davis said. "If we could adopt a credible and binding plan to reduce the deficit, that would go a long way in reducing uncertainty" and opening the door to new employees, he added.
What Are People Saying Today?
Friday's big move in the jobless rate did not go unnoticed by Romney supporters, many of whom suggested the Labor Department manipulated the data. For example, Jack Welch, the retired CEO of General Electric, tweeted that the drop in the jobless rate was "unbelievable," and added this reference to Obama: "can't debate, so change numbers."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a reputation for honest work. The monthly jobs report is put together by dozens of career professionals who tabulate and analyze data. Mainstream economists say that with so many people involved, manipulating data is extremely implausible.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, speaking on CNBC, said the jobs report is reliable. "These are our best-trained and best-skilled individuals working in the BLS, and it's really ludicrous to hear that kind of statement" from Welch, she said.
The BLS report is supported by an independent measure, which found similar results. Gallup, the polling company, calculated that September's unemployment rate, without seasonal adjustments, fell to 7.9 percent, which was "the lowest [level] Gallup has recorded since it began collecting employment data in January 2010."Monica Lewinsky broke a decade-long public silence on Monday morning, delivering a speech to 1,000-plus young entrepreneurs and achievers at Forbes' 30 Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia. The full transcript is below.
Good Morning. It is only my fourth time delivering a speech in public. One was a practice, to a group of 20. One was a private event that was closed to the media. And then there was my brother’s wedding, where much imbibing had already occurred. So if I seem nervous, forgive me, because I am. I'm a little emotional too.
My name is Monica Lewinsky. Though I have often been advised to change it, or asked why on earth I haven’t. But, there we are. I haven’t.
I am still Monica Lewinsky.
You are an audience of young superachievers, on average probably 15 years younger than me. Lucky, lucky you. And your youth is one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you today.
It does mean, though, that some of you might be asking: “Who the h ell is she, this Monica? And what is she doing here?" And maybe even, "What is she doing in all those rap lyrics?"
Thank you, Beyonce and Eminem. And Nicki Minaj and Kid Cudi, Lil B and Lil Wayne, and of course G-eazy. But let’s not forget Jeezy, and all the rest.
So allow me to briefly recap my story. Sixteen years ago, fresh out of college, a 22-year-old intern in the White House -- and more than averagely romantic – I fell in love with my boss in a 22-year-old sort of a way. It happens. But my boss was the President of the United States. That probably happens less often.
Now, I deeply regret it for many reasons. Not the least of which is that people were hurt. And that’s never okay.
But back then, in 1995, we started an affair that lasted, on and off, for two years. And, at that time, it was my everything. That, I guess you could say, was the golden bubble part for me; the nice part. The nasty part was that it became public. Public with a vengeance.
Thanks to the internet and a website that at the time, was scarcely known outside of Washington DC but a website most of us know today called the Drudge report. Within 24 hours I became a public figure, not just in the United States but around the entire globe. As far as major news stories were concerned, this was the very first time that the traditional media was usurped by the Internet.
In 1998, as you can imagine, there was a media frenzy. Even though it was pre-Google, (that’s right, pre-Google). The World Wide Web (as we called it back then) was already a big part of life.
Overnight, I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one. I was Patient Zero.
The first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet. There was no Facebook, Twitter or Instagram back then. But there were gossip, news and entertainment websites replete with comment sections and emails could be forwarded.
Of course, it was all done on the excruciatingly slow dial-up. Yet around the world this story went. A viral phenomenon that, you could argue, was the first moment of truly “social media.”
If only I could collect some royalties.
How on earth did this happen?
A sexual harassment case against a sitting President (brought by someone else, not me); a politically motivated independent prosecutor; a so-called friend, who had surreptitiously audio-taped over 20 hours of private and intimate phone chats.
(Turned out, not so private because she then turned them over to the same prosecutor.)
The confluence of these events were against a changing media backdrop with the advent of the 24 hour cable news networks and the internet, a perfect political media storm brewed.
This is what my world looked like: I was threatened in various ways. First, with an FBI sting in a shopping mall. It was just like you see in the movies. Imagine, one minute I was waiting to meet a friend in the food court and the next I realized she had set me up, as two FBI agents flashed their badges at me.
Immediately following, in a nearby hotel room, I was threatened with up to 27 years in jail for denying the affair in an affidavit and other alleged crimes. Twenty-seven years. When you’re only 24 yourself, that’s a long time.
Chillingly, told that my mother too might face prosecution if I didn’t cooperate and wear a wire; (and, in case you didn’t know, I did not wear the wire). My friends and my family were subpoenaed to testify against me.
For the first several months, I was unable to speak to my younger brother who was in college and some other family members to protect them from being dragged into the legal fray. Before a Grand Jury seated in the case of The United States vs. Lewinsky, I was called upon to testify to a room full of strangers on unimaginably intimate details of my life. Unimaginably intimate details which were later made public in a report online.
During this period, I gradually came to realize that there were two Monica Lewinskys. Yes, the world was big enough for two of us. There was me. And there was public Monica Lewinsky, a somewhat curious character constructed by political factions and the media, constructed with a little fact and a lot of fiction.
My friends didn’t know that Monica; my family didn’t know that Monica; and this Monica – the real Monica standing here today -- didn't know her either.
Let me tell you about being publicly separated from your truth. And I mean publicly in the broadest sense, because we all have our publics.
Being publicly separated from your truth is one of the classic triggers of anxiety, depression and self-loathing.
And the greater the distance between the you people want you to be and the you you actually are, the greater will be your anxiety, depression, sense of failure and shame.
When I ask myself how best to describe how the last 16 years has felt, I always come back to that word: Shame. My own personal shame, shame that befell my family, and shame that befell my country – our country.
Frankly, I came close to disintegrating. No, it’s not too strong a word. I wish it were, but it isn’t.
That I didn’t (or not completely) when things were at their worst was mainly thanks to the compassion of my friends and my family.
They gave me their love and support; we shared a lot of gallows humor - a lot. And critically – critically -- they continued reflecting back to me, the real me.
But these are all just words. What does it actually feel like? What does it really feel like to watch yourself – or your name and likeness—to be ripped apart online?
Some of you may know this yourself. It feels like a punch in the gut. As if a stranger walked up to you on the street and punched you hard and sharp in the gut.
For me, that was every day in 1998. There was a rotation of worsening name calling and descriptions of me. I would go online, read in a paper or see on TV people referring to me as: tramp, slut, whore, tart, bimbo, floozy, even spy.
The New York Post’s Page Six took to calling me, almost daily, the Portly Pepperpot. I was shattered.
Thankfully, people aren’t punched every day on the street. But it happens all the time on the internet. Even as I’m talking to you now, this is happening to someone online. And depending on what you guys are tweeting, this may be happening to me later.
The experience of shame and humiliation online is different than offline. There is no way to wrap your mind around where the humiliation ends -- there are no borders.
It honestly feels like the whole world is laughing at you. I know. I lived it.
A flashback. When the Starr Report was released online, on September 11, 1998, I was holed up in a New York City hotel room with my Sony Vaio laptop and a horrifically slow connection.
To keep me company, I had a gargantuan supply of peanut M&M’s -- my form of Xanax for the day.
Staring at the computer screen, I spent the day shouting: “Oh my god!” and “I can’t believe they put that in.” Or “That’s so out of context."
And those were the only thoughts that interrupted a relentless mantra in my head: I want to die.
This was different than the embarrassment I felt when my younger brother read my diary, or when my 7th grade crush shared the love letter I had written him with everyone he knew.
Now, my brother – and all his fraternity brothers – were privy to my most intimate details. As were my dad and his fellow doctors. And my stepdad, and his World War 2 war buddies. My stepmom and her knitting circle. Even both my grandmothers, then in their 80s, knew about the internet. My whole family. My friends. My friends’ parents. My parents’ friends.
I would read later that when Congress released the Starr Report online it was the first time you missed history being made if you didn’t have access to the internet.
But almost worse, I knew, as I painstakingly read each word that there was not a connected person in the world who wasn’t reading it too.
The image of strangers reading the report was endless – there was no border. That amplified by a thousand fold the shame and humiliation I felt.
I couldn’t imagine ever showing my face in public again. I cringed. I yelled. I sobbed. And the mantra continued: I just want to die.
Let’s come back to now, to 2014.
We are all vulnerable to humiliation, private and public figures alike. (I’m sure Jennifer Lawrence would agree with that. Or any of the 90,000 people whose private Snapchat pictures were released last week during “the Snappening”).
The consequences can be devastating. And anyone can be next. One day in 2010, an 18-year-old Rutgers freshman called Tyler Clementi, was next. After his roommate secretly videotape streamed him via Webcam kissing another man, Tyler was derided and ridiculed online.
A few days later, submerged in the shame and public humiliation, he jumped from the George Washington Bridge to his death.
That tragedy is one of the principal reasons I am standing up here today. While it touched us both, my mother was unusually upset by the story and I wondered why. Eventually it dawned on me: she was back in 1998, back to a time when I was periodically suicidal; when she might very easily have lost me; when I, too, might have been humiliated to death.
Tyler’s story is meaningful to me. His parents, whom I have now met, have set up the Tyler Clementi Foundation in his memory.
The outstanding mission of that foundation is to promote – I am quoting now – “safe, inclusive and respectful social environments for vulnerable youth, LGBT youth and their allies.” The Clementi’s tragedy was four years ago.
Quite sadly, the trend of being humiliated to death online has only continued.
Of the cyberbullying related suicides in the last decade, 43% have occurred since Tyler sadly jumped from that bridge. And that’s not even including stats for last year.
Among young Facebook users, close to 54% say they’ve been cyberbullied.
College kids? One in 5 report being victims of cyberbullying; 1 in 4 for young women. And it’s not just those younger than you, it's my generation and above, too. No one is immune.
It’s been said: It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation but you can lose it in a minute. That’s never been more true than today.
You’re not here in this room by accident. You’re here, all of you, because of your reputations in your chosen fields, your reputations as talented, driven, serious people with something important to contribute to the world.
Reputation is important to everybody whether you’re exceptional people like yourselves or people who count themselves as ordinary.
A reputation isn’t like a fashion accessory or a status symbol: an Apple watch, a Tesla or even an engagement ring from Tiffany’s (though I wouldn’t mind one of those).
It’s part of who you are. It’s part of who you are, socially and professionally. It’s part of how you think about yourselves. It’s part of your personal and your public identity. Lose it, as you so easily can, and you lose an integral part of yourself.
That’s what happened to me in 1998 when public Monica – that Monica, that woman – was born. The creature from the media lagoon.
I lost my reputation. I was publicly identified as someone I didn’t recognize. And I lost my sense of self. Lost it, or had it stolen; because in a way, it was a form of identity theft.
Today, I think of myself as someone who – who the hell knows how - survived. Believe me, denial can be pretty useful still, but these days I need it less and less and in smaller and smaller doses.
But having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive too. I want to put my suffering to good use and give purpose to my past.
Remember the words of Carl Rogers, the psychologist, “the most personal is the most universal." People who share with me their experiences often qualify what they say. “Oh, it was a nightmare for me but of course nothing compared to what happened to you."
What I say to them is, if I drowned in 60 feet of water, and you in 30, is there really a difference? We both drowned.
But there are those who say, Monica, why don’t you just shut up? Why don’t you just go away? They said it in June, after a piece I wrote in Vanity Fair, my first public words in over ten years. And they will say it today after this one, my first major public talk, ever, and they will say it tomorrow and the day after that.
“They” never shut up.
The problem is that I believe in the power of story. In the power of stories to inspire, comfort, educate and change things for the better: fictional stories, stories from history, news stories and yes, personal stories. I believe my story can help.
Help to do something to change the culture of humiliation we inhabit and that inhabits us. I had been publicly silent for a decade. But now, I must – as T.S. Eliot’s Prufrock said - disturb the universe.
Prufrock didn’t. |
fact they are one of the regions who usually have to travel the farthest to participate at the different host countries where the IWCI has been held). Convinced that they would be victorious if the IWCI were ever held in their own home country, we’ve yet to see how this team of titans will adapt to Aztec city, this year’s IWCI host. Hard Random (LCL) Top Dmitrii "Smurf" Ivanov – Russia Jungle Oleksandr "PvP Stejos" Glazkov - Ukraine Mid Mykhailo "Kira" Harmash – Ukraine AD Carry Vladyslav "aMiracle" Shcerbyna – Ukraine Support Kirill "Likkrit" Malofeyev – Russia
From Garena Premier League, Saigon Jokers. Created back in April 2012 during the first ever Garena Premier League season, the Saigon Jokers was originally made up of 10 members selected from a pool of 2000 Vietnamese candidates. During that first season, they ended up in third place in their league. Later that same year, the Jokers went all the way up to the Southeast Asia regional finals, and though they initially lost during the second round to the Singapore Sentinels, they later had a chance to come back as part of the loser’s bracket to beat the Sentinels during their rematch, and advance to the World Championships. Despite their long history and experience, this will be the first time this Vietnamese team gets to attend an IWCI tournament. Saigon Jokers (SAJ) Top Hoàng "Row" Duy Phương – Vietnam Jungle Trần "Jinkey" Công Cam - Vietnam Mid Mai "Lovida" Việt Long – Vietnam AD Carry Nguyễn Phước "Celebrity" Long Hiệp – Vietnam Support Lê "Tsu" Anh Duy – Vietnam
From League of Legends Japan League, DetonatioN FocusMe. The Japanese powerhouse has either won or come in second place every season since the creation of the LJL. Last year, they qualified for both the IWCI and the IWCQ. In the former, their only victory came against Kaos Latin Gamers; while they had a superb first day in the IWCQ, defeating the Chiefs and Bangkok Titans, but did not win a single game afterwards. In 2016, they’ve brought in former LoL Champions Korea players Catch and viviD (now Eternal) at Jungle and Support, and former Rabbit Five ADC Zerost has taken over as AD Carry. Rounding up the team, DFM’s two stars, Yutapon and Ceros, are known as Japan’s most mechanically gifted players. During this IWCI, we’ll get to see if the international experience of their renovated squad will pay off. DetonatioN FocusMe (DFM) Top Yuta "Yutapon" Sugiura – Japan Jungle Yun "Catch" Sang Ho - Korea Mid Kyohei "Ceros" Yoshida – Japan AD Carry Shotaro "Zerost" Ikeda– Japan Support Han "Eternal" Ki Hoon – Korea
Chiefs game timesThere's likely to be a hullaballoo over these figures. But if things stay on track, NBNco will be having the last laugh in six month's time. Credit: Rodolfo Clix, file photo (www.sxc.hu)
NBNco has release its mid-financial-year rollout progress statistics for 2012-2013. They generally show that the rollout is on track although the information is skewed in that progress in the first six months of the financial year was always going to be slow and steady in contrast to the second half (Jan-June) where progress is scheduled to ramp up dramatically.
As such, to the untrained eye (and to the attacking politician), the new numbers don't look too impressive. But context and background information is important - little of which is likely to get mentioned in mainstream media over the coming days.
Recent history suggests there's likely to be plenty of political fallout and complaining about the'slowness' of progress. In reality, the non-linear nature of the ramping up of the rollout reflects planning, training, tooling, preparation and early-infrastructure hub emplacement. Now that many of these rollout facets have matured, the business of 'getting the job done' can escalate.
It's in six months that the real measure of success will be seen.
NBNco recently received criticism for only announcing the stats for "Premises commenced or completed" - a rather vague measurement of progress. However, criticism was largely political: NBNco has always used three different metrics for rollout progress measurement: Premises Passed, Premises activated and the above.
The new figures give updated results to all three metrics which should at least curtail interminable political arguments over which scale is best used to measure progress.
As can be seen on the green graph below, there is plenty of scope for criticism on rollout rate not having increased significantly over the past six months. However, it also shows that rollout rate will start to escalate rapidly from the end of this month. So, assuming that the NBN rollout stays on track, the news will be much better by the end of the financial year.
NBN Co CEO, Mike Quigley, said: "The results reflect progress in the early stages of the rollout, and are what we would expect given the time and work necessary to put in place the contracts and agreements needed to get to this point of execution.
"As can be seen by our targets, this rollout is not a linear progression, but a rapid ramp-up. We are targeting to pass more premises in the final quarter of the financial year than we will have passed in the entire project up to the beginning of that quarter. Additional construction resources will be added over the coming months to help achieve these targets."
NBNco's contractors themselves believe they are getting so efficient at rolling out the NBN that they will be exceeding expectations by the middle of 2013. If this pans out then the NBN will have built up a hefty head of steam going into the next election.
According to the release:
The number of homes and businesses using the National Broadband Network increased from 13,600 in June 2012 to 34,500 at the end of December 2012, according to year-end figures released today by NBN Co.
The figures encompass end users across the fibre, fixed-wireless and satellite services.
Of these, 10,400 were connected via fibre in both built-up areas ("Brownfields") and new developments ("Greenfields"). The number of active Greenfields premises increased from 500 in June 2012 to 3,800 in December 2012.
Fibre has now passed 46,100 premises in Brownfield areas and 26,300 lots/premises in Greenfield estates.
The company's Corporate Plan has set a target of 286,000 Brownfields premises passed and 44,000 Brownfields premises activated by the end of June 2013.
The release of the six-monthly figures follows the announcement earlier this month that NBN Co had exceeded its Corporate Plan target for work commenced or completed in Brownfield fibre areas covering 758,000 homes and businesses by the end of 2012. Construction was commenced or completed for 784,600 premises by end December 2012.President Obama announced Thursday that he had authorized targeted airstrikes in Iraq and carried out a humanitarian airdrop to aid thousands of religious minorities trapped in the mountains by Sunni militants.
Close video Joe: With ISIS, Obama had little choice Top Talkers: President Obama has authorized limited airstrikes in Iraq with the intent of pushing back Islamist militants. The president also authorized military aircraft to drop food and water to Iraqis trapped in the northern portion of the country. The share tweet email save Embed
“I said in June, as the terrorist group ISIL began an advance across Iraq that the U.S. would be prepared to take targeted military action in Iraq if and when we determined that the situation required it,” the president said in an address from the White House. “In recent days, these terrorists have continued to move across Iraq, near the city of Erbil where American diplomats and civilians serve at our consulate and American military personnel advise Iraqi forces.”
“To stop the advance on Erbil I’ve directed our military to take targeted military strikes against ISIL convoys should they move toward the city,” Obama added. “We intend to stay vigilant and take action if these terrorist forces threaten our personnel or facilities anywhere in Iraq, including our consulate in Erbil and our embassy in Baghdad.”
The president also announced that the U.S. had completed a humanitarian air operation to bring aid to tens of thousands of refugees who were forced to flee the Iraqi city of Mosul or face execution by Sunni militants if they did not convert to Islam. As many as 40,000 members of religious minorities have taken shelter atop Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq in recent days, where they have been without food or water. UNICEF reported that 40 children from the group have died.
The U.S. airdrop involved one C-17 and two C-130 cargo aircraft, according to a defense official, which together dropped 5,300 gallons of drinking water and 8,000 meal packets. The planes were escorted by two F-18 fighter jets and flew at a low altitude over the drop site for less than 15 minutes. The president has authorized “continual drops as necessary” to assist the refugees, senior U.S. officials said after Obama’s speech. The Iraqi government and Kurdish pesh merga forces are also providing assistance, they said.
Obama made clear that he believes the religious minorities, which include Christians and Yazidis, “a small and ancient religious sect,” faced the possibility of genocide at the hands of terrorist forces unless the U.S. intervened. He said he had authorized targeted air strikes to help Iraqi forces break the siege at the base of the mountain to protect the trapped civilians.
“I’ve said before the U.S. cannot and should not intervene every time there’s a crisis in the world,” the president said. But with a “mandate to help” from the Iraqi government and “the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre,” the U.S. “cannot turn a blind eye,” he continued. “We can act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide.”
For several weeks, the U.S. has been flying F-18 fighter jets, B-1 bombers and Predator drones over Iraq, U.S. officials told NBC News ahead of the president’s speech. Those aircraft are now poised to launch strikes to protect U.S. assets in Erbil – which include a U.S. consulate with 30-50 State Department personnel and scores of military advisers – should ISIS militants continue their advance on the city.
Obama acknowledged in his speech that he had run for president in part to end the war in Iraq, and said Americans were rightly concerned about additional military action. “As Commander-in-Chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq,” the president said, emphasizing that combat troops would not be returning to Iraq. But he insisted “people all over the world look to the United States of America to lead.”
“When many thousands of innocent civilians are faced with the danger of being wiped out, and we have the capacity to do something about it, we will take action,” he said. “That is our responsibility as Americans. That’s a hallmark of American leadership. That’s who we are.”The statements were stunningly tone deaf. Morgues and funeral homes were calling for help dealing with the bodies piling up around their facilities. Scores of people who lived and died alone were sure to be discovered when roads reopened. Nearly everyone, regardless of class or status, was stranded, suffering and afraid. But federal officials, following Mr. Trump’s lead, continued to insist that the mortality level was minuscule.
Now that narrative has collapsed. On Thursday, Puerto Rican officials announced that 472 more people died there in September 2017 than in September 2016. That figure, which epidemiologists call the excess death toll, is a more reliable measure of the disaster’s human impact than the initial figure of 16 that Mr. Trump cited, because it includes cases that medical examiners could not process in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
In theory, it’s possible that the excess death toll will go down when October’s mortality statistics come in; perhaps Hurricane Maria killed mostly people who would have lived only a few weeks or months anyway. But the record from similar disasters suggests that this is unlikely. It’s far more likely that Puerto Rico experienced another spike in deaths during October, when, thanks to Mr. Trump’s refusal to support a major federal relief effort, power, water and food remained in short supply.
Counting the deaths from disasters is often politically contentious, and Mr. Trump is hardly the first public official who has been quick to underestimate the toll. In July 1995, Chicago endured a devastating heat wave. As in Puerto Rico, hundreds of bodies piled up at the morgue, and the medical examiner warned that the city would soon discover hundreds more in private homes. But rather than declare a heat emergency, Mayor Richard M. Daley questioned this scientific accounting. “Every day people die of natural causes,” he insisted. “You cannot claim that everybody who has died in the last eight or nine days dies of heat.”
Mr. Daley’s public relations strategy led to a failed public health response. Ultimately, epidemiologists confirmed that 739 people in excess of the norm died during the week of the disaster. How many lives might the city have saved had it immediately acknowledged the crisis and thrown all its resources into an urgent response? We’ll never know.
Unlike the 1995 Chicago heat wave, Hurricane Maria is a continuing disaster. At this point, it’s clear that there is nothing natural about the mounting public health crisis and that the federal government is compounding the problem through malign neglect. Puerto Rico urgently needs a sweeping infrastructure rebuilding project — not only to restore its power, water and communications systems, but also to prepare it for the next set of extreme weather events that our ever-warming world will doubtless deliver.Appalachian Trail Vanity Tags Fund State Grants
Home News Appalachian Trail Vanity Tags Fund State Grants
Published Dec 4, 2014
Do you ever wonder why people who drive Hummers pay for vanity tags that say, "Hummer"? Do you ever wonder why people who love the Appalachian Trail (AT) don't pay for vanity tags that promote the AT, fund the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), help preserve the AT in individual states and provide funds for grants to local intra-state groups to protect the AT? I do.
Yes, an AT tag costs a few extra bucks annually, but it's probably less than the amount we all waste on ATM fees every month or two. Why not get something worthwhile for your money?
The ATC is accepting applications for their 2015 Appalachian Trail (A.T.) Specialty License Plate grant program. The deadline is Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Both Tennessee and North Carolina are eligible for grants. The grant funds for Tennessee and North Carolina must be spent in their respective states. Individual grant requests should not exceed $5,000.
The ATC will award a total of $15,000 for a broad range of AT-related projects in Tennessee, from funds are generated from the sales and renewals of Tennessee AT vanity tags. The ATC will also award a total of $30,000 for a broad range of AT projects in North Carolina.
The ATC encourages individuals and partner organizations, including Trail clubs, schools, botanists, ecologists, environmental and conservation groups as well as civic organizations, to submit applications to the grant program. Projects can be related to the physical Trail and its facilities; the enhancement of Trail clubs' long-term A.T. management abilities; natural heritage and environmental monitoring; education and outreach; Appalachian Trail Community(TM) partnerships; and major public-service projects.
Specialty license plates for the A.T. are a way to support the ATC in its work to sustain the Trail into the future. Twenty dollars from each license plate in North Carolina is returned to the ATC to support its work in the state. Last year, AT license plate sales in North Carolina generated approximately $115,000, which supported the Specialty License Plate grant program, the ATC's land acquisition efforts and the work of its Southern Regional Office located in Asheville.
From each license plate purchase or renewal in Tennessee, $15.62 is donated to the ATC to support Trail-related work in the state. Last year, A.T. license plate sales in Tennessee generated approximately $44,877 helping to support the grant program, the ATC's land acquisition efforts and the Tennessee work of its Southern Regional Office located in Asheville.
Go for it. Spring for a vanity tag that supports the Appalachian Trail.
Tags: Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Appalachian Trail, News, and Appalachian Trail ClubsDemonstrators protest with the flag of Internet activists group 'Anonymous' against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, in Berlin, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012. Protesters gathered in several German cities Saturday to voice anger at an international copyright treaty that they fear will lead to censorship on the Internet. (AP Photo/dapd/ Axel Schmidt)
I was just getting back from a long day of classes and was about to enjoy a generous lunch when I received a message from my friend, Donny Tsunami.
"Your website's down, man."
I Immediately went to my website, PandaUnite.org, and sure enough, a "DNS Error" showed up.
I had seen something recently on my Facebook Timeline about a message for GoDaddy from Anonymous, so I immediately googled "Anonymous Godaddy hack."
It turns out, Anonymous was quick to accept responsibility for taking down not only GoDaddy but millions of websites hosted on its servers as well.
"I'm taking godaddy down bacause well i'd like to test how the cyber security is safe and for more reasons that i can not talk now " reads a tweet from @AnonymousOwn3r.
An Anonymous source clued me into their intentions.
This was a warning shot.
GoDaddy has been under fire before for supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill that would have extremely limited internet freedom and introduced unprecedented censorship. Even the noted entrepreneur and founder of ICanHazCheezeburger.com took GoDaddy to task for supporting SOPA:
"We will move our 1,000 domains off @GoDaddy unless you drop support of SOPA. We love you guys, but #SOPA-is-cancer to the Free Web."
The internet hosting company has also drawn the ire of civil liberties activists. On February 11th, 2008, visitors to RateMyCop.com received an "Oops!" image urging the owner of the site to contact GoDaddy on why they pulled the plug. When founder Gino Sesto inquired about why his site was down, GoDaddy said it was for "suspicious activity."
GoDaddy was down for almost an entire business day. Twitter was outraged as thousands of users attacked Anonymous for hurting everyone from small business owners to the activists they swore to protect.
However, there may have been a deeper motive. If a disruption of service for less than eight hours will make this big of a splash on the internet, as is the intent of recent cybersecurity legislation, imagine what a complete shutdown of the internet will do.
Interesting Addendum: Anonymous has also distanced itself from this hack via @AnonyOpsI recently got the Infinity ErgoDox by the Input Club from the Massdrop sale. The split hand keyboard, which comes as a kit, is currently available on Massdrop for it’s second run. If you are on the fence about buying one due to not knowing how to build a keyboard, fear not!, because the ErgoDox Infinity has one of the best documented build logs I’ve ever seen. There are even additional videos that teach the basics of soldering for first timers! I finally got mine built, programmed, and ready to test.
I put Carbon SA on my ErgoDox, as It has one of my favorite looking ErgoDox kits out there. I also installed the 2x3x4mm LED’s on the bottom of the PCB as a way to make sure there was enough room between the PCB and bottom case for them to fit. I have only done the outside edge in white, and plan on putting orange LEDs on the rest of the spaces soon. I’ve mentioned it before, but I would advise against soldering LEDs through the switches on top. The plate of the ErgoDox infinity was designed to allow switch access without desoldering. Here in an example of what I mean:
The benefits of being able to open the switches include being able to do quick spring swaps, change the top housings (to clear if you prefer), or being able to swap out the stems for an entirely different typing experience. If you solder LED’s over the switches you will no longer be able to take advantage of this feature. If you really want per switch lighting you can alway get SIP sockets or install in-switch LEDs, though if you do that you will need clear switch covers if you don’t already have switches with them.
Unlike the original ErgoDox, the Infinity ErgoDox has absolutely no lag between hands. I’ve also found the LCD screen to be more helpful than I originally thought I would. You can easily see what layer you are on, which is quite helpful when you find the keyboard acting strange and can easily see that you are locked on a different layer, or for simply remembering what layer you are intentionally on. Programing the keyboard is a breeze, flashing the firmware took 5 minutes tops. I would recommend that you do the first flash while building the keyboard though, as you will need to access the Flash button on the bottom of the PCB. You can then program a Flash button to any of the switches you like and make future revisions take even less time.
Overall I am extremely pleased with how the Infinity ErgoDox came out. I still need a few weeks of testing before being able to publish a full review, to be able to catch any little details I’ve missed so far, as I’ve only used it for a few hours at this point. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here, on the GeekHack thread I created, or on Massdrop itself!Welcome to the 25th Bitshares State of the Network (BSotN) report. I will be releasing this report weekly to look at the changes in the ecosystem and track longer term changes in a effort to identify emerging trends and changes in the Bitshares platform.
Bitshares - State of the Network - 7th March 2017
The Bitshares State of the Network Reports seeks to combine raw data from a wide range of metrics and combine them into meaningful information to identify emerging trends and changes in the Bitshares network.
Observation from this week
This section will highlight any observations made while analysing the data.
Alfred Garcia (Bitshares Core Dev) has been working on closing a number issues this week and finished off adding the API call from trade history balance. Check out his update HERE
@svk (as part of his GUI worker proposal) has released a new release of the Bitshares Light Client (v. 2.0.170303). This release contains some new features and bug fixes. Download the new version on Github HERE. Changes have also been published to the Bitshares Web Wallet
Bitshares testnet STRESSTEST has been scheduled for the 15th of March 2017 at 3PM UTC. Xeroc has been leading the charge and has also developed a real time stats page that we can keep an eye on the progress. Find out more about the test and find the resources HERE. In the lead up test net witnesses have been running personal (not coordinated) tests in preparation. So far the test net has demonstrated 250 TPS (Transactions Per second). You can watch the testnet transaction HERE (This page also supports Bitshares and Steem main-nets)
@jonnybitcoin has started a Credit Default Swap against Tether USD (Blythe would be proud :); This will serve as an insurance policies for holder of Tether USD or a speculative instrument of speculators with the token being valued at 1 USD on the failure of the tether system (judged by an inability to withdraw funds via the official method for a period more than 28 days before the end of 2017). Find out more information HERE or see the market HERE or view the asset details HERE
@kencode has released his weekly update filled with news from a number of projects that Bitshares-Munich are working on (BlockPay, C-IPFS, Bitshares Stealth, Smartcoins Wallet). His Update can be found HERE
OpenLedger has preformed their monthly BTSR Buyback and Burn of 22,485 BTSR from ETH, Open.BTC, BTS and USD markets. More details HERE
OpenLedger has preformed their monthly OBITS Buyback and Burn of 60,867 OBITS from BTS and Open.BTC markets. More details HERE
Bitshares-Munich has released a new version of the BlockPay S mobile application (v1.5.8). Download the latest version from the Google Playstore.
Bitshares-Munich has released a new version of the Smartcoins mobile Wallet (v1.5.13). Download the latest version from the Google Playstore.
OBITS is now listed on Livecoin with the following currency pairs: OBITS/BTC, OBITS/BTS, OBITS/ETH, OBITS/USD, and OBITS/EUR.
Big support from the Chinese market this week with 29 Million BTS being withdrawn from PoloniEX and 22 Million being added to BTC38 wallet; generally this is seen due to arbitrage bots that are buying BTS on the cheaper market (Polo) and sending the BTS to the market with more support to sell (BTC38).
Current registered wallets/accounts within the Bitshares network is 156942; an increase of 576 wallets/accounts since last week
The last asset registered this week is asset #1290 and it is named 'BBBAA' registered by 'bi23' with the description 'ETH.A; testnet.etherscan.io'.
Bitshares Twitter Stats
Thanks @fav for providing twitter statistics for the month of February.
Bitshares Distribution
This sections seeks to analyse the current distribution of the network. We look at the current supply, top 100 hodlers, Orders on the Bitshares Decentralized Exchange (DEX), Reserve pool balance and Income growth.
Distribution Balance Change W/W Change W/W % BTS Supply 2,586,834,986 1,670,127.00 0.06% BTS Stealth 266,837 - 0.00% BTS in Open Orders (DEX) 38102775.61 -4,439,458.09 -9.55% Reserve Pool 1,013,746,090 -1,670,126.00 -0.16% RP Accumulated fees 29,801 -177.00 -0.66% Collateral (top 250) backing Smartcoins 309205547 9,204,007.00 3.23% Top 100 Total 1,396,491,560 -4,383,115.23 -0.31% Top 100 - minus Exchanges 516,137,581 -10,770,408.84 -2.04% Exchanges 880,353,979 6,387,293.60 0.73% Non Exchanges 1,706,481,007 -4,717,166.60 -0.28%
Profit/Expenses from the Bitshares Reserve Pool
The chart below show historic profit/expense from the Bitshares Reserve Pool where a positive number represents a W/W profit and a negative number means a W/W expense; Bitshares expenses include witness and worker pay and income includes network fees.
BTS Trading
Looking at the most active trading pairs for Bitshares (BTS). Data displayed is a 24 hour snapshot as taken on the date of this report and not a reflection on the week as a whole.
Market Last Price Price USD 24hr Vol BTS 24hr Vol USD Vol % Vol % Change W/W CNY 0.02639788 0.00 17,335,837.26 66,308.45 5656.95% 70.72% BTC 0.00000295 0.00376571 13,309,368.98 50,119.20 43.4305 192.79% USD 0.0041841 0.0041841 0 0 0 EUR 0.008 0.00836144 0 0 0 NXT 0.103 0.00072433 0 0 0
Worker Proposals
This section will identify the current approved and pending worker proposals
Active Worker:
Proposed Worker
DEX: Most Active Markets
This section will show the BTS markets within the DEX and seek to highlight the most active markets.
The most active base pair is BTS and the top 3 pairs are Open.BTC, CNY and Kapital
Smartcoins
This sections seeks to analyse the current supply and market capitalisation of the Bitshares Smartcoins.
Asset Supply Price Market Cap BTS Market Cap USD Supply Change W/W BTS 2,586,834,986 0.00379921 2,586,834,986 $9,827,929.35 0.0646% BTS Stealth 266,837 0.00379921 266,837 $1,013.77 0.00% Reserve Pool 1,013,746,090 0.00379921 1,013,746,090 $3,851,434.28 -0.1645% Accumulated fees 29,801 0.00379921 29,801 $113.22 -0.59% BitUSD 124,638 266.3 33,191,099 $126,099.96 0.03% BitCNY 1,131,266 38.5 43,553,741 $165,469.81 10.51% BitEUR 5,884 282 1,659,288 $6,303.98 0.03% BitBTC 39.5 337,670 13,337,965 $50,673.73 -2.95% BitGold 9.54 326,663 3,116,365 $11,839.73 -1.85% BitSilver 1,271 4,726 6,006,746 $22,820.89 0.63%
Referral Stats
This section will track user referrals, to gauge active refers overtime. The chart below shows in blue the total number of referred users and in orange the new referrals for this week.
Account Referrals Change W/W bitshares-munich 2194 49 compumatrix1 1635 0 jianjolly-0 1569 29 openledger 514 0 btsabc 434 1 fav 333 1 cryptofresh 324 2 gn1 232 0 ccm2015 224 0 cryptocurrency3 185 1 by24seven 167 1 cat-ch 119 0 sdr 117 4
Vote Proxies
This section will track the change in proxy voting
Account Opinions Followers Weight (M) Weight Change (M) xeroc 37 161 210.2 -10 bitcrab 39 21 98.2 -3.7 baozi 19 65 88.8 5.6 laomao 35 3 48.7 0.9 bitshares-munich-wallet 9 10 26.2 0.5 harvey 50 5 22.4 0 jonnybitcoin 28 14 13.9 0 fav 24 34 13.7 0 bytemaster 38 41 11.4 -0.1 yao 29 33 10.9 0
Committee Members
This section will track shareholder approval of committee members
Account Votes (M) Votes Change (M) bitcrab 609.4 0 chris4210 552.4 0 bhuz 521.3 0 abit 474.7 0 xeroc 464.5 0 clayop 461.3 0 dele-puppy 395.1 0 bunkerchainlabs-com 392.9 0 ebit 332.2 0 bitcube 298.6 0 harvey-xts 190.4 0
Top 100 Distribution including Exchanges
This section looks at the top 100 rich list and compares account balances, this section will seek to identify changes in ownership which may lead to interesting investigations and early warning signs of upcoming projects
Account Balance(include orders) Orders Change W/W Change W/W % bitcc-bts-cold 346419056.4 0 - 0.00% poloniexcoldstorage 290001202.9 0 - 0.00% poloniexwallet 82077474.66 0 -29,097,142.50 -26.17% yunbi-cold-wallet 35003434.68 0 - 0.00% pr1modiaprile 24999291.42 0 - 0.00% bitcc-bts 24225618.8 0 22,141,926.57 1062.63% bitcc-bts-withdrawal 22130556.86 0 19,248,059.82 667.76% bittrex-deposit 21708569.57 0 -144,883.92 -0.66% btsx-bitshare 19863402 0 - 0.00% stan 17134775.69 0 - 0.00% btercom 17049117.35 0 - 0.00% alohacs 16855553.92 0 - 0.00% tsuratsura-3557 16764536.44 0 -1,630,007.43 -8.86% yun-bts 13752916.1 0 881,428.24 6.85% evan 12118147.13 0 - 0.00% funnycat-air 11539308.33 7356219 82,379.71 0.72% cass 11068344.41 0 - 0.00% mcxcwbts 10818456.61 0 - 0.00% bitshares-munich-wallet 10793378.87 0 -2.84 0.00% crypto-maniac 10597469.97 0 - 0.00% hnnr8 10471001.86 0 - 0.00% jonnybitcoin 9863298.472 0 -143,508.91 -1.43% invictus 9815143.343 0 - 0.00% virtual-ventures 9318077.011 0 - 0.00% jiny2 9271909.53 0 - 0.00% suyuekuangcheng666 8899393.782 6644200 - 0.00% roje 8850428.578 0 - 0.00% coldstorage1 8300000 0 - 0.00% cievia-waugaman 7990212.251 0 - 0.00% dev.bitsharesblocks 7571715.03 1394077.834 1,495,537.54 24.61% bc-godpay 7563433.058 0 - 0.00% haeassa-granovsky 7431930.353 0 - 0.00% abinia-rivard 6550561.954 0 - 0.00% goldsix 6050400.848 0 - 0.00% ubris 5999999.845 0 - 0.00% fericia-brick 5766621.727 0 - 0.00% btszhqxf 5734710.5 0 - 0.00% miso69 5478227.737 0 - 0.00% linhan 5425093.721 0 - 0.00% cadord-ozois 5423172.409 0 - 0.00% pay.xeroc 5390378.805 0 -2.80 0.00% cissy 5383923.483 10000 - 0.00% bristolbay 5325002.672 0 - 0.00% teiva 5276562.396 1030000 - 0.00% xhunter 5233237.27 0 - 0.00% jeraud-kanze 5172697.487 0 - 0.00% ccedk.escrow2 5150294.966 0 - 0.00% ironbank 5144966.404 8000 - 0.00% laow 5057707.821 0 - 0.00% roland.sun 5022491.809 0 - 0.00% prebuffo1970 4834033.226 0 - 0.00% geravia-mackinnon 4777689.635 0 - 0.00% mybak 4709246.334 0 - 0.00% harvey 4699121.035 34839.55 - 0.00% spring 4673511.95 110000 - 0.00% cnfund 4646823.745 0 -44,636.74 -0.95% bts88 4527532 0 - 0.00% impseu1 4432045.44 0 - 0.00% btsxzzh2 4348431.46 0 - 0.00% onceuponatime 4229204.902 0 - 0.00% tomotomo 4221554.156 0 1,799,037.82 74.26% kimziv0 4176436.612 0 39,999.85 0.97% stellar 4118034.258 4637.1 - 0.00% slim 4100811.632 0 - 0.00% quonael-lievesley 4087235.19 0 - 0.00% elendasa-benjamin 3925769.873 0 - 0.00% wesley-waugaman |
Me to Will *******:
No, I think I'd remember if that happened. So when can I bring it in to your shop?
Mike
From Will ******* to Me:
Seriously? We can't fix that, it is burned to a damn crisp! FYI that is a Blackberry, and you may as well buy a new one - that one is ruined.
From Me to Will *******:
This is an outrage. Allow me to quote your ad: "we can fix any phone problem."
Why can't you fix mine? Is this your idea of "customer satisfaction"?
Mike
From Will ******* to Me:
Look, asshole, most phone problems are cracked screens and water damage, which we can fix. What are we supposed to do with a melted hunk of plastic that used to be a phone?
From Me to Will *******:
You tell me. You're supposed to be the expert. Perhaps you should change the wording of your ad so you stop tricking people into thinking you can fix their phones when you can't.
Mike
From Will ******* to Me:
Perhaps you should go fuck yourself.
Hi there,I'm not sure what happened, but my phone simply stopped working last night. I was talking on it and it suddenly shut off and won't turn on. Do you think you would be able to repair it?MikeWe most certainly can fix it. What kind of phone is it?Oh, I'm not sure...I'm not too good when it comes to technology. If I took a picture of the phone, would you be able to tell?Yes. Or you could check near the battery cover and find the model number.I'm not sure how to get to the battery cover. I'll just send you a picture of it:MikeHoly Christ! What the hell did you do to that thing?!I'm not sure...I think I might have dropped it.Mike...into a fire?!?!?!No, I think I'd remember if that happened. So when can I bring it in to your shop?MikeSeriously? We can't fix that, it is burned to a damn crisp! FYI that is a Blackberry, and you may as well buy a new one - that one is ruined.This is an outrage. Allow me to quote your ad: "we can fix any phone problem."Why can't you fix mine? Is this your idea of "customer satisfaction"?MikeLook, asshole, most phone problems are cracked screens and water damage, which we can fix. What are we supposed to do with a melted hunk of plastic that used to be a phone?You tell me. You're supposed to be the expert. Perhaps you should change the wording of your ad so you stop tricking people into thinking you can fix their phones when you can't.MikePerhaps you should go fuck yourself. Previous | Next Share Showing comments 1-25. View all comments Darin (2019-02-24 13:36:25)
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View all commentsWaiting is over! It’s here, it’s new, it’s great – today VMware announced VMware vSphere 6. I’ve summarized all the latest news in this article, so read on to learn more!
New: Announced product versions
Apart from announcement of VMware vSphere 6, new product versions of other VMware products are announced:
vSphere with Operations Management 6.0 = vSphere 6.0 + vRealize Operations Manager Standard 6.0 (available since last December);
Virtual SAN 6.0, this is actually the second version of the VSAN solution;
vCenter Site Recovery Manager 6.0 – no new features, but just for compatibility with vSphere 6.0;
vCloud Suite 6.0 – with support for vSphere 6 in the different components, vRealize Business Standard is now included;
VMware Integrated Openstack 1.0 – something to really look at!
Improved in vSphere 6: Increased vSphere Maximums
Maybe not that interesting anymore, but the maximums for vSphere have been raised again. vSphere now supports:
64 hosts per cluster;
8000 VMs per cluster;
480 CPUs;
12 TB RAM;
1000 VMs per host.
VMs now support a maximum of 128 vCPUs, 4 TB of RAM, vNUMA aware hot-add ram and USB3.
Improved: Fault Tolerance
With Fault Tolerance you can protect a virtual machine by running a second 100% identical virtual machine on another host. One of the short comings of Fault Tolerance was that it only supports VMs with 1 vCPU. Fault Tolerance in vSphere 6 now finally supports multi-CPU VMs, with up to 4 vCPUs per virtual machine. 10 Gbit network is very much recommended when you plan to use FT on virtual machines with more than 1 vCPU.
FT protected VMs now support VADP enabled backups, including the required snapshot technology. Note that normal snapshots on FT enabled VMs are not supported.
Fault Tolerance protected VMs now always use Fault Tolerance protected storage, secondary storage is required here. It’s now possible to “hot-configure” (enable) FT on a virtual machine.
New: Virtual Machine Component Protection
Virtual Machine Component Protection (VMCP) is a new feature in vSphere 6 and an automated response for All Paths Down (APD) or a Permanent Device Loss (PDL) situation. VMCP protects VMs against storage connectivity failures and misconfigurations.
If a APD or PDL condition occurs, VMs are automatically restarted on a healthy host. This is something which is beneficial for stretched cluster architectures, but is of course useful for any environment using some kind of SAN storage. VMCP is currently only available for storage architectures and not yet supporting network problems.
New: vCenter Server 6.0 Platform Services Controller
The Platform Service Controller (PSC) groups Single Sign On (SSO), Licensing and a Certificate Authority (CA). The PSC replaces these separate components and combines these functionality in one solution.
The PSC comes as an embedded option, or in a centralized/stand-alone option when two or more SSO integrated solutions are available. With the PSC linked mode is completely integrated in vSphere: Microsoft ADAM is not required anymore. You can now also add a VCSA to a linked mode, you can even mix appliance- and Windows-based vCenter Servers.
New: vCenter Server 6.0 Certificate Lifecycle Management & Clustering Support
You can now use vCenter Server 6 for complete certificate lifecycle management. vCenter 6 can now act as a certificate authority for provisioning certificates to each ESXi hosts. The VMware Endpoint Certificate Service (VECS) can now store all certificates for the different vCenter services. The VMware Certificate Authority can act as a root CA or issuer CA.
Clustering support for vCenter Server 6 will be announced soon. This does only apply to the Windows option and not the appliance option.
Improved: vMotion
Some interesting improvements on vMotion are available:
Cross vSwitch vMotion – You can now vMotion from a standard switch to a standard switch, a standard switch to a distributed switch and from a distributed switch to a distribtued switch and vice versa;
Cross vCenter vMotion – You can now vMotion cross vCenter Server which will change compute, storage, network and of course the vCenter Server. Also read my article Future of Disaster Recovery with NextGen VMware Site Recovery Manager to cross vCenter vMotion use-case.
Long distance vMotion – Up to 100ms RTT, no VVOLs required, use cases: permanent migration, disaster avoidance, multi-side load balancing, follow the sun.
vMotion can now cross layer three boundaries, so a stretched layer two network is not required anymore.
New: vCenter Server 6 Content Library
With the new content library simple content management for VM templates, vApps, ISO images and scripts is introduced. With the content library you can store and manage content: you have one central location to manage all content. The content is automatically distributed over different vCenter instances. The maximum size of a content library is 64 TB, you can store a maximum of 256 items and you can have a maximum of 10 simultaneous copies. The synchronization of the content library occurs once every 24 hours.
Improved: vSphere WebClient
Of course you already *love* the vSphere WebClient, don’t you? Probably not…but wait, there’s the new WebClient! It’s very much improved: improved login time, faster right click menu, faster performance charts. Also from a usuability perspective things have improved; the recent tasks pain is moved to the bottom and the right click menus are flattened. Also the Virtual Machine Remote Console (VMRC) has improved and looks more or less the same as the VMRC in the Windows vSphere Client.
Improved: Network I/O Control Version 3
With NIOC version 3, you can now guarantee bandwith to satisfy service levels. This can be applied at the vNIC level or at the Distributed Port Group level.
More information on VSAN 6.0 is here.Debunking the myth of the Starbucks secret menu.
It has been in the news that there is a Starbucks “secret” menu. An example such a story is here. My position is that there is no such thing as a “secret menu,” and I’m trying to debunk that myth.
Starbucks has built its business on the idea that a customer can customize beverages to an extreme degree. Because beverage customization is encouraged, there is nothing to stop highly creative baristas and customers from coming up with beverage combinations that are well-liked by many.
The problem with a “secret menu” is that it implies that there is some standardization to customized drink recipes which simply does not exist! In other words, if I walk up to the register and order a “tall peppermint hot chocolate,” I will receive the same beverage whether I am in Seattle, Anaheim, or Boston. Baristas will follow a standardized official Starbucks recipe for a “peppermint hot chocolate,” and it is going to be the same everywhere I go. There are only so many official, standard drink recipes.
This doesn’t mean that a customer cannot order something unique. For example, partners have said to me, “Melody, you should try toffeenut syrup in a Strawberry smoothie!” This would create something close to the “Captain Crunch” recipe described in “Starbucks “secret” menu“. However, and this is important, if I walked up to the register and said, “I’d like a Captain Crunch Smoothie” the only thing I would do is create confusion. Different stores will have different ideas about what this will mean: Some stores may think this means just a single added pump or two of toffeenut. Other stores may think this means some combination of toffeenut and hazelnut. Other baristas will look at you blankly and say, “I’ve never heard of a Captain Crunch smoothie.”
The real moral of the story is that if you, the customer, want to try a customized drink you should be prepared to learn how to order it to be able to get the same thing twice. In other words, it behooves you to learn to say, “I’d like a tall Strawberry Frappuccino with 2 pumps of toffee nut.”
I’m not very creative at coming up with unique drinks. Some baristas are gifted at this. One barista highly recommended that I try a “Chocolate Smoothie with White Mocha instead of Mocha, add Java Chips, and substitute Soy Milk.” That is a delicious drink! It tastes a bit like an Oreo Cookie. However, if I tried ordering “an Oreo Cookie smoothie,” I’d be met with blank stares.
I saw this “idea” on MyStarbucksIdea.com and I was reminded of the problems with the secret menu:
The author of the above MyStarbucksIdea.com thread writes:
I heard of a cake batter frappuccino on the secret menu but every time I have tried to order this the barista looks at me like I’m crazy! Is there really a secret menu? And why would barista in at least five locations not know about it? From what I have seen almond syrup should be used, not toffee nut syrup. If this drink was tried as a promotion frap it would be a hit!
Try this one out Starbucks!
That above thread inspired this blog post. It is such a perfect example of the problems created by a “secret” menu that does not really exist!
In summary, customers please know your drink! Ask your baristas for their suggestions for new drink combinations. But if you simply order a drink by a “secret” name, you’ll run the risk of any or all of the following:
1. The drink will be very inconsistent from store to store.
2. Many baristas will have no idea what you mean.
3. You may be trying to order a drink that is not possible to make: The syrup and sauce offerings change frequently. For example, Almond hasn’t been available on the menu since 2008.
4. You may find that your Starbucks experience feels frustrating and confusing, and you don’t know why.
By the way, it is super obvious that the Starbucks “secret” menu in this news article is not real. Starbucks would not put out an official menu with “Frappuccino” incorrectly spelled, or incorrectly referred to as a “Frappe.” Notice that on the official Starbucks Frappuccino page, Starbucks is careful to remember to put the registered-trademark symbol after the word Frappuccino.
I don’t mean to disappoint many customers who wanted to try something new. By all means, experiment away! Just learn how to order it. And when in doubt, talk to your barista about the kind of flavor you’re looking for, but don’t expect that your barista has some magical recipe for a “secret” drink.
This is an open thread. Feel free to talk about anything Starbucks-related.Image caption The power of the method could be massively increased with the use of more, smaller radar units
The study of birds, bats and flying insects could be transformed by the use of technology designed for tracking storms, researchers say.
Meteorologists once treated the signals from flying animals as a nuisance that complicated their measurements.
But recent improvements in computing power and networking of radar stations have turned that nuisance signal into a valuable data source on animal ecology.
A panel told the AAAS conference that radar could spot a single bee at 50km.
Further improvements to the technique must be made before that level of resolution can be reached, however; now it is the storms that are complicating the signals that interest biologists.
But pioneer of the "aeroecology" field, Thomas Kunz, of Boston University, told the conference why radar is needed.
"One of the limitations we have in working with small animals like birds and bats and insects is that you can't put large satellite radio transmitters on them to understand their movements.
I paused and said, 'you can estimate the number of raindrops in a raincloud? Do you think we could estimate the number of bats in a bat cloud?' Winifred Frick, Bioinformatics expert, University of California, Santa Cruz
"So the whole concept of aeroecology is an integrated approach using many different tools to try to answer the questions about how organisms move and use the aerosphere."
Phillip Chilson is a meteorologist from the University of Oklahoma, who has been working with radar for two decades. He explained why radar is a potentially transformative tool for aeroecology.
"We already have well-developed networks of radar around the country and around the world - used for tracking weather and for tracking airplanes.
"There are as many as 510 government-owned and maintained radar (installations) in the US and 156 for weather radar; Europe has in the order of 200. We have a wonderful tool that we can use for exploring biology without much outlay of money from scientific sources."
Dr Chilson and Professor Kunz recently teamed up with biologist Winifred Frick of the University of California, Santa Cruz to look into the mystery of bat movements.
"Dr Kunz and I were meeting Dr Chilson about a year ago over breakfast and they kept talking about the 'QPE', and finally I asked what it is," Dr Frick told the meeting.
It stands for quantitative precipitation estimator - a numerical method to measure how much rain there is in a storm front.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Animal flight patterns could help scientists monitor how they are affected by man and the environment
"I paused and said, 'you can estimate the number of raindrops in a raincloud? Do you think we could estimate the number of bats in a bat cloud?'"
To calibrate their experiment, the team took a bat into a chamber where the degree to which it reflects radio waves could be measured.
"From those measurements and using radar, we've been able to adapt those QPE measurements to a 'QBE' - a quantitative bat estimator," Dr Frick said.
Although the field is only just getting started, the team's measurements are already paying dividends, Dr Frick later explained to BBC News.
"One of the things that's most exciting to me is that we sometimes see an airmass that's moving, like a weather front, and insects actually get trapped up in that - you can see the insects pooling up along this air mass.
Image caption Thermal imaging of bats is also aiding in the "aeroecology" effort
"If this happens to pass over the bat caves at sunset, the bats come out and distribute themselves right along that gust front and presumably gobble up those insects. Marine biologists probably think that kind of thing happens all the time in the ocean, but we've never been able to see that in the aerosphere."
Another aspect of the work is that decades of data from radar stations exists in archives, waiting to be mined for information about flying creatures.
Such a rich data set is crucial in conservation efforts, and understanding how birds, bats and insects are responding to long-term drifts in their environment.
"Lots of people have been able to look at seasonal variations - people do this with plants, to look when the start of spring is changing, how the flowering time changes," Dr Frick explained.
"We didn't have a tool to look at that same kind of process for vertebrates; now we're looking at the timing of purple martins - aerial insectivorous birds - when their migration starts and stops, and we can do that with bats. That'll be really important for understanding the long-term implications for climate change."(RNS) When the Supreme Court on Monday (June 30) issued a split decision narrowly backing the right of for-profit corporations to deny contraception coverage to their employees for religious reasons, many assumed that faith-based nonprofits would have it easy when their own cases eventually reach the high court.
“The death knell is sounding for the HHS mandate,” said Lori Windham, an attorney at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of nuns, as well as other religious groups that object to the Health and Human Services Department policy requiring birth control coverage.
Windham noted that in two rulings by lower courts on Monday, several of Becket’s faith-based clients received last-minute relief to shield them from complying with the mandate, which takes effect today (July 1).
“The ruling in Hobby Lobby and then these two rulings in quick succession show that the HHS mandate is on its last legs when it comes to religious nonprofits,” Windham said.
Public domain image
Yet many analysts say that in fact what worked for Hobby Lobby — the national craft store giant owned by the Green family, who are evangelical Christians — may not necessarily work for the Little Sisters, who operate nursing homes for the poor around the country.
The nuns are the main plaintiff for a range of religious nonprofits and institutions who argue, in cases that paralleled the claims of for-profit businesses, that complying with the Obama administration’s mandate to provide free birth control coverage would violate their religious freedom because they object to contraception.
So when those cases reach the Supreme Court, why wouldn’t the Little Sisters eventually receive the same treatment, or even greater deference, than a corporation like Hobby Lobby or Conestoga Wood Specialties, its Mennonite-owned co-plaintiff?
The key difference is that the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has already offered an accommodation to faith-based nonprofits that allows them to sign a waiver giving a third-party administrator permission to take care of the birth control coverage, with no further involvement by the religious group.
The Little Sisters and others argue that even signing such a waiver entangles them in something they view as morally objectionable. (Hobby Lobby and other plaintiffs do not object to contraception per se but are concerned about what they say is mandated coverage of abortion-causing drugs.)
But Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority in Monday’s 5-4 decision, suggested that the accommodation offered to religious groups could have been a fine solution if provided to for-profit corporations as well.
“That accommodation does not impinge on the plaintiffs’ religious beliefs that providing insurance coverage for the contraceptives at issue here violates their religion and it still serves HHS’s stated interests,” Alito wrote.
That in fact was the same argument made by Hobby Lobby’s lawyers in oral arguments before the Supreme Court in March — a move that prompted Michael Sean Winters at National Catholic Reporter to suggest at the time that if the justices accepted that line of reasoning, “religious organizations will not have a leg to stand on.”
After the decision came down on Monday, Winters said that in fact that’s just what happened.
Writing for Religion News Service, Mark Silk, director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, also predicted in March that the justices would decide as they did this week — and on Monday he wrote that if they follow their logic when the faith-based groups come before them, the Little Sisters et al. could be in trouble.
The key factors are twofold, Silk explained:
One is that the majority based their decision on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, of 1993, which requires that the state must have a “compelling interest” if it is to infringe on religious rights, and it must use “the least restrictive means” possible.
The majority essentially assumed, but did not rule, that the government did have a compelling interest in providing birth control coverage to women. But the five justices said the government could find a better, less restrictive way to accomplish that goal, like paying outright for the coverage.
Yet Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a concurring opinion, pointedly noted that “the means to reconcile those two priorities are at hand in the existing accommodation.”
And Kennedy is the second factor clouding prospects for the nuns and others, because he is considered the swing vote on the court, and when the Little Sisters’ case comes up he could swing the other way.
In fact, the Hobby Lobby decision, Silk predicted, “will prove to be a significant setback for the Catholic bishops and other free exercise maximalists, a good omen for contraception coverage advocates, and a fine result for those interested in a reasonable balance of the interests at hand.”
University of Virginia law professor Douglas Laycock, a leading religious freedom expert, agreed that the court’s suggestion “that the government’s accommodation for nonprofits is a less restrictive means for the for-profits does not bode well for the nonprofits.”
“The court specifically does not decide the claims of religious nonprofits who don’t even want to send the form claiming the objection,” Laycock said. “But I would not be optimistic about that claim.”
At Mirror of Justice, a Catholic legal blog, University of St. Thomas law professor Thomas Berg welcomed the ruling but also predicted that the majority opinion and Kennedy’s concurrence “imply that some form of the nonprofit accommodation will be held a permissible solution.”
And at First Things, a conservative journal of religion and politics, St. John’s University law professor Mark Movsesian conceded that “the language here is a bit opaque and may cause trouble in future.”
On the other hand, Kim Daniels, a former spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and an attorney specializing in religious freedom issues, contended that there was “strong language” in the majority opinion supporting the claims of religious nonprofits like the Little Sisters.
Daniels also did not read Kennedy’s opinion as undermining that stance.
“I think that worries about Justice Kennedy’s opinion are misplaced,” Daniels, now a senior adviser to Catholic Voices USA, wrote in an email. “I find it hard to believe that Justice Kennedy would confirm RFRA protection for for-profit corporations, but not for the Little Sisters of the Poor and others like them.”
Daniels and others also noted that the majority also explicitly refused to engage the underlying religious claims being made by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga — claims that would be central to the arguments by the Little Sisters and others, and which could underpin a ruling in their favor.
Or not.
Ira Lupu, George Washington University law school professor emeritus, essentially threw up his hands and called the impact of the ruling on the Little Sisters case “completely uncertain” — a view that was probably more widespread than any claims about what the justices will, or will not, rule when the faith-based nonprofits come before the high court.
YS/MG END GIBSONGood for retailers, bad for schools. Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters Retail giants like Target and Lowe's are fighting to pay less taxes.
When they win, schools end up losing billions of dollars, Edweek reported.
In what is often described as a tax loophole, these retailers utilize a legal argument dubbed the "dark store theory" to decrease their annual property taxes. They say that their taxes should be calculated as if their stores were vacant or "dark," rather than when they are at full capacity.
Property taxes for retailers are most commonly assessed looking at the "best and highest use" of the store, so a fully functional store would be taxed higher than a vacant store.
Property taxes finance school district budgets, just as they finance other public services like libraries, parks, and police departments.
The impact of a retailer winning a legal dispute under the dark store theory is significant.
Texas has estimated that within five years, the dark store theory could cost $2.6 billion annually and $1.2 billion in losses for schools, according to Edweek.
And in Michigan, about two-thirds of districts lost at least $75 million, according to Edweek, which said retailers have been winning the argument in courts.
Local governments object to the theory because it decreases revenue to the state while also increasing the burden of increased taxes on other property owners. Schools, roads, and other public services still need funding.
Governments have attempted to pass legislation against using the dark store theory, according to The National Law Review.
With so much on the line for both retailers and local and state governments, the issue isn't going away soon.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story included a reference to Home Depot. A spokesperson for the company reached out and said they don't use the strategy.Electronic cigarettes usually made of two separate parts—the mod and the atomizer. (But there are exceptions).
The mod is the control centre of your vaporizer. It’s the bulky body that houses several buttons and an LED screen. Inside the mod, you’ll find a circuitboard, which allows you to regulate your settings, and a battery, which provides power to your atomizer.
The atomizer can come in many forms (as a tank, a dripper, etc.). It consists of a spun coil of resistive wire (meaning it heats up when electricity is applied to it) and a wicking material (usually organic cotton).
E juice is either poured into a tank, or dripped onto the wicking material of a dripper. When you press the firing button on your mod, the coil heats up and creates vapor.As the network continues to take PR hits over the disturbing allegations against former host Charlie Rose, CBS News now has another sexual harassment claim to confront, as a former producer has filed a suit suggesting the harassment problems extended beyond the star’s dressing room.
Ex-CBS employee Erin Gee — who worked at the network for 17 years — claimed CBS Evening News boss Robert Klug advised her to “have sex” with a colleague to handle their workplace disputes. As reported by the New York Post, court documents state Klug told Gee that she “should ‘have sex’ with [the] video editor who had been difficult to work with to ‘break the ice.'”
“I couldn’t believe that was his advice. I was looking for help, and he looked at me like, ‘You don’t matter, and this is what you should do to make this guy like you,'” added Gee.
Despite reportedly approaching another higher up to state her concerns over the sexual harassment, Gee noted that “nothing was done.” In a similarly disturbing development, Klug went on to receive a promotion from the station despite Gee’s attempts to expose his misconduct, while her career took a hit after the incident.
“All I wanted was the same opportunities that were being given to the men. In my nearly 20 years at CBS, I never saw a female director direct the evening news… My situation demonstrates why woman are afraid to speak up. When they do, they’re often punished for it,” Gee added — implying that the reason she was downgraded from her post at CBS was due to reporting her concerns.
While she left the network and moved to a different media job, Gee is now taking legal action against CBS in a suit that lists unspecified damages.
[image via screengrab]
Follow the author on Twitter (@calebecarma).
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comA cash machine outside Tesco Express in Aberystwyth has been promising customers "free erections" after a translation error.
Above the ATM at the new store in west Wales it said "codiad am ddim" which would translate colloquially as "free erections."
A more correct version would have been "codi arian heb dâl".
This literally means, "lift money without fee" as "codi" means lift, while "codiad" means erection.
Aberystwyth Councillor Ceredig Davies spotted it and put it on his Facebook page where it was shared hundreds of times.
He told Newsbeat: "I thought it was funny but I think they should have gone the extra mile and checked it out with a Welsh speaker.
"I mean as Welsh speakers we are used to blunders, but this one really takes the biscuit."
A spokesperson for the supermarket said: "We've taken the sign down and will replace it with the correct translation as soon as possible.
"Thanks to everyone who pointed out the mistake."
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTubeChris Doane busted out a drone or a helicopter to grab the first images of the 2019 Jeep Wrangler Pickup. Yeah, Jeep has the vehicle wrapped in camouflage. Why? It might look like a Jeep when all’s said and done…
Calm down folks; we know it’s going to borrow heavily from the Wrangler line. It’s not a state secret. What we get a glimpse at is the automaker isn’t giving fans a half-baked pickup. The long wheelbase and giant truck bed show off a Wrangler that’s ready to do some work.
A couple of points have been raised in forums. The spy shots show a definite unfinished product. Most of the areas (fenders, wheels, etc.) don’t line up or appear not to thanks to Jeep wrapping |
strength of his game is that he doesn’t do anything poorly. He’s just as dangerous off the ball as he is on the ball, and he can slide among three different positions on defense. Middleton fits into any lineup and makes everyone around him better, which is why Milwaukee has been able to integrate him into the rotation so seamlessly. He’s the connective glue that turns the Bucks from a mismatched collection of long limbs into a group that is better than the sum of its parts.
In the 787 minutes that Middleton has played this season, the Bucks have an offensive rating of 111 (which would be fourth in the league over the course of the season) and a defensive rating of 105.8 (which would be tied for 13th). Their net rating with him on the floor (plus-5.2) is the best mark on the team. The most impressive part of Middleton’s production is how much of it has happened without Giannis on the floor. Jason Kidd staggers the minutes of his two best players so that one is almost always on the floor. Opponents can’t take a breather when Giannis comes out, because the Bucks have been better with Middleton running the show:
At 6-foot-8 and 234 pounds with a 6-foot-11 wingspan, Middleton has the size of a power forward and the game of a perimeter player. He’s one of the best shooters in the NBA — he shoots 41.7 percent from 3 on 3.7 attempts per game and 87.5 percent from the free throw line — and Middleton’s length allows him to fire when there isn’t any space to work with. Even if a smaller player is draped all over him on defense, the opponent can’t bother his shot. On plays like this, it’s as if Middleton is in an empty gym, shooting over a chair:
One of the Bucks’ favorite tactics is to run pick-and-rolls with Middleton as the ball handler to force a smaller player to switch on to him. Middleton knows how to use his size to his advantage, and he can create his own shot at any point in the possession. “Guys that are the higher-paid guys in this league that become max players … can go produce a shot or a double-team, and [Middleton] is one of those guys,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said before Dallas’s game against the Bucks last week. “He’s extremely difficult to deal with as well because they can just give him the ball and he’s great at creating a look, and he’s pretty good at getting fouled.”
Once he gets a guard on his back, the defense is in trouble.
Post play has fallen out of fashion in recent years. Part of the issue is how much the league has relaxed on illegal defense rules, which has made it much easier to pack the paint and prevent an easy entry pass to a big man; it also means that once a big man gets the ball, the defense can shade help his way and prevent him from getting much space to go into his move. Plus, in general, it’s really hard to score over the top of NBA big men, who have spent all of their lives battling offensive players in the post. None of those things apply when a wing like Middleton is playing with his back to the basket: Middleton can post 20-plus feet from the basket and create a high-percentage shot, while most guards don’t have nearly as much experience defending in the post as power forwards and centers.
Posting up Middleton will be a huge weapon for the Bucks in the playoffs, when the game slows down and defenses know the other team’s offensive sets and pet plays by heart, making one-on-one offense in the half court more important. The Bucks are one of the longest teams in the NBA, starting Malcolm Brogdon (6-foot-5 and 215 pounds with a 6-foot-10 wingspan) and Tony Snell (6-foot-7 and 217 pounds with a 6-foot-11 wingspan) next to Middleton and Giannis, and that teamwide size makes it easy for Kidd to manipulate matchups in order to attack smaller guards on defense.
Middleton’s passing ability makes him even more dangerous with the ball.
That’s what separates him from Parker, and it’s a big reason the Bucks have gotten better in Jabari’s absence. Parker is a more explosive scorer, but he doesn’t have Middleton’s ability to read the floor at this stage in his career. Whether Middleton is in the post or in the pick-and-roll, he’s always looking to draw multiple defenders and set up his teammates. His ability to have offense run through him at 6-foot-8 is a huge weapon, because he can see over the defense and throw passes smaller players can’t even attempt.
Middleton would lose in a footrace to JaVale McGee 100 times out of 100, but he has ways of neutralizing his opponent’s athleticism. Middleton is adept at changing speeds, and below, he keeps McGee off-balance just long enough to create an opening for a pass. This is like watching Jamie Moyer throw an 80 mph fastball right past a major league hitter.
Middleton’s lack of explosiveness as he recovers from his hamstring injury has been more of an issue defensively, and the Bucks have given him less responsibility on that side of the floor this season. Brogdon usually takes the point guard and Snell matches up with the other team’s best wing, leaving Middleton to deal with the least-threatening perimeter player and play as a help-side defender. He occasionally gets beat off the dribble, but his combination of length, strength, and basketball IQ means he’s still able to hold his own. He also has the versatility to switch screens and match up with almost any type of player on a given possession. In this sequence, he winds up forcing Russell Westbrook to take a pull-up jumper, a huge win for a bigger and slower defender:
In this sequence, he’s able to fight off Dirk Nowitzki on the switch, preventing the 7-footer from establishing post position and forcing the Mavs offense out of the shot they wanted:
There aren’t many players in the NBA who can contribute to a team in as many ways as Middleton. He can threaten a defense as a spot-up shooter, a primary option, or as a playmaker, and he can switch screens and match up with almost any type of player on defense. Under Kidd, the Bucks play a fluid, positionless style of basketball that asks players to be Swiss army knives on both ends of the floor. No player fits his philosophy better than Middleton. Wing players have never been more important in the NBA, and Milwaukee has the league’s best one-two punch at wing outside of Golden State.
The playoff standings in the East are pretty jumbled at the moment. The Bucks are jockeying with the Hawks for the no. 5 seed, and the Raptors and Wizards are battling for the no. 3 seed. Both teams would much rather face Atlanta than Milwaukee. In a series against the Bucks, their best perimeter defender will have his hands full guarding Giannis, and their second-best perimeter defender will have little chance of stopping Middleton. Middleton missed all four of Milwaukee’s games against Washington this season, but he scored 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting in the Bucks’ 101–94 victory over Toronto on March 4. The playoffs are all about matchups, and matching up against a team with two elite wings is a nightmare. All of the focus at the start of the Bucks’ first-round series will be on Giannis. By the end of it, it could be on Khris Middleton.User Photo Albums Containing this Photo (11) + Add to Album
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May 6, 2014
Volume 12, issue 4
Domain-specific Languages and Code Synthesis Using Haskell
Looking at embedded DSLs
Andy Gill, University of Kansas
There are many ways to give instructions to a computer: an electrical engineer might write a MATLAB program; a database administrator might write an SQL script; a hardware engineer might write in Verilog; and an accountant might write a spreadsheet with embedded formulas. Aside from the difference in language used in each of these examples, there is an important difference in form and idiom. Each uses a language customized to the job at hand, and each builds computational requests in a form both familiar and productive for programmers (although accountants may not think of themselves as programmers). In short, each of these examples uses a DSL (domain-specific language).
A DSL is a special-purpose language, designed to encapsulate possible computations in a specific domain. In the examples of MATLAB, SQL, Verilog, and spreadsheets, the domains would be scientific modeling, database queries and updates, hardware circuits, and financial computations, respectively. Considering SQL specifically, there is nothing it does that could not be done in Java or C, or any other general-purpose programming language. SQL simply bundles the actions needed to interact with a database into a usable and productive package, and the language becomes the interface to communicate requests to the database engine.
There are two fundamental types of DSLs. The first is a first-class language, shown in figure 1(1), with its own compiler or interpreter, and it is often used in its own ecosystem. All the examples mentioned so far fall into this category. The primary difference between the SQL DSL and, for example, Java is one of scope and focus, although sometimes DSLs grow to be as large as general-purpose languages.
The other class of DSL is a language embedded in a host language, as shown in figure 1(2). Such languages can have the look and feel of being their own language, but they leverage the host language's existing ecosystem and initial semantics. This article is concerned with this second class of DSLs.
Haskell Primer
An EDSL (embedded DSL) is a language inside a language. Haskell,17 the premier pure functional programming language, is a great host for EDSLs because of flexible overloading, a powerful type system, and lazy semantics. This section provides a terse introduction to Haskell, sufficient to make this article self-contained. It is an extended version of the Haskell primer given by this author in 2011 at the International Conference on Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms.10
Haskell is all about types. Types in Haskell, like those in other languages, are constraining summaries of structural values. For example, in Haskell Bool is the type of the values True and False ; Int is the type of machine-sized words; Double is the type of double-precision IEEE floating-point values; and this list goes on in the same manner as in C, C++, Java, and other traditional languages. All these type names in Haskell start with an uppercase letter.
On top of these basic types, Haskell has two syntactic forms for expressing compound types. First, pairs, triples, and larger structures can be written using tuple-syntax, comma-separated types inside parentheses. Thus, (Int,Bool) is a structure with both an Int and a Bool component. Second, lists have a syntactic shortcut, using square brackets. Thus, [Int] is a list of Int.
Haskell also has other container types. A container that may contain one Int has the type Maybe Int, which is read Maybe of Int. These container names also start with uppercase letters.
Types can be nested to any depth. For example, you can have a [(Maybe (Int,Bool))], read as list of Maybe of (Int and Bool).
Polymorphic values are expressed using lowercase letters and play a similar role to void* pointers in C and polymorphic arguments in the Java generics facility. These polymorphic values can have constraints expressed over them, using the Haskell equivalent of an object hierarchy.
Finally, a function is written using an arrow from argument type to result type. Thus, in Haskell, a function that takes a list and returns a list is written as: [a] -> [a].
Here is an example of a Haskell function:
sort :: (Ord a) => [a] -> [a]
sort [] = []
sort (x:xs) = sort before ++ [x] ++ sort after
where
before = filter (<= x) xs
after = filter (> x) xs
This function sorts a list using a variant of quicksort in which the pivot is the first element of the list:
* The first line is the type for sort. This is ∀a, such that a can be ordered (admits comparisons like <= ); the function takes and return a list of such a's.
* The second line says that an empty list is already sorted.
* The remaining lines state that a non-empty list can be sorted by taking the first and rest of the list (called x and xs, respectively), sorting the values before this pivot and after this pivot, and concatenating these intermediate values together.
* Finally, intermediate values can be named using the where syntax; in this case the values of before and after.
Haskell is a concise and direct language. Structures in Haskell are denoted using types, constructed and deconstructed, but never updated. For example, the Maybe type can be defined using two constructors, Nothing and Just :
data Maybe where
Nothing :: Maybe a
Just :: a -> Maybe a
Nothing is a Maybe of anything; Just, with an argument, is a Maybe with the type of the argument. These constructors can be used to construct and deconstruct structures, but there is never any updating; all structures in Haskell are immutable.
It is possible to give specific types extra powers, such as equality and comparison, using the class-based overloading system. The Maybe type, for example, can be given the ability to test for equality, using an instance:
instance Eq a => Eq (Maybe a) where
Just a == Just b = a == b
Nothing == Nothing = True
_ == _ = False
This states that for any type that can be tested for equality, you can also check Maybe for the same type. You take the Maybe apart, using pattern matching on Just, to check the internal value.
In Haskell, side effects such as writing to the screen or reading the keyboard are described using a do -notation:
main :: IO ()
main = do
putStrLn "Hello"
xs <- getLine
print xs
In this example a value called main uses the do -notation to describe an interaction with a user. Actually, the do -notation captures this as a structure called a monad; purity is not compromised. More detailed information is available on how the do -notation and monads can provide an effectful interface inside a pure language such as Haskell.18 For the purposes of this article, do -notation is a way of providing syntax and structure that looks like interaction. There are many tutorials on Haskell; the Haskell Web site (http://haskell.org) is a good starting point for further reading.
Embedded DSLs
An EDSL is a library in a host language that has the look, feel, and semantics of its own language, customized to a specific problem domain. By reusing the facilities and tools of the host language, an EDSL considerably lowers the cost of both developing and maintaining a DSL. Benefiting from Haskell's concise syntax, the Haskell community—and the functional programming community in general—has taken the ideas of EDSLs and developed a large number of DSLs that provide higher-level interfaces and abstractions for well-understood systems. What follows are two examples of EDSLs: one for automatically generating test cases for software testing; and a second for specifying hardware-circuit behaviors.
Example EDSL: QuickCheck Properties
Consider the challenge of writing test cases—or more specifically, writing the properties that test cases need to satisfy:
-- The reverse of a reverse'd list is itself
prop_reverse_twice (xs :: [Int]) = reverse (reverse xs) == xs
In this example, prop_reverse_twice is a regular Haskell function that takes a list of Int and returns a Boolean, based on the validity of what is being proposed—specifically, that two reverses cancel each other out. Here is the neat part: prop_reverse_twice is also a domain-specific statement and as such can be considered a sublanguage inside Haskell. This style of using functions (in this case, functions with names prefixed with prop_, taking a number of typed arguments, and returning a conditional) is a small language. The property written in Haskell is also an EDSL for properties, called QuickCheck.4 This EDSL can be run using a function also called quickCheck :
Prelude Test.QuickCheck> quickCheck prop_reverse_twice
+++ OK, passed 100 tests.
By running quickCheck with this explicit and specific property, the EDSL executes inside Haskell. The quickCheck function generates 100 test cases for the property and executes them on the fly. If they all hold, then the system prints a message reflecting this. The test cases are generated using the type class system—QuickCheck gives specific types the power of test-case generation—and the quickCheck function uses this to generate random tests.
As an example of an incorrect property, consider this property for reverse.
prop_reverse xs ys = reverse xs ++ reverse ys == reverse (xs ++ ys)
This states that the reverse of two distinct lists is the same as the reverse of both lists appended together, but this property is false.
Prelude Test.QuickCheck> quickCheck prop_reverse
Falsifiable, after 5 tests:
[0]
[2,-2]
It turns out that this sort of mini-language is really useful in practice. Despite the simplicity of how Haskell is being used, the QuickCheck EDSL provides a way of thinking about and directly expressing properties. It has additional functionality, including the ability to generate random function arguments, to control the distribution of the random test cases, and to state preconditions to a property. From this DSL, many other implementations of these ideas have been constructed. There is even a Swedish company, QuviQ, that sells a QuickCheck for the concurrent programming language Erlang.
Example EDSL: Kansas Lava
To take another example, consider describing hardware. Hardware description languages and functional languages have long enjoyed a fruitful partnership. Lava is the name given to a class of Haskell DSLs that implement a function-based version of the hardware description language Ruby.12,13 Not to be confused with the modern programming language of the same name, Ruby was based on relations, which was in turn inspired by the seminal work in μFP.21
Kansas Lava11 is a Haskell-hosted DSL that follows the Lava line of research. It is a language for expressing gate-level circuits. Haskell abstractions allow the programmer to work at a slightly higher level of abstraction, where the model is one of recursive components communicating via synchronized streams. Kansas Lava has been used for the generation of high-performance circuits for telemetry decoders, though the model used is general.
As an example of Kansas Lava, consider:
counter :: (Rep a, Num a) => Signal Bool -> Signal Bool -> Signal a
counter restart inc = loop
where reg = register 0 loop
reg' = mux2 restart (0,reg)
loop = mux2 inc (reg' + 1, reg')
This circuit connects two multiplexers ( mux2 ), an adder, and a register to give a circuit that counts the number of clocked pulses on a signal inc. The circuit takes two clocked signals and returns a clocked signal that explicitly operates using the same clock, because they share the same type. The use of arithmetic is understated, but simply uses (via overloading) the standard syntax for addition; the Num constraint allows this. Figure 2 illustrates the circuit intended for this description.
You can simulate sequential circuits with the same directness as the combinational functions invoked.
GHCi> toSeq (cycle [True,False,False])
True : False : False : True : False : False : True : False : False :...
GHCi> counter low (toSeq (cycle [True,False,False]))
1 : 1 : 1 : 2 : 2 : 2 : 3 : 3 : 3 :...
As well as basic signal types, you can build circuits that operate on Haskell functions directly, provided the domain of the function is finite. The Rep capability is used to signify that you can enumerate all possible representable values in a type, giving the funMap function:
funMap :: (Rep a, Rep b) => (a -> Maybe b) -> Signal a -> Signal b
The generated circuit is implemented using a ROM, and you can generate control logic directly in terms of Haskell functions and data structures. As an example, consider a small ROM that stores the square of a value:
squareROM :: (Num a, Rep a) => Signal a -> Signal a
squareROM = funMap (\ x -> return (x * x))
In this way, direct Haskell functions can be lifted into the Signal world. Notice how the squareROM function is not specific about size but is completely generic, requiring only the type of the argument stream to be representable as a number.
The clock-squaring ROM can now be used at specific types. For example, at eight-bit you can generate the following:
GHCi> squareROM (toSeq [0,1..] :: Signal Word8)
0 : 1 : 4 : 9 : 16 : 25 : 36 : 49 : 64 : 81 : 100 : 121 : 144 : 169 : 196 : 225 : 0 :...
This level of circuit specification has been used to great effect in many Lava and Lava-like languages. One notable instance is Hawk,15 a Lava-like EDSL that was used to specify the entire micro-architecture of the Pentium Pro, including the super-scaler design, and register bypass capabilities.
Now, if DSLs are so powerful as an idiom for library design, then why have they not taken over? As a means for expressing things that can be simulated, EDSLs are an invaluable design pattern; however, not everything is a simulation. What if you wanted to use an EDSL to express something that you want to run somewhere else, not inside the Haskell system? Can Lava be used to generate circuits to be run on FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays)? Can EDSLs be used to generate code for embedded processors or GPUs? Such an ability—to synthesize external solutions—would be extremely useful. The EDSL idiom can be extended to do so, with significant caveats. The remainder of this article is about how to capture and offshore work from inside an EDSL; what this capability can be used for; and what the limitations are.
Deeply Embedded Domain-specific Languages
EDSLs are simply a way of thinking about a library of provided functions, often called combinators, because they combine their arguments into terms inside the DSL. In the previous Lava example, the register combinator takes an initial value and an incoming stream of values and provides the new stream, delayed by a single cycle, with the initial value occupying the initial cycle. Critically, register is compositional; it combines smaller parts of the DSL to make larger solutions. If a DSL follows this composability carefully by design, an important alternative implementation is possible.
The most common flavor of EDSL is one that uses so-called shallow embedding, as seen in figure 1(2a), where values are computed directly. The result of a computation in a shallow EDSL is a value. All the examples so far are shallow. There is another class of EDSLs, however: specifically, those that use a deep embedding to build an abstract syntax tree, as shown in figure 1(2b). The result of a computation inside a deeply embedded DSL (deep EDSL) is a structure, not a value, and this structure can be used to compute a value or be cross-compiled before being evaluated.7 Such deep EDSLs follow the composability mantra pedantically, by design and mandate.
Historically, EDSLs have been shallow—simply a way of structuring an API for a library. Deep EDSLs, however, have the ability to stage code—that is, executing a program can generate another program, much like the well-known yacc DSL, but at the cost of significantly restricting what forms of the DSL can generate valid output. There are a growing number of deep EDSLs, along with a body of research around their form and limitations. The unifying theme is that deep EDSLs can be pragmatic, productive, and useful.
This section investigates the basic structure of a deep EDSL compared with a shallow EDSL, and looks at three pragmatic tricks for improving the usefulness of deep EDSLs.
Building a Deep EDSL
A deeply embedded DSL exposes its own composition and structure. Rather than using functions operating directly on values (a shallow DSL), a deep DSL builds a structure, then allows some secondary agent to provide interpretation of this structure. To make this idea concrete, consider a DSL for arithmetic, with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and constants. For a shallow embedding, running this DSL is trivial; you just use the built-in arithmetic. A deep embedding is where things get interesting. Consider a data type for our arithmetic:
data Expr where
Lit :: Integer -> Expr
Add :: Expr -> Expr -> Expr
Sub :: Expr -> Expr -> Expr
Mul :: Expr -> Expr -> Expr
deriving Eq
Now overload the arithmetic to use this E data type; in Haskell, Num is the overloading for integer arithmetic:
instance Num Expr where
fromInteger n = Lit n
e1 + e2 = Add e1 e2
e1 - e2 = Sub e1 e2
e1 * e2 = Mul e1 e2
By building expressions of type E, you can observe the structure of the computation:
GHCi> 1 + 2 * 3 :: Expr
Add (Lit 1) (Mul (Lit 2) (Lit 3))
This is profound, and it is the key idea that makes deep embeddings work. You can write an expression and extract a tree of what to do, not a direct result. With deep embeddings, it is common also to write a run function that computes the result of a captured computation:
run :: Expr -> Integer
run (Lit n)
= n
run (Add a b) = run a + run b
run (Sub a b) = run a - run b
run (Mul a b) = run a * run b
Figure 3 illustrates the differences between shallow and deep DSLs, and how a deep embedding combined with a specific run function gives the same result. For a deep embedded DSL, the run function restores the capability of the shallow embedding, but another function takes the embedded structure and uses it in some creative way.
To make deep DSLs practical, there are two additional tricks in the DSL folklore that are almost always used. The first trick allows the capture of functions, via dummy arguments. The second trick can observe loops, via some form of observable sharing.
How to Extract a Deep Embedding from a Function
Expressing function calls in terms of constructors and building expression trees is useful, but by itself is a gimmick. With careful construction, however, you can also capture function definitions, as well as other syntactical structures, directly from a deep embedding. It is at this point that the idea of capturing code, then using the captured code to execute code on a different target, becomes possible. Consider a simple function to add one to its argument:
f :: Expr -> Expr
f x = x + 1
Here is a function that acts over the new type Expr and returns a new Expr. How can you capture this function? The trick is to invent a unique Expr and pass it as a (dummy) argument to f :
data Expr where
Lit :: Integer -> Expr
Add :: Expr -> Expr -> Expr
Sub :: Expr -> Expr -> Expr
Mul :: Expr -> Expr -> Expr
Var :: String -> Expr -- new constructor
You can now run the function directly and see the result in your deep embedding, or pass in the Var argument and see the actual function:
-- Just running the function
GHCi> f 4
Add (Lit 4) (Lit 1)
-- reifying the function, using our unique Var.
GHCi> f (Var "x")
Add (Var "x") (Lit 1) -- reified version of the function
This is remarkable! You've run a function with a dummy argument (called the prototypical argument) and extracted the body of the function.
This idea scales to multi-argument functions. Consider g :
g :: Expr -> Expr -> Expr
g x y = x * x + y + 2
Two prototypical arguments to g will capture the function:
GHCi> g (Var "x") (Var "y")
Add (Add (Mul (Var "x") (Var "x")) (Var "y")) (Lit 2)
There are many places this design pattern can be used. One example is the specification of surface textures as functions; it is possible to export these into code executable on GPUs, simultaneously lifting the abstractions used to write textures and speeding up how fast an implementation of the same operations would run. There is nothing that is specific about Haskell or even functional languages here. Indeed, the same ideas have been used in Java for a VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) generator.2 Haskell, with its powerful abstractions, allows deep DSLs almost to feel like a straightforward shallow embedding.
How to Spot a Loop
Lava programs are written as equations of recursive bindings. An attempt to build a deep embedding of Lava directly will lead to an infinite cycle of structures. To illustrate the challenge, let's build a deep embedding of Lava, see where it goes wrong, and fix it using a technique called observable sharing.
First the Lava language needs a structure. We define the functions used before but give them a deep embedding, called Signal :
data Signal where
Register :: a -> Signal a -> Signal a
Mux2 :: Signal Bool -> (Signal a,Signal a) -> Signal a
Lit :: a -> Signal a
Add :: Signal a -> Signal a -> Signal a
Var :: String -> Signal a -- the Var trick
instance Num a => Num (Signal a) where
a + b = Add a b
mux2 :: Signal Bool -> (Signal a,Signal a) -> Signal a
mux2 c (a,b) = Mux2 c (a,b)
register :: a -> Signal a -> Signal a
register d s = Register d s
Now, when attempting to extract counter, things go horribly wrong:
GHCi> counter (Var "restart") (Var "inc")
Mux2 (Var "inc") (Add (Mux2 (Var "restart") (Lit 0,Register 0 (Mux2 (Var "inc")...
The output tree is infinite. What has happened is the recursive definitions are unrolling during attempts to reify the function, or more specifically, the body of counter is looping. At this point, the EDSL community was stymied. There were efforts to use monadic structure, where the loop was expressing using do-notation,8 making the loop an observable effect. There was an unsafe extension to observe a limited form of sharing by circumventing part of the purity of Haskell, called observable sharing.5 There was also an extension of the Haskell I/O mechanism that allowed loops to be observed indirectly, called I/O-based observable sharing.9 The net effect of all three mechanisms is that the observed tree is rendered as a graph with named edges.
At this point Haskell rescues us from some complexity. Advanced type-system mechanisms, such as higher-kinded arguments, allow a structure to be either a tree or a graph, depending on type-level instantiation. Omitting the details here, the reified function is a tree with sharing, then translated into a graph with explicit sharing. The final result for this example entity counter is:
GHCi> reify (counter (Var "restart") (Var "inc"))
[(0,MUX2 1 (2,3)),
(1,VAR "inc"),
(2,ADD 3 4),
(3,MUX2 5 (6,7)),
(4,LIT 1),
(5,VAR "restart"),
(6,LIT 0),
(7,REGISTER 0 0)]
In this output, each uppercase constructor corresponds to its deep-embedding constructor. A quick inspection shows that the circuit has been captured, as shown in figure 2. From this netlist-style structure, generating VHDL is straightforward. For the example of four-bit numbers, the VHDL is provided in figure 4.
These two tricks (prototypical argument and I/O-based observable sharing) are the technical fundamentals of Kansas Lava. On top of this base, and with help from the Haskell type system, an entire ecosystem for circuit generation has been developed. The DSL idiom allows programmers to use high-level abstraction in Haskell and generate efficient circuits. Not all is rosy, however; writing a Lava program is not the same as writing a Haskell program because of the limitations of deep embeddings.
A Deep Embedding is Only Half a Program
The basis of a deep EDSL is one of constructiveness. Functional programming is about constructing and deconstructing values. Because of this, a deep embedding cannot reify any pattern matching—or even direct usage of if-then-else—and other control flow. Kansas Lava sidestepped this—for example, by using a mux2 constructor, which encodes choice. How much further can the idiom be pushed if you need to be deconstructive? The result is surprising. Let's start with the three capabilities:
* Basic expressions can be captured by constructing a tree that is an analog to your syntax.
* Functions can be captured using a fake unique argument.
* Local bindings can be observed using some form of observable sharing.
With these three comes an automatic fourth capability:
* The host language provides a built-in macro capability to the embedded language. Any part of Haskell (including control flow and pattern matching) can be used to generate the embedded language.
There are also extensions to the basic techniques. The principal ones are:
* Internal function calls can be captured as notes on a graph, rather than directly inlined.14 This helps compilation of large programs, giving a basic separate compilation capability.
* The do statement can be reified by normalization.16,19,22 This result, called monadic reification, is surprising. There are strong technical reasons to believe monadic reification should be impossible; however, the normalization refactors the constraints that, by themselves, would be impossible to solve and matches them up, one-on-one, with a matching witness, allowing the whole do -notation to be solved and reified. Monadic reification is a recent discovery but has already been used in several deep DSLs, including Feldspar1 and Sunroof.3
* Control flow is problematic and cannot be used directly, but there is a generalization of Haskell Boolean that does allow deep-embedding capture.6 Using this library, a DSL with control flow can be constructed, but it needs to be explicit code, at the DSL level, using constructors. The mux2 function used previously is a simplification of this idea. The usage is clumsy but workable, and we should be able to do better.
Where does this leave deep DSLs? They are clearly a useful design pattern for the language implementer, but they come with costs and limitations. How can we therefore push the state of the art and allow more of the Haskell language to be reified? There are two primary shortcomings. One we have discussed already: control flow and pattern matching remain a thorn in deep DSLs.
Parametric polymorphism, one of the strengths of a functional program, is the other issue for deep DSLs. A specific structure is needed to represent what has been captured, and arbitrary polymorphism interferes with this. Current systems sidestep this issue by always instantiating at a specific type, but this is expensive because the size of the captured program can expand exponentially. Polymorphism was the technical reason that it was thought that monadic reification was not possible, but in that case it was sidestepped by normalization; this technique does not generalize to all polymorphism.
A deep DSL is a value-level way of extracting an expression, but there are other ways. Quasi-quoting is a mechanism for extracting expressions, but at the syntactic level. Haskell comes with an extensive template system called Template Haskell20, which is often used for DSLs. There is a sense of unease with such solutions; however, in much the same way the C preprocessor is used even though it is not considered elegant. The principal issue is that the syntax of Haskell is huge, consisting of around 100 syntactical terms. An expression-based solution, such as a deep embedding, can avoid the need to rewrite front translations. Quasi-quoting has one important advantage: specifically, it can cope with control flow and deconstruction of values. Perhaps the future of deep DSLs is some hybrid between expression generation and quasi-quoting, combining the best of both systems.
Acknowledgements
This paper is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CCF-1117569, and was originally presented as a master class under the Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance Visiting Fellow program, in November 2013. The Kansas Lava examples and description were adapted from an earlier article about Lava written by the author.10
References
1. Axelsson, E., Claessen, K., Sheeran, M., Svenningsson, J., Engdal, D., Persson, A. 2011. The design and implementation of Feldspar: an embedded language for digital signal processing. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Implementation and Application of Functional Languages. Springer-Verlag: 121-136.
2. Bellows, P., Hutchings, B. 1998. JHDL—an HDL for reconfigurable systems. Annual IEEE Symposium on Field-programmable Custom Computing Machines.
3. Bracker, J., Gill |
the road 10/6 in Lisbon. We’ll probably be hearing from him before then.The epidemic of suicides among veterans of the Iraq war with PTSD has become so common that I sat down to write about two news ones today and end up writing about an even more recent, and shocking, one. It involves a decorated vet who wrote about his PTSD for the Marine Corps Gazette-- and this week killed himself and his brother after a long police chase in Arizona.
Police have discovered no motive for the killings, nor why the brothers earlier in the week may have planned to commit suicide by driving into the Grand Canyon -- Thelma and Louise style.
Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs, 36, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993 and held the combat action ribbon -- and met President Bush a few weeks ago -- wrote a lengthy article in the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette detailing his efforts to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. He loved his country so much he named a daughter America, The Arizona Republic reports today.
His brother was Willard J. Twiggs, age 38.
"All this violent behavior, him killing his brother, that was not my husband. If the PTSD would have been handled in a correct manner, none of this would have happened," Kellee Twiggs, the wife of Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs, said. She said he began changing after his second tour of duty in Iraq, and worsened after he returned from his third stint there, when he lost two good friends from his platoon.
"He went and saw a physician's assistant who said that was the severest case of PTSD she'd seen in her life," Kellee Twiggs said, according to published reports. Twiggs had been absent without leave since May 5.
Travis Twiggs was given medications for mood elevation and sleeping to get him calmed down before beginning therapy. But again he was sent back to Iraq "and he was very, very different, angry, agitated, isolated and so forth," upon his return, Kellee Twiggs said, according to the Associated Press. "He was just doing crazy things."
She said her husband was treated in the psychiatric ward of Bethesda Naval Medical Center and then sent to a Veterans Affairs Department facility for four months. But she said she couldn't understand why he was not sent to a specialized PTSD clinic in New Jersey.
"They let him out. He was OK for a while and then it all started over again," she said, according to AP, adding that Travis Twiggs was with the Wounded Warrior Regiment and accompanied a group to Washington a few weeks ago where he met President Bush at the White House.
In his Marine Corps Gazette article, written after his fourth tour, he wrote: "All of my symptoms were back, and now I was in the process of destroying my family," he wrote. "My only regrets are how I let my command down after they had put so much trust in me and how I let my family down by pushing them away."
Most recently, Twiggs was assigned to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico, Va. Tom Ricks, The Washington Post's military reporter, notes today online that he had touted Twiggs' Marine Corps Gazette article about PTSD when it came out.
The AP describes Twiggs' final hours this way:
On Wednesday, Twiggs and his brother led law enforcement agents on a chase across more than 80 miles of Interstate 8 after speeding away from a Border Patrol checkpoint in southwestern Arizona. After officers with the Tohono O'odham Police Department placed spike strips on the interstate, the car continued for about a mile. Police and Border Patrol agents heard two shots from the disabled car and later found both men slumped forward and dead in a vehicle they had carjacked Monday night within Grand Canyon National Park. They are believed to have crashed their car at the canyon's edge and walked away from the scene, witnesses said, hours before the carjacking at gunpoint. Park spokeswoman Shannan Marcak said that investigators believe, based on how the car was hung up on a tree, the men may had tried to drive off the road and into the canyon.Police say majority of those killed at Munich shopping centre were teenagers, as it emerges three were of Turkish descent
Who were the Munich shooting victims? Eight of nine dead under 20 years old
A Greek teenager killed in the Munich gun rampage threw himself in front of his twin sister to protect her from a hail of bullets, according to reports.
What's the mood in Germany following the recent attacks? Read more
Huseyin Dayicik, 19, was shot twice by Ali Sonboly after pushing his sister out of the gunman’s way, according to MailOnline. The siblings had been at the Olympia shopping centre looking for gifts for their family, reports said.
The identities of the nine mainly young victims of the attack have emerged amid claims that 18-year-old Sonboly may have targeted people of Turkish and Arab origin, groups he apparently felt had picked on him at school.
Police said on Saturday that two victims were 13, three were 14, one was 17 and another was 19. The remaining two were 20 and 45. Six were male and three were female.
Twenty-seven people are being treated in the city’s hospitals for injuries sustained in the attack. Ten people – including a 13-year-old boy – remain in a critical condition and the death toll could rise further, officials said.
Among the dead were two 14-year-old Kosovan girls, Armela Segashi and Sabina Sulaj, and their Turkish friends Can Leyla, 14 and Selcuk Kilic, 15, according to reports.
Eighteen-year-old Guilliano Kollman reportedly died after being shot outside the McDonald’s restaurant where Sonboly began his murderous rampage.
On Saturday afternoon, Naim Zabergja, a policeman of Kosovan heritage, visited the scene to lay flowers where his son, Dijamant, 21, was killed. According to reports, the oldest victim was Sevda Dag, a 45-year-old Turkish woman.
The Greek foreign ministry confirmed the death of Dayicik, who was born in Germany and lived there with his family but was a Greek citizen. A Greek Muslim MP tweeted that the victim hailed from the nation’s Muslim minority in the north of the country.
“One of the victims is an expatriate from Western Thrace,” Ilhan Ahmet said in the tweet. The Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, said that having a Greek among the dead “binds us even more to the fight to eradicate hatred and terrorism in Europe”.
Police said Sonboly had no criminal record buthad been a victim of two minor crimes – a theft in 2010 and bodily harm in 2012. He had been receiving psychiatric care,.
There were reports that Sonboly, who was born and raised in Munich, had been bullied for several years. He was a student but no details about his school have been released.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Naim Zabergja holds a photo of his son Dijamant at the Olympia shopping centre in Munich where the shooting took place. Photograph: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/EPA
Officers found material about killing rampages in his room after raiding the apartment where he lived with his family on Saturday. Computers were seized during the raid.
Munich police investigator Robert Heimberger said it appeared the gunman had hacked a Facebook account and posted a message promising free food in order to lure people to McDonald’s in the Olympia shopping centre.
Munich has large communities of people who fled the Balkan wars in the 1990s, and in common with many German cities it is home to a diverse mix of people from many countries.
The gunman shot himself about half a mile from the shopping centre, but his body was not found until about two and a half hours after the incident began at 6pm local time on Friday.The first podcast will be released later this week, but we’d like to welcome a new member to our growing family.
Leadfoot Express, a logistics company based in the great city of Wichita, Kan., has joined on as our title sponsor.
We’ll now be known as “Flyover Country, presented by Leadfoot Express.”
These guys can ship anything anywhere and do it fast. They’re basically the Collin Klein of logistics: Whatever you need, they’re going to get it done. You can learn more about them on their website (points for a very cool and unique homepage) or give them a call at 316.540.9991.
This is going to be an exciting partnership.
We’ve still got room for more sponsorships and advertising, so if you’re interested in joining the family, contact me at UbbenD@gmail.com for more details.....................................................................................................................................................................................
ROSWELL – Suddenly, the silver saucer that has been suspended, stationary and silent above and behind four sallow-skinned, somber-faced, spaced-out aliens, starts to spin and spew smoke.
Caught by surprise, visitors to the International UFO Museum and Research Center – kids and adults – stand wide-eyed and transfixed, traces of smiles creasing their faces as they watch and wonder what’s next.
Well, actually, that’s about all. This saucer in the museum display does not crash as many people believe – or would like to believe – an actual alien craft did 70 years ago and about 75 miles northwest of here.
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The so-called Roswell Incident of 1947 is the reason the city of Roswell started a UFO Festival in 1995 and will host the 2017 festival Thursday, June 29, through Sunday, July 2.
It’s the reason stores along Main Street sell T-shirts embossed with little green men and slogans such as “Roswell – Green since 1947.”
It’s the reason why this museum was opened in 1992. And it’s the reason Dana Lenko, 35, alien-visaged antennae growing out of her long, dark hair, is among the museum visitors delighting in the spinning, smoking saucer.
Lenko is a native of Melbourne, Australia, but she has lived in this country for three years and makes her home in Austin, where she is a fashion designer. Earlier this month, she was traveling with friends in New Mexico.
“I have never been in New Mexico before,” she said. “We want to see Santa Fe and Taos. But I’ve always been very keen on the stars and the vastness of space. My dad was an amateur astronomer. He gave me a love for that and for science fiction and the films. So I wanted to see Roswell for sure. You’ve got the chance to come here where it all started.”
Strange debris
There were reports of Unidentified Flying Objects before whatever happened in New Mexico in the summer of 1947 happened. But the Roswell Incident planted the seed out of which today’s fascination with extraterrestrial visitation sprouted.
It started when W.W. “Mac” Brazel, who was running a sheep operation on a ranch 30 miles southeast of Corona, in Lincoln County, found debris scattered in his pasture in the summer of 1947. It was described as lightweight wood, tinfoil, tape, paper and strips of rubber, which sounds mundane enough. Except that some of it has also been described as impervious to fire, knife and hammer and unnaturally resilient.
When Brazel told neighbors about it during the first week of July, they said he might have found wreckage from one of those flying saucers that had been in newspaper stories recently. So Brazel drove down to Roswell Army Air Field and reported his find.
The Army collected the debris and on July 8 the Roswell air field public relations officer released information saying the Army had recovered a flying disc. It made newspaper headlines, but the story was retracted by the Army almost immediately. The debris was actually from a weather balloon, the Army said. So sorry for the goof up.
That could have been that. Mac Brazel died in 1963 and the years rolled along until 1980, when, in “The Roswell Incident,” Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore wrote that the weather balloon story was a cover-up, that not only was the stuff Brazel found from a flying saucer but that the Army had discovered the crashed saucer itself and the bodies of its alien crew.
It exploded from there. There were more books with varying body counts and crash-site locations. There was a 1999 TV movie; a 1999-2002 TV series; countless TV documentaries, including one in 1995 that claimed to depict an autopsy of an alien crash victims (it wasn’t); and a 1999 episode on “The X-Files” TV series.
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Wall-to-wall people
Roswell, a city of 50,000 about 200 miles southeast of Albuquerque, was not about to miss out on the action or the opportunity. Today, the “Welcome to Roswell” sign sports a tilted saucer on one corner. Through 2016, the UFO Museum had attracted 3,569,826 visitors, 13 percent of whom come from other countries. This year’s UFO festival is expected to draw 30,000 people, a boon to hotels, restaurants, service stations and stores with names such as Alien Zone, Alien Invasion, 3RD Rock From the Sun and Roswell Landing.
“The festival is our Black Friday,” said Robert Marshall, 53, a Roswell native and an employee of Roswell Landing, which sells alien-themed merchandise such as T-shirts, coffee cups, shot glasses, key chains, magnets and so on. “We’ve been back stocking a lot of merchandise (for the festival). Upstairs is all T-shirts.”
Jessie Payne, 32, manager of Alien Zone, remembers the 1997 festival, which marked the Roswell Incident’s 50th anniversary, as being the landmark celebration to date.
“That was wall-to-wall people,” she said. “People were walking up and down Main Street for miles. You couldn’t (drive) anywhere for stopping for pedestrians.”
To boost its everyday traffic, Alien Zone features Area 51, a special section where, for a $2 to $3 admission fee, patrons can see displays depicting aliens adapting to earthly avocations such as lounging on couches and drinking beer.
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On a recent day, Kevin Childers, 33, a medical doctor from Hendersonville, Tenn., and his wife, Danielle, 30, checked out Area 51. The Childers said their interest in Roswell had been piqued by “Unacknowledged,” a recent documentary about the suppression of alien-encounter incidents, a recurring theme in the UFO books, articles and films.
The Childers said they were having a good time in Roswell.
“We are here purely for the entertainment,” Kevin Childers said. “No tinfoil hats for us.”
Something happened
Roswell Landing’s Marshall said 95 percent of the people who come into the store are from somewhere else. He said those are the people who want alien T-shirts and coffee mugs.
He said it’s different for people, such as himself, who were born in Roswell.
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“You hear about it so much you don’t pay attention to it anymore,” he said. “But something happened. When the Army tells the Roswell Record (newspaper) they have found a flying saucer, and then the next day they have to come back and say it was a weather balloon.”
One explanation, and it sounds reasonable, is that the Army was not covering up for a flying saucer find but for Project Mogul, an operation, top secret at the time, aimed at discovering whether or not the Soviet Union was testing atomic bombs. The project employed high-altitude balloons equipped with sensitive microphones that could detect sound waves generated by atomic testing. Maybe it was a Project Mogul balloon that crashed into Brazel’s sheep pasture.
Frank Kimbler, 61, one of the guest speakers at this year’s UFO Festival, thinks the Project Mogul theory is just so much gas.
“A craft of unknown origin crashed in the New Mexico desert and scared the hell out of the American military and out of people (witnesses) to the point they won’t talk about it today,” Kimbler said.
An assistant professor of earth sciences at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, Kimbler will be giving a festival lecture titled “Roswell Crash Site: The Quest for Physical Evidence.” Over the last seven years he has been scouring the Brazel debris field, using metal detectors, remote sensing and radiation-detecting devices to search for pieces of debris overlooked by the Army, artifacts that may shed some light on what happened there in 1947.
“All we have is handed-down stories,” he said. “I need to take some of my science and see if I can find some physical evidence. I’ve found some aluminum-type alloys. For good science, you need to have samples tested at three independent laboratories. But as soon as I start to get an answer, things disappear – in the mail or somehow.”
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Nazi UFOs
Guy Malone, 48, of Roswell has organized a series of UFO Festival lectures that challenge the extraterrestrial hypothesis. He himself is doing presentations titled “Are Aliens Demons? Evidences That Suggest ‘Yes'” and “Roswell 1947: What Really Happened?”
Malone’s theory is that the Roswell Incident is about something more devious and sinister than an alien crash and subsequent government cover-up. He thinks it might have involved the crash of an experimental aircraft being developed for the United States by German scientists.
Malone said that following World War II, a secret effort, known as Operation Paperclip, smuggled hundreds of German scientists, engineers and technicians – many of them former members of the Nazi party – into this country.
“Hitler was notorious for developing flying craft of different shapes and propulsion devices,” Malone said. “The U.S. wanted the technology because the Russians were trying to scoop up these (Germans), as well as other countries.” He said some of the Germans were sent to Fort Bliss in Texas and New Mexico and White Sands in New Mexico.
Malone believes the cover-up was an attempt to keep new technology under wraps and conceal from the public the fact that Nazis were working for the U.S. government.
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Don Schmitt, 62, the co-author of five books about the Roswell Incident, said he was a skeptic when he started investigating the case in 1989.
“But the moment we started talking to people who actually handled the material (debris found by Brazel), we started thinking ‘What if we are wrong?’,” Schmitt said during a phone interview from his Wisconsin home. He said the first 10 witnesses all said the same thing about the debris, that it was like metal but it wasn’t, it was like plastic but it wasn’t, that it couldn’t be cut or burned or creased. Now, he says, he is 99 percent sure the crash involved something from another world.
Schmitt and his writing partner, Thomas J. Carey, will give several lectures at the UFO festival, one titled “The Misadventures of Two Roswell Investigators.”
“The investigation is still fluid,” he said. “We are planning our sixth archaeological dig (at the Brazel debris field). We may come away with nothing, but we can say we did it.”
Mysterious universe
Back at the UFO Museum, Pamela Cortez, 46, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, is checking out the exhibits. She has come to New Mexico to visit her daughter and two grandkids, all of whom live in Carlsbad.
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Cortez’s favorite museum display features statements by persons involved directly or indirectly with the Roswell incident. She thinks an alien spacecraft did slam into a New Mexico pasture 70 years ago.
“I believe it’s true. I believe the government hides a lot of stuff from us.”
Fashion designer Lenko, she of the alien antennae, is more cautious.
“I believe – in a more scientific way – that there might be other inhabitable planets out there,” she said. “It would be a bit arrogant of us to think that in this whole wide universe there is no other life. There’s a big universe out there, a lot of mysteries. It is very exciting.”
2017 UFO FESTIVAL
Roswell celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Roswell Incident with a festival Thursday-Sunday, July 2.
The festival includes a costume contest, laser shows, lectures, steampunk karaoke, vendors, giant water slides, a free outdoor movie, music, an electric light parade and too much more to fit here. Go to www.ufofestivalroswell.com for a list of events, times and ticket information. Following are highlights for each day of the festival.
THURSDAY, JUNE 29
10:30 a.m.: Guy Malone lecture, “Roswell 1947: What Really Happened?”, Roswell Mall.
7 p.m.: Dramatic reading of “War of the Worlds” radio show, $5 admission, Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell Performing Arts Center, 64 University Blvd.
7 p.m.: Galacticon Cosplay Crawl and Steampunk Karaoke, Roswell Mall.
FRIDAY, JUNE 30
10 a.m.: Thomas Carey & Don Schmitt lecture, “The Misadventures of Two Roswell Investigators,” UFO Museum Video Room, 114 N. Main. Museum admission fee of $5 for adults, $2 for kids, $ 3 seniors, military and first responders.
6 p.m.: Free concert by U.S. Air National Guard Band of the Southwest, Pearson Auditorium, 101 W. College on New Mexico Military Institute campus.
8 p.m.: Free movie, “Flash Gordon,” Spring River Park and Zoo, 1306 E. College Blvd.
SATURDAY, JULY 1
1 and 2 p.m.: Melodrama, “The Great FooDeeny Magic & Alien Encounter,” $3 admission, Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell Performing Arts Center, 64 University Blvd.
9 p.m.: Galacticon Steampunk Ball, $5 admission, Peppers Grill & Bar, Main and Sixth streets.
9 p.m.: Electric Light Parade, Downtown.
SUNDAY, JULY 2
10 a.m.: Frank Kimbler lecture, “Roswell Crash Site: The Quest for Physical Evidence,” Convention Center, 912 N. Main St.
Noon-3 p.m.: UFO Festival Car Show, 600 N. Main St.
WHAT: International UFO Museum and Research Center
WHERE: 114 N. Main in Roswell
HOURS: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Museum closes at noon the day before holidays.
ADMISSION: $5 adults, $2 children, $3 seniors, military and first responders.Hey, America. Lots of rich, famous Hollywood celebrities love Hillary Clinton. And so you should love her, too.
Right? That’s why liberals spent much of last week trashing the Republican National Convention’s celebrity lineup. Scott Baio and Antonio Sabato, Jr.? Please! We’ve got Elizabeth Banks, Lena Dunham and Meryl Streep!
Meryl f***ing Streep. That’s three Oscars right there.
Never mind that Baio delivered an almost sobering speech about what it means to be an American and the value of bootstrap self-empowerment, and Sabato discussed his joy at becoming an American citizen lawfully, by waiting his turn like everybody else, while Dunham prattled on about “Islamophobia” (no mention of ISIS, of course) and Meryl Streep gave us the Dean Scream that Howard Dean himself failed to deliver just hours earlier.
(And never mind that more people watched Happy Days, and even Joanie Loves Chachi, in their heydays than will ever watch an episode of HBO’s Dunham vehicle Girls.)
No. Eva Longoria, America Ferrera, Lena Dunham, Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Silverman are the Stars of Today. So, you should, like, totally care about their political opinions.
The Democrats are doing the same thing at the Democratic National Convention this year that they did (successfully) when Barack Obama accepted the nomination at the DNC in 2008; they’re hoping that if they simply trot out enough hip, well-liked celebrities, Americans will be dazzled into voting for Hillary Clinton, or something.
And the celebrity onslaught has been relentless, after just two days.
The convention’s first night featured Eva Longoria, Paul Simon, Sarah Silverman, Hangover actor Ken Jeong in a pre-taped skit, and, if you count him as a celebrity, Sen. Al Franken.
Silverman, one of Bernie Sanders’s earliest and biggest celebrity endorsers, told viewers at home that she would vote for Clinton with “gusto” (and scolded all the “ridiculous” Sanders diehards who had followed her lead for months, after they roundly booed her). Interesting speech for a comedian who once said that Sanders was a candidate who was “not for sale.” The whole thing was enough to make one silently cheer for Sanders holdout Susan Sarandon, who was spotted holding up an anti-TPP sign on the convention floor and who vowed earlier in the day that the Bernie “army” would march on.
But while the first day of the convention was amusing, the second day was practically insufferable.
The night’s official “host,” Pitch Perfect star Elizabeth Banks, heard crickets when she attempted to mock Donald Trump’s entrance at the RNC in Cleveland last week by coming out onstage to Queen’s “We Are the Champions” and a healthy supply of fog.
“That was over the top. I confirmed it just now,” Banks said, delivering a joke that late-night hosts and liberal talking heads had already beaten to death six days earlier.
Next up were actresses America Ferrera and Dunham, who teamed up for a joint speech. Dunham claimed Clinton as an advocate for her “fellow sexual assault survivors” despite possibly being the worst advocate for sexual assault survivors ever, and not just in Hollywood.
Singer Andra Day delivered a (well-executed) performance of her Grammy-nominated Black Lives Matter-inspired anthem, “Rise Up,” while Alicia Keys dedicated her night-closing performance of “Superwoman” to the mothers of the Black Lives Matter movement. And in between, three dozen of Clinton’s biggest Hollywood cheerleaders unveiled an a capella video of Rachel Platten’s hit “Fight Song,” the original of which has been a fixture at Clinton campaign rallies.
The DNC playbook in 2016 is the same as it was in 2008. Only the names have changed.
In 2008, it was Ben Affleck, Sheryl Crow, Susan Sarandon, Rosario Dawson and Stevie Wonder, while this year’s festivities feature Sigourney Weaver, Star Jones, Lee Daniels, Angela Bassett and Lenny Kravitz, all of whom are scheduled to speak or perform Wednesday night.
There is one key difference, though. Unlike Obama in 2008, Clinton is already a known quantity in 2016, and most of the adoring fans of these celebrities were likely going to vote for her anyway.
And even if they weren’t, these celebrities — many of them television actors like Dunham and Ferrera, who are far less known to the general public than movie stars like Streep — don’t have nearly the same level of influence they once did, thanks to an increasingly segmented media landscape.
What is more likely — though far from guaranteed given the utter unpredictability of this year’s race — is that the Democrats’ plan will backfire; after all, who wants to listen to a bunch of rich, spoiled, out of touch, protected-by-armed-guards “celebrities” tell you how to vote?
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaumA WOMAN who claims to put on weight no matter how little she eats could solve the world’s energy crisis, it has emerged.
Donna Sheridan claims to consume less calories than she expends while still gaining weight, which means she is breaking the laws of physics.
Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute for Studies said: “Donna is clearly generating energy from nothing. There’s no other explanation for her getting bigger despite sticking rigidly to whatever silly diet she’s on this month.
“If we can replicate this ability on a larger scale we can theoretically generate an infinite amount of energy from Ryvitas, celery and low-fat Philadelphia.
“Mankind will finally be able to stop destroying our planet and fighting wars over energy resources. Interstellar travel may even become possible, all thanks to Donna’s failed attempts to get down to a size 14.”
Teaching assistant Sheridan is adamant that her metabolism – which is different to that of everyone else on earth – meant weight gain was inevitable, even with a complete ban on biscuits.
She said: “Some people put on weight no matter what, and it’s nothing to do with having a strange definition of ‘diet’ that includes constantly grazing on M&Ms and putting slightly less mayo on your kebab.”(Long Beach, CA/ San Diego, CA) – Sublime has something special brewing for their fans in celebration of the 25th anniversary of their seminal debut album “40oz. to Freedom.” The band, hailing from Long Beach, has enlisted the help of craft beer stalwart AleSmith Brewing Company, operating out of San Diego, to brew this namesake beverage.
AleSmith Brewing Co. is brewing a Mexican-style lager on behalf of Sublime. There are plans for national distribution of the beer in 12oz. six-pack cans through AleSmith’s supply channels with an initial small batch of limited edition 40oz. bottles to be made available for sale from the brewery.
When asked how the decision to produce a Mexican-style lager came about, AleSmith owner/CEO, Peter Zien replied, “The band members are all big fans of this style of beer. We wanted to create our thirst-quenching version of a traditional Vienna-style lager (famously brewed by the Mexican breweries) that showcases a grainy, malt-forward sweetness and easy drinkability. Clean and crisp with subdued hop bitterness to balance, makes Sublime Mexican Lager the go-to beer for hot summer days or pre-concert tailgating.”
“From our very first meeting this was obviously a perfect fit,” says Sublime’s manager Dave Kaplan. “Both AleSmith and Sublime are all about staying true to quality and authenticity above all else. Plus, I always could see that classic Sublime ‘Sun’ logo on a beer bottle. We just needed a world-class beer to go inside and we found it with AleSmith.”
“It doesn’t taste like anything else,” says Sublime co-founder Bud Gaugh. “The flavor is great and it has a craft beer flare with a true Mexican lager taste. This is the one!”
“Being a beer lover, I’m so proud to partner with an elite world-class brewery like AleSmith and I know Sublime fans will absolutely love it!,” added Troy Holmes, widow of Bradley Nowell. “Like Bradley sang, ‘That 2nd beer was such a turn on.’”
As to how the Sublime and AleSmith Brewing Co. partnership was forged, it came down to similar track records and longevity within their respective industries. Since 1988, Sublime has stayed true to their independent, authentic music and lifestyle, resulting in a continually growing fan base with over 17 million albums sold. The band has brought all walks of life together through their revolutionary blend of musical styles. Since 1995, AleSmith Brewing Co. has been dedicated to creating the world’s highest quality beer while promoting an understanding and appreciation of craft beer and its styles and traditions to those they call their customers. The brewery has brought beer fans from around the globe together through their artisanal approach toward brewing and a diverse portfolio of beer styles offered.
Sublime Mexican Lager will become a permanent fixture in stores with a June 2017 release to coincide with the official anniversary date of “40oz. to Freedom.” Consumers should expect to see the beer nation-wide throughout AleSmith’s distribution channels. Exact outlets for the limited edition 40oz. bottles have yet to be determined.
ABOUT SUBLIME
Sublime the Long Beach, CA Reggae-punk/Alternative Rock trio was founded in 1988 by Eric Wilson, Bud Gaugh and Bradley Nowell. Their first self-produced album 40oz. to Freedom was released in1992 via the band’s label Skunk Records. The success of that album and heavy radio exposure by Southern California’s KROQ (two years after its initial release), secured Sublime signing to MCA Records in time for the band’s 1994 sophomore album Robbin’ the Hood, which revealed an experimental ethic more in keeping with cut-and-paste dub than the well-tuned rage of the Cali punk revival. The album performed well at college radio and set the stage for the breakout success of their self-titled third album. On May 25, 1996, however, lead vocalist and guitarist Nowell tragically passed away and the band collapsed, but the eponymous SUBLIME was still slated for a July 1996 release. On the strength of the chart-topping alternative radio hit “What I Got,” the album was certified gold by the end of 1996. “Santeria” and “Wrong Way” followed and enjoyed heavy airplay, and their sefl-titled album eventually sold more than six million copies, making it one of the most popular reggae-punk albums in history. Such success spread to the band’s earlier albums too, leading 40 Oz. to Freedom to double-platinum sales and Robbin’ the Hood to gold certification. Sublime have gone on to sell 17 million records in the US and their genre-defining music and their cultural influence is stronger today than ever before.
ABOUT ALESMITH BREWING COMPANY
Forged in 1995, AleSmith has been recognized by consumers and critics alike as one of the world’s foremost craft brewing companies behind accolades that include medals won at prestigious national and international beer competitions, as well as being named Small Brewing Company of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival in 2008. AleSmith is celebrating its 22nd year in business and recently expanded, moving into a 105,500-square-foot, state-of- the-art brewery featuring a new 85-barrel brewing system that will allow the company to increase its production ten-fold. AleSmith’s line of acclaimed beers, which includes Speedway Stout, IPA, Nut Brown Ale and X Extra Pale Ale, is distributed in 25 U.S. states and five countries. Visit them at www.alesmith.com. and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@AleSmithBrewing).
Sublime Online:
Official Website: www.sublimeLBC.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sublime
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sublime
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sublime
AleSmith Brewing Company Online:
Official Wesbite: www.AleSmith.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AleSmithBrewing
Twitter: www.twitter.com/AleSmithBrewing
Instagram: www.instagram.com/AleSmithBrewingQuick announcement my friends:
I am still going to post all the Arthurian myths
that have been requested thus far
but i’m not going to be taking any more arthurian requests
cuz i am working on some secret special project nonsense now
EXCITING
(I will still take requests for other shit though just to be clear)
Alright so when last we left our heroes
Percival was a retard
Lancelot was a masochist
Galahad was the chosen one
and Bors was less important than everyone else
EXCELLENT
SHALL WE CONTINUE?
YES
so Lancelot gets back to camelot
and Arthur is like whoa fuck
welcome back dude
let’s have a feast
but Sir Kay busts into the room like NOT SO FAST ASSHOLE
ONE TIME WHEN YOU WERE SUPER DRUNK
YOU MADE A PLEDGE
THAT YOU WOULD NEVER EAT DINNER ON SUNDAY
UNTIL YOU HAD SOME KIND OF LUDICROUS ADVENTURE
and Arthur is like oh fuck
guess we can’t eat because of my shortsighted drunken oath
but then RIGHT ON CUE
here comes some dude like hey guys
a bigass stone just appeared in the moat
AND GUESS WHAT
it has a SWORD in it
did merlin do this?
seems like his M.O.
fuck no merlin hasn’t gone anywhere near these assholes in YEARS
he’s off getting his dick sucked by pterodactyls in the prehistoric or some shit
who knows
he’s merlin
he does what he wants
anyway they all go out to see this sword
and there is a big plaque on it
like HEY ONLY THE BEST KNIGHT EVER CAN PULL ME OUT
PS IF YOU TRY TO PULL ME OUT AND FAIL
IMA STAB YOU LATER
so Arthur is like hey lancelot
you’re the best knight ever right?
go pull out this sword
and Lancelot is like fuck no
I have a REALLY ABYSMAL SELF IMAGE
also i don’t want to get stabbed
and Arthur is like shit well if Lancelot can’t do it
then no one can
hey Gawain see if you can do it
and Gawain
who has a habit of agreeing to EVERY SHITTY PROPOSITION
is like yeah sure
and he tries
and predictably fails
and arthur is like BALLS
now you’re gonna get stabbed dude
…
hey percival try and pull out the sword
and Percival is like DUR OK
and he ALSO fails
and arthur is like DOUBLE BALLS
ok well this counts as an adventure let’s have dinner
but no sooner do they start having dinner
then BAM Galahad shows up
and oh yeah i forgot to tell you
there’s this seat at the round table
that no one is allowed to sit at
because if you sit in it it sets you on fire
dunno why they keep it around honestly
but anyway when galahad shows up the chair is like HEY GALAHAD SIT ON ME
BEEN WAITING FOR YOU A LONG TIME BUDDY
so galahad sits right there
smack dab next to his absentee father actually
and then not only that but suddenly THE GRAIL SHOWS UP
GUYS WHY ARE THEY EVEN LOOKING FOR THIS THING IT IS JUST FOLLOWING THEM AROUND
and it gives everyone their favorite food
and then leaves
and Gawain
who of all the knights of the round table
is the dude who knows how to party the hardiest
is like DUDES
WE TOTALLY GOTTA GET THIS FUCKING GRAIL
OUR FEASTS WILL BE THE BOMB DIGGITY
and |
had stopped funding all but one organization which had been previously criticized by LGBT activists and supporters but, that group received just $25,390.[30] The company created a new foundation, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, to fund outside groups. WinShape Foundation's 2012 tax filings showed funding only for its own programs, a Berry College scholarship fund, and Lars WinShape, a home for needy children in Brazil.[2]
In 2017, Chick-fil-A is warning all its franchisees against speaking out publicly or getting involved in anything that could blur the line between their private beliefs and their public roles as extensions of the Chick-fil-A brand, the company has said.
Last year, that message extended to politics, in part to keep the brand from being exploited by candidates. The company turned down several candidates who tried to use Chick-fil-A to bolster their campaigns, according to David Farmer, Chick-fil-A's vice president of menu strategy and development.
"There are several candidates who would like to use us as a platform," Farmer told Business Insider last year. "We are not engaging. Chick-fil-A is about food, and that's it."
The company still encourages its franchisees to get "entrenched" in their communities. Operators' involvement in their communities is a critical part of what has helped Chick-fil-A attract a passionate following.
Traditionally, that has meant getting involved in local churches. But although Chick-fil-A says its focus now — both for local and corporate involvement and philanthropy — is on youth and education causes,[31], Chick-fil-A's associated foundation continues to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to causes characterized as anti-gay.[32]
Expansion to Toronto [ edit ]
Chick-Fil-A announced their expansion to Canada in the city of Toronto.[33] This caused a number of boycotts and backlash from Canadians due to the huge support of LGBT in Canada, telling the company that they were not welcome in Canada with homophobia and transphobia.[34] As of July 2018, Chick-Fil-A still plans to open in Toronto.[33]
Controversy [ edit ]
Local government [ edit ]
After the publication of Cathy's interviews, Democrat Thomas Menino, the Mayor of Boston, stated that he would not allow the company to open franchises in the city "unless they open up their policies."[35] Menino subsequently wrote a letter to Dan Cathy, citing Cathy's earlier statement on The Ken Coleman Show, and responded: "We are indeed full of pride for our support of same sex marriage and our work to expand freedom for all people."[36]
In Chicago, Democratic alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno announced his determination to block Chick-fil-A's bid to build a second store in the city: "They'd have to do a complete 180", Moreno said in outlining conditions under which he would retract the block. "They'd have to work with LGBT groups in terms of hiring, and there would have to be a public apology from [Cathy]."[37] Moreno received backing from Chicago's Mayor, Rahm Emanuel: "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values", Emanuel said in a statement. "They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty."[37]
San Francisco soon followed suit on July 26 when mayor Democrat Edwin M. Lee tweeted, "Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone." Lee followed that tweet with "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."[38]
The proposed bans in Boston and Chicago drew criticism from some liberal pundits, legal experts, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Kevin Drum of Mother Jones magazine said "[T]here's really no excuse for Emanuel's and Menino's actions... you don't hand out business licenses based on whether you agree with the political views of the executives. Not in America, anyway... what makes this whole situation so weird is that Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy has always opposed gay marriage. He's a devout Southern Baptist, just like his father, who founded the company. The place is closed on Sundays, for crying out loud. There's just nothing new here."[39] UCLA law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh observed, "[D]enying a private business permits because of such speech by its owner is a blatant First Amendment violation."[40]
Echoing those views were Glenn Greenwald of Salon, professor John Turley of George Washington University, Adam Schwartz, a senior attorney with the ACLU, and Michael C. Dorf, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell University Law School.[41][42]
Backlash [ edit ]
Students at several colleges and universities launched efforts to ban or remove the company's restaurants from their campuses. On November 3, 2011, New York University's Student Senators Council voted 19 to 4 to retain the Chick-fil-A franchise on campus. This vote came before a petition with over 11,000 signatures opposing its presence on campus was sent to the student council.[43] Christine Quinn, a lesbian politician and then-Speaker of the City Council who was seeking the nomination as Democratic candidate for the mayoralty in the next election, was outspoken in her opposition to keeping the Chick-fil-A franchise or allowing others, and wrote a letter to this effect to NYU President John Sexton on official letterhead, opening with the words, "I write as the Speaker of the NYC Council", urging NYU to evict a Chick-fil-A due to Cathy's opposition to same-sex marriage.[44][45]
On February 28, 2012, Northeastern University's Student Senate passed a resolution to cancel plans for a Chick-fil-A franchise on its campus, stating "the student body does not support bringing CFA [Chick-fil-A] to campus", and "Student concerns reflected CFA's history of donating to anti-gay organizations." The vote was 31 to 5, with 8 abstaining. The restaurant chain was finalizing a contract to bring it to NU when students protested.[46] Davidson College in North Carolina announced on August 13, 2012 that, in response to a petition which received 500 signatures, the school would stop serving Chick-fil-A on campus at the monthly "After Midnight" events.[47]
Other forms of protest occurred. Gay rights activists organized a "Kiss Off" to occur on August 3,[48] an event where LGBT individuals would show affection in public,[49] but it attracted smaller-than-hoped-for crowds.[50]
On August 15, 2012, a gunman attempted to enter the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Family Research Council, carrying 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, a 9 mm handgun, and a box of ammunition. He shot a security guard in the left arm, and following his arrest he told police that he wanted to use the sandwiches to "make a statement against the people who work in that building... and with their stance against gay rights and Chick-fil-A",[51] and that he planned "to kill as many people as I could... then smear a Chicken-fil-A [sic] sandwich on their face".[52]
Corporate partners [ edit ]
In response to the July 2 interview, the Jim Henson Company, which had entered its Pajanimals in a kids' meal toy licensing arrangement in 2011, said that it would cease its business relationship with Chick-fil-A, and donate payment for the brand to Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).[53][54][55] Citing safety concerns, Chick-fil-A stopped distributing the toys.[56] A spokeswoman stated the decision had been made on July 19 and was unrelated to the controversy.[57]
In August 2012, petitions with over 80,000 signatures were delivered to publisher HarperCollins[58] demanding the publisher cut plans to include Berenstain Bears titles as part of a kids' meal promotion. Upon being presented with petitions demanding that Berenstain Bears be pulled from a Chick-fil-A promotion, HarperCollins issued a statement saying "We have a long history of diversity and inclusiveness and work tirelessly to protect the freedom of expression. It is not our practice to cancel a contract with an author, or any other party, for exercising their first amendment rights."[59]
Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day [ edit ]
In response to the controversy, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee initiated a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day movement to counter a boycott of Chick-fil-A launched by same-sex marriage activists.[60][61][62] More than 600,000 people RSVPed on Facebook for Huckabee's appreciation event.[61]
On August 1, 2012, Chick-fil-A restaurants experienced a large show of public support across the nation with the company reporting record-breaking sales.[60][61][62] A consulting firm projected that the average Chick-fil-A restaurant increased sales by 29.9 percent and had 367 more customers than a typical Wednesday.[63]
Public polling [ edit ]
In August 2012, Rasmussen Reports published the results of a telephone survey indicating that 61 percent of likely voters held a favorable view of Chick-fil-A, while 13 percent indicated they would participate in a boycott.[64]
Others [ edit ]
Other notable public figures came to Chick-fil-A's defense, including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin,[65] former US Senator Rick Santorum,[66] and Ann Coulter;[67] while New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,[68] and the American Civil Liberties Union[69] publicly disagreed with Cathy's positions but defended his right to express them under the First Amendment.
Financial effect [ edit ]
Sales increased after the controversy. According to news coverage following the controversy:[70]
Chick-fil-A's sales soared 12 percent, to $4.6 billion, in 2012. The good fortune follows several years of impressive expansion and strong sales, which have pushed the privately held company's valuation north of $4.5 billion, making billionaires out of its founders... These latest sales data are just further proof that all that negative coverage didn't hurt demand for chicken sandwiches among Chick-fil-A's core consumers. — Joe Satran, The Huffington PostThe Obama administration announced late yesterday that 800,000 people have signed up for new health insurance so far in March. That brings the total under the Affordable Care Act to over 5 million and makes it likely that 6 million will have enrolled by March 31, the last day to sign up before getting a fine. That 6 million number would meet a projection made by the Congressional Budget Office. So what are we to make of those numbers?
To a degree, targets like these are arbitrary when we’re judging the law’s success. It isn’t as though we’ll say that if 5,999,999 people signed up by the end of the month then the law has failed, while if 6,000,001 sign up then it has succeeded. Nor does that number include the millions of people who have been enrolled in Medicaid, many of whom are getting health coverage for the first time. And the number of people signed up will continue to rise, particularly since the fines are quite small in the first year but get larger over time. But it’s worth remembering that for all the time we spend gaming out the political winners and losers of Obamacare, there are real people’s lives at stake.
If you were just watching political ads, you’d think that there were precisely zero Americans who had actually been helped by the ACA, since for some rather strange reason, the law’s advocates seem reluctant to actually tell the individual stories of those who have gotten covered for the first time, or can now get coverage despite a pre-existing condition. Meanwhile, the law’s opponents have spent millions of dollars blanketing the airwaves in states with upcoming elections, telling horror stories of people whose lives have allegedly been devastated by the ACA. And yes, nearly every one of those stories turns out to be utterly bogus when it is examined. But how many voters know that?
Another reality works against the administration: It’s now easy to blame everything that goes wrong in anything having to do with health care on the ACA. Sure, premiums have gone up every year for as long as anyone can remember. But this year’s increase? Obamacare! Your boss decided to cut back your benefits to pad his bottom line? Obamacare! And did you know that under Obamacare, people will continue to fall ill and even die?
And Republicans work like dogs to undermine the law and make sure it helps as few people as possible, then hold up their success at denying the law’s benefits to their own citizens as evidence that the law was misconceived in the first place. Nowhere is this more evident than on the issue of the expansion of Medicaid, where most Republican-controlled states have said no to the federal government’s offer of billions of dollars in what is essentially free money to get coverage for poor Americans.
Most cruelly, many of the states that have refused to accept the Medicaid expansion are those where Medicaid benefits are most stingy to begin with. Each state sets its own eligibility levels, and not too surprisingly, states run by Republicans tend to set them extremely low. So for instance, if you’re a single parent in Alabama with two kids and you earn a princely $3,221 a year, the state considers you too wealthy to get Medicaid. In Texas, which has more people living without health insurance than any other state, that figure is $3,737. Millions of the working poor could have gotten coverage from Medicaid through the expansion, but their state legislators and governors quite literally believe that it’s better for a poor person to have no health coverage at all than to get coverage from the government.
By one analysis, 5.2 million Americans who could have gotten Medicaid if their states had accepted the expansion will remain uninsured. And if you asked those people in a poll whether Obamacare had helped them, they’d quite reasonably say no.
So Republicans in those states can laugh all the way to election night. They got to screw the poor, which, let’s be honest, they were inclined to do anyway, and in doing so they also did political damage to the Obama administration. Quite a trick.
Republicans may well get political benefit from the issue in this year’s election, particularly if Democrats continue to do such a weak job of defending the law. But that doesn’t really matter in the long run. The law isn’t going to be repealed, something Republicans know as well as Democrats. For all its complications and the difficulty of implementation, the ACA has already done an extraordinary amount of good for those millions of people. If Republicans took their newfound concern for (some) people’s access to health care and used it to actually work to make the law work as well as possible, millions more might be helped as well. If only.
* STATES EXPLORING FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE TUITION: Oregon and Tennessee are studying whether to offer community college for free as a way of expanding opportunity.
* STAY CLASSY: Assemblywoman Toni Atkins has become the first lesbian Speaker of the California Assembly. She’s also the first Speaker from San Diego, helping San Diegans feel proud of their identity.
* HOWARD DEAN’S DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA IS TEN YEARS OLD: Just think, it’s already been a decade since those eager young people trooped through Iowa with those orange hats on. Time certainly does fly.
* HE WAS THE DECIDER, AFTER ALL: In new court filings, the federal government has acknowledged that for years before it was approved by a judge, the government collected information on millions of Americans’ phone and Internet activity, on no authority other than George W. Bush’s say-so.
* BUT WHAT WE NEED IS MORE MONEY IN POLITICS: An investigation in Utah is revealing an unusually brazen case of corruption, in which the payday loan industry got someone elected state attorney general; upon election, he then “sought to transform his office into a defender of payday loan companies, an industry criticized for preying on the poor with short-term loans at exorbitant interest rates.”
* MORE EVIDENCE FOR THE BIG BANG: An experiment with the muscular name BICEP2 has provided evidence for “cosmic inflation,” the rapid expansion of the universe that happened in the first moments after the Big Bang.This article is the featured article for day 19 of the month cycle.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Released 26 May 1967 Recorded November 1966–April 1967 Studio EMI Studios, London Genre Rock • psychedelic rock • art rock • baroque pop Length 39:52 Label Parlophone • Capitol Producer George Martin Album Guide previous
Revolver next
Magical Mystery Tour
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by English rock band The Beatles. It was first released on 26 May 1967 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and on 2 June 1967 in the United States by Capitol Records. After the Beatles permanently retired from touring in August 1966, band member Paul McCartney suggested an idea for a song involving an Edwardian military band that ultimately formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. After recording sessions began in November of that year, he later suggested the band release an entire album representing a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band; this would give the Beatles freedom to experiment musically, and as a result, they furthered the technological progression they had made with their previous album Revolver (1966).
Knowing they would not have to perform new songs live, the Beatles adopted an experimental approach to composition and recording on songs such as "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", and "A Day in the Life". Producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick helped realise the band's ideas by approaching the studio as an instrument, applying orchestral overdubs, sound effects, and other methods of tape manipulation. An important work of British psychedelia, the album incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including vaudeville, circus, music hall, avant-garde, and Western and Indian classical music. Its now-iconic cover photo, depicting the band in their Sgt. Pepper persona posing in front of a tableau of celebrities and historical figures, was designed by British pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth.
Upon its initial release, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band topped both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard Top LPs chart. It was lauded by critics for its innovation in production, songwriting, and graphic design, bridging a cultural divide between pop music and high art, and providing a musical representation of its generation and the contemporary counterculture. Sgt. Pepper is often regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the use of extended form in pop music while continuing the artistic maturation of the Beatles' previous albums; it is also credited with aiding the development of progressive rock, as well as marking the beginning of the album era. As of 2011, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has sold over 32 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, and has been certified 17x platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and 11x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In 2003, the Library of Congress selected the album for preservation in the National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and Rolling Stone placed it at number one on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", a position it kept after the list was updated in 2012.
Contents show]
Overview Edit
The album project had originally been titled Dr. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but after it was discovered that Dr. Pepper would form a lawsuit, The Beatles changed the title to Sgt. Pepper's. Since the album was recorded after the band stopped touring, its songs were each designed so that they could not be played live. From that point on, the Beatles became an entirely studio-based band. For the first time in their careers, they had more than ample time with which to prepare their next record. As EMI's premier act and Britain's most successful pop group, they had almost unlimited access to the state-of-the-art technology of Abbey Road Studios. All four band members had already developed a preference for long, late-night sessions, although they were still extremely efficient and highly disciplined in their studio habits. All of the Beatles experimented with new sounds while recording the album, so each song is very different. It is rumoured that drugs took a big part while the band was making the album. The song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was said to be about LSD, but John Lennon denied this, claiming it was about a drawing his son Julian Lennon had drawn.
Recording Edit
Since the introduction of magnetic recording tape in 1949, multitrack recording had been developed. By 1967, all of the Sgt. Pepper tracks could be recorded at Abbey Road using mono, stereo, and 4-track recorders. Although 8-track tape recorders were already available in the U.S., the first 8-tracks were not operational in commercial studios in London until late 1967, shortly after Sgt. Pepper was released. In retrospect, the limitations of EMI's studio technology most likely pushed the Beatles and their production staff to be more inventive and resourceful than they otherwise would have been. The Beatles also used new modular effects units such as the wah-wah pedal and fuzzbox, which they augmented with their own experimental ideas, such as running voices and instruments through a Leslie speaker. Another important sonic innovation was McCartney's discovery of the direct input (DI) technique, in which he could record his bass by plugging it directly into an amplifying circuit in the recording console. Also important was varispeeding, the technique of recording various tracks on a multi-track tape at slightly different tape speeds. The Beatles use this effect extensively on their vocals in this period. The speeding up of vocals (also known as 'tweaking') also became a widespread technique in pop production. The Beatles also used the effect on portions of their backing tracks (as on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") to give them a 'thicker' and more diffuse sound.
Controversy Edit
The album's closing track "A Day in the Life" includes the phrase "I'd love to turn you on". The BBC banned the song from airplay on the basis of this line, claiming it could "encourage a permissive attitude toward drug-taking". Both Lennon and McCartney denied any drug-related interpretation of the song at the time, although McCartney's later comments in The Beatles Anthology video regarding the writing of the lyric make it clear that the drug reference was indeed deliberate.
There had also been cases that at the end of "A Day in the Life", the message "Never could be any other way" along with other studio chatter, could be played backwards, bringing the uncomfortable message "We'll f**k you like we're superman!", along that could be heard as "Will Paul be back as superman?" which is an obvious reference to the Paul is Dead rumours.
Album Cover Edit
The album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the most famous of all time. It was designed by Peter Blake and photographed by Michael Cooper. The Beatles each chose ten people they would like to perform in front of, and those chosen are displayed on the album cover. Two of John Lennon's picks, Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ, were rejected (this was only a few months after Lennon's Jesus statement) by EMI. Leo Gorcey was modelled and originally included to the left of Huntz Hall, but was subsequently removed when a fee of $400 was requested for the use of the actor's likeness. Mohandas Gandhi was modelled and originally included to the right of Lewis Carroll, but was subsequently removed. According to McCartney, "Gandhi also had to go because the head of EMI, Sir Joe Lockwood, said that in India they wouldn't allow the record to be printed".
Tracks Edit
All songs written by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted otherwise.
Side one Edit
Side two Edit
Note: There were also four songs recorded during the making of this album: Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane (both released on a single), Only a Northern Song (re-recorded one and a half years later on Yellow Submarine) and the as-yet unreleased Carnival of Light.
Awards Edit
Won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical, Contemporary Album and Best Album Cover.
Nominated for Best Group Vocal Performance, Best Contemporary Vocal Group and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for "A Day in the Life."Please enable Javascript to watch this video
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A Texas family came to Memphis to run in the St. Jude Memphis Marathon in order to honor their four-year-old relative who died of leukemia. Instead, they had their luggage stolen.
The family told WREG they parked in an alley off Vance Avenue near Front Street around 3:50 p.m. and went into Gus's to grab a bite.
When they came out around 5 p.m., they said one of their SUV's windows had been shattered and four suitcases were missing.
"I mean, I just don't understand why somebody would do that. It doesn't belong to you, just leave our stuff alone," said Rachael Olson.
Olson's niece, four-year-old Austyn Halter, died of leukemia in August after undergoing treatment at St. Jude.
Her family had planned to run in her honor and had even designed custom 'Austyn Strong' t-shirts for the occasion.
Those t-shirts were among the items stolen, along with iPads, laptops and a camera filled with pictures of Austyn.
"That's something that cannot be replaced. It just won't be replaced," said Olson.
The heartless crime was enough to move Austyn's mother, Sarah Halter, to tears.
"The last four months have been miserable and this was the only thing that would have brought me any, some sort of joy, and it's just ruined," said Halter.
WREG observed officers lifting finger prints from the family's SUV, but it's too soon to know if that will lead to a match.
In the meantime, the family is hoping that whoever took their belongings will do the right thing and return them.
They said they still plan to run in Saturday's marathon.
The Cordova-based Goodard Foundation has announced a $1,000 reward for the return of the stolen items.You can enjoy some of the best operas ever composed for free, online, or for the price of a DVD. Here are ten of the best operas made into excellent films to help you get started.
1) Verdi’s Rigoletto, 1982. Directed by Jean Pierre Ponnelle
The Duke of Mantua’s court is an opulent and resplendent moral cesspool. At the top of the hierarchy of dissoluteness is the Duke and at the bottom is Rigoletto, the hunch-backed court jester. Having nothing meaningful to do, the courtiers of the Duke while away their time in pettiness, the exploitation and corruption of innocent young women being high on their to-do list. Rigoletto, in the opera, blames the courtiers and Duke for his evil nature, as he has to go along to get along.
When Rigoletto mocks a father whose daughter has been sexually abused by the courtiers, the father puts a curse on Rigoletto. Indeed, we soon find that Rigoletto has a daughter, whom he has hidden away, but, the Duke discovers her existence. To find out the ending watch this rollicking, dynamically edited and colorful film starring Luciano Pavarotti as the Duke. This opera contains the famous aria “La Donna È Mobile” – women are fickle and can’t be trusted. This is sung by the Duke as a justification for the exploitation of women. Such a charming tune with such repugnant lyrics – an example of Verdi’s genius as one of the themes of the opera is that the most nauseating corruption often appears delightful.
2) Puccini’s La Bohème, 2008. Directed by Robert Dornhelm
Many folks consider this film version of Puccini’s classic to be the best film adaptation of an opera ever. It stars Anna Netrebko as Mimi and Rolando Villazón as Rodolfo. Rodolfo lives in abject poverty in Paris with his three male ‘bohemian’ friends. Mimi and Rodolfo meet in their building and fall deeply in love. Mimi, however, suffers from a horrible cough and Rodolfo is never able to attain the financial means to be of real assistance to her. She loves him in large measure due to his integrity and commitment to his art and bohemian lifestyle, but this commitment leaves him helpless in regard to her worsening situation.
3) Verdi’s La Traviata, 1968. Directed by Mario Lanfranchi
Be careful if you watch this film – you will probably fall in love with Anna Moffo who plays ‘La Traviata’ – the wayward girl. Anna is cool, glamorous, stylish, dazzling and very smart. In this opera the sincere love of Alfredo changes Violetta’s life, and she abandons the frivolous and self-absorbed world of Parisian nightlife for a life with Alfredo. Yet, Violetta’s reputation is not so easily abandoned. As she puts it, God can forgive and forget but people rarely want to do this. Although she is completely changed, Alfredo’s father does not want his son to be with this woman as it will harm the chances of Alfredo’s younger sister from marrying a ‘decent’ man. Indeed, it is implied that Alfredo’s relationship to Violetta will disgrace his whole family. This is another Verdi opera so expect amazing music and a strong story that moves along nicely.
4) Wagner’s Parsifal, 1982. Directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg became world famous through his 7-hour film of 1977 about Hitler. He was one of a number of post-war artists, journalists and scholars in Germany who examined Germany’s history and culture to see whether the Hitler phenomenon was inevitable or predictable. Of course, Hitler was a big Wagner buff and although Wagner has been almost completely exonerated by the music community, it is easy to point out problematic aspects of Wagner’s work that appealed to Hitler and, certainly, without Wagner a big chunk of ideology would have been missing from the future dictator’s life. Hitler, in fact, said that his ideological formation began when he first saw Wagner’s Rienzi.
Some might argue that we really cannot view a Wagnerian opera as just a Wagnerian opera any more but must view it through the filter of the horrific effects of World War II. These folks would say that the problematic aspects of Wagner had undeniable consequences. Syberberg seems to want to try to save Wagner as a meaningful and untainted part of German culture by making this film and by making it after his Hitler film, which was, in part, a defense of German culture. As Jonathan Bowden, however, pointed out, this is a Holy Grail search in a “Germanicized” and “dejudaized” Christianity – Wagner being a documented anti-Semite.
5) Mozart’s The Magic Flute, 1975, directed by Ingmar Bergman
Yep, this may be the only film he did where the characters are not wallowing in self-pity or rolling around in physical and emotional pain or playing board games with guys who tote around huge sickles. The only thing I do not like about this film version is that it is sung in Swedish instead of German. Otherwise, you have a very sincere Josef Köstlinger playing Price Tamino in his quest to free Princess Pamina. This is Mozart’s allegorical masterpiece and if you are only going to ever see one opera, make it this one which is filled with goodwill, humor and humanity. Tamino = spiritual desire, Pamina = the fulfilment of spiritual desire, Monostatos = those factors that keep true desire and fulfilment from uniting.
6) Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, 1982. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
Canio is a very popular clown in a traveling troupe and his most popular comic piece involves a clown whose wife is seduced and spirited away by another man. In the comedy the clown played by Canio laughs the situation off when he loses his wife and merely starts his life anew. Yet, when the same situation occurs in real life as Canio’s wife Nedda (also in the troupe) is seduced by another man, tragedy ensues. When Canio sings the famous aria, ‘Vesti La Giubba’ - “Laugh clown, at your shattered love…” - he not only reveals his anguish of being betrayed but also of not being able to live up to the standard he has been acting throughout his career. This is probably the most famous aria in opera and Caruso had a million seller with it when he released it on 78 rpm in 1907 (the first million selling record). A very nice performance by Teresa Stratas who was not your stereotypical opera diva – she was about 5 feet tall and 90 lbs. during her prime.
7) Richard Strauss’ Salome, 1974. Directed by Götz Friedrich
Oscar Wilde wrote the play on which this libretto was based and he wrote it to be a shocker. Salome, as the daughter of Herod, has never been taught to say ‘no’ to anything. This is a young woman with zero self-restraint and no discernible moral code. She learns of a very important prisoner and the more she learns about him the more fascinated she becomes. John the Baptist is, after all, a guy who has been saying ‘no’ to things his whole life. She becomes fascinated with him, wonders how he became the way he did, and, most importantly, she wants to have sex with him. She wants to just start with a kiss, which, as you might expect, John refuses to give her. Well, pretty soon he is without his head, but she is now able to get that kiss she always wanted. Yes, a shocker! Teresa Stratas is amazing as Salome in this production.
8) Mozart’s Don Giovanni, 1979. Directed by Joseph Losey
Losey did some excellent work in the 1950s in Hollywood until he was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for his leftist views. He moved to Europe and was, thankfully, able to continue working there. So when a leftist decides to pick an opera to film, he picks that opera for a reason, right? Losey, furthermore, begins the opera with a quote from Italian socialist Antonio Gramsci: “The old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” So Losey is overtly inviting us to examine the sociological and class aspects of this opera. Don Giovanni, indeed, embodies everything that will turn into the industrial bourgeoisie class – he is completely self-absorbed, oblivious to the suffering of others, super aggressive and incapable of restraining his actions or temper. Leporello is his proletarian accomplice, sometimes dreading and sometimes wallowing in Don Giovanni’s corruption.
9) Berg’s Wozzeck, 1970. Directed by Joachim Hess
Toni Blankenheim plays the unconsciously incompetent soldier who does not resist his baser passions and kills his wife for her infidelity before dying, himself, in his attempt to cover the crime up. The opera was composed shortly after World War I and, to a great extent, Wozzek can represent a misguided and morally crippled European leadership before, during and after the war, leading to the carnage of WWII. This is actually a TV film, but it is so good I included it in the list.
10) Bizet’s Carmen, 1984. Directed by Francesco Rosi
Maybe the most popular opera ever – and for good reason: amazing tunes and a provocative plot. In this film version Placido Domingo plays Don Jose, an army corporal lured away from the established and respected life he had been sinking deeper into and lured into the lawless freedom of Carmen’s gypsy band. Unfortunately, once her conquest is over, it is Carmen’s nature to look for the next one and this proves too much for Don Jose.Chief Cochise, one of the great leaders of the Apache Indians in their battles with the Anglo-Americans, dies on the Chiricahua reservation in southeastern Arizona.
Little is known of Cochise’s early life. By the mid-19th century, he had become a prominent leader of the Chiricahua band of Apache Indians living in southern Arizona and northern Mexico. Like many other Chiricahua Apache, Cochise resented the encroachment of Mexican and American settlers on their traditional lands. Cochise led numerous raids on the settlers living on both sides of the border, and Mexicans and Americans alike began to call for military protection and retribution.
War between the U.S. and Cochise, however, resulted from a misunderstanding. In October 1860, a band of Apache attacked the ranch of an Irish-American named John Ward and kidnapped his adopted son, Felix Tellez. Although Ward had been away at the time of the raid, he believed that Cochise had been the leader of the raiding Apache. Ward demanded that the U.S. Army rescue the kidnapped boy and bring Cochise to justice. The military obliged by dispatching a force under the command of Lieutenant George Bascom. Unaware that they were in any danger, Cochise and many of his top men responded to Bascom’s invitation to join him for a night of entertainment at a nearby stage station. When the Apache arrived, Bascom’s soldiers arrested them.
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Cochise told Bascom that he had not been responsible for the kidnapping of Felix Tellez, but the lieutenant refused to believe him. He ordered Cochise be kept as a hostage until the boy was returned. Cochise would not tolerate being imprisoned unjustly. He used his knife to cut a hole in the tent he was held in and escaped.
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During the next decade, Cochise and his warriors increased their raids on American settlements and fought occasional skirmishes with soldiers. Panicked settlers abandoned their homes, and the Apache raids took hundreds of lives and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damages. By 1872, the U.S. was anxious for peace, and the government offered Cochise and his people a huge reservation in the southeastern corner of Arizona Territory if they would cease hostilities. Cochise agreed, saying, “The white man and the Indian are to drink of the same water, eat of the same bread, and be at peace.”
The great chief did not have the privilege of enjoying his hard-won peace for long. In 1874, he became seriously ill, possibly with stomach cancer |
which basically won't be referencing each other with Sony's Spiderverse and Marvel's MCU. It's sort of similar to how the MCU ignores what goes on with Marvel TV. They coexist, but at the same time, really don't.
It definitely makes sense for Sony and Marvel to continue their deal as both benefit. Sony gets Marvel's creative input and retains the film and character rights, which sees a good movie getting made, and Marvel scores by having Spider-Man in some of their other movies as well as merchandise profits.Me Thierry Herzog and two Advocates General at the Supreme Court on Monday questioned in connection with a case of influence peddling and breach of confidentiality of the investigation, which is also quoted the former head of the State.
This could be a blow to the former president. The lawyer Nicolas Sarkozy, Me Thierry Herzog, and the Advocate General at the Court of Cassation, Gilbert Azibert were placed in police custody Monday morning, according to information revealed by Le Monde confirmed judicial source. The two men are heard in the premises of the judicial police in Nanterre. Investigators are trying to determine whether Nicolas Sarkozy has sought, with the support of his lawyer, to obtain information from the senior judge on matters affecting them, in exchange for the promise of a position of prestige. Another Advocate General at the Court of Cassation, Patrick Sassoust, has also been placed in custody. Nicolas Sarkozy and itself could soon be heard.
A judicial inquiry was opened on February 26 for influence peddling and breach of the confidentiality of the investigation, based on wiretaps targeting the former president. Early March, Gilbert Azibert and Thierry Herzog had seen their homes and business premises searched. Mobile phone and computer equipment were seized from the lawyer. In this case, investigators want to know if Nicolas Sarkozy had been illegally informed of his placement on tracks. Measurement, spectacular case of a former president, was decided in September in another survey, one on charges of financing Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi his successful 2007 presidential campaign.
The case has its genesis in spring 2013 Several near Nicolas Sarkozy have been placed on listening in the Libyan investigation. Claude Gueant, Brice Hortefeux, but Michel Gaudin, former head of the national police and ex-police chief Paris. Several conversations this last challenge investigators. In particular, it seems to be in vain, inquire about the investigation Jamahiriya Boss domestic intelligence, Patrick Calvar. The judges then decide to move to turn the former president tapped, including the phone he uses under the assumed identity of Paul Bismuth to talk to me Herzog.
In addition to the records of the Libyan funding and influence peddling, justice has several investigations that may stand in the way of a political return of Nicolas Sarkozy. Last week, the Paris prosecutor told judges financial investigation for “forgery and use of false”, “breach of trust” and “attempted fraud”, this time on the financing of the 2012 campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy. In the case of arbitration Tapie, Claude Gueant was placed in custody, as in the case of premiums he collected when he was chief of staff of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy. Michel Gaudin has also been placed in custody in the case of premiums. The police also questioned the legality of contracts between the Elysee and nine pollsters in the quinquennium Sarkozy.The Bible has been making its way onto box office screens and home TV screens over the past year: from Noah to Son of God, people have been watching the Bible. But are they still reading the Bible? And do they still believe in the Bible? Each year, Barna Group partners with the American Bible Society on State of the Bible, a comprehensive study of Americans’ attitudes and behaviors toward the Bible. Asking a national representative sample of adults the same questions year after year allows us to track the country’s shifting perceptions of Scriptures.
This year’s research reveals six trends in Bible engagement: from the Bible’s continued role as a cultural icon, to increased digital Bible reading, to a rise in skepticism toward Scripture, particularly among Millennials.
1. Bible skepticism is now “tied” with Bible engagement.
This year’s research reveals that skepticism toward the Bible continues to rise. For the first time since tracking began, Bible skepticism is tied with Bible engagement. The number of those who are skeptical or agnostic toward the Bible—who believe that the Bible is “just another book of teachings written by men that contains stories and advice”—has nearly doubled from 10% to 19% in just three years. This is now equal to the number of people who are Bible engaged—who read the Bible at least four times a week and believe it is the actual or inspired Word of God.
Digging into the population segmentation of Bible skeptics, we find that two-thirds are 48 or younger (28% Millennials, 36% Gen-Xers), and they are twice as likely to be male (68%) than female (32%). They are more likely to identify as Catholic than any other single denomination or affiliation (30%) and are the most-likely segment not to have attended church (87%) or prayed (63%) during the previous week. They are also most likely not to have made a commitment to Jesus that is important in their life today (76%).
Not only are Millennials more likely to be skeptical toward Scripture, they are also less likely to read the Bible (39% say they never read the Bible, compared to 26% of all adults), less likely to own a Bible (80% compared to 88%) and less likely to believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life (35% compared to 50%). Given the increase in Millennials who don’t believe the Bible is sacred and the decrease in Bible awareness among Millennials, Bible skepticism will likely continue to rise in the next five years.
2. Despite the declines, most Americans continue to be “pro-Bible.”
While the percentage of Americans who believe the Bible is sacred has fallen in recent years, from 86% in 2011 to 79% in 2014, it’s still a sizable majority of all adults. In general, Americans continue to view the Bible very positively. More than half of Americans (56%) are “pro-Bible”—meaning they believe the Bible is the actual or inspired word of God with no errors. Most adults say the Bible encourages forgiveness (91%), generosity (88%) and patience (89%) while discouraging war (62%), slavery (60%) and prostitution (82%). Nearly nine in 10 households own at least one Bible (88%) and the average number of Bibles per household is 4.7.
Being pro-Bible doesn’t necessarily mean Americans use the Bible regularly, however. Only 37% of Americans report reading the Bible once a week or more. Among those who have read Scripture in the previous week, not quite six in 10 (57%) say they gave a lot of thought to how it might apply to their life. While the Bible’s place in America as a cultural icon endures, it’s not always perceived as a transformational text. Even as Bible ownership remains strong, readership and engagement are weak.
3. Distraction and busyness continue to squeeze out the Bible.
So what keeps people from reading the Bible they own? Like all other forms of analog media, the Bible is pushed to the side in part because people are just too busy. Among those who say their Bible reading decreased in the last year, the number-one reason was busyness: 40% report being too busy with life’s responsibilities (job, family, etc.), an increase of seven points from just one year ago.
Other factors Americans cite as reasons for less time reading Scripture include a significant change in their life (17%), becoming atheist or agnostic (15%), going through a difficult experience that caused them to doubt God (13%) and seeing that reading the Bible made very little difference in someone else’s life (8%).
These relatively smaller percentages reveal that Americans don’t often turn away from the Bible over ideological or emotional conflicts. Indeed, on the whole Americans say they want to read the Bible—62% wish they read Scripture more—they just don’t know how to make time.
4. The age of screens has come to stay in the Bible market.
One antidote to the distraction of the screen age is to put the Bible onscreen. And this past year certainly saw the Bible come to more screens than ever—from smartphone apps to primetime TV—and Americans responded. Of adults who increased their Bible readership last year, one-quarter (26%) say it was due to having downloaded the Bible onto their smartphone or tablet. More than one in 10 (12%) credit their increased Bible reading to podcasts or streaming church services. And an additional one in 10 (11%) say watching The Bible miniseries on TV inspired them to read Scripture more.
In just a handful of years, use of tablets and smartphones for Bible searches has skyrocketed, from 18% in 2011 to 35% in 2014. That said, a strong majority still prefer to read the Bible in print (84%); the same holds true even among Millennials (81%), who are most likely to use the Internet to read Bible content (62% compared to 44% of all adults).
5. Increasingly, people come to the Bible for answers or comfort.
While the majority of people still come to the Scriptures to connect with God, their number is shrinking, from 64% in 2011 to 56% in 2014. Today, people are increasingly likely to come to the Bible for more pragmatic needs: nearly one-third (up from 26% in 2011) say they read the Bible for comfort or to help them address life’s questions. This increase is consistent with last year’s study, which showed that Millennials in particular want to know how the Bible connects to everyday matters like parenting, finances, the workplace, and so on. They are the generation most likely to read the Bible for direction or answers to a problem (25%, compared to 19% of Gen-X, 16% Boomers and 11% Elders).
6. People are less likely to link moral decline with a lack of Bible reading.
Eight in 10 adults believe the values and morals of America are declining—but perceptions about the reasons for the decline have shifted over time. Compared to 2013, people are more likely to blame declining morals on movies, music, and TV rather than on a lack of Bible reading. Additionally, while half of all adults would say the Bible has too little influence on society, only 30% of Millennials believe this.
Bible skeptics are less likely than other segments to say the values and morals of America are declining. It’s not clear whether this belief informs their skepticism or their skepticism informs this belief—or a complex dynamic of both. Millennials, as well, are less likely than the national average to say morals are on the decline (74%). Among young adults who agree there is a moral decline, just 17% blame a lack of Bible reading, compared to 26% of all adults.
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About the Research
Two methods of data collection, telephone interviews and online surveys, were used for this study.
The telephone survey included 1,012 interviews conducted among a representative sample of adults 18 years of age and older from within the 48 continental states. The survey was conducted from January 8, 2014, through January 20, 2014. The sampling error for this study is plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The research included 300 interviews by contacting respondents on their cell phone.
The online portion of the study covered a subset of core questions used in the telephone questionnaire. This study included 1,024 surveys conducted among a representative random sample of adults 18 and older within all 50 states and was conducted January 28, 2014, through February 5, 2014. The sampling error for a sample of this size is plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Generations: Millennials (or Mosaics) are the generation born between 1984 through 2002; Busters (or Gen-Xers), between 1965 and 1983; Boomers, between 1946 and 1964; and Elders, in 1945 or earlier.
For more about American Bible Society’s annual State of the Bible survey, click here.
About Barna Group
Barna Group (which includes its research division, Barna Research Group) is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization under the umbrella of the Issachar Companies. Located in Ventura, California, Barna Group has been conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984.
If you would like to receive free e-mail notification of the release of each update on the latest research findings from Barna Group, you may subscribe to this free service at the Barna website (www.barna.org). Additional research-based resources are also available through this website.
© Barna Group, 2014Crude historical depictions of African Americans as ape-like may have disappeared from mainstream U.S. culture, but research presented in a new paper by psychologists at Stanford, Pennsylvania State University and the University of California-Berkeley reveals that many Americans subconsciously associate blacks with apes.
In addition, the findings show that society is more likely to condone violence against black criminal suspects as a result of its broader inability to accept African Americans as fully human, according to the researchers.
Co-author Jennifer Eberhardt, a Stanford associate professor of psychology who is black, said she was shocked by the results, particularly since they involved subjects born after Jim Crow and the civil rights movement. “This was actually some of the most depressing work I have done,” she said. “This shook me up. You have suspicions when you do the work—intuitions—you have a hunch. But it was hard to prepare for how strong [the black-ape association] was—how we were able to pick it up every time.”
The paper, “Not Yet Human: Implicit Knowledge, Historical Dehumanization and Contemporary Consequences,” is the result of a series of six previously unpublished studies conducted by Eberhardt, Pennsylvania State University psychologist Phillip Atiba Goff (the lead author and a former student of Eberhardt’s) and Matthew C. Jackson and Melissa J. Williams, graduate students at Penn State and Berkeley, respectively. The paper is scheduled to appear Feb. 7 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association.
The research took place over six years at Stanford and Penn State under Eberhardt’s supervision. It involved mostly white male undergraduates. In a series of studies that subliminally flashed black or white male faces on a screen for a fraction of a second to “prime” the students, researchers found subjects could identify blurry ape drawings much faster after they were primed with black faces than with white faces. The researchers consistently discovered a black-ape association even if the young adults said they knew nothing about its historical connotations. The connection was made only with African American faces; the paper’s third study failed to find an ape association with other non-white groups, such as Asians. Despite such race-specific findings, the researchers stressed that dehumanization and animal imagery have been used for centuries to justify violence against many oppressed groups.
“Despite widespread opposition to racism, bias remains with us,” Eberhardt said. “African Americans are still dehumanized; we’re still associated with apes in this country. That association can lead people to endorse the beating of black suspects by police officers, and I think it has lots of other consequences that we have yet to uncover.”
Scientific racism in the United States was graphically promoted in a mid-19th-century book by Josiah C. Nott and George Robins Gliddon titled Types of Mankind, which used misleading illustrations to suggest that “Negroes” ranked between “Greeks” and chimpanzees. “When we have a history like that in this country, I don’t know how much of that goes away completely, especially to the extent that we are still dealing with severe racial inequality, which fuels and maintains those associations in ways that people are unaware,” Eberhardt said.
Although such grotesque characterizations of African Americans have largely disappeared from mainstream U.S. society, Eberhardt noted that science education could be partly responsible for reinforcing the view that blacks are less evolved than whites. An iconic 1970 illustration, “March of Progress,” published in the Time-Life book Early Man, depicts evolution beginning with a chimpanzee and ending with a white man. “It’s a legacy of our past that the endpoint of evolution is a white man,” Eberhardt said. “I don’t think it’s intentional, but when people learn about human evolution, they walk away with a notion that people of African descent are closer to apes than people of European descent. When people think of a civilized person, a white man comes to mind.”
Consequences of socially endorsed violence
In the paper’s fifth study, the researchers subliminally primed 115 white male undergraduates with words associated with either apes (such as “monkey,” “chimp,” “gorilla”) or big cats (such as “lion,” “tiger,” “panther”). The latter was used as a control because both images are associated with violence and Africa, Eberhardt said. The subjects then watched a two-minute video clip, similar to the television program COPS, depicting several police officers violently beating a man of undetermined race. A mugshot of either a white or a black man was shown at the beginning of the clip to indicate who was being beaten, with a description conveying that, although described by his family as “a loving husband and father,” the suspect had a serious criminal record and may have been high on drugs at the time of his arrest.
The students were then asked to rate how justified the beating was. Participants who believed the suspect was white were no more likely to condone the beating when they were primed with either ape or big cat words, Eberhardt said. But those who thought the suspect was black were more likely to justify the beating if they had been primed with ape words than with big cat words. “Taken together, this suggests that implicit knowledge of a Black-ape association led to marked differences in participants’ judgments of Black criminal suspects,” the researchers write.
According to the paper’s authors, this link has devastating consequences for African Americans because it “alters visual perception and attention, and it increases endorsement of violence against black suspects.” For example, the paper’s sixth study showed that in hundreds of news stories from 1979 to 1999 in the Philadelphia Inquirer, African Americans convicted of capital crimes were about four times more likely than whites convicted of capital crimes to be described with ape-relevant language, such as “barbaric,” “beast,” “brute,” “savage” and “wild.” “Those who are implicitly portrayed as more ape-like in these articles are more likely to be executed by the state than those who are not,” the researchers write.
The way forward
Despite the paper’s findings, Eberhardt said she is optimistic about the future. “This work isn’t arguing that there hasn’t been any progress made or that we are living in the same society that existed in the 19th century,” she said. “We have made a lot of progress on race issues, but we should recognize that racial bias isn’t dead. We still need to be aware of that and aware of all the different ways [racism] can affect us, despite our intentions and motivations to be egalitarian. We still have work to do.”
For Eberhardt, two stories of race exist in America. “One is about the disappearance of bias—that it’s no longer with us,” she said. “But the other is about the transformation of bias. It’s not the egregious bias anymore, but it’s modern bias, subtle bias.” With both of these stories, she said, there is an understanding that society has moved beyond the historic battles centered around race. “We want to argue, with this work, that there is one old race battle that we’re still fighting,” she said. “That is the battle for blacks to be recognized as fully human.”
This research was supported by a Stanford University Dean’s Award to Jennifer Eberhardt.Guccifer 2.0, the Russia-linked hacker behind the massive breach of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), edited a stolen email in order to draw attention from the media, the Associated Press reported on Friday (4 November). During the presidential election campaign in 2016, Guccifer 2.0 claimed to be behind the DNC hack and helped leak and spread the stolen emails online.
According to an extensive AP investigation into how Russian hackers managed to infiltrate the DNC, Guccifer 2.0 altered the first document published by the hacker in June 2016. Although it was advertised as coming from the DNC, the email actually came from the inbox of Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, an anonymous former DNC official told the AP.
The official also noted that the word "CONFIDENTIAL" was not in the original document. Instead, Guccifer 2.0 had edited the document to try and catch media attention.
The email leaked was just one of at least 50,000 emails stolen from Podesta's inbox. During the race to the White House, Guccifer 2.0, WikiLeaks and DCLeaks published over 150,000 emails stolen from over a dozen Democratic officials.
The AP investigation also revealed that Russian-linked hackers used brute force tactics over months to try and break into the emails of people across the Democratic Party, including more than 130 party employees, supporters and contractors.
According to a review of 19,000 malicious links shared by cybersecurity firm Secureworks, AP reports that the hackers "worked their way around the Clinton campaign's top-of-the-line digital security to steal chairman John Podesta's emails in March 2016".
Since 10 March, the hackers sent phishing emails designed to look like official security messages from Google, prompting users to boost their security or change their passwords. Clicking on the malicious link led the user to a decoy website designed to swipe their credentials.
Secureworks' data indicated when the phishing links were created and whether they were clicked, but does not show if any unsuspecting users offered up their passwords.
On 19 March, the hackers sent another round of malicious messages to some of Clinton's top officials including campaign manager Robby Mook, senior advisers Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines and campaign chair Podesta.
As per the AP report, the malicious link was generated for Podesta at 11:28AM Moscow Time with the email arriving in his inbox six minutes later. He reportedly clicked on the link twice.
The phishing campaign continued through March and caught the eye of the FBI and Secureworks. The security firm had been following Kremlin-linked hacker group Fancy Bear, noticed that they were heavily targeting Democrats and alerted authorities.
The hackers appeared to be focused on Democratic officials working on voter registration issues including the DNC's former director of voter protection Pratt Wiley. They also targeted numerous organisations linked to Clinton and the Democrats including the Clinton Foundation, technology provider NGP VAN, the Center for American Progress, campaign strategy company 270 Strategies and news outlet Shareblue Media.
The cache of Podesta's emails were leaked on 7 October – the same day that the controversial 2005 Access Hollywood tape of Trump bragging about groping women was released. In the months leading up to the November election, the steady publication of the hacked emails in batches drew heavy media attention and continued to plague the Clinton camp.
In January, US intelligence agencies concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a complex, multifaceted influence campaign that included cyberattacks, leaks, misinformation campaigns and more to hurt Clinton's chances and help Trump win the election.
The Kremlin dismissed the allegations as "baseless" while Trump has denied any collusion between his team and Moscow. Multiple congressional committees along with special counsel Robert Mueller are currently investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties between Trump's campaign and the Kremlin.
Earlier week, Mueller's first charges were filed against Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, associate Richard Gates and former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos. On Monday, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators about his conversations with a professor linked to the Russian government. In April 2016, he was reportedly told that the Kremlin had obtained compromising information on Clinton.
"They have dirt on her," Papadopoulos said he was told. "They have thousands of emails."BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government warplanes carried out several air strikes in the Eastern Ghouta area east of Damascus on Sunday, a day after the Syrian military declared a cessation of hostilities in the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian men ride their bicycles at the rebel held besieged Douma neighbourhood of Damascus, Syria July 23, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh
The British-based monitoring group said Saturday had been relatively calm after the ceasefire took effect with isolated incidents of shellfire.
On Sunday, six air strikes hit the towns of Douma and Ain Terma in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, it reported.
There was no immediate comment from the government or army.
Syria’s military declared a “cessation of fighting activities” starting at noon on Saturday in besieged Eastern Ghouta, which has long been controlled by the opposition.
One rebel group in Eastern Ghouta quickly welcomed the ceasefire.
A separate statement from Cairo-based political opposition movement Al-Ghad, headed by Ahmad Jarba, said the agreement had been reached in Cairo, sponsored by Egypt and Russia and with the involvement of mainstream rebel groups.
There was to be a full ceasefire in Eastern Ghouta, no government forces would enter the area and aid would be allowed in, it said.
Numerous attempts at a lasting ceasefire in western Syria, where rebels have lost ground to government forces and their allies over the last year, have often collapsed with both sides trading the blame.
The United States, Russia and Jordan reached a ceasefire and “de-escalation agreement” for southwestern Syria this month, which has reduced violence. That agreement did not include Eastern Ghouta.Tesla Rides High, But Faces Formidable Foe: Car Dealers
Enlarge this image toggle caption Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
Tesla Motors, the American maker of luxury electric cars, has been riding a wave of good publicity.
Its Model S sedan (base priced at $62,400, after federal tax credits) was just named Motor Trend Car of the Year. Reviewers at Consumer Reports gave the lithium-ion battery powered vehicle a rave.
And the company, headed by billionaire innovator Elon Musk, 41, posted a profit for the first time in its 10-year history — powered in part by zero-emission environmental credits.
But Tesla also finds itself, and its business model, under sustained attack by a formidable foe: the National Automobile Dealers Association, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington with a strong network of state chapters.
The dealers say they have no quibble with the quality and allure of Tesla's products. What they object to is the Palo Alto-based manufacturer's efforts to sell the electric car directly to consumers rather than through independently owned dealer franchises.
Tesla's model is often compared to the one used by consumer electronics giant Apple.
"We want to cut out the middleman," says Diarmuid O'Connell, vice president for business development at Tesla. "We're a bad fit for the dealer system."
The dealers' response?
"Buying an iPad is not buying a car," says David Hyatt of the national association, which, along with member chapters, has taken their franchise fight to the courts and to state legislatures across the nation.
It's a battle between a deep-pocketed interest group, which last year contributed more than $3.2 million to candidates, and a fearless entrepreneur.
And it's just heating up.
Battles Emerge State By State
A bill being considered in North Carolina, where there are currently 80 Teslas on the road and another 60 expected, would prevent the company from selling vehicles online. In Virginia, the state denied the company a dealer license to open a store.
Texas lawmakers are expected to ignore an effort by Tesla to gain an exception to strict franchise laws that prohibit factory-owned dealerships. Last year, there were only 43 registered Teslas in the state.
In both Massachusetts and New York, legal efforts by franchise dealers to block Tesla's efforts were rejected — including attempts to shut down three Tesla stores and two service centers in New York.
Wrote New York Supreme Court Justice Raymond J. Elliott III: "Dealers cannot utilize the Franchised Dealer Act as a means to sue their competitors."
An effort in Minnesota to rewrite franchise law to prevent vehicle manufacturers from operating a dealership died in the Legislature.
But these are expected to be the early rounds.
The franchise fight in Massachusetts has moved to the Legislature. Minnesota dealers plan to submit new legislation next year. And there are also private battles about which O'Connell declined to elaborate.
"We don't underestimate the dealers," he said. "The franchise dealer system was, at its inception, set up to protect the dealers from manufacturers coming in and competing with them."
Tesla, which paid off early a $465 million low-interest government loan it received in 2009, insists that it presents little competition to the dealers. O'Connell characterizes the 10,000 to 15,000 cars it will sell this year domestically a "rounding error" for the big guys.
"This is absurd on its face," he said.
The company currently has 37 stores and galleries worldwide, 27 of them in the U.S., says Tesla spokeswoman Shanna Hendriks. It plans to open about 15 more locations this year with about half the openings in Europe and Asia.
It also has 24 service centers in the U.S. and 41 worldwide. Hendriks says the company plans to add approximately 30 service locations worldwide in 2013 – about half in the U.S.
Tesla argues that its electric product would get lost on a combustion engine lot; that its service needs are low and different than those at traditional franchises; its employees specifically trained and immersed in the car's technology; and its one-price, no-haggle policy anathema to the franchisee legacy.
"Ultimately," O'Connell says, "our ambition is to build a great car company, and our mission is to catalyze a mass market for electric vehicles."
"Why is it the [dealer franchise] market needs to be protected in this absolutist fashion?" he says. "There's a future out there where we might sell our product through a franchise dealer, but we're not there yet."
The Dealers Choice
Road & Track magazine describes the advent of the franchise system of independently owned and operated auto dealers as a way to enable "early automakers to get paid as soon as they shipped vehicles to the dealer."
The system long worked well, with dealers selling at a markup that brought healthy profits, according to the magazine, and the birth of muscular state laws preventing manufacturers from directly competing with the dealers.
And though the nature of the nation's economy has changed dramatically (why can't consumers buy cars online like everything else, Tesla asks), the dealers are holding tight to a structure as American as apple pie and essential to the health of communities.
"If manufacturers control dealership networks, there won't be dealerships in small towns — they'd just be where the big box stores are," says Bill Wolters, longtime head of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association. "Every year, there are bills that would weaken the franchise laws." Tesla's effort to change a state statute that prohibits manufacturers of new motor vehicles from operating a dealership, he says, is just the latest.
But perhaps the most persistent.
Both sides are not underestimating the determination of the other to prevail.
"I sat down in Palo Alto with Elon Musk, hat in hand, and said we want to partner with you, you can have it exactly as you want it — 'Tesla of Austin,' " said Wolters of the Texas dealers association. "You can do it just as you want to, within our law, you just can't own the showroom."
Musk, Wolters recalled, didn't cotton to the suggestion, leaving the room quickly, but not before pledging to spend an inordinate amount of money to battle automobile franchise laws.
Wolters noted, however, that he was taken for a nice drive in one of Musk's Teslas before heading back to Texas.
"He's just determined to do it his own way," Wolters says.The well-being of our prisoners isn't a topic that often garners much sympathy. Perhaps that is why few Americans know that rapes and sexual assaults of U.S. inmates have reached epidemic proportions.
USATODAY OPINION Columns In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes a variety of opinions from outside writers. On political and policy matters, we publish opinions from across the political spectrum. Roughly half of our columns come from our Board of Contributors, a group whose interests range from education to religion to sports to the economy. Their charge is to chronicle American culture by telling the stories, large and small, that collectively make us what we are. We also publish weekly columns by Al Neuharth, USA TODAY's founder, and DeWayne Wickham, who writes primarily on matters of race but on other subjects as well. That leaves plenty of room for other views from across the nation by well-known and lesser-known names alike. Columnists
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The Bureau of Justice Statistics confirmed this human rights crisis last month. It says that nearly one in 10 prisoners report having been raped or sexually assaulted by other inmates, staff or both.
That's why the release of a separate report by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, which was created by Congress in 2003, is so important. It challenges our society to take seriously a problem that has ruined many lives.
The website of the health and human rights organization Just Detention International (JDI) tells some of the inmates' troubling stories.
"While I was in an Arkansas state prison, I was raped by at least 27 different inmates over a nine-month period," said Bryson Martel Spruce, a bisexual former inmate. "I don't have to tell you that it was the worst nine months of my life."
Spruce contracted HIV as a result of the attacks. "Standards are needed to protect people like me," he said before he died in 2010.
Spruce's story is a disturbing example of the particular challenge lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face when incarcerated. "I knew him well," Lovisa Stannow, JDI's executive director, said of Spruce. "He spoke often about how he was targeted because of his sexual orientation."
Gay inmates targeted
More than one-third of gay and bisexual male inmates said that they were victimized by another inmate, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report. By comparison, only 3.5% of straight male inmates reported being sexually assaulted by other inmates. Bisexual female inmates also were targeted for sexual assaults more than their fellow inmates.
Of course, gender and sexual orientation are not the main issue. No inmate in our prisons should have to endure rapes or sexual assaults, whether committed by other inmates or staff.
Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a private, non-profit organization, traces the vulnerability of prisoners to sexual assaults back to three pieces of legislation passed during the Clinton administration. The Prison Litigation and Reform Act made it more difficult for prisoners to sue for abuse of power or dangerous treatment. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act essentially guaranteed that inmates who have suffered wrongful convictions will have a tougher time challenging them. And by making convicts ineligible for food stamps or public housing, the infamous Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, better known as welfare reform, virtually ensured higher recividism rates. Together, these laws have not only robbed more vulnerable inmates of just opportunities to gain and maintain freedom, they also have guaranteed that some will be targeted for prison rapes while trapped inside.
"All of that, I think, would have been shocking even to a Republican legislator in the 1960s or early 1970s," Stevenson said.
The commission's new prison rape elimination standards, blessed by the Justice Department, include requirements for adequate prison staffing, sexual abuse prevention training for staff, creating more ways for inmates to report sexual abuse privately, no cross-gender searches of female inmates by male staff, publishing sexual abuse statistics annually and audits every three years. State prisons that don't comply will lose federal funding.
Alabama prison accusations
The new standards will add heft to current complaints, such as the one filed by EJI against the Alabama Department of Corrections that is now under investigation by the Justice Department. EJI alleges that inmates of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Ala., have suffered "widespread sexual abuse" by male guards, including acts of sexual violence that have culminated in pregnancies.
"When the government takes away someone's freedom, it takes on the responsibility of keeping that person safe," Stevenson said.
No state can credibly claim to be committed to law and order if its response to sexual assaults in prison is passive at best. But this is not just about justice for inmates. The commission's report includes the story of Air Force veteran Tom Cahill, who was beaten and gang-raped by inmates while spending one night in a San Antonio jail.
"I've been hospitalized more times than I can count," Cahill told the commission. "For the past two decades, I've received a non-service connected security pension from the (Department of Veterans Affairs) at the cost of about $200,000 in connection with the only major trauma I've ever suffered, the rape."
Cahill's horrific experience happened in just one night spent in jail. For those spending years in prison, their nightmare can be never ending, until the new standards are not only implemented but also enforced to protect vulnerable prisoners.
Sure, these inmates are paying for their crimes, but rape is not part of their sentence.
David Person, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is directing the forthcoming television documentary Not Our Bodies, an examination of rape, sexual assaults and race.I've often read that there were 500,000 morphine addicts running around after the Civil War. Is this true? If so, did narcotics have a deleterious effect on the Old West? How many cowboys were wacko on these then-legal drugs?
Cecil replies:
You’ve heard of the war on drugs? Turns out war may be the reason a lot of people got hooked on drugs to start with. We’ve already talked about the huge increase in smoking and related diseases due to wide distribution of cigarettes to GIs during World War II. Now let’s turn to the massive upswing in narcotics addiction in the latter part of the 19th century — due, some feel, to the liberal use of morphine to ease the suffering of wounded soldiers during the Civil War.
Drug addiction in the English-speaking world was rare at the beginning of the |
Nicole for pranking him.
Wow, that dbag "Corey" on #BigBrother18 joking about "beating the crap" out of Nicole. Stay classy, bro. @CBSBigBrother
More Corey 'humor'. Regarding getting back at Nicole for a shaving cream like 'failed' prank. #BB18pic.twitter.com/voDWO7Kpuj
Between Corey's goat story and his wanting to beat Nicole up line idek what to say.. #BB18pic.twitter.com/SusKYuRJW9
also Corey: homophobic, had a gay panic, muttered that he would beat nicolehttps://twitter.com/powerofvetoes/status/747126430933327872...
This is hardly the first time that contestants have said controversial remarks during the livestreams. But in its 18 seasons, a houseguest has yet to be removed from the show for what they've said. (Mic has reached out to CBS for more information on its eviction procedures.)
The next episode of Big Brother 18 airs next at 8 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. But, for an unfiltered view of the contestants, check out the 24-hour livestream.H-E-B releases behind-the-scenes peek at Tim Duncan ‘legends’ commercials
In an H-E-B commercial slated to air in late October 2016, retired power forward Tim Duncan is invited to a "secret retirement club" with former players David Robinson, George Gervin, Bruce Bowen and Sean Elliott all lounging around in black slippers and silver robes. less In an H-E-B commercial slated to air in late October 2016, retired power forward Tim Duncan is invited to a "secret retirement club" with former players David Robinson, George Gervin, Bruce Bowen and Sean... more Photo: Courtesy /H-E-B / Courtesy /H-E-B Photo: Courtesy /H-E-B / Courtesy /H-E-B Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close H-E-B releases behind-the-scenes peek at Tim Duncan ‘legends’ commercials 1 / 19 Back to Gallery
Tim Duncan is returning to the small screen later this month in a new series of H-E-B commercials featuring an elite group of Spurs “legends.”
In the first commercial, the newly retired power forward is invited to a "secret retirement club" with former players David Robinson, George Gervin, Bruce Bowen and Sean Elliott — all lounging around in black slippers and silver robes. They are surrounded by tubs of the Texas grocer's "Creamy Creations" brand of ice cream, the Coyote grilling up meat, a basketball ice sculpture and, of course, a violinist.
The Texas grocer shared set photos from the upcoming commercial in a tweet Wednesday. H-E-B spokeswoman Dya Campos said the spot, along with about six others featuring current Spurs players, will air sometime in late October when the season begins. H-E-B’s series of Spurs commercials began in 2004 with Duncan but later expanded to include other players.
The Spurs will face off against the Golden State Warriors in their season opener Oct. 25 in Oakland.
jfechter@express-news.net
Twitter: @JFreportsStory highlights Trump charges Clinton was misrepresenting his position by saying he wants nuclear arms for Japan
But he's made conflicting statements on the issue
Washington (CNN) Donald Trump on Wednesday night charged Hillary Clinton was misrepresenting his position by saying he wants nuclear arms for Japan -- but the presumptive Republican nominee previously has said exactly that.
At a rally in Sacramento, Trump said that Clinton "made a speech, she's making another one tomorrow, and they sent me a copy of the speech. And it was such lies about my foreign policy, that they said I want Japan to get nuclear weapons. Give me a break."
He added, "See they don't say it: I want Japan and Germany and Saudi Arabia and South Korea and many of the NATO states, nations, they owe us tremendously, we're taking care of all those people and what I want them to do is pay up."
But in an April interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, Trump said, "It's not like, gee whiz, nobody has them. So, North Korea has nukes. Japan has a problem with that. I mean, they have a big problem with that. Maybe they would in fact be better off if they defend themselves from North Korea."
Read MoreHoly shit, Lobster Grams are a thing!?
Reddit Secret Santa is always a very special time of the year. Over the past few years, I have enjoyed sending and receiving gifts from complete strangers and this year was no different. My Secret Santa sent an incredibly generous "Lobster Gram" which consisted of live lobsters, crab cakes, chocolate lava cakes and chowder.
The Lobster Gram, which had to be cooked day-of-delivery, fortunately forced my wife and I to put aside our work (it's been one of those long weeks / month), crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy a long, fantastic dinner with one another. Not only was the gift itself extremely generous, it provided us a memory that we will not soon forget....... kind of........
It just so happens that the original delivery date was a bit delayed and my Secret Santa reached out to Lobster Gram HQ to voice her opinion. Well, Lobster Gram wasn't too happy with themselves either and have decided to deliver an identical package in a weeks time to make up for their snafu! 2 ridiculous lobster meals within a week? Don't mind if we do.
Here's to my Secret Santa, zzzlist, and everyone, have a safe and happy holiday season!Home Chapter 1: A Day of Very Low Probability Chapter 2: Everything I Believe Is False Chapter 3: Comparing Reality To Its Alternatives Chapter 4: The Efficient Market Hypothesis Chapter 5: The Fundamental Attribution Error Chapter 6: The Planning Fallacy Chapter 7: Reciprocation Chapter 8: Positive Bias Chapter 9: Title Redacted, Part I Chapter 10: Self Awareness, Part II Chapter 11: Omake Files 1, 2, 3 Chapter 12: Impulse Control Chapter 13: Asking the Wrong Questions Chapter 14: The Unknown and the Unknowable Chapter 15: Conscientiousness Chapter 16: Lateral Thinking Chapter 17: Locating the Hypothesis Chapter 18: Dominance Hierarchies Chapter 19: Delayed Gratification Chapter 20: Bayes's Theorem Chapter 21: Rationalization Chapter 22: The Scientific Method Chapter 23: Belief in Belief Chapter 24: Machiavellian Intelligence Hypothesis Chapter 25: Hold Off on Proposing Solutions Chapter 26: Noticing Confusion Chapter 27: Empathy Chapter 28: Reductionism Chapter 29: Egocentric Bias Chapter 30: Working in Groups, Pt 1 Chapter 31: Working in Groups, Pt 2 Chapter 32: Interlude: Personal Financial Management Chapter 33: Coordination Problems, Pt 1 Chapter 34: Coordination Problems, Pt 2 Chapter 35: Coordination Problems, Pt 3 Chapter 36: Status Differentials Chapter 37: Interlude: Crossing the Boundary Chapter 38: The Cardinal Sin Chapter 39: Pretending to be Wise, Pt 1 Chapter 40: Pretending to be Wise, Pt 2 Chapter 41: Frontal Override Chapter 42: Courage Chapter 43: Humanism, Pt 1 Chapter 44: Humanism, Pt 2 Chapter 45: Humanism, Pt 3 Chapter 46: Humanism, Pt 4 Chapter 47: Personhood Theory Chapter 48: Utilitarian Priorities Chapter 49: Prior Information Chapter 50: Self Centeredness Chapter 51: Title Redacted, Pt 1 Chapter 52: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 2 Chapter 53: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 3 Chapter 54: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 4 Chapter 55: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 5 Chapter 56: TSPE, Constrained Optimization, Pt 6 Chapter 57: TSPE, Constrained Cognition, Pt 7 Chapter 58: TSPE, Constrained Cognition, Pt 8 Chapter 59: TSPE, Curiosity, Pt 9 Chapter 60: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Pt 10 Chapter 61: TSPE, Secrecy and Openness, Pt 11 Chapter 62: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Final Chapter 63: TSPE, Aftermaths Chapter 64: Omake Files 4, Alternate Parallels Chapter 65: Contagious Lies Chapter 66: Self Actualization, Pt 1 Chapter 67: Self Actualization, Pt 2 Chapter 68: Self Actualization, Pt 3 Chapter 69: Self Actualization, Pt 4 Chapter 70: Self Actualization, Pt 5 Chapter 71: Self Actualization, Pt 6 Chapter 72: SA, Plausible Deniability, Pt 7 Chapter 73: SA, The Sacred and the Mundane, Pt 8 Chapter 74: SA, Escalation of Conflicts, Pt 9 Chapter 75: Self Actualization Final, Responsibility Chapter 76: Interlude with the Confessor: Sunk Costs Chapter 77: SA, Aftermaths: Surface Appearances Chapter 78: Taboo Tradeoffs Prelude: Cheating Chapter 79: Taboo Tradeoffs, Pt 1 Chapter 80: Taboo Tradeoffs, Pt 2, The Horns Effect Chapter 81: Taboo Tradeoffs, Pt 3 Chapter 82: Taboo Tradeoffs, Final Chapter 83: Taboo Tradeoffs, Aftermath 1 Chapter 84: Taboo Tradeoffs, Aftermath 2 Chapter 85: Taboo Tradeoffs, Aftermath 3, Distance Chapter 86: Multiple Hypothesis Testing Chapter 87: Hedonic Awareness Chapter 88: Time Pressure, Pt 1 Chapter 89: Time Pressure, Pt 2 Chapter 90: Roles, Pt 1 Chapter 91: Roles, Pt 2 Chapter 92: Roles, Pt 3 Chapter 93: Roles, Pt 4 Chapter 94: Roles, Pt 5 Chapter 95: Roles, Pt 6 Chapter 96: Roles, Pt 7 Chapter 97: Roles, Pt 8 Chapter 98: Roles, Final Chapter 99: Roles, Aftermath Chapter 100: Precautionary Measures, Pt 1 Chapter 101: Precautionary Measures, Pt 2 Chapter 102: Caring Chapter 103: Tests Chapter 104: The Truth, Pt 1, Riddles and Answers Chapter 105: The Truth, Pt 2 Chapter 106: The Truth, Pt 3 Chapter 107: The Truth, Pt 4 Chapter 108: The Truth, Pt 5, Answers and Riddles Chapter 109: Reflections Chapter 110: Reflections, Pt 2 Chapter 111: Failure, Pt 1 Chapter 112: Failure, Pt 2 Chapter 113: Final Exam Chapter 114: Shut Up and Do The Impossible Chapter 115: Shut Up and Do The Impossible, Pt 2 Chapter 116: Aftermath, Something to Protect, Pt 0 Chapter 117: Something to Protect: Minerva McGonagall Chapter 118: Something to Protect: Professor Quirrell Chapter 119: Something to Protect: Albus Dumbledore Chapter 120: Something to Protect: Draco Malfoy Chapter 121: Something to Protect: Severus Snape Chapter 122: Something to Protect: Hermione Granger
Chapter 108: The Truth, Pt 5, Answers and Riddles
The Defense Professor had set up a cauldron, floating it into place with a wave of his wand, another wave starting a fire beneath it. A brief circling of the Defense Professor's finger had set in motion a long-handled spoon, and it had continued stirring the cauldron without being held. Now the Defense Professor was measuring out a heap of flowers from a large jar, what Harry supposed to be bellflowers; the indigo petals seemed luminous in the white light of the walls, and curved inward in a way that gave the impression of a desire for privacy. The first of these flowers had been added to the potion at once, but then the cauldron had just gone on stirring itself for a while.
The Defense Professor had assumed a position from which he could see Harry just by turning his head slightly, and Harry knew that he was within the Defense Professor's peripheral vision.
In the corner a Fiendfyre phoenix waited, some of the nearby stone beginning to gloss over as it melted to greater smoothness. The burning wings shed crimson light that gave everything in the room a tint of blood, and reflected in scarlet sparks from the glassware.
"Time is wasting," said Professor Quirrell. "Ask your questions, if you have them."
Why, Professor Quirrell, why, why must you be this way, why make yourself the monster, why Lord Voldemort, I know you might not want the same things I do, but I can't imagine what you want that makes this the best way to get it...
That was what Harry's brain wanted to know.
What Harry needed to know was... some way out of what was going to happen next. But the Defense Professor had said that he wouldn't talk about his future plans. It was strange enough that the Defense Professor was willing to talk about anything, that had to contradict one of his Rules...
"I'm thinking," Harry said aloud.
Professor Quirrell smiled slightly. He was using a pestle to grind the potion's first magical ingredient, a glowing red hexagon. "I quite understand," said the Defense Professor. "But do not think over-long, child."
Goals: Prevent Lord Voldemort from harming people, find a way to kill or neutralise him, but first get the Stone and resurrect Hermione...
...convince Professor Quirrell to STOP THIS...
Harry swallowed, pushing down the emotion, trying not to let the water reach his eyes. Tears probably wouldn't make a good impression on Lord Voldemort. Professor Quirrell was already frowning, though from the direction of his gaze he was examining a leaf colored in vivid shades of white, green, and purple.
There wasn't any obvious way to reach any of the goals, not yet. All Harry could do was ask the questions that seemed most likely to provide useful information, even if Harry didn't yet have a plan.
So we just ask about whatever seems most interesting? said Harry's Ravenclaw side. I'm up for that.
Shut up, Harry told the voice; and then, on further reflection, decided that he was no longer pretending it was there.
Four topics came to Harry's mind as being priorities from the standpoint of curiosity about important things. Four questions, then, four major subjects, to try to fit in while this potion was still being brewed.
Four questions...
"I ask my first question," Harry said. "What really happened on the night of October 31st, 1981?" Why was that night different from all other nights... "I would like the entire story, please."
The question of how and why Lord Voldemort had survived his apparent death seemed likely to matter for future planning.
"I expected you would ask that," Professor Quirrell said, dropping a bellflower and a white glittering stone into the potion. "To begin, everything I told you about the horcrux spell is true; as you should realise, since I spoke in Parseltongue."
Harry nodded.
"Within seconds after you learned the details of the spell, you perceived the central flaw, and began pondering how the spell might be improved. Do you think the young Tom Riddle was any different?"
Harry shook his head.
"Well, he was," said Professor Quirrell. "Whenever I was tempted to despair of you, I reminded myself how I was an idiot at twice your age. When I was fifteen I made myself a horcrux as a certain book had shown me, using the death of Abigail Myrtle beneath the eyes of Slytherin's basilisk. I planned to make a new horcrux every year after I left Hogwarts, and call that my fallback plan if my other hopes of immortality did not come to fruition. In retrospect, the young Tom Riddle was grasping straws. The thought of making a better horcrux, of not being content with the spell I had already learned... this thought did not come to me until I had grasped the stupidity of ordinary people, and realised which follies of theirs I had imitated. But in time I learned the habit that you inherited from me, to ask in every instance how it might be done better. To be content with the spell I had learned from a book, when it bore only a faint resemblance to what I truly wanted? Absurd! And so I set forth to create a better spell."
"You have true immortality, now?" Harry was aware that, even with everything else going on, this was a question more important than war and strategy.
"Indeed," said Professor Quirrell. He paused in his Potions work and turned to face Harry fully; there was a look of exultation in the man's eyes that Harry had never seen there before. "In all the Darkest Arts I could find, in all the interdicted secrets to which Slytherin's Monster gave me keys, in all the lore remembered among wizardkind, I found only hints and smatterings of what I needed. So I rewove it and remade it, and devised a new ritual based on new principles. I kept that ritual burning in my mind for years, perfecting it in imagination, pondering its meaning and making fine adjustments, waiting for the intention to stabilise. At last I dared to invoke my ritual, an invented sacrificial ritual, based on a principle untested by all known magic. And I lived, and yet live." The Defense Professor spoke with quiet triumph, as though the act itself was so great that no words could ever do it justice. "I still use the word 'horcrux', but only from sentiment. It is a new thing entirely, the greatest of all my creations."
"As one of my questions you said you'd answer, I ask how to cast that spell," Harry said.
"Denied." The Defense Professor turned back to his potion, dropping in a gray-flecked white feather and a bellflower. "I had thought perhaps to teach you when you were older, for no Tom Riddle would be content otherwise; but I have changed my mind."
Memory is a hard thing to recall, sometimes, and Harry had been trying to remember if Professor Quirrell had dropped any hints about this subject before. Something about Professor Quirrell's phrasing sparked a memory: Perhaps you will be told when you are older...
"There are still physical anchors for your immortality," Harry said aloud. "It resembles the old horcrux spell by that much, which is another reason you still call them horcruxes." It was dangerous to say aloud, but Harry needed to know. "If I'm wrong, you can always deny it in Parseltongue."
Professor Quirrell was smiling evilly. "Your guesss iss right, boy, for all the good it doess you."
Unfortunately, that wasn't a difficult vulnerability to cover if the Enemy was smart. Harry wouldn't ordinarily have made the suggestion, just in case the Enemy hadn't thought of it for themselves, but in this case he'd already made it. "One horcux dropped into an active volcano, weighted so it would sink into the Earth's mantle," Harry said heavily. "The same place I thought of dropping the Dementor if I couldn't destroy it. And then you asked me where else I would hide something if I didn't want anyone to find it ever again. One horcrux buried kilometers down, in an anonymous cubic meter of the Earth's crust. One horcrux you dropped into the Mariana Trench. One horcrux floating high in the stratosphere, transparent. Even you don't know where they are, because you Obliviated the exact details from your memory. And the last horcrux is the Pioneer 11 plaque that you snuck into NASA and modified. It's where you get your image of the stars, when you cast the spell of starlight. Fire, earth, water, air, void." Something of a riddle, the Defense Professor had called it, and therefore Harry had remembered it. Something of a Riddle.
"Indeed," said the Defense Professor. "It did give me something of a shock when you remembered it that quickly, but I suppose it makes no difference; all five are beyond my reach, or yours."
That might not be true, especially if there was some way to trace the magical connection somehow and determine the location... though presumably Voldemort would have done his best to obscure it... but what magic had done, magic might be able to defeat. Pioneer 11 might be far away by wizard standards, but NASA knew exactly where it was, and it was probably a lot more reachable if you could use magic to tell the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation to bugger off...
A sudden note of worry plucked at Harry's mind. There was no rule saying the Defense Professor needed to have told the truth about which interstellar probe he'd horcruxed, and if Harry recalled correctly, communication and tracking of the Pioneer 10 probe had been lost shortly after the Jupiter fly-by.
Why wouldn't Professor Quirrell have just horcruxed them both?
The obvious next thought came to Harry. It was something that ought not to be suggested, if the Enemy had not thought of it. But it seemed extremely probable that the Enemy had thought of it.
"Tell me, teacher," Harry hissed, "would desstroying thosse five anchors sslay you? "
"Why do you assk? " hissed the Defense Professor, with a lilt to the hiss that Parseltongue translated as snakish amusement. "Do you ssusspect that ansswer is no? "
Harry couldn't think of how to answer, though he strongly suspected that it didn't matter in any case.
"Your ssusspicion iss right, boy. Desstroying thosse five would not render me mortal."
Harry's throat felt a bit dry again. If the spell had no disastrous cost associated with it... "How many anchorss did you make? "
"Would not ordinarily ssay, but iss clear you have already guesssed." The Defense Professor's smile widened. "Ansswer iss that I do not know. Sstopped counting ssomewhere around one hundred and sseven. Ssimply made a habit of it each time I murdered ssomeone in private."
Over one hundred murders, in private, before Lord Voldemort had stopped counting. And even worse news - "Your immortality spell still requires a human death? Why? "
"Great creation maintainss life and magic within devicess created by ssacrificing life and magic of otherss." Again that hissing snake laughter. "Liked falsse desscription of previousss horcrux sspell sso much, sso dissappointed when realissed truth of it, thoughtss of improved verssion came out in that sshape."
Harry wasn't sure why the Defense Professor was giving him all this vital information, but there had to be a reason, and that was making him nervous. "So you really are a disembodied spirit possessing Quirinus Quirrell."
"Yess. I sshall return sswiftly, if thiss body iss killed. Will be greatly annoyed, and vengeful. I am telling you this, boy, so that you do not try anything stupid."
"I understand," Harry said. He did his best to organize his thoughts, remember what he'd meant to ask next, while the Defense Professor turned his eyes back to the potion. The man's left hand was dribbling crushed seashell into the cauldron, while his right hand dropped in another bellflower. "So what did happen on October 31st? You... tried to turn the baby Harry Potter into a horcrux, either the new kind or the old kind. You did it deliberately, because you told Lily Potter," Harry took a breath. Now that he knew why the chills were there, he could endure them. "Very well, I accept the bargain. Yourself to die, and the child to live. Now drop your wand so that I can murder you." In retrospect, it was clear that Harry had remembered that event mainly from Lord Voldemort's perspective, and only at the very end had he seen it through the baby Harry Potter's eyes. "What did you do? Why did you do it?"
"Trelawney's prophecy," Professor Quirrell said. His hand tapped a bellflower with a strip of copper before dropping it in. "I spent long days pondering it, after Snape brought the prophecy to me. Prophecies are never trivial things. And how shall I put this in a way that does not make you think stupid things... well, I shall say it, and if you are stupid I shall be annoyed. I was fascinated by the prophecy's assertion that someone would be my equal, because it might mean that person could hold up the other end of an intelligent conversation. After fifty years of being surrounded by gibbering stupidity, I no longer cared whether my reaction might be considered a literary cliche. I was not about to pass up on that opportunity without thinking about it first. And then, you see, I had a clever idea." Professor Quirrell sighed. "It occurred to me how I might fulfill the Prophecy my own way, to my own benefit. I would mark the baby as my equal by casting the old horcrux spell in such fashion as to imprint my own spirit onto the baby's blank slate; it would be a purer copy of myself, since there would be no old self to mix with the new. In some years, when I had become bored with ruling Britain and moved on to other things, I would arrange with the other Tom Riddle that he should appear to vanquish me, and he would rule over the Britain he had saved. We would play the game against each other forever, keeping our lives interesting amid a world of fools. I knew a dramatist would predict that the two of us would end by destroying each other; but I pondered long upon it, and decided that both of us would simply decline to play out the drama. That was my decision and I was confident that it would remain so; both Tom Riddles, I thought, would be too intelligent to truly go down that road. The prophecy seemed to hint that if I destroyed all but a remnant of Harry Potter, then our spirits would not be so different, and we could exist in the same world."
"Something went wrong," Harry said. "Something that blew off the top of the Potters' home in Godric's Hollow, gave me the scar on my forehead, and left your burnt body behind."
Professor Quirrell nodded. His hands had slowed in their Potions work. "The resonance in our magic," Professor Quirrell said quietly. "When I had shaped the baby's spirit to be like my own..."
Harry remembered the moment in Azkaban when Professor Quirrell's Killing Curse had collided with his Patronus. The burning, tearing agony in his forehead, like his head had been about to split in half.
"I cannot count how many times I have thought of that night, rehearsing my mistake, thinking of wiser things I should have done," said Professor Quirrell. "I later decided that I should have thrown my wand from my hand and changed into my Animagus form. But that night... that night, I instinctively tried to control the chaotic fluctuations in my magic, even as I felt myself burning up from inside. That was the wrong decision, and I failed. So my body was destroyed, even as I overwrote the infant Harry Potter's mind; either of us destroying all but a remnant of the other. And then..." Professor Quirrell's expression was controlled. "And then, when I regained consciousness inside my horcruxes, it turned out that my great creation did not work as I had hoped. I should have been able to float free of my horcruxes and possess any victim that consented to me, or that was too weak to refuse me. That was the part of my great creation that failed my intent. As with the original horcrux spell, I would only be able to enter a victim who contacted the physical horcrux... and I had hidden my unnumbered horcruxes in places where nobody would ever find them. Your instinct is correct, boy, this would not be a good time to laugh."
Harry stayed very quiet.
The Potions-making had come to a temporary pause, a space where no ingredients were added while the cauldron simmered for a time. "I spent most of my time looking at the stars," Professor Quirrell said, his voice quieter now. The Defense Professor had turned from the potion, staring at the white-illuminated walls of the room. "My remaining hope was the horcruxes I had hidden in the hopeless idiocy of my youth. Imbuing them into ancient lockets, instead of anonymous pebbles; guarding them beneath wells of poison in the center of a lake of Inferi, instead of portkeying them into the sea. If someone found one of those, and penetrated their ridiculous protections... but that seemed like a distant hope. I was not sure I would ever be embodied again. Yet at least I was immortal. The worst of all fates had been averted, my great creation had done that much. I had little left to hope for, and little left to fear. I decided that I would not go insane, since there seemed to be no advantage in it. Instead, I gazed out at the stars and thought, as the Sun slowly diminished behind me. I reflected on the errors of my past life; they were many, in that hindsight. In my imagination I constructed powerful new rituals I might attempt, if I was free to use my magic once more, and yet confident of my immortality. I contemplated ancient riddles at greater length than before, for all that I had once thought myself patient. I knew that if I won free, I would be more powerful by far than in my previous life; but I mostly did not expect that to happen." Professor Quirrell turned back to the potion. "Nine years and four months after that night, a wandering adventurer named Quirinus Quirrell won past the protections guarding one of my earliest horcruxes. The rest you know. And now, boy, you may say what we both know you are thinking."
"Um," Harry said. "It doesn't seem like a very smart thing to say -"
"Indeed, Mr. Potter. It is not a clever thing to say to me. Not even a little. Not in the slightest. But I know you're thinking it, and you will go on thinking it and I will go on knowing that until you say it. So speak."
"So. Um. I realise that this is something that is more obvious in hindsight than in foresight, and I'm certainly not suggesting that you try to correct the error now, but if you are a Dark Lord and you happen to hear about a child who has been prophesied to defeat you, there is a certain spell which is unblockable, unstoppable, and works every single time on anything with a brain -"
"Yes thank you Mr. Potter that thought occurred to me several times over the next nine years." Professor Quirrell picked up another bellflower and began crumbling it in his bare fist. "I made that principle the centerpiece of my Battle Magic curriculum after I learned its centrality the hard way. It was not the first Rule on the younger Tom Riddle's list. It is only by harsh experience that we learn which principles take priority over which other principles; as mere words they all sound equally persuasive. In retrospect it would have been better if I had sent Bellatrix to the Potters' home in my place; but I had a Rule telling me that for such matters I must go myself and not try sending a trusted lieutenant. Yes, I considered the Killing Curse; but I wondered if casting the Killing Curse at an infant would somehow cause the curse to bounce off and hit me, thus fulfilling the prophecy. How was I to know?"
"So use an axe, it's hard to get a prophecy-fulfilling spell backfire out of an axe," Harry said and then shut up.
"I decided the safest path was to try to fulfill the prophecy on my own terms," Professor Quirrell said. "Needless to say, the next time I hear a prophecy I do not like, I will tear it apart at every possible point of intervention, rather than trying to play along." Professor Quirrell was crushing a rose as though to squeeze the juice out of it, still using his bare fist. "And now everyone thinks the Boy-Who-Lived is somehow immune to the Killing Curse, even though Killing Curses do not ruin houses or leave burnt bodies behind them, because it has not occurred to them that Lord Voldemort would ever use any other spell."
Harry again stayed quiet. It had occurred to Harry that there was another obvious way that Lord Voldemort could have avoided his mistake. Something that might perhaps be easier to see given a Muggle upbringing, instead of the wizarding way of looking at things.
Harry had not yet decided whether to tell Professor Quirrell about his thought; there were both pros and cons to pointing out that particular error.
After a time Professor Quirrell picked up the next Potions ingredient, a strand of what looked like unicorn hair. "I tell you this as a caution," said Professor Quirrell. "Do not expect me to be delayed another nine years, if you somehow destroy this body of mine. I set horcruxes in better places at once, and now even that is unnecessary. Thanks to you, I learned where to find the Resurrection Stone. The Resurrection Stone does not bring back the dead, of course; but it holds a more ancient magic than my own for projecting the seeming of a spirit. And since I am one who has defeated death, Cadmus's Hallow acknowledged me its master, and answered all my will. I have now incorporated it into my great creation." Professor Quirrell smiled slightly. "I had many years earlier considered making that device a horcrux, but decided against it at the time, since I realized that the ring had magic of unknown nature... ah, such ironies does life play upon us. But I digress. You, boy, you brought that about, you freed my spirit to fly where it pleases and seduce the most opportune victim, by being too casual with your secrets. It is a catastrophe for any who oppose me, and you wrought it with one finger drawing wetness on a tea-saucer. This world will be a safer place for all, if you learn the rectitude that wizardborns absorb in childhood. And all thiss that I have jusst said iss the truth."
Harry closed his eyes, and his own hand massaged his forehead; if he had seen it from the outside, it would have looked the mirror of Professor Quirrell in deep thought.
The problem of defeating Professor Quirrell was looking increasingly difficult, even by the standards of the sort of impossible problems that Harry had solved already. If communicating that difficulty was what Professor Quirrell was trying to do, he was succeeding. Harry was starting to seriously consider the possibility that it might be better to offer to rule Britain as Voldemort's nonhomicidal delegate, if Professor Quirrell himself would just agree to stop killing people all the time. Even mostly.
But that wasn't likely to happen.
Harry stared at his hands, from where he had sat down upon the floor, feeling sadness shading over into despair. The Lord Voldemort who'd given Harry his dark side had spent that long thinking things over and reflecting on his own thought processes... and had emerged as the calm, clear-headed, and still homicidal Professor Quirrell.
Professor Quirrell added a pinch of golden hair to the potion of effulgence, and that reminded Harry that time was continuing to move; the locks of bright hair were rarer than the bellflowers.
"I ask my second question," Harry said. "Tell me about the Philosopher's Stone. Does it do anything besides making Transfigurations permanent? Is it possible to make more Stones, and why is that problem hard?"
Professor Quirrell was bent over the potion, and Harry could not see his face. "Very well, I shall tell you the Stone's story as I have inferred it. The one and only power of the Stone is the imposition of permanency, to render a temporary form into a true and lasting substance - a power absolutely beyond ordinary spells. Conjurations such as the castle Hogwarts are maintained by a constant well of magic. Even Metamorphmagi cannot manifest golden fingernails and then trim them for sale. It is theorized that the Metamorphmagus curse merely rearranges the substance of their flesh, like a Muggle smith manipulates iron with hammer and tongs; and their body contains no gold. If Merlin himself could create gold from thin air, history does not record it. So the Stone, we can guess even before research, must be a very old thing indeed. In contrast, Nicholas Flamel has been known to the world for a mere six centuries. Tell me the obvious next question to ask, boy, if you wanted to trace the Stone's history."
"Um," Harry said. He rubbed his forehead, concentrating. If the Stone was old, but the world had only known Nicholas Flamel for six centuries... "Was there some other very long-lived wizard who disappeared at around the same time Nicholas Flamel showed up?"
"Close," said Professor Quirrell. "You recall that six centuries ago there was a Dark Lady called undying, the sorceress Baba Yaga? She was said to be able to heal any wound in herself, to change shape into any form she pleased... she held the Stone of Permanency, obviously. And then one year Baba Yaga agreed to teach Battle Magic at Hogwarts, under an old and respected truce." Professor Quirrell looked... angry, a look such as Harry had rarely seen on him. "But she was not trusted, and so there was invoked a curse. Some curses are easier to cast when they bind yourself and others alike; Slytherin's Parselmouth curse is an example of such. In this case, Baba Yaga's signature, and signatures from every student and teacher of Hogwarts, were placed within an ancient device known as the Goblet of Fire. Baba Yaga swore not to shed a drop of students' blood, nor take from the students anything that was theirs. In return, the students swore not to shed a drop of Baba Yaga's blood, nor take from her anything that was hers. So they all signed, with the G |
actions only emboldened the Republicans and gave the neocons time to regroup. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “The Clintons’ Real Trouble with Truth.”] So, the neocons may have been staggered a few times in recent months, but it would be premature to count them out. Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, was written with two of his sons, Sam and Nat, and can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com. His two previous books, Secrecy & Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq and Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' are also available there. Or go to Amazon.com. To comment at Consortiumblog, click here. (To make a blog comment about this or other stories, you can use your normal e-mail address and password. Ignore the prompt for a Google account.) To comment to us by e-mail, click here. To donate so we can continue reporting and publishing stories like the one you just read, click here. Back to Home PageYoung adults with autism don’t just need a job; they need the right job. The neurological disorder makes it difficult for people with autism to verbalize thoughts, manage their anxiety, cope with changes to routine and participate in unstructured social situations.
Malcolm Fairweather is finding success in his current job as a courier in Toronto. JVS Services helped build a job around Fairweather's skills. ( LUCAS OLENIUK / TORONTO STAR )
So everyday activities, including employment, are challenging. With the right preparation and on-the-job support, young people with Asperger’s, a high-functioning form of autism, can excel while greatly benefiting their employer, says Carol Hacker of JVS Toronto, which specializes in helping individuals who have trouble finding work. “Can you live with the fact that they may not be the life of the party and may need a bit more time to get the routine? Because once they do, they will give you new ideas and be very reliable employees,” she says.
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Instead of offering the usual resume writing and internet job searches, JVS ‘built’ the perfect job for Malcolm Fairweather, a 27-year-old competitive swimmer who has Asperger syndrome and bipolar disorder. The program offers both summer and year-long job training for young adults with Asperger’s, and involves workshops where participants practise role-playing and other interactive games that teach them how to handle different social situations. “Because they are in a group of others with Asperger’s, they are more comfortable and more open to trying different approaches,” Hacker says. Paid employment gives participants real-life on-the-job training and something to put on their resume, while wage subsidies give the employer a chance to try out a prospective employee at little cost. The program, entering its second year, is funded by the federal Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities, which is providing $179,000 this year. The 48-week program will help 16 people, aged 18 to 30.
Of the 16 who participated in the program last year, 11 are still employed. JVS built Fairweather’s job around his strengths. The trim, athletic 6-footer loves to walk, so the JVS employment coach suggested Fairweather consider work as a courier.
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The coach found a local company, 2Hippos, that delivers flyers and JVS provided an eight-week wage subsidy to train Fairweather on the job last summer. The company was so happy with Fairweather’s work, it hired him in September on a permanent, part-time basis. He earns $11 an hour and works about 15 hours a week — the maximum he can fit into his 10-hour weekly swim-team training and regular medical appointments. Three to five days a week, the company drops off flyers at Fairweather’s East York home and emails a route within easy access to public transit. Since the company provides photographic proof to clients of each delivery, Fairweather’s job also involves taking time-stamped digital photos of every flyer he leaves at a doorstep. It requires dexterity and diligence. Fairweather loves the challenge. “It’s a great job,” he grins. “I can do it on my own time at my own pace. It really works for me.” Michael Smythe, founder and CEO of 2Hippos, is delighted with his new employee. “Malcolm is conscientious and he’s a very good communicator: I know exactly when he starts and finishes,” he says. “He pays great attention to detail. “When his time permits and as his life evolves, we are committed to giving him the opportunities to move into full-time work, perhaps in other areas of the company so he will be able to support himself and build a pension.” When designing employment programs for people with autism, the most promising approaches are those that also prepare the employer, says David Nicholas, a University of Calgary psychology professor. He is conducting a two-year national study of vocational programs for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), with funding from Autism Speaks in the United States. In one workplace he reviewed, the employee with autism transformed the ethos of the business. “People shifted from saying: ‘How will I deal with this difference?’ to ‘Isn’t it good that we are part of this?’ ” Nicholas says. “I think it brought a new identity to the organization. People saw it as a good place to work.” The dream for parents, and professionals working in the autism field, is for all people with ASD to have opportunities and support to explore a vocation, employment or other meaningful activity. Vocation provides identity and self-esteem, things we all need. Says Nicholas: “We haven’t thought enough about those quality-of-life impacts, let alone the positive economic impacts of including folks with autism.”Lipman.
More actors are opening up about the widespread culture of abuse in Hollywood in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Former actor turned filmmaker Blaise Godbe Lipman says Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) agent Tyler Grasham sexually assaulted him in 2007 when Lipman was a teenager. Lipman first made the accusation in a Facebook post lending his story to the #MeToo campaign without naming the accused. However, he tells the Wrap that after Grasham “poked” him on Facebook following the post after a decade of no contact, Lipman decided to name him and share the full story. According to Lipman, when he was 17 or 18, he had a dinner meeting with Grasham during which he claims Grashman “fed” him alcohol and “got [him] drunk” despite being underage. After the meeting, Lipman claims Grasham sexually assaulted him at Lipman’s home. (He isn’t sure if the assault occurred after he turned 18.) He says that Grasham later had his friends “drunklenly call [him] and berate [him]” to keep him quiet about the incident, and threatened his future in the industry.
Lipman is sharing the story now, he says, because Grasham still represents minors — Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard is a client — and Lipman believes the agency is aware of his misconduct. “APA Agency has kept this man employed, working with kid actors. I find it incredibly difficult to believe they do not know of his predatory behavior, using his position within the company to prey on naive kids,” he wrote on Facebook. The Wrap reports that other agents at the company have reported Grasham to HR for stringing along teen actors with no intention of signing them to the agency since at least 2013. Grasham and APA did not respond to the Wrap’s requests for comment about the allegations. After the Weinstein news broke, APA, which represents at least one of his accusers, released a statement saying it was “deeply disturbed” and would uphold the “highest ethical standards.”
Update, October 20: Another person has come forward to accuse Grasham of sexual assault. In a Facebook post, a man named Lucas Ozarowski says that after a party for another APA agent, while at Grasham’s home, Grasham allegedly “pulled [Ozarowski’s] pants down” and “grabbed [his] genitalia.” “I had to forcibly remove his hand and got up and left his house,” Ozarowski says. He also posted screenshots of text conversations allegedly with Grasham from 2015 in which Grasham appears to acknowledge the groping, saying “Stop. I flirt.” and “Sorry. I won’t” when Ozarowski tells him to restrain himself. He is also seen requesting “back rubs” and to “cuddle” with Ozarowski. In a 2016 conversation in which Ozarowski brings up the alleged groping, Grasham tells him, “I said I was sorry.”Three times each year, The Association of Former Students hosts Aggie Ring Day at the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center, the on-campus home of the Aggie Network.
The most recognizable symbol of that worldwide Aggie Network is the Texas Aggie Ring, and Aggie Ring Day is one of the most anticipated events of an Aggie's academic career.
On April 7-8, more than 6,000 Aggies received their Rings, inheriting a legacy built by the hundreds of thousands of Aggies who came before them and wore the same Ring.
We have compiled a gallery of hundreds of photographs taken at this Ring Day by Randy Reyes '01, The Association's director of marketing, and other photographers working on behalf of The Association. To view the photos, visit tx.ag/April17RingDay.
If you find photos you like, you may share them on social media or download them for your personal, non-commercial use. While viewing any photo, just look in the lower right corner of the screen for the downward-pointing arrow; which is the download link.
We congratulate each of the Aggies who received a Ring on reaching this very significant milestone. We also recognize the nearly 50,000 parents, other family members, teachers, mentors and friends who visited the Alumni Center on April 7-8 to witness Ring presentations and share in the joy. We hope you come back to visit soon!
We also invite you to browse our other photo albums at photos.aggienetwork.com. Included among those are albums from several prior Ring Days, among many other events.Reports indicate that the White House was relieved by the testimony provided by former FBI Director James Comey to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, but that didn't stop the president from reacting Friday morning.
White House staffers were frightened as Comey began to testify before the Senate, according to a report by McClatchy DC. When the testimony ended and a consensus was gradually reached within the White House that things had not been made worse for them, a feeling of relief began to spread. As one former Trump adviser who is in contact with the White House told McClatchy, "No new real information came to light. I don’t think anyone sees this as adding any more to the legal process... They dodged a bullet."
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As Comey was testifying, Trump himself told his legal team on Thursday that "I was right," according to a report by The New York Times. He seemed particularly encouraged by Comey admitting that he had leaked information to the media through an intermediary and that he had concerns about how former attorney general Loretta Lynch conducted herself during the Clinton email investigation. He also reportedly felt vindicated by Comey saying that Trump himself was not personally under investigation, a feeling that was shared by many staffers at the White House.
Perhaps most uncharacteristically for Trump, the president was able to refrain from tweeting his thoughts during the Comey testimony, and is reported to have only watched roughly 45 minutes of the hearing. Even during that time, much of it was spent being watched by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Trump's personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz. Trump was kept busy all day, even as White House staffers huddled around TV screens and expressed satisfaction with how Republican Senators handled Comey — although their reactions were somewhat subdued by fears that they may be leaked to the public.
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Trump did take to Twitter on Friday morning, however, to express his thoughts to Comey's testimony.ORLANDO – A federal judge has given a secular organization the green light to distribute more atheistic and anti-Christian materials to Florida public school students, in spite of the materials’ graphic content and offensive language.
As previously reported, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) learned last year that a Christian ministry had made Bibles available to Orlando high school students on “Religious Freedom Day.” To counter the Bible distribution, FFRF sought permission from the school district to give students a variety of atheistic and anti-Christian materials.
According to reports, the Orange County School Board permitted FFRF to distribute several books and pamphlets, including a booklet entitled “What’s Wrong With The Ten Commandments?” and a brochure entitled “What Is An Atheist?” However, the board prohibited FFRF from giving students several other publications, citing the materials’ “disruptive” and inappropriate content.
FFRF promptly sued the school board for not allowing the distribution of the materials. Eventually, the school board complied with the organization’s demands, giving FFRF permission to distribute the previously-prohibited materials. Then, earlier this month, a district judge officially dismissed the FFRF lawsuit, thus giving the green light to the in-school distribution of atheistic materials.
In a statement released on Tuesday, FFRF praised the school board’s and district judge’s decisions to permit the anti-Christian materials.
“Satanists can distribute their literature, Muslims can distribute the Quran, and atheists can distribute books that criticize religion,” said FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel.
The atheists now promise to circulate “a lot more” secular materials in the future.
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“We intend to give out a lot more literature to educate students about atheism and the importance of keeping religion out of public schools,” FFRF member David Williamson proclaimed. “We are even designing new materials specifically for students and families in Orange County.”
The materials approved by the Orange County School Board include a variety of graphic and anti-Christian content, including references to oral and anal sex, a description of God as the “most prolific abortionist of all,” and a number of explicit sexual references and offensive expletives.
Furthermore, the materials repeatedly attack Christian beliefs and doctrines, including the life of Jesus Christ.
“On the whole, Jesus said little that was worthwhile,” alleges the FFRF booklet “Why Jesus?”
“He introduced nothing new to ethics (except hell),” the booklet states. “He instituted no social programs. Being ‘omniscient,’ he could have shared some useful science or medicine, but he appeared ignorant of such things.”
Similarly, the “Dear Believer” booklet attacks the Bible’s message and content in a demeaning first person tone.
“Christianity, besides being false, is also abhorrent,” it alleges. “It amazes me that you claim to love the god of the bible, a hateful, arrogant, sexist, cruel being who can’t tolerate criticism. I would not want to live in the same neighborhood with such a creature! The biblical god is a macho male warrior.”
“Do you see why I do not respect the biblical message?” the booklet adds. “It is an insulting bag of nonsense. You have every right to torment yourself with such insanity—but leave me out of it. I have better things to do with my life.”
Many people have expressed concern at FFRF’s literature, arguing that the graphic, insulting material is inappropriate in a public school setting.
“The Christians wanted to only distribute Bibles to those who wanted them—not force them on anyone, not bash other religions,” one commenter noted. “… Then the atheists got involved, and they wanted to distribute material, not to promote atheism, but to denigrate Christianity and religion in general. They are not content with presenting their belief system, they have to tear down others belief systems.”In an Earthly world resembling the 1950s, a cloud of space radiation has shrouded the planet, resulting in the dead becoming zombies that desire live human flesh. A company called Zomcon has been able to control the zombie population. Zombies can be temporarily neutralized by being shot, but can only be permanently neutralized by their brain being destroyed. Their ultimate disposal is through cremation, or burial, the latter which requires decapitation with the head being buried separately from the body. Conversely, Zomcon has created the domestication collar, when activated and placed on a zombie makes the zombie controllable and thus an eternally productive creature within society. Because all dead initially become zombies, the elderly are viewed negatively and suspectly. And all people, adult or child, learn to shoot to kill to protect society. Zomcon is the go to organization for all things zombie. In the town of Willard, the Robinsons - father Bill, mother Helen, and adolescent... Written by Huggogender_neutral_bathrooms.jpg
(AP file photo)
Classes at the University of South Alabama began on Tuesday, with the Mobile-based institution moving ahead with a new policy addressing transgender bathroom facilities.
The move comes despite Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange's announcement in May for educational institutions throughout Alabama to ignore the President Barack Obama's guidance on how states are to proceed with gender-neutral bathroom facilities.
Strange's office was not immediately available for comment.
According to USA's Gender Inclusion policy, the university will allow individuals to use restroom or changing facilities consistent with their gender identity. The policy references the Title IX guidance that issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year.
Title IX prohibits sex-discrimination in schools and other educational programs that receive federal funding.
According to the university's FAQ sheet:Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
The long-established alternative American rock music festival Lollapalooza may be getting an Israeli accent. The sprawling festival, which was inaugurated in 1991 and since 2004 has taken place at Grant Park in Chicago with some of the biggest names in modern rock and hip-hop, is expanding to Tel Aviv.
“Lollapalooza Israel will be the first-ever large-scale international music festival in the country and will provide the same world-class experience that fans across the globe have come to expect, beginning with the location,” said a statement released over the weekend by the organizers of the festival, including Jane’s Addiction and Lollapalooza front man Perry Farrell.
The Wall Street Journal
The statement went on to say, “Tel Aviv is widely recognized as an international culture capital and is known across the world for its art, architecture, and bustling nightlife.”The festival will take place from August 20 to 22, 2013 at Hayarkon Park, with local management being handled by NMC United and Plug Productions Generator, a leading production and concert promotion company.Israel’s addition to the Lollapalooza circuit marks only the third country to which the festival has been exported, following Chile in 2011 and Brazil earlier this year. The decision to hold the festival in Israel is likely due, in part, to Farrell’s affection for the country. Jane’s Addiction performed here last year, and Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein) has visited many times.“I know the people there know all about the international music community, they know all the musicians. But why aren’t they getting a festival? It just took somebody with the right mindset to say let’s stretch out and do it,” he said in a promotional video announcing the Tel Aviv festival.During last year’s visit for the Jane Addiction’s show, Farrell met with promoters and toured various prospective sites, including the Dead Sea, but it was Tel Aviv that struck his eye and aesthetics.“I’m like, there’s no way in hell I’m going to drag my international community of friends to the Dead Sea. It was like a 109, you know what I mean?” said Farrell, in a separate interview with, adding that Tel Aviv offered the right combination of good food, beaches and no city curfew which would curtail the music.“A lot of other festivals have it out in the wilderness and it’s fun and it’s nice but the accommodations suck and the food is even worse,” he said. “Wherever we go, you have close proximity to your hotel and there’s always clubs.In the promotional video, he added, “In Tel Aviv, you have all the hotels right on the beach, and man, let me tell you, it’s sexy. There’s no curfew, so talk about an after party! When the party at Hayarkon Park lets out, you can be right on to the next one. And they [Israelis] love to dance. And they have their parties right on the beach. You can be in the water, rocking out.”With Tel Aviv as the location, the organizers also won’t have to deal with the issues plaguing this year’s festival taking place this weekend in Chicago, featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Alabama Shakes among others, where severe storms forced the festival to shut down for over three hours. Farrell said that representatives of NMC and Plug are in attendance at Lollapalooza this weekend to learn about the festival’s production and for the festival organizers to learn about the specific requests and requirements to stage the three-day, 50-artists show in Tel Aviv.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>Well, we knew this day was coming, but it still makes us a little melancholy when a gadget-maker closes its doors (unless it's Tiger Telematics, that is). Today's the day that, somewhere in Japan, Malaysia, China or wherever else the company does its manufacturing, Konica Minolta produced its last camera. And while the company was never more than an also-ran in the digicam market, it did manage to come up with some good products, including the first DSLRs with an integrated anti-shake system, the Maxxum/Dynax 5D and 7D. The company was also handicapped by being late to digital in the first place, not to mention having to hand over $172 million to Honeywell after a jury found that Minolta had stolen autofocus tech from that company (economic woes following the verdict were among the reasons for Minolta's merger with Konica). The good news for fans of the 5D and 7D (as well as film shooters with a lot of Minolta glass) is that Sony plans to introduce its own line of DSLRs that will be compatible with Minolta's lenses, and may also include the anti-shake system. And given Sony's long-standing partnership with Carl Zeiss, there could be an upside to this after all.EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of its May 12 opening day, Warner Bros./Village Roadshow pic King Arthur: Legend of the Sword created huge excitement at its preview screenings at 200 AMC Theatres yesterday pulling in more than 30K attendees. The free screening day was branded ‘King for a Day’.
WB
Originally, AMC was to screen the movie at 150 sites across the nation, but upped that to 50 when the gratis RSVPs began to book up. There were also turnaways at several locations with those guests who arrived after capacity being compensated with passes.
Yesterday, hours ahead of the 7 p.m. screening start time, Hunnam, co-star Djimon Hounsou and the film’s director, Guy Ritchie, participated in live Q&As on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.. Those attending also received a limited edition, movie-themed hat and a special poster created by Shepard Fairey’s Studio Number One team.
Also, around the globe, there’s a King Arthur 360 Sword in the Stone installation which is drawing masses in New York, Toronto, Paris, Sao Paulo, and Chicago. It will arrive in L.A. soon and be featured at the film’s red carpet World Premiere on Monday, May 8, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in the heart of Hollywood, California.A key takeaway of the Union Budget presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley over the weekend is the acronym JAM. It stands for Jan Dhan (bank accounts for all), Aadhaar (unique identity for all) and Mobile (phone). Two of these, Jan Dhan and Aadhaar, are legacies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA); and so is the message for targeting of subsidies to reach those who deserve it by enabling JAM.
But from the way things look, it will be the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that will be credited with the likely success of JAM’s implementation. What could the NDA do that the UPA could not? In one word, execution.
Ever since it took charge, the NDA has exhibited two qualities. It has not cared about the intellectual property of ideas (Jaitley himself put it most succinctly in the Rajya Sabha a year ago after a Congress member accused the NDA of stealing its ideas: “There is no copyright on good ideas"). Second, it has worked hard on executing these ideas, embracing them as they were its own.
The other good news is that there is a clear continuity of policy thought between two otherwise ideologically opposed regimes; which can only mean a good thing and also rest fears about how reform initiatives will be reversed by fringe elements of the BJP. The policy continuity sounds ironic given the ongoing rhetorical exchanges between the NDA and the UPA over increasing foreign investment limits in insurance—something that was first proposed by Yashwant Sinha in the previous stint of the NDA and rejected by the UPA; and then proposed by P. Chidambaram when the UPA was in power and duly rejected by the NDA.
Take Aadhaar for example. It was an idea which was first proposed by Arvind Virmani during his stint with the Planning Commission. He was tasked to head a working group of the 11th Plan and it eventually submitted its report “Entitlement Reform for Empowering the Poor: The integrated Smart Card System" in November 2006. A key recommendation was that such a scheme should be premised on the Unique Identification Number (UID): “The concept of a unique national level citizens’ identity number developed from these initiatives as well as aspirations for a Pan-India e-governance system. This unique ID could form the fulcrum around which all other smart card applications and e-governance initiatives would revolve."
This was eventually productionized under Nandan Nilekani, a former CEO of Infosys Ltd, and assumed the name Aadhaar. Unfortunately, Nilekani was severely distracted by the resistance from within the UPA. Eventually, it took the intervention of Congress president Sonia Gandhi to get some of the senior ministers to back off, with the idea just a whisker away from being aborted. Thereafter, the Congress went to the other extreme and owned Aadhaar, shaping it as a political weapon to enable cash transfers (Apna paisa, apna haath).
It had, however, left it too late. The alleged misdeeds in office were getting far more attention than the cash transfer idea. Once again the UPA had failed in executing what was otherwise a brilliant conceptualization of an idea by Nilekani.
Same is the case with the idea of economically empowering states. It was Chidambaram, who in his final budget moved ahead to transfer money for centrally sponsored schemes directly to the states. Jaitley accelerated this process in his first budget. Subsequently, he embraced the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission—which enhanced states’ share in the centre’s net tax receipts to 42% from the existing level of 32%—and in the process etched his spot in India’s modern economic history. From now on, states are considered equally fiscally responsible as the centre and hence free to spend the money to suit their local social agenda.
At a broad level, the big difference between the UPA and the NDA is the leadership. There is no ambiguity about who heads the NDA, unlike the dual power sharing arrangement—between prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi—pursued by the UPA.
It is as a senior BJP minister recently admitted in private. “Every time I have engaged Manmohan Singh I have been struck by his erudition. He was probably the most hard-working person in the UPA government. Yet, none of it seemed to permeate into policy."
A lesson I wonder if the Congress has absorbed. Not even after its crushing defeat in the 16th general election.
Anil Padmanabhan is deputy managing editor of Mint and writes every week on the intersection of politics and economics. Comments are welcome at capitalcalculus@livemint.com.
His Twitter handle is @capitalcalculus.The annual London Perl Workshop took place this Saturday, with the Perl community descending on Westminster University for a host of great talks from well-known speakers in the community. Having recently joined Eligo as the Technology Marketing Assistant, this was my first experience of the LPW and my first time attending a Perl event, and I was particularly excited to meet the Perl community to grow my knowledge of the market.
This year the conference theme was aptly chosen as ‘changes’, with 2016 being a big year for changes not only with the Brexit result in July and the recent US election but also changes from behind the scenes in the world of Perl including a handover of the organisation of LPW. Following 10 years of dedicating his time and passion into the LPW, Mark Keating is stepping down from his role as chief organiser. In honour of his 10th year and his ongoing contribution to the Perl community we spoke to Mark to get an insight of his time at LPW here.
Eligo Technology kicked off the conference by hosting pre-event drinks at The Smugglers Tavern in Fitzrovia, where we had a drink or two to welcome old faces and new to LPW 2016. It was a great way to get a taste of what was to come at the event and to hear what talks people were most looking forward to attending. On the day of the event, Rick, Aleks and I headed out early and set up our infamous bright pink Eligo stand complete with Sweets and Perl stickers.
For LPW 2016 we also joined forces with CV-Library to offer attendees free Wi-Fi passes for the day. I was told that this is the first time that Wi-Fi has been offered at the event, allowing attendees to save their mobile data and stay connected in between the Perl talks.
Our resident Perl recruiter Rick, and Aleks who have both attended many times before enjoyed catching up with the fellow exhibitors and old faces at LPW 2016. In addition to this, we also met new people who were looking for Perl jobs and advice about the Perl Jobs Market. This new interest in Perl jobs shows that the support for the community and the Perl jobs market is still growing, despite all the changes going on.
It was a great day all round and a great experience in meeting and chatting to well-known individuals within the Perl Community. As I am still growing into my new role learning about the Perl market and its community, it was a great opportunity to gain further insight and meet those contributing to its growth.
With LPW 2016 all done and dusted, we are looking forward to next year where Eligo will not only be attending LPW 2017 but have a direct hand in organising the event. Rick has been given the honour of being a chosen member of the organising committee for LPW, taking the reins from Mark who has done an excellent job of managing the event every year for 10 years!
We look forward to seeing you next year!
If you interested in hearing more about the Perl community, Perl jobs and the Perl jobs market, be sure to email me at rick@eligo.co.uk or call me on 020 8944 4187.
Or you can view our latest Perl jobs available on our website.They say that death is the last great taboo in Western society. However death was the guest of honour in Philly last week. From October 4th-7th, we had the opportunity to attend the 5th instalment of Death Salon, hosted at the “disturbingly informative” Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. Death Salon is an opportunity for artists, academics, authors, morticians, pathologists, and the general public to come together and discuss all things death related. Its format is based on the French salons of the Enlightenment period, where women and men gathered for intellectual discussion.
The setting for this deathly event could not have been more, well, deathly. The Mütter contains a large collection of medical oddities, anatomical and pathological specimens, antique medical equipment and even books bound in human skin (Anthropodermic bibliopegy, as we discovered). The large, wood paneled rooms adorned by “portraits of white men” (as jokingly referenced throughout the event) comfortably accommodated the crowd throughout the presentations as well as the Dark Artisans’ Bazar. We were left ample time and access to explore the museum throughout the breaks, not to mention the jaw dropping behind the scenes tour.
Highlights
Dark Artisans’ Bazar
Open throughout the event, the Death Salon exclusive Dark Artisans’ Bazaar hosted and curated a collection of work from several different vendors. Blood Milk, Mechanique Macabre and Obscura Antiques were just a few of the vendors selling fantastic and curious jewelry pieces, prints, antiques, urns, and more. We were especially intrigued by Mechanique Macabre who makes jewelry from the bones of deceased, rescued animals- a beautiful and responsible way to give animals a good home post-mortem (bad joke?).
Music
There was no lack of entertainment at Death Salon (exclusive artisanal beer included). During Sunday night’s private ‘haute macabre’ ball, The Divine Hand Ensemble played a haunting and beautiful set of 16th century funeral compositions. On Monday evening after Lavinia Jones Wright‘s presentation, we were treated to an incredible rendition of famous murder ballads.
Lastly, we don’t mean to brag, but we came in second (after tying for first) during the “Death Quizzo” pub quiz event.
Talks
Dr. Marianne Hamel
Dr Hamel opened the first day with her presentation: Hot Lights, Sharp Steel, Cold Flesh. A medical examiner in New Jersey, Dr. Hamel has been an expert witness in a few notorious murder trials. Her talk highlighted the differences between what you see on CSI and an actual forensic pathologists office. While she did not shy away from shocking pictures, her talk was funny and informative and set the tone for the rest of the event. Make sure to check out her Death Under Glass, project!
Prof Norma Bowe
Norma Bowe is a former nurse who now teaches at Kean University. Prof Bowe is the subject of The Death Class, a book which follows her incredible Death & Dying course in which students are introduced to death through personal reflection, hospice, funeral home and autopsy visits as well as charitable acts. Her presentation ran the audience through her course, her holistic approach to teaching death and some personal stories about her students. We were all left in silence, except for the sounds of noses blowing into tissue paper.
Dr. Paul Koudounaris
Dr. Koudounaris is an interesting person, to say the least. Rushing to the stage in an oversized hat (complete with feathers) and eccentric coat, Paul flew through his presentation without taking a breath of air. Author and photographer, Paul reported on his recent trip to Indonesia where he attended a mummy festival. His talk highlighted the differences between Western conceptions of death and our attitudes towards dead bodies versus most other parts of the world.
We highly recommend his Instagram account.
Ask a Mortician Live
You might remember Caitlin Doughty from our LIVE #TalkDeath event (or her New York Times Bestselling book, I guess), but she also hosts the wonderful Ask a Mortician series on YouTube. Lucky for us, Caitlin and fellow mortician, Sheri Booker, did a live version for Death Salon attendees. With anonymous questions from Death Salon guests, Sheri and Caitlin tackled a bunch of weird, interesting and well…unique questions about death and their profession.
Truthfully, there were no talks that disappointed. Highlighting the ones we have really does a disservice to all the other amazing presenters. We learned about modern potter’s fields, how to put the rave in graveyard, the deconstruction of skulls and much, much more. Our only complaint was that the 20 minute allotment for each speaker meant that many topics were brushed over quickly. We would have loved to know a lot more about “the medical gaze” for example.
If you are interested in meeting fascinating people, engaging in unconventional conversation and expanding your knowledge in many different fields, we highly recommend this event. While its unconventional subject matter may not appeal to everyone, the openness and positivity surrounding Death Salon was uplifting. A big thanks to Megan Rosenbloom, Sarah Troop, Caitlin Doughty and everyone else who made this event possible. We are already looking forward to next year! Keep your eyes peeled on their website and Twitter, as the next Death Salon is sure to sell out fast.What is Snoke, exactly? There are plenty of theories floating around, but one major detail has finally been confirmed. Aside from Star Wars icons like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), most of the characters in The Force Awakens were being introduced for the very first time. That including the iconic villain Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). Fans may have to wait a bit longer to find out the swirling mystery behind Snoke. Last week, Last Jedi director Rian Johnson revealed in the new Vanity Fair preview that Snoke isn't featured much in this next adventure. But there's never been a shortage of theories as to who Snoke really is. It seems a lot of those have just been shut dow by none other than official Star Wars story group leader Pablo Hidalgo.
Pablo Hidalgo took to Twitter over the holiday weekend, to address the notion of Supreme Leader Snoke's humanity, where he showcased a brief excerpt from the novelization of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Ever since the character was first revealed, there have been rumors that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis, while fan theories have claimed that he is |
, when the MMA prodigy always looked like he would rather be doing something else. Even if you didn’t witness it for yourself, you know the type of person I’m talking about, like the little Mozart down the street who only plays the piano because his parents make him.
Maybe being so talented and winning multiple titles at a young age can affect you in ways I’ll never understand. But in Mousasi’s case, fighting was all he knew and nothing more than a job.
I never enjoyed fighting. I enjoy it more now than I did back then. Back then I was just trying to secure my future. But my future is secure now and I don’t need to fight but it’s all about the accomplishments and the legacy that I can have. So, it’s a different mentality I have going into this fight and different from when I was younger.
For a guy who never really enjoyed the sport, he sure racked up a lot of wins from 2003 until he made his UFC debut in 2013. That’s when maybe the pressure of being touted as the next big thing or “champion in waiting” might have started to play with his head. However, for Mousasi, he believes maturity and a simple change of mindset have done wonders for his career.
“I think it’s been mental, experience and confidence. I’m 31 and that’s when you’re psychically the strongest. I have more experience now than when I was younger and I was never that confident. Two years ago I wasn’t confident that I could beat those top guys but now I believe I can easily beat them,” said Mousasi.
On Saturday, the “Dreamcatcher” will bring this new-found confidence into a matchup with a desperate opponent.
Weidman’s current losing skid makes him extra dangerous and there is no doubt the former champ will be relying on his bread and butter, which means Mousasi can expect to see a lot of takedown attempts from the former All-American wrestler.
“I am training with good wrestlers. Sometimes I’m sparring with big guys, heavyweights, strong guys with wrestling and judo backgrounds. If it’s a wrestling fight he will win no doubt, but this is MMA and they don’t take me down in an MMA fight. He’s not gonna take me down… In sparring, I have been very sharp and I know that I can take him down and so he should be worried about his own takedown defense. I’m not worried about mine.”
A victory over Weidman should put Mousasi in the title-contender conversation, but in the UFC’s crowded middleweight division, the old “get in line” adage seems applicable. Yoel Romero is the current number one contender and you can put “Jacare” Souza in that picture, too. Currently, the middleweight belt is being held hostage by a potential money fight between current champ Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre, something that doesn’t sit well with the Dutch-Armenian, who’s frustrated that a win on Saturday may not bring him any closer to what he deserves.
“I can’t sit and wait. Yoel Romero is next and they’re making the GSP fight so they’ll probably give me another fight after. But that’s the problem is that I have to put everything on the line again to get a title shot. Some people get title shots like it’s a gift, some people have to take the longer and more difficult road… Let them make a different money fight. Let GSP fight Anderson Silva. Why should he fight for a belt? He hasn’t fought in the middleweight division ever. He hasn’t fought for four years so let him fight someone else.”
The frustrated Mousasi continued, “Jon Jones went through a very difficult time but he beat all the number one contenders. Now Michael Bisping says he defended his belt two times. Well, who did you defend it against? It’s easy to say I defended my belt. Maybe if he fights the number one contender he’s going to lose right away. I don’t know, I guess it’s just business… I am focused on this fight. But if I win and they want to give me a light-heavyweight title fight, I’m open to that.”
Hey, Daniel Cormier, you might want to pay attention.
Read our full preview of UFC 210 with our picks for the main and co-main events of the evening and a closer look at the undercard.The findings of a comprehensive doping study by Berlin’s Humboldt University, commissioned by the Federal Institute of Sport Science (BISp) on Monday, suggest a systematic sports doping system by the former West Germany.
The report suggests that the 1954 World Cup-winning team used the methamphetamine Pervitin.
The report was published after German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung revealed details from it over the weekend. The paper said the study showed the West German state had sponsored research into performance-enhancing drugs. It said that, by the early 1970s, the programme had become systematic.
BISp, set up under the jurisdiction of the West German ministry of the interior in 1970, is the main target of the report’s allegations.
The report is divided into three periods: 1950–72, 1972–89 and 1989–07, with the main focus being on the first two periods. The document concluded that a detailed analysis of the final period as not possible “due to complexity”.
It said the history of doping in West Germany did not begin with the use of anabolic steroids in the 1960s but in 1949, when the state was founded after the Second World War. Until 1960, amphetamines were “systemically used”.
The findings have raised questions about West German football, revealing that footballers used amphetamines pre-match. It suggests that the 1954 World Cup-winning team used the methamphetamine Pervitin.
Questions are also raised about the 1966 finalists, with a letter from a FIFA official, first revealed in 2011, reporting “fine traces” of Ephedrine, a banned stimulant, being found in three unnamed players during the tournament.
The report quoteds the long-serving France team doctor, Jean-Marcel Ferret, as saying: "At the 1974 World Cup, the Germans gave infusions to their players. That was a shock for us."
The researchers claimed the German Football Association had complicated access to the archives.There's no less constructive exercise in sports writing than wondering what could have been. For those of us that are fans of the Mariners, this process almost always holds negative connotations, like we "could have had a lineup with Adam Jones, David Ortiz, Asdrubal Cabrera" and whatever else suits your fancy to the doldrums of Mariner negativity. Luckily for the Seahawks and the 2012 draft, we can thank our lucky stars for what was and instead start to ponder what it's like for the 31 teams that don't have Russell Wilson.
What would the world look like now if they knew then what we knew now and we didn't know now what would could have known then in the now then could would who where now then before? Am I right?
There were 74 players drafted before Wilson. They include players like Trent Richardson, who was traded away for an almost certain lesser pick about 17 months later. A.J. Jenkins, who was has one catch for six yards in his career and was dealt for maybe an even bigger disappointment. Names like Brian Quick, Andre Branch, Isaiah Pead, Devon Still, Ryan Broyles, Brock Osweiler, Vinny Curry, LaMichael James, DeVier Posey, T.J. Graham, Bryan Anger, Josh LeRibeus, and Brandon Taylor.
History will end up telling the true story of how big of a swing-and-miss this was for 31 teams, but never forget that instead of Wilson (and also instead of drafting Robert Griffin III, and then when they traded down with Washington and preceded to trade down again with Dallas, didn't draft Ryan Tannehill) the Rams drafted Michael Brockers, Quick, Janoris Jenkins, Pead, and Trumaine Johnson.
The team that we will face on Monday night, the team that's starting Kellen Clemens at quarterback, drafted five players before Wilson was picked by Seattle. Five.
Brockers is so far having a very nice career as the guy sandwiched between two of the best defensive ends in the NFC. So far Jenkins looks like a risk that's going to pay off. But Pead and Quick are already on very thin ice and to be honest I don't know who Trumaine Johnson is. And maybe he's a good corner, but the Rams are starting Clemens at quarterback. It's not just that they could have avoided drafting one just because they had Sam Bradford either, because Bradford was coming off an injury and St. Louis traded down for extra picks but took two running backs, two receivers, two corners, and a kicker among other things. Not a single quarterback.
This isn't meant to just bag on the Rams, there's been enough of that in the last 10 years and it turns out that there are some great people that are Rams fans, it just so happens that their draft is the most egregious. It doesn't change the fact that a lot of other teams would also look back on that day(s) with regret.
To recap the 2012 draft, most people agreed that Andrew Luck would be the number one pick. There were many that said that Griffin was the better selection, but almost everyone agreed that Luck was going to be great. As of now he hasn't disappointed and in a 2012 NFL Draft Reeemix, Luck would likely stay as the number one pick to the Colts. Then what?
Well, the Rams drafted second and with so much hype surrounding RGIII, there was a lot of thought that some team would end up trading up to take him unless St. Louis had decided to give up on Bradford. They could try to trade him and still receive a few draft picks, but there was also the complication that as of 2011, rookie quarterbacks cost a fraction of what Bradford had cost when he was picked the year before.
Bradford, number one pick in 2010: six-years, $78 million
Cam Newton, number pick in 2011: four-years, $22 million
Given the landscape at the time of the 2012 draft, could St. Louis have convinced a team like the Browns, or even Seahawks, to trade a draft pick for an injured quarterback that was somewhat disappointing and would carry a base salary in 2013 of $9 million when a rookie would come much cheaper?
Either way, the Redskins offered a deal of three first round draft picks and a second round pick that was too good to pass up. The question for this article is: What would happen if every team knew where these players would be at on October 25, 2013?
I feel confident here:
1. Indianapolis Colts - Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
And then I don't know anymore.
According to OvertheCap.com, the Rams will save $10 million against the cap in 2014 and $11 million in 2015 if they release Bradford. He'd still carry significant dead money ($12 million total over two years) but the savings can't be ignored.
If they knew everything we know now, I see St. Louis as having several options in 2012:
- Keep Bradford, draft Matt Kalil. Already regarded as one of the best tackles in the game, the Rams could do a better job of protecting Bradford and he'd be a significant upgrade over Rodger Saffold in 2012 and Jake Long in 2013 while also saving them money in the four-year deal they gave to Long.
- Make the trade with the Redskins. Or whatever suitors are out there. I just deleted an entire paragraph because of something I had forgotten: the 2012 draft was just littered with trades.
The order as it looks now: IND, WAS, CLE, MIN, JAX, DAL, TAM
The order as it was originally: IND, STL, MIN, CLE, TB, WAS, JAX
Vikings fans might have an interesting conundrum on their hands, because they ended up with Kalil and Harrison Smith in the first round that year. That's not a bad duo to land on your team, but is it more valuable than Wilson or Griffin? The Browns wanted Trent Richardson so badly that they traded their number four pick, a fourth, a fifth, and a seventh. They would not repeat that deal for Richardson, but they'd have to pay even a higher price for Wilson or Griffin.
And yes, I've established that there's no way Russell Wilson gets out of the top three.
The Vikings are presently flip-flopping around three of the worst quarterbacks in the league. It's like watching someone juggle, except I give even fewer shits. Other QB options in this draft besides the top three include Tannehill, Kirk Cousins, Nick Foles, Brandon Weeden and Osweiler. Minnesota could choose between simply drafting the QB that the number two team doesn't pick or trading down and taking Kalil or perhaps Tannehill.
I think I'm starting to realize that it would be harder to draft if you knew the future than how it is now. Stupid fortune-telling.
We already know that the Redskins were willing to offer the sixth and 39th overall pick in the 2012 draft, plus first round picks in 2013 and 2014. The Rams would also know that they aren't doing very good at drafting and might just be better off taking Griffin or Wilson. I don't think that Washington would pull that offer 18 months later. In addition to being good players, Griffin and Wilson are money-makers.
The Browns, picking fourth, could offer the fourth, 22nd, and 37th overall picks in the 2012 draft. They had more leverage than anyone. They instead opted to take Richardson and Weeden, which was bad then and worse now. I do however think that the Rams would feel safer picking fourth than picking sixth and in this scenario, Cleveland should be willing to offer the best deal possible:
Rams trade pick 2 to Browns for picks 4, 22, 37, 100 and a 2013 1st round pick
Now, what to do?
Griffin was the 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, led his team to the playoffs, is one of the most exciting and notable players in the NFL.
Wilson is Wilson.
A lot of people said that Cam Newton was struggling in his second year and wouldn't turn out to be great after all, but I thought it was dumb then and I think it's even dumber today. Griffin is coming off of his best game of the season and though they are 2-5, the Redskins can easily repeat as NFC East champions because have you watched the East?Even if that's not very impressive in context. I honestly don't know how you can go wrong with either, and I don't think that there would be anything wrong with going the opposite of what I'm about to do, but I'd be lying if I said that the future of one didn't worry me a little bit more than the future of the other. And it has little to do with talent.
2. Cleveland Browns (from Rams) - Russell Wilson, QB, Wisconsin
Which I think would mean:
3. Minnesota Vikings - Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor
It's impossible to say what would have happened to the 2012 Cleveland Browns had they done this, and perhaps my trade offer was a lowball (they'd still be the team with the most leverage because picks now are always better than picks later) but I don't think they lose much, if anything, with this deal.
Wilson is a significant upgrade over Weeden, and that alone should be worth an extra win or two. Pat Shurmur might even still be the coach of the Browns if this is what had happened. The other possible destination for Wilson or Griffin is the Rams, but if they picked fourth, they could still take Kalil, Tannehill, or someone else. Maybe even... Bobby Wagner?
Because St. Louis needs help at linebacker and if Wilson was the steal of the third round, right now there's a very solid argument that Wagner was the steal of the second. The Seahawks are lucky to have them both, and revisionist history will remain just that.
History. (Drops mic. Excellent article finish. 10/10, perfect score.)
(Addendum: This originally started as a piece about where Wilson would be drafted if we did the 2012 draft all over again with new knowledge. Then it became obvious that the lede was the fact that the Rams and Seahawks were playing on Monday night, that St. Louis was starting Clemens, and that they passed on Wilson more than anyone. That's why it might seem a bit weird that all of a sudden I mock Wilson to the Browns, though i believe it's still a deal that the Rams would have to do based on Bradford's contract and the value of those draft picks if they used them right.
And even without knowing what we know now, why didn't St. Louis draft a single quarterback at all? The costs of players like Osweiler, Foles, Wilson, and Cousins make it very headscratching that the Rams wouldn't take one of them to backup Bradford and have as insurance in case he never properly healed or couldn't stay healthy or just wasn't that good.)It’s been too long. Greetings to all. Steve and I have been extremely active on other social media venues and busy behind the scenes, but our website has been dormant for too long. We are planning to pump some life back into it. This is hopefully the new beginning we’ve all been waiting for. If you, or anyone you know, are interested in helping produce content for Non League America please do let us know!
A few weeks ago I had the chance to speak with Mike Kane, President of Agents of Hale. This newly formed supporters group has pledged their support to Hartford City FC of NPSL. The club will participate in the NPSL Atlantic Division. #Sources state that the schedule for the Atlantic Division will be coming very soon. 2017 in NPSL football is guaranteed to be the most interesting, and wild ride yet. Make sure to follow Agents of Hale on twitter at @AgentsOfHaleCT. Enjoy.
——–
How did the Agents of Hale form?
Back in the spring of 2015, when we heard rumblings of the potential of an NASL club, about 15 or so of us got together at the Corner Pug in West Hartford in an effort to get head of it. We wanted to ensure that there was a supporters group to welcome the club to the city. Now, unless you’ve been living under a rather large rock, you’ve probably heard that that club did not pan out the way we would have liked–but we stuck together through that nightmare, knowing we’d be ready for soccer when the time came.
The name came from a classic voting process. We hashed out dozens of names, and put it up to a popular vote. Our namesake is Nathan Hale, Connecticut’s most famous and arguably worst Revolutionary spy. He’s got statues everywhere.
Why is Hartford a soccer city?
There are a few different things you can point to. The most unmistakable one is what the city’s American Outlaws chapter has accomplished. We’ve hosted multiple US men’s and women’s games, including Gold Cup matches, and done so with incredible success. We now have The Crossbar–a one-of-a-kind, supporter-operated soccer bar. If you look at TV ratings for soccer, both club and national, we’re up in the top 10 on a regular basis. The Greater Hartford area is loaded with established youth clubs. Despite not having a club to call ours until now, we’ve shown our love for the game for years.
How many members do you have?
We’re over 50 now, most of whom stuck with us through that disaster in 2015. With the NPSL club now, before we’ve even kicked a ball, we’ve welcomed new members who are really excited for this year.
NPSL Atlantic Division is booming with clubs, and support for these clubs. Who do you expect to be the fiercest rival?
The brand new outfit in New Haven, without question. We’ve already been brainstorming rivalry cup ideas with their SG. The two cities are only 40 miles apart, yet we have two distinct soccer identities. Very exciting stuff.
We’re also hoping the Cosmos get their act together enough to field their reserves in our conference again. Back when we thought the NASL was coming to town, their supporters were immediately geared up for that. That could prove to be equally intense.
Can you comment on any relationship you have with the owners of Hartford City FC?
It has been a positive relationship from the start. Aaron Sarwar, the owner, has been passionate, transparent, and supportive. A successful supporters section and gameday atmosphere are among his top priorities–he is supportive of our ideas and plans as a SG, and even has some of his own. No joke, a few weeks ago, he brought up the idea of buying and refurbishing an old school bus on the cheap, for away-day travel and general debauchery. He thinks like a supporter.
Just yesterday [Monday 1/16], we had a club/supporter meet and greet at The Crossbar. We met the head coach, some players, their families, and a bunch of new and excited supporters. The club donated season tickets for a drawing that benefited a family close to the SG. Overall, the relationship has been solid.
Possibility that Dillon Stadium will be your home field?
The club has made it abundantly and publicly clear that they want to play at Dillon, as have the supporters. Aaron is a local guy, so he feels the affinity for its history and what it represents to the city as much as the supporters do. Unfortunately, the city has made things very difficult for us, so we won’t be there this year. Politics have a stranglehold on those developments.
We’re largely excited to play at Central Connecticut State University’s field, which is about 10 miles southwest of us. It’s not Dillon, but it’s a gorgeous little venue that will be appropriate for our first year.
What else should readers of Non League America know about the Agents of Hale?
Our vice president, Micah, has the most rubbable bald head in the entire state.Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, second from the right, in 2009.
Three former professional wrestlers, including Hall of Famers Mr. Fuji and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy or a variation of the disease, according to a court document filed on behalf of more than 60 retired performers who are suing World Wrestling Entertainment over injuries they allegedly suffered on the job.
The filing in US District Court in Connecticut states that CTE, a degenerative neurological disease associated with repeated head blows, also was discovered in Timothy Smith, whose best-known ring names were Rex King and Timothy Well.
WWE issued a statement that said a lawyer for the retired wrestlers, Konstantine Kyros, “has been repeatedly admonished by the court for presenting false and misleading information, and no medical report was included in this filing.
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“We will review the medical reports when they are made available to us and respond appropriately via the judicial system.’’
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Kyros responded in part, “This case is not about the messenger. It is about the injured wrestlers.’’
The most recent findings bring to at least six the number of deceased professional wrestlers who reportedly have been diagnosed with CTE. The others are Chris Benoit in 2007, Andrew “Test” Martin in 2009, and Jon Rechner, who performed as Balls Mahoney, in 2016.
In addition, Brian Knighton, whose ring name was Axl Rotten, was found to have had early stages of CTE after he died in 2016. CTE can be diagnosed only at autopsy.
Mr. Fuji, who was born Harry Fujiwara, was a 2007 inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. He played a villain and gained fame in part by throwing salt in the eyes of his opponents to temporarily blind them.
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He died in 2016 at age 82, about 10 years after he was diagnosed with dementia.
The court filing states that Fujiwara was diagnosed postmortem as having had Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic myeloencephalopathy, which is described as a form of CTE that involves the spinal cord.
Snuka, a 1996 inductee into the Hall of Fame, died in January at age 73 after neurologists diagnosed him with brain damage, according to the court filing.
Snuka entertained audiences with his Superfly Splash move, which involved soaring from a top rope or turnbuckle and landing on his flattened opponents.
His career was marred by the death of a girlfriend, Nancy Argentino, in 1983 when she was 23. Snuka was found civilly responsible for her death in 1985.
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Thirty years later, he was charged with third degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
The charges were dismissed in January after a judge found Snuka mentally incompetent to stand trial. He died 12 days later, and a postmortem exam showed he had both Alzheimer’s disease and CTE, the court document states.
Six days before Snuka died, Smith died at age 55. The lawsuit asserts Smith had suffered CTE symptoms such as memory loss and “severe suicidal depression’’ and was reported to have had CTE.
Though Smith never attained the fame of Snuka or Mr. Fuji, he was seen by large audiences on the popular prime-time cable program “Monday Night Raw.’’
Bob Hohler can be reached at robert.hohler@globe.comErlich Bachman today announced in Squaw Valley, California the much anticipated GoPro Karma drone. It is much larger than others out there and quite frankly a disappointment. Karma is very much yesterday’s drone. Two years ago it would have been revolutionary. Now it’s just what everyone else has.
There were high fives and stirring music but they couldn’t hide the fact that it is just another folding 4K quad.
Shot 100% on GoPro, including HERO5, HERO5 Session and Karma
HERO5 Black is the most powerful and easy-to-use GoPro ever, thanks to its 4K video, voice control, one-button simplicity, touch display and waterproof design. Add video stabilisation, stereo audio, GPS and auto-uploading of your photos and videos to the cloud and you’ve got a ton of GoPro for $399.
HERO5 Session shares the convenient size and one button simplicity of the original HERO Session, but with massive performance gains like 4K video, 10MP photos, video stabilisation, improved low light performance and voice control. It’s waterproof without a housing to 30 feet and can auto-upload your photos and videos to the cloud. HERO5 Session may be the ultimate combination of performance and small size.
Karma is so much more than a drone. It captures amazingly smooth GoPro footage in the air, handheld, and mounted to your favourite gear. Compact and ultra portable, the Karma Drone folds to fit into its own lightweight case. The game-style controller with an integrated touch display makes Karma easy and fun to fly. The included camera stabiliser can be removed from the drone and attached to the included Karma Grip for ultra steady professional-looking handheld and gear-mounted footage. Hollywood-caliber stabilisation in a backpack you can wear during almost any activity…for $799.
The price options, $799 for just the Karma, $999 with a Hero 5 session and $1099 with Hero 5 Black.
Coming in the included backpack a flight controller that plainly enjoys 3DR DNA. Created no doubt by the team that was hastily formed from ex 3DR engineers. Maybe it’s even running some form of Ardupilot code on its flight controller.
I do like that they have included a stabiliser stick for your GoPro of choice.
How GoPro will cope with support for end users that fly Karma into stuff having never read the manual remains to be seen.
Before launch I said DJI would drop prices to compete, I’m not sure they need to now.World map of countries shaded according to the literacy rate for all people aged 15 and over
This is a list of countries by literacy rate. The figures represented are almost entirely collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) on behalf of UNESCO with 2015 estimates based on people aged 15 or over who can read and write. Where data is taken from a different source, notes are provided. The data is collated by mostly using surveys within the last ten years which are self-declared by the persons in question.[1] UIS provide estimates based on these for the year 2015 with a Global Age-specific Literacy Projections Model (GALP).[2]
The global literacy rate for all people aged 15 and above is 86.3%. The global literacy rate for all males is 90.0% and the rate for all females is 82.7%. The rate varies throughout the world with developed nations having a rate of 99.2% (2013); Oceania having 71.3%; South and West Asia having 70.2% (2015) and sub-Saharan Africa at 64.0% (2015).[3] Over 75% of the world's 781 million illiterate adults are found in South Asia, West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and women represent almost two-thirds of all illiterate adults globally.[4]
List of UN member states by age group and gender disparity [ edit ]
Data published by UNESCO in 2017 (last informed rates and year), using the following definitions:[5]
Youth: Percentage of people aged 15 to 24 years who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life. Generally, ‘literacy’ also encompasses ‘numeracy’, the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations
Adult: Percentage of the population aged 15 years and over who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on his/her everyday life. Generally, ‘literacy’ also encompasses ‘numeracy’, the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations
Elderly: Percentage of the population aged 65 years and over who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life. Generally, ‘literacy’ also encompasses ‘numeracy’, the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations
Gender Parity Index (GPI): The gender parity index (GPI) of the youth literacy rate is the ratio of the female to male literacy rates of the population aged 15 to 24 years. A GPI value between 0.97 and 1.03 is usually interpreted to indicate gender parity.
List of UN member states [ edit ]
List of other states and territories [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^ Gender difference is calculated as the male literacy rate minus the female literacy rate. Negative values shows countries with higher female rates than male. ^ The breakdown by gender is 98.4% male, 99.4% female (difference of -1.0%) ^ [7] Adult rate: 72.76%. By gender: M=75.62%,F=69.90%. All figures 2016. ^ Gender breakdown is 99.2% male and 95.2 for females. "Data on literacy were collected for persons aged 10 or more years who did not receive any kind of formal education or with incomplete primary education. A person capable of reading with understanding and writing a statement on his/her daily routine shall be considered to be a literate person." ^ The breakdown by gender is 82.1% male, 65.5% female (difference of 16.6%) ^ The breakdown by gender is 98.7% male, 95.8% female (difference of 2.9%) ^ [11] Adult rate: 75.55%. By gender: M=80.01%,F=71.85%. All figures 2016. ^ The breakdown by gender is 79.3% male, 63.7% female (difference is 15.6%) ^ The breakdown by gender is 88.9% male, 79.2% female (difference is 9.7%)A new exposé from the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit combines two common local gripes the notorious difficulty of the Bay Area dating scene, and Silicon Valley companies’ constant desire to charge thousands of dollars while providing virtually nothing in return. In this case, however, the company called “Silicon Valley Matchmakers” is not really a Silicon Valley company. And despite their promises of a “local office” and “real, local singles,” they appear to be operating the exact same stock-photo website in multiple different markets and coordinating the entire scheme out of Oklahoma.
I normally refrain from linking to businesses who may be operating on the unethical side, but this is just hilarious. Here we see the website for Silicon Valley Matchmakers. Boy, does it look similar to something called East Bay Matchmakers. Just for fun, let’s copy and paste the boilerplate verbiage from the website and see if any other “local” matchmaker sites pop up.
They do! Singles, get ready to meet Vegas Matchmakers and Capital City Matchmakers, both of whose websites brag of local offices and phone numbers, but are otherwise the exact same damned website. NBC Bay Area tracked down the company’s vice president of operations Mike Carroll, who apparently runs this network out of Oklahoma.
It gets funnier. “A testimonial from [alleged human customer] Blake, thanking Silicon Valley Matchmakers for introducing him to his soulmate Kristie, also appears on East Bay Matchmakers, and even on a website in Nevada, where Blake praises Las Vegas Matchmakers for introducing him to his soulmate Kristie,” NBC Bay Area reports. “And a quick search of those pictures of happy couples reveals they’re stock photos.”
It gets less funny when you realize people paid up to $8,000 for 16 months of this “matchmaking”, which is organized via phone by people hundreds of miles away, and in at least one case produced a total of four dates over those 16 months.
“Ultimately, what it is is very little service for a lot of money,” one jilted subscriber told NBC Bay Area. “I’ve been totally taken advantage of. Taken to the cleaners.”
I’m too cheap to even pay ten bucks a month for OKCupid, so this all seems pretty out of the ordinary to me. Wealth is surely relative, and on one hand I cannot feel anything but sympathy for people cheated out of thousands of dollars. On the other hand, if a tiny office in Oklahoma is scamming Silicon Valley’s riche with a Wordpress template and a batch of stock photos, well, I have to swipe right on their pluck.
Related: Secret Members-Only Tinder 'Select' Is Just Tinder For Hotter, Richer, Shallower PeopleLAST week's column dealt with the arcane name squabble between Macedonia (aka FYROM) and Greece. This piece was soon the most-commented on the Economist's website. That was no thanks to the brilliance of the prose and the lucidity of argument. The subject was one of those issues that attracts bigots, scaremongers and polemicists, with a vanishingly tangential relationship to truth, logic and courtesy.
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The article described the row as “the most tedious dispute in the Balkans”. The ex-communist region sets a high standard in such matters, so the epithet is not to be bestowed lightly. Here is an outsider's guide to a few of the other rows. All the arguments below are a) historically plausible and b) strike most outsiders as quite mad.
Moldova/Romania A sizeable number of Romanians believe that what is today called the Republic of Moldova is nothing more than a lost province of real Romania, snatched by Stalin out of spite (along with northern Bukovina, which went to Ukraine). The sooner this “pretend Moldova” rejoins Romania the better. Handing out passports to as many Moldovans as possible brings this nearer.
Bulgaria/Macedonia From a certain Bulgarian-nationalist viewpoint, the idea of a discrete Macedonian ethnicity or language is a nonsense—rather like defining “Texan” as an ethnicity in America. Yugoslav Macedonia was a historical accident, and the sooner the detritus joins Bulgaria the better. After that, it will be time to liberate the brother-Slavs of northern Greece.
Slovakia/Hungary According to hardline Slovak nationalists, the whole idea of a Hungarian ethnic minority in the country is absurd. These people (many of whom are Gypsies anyway) should shut up and get on with being Slovaks: ie, speaking Slovak and thinking like Slovaks. Any other behaviour is a sign that they are still imprisoned by their imperial mindset. If they don't like living in Slovakia, they should go back to Hungary (where, incidentally, the Slovak-speaking minority has dwindled to nothing—proving that it is the Magyars who are the real ethno-nationalists).
Lithuania/Poland Not many people realise this, but most of the people speaking Polish and Belarussian in the area in and around Vilnius are not really Slavs but polonised Lithuanians, the legacy of centuries of forced assimilation. That is a terrible fate, so the right (and kindest) thing to do is to depolonise these people and relithuanianise them. A good way to start is to make sure that they do not get trapped into using foreign Polish letters and silly spellings when writing their names. It is Adomas Mickevicius, not Adam Mickiewicz. Let nobody forget it.
Ukraine/Poland Anyone who spells the capital of Galicia as Lwów is a Polish nationalist who bayonets Ukrainian babies for fun. Anyone who says it is spelled Lviv is a Ukrainian fascist who bayonets Polish babies for fun. Anyone who spells it Lvov is a Soviet mass murderer. And anyone who calls it Lemberg is a Nazi. See you in Leopolis for further discussion.
Among the runners-up: “Tatar” is a derogatory and invented name for the inhabitants of modern Tatarstan, who are in fact the descendants of Volga Bulgars. Kievan Rus was not Russian. Any talk of a Ruthenian nation is ill-informed, stupid, possibly mad and the product of Muscovite attempts to split and destroy Ukraine.
Outside pressure has mostly calmed these arguments within formal politics. But on the internet the rows still rage, with tortured facts, arguments and syntax, all mixed with vituperative insults, phoney politeness and seemingly RANDOM |
contained an “obstruction mechanism” called UEFI Secure Boot that controls the start-up of the computer and means users must seek keys from Microsoft to install another operating system.
The group said it was “a de facto technological jail for computer booting systems... making Microsoft’s Windows platform less neutral than ever”.
“This is absolutely anti-competitive,” Lancho told Reuters. “It’s really bad for the user and for the European software industry.”
Microsoft said UEFI was an industry standard aimed at improving computer security and the approach had been public for some time.
“We are happy to answer any additional questions but we are confident our approach complies with the law and helps keep customers safe,” Microsoft spokesman Robin Koch said in a statement.
A spokesman for EU Competition Chief Joaquin Almunia declined to comment.
But in written comments dated March 4 to a query from an European Parliamentary lawmaker, Almunia said his administration was aware of the Microsoft Windows 8 security requirements.
“The Commission is monitoring the implementation of the Microsoft Windows 8 security requirements. The Commission is however currently not in possession of evidence suggesting that the Windows 8 security requirements would result in practices in violation of EU competition rules,” he said in the letter posted on the website of the European Parliament.
The European Commission has fined Microsoft, the global leader in PC operating systems, 2.2 billion euros ($2.83 billion)over the past decade, making it the world’s biggest offender of European Union business rules.
Microsoft’s relations with the EU executive have been tense since 2004, when the EU found that the company had abused its market leader position by tying Windows Media Player to the Windows software package.
The Microsoft logo is seen at their offices in Bucharest March 20, 2013. REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel
The company took a more conciliatory approach in recent years, settling another antitrust investigation in 2009 related to the choice of a browser in its Windows operating system.
It also lodged its own complaints to the Commission about the business activities of rival Google.
But Microsoft broke its 2009 pledge and was fined 561 million euros by the EU Commission on March 6 for failing to offer users a choice of web browser.Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2016 December 21
Traces of the Sun
Video Credit & Copyright: György Bajmóczy
Explanation: This year the December Solstice is today, December 21, at 10:44 UT, the first day of winter in the north and summer in the south. To celebrate, watch this amazing timelapse video tracing the Sun's apparent movement over an entire year from Hungary. During the year, a fixed video camera captured an image every minute. In total, 116,000 exposures follow the Sun's position across the field of view, starting from the 2015 June 21 solstice through the 2016 June 20 solstice. The intervening 2015 December 22 solstice is at the bottom of the frame. The timelapse sequences constructed show the Sun's movement over one day to begin with, followed by traces of the Sun's position during the days of one year, solstice to solstice. Gaps in the daily curves are due to cloud cover. The video ends with stunning animation sequences of analemmas, those figure-8 curves you get by photographing the Sun at the same time each day throughout a year, stepping across planet Earth's sky.There was no good reason for Jeronimo Yanez to have opened fire upon Philando Castile. He had no indication that there was any reason to do so.
It is a genuinely open question whether an American police officer can do almost anything without suffering criminal consequences. Americans have a profoundly stupid and misguided deferential attitude toward law enforcement, one which presumes that police officers—fallible, often incompetent, and frequently temperamental human beings—are worthy of some sort of extra-special benefit of the doubt about their professional behavior. American citizens have no problem suing doctors for their back molars on the flimsiest of pretexts, but we generally cannot bring ourselves to convict police officers for demonstrably inept and reckless behavior that often costs people their lives.
That is the lesson we learn, yet again, in the acquittal of Jeronimo Yanez, a St. Anthony, Minnesota police officer who last year shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop. At face value the incident is a perfect storm of a tragedy. Yanez thought Castile might have been a robbery suspect; Castile was carrying a pistol (for which he had a valid permit), and informed Yanez of this as he reached for his license. Yanez, allegedly believing that Castile was reaching for his declared firearm, consequently opened fire.
You can sort of understand Yanez’s hasty reaction—if you don’t think about it too much. Upon reflection there was no good reason for Yanez to have opened fire upon Castile. He had no indication there was any reason to do so. As the prosecutor in Yanez’s criminal trial put it, “Unreasonable fear cannot justify the use of deadly force. The use of deadly force must be objectively reasonable and necessary, given the totality of the circumstances.”
Acknowledging a Weapon Is Not a Crime
A man telling you he is permitted to carry a firearm while he’s reaching for his license does not, by any rational standard, give one “objectively reasonable and necessary” justification for shooting that man. It also beggars belief that someone with murderous intent would politely inform a police officer of his concealed weapon before pulling it out to use it. How many cop-killers give their victims a calm and friendly heads-up before opening fire?
Yanez should have known this. He was no fresh-faced rookie just out of the academy; he had been on the force for four years. The charges eventually leveled at him—second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm—were perfectly reasonable given the circumstances. Nobody was asking that Yanez be charged with first-degree murder and be given the death penalty; prosecutors simply asked that he be brought to justice for behavior that would have landed any one of the rest of us in prison.
But that didn’t happen, for the simple reason that we have a queer aversion to convicting police officers when they quite obviously break the law. A few years ago a police officer in South Carolina shot Walter Scott in the back as Scott was running away, an incident captured on video, leaving no doubt as to just what had transpired. Even the crystal-clear evidence of the officer’s criminal behavior, however, wasn’t enough to convict him. The jury ended up hung and a mistrial was declared.
Obvious video evidence of an officer putting five shots into a man’s back should lead to a slam-dunk conviction after about three minutes of deliberation. That it didn’t—and that this kind of thing happens, in varying degrees, all the time—suggests that Americans have a deeply dysfunctional and unhealthy attitude about what constitutes acceptable police behavior.
To its great credit, the St. Anthony Police Department has announced that Yanez will no longer be a part of their force. Call it a matter of politics, optics, or something else, but in the end it is a good thing that Yanez is off the streets. But it is still not enough. He should, by any sensible metric of justice, be behind bars.
Philando Castile is dead, and he’s dead because Yanez killed him for no good reason. This is not a hard nut to crack. We should not be afraid to prosecute and convict law enforcement officers for unjustly killing innocent people. The police, good as they can be, are not above the law. Nobody is.The traditional story of the Enlightenment is one of Europe finally casting off the darkness of medieval religious superstition and moving into the light of modernity. Led by philosophers such as Voltaire, who vowed to “écrasez l’infâme” or “crush the infamous,” and outright atheists such as Diderot, the new thinkers were finally free of the need to even pretend that any of the old hokum was true. During the Renaissance and early Scientific Revolution, intellectuals had to accede to religion. These new deists, skeptics, and non-believers were then free to work unencumbered toward the betterment of mankind in this world.
But as Uhlich L. Lehrner’s new book The Catholic Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement makes clear, this is far from the whole story. Firstly, you can’t have leaders without followers—and most of those following Voltaire were Catholics. While the Enlightenment in Protestant England was a phenomenon to which the whole world, and Americans in particular, owes attention, on the Continent the Enlightenment’s center of gravity was in Catholic lands—particularly France and the Habsburg Empire.
Even more significantly, many of the leading Continental Enlightenment figures not named Voltaire or Diderot were confessing Catholics. These included Voltaire’s friend, the Catholic priest, scientist, and philosopher Francois Jacquier, and Fernando Galiani, a libertine who struggled with his faith while debating the existence of God with his friend Diderot in Paris salons. There were the English Catholic priests who in 1745 founded the Society of St. Edmund from exile in Paris as a rival to the Royal Society in London. Benito Feijoo, a Spanish Benedictine monk, exercised influence in almost every Enlightenment-era cultural war, from the rights of women to free speech to scientific inquiry.
Catholic female writers such as Josefa Amar and Madame Leprince—better known today as the author of The Beauty and the Beast—issued faith-based defenses of the rights of women. The Brazilian priest Ribeiro Rocha, the French Constitutionalist Bishop Henri Gregoire, and the elected King of Corsica Theodore von Neuhoff all made important contributions to the anti-slavery movement that were rooted in Catholicism. In issues great and small, both the foot-soldiers and generals of the Enlightenment were often Roman Catholic clergy or devout laypeople.
Obscured, But Not Obscure
This is not to say that eighteenth-century Catholicism got slavery—or equality between the sexes, economics, or censorship—right. As with Deists and Protestants, there were Catholic advocates on both sides of each issue, and those identified with what we’d now see as the right positions on these issues were often the exceptions or the revolutionaries.
But it does say something significant. Either all these brilliant people were for some reason blind to the contradictions between their Enlightenment ideals and their faith (which would be hard to believe considering Diderot was sitting across the room and throwing those supposed contradictions in their face) or there was something intrinsic in Catholicism that aligned with, and in many cases inspired, Enlightenment ideas and reforms.
Many of these examples show Catholic enlightenment figures actually ahead of the better-known skeptical, Protestant, or Deist peers.
The latter argument is bolstered significantly by the fact that many of these examples show Catholic enlightenment figures actually historically ahead of the better-known skeptical, Protestant, or Deist peers. Galiani wrote a passionate defense of economic liberalism 20 years before Adam Smith penned The Wealth of Nations; Feijoo’s Defense of Women (1726) preceded the proto-feminist works of Jeremy Bentham and the Marquis de Condorcet by over half a century.
Furthermore, Catholic Enlighteners were not marginal figures, but central to the era. The thoughts of these men and women and the deeds of Enlightened Catholic monarchs and ministers in France, Spain, Portugal, and the Holy Roman Empire echo through history. Catholic Enlighteners seem to be more obscured than obscure, unknown largely due to an English-language educational tradition that presumed that Protestantism and the Enlightenment (and in some more modern versions, full secularization) represented a substantial advance on Catholicism, which was at best a mere evolutionary vestige from the struggle to survive the Dark Ages.
When a Protestant establishment still was ascendant in the United States, revising the understanding of the Enlightenment might have proven just an interesting academic exercise. But as we move into the twenty-first century, Roman Catholics have gone from penniless immigrants to middle-class business owners to arguably ascendant within the establishment. Six of the nine Supreme Court justices and the Speaker of the House are Catholic, as were several prominent 2016 presidential candidates. The time will come when John Kennedy is not an outlier among presidents.
The time is ripe for a reexamination of Catholicism and the Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that laid the foundations for the Constitution.
Meanwhile, the secularization of mainline Protestant elite has left the Catholic newcomers particularly prominent. Likewise, the mainline Protestant educational and cultural institutions are largely secularized and stand in stark contrast to their Catholic counterparts.
On political matters, given what Paul Seabury famously dubbed the “trendier-than-thou” turn in the Episcopal hierarchy, those traditional Protestants who do care about faith in politics are as likely to look to Catholic prelates for representation and advocacy as their own. The time is, in other words, quite ripe for a reexamination of the relationship between Catholicism and the Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that laid the foundations for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Scholarly Commentary Or Popular History?
Given the intrinsic interest and political relevance the topic holds, I wish I could recommend Lehner’s book. Unfortunately, I can’t. The 257-page volume holds out the promise of a great story and explosive history—I knew about only a few of the figures above before I read it. Nevertheless, stylistically and organizationally, it’s a mess.
The 257-page volume holds out the promise of a great story and explosive history, but stylistically and organizationally it’s a mess.
Lehrner doesn’t seem to have been able to choose whether he was writing a scholarly commentary or popular history, and the result hits the sour spot between the two. At critical junctures, the author, a Marquette University professor in religious history, has the annoying habit of referring elliptically to figures he doesn’t introduce. References such as “the great Oratorian and early Catholic Enlightener Richard Simon” go totally unexplained. This is baffling to someone who’s not a subject-area expert. Yet at the same time, we don’t get the granularity or deep dives that an academic volume should provide.
Both of these problems are amplified by the book’s circular structure. Instead of linearly telling the story of Catholic world in the Age of Enlightenment, Lehner has chosen a series of themes around which he centers his chapters—e.g. “Feminism, Freedom, Faith: Catholic Women and the Enlightenment.” Then he breaks down each by nation or sub-topic, and discusses the material therein synoptically. The result is that you read three or four canned little histories of the Jansenist movement in France or analyses of the reforms of the Portuguese minister the Marquis de Pombal without ever having a sense of overall narrative arc. It’s tremendously repetitive, yet disorienting.
Cheapening The Catholic Enlightenment
But its biggest flaw is Lehner’s failure to really probe the “why” in the story of the Catholic Enlightenment. He simply takes for granted that the self-proclaimed Enlighteners really were enlightened, that they were right and their opponents wrong. There’s the occasional nod to the Council of Trent, but no deep dive into the Catholic sources from whence all this thought sprung. The biggest questions are simply begged.
There is no deep dive into the Catholic sources from whence all this thought sprung. The biggest questions are simply begged.
There’s more than a hint as to why: In the introduction, Lehner makes it abundantly clear he sees the Catholic Enlightenment as a forerunner to the Second Vatican Council and the Pontificate of Francis. Need I say that the presentation of Vatican II as a recovery of Enlightenment wisdom after a dark age, his interpretation of the council’s meaning, and the links between it and the agenda of Pope Francis are also begged? Anything “modern” is assumed to be good; anything otherwise, to be cast off.
This cedes an enormous amount of ground. It makes the Catholic faith entirely too vulnerable to fashions of any given time, both then and now. It also diminishes the achievements of the Catholic Enlighteners. By buying into cheap Hegelianism, rather than exploring the tensions between tradition, faith and the world, the author (perhaps inadvertently) winds up characterizing tremendously brave intellectual leaps and theological discoveries as mere acknowledgements of the obvious. At times, you can’t help but get the sense that Lehner feels great saints, statesmen, and theologians all lived and struggled merely to provide anecdotal evidence for conclusions he’d already drawn.
It leaves you wondering who the heck the book’s audience is supposed to be. Who is at the center of the Venn diagram of people who care passionately about Catholic historical precedent, yet feel that adapting that church to the modern world is the right call on everything? The 50-odd academics who signed a letter to the editor in The New York Times last summer complaining that Ross Douthat was accusing them of heresy?
Reconciling Faith And Modernity
The great irony is that this approach—taking one’s cues from the world and the spirit of the times—was exhibited by the Enlightenment-era critics of Catholicism. On it they based their argument that Catholicism was outdated and doomed to obsolescence. The Catholic Enlighteners fought hard, and ultimately successfully, to discern what were the true and enduring elements of the faith—as opposed to mere traditions, which could be outmoded or in error, and then to defend those elements against the passing trends of the time.
Islamic tensions suggest an account of how a traditional faith re-stabilized itself and reconciled with modernity while remaining truly religious, could be useful to readers.
At a time when orthodox faith is yet again under attack from secularizers in the higher reaches of academia and culture, we could use a deeper dive into such an effort, and there could be other, more widespread interest. Islam is struggling both with adapting to the modern world and with a series of radical, democratic, and violent readings of its faith—not unlike Christianity during the Reformation, Wars of Religion, and Enlightenment. An account of how a traditional faith re-stabilized itself and reconciled with modernity while remaining truly religious, and one that did not take the success of this effort for granted, could be useful to readers of other faiths or no faith.
There are times in The Catholic Enlightenment when Uhlrich’s deep knowledge of and love for his subject shine through despite the volume’s weaknesses. His accounts of those in what we’d now call the developing world who passionately embraced the Catholic faith are fascinating. These histories were not emphasized either by old, Euro-centric models or by modern, ethnocentric historians who dismiss the idea that a native Goan or Argentinian Amerindian could fully buy into a non-native faith. But stories from the sublime (there was a flourishing of lay ministers among slaves in Haiti, despite white discouragement) to the ridiculous (the first revolt against European rule in India was plotted by disaffected priests in Portuguese Goa) prove that they could and did.
Indeed, Uhlrich argues persuasively that the peoples of Latin America built educational institutions and Catholic Church hierarchies that made a lasting and underappreciated contribution to what was, as his subtitle argues, a truly global movement.
If nothing else, this book—and even its shortcomings—serve to highlight areas for further inquiry. Fortunately, academia does seem to be noticing this period right now. Let us hope that at some point soon, a better-written book might similarly spark the public’s interest in this period of fascinating stories and significant figures.I wanted to listen to podcasts while driving, but my car's stereo has no digital input, and I didn't want to buy a new system or have earbuds in while driving, so I bought this. It's inexpensive and was already well-rated when I purchased it. Now I use it all the time—when I'm cooking or cleaning or working on my car or whatever. It's really convenient. It happens to be exactly as wide as my phone is tall, so I can use my phone's finger ring as a stand to prop it up atop the speaker when I watch videos, too. The grippy silicone on the top and bottom are a great feature.
The first Youmoon speaker I purchased wouldn't stay on for more than a few seconds even after I'd charged it overnight, but the return process was as simple as possible: They emailed me a shipping label, and I just boxed it up and sent it back. The second speaker has worked perfectly. The battery charges and keeps its charge well. The buttons perform properly. Since I'm almost exclusively just listening to podcasts, I haven't really been concerned with audio quality, but purely in terms of output, it's been good—I can turn the volume up VERY loud if I want to, and there are only connection issues if it's too far away from the phone or if there are, for example, walls between the two. I think it should be noted that although it looks as if there are speakers on the front and back of this device, there are only two small speakers on the front.
In case anyone's wondering about the use of this device, I have taken photos of the instructions and made some corrections, which are in red. In every instance, "TF" is interchangeable with "microSD."by Matthew Roth, Streetsblog San Francisco
Of all the ways you can use your Clipper smart card for payment on transit agencies throughout the Bay Area, you probably didn’t realize you could use it like a credit card, spending up to $10 more than the value on the card. And you probably didn’t realize it’s set up with the perverse economic incentive to game the system, whereby you can scam distance-based fare operators like BART out of most of the cost of your trip.
Or maybe you did and you hoped to fly under the radar?
Here’s how the scam works, and mind you it is especially effective on BART, where you don’t have fare inspectors or conductors to check your Clipper card and catch you. At any retailer or vending machine that sells Clipper, load the minimum $2 dollars on a new Clipper card. Buy a bunch of them this way, if you like. Pay cash and do it at a Muni Metro vending machine in downtown San Francisco if you really don’t want to be traceable. Then ride BART where ever you desire and you will never have to pay more than $2.
Let’s take Civic Center to the San Francisco Airport, a trip I made over the weekend to see if the scam worked as a Streetsblog tipster had suggested. I bought two $2 cards at the vending machine, paying $4 in cash. When I tagged into the system at the fare gate, the card had a $2 value. I rode to SFO, a trip that should have cost me $8.10. When I tagged out at the International Terminal fare gates, instead of an “Insufficient Fare” warning, which I would have seen had I been using a $2 traditional BART fare card, my Clipper card subtracted $6.10, leaving me with a balance of $3.90 of someone else’s money.
After completing my return trip to Civic Center with my other $2 Clipper card, I ended up with $16.20 worth of BART rides for $4. If I had entered BART at one of the terminus stations, like Pittsburgh Bay Point, and traveled to SFO round-trip, I could have gamed BART for $21.80.
Because the cards still register the negative balance, and I would have to pay that down before I could add a positive balance to the card upon re-loading it, the smart thing to do would be to throw away the cards. At a cost of $2 per card to manufacture, I’m essentially paying for the privilege of adding two pretty blue cards to the landfill.
What a steal!
Of course, someone has to pay for the scam and that would be the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the regional transportation planning body that administers Clipper (though in the end it’s the taxpayer who foots their bill). MTC settles its Clipper debts every day with the transit agencies participating in the program, so BART would have been repaid the cost of my trips from regional funds allocated to the Clipper roll-out.
MTC spokesperson John Goodwin acknowledged that Clipper cards can “go negative,” which he said the MTC programmed into the card to help customers get out of a transit system where there aren’t fare machines or customer service personnel to help them add value to their cards.
“It’s a built-in convenience to the system, based on the goodwill that people will re-load their card,” said Goodwin.
Continue reading this article on Streetsblog San FranciscoSt. George, slaying the dragon
The Web site of the president of Georgia was temporarily moved to servers based in Atlanta, Georgia, over the weekend, after what appeared to be an attack by Russian hackers. The move was overseen by a Georgian-born executive at a technology company based in Georgia (the state), who happened to be on vacation in Georgia (the country) when the fighting started. Why does a country that was formerly part of the USSR have the same name as a state in the American Deep South?
Both got their present-day monikers from the British. The name of the country comes from the Russian word Gruzia, which was in turn derived from the Persian and Turkish versions of the name George, Gorj and Gurju. It’s not clear when the Brits started using the word Georgia in place of Gruzia, but scholars believe the switch happened sometime in the late Middle Ages.
In their native tongue, Georgians refer to themselves as the Kartveli and to their country as Sakartvelo. But the Kartveli have for many centuries been associated with George, the Roman soldier and Christian martyr. (They adopted Christianity under Roman rule in the 330s.) The Arabs, Ottomans, and Persians—who ruled over the country at various times until the Russians took control in 1801—chose to name Sakartvelo after its beloved patron saint, whose image dotted the art and architecture of the region.
The American Georgia, on the other hand, was named after King George II of England, who granted the state its charter in 1732. The –ia suffix, meaning “state of,” comes from the Greek and was tacked onto the end of many place names via the vast imperial and lingual legacy of the Romans. The name George became popular in Western Europe only after the Crusades, when knights traveling to the Holy Land came in contact with the widespread veneration of the saint among the Eastern Christians—in places like Georgia. (George became the patron saint of England in the 1340s.) Meanwhile, the saint’s name derives from Greek and refers to a tiller of land. In that respect, both Georgia and Georgia live up to their names.
We may refer to both the country and the state by the same name, but the homonymy of Georgia and Georgia doesn’t exist in Russian. The soldiers storming the border this week might say they were advancing into Gruzia, as opposed to the American region—which they would pronounce as Gee-OR-gee-ah.
Got a question about today’s news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Sue Davis of Denison University and Svante Cornell of Johns Hopkins University.Coming Soon
My First First Love
A college student reluctantly lets a group of his friends move into his house, where they experience love, friendship, and everything in between.
Jacob and the Sea Beast
In his mission to stop a tyrannical captain and save a kidnapped infant, charming seafarer Jacob finds an unlikely ally in a sea monster.
KAOS
This genre-bending series puts a modern twist on Greek and Roman mythology, exploring themes of gender politics, power and life in the underworld.
Delhi Crime
Based on true events, this dramatized series follows the police investigation of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. Starring Shefali Shah and Adil Hussain.
HOOPS (2018)
In this animated series, a foul-mouthed high school basketball coach is sure he'll hit the big leagues if he can only turn his terrible team around.
Shadow
Haunted by a tragic loss, an ex-cop with a rare inability to feel pain strikes out on his own to catch offenders who've eluded Johannesburg police.
Over the Moon
In this animated musical, a girl builds a rocket ship and blasts off, hoping to meet a mythical moon goddess. Legendary animator Glen Keane directs.
Tijuana
When a prominent politician is murdered in cold blood, intrepid local journalists risk their lives to uncover the truth.Hubik, 01.03.2018
A new and exciting guitar! I was really overhyped a bit about this piece. It arrived quickly and was somewhat in tune... I will only blame the cold weather, no harm. It wasn't exactly clean. But not at all dirty. Some glue here and there, minor stuff that was cleaned without a problem.
The hardware is nice. It works. It feels nicer than Squier Bullet series, which is comparable price-wise. The knobs felt a bit stiff in the beginning, but they have loosened. Tuners do tune. They are not the nicest, but get the job done.
I like to play the guitar. The matte neck feels good and flat fretboard is nice. Frets themselves aren't the most polished (as many have pointed out before me) but I haven't had any issue with bending notes all over the fretboard. The only thing I might dislike a bit is the position of the guitar hanging. it's a bit too on right side. But I can work with that.
Oh, and the sound. Well, honestly, this is where my expectations have failed. The guitar sounds... Well, it sounds like a guitar. Nothing too exciting. So I am planning now on changing the pickups for splitting humbuckers. The original pickups do hum quite a lot if I might say.
The conclusion? This is a very good inexpensive piece of wood that would satisfy beginners, hobbyists and pros. Everybody. You can tweak it to your liking without risking big money.Share. Are we the bad guys? Are we the bad guys?
New details about Mass Effect Andromeda may have been leaked online.
Before we get into it, this story comes from a screenshot on NeoGAF, so a large pinch of salt is recommended. Also, if the info turns out to be true, consider this your possible spoiler warning.
Exit Theatre Mode
Here’s what the EA marketing survey says:
“Mass Effect: Andromeda takes players to the Andromeda galaxy, far beyond the Milky Way, where players will lead the fight for a new home in hostile territory – where WE are the aliens – opposed by a deadly indigenous race bent on stopping us.
“Experience the freedom to traverse and explore a planet-dense but seamless open-world galaxy, rich with discovery. Play as the leader of a squad of military-trained explorers in an intense third-person shooter, with deep progression and customization systems.
“This is the story of humanity’s next chapter, and player choices throughout the game will ultimately determine our survival in the Andromeda Galaxy.”
Real? Fake? We'll let you be the judge. In the meantime, for all the latest news from outer-space, be sure to keep an eye on the IGN Mass Effect: Andromeda channel.
Wesley Copeland is a freelance news writer who writes terrible bios. For more obvious statements and video game chat, you should probably follow him on Twitter.PRAGUE – Peter Chiarelli is still working on the title.
Not his own.
The new President of Hockey Operations and General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers has convinced demoted G.M. Craig MacTavish to stay on as Super Duper Chief Right Hand Head Man.
Or something like that.
“I haven’t settled on his title,” said Chiarelli, who is here in Prague for the opening weekend of the IIHF World Championship.
“He’ll be the No. 2 guy,” Chiarelli made it official in an exclusive interview upon arrival.
When Chiarelli was introduced at a press conference in Edmonton last week, the status of MacTavish, other than the fact he wouldn’t be general manager any longer, was a bit iffy.
But after that conference, Chiarelli convinced the former Oilers coach of eight seasons and G.M. of two, to climb on a plane to Kelowna with him to go watch Oilers first round draft choice Leon Draisaitl play for the Rockets in the WHL playoff series against the Portland Winterhawks.
“He’ll be No. 2 in all aspects,” said Chiarelli.
“He’ll be my eyes and ears in all areas.
“I want to have strong people with strong opinions.”
Chiarelli expects it to work.
He also expects it will be very difficult for MacTavish in the beginning but that he’s the kind of individual who will make it work.
“I had real fresh knowledge about what it is like to be fired,” said Chiarelli, who was canned after nine years running the Boston Bruins, getting to two Stanley Cup Finals and winning one without missing the playoffs until this season.
“He was upset,” he said of MacTavish being bounced to make way for Chiarelli.
“I explained some of the ways I operate
“I explained how much I’d like to have him in the mix and I’m glad he’s come around and decided to stay with us.”
Where this leaves assistant general manager Lucky Bill Scott and former Columbus general manager Scott Howson is open to speculation. But they’re still there doing exactly the same jobs they were prior to Chiarelli’s hire.
There will be no mass of firings with the Edmonton Oilers under Chiarelli.
“I am not a scorched earth guy,” he said.
“I’m not going to come in and gas everybody.
“One of the first things I have to do is find out what the landscape is.
“There may be changes,” he said. “But they are not immanent.”
There is an entire staff in limbo in Boston but Chiarelli said he isn’t allowed to talk to any of them because they are currently under contract.
“There are good people there that I worked with for nine years,” he said.
Asked if any of the changes would come prior to the June draft or July 1 free agency, Chiarelli that would be highly unlikely.
After the game in Kelowna, Chiarelli flew home to Boston for a couple days, went to Erie, Pa. to watch Darnell Nurse and Connor McDavid play in their OHL series and then headed here.
Chiarelli talked to Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, the two Oilers on Team Canada that opened the tournament with a win over Latvia and planned to do the same with Oscar Klefbom and Anton Lander who were on the ice for Sweden in the second game.
He also met with pro scout Morley Gare and the Oilers European scouts who will work this year’s Worlds after Chiarelli departs on Monday to head to the Oilers amateur scouting meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona.
In the meantime he has coaches he plans to talk to here.
“A couple,” he said.
One, obviously, is Todd McLellan who is currently coaching Team Canada here and is believed to be the No. 2 guy on Chiarelli’s list behind Mike Babcock if he comes available as expected from Detroit.
“Roster and coaching are my two priorities,” he said.
“So far I’ve found a lot of energy and a lot of passion in place in the organization. Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall seem very excited and looking forward to the future.”
Chiarelli has also met with a few general manager here already.
“I’m getting condolences and congratulations at the same time,” he laughed.
“And I’ve had a few of them already trying to pick my pocket. It’s good to be back in the saddle.”
Follow me on Twitter.com/sunterryjones
terry.jones@sunmedia.caby Oded Napchi, November 1, 2017
This year will surely mark the turning point for the fall of the ad-supported model, due in part to ad blocking increases and premium publishers’ migration to ad-free, subscription-based models.
This makes me wonder why audiences are moving away from us, and why more and more people are willing to pay more just to avoid being exposed to ads.
Wasn’t it everyone’s expectation that precisely targeted digital ads would raise the public’s acceptance of advertising in the end?
Perhaps the simple explanation is that people have always hated ads. Still, TV tells us another story entirely, since ad-supported TV has always dominated the market — and to an extent it still does. Subscription TV (such as HBO) was the niche product.
In the transition from TV to digital, many things have changed — most for the better of all involved.
Still, the problem with digital is surprisingly simple: the poor technical quality of the ads we’re exposed to.
Can you recall a time, ever, when an ad didn’t work on TV? When there was a black screen broadcast, or sound came out even though the TV set was muted? Probably never.
However, in desktop and mobile environments, ads don’t work 25% to 50% of the time, depending on which research you’re citing. In OTT it’s much worse.
While we, as an industry, are focused on being cutting-edge, algorithm-driven, data-targeted, and machine-learning-powered, we forgot our bread and butter, the basic and fundamental agreement between advertiser and viewer: being considerate and not ruining his or her experience.
According to a report from Accustream, a majority of ads do not play smoothly. Additionally, according to a Hiro Media report, 20% of ads play sound even when they are muted, and 1% to 3% of ad creative includes adware. (Don’t let this low percentage fool you, while low, once you get infected you will never forget it.) The reasons for this are varied:
-- Long demand chain going through multiple resellers
-- Junior ad ops personnel that misconfigure the ad server, generating excessive amounts of ad calls
-- Technical bugs (remember online advertising is a long piece of code, not broadcast footage)
-- And arbitrage fraud — selling outstream as full episode player
None of these challenges exist in traditional media.
What can we do?
Publishers first need to understand and acknowledge that this ad quality problem exists -- and just as they employ more and more powerful anti-fraud tools, they should also use anti-low-quality ad tools, such as:
-- Demand path optimization (DPS) becomes critical. In fact, several tools already offer analysis of the path ads have passed.
-- Real-time monitoring tools for filtering suspicious creatives.
-- Examine the file names of the ads. In many cases, the destination of the creative is what you’ll see. If you are on desktop and receive a mobile tag, you can expect a bad user experience.
It’s time the industry aligns forces to battle advertising’s poor user experience. From a publisher perspective, use ad monitoring and filtering (just as you |
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