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could hear every verbal thought that occurs between strangers during a single minute in a typical public square, airport, or streetcorner.
I would love to think that we’d hear more words of compassion, fondness, and willingness to help than words of disdain, but I really doubt that. Casual coldness to strangers is probably the norm.
But every norm has exceptions. You certainly have had secret allies, at times you will never know. And you can also be one, any time you like.
***
Photo by Kamal H
Too much on your mind? Camp Calm is returning once again. More than a thousand people have learned to meditate through Camp Calm. Come learn some mindfulness skills, and take a load off your mind. It's easy and straightforward and we do it all with a fun Summer camp theme. I'm pretty proud of it, and I hope you'll consider joining us. [Notify me when registration is about to open] [About Camp Calm]ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos running back C.J. Anderson left Saturday morning's practice with a left shoulder injury and was being evaluated more following the workout.
But coach Gary Kubiak called it "a shoulder bang," and said Anderson wanted to return to the practice shortly after being tackled in a team drill, "but we just held him out the rest of the way."
Anderson landed somewhat awkwardly on a carry late in practice, losing the ball as he hit the ground. Trainers looked at his left shoulder, and while Anderson did not re-enter practice he kept his shoulder pads and helmet on and remained on the sideline for the remainder of the practice.
Anderson has worked as the team's No. 1 back since the start of the offseason program. Montee Ball took the majority of the carries the rest of the way Saturday with the starters.
Kubiak said Anderson will be looked at, but he didn't expect the injury to be serious.
The Broncos held out a smattering of veteran players Saturday, including cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who left Friday morning's practice with some cramping, and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders (hamstring). Kubiak said both could have practiced, but were held out as a precaution.
"That was just me," Kubiak said. "Emmanuel could have practiced too."
Safety David Bruton Jr. (Achilles), linebacker Lerentee McCray (groin), nose tackle Marvin Austin Jr. (groin), tackle Michael Schofield (back) and defensive end Derek Wolfe (concussion) were also held out of practice.Employees at Staples will soon get a little bit more vacation -- thanks to Obamacare. Unfortunately, that time off will be unpaid -- and in most cases, unwelcome.
The retailer, which employs 85,000 people, has limited part-time work to 25 hours a week to avoid Obamacare's fines for not providing insurance to those who work 30 or more hours a week.
President Obama refused to acknowledge that his healthcare law played a part in Staples' decision. "I haven't looked at Staples stock lately or what the compensation of the CEO is, but I suspect that they could well afford to treat their workers favorably," he said of the company during a recent interview. "Shame on them."
But if Obamacare had never become law, scores of working-class Americans would be logging more hours and making more money. The president's health law has effectively taken money out of their pockets.
The main culprit is Obamacare's employer mandate. This year, companies with 100 or more employees must provide all who put in 30 or more hours a week "affordable" insurance that meets Obamacare's generous coverage standards. Next year, the rule will apply to companies with 50 or more workers.
The law defines coverage as affordable if it consumes less than 9.5% of an employee's income.
Companies that refuse to comply are subject to fines equal to the lesser of $2,000 per worker, with the first 30 exempted from the calculation, or $3,000 per employee who goes on to secure subsidized coverage in Obamacare's individual insurance exchanges.
The average cost of individual employer-sponsored health insurance exceeded $6,000 last year. The fines for failing to provide it can amount to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It's no wonder that companies are trying to dodge these expenses by making full-time employees part-timers. Workers ultimately pay the price, as they notch fewer hours and take home smaller paychecks.
Staples isn't the only employer to cut hours. Investor's Business Daily has tallied more than 450 private companies and government agencies that have done the same.
Betsy Webb, a school superintendent in Maine, recently testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that her school system will have to cut substitute teachers' hours, as it can't afford to provide them health insurance. The school will also have to require those working two part-time jobs for the district to quit one of them.
As she told the senators, everyone loses.
Other schools have had similar experiences. More than 200 colleges have cut work hours because of the mandate, according to the College Fix, a higher education news source.
The Obamacare-fueled switch to part-time work is exacerbating our economy's ongoing struggle to create full-time jobs. Andy Puzder, chief executive for CKE Restaurants, recently told a Senate panel that nearly 2 million people were working two part-time jobs last year. That's the highest level since the government started tracking in 1994.
Even though the recession officially ended almost six years ago, there are still 6.8 million people working part-time today who want a full time job. An additional 6 million want a job but have quit looking altogether.
None of these data points suggests that Obamacare is helping working Americans.
Economists at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management agree. They've concluded that the employer mandate is doing more harm than good to workers. Even the liberal Urban Institute's research has demonstrated that the mandate will do almost nothing to increase the rate of insurance coverage.
The U.S. Supreme Court could strike a significant blow against the employer mandate -- and thereby help businesses and workers alike -- when it hears King v. Burwell on March 4. At issue is whether the federal government can provide subsidies for insurance purchased through the federal healthcare.gov insurance exchange.
Obamacare's text suggests that the feds cannot. Section 36B clearly states that the government can offer tax credits only to those people enrolled in "an Exchange established by the State." Healthcare.gov does not fall under that category.
A Supreme Court ruling against Obamacare would effectively repeal the employer mandate in the 37 states served by healthcare.gov. After all, businesses only face a penalty for not providing affordable insurance if their employees purchase subsidized coverage through the exchanges. No subsidies, no penalty.
Obamacare's definition of 30 hours as full time would no longer be valid. Employers could put people back to work.
Several senators don't want to wait for the High Court to act. Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), John Barrasso, (R-Wyo.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and John Thune (R-S.D.) have co-sponsored legislation that would repeal Obamacare's 30-hour rule nationwide -- and define a full-timer as someone who works 40 hours a week.
Sens. Orin Hatch (R-Utah) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) have sponsored a measure that would go even farther -- and repeal the employer mandate altogether. Twenty-six other senators have co-sponsored the measure.
The president may have assumed that companies would simply absorb the cost of his employer mandate. But companies cannot conjure out of thin air the thousands or millions of dollars needed to comply with the president's diktats.
As long as Obamacare and its employer mandate exist, working Americans will continue to pay a hefty price.
Sally C. Pipes is President, CEO, and Taube Fellow in Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is The Cure for Obamacare (Encounter 2013).Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
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At the last D23 Expo, an untitled Dia de los Muertos movie was announced. Nearly no details have emerged about this film since that event two years ago – until today.
During the Walt Disney Animation Studios / Pixar presentation at the D23 Expo 2015, director Lee Unkrich (“Toy Story 3”) and producer Darla K. Anderson (“Toy Story 3”) revealed the title of their upcoming film, which will be called “Coco.”
It’s described as “the celebration of a lifetime, where the discovery of a generations-old mystery leads to a most extraordinary and surprising family reunion.”
No release date has been set.Is there any greater #tbt discovery than finding out that one of the lead characters in your favourite show was once a bona fide musician? The answer is no, there is not. Especially when said lead character is Norma Romano from Orange is the New Black and her musical career spans more multiple decades and genres than a pub jukebox.
Last year, sites like Spin and Mashable reported that Annie Golden, the actress who plays Norma, has enjoyed fame as both a 70s punk singer and an 80s pop star. But if you look at the trajectory of her musical career as a whole, it's pretty damn mad. She's made appearances on TOPPOP, Letterman, Broadway, and tore up CBGB's on the regular with her band The Shirts. This would be novel even if her character was as commanding as, say, Tasty or Pornstache, but the fact that it's Norma - NORMA, the mute with the moist eyes and raging god complex, makes it all the better.
So let's take a brief look over the amazing musical history of Litchfield Penitentiary's quietest inmate, because that 3000 word thinkpiece about the potential aftermath of a Greece default you've had open in a tab since 10am - are you really going to read that on a Friday when all you can think about is what time is socially acceptable to go to the shop and buy a 4-pack of tinnies? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Continues below
1978: The Shirts
Okay, so *spoiler alert* if you didn't spend last weekend ploughing through OITNB Season 3 like a dog through an abandoned BBQ spread like I did, but you can really see where Golden drew influence from here in terms of realistically portraying a loyal member of a weird hippie Manson-esque cult. The first ten seconds of this performance alone are so psychedelic they'd give a present day toddler aggressive flashbacks to Nam, but you can see where things are headed for her musically. Is there any greater image of the 70s and 80s than a young woman who looks like a renegade member of The Mamas and The Papas chewing gum like a bossman?
1979: The Shirts 2.0 - Punk Edition
It only took a year for that antisocial gum chewing to accelerate into full on 'tude. Her band - if they are in fact the same dudes - have ditched their Elton John glasses and big collared shirts in favour of stuff they found in a bargain bin, and Annie... I mean holy punk. With a voice like Kathleen Hanna and moves like Karen O, this is easily her Golden era IMO.
1984: The Pop Years
Imagine pitching this video in a meeting. Like, "Yeah, we want it to look like Cyndi Lauper re-interpreting Prince's 'Batdance' for a cereal advert". It clearly worked, though, because this was the biggest song of Golden's career, and I'm pretty sure Katy Perry ripped it off in her video for TGIF.
1985: Live on Letterman
Here is the same song as above only live on Letterman and with much, much better hair.
1985: Broadway!
By this point, Annie Golden was famous enough to appear in Broadway productions as "herself". Here she is in Leader of the Pack - a jukebox musical made before the term "jukebox musical" was even coined, celebrating the life and times of the 60s doo-wop star Ellie Greenwich (also appearing as herself).
2012: The 5th Annual Joe Iconis Christmas Spectacular
I have no idea what "The 5th Annual Joe Iconis Christmas Spectacular" is but I wish I fucking did because just look at it. Present-day Norma kitted out like the Angel Gabriel if the Angel Gabriel wore a leather waistcoat, singing the absolute shit out of Kurt Nilsen's "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and pointing at herself when she says "golden days". From now on we all need to point at ourselves when we say "golden days". If her face appeared on a piece of toast IRL right now, I'd probably re-appropriate it as the centrepiece of a shrine and worship it too.
2013: Orange is the New Black Season 1 Finale
And so to Orange is the New Black, arguably one of the best shows on TV right now except for the fact that they managed to do the impossible and put lesbians off Ruby Rose a bit. This is the only moment in the show so far where we see a present-day Norma breaking her silence, and now it all makes sense. Maybe next season Piper will give her a stick-and-poke Misfits tattoo.
Follow Emma on Twitter.Are you a Shaman or Hunter? Do you like collecting transmog sets? Well, then I have some bad news for you, although it’s good news for any transmog minded DK’s, Warriors and Paladins out there. You see, Legion is changing its transmog system, and as a part of that change, it’s changing the way armor types work in World of Warcraft. At present, several classes change their armor type as they level — Shaman and Hunter characters start in leather and switch to mail at level 40, while Warriors and Paladins start in mail and change to plate at level 40.
In Legion, that won’t be the case any more.
Transmog Chaos To Come
To give you one example, here are the Tell-Tale Bracers. On live servers, they are mail bracers with strength. On Legion servers, they’re plate bracers. They’re not the only pieces getting that treatment — many quest rewards and even crafted items are going from mail to plate in Legion, from the entire Glimmering Mail set (renamed the Glimmering Plate) to the Green Iron Hauberk and Silvered Bronze Breastplate and even the classic Demon-Forged Mail is now split between the original pieces (which are now plate) and later lookalike pieces that are higher level and mail.
Look at the Demon-Forged Mail transmog set assembled above and you’ll immediately notice a problem. If you are on a Hunter or Shaman and you’ve assembled that set right now, you’re using one of two sets of gloves. Both of those gloves are mail on live, but both will become plate in Legion. That means you won’t be able to complete the set any more. Some sets will be entirely converted over to plate, while others that are the exact same save for color variations will remain mail.
What does and doesn’t change
As it stands, if you’re a mail wearer and you’re using (as an example) the Banded Mail set, you’re fine… unless you’re using Thorbia’s Gauntlets with it. Those will be plate come Legion, and you’ll need to collect an alternative to complete the set. The Burnished Mail set? Well, that’s going plate. Anything specifically Strength mail below level 40 seems to be targeted for the change, with random enchant pieces seemingly staying mail, which is of course haphazard and leaves people having to search around to figure out what pieces are going to be mail or plate come the next expansion.
Of course, this isn’t live yet. But I’d argue that when this change is live, there needs to be a way to let players use sets they’ve been using all along, whether it’s as simple as making sure there are mail and plate alternatives for all of these sets, or perhaps finally abandoning some armor restrictions in transmog. Suddenly breaking a lot of player’s favorite transmogs seems uncool to me.0 Tuition hike proposed for UNC Charlotte students
CHARLOTTE - More than 27,000 students currently attend the University of North Carolina Charlotte and that number is only expected to increase.
Increased enrollment and state budget cuts are the two main reasons the University said it submitted a proposal to the UNC Board of Governors to increase tuition and fees for full time in-state and out-of-state students.
“We are adding students with fewer resources because the budget as a whole in North Carolina is being cut,” said Elizabeth Hardin, who is the vice chancellor of business affairs at UNCC.
The proposed increase for undergraduate in-state and out-of-state tuition and fees are as follows:
Full-time undergraduate/in-state
Related Headlines NC public universities eye tuition hikes after 1-year hiatus
2014- 2015
Base rate: $6,179.00
2015-2016 3.3% increase
$205 per year
New base rate: $6,384.00
2016-2017 3.3% increase
$213 per year
New base rate: $6,597.00
Full-time undergraduate/out-of-state
2014-2015
Base rate: $19,350.00
2015-2016 1.1% increase
$205 per year
New base rate: $19,555.00
2016-2017 1.1% increase
$213 per year
New base rate: $19,768.00
The rates do not include housing and meal plan costs. The university said part-time rates should also see an increase in costs.
“I’m a little disappointed because I pay a lot to go here but in the same sense I do understand,” said William Racine, who is a junior at UNCC.
“I don’t really see the big difference but it does all add up,” said Tara Jones, who is also a junior at UNCC.
“I’m already having enough trouble now,” said one freshman, who is an out-of-state student.
Mixed emotions university officials said they are sensitive to even after last year’s tuition freeze.
“That was done in recognition of coming out of the great recession,” said Hardin. “There was a need to be sensitive to family resources and the availability of funds. The most important thing we’ve done moving forward is focus on retention and graduation. The University of North Carolina Charlotte still represents a great bargain.”
The UNC Board of Governors is expected to vote on the proposal in February.The Obama administration has drawn up draft rules that would end a decadeslong ban on Libyans getting military training in the U.S., according to documents obtained by House Republicans who said Thursday that it’s the wrong move after last year’s Benghazi attack.
The administration says relations with Libya have “normalized” over the past two years and that the Libyan government has earned the right to have better access to the U.S., which imposed the ban in 1983 after a wave of terrorist attacks involving Libyans.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, said Libya remains a dangerous hot spot and relaxing the rules is a bad idea.
“We still haven’t gotten to the bottom of the Benghazi terrorist attacks and continue to face additional terrorist threats from Libya, yet the Obama administration is preparing to lift a long-standing ban that protects Americans and our interests,” said Mr. Goodlatte, whose committee obtained the draft document.
“The Obama administration should focus its attention on getting answers to the lingering questions surrounding the Benghazi terrorist attacks and ensure that Americans are kept safe and sound,” he said.
A Homeland Security Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there would be no comment on internal drafts and that the proposal hasn’t been approved.
SEE ALSO: Poll finds strong support for deeper Benghazi probe
The official said, though, that the U.S. is trying to help Libya as it transitions to a democracy.
“We are committed to working with Libya to build its sovereign institutions and are working closely with the government to bring stability to Libya. As part of this effort, we are reviewing U.S. policies that have been in place since before the Libyan revolution to see how they might be updated to better align with U.S. interests,” the official said.
In the draft rules change, the Homeland Security Department says relations have improved enough since the 2011 fall of Moammar Gadhafi’s government to justify the change. It also says Libya has made strides toward building stable democratic institutions and has maintained a good relationship with the U.S. and the United Nations.
Homeland Security also said the administration wants to offer military training to Libyans so they can use those skills to rebuild their armed forces, including training in aviation maintenance, flight operations and nuclear-related studies. All of those areas are now blocked by the rules regarding Libya.
The department says it wants to have the flexibility to allow training for Libyans on a case-by-case basis, and vows it will screen out those who are trying to steal technology or sensitive information.
Relations with Libya have been complex since the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist assault on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi.
Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif immediately said the attacks were the work of terrorists, but the Obama administration, in the middle of a re-election campaign, disputed that at the time and blamed an anti-Islam video for stirring up a mob.
The administration later acknowledged that the attack was a terrorist assault.
But State Department officials said the initial conflict with Mr. el-Megarif engendered bad feelings and prevented American investigators from getting to the site of the attack.
As of September, the Libyan government was still thwarting U.S. efforts to arrest suspects in the attack.
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan was kidnapped by rebels this month but was released hours later.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.You ever wonder what would happen if you and your sarcastic high school classmates were destined for the bottom of the sea? Well, this weekend, the Byrd is giving you a chance to find out.
Richmond’s historic move palace is screening My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, an animated film directed & written by Dash Shaw. Described as an “equal parts disaster cinema, high school comedy and blockbuster satire,[the film is] told through a dream-like mixed media animation style that incorporates drawings, paintings and collage.”
Originally featured during the Toronto International Film Festival this past September, MEHSSITS debuted in American theaters on April 14, 2017 through GKIDS. The coming-of-age movie also played at Fantastic Fest, New York Film Festival, and AFI Fest.
The film follows sophomore best friends, Dash (Jason Schwartzman) and Assaf (Reggie Watts), as calamity befalls their high school, situated on a seaside cliff over a tectonic fault line. Along with fellow survivors & friends Verti (Maya Rudolph) and Mary (Lena Dunham), the group weathers an emotional rollercoaster ride of teenage relationships and natural disaster. Joined by Lunch Lady Lorraine (Susan Sarandon), who saves Dash (loosely based on Shaw) from drowning, the party manages to escape the sunken ruins of their school.
The movie’s creator, Dash Shaw, is a graphic novelist whose previous works include acclaimed books like Bottomless Belly Button, Cosplayers, and New School. You can find out more about his work here.
MEHSSITS garnered an 86% “certified fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and received a 6.2 out of 10 on IMDB.
My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea will play at 4:30pm at the Byrd Theatre this Saturday and Sunday (5/27, 5/28). This psychedelic journey through the catastrophic and awkward runs for 75 minutes.A woman exploring the Lance Formation in Wyoming was in for a shock when she stumbled across a mysterious bone.
Alison Teal, a conservationist from Hawaii, said that she tripped over the bone completely by accident, and initially thought it was a rock.
But an analysis of the bone has revealed that it is an extremely rare, 65-million-year-old triceratops jaw bone.
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A woman exploring the Lance Formation in Wyoming was in for a shock when she stumbled across a mysterious bone that turned out to be a triceratops jaw
Ms Teal was exploring the remote area last month, accompanied by Jack Tenney, a YouTube influencer, and Dr Marcus Eriksen, the co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute, a non-profit looking to empower action against plastic pollution.
After tripping over the bone, Ms Teal and her team worked tirelessly to excavate it from the dirt.
Alison Teal, a conservationist from Hawaii, said that she tripped over the rare bone completely by accident, and initially thought it was a rock
It was only later, Ms Teal said, once the bone had been removed, that she and Dr Eriksen were able to determine that the bone once made up the jaw of a triceratops.
The triceratops lived in the late Cretaceous period, from about 68 to 66 million years ago, in what is now North America.
It is known for its three recognisable horns, the two largest being 3.3ft (one metre) long and a shorter one on its nose, with its name translating as ‘three-horned face’ from Greek.
Ms Teal was exploring the remote area last month, accompanied by Jack Tenney, a YouTube influencer (pictured right), and Dr Marcus Eriksen (pictured left), the co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute, a non-profit looking to empower action against plastic pollution
An analysis of the bone has revealed that it is an extremely rare, 65-million-year-old triceratops jaw bone
Triceratops were herbivorous, with low growth being their food of choice owing to their low heard.
The creature was large, reaching up to 29ft (nine metres) in length and 10ft (three metres) in height, and it weighed up to 26,000lbs (12 tonnes).
Ms Teal, a strong conservationist who is passionate about raising awareness of ocean pollution, said that she hopes her discovery will bring about further discussion about how real extinction is.
THE TRICERATOPS: THE THREE-HORNED STAR OF THE DINOSAURS This dinosaur lived in the late Cretaceous period, from about 68 to 66 million years ago, in what is now North America. It is known for its three recognisable horns, the two largest being 3.3ft (one metre) long and a shorter one on its nose, with its name translating as ‘three-horned face’ from Greek. It is thought to have shared its landscape with the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and may have also been preyed upon by the fearsome predator. Triceratops were herbivorous, with low growth being their food of choice owing to their low heard. The exact purpose for its horns is not fully understood, though. The favoured theory is that they may have been used for courting, although combat was also a possibility. The creature was rather large, reaching up to 29ft (nine metres) in length and 10ft (three metres) in height, and it weighed up to 26,000lbs (12 tonnes). It is believed to have been wiped out in the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event 66 million years ago.
More specifically, she and Dr Eriksen point towards the Holocene extinction - also know as the sixth extinction - an ongoing extinction event, mainly caused by human activity.
Ms Teal said: 'After hours of excavation, I tripped over what I thought was a rock and it turned out to be a 65-million-year-old triceratops jaw bone.
'Digging up dinosaurs was a shocking reality check that extinction is real, and if we don't make changes in our daily lives, we too can become just another rock layer in history.
After tripping over the bone, Ms Teal and her team worked tirelessly to excavate it from the dirt. It was only later, Ms Teal said, once the bone had been removed, that she and Dr Eriksen were able to determine that the bone once made up the jaw of a triceratops
This dinosaur lived in the late Cretaceous period, from about 68 to 66 million years ago, in what is now North America
'We can't wait until the government passes laws; it's time to act together as homes, communities, villages, cities, across the earth, to change our daily life routines and cultivate a sustainable lifestyle.'
This isn't the first time that triceratops remains have been discovered in Wyoming.
In 2013, p aleontologists discovered a family of triceratops, including one of the most complete skeletons ever found.
Triceratops are known for their three recognisable horns, the two largest being 3.3ft (one metre) long and a shorter one on its nose, with its name translating as ‘three-horned face’ from Greek
The team discovered the triceratops jaw bone while exploring the Lance Formation in western Wyoming
The bones were uncovered on a ranch near Newcastle, Wyoming, by a team from the South Dakota-based Black Hills Institute of Geological Research and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center from the Netherlands.
The team believs the rare find of skeletons belonged either a to a parent group of triceratops or two females and a youngster.
The team also found the left foot and left leg of a T-Rex, which roamed the same area.Caucasian shepherd dogs bred for hunting Russian bears go on sale in Northern Ireland for first time BelfastTelegraph.co.uk They can grow to a massive size - and are programmed to protect against the fiercest predators. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/caucasian-shepherd-dogs-bred-for-hunting-russian-bears-go-on-sale-in-northern-ireland-for-first-time-30469300.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/article30469297.ece/1f66c/AUTOCROP/h342/NWS_2014-07-30_NEW_002_32451258_I1.JPG
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They can grow to a massive size - and are programmed to protect against the fiercest predators.
Now huge dogs bred for hunting Russian bears are going on sale in Northern Ireland for the first time.
Male Caucasian Ovcharka dogs can reach as much as 14 stone in weight and eat their way through two huge bowls of dog food a day, according to Newry man Jason Mooney, who is offering them for sale.
Mr Mooney said he has a one-year male called Bear, which has already reached 11 or 12 stone, and a 18-month female called Orya.
"I was in England a few years ago and a friend of mine has some – he was the first person to bring them into England," he said.
"It was the size that struck me – I thought they were massive.
"They can be quite protective dogs as well.
"He had three of his grandchildren with him and the dog was trying to go for me to keep me away from them. But the ones I have are quite placid – they wouldn't be as protective as his were."
Mr Mooney said the dogs were originally bred for bear hunting and have featured in Russia's Toughest Prisons series on National Geographic channel.
"They have them as guard dogs," he explained.
"Everyone is stunned by them. We live in the countryside and the postman came up and asked what they were. Then he said he had Googled them – he thought they were brilliant. Everybody is surprised by the size of them.
"I have plenty of room here for them to run about. We wouldn't take them for walks very often because we have two acres of land and they have the run of the whole place."
Mr Mooney says the dogs are great with his children Kai (4) and Alicia (18 months).
"Kai has been bred up with them and they love him. They knock him over the odd time because they are so big but they love him," he said. "They just chase each other around."
The dogs also get on well with the other animals, including the goats.
"The big dog would put his paw on the goat and try to push him to the ground," Mr Mooney says.
"The male wouldn't be fully grown yet – he's about 11 or 12 stone at the moment and he will probably reach 14 stone. He would eat two big dog bowls of food a day filled to the brim.
"I've bred Akitas too, and they wouldn't be a small dog, but when these were five-six weeks they were twice the size of the Akita pups at that age."
Mr Mooney said the breed is familiar to a lot of Polish people in the area as they know them from home.
"A lot of people would know what they are as soon as they see them," he said. "They need to go to someone who has plenty of room. It wouldn't suit them to be going to a a little back street yard – they need room to exercise."
Background
The Caucasian Ovcharka, or Caucasian shepherd dog, is a flock guardian used to protect sheep from predators and thieves. For centuries flocks of sheep have existed in Caucasia, the mountainous land mass between the Black and Caspian Seas. Dogs similar to this breed have protected the sheep from predators for at least 600 years.
Beethoven is a 1992 comedy film about a loveable St Bernard puppy named after composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who keeps growing and causes mayhem around the home.
Belfast TelegraphA truck driver says Calgary motorists need to pay more attention to oversized cargo on city streets after a near collision just off Crowchild Trail that left his trailer broken and the building he was hauling sitting on the road.
The incident happened Thursday morning near the Crowfoot LRT Station Park and Ride, where Scenic Acres Parade merges onto an access road that leads to the interchange between Crowchild and Nose Hill Drive N.W.
Abe Dyck was heading toward the interchange, hauling an oversized building, when he said an SUV tried to merge right next to him.
While there are two travel lanes at that point, Dyck said the SUV driver didn't seem to realize the trailer's load was more than one lane wide.
"He could have got killed," Dyck said. "That trailer would've gone right over top of the car."
The semi driver said he had to "slam the brakes" to avoid a collision and the sudden force damaged the trailer he was hauling, leaving it immobilized on the road.
The SUV driver left the scene.
The building being hauled was left on the access road just off Crowchild Trail as police responded to the situation. (Evelyne Asselin/CBC)
Police responded to the area and said they are still investigating the incident.
Dyck said it's far from the first close call he's seen involving city drivers and wide loads.
"They do not respect the load," he said. "They do not respect anything. They've just got to go, and they go high speed all the time."Parks Canada officials have killed a wolf that was repeatedly exhibiting bold behaviour around human beings after becoming habituated to food left out at Banff campgrounds in violation of national park rules.
"This wolf did not respond to aversive conditioning and continued to return to campsites after being repeatedly hazed," Parks Canada said in a release.
"This action was taken after serious consideration. This was a very difficult decision for Parks Canada staff, who work so hard to protect these animals, but in the end, it was a necessary action to ensure the visitor safety."
The wolf was killed on Wednesday.
Its bold behaviour between July 29 and Aug. 1 prompted Parks Canada to ban tent camping at the Two Jack Main and Lakeside campgrounds.
The animal had received "multiple unnatural food rewards" and was repeatedly observed sniffing around campsites with little fear of human beings.
"Parks Canada has worked hard to try to prevent this situation, from collaring wolves to monitor their behaviour, significant communications with the public, and increased compliance and enforcement efforts," the agency said in a release.
"Despite these efforts, wolves are still receiving food rewards in campgrounds and sites were still being left in unsatisfactory condition by visitors."
Banff National Park wardens issued 20 charges over the past month — including eight in the past week — against people who kept unsatisfactory campsites, an offence which includes leaving out food or garbage that can act as a wildlife attractant.
This charge orders a mandatory court appearance and the maximum fine can reach $25,000.
Campers disappointed wolf had to die
Callen Melnic drove from Vancouver for a couple of nights of camping in the Banff area.
"We were furious. It is just one of those things. It took us about 48 hours to get here and we were told that we don't have a campsite," Melnic said.
Callen Melnic says camping is about making the best of a situation. (Andrew Brown/CBC)
But he understands why the closures at the time are needed.
"That is what camping is all about. Things go wrong, things are different, we make the best of everything."
Marli Senecal arrived at the Two Jack Main Campground just before midnight Wednesday.
"When we showed up they were about a half hour away from closing and they were like, 'You can't camp here with a soft-sided tent because there is a wolf out,'" Senecal explained.
Marli Senecal, left, and Sean Martin were turned away from the Two Jack Main Campground Wednesday evening. They are disappointed that the wolf had to be killed. (Andrew Brown/CBC)
"It was a little scary. I was like, 'I am okay with not staying here,'" said Senecal.
She said it's unfortunate some campers don't follow the rules around keeping food securely hidden.
"It makes me sick, because someone fed her and that's why. People weren't being careful with their food, and then it became a danger for everyone else. It is not really the wolf's fault," Senecal said.
Senecal and her friend Sean Martin instead stayed at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court campground.
Long-term survival in Bow Valley questioned
Wildlife biologist Paul Paquet said he's not surprised that Parks Canada had to resort to destroying the wolf.
"I think there's very little that they could do," he said.
The wildlife |
games set the bar for the younger guys coming through to get them to seeing the Florida State they used to see.”
Following a solid senior season at FSU, Fagg was projected as a second-day pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, but a severe knee injury in a non-contact drill during the NFL Combine derailed Fagg’s hopes of a potential NFL career. Fagg however, would eventually get his chance in the Arena Football League with the Tampa Bay Storm. In 2012, Fagg finished with 222 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns. Fagg served a brief stint with the Orlando Predators in 2013 before returning home to Quincy in June of that year to head the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, which he continues to do today.
“I’m dealing with youth sports,” he said. “People see me out here working with kids and they’re happy to see me back and I’ve been happy to give back. I’ve been helping out at the schools with football.”
Fagg said he hosts an annual summer football camp, which is scheduled for August 1st this year. Fagg said he and former FSU teammate, Leroy Smith, a cornerback from Shanks High School, work together to make a difference in the community.
“Leroy Smith is back home and he’s teaching school,” Fagg said. “He’s been helping with the kids around the neighborhoods and we kind of connect together and try to make a difference around here.”
Fagg still closely follows his alma mater’s football program, which he grew up watching. Fagg said he tries to attend spring practice and some of the summer camps the school hosts.
“I try to go every spring and talk to the guys,” Fagg said. “I’m looking forward to going to some of the training camps they have this summer.”
Fagg said he isn’t surprised that Fisher, his former offensive coordinator, has had success as a head coach. In five years as the head man, Fisher has led the Seminoles to three ACC titles and the 2013 national championship.
“Coach Fisher is the type who will give anyone a chance,” he said. “With his offensive strategies and the way he handles situations, once I saw that, I knew Coach Fisher was going to be a great head coach one day. Every year Coach Fisher has been here, the receiving corps has looked like the receiving corps from the 90s and I’m just so proud of that.”
Fagg said he values the time he spent at Florida State and credits his coaches with helping mold him as a young man. The former receiver said he would recommend the school to any perspective recruits or students.
“It was the best four years of my life,” Fagg said. “I think that’s where I matured a lot was off the field dealing with Coach Bowden, Coach Dawsey and Coach Fisher. They’re more like lifetime parents. It was a great experience and I wouldn’t wish anything but the best for any kid who is there now or plans on going there in the future.”The picture was branded ‘disgusting’ by one Facebook user (Picture: Facebook)
Facebook is facing criticism after it took down a lesbian kiss posted on the site to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.
The photo, which shows two women kissing, was posted on the social media site by Italian Carlotta Trevisan, a 28-year-old mother of one.
But she says her friends’ reactions to the photo were mixed, with one user calling it ‘disgusting’.
Facebook then contacted Ms Trevisan in the wake of the complaints and told her to remove the image, saying it ‘violated the community’s standards on nudity and pornography’.
The site later admitted the removal of the picture had been ‘a mistake’ and reinstated her account, although only after Ms Trevisan claims her profile was taken down for three days.
According to The Local, Ms Trevisan said: ‘How can they say a kiss, which is something so loving, is nudity or porn?’
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Ms Trevisan says she is not gay but has taken part in several protests for gay rights.
She has also been spurred on by Italy’s reluctance to create an anti-homophobia law.
‘This right is a fundamental thing for the LGBT community and it’s incredible that Italy doesn’t yet have this law in place,’ she said.
A Facebook spokesperson said: ‘In an effort to quickly and efficiently process reports we receive, our community operations team reviews many reports every week, and as you might expect, occasionally, we make a mistake and block a piece of content we shouldn’t have.
‘We can understand how people can be frustrated with this when, as in this case, a mistake happens.’Oglas
Sodišča izdajajo vse več odredb zaradi vse več spletnih goljufij, spletnega izsiljevanja mladoletnic in kupovanja mamil po spletu. (Foto: BoBo)
Ta trend je povezan z vse večjim številom spletnih goljufij, veliko pa je tudi spletnega izsiljevanja mladoletnic in kupovanja mamil prek spleta. Vrhovno sodišče o rasti števila odredb za vpogled v uporabniške račune
Policija lahko zahteva podatke iz tujine le na podlagi sodnih odredb. Foto: Evgenija Carl.
Slovenske preiskovalce so najpogosteje zanimali podatki Googla (ponudnika storitev Gmail in Youtube). V prvi polovici leta 2016 so nanj naslovili 20 odredb za 90 računov, statistika korporacije pa kaže, da je takšnega zanimanja vsako leto več. Za 49 računov so slovenski organi zahtevali tako imenovano "ohranitev podatkov", kar pomeni, da se shrani kopija podatkov, medtem ko organ še pridobiva sodno odredbo, potrebno za razkritje podatkov. Od leta 2011 je država sedemkrat od Googla zahtevala izbris podatkov.
Slovenija se za Facebook zanima od vstaj naprej
Facebook je objavil, da so so zahtevali podatke o petnajstih uporabnikih, prav za vse so zahtevali tudi ohranitev podatkov. V tem času so je bila razkrita tudi komunikacija policistov, ki so postavili zasedo ministru za javno upravo in v katero je bilo vpletenih po podatkih policije sedem policistov, pet med njimi je dobilo odpoved. Prve zahteve je Facebook prejel na začetku 2013, ko so potekali množični protesti, tako imenovane vstaje, organizirane tudi prek Facebooka. Policija je v tem obdobju zahtevala vpogled v osem uporabniških računov.
Apple najpogosteje dostavlja podatke o napravah
Po podatkih Appla so prejeli zahteve o 71 napravah, za polovico so slovenski strani posredovali uporabne podatke. Poleg sodnih odredb tako Apple kot Facebook preiskovalcem posredujeta tudi podatke na podlagi tako imenovanih "nujnih zahtev". "Gre za podatke, kjer verjamemo, da obstaja neposredna nevarnost smrti ali resnih poškodb, in tedaj podatke razkrijemo brez zamud," pojasnjujejo na Applu. Podobno politiko imajo tudi drugi ponudniki, gre predvsem za primer iskanja pogrešanih oseb.
Policija za vsako zahtevo pridobi sodno odredbo
Policija posebnih podatkov o zahtevah v tujini ne vodi. V polletnem poročilu za 2016 sicer ugotavljajo, da se je med preiskovalnimi dejanji policije za 96,3 % povečalo število oseb, zoper katere je bila odrejena pridobitev podatkov o prometu v elektronskem komunikacijskem omrežju. "Kadar policija pri obravnavi suma storitve kaznivega dejanja ugotovi, da so določeni dokazi (podatki pri Facebooku, Googlu) tudi v tujini, ravna v teh primerih tako, da podatke pridobi izključno na podlagi odredbe sodišča," zagotavljajo na policiji, ki posebne statistike tovrstnih zaprosil v tujino ne vodijo.
Vrhovno sodišče: vse več izsiljevanja, prodaje mamil in goljufij prek spleta
Tudi vrhovno sodišče podatkov za tujino ne zapisuje ločeno, podatki okrožnega sodišča v Ljubljani pa kažejo na rast tovrstnih odredb. "Ta trend je povezan z vse večjim številom spletnih goljufij, veliko pa je tudi spletnega izsiljevanja mladoletnic in kupovanja mamil prek spleta," pojasnjujejo na vrhovnem sodišču.
Spletni računi so tako pod vse večjim nadzorom. Okoljska inšpektorica je nedavno z opozorilom že »kaznovala« za nezakonito dejanje gorskega kolesarja, ki je na spletu objavil fotografije kolesarjenja zunaj urejenih poti v naravi, kar je prepovedano. Podatkov o uporabnikih Twitterja, Dropboxa in še nekaterih omrežjih pa država vsaj po javnih razkritjih teh podjetij v zadnjih letih ni zahtevala.The ISFJ is a cooperative creature, loyal, responsible and soft-spoken. And there are few characters in pop-culture who exemplify ISFJ-ness quite like the Office’s Pam Beasley Halpert.
At the beginning of the series, her shyness and desire for a smoothly running work environment lead her to take abuse after silly abuse from her wacked out boss, Michael Scott. As is the case with many ISFJs, Pam rarely sticks up for herself, doing little more than calling Michael a jerk for pretending to fire her in what he dubbed a prank.
However, as is true with most, her greatest flaw is her greatest strength, and it is Pam’s cooperative nature that also makes her one of the most endearing characters in the series. She goes out of her way to please those around her by performing tasks that would ordinarily never be taken care of, like building a casket for a dead bird, creating doves for the Office Olympics, designing a billboard for the employees to list their accomplishments, and painting a mural in the warehouse.
ISFJs tend to be natural mother-figures, a position they tend to adopt happily, and it is in this office that the ever steady Pam finds her Lost Boys, especially with Michael Scott. Michael is in constant shambles, and Pam is behind him, dutifully picking up the pieces of his latest disasters, like dousing the parking lot in gasoline in order to create a fiery proposal for his love, Holly. Of course, Pam comes to the rescue and saves him from the inevitable embarrassment, letting him know in a very motherly fashion that is not okay to play with gasoline.
Unfortunately for the ISFJ, they don’t often get the recognition they deserve, and such is the case with Pam. She goes about her life without flourish or fanfare, and begins to feel taken for granted. Most of her contributions go unnoticed by those around her, causing her to question her self worth on a regular basis. When she does decide to put herself out there she is often shut down, like when she showcases her artwork at a local gallery. It is there that her scrutinizing coworker, Oscar, says that courage is not one of Pam’s strong points. Devastated by this comment, she considers giving up on her dream. Thankfully, it takes only a small amount of praise to keep the ISFJ feeling happy, and Michael, true to his sporadically kind self, walks in and praises her work, buys and frames it to hang in the office.
This small act from her boss is the spark that finally ignites Pam stick up for herself. In the episode, Beach Game, she takes the bull by the horns, completing the coal-walk and then confessing her love to Jim, her future husband. Pam not only earns the much deserved respect of many around her, but most importantly develops the self-respect she needs.
If you have an ISFJ in your life, remember to be kind to these soft-hearted creatures. Give them praise for both the little and big things they are willing to do that others might eschew. Appreciate them for their warmth, dependability, and their ability to keep any organization running smoothly. Remind them to not be overly critical of themselves, for they are often their harshest opponent.Over 700 apathetic guests attended a Canadian couple's wedding this week. But their non-plussed attitudes and occasional butt-licking didn't ruin the occasion. It made it.
Louise Veronneau and Dominic Husson were wed at the Cat House on the Kings in Fresno County on Tuesday, surrounded by hundreds of rescue cats. Cat House on the Kings is California's biggest no-kill, no-cage cat sanctuary. And it's seen a lot of kitty antics but never a wedding.
"We wanted to do a wedding that reflects our values, our love for animals," Veronneau told the Tri-City Herald. "We asked relatives instead of giving us gifts, to send donations to the sanctuary."
I meow pronounce you Food Giver 1 and Food Giver 2. I meow pronounce you Food Giver 1 and Food Giver 2. Photo: Screenshot Photo: Screenshot Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Couple lives the dream, marries in front of 700 cats at California sanctuary 1 / 4 Back to Gallery
The wedding was officiated by Lynea Lattanzio, who founded Cat House on the Kings on her 12-acre farm in Parlier.
"It was quite nice," Lattanzio said. "I wouldn't even mind doing it again."
She's probably going to have to, because after this publicity, cat lovers all over will be lining up for weddings in front of 700 of their most aloof friends.
After being wed, Veronneau and Husson took their wedding photos on the property. Like the adorable little jerks they are, the cats sat on the bride's gown and struggled to get free of the unspeakable indignity these hoomins were subjecting them to.
In other words, it was a dream wedding.A man shot at by police in a parking lot on Memorial University's St. John's campus has been found guilty of dangerous driving — but not for the more serious charges of assaulting four police officers.
Instead, Judge Lois Skanes concluded it was the police who used excessive force by shooting at Justin Chipman, saying the gunplay was over the top.
Chipman, 27, was the target of a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary stakeout in the parking lot of MUN's Field House on the night of Feb. 18.
They were trying put the brakes on a rash of vehicle break-ins in the area with a surveillance sting they dubbed Operation Hoodwink.
According to the facts, Chipman drove into the lot in a stolen SUV, broke the window of another vehicle and stole the laptop inside. When police moved in, he tried to speed away but got stuck in a snowbank.
Officers converged on both sides of the SUV, trying to open the doors and ordering Chipman and a passenger to get out. Instead, Chipman continued to spin the tires, trying to escape.
Fired shot
That's when RNC Const. Dustin Spurrell fired a shot through the driver-side window, with the bullet grazing Chipman's chest. Spurrell testified he fired because he feared for his safety and that of his fellow officers, and that he aimed to kill, but missed.
On Friday, Judge Skanes agreed with Chipman's lawyer that Spurrell used excessive force, also ruling that Chipman was only trying to get away rather than attempting to run down the officers.
She threw out the eight charges of assaulting police officers, but convicted Chipman of dangerous driving, saying he should have surrendered rather than recklessly trying to escape.
Skanes also dismissed a defence application to have all charges dropped, but hinted she might consider a lesser sentence given the excessive forced used by police.
Chipman has already been convicted of theft in the case.
He will be sentenced for dangerous driving on Sept. 2.Nearly a year later, it still seems hard to believe. As we discussed last May, a criminal indictment against former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was made public, alleging that an unnamed person approached the Illinois Republican and confronted him over misdeeds that happened “years earlier.” Soon after, the Republican began paying the unnamed person through a series of cash installments.
According to the allegations at the time, Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million in order to “compensate for and conceal” unspecified “misconduct.” The former GOP leader was charged, not for the misdeeds, but for his attempts to cover them up, including alleged lies to the FBI.
Four months later, Hastert issued a guilty plea on the charges related to his financial improprieties, but as the sentencing phase gets underway, prosecutors are now adding crushing details to the case against the former Speaker.
Justice Department prosecutors said Friday that former House speaker Dennis Hastert abused four young boys when he was their wrestling coach and urged that he be ordered to serve up to six months in prison when he’s sentenced later this month. […] For the first time, government lawyers said Hastert made payments to a man who was sexually abused at age 14 by Hastert when he was the boy’s wrestling coach. Prosecutors said the abuse also involved “other minors,” and included touching their genitals or engaging in oral sex.
In their court filings, prosecutors, seeking a harsh penalty, took aim at “the actions at the core of this case took place not on the defendant’s national public stage but in his private one-on-one encounters in an empty locker room and a motel room with minors that violated the special trust between those young boys and their coach.”
The allegations paint a horrifying picture of a monster. They also raise an alarming realization that Dennis Hastert – the longest serving Republican House Speaker in American history, a man who was two heartbeats from the presidency of the United States for eight years – allegedly spent part of his life as a serial child molester, unbeknownst to anyone except Hastert and his victims.
As we discussed last year, from 1998 to 2006, House Republicans suffered one ugly scandal after another. Democrats used the “culture of corruption” label to great effect because it was true – from Gingrich to Livingston, DeLay to Cunningham, Ney to Foley, the GOP’s House majority just couldn’t stay out of trouble.
But no matter how many scandals surrounded House Republicans, GOP officials pointed to the humble Speaker from Illinois as the squeaky clean leader, elevated to the post from relative obscurity because of his above-the-fray reputation.
And if federal prosecutors are correct, Hastert’s crimes were far worse than any of his colleagues’.
Hastert has not yet publicly acknowledged his crimes, but his defense attorney, eager to keep his client out of jail, said the former Speaker is sorry for his “mistakes in judgment and his transgressions,” though he didn’t specify what those “transgressions” entail.NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s top court on Wednesday banned the sale of vehicles running on older Euro III fuel technology from April 1, a decision that led to a sharp fall in shares of major automakers sitting on unsold inventories.
FILE PICTURE: A television journalist sets his camera inside the premises of the Supreme Court in New Delhi February 18, 2014. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee
Shares of two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp fell as much as 4.4 percent, while those of truck manufacturer Ashok Leyland were down as much as 6.6 percent and carmaker Tata Motors’ shares dropped nearly 2 percent.
The court, in its judgment, said health concerns of citizens took precedence over any financial losses for companies.
India, in 2015, had said automakers must manufacture only Euro IV-compliant vehicles from April 1, 2017 as they are less polluting, but did not propose banning the sale of older-technology vehicles from the same day.
Currently Euro IV vehicles, locally known as Bharat Stage (BS) IV, are sold in select states, while Euro III vehicles are sold more widely across the country.
There is unsold stock of more than 800,000 BS III-compliant vehicles, mainly two-wheelers, worth about 120 billion rupees ($1.85 billion), Mumbai-based Angel Broking said in a note.
It added that the older technology two-wheeler inventory could be sold in international markets where such vehicles are still permitted.
“Days before the deadline, they said you cannot sell,” Vinod Dasari, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), and managing director of Ashok Leyland, told television channel BTVi.
“I don’t think this much inventory can be sold off in the next couple of days,” Dasari said.
($1 = 64.9050 Indian rupees)Folks, this is the Windows tablet you’ve been looking for. With Surface 3, Microsoft has hit the right combination of performance, capability and durability, with a device that provides the best of the successful Surface Pro 3 at a more affordable price. Surface 3 is a fine choice for students of all ages, mobile professionals, or anyone else looking for the ideal balance of mobility and functionality.
Yes, Surface 3 is a cost-reduced Surface Pro 3, so Microsoft had to cut some corners to make the device more affordable. But like a Volkswagen Jetta compared to a more expensive Audi, the Surface 3 serves a much broader audience thanks to this cost cutting. And for the most part, I find the compromises that Microsoft made in doing so to be perfectly acceptable. This is no down-market tablet.
It’s also no wannabe, like its predecessors, Surface RT (which was miserable) and Surface 2 (which was only slightly better). And that comparison is actually kind of interesting because Surface 3 retains the stellar battery life and entry-level pricing of those previous tablets but fixes virtually everything that was wrong with them. It’s a “real” Windows PC, with full compatibility with the desktop applications that people really use.
This is important.
It’s important today—the Metro/Modern/whatever mobile platform simply hasn’t taken off yet with developers or users—and it’s important tomorrow, as we move forward to Windows 10. It’s important to the parts of Microsoft’s strategy that aren’t changing, including the belief that the future of Windows PCs is all about hybrid devices that can seamlessly move between usage models like the desktop, full-blown touch, and pen-based note taking and drawing. Surface 3 is, in many ways, the Windows value proposition expressed as hardware, a multi-function system that can do it all.
And assuming you don’t have extreme needs—PC gaming, Visual Studio software development, CAD/CAM, HD video editing or whatever other high-end activities one might think of—Surface 3 really can do it all. It hits a sweet spot for that mass market of users.
From a design perspective, Surface 3 is small, light and thin, and you’ll never notice it in a laptop bag or backpack. It’s built of high-quality and durable magnesium, just like Surface Pro 3, and retains the same general shape of its higher-cost sibling, but size-reduced by 15 or 20 percent. This is a premium device, and no corners were cut in the build quality. You can tell just by holding it.
But some corners were cut of course. The first you may notice is the kickstand. Surface Pro 3’s vaunted kickstand, which uses a variable tilt design that lets you adjust the angle of the display in very fine increments, is missing on Surface 3. Instead, you get a more pedestrian three position design, which works fine but doesn’t offer that neat ability to always be able to perfectly remove any in-room reflection. The kickstand hinge on Surface Pro 3 is more complex and more expensive, but it also adds some thickness, so it had to go.
(Another downside to the kickstand design—and, actually, this is an issue for Surface Pro 3 as well—is that the front-facing camera is always pointing up towards the ceiling, making Skype video calls a bit harder to do.)
From a ports and expandability perspective, Surface 3 holds up well, though some things were moved around to accommodate the smaller device’s new (and less capable) docking station accessory. So there’s a full-sized USB 3.0 port and miniDisplayPort on the right side of the device, just like Surface Pro 3, along with a micro-USB port that is used for power. The volume buttons have been moved to the top of the device (as viewed in the default landscape orientation). And a microSD slot is hidden neatly under the kickstand. Nothing dramatic.
The Surface 3’s use of micro-USB for power is an improvement over the Surface Pro 3’s proprietary port, I think, at least for the target market. That’s because micro-USB is so common—it’s the same plug used by every non-Apple smart phone and tablet on earth—and you can charge the device with any cable and power plug you may already own. (Though it may charge less quickly than with the bundled plug, which is angled and a bit hard to insert.) Surface Pro 3’s port is more capable—it enables a more powerful docking station than is possible with Surface 3—though that will only benefit some users.
Surface 3 doesn’t come with a Surface Pen, like Surface Pro 3, so you will need to spend an additional $50 to purchase this accessory separately if you want one. That can be seen as good news, however. For one, there are now multiple color choices, instead of the stock silver color that originally shipped. And if you don’t need or want a Pen, you won’t have to pay for it. Pen storage is handled as before by Surface Pen Loop instead of some internal docking hole because Surface 3 is simply too thin to accommodate such a thing.
One of the best decisions Microsoft made with this device was to stick with a 3:2 screen. This version is 10.8 inches, and smaller than the 12 inch unit found in Surface Pro 3. It’s also a lower resolution, though it retains a very high pixel count: Surface 3 hits at an unusual 1920 x 1280, compared to 2160 x 1440 for Surface Pro 3. Microsoft says the screen is mounted with the same high quality optical bonding as Surface Pro 3, and it features the same excellent color accuracy. But it is also clearly brighter than the Surface Pro 3 version and is thus better overall. Not bad for a cost-reduced tablet.
Finishing up my lovefest with the exterior, Surface 3 features what appears to be the same front-facing speakers found in Surface Pro 3. They are mostly loud and clear and, when combined with the kickstand, perfect for my in-hotel room audio needs.
Thanks to its fanless design, Surface 3 is thinner than Surface Pro 3, and it lacks the heat vent that runs around the exterior edge of the latter device. More important it is also quieter than Surface Pro 3, and is in fact completely silent, like an iPad or smart phone. By comparison, Surface Pro 3 is a huffing blowhard which constantly interrupts with fan noise, whether you’re pushing it or not.
But that quietness comes with a performance penalty. Where Surface Pro 3 ships with high-powered mainstream Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, Surface 3 instead features a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom x7 processor. This is a new design, part of the “Cherry Trail” generation of chipsets, and is, in Microsoft’s words, “very performant.” And they’re right about that … for productivity apps.
Microsoft hit the right compromise here. According to performance benchmarks, Surface 3 performs close to a Core M processor—a hybrid design of sorts that is based on the Core chips—but it does so at a far lower price tag and with less heat. So while fanless Core M systems are possible, they’re rare, and they tend to get pretty hot when pushed. Surface 3 did get warm during some benchmarking, but never overly so. And yes, silence is truly golden.
To really see where Surface 3 lands, I did something I don’t normally bother with and ran some benchmarks (PCMark8 and 3DMark). Long story short, Surface 3 (with 4 GB of RAM) offers about 70 percent of the desktop performance of my Surface Pro 3, which coupled with my own real world tests means it’s perfectly capable of running standard desktop applications quite well. But it stumbles badly in graphics and gaming, and barely outscores its RT-based predecessors. This means that Surface 3 is fine for the types of lightweight mobile games you’ll find in the Windows Store—”Halo: Spartan Assault,” “Asphalt 8: Airborne” and the like—but can’t be used to play modern 3D games like recent versions of “Call of Duty”.
Of course, PC performance is about more than just CPU. Surface 3’s Atom chipset includes integrated graphics that won’t win any awards, and the built-in storage is eMMC based rather than the faster SSD found in Surface Pro 3. Surface 3 also ships with less RAM—2 GB in the base version, or 4 GB in the review unit—than Surface Pro 3, which can be had with up to 8 GB of RAM. My advice here is to always choose 4 GB over 2 GB: yes, it raises the price of the device, but 4 GB will be more viable for a longer period of time.
Battery life also falls into the performance category, and here I saw great durability, with Surface 3 consistently hitting about 8 and a half hours of life in my HD playback video tests (and over 7 hours for streaming HD video). This suggests that Surface 3 should get 9-10 hours of battery life in normal use.
Surface 3 ships with Windows 8.1, though you can apparently add Windows 8.1 Pro for $50 from resellers. In either case you can run any Windows desktop application—iTunes, Chrome, Photoshop, whatever—plus the small library of Windows Store apps. It all works as well expected. (Click here to read more about Surface 3 and desktop applications.)
Like Surface Pro 3, Surface 3 doesn’t stand alone. Well, yes, you could use it as a tablet, I suppose, but virtually all users will also want to purchase a Surface 3 Type Cover too. This works well, though the typing experience is a bit cramped for my large hands and the trackpad is small and lackluster overall. Worse, Surface 3 Type Cover is expensive at $130, the same price as the Surface Pro 3 unit. So you need to factor that cost into your purchase.
Debates continue to rage about whether Surface 3 is “lappable”—meaning you can use it on your lap as with any normal laptop—but your results will indeed vary accordingly with your upper leg length. Arguably, Surface 3 is less lappable than a Pro 3 because of the less configurable kickstand. It doesn’t work for me, but I find the device to be multi-faceted enough that I just don’t care.
There are some things about Type Cover I really like. It’s thin and light and contributes to the epic portability of Surface 3. It connects to the tablet in two ways, using magnets, so you can find the typing angle you prefer. It is available in multiple colors, so you can buy according to your tastes. And the Windows 8-specific keys have been exorcised, returning PRTSCN and screen brightness controls to their rightful places.
Since Surface 3 uses the same Surface Pen as does Surface Pro 3, there’s less to say there beyond noting that pen performance—the ability of the system to keep up with you as you write or draw, and its sensitivity to the various pressure levels—is excellent and on par with what I see on Surface Pro 3. At $50, Surface Pen is a reasonable expense as well.
Unlike Surface RT/2, Surface 3 supports an optional $200 Docking Station that further expands this device’s versatility to the desktop. I haven’t yet tested the Docking Station extensively, but it works as advertised.
Speaking of a reasonable expense, I’ve been mulling over this device’s place, price-wise, in the PC pecking order and feel that Microsoft has struck a reasonable price point.
A base Surface 3 with 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage is $500 in the US, or $630 with Type Cover, and should be an excellent choice for kids or others with non-demanding needs. Step up to the $600/$730 price point and you can get the mobile professional’s or college student’s choice, with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. (Educational customers qualify for discounts, too.) Comparatively, a base Surface Pro 3 with Type Cover (Core i3/4 GB/64 GB) is $930. And the Surface Pro 3 I’m using—Core i5, 8 GB/256 GB—is fully $1280.
I mention that because, truth is, I could get by just fine with Surface 3 were it not for the fact that I am a) humongous and b) have trouble seeing text, especially, on such a small screen. This won’t be the case with the younger set that Surface 3 targets, however. If anything, the smaller size of this device will be seen as an advantage.
At $630 to $730, Surface 3 hits an interesting pricing mid-point between inexpensive basic laptops like Stream 13 (and most Chromebooks) and my Surface Pro 3 and various Ultrabooks. But it’s worth pointing out, again, that Surface 3 offers a ton of useful Surface Pro 3-like functionality at this lower price point. The premium, durable magnesium build quality. The hybrid PC versatility of switching between tablet and laptop modes. The interchangeable Type Covers. A high DPI multi-touch screen. Optional Surface Pen and docking station. And the performance to run real PC apps well, and do so for long periods of time with real day-long battery life.
Surface 3 is a delightful, versatile, and highly mobile Windows device that can effortlessly move between tablet and laptop form factors. IT pros, game players and content creators may want to step up to the more expensive Surface Pro 3. But for the rest of us, Surface 3 is an unparalleled value and a very welcome addition to the Surface family. Highly recommended.
Tagged with Surface 3A man dressed as Jesus showed up to an abortion protest outside of the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo, North Dakota last week with the intent of humorously annoying the opposition. Nik Severson, A.K.A. Jesus, sang “99 bottles of beer” and various chants while holding a sign with an arrow pointing at protesters that read, “Should have been aborted.”
The joke was not shared by a passerby, Tyson Kuznia, who felt Severson was being “both slanderous and intentionally rude towards the protesters,” and decided to cast the first stone by spitting in Severson’s face. Because, apparently, Severson is a judoka in a Jesus disguise, his response was to administer a sweeping leg kick, injuring Kuznia’s knees and breaking his glasses on the way down.
Two officers from the Fargo Police Department showed up to the scene, but neither man was arrested. Both men were later charged with disorderly conduct.
As part of the 40 Days For Life demonstration, protesters have been standing outside the Fargo women’s clinic around the clock, coming in by the bus load to switch shifts. The event ends November 1.
When asked why he was counter-protesting, Severson told The Forum he was giving them, “a taste of their own medicine.”
“There’s not really a motive, I just don’t like people using God to shame women.” Asked his views on abortion, Severson said he’s “not a woman, so I don’t have a stance on that.”
While protesters were chanted “Hail Mary” prayers, Pretend Jesus paced back and forth with his “Should have been aborted sign,” rallying the group.
We’re gonna shame women all day, all night! Come on now! Come on! Let’s hear it! A little bit louder, I don’t think God can hear you! I don’t think he can hear you!
The “woe is me” game was heavy from the protesters, claiming Severson made a little boy cry and then laughed at him. If a little boy did cry, it’s likely because Sevenson was the kid’s first taste of rabble-rousing, challenging the sanctity of his parents’ beliefs.
Protesters claimed they were there as a peaceful demonstration of prayer — because God can only hear their abortion prayers when you recite them out loud, directly beside the door of the clinic. Or we can call it like it is, and say they’re there to judge, shame, and intimidate women.
***Update***: According to InForum, Nik Severson has been receiving death threats and has lost his job due |
US) threatened to reopen an older lawsuit against the agency. HSUS invoked both the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and a settlement of the earlier suit that it reached with the agency in 2009, under which USDA agreed to promptly and publicly post a number of the reports that it has now removed from the website.Tom Hardy is officially set to join Leonardo DiCaprio in New Regency’s Western “The Revenant.”
Hardy had been linked to the project for several weeks but needed to work out his very busy schedule before fully committing.
The duo last worked together on Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.”
Will Poulter (“We’re the Millers”) is also in negotiations to join the cast of the drama with Alejandro González Iñárritu directing.
Pic will shoot this fall.
Based on the Michael Punke novel, “The Revenant” centers on a 1820s frontiersman on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling. Mark L. Smith and Inarritu penned the adaptation.
Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Keith Redmon and David Kanter will produce along with Inarritu, Arnon Milchan and James Skotchdopole. New Regency is co-financing the film with RatPac.
Paul Green, Brett Ratner and James Packer are exec producing.
Hardy was most recently seen in the Steven Knight’s acclaimed indie “Locke.” He is repped by CAA, Lindy King at United Agents and attorney Jason Sloane of Sloane Offer Weber & Dern.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
NEW Government proposals to control the spread and operation of spy cameras have been slammed as ‘excessively bureaucratic’ by a Birmingham City Council watchdog.
A new Code of Conduct to cover CCTV systems, being drawn up by the Home Office, will also do little to prevent a repeat of last year’s Project Champion fiasco according to the council’s community safety scrutiny committee.
The Government wants to set up a new code to cover all CCTV and ANPR, automatic number plate recognition systems, covering public spaces and establish a Surveillance Commissioner to enforce the code.
Private businesses and home owners whose cameras film the public highway may also have to comply.
Committee member Coun David Barrie (Con, Sutton New Hall) said: “These proposals are excessively bureaucratic. We already have the Data Protection Commission to cover CCTV systems we do not need more.”
He added that the technology will overtake the Code with static cameras replaced with mobile systems.
Project Champion, a £3 million ring of 200 spy cameras around Sparkbrook, was a public relations disaster and had to be withdrawn after it emerged that police had misled the public and city council during their installation. Residents felt the Muslim area had been stigmatised as a terrorist ghetto.
Jonathan Jardine, from the West Midlands Police Authority, added: “There is a lack of detail about what sort of consultation or prior approval is needed for camera systems. This was the key to the failure of Project Champion.”
Steve Jolly, who campaigned against Project Champion, added: “I have been going through the bill and it has little to do with protection of freedom, but more to do with the extension of the surveillance state. It does nothing to place restrictions on the use of cameras in schools or public toilets.”
He added that there has been little, if any, evidence to suggest that crime goes down or prosecutions increase in public areas covered by CCTV systems. The committee has forwarded comments to the Home Office.× Police arrest Tim Kaine’s son during protest of Donald Trump rally
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The youngest son of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate last year, was one of six people arrested while protesting against a rally in support of President Donald Trump at the Minnesota state Capitol building last weekend.
The protesters clashed with hundreds of Trump supporters who gathered at the Capitol rotunda in St. Paul on Saturday for one of several pro-Trump rallies held throughout the country.
Linwood “Woody” Kaine, of Minneapolis, and four other people were suspected of lighting a smoke bomb inside the Capitol, St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders said Wednesday. He said he didn’t know the circumstances surrounding the sixth arrest, which was made by state troopers.
Kaine, 24, ran from the scene and was arrested about a block away after he resisted arrest, was sprayed with a chemical irritant and was taken to the ground, according to police. Kaine was booked into the Ramsey County Jail on a recommended second-degree riot charge.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges, finding insufficient evidence to substantiate the charge, spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said Wednesday. The St. Paul City Attorney’s Office was reviewing the case and didn’t immediately reply to a message seeking comment.
Tim Kaine, a St. Paul native who is now a senator representing Virginia, and his wife, Anne Holton, released a statement following their son’s arrest.
“We love that our three children have their own views and concerns about current political issues. They fully understand the responsibility to express those concerns peacefully,” they said.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mr Duvalier arriving at Port-au-Prince airport
Human rights groups have urged the Haitian government to arrest and prosecute former President Jean-Claude Duvalier for abuses committed during his 1971-86 leadership.
Mr Duvalier, 59, also known as "Baby Doc", has just returned to Haiti.
He said he had "come to help" after last year's earthquake, but Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said he should face justice.
It is not clear whether any warrants exist for his arrest.
Mr Duvalier was just 19 when he inherited the title of "president-for-life" from his father, the notorious Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who had ruled Haiti since 1957.
Baby Doc is accused of massive corruption, repression and human rights abuses during his 1971-1986 rule.
Critics allege he embezzled millions of dollars from the impoverished Caribbean nation, a charge he denies.
Like his father, he relied on a brutal private militia known as the "Tontons Macoutes", which controlled Haiti through violence and intimidation.
'Slap in the face'
Human Rights Watch Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco said Haiti had enough problems without Mr Duvalier.
Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier Image caption "Baby Doc" was only 19 when he inherited power from his father. Took over presidency aged just 19 when his father, Haiti's authoritarian leader Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, died in 1971
Called himself "president-for-life" and ruled with an iron fist, aided by a brutal private militia known as the Tontons Macoutes
Accused of corruption and human rights abuses that prompted more than 100,000 Haitians to flee the country during his presidency
Ruled for 15 years before outbreak of popular protests led him to flee to France in 1986
Asked Haitian people for forgiveness for "errors" made during his rule in a 2007 radio interview
Returned to Haiti as it was supposed to hold run-off election to choose successor to outgoing President Rene Preval, although vote has been postponed Baby Doc's return evokes dark past
"Duvalier's return to Haiti should be for one purpose only - to face justice," he said in a statement. "His time to be held accountable is long overdue.
"Duvalier's presence - unless he is immediately arrested - is a slap in the face to a people who have already suffered so much."
Amnesty special adviser Javier Zuniga said Mr Duvalier's abuses amounted to crimes against humanity and Haiti was "under obligation" to prosecute him.
And US state department spokesman PJ Crowley said in a Twitter message: "It adds unpredictability at an uncertain time in Haiti's election process."
But Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said Mr Duvalier was free to return home, adding that there was no reason to believe he would destabilise a country that is facing uncertainty after disputed presidential elections.
The reason for his visit is not clear, although a French diplomatic source told the BBC that Mr Duvalier had a return ticket to France for 20 January.
He is staying in a hotel in the hills above the centre of the capital, Port-au-Prince. UN police have been guarding the hotel's entrance.
His return to Haiti came on the day it was supposed to hold the second round of elections to choose a successor to outgoing President Rene Preval.
But the vote has been postponed because of a dispute over which candidates should be on the ballot paper.
Provisional results from the first round on 28 November provoked violent demonstrations when they were announced in December, and most observers said there was widespread fraud and intimidation.
Haiti is struggling to recover from the massive earthquake a year ago which killed more than 250,000 people and left Port-au-Prince in ruins.
Forgiveness call
In 1986, Mr Duvalier was forced to flee into exile by a popular uprising, as well as diplomatic pressure from the US.
Since then, he has lived in France, although he was never granted formal political asylum. He has also never been prosecuted outside Haiti.
He was once worth tens of millions of dollars, much of which was spent on a luxury lifestyle in the Cote d'Azur and an expensive divorce.
Last year a Swiss court ruled that he should be returned assets worth at least $4.6m (£2.9m), but the Swiss government blocked the release of the money until a law was passed to return it to Haiti.
In September, the Swiss parliament passed a law that would make it easier for the country to seize the funds, the Associated Press news agency reported.
In a radio interview in 2007, Mr Duvalier asked the Haitian people for forgiveness for "errors" made during his rule.
A small group of Duvalier loyalists have been campaigning to bring him home from exile.
Your comments in reaction to the return of "Baby Doc"
I live in the Cite Soleil area of Port-au-Prince, which is always full of life and activity. When we had the first bout of violence here, even though there was little violence in Cite Soleil itself, the burning tyres throughout the rest of Port-au-Prince were like clots in the arteries of the city, preventing its blood from flowing properly. The roads were empty. There were no taptaps (shared taxis), no markets, nothing in the streets. Life just stopped for a few days, with no-one able to sell even a bit of bread on the street. Haiti doesn't need excitement like this. It needs a slow, steady calm so people can rebuild their lives day by day. I don't want to see the roads turn empty again, just because an old head of state wants to come home. Sabina, Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
It seems to most Haitian citizens that Baby Doc has finally run out of cash, after his divorce. Most people feel that he has little to offer the country. Yes, there are those Duvalier nostalgics, or reformed Duvalierists, but their base of support now is rather limited. All the people at the airport were probably more curious than exuberant. Although with the current power vacuum, any politician may seem an attractive alternative to the present options. Tobias Cornelius Metzner, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
The constitution does not prevent Mr Duvalier from returning home. A visa is not required for a Haitian national who wants to do so. However, Mr Duvalier has to face the consequences of his crimes. He asked for forgiveness once, but forgiveness walks together with justice. If he accepts the conditions, he is welcome. His return could complicate the already chaotic situation, by adding another issue. I think he is returning to disrupt the work going on here and to try to get back his properties in Haiti. There is another issue. Most of the victims of his regime are old today, and some have already died. I think Haitian people forget too easily. Jean Bertrand Aristide is trying to do the same without justice for the people. There is no progress without justice. Gregory Domond, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
I think that the prime minister made the right decision by allowing Duvalier to return to Haiti without a possible lawsuit. Unfortunately, since the departure of Duvalier, the situation has not really improved in Haiti. This country has been going from one struggle to another. It's true that Duvalier's regime was based on fear and repression. However, what has changed in this country since he left? Now with all of the kidnappings, rapes, murders, and killings going on in Haiti, even under the watch of the UN, I think that the situation has got even worse. In good faith, I think that it's time for the Haitian people to forgive each other and look forward to rebuilding this proud but impoverished nation. Duvalier belongs to the past. Let's move forward. Ronald Charles, HaitiForby Leonard Skinner (January 11, 1933 – September 20, 2010) was an American high school gym teacher, basketball coach, and businessman from Jacksonville, Florida. He is known in popular culture as the namesake of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Biography [ edit ]
Skinner was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1933 and graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1951. He attended Jacksonville Junior College on a basketball scholarship before being drafted into the U.S. Army. After his discharge from the Army, Skinner attended Florida State University, where he graduated in 1957.[1]
For many years, Skinner was a gym teacher at his alma mater, Robert E. Lee High School. Before coaching at Robert E. Lee, he taught at Glynn Academy in Glynn County, Georgia. He was also a basketball coach at Stillwell Jr. High in Jacksonville. Several members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, including Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Bob Burns, were students at Robert E. Lee in the 1960s. Skinner's strict enforcement of a policy against long hair inspired the members to name their band after him. Skinner maintained that he was merely enforcing the school policy. Several members of the band would try to slick their hair down with Vaseline. This was a short-lived solution, as students were required to shower after gym. At that point, it was readily revealed that their hair was longer than regulation. The group reportedly changed their name after Skinner sent Rossington and others to the principal's office for wearing their hair too long.[2][3] Over time, Burns, Rossington, and other band members developed a series of running in-jokes about Skinner and ultimately decided to pay "tongue-in-cheek homage" to him by renaming themselves "Lynyrd Skynyrd".[4] In 1977, an Associated Press article described the band's connection to their gym teacher as follows:
It seems a physical education teacher named Leonard Skinner didn't cotton to long hair or loud music. A run-in with him helped get the boys suspended. As a way of getting back, they named the band for Skinner, changing the vowels to avoid a lawsuit and becoming famous enough to make the story a rock legend.[5]
Interviewed in January 2009, Skinner said he was just following the rules about hair length. It bothered him that the legend had grown that he was particularly tough on the band members or that he had them kicked out of school. He said, "It was against the school rules. I don't particularly like long hair on men, but again, it wasn't my rule."[6] At the same time, Skinner told The Times-Union of Jacksonville, "They were good, talented, hard-working boys. They worked hard, lived hard and boozed hard."[2] Skinner's son said, "I think he kind of ate it up. He didn’t like it at first, he had mixed emotions later, but I think he kind of liked it eventually."[2]
Skinner later taught at Jacksonville Technical High School and retired from coaching in 1970. He worked in the real estate business during the 1970s, and in 1975, he allowed the band to use a photo of his "Leonard Skinner Realty" sign for the inside of their third album, Nuthin' Fancy.[7] After the album was released, Skinner began receiving late-night calls from around the country from fans who had seen the sign (and phone number) in the album artwork. Skinner recalled, "They'd say, 'Who's speaking', and I'd say Leonard Skinner, and they'd say 'Far out!' which it really wasn't at four in the morning."[8][9]
Skinner became friends with some members of the band, and they played at a bar that Skinner opened in Jacksonville called "The Still". Skinner also named a couple of bars after himself, capitalizing on the fame of the name.[1]
In January 2009, the people of Jacksonville held an event called "A Tribute to Coach Leonard Skinner & Southern Rock" at the National Guard Armory. At the time, the Jacksonville newspaper wrote, "He was just a regular Westside guy, a coach and businessman with a strong code of honor, a disciplinarian at home and at school."[6]
On September 20, 2010, Skinner died at age 77 in a nursing home in Jacksonville, having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years.[10] At the time of his death, The New York Times called him "arguably the most influential high school gym teacher in American popular culture."[2] The Florida Times-Union called him "the no-nonsense, flattopped basketball coach and gym teacher whose name is forever linked with Jacksonville's legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd."[1]
References [ edit ]McChaffee's (Kale's) E-Z mode Elementalist (Guide)
Spoiler! Because the other two pets don't provide a major DPS boost from what I know. I'm not going to comment on them.
open with Ignite
Spoiler! #show Prismatic Volley
suppressmacrofailures
cast Raging Elements
cast Intensify Elements
cast Prismatic Volley
Spoiler! #show Elemental Burst
suppressmacrofailures
cast Ethereal Blast
cast Elemental Burst
cast Icy Carapace
cast Stormbolt
cast Lightning Strike
cast Volcanic Eruption
cast Crystalline Missiles
cast Rushing Elements
cast Raging Elements
cast Elemental Forces
Spoiler! #show Elemental Burst
suppressmacrofailures
cast Ethereal Blast
cast Elemental Burst
cast Icy Carapace
cast Stormbolt
cast Lightning Strike
cast Volcanic Eruption
cast @gtae Burning Ground
cast Crystalline Missiles
cast Rushing Elements
cast Raging Elements
cast Elemental Forces
Spoiler! #show Reclaim Elements
suppressmacrofailures
cast Reclaim Elements
cast Fast Summon
cast Summon: Fire Elemental
Spoiler! #show Reclaim Elements
suppressmacrofailures
cast Reclaim Elements
cast Fast Summon
cast Summon: Greater Air Elemental
: I don't expect anyone to really take this guide seriously, because:A. I'm lazy.B. This spec is literally three buttons at the core of it.The main thing with Ele right now is that the new 58 ability turns your pet into a mobile punching bag that buffs you. If the pet dies you lose the buff. Each pet has it's own benefits. For example:The Air Elemental increases your Spell Power by 10%. (DON'T USE CONDUIT WITH HIM)orThe Fire Elemental reduces your cast times to Zero and causes your channeled spells deal 15% more damage. (Use this guy for PvP cause mobility is important.)Synergize, Prismatic Armor, Lightning Charge/Lightning Blade, Conduit of Power (ONLY FOR THE FIRE ELEMENTAL)1. You're going toand you're going to keep this up on your target for the DoT and the increased crit-hit chance.2. Next up you're going to use this Prismatic Volley macro which applies Raging Elements and Intensify Elements for max DPS before using Prismatic Volley (You can also choose to hold this and wait for lava field ect. as this is will hit like a truck.)KEY THING TO NOTE: Prismatic Volley does not hit as hard in PvP.3. After casting that you will use one of these macros based on which pet you are currently using. This is your spam.There are two different Macros to account for Burning Ground, which from what I've noticed is a slight DPS loss with the Air Pet (unless there are mobs to cleave off of, then just use the PvP macro if you want). It's a boost with the Fire Pet. You can also add Ice Shield to these macros at the end. Choice is up to you.Ranged between 75k-85k damage self buffed. Initial Damage really depended on if Prismatic would fully Crit. If it does you'll burst harder than a Pyro for a few seconds.EMERGENCY FULL HEAL, FIRE PET:EMERGENCY FULL HEAL, AIR PET:Utilities include 2 Break Frees (excluding the default one and the PA one) and a knockback.If anyone wants to critique the guide go for it. This is intended to be easy for new players to use, but I'm up for improving it.Most of the usual signs suggest the court will step in. It is no small thing for a lower federal court to strike down a state law or a provision of a state Constitution, and that alone may warrant review. The Supreme Court has indicated its interest in developments in Utah by twice issuing stays that blocked lower court rulings that would have allowed gay marriages to proceed or be recognized. And it cannot hurt that both sides in the Utah case agree the case should be heard.
All that is missing from the standard criteria for Supreme Court review is disagreement in the lower courts, which have unanimously ruled against same-sex marriage bans in the last year. A set of cases heard Wednesday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, may soon supply that last element. Two other federal appeals courts are also scheduled to hear appeals in the coming weeks.
The Utah ruling came from the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver. It said an amendment to the Utah Constitution defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman denied gay couples the fundamental right to marry under the federal Constitution.
In urging the Supreme Court to hear the case, Utah officials said the ruling had deprived the state’s voters, who adopted the ban in a 2004 referendum, of a different fundamental right, one allowing them to “act through a lawful electoral process.”
“A vast cloud covers this entire area of the law, and only this court can lift it,” the brief said. “This case provides an ideal vehicle to do just that.”
Here, too, Ms. Tomsic said she agreed with her adversaries that uncertainty over same-sex marriage is intolerable. “We are one country,” she said. “Even if you are in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage, you are at risk if you travel or move.”
She added it is fitting that the first in the current wave of same-sex marriage cases comes from Utah. “If it can happen in Utah, it can happen anywhere,” she said. “We are a very conservative state.”Django and Lighttpd: one niggling fastCGI detail
If you are setting up a Django website using the lighttpd web server, one of the easiest ways to configure it is via fastcgi, which lighttpd has built-in support for. As I write this, the official Django FastCGI docs do a very good job of explaining everything, provided you read the whole document. (Don't just skip to the lighttpd section - relevant info is contained earlier, perhaps even in the Apache sections.)
The docs skimp over one detail that happened to affect me, however, which I'd like to document here in hopes that it will save you some time: the FORCE_SCRIPT_NAME setting. At first, when I called up the admin site and clicked the submit button to log in, I got a 404 error, for a url like "/mysite.fcgi/admin/". mysite.fcgi (not its real name :) is the url prefix I configured for the fastcgi rewrite rule in the lighttpd configuration.
After much research and fruitless tweaking of the config files, I thought to look at the HTML source of the admin login page (which served just fine). Turns out the action attribute of the login form element was set to "/mysite.fcgi/admin/", not "/admin/" or ".", like it should be. At the tail end of the above docs, I got a clue as to the cause. Long story short, defining FORCE_SCRIPT_NAME to the empty string in settings.py solved the problem.
There... hope this saves someone an hour or two!“It’s yellow, it’s ugly, it doesn’t go with anything, but it can save your life.”
That message, written in French next to an image of the designer Karl Lagerfeld dressed in black tie and a Day-Glo safety vest, was plastered around Paris in the late aughts as part of a government bicycle safety campaign.
Sarah Canner, an American actress and writer with an equal interest in fashion and bicycles, was living in the city then and liked the poster but took issue with the basic premise.
Yellow? Ugly? Why?
Envisioning a wardrobe that would look as good on the bike path as on the runway, Ms. Canner returned to New York, where she started Vespertine NYC, a line of fashionable bike clothing and accessories woven with 3M Scotchlite reflective accents.
Forget pedal reflectors. Her frock dresses, tweed scarves and blossom brooches light up at night like a Broadway marquee.SMILING assassin Luke Shuey couldn't help chuckling to himself at the incredible situation as he lined up his after-the-siren shot to snatch an epic elimination final victory over Port Adelaide.
After four gut-busting quarters and two periods of extra time, it all came down to Shuey's boot at Adelaide Oval and the West Coast star split the middle with the biggest kick of his career.
Full match coverage and stats
"I had a think about the whole situation to be honest, going to overtime and having to kick after the siren – I couldn't help but laugh and have a little smile about the situation," Shuey said.
"I guess I was trying to relax myself a little bit."
Blocking out his utter exhaustion, Shuey calmly went through his goalkicking routine and sent the Eagles into a semi-final showdown against the Giants.
"My head was pretty clear," Shuey said.
"I obviously knew the situation but I've watched on over the last few years and seen guys have shots after the siren and always wondered what it would be like.
"But it's a bit different when you're in the moment, you're actually surprisingly pretty calm."
The AFL has ticked off the high contact free kick paid to Shuey after Jared Polec's tackle slipped high in the frantic final seconds, and the Eagles midfielder didn't have an opinion on the decision.
"It's irrelevant to us now, we move on and focus on next week," he said.
The bleary-eyed Eagles arrived back in Perth at midday on Sunday and will have only three full days at home before boarding the plane to Sydney on Thursday.
Shuey can't remember the last time he felt as exhausted after a match, and West Coast's number one priority this week will be recovery.
"It's amazing what that extra 10 minutes, how much it takes out of you, but we're pumped to get the result," he said.
"It's an interesting situation (travelling again so soon) but I suppose the price we pay of having an average home-and-away season is we finished eighth and you're on the road the whole time in finals.
"We'll move on. We'll turn up tomorrow, review the game, recover and I think we'll train Tuesday and Wednesday and back on the plane before we know it."
Five things we learned from Port Adelaide v West Coast
Shuey hailed the influence of retiring "Benjamin Button" veteran Drew Petrie against the Power and praised Lewis Jetta's instrumental clearance work during extra time.
He also made special mention of unsung hero Eric Mackenzie, who slammed into the behind post to prevent a score in the dying stages of the final term and forced extra time.
"It certainly got the accolades behind closed doors," Shuey said. "He's back to playing his best footy, big Ezy."
Nobody celebrated the unforgettable victory harder than Nic Naitanui back in Perth, who has offered to carry Shuey's bags this week.
"He carried on a bit the big fella, didn't he? I think he enjoyed it," Shuey said with a laugh.
Attention will inevitably turn to whether Naitanui could make a stunning return from his knee reconstruction against the Giants, although his chances appear slim.
"I hope so. It's not up to me, unfortunately," Shuey said.
"But as you've heard from the footy club before it's a massive risk with a guy who is 115kg or whatever he is coming back from an ACL and he's had some soreness.
"It's a big risk, but we'll see."I've had the pleasure of writing with a friend recently who has neatly filled a nasty little void I'd had for the past year and some change. She's lovely and she writes me things. Below is something she wrote for these two- a stormtrooper of mine (and brother of Talon's, if he looks familiar) and his adopted daughter.
Some other mentioned characters - Jaspar, former infiltrator and wife of Tarick, a rather patriotic Cadian and acolyte for a rather chill Ordos Xenos Inquisitor. Jaspar usually gets stuck behind with the youth of the cabal when they're out doing their thing. Spires is Regis's Fenksworld native and IG partner, Tarick is Regis's chubby-butt brother.
Now enjoy her delicious writing, as I so often dooo.
--
Jaspar frowned to herself as she made her way through the halls of the mansion, peeking down side-corridors and into hidey-holes as she went. She knew the girl couldn’t get anywhere that would really be of any danger to her; the labs were locked off, all of the children could swim and the aviary-servitors were set to alert for any signs of distress in the ponds. But it was still worrying that she’d slipped out of their hab in the night without managing to wake any of them. After all, Regis and Spires had left their daughter in Jaspar and Tarick’s care, and if something happened to her - even some freak accident - then the former infiltrator knew she would never be able to forgive herself: she was the light of their lives.
Aegis padded at her side, his blocky, grey-merled head held low as if ashamed for his lapse in letting one of his charges escape his protection. He snuffled at the floor occasionally, trying to give search for signs but the children all capered through the halls so frequently that traces of them overlaid traces, and the ageing hound soon gave up, giving a snorting whff that sounded almost humanly disappointed. She reached down to scruff his ears and smiled gently “It’s okay boy, she can’t have gone far…”
As she made her way down into the grand entrance hall, she paused for a second in thought. Tarick had received a vox transmission the night before, letting him know that the troops were on their way back and should be arriving within the next twelve hours. The girls had been in bed when he’d told her, but she wondered if little ears had overheard the adults talking when they should have been asleep…
Taking a smallish side-corridor that led off from the main hall, she made her way down a gently sloping hall toward the shuttle bays. Once she’d gotten the thought in mind, it didn’t take long to track down her quarry, spotting the small, huddled figure cuddled up against the wall across the hall from one of the shuttle bay exits, everpresent stuffed stormtrooper acting as a pillow for her coppery head. Jaspar smiled crookedly as she gave Aegis the hand gesture to sit and tiptoed gently toward the little girl.
Crystal blue eyes blinked sleepily open as the small head lifted from her toy. She raised a hand and rubbed at her eyes with the side of her fist, yawning “‘ntie Jazz?”
“Hey there honey…” Jaspar sat down on the carpet next to her niece and gestured for her to come over into her lap. The girl obliged, shuffling over and climbing into Jaspar’s arms, folding surprisingly delicate and lanky arms and legs in on herself as she nestled into the the slight curve of her Aunt’s newly-pregnant belly “What are you doing down here? You had your Uncle and I worried when we couldn’t find you, you know…”
There was a small noise and a moment of silence before the soft little voice piped up again “M’sorry Auntie Jazz. I… I had a dream that Daddy and Papa was coming home and I wanned to come see them… An I got here an’ I couldn’t see them an’ I din’t wanna miss them… an’ I was sleepy…”
Pushing the silky copper locks away from the girl’s pale face, Jaspar kept her voice light even as a small chill of discomfort trickled down her spine. It was probably a coincidence, she’d most likely overheard Tarick and Jaspar discussing Regis and Spires’ imminent return and in her sleepy state had attributed it to or incorporated it into a dream. That was all. “Well yes, your Daddy and your Papa are coming home, but you didn’t have to come down and wait for them. They’re coming home, so they’d be coming straight to you anyway, and they’re not due in for…”
As she spoke, Jaspar noticed that the indicator runes above the shuttle bay airlock had changed from red to amber, indicating that a shuttle had recently docked and that atmosphere exchange was occurring. She raised an eyebrow and keyed up the house’s automatic systems on the vox, querying what shuttle from what ship had arrived.
++Shuttle designation Triumphant Faithful from the Glory of Cadia completing atmosphere exchange and pressure equalisation++
The Glory was the ship that Tarick had purchased with Elle’s grace after his promotion to full Interrogator. It had been sent out with the troops to intercept an Ork Raider that was making a nuisance of itself around the Fydae system and had recently translated back in-system after the completion of that mission. The ship itself would have continued on to Port Wander with the bulk of the men, though the Lads would have returned immediately back to the Aerie - not least of all because Regis would have been champing at the bit to return to his little princess.
Almost as if summoning the gentle giant of a man, the runes above the airlock door flashed to green. The little girl wriggled from her Aunt’s arms and scrambled gracefully to her feet, clutching her stuffie to her chest as the airlock door slid open. The light from within the airlock momentarily occluded by the armoured form waiting as if he’d been pressed against the door.
Regis didn’t seem at all surprised to see Jaspar or his daughter there. Two swift strides had pulled him out from the airlock and nearly across the hall, where he dropped immediately into a kneel. He reached for his little girl as she stepped up to him and leaned into his embrace, pressing her forehead tightly to his. As the others filtered out behind him in a clatter of armour and weapons he simply smiled, closing his eyes as one armour-clad arm nestled around the tiny form before him.
“Hello Angel…” He rumbled gently “You were good for Auntie Jazz and Uncle Tarick?”
The tiny head nodded “Uh huh…”
“Did you brush your teeth and say your prayers?”
Another small nod and shy little smile “I prayed for you, Papa.”
“That’s my girl.”Drought in Lake Van exposes long-submerged Ottoman structures
VAN
AA Photo / Özkan Bilgin
Lakes and tributaries across Anatolia have been hit by climate change and a lack of rain over the last year, but what is a natural disaster for the environment has provided historians with an opportunity to check their facts in eastern Turkey.The worst drought experienced by Lake Van in 15 years has exposed ancient cities and a number of historic artefacts that had until now long been submerged under water.Parts of the old city of Erciş, which lies along the northern stretch of Turkey’s largest lake, as well as an Ottoman fortress are not only visible, but also accessible by foot on the desiccated lake bed.A geographer from a local university says more ancient artefacts will be revealed if the water level continues to fall, including settlements and fortresses from the Urartian era.“Settlements that were thought to be indestructible were submerged underwater. If the water level drops further, we will see more of the remains of an ancient city,” said Ali Fuat Doğu from Van’s Yüzüncü Yıl University.The Urartian Kingdom dates back to around 1,000 B.C. and was one of the most important ancient civilizations to settle in Anatolia. The kingdom spread between the triangle formed by Lake Van, Lake Sevan in today’s Armenia, and Lake Urumiyah in western Iran.However, although a boon to historians, the sharp drought currently experienced in Anatolia is raising concerns among environmentalists, particularly as several important lakes are facing extinction.Lake Meke in the Central Anatolian province of Konya saw its volume fall by 99 percent over the summer according to scientists. Not far away, Lake Tuz, which has shrunk to 50 percent of its original size over the last 40 years, continues to vanish. Lake Sapanca in the province of Sakarya, east of Istanbul, has also witnessed an alarming drop in its water levels, while local activists have mobilized to save Lake Burdur, which has lost a third of its waters over the last 35 years.School at heart of alleged Muslim 'Trojan Horse' plot 'allowed students to speak positively about 7/7 and 9/11 terrorist attacks'
Park View School allegedly let students speak 'positively' about terrorism
Reportedly failed to challenge pupil's opinions about 7/7 and 9/11 attacks
Also apparently advised staff not to bring soldiers into school for visits
Claims made by ex-employees, according to British Humanist Association
Many have been denied by the maths and science academy in Alum Rock
Comes days after 18 schools |
in their defense is that the injury was not enough to cause Sherman to sit out the Pro Bowl and that Sherman played 1,054 snaps during the regular season, the second-most of any defensive player for the Seahawks, 97.59 percent, behind only middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, who played 1,073. Sherman then played all but one snap in the playoffs (126 of a possible 127). The total snaps was 76th most in the NFL this season and 30th among all defensive players.
There is no timetable for a decision on the NFL’s investigation into the Sherman injury.ADVERTISEMENT:
By: Jared Yost
There has been a lot of buzz going on in the Magic finance community over the past few months. It all started with Modern. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve noticed that Modern card prices have gone crazy – and will continue to go crazy throughout the summer PTQ season. Then, all of sudden everyone had an interest in Legacy cards. Starcitygames and others have been upping their buylist and sell prices on format staples like dual lands and other cards like City of Traitors, Sneak Attack, Wasteland, and Stoneforge Mystic have all increased significantly in price. Like others have pointed out, this is most likely because people saw that they could trade away or buylist their Zendikar fetchlands for a hefty credit towards the rarer Revised dual lands for Legacy or Commander and decided it was a no-brainer to pick them up.
Speaking of Commander, the most recent buzz surrounds casual cards. That’s right, cards from the very first release of the Commander products (called just Commander) are now starting to see new highs. Let’s check out the current prices on the first Commander set:
All Cards in Set (with Fair Trade Price $3 or more)
If I would have told you one year ago that Stranglehold would be the third most valuable card from this expansion I’m pretty sure I would have been laughed out of the room. Yet, there it stands at ~$16 trade value below Kaalia and Flusterstorm.
Other recent price corrections that have occurred put Edric and Damia in the top five. Edric doesn’t seem very surprising to me because in Legacy he seems like he could provide a lot of benefit to the correct deck. But Damia? That correction was purely from casual demand.
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Even cards like Ghave are not safe. Two weeks ago he was $2.50 and now has spiked up to $10. Well, spike isn’t the correct term in this case – it really is a price correction based on market demand as more casual players try to build additional Commander decks and stores have followed suit.
This makes me wonder what else from the first Commander release has a lot of potential? I’ll separate my cards to watch into several categories to let you know where I think each will fall in the long term.
Most Probable for a Price Correction
Animar, Soul of Elements
Chaos Warp
Riku of Two Reflections
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
The Mimeoplasm
Nin, the Pain Artist
I think that out of all the cards that haven’t corrected in price those listed above are next in line. Most of the cards in this list are legendary creatures from the original Commander precons that were created specifically for that expansion. Outside of future Commander products these cards are very hard to reprint because their lore is so specific. Until new Commander products are released that utilize the wedge colors again I don’t foresee these cards coming down in price. In fact, I can see them continuing to go up due to the rise in popularity of Commander as a format and the fact that they haven’t seen price corrections for quite some time.
I put Chaos Warp in this list because I feel that for a removal spell this strong in red, a color that basically has no way to deal with enchantments outside of colorless spells and Chaos Warp, it really has nowhere to go but up. I especially like foils from the Commander’s Arsenal at $25. The only caveat I would give here is that this could possibly be printed in Conspiracy. Judging by the power level of the recently spoiled Dack Fayden I could totally see Chaos Warp being in that set just to get more copies out there. Nin could also be a potential inclusion as her ability is very political.
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Solidly Trending Upwards
Hydra Omnivore
Grave Pact
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
Spell Crumple
Basandra, Battle Seraph
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Sewer Nemesis
Hornet Queen
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Already experienced major price increases yet still apply to this category:
Flusterstorm
Kaalia of the Vast
Stranglehold
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Damia, Sage of Stone
Ghave, Guru of Spores
The cards here have corrected in price or are already fairly pricey, though now they are at a price where I don’t think they will double up again in one shot. I think they will now slowly creep up over time.
Some cards in this category don’t scream “Price correction!” to me but I believe still have a good shot of increasing in price over a longer period. Cards like Tariel, Basandra, Skullbriar, Vish Kal, and Sewer Nemesis are good examples – these are all great casual cards yet they are on the weaker side of the card pool from the first Commander products. I think it will take them longer to reach a higher price than they are currently selling.
On the other hand, cards like Akroma, Hornet Queen, Spell Crumple, Grave Pact, and Hydra Omnivore are all solid casual cards that may not see exponential growth (outside of being featured in an eternal format top 8 decklist) yet still have some room to grow in the long run. The reason I don’t think they will price correct as fast as the first category is because Akroma has two printings, the other cards I mentioned aren’t build-around-me cards, and they all require solid commitment to their colors to be included within a deck that utilizes them. Akroma has been seeing some hype recently due to her potential Modern applications, so it could double up just based on that. In the long term though, I believe the price of these cards will have a relatively stable upward trend.
I’m also including the cards here that are the most expensive from the set because, frankly, they can certainly get even more expensive. However, due to many of them already increasing in price substantially fairly recently (or already being expensive) they’ll probably take longer than the first category to experience another shoot up in price. Be on the lookout for them to be sure, as most are fairly hard to reprint, though also keep in mind these could take longer to go up again.
Will Trend Upwards but Fear the Reprint
Scavenging Ooze
Oblivion Stone
Garruk Wildspeaker
Path to Exile
Ghostly Prison
Sol Ring
Austere Command
Skullclamp
Lightning Greaves
Mother of Runes
Homeward Path
Command Tower
All of these cards are great casual targets. They all have decent trade value because casual players love to use these in their decks. However, I would be hesitant to pick up extra copies of these cards because they all have seen at least two printings, with a few seeing several, which means that Wizards has no problem reprinting them to get more copies out there. They are also more generic than legendary creatures and can be more easily included in new casual products or future sets. I would only acquire the copies you need and not try to hold onto these in the long term.
Scavenging Ooze may be the only exception to this rule as it sees heavy Modern play. Though it is played in 30% of the decks in Modern, it usually only averages about two copies per deck so that could stabilize the price a bit. I thought picking up Scavenging Ooze at around $11 was a good idea and have yet to recover from that (thankfully, I also picked up a ton of Mutavaults at $11 so I guess I’ll take the bad with the good.) I still have hope that Scavenging Ooze can trend upwards in the summer. I will wait until then to see if I can get a better price. If I can, that’s good and I will sell out of my stock. If not, I still plan to sell out because if they don’t rise for Modern this summer it is going to take a while for them to reach $15 or higher. In that time, Wizards could decide that the ooze needs another reprint in Modern Masters 2 or a supplementary product. I want to minimize that risk as much as I can.
Final Thoughts
Looking at the highest priced cards from the first Commander precon set we can see there are a lot of cards that deserve further analysis for future price trends. Trying to predict casual all stars can be hard at times, as casual players usually like cards that I as a spike can sometimes overlook. (Consuming Aberration was pointed out recently to me by Travis.) Who would have thought Stranglehold would be so valuable? I try not to get frazzled by these sometimes capricious prices for casual staples but that is something I am looking to improve upon by writing articles like this. Think I’ve got something completely wrong? Think I’ve missed anything that is less than $3 retail that is poised to go up over time from the original Commander set? Please, leave me a comment. The more we all know the better we can get at seeing what exactly casual players desire from their cards.
ADVERTISEMENT:Last week Cliffhanger let us know that in addition to Jagged Alliance Online, they’re also planning to launch Shadowrun Online as an browser-based RPG. It’s an intriguing project, so we decided it might be an idea to have a chat with Cliffhanger’s Jan Wagner to find out more. You can discover the results of this conversation below, along with the first images from the game itself.
RPS: How did you come to be developing a Shadowrun game? What was the motivation for picking the licence?
Wagner: Actually many of us are long time pen and paper players and when we thought about the future for our company and which games we would like to do, we decided to try and become the top address for high quality rpg and strategy browsergames (and no, to us that is not a contradiction in terms) and reached out to a number of companies. Shadowrun and Deadlands were available and we are still in talk with others. It took as almost a year to get the license signed and paid for, but here we are now. We think the Shadowrun setting lends itself so well to a computer game that we had to do it. And also, I wanted my Troll character to be able blast away some of those pointy eared posers in 3D.
RPS: Can you tell us a bit about how it’s going to work? You’ve said it’s a browser-based game, but can we have a bit more detail about how that will work?
Wagner: The game will be a tactical action RPG in isometric 3D, with emphasis on the RPG part. The game will feature two major parts – the action map, where a runner group executes missions and the meta game, with a city map where the legwork mission take place and the hubs are and your own upgradable hideout, where mission preparations, crafting of software and character management takes place.
Actions map mission can range from infiltration -where raising the alarm usually means you are swarmed by guards- to all out shootouts, taking out a supernatural critter or defusing a bomb. There are several of the classic Shadowrun archetypes available of course.
City maps will feature legwork mission locations, where you basically apply your skills or contacts and sort of roll the dice to see whether you succeed – this is more of a text-window narration that may unlock new action missions, provide necessary items like the code cards for a corporate facility or allow you to smuggle in rifles to an action mission, which usually only allows small, concealable weapons.
The plot will actually evolve over time based on player actions – so for example, a mission may be about getting an item for one of two corporations. If more people win this mission for Corp A, then the next time we update the storyline, this corp will have that item and new plot developments follow from this. We are looking very much forward to using mechanics like this, which is where the strength of a browser game comes in – we can update anytime without forcing people to do huge downloads and we can produce new content much quicker than the big client based games.
RPS: How much is what you are doing with the game based on the engine you’ve made for Jagged Alliance Online? Will they play similarly?
Wagner: Well, the technical base is similar as will be some of the core mechanics for the turn based game – but while JAO is all about running a group of mercs and tactically overcoming the opposition, SRO will focus on one character per player, more roleplaying and have a lot more interaction with the environment, hacking, magic and infiltration. We will have smaller groups but more fireworks!
RPS: Can you tell us a bit about the feedback and input you are getting from the Shadowrun community? What sort of stuff have they been able to help with?
Wagner: Currently we are very happy with people giving us suggestions and discussing the game at our forums. The fans we have so far have been excited about us trying and we are very open about the limitations of the game. Of course we would love to spend a hundred million on a big-ass game, but with our budget we need to make up what we lack in sheer manpower by good ideas and concepts. This seems to be something the fans can get behind – obviously everyone wants their favorite character or location in the game, but some stuff needs to be put off until after launch. Again, we are open about that and so far fans have been very understanding. Even the thorny subject of monetization has been approached with an open mind from both sides We also have created the Shadowrun High-Council of Elders (SHE), manned by writers, editor, artists and fan-project and community stalwarts to make sure we stick to the spirit of the setting and fit into the current storyline.
RPS: When can we expect to see the game in action? Are you launching it via a beta?
Wagner: Well, we have just started pre-production, so beta is probably a year away, but we actually have sneaked in a Shadowrun mission map into the Jagged Alliance Online beta, which is starting soonish. Of course it won’t have the SRO gameplay, but at least it helps people imagine what the game would visually be like. The screens we have published are taken from that map. We are also thinking about crowdfunding a part of the game, so some people may get an earlier look if they support us in creating the game.
RPS: Thanks for your time.Since taking office in May, French President Emmanuel Macron has spent a great deal of taxpayer money on keeping up his personal image.
More than $10,000 a month, to be exact, the Daily Mail reported.
Macron's personal make-up artist, known only as Natacha M, has submitted bills of $11,527.20 and $19,212.00 for work prior to Macron's TV appearances and other events, Le Point magazine reported.
It wasn't immediately clear if all the charges were for Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, the Washington Examiner reported.
The 39-year-old centrist head of state, whom the Daily Mail reports has signed off on all the expenses, has faced criticism from France's Conservative Party for what it views as excessive spending on his personal appearance during a period of economic uncertainty.
“He thinks nothing of spending thousands on himself, at a time when he is just about to start cutting jobs. It seems that he just wants to hide his real face,” one Conservative told the Daily Mail. “It would be interesting to see what the first lady Brigitte is spending on make-up too!”
"He thinks nothing of spending thousands on himself, at a time when he is just about to start cutting jobs. It seems that he just wants to hide his real face." — Conservative critic of French President Macron
The critic added that Macron’s lavish spending was a symptom of a “hyper-vain president.”
A Macron spokesman responded that some expenses were high because, "We called in a contractor as a matter of urgency.” Other Macron aides added that the president planned to spend less on makeup in the future, the Daily Mail reported.
But Macron is hardly alone among French leaders when it comes to lavish spending to maintain an image.
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, a Conservative, spent more than $8,900 a month on makeup during his time in office, while Socialist President Francois Hollande paid his barber about $11,500 a month, the Daily Mail reported.What's the coolest-slash-geekiest entrance you can think of for a basement movie theater? A Star Trek one that gently hisses open? One of those expanding irises that turn up in cheesy spy films? Wrong and wrong — the correct answer is the Doors of Durin, better known as the entrance to the Mines of Moria in The Lord of the Rings. And how do we know this is the best option? Because some guy built one.
Hidden LEds light up the iconic design
Step forward Reddit user Eclipse_007, who posted images of the ambitious project on Imgur this week. The door itself is built like a shadow box, with a plywood frame filled with LED lights and covered with a painted, plexiglass front. The door's iconic patterns are then scraped out of the paint, and the plexiglass is covered with a vinyl layer to blend in with the surrounding wall. A capacitive sensor registers when someone touches the door in the right place and presto, the lights turn on, illuminating the arch-and-stars design before swinging open to admit the individual.
The door being built. (Eclipse_007)
There is, of course, one key element missing: "Speak, friend, and enter." In The Lord of the Rings, the Doors of Durin can only be seen in moonlight or starlight and they only open in response to the Sindarin word for "friend" (which we all know is "mellon"). According to Eclipse, this element is being working on, and although the door currently recognizes his voice, it "has a hard time with everyone else's." Eclipse says it's unfinished but this makes sense to us: what would be the point of a secret entrance if just anyone could get in?oembed rumble video here
A San Antonio sneaker artist has designed a pair of Whataburger-themed Nikes.
After Whataburger tweeted an image of the sneaker yesterday, Oct. 26, photos of the Whataburger shoes quickly went viral.
The shoe is a Nike Low Dunk Custom and features the distinct "W" logo and the orange and white stripes that Texans everywhere associate with deliciousness.
Although Whataburger tweeted the image yesterday, the shoes were actually made three years ago by Jake of Dank Customs. He wrote on Instagram that he was surprised by all the media attention.
"Amazing how I did this shoe almost 3 plus years ago for @t21d and out of no where they are garnering alot of attention, from a twitter post from@whataburger to seemingly every news station and publication in Texas sharing the story."
As far as we know, Dank Customs has the only pair in existence. But Jake, you should totally make more of them.
What do you think? Would you sport these Whataburger shoes? Let us know in the comments.
Now Watch: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Whataburger
oembed rumble video hereGetty Image
Through Week 13 of last season — less than 15 months past, so not really all that long ago in real time — the Carolina Panthers were a miserable team. They were 3-8-1 and headed for a disastrous finish. Head coach Ron Rivera was most likely facing his final handful of games in charge. Cam Newton’s future perhaps didn’t quite seem as full of potential as it once did. This was a bad situation that only looked to be getting worse.
Since that moment in time, the Panthers have won 23 times and lost twice, once in last year’s Divisional round (to the NFC champion Seattle Seahawks) and in Week 16 of this past season (to the Atlanta Falcons, somewhat inexplicably). That’s it and that’s all. Otherwise, the Panthers have had a perfect record. They’re far from being a perfect football team, but Carolina wins games when given the chance. And now, standing at the precipice of a historic 18-1 season, the Panthers need only to win one more game to cement all sorts of legacy.
So, Carolina has the weight of history on its back, a most opportune burden for which some would gladly trade their careers. All it will take is one win over the Denver Broncos — they of the legendary quarterback on his last legs and a stellar defense to boot — and they enter the conservation for Best NFL Team of All-Time. Because the Panthers are not 18-0 and are 17-1, this reality has not discussed much by way of mainstream narratives, but they belong in that talk, make no mistake. Carolina is a perennial powerhouse in its infancy, and this Super Bowl may well be its graduation.Get the biggest Liverpool FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
A former Liverpool FC executive is one of four alleged phone hacking victims taking The S*n newspaper to court.
Ian Cotton, the club’s ex-director of communications, is joined by entertainer Les Dennis in the lawsuit.
The group claim 40 articles printed in the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid were gained through illegal phone hacking.
Mr Justice Mann ruled at the High Court there should be a trial to settle the matter.
Mr Cotton, who worked for Liverpool FC for 15 years, also advised the Hillsborough families after the release of the landmark Hillsborough Independent Panel report in 2012.
The two other claimants involved in the case are James Mullard, the former manager of Pete Doherty’s band Babyshambles, and Simon Clegg, ex-boss of the British Olympic Association.
News Group Newspapers (NGN), which publishes The S*n, has already settled a large number of phone hacking cases against the now-defunct News of the World.
But the company has always denied any wrongdoing at The S*n.
Mr Justice Mann, however, has allowed the case to proceed.
NGN’s defence is that The S*n and News of the World were separate papers that did not share resources or staff.
Other lawsuits that could follow include cases brought by EastEnders actors Christopher Parker and Brooke Kinsella, Coronation Street actor Kym Marsh, designer Pearl Lowe and her musician husband Danny Goffey.
Ex-News of the World staff including Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks were put on trial after the phone hacking scandal emerged.
Brooks was cleared but Coulson, who worked as David Cameron’s spin doctor, was jailed for 18 months.
The ECHO’s parent company Trinity Mirror has previously paid damages for phone hacking at its national division, and further cases are pending.For photos of the Fully Tummy Project in action, click this link to be redirected to Doglando Foundation photo gallery.
Near the playground set out front of the Global Outreach Center in Bithlo, a line is forming. People are patiently waiting their turn for the volunteers who staff the Full Tummy Project to help them out.
Some have come here for a meal for themselves – the Global Outreach Center, a nonprofit organization in the town of Bithlo, just east of Orlando, holds a regular free meal here for the community. Though many of the people who attend are underprivileged – low income, no income or homeless – anyone is welcome to join.
More recently, their pets have been invited to join, too. For the past year and a half, the Full Tummy Project, a program run by a local nonprofit organization called the Doglando Foundation, has set up outside the Global Outreach Center every Thursday night at 6:30. The group's volunteers invite those who've come for dinner to take a meal for their pets as well.
Every week, people take them up on the offer. They patiently wait their turn for volunteers to take some information from them – How many pets? What kind? How much food do they need? Do they need anything else to help care for their pet? – and send them on their way with bags, boxes and cans of food to take home to the dogs and cats that are just as much a part of the family as their children.
So much so, says Denise Zaldivar, president of the Doglando Foundation, a nonprofit that exists to help people become more responsible dog owners, that some of them will use what little resources they have to keep their pets fed as best they can – even if that means sacrificing something they might need for themselves.
"This lady last week, actually, she said, 'I cannot afford to keep my dog anymore, but I cannot just give it away because it's going to end up in the shelter and it's probably going to be euthanized,'" Zaldivar says. "These people have a true love for their pets. Some of them don't have children, so these are their children. They will feed their pets before they feed themselves."
And often, they have to. While soup kitchens, shelters and churches feed people who are hungry, there are very few places people can go to get food for their animals – even fewer that will offer them a place to sleep or affordable veterinary care.
This became obvious to Teena Patel, a board member of the Doglando Foundation and owner of the University of Doglando dog training and education facility in East Orlando, a couple of years ago. When she'd drive around East Orlando running errands, she couldn't help but notice that a lot of homeless people she saw had dogs, and she wondered how they managed to care for them. She says she ran into a homeless man with his pit-mix behind a gas station one day, and she struck up a conversation. He was carrying an incredibly heavy-looking backpack, and she asked what was in it.
"He had a rolled-up 30 pound bag of dog food in there," says Patel, who was so struck by the sight that she started collecting dog food in a donation box at the University of Doglando. She started to bring bags of food with her when she was out and about. "I would drive all around Orlando, from UCF area to Bithlo … and give it to the homeless that owned dogs," she says.
On Thanksgiving 2011, she gathered a group of volunteers to hold an event where low-income people could come pick up free dog food. It was such a success that Patel suggested that the Doglando Foundation organize a program that would distribute free food for pets on a weekly basis – a sort of canine soup kitchen. In 2012, the Doglando Foundation adopted the project, named it the Full Tummy Project and set about making connections with people who needed their help.
At first, Zaldivar says, people were reluctant: "We would show up to the Outreach Center and no one knew who we were," she recalls. "It took a few months for the community to accept us – they were scared of our intentions."
Now many of the volunteers are on a first-name basis with the people they serve. More than 150 families are registered for the program. "And we have new families every week," she says.
As homelessness has risen in cities and towns across the nation, so has the number of homeless people who own pets. It's estimated that there are 3.5 million homeless people in the United States, and their reasons for being homeless vary – mental health problems and substance abuse contribute to homelessness, but as the economy continues to plod along, a growing number of the homeless are former working-class people who've lost their jobs, then their homes. Many of them owned pets before they lost everything.
"Between 5 to 10 percent of homeless people have dogs or cats, and in some [rural] areas of the country, it's as high as 24 percent," says Renee Lowry, executive director of Pets of the Homeless, a national organization that helps provide food, medical care and assistance to homeless people who need help caring for their animals. According to Pets of the Homeless, there are no hard statistics on homeless pet owners – the department of Housing and Urban Development doesn't require organizations seeking funds for homeless programs to track that information – but anecdotally, the problem is big enough that Pets of the Homeless now has partners in all regions of the country, as well as a handful in Canada. There are 443 veterinary offices, pet stores and community centers that act as collection sites for food donated to help the homeless feed their pets, and more than 300 soup kitchens, community organizations and nonprofits work to distribute the food to those who need it. (The University of Doglando is one of the collection sites listed on the Pets of the Homeless website, petsofthehomeless.org.)
Most shelters, soup kitchens and service organizations, though, do not offer resources for animals. It's not because they don't care – it's all they can do to help the influx of homeless people who come through their doors daily. Most probably don't even realize how many people they feed might need additional help feeding or housing a pet.
So, people with pets who find themselves with no place to go have to make some tough decisions. A lot of the time, they give their dogs or cats up to shelters, many of which reported a dramatic influx of animals when the housing market first crashed and the economy plummeted. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals estimated in 2009 that approximately 63 percent of people living in the United States kept pets – with one in every 171 houses at risk of foreclosure during that time, the organization figured that between 500,000 to 1 million animals were going to be affected by the gasping economy. Many of those animals would be at risk of ending up in overburdened animal shelters, the ASPCA speculated.
Though the economy has stabilized somewhat, a Hunger and Homelessness Survey released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in late 2012 indicated that homelessness is on the rise, based on requests for emergency assistance. The survey figured that 46.2 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, lives in poverty.
"I just spoke to a woman yesterday who said she's homeless and she lost her job because of illness, then she lost her home," Lowry says. "The face of homelessness is different now than what it used to be, and anybody could be homeless tomorrow. And what are people going to do? Are they going to give up their pets? For some people, that's like giving up their children."
And for a lot of pets that are given up, the future is pretty bleak.
"If it comes down to somebody giving up their pet," Lowry says, "and say it's an older pet – if they take it to a shelter, there's a chance that dog or cat isn't going to be adopted. It could be, but a lot of people want a young dog that's going to live a long time. A lot of those [homeless] pets that end up in the shelter are going to be euthanized."
Rather than abandon the one thing they have left that they love to an uncertain future, Lowry says, people will sacrifice their own comfort – they'll live in tents in the woods, they'll sleep on people's couches, they'll sleep in their cars.
"I know that it's an issue and sometimes people will stay out in the woods rather than a shelter because they want to stay with their pets," says Muffett Robinson, director of communications and community relations for the Coalition for the Homeless in Orlando. She says that, like most shelters, the coalition's shelter does not have the resources to accept pets. Occasionally, she says, if someone with a pet arrives and needs help, volunteers may try to find someone who can temporarily house it. "We'll try to call around and help people, but there aren't really many resources out there right now," she says.
But perhaps there should be – one of the biggest reasons women tend to stay in homes with abusive partners, rather than leave and seek help, Robinson says, is because they do not want to leave their pets behind. It's a big enough concern that Harbor House of Central Florida, a shelter for victims of domestic violence, opened a Paws for Peace Kennel in 2012. According to the organization's statistics, nearly half of all domestic abuse survivors say they delayed seeking help because they didn't have a safe place for their dogs or cats to go. Paws for Peace allows its residents to bring their pets with them – the pets must live in the kennel but the residents have full access to them. It's the only facility of its kind in Central Florida.
A couple of years ago, says Timothy McKinney, executive vice president of United Global Outreach, he wouldn't have really considered feeding homeless pets an integral part of what his organization did. He said he knew of people who were homeless and had pets – he'd read a study that came out of UCF in 2004 that said that one big reason that a lot of people living in homeless camps in the woods said they didn't participate in social-services programs was because they were afraid to leave their dogs alone. "They don't want to leave their pets," he says. "If they're left alone, they could be injured or stolen."
So when the Doglando Foundation approached him last year about handing out free pet food at his organization's weekly meals, he was more than willing to bring them on board. Since the Full Tummy Project started coming out, he says, he's seen that the help they offer goes beyond just handing out food for dogs and cats. They've also begun to add some basic medical care and assistance to their menu of services – for instance, a boy approached the table with a chocolate lab puppy he was watching for a friend. A Full Tummy Project volunteer took his information, played with the puppy, gave him some food and clipped the dog's nails. They're also helping people who have intact pets get them spayed or neutered. And in the process, McKinney says, they're helping people whose lives have come apart at the seams help pull things back together.
"I've seen the Full Tummy Project take a guy who lived in a shell of a camper in the woods with his old dog, who was all mangy-looking, they got him looking like a puppy again," McKinney says. "Turns out, he had fleas, and the person who owned him was also flea-infested because the dog was."
That's when McKinney realized just how important animals were to building a healthier community. McKinney says Bithlo's reputation is that "everyone has six pit bulls" that they don't take care of – programs like the Full Tummy Project help people provide better care for their animals, thus helping the community become a safer, cleaner place. One of United Global Outreach's goals is to help rebuild a sense of community in this troubled East Orlando hamlet, which has long been written off as a "poor" town with nothing going for it. McKinney's organization wants to transform Bithlo by bringing people the services they need to improve their lives, and in turn improve the place where they live. "More than the services to just dogs and cats," McKinney says, the Full Tummy Project "has been building relationships with the people of Bithlo. The physical thing they do with dogs and cats is great, but the human aspect that they bring to the pet owners is essential."
Recently, McKinney says, United Global Outreach purchased an acre of land next to its current facility where the organization hopes to expand its services. They're creating what he calls the "Transformation Village," where the goal is to bring all kinds of medical, social and community services to the people. The fact that so many people have been coming to the Full Tummy Project for help gave McKinney an idea.
"We included in the plans a dog spa and a dog wash and a kennel, so there'd be a place for pets to be taken care of so the person could not have to have the fear of leaving that pet unattended and having it harmed or stolen [while taking care of their own needs]," he says. "I know that has been a barrier for people accepting help."
And to McKinney, any and all barriers need to be brought down so that the people of Bithlo can transform themselves – and their town. "Everything about a healthy community needs to be in place for Bithlo to have a chance to succeed," he says. "It's not just about the free food, it's about the community."The administration sent the wrong tax information to 800,000 people who have enrolled in ObamaCare, officials announced Friday.
The information used to calculate subsidies was wrong on about 20 percent of tax forms, an error that could delay tax refunds for thousands of people.
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Administration officials stressed that the vast majority of HealthCare.gov customers received the correct forms, and White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the issue impacted “a very small fraction of people.”
But the tax glitch quickly provided new ammunition for Republicans, who continue to argue that the healthcare law is fatally flawed.
“Surprise, surprise, the Obama administration still does not have its act together,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn Marsha BlackburnTrump’s new Syria timetable raises concern among key anti-ISIS allies Dem lawmaker invites Parkland survivor to attend State of the Union Bipartisan senators press Trump for strategy to protect Syrian Kurds MORE (R-Tenn.), vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote in a statement.
She said the new problems offer more proof that the IRS should be kept out of healthcare, and pledged to redouble her efforts to repeal the ObamaCare insurance penalty entirety.
"The Obama administration has built a healthcare law so complex, so confusing, and so costly that even they don't know how to properly administer it," Rep. Diane Black Diane Lynn BlackLamar Alexander's exit marks end of an era in evolving Tennessee Juan Williams: The GOP's worsening problem with women How to reform the federal electric vehicle tax credit MORE (R-Tenn.) added in a statement just minutes after the error was disclosed.
Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said Wednesday he couldn’t yet explain the error. He said the administration remains focused on ensuring that "every Marketplace consumer understands how taxes and health care intersect."
When asked Friday if the White House owed taxpayers an apologize, Earnest said the issues would be addressed promptly and people would be able to pay their taxes on time.
“Certainly the American people should hold their government to a high standard and should count on these kinds of operations being implemented effectively,” Earnest said |
can blame and rally the American people. That’s what it is. It’s the immigrants or the Muslims. We’ve got to take them on.
And I think my main concern is because I worry about this. It’s real. You see the people standing up there and applauding. How do we get to those people? How do we say, why do you keep voting for people who are giving more tax breaks to billionaires, who are going to send your jobs abroad, not going to let you form a union, not going to allow your kids to go to college? Why do you keep voting for these guys?
Because they pick out a victim whether it’s Blacks, whether it’s gays, whether it’s women, whether it’s immigrants, whether it’s Muslims who we can pick on.
And what our job is and I think hard about these things, how do we get those people to begin standing up for their own interests.
And I will tell you is the antidote to Trump is a very strong progressive agenda that says, yes, I know you’re angry. And you know what? You should be angry because you’re working longer hours for low wages. You have a right to be bitter, and you have a right to be that.
Don’t take it out on the Muslims. Don’t take it out on Latinos. Try to help us work together to create a country where your kids and you can have a decent standard of living. It has to be a bold and radical agenda. No more same old same old.
I don’t mean to be political here. People are hurting and angry, and they want something to be able to stand up and fight for. That’s what I believe the antidote is to Trumpism.
The key to beating Trump is to negate his potential appeal to those who are angry by proposing a strong leftward agenda that addresses their economic concerns.
Trump may be able to survive a divided Republican primary because he has cornered the market on right-wing extremist positions, but in a general election, the get rid of all immigrants and Muslims rhetoric won’t work.
Bernie Sanders has Trump figured out, and if he wins the Democratic nomination, and Donald Trump is the Republican choice, the billionaire will be dismantled in short order.
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:Andrew William Hankinson (born December 22, 1983) is an American professional wrestler and promoter, currently signed with WWE on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Luke Gallows.
During his first stint with WWE, Hankinson also appeared briefly as an imposter of the wrestler Kane during 2006 and then returned as Festus, a seemingly mentally handicapped character who teamed with Jesse, but the team achieved little success. After disappearing from television, Hankinson later became the enforcer and "disciple" of CM Punk, sporting a cleaner, militant look, with the Festus character's "real identity" revealed as Luke Gallows. His first run in WWE ended in 2010. He is perhaps best known for working for New Japan Pro Wrestling under the ring name Doc Gallows, and he also wrestled prominently for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he was a member of the Aces & Eights faction under the ring name D.O.C. (Director of Chaos). Along with Karl Anderson, Hankinson has won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship once and the IWGP Tag Team Championship three times.
Professional wrestling career [ edit ]
Early career (2005) [ edit ]
Hankinson began his career in West Virginia with Mason-Dixon Wrestling and in Pennsylvania with the World Star Wrestling Federation (AWA/World Star Wrestling), Summit Wrestling Association of Southern Pennsylvania, and Maryland-based promotions National Wrestling League and the Eastern Wrestling Alliance,[14] wrestling as Dorian Deville, and for West Virginia's Championship Pro Wrestling as the masked wrestler, Dargon.
World Wrestling Entertainment [ edit ]
Deep South Wrestling (2005–2007) [ edit ]
In April 2005, despite failing to make it as one of the final ten contestants on the $1,000,000 Tough Enough, he was signed to a contract by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to the Deep South Wrestling (DSW) developmental territory.
Hankinson wrestled in DSW as Dorian "Deacon" Deville before changing his ring name to The Freakin' Deacon, adopting the gimmick of a deranged, facepaint-wearing wrestler who came to the ring with a pet spider named Willow and sometimes spoke to it.[5] He formed a partnership with executive Palmer Cannon and his posterior associate Dalip Singh, helping Cannon to gain DSW's ownership and attack his enemies, but Palmer and Singh betrayed Deacon and stole his spider. He then formed an alliance with announcer and wrestler Bill DeMott, who was in a feud against The Gymini. The team proved to be effective, but Deacon abandoned DeMott during a match, causing him to be beaten down until other wrestlers made the save. It was later revealed that Quintin Michaels had captured Willow and used it to blackmail Deacon, but he later got his pet back, regaining his freedom.[15]
Main roster debut (2006–2007) [ edit ]
On May 29, 2006, Hankinson debuted on Raw as an imposter Kane; wearing Kane's old mask and ring attire, he chokeslammed Kane during his match against Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Subsequently, Hankinson repeatedly attacked the real Kane during or after his matches. The pair finally faced off in a match at the Vengeance pay-per-view, with Hankinson winning using one of Kane's trademark moves. One night later, however, the storyline was abruptly ended when the original Kane attacked the Impostor Kane, removed his mask, and threw him out of the building.
Hankinson returned to Deep South Wrestling, in addition to appearing at SmackDown! house shows. In August, he got involved in a storyline with The Bag Lady, who acted as his valet and love interest. Though he got often distracted by her, she helped him to win matches. In October, Deacon and Bag Lady formed an alliance with The Major Brothers (Brian and Brett Major) against the team Urban Assault (Eric Perez, Sonny Siaki, Afa Jr. and G-Rilla), as their enforcer G-Rilla had clashed with Bag Lady earlier. In December 2006, Deacon defeated G-Rilla in a singles match, causing the rest of Urban Assault to turn on him and beat him up.[15] Deacon then aided G-Rilla and formed a tag team with him, helping him to get revenge on Urban Assault. The pair also feuded with Team Elite (Derrick Neikirk and Mike Knox) for the DSW Tag Team Championship. However, in March 2007 Deacon was beaten up with steel chairs by Neikirk and Knox, needing to be carried to the hospital by G-Rilla. There G-Rilla sat accidentally over Willow, killing the spider and sending its owner to a mental breakdown.[5]
Teaming with Jesse (2007–2009) [ edit ]
Hankinson as Festus in 2008
On the May 11, 2007, episode of SmackDown!, a vignette aired suggesting that Hankinson would be repackaged as Festus Dalton as part of a tag team using a Southern gimmick, alongside fellow WWE developmental talent Ray Gordy.[16] On June 2, 2007, however, it was reported that WWE was dropping the "Dalton Boys" gimmick. The explanation for them not showing up on SmackDown was that they got lost on their way to the arena. Hankinson and Gordy had actually been sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling, where Hankinson changed his name to "Justice Dalton".
Hankinson was then renamed "Festus" while Gordy was dubbed "Jesse", and on the June 29, 2007, episode of SmackDown!, vignettes hyping Jesse and Festus began to air. For weeks, Jesse was presented as the mouth-piece of the tandem, who was in awe of his tag team partner. Hankinson, however, played a character that was mentally challenged and unresponsive. In spite of Festus' dimwitted nature, Jesse kept claiming that Festus was an emotionally driven and physically unstoppable giant. On the September 7, 2007, episode of SmackDown!, there was a segment featuring Jesse and Festus now actually in the arena rather than in a studio. On October 5, Hankinson won his debut match on SmackDown! with Jesse.[17] When the opening bell rang, Festus' personality changed into a very focused and angry competitor as compared to the mentally challenged character he had portrayed.[17] When the bell rang to signify the end of the match, Festus returned to his docile self.[17] On the December 21 episode of SmackDown!, Festus defeated Deuce in a Santa Match, with both of them wearing Santa Claus outfits.[18] On the January 25 episode of SmackDown!, Jesse explained the reason that they had not been on television was because Festus has been seeing doctors about his "problems".[19]
In 2008, before the bell rang, Jesse explained that Festus had changed. However, Festus did not change and continued to make a determined and monstrous face after the bell had rung. On the March 21 episode of SmackDown, Jesse and Festus had a chance to face John Morrison and The Miz for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but Morrison and The Miz retained the title.[20] Festus received his first loss when he wrestled against World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker on the April 11 episode of SmackDown!, after passing out while in the Hell's Gate.[21]
On April 15, 2009, Festus was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft and, as a result, was separated from his tag team partner Jesse, who remained on SmackDown.[22]
The Straight Edge Society (2009–2010) [ edit ]
After a three-month hiatus from television, Hankinson returned on the November 27, 2009, episode of SmackDown!, repackaged as a villain under the name Luke Gallows, sporting a new attire with a goatee and shaved head. After accompanying CM Punk to the ring for his match with Matt Hardy, Punk revealed that Gallows was actually Festus' true identity and claimed that Gallows' family and friends enabled his alcoholic inclination, which led to the mental state he was in as Festus, before stating that Gallows was cured due to Punk showing him the straight edge lifestyle.[23] On the December 11 episode of SmackDown!, Gallows and Punk defeated Hardy and R-Truth, after Gallows pinned Hardy with his new finishing move, the "Twelfth Step".[24] On the January 8, 2010, episode of SmackDown, Gallows defeated Hardy.[25] The next week, Gallows and Punk defeated Matt Hardy and The Great Khali, The Hart Dynasty, and Cryme Tyme in a fatal four-way match to become the number one contenders for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship.
On the February 10 episode of Raw, The Straight Edge Society was eliminated in a Triple Threat elimination tag team match between them, The Miz and Big Show and DX for the Unified Tag Team Championship. The Miz and The Big Show became the new Unified Tag Team Champions. At WrestleMania XXVI Luke Gallows competed in a dark 30-man battle royal, which was won by Yoshi Tatsu. On the April 13 episode of NXT, he challenged CM Punk's rookie Darren Young and the stipulation, if Young loses, he will have to surrender his hair to Punk and have it shaved bald. Gallows came close to getting the victory when Young came up with a roll-up and saved his hair, with Punk showing some favor to his rookie and Gallows seeming unhappy. At Extreme Rules, during Punk's Hair match against Rey Mysterio, Gallows and Serena helped Punk throughout the match until they were banned from ringside.
Hankinson in August 2009
On the July 2 tapings of SmackDown, after a match between Luke Gallows and Kane, a security video was shown by Serena of her being caught drinking in a bar by Punk on the same day of The Undertaker's attack proving The Straight Edge Society's innocence in order to save Punk. Serena begged for forgiveness even after Punk warned her not to, but the Straight Edge Society simply left without her. The following week, however, Serena was forgiven by Punk for her actions, as they embraced, but Gallows did not approve. The following week Gallows was set to fight Big Show but gave the match to the SES Masked Man, who was unmasked as Joey Mercury during the match. On the September 3 episode of SmackDown, Gallows and Punk faced The Big Show in a two-on-one handicap match, which Gallows and Punk lost. After the match Punk delivered the GTS on Gallows.
On the September 16 episode of WWE Superstars, before a match with MVP, Gallows cut a promo announcing that he was no longer part of the Society by proclaiming he was his own man. Gallows went on to lose the match. On the September 21 taping of SmackDown, Gallows began a slow face turn when he confronted CM Punk in a backstage segment stating that after defeating him, he would have a beer, but lost a match to Punk later in the night.
Gallows, now officially established as a face, defeated Vance Archer on the November 4 airing of Superstars.[26] His final TV appearance was during a backstage segment in which Kane was looking for his father, on the November 19, episode of SmackDown. Hankinson was released from his WWE contract on the same day, along with several other superstars.[27]
Independent circuit (2010–2016) [ edit ]
Hankinson wrestled on December 3, 2010 as "Keith Hanson", at an Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) event, where he defeated The Predator.[28] On January 29, 2011, he lost to ECW Original Tommy Dreamer in a hardcore match at a National Wrestling Superstars (NWS) event in New Jersey. On March 25, 2011, Hankinson, working as Luke Gallows, made an appearance for the Japanese Apache Pro-Wrestling Army promotion, defeating Makoto Hashi.[29] On May 29, 2011, Gallows debuted for NWA Rampage in Warner Robins, Georgia. Gallows defeated former Ring of Honor and TNA star by DQ after Rave's group, Jimmy Rave Approved, interfered. Afterwards an 8-man tag took place in which Gallows teamed with Kyle Matthews, J-Rod, & Frankie Valentine to defeat Rave, Sal Rinauro, Chip Day and Corey Hollis. On June 5 Gallows returned to NWA Rampage and lost to Heavyweight Champion Bull Buchanan. In August 2011, Hankinson and Cliff Compton traveled to wrestle in Nigeria. He was defeated by The Great Power Uti of Nigeria who took his belt.[30]
Hankinson appeared on the World Wrestling Fan Xperience (WWFX) Champions Showcase Tour in Manila, Philippines on February 4, 2012, where he wrestled under the name Luke Gallow (using his heel S.E.S. gimmick) in a losing effort to Rhyno.[9] He also appeared at Wrestlerama in Georgetown, Guyana.[31] On October 6, 2012, he was defeated by Scott Steiner in the House of Hardcore's first show.[32] On September 22, 2012 Luke Gallows would debut for Dynamite Championship Wrestling at their Annual Breast Cancer Benefit Event. He won the American Pro Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship in 2012 with Knux, but they were later stripped of the title, as they were made inactive, on March 1, 2013. From June 3 to 13, 2012, Hankinson, as Luke Gallows, worked a tour with the Japanese Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, during which he often teamed with Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong.[33][34][35] He appeared for Pro Wrestling Syndicate on May 18, 2013, along with Knux and D'Lo Brown.[36] Hankinson made his last independent appearance on January 16 billed as Luke Gallows when he unsuccessfully challenged Chris Nelms in a Fatal 4-Way match for WrestleMerica Brass Knuckles Championship.[37]
On May 6, 2015, Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Gallows as part of their roster.[38] Gallows and Karl Anderson main evented the first-ever GFW show on June 12, defeating the New Heavenly Bodies (Dustin and Justin) in a tag team match.[39]
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2011–2013) [ edit ]
On June 14, 2011, Hankinson wrestled a tryout dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), in which he was defeated by Gunner.[40] In December 2011, Hankinson took part in TNA's India project, Ring Ka King, under the ring name "The Outlaw" Isaiah Cash.[7][41] On June 21, 2012, Hankinson wrestled another tryout dark match for TNA.[42]
Hankinson began working TNA house shows as a masked member of the Aces & Eights stable in September 2012.[43] On September 4, Hankinson confirmed that he had signed a contract with the promotion.[44]at Bound for Glory (2012), D.O.C. and Knux (still masked) defeated Bully Ray and Sting to gain full access to the Impact Zone. Hankinson was unmasked and revealed as a member of the Aces & Eights on the November 1 episode of Impact Wrestling.[45] The following week, Hankinson, billed as D.O.C., Director of Chaos, teamed with stablemate Devon in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Kurt Angle and Sting via disqualification. Having been told to show why he deserved a spot in Aces & Eights, D.O.C. afterwards put Sting through a table, before beating him with a ball-peen hammer.[46] DOC made his TNA pay-per-view debut three days later at Turning Point, defeating Joseph Park in a singles match.[47] On the December 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C. was defeated by Kurt Angle which ended By DQ when Aces & Eights attacked Angle.
On December 9 at Final Resolution, D.O.C. teamed with Devon and two masked members of Aces & Eights in a losing effort to Kurt Angle, Garett Bischoff, Samoa Joe, and Wes Brisco.[48]on the December 13 episode of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C. and a masked man (members of Aces and 8’s) lost to James Storm and Jeff Hardy. On January 13, 2013, at Genesis, D.O.C. was defeated by Sting in a singles match.[49] On the February 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C. and Devon were defeated by Bully Ray and Sting in a Tables match.[50] On the February 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, Aces & Eights, consisting of D.O.C., Devon and Mr. Anderson defeated Sting, Hulk Hogan and Bully Ray in a six-man tag team match after they took Hogan out before the match. On March 10 at Lockdown, Aces & Eights, consisting of D.O.C., Devon, Garett Bischoff, Knux, and Mr. Anderson were defeated by Team TNA, consisting of Eric Young, James Storm, Magnus, Samoa Joe, and Sting in a Lethal Lockdown match.[51] On the March 18 episode of TNA Xplosion, D.O.C. lost a match to James Storm after giving him a lowblow. At Hardcore Justice 2, Aces & Eights (D.O.C., Wes Brisco and Knux) lost to James Storm, Magnus and Bob Holly. At World Cup, D.O.C. apart of Team Aces & Eights started off when D.O.C and Knux defeated Team International's Funaki and Petey Williams later that night Team Aces & Eights lost a Five-on-Five Elimination Tag Team match against Team USA (Christopher Daniels, James Storm, Kazarian, Kenny King and Mickie James) failing to win the cup. on the April 4 episode of Impact Wrestling, Aces and 8s (D.O.C., Devon, Knux, Wes Brisco and Garett Bischoff) defeated Kurt Angle, Eric Young, Samoa Joe, Magnus and Joseph Park in a ten-man tag team match. On the May 9 episode of Impact, D.O.C. lost a match to Magnus. On the June 13 episode of Impact, D.O.C. participated in an Aces & Eights battle royal match for a spot in the 2013 Bound for Glory Series, but ended up being thrown out by Mr. Anderson after refusing to get out of the ring, though not turning face. On the July 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, D.O.C. lost his bid to become the vice president of Aces and Eights as Knux gave his deciding vote to Mr. Anderson, to D.O.C.'s disgust.[52] On July 12, Hankinson's contract expired. Four days later, he announced he and TNA had officially parted ways. His departure was explained on screen as having turned in his kutte after losing the bid of Vice President to Mr. Anderson.[53]
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2013–2016) [ edit ]
On November 11, 2013, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced Hankinson as a participant in the 2013 World Tag League, where he would be teaming with Karl Anderson as part of Bullet Club.[1] Doc Gallows made his New Japan debut on November 23, when he and Anderson defeated Bushi and Kota Ibushi in a non-tournament match, with Gallows pinning Bushi for the win.[54] In the round-robin portion of the tournament, which ran from November 24 to December 7, Gallows and Anderson finished with a record of four wins and two losses, winning their block and advancing to the semifinals.[55][56] On December 8, Gallows and Anderson first defeated G.B.H. (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) in the semifinals and then Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) in the finals to win the 2013 World Tag League and earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[57][58] Gallows returned to New Japan on January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, where he and Anderson defeated K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and Lance Archer) to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.[59][60]
Gallows and Anderson made their first successful title defense on February 9 at The New Beginning in Hiroshima, defeating K.E.S. in a rematch.[61][62] Their second defense took place on April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014, where they defeated Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata.[63][64] Gallows and Anderson's third successful defense took place just seven days later, during New Japan's trip to Taiwan, when they defeated Hirooki Goto and Captain Taiwan.[65] On May 17, Gallows and Anderson made their fourth successful title defense against The Briscoes (Jay and Mark) at a NJPW and Ring of Honor (ROH) co-produced event, War of the Worlds, in New York City.[66] On June 21 at Dominion 6.21, Gallows and Anderson made their fifth successful defense against Ace to King (Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe).[67][68] From July 21 to August 8, Gallows took part in the 2014 G1 Climax, where he finished ninth out of the eleven wrestlers in his block with a record of four wins and six losses.[69][70] On September 21 at Destruction in Kobe, Gallows and Anderson made their sixth successful title defense against Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi.[71][72] In December, Gallows and Anderson made it to the finals of the 2014 World Tag League, after winning their block with a record of five wins and two losses.[73] On December 7, Gallows and Anderson were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata.[74] Gallows and Anderson's year-long reign as the IWGP Tag Team Champions came to an end on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where they were defeated by Goto and Shibata.[75][76]
Gallows and Anderson regained the title from Goto and Shibata on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka.[77][78] They lost the title to The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) on April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015.[79][80] They regained the title from The Kingdom on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall.[81][82] From July 20 to August 14, Gallows took part in the 2015 G1 Climax,[83] where he finished last in his block with a record of three wins and six losses.[84] On January 4, 2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, Gallows and Anderson lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma.[85] Hours after the event, it was reported that both Gallows and Anderson had given their notice to NJPW on the morning of January 4, announcing that they were leaving the promotion for WWE.[86][87] TNA later claimed that Gallows had agreed to return to the promotion, along with Anderson and AJ Styles, before the trio broke off communication with TNA over the Christmas holiday.[88] Though not under contract,[89] Gallows was expected to honor previously booked dates through February.[86] On February 14 at The New Beginning in Niigata, Gallows and Anderson received a rematch for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but were again defeated by Makabe and Honma.[90] On February 20, Gallows and Anderson wrestled their final NJPW match, where they teamed with Bullet Club stablemates Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga, losing to Bobby Fish, Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, and Kyle O'Reilly in an eight-man tag team match.[91]
Return to WWE (2016–present) [ edit ]
Raw (2016–2018) [ edit ]
Gallows and Anderson in September 2016
On the April 11, 2016, episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson (with Gallows returning to his former WWE ring name, Luke Gallows) made their debut, attacking The Usos after their victory over The Social Outcasts, before being removed by several referees. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Anderson and Gallows attacked WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, following Reigns' promo with AJ Styles. The following week on Raw, Anderson and Gallows made their in-ring debuts, defeating the Usos. During this time, Anderson and Gallows helped Styles in his feud with Reigns, with Styles at first reluctant for their help. On the May 2 episode of Raw, Styles teamed with Anderson and Gallows, where they began being known as The Club, defeating Reigns and the Usos. On the May 9 episode of Raw, The Club faced Reigns and the Usos in a Six-man Elimination match, where, following the elimination of both Gallows and Anderson, Reigns and the Usos won by disqualification after Gallows and Anderson attacked Reigns with a steel chair. At Extreme Rules, Anderson and Gallows interfered in Reigns' and Styles' Extreme Rules match for Reigns' WWE World Heavyweight Championship. They attacked Reigns until the Usos, who lost their Tornado Tag Team match to Anderson and Gallows earlier in the night, brawled with the two until Reigns would retain. The following night on Raw, Styles requested to leave The Club, stating that the WWE "wasn't Japan". Anderson and Gallows left Styles shortly after Styles lost to Kevin Owens in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. On the May 30 episode of Raw, Styles would confront a returning John Cena who said the "new era" would have to go through him, before offering Styles his hand. Styles shook his hand, shortly before Anderson and Gallows interrupted. As Styles and Cena appeared ready to fight Anderson and Gallows, Styles instead beat down Cena repeatedly, reuniting The Club.
In the 2016 WWE draft, Gallows was drafted to Raw, along with Anderson, while Styles was drafted to SmackDown, splitting up The Club. Gallows and Anderson resumed feuding with The New Day, and took out Big E with a groin injury after a sneak attack. Following this assault, Gallows and Anderson made fun of the situation by appearing in segments dressed as doctors and claiming to be in need of a cure for "Ringpostitis" leading up to a SummerSlam match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which they won by disqualification because of show guest Jon Stewart and a returning Big E getting involved. At Clash of Champions, The New Day defeated Gallows and Anderson in a rematch to retain the title. On the November 7 episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson were announced as part of Team Raw for the 10–on–10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match at Survivor Series. The same night, while being at odds with the rest of Team Raw, they defeated The New Day in a non-title bout. Gallows and Anderson courted controversy after ripping the head off a Dusty Rhodes bear given to Rhodes' son Goldust. While Goldust's brother and ex-WWE star Cody Rhodes let it slide, Hall of Famer, Superstar Billy Graham found the segment tasteless.[92]
On the January 18, 2017, episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson appeared to defeat Cesaro and Sheamus by pinfall for the Raw Tag Team Championship; however, due to Sheamus having hit the referee, the decision was reversed to a disqualification, leading to them winning the match but not the title.[93] This led to a rematch with two referees on the Royal Rumble pre-show on January 29, where Gallows and Anderson became the new Raw Tag Team Champions.[94] They lost the title to the returning Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania 33 in a fatal four-way tag team ladder match. On the January 1, 2018 episode of Raw, they appeared as Finn Bálor's surprise tag team partners.
SmackDown Live (2018–present) [ edit ]
On April 17, as part of the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Gallows and Anderson were both drafted to SmackDown. On the May 22 episode of SmackDown, Gallows and Anderson defeated The Usos to become number one contenders to the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship. At Money in the Bank, Gallows and Anderson challenged The Bludgeon Brothers for the titles in a losing effort. Two nights later on the June 19 episode of SmackDown, Gallows and Anderson would get a rematch for the titles, but were once again unsuccessful.
Other media [ edit ]
Video games [ edit ]
Championships and accomplishments [ edit ]Elon Musk's offer to halve Tesla's battery price for SA a game changer, says Mike Cannon-Brookes
Updated
It started as a thought bubble, but a plan hatched on social media less than a week ago to shore up South Australia's troubled power grid is rapidly turning into action.
Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, who founded business software maker Atlassian, said there is "a good chance" he'll be able to find the funding and political will to build a battery farm in South Australia with the help of US battery and electric car maker Tesla.
That political will and funding took a big leap forward with the South Australian Government announcing its intention to help fund a 100 megawatt-hour battery out of a new $150 million renewable energy fund.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill previously said he was open to Tesla founder Elon Musk's pitch to build at least one 100 megawatt-hour battery farm within "100 days from contract signature or it is free".
Mr Musk has spoken to both Mr Weatherill and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull since making his promise via Twitter.
Power generator AGL has also said it would make a site in South Australia it had already set aside for a similar project available to Tesla.
Tesla's'mates rates' offer changes the economics
Mr Cannon-Brookes set the ball rolling with a tweet challenging Tesla's claim to be able to build a 100 megawatt-hour farm in South Australia within 100 days, replicating a project completed at the end of last year in Ontario, in southern California.
Mr Musk tweeted back, vowing to build it within 100 days, "or it is free".
But it was his subsequent offer to almost halve his price, in response to Mr Cannon-Brookes' request for "mates rates", that has captured the imaginations and wallets of high-net worth individuals, superannuation funds and other investors, who have showered Mr Cannon-Brookes with offers of funding.
"Elon almost halved... the price of what's available at a grid-scale storage capacity, which was a very bold offer and blew up a lot of people's models as to what was possible in this space," Mr Cannon-Brookes told RN Breakfast.
"When the pricing halved, the economics become vastly different over a 20-year term of an asset like this in infrastructure.
"So you've seen a lot of other people come out and say, 'we'll have to match that price, we can do it in 100 days'... and kudos for Elon for taking that step."
Mr Cannon-Brookes says he has learnt "a lot of the dark arts of power, both political and electric", over the last few days, and he has been pleasantly surprised by the response so far.
"I'm just trying to change the conversation, so we talk about something other than coal or gas as a potential solution for the country," he said.
"It's a little embarrassing how far and how fast it's gone.
"There's a number of Australian and international companies who proposed this as a solution to SA's crisis last week, last month and a few months ago and probably falling on deaf ears."
Several rival Australian companies have come out saying they too can build a similar plant in South Australia, including Zen Energy, chaired by Ross Garnaut, and Lyon Solar, which is building a massive solar and storage plant in South Australia.
Mr Cannon-Brookes welcomed the competition, and pointed out that most batteries used by these firms are built overseas.
"I'm just seeing if we can turn this momentum into something actual for SA and as an example of something Australians can do," he said.
"If there's a competition among battery manufacturers and installers... that can only be a good thing.
"If that's the conversation we're having as to which is the best battery, then the country is in a good spot."
Topics: electricity-energy-and-utilities, alternative-energy, electronics, australia, united-states
First postedA Compilation of the Evidence Against the LDS Church Eric Nelson
Click to Download PDF of Entire 13-Essay Series
“The man who cannot listen to an argument which opposes his views either has a weak position or is a weak defender of it. No opinion that cannot stand discussion or criticism is worth holding. And it has been wisely said that the man who knows only half of any question is worse off than the man who knows nothing of it. He is not only one sided, but his partisanship soon turns him into an intolerant and a fanatic. In general it is true that nothing which cannot stand up under discussion and criticism is worth defending.” – James E. Talmage – (quoting “The Intolerant Spirit.” Editorial. Pittsburgh Leader. November 13, 1919.) Table of Contents Introduction Book of Abraham Background Suspicions and Concerns with BOA Translation Emerge BOA Papyri Rediscovered BOA Papyri Exposed as Ordinary Funerary Documents Analysis of Joseph Smith’s Translation of Facsimile 1 Analysis of Joseph Smith’s Translation of Facsimile 2 Analysis of Joseph Smith’s Translation of Facsimile 3 BOA Espouses Discredited Views of Science BOA Utilizes King James Version Text BOA Anachronisms Church’s Essay Debunked Joseph Smith’s Potential Sources for Composing the BOA Additional BOA Information Conclusions Kinderhook Plates Background Plates Revealed as Fraud Questions and Concerns Implications on Joseph Smith’s Role as Prophet and Seer Book of Mormon Translation BOM Translated with a Peep Stone Church Has Not Accurately Taught the BOM Translation Process Urim and Thummim Not Used in BOM Translation Gold Plates Not Used During BOM Translation Translation Timeline Raises Additional Concerns Translation Process Raises Troubling Questions Book of Mormon DNA Evidence Disproves BOM Claims BOM Errors and Anachronisms No Archaeological Evidence Directly Supporting BOM BOM Contains KJV Text BOM Contains KJV Translation Errors Similarities with View of the Hebrews Sim |
Stitching color: Dark Brown, Grey, Orange, Black, Olive, Bright Red Dark Blue, Yellow, Beige
Horween Derby English Tan Leather Apple Watch band
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with free shipping Buy from FinWatchStraps eShop for US$39.57 (Shipping excluded)
Burgundy Horween Chromexcel Pull-up Leather Apple Watch band
Buy now on eBay for $44 with free shipping
with free shipping Buy from FinWatchStraps eShop for US$39.57 (Shipping excluded)
Unboxing
The FinWatchStrap shipments arrived in envelopes and the bands are put into a color-matched gunny bags. There is also a simple thank you card with a 15% discount codeif you order again. Very simple packaging to get the job done yet offers a great storage option that can be easily put away without taking up much space.
Review and impressions
The Horween Derby English Tan Leather Strap comes with a relatively raw, rugged style. With minimal stitching work only near the polished steel buckle and adapters, as well as on the free loop, the tanned leather strap has a warm vintage style overall. The leather surface has refined finish whereas edges and the back side have a rough, rubbed finish which feels good on touching and wearing on wrist, however does less resistant to sweat and stain.
The strap leather is on the thin and soft side so it will not take time to get around the wrist perfectly, yet strong enough that I do not feel I will break it in any way. There are quite a number of adjustment holes on the band so it can basically fit a wide range of wrist size. Nonetheless, you can customize the length of the band at ordering as mentioned in the specification section.
The adapter quality is excellent. No friction at all when sliding into the slot on the Apple Watch, nor does it stick out any side. The buckle looks classic, well-polished and strong in nature.
Moving on to the Burgundy Horween Chromexcel Pull-up Leather Strap. It shares some similarity as the Horween Derby English Tan Leather Strap such as the stitching, and finishing on the edges and back side. However, it stands out with a more subtle feel with smaller buckle and an additional fixed steel loop near the buckle to not only help secure the longer strap better, but also add a bit more style when wearing it.
This Burgundy Horween Chromexcel Pull-up Leather Strap does look a bit more hipster-style aesthetically, especially with the darker color option considered here. It looks better on a Stainless Steel watch than a Space Gray or Black one as it shows more contrast in terms of color pairing. I do like this band more especially when I need to have formal outfit during most time throughout the week.
Conclusions
Followed by Da Luca and Black Forest Atelier, FinWatchStraps is a great option you can go for Horween leather Apple Watch bands without breaking the bank, especially when you are located in Europe region. Despite of criticism that it looks kinda old and used, a Horween leather strap is indeed a very nice companion with Stainless Steel Apple Watch and it does give a vintage feel and style that can easily fit in both business attire and smart casual outfit. Moreover, there are quite some styles to choose from and as well a number of options that you can customize your order from size to stitching. I definitely recommend you give a shot to FinWatchStraps if you like their style there.
What do you think about the Horween leather straps from FinWatchStraps? Let me know in the comments and be sure to check out more of their Apple Watch bands and other watch bands.
About Horween Leather
Horween and Chromexcel are the original pull-up leather produced using a bark retannage from a proprietary recipe, followed by genuine blend of natural oils and greases. The leather is characterized by a rich pull-up in full aniline, hand rubbed finishes. For more information, please visit www.horween.com.[digg-reddit-me]These photos are from a recent bust of a prostitution ring in Chattanooga. I have to admit, these are some of the loveliest women I have ever seen. *cough*
If you’re from the Chattanooga area and you’ve ever driven down Rossville Boulevard, then you have probably seen some of these women working the streets. I remember going to pick out a fireplace with my grandmother one time and we wound up on 23rd street, and one of them was shaking her hips “seductively” at us. We immediately got tested following our outing.
What really gets me is, Chattanoogans actually PAID to have sex with these women?! And here I have been spending so much time primping and preening just to get some for free. I can see now that I have been going about this TOTALLY wrong.
Check out the entire gallery of hotties below: each one more handsome than the last. Two of these “women” are actually men; can you guess which two?
Tags: chattanooga“The reason these laws are growing across the country is that not enough people are standing up for their God-given rights,” Chico Jimenez said. “And we have a right. We can feed anybody without the law stepping in.”
Daytona Beach offers a clear view of this muddy issue – two sides, two distinct arguments. Jimenez asserts citizens have the authority, if not an obligation, to provide an occasional, nutritious meal to folks in need, and that everyone should share the parks. Daytona Beach leaders argue that the couple’s work worsens homelessness by coaxing impoverished people away from centralized, city-run programs, and they complain that during the couple’s feedings some homeless people mistreated the park and frightened other patrons.
In January, Volusia County (home of Daytona Beach) contracted with Robert Marbut, a national homeless consultant, to assess that city’s problems and suggest solutions – as he’s done in some 60 other towns, according to his website, including St. Petersburg, Fla., Fresno, Calif., and Fort Smith, Ark. He bills each community about $5,900 for his analysis and ideas, he said.
"You’re never going to get anywhere arresting priests, pastors and imams in the street."
Marbut advised the Volusia County Council that centralized, 24/7 programs that treat the three root causes of homelessness – a lack of jobs, mental illnesses and chronic substance abuse – have been shown to reduce local homeless populations by 80 percent.
But Marbut does not favor any ordinances that criminalize helping the homelesses, he said. (Daytona Beach passed its anti-feeding law before the Jimenezes were fined).
“I prefer changing a community’s culture through a dialogue,” said Marbut, who is based in San Antonio, Texas. “You’re never going to get anywhere arresting priests, pastors and imams in the street."
But he also cringes at the notion of lone ministries independently launching food-sharing programs without coordinating with other churches or with local charity agencies, he said.
“Give me a name of one person who got a job because they were fed. Feeding alone, or giving out clothing or camping equipment, does not address the core issues of being homeless,” Marbut said. “You don’t graduate from the street because you ate a Big Mac tonight."
In the Bay Area city of Hayward, Calif., officials enacted a homeless-feeding ordinance in February that carries some of those gentle nuances – a nod that this is hardly a black-and-white problem.
People or groups seeking to feed the homeless in Hayward first must obtain a health department permit to show their fare is safely prepared and served. After that, they can apply for a food-sharing permit. But those individuals still are restricted as to the number of times in a week or a month that they can provide free food at the same location on a public property.
"It’s really a conundrum because we have to look out for everyone, not just one segment of population."
“We found the food sharing itself was not necessarily the issue but there was a host of ancillary behaviors when people gathered after the food sharing,” said Kelly McAdoo, assistant city manager in Hayward. “They would drink heavily, use the public park as a restroom facility, and people would get in fights. Other people would feel intimidated, wouldn’t fee comfortable coming to these parks.”
The idea isn’t to ban outdoor feeding, she said, but to regulate it so that there are clear boundaries on bad acts.
“It’s really a conundrum because we have to look out for everyone, not just one segment of population. Most of us got into local government to help people. We are compassionate,” McAdoo said.
“But it’s a touchy subject. The United States is a very wealthy country and to not provide for those who are less fortunate is something about which a lot of people feel very passionate.”By Heather Somerville and Jane Wardell
SAN FRANCISCO/SYDNEY (Reuters) - A significant number of Apple Inc customers are reporting their mobile devices have crashed after attempting to upload the new iOS 9 operating system, the latest in a line of launch glitches for the tech giant.
Twitter and other social media were awash with disgruntled customers reporting two distinct faults, with one appearing to be linked specifically to older models of Apple iPhones and iPads.
"It is beyond inconvenient to not be able to use your phone for a day," said student Pip Cordi as staff in the Apple store in central Sydney looked at her phone on Friday. "I have a lot of apps that I use for school - things like language apps and dictionaries and that's all really important for my studies."
Another iPhone user, Zorry Coates, said she had spent three hours in the Apple store and had been left with the option of either returning her phone to factory settings - losing any non-backed-up data - or waiting until Apple technicians announced an update.
"They said they were aware of the problem and their engineers were working on it 24/7, but they couldn't tell me when - or how - I would get a solution," Zorry said.
"I'm very annoyed because it's wasted half my day. They pride themselves on being a company that's flawless."
Apple's headquarters in San Francisco did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday. An Apple spokesman in Sydney said the company had no comment.
Despite any troubles, significant numbers of iOS users had upgraded; more than 16 percent, according to Mixpanel, a San Francisco, California-based analytics company, as of 4 p.m. PDT (2300 GMT) Thursday.
ERROR MESSAGE
Charlie Brown, a technology expert at Sydney-based Cybershack, said any number of dissatisfied customers was significant in the social media era, particularly following the troubled rollout of iOS 8. Apple released several further updates to iOS8, but some of the bugs were never fully fixed.
"The risk to Apple in terms of having dissatisfied customers is that as their customer base grows, so will the number of those dissatisfied customers," said Brown.
One group of users reported that iOS 9 upgrade would fail after several minutes, requiring them to start the process over. Many posted screen shots of the error message they received: "Software Update Failed".
That problem was likely caused by servers that were overloaded when too many people tried to download the upgrade simultaneously, tech analysts said.
"It's like the Black Friday thing," said Bob O'Donnell of Technalysis Research, referring to the major U.S. shopping sale day after Thanksgiving. "Some websites get creamed on the traffic on Black Friday."
Other users, many of them with older devices, reported their devices seizing up on a "swipe to upgrade" page. The latest upgrade had been deemed by Apple as "friendly" to the older devices after the iOS 8 problems.
"Apple were saying the downloading mechanism doesn't take as much space to download," said Sydney-based Graham McKay, an IT support specialist.
McKay and Brown said they always advised clients to wait several days before downloading any new upgrades from Apple, Google Inc or Microsoft Corp to make sure any glitches had been found and ironed out.
Metering the upgrade, or allowing users to upgrade in waves rather than all at once, would have been a smarter approach, O'Donnell said.
"It's a lot about setting expectations," he said.
Apple did this week delay the release of watch OS 2, its updated operating system for the Apple Watch after it discovered a bug in development.
(Additional reporting by Melissa Redman in SYDNEY; Editing by Alex Richardson)The State of Technology in Embedded Systems andrey Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 22, 2016 In this lofty-titled article we’ll take a look at tech used in software design for embedded systems, what’s missing and what the future holds. (maybe) What is Embedded? An embedded system is defined as a “computer system with a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electrical system, often with real-time computing constraints”. But what distinguishes embedded systems from other “computer systems” is not so much the context in which they operate, as the limitations incurred by it. Those are: Limited Resources (Low ROM, RAM & CPU Performance)
High Reliability Embedded systems range from ones tasked with blinking an LED to autonomous robots to control systems inside modern cars. That’s a wide range, so its hard to make sweeping generalizations, but I’ll try. Specifically we’ll look at the lower — medium slice as it’s the one where limitations are the most apparent. Hardware Improvements SoCs There’s a steady trend of consolidation of silicon functionality into singular chips. An example of this trend can be seen when comparing Nokia phones with a similar feature set a decade apart:
Similar changes have happened to other kinds of embedded systems. An IC which includes a lot of features is called an SoC (System on Chip). Common examples of SoCs are nRF51 (BLE + MCU on single core), CC2640 (BLE + separate MCU), CC3200 (Wi-Fi + separate MCU). This kind of consolidation results in two things: Less hardware for embedded systems is developed in-house
Software and overall system complexity is highly reduced Performance Embedded systems, being a part of the whole hardware industry, have enjoyed a steady growth in silicon performance. Proliferation of 32-bit microcontrollers was a part of that trend. A less-noticeable, but arguably more important part of that has been the switch from the 8051 core to ARM Cortex-M. 8051 8051, designed by Intel in the 80s has been a popular choice for microcontroller manufacturers, who used it as a basis for building their own, optimized versions of it. This meant that the industry had a wealth of 8051-flavored cores and no standardization across manufacturers. Upgrade with a modern design has brought higher performance, which allowed for doing work which would before require a fully-fledged microprocessor, thus enabling a whole new range of applications. It has also increased the efficiency and thus lowered power consumption. Modern design has brought other less obvious advantages like better sleep modes, simpler memory interfacing and overall ease of development. Cortex-M Cortex-M hasn’t been the first 32-bit core on the embedded market, but over the years it has become more and more popular of a choice for microcontroller manufacturers, most of whom now offer at least one product family featuring it, along with older 8-bit and proprietary 32-bit versions. The consolidation of the industry around Cortex-M is important for several reasons: Silicon design reuse lowers MCU costs
Ability to use a wider range of software toolchains Software Development Tools Toolchains As mentioned previously, for a long time most embedded systems were based on 8-bit microcontrollers with proprietary cores, many of which only supported IAR/Keil toolchains or, at the worst, those supplied by the manufacturer. And since manufacturers are/were at their core hardware companies, the quality of those tools was below the level accepted in the software world. More specifically, the problem with those tools was that they were closed-source, windows-centric, heavily GUI-based and very expensive (>$5k for a yearly license). This all has changed with the arrival of ARM. While they do provide their own toolchain for the Cortex-M series, there are plenty of free options, most popular of which are GCC-based. Beyond Toolchains Perhaps the most noticeable thing which happened to the industry is Arduino, which served as both the entry point for people new to the field, and a useful prototyping tool. Starting as a toolchain (avr-gcc + IDE) for an 8-bit AVR and a basic development board with a mission to enable “non-engineers to create digital projects”, it has grown into a wide ecosystem, inspiring many others to create similar ones, compatible or not and a whole industry around hobbyist electronics. LLVM Orthogonal to the trend with ARM, another technology with a potential of bringing modern software development practices to the embedded world is LLVM. LLVM is a compiler infrastructure agnostic to the choice of a language and a target. On a high-level, LLVM and a typical C toolchain have a similar compilation algorithm: Source Code → Internal Representation → Binary The difference lies in the choice of the internal representation language: GCC uses Assembly, which is inherently platform-dependent, while LLVM uses a more abstract language (LLVM IR). And this is a huge deal, because this makes the toolchain much more modular and allows to combine different front-ends and back-ends (at least in theory).
Compilation pipeline comparison between a typical C toolchain (top) and LLVM (bottom)Brad Smith is the first companywide president at Microsoft since Rick Belluzzo resigned in 2002.
Microsoft’s top lawyer, who helped transform the software giant from aggressive bully to a more mature corporate citizen, is now the company’s president.
Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella promoted Brad Smith to president and chief legal officer Friday. It’s the first time Microsoft has had a companywide president since Rick Belluzzo left the post in 2002. (It used to have division presidents, jobs that now generally come with executive vice president titles.)
Smith, 56, is a Microsoft veteran, having joined the company in 1993. He was promoted to general counsel in 2002, in the midst of Microsoft’s battles with federal trustbusters, industry foes and international regulators.
While Smith’s predecessor, William Neukom, rarely shied away from a fight, Smith became Microsoft’s peacemaker. He brokered deals to settle many of the most contentious cases, shelling out billions in the process.
Smith grew up in Wisconsin, bouncing around the state as his father, a manager at Wisconsin Bell Telephone, took different posts. He went to high school in Appleton, where he was the editor of his high-school newspaper and student government president. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Princeton University and his law degree from Columbia Law School.
After settling much of Microsoft’s most acrimonious litigation, Smith has gone on to become the face of its public-policy efforts. He’s been Microsoft’s top executive on such matters as government surveillance, intellectual property, and computer science education matters.
In an email to employees sent Friday morning, Nadella said Smith will continue representing the company publicly on policy matters. He added that Smith will also “lead the work needed to accelerate initiatives that are important to our mission and reputation such as privacy, security, accessibility, environmental sustainability and digital inclusion, to start.”
Smith and Nadella declined to comment on the promotion.After a fantastic debut novel, South African author Charlie Human was kind enough to answer some questions and give a little insight into his novel.
For those who haven’t read Apocalypse Now Now could you give a brief description your novel?
It’s about Baxter Zecenko, a Machiavellian teenager who is the kingpin of a porn-peddling syndicate at his high-school. Baxter prides himself on not being weighed down by psychological constructs like ‘emotions’ and ‘a conscience’. Well until his girlfriend, Esmé is kidnapped and he’s forced to re-evaluate his life.
He investigates Esmé’s disappearance and finds that the only person that can help him is an alcoholic South African Border War veteran, and supernatural bounty hunter Jackie Ronin. Together they set off into Cape Town’s supernatural underworld to find Esmé.
Your novel reads at a cracking pace, could you explain your writing process?
I’m not a full-time writer so I write whenever I can. Trains, waiting rooms, coffee shops; whenever and wherever I can carve out a little time. I handwrite a lot of the ideas first and then flesh them out when transferring onto computer. I also don’t write linearly. When you don’t have a lot of time the best thing to do is just grab onto an idea that excites you and write about that for as long as you can before life intervenes.
Apocalypse Now Now is a huge amount of fun to read but goes to some fairly dark places, what was the idea behind it that sparked it all off?
Cape Town’s tabloids were responsible for some of the inciting ideas. They have huge circulations and peddle a mixture of news, soap opera and superstitious urban folklore. They’re pretty dark, obscene and completely bizarre. Actual headlines I have read while taking the train to work include “Tokloshe stole my baby”, “Priest fights fire demon” and “The Snake Men of the Cape Flats”
I started to think about what it would be like if these headlines were real news stories that we were blissfully ignoring.
You draw on South African myths and superstitions such as the ‘tokoloshe’ introducing the reader to a very different type of supernatural than the normal European/American one; how rich is the vein of horror and myth in SA and do you think it is time for the wider world to be introduced to these ideas?
The tokoloshe is such a South African mythological institution that I had to include him. He’s got various iterations and some are lot darker than the way I’ve presented him in Apocalypse Now Now.
Cape Town is interesting because it’s a place of extremes. It’s really urban and cosmopolitan but then there’s still a place that I used to walk past on my way to work that sells banishing spells for people with tokoloshe problems.
Southern Africa as a whole is such a fusion of myths that have rarely been used in fiction. Apocalypse Now Now has San, Afrikaans, Xhosa and European myths all blended together. I think more local writers, musicians, filmmakers and artists are drawing on these mythologies as a way of exploring our world.
Following on from that, how do you think your novel fits into the horror/fantasy genre of vampires and zombies?
I like to think Apocalypse Now Now does its part in giving Southern African monsters a place in the international monster menagerie. After all parasitical monsters, or the rising of the dead, are hardly unique to European mythology. Why should European fantastical creatures get all the glory? Equal representation for monsters!
How important was it for you to introduce all the different influences of the South African culture in the various characters in your work?
I always remember something Lauren Beukes told me about when she met Neil Gaiman. She asked him about his research methods and he shrugged and said “At a certain point you just make stuff up.” Rather than trying to faithfully depict every aspect of South African culture I’ve riffed off it and tried to create something that people from any part of the world could enjoy.
There also features a lot of pop-culture type references, how meta do you think fiction is becoming and has your work in online media had a direct influence in your approach to writing?
Yes, definitely. When the mind is constantly bathed in the warm glow of memes and the recombinant creativity of the Internet it’s bound to have an influence. Those kinds of intertextual references have become a sort of cultural shorthand to express situations, thoughts or emotional states. I don’t think it would be possible to create a contemporary urban teenager without having that as part of the way he thinks.
The mix of real and twisted pervades every layer of the novel, from Baxter’s ‘business’ and his school life to the mix of history and myth – was the aim to blur all boundaries and almost push your lead character into becoming an unreliable narrator?
The concept of the unreliable teenage narrator was something I enjoyed playing with. I wanted the audience to swing between liking Baxter and not liking him and between believing him and not believing him.
Your novel features some unnaturally adult children, what drew you to using a teenage protagonist in this sense?
Personally, I don’t think the teenagers are that adult-like. Baxter is precociously intelligent and likes to believe he’s the smartest person in the room, but he’s certainly not mature. He talks a big game, uses big words and ideas but he’s still just a kid trying to figure stuff out. I remember teenage life being a bit of a dark, wild rollercoaster ride and I tried to capture some of that energy in the teenagers I depict.
You’re novel has been described as a mix between Quentin Tarantino and Neil Gaiman, who has influenced you in your work?
There have been so many but top of my list would be Lauren Beukes, China Miéville, Nick Harkaway, Margaret Atwood, Richard Morgan, Jeff VanderMeer and Richard Kadrey.
Then there’s Credo Mutwa, a Zulu sangoma or shaman, who has taken Zulu oral folklore and written it down (with, I understand, some heavy editorialising) I really enjoyed reading his folklore while I wrote the book. He also has some kind of connection to David Icke, which I find very amusing. I can only imagine the kind of insane conversations they must have.
As a self-confessed ‘mild-mannered digital marketer by day, impresario of the obscene by night’ how has the process of seeing your debut novel hit the shelves been and what can we expect from you next?
That’s actually a quote from an interview I did with Nechama Brodie. She was referencing the fact that I have a bit of a split personality with my day-job and my writing career.
Publishing has been a really interesting experience so far. It’s amazing to have people read and connect with the novel, and the fact that it’s been translated into Afrikaans, and is soon to be translated into Italian and Japanese blows my mind. The sequel to Apocalypse Now Now is in the works and will be out in 2014.The Last Meal on the Titanic
It was on April 14th, 1912 — almost 100 years ago — when the last meal was served in the first-class dining room on the RMS Titanic.
As we all know, later that night, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank, with the loss of over 1500 lives. Here’s a detailed look at what was on the menu for the first-class passengers.
First Course
Hors D’Oeuvres
Oysters
Second Course
Consommé Olga
Cream of Barley
Consummé Olga is made with a quart of warmed consummé (clear broth, usually beef) and a pint of good port wine. Then julienne a stalk of celery, the white of a leek, the outside only of a small carrot, and soften in butter over low heat. Add a little more consummé and reduce to a glaze, and then finish cooking the vegetables in it. In a tureen, put the glazed vegetables along with julienned gherkins, and the consummé and wine mixture. (Escoffier, 593)
Third Course
Poached Salmon with Mousseline Sauce, Cucumbers
Mousseline Sauce is a hollandaise sauce that’s fortified with whipped cream. (Escoffier, 92)
Fourth Course
Filet Mignons Lili
Sauté of Chicken, Lyonnaise
Vegetable Marrow Farci
Tournedos Lili are seasoned steak fillets fried in butter, then arranged to form a crown, each on a crust of Potatoes Anna (basically, layered potato slices, generously buttered and baked in a hot oven for 30 minutes; Escoffier 2203), and then topped with an artichoke bottom, garnished with a slice of foie gras, and then topped with a slice of truffle, and served with a Périgueux sauce (Madiera wine, reduced veal stock, and chopped truffle; Escoffier, 47). In other words, this dish is gilding a lilly. (Escoffier, 1101)
Sauce Lyonnaise is a relatively simple sauce in comparison, flavored with sauteed diced onion, and equal parts white wine and vinegar, reduced to a glaze, and added to reduced veal stock (demi-glace). (Escoffier, 43)
Vegetable Marrow Farci is apparently stuffed squash. “Marrow squash, also known as vegetable marrow, is a very large, green summer squash. They are related to zucchini, and can grow to the size of a watermelon. They have a bland flavor, and are frequently stuffed with a meat stuffing.” The “farci” indicates that squash was stuffed. (source)
Fifth Course
Lamb, Mint Sauce
Roast Duckling, Apple Sauce
Sirloin of Beef, Chateau Potatoes
Green Peas
Creamed Carrots
Boiled Rice
Parmentier & Boiled New Potatoes
Chateau Potatoes are potatoes cut to the shape of olives, then cooked gently in clarified butter until golden and very soft, and sprinkled with parsley just before serving. (Escoffier, 2208)
Parmentier Potatoes is a pureed potato soup garnished with crouton and chervil, but it can also be served more like runny mashed potatoes. (Escoffier, 658)
Sixth Course
Punch Romaine
Punch à la Romaine is a mixture of dry white wine or champagne and a simple sugar syrup, plus the juices of two oranges and two lemons, with a bit of their zest, steeped for one hour. Strained and frozen, then mixed with a sweet meringue and then fortified with rum. It’s served like a sherbet, and acts as a palette cleanser. (Escoffier, 2932)
Seventh Course
Roast Squab & Cress
Squab is actually pigeon. Escoffier says, “Young pigeons are not very highly esteemed by gourmets, and this is more particularly to be regretted, since when the birds are of excellent quality, they are worthy of the best tables.”
Eighth Course
Cold Asparagus Vinaigrette
Ninth Course
Pate de Foie Gras
Celery
Tenth Course
Waldorf Pudding
Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly
Chocolate & Vanilla Eclairs
French Ice Cream
Escoffier has nothing to say about Waldorf Pudding, but research on the net turns up several improvised recipes (1, 2, 3), none of which are authentic. They involve essential ingredients based on the famous Waldorf Salad, which has apples, walnuts and raisins, but I can’t help but suspect that these guesses may be off course. While it’s true that the one of the more common recipes that the Waldorf Astoria is known for is the salad, there’s no reason to conclude that these are the only ingredients that could possibly be in a dessert named after it. Update, 4/28/08 : I found some old cookbooks online that list recipes for Waldorf Pudding. One has apples, the other one doesn’t. Read all about it.
Each of the 10 courses was served with a special accompanying wine. Following the tenth course, fresh fruits and cheeses were available followed by coffee and cigars accompanied by port and, if desired, distilled spirits.
You may also be interested in reading about what some of the other passengers on the Titanic were eating that night. Also, more information on the elusive recipe for Waldorf Pudding.and so much hair
Okay, I know this one is long overdue, been busy with other things but I finally got the urge to just sit down and finish her up.So here's my version of Luna's Rainbow form. And my goodness those wings took forever to color. But I'm really happy with how she turned out.I took a little longer than intended on her just making sure her wings were right and fiddling with how to do the hair. I wanted to do something a little different than just adding stripes.As always I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think of this one. I always love to hear feedback. :3Also, should I do Cadence or Celestia next?I am also doing commissions over here ---> Updating and Opening Commission Check it out!Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The NFL may soon have its first openly gay player.
Earlier this month, Brendon Ayanbadejo, one of the NFL's most prominent gay rights supporters, told ESPN that a handful of players were considering coming out, but according to a report from Yahoo! Sports' Jay Busbee, kicker Alan Gendreau will take a different route.
Per Busbee:
Alan Gendreau is a former kicker for Middle Tennessee State, where he played with high distinction from 2008 to 2011. He was the leading scorer in Sun Belt Conference history, with 295 points over his career. He's also openly gay, and has been since age 15. And in what would be a groundbreaking move, he's hoping to play in the NFL.
Gendreau, who wasn't drafted last year, is hoping to convince teams to give him a shot at OTAs in the next couple of months. The chance of him earning an invite is low, but according to Busbee's report, many believe he has the talent to play in the NFL.
Should the former Blue Raider make a professional team, this would be the latest cleared hurdle in the fight for equality amongst individuals of all sexual orientations.
In the month of April alone, we have seen UCLA head coach Jim Mora—the first college football coach at a major program to encourage the inclusion of gay athletes on his team—featured in the Bruins' "You Can Play" campaign.
We have also seen the NHL develop a new measure to support gay athletes, and one of the most dominant women's basketball players in the history of the sport come out.
For an NFL team to judge a hopeful prospect on his football ability rather than his sexual preference would be a major step for gay rights in sports.
Gendreau may just be a kicker trying to make the league in the eyes of some, but should he succeed, he will have accomplished far more than that.
Follow @t_keenRichmond Bridge is an 18th-century stone arch bridge that crosses the River Thames at Richmond, connecting the two halves of the present-day London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It was designed by James Paine and Kenton Couse.
The bridge, which is a Grade I listed,[1] was built between 1774 and 1777, as a replacement for a ferry crossing which connected Richmond town centre on the east bank with its neighbouring district of East Twickenham to the west. Its construction was privately funded by a tontine scheme, for which tolls were charged until 1859. Because the river meanders from its general west to east direction, flowing from southeast to northwest in this part of London, what would otherwise be known as the north and south banks are often referred to as the "Middlesex" (Twickenham) and "Surrey" (Richmond) banks respectively, named after the historic counties to which each side once belonged.
The bridge was widened and slightly flattened in 1937–40, but otherwise still conforms to its original design. The eighth Thames bridge to be built in what is now Greater London, it is today the oldest surviving Thames bridge in London.
Background [ edit ]
The small town of Sheen on the Surrey bank of the Thames, 10 miles (16 km) west of the City of London or 16 miles (26 km) by river, had been the site of a royal palace since 1299. After it was destroyed by fire in 1497, Henry VII built a new palace on the site, naming it Richmond Palace after his historic title of Earl of Richmond, and the central part of Sheen became known as Richmond.[4]
Richmond, Twickenham Park and the route of the Richmond Ferry in 1746
Although a ferry had almost certainly existed at the site of the present-day bridge since Norman times,[5] the earliest known crossing of the river at Richmond dates from 1439.[6] The service was owned by the Crown, and operated by two boats, a small skiff for the transport of passengers and a larger boat for horses and small carts;[4] the Twickenham Ferry, slightly upstream, was also in service from at least 1652.[7] However, due to the steepness of the hill leading to the shore-line on the Surrey side neither ferry service was able to transport carriages or heavily laden carts,[8] forcing them to make a very lengthy detour via Kingston Bridge.[4]
In the 18th century Richmond and neighbouring Twickenham on the opposite bank of the Thames, both of which were distant from London but enjoyed efficient transport links to the city via the river, became extremely fashionable, and their populations began to grow rapidly.[4] As the ferry was unable to handle large loads and was often cancelled due to weather conditions, the river crossing became a major traffic bottleneck.[9]
Local resident William Windham had been sub-tutor to Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, and was the former husband of Mary, Lady Deloraine, mistress to George II.[10] As a reward for his services, George II leased Windham the right to operate the ferry until 1798.[10][11] Windham sub-let the right to operate the ferry to local resident Henry Holland.[10] With the ferry unable to serve the demands of the area, in 1772 Windham sought Parliamentary approval to replace the ferry with a wooden bridge, to be paid for by tolls.[4]
Design [ edit ]
The plans for a wooden bridge proved unpopular, and in 1772 the Richmond Bridge Act was passed by Parliament, selecting 90 commissioners, including landscape architect Lancelot "Capability" Brown, historian and politician Horace Walpole and playwright and actor David Garrick, to oversee the construction of a stone bridge on the site of the ferry. The Act stipulated that no tax of any sort could be used to finance the bridge, and fixed a scale of tolls, ranging from ½d for a pedestrian to 2s 6d for a coach drawn by six horses (about 50p and £16 respectively in 2019).[12][13] Henry Holland was granted £5,350 (about £667,800 in 2019) compensation for the loss of the ferry service.[12][13] The commission appointed James Paine and Kenton Couse to design and build the new bridge.[14]
Richmond Bridge
The Act specified that the bridge was to be built on the site of the existing ferry "or as much lower down the river as the Commission can settle".[12] Local residents l |
2<double> >(); template void returnOne<Floats3<float> >(); template void returnOne<Floats3<double> >(); template void returnOne<Floats4<float> >(); template void returnOne<Floats4<double> >(); template void returnOne<Matrix4x4<float> >(); template void returnOne<Matrix4x4<double> >(); template void returnOne<QChar>(); template void returnOne<QLatin1String>(); template void returnOne<QMatrix<float> >(); template void returnOne<QMatrix<double> >(); template void returnOne<QMatrix4x4<float> >(); template void returnOne<QMatrix4x4<double> >();
In addition, we’re interested in what happens to non-structure floating point parameters: are they promoted or not? So we’ll also test the following:
void passFloat() { void externalFloat(float, float, float, float); externalFloat(1.0f, 2.0f, 3.0f, 4.0f); } void passDouble() { void externalDouble(double, double, double, double); externalDouble(1.0f, 2.0f, 3.0f, 4.0f); } float returnFloat() { return 1.0f; } double returnDouble() { return 1.0; }
Analysis of the output
x86-64
You might have noticed I skipped old-style 32-bit x86. That was intentional, since that platform does not support passing by registers anyway. The only conclusion we could draw from that would be:
whether the structures are stored in the stack in the place of the argument, or whether they’re stored elsewhere and it’s passed by pointer
whether single-precision floating-point is promoted to double-precision
Moreover, I’m intentionally ignoring it because I want people to start thinking of the new ILP32 ABI for x86-64, enabled by GCC 4.7′s -mx32 switch, which follows the same ABI as the one described below (with the exception that pointers are 32-bit).
So let’s take a look at the assembly results. For parameter passing, we find out that
Pointers2 is passed in registers;
is passed in registers; Pointers4 is passed in memory;
is passed in memory; Integers2 is passed in a single register (two 32-bit values per 64-bit register);
is passed in a single register (two 32-bit values per 64-bit register); Integers4 is passed in two registers only (two 32-bit values per 64-bit register);
is passed in two registers only (two 32-bit values per 64-bit register); Floats2<float> is passed packed into a single SSE register, no promotion to double
is passed packed into a single SSE register, no promotion to double Floats3<float> is passed packed into two SSE registers, no promotion to double;
is passed packed into two SSE registers, no promotion to double; Floats4<float> is passed packed into two SSE registers, no promotion to double;
is passed packed into two SSE registers, no promotion to double; Floats2<double> is passed in two SSE registers, one value per register
is passed in two SSE registers, one value per register Floats3<double> and Floats4<double> are passed in memory;
and are passed in memory; Matrix4x4 and QMatrix4x4 are passed in memory regardless of the underlying type;
and are passed in memory regardless of the underlying type; QChar is passed in a register;
is passed in a register; QLatin1String is passed in registers.
is passed in registers. The floating point parameters are passed one per register, without float promotion to double.
For return values, the conclusion is the same as above: if the value is passed in registers, it's returned in registers too; if it's passed in memory, it's returned in memory. This leads us to the following conclusions, supported by careful reading of the ABI document:
Single-precision floating-point types are not promoted to double;
Single-precision floating-point types in a structure are packed into SSE registers if they are still available
Structures bigger than 16 bytes are passed in memory, with an exception for __m256, the type corresponding to one AVX 256-bit register.
IA-64
Here are the results for parameter passing:
Both Pointers structures are passed in registers, one pointer per register;
structures are passed in registers, one pointer per register; Both Integers structures are passed in registers, packed like x86-64 (two ints per register);
structures are passed in registers, packed like x86-64 (two ints per register); All of the Floats structures are passed in registers, one value per register (unpacked);
structures are passed in registers, one value per register (unpacked); QMatrix4x4<float> is passed entirely in registers: half of it (the first 8 floats) are in floating-point registers, one value per register (unpacked); the other half is passed in integer registers out4 to out7 as the memory representations (packed);
is passed entirely in registers: half of it (the first 8 floats) are in floating-point registers, one value per register (unpacked); the other half is passed in integer registers to as the memory representations (packed); QMatrix4x4<double> is passed partly in registers: half of it (the first 8 doubles) are in floating-point registers, one value per register (unpacked); the other half is passed in memory;
is passed partly in registers: half of it (the first 8 doubles) are in floating-point registers, one value per register (unpacked); the other half is passed in memory; QChar and QLatin1String are passed in registers;
and are passed in registers; Both QMatrix are passed entirely in registers, one value per register (unpacked);
are passed entirely in registers, one value per register (unpacked); QMatrix4x4 is passed like Matrix4x4, except that the integer is always in memory (the structure is larger than 8*8 bytes);
is passed like, except that the integer is always in memory (the structure is larger than 8*8 bytes); Individual floating-point parameters are passed one per register; type promotion happens internally in the register.
For the return values, we have:
The floating-point structures with up to 8 floating-point members are returned in registers;
The integer structures of up to 32 bytes are returned in registers;
All the rest is returned in memory supplied by the caller.
The conclusions are:
Type promotion happens in hardware, as IA-64 does not have specific registers for single or double precision (is FP registers hold only extended precision data);
Homogeneous structures of floating-point types are passed in registers, up to 8 values; the rest goes to the integer registers if there are some still available or in memory;
All other structures are passed in the integer registers, up to 64 bytes;
Integer registers are allocated for passing any and all types, even if they aren't used (the ABI says they should be used if in the case of C without prototypes).
ARM
I've compiled the code only for ARMv7, with the floating-point parameters passed in the VFP registers. If you're reading this blog, you're probably interested in performance and therefore you must be using the "hard-float" model for ARM. I will not concern myself with the slower "soft-float" mode. Also note that this is ARMv7 only: the ARMv8 64-bit (AArch64) rules differ slightly, but no compiler for it is available.
Here are the results for parameter passing:
Pointers2, Pointers4, Integers2, and Integers4 are passed in registers (note that the Pointers and Integers structures are the same in 32-bit mode);
,,, and are passed in registers (note that the Pointers and Integers structures are the same in 32-bit mode); All of the Float types are passed in registers, one value per register, without promotion of floats to doubles; the values are also stored in memory but I can't tell if this is required or just GCC being dumb;
types are passed in registers, one value per register, without promotion of floats to doubles; the values are stored in memory but I can't tell if this is required or just GCC being dumb; All types of Matrix4x4, QMatrix and QMatrix4x4 are passed in both memory and registers, which contains the first 16 bytes;
, and are passed in both memory and registers, which contains the first 16 bytes; QChar and QLatin1String are passed in registers;
and are passed in registers; are passed in memory regardless of the underlying type.
The floating point parameters are passed one per register, without float promotion to double.
For returning those types, we have:
All of the Float types are returned in registers and GCC then stores them all to memory even if they are never used afterwards;
types are returned in registers and GCC then stores them all to memory even if they are never used afterwards; QChar is returned in a register;
Everything else is returned in memory.
Note that the return type is one of the places where the 32-bit AAPCS differs from the 64-bit one: there, if a type is passed in registers to a function where it is the first parameter, it is returned in those same registers. The 32-bit AAPCS restricts the return-in-registers to structures of 4 bytes or less.
My conclusions are:
Single-precision floating-point types are not promoted to double;
Homogeneous structures (that is, structures containing one single type) of a floating-point type are passed in floating-point registers if the structure has 4 members or fewer;
MIPS
I have attempted both a MIPS 32-bit build (using the GCC-default o32 ABI) and a MIPS 64-bit (using -mabi=o64 -mlong64 ). Unless noted otherwise, the results are the same for both architectures.
For passing parameters, they were:
Both types of Integers and Pointers structures are passed in registers; on 64-bit, two 32-bit integers are packed into a single 64-bit register like x86-64;
and structures are passed in registers; on 64-bit, two 32-bit integers are packed into a single 64-bit register like x86-64; Float2<float>, Float3<float>, and Float4<float> are passed in integer registers, not on the floating-point registers; on 64-bit, two floats are packed into a single 64-bit register;
,, and are passed in registers, not on the floating-point registers; on 64-bit, two are packed into a single 64-bit register; Float2<double> is passed in integer registers; on 32-bit, two 32-bit registers are required to store each double ;
is passed in integer registers; on 32-bit, two 32-bit registers are required to store each ; On 32-bit, the first two doubles of Float3<double> and Float3<double> are passed in integer registers, the rest are passed in memory;
and are passed in integer registers, the rest are passed in memory; On 64-bit, Float3<double> and Float3<double> are passed entirely in integer registers;
and are passed entirely in integer registers; Matrix4x4, QMatrix, and QMatrix4x4 are passed in integer registers (the portion that fits) and in memory (the rest);
,, and are passed in integer registers (the portion that fits) and in memory (the rest); QChar is passed in a register (on MIPS big-endian, it's passed on bits 16-31);
is passed in a register (on MIPS big-endian, it's passed on bits 16-31); QLatin1String is passed on two registers;
is passed on two registers; The floating point parameters are passed one per register, without float promotion to double.
For the return values, MIPS is easy: everything is returned in memory, even QChar.
The conclusions are even easier:
No float is promoted to double;
No structure is ever passed in floating-point registers;
No structure is ever returned in registers.
General conclusion
There are only few aggregate conclusion that we can take. One of them is that single-precision floating point values are not explicitly promoted to double when formal parameters are present. The automatic promotion probably happens only for floating-point values passed in ellipsis (...), but our problem statement was about calling functions where the parameters are know. The only slight deviation from the rule is IA-64, but it's unimportant as the hardware, like x87, only operates in one mode.
For the structures containing integer parameters (that includes pointers), there's nothing further to optimise: they are loaded into registers exactly as they appear in memory. That means the portion of the register corresponding to padding might contain uninitialised or garbage data, or it might make something really strange like MIPS in big-endian mode. It also means, on all architectures, that types smaller than a register do not occupy the entire register, so they might be packed with other members.
Another is quite obvious: structures containing floats are smaller than structures containing doubles, so they will use less memory or fewer registers to be passed.
To continue taking conclusions, we need to exclude MIPS since it passes everything in the integer registers and returns everything by memory. If we do that, we are able to see that all ABIs provide an optimisation for structures containing only one floating-point type. Those are called by slightly different names in the ABI documents, all meaning homogeneous floating-point structure. Those optimisations mean that the structure is passed on floating-point registers under certain conditions.
The first one to break down is actually x86-64: the upper limit is 16 bytes, limited to two SSE registers. The rationale for this seems to be passing one double-precision complex value, which takes 16 bytes. That we are able to pass four single-precision values is an unexpected benefit.
The remaining architectures (ARM and IA-64) can pass more values by register, and always at one value per register (no packing). IA-64 has more registers dedicated to parameter passing, so it can pass more than ARM.
Recommendations for code
Structures of up to 16 bytes containing integers and pointers should be passed by value;
Homogeneous structures of up to 16 bytes containing floating-point should be passed by value (2 doubles or 4 floats);
Mixed-type structures should be avoided; if they exist, passing by value is still a good idea;
The above is only valid for structures that are trivially-copiable and trivially-destrucitble. All C structures (POD in C++) meet those criteria.
Final note
I should note that the recommendations above do not always produce more efficient code. Even though the values can be passed in registers, every single compiler I tested (GCC 4.6, Clang 3.0, ICC 12.1) still does a lot of memory operations in some cases. It's quite common for the compiler to write the structure to memory and then load it into the registers. When it does that, passing by constant reference would be more efficient since it would replace the memory loads with arithmetic on the stack pointer.
However, those are simply a matter of further optimisation work by the compiler teams. The three compilers I tested for x86-64 optimise differently and, in almost all cases, at least one of them managed to do without memory access. Interestingly, the behaviour changes also when we replace the padding space with zeroes.Barack Obama's opponents view defeating healthcare reform as their ticket to recapturing power, with one Republican Senator infamously declaring that it would be the president's "Waterloo". Efforts by Republicans to feign interest in real reform by seeking to slow the progress of the bill or start over are nothing more than thinly veiled efforts to undermine the scope of reform and preserve the status quo. As a result of this increasingly polarised political landscape, Democrats are now signalling that they may pass part of the healthcare bill without Republican support by splitting the bill into two more manageable pieces.
The first part would include insurance reform and could be passed with broader approval. The second, more controversial bill would involve substantive reform and may include a government-run "public option" or nonprofit cooperative that would compete with private insurers. Passing the more contentious part of reform would require using a budget device called "reconciliation" that would enable the bill to pass by simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
Talk of using reconciliation has Republicans crying foul, calling it the "nuclear option", as well as an "end run" around the democratic process. It's difficult to take seriously protests that are so clearly hypocritical in the face of years of strong-arm Republican legislative tactics that used this same same tool on at least four occasions involving tax cuts and oil drilling. Moreover, George Bush's Senate allies once denounced the filibuster as the "formula for tyranny by the minority" and downplayed reconciliation as simply the "constitutional option".
If ever there was a time in our history important enough to consider using such a tool, it is fighting to ease the suffering of our fellow citizens. The healthcare town hall meetings where angry Republicans compare Obama to Hitler represent why this is a difficult issue.
The larger problem is that it's difficult to make all the important players in the process happy when many of them have mutually exclusive positions. The American Medical Association, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and hospital groups are not all on the same page. Consensus-building will not only water down any final bill but it will benefit the few at the expense of many.
The fact that reconciliation lowers the threshold for passing legislation does not mean it's an undemocratic tool, particularly in a situation where the process is the enemy. There's nothing democratic about requiring a supermajority of 60 votes to pass a bill. Moreover, it may even be somewhat generous to say reconciliation permits an up or down vote. Passing a bill by simple majority would still require that legislation survive numerous committees in both the Senate and the House, conference committees to reconcile different versions of the bill in each chamber and a final conference committee between both chambers.
At each chokepoint in the legislative process, legislation can be killed before it's ever given an up or down vote on the floor. The filibuster is nothing more than an informal rule which is often used to stand in the way of progress, such as in 1957 when Strom Thurmond attempted to block the Civil Rights Act. Reconciliation, while procedurally nothing more than a form of sleight of hand, is substantively a democratic idea.
Obama and his democratic allies won the election in no small measure because he ran on healthcare reform with a public option. He was unsuccessfully attacked many times for being a "socialist", so to label the current healthcare proposal as such is nothing more than a second bite at the electoral apple.
Healthcare reform isn't about bringing the country together. It's about making good on a promise to change this country for the better. The president's opponents do not fight for the sake of their ideals, but for political advantage and a handful of powerful corporations fighting to keep profits made on the backs of the sick and dying. This debate is full of passion, but now is the time to assert the political influence the American people gave Democrats in 2008.
When the dust settles and the talk of "death panels" has subsided, Democrats and Republicans will be judged on election day by a simple majority of their constituents, nothing more and nothing less. Using reconciliation in the healthcare debate simply provides that same fairness for members of Congress representing the American people.For single seasons, From 1901 to 2016, (requiring SV≥40 and BSv=0), Stats complete to 1973 and mostly complete to 1954, sorted by smallest BSv: Results
generated by a site user
This report was generated using the SHARE link located just above the stat tables on the site. Give it a try!
User's Notes:
Rk Player BSv SV Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% IP H R ER BB SO ERA FIP ERA HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS PO BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS Pit Str 1 Jose Valverde 0 49 2011 33 DET AL 75 0 0 0 70 2 4.333 72.1 52 21 18 34 69 2.24 3.55 185 5 301 262 7 0 4 3 2 0 4 9 3 0 1 3.198.298.282.580 60 1209 748 2 Brad Lidge 0 41 2008 31 PHI NL 72 0 0 0 61 2 0 1.000 69.1 50 17 15 35 92 1.95 2.41 224 2 292 253 10 1 4 1 2 1 3 8 1 0 0 5.198.297.269.565 53 1238 759 3 Eric Gagne 0 55 2003 27 LAD NL 77 0 0 0 67 2 3.400 82.1 37 12 11 20 137 1.20 0.86 337 2 306 279 6 0 2 3 4 0 0 2 1 0 0 2.133.199.176.374 4 1187 824 View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/3/2016. Provided by Baseball-Reference.com Generated 9/3/2016.
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Coolest pebble hack!
What it Does
DailEQs is a Pebble math game that helps users increase their mental agility. Practice your arithmetic conveniently and on the go with these daily equations.
Why should I put DailEQs on my Pebble?
Had I been using an application like DailEQs on my smartphone for the past month, the amount of careless arithmetic mistakes that I'm going to make on my next math midterm would have been drastically smaller.
The fact that Pebble applications are somewhat limited in complexity compared to other smart devices is more of a blessing than a curse. Not only is the battery life great in comparison, but the amount of distractions that come with smart phones is diminished. This makes the Pebble an ideal platform for easy to access study tools.
Inspiration
We came to HackingEDU with a one main goal, to study for our Discrete Math midterm.
We ended up learning a lot about the Pebble SDK, Pebble JS, and C.
As with most math courses, calculators will not be allowed during our Discrete Math exam. Most students would agree that the availability of calculators while doing homework is a crutch when it comes to test preparation. Practicing arithmetic daily on your pebble is a great way to improve your test taking abilities and confidence.
We decided on the drive up from UCSC that we would make a Pebble App. Our team member Sean owns a Pebble Time and it was an opportunity for us all to learn something completely new. Originally we set out to make an Alarm application that made you solve a math problem to snooze. We noticed that there was a lack of math puzzle games on the Pebble appstore, so we changed direction after a few hours of coding the alarm in C.
Planned Improvements
Highscore Storage Option to change difficulty Improve the equation generation algorithm to create more unique equations
About Us
We're a team of four third year Computer Science majors at UCSC. All of us just transferred in from California community colleges. This was our first Hackathon and won't be our last.NEW DELHI — India said on Tuesday that it had intercepted a Pakistani boat in waters off its west coast with what appeared to be nearly $100 million worth of heroin aboard.
Eight Pakistanis aboard the boat were taken to Porbandar, a coastal town in the state of Gujarat, for further investigation, according to a statement from the Indian Coast Guard. Satellite phones and GPS devices were confiscated, the Coast Guard said.
An Indian Navy official told reporters that the seized cache weighed about 500 pounds in a news conference in Porbandar on Tuesday afternoon. The navy also presented the eight Pakistanis in handcuffs to reporters during the news conference. Pakistan did not immediately issue a statement.
The waters in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat are closely watched by India’s Coast Guard and navy for potential infiltrators from Pakistan.The NHL’s All-Star Game roster selection rules typically prioritize fun over merit, and that’s a good thing. John Scott gave us one of the most memorable and amazing all-star weekends in history last year. Though the NHL introduced the ‘John Scott rule’ this season, disqualifying players from being named captains if they’re injured or sent to the AHL, the event still honors a few other fun-first traditions.
One is ensuring every NHL team has a representative. That’s why, when the league unveiled the 2017 All-Star Game rosters Tuesday, the lists were peppered with a few pedestrian performers. Doing so reflects the game’s inclusive spirit, but it can be cruel to a few deserving players who get snubbed. No disrespect to the likes of Frans Nielsen, Mike Smith, Vincent Trocheck, Kyle Okposo and Nathan MacKinnon, but…they aren’t playing at an All-Star Game level this season. The Central Division in particular seems out of whack, with the Winnipeg Jets’ Mark Scheifele and the Chicago Blackhawks’ Artemi Panarin failing to make the team. MacKinnon, with 10 goals and 27 points in 39 games, can’t hold a candle to their numbers.
Another Central snub inciting less fan outrage on social media in the hours after the announcement: Mr. Eric Staal. The Minnesota Wild’s new No. 1 center quietly has 13 goals and 35 points in 39 games, which extrapolates to 27 goals and 74 points over an 82-game schedule. Staal has also performed steadily in the possession game, with a 5-on-5 Corsi 4.4 percent higher than his team’s average. He’s humming along at an all-star level, even if the selection rules block him from that official designation. And that’s quite the accomplishment for Staal, 32, given how low his stock plummeted last season.
It’s easy to see why 2015-16 was a nightmare for Staal. It was his 12th season as the Hurricanes’ marquee center. He racked up 100 points and won the Stanley Cup with them in 2005-06. By season’s end he’d have 322 goals and 775 points in 909 games with them, trailing only Ron Francis for the Hartford/Carolina franchise’s all-time lead in goals, assists and points. But Staal was a pending unrestricted free agent, and Francis, now the team’s GM, was only a couple seasons into a true rebuild. Staal knew he made no sense for the team’s long-term vision. He saw a breakup coming. He was pretty sure he had to move on. It was tough to play through those feelings on a fledgling team.
“That can weigh on you, but at the same time you’re trying to play as hard as you can for the team to make a push, and we were hanging around for a while, fighting hard,” he said. “When you do know that trade deadline’s coming and you’re going to be traded, there’s just a lot to deal with. It’s difficult. Then with on-ice play, with them knowing I was probably moving on, there was situational play where different guys were in different spots, and I was probably in different spots than what I’ve been most successful or comfortable with.”
Staal is diplomatically referring to line juggling. The Canes were searching for their team identity and tried youngsters Elias Lindholm and Victor Rask with Staal, as well as veteran Kris Versteeg. The transition was awkward for Staal, and he labored through easily his worst offensive season since his rookie year of 2003-04, with just 10 goals and 33 points in 63 games. Then came the deadline-day trade to the New York Rangers, and things got worse from there. Including the playoffs, Staal had just three goals and six points in 25 games, spent primarily on the Rangers’ third line. His market value as a UFA was damaged, his ability to produce as a top-flight NHL center called into question. Staal, however, didn’t suffer any crisis of confidence during that trying year. Not even close.
“The year was not successful, and the numbers didn’t look good, but in my mind and in my head and my heart, I thought, ‘I know I still can play,’ ” he said. “It wasn’t like every time I was on the ice, nothing was happening and I wasn’t creating chances or I was just an ineffective player. I wasn’t, and I knew I wasn’t. Given the right situation and opportunity, I felt like I could contribute and get back to some of the numbers that I was more accustomed to over the years.”
Someone else shared that sentiment: newly minted Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau. He saw plenty of offense left in Staal’s stick and played a crucial role in summer recruitment. Staal was weighing multiple offers, but Boudreau’s pitch won him over. Staal signed for three years and $10.5 million.
“I’ve been given an opportunity to play in a role I’m most comfortable in,” Staal said. “It’s a new staff, I had great candid conversations with Bruce over the summer, and he told me he’s going to give me every opportunity to play the way he knew and I felt like I could play.”
Boudreau delivered on that promise, parking Staal on the team’s top line. He’s seen variations between Nino Niederreiter and Zach Parise on the left side but has played almost the entire year with Charlie Coyle on his right. Coyle has enjoyed the best season of his young career so far, and Staal has rejoined the ranks of high-end offensive pivots. If he maintains his current pace, he’ll finish 2016-17 with his best numbers across the board since 2012-13.
So it’s been a great “prove it” season for Staal. Not that any revenge narrative applies to Carolina, of course. The separation was amicable. They’d merely outgrown their usefulness to each other. The Canes, years away from Cup contention, needed to get younger and cheaper. Staal, exiting his prime, wanted to pursue playoff success with an established club. He describes his Wild teammates as “a group of players looking to achieve something more,” and he thinks of himself the same way.
All-Star Game participant? Not unless someone pulls out with a late injury, and even then, Panarin likely gets the first look. But Staal’s season is a great success regardless – and a reminder for us to ponder a player’s situation before assuming his best years are gone.
Matt Larkin is a writer and editor at The Hockey News and a regular contributor to thn.com. For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, subscribe to The Hockey News magazine. Follow Matt Larkin on Twitter at @THNMattLarkinby David Kavanagh
To many political economy scholars, the 21st Century belongs to, for all intents and purposes, the East Asian region.
Nowhere else on Earth have nation states exploded with such sudden and rapid economic growth and a general rise in living standards as in places like Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and of course the heavyweight People’s Republic of China (PRC).
As such, many also are beginning to fear the rising influence of the latter, a country whose GDP and general economic power is expected to soon surpass that of the United States, the one superpower that has exercised substantial hegemonic influence over global affairs since the end of the Second World War.
While the pervasive fear of the Commies that permeated international politics and relations throughout the Cold War period has dwindled, China remains America’s most major source of economic competition.
Although still nominally a Communist state governed by the single and powerful Communist Party of China (CPC), China is more invested in international trade and the liberal capitalist system than most.
It beckons the belief that its political system will soon follow suit and that China will, within the next generation according to some, democratize fully.
There are a number of reasons for this and a further multitude of theories about how and when exactly it will take place – be it rapidly, in the guise of populist discontent and revolution, or more gradually, with incremental adjustments to governance structures – but the end picture is the same.
The most common argument stems from the theoretical groundwork of what political scientists refer to as Modernization Theory.
While it is complex and specific elements are necessarily hotly debated, the basic gist of modernization theory, as put by prominent theorist Walt Whitman Rostow, is as follows.
Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth
Most societies throughout human histories begin in their infancy as agrarian (or agriculture-based) and feudal societies with subsistence economies, low levels of trade and basic technology, and limited enfranchisement. The power is in the hands of the few.
Eventually gradual economic growth leads to a period of industrialization and innovation during which technologies and economies begin to expand and a small and educated middle class emerges.
As the period of industrialization continues and surplus goods lead to further profit, the middle class grows and society becomes generally more prosperous.
Then, when the middle class is large, prosperous and, to put it simply, smart enough, their expectations about the standard of living and the political environment around them begin to evolve or rise.
They begin to make demands of their leaders. They want to be rid of corruption and wealth inequality. They want to begin a discussion of fundamental rights, citizenship, and all of its associated features. They want to live, fundamentally, in a democratic or at least liberal egalitarian society in which civil and political freedoms are protected and respected and power is not abused.
All that said, it must be pointed out that modernization, although greatly increasing the likelihood of liberalization or democratization (and there is a difference, but that’s a debate for another time), does not always result in a country becoming democratic.
With China, however, present conditions suggest that it may very well do just that.
The case for China
As a one-party Communist system, the Chinese government has extensive power over the populace. By controlling most of the mainstream media and restricting certain civil liberties and political rights it can quash a great deal of dissent and opposition.
But even authoritarian regimes need to keep their population content in order to avoid revolutions either so violent and desperate or so widely supported that they become dangerous.
In China, a majority of the population seems content to surrender some of their rights if it means continued growth and, as was said before, the consequent rise in living standards. After all, everyone likes to live in a clean and progressive society.
It would even be narrow minded to suggest that this approach is in any way inferior to the typical democratic experience which stresses individual rights and freedoms sometimes at the expense of organised development.
Singapore, for example, owes a substantial amount of its enormous wealth and high standard of living to the authoritarian principles espoused by its former and even now much revered and recently deceased Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who believed that some state control would be necessary to prevent instability and allow economic and human development – which it did. His approach is commonly referred to as “authoritarian pragmatism”.
But in China, it’s becoming the case that the sacrifices made by its people are no longer balanced alongside worthwhile development.
Although it remains a global economic leader, far surpassing the GDP of its neighbours, its citizens are beginning to face a number of internal economic problems.
Not only are people becoming frustrated with the constant abuses of power, environmental degradation and censorship, but Chinese citizens are facing rapidly rising wages, industrial labour shortages, and pressure on healthcare, welfare and pensions.
Furthermore, education has seemingly reached a limit and urbanization, a primary driver of productivity within the country has decelerated drastically.
Anger is brewing in some segments of society. Protests have been and continue to be organised by those dissatisfied enough to challenge the system.
And so, China finds itself in a Catch-22 of sorts.
On the one hand, if China successfully finds a way to continue substantial economic growth in order to satisfy the populace, it will still have to deal with prospects of liberalization. Remember, modernization usually means liberalization.
As the Financial Times Philip Stephens adequately put it:
Authoritarian regimes, most notably China, have traditionally seen growth as the answer. They are mistaken. For one thing, as we have seen in recent months, rising states are not immune to global economic cycles.”
Similarly, the Atlantic Times Larry Diamond says:
China cannot keep moving forward to the per capita income, educational, and informational levels of a middle-income country without experiencing the pressures for democratic change that Korea and Taiwan did more than two decades ago.
On the other hand, discontent resulting from the gradual slowing down of growth where it counts for its citizens and an increased spread of democratic values worldwide may lead to dramatic cries for reform and potential liberalization anyway.
To put it concisely: more growth may lead to democracy and less growth may lead to democracy. The distinction will be made in how exactly it gets there.
For more of this kind of content, follow Journalytic on Facebook or Twitter
AdvertisementsFrom worm to star: primitive bilateral echinoderms from the Cambrian of southern Europe
Echinoderms are among the most fascinating invertebrates inhabiting the sea floor today. They encompass a variety of beautiful and strange forms including the flowery sea lily, the spiny sea urchin, the hairy sea potato or sand dollar, the wormy sea cucumber, or the multi-armed starfish and brittle star. They differ from other higher metazoans in the fact that they bear a characteristic pentaradiate body plan. This particular anatomy is acquired during ontogeny; larvae are born bilateral and only after going through an assymetric phase they finally become pentaradiate adults.
The fossil record of ancient echinoderms is excellent thanks to the fact that they all bear a multi-plate, calcitic skeleton, which facilitates their preservation. Among extinct echinoderms, there is a group of Paleozoic animals, the carpoids, which arguably are among the weirdest creatures that ever inhabited our planet. Carpoids (which include 4 distinct groups: cnetocistoids, cinctans, solutans and stylophorans) are an enigmatic group of assymetrical echinoderms, generally with a rather flat body (or theca) and an elongated arm-like appendix (the aulacophor). Interpretations about their anatomy, mode of life and |
after the global financial crisis appears to have ground to a halt. While the stunted version of "Rockefeller Center" and its Twin Towers appeared to be complete — both were empty and fenced off.
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"It's the financial crisis. The impact is big," said one man on the site who preferred not to be identified but said he worked for a transportation company. "I think there are still working on a building over there," he added, pointing down a wide and empty highway, strewn with litter.
Read More US welcomes peaceful, prosperous China: Obama
As he spoke, fierce gusts of wind howled around the shells of high-rise buildings lining the road, sending plumes of dust and plastic bags into the air.
Two thick-set security men with shaved heads appeared from the entrance of one building.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. No, no, no," said one of them, moving to block a camera. "You can't shoot because it is not ready."
Read More APEC summit kicks off in China: What to expect
Yujiapu was scheduled for completion in 2019, offering 164 million square feet of office space over an area larger than Manhattan's financial district in a bid to stimulate development of vast residential districts nearby.
Mock-ups of the bright and bustling metropolis envisioned by developers that dot roadside billboards stand in stark contrast to the lifeless cranes beyond, which tell the tale of a building frenzy quickly turning into a bust.
Read MoreChina slowdown 'not so scary'? Business leaders agreeWASHINGTON — With millions of households across the country struggling to have enough to eat, and millions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is increasingly being seen as a serious environmental and economic issue.
A report released Wednesday shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million metric tons of it end up in municipal landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local governments.
The problem is not limited to the United States.
The report estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. Reducing food waste from 20 to 50 percent globally could save $120 billion to $300 billion a year by 2030, the report found.
“Food waste is a global issue, and tackling it is a priority,” said Richard Swannell, director of sustainable food systems at the Waste and Resources Action Program, or Wrap, an antiwaste organization in Britain that compiled the new report. “The difficulty is often in knowing where to start and how to make the biggest economic and environmental savings.”India will be the 42nd member of the multilateral export control regime, Wassenaar Arrangement. The group made the decision at its two-day plenary meeting in Vienna, which ended Thursday.
The Wassenaar Arrangement aims to bring transparency to exports of arms and dual-use goods and technologies. Members must maintain rigorous national export control systems. Joining the elite group will enhance India’s position in the field of non-proliferation and make it easier to acquire defence technologies.
This is the second such international victory for New Delhi in the past year and a half. In July 2016, India formally became a member of a similar export control group, Missile Technology Control Regime, which meant easier purchases of high-end missile technology and state-of-the-art surveillance drones for the country.
India’s membership to the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, however, remains elusive because of the opposition from China and some other countries. China is not a member of either the Wassenaar Arrangement or the Missile Technology Control Regime.
French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler congratulated India on being admitted to the group. “One more recognition, after MTCR, of the growing role India plays in today’s world,” he said.French far right leader has previously denied any wrongdoing in a case that she says is politically motivated
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right Front National, has been placed under formal investigation over allegations that her party illegally claimed millions of euros from the European parliament to pay for France-based staff.
Le Pen’s lawyer said she had been summoned by investigating magistrates in Paris and “as expected” had been placed under formal investigation for breach of trust. She will appeal against the decision.
Under French law, being put under formal investigation means there is “serious or consistent evidence” that points to probable involvement in a crime. It is a step towards a trial, though investigations can be dropped without proceeding to court.
The case was triggered by a complaint from the European parliament, which accused the Front National of defrauding it on a large scale. An investigation by a European parliament watchdog claimed that between 2011 and 2012 Le Pen had illicitly paid party staff for Front National work using money that should only be used for MEPs to pay assistants for legislative tasks.
Marine Le Pen refuses to repay €300k of'misspent' EU funds Read more
In February, the European parliament said it would start docking Le Pen’s pay unless she paid the money back.
Le Pen has denied any wrongdoing and denied the allegations which she called political “persecution” of her.
Le Pen, who reached the final round of the presidential election in May and was squarely beaten by Emmanuel Macron, had invoked her immunity as a member of the European parliament in refusing to answer questions from investigators during the election campaign.
She had, however, promised to cooperate with the investigation after the May presidential and June parliamentary elections were over.
Le Pen is one of 17 Front National European lawmakers – along with her estranged father Jean-Marie Le Pen – who are being investigated over salaries paid to about 40 parliamentary assistants. All have denied any wrongdoing.
This month, Marine Le Pen took a seat in the French parliament for the first time after winning parliamentary elections in the northern former coal-mining region of Pas-de-Calais.(CNN) A plague outbreak in Madagascar has infected 1,192 people since August, with 124 deaths, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Madagascar's National Bureau of Risk Management and Disaster reported on Monday.
The majority of cases, 67%, were the pneumonic form of the disease, which can spread from person to person.
Plague is caused by infection with the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is typically spread through the bite of infected fleas, frequently carried by rats, causing bubonic plague. Symptoms include painful, swollen lymph nodes, called bubos, as well as fever, chills and coughing.
Pneumonic plague is more virulent or damaging and is an advanced form characterized by a severe lung infection that can be transmitted from person to person via airborne droplets such as through coughing or sneezing, for example. The incubation period is short, and an infected person may die within 12 to 24 hours.
Both forms can be treated with antibiotics, making early detection a priority.
Of Madagascar's 114 districts, 40 have reported cases of pneumonic plague and less than 30% of people who have had contact with cases can be traced, according to the UN office. Those who've been in contact might need treatment themselves and may pose further risk of spreading the infection.
Cases have been reported in at least 10 cities, including the the larger, more populated, cities of Antananarivo and Toamasina.
People stand back as a council worker sprays disinfectant during the clean-up of the market of Anosibe in the Anosibe district, one of the most unsalubrious districts of Antananarivo.
But 780 individuals have been cured of their infection since August 1 and six of the affected districts have not reported new cases for 15 days, the UN report states.
Despite the increase in numbers, the trend has been relatively stable, a World Health Organization representative told CNN.
Dr. Charlotte Ndiaye, WHO representative in Madagascar, added that about half the deaths are occurring in the community, not health centers, according to government figures, which demonstrates that more work needs to be done to help people understand that treatment is available, and they need to go to health services as quickly as possible.
Plague is endemic to Madagascar, with an estimated 400 cases reported there every year, mostly the bubonic variety, but the current outbreak has affected more areas and started earlier than usual.
It's also unusual for large urban areas to be affected, as they have been this year, the WHO previously told CNN.
The current outbreak began after the death of a man in the central highlands of the country -- a plague-endemic area -- after which the Ministry of Public Health began investigating and tracing his contacts, according to the WHO.
The epidemic has garnered national and international control efforts.
Eight health centers have been designated by WHO to manage plague cases and alleviate the burden on hospitals and health clinics. Last week the International Federation of Red Cross also announced the deployment of a treatment center in the country.
The federation's Secretary General Elhadj As Sy called for global support and launched an emergency appeal for around $5.5 million last week.
WHO has also provided the medications to treat up to 5,000 people and protect 100,000 people who may have been in contact with infected individuals. Both organizations have trained and mobilized thousands of volunteers.
Protocols are also being proposed for safe burial practices to ensure maximum safety and protection from infection.
Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.
Public schools are closed and the government has forbidden public gatherings, according to the Red Cross.
The risk of further spread nationally remains very high, WHO stated in its most recent situation report, and risk of regional spread is moderate due to neighboring islands and southern and east African countries.
Samples from patients in Seychelles suspected to be ill with pneumonic plague tested negative, the WHO reported Tuesday.
"The risk of international spread is low, because generally, people with plague are too sick to travel," Ndiaye told CNN in a previous report.
She explained WHO is working closely with Madagascar's airport authorities to ensure control measures -- such as temperature checks and medical teams -- are in place at airports and ports to prevent the spread of infection outside the country.Comments to Steve Sailer:
* If this were a Tom Wolfe novel, we’d soon find out that Trump’s streetwise private eye had surreptitiously recorded Clinton saying or doing things at Trump National that would cause Hillary problems if exposed.
* Wait a minute. GOP establishment has been telling us Trump has to go because he’s vulgar and crude. And Rubio has been presented as a classy alternative. So, why is he doing the Howard Stern thing?
* The irony of Trump is he is seen as the anti-immigrant candidate but has the hunger, the fire in the belly, of an immigrant.
In METROPOLITAN, the established wasp elites fret a lot, lack confidence, and just await their decline to irrelevance. This is what stuck out about Jeb. He seemed so settled whereas Trump has some of that Davy Crockett adventurer about him.
Trump acts like he got off the boat with Tony Montana.
And a NYer of all people who’s come to represent flyover country?
Something is strange here.
Maybe Trump has one thing in common with Obama.
Though Obama was much favored by rich Libs and Jews, he felt as an outsider. He knew they were using him for his symbolic value.
Likewise, Trump was used by rich NY Jews in the way that Gatsby is used in the novel by those richer and smarter than he. He has the frontman image that the others don’t have.
If Trump had been surrounded by Wasps, maybe he would have felt differently. But having been surrounded by Jews who used his name and face, maybe he felt sort of ‘used’ like Obama.
And so, he gets a kick out of connecting with people ‘left behind’.
Or maybe it’s all just shtick.
In business, he always felt beholden to others. He was with others richer and smarter than him. But speaking to crowds, he really feels like boss and top dog.
* Hillary also thought she had the 2008 nomination locked up, and that Obama, the one-term do-nothing Senator, wasn’t anything to worry about. Whoops.
Hillary also thought she had a button that said “reset” in Russian that she gave to Putin, and that she would be a good Secretary of State and work with him. Whoops. The word actually meant “overcharge” in Russian, and Putin spent the last 8 years taking advantage of her and America’s gaffes.
Hillary also thought Bernie Sanders wouldn’t be a threat at all. Whoops. Bernie’s showing in Iowa and New Hampshire scared the crap outta her and the dems.
Let’s face it: Hillary is extremely bad at campaigning, diplomacy, and judging the danger of situations. Bill, ever a more man of the people, is way more right.
Now the way Trump beats her is simple: don’t harp on the nitpickiness of her millions of scandals, just assume the sale about her being a crook, and then hit her with a metaphorical Kill Shot insult. He’s already alluded to her seeming tired, which might work. I’m sure he’s got 3-4 major insults lined up.
* I also found an article by a physician, John McDougall, M.D., claiming that Bill Clinton’s “madness” is “a consequence of heart-bypass surgery brain damage”. With a sympathy that I don’t share, given all the horrible things the toxic Clintons have wrought, Dr. McDougall writes:
One of the savviest politicians of our generation, known for his wit, charm, and calm under extreme pressure, Bill Clinton appears out of character in the speeches and interviews televised since his bypass surgery September 6, 2004 and his mental deterioration may be accelerating….
One of the best-kept secrets in medicine is the brain damage caused during bypass surgery... these well-recognized side effects have been reported in medical journals since 1969.1
Brain damage during bypass surgery is so common that hospital personnel refer to it as “pump head.” The primary cause is emboli produced during surgery from clamping the aorta and from the “heart-lung machine.” This machine pumps blood to keep the patient alive while the heart is stopped during the operation. Unfortunately, this pump also introduces toxic gases, fat globules, and bits of plastic debris into the bloodstream of the patient under anesthesia. Once they are in the bloodstream, these particles migrate to the brain where they can clog capillaries and prevent adequate amounts of blood and oxygen from flowing to the brain. Essentially, all patients experience brain emboli during surgery and for many the damage is permanent.
In 2001, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that 5-years after bypass surgery 42% of patients showed decline in mental function of approximately 20 percent or more.2 A study published this year (2008) in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery using MRI testing just after bypass surgery found brain damage in 51% of patients.3 Three years after their time on the bypass pump, significant permanent reduction in mental capacity was identified in 31% of patients. I am not talking major stroke here; but these patients can’t remember names or numbers as they once did…
* Trump needs to raise the bid. He must have known that his “David Duke” moment was going to happen which is why I find his unprepared response puzzling. My two cents is that on a national TV news station, openly and un-equivalently disavow David Duke and the Klan / Nazis. Then, at his next 20,000 all white stadium event, he needs to quickly disavow one more time prepare his supporters for the fact that they will be smeared the same way and that the election will only be about race and sex baiting. His opponents, including the press, will be caught in a trap of their own making. Clearly, this is the moment if ever, to turn this around. Even if the Democrats win the Presidential election, their relationship with white-Americans will be so scarred that the divide will never heal. It would take a certain measure of balls to pull this off but there isn’t a better man to do it.
* I saw photos of Bill Clinton at Chelsea’s wedding and he didn’t look like he’d live out the year. He’s still around. He does not look good, however. I wonder what neurological problems Hillary might have. I mentioned a fall at 3:00 a.m to a person with a medical background without specifying the person involved, and her instant reaction was “stroke.” Granted it was an uninformed diagnosis but the fact that she said it without hesitation meant something to me. It would also partially explain the long rehabiitation period–more than a concussion was involved. I have also read that Hillary drinks rather heavily. A repeat of Woodrow Wilson’s second term is possible if she’s elected: imagine a neurologically-damaged Hillary Clinton Presidency being managed by a troika of Bill Clinton, Huma Abedin and Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky.
* One of the things that strikes me about the criticism of Trump, from both the right and the left, is that there seems to be no consistent line on exactly what his supposedly horrendous candidacy represents.
For one critic, it’s that he’s an authoritarian. For another, it’s that he’s a full on liberal. For another, it’s that he is a foaming right wing nut. For another, it’s that he’s a racist. For another, it’s that he’s vulgarian. But for all of these critics, he’s a monster who will destroy all we hold sacred.
Now at least some of the claims can’t easily be reconciled. He may be a liberal demon to some conservatives, and he may be a crazy wingnut to some liberals, but he can’t really be both. One would think that at the very least if he truly represented something horrible, there would be broad consensus as to what in particular is so very bad and dangerous about him.
But I’m not seeing anything like a consistent picture. His monstrosity seems to assume very different shapes for different people.
* Larry Summers just came out and condemned Trump as the greatest present threat to the prosperity and security of the United States.
Now that’s a ringing endorsement when that mega-crook starts spewing FUD like a broken sewer main.
Still it shows that the anti-Trump list just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
So far we have:
CNN
FoxNews
MSNBC
WSJ
WaPo
LAT
NYT
The GOP
Dozens of top GOP congressmen
The Democratic party
Chambers of Commerce
Club for Growth
Silicon Valley billionaires
Hedge fund billionaires
Koch brothers
Adelson
The entire staff at the National Review
The Weekly Standard
Hollywood
The level of fear and loathing from the establishment is reaching levels that are beyond our comprehension.
* All it will take is for Trump to go to the funeral of a slain officer or a white child who was killed by a ghetto rat and it will be like kicking an ant hill. Maybe the left should stop playing with this race thing while they can still claim to be ahead.
* I got the feeling Obama and the Democrats are realizing that there is a problem with not showing enough respect to police and armed forces: I feel like there was sooo much attention given to the medal award for the Seal Team 6 officer (a man from rust-belt Ohio) yesterday.
* I didn’t read the Larry Summers article because one brazen lie that jumped out at me was enough. Referring to Trump’s initial refusal to “disavow” David Duke’s endorsement of him, Summers says Trump “has already flirted with the Ku Klux Klan”.Lesson learned: never complain about a lack of college football anguish and gnashing of teeth. We got spleen for DAYS this week, people.
ACC
You have reached State Of The U, SB Nation's Miami Hurricanes blog. At the tone,
now is the time for screaming obscenities and frightening the family pet
Mine ran upstairs 30 minutes ago
If you are a highly ranked high school prospect trying to reach Inside The U, please hang up.
we should not even recruit anyone over 2 stars. our coaches we have now cant do anything with 5 and 4 stars except ruin their shot at the NFL. I wouldn't come to the da U if Golden was here or at least maybe fire Defense coach.
You have been charged $7.99 for this call, the proceeds of which will go to The Butch Davis Will Fix Everything Including My Fractured Relationship fund. Go Canes!
It was not so long ago that NC State was making a valiant effort to upset upset Florida State. Though they did not succeed, surely this was a sign that the Wolfpack were ready to contend with the upper echelon of -- no, I'm just kidding, they got destroyed by Clemson, and Backing The Pack continued the conference's weird fixation on animal abuse.
Hey, we finally joined Facebook!
Brett favre
just threw a football at his dog. Looked better than our O
This sucks so bad
I'm actually fantasizing about killing my cat. Screw tigers and everything remotely related to them
Commenters will say anything, though. What we need is the calm, balanced perspective of a writer handling a recap!
There are things I could nitpick here, probably--even in a game that plays out like this, there are always moments that cause frustration and/or the need to helplessly yell at televisions. YOU STUPID SMALL PEOPLE IN THE RECTANGLE WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME. But what would be the point of concerning myself with those things? Who cares about the chair in the living room, the whole house is on fire.
My pet bunny was in that chair, you monster. (Rest in piece, Steve Furrier.)
Losing to Virginia has one Pitt fan on Panther Digest asking some tough questions about the program and revealing some eye-opening things about his marriage.
Watching the game tonight, I don't want to say I didn't care, because I invest so much of my time following this team and have for years, but I was numb for the first time thinking "here we go again". My wife, a Purdue grad and fan watches her Boilers and hopes just to win the games they "should" and maybe get to a bowl game. I always make fun of her for having lofty "goals" for her team, but are we the same in a way? Do we essentially hope the same thing? I always think like since Pitt has a very good recruiting area, at least better than Purdue, we can get the good recruits with solid seasons and build a winner, but it has not happened yet and we have had great recruits, some of them in the NFL now.
The only good thing I can say to this poor man is that Pitt hasn't played Purdue since 1986, and there's only one bowl that features a Big Ten-ACC matchup. I pray you do not have to see your Panthers play her Boilermakers in this year's Pinstripe Bowl, sir. I pray none of us do.
Big Ten
Speaking of Purdue -- What? That's a normal thing to do. Shut up. -- the Boilermakers handed Illinois loss No. 3 of the year. The Champaign Room has thoughts:
ILLINOIS FOOTBALL MAKES BABY JESUS CRY!!
Illinois football makes baby Jesus agnostic.
Needless to say, the clock is running out for Illini coach Tim Beckman. Unless you ask this gentleman, who thought the buzzer sounded way way way way way way way long ago.
If you couldn't see that Timmy Beckman was out of his depth from the 1st minute of the 1st game of his 1st Illinois season...
you either haven't been paying attention or don't know anything (or care) about college football. He has done NOTHING in 3 years to show that he is qualified to be in charge of this program. Apparently pointing that out makes one a "hater", but at this point I don't care because I'll take the label hater over being a pinhead that has been defending this abomination of a program for the last 3 years. I can't wait to hear the defenses this week....it's like being mugged at gunpoint, having your girlfriend abused in front of you, but still not thinking anything is wrong until the guy pistol whips you at the end. Pinheads.
Mmm... pistol whip...
The commenter mood at MGoBlog has transitioned from one of disbelief and outrage to somber contemplation, as one Michigan fan wants to know: do the losses sting anymore?
Saturdays are ruined, thats for sure. I was still stinging about the Minny game well into last week. But I still walk around in my Michigan Football gear and my Michigan block M hat and people look at me like I'm wearing a dildo helmet on my head.
no. not even a little. and it sucks. it's like losing your sense of smell/taste. There's nothing to look forward too in the fall now except bad weather and thanksgiving. I wasn't planning on watching this game at all, but I was compelled to do it when I realized the game started. I watched most of the 1st half and slowly realized.... WTF am I doing? this gives me no pleaseure at all, I'm just watching what I know is terrible terrible football and at the half I decided to turn it off. I knew what was coming- faint attempt at a comback, just to see the backs of this team break b/c of the prep and coaching and lack of toughness. it's been that way all year- even the ND game. All off season I was tired of the talktalktalktalktalk. It was year 4, and I knew it was a show me the money-type of year. None of the preseason fluff was worth reading, none of the insider reports got me interested. I'd heard it all before over the last 7-8 years. 4 star this and Senior laden that and youth on the field, injuries at a key position, coordinator changes-didn't matter. It's year fucking 4 and there are no excuses left. This year will tell as all if Hoke can coach a B10 title type team. So I watched that ND game like I watch Vampire Diaries with my wife: expressionless face with a stone cold blank mind just wanting it to be over. I mean, it started with some anticipation- finally Hoke will SHOW us what he's been building to the last 3 years. Well you showed as, Brady. You showed us the worst fucking coaching job since John L smith and/or bobby fucking williams. But at least the players are trying and the lettermen are supportin you. But you know what, it just shows you that program insiders don't know jack shit about good coaching either. Good coaches fucking win football games. I don't want to hear one more letterman from 19 hundred and dickity-doo wax on about how good of a coach he is. Anyone who says that should have a permanet asterisk attached to anythign they say about football for the rest of their fucking lives. Hoke will coach the rest of the year b/c he's too proud to quit and Brandon won't have the balls to do it since he's his guy. So I'm waiting until Brandon is gone and/or Hoke get's canned on 12/1. Maybe then I'll be able to smell or taste M football again. This is NOT Michigan under these two clowns.
First, how DARE you impugn the 19DickityDoo national championship team! Second, what does real Michigan football taste like? Actually, don't answer that. Let's just ask the most important question: where's the bottom for the Wolverines, and have they already reached it?
There
Is no bottom. I've learned as a sports fan every time I think I'm at the bottom I discover there is more. Never wonder where the bottom is. We are in a bottomless pit.
(silence) (emptiness) (the realization that human existence is but a blip on the universe's timeline)
Wisconsin fans at Bucky's 5th Quarter, fully aware of the decay occurring in Ann Arbor, see what's happening to their team and wonder...
Is Wisconsin becoming another MIchigan?
NO
Oh, thank goodness.
we cant recruit like michigan.
Well, shit.
(We do recommend you look at B5Q's suggested Andy replacements for beleaguered offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, though, even if it doesn't include Andy Dwyer.)
Big 12
Usually we rely on Wide Right Natty Light for spleen after an Iowa State loss. It's there, to be sure, after the Cyclones lost to Oklahoma State.
Just fuck it
Fuck my headache all day.. Fuck my liver. Fuck the shelf that fell on me in my basement today. Fuck BIg XII refs. Fuck the SEC. Fuck the Big 10. Fuck the ground squirrels digging in my yard and burying nuts. Just fuck it. God dammit. This should be a Disney show tune, "Just fuck it." I'm going to need to attend church tomorrow evening due to my internets language. Fuck.
But, honestly? This commenter's got nothing on the ISU Athletic Director.
The Oklahoma venting over at LandThieves is like a waterfall in the middle of the forest. Just say nothing and let it cascade over you:
Tired of this shit.
We are all tired of OU blowing it every ****ing year. It's one of the few things we can all count on. Bills, taxes and OU pissing away another National title season. Year after year, after year, after year, after year, after year.. Same story next season too. We all know it's coming. Sadly, It'll be awhile until we see #8. Sooner Magic is a fairy tale. We are the Chicago Cubs of College Football.
**** you Heupel. You fat doughboy motherfucker, choke on your donut you fat ****. **** this coaching staff. 5 million a year and choke it like this. I'm tired of high hopes and squashed dreams. Get ****ed.
Football is such a ****ing lying sport. The best team never wins. Just fluke bullshit where a ****ing team can only win just because they play at home. **** this shit. Ping-Pong on ESPN Ocho >>> ****ing football. Yes I'm drunk.
Parity has ruined college football. And great ****ing choice by adding TCU to the conference. They don't add any money and end up ****ing shit up. Boykin is a **** sucker fluke mother ****er cat mother ****er cow mother ****er hamster mother ****er.
Anyone ever drink 409 before? I will let you know how it goes.
To blame for Oklahoma's loss to TCU: the coaching staff, failed sorcery, the concept of athletic parity, conference expansion, home field advantage, bestiality, whale flukes.
Not to blame for Oklahoma's loss to TCU: chemistry, necrophilia, Chaucer, the TCU defense, international trade law, Iowa State's athletic director.
Blame unclear pending further results: cleaning supplies. Oh, and the Tears of Unfathomable Sadness. You have those now, and we'll have to see what happens this week to determine if they also contribute to some bullshit Sooner loss that never shoulda happened.
Losing has become a pattern for Texas Tech, but the good people of Viva The Matadors are still finding new and exciting visuals to describe their frustrations. Some of them are brief but horrifyingly vivid:
Tech looked like drugged up buzzard puke!
Glad the ass beating is finally over
Others are more elaborate and Biblical:
Burn this mother down
I am venting and think the wheels are off of this football team.. In light of what Snyder did by coming back to K state in 2009 after being away since 2005... Can we throw the house at The Pirate and get him to come back home..ride off into the sunset and never "play" football again? I know what your thinking.. But.. What if the entire city of Lubbock, the entire tech alumni base, and all other t-shirt fans rolled in sack cloth and ashes and showed public displays of remorse and affection for Leach.. Followed by a hance pants-ing? It's possible.. Right now.. That's the only thing that would make me happy.. I am extremely delusion.. And down on TTU football... Sux
And another is confusingly put into image form despite it consisting only of text:
Seriously, why did you make this image? Is it some sort of Magic Eye and if I look at it the right way I'll see a hidden picture of a dolphin screaming "KLIFF'S JUST A PRETTY BOY DUMMY?"
Pac-12
OREGON LOST TO ARIZONA IT WAS VERY UNPLEASANT IF YOU ROOT FOR THE DUCKS AND YOU CAN ONLY TALK ABOUT IT IN ALL CAPS THAT'S HOW IT WORKS AT ADDICTED TO QUACK SEE
REMEMBER WHEN OUR DEFENSE WAS ON THE FIELD ALL THE TIME BECAUSE OUR OFFENSE WAS ACTUALLY GOOD?
CAN WE HAVE A MORATORIUM ON PEOPLE REMEMBERING THE GOOD TIMES
IN THESE DAYS OF PAIN AND DARKNESS?
IT'S FRUSTRATING TO SEE A ONCE-POTENT OFFENSE SPUTTER, YES.
FOR FUCK'S SAKE
THIS IS VOMIT-INDUCING. WHERE IS THE OREGON OF YESTERYEAR? WHO ARE THESE IMPOSTORS, THESE HORROR-FILLED PRETENDERS??????
WAIT I THOUGHT WE WEREN'T TALKING ABOUT THE PAST.
I'm not sure I have mentioned this previously
BUT THIS TEAM IS GOING TO FUCKING KILL ME. I NEED TO GET A HOBBY OR SOMETHING.
IS THIS YOUR JOB BECAUSE THAT'S PRETTY COOL EVEN IF OREGON DOESN'T WIN THE CONFERENCE.
NEXT PRACTICE
TACKLING DRILLS
NO CELEBRATING DRILLS
TIED THAT JOKE UP WITH A BOW
DO YOU GET IT
ANYWAYS
This is more depressing than watching us lose the bcs game, Stanford and zona, blazers losing back to back NBA finals
COMBINED
Thank goodness. I know it's just typed, but I swear that was all giving me a headache OH GOD YOU SPRUNG ALL CAPS ON ME AT THE END MY EARS ARE BLEEDING.
It's already well-established that Stanford's terrible at rage. Sloppy would be a kind term for that loss to Notre Dame, and yet this comment at TheCARDBoard is about as angry as things got for Cardinal fans:
Our offense, from playcalling on down, is difficult to love.
Damn you, robots.
There were two Pac-12 games in which defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. One was USC's loss to Arizona State on a Hail Mary that was essentially undefended. And you are here because you want to see the comments that came rolling in immediately after that Hail Mary. We are here to provide. First, from Conquest Chronicles:
Seriously?
Unbelievable
That was awful.
I can't believe I just watched that
jesus
what the hell was the secondary trying to do
we dont need the NCAA we sanction ourselves by hiring incompetents like Kiffin and Sark
we deserve this loss
And more from FightOn247:
WOW?!?!?!?!!?!? WTF!!!!! I REALLY HATE THIS COACHING STAFF!
Fjdjejwifj5jdjj ed o Dr ykjrk3rjjejj!!!!!!!!
FIRE THE STAFF NOW!
LET HIM CATCH THE FUCKING BALL WHY DON'T YOU
The other heartbreaking end came at the expense of Washington State, which wasted a record-setting performance by Connor Halliday by missing a 19-yard field goal that would have given them the win over Cal. Where we gave you volume for USC, one comment from Coug Center summarizes this game perfectly:
This the worst "Coug It" ever
Yes. Yes it was.
SEC
Pawwwwwwwwl I just don't think this Schadenfreude's worth a damn I'm more of a Schadenjung fan myself and he'd tell ya Ole Miss shares the same dang collective unconscious as Nick Saban which means the Tide won after all ROLL BAMA ROLL!
Unfortunately, Alabama's loss in Oxford didn't just hurt Crimson Tide fans. Schoolchildren in Georgia were made to suffer as well:
But a quiz is over in a matter of minutes. These cautious, balanced Alabama supporters were so devastated by the loss that they committed to more lasting changes. Like:
whelp.
Not going to any more home games. Selling my tix for this year. We just lost to ole miss. One of the worst teams historically in the sec. Gave them a historical win.
Or:
Guess it's time to jump on that soccer bandwagon I've heard so much about
Or:
I'm out of whiskey and the wife has hide the keys to my truck
fuck it i'm walking
You don't think that last one's a long-term decision until you find out he just keeps walking for years, like Forrest Gump. The most brutal criticism, however, was reserved for the post-game thread.
Saban has done as good a job with special teams
as he did raising Kristen.
That's entirely unfair. Everyone knows the difference between Alabama special teams and Kristen Saban is she puts up a fight.
LSU's struggling early in conference play, and that means it's time for someone at TigerDroppings to explain why Les Miles is the greatest failure in human history.
Beat this horse to death!
How much longer will LSU put up with mediocrity? How much longer will they allow Les miles to coach, until he retires, or until all the other teams in the SEC West have caught up to team's the talent level... oh wait? Les Miles has been winning on solely talent alone ever since he came to LSU. He gets paid 4.5 million/yr. to cross his arms and be bull-headed on the sideline, play way to conservative, and have poor clock management... He cost us the National Championship in 2011, and has cost us several wins over the years. LSU will NEVER win another National Championship or SEC championship for that matter with Miles at the helm. LSU needs to hire a fire-ball coach who shows passion on the sideline and coaches up his players. Don't look now but this trend of arse whoppings is about to be common for football at LSU until change is made. |
1200 Semmes where a Subway and an Urban Farmhouse will open soon.
click to enlarge Scott Elmquist
Hatcher Tobacco Flats — a 152-unit development by Genesis Properties, is under construction between 151 W. Commerce Road and West Seventh Street.
If the Blackwell neighborhood was bulldozed with specific plans for Hope Six redevelopment and resettlement, old Manchester was bulldozed at the behest of a single Richmond businessman, J. Harwood Cochrane, now 102.
In 1970, the trucking company he founded in 1935, Overnite Transportation, built a nine-story corporate headquarters at 1000 Semmes Ave., which is now owned by UPS. It quickly became apparent that Cochrane had no fondness for the decaying residential neighborhood encircling his mostly walled corporate campus.
Manchester had witnessed white flight to the suburbs after World War II, and commercial Hull Street, once abuzz with hardware stores, cinemas and even a Thalhimers department store, was in economic freefall. Those moving to the neighborhood in the late 1960s included folks from Oregon Hill and Randolph, who’d been displaced by construction of the Downtown Expressway, or Fulton Bottom, when urban removal decimated that East End neighborhood.
Similarly, Cochrane proceeded to tear down almost everything within sight of his ninth-floor corporate office — and beyond. He bought up some 180 parcels in a 40-block area.
“I am just paying for land values; I don’t care anything about houses,” he told a local newspaper in 1982. “We’ve still got… bootleggers and dope peddlers, as long as you have that kind of environment, who’s going to come in and pay $85,000 for a condominium?”
The demolitions, understandably, “created uneasiness throughout the neighborhood,” The Richmond Times-Dispatch had reported in February 1977. “It is an uneasiness that is heightened by the roar of a bulldozer grinding old houses into oblivion.”
click to enlarge Scott Elmquist
PortRVA, a 102-unit apartment complex with commercial space at 500 Hull St. and developed by Property Results, is nearing completion.
Meanwhile and ironically, neighborhoods north of the river — the Fan District, Jackson Ward and Church Hill — were undergoing resurgence. Richmond’s history intelligentsia didn’t care: “Don’t make me go to South Side,” a prominent preservationist begged off when asked to join the effort save a 200 year-old brick house on West 12th Street. “I don’t know anything about Manchester.”
In 1992, Cochrane discussed with the administration of then-city manager Robert Bobb the possibility of Richmond purchasing his Manchester holdings outright. But not liking its proposal, Cochrane soon nixed the idea. And in a dramatic turn of events, he and his wife donated 220 parcels of varying sizes to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation, a funding arm of the institution, to endow the purchase of American art.
The foundation worked with the city in developing the property and followed the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s master plan for the 135 acres included in the Southern Gateway Redevelopment and Conservation Area. Old Manchester would be renamed Riverview Landing. Some of the Cochrane bequest was used to develop the Crestar, now SunTrust, operations and mortgage buildings directly across Semmes Avenue from the Overnite building.
In July 2005 the foundation sold its remaining 178 pieces of property for $5.2 million to Miller and Gecker, as well as to the Manchester Partner organization.
Miller says that his strategy was simple: “The market will determine the building type and we will build as fast or as slow as the market demands.”
“Well,” he adds, “the demand has been pretty darn fast.”
click to enlarge Scott Elmquist
The process of transforming the former Reynolds Metals foil plant on West Seventh Street into apartments is the first phase of a larger redevelopment planned by Cushman & Wakefield/Thalhimer.
Miller says a major factor in developing Manchester was the introduction of two new zoning categories, R-63 and B-6. “These allow for building all the way to the property line,” he says, “thus utilizing more space and placing parking behind the building.”
“They call it the ‘new urbanism,’ but it was revisiting old urbanism,” he says, “Mayor [Doug] Wilder was in office at the time and I give great credit to Rachel Flynn [the city’s former director of community development] for pushing it through.”
“It’s worked best in Manchester and in Jackson Ward where there are bigger parcels to develop,” he says. “It allows us to build density in those areas. You want more people living in that area, more pedestrian activity and less carbon footprint.”
Alex Gillette, 30, is one of those people, although the aspiring music producer did drive his car to a Far West End guitar store where he worked until recently. He considered his Manchester neighborhood on a sweltering afternoon from the wide front porch of the new house he shares with three housemates on Porter Street.
“In 2003 when I left Richmond for Tennessee this was a bad, bad, neighborhood,” he says. “So when I came back in 2011 I was a little skeptical about living here. But there are now a lot of young professionals and kids trying to figure out what to do next. You get a lot of sirens — police and fire trucks — but the neighbors are nice.”
Gillette says the area could use more attention from the city. When snowplows were slow to clear his block after a big snowstorm and he couldn’t get his car out, he says he missed two days of work.
click to enlarge Scott Elmquist
Deteriorated sidewalks in the 1100 block of Porter Street exemplify what some say is a lack of city attention to public infrastructure and maintenance in Manchester.
Developer Miller says the city hasn’t kept pace with Manchester’s resurgence. “I’ve never seen them sweep the streets, the sidewalks need attention and whoever is supposed to look after the trees isn’t doing so,” he says. “We’ve been involved for more than 10 years with little help from the city. It has done a poor job in maintenance.”
Traffic is a problem too, Miller says: “We’ve got to slow down the traffic on Hull Street and put in more street landscaping.”
That’s a main concern for Fountainhead’s Gregory as well: “Slowing down the traffic is the first thing.” But the city could create some kind of gateway as an entry,” he says, referring to the south end of the Mayo Bridge, “to make Manchester something people understand: that there’s a city there under the weeds.”
And the future?
“My vision is that of a sustainable, connected development for the next 100 years taking full advantage of both the river and the history of the area,” says Merritt of 80amps. “Hull Street could be developed with the people who live here now to deliver an economic shot in the arm.”
“We have enough property in Manchester alone to keep us busy for the next 10 years,” Miller says. But more immediately, just one block west of Hull, he’s planning one of his outfit’s most ambitious developments yet, Manchester Commons, on an empty block bounded by Bainbridge, Porter, 12th and 13th streets.
“I want to see mixed-income housing there,” Miller says. “No one has done it before. I’ve never seen it done in any city where the whole block can reflect the new urbanism. We will have a neighborhood association for just that block.”
When asked if such social engineering will appeal to everyone, Miller is uncharacteristically blunt. “If they don’t like it,” he says, “they can go to Chesterfield or Henrico.” SImage copyright Getty Images Image caption T. rex was a fierce carnivore
The size and weight of a T. rex would have prevented it from moving faster than 20km/h (12mph), research suggests.
University of Manchester scientists used a new computer simulation to assess the speed of the massive biped.
Based on T. rex's muscles alone, the model came up with a maximum speed of 30km/h, but this dropped to 20km/h when skeletal strength was assessed too.
Had it moved from a brisk walk to a sprint, the dinosaur's legs would have snapped under the weight of its body.
"T. rex is everyone's favourite dinosaur, and palaeontologists have been arguing for years about how fast it could run because this would tell us something about its hunting style and the way it caught its prey,'' said Prof William Sellers.
''This project used a highly realistic computer simulation to predict how T. rex moved, and it shows that running would have been impossible because its skeleton just isn't strong enough.
''That means that T. rex was actually quite slow and therefore not a pursuit predator.''
Hollywood makeover
Fossil footprints had already hinted that the mighty dinosaur was not as agile as its Hollywood image suggests.
However, Dr Eric Snively, of UW-La Crosse, US, who was not involved in the research, said it would still have been a scary creature.
The top speeds calculated for T. rex ''are still beyond those of most fast human joggers or distance runners and would be rather frightening to behold'', he said.
Referring to a scene in the sci-fi film, he added: ''It might well have caught Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, had he stayed outside the Jeep and in the slippery mud.''
Image copyright University of Manchester Image caption The research used sophisticated methods and tremendous computing power to calculate speeds
Prof Sellers said: "We can basically say that running was unlikely in any of the big predatory dinosaurs, but that doesn't mean that the smaller ones were not fast.
"That means that as it grows up, T. rex would get larger and slower and we would expect to see the hunting behaviour change.
"This really helps fill out the picture of what life was like in the cretaceous [period], when we have large numbers of dinosaurs roaming around."
The study is published in the journal Peer J.
Follow Helen on Twitter.Windows only: Soluto bills itself as an "Anti-Frustration Software", and it's not hard to see why—it tracks all the applications in your system boot process, and tells you exactly which ones are slowing you down.
Once you've installed the software and rebooted your PC, Soluto springs into action, tracking every single process that runs during the boot process, and then allows you to easily drill down into the list of processes to see exact times for each one. To make it easier for the layman to understand what processes can be removed, the applications are grouped into "No-brainer" or "Potentially removable" groups.
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Once you've identified an application that you'd like to deal with, you can drill down into the details and control it directly from this screen. You can "Pause" the application, which will effectively remove it from the boot process, or you can "Delay" it, which will change the service to run on a delay instead of directly during the boot process—which will get you to a working desktop a little quicker.
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The graph next to the buttons shows you what other users did, so if you really have no idea what something is, you can use the wisdom of the crowd—though we'd like to point out if you really aren't sure, you might want to Google it first, or ask a more geeky friend.
Clicking the Read more link next to the application name will bring you to a screen that shows even more details about a process, including the process name, what percentage of Soluto users have it installed, and a lot more information.
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Other than tracking your boot process, you can also enable tracking while you are running your PC, which will allow Soluto to try and identify more problems with system slowdowns, compatibility, and other issues. You can choose the "My PC Just Frustrated Me" option, which will pop up a screen with some suggestions on what applications might be the cause, and send the report to Soluto—though you won't immediately see any results from doing so.
To better understand how Soluto works, check out this short video which does a great job of explaining the software, how to use it, and how it can help you troubleshoot the boot process:
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According to our conversations with Roee Adler from Soluto, the software will always be free for end-users. Soluto's application does send some information about your PC back to Soluto's servers in order to analyze your system, but they assured us that it was limited strictly to data about the processes, drivers, and system components, and no personal information is transmitted or kept anywhere.
Soluto is a free download for Windows only, and definitely worth a look if you'd like to troubleshoot your system boot speed issues.
Soluto - Anti-Frustration SoftwareLOS ANGELES – Freddie Roach said the other day WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao’s power hasn’t diminished with age and explained that the reason why his last six wins were on points was because he’s fighting bigger opponents in the 147-pound division.
Pacquiao, 35, hasn’t stopped an opponent since halting Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto, now trained by Roach, in 2009. In his last eight bouts, Pacquiao has won six by decision and lost twice. His weight in the eight fights ranged from 143 to 147. He scaled 147 in losing to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez and 145 in beating Brandon Rios and Bradley in a rematch.
“I think Manny is strongest at 140 (lightwelterweight) and he can still make the limit if he wants to,†said Roach. “Manny went up to the welterweight division because that’s where the money fights are.†Roach laughed off speculation that age has eroded Pacquiao’s knockout power. “Age has nothing to do with it,†he went on. “If you notice, Manny has knocked out only two opponents as a welterweight (Oscar de la Hoya and Cotto).†One of Pacquiao’s most devastating knockouts was his second round demolition of Ricky Hatton in a lightwelterweight title bout in 2009.
Roach said now that Pacquiao is older, there are adjustments in his training regimen and fighting style. “Manny’s a lot smarter today,†he said. “We’ve made adjustments in his training routine. We don’t do too many uphill runs anymore, just short sprints. It’s the same thing we’re doing with Cotto as he prepares for (Sergio) Martinez. You won’t see Manny charging in wildly during a fight. He’s more calculating. He’s fighting more intelligently.â€
Roach said Pacquiao beat Bradley convincingly in the rematch two weeks ago. “I bet $3,000 on Manny and I won $1,100,†he continued. “Bradley’s not a big draw so I heard the fight brought in only 800,000 pay-per-view hits.†Roach said if Pacquiao and Marquez were to meet again, the fifth meeting would register at least a million pay-per-view buys because of their bitter rivalry.
Roach’s assistant Marvin Somodio said he was impressed with Pacquiao’s performance against Bradley. “Manny fought really well,†said Somodio. “Bradley’s tough. He was unbeaten. Not even Ruslan (Provodnikov) could knock him out and Ruslan dropped him twice but still lost on points. It’s unfair to say Manny has lost his power because he didn’t knock out Bradley. Nobody has ever knocked out Bradley. Manny’s a wiser fighter now, he’ll do what it takes to win.â€
A tactic that Pacquiao employed in the Bradley rematch was advancing to the center of the ring before the bell sounded to start every round while his opponent sat on the bench, catching his breath. Bradley had to be exasperated as Pacquiao answered every bell raring to go like he never ran out of gas.
Somodio said that tactic was used by former lightweight, lightmiddleweight and supermiddleweight champion Vinny Pazienza to unsettle opponents. Roach recalled that Tommy Cordova, who beat him on a split 12-round decision in 1984, employed the same tactic.
Roach said he couldn’t travel to Russia for the Denis Lebedev-Guillermo Jones rematch a week ago because of his commitment to train Cotto for his Martinez fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City on June 7. Somodio went to Moscow instead to work Lebedev’s corner but an hour before the fight was set to start, the WBA announced that Jones had tested positive for a banned substance furosemide which is used to bring down weight.
“We were in Moscow for two weeks and Denis was ready to go,†said Somodio. “The promoter (Andrei Ryabinski) asked if we would like to fight Jones despite the finding. I phoned Freddie long distance to ask his advice. We agreed not to fight. Freddie told me it’s a high risk on Denis’ life. Jones tested positive for the same substance in their first fight and Denis took a beating because it seemed like Jones was much stronger. Denis lost the fight but the WBA ruled it a no-contest with Denis retaining the cruiserweight title.â€
Somodio said the downside was Lebedev wasn’t paid his purse. Somodio also didn’t get paid. Fans who bought tickets were promised a refund. Somodio reported for work at the Wild Card Gym here the morning he arrived from Moscow.
As for Cotto’s fight against Martinez, Roach said he’s confident the Puerto Rican will win. “Martinez is a big favorite to beat Cotto, like a 3-to-1 favorite so I’m betting $5,000 on Cotto,†said Roach. Martinez, 39, has won his last seven fights, including a decision over Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., and will defend his WBC middleweight crown against Cotto who is coming off a third round stoppage of Delvin Rodriguez last October.Last week, Amanda Palmer was one of the speakers at the TED2013 conference, and she delivered an affecting 13-and-a-half-minute speech titled “The Art Of Asking,” in which she detailed her rise from a “living statue” mime working the streets of Boston to an internationally known musician whose current revenue model relies primarily on the direct support of fans. Palmer drew strong correlations between the two professions, noting that each depends on interpersonal connection. As a mime, says Palmer, she would regularly interact with “lonely people who looked like they hadn’t talked to anyone in weeks,” and then, “we would sort of fall in love a little bit.” For Palmer, the wordless exchange went something like this:
My eyes would say, “Thank you. I see you.” Their eyes would say, “Nobody ever sees me. Thank you.”
That same connection, argues Palmer, is made between musician and fan, and in her TED Talk, Palmer recounts such exchanges, including one in which she and her band crashed at the home of an 18-year-old fan and her family — undocumented immigrants from Honduras. The family, says Palmer, slept on couches so Palmer and her band could take the beds; an arrangement that caused Palmer to wonder, “Is this fair?” The next morning, says Palmer, the fan’s mother took the singer aside and, “in her broken English,” said:
“Your music has helped my daughter so much. Thank you for staying here. We’re all so grateful.” And I thought, “This is fair.”
This, argues Palmer, is an example of how the music industry will evolve — with musicians not demanding fans pay for music, but asking them to contribute, monetarily and/or otherwise. Palmer has of course been at the forefront of this evolution: Among other things, she raised a record nearly $1.2 million via Kickstarter for her last album, and requested musician-fans of “professional-ish” ability contribute to her live show in exchange for non-monetary rewards — the latter of which, as you might remember, became the source of some scrutiny and criticism, causing Palmer to respond at length, but after some hedging, eventually offer money to those fans chosen to contribute.
Palmer addresses this, too, in her TED Talk — to some extent, anyway. She never explains why she chose to finally pay those musicians to whom she initially offered no payment, but she does offer a theory regarding the initial criticism: “[Those critics] weren’t with us on the sidewalk. And they couldn’t see the exchange that was happening between me and my crowd: an exchange that was very fair to us, but alien to them.” (For at least one member of her crowd, that exchange was not “very fair,” which played no small part in the initial coverage of Palmer’s gambit.)
For Palmer, the music industry’s attempts to make money are wrongheaded. She notes that after wriggling out of her seven-album deal with Roadrunner Records in 2010, she encouraged file-sharing among her fans. She says, “The media asked, ‘Amanda, the music industry’s tanking, and you encourage piracy; how did you make all these people pay for music?’ And the real answer is, I didn’t make them. I asked them. And through the very act of asking people, I connected with them. And when you connect with them, people want to help you.”
To be fair, Palmer makes some powerful and passionate arguments in her presentation; however, she leaves unaddressed the work done by Roadrunner to promote her, starting in 2004, when they signed her. In a 2010 open letter to the label — written after they finally agreed to drop her — she stressed the significant impact the label had on her career at its nascent stage:
no other label in america would sign us, but you did. all the cool, hip, indie labels didn’t think enough people would like us. they passed. you saw our potential. for a while you worked very hard for us. you spent money on us, and you helped people find and hear our music. when we first toured in europe and australia, you made sure that the radio stations and the magazines in those countries got our record. now there are millions of people around the globe who know my band and my name. i am so, so grateful for that help. i don’t know how far i would have gotten on my own steam in that same amount of time.
The need for that sort of deep-pockets assistance is not included in Palmer’s TED Talk, which she closes with what I’d consider a pretty empty platitude in the context she presents it: “I think people have been obsessed with the wrong question, which is, ‘How do we make people pay for music?’ What if we started asking, ‘How do we let people pay for music?'”
Watch Palmer’s full TED Talk below.Vaporizing has become an increasingly popular approach to consuming cannabis. This is both, due to health benefits and its ability to be used discretely. In comparing it to “combustion products” (joints, glassware), vaporizing is a healthier method to obtain the same result. Raphael Pepi, the founder of Vipvape, a company that specializes in pocket-sized vaporization, describes the benefits of vaporizing as; manageable, healthy, and discretionary.
Vaporizers: How do They Work?
Vaporizers use batteries and electricity to heat the raw plant or concentrate to a temperature lower than combustion. While combustion occurs at approximately 450F°, vaporizers heat the plant to around 350-395F°. At this lower temperature, the vaporizer extracts the THC and other active ingredients from the plant and turns it into vapor.
There are two techniques in which vaporizers can extract the ingredients. The first is conduction that heats the plant to the appropriate temperature by direct contact with a hot surface. The other technique is convection, which involves hot air being blown over the plant to heat it. Of these two, convection is the most efficient. Since hot air is blown on the cannabis to heat the oils, more of the plant is exposed. It is then vaporized in the process (even oil buried in the center of the plant).
In comparing the two methods, conduction is the more “old-school” approach to vaporizing that is often a cheaper option. However, convection is a more efficient method where the device includes a thermostat control in which to adjust the temperature the user is heating the plant. Adjusting air temperature is much harder to perform so convection vaporizers tend to be more expensive. Both methods are found in products on the market.
What are the Health Benefits of Vaporizing?
Most of the negative health impacts of cannabis come from the traditional inhalation methods that have been used for years. Inhaling combusted plant materials brings carcinogens and other damaging plant matter, which causes respiratory harm.
In layman’s terms, the method of vaporizing marijuana eliminates approximately 95% of the chemicals affiliated with the burning (combustion) of the plant. Instead of the entire plant being burned, the cannabinoids are heated to their boiling temperature and dehydrated to release their chemicals (THC, CBD etc.). Since the vaporizer doesn’t heat the plant to combustion, the carcinogens are not released and respiratory harm is significantly reduced.
So for all you athletes out there that smoke, think about switching to a vaporizer to improve stamina. Vaporizing has been suggested to increase the amount of anti-inflammatory terpenoids that help protect the lungs from irritation associated with traditional smoking methods. After a week or two of exclusively using a vaporizer, an athlete should notice a significant increase in lung capacity as well as endurance.
The popularity of vaporizers will continue to grow as people seek healthier methods of consumption. This is due to the rapid boom that the Cannabis industry has seen in the past year. While traditional ways of smoking will never go extinct, vaporizing has established itself as a reliable and safe medium to the consumption of cannabis.
In my next post: Vaporizer Recommendations.Apr 13, 2014; Newark, NJ, USA; New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur (30) is honored by fans after his 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
The Montreal Canadiens are gathering for their annual golf tournament today, and not only did general manager Marc Bergevin announce that the team will go without a captain, he also mentioned they will go without signing Martin Brodeur to a contract.
One of the least sensible rumors of the summer was the recent suggestion by former Hab Vincent Damphousse among others, that the Montreal Canadiens were looking into signing the 42 year old Brodeur to a contract.
Brodeur was once a fantastic goaltender, perhaps the best that has even played the game. He certainly has the credentials to back up that claim, most wins, shutouts and games played by an NHL goaltender, but he doesn’t have the credentials to backup Carey Price this season.
With Peter Budaj and Dustin Tokarski already signed for the upcoming season, the Canadiens have one too many goaltenders, and have no room for an aging veteran.
Bergevin echoes that sentiment this morning when asked about the Broduer rumors, stating “I already have three goalies on my team, I don’t want four.”
Brodeur has struggled over the past four seasons, his save percentage dropping each year and was among the worst in the NHL last season.
Brodeur was one of the greatest goaltenders of his era, but would be more of a distraction in Montreal than a help to the team. Hopefully Bergevin’s claim today will put the silly rumors to rest.MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas - Twenty-seven men accused of sexually exploiting children online were arrested during a Montgomery County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force undercover sting.
According to investigators, the men were taken into custody after each believed he was meeting with a minor whom he had previously contacted online. Officials said the men knew the purpose of the meetings was to engage in sexual activity. Once the men arrived at the meeting place, they were arrested, investigators said.
“When I took office as the district attorney, I made protecting the safety and welfare of children in this county one of my top priorities. Our office and the law enforcement agencies in this county are committed to keeping your children safe. We will continue to conduct these types of ICAC operations until the message is heard near and far – Montgomery County is not the place to try and sexually exploit children via electronic communication or other means,” District Attorney Brett Ligon said in a release.
Some of the men were also charged with possession of child pornography and attempted aggravated
sexual assault of a child.
Suspect child exploitation can be reported by calling 936-760-6910.
2015 Click2Houston/KPRC2HELSINKI: Nokia unveiled a metal version of its Lumia smartphone on Tuesday, striving to catch up with rivals Samsung and Apple Inc in the lucrative handset market.
Nokia Lumia 925 is the latest entrant to the company's Lumia range of smartphones, with its metal body setting it apart from earlier models. The smartphone comes with an aluminium frame with a polycarbonate back.
The smartphone runs on Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system and comes equipped with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. Lumia 925 has a 4.5-inch AMOLED display with a 1280×768 resolution. Slimmer than its predecessor, Nokia Lumia 920, Lumia 925 is 8.5mm thick and wieghs 139gm.The phone packs 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It has an 8.7-megapixel rear-facing camera with Carl Zeiss lens. According to Nokia, the device's camera offers new features and advances in PureView imaging technology. It comes with a Smart Camera mode feature that allows a user to create 'high-quality image'.The smartphone will be available in grey and black metallic colors.The smartphone is priced $609 and will first launch in UK, Germany and Spain in June.
Recently, Nokia unveiled the Lumia 928 for the US market, priced at $99 after a rebate and a two-year deal with Verizon Wireless.Minsk The flight deck of the
The Minsk from the starboard side.
Minsk World (Chinese: 明思克航母世界; pinyin: Míngsīkè Hángmǔ Shìjiè) was a military theme park located in Dapeng Bay, Shatoujiao, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It includes the former Soviet (later Russian) aircraft carrier Minsk, redesigned as a tourist attraction. The theme park opened on 10 May 2000. As of 2005, it had attracted more than five million visitors and generated 450 million yuan in revenue.[1] The park formally closed in February 2016 and the aircraft carrier was moved to Zhoushan for repairs, after which it would be moved to another theme park in Nantong, Jiangsu.[2]
History [ edit ]
The aircraft carrier Minsk was part of the Soviet Pacific Fleet. It had to be retired as a result of a major accident which could only be repaired at Chernomorski's facility, located in the newly independent Ukraine. In 1995 it was sold to a South Korean businessman, and later resold to Shenzhen Minsk Aircraft Carrier Industry Co. Ltd., a Chinese company. Until 2006, when the company went bankrupt, Minsk was the centrepiece of a military theme park in Shatoujiao (沙头角) district, Shenzhen called Minsk World. The aircraft carrier was put up for auction on 22 March 2006. No bids at the starting price of 128 million RMB were received, so the carrier was withdrawn from sale.
On 31 May 2006, the Soviet aircraft carrier was finally auctioned off in Shenzhen for 128 million RMB to CITIC Shenzhen,[3] which operated the carrier as the CITIC Minsk World military theme park. The ship was painted with the hull number 015, matching the Chinese Navy's first aircraft carrier Liaoning (16).[4]
After a decline in visitor numbers, the park closed in 2016 when the local government decided to reclaim land in the area. The aircraft carrier was moved to Zhoushan for repairs, after which it will be moved to another theme park in Nantong, Jiangsu.[2]
Facilities [ edit ]
In addition to the island, four of the carrier's decks including the flight deck and hangar deck can be visited. Various aspects of the Minsk, such as its living quarters and armament, are set up as exhibits. The staff are dressed in mock military uniforms, while regular choreographed musical performances are held on the flight and hangar decks. It is also possible to take a quick ride around the starboard side of the Minsk via motorboat.
In 2006, Chinese filmmaker Cheng Xiaoxing made a documentary about "Minsk World", broadcast on Arte TV.
Static display [ edit ]
There are a number of military aircraft and armaments on display on the deck and on the mainland area:
Gallery [ edit ]
Minsk
Minsk carrier flight deck
Minsk hangar deck
Minsk from shore
See also [ edit ](This is the second in a two-part series on earnings-season results. The first part summarized earnings increases or declines for the 10 S&P 500 sectors, and dug deeper into results and estimates for the health-care sector.)
Several sectors of the S&P 500 US:SPX are being damaged by the stronger dollar, since U.S. exporters’ prices are rising overseas as other countries are experiencing economic slowdowns and competitively devaluing their currencies. Even the consumer-staples sector, which tends to do well in any economic environment, is set to post a decline in third-quarter earnings per share.
But the consumer-discretionary sector is in a different situation, poised to produce a double-digit increase in third-quarter EPS, the best among S&P 500 sectors. Growth in the U.S. economy, along with a decline in unemployment, is having a positive effect.
Then again, as we discussed in part one of this series, all sectors are expected to record slower growth in the fourth quarter than they did in the same period in 2014, except for the telecommunications sector:
S&P 500 Sector Estimated EPS growth - Q4 2015 Actual EPS growth - Q4 2014 Telecom. Services 17.9% 8.7% Consumer Discretionary 9.7% 13.0% Health Care 7.5% 24.2% Financials 3.7% 4.2% Industrials 1.5% 12.3% Utilities -0.4% 0.0% Consumer Staples -3.7% 0.8% Information Technology -4.0% 17.3% Materials -19.3% 1.3% Energy -65.1% -22.0% S&P 500 -3.7% 7.8% Source: S&P Capital IQ
Half of the sectors are poised to post earnings declines.
To focus on more positive aspects of the holiday quarter, we decided to list consumer-discretionary companies that are expected to show the greatest increases in fourth-quarter sales per share.
Why focus on sales per share? One reason is that earnings results for any one quarter can be skewed by one-time events, including a gain from the sale of a unit, expenses tied to a reorganization or acquisitions, adverse legal decisions, etc. Another is that strong sales growth can often drive share prices higher.
Here are the 10 S&P 500 consumer-discretionary companies expected by analysts to post the biggest growth in sales per share for the fourth quarter:
S&P 500 consumer-discretionary company Ticker Estimated quarterly sales per share Sales per share - year earlier Estimated growth of sales per share Dollar Tree Inc. US:DLTR $20.64 $10.14 104% Kohl’s Corp. US:KSS $32.93 $21.55 53% Discovery Communications Inc. Class C US:DISCK $3.82 $2.52 52% Scripps Network Interactive Inc. Class A US:SNI $6.47 $4.86 33% Carnival Corp. US:CCL $6.29 $4.79 31% Lennar Corp. Class A US:LEN $14.62 $11.28 30% Under Armour Inc. Class A US:UA $5.25 $4.07 29% Expedia Inc. US:EXPE $13.15 $10.30 28% Neflix Inc. US:NFLX $4.28 $3.43 25% Amazon.com inc. US:AMZN $76.72 $62.14 23% Source: FactSet
Of course, quarterly sales numbers can also be affected by extraordinary events, such as Dollar Tree Inc.’s US:DLTR July acquisition of Family Dollar, which was followed by the sale of 330 Family Dollar stores in November.
It might be more useful to smooth out the sales expectations by looking ahead for all of next year.
So here are the 10 consumer-discretionary stocks in the S&P 500 that analysts expect to show the strongest growth of sales per share in 2016:
S&P 500 consumer-discretionary company Ticker Estimated 2016 sales per share Estimated 2015 sales per share Estimated growth of sales per share in 2016 Dollar Tree Inc. US:DLTR $89.04 $66.78 33% Netflix Inc. US:NFLX $20.37 $15.88 28% Under Armour Inc. Class A US:UA $22.85 $18.19 26% Expedia Inc. US:EXPE $64.16 $51.31 25% Wynn Resorts Ltd. US:WYNN $49.34 $40.47 22% Amazon.com Inc. US:AMZN $276.39 $228.72 21% BorgWarner Inc. US:BWA $41.14 $35.01 18% Priceline Group Inc. US:PCLN $214.15 $184.84 16% PulteGroup Inc. US:PHM $19.17 $16.64 15% TripAdvisor Inc. US:TRIP $11.78 $10.28 15% Source: Fact |
next example, the shader ‘psalpha’ derives from ‘ps’ – all the code from the body is used, and then the clip instruction is appended on the bottom. This is a very common operation when defining some shader where a version is needed that discards pixels based on the alpha channel.
program Normal { stream(Interpolant) uniforms(PSConstants) textures(OpaqueTexture) pixelshader ps { float shadow = GetShadowValue(shadowMap, input.shadowProjection, pc.texelSize.x); float3 ao = sample(aoMap, input.texcoord.zw).xxx; float4 color = sample(diffuseMap, input.texcoord.xy); output.color.xyz = ComputeLighting(input.lightfog, color.xyz, shadow, float3(1.0, 1.0, 1.0), ao, pc.lightColor, pc.ambientColor, pc.fogColor); output.color.w = 0.0; } pixelshader psalpha : ps { // discard pixels when diffuse alpha is less than threshold clip(color.w - pc.alphaRef); } stream(PixelOutput) }
Not only can you append code to the end of a shader, but you can insert it somewhere in the middle using a label.
Below is a shader that computes the position of a vertex for use in shadow mapping. Note the label keyword. At that location, any vertex can be modified in local space if code is inserted there.
program Depth { stream(ModelDepthVertex) uniforms(VSConstants) vertexshader vs { // get transform from list of instances float4x4 localToWorld = tc.transforms[input.instance]; // decompress position from fixed point to float float3 position = input.position.xyz.cast(float3) * (1.0 / 512.0); label positionmod; // insertion point for vertex modification // apply local scale position *= localToWorld.row3.xyz; // transform to world, then to screenspace float3 worldPosition = localToWorld.cast(float3x4) * float4(position, 1.0); output.position = gc.worldToProjection * float4(worldPosition, 1.0); } stream(DepthInterpolant) }
When a skinned model needs to be rendered into the shadow map, just the skinning of the vertex can be inserted at the label positionmod. Note that the stream input for this shader is different, but as long as it contains all the inputs from the parent shader, it will compile just fine.
program DepthSkin { stream(ModelDepthSkinVertex) uniforms(VSConstants) vertexshader vs : Depth.vs(positionmod) { position = SkinPosition(position, input.index, input.weight, bc); } stream(DepthInterpolant) }
At this point, you may be wondering about this fancy code insertion language feature, and why I’m not just using macros or functions to do the same thing.
With functions, each shader would have a long list of function calls, with many parameters, and many declarations for out parameters that are used by different parts of the shader. In my experience shaders are very volatile during development – they change all the time as features get added and removed, or new ideas are tested. Function signatures change frequently. If a function signature changes, I’d rather not spend the time to change 50 or 100 shaders to update the calling parameters. It’s easier to just have all the code inline and allow variables from one shader to be accessed without issue in another.
At least, that’s the idea – It’s worked well for reducing code size for Banished, and hopefully will do so for future projects as well.
Macros are something I’m not interested in implementing in the language, however there’s a simple preprocessor in the languages tokenizer, with simple #if, #ifn, #define, #else, #end, and #include. It allows for different compilation based on target and features, and for sharing of common functions and structs.
You might see something like this in the shader, to disable computation of shadow mapping coordinates at the lowest shader detail levels.
#ifn DETAIL0 // only include shadow computation when detail level isn't 0 output.shadowProjection = lc.shadowProjection[0] * float4(worldPosition, 1.0); #end
There is no requirement for preprocessor like tokens to be the first item on a line, so you might also see something like this with a conditional compile inline. DirectX 9 has no instance input as a shader variable so it has to be faked somehow. In Banished, it’s currently done like this:
// get transform from list of instances float4x4 localToWorld = tc.transforms[#if DX9 input.position.w #else input.instance #end];
Functions can be defined outside of a program block for shared functionality, and look like typical C style functions:
float3 SkinPosition(float3 position, int4 index, float4 weight, BoneConstants bc) { return ((bc.transforms[index.x] * float4(position, 1.0) * weight.x) + (bc.transforms[index.y] * float4(position, 1.0) * weight.y) + (bc.transforms[index.z] * float4(position, 1.0) * weight.z) + (bc.transforms[index.w] * float4(position, 1.0) * weight.w)).xyz; }
Shaders use more than just vertex inputs – there are also uniform constants and textures that need to be passed to the shader. In designing the language, I wanted the use of constants and textures and their bindings to registers to look exactly like binding stream variables to hardware registers.
If you look back at the first example I presented, the vertex shader uses several constants, namely tc and gc. These are defined like this:
// vertex constants that can be accessed anytime and don't change per render struct GlobalConstants { float4x4 worldToProjection; // used to transform to screenspace float4x4 worldToCamera; // used to transform to cameraspace float4 cameraPosition; // camera location float4 time; // current time in seconds float4 fog; // values for computing linear fog float4 fogColor; // fog color } // list of instance transforms, changes per draw struct TransformConstants { float4x4[128] transforms; } // VSConstants is a list of all constant buffers available to the shader. // If used as constants input, this struct can only contain fields of other // user defined structs struct VSConstants { GlobalConstants gc : 0; // bound to constant buffer 0 TransformConstants tc : 3; // bound to constant buffer 3 }
When you want to use a set of vertex constants in a shader program it’s referenced like this:
stream(Vertex) uniforms(VSConstants) vertexshader vs {... } stream(Interpolant) uniforms(PSConstants) pixelshader ps {... }
The idea here is that there’s no need for a whole lot of loose global uniform constants (or constant buffers) like in HLSL and GLSL. The host program only provides certain constants, and they are generally known to the shader program and are available all the time. This way they are explicitly defined, and once setup it’s hard to make a mistake, such as using a uniform constant meant for a pixel shader in a vertex shader.
For instances where constants are different, say for drawing a specific type of geometry, a different set of constants could be specified making sure that only the available constants are actually used by the shader.
Textures are defined in a similar manner. The texture struct can only contain texture types.
struct PSTextures { texture2d diffuse : 0; // here the attribute defines which index texture2d snow : 1; // the texture / sampler is bound to. texture2d ao : 3; shadow2d shadow : 5; } stream(Interpolant) uniforms(PSConstants) textures(PSTextures) pixelshader ps {... float4 color = sample(diffuse, input.texcoord); color *= sampleproj(shadow, input.shadowProjection);... }
I’m going digress a little bit here, and you’ll see some of my thought process when designing this language. The language is still new and may need some tweaking – this is one of those places.
If you’ve been close paying attention to any of the examples, you’ll notice a glaring inconstancy with uniforms and textures versus the shader inputs and outputs. Shader inputs and outputs are automatically defined variables of the input and output type – input.position, input.texcoord, output.position, output.color, etc.
Textures and uniforms are currently used without a name and the variables inside the struct are simply declared as locals to the shader. This is okay. But I’ve been trying to decide if I should make this consistent with the other shader inputs.
Currently uniforms and textures would be accessed such as:
float4 position = gc.worldToProjection * input.position; float4 color = sample(diffuse, input.texcoord);
But I’ve been thinking about changing it to
float4 position = uniform.gc.worldToProjection * input.position; float4 color = sample(textures.diffuse, input.texcoord);
I like this change for a few reasons. First, it’s consistent the with the way streams are handled, and second, it stops you from inadvertently polluting the local variable namespace with unintended names that you might otherwise use. One day I might add a new texture to a struct, and it’s name clashes with an existing local in a shader – requiring a name change to one item or the other.
On the flipside, streams could have the input. and output. dropped as well, but too often I want to put the same names in both structs (position, texcoord, color, etc) so prefixing them with input. and output. is better in my opinion.
In the case of textures, I might want a texture named diffuse and a variable named diffuse to represent the resulting color when the textures is sampled.
float4 diffuse = sample(textures.diffuse, input.texcoord);
That’s nice and fairly clear as to what the variable holds.
The real downside here is for uniforms. Having to write something like ‘uniform.gc.worldToProjection‘ all over the place may be overly verbose, however it’s absolutely clear what’s going on. I can think of a few ways to reduce the length, such as allowing a user specified name when declaring uniforms and textures such as…
stream(Interpolant) uniforms(PSConstants, u) textures(ModelTextures, t)... float4 position = u.gc.worldToProjection * input.position; float4 color = sample(t.diffuse, input.texcoord);
On the other had, I could scope the textures with a variable and leave uniforms alone. Really this is just sugar on the language. It works fine as is, and I’ll probably make a decision one way or the other the more I use it.
Changing Banished to use the new language (once the compiler was written and debugged) has been fairly painless and the reduction in code redundancy is very good. (I’ve actually found several bugs in the original shader code by doing the conversion, Whoops!)
Banished has also been a good test bed for a variety of shaders – I think it would be hard to design something like this without a real world test case.
Everything is pretty much done, but I’m sure the compiler still has bugs in it that i’ll find as I write more shaders. There are also missing features I’d like to add at some point. Depending on what else I’m working on I may not add them until I need them.
There’s currently no texture array type yet, and there aren’t sampling functions to specify which mip to use. (but a new texture type and sampling function are fairly easy to add). There are no multidimensional arrays, but I can’t think of the last time I even used one in C++. Geometry shader support isn’t finished. And there’s no tessellation shader as of yet.
Phew. Don’t fool yourself, compilers and languages are big projects.
So that’s SRSL (or SRSLY…) in a nutshell. It works, I can draw stuff using it, it’s cross platform ready. Now I can finally finish the OpenGL graphics renderer. Woot.289629981
The Twin Cities are Minnesota's economic engine, and much of the state tax revenue they generate flows outward. According to a June 2014 report by the House Research Department, the seven metro counties together contributed 63.8 percent of revenue generated by major types of state taxes in 2010 – considerably more than the other 80 counties combined. When it comes to receiving major types of state aid, many western rural counties get more money per capita than the more urban counties. Just 52.8 percent of major state aid spending went to the seven metro counties in 2010.
Major state taxes include property tax levy, income tax, sales tax, motor vehicle sales and registration taxes, motor fuels tax and corporate franchise tax. Some tax figures are estimates based on statewide totals. Major state aid includes local government aid, county programs, human services, educational, highway, community corrections and disparity reduction. All tax and aid data below is from 2010, the most recent year available. Read Patrick Condon's related story.Cruz's polling numbers haven't fared quite as well nationwide. Cruz wins Values Voter straw poll
Sen. Ted Cruz won the Values Voter Summit’s presidential straw poll on Saturday with a plurality of votes against big-name conservatives in the mix for 2016.
The Texas senator pulled in 42 percent of the votes cast at the annual conference for social conservatives. In second place with 13 percent was Dr. Ben Carson, the conservative commentator and neurosurgeon who drew widespread media coverage for comparing Obamacare to slavery in his speech at the summit.
Story Continued Below
Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum nearly tied Carson. Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Paul Ryan trailed Santorum, each pulling in single-digit percentages in the poll.
Cruz bolstered his credentials with the Republican Party’s far-right wing after his 21-hour speech on the Senate floor calling to defund Obamacare. Cruz continued that theme in his speech at the Values Voter Summit on Friday. When hecklers interrupted Cruz’s speech, he called them “Obama’s paid political operatives.”
Outside of the summit, Cruz’s polling numbers aren’t quite as positive. A Gallup poll released Thursday shows Cruz’s name recognition has jumped 20 percentage points since June, but his unfavorability numbers jumped 18 points—to 36 percent—in the same time frame.
Speakers at the convention included Paul, Rubio, Ryan, Santorum, Glenn Beck, Jim DeMint, Mike Huckabee, E.W. Jackson, Mark Levin, Sen. Tim Scott and Allen West.Full text of the Foreign Secretary’s statement:
“We are disappointed by the statement by Ecuador’s Foreign Minister today that Ecuador has offered political asylum to Julian Assange.
“Under our law, with Mr Assange having exhausted all options of appeal, the British authorities are under a binding obligation to extradite him to Sweden. We must carry out that obligation and of course we fully intend to do so. The Ecuadorian Government’s decision this afternoon does not change that in any way. Nor does it change the current circumstances in any way. We remain committed to a diplomatic solution that allows us to carry out our obligations as a nation under the Extradition Act.
“It is important to understand that this is not about Mr Assange’s activities at Wikileaks or the attitude of the United States of America. He is wanted in Sweden to answer allegations of serious sexual offences.
“His case has been heard in our Courts. Following the court decision of 30 May this year, he exhausted all legal options available to him in the UK to prevent his extradition to Sweden. He then entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on 19 June. And since then we have worked patiently with the Ecuadorian authorities, both in London and Quito, in private discussions to seek a mutually acceptable resolution to this situation. We have held seven formal discussions as well as many other conversations.
“Given our need to fulfil our obligations under international law to deliver a suspect for questioning on serious offences, we have ensured that the Ecuadorian authorities have a complete understanding of the full legal context in this country.
“It is a matter of regret that instead of continuing these discussions they have instead decided to make today’s announcement. It does not change the fundamentals of the case. We will not allow Mr Assange safe passage out of the UK, nor is there any legal basis for us to do so. The UK does not accept the principle of diplomatic asylum. It is far from a universally accepted concept: the United Kingdom is not a party to any legal instruments which require us to recognise the grant of diplomatic asylum by a foreign embassy in this country. Moreover, it is well established that, even for those countries which do recognise diplomatic asylum, it should not be used for the purposes of escaping the regular processes of the courts. And in this case that is clearly what is happening.
“Ecuador has expressed its concerns about the human rights of Mr Assange and sought guarantees from us in that area regarding his extradition to Sweden and indeed about any onward extradition and we have painstakingly explained the extensive human rights safeguards built into our law.
“No-one, least of all the Government of Ecuador, should be in any doubt that we are determined to carry out our legal obligation to see Mr Assange extradited to Sweden. He faces serious charges in a country with the highest standards of law and where his rights are guaranteed. We believe that should be assurance enough for Ecuador and any supporters of Mr Assange.
“We will remain fully committed to seeking a legal and binding bilateral solution to this with the Government of Ecuador but it is important that everyone understands that as a nation under law, believing in the rule of law, we must ensure that our laws are respected and followed.”Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona). AP/ J. Scott Applewhite US senator John McCain has indicated that he will push to outlaw encryption technology that the US government is unable to crack.
On Tuesday, he told reporters that "in the Senate Armed Services [Committee], we're going to have hearings on it and we're going to have legislation," according to The Hill, labeling the current state of affairs "unacceptable."
Encryption refers to scrambling data in such a way that it is unreadable without the correct password or key. Tech companies are increasingly incorporating "strong" and "end-to-end" encryption into their products — rendering the contents inaccessible to prying eyes.
The iPhone, for example, encrypts its contents by default, and cannot be decrypted by Apple or the authorities if they don't have the correct passcode.
This move towards stronger encryption was largely brought about by the revelations of now-exiled NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, whose disclosures about Western governments' spy programs sparked a global debate about surveillance and stoked privacy fears.
It is a shift that has alarmed law enforcement in the West, who fear that it means vital evidence is "going dark." In September 2014, a senior US police officer warned that the iPhone's default-on encryption would make it "the phone of choice for the pedophile."
However, technologists and privacy activists counter that any attempts to weaken encryption would be ineffectual, make ordinary people less secure online, would be open to abuse, and set a dangerous international precedent for authoritarian governments to demand access to data.
The New Crypto War
Encryption enthusiasts have largely had the upper hand in the debate, dubbed the "New Crypto War" given its parallels to similar debates over limits on cryptography in the Nineties. After deliberating, and despite the urgings of the FBI, the Obama administration says it has no plans to legislate against strong encryption, and the UK government says it doesn't either (although concerns remain over the wording of the UK's proposed new spying bill).
French fire brigade members aid an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall following fatal shootings in Paris, France, November 13, 2015. Reuters/Christian Hartmann But the issue has reared its head again following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, that left more than 120 dead, and hundreds injured.
CIA director John Brennan said that "there are a lot of technological capabilities that are available right now that make it exceptionally difficult, both technically as well as legally, for intelligence and security services to have the insight they need to uncover it... And I do hope that this is going to be a wake-up call."
New York Police Department head Bill Bratton has joined the anti-crypto chorus. He told MSNBC: "We have a huge operation in New York City working closely with the Joint Terrorism Task Force where we're monitoring and they go dark, because basically they go onto an encrypted app, they're going onto sites that we can't access."
The New York Times also reported on Monday that "the attacks are believed to have communicated using encryption technology, according to European officials who had been briefed on the investigation but were not authorized to speak publicly" — before deleting the story, and subsequently redirecting readers to a new one that does not mention encryption. (Here's a link to an archived version of the original.)
The Snowden connection (or not)
Former CIA deputy director Michael Morell suggested that Paris could shift the momentum of the debate around encryption, and that Edward Snowden bears some responsibility for what happened in Paris.
"I think what we're going to learn is that [the attackers] used these encrypted apps, right?" He told CBS on Monday. "This is a result of Edward Snowden and the public debate. I now think we're going to have another public debate about encryption, and whether the government should have access to the keys, and I think the result may be different this time as given what's happened in Paris."
At this point, there's no direct evidence that the attackers used encryption to cover their steps, although ISIS-affiliated individuals are known to use encrypted messaging apps like Telegram to communicate.
Terrorists have also been using encryption technology since long before Snowden's revelations: A report from USA Today from February 2001 — before 9/11 — has circulated following the Paris attacks, that warns that "terror groups hide behind Web encryption."
USA Today
Glenn Greenwald, one of the journalists whom Snowden leaked to, also furiously reacted to the accusations. Writing on The Intercept, he argued that "any terrorist capable of tying his own shoe — let alone carrying out a significant attack — has known f or decades that speaking on open telephone and internet lines was to be avoided due to U.S. surveillance. As one Twitter commentator put it yesterday when mocking this new It's-Snowden's-Fault game: "Dude, the drug dealers from the Wire knew not to use cell phones."
Calls for legislation
It's in this context that McCain and others are calling for legislation to combat encryption. "In the Senate Armed Services [Committee] we're going to have hearings on it and we're going to have legislation," he said.
Senator Dianne Feinstein said that "the chairman and I will consult other members of our committee will consult and hopefully we will be able to come forward with some proposals that make some good sense," according to The Hill. She didn't elaborate on the nature of these proposals: "I don't think it makes sense to speculate."
Many technologists have expressed doubt that any ban would be remotely enforceable, given that many encryption tools are open source or developed outside of Western jurisdictions.US-Haiti
Noam Chomsky
US-Haiti, March 9, 2004
Those who have any concern for Haiti will naturally want to understand how its most recent tragedy has been unfolding. And for those who have had the privilege of any contact with the people of this tortured land, it is not just natural but inescapable. Nevertheless, we make a serious error if we focus too narrowly on the events of the recent past, or even on Haiti alone. The crucial issue for us is what we should be doing about what is taking place. That would be true even if our options and our responsibility were limited; far more so when they are immense and decisive, as in the case of Haiti. And even more so because the course of the terrible story was predictable years ago — if we failed to act to prevent it. And fail we did. The lessons are clear, and so important that they would be the topic of daily front-page articles in a free press.
Reviewing what was taking place in Haiti shortly after Clinton “restored democracy” in 1994, I was compelled to conclude, unhappily, in Z Magazine that “It would not be very surprising, then, if the Haitian operations become another catastrophe,” and if so, “It is not a difficult chore to trot out the familiar phrases that will explain the failure of our mission of benevolence in this failed society.” The reasons were evident to anyone who chose to look. And the familiar phrases again resound, sadly and predictably.
There is much solemn discussion today explaining, correctly, that democracy means more than flipping a lever every few years. Functioning democracy has preconditions. One is that the population should have some way to learn what is happening in the world. The real world, not the self-serving portrait offered by the “establishment press,” which is disfigured by its “subservience to state power” and “the usual hostility to popular movements” – the accurate words of Paul Farmer, whose work on Haiti is, in its own way, perhaps even as remarkable as what he has accomplished within the country. Farmer was writing in 1993, reviewing mainstream commentary and reporting on Haiti, a disgraceful record that goes back to the days of Wilson’s vicious and destructive invasion in 1915, and on to the present. The facts are extensively documented, appalling, and shameful. And they are deemed irrelevant for the usual reasons: they do not conform to the required self-image, and so are efficiently dispatched deep into the memory hole, though they can be unearthed by those who have some interest in the real world.
They will rarely be found, however, in the “establishment press.” Keeping to the more liberal and knowledgeable end of the spectrum, the standard version is that in “failed states” like Haiti and Iraq the US must become engaged in benevolent “nation-building” to “enhance democracy,” a “noble goal” but one that may be beyond our means because of the inadequacies of the objects of our solicitude. In Haiti, despite Washington ‘s dedicated efforts from Wilson to FDR while the country was under Marine occupation, “the new dawn of Haitian democracy never came.” And “not all America ‘s good wishes, nor all its Marines, can achieve [democracy today] until the Haitians do it themselves” (H.D.S. Greenway, Boston Globe). As New York Times correspondent R.W. Apple recounted two centuries of history in 1994, reflecting on the prospects for Clinton’s endeavor to “restore democracy” then underway, “Like the French in the 19th century, like the Marines who occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934, the American forces who are trying to impose a new order will confront a complex and violent society with no history of democracy.”
Apple does appear to go a bit beyond the norm in his reference to Napoleon’s savage assault on Haiti, leaving it in ruins, in order to prevent the crime of liberation in the world’s richest colony, the source of much of France ‘s wealth. But perhaps that undertaking too satisfies the fundamental criterion of benevolence: it was supported by the United States, which was naturally outraged and frightened by “the first nation in the world to argue the case of universal freedom for all humankind, revealing the limited definition of freedom adopted by the French and American revolutions.” So Haitian historian Patrick Bellegarde-Smith writes, accurately describing the terror in the slave state next door, which was not relieved even when Haiti ‘s successful liberation struggle, at enormous cost, opened the way to the expansion to the West by compelling Napoleon to accept the Louisiana Purchase. The US continued to do what it could to strangle Haiti, even supporting France’s insistence that Haiti pay a huge indemnity for the crime of liberating itself, a burden it has never escaped – and France, of course, dismisses with elegant disdain Haiti’s request, recently under Aristide, that it at least repay the indemnity, forgetting the responsibilities that a civilized society would accept.
The basic contours of what led to the current tragedy are pretty clear. Just beginning with the 1990 election of Aristide (far too narrow a time frame), Washington was appalled by the election of a populist candidate with a grass-roots constituency just as it had been appalled by the prospect of the hemisphere’s first free country on its doorstep two centuries earlier. Washington ‘s traditional allies in Haiti naturally agreed. “The fear of democracy exists, by definitional necessity, in elite groups who monopolize economic and political power,” Bellegarde-Smith observes in his perceptive history of Haiti ; whether in Haiti or the US or anywhere else.
The threat of democracy in Haiti in 1991 was even more ominous because of the favorable reaction of the international financial institutions (World Bank, IADB) to Aristide’s programs, which awakened traditional concerns over the “virus” effect of successful independent development. These are familiar themes in international affairs: American independence aroused similar concerns among European leaders. The dangers are commonly perceived to be particularly grave in a country like Haiti, which had been ravaged by France and then reduced to utter misery by a century of US intervention. If even people in such dire circumstances can take their fate into their own hands, who knows what might happen elsewhere as the “contagion spreads.”
The Bush I administration reacted to the disaster of democracy by shifting aid from the democratically elected government to what are called “democratic forces”: the wealthy elites and the business sectors, who, along with the murderers and torturers of the military and paramilitaries, had been lauded by the current incumbents in Washington, in their Reaganite phase, for their progress in “democratic development,” justifying lavish new aid. “The praise came in response to ratification by the Haitian people of a law granting Washington ‘s client killer and torturer Baby Doc Duvalier the authority to suspend the rights of any political party without reasons. The referendum passed by a majority of 99.98%.” It therefore marked a positive step towards democracy as compared with the 99% approval of a 1918 law granting US corporations the right to turn the country into a US plantation, passed by 5% of the population after the Haitian Parliament was disbanded at gunpoint by Wilson’s Marines when it refused to accept this “progressive measure,” essential for “economic development.” Their reaction to Baby Doc’s encouraging progress towards democracy was characteristic – worldwide — on the part of the visionaries who are now entrancing educated opinion with their dedication to bringing democracy to a suffering world – although, to be sure, their actual exploits are being tastefully rewritten to satisfy current needs.
Refugees fleeing to the US from the terror of the US-backed dictatorships were forcefully returned, in gross violation of international humanitarian law. The policy was reversed when a democratically elected government took office. Though the flow of refugees reduced to a trickle, they were mostly granted political asylum. Policy returned to normal when a military junta overthrew the Aristide government after seven months, and state terrorist atrocities rose to new heights. The perpetrators were the army – the inheritors of the National Guard left by Wilson ‘s invaders to control the population – and its paramilitary forces. The most important of these, FRAPH, was founded by CIA asset Emmanuel Constant, who now lives happily in Queens, Clinton and Bush II having dismissed extradition requests — because he would reveal US ties to the murderous junta, it is widely assumed. Constant’s contributions to state terror were, after all, meager; merely prime responsibility for the murder of 4-5000 poor blacks.
Recall the core element of the Bush doctrine, which has “already become a de facto rule of international relations,” Harvard’s Graham Allison writes in Foreign Affairs: “those who harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves,” in the President’s words, and must be treated accordingly, by large-scale bombing and invasion.
When Aristide was overthrown by the 1991 military coup, the Organization of American States declared an embargo. Bush I announced that the US would violate it by exempting US firms. He was thus “fine tuning” the embargo for the benefit of the suffering population, the New York Times reported. Clinton authorized even more extreme violations of the embargo: US trade with the junta and its wealthy supporters sharply increased. The crucial element of the embargo was, of course, oil. While the CIA solemnly testified to Congress that the junta “probably will be out of fuel and power very shortly” and “Our intelligence efforts are focused on detecting attempts to circumvent the embargo and monitoring its impact,” Clinton secretly authorized the Texaco Oil Company to ship oil to the junta illegally, in violation of presidential directives. This remarkable revelation was the lead story on the AP wires the day before Clinton sent the Marines to “restore democracy,” impossible to miss – I happened to be monitoring AP wires that day and saw it repeated prominently over and over — and obviously of enormous significance for anyone who wanted to understand what was happening. It was suppressed with truly impressive discipline, though reported in industry journals along with scant mention buried in the business press.
Also efficiently suppressed were the crucial conditions that Clinton imposed for Aristide’s return: that he adopt the program of the defeated US candidate in the 1990 elections, a former World Bank official who had received 14% of the vote. We call this “restoring democracy,” a prime illustration of how US foreign policy has entered a “noble phase” with a “saintly glow,” the national press explained. The harsh neoliberal program that Aristide was compelled to adopt was virtually guaranteed to demolish the remaining shreds of economic sovereignty, extending Wilson ‘s progressive legislation and similar US-imposed measures since.
As democracy was thereby restored, the World Bank announced that “The renovated state must focus on an economic strategy centered on the energy and initiative of Civil Society, especially the private sector, both national and foreign.” That has the merit of honesty: Haitian Civil Society includes the tiny rich elite and US corporations, but not the vast majority of the population, the peasants and slum-dwellers who had committed the grave sin of organizing to elect their own president. World Bank officers explained that the neoliberal program would benefit the “more open, enlightened, business class” and foreign investors, but assured us that the program “is not going to hurt the poor to the extent it has in other countries” subjected to structural adjustment, because the Haitian poor already lacked minimal protection from proper economic policy, such as subsidies for basic goods. Aristide’s Minister in charge of rural development and agrarian reform was not notified of the plans to be imposed on this largely peasant society, to be returned by ” America ‘s good wishes” to the track from which it veered briefly after the regrettable democratic election in 1990.
Matters then proceeded in their predictable course. A 1995 USAID report explained that the “export-driven trade and investment policy” that Washington imposed will “relentlessly squeeze the domestic rice farmer,” who will be forced to turn to agroexport, with incidental benefits to US agribusiness and investors. Despite their extreme poverty, Haitian rice farmers are quite efficient, but cannot possibly compete with US agribusiness, even if it did not receive 40% of its profits from government subsidies, sharply increased under the Reaganites who are again in power, still producing enlightened rhetoric about the miracles of the market. We now read that Haiti cannot feed itself, another sign of a “failed state.”
A few small industries were still able to function, for example, making chicken parts. But US conglomerates have a large surplus of dark meat, and therefore demanded the right to dump their excess products in Haiti. They tried to do the same in Canada and Mexico too, but there illegal dumping could be barred. Not in Haiti, compelled to submit to efficient market principles by the US government and the corporations it serves.
One might note that the Pentagon’s proconsul in Iraq, Paul Bremer, ordered a very similar program to be instituted there, with the same beneficiaries in mind. That’s also called “enhancing democracy.” In fact, the record, highly revealing and important, goes back to the 18th century. Similar programs had a large role in creating today’s third world. Meanwhile the powerful ignored the rules, except when they could benefit from them, and were able to become rich developed societies; dramatically the US, which led the way in modern protectionism and, particularly since World War II, has relied crucially on the dynamic state sector for innovation and development, socializing risk and cost.
The punishment of Haiti became much more severe under Bush II — there are differences within the narrow spectrum of cruelty and greed. Aid was cut and international institutions were pressured to do likewise, under pretexts too outlandish to merit discussion. They are extensively reviewed in Paul Farmer’s Uses of Haiti, and in some current press commentary, notably by Jeffrey Sachs (Financial Times) and Tracy Kidder (New York Times).
Putting details aside, what has happened since is eerily similar to the overthrow of Haiti ‘s first democratic government in 1991. The Aristide government, once again, was undermined by US planners, who understood, under Clinton, that the threat of democracy can be overcome if economic sovereignty is eliminated, and presumably also understood that economic development will also be a faint hope under such conditions, one of the best-confirmed lessons of economic history. Bush II planners are even more dedicated to undermining democracy and independence, and despised Aristide and the popular organizations that swept him to power with perhaps even more passion than their predecessors. The forces that reconquered the country are mostly inheritors of the US-installed army and paramilitary terrorists.
Those who are intent on diverting attention from the US role will object that the situation is more complex — as is always true — and that Aristide too was guilty of many crimes. Correct, but if he had been a saint the situation would hardly have developed very differently, as was evident in 1994, when the only real hope was that a democratic revolution in the US would make it possible to shift policy in a more civilized direction.
What is happening now is awful, maybe beyond repair. And there is plenty of short-term responsibility on all sides. But the right way for the US and France to proceed is very clear. They should begin with payment of enormous reparations to Haiti ( France is perhaps even more hypocritical and disgraceful in this regard than the US ). That, however, requires construction of functioning democratic societies in which, at the very least, people have a prayer of knowing what’s going on. Commentary on Haiti, Iraq, and other “failed societies” is quite right in stressing the importance of overcoming the “democratic deficit” that substantially reduces the significance of elections. It does not, however, draw the obvious corollary: the lesson applies in spades to a country where “politics is the shadow cast on society by big business,” in the words of America’s leading social philosopher, John Dewey, describing his own country in days when the blight had spread nowhere near as far as it has today.
For those who are concerned with the substance of democracy and human rights, the basic tasks at home are also clear enough. They have been carried out before, with no slight success, and under incomparably harsher conditions elsewhere, including the slums and hills of Haiti. We do |
but nobody came.
“I just went numb and then he stopped.”
She said that when they were at the bar he claimed to play for QPR.
French international Remy is paid £3.9 million a year to play for Chelsea.
Robinson denies rape and the trial continues.By Michael Snyder
We are about three weeks into 2016, and we are witnessing things that we have never seen before. There were two emergency market shutdowns in China within the first four trading days of this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has never lost this many points within the first three weeks, and just yesterday we learned that global stocks had officially entered bear market territory. Overall, more than 15 trillion dollars of global stock market wealth has been wiped out since last June. And of course the markets are simply playing catch up with global economic reality. The Baltic Dry Index just hit another new all-time record low today, Wal-Mart has announced that they are shutting down 269 stores, and initial jobless claims in the U.S. just surged to their highest level in six months. So if things are this bad already, what will the rest of 2016 bring?
The Dow was up just a little bit on Thursday thankfully, but even with that gain we are still in unprecedented territory. According to CNBC, we have never seen a tougher start to the year for the Dow than we have in 2016…
The Dow Jones industrial average, which was created in 1896, has never begun a year with 12 worse trading days. Through Wednesday’s close, the Dow has fallen 9.5 percent. Even including the 1.3 percent gains as of noon Thursday, the Dow is still down nearly 8 percent in 2016.
But even with the carnage that we have seen so far, stocks are still wildly overpriced compared to historical averages. In order for stocks to no longer be in a “bubble”, they will still need to decline by about another one-third. The following comes from MarketWatch…
Data from the U.S. Federal Reserve, meanwhile, say U.S. nonfinancial corporate stocks are now valued at about 90% of the replacement cost of company assets, a metric known as “Tobin’s Q.” But the historic average, going back a century, is in the region of 60% of replacement costs. By this measure, stocks could fall by another third, taking the Dow all the way down toward 10,000. (On Wednesday it closed at 15,767.) Similar calculations could be reached by comparing share prices to average per-share earnings, a measure known as the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio, commonly known as CAPE, after Yale finance professor Robert Shiller, who made it famous.
Of course the mainstream media doesn’t seem to understand any of this. They seem to be under the impression that the bubble should have lasted forever, and this latest meltdown has taken them totally by surprise.
Ultimately, what is happening should not be a surprise to any of us. The financial markets always catch up with economic reality eventually, and right now evidence continues to mount that economic activity is significantly slowing down. Here is some analysis from Brandon Smith…
Trucking freight in the U.S. is in steep decline, with freight companies pointing to a “glut in inventories” and a fall in demand as the culprit. Morgan Stanley’s freight transportation update indicates a collapse in freight demand worse than that seen during 2009. The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of global freight rates and thus a measure of global demand for shipping of raw materials, has collapsed to even more dismal historic lows. Hucksters in the mainstream continue to push the lie that the fall in the BDI is due to an “overabundance of new ships.” However, the CEO of A.P. Moeller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping line, put that nonsense to rest when he admitted in November that “global growth is slowing down” and “[t]rade is currently significantly weaker than it normally would be under the growth forecasts we see.”
In addition, another very troubling sign is the fact that initial jobless claims are starting to surge once again…
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in mid-January reached seven-month highs, perhaps a sign that the rate of layoffs in the U.S. has risen slightly from record lows. Initial jobless claims climbed a seasonally adjusted 10,000 to 293,000 in the seven days stretching from Jan. 10 to Jan 16, the government said Thursday. That’s the highest level since last July.
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Since the last recession, the primary engine for the creation of good jobs in this country has been the energy industry.
Unfortunately, the “oil boomtowns” are now going bust, and workers are being laid off in droves. As I mentioned the other day, 42 North American oil companies have filed for bankruptcy and 130,000 good paying energy jobs have been lost in this country since the start of 2015. And as long as the price of oil stays in this neighborhood, the worse things are going to get.
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A lot of people out there still seem to think that this is just going to be a temporary downturn. Many are convinced that we will just go through another tough recession and then we will come out okay on the other side. What they don’t realize is that a number of long-term trends are now reaching a crescendo.
For decades, we have been living wildly beyond our means. The federal government, state and local governments, corporations and consumers have all been going into debt far faster than our economy has been growing. Of course this was never going to be sustainable in the long run, but we had been doing it for so long that many of us had come to believe that our exceedingly reckless debt-fueled prosperity was somehow “normal”.
Unfortunately, the truth is that you can’t consume far more than you produce forever. Eventually reality catches up with you. This is a point that Simon Black made extremely well in one of his recent articles…WASHINGTON — When Jody Richards saw a homeless man begging outside a downtown McDonald's recently, he bought the man a cheeseburger. There's nothing unusual about that, except that Richards is homeless, too, and the 99-cent cheeseburger was an outsized chunk of the $9.50 he'd earned that day from panhandling.
The generosity of poor people isn't so much rare as rarely noticed, however. In fact, America's poor donate more, in percentage terms, than higher-income groups do, surveys of charitable giving show. What's more, their generosity declines less in hard times than the generosity of richer givers does.
"The lowest-income fifth (of the population) always give at more than their capacity," said Virginia Hodgkinson, former vice president for research at Independent Sector, a Washington-based association of major nonprofit agencies. "The next two-fifths give at capacity, and those above that are capable of giving two or three times more than they give."
Indeed, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest survey of consumer expenditure found that the poorest fifth of America's households contributed an average of 4.3 percent of their incomes to charitable organizations in 2007. The richest fifth gave at less than half that rate, 2.1 percent.
The figures probably undercount remittances by legal and illegal immigrants to family and friends back home, a multibillion-dollar outlay to which the poor contribute disproportionally.
None of the middle fifths of America's households, in contrast, gave away as much as 3 percent of their incomes.
"As a rule, people who have money don't know people in need," saId Tanya Davis, 40, a laid-off security guard and single mother.
Certainly, better-off people aren't hit up by friends and kin as often as Davis said she was, having earned a reputation for generosity while she was working.
Now getting by on $110 a week in unemployment insurance and $314 a month in welfare, Davis still fields two or three appeals a week, she said, and lays out $5 or $10 weekly.
To explain her giving, Davis offered the two reasons most commonly heard in three days of conversations with low-income donors:
"I believe that the more I give, the more I receive, and that God loves a cheerful giver," Davis said. "Plus I've been in their position, and someday I might be again."
Herbert Smith, 31, a Seventh-day Adventist who said he tithed his $1,010 monthly disability check — giving away 10 percent of it — thought that poor people give more because, in some ways, they worry less about their money.
"We're not scared of poverty the way rich people are," he said. "We know how to get the lights back on when we can't pay the electric bill."
In terms of income, the poorest fifth seem unlikely benefactors. Their pretax household incomes averaged $10,531 in 2007, according to the BLS survey, compared with $158,388 for the top fifth.
In addition, its members are the least educated fifth of the U.S. population, the oldest, the most religious and the likeliest to rent their homes, according to demographers. They're also the most likely fifth to be on welfare, to drive used cars or rely on public transportation, to be students, minorities, women and recent immigrants.
However, many of these characteristics predict generosity. Women are more generous than men, studies have shown. Older people give more than younger donors with equal incomes. The working poor, disproportionate numbers of which are recent immigrants, are America's most generous group, according to Arthur Brooks, the author of the book "Who Really Cares," an analysis of U.S. generosity.
Faith probably matters most, Brooks — who's the president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington policy-research organization — said in an interview. That's partly because above-average numbers of poor people go to church, and church attenders give more money than non-attenders to secular and religious charities, Brooks found.
Moreover, disproportionate numbers of poor people belong to congregations that tithe.
Less-religious givers such as Emel Sweeney, 73, a retired bookkeeper, say that giving lights up their lives.
"Have you ever looked into the face of someone you're being generous to?" Sweeney asked with the trace of a Jamaican lilt.
That brought to mind her encounter with a young woman who was struggling to manage four small, tired children on a bus.
They staggered and straggled at a transfer stop, along with Sweeney, who urged the mother to take a nearby cab the rest of the way. When the mother said she had no money, Sweeney gave her $20, she said. The mother, as she piled her brood into the cab, waved and mouthed a thank-you.
"Those words just rested in my chest," Sweeney said, "and as I rode home I was so happy."
Pastor Coletta Jones, who ministers to a largely low-income tithing congregation in southeast Washington, The Rock Christian Church, thinks that poor people give more because they ask for less for themselves.
"When you have just a little, you're thankful for what you have," Jones said, "but with every step you take up the ladder of success, the money clouds your mind and gets you into a state of never being satisfied."
Brooks offered this statistic as supportive evidence: Fifty-eight percent of noncontributors with above-median incomes say they don't have enough money to give any away.
What makes poor people's generosity even more impressive is that their giving generally isn't tax-deductible, because they don't earn enough to justify itemizing their charitable tax deductions. In effect, giving a dollar to charity costs poor people a dollar while it costs deduction itemizers 65 cents.
In addition, measures of generosity typically exclude informal giving, such as that of Davis' late mother, Helen Coleman. Coleman, a Baltimore hotel housekeeper, provided child care, beds and meals for many of her eight children and 32 grandchildren, Davis said.
Federal surveys don't ask about remittances specifically, so it's hard to know how much the poorest fifth sends back home. Remittances from U.S. immigrants totaled more than $100 billion in 2007, according to Manuel Orozco, a senior researcher at Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy institute, who specializes in remittances.
By comparison, individual giving to tax-deductible U.S. charities totaled about $220 billion in 2007.
Much of the money remitted comes from struggling U.S. immigrants such as Zenaida Araviza, 42, a Macy's cosmetics clerk and single mother in suburban Arlington, Va.
Araviza, who earns $1,300 a month, goes carless, cable-less and cell phone-less in order to send an aunt in the Philippines $200 a month to care for Araviza's mother, who has Alzheimer's.
"What can I do?" asked Araviza, an attractive, somber woman. "It's my responsibility."
Carmen De Jesus, the chief financial officer and treasurer of Forex Inc., a remittance agency based in Springfield, Va., said low-income Filipino-Americans such as Araviza were her most generous customers.
"The domestic helpers send very, very frequently," she said. "The doctors, less so."
Why are they so generous? Christie Zerrudo, a cashier who handles Filipino remittances at Manila Oriental, a grocery/restaurant/remittance agency in Arlington, offered this explanation:
"It gives the heart comfort when you sit down at the end of the day, and you know that you did your part," Zerrudo said. "You took care of your family. If you eat here, they eat there, too. It would give you stress if they couldn't. But you love them, they are your family, and your love has had an expression."
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America's love affair with chili peppers grows hotterManchester United have joined Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in registering their interest in Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin although any bid is likely to depend on their progress with other midfield targets.
Schneiderlin is also on the club’s radar although Southampton are yet to have any formal bid for a player who they are willing to sell but value at around £25 million.
Schneiderlin was made to stay at Southampton last summer despite pushing to join Tottenham but an understanding was struck that he could potentially then leave this year. Arsenal were strongly interested in January and, after another excellent season, Schneiderlin now wants to join a club in the Champions League rather than Tottenham.
Arsene Wenger, however, has not rushed in with a bid, presumably due to a combination of the asking price, the central midfield emergence of Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere’s strong return from injury. It leaves an opportunity for United but the club are exploring several midfield options.
Another major unknown for Southampton in this transfer window is whether they will succeed with a bid to keep Atletico Madrid centre-back Toby Alderweireld following his loan spell at the club. To their advantage is the clause that would force Atletico to pay them between £2 million and £3 million should he be sold to another club, such as Chelsea or Tottenham Hotspur.WWE, 2015
By now we’ve all heard that Stuart “Wade Barrett” Bennett won’t be renewing his WWE contract later this year. It’s a shame, really, since Barrett was at one point, astoundingly, getting over with the fans with his “Bad News Barrett” gimmick — and as a babyface, no less.
Then again, it’s perfectly understandable why Barrett wouldn’t care to continue in WWE if you recall how he spent 2015.
At least WWE Creative has a sense of irony, as I’m pretty sure this is how their meeting with Barrett went at the outset of 2015.
“Wade, you’re going to be the new Intercontinental Champion…
…but I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news!”
In this case, the bad news was that he would turn heel again, have the worst Intercontinental reign in history, and lose the title after one of the worst builds in Wrestlemania history.
The year started out well for Wade Barrett, who beat Dolph Ziggler in a two-out-of-three falls match to win the Intercontinental title.
Now that Barrett had a title, the WWE Creative Team felt he no longer needed to win any matches, so he proceeded to — ahem —
…lose to Sin Cara… …lose to Dean Ambrose… … lose to Dolph Ziggler … … lose to R-Truth … … lose to Dolph Ziggler again … … lose to Daniel Bryan … … lose to Dean Ambrose again … … lose to Daniel Bryan again … …and lose to Dean Ambrose yet again, this time in a six-man tag match.
And along the way, he was on the losing team in a few tag matches as well.
Needless to say, the title wasn’t on the line in any of these matches. The beauty of non-title matches is their unpredictability; since their outcomes seldom affect the story line, there’s no way to guess who will win or lose based on how you think an angle will play out. Since the results don’t matter, you never know who will win! Nor do you care!
Thus, every Tom, Dolph, and Harry was pinning poor Wade faster than Cole could say, “What a win this would be!”
It was as if WWE wanted to bring back the hot-shot, crash-TV paradigm of the Attitude Era, where hardly a week went by without one champion or another being beaten —
— except that in 2015, the champion somehow still got to keep his title.
All in all, Wade Barrett’s one-on-one record (before finally dropping the IC title at Wrestlemania) was 3-8; his only two pinfall victories came over Sin Cara on Smackdown (the B-show) and Main Event (for which the English alphabet is too short to convey its irrelevance).
His other “win” was a disqualification victory over Dean Ambrose when the challenger wouldn’t stop beating up the champion.
That cheap finish left Ambrose unsatisfied, so he stole Wade Barrett’s belt…
…and kicked off a game of hot-potato with the Intercontinental strap leading into Wrestlemania, where Barrett would defend his title in a ladder match against “multiple competitors” to be determined later.
Seeing as how the Intercontinental title meant a future full of non-stop jobbing for whomever was unlucky enough to win the championship, fans should have been hoping for their favorite man in the ladder match to lose, not win.
In my case, that meant rooting against an IC title run for Daniel Bryan…
…but it turned out that I should have been rooting against him anyway, because he’s a turd. Or so said Dean Ambrose after a six-man tag victory.
“Can you say that on TV?” asked The King. Well, you couldn’t in 1978, when George Carlin updated his list of words you couldn’t say on television, but, he said, “when you get right down to it, who wants to say it?”
The answer: Dolph Ziggler, who cut off Ambrose’s music just to reiterate that Daniel Bryan, popular as he may have been, was a turd.
Whether you thought the word, “turd” was filthy or just juvenile, it was certainly the first time anyone had ever used it on WWE programming…
Michael Cole later weighed in on the Daniel Bryan turd debate and its implications for that night’s main event.
So with a ladder match on the horizon…
Truth then pretended to return it to Wade, but when Bad News opened the burlap bag, he was extremely disappointed to find…
…Rey Mysterio’s mask!
No, sorry. It was one of those flimsy kids’ replica championships, which was apparently still heavy enough for Barrett to mistake it for the real thing.
Leave it to WWE to both:
ban all references to a “belt” being the physical object a champion wears and construct an entire Wrestlemania program built around that very object.
Finally, in a single segment, the belt (or championship title) passed from Truth (who wore a special hook on his back to hold the belt)…
…to Dust…
…to Dean…
… to Truth…
…to Dolph and Daniel…
…and finally back to Wade Barrett, its rightful owner (well, “rightful” except for the part where he lost over and over again)…
…at which point Michael Cole assured the naïve Booker T that Barrett’s unprecedented losing streak was now moot. I mean, he may have lost all of his matches in the past month, but he also performed well in a brawl and got his trophy back. That put him ahead in Cole’s book.
Of course, just because someone had the title didn’t mean they had the title. Uh, by which I mean, just stealing the physical belt didn’t make any of those men Intercontinental Champion. The only way to win the title officially, of course, was to beat the champion by pinfall or submission.
Which most of them did.
And the real kicker was that whoever ended up in possession of the belt by Wrestlemania knew he would have to surrender it anyway for the ladder match.
I don’t understand why anyone would care about a title so meaningless that you could lose every match and still hold on to it, and I can’t imagine why anyone would risk life and limb in a chaotic ladder match to win such a title. But seven of WWE’s mid-carders felt differently.
So what was the big deal about this Intercontinental belt that everybody wanted so badly? Well, it was… shiny, and that white strap was pretty snappy, but you could always just buy a full-size replica from WWE Shop.
Cole had a different theory: “It’s all about the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship.”
Sorry, Maggil, but this angle, with its silly hot-potato antics and outright burial of the reigning champion, only brings to mind one word…
…and it ain’t “prestige.”A road in Santa Clarita, California, turned into an asphalt mess in just three days, and no one knows exactly why.
What started off as a small ripple on Vasquez Canyon Road soon turned into a scene from a post-apocalyptic blockbuster: the asphalt torn, utility poles dangerously tilted.
Local authorities were quick to close the road on November 19, attracting curious on-lookers as well as extreme sports daredevils.
Despite danger warnings, skateboarders have used the opportunity to explore the naturally-made ramp, and one man was seen riding his dirt bike on the newly-formed ripples.
Officials with the Los Angeles Department of Public Works even took to Twitter to warn people away from the site as the landslide was still underway.
CBS Los Angeles reported on Sunday that the road buckled over a 60-meter stretch, with some parts rising as high as 4.5 meters.
UCLA Professor Jeremy Boyce told the media that it was unclear what had caused the phenomenon.
"There was no big rainstorm that triggered this. There was no big earthquake that triggered this,” Boyce said.
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The road sits on private property and efforts to contact the owner are still ongoing.
“Everything is being looked into because nothing is obvious. There’s no indication that seismic activity had anything to do with it,” Steve Frasher, a spokesman with the LA Department of Public Works, said.
Please RT: Crews fenced off Vasquez Canyon Rd landslide area. Mountain is still sliding & is unsafe. Stay away! pic.twitter.com/KnyC2Qqle1 — LA Co Public Works (@LAPublicWorks) November 25, 2015
Buckled Vasquez Canyon Road in Santa Clarita attracts skateboarders https://t.co/8OFVb4m6bIpic.twitter.com/TkMLckubkU — ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 25, 2015
The still-closed Vasquez Canyon Road turned into a temporary tourist stop today: https://t.co/spzqR65B2mpic.twitter.com/Ayo329L2Yj — Luke Money (@LukeMMoney) November 22, 2015The European Commission has today published its assessment of the 27 offers received by Member States to host the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which are currently located in the United Kingdom.
The Commission, under the responsibility of its Secretary-General, assessed all offers objectively, on the basis of the criteria set out by President Jean-Claude Juncker and President Donald Tusk and endorsed by the Heads of State or Government of the EU27 at the European Council (Article 50 format) on 22 June 2017. The assessment is fully based on the information sent by the Member States. It respects the Member States' decision that the criteria should be unweighted and does not provide a ranking or shortlist of any kind. The Agencies have also been consulted in the process.
Next Steps: On the basis of the Commission's assessment, the Council will have a political discussion at the General Affairs Council (Article 50 format) in October 2017. In order to allow for a smooth and timely relocation of the two agencies, a final decision will be taken at the General Affairs Council (Article 50 format) in November 2017.
Background
The decision to relocate the EMA and the EBA – both of which are currently situated in London – is for the governments of the 27 Member States to take. Their relocation is a direct consequence of the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, as notified to the European Council on 29 March 2017. It does not form part of the Brexit negotiations, but is to be discussed exclusively between the 27 EU Member States. The Commission has repeatedly called for a quick decision on the transfer. The EMA and the EBA are two key regulatory agencies for the EU's Single Market, and are essential for the authorisation of medicines and bank regulation. They must continue to function smoothly and without disruption beyond March 2019.
For More Information
Memo
Commission assessment
Applications to host the EMA and EBA
Decision on the procedure for relocation of EU agencies currently located in the UK (including criteria)Following today’s breaking news about U.S. and international authorities taking down the competing Dark Web drug bazaars AlphaBay and Hansa Market, KrebsOnSecurity caught up with the Dutch investigators who took over Hansa on June 20, 2017. When U.S. authorities shuttered AlphaBay on July 5, police in The Netherlands saw a massive influx of AlphaBay refugees who were unwittingly fleeing directly into the arms of investigators. What follows are snippets from an exclusive interview with Petra Haandrikman, team leader of the Dutch police unit that infiltrated Hansa.
Vendors on both AlphaBay and Hansa sold a range of black market items — most especially controlled substances like heroin. According to the U.S. Justice Department, AlphaBay alone had some 40,000 vendors who marketed a quarter-million sales listings for illegal drugs to more than 200,000 customers. The DOJ said that as of earlier this year, AlphaBay had 238 vendors selling heroin. Another 122 vendors advertised Fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid that has been linked to countless overdoses and deaths.
In our interview, Haandrikman detailed the dual challenges of simultaneously dealing with the exodus of AlphaBay users to Hansa and keeping tabs on the giant increase in new illicit drug orders that were coming in daily as a result.
KrebsOnSecurity (K): Talk a bit about how your team was able to seize control over Hansa.
Haandrikman (H): When we knew the FBI was working on AlphaBay, we thought ‘What’s better than if they come to us?’ The FBI wanted [the AlphaBay takedown] to look like an exit scam [where the proprietors of a dark web marketplace suddenly abscond with everyone’s money]. And we knew a lot of vendors on AlphaBay would probably come over to Hansa when AlphaBay was closed.
K: Where was Hansa physically based?
H: We knew the Hansa servers were in Lithuania, so we sent an MLAT (mutual legal assistance treaty) request to Lithuania and requested if we could proceed with our planned actions in their country. They were very willing to help us in our investigations.
K: So you made a copy of the Hansa servers?
H: We gained physical access to the machines in Lithuania, and were able to set up some clustering between the [Hansa] database servers in Lithuania and servers we were running in our country. With that, we were able to get a real time copy of the Hansa database, and then copy over the Web site code itself.
K: Did you have to take Hansa offline for a while during this process?
H: No, it didn’t really go offline. We were able to create our own copy of the site that was running on servers in the Netherlands. So there were two copies of the site running simultaneously.
K: At a press conference on this effort at the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C. today, Rob Wainwright, director of the European law enforcement organization Europol, detailed how the closure of AlphaBay caused a virtual stampede of former AlphaBay buyers and sellers taking their business to Hansa Market. Tell us more about what that influx was like, and how you handled it.
H: Yes, we called them “AlphaBay refugees.” It wasn’t the technical challenge that caused problems. Because this was a police operation, we wanted to keep up with the orders to see if there were any large amounts [of drugs] being ordered to one place, [so that] we could share information with our law enforcement partners internationally.
K: How exactly did you deal with that? Were you able to somehow slow down the orders coming in?
H: We just closed registration on Hansa for new users for a few days. So there was a temporary restriction for being able to register on the site, which slowed down the orders each day to make sure that we could cope with the orders that were coming in.
K: Did anything unexpected happen as a result?
H: Some people started selling their Hansa accounts on Reddit. I read somewhere that one Hansa user sold his account for $40. The funny part about that was that sale happened about five minutes before we re-opened registration. There was a lot of frustration from ex-AlphaBay users that weren’t allowed to register on the site. But we also got defended by the Hansa community on social media, who said it was a great decision by us to educate certain AlphaBay users on Hansa etiquette, which doesn’t allow the sale of things permitted on AlphaBay and other dark markets, such as child pornography and firearms.
K: You mentioned earlier that the FBI wanted AlphaBay users to think that the reason for the closure of that marketplace was that its operators and administrators had conducted an ‘exit scam’ where they ran off with all of the Bitcoin and virtual currency that vendors and buyers had stored in their marketplace wallets temporarily. Why do you think they wanted this to look like an exit scam?
H: The idea was to hit the dark markets even harder when they think they’re just moving to another market and it turns to be law enforcement. Breaking the trust, so that [users] would not feel safe on a dark market.
K: It has been reported that just a few days ago the Hansa market administrators decided to ban the sale of Fentanyl. Were Dutch police involved in that at all?
H: It was a combination of things. One of the site’s employees or moderators started a discussion about this drug. We obviously also had our own opinion about it. It was a pretty good dialogue between us and the Hansa moderators to ban this from the site, and [that decision received] a lot of support from the community. But we didn’t instigate that discussion.
K: Have the Dutch police arrested anyone in connection with this investigation so far?
H: Yes, we identified several people in the Netherlands using the site, and there have already been several arrests made [tied to] Fentanyl.
K: Can you talk about whether your control over Hansa helped you identify users?
H: We did use some technical tricks to find out who people are, but we can’t go into that a lot because the investigation is still going on. But we did try to change the behavior [of some Hansa users] by asking for things that helped us to identify a lot of people and money.
K: What is your overall strategy in all of this?
H: Our strategy is that we want people to know that the Dark Web is not an anonymous place for criminals. Don’t think you can just buy or sell your drugs there without eventually getting caught by law enforcement. We want people to know you’re not safe on the Dark Web. Sooner or later we will come to get you.
Further reading: After AlphaBay’s Demise, Customers Flocked to Dark Market Run by Dutch Police
Tags: AlphaBay takedown, Europol, fbi, Hansa Market, Petra Haandrikman, Rob WainwrightThis is a really critical story on a number of levels. The debate over Obamacare has been shaped to a great extent over the last year by Aetna’s decision to withdraw from exchanges in a number of states because, it claimed, it was losing money. But in a ruling today which blocked a proposed merger between Aetna and Humana, federal Judge John D. Bates held that Aetna’s claim was bogus. Rather than being a business decision based on the inability to make a profit in those states, Bates ruled that Aetna had withdrawn from Obamacare exchanges at least in part as a strategy to threaten its way out of the anti-trust case.
From Michael Hiltzik’s piece in the LA Times …
Bates found that this rationalization was largely untrue. In fact, he noted, Aetna pulled out of some states and counties that were actually profitable to make a point in its lawsuit defense — and then misled the public about its motivations. Bates’ analysis relies in part on a “smoking gun” letter to the Justice Department in which Chief Executive Mark Bertolini explicitly ties Aetna’s participation in Obamacare to the DOJ’s actions on the merger, which we reported in August. But it goes much further. Among the locations where Aetna withdrew were 17 counties in three states where the Department of Justice asserted that the merger would produce unlawfully low levels of competition. By pulling out, Aetna could say that it wasn’t competing in those counties anyway, rendering the government’s point moot: “The evidence provides persuasive support for the conclusion that Aetna withdrew from the on-exchange markets in the 17 complaint counties to improve its litigation position,” Bates wrote. “The Court does not credit the minimal efforts of Aetna executives to claim otherwise.” Indeed, he wrote, Aetna’s decision to pull out of the exchange business in Florida was “so far outside of normal business practice” that it perplexed the company’s top executive in Florida, who was not in the decision loop.
The Court also found that Aetna had gone to lengths to conceal its decision-making which in themselves bordered on wrongdoing.
There’s quite a lot here – not least the adverse impact this had on Obamacare in the political realm. But it also points to much deeper issues about monopoly practices, the political impact of corporate gigantism and a company like AETNA making individual policy holders into what amounts to political and legal cannon fodder in a battle to get a merger okayed by the federal government.
There’s a lot here to be discussed.Ansel Herz’s repost of Dan Savage’s comments this week about the Green Party in Seattle’s alternative weekly, The Stranger, slammed into my field of view when I was deluged by messages of outrage from fellow Greens from around the country. They considered Dan Savage an ally in many progressive causes and were shocked by his rhetoric and lack of knowledge about the Green Party of the United States.
I respect Savage, having first become acquainted with his activism through the “It Gets Better” project and its advocacy for LGBTQIA+ youth, as readers already know. But his commentary begs correcting various inaccuracies in what he understands about the Green Party. I should state for the record that as the only Latina in national political party leadership today, I am decidedly not “pasty white,” as he accuses in his commentary. Neither is Cynthia McKinney nor Rosa Clemente, our presidential and VP candidates from 2008, nor Cheri Honkala, Jill Stein’s running mate in 2012, nor Winona LaDuke, Ralph Nader’s running mate in 2000…none are “pasty white,” either.
First, the Green Party actually does run candidates from dog catcher on up. Here are just a few of our currently seated elected officials around the country:
Bruce Delgado, mayor in Marina, CA
Avito Miranda, school district trustee in Marin County, CA
Hector Lopez, constable in New Canaan, CT
Mirna Martinez, board of education, New London, CT
Cam Gordon, city councilmember in Minneapolis, MN
Becky Elder, city councilmember in Manitou Springs, CO
Merrily Mazza, city councilmember in Lafayette, CO
Some former elected officials include Michael Feinstein (mayor, Santa Monica, CA) and myself, Denver’s first Green-registered elected official (Board of Education, Denver, CO).
The Stranger readers can find even more names at our database. These names and offices may not impress Dan Savage, but we each have way more skin in the electoral game than he has shown to date. Sniping from a laptop doesn’t count.
We’re running candidates for all levels of state and federal government too, and we’ve spotlighted some of them as featured candidates. The list includes Dr. Margaret Flowers, whom activists will recognize as a fighter for single-payer healthcare and against the TPP and as the editor of PopularResistance.org. In my home state of Colorado, we are proud to support our U.S. Senate candidate, Arn Menconi, a former elected county commissioner from Eagle County, CO, around Vail.
Margaret Flowers/Arn Menconi Dr. Margaret Flowers, candidate for U.S. Senate from Maryland (flowersforsenate.org) and Arn Menconi, candidate for U.S. Senate from Colorado (arnmenconi.com)
So, you see, Savage’s assertion that we don’t run candidates in other tiers is incorrect, and perhaps he didn’t notice the 2014 |
weak”.
The government are now proposing to extend the ban for another 3 years, but back in 2003 speaking in Parliament about the ban, John Key (then an opposition MP) said: “Under this system, choice will diminish. Prices will go up and product availability to the consumers of New Zealand will go down. [...] [The public] want to enjoy a movie that is current and not wait to see it in nine months’ time, when it has gone from being fashionable to unfashionable. They are not interested in watching a movie that has already been bagged by movie critics on radio stations and television.” (source: Consumer NZ)
This is an excellent opportunity to speak to government on copyright, and it may be the only time we get to speak this year, so get your submissions in!
Official instructions here and be sure to ask us (twitter, email) if you have any problems.
Need ideas for your submission? See our previous submission on the bill here (PDF).Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 23
The Supreme Court struck down Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, on Tuesday.
Pronouncing their verdict on a PIL filed against the section in a packed courtroom, which empowers the police to arrest a person for allegedly posting ‘offensive materials' on social networking sites, a Bench of Justices J Chelameswar and RF Nariman said the section violated the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression and was therefore was illegal.
Terming liberty of thought and expression as "cardinal", the Bench said: “The public's right to know is directly affected by Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act."
"Section 66-A of the IT Act is struck down in its entirety," said the apex court bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman.
"Our Constitution provides for liberty of thought, expression and belief. In a democracy, these values have to be provided within constitutional scheme," said Justice Nariman, pronouncing the verdict.
"There is no nexus between public order and discussion or causing annoyance by dissemination of information. Curbs under Section 66A of the IT Act infringes on the public right to know."
Calling the written word of the provision, which comprises terms such as ‘"annoying", "inconvenient" and "grossly offensive", vague, the apex court said: “What may be offensive to a person, may not be offensive to others".
The assurance given by one government was not binding on its successor, the Bench said. "Governments come and go but Section 66-A will remain forever," the bench said.
The SC, however, refused to strike down two other provisions of the IT Act that provide blocking of websites.
The verdict comes following cases of persons being arrested for their posts on social networking sites. Most recently, a Class 12 student was arrested over a Facebook post on UP leader Azam Khan.
The first PIL seeking the scrapping of the law was filed in 2012 by a law student after two girls were arrested in Palghar in Maharashtra over a Facebook post immediately following then Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackerey’s death.
BJP to take “structured view”
Hours after the Supreme Court scrapped Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Government on Tuesday claimed it differed with previous UPA regime's stand on the provision.
In a letter addressed to the apex court, the government said that it respects freedom of speech and expression and was never in favour of curtailing communication of honest dissent or criticism on social media.
The government, however, also said it was willing to enact additional, more stringent guidelines so as to prevent abuse of Section 66A of the Act which allows arrest of a person for posting allegedly "offensive" content on websites.
"Our government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a very conscious decision that we don't support the stand of the previous government. We respect the freedom of speech and expression. We respect communication of ideas on social media and we are not in favour of curtailing communication of honest dissent, opinion, disapproval or criticism on social media," Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
In his initial comments on the Supreme Court verdict, he said the government had stressed that it would not support any interpretation of Section 66-A of IT Act that curtailed the ideas of freedom of speech and expression enshrined under Article 19(1) of the Constitution.
"It is very important to be noted that in our affidavit filed, apart from reiterating our new position on behalf of Government of India, we have clearly conveyed that if Section 66A of the IT Act cannot be interpreted in consonance with Article 19(1) read with Article 19(2), then we don't support that interpretation at all," he said.
Prasad had also said he would make a more structured response once he reads the entire judgment that runs into 200 pages, he said.
"I am awaiting the judgment. The Government of India's stand is quite different from the previous government's and it has been very clear and consistent which I have just mentioned. I will come with a structured response after going through the judgemnt," he said.
Victims welcome verdict
Renu Srinivasan, who was arrested from Thane for liking a comment following the demise of Shiv Sena supreme Bal Thackeray, said after the verdict, people will no longer be afraid to speak their minds.
Her friend Shaheen Dhada, who had called to question the bandh that followed Thackeray’s death in Mumbai, said: “I am very happy today, I feel that justice has been granted to me after two years. The post for which we were arrested was not abusive or wrong: it was misunderstood. My family was always supportive of me and they never scolded me for this. Now no one has to be afraid of saying right things,” she said.
Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra, who was nabbed for circulating emails mocking West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee but against whom charges were dropped later, called the landmark judgment a victory of common man.
“(It is a) Victory for common man: democratic and human rights of people has been protected,” he said.
The youngster arrested last week for posting comments on UP leader Azam Khan also hailed the order. “I am very happy and grateful to SC,” he said.
Provision poorly drafted: Chidambaram
Congress leader P Chidambaram also welcomed the Supreme Court judgment holding Section 66A of the IT Act as unconstitutional, saying it was poorly drafted and misused.
"I welcome the judgment of the Supreme Court holding that Section 66A of the IT Act is unconstitutional. The section was poorly drafted and was vulnerable. It was capable of being misused and, in fact, it was misused," he said.
The former Union Minister, who held the Home and Finance portfolios in UPA government, said there could be a case of misuse of freedom of speech and in such cases ordinary laws should apply and the offender should be dealt with under them.
"If some provisions of the law have to be strengthened, that could be considered. But Section 66A was not the answer," Chidambaram said.
The verdict, however, drew flak from certain quarters. Referring to the 2012 incident, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said: “Social media does have positive impact, but it's also being misused. Police must have some powers in their hands.” (With agency inputs)About 50 University of Nebraska-Lincoln professors and students protested Monday for 40 minutes in support of a lecturer who bullied a conservative student over her political views.
The university relieved Courtney Lawton, a graduate student instructor, from her teaching duties after she flipped off and bullied the president of the school’s Turning Point USA chapter, Katie Mullen, while she was recruiting on campus.
"Our expectations for civility were not met by the lecturer in her behavior."
An administrator even insisted that Mullen had to leave the premises until campus police showed up and affirmed her right to stay. Later, after the bullying became too much and Mullen was harassed to the point of tears, the officers escorted her to safety.
[RELATED: VIDEO: Profs bully TPUSA prez while she recruits on campus]
Lawton was subsequently reassigned to non-teaching duties, which both she and Donde Plowman, UNL’s executive vice chancellor, ascribed to “safety concerns.”
According to The Scottsbluff Star Herald, one of the signs at Monday’s rally read, “Academic Freedom is Democracy,” and the protesters made it clear throughout that their concern was for academic freedom, though the original incident with Mullen took place outside of the classroom on school grounds.
[RELATED: School'reassigns' lecturer who bullied conservative student]
Conversely, in a statement released on September 7, UNL spokesperson Steve Smith wrote, “Our expectations for civility were not met by the lecturer in her behavior...and not representative of a university where the robust free exchange of ideas takes place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
According to Mullen, at least three professors were harassing her TPUSA club members and accusing them of being Nazis, specifically naming Amanda Gailey and Julia Schleck.
Schleck is also the President of the Nebraska Conference for the American Associations of University Professors (AAUP), the union that sponsored Monday’s protest.
[RELATED: CSUF prof allegedly assaults conservative student on campus]
Even though the incident took place at the university, English professor Fran Kaye told the Star Herald that Lawton was acting as a private citizen at the time and so was the student, though Kaye added that she personally would not have flipped off the student.
Nebraska State Senator Steve Erdman expressed a different interpretation in a recent op-ed, calling for both Amanda Gailey and Courtney Lawton to be fired. Erdman wrote,
“Gailey berated and intimidated Kaitlyn Mullen, a sophomore student at UNL, as she quietly manned her recruitment table,” Erdman wrote, adding that “Professor Gailey’s behavior was immoral, unprofessional and unacceptable.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @KyleOnCampusImage copyright AFP Image caption Yulia Tymoshenko accused prison guards of beating her in March
Ukraine's jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko will end her 19-day hunger strike, says her daughter.
Yevgenia Tymoshenko said her mother would be moved to hospital on Wednesday to be treated by a German doctor.
She went on hunger strike accusing prison guards of beating her during an earlier attempt to move her to hospital for treatment for back pain.
Earlier Ukraine postponed a European summit after several leaders announced a boycott over the issue.
The summit was due to be held in in Yalta on 11-12 May, but the presidents of Germany, Austria, Romania and the Czech Republic were among those who cancelled their trips.
There is also a threat that leaders may boycott Euro 2012 football matches in Ukraine next month.
Bruises
Yulia Tymoshenko is currently in prison in the eastern city of Kharkiv and is refusing to be treated by Ukrainian doctors for her back condition.
She has now agreed to be treated by a German doctor, Lutz Harms, in a local hospital.
Her daughter said the politician "appears to have lost 10kg (22lbs), her temperature has dropped significantly and she may pass out any minute now".
Yulia Tymoshenko's supporters released photographs showing bruises on her body, but prison guards denied allegations that they were responsible.
Yulia Tymoshenko was jailed for seven years in October for abusing her power while she was prime minister.
She is a long-time rival of President Victor Yanukovych whom she helped oust from power in Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution.
He had been elected president in a rigged election. However, in 2010 he staged a political comeback, defeating Ms Tymoshenko in a new presidential election.The present study investigated the antioxidant and anti-osteoporosis activities of phytochemicals in the fruits of Prunus mume. From the methanol extract, three new acylated sucroses, mumeoses P-R (1-3), were isolated together with 20 known compounds (4-23). Compounds 1-3 showed potent peroxyl radical-scavenging activities and 12-19 showed both potent peroxyl radical-scavenging and reducing activities. The anti-osteoporosis activity was evaluated using murine pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells and pre-osteoclastic RAW 264.7 cells. Compounds 2 and 3 (cis-trans isomers), 5, 7, 8, and 10 significantly stimulated the differentiation of pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells to increase collagen synthesis or mineralization functions of osteoblasts, while compounds 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14-16, 18, 20, and 22 significantly suppressed tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity in receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand-induced osteoclastic RAW 264.7 cells. These results indicated that the fruits of P. mume are an excellent source of antioxidant and anti-osteoporosis phytochemicals.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.NEW DELHI: In a relief to inflation-battered common man, petrol price was today cut by Rs 2.46 per litre, the second reduction this month. Petrol price in Delhi will cost Rs 67.78 per litre with effect from midnight as compared to Rs 70.24 a litre rate now, state-owned oil companies announced today.The reduction in rates follows a Rs 2.02 a litre cut in prices from June 3. The two price cuts have wiped out more than half of the massive Rs 7.54 per litre increase in rates, the biggest in the history, effected last month. Even after today's reduction, there exists a scope for cutting rates by a further Re 1 per litre as current revision was done at average international oil rate in the first fortnight of June.Global oil prices have fallen by 8 per cent since then. In Mumbai, petrol price has been cut by Rs 3.10 to Rs 73.35 per litre, while it will cost Rs 72.74 a litre in Kolkata from tomorrow compared to Rs 75.81 per litre currently. Chennai saw a Rs 3.07 per litre cut in price to Rs 72.74 a litre.State-owned oil firms abandoned the practice of revising rates of petrol on 1st and 16th of every month and from now on will now do so on a random date so as to deter petrol pump dealers building positions. Petrol pumps at some places run dry as owners stop taking supplies from companies if a reduction in price is anticipated. Similarly, if an increase in rate is expected, pump dealers start hoarding supplies.Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, said the three oil firms are projected to lose a record Rs 151,000 crore in revenue on sale of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene, whose rates have not been revised in past one year.Sources said current revision in petrol price was done keeping in mind an average of USD 106.93 per barrel international rate for gasoline, against which domestic petrol prices are benchmarked. Gasoline rates have since fallen to about $97-98 a barrel.But value of rupee against the US dollar has been a big dampener. Rupee has devalued to Rs 57 to a US dollar from Rs 54.96 to a US dollar (average of first fortnight of June), making imports costlier. "We can sustain these prices for a sometime (without changing retail selling price). Unless there is a further drop in oil prices and rupee strengthens, a revision in petrol rates looks extremely unlikely in coming days," a source said. IOC said the company had lost Rs 1,053 crore during current fiscal on not being able to raise petrol rates in line with the cost in the first two months of current fiscal.For industry (IOC plus Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum) the loss comes to Rs 2,323 crore on a commodity whose pricing was freed by the government in June 2010. "In addition, oil marketing companies are suffering high level of revenue losses on the three sensitive petroleum products, namely diesel, kerosene and cooking gas (LPG)," IOC said in a statement here.Since the last revision in prices in June 2011, revenue loss on diesel has gone up from Rs 6.13 per litre to Rs 10.20 per litre, for kerosene (PDS) from Rs 24.16 per litre to Rs 30.53 per litre and for LPG from Rs 331.13 per cylinder to Rs 396.00 per cylinder. "At these rates, it is estimated that under-recovery (or revenue loss) on sale of sensitive products during 2012-13 shall be around Rs 83,000 crore (for IOC) and Rs 1,51,000 crore for the industry," it added.The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is being sued by a woman who says that officers violated her civil rights when they pepper-sprayed her entire family — including a 2-year-old child and a 5-month-old baby.
In the lawsuit obtained by Courthouse News Service on Monday, Marilyn Taylor accuses Officers Maripily Clase, Suranjit Dey and Jermaine Hodge overacting when they saw her pushing the stroller through a service entrance instead of going through the subway turnstile.
According to the complaint, officers told her 4-year-old child that “everything will be OK,” but then began pepper-spraying the entire family.
“The pepper-spray caused the children to scream out and choked the two-year old, who went into fits of vomiting,” the lawsuit says. “Ms. Taylor was then placed in handcuffs as the minor children cried in fear and pain.”
The next day, the court agreed give Taylor an adjournment in contemplation of a dismissal, allowing the charges to be dropped if she stayed out of trouble.
But things did not turn out as well for the children, who she said continue to need medical attention because of the pepper spray.
“After the attack, mother and father suffered ongoing eye injuries and all three children suffer emotional harms, and are now afraid to ride the subways and become afraid when they see police officers,” the lawsuit notes. “The four year-old cried herself to sleep for weeks, and after the incident the two-year-old began waking up in the night crying for her mother.”
Taylor also claimed that her family has continued to be harassed by officers since the incident, “forcing them to avoid the MTA through the Atlantic Avenue stop.”
“The family seeks punitive damages for civil rights violations, assault, battery, negligence, and violations to the state and federal constitutions,” Courthouse News Service reported.Roku said it is gearing up to provide a free live stream Super Bowl LI, when the New England Patriots line up against the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday (Feb. 5) at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Roku’s coverage, to be offered via the Fox Sports Go channel on the streaming platform, will include the pre-game show starting at 2 p.m. ET, up until the kick-off at 6:30 p.m. ET.
In addition to also streaming the halftime show with Lady Gaga, the associated Field Pass stream will supply complementary “sights and sounds in the stadium,” Roku said, noting that Roku users will also be able to watch the game with a Sling TV or PlayStation Vue subscription.
Fox is also offering its live, non-authenticated stream of Super Bowl LI at FoxSportsGo.com, as well as apps for iOS, Android, Windows and Amazon tablets, and other connected TV devices such as Apple TV boxes, Android TV-powered devices, Fire TV players, the Google Chromecast, and the Xbox One console. Verizon has the streaming rights for smartphones.
As a first, Fox will work with more than 170 Fox affiliates to deliver local ads via the online video feed of the big game.
RELATED: Fox Sets Free Super Bowl Stream
The streaming bar has been set heading into Sunday’s big game. CBS’s live stream of Super Bowl 50 last year between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers drew 3.96 million unique viewers across laptops, desktops, tablets, connected TV devices and mobile phones.What to do with a post-apocalyptic scene of devastation and decrepitude? Put it in Skyfall, the newest James Bond movie, and invite tourists to visit.
The scene in question is in Nagasaki, Japan, although it's completely unrelated the atomic bombing that effectively ended World War II. That neighborhood (and the rest of the city) is now doing just fine, thank you.
This devastation dates from 1974, when Mitsubishi shut down an 84-year-old coal mine on the wind-blown, storm-swept island of Hashima, 12 miles (19 kilometers) southwest of town. Nicknamed Gunkanjima ("Battleship Island") for its silhouette, overnight it went from a thriving community to a ghost island. Thanks to neglect and Mother Nature, it’s been in a state of continual degradation ever since. The result: industrial-age ruins and a plausible lair for Raoul Silva, the creepy-pants villain played by Javier Bardem to Daniel Craig’s 007. Click for a slide show.
You can go visit it too. After the mine closed, Gunkanjima was off limits until 2009, when a dock and walkways were built for tourists. Two years later, in 2011, over 235,000 people paid 4,300 yen each (about US$54) for the three-hour, guided round trip. Talk about a gold finger.
Although Gunkanjima is clearly visible in the movie, the action scenes on the island were actually shot in a studio. Still, the island's worth a visit. After my recent visit, I came up with six reasons why, below. What's more, Nagasaki's savvy handling of Gunkanjima offers lessons for other locales looking to turn decrepitude into dollars:
1 – Great visuals. From the sea, Gunkanjima really does look like a battleship; so much so that some reports say the US Navy torpedoed it during WWII. Once ashore, the shells of buildings reminded me of ancient Greece, Rome or Petra re-conceived by the creators of Mad Max or Akira. That row of decaying goalpost-shaped frames may look like a historic arcade, but it actually supported conveyor belts carrying coal from the mines to the docks.
For a slide show, click here or above.
2 – A great story. Industrial-scale mining started on Gunkanjima in 1890, and by its peak in the late 1950s, it was a fully functioning town of 5,300 people in about 15.5 acres (63,000 square meters); that’s a greater population density than Manhattan or Tokyo. It's amazing to think of miners and managers sharing the island with their families and workers at the island’s school, hospital, post office, restaurants, shops, Buddhist temple, Shinto shrine, even movie theater and dance hall. Every inch of space was used, including rooftop vegetable gardens.
3 – Great guides. Just one example: pointing to a concrete box atop a staircase to the sky, the guide on my tour indicated the entrance to a two-tier elevator with neither roof nor walls, which the miners rode 606 meters (1,988 feet) below ground to work (America’s tallest building, the Willis Tower in Chicago, is 1,729 feet, or 527 meters, tall). The deepest mine tunnel was over 1,000 meters deep. Each morning the men descended, never being sure whether they would return alive. More than 200 did not.
English-speaking guides are available, but you’ll want to arrange them in advance.
4 – Safety first. Since Gunkanjima has been gradually crumbling since the mine closed, visitors are allowed only on specially built walkways. The day after my visit, a major typhoon was set to hit Nagasaki (tours are suspended in bad weather), likely to damage the structures even more. “Look around,” the guide said. “This is the best this is ever going to look.”
5 – It's eerie but not tragic. Had Gunkanjima ended in, for example, a massacre, fatal accident or storm, it would have rendered the island hallowed ground. By all accounts, the exit from the island was planned and orderly.
6 – It’s fun to get to. As a city, Nagasaki has a remarkable history (it was the only place in Japan open to foreigners for over 200 years), and the boat trip is surprisingly attractive, past a hypermodern cruise ship terminal and countless inlets filled with shipyards, all cradled between mountains. Just outside the harbor, the bay is awash with tiny islands, fishing piers, swimming beaches and a big resort, where some boats also stop.Brain-imaging techniques like MRI are good for getting big pictures of the brain, tracking large general areas that activate in response to stimulus, but trying to parse that data into useful forms can be a trying task. That’s why over the last couple years, neuroscience research has begun moving in another direction, looking for a map of connections between synapses — the connectome. Unfortunately, with billions upon billions of connections in every brain, mapping the connections between synapses has proven much easier said than done. However, researchers working on the Blue Brain Project — an attempt to build a working computer model of a brain at the Swiss research institute École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne — have reported a major step toward a working connectome.
They’ve used their model to accurately predict where synapses will connect in a neocortex, offering what could prove to be a roadmap for future work on deciphering the connectome.
By constructing a virtual neural microcircuit and comparing it to a tissue sample, researchers were able to take what they have learned in the project’s first seven years and confirm that they’ve developed some real insight into how neurons develop, grow, and connect to one another. One important if potentially jarring lesson: Neurons grow in a largely pell mell fashion, connecting with whatever other brain cells are convenient, and seemingly making for a lot of random connections. The implication, that every brains is assembled largely by chance, while not necessarily flattering, would actually explain a lot about how our brains seem to work in everyday life.
Researchers assembled their model of a piece of neocortex, the part of the brain thought to govern spatial sense, cognition, and reasoning. New data on how to model the brain is a major find for the Blue Brain project, whose stated goal is to recreate an entire brain in a computer model. The research also suggests that synaptic connection models in the same species are more the same than they are different, a big victory for connectome supporters in general and one that suggests data from a general connectome — once we have one up and running — will be applicable to a wide variety of patients. For more details, you can check out the video below.
(via MedicalXpress)
Relevant to your interestsEditor’s Note: This post was written by chequers, who put in a great deal of work to make this year’s tournament happen. If you played in it this year, please give him your thanks!
Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup 0.18 tournament! This (slightly delayed) post will go over the results and highlights of the event.
More than 2500 players participated, with a third of players collecting a rune, and half of those going on to win.
Some stats, with comparisons to the last tournament:
(Individual images here.)
Individual Winners
First place goes to Yermak, who won comfortably with 6260 points. Yermak has been a regular sight at the top of recent DCSS tournaments, placing second or third in the 0.14, 0.15 and 0.16 competitions. His wins in this tournament include at least one with every species, background and god, making him the first tournament greaterplayer and polytheist!
Second place was taken by Demise. As well as collecting 5648 points, Demise won the fastest game of crawl ever in 41:00 minutes*! As well as second individual place, his clan Distracted by YoutubeDollars** also came in second.
Rounding out the podium, third place is awarded to Ultraviolent4 with 5459 points. Also part of Demise’s clan, Ultraviolent4 had the equal second longest streak of eight wins in a row***.
Clan Winners
Top clan was AWBW – Ban Blowguns – End Needles Violence, led by WalkerBoh (#6) with members MorganLeah, Snack (#9), moose, n1000 and Lasty.
Second place was Distracted by YoutubeDollars, led by Demise (#2) with members BobtheCannibal69, Megaslime, Ultraviolent4 (#3), chequers and krfreak.
Third place goes to The Shining Kimchi, a clan hailing from the Korean crawl community. It was led by irum and made up of Dowan, SilvereR, mooon, sheltermaker01 and thrrja.
Notable Achievements
The most commonly collected banner was “Vow of Courage I: Kill Sigmund before entering the Depths”, earned by 1495 players. The least common was a tie between “The Heretic III: Over the course of the tournament, abandon and mollify nine gods excluding Beogh, Elyvilon, Ru, The Shining One, and Zin.” and “Ruthless Efficiency III: Win the game before reaching experience level 19.”, each collected by just four players.
Yermak had the longest streak of the tournament, winning 10 games in a row. His streak was broken by a d:1 shaft—see, it happens to the best of us!
The most successful ghost was Iamsock‘s, who killed 27(!) players, including themselves seven times.
Most impressive tournament stats goes to xeno23. They played just six games in the tournament and won them all, five of which were 15-rune games. Congratulations!
Finally, a massive thank you to elliptic. For the past five years he quietly coded and ran DCSS’s tournaments. He’s passed on the crown this time around, but without his help and assistance this year’s would have never come to fruition. Cheers!
Notes
* as a point of reference, the second fastest win ever took 48 minutes and the average won game is around eight and a half hours long
** full disclosure: your scribe was part of this clan, contributing a mere 7% of points. He probably won’t be invited back next year
*** it would have been nine, but Ultraviolent4 won two games with the Monk background, so the second wasn’t counted. Bad luck!Bitcoin, Digital Money Explained
It is primarily aimed at educating those who know nothing about Bitcoin but can also be used as a tool for those who wish to explain Bitcoin to others and might find it hard to explain in an easy-to-understand manner. "Bitcoin, Digital Money Explained" is an introduction to Bitcoin and Digital Currencies.It is primarily aimed at educating those who know nothing about Bitcoin but can also be used as a tool for those who wish to explain Bitcoin to others and might find it hard to explain in an easy-to-understand manner. More
When I started writing ‘Bitcoin, Digital Money Explained’, I set out with the intention of educating people about Bitcoin, not simply telling people “this is Bitcoin” in a black and white way, but actually explaining why Bitcoin is something everyone should know about and understand.6 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (depending upon how well you like the taste of cinnamon; you can also use a cinnamon stick)
2 cups dried fruit (use any kind you like: apples, apricots, peaches or a mixture of dried fruit)
1 cup raisins (dark or golden)
1 cup dried prunes
1 tablespoon lemon juice (you can also use 1 teaspoon of dried lemon rind or several slices of fresh lemon)
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, tapioca, cinnamon and water. Bring to boiling, stirring constantly. Stir in fruit (including the lemon if you’re using sliced lemon) and heat to boiling again. Cover. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the fruit is tender.
After the fruit is tender, if you’re using lemon juice, stir in the lemon juice (or teaspoon of dried lemon rind). Serve either cold or warm, depending upon your preference. If you use a sliced lemon, remove the lemon rind before serving.
For a light afternoon ‘Norwegian’ lunch (after hiking, sledding, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing), serve sweet soup with Julekake or Christmas bread, Christmas cookies, open-faced sandwiches, and a variety of sliced cheeses.
Recipe filed as: Norwegian
« « Previous Recipe: Rhubarb Coffee CakeHackers group known as Poodle Corp has claimed responsibility for the DDOS attack on the UBER popular Pokemon Go app.
https://twitter.com/PoodleCorp/status/754298236093857792?lang=en
Niantic and Nintendo are yet to respond as to when the servers will be back up. Now we will have millions of people outside….without their beloved Pokemon GO. Niantics app has gone global today, officially releasing in 26 countries around the world. But it wasn’t meant to be it seems as their servers have been compromised and are currently out of order for the foreseeable future.
This comes after a crazy week For the App after surpassing tinder and twitter for active users around the world, it will be interesting to see how Niantic and Nintendo respond to this and what the future will hold as far as server loads. The App has been having issues with the load coming as people all around the world flocked to the app as it went viral.
Well we hope everything gets figured out soon, so we can get back to congregating at parks and staring at our phones trying to catch imaginary creatures! #CantWait
For server statuses go check out http://cmmcd.com/PokemonGo/ for live status of the servers.
UPDATE: as of JUL 16 @ 12:48 servers are back up and running!
Some of the tweets coming out from the community:
The Niantic team right now trying to fix the servers. #PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/PC2Bz7G8C7 — John Mark (@SSJohnMark) July 16, 2016
#PokemonGo in New York City when the servers are down#gottacatchemall https://t.co/iwp75X1uPV — New York, New York! (@NYC) July 16, 2016
I just want to play #pokemongo but the servers are down 😩 pic.twitter.com/UQrzc3YQgM — Gray (@pirategrayson) July 16, 2016…and that’s a wrap! Part Five and Part Six are up, finishing us off. Or maybe you’d like to start at the beginning (now with a handy index)?
I’d hoped to get this up before school started again, but didn’t make it. :/ but I did get it up in time for Valentine’s, because I love you all! there were supposed to be more drawings, but alas, time once again makes a fool of me.
before I forget, the obligatory “thank you for your patience” cat picture:
thank you all SO MUCH for continuing to read this silly AU! it’s always amazing to me that other people are actually interested in my ideas. :D it’s been a blast doing both the tumblr itself and the draft; I hope you enjoy it!We first announced Google Finance for smartphones in August, bringing your latest portfolio quotes and market charts to your fingertips, even when you’re away from your desk. But what about mutual funds and portfolios? Today we’re pleased to announce a number of improvements to the mobile site that will make it easier -- and faster -- to get your key finance updates on the go.
Mutual Funds
Now in addition to seeing the latest stock and market index quotes on the mobile site, you can view mutual funds’ prices, performance and key statistics on your smartphone just by entering the ticker into the search box.
Big Charts in Landscape
Chances are your smartphone has a much bigger screen than prior phones you had, so take advantage of it. You can now view wider stock charts just by turning your phone on it’s side and looking in landscape view, as in the photo above.
Portfolio Performance
View more than just the last price and market cap for stocks in your portfolio; now you can see how your portfolio is performing right this minute, no matter where you are. Simply click the Performance tab from the Portfolio page to see the Market Value, Day’s Gain, and Overall performance of your custom Google Finance portfolio.The anti-Christian Human Rights Campaign is asking the federal government to harass Christian schools that have asked for or been granted waivers that would allow them to live out their Christian faith.
The 1972 Title IX amendments prohibiting sex discrimination in hiring, housing, and employment at schools receiving federal funds is at issue. The law allows religious schools to opt out of the requirements.
On the heels of their huge Supreme Court win in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision mandating homosexual marriage coast to coast, the radical LGBT establishment is looking for their next win. They believe they have found it in going after religious companies and employers who may hold that accepting a normalization of the homosexual agenda is against their religious beliefs.
Though the 1972 law has nothing to do with homosexual identity, homosexual activity, or so-called transsexuality, the $50 million-a-year Human Rights Campaign is nonetheless asking the federal government to put pressure on any school that has asked for or received such an exemption.
According to a recent report issued by the group, which has a history of targeting Christians, 56 schools have been granted religious freedom exemptions from the law. They claim such exemptions are dangerous for homosexual or transsexual students.
The group is asking the federal government “to regularly report which educational institutions have been granted Title IX religious exemptions and the scope of the exemptions; add Title IX religious exemptions as a searchable College Navigator.” The homosexual group is asking Congress to require the Department of Education “to submit an annual report… [on] compliance and enforcement activities.”
The homosexual Human Rights Campaign issued a report earlier this year, funded by billionaire Paul Singer, that targeted Christian groups working to promote marriage in foreign countries. The group also issues an annual report grading companies on how well they treat homosexual and transsexual employees, the obvious threat being targeted for public shaming for not agreeing to |
pretty but it will be functional, and that's what most people want in a tablet.
Apple's approach to tablets is to focus on the high margins, either by selling high-end and high-cost hardware, or older tablets with a lower bill of materials due to the ease of availability of parts. This approach is clearly out of step with the rest of the tablet market.
(Read more about Apple's iPad Air 2 / iPad Mini 3 approach to the consumer marketplace),
To be fair to Apple it has been here before. The iPhone range never reacted to the path of increasing cannibalization taken by Android handsets that were trading profits for market share. Apple stayed on the sidelines of that battle, maintaining high margins and allowing the iPhone to become a powerhouse of a line item on Apple's financial spreadsheets.
Why should the iPad be any different?
(Read more about the differences between iOS 8 and Android 5.0 here on Forbes).
It's fair to say that more people are buying Android tablets than in previous years, and if this was the only factor in Apple's loss of market share, then it could be easily rationalised away as a growing market at the lower end where the iPad does not fight.
Unfortunately Apple's shipments of the iPad are down, and that's what makes those numbers very interesting. The iPad is slowing down far faster than Android powered rivals, partly due to the increased personal investment in buying a tablet, and the fact that most tablets are already doing what users want them to do, so why change for 'next year's model' when it already does everything I need?
I'm not sure how Apple can explain this one away if I'm honest. I don't think the reason is as simple as 'no new features' on the iPad, but neither do I think it is the lack of growth in specifications on the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3. There are other forces at play, forces that are tending towards Android instead of iOS. Sales are still healthy across the board, but the signs are pointing towards a market approaching saturation with current tablet technology, to a mature market space where specifications are secondary and last year's model still works fine, and to a landscape where everyone who wants a tablet already has one.
(Read more about Samsung approach to the Note 4 phablet sales).When US President Barack Obama visited Germany early in the summer, the National Security Agency (NSA) affair was still fresh. The scale of its worldwide data mining was revealed by Edward Snowden, a former employee of the agency.
The whistleblower, now living in exile in Russia, revealed to the world the methods that the NSA used to systematically spy on the Internet. As Snowden described it, Germany was a target of particular interest to the American snoops.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded cautiously to Snowden's revelations. At a joint press conference with Obama after his speech at the Brandenburg Gate on June 19, she described the Internet as "new territory." Her faux-naive statement earned Merkel a great deal of ridicule, not least on the net itself, where there are few boundaries.
The US president tried to reassure his host, and the German public, saying the "PRISM" program was intended to protect people and was based on principles of the rule of law. But the scandal was far from over.
'Balance' between freedom and security
Perhaps Obama already knew then that he would not be able to put the affair behind him so quickly. "We must accept the challenge that all of us in democratic governments face: to listen to the voices who disagree with us," he orated in Berlin, saying he was confident that it was possible to achieve a balance between the pursuit of security and freedom.
Obama mentioned the affair in his June speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
But now, this would seem unlikely when it comes to Angela Merkel, his most important political contact in Europe - because she, too, may have been a target of the NSA's eavesdropping. As a former East German citizen who grew up in a dictatorship, her distrust of the intelligence agencies is likely to grow.
In a statement, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert wrote about the potential fallout from this suspicion. On Wednesday, Merkel spoke to Obama on the telephone, making it clear "that should the information prove to be true, she unambiguously condemns such practices and regards them as totally unacceptable." There should be no such monitoring of government communications between close friends and partners, she said. This would be a serious breach of trust.
Attempted pacification
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney immediately dismissed the allegations in a written statement: "The president assured the chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor."
But it is hard to imagine that Angela Merkel would be satisfied with this explanation. Her mistrust of the NSA, after herself allegedly becoming its target, could be seen in an unusually direct statement issued after the news broke. It should be clear she no longer takes the matter lightly.
Ronald Pofalla faced ridicule earlier in 2013 when he declared the scandal over
As more and more worrying details about the extent of the eavesdropping affair became known in July and August, Merkel called upon her chief of staff, Ronald Pofalla, who is responsible for coordinating the German intelligence agencies. In several special sessions of the parliamentary oversight board, he declared the affair to be over.
But the opposition Social Democratic, Green and Left parties weren't buying it. Even Merkel's coalition partners, the Free Democrats, who lost their seats in parliament in September, have expressed serious doubts over Pofalla's reassurances.
Merkel urges action
That was yesterday. Now even Merkel is urging concrete measures with regard to the United States. She expects clarification of the "total potential scope of such monitoring practices against Germany," as her spokesman's statement puts it. It seems the chancellor is finally running out of patience, with her demand that "a clear treaty basis for the activities of these agencies and their collaboration is expected."
Many members of the parliamentary oversight board will be wondering why this clear demand has only now been issued. The board itself requested one, three months ago. But at that time there was an election campaign underway in Germany and Angela Merkel's mobile phone had not yet been tapped. Or at least she didn't know it yet.The historic achievement of marriage equality in the United States last year threw the 1969 Stonewall uprising back onto the public stage. In hundreds, perhaps thousands of media reports, commentators gave the world a story of gay liberation that, more often than not, began in 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York City, when lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people rose up in protest against a police raid on a bar. The uprising marked the start of gay liberation in the US, which reached a historic milestone in last year’s Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v Hodges legalising gay marriage. So, from Stonewall to the Supreme Court – a winning story of a marginalised people demanding their rights from the state.
Except it didn’t happen that way.
Stonewall is important, but not because it initiated the beginning of claims on state rights. In fact, the opposite is closer to the truth: the political fervour of Stonewall launched LGBT people on a much deeper, more difficult journey. They began to rethink the very meaning of political power, ideology, and the role of the government. Instead of turning toward the state for recognition, they often turned away from it. They began to transform themselves, intellectually and politically, in ways that revolutionised how they understood oppression and the meaning of governmental and economic power. Throughout the 1970s, LGBT people theorised about the benefits of socialism in books and pamphlets and critiqued capitalism in the growing newspaper and print culture. In doing so, they also began to redefine their identity and to rewrite their history.
The Toronto-based newspaper The Body Politic emerged in the 1970s as a leading international outlet for gay people to explore the meaning of liberation. With a readership spanning North America and Europe, it was driven by socialist ideas and the examples of the black civil rights and women’s movements in the US. It was an influential and dynamic publication, and also representative of the gay liberation movement.
The Body Politic was particularly interested in how the oppression of LGBT people related to society more generally and its constitutive political forces. It continued to support the fight to end discrimination. But it also had a point of view that saw the cause of oppression not simply in discriminatory laws, but in the power that the government possessed to create those laws in the first place. For example, the article ‘Strategy for Gay Liberation’ (1972) explained that ‘the aim of gay liberation is to root out the source of our oppression’; the point was not to ‘apply band-aids to a never-ending stream of casualties’.
The 1970s saw numerous socialist groups rising to educate LGBT people. Activists offered courses, workshops and reading lists on politics, ideology and society. In San Francisco in 1971, the Gay Sunshine journal republished an essay from the periodical Everywoman to educate readers about how gay liberation needed the support of the working class in order to succeed. ‘While it is important that there be an active political student movement, or an anti-war group, or a gay movement,’ the article explained, ‘these groups, by themselves, cannot change the basis of society because isolated from the power base of society they are impotent.’
The article said that these groups needed ‘the power of the working class’, arguing that the fight against homophobia would be unsuccessful unless LGBT people understood how power operated. In October 1975, the Marxist Institute in Toronto offered a course that would ‘develop from a grounding in the principles of Marxist analysis, through a survey of empirical data available, to an attempt at defining the material roots of gay oppression in class society’. LGBT activists were looking for a structural understanding of oppression, for core insights about how society works, not just reforms to existing laws.
LGBT groups inspired by the Stonewall uprising formed not just in the UK but across Europe, and emphasised socialism as the key to gay liberation
The LGBT fight for equal rights is just one bloom of an intellectual revolution brought about by the LGBT movement’s engagement with socialism. In 1975 in Los Angeles, a group called the Lavender and Red Union formed in the name of socialism and gay liberation. They proclaimed: ‘Gay Liberation is Impossible Without Socialist Revolution; Socialist Revolution is Impossible Without Gay Liberation.’ These were radicals, not reformers.
And they were not exceptional. In New York City in 1971, the Third World Gay Revolution issued the manifesto What We Want, What We Believe, which called for ‘the abolition of the institution of the bourgeois nuclear family’ and ‘a new society – a revolutionist socialist society’. Meanwhile in London, a group of lesbians formed a socialist feminist association called ‘The Lesbian Left’ and published a collection of their papers in 1977. LGBT groups inspired by the Stonewall uprising formed not just in the UK but across Europe, in France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, and emphasised socialism as the key to gay liberation.
These groups both captured and refined a growing determination among LGBT people to learn how power operates and to investigate ways to liberate people from oppression. Gay newspapers, from Gay Sunshine to the nationally circulated Gay Clone (published once a year on May Day to commemorate international workers’ day), made socialism a central subject of their coverage, in articles and book reviews. For a decade, they made socialism a leading subject of political interest in the movement. In the UK from 1975 to 1980, a collective of gay men formed The Gay Left, a socialist journal, which reported on gay people living under communism in Cuba and Russia, and featured articles asking ‘Why Marxism?’ and ‘Was Marx Anti-gay?’
These engagements with basic questions about society formed a deep part of gay liberation, which is portrayed even in relatively sophisticated history books as people in rallies or parades. But throughout North America and Europe in the 1970s, many LGBT people committed to serious engagement with sophisticated, even arcane books about ideology. This phenomenon lay beneath the street activism, and it was a deeply intellectual, often philosophical activity. The Body Politic, for example, included an astonishing number of reviews on the politics and poetics of socialism. The 1 April 1977 issue featured a review of the anthology Gay Liberation and Socialism: Documents from the Discussions on Gay Liberation Inside the Socialist Workers Party (1970-1973). This book was not a narrative history with a plot, characters or storyline, nor even a standard history book with a defined argument or description of events. It was a collection of unedited primary documents of the kind historians immerse themselves in to study and interpret the past.
Such anthologies are almost never reviewed in any but the most specialised scholarly journals. The Body Politic reviewed it, and the writer offered not a basic description or summary of the volume but reviewed it and the socialist movement critically, noting that socialists weren’t able to acknowledge that ‘gay is good’ even as socialism accepted gay activists within the movement as foot soldiers. The reviewer made an argument that Marxists should embrace homosexuality. The very publication of the review and its content reflect an often polemical and forgotten print culture and engagement with serious ideas that infused gay urban community during the height of gay liberation.
This culture of reading and discussion, manifesting in newspapers and journals but also in classes and political associations, brought many LGBT people a newly sophisticated understanding of their oppression. Friedrich Engels’s Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884) served as a lodestar of sorts. It taught LGBT people that the notion of the family was not a natural phenomenon existing across time and space, but rather something that developed at a particular historical moment for specific reasons. Engels argued that ancient societies were matriarchal, and each sex had equal power based on its responsibilities within the home. As time unfolded and men left agriculturally based economies to work in mills and factories, women were forced to attend to domestic responsibilities and their labour lost monetary value.
Engels argued that this was the first sign of oppression and the beginning of class division. While men gained more power as so-called breadwinners, they wanted to preserve their wealth through inheritance, which led to larger class divisions within society. Uncovering the origins of the modern family also proved to be a major insight for the contemporary women’s movement. It explained much of women’s oppression which bourgeois society presented as natural, ancient, unalterable. The history of the modern family as a structure helped LGBT people recognise how economic developments underpinned their own oppression. It also encouraged them to question forms of social organisation that, to most, seemed natural and unchangeable.
In the 1970s, a group of gay men began to meet for spaghetti dinners in New York City every Saturday night. Many of them were writers, scholars, and activists, and during these dinners they would read Engels and Karl Marx, and discuss the implications for gay liberation. Jonathan Ned Katz, a textile artist, was a member of the group. ‘I read every page of Capital and made notes about every sentence. I asked questions. I educated myself by arguing with Marx,’ he told me at his home in Greenwich Village in 2012.
Katz described coming home from the meetings feeling discombobulated from the ‘huge, amazing change’: ‘I was experiencing a change in my self-conception and conceptions of gays in a very short time.’ Growing up, he and the other members had all been taught that homosexuality was a sickness that could be treated by psychologists. Now they were beginning to realise that was not the case. Oh my God, Katz remembered thinking, was I stupid to fall for that idea that I was sick? Sitting on secondhand furniture in a crowded apartment, members of the reading group came to understand that they were not sick, but oppressed, a concept uncovered by reading Engels and Marx. To make that distinction was ‘mind-blowing’, Katz recalled. ‘I would get dizzy and have to lie down.’
The group became known as the Gay Socialist Action Project (GSAP). In it, members learned to see the structures that produced power, rather than refute line by line the pronouncements of priests and doctors who castigated homosexuality. The GSAP discovered that homophobia was less about what a priest declaimed from a pulpit and more about the priest’s power to make his claims; less about doctors labelling gay people ‘degenerates’ in medical textbooks than about the authority with which medics put forth a theory as verifiable truth. The GSAP members came to see that gay people’s alleged aberrance did not make them oppressed. It was that their oppression made them appear aberrant.
Understanding how oppression was done, of course, also brought an exhilarating feeling that it could be undone
Marx and fellow socialist thinkers compelled Katz and others to explore different kinds of questions. Social mores and laws that had seemed unrelated to discrimination came under scrutiny. Just as Engels had shown how the family emerged at a distinct moment in time due to a specific set of economic concerns, Katz and others began to see that homophobia resulted from specific factors at different periods. It wasn’t natural; it wasn’t universal.
Katz realised that different ‘models’ had been developed over time to explain the phenomenon of men being intimate with other men. The first was the religious model, under which authorities meted out ‘harsh penalties’ to those who committed sodomy. He noted that the language reflected the model: religious authorities used the word ‘sodomy’, whereas the medical model – the second model developed – invented a scientific lexicon to describe same-sex relations, coming up with the term ‘homosexuality’ in the late 19th century. By charting how different periods defined same-sex relations, Katz began to see how those in power oppressed gay people. Understanding how oppression was done, of course, also brought an exhilarating feeling that it could be undone.
Katz came to realise that LGBT people had an ahistorical view of themselves. Along with many others who met as part of the GSAP – chiefly John D’Emilio – Katz wanted to correct the misunderstanding LGBT people had of themselves. To do so, he decided to write about the past. The promise of gay liberation, for Katz and D’Emilio, led not only to activism against homophobic laws and discriminatory practices, but also to an intellectual revolution that drove them to write the LGBT history. This wasn’t just history as chronicle or record-keeping. It was a fantastically ambitious intellectual project, the history of LGBT people that would show how power operates in society.
After years of research in the New York Public Library, Katz assembled hundreds of sources that depicted the changing definition of homosexuality in the US, from the colonial period onwards. ‘I moved through libraries like a detective, a tracer of missing persons, following up clues, following trails from footnote to footnote, an explorer in an unknown land,’ he said. He ‘rummaged through library card catalogues and walked through library stacks, pulling out likely books and consulting indexes’. Based on his exhaustive research, Katz at first assembled the sources into a play, Coming Out! (1972), not a book. He thought this would reach a greater audience, and he wanted desperately to provide as many LGBT people as possible with a sense of their history.
The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), another Greenwich Village association, produced the show. One summer night in 1972, they premiered the play at a firehouse they rented in Soho. A predominantly gay audience sat in a hot, tiny theatre with no air conditioning and not enough seats. Some of the audience sat in the aisle, others crowded together at the back. The play unfolded as a series of monologues narrating gay life in the US from the colonial period to the present. Court cases on sodomy came alive as an actor read an excerpt from a minister’s 17th-century journal. One actor called out: ‘Five beastly Sodomitical boys, who confessed their wickedness.’ Then another appeared on stage as the colonial Massachusetts leader John Winthrop and uttered the word ‘sodomy’. The play took every pathology attributed to gay people and placed it within historical context.
Coming Out! proved a success. A few months after its premiere, it played at the Washington Square Methodist Church in Greenwich Village, and then again at the Night House, a small theatre a few blocks north in Chelsea. It had a profound effect on those who saw it. One audience member proclaimed:
It is a song of life, of gay life. It is a memory of things past, a view of things present, a promise of things yet to be. It is a drama, a comedy, a satire. It is beautiful, it is ugly, it is common, it is rare. It brought many to the point of tears, both from sadness and laughter. It reminded us that we are not alone in our struggle. I cannot find the adjectives to describe what I felt during that evening.
The play’s success won Katz a book contract. Gay American History (1978), a now classic anthology, was the first documentary collection illustrating the complex and changing meaning of homosexuality in the US. Like his play, his book was an immediate success, and was reviewed throughout the gay press. Katz was invited to present his research across North America at gay community centres. He became a leading thinker and writer of the movement. Yet in the present moment of triumph for gay rights, at least in the US, Katz remains a radically under-appreciated figure. The vast and ambitious historical project that grew out of his engagement with socialism remains more marginal than Katz.
Once capitalism created the opportunity for people to live autonomously, it allowed LGBT people to privilege homosexual desire as a driving force in their lives
Like Katz, D’Emilio was a member of the GSAP. In his apartment near Columbia University, where he was a graduate student, he hosted those Saturday-night dinners. Following Katz’s research and the guidance of socialist theory, D’Emilio published ‘Capitalism and Gay Identity’ (1983), one of the most brilliant essays on the history of capitalism in the 20th century. Its insights and challenges have remained radically under-appreciated. D’Emilio masterfully uncovered how the rise of urbanisation and wage labour, combined with the declining role of the family as the major source of economic power, produced conditions that enabled homosexuality to thrive in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As D’Emilio put it, capitalism enabled LGBT to move to cities and to be independent from the family as a source of income. Once capitalism created the opportunity for people to live autonomously, it unwittingly allowed LGBT people to privilege homosexual desire as a driving force in their lives.
D’Emilio’s and Katz’s histories reflect only a fraction of the ways in which socialist ideas informed gay liberation. These ideas also undergirded how LGBT people conceptualised their plight and defined their identity. It provided them with a sophisticated understanding to explore how power worked and, even more importantly, how various historical forces shaped the emergence of homosexuality as an identity.
Beneath and before the street protests and parades of gay liberation lay this intellectual revolution. It was a deep and laborious engagement with ideas and ideologies that made LGBT people advance liberation. In many cases, this revolution led LGBT people to retreat from political confrontations with governmental authorities and from talking about rights. Instead, they used tremendous energies to develop communities and cultivate a culture of their own. The efforts to write about LGBT history was one powerful expenditure of their political capital, talents, resources and intellect. Its goal was not exclusively to change how those in power or in larger society defined them: it was to provide the LGBT community with a sense of their own considerable cultural heritage and legacy.
This is all worth remembering, especially at this moment of triumph for marriage equality. This achievement, not only in the US but also in other parts of the world, has encouraged a popular understanding of the past seeking antecedents for gay people’s political mobilisation. Certainly, gay people throughout the 1970s were engaged in political struggles for rights. But that is only part of the story. The LGBT movement was also infused with socialism, and this engagement led to a reconceptualisation of rights, of strategy, of identity. It changed the gay movement, LGBT people, and the US.
So if you want to give credit for gay liberation and marriage equality, credit must also go to socialism. It was socialism that pushed gay people to an intellectual revolution by which they insisted on defining their own lives and writing their own history.Everyone has their threshold. I’ve just reached mine. Thanks to AmericaBlog for pointing me to this and this. Also a hat tip to TPM Election Central.
John “Country Last” McCain and Sarah Palin held some truly hate filled rallies on Monday. Here’s a montage from McCain’s hatefest 2008
During this rally, a McCain supporter answers the question posed by Senator Country Last, “Who is the real Barack Obama?” The unmistakable answer: terrorist!
McCain says nothing.
From The Washington Post and AmericaBlog on Palin’s rally:
“Now it turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers,” Palin said.
“Boooo!” said the crowd.
“And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,’” she continued.
“Boooo!” the crowd repeated.
“Kill him!” proposed one man in the audience.
Palin went on to say that “Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers’s living room, and they’ve worked together on various projects in Chicago.”
Palin says nothing.
I understand why McCain and Palin are going negative. The economy is falling apart around us, and they have no solutions. They are losing in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Virginia. Obama, despite McCain’s repeated claims, understands what a surge is, because he’s pulling one off right now.
But the current political environment does not excuse remaining silent when a candidate for president is referred to as a “terrorist” in your presence. A desire to win does not excuse remaining silent during a threat on the life of a U.S. Senator at one of your rallies. There are no excuses for evil such as this. John McCain and Sarah Palin, the GOP and all who support them have lost all rights to legitimate argument. They are liars. They are wrong. They are evil. Yes, evil. They are one small step short of inciting violence at their rallies. They are letting physical threats go unchallenged.
I was at Obama’s rally at Independence Square in Philadelphia back in April. When he mentioned Hillary Clinton’s name, the crowd booed, and he told them to stop. Barack Obama intervened when his supporters booed his opponent. He called for civility. Yet, when faced with supporters who label senators terrorists and call for their assassination, John McCain and Sarah Palin said nothing.
This is how evil spreads, from domestic violence to genocide. People in a position to stop it choose to do nothing.
John McCain is obsessed with his own honor. No one believes in the myth of the maverick as thoroughly as he does. He’s called for civility in campaign tactics while lying about Obama’s position on sex education. That’s ok. It’s politics. If he weren’t a bit of a hypocrite, I would get suspicious. But the man who would make his name synonymous with honor stoked hatred in his rally today and let one of his senate colleagues be referred to as a terrorist.
We know what America does to terrorists.
And while Obama and William Ayers served on a board together, this is nothing like McCain’s pro-terrorist history. He voted repeatedly to protect domestic terrorists who bomb abortion clinics. He counts as an “old friend” one G. Gordon Liddy, an ex-convict who served time for the Watergate break-in, plotted to kill journalists, firebomb a think tank and called for violent resistance against the U.S. government. While Obama and Ayers’s relationship is minimal and old news, McCain was on Liddy’s show this year during the campaign and has accepted $1,000 from him as recently as February. So who’s the terrorist?
Now to Sarah Palin.
This simple-minded, overwhelmed, frightened, delusional nitwit thinks she’s doing “big things” by going on “the attack.” She presumes to challenge Obama at his level as if she had earned her position rather than having been selected by an old white man for the job. She is filled with pride and self-adoration. She is a fool.
This weekend, she said Obama was “paling around with terrorists.” (a lie debunked by CNN). The irony is almost crippling to my mental functions. This is from the woman whose church says terrorism vs. Israel is God’s judgment. This is a woman who was so close to the radical, separatist Alaska Independence Party, that people thought she was a member. She spoke to their convention, and her husband was a seven-year member of this organization whose founder was killed in a “plastic explosives deal gone bad.”
Palin would know about “paling around with terrorists.” She fornicates with one.
A few weeks ago CPL posted a story which seemed plausible but couldn’t be verified. It said Palin was a racist. While the specific truth of that story is still unsettled, the pattern is clear: this ticket is painting Obama as the “other” and someone to be feared. This campaign is counting on stoking prejudice and racism. The McCain-Palin campaign is grotesque and dangerous. They are picking up where Hillary left off, but have gone much, much farther. They are presiding over hate rallies where people feel free to yell out murderous threats, and the candidates smile it off and keep going, essentially endorsing such mob mentality.
I want to know who still supports this ticket. I want to know because if anything should happen to Barack Obama. If he so much as slips on the jetway or stubs his toe playing basketball, I’m holding John McCain and Sarah Palin responsible, and I’m holding those who vote for them responsible for doing nothing to stop an atmosphere of violence. Enough is enough.
Those of you who have retained your soul and your senses, I ask you do to the following in response to this insane and hate-filled campaign.
Don’t be one of those people that recognizes wrong and evil and does nothing to stop it. We are all responsible for creating the world we want to see. Let’s go about doing that.
Update: there’s more hatred. see my followup post.In the mid-1990s renowned economic historian--and longtime REASON contributing editor--Donald N. McCloskey transformed himself into Deirdre N. McCloskey. In her new memoir about the experience, Crossing (University of Chicago Press), she recounts both her trials--in a bid to stop the process, McCloskey's sister, a psychologist, had her committed involuntarily to mental institutions and otherwise tried to stop the gender change--and her triumphs. "As Donald aged 13 or 14 waited for sleep in his bed," she writes, referring to her selves in the third person, "he would fantasize about two things. Please, God, please....Tomorrow when I wake up: I won't stutter....And I'll be a girl. A girl....Deirdre later used the memory to introduce talks, to put people at ease about both her stuttering and her crossing in one story. She would joke, `I f-f-f-finally got one of m-m-my two wishes!'"
As the following selections suggest, Crossing tells more than McCloskey's personal tale of her odyssey from Donald to "Dee" (a name she called herself midway through the process) to Deirdre. On the eve of the "Biological Century"--an era in which individuals will be increasingly free to choose how to live their lives and on what terms--McCloskey's experience speaks eloquently to the larger social, political, and moral implications raised by such possibilities.
I want to tell you the story of a crossing from 52-year-old man to 55-year-old woman, Donald to Deirdre.
"A strange story," you say.
Yes, it's strange statistically. All the instruments agree that what's usually called "transsexuality," crossing the gender boundary, is rare. (The Latin in "transsexuality" makes it sound sexual, which is mistaken; or medical, which is misleading; or scientific, which is silly. I'll use plain English--"crossing.") Only three in 10,000 want to cross the boundary of gender, a few of them in your own city neighborhood or small town. Gender crossing is no threat to male-female sex ratios or the role of women or the stability of the dollar. Most people are content with their birth gender.
But people do, after all, cross various boundaries. I've been a foreigner a little, in England and Holland, and on smaller visits elsewhere. If you've been a foreigner you can understand somewhat, because gender crossing is a good deal like foreign travel. Most people would like to go to Venice on vacation. The Venice visitors as a group can be thought of as all the "cross-gendered," from stone-butch dykes to postoperative male-to-female gender crossers, all the traversers, permanent or temporary, somber or ironic. A few people go to Venice regularly, and you can think of them as the cross-dressers among these, wearing the clothing of the opposite gender once in a while. But only a tiny fraction of the cross-gendered are permanent gender crossers, wanting to become Venetians. Most people are content to stay mainly at home. A tiny minority are not. They want to cross and stay.
On a trip to New York to see a friend after my own crossing I stood in the hall of photographs at Ellis Island and wept at the courage. Crossing cultures from male to female is big; it highlights some of the differences between men and women and some of the similarities too. That's interesting. My crossing was costly and opposed, which is too bad. But my crossing has been dull, easy, and comfortable compared with Suyuan's or Giuseppi's outer migrations.
It's strange to have been a man and now to be a woman. But it's no stranger perhaps than having been a West African and now being an American, or once a priest and now a businessman. Free people keep deciding to make strange crossings, from storekeeper to monk or from civilian to soldier or from man to woman. Crossing boundaries is a minority interest, but human.
Who I Was, Am, Will Be
My crossing--change, migration, growing up, self-discovery--took place from 1994 to 1997, beginning in my home in Iowa, then during a year in Holland, then back in Iowa, with travels in between. As Donald and then as Deirdre I was and am a professor of economics and of history at the University of Iowa. From age 11 I had been a secret cross-dresser, a few times a week. Otherwise I was normal, just a guy. My wife had known about the cross-dressing since the first year of our marriage, when we were 22. No big deal, we decided. Lots of men have this or that sexual peculiarity. Relax, we said. By 1994, age 52, I had been married three decades, had two grown children, and thought I might cross-dress a little more. Visit Venice more too.
I visited womanhood and stayed. It was not for the pleasures, though I discovered many I had not imagined, and many pains too. But calculating pleasures and pains was not the point. The point was who I am. Here the analogy with migration breaks down. One moves permanently from Sicily to New York because one imagines the streets of New York are paved with gold, or at least better paved than the streets at home, not mainly because back in Catania since age 11 one dreamed of being an American. Migration can be modeled as a matter of cost and benefit, and it has been by economic historians. But I did not change gender because I liked colorful clothing (Donald did not) or womanly grace (Donald viewed it as sentimentality). The "decision" was not utilitarian. In our culture the rhetoric of the very word decision entails cost and benefit. My gender crossing was motivated by identity, not by a balance sheet of utility.
Of course you can ask what psychological reasons explain my desire to cross, and reply with, say, a version of Freud. Some researchers think there is a biological explanation for gender crossing, because parts of the brains of formerly male gender crossers in postmortems are notably female. But a demand for an answer to why carries with it in our medicalized culture an agenda of treatment. If a gender crosser is "just" a guy who gets pleasure from it, that's one thing (laugh at him, jail him, murder him). If it's brain chemistry, that's another (commit him to a madhouse and try to "cure" him).
I say in response to your question of why?, "Can't I just be?" You, dear reader, are. No one gets indignant if you have no answer to why you are an optimist or why you like peach ice cream. These days most people will grant you an exemption from the why question if you are gay. In 1960 they would not and were therefore eager to do things to you, many of them nasty. I want the courtesy and the safety of a whyless treatment extended to gender crossers. I want the medical models of gender crossing (and of 20 other things) to fall. That's the politics.
And incidentally, why do you think you are the gender you were officially assigned to at birth? Prove it. How odd.
Ah. I think you need some treatment.
After a year of hesitation, two years from beginning, I found to my delight that I had crossed. Look by look, smile by smile, I was accepted. That doesn't make me a 100 percent, essential woman--I'll never have XX chromosomes, never have had the life of a girl and woman up to age 52. But the world does not demand 100 percents and essences, thank God. An agnostic since adolescence, in my second year of crossing I came tentatively to religion and then could thank God in person, who made me inside in my comfort a woman.
You become a woman by being treated as one of the tribe. Nothing else is essential. Being Dutch is being treated as Dutch. You can be a masculine woman, as by some stereotypes many women are, yet still be treated as one of the tribe. No piece of conventionally feminine behavior is essential if the overall effect makes you accepted in the tribe. Biology is not decisive. Big hips, small frame, high voice, hairless face, sexual interest in men, more-than-male amounts of sympathy and readiness to cry: We all know women almost anywhere who vary on these dimensions, in this direction or that, but who are still part of the tribe.
And you treat yourself as one of the tribe too. Being Dutch is being |
than historical estimates among smaller countries?”, VoxEU.org, December 24, 2008
Grennes, Thomas and Andris Strazds (2012), “Is Germany Übercompetitive and Should it Accept Higher Inflation”, EconoMonitor, July 2012Uniqlo opened another flagship store in Osaka on Friday outside of Hankyu Umeda Station, employing a multilingual staff to draw foreign tourists to the casual clothing chain.
Ten percent of the store’s roughly 360 employees can speak English, Chinese or Korean, operator Fast Retailing Co. said.
“Quality, price, service and a sense of humor — we will strive to achieve these to best serve our customers in Osaka and those from abroad,” Fast Retailing executive Satoshi Hatase said during a ceremony to mark the occasion.
The 3,000-sq.-meter store, which occupies the first four floors of a renovated building, opened 15 minutes earlier than scheduled on Friday morning to accommodate the 2,300 customers or so who had lined up outside.
“I’ve been waiting in line since 11:30 p.m. last night,” said college student Hayato Shin.
It’s the third Uniqlo flagship store to open in Japan. The other two are in Tokyo’s Ginza and Osaka’s Shinsaibashi neighborhoods.NORTH MIAMI, Fla. - Four former students at North Miami Senior High School face felony sexual assault charges after allegedly gang raping a mentally disabled student in a janitor's closet, the Miami Herald reported.
Derek Bynum, 18, Kenoldo Alexis, 17, David Lombard, 17, and Steven Joseph, 15, were arrested in the case. Lombard also faces a charge of battery.
A fifth student was arrested, but prosecutors dropped the charges against him.
According to the newspaper, the teens forced the girl to perform oral, anal and vaginal sex acts in January.
Court documents show that Bynum told police that he didn't know the teen was mentally disabled, but admitted to forcing her to perform oral sex. Police said Bynum told the victim to stop "because she did a terrible job."
Bynum later wrote a letter to the judge to claim his innocence and apologize.
"All I want to do is graduate from high school, make my family proud and be somebody. But, this case, I feel like it will ruin my chances and my dreams," Bynum wrote, in part. "I'm sorry. I'm really a good kid."
The teens were assigned to alternative schools after the allegations were brought to police.
"The safety and security of our students and staff represent one of our top priorities," Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego said. "While we struggle to understand the senseless depravity of this isolated but disturbing student incident, we commend the deliberate and swift actions of Miami-Dade Schools Police in apprehending the alleged perpetrators. Our thoughts continue to be with the victim and her family. While it is nearly impossible to prevent isolated incidents, a clear understanding and review of all surrounding circumstances is undertaken to further perfect safety and security protocols."
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It plays into fan speculation that the singer knew his death was coming and said so in lyrics on his final album, Blackstar, released on 8 January.
The account (@TheTweetofGod) is linked to a Broadway play and not connected to the Vatican or the big guy in the sky.
It's not known if Bowie hit "follow" himself or one of his team was instructed to do so.
Newsbeat spotted a few radio names among the singer's recent follows too.
But fans are pleased he followed "God" and think it was a genius move.
Luckily "God" was a fan of Bowie too.
Separately, there's an Italian petition to God asking people to say "NO" to David Bowie no longer being with us.
It's had more than 1,000 signatures.
Lyrics on Bowie's final album Blackstar, which was released on his 69th birthday two days before his death, include "Look up here, I'm in heaven" taken from Lazarus.
Fans believe it was a clever way for David Bowie to say goodbye.
For more stories like this one you can now download the BBC Newsbeat app straight to your device. For iPhone go here. For Android go here.There’s good news for motorists in Edina, Minnetonka, Hopkins and other parts of the west metro: The Minnesota Department of Transportation reopened Hwy. 169 earlier than planned.
The highway reopened at 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Drivers will find the lanes smooth and resurfaced, with a new causeway over marshland at road level, said MnDOT spokesman Dave Aeikens
The highway has been closed in both directions from the Bren Road ramp to Lincoln Drive since January to tear down an old bridge and replace it with a new 3,000-foot causeway that uses fill rather than bridge piers, Aeikens said.
Other parts of the highway were down to one lane in each direction for resurfacing.
The reopening also will ease traffic on Hwy. 100 and Interstate 494, which were used as detours.
Last week, MnDOT announced that 169 would reopen Wednesday morning. But workers were able to get a lot done this past weekend and, barring more rain, will put the finishing touches on the highway Monday night, Aeikens said.
Pat PheiferThe Simpsons: Al Jean explains why the show will never run out of story ideas KERRY HARVEY Last updated 09:00, April 1 2017
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The Simpsons writer Al Jean says the show is like Star Wars with its worldwide popularity.
It's one of the longest-running – and most-watched – shows in the world and writer Al Jean doesn't see an end in sight for The Simpsons.
"I look at the world and there are things happening that I would never have imagined and I think satire is needed as much as ever," he says of the animated comedy that has 28 seasons and 612 episodes under its belt.
In the US, it is a feat rivalled only by American cowboy drama Gunsmoke, which notched up 20 seasons and 635 episodes before it was axed in 1975.
The Simpsons writer Al Jean.
"I don't think the show will end because they've run out of ideas," says Jean, who has been with the series since its inception.
"I think at some point the cast will say, 'We've had enough of doing it', or there'll be some financial reason we don't continue, but I don't think it will be (lack of) stories."
Ironically, when the show was mooted in 1989, creator Matt Groening had trouble finding writers prepared to work on it.
Jean, and writing partner Mike Reiss, had already had success on shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Alf, when they signed on.
"It wasn't full-time but I thought because of the people involved that at least it would be a good show. And, because it was animated and that was such an unusual thing at the time, I was sure it would get a lot of attention," Jean says, adding he puts a lot of the success down to The Simpsons being the first of its kind.
"We did work very hard, but we were the only team on the field for many years. We had animation all to ourselves."
However, there is no denying the series about a dysfunctional working-class family in America took the world by storm – and continues to do so.
"We've found, both worldwide and generationally, kids will find the show and it's totally new to them. They like getting into the whole thing, watching all the episodes. We're a little like Star Wars," Jean says.
"Wherever I've been – Mexico City or in Italy or Japan – you will find The Simpsons. It's worldwide to an extent that few American shows are.
"We have local actors do the voices in countries that don't speak English. The French Homer and Marge are actually a couple in real life."
He has clear ideas about why the Simpson family are so popular.
"First of all, everybody comes from a family, some kind of family, and I think that families were often depicted (on TV) as having no flaws and that's not the case," Jean explains.
"I think people related to that. I think worldwide, people look at it and think they're typical Americans and I think it's a little bit the world laughing at us."
As the show's popularity has grown, so has the number of A-listers willing to take part.
"We get a huge percentage of the people we ask, including people from New Zealand like the Flight Of The Conchords guys who were great. It's just amazing. The Simpsons opens so many doors," Jean says.
"Very few people decline. I think for some people it's a badge of honour. It's sort of an award in a very strange way."
However, there are those who prove elusive, most notably former First Lady Michelle Obama.
"We wrote a part for her and her response was, 'Nice try' and she didn't do it. Politicians are always the hardest. I think they're afraid it will lessen their political status somehow. The only one we got was Tony Blair (the former British Prime Minister)," Jean says.
However, the show's writers don't always have to look too far for inspiration.
"Many of the things that happen in The Simpsons come from my own family," Jean reveals.
"There was one thing where it was said Homer was based on my father which couldn't possibly be true because it was created before I ever worked on it. My dad was angry until they took it down because it wasn't true.
"Everything from our families, our friends' families, if you talk to me for 15 minutes – like you have – it could be used."
The Simpsons, TVNZ 2, Sunday.
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- TV GuideFounder David Vitale taking whisky lovers through his Melbourne distillery.
Global spirits business Diageo has invested in an Australian whisky distillery.
Distill Ventures, Diageo’s accelerator fund, has taken an undisclosed minority stake in Melbourne-based New World Whisky Distillery, which produces Starward whisky. The investment is part of a broader $10 million round by Starward this year.
Diageo’s investment will be used to ramp up production with an eye on export markets in southeast Asia and the US.
Diageo Australia, which owns leading category brands such as Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Bundaberg Rum, recently posted its third successive profit drop, despite an increased market share, due to tight margins in the supermarket-dominated retailing space.
David Gates, Diageo’s global head of premium core spirits, said constant innovation in the whisky category is keeping the market vibrant and Australian whiskies are gaining increasing global recognition.
“Starward has created a truly distinctive whisky with exceptional quality at younger ages from their innovative wood policy and getting positive impact on maturation from Melbourne’s constantly changing climate,” he said.
Starward’s new wine cask single malt whisky.
Diageo launched Distill Ventures two years ago. Starward is the second whisky brand the business has invested in.
New World Whisky Distillery is based at a former Qantas maintenance hangar at Essendon Fields in Melbourne and launched in 2009.
It currently produces single malt in both apera (Australian sherry) cask and red wine casks, alongside a limited-release series under the Starward brand.
Founder David Vitale said his team were thrilled by Diageo’s backing.
“This tops off an incredible year for us, with the successful launch of our Wine Cask edition, and now an investment from a partner who fully supports our vision of making a modern Australian whisky and taking that across Australia and to new markets overseas,” he said.
Business Insider Emails & Alerts Site highlights each day to your inbox. Email Address Join
Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.An Edmonton-area doctor has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for sexually assaulting a co-worker.
Ismail Taher, who is 38, was also given two years probation.
The woman said he touched her breasts and buttocks in 2013.
Taher was given a suspended sentence for common assault on another female co-worker, also in 2013.
Last month, the Alberta Court of Appeal denied Taher’s appeal of a sexual assault conviction on an 18-year-old patient.
READ MORE: Alberta doctor’s appeal of sex assault conviction denied
He was found guilty in 2015 of groping the woman who went to a medicentre in Sherwood Park about a possibly infected nose piercing in August 2013.
The woman said Taher massaged her breasts and touched her buttocks while looking at her other piercings.
Taher was sentenced to 12 months probation for that crime.
Related Edmonton physician charged with sexual assaultThis week, the watchdog agency for the Department of Homeland Security issued a damning new report examining Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s operation of five immigration jails across the country. The Office of the Inspector General concluded that the serious problems it found “undermine the protection of detainees’ rights, their humane treatment, and the provision of a safe and healthy environment.”
The report was based on unannounced inspections and direct reports from people detained in these jails. The Inspector General found widespread abuse, including strip searches in violation of standards, failure to provide interpretation in the provision of medical care and services, mistreatment by guards, overuse and failure to document cases of solitary confinement and unhealthy, unsafe conditions including mold in housing areas, no hot water, and lack of hygiene items.
These findings are hardly a surprise. Many of the findings have been documented for years by advocates and those who are forced to endure the abusive conditions inside of ICE’s sprawling detention system. In the last month alone, there have been reports of sexual abuse at the T. Don Hutto detention center in Texas, the death of an Iranian man at the detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, and reports of atrocious conditions, including forcing female detainees to urinate or defecate in plastic bags inside their cells, at an immigration jail in Richmond, California. Sadly, these cases are only a few examples of the dangerous, sometimes deadly conditions that persist in ICE detention facilities.
In addition to sounding the alarm about the treatment of immigrants in these jails, the report also raises major questions about the oversight of the detention system. In its response to the Inspector General’s findings, ICE said it would resolve these issues through an “internal review,” including input from its own Office of Detention Policy and Planning—an office that it announced in April 2017 that it was shutting down.
Are we supposed to believe that an internal ICE review will, even as the agency dismantles one of the very offices responsible for oversight, actually resolve problems that have persisted for years?
At the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, for example, advocates have long documented egregious civil and human rights abuses. In 2015, ICE’s own Office of Detention Oversight issued an inspection report finding 10 areas of deficiencies at Stewart, which is owned and operated by private prison company CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America). Many of those deficiencies are again reported in the Inspector General’s new report, including issues with food, the custody classification and grievance systems and use of solitary confinement.
At the Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico, the new report found that people detained there did not have access to working phones and that even the Office of Inspector General’s phone numbers were restricted from use. How are we to take seriously any claim by ICE that it will remedy violations at the detention centers when it restricts access to the very systems that are supposed to hold it accountable?
As if these reports were not bad enough, the Trump administration has stated its intention to roll back existing detention standards and has moved to further expand immigration detention. ICE has already requested proposals for detention facilities in the Midwest and south Texas, which would expand the system by up to 3,000 beds. Last month, together with partner organizations, including ACLU affiliates and legal service providers in the affected states, we sent a response to ICE to oppose any new expansion in light its long history of detainee abuse.
Other steps can also be taken. Call on your local officials to oppose proposals to build new detention facilities in their jurisdictions. And demand that Congress not spend one more taxpayer dime to expand a system of suffering and misery.
Additionally, Congress should stop the overuse of immigration detention and create better measures of accountability and oversight. Earlier this year, Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Adam Smith introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act. Among other provisions, the bill sets binding standards for immigration detention facilities, ensures oversight and transparency, and ends the use of for-profit prisons and county jails. It also sets penalties, including canceling contracts for places that repeatedly fail inspections.
The way to address the violations found by the Inspector General is to stop ICE’s reckless expansion, release people from immigration detention, and prohibit ICE from using dangerous and inhumane jails.The Mystery of the Octave – The Ultimate Secret of Lincoln Cathedral
by DAN GREEN
Connoisseurs and collectors alike of coincidences would note that on the final scheduled day of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ movie being filmed within Lincoln Cathedral in the summer of 2005, the Circular Chess Championship – with a board shaped like King Arthur’s Round table – was also being held in the Cathedral, the first time it had featured in such an environment. For me, this became a further clue to the Magdalene mysteries cloaked in and around this great Gothic church, and that stayed on hold until now.
Pic 1. The Great East Window – A Chess Board?
I had stated back then that I suspected that the Great East Window with its 64 roundels, was an covert chess board yet to be fathomed, and had already noted that the famous Rennes-le-Chateau Parchment Two was decoded by use of the Knights Tour, a mathematical problem involving a knight on a chessboard, dating back to the 9thC. What further agitated my interest is that the Knights Tour may avail itself to solution by way of the implementation of an artificial neural network composed of artificial neurons thus mimicking neural processing in the brain. Again, this appealed to me as I was looking for further evidence to reinforce the stance that Lincoln Cathedral is a deeply psychological battleground of Light and Dark, complementing that the squares of the chessboard are even called ‘light’ and ‘dark’.
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The hypothesis was beginning to take shape….the Great East Window as a board of chess, that tactical game of strategy and war in which the object is to take the opposing King, in a Cathedral whose hidden aspect is an actual battleground. My ‘Lincoln Cathedral Code’ research has shown me already that a great secret had been maintained here concerning a location a short distance across from the South East corner of the edifice, and had it been preserved in moves of strategy resembling a game of chess being played? For related to the Cathedral we have all six chess pieces – the King (Edward) and Queen (Eleanor) both stone statues at that very South East Corner, the Knight that is concealed as a carving hidden under the Sub-Dean’s seat in the Choir Stalls, – in 2005 the Dean of the Cathedral was even called Alec Knight! – the Bishop at the 12thc Bishops Palace adjacent the Cathedral, and the Castle of Lincoln Castle alongside the Cathedral, the piece now known as the rook, of which I will soon mention. Only the pawn remains unaccounted for, unless it is Dan Green, drawn into this game and used by the Collective Unconscious?
Pic 2. The chequered floor of the Rennes-le-Chateau church
The initial premise of a battle between Light and Dark suggested itself at the 19thC small church at Rennes-le-Chateau with its chequered floor of black and white squares, a sure sign of Freemasonry as the floor or groundwork of every Lodge denotes this dual nature, some say symbolising the Good and Evil principles of the Egyptian and Persian creed. Staring across at each other in this strange ornately decorated church are the figures of Jesus and the demon guardian Asmodeus. The dual Light and Dark aspect of the Rennes mystery is also clearly demonstrated in the name of one of its key players, who without doubt was privy to the mystery, Marie de Negre de Blanchefort, whose name means ‘Black Marie of the White Fort’.
Pic 3. The 64 Hexagrams of the I-Ching
Over the years it hadn’t missed my attention that there is a close relationship between chess and the classical Chinese text the I-Ching, possibly the oldest divinatory system known, often called the Book of Changes, with its 64 Hexagrams. The 64 squares of chess mirror the number of Hexagrams (64 also being the number of DND Codons), the 8 major trigrams replicate the 8 ranks, 8 files, six lines in a hexagram duplicate the 6 types of chess pieces and both have two opposing modes, the Ying-Yang and the two opposing black and white colours. Transformation in the I-Ching entails 8 major shifts paralleling the musical octave, something we will be returning to.
Pic 4. The Dog on the Platter, Great East Window
Harking back to the strange symbology that first attracted my attention at the Great East Window, a dog on Jesus’ plate at the Last Supper – which, using a standard number grid system we find at 5th roundel down and 4th across – I thought It would be interesting to introduce the 64 Hexagrams of I-Ching to the 64 roundels of the chess board doing so, intuitively, in twisting, serpentine fashion, starting with top left square as number one and continuing second square down top left as number 9 and so on, in order not to break sequential contact and also to symbolise the snake as guardian of temple treasure By doing so, where the dog on the platter sits as a roundel, it arrived me at the very apt Hexagram number 36 for Hexagram 36 is ‘Darkening of the Light’, loosely translating as ‘By concealing your light when danger is around is an effective way of avoiding detection’.
Pic 5. The Lincoln Cathedral Code Marker Tomb, concealing the ‘treasure’
Given that my ‘Lincoln Cathedral Code’ that initiated with the discovery of the dog on the platter leads to a location at a burial ground opposite the SE corner of the Cathedral – whereby a secretive ‘treasure’ guarded by the Knights Templar and relating to Mary Magdalene may await at a depth under an established tomb – this hexagram serves superbly in intimating the wisdom and necessity for concealment. Even when employing a basic 1-8 line from left to right, continuing line two 9-16 and so on, one still arrives at the dog on the platter roundel being hexagram 36!
It would have satisfactory to have left it at that but turning my attention to the ‘Cullinane sequence of the 64 Hexagrams’, an arrangement discovered in 1989 during an investigation of the six-dimensional affine space over the two element field, whereupon a geometry of the I-Ching is revealed, we then find the dog on the platter sittingly neatly on square 28…..a re-occuring key number associated with Lincoln Cathedral and also the catalogued number of the tomb under where the Templars Magdalene ‘treasure’ resides. This geometrical aspect is made all the more interesting when we learn that the Great East Window was reglazed in 1762, the design at that time chiefly, if not entirely, of geometrical forms rather than the current scenes from the Old Testament and life of Jesus.
So far, we have taken a deep psychological look at the alternative facets of the Great East Window and the unsuspected possibility that a deeply psychological game of chess is somehow being played out at Lincoln Cathedral. If an actual ‘Mind Game’ is being played here, could the opposing forces of light and dark be found in the two hemispheres of the brain? If it is a likelihood that ‘evil’ emanates from one side of the brain, and discussions of this kind first surfaced as far back as 1854 in a book by American physician Joseph Buchanan, ‘Outlines of lectures on the neurological system of anthropology’ in the chapter ‘Organology – Hemispheres of Good and Evil’, I wondered if an area of brain hemisphere could also be responsible for the unfortunate almost demon-like affliction suffered by 10% of those with the neurological affliction we know as Tourettes Syndrome, named after its founder Georges Gilles de la Tourette. It is sadly misunderstood that sufferers of this fascinating disorder, who cannot but help exclaiming obscene and derogatory remarks, are exerting their Tourettes, for this involuntary swearing is an independent neurological disorder called Coprolalia from the Greek ‘kopros’ meaning ‘feces’ and ‘lalien’, ‘to talk.’
Pic 6. The Demon Guardian Lincoln Imp, the Rook of the Chessboard
Using the phonetic aspect of the Mother Tongue, we will discover some interesting hidden connections.‘Tourettes’ is pronounced as ‘Turrets’, in architecture a small tower, from the Old French’ tourete’. Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalene, in Hebrew, means ‘Tower’. A turret is traditionally supported by a corbel, a piece of stone jutting out of a wall. ‘Corbel’, is from the Late Latin ‘corvellus’ diminutive of ‘corvus’, a raven. A raven is a species of crow, in turn a rook. The demonic Lincoln Imp guardian is seen on a spandrel squatting under the corbal high up between two arches on the North side of the Angel Choir within Lincoln Cathedral. Is he playing the part of the chess piece, the rook? The rook is most formidable towards the end of a game and a powerful piece to deliver checkmate.
There is a growing public suspicion about the grip of Freemasonry within the police force, that leads to fears of corruption. Both British and American police display the black and white chequers of the Masonic Lodge floor on their uniforms. The most prevalent of slang terms for a British policeman or woman is a ‘copper’. Amongst a few contending theories as to why, we are told that the term originates from the Latin ‘capere’ meaning ‘to seize, to take’. The other contender is that it comes from New York’s first official police force in the States who wore badges made from copper. However, ‘copper’ hides neatly in ‘copralalia’ – copr. Perhaps the unknown origin for another popular slang for police, ‘rozzers’, can also be claimed in ‘Kopros’, containing both ‘cop’ and ‘ros’.
We return for one final and potential covert explanation for the Great East Window. It is known that cathedrals, like old churches were built to serve as vibrationary chambers, holding undetected acoustic and sonic properties, and if one were to make the right sounds within them the effect can be Mind expanding. Aware of the octave connection and the window through the I-Ching, I was interested in taking a closer look at what is known as the ‘Liturgical Octaves’. In Christian liturgical useage, octave is the 8th day after a feast, sometimes called ‘Octave Day’ as well as the entire period of these days during observance of certain major feasts. In 2000, author of ‘Music and the Earth Spirit’, musician Bob Dickinson, conducted research on particular acoustic properties of Lincoln Cathedral which he focussed on some ‘ringing pillars,’ an octave and a fifth apart, which connected with certain intervallic relationships of the harmonic series. During the Easter Octave, for each of the days, there are specific chants. Could an analysis of these chant melodic/pitch patterns reveal certain intervallic relationships between notes that might connect with these ‘ringing pillars’?
Pic 7. The Devil’s Tuning ‘Pitch’ Fork
Scottish author Brian Allan is a firm believer that the musical notation given the title ‘The Devil’s Chord’ by the Catholic church in the 12thC, and banned throughout Christendom, this the musical interval of the augmented fourth, could be the frequency and harmonic chord that holds the key (pun intended) to the ultimate mystery of Rosslyn Chapel, perhaps precipitating the opening of a portal of consciousness. In a prior article on the world wide web ‘Lincoln Cathedral – Battleground of Light and Dark?’, I explained in length the numerous ‘Devil’ connections, and so it might not be unlikely to consider an involvement with the ‘Devil’s Chord’ here.
The classical image of the devil with his pitchfork might actually be a visual allegory of an acoustic resonating tuning fork which can be used to emit a pure musical tone, key or pitch. For use in the opening of a ‘Portal’?
Pic 8. ‘Between Two Worlds ’ scultpture by Michael Dan Archer
International stone sculptor Michael Dan Archer, who has used the tool of the Collective Unconscious for some of his work, in 2002 contributed numerous examples of his sculptures in and around Lincoln Cathedral, one he called ‘Portal 1’. Although this has since been removed, at the South East end of the Cathedral you can still see his Gateway entitled ‘Between two worlds’.
Not without its Alice in Wonderland absurdities and the inter-connectiveness of the Collective Unconscious when synchronicities collect up, let me share some starting with Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and what it has to say about the keystone. Architecturally, the final piece placed during construction to lock all the stones into position, Brown’s keystone in his novel was an encoded map revealing the hiding place of the Holy Grail. Given that we know that a key is the major or minor scale around which a piece of music revolves, and that ancient South Indian temples were once built by ancient kings who chose stone granite pillars which produced musical notes when struck with a stick, we have to concede to a whole new and musical meaning to ‘key’ stones. Returning to our investigation into police origins, ‘The Keystone Cops’ were incompetent fictional police that featured in early 20thC silent film comedies and in 2010 it was discovered a previously lost short was discovered featuring a previously unknown cameo appearance from the famous English comedy actor Charlie Chaplin. The connection here? Authoress of ‘City of secrets’ is Patrice Chaplin who claims that the Rennes mystery involves a portal upon a mountain in Spain – and she was married to Charlie Chaplin’s son!
Amidst my speculative attempts, perhaps the final and ultimate mystery of Lincoln Cathedral is that it conceals a consciousness portal of its own, fought over by unconscious brain lobes of light and dark in a constant game of chess (more correctly, ‘Chase’), one side keeping it closed the other seeking to open, the start of the game of chess actually called ‘The opening’, of which the key is a musical one. And for those of you who will ask where does the dog on the platter at the Great East Window fit into that particular scenario, I will point out that the other name for the Octave of Easter is known historically as Quasimodogeniti – find him hiding amongst the word.
Copyright Dan Green 2012Beneath the clothes is a fierce competitor who still runs marathons (including this year’s in Boston) and seems to enjoy nothing more than denouncing AT&T and Verizon, which he refers to as a “pseudo duopoly.” (He doesn’t think Sprint is even worth mentioning.)
When he joined T-Mobile, “We had a limited time window and a sense of urgency,” he told me. “We were losing over two million customers a year. So we moved as fast as we humanly could. My board wondered if we were doing too much. But the fact is, speed has become one of our biggest weapons. The current industry is arrogant, stupid and slow, which gives companies like T-Mobile a real competitive advantage.”
Though the task of reviving T-Mobile seemed daunting, “I felt that as a challenger, we might just have a pretty amazing opportunity in front of us,” he continued. “We could take a completely different approach to this business, we could create real customer value by driving serious change in this ridiculous and broken industry.”
That meant upending long-entrenched industry practices, addressing what Mr. Legere calls customer “pain points.” T-Mobile got rid of the much-reviled two-year contract, and let customers pay for their phones and service separately. If they don’t like their T-Mobile service, they can change carriers any time once their phones are paid for. T-Mobile cut prices, with free unlimited overseas roaming. It offered customers the iPhone and other popular models and allows them to upgrade their phones every six months. Armed with a war chest and additional spectrum that it got as a breakup fee after the AT&T deal failed, T-Mobile expanded and modernized its 4G LTE network, now available to 205 million people. A few weeks ago T-Mobile roiled the industry again when it offered 200MB of free data monthly for tablets.
Representatives of AT&T and Verizon declined to comment.
T-Mobile branded and marketed all this as the “Un-carrier,” rolling out new versions of its plans — already five and counting — even as competitors have struggled to match the previous one. “Surprise is an effective competitive tactic,” Mr. Legere said. “When you catch the competition by surprise, keep punching and don’t let them up. When you have momentum, keep building it by delivering unexpected offers in rapid succession. Our team is loving it. They are breaking the boundaries and getting to use all their creativity. That’s pretty cool.”
Another group that’s loving it is antitrust regulators. T-Mobile’s success has enabled the Justice Department’s antitrust division to take a rare victory lap, since the company’s consumer-friendly moves are exactly what regulators were hoping for when they sued to block the merger with AT&T. “This really demonstrates that competition can work,” said William J. Baer, the current head of the antitrust division. “When you have feisty rivals whose survival depends on innovating and differentiating, they can gain market share and loosen the oligopoly. That’s exactly what T-Mobile has done.”
Whether T-Mobile can sustain the momentum remains to be seen, and Mr. Legere concedes the battle is far from over. “We run scared every day,” he said. “We are playing this game for the long run, and we know we have a lot to do yet. But look at the choices customers are making. In the last two quarters, since we launched Un-carrier, T-Mobile has grown faster than everyone else, and we have added more postpaid customers than Sprint, AT&T and Verizon combined. I really think that says it all.”This song is taken from the forthcoming mixtape ‘Football, Feasts & Funerals’.
Over a crisp production by Sydney’s Pro/Gram, Hau both mourns and celebrates the life of those who have passed away; relatives, friends and inspirations. Never one to shy away from his emotions, the MC lets it flow like the ink out his pen, delivering each word with passion, appreciation, and gratitude. “That’s one hell of a journey/ But that’s the cost of getting off the beaten path/ a task but not with peace and love/ peep, sh*t is deep…”
Hau Latukefu lives and breathes hip hop. With 20 years of writing and performing under his belt (best known as the front man for ARIA award-winning duo, Koolism), Hau is now venturing into solo territory with the release of his mixtape, Football, Feasts & Funerals and his debut album The No End Theory due for release in late 2014.
His talent is both recognised and respected, providing guest vocals for local legends like The Hilltop Hoods, Urthboy and Hermitude as well as the new generation including Remi, Briggs and Mr Hill & Rahjconkas. Hau’s collaborations also extend to overseas artists including UK pioneer, Rodney P, US wordsmith, Casual and more recently, Oddisee.
In 2008, Hau took the reigns as presenter and producer for the Hip Hop Show on Australia’s leading youth network, triple j – bringing his experience and vast knowledge of the culture he has been immersed in since the mid ‘80s. He continues to rule the airways, currently the longest serving presenter in the show’s history.
Hau was born in Australia to Tongan parents, which gave him access to two cultures he would draw from when it came to writing lyrics and performing them on stage. His heritage plays an important part of who is as a person and as an artist. Original by name, original by style. Keep your eye out for Hau’s debut LP The No End Theory due for release later this year. The new mixtape drops tomorrow, it is available to stream now, below.
Facebook || Twitter || DownloadAnticipating a shortfall in revenue from a state gas tax, the Oregon Department of Transportation wants to have drivers pay as they go.
If the Legislature takes ODOT's recommendation, every new vehicle would use the OReGO starting in 2025. A pilot program has users paying a cent-and-a-half for every mile they drive.
The state gas tax in Oregon is 30 cents a gallon. That adds up to raising $530 million annually to repair the state's roads.
But ODOT says with cars becoming more fuel efficient, and a growing number of drivers in electric cars skirting the gas tax all together, by 2020 revenue from the gas tax is expected to dip.
State Sen. Rod Monroe, D-Portland, who is on the transportation committee, says he's not sure ODOT's recommendation will come to fruition.
"I tend to think that the package (from) the 2017 session will (take) more traditional forms," Monroe said.
Monroe worries privacy concerns will turn drivers off of the OReGO system, even though Michelle Godfrey with ODOT says "public opinion shows privacy concerns are decreasing" and drivers are "never tracked."
ODOT says transitioning to a pay-by-the-mile system would raise $88 million by 2040.
"We have to do something the average voter will see as fair and necessary," Monroe said.Share. Will Marvel be calling down the thunder again? Will Marvel be calling down the thunder again?
Update: Marvel confirmed today (via Marvel.com) that they'll be launching a new Thunderbolts comic in the aftermath of Avengers: Standoff. The new team will feature a cast of familiar Thunderbolts players but an entirely new leader - The Winter Soldier.
Thunderbolts will be written by |
. eXile: Well, if not, would you be willing to participate in an organized boycott of the newspaper? We’re going to start by boycotting the eXile’s advertisers and distribution points to force people not to carry or sponsor the newspaper. Lally: You know, I’ve spoken to someone about that—I’ve personally thought about calling advertisers myself. Although I don’t read the newspaper myself [!], I have heard that they used my name as a phony byline in an article last week. I’m outraged…As for participating in the FAPSI investigation, what exactly would one need to become an ‘expert’ or offer an ‘independent opinion’? What do I need to do, exactly? eXile: They just need an independent opinion, you know, to get another Western journalist to testify on the language, since it’s in English. We’re trying to convince them that the eXile broke the criminal code which bans literature that incites hatred or violence. [Note: this is roughly the same law later used by the Putin regime to close The eXile and chase me out of the country.] Lally: Well, I’ll think about it. Please call me tomorrow.
After we published this in The eXile, Lally went after us like a corrupt and vengeful cop. She contacted several American journalists asking bizarre questions about us, claiming it was all information she planned to use in an article about us. That would be fine, but the information she was fishing for was cop-menacing. The editor of the St. Petersburg Times (and soon to be editor of the Moscow Times) frantically got in touch with Taibbi to tell him that Lally had asked him such bizarre menacing questions as “what type of visas eXile employees use” to stay in Russia, and “which of the anti-Chubais oligarchs do you think might be financing them?” [The eXile was the only English-language media critical of Chubais, the most hated figure in Russia, for overseeing Russia’s catastrophic privatization program that created the oligarchy and impoverished nearly everyone else—for this, Chubais was the darling of the western press corps and the Clinton Administration]. Asking about our visas was particularly menacing — it’d be like threatening to report unruly foreign journalists to Trump’s ICE.
In her WaPo hit piece, Lally describes her grotesquely threatening actions this way:
“Taibbi had accused a friend of mine of being paid by Russian oligarchs to write favorable stories, so I thought it was worth asking about the eXile’s connections.”
It’s interesting that Lally and her WaPo editors chose not to disclose the name of “this friend of mine” because that “friend” happens to be Fred Hiatt—the Washington Post’s powerful editorial page editor. Now you start to see why the Washington Post agreed to run a story that was rejected in so many other venues. The vengeful sleaze runs deep.
Back in 1998, Hiatt worked as a WaPo correspondent in Moscow, where he published a shameless PR fluff piece on the billionaire oligarch closest to the former KGB, Vladimir Potanin — one of the only Yeltsin oligarchs to survive through the Vladimir Putin years. Hiatt’s Washington Post article lovingly described Potanin as a “baby billionaire” who “metamorphosed” by some magical process “into one of world’s most influential businessmen” — without mentioning that Potanin got rich by concocting the notorious “loans-for-shares” privatization program, appointing himself Yeltsin’s Finance Minister, then arranging rigged auctions for hugely valuable assets, turning him into a “baby billionaire”—and everyone else in Russia into a dying pauper. So Taibbi asked Hiatt if he had been paid to write that, because there was no other rational explanation we could find. We accompanied that with a prank in which we posed as Potanin calling the Washington Wizards for courtside seats, Harvard University business school to purchase a degree, and the Augusta National Golf Club—brandishing Hiatt’s article for access:
eXile: I am Russian banker, so-called robber baron capitalist, am interested in purchasing your degree. Harvard: (pause) Uh, sir, you can’t buy the degree, but you can enroll in our program. It’s an intensive 9 week program, and you receive a certificate, not a degree. eXile: No, this is no good. Do you realize who I am? Fred Hiatt wrote about me in today Washington Post, that I am not typical robber baron. I am ze baby billionaire. Harvard: We read a lot about Russia and it sounds very exciting. eXile: Of course it exciting. Now I vant Harvard degree. Harvard: You can’t buy a degree. eXile: Maybe instead I build nice cafe for you on campus. Or I can donate small nightclub for Harvard degree. Harvard: Sir, Harvard is a 350-year-old institution. It’s not all just about money. We’ve turned down princes. eXile: NOT ABOUT MONEY? Hah!
By Lally’s own account, it was to avenge WaPo editor Fred Hiatt’s honor that she investigated our visa status and “which anti-Chubais oligarch” allegedly funded us — not to avenge her own shame for trying to get us censored and potentially locked up. But she (and her Washington Post editors) made a strategic decision not to mention Fred’s name—because he’s male and that would undermine the thesis of her smear; and because he’s a senior Washington Post editor, and this would suggest to readers something sleazier about the WaPo’s motive for running this hit piece. Omitting this is just another in a series of Lally’s deceptions. This also begins to answer the question: “Why did the Washington Post run an obviously fraudulent hit piece that other media outlets rejected?”
Returning to what happened that weird week of Lally’s cop-vengeance, she did something even more shocking. She got her reporter-husband, Will Englund—who had been jailed by the Russian ex-KGB security services just a few years earlier for reporting on Russia’s chemical weapons program — call Taibbi’s dad in New York, where he worked for NBC. Lally’s husband left a message on Taibbi’s dad’s answering machine that began, “Mike, hi, this is Will Englund. I just thought I’d give you a call… I’m in town to pick up my Pulitzer Prize. I just thought I’d let you know that your son has been harassing my wife to a degree that borders on stalking. I’d like to speak with you about it...”
You can’t exaggerate how much pedigree means to these people, but there it is. Pedigree, and proper manners: The twin pillars of the Establishment media faith.
Taibbi’s father eventually called Lally’s husband back. He told Lally’s husband that it was “ironic, to say the least, that his wife would talk about working with something like FAPSI to close [The eXile] down,” and advised him to call Matt himself. “I asked him—what the hell did he want me to do, take away [Matt’s] lunch money?”
Lally’s 2017 article tries hard to obfuscate and dissemble her shameful behavior in her efforts to censor us, and how she responded to that prank. Whereas Lally omits crucial details to build a false case — that most of our targets were male reporters, that the Putin regime eventually shuttered The eXile for the very satire she objected to — her attempts to explain why she agreed to help the ex-KGB agency FAPSI against two American journalists, and why she agreed to a boycott, read like a ten-car pileup of contradictions, half-confessions and non sequiturs. Lally claims she doesn’t remember what happened 20 years ago, but she reports remembering a crackling Russian phone line. She owns up to admitting that she’d never heard of the largest of all the ex-KGB agencies, FAPSI, at the time with an estimated 120,000 employees involved in snooping on journalists like Lally, who it now appears was blissfully unaware of that fact. She says the transcript “didn’t sound at all like me” but then contradicts herself, saying, “I don’t remember my words 20 years ago.” In other words, she doesn’t remember saying anything, but she remembers the “crackling Russian phone line” as well as the “tone” of her voice in that conversation. She’d’ve been better off just taking the Fifth on this.
The most stunning part of her explanation, and again I can’t believe an editor wouldn’t flag this, was when she tried excusing her failure to know what FAPSI was or to make out what our eXile caller was asking because, “We got so many odd calls as the [Moscow] bureau, some from the mentally ill, some from those with serious grievances, some from people with mysterious motives.” In other words, Lally wants her readers to believe that all sorts of homeless, mentally ill American women called the Baltimore Sun’s Moscow bureau office all hours of the day, so often that Lally could no longer tell the crazies from articulate educated American women identifying themselves as members of the Johnsons Russia List community.
Lally concludes: “I don’t remember my words of 20 years ago — I made an effort to forget the eXile and its editors — but I never had any intention of organizing a boycott.”
She doesn’t remember, she forgot all about us, but if she did agree to organize a boycott, she certainly didn’t intend to.
Something tells me that Lally wanted to flatly deny it and thereby lie, but she wasn’t able to convince even her own editors, whose necks are on the line if they let her get away with lying. Whatever the case, Lally owes us and all journalists here and in Russia a giant apology for betraying the most basic principles of the profession.
But it’s the larger point that Lally tries to make which is so problematic. There are a lot of things the eXile can and rightly should be trashed for today. People don’t live in the context of the 1990s Yeltsin catastrophe — except in the sense that we’re still dealing with the blowback from our role in ruling over Russia’s national tragedy, especially if you believe that our shitlord Trump was installed by vengeful Russians — so it’s hard to fault people encountering eXile’s gross, aggressive and transgressive satire for the first time in 2017, in America, for being offended. You’ll never understand the way we wrote unless you understand the indifference, amounting in many cases to outright gloating, with which American mainstream journalists reacted to the horrors of 1990s Russia.
But Lally’s article goes much further: She equates having her feelings hurt by a satirical rag that she tried to censor and even set up for a Russian cop arrest — to #MeToo victims of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment. That is, to put it mildly, quite an opportunistic stretch. Lally admits she forgot about us “for years.” She writes that although the heckling satire made her “angry and upset” at the time (as vicious satire tends to), nevertheless “my self-esteem remained intact and my life moved along.” This is the very opposite of the sorts of permanent, raw emotional wounds and life scars that #MeToo victims have been airing out since the Weinstein story broke. By admitting this, Lally reveals herself as a vengeful and unprincipled hack who wants belated payback for being publicly embarrassed about her willingness to censor journalists and subject them to a Russian state goon stomping.
I was wondering if I’d written anything about Lally myself—most if not all the Lally material had been written by Taibbi, most of it great and funny, some of it —especially the “fat ankles” stuff — deeply embarrasing. Not that I didn’t write far more offensive shit myself, it’s just a matter of taste. I’m a black humor/offensive-satire snob, and those “fat ankles” descriptions come off as lazy jock jokes, and shift sympathy back to the real perpetrator of this ugly episode for no good literary reason. Lally had all the power in that dynamic — a credentialed pedigreed member of the official American journalism guild — and she crudely wielded that power to have us completely excluded. That is the story, and that’s the one point where the satirical approach to that story was weakened.
Anders Aslund was the top western advisor on Yeltsin’s catastrophic “shock therapy” program and a frequent eXile target. His McCarthyist tweet sums up their sleazy alliance
Anyway, I’d forgotten that I did write a critical piece on Lally’s hack journalism back in early 1999 — nearly a year after the censorship/FAPSI scandal. This was the very nadir of the Yeltsin decade, post-collapse, when Russia declared itself bankrupt and unable to meet its obligations. Mass unemployment followed, and for the first time in perhaps a century, some one-third of the population had to survive on subsistence farming to eat, growing potatoes and cucumbers and whatever else would grow in their dacha plots or on their balconies.
Here I’ll quote from Lally’s article, then my response.
First, Lally’s stunning display of crude orientalism towards Russians at their lowest point, falsely describing their flu remedies in ways that made them look like backwards savages. This crude characterization of Russians became a necessary trope for an American audience that didn’t want to take responsibility for the horrors of the 1990s when Russia was essentially a colony of the Clinton White House. Rather than take blame ourselves for helping destroy and depopulate Russia, articles making Russians look like hopelessly primitive savages redirected that blame back onto the colonized. It’s their fault we couldn’t civilize them with our shock therapy medicine—they’re too hopelessly backwards, in spite of our wonderful intentions.
Headlined “Moscow’s flu war means breathtaking measures. There’s no holding back garlic, onions, dirty socks, cognac” — Lally’s absolutely non-satirical piece smugly describes Russians “hanging dirty socks around the neck…rubbing the soles of the feet with the juice of a raw onion every night” and other barbarian home remedies. Here’s a taste:
Sasha Fominikh, a driver at a Moscow factory, read a newspaper article the other day that suggested hanging a pair of dirty socks around the neck. He decided against that, but when he felt a cold coming on, he tried out a second method — rubbing the soles of the feet with the juice of a raw onion every night before going to bed. “It makes the feet sweat a lot,” Fominikh says, “which helps get rid of the fever.” He also drinks a little cognac and some tea with jam to prevent a cold from developing into something worse. At the first sign of a sore throat, housewife Lena Slivkina starts to rinse her throat with cognac at least three times a day. “I don’t swallow it, by the way” she says. “If I have a bad cough, I boil oats in milk for two hours and then drink it three times a day. Three days and no cough.” Zina Basova, a street sweeper, eats garlic all year round. “If I still get the flu,” she says, “I use a lot of honey with tea.”
I responded to Lally’s journalistic atrocity by going to my local pharmacy in Moscow, asking the pharmacists if any of it was true, and then writing it up. Heres some of what I wrote at the time:
You almost wonder, after reading Lally’s article, whether Russians have yet developed a complex set of language skills or the ability to create fire. I for one decided to check. So I went down to the closest Apteka, or pharmacy, on my street corner. I asked one of the pharmacists there, Lyubov Luskutova, if drinking cognac or smelling old socks or rubbing onions on your feet is the best way to overcome the flu epidemic that threatens all of us here. Surprisingly, the native spoke in an intelligible language, expressing a dazzling variety of emotions–such as bewilderment and confused laughter. She said she’d never in her life heard of rubbing onions on feet or snorting dirty socks in order to ward off the flu. She works in a pharmacy–yes, that’s right, Russians actually have pharmacies. And at pharmacies, they sell medicines. So just to set Lally’s Baltimore-area readers straight, I’d like to note that the most common medicines to fight flus and colds sold here at my local apteka (and at the zillions of apteky in Moscow, including in nearly every metro station and every street block) are Tylenol flu medicine, Coldrex, Coldrex Nite, TheraFlu Tylenol for kids, and Lorane. For sore throats, most buy either Strepsils or Hall’s mints. The prices are high in ruble terms–Lorane costs 74 rubles a bottle, or about 3 dollars. But Luskutova assured me that sales aren’t noticeably down from last year’s flu season period. “People have to live,” she said just this morning. I’d personally doubt that sales are as stable as she thinks, but I will definitely take her word over Lally’s. Other popular remedies for the flu are staying home from work and sleeping, drinking tea with honey, and drinking juice. Maybe these things weren’t wacky enough to fit into Lally’s “see how savage the Russians are” piece. Imagine the honest lead: “Russians are preparing for the onslaught of flu by buying Tylenol and Theraflu medicines from their local pharmacies.” Naw, it wouldn’t sell, as they say in Hollywood. Doesn’t make them seem savage enough. Russians thankfully don’t stoop to mocking stories about how we Americans drop billions a year on totally useless vitamin supplements just because some quack named Linus Pauling told us to do so, and won a big ol’ award for it. Which gets to the point: THERE IS NO CURE FOR THE FLU! Duh! I wrote this response because it seems that the old colonialist attitude is seeping back into the Western journalist narrative as never before. [Up until Russia’s 1998 financial collapse] at least you had two narratives: good reformers versus savage old commies; or, see how much better we are than the Russians. Now… readers back home are left with only one narrative: how many ways can you paint a Russian as a savage.... As Jean MacKenzie wrote in a November 24th, 1998 installment of her Moscow Times column, “Confessions of a Russophile”: “the last vestiges of the light [in] this dark, savage country are slowly dying out.” That’s right: even Moscow’s self-proclaimed Russophile openly refers to Russia as “this dark, savage country.” …
You see? Lally’s gloating, smug colonialist triumphalism was the norm in expat circles. That was what we were fighting. And sometimes the outrage got out of control. But it’s beyond grotesque that our outrage should be picked over for language crimes by a sloppy, inept, conscience-free writer like Lally. When the crimes of Western journalists during the Yeltsin era are chronicled, I kinda think it’ll be the callous triumphalism with which she and her Clintonite buddies watched millions of Russians die that are condemned–not the tonal lapses of a low-budget dissident rag like eXile, shaking its puny fist at this corruption.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Chrystia Freeland says the EU is "not capable" of an international trade agreement
A trade deal between the EU and Canada is on the brink of collapse because a Belgian region with a population of just 3.6 million opposes it.
An emotional Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland left the talks in Brussels, saying the EU was "not capable" of signing a trade agreement.
Belgium, the only country blocking accord, needed consent from the regional parliament of Wallonia.
The wide-ranging deal, seven years in the making, was to be signed next week.
Speaking outside the seat of the Walloon government, Ms Freeland told reporters: "It seems evident for me and for Canada that the European Union is not now capable of having an international accord even with a country that has values as European as Canada."
She added: "Canada is disappointed, but I think it is impossible."
It was unclear whether the EU would keep negotiating with Wallonia in coming days to solve the impasse.
At a glance: Ceta
Negotiations began in 2009 and ended in August 2014
The deal aims to eliminate 98% of tariffs between Canada and EU
It includes new courts for investors, harmonised regulations, sustainable development clauses and access to public sector tenders
The deal is opposed by various groups, including environmental activists, trade unionists and Austrian Socialists
European Parliament briefing on Ceta
The Ceta trade deal in numbers 98% The number of tariffs between the EU and Canada that would be eliminated €500 million The estimated amount that EU exporters would save in duties annually 3.6m The population of Wallonia
36.3m The population of Canada
508m The population of the EU Reuters
Why is Wallonia standing in the way?
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Belgium's French-speaking region is single-handedly blocking an EU trade deal
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or Ceta, was expected to boost bilateral trade, but Wallonia sees the accord as a threat to farmers and welfare standards.
The region has a strong socialist tradition. Its fears echo those of anti-globalisation activists, who say Ceta and deals like it give too much power to multinationals - power even to intimidate governments.
There have also been big demonstrations in several EU countries against Ceta and the TTIP trade talks with the US.
Years in the making, days to unravel - Jessica Murphy, Canada editor, BBC News
The Canada-EU trade deal was seven years in the making but it took far less time to unravel.
Canada has been scrambling to keep Ceta together after the Walloon regional assembly in Belgium voted last week to reject it.
The deal was finalised under Canada's former Conservative government but is a major priority for the Liberals, who are under pressure to boost the country's economy.
They dispatched special envoy Pierre Pettigrew, a former cabinet minister with a wealth of experience on the international trade file, to help save the flagging agreement.
Federal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland has met repeatedly over the past months with European leaders to shepherd it through, but with no luck.
An embarrassment for the EU - Laurence Peter, Europe analyst, BBC News
Image copyright Reuters
The failure to clinch the EU-Canada Ceta deal is an embarrassment for the EU. Wallonia, a region of just 3.6 million people, has all but scuppered a trade deal affecting 508 million Europeans and 36.3 million Canadians.
The European Commission says this blow does not mean that Ceta is over, but it also refuses to unpick the massive text that was agreed with Canada in 2014.
Any EU free trade deals with the US, China or India now look remote. Anti-globalisation groups, anxious to protect Europe's welfare and environmental standards, may feel they are winning the argument.
For now, any Ceta boost for small businesses and jobs has been postponed. The failure gives us a sense of how tough the Brexit talks will be, despite the UK's current alignment with its EU partners.
Failure is bad news for Brexit - Andrew Walker, economics correspondent, BBC News
One very obvious lesson from this impasse is that it is going to be difficult for the European Union to implement trade and investment deals, perhaps with anyone.
For the UK post-Brexit it suggests two contrasting implications. Negotiating a trade agreement that gives British exporters barrier free access to the EU's single market could be a huge challenge.
For sure, there will be some important differences. For the EU, Britain is a more important export market than Canada, so some EU states will have a good deal to lose from failing to agree. But securing the agreement of all of them is unlikely to be straightforward.
On the other hand, negotiating an agreement with other countries outside the EU should become easier. To put it bluntly, the British government won't need to care what the Walloon parliament, for example, thinks.A protest in Paris last month calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, an issue taken up at the United Nations where 51 countries are signing onto a ban
A protest in Paris last month calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, an issue taken up at the United Nations where 51 countries are signing onto a ban
ADVERTISING Read more
United Nations (United States) (AFP)
With the North Korean nuclear crisis looming large, 51 countries on Wednesday were to sign a new treaty outlawing nuclear weapons that has been fiercely opposed by the United States and other nuclear powers.
The treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons was adopted by 122 countries at the United Nations in July following negotiations led by Austria, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and New Zealand.
None of the nine countries that possess nuclear weapons -- the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel -- took part in the negotiations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres formally opened a signing ceremony at the United Nations, hailing it as a milestone as the first multilateral disarmament treaty in more than two decades.
But Guterres acknowledged that much work was needed to rid the world of its stockpile of 15,000 atomic warheads.
"Today we rightfully celebrate a milestone. Now we must continue along the hard road towards the elimination of nuclear arsenals," said Guterres.
The treaty will enter into force when 50 countries have ratified it.
Brazilian President Michel Temer was the first to sign the treaty during the ceremony held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The signing ceremony came a day after President Donald Trump threatened to "totally destroy North Korea" if the United States is forced to defend itself or its allies.
North Korea has triggered global alarm over its rapidly-progressing drive to develop nuclear weapons, following its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and the firing of two intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Nuclear powers argue their arsenals serve as a deterrent against a nuclear attack and say they remain committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The United States, Britain and France have dismissed the treaty as being out of step with the realities of the global security and argue the North Korea crisis shows that nuclear deterrence is still needed.
The decades-old NPT seeks to prevent the spread of atomic weapons but also puts the onus on nuclear states to reduce their stockpiles.
Impatience however is growing among many non-nuclear states over the slow pace of disarmament as are worries that weapons of mass destruction will fall into the wrong hands.
© 2017 AFPThe United Nations climate change body said it has made concrete progress towards a new universal agreement on climate change during its latest round of talks which wrapped up this week in Germany.
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"This has been an important meeting because Governments are moving faster now from the stage of exploring options to designing and implementing solutions," said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
During the two-week talks in Bonn, participants focused on how to transform the world's energy systems quickly enough towards low-carbon, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and the consideration of carbon capture and storage.
With the longer-term goal of a universal UN treaty on climate change by 2015 which would enter force by 2020, this latest round of talks pave the way for ministerial-level UN Climate Change Conference (COP-19) in Warsaw, Poland, starting on 12 November.
"Over the past 12 months, solid foundations have been laid under the process both toward the 2015 agreement and in raising pre-2020 ambition," the co-chairs of a working group tasked to design a new agreement and to raise near-term global ambition to deal with climate change, Jayant Moreshver Mauskar and Harald Dovland said in a joint statement.
"As a result of the constructive and flexible engagement amongst Governments, nations now have a clearer idea of how to move to achieve demonstrable progress at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Poland and beyond," they said.
In Bonn, Governments also examined key elements for such a shift, including reducing investment risk for investors, public-private partnerships, a long-term, legally binding agreement and strong domestic institutions to deal effectively with finance in countries which receive support.
Polar Bear image via Shutterstock.
Read more at UN News Center.Not creepy at all.
Are you a woman who leaves the house and has conversations with friends and colleagues? Big mistake. HUGE. You could find yourself the victim of a creepy blog post, just by virtue of existing in public with two-X chromosomes.
That’s what happened to writer and comedian Gaby Dunn, who was interviewing a friend in a restaurant in Los Angeles when a complete stranger decided to take note of her every move and document it on his blog. But you know, in a totally not-creepy way!
David Aldridge first notices Dunn when she’s in the parking lot, and instantly deems her “attractive, shapely, not athletic, and not self-obsessed with body image.” Then the waitress seats him at a booth near her, and by eavesdropping on her conversation, he pieces together who she is and immediately Googles her. Though lamenting her love of the word like (“What the hell is it with 20-something girls and this fucking word?”), he soon comes to respect Dunn for all the impressive work she’s done in the journalism and comedy worlds. Now, he will show this respect by writing a creepy-as-hell blog post about her, outlining everything he learned about her from Google while she was sitting ten feet away from him.
This move is so un-creepy, in fact, Aldridge decides to differentiate himself from another creep Dunn spotted during the same encounter:
As they left, she remarked to her friend, “There was some creepy guy over there looking at me …” pointing [toward] the other end of the room where they’d entered from. Thankfully, I wasn’t looking like that, but my sincere curiosity and a minimal amount of Google sleuthing yielded a very interesting and inspiring morning. The guy sitting behind these two however, in the corner, tripped my radar too, but he was just another fuckin’ L.A. weirdo. Gaby was … not.
Dunn, who tweeted out the blog post earlier, told me that the post made her feel like “an object, a shiny toaster.”
“I mean I’ve been concerned about watching what I say in public for a while now but I thought it was a very self-involved thing to worry about. I’m not famous. But then I’m like, well, now I have no idea who is around. There’s so much info that’s very easy to find,” Dunn said. “For instance, he could have released information about upcoming projects, which would have sucked, but he didn’t. But who knows? Did I say what area I live in? Did I say anything about my family? I was interviewing a friend, so I was working but also chatting with someone I trust.”
Another great day for women on the internet.WASHINGTON — Sharks forward Joel Ward has made a career of taking advantage of every chance he has been given.
Ward went undrafted in junior hockey in Ontario, Canada, and after he played four years of university hockey in Prince Edward Island, he signed his first professional contract at 25 with the Minnesota Wild.
Now in his eighth full season in the NHL, which included the past four with the Washington Capitals, the 34-year-old Ward is getting the chance to play with Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture on the Sharks’ second line. The trio has been together since the start of training camp.
Ward assisted on both of Marleau’s goals Saturday against Anaheim, as San Jose carries a 2-0-0 record into Tuesday’s game in Washington.
“I’m kind of familiar with playing with top-end guys a little bit,” said Ward, who spent some time last season on a line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. “Hopefully, they don’t yell at me too much, and I can kind of help them out.
“When you get an opportunity, you just try and make the most of it. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life.”
With the Capitals, Ward was not only one of the more popular players on the team but also among the most versatile. Nicknamed “The Big Cheese,” Ward played special teams, was used in a checking role and also could be counted on for some offense, as evidenced by his 43 goals and 83 points combined the last two seasons.
“There’s a real steadiness to his game. You know what you’re going to get on a daily basis,” NBC Sports Network NHL analyst Keith Jones said of Ward. “Plays the game honestly, doesn’t cheat, does all of the little things right.”
All of those qualities made Ward one of the Sharks’ top targets in free agency.
When the free agency period began, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer asked general manager Doug Wilson and assistant general manager Joe Will if he could speak with Ward about coming to San Jose.
DeBoer and Ward crossed paths when both were in the OHL and later in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. Ward also played in the 2014 World Championships for Team Canada, for which DeBoer was an assistant coach.
DeBoer laid out a case for Ward as to why he would be a fit in San Jose: The Sharks’ nucleus was already in place, the team was committed to winning now, and Ward would not have to change who he is as a player if he signed with the Sharks.
“We had a real good conversation about one, what a big fan I am and have been for a long time, and how he plays, especially at the toughest times of years and where he would fit with our group,” DeBoer said.
“Money is the main motivating factor for most guys, but I think that it helped and eased his mind that one, he knew me and that we had laid that out for him.”
Ward signed a three-year contract worth $9,825,000 with the Sharks. Asked if his background as a lawyer helped make a case for Ward to sign, DeBoer said, “I’m not talking to him about taking a half-million dollars less. But there’s a comfort level there, of where he would fit.”
Ward is doing many of the same things with the Sharks that he did with the Capitals. He can kill penalties, and he’s on the second power-play unit, where you can usually find him parked in front of the crease screening the goalie and battling for loose pucks.
“Any coach would love to have this guy on their team,” NHL Network analyst Neil Smith said. “Just does his job. He’s had some big goals, and he’s not afraid to get in bad places on the ice in front of the net.”
Ward’s also fitting in well with his new teammates, and he might rival Couture as the biggest Toronto Blue Jays supporter in a room with a handful of baseball fans.
“He’s a nice guy. Easygoing,” Couture said. “He’s a Toronto guy, so he fits in well.”
For more on the Sharks, see the Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks. Follow Curtis Pashelka on Twitter at twitter.com/CurtisPashelka.Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards is flanked by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), and members of Congress while speaking about women's health issues during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Friday in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
About 70 volunteers from Planned Parenthood were greeted by the locked congressional office of House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday when they went to deliver petitions bearing 90,000 signatures from people who say they do not want the organization defunded.
It's unclear why the Wisconsin Republican's congressional office was closed, but the House was in recess from about noon to 1 p.m., the period during which volunteers arrived. After that recess, lawmakers met to certify the Electoral College ballot count granting Donald Trump victory in the November presidential election.
An email to a Ryan staffer was not immediately returned, and according to a Planned Parenthood spokesman, police said the office was not open and only took appointments. A photo posted by Planned Parenthood Action Fund on social media also showed a sign on Ryan's office door saying "only scheduled appointments will be admitted."
Ryan on Thursday confirmed that a budget-process bill set to repeal portions of President Barack Obama's health care law, the Affordable Care Act, will carry language aimed at stripping Planned Parenthood of federal funding.
"Paul Ryan may have locked his doors, but he can't drown out our voices," Erin Carhart, manager of youth organizing for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, says in an email. "People are already worried they'll lose their health care, that they'll lose their birth control, and now Paul Ryan is trying to take away Planned Parenthood."
Planned Parenthood is continuing to collect petition signatures and also has made 15,000 calls to Ryan's office. The petitions on Friday filled five boxes.
"This politically motivated move by Speaker Ryan will only serve to prevent patients covered by Medicaid from choosing the best reproductive health care available to them," Rahula Strohl, a volunteer for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, also says in an email.
Under the Hyde Amendment, federal funds are barred from going toward most abortions, with exemptions for rape, incest or a woman's health. Organizations like Planned Parenthood still can use federal funding to provide birth control, cancer screenings and other services related to reproductive health.
The Congressional Budget Office has previously estimated that Planned Parenthood receives about $450 million annually in federal funding, the bulk of it from Medicaid reimbursements.
Members of Congress who are opposed to abortion have been in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood for years, but the effort received renewed interest following the 2015 release of videos that were heavily edited and appeared to show that the organization worked to illegally profit from the sale of fetal tissue. Investigations have not found Planned Parenthood guilty of illegal activity, and the group has denied any wrongdoing.
Republicans have argued that funding routed to Planned Parenthood should be diverted to health care providers that offer similar services but do not provide abortions.
Upon discovering they couldn't enter the office, the volunteers on Friday instead went to the office of Ryan's fellow Wisconsin lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore. The congresswoman, who supports the organization, took pictures with volunteers and spoke with them.
Moore spokesman Eric Harris says the congresswoman's team had been in the middle of editing |
, nonelitist organization, not like a property owners' association that’s strictly focused on property values," he says. "I don't know if my perception is warped from living in Miami Shores for so long, but I think our neighborhood looks like shit."
However, his organization recently threw its support behind a controversial decision to build a large parking garage in the area — an idea that many longtime residents say will ruin the character of the neighborhood.
A few months after he moved into his new home, he says, he began emailing complaints to the city's code-enforcement bureau for everything from vacant lots and abandoned cars to one man across the street who had piles of garbage on his front lawn. (Shockey says he first cleaned up the man's trash himself with the help of some folks from his organization.)
But he admits the tactics upset his neighbors, especially when everyone found out the man with the trash on his property had been suffering from a long-term illness. Shockey says the people living near him were upset that he called the city instead of just walking up to the guy's front door.
"I don’t really go knock on people’s doors," he says. "But regardless, you just can’t have two tons of trash in your front yard."
EXPAND Courtesy of Donald Shockey
Shockey seems aware that moving into a new area — one that's in a simmering gentrification fight — and snitching on his neighbors might not have been the best tactic to make friends. But he's adamant that his plan to clean up the neighborhood is meant to help everyone, not just the newcomers, enjoy the area.
"Leaving a neighborhood dirty because the people there are poor is definitely the wrong thing to do," he says. In fact, he faults Miami Code Enforcement for not paying more attention to Buena Vista in general.
"What I want to see come out of this is more city attention toward cleaning up the neighborhood," he says. "We're trying to build on the positive things in the neighborhood that our organization is doing. I don’t want this neighborhood to be seen as the kind of place where this happens. I don’t want to be seen as a neighborhood of hate."
But it doesn't seem Shockey's recent tragedy has brought him any closer to his neighbors. In fact, he says no one has come forward to offer help since his car was flambéed.
"No one on my block has said anything since," Shockey says, "not one person. That's indicative of something, right?"Hydro Ottawa is sending 25 workers to the southern United States Tuesday to help restore power after Hurricanes Irma and Harvey struck many communities.
The power line maintainers will assist in restoring power in Atlanta after high winds and flooding left many in the dark, Hydro Ottawa said.
As many as 13 million Florida residents — or about two-thirds of the state's population — were without electricity Tuesday as heat returned across the peninsula in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Georgia was also drenched before the storm moved onto Alabama.
VIDEO: Hydro Ottawa power line maintainers on their way to Atlanta, Georgia to assist with power restoration. <a href="https://t.co/UTOqzTB261">https://t.co/UTOqzTB261</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NAMAG?src=hash">#NAMAG</a> <a href="https://t.co/DamIjfetAI">pic.twitter.com/DamIjfetAI</a> —@hydroottawa
U.S. government officials warned it could take weeks for power to be fully restored in the state, and work continues to restore power in Houston and Texas after Hurricane Harvey.
Hydro Ottawa is one of 29 utilities belonging to the North Atlantic Mutual Assistance Group, whose members deliver not-for-profit assistance during times of crisis.Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3.3 update to developers, one day after releasing iOS 10.3.2, a minor bug fix update that introduced minor bug fixes and a long list of security updates.Registered developers can download the first iOS 10.3.3 beta from Apple’s Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile is installed.We don’t yet know what’s included in iOS 10.3.3, but with a 10.x.x version number, it’s likely to be another minor update that focuses on bug fixes and security improvements rather than outward-facing changes. If anything notable is found in the beta, we’ll update this post.iOS 10.3.3 may be one of the last updates we see to iOS 10, as Apple is starting to shift focus to iOS 11. iOS 11 will be introduced at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on June 5. The update will be in testing for several months before seeing a fall public release.Ron Harris / AP
In an interview with the U.K.’s Prospect magazine, former President Jimmy Carter is brutally frank in saying that all hope for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict has ended. “At this moment, there is zero chance of the two-state solution,” he said, according to journalist Bronwen Maddox.
That judgment is widely shared and not so controversial. It is what he said next that ruffled feathers in Israel: “The Netanyahu government decided early on to adopt a one-state solution … but without giving them [the Palestinians] equal rights.” In this sentence, he accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having pursued, upon his election in 2009, a deliberate policy of relentlessly annexing and colonizing the Palestinian West Bank, ensuring that it will end up as part of Israel. At the same time, he said, Netanyahu conspired to ensure that the 4.2 million Palestinians under Israeli occupation remain stateless and without rights.
It seems fairly clear to any dispassionate observer of Netanyahu’s government that these steps are precisely the ones it has taken, and Carter is simply stating the obvious. But in the world of international diplomacy, it is customary to put some of the blame for this state of affairs on the Palestinians. Pro-Israeli critics run interference for Tel Aviv, insisting that the PLO, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, has declined perfectly reasonable negotiating offers and that Israel would be very happy to have someone take Palestine off its hands, if only it could receive security in return. Carter violated these conventions of “on the one hand” political discourse by baldly and correctly blaming the occupying authority for its illegal actions, rather than the helpless, occupied population.
Carter wasn’t done with Netanyahu. Not only is the two-state solution dead, the Palestinian West Bank being entirely stolen, the Palestinians doomed to be ruled by the Israelis in perpetuity—but Israeli society and politics are such that in the single state now forming under Netanyahu’s iron fist, Palestinians “will never get equal rights.” In short, he implicitly called Israel an apartheid state in which the only hope for the Palestinians is to achieve at least “more equal rights.”
The interviewer caught Carter’s implication and asked if Israel is heading for apartheid. Carter said, “I am reluctant to use that word in a news article,” but admitted the logic of the description. The problem, the former U.S. president explained, was that in a one-state solution the Palestinians would end up being the majority of Israelis, which would be unacceptable to the Jewish minority. The only way Netanyahu can annex the West Bank and create a single state for both Jews and Palestinians, but retain a Jewish-majority vision of Israel, is to keep the Palestinians stateless and excluded from the vote. So Carter wouldn’t use the word (lest that become the only headline), but he accepted the argument for the use of the word. Surely that amounts to the same thing.
Carter began warning of Israeli racial exclusion with regard to West Bank Palestinians in his 2006 book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” It was arguably the first time someone of Carter’s stature had dared use the word in this context, and it produced vehement attacks on the former president from the Israel lobbies. Fourteen pro-Israel advisers on the board of his foundation noisily resigned in order to embarrass him. He was initially disinvited from speaking at Brandeis University unless he would share the podium with gadfly Alan Dershowitz, an offer he declined. When he did go to the campus in January of 2007, he said, “This is the first time that I’ve ever been called a liar and a bigot and anti-Semite and coward and plagiarist. … This has hurt me.” Given that Carter’s Camp David Accords in 1979 had protected Israel from the Egyptian army, its only credible foe, the vehemence of the denunciations seemed ungrateful, to say the least.Without doubt, the lobbies’ extensive reach helped marginalize Carter in many important quarters. Although Carter himself denied it, there were allegations that the former president was, contrary to custom, excluded from speaking at the 2008 Democratic Party convention out of fear of offending pro-Israel donors.
The phrase is, of course, inexact if applied to Israel proper, where 20 percent of the population is Palestinian and has the right to vote as well as most other rights of citizenship (though unrecognized Israeli-Palestinian villages are treated in a discriminatory way by the state). But Israel has ruled the West Bank since 1967 without giving Palestinians any basic rights, and some South Africans have been so appalled by the situation there that they say it is actually worse than the former white apartheid system in their country.
As in so many other matters, the views of nonagenarian Carter have largely prevailed. Secretary of State John Kerry warned last year against Israel becoming an apartheid state. The goal post has moved, so that saying Israel is moving toward that eventuality is commonplace even among high U.S. officials (Kerry had to clarify that he didn’t mean Israel had already become an apartheid state). But there is not much point tiptoeing around the issue. Even a majority of the Israeli public agreed in a 2012 poll that there are elements of apartheid in the Israeli system.
One reason the word “apartheid” is so charged is that it is now an actionable crime under the Rome Statute, ratified in 2002, that created the International Criminal Court. To the extent that the judges there are affected by public opinion and international norms, the public stance of someone of Jimmy Carter’s stature is potentially important if Palestine brings an action against Tel Aviv on this basis.
Carter is beginning a fight against liver cancer, which he will no doubt pursue with the same steely-eyed determination he has shown in all of his political and social crusades. His forthright declaration of the end of any hope for a two-state solution is a twilight jeremiad about the darkness to come. There is going to be a single state in Israel-Palestine, he is saying. And Palestinians are not going to have the rights of citizens in it—just as the Bantustan KwaZulu remained under South African suzerainty even as its people had their South African citizenship revoked. It isn’t acceptable to the former president. It shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone.Despite management-friendly scribes swearing to the contrary, the NFL's replacement officials made some enormous errors yesterday—some of which affected the outcome of games and at least one that directly led to a starting quarterback being knocked out of the game. That's not to mention losing track of time outs, which we covered last night. In general, most of the mistakes were of the purely-boneheaded (calling blocks in the back on punt teams, for example) variety, and there were far more than we could illustrate here. We'll try to do this every week, with your help; if you see a replacement referee blunder, tweet at us or use the #scabwatch hashtag.
Patriots vs. Titans
Officials mistook an incomplete pass for a fumble—a ruling reversed by the replay booth—which meant that they didn't blow the play dead. On the runback, which should never have happened, Titans quarterback Jake Locker was hit and knocked out of the game with an injured shoulder..
Before Locker got knocked out of the game, he and the Tennessee offense had their opening drive killed when Jerry Frump's crew missed clear defensive pass interference in the end zone.
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Jaguars vs. Vikings
Chris Kluwe stood up for the replacement referees (headed up by Robert Dalton) at his game, but there were two big misses. Here's Jared Allen timing his jump perfectly yet being penalized for it.
This one's a bit worse, as it set up the Jags' eventual tying touchdown. Watch No. 84 at the bottom of the screen, as he's flagged for an illegal block below the waist despite clearly hitting the Jags player legally.
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Eagles vs. Browns
Both teams took equal punishment from referee Kent Roan and his crew. Here's Roan penalizing the wrong player for being offside, an extremely simple penalty but a mistake that wasn't corrected (thus being a permanent, and unfair, mark against Winn's record).
More seriously, though, the Browns missed out at what should have been another opportunity to score a touchdown—one that would have given them a victory—when an Eagles player jumped offside during a Phil Dawson field goal attempt without drawing a flag.
This is the worst blunder, though. After a Michael Vick fumble on third and short—with the Eagles driving in an attempt to score a game-winning TD—Browns coach Pat Shurmur tried to challenge the play's result. But Vick recovered his own fumble, and you can only challenge the recovery of a fumble in the end zone. It took Roan's crew nearly six minutes to figure that out.
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Colts vs. Bears
Jay Cutler was forced to call time out because referee Wayne Elliot forgot to reset the play clock after a penalty.
Andrew Luck, believing he had a free play due to a Chicago player obviously jumping offside, threw deep and was intercepted. The flag never came.
Bears cornerback Tim Jennings is rewarded for a fantastic and legal defensive play by being called for pass interference.
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Redskins vs. Saints
Referee David Scott's crew bails out Robert Griffin III on a fourth-down play with a phantom pass-interference call in the end zone. The zebras' enthusiasm for throwing flags had a great deal to do with Griffin's phenomenal first-game numbers.
Here's one of the most glaring mistakes we recorded yesterday. The Redskins started this drive on the 20 after a touchback, meaning the first-down marker was exactly at the 30. On third down, with the ball spotted at the 24, Griffin threw an incomplete pass. The Saints committed a five-yard penalty on the ensuing punt. Somehow, 24 plus 5 got Washington the first down.
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Falcons vs. Chiefs
Just one gripe about this game, though it's a big one. Julio Jones made a touchdown catch that should have been brought back for pass interference, but the play was missed by Mike Shepherd's crew.
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Rams vs. Lions
There is an ineligible interior lineman downfield two yards from the line of scrimmage at the time the pass is thrown. (Admittedly, it's not his fault, but rules are rules.) This touchdown won the game for the Lions, who have Donovan Briggans's crew to thank for the victory.
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49ers vs. Packers
Oh holy hell, where do we start? Referee David White's crew was horrendous, and we couldn't possibly highlight all their mistakes. Our favorite, though, is this punt in which the 49ers are charged with a block in the back despite being the punting team. Apparently Green Bay rushed the kick backward.
Unsportsmanlike conduct was called on the Niners on this play for "removing the helmet," even though it was Aaron Rodgers's foot that did the removing.
Another good defensive play flagged for pass interference.
There were, by our count, at least four false starts by the 49ers that escaped referee punishment in this game. Here's one of them.
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Steelers vs. Broncos
Last night's finale capped off an evening of terrible officiating, as referee Gerald Wright's crew proved inept and confused throughout the evening. Here's the crew running away from the ball, which is snapped before the umpire reaches his position (which is supposed to be a penalty on the offense) and while a Steelers player is still trying to get off the field (which is supposed to be a penalty on the defense).
The clock never stopped, and was never fixed, after a challenge flag was tossed. Last night's SNF game was only 59 minutes long, because a minute disappeared into the ether.
The crew also lost track of the two-minute warning. When a touchdown happens at the two-minute mark, the officials are supposed to wait until after the conversion before calling the warning. Instead, they sent the game to timeout right after the touchdown, giving the Broncos more time to set up their two-point conversion play—and costing the Steelers the timeout they could have used to plan their two-minute drill.
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Again, this is by no means a comprehensive list. The regular refs make plenty of mistakes, but they generally don't misplace the two-minute warning or award nine-yard first downs. If the NFL wants to keep arguing that the scabs don't make a difference, it needs to ignore a lot of video evidence.FamilyPet
When you are out and about running your errands, you may see people in the stores walking with their dogs. When you do, please don’t pet these dogs. Chances are they are guide or service dogs. Most of the time the dog’s harness will have a warning on it to not pet, but if you are walking up from behind or from the side, you may not see the warning sign right away. Guide dogs are dogs that are owned by people who are partially or fully blind and need these dogs to be their eyes in the world. They are trained to ignore distractions, but must also be vigilant to steer their owners away from anything perceived as a danger. By petting or talking to the dog, you are putting the owner and the dog in possible danger. I have seen lots of times where people have talked to, petted, tried to feed, and tried to play with guide dogs. Not only does that irritate the dog’s owner, but it also takes the dog’s concentration away from his job.
Service dogs accompany their owners at all times, and they perform specific tasks for them. Some tasks may not be obvious. For example, a service dog whose job is to provide stability for their person may look like a dog that is just hanging out, waiting to be petted. Or, a service dog whose job it is to open and close doors, pick up items, or listen for sounds may look like a dog that is a pet until their specific service is needed. Know that they are “on duty” every second the harness is on and they should not be distracted. Although it is the polite and safe thing to do for every dog, you should always ask the owner of a guide or service dog if it is OK to pet their dog. Do not be offended if they say no. And know that these dogs do get “off duty” time where they are given affection and play just like any other dog.
Service dogs come in all shapes and sizes. Typically you will see Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, or German Shepherd dogs, used as service dogs, but there are increasingly many more breeds becoming service dogs. My favorite service dog is a Pit Bull mix named Captain Mikey (pictured above). He is officially my friend Amanda’s service dog, but his hip health may require him to retire before too many years. Because of his temperament and training, he will become a service dog for her son who has autism. You can see from the picture that these two already share a special bond. Captain Mikey is a calendar boy, too. He is Mr. March on the “Please Don’t Pet Me” 2012 calendar. This site has much more information on service dogs.
So if you are walking down the aisle at your local grocery store and see one of these magnificent animals, just smile and calmly walk by them. Compliment the owner on the beauty or actions of the dog, but please, don’t pet the dog.
Terry Meeks is a dog trainer, APDT Member an CGC Evaluator in Pinellas County, Florida. Find Four on the Floor Dog Training at FourontheFloor-Dogtraining.com and on Facebook.What advice/rules I may give to junior developers about the Ruby on Rails app design?
Marcin Grzywaczewski Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 1, 2017
This is a question I’ve been asked during the interview for a job offer I’d like to apply for. It is a highly subjective list of certain ‘rules to follow’ when writing code and making decisions during the app development.
Do not fear using pure Ruby objects & design patterns
Ruby on Rails MVC (Model 2) architecture is a great way of structuring the app — but what is often forgotten is that mapping Model, View & Controller parts of your app do not need to be 1:1 mapping to objects. In large applications with complex logic you will end up with controllers making too many things and fat models with low cohesion because of many ad-hoc methods added to perform a certain business use case.
Try to follow single responsibility principle. Create objects that are highly specialized and do one thing only.
Try to keep Rails controller responsible for handling requests only and delegate the actual logic to other objects —Service Object and Query Object patterns are very useful here.
For behavior splitted into multiple objects try to use Facade pattern to centralize object orchestration.
Be aware of common Rails design patterns — Value Objects, Service Objects, Query Objects, Presenters, Repositories, Form Objects. Use them to increase cohesion of your solution and achieve low coupling.
If your domain model and database model differs (like domain-wise you have one thing but it is represented as multiple AR models, or database field layout is wildly different than domain sense of the object) use heavier Entity/Aggregate objects with Repositories.
Favor explicitness over implicitness
Ruby on Rails, thanks to convention over configuration idea & a magical metaprogramming sauce is excellent for creating prototypes and smaller app s— but with bigger apps you may quickly start to pay the cost of this implicitness. Design your code in an explicit manner.
Avoid implicit features like accepts_nested_attributes_for or deep relationship chains in your AR models.
Avoid using after_create/update/destroy/commit callbacks — they are powerful mechanisms that are a little too powerful and are sources of subtle bugs. Also, they make reasoning about the code very hard.
Keep your side effects together — do not use ActionMailer through the ActiveModel method, instead call it in a service object instead. Reading the ‘main’ function of the business use case (usually query/service object) should reveal all side effects immediately.
Follow the law of Demeter — keep your object chaining minimal.
Split your application horizontally
Complex applications are usually complex not because they have one very complicated business use case — they are complex because there are a lot of business use cases stuffed together. Be sure to split them in a meaningful way.
Use modules to horizontally split your app — avoid splitting vertically (like Application::Something, Domain::Something, Infrastructure::Something).
Follow the business language (Ubiquitous Language) when naming things. If in doubt, ask the business expert how they call the thing you want to name.
Namespace horizontal boundaries using Ruby modules — in e-commerce you’d propably have Order module, Shipping module, Customer module and so on.
Calling a module from another module should be forbidden if they are distinct. Calling a submodule from the parent module is ok (like calling Order::Confirmation from Order).
Design for real non-functional requirements
A huge application usually has non-trivial performance and availability profiles — and you need to have knowledge of them to make a proper implementation.
Always ask what load is expected — how many users do we expect to use this particular feature, how often, how critical it is. Make decisions about implementation based on this data.
When in doubt, measure. Use tools like New Relic or similar, perf on Linux, ruby profilers to understand the performance profile of your app.
Do not optimize prematurely. Usually more performant code has a trade-off in readability and maintainability — try to avoid it if not needed.
Be careful with external integrations. Use infrastructure-level patterns like circuit breaker or bulkheads to handle failures robustly.
Test your code exhaustively
(Unit) Testing is the foundation of a professional software developer’s work — be sure to treat it as a requirement, not a nice-to-have. Not testing your code, especially in a language like Ruby, is like being a surgeon and not washing your hands before surgery. Don’t do that.
If you need to use mocks, think twice. Use dependency injection if you need to inject an external dependency to your tested object.
Unit is not necessarily one object only — it can be multiple objects.
Be sure to write tests for every case — if you have a conditional, be sure tests run both paths in your code. Test coverage tools can help a lot here.
When in doubt about architecture, start with functional (request, controller) tests first. You may leave tests on this level if there are no other clients using the same objects. Move to lower level if you happen to reuse an object — it deserves its own test then.
Favor composition over inheritance
Inheritance is a powerful object mechanism which is not needed most of the time. Try to use lighter patterns like composition which allows you to decrease coupling between two objects.
Rails-specific corollary to it is that STI tables are considered a code smell and should be avoided. Use them only for performance reasons, if any.
Make use of dependency injection heavily to allow composition to shine. It’ll help with the previous point as well.
Respect the control flow
People are not great when it comes to tracing multiple code paths at once — make it easier for people reading your code by keeping the linear control flow.
Avoid deep conditionals. Linux kernel developers do not need more than three levels of indentation and they are writing extremely complex software with many corner cases.
Push conditionals to the highest possible layer of the application. Most decisions you are doing are based on HTTP request parameters — you can create proper objects on the highest layer and avoid doing these decisions again. For more details this may be a good read — replace ‘lambdas’/’functions’ with ‘objects’ in your head.
Think in layers — do not call application-level object like service object from domain-level object (like Entity/Value Object). You should have at least three layers in head — Application (which is allowed to orchestrate between horizontal boundaries — that’s how you call stuff from different modules), Domain (where the business logic lives, split by the horizontal boundaries) and Infrastructure (external API integrations, adapters for external services like APNS, database). The order matters — you only go left to right with your dependencies. This will ensure your flow is linear.
Avoid communicating between objects at the application layer — they are considered to be self-contained and should not be a ‘building block’ — this is what domain layer is for. If you need to call two services or two queries, use Facade pattern (often called Command in this particular context).
Conclusion
This is only a subjective choice of the most important rules that are worthwhile to follow — I think having a battle-tested framework in head about what is right and what is wrong is very useful while making decisions about an implementation of your software. These helped me a lot while working with big, complicated legacy applications. Since they are only a selection and are subjective, it is of course all right to argue with them. There is a lot more to this topic — for your app there may be a need to design cross-cutting concerns better, or there may be a better architectural choice than MVC — like CQRS, or CQRS/ES, or Hexagonal Architecture… But it is worth another post.Outgoing Leinster outhalf Jonathan Sexton is set to become the top-paid player in French rugby next season.
According to French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique, the Ireland international is set to earn a net salary of €55,000 per month when he wears the colours of Racing Métro.
The figure quoted would be after social contributions have been paid but before tax has been deducted, and separate from any bonuses that might be included in his contract.
Sexton's salary will buck the trend, according to Midi Olympique, since French Top 14 clubs want to reduce costs next season.
Jonny Wilkinson has just agreed a new contract at Top 14 leaders Toulon, but the sum is significantly reduced from the €800,000-a-year deal he signed in 2009.
A further sign of the changing times is that none of the 2011 World Cup-winning All Blacks are playing in France, with Top 14 clubs now facing competition from Japan.
Only Montpellier are expected to increase their budget considerably as they play catch up with Toulon, Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne.
The average Top 14 salary is €12,000 per month. However, foreign players who move to France with their families can benefit from relief on 30 per cent of their taxable income.
Top earners in the French Top 14 (2013-2014 season)
Jonathan Sexton (Racing Métro) €55,000 per month
Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon) €47,000
Bryan Habana (Toulon) €42,000
Nicolas Mas (Montpellier) €38,000
James Hook (Perpignan) €35,000
Average salary €12,000
Source: Midi OlympiqueTroubled by many Arkansas students' lack of access to high-speed Internet connections, Gov. Mike Beebe is calling for the state's public schools to be granted the right to access an existing statewide broadband network serving higher education institutions.
Enacting that recommendation would require overturning a state law, known as Act 1050, that currently forbids K-12 schools from plugging into the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network, or ARE-ON. Some in the state have criticized that statute as serving the interests of telecommunications companies at the expense of children.
Experts say public schools are able to access most, but not all, of the similar publicly run statewide and regional broadband networks now in operation in other parts of the country.
"It has become clear that Act 1050 has impeded our progress in developing a reliable and efficient broadband infrastructure for Arkansas students," Beebe, a Democrat, said in a June 13 press release. "Giving K-12 schools the opportunity to access ARE-ON will provide better online availability for our students and save our taxpayers money."
The recommendation comes on the heels of the recently released Arkansas Digital Learning Study, prepared by a committee established following the 2013 passage of legislation requiring all Arkansas students who will graduate in the 2018-19 school year and beyond to take at least one digital learning course.
According to the study, few Arkansas schools now meet the generally accepted current minimum bandwidth target of 100 megabits per second per 1,000 students, and few schools are on track to meet the more aggressive target of at least 1 gigabit per second per 1,000 students by the 2017-18 school year.
Arkansas currently provides some connectivity for K-12 public schools, but it is woefully inadequate, according to the study. As a result, 71 percent of all the public school bandwidth in the state is purchased on the private market, where schools can be charged anything from $1.20 per megabit to "exorbitant" amounts as high as $280 per megabit, according to the report.
All told, the committee found, 86 percent of the state's K-12 education network connections provide less than 20 mbps—a feeble level of connectivity in the current era of online assessments, 1-to-1 computing, and extensive use of multimedia resources in the classroom.
In addition to Mr. Beebe, a coalition of business leaders who came together at the governor's behest under the moniker FASTERArkansas has also pushed for the repeal of the state law preventing K-12 schools from accessing ARE-ON. The competing—and powerful—interests on either side of the issue are contributing to "one of the fiercest lobbying fights in memory," according to senior editor Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times, an alternative-weekly publication based in Little Rock.
Nationally, the issue of high-speed Internet for public schools has become a front-burner issue. President Obama has called for an ambitious effort to bring high-speed connections to 99 percent of U.S. public schools by 2018, and the Federal Communications Commission is in the midst of overhauling the federal E-rate program, which provides subsidies to schools and libraries purchasing telecommunications services. Despite the high-level attention, though, finding ways to connect rural schools, ensure affordable connections for most districts, and promote price transparency have all proven to be persistent challenges.
In an interview, Douglas A. Levin, the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association, based in Glen Burnie, Md., described statewide and regional networks and consortia as a "very attractive way for states to meet the broadband needs of K-12 schools."
"It has worked in other states," he said, citing the networks in Maine and Utah as particularly strong examples.
The general principle, Levin said, is that districts should be able to get much better prices for broadband service by working together to aggregate their demand and centralize their procurement processes than by engaging in hundreds of individual negotiations with telecoms and other providers.
The "aggregation of expertise" is also key, he said.
"It's very difficult for school districts to obtain the expertise they need to design and procure networks that cover all their bases," Levin said. "Being able to rely on external consortia to represent their interests is a big benefit."
In Arkansas, the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network (ARE-ON), shown in its current state in the map below, serves as a 2,200-mile fiber-optic cable "backbone" connecting 24 cities and all the public degree-granting institutions in the state with high-speed 1- and 10-gigabit connections. The network was funded in part with a federal stimulus grant of more than $100 million.
David Merrifield, the chief technology officer for the organization that manages ARE-ON, said in an interview that the network has enough capacity to "easily withstand connections" for the state's 258 public school districts and charter schools. But making the plan work, he said, would be a "massive" technical undertaking that would likely involve working with private providers to provide "last-mile" connections (involving fiber-optic cable, circuits, switches, and related equipment) between schools and the existing network.
"We're not envisioning a massive new statewide fiber build," he said. "We already have the infrastructure that connects our various regions and nodes together."
At the request of the state legislature, Merrifield said, ARE-ON this week began work on an analysis to better understand how an expanded network incorporating K-12 schools might be designed—and how much such an expansion might cost.
The biggest hurdle, he said, will likely be changing the state law, which will require overcoming the interests of private Internet service providers who benefit from the current rules preventing K-12 schools from leveraging the existing public infrastructure.
"Officially, we have a neutral stance on this issue," Merrifield said. "But we're certainly very willing to take on the project if the state decides that's in their best interests."
Map of the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network, or ARE-ON, from www.areon.net.
Follow @BenjaminBHerold and @EdWeekEdTech for the latest news on ed-tech policies, practices, and trends.Noe Valley woman 1st to beat Ellis Act eviction through trial
San Franciscan Betty Rose Allen won her court case to overturn an Ellis Act eviction. San Franciscan Betty Rose Allen won her court case to overturn an Ellis Act eviction. Photo: Peter Menchini Photo: Peter Menchini Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Noe Valley woman 1st to beat Ellis Act eviction through trial 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
A San Francisco woman appears to have made history as the first person to successfully fend off an Ellis Act eviction through a jury trial.
On Thursday, a jury found that Betty Rose Allen would not have to vacate her Noe Valley apartment, where she’s lived for nearly 40 years, after a lengthy and acrimonious legal battle with the building’s owners.
The family that owns Allen’s three-unit building sued in San Francisco Superior Court to have her removed from it in June, just over a year after serving her and her mother, Beatriz Allen, with an Ellis Act eviction notice. Ellis Act evictions, which allow landlords to boot out tenants when they no longer wish to rent out a property, give elderly or disabled tenants a year to find new housing. Beatriz Allen died in April.
Mark Chernev, an attorney for the Hilaly family, which bought Allen’s building in 2014, said the family’s intent from the beginning was to live under the same roof and that it hoped to find an amicable solution for relocating the Allens.
Allen’s attorneys at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic disputed that notion, saying that one of the family members, Tariq Hilaly, routinely harassed the Allens in an effort to force them out, either to lease their rent-controlled unit out at market-rate prices or possibly to turn it into a commercial enterprise.
Before the Ellis Act notice, the Hilalys also tried to remove the Allens from the building through an owner-move-in eviction, where landlords can take over an apartment for themselves or on behalf of family members. Chernev said a frail member of the Hilaly family became ill and needed to stay near family to recuperate, which compelled them to accelerate the Allens’ eviction. The Hilalys backed down from that effort after Betty Rose Allen took her dispute with the family public.
“Every time Betty Rose did something to exercise her rights, something negative would happen,” said Raquel Fox, one of Allen’s attorneys. Fox said that included actions such as failing to give notice before entering Allen’s unit and removing her garbage can.
The jury rejected arguments that the Hilalys didn’t have a bona fide intent to exit the rental business. Instead, Allen’s attorney convinced the jury that the Hilalys had changed the terms of her tenancy when they took over a building garage that Allen was paying for and had the right to use.
Margaret DeMatteo, another attorney for Allen, said that on a rental information questionnaire the Allens filled out once the Hilalys bought the building, Allen mistakenly indicated that parking was not a part of her lease agreement. The Hilalys, Allen’s attorneys argued, took that to mean the garage was theirs to use, which they did for more than a year.
The jury found that discrepancy constituted an improper change of Allen’s tenancy agreement and ruled in her favor on those grounds.
Chernev said that a change-of-tenancy defense “is not a legally recognized defense in an Ellis Act” eviction case |
Day 19, as the fleet sails due south looking for strong westerly winds to turn for Cape Town. Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race
Adding to Team Alvimedica’s global flare is the composition of the crew. Though the only United States entry in the race, the team actually has members from New Zealand, Australia, Italy and France, as well as three sailors from the States. “We’re a very international crew,” said Enright. “And we’re the youngest team in the race, for sure, with an average age of 30.”
New this year, the Volvo Ocean Race features identical yachts, devised by Farr Yacht Design in the United States, and built by a consortium of four shipyards, with parts produced in France, Italy, and Switzerland, and assembled in the United Kingdom. The ultra-light yachts, said Enright, are “like a real Swiss Army knife,” each featuring a carbon composite hull, seven sails (built by North Sails of the United States), a 100-foot main mast, a canted keel, two daggerboards, and twin rudders.
“The one-design concept has made for very close racing,” said Towill. “For the first time in this event, every team has the exact same equipment, which has really put the race in the hands of the sailors, and not the designers. The [competitive] level is extremely high, and you need to push the boat 100 percent all the time.”
That puts added pressure on Enright’s crew. Though they won the in-port race in Spain, the members of Team Alvimedica know they’ll ultimately be judged by their final finish, in Sweden.
“For us, it’s about maximizing our potential,” said Enright. “We have all the tools we need to succeed. It’s just a matter of how much better, or faster, we can get between now and the finish. We have moments of brilliance, some great ‘scheds’—six-hour position reports—some good tactical calls, but we also have a lot we need to work on. Consistent improvement in our performance is our goal. If we can do that, results will come.”
Competitive sailing fans can follow the Volvo Ocean Race at volvooceanrace.com.
GALLERY: TEAM ALVIMEDIA ON THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE [FULL SIZE]
Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race 1 of 15 Advertisement
Nothing says "princess" like a pointy, cone-shaped hat. From kids' costumes to medieval paintings, the cone hat—more formally known as a hennin (or henin)—is a sure sign of royalty. But here's something you might not know about the hat that adorn the heads of pale-skinned ladies: they were actually modeled after the hats of Mongol warrior queens.
Related Content Warm, Wet Times Spurred Medieval Mongol Rise
The blog Medieval PoC explains:
The European Henin is modeled directly after the willow-withe and felt Boqta (Ku-Ku) of Mongolian Queens, which could reach over five to seven feet in height. Mongolian women’s boqta also had a special role: because men and women’s clothing were more or less exactly the same in design, appearance and function, reflecting thousands of years of more or less equal rights between the genders, the women’s tall headdresses served to differentiate men and women from a distance.
According to Medieval PoC, Marco Polo brought at least one boghtaq back from his travels, and shortly thereafter there was a sudden boom in popularity of cone-shaped headwear amongst the ladies. Medieval PoC points to the book Secret History of the Mongol Queens, where author Jack Weatherford writes:
The contraption struck many foreign visitors as odd, but the Mongol Empire had enjoyed such prestige that medieval women of Europe imitated it with the hennin, a large cone-shaped headdress that sat towards the back of the head rather than rising straight up from it as among the Mongols. With no good source of peacock feathers, European noblewomen generally substituted gauzy streamers flowing in the wind at the top.
Today, it's hard to imagine a princess without a cone-shaped hat. But what we think of as the headgear of white Europeans actually began as the headdress of these Mongolian queens.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Ancient Egyptian Princess Had Coronary Heart Disease
A Japanese Princess Gets Her Royal Due at the Sackler GalleryBREAKING — The House has pulled the health care bill after failing to find enough votes to pass it.
House Speaker Paul Ryan sensationally canceled a vote on his Obamacare repeal bill for a second time, repudiating President Donald Trump who has threatened to walk away from health care reform if the measure does not pass on Friday.
House Speaker Paul Ryan met Friday with President Donald Trump to tell him Republicans don’t have the votes to pass the GOP health care bill.
A key portion of the Trump-Ryan conversation was over the ownership of the health care bill and whether the President will take either full or partial responsibility over a decision to pull the bill, two people familiar with health care talks say.
Earlier coverage:
Live coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives vote on President Trump’s health care plan (the vote, if it occurs, is expected around 3 p.m. Central):
WASHINGTON (CNN) — House Speaker Paul Ryan met Friday with President Donald Trump to tell him Republicans don’t have the votes to pass the GOP health care bill, however Republicans are still working toward a vote Friday afternoon on repealing and replacing Obamacare.
A key portion of the Trump-Ryan conversation was over the ownership of the health care bill and whether the President will take either full or partial responsibility over a decision to pull the bill, two people familiar with health care talks say.
Ryan showed Trump the numbers, and asked what the President wants the speaker to do.
The decision is largely in the hands of the White House, the sources say, and the speaker wants to make it “the President’s call.”
Efforts on Capitol Hill to sway members are ongoing, but things aren’t heading in the right direction.
“Not good. Not good at all,” the source said.
A risk to Republicans: if members are fully aware that the bill is going down, there’s a real risk that that undecideds, undeclared and even some yes votes would flee.
“The risk is it wouldn’t just be a loss, but a big loss,” a source said.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday afternoon that Trump has “left everything on the field when it comes to this bill.”
But Republicans have few firm commitments from conservatives and watched a continued exodus of moderates. This was exactly what House leadership was worried would happen when they changed the bill, the source said.
Friday afternoon, moderate Republicans and members of the conservative Freedom Caucus have indicated they won’t back the bill.
Blame game
Trump has confidence in Ryan, Spicer said.
“I think the speaker has done everything he can,” Spicer said. “He’s worked really closely with the President. I think at the end of the day, you know I said this yesterday, you can’t force people to vote.”
But the President is said to be “agitated” by the process, an aide said, which he thinks is all “political.”
There have been whispers against Ryan, suggesting that if the bill fails it will inflict a series blow to the relationship between the speaker and the President which will be vital to moving forward the Republican agenda.
State of play
The vote, already delayed a day to give Republican leaders a chance to eke out a majority for the bill, is currently scheduled to proceed following Trump’s huge gamble in warning he would walk away from health care reform if the GOP did not follow his desires.
Spicer told reporters “you guys are so negative” as they asked about the poor prospects for the vote.
Though he said he’s done negotiating, Trump lobbied for a yes vote on Twitter on Friday morning.
“Disastrous #Obamacare has led to higher costs & fewer options. It will only continue to get worse! We must #RepealANDReplace. #PassTheBill.”
Trump started calling lawmakers early in the morning, Spicer said. “The President and his team have committed everything they can to making it happen.”
Ryan needs to get a simple majority in the House — around 216 votes depending on how many members show up to vote. He can probably afford to lose no more than 21 Republican votes.
A final vote is still expected around 3 p.m. Central time.
Freedom Caucus holding out?
Vice President Mike Pence is meeting this with members of the House Freedom Caucus at the Capitol Hill Club, a source familiar with the meeting says.
Freedom Caucus members have stood by their ideological objections to a bill they say does not go far enough in repealing Obamacare.
There are signs of frustration in the White House at the Freedom Caucus, which has won a series of concession but is still holding out against the bill.
“We’ve emboldened them,” one White House aide said.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, was mum about his plans. “I’m not making any comment,” he said.
A Republican official involved in counting votes says the party thinks it needs about 25 of the roughly 36 members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus members to back the GOP health care bill if it’s going to pass Friday.
But while Mark Meadows claims lawmakers are allowed to vote their conscience, White House and GOP leadership don’t think the Freedom Caucus members take that seriously.
The Freedom Caucus traditionally votes in a block and it will be hard to break from that.
Will moderates flee?
Rep. Leonard Lance, R-New Jersey, said that without a doubt, the decision to concede the repeal of essential health benefits to the Freedom Caucus definitely moved some of his colleagues to “no.”
“I suspect some became a no because of that,” Lance said. “That certainly didn’t help.”
The northeast Republicans are the ones to watch, he said.
“New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania — that’s where you should count heads.”
What’s in the bill
The GOP health care bill would eliminate many of the taxes and eradicate the individual mandate imposed by Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act. Instead of the Obamacare subsidies that are tied to income and premiums, the GOP plan provides Americans with refundable tax credits based mainly on age to purchase health insurance.
The bill also significantly curtails federal support for Medicaid and allows states to require able-bodied adults to work. After 2020, states that expanded Medicaid would no longer receive enhanced federal funding to cover low-income adults like they did under Obamacare, and states that haven’t expanded would be immediately barred from doing so.
However, the GOP bill doesn’t touch some of the most popular pieces of Obamacare, including letting children stay on their parents’ insurance plans until the age of 26 and including protections for people with pre-existing conditions. But it would end the requirement that insurers offer comprehensive policies that cover maternity, drugs, mental health and substance abuse.Editor’s Note: This is part 2 of our series, The New Classics – Pieces Every Modern Girl Should Own. If you haven’t read part one yet, see: The New Classics: 20 Modern Pieces Every Girl Should Own – Part One, then come back here for the second half!
I couldn’t limit my New Classics list to just one post- 10 pieces just isn’t enough. So today, I’m continuing my New Classics series with the final 10 modern classics that every girl needs in her wardrobe.
As I stated in Part One, whereas most “wardrobe classics” lists talk about items that have been popular for centuries, this post is about the new era of timeless pieces – OUR classics: the new wardrobe staples for this generation. While of course there will be some overlap with old-school “fashion classics” lists, this list focuses on the next generation of classics, and lists some newer pieces that every modern girl needs to own, as well as a few items that have been in style forever.
Without further ado, here are the final ten pieces…
11. Leather (or Faux Leather) Jacket
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I know most of you have probably forgotten about your favorite leather jacket over the past few months. After all, Summer isn’t exactly their season. But when Autumn arrives, I know we’ll all fall back on this wonderful staple.
Wear your leather (or faux leather) jacket with jeans, dresses, or skirts, buy cropped, long, or detailed styles, rock it in brown, black or grey… it’s all good. While the denim jacket seems to go in and out every other season, the leather jacket will always be there to add a rock-chick edge to any look.
12. Floral Dress
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Oh, florals, how we love you!! Although florals are often associated with Spring, the perfect little floral dress can be worn all year round – it’s fab for winter with tights and ankle boots, layered under a cardigan or worn over a long-sleeved top. Floral dresses are effortlessly girly and available everywhere, meaning they’re easy to get and usually super cheap!
13. Shorts
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Perhaps the heading is a little vague, but I think every girl should have a pair of everyday shorts in her wardrobe – any style goes! They can be worn all year round (think tights for winter), and, let’s face it: they’re a lot more convenient and modesty-protecting than skirts, especially on windy days. There are so many types of shorts out there – from floral shorts to military shorts to high-waisted shorts and denim shorts, there are endless styles to choose from, meaning you’re sure to find the right pair to fit your style.
14. Waist-Cinching Belts
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Again, “waist-cinching belts” is perhaps a pretty general heading, especially as belts have gone from chunky to studded to skinny to super skinny over the last few seasons, but the fact remains- the hourglass shape is timeless and will always be in. So whatever the style, a belt that cinches you in at the waist can make all the difference in any outfit.
15. Statement Scarves
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Gone are the days when you had to be cold to wear a scarf! As celebs like Nicole Richie have shown us, scarves can be worn all year round and can truly “make” an outfit. As with belts, scarf trends are always changing, but fortunately, scarves can be found so cheaply (have a look in your local vintage shop) that you can easily update your wardrobe for less than the price of your morning coffee!
16. Pearls
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No longer reserved just for your Grandma, the old-school pearl necklace is a great way to add an element of class to your outfit. Throw them on over jeans and a t-shirt or rock them with a girly dress and your outfit will instantly look kitschy-cool.
17. Classic (or Not-So-Classic) Blazer
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Whether you go for a slouchy boyfriend style, a girly floral blazer like Blake Lively’s above, or a classic black fitted number, a well-fitting blazer will take you anywhere, and work with everything. Go for a neutral color like black or gray for every day, but don’t be afraid of bright colors and prints for fun.
18. The LBD
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As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, although this list is all about modern classics, I did include some old-school staples as well. And honestly, no “wardrobe classics” list would be complete without the LBD. You can literally throw it on with a pair of statement shoes and you’re ready to go. The LBD never goes out of style; once you find the right one, you can wear it for life.
19. The Nautical Striped Top
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The nautical striped top is a many splendid thing. It manages to pack a bit more of a punch than your stand PWT, yet still goes with everything and looks perfectly effortless at all times. This little beauty will go under anything and is perfect for layering come winter. When it comes to investing in a nautical striped top, long-sleeved tops are the most classic and wearable, however, you can also rock a striped tank if that’s more your style.
20. The Prom Dress
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Okay, I don’t literally mean a prom dress; instead, I’m referring to any gorgeous little number that makes you stand out and feel fabulous. Your “prom dress” can be a lovely little bandeau that you wear in the daytime or a sexy LBD for evening, whatever makes you feel gorgeous and amazing. My favorite thing about a “prom dress” is that it is usually a stand alone piece- an outfit in itself. Just add your favorite pair of heels, and you’re ready to make a statement.
What do you think?
So there you have it- the twenty “modern classic” pieces that I think every girl should own. Of course, this list is not conclusive- depending on your style, budget and tastes, you could find certain items surplus and your favorite pieces missing. As always, this post is meant to inspire you, not tell you what you HAVE to buy. Have fun with it and use it to express your unique sense of style!
So now I want to know your thoughts. Which of my “new classics” do you already own? Which are you planning to buy? What are your wardrobe classics? What pieces do you think every girl should have in her closet? Let us know in the comments!More from L. Ian MacDonald available More fromavailable here
Every five dollar drop in the price of oil costs the federal and Alberta treasuries $1 billion each.
As recently as June, the benchmark price of oil was $105 per barrel. In September, oil was trading at $95 per barrel, the price both Ottawa and Edmonton used for their budget forecasting.
The price of oil has since plummeted to below $70 — more than $5 per barrel in the last week alone — on the news that OPEC would not cut production to maintain prices. On Tuesday, benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $67 and change.
Do the math. That’s more than $25 per barrel below forecasted levels of only two months ago — and more than $15 below the projected price in Ottawa’s fall fiscal update of only three weeks ago.
How low can oil go? Try $30, suggests Murray Edwards, CEO of Canadian Energy Resources, and one of the most prominent leaders of the Alberta oilpatch. At an energy conference at Lake Louise last Friday he said: “Prices could spike down to $30 to $40. It got down to $35 in 2008 for a short period of time.
“The better question is where does it stabilize for a period of time, and the $70 to $75 area is probably not a bad place until you get more balance in terms of growth in demand and some supply response.”
The world price of oil doesn’t take into account the discount on Western Canadian Select from the oilsands which Andrew Leach, Enbridge Energy Policy Professor at University of Alberta, calculates has plunged from nearly $95 in June to $55 today.
And as Leach writes in Maclean’s: “The longer-term impacts, yet largely to be felt, will occur if projects start to be delayed or cancelled as a result of the drop in prices.”
So, three questions arise from the plunging price of crude. What’s the effect on the fiscal frameworks of Ottawa and the producing provinces, notably Alberta? At what point do new projects in the oilsands become financially unfeasible, and how much economic activity, and how many jobs, would be lost as a result?
And if oil production isn’t increased, will Canada need all these new pipelines to tidewater for export to new markets?
The Harper government has already done a show-and-tell on the coming surplus. In the next fiscal year, it’s projected to be $1.9 billion rather than $6.4 billion in last February’s budget. The difference is $3.2 billion in new spending on family tax breaks and child care benefits in the current fiscal year, $5 billion in the next one and $22.6 billion to 2018.
Over the next four years, the surplus is now forecast to be $18.1 billion, down from $32.9 billion in the budget.
The question is whether Canada needs all the proposed new pipeline capacity. And the answer is still, hopefully, ‘yes’ — by the time it’s all built.
But it turns out that forecasting the price of oil is a mug’s game. How much will the shortfall be and how will it be covered? Well, there’s a $3 billion contingency reserve that could come in handy. But beyond that, it may be a problem for the Harper government to deliver more election year goodies in the budget expected in February or March.
In Alberta, Premier Jim Prentice has already acknowledged that he faces some tough choices in his spring budget. No one in his right mind in Alberta would propose a provincial sales tax — good policy, but bad politics. Nor would Prentice be inclined to raise taxes a year before his election in 2016. Which leaves him with the prospect of cutting government spending, two-thirds of which is already allocated to health care and education. There’s a saying: To govern is to choose. Prentice is about to find out how true those words are.
Beyond the price of oil, Prentice may be looking at an economic slowdown in the oilpatch, resulting in a further decline of government revenues and royalties.
Canada now produces about 3 million barrels of oil per day, 2 million barrels from the oilsands. And we export 2.5 million barrels per day, more than 99 per cent of it to the U.S. (Enbridge alone transports more oil to the U.S. than does Saudi Arabia). The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has already revised its 2020 oilsands production forecast from 4 million to 3 million barrels per day. And with shale oil, the U.S. is on its way to self-sufficiency.
Diversifying markets is a necessity, but the question is whether Canada needs all the proposed new pipeline capacity. And the answer is still, hopefully, ‘yes’ — by the time it’s all built.
TransCanada’s Energy East project from Alberta to Quebec and New Brunswick alone would carry 1.1 million barrels per day. Its Keystone XL project would carry another 800,000 barrels per day from Alberta and North Dakota to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project from Alberta to the northern British Columbia coast would account for more than 500,000 barrels per day, and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project would add nearly 600,000 barrels per day.
None of this new capacity has been built yet and there are issues with environmental activists, communities, First Nations and, in the case of Energy East, two important provinces, Quebec and Ontario, which last week posted seven conditions. Prentice is in Quebec and Ontario Tuesday and Wednesday, doing some pipeline diplomacy with his new colleagues, Philippe Couillard and Kathleen Wynne.
“We’re happy to collaborate with Quebec,” Prentice said in French following his meeting with Couillard at the National Assembly. “Albertans share the pre-occupations of Quebec.”
For her part, Wynne declared ahead of Wednesday’s meeting that the Quebec-Ontario conditions were “principles, not stipulations,” and that Ontario and Alberta “have a very constructive relationship.”
Prentice, Couillard and Wynne are the three political actors who can make this happen. They are also three of the smartest people in the room. It’s a time for leadership.
L. Ian MacDonald is editor of Policy, the bi-monthly magazine of Canadian politics and public policy. He is the author of five books. He served as chief speechwriter to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney from 1985-88, and later as head of the public affairs division of the Canadian Embassy in Washington from 1992-94. The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.Detroit police car photo closeup.JPG
The city added 25 new police cruisers and ambulances and plans to bring in another 98 vehicles in the coming months, thanks to an $8 million donation from a group of corporations with interests in Detroit.
(Tanya Moutzalias | MLive file)
DETROIT, MI -- Police say a man entered a church during a service in Detroit about 1:45 p.m. Sunday threatening the congregation with a brick.
The pastor pulled out a gun inside Church of God Ministries and shot the man multiple times. He later died at the hospital.
The Detroit News is reporting on a possible love triangle involving the pastor, victim and victim's wife.
"Officers responded to 2200 Grand River for a shooting that just happened; once inside, the officers observed a 25-year-old male victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds," Detroit Police Officer Daniel Danikowski told MLive. "The suspect, a 36-year-old male who was the pastor, was still present at the scene.
"The suspect stated that the (intruder) had harassed him on multiple occasions in the past. According to the suspect, the victim attempted to attack him with a brick, at which time he produced the firearm."
The shooter was questioned and released Sunday, according to Danikowski. The case is being turned over to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office for a review of possible charges.
Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt told The News the victim and pastor had a history of problems.
"He had been threatening him to do bodily harm," Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt told The Detroit News. "He walked into the service and went after the pastor with a brick. The pastor pulled out his Glock and fired several shots. I think he hit him four or five times, and the man died."
The shooting comes months after a June 17 racially-motivated mass shooting inside a Charleston, South Carolina, church that killed nine people.The LEGO NINJAGO Movie has given us some pretty decent sets during its first wave released in August, in particular both the Destiny’s Bounty and NINJAGO City are amongst some of the best sets released this year. But the NINJAGO fun doesn’t stop there, a second wave of sets are due very soon, one of which has appeared early in UK Toys R Us stores. Set 70656: garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON is based on Lord Garmadon’s first appearance in The LEGO NINJAGO Movie, where he carries out his almost daily conquest of the island of NINJAGO, well at least he tries to, but always seems to get thwarted by the Secret Ninja Force. During the opening of the film, Garmadon’s Shark Army emerge from the sea, with an towering Shark-shaped mech, ready to cause havoc with the denizens of NINJAGO. But how does this fishy new set shape up? Let’s reel in our latest LEGO NINJAGO Movie set review.
Product Description
Have lots of construction and brick building fun with the LEGO Ninjago Movie garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON! Team up with Lloyd to rescue NINJAGO City citizens from Garmadon’s mighty Shark Mech! Protect Nomis and Nancy from the Mech’s snapping jaws. Stay clear of its huge feet and dodge the shooting cannons. Fend off Hammer Head’s attacks with Lloyd’s sword and get the citizens – and their delicious hot dogs – to safety!
When Ninjago City is attacked by the evil warlord Garmadon, only Lloyd, Jay, Kai, Cole, Zane, and Nya can defend the city. But wait. Garmadon is Lloyd’s long lost father – talk about an awkward family reunion. The teen ninja face a formidable enemy, but fate has called upon them to defend their home town! … Oh sorry, that wasn’t fate, that was just Lord Garmadon butt-dialing Lloyd. This will be epic!
Set Name: garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON
garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON Set Number: 70656
70656 Pieces: 830
830 RRP: £79.99
£79.99 Minifigures: Garmadon, Lloyd, Hammer Head, Frank, Nomis and Nancy
Garmadon, Lloyd, Hammer Head, Frank, Nomis and Nancy Measurements: over 25cm high, 38cm long and 26cm wide.
over 25cm high, 38cm long and 26cm wide. Availability: Limited – Toys R Us Exclusive
The Set
The set features two main components – Garmadon’s Shark Mech and a funky little Hot Dog cart, which is where the build begins. However this is no ordinary Hot Dog street vendor, this is NINJAGO City’s take of the famous fast food, which has some added noodles for good measure. This is a fun little build which makes great use of window frames to act as the carts grill frame. In fact classic elements are used a lot in this small build, with two car doors used in the carts base and the old small dumbell-style wheels used as the carts wheels. Unfortunately these wheels, although they look great, do make the cart a little top heavy, which is thanks to the that cool looking brick-built dog.
It’s nice to have an additional element to a set, like this Hot Noodle Dog cart, many of the other Ninja mechs are lacking a little something extra. Here it adds a nice addition to the set, which also harks back to the Shark Mech’s appearance in the movie, as well as adding a nice bit of colour. The carts signage does use stickers, but thankfully these are on nice flat surfaces so stick on easily enough. The bulk of the set is focused on Garmadon’s Shark Mech, this is one of the most unique looking sets released as part of The LEGO NINJAGO Movie line-up.
The Shark Mech build begins with the stomach of the beast, with much of the Shark Mech’s facial features being the first parts you build. As the combination of light grey and the awesome sand blue parts are added and that iconic sloped head sharks have takes shape, you’ll get soon appreciate the design that gone into this set. The bottom jaw of the shark is set on a hinge which connects to a long Technic beam and two gear wheels near the top of the legs. These can be turned to get the Shark Mech’s jaws chomping. This is a fun little play feature which is joined by two large rubber tipped projector missiles and posable legs.
Once the main base of the the shark is complete you start added much of the body bulk, which is achieved with separately built sections that each clip on to the main body of the Shark Mech. These all use a lot of sand blue elements, many of which are appearing in this colour for the first time. ‘Sand’ variants of colours are being used quite a lot lately and I’m not sure why, but I really like them. Sand Green is used a lot in The LEGO NINJAGO Movie and a number of other recent LEGO releases, hopefully these newly recoloured Sand Blue pieces will start appearing other sets.
Although the set does a pretty amazing job of recreating the sleek shape of a shark, it’s primary use is to terrorise and conquer. To pilot this toothy terror, there are two areas to where you place minifigures. Both are covered by removable sections, which are connected by single stud 1×2 plates. Both only allow the minifigures to put in them standing up. The back cockpit, which has a domed covering, can be closed with one of the Shark Goons inside. Due to Garmadon’s taller than the average minifigure size, he can’t be placed inside with the lid down. Saying that, how else could menace NINJAGO City without seeing Garmadon’s grinning mush.
The LEGO Designers have done an impressive job and creating a cool mech which looks actually like a shark. All the features you would associate with the swimming beast are present including that iconic dorsal fin, tail and the two pectoral fins, cleverly achieved with two sand blue Technic panels. It’s this great use of parts, such has those panels, which really impress the most. Not only thanks to the colours used but also how them are combined in surprisingly simples ways. The most complicated part of the build is the two mech legs. These use a lot of Technic pieces which work well with the robotic feel of the set. These have a little bit of movement to allow for some simple posing. Only bit I’m not a fan of is the two claw toes on the back of each foot. Although they are same as those on the front, the way they are connected means the don’t sit properly. A minor annoyance for an otherwise impressive set.
The Minifigures
The set includes six minifigures – Lloyd, Nancy and Nomis representing the good guys and Garmadon, Hammer Head and Shark Army goon Frank. The good guys are most definitely the best of the bunch. Lloyd appears in his Green Ninja guise and isn’t much different to his appearance in other sets. Nancy and Nomis are both exclusive to this set, Nomis is sporting the great little Hot Dog costume first seen in the LEGO Minifigures range. He has also have great set of facial expressions, which look even more comical through the hole of the costume. Nancy may not look much but she is wearing a tee with a nice little nod to an classic LEGO theme. Something which has occurred in other LEGO movie based sets. She also has two expressions although it’s a little difficult to see much difference between the two due to her retro mouth braces.
The bad guys are a little more muted compared to the guys above. Garmadon is very similar to his appearances in other sets, however in this form he is currently exclusive to this set. Which is a little surprising considering this is his most ‘pure’ form. His goons are a mixed bunch of guys, without their elaborate fishy headgear, they are all fairly similar in appearance, with ever so slight difference. I love Frank’s mean expression, with manly eye-patch, softened by little freckled cheeks. Hammer Head uses a new head elements, which is modelled on a Hammerhead Shark, along with a new shoulder element, which acts as his air tank. I especially like the little detail of the oxygen marker on the front of this.
The set includes a nice selection of accessories including the new Lloyd sword, with the new tassel element, recoloured fish pieces, used for much of the Shark Army weapons and the fairly new hot dog buns complete with sausages.
It’s genuinely impressive to see how many different variations of weapons you can get when the handle of them are all fish. The key to all evil corporations is branding and Garmadon has chosen to a theme and he’s sticking to it.
Overall
The set doesn’t take much building yet it’s still very enjoyable to put together. The use of parts and the way they have achieved the curved shape of a shark is fantastic. I also love the Sand Blue colouring and seeing so many elements appearing in this colour for the first time. The legs are a little fiddly to piece together and they do feel a little off balance at first but are actually fairly sturdy on the right surface. The price tag does feel a little high, especially when compared to some of the other sets in The LEGO NINJAGO Movie range and the fact it’s a Toys R Us exclusive will ensure the set won’t drop in price any time soon. Despite that I really love the finished set, the minifigures are great and there’s enough play function, without it feeling too gimmicky. Of the new sets being released ahead of Christmas, this is most definitely one of the best although not as impressive as the Destiny’s Bounty.
garmadon, Garmadon, GARMADON is available exclusively in Toys R Us stores and online from Toysrus.co.uk priced at £79.99. The set will also be available from shop.LEGO.com and LEGO Brands stores next month.A Portland judge has ruled that when
bike lane striping vanishes, like in the
intersection of SE 10th and Hawthorne, so
does a rider’s legal protection.
When Portlander Rob Daray witnessed a right-hook collision on his commute home last summer he thought it was obvious who was at fault. So did the police officer who cited the operator of the motor vehicle for “failure to yield to a bicycle.” Even the woman driving the car admitted she made an abrupt right turn without checking her blind spots.
But when the case came up in traffic court, the judge came to a different conclusion and now Mr. Daray and others familiar with this are worried that people who ride bicycles are vulnerable — not just on the street, but in the legal system as well.
“This was such a cut and dry accident that it is shocking it was ruled this way in a “cycling” city like Portland.”
— Rob Daray, lead witness in the case
On June 10th, Mr. Daray was riding his bicycle eastbound on SE Hawthorne Blvd just before 5:00 pm when he looked up and saw a gray Toyota Prius turn right onto SE 10th. The Prius, driven by Ellen Metz, collided with a woman on a bicycle who was traveling in the same direction. The woman on the bike was Carmen Piekarski a cartographer who works for the City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. She was thrown from her bike and sustained serious road rash and is still in physical therapy for a shoulder injury.
Story continues below
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Portland Police Officer Dean Hedges cited Ms. Metz for violation of ORS 811 |
. Kournetas, the resident on Granville, offered the same hypothesis.
But an abrupt life change could also be to blame — as well as college students moving away after graduation, Bedno said.
He also said some of the abandoned bicycles, which he calls "orphans," are found at the city's regional transportation hubs.
"They end up around Union Station a lot," he said, "like someone locked up a bike there and got on a train and went to a new city — and never came back."
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:Each icon font library has their own icons and no iconset is created equal. But with so many to choose from it can be difficult finding the best one to suit a new project.
GlyphSearch was made as a way to visually filter through icons to find the best one for your current project. It’s completely free and includes many of the most popular icon sets including Font Awesome, Glyphicons, Foundation, and even Octicons.
You can browse the site by a particular icon set or you can enter keywords like “facebook” for an FB social icon. Source code is also offered and easy to copy whether you need it as full HTML markup or something to embed within CSS.
The entire search engine has been completely open sourced with a full GitHub repository open to the public. This means you could even recompile the site itself to run locally on your own server!
In its current state GlyphSearch provides an incredible resource for all designers. New icon fonts may be added in the future but at the moment I think this site represents the perfect place to locate anything you need from the most popular open source iconfonts on the web.
Also if you’re looking for related webapps definitely check out FontCDN for searchable web fonts + Bootswatch for free Bootstrap themes.
The post GlyphSearch is your free Icon Search Engine appeared first on webdesignledgerFeminist News
All | National News | Global News
March-30-10
Colorado Bans Gender Rating in Health Insurance
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed a law yesterday that will prohibit health insurance companies from charging men and women different rates on the same policies, a practice known as gender rating. With the signing of HB 1008, Colorado became the 13th state to ban gender rating, a practice that the historic federal health reform bill signed by President Obama last week will phase out by 2014.
Two reports by the National Women's Law Center, Nowhere to Turn (see pdf) and Still Nowhere to Turn (see pdf), show that in Denver, Colorado, seven of the ten best-selling health insurance plans charged 30-year-old non-smoking women up to 48 percent higher premiums than 30-year-old male smokers. This disparity cannot be explained by maternity-related costs because not one of the plans included maternity coverage.
The New York Times reports that as he signed the bill on the steps of the state capitol, Governor Ritter said "This bill ensures access to care and coverage for all at an equitable price and eliminates the financial burden that gender rating puts on women." State Representative Sue Schafer (D-Wheat Ridge), one of the sponsors of the bill, spoke at the signing and said, "It's past time that women were not considered in the private individual insurance market as a pre-existing condition," reports the Denver Business Journal.
Media Resources: National Women's Law Center: Nowhere to Turn; National Women's Law Center: Still Nowhere to Turn; New York Times 3/29/10; Denver Business Journal 3/29/10This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a man who’s been described by Donald Trump as “overrated,” “a sleazeball,” “a jerk” and “a total loser.” He’s a man who’s been writing about Donald Trump and a possible run for the presidency for nearly 30 years. We’re talking about the cartoonist Garry Trudeau, creator of the popular comic strip Doonesbury. He’s the first cartoonist to win the Pulitzer Prize.
In September 1987, Trudeau published a series of comic strips that now seem prophetic. In one strip, reporters are asking Trump a series of questions: “Mr. Trump, your denials notwithstanding, don’t the ads you took out suggest a testing of the political waters?” Trump responds, “As I have said before, I was simply acting as a concerned citizen! At this time, I have no, repeat no, political ambitions whatsoever!” A reporter then asks, “Okay, but if you did run for Congress…” Trump then responds, “President, think president.”
Another strip from 1987 features Trump being asked, “Mr. Trump, as a developer of luxury condos and casinos, do you think you’d have any rapport at all with voters of modest means?” Trump responds, “Are you kidding? I’ve spent my whole life working with people of modest means!” “In what capacity?” he’s asked. Trump says, quote, “Evicting them! I’ve seen how these people live!”
Trump has remained a frequent character in Doonesbury ever since, giving Trudeau a chance to make fun of everything from Trump’s hair to his ego to his rampant use of insults. These cartoons have just been collected in a new book; it’s titled Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump.
Garry Trudeau joins us in studio now.
Welcome to Democracy Now!
GARRY TRUDEAU: Well, thank you. It’s such a pleasure.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to have you with us. So, are you surprised at everything that has unfolded in this past year?
GARRY TRUDEAU: Yes. I’m no smarter than anyone else in terms of understanding where this was all going to go. My assumption, after 2012, when he was attacking the president and he got his first taste of double-digit poll numbers, that he would make a run this time around. But I thought it would be just as part of the—his normal brand enhancement and that once he’d gotten the maximum promotional value out of a run, that he would step out. Who knew he would catch on like this? Certainly not me.
AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about when you first started covering him in Doonesbury. And for people who don’t know Doonesbury, why don’t you start off by explaining this comic strip.
GARRY TRUDEAU: Wow!
AMY GOODMAN: I don’t know if there’s anyone who doesn’t know, but go ahead.
GARRY TRUDEAU: It’s a comic strip that began life, when I was in college, as a one-off. It was a sports strip that was about a particularly outstanding football player on my college campus. And it caught the eye of a syndicate chief, who wrote me in my junior year and said, “How would you like to do this for a living?” So, that’s the—I didn’t have a particularly long period of paying dues. I jumped in right after graduation, and I’ve been writing this daily comic strip, which was about collegiate life, but which became about the broader world and all the many issues I’m interested in.
AMY GOODMAN: How often did your comic strip get banned or dumped for a week, if they didn’t like what you were doing?
GARRY TRUDEAU: Oh, it’s impossible to say how often, but in the early years, it was every other week or so some newspapers would decide to remove it from the pages. And I’ve never regarded it as censorship; it’s simply editing. Editors decide every day about dozens of things that don’t make it into their papers. So, I never took it seriously. The problem was that it would generate local news. Their reporter would call me. And it became a very sort of self-conscious thing for me to write, because I had to be prepared to defend it, after it was published, to multiple clients. So, I just sort of stepped back from that. And I wasn’t on shows like yours for many, many years, just so I could focus on the work. But now it’s all hands on deck, right? I’m delighted to be here to talk about the work.
AMY GOODMAN: OK, so you’re—you’ve been following Donald Trump for decades.
GARRY TRUDEAU: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us when he first became a character in Doonesbury.
GARRY TRUDEAU: He became a character in response, a kind of prophylactic response, to his series of ads that he took out in The Boston Globe and The Washington Post and The New York Times, in which we learned for the first time that the rest of the world was laughing at us. And there were a few trial balloons that went up along with that from other—others of his friends, and I thought, “Wow! I have to respond to that, because we’ve been living in this city with this guy for 10 years. His grandiosity is just over the top, and this is laughable.” And so I just put him in the strip.
And it was an early transfer—easy transfer. He wasn’t a parody exactly; he was really more like a natural born toon. I just took him out of the box, removed the tags and put him right into the strip. And I think he’s—you know, he’s like a version of Daffy Duck, I mean, in terms of his appearance, the silly way in which he talks, the over-the-top self-regard. All these things just made him a perfect cartoon character. And so, I just had him interact with the other characters as a peer, and they interact with him as just a, you know, comic strip colleague. And I didn’t have to make any adjustments. I would take the things he said and reframe them in a way, you know, to maximize the satiric purpose of it, but I didn’t have to do much in terms of exaggerating, the way you normally do in a parody.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to 1999. You have a cartoon with Donald Trump saying, quote, “A lot of people have been asking what this election is really about. Well, it’s not about the economy, stupid! And it’s not character, stupid! And it’s not authenticity, stupid! It’s not even about the issues, stupid! You want to know what this election is about?” Someone then says, “You, stupid?” Trump replies, “Exactly! People are begging me to run! Begging me!”
GARRY TRUDEAU: Oh, they’re always begging him, and there are always hundreds of calls. And what’s astonishing is these things are obviously made up. But what’s most astonishing about his lack of truth is that he wheels it out for the most banal and trivial of reasons. I was talking to a crew member on CNN who said he was in his office setting up a camera—this was a while back—and he overheard Trump talking to his daughter in the outer office. And he said, “Well, there are five cameras in my office.” And he said, “Five? There was one. I was setting up one camera.” Why lie to your daughter about how many cameras in your—I mean, the most, you know, insignificant things get lied about, and right up to last night, when he was imagining a video he never saw.
AMY GOODMAN: Imagining?
GARRY TRUDEAU: Fabricating, whatever. I mean—
AMY GOODMAN: Talked about a secret video he had seen.
GARRY TRUDEAU: Oh, secret. I missed that detail.
AMY GOODMAN: Although, today, now tweeting out, in maybe one of his first tweet corrections, oh, it wasn’t a [video] of $400 million being brought in to the Iranian government—
GARRY TRUDEAU: Which he described vividly.
AMY GOODMAN: And said the Iranian government did this to embarrass the U.S., released this video.
GARRY TRUDEAU: Yeah, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Right? And this morning, tweeted, no, he was watching on TV the video of the hostages being released in Geneva.
GARRY TRUDEAU: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to 2011. This comic strip begins with Donald Trump saying, “Novelty candidate? What’re you talking about? Have you seen my polls? They’re extraordinary! I’m polling 41% against Obama! 41%! And I’m not even running yet!” This was 2011.
GARRY TRUDEAU: Yeah, I think that’s what really—you know, that was when, I think, he thought it was possible. He had a brief interest in running for governor, but then that just didn’t seem grand enough, so he started making his early moves towards the presidency last year.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to go to break, and then we’re going to come back with Garry Trudeau. He is the Pulitzer Prize cartoonist, creator of the comic strip Doonesbury, which appears daily in over 1,400 newspapers. In 1975, Garry Trudeau became the first comic strip artist ever to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. He’s been described as the most influential editorial cartoonist in, oh, over a quarter of a century. His new book is called Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “It’s the Right Time to Be Rich,” from the 1983 Broadway production of Doonesbury. And, yes, our guest today is Garry Trudeau, the Pulitzer Prize-winning comic, the creator of the comic strip Doonesbury, which appears in well over a thousand newspapers. Can you talk about that, the music we just heard and the Broadway musical?
GARRY TRUDEAU: The music we just heard was from a Broadway musical called Doonesbury, and that was a song that was sung by the reporter Roland Burton Hedley Jr. in the second act. And I haven’t heard it in years. Obviously, it’s always a good time to be rich, but I’m glad you dug that one out.
AMY GOODMAN: So, I wanted to go back in your history, Garry. Since you don’t come out and talk to the world very much, except through your comic strip, Doonesbury, your grandfather ran a tuberculosis sanatorium upstate?
GARRY TRUDEAU: My great-grandfather. And he opened the first sanatorium in North America for the treatment of tuberculosis. And that has been the tradition in my family for three generations.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s so interesting, because my grandmother went to a tuberculosis sanatorium. When she was like 50, she got TB and meningitis, and she went to one of these places. And I wonder if it was—if it was his. They didn’t know if she’d last the year, and she lived ’til she was 108.
GARRY TRUDEAU: It was helpful for some people. I mean, there weren’t any antibiotics in those days, and that’s what eventually shut down the sanatoriums. But what his insight was remains important. It was about a holistic approach to health. And he was very, very committed to creating the conditions by which the body and the immune system can optimize its own recovery processes. So there was fresh air, there was, you know, good hygiene, healthy food, occupational therapy—all these things that were a little ahead of their time and have been important in treating all kinds of disease.
AMY GOODMAN: And how did that influence you?
GARRY TRUDEAU: Well, I grew up kind of in awe of my own heritage, as did my father and his father, because Edward Trudeau, my great-grandfather, was a great man in his day. Tuberculosis was the number one killer. And he was well known around the world. So, yeah, you grew up in a shadow in my little town, a very big shadow. And I never felt any pressure to go into medicine. And once I had left and went to college, and it was offered, an alternative employment that I really loved, I never looked back.
AMY GOODMAN: And your family was involved with politics in New York?
GARRY TRUDEAU: No. My mother was a volunteer for Eisenhower.
AMY GOODMAN: Back further? Yeah?
GARRY TRUDEAU: Yeah, I grew up in a moderate Republican household, a Rockefeller Republican household. And my best friend, who lived next door, his father was the publisher of the local paper and was a Democrat, and eventually became an ambassador. And we rather regarded politics as one might regard the difference between the Dodgers and the Yankees, being New Yorkers. It was a friendly rivalry; it wasn’t something that drove families apart and tore communities apart.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, their feelings about you becoming a comic strip—
GARRY TRUDEAU: Whose feel—whose—
AMY GOODMAN: Your family’s feelings about you?
GARRY TRUDEAU: They’re fine with it. I think, you know, my father worried for some years that there wouldn’t be a living in it, and he just waited for me to pivot into a career that seemed more stable to him. I did go to graduate school in graphic design, and I did set up a graphic studio, where I was doing that work in addition to the strip. But eventually I had to pick between the two.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to a quote of yours a few years ago. You said, “Traditionally, satire has comforted the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable. Satire punches up, against authority of all kinds, the little guy against the powerful. … Ridiculing the non-privileged is almost never funny—it’s just mean. By punching downward, by attacking the powerless, disenfranchised minority with crude, vulgar drawings closer to graffiti than cartoons, Charlie wandered into the realm of hate speech.” You were talking about Charlie Hebdo—
GARRY TRUDEAU: Right
AMY GOODMAN: —the magazine in Paris.
GARRY TRUDEAU: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: And the—this, after the attack that took place that killed a number of the cartoonists. Explain what you were saying.
GARRY TRUDEAU: I did. And that was very controversial at the time, to my great surprise. It didn’t seem like I was saying anything particularly controversial. But feelings were still raw. This was only a few months after the killings. And although I had honored the cartoonists in the strip, by name, and including their drawings in a Sunday section, I nonetheless disagreed with what—you know, what they were trying to do with their art. I just simply wouldn’t have done it. Life is full of editing decisions. You can’t go through a day without making a dozen decisions not to do something. Editors do that with newspapers. We do it in relationships. It’s just something I wouldn’t do, and most cartoonists in this country wouldn’t do. You don’t do it just because you can. We all understand that you can. That’s—we all get the First Amendment. But each person has to decide for themselves when you cross a line.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s go back to Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump. And talk about why the title Yuge!
GARRY TRUDEAU: Well, hopefully, that’s self-explanatory. The practical reason for it was that there’s only four letters, so you can make them very big on a cover. And that seemed to be not just a metaphor, but also helpful in terms of people spotting it in a bookstore.
AMY GOODMAN: I’m going to go to one of the cartoon strips where you have your character on the radio. “He’s in! He’s out! He’s keeping his options open! He may be hard to pin down, but one thing remains the same—a deep, pathological need for attention! As far back as 1987, he’s pretended to run for president, freshening his tacky brand with free media, but always wimping out before the first primary! So here he is, the man with the piggy eyes, contemptuous scowl, and hair like orange cotton candy! Welcome, sir!” “You didn’t say my name, you freakin’ pinhead!” “Sorry, sir, I’m blanking on it. How embarrassing!” “It’s…” “Ooh, we’re out of time! Our thanks to the caller!”
GARRY TRUDEAU: It’s almost like I was baiting him, right? Yeah, I mean, it was a pretty obvious cartoon to kind of wander into, just in terms of he was right on the precipice, and I was just as uncertain as anyone else that he would actually go for it.
AMY GOODMAN: And now I want to go to the cartoon that you’re going to read. This is April 17th, 2016. You show Trump talking to a group of middle-schoolers, saying, “Hey, kids! Tired of getting killed on insults in the cafeteria? Then start fighting back with my quality Trump brand insults! Choose from over 500 tremendous insults I’ve tweeted out since last June, including…” Could you read what happens next in the cartoon?
GARRY TRUDEAU: Well, it’s just a sampling, a carefully curated sampling of these copyrighted insults. And I’m loathe to read them, simply because I’m sure they would—it would invite a suit. But let’s get right into it: “Lightweight!” “Embarrassment!” “Choker!” “Disaster!” “Phony!” “Hypocrite!” “Dope!” “Fraud!” “Arrogant!” “Loser!” “Grubby!” “Wacko!” “Third-rate!” “Clown!” “Dumb!” “Clueless!” “Nasty!” “Failed!” “Terrible!” “Ridiculous!” “Deceptive!” “Weak!” “Sad!” “Crazy!” “Totally corrupt!” “Dumb as a rock!” “Reckless!” “Totally flawed!” “Not nice!” “Nervous wreck!” “Zero talent!” “Sloppy!” “A real nut job!” “Blowhard!” “Overrated!” “Truly weird!” “A joke!” “Unattractive!” “Disgusting!” “Irrelevant!” “Spoiled brat!” “Low-class slob!” “Goofball atheist!” “Hater and racist!” “Failing!” “Fool!” “Worthless!” “Garbage!” “Pure scum!” “Crude!” “Biased!” “Kooky!” “Awkward!” “Dishonest!” “Hopeless!” “Dummy!” “Liar!” “Disgrace!” “Basket case!” “Disloyal!” and “Really pathetic!” And then he says, “Stop being a total loser, huge loser—Use Trump brand insults and start winning today!”
AMY GOODMAN: So, your thoughts today, 30 years—
GARRY TRUDEAU: Well, there are far more. This was just a sampling. But 30 years later? You know, I don’t want to think beyond November. I hope I have no reason to think beyond November. I look forward to passing him on Fifth Avenue on his way to work on November 9th, and without incident and with him getting on with his life and the rest of the country getting on with its.
AMY GOODMAN: How much have you interacted with him? He’s got a lot of names for you.
GARRY TRUDEAU: No, I’ve observed him in the wild numerous occasions, most recently at the New Hampshire debates. He came out into the press area, and I could not take my eyes off the back of his head. It is something that photography just can’t quite capture. It’s like a panel of gossamer that has been lacquered onto the back of his head with a kind of golden slurry. And I wanted to find the words or the imagery to share that with my readers, but really drawing Trump is a journey. It’s not a destination. You just have to keep after it.
AMY GOODMAN: Has he ever threatened to sue you.
GARRY TRUDEAU: No.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Garry Trudeau, I want to thank you for being with us. Garry Trudeau, creator of the comic strip Doonesbury, which appears daily in over, oh, 1,400 newspapers. In ’75, Garry Trudeau became the first comic strip artist ever to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, one of the most influential editorial cartoonists in decades. His new book is called Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump.The company told employees about the changes on Wednesday, in a memo obtained by Reuters and confirmed by Boeing.
Boeing, the Pentagon's second-largest supplier, said the changes were the latest step in an affordability drive that has already reduced the company's costs by $2.2 billion since 2010, according to the memo.
The measures come as U.S. weapons makers are under pressure to cut costs and preserve profit margins amid dwindling defense spending in the U.S.
In a message to employees, Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said the company aimed to cut costs by an additional $1.6 billion from 2013 through 2015.
"We are raising the bar higher because our market challenges and opportunities require it, and our customers' needs demand it," Muilenburg said.
He said the total savings would reach $4 billion, making the company healthier and better able to deal with a tougher marketplace.
He said Boeing would cut the number of executive jobs an additional 10 percent by the end of 2012, bringing overall cuts in its executive team to 30 percent for the past two years, a move that would result in a 10 percent cut in management costs.
Boeing said the changes were not a response to the threat of additional, across-the-board U.S. budget cuts due to take effect on Jan. 2, or the outcome of U.S. elections, but represented another step in its continuing drive to "be more competitive while investing in technologies and people."
Boeing said it could not project exactly how workers would lose their jobs because it would try to place people in its growing commercial business.The writer and editor Anne Hays recently penned an open letter to the New Yorker on Facebook, demanding her money back for the most recent issue. Why? The New Yorker contained only two pieces by women – and it wasn't the first time. The letter went viral and was republished by publications such as Ms. and the website Jezebel – which used it to note how few other submission-based magazines have a regular number of women writers. Naturally it had its detractors as well, including Donald Douglas, who declared it an example of "feminist schizophrenia".
The letter sparked a broader discussion about how to raise the number of women represented on some of America's most prestigious mastheads. A consensus of sorts emerged: that editors play a huge role in which pitches get accepted and to whom assignments go. Ann Friedman, a former editor at AlterNet and the American Prospect, wrote that getting more women published would require editors to take concrete steps to solicit pieces from women writers and to be constantly vigilant in their efforts to bring parity, lest the slots inevitably go to the squeakist freelancer wheel (the person that pitches the most, and the most hard) or to only a few recognisable names. The Nation's Katha Pollitt wrote that women atop the masthead can ameliorate the problem but wouldn't be enough to bring parity of access, even as their presence in the pool of potentials start to overwhelm that of men.
And, of course, there's the new and ongoing call for quotas: in the UK, 73% of women felt the presence of a glass ceiling, whereas only 38% of men did. But even among young women – those under 30 – 24% of them figured on being their own bosses one day versus 20% of their male peers. So it's clearly no lack of ambition among my female peers. But there remain "quotas" – official and otherwise – among both liberal and conservative publications, to prevent having an all-male magazine even as women of all political stripes are demanding (and rightly so) a voice and a byline in publications that reflect their views.
As an editor, I sympathise with The Awl editor Choire Sicha, who went from working for others to being his own boss and suffered the slings and arrows of having a liberal site that doesn't quite achieve gender parity. In the media, as in my earlier career as a lobbyist, one comes to sadly realise that most applications come from men – even supremely unqualified ones. It's difficult to constantly try to beg certain writers to provide you with their work when others are imploring you for an opportunity, but it's no different in any industry: you promote the person asking for the promotion that they seemingly deserve more often than the utility player who fails to sell his or her work – and women are inevitably schooled in modesty while their male peers are schooled in self-promotion.
The cycle of pitching also doesn't play to the supposedly stereotypical female strengths: you have to brush off near-constant rejection, spend your days courting indifferent suitors and run around telling editors how amazing you are. And, as Pollitt and Friedman aptly pointed out, many of the people to whom you would be pitching pieces are men – and they have a point of view of what constitutes "serious" stories (ie "manly" topics) and what the "average" reader is interested in. Naturally, it's quite easy to conceive of the average reader as a man.
As liberal and progressive publications have struggled to find strong political female voices, conservatives have been experiencing a renaissance of women not seen since Phyllis Schlafly almost single-handedly defeated the equal rights amendment (and then thanked her husband for letting her out of the house). From Michelle Malkin to Ann Coulter, CNN contributor Dana Loesch and conservative atheist SE Cupp and beyond, the conservative movement and its media outlets seemingly have no difficulty in finding and promoting female voices – even the ones that support women maintaining traditional roles. And yet, the left seem to struggle with finding comparable thought-leaders and achieving parity.
Quotas on their own aren't going to help. They are, at their core, an acceptance that hiring practices are prejudiced in a way no one is interested in really thinking about or changing. Friedman was right about the need to seek out, cultivate and assign talent: as an editor or a manager, it's quite easy to take the applications or pitches that arrive, to allow the obsequious person to win the day and to rely on the reliable stand-in or the already-known talent. But it isn't the job of a good editor or a good manager to just pick the easiest option. The job of a good manager, or a good editor, is to find the best piece to inform the audience; to pick the employee who will catch what you miss; to pull in the talent that adds something to the organisation that it doesn't already possess.
If you can't get there without quotas then that's an organisational failure that will, eventually, catch up with you.Every craft beer fan’s favorite trivia fest is back at Glorietta Baldy in Brooklyn!
On Wednesday, May 11th at 8PM, join Beerded Ladies for four rousing rounds of brain-busting competition, amazing tap specials and lots of sweet, sudsy prizes for the champs.
We’re excited to announce that this month’s event is sponsored by our venerable neighbors to the north, Gun Hill Brewing Co! The crew will be on hand to represent their growing fleet, bringing along a special selection of drafts (including their Hamilton-inspired Rise Up Rye!!) as well as some super fancy brewery swag for the evening’s winning team.
“Beer Geek Trivia, which takes place on the second Wednesday of the month, is part pub quiz, part ‘meet the brewer’ night, where brew-enthusiasts of all backgrounds can learn more about craft beer.” – The Brooklyn PaperThe first time I half-heard a news report about Housing New Zealand tenants "contaminating" homes by smoking methamphetamine in them, I assumed it was a mistake. Clandestine labs, sure: they can leave behind some some hazardous chemicals, depending on the actual process employed. But a dwelling being rendered uninhabitable and needing to be torn apart simply because meth was consumed in it? It didn't seem possible.
It isn't possible.
I'm grateful to Matters of Substance, the magazine of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, for commissioning me to investigate the way this all got out of hand – and for making the decision to publish the story online today, rather than waiting until the end of the month for the printed version. In the story, I wrote this:
If the “meth contamination” mess can fairly be described as a moral panic, it has broader implications than most moral panics. Not only is it creating havoc in the property investment market, it is prompting Housing New Zealand to do precisely the wrong thing with vulnerable people.
Early on in the process, I wondered how on earth we could get out of this self-sustaining disaster. I'm more optimistic now. Dr Nick Kim's willingness to go public with his criticism of the way the Ministry of Health's meth lab remediation guidelines had been misunderstood and misused has been crucial. And the sheer cost of the misapprehension – Housing New Zealand has budgeted $22 million for testing and remediation this year and will almost certainly blow past that – has finally gained the attention of the government.
When I asked Dr Kim whether he blamed journalists for the panic, he was charitable: they were simply following the official word, he thought. I'm less inclined to be charitable. This whole thing has been allowed to develop over two or three years as a consequence of weak and credulous reporting. Time and time again, "experts" who are not experts and who have have an obvious conflict of interest have been quoted by journalists who should have known better. Instead of revealing a grossly under-regulated industry, they consistently gave that industry credibility it did not deserve.
And the troublesome guidelines themselves? As I've sought to make clear in the story, when they were created in 2010 there was a paucity of information and almost nothing in the way of formal standards internationally. There was pressure to come up with a number and that number turned out to be very low.
I note in the story that the choice of the 0.5 microgram guideline (it could equally have been the statutory level of 1.5 that applies in California) was influenced by the peer reviewing of a team from Forensic and Industrial Science and noted that part of the argument there was that methamphetamine can be treated as a proxy for other, harder-to-test-for chemicals associated with manufacture. It does seem worth acknowledging that one of those reviewers, Elizabeth McKenzie, was also doing work on meth persistence that was later reflected in her PhD thesis, and which was relevant.
But she isn't a toxicologist, the published guidelines were not intended as a benchmark for human safety and the guidelines should never have been applied outside their purpose: which was to guide the remediation of places where meth had been manufactured.
Why did the Ministry of Health stay silent while all hell broke loose? It's hard to say, but this is the kind of issue where people keep their heads down. It's notable that after his initial commentary for the Science Media Centre, observing that "the concentrations will not be sufficiently high enough to cause either psychoactive or toxic effects", Dr Leo Schep of the National Poisons Centre referred subsequent press inquiries to Dr Kim.
The real victims of this debacle are the Housing NZ tenants who lost their homes, often on the basis of no more than suspicion or gossip. As I note in the story, the corporation's meth team went some pretty grim places with this problem – even "talking about" the idea of making universal drug tests a precondition of tenancy. They seem to have lost touch with Housing NZ's role as a social agency.
I can't be sure, but I suspect Housing NZ's practice, at least as far as remediation goes, is already quietly changing. When I visited the Housing NZ flats in Greys Avenue a little over a month ago, I counted nine places boarded up up. There are only a couple now, and some of those opened have not been stripped out. Number 37, boarded up since March, is getting a paint job only. So needless cost may be being curbed now.
That will be of little comfort to those who have lost their homes and security. This is a story of how things get out of hand, and how moral panic and drug stigma lead us to make terrible decisions.
You can read the story here at Matters of Substance.
–––
NB: An OIA response from Housing NZ arrived after the print deadline and I was only able to incorporate a couple of key points in the story – those being that Housing NZ has ruled out doing universal baseline tests for methamphetamine before its properties are occupied, and that it took no advice on the socal impact of evicting people who may have had drug problems. I've uploaded it and you're welcome to have a look through it.Compulsory Voting – the Lifeboat Analogy You are one of twenty two people who are stranded on a life boat after the pleasure cruiser sinks. Yes there is enough room and supplies for all of you for the immediate future so no decision has to be made as to who will be thrown overboard.
However there is one problem: the skipper / navigator has gone down with the ship and no one actually knows which direction to row to ultimately reach the shipping lanes.
Even though no one knows for sure, eleven members of those on board have formulated ideas. Some think they can operate the sextant which has been saved, some believe they can tell which way to go by the currents, some by the sun, and some by the prevailing winds. The problem is that there is no general consensus from all these theories, and existing provisions will only allow for one attempt.
It is ultimately decided that a vote has to be taken to decide whose theory will be accepted to decide the course to follow. Because the decision may well result in the life or death of everyone on board it is decided that everyone will have the right to vote.
Even though you yourself have come to no theory, you decide to vote with one person who, to you, gives the general impression of being slightly more astute and knowledgeable than the other amateur navigators.
This leaves the remaining ten occupants. Not only do they have no idea which is the best direction for rescue, they also share equal faith in all of those who have suggested theories. Therefore because they fear their vote may lead to the wrong decision, they have decided to abstain from voting. Will you allow the ten to abstain form voting or will you insist that, because lives are at risk, they must partake in the vote?Editor’s Morning Note: Microsoft’s Big Ass Wall Computer is selling well. Let’s run the numbers.
“As you can see |
requirement policies,[16] censorship policies,[17][18] and its involvement in the United States PRISM surveillance program have been highlighted by the media and by critics.[19] Facebook has come under scrutiny for 'ignoring' or shirking its responsibility for the content posted on its platform, including copyright and intellectual property infringement,[20] hate speech,[21][22] incitement of rape[23] and terrorism,[24][25] fake news,[26][27][28] Facebook murder, crimes and violent incidents live-streamed through its Facebook Live functionality.[29][30][31]
The company and its employees have also been subject to litigation cases over the years,[32][33][34][35] with its most prominent case concerning allegations that CEO Mark Zuckerberg broke an oral contract with Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra to build the then-named "HarvardConnection" social network in 2004, instead allegedly opting to steal the idea and code to launch Facebook months before HarvardConnection began.[36][37][38] The original lawsuit was eventually settled in 2009, with Facebook paying approximately $20 million in cash and 1.25 million shares.[39][40] A new lawsuit in 2011 was dismissed.[41] Some critics make predictions of Facebook's end based on the problems which they identify.
Facebook has been banned by several governments for various reasons, including Syria,[42] China,[43] and Iran.[44]
Privacy issues [ edit ]
Widening exposure of member information 2011–12 [ edit ]
In 2010, the Electronic Frontier Foundation identified two personal information aggregation techniques called "connections" and "instant personalization". They demonstrated that anyone could get access to information saved to a Facebook profile, even if the information was not intended to be made public.[45] A "connection" is created when a user clicks a "Like" button for a product or service, either on Facebook itself or an external site. Facebook treats such relationships as public information, and the user's identity may be displayed on the Facebook page of the product or service.[45]
Instant Personalization was a pilot program which shared Facebook account information with affiliated sites, such as sharing a user's list of "liked" bands with a music website, so that when the user visits the site, their preferred music plays automatically. The EFF noted that "For users that have not opted out, Instant Personalization is instant data leakage. As soon as you visit the sites in the pilot program (Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft Docs) the sites can access your name, your picture, your gender, your current location, your list of friends, all the Pages you have Liked—everything Facebook classifies as public information. Even if you opt out of Instant Personalization, there's still data leakage if your friends use Instant Personalization websites—their activities can give away information about you, unless you block those applications individually."[45]
On December 27, 2012, CBS News reported that Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, criticized a friend for being "way uncool" in sharing a private Facebook photo of her on Twitter, only to be told that the image had appeared on a friend-of-a-friend's Facebook news feed. Commenting on this misunderstanding of Facebook's privacy settings, Eva Galperin of the EFF said "Even Randi Zuckerberg can get it wrong. That's an illustration of how confusing they can be."[46]
Issues during 2007 [ edit ]
In August 2007, the code used to generate Facebook's home and search page as visitors browse the site was accidentally made public.[47][48] A configuration problem on a Facebook server caused the PHP code to be displayed instead of the web page the code should have created, raising concerns about how secure private data on the site was. A visitor to the site copied, published and later removed the code from his web forum, claiming he had been served and threatened with legal notice by Facebook.[49] Facebook's response was quoted by the site that broke the story:[50]
“ A small fraction of the code that displays Facebook web pages was exposed to a small number of users due to a single misconfigured web server that was fixed immediately. It was not a security breach and did not compromise user data in any way. Because the code that was released powers only Facebook user interface, it offers no useful insight into the inner workings of Facebook. The reprinting of this code violates several laws and we ask that people not distribute it further. ”
In November, Facebook launched Beacon, a system (discontinued in September 2009)[51] where third-party websites could include a script by Facebook on their sites, and use it to send information about the actions of Facebook users on their site to Facebook, prompting serious privacy concerns. Information such as purchases made and games played were published in the user's news feed. An informative notice about this action appeared on the third party site and gave the user the opportunity to cancel it, and the user could also cancel it on Facebook. Originally if no action was taken, the information was automatically published. On November 29 this was changed to require confirmation from the user before publishing each story gathered by Beacon.
On December 1, Facebook's credibility in regard to the Beacon program was further tested when it was reported that The New York Times "essentially accuses" Mark Zuckerberg of lying to the paper and leaving Coca-Cola, which is reversing course on the program, a similar impression.[52] A security engineer at CA, Inc. also claimed in a November 29, 2007, blog post that Facebook collected data from affiliate sites even when the consumer opted out and even when not logged into the Facebook site.[53] On November 30, 2007, the CA security blog posted a Facebook clarification statement addressing the use of data collected in the Beacon program:[54]
“ When a Facebook user takes a Beacon-enabled action on a participating site, information is sent to Facebook in order for Facebook to operate Beacon technologically. If a Facebook user clicks 'No, thanks' on the partner site notification, Facebook does not use the data and deletes it from its servers. Separately, before Facebook can determine whether the user is logged in, some data may be transferred from the participating site to Facebook. In those cases, Facebook does not associate the information with any individual user account, and deletes the data as well. ”
The Beacon service ended in September 2009 along with the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against Facebook resulting from the service.[51]
News Feed and Mini-Feed [ edit ]
On September 5, 2006, Facebook introduced two new features called "News Feed" and "Mini-Feed". The first of the new features, News Feed, appears on every Facebook member's home page, displaying recent Facebook activities of the member's friends. The second feature, Mini-Feed, keeps a log of similar events on each member's profile page.[55] Members can manually delete items from their Mini-Feeds if they wish to do so, and through privacy settings can control what is actually published in their respective Mini-Feeds.
Some Facebook members still feel that the ability to opt out of the entire News Feed and Mini-Feed system is necessary, as evidenced by a statement from the Students Against Facebook News Feed group, which peaked at over 740,000 members in 2006.[56] Reacting to users' concerns, Facebook developed new privacy features to give users some control over information about them that was broadcast by the News Feed.[57] According to subsequent news articles, members have widely regarded the additional privacy options as an acceptable compromise.[58]
In May 2010, Facebook added privacy controls and streamlined its privacy settings, giving users more ways to manage status updates and other information that is broadcast to the public News Feed.[59] Among the new privacy settings is the ability to control who sees each new status update a user posts: Everyone, Friends of Friends, or Friends Only. Users can now hide each status update from specific people as well.[60] However, a user who presses "like" or comments on the photo or status update of a friend cannot prevent that action from appearing in the news feeds of all the user's friends, even non-mutual ones. The "View As" option, used to show a user how privacy controls filter out what a specific given friend can see, only displays the user's timeline and gives no indication that items missing from the timeline may still be showing up in the friend's own news feed.
Cooperation with government requests [ edit ]
Government and local authorities rely on Facebook and other social networks to investigate crimes and obtain evidence to help establish a crime, provide location information, establish motives, prove and disprove alibis, and reveal communications.[61] Federal, state, and local investigations have not been restricted to profiles that are publicly available or willingly provided to the government; Facebook has willingly provided information in response to government subpoenas or requests, except with regard to private, unopened inbox messages less than 181 days old, which would require a warrant and a finding of probable cause under federal law under Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). One 2011 article noted that "even when the government lacks reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and the user opts for the strictest privacy controls, Facebook users still cannot expect federal law to stop their 'private' content and communications from being used against them".[62]
Indeed, Facebook's privacy policy states that "We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activity, to prevent imminent bodily harm, or to protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities".[62] Since the U.S. Congress has failed to meaningfully amend the ECPA to protect most communications on social-networking sites such as Facebook, and since the U.S. Supreme Court has largely refused to recognize a Fourth Amendment privacy right to information shared with a third party, there is no federal statutory or constitutional right that prevents the government from issuing requests that amount to fishing expeditions and there is no Facebook privacy policy that forbids the company from handing over private user information that suggests any illegal activity.[62]
The 2013 mass surveillance disclosures identified Facebook as a participant in the U.S. National Security Administration's PRISM program. Facebook now reports the number of requests it receives for user information from governments around the world.[63]
Complaint from CIPPIC [ edit ]
On May 31, 2008, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), per Director Phillipa Lawson, filed a 35-page complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner against Facebook based on 22 breaches of the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). University of Ottawa law students Lisa Feinberg, Harley Finkelstein, and Jordan Eric Plener, initiated the "minefield of privacy invasion" suit. Facebook's Chris Kelly contradicted the claims, saying that: "We've reviewed the complaint and found it has serious factual errors—most notably its neglect of the fact that almost all Facebook data is willingly shared by users."[64] Assistant Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham released a report of her findings on July 16, 2009.[65] In it, she found that several of CIPPIC's complaints were well-founded. Facebook agreed to comply with some, but not all, of her recommendations.[65] The Assistant Commissioner found that Facebook did not do enough to ensure users granted meaningful consent for the disclosure of personal information to third parties and did not place adequate safeguards to ensure unauthorized access by third party developers to personal information.[65]
Data mining [ edit ]
There have been some concerns expressed regarding the use of Facebook as a means of surveillance and data mining.
Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students were able to use an automated script to download the publicly posted information of over 70,000 Facebook profiles from four schools (MIT, NYU, the University of Oklahoma, and Harvard University) as part of a research project on Facebook privacy published on December 14, 2005.[66] Since then, Facebook has bolstered security protection for users, responding: "We've built numerous defenses to combat phishing and malware, including complex automated systems that work behind the scenes to detect and flag Facebook accounts that are likely to be compromised (based on anomalous activity like lots of messages sent in a short period of time, or messages with links that are known to be bad)."[67]
A second clause that brought criticism from some users allowed Facebook the right to sell users' data to private companies, stating "We may share your information with third parties, including responsible companies with which we have a relationship." This concern was addressed by spokesman Chris Hughes, who said "Simply put, we have never provided our users' information to third party companies, nor do we intend to."[68] Facebook eventually removed this clause from its privacy policy.[69]
In the United Kingdom, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has encouraged employers to allow their staff to access Facebook and other social-networking sites from work, provided they proceed with caution.[70]
In September 2007, Facebook drew criticism after it began allowing search engines to index profile pages, though Facebook's privacy settings allow users to turn this off.[71]
Concerns were also raised on the BBC's Watchdog program in October 2007 when Facebook was shown to be an easy way in which to collect an individual's personal information in order to facilitate identity theft.[72] However, there is barely any personal information presented to non-friends - if users leave the privacy controls on their default settings, the only personal information visible to a non-friend is the user's name, gender, profile picture, networks, and user name.[73]
An article in The New York Times in February 2008 pointed out that Facebook does not actually provide a mechanism for users to close their accounts, and raised the concern that private user data would remain indefinitely on Facebook's servers.[74] As of 2013, Facebook gives users the options to deactivate or delete their accounts. Deactivating an account allows it to be restored later, while deleting it will remove the account "permanently", although some data submitted by that account ("like posting to a group or sending someone a message") will remain.[75]
In 2013, Facebook acquired Onavo, a developer of mobile utility apps such as Onvao Protect VPN, which are used as part of an "Insights" platform to gauge the use and market share of apps.[76] This data has since been used to influence acquisitions and other business decisions regarding Facebook products.[77][78][79] Criticism of this practice emerged in 2018, when Facebook began to advertise the Onavo Protect VPN within its main app on iOS devices in the United States. Media outlets considered the app to effectively be spyware due to its behavior, adding that the app's listings did not readily disclaim Facebook's ownership of the app and its data collection practices.[80][81] Facebook subsequently pulled the iOS version of the app, citing new iOS App Store policies forbidding apps from performing analytics on the usage of other apps on a user's device.[82][83][84]
Since 2016, Facebook has also run "Project Atlas"—publicly known as "Facebook Research"—a market research program inviting teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 35 to have data such as their app usage, web browsing history, web search history, location history, personal messages, photos, videos, emails, and Amazon order history, analyzed by Facebook. Participants would receive up to $20 per-month for participating in the program. Facebook Research is administered by third-party beta testing services, including Applause, and requires users to install a Facebook root certificate on their phone. In the wake of a January 2019 report by TechCrunch on Project Atlas, which alleged that Facebook bypassed the App Store by using an Apple enterprise program for apps used internally by a company's employees, Facebook refuted the article but later announced its discontinuation of the program on iOS.[85][86]
On January 30, 2019, Apple temporarily revoked Facebook's Enterprise Developer Program certificates for one day, which caused all of the company's internal iOS apps to become inoperable.[87][88][89] Apple stated that "Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple", and that the certificates were revoked "to protect our users and their data".[87] US Senators Mark Warner, Richard Blumenthal, and Ed Markey separately criticized Facebook Research's targeting of teenagers, and promised to sponsor legislation to regulate market research programs.[90][91]
Inability to voluntarily terminate accounts [ edit ]
Facebook had allowed users to deactivate their accounts but not actually remove account content from its servers. A Facebook representative explained to a student from the University of British Columbia that users had to clear their own accounts by manually deleting all of the content including wall posts, friends, and groups. The New York Times noted the issue and raised a concern that emails and other private user data remain indefinitely on Facebook's servers.[74] Facebook subsequently began allowing users to permanently delete their accounts in 2010. Facebook's Privacy Policy now states, "When you delete an account, it is permanently deleted from Facebook."[69]
Memorials [ edit ]
A notable ancillary effect of social-networking websites is the ability for participants to mourn publicly for a deceased individual. On Facebook, friends often leave messages of sadness, grief, or hope on the individual's page, transforming it into a public book of condolences. This particular phenomenon has been documented at a number of schools.[92][93][94] Facebook originally held a policy that profiles of people known to be deceased would be removed after 30 days due to privacy concerns.[95] Due to user response, Facebook changed its policy to place deceased members' profiles in a "memorialization state".[96] Facebook's Privacy Policy regarding memorialization says, "If we are notified that a user is deceased, we may memorialize the user's account. In such cases we restrict profile access to confirmed friends and allow friends and family to write on the user's Wall in remembrance. We may close an account if we receive a formal request from the user's next of kin or other proper legal request to do so."[69]
Some of these memorial groups have also caused legal issues. Notably, on January 1, 2008, one such memorial group posted the identity of murdered Toronto teenager Stefanie Rengel, whose family had not yet given the Toronto Police Service their consent to release her name to the media, and the identities of her accused killers, in defiance of Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, which prohibits publishing the names of the under-age accused.[97] While police and Facebook staff attempted to comply with the privacy regulations by deleting such posts, they noted difficulty in effectively policing the individual users who repeatedly republished the deleted information.[98]
Customization and security [ edit ]
In July 2007, Adrienne Felt, an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia, discovered a cross-site scripting (XSS) hole in the Facebook Platform that could inject JavaScript into profiles. She used the hole to import custom CSS and demonstrate how the platform could be used to violate privacy rules or create a worm.[99]
Quit Facebook Day was an online event which took place on May 31, 2010 (coinciding with Memorial Day), in which Facebook users stated that they would quit the social network due to privacy concerns.[100] It was estimated that 2% of Facebook users coming from the United States would delete their accounts.[101] However, only 33,000 (roughly 0.0066% of its roughly 500 million members at the time) users quit the site.[102] The number one reason for users to quit Facebook was privacy concerns (48%), being followed by a general dissatisfaction with Facebook (14%), negative aspects regarding Facebook friends (13%), and the feeling of getting addicted to Facebook (6%). Facebook quitters were found to be more concerned about privacy, more addicted to the Internet, and more conscientious.[103]
Photo recognition and face tagging [ edit ]
Facebook enabled an automatic facial recognition feature in June 2011, called "Tag Suggestions", a product of a research project named "DeepFace".[104] The feature compares newly uploaded photographs to those of the uploader's Facebook friends, in order to suggest photo tags.
National Journal Daily claims "Facebook is facing new scrutiny over its decision to automatically turn on a new facial recognition feature aimed at helping users identify their friends in photos".[105] Facebook has defended the feature, saying users can disable it.[106] Facebook introduced the feature in an opt-out basis.[107] European Union data-protection regulators said they would investigate the feature to see if it violated privacy rules.[106][108] Naomi Lachance stated in a web blog for NPR, All Tech Considered, that Facebook's facial recognition is right 98% of the time compared to the FBI's 85% out of 50 people. It's also noted, however, that the accuracies of Facebook searches are due to its larger, more diverse photo selection compared to the FBI's closed database.[109] Mark Zuckerberg showed no worries when speaking about Facebook's AIs, saying, "Unsupervised learning is a long-term focus of our AI research team at Facebook, and it remains an important challenge for the whole AI research community" and "It will save lives by diagnosing diseases and driving us around more safely. It will enable breakthroughs by helping us find new planets and understand Earth's climate. It will help in areas we haven't even thought of today".[110]
Investigation by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, 2011–2012 [ edit ]
In August 2011, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) started an investigation after receiving 22 complaints by europe-v-facebook.org, which was founded by a group of Austrian students.[111] The DPC stated in first reactions that the Irish DPC is legally responsible for privacy on Facebook for all users within the European Union[112] and that he will "investigate the complaints using his full legal powers if necessary".[113] The complaints were filed in Ireland because all users who are not residents of the United States or Canada have a contract with "Facebook Ireland Ltd", located in Dublin, Ireland. Under European law Facebook Ireland is the "data controller" for facebook.com, and therefore, facebook.com is governed by European data protection laws.[112] Facebook Ireland Ltd. was established by Facebook Inc. to avoid US taxes (see Double Irish arrangement).[114]
The group 'europe-v-facebook.org' made access requests at Facebook Ireland and received up to 1,222 pages of data per person in 57 data categories that Facebook was holding about them,[115] including data that was previously removed by the users.[116] Despite the amount of information given, the group claimed that Facebook did not give them all of its data. Some of the information not included was "likes", data about the new face recognition function, data about third party websites that use "social plugins" visited by users and information about uploaded videos. Currently the group claims that Facebook holds at least 84 data categories about every user.[117]
The first 16 complaints target different problems, from undeleted old "pokes" all the way to the question if sharing and new functions on Facebook should be opt-in or opt-out.[118] The second wave of 6 more complaints was targeting more issues including one against the "Like" button.[119] The most severe could be a complaint that claims that the privacy policy, and the consent to the privacy policy is void under European laws.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, a spokesperson said that the DPC will "go and audit Facebook, go into the premises and go through in great detail every aspect of security". He continued by saying: "It's a very significant, detailed and intense undertaking that will stretch over four or five days." In December 2011 the DPC published a first report on Facebook. This report was not legally binding but suggested changes that Facebook should undertake until July 2012. The DPC is planning to do a review about Facebook's progress in July 2012.
Changes [ edit ]
In spring 2012, Facebook had to undertake many changes (e.g., having an extended download tool that should allow users to exercise the European right to access to all stored information or an update of the worldwide privacy policy). These changes were seen as not sufficient to comply with European law by europe-v-facebook.org. The download tool does not allow, for example, access to all data. The group has launched our-policy.org[120] to suggest improvements to the new policy, which they saw as a backdrop for privacy on Facebook. Since the group managed to get more than 7.000 comments on Facebook's pages, Facebook had to do a worldwide vote on the proposed changes. Such a vote would have only been binding if 30% of all users would have taken part. Facebook did not promote the vote, resulting in only 0.038% participation with about 87% voting against Facebook's new policy. The new privacy policy took effect on the same day.[121]
An article published by USA Today in November 2011 claimed that Facebook creates logs of pages visited both by its members and by non-members. Relying on tracking cookies to keep track of pages visited, the United States Congress and the World Wide Web Consortium are attempting to set new guidelines to deal with Internet privacy concerns, potentially giving users the ability to limit or stop technology companies from tracking their activities.[122]
In early November 2015, Facebook was ordered by the Belgian Privacy Commissioner to cease tracking non-users, citing European laws, or else risk fines of up to £250,000 per day.[123] As a result, instead of removing tracking cookies, Facebook prevents non-users from seeing any material on Facebook, including publicly posted content. Arguing that the cookies provided better security, Facebook said in a statement: "We're disappointed we were unable to reach an agreement and now people will be required to log in or register for an account to see publicly available content on Facebook."[124][125]
Divorce [ edit ]
Social networks, like Facebook, can have a detrimental effect on marriages, with users becoming worried about their spouse's contacts and relations with other people online, leading to marital breakdown and divorce.[126] According to a 2009 survey in the UK, around 20 percent of divorce petitions included some kind of reference to Facebook.[127][128][129][130] Facebook has given us a new platform for interpersonal communication. Researchers proposed that high levels of Facebook use could result in Facebook-related conflict and breakup/divorce.[131] Previous studies have shown that romantic relationships can be damaged by excessive Internet use, Facebook jealousy, partner surveillance, ambiguous information, and online portrayal of intimate relationships.[132][133][134][135][136] Excessive Internet users reported having greater conflict in their relationships. Their partners feel neglected and there's lower commitment and lower feelings of passion and intimacy in the relationship. According to the article, researchers suspect that Facebook may attribute to an increase in divorce and infidelity rates in the near future due to the amount of accessibility to connect with past partners.[131]
Stalking [ edit ]
By statistics, 63% of Facebook profiles are automatically set "visible to the public", meaning anyone can access the profiles that users have updated. Facebook also has its own built-in messaging system that people can send message to any other user, unless they have disabled the feature to "from friends only". Stalking is not only limited to SNS stalking, but can lead to further "in-person" stalking because nearly 25% of real-life stalking victims reported it started with online instant messaging (e.g., Facebook chat).[137][138]
Performative surveillance [ edit ]
Performative surveillance is the notion that people are very much aware that they are being surveiled on websites, like Facebook, and use the surveillance as an opportunity to portray themselves in a way that connotes a certain lifestyle—of which, that individual may, or may not, distort how they are perceived in reality.[139]
2010 application privacy breach [ edit ]
In 2010, the Wall Street Journal found that many of Facebook's top-rated apps were transmitting identifying information to "dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies". The apps used an HTTP referer that exposed the user's identity and sometimes their friends' identities. Facebook said that "While knowledge of user ID does not permit access to anyone’s private information on Facebook, we plan to introduce new technical systems that will dramatically limit the sharing of User ID’s". A blog post by a member of Facebook's team further stated that "press reports have exaggerated the implications of sharing a user ID", though still acknowledging that some of the apps were passing the ID in a manner that violated Facebook's policies.[140][141]
Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data scandal [ edit ]
In 2018, Facebook admitted[142][143] that an app made by Global Science Research and Alexandr Kogan, related to Cambridge Analytica, was able in 2014[144] to harvest personal data of up to 87 million Facebook users without their consent, by exploiting their friendship connection to the users who sold their data via the app.[145] Following the revelations of the breach, several public figures, including industrialist Elon Musk and WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton, announced that they were deleting their Facebook accounts, using the hashtag "#deletefacebook".[146][147][148]
Facebook was also criticized for allowing the 2012 Barack Obama presidential campaign to analyze and target select users by providing the campaign with friendship connections of users who signed up for an application. However, users signing up for the application were aware that their data, but not the data of their friends, was going to a political party.[149][150][151][152][153]
Employer-employee privacy issues [ edit ]
In an effort to surveil the personal lives of current, or prospective, employees, some employers have asked employees to disclose their Facebook login information. This has resulted in the passing of a bill in New Jersey making it illegal for employers to ask potential or current employees for access to their Facebook accounts.[154] Although, the U.S government has yet to pass a national law protecting prospective employees and their social networking sites, from employers, the fourth amendment of the US constitution can protect prospective employees in specific situations.[155][156] Lots of companies look at Facebook profiles of job candidates looking for reasons to not hire them. According to a survey of hiring managers by CareerBuilder.com, the most common deal breakers they found on Facebook profiles include references to drinking, poor communication skills, inappropriate photos, and lying about skills and/or qualifications.[157]
Users violating minimum age requirements [ edit ]
A 2011 study in the online journal First Monday examines how parents consistently enable children as young as 10 years old to sign up for accounts, directly violating Facebook's policy banning young visitors. This policy is in compliance with a United States law, the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires minors aged 13 or younger to gain explicit parental consent to access commercial websites. In jurisdictions where a similar law sets a lower minimum age, Facebook enforces the lower age. Of the 1,007 households surveyed for the study, 76% of parents reported that their child joined Facebook at an age younger than 13, the minimum age in the site's terms of service. The study also reported that Facebook removes roughly 20,000 users each day for violating its minimum age policy. The study's authors also note, "Indeed, Facebook takes various measures both to restrict access to children and delete their accounts if they join." The findings of the study raise questions primarily about the shortcomings of United States federal law, but also implicitly continue to raise questions about whether or not Facebook does enough to publicize its terms of service with respect to minors. Only 53% of parents said they were aware that Facebook has a minimum signup age; 35% of these parents believe that the minimum age is merely a recommendation or thought the signup age was 16 or 18, not 13.[158]
Student-related issues [ edit ]
Student privacy concerns [ edit ]
Students who post illegal or otherwise inappropriate material have faced disciplinary action from their universities, colleges, and schools including expulsion.[further explanation needed][159] Others posting libelous content relating to faculty have also faced disciplinary action.[160] The Journal of Education for Business states that "a recent study of 200 Facebook profiles found that 42% had comments regarding alcohol, 53% had photos involving alcohol use, 20% had comments regarding sexual activities, 25% had seminude or sexually provocative photos, and 50% included the use of profanity."[161] It is inferred that negative or incriminating Facebook posts can effect alumni's and potential employers' perception of them. This perception can greatly impact the students' relationships, ability to gain employment, and maintain school enrollment. The desire for social acceptance leads individuals to want to share the most intimate details of their personal lives along with illicit drug use and binge drinking. Too often, these portrayals of their daily lives are exaggerated and/or embellished to attract others like minded to them.[161]
Effect on higher education [ edit ]
On January 23, 2006, The Chronicle of Higher Education continued an ongoing national debate on social networks with an opinion piece written by Michael Bugeja, director of the Journalism School at Iowa State University, entitled "Facing the Facebook".[162] Bugeja, author of the Oxford University Press text Interpersonal Divide (2005), quoted representatives of the American Association of University Professors and colleagues in higher education to document the distraction of students using Facebook and other social networks during class and at other venues in the wireless campus. Bugeja followed up on January 26, 2007 in The Chronicle with an article titled "Distractions in the Wireless Classroom",[163] quoting several educators across the country who were banning laptops in the classroom. Similarly, organizations such as the National Association for Campus Activities,[164] the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication,[165] and others have hosted seminars and presentations to discuss ramifications of students' use of Facebook and other social-networking sites.
The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative has also released a brief pamphlet entitled "7 Things You Should Know About Facebook" aimed at higher education professionals that "describes what [Facebook] is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning".[166]
Some research[167][168][169] on Facebook in higher education suggests that there may be some small educational benefits associated with student Facebook use, including improving engagement which is related to student retention.[169] 2012 research has found that time spent on Facebook is related to involvement in campus activities.[168] This same study found that certain Facebook activities like commenting and creating or RSVPing to events were positively related to student engagement while playing games and checking up on friends was negatively related. Furthermore, using technologies such as Facebook to connect with others can help college students be less depressed and cope with feelings of loneliness and homesickness.[170]
Effect on college student grades [ edit ]
As of February 2012, only four published peer-reviewed studies have examined the relationship between Facebook use and grades.[167][171][172][173] There is considerable variance in the findings. Pasek et al. (2009)[173] found there was no relationship between Facebook use and grades. Kolek and Saunders (2008)[172] found that there were no differences in overall grade point average (GPA) between users and non-users of Facebook. Kirschner and Karpinski (2010)[171] found that Facebook users reported a lower mean GPA than non-users. Junco's (2012)[167] study clarifies the discrepancies in these findings. While Junco (2012)[167] found a negative relationship between time spent on Facebook and student GPA in his large sample of college students, the real-world impact of the relationship was negligible. Furthermore, Junco (2012)[167] found that sharing links and checking up on friends were positively related to GPA while posting status updates was negatively related. In addition to noting the differences in how Facebook use was measured among the four studies, Junco (2012)[167] concludes that the ways in which students use Facebook are more important in predicting academic outcomes.
Phishing [ edit ]
The term phishing is one kind of online fraud in which criminals try to trick people into revealing passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive information. Phishing takes the form of a message or Wall post that appears to come from someone on the user's Friend List but in actuality the message was sent by phishers using the friend's login information. The phishers are hoping the user takes the bait resulting in the phishers gaining access to the Facebook user's account. Soon afterwards, the user's other friends will start getting phishing messages from what appears to be from the Facebook user. The point of the post is to get the Facebook user to visit a website with viruses and malware.[157]
Unpublished photo disclosure bug [ edit ]
In September 2018, a software bug meant that photos that had been uploaded to Facebook accounts, but that had not been "published" (and which therefore should have remained private between the user and Facebook), were exposed to app developers.[174] Approximately 6.8m users and 1500 third-party apps were affected.[174]
In December 2018, it emerged that Facebook had, during the period 2010–2018, granted access to users' private messages, address book contents, and private posts, without the users' consent, to more than 150 third parties including Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, Netflix, and Spotify. This had been occurring despite public statements from Facebook that it had stopped such sharing years earlier.[175]
Denial of location privacy, regardless of user settings [ edit ]
In December 2018, it emerged that Facebook's mobile app reveals the user's location to Facebook, even if the user does not use the "check in" feature and has configured all relevant settings within the app so as to maximize location privacy.[176]
E-commerce and drop shipping scams [ edit ]
In April 2016, Buzzfeed published an article exposing drop shippers who were using Facebook and Instagram to swindle unsuspecting customers. Located mostly in China, these drop shippers and e-commerce sites would steal copyrighted images from larger retailers and influencers to gain credibility. After luring a customer with a low price for the item, they would then deliver a product that is nothing like what was advertised or deliver no product at all.[177]
In February 2019, the Wall Street Journal suggested in its investigation that Facebook could have access to users' sensitive data like heart rates or blood pressure, which was sent to Facebook Analytics (an analytical tool developed by Facebook) by a number of mobile apps developers.[178][179][180][181] New York governor Andrew Cuomo called the practice an "outrageous abuse of privacy", ordered New York's department of state and department of financial services to investigate, and encouraged federal regulators to step in.[182]
Psychological effects [ edit ]
Self-harm and suicide [ edit ]
Research shows that people who are feeling suicidal use the internet to search for suicide methods. Websites provide graphic details and information on how to take your own life. This cannot be right. Where this content breaches the policies of internet and social media providers it must be removed. Matt Hancock, Health Secretary of the |
children.
The Magnolia State also has the nation’s highest poverty rate, at over 20 percent. Now consider that the Williams Institute found that LGBTQ adults with kids are three times more likely to live near the poverty line than their straight peers.
The need is surely obvious, yet repeating stereotypes about the South, and more seriously, its people, is counterproductive and serves only to leave us further behind in the big picture push toward progress. The truth is scores of Southerners have been working toward progressive ideals for decades, work that is difficult no matter when or what part of the country it is undertaken.
Our aspirations are bold and broad: a South where lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and queer individuals are no longer bullied, marginalized, and rejected by friends, family, the church, and elected officials. It is tiresome for our homeland to be incessantly described as foreign, hostile, or any number of common Southern-state descriptors.
A challenge that has always faced queer activists is the tension between assimilation and liberation. And there are strengths to both sides of that debate. But one that often goes missing is the nuance of individual lives. Most people I know want both. The freedom to be oneself should never be at odds with the desire to be accepted, included, and loved. In fact, the two are inseparable. And so it is with the South too.
Those of us living in places like Alabama are often asked why we don’t just leave. The underlying assumption is the pernicious meme that the Deep South is a dreadful place for young queer activists to live and to prosper. We all answer in our own way, depending on who asked the question and why, but many of us say the same thing: We live here because we love it here, and we don’t need to justify that to anyone. The South is our home, our roots run deep here, and asking why we don’t leave reinforces the notion that one cannot be all of who they are and also Southern. This simply is not true.
The heroes who tell their stories to the press deserve better, whether their story is featured on the front page of The New York Times or hidden in the lifestyle section of the local ledger. We have to do better, or this tired trope will continue to perpetuate itself for generations to come.
History tells of a violent and dangerous legacy that happens on frontiers: a pattern of assimilation and cultural extermination. The South is not a new frontier for those of us who live and agitate for change here. Framing it as such shows just how out of touch the rest of the nation has been with us, not the other way around.
SARAH YOUNG is a social work doctoral student at the University of Alabama and an LGBTQ community organizer living in Tuscaloosa, Ala. She cofounded the Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition and is a former Equality Alabama board member.
MICHAEL HANSON is a communications consultant and LGBTQ rights activist living in Birmingham, Ala. He is a former Equality Alabama board member.First Listen: Peter Gabriel, 'Scratch My Back... And I'll Scratch Yours'
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of the artist
These days, album-length covers collections tend to be minor footnotes in a musician's catalog, ranked somewhere just above live albums, holiday recordings and those greatest-hits packages that tack on one or two new songs. After all, covers albums at least seem as if they should be easy to assemble, in large part because they remove the artistic and logistical hurdle of writing songs. And, for their part, listeners tend to process them by way of comparison rather than raw appreciation.
Leave it to Peter Gabriel, who's been recording at an ever more deliberate pace for the past quarter-century, to make the art of the covers album a slow and painstaking one. Back in 2010, he released one called Scratch My Back — on which he tackles songs by Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Randy Newman, Regina Spektor, Lou Reed and more — with the stated intention that he'd follow it with an album of those same artists returning the favor. But loving an artist and soliciting his or her love in return are two different things, logistically speaking, and it's taken nearly four years for And I'll Scratch Yours to greet the world.
Out Jan. 7, the latter album pulls off its mission, at least in part, with eclectic but frequently satisfying results. Several of these songs popped up in various places a couple years ago — including Arcade Fire doing "Games Without Frontiers" and Bon Iver tackling "Come Talk to Me" — which goes to show how long it's taken And I'll Scratch Yours to come together. But some clever, even revelatory moments have jelled in the time since. In one of his final performances, Reed gives "Solsbury Hill" an achingly intimate and characteristically gritty reading, while Newman is an inspired choice to take on the satirical "Big Time." Feist and Timber Timbre have blended their alternately sweet and haunted voices before, and they make a fine match in a faithful reading of "Don't Give Up."
Speaking of Feist, she, Brian Eno and Joseph Arthur didn't have their songs covered on Scratch My Back, and their presence couldn't possibly make up for the absence of holdouts David Bowie, Neil Young and Radiohead. (Eno co-wrote David Bowie's "Heroes," which Gabriel covered on Scratch My Back, but that's not exactly a 1:1 trade.) Radiohead's absence stings more than the others' — the band had agreed to cover "Wallflower," but backed out after hearing Gabriel's version of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" — but even that's appropriate in its own way. If our love were always reciprocated, we wouldn't need to sing about it, right?“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.” —Dr. Seuss
All told, the average consumer intends to spend $650 on gifts this holiday season—and this figure does not include other seasonal spending: food, decorations, and other holiday items. Some surveys predict Americans will spend nearly $720 billion during the winter holiday season.
Unfortunately, the entire holiday shopping craze is based on unhealthy foundations. It finds its roots in a society conditioned to act on impulse and solve problems with purchases. It is spurred on by corporations appealing to the aspects of us that are selfish and self-centered. And the short-sighted philosophy fueling the excess is the belief we can find happiness in our purchases. But the premise is wrong.
We recognize it each December as the cycle of holiday spending begins again. We recognize it next month as the conversation inevitably turns to diets, home organization, and debt relief. Even more, if we look close enough, we can notice the foolishness of our thinking next week as our trash bins overflow with the pre-packaged waste of the holiday season.
Happiness simply can not be purchased at a store.
In fact, we can do far better than holiday shopping:
We can be content with our possessions.
We can realize our contentment in life is never found in our outward circumstances. Contentment (and happiness) is found in the decision to recognize the opportunity already exists and choosing to accept it. Deciding to be content with our current level of possessions is one of the most freeing decisions any of us can ever make. And it opens the doorway to countless possibilities.
We can value experiences over possessions.
Removing ourselves from the holiday shopping frenzy does not mean we give up all opportunity to express love through gifts. In fact, there are a number of wonderful gift ideas that could be explored. One of the sweetest is the simple idea to gift experiences rather than products this holiday season. You and the receiver may be pleasantly surprised at its value in a world where mass consumption is commonplace.
We can choose to value relationships over purchases.
Gift-giving is an interesting arrangement. We sacrifice our time and money in an effort to put something manufactured into a box for the purpose of showing love to someone else. According to statistics, we will spend over 15 hours in the next 30 days shopping for these gifts. What if we decided to spend that time with our loved ones rather than at a store shopping for them? Consider how sweet our holiday season could become if we chose to invest those 15 hours in real relationship with one another. In today’s world, 60 minutes of fully-devoted listening ears is priceless and far more valuable than anything you can buy anyway.
We can choose to act responsibly.
Rather than adding consumer debt and extra stress to our lives, we can choose to act responsibly this holiday season with our finances. We can intentionally stand up against the cultural pressure to spend money and instead, act mindfully with it. Rather than adding debt this holiday season, perhaps we could choose to pay it down instead. Imagine that.
We can invest our money into social good.
There are desperate needs all around us: internationally, nationally, and locally. While many of us search department store shelves to find the perfect gift for “someone who has everything,” 768 million people do not have access to clean drinking water, and 2.5 billion people live without proper sanitation. But the needs are not always across the water, many are local. Rather than buying scented gift boxes, our money could be used to make this world better and life more tolerable for countless others. It would be wise for us to start recognizing this opportunity.
We can choose to pursue more lasting meaning.
Each new day offers new opportunity to accomplish something new with our lives. We can create rather than consume, we can explore new learning opportunities, or we can bring about lasting change and significance. December does not need to be a month lost to overcommitted schedules and crowded lines at the cash register. We can do better than that. Just like any other month, we can use this one to further pursue meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in our lives. And based on the ads I’ve been seeing this year, those things are still not for sale.
We can remember our world’s resources are limited.
Moses Henry Cass once said, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” And it rings true in my mind as one of the most significant and thoughtful phrases concerning our responsibility with the natural resources available to us. This holiday season, we ought to keep in mind our world’s resources are indeed limited. And choose to shop (or not shop) responsibly.
We can be a better example for our kids.
Many parents will fret over the possibility that their children will be disappointed on Christmas morning if they don’t receive enough (or just the right) toys. This is too bad because our concern is misplaced. We can teach our children valuable lessons this holiday season. We can teach them about spending within their means. We can teach them about caring for those less fortunate. We can teach them about love and sacrifice and contentment—and how none of those are dependent upon a bank account. This is a valuable season for parents. Let’s not waste it by focusing more on holiday shopping than parenting.
We can remember the reason for our celebration.
For many—including our family—the holiday season has rich roots in religion and spirituality. For others, the season represents family, friends, or giving. But regardless, at its heart, it is a season of celebration. Yet many of us have traded the beautiful reason for the season for the tireless pursuit of the perfect Christmas as exemplified on television and in catalogs. We have tried to buy the perfect Christmas. And as a result, many of us will spend more time looking for parking places than we do creating space to celebrate the very meaning of it.
Now, don’t read me wrong. I’m not proposing we need to avoid all holiday shopping over the coming weeks. I’m only arguing we can do better—much better.Transcript for Derrick Coleman Makes Fans' Dream Come True
week we Skyped with two of Seattle seahawks derrick Coleman's biggest fans. The twins wrote that their inspiration, a letter that quickly went viral and they told us derrick seems like the kind of guy you could come to if you have problems but before he as the first legally deaf offensive player in NFL history heads to the super bowl Sunday, well, it turns out he is also the kind of guy that can make dreams come true. Take a look. Throw is high but it's hauled in just across the 35 by the fullback derrick Coleman. Reporter: You wouldn't know it by watching him play, but derrick Coleman has a real disability. He's the first legally deaf player in the NFL. Fullback for the Seattle seahawks, determination and resilience personified. Being deaf, that's who I am and made me who I am today. Reporter: Featured in a recent duracell ad viewed 12 million times online he's inspired untold millions. They told me it couldn't be done, that was a lost cause. Reporter: Two of those people, Riley and Erin Kovalcik, 9-year-old twins also hearing impaired. First time I saw it we were actually tearing a little bit. He speaks for saying that it's -- anything can be done even with a disability. Reporter: So they wrote him a letter. Dear my inspiration derrick Coleman. I know how you feel. I also have hearing AIDS, just try your best. Reporter: Their father posted it on Twitter and then Coleman responded. Really was great hearing from a friend who I have so much in common with. Even though we wear hearing AIDS, we can still accomplish our goals and dreams. So we asked them, if one day they could meet derrick in person, what would they say to I would just run past the security guards, right past the security guards, under their legs, right real fast, jump on top of him. And in the midst of a busy super bowl schedule enter the man himself, derrick Coleman. How you guys doing? Good. Hi. Hi. You got the smiles on your face now, I see. You guys doing good. Gosh, are you really? Yeah. Me in the flesh. How you doing? Great. Capturing this singular moment with a selfie. Is that good? Yeah. But he had one more surprise up his sleeve. He wanted to share the biggest game of his life with two of his most important fans. I got you something. So on behalf of duracell, we want to invite you guys to the super bowl. Really. You and your family. You. Your little brother, your dad, your mom. I want you to sailgate in the super bowl and come watch us play. Seriously? Yes, ma'am. So you guys want to go.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.The US Open Cup is the oldest club competition in United States soccer. This year’s competition will be the 102nd edition of the tournament, which brings together all three levels of professional soccer, as well as some amateur clubs, every year for a FA Cup style knockout tournament.
Despite the fact that it's the longest-running competition in US Soccer, many times, the competition and its winners fade into obscurity. For example, one of the two most successful teams in the contest, Bethlehem Steel FC, played from 1907-1930. They no longer exist, and there is a very good chance that you have never heard of them. Many times, the competition doesn't get much attention with the media, or make any sort of splash with the fanbase. Only 15,256 people showed up for the final in 2014, which was about 3,000 seats short of a full house. The competition doesn’t gain much attention.
However, this could change. The Cosmos have been quite vocal about their interest in going all the way to the finals this year. Even though it has traditionally attention, the Cup, and the Cosmos, could both benefit from the Cosmos doing well.
Despite being a high-quality league, the NASL is still considered to be a second-division. For US audiences, second division implies second rate. While this obviously isn’t true, the average fan won’t have any respect for a NASL or a USL side, if they even know those leagues exist. The US Open Cup gives these clubs a chance to circumnavigate the restrictions of a single-entity league, and prove themselves on a national stage. The Cosmos’ defeat of the Red Bulls brought a lot of attention on the NASL. If the Cosmos, or any NASL side, were to do well against the MLS, it would raise eyebrows all around.
Let’s be frank: very few people care about the US Open Cup. The MLS sides show up expecting to knock around a few amateurs, take a trophy home, sell a few tickets, and go on with their lives. But if a few NASL sides pulled off a couple of upsets, it could very easily stun audiences. Defeating the Red Bulls will get a couple of shares, and send us on to the next round. But when a trend starts of NASL and possibly even USL clubs showing up against the bigger sides, we could start a trend. And trends are what keep people paying attention.
In short, if the US Open Cup doesn’t mean anything, well, we could make it mean something. While it may not be popular now, success could be the key to bringing attention not only to the competition, but to the teams as well. This year, I’m not only rooting for the Cosmos, but for everyone in the NASL, and the USL too. And, if you want to see small clubs getting attention on a large scale, and possibly a breakthrough in the structure of US Soccer, I suggest you do as well.The Olympus OM 100mm 1:2.8 is a tiny lens and yet a solid performer. In this shorter review I give you my impressions. Specifications Diameter 60 mm Length 50 mm Filter Thread 49 mm Weight 230 g Max. Magnification 0.12 Close Focusing Distance from the sensor 1 m Number of aperture blades 6 Elements/ Groups 5/5 The Olympus OM 2.8/100 usually sells for around $90 used at ebay.com (affiliate link).
In Germany you can buy it used for around 90€ at ebay.de (affiliate link). Image Samples Just click on any image to get to the full resolution version. What I like about it With this review I try a little different format, any feedback on it is welcome.
The small size
This lens is absolutely tiny for a 100 mm lens! It is the size of your average 50 mm lens and weights a mere 230 g.
This doesn’t come at the cost of lower build quality though, it is an all metal construction with a pleasant focusing ring and it feels very solid.
Despite it’s small size handling is good: The focusing ring is wide enough and the aperture ring at the front is easy to operate as well.
The Olympus is one of my favorite lenses for shorter trips when I want a light 3 lens setup and it is by some margin my lightest and smallest option in the 85-100mm bracket.
Bokeh
The Olympus OM 2.8/100’s bokeh isn’t as stunning as that of it’s bigger brother the OM 2/100 but still quite pleasant and you still get a decent amount of blur out of it.
A minor annoyance is that it has only 6 rather straight aperture blades which are detrimental to the bokeh from f/ but since I usually use it at f/2.8 that isn’t much of an issue.
Sharpness
Again the little Zuiko isn’t the sharpest lens around but it is a solid performer. Wide open it is sharp enough for almost any application and for general shooting it is my default aperture. For the very best results across the frame you should stop down to f/8 though.
Flare resistance
This lens is still 30 old but at least the MC version I own shows a decent flare resistance. There is no ghosting and only a moderate degree of veiling flare in very demanding situations.
Other aspects
Distortion and Vignetting are not an issue with the Olympus OM 2.8/100
What I don’t like about it
Chromatic Aberrations
Typically for a lens in this focal range the Olympus OM 100 mm 1:2.8 shows quite a bit of CA at wider apertures. This is a worst case scenario and if you have a look at all the other samples you will see that it usually isn’t a problem but you should be aware of this and avoid critical situations.
The long short focusing distance
The Zuiko 2.8/100 only focuses down to 1 m which yields a 1:8 magnification which is below average for a 85/100 mm lens. It’s bigger brother for example focuses down to 0.7 m which is quite handy.
The good news is that there is hardly any sharpness loss at this distance and you can use it wide open without hesitation.
Alternatives
Olympus OM 100mm 1:2 : It’s bigger brother is more than twice as heavy and many times as expensive. It is also one of my all-time favorite lenses. Optically it is a little sharper at f/2 than the f/2.8 version is at f/2.8 with less corner falloff. It also has a number of features like 9 (vs 6) aperture blades, floating elements and a short focusing distance of 0.7 m (vs 1 m) the 2.8 version lacks.
: It’s bigger brother is more than twice as heavy and many times as expensive. It is also one of my all-time favorite lenses. Optically it is a little sharper at f/2 than the f/2.8 version is at f/2.8 with less corner falloff. It also has a number of features like 9 (vs 6) aperture blades, floating elements and a short focusing distance of 0.7 m (vs 1 m) the 2.8 version lacks. Zeiss C/Y 3.5/100: The slower Zeiss weights a little more (but needs an smaller adapter) and costs significantly more but it offers better sharpness and more effective coatings making it an attractive option for those who are interested mainly in landscape photography. One of Jannik’s favorite lenses.
The slower Zeiss weights a little more (but needs an smaller adapter) and costs significantly more but it offers better sharpness and more effective coatings making it an attractive option for those who are interested mainly in landscape photography. One of Jannik’s favorite lenses. Minolta MC 2.5/100: It plays in the same price league and has an even longer mfd of 1.2 m. Since it is quite a bit older the coatings are less effective and it flares much more easily and contrast especially wide open is a bit lower but I think its bokeh is a bit nicer and I prefer it for portraits.
It plays in the same price league and has an even longer mfd of 1.2 m. Since it is quite a bit older the coatings are less effective and it flares much more easily and contrast especially wide open is a bit lower but I think its bokeh is a bit nicer and I prefer it for portraits. Zeiss Makro Planar 2/100: Whereas the Olympus is optimized for size and a solid but not in any way exceptional performer the Zeiss is it’s antithesis: It is large, expensive and an exceptional performer. Sadly though it shares the Olympus’ CA issues.
Whereas the Olympus is optimized for size and a solid but not in any way exceptional performer the Zeiss is it’s antithesis: It is large, expensive and an exceptional performer. Sadly though it shares the Olympus’ CA issues. Tokina 2.5/90 Macro: One of my all time favorite manual lenses. It is significantly larger and more expensive than the Olympus but it has less CA, even better bokeh and it is quite a bit sharper.
Conclusion
The Olympus OM 2.8/100 is a tiny lens with a generally good performance and few limitations. I think it is a great choice for those occasions when you don’t want to carry a heavy bag. Despite these positive characteristics, the lens is quite affordable and I think it offers great value.
The Olympus OM 2.8/100 usually sells for around $90 used at ebay.com (affiliate link).
In Germany you can buy it used for around 90€ at ebay.de (affiliate link).
If this review was helpful to you, please consider using one of my affiliate links. Thanks 🙂
Images Samples in full resolution
You can find more images in this flickr set: Olympus OM 100mm 1:2.8
Other articlesHere is a first look at the rumored SDCC Exclusive 6″ Black Series Sergeant Jyn Erso figure from Rogue One.
STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES 6-Inch Jyn Erso Pack
(Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $24.99)
Bring the action of the highly anticipated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story film to life with THE BLACK SERIES Jyn Erso Pack! A highly skilled soldier in the Rebel Alliance, Jyn Erso is an impetuous, defiant warrior eager to bring the battle to the Empire. This impressive 6-inch scale figure features extensive articulation and realistic character design. Look for this to be available through HasbroToyShop after the convention as well and at Fan Expo Canada.
Thanks to Richard R. for the info.
UPDATE: For the full press release, visit BusinessWire.com and click through for additional images provided by Hasbro.Assumptions:
Process
In general, when writing comprehensive unit tests:
All implementation classes should be accompanied by a unit test
Classes should not be checked in until tests are provided
Tests are code, make sure they are clear and make sense. If they do not, chances are that the architecture needs to be re-thought.
Set up JUnit in your Maven POM
When developing any system or software, it is important to test as much of that system as possible. Web frameworks are no exception; comprehensive, well-designed unit tests are critical for long-term success and maintenance. With the introduction of Contexts and Dependency Injection into the Java Enterprise framework (otherwise known as CDI – Weld, or Apache OpenWebBeans,) unit testing is as important as ever, but it would be nice to harness the power of dependency injection for use in unit tests, as well as in the production system!For the purpose of this article, we assume that the you are already familiar with Maven, JUnit already has a CDI-based project set up, and is proficient enough to add new dependencies to their project POM file. (Click here for a quick tutorial on getting started with CDI/Weld.)This article will first provide a quick overview of unit-testing in general, then provide a contrasting example of unit-testing using the advanced capabilities in Arquillian, and a few thoughts on why/when you’d want to use it. With that said — let’s get started!
Maven suggests strict and specific testing practices. All unit tests should be placed in the /src/test/java folder, under the corresponding package to the class under test. This does not change when using Arquillian and Maven.
pom.xml <properties> <version.junit>4.10</version.junit> </properties> <dependencies> <!-- Test Dependencies --> <dependency> <groupId>junit</groupId> <artifactId>junit</artifactId> <version>${version.junit}</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> </dependencies>
Write your first plain JUnit test:
mvn test
mvn package
mvn install
Math.java public interface Math { public int add(int a, int b); public int subtract(int a, int b); }
MathImpl.java public class MathImpl implements Math { public int add(int a, int b) { return a + b; } public int subtract(int a, int b) { return a - b; } }
The unit test case public class MathImplTest { public void testAdd() throws Exception { Math m = new MathImpl(); assertEquals(5, m.add(2, 3)); } public void testSubtract() throws Exception { Math m = new MathImpl(); assertEquals(-1, m.subtract(2, 3)); } }
Introducing Arquillian
Write an Arquillian Unit/Integration Test
Set up your Maven pom.xml
pom.xml <properties> <version.arquillian>1.0.2.Final</version.arquillian> <version.arquillian.container>1.0.0.CR3</version.arquillian.container> <version.junit>4.10</version.junit> <version.specs>3.0.1.Final</version.specs> </properties> <dependencyManagement> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>org.jboss.arquillian</groupId> <artifactId>arquillian-bom</artifactId> <version>${version.arquillian}</version> <scope>import</scope> <type>pom</type> </dependency> </dependencies> </dependencyManagement> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>org.jboss.spec</groupId> <artifactId>jboss-javaee-6.0</artifactId> <version>${version.specs}</version> <type>pom</type> <scope>provided</scope> </dependency> <!-- Test Dependencies --> <dependency> <groupId>junit</groupId> <artifactId>junit</artifactId> <version>${version.junit}</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.jboss.arquillian.junit</groupId> <artifactId>arquillian-junit-container</artifactId> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.jboss.arquillian.container</groupId> <artifactId>arquillian-weld-ee-embedded-1.1</artifactId> <version>1.0.0.CR3</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.jboss.weld</groupId> <artifactId>weld-core</artifactId> <version>1.1.5.Final</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId> <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId> <version>1.6.4</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> </dependencies>
Your first Arquillian JUnit test-case:
MathImplTest.java @RunWith(Arquillian.class) public class MathImplTest { /** * Since Arquillian actually creates JAR files under the covers, the @Deployment * is your way of controlling what is included in that Archive. Note, each * class utilized in your test case - whether directly or indirectly - must be * added to the deployment archive. */ @Deployment public static JavaArchive createDeployment() { return ShrinkWrap.create(JavaArchive.class).addClass(Math.class).addClass(MathImpl.class).addAsManifestResource(EmptyAsset.INSTANCE, "beans.xml"); } // Arquillian enables @Inject directly in the test case class itself! @Inject Math m; public void testAdd() throws Exception { assertEquals(5, m.add(2, 3)); } public void testSubtract() throws Exception { assertEquals(-1, m.subtract(2, 3)); } }
Math is so simple, why did we bother to use Arquillian to test it?
Why/When to use Arquillian?
MathDecorator.java public class MathDecorator implements Math { @Inject Math delegate; @Inject User user; @Inject Logger log; public int add(int a, int b) { log.trace("Add was invoked by: " + user); return delegate.add(a, b); } public int subtract(int a, int b) { log.trace("Subtract was invoked by: " + user); return delegate.subtract(a, b); } }
MathDecoratorTest.java @RunWith(Arquillian.class) public class MathDecoratorTest { /** * Note in this example, we must add content to "beans.xml" in order to enable * our decorator in CDI/Weld -- this is done in the deployment using the syntax below: */ @Deployment public static JavaArchive createDeployment() { return ShrinkWrap.create(JavaArchive.class).addClasses(Math.class, MathImpl.class, MathDecorator.class, MockUser.class, MockLogger.class).addAsManifestResource( new StringAsset("<decorators><class>com.test.MathDecorator<class></decorators>"), "beans.xml"); } // Arquillian enables @Inject directly in the test case class itself! @Inject Math m; @Inject MockLogger log; @Inject User u; public void testAdd() throws Exception { m.add(2, 3); assertTrue(log.logged("Add was invoked by: " + u); } public void testSubtract() throws Exception { m.subtract(2, 3); assertTrue(log.logged("Subtract was invoked by: " + u); } }
Final Thoughts
JUnit is the Java industry-standard unit-testing framework, and is one of the frameworks used in Apache Deltaspike; this should be your default test-framework.Tests are run automatically during a Maven build, such as, or. It is important to note, however, that tests are only run if the name of the test class ends in ‘Test’ — e.g: SimpleMathTest.java Note the simplicity of the unit test. Each test-case should have only one class under test. E.g: The SimpleMathTest should only test behavior of ‘MathImpl.java’… Mixing testable classes in a test-case can lead to missed scenarios, bugs.Now that we have our Interface and Implementation, we can start to verify our functionality.Simple enough, pretty slick, but now… Arquillian is the next-generation in-container integration testing framework. Allowing fully dependency-injected unit testing, even JPA, JSF, and Web Services. Arquillian can be used to test nearly every Java EE component, but for the purpose of this document, we’ll just show you the most common case – how to test managed beans.Arquillian is where unit testing starts to get a little more exciting. This is where we actually test managed beans provided through dependency injection. While still using JUnit as the core testing framework, Arquillian tests a wider scope of the system, typically, than a pure JUnit test would; these are sometimes referred to as integration unit tests, or integration tests.Add the following dependencies to your Maven pom.xml (or get started faster with Forge ):Here we see the same unit test from above, but this time, using Arquillian to provide injection into the test case. This allows us to test components with many levels of dependency injection, or any other feature in CDI.Nowpower and simplicity! Explicit control over which classes are even loaded into the container; however, you might say,The answer is simple: In the above example, you probably wouldn’t have needed to use Arquillian, you could have just stuck with JUnit, but as soon as you have a situation like the one below, you might decide that it’s time for some extra power; for example, if you wanted to test a decorator. (Decorators extend the functionality of an existing interface without modifying the existing implementation.)Now in order to test the functionality here using only JUnit, you would need to create, instantiate, and set mocks for User and Logger, instantiate the decorator, then execute the test code. That’s a lot of work that you don’t really need to worry about if using Arquillian. For instance, this is what the Arquillian test case would look like:Pretty simple! No more creating chains of mocks — just make sure all the right classes are included in the deployment, and you’re good to go, test just as you would write code in the system itself. Arquillian will start up CDI and perform all the Dependency injection and container functions for you!There are many users of Arquillian: Apache DeltaSpike, JBoss AS7+, JBoss Forge, OCPSoft [[Rewrite]] and [[PrettyFaces]], and more. So be sure to check out Arquillian — the next-generation in-container unit and integration testing suite!Having just buried broadcast streaming service Aereo under a Supreme Court victory, Fox is invoking that high court precedent in a bid to shutter another television platform.
Fox and others won a high-profile copyright case against upstart Aereo on Wednesday, in which the Supreme Court held in a 6-3 vote that Aereo was offering services akin to a cable company and therefore needed the broadcasters' permission to retransmit their content to online viewers. Armed with that decision, Fox told a federal appeals court that the high court's decision means Dish's Hopper DVR sideloading platform and the Dish Anywhere streaming platform should also be declared illegal.
Fox lawyer Richard Stone wrote (PDF) to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is set to hear the Fox-Dish case next month in California, saying:
In Aereo, the Supreme Court held that Aereo's unauthorized retransmission of Fox's television programming over the Internet constitutes an unauthorized public performance of Fox's copyrighted works. Dish, which engages in virtually identical conduct when it streams Fox's programming to Dish subscribers over the Internet—albeit also in violation of an express contractual prohibition—has repeatedly raised the same defenses as Aereo which have now been rejected by the Supreme Court. Among other things, the Supreme Court rejected Aereo's argument... that it is merely an equipment provider and that Aereo's subscribers were the ones transmitting content over the Internet to themselves.
Aereo had maintained that it wasn't a cable provider but instead was offering viewers a newfangled method to capture free broadcast television over the airwaves with tiny antennas. Aereo customers rent up to two dime-sized antennas that are housed in facilities across the country. The antennas capture local, over-the-air broadcasts and funnel them to local customers in real time. The content is freed to stream to most any Internet-connected device. Another antenna syncs with a DVR for later viewing for about $12 monthly.
Broadcasters decried the process as "technological gimmickry" to skirt copyright and other retransmission laws.
For its part, Dish uses a protocol created by streaming service Slingbox, operated by a former Dish partner. Allowing Dish consumers to stream Fox content without permission, Stone wrote, amounts to an "unauthorized public performance."
Dish countered in a Thursday filing with the appeals court and said the Aereo decision was not analogous to Dish's streaming service.
"The first distinction lies in the Court’s constant refrain that Aereo looks just like the cable companies Congress intended to cover with the Transmit Clause, which took signals off the air and retransmitted them to the public without authority or payment," Dish attorney E. Joshua Rosenkranz wrote (PDF) to the court. "Dish pays retransmission fees to Fox—Sling does not implicate pirating signals. Customers pay for the right to receive works, with Fox’s authorization, and do receive them at home before sending them to themselves."As noted earlier, ESPN subsidiary site Grantland.com has an extensive interview with Kevin Nash, who discussed his upbringing, breaking into wrestling and moving into Hollywood. During the |
When a car has had several owners, it can be difficult to track down the current owner for a recall notice. You must be your best advocate for recalls. Check now. Plug in your VIN number on the link to the right of this screen.A- A+
Bulletin Staff Report
Authorities are seeking anyone with information about the recent poaching of two mule deer bucks in Jefferson County.
The bucks that were illegally poached were found on Oct. 23 on Cold Camp Road near Ashwood after a landowner discovered their headless carcasses with small portions of meat removed. The landowner notified the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division.
The ensuing investigation reveled the deer had been shot and killed by a high-powered rifle between Friday, Oct. 20 and Sunday, Oct. 22.
“It’s a huge epidemic,” said Capt. Bill Fugate, Oregon State Police. “We only have 100 troopers so we just don’t have enough resources. In order to catch these poachers, we rely on information we get from people.”
Anyone with information about any illegal killing/taking or poaching is urged to contact Sgt. Andrew Venderwerf or Senior Trooper Craig Gunderson through TIP — the Turn In Poachers hotline — at 1-800-452-7888 or 541-296-2161.
“People are pretty compassionate and it takes someone with pretty low ethics to take something so beautiful and just leave it like that,” Fugate said. “It’s shameful.”
TIP rewards information that can lead to an arrest or conviction of any person for the illegal possession or killing of deer, elk, antelope, bear, cougar, wolf, bighorn sheep, moose, furbearers and game birds. Rewards may also be issued for information of a person who has illegally obtained Oregon hunting or angling licenses or tags.
Reward amounts can vary from $1,000 for a bighorn sheep to $100 for birds or waterfowl.
18576852Attorneys for The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and athletes who played for the school argued in a state court on Friday whether a lawsuit filed against the school in connection with an academic scandal should be dismissed.
In April, a judge granted the school’s motion to remove the case from federal court, sending it back to a state court. The latest arguments were heard in a Rockingham County courtroom.
Initially, former football player Michael McAdoo filed a class-action lawsuit amid the scandal tied to irregular courses in African-American studies, a department popular with athletes. Former football player Devon Ramsay and ex-women’s basketball player Rashanda McCants filed a separate lawsuit, which was the basis of the arguments presented to Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Eric Morgan in the courtroom in Wentworth.
Lisa Gilford, an attorney from a New York-based law firm representing UNC, said what the plaintiffs are alleging is “educational malpractice,” noting that a previous decision said “they had to go further than `my education wasn’t good enough.”’ She said the case wasn’t about academic irregularities, but more about the plaintiffs’ claims.
Gilford also reiterated the argument that the lawsuit should be dismissed because a three-year statute of limitations had passed.
Robert F. Orr, the attorney representing Ramsay and McCants, said the idea of a breach of contract is at the heart of his clients’ claim.
“We’re not talking about these classes were easy classes,” Orr said. “These were illegitimate classes... We seek to hold the university accountable.”
McCants and Ramsay combined to take three problem AFAM courses while majoring in other departments, according to their lawsuit. In previous arguments, attorneys for McAdoo and McBee said their clients had taken one or two of the irregular courses during each semester in school. McBee graduated with a double major, one coming in the AFAM department, while McAdoo withdrew from school to pursue a professional playing career after being ruled permanently ineligible for academic violations in 2010.
Morgan didn’t indicate when he would issue a decision. Attorneys for both sides said they didn’t expect a ruling Friday.
Copyright 2019 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has received the second batch of Su-34 frontline bombers from Sukhoi.
Sukhoi will supply a total of 92 Su-34 frontline bombers to the Russian Air and Space Forces until 2020.
The state contract was signed as part of the State Armament programme for 2011-2020.
Russia aims to replace the existing Su-24 frontline bomber fleet currently in service with the airforce.
The aircraft were delivered from the company’s VPChkalov Novosibirsk Aircraft Plant’s airfield.
Su-34s currently operate successfully in the military and demonstrate high performance.
The Su-34 is a 4+ generation aircraft in terms of operational capabilities and can engage land-based, sea and airborne targets in all weather conditions and any visibility levels using a range of airborne munitions, including high-precision types.
“The capacity of the internal fuel tanks has been improved to increase the take-off weight.”
The aircraft’s design retains the basic layout and construction of the Su-27 airframe, while it has the same conventional high-wing configuration and onboard equipment.
It has a two-seat rather than a single-seat cockpit and the capacity of the internal fuel tanks has been improved to increase the take-off weight.
The Su-34 is armed with a 30mm GSh-301 gun and 180 rounds of ammunition. The gun has a maximum rate of fire of 1,500 rounds a minute and the muzzle velocity is 860m/s.
The aircraft has ten hardpoints for weapon payloads and is able to carry a range of missiles, including air-to-air, air-to-surface, anti-ship and anti-radiation missiles, guided and unguided bombs, as well as rockets.
Image: A Su-34 frontline bomber in flight. Photo: courtesy of Sukhoi Company (JSC).England will include Danny Cipriani in a preliminary squad ahead of the forthcoming match against the Barbarians and the tour to New Zealand.
England head coach Stuart Lancaster will reward Cipriani, 26, for his recent good form with Sale Sharks.
It will be fly-half Cipriani's first England involvement since he won the last of his seven caps in 2008.
Gloucester's Freddie Burns is also expected to be included in Thursday's initial squad of around 15 players.
Cipriani's 2013-14 season Club appearances: 19 (including 6 as sub) Tries: 5 Cons: 33 Pens: 32 Drops: 2 Points: 193 Source: Sale Sharks' official website
The squad will be selected from the six clubs whose season is over - Exeter, Gloucester, London Irish, Newcastle, Sale and Worcester Warriors.
Lancaster has not considered players from the four Premiership semi-finalists Saracens, Northampton, Leicester and Harlequins, or Bath and Wasps, who are still involved in European action.
England face the Barbarians at Twickenham on 1 June, then meet New Zealand in the first Test at Auckland on 7 June.
England will then face the All Blacks in Dunedin on 14 June in the second Test before the third and final Test in Hamilton the following weekend.
Depending on which teams make the Premiership final, the England head coach will then call up players from the other six sides to a final touring squad of up to 42 players.
Any player involved in the Premiership final on 31 May will be unavailable for the game against the All Blacks in Auckland a week later.
Cipriani drifted out of England contention in recent years as he struggled with off-the-field distractions, but his game-management has been a key factor in Sale's sixth-place finish in the Premiership this season, just 12 months after the club flirted with relegation.
Lancaster says recent form is more important than past deeds, and feels Cipriani deserves a second opportunity on the international stage.
"I judge players on their form for their club. Reputation and what they've done in the past counts for something, but not everything," Lancaster said.
"Danny's definitely improved and Sale have played well. Danny has controlled the games really well. I'm pleased with what he's done and he's in the equation."A flier found on lawns in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, over the weekend. (Courtesy Jaimi Hajzus)
Jaimi Hajzus woke up Saturday morning to a string of worried texts.
Friends in her hometown of Coudersport, Pa., said someone had gone house to house the previous night and left plastic bags filled with lollipops, rocks and paper fliers on dozens of lawns in the town’s main thoroughfare.
Inside, they found a disturbing message.
“Are there troubles in your neighborhood?” the fliers read. “Contact the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan today!”
"The KKK were in the area sometime overnight, distributing pamphlets and rocks and suckers," Joe Leschner said in a Facebook live video he recorded on Sept. 17 from Coudersport, Pa. "They're not wanted here." (Joe Leschner)
Printed on the crinkled slips of paper was an image of a hooded Klansman pointing a finger in the style of the iconic Uncle Sam recruitment poster, along with something of a slogan: “You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake.”
Hajzus said she and others believe a new white supremacist cell in the area might be behind the campaign, but they’re struggling to decide what the strange parcels mean for the town of 2,500, and how the community should respond.
“I feel like they’re trying to pick a fight, and I don’t want to bring a gun to a knife fight,” Hajzus told The Washington Post Monday. “It’s hard to know how strongly to approach this.”
Coudersport isn’t alone.
Similar packages have recently turned up in communities around the country — from California to Kansas to New Jersey — many of them in the roughly 15 months since Dylann Roof allegedly gunned down nine African Americans at a church in Charleston, S.C.
Each incident follows a similar pattern, with residents waking up to find small plastic bags on their front lawns containing pro-KKK missives. The bags are often weighed down by rocks and sometimes come with a few candies stuffed inside.
Just a day after residents in Coudersport discovered the bags on their lawns, nearly identical packages showed up at homes in Whittier, Calif., according to the Los Angeles Times.
The flier inside contained a disparaging screed against African Americans and came with a rock and a lollipop, one longtime resident told the paper. It also listed a phone number and a mailing address for the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the resident said. A week earlier, 100 residents in Fullerton, Calif., found similar packages at their homes, the LA Times reported.
In July, hundreds of residents in three Indiana counties received fliers — also stuffed into bags with rocks — criticizing immigrants and gays and calling on people to “wake up” and join the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Indianapolis Star reported. Similar bags have turned up in Michigan, New Jersey, Kansas, Alabama and elsewhere since 2015.
(Courtesy of Jaimi Hajzus)
Whether it’s all part of a national campaign or individual KKK cells around the country mimicking one another is hard to tell — Klan groups tend to be highly decentralized, and members typically haven’t claimed responsibility for their publicity campaigns. But one state KKK leader told the Daily Beast last year that the Klan has stepped up its recruitment efforts as calls have grown to remove the Confederate flag from public spaces.
“We’re doing this from the East Coast to the West Coast, just to let people know the Klan’s in their community,” Robert Jones, the grand dragon of the North Carolina-based Royal White Knights, said. “Especially with all the stuff that’s in the news — in South Carolina they’re wanting to take the Confederate flag down.”
Police response has generally been muted. Aside from keeping an eye on local KKK activities, police departments tend not to conduct deep investigations because the fliers are protected by the First Amendment.
“There’s nothing we can do about it except be aware about it,” one police officer told the IndyStar in July.
KKK cells proliferated nationwide in 2015, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist activity. The number of Klan groups rose from 72 in 2014 to 190 last year, although part of that may be the result of two larger KKK groups disappearing, SPLC said in its most recent “Year in Hate and Extremism” report. Last year also saw a rise in new and previously disbanded KKK chapters, including the 31-chapter United White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, SPLC said.
In Coudersport, Hajzus said community members are taking matters into their own hands.
Hajzus, 35, said she lives a couple hours away from Coudersport, but travels there regularly to see family. She said the community was already on high alert about hate groups in the area, which was once home to the Aryan Nations leader August Kreis, who is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence for sexually molesting a child.
In August, Hajzus and about 40 residents in the area got together to protest a rally by an apparently new white supremacist group in a neighboring town. So when the pro-KKK fliers showed up on Saturday, she moved quickly, she said.
Hajzus and a local resident, Joe Leschner, started a Facebook group to organize concerned community members and spread the word. Local police told PennLive that 10 to 15 homes were hit, but Hajzus and Leschner said they believed it was several dozen.
Leschner, a store manager in the area, called on people who had received the bags to send them to him so he could ship them back to the KKK chapter listed on the flier.
“It’s really creepy,” Leschner said in a Facebook Live video posted Saturday. “I have no idea what this mess is, but it’s not wanted in our town.”
An 800 number advertised on the flier as a “24-hour Klanline” went straight to a full voice mail box on Monday night.
Hajzus said she doesn’t know who is behind the fliers, but said she has been “taunted” on social media in the past month by members of a National Socialist group in the area. The group has used the European social network VK to promote a “national socialist meeting” in nearby Ulysses, Pa., on Oct. 8, saying “all white patriots welcome.”
Hajzus said she hopes the community will come out against the group’s activities — as well as other hate groups in the area.
“As much as some of us would love to ignore something like this and hope it goes away, the problem is that the same flier has been distributed in other places,” she said. “If this is actually a resurgence of a hateful and violent group, then we need to take a stance.”
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‘Brown skin is not a costume’: Disney takes heat for ‘Moana’ Halloween costumeThough Republicans profess to despise Big Government, especially the federal kind, it seems that what they really don’t like is Democracy — and indeed prefer a monarchy.
Yes, yes, the czarina sighed, signaling her weariness with the palace historian’s inevitable scold. I know America is a Republic and not a pure democracy, but let’s not quibble over distinctions that make no difference. They’ve elected a king whether they realize it or not!
The czarina has a point. While it is true that the U.S. Constitution protects minorities from the majority, there’s more than one way to build a kingdom and hustle the little people. To wit, The Don and his Damsel in the pale blue dress.
Or is it distress?
It’s been ages since New York City’s paparazzi have been able to capture the queen — her lapis lazuli eyes and haughty cheekbones mere recollections from snapshots past. These days, Melania Knauss Trump keeps mostly her own company, touring the cells of her vast tower prison, tending the king’s son and remembering colder days in Slovenia when she knitted her own sweaters.
(Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)
Who knows what Melania really thinks? Perhaps only her parents, who reportedly spend much of their time between Trump properties in New York and Palm Beach — her father’s years as a member of the Communist Party all but erased from a résumé that features the creating of the first lady of the United States of America.
Her persistent absence notwithstanding, Melania is nothing if not dutiful — “obedient” is how her first modeling mentor described her long ago. She does what’s required of her station, as royals tend to do. But clearly this doesn’t include living in the pedestrian little cottage quaintly known to the ever-reverential peasantry as the White House. Her Highness was scheduled to depart her Fifth Avenue fortress for Washington on Wednesday to attend the International Women of Courage Awards, about which she may know something. It took courage for a teenage Melania to leave her home and country for Milan’s runways and then, upon reaching the fairy-tale Land of Opportunity, to surrender her resplendent beauty to the king of gaudeville, our very own, homegrown American Midas, for whom there can never be too much gold.
Donald Trump’s selection as voice of the Everyman seems, if one were unkind, deliciously absurd and suggests what we might call the “subservient imperative,” companion, perhaps, to Robert Ardrey’s “territorial imperative.”
In the same way that Ardrey traced the human drive (born of animal instinct) to claim and protect some degree of physical space as one’s own, why not, too, the need to follow someone of greater physical status (obviously not hands) but pertaining to wealth, possessions, territories, fecund females and nation-resorts bearing one’s name? To the extent that one creature designated himself a leader, usually by steamrolling all other contenders, why not an equal inclination by others to be dominated?
Monarchical tendencies abound in the person of The Don, and the willing hordes find his splashy displays of ego and overabundance not just tolerable but, apparently, admirable. Desire for drama and pageantry — the commission paid to peasants for their complicity in the master-servant duet — is on full display, whether The Don is entertaining world leaders at his Mar-a-Lago palace or working deals over golf at one of his eponymous resorts.
Meanwhile, the king installs his family in the people’s palace, rationing offices for commerce, diplomacy and foreign policy. Blood runs thick in royal clans. Daughter Ivanka, the ravishing offspring of Wife No. 1, is the only one Trump seems to really trust. He keeps her and husband Jared Kushner (the favored son?) close, while sending the eldest Trump boys on quests for fresh greens to conquer.
Never mind that the little people are paying millions for the protection of all these Trumplings as they cross continents or sidewalks. The king’s Secret Service begged an extra $27 million for next year — to protect Trump Tower and keep Melania’s tresses from public reach — plus $33 million for various travel expenses for Trump and others.
1 of 83 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × See what President Trump has been doing since taking office View Photos The beginning of his term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. Caption The beginning of the president’s term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. March 17, 2017 President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
How dare you criticize the king, shout the minions at the jesters. He’s going to bail us out, get us jobs and cut our taxes!
Of course he is. Right after he repeals the Affordable Care Act, builds a wall and bans all those barbarians at the gate. And don’t forget, when the king parades buck naked down Worth Avenue, be sure to note the finery and the richness of his raiment.
Read more from Kathleen Parker’s archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook.Yatra.com - The simplest and fastest way to book your flight tickets. Now available on Windows Phone! Flight Bookings • Search and book domestic & International flights for one way and roundtrip bookings • Save money by booking special return fares for roundtrip flights • Book cheap fares on all domestic airlines, including Indigo, Spice Jet, Go Air, Jet Airways, Air India, Air Asia, Air India Express • Book cheap fares on all International airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Emirates, Etihad, Singapore Airlines, Air Arabia, Thai Airways, Qatar Airways, Malaysian Airlines, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific • One screen for onward and return flights selection in case of round trip flights • Initiate fresh search directly from search result page by selecting dates from the fare graph for domestic flights • View recently searched flights • Train PNR status check • Know more & Save more - Introducing offers and discounts. • Curated holiday package listings and inquiry section for customized holidays bookings. • Say “Goodbye” to more bugs and crashes! • Optimizations and flow improvements. Other features of the app • Air Fare graph for flights to compare fares • Save your card details for a faster booking experience • Stores traveler details so that you don’t have to enter them each time you make a booking • View baggage details for domestic flights • Book domestic travel insurance while making your booking Download the Yatra.com app for Windows Phone today get the best deals on the go Visit www.yatra.com for more information. For queries / suggestions / feedback please write to us @ apps@yatra.comAn inventory of potentially deadly pathogens at Fort Detrick's infectious disease laboratory found more than 9,000 vials that had not been accounted for, Army officials said yesterday, raising concerns that officials wouldn't know whether dangerous toxins were missing.
After four months of searching about 335 freezers and refrigerators at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, investigators found 9,220 samples that hadn't been included in a database of about 66,000 items listed as of February, said Col. Mark Kortepeter, the institute's deputy commander.
The vials contained some dangerous pathogens, among them the Ebola virus, anthrax bacteria and botulinum toxin, and less lethal agents such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and the bacterium that causes tularemia. Most of them, forgotten inside freezer drawers, hadn't been used in years or even decades. Officials said some serum samples from hemorrhagic fever patients dated to the Korean War.
Kortepeter likened the inventory to cleaning out the attic and said he knew of no plans for an investigation into how the vials had been left out of the database. "The vast majority of these samples were working stock that were accumulated over decades," he said, left there by scientists who had retired or left the institute.
"I can't say that nothing did [leave the lab], but I can say that we think it's extremely unlikely," Kortepeter said.
Still, the overstock and the previous inaccuracy of the database raised the possibility that someone could have taken a sample outside the lab with no way for officials to know something was missing.
"Nine thousand, two hundred undocumented samples is an extraordinarily serious breach," said Richard H. Ebright, a professor at Rutgers University who follows biosecurity. "A small number would be a concern; 9,200... at an institution that has been the focus of intense scrutiny on this issue, that's deeply worrisome. Unacceptable."
The institute has been under pressure to tighten security in the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five people and sickened 17. FBI investigators say they think the anthrax strain used in the attacks originated at the Army lab, and its prime suspect, Bruce E. Ivins, researched anthrax there. Ivins committed suicide last year during an investigation into his activities.
Kortepeter noted that since 2001 the lab has imposed multiple layers of security to check people entering and leaving, that there are now cameras in the labs, and that employees are subjected to a reliability program and random inspections.
"The bottom line is, we have a lot of buffers to prevent anybody who shouldn't be getting into the laboratory," Kortepeter said.
Sam Edwin, the institute's inventory control officer, said most of the samples found were vials with tiny amounts of pathogens that would thaw quickly and die once they were taken out of a freezer, making smuggling something off the base difficult.
The probe began in February, when a problem accounting for Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus triggered the suspension of most research at the lab. A spot check in January found 20 samples of the virus in a box of vials instead of the 16 listed in the institute's database. Most work was stopped until the institute could take a thorough inventory of its stock of viruses and bacteria.
Edwin said about 50 percent of the samples that had been found were destroyed. The rest were added to the catalog. Because the lab will now conduct an inventory every year, "it's really less likely that we will be in a situation like this again," he said.
Procedures have changed, too. Scientists who have worked at the lab said that in the past, departing scientists turned over their logbooks to their successors, but records were sometimes incomplete or complex. As generations of scientists passed through, the knowledge of what was in the freezers was lost. With a comprehensive database, every sample is now tracked until it is destroyed or transferred.
But some scientists are skeptical. Unlike uranium or chemical weapons, pathogens are living materials that can replicate and die. A small amount can easily be turned into a large amount. They said the strict inventories slow their work without guaranteeing security.Show full PR text
FUJIFILM INTRODUCES THE REVOLUTIONARY X-PRO1 INTERCHANGEABLE LENS DIGITAL CAMERA SYSTEM
Featuring the New X-Trans CMOS sensorTM, FUJIFILM original X-Mount and New Hybrid Multi Viewfinder, the X-Pro1 Delivers Outstanding Image Quality that Rivals Current DSLR Cameras
Valhalla, N.Y., January 9, 2012 – FUJIFILM North America Corporation proudly introduces the debut of its newest and most advanced addition to its premium, high quality X-Series digital camera line-up – the FUJIFILM X-Pro1 interchangeable lens digital camera system.
With a brand new, custom developed 16MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensorTM, incorporating a newly developed filter array and Fujifilm's proprietary EXR Processor technology, the FUJIFILM X-Pro1 is poised to deliver superlative image quality that will rival currently available mid and high-end DSLR models. Taking another decisive step into the premium camera market, Fujifilm has taken the X-Pro1 to the next level featuring a New 2nd Generation Hybrid Multi Viewfinder and three prime interchangeable FUJINON lenses.
The FUJIFILM X-Pro1 digital camera not only promises to carve out a distinct position in the premium camera category, but it also promises to reward X-Series loyalists with a camera system that surpasses their expectations.
"Fujifilm puts great emphasis on producing outstanding image quality, and with the X-Pro1, we are proud to offer an interchangeable lens system that performs to the highest professional caliber," said Go Miyazaki, division president, Imaging and Electronic Imaging Divisions, FUJIFILM North America Corporation. "Each element is the product of Fujfiilm's commitment to uncompromising quality. With its custom APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensorTM, unique Hybrid Multi Viewfinder and three interchangeable lenses, the X-Pro1 is poised to become the new standard for photographers."
Setting new standards in image resolution
Fujifilm has developed a new CMOS sensor called the X-Trans CMOSTM. The X-Trans CMOSTM sensor is capable of delivering resolution that is superior to other APS-C sensors and equal to even some full frame sensors.
The new color filter array paves the way for an ideal sensor that does not need an optical low-pass filter. While the optical low-pass filter is indispensable for the reduction of moiré and false color generated by conventional sensors, it also degrades resolution. Fujifilm has developed a new color filter array that is inspired by the random arrangement of fine film grain, removing the need for an optical low-pass filter to solve moiré and false color issues. In the array, RGB pixels are arranged in 6x6 pixel sets with high aperiodicity (randomness). Increasing the degree of randomness eliminates the fundamental cause of moiré and false colors – a problem that occurs in conventional arrays when shooting stripes and other repeating patterns. The presence of an R, G and B pixel in every vertical and horizontal pixel series minimizes the generation of false colors and delivers higher color reproduction.
As a result of using a film-inspired array, a more powerful processor is required to process the image signal data. So Fujifilm has developed the EXR Processor Pro. This technology will maximize the full potential of the X-Trans CMOSTM sensor, delivering high speed and high precision image processing.
Prime FUJINON XF lenses deliver the highest image quality
FUJINON lenses have long been associated with delivering high quality images, with optics used for both broadcast TV and medium format cameras. Now the expertise borne out of this enviable optical heritage has been put into lenses for the FUJIFILM X-Pro1.
Three compact XF FUJINON fast aperture prime lenses will be available at launch. The "XF18mmF2 R" (27mm equivalent) f/2.0, "XF 35mmF1.4 R" (53mm equivalent) f/1.4, and "XF60mmF2.4 R Macro" (90mm equivalent) F/2.4 are all bright and compact and designed to deliver sharp, clear images of uncompromising quality. They offer precise control over depth-of-field and deliver excellent bokeh effects thanks to the design of the molded aperture diaphragm blades. The blades are curved to create a circular image at all aperture settings, while the very edges of each blade are meticulously rounded off rather than simply cut off, which delivers a sharper image. In addition, the solid feel of the high-quality metal barrel and detailed exposure setting in 1/3 step increments using the aperture ring fuel your desire to capture more photos with every shot.
FUJIFILM original "X-Mount" maximizes lens performance
Specifically designed to maximize the mirrorless design of the body the X-Mount has a short flange back distance of just 17.7mm. This means the rear lens elements are as close as possible to the sensor. The wide opening allows the lens to be mounted deeper within the body – up to 7.5mm (approximately) from the mount surface – reducing the back focus distance of each lens to the minimum possible, thus achieving high resolution all the way to the edge of the image
Hybrid Multi Viewfinder – seeing is believing
First introduced in the FUJIFILM X100 digital camera, Fujifilm's revolutionary Hybrid Viewfinder has the ability to instantly switch between an Optical Viewfinder and Electronic Viewfinder. The Hybrid Viewfinder has added a new dimension to the pleasure of composing photographs. For the brightest viewing image, and to keep shutter lag to a minimum, users should choose the Optical Viewfinder. Those wanting focus confirmation, exposure information, white balance information and depth of field indicators should switch to the Electronic Viewfinder.
The Electronic Viewfinder provides an excellent "Live View" of your composition. This fusion of technologies allows users to enjoy composing their images through a bright viewfinder, but has the option to overlay vital picture taking information should this be required.
Changing between the two viewfinders is simple, thanks to the switch on the front of the X-Pro1 body. When attaching a FUJINON XF-series lens on the X-Pro1, both the viewfinder magnification and bright frame size automatically switch to support the lens focal length. Viewfinder magnification switches to 0.37x for the 18mm lens, and to 0.60x when the 35mm or 60mm lens is mounted, letting you compose your shot with the bright, crystal clarity of an optical image. The X-Pro1 also gives you the freedom to manually set a focal distance and switch between viewfinder magnifications.
Cutting edge technology in a beautiful camera body
The X-Pro1's magnesium alloy chassis and improved user interface is a testament to Fujifilm's unyielding attention to quality and the photographic needs of the professionals. From the exact and deliberate placement of the buttons to the precision milled dials, the X-Pro1 beautifully encompasses all that is needed to deliver high quality photography.
The top and base are made from die-cast aluminum alloy which, combined with high quality touches like precise engraving on the top-plate and hand-enameled lettering on the lenses,
illustrates how the entire X-Pro1 system was designed and built without compromise.
This eye for detail extends to the shutter speed dial and exposure compensation control that is precision milled from solid metal. Details like the shutter speed dial lock mechanism and the recessed exposure compensation dial are designed to prevent accidental movement of settings. The knurled finish on the sides of the dials feature rows of minutely milled squared pyramids for superb grip and confidence.
As a well-known mark of quality, the "Made in Japan" printing confirms that every part of the construction has had to meet Fujifilm's highest standards.
The lightweight, precision-milled lens hood (included with the lens) has been exclusively designed and machined from aluminum for the FUJINON XF lens. Its compact size delivers superb light shading performance in a design that perfectly matches X-Pro1 styling. Diameters of the aperture ring and focus ring of the three FUJINON XF-series interchangeable lenses are only slightly larger than the barrel for sleek uniformity of design. Precision machined from metal, the reassuring click of the aperture ring at each setting and the comfortable torque resistance when operating the focus ring enhances the shooting experience.
The X-Pro1's leather-like finish is designed for a quality look and durability. The synthetic leather offers resistance to the elements and high durability, while an original manufacturing process produces a texture with the look and feel of authentic leather. The X-Pro1 has also been designed with the photographer's comfort in mind. The natural fit of the eyepiece provides excellent shielding from light leakage, and an optional dioptic adjustment lens can also be attached.
Extending Fujifilm's photo film legacy
In film cameras, capturing multiple exposures is the unique photographic technique of superimposing one image on another by double exposing a single frame of film. Through advanced digital processing the X-Pro1 can simulate this technique by simply selecting the Multiple Exposure mode and taking the first shot. By viewing the image via the Hybrid Multi Viewfinder or on the LCD screen, you can see how the finished multiple exposure will look and then precisely frame the second shot.
Further enhancements have been made to the Film Simulation modes with the new Professional Color Negative Film Modes (Pro Neg. Std and Pro Neg. Hi) designed for X-Pro1 users working in the studio. The X-Pro1 also offers Film Simulation bracketing, along with AE, Dynamic and ISO bracketing; plus the ability to capture the colors and tonal qualities of popular FUJIFILM emulsions through the vibrant colors of Velvia, the softer skin tones of ASTIA and the natural look of PROVIA.
Replicating the effects of monochrome film photography the X-Pro1 lets you use color filters to expand your photographic interpretation. Heighten contrast with the yellow filter and red filter, or brighten greens and deepen reds with the green filter. Just as professional film photographers once selected a filter and printing paper to complement their creative vision, you can easily fine tune image quality with these filters. For those after a more nostalgic theme there is also a sepia filter.
Premium Accessory Lineup
The FinePix X-Pro1 has these additional premium accessory options that are sold separately:
Hand Grip, HG-XPro1 - Giving you more secure and balanced handling of the camera, the X-Pro1 accessory grip smoothly molds to the lines of the camera body for a uniform look. The grip helps balance the weight of the camera body, allowing for a more comfortable hold.
Shoe Mount Flash EF-X20 – Designed to match X-Pro1's distinctive styling, a single dial lets you choose between two modes: AUTO - automatically optimizes flash for both outdoor daylight and dark indoor shots; and MANUAL - for hands-on control. In addition, the built-in flash diffuser has an easy one-touch process to soften harsh flash effects.
Leather Case LC-XPro1* - Beautifully molded to protect the X-Pro1, this leather case is designed to allow fast access for easy shooting. Attention has been given to every detail, from the color and spacing of the stitches to the use of a hidden magnet rather than a snap for closing the case. The premium case is complete with the authentic leather neck-strap and hood case.
Protector Filter 39mm and Protector Filter 52mm – These protection filters have high transmissivity without affecting the visible light, and the Super EBC coating effectively controls harmful borrowed light. The frame of the filters has a semi gloss black finish, keeping with the high sense of design, while the inner filter ring is finished in a matte black in order to minimize reflections.
Pricing and Availability
The FUJIFILM X-Pro1 will be available in February 2012, and the price will be announced in late January 2012.BY: Follow @CharlesFLehman
Several members of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities resigned Friday, calling on President Donald Trump to do likewise.
The group cited Trump's comments in the wake of violent protests in Charlottesville, Va., comments they called "un-American," as the reason for their resignation, the Hill reports. They also accused Trump of "undermining the Civil Rights Act" and objected to his cutting arts funding.
The group's letter was posted on Twitter by actor Kal Penn, one of its signatories. Other notable signatories include director George Wolfe and visual artist Chuck Close.
Notably, the first letters of each paragraph in the letter spell out the word "RESIST."
Dear @realDonaldTrump, attached is our letter of resignation from the President's Committee on the Arts & the Humanities @PCAH_gov pic.twitter.com/eQI2HBTgXs — Kal Penn (@kalpenn |
2014
Bet RT @SimplyAJ10: @TheCUTCH22 indeed. We win U where a @untouchablejay4 at PNC — andrew mccutchen (@TheCUTCH22) November 3, 2014
And, sadly, after the game:
@TheCUTCH22 I'm a man of my word. — 10 (@SimplyAJ10) November 3, 2014
(VIA Baltimore Sun)UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say four family members were arrested after stripping naked outside a suburban Philadelphia high school and chanting "God is great."
Upper Darby police say it happened around 1 p.m. Friday in a parking lot outside school.
Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood says investigators don't know why 44-year-old Sarah Butler and three of her children — 23-year-old Joanne Butler, 22-year-old Bessie Butler and a 14-year-old son — decided to disrobe.
He says the mother had gone there around 10 a.m., demanding to see a student. After she was denied admission, Chitwood says the family lay on the ground and began chanting, eventually shedding their clothing.
Chitwood says the adults will be charged with defiant trespass, disorderly conduct and open lewdness. A telephone listing for them could not be found.BERLIN -- Police in the northern German city of Kiel say they have detained four people after a group of men of foreign origin harassed three teenage girls at a shopping mall.
Police say Thursday's incident started with two Afghan men following the 15- and 17-year-old girls, then photographing and filming them with their cellphones. The teens saw the men apparently sending the files to other people and, shortly afterward, a group of between 20 and 30 men gathered and pestered them.
Authorities said Friday the teens weren't physically assaulted. They shook off the group, except for the two Afghans. Mall security staff alerted police.
Police say four suspects were detained after they resisted and threatened officers. The two Afghans were taken into custody and the other two were released.Need Plumbing Repair in Las Vegas?
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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
And I'm Melissa Block. Support for same-sex marriage has come from what seems an unlikely corner - the NFL. Two NFL players have been vocal in urging support for same-sex marriage in ballot initiatives this fall. Well, that position - from linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, of the Baltimore Ravens - drew the ire of a Maryland delegate, Emmett Burns, who urged the Ravens to silence their player.
That, in turn, outraged another player - Chris Kluwe, punter for the Minnesota Vikings. He wrote a long and profan, open letter that went viral. In it, Kluwe slammed the politician for what he called his vitriolic hatred and bigotry.
We asked the two players - Kluwe and Ayanbadejo - to talk about their support for same-sex marriage and about NFL culture.
CHRIS KLUWE: How's it going, Brendon?
BRENDON AYANBADEJO: What's up, bud? How you doing?
BLOCK: I started by asking what the reaction has been from their teammates and coaches. First, Chris Kluwe.
KLUWE: It's been very supportive. You know, they really appreciate the fact that, you know, I feel like I'm able to speak out. And they've made it clear that, you know, they support my right to free speech, and my right to be able to go out there and take a stand on an issue.
BLOCK: None of them disagree with you? None of them came up and said, I'm not quite comfortable with how public you're being about this?
KLUWE: Well, you know, there was - obviously - some concerns about it being a distraction to the team. But at the end of the day, that's going to be judged by my performance on the field. And football's a business. If you don't perform, they'll cut you. And it's one of the risks that you have to take.
BLOCK: Brendon, what kind of reaction are you hearing from your teammates and coaches?
AYANBADEJO: Well, to supersede my teammates, the president - Dick Cass - and the owner - Steve Bisciotti - they told me just to keep doing what I'm doing. Our team doesn't believe in discrimination. And then I would speak to my teammates; and some of them, you know, they didn't mind at all. And they said hey, if two people love each other and they want to be married, they should be granted the same rights as a heterosexual couple. And then other teammates, they feel that a marriage is between a man and a woman. But they feel like if a same-sex couple wants to have a civil union, then they agree with that; just 'cause, you know, they have some differences, when it comes to religion and whatnot. But they didn't want the law to dictate that. So I've had some encouraging conversations with my teammates, and with people in the building.
I'm so glad it's come to light and so many people are supporting it - because you go back 24 months, 12 months, and it was a completely different feel; and people weren't so supportive. And I'd hear some snickering and some comments. And so I'm glad that in our football community, we're changing. A sport that's known as a macho sport; known for, you know, for making gay slurs and whatnot; I'm glad to see a changing of the guard, and people starting to broaden their horizons and accept equality, really.
BLOCK: Chris, what about with the Vikings?
KLUWE: Yeah, I've seen the same thing. When I came in the league in 2005, you know, a lot of guys on the team that were veterans, were guys that were raised kind of more in the '90s - mid-'90s, late '80s. And you could tell, their attitudes were a little more that kind of time frame. Whereas now, guys are happy to let people live their own lives; to let people - to be free, you know; free from oppression.
BLOCK: Chris, you mentioned something earlier, which is that there is - there was concern that this would be a distraction from the team. There is an expectation, in professional sports, to not make headlines; to keep away from politics. You know, your focus should be on the game and anything else, really, is a distraction for you and the team, which has a whole lot of money invested. What do you think about that? And does that affect you, in any way?
KLUWE: Well, I think it's part of the nature of the business. The NFL is a business, first and foremost. They're in it to make money. And as players, our jobs are to go out on the field, and play to the best of our ability. Now, that being said, we also have a very unique social platform in that we can reach a lot of people that normally, you know, this message might not reach. And I think if, you know, you're willing to take the risk that OK, if you think you can deal with the distractions while maintaining the level of your play, then - you know - for me personally, it's worth it.
BLOCK: Brendon, what about that question of whether, you know, becoming outspoken on a social issue - and a divisive social issue, for many people - could be a distraction for the team or you, as a player?
AYANBADEJO: Yeah, well, I don't think it's a distraction. And I don't know how the team views it. I know that the team allows us to do many different types of philanthropical things and help the community. And players do it in many different ways; whether they're going to schools and talking at schools, or they're feeding people, or doing different things to help society. I believe this is no different than that.
BLOCK: It's interesting 'cause we're talking about - what you're describing is a cultural shift within the NFL. But there are no openly gay, active NFL players. There are players who've come out as gay, after they've retired. What do you think it would take for a gay player in the NFL, to come out?
KLUWE: I think it just takes - it would just need to take more of us speaking out about the issue and showing that, you know, it's OK to come out. It's OK to be who you are because in the locker room, you know, we'll have your back.
BLOCK: Brendon, what do you think?
AYANBADEJO: Yeah. I mean, I believe it's going to take the right city, the right organization, and the right timing. That's why we're so adamant about this, in speaking out, so we can help whoever the next young person is that comes out; so they can not only, you know, excel in what they're doing at work, but also excel as an individual. And in turn, they're going to make us a better place to live - and enhance everything.
BLOCK: Do you think, realistically, that we're at a point where teammates, coaches, fans would accept a gay NFL player?
AYANBADEJO: I think so. I spoke to Dick Cass, the president from the Ravens, about this issue; and you know, right now, what do we expect of our players? We expect you to be a good person; we expect you to be a good player; we expect you to get your job done. If you can get your job done and you're also a great player, the type of person that is wanted in the organization, then you're only going to enhance the organization. It doesn't matter what your sexual orientation is.
BLOCK: I don't know, Chris. I've been reading some responses to your blog posts. And there is a lot of anger and disagreement out there...
KLUWE: (LAUGHTER) Well, those people are certainly...
BLOCK:...to put it mildly.
KLUWE: They're certainly not coming on Twitter to say it because out of - I'd say I probably got like, 5- or 6,000 replies to the letter I wrote. And I counted maybe seven angry responses. And I think it's one of those things where people, they're going to say stuff on the Internet that they're not necessarily going to say in real life. And it will be tough, at first, for a guy to come out - you know, just like it was tough for Jackie Robinson to be the first black player in baseball. I mean, it was tough for Kenny Washington to be one of the first black football players. And it's unfortunate that people feel that way but if we make a stand, if we make our voices heard then, you know, we make it that much easier for whoever who decided to take that next step.
BLOCK: Chris, you're 30 - I believe. Right?
KLUWE: Yes, that's correct.
BLOCK: And Brendon, you're 36?
AYANBADEJO: Yeah. Chris is still wet behind the ears.
(LAUGHTER)
KLUWE: Yeah. You're ancient, for football.
AYANBADEJO: Oh, my goodness, I have so many gray hairs.
(LAUGHTER)
BLOCK: Well, I'm asking because I was wondering whether as older players in the league, you have some standing; you may be more comfortable to take the positions you've taken, than a really young player might.
KLUWE: Yeah. I think, you know, being players that have had success, in multiple years in the league, does make it a bit easier because, you know, we've had some of those years where we've got money saved up. But at the same time, I'd like to think of us as kind of the veteran guys; that when young guys come in, you know, they look at us and they're like, OK - you know; that's OK. These guys are talking about it. These guys are supporting it, you know. We're OK with it - and just make the league a better place than when we came in.
BLOCK: Brendon?
AYANBADEJO: Yeah. I mean, we're just - we're trying to change the whole attitude that's in the locker room, and I think we've done it. One of the biggest, you know, compliments that I get - I kind of don't like it, but it's also a compliment - is, oh, you all wouldn't expect a football player to be talking about marriage equality.
But why not? We're no different than anybody else. We laugh, we cry; we have emotions. Just because we play football - it doesn't mean that we're these - you know - quote-unquote "macho" guys, or whatever. I mean, we want everyone to be treated equally within our organizations and within our sport, and we're trying to get that done. And I think Chris has done a great job of just showing exactly what type of people we are. We're more than just football players.
BLOCK: Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo, thank you so much for talking with us.
AYANBADEJO: Thanks for having us.
KLUWE: Yeah, thank you for having us.
BLOCK: That's Chris Kluwe,of the Minnesota Vikings; and Brendon Ayanbadejo, of the Baltimore Ravens.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News.
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NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Alright guys, as you all already know, Rails is dead or at least dying. It’s slow, it’s vulnerable and it does not scale, which is a huge disadvantage for your next gen social dating service with geolocation and badges. Today we will play rats abandoning a sinking ship of Ruby on Rails and learn how to handle a session created by a Rails application. I’m going to talk about web apps that use Rails 4.0.0 or greater, because even my grandmother can fake an authorization stored in a Base64 encoded cookie (and remember, if you don’t keep your app up-to-date, you will be eaten) very soon.
TL;DR
With gorails/session and gorails/marshal you can access session variables set within the Rails 4 app. The access is read-only for now, but this is enough to e.g. handle the authorization made by the devise gem. See README for details.
Rails 4.0 Session Cookie
Doing something just for the sake of being educated is boring. Better let’s take a real world problem and learn something while solving it. A good reason to want to handle a Rails session is to handle an authentication made by an industry standard devise gem. Actually, the same method can be applied to any authentication gem that uses session cookie as a storage.
As I mentioned before, prior to Rails 4 session data was stored as a Base64 encoded Ruby object. Starting from version 4.0.0 Rails encrypts and signs this object before saving. Both sign and encrypt secrets are generated from secret_key_base string which could be found in config/initializers/secret_token.rb of your Rails application.
Decoding a session cookie with Ruby is pretty straightforward:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 def decrypt_session_cookie ( cookie ) cookie = CGI. unescape ( cookie ) config = Rails. application. config encrypted_cookie_salt = config. action_dispatch. encrypted_cookie_salt # "encrypted cookie" by default encrypted_signed_cookie_salt = config. action_dispatch. encrypted_signed_cookie_salt # "signed encrypted cookie" by default key_generator = ActiveSupport :: KeyGenerator. new ( config. secret_key_base, iterations : 1000 ) secret = key_generator. generate_key ( encrypted_cookie_salt ) sign_secret = key_generator. generate_key ( encrypted_signed_cookie_salt ) encryptor = ActiveSupport :: MessageEncryptor. new ( secret, sign_secret ) encryptor. decrypt_and_verify ( cookie ) end
Here is a structure of signed encrypted Rails session cookie:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 +--------------------------- URI Encode --------------------------+ | +--------------------------- base64 -------+------+-----------+ | | | +---------------- base64 --------------+ | | | | | | | encrypted data | "--" | init. vector | | "--" | signature | | | | +----------------+------+--------------+ | | | | | +------------------------------------------+------+-----------+ | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
So to decode a Rails session we need to defeat two beasts:
Encryption Marshalling
This is the most tricky part, because Rails uses Ruby Marshal format to serialize a session object. As a paranoid developer, you might also like to verify the signature, but I will leave this as a homework.
Decrypt
We’re about to implement the part of ActiveSupport that encrypts serialized session object in Go.
By default Rails uses a cipher-block chaining mode of AES-256 encryption algorithm. Luckily Google did most of the dirty job for us. The package crypto/aes is available out of the box and provides various implementations of the AES algorithm.
Rails uses standard PBKDF2 with SHA-1 as a hash function to generate the secret. Again, Google already took care of it. All you need to do is
1 go get code.google.com/p/go.crypto/pbkdf2
As you might have noticed from the code above, the number of iterations is a constant in Rails 4 and it is set to 1000. The key size is also a constant for now and should be set to 64.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 import ( "code.google.com/p/go.crypto/pbkdf2" "crypto/sha1" ) const ( keyIterNum = 1000 keySize = 64 ) func GenerateSecret ( secretKeyBase, salt string ) [] byte { return pbkdf2. Key ( [] byte ( secretKeyBase ), [] byte ( salt ), keyIterNum, keySize, sha1. New, ) }
All you need to do is create a crypto.NewCBCDecrypter using first 32 bytes (guess why? hint: the 256 in AES-256 is the key size in bits) of generated secret, initialize it with the given initialization vector and decode the session data. Easy!
Not really? Then you might like to use our gorails/session package, which does all this stuff for you:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 import "github.com/adeven/gorails/session" const ( secretKeyBase = "..." // can be found in config/initializers/secret_token.rb salt = "encrypted cookie" // default value for Rails 4 app ) // sessionCookie - raw _<your app name>_session cookie, i.e. for MyRailsApp that will be _my_rails_app_session func GetRailsSessionData ( sessionCookie string ) ( decryptedCookieData [] byte, err error ) { return session. DecryptSignedCookie ( sessionCookie, secretKeyBase, salt ) }
Unmarshal
Here is where the real beast lives. It took me about 2 weeks to implement unmarshalling of Ruby objects serialized with the Marshal module. Thanks Jake Goulding for detailed description of Marshal format.
Omitting details, Ruby’s Marshal package represents an object as a byte sequence where a value is prefixed with a 1 byte header that describes its type, e.g. 'i' denotes that the following sequence should be treated as an integer. The size of strings, arrays and maps goes after the type header and a string has a suffix describing its encoding. Serialization is performed recursively, i.e. to serialize an array you need to serialize each of its elements and then prepend the result with a header that describes the type and size. Maps (or Hashes in the Ruby world) are being serialized as arrays of key-value pairs.
Our implementation of marshal.MarshalledObject uses the Maybe monad to perform the type assertion:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 import ( "github.com/adeven/gorails/marshal" "log" ) const ( serializedStringObject = "..." // Serialized string ) func main () { intValue, err := marshal. CreateMarshalledObject ( serializedStringObject ). GetAsInteger () if err!= nil { log. Panic ( err ) } log. Printf ( "unmarshalled int value: %d", intValue ) }
The code above will exit with an error
1 "gorails/marshal: an attempt to implicitly typecast a marshalled object"
since we tried to treat a string as an integer.
Remember why do we started all this? Right, given a session cookie we wanted to figure out if the user has been authorized and authenticate him/her in our Go app. To do this we need to know how devise stores the authorized user. The easies way is to take a cookie for one of your Rails apps that uses devise and decrypt it as shown above. Most likely you will get something like this:
1 2 3 4 5 { "session_id" => "974561a18fc4aa7e44a19240647abaf4e", "warden.user.user.key" => [[ 1 ], "$2a$10$QOxmmQkm8i8WJ85TE9.cZO" ], "_csrf_token" => "jtbd2pGvI1AMIM3KqesbjU1K4wv3blFLp2tert3D8sc=" }
Here "warden.user.user.key" (this key may vary depending on the name of your User model) contains an array, which has an id of authorized user as a first element. Here is how it might look like written in Go using gorails/marshal :
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 import ( "errors" "github.com/adeven/gorails/marshal" ) func GetAuthUserId ( decryptedSessionData [] byte ) ( userId int64, err error ) { unauthorizedUser := errors. New ( "Unauthorized user" ) invalidAuthData := errors. New ( "Invalid auth data" ) sessionData, err := marshal. CreateMarshalledObject ( decryptedSessionData ). GetAsMap () if err!= nil { return } wardenData, ok := sessionData [ "warden.user.user.key" ] if! ok { return 0, unauthorizedUser } wardenUserKey, err := wardenData. GetAsArray () if err!= nil { return } if len ( wardenUserKey ) < 1 { return 0, invalidAuthData } userData, err := wardenUserKey [ 0 ]. GetAsArray () if err!= nil { return } if len ( userData ) < 1 { return 0, invalidAuthData } userId, err = userData [ 0 ]. GetAsInteger () return }
This function takes the decrypted session data and returns an id or an error when there is no user authorized, which means that nothing can stop you from rewriting your JSON API in Go :)
Have fun and take care!“As a City for Everyone, Orlando has a long history of establishing partnerships which have supported the development of services and programs that were built on the foundation of compassion. Every day, our residents demonstrate compassion so many ways, like volunteering as a mentor in our Parramore Kidz Zone program, participating in a community garden that provides fresh fruits and vegetables to their neighbors or serving on a committee that helps connect veterans to valuable resources.” – Mayor Buddy Dyer
The City of Orlando is designated as a Compassionate City by the International Compassion Action Network, and affirms the Charter of Compassion.
The City Council affirms and endorses the principles of compassion and hereby encourages government, citizens, businesses and organizations to work together to embrace and apply compassionate solutions in all sectors, private and public.
We encourage all individuals residing and working in Metro Orlando to personally affirm the Charter for Compassion and strive to live and act compassionately.
Affirm and Share the Charter for Compassion on charterforcompassion.org
Fill out my online form
Visit actlovegive.org for more information.
- Spanish -How many politicians does it take to bring down a flag? Because there’s an increasingly long line of them outside the South Carolina Statehouse. On Monday afternoon, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the state Legislature to remove the Confederate flag flying over the grounds of the Statehouse. She was flanked by a large delegation of South Carolina’s federal and local officials, including South Carolina’s two Republican senators, Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham. Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney have both tweeted that they recommend removing the flag.
By design, the flag is protected from political pressure. The South Carolina Heritage Act of 2000 requires a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature to remove the flag (though some Democrats are now claiming that the original law unconstitutionally ties the hands of the Legislature). The supermajority is a serious barrier; in South Carolina and nationwide, the Confederate flag has not been opposed by even a simple majority (though that could change after Charleston).
In polls conducted in recent years, Americans have mixed feelings about what the flag symbolizes and tend to feel personally indifferent about whether it appears in public at all.
I looked at several polls that measured sentiment about the flag, all of which came out before the killing of nine black people last week at a church in Charleston; the white suspect has ties to white supremacist groups. But until new polling data exists, the pre-shooting polls offer a baseline measure of support for the display of the flag.
Let’s start just with South Carolinians. A November 2014 Winthrop poll of adults in South Carolina found that only 33 percent of residents wanted the flag to come down, while 61 percent thought it should keep flying. The responses were very different for black South Carolinians, a majority of whom opposed it (61 percent), while 27 percent believed it should be left in place.
The support for the flag is far smaller nationally, but still there isn’t a majority opposed to the flag. An October 2013 poll by YouGov found that a plurality (38 percent) of Americans opposed flying it in any public place. Nearly as many respondents (34 percent) said they neither approved nor disapproved, and an additional 8 percent simply said that they were unsure.
That poll showed something else: that Americans are ambivalent about what the flag means. When asked if they view the flag as a symbol of racism or a symbol of Southern pride, 20 percent said neither or that they weren’t sure. In the 2013 YouGov survey, 20 percent of Americans said they saw the Confederate flag equally as a symbol of racism and Southern pride. A plurality of Americans (35 percent) saw the flag as primarily about Southern pride, and 24 percent saw it as linked primarily to racism.
The more highly educated respondents were, the more likely they were to see the flag as a symbol of racism. However, the difference is modest and doesn’t come with a corresponding drop in the proportion of people identifying the flag as primarily a symbol of Southern pride.
A 2011 poll by the Pew Research Center also found that a significant share of Americans felt indifferent about the Confederate flag. The majority of respondents (58 percent) said they had neither a positive nor a negative feeling when they saw the Confederate flag displayed. Very few (9 percent) stated that they had a positive feeling upon seeing the flag, and 30 percent said they had a negative reaction.
Even among white respondents who identified themselves as Southerners, the majority (64 percent) had neither a positive nor a negative reaction to the flag. Twenty-two percent felt positively about seeing the flag, and 13 percent felt negatively.
Given the baseline indifference that many Americans feel, South Carolina is likely to change its policy only in the wake of tragedy. In ordinary circumstances, many Americans do not feel strongly enough about the significance of the flag to demand that it be lowered.
UPDATE (June 22, 5:03 p.m.): Monday afternoon, Public Policy Polling released a survey of registered voters conducted June 19-20, after the Charleston shooting. Sixty-four percent of registered voters opposed government buildings flying the Confederate flag, while 21 percent supported these displays. Fifteen percent were unsure.0 0 0 0
The people (creatures) of Sirius 3639 are a reasonable bunch. When Y’orglaxis descended from on high and told them to maybe chill out and possibly, you know, love thy neighbor, they waited a few days before looking for something to nail him to. Unfortunately, living in an ecology that supports the growth of dense fungal forests rather than trees meant that it there wasn’t much in the way of sturdy materials for crucifixion.
They chose to simply tie him up to one of the mushroom-like fungi nearby for a while. Eventually, he stopped jabbering about peace and love, and everyone went about their business.
Several thousand years later, the majority of the betentacled creatures of Sirius 3639 adhere to several faiths rooted in the teachings of Y’orglaxis and his prophetic predecessors. These creatures, like many people here on earth, also choose to ignore most of the things their prophets taught.
Like us, they received the words of the Star-Father on a couple of pieces of what passes for rocks on their planet. Chief among them was the commandment to really, just stop all the killing. Some of the Sirians looked at these words and thought, “Yeah, I guess,” and stuck to that for a couple of years before starting another war with their neighbors. A thousand years after the death of Y’orglaxis, holy war was declared against the monsters of Perseus 5421 (creatures that look an awful lot like giant earth-rodents) when they dared to mention, rather casually, that they too had a prophet and that he had some quite wonderful things to tell them.
The Sirians didn’t like the sound of that.
A thousand destructive star-battles left the Perseans on a ruined world.
It’s really too bad that we live in a universe of uncertainties or the whole thing could have been avoided, seeing as it was Y’orglaxis himself that had also visited the Perseans.
Not only had the great prophet visited the rodent-people many years before, he had also delivered the same message of peace before being tied up to one of the many stalactites in their subterranean city. Like their hated enemies, they too had started religions based on this incredible figure and then largely chosen to ignore his teachings.
Meanwhile, Y’orglaxis, the real victim in all this, continues his way across the universe, trying to talk some sense into people and getting nailed up to pieces of wood, crushed under rocks, and stuffed in methane fissures for it.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that you probably shouldn’t go around trying to get people to talk it out instead of murdering one another, it only gets you killed, deified, and then subsequently ignored.(New York) – In a landmark decision today, Mexico’s Supreme Court required all of the country’s states to distribute emergency contraception and to provide access to abortion for rape victims. The decision affirms women’s rights to health and life by enabling rape victims to avoid forced pregnancies, Human Rights Watch said.
“The Supreme Court’s decision protects women’s rights,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “The state should not force rape victims to suffer an imposed pregnancy.”
The Supreme Court’s decision came in response to a challenge brought by the state of Jalisco to a February 2009 federal health directive (NOM-046-SSA2-2005) that requires health workers to offer emergency contraception and legal abortion to rape victims.
In a report released in 2006, “The Second Assault,” Human Rights Watch documented the severe mental distress and suffering of women and girls who became pregnant as the result of rape. The distress deepened as rape victims routinely found little support for their plight in the justice and health systems, the report found.Nearly half of today’s 30-year-olds are making less money than their parents did, says a new study about the American Dream.
The American Dream is in trouble
Don’t ask 38-year-old Josh Shartzer about that part of the American dream where children do better than their parents.
“I think it is just dream -- and I think it’is gonna be a very hard dream to make a reality” he said.
“It’s a lot more harder to reach that reality than it was 20, 30, 40 years ago.”
Shartzer lives in Indianapolis and works at Rexnord, a manufacturer of industrial ball bearings. He makes less than half what his dad did selling power for Midwestern grids.
“It seems like the pie got eaten before I could get any crumbs,” he said.
Josh Shartzer lives in Indianapolis and works at Rexnord, a manufacturer of industrial ball bearings. He makes less than half what his dad did selling power for Midwestern grids. CBS News
A new study by researchers at Harvard and Stanford says Shartzer’s experience is now shared by more Americans than ever. In 1970, 92 percent of American 30-year-olds made more than their parents did when they were 30, adjusting for inflation.
A generation later, in 1992, that number had dropped to 58 percent. The latest figure is a little more than half.
In 1970, 92 percent of American 30-year-olds made more than their parents did when they were 30, adjusting for inflation. CBS News
Raj Chetty is one of the researchers.
“The American dream was a reality, and it just seems less so at the moment,” Chetty said.
Chetty said that while the economy has certainly slowed, a bigger factor in the trend is the distribution of income.
“We find that most of the decline in rates of achieving the American dream is because growth is not being as broadly shared anymore,” Chetty said. “There’s growing inequality, so fewer kids are getting ahead of their parents.”
“There’s growing inequality, so fewer kids are getting ahead of their parents,” says Raj Chetty, a Stanford economist who conducted a new study. CBS News
While this trend was seen across the country, the declines were sharpest among men in the rust belt -- men like Josh Shartzer. And he expects to be out of a job by February. That’s when Rexnord is slated to move his job to Mexico.My friend Jack likes to tell his favorite story about a summer he spent volunteering in Colombia. He recounts that story anytime he’s handed the opportunity, at parties, lunch meetings and airports. He highlights varying facets of the story on different occasions — the snake he found in his tent, his camaraderie with the locals and his skills at haggling. The message to his |
."
Rev. JERRY FALWELL: Abortion is not a Roman Catholic issue, it is a moral issue.
NARRATOR: In 1978, Falwell delivered his first sermon condemning abortion.
Rev. JERRY FALWELL: -an issue that concerns the human rights of unborn babies who by the hundreds of thousands are being murdered in these United States of America.
NARRATOR: In Washington, Francis Schaeffer brought his anti-abortion message to conservative Republican leaders.
FRANK SCHAEFFER: Dad was very persuasive, and the word began to spread. But then we also made some converts to our cause who were in positions of influence- for instance, Congressman Jack Kemp, who then invited us back to the Republican Club in an evening hosted by him and Bob Dole. And then soon after that, Dad met with Ronald Reagan and talked about this. They began to see it as a way to win elections. We began to see winning elections as a way to make our country a better moral place.
E.J. DIONNE, The Washington Post: A lot of smart conservatives realized that with the rise of issues like abortion and school prayer, there were all these evangelical Christians kind of on the loose in politics. They were historically Democratic, a lot of them, but a lot of them were quite conservative. And so they set out to organize them. And they found Jerry Falwell.
NARRATOR: In the summer of 1979, Falwell, at the urging of conservative operatives, launched a political organization he called the Moral Majority to bring evangelicals back into national politics.
Rev. ED DOBSON, Moral Majority Executive 1979-'87: We were desperate to have our voice heard and concluded that one way to get it heard was to register a bunch of people who had never registered and encourage them to vote. The idea was we need to, quote, "save the country."
Rev. JERRY FALWELL: I'd like to say there is no Bible Belt in America. There's a Bible cloak in America that covers the whole blooming republic, and they're everywhere ready for the leadership preachers that you and I can offer them, and let's give it to them!
NARRATOR: In only a year, Moral Majority had organized in 47 states, aiming to mobilize 10 million evangelical voters for the next election. In his 1980 campaign, Ronald Reagan set out to capture their votes.
E.J. DIONNE: You know, it's fascinating because Reagan was not particularly church-going himself. But I think as a very smart politician, he understood this movement as having great potential.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: That's what's funny about Reagan. You have these sort of great champions of religion in American life, like Dwight Eisenhower, you know, who really is seen as a big figure behind the religious revival of the 1950s, and Reagan behind this political push in the 1980s. But neither was particularly religious.
NARRATOR: During the campaign, Reagan arranged to speak at an evangelical convention, where he made a dramatic gesture.
RONALD REAGAN, Presidential Candidate: Now, I know this is a non-partisan gathering, and so I know that you can't endorse me. But I only brought that up because I want you to know that I endorse you and what you're doing.
Rev. ED DOBSON: We had been on the fringes of the culture. Evangelicals were considered obscurantist, sweat-drenched Appalachian hillbillies. And for someone running for president to affirm us was very significant. I think evangelicals, once that was said, lined up behind Reagan en masse.
PRAYER: -going to put this man into office because he says all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
ROBERT SHRUM, Democratic Political Strategist: Reagan- embracing the Christian right helped him immensely in 1980 against Carter. I mean, look, the economy was in terrible shape. The hostages were in Iran. Carter was going to lose. But this was a piece that came into the Reagan coalition and helped turn that election into a virtual landslide.
Pres. RONALD REAGAN: -preserve, protect and defend-
WARREN BURGER, Chief Justice: -the Constitution of the United States-
Pres. RONALD REAGAN: -the Constitution of the United States-
Chief Justice WARREN BURGER: -so help me God.
Pres. RONALD REAGAN: -so help me God.
Chief Justice WARREN BURGER: May I congratulate you, sir.
Rev. ED DOBSON: I remember when Ronald Reagan became president. And that afternoon, I noticed Falwell all alone and he was listening to the radio. And he kept saying, "I can't believe it. They're giving us credit for electing Ronald Reagan." And I think he was partly shocked and partly thrilled.
NARRATOR: In Reagan's Washington, one of the key lobbyists for the evangelical movement was Richard Cizik.
Rev. RICHARD CIZIK, National Evangelical Assn., 1980-2008: What I had previously seen as the irrelevance of American evangelicals all of a sudden turned, and they became relevant. These folk, who had previously considered politics dirty and not worth soiling their hands over, moved into the center of the debate.
Pres. RONALD REAGAN: Let me thank you, first of all, for that ad. But more than that, I know what you've been doing yourself on the radio and everything else in support of us, and I really want to tell you how grateful I am.
NARRATOR: To the evangelicals, Reagan seemed ready to put their social agenda into action.
Pres. RONALD REAGAN: Our positive stance on family and children is consistent with our heartfelt convictions on the issue of abortion. Here again, we are not jut against an evil. We are not just anti-abortion. We are pro-life. In the meantime, we in government will see to it that not one tax dollar goes to encouraging any woman to snuff out the life of her unborn child.
NARRATOR: In the campaign, Reagan had advocated a constitutional amendment banning abortion. And in office, he proposed an amendment to reinstate prayer in public schools.
Rev. JERRY FALWELL: The president just gave to us the final wording of the constitutional amendment regarding voluntary prayer in public schools.
Pres. RONALD REAGAN: No one will ever convince me that a moment of voluntary payer will harm a child or threaten a school or a state. But I think it can strengthen our faith in a creator who alone has the power to bless America.
Rev. JERRY FALWELL: I don't know what a human being could do more rapidly and more intelligently and more accurately, and in keeping with his promises, than Ronald Reagan has done. I give him A-plus on everything.
Rev. RICHARD CIZIK: And it was heady stuff. I attended those Rose Garden meetings with the president and the briefings in the White House and the rest and saw how the evangelicals had soaked up their newfound relevance. Unfortunately, with it came the arrogance that "We're right and everybody else is wrong."
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: I think a lot of Americans coming out of the 1980 election were wondering what had happened. Here you have this new political force that is making itself felt in American society, in American politics, and so Americans generally were quite anxious about what was going on with the religious right.
NARRATOR: In 1983, Senator Ted Kennedy came to Jerry Falwell's Liberty Baptist College to articulate that anxiety and to caution evangelicals about the dangers of allowing religious faith to dictate the actions of government.
Sen. TED KENNEDY (D), Massachusetts: The separation of church and state can sometimes be frustrating for women and men of religious faith. They may be tempted to misuse government in order to impose a value which they cannot persuade others to accept. But once we succumb to that temptation, we step onto a slippery slope where everyone's freedom is at risk.
ROBERT SHRUM: I went with Ted Kennedy to Liberty Baptist, and the argument he made there was, number one, that you could not in essence excommunicate people from the public dialogue because you disagreed with them on the basis of religion. And number two, that you couldn't take every tenet of your religion, or even major tenets of your religion, and necessarily demand that they be written into public law, especially when there was no consensus about that.
NARRATOR: The same year Senator Kennedy warned evangelicals, President Reagan seemed to tighten his rhetorical embrace of them.
Pres. RONALD REAGAN: In the book of John is the promise we all go by, tells us that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. With his message and with your conviction and commitment, we can still move mountains. We can work to reach our dreams and make to America a shining city on a hill.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: With this "shining city on a hill," Reagan is really going back to the very origins of American colonialism, the British colonies, and this sermon on the Arabella that was given by the first governor of Massachusetts, where he said America will be a city on a hill. We're going to be this place that, across from Europe, they will look and they will see, "Yeah, that's how we want our society to be."
And Reagan picked up on that. And with his great sort of California, American optimistic ebullience, he added the word "shining," shining city on a hill. We won't just be the city on a hill, but we'll be the shining city on the hill. And so in that rhetoric, you get the sense of sort of religion, Bible, Puritans, tradition, that this is a religious place.
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: Reagan was a master of political symbolism. So when Falwell hears "city on a hill," what he hears is that this is going to be a Christian nation. We're going to try to propagate this Christian vision of politics and religion not only in America, but more broadly throughout the world.
NARRATOR: Evangelicals felt empowered by the support of the Reagan administration, and they intensified their critique of what they saw as moral decay in American society.
Rev. JAMES ROBISON, Televangelist: After all, if we can just keep getting more of our men to have sex with more men, we won't have to worry about babies being born! And if we can just get more women to get out there in the marketplace and start acting like men, and if we can just get other women to look at motherhood as though it is some dread terminal illness, if we can just get society so drunk and so drugged, if ever anybody does get pregnant, then we can abort the baby! That's where we are!
NARRATOR: But other American evangelicals thought that the religious right had it wrong.
Rev. JIM WALLIS, Founder, Sojourners: The evangelical movement has been hijacked by a cabal of television preachers and far-right political operatives in a right-wing political cause that bears no resemblance to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's take it back.
NARRATOR: Rev. Jim Wallis had created a liberal evangelical movement focused on issues of peace and social justice.
Rev. JIM WALLIS: People felt like the religious right had just taken over the country. And this is so political and so partisan and it is so much aimed at gaining political power, a lot of folks were saying, "Wait a minute. I'm a person of faith, too, and they don't speak for me."
PROTESTERS: Moral Majority, we say no! Right wing has got to go!
NARRATOR: As the religious right seemed at the height of its power, their heated rhetoric and a series of scandals involving prominent televangelists set off a backlash.
PROTESTERS: Falwell is America's ayatollah!
Rev. JERRY FALWELL: You say, "Well, I believe in freedom of choice." I do, too, but you ought to make the choice before you get in bed.
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: Jerry Falwell thrived on being disliked to some degree. I think he enjoyed that sort of thing. He liked being at the center of controversy, and he knew how to stir it up.
Rev. JERRY FALWELL: That's OK!
NARRATOR: By the late 1980s, Jerry Falwell's crusade was faltering. Public opinion polls showed that his popularity had fallen dramatically.
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: And you'll find Reagan late in his administration trying to put some distance between himself and Falwell, and some of the other leaders of the religious right, because some of the things that they had done didn't look very good in the eyes of many Americans.
NARRATOR: And many evangelicals felt let down by President Reagan, believing he had never used his full political clout to push their social agenda.
Rev. RICHARD CIZIK: Ronald Reagan knew how to please evangelicals without giving them anything in return. Major constitutional amendments went nowhere. And the White House gave lip service to these. I know. I heard the lip service all the time. But not really. They wouldn't spend the president's capital to go to Capitol Hill and lobby legislators on behalf of these ideas, not really.
Rev. ED DOBSON: What did Reagan do for us in eight years of office? He gave us credibility, and he ultimately did nothing in terms of our long-term agendas.
NARRATOR: In the wake of the Reagan years, Jerry Falwell would disband the Moral Majority.
Rev. JERRY FALWELL: I will not be stumping for candidates again. I will never work for a candidate as I did for Ronald Reagan. I am now rededicating my life to the preaching of the Gospel.
NARRATOR: The torch of evangelical political engagement was picked up by Pat Robertson. His Christian Coalition took a different course, focusing not on presidential politics but on organizing evangelicals at the grass roots level. Robertson installed Ralph Reed, a young political operative, to lead the effort.
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: Reed's approach to political activism, unlike that of Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority, was to work from the level of school board elections, the so-called stealth candidates who would be typically members of an evangelical congregation or a mega-church, or something of that sort, and rely on the votes from the evangelical grass roots.
PHONE BANK CALLER: Hello, Mr. Glasson. My name is Jackie, and I am with Christian Coalition, calling to thank you so much for all you've done for us and to let you know that Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed really appreciate you.
RALPH REED, Exec. Dir., Christian Coalition, 1989-'97: Religiously devout Christians are somewhere between 25 and 30 percent of the electorate. And I thought if we could figure out a way, by organizing them and mobilizing them and training them and deploying them and activating them, so that their influence and effectiveness was even proportional to their numbers, we would transform American politics.
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: It was very effective. Thousands of school boards across the country had conservative fundamentalist religious right majorities in the 1990s because of Ralph Reed and Christian Coalition.
NARRATOR: In 2000, the presidential campaign brought evangelicals new hope for success in national politics.
AMY SULLIVAN, Time Magazine: For many Evangelical voters, George W. Bush was the candidate they had been waiting for, in that he brought together the right conservative stance on issues that mattered to them, but he also had the evangelical identity.
Gov. GEORGE W. BUSH, Presidential Candidate: When you turn your heart and your life over to Christ, accept Christ as a savior, it changes your heart. It changes your life. And that's what happened to me.
AMY SULLIVAN: And so instead of having another Ronald Reagan, for example, who was a conservative but not necessarily personally religious, they finally had somebody who could share their identity and could share their politics.
Rev. PAT ROBERTSON: With the election of George Bush, it was assumed that we had accomplished our goals. And once an evangelical is in that power, he has the ability then to call the shots.
NARRATOR: As conservative evangelicals savored political victory, the country's religious landscape was shifting. The wide-open American religious marketplace was undergoing dramatic changes, changes that would carry political implications.
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: What's particularly striking to me over the last 30, 40 years is that since changes to the immigration laws of 1965, the religious landscape of North America has quite literally been transformed. There are Sikh gurdwaras and Muslim mosques and Hindu temples in places that I never thought possible.
NARRATOR: No place in the country had changed more than Los Angeles, which five decades earlier had ignited Billy Graham's evangelical career.
PHILIP GOFF, Dir., Ctr. for Study of Religion and American Culture: In 1949, it was a city which was still dominated by white Protestants. Los Angeles today is the most religiously diverse city in the world. It's also the most ethnically diverse city in the world.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: Los Angeles is amazing in terms of religious choice. L.A. has hundreds of different Buddhist options, dozens of Hindu temples, all sorts of different forms of Catholicism and Protestantism.
NARRATOR: By 2000, in Los Angeles County alone, more than a million people were members of non-Christian faiths, and the metropolitan area was home to hundreds of their houses of worship.
Imam MUZAMMIL SIDDIQI, Dir., Islamic Society of Orange County: Now the community is large because many refugees came because of Iran situation, from Afghanistan, many coming from Cambodia and Vietnam, and then people from many other places. In metropolitan Los Angeles, say from San Barbara to San Diego, we estimate about half a million Muslims, maybe 30 or 40 different nationalities.
NARRATOR: In the 2000 election, a majority of American Muslims had voted for George W. Bush. And when the 9/11 attacks created intense scrutiny of the Muslim community, that support for Bush would be reciprocated.
Imam MUZAMMIL SIDDIQI: 9/11 created a lot of misunderstanding. People think that Muslims are fanatics, Muslims are not open to other people, they hate other people. But that's not what Islam is. That's not who Muslim people are.
NARRATOR: Imam Siddiqi had been scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House on September 11th. After the terror attacks, he was invited to offer a prayer at the memorial service at the National Cathedral.
Imam MUZAMMIL SIDDIQI: We turn to you, O Lord, at this time of pain and grief in our nation. With broken and humble hearts and with tears in our eyes, we turn to you, O Lord, to give us comfort.
And the president said, "Thank you for participating in the prayer service. You did a heck of a good job." And I also gave him a copy of the Quran. I told him that, "I understand that you read the Bible every day. I hope you will read some days from this book also." And he said, "I will. I will."
NARRATOR: Bush made a public plea for tolerance of Muslims and their faith.
Pres. GEORGE W. BUSH: The face of terror is not the truth faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: So it was President Bush who said, repeatedly, not "Islam is a bad religion and America is a country of Christians," but "Islam is a religion of peace." This was our evangelical president who did this. After 9/11, it became imperative to integrate Muslims because we couldn't be seen as going to war, a holy war, against Islam. That was horrible. And so we had to be seen as a country not just of Christians and Jews, but also of Muslims.
NARRATOR: Immigration was creating more religious diversity, but in cities like Los Angeles, most newcomers still were Christians.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: We often think about religious immigration as bringing Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus to America, and it has. But the largest group of people coming to America now are Catholics from Spanish-speaking countries.
NARRATOR: Hispanic immigrants were changing the Catholic church. It incorporated popular Latino religious traditions into its rituals.
ARLENE SANCHEZ-WALSH, Latino Church studies, Azusa Pacific Univ.: Latinos said, "We finally feel validated. We finally feel like we're part of the Catholic Church," because for the longest time, there's been a serious tension between the institutional church and what the institutional church teaches, and the popular church. And overwhelmingly, Latinos in this country and in Mexico are part of the popular church.
NARRATOR: While most Latino immigrants remained Catholic, many had joined Pentecostal churches, one of America's fastest-growing evangelical denominations.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: This tremendous desire to go toward this more emotional, heartfelt, personal experience, where not only is God moving in the world, but God is just moving inside you, with power.
ARLENE SANCHEZ-WALSH: It's coming into a community of like-minded people with similar experiences and saying, "At this point, you're all one because at this point, you are God's. And God can touch you, can heal you, can solve your problems." So there's this open expression of weeping, of dancing, an abandoning of the self into a larger communal presence that they do believe is the Holy Spirit and that they come away changed.
NARRATOR: The increasing number of Latino Protestants was also changing the face of evangelical politics.
Rev. SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ, Pres., Natl. Hispanic Christian Leadership Conf.: Politically, there are some serious consequences to this browning of the evangelical community. White evangelicals from 1973 after Roe v. Wade have primarily voted conservative, Republican. The brown evangelical comes along and says, "You know what? We don't want to be married to either party. We really don't. And rather than endorse a candidate we would love them to endorse our agenda." I see the Hispanic Christian community emerging as the game changers and the power brokers politically in America.
Pres. GEORGE W. BUSH: [campaign commercial] We all know that the Latino vote will be deciding factor in the presidential election. When you cast your vote in November, it will be felt.
NARRATOR: In 2004, the Bush campaign targeted Hispanic voters, especially Latino evangelicals, offering support for Hispanic churches through the administration's faith-based charities initiatives and promising major reforms on a key Latino issue, immigration.
Pres. GEORGE W. BUSH: I call upon Congress to enact common sense immigration reform that enforces our border, that upholds our laws, that treats people with respect and remembers the greatness of America is the fact that we've been able to come from different backgrounds, united under the common ideals of our country, and we live one nation under God!
NARRATOR: But Bush's wide-ranging pursuit of evangelical voters and the continued mixing of faith and politics by preachers and politicians was creating a backlash of its own.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: One reaction against the entanglement of religion and politics, especially for young people, has been to disengage from both political and religious institutions. There seems to be something a little unseemly about both of them. They're mistrustful of political parties, more likely to be political independents, mistrustful of religious denominations, more likely to be religiously unaffiliated.
NARRATOR: National polls showed that one in six Americans were not affiliated with any religious institution. More than half of those said they were secular, atheist or agnostic. There was also an expanding demographic who called themselves "spiritual but not religious."
STEPHEN PROTHERO: So there is this new style now, this new spiritual but not religious style that is not secular in the least, but it sees the drama of religion as going on inside the individual. This isn't that far away from Billy Graham. This isn't that far away from the revivals of the second great awakening of the 19th century. You know, these are places that say the drama of religion is the individual transformation.
Well, now we can get that individual transformation by going to yoga class. We can get that transformation by doing some Zen sitting with some cool Zen teacher down the road. I think that's very, very American.
FRANK LAMBERT, Historian, Purdue University: American religion operates in this great sphere of freedom, in this great free marketplace of religion. I mean, 90 percent of Americans say, "I believe in God." But they also reserve for themselves the right to say exactly how they believe in God, and what they mean by God. With religious liberty, there is no official church. There is no official religion. There are hundreds, and it is a matter of fact, if we count mega-churches as individual religious groups, there are thousands of religious groups in America.
NARRATOR: Non-denominational evangelical mega-churches were one of the fastest-growing phenomena in the religious marketplace.
FRANK LAMBERT: They're innovative. They're flexible. They change. They reinvent themselves. So there is something for everyone.
WORSHIPER: I'm dedicated to the cause of Christ, my family and my band of brothers.
NARRATOR: In Los Angeles and across the country, a new generation was redefining the evangelical political agenda with its own take on the Christian message.
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: Many evangelicals, particularly younger evangelicals, are beginning to question the whole political agenda of the religious right. They're beginning to say, "Look, there's a broader spectrum of moral issues than simply abortion and homosexuality."
E.J. DIONNE, The Washington Post: Younger evangelicals are just as pro-life, just as opposed to abortion as older evangelicals, but they also show a much greater concern about the environment and a real concern about AIDS in Africa.
Rev. RICK WARREN, Founder, Saddleback Church: I said, " God, these problems are so big, nobody's been able to solve them." Eight thousand people die every day from AIDS. Twenty-eight million people in Africa have AIDS, 40 million worldwide. Something could be done. And so I began to think, "What did Jesus do?" And I began to read through-
Rev. ED DOBSON, Moral Majority executive, 1979-'87: And there's a whole new generation, Rick Warren and others, whose list of issues includes poverty, HIV-AIDS, caring for creation, and they're much more non-political in their passion and are working to solve issues at a grass roots level.
NARRATOR: In his 2000 campaign, George Bush had courted this younger generation of evangelical voters, promising a new "compassionate conservatism." In office, he would enact policies advocated by younger evangelicals. He spoke out on the genocide in Darfur and proposed new funding to fight HIV-AIDS in Africa.
Pres. GEORGE W. BUSH: Tonight I propose the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a work of mercy beyond all current international efforts to help the people of Africa.
NARRATOR: Bush did not forget the older generation of his evangelical supporters. He signed a bill banning late-term abortions and restricted embryonic stem cell research.
E.J. DIONNE: Well, the biggest thing he did for older evangelicals was to put Justices Roberts and Alito on the Supreme Court. And in the long run, on the issues they care about, Alito and Roberts are going to push that Court in a conservative direction, and that's exactly what a lot of religious conservatives were looking for.
NARRATOR: But as the Bush presidency bogged down with the war in Iraq, it became clear that yet another Republican administration would fail to push through key parts of the evangelical agenda, including constitutional amendments banning abortion and gay marriage.
Rev. RICHARD CIZIK, National Evangelical Assn., 1980-2008: George W. Bush turned out to be a huge disappointment to evangelicals.
RALPH REED: There was a feeling that, "Hey, we worked all these years, we elected all these people, and what do we really have to show for it?"
NARRATOR: After a 30-year journey into politics, some veterans of the evangelical movement concluded their strategy had been flawed.
RALPH REED: We too often acted like just another lobby group, treating the Republican Party as synonymous with our agenda.
Rev. RICHARD CIZIK: Ultimately, it's evangelicalism that suffers. We lose our capacity to be an arbiter in society of what is moral and immoral because we've sold our birthright out to one political party.
Rev. ED DOBSON: There's a huge danger in getting too involved in the political process. You can either be a prophet who stands on the outside of culture and argues against the injustices, or you can be the king. And I don't think you can be both.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: A lot of the changes that the Christian right wanted were cultural changes - to use their own language, sort of "changes of the heart." But you can't really change that through electing presidents because by definition, it's cultural. But they did change our politics in that they brought religion and politics closer and closer together and they created a model that was effective, that the Democrats have now taken up.
NARRATOR: The Democratic Party would have its own epiphany about the role of religion in politics after John Kerry's defeat in the 2004 election.
E.J. DIONNE: You might say that Democrats discovered God in the 2004 exit polls, that they realized that whatever they were doing with religion wasn't working and they had to think about it differently.
NARRATOR: Kerry had polled well among more secular voters, but lost heavily to President Bush among those who attended church regularly. A Roman Catholic, Kerry had been criticized by some church leaders for his stand on abortion and had lost the Catholic vote.
AMY SULLIVAN: Very shortly after the election, John Kerry called one of his close advisers, and among the things that he wanted to talk about, kind of revisiting the mistakes that they had made, was religion and both his inability to stick up for himself when attacked over his faith, but also his campaign's unwillingness to really target religious voters. And he said, you know, "I got the religion thing wrong, didn't I? " and his advisers said, "Well, yes, sir, you did."
NARRATOR: Jim Wallis had been working for years to persuade the Democratic Party to reach out to religious voters. After Kerry's defeat, he saw attitudes begin to shift.
Rev. JIM WALLIS, Founder, Sojourners: The first call I got from a Democrat was from Ted Kennedy, who said, "I think we've, as Democrats, as a party, maybe lost our ability to speak in the language of faith and moral values and why we believe what we do, what our foundations are." He said, "Maybe I need to find a way to be more expressive of my faith while still protecting the separation of church and state."
NARRATOR: The Democrat who most boldly embraced that new attitude about religion was also the party's rising star.
E.J. DIONNE: Barack Obama had a very different take on religion than John F. Kennedy did. And so he was basically arguing to liberals that liberals had to be open to the idea that, yes, religious people will bring their religious beliefs to the public square.
Sen. BARACK OBAMA (D), Illinois: [June 2006] But what I am suggesting is this. Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryan, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, the majority of great reformers in American history, were not only motivated by faith, but they repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause.
So to say that men and women should not inject their, quote, "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it which is grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Moreover, if we progressives shed some of these biases-
E.J. DIONNE: Obama really is trying to reintroduce Civil Rights Christianity, strains of tough-minded liberal Protestantism, a little bit of the old social gospel. But above all, he has spoken with the very respect that a lot of religious folks felt they hadn't gotten from liberals when the religious right was first formed.
NARRATOR: But Obama also criticized the religious right for the way they had argued political issues.
Sen. BARACK OBAMA: I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, to take one example, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I can't simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.
E.J. DIONNE: Obama has been trying to make a quite consistent argument that separating church and state is not the same as separating religion and politics, that you can respect religious liberty and respect religion itself, and that those two things go together.
Pres. BARACK OBAMA: -preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States-
JOHN ROBERTS, Chief Justice: -so help you God,
Pres. BARACK OBAMA: -so help me God.
Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS: Congratulations, Mr. President.
NARRATOR: Nearly 60 years had passed since Billy Graham linked faith with patriotism at the dawn of the cold war. After decades of struggle over the separation of church and state, and the rise of religion in the political movements of Civil Rights and the Christian right, Barack Obama had tried to articulate a new political consensus about the relationship between faith and power in America.
AMY SULLIVAN: We've kind of come full circle in American politics, not back to the point where religion wasn't an issue in electoral politics and particularly in presidential politics, but to the point where neither party is necessarily seen as having an advantage over the other when it comes to values issues or morality, or even the ability to reach out to religious voters.
Pres. BARACK OBAMA: The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit, to choose our better history, to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation, the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness!
Rev. RANDALL BALMER: The sense of America as a providential nation has been with us for a very long time. In the 17th century you had John Winthrop's notion of a city on a hill being a beacon to the rest of the world. In the 18th century, you had the sacred cause of liberty in its revolt against Britain In the 19th century, manifest destiny, 20th century, making the world safe for democracy. And the 21st century, who knows. It probably hasn't emerged quite yet.
But Americans have a sense of their destiny as a nation. They have a sense that America occupies a unique niche in the divine economy. I don't see that abating any time soon.
Pres. BARACK OBAMA: We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth. And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass, that-
NARRATOR: In the summer of 2010, political controversies about the president's personal faith, plans to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero and threats by a Florida pastor to burn copies of the Quran would all be reminders that the struggle for religious liberty and the country's religious identity is an enduring American story.
STEPHEN PROTHERO: This is this great conversation we've had from the very beginning of American life. We've had this notion that this is a special place, and what makes it special is that we have some kind of special relationship with God. The exact parameters of that have always been up for debate. And exactly who's included has always been up for debate.
And what's happened over time is more and more and more people have been included. This moment in American religious life really is about pluralism. We just keep making the space bigger, you know, extending the sacred canopy over more and more people.
So how important is religion going to remain? Are we going to remain both the most modern country in the world and also one of the most religious? We don't really know. We don't have a narrative yet for that. And one interesting thing to see in coming years is, will we come up with one? What's the story going to be?Almost every day for the last few years, someone is writing about physician burnout or depression.
The problems begin in medical school. A recent paper featured drawings that medical students had done depicting faculty as monsters. One student felt so intimidated during a teaching session that she drew a picture of her urinating herself.
The paper equated faculty and residents supervising students to “zombies, vampires, ghosts, and other supernatural figures.” In dealing with the state of the world today, the authors cited a comment by the novelist Stephen King saying that to cope with adversity, people make up horror stories. That sounds pretty serious.
Could the problem be declining student resilience? An article about college students in Psychology Today pointed out that they are less able to deal with seemingly minor affronts. And teachers are reluctant to “give low grades for poor performance, because of the subsequent emotional crises they would have to deal with in their offices.”
“If emotional contagion has such an impact on Facebook users, maybe all these stories about burnout and depression have an impact on students and doctors too.”
This has forced faculty “do more handholding, lower their academic standards, and not challenge students too much.” The article pointed out that college students exhibit more anxiety and depression and take more prescription drugs for these problems than ever before.
It’s not just students.
A systematic review of 54 studies found that 29% of resident physicians were depressed or had depressive symptoms. The number ranged from 20.9% to 43.2%, depending on the method studies used to assess depression.
Investigators from |
math, without realising it.
Teachers unconsciously put girls off math and science by marking down their work in comparison to boys, a new study finds.
Israeli research has revealed that teachers of 11-year-olds graded a math test lower, on average, for girls than for boys.
But, when the same test was graded anonymously by other teachers, the girls had actually performed better than the boys.
The same effect wasn’t seen in science or in any other subjects, although girls were less likely to take advanced science classes later on.
Teachers are likely underestimating the math abilities of girls and marking them down as a result.
Dr. Edith Sand, one of the study’s authors, said this unconscious effect clearly had implications for their futures:
“It isn’t an issue of discrimination but of unconscious discouragement. This discouragement, however, has implications. The track to computer science and engineering fields, which report some of the highest salaries, tapers off in elementary school.”
The study tracked students until they finished high school to test the ramifications.
Dr Sand explained:
“When the same students reached junior high and high school, we examined their performances in matriculation exams (‘Bagrut’ in Hebrew). The boys who had been encouraged when they were younger performed significantly better than their female counterparts, though the latter had objectively scored higher at a younger age.”
Girls were also significantly less likely to take part in advanced math and science classes later on.
Dr Sand said:
“If teachers take into account these effects, it could lead to a reduction of the gender gap in achievement, especially in science and math. It is clear how important encouragement is for both boys and girls in all their subjects. Teachers play a critical role in lowering and raising the confidence levels of their students, which has serious implications for their futures.”
The study is published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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168.
That’s how many hours there are in a week.
If you’re a student, you probably feel like this isn’t enough. I know… You have so many assignments to do, projects to work on, and tests to study for.
Plus, you have other activities and commitments.
And I’m sure you want to have a social life, too.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could study smarter (not harder), get good grades, and lead a balanced life?
Of course it would. That’s why I wrote this article.
The main aim of education isn’t to get straight A’s. But learning how to learn is a vital life skill.
So I spent hours scouring scientific articles and research journals to find the best ways to learn more effectively.
I’m a lifelong straight-A student myself, and I’ve since completed my formal education. Over the course of my academic career, I’ve used almost all the tips outlined in this article, so I can verify that they work.
Let’s get started. Here are 20 scientific ways to learn faster.
BONUS: Download a free PDF summary of this article. The PDF contains all the tips found here, plus 3 exclusive bonus tips that you’ll only find in the PDF.
1. Learn the same information in a variety of ways.
The research (Willis, J. 2008) shows that different media stimulate different parts of the brain. The more areas of the brain that are activated, the more likely it is that you’ll understand and retain the information.[1]
So to learn a specific topic, you could do the following:
Read the class notes
Read the textbook
Watch a Khan Academy video
Look up other online resources
Create a mind map
Teach someone what you’ve learned
Do practice problems from a variety of sources
Of course, you won’t be able to do all of these things in one sitting. But each time you review the topic, use a different resource or method – you’ll learn faster this way.
2. Study multiple subjects each day, rather than focusing on just one or two subjects.
It’s more effective to study multiple subjects each day, than to deep-dive into one or two subjects (Rohrer, D. 2012).[2]
For example, if you’re preparing for exams in math, history, physics, and chemistry, it’s better to study a bit of each subject every day. This approach will help you to learn faster than by focusing on just math on Monday, history on Tuesday, physics on Wednesday, chemistry on Thursday, and so on.
Why?
Because you’re likely to confuse similar information if you study a lot of the same subject in one day.
So to study smart, spread out your study time for each subject. In so doing, your brain will have more time to consolidate your learning.
3. Review the information periodically, instead of cramming.
Periodic review is essential if you want to move information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. This will help you get better exam grades.
As the research (Cepeda, N. 2008) shows, periodic review beats cramming hands-down.[3]
The optimal review interval varies, depending on how long you want to retain the information. But experience – both my own and through working with students – tells me that the following review intervals work well (I explain the entire periodic review system in this article):
1st review: 1 day after learning the new information
2nd review: 3 days after the 1st review
3rd review: 7 days after the 2nd review
4th review: 21 days after the 3rd review
5th review: 30 days after the 4th review
6th review: 45 days after the 5th review
7th review: 60 days after the 6th review
4. Sit at the front of the class.
If you get to choose where you sit during class, grab a seat at the front. Studies show that students who sit at the front tend to get higher exam scores (Rennels & Chaudhari, 1988). The average scores of students, depending on where they sat in class, are as follows (Giles, 1982):
Front rows: 80%
Middle rows: 71.6%
Back rows: 68.1%
These findings were obtained under conditions where the seating positions were teacher-assigned.[4] This means it’s not just a case of the more motivated students choosing to sit at the front, and the less motivated students choosing to sit at the back.
By sitting at the front, you’ll be able to see the board and hear the teacher more clearly, and your concentration will improve too.
Now you know where the best seats in class are!
5. Don’t multitask.
The data is conclusive: Multitasking makes you less productive, more distracted, and dumber.[5][6][7] The studies even show that people who claim to be good at multitasking aren’t actually better at it than the average person.
Effective students focus on just one thing at a time. So don’t try to study while also intermittently replying to text messages, watching TV, and checking your Twitter feed.
Here are some suggestions to improve your concentration:
Turn off notifications on your phone
Put your phone away, or turn it to airplane mode
Log out of all instant messaging programs
Turn off the Internet access on your computer
Use an app like Freedom
Close all of your Internet browser windows that aren’t related to the assignment you’re working on
Clear the clutter from your study area
6. Simplify, summarize, and compress the information.
Use mnemonic devices like acronyms, as these are proven to increase learning efficiency.[8]
Example #1
If you want to memorize the electromagnetic spectrum in order of increasing frequency, you could use this acronym/sentence:
Raging Martians Invaded Venus Using X-ray Guns
(In order of increasing frequency, the electromagnetic spectrum is: Radio, Microwave, Infrared, Visible, Ultraviolet, X-rays, Gamma rays.)
Example #2
Question: Stalactites and stalagmites – which ones grow from the top of the cave and which ones grow from the ground?
Answer: Stalac t ites grow from the t op, while stala g mites grow from the g round.
Study smart by using mnemonic devices whenever possible. In addition, you could summarize the information into a comparison table, diagram, or mind map.[9] These tools will help you learn the information much faster.
7. Take notes by hand, instead of using your laptop.
Scientists recommend this, and not just because you’re more likely to give in to online distractions when using your laptop. Even when laptops are used only for note-taking, learning is less effective (Mueller, P. 2013).[10]
Why?
Because students who take notes by hand tend to process and reframe the information.
In contrast, laptop note-takers tend to write down what the teacher says word-for-word, without first processing the information.
As such, students who take notes by hand perform better in tests and exams.
8. Write down your worries.
Will I do well on this exam?
What if I forget the key concepts and equations?
What if the exam is harder than expected?
These kinds of thoughts probably run through your head before you take an exam. But if these thoughts run wild, the accompanying anxiety can affect your grades.
Here’s the solution …
In one experiment,[11] researchers at the University of Chicago discovered that students who wrote about their feelings about an upcoming exam for 10 minutes performed better than students who didn’t. The researchers say that this technique is especially effective for habitual worriers.
Psychologist Kitty Klein has also shown that expressive writing, in the form of journaling, improves memory and learning.[12] Klein explains that such writing allows students to express their negative feelings, which helps them to be less distracted by these feelings.
To be less anxious, take 10 minutes and write down all the things related to the upcoming exam that you’re worried about. As a result of this simple exercise, you’ll get better grades.
9. Test yourself frequently.
Decades of research has shown that self-testing is crucial if you want to improve your academic performance.[13]
In one experiment, University of Louisville psychologist Keith Lyle taught the same statistics course to two groups of undergraduates.
For the first group, Lyle asked the students to complete a four- to six-question quiz at the end of each lecture. The quiz was based on material he’d just covered.
For the second group, Lyle didn’t give the students any quizzes.
At the end of the course, Lyle discovered that the first group significantly outperformed the second on all four midterm exams.
So don’t just passively read your textbook or your class notes. Study smart by quizzing yourself on the key concepts and equations. And as you prepare for a test, do as many practice questions as you can from different sources.
10. Connect what you’re learning with something you already know.
In their book, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, scientists Henry Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel explain that the more strongly you relate new concepts to concepts you already understand, the faster you’ll learn the new information.[14]
For example, if you’re learning about electricity, you could relate it to the flow of water. Voltage is akin to water pressure, current is akin to the flow rate of water, a battery is akin to a pump, and so on.
Another example: You can think of white blood cells as “soldiers” that defend our body against diseases, which are the “enemies.”
It takes time and effort to think about how to connect new information to what you already know, but the investment is worth it.
11. Read key information out loud.
Studies have been conducted, which demonstrate that reading information out loud helps students to learn faster than by reading silently (MacLeod CM, 2010 & Ozubko JD, 2010).[15][16]
What’s the reason for this?
When you read information out loud, you both see and hear it. On the other hand, when you read information silently, you only see it.
It isn’t practical to read every single word of every single set of notes out loud. That would take way too much time.
So here’s the process I recommend:
Step 1 : As you read your notes, underline the key concepts/equations. Don’t stop to memorize these key concepts/equations; underline them and move on.
Step 2 : After you’ve completed Step 1 for the entire set of notes, go back to the underlined parts and read each key concept/equation out loud as many times as you deem necessary. Read each concept/equation slowly.
Step 3 : After you’ve done this for each of the underlined key concepts/equations, take a three-minute break.
Step 4 : When your three-minute break is over, go to each underlined concept/equation one at a time, and cover it (either with your hand or a piece of paper). Test yourself to see if you’ve actually memorized it.
Step 5 : For the concepts/equations that you haven’t successfully memorized, repeat Steps 2, 3, and 4.
12. Take regular study breaks.
Taking regular study breaks enhances overall productivity and improves focus (Ariga & Lleras, 2011).[17]
That’s why it isn’t a good idea to hole yourself up in your room for six hours straight to study for an exam. You might feel like you get a lot done this way, but the research proves otherwise. So take a 5- to 10-minute break for every 40 minutes of work.
I recommend that you use a timer or stopwatch to remind you when to take a break and when to get back to studying.
During your break, refrain from using your phone or computer, because these devices prevent your mind from fully relaxing.
13. Reward yourself at the end of each study session.
Before starting a study session, set a specific reward for completing the session. By doing this, you’ll promote memory formation and learning (Adcock RA, 2006).[18]
The reward could be something as simple as:
Going for a short walk
Eating a healthy snack
Listening to your favorite music
Stretching
Doing a couple of sets of exercise
Playing a musical instrument
Taking a shower
Reward yourself at the end of every session – you’ll study smarter and learn faster.
14. Focus on the process, not the outcome.
Successful students concentrate on learning the information, not on trying to get a certain grade.
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s research shows that these students … [19]
Focus on effort, not the end result
Focus on the process, not on achievement
Believe they can improve – even in their weak subjects – as long as they put in the time and hard work
Embrace challenges
Define success as pushing themselves to learn something new, not as getting straight A’s
Not-so-successful students tend to set performance goals, while successful students tend to set learning goals.[20]
What’s the difference between these two types of goals?
Performance goals (e.g. getting 90% on the next math test, getting into a top-ranked school) are about looking intelligent and proving yourself to others.
In contrast, learning goals (e.g. doing three algebra problems every other day, learning five new French words a day) are about mastery and growth.
Most schools emphasize the importance of getting a certain exam score or passing a certain number of subjects. Ironically, if you want to meet – and surpass – these standards, you’d be better off ignoring the desired outcome and concentrating on the learning process instead.
15. Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
You probably think you drink enough water, but studies show that up to 75% of people are in a chronic state of dehydration.[21]
Dehydration is bad for your brain – and your exam grades too.
University of East London researchers have found that your brain’s overall mental processing power decreases when you’re dehydrated (Edmonds, C. 2013).[22] Further research has shown that dehydration even causes the grey matter in your brain to shrink.[23]
The simple solution?
Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Bring a water bottle wherever you go, and drink water before you start to feel thirsty.
And if you’re taking an exam, bring a water bottle with you. Every 40 minutes or so, drink some water. This will help you stay hydrated and improve your exam performance. Plus, this also acts as a short break to refresh your mind.
16. Exercise at least three times a week.
Exercise is good for your body. It’s also very good for your brain.
Various studies have shown that exercise …
Improves your memory [24]
Improves your brain function [25] [26]
Reduces the occurrence of depression
Helps to prevent diseases like diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis
Enhances your sleep quality
Reduces stress
Improves your mood[27]
Exercise is quite the miracle drug!
So to study smarter, exercise at least three times a week for 30 to 45 minutes each time. You’ll be healthier and more energetic, and you’ll remember information better too.
17. Sleep at least eight hours a night, and don’t pull all-nighters.
I’ve spoken to and worked with 20,000 students so far. Not a single one has told me that he or she consistently gets eight hours of sleep a night.
“There’s just so much to do,” I hear students say, again and again. As a student, sleep often seems more like a luxury than a necessity.
But what does the research have to say about sleep?
The research shows that if you get enough sleep, you’ll be more focused, you’ll learn faster,[28] and your memory will improve.[29] You’ll also deal with stress more effectively.[30]
This is a recipe for excellent grades.
So sleep at least eight hours a night. This way, your study sessions will be more productive and you won’t need to spend as much time hitting the books.
In addition, sleep expert Dan Taylor says that learning the most difficult material immediately before going to bed makes it easier to recall the next day.[31] So whenever possible, arrange your schedule such that you study the hardest topic right before you sleep.
Lastly, don’t pull all-nighters. As psychologist Pamela Thacher’s research shows, students who pull all-nighters get lower grades and make more careless mistakes.[32]
18. Eat blueberries.
Blueberries are rich in flavanoids, which strengthen connections in the brain and stimulate the regeneration of brain cells.
Researchers at the University of Reading have found that eating blueberries improves both short-term and long-term memory (Whyte, A. & Williams, C. 2014).[33][34] Blueberries may also help to prevent degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
19. Eat chicken and eggs.
A team of researchers from Boston University conducted a long-term study on 1,400 adults over 10 years. They found that participants who had diets high in choline performed better on memory tests.[35]
Choline is the precursor to acetylcholine, which is essential for the formation of new memories.
What foods are high in choline?
Chicken and eggs (the egg yolk contains 90% of the total choline in the egg[36]).
Just in case you’re worried about the high cholesterol content of egg yolks, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Recent studies show that eggs – including the yolk – are a healthy food for just about everyone.[37]
And if you’re a vegetarian, there are alternatives to getting choline in your diet:
Lentils
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Almonds
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Broccoli
20. Eat omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3 fatty acids are critical for brain function.[38] One experiment (Yehuda, S. 2005) also found that taking a combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids reduced test anxiety in students and improved their mental concentration.[39]
Omega-3 fatty acids are linked to the prevention of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dementia, Alzheimer’s, asthma, colorectal cancer, and prostate cancer.[40]
That’s an incredible list!
Here are foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids:
Salmon
Sardines
Mackerel
Trout
Flaxseed
Pumpkin seeds
Walnuts
The bottom line
This is a long article that contains a lot of information. But don’t feel overwhelmed, because there’s no need to implement everything at one shot.
As the saying goes …
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
In the same way, to implement all 20 tips in this article, do it one tip at a time. Focus on just one tip a week, or even one tip a month. Once you’ve turned that tip into a habit, move on to the next one.
Throughout the process, don’t let the goal of getting straight A’s become an unhealthy obsession. After all, education is about much more than getting good grades.
It’s about the pursuit of excellence. It’s about cultivating your strengths. And it’s about learning and growing, so you can contribute more effectively.
There’s hard work involved, but I know you’re up to the challenge. 🙂
BONUS: Don’t forget to download a free PDF summary of this article. The PDF contains all the tips found here, plus 3 exclusive bonus tips that you’ll only find in the PDF.Israel Must Perish! It’s a Cancer Eating Up the World
The Morgenthau Plan for Germany was presented to Franklin Roosevelt by his treasury secretary, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. George Patton said in his diary that the idea was presented to Morgenthau by Dwight D. Eisenhower during a visit to Patton’s camp in France a few weeks after D-Day. Harry Dexter White (Weit), a Soviet agent in Morgenthau’s Treasury Department whose parents were Lithuanian Jews, designed our post-war genocide of the Germans based on a book written in 1941 by Theodore N. Kaufman entitled “Germany Must Perish!”
The Morgenthau Plan was the reason that millions of Germans, both prisoners of war and German civilians, were slaughtered on Eisenhower’s orders in the months and years following World War II. It was the reason that German industry was dismantled and taken to the Soviet Union. It was the reason that German children and adults were put through Jewish brainwashing to hate themselves and obey the Jews. It was all in the plan, all based on Kaufman’s vicious little book.
I don’t like to criticize Jews. It gives them too much power over our minds, by making us think about them, which is what they crave. It must however be done occasionally. We should therefore let them do the work.
Roy Arthur Topham up in Canada has come up with a truly brilliant way to do this. He has simply taken Kaufman’s book and replaced “Germany” with “Israel,” “Germans” with “Jews” and “Nazi” with “Zionist.” In so doing, he has given us the weapon we need, a means of describing the menace of Israel as I myself could never do, either for lack of writing ability or inclination or both.
Israel and Judaism are deserving of our hate but it is not in our nature to do this properly. This is easily proven by reading Kaufman’s words. He knew how to hate and how to write about it. It is so odd that his lies about Germany become the truth about Israel. So odd but so fitting.
Israel must perish. It is a cancer eating up the world. Cancer is killing so many people because the ones we have trusted to fight cancer have deliberately made the disease more widespread by using cancer-causing but lucrative quack remedies such as radiation and poisonous chemicals. Surgery often spreads cancer but sometimes there’s no other way to get rid of a tumor. That is what is called for in the case of Israel. This malignant tumor must be cut out. Or starved out, the way Germany was starved out.
Of course, there is no political will in DC to do this. We need to get rid of the institution that represents only the interests of Israel, the US Congress. This body should be devoted to American interests, mainly in the creation of debt-free currency. But it certainly mustn’t be devoted to the military superiority of Israel, as is currently and traditionally the case.
What would have been the reaction of US Jews if it were revealed that all congressional candidates had to sign a pledge to maintain the military superiority of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and ‘40s? Would we ever have heard the end of it?
So here is Roy Arthur Topham’s conversion of anti-German lies into anti-Jewish truth. What can Jewish critics say? The language is Jewish, written by someone with a blinding hatred of the German people, without doubt the finest and most creative and decent people on earth. It is only fair that the language is turned back on those who supported the mass murder of the Germans, a crime against humanity based on this very book.
The Germans have been libeled as “Hitler’s willing executioners,” for going along with the German extermination of Jews, something we now know neither happened nor was attempted nor even contemplated. But something that we do know is happening is the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by Israel, something generally supported by Jews everywhere. Some Jews may say they do not support this but how many Jews say that Jews must get out of Palestine, which is the only solution to this crime against humanity? I’ve never heard one say it. Only Helen Thomas said it.
Therefore, we can say that Jews everywhere are “Netanyahu’s willing executioners.”
Here is how Theodore N. Kaufman prescribed the treatment of such a bloodthirsty people, with the names changed to attack the guilty:
Arthur Topham has done something brilliant yet simple that it makes people such as myself ask, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
What Eisenhower’s army killers did to the Germans after World War II was so horrific and dreadful that you cannot find films of it on YouTube or Google, the owners of which naturally don’t want us to see what their synagogue brethren did to a prostrate and helpless people. If we could see what was done to Germans we could better grasp the same crimes being committed today against Arabs, by the same people.
What can anyone say about this idea? That it is hateful? Consider the source. This is just the Morgenthau Plan for Israel. It’s only fair. What follows is an excerpt from Arthur Topham’s conversion of Kaufman….
ISRAEL MUST PERISH! The Book that the Jews Fear By Arthur Topham May 27, 2011 Author’s Preface: What is contained herein is but a synopsis and partial review of the verbatim text of an actual book first published in the USA back in early 1941 when America was still a neutral country. That book, Germany Must Perish! was written by a Jewish writer by the name of Theodore N. Kaufman. Its exact proposals are those contained herein. It is assumed that the reader will already be fully cognizant of the Zionist agenda for global governance that is a given in today’s political reality, especially within the alternative media and on the Internet where Zionist “hate” laws are still not fully in place to restrict the natural flow of ideas and opinions that proceed from historical research and experience. In 1941 Kaufman’s book was a brilliant piece of Zionist Jew propaganda designed to stir up anti-German hatred in America. Some say that it formed the basis of the infamous “Morgenthau Plan” that was later signed in Quebec, Canada by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill; one designed to dismember Germany after its defeat and reduce it to the status of “a goat pasture.” It was probably remains to this day the foremost example of hate literature ever to have been published and dispensed to the general public. As the reader will surmise from viewing the image of the back page of Kaufman’s book some of America’s most prestigious newspapers and magazines were in full support of the objectives set down in this classic book of Jewish hate literature. Again, the reader is cautioned to bear in mind that I have changed the word “Nazi” to “Jew” in the quote from the Philadelphia Record as I have changed all the other words “German” and “Nazi” to “Jew” and “Zionist,” etc. The striking thing about the vileness of the text is how, today, it seems to roll off the mind’s tongue as if it were as truthful and factual as the rising sun. As such I firmly believe that all of what the Zionist Jews write about others is actually but a reflection of their own inner, perverse, dislocated self. By projecting outward on to others their innate paranoid and deep-seated hatred for the rest of the world they’re able to meet the requirements of the Israeli state’s motto which reads, “By Way of Deception Though Shalt Cause War” and feel a sense of superiority and self-righteousness in doing so. I would humbly ask the reader to be aware of these features as they read both the text and the context in which it was first written. I have, as the saying goes, only changed the names to protect the innocent. As for any further extrapolation I will leave that up to the reader.
________________
In ISRAEL MUST PERISH! The Book that the Jews Fear, beginning with the Table of Contents page Topham makes this dramatic initial statement “This dynamic volume outlines a comprehensive plan for the extinction of the Jewish nation and the total eradication from the earth, of all her people.” How do you like those apples so far? Talk about cutting to the chase!
From Chapter One: About This Book
“Today’s wars are not wars against Netanyahu. Nor are they wars against the Zionists… Netanyahu is no more to be blamed for these Israeli wars than was Sharon for the last one. Nor Begin before. These men did not originate or wage Israel’s wars against the world. They were merely the mirrors reflecting centuries-old inbred lust of the Jewish nation for conquest and mass murder. These wars are being waged by the Jewish people. It is they who are responsible. It is they who must be made to pay for the wars. …This time Israel has forced a TOTAL WAR upon the world. As a result, she must be prepared to pay a TOTAL PENALTY.
And there is one, and only one, such Total Penalty, Israel must perish forever! In fact – not in fancy!”
NORTH JERSEY’S FASHIONISTAS HAVE WEALTH OF OUTLET OPTIONS The Record (Bergen County, NJ) The Record (Bergen County, NJ) 10-30-2011 NORTH JERSEY’S FASHIONISTAS HAVE WEALTH OF OUTLET OPTIONS Section: BETTER LIVING Type: News North Jersey is a shoppers’ paradise. We have miles of malls, highways lined with major retailers, and downtowns boasting an impressive array of boutiques and specialty shops. Bargain-hunters have a wealth of options, too, at four major outlet centers — one right in Paramus and three others less than an hour’s drive away. in our site vera bradley coupon code But not all outlet stores are created equal: The newness of their inventory, and the discount you’re getting, varies significantly. For example, the Diane Von Furstenberg outlet at Woodbury Common carries reduced-price dresses that were in retail stores like Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue as recently as three months ago. It’s more often the case, however, that designer outlets carry last season’s and even last year’s fashions — but at a nice markdown, sometimes as much as 90 percent off the original price. here vera bradley coupon code A little-known fact about some outlets is that what you see on the shelves is not the same product you’ll find in their primary stores. Many brands — including JCrew, Coach and Kate Spade, according to salespeople at these outlets — feature exclusive-to- the-outlet items that cost less to produce, but still bear the sought-after labels. Before purchasing items, ask a salesperson about their origin, because you may not be getting as great a deal as expected.A group of House Democrats is accusing the Trump administration of deliberately sabotaging ObamaCare enrollment efforts.
In a letter sent Monday, the ranking Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded answers about the Trump administration’s decision to slash funding for ObamaCare outreach.
The lawmakers said they’re worried that the cuts are part of a deliberate attempt by the administration to destabilize the health insurance markets ahead of an open enrollment period that begins Nov. 1.
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“We are concerned that the Administration’s decision … is driven neither by concerns regarding the effectiveness of Navigators nor by a desire to safeguard taxpayer dollars,” the lawmakers wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price Thomas (Tom) Edmunds PriceIs a presidential appointment worth the risk? Former Ryan aide moves to K street Grassley to test GOP on lowering drug prices MORE. “Rather, it appears that the decision fits within a pattern of Administration efforts to depress enrollment and sabotage [ObamaCare].”
In late August, the administration said it would slash the open enrollment advertising budget from $100 million to $10 million. Officials also said they are cutting funding for "navigators," which are outside organizations that help sign people up for insurance.
Navigator groups said the White House's cuts to their funding will almost certainly lower enrollment in the insurance exchanges this year.
The previous grants for navigators expired, and many organizations said they are laying off staff and shutting down until they receive new funding, which may not arrive until the end of September.
“The decision to pull the rug out from these organizations just weeks before open enrollment begins is a clear attempt to undermine the [Affordable Care Act] and create chaos in the insurance market,” the members wrote.
The lawmakers demanded answers to their questions by Sept. 25.News in Science
'Optical fibre' made out of thin air
Laser breakthrough Scientists say they have turned thin air into an 'optical fibre' that can transmit and amplify light signals without the need for any cables.
In a proof-of-principle experiment they created an "air waveguide" that could one day be used as an instantaneous optical fibre to any point on earth, or even into space.
The findings, reported in the journal Optica, have applications in long range laser communications, high-resolution topographic mapping, air pollution and climate change research, and could also be used by the military to make laser weapons.
"People have been thinking about making air waveguides for a while, but this is the first time it's been realised," says Professor Howard Milchberg of the University of Maryland, who led the research, which was funded by the US military and National Science Foundation.
Lasers lose intensity and focus with increasing distance as photons naturally spread apart and interact with atoms and molecules in the air.
Fibre optics solves this problem by beaming the light through glass cores with a high refractive index, which is good for transmitting light.
The core is surrounded by material with a lower refractive index that reflects light back in to the core, preventing the beam from losing focus or intensity.
Fibre optics, however, are limited in the amount of power they can carry and the need for a physical structure to support them.
Light and air
Milchberg and colleagues' made the equivalent of an optical fibre out of thin air by generating a laser with its light split into a ring of multiple beams forming a pipe.
They used very short and powerful pulses from the laser to heat the air molecules along the beam extremely quickly.
Such rapid heating produced sound waves that took about a microsecond to converge to the centre of the pipe, creating a high-density area surrounded by a low-density area left behind in the wake of the laser beams.
"A microsecond is a long time compared to how far light propagates, so the light is gone and a microsecond later those sound waves collide in the centre, enhancing the air density there," says Milchberg.
The lower density region of air surrounding the centre of the air waveguide had a lower refractive index, keeping the light focused.
"Any structure [even air] which has a higher density will have a higher index of refraction and thereby act like an optical fibre," says Milchberg.
Amplified signal
Once Milchberg and colleagues created their air waveguide, they used a second laser to spark the air at one end of the waveguide turning it into plasma.
An optical signal from the spark was transmitted along the air waveguide, over a distance of a metre to a detector at the other end.
The signal collected by the detector was strong enough to allow Milchberg and colleagues to analyse the chemical composition of the air that produced the spark.
The researchers found the signal was 50 per cent stronger than a signal obtained without an air waveguide.
The findings show the air waveguide can be used as a "remote collection optic," says Milchberg.
"This is an optical fibre cable that you can reel out at the speed of light and place next to [something] that you want to measure remotely, and have the signal come all the way back to where you are."
Australian expert Professor Ben Eggleton of the University of Sydney says this is potentially an important advance for the field of optics.
"It's sort of like you have an optical fibre that you can shine into the sky, connecting your laser to the top of the atmosphere," says Eggleton.
"You don't need big lenses and optics, it's already guided along this channel in the atmosphere."This shot is a part of the landscape calendar, which is! Go check it outThis is one of the most interesting ways I've ever seen water look. Let me explain how it managed to be five distinct colours at once. The sun is behind me on the left, and it's about 1 hour before sunset.1) The green area on the left is shallow, and is colored primarily by the reflection of the pine trees on the slope along with the light reflecting off the bottom covered with silt.2) The yellow spot just below (1) is a decaying tree on the bottom.3) The red foreground is just the red rocks being lit up by the late sun.4) The blue area towards top right is the reflection of the clear sky.5) The purple area between (3) and (4) is a combination of those two.Garibaldi Lake, Garibaldi Provincial Park, Beautiful British Columbia, Canada.Nikon D90 + Tokina 11-16mm + Tiffen Polarizer.Photomatix Pro 4.1 and Photoshop CS5 from 3 RAW exposures.from Shutterstock for commercial use here Fraser river sunsets -BC Lakes (two of the below taken on the same day) -confidant Sidney Blumenthal says he doesn't expect the former secretary of State to face charges of mishandling classified information.
"I'm very confident that will not happen," Blumenthal told CNN's "New Day" Wednesday after host Alisyn Camerota floated the possibility of a "bombshell" scutt |
’s name and logo has now been removed from where it appeared online.
“It does mean, however, that it is now down to me to decide what to do with the money.
“Without being too prescriptive, I intend to spend it in a way that allows me to explore two of my ongoing interests – asceticism and philanthropy, and the relationship between the two.
“Firstly, by continuing to live in the thrifty fashion to which myself and many other artists are accustomed I aim to use just half the money to live off.
“I hope to achieve this with the added challenge of not travelling in any vehicles (other than my bike) for the whole year.
“This should leave the other half of the money for me to invest in projects and campaigns which I care passionately about.
“I will be building on my training in campaigning for systemic change to invest in things which offer long-term positive outcomes for the people of Glasgow and beyond.
“This will include some match-funding to create a project manager role to develop the Radical Renewable Art and Activism Fund project in the city, and other exciting things I’m starting to investigate.”
A Dundee University spokesman said: “We consider this to be an external project, which we have allowed Ms Harrison time to pursue.”Whitecaps coach Martin Rennie hinted on Monday that veteran right-back Y.P. Lee could remain in Vancouver when the squad travels to face D.C. United and Sporting Kansas City this coming Saturday and Wednesday.
Lee wasn’t at training on Monday at UBC. Rennie called it a rest day but also admitted that he could leave Lee at home for the upcoming eastern trip.
Asked “Is this just a little extra rest for Y.P.?” Rennie responded “Yeah.”
Follow-up question: “So, he’ll be on the trip?”
“No,” Rennie said. “Not necessarily.”
The plan coming into this season was always to give the 36-year-old South Korean a few extra days off, and some games off, too. He played almost every minute of every game last season and Rennie felt Lee faded down the stretch. He wants him fresh come the fall this season.
Rennie has also gone away from starting Lee (and Alain Rochat, before he was traded to D.C.) on the road, favouring more defensive grit in the lineup. With a lack of depth at fullback, Rennie has taken Lee on eastern trips just to sit on the substitutes bench, which isn’t an ideal scenario.
With Rochat traded, they are even thinner at fullback. Lee can play either side, so he’s valuable in that sense, too.
Rennie gave Greg Klazura his first MLS start in New York and the second-year defender was unfortunate to score an own goal and then depart with an injury soon after. Lee came off the bench and helped turn the tide.
Klazura was then called into action at Seattle when Andy O’Brien went down with a hamstring injury and Rennie slid Jordan Harvey into central defence and brought on Klazura at left back. It was Klazura’s clumsy tackle that led to the game-tying penalty kick as Seattle roared back to win 3-2.
If that game shook Rennie’s faith in Klazura, he doesn’t have too many other options. Rennie used Nigel Reo-Coker at right back in the scoreless Canadian championship first-leg final at Montreal. But the Caps have been struggling in midfield and Reo-Coker is the only thing holding it all together, whether he plays farther up the field or in a more defensive role like the last two games against New England and Chivas.
With midfielder Gershon Koffie back from injury and seemingly ready to make the road trip, perhaps that could tempt Rennie into using Reo-Coker on the back line again.
Rennie’s ever-so-briefly experimented with Koffie and Matt Watson at right back in training in the past, but those options would be some seriously outside-the-box thinking, even against basement-dwelling D.C. United.The IWK Health Centre's chief executive officer used a corporate credit card to pay for thousands of dollars at the Bay, and on limo services and iTunes — something the Halifax hospital chalks up to a mistake.
The charges came to light after CBC News requested credit card statements since August 2014 for Tracy Kitch in a freedom of information request. That's how long she'd been the head of the $250-million operation.
Among other things, the statements detail:
$1,021.32 for a car rental in September 2014.
$3,219.97 charged by the Bay in November 2016.
Multiple charges from iTunes and one from Netflix.
More than $2,000 for Crystal Cab and Limo Service.
$5,876 charged in October 2016 by the Women's Executive Network.
Stephen D'Arcy, chief financial officer for the IWK, responded to CBC's requests for interviews with Kitch and hospital management.
D'Arcy said Kitch's expenses were either "incurred in the normal course of business" or were errors and refunded to the hospital.
The charges at the Bay and Netflix were made "in error" and either reversed or reimbursed, according to the IWK. The majority of the rental car charge and at least a quarter of the limo fees were related to personal use. The hospital said it was also reimbursed for those charges.
The iTunes charges happened because there was "a synching issue between a personal account and a corporate account." The charge for the Women's Executive Network was to purchase a table at a gala and is "consistent with the leadership mandate of the CEO," according to the hospital.
IWK Health Centre CEO Tracy Kitch reimbursed thousands of dollars of expenses the hospital says were mistakenly charged to her corporate credit card. (Career Women Interaction)
The freedom of information request was one in a series filed by CBC News to get a more accurate sense of Kitch's expenses, after discrepancies were discovered in financial reports posted online by the hospital.
The IWK, like the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation and all other arm's-length government agencies, is required to post its CEO's travel and hospitality expenses online.
Changes in flight costs
In January, when the information was first posted, Kitch's total expenses from April 2016 to December 2016 totalled $16,685.56.
An updated version, posted this spring, listed Kitch's expenses for that same time period as $27,513.15.
The discrepancies between the two documents include multiple trips that were not included on the first report, as well as several trips that — while appearing on both lists — were much more expensive on the second.
For example, an April 2016 flight to Toronto for an IWK Foundation event was listed as $517.54 initially, but the updated list had the same flight costing $1,035.08.
A similar discrepancy applies to a flight to Ottawa at the end of November 2016 — originally listed as $345.89, it was later updated to $778.17.
'Errors' discovered during update
More than $10,200 in expenses were not included in the first report, but appeared on the second.
IWK officials said the differences were the result of two things: trips related to the CEO's annual education travel allowance weren't included on the initial report; and they were unfamiliar with the process because it was the first time the hospital was required to produce such filings for the province's Finance Department.
IWK Health Centre chief financial officer Stephen D'Arcy says the public can have confidence in financial disclosure the hospital posts online. (CBC)
A couple of months after the first posting went up in January, hospital officials started updating the numbers and the process revealed "spreadsheet errors."
"We took a look at the process and we said, 'You know, there's a better way to do this. We need to refine it,'" said D'Arcy.
"Now I'm more engaged than I was in the previous round, just to make sure that it has the senior-level finance executive sign-off."
But the first expense report had already been scrutinized by multiple members of the administration team. It was emailed multiple times to D'Arcy before it was ultimately approved by Kitch and board chair Bob Hanf, according to documents received through the freedom of information request.
Additional information
D'Arcy was insistent during an interview with CBC News that all the requested information was released.
However, CBC News has obtained a third report — this one unreleased — also listing Kitch's 2016 expenses.
It tallies costs from April 2016 to November 2016 at $34,192.80 — about $6,600 more than the latest total released this spring by the IWK.
For example, Kitch took a trip to California in June 2016. The trip is not in the January posting at all, but is listed in the spring report as costing $3,176.55. The spreadsheet obtained by CBC News says it actually cost $4,880.38.
Document shows unreported charges
The leaked report also includes Air Canada flight passes, used to pay for travel to various business meetings. Three passes worth about $5,000 each were purchased in April, August and October 2016.
None of those charges appears on any documents the IWK has publicly posted.
D'Arcy told CBC News he had never seen the leaked spreadsheet. A week later, he said it was "a draft working document complied in preparation" for the online disclosure.
In explaining the discrepancies, the IWK said the higher figure for the California trip included costs for other executive personnel. There was also personal travel worth $4,941.49 captured in that draft document, which the IWK said was reimbursed. There was no clear explanation for the flight passes.
'Robust control structure'
Despite the multiple sets of numbers, D'Arcy said he believes the hospital is doing a good job accounting for and reporting expenses.
"From a transparency perspective, we're quite pleased in terms of where we've ended up," he said last week, adding that he is "absolutely confident" the hospital now has a good system in place and that the information posted online is accurate.
"We have a very robust control structure."An award-winning video featuring happy children with Down syndrome has been banned from French TV by France’s Conseil d’État (State Council) because it may offend post-abortive women.
The video in question, "Dear Future Mom," touchingly featured children with Down syndrome of various ages bonding with their respective parents, educating mothers that such children can live a happy life and that they need not be worried.
Apparently, that message packed a little too much "microaggression" for France's State Council, which determined the video would "trouble the conscience of women who had made different personal life choices in compliance with the law."
"The law stipulates that only advertising messages or ‘messages of general interest’ be shown during commercial breaks" they said in a statement on its website. "The Council determined that this film does not constitute a ‘message of general interest'" and will likely "disturb women who have had recourse to a medical termination of pregnancy and thus is inappropriate for airing during commercial breaks."
Current studies indicate that 80 percent of Down syndrome babies in France have their lives ended through abortion. "Dear Future Mom" was produced for World Down Syndrome Day in 2014 in an effort to quell fears about raising Down syndrome children.
Former president of the U.S. Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, who grew up with a Down syndrome brother, said he felt "saddened but not surprised" to learn of the ban.
"This is a ‘must see’ piece that effectively counters many of the old and misguided stereotypes about people with Down Syndrome that continue to live in the imagination of so many," said Kurtz. "Tragically across the globe, it is estimated that up to 90 percent of pregnancies with a Down Syndrome diagnosis end in abortion. I encourage all families who have received this diagnosis for their unborn child to view this video."
A petition from the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment has been circulating in an attempt to get the Council to reconsider their Orwellian position.
"The discriminatory ban of the video sends the message that people with Down syndrome are unwelcome in society," states the petition.The following is the actual text of a speech delivered in December, 2005 by Comrade Chi Haotian the Vice-Chairman of China's Military Commission to top officers and generals. Keep in mind that China has for many years advocated deceitful and covert warfare against its enemies. This is their Modus Operandi. There should be little question that a "Bird Flu" Pandemic would deeply excite them. (Don't forget how they have poisoned thousands of American pets and knowingly placed lead paints on toddler's toys.) "Comrades, I'm very excited today, because the large-scale online survey sina.com that was done for us showed that our next generation is quite promising and our Party's cause will be carried on. In answering the question, "Will you shoot at women, children and prisoners of war," more than 80 per cent of the respondents answered in the affirmative, exceeding by far our expectations. Today I'd like to focus on why we asked sina.com to conduct this online survey among our people. My speech today is a sequel to my speech last time, during which I started with a discussion of the issue of the three islands [Taiwan, Diaoyu Islands and the Spratley Islands --- Ott] and mentioned that 20 years of the idyllic theme of 'peace and development' had come to an end, and concluded that modernization under the saber is the only option for China's next phase. I also mentioned we have a vital stake overseas. The central issue of this survey appears to be whether one should shoot at women, children and prisoners of war, but its real significance goes far beyond that. Ostensibly, our intention is mainly to figure out what the Chinese people's attitude towards war is: If these future soldiers do not hesitate to kill even noncombatants, they'll naturally be doubly ready and ruthless in killing combatants. Therefore, the responses to the survey questions may reflect the general attitude people have towards war..We wanted to know: If China's global development will necessitate massive deaths in enemy countries; will our people endorse that scenario? Will they be for or against it? The fact is, our 'development' refers to the great revitalization of the Chinese nation, which, of course, is not limited to the land we have now but also includes the whole world. As everybody knows, according to the views propagated by the Western scholars, humanity as a whole originated from one single mother in Africa. Therefore no race can claim racial superiority. However, according to the research conducted by most Chinese scholars, the Chinese are different from other races on earth. We did not originate in Africa. Instead, we originated independently in the land of China. Therefore, we can rightfully assert that we are the product of cultural roots of more than a million years, civilization and progress of more than ten thousand years, an ancient nation of five thousand years, and a single Chinese entity of two thousand years. This is the Chinese nation that calls itself 'descendants of Yan and Huang.' During our long history, our people have disseminated throughout the Americas and the regions along the Pacific Rim, and they became Indians in the Americas and the East Asian ethnic groups in the South Pacific. We all know that on account of our national superiority, during the thriving and prosperous Tang Dynasty our civilization was at the peak of the world. We were the centre of the world civilization, and no other civilization in the world was comparable to ours. Later on, because of our complacency, narrow-mindedness, and the self-enclosure of our own country, we were surpassed by Western civilization, and the centre of the world shifted to the West. In reviewing history, one may ask: Will the centre of the world civilization shift back to China? Actually, Comrade Liu Huaqing made similar points in early 1980's Based on an historical analysis, he pointed out that the centre of world civilization is shifting. It shifted from the East to Western Europe and later to the United States; now it is shifting back to the East. Therefore, if we refer to the 19th Century as the British Century and the 20th century as the American Century, then the 21st Century will be the Chinese Century! (Wild applause fills the auditorium.) Our Chinese people are wiser than the Germans because, fundamentally, our race is superior to theirs. As a result, we have a longer history, more people, and larger land area. On this basis, our ancestors left us with the two most essential heritages, which are atheism and great unity. It was Confucius, the founder of our Chinese culture, who gave us these heritages. These two heritages determined that we have a stronger ability to survive than the West. That is why the Chinese race has been able to prosper for so long. We are destined 'not to be buried by either heaven or earth' no matter how severe the natural, man-made, and national disasters. This is our advantage. Take response to war as an example. The reason that the United States remains today is that it has never seen war on its mainland. Once its enemies aim at the mainland, the enemies would have already reached Washington before its congress finishes debating and authorizes the president to declare war. But for us, we don't waste time on these trivial things. Maybe you have now come to understand why we recently decided to further promulgate atheism. If we let theology from the West into China and empty us from the inside, if we let all Chinese people listen to God and follow God, who will obediently listen to us and follow us? If the common people don't believe Comrade Hu Jintao is a qualified leader, begin to question his authority, and want to monitor him, if the religious followers in our society question why we are leading God in churches, can our Party continue to rule China?? The first pressing issue facing us is living space. This is the biggest focus of the revitalization of the Chinese race. In my last speech, I said that the fight over basic living resources (including land and ocean) is the source of the vast majority of wars in history. This may change in the information age, but not fundamentally. Our per capita resources are much less than those of Germany's back then. In addition, economic development in the last twenty-plus years had a negative impact, and climates are rapidly changing for the worse. Our resources are in very short supply. The environment is severely polluted, especially that of soil, water, and air. Not only our ability to sustain and develop our race, but even its survival is gravely threatened, to a degree much greater than faced Germany back then Anybody who has been to Western countries knows that their living space is much better than ours. They have forests alongside the highways, while we hardly have any trees by our streets. Their sky is often blue with white clouds, while our sky is covered with a layer of dark haze. Their tap water is clean enough for drinking, while even our ground water is so polluted that it can't be drunk without filtering. They have few people in the streets, and two or three people can occupy a small residential building; in contrast our streets are always crawling with people, and several people have to share one room. Many years ago, there was a book titled Yellow Catastrophes. It said that, due to our following the American style of consumption, our limited resources would no longer support the population and society would collapse once our population reaches 1.3 billion. Now our population has already exceeded this limit, and we are now relying on imports to sustain our nation. It's not that we haven't paid attention to this issue. The Ministry of Land Resources is specialized in this issue. But we must understand that the term 'living space' (lebenstraum) is too closely related to Nazi Germany. The reason we don't want to discuss this too openly is to avoid the West's association of us with Nazi Germany, which could in turn reinforce the view that China is a threat. Therefore, in our emphasis on He Xin's new theory, 'Human Rights are just living rights' we only talk about 'living' but not'space' so as to avoid using the term 'living space.' From the perspective of history, the reason that China is faced with the issue of living space is because Western countries have developed ahead of Eastern countries. Western countries established colonies all around the world, therefore giving themselves an advantage on the issue of living space. To solve this problem, we must lead the Chinese people outside of China, so that they can develop outside of China. Would the United States allow us to go out to gain new living space? First, if the United States is firm in blocking us, it is hard for us to do anything significant to Taiwan and some other countries! Second, even if we could snatch some land from Taiwan, Vietnam, India, or even Japan, how much more living space can we get? Very trivial! Only countries like the United States, Canada and Australia have the vast land to serve our need for mass colonization. Therefore, solving the 'issue of America' is the key to solving all other issues. First, this makes it possible for us to have many people migrate there and even establish another Chinaunder the same leadership of the CCP. America was originally discovered by the ancestors of the yellow race, but Columbus gave credit to the White race. We the descendants of the Chinese nation are ENTITLED to the possession of the land! It is historical destiny that China and United States will come into unavoidable confrontation on a narrow path and fight. In the long run, the relationship of China and the United States is one of a life-and-death struggle. Of course, right now it is not the time to openly break up with them yet. Our reform and opening to the outside world still rely on their capital and technology. We still need America. Therefore, we must do everything we can to promote our relationship with America, learn from America in all aspects and use America as an example to reconstruct our country. Only by using special means to 'clean up' America will we be able to lead the Chinese people there. Only by using non-destructive weapons that can kill many people will we be able to reserve America for ourselves. There has been rapid development of modern biological technology, and new bio weapons have been invented one after another. Of course we have not been idle; in the past years we have seized the opportunity to master weapons of this kind. We are capable of achieving our purpose of 'cleaning up' America all of a sudden. When Comrade Xiaoping was still with us, the Party Central Committee had the perspicacity to make the right decision not to develop aircraft carrier groups and focused instead on developing lethal weapons that can eliminate mass populations of the enemy country. Biological weapons are unprecedented in their ruthlessness, but if the Americans do not die then the Chinese have to die. If the Chinese people are strapped to the present land, a total societal collapse is bound to take place. According to the computations of the author of Yellow Peril, more than half of the Chinese will die, and that figure would be more than 800 million people! Just after the liberation, our yellow land supported nearly 500 million people, while today the official figure of the population is more than 1.3 billion. This yellow land has reached the limit of its capacity. One day, who know how soon it will come, the great collapse will occur any time and more than half of the population will have to go. It is indeed brutal to kill one or two hundred million Americans. But that is the only path that will secure a Chinese century, a century in which the CCP leads the world. We, as revolutionary humanitarians, do not want deaths, But if history confronts us with a choice between deaths of Chinese and those of Americans, we'd have to pick the latter, as, for us, it is more important to safeguard the lives of the Chinese people and the life of our Party. The last problem I want to talk about is of firmly seizing the preparations for military battle. The central committee believes, as long as we resolve the United States problem at one blow, our domestic problems will all be readily solved. Therefore, our military battle preparation appears to aim at Taiwan, but in fact is aimed at the United States, and the preparation is far beyond the scope of attacking aircraft carriers or satellites. Marxism pointed out that violence is the midwife for the birth of the new society. Therefore war is the midwife for the birth of China's century."The first episode from the new season of The X-Files just dropped, but fans of space, aliens and Gillian Anderson have something new to look forward to from the star: she’s making an appearance in Squadron 42, the single player version of the huge new sandbox video game from Cloud Imperium Games, Star Citizen. Ms. Anderson is playing Captain McLaren, a non-player character who happens to be the daughter of Admiral Ernst Bishop, the character Gary Oldman plays in the game.
Ms. Anderson appeared in a new behind the scenes video, posted above, showing how real life actors are recorded when their performance is destined to appear inside a video game. Steve Bender, the animation director, broke down the gear seen in the video in a phone call with the Observer.
Star Citizen does not have an official release date yet.
One critical part of the process isn’t shown in the video. Mr. Bender explained that first each real life actor has to be scanned, to make a computerized puppet for the game. Then a virtual skeleton has to be built to go inside the virtual puppet. Computers use video to interpolate the movements of the actual person’s skeleton and interpolate that into movements of the virtual puppet’s skeleton. The skeleton is what makes character avatars lifelike.
Here’s our scene-by-scene annotation of the video with Mr. Bender, with timestamps indicating where astute viewers can see the specific observations we’re discussing (these answers have been edited for length and clarity):
[0:12] One of the first strange elements you notice are the marks on Ms. Anderson’s face. Lines have been drawn all over it. What are those markings doing for the production?
The primary thing they do is, when you’re using face tracking software, they allow us to pinpoint specific locations on the face.
We start with a scanned 3D model of Gillian’s head, and then what we do is we record her performance, and then we put bones into that 3D model, and the motion—the video that is recorded on set—that motion is solved onto those bones.
Cloud Imperium Games works with an outside company called Cubic Motion, and it is Cubic Motion’s solver which determines what happens when those lines move, what their solver is doing is it is analyzing the facial position on that frame, and it is feeding back data that is use to drive bone positions in the face.
[0:14] You can also see that she has this big cap on with lights shining directly on her face all the time. Those must be cameras capturing her face. How many cameras are there, constantly looking straight at her?
There are three. They look like black lipstick tubes. The lights are just so the cameras can see her better. [1:29 shows the same moment from multiple face cameras]
Behind the scenes, how entire worlds are procedurally generated in ‘No Man’s Sky’
[0:25] Hers has some pink tape on it. What’s that doing?
What that is, is that just tells the mo-cap [motion capture] studio which helmet goes with which body outfit.
[0:30] On the body outfit, there’s these colored patches all over her. What are those?
Each of the actors have a different color patch. It enables us to be consistent on set. At the end of every motion capture session what they do is a range of motion. It’s used later on in the solving process. It’s easier to do that range of motion because they just have to adjust the positions a little bit every day for her.
In the center of those colored patches is what looks like a white or a silver ball. The cameras see the reflectivity on the balls. What happens in motion capture is, if you want to plot a point in space, you need four points. The patches help to keep that marker on the body. Those markers are placed on points on the body that are going to bend or that are rigid so that the system can see how the body moves. We go through a process of targeting and solving that motion capture data, and there’s a process that applies them to our character skeleton.
[0:44] Is there tech inside the gun that she’s seen holding?
No, some of the weapons, if you look at the weapon and there’s a shiny ball on it, then there’s something to mark that gun’s position through space. But there’s nothing being transmitted.
[0:53] Is the backpack she has on doing something?
They are multiple things. One is batteries for the cameras. They have lavalier microphones, and their transmitters, and also we are transmitting the feeds from the cameras live as well. So there is a whole bunch of stuff attached to the back of them. Battery packs and data transmitters of different sorts.
[1:17] At various times, you can see cameras in the background. How many cameras does a set like this require?
There are cameras that look like they have red rings on them, those are the motion capture cameras [Cloud Imperium is using Vicon cameras and software], but there’s probably somewhere around 64. You want to have a reasonable number of cameras to be able to capture the data.
The other cameras, the video cameras, are there for reference footage. So what we do is after the day of the shoot, we sit down and go through each take and say we want this endpoint and that outpoint. While we are finalizing our animation, we can use those reference cameras to refine the motion capture. Such as: she touches the table in a certain way. We can say “Our solve here is a little loose. She really presses down here…”
Yeah, this is something I pushed and got developed when I was at Crytek. What you’re seeing there is, if it’s only grey, is you’re seeing the preview of the solve in Motionbuilder [which is Autodesk software]. If it looks like it has textures, that’s the real time preview in the Cryengine [Star Citizen and Squadron 42’s game engine].
What we do is, we teach the system, that when Ball A moves around, its relationship to Ball B. So the system in a way understands what’s a shoulder, what’s an elbow and what’s a wrist. We are able to apply that roughly to our skeleton in real time.
[3:56] How many members of crew does it take?
I think there were probably 15 to 20 people on set, not counting the actors, both on the Cloud Imperium side and the motion capture side.First things first, Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a a good time getting wild (while staying safe) for the New Year and that 2015 is treating you right. I’m a few weeks behind, but you know how the Holidays can be. So let’s just get right to it. On December 19th, I had the chance to head up to Raleigh, NC to the Lincoln Theatre to catch one of the last stops on the Slumerican Made Tour featuring Rittz, BIG Henry, DJ Klever, guitarist Bones Owens and headliner Catfish Billy aka Yelawolf.
The last time I saw Yelawolf was about 3 years ago right as Yela was starting to gain some national attention for his Trunk Muzik: 0-60 project (great project btw). I couldn’t go to a party without hearing “I Just Wanna Party” or “Daddy’s Lambo” back then. However, since that time, Yela has undergone a semi musical transformation in the way that he’s pioneering the fusion of traditional hip-hop with southern rock and roll, something that I believe only Yela could successfully pull off. This movement has most recently been supported by the success of Yela’s newest single Till It’s Gone, that was featured on the critically acclaimed series Sons of Anarchy. This single also doubles as the lead single from Yela’s upcoming album, Love Story which has yet to receive a release date. (The video for this song also appears to be cut straight out of an episode of the HBO series True Detective if you have the time to check it out).
Now that you’re caught up on a brief review of Yela, back to the show.
Our pregame ran a little overboard so unfortunately we missed seeing Big Henry. No disrespect to Big Henry, but that didn’t exactly ruin the evening. To be completely honest, I’m only familiar with him from the song “Gangster” off of the Trunk Muzik Returns mixtape. That song also features A$AP Rocky and is definitely worth a listen.
Next up, Strange Music’s very own: Rittz.
Rittz has been a long time friend of Yela’s, and they had a longstanding agreement that if Yela were to ever make it, he would put Rittz on. Yela stayed true to his word. Rittz was featured on the trunk rattling “Box Chevy Pt.3” that I have come to call my favorite Yela track and from there he launched a solo career, releasing his debut album The Life & Times of Johnny Valiant and more recently his 2nd studio album and his first since signing with Tech N9ne‘s label Strange Music, Next To Nothing. He’s also sprinkled in a few mixtapes between these album releases. Rittz came out and was well received by the crowd and played a mini setlist of around 10 songs or so including, “Like I Am”, “Sleep At Night” and “Switch Lanes”. He closed out his set with “Amen”.
Finally, the time had come. YELA-WOLF. YELA-WOLF. The room was filling with anticipation. The music started and out came Yela to a song I had only recently heard of entitled “Honey Brown”. This beat RIDES. It made me reminisce to the Yelawolf that I had come to love for projects like Trunk Muzik and made me completely forget about the project that must not be named, Radioactive. I suspect it will be featured on Love Story. From there, the set list went something like:
1. Honey Brown
2. Good To Go
3. Growin Up In The Gutter
4. Catfish Billy
5. Throw It Up
6. Trunk Muzik
7. I Just Wanna Party
8. Pop The Trunk
9. Box Chevy Pt. 3 w/ Rittz
10. Box Chevy V
11. Medley of southern rock songs w/ Bones Owens
12. Daddy’s Lambo
13. Billy Crystal
14. Marijuana
15. Whiskey In a Bottle – new song that will be featured on the Love Story album
16. Let’s Roll
17. Till It’s Gone
I may have missed a song here or there, but this was the general jist of it all.
Per usual, Yela put on an amazing set and left nobody in the sold out Lincoln Theatre disappointed. Unfortunately, if you didn’t get the chance to see him on this tour you’ll most likely have to wait until a future tour is announced – this was his 3rd to last show on the tour. I would wager that with the release of Love Story, a tour would also be announced to promote the album so hopefully you won’t have to wait too long.
If you don’t already have a New Year’s resolution, I would encourage you to make yours to go see as much live music as possible. It’s not everyday that you get a chance to see one of your favorite artists perform. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, so seize the moment!
Next up for us is Wale at the Fillmore in Charlotte, NC on 2/12/15. See you there!
AdvertisementsNigel Farage warned plans to allow Turkey's 75million citizens into the UK was 'bordering on insanity'
Britain faces the spectre of another wave of mass migration after Brussels bureaucrats opened the gates of Europe to Turkey's 75million citizens.
Plans to allow Turks access to EU visas – in exchange for their country's help with the Syrian migration crisis – were branded as 'bordering on insanity' last night. Ukip leader Nigel Farage warned the deal – a possible precursor to Turkey becoming a full EU member – could result in even more pressure on UK schools and hospitals.
He added that Turkey was 'too big, too poor and too different from us culturally' to be in the EU. But Turkey's hardline president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demanded membership as the price for stemming the tide of refugees pouring over his country's borders into Europe.
In exchange for the visa deal and £2.2billion in aid – which could include up to £260million from the UK – Mr Erdogan will step up border controls, tackle people-smuggling gangs and re-admit failed asylum seekers who had entered Europe from Turkey. Late on Thursday night at a summit in Brussels, EU officials agreed to speed up talks on visas allowing Turks into the EU's border-free Schengen Zone, which could come into effect as soon as next year.
This would not automatically allow access to the UK, but could still fuel black market immigration to Britain.
Yesterday, as Mr Erdogan held the continent to ransom over the migration crisis, with the demand of three billion euros (£2.2billion) in aid, EU officials announced they would're-energise' membership negotiations with Turkey.
But critics said any deal on visas, or further moves toward handing the Turks EU citizenship, would only swap the prospect of two million Syrian refugees arriving from Turkey, with the threat of its 75million citizens being given the chance to pour in.
Scroll down for video
Refugees reach the Greek island of Lesbos on a rubber dinghy yesterday - EU member states hope talks with Turkey will help ease the migrant crisis
More than 3,000 migrants have died trying to reach Greece from Turkey - measures have been drawn up to encourage refugees to remain in Turkey to prevent them making the treacherous journey across sea
Turkey is far less well off than the EU, meaning that a mass of poor immigrants could be tempted to move west.
More than 95 per cent of Turkey's territory is in Asia and its population is overwhelmingly Muslim, meaning the clash of cultures could lead to difficulties integrating with predominantly Christian Europe.
TURKEY'S LIST OF DEMANDS TO EU - Possible €3bn (£2.2bn) in aid - Prospect of easier access to travel visas - 'Re-energised' talks on joining the EU - Establishment of an international'safe zone' for refugees inside northern Syria
Extending the EU to Turkey would also mean the bloc shared borders with wartorn Syria as well as Iraq and Iran.
Mr Farage warned the proposal was 'bordering on insanity' and would give millions 'access to come to Britain, to use |
heat increase
Chounai Ky Bargain (lv2)
lower heat increase
Chounai Ky Bargain (lv3)
lower heat increase
Ky Denpa
damage changed from 8 x n + 35 to 2 x n + 38
can recover up to 50% of electricity gauge
opponent’s tension can be lowered by 25%
opponent gets higher float, shorter horizontal distance
throw invincible during startup
Kyou wa Ky San
command changed to air 214d
can be steered from the first frame
can be cancelled from the second frame
can now be cancelled into an airdash or air backdash
heat decrease is half of what it used to be
Dame na Yatsu wa Nani mo Yatte mo Dame
inputting 6 gives you a headbutt
enhanced headbutt can be done when heat is around 93-99
Gen Ky Lovers (explosion)
can not be airblocked
Slayer
(translated by magz)
j.H
Hittable box increased.
Recovery increased from 7f -> 10f.
j.2K
GB- increased from 10 -> 13.
5K
Special cancellable.
2S
Active frames reduced from 9f -> 6f.
Recovery increased from 12f -> 15f.
5H
Removed stagger from ground hit.
Aerial hit causes ground slide.
Now gattlings into 2H.
Damage lowered from 50 -> 45.
2H
Ground hit causes stagger.
Float on aerial hit lowered a bit.
Untechable time increased from 34f -> 42f.
GB- increased from 6 -> 12.
Aerial hit causes vacuum effect.
6P
Lower body hitbox reduced.
6K
Aerial hit causes ground bounce.
Damage proration lowered from 100% -> 90%.
6H
Hit causes ground bounce.
Untechable time lowered from 32f -> 26f.
Damage lowered from 50 -> 40.
j.D
Plummet on air hit made a little stronger.
j.K
GB- increased from 7 -> 10.
j.S
GB- increased from 6×4 -> 9×4.
Undertow
FRC point added just before the active frame.
Hit causes ground bounce
Startup lowered from 31f -> 28f.
Float on hit made higher.
Lower body hitbox increased.
Untechable for 24f.
Proration lowered from 70% -> 50%.
Level lowered from 5 -> 3.
Knockback on superarmor hit reduced.
Hitstun increased from 24f -> 26f.
Mappa Hunch
Knockback on hit reduced.
P Mappa hitstun lowered from 26f -> 25f.
K Mappa hitstun lowered from 28f -> 27f.
Bite
FRC added 2f after the frame damage is dealt.
GB- increased from 6 -> 10.
Input changed to 236H.
Added 3f of recovery.
Stagger lowered from (at most) 19f to 13f.
Knockback on hit reduced.
Being hit out of bite causes CH.
Life recovery on hit increased from ¼ to ¾ of the damage dealt.
Proration lowered from 70% -> 60% [originally 50% in AC].
S Dandy Step
Above feet invulnerability time changed from 10~17f -> 6~13f.
FB Dandy Step
Added new move.
Sol
(translate by coolest)
c.S
guard advantage now ±0F
2S
ground untechable time from counterhit lengthened
j.D
ground untechable time from 17 to 26f
6H
can now be gattled into from S
attack level now 4
no longer staggers
damage reduced from 40 to 32
Bandit Bringer
now ground bounds, also clean hits
Air Bandit Bringer
can now be held, it seems (not too sure of the wording here)
HS Fafnir
new move
FB Sidewinder
new move
FB Fafnir
can now be cancelled from a normal
now knocks down
groundslides during a clean hit
unthrowable
FB Tyrant Rave
command is 64D
can also be held
can be done from HS fafnir
increased damage when you do a number of clean hits in a combo (?)
<sidewinder has the same property>
damage now 25 x 3 + 84
wallbounce removed
faster by 2 frames
Tyrant Rave Ver. B
1st hit floats higher
2nd hit wallsticks
Dragon Install / Second
recovery shorter by 8 frames
now gets a new knockdown attack!
Testament
5P
Hitbox above Testament decrease a little bit
2S
Buffed the upward hitbox
5HS
Sends the opponent flying vertically on hit.
6P
Hitbox above Testament decrease a little bit
Forces crouching state on hit.
Guard balance decreased from 10 to 7.
6K
Move has been changed so that the hit occurs after a forward momentum.
Startup of the hit has gone from 8f to 15f.
Now gattles from 5P, 5K, f.S, 2S.
Untechable time increased from 16f to 17f
Knockback from hit/block decreased a little bit.
3H
New move
2HS
FRC added (f 14 – 15)
6H
Forward hitbox increased a bit.
FRC time changed. FRC is now on f 17 – 21.
f.S
Untechable time changed from 14f to 15f.
Air Throw
You now gain a power up doll after the air throw (aka 1x power up for Zeinest and Hitomi)
LuftWarrent
New Move
BadLance
Guard balance changed from 5 x 2 to 10 x 2
Upward hitbox of the 2nd hit is now a bit smaller.
Hitstop of the first hit changed from 13f to 6f
Ground BadLance startup changed from 16f to 17f
Float properties of the 2nd hit changed (floats a bit less, and sends the opponent flying a bit less).
Air BadLance
The float after the first hit is lowered a bit. And the float of the second hit is also lowered a bit, and the distance that it sends them flying is also increased.
All kinds of EXE BEAST
The hit of the EXE BEAST now gets triggered by either: a set amount of frames OR when you do another input.
It also pushes your opponent further on hit and block.
If Testament gets hit when he is charging the beast, the beast gets tamed (aka the EXE BEAST disappears).
Note: Does not disappear if Testament gets hit after releasing the beast.
FRC point changed: S-EXE from 13-15f to 11-13f, HS-EXE from 13-14f to 11-13f.
HS-EXE
Startup changed from 16f to 35f if you release it instantly.
Does no longer OTG relaunch.
S-EXE
Now moves a longer distance.
Active frames of hit increased from 19 to 23f
P Phantom Soul
Now travels a farther distance than before.
Startup changed from 37f to 30f
HITOMI
FRC added. On Frame 16 – 18
OTG relaunch added
Does not get triggered if you set in right in front your opponent.
Only gets trigger if it is directly on the opponent.
All kinds of ZEINEST
Startup changed.
Ground ZEINEST changed from 13f to 11f
Air Zeinest changed from 10f to 8f.
Now holds opponent for 2 more frames.
Positional hitbox of zeinest is now slightly leaning forward upwards.
FB Phantom Soul
New move.
Grave Digger
Can now be air guarded (no more fd needed)
Landing recovery of 3frames added.
Opponent now floats higher on hit.
Startup decreased from 17f to 14f.
S-Nightmare Circle
New move
Justice
General Changes
Defense increased
Dizzy endurance increased
Movement
Normal fmovement is slower.
Tension gain increased.
Hitbox of Justice has been made smaller.
Air Jump
Can only air jump one time (not 2 like before).
Air Dash
Cannot Air Dash
Ground Dash
Cannot Ground Dash
Back Step
Total of 25 f and back dash distance increased. Strike inv. Between f 1-19.
IK Mode
Takes 74 f to go into IK mode.
5P
Startup now 6f
2P
Startup now 5f
Recovery decreased with 2f.
5K
Startup now 8f.
2K
Startup now 7f. Has to be blocked low.
c.S
Startup now 6f.
Activity decreased with 5f.
f.S
Startup now 10f.
Forward Hitbox now bigger. Hitbox of Justice has been decreased slightly.
2S
Forward Hitbox now bigger.
Hitbox of Justice has been decreased slightly.
Counterhit results in stagger.
5HS
Startup now 6f.
Recovery reduced with 4f.
Hitbox of Justice has been decreased slightly.
2HS
Floats (high) on hit.
Hit pulls your opponent towards you.
Cannot be cancelled.
Forward Hitbox increased slightly.
JP
Hitbox made a little bit smaller.
JK
Hitbox made a little bit smaller.
Justice now has a hitbox on her feet.
JS
Untechable time of first hit is now 24f.
JHS
Startup now 13f.
Recovery increased with 5F
JD
Recovery increased with 2F.
Cannot be gattled to from JHS.
Can be gattled to from JP, JK and JS.
Now has 50 damage.
6P
Startup of first hit = 10f
Startup of second hit = 18f
Can be jumpcancelled
Hitbox of Justice feet made a bit bigger.
6HS
Second hit now pulls opponent towards Justice.
Counter hit staggers.
Can be gattled to from 5K, 2S, c.S.
Forward hitbox increased.
5D
Startup = 27f
2D
Active frames now = 5f
DAA
Can now only hit once.
Normal Throw
Throw range increased
236P Valkyrie Arc
Total of 38 F, catches between f 9 – 28.
Now prorates 50 %.
41236 S – S Michael Sword
New move.
41236 HS – HS Michael Sword
Only hits once.
Damage = 50.
On normal hit = wall bounce.
Startup = 20f.
Air S Michael Sword 41236 S
New move.
Air HS Michael Sword 41236 HS
New move.
S.B.T 623K
Input now 623K.
Lower body inv added.
FRC added (f. 12-15).
Pulls the opponent towards Justice on hit.
80 % prorate.
N. B. (22 P/K/S/HS/D)
Added P, K and D versions.
If you hold down the button you can adjust the timing of the explosion.
FRC now on f 7-10.
Hit after explosion now has 6f startup.
You can now have more than one on screen.
Trajectory changed.
236D BOOSTSZZ サペリアードランス
Can only hit once.
Hitbox bellow increased.
Movementspeed now slower. And doesn’t move as far.
Has full inv. during movement.
J236D MID AIR BOOSTZ 空中サペリアードランス
Justice now recovers faster after the move.
Justice now automacially faces the opponent after the move.
Has full inv. during movement.
Imperial Ray
New input: 632146 S.
FRC added (f 26-29).
The first hit(s) now do 28 damage.
Guard balance decreased.
Decreased the amount of tension meter that FD-ing Imperial Ray requires.
Chip Damage decreased.
Michael Sword Super 632146 HS
FRC added (f 4-7).
Prorate = 80 %
Gamma Ray
FRC added. At the same time as the f of the hit.
Faster startup.
OmegaShift (46463214 S)
New Move.
Requires 100 % tension.
Zappa
(translated by coolest)
General Changes
now gets a possession icon above the tension bar
No Possession
f.S
added 3f to recovery
2S
can be gattled into from f.S
stagger from counterhit increased by 5f
gets larger knockback
Air Throw
can connect attacks after on all characters
Konnichiwa Sanbini no Mukade
fullbody invincibility from 1-13f
can otg
increases soul count by 1
Reigisahou wa Koko Kara
recovery shortened by 2f
larger hitbox
Dog Possession
Umareru!!
when in dog possession, increases soul by one each hit (limit is 4)
Dog Attack (All)
opponent will get knocked back in the direction of the dog’s orientation
all variations have their properties standardized
dog appearance has a 30 frame recovery, however it cannot be hit in this period
Dog Attack (Bite)
can now be guarded
when guarded, increases soul by 1
proration removed
attack level reduced to 3
knocks opponent down on the spot
Dog Attack (Jump)
able to do 6D or 8D during this move
Followup Attack
can be done after 6/8/4D rebound(?)
when opponent is hit on air, knocks them into ground
Dog Attack (Somersault)
vertical hitbox slightly slanted
blows opponent away diagonally
Dog Attack (Rush)
when opponent is hit on air, blows them away
untechable time from 12 to 20f
Ghost Possession
General Changes
has a special gattling combination ‘route’ where zappa gets free chains. does not apply to the following normals: f.S, 2S, 6S, 5H, 2H, j.S, j.2S, j.H
can gattle the same normal 3 times
from a 2H or j.H, other than themselves, no proration applies to other normals
j.S
startup faster by 4f
damage now 25
j.S (2nd, 3rd hit)
startup faster by 4f
attack levels turned to 3
j.2S
new move
f.S
smaller hitbox
shorter range
damage from 15 to 20
f.S (2nd, 3rd hit)
startup faster by 4 frames
attack levels turned to 3
2.S
damage now 18
2.S (2nd)
damage now 18, attack level 2, recovery +2
2.S (3rd)
damage now 18, attack level 2, recovery +4
6S
new
5H (2nd)
damage: 25
atk lvl 3
recovery +4
5H(3rd)
damage: 25
atk lvl 3
recovery +8
2H (2nd)
recovery +4
2H(3rd)
recovery +8
6H
damage from 25 to 30
Haunt Mode
when using ‘sono mama kaette konaide kudasai’ during haunt mode, you’ll get the ghosts you started with, with 2 ghosts haunting the opponent (?)
Yappari Kaete Kudasai
new move
Banana
can otg
reduces guard bar by -5
untechable time now 20f
Sword Possession
General Changes
after attacking, sword will now stay on the spot
chikazuku to yukimasu and other normals that use sword can be airblocked
2S
can be blocked standing if sword is placed higher than default position (when crouching)
85% proration
c.S
can not be jump canceled
j.S
85% proration
j.H
90％ proration
Hai, Kaerimasu
frc-able from 1-2f
Itasou, Tte Iuka Itai
can control speed by holding stick forward or backward
Ochitoite Kudasai
gets upper invincibility
+2 souls
Chikazuku to Yukimasu
+2 souls
Raoh Possession
General Changes
when Raoh appears, a gauge shows its duration
Darkness Anthem
has a new HS version
Air Darkness Anthem
new
Last Edogai
damage reduced from 100 to 80
Air Last Edogai
new
Sources: GGXXAC+R Official Site, Dustloop, Shinjin, other contributions from USDRobin Hanson's The Age of Em: A Succinct Assessment By Bryan Caplan
I’ve criticized Robin Hanson’s Age of Em for being needlessly confusing. To avoid being subject to the same charge, here is my succinct assessment.
1. Robin Hanson is a brilliant, delightful thinker, and I’m glad he wrote the book.
2. Futurism – especially futurism informed by social science – deserves much higher status and vastly more intellectual attention.
3. Artificial intelligence will be important in the future.
4. While it’s possible to bypass philosophy of mind and simply describe the future role of AI, Robin’s whole analysis tacitly assumes an extreme version of “ems are just as human as you or me.” If he were really agnostic, roughly 50% of the book would have focused on the lives of biological humans during The Age of Em. The true share is more like 2%.
5. In practice, the difference between ems and generalized AIs will be
modest, because we’ll pre-select robot-like humans to emulate. Talking
about ems’ love lives and religiosity is silly.
6. Robin describes the Age of Em in lurid language, then wonders why readers are afraid. How does he expect readers to react when he tells them that “ordinary humans” will be “sidelined” and “earn zero wages,” while the “vast majority of people will live at the subsistence level”?
7. In plain English, however, Robin’s description of his scenario is very bright. Biological humans will enjoy immense prosperity. If simulated humans are conscious, their lives will be hard, if not hellish. But why would mere simulations be conscious, anyway?
8. As long as AIs are psychologically robot-like, biological humans will remain in charge of politics and business. Biological humans won’t be dominated, expropriated, or exterminated by their own creations.
9. However, if AIs are psychologically human-like, ems will probably do terrible things to the first generation of biological humans to meet them. Since the ems subjectively experience years in a single objective day, a small risk of em-human conflict per em generation yields a very high risk of em-human conflict per human generation. Over time, moreover, this risk is likely to rise, because the ems would, within a few of their own generations, develop a radically separate identity and social network, creating preconditions for ugly – and plausibly genocidal – group conflict. Remember: In Robin’s scenario, the ems vastly outnumber the humans, even though the humans have the lions’ share of the wealth. And the humans no longer contribute anything to the global economy; they’re true rentiers.
10. No matter what happens with AI, the global economy will never double in size annually, much less monthly. There are too many political, economic, technological, and social bottlenecks. In any case, the extraordinary claim that the economy will double on a monthly basis requires extraordinary evidence that Robin definitely does not possess.The Texas town where America’s oil and natural gas boom began has voted to ban fracking, in a stunning rebuke to the industry.
Denton, a college town on the edge of the Barnett Shale, voted by 59% to ban fracking inside the city limits, a first for any locality in Texas.
Organisers said they hoped it would give a boost to anti-fracking activists in other states. More than 15 million Americans now live within a mile of an oil or gas well.
“It should send a signal to industry that if the people in Texas – where fracking was invented – can’t live with it, nobody can,” said Sharon Wilson, the Texas organiser for EarthWorks, who lives in Denton.
An energy group on Wednesday asked for an immediate injunction to keep the ban from being enforced. Tom Phillips, an attorney for the Texas Oil and Gas association, told the Associated Press the courts must “give a prompt and authoritative answer” on whether the ban violates the Texas state constitution.
Athens in Ohio and San Benito and Mendocino counties in California also voted to ban fracking on Tuesday. Similar measures were defeated in Gates Mills, Kent and Youngstown, Ohio, as well as Santa Barbara, California.
Denton remains a solidly Republican town, and oil companies reportedly spent $700,000 to defeat the ban, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle – nearly $6 for every resident.
“It was more like David and Godzilla then David and Goliath,” Wilson said. But she said residents were fed up with the noise and disruption of fracking, and the constant traffic and fumes from wells and trucks operating in residential neighbourhoods.
The town is probably the most heavily fracked in the country.
The industry has drilled wells on church property, school grounds and on the campus of the University of North Texas, right next to the tennis courts and across the road from the sports stadium (and a stand of giant wind turbines).
In Texas, as in much of America, property owners do not always own the “mineral rights” – the rights to underground resources – so typically have limited say over how they are developed.
It is also often the case that owners of the mineral rights – who profit directly from fracking – no longer live in the area.
There are already hundreds of wells within Denton city limits, and nearly a third of the town is permitted for fracking. Wilson and other local activists from the Denton Drilling Awareness Group had spent years trying to get local officials to restrict fracking, but those measures proved ineffective.
“We did an ordinance but the industry refused to follow it and threatened law suits at every turn. They said they didn’t have to follow the ordinance because of the way the permitting was done,” Wilson said. “There was just no way out of it except to ban it.”
The ban will almost certainly result in a wave of lawsuits from oil companies as well as mineral rights owners, Wilson said. Republican officials in Texas said they would try to overturn the ban in the state legislature.
“As the senior energy regulator in Texas, I am disappointed that Denton voters fell prey to scare tactics and mischaracterisations of the truth in passing the hydraulic fracturing ban,” the railroad commissioner, David Porter, a Republican, told the Denton Record-Chronicle. “Bans based on misinformation – instead of science and fact – potentially threaten this energy renaissance and as a result, the wellbeing of all Texans.”Hole in the Wall, a live music venue in the heart of the University of Texas campus providing stomping ground for underground Austin acts and a bar for underdressed patrons, is in danger of closing when its lease expires in December, potentially ending a historic 41-year run.
If the closure comes to pass, blame Austin’s booming real estate market. The club’s rent is set to increase from $15,000 monthly to $20,000, according to owner Will Tanner. He says that even if he could afford that price hike, he’s not certain he can negotiate a new lease.
Tanner maintains he’s been trying to initiate lease renewal discussions with his landlords at the Weitzman Group/Cencor Realty Services for over a year, and that a recent meeting gave him the impression they wanted to move on. His hopes sank further this week when he says he learned that brokers were shopping the space to national businesses.
"If they want us there, I’m there,” promises Tanner. “But I think they want to maximize the money vis-à-vis Popeyes or Quiznos. Even during the 40th anniversary [June 2014], I kind of knew the writing was on the wall.
"The bottom line is it’s my landlord's decision and it’s his to make however he wants to make it and that’s his right – which I respect. He owns the building free and clear, and can turn it into a pet shop if he wants. All of my options are pretty much dictated to me at this point, unless I want to walk – which I don’t want to do.”
Tanner estimates, optimistically, a 33% chance that the HITW can survive. He’s even put the option on the table to split the place in half, letting East Side King have their own restaurant, and making HITW just the front room as it was originally.
“I’d be happy to do that, but the landlord’s saying that doesn’t work for them,” he says. "I’m ready to keep going, so having someone else call it for us... It’s tough to swallow.”
Consider that Red 7, which was in a bona fide entertainment district, closed over a similar, $5,000 rent increase – from $9,000 to $14,000.
"Red 7 has the strongest booking agency in town with Transmission, and they left because their rent is being raised to less than what I pay now,” sighs Tanner. “I don’t have a contemporary. Beerland doesn’t pay what I pay, the White Horse doesn’t pay what I pay, Stay Gold doesn’t pay what I pay. No one else does. It’s a hard model to make work.”
The crux of the problem is that Tanner feels he’s paying market value and the landlord disagrees. This afternoon, after a call for comment, the Chronicle received an email statement attributed to Scott Freid of Cencor:
"We have always told Will that it is a priority for us to have this business stay. We have told him this multiple times over the last year and sat down with him as recently as last week. "Since the beginning, Will has continued to maintain that the business is a labor of love and it makes no money. This is further proven by the sales he reports to the TABC. "Will is obligated in his lease to maintain the building. He has obviously done a poor job, and this obligation has been a major sticking point of the renewal along with several other violations. "Will decided to be the steward for the Hole in the Wall eight years ago, and it has not gone as he planned. We want him to renew and have given him every opportunity to work something out, which included several concessions from the landlord. Instead of telling the public that he is ready to move on, it seems he has chosen to make the landlord responsible for the demise of his business. "Needless to say, all of this is a little surprising, since we’ve been working with him every step of the way. But he has to commit to working out a new lease near term or we have to release the building. What happens to the Hole in the Wall is squarely in his hands. "We have received calls from tenants interested in the building forever. There is nothing new about tenants wanting to lease this great site. Will has been non-committal for years and did not exercise his renewal option. But to be clear, the partnership that owns the building has not engaged a broker to lease the space nor has a marketing program commenced. "But Will’s lease expires in four months, and there is only so long that we can wait for an answer.”
J.D. Torian, owner of nearby businesses Austin’s Pizza and Tom’s Tabooley, says the property is being overvalued by the landlords. He’d know: Torian sold the HITW to Tanner in 2008 after acquiring the business in 2005. He’d been an instrumental figure in the revival of the HITW after it shuttered in July 2002, aiding then Austin Pizza owners Clay McLaughlin and James Cashiola in the acquisition and reopening of the dormant club in May 2003. In 2005, he brokered the deal for the property to be purchased by the Weitzman Group, his former employer.
It’s Torian’s original HITW lease that expires in three and a half months.
"There’s no way the rent should be more,” he insists. “It’s hard to do business down here right now. It seems like the real estate guys in Austin are taking the position that, ‘You guys have the best location’ and it’s just not true. I have two businesses on the Drag, and it’s very difficult.
"Students are only here nine months a year!”
Torian acknowledges that it’s a broker’s job to get the most money from a property.
"But Will [Tanner] is a great tenant,” he says. “He always pays his rent and there’s no way it can be looked at as an underachieving business. He’s been down there fighting, and look at how much everything on the Drag has changed. There are very few local business on that part of the street.”
This is a matter of bad timing, in Torian’s opinion. HITW’s lease is ending at a time when real estate companies are charging ridiculously high rent, a reoccurring trend that contributed to the venue’s 2002 closing. Doug Cugini, who founded the HITW in 1974 and operated it until 1998 when he sold it to longtime employee Debbie Rombach for a nominal fee, hadn’t yet heard the bad news when reached for comment Friday afternoon.
"It would be a shame if the Hole in the Wall closed," he lamented. “There’s never been a place like it in Austin. Other bars are immaculate and pretty, and the Hole has always been like it is now, put together on a shoestring budget and filled with counterculture people who walk to a different drummer.”
Cugini thinks he probably paid around $800 in rent per month in the Seventies. For the first five years, he didn’t even have a lease. It was a handshake deal with a family who owned the building.
"Austin has changed so dramatically,” he says.
Cugini’s not particularly surprised that the venue could go out of business.
"It’s always seemed miraculous to me that the Hole could exist and stay mostly the same for 40 years,” he admits. “I guess the reason it’s always been there is because the city, the bands, the newspapers, and the whole culture have embraced it.”
He adds that Tanner deserves credit for maintaining the quality of the music. Tanner, meanwhile, says he’s already fielding calls from bands who want to book one last show on their favorite stage.
"I still hope that I can make a deal and keep Hole in the Wall open,” he says. “But when I heard they were shopping to national tenants, I decided it was time to raise a warning signal so people would have an opportunity to come play and say goodbye. If, in fact, we don’t get to re-sign our lease.”
Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the HITW lease expires on Dec. 30, not Jan. 30, as originally reported.More than 70 environmental groups called on Barack Obama to take the lead on climate change on Monday, urging him to shut down ageing power plants and block a controversial tar sands pipeline project.
In an open letter (PDF), environmental groups reminded Obama of his promise to act on climate change in his second term – and then laid out three specific actions including shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline.
About 50 protesters tried to occupy the Houston offices of TransCanada Corp, the company building the pipeline, on Monday. Two were reportedly arrested.
The letter said that at the very least, Obama should lead the public debate on how to protect American cities and coastlines from climate change. “Raise your voice,” the letter said. “Lead the public discussion of what we need to do as a nation to both prepare for the changes in climate that are no longer avoidable and avoid changes in climate that are unacceptable. “
The letter, though largely positive in tone, represents a change of strategy for environmental groups at the start of Obama’s second term.
After mixed results in Obama’s first four years, environmental groups appear to have come to the conclusion they need to be more vocal about demanding action from the White House, to keep climate change from slipping off the president’s second term agenda.
The letter urged Obama to set new pollution controls for existing power plants. A report released last month by the Natural Resources Defense Council set out a plan for cutting carbon emissions from power plants 26% by the end of the decade.
The open letter also pressed Obama to put a stop to the Keystone XL pipeline project, designed to pump crude from the Alberta tar sands to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Obama put a hold on final approval of the pipeline early last year, but industry and environmental groups expect a decision early in his second term.
“We should not pursue dirty fuels like tar sands,” the open letter said. “The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in our national interest because it would unlock vast amounts of additional carbon that we can’t afford to burn.”
Since the election, environmental groups have grown increasingly concerned about how to hold Obama to his commitment to act on climate change.
Obama, on the night of his re-election, ranked climate change as one of the three priorities of his second term. The devastation of superstorm Sandy also brought climate change back into the public conversation.
But some environmental leaders said they feared those opportunities could slip away, with Obama caught up in other pressing issues such as gun control or immigration.
They are also keen to avoid their own mis-steps of Obama’s first term. Early in Obama’s administration, the larger environmental groups in particular fell into line with a White House strategy of avoiding direct discussion of climate change – ostensibly to avoid a political backlash from industry groups.
Environmental leaders now concede that policy of “climate silence” was a mistake – one they do not want to replicate in an Obama second term.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2013Exporters face payment risks
By Hu Yuanyuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-20 07:54
A textile factory in Jiangsu province. China's exporters are facing soaring payment risks from the United States and Europe as a result of the global financial crisis, Sinosure's risk-analysis report revealed on Friday. [Asianewsphoto]
China's exporters are facing soaring payment risks from the United States and Europe as a result of the global financial crisis, Sinosure's risk-analysis report revealed on Friday.
As the country's only policy-oriented insurer specializing in export credit insurance, Sinosure has issued the global risk-analysis report since 2005. It covers 191 foreign countries and regions.
Due to the worsened global economy, 48 countries were downgraded in their risk ratings this year. But 14 countries, mainly in Africa and Latin America, saw an improved trade and investment environment and thus were upgraded in their ratings.
The United States, for the first time, was downgraded by one level. According to Sinosure's statistics, Chinese firms exporting textile, mechanical and electrical products to the US were the largest victims, with losses exceeding $10 million so far this year.
The situation in the EU is also poor. The claims Sinosure received on mechanical and electrical products were five times that of the same period last year.
"Comparatively speaking, Chinese exporters could do more in exploring business opportunities in Asia where risks rising from the global crisis are not so obvious yet," said Fu Ziying, vice-minister of commerce.
But according to the report, risks in Asia are also growing because of the weaker currency system and largely fluctuated pricing of commodities.
With $210 million having been paid to enterprises, Sinosure reported a 174.5 percent growth in claims in the previous 11 months this year, also indicating the soaring risks for Chinese exporters.
"Given the global financial turmoil, enterprises' demand for export credit insurance is also growing rapidly this year," said Liang Zhidong, vice-general manager of Sinosure.
The value insured by Sinosure jumped 64.5 percent year-on-year to 50.8 billion yuan at the end of October.
Due to the tightened cash flow, more overseas importers are now extending the period of payment, further exacerbating potential risks, Liang said.
Wang Yi, president of Sinosure, suggested Chinese exporters strengthen management of their accounts receivable to better fight against the growing trade risks,.
"A more careful and complete investigation on the buyers' credit is needed in such a global turmoil to prevent risks beforehand," said Wang.Dragon Ball Xenoverse is less than a week away from its February 24th release in North/Latin America and February 27th release in Europe/the Middle East/Australasia. Bandai Namco has already announced some of the DLC we are getting, but how about some videos for it! First, lets list out
First off is Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta and two Frieza soldier costumes. These three DLC will be free, Day 1 Edition bonuses. Typically, if you pre-order Dragon Ball Xenoverse, you should get the Day 1 edition, although in some instances that may not be the case. We urge you to check with your local retailer for information on if they will carry the Day 1 Edition. The resourceful AnimeGamesOnline was able to capture footage of the day 1 edition from the Japanese version of the game. In case you are curious, in Japan the DLC is distributed differently.
Next up are Pan, GT Goku, and GT Trunks. We show you three screenshots of these characters first because they haven’t been released yet anywhere in the world, they are scheduled for a March 2015 release worldwide. Despite that, the genius known as SergioM3 has peeked into the hidden data of the PS3 version of Dragon Ball Xenoverse to bring you some of their costumes and skills. Not only that, but it seems as if Eis Shenron and Nuova Shenron will be in as DLC as well! Based on the hidden data, we predict Eis Shenron and Nuova Shenron will be part of DLC pack 2, which currently does not have a date announced.
Pan’s skills are shown on Kid Gohan, GT Goku’s skills are shown using Goten, GT Trunks skills are shown on Future Trunks, and Eis Shenron and Nuova Shenron’s skills are shown using Omega Shenron. Again, the reason different characters were used for skills is because the DLC hasn |
The fact that we have only lost a total of eight sheep to bears and wolves in our 17-year sheep veg. mgmt. contracting experience speaks for itself. We believe that our sheep are safer from predation when they are out bush with us and guarded by livestock guardian dogs than they would be at home in most Canadian sheep farmers’ fields. The neighbor’s dog would probably kill far more than eight sheep over a 17-year period.
I have used dogs to guard silvicultural workers and sheep from bear attacks for about 30 years, and I personally never go into the forest without at least one dog. Most dogs will guard you against bears, but livestock guardian dogs will guard you better. Just as Greyhounds were bred to run and Labradors were bred to retrieve ducks, livestock guardian dogs were bred to guard. Now it’s simply a matter of choosing the best tool for the job.
Livestock guardian dogs have evolved over about 5,000 years of selective breeding and ruthless culling. People ate dog for most of that time and it is only recently that man could afford to feed large, non-productive, pet dogs. Guardian dogs that ran away from attacking bears or wolves usually ended up as supper for the farmer. They certainly were not fed or used for breeding. The end result of this 5,000-year breeding program is that today’s guardian dogs have had fear bred right out of them. They will guard your family, livestock, chickens, or silvicultural workers against anything, fearlessly, until they die.
The word “fearless,” in the case of our faithful Great Pyrenees dog “Tiger,” means a 150-pound dog squaring off with a very determined 1,000-pound grizzly bear and not backing down at all.
The previous year, some tourists had stolen Tiger and taken him over the border into Alaska. He stopped eating, got sick and very skinny. Eventually they took him to an animal shelter, where the staff decided to give him a haircut. Tiger put a stop to that about half way through the shearing process. The RCMP located him for us and we got him back via the mail plane, $1,400 later. He was a mess. Then, one of his pack mates mouthed off about his bad hair cut and a major dog fight exploded. Tiger took a pounding and was in really bad shape, so off to the vet we rushed. He barely pulled through, but by the next summer he was his normal happy, tough self and back at work.
The shepherds were trailing the 1,500 sheep flock down a logging road, through the dense forest to another block. Suddenly, right at the perfect place for an ambush (a switch back with a steep drop off on one side), a large, predatory grizzly charged into the rear of the flock—determined to get a sheep. Two of the dogs were able to hold back the snarling grizzly, lunging and ducking the bear’s swatting claws, until the other guardian dogs arrived. My son Daniel was only a few meters away and had a better view of the fight than he would have preferred. He scrambled back into the centre of the flock, which is the safest place for a shepherd in a bear attack situation. (The theory being, “If the bear really wants something to eat, better a sheep than us.”)
The bear retreated, disappearing into the forest with the dogs at his heels. The shepherds took this opportunity to get the flock briskly moving again. Soon, Daniel was jogging along after the sheep—making him the last animal in line.
Turning to look behind him, Daniel stopped dead. The grizzly was right there, sprinting straight at him, almost on top of him.
“You think you’ll react in a situation like that,” Daniel recalled, “but it happened so fast. I just blinked, stood there and waited to die.”
Suddenly Tiger was there, blasting past Daniel, 150 pounds of teeth and viciousness. The dog’s attack deflected the bear’s charge off to the side of the road, and almost certainly saved my son’s life. Within seconds the other guardian dogs arrived to help Tiger. A major battle exploded right behind Daniel as he pushed his way into the safety of the flock.
The dogs were able to drive the bear back into the forest and the dog pack took up their defensive positions all around the flock again. Minutes later, the flock reached the open block. No sooner had they arrived than the bear attacked yet again, charging straight up the road towards where shepherd girl Lesley was frozen in fear. The crew yelled at her to jump into the middle of the flock, but she could not move. Suddenly there was Tiger again, fighting like crazy, and once again, he held the grizzly off until the other dogs arrived. Another huge battle erupted and the dogs chased the bear back into the forest again. Lesley jumped into the safety of the flock. The dog pack returned to their defensive positions, evenly distributed around the flock, all extremely serious and definitely on guard again.
We set up a temporary camp. The dogs worked all night, full alert, deadly serious, fearless guardians doing their job. The bear left during the night and next morning we all just went back to our sheep veg. mgmt work.
Later, a movie crew filmed a documentary for the television program Dogs With Jobs featuring “Tiger: Bear Dog,” which showed in 63 countries. Tiger did actually tree a black bear for the film crew, but he was only playing and wagging his tail the whole time.
The early sheep farmers of Canada and the USA imported the finest European guardian dogs, so Canada already has excellent guardian dogs. I usually purchase mine for $400 to $600 per pup, and since they can work for about 8 or 9 years, I see them as one of the great bargains of today. They work well as individuals, but better in pairs. They use excellent team work with complicated strategies that continue to amaze even my most experienced shepherds. For example, if a young yearling black bear comes onto a plantation, the experienced older dogs will instruct the younger dogs to run up and chase it away, but if a large grizzly comes, they clearly instruct the younger dogs to stay with the flock while the biggest and toughest dogs attack the bear.
We used to think that a pack of three guardian dogs was ample for bears. Then we went further north and saw the size of the northern grizzlies, and encountered packs of 12 wolves. We learned to increase the guardian dog packs to eight dogs per 1,500 sheep flock. It also needs mentioning that the shepherds have four Australian Kelpie sheep herding dogs per flock. The Kelpie breed is half dingo and very hardy. They love chasing bears. When a bear comes and the guardian dogs take off after it, the herding dogs get involved too, so the bear is confronted by a dog pack of about a dozen barking, snarling dogs. (Definitely a serious deterrent for even the most hungry grizzly!)
In the case of silvicultural workers, I think that one livestock guardian dog per plantation would do the job, but a pair would be much better. Since bears are opportunists looking for an easy meal, when they encounter the dogs, it usually doesn’t take them long to decide that they are better off eating berries and fish or something that represents less hassle. It is all about the “hassle factor.”
The dogs rarely actually bite a bear, but they put on such a show of viciousness that they clearly represent a huge hassle to that bear. It will usually leave as quickly as it can. (Don’t think the dogs are afraid to bite the bear, but rather that this is their strategy: be as intimidating and as big a hassle as possible, and chase the bear away without harming it.) Although the guardian dogs seem quite gentle and laid back, they are also large, very powerful, quick and vicious animals. However, they never show that side of their character unless the situation requires that response.
Most guardian dog owners have no idea how much dog they have. They will tell you that “they own a Great Pyrenees, but he’s not really much of a guard dog and in fact he’s a big, friendly, tail wagging goof.
He loves to hang out with the wife and kids. All of the neighbor’s kids love him, babies hang on his tail and ride him, but he wouldn’t harm a fly. We all like him so we keep him.” I hear that story often and then I try to explain that their dog has never had reason to show his tough side, so they have never seen that side of him, but should someone or something threaten to harm the family, that dog would instantly transform into one powerful, ferocious animal that will never back off. It will not stop until the danger is past and that the speed and viciousness of the response will absolutely shock them. Of course they don’t get it. Fair enough—how could they? How could they ever grasp that “Fluffy” the gentle giant is really the equivalent of a lion in a dog’s body? I have witnessed that transformation dozens of times and it really is always a shock to experience.
One example I witnessed was a dog fight between two mature male Great Pyrenees guardian dogs and a large mature male Hungarian Kuvasz. The fight exploded right in front of another shepherd and myself. It was a territorial dispute, and the Pyrenees were brothers who had decided to kill the Kuvasz. We were able to get our shepherds crooks hooked onto the collars of the two Pyrenees, and we pulled them off of the Kuvasz. The whole fight lasted seconds, but already my Kuvasz was clearly dying. He weighed about 150 pounds and was one of our best dogs, so we quickly made a “bush stretcher” out of two long sticks and our sweatshirts and carried him to the truck. We rushed him to the vet 100 km away. He was almost dead on arrival but we told the vet to hit him with everything that he had and try his best to save him.
The vet examined him, then asked, “Did the driver of the truck stop after running over him?” We explained that it was a dog fight that only lasted seconds and that we were right there and had witnessed the whole thing. The vet refused to believe us. He pointed out the numerous broken bones, major internal damage, the rips and deep gashes all over etc and to this day I think that he still believes that a truck ran over my dog.
Of course the dog died. The crazy part of it all is that I have seen those same two Great Pyrenees lick and comfort a sick lamb all day and then be clearly quite distressed when they could not save its life.
The five most popular livestock guardian dog breeds available in Canada are France’s Great Pyranee, the Hungarian Kuvasz, the Italian Maremma, the Turkish Akbash, and the Komondor.
They are all excellent, but I feel that some of these breeds are much more suitable for the job of guarding silvicultural workers than others.
I really like and so recommend the Great Pyrenees for the job. They always seem happy and friendly, but underneath all of that tail wagging and smiling is a big, serious dog. When he “kicks into gear and goes to work,” he definitely means business. They are a large breed usually weighing about 150 pounds, but sometimes getting up to 200 lbs body weight. The Pyrenees is more of a “big bruiser,” than an athlete, with a deep, powerful voice. He is a low metabolism animal and so he eats about the same amount of food as an average sized dog. He is very hardy animal and completely happy sleeping out in the snow in mid winter. He doesn’t seem to need much of anything. I have seen some Pyrenees guarding sheep flocks on the prairies, while living completely “off the land”, catching and eating gofers, mice and rabbits. They were in good condition and doing just fine.
The Kuvasz is also a very impressive dog, but more of an athlete, burning up more energy and so eating more food. He is a powerful, fast runner and he charges the bear immediately upon detecting it. A dog pack combining both Great Pyrenees and Kuvasz works wonderfully, but the Kuvasz loves to patrol a very large area and so is harder to keep at home during the off season.
The Italian Maremma is also an excellent dog, similar in nature to the Pyrenees, powerful and effective. I think that they are marvelous workers and my shepherds definitely like them on their work site. Project manager Jolene Shepherd prefers a dog pack combining Great Pyrenees, Kuvasz and Maremma, with each breed bringing their particular strong points to the pack. Her projects have never had a sheep killed by a predator, so it makes sense to me.
The Komondor is also a large and very serious guardian dog breed. He has been bred to grow long dreadlocks that reach the ground. When he comes running at you he looks strange and very scary. The idea of the dreadlocks is that they mat together, get sticks etc. caught up in then and form a type of natural fang proof armor. This is very effective protection when fighting a wolf pack. Most owners shear them annually. Shearing dogs is a chore that I’d rather not bother with, so I don’t have much experience with the Komondor breed.
The Turkish Akbash is an extremely serious dog, but very aggressive and I don’t like them. One Akbash owner tried to justify the breed’s temperament by explaining “whereas other guardian dog breeds were bred to guard against predators, the Akbash was bred to guard against predators and bandits.” Great! I think that it is beyond the capability of any dog to sort out the bandits from the legitimate clients in the BC forest industry. Clearly somebody will get bitten by a big angry dog. Because of this issue, I definitely do not recommend the use of Akbash to guard BC silvicultual workers.
When training livestock guardian dogs to guard your workers against bear attack, it really is not as complicated as most people would think. Firstly, guardian dogs want to guard you, they can’t help it, that’s their strongest instinct. Its better if there is an older, experienced dog to teach them the ropes (for example, to chase the bears off of the block that you are working on, but not to bother going off into the forest looking for grizzlies to chase). Bonding them to the crew is easy enough. They should simply feed them, pat them, befriend them and the dogs will want to hang out with the crew and guard them 24/7.
When the crew arrives on the block, the first job is to release the dogs. They will immediately and happily go to work. They will run around the block and chase away any animal that they encounter. This does not take long, usually about the same amount of time that a crew takes to get their gear together before they start work. The dogs will continue patrolling the work site all day, and they really love their job. At the end of the day they will jump up into the back of the pickup truck and go home with the crew. If you are in a camp situation, they will patrol and guard the camp all night. I believe that the added safety that guardian dogs bring to the work site increases crew productivity, which helps to offset some of the costs of purchasing and maintaining the dogs.
You don’t really have to bother teaching them much, the guarding comes naturally, but some things that seem really obvious, I had to learn the hard way. To begin with, don’t forget to teach them to (1) come when they are called, (2) jump up into the truck on command and (3) lead. As silly as this may sound, we have had dogs that nobody bothered to teach to get into the truck or to lead. This happened easily enough. We had 50 working dogs at the time
and the guardian dogs arrived with the sheep on sheep liners. They followed the flock from plantation to plantation all summer. There was no reason to ever lead them or ask them to get into the pickup truck.
Then, later in the season, three dogs tried to get a porcupine to leave the block. They got too close and got a few quills each. Then they got vexed and regardless of the pain, tore that porcupine to bits. With about 300 quills in the mouth, nose and throat of each dog, we had to take them all to the vet—but they would not jump up into the truck. It took two people to load them, which meant two lost man-days as both shepherds had to go to town and physically carry three 150-pound dogs into and out of the vet clinic. Everybody felt foolish. Most of all, the contractor (me) felt particularly foolish, since the total bill for the event (wages, vet, truck etc) was over $1,000. Well, that’s contracting. Picking up the odd unexpected bill seems to be part of it all.
As a point of interest, and because it often comes up in conversations about guardian dogs, the old-as-time technique used by shepherds for bonding dogs to sheep flocks is to take a puppy from its litter just as a ewe is about to have twin lambs, then when the first lamb is born, they get her afterbirth and rub it all over the puppy. When the second lamb is born, they put the puppy beside the newborn lamb when the ewe is not looking and (usually) she can be tricked into thinking that she gave birth to the puppy. The ewe will lick it clean and care for it. The puppy accepts that the lambs are his new litter mates and grows up with them. That dog will guard those lambs and ewe, plus all of their friends and relatives, which of course is the whole flock, for the rest of his life.
Regarding the feeding of guardian dogs, commercial dog food is the simplest, but in a camp situation, camp scraps are usually ample. If buying dog food, better formulations from middle-of-the-road brands are good enough. I think that the most prestigious brands and top-of-the-line formulas are overrated and too expensive, while the cheaper stuff (as with all low bids) is usually low on product and high on filler—leaving you with more dog turds for somebody to clean up later.
We feed our dogs once per day and always before we eat our supper. “Free feeding” works well in the off season, but not during the work season, because the dog will often be preoccupied with guarding his food bowl against his fellow pack members. It’s best to avoid that kind of distraction from his job. Working dogs need to be wormed twice a year and we find that spring and fall treatments work best. They also need to be vaccinated annually.
My first experience with bears, tree planting, and wishing that I had a dog with me, all happened on the same day, about 34 years ago. It was in the very early days of BC tree planting contracting that three friends and myself took a “fly in” tree planting contract. The helicopter dropped our trees, gear and us off and the pilot said that he would be back in a month. We were on the other side of a river and mountains and pretty well nowhere. It was a very “lean show” without radio, First Aid supplies, firefighting equipment or much of anything. We did, however, have a mail order.303 rifle ($30 incl. S and H) in case bears came. Our previous bear experience was limited to koala bears. Basically we didn’t have a clue.
We limped home to camp at dusk after our first day of planting to see three bears leaving our trashed camp. They had eaten about half of our food and we were on strict rations thereafter. The bears hung around every day and night, despite the huge slash fire that we kept burning. We had plenty of slash, but it did not work, as the fire did not bother the bears after a while. We probably kept the fire going because it made us feel better. Warning shots did not work either. I wished that I had my dog with me, but he was in Australia. Then it started to rain and our cheap boots and raingear fell apart. Things were getting fairly rough at that point, but we were young and making good money, so we continued working from daylight to dark, seven days a week, until we had planted all of the trees. Needless to say, we were fairly feral by the time the helicopter came. I decided to become a tree planting contractor after that, but vowed to get much more serious about bears, bear dogs, boots, rain gear, equipment and contracting in general.
We soon had the best equipped, best fed tree planters with the best camps, boots and raingear in the industry, and all of our camps had a camp bear dog. The BC tree planting industry quickly became the world leader in high quality, high production reforestation, employing thousands of young Canadians. It was fun to enjoy the status of being amongst the top few tree planting contractors in BC, and so, one of the top tree planting contractors in the world.
However, things were still not perfect regarding bears. The camp cooks demanded that the bear dog stay in camp, and so the planters themselves were still exposed to potential bear attack. Girls were chased off of the block three times over a two-day period. They said the young black bear was “only playing.” Other planters did not see it as fun and would not get out of the truck. I took the camp dog to the block for a few days to deal with it. Meanwhile another black bear had come to camp, trashed some tree planters’ tents and finally was shot by the foreman as it sat eating granola, right in the middle of the cook tent. The cooks were angry with me for taking the dog to the block, and demanded “their” dog back. When I brought the dog back to camp, another bear showed up on the block and scared another planter. I lost patience with the whole situation and shot that bear.
Things got crazy at that point as I had completely misjudged how many animal rights activists I had employed. A large potion of the crew threatened to quit in protest over the shooting of the second bear, as he was only about half grown and had looked quite cute. The obvious lesson I learned was that I needed more dogs, one for camp and others for the work sites.
I saw some (rookie) tree planters walk up too close to a large black bear to “get a better photo.” Bear information and bear avoidance lectures became a standard part of our tree planter training program from then on.
The speech went something like this: “Bears live here and bears eat people. They don’t prefer to eat people, its just that they eat pretty well anything including vegetation, berries, fish, carrion, apple pies, garbage, toothpaste, grubs, insects, people, deer, moose, cows, sheep, bears, candy, etc. They don’t hate you or like you. They don’t care. You are just protein to them. Just like a shark or crocodile, they find food and they eat it. Bears hunt by stealth and ambush. They are very fast (much faster than you), very strong (they can kill a moose), silent, and invisible (they can sneak up and catch a deer, which is all ears and eyes). They can climb trees, and they are searching for food every waking minute. But they are opportunists, always looking for an easy meal (like the candy and cookies hidden in your tent). Many of them are already spoiled by easy food from sloppy campers, fishermen, and garbage dumps, and some are even problem town bears relocated to your work site by your Government. But you are smarter than bears, so use your brain! Don’t keep food in your tent, don’t go up to them for a better photo, and do trust your “sixth sense”: if you feel like you are in danger, you probably are. So leave. Most of all, don’t represent easy protein.”
In the case of shepherds we add, “and if a bear comes, go to the centre of the flock, keep as many sheep as you can between him and you, then let the dogs deal with it.” Most silvicultural workers already know all of this, but a surprising number of them don’t. I feel that the speech is always worthwhile anyway.
Last year I had a reminder of how little some silvicultural workers know about bears. Four of us were doing regeneration surveys. I was at the far end of the block with my personal dog. A colleague named Ben was at the opposite end. When he neared the tree line, he was charged by a large black bear. She had very young, twin cubs. He dropped his new stainless steel shovel, jumped over a small cliff and ran back to the truck, yelling into his radio the whole time. At the truck they decided that since we had finished the job, except for the two plots Ben had left to do, we should all go back to Ben’s section together (safety in numbers theory) retrieve Ben’s shovel, do the two plots, then go home. They were quite surprised when I said “I’m not going and what’s more, one of you is going to die.” The fact that the bear had newborn cubs and would not care if there were 100 of us, had not entered the minds of these three fairly bush-savvy country boys. About one month later, two of us went back with five dogs, finished the job, got Ben’s shovel and all was fine. Ben was so traumatized by that bear experience that he quit the silviculture industry and got a job as a fashion model in Indonesia. The BC silviculture industry lost another good man to bears.
On one of our sheep veg. mgmt. contracts in the McBride area, we were visited by a different black bear every day for 39
consecutive days. We think that we were working on a wildlife trail between the valley and the alpine pastures. The dogs chased all of them away without incident. The shepherds had developed such confidence in their dog pack that they saw the bear visits (and subsequent dog explosions) as a pleasant interruption in an otherwise fairly boring day.
On another cut block in the Stewart area, we were visited by 8 individual grizzly bears in a one week period. This was not fun. We did not want to be there, but the client threatened us with contract termination if we refused to do that block. Meanwhile, in downtown Hyder (only 100 km from our work site) a grizzly killed and partially ate a man behind the pub. The bears on our block did not really do anything wrong, it’s just that it was quite stressful that they were grizzly bears, that they were so big and that they were there on our worksite.
Two of them in particular were unusually huge. I was totally unprepared for the size of them, despite the numerous bear movies and documentaries I had seen, plus all of the previous bear experiences of my more than 30 years of bush work. They were much bigger than I had ever realized that they could possibly get. They looked and behaved like two big bulls.
We were at camp and all of our dogs were with the sheep flock when these two giants started casually walking towards us. Obviously those two grizzlies knew that they were the kings of the forest. They clearly were not afraid of us whatsoever. We felt completely naked, and fairly stupid. I realized that our travel trailers were basically cardboard boxes, that my.303 rifle was a toy, and that I don’t shoot well anyway. It was terrifying. We were about to jump into the truck and race away when those two monsters simply changed directions and casually wandered away when they felt like it. Nothing had really happened—except that I got another reminder of the vulnerability of all silvicultural workers, and of my own mortality. I am now much more serious about bears and the danger they represent to us.
In conclusion, I will repeat that I believe that bear dogs should become a normal, everyday BC silvicultural tool. If you think that buying and caring for dogs is too much trouble, I suggest you just look at it as though the next silvicultural worker to be killed may be you—and then decide whether getting a few dogs is worth the extra effort or not.
The Club once again thanks Mr. Dennis Loxton, the Western Silvicultural Contractors' Association and BC Forest Safety Council for granting express permission to reproduce this article for the benefit of visitors to our site.
The article provides great insight into the lives of Great Pyrs as livestock guardian dogs.
Here is the story of a family pet that defended its family against a Bear attack.
Let's leave our livestock guardian dogs and go home.Games are playgrounds for ideas, and, these days, the playgrounds that best entertain ideas are role-playing games. Since the advent of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, tabletop role-playing games have been crucibles for both ideas about gaming and ideas about the subjects of the game. RPGs have greatly influenced how we play everything from video games to card games and how we think about, say, killing things and taking their stuff.
Posthuman Studios, a game development company, is focusing the idea-power of RPGs on the questions raised by transhumanism. Their new game, Eclipse Phase, allows players to explore the most far-out transhumanist possibilities in a cosmic horror setting. Playing this game, you quickly realize that, in a transhuman future, killing things is often a bad idea… and you may not even want their stuff.
Posthuman game developers Rob Boyle and Brian Cross set out to contend with the broadest variety of transhuman notions. "Eclipse phase is a biological term, referring to the moment between a virus’s infection of a cell and its duplication within it. The game occurs at a time when the full spectrum of transhumanity lies scattered across the stars. Humanity has divided into factions, differentiated by their socio-political practices and by their distance from baseline humanity. Vastly powerful artificial intelligences lurk in the darkness and a mysterious plague, the Exurgent Virus, has wrought deep transformations on swathes of transhuman civilization.
Eclipse Phase enlists players as agents of Firewall, a conspiracy that crosses the transhuman factions. “If you took the Singularity Institute and the Lifeboat Foundation and meshed them together in this setting… and put them underground,” says Boyle, “that’s kind of what this Firewall organization is.” Firewall agents deal with existential risk to transhumanity — the Exurgent Virus, intra-transhuman conflicts, malevolent AI, and other massive threats.
Players choose the sort of transhumanity their characters embody — from uploaded intelligences to “uplifted” animals. It’s here that the real work of the game becomes clear. RPGs have always won acclaim for the way that they can get players to identify with characters different from themselves, but what happens when the characters are really different? h+ talked with Boyle and Cross to find out.
H+: How did you look at transhumanism while developing Eclipse Phase, and how do you see the game as a means for exploring transhumanist ideas?
BRIAN CROSS: I’d say that, at least initially, one of the things we wanted to do was attempt to engage with a lot of the issues that you see coming up on transhumanist websites, amongst transhumanist listserves, when transhumanists get together and discuss these things. We try to engage with a lot of those discussions in the game setting, so as to let people play those out in the game. But also — and this is one of the fun things I’ve had in teaching people the game — we’re getting people familiar — who may not otherwise be familiar — with thinking of some technologies as transhuman technologies, thinking in a transhuman way, or engaging with the movement.
It’s both a teaching resource and a way of debating some of these issues in a less high-pressure environment, where it’s easy to say, “Oh, well; it’s a game. No hard feelings,” but you can still engage with these things, while rolling dice.
ROB BOYLE: I think we’re both fairly pro-tech, and we can consider ourselves transhumanists, in the sense of the Transhumanist Declaration. We’re not bio-conservative or anti-tech. But we do think that, with a lot of the technologies, there comes a lot of risks and a lot of questions about how humanity is going to change.
h+: A core question for players of the game is: how much change will I accept in my character? How different from itself can humanity become?
BC: Right. And I’d say also that related to that core question is the question of survival: what you have to do or need to do in order to survive. Because transhumanity is very obviously on the edge of extinction, partially due to their own actions, partially due to these external things. So, how do you use the technology? How much do you change yourself? And at what point do you become no longer transhuman? These sorts of questions figure into it also.
H+: Let’s talk about the forms the characters can take — the choices that players have in developing their characters. Traditionally in role-playing games, players come together as a team or party of adventurers. What’s different about an Eclipse Phase party?
RB: You could, if you wanted to, play a party composed of entirely the same character that has forked himself, made copies of himself, and then downloaded them into different bodies.
h+: But it’s also traditional for a party to consist of specialists. Do the opportunities for customization in a transhumanist milieu eliminate the need for specialized characters?
RB: I’d still say that character within a group in Eclipse Phase tend to specialize in specific roles. In the sample characters that we offer in the core book, there are definitely characters that are more geared towards being scientists or knowledgeable people and other characters more geared towards being combative types or social types. So there’s still a bit of specialization, it’s just that, when you switch bodies, it affects your core characteristics, which affect your skills, allowing you to expand your abilities in different ways.
h+: How do players relate to their characters, then? Do they still form attachments to them? Do they still care what happens to the character?
BC: For my players, they still formed attachments, if not more so, but it was in a different way. It wasn’t necessarily concern for the bodily sanctity of their characters. They were less concerned with issues of injury and death, but more protective of issues concerning their mental health and overall level of sanity because that’s where you actually suffer damage in the game.
h+: Lots of horror-themed games measure characters’ sanity in some way, as a means of doubling up on the threats players face. Characters might die, or they might go crazy. In Eclipse Phase, they can die and then go crazy. How does that work?
RB: There’s a mental health mechanic in the game that’s very similar to the physical health mechanic; they work on the same principles. You pick up physical damage from being wounded in a fight. You can also pick up mental distress — mental trauma, we call it — and if you build up a lot of it, then you develop mental derangement’s and disorders over time.
You pick up this stuff from dying, depending on how you get brought back. There are different methods of reinstating yourself and backing yourself up. You might remember your death, which is one way of suffering trauma, or you might have suffered a gap because you had to revert to a previous back-up that’s six months old — so you just lost six months of your life. And you may not even be certain that you’re dead. There might still be a version of you out there somewhere, because maybe they didn’t find your body. There’s a bit of trauma from that.
h+: What other stresses may have an impact on a character’s state of mind?
BC: We have uplifts in the game, so it’s possible to place your consciousness, if you’re born human, into something that’s distinctly non-human, such as an uplifted great ape or an uplifted octopus. And that’s a little odd.
It goes the other way, too. If you’re born an uplifted octopus, you’re not very familiar with walking around with two legs and two arms. That can cause a bit of mental stress and lead to a mental breakdown… as you can imagine.
h+: Besides their relationships with their characters, how else does Eclipse Phase challenge players with transhumanist ideas?
BC: I’ve run it with two different groups now, and it’s been fun seeing the process where they approach it initially as a standard role-playing game, and then, over the course of the first few sessions, came to understand the differences, and the ways in which it allows them to expand upon traditional ideas in these games.
RB: There’s a bit of a hurdle sometimes. The group I had wasn’t familiar with a lot of the technology at first. So it took a little while to explain things to them and get them going. I think they did kind of start with that standard role-playing game mentality. And then as things went along, they started to see some of the possibilities, but also some of the drawbacks. For example, they were much more reluctant to kill people in the game, to make enemies of people, because when you kill someone in the game, they’re not necessarily dead. They can come back from a back-up, and then you’ve made an enemy for life.
h+: Let’s reverse the question. How does the game allow the players to experience a critique of transhumanism?
RB: You could have a game take place in one of the settings, the Jovian Republic, which is a militaristic, bio-conservative faction that are opposed to uses of nano-fabrication and extensive usage of biotechnology. By having an adventure that involves that faction — or by interacting with characters from that faction — you can kind of explore those bio-conservative arguments against using that kind of stuff within the game. And you can have it counterposed to people who have a more anarchist or libertarian or straight-up capitalist outlook.
Things that I noticed really had people thinking in some of the games I ran were some of the possibilities that come up with sousveillance — the fact that when everything is networked and equipped with sensors and all meshed together, there are possibilities for universal surveillance. It really got them thinking about the possibilities and uses of it. And sometimes I think it even freaked them out a little bit, thinking about how things might turn out.
It’s possible to place your consciousness, if you’re born human, into something that’s distinctly non-human, such as an uplifted great ape or an uplifted octopus.
h+: In the end, how do you hope Eclipse Phase will expand the conversation on transhumanism?
BC: I’d say it’s the kind of game where, after the game session ends for the night, it’s not unusual to find people sticking around talking about some of the topics that came up in the game that night. And how they see hints of that in coming technologies in |
. "We play H-O-R-S-E, and I speak to them as I would want my father to speak to me: 'How's everything going with you? How's school?'... There are some who hold it in. There are others you can see it in their eyes: 'Please ask me what's going on.' They just want someone who's interested and cares about them."
Clark is also open to giving motivational talks to youth and adults.
"I really hope people aren't judgmental and will welcome him back to our community," Randle said. "He's accepted what he's done and took accountability for it and paid his debt to society. I really believe he's a diamond in the rough, and his potential is so untapped at this point of his life. He's a kind and gentle spirit and has the ability to really touch and change lives... and contribute to the growth, prosperity and economic development of this community, and I'm hopeful that our civic leaders, religious leaders, political leaders understand that and embrace him."
Clark knows there are doubters who may be waiting for him to fail.
"Today, I don't allow that to affect me," he said. "Plenty of people think they know me and will continue to see me through the pigeonhole they created for me. But nobody truly knows me because I just got an understanding of myself these past four years. All I can be is myself, and I think I'm pretty damn cool."We need a deeper, refined analysis for a clear vision of the inherent repression of Black life, says Mumia Abu-Jamal. (Photo: City Lights Books)
In a righteously angry yet calmly principled collection of commentaries and essays, an acclaimed incarcerated author and intellectual asks: Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? “Mumia Abu-Jamal’s painstaking courage, truth-telling and disinterest in avoiding the reality of American racial life is, as always, honorable,” says Alice Walker. Order your copy today by making a donation to Truthout!
In his new book Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?, author and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal explores this question over 75 essays, spanning from the late 1990s to 2017. Each essay explores the violence of policing and the criminal legal system, whether from a historical perspective or through the stories of people who have died by the hands of police. In the first essay, “Hate Crimes,” Abu-Jamal questions the legitimacy of the idea of hate crimes, pointing out that police are never charged with a hate crime when they brutalize and kill Black and Brown people. Abu-Jamal’s essays discuss the murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, the killing of Tamir Rice by Cleveland, Ohio, police officer Timothy Loehmann, and what the aftermath of these slayings reveals about how the United States views Black people. His conclusion is perfectly summed up in the first two lines of his October 2015 essay titled, “Tamir Rice of Cleveland” — “Question: When is a child not a child? Answer: When it’s a Black child.”
Abu-Jamal spoke with Truthout about some of the issues he engages with in Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?, including police violence and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
Tasasha Henderson: You talk about several cases of police violence that did not make national and international news: Carl Hardiman in Chicago, Shep McDaniel in New York City. And in your essays written in the early part of 2014, you convey a feeling that you had a sense that something big was coming — that there would be an incident of police violence that would set off a powder keg. Did you have a sense or a feeling that there would be an incident, like what eventually did happen to Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, that would lead to the beginnings of a mass resistance?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: I did have an inkling, say, a feeling. I’ve seen this before, when the frequency and intensity of attacks on Black life was so naked, so ugly, so offensive, that resistance became imperative. Our people have an almost ungodly patience; but when the flames ignite, it can be a formidable social force. Indeed, that is the essence of Black history in the American settler-state. I think Mike Brown’s community was one such instance. And when I saw five young brothers tell a reporter: “My name is Mike Brown,” “My name is Mike Brown,” it was a historic echo from the “Spartacus” era, when slaves of Rome rose and rebelled against the Empire, and identified with each other.
In your essay “Hate Crimes,” you question what types of violence are considered hate crimes, and the fact that police violence against Black and Brown people is never considered a hate crime. With the introduction and/or passage of Blue Lives Matter laws across the country, making the assault or killing of police a “hate crime,” how do you view legislative attempts to reduce police violence through such policies as body cameras or increased training of police officers? As we see with hate crime statutes, what was supposed to protect vulnerable people has been turned against us.
As the Black Movement, now exemplified by Black Lives Matter, has taken a hashtag and exploded beyond its banks, so too must the people seize the slogans tossed out by their class enemies, and lob it back, as in “Blue Lives Are the Only Lives That Matter!,” dig? For words are weapons, and when the state, the empire tries to bullshit people with their white supremacist stuff … turn it around. Utilize the truth to open eyes and minds about the intrinsic nature of the state.
For example, we know, for sure, that cops croak hundreds of people every year, often with impunity. Why not ask, “How many cops are on death row?” If not, why not? My purpose here is hardly to endorse the obscenity of death row, but [if] all lives are equal, and the site of a courtroom is the place where people are treated fairly and equitably, well, why not? Or is death row only for “other” people? Dig?
My point is that the state will always utilize its “law” as a tool of repression — that’s the essential nature of the state; but movements must create and expand the space to raise contradictions. Body cameras? Training? BS. Nonsense. Done. It is a bourgeois mirage. In 1978, when [three] cops beat Delbert Africa senseless, breaking his jaw, it was recorded on video. When it came to trial, the trial judge, Stanley Kubacki, dismissed the all-white jury, and threw out the charges, saying the (armed) cops had reason to fear (unarmed) Delbert, because he was so muscular!
We must understand that the state is a hate crime against the poor, the oppressed, Black folks, and Latinas, etc.
In your essay, “Where is the Outrage?” you write, “the unity of the people is the greatest weapon against the silence, fear, and oppression imposed by the system. Our unity — as communities, networks, and movements — is so important. Therefore, our unity is attacked.” We are seeing different communities and organizations unify, whether it is the Black Lives Matter network, Fight for $15, immigrant rights, etc. How can coalitions sustain themselves and how can communities remain unified in the midst of state repression?
The state isn’t the solution, it’s the problem. It is this sense, shared by increasingly large parts of the population, that fuels movements and builds rebellious, revolutionary consciousness.
Movements emerge out of necessity, out of the felt sense that they no longer have anything to lose; out of certainty that the state has failed them yesterday, is failing them today, and will fail them tomorrow (to paraphrase MOVE’s John Africa). The state isn’t the solution, it’s the problem. It is this sense, shared by increasingly large parts of the population, that fuels movements, and builds rebellious, and then revolutionary consciousness. As capitalism — and its concomitant rise of the crony-capitalist-gangster-state — fails, people begin to see commonalities across our false border, and begin to march toward each other, and not against each other.
Remember, capitalism needs racism, and utilizes it to create false consciousness in millions of white poor and working people who live in the illusion that they have something in common with Trumpites. Unity can’t be presumed, or wished to come into being. When people work together and fight together, they build the practice of unity.
In your essay, “We Must Fight for More,” you write, “history lives to give us options for the future.” What options do you think history has given for the Black Lives Matter movement? What does history have to teach movement leaders and participants today?
Malcolm [X] used to say, “Of all our studies, history best rewards our research.” He learned this from Elijah Muhammad, his teacher. Malcolm repeated this lesson because he knew, in his own life experience, how history transformed him from a prisoner (known and despised as “Satan”) to becoming one of the most respected ministers of the nation, and one of Black America’s most beloved leaders. History offers an endless font of human experience that people, communities and movements can draw from to move forward into the future. History, because it is rich in examples of people’s love of freedom, is a powerful source for the present and the future!
Why do you think the white supremacist governments in the West (like New Mexico, etc.) fought so hard to outlaw Chicano history? Why do you think today’s public schools skimp so much on Black history? They know that Black history is explosive! And history ain’t about what happened years ago, or yesterday. It explains why today is the way it is; and gives ideas about how to transform tomorrows.
Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? includes essays from the 1990s up until this year, and span many aspects of how Black people are victimized by state violence, including police brutality and incarceration. How do you see your book contributing to the continuing conversation and activism concerning racial justice, anti-police brutality and criminal legal system reform?
Dr. Huey P. Newton called for deep transformation of police, to bring forth Citizen Peace Forces, designed to solve problems, not bomb them.
I’m glad Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? addresses today’s issue of police terrorism, but it must be seen in a longer, deeper, broader continuum. America’s police don’t descend from Scotland Yard in England. They had their birth in the infamous “paddy rollers” of the South, where whites were militarized to oppose any Black slave revolt. Those habits live at the core of any true discussion about what bedevils the lives of Black people today. That should show you some sense of the importance of history just recently noted. Unless we truly grasp those truths, then generations unborn will be struggling with these same problems, and wondering how to change it. Dr. Huey P. Newton, in a late edition of the Black Panther newspaper, called for deep transformation of police, to bring forth Citizen Peace Forces, designed to solve problems, not bomb them. It’s time for his ideas to be taken seriously, to begin to utilize history to create openings for better tomorrows.
Truthout Progressive Pick “Razor-sharp reflections on racialized state violence in America.” — Robin D.G. Kelley. Click here now to get the book!
As we continue in the uncertain future of a Donald Trump presidency, what guidance do you have for young people who are involved in the Black Lives Matter movement and other movements, as they continue to resist, build and organize?
Look, we can look at Trump as the Great Boogeyman, or we can soberly examine the roles of Clinton and Obama, where the former perfected the machinery of mass incarceration, and the latter tinkered with it, just as he all but ignored the greatest loss of Black wealth (i.e. criminal mortgage thefts of Black homes) since Reconstruction. We must develop a deeper, refined analysis that gives us all a clear vision of the inherent repression of the state against Black life, a historical continuum that shows no sign of abatement. Or we can play “Republicans bad/Democrats good” like children looking for shadow plays.
The system is bad; we need deep reconstruction to make new ways of living, growing and becoming possible.'AfterMidnight' Malware Framework
'Assassin' Malware Framework
Microsoft Slams NSA For Its Role in 'WannaCry' Attack
"This is an emerging pattern in 2017. We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA show up on WikiLeaks, and now this vulnerability stolen from the NSA has affected customers around the world," Smith said.
Year Zero – dumped CIA hacking exploits for popular hardware and software.
– dumped CIA hacking exploits for popular hardware and software. Weeping Angel – spying tool used by the agency to infiltrate smart TV's, transforming them into covert microphones.
– spying tool used by the agency to infiltrate smart TV's, transforming them into covert microphones. Dark Matter – focused on hacking exploits the agency designed to target iPhones and Macs.
– focused on hacking exploits the agency designed to target iPhones and Macs. Marble – revealed the source code of a secret anti-forensic framework, basically an obfuscator or a packer used by the CIA to hide the actual source of its malware.
– revealed the source code of a secret anti-forensic framework, basically an obfuscator or a packer used by the CIA to hide the actual source of its malware. Grasshopper – reveal a framework which allowed the agency to easily create custom malware for breaking into Microsoft's Windows and bypassing antivirus protection.
– reveal a framework which allowed the agency to easily create custom malware for breaking into Microsoft's Windows and bypassing antivirus protection. Scribbles – a piece of software allegedly designed to embed 'web beacons' into confidential documents, allowing the spying agency to track insiders and whistleblowers.
When the world was dealing with the threat of the self-spreading WannaCry ransomware, WikiLeaks released a new batch of CIA Vault 7 leaks, detailing two apparent CIA malware frameworks for the Microsoft Windows platform.Dubbed "" and "," both malware programs are designed to monitor and report back actions on the infected remote host computer running the Windows operating system and execute malicious actions specified by the CIA.Since March, WikiLeaks has published hundreds of thousands of documents and secret hacking tools that the group claims came from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).This latest batch is the 8th release in the whistleblowing organization's 'Vault 7' series.According to a statement from WikiLeaks, 'AfterMidnight' allows its operators to dynamically load and execute malicious payload on a target system.The main controller of the malicious payload, disguised as a self-persisting Windows Dynamic-Link Library (DLL) file and executes "Gremlins" – small payloads that remain hidden on the target machine by subverting the functionality of targeted software, surveying the target, or providing services for other gremlins.Once installed on a target machine, AfterMidnight uses an HTTPS-based Listening Post (LP) system called "Octopus" to check for any scheduled events. If found one, the malware framework downloads and stores all required components before loading all new gremlins in the memory.According to a user guide provided in the latest leak, local storage related to AfterMidnight is encrypted with a key which is not stored on the target machine.A special payload, called "," contains a custom script language which even allows operators to schedule custom tasks to be executed on the targeted system.Assassin is also similar to AfterMidnight and described asOnce installed on the target computer, this tool runs the implant within a Windows service process, allowing the operators to perform malicious tasks on an infected machine, just like AfterMidnight.Assassin consists of four subsystems: Implant, Builder, Command and Control, and Listening Post.The 'Implant' provides the core logic and functionality of this tool on a target Windows machine, including communications and task execution. It is configured using the 'Builder' and deployed to a target computer via some undefined vector.The 'Builder' configures Implant and 'Deployment Executables' before deployment andreads the tool's user guide The 'Command and Control' subsystem acts as an interface between the operator and the Listening Post (LP), while the LP allows the Assassin Implant to communicate with the command and control subsystem through a web server.Last week, WikiLeaks dumped a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack tool, called, allegedly created by the CIA to target computers inside a Local Area Network (LAN).This practice by the US intelligence agencies of holding vulnerabilities, rather than disclosing them to the affected vendors, wreaked havoc across the world in past 3 days, when the WannaCry ransomware hit computers in 150 countries by using an SMB flaw that the NSA discovered and held, but "The Shadow Brokers" subsequently leaked it over a month ago.Even Microsoft President Brad Smith condemned the US intelligence agency’s practice, saying that the "widespread damage" caused by WannaCry happened due to the NSA, CIA and other intelligence agencies for holding zero-day security vulnerabilities.Since March, the whistleblowing group has published 8 batches of "Vault 7" series, which includes the latest and last week leaks, along with the following batches:Loan at 0% for farmers up to Rs 3 lakh
Withdrawal of cases against 326 Patidars
Permanent jobs for sanitary workers
Hike in salary of assistant electricians
Toll waiver on SP Ring Road in Ahmedabad for private vehicles
Diwali Bonus for class IV employees
1% hike in DA for 8.20 lakh government employees
Hike in salary of teachers, ITI and municipality staffers
Increase in income limit to Rs 2.5 lakh for Ma Vatsalya medical insurance scheme
Regularisation of 15,000 houses, over-four-decade old, in Kaliyabit Bhavnagar
50% hike in incentive income for 43,000 ASHA health workers
Govt to reimburse 18% GST paid by farmers on drip irrigation equipment
11-day extra CL, TA/DA, 90 days maternity leave and Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia amount on death for contractual workers employed in govt offices
Rs 150-200 overtime allowance for fixed-pay staff
Income criteria for OBC, SC and ST students raised from Rs 47,000 per year to Rs 1.30 lakh in rural areas and Rs 65,000 to Rs 1.50 lakh in urban areasObesity in Mexico is a relatively recent phenomenon, having been widespread since the 1980s with the introduction of processed food into much of the Mexican food market. Prior to that, dietary issues were limited to under and malnutrition, which is still a problem in various parts of the country. Following trends already ongoing in other parts of the world, Mexicans have been foregoing traditional whole grains and vegetables in favor of a diet with more animal products, more fat, and more sugar much of which is a consequence of processed food. It has seen dietary energy intake and rates of overweight and obese people rise with seven out of ten at least overweight and a third clinically obese.
History [ edit ]
Undernutrition vs. overnutrition [ edit ]
Until the late 20th century, dietary issues in Mexico were solely a question of undernutrition or malnutrition, generally because of poverty and distribution issues.[1][2] For this reason, obesity was associated with wealth and health, the latter especially in children.[3][4] Despite changes in the Mexican diet and food distribution, malnutrition still remains problematic in various parts of the country.[5]
Nutrition transition [ edit ]
By the 1980s, Latin American populations began to experience widespread changes in their diet, away from produce and grains toward processed food in a manner similar to what had previously occurred in developed countries.[6] The main reason for this shift is the dominance of transnational food companies in the Mexican market, following a trend seen in other parts of the world.[7][8]
This shift was toward the consumption of high-energy -sugar, -fat, and -salt food featuring various types of sweeteners and animal products and a decrease in whole grains and vegetables.[1][7] Animal proteins replaced vegetable, with a 50% increase in prevalence from the 1960s to the 1990s.[6] The total cholesterol availability in Mexico surpasses the US guidelines for daily intake, at over 300 mg per day, a result of the increased availability of saturated fats.[6]
The change was initially limited to more affluent urban groups that could afford processed foods and these groups showed an increase in health conditions associated with this diet, including obesity.[6] These foods are easier and less time-consuming to prepare.[1][7] With easier access to fast food and supermarkets, more affluent households also tend to buy more meat and less oils and grains, while poorer urban households tend to choose foods that exceed their energy needs and lack essential vitamins and minerals.[9] In a survey of 650 urban school lunches, none were graded as healthy and only one percent graded as adequate.[10]
Since the 1980s, rural diets that had consisted primarily of vegetables and very little animal or saturated fats have shown declines in fruit and vegetable intake.[6] In Northern Mexico, rural populations who transitioned from their traditional diets to more processed diets also experienced a dramatic increase in obesity and diabetes.[9]
In addition to dietary changes, modern life has also made the Mexican population more sedentary. Traditional labor-intensive jobs in farming, factories and mining have given way to desk jobs. In addition, most people use motorized transportation instead of walking or biking.[2] About 40% of Mexicans do not exercise.[4]
Socioeconomic factors of obesity [ edit ]
Since the 1980s, many studies have been carried out intending to identify the one nutrient, food, or beverage that leads to weight gain and obesity. Sugar, fat, fast food, soft drinks, and the list goes on - all of them were suspect of being the reason for the worldwide increasing overweight and obesity rates and yet none of them could essentially be made responsible. However, the studies did prove that "each of [the examined dietary elements ] is associated with either obesity or weight gain" (Drewnowski, 2007). Furthermore, these elements have one characteristic in common which is their relative inexpensiveness (as opposed to fruits, vegetables, fresh juice etc.) and also, they are preferably bought by lower-income consumers (Drewnowski).[citation needed]
A review of studies (Dinsa et al.) analyzing the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity among men, women, and children in developing countries found that in upper-middle-income countries like Mexico (Mexico is categorized as upper middle income (The World Bank) and middle HDI (UNDP)) obesity is highly prevalent. Middle-income and medium HDI countries showed a negative association between SES and obesity among women, i.e. the prevalence of obesity rises with decreasing income. The negative association becomes even clearer in countries growing into the high-income category. Among men, results have been mixed and the studies on children all revealed a positive association between SES and obesity.[citation needed]
First, an explanation for the positive association among children could be a shift in free time activity based on their family's affluence, e.g. children of more affluent families are more likely to have access to and probably spend more time with playing video games whereas children of less affluent families cannot afford such luxury goods and predominantly stick to more active free time activities and therefore have a higher energy expenditure that compensates for their energy intake. Second, the negative association among middle-income women in consideration of the above-mentioned expensiveness of most healthy products raises the question of whether the easier access to unhealthy, energy-dense and less expensive food is the crucial point to explain the high prevalence of obesity in Mexico (Dinsa et al.).[citation needed]
What Drewnowski describes as the "economics of food choice" is the fact that people have to manage their often scarce resources in a way that all basic expenditures (food, housing, clothing, school fees) are covered. Consequently, the kind of food people consume also, or primarily, depends on food prices (Dinsa et al., Drewnowski, Lozada et al.). While energy-dense products, rich in sugar and fats, cost less in relation to the energy they provide, low-energy healthy food like fruits and vegetables is more expensive in this respect (Drewnowski, 166). Furthermore, fruits and vegetables are now twice as expensive than 20 years ago whereas the costs of added sugar and fats did not change (Drewnowski, 162). To sum up, "foods, beverages, snacks, or diets said to promote obesity [are], in every case, inexpensive. In contrast, more costly dietary patterns [are] associated with leanness, weight maintenance, or greater weight loss" (Drewnoski, 166). In conclusion, low-income can be seen as an obstacle to a healthier diet as the consumption of "good" products may wear out the available budget.[citation needed]
Another aspect that deserves attention is that people of lower SES usually live in less secure neighborhoods where walking around might present a danger. In addition, these places, in general, do not show a lot of establishments that offer healthy food. As a study conducted in New York found, the "walkability" of one's neighborhood and the lack of availability of healthy food establishments are also predictors of obesity (Muñez Oliveira, 23).[citation needed]
Finally, although today Mexico shows a lower level of undernourishment, many of the now young adults used to suffer from nutritional stunting in early life, which is also considered to increase the risk of becoming overweight or obese later in life (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).[citation needed]
All in all, the socioeconomic factor as a determinant for food choice, living conditions, and possible indicators of past undernourishment has been proved to be a predictor of obesity and weight gain. Therefore, future policies countering obesity should aim at increasing the accessibility of healthy food alternatives for the less affluent population, e.g. by subsidizing fruits, vegetables, and fiber-rich whole grains. However, the creation of consciousness about the importance of healthy eating and physical activity among the population, and particularly among children, remains an essential measure as well.[citation needed]
Rates of obesity and consequences [ edit ]
After the widespread introduction of processed foods, obesity rates began to rise in the country. As of 2000, individual dietary energy intake has been speculated to be approximately 2,500–3,060 calories (10,500–12,800 kJ) per day, 30% more than in 1962.[1][7] A 1999 survey found 24% of Mexican women were obese and an addition 35% were overweight; 55% men were either obese or overweight.[5]
In a survey conducted by National Health Survey in 2000, it was found that the prevalence of obesity in the sample population was 67% in women and 61% in men. A similar survey in 2003 targeting obesity from rural, low-income communities showed that around 60% of women and 50% of men were considered either overweight or obese with respect to the Body Mass Index.[11]
By 2010, seven out of ten Mexicans were overweight with a third clinically obese.[1][12] Mexico ranks the most obese country in the world in adult obesity (as of 2013), and first for childhood obesity with about 4.5 million children diagnosed as such. Mexico passed the United States as the most obese country in the world.[4] The prevalence of overweight and obesity is 16.7% in preschool children, 26.2% in school children, and 30.9% in adolescents. For adults, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is 39.7% and 29.9%, respectively.[13] Since the 1990s, fat has become the principal source of energy in the Mexican diet and it is assumed that the consumption of highly processed food will continue increasing.[8] As a consequence, Mexico has seen the same kind of health issues that have affected other countries with overweight populations. Standardized mortality rates (SMR) for diabetes, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and hypertension have increased dramatically.[14] As of 2012, diabetes - associated with obesity - was the largest single killer of Mexicans.[15] As of 2016, it was responsible for over 100,000 premature deaths in the country.[16]
Economically, the rising obesity rate in Mexico is also taking a toll on its health care system. According to a study published by Cambridge University Press, cost of treatment for obesity related diseases is projected to grow from an estimated $806 million in 2010 to $1.2 billion in 2030 and $1.7 billion in 2050.[17] Recent efforts have been made by the Mexican government to address the issue of obesity as a reduction of 1% in mean BMI would reduce the cost by $43 million in 2030 and $85 million in 2050 respectively. Through initiatives that focus on the narrative of a healthier lifestyle, the government aims to reduce the projected obesity prevalence. However, not much is known about the effectiveness of those programs.
Efforts to combat the problem [ edit ]
There have been efforts to combat obesity in the country, with the federal government investing about seven percent of its budget to various nutritional programs.[4] Both public and private money has been spent on various campaigns aimed at modern eating habits. Mexico’s government has created nutrition programs, to deal with nutritional issues such as obesity; especially in vulnerable people and low-income sectors.[18] These include food distribution among low-income communities, micronutrient supplementation, and fortification of food.[18] All of this is made to fight the deficiency of vitamins and minerals. Some programs, as the distribution ones, try to achieve the objective by dispensing food coupons on marginalized communities.[18] One of these initiatives is implemented by the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).[18] This program is known as "Preven-IMSS" (Prevent-IMSS). It integrates nutritional and physical activities as components, to combat diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure.[18] Another government initiative is with Mexico’s Health Ministry called "Oportunidades" (Opportunities) and "Liconsa". Opportunidades has the aim to support low-income and extremely poor families with health services and food.[18] This is reached by offering nutrition education with which families can develop their capacities to sustenance health and nutrition care.[18]
In 2008, the Mexican Secretariat of Health and PepsiCo launched a health campaign for children. The program is aimed at elementary school-age children and encourages active participation in exercise activities and adopting a healthy lifestyle by using a computer game. In this game, the "nutrin," as the figure is called, needs help making decisions on what foods to eat, what sports to play, and when it should go to the doctor for a check-up.[19][full citation needed]
"Wrestling vs obesity" was a campaign to promote to wrestling (lucha libre) fans to have an active way of life taking advantage of one of the most popular sports of Mexico. This campaign spanned from August 5 to November 19 of 2012 in Mexico City, State of Mexico, Hidalgo, Puebla, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato and Morelos. "El Elegio" (A Mexican wrestler) was the official image for this campaign. He appeared in a pre-fight video talking about obesity and how to avoid it. During these events, both health/nutrition information was distributed along with application forms for government health care.[20]
Voit, a sport brand, with the cooperation of the Mexican Football Federation and the health secretary of Mexico, released a new campaign with the name of "Measure yourself and activate". For this campaign Voit produced a special orange match ball with the name of "Xacte midete 2012" (Measure yourself exactly 2012) for professional football games in Mexico. This new ball is aimed at promoting the sport in children and reducing childhood obesity. Decio de Maria Serrano, the president of the Mexican soccer federation, said: "We are excited with this new campaign. All the people that are involved in this amazing sport have to contribute to combat childhood obesity it is a big responsibility because it is a big problem in this country. (Mexico) It is a task that deserves support" [21]
Congress's lower house of Congress passed a special tax on junk food that is seen as potentially the broadest of its kind, part of an ambitious Mexican government effort to contain runaway rates of obesity and diabetes. The House passed the proposed measure to charge a 5% tax on packaged food that contains 275 calories (1,150 kJ) or more per 100 grams, on grounds that such high-energy items typically contain large amounts of salt and sugar and few essential nutrients.[22] Subsequent studies have indicated that the one peso per liter tax rate has only led to a small reduction in soft drink consumption, and the fall in calorie consumption was described as "nothing compared to the drop in calories people needed to consume in order to not be obese".[23] The effectiveness of the tax on junk food was subject to debate.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Football Federation Australia is at risk of fracturing the relationship with one of its key commercial partners, with the NSW government angered over plans to stage the biggest home World Cup Qualifier in Melbourne.
The FFA is in the latter stages of planning the venues for Australia's road to Russia but a proposal to play the home match against Japan at the MCG has caused a rift.
After making a landmark contribution to football by signing a five-year partnership with the FFA to host 11 international games, Fairfax Media understands Destination NSW will be fuming if the most high-profile of the five qualifiers is held away from Sydney.
As part of that agreement, Sydney will receive at least one Socceroos match per year including four World Cup qualifiers to be determined by the FFA.Since May 2013 a young Norwegian girl from Førde has been living in a cave. Her name is Ida Beate Løken, a high school student and a member of Green Party Norway. She got inspired by her boyfriend.
– There was a boy from my school who lived here in this cave and I could not believe in that. The boy became my boyfriend later, and while he was living out here I got so inspired that I wanted to try it myself. I could not be any less of him, – says Ida smiling to the Norwegian local newspaper Firda.
Ida is a member of Green Party Norway and is 3rd candidate of the party from the county, Sogn og Fjordane.
When she told she was moving to a cave people thought it was a very strange thing to do.
– I can understand that to a point, since it was my first thought when I heard about the boy living here last year. Still, I get the impression that people look at living outdoors or having a simple life as something uncivilised, while having high consumption is totally normal. That provokes me, – she says.
Below you can watch the interview by Firda about this young woman’s life in a cave. (with English subtitles)Piper (left) and Skylar Kaplan of L.A. band Puro Instinct. Piper (left) and Skylar Kaplan of L.A. band Puro Instinct.
Puro Instinct Beyond Pearl Harbor
Web Exclusive
Puro Instinct's Piper Kaplan likes to have a laugh, oftentimes at her own exploits. On Twitter and Facebook posts, the vocalist for the L.A. dream pop outfit gives the impression of someone who leads a colorful life. She referred to her band's performances at SXSW this year as the "where the fuck am I can't feel my face tour," and, along with frequent links to videos for obscure or forgotten songs, there are repeated mentions of her fondness for weed. Together, with her professed affection for '80s Soviet New Wave, the adoption of faux Cyrillic typography on a couple of the band's releases, and a debut LP entitled Headbangers in Ecstasy, Kaplan's persona suggests ironic outré chic.
In conversation, however, the 23-year-old is candid, down to earth and at times self-deprecating. She speaks seriously about music and gushes about her 16-year-old sister and bandmate, Skylar, a guitarist with legit skills. Skylar's nimble playing, glossed with chorus effect, allies Puro Instinct's music with 4AD bands of the late '80s, while tracks "Luv Goon" and "Slivers of You" hint at early R.E.M. Yet, there are also kaleidoscopic currents and surprising twists, such as a sax surfacing on "Escape Forever."
Piper and Skylar formed their band three years ago, calling themselves Pearl Harbor. Just a year later, Pearl Harbor began to earn favor on music blogs in anticipation of its debut EP, Something About the Chaparrals, released on the band's current label, Mexican Summer. A second EP, Puro Instinct, was released last year, before the band changed its name and embarked on a nationwide tour supporting Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti (Pink guests on the Headbangers in Ecstasy single, "Stilyagi," and "Luv Goon"). Live, Puro Instinct is rounded out with four additional musicians—Cody Porter (guitar), Austin Hinkle (bass), Mike Baum (drums), and Brooke Murray (keys)—giving the band's sound more muscle and dynamic guitar interplay.
When Under the Radar spoke with Kaplan, she discussed, among other topics, the early days of the band, how she developed a friendship with home recording pioneer R. Stevie Moore (who guests as a DJ on Headbangers in Ecstasy ), and how the worst human being she's ever met derailed her ambitions in graphic design.
Chris Tinkham: Officially, Puro Instinct is just you and your sister?
Piper Kaplan: Well, I would say, for the most part, yeah, but you can also say Cody Porter, he's a big part of it, just because he helps us flesh things out that we need, 'cause he's rad. [Laughs] But he's one of the main members.
How did you meet Cody?
Cody and I used to date. We met when I was 17. He was 19. We met at a bar that neither of us were supposed to be in [laughs], and I think I made fun of him. We knew of each other, but I teased him a little bit, and I think we hit it off pretty nicely from there, and we dated for about four years or so, and we broke up, but we're probably better than ever now.
The first time I saw you play was last summer, and you had four other players. What were your first shows like?
Our first shows were pretty hilarious. It started out |
, Quebec. Johnson designed Chrysler Trylons as "a monument for 42nd Street [...] to give you the top of the Chrysler Building at street level."[207]
After these modifications, the total leasable area of the complex was 2,062,772 square feet (191,637.8 m2).[211] The total cost of this project was about one hundred million dollars.[207] This renovation has won several awards and commendations, including an Energy Star rating from the Environmental Protection Agency;[213] a LEED Gold designation;[142] and the Skyscraper Museum Outstanding Renovation Award of 2001.[214]
Representation and influence [ edit ]
Critical reception [ edit ]
George H. Douglas writes that the building "remains one of the most appealing and awe-inspiring of skyscrapers". Architect Le Corbusier called the building "hot jazz in stone and steel". Ada Louise Huxtable, an architectural critic, noted that the building had "a wonderful, decorative, evocative aesthetic", while another architectural critic, Paul Goldberger, noted the "compressed, intense energy" of the lobby, the "magnificent" elevators, and the "magical" view from the crown.[215] The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission said that the tower "embodies the romantic essence of the New York City skyscraper". The travel guide Frommer's gave the building an "exceptional" recommendation, with author Pauline Frommer writing, "In the Chrysler Building we see the roaring-twenties version of what Alan Greenspan called 'irrational exuberance'—a last burst of corporate headquarter building before stocks succumbed to the thudding crash of 1929."[216]
As icon [ edit ]
The Chrysler Building appears in several films set in New York[217] and is widely considered one of the most positively acclaimed buildings in the city.[33] A 1996 survey of New York architects revealed it as their favorite, and the New York Times described it in 2005 as "the single most important emblem of architectural imagery on the New York skyline".[15] In the summer of 2005, the Skyscraper Museum in Lower Manhattan asked 100 architects, builders, critics, engineers, historians, and scholars, among others, to choose their 10 favorites among 25 of the city's towers. The Chrysler Building came in first place, with 90% of respondents placing it on their ballots.[219] In 2007, the building ranked ninth among 150 buildings in the AIA's List of America's Favorite Architecture.[220]
The Chrysler Building is widely heralded as an Art Deco icon. Fodor's New York City 2010 described the building as being "one of the great art deco masterpieces"[165]:123 which "wins many a New Yorker's vote for the city's most iconic and beloved skyscraper".[165]:129 Frommer's states that the Chrysler was "one of the most impressive Art Deco buildings ever constructed".[216] Insight Guides' 2016 edition maintains that the Chrysler Building is considered among the city's "most beautiful" buildings.[221] Its distinctive profile has inspired similar skyscrapers worldwide including One Liberty Place in Philadelphia[222] and the Al Kazim Towers in Dubai.[223]
In popular culture [ edit ]
Captured beneath the clouds
While seen in many films, the Chrysler Building almost never appears as a main setting in them, prompting architect and author James Sanders to quip it should win "the Award for Best Supporting Skyscraper".[217] The building was supposed to be featured in the 1933 film King Kong, but only makes a cameo at the end thanks to its producers opting for the Empire State Building in a central role.[217] The Chrysler Building notably appears in the background of The Wiz (1978); as the setting of much of Q - The Winged Serpent (1982); in the initial credits of The Shadow of the Witness (1987); and during or after apocalyptic events in Independence Day (1996), Armageddon (1998), Deep Impact (1998), and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).[217] The building also appears in other films, such as Spider-Man (2002),[224] Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007),[225] Two Weeks Notice (2002),[217] and Men in Black 3 (2012).[226]
The Chrysler Building is frequently the subject of photographers. In December 1929, Walter Chrysler hired the famed Margaret Bourke-White to capture it for publicity purposes. She took the images from a scaffold 400 feet (120 m) meters high[227] and worked in a studio at ground level[229] until she was evicted in 1934.[215] According to one account, Bourke-White wanted to live in the building for the duration of the photo shoot, but the only person able to do so was the janitor, so she was instead relegated to co-leasing a studio with Time Inc.[215] In 1930, several of her photographs were used in a special report on skyscrapers in the then-new Fortune magazine.[230] In 1934, Bourke-White's partner Oscar Graubner took a famous photo called "Margaret Bourke-White atop the Chrysler Building", which depicts her taking a photo of the city's skyline while sitting on one of the 61st-floor eagle ornaments.[231] On October 5, 1998, Christie's auctioned the photograph for $96,000.[232] In addition, during a January 1931 dance organized by the Society of Beaux-Arts, six architects, including Van Alen, were photographed while wearing costumes resembling the buildings that each architect designed.[233][234]
The building is also mentioned in the lyrics of several songs,[235] as well as in the number "It's the Hard Knock Life" for the musical Annie.[236]
Tenants [ edit ]
The Chrysler Corporation moved into the building as an anchor tenant in 1930,[84] using its space as its divisional headquarters until the 1950s. Time, Inc. and Texaco oil were also original tenants. Needing more office space,[238] Time moved to Rockefeller Center in 1937.[239][240] Texaco relocated to Purchase, New York in 1977 in favor of a more suburban workplace.[187]
Notable modern tenants include:
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^ As per the 1916 Zoning Act, the wall of any given tower that faces a street could only rise to a certain height, proportionate to the street's width, at which point the building had to be set back by a given proportion. This system of setbacks would continue until the tower reaches a floor level in which that level's floor area was 25% that of the ground level's area. After that 25% threshold was reached, the building could rise without restriction. This law was modified in 1961.
Citations [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ](CNN) -- In 1973, Martin Cooper changed the world, although he didn't know it yet.
Cooper and his team at Motorola, the communications company, created maybe the only thing that runs the lives of business professionals and teenagers alike -- the cell phone.
It was the size of a brick and wasn't commercially sold for another decade. But as Cooper demonstrated on a New York sidewalk, it worked.
The concept of cellular technology had already been created by Motorola's rival, AT&T, whose Bell Labs introduced a system allowing calls to be moved from one cell to another while remaining on the same channel. But AT&T was focusing this technology on the car phone.
Cooper wanted people to have freedom to talk on the phone away from their cars. So in reaction, he and Motorola embarked on a project to create a more portable device.
Motorola spent three months building a prototype for a portable, mobile handset that Cooper publicly demonstrated in April of 1973. The company's first commercial cellular phone, the "DynaTAC," went on sale 10 years later.
Cooper, now 81, is founder of ArrayComm, a company working to improve cellular networks, smart antenna and wireless communication. He and his wife are also inventors of the Jitterbug, a simplified cell phone geared to senior citizens.
Cooper was surprised when his landline dropped our call. After calling him back on his mobile, we had a chance to ask him about the creation of the device that changed the face of communication as we know it.
Here is an edited transcript of our conversation:
CNN: What was the technology climate like back in 1973, and what gave you the idea to move with the cell phone and compete with AT&T's car phone?
Cooper: There were no large-scale integrated circuits, no computers, no closed-circuit televisions, no LCD screens -- I can't tell you all the things that did not exist in 1973. But, we'd been building phones for years and years in cars, and we [Motorola] thought the time was ready for personal communication, 'cause people are just naturally mobile.
For 100 years, people wanting to talk on the phone have been constrained by being tied to their desks or their homes with a wire, and now we're going to trap them in their cars? That's not good.
So we decided to take on AT&T. By 1973, we decided to put on a dazzling presentation, and I decided the best way to do that was to build a phone and have someone actually have the experience of talking on a real personal handheld telephone. And that was the genesis of that phone that we built.
When did you make that first phone call? Who was it to?
I thought everybody knew the answer to that question! The first public call was made out on the streets of New York. It was to [Joel S. Engel], the head of the cellular program at AT&T. I called and told him, "Joel, I'm calling you from a cellular phone, a real cellular phone, a handheld, portable, real cellular phone."
I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was really quiet for a while. My assumption was that he was grinding his teeth. He was very polite and ended the call. When asked about it, he says he has no recollection of this moment.
What were the reactions to the cell phone like? Did people think it was unbelievable, impossible, unnecessary?
Well, people were dazzled by the concept! It was beyond imagination that more than half the people in the world would have these phones. But people were absolutely amazed by the fact that you could hold the phone up to your ear, walk around and make a phone call.
Remember, there were not even any cordless phones at that time. We had a press conference [in 1973], and I handed the phone to this young lady journalist and told her to make a phone call. And she said, "Can I call my mother in Australia?" and I said, "Sure!" And she did that.
This woman was just spellbound, she couldn't imagine how this little phone could reach more than halfway around the world, and talk to her mother who actually answered the phone. Sophisticated New Yorkers were standing there with their mouths open.
The reception was quite extraordinary. The chairman of our company happened to be in Washington the time we did the next demonstration [in the early 1980s]. He visited with the vice president... [George H.W. Bush]... and showed him this new phone, and he was so taken by the phone.
He said, "Well, I have to show this to Ron." And the next thing you know he was showing it to Ronald Reagan. And Reagan asks, "What's keeping us from having this?"
What did the phone look like? How much did it cost and who actually bought it?
The phone [was] about 10 or 11 inches high, about 1 1/2 inches across, and about 4 inches deep. It weighed about 2 1/2 pounds.
How much did it cost?
If you think about it, this is not a commercial product and if you had to build one it would cost about a million dollars. By the time we built a commercial product, it was 10 years later. We didn't sell that product until October of 1983, and the phone then cost $3,900. So that would be like buying a phone today for $10,000.
That's quite a lot of money. Who actually bought these phones?
Well, I wouldn't say it was large number of people; in fact it was a very small number. In the beginning it was wealthy people, but also people who had to be on the move. It was for people like real estate agents and doctors, who were already more accustomed to technology because they were using pagers.
Cell phones didn't really get to be a big deal til about another seven or eight years later. Everybody thinks that the cell phone has always been here and that it's always been popular, but it wasn't until 1990 -- before there were as few as a million cell phones in the world -- that's where it started to really explode.
Did you ever think the phone would ever be available to everyone?
Well, we knew that someday everybody would have a [cell] phone, but it was hard to imagine that that would happen in my lifetime. And now we've got almost five billion phones in the world. Wow.
How do you feel about the advancements cell phones have made, especially with features like apps and cameras, etc.?
I must tell you as much as we were dreamers, we never imagined that all these things could be combined into one, and I'm really not so sure that it's a great thing. Phones have gotten so complicated, so hard to use, that you wonder if this is designed for real people or for engineers.
I think what's really going to happen is we're going to have a lot of different kinds of phones when our industry grows up -- some that are just plain, simple telephones. In fact, my wife and I started a company, and she designed the Jitterbug, which is just a simple telephone.
What kind of phone do you have now?
I'm sitting here looking at all of my phones. I'm talking to you on a phone I'm trying out for a company in Europe. It's called the Vertu, and this phone starts at $5,000. And that's for the very cheap model. You could buy a solid-gold version of this phone.
So this phone, even with inflation, costs about half as much as your first cell phone.
Yep, and really this phone is not a really complicated phone. It does have a phonebook in it, it does reach certain parts of the Web, but it's not a PDA. You can't read e-mail on it; it doesn't have a camera on it. It really is a basic telephone.
I also have a Droid. I got a Motorola Droid that I use. I also have a Jitterbug. I'm always trying whatever the latest telephone is. I had an iPhone for a while, I gave that to my grandson. Kids are really caught up in that. But I think that the Android phones are catching up now, and the latest version of the Android phones are every bit as good, if not better, than the iPhone.Photo
How significant was China’s role in the surprise visit of an exceptionally senior North Korean delegation to the South Korean capital, Seoul, last weekend? What did the appearance of Hwang Pyong-so, considered to be the top-ranking figure in the country after Kim Jong-un, achieve?
Was the visit just a PR gambit to show support for the North Korean sports team at the closing of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea’s third-largest city, on Saturday? Or did it portend more serious negotiations?
Those were the unexpected questions being asked at a long-scheduled conference on North Asia held in Seoul early this week, hosted by the South Korean media group JoongAng Ilbo and the British think tank Chatham House.
The main speaker, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia, now a man-about-the-globe who gives talks on China and Asia, put his view plainly: ”Our good friends in Beijing have been very active on this.”
Mr. Rudd, a Mandarin speaker who once hosted President Xi Jinping in Australia (Mr. Xi was vice president at the time) and is considered well informed about China, did not offer specifics. But he suggested the reasoning: “The Chinese leadership desires a good relationship with South Korea. They know that South Korea’s bottom line for future improvement in that relationship lies in what our Chinese friends can do to induce a more cooperative attitude on the part of those in the North.”
Kim Heungkyu, a professor of political science at Ajou University in South Korea, held that Beijing almost surely played no direct role in the visit but that the cool attitude Mr. Xi has shown toward North Korea — a marked change from the business-as-usual relationship that prevailed under his predecessor, Hu Jintao — laid the groundwork.
Mr. Kim said China had faithfully abided by the United Nations sanctions that were imposed on North Korea after its third nuclear test last year. Indeed, he said, China has gone further in squeezing the regime by tightening the flow of cash that Chinese traders have traditionally taken into North Korea for business deals.
“Beijing has ordered the local Chinese authorities in Dandong to put restrictions on the amount of cash that goes across the border into North Korea,” Mr. Kim said. Dandong is a major trading post for North Korea in northeastern China.
The slowdown in cash from China into North Korea made it more difficult for Kim Jong-un, the top leader, to live up to his promises of better living standards for the population, the professor said. The favored, well-connected class in the capital, Pyongyang, has become accustomed in the last year or so to new high-spending habits on luxury goods, he said, and they may also be hurting.
During the lightning visit on Saturday — ostensibly for the North Korean officials to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games — the South Koreans agreed to hold talks with Pyongyang in the coming weeks. At those talks, the North Koreans will be looking for financial help, said Mr. Kim, the professor.
South Korean officials at the conference said there had been no substantial discussions with the North’s delegation on Saturday. But the presence of Hwang Pyong-so, the newly appointed vice chairman of the National Defense Commission — where he is No. 2 to Kim Jong-un — demonstrated the seriousness of the visit, they said.
Financial concessions by President Park Geun-hye of South Korea are unlikely at the coming talks, but she would be interested in testing her so-called trustpolitik policy with easier subjects, like the off-and-on reunions of families separated by the Korean War, said Mr. Kim, the professor.
Others disagreed with the idea that the North Koreans were hurting financially because of China’s tougher measures. In fact, they said, the North Korean economy appeared to be doing marginally better, within the context of the subsistence-level existence led by most of the population. Last year produced a bumper crop, and the sale of unprocessed raw materials in China helped, several officials said.
“I don’t see China inflicting hurt on Pyonygang in order to get a better deal with South Korea,” said John Delury, assistant professor of international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul. “But if North Korea is doing this to get breathing room from China, it doesn’t worry China. If the two Koreas are talking more, that’s a bit of stability for China, which China wants.”
Whatever the influence of China, the coming talks will be telling, Mr. Delury said. The idea of unification between the two Koreas is an overwhelming desire in South Korea, and Ms. Park, who is hurting in opinion polls, could use a victory, Mr. Delury said.
Of course, no one expects anything so concrete so quickly, but even a small step toward a thaw in relations could put her closer to becoming the “the historic leader” she hopes to be.Introduction
It might come as little surprise to find out that I use Munki in my organization to manage software installations on macOS.
Munki is really good at keeping software up-to-date. Every time it runs, it compares the versions it has on the server against the versions installed on the local machine and updates any software at a lower version than it has on the server.
Its default behavior when an item on the local machine has a higher version than that on the server is to leave it alone. This is great when you have users that for whatever reason need to test newer versions (or perhaps they are actually developing the newer version of the software).
I also use AutoPkg to automate finding new software updates and to import them into my Munki repo. For us, AutoPkg checks on approximately 50 items each day, importing anything new into my Munki repo into a testing catalog.
On Tuesday of this week, Mozilla released Firefox 59. AutoPkg found the new release and imported it into Munki as expected. On Wednesday, I noticed that AutoPkg had imported Firefox 60! I looked at the installed application, and its version was actually 60.0b3. Someone at Mozilla had goofed and pointed the “latest firefox release” link at the 60 beta. Later in the day this goof was remedied and the link once again returned Firefox 59.
But my AutoPkg run had occurred while the Mozilla site was offering 60.0b3, and so it was downloaded and added to my Munki’s repo’s testing catalog. 25 Macs in my organization (including my own laptop) now had Firefox 60.0b3 installed.
(Side note: because of the way Munki does version comparisons, when the final release of Firefox 60 comes out, if it is versioned as “60.0”, Munki would not “upgrade” from 60.0b3 to 60.0 – “60.0b3” compares as higher than “60.0”.)
I wanted to configure Munki to downgrade any install of Firefox 60.0b3 to Firefox 59. Since by default Munki leaves higher versions alone, this is not exactly obvious how to do.
Continue reading “Using Munki to revert or downgrade software” →The United Nations Security Council will meet late Tuesday to discuss the latest North Korea missile launch, Reuters reported, citing diplomats.
North Korea fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan early Tuesday local time, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.
A South Korean military official told NBC News that the missile was fired around 5:57 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The official said that the missile flew for about 2,700 kilometers (1,678 miles), reaching a maximum altitude of 550 kilometers (342 miles). U.S. Pacific Command projected that the missile splashed down at 6:29 a.m. local time.
Later Tuesday, Abe said the missile was an unprecedented, serious and grave threat to Japan. The Japanese prime minister said he would ask the United Nations to up the pressure on Pyongyang.
Dow Jones industrial average futures opened more than 100 points lower following the news, while the dollar fell against the Japanese yen.
—CNBC's Christine Wang contributed to this report.Under the Radar Blog Archives Select Date… January, 2019 December, 2018 November, 2018 October, 2018 September, 2018 August, 2018 July, 2018 June, 2018 May, 2018 April, 2018 March, 2018 February, 2018
Donald Trump is joined by then-Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio at a campaign event in Marshalltown, Iowa on Jan. 26, 2016. | Mary Altaffer/AP Justice Department: Trump pardon merits nullifying rulings in Arpaio case
Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is entitled to have the guilty verdict and all rulings in his criminal contempt of court case formally nullified by the court as a result of the pardon President Donald Trump issued last month, the Justice Department said in a court filing Thursday.
Responding to a request from U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton, federal prosecutors acknowledged that there is no legal precedent that squarely answers the question of what should happen when someone receives a pardon after a verdict is reached (in this case by a judge) but before the conviction is officially entered.
In July, Bolton found Arpaio guilty of contempt for defying a court order requiring his deputies to stop racial profiling of Latinos. Trump pardoned the former sheriff in August, citing his long history of public service.
Citing the pardon, Arpaio's attorneys are asking that the convictions and all orders and opinions entered in the case be vacated—in essence, canceled.
"There is no case law directly addressing whether vacatur is appropriate under the circumstances at issue here—when a presidential pardon moots a criminal prosecution after a finding of guilt but before a judgment of conviction is entered," prosecutors wrote in their five-page submission.
They noted that the D.C. Circuit, acting in a case of a lobbyist pardoned by President Bill Clinton, ruled that the conviction should be vacated. Prosecutors also pointed to a case the 9th Circuit ordered vacated and dismissed after the defendant committed suicide following his conviction.
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The government suggested that it would be unfair to leave the guilty verdict in place, while the pardon effectively denies Arpaio the right to appeal it.
"Federal appellate decisions from the D.C. Circuit and the Ninth Circuit support vacatur of the Court’s verdict and dismissal of the case because the presidential pardon has mooted the case prior to completion of direct appellate review," prosecutors said.
Several outside groups are urging Bolton to leave the guilty finding in place. Some advocates have also argued that Bolton, a Clinton appointee, should reject the pardon entirely as an unconstitutional attempt to interfere with the judicial branch.
An attorney working with the liberal group Protect Democracy said the Justice Department's response shows why Bolton should allow an outside lawyer to attack the legality of the pardon at a hearing the judge scheduled for Oct. 4
"As we said in our brief to the court, ours is an adversarial system. Since DOJ has now refused to provide the court with any opposition to Mr. Arpaio's motion, the law provides for the Court to appoint a private attorney to help it resolve the important issues at stake," said Jean-Jacques Cabou of law firm Perkins Coie.
The Justice Department did say that Arpaio is not entitled to have the records of his trial "expunged," which would essentially render them off-limits to the public.
"Vacatur does not alter the historical record nor entitle a defendant to expunge, alter, or seal the court record," prosecutors wrote. "No final judgment of conviction has been entered, and while vacatur is appropriate given the presidential pardon, the Court is not required to alter or expunge the underlying record."poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201703/2523/1155968404_5345558943001_5345550692001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Trump says he has 'total' confidence in Sessions
President Donald Trump said Thursday he has “total” confidence in Jeff Sessions following the revelation that his attorney general had two meetings with the Russian ambassador last year and did not tell senators about them during his confirmation hearing.
Trump told reporters on Thursday that he "wasn't aware" of Sessions' meetings with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. When asked if Sessions spoke truthfully to the Senate, the president responded, "I think he probably did."
Story Continued Below
Sessions met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice during the campaign as Russian officials apparently tried to influence the election in Trump’s favor. During his confirmation hearing, Sessions told senators that “I did not have communications with the Russians” and said he had not discussed the campaign with Russian officials.
The president’s restrained defense of whether Sessions had told the truth during his hearing differs from the White House's earlier response Thursday. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Sessions had been “100 percent straight” during his testimony and added Democrats were guilty of "continuing to push a false narrative for political purposes."
Trump was more emphatic in saying he didn't think Sessions should recuse himself from an investigation into contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Russian officials in the run-up to the election.
"I don't think so at all," Trump said. "I don't think he should do that at all."
Some congressional Democrats called for Sessions’ resignation, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi agreed, tweeting that “the integrity of our legal system depends on it.”
Lawmakers from both parties called for the attorney general to recuse himself from any investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.Before there were astronauts, there were rocketiologists. At age eight, I wanted to go into space, formed a club and we called ourselves, rocketiologists. We beat NASA by a mile! I was reminded of this when I opened an e-mail, and was taken on a 25 minute tour of the space station. Fascinating! When I was growing up, that was the stuff of science fiction. Loved Sci-Fi then, and still do, but so many people don’t like science fiction at all. Always wondered why. Maybe it’s because it deals with “what if” and “supposing that”… And now there’s talk about establishing a colony on Mars. Exciting times!
Religion and science have often been difficult bedfellows. People steeped in creeds and dogma are frightened by science- afraid that if a long cherished belief is challenged or discredited, then their whole belief system will collapse around them. And scientists too often allow their intellect to reign supreme, leaving no room for the spiritual. Consequently, both extremes suffer from lack of wonder- the ability to let creation and the Creator surprise us. “He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder,” said Tad Williams. Perhaps the surprises of the unknown are upsetting to people who need to feel life is predictable and controllable. But Albert Einstein said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, his eyes are closed.”
It seems to me that, whether it is from rigid religious beliefs or from an inability to appreciate anything that cannot be empirically or scientifically proven, these folks miss out on so much. An open mind leaves always the possibility of amazement and awe. “Whether outwardly or inwardly, whether in space or time, the farther we penetrate the unknown, the vaster and more marvelous it becomes,” wrote Charles Lindbergh.
Maybe my love of science fiction, and hence science itself, has allowed me to live in a world of possibilities. I have never had a problem with merging my faith and science. I find both integral to both my understanding and appreciation of my life, this world and the cosmos. “I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it” said Harry Emerson Fosdick, to which I add AMEN!
To view the tour of the space station, go to my above page “spiritual videos” and click on the first link.
AdvertisementsWhat are we supposed to do with Hemingway? A solid half-century after his death by suicide, the most imitated and influential American writer of the 20th century still towers over the literary landscape: a colossus with feet of clay.
The man could be gracious and generous. He was physically courageous. He was also, at times, boorish, vengeful and petty. His adventures—as a war correspondent, a fisherman and hunter, a brawler—were legend. His writing, meanwhile, was beautiful and hard, a new kind of prose with a rhythm and a descriptive agility all its own, but in the eyes of his detractors (and there are many) a prose that never evolved. Content to have invented a wholly new literary voice, Hemingway spoke to his readers in that voice until the very end.
What is perhaps most astonishing about the attention still paid to Hemingway and his work, however, is that after all this time he unquestionably deserves it. His best writing—in stories like “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” “The Three-Day Blow” and the mysterious, unforgettable “Big Two-Hearted River” (parts I and II) and in his novels, especially The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea, both of which still feel bracingly new—his best writing is not merely great: it is viscerally thrilling. Hemingway has been analyzed, revered, derided, and parodied for so long that one sometimes forgets that he crafted sentences, passages, entire chapters and stories so sharp and clear-eyed that, even when read over and over again, they can still get your heart racing—or, on occasion, stop it altogether.
Admire him, loathe him—but no one who cares even a little bit about American letters can possibly ignore Hemingway.
Now, further complicating that thorny legacy, the good people at Scribner are reissuing Green Hills of Africa, Hemingway’s account of big-game hunting in East Africa in the 1930s.
This new edition of a book that was first published in 1935 and that might well be the strangest, most uneven, and most underrated of the works that appeared when Hemingway was alive includes for the first time all of the entries of a journal that Hemingway’s wife, Pauline, kept while they were on safari in East Africa in 1933 and 1934. Her engaging, laconic observations offer yet another lens through which to witness Hemingway at large in the world, while also helping the reader gauge how much, or how little, Hemingway reshaped the reality of his experiences in order to express, to his own satisfaction, his fondness for the hunt, his affinity for the natural world, and his abiding love of “the dark continent” itself (or, at least, a small sliver of it).
For most Hemingway readers—especially those who revisit certain works on a regular basis—the reissue of this particular book is an opportunity, a reminder, to dive in again to a title we probably haven’t thought about for years. Granted, there might be readers whose favorite Hemingway book is Green Hills of Africa. Personally, I’ve never met one. And until reading this new edition—with its journal entries, an insightful foreword and a moving introduction by Hemingway’s sons, and some charming “letters from Africa” that Hemingway published in Esquire — Green Hills was hardly even on my radar when mulling his best works.
But encountering the book again after all these years, it's hard not to marvel, page after page, at Hemingway’s singular gift for pure, descriptive prose. Green Hills is certainly a flawed work, with long, long passages about tracking game and detailed descriptions of the vastness and sere beauty of the countryside that feel, at times, almost comically redundant. But after a while, the writing—with Hemingway holding fast to certain rhythms while freighting simple terms (good, fine, clean, pleasant) with tremendous significance—begins casting its familiar spell. After a rocky start, we are incontestably right there with Hemingway and his pseudonymous companions—-the wise, grizzled old guide, Pop, who in real life was a famous British hunter named Philip Percival; P.O.M., for "Poor Old Mama," who in real life was Hemingway’s Pauline; and Karl, who in real life was Hemingway’s friend from Key West, Charles Thompson—drinking whiskey by the campfire, stalking through tall grass on the savannah, or sweltering motionless on a hillside “glassing” antelope or kudu with binoculars from a mile away.
If one is susceptible to its cadences, it’s difficult not to get swept up and carried along by Hemingway’s language:
It was a green, pleasant country, with hills below the forest that grew thick on the side of a mountain, and it was cut by the valleys of several watercourses that came down out of the thick timber on the mountain. Fingers of the forest came down onto the heads of some of the slopes and it was there, at the forest edge, that we watched for rhino to come out. If you looked away from the forest and mountain side you could follow the watercourses and the hilly slope of the land down until the land flattened and the grass was brown and burned and, away, across a long sweep of country, was the brown Rift Valley and the shine of Lake Manyara.
Or this:
[T]he hyena, hermaphroditic, self-eating devourer of the dead, trailer of calving cows, ham-stringer, potential biter-off of your face at night while you slept, sad yowler, camp-follower, stinking, foul, with jaws that crack the bones the lion leaves, belly dragging, loping away on the brown plain, looking back, mongrel dog-smart in the face…
(We should acknowledge, as well, Hemingway’s occasional and jarringly casual use—here and in many of his stories and novels—of the word “n-gg-r.” There’s no way to sugarcoat it; it’s there for any reader to see. That said, one can find many smart, nuanced discussions of Hemingway’s treatment of race—and of anti-Semitism—all over the Web.)
In many ways, Hemingway was at the height of his powers during the safari and immediately afterward, when he wrote Green Hills. As Paul Hendrickson put it in his excellent 2011 book, Hemingway’s Boat, at this moment in his life, in his early 30s, Hemingway was “rugged, handsome, youthful, trim-waisted, owner of a killer grin and an even more killer ego, the reigning monarch of American literature, a sportsman and a sensualist glorying in his life, in the external physical world.”
Some readers, of course, will have no interest whatsoever in Green Hills simply because it is, in many respects, a book that appears to glorify killing. While not quite up to the genuinely shocking carnage visited upon hunting grounds all over the world |
that made more than 2 line-up changes after S3 World Championship.
- 8 out of 14 supports from S3WC changed team/gaming/descended to the bench, poor supports :(
- M5 and CLG.eu are the only teams from S2WC that have all of the players active in the highest possible league in their continent.
- Linak is the only player from all World Championship that is globally banned by RIOT for being toxic.
- aAa is the only teams that had players involved in fight. Kujaa clashed with Linak at WCG 2011.
- GoDlike, Edward and Dexter were the only players that changed their region (all to North America). Edward came back to Europe for Season 4. After Season 3 EG transfered to North America and gave up their EU LCS spot to Alliance.
bigger images if u have small res:
S1: http://i.imgur.com/9aL3cq1.png
S2: http://i.imgur.com/X7rfxur.png
S3: http://i.imgur.com/VqHZCbD.pngBreaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Nov. 25, 2016, 9:46 AM GMT / Updated Nov. 25, 2016, 9:49 AM GMT / Source: Reuters
ACAPULCO, Mexico — Investigators searching clandestine graves have found 32 bodies and nine human heads in southern Mexico, authorities said Thursday.
Rival drug gangs have been engaged in a wave of extortion, kidnappings and turf battles in the area.
Mexican Federal Police officers work at a site where dozens of bodies were found in the municipality of Zitlala, Mexico, on Thursday. JOSE LUIS DE LA CRUZ / EPA
Soldiers and police found the graves on Tuesday in Guerrero state after receiving a tip that people were being held at the site located near a mountain in the municipality of Zitlala. They said they rescued a kidnap victim and discovered 12 bodies and human remains in coolers.
On Thursday, officials announced that further excavations of the site had found a total of 32 bodies and nine human heads.
It was unclear how long the remains, which were being transferred to the state capital of Chilpancingo to be identified, had been buried. Reuters reported that no suspects had been detained.
Roberto Alvarez Heredia, spokesman for the Guerrero Coordinating Group, said soldiers were combing the area to see if there were any more clandestine graves.
A map showing Tixtla, Mexico. Google Maps
Residents of the community of Tixtla found nine decapitated bodies on Monday along a highway. Prosecutors are looking into whether the nine heads found in Zitlala correspond to these bodies.
Cartels are battling over drug trafficking routes in Guerrero, which is one of the most violent states in Mexico.
Drug gangs frequently decapitate their victims.Unlocked Sony Xperia C5 Ultra available in United States for $350
Sony Mobile has officially started to sell the Xperia C5 Ultra (E5506 variant) in the United States. The device is being sold unlocked via Amazon.com for $349.99. This is the single SIM variant of the Xperia Z5 Ultra and as it is officially being sold it will come with a US warranty, as opposed to third-party sellers on Amazon or eBay. Only the Black version is available.
The Sony Xperia C5 Ultra has one of the smallest bezels of any Sony device. It has a 6-inch 1080p IPS display, 13MP front & rear cameras, MediaTek MT6752 chipset with 1.7GHz octa-core processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and a 2930mAh battery.
Network support for Xperia C5 Ultra (E5506)SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Sebastián Piñera, Chile’s president, abruptly rejected calls on Sunday from the Roman Catholic Church to pardon dozens of imprisoned military officials convicted of human rights violations during the era known as Chile’s dirty war.
Mr. Piñera, Chile’s first right-wing leader since the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet ended two decades ago, had promised during his campaign last year to crack down on crime and have a “zero tolerance” policy toward criminal offenders.
On Sunday he put an end to months of mounting pressure from the Catholic Church and some in the country’s right-wing establishment to make a grand healing gesture to the country by issuing sweeping pardons.
“While we value the debate generated by these proposals, we cannot ignore that they continue to produce a climate of tension and division in Chilean society that many times reopens the old wounds and bitterness of the past,” Mr. Piñera said in a televised address from the presidential palace in Santiago.
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Standing up to Chile’s Catholic Church was seen as a bold move, considering the church’s well-acknowledged role in challenging the military dictatorship of General Pinochet and in harboring many human rights victims and people sought by the military.The video will start in 8 Cancel
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Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have taken part in their third and final TV debate ahead of November's presidential election.
The trio of clashes have been unlike any other in the history of US elections.
There have been personal attacks, sneers, accusations, claims of flat out lying - and at one point Donald Trump threatened to throw Hillary Clinton in prison if he got elected.
But while they may not show the democratic process in the most edifying light, they've been watched by record numbers of Americans as they try to decide who they want as their next President.
The first two debates came as Donald Trump faced a torrent of claims after he bragged about grabbing women "by the p***y".
So how were the debates set up, and who won the final showdown according to polls and the media?
Here's everything you need to know about the US Presidential debates.
Who won the final debate?
(Image: REUTERS)
Hillary Clinton had established a lead in the polls and the final debate echoed that - sort of.
A CNN/ORC survey immediately after the showdown gave her a 13-point lead.
Of the 547 registered voters questioned, 52% thought Clinton did the best job and 39% thought Trump did.
But CNN said this was much tighter than in a similar poll after the first two debates.
The first debate poll gave 62% to the Democrat and just 27% to her Republican rival, CNN said.
New York Times writer Nicholas Confessore said neither candidate had their best debate but added: "It was a tall order. And Mr. Trump did not deliver."
poll loading Who won the final US Presidential debate? 500+ VOTES SO FAR DONALD TRUMP HILLARY CLINTON
What were the 5 highlights?
1. Rigged election - Trump claimed the US election is rigged against him after making claims earlier in the week of "large-scale voter fraud".
2. Trump may REJECT election result - The Republican candidate refused to say if he would accept losing the election after making claims earlier in the week of "large-scale voter fraud". He added: "I will tell you at the time, I will keep you in suspense."
3. US has some 'bad hombres' - Trump defended his call for deportations by citing the "millions and millions" of people who have been kicked out during the Obama years. One of his turns of phrase stood out: "We have some bad hombres here, and we're going to get them out.
4. Clinton campaign'made up' groping allegations - Trump sensationally accused Hillary Clinton's campaign of fabricating the allegations of sexual assault against him. "I think they either want fame or her campaign did it - and I think it's her campaign," he said.
5. Putin wants a puppet for president - Clinton said that Putin would "rather have a puppet as president of the United States." "You're the puppet," Trump said, sounding like a variation of, I know you are but what am I?
When were the debates?
(Image: Getty)
Monday September 26 - Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
The debate calendar started on Monday night, with a fiery face-off between the two candidates on NBC.
It was hosted by NBC Nightly News Anchor Lester Holt.
You can read our coverage of the debate here.
Tuesday October 4 - Vice Presidential Debate - Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia
The only debate between vice presidential hopefuls Tim Kaine (Clinton) and Mike Pence (Trump).
They spoke for 90 minutes, covering topics in nine segments of 10 minutes each.
It was moderated by CBSN anchor Elaine Quijano.
Sunday October 9 - Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
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The format was 'town meeting' style.
Half of the questions came from a moderator - CNN's Anderson Cooper - the other half from the audience.
Wednesday October 19 - University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The final debate in a glitzy setting had the same format as the first - with six fifteen-minute segments.
The moderator was Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace.
The debates all aired in the US at 9pm - which is 2am UK time.
Recap as Donald Trump refuses to confirm he will accept election result in final Presidential debate
What was the format?
The presidential debates were split into six 15-minute segments on major topics.
Each section started with a question, and candidates had two minutes to answer.Associated Press As expected, the former CEO of HP, Mark Hurd, is now in talks with Oracle about joining the company, Ben Worthen and others at the Wall Street Journal report.
Mark was sacked from HP last month after HP party schmoozer Jodie Fisher sued him for sexual harassment.
Mark's friend and tennis opponent Larry Ellison immediately rushed to his aid, calling HP's board decision the dumbest since Apple's board canned Steve Jobs.
Oracle is no stranger to sexcapades. Oracle president Chuck Phillips, a former Morgan Stanley analyst, had the pleasure of watching a girlfriend buy a billboard in Times Square to try to win him back. And Larry himself, a famous bachelor, was the target of a sexual harassment lawsuit that ended in his accuser going to jail for a year for falsely accusing him.
The one hitch here is that Larry has been CEO of Oracle for life. So whatever role Mark Hurd is considering presumably won't carry that title.Clues in Coral Hint at Looming Temperature Spike
Chemical clues in skeletons produced by coral growing at Kiribati contain a newly discovered warning. They caution of a global climate system that’s capable of drawing decades’ worth of hoarded heat out of the Pacific Ocean, and belching it back into the atmosphere.
A cryptic chemical weather log kept by Tarawa Atoll’s stony coral in the tropical Pacific archipelago has been cracked, helping scientists explain a century of peaks and troughs in global warming — and inflaming fears that a speedup will follow the recent slowdown.
Added to a growing body of research, the newly published findings indicate that all it would take to trigger what could be an historically unparalleled period of rising global temperatures would be a shift in the winds. And that type of change in the intensity of Pacific trade winds appears to happen every 20 to 30 years or so.
Kiribati.
Credit: Luigi Guarino/flickr
The coral-based findings, published Monday in Nature Geoscience, provide new historical data supporting previous modeling results and observations that point to the long-term waxing and waning pattern of the trade winds in affecting worldwide temperatures.
For the past few decades, the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, as the influential cycle is known, has been in what’s called a negative phase, meaning trades winds have been strong.
The growing body of scientific evidence indicates that this negative phase has played a heavy role in driving an approximately 15-year old slowdown in worldwide surface warming. It suggests that a speedup in warming may follow the next switch to the oscillation’s positive phase, when trade winds weaken, and the effects of the natural cycle exacerbate those of unnaturally increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Diane Thompson, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who led the study published Monday, said we’re in a surface warming slowdown right now because the Pacific trade winds are strong. But she says that apparent bout of good fortune won’t last forever.
“When winds weaken, which they inevitably will, warming will once again accelerate,” Thompson said. “The warming caused by greenhouse gases and the warming associated with this natural cycle will compound one another.”
Strong tropical Pacific trade winds serve as an air conditioner for the world, scientists are concluding. They mix warm equatorial surface water into greater depths, and help bring cooler waters to the surface. But, like the window-mounted AC unit that cools your living room during summer, all the while heating the air outside, the strong winds aren’t cooling the planet. They’re just moving heat-wielding energy to where it will bother us less.
And, just like that window-mounted unit, the strong trade winds will eventually break down. When the global air conditioner breaks down, modeling and past experience suggest that the process will start to operate in reverse.
In February, Australian and American researchers who compared ocean and climate modeling results with weather observations published findings in Nature Climate Change advancing earlier studies that explored the oscillation’s global influence. They found that the effects of strong Pacific trade winds during the past two decades were “sufficient to account” for the recent slowdown in global warming.
The slowdown refers to slower-than-expected rates at which temperatures measured on the land and at sea surfaces have been rising since the turn of the century. The amount of energy being trapped on Earth continues to rise at a quickening pace, because of the effects of the thickening cloud of greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere, but more of that energy than usual has been ending up in the oceans. That ocean heat — while hard for many of us to notice directly — has been driving record-breaking global temperatures, with 2014 on track to be the hottest on record, and to more vicious tropical storms.
The Australian and American researchers drew a similar comparison in their paper between strong trade winds and a slight cooling in global surface temperatures from 1940 to the 1970s.
Surface air temperature (SAT) has risen fastest during the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation's positive phases, when trade winds have been weakest.
Credit: England, M. H. et al. Recent intensification of wind-driven circulation in the Pacific and the ongoing warming hiatus. Nature Clim. Change 4, 222–227 (2014).
On Monday, a team of American and British scientists led by Thompson reported on their chemical analysis of a sample core bored out of coral on the most populated atoll of Kiribati, a postcard-worthy Pacific Ocean country comprising many small islands. The sample was selected for the coral's location, growing just outside the mouth of a west-facing lagoon.
The scientists measured changes over time in the amount of manganese in the skeletons produced by coral growing since the 1890s. The waters inside the lagoon are sheltered by a ring of land from the trade winds, which blow from the east. When trade winds are weak, the lagoon’s waters are churned more frequently by gusts blowing from the west. When those gusts blow in, they kick up sediment in the lagoon, releasing manganese into the water that corals can use in place of calcium to grow their skeletons.
The team also measured strontium in a coral sample taken from Jarvis Island, an uninhabited speck of land southwest of Kiribati, to gauge historical surface water temperatures. Strontium levels in coral skeletons are affected by ocean temperatures.
The scientists found that winds blowing a century ago had a similar relationship with global weather as the more recent links that have been discovered by other scientists.
“We know that winds flip-flop between periods of strong trade winds and periods of weak trade winds,” Thompson said. “Our study shows that these winds play a role in the rate of global temperature rise.”
Coral coring at Jarvis Island.
Credit: Julia Core, University of Arizona
Thompson’s team found evidence in its Kiribati coral core of weak trade winds early in the 20th century. Those winds coincided with a period, from 1910 to 1940, when global temperatures rose faster than could have been caused by greenhouse gas pollution alone, given the still-nascent state of mass industrialization.
The group also found evidence that trade winds were stronger and surface temperatures were cooler from 1940 to 1970, providing additional evidence of the relationship between the Pacific trade winds and the rates at which global temperatures have been changing.
“The paper confirms the idea that tropical Pacific trade winds play a major role in global climate variability,” Matthew England, a professor at the University of New South Wales who was not involved with the coral study, said. He said its findings support those from other recent studies, including February’s Nature Climate Change paper, which was published by a team that England led.
“What’s very much new here is the attribution of the early 20th century warming to weakened Pacific trade winds,” England said.
The use of coral cores in the study was praised by Braddock Linsley, a professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University who studies ancient climatic conditions by analyzing coral skeleton samples. He was not involved with the study.
Linsley said the new results were “exciting,” suggesting that the “poorly understood, rapid rise” in surface temperature from 1910 to 1940 was, in part, “related to changes in trade wind strength and heat release from the upper water column” of the Pacific Ocean.
“The mounting evidence is coalescing around the idea that decades of stronger trade winds coincide with decades of stalls or even slight cooling of global surface temperatures, as heat is apparently transferred from the atmosphere into the upper ocean,” Linsley said.
Winds over the Atlantic Ocean also appear to modulate global surface temperatures, albeit to a lesser extent than those over the Pacific Ocean. The science isn't settled on just how much those Atlantic winds, and other potential forces, have contributed to the heaving nature of global warming. “We're still at the beginning” of this field of research, Stefan Brönnimann, a University of Bern professor who investigates climate variability, said. He also wrote a 'news and views' article for Nature Geoscience assessing and describing the new research. “Pacific and Atlantic influences are not mutually exclusive.”
The new study’s findings were limited by the fact that just one coral core was analyzed to serve as a proxy wind gauge — a shortcoming that the researchers aim to address. “Measurements of manganese in coral skeletons are difficult and time consuming,” Thompson said. “Now that we know how important they can be, we will be making more.”
Evidence of rising temperatures deep in the Pacific Ocean, even as surface temperature rise has slowed, has come in part from measurements of the rise of expanding seas. As global temperatures continue to increase, the hastening rise of those seas as glaciers and ice sheets melt threatens the very existence of the small island nation, Kiribati, whose corals offered up these vital clues from the warming past — and of an even hotter future, shortly after the next change in the winds.
Editor's Note: Matthew England was misidentified as Andrew England in the original story. We apologize for the error.
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Tottenham and Arsenal are held by bottom half teams
Tottenham came into the week with two key players still out injured. Both Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld were nursing injuries and were unavailable for the game against Bournemouth. Eric Dier was put in to start for Alderweireld while the Spurs leading goal scorer, Heung-min Son, earned the start for Harry Kane. Tottenham were looking to take the top spot on the table with a win but Bournemouth had other ideas.
The best early chance came from Bournemouth off of a short corner. The corner came to Dan Gosling who back heeled the ball into the path of Charlie Daniels. Daniels hit the shot but Lloris was able to make the save, denying the early goal for the home team.
In the 27th minute, Christian Eriksen had his chance to score. He took his shot that deflected off a defender, changing the path of the ball. Artur Boruc showed great reaction speed and agility to get low enough to parry the ball behind the touchline away from the goal. There would be no goals scored in the first half despite good chances for both teams.
The first chance of the second half came three minutes after the whistle when Boruc was forced into a save off of the shot from Dele Alli. Later Erik Lamela would miss his shot at the near post, just putting the ball above the crossbar. Tottenham were the team looking to score in the second half while Bournemouth were defending for majority of the forty-five. The Bournemouth defense proved up to the task and the game ended in a 0–0 draw.
While Tottenham remain undefeated on the season, they fell to fifth spot on the table. With five wins and four draws, Tottenham have been able to get points from every game they have played. Though it puts them in a good position, Tottenham need to get better results, as this is their second draw in a row against a team that is in the middle of the table. This draw moved Bournemouth up a spot to 10th and they are in the top half of the table.
Arsenal suffered the same fate as their London rivals in their 0–0 draw against Middlesbrough. The draw broke Arsenal’s win streak but kept them at the top the table. Petr Ćech was called on early in the 18th minute, as Laurent Koscielny was slow to get onto a ball and was run down by Adama Traoré. Traoré stole the ball away and powered ahead to have a go at the Arsenal keeper. Ćech was able to come up with the save on Traoré’s shot and the second shot by Alvaro Negredo. He was also gifted some luck on the free kick as the shot from Gastón Ramirez hit the post and bounced out. The shot was beautiful and Ramirez was very unlucky to not get a goal.
Arsenal also had a good free kick minutes later. Alexis Sánchez forced Victor Valdés into a save as the ball was heading for the top right corner of the net. Bournemouth responded in a move started by Traoré. Traoré whipped in a beautiful cross that came of the head of Negredo. The ball would come to a wide-open Ramirez who looked to head home the opening goal but Ćech was there again to make a great save.
The teams went into the locker room at the half with the score tied at 0–0. Arsenal would have the first chance of the half. Mesut Özil took a free kick and swung the ball into the box. Koscielny headed the ball high to the far post for Sánchez. Valdés attempted to catch the ball but was blocked by his defenders and Sánchez put the ball back across the face of the goal. The ball was just too high for Koscielny and Arsenal were unable to score.
Sánchez would continue to put pressure on Valdés and the Bournemouth goal. But Valdés was able to keep the ball out of the back of the net. While Arsenal’s opportunities came from Sánchez, Bournemouth’s chances would come from Traoré. Arsenal thought they had won the match in stoppage time as Özil put the ball in the net after a pass from Alex Oxlade-Chamberain. But Özil was in an offside position and the goal did not count. Bournemouth held on to end the game with a point.
Arsenal will be extremely disappointed they could not capitalize on other poor results around the league and take the number one spot for themselves against a team just outside of the relegation zone. The point for Middlesbrough was crucial as it kept them in the 17th spot, one spot away from the bottom three teams. Arsenal will face another bottom team next week and will look to take advantage of the easy opponent.
Everton narrowly lose to Burnley
Coming off their tie away at Manchester City, Everton had confidence carried into the most recent week as they played a team in the bottom half of the table in the form of Burnley. However, Burnley surprised the Toffees and took all three points from the match. Burnley was the first to score in the 39th minute. Jóhann Gudmundsson had a great run to bring the ball to the edge of the box and take a shot. Stekelenburg miffed the save and did not put the ball out of harms way. Sam Vokes took advantage of the poor clear and poked the ball into the next. The save was atrocious from Stekelenburg who was coming off of a terrific display against Manchester City last week.
Everton answered in the second half, equalizing the game. Romelu Lukaku took the ball in the attacking third for Everton. Yannick Bolasie took the ball from Lukaku and moved into the right side of the box. He took his shot and Tom Heaton was unable to save the ball and the score would be 1–1. Everton would be on the front foot for the rest of the match trying to find the game winner.
In the 89th minute, Heaton stepped up to take a free kick that was placed just before the halfway line. The ball lofted into the box and would come to Gudmoundsson. His shot hit the crossbar and fell to Scott Arfield. Arfield took a brilliant volley and Burnley found their late winner against the favored side. It was a well-taken goal and Stekelenburg was not able to keep the score level.
Dropping the three points kept Everton out of the top five teams and will be a massive disappointment for them. Burnley move up in the standings a bit and will hope this will transition into more wins for them. Everton will have an easy match-up against West Ham United next week and must clean up their mistakes.
Leicester finds points against Crystal Palace
Leicester has had a torrid start to the season, former player N’Golo Kante, and his new squad Chelsea, embarrassed the champions last week. This week Leicester was the team to step up and score three goals against their opponent. Leicester had more of their normal line-up starting the match but Jamie Vardy started the game on the bench.
It took until just before half time for Leicester to find their first goal. Interplay from Shinji Okazaki, Islam Slimani, and Ahmed Musa led to the first goal. Musa was the one to score from the top of the box, giving Musa his first goal for Leicester. A run from Danny Drinkwater led to the second goal for Leicester. Drinkwater crossed the ball to Slimani but Damien Delaney slid to keep the ball from reaching the striker. With no one else around, Okazaki jumped on the ball and scored the goal that would put Leicester comfortably up 2–0.
The third goal came off of a corner for Leicester. Christian Benteke cleared the ball away from the goal where it came to Christian Fuchs. Wolfried Zaha was slow to close down the Leicester player who took a beautiful shot that found the back of the net. Crystal Palace would get a consolation goal in the 85th minute. Crystal Palace did have good chances throughout the game but where unable to score until late. Zaha found Yohan Cabaye in the middle of the box and Cabaye ruined the clean sheet for Kasper Schmeichel.
Any points that Leicester can get are welcomed as they look to defend their title this season. They started off on the wrong foot but look to be climbing with some results in the Premier League and their great performances in the Champions League. They find themselves in 12th place and have a very tough match-up against Tottenham next week. Crystal Palace has been doing well for themselves and are in the middle of the table. They also will face a tough team next week in Liverpool.
Liverpool put on an attacking clinic against a stringent West Brom defense
Jürgen Klopp kept much of the same side that drew against United for his game against West Bromwich Albion. Adam Lallana rejoins the starting eleven and James Milner remains at left back. Tony Pulis also kept his side the same and has had the same starting eleven for most of the season.
Liverpool’s first goal was the result of a beautiful series of plays. Coutinho started the move by playing a dummy and letting the ball continue on to Emre Can. Can took the ball closer to the box when he passed to Roberto Firmino. Firmino crossed the ball into the box right to Sadio Mané who scored the goal with relative ease. Each player that was a part of the play executed their part brilliantly and it all culminated in a lead for the home side.
Later in the half, Darren Fletcher played an awkward pass back to Ben Foster who was forced to lash at the ball, botching the clearance. The ball went up high but did not go far. The ball fell to a West Brom player who was not able to control it and Sadio Mané picked up the ball. He passed it to Coutinho and Coutinho made a good move that made both West Brom defenders dive to one side while Coutinho cut the ball back and scored a great goal to put Liverpool up 2–0 just before the half. Foster was raving at his defenders for leaving him in a bad position and misplaying the ball.
Liverpool continued to execute brilliant attacking football from every player going forward. Firmino, Can, Mané, and Coutinho were especially in top form and looked as if they could have scored ten goals in the match. Foster was forced into multiple great saves and West Brom defenders had to make several crucial blocks to keep the gap at two goals.
As the game ticked closer to the final whistle, West Brom started to move forward and create chances. They were rewarded with a goal in the 81st minute. Chris Brunt took the corner and swung it into the middle of the box. The ball bounced off a head and fell to an unmarked Gareth McAuley right in front of the goal. With no defenders around and Loris Karius unable to close down quick enough, McAuley brought West Brom within reach of tying the match.
Liverpool was able to hold on and win the game, putting them at the top of the table alongside Manchester City and Arsenal. If they played against most other teams, Liverpool would have scored many more goals but West Brom was on top form to keep the game from getting out of hand. Foster put on another great keeping display and the defense held strong. However it was not enough against the quality and talent of the Liverpool players. Liverpool appears to be gaining form as other teams are losing theirs.
Manchester City barely gets a point from the week
Manchester City got a boost over the weekend with the return of Sergio Agüero to the starting line-up. Pep Guardiola kept the rest of his side the same, also starting long-time City captain Vincent Kompany. Southampton were on the rise as Charlie Austin has averaged a goal in his past four Premier League games and started his 50th league game.
City was on the front foot at the beginning of the game using their talent to create great chances. However it was not City that scored first in the game. City defender John Stones played a horrendous ball backwards that was meant for Kompany but fell behind him. Claudio Bravo was unable to come out of the goal quick enough to recover the ball and Nathan Redmond was able to put Southampton up 1–0 in the match against the run of play.
Stones looked to make up for his mistake later in the first half. He was on the receiving end of a free kick at the far post and snuck the ball past Forester to equalize the score. However, the goal was disallowed because Agüero was in an offside position and Mark Clattenburg judged him to have affected the play. The score would continue at 1–0 in favor of Southampton.
City continued their attack as they looked for an equalizer in the game. That moment would come after half time in the 54th minute. Fernandinho played a brilliant ball across the pitch to Leroy Sané. Sané eventually got the ball under control and found Kelchi Iheanacho in the middle of the box. Iheanacho was able to get the advantage over the defender and score for Manchester City.
Although both teams kept attacking and put a lot of pressure on the opposing defense, neither team was able to score another goal and the game ended 1–1. City have come in to a torrid run of form as they have only gotten two points from three games in recent weeks. Even with Agüero back, City is unable to close out games. Some big signings are being questioned but Guardiola stands behind his players. Southampton has found great form recently and a tie against the league leaders was not a disappointing result for then. Southampton will face Chelsea next week and City will play West Brom.
Jose Mourinho gets a rude welcome back to Stamford Bridge
In his first trip back to Stamford Bridge after being relieved of his managerial duties, Jose Mourinho has his side embarrassed. Antonio Conte stuck with the 3–4–3 formation that earned his team the win of Leicester City, using the exact same starting line-up against United. Rooney was left off the team completely, not even earning a space on the bench. Just like their Manchester counterparts, United committed a defensive mistake that lead to a goal.
This defensive mistake came in the first minute of the game. Marcos Alonso kicked the ball up field where Pedro was making a run. Daley Blind and Chris Smalling were slow to get to the ball and Pedro jumped on it, working past David De Gea and getting an early goal for Chelsea. That was the start for what would be a long game for Mourinho and his players.
The next goal came from a corner taken by Eden Hazard. The ball came off of Ander Herrera and Gary Cahill was alone to smash the ball into the net. United made another defensive mistake, this time it was Smalling failing to cover Cahill and let the Chelsea defender run free onto the ball. Eden Hazard would get his own goal after half time in the 62nd minute. He worked the ball on the right side, just outside the box. He laid the ball off to N’Golo Kante who passed it right to Nemanja Matić. Matić found Hazard making a run into the box and passed it to the Chelsea number ten. Hazard beat Smalling to the right and found his shot end up in the back of the net putting Chelsea up 3–0.
The last goal came nine minutes later. Pedro laid off a pass to Kante who took the ball into the box. Both Herrera and Smalling were unable to stop Kante as he scored Chelsea’s fourth goal of the game. Both the United defense and midfield were completely outmatched this game and looked useless in the match. Paul Pogba was ineffective and Chris Smalling was unable to stop the goals from flying in and was actually the cause of most of them. As the game was winding down, Conte started to pump up the crowd, and that seemed to upset Mourinho. Mourinho and Conte had a long talk as the game ended but neither has discussed what was said.
The game was a massive triumph for Chelsea and it put the team in fourth place, behind the three teams tied for first. Conte trusted the formation he put out last game and it brought him success again. Mourinho’s men find themselves in poor form after a lackluster tie against Liverpool and a humiliating defeat at the hands of his former club. Chelsea seems to be increasing their stock while United are losing theirs. Chelsea will meet streaking Southampton next week while United should be able to recover against Burnley.
Other scores from around the league
Stoke get a 2–0 win to get them out of the relegation zone against Hull City. Swansea halts the streak of Watford in a 0–0 draw. West Ham United beat Sunderland 1–0 to keep Sunderland at the bottom of the table with only two points.DALLAS - Authorities in Dallas found a homeless person who might have had contact with the lone Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S., after a frantic search Sunday.
Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins didn't identify the person, whom he described as a "low-risk individual identified as a contact."
The low risk individual who was identified by our local team as a contact has been found and is being monitored. — Judge Clay Jenkins (@JudgeClayJ) October 5, 2014
Jenkins stressed earlier that the effort to locate the person was precautionary and that the person had not committed a crime.
"We are working to locate the individual and get him to a comfortable, compassionate place where we can monitor him and care for his every need for the full incubation period," Jenkins said.
CBS Dallas reporter J.D. Miles tweeted that officials described him as a "panhandler."
#Breaking here's photo of Michael Lively Homeless man who may have been exposed to #Ebola that authorities can't find pic.twitter.com/MXR5Ehm9to — J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) October 5, 2014
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the person was in a group of 38 people who may have had contact with the Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan.
Officials said the homeless man is believed to have ridden in the same ambulance that transported Duncan.
Miles reports the man, identified as Michael Lively, is in the psych ward of Parkland Hospital where he is undergoing an evaluation. Officials have said Lively will be placed in housing, although that doesn't appear to have happened yet.
Dr. Anthony Fauci who heads up the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, "I would not be surprised if one of the people who came into direct contact with Mr. Duncan when he was ill will get Ebola. You can't say. You can't put a number on it. It's impossible to do that. But there certainly is a risk."
Meanwhile, officials have said Duncan's condition has "taken a turn for the worse."
On Sept. 25, Duncan went to the emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. He was reported to have |
been extremely limited to nonexistent,” Williamsburg Councilmember Antonio Reynoso said at a press conference on Monday morning.
Reynoso was one of roughly a dozen lawmakers and representatives from community organizations who appeared before the media to say that both the DOT and the MTA have failed to communicate with them on how they are addressing the crisis, and that time is running out.
“In terms of business planning, next year is like tomorrow for our businesses,” said Leah Archibald, the executive director of Evergreen, a trade group for industrial businesses in North Brooklyn. “The pending L train shutdown is a big deal to the hundreds and hundreds of industrial businesses that we work with and their many thousands of employees.”
This past March, nearly a year after the coming shutdown was revealed, the MTA announced that the L train repairs would take 15 months, beginning in April of 2019. Both agencies said that a mitigation plan would be presented to communities and finalized by the end of this year.
In May, the DOT and the MTA briefed lawmakers on ideas for addressing the commuters affected by the shutdown, including bus-only and HOV lanes on the Williamsburg Bridge, as well as a new ferry line to run between North 6th Street in Williamsburg and East 20th Street in Manhattan. But about 70 percent of L train riders, they noted, were expected to be diverted to the J/M/Z and G lines, which would see their service increased.
Asked when the MTA or DOT last had a meaningful discussion with lawmakers and community members about mitigation efforts during the shutdown, some attendees at the press conference said “never.” Brooklyn Councilmember Stephen Levin replied, “Many months.”
“What we’re hearing from DOT and the MTA is that they have plans drawn up but they aren’t ready to share them with us yet,” said Minna Elias, the district chief of staff for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, whose district encompasses parts of North Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. “We understand that they’re sitting on the mayor’s desk or somewhere at City Hall, and it’s time for them to release their plans so that the public can comment on them.”
City and MTA officials insisted that the plan has not been delayed, saying the process is slow but continuing. Austin Finan, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, denied that a finished plan exists.
“Collectively with the MTA and DOT, a plan is being developed that addresses the scope of this challenge, the details of which will be shared when it is ready,” Finan told the Voice.
A spokesperson for the DOT, Scott Gastel, compared the L train shutdown to “the 2005 transit strike or the weeks following Sandy,” and said that the agencies “are working diligently on a daily basis to address the impact and this year-long collaboration is reinforced by the tremendous resources going into mitigation plans.”
MTA spokesman Shams Tarek added that the MTA is “working collaboratively with New York City DOT and developing a comprehensive plan to mitigate the issues caused by the badly needed L train tunnel repairs in 2019.” Tarek said that the agency had hosted 39 “community briefings” since May 2016, and that the outreach would continue.
For the elected officials and community members at the press conference, shunting the majority of L train riders onto other subway lines is insufficient. “The M train is already running at a high capacity and we’re seeing folks having to wait for trains on the M and J lines already,” said Councilmember Reynoso. (The J line in particular has already seen double-digit increases in ridership in recent years.) “I can only imagine what’s going to happen when the L train shuts down.”
Councilmember Levin added, “There has to be a dedicated bus lane on the Williamsburg Bridge. That has to happen. That is under the control of the DOT.”
Memos leaked to Second Avenue Sagas in October showed that while the MTA’s suggestions included “bus priority across the bridge,” the DOT’s plans favored making the bridge HOV-3 from 5 a.m. through the evening rush hour.
Charles Komanoff, a transportation economist, told the Voice that without a dedicated bus lane during the L train shutdown, the Williamsburg Bridge and the roads leading to it will be mired in chaos.
“I think that what will happen is that on the second day, people are going to jump out of the buses and they’re gonna start destroying the automobiles that are making them sit in traffic,” Komanoff said. “That’s what I would want to see, if the authorities are so cowardly and stupid as to not create the dedicated bus lane.”
Komanoff says that according to 2015 ridership figures, 54,641 people use the East River L train tunnel on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., roughly 300 people every minute. That number balloons to 400 between the peak hour of 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. He calculated that with articulated buses carrying 112 passengers, four buses would need to run every minute between Brooklyn and Manhattan to transport the same amount of people during rush hour.
“If we are taking a whole lane on the Williamsburg inbound to do this, with nobody else allowed, then hey, there’s less space for automobiles, and vans and trucks,” says Komanoff, a longtime proponent of congestion pricing. “And so if we have four inbound lanes that have to get squeezed to three or maybe even two, then that also warrants congestion pricing, to thin the traffic stream of ordinary automobiles.”
Komanoff calls the bridge the “easy part” of the mitigation plan. While controlling traffic on a single crossing is relatively straightforward, it will be a far more difficult task to keep the myriad streets on both sides of the river free of congestion so that the buses and bikes serving L train commuters can get to the bridge.
“I almost want to imagine that the city or the state could put up these East River bridge tolls on a temporary emergency basis to solve the L-pocalypse, without having to go through the standard rigamarole,” suggests Komanoff, who has noted that at least one legal scholar believes the city could move ahead with bridge tolls without waiting for state permission.
While Governor Andrew Cuomo has thrown his support behind congestion pricing, Mayor de Blasio maintains that there is no “fair” way to execute it.
“I can just see it, May of 2019, the headline: ‘L train Catastrophe: City Blames State.’ The next day: ‘L Train Calamity: State Blames City,’” Councilmember Levin said, urging the DOT and the MTA to collaborate on a bold plan of action.
“We don’t want to be saying in May of 2019, ‘We told you so.’”TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State defensive back Jalen Ramsey didn't miss a day of practice after being ejected from Sunday's session, and Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher said the team has no ill feelings toward the sophomore.
"We had a great talk," Fisher said following Monday's practice. "I get upset and get emotional, and Jalen does, too.... He's a great kid. He's intelligent, he's smart. He got upset. I got upset. That's ball. We move on. The kid is a great kid, and he's a leader on our team."
Editor's Picks Shanker: Ramsey, Fisher move on Jimbo Fisher dismissing star cornerback Jalen Ramsey from practice may end up being a pivotal moment in the sophomore's development, Jared Shanker writes.
Toward the end of practice Sunday, Ramsey traded blows with senior running back Karlos Williams. Fisher warned Ramsey to tone the aggression down, but over the course of the next two plays, Ramsey baited a receiver and then knocked down a tight end during a noncontact passing drill. Fisher had seen enough when, on what would be the star sophomore's final play, Ramsey blitzed and drove Williams into the ground, sending Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston tumbling in the process. As Ramsey jogged leisurely off the field, he and Fisher continued to exchanged words.
When Fisher met with the media Sunday, he questioned Ramsey's leadership and character.
"He'll decide if he wants to play at Florida State," Fisher said Sunday. "You're going to do things my way or they're not going to play here."
After a 24-hour cooling-off period, though, Fisher backed off those statements, defending Ramsey's integrity.
"We know we leave everything on the field, and sometimes you got to prove a point. Sometimes I'm an emotional guy, too. Maybe I shouldn't have walked over and said anything to y'all but I was honest and was trying to send him a point, but at the same time he's a great human being," Fisher said.
"I love his competitiveness. Sometimes you got to harness it. I'd rather say 'whoa' than 'giddy up.'"
As a true freshman, Ramsey was named to the freshman All-America team after starting all 14 games for the Seminoles. He was the first freshman to start at cornerback for the Seminoles since Deion Sanders in 1985.
Throughout the spring and summer, Fisher heaped praise on Ramsey and stressed the leadership qualities he has shown since the end of last season. With Timmy Jernigan, Lamarcus Joyner and Telvin Smith, the leaders of last year's defense, playing in the NFL, Ramsey has accepted the role of commanding the defense.
"He's one of the only two sophomores on our unity council as a leader of our team," Fisher said. "When you lose him, you change the team, and I want him to understand that, too."The New Orleans Pelicans drafted Nerlens Noel with the sixth pick in Thursday night's NBA Draft, but it turns out Noel won't be teaming up with fellow Kentucky Wildcats alum Anthony Davis. He's been traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, along with a first-round pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, for Jrue Holiday, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. The Pelicans will receive the 42nd pick in this draft, Wojnarowski also reported.
The pick will be top-five protected, according to New Orleans AP writer Brett Martel.
Noel was expected to be a top five selection and, according to most, was going to be selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick. The Cavs went with Anthony Bennett, however, allowing Noel to slide to the Pelicans with the sixth pick.
Holiday is one of the top young point guards in the NBA. For the Sixers' new front office, getting a centerpiece for the future certainly had to be a priority -- especially after last season's debacle with Andrew Bynum.
More from SB Nation:
• Viva Las Vegas! Cavs take Bennett No. 1
• Ziller: John Wall got some tattoos, let's freak out
• Draft resources: Scouting reports | Team Needs | Big Board
• Is Dwight done in L.A.?
• Could KG, Pierce go to Brooklyn?
• Tjarks: How international scouting has changedJason Davis • February 9, 2017
Want NASA to pick your space mission proposal? Two winning scientists share some tips
It was 8:00 a.m. on January 4, 2017 when Lindy Elkins-Tanton got a phone call from NASA saying her proposed mission to send a spacecraft to a metallic asteroid had been selected.
Elkins-Tanton, the director of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration, had just wrapped up a busy 2016. She was taking a well-earned, two-and-a-half week vacation in western Massachusetts, where she was reading academic papers and novels, and trying to get in a little snowshoeing.
Her mission, Psyche, was one of five finalists in the current iteration of NASA's Discovery program, which selects low-cost planetary science missions from a whittled-down pool of applicants.
First, NASA told the finalists to expect a decision the week after New Year's Day. Then, Elkins-Tanton was told to expect a phone call between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. on January 4.
The call came early. She was still asleep—and slightly embarrassed about that. When she picked up the phone, it was Thomas Zurbuchen, the head of NASA's science division.
"He knew right away I'd been asleep," Elkins-Tanton told me recently. "He said, 'Oh, I think I've wakened you. But I think you're going to be happy that I've wakened you.' So I knew right at that moment that we won. I was out there in the hills, in the snow, getting this phone call from NASA. It was really surreal."
Arizona State University Lindy Elkins-Tanton Lindy Elkins-Tanton gives a "KEDtalk" (Knowledge Enterprise Development) at Arizona State University in Oct. 2016. Lindy Elkins-Tanton gives a "KEDtalk" (Knowledge Enterprise Development) at Arizona State University in Oct. 2016. Full video here.
The phone call Elkins-Tanton received was the culmination of a process that officially started in November 2014, when NASA announced it was accepting proposals for its next Discovery mission.
Discovery missions are cost-capped at about $500 million, not including launch and operations costs. There is also a second competitively selected mission type called New Frontiers, which gives winning missions a budget of around $800 million, including the price tag of a rocket.
Right now, NASA is accepting proposals for its next New Frontiers mission. They're due in April, and in November, three winners will get funded for further studies. NASA plans to make a final decision on which mission will fly in mid-2019.
The process is not for the faint of heart. Scientists and engineers can spend years toiling over a proposal, only to have their hopes dashed by the selection process.
I wanted to learn more about why some missions succeed and some don't, so I asked two recent winners how they pulled it off. It turns out that while both missions had slightly different recipes for success, there were a lot of similarities: intangible assets like good team chemistry and a knack for navigating the science community landscape can be just as important as the nuts and bolts that make up a spacecraft.
Third time's a charm for OSIRIS-REx
The last New Frontiers mission to launch was OSIRIS-REx, which blasted off in September to collect a sample from asteroid Bennu.
It would actually be more accurate to say the journey of OSIRIS-REx began 13 years ago. In 2004, Michael Drake, the former head of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, wanted to propose an asteroid sample return mission. Drake asked LPL colleague Dante Lauretta, who was an untenured, assistant professor at the time, to become his deputy principal investigator.
Drake and Lauretta pitched the mission to NASA's Discovery program. They weren't selected, and NASA gave the proposal the lowest possible grade: category four.
"Category four means you're rejected and they shouldn't even need to tell you why," Lauretta said during a recent phone interview. "We were pretty naive back then, I'll admit."
The mission science, he said, was compelling. "But the technical management and cost needed a lot of work."
Ultimately, NASA didn't select any Discovery missions that time around. When the agency asked for new proposals a year later, Drake and Lauretta decided to try again.
This time, Lauretta worked closely with engineers at Lockheed Martin, in an attempt to better synchronize the mission's science and engineering aspects. He wanted to understand every aspect of the spacecraft, and ensure the Lockheed team understood every part of the mission science.
"I really learned how spacecraft are put together," Lauretta said. "But, most importantly, I learned how you translate science into engineering-speak, because they really are different languages."
Drake and Lauretta made it to the final round, but ultimately lost to GRAIL, a pair of lunar gravity mapping probes that launched in 2011. On the bright side, NASA said the asteroid mission's science and engineering was solid—the problem was that it was getting too expensive.
In 2008, the National Academy of Sciences prepared to release an interim update to their 10-year Decadal Survey, which lays out acceptable mission themes for the mid-cost New Frontiers program. An asteroid sample return mission had not been prioritized in the last Decadal Survey, so Drake and Lauretta's team started pitching the benefits of such a mission to the science community. They also demonstrated how they could overcome any potential engineering challenges.
The Academy was convinced. When the interim report was released, "Asteroid Rover/Sample Return" was listed as a mission theme. The next New Frontiers proposal was due in 2009, so Drake and Lauretta tweaked their proposal and applied. This time, they won, beating out a lunar sample return and a Venus mission.
Jason Davis / The Planetary Society Liftoff of OSIRIS-REx OSIRIS-REx begins its journey to Bennu following a liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sept. 8, 2016. OSIRIS-REx begins its journey to Bennu following a liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sept. 8, 2016.
Asteroids beat Venus again
When compared with OSIRIS-REx, the origin story of Psyche is a bit simpler.
In 2011, Lindy Elkins-Tanton was the lead author of a paper on the diversity found among different types of asteroids.
"We all have this image of asteroids that kind of comes from Star Wars, and doesn't actually reflect the truth," she said. "I got an e-mail from some colleagues at JPL (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) asking whether I'd be interested in helping design a mission to test our hypothesis."
Might NASA decide to send a spacecraft to an asteroid unlike anything scientists had ever seen? Elkins-Tanton was intrigued, and as the mission concept came together, her team started looking at targets. Very quickly, Psyche—a metallic asteroid that may have iron-nickel spires jutting into space—ended up as a prime target for the spacecraft. The asteroid was so compelling, the team ultimately named their mission Psyche as well.
Whereas it took Drake and Lauretta three tries to get OSIRIS-REx on the launch pad, Elkins-Tanton was fortunate—Psyche was selected the first time.
"I kind of feel guilty because we won the first time through the proposal process," she said. "That's rare."
Psyche was selected alongside another asteroid mission called Lucy. Once again, asteroids triumphed over Venus.
"As totally, unbelievably thrilled as I am that we won, I feel heartbroken that we're not going to Venus right now," said Elkins-Tanton. "My big hope is that an even better Venus mission, with a higher dollar value will go."
The currently allowed New Frontiers mission themes are Venus, a lunar south pole sample return, a comet surface sample return, an ocean worlds (Titan and/or Enceladus) mission, a Saturn probe, and a Trojan asteroids tour.
NASA is already working on a high-dollar mission to another ocean world: Europa. The aforementioned Lucy spacecraft is headed for Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. Cassini is currently operating around Saturn—which includes Titan and Enceladus—though the aging probe's mission ends later this year. This leads many to believe Venus already has an advantage over the competition. NASA hasn't sent a spacecraft there since the Magellan probe, in 1990.
"Venus has had a rough time," Lauretta said. "I don't think anybody at NASA or anywhere else disagrees that the science is really exciting. It's just that the technical risks are so high. It's not a friendly environment to operate in, especially for a surface package."
© 2005 Mattias Malmer, from NASA/JPL data Global view of Venus from Mariner 10 This view is processed from 78 Mariner 10 frames captured through orange and ultraviolet filters. It is intended to look approximately natural in color, though the use of the ultraviolet images makes cloud patterns more visible than they would be to the human eye. This view is processed from 78 Mariner 10 frames captured through orange and ultraviolet filters. It is intended to look approximately natural in color, though the use of the ultraviolet images makes cloud patterns more visible than they would be to the human eye.
Good team chemistry
A team proposing a mission to Venus will have to convince NASA their spacecraft can survive in one of the harshest places in the solar system. The planet's surface is hotter than Mercury, air pressures are equivalent to operating almost a kilometer under Earth's ocean, and winds in the upper atmosphere are stronger than an Earth-based tornado or hurricane.
Engineering competency aside, what gives one team's proposal the edge over another? Both Lauretta and Elkins-Tanton were in agreement that fostering a positive team chemistry was absolutely vital. NASA wants to see groups that are cohesive and relaxed, where everyone has a voice.
And no negative nellies.
"One loud, negative voice can turn the tide of everything," Elkins-Tanton said. "It can cause people who feel more timid to shut up and not share things that are important and critical."
Projecting confidence is also important. Prior to NASA's onsite visit, Elkins-Tanton hired a speaking coach to visit her team for one afternoon. "It turned out to be really helpful to turn our minds away from the super-minutia that we'd been obsessed with for years, and out to the larger story for people who were going to care about it," she said.
Lauretta said one strategy he used for unifying his team was making sure everyone knew everyone else's role, and who the expert was on any particular topic.
"When you see missions that get into trouble, a lot of it is because of dysfunctional teaming," he said. This particularly shows in documents like the mission's concept study report, which, in the case of OSIRIS-REx, was about 2,000 pages.
"If you don't have a coherent team that's communicating well, that document is going to be a mess," said Lauretta. "NASA's going to be like, 'Wait a minute. If they can't communicate enough to make this document consistent, how on Earth are they going to pull off something as complicated as building and launching a spacecraft?'"
The competition
Because Discovery and New Frontiers missions are competitively selected, teams pay close attention to what other contenders are doing. Elkins-Tanton said this is particularly the case among missions heading to the same destination, such as Venus.
To prevent other teams from "ghosting" aspects of their own proposals, many groups work in secrecy.
"A lot of the proposals are top secret, and nobody even knows they're happening," she said. "There were proposals that we didn't even hear a rumor about until after they were all submitted, and more news started leaking out."
The Psyche team, however, took a different approach.
"We thought that probably a lot of people, even in planetary science, didn't understand what an amazing, unique, improbable object Psyche was," Elkins-Tanton said. "So we decided that we needed to be public about what we were doing." This included conference talks and workshops on asteroid differentiation.
Her team also developed artist's concepts to show off how the asteroid might look. This had the dual benefit of exciting the Psyche team itself, and helping its members visualize where they were going.
Lauretta said the OSIRIS-REx team wasn't as focused on publicity, except when it came to demonstrating why the National Academy interim report should include an asteroid sample return mission. But during the proposal process, Lauretta said his team often highlighted how OSIRIS-REx was different, especially when it came to other missions' weaknesses. If there was concern over the operating environment on Venus, for instance, the OSIRIS-REx team might highlight how comparatively benign Bennu was.
NASA / Joel Kowsky Dante Lauretta Dante Lauretta speaks to members of the press during an OSIRIS-REx briefing in Aug. 2016. Dante Lauretta speaks to members of the press during an OSIRIS-REx briefing in Aug. 2016.
It takes a village
By the time OSIRIS-REx was selected in May 2011, Michael Drake's health was suffering. Lauretta started to assume a de facto principal investigator role, and Drake passed away that September.
"It was emotionally and incredibly personally draining," Lauretta said. "He was a mentor and a friend. I still miss him dearly and I really wish he was here to see everything we have accomplished at this point."
Lauretta knew he would need his family's help if he were to fill Drake's shoes permanently.
"That was a big conversation I had with my wife," he said. "I said, 'I'm going to try to go do this. I need to know if you're on board with it, because if you think it's going to disrupt the family, then I'll back off.'"
In the end, support came not just from his immediate family, but his extended family—on everything from child care to help around the house.
Elkins-Tanton managed to lead her Psyche team through the proposal process while holding down a full-time directorship job at ASU.
"I calculated that in the last two years I've had less than one day off per month," she said. NASA advisors have already told her to expect 80 to 100 percent of her work time will be consumed by the mission as it proceeds from development toward launch. She is currently exploring how to shuffle her responsibilities to make way for what will become an entirely new career path.
The politics of rocket science
Now that OSIRIS-REx is safely on its way to Bennu, Lauretta's schedule has opened enough for him to teach a class again. This semester, he's leading a course on spacecraft mission design and implementation, trying to pass on lessons he has learned to the next generation of would-be principal investigators.
His students are currently designing a New Frontiers-class mission to Titan. Everyone in the class was assigned a mission role, from principal investigator to business lead.
But before the students started designed their spacecraft, Lauretta led them through a crash course on space policy. They learned about the federal budget, the roles Congress and the White House play, and what different assessment groups do.
This philosophy—that successful missions depend on sound social strategies as much as they do engineering and science—is also reflected in Lauretta's Xtronaut board game, which teaches players the logistics behind space missions. Xtronaut has been such a hit, Lauretta has expanded it into an upcoming successor game, as well as a series of STEM education programs.
He also had his students read through a recent NASA authorization bill that passed the Senate in 2016.
"I said, look at what's in here," he told me. "Mars 2020. Europa. How do you think that got in there? Somebody in the science community decided these are important missions."
Lauretta leadership principles As part of his spacecraft mission design and implementation class, Lauretta shared ten leadership principles he has learned after spending five years at the helm of the OSIRIS-REx program: Reward initiative Value capabilities over credentials Share the credit / take the blame Assume good intentions Cultivate diversity and seek out different perspectives Work the problem Make the hard decisions Admit mistakes Show appreciation Keep temper under control (easier said then done when the stakes are high)Researchers from the University of Cambridge, in association with Boeing, have successfully tested the first aircraft to be powered by a parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system, where an electric motor and petrol engine work together to drive the propeller. The demonstrator aircraft uses up to 30% less fuel than a comparable plane with a petrol-only engine. The aircraft is also able to recharge its batteries in flight, the first time this has been achieved.
The demonstrator is based on a commercially-available single-seat aircraft, and its hybrid engine was designed and built by engineers at Cambridge with Boeing funding support.
The aircraft uses a combination of a 4-stroke piston engine and an electric motor / generator, coupled through the same drive pulley to spin the propeller. During take-off and climb, when maximum power is required, the engine and motor work together to power the plane, but once cruising height is reached, the electric motor can be switched into generator mode to recharge the batteries or used in motor assist mode to minimise fuel consumption. The same principle is at work in a hybrid car.
“Although hybrid cars have been available for more than a decade, what’s been holding back the development of hybrid or fully-electric aircraft until now is battery technology,” said Dr Paul Robertson of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who led the project. “Until recently, they have been too heavy and didn’t have enough energy capacity. But with the advent of improved lithium-polymer batteries, similar to what you’d find in a laptop computer, hybrid aircraft – albeit at a small scale – are now starting to become viable.”
The hybrid power system in the Cambridge demonstrator is based on a Honda engine, in parallel with a custom lightweight motor. A power electronics module designed and built in the Engineering Department controls the electrical current to and from the batteries - a set of 16 large lithium-polymer cells located in special compartments built into the wings. The petrol engine is optimally sized to provide the cruise power at its most efficient operating point, resulting in an improved fuel efficiency overall.
“Our mission is to keep our sights on finding innovative solutions and technologies that solve our industry’s toughest challenges and continually improve environmental performance,” said Marty Bradley, Boeing’s principal investigator for the programme. “Hybrid electric is one of several important elements of our research efforts, and we are learning more every day about the feasibility of these technologies and how they could be used in the future.”
While the Cambridge demonstrator is an important step in the development of hybrid or fully-electric aircraft, more research is required before commercial airliners will be powered entirely with electric motors. For example, if all the engines and all the fuel in a modern jetliner were to be replaced by batteries, it would have a total flying time of roughly ten minutes.
Test flights for the project took place at the Sywell Aerodrome, near Northampton. These tests consisted of a series of ‘hops’ along the runway, followed by longer evaluation flights at a height of over 1,500 feet.
Robertson’s team, which includes PhD students Christian Friedrich and Andre Thunot and MEng student Tom Corker, is conducting ongoing test flights to characterise and optimise the system for best performance and fuel economy.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates aviation is responsible for around 2% of global man-made carbon dioxide emissions. The aerospace industry made global commitments to take action that will see carbon neutral growth from 2020 and a net reduction in CO2 emissions of 50% by 2050 compared to 2005 levels. Boeing is a member of Sustainable Aviation (www.sustainableaviation.co.uk), which is responding to these goals in the UK.Erna Solberg in her YouTube response to Stephen Colbert. Photo: YouTube Screengrab
Norway's prime minister has gamely responded to a YouTube and Twitter challenge from US comedian Stephen Colbert, recording her own, admittedly slightly less funny, video.
"Thank you for your powerful message. You've managed to clog my Twitter feed," Erna Solberg told the US comedian in a video recorded in her government offices. "But you’ve got your priorities right: Lutefisk, Norwegian death metal, and girls’ education."
But she stopped short of meeting Colbert and his supporters' demand to further increase Norway's planned annual contributions to the Global Partnership for Education $100m a year for the next five years, instead calling on other countries to up their spending.
Stephen Colbert launched his 'Let's Invade Norway' campaign on Monday, in a video promoting the Global Citizen Festival, a massive charity fundraiser taking place in New York next month.
In his YouTube video he ate Lutefisk, Norway's glutinous dried cod dish, and listened to Norwegian death metal, as he called on his supporters to Twitter bomb Solberg pressuring her to up Norway's financial support for the global initiative to improve girl's education worldwide.
In her response, Solberg underlined the importance of girls' education.
"Education can fulfill dreams, create hopes and secure their future. When you educate a girl you educate a nation," she said.
But she made no new financial commitments.
"My government is massively increasing our support for global education, but even the Vikings of Norway can't do it alone, Stephen," she said. "That's why we encourage other countries, private companies and key partners to do more."
"I promise to eat the rest of that later," Colberg said in his video, as he pushed away plate of white goo after one bite, adding: "My goodness, that has a fishy aftertaste."
At the end of her video, Solberg pushes him to eat the rest.
"See you in New York in September. Now get back to that lutefisk – how do you think we pay for all of this?"The ex-Soviet republic is preparing to reform its notoriously ineffective tax system in an effort to cut its budget deficit in line with targets set by the International Monetary Fund, which is extending it a $15 billion bail-out.
The new tax code, to which parliament was giving a final reading on Tuesday, makes a number of companies and entrepreneurs no longer eligible for a simplified system that has allowed them to pay a single, relatively low tax rate.
About 5,000 protesters, many of them market traders and small business entrepreneurs, massed outside parliament shouting "Shame!", whistling, and drumming with plastic bottles.
Some carried posters saying "Keep your hands off small businesses!", "Down with the parasitic authorities!" and "Tax terror must end!".
Ukraine’s current tax system is ranked the third worst in the world after Belarus and Venezuela, according to the World Bank’s "Doing Business" annual survey of 183 countries.
As in many other ex-Soviet republics, businesses often choose to pay bribes instead of taxes, a practice that saves time and money but brings nothing into the national coffers.
The government of President Viktor Yanukovich says it is vital to entice businesses out of this "shadow economy" if it is going to boost revenues.
But Ihor Koval, 30, a market trader from the central town of Khmelnitsky, said the new tax code would only favour Ukraine’s already super-rich oligarch class.
"This government should know that no budget (deficit) can be plugged while millionaires carry watches worth thousands of dollars and buy yachts and houses. This code is for them, not for us."
Mykola Samorodov, 47, another market trader from the town of Kuznetsovsk, said: "If this tax code is passed I will be left with only 10 per cent of what I earn. Small businesses will simply disappear."
An IMF mission said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s performance was broadly in line with targets for the $15 billion program, and the Fund would decide on the second loan tranche by the end of this year. Parliamentary time was extended unusually until 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) to allow full debate on the bill.The first time I ever played Portal was damn near magical. Each room I walked into held promise of some diabolical new assault on both my brain and the laws of physics, but I made them look like child’s play. At the time, I was certain it proved I was a genius with an IQ so huge that even my bulging genius brain couldn’t count that high. Of course, I soon came to find out that everyone experienced Portal that way. So I wasn’t a genius. But the puzzle designers at Valve were.
To this day, Portal stands as the most masterful example of invisibly intuitive teaching I’ve ever discovered. It slowly builds upon itself – sneaking new techniques into your repertoire until you’re snoozing through puzzles that would’ve short-circuited your synapses maybe 20 minutes earlier. Is it a fit for classrooms, though? My first inclination would be to think not. I mean, it’s not exactly a hyper-accurate physics simulation – even with science jokes making up the bulk of both Portal 1 and 2’s brilliantly witty dialogue. That, however, is precisely the point, according to Valve director of education Leslie Redd and designer Yasser Malaika. It’s how Valve games teach – not what they’re teaching – that could help save a rusty, way-behind-the-times education system.
“I think it’s the design approach,” begins Redd, a former senior administrator at The Evergreen School in Shoreline, WA. “It seems like it’s even harder to make something fun than it is to create something that teaches well, or that demonstrates well. So we feel that it’s easier to build the teaching on top of something that’s fun and engaging already.”
“I think what’s really important is for kids to have genuine experiences where they feel that they can accomplish something. And when they’re using the puzzle maker, they’re using a tool which can be used and is used by adults and professionals. They see the opportunities in it. It’s that sense of flow. Portal 2 is challenging. You’re working at the outer level of your capability, but you never get so frustrated that you stop. That is how you have good learning, in pretty much anything that we’re doing.”
Which is all easy to say, but how does Valve know it’ll actually work? Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but Valve doesn’t simply launch things willy nilly. It pokes, prods, tests, measures, and even trashes stagnant products altogether. On Teach With Portals, that mentality most certainly hasn’t changed. Redd explains:
“As [Portal 2’s recently launched] puzzle maker came closer to going through its beta, we also put together a group of about 20 to 25, as we call them, beta test teachers. They were from a diverse group around the country. For instance, we have urban, rural, different socioeconomic levels, private, public, Catholic, online, home school – we just tried to get a really diverse group. Game design teachers, physics teachers, math teachers.”
And that pool, according to Redd and Malaika, is expanding constantly, but not in a haphazard way. Rather, it’s all about adapting to the needs of teachers and students, then rolling findings back into the larger curriculum.
“We responded to things like a teacher writing to us who works in the LA inner-city schools and saying, ‘I don’t know anything about games. I don’t know anything about your company. But is there any way you can help my classes made up of students who cannot pass Algebra 1? They’ve taken it so many times, and if they can’t pass, they don |
corruption charge that brought his arrest and resignation after a brief stint as the elected leader of North Carolina’s largest city.
Former Charlotte, North Carolina Mayor Patrick Cannon is met with photojournalists and reporters as he arrives to make a plea on corruption charges at federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina June 3, 2014. REUTERS/Jason Miczek
Patrick Cannon, a Democrat who served on the Charlotte City Council before being elected mayor in November, admitted to accepting at least $50,000 in bribes in exchange for using his official positions to help several people seeking to do business in the city.
Two of those businessmen were federal agents posing as real estate developers and investors. A sting that began in August 2010 led to Cannon’s arrest in March on charges that he accepted cash, paid travel to Las Vegas and use of a luxury apartment from the undercover agents.
A court document unsealed on Monday also accused Cannon, 47, of taking bribes from the owner of an adult entertainment club and using his influence to help the business stay open despite being in the path of the city’s new light-rail line.
The former mayor, who resigned when he was arrested, asked for forgiveness in a statement he read outside the federal courthouse in Charlotte.
“Much has been given to me in the way of the public’s trust,” Cannon said. “I regret having acted in ways that broke that trust. For that, I am deeply sorry.”
Cannon was not immediately sentenced but could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for one count of honest services wire fraud. The charge holds that he deprived the city of his “honest and faithful services” by carrying out the bribery scheme dating back to December 2009.
He has agreed to pay restitution that will be determined by a federal judge at sentencing and help in the ongoing federal investigation, attorneys said.
Anne Tompkins, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, said the probe reaches beyond the former mayor’s criminal actions, which she said brought “undeserved shame and embarrassment” to Charlotte.
“We have the duty to discover the depth and breadth of the fraud... and whether it extends beyond the mayor’s office,” she told reporters after Cannon’s guilty plea.Two male models have designed a ‘state-of-the-art’ dumpster home for a man who would have otherwise been sleeping on the streets.
The box, which cost just $1,500 (£1,200) to make, was the brainchild of Shane Duffy, 37, and Phil Sullivan, 28.
Vicious pit bull ripped off almost all of boy's scalp as he celebrated his 3rd birthday
The models met homeless Damian ‘Dean’ Cummings, 39, when they were sleeping rough in New York City to find a worthy sponsor for their charity, according to The New York Post.
Dean helped the models out by showing them warm places to sleep, finding them food and sharing his blankets with them.
In return, Shane and Phil built him a semi-permanent home, complete with LED lighting, insulation, shelving, carpeting, solar panels and a mobile phone charger.
The dumpster home (Picture: iamsupported.org)
It comes with solar panals (Picture: iamsupported.org)
Dean moved into the four foot wide and four foot tall home in June 2016.
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Disguised as a dumpster, it’s currently parked in in Soho, Manhattan.
Video shows teacher splitting toddler's head after hurling tot against cabinet
But as the home comes equipped with wheels, it can be transported anywhere.
Dean said: ‘I’ve been ecstatic. Sitting in there feels like you are actually in a home.
‘A lot of people come by with big bags on their shoulders and try to throw them out.’
Dean has been homeless for seven years (Picture: iamsupported.org)
As Dean makes his money by doing odd jobs such as pick-up construction work, the box is also used as a place to store his belongings.
Shane and Phil are now trying to help the Trinidad native get his official documents so he can work legally.
Donald Trump's ex-lawyer went looking for tape of president battering Melania in elevator
And they have set up a fundraising page to help him secure a permanent home, after seven years of sleeping rough.
Shane is hoping to help build more units through he and Phil’s charity foundation I Am Supported.
MORE: Chris Bevington named as British man killed in Stockholm terror attack
MORE: Uber banned from operating in ItalyLucasarts may be no more, but their spirit lives on through a combination of fan-made projects and more recent releases. If the arrival of Grim Fandango HD and a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion didn't tempt you, maybe a new chapter in the Indiana Jones adventure will get you clicking away. Instead of making the most of new technology, The Fountain of Youth sticks to a more traditional approach, drawing inspiration from every aspect of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
Although still in development, Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth is already showing a lot of promise through its recently released early playable demo. Upon booting up, you'll instantly be reminded of a time several decades ago when luscious pixelated artwork and deep storylines ruled the gaming world - something which is present throughout this unofficial effort. The charm of countless Lucasarts adventures can be seen shining through, and best of all, there's still more to come. The team behind The Fountain of Youth have suggested that the full version of this prequel to The Fate of Atlantis will feature over 150 different hand drawn locations, several chapters spread across the globe, and plenty of puzzles akin to yesteryear's offerings.
So should you be feeling nostalgic, be sure to download the latest demo for Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth. It's a new adventure we cannot recommend enough and one that will no doubt impress those who previously worked at Lucasarts.
Link: Download Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth DemoThis is the second Patreon fanart suggestion for the month of March, for one of my lovely patrons.
almost
Is it just me, or was Yang really attractive in that outfit? I mean, she's always attractive but, you know.
I hope you like it!
Here we have Yang in her Volume 4 sparring clothes, doing some training. I tried to use a slightly different style for this, and it was fun to experiment a little.Is it just me, or was Yang really attractive in that outfit? I mean, she's always attractive but, you know.I hope you like it!
Idea by one of my patrons, SlimPickensUK
Artwork is mine.Idea by one of my patrons,
Commission Prices and Info
Wanna support me on Patreon?
Yang Xiao Long from RWBY belongs to her respective owners (Rooster Teeth).Nick Clegg has admitted he "should have been more careful" about signing the pre-election pledge to oppose any increase in tuition fees.
He told ITV1's Daybreak "at the time I thought I could do it".
The Lib Dem leader and deputy PM said compromises had had to be made as part of the coalition deal.
But he added the planned changes were better than the existing fees regime and would help generations of "poor bright kids" to go to university.
Mr Clegg's comments came the day after a protest in central London against the proposal to raise the cap on annual fees charged by English universities to £9,000.
Student leaders say about 50,000 people took part in the protest, which became violent, with 35 arrests and 14 injuries, after the office complex which houses the Conservative Party HQ was stormed.
Before joining the Conservatives in a coalition after the general election, the Lib Dems had pledged to phase out tuition fees altogether over six years.
Many of the party's MPs, including Mr Clegg, signed a National Union of Students pledge not to vote for higher fees if re-elected in May.
But responding to a review of university funding by Lord Browne, the government has announced plans to allow some universities in England to charge up to £9,000 a year from 2012 - the current cap is £3,290.
'Head in the sand'
It was put to Mr Clegg on Daybreak that no-one would believe any pledge he made in future.
He acknowledged: "You need to be careful. I should have been more careful perhaps in signing that pledge at the time. At the time I thought we could do it."
"In politics as in life" there were times when you could not do what you wanted to, he said.
But rather than "put my head in the sand" and oppose any changes, he had worked to make the system "more progressive".
For Labour, shadow Commons leader Hilary Benn later told MPs that Mr Clegg had "known exactly what he was doing" in making the pre-election pledge.
It was not as if some "dodgy man approached him in the street" and persuaded him to sign the pledge, he said.
During prime minister's questions on Wednesday, deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman quoted Mr Clegg as having said before the election that increasing tuition fees to £7,000 a year would be "a disaster". "What word would he use to describe fees of £9,000?" she asked.
She suggested Mr Clegg had been "led astray" by the Conservatives, who had plans "to shove the cost of higher education on to students and their families".
A series of Labour MPs also got up to press Mr Clegg on the plans - which several of his own MPs, including former leaders Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell, have said they will oppose.
But Mr Clegg said the government had come up with a "fair and progressive solution to a very difficult problem".
"The proposals we have put forward will mean that those who earn the least will pay much less than they do at the moment, those who earn the most will pay over the odds to provide a subsidy to allow people from poor backgrounds to go to university," he said.
He said the Lib Dems had to change policy because of the financial situation and compromises made in the coalition agreement.
"This is an extraordinarily difficult issue and I have been entirely open about the fact that we have not been able to deliver the policy that we held in opposition," he said.
He attacked Labour's record on university funding, saying they had opposed tuition fees in 1997 - then introduced them "a few months later" and had commissioned Lord Browne's review which they were now "trashing".
He said Labour's policy was for a graduate tax, a policy "half the front bench doesn't even believe in".Anarchopanda has a protest related headache.
Like Al Murray-Lawson stated in his article last week, things are laughably out of control in Quebec. Students want free burgers, free taxi rides and free La Ronde passes. Oh no, wait, only I want that. Students were and are largely fighting for a tuition freeze. How dare they?
If I were to maintain a tone as reductive and dismissive as Al’s, I’d end my argument there. Maybe I’d throw in some irrelevant personal history outlining how I’m a lifelong Montrealer, identify as a Quebecer and have attended both French and English schools here. And why wouldn’t I? It seems everyone against the student movement has appropriated the whole thing and made it about themselves. “I had to pay for school!” “I’ve seen those kids, they all have iPhones!” “That damn protest made me late for my meeting with Mister McMoolah!“ Le nombrilisme à son meilleur.
It’s easy to take an over-simplistic approach whether you’re for or against the movement. However, the protests have snowballed into something so multifaceted, delicate and complicated that it’s impossible to form a legitimate opinion without fully understanding it. I’m admittedly not even sure that I do, given that media outlets often report on it in a confusing or biased manner, provide selective information and numbers, and utilize terminology that the average reader or viewer isn’t entirely familiar with.
Student groups had originally demonstrated against Liberal ex-premier
Jean Charest’s $325 per year tuition hike but were very soon joined by alumni, professors, artists, feminists, the Occupy Montreal camp, anti-police brutality advocates, separatists, anarchists, vandals and people who were just generally fed up in one way or another, each making the cause their own. That last faction is particularly noteworthy as there’s long been a sense of frustration and mistrust of the government within Quebec, and the movement probably wouldn’t have been sparked without it. The discontent culminated on May 22, 2012 when a giant crowd estimated at 500,000 marched on the 100th day of the student strike.
Current Parti Quebecois premier Pauline Marois took advantage of the situation, schmoozing the students, wearing the red square and essentially fueling the conflict. She was elected in part due to her student-friendly platform that included a tuition freeze. Loud applause and sighs of relief roared through the Plateau bar I watched the election results at. And then, at last week’s curiously short two-day summit on higher education, Marois reneged on her promise. Tuition is now indexed to inflation, totalling an additional $70 per year.
Saying that the student movement is continuing what was a six month-long series of protests over $70 is wrong. It’s meant to shame and ridicule the people involved. Some of those taking to the streets are incensed that they’ve once again been betrayed by their government. Others are still pushing for free post-secondary education, hoping to join countries like Argentina, Finland and Scotland, to name a few. That agenda isn’t impossible. In 2007, the government granted $950 million in household tax relief that favored rich peeps; by contrast, free higher education would cost the government $700 million. If instilled, this would redistribute the wealth, blur socioeconomic lines and promote a more educated, arguably smarter people but let’s face it - rich white, male fucks don’t want anyone else’s grimy hands touching their rubies or their Grey Poupons.
The education summit proved to be a joke even without taking its length or the slight tuition hike into account. Marois announced that university funding would be cut by $250 million over the next two fiscal years. She also boasted the creation of a council, the Conseil national des universités, and of committees whose jobs it will be to discuss university efficiency and finances. A noble idea, only Quebec already has a minister and a ministry of education, who are presumably already tasked with those duties.
Government officials and university rectors have frequently called for tuition hikes based on the supposed underfunding of these learning institutions. However, it’s been affirmed that they aren’t actually underfunded; rather, they mismanage their dough. Of the $850 million universities were to receive by 2016-2017, they planned to allocate between 20 and 40 per cent to research which prioritizes the private sector and to top dog salaries. Let us remember that Heather Munroe-Bloom, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University, received $587,000 in salary and perks in 2008-2009. Former Concordia University presidents Judith Woodsworth and Claude Lajeunesse both left before their contracted terms ended with severance packages totalling $703,500 and $1 million, respectively. Must be nice.
Student movement participants have every right to be disappointed in not only the government but also in the police force. Cops’ well-documented, reprehensible behavior has often caused sheer panic among protesters. Whether it be hitting people with their cars and motorcycles, pepper spraying non-violent crowds (this officer, widely known as Agent 728, was recently arrested on unrelated but equally scary charges) or shoving or otherwise abusing journalists, people have lost what little faith they had in those mandated to keep the peace. In a somewhat ironic move, the Montreal police Brotherhood held its own protest last Thursday. That’s our thing, guys.
Quebec has the highest taxes in the country so it’s only logical that it also has the cheapest education. Post-secondary enrollment is 9 per cent higher in Quebec than in the rest of Canada. Full-time students here work more than their Canadian counterparts. The student movement therefore isn’t reflective of a lazy, cheap, privileged society like certain people blindly believe; it’s a fight for everyone’s inherent right to education regardless of class, gender or race. It’s a disillusioned youth refusing to live up to antiquated expectations. It’s hundred of thousands of individuals who aren’t just going to accept whatever their corrupt, self-serving government shoves down their throats.
But yeah, I guess it’s easier to laugh at Quebec.
Photos by Kelsey Pudloski.
Watch:
Teenage Riot: MontrealNot content with perhaps the biggest scientific discovery of the decade, scientists at the Large Hadron Collide continue to search for new particles—and now they've found one that seems to be an entirely new form of matter.
A series of experiments at the LHC have confirmed that a new particle called Z(4430)—catchy!— actually exists, and it's the best evidence to date of a new form of matter called a tetraquark. Quarks are the subatomic particles that, combined, form all matter. In pairs they form mesons; in triplets, protons and neutrons. Tetraquarks are a hypothesized combination of four of the little things—and Z(4430) was, if it existed, thought to be an example. Thing was, nobody knew for sure—until now—that it existed or not.
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Its sighting at the LHC changes things. Researchers from CERN have found as many as 4000 of the particles, which means that those who think tetraquarks do exist are pretty excited. There remains some work to be done to understand once and for all if Z(4430) is with 100 percent certainty a tetraquark, and even then exactly what that means for us. But in the meantime, it's nice to know that the LHC isn't resting on its laurels. [arXiv via New Scientist]The Federal Reserve sketched a bleaker outlook Wednesday for the economy, which it thinks will grow much more slowly and face higher unemployment than it had estimated in June.The Fed now predicts the economy will grow at a scant 1.6 percent to 1.7 percent for 2011. For 2012, it thinks growth will range between 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent. Both forecasts are roughly a full percentage point lower than its June forecast.The Fed sees unemployment of between 8.5 percent and 8.7 percent next year. In June, it had predicted unemployment would drop next year to as low as 7.8 percent. The rate is now 9.1 percent._________________________________________________________
What if Rick Perry is Right About Bernanke?
Presidential candidate Perry suggested Bernanke’s actions are close to treason. See for yourself how the Fed’s money-printing transgressions could destroy America ’s future. See the Evidence Yourself. Watch the Aftershock Survival Summit Now.
________________________________________________________The Fed's gloomier outlook is similar to many private economists' forecasts. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, for example, expects only 1.8 percent economic growth this year and 2.1 percent in 2012.Those growth rates are far too low to drive down unemployment.Even so, the Fed said after its policy meeting that the economy had improved since nearly stalling in the spring. As a result, it's putting off any new actions so it can gauge the impact of steps it's already taken.Fed policymakers made the announcement after a two-day meeting.In a statement, the officials said consumers have stepped up spending. Still, they said the economy continues to face significant risks, including the debt crisis and risk of recession in Europe.The Fed left open the possibility of taking further steps later to try to boost the sluggish economy. But it gave no hint as to what those moves might be."They're noting the better growth numbers but remain pretty cautious," said Michael Feroli, a former Fed economist now with JPMorgan Chase & Co. "They're not celebrating by any means, which probably is appropriate."The vote was 9-1. Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, dissented. The statement said Evans wanted to take stronger action to try to boost the economy.The vote was a shift from the previous two Fed meetings, when three members had dissented for the opposite reason: They opposed the Fed's continued efforts to keep rates at super-lows, for fear it could ignite inflation. Those three members, known as inflation "hawks," dropped their opposition this time.Some analysts said the shift didn't necessarily mean the Fed is any likelier to take any additional action soon to try to boost the economy."The view of the hawks is that once the decision has been made by the majority, it just causes confusion if they continue to vote to roll back action that has already been taken," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.Some analysts said they expected the Fed to take further action to support the economy at coming meetings, given their expectation that growth will remain sub-par."Policymakers are keeping the door open because the unemployment rate remains high, and there are clear downside risks from the economic situation in Europe," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.After their September meeting, the policymakers said they would shuffle the Fed's investment portfolio to try to further reduce long-term interest rates. And in their previous meeting in August, they had said they plan to keep short-term rates near zero until at least mid-2013, unless the economy improved.The Fed repeated the mid-2013 target in its statement Wednesday. It also said it was continuing its program to rebalance its portfolio to try to lower long-term rates.The Fed has kept its key short-term interest rate at a record low since December 2008. This is the rate that banks charge on overnight loans. It serves as the benchmark for millions of business and consumer loans.Later Wednesday, the Fed will also release its economic forecasts, and Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a news conference.The Fed noted that growth strengthened over the summer, in part because temporary factors that had weighed on the economy in the spring had eased. Consumers are able to spend a little more because gas prices have declined from their May peak of roughly $4 a gallon. And auto sales and production have picked up now that supply chains disrupted by the March earthquake in Japan are flowing more freely.But the Fed said the job market remains weak. And it suggested that the troubles in Europe could hurt U.S. growth.The debt crisis in Europe could force the Fed to lower its economic projections. The Greek prime minister's surprise move to call a referendum on the country's latest rescue plan sparked fears that the debt deal could unravel, that Greece could default on its debt and that the crisis could infect the global financial system.Even if Europe dodges a financial catastrophe, many economists think it's headed for a recession that would affect the U.S. and global economies. The Fed expressed such concerns after its August meeting.Still, the Fed remains deeply divided over what, if any, action to take next.The actions taken in August and September were adopted on 7-3 votes, the most dissents in nearly 20 years.Three regional bank presidents -- Richard Fisher of Dallas, Charles Plosser of Philadelphia and Narayana Kocherlakota of Minneapolis -- all voted no. They have expressed concerns that the Fed's policies could lead to high inflation later.On the other hand, Vice Chair Janet Yellen, Governor Daniel Tarullo, Evans and New York Fed President William Dudley have said the economy is at risk and might need more support.Two officials pushed for bolder action at the September meeting, according to minutes. The members discussed more bond-buying. Some said it should remain an option.A brighter outlook for the economy has given the Fed more room to wait. The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September period -- the best quarterly performance in a year. That was largely because consumers increased their spending at triple the rate from the previous quarter.The growth is strong enough to show that the economy isn't about to slide into recession. Still, growth would have to be nearly twice as high -- consistently -- to make a major dent in the unemployment rate, which has been stuck at 9.1 percent for three straight months.Evans has proposed that the Fed set benchmarks for raising rates. For example, it could agree not to raise short-term rates until unemployment fell below 7 percent or the outlook for inflation exceeded 3 percent. The unemployment rate has hovered around 9 percent for more than two years, and the Fed's inflation outlook is under 2 percent.That didn’t take long: the day after Anheuser-Busch InBev said Budweiser would be temporarily renamed to “America”, a Michigan brewery came out with its own beery appeal to patriotism, albeit a tongue-in-cheek one: ‘Murica.
Saugatuck Brewing Company posted an image of its new brew bearing the words, “Actually American” on the packaging (AB InBev is based in Belgium, see?) on Facebook, writing, “Fear not, America. We’re here to make beer named after America great again.”
Alas, while Budweiser’s “America is in Your Hands” campaign is very real, very earnest, and getting very much mocked on social media right now, Saugatuck’s ‘Murica brew is a joke. How could it not be, when it “tastes like Freedom” and is “brewed under the careful watch of 1,776 Bald Eagles”?
“This is a joke,” Megan Pruim, Saugatuck’s marketing coordinator told MLive.com. “We were sitting around the brewery, having a little bit of fun and seeing the humor in it. We were playing around with the idea and decided to do something to make people laugh.”
Though it would seem Saugatuck is adding to the chorus of mockery on social media right now, Pruim insists, “We’re not slamming them.”
Related: just gonna put this right here.Strange Days Aug 2nd, 2011
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Step right up. It's Whac-A-Mole! If you can hit the bid and offer fast enough, it's instant money! If not, please try again!
On August 2nd at 16:00:07, quote and trade activity in the stock of Earthlink (ELNK) began which perfectly illustrates an illusion of modern trading. Gone are old-fashioned, Luddite meanings of bids and offers; when a bid/ask used to mean someone actually wanted to buy/sell stock at the stated price.
Today's bids and offers are beautiful to behold. And boy, are they fast! How fast? Faster than you could ever hope to hit them. Even your fancy, new, co-located super-computer is in for a surprise (did you forget to upgrade to the shorter 900 foot cable?).
This is progress. So shut-up, sit back, and please, try again!
ELNK - EARTHLINK
Price Only:
Price and Size:
Scatter plot of trades only (Price and Size):
Zoom in of price activity:
Zoom in of early price activity:
The charts below show bids (up triangle), and asks (down triangle) from two exchanges, plus the NBBO in 200 and 100 millisecond (ms) intervals.
Shading
National Best Bid/Offer Color Crossed (Bid > Ask) Red Locked (Bid = Ask) Yellow Normal Gray
200 ms Intervals.
100 ms Intervals.
The trades that occurred (trades below $7.90 are shaded):
Inquiries: pr@nanex.net
Publication Date: 08/02/2011
http://www.nanex.net
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As you’ve probably already heard, Flint, Michigan is currently in the midst of a water crisis. Children have been taken to hospitals with reports of irreversible brain damage, and the federal government has now declared a state of emergency.
How did this happen? In an effort to cut costs, Governor (Rick Snyder) decided to switch the city’s water supply from one of the cleanest (and largest) sources in the world, Lake Huron, to the corrosive and polluted water of the Flint river. At the same time, Michigan’s Governor was allowing the Nestle corporation to pump 200 gallons of fresh water per minute out of the state’s reserves.
Nestle basically owns all of Michigan’s private water sources, and Deb Mchmoe, the head spokesperson for Nestle Michigan, is actually married to Governor Snyder’s Chief of Staff. She was instrumental in the switch from the clean water supply to the corrosive one. While we are not implying that she knew it was poisoned, we do wonder why anyone would take the risk of switching supplies from one of the best known sources.
Activist, documentary filmmaker, and Flint resident Michael Moore commented on the connections between Nestle and Michigan’s government to The Huffington Post:
[Gov. Rick] Snyder’s chief of staff throughout the two years of Flint’s poisoning, Dennis Muchmore, was intimately involved in all the decisions regarding Flint. His wife is Deb Muchmore, who just happens to be the spokesperson in Michigan for the Nestle Company — the largest owner of private water sources in the State of Michigan. Nestle has been repeatedly sued in northern Michigan for the 200 gallons of fresh water per minute it sucks from out of the ground and bottles for sale as their Ice Mountain brand of bottled spring water. The Muchmores have a personal interest in seeing to it that Nestles grabs as much of Michigan’s clean water was possible — especially when cities like Flint in the future are going to need that Ice Mountain.
The Nestle corporation has been sued multiple times for its acquisition of private water reserves and for the sheer volume of water it continues to take from Michigan. Corporations like this are allowed to take unethical actions without any resistance from government, and this is because corporations control and dictate government policy. They are never held accountable. The amount of power these corporations, and the big banks, possess is truly out of control.
Below is more on the story from Democracy Now.
Help Us Be The Change We Wish To See In The World.This is the aquafaba version of my Fresh Flax Pasta. I'm not sure it's any better than the original, but it is durable yet tender and tasty. The trick here is to add flour as needed when you are rolling out the dough. The final product should be smooth and satiny, not tacky at all. This is most important if you are cutting the dough into thin noodles with a pasta cutter. It is a little less important if you are cutting the dough by hand into broad noodles. Give the noodles a good drying before you cook them.INGREDIENTS- 2 cups all purpose flour- 1 tsp salt- 1/3 cup plain soy milk- 1/8 tsp turmeric- 1/4 cup chickpea aquafaba- 1 tbsp oilMETHOD1. Whisk together flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.2. Mix turmeric into the soy milk. Pour into the well in the flour. Add aquafaba and oil. Bring together into a dough (I do this with a dough hook in my stand mixer). Add more soy milk if absolutely needed.3. Roll into a log and wrap in plastic. Let rest 20 mins.4. Roll out, flouring as needed, and cut as desired. Let dry before cooking.This pasta cooks very quickly--just a minute or two and it's done.Ways Teachers Avoid Saying “No.”
“What does the rest of the class think?”
“I hadn’t thought of that before, but…”
“I suppose it’s possible.”
“Well…”
“I see where you’re coming from.”
“I guess that’s an interpretation.”
“Anybody else?”
“You may be stretching things a little.”
“That’s probably a topic for another time.”
“Well, remember this is a translation, so…”
“I’m not sure that’s the way I would put it.”
“Could you repeat that? I’m not quite sure I got what you were saying.”
“Do you think that’s what he means by that?”
“Where are you going with this?”
“I don’t remember that part of the book.”
“Well, be careful with that.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“Hmm. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Do you all agree with that?”
“I like your creativity.”
“Explain.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m not sure that’s really relevant here.”
“What does the text say?”
“C with moments of C+.”The Arts Council of Ireland announced last week the creation of The Laureate for Irish Fiction, a new award honoring an outstanding Irish fiction writer and including €150,000 (more than $200,000) in prize money. The Laureate will serve a three-term stint teaching creative writing at award cosponsors University College Dublin and New York University, as well as developing his or her own work and participating in public events.
A winner will be chosen in 2014 based on his or her national and international distinction. Although specific individuals and bodies have not been announced, the Arts Council explained the nomination process will include members of the literary community and other national organizations in Ireland. The judges panel will include a pair of "high profile" Irish and American writers, and members of the Arts Council, University College of Dublin, New York University and media sponsor The Irish Times.
"The Laureate represents a milestone for Irish literature and will place Irish writing at the forefront of global public thought," said Arts Council Chairman Pat Moylan in the official announcement.Refreshing your look needn’t cost more than a round of drinks. Yes, you could spend the equivalent of a small car on a new wardrobe, but 45 minutes in the barber’s chair can have the same effect if you’re brave enough to say something other than “The usual”. Plus, if it’s the kind of barbershop we like – plush seats, hot towels and craft beer – it’ll be a lot more pleasant than a march up the high street.
So what are we doing for you, today? If 2019’s hair trends are anything to go by, you can go one of two ways: messy or military. While some cuts favour texture and grunge-style long hair, others are all about a sharp short back and sides or no-messing buzz cuts.
From fashion weeks to your working week, here’s a heads up on the best men’s hairstyles for the year.
The Textured Crop
Since the bad bowl cuts of nineties and the acne-inducing emo side sweeps of the noughties, sensible men have instinctively given fringe haircuts a wide berth. In most cases this has been wise risk aversion. But, this year’s big hitter on the fringe front – the textured crop – is neither scarily precise nor antisocial, just flattering for the majority of guys.
The style, in a nutshell, is a remix of the short back and sides where the length on top works with gravity rather than against it. “The messy cropped cut works with your own natural growth patterns,” says Robbie Burt at London’s Sharps Barber and Shop. “It’s best on those with thick hair that has natural texture. You should ask your barber for the makings of a high and tight but ask for plenty of length to be left on top which should be cut for bold, square texture.”
The style comes from the woke-up-like-this school of hairdressing, so if you’ve got several thousand hairs out of place that may be a good thing. “Maintaining this style involves minimal fuss,” says Burt. “By working a matte paste through your hands and applying evenly through your hair you can create a softer, undone appearance.” If you’re more slick Rick that bird’s nest though, you’re still eligible to apply. “To create something with a smart, smoother finish by using a water-based pomade.”
The Undercut Quiff
The quiff is the default hairstyle of adolescents armed with too many hormones and too many bargain hair products. This year’s version is not so try-hard, however. It sees the quiff enter the serious grown-up hairstyle arena via a sharply contrasting undercut and a finish that prizes gentle matte texture over skyscraping stiffness.
Before you think about which industrial-strength hair product can secure your hair into place, think about the cut; it’ll make maintaining this style a hell of a lot easier. “Ask your barber to disconnect the sides from the top at clipper grade zero, creating a blunt contrast in length,” says Bradley Smith, creative director at Bradley Smith Hair Heathrow. “Then you’ll need a taper off through the neck and sides while leaving length on top and your fringe will allow room to create texture and volume at the front.”
Those familiar with keeping a quiff in place will know that technique (and a steady hand) is everything. “To start, towel-dry your hair until slightly damp then apply a pre-styling agent,” says Smith. “Work a dash of sea salt spray into your hair all the way to the roots, then blow-dry your hair into shape, using a round brush to create texture and volume. Follow this by working a coin-sized amount of clay into your hair and create texture with your fingers. To complete the look, use a booster powder to help group your hair together.”
The Tapered High & Tight
Not really into long hairstyles? Can’t be bothered to style your hair? Don’t want to look like an egg with human features? This year’s tapered take on the high and tight sounds right up your street. This short, low maintenance style borrows the buzz cut’s CBA attitude but leaves you with something to play with up top.
The high and tight is a time-poor, style-conscious classic, but on the wrong head, it can get a little too Secret Service. “For a sleeker version of the basic short back and sides ask for a tapered high and tight at clipper guard one or two with a compact crop on top,” says Smith. “The finished cut should echo tradition but a sharply cut and textured length on top will steer modern; think Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds.”
Most of the artistry of this style is down to your barber, so once you’ve survived the awkward chair chat, the hard part is over (although you will have to go back regularly). “Apply a smudge of fibre paste to towel-dried hair, working from to back to front |
are dangerous times for leftists. The Brexit vote has shown that, within the parasitic, white nations of the first world, fascism has emerged as the primary opposition to overseas imperial ventures, displacing the left (an outcome J. Sakai predicted in his excellent article The Shock of Recognition). With the waxing of the insurrectionary right in the imperial countries has come an increased use of traditionally working class tactics by them.
There have been three major stabbings done by fascists in the past year. Although the total number of victims is around ten, none have died of their wounds as of the writing of this article. Still, any number is too many. In this article I’ll show some simple precautions comrades doing antifa actions can take to make themselves safer during actions, based on my experience doing them and my time doing self defense instruction. Note that this article will NOT cover techniques for disarming a knife. There’s no substitute for teaching from a competent instructor of martial arts/combat sports and even that can only improve your odds of walking away without serious injuries, not guarantee them. Comrades interested in that should check out a Brazilian Jujitsu, Judo or MMA gym.
Before I go any further, I’d like to cover some of the common myths about knives. These myths have spread themselves around our communities, aided by macho bragging and the wish to appear more knowledgeable than one is. Especially for male comrades, it’s important to understand the limitations of your knowledge and not present yourself as an expert if you’re not sure you are one.
MYTH 1: SINGLE STABS ARE LETHAL
This is not 100% false. A single stab in a vital area can be deadly. However the vast majority of stabbings fail to hit those spots (as they are places either instinctively protected by reflex or somewhat shielded by bone). It has been reported that around 9/10 stabbing victims survive their wounds.[1] With proper medical attention the likelihood of fatal injury from an attack with a knife is seriously reduced. This is of course not intended to downplay the seriousness of a potentially deadly attack, simply something to keep in mind to help ease any paranoia you may have.
MYTH 2: IF YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, YOU WON’T GET CUT
Conversely, some people, especially those who have a little training become dangerous to themselves and others by propagating dangerous myths of their own invincibility. The reality is that the physical characteristics of the weapon and the chaotic nature of the kind of group brawling that characterizes most antifa actions makes avoiding any kind of cut at all very difficult. You will almost certainly be cut at least once.
MYTH 3: YOU WILL SEE THE KNIFE
The vast majority of stabbing victims do not realize a knife is present until after they have been cut. Some don’t even realize this until after the fight/attack is over. Sometimes I think that the likelihood of a fascist using a knife and their displaying one are inversely proportional.
The one time I had to disarm a knife, I didn’t know the knife was present until after I had to disarm it. Fortunately I had tied the fascist up in clinch and secured a technically dominant position on the ground that meant he never had the chance to reach for it in the first place, where I could remove it and throw it out of the area. If i’d squared off to box with him, I might have been stabbed that day.
MYTH 4: THE ATTACK WILL BE WITH A TELEGRAPHED, OBVIOUS BLOW, OR TECHNICAL TRICKERY
Related to the myth above, people raised on diets of movies often believe that knife attacks are done with a large, thrusting stab or a kind of over the top ice-pick attack. Neither of those are likely. The most common (front side) attack uses the unarmed forearm to shove the victim, combined with the attacker’s body-weight. Quick stabs are then made at the chest while the victim is having to retreat to keep their balance. If you end up seeking training, keep that in mind.
MYTH 5: THERE ARE “KNIFE FIGHTERS”
Again related to machismo issues, there are many men who present themselves as hyper-masculine experts on the use and disarmament of a blade. Logically though, even the hardest lumpen will only have ever used a knife a few times in their life, or they’d be dead or in prison (not to mention the scarring that would be visible all over their bodies). Keep a skeptical eye.
Various gimmicky products are also available on the open market: “pressure point” batons, low-powered pepper spray, etc. I can’t recommend any of them.
That in mind, here are the precautions themselves.
1. BE AWARE
This can be a tall order in the chaos of the kind of (literally) running fights that characterize the moments in antifa actions when the two forces suddenly meet. The OODA loop can be quickly overwhelmed by all the information streaming at your head. But where possible, you should always try to keep an eye on your opponents. Watch their hands to see if they reach for something and their clothing for suspicious lumps. A person carrying a weapon will often unconsciously touch the weapon, so if you see them touch themselves repeatedly in the same spot, assume they have a weapon there…or a jock itch. This observation can be done during the long, boring time when fascists have successfully holed up behind police lines. Report to your comrades your observations.
2. TAKE MEDICAL PRECAUTIONS
Gauze and bandages should be carried by all capable of it. Basic first aid training is helpful for any squad. Designate medics before the action begins and always be sure to keep track of them throughout the action.
3. ARMOR UP
The right clothing can reduce your risk. We’ll go over that body part by body part.
Head and Face: There’s not much that can be done here, unless you’re willing to go in wearing a full motorcycle helmet, possibly risking more from heat exhaustion than attacks. The standard t-shirt mask provides some protection from slashing attacks but almost none against a stab. Fortunately successful attacks at the head are rare because of hardwired reflexes to defend it. Almost all knife attacks at the head from the front end up actually hitting a hastily thrown up forearm or hand instead.
Torso and Arms: For the purpose of armoring here, a thick leather biker jacket increases your safety (thin leather/pleather is not as helpful). It provides near complete protection against slashing attacks and some (but not guaranteed!) protection against a stab. Kevlar offers very good protection against a stab but is expensive. Various home-made substitutes are inefficient and not recommended. Also, try to secure the jacket to your pants (most biker jackets have some sort of strap for that purpose), to prevent it slipping up, exposing the bladder (which can cause sepsis if stabbed).
This can get hot. To mitigate that, ice packs can be stuffed in the secret pockets such jackets often have or duct taped to your torso.
Hands: Thick leather gloves offer some amount of protection and should be worn if feasible, both for physical and legal protection. Cut resistant gloves, designed for industrial workers, are even better. Keep in mind that any glove can slip up, exposing the underside of the wrist. Use hairbands or string to secure the button edge of the glove if you can.
Legs and Feet: There’s not much that can be done there. Thick jeans also offer some protection against slashes but almost none against stabs. Cuts of the femoral artery can lead to lots of blood loss. Deep cuts of the thighs should have a tourniquet applied immediately for that reason.
Cup type protectors can also protect the groin. Knee pads are also useful because of the frequency of grappling, which often causes knees to be dropped hard on the pavement. This rarely leads to immediate breakage of the patella but can be painful in the long run, especially if you have to stand around afterwards. The priority for shoes is comfort while running. Badly fitted shoes can cause problems after the action too; I found this out after an antifa action that was successful but left me with a Jones Fracture of one of the small bones of my instep caused by rapid changes in direction while running. Learn from my mistake.
4. USE NUMBERS
Antifa almost always outnumber our adversaries. A knife brandishing fascist should be circled by two or more antifa immediately. Again, due to the shove-and-stick method of most knife attacks, pincer movements are an obvious counter. This is not advice exclusive to knives, but should be used in every confrontation. Do so preemptively if you see a verbal confrontation happening, by casually strolling to the side.
5. CONTROL DISTANCE
Knife attacks are almost always done with between 2 and 5 feet between the victim’s body and the knife (again, the shove-and-stick attack). That’s the danger zone for an attack. Knowing this, it’s possible to prevent an attack before it occurs by controlling the distance. At the far distance, flagpoles are invaluable (roll the flag up or turn it upside down before striking; otherwise it will act as a sail/air-brake, robbing you of power). They can’t prevent a determined attacker from closing the distance, but they will make that rushing so much slower and more obvious that comrades at your side should be able take them in pincer.
Conversely, extreme closeness is also invaluable in that it makes the knife more difficult to draw and stab with. It is almost always better to rush the wielder, especially from the side, than to retreat from them, unless you have a weapon that works at long range, such as a pole. To go too much further into that subject is beyond what can be shown in a written article, but even an untrained person can control a bonehead they’ve clinched with from behind.
6. SCRIMMAGE
It can be helpful to play this kind of thing as a kind of sport/sparring. Use white t-shirts and dry erase markers, have different teams square off and fight for specific goals. Keep the safety of your comrades as your first priority, but do this with intensity. If you decide on this course and wish for guidance, contact the author of this article (via the RAIM email) and we can set up some observation of it over skype.
7. PSYCHOLOGICALLY SELF-CARE
Knives, due to the gravity of their use and their association with male violence in popular culture, are stressful topics to talk about for most people. While this is a serious topic, don’t let its seriousness lead into psychologically unhealthy behaviors: excess paranoia, PTSD flashbacks, fear, overcompensation for fear, etc. Take time to take care of yourself and manage your exposure to the subculture of settler men around weapons of all kinds carefully. It’s a deeply unhealthy place that brings to mind Dale Gribble, from King Of The Hill: insecure white men in camo pants, hair trigger to defend their down-home, folksy, parasitic way of life with an arsenal of gimmicky weapons, forever engaged in games of one-upmanship.
CONCLUSION
As the insurrectionary right fights for supremacy with the neoliberal right and the left fights for its existence and relevance, we can expect a general escalation in the severity of tactics used by all sides. I hope this article can keep comrades somewhat safer in the coming months. If you have questions, feel free to contact me, via the official RAIM email.
Notes:
Studies conducted at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania showed that of those rushed to emergency rooms with stabbing wounds (showing signs of life at the time) 92.3% survived their injuries. (http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/news_releases/2014/01/band/)One ring to rule them all – and maybe get them suspended.
Aiden Steward, 9, is from Kermit, Texas, and he’s a big Lord of the Rings fan. Such a fan, in fact, that he brought a replica of the franchise’s one ring to school with him last Thursday after watching the most recent installment of The Hobbit, The Battle of Five Armies.
Steward put the ring on his friend’s head and said he could make him “disappear.” That was apparently enough for the school to suspend him.
Steward was sent home for threatening his friend.
“I assure you my son lacks the magical powers necessary to threaten his friend’s existence,” the boy’s father, Jason Steward, wrote in an email to the school. “If he did, I’m sure he’d bring him right back.”
“Kids act out movies that they see. When I watched Superman as a kid, I went outside and tried to fly,” Steward told New York’s Daily News.
This is the third suspension for Steward in six months. His previous two were for referring to a classmate as black and for bringing to school a copy of his favorite book, The Big Book of Knowledge – which contained a drawing of a pregnant woman that a teacher found objectionable.Amidst all the shouting over Tuesday's transfer of the House of Representatives to Republican control, a distinct cry of pain could be heard for the loss of one voice—Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA). Republican Morgan Griffith, majority leader of Virginia's House of Delegates, has taken Boucher's seat.
As Chair of the influential Subcommittee on the Internet of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Boucher's imprint on tech issues—particularly online privacy—was clear as a bell. Now he is gone.
"Tonight the Congress has lost one of its most intelligent and tech-saavy members," a press statement from Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge declared late Tuesday. "Rick Boucher has been one of the most moderate and thoughtful voices on communications and intellectual property policy."
A long shadow
Earlier this year, Boucher proposed a bill that would bar companies from using a cell phone's geolocation information without a consumer's consent. Ditto for content on race, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. For most other information, a simple opt-out would keep data from being used by first- or third-party vendors.
Many of Boucher's Internet policy oriented Democratic colleagues survived this election. These would include pro-net neutrality stalwart Edward Markey (D-MA) as well as Henry Waxman (D-CA), who unsuccessfully tried to push a compromise open Internet bill through Congress last month. Other Democratic survivors include Anna Eshoo (D-CA), who launched bills against loud television commercials and for automatic fiber conduits included in every road construction project.
Meet the replacements
But in the next Congress these Democrats will sit on the minority side of the aisle. The big Republican voices that will replace them on the House Commerce Committee have been very vocal on communications technology issues. They include former committee Chair Joe Barton (R-TX), who ultimately refused to go along with Waxman's net neutrality compromise, Fred Upton (R-MS), and Cliff Stearns (R-FL). The latter takes particular interest in mobile phone and wireless spectrum concerns.
Still, despite all the "no compromise" rhetoric that's flying about, there may be some continuity in various policy areas—particularly regarding online privacy. In early October, Barton and Markey sent a long list of tough questions to Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft and other companies about their Web privacy policies, particularly as they related to cookies and data retention.
Barton has just released a statement in response to Facebook's answers.
"It's good that Facebook was in a hurry to respond to our concerns, but the fact remains that some third-party applications were knowingly transferring personal information in direct violation of Facebook's privacy promises to its users," he warned. "I want the Internet economy to prosper, but it can't unless the people's right to privacy means more than a right to hear excuses after the damage is done. In the next Congress, the Energy and Commerce Committee and our subcommittees are going to put Internet privacy policies in the crosshairs."
A privacy bill on the way?
And there will have to be some concurrence with the Democrats on these hot-button questions, because they've retained control over the Senate. That means that Senate Commerce Committee Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) will remain a critical voice on Web-related concerns on that side of the aisle—Rockefeller warned just last week that he may submit a privacy bill to Congress himself.
So while the partisan rhetoric may fly on questions like net neutrality, various forms of consensus may also surface on occasion, particularly in areas like online privacy and getting more spectrum licenses to the wireless industry. It all depends on who winds up where in the next Capitol Hill.UPDATE 6/9/16 9.30am: Ark developer Wildcard has issued a statement to fans enraged by the release of paid expansion Scorched Earth while the base Ark game is still in development.
In a blog posted to the game's official site, community manager Jat laid out the studio's "official take on the Scorched Earth Expansion Pack, and the future of ARK".
The message emphasises how development on Ark is still ongoing, despite the launch of the expansion - whose "early" release will allow for future expansions to be integrated far easier.
"Put simply: we are absolutely committed to driving aggressive development towards a solid, feature-robust game launch for Ark: Survival Evolved. Everyone at Wildcard wakes up every day thinking about how we can make ARK into a better game today than it was the day before.
"It's not always easy, but our intent is ever-forward progress towards a retail release that will be far more ambitious in scope and features than our original vision when we launched ARK into Steam Early Access in June 2015. Your feedback enables us to continually expand the game to become better than ever!
"Scorched Earth: Our original vision for ARK always included the creation of Expansion Ark [packs], along with the infrastructure and technical systems to transfer data dynamically between live Arks. We determined that it is more sound to iterate on these systems during Early Access than after retail launch, given the significant risks involved if we didn't 'get it right'.
"While that meant unveiling the first Expansion early, it also means an easier time integrating further post-launch Expansions into the Ark network. We understand that this isn't everyone's cup of tea, and we appreciate the enjoyment people seem to be getting out of this initial view of how Expansion Arks can work. Now that we have the systems in place to support them, we can ensure minimal integration issues with subsequent releases after Ark: Survival Evolved itself has launched.
Upcoming features for the base Ark game include new creatures, a backstory told through found notes, and a procedurally-generated Ark system.
ORIGINAL STORY 5/9/16 3.00pm: Last week, Ark developer Wildcard announced Scorched Earth, a "completely finished" expansion for its Early Access survival success.
The news did not go down well.
Ark is still in Early Access - still unfinished. So the decision to charge for extra content already, however substantial it may be, came as a surprise.
Scorched Earth is described by Wild Card as a "completely finished" expansion, created by the studio while it also spends time finishing the main game - a practice some fans have said goes against the ethos of Early Access.
By supporting an Early Access game during its development, a customer risks their money on a project that may never be finished. The reward, however, is that consumers then receive updated versions of the game as soon as they become available.
Many Ark fans who paid for the Early Access game have refused to fork out more cash for features they say should be part of the game's natural continued development.
Wildcard has temporarily cut the price of the base Ark game by 40 per cent so it is cheaper for new players, but this has done nothing for Ark's hardcore fanbase.
Ark's recent Steam reviews have now swung from Mostly Positive to Mostly Negative. Many opinions come from players with hundreds of hours on the clock:
"Started off as shining example of how to do early access," wrote Ark fan Fastidious, who has played for 990 hours. "Ended up a complete disaster after the developer went off on adventures of making [survival elimination spin-off project] Survival of the Fittest, console versions and paid expansion while still in early access! No wonder the game is so behind schedule."
Here's another:
"Wow way to release paid DLC before getting the game out of Early Access," wrote Synthetic (1843 hours played). "Seriously what is going through your heads? How's DirectX 12 and the TrueSky fix coming that have been sitting on your to do list since the game came out on Early Access?"
The situation became even messier when one Wild Card staff member spoke out about the backlash, and slammed one fan as being "too cheap to pony up $20".
"[Wildcard] should have uploaded it for free, really?" the staff member wrote in a now-deleted chat post. "We made essentially an entire new game to compliment the existing one, do we not deserve to be paid?
"I think you mean you wish we launch it for free, because you seem to have short arms and deep pockets."
The staff member has now apologised for his words via the game's official Reddit.
Ark: Scorched Earth strands players in a new desert area populated by Wyverns, among other new creatures, and where you must cope with dehydration on top of everything else.
While separate to the main game's area, players will be able to travel between Scorched Earth's location and the main game's island.
"All of us at Wildcard are tremendously excited to see how these new features alter the dynamics of the long-term ARK metagame," co-founder Jeremy Stieglitz said upon the expansion's announcement.
"While we've had Scorched Earth and future Arks in the planning stages since the project's inception, establishing its inter-Ark travel technology was the essential reason for making this content available to players right now."
We've asked Wildcard for comment on the Ark community's reaction.The effect of winning his first Grand Slam title has worn off in the locker room, says Marin Cilic, but the Croat is still drawing confidence from his U.S. Open title.
“Everybody I guess has that in their own mind,” said the 10th-ranked Croat. “But it all comes down to how are you are playing in the matches. So that's the thing. For me, it has given me different aspect in my mind in approaching big tournaments, as I'm more focused on myself.”
Cilic won his 10th consecutive Grand Slam match to reach the fourth round of the French Open, his best showing since he was sidelined at the beginning of the season with a shoulder injury. He indicated he was a bit surprised with his own performance in Paris. “My first priority for French Open was to win some matches to get the confidence I'm needing in the matches back,” said Cilic. “That was the first focus and the main priority for me. I was not looking so much for the result, as the clay-court season this year hasn't been the best. I played okay at Monte Carlo and then later was a lot of up and downs."
Being a Grand Slam champion isn't having a big effect on his opponents, says Cilic, who will next face David Ferrer. “I didn't play also too much this season, and I don't think that's the case at the moment. Of course everybody knows what am I capable to do on the court and how I can play.”Arai Hand Cannon Fireworks is a part of the ritual events for Suwa Shrine festival. The history of Tezutsu, the hand cannon, began at middle of Edo period by Yoshida-han, current Toyohashi Aichi. The record of Matsudaira of Yoshida said about Tezutsu Hanabi in 1716 to 1738.
Arai Hando Cannon Fireworks is one of the most energetic Matsuri. The tradition has been carried over by old generation to new generation. All of the hand cannons are all hand made by each villagers, and the way of making the cannon are taught by their seniors for over 300 years.
Because Arai was directly ruled by Tokugawa Government, Arai was the only village which allowed to use such a large amount of powders. Arai was very important spot on Tokaido Road. This festival was held by the villagers to encourage the officers who work at the gate.
The festival
6 villages of Arai displayed their own Large Cannons. Each village has their unique way of mixing the powders.
Sarutaihi is the main part of the festival. 1000 people carried their own hand cannon and parade. The fire change the color of night dramatically to exciting red.
How to make Hand Cannon
Hand Cannon is made with 3 year-old bamboo. Top has small firing mouth, and bottom is open. The powder goes from the bottom and rapped by clay and papers. The bamboo is covered by Tatami Sheet and rope.
Music
is play with drums, bamboo flute and traditional songs. The drum cart is called Nerikogi Daiko. Each village play the music before the festival begins, and all of them travel to the mountain where the stage of the fireworks is located.How the right justifies cutting 1.3 million Americans — including 20,000 veterans — off emergency unemployment insurance
The economic case for emergency unemployment insurance is pretty simple.
When the long-term unemployment rate is high, offering unemployment benefits to those who have been out of work for six month puts money immediately back into the economy, as there is little-to-no chance the unemployed will save that money. This consumer demand helps create new jobs or, at least, keeps more people from being put out of work.
The argument against emergency unemployment insurance assumes that people do not want to work. They’re not taking jobs because they’re enjoying the cream of that sweet government teat. Cut them off and watch. They’ll get a job!
Rand Paul — the man who apologized to BP because the president was mean to them after they were responsible for the biggest oil spill in American history — said extending these benefits does a “disservice to these workers.”
The people who are being cut off of unemployment insurance this weekend don’t feel as if Senator Paul is doing them a favor. But trust him. Big government — informed by Austrian economics — will save them.
People receiving unemployment insurance must, by penalty of law, be looking for a job. There are two people looking for work for every available job. The long-term unemployment rate is double what it’s been at any point when we cut off emergency insurance. And Republicans seem to be arguing that forcing a 50-year unemployed accountant to take a job at McDonalds is good public policy.
Still Republicans have refused to extend the benefits. And they will continue to do so, unless the program is “paid for,” by starving some other program that helps the needy, as defense programs, no matter how wasteful, are off limits.
The easiest way to fund the $25 billion it would take to extend the program, Jon Lovett points out, is to end America’s welfare program for investors — the capital gains and dividend tax breaks that provide a $120 billion a year giveaway to those who make their money by playing with money.
Those who oppose paying the unemployed not to work seem to have no problem paying rich people not to work. The vast majority of the benefits of the capital gains and dividend tax breaks goes to the richest 1 percent.
If there’s a “moral hazard” in paying people to not to work, how about the moral hazard of subsidizing speculation and encouraging risky high-yield investment?
Inequality has skyrocketed as we’ve offered special tax treatment for investment income and the stock market is constantly hitting new highs even as millions are out of work.
But of course, everyone knows it was the unemployed who bundled trillions in crappy mortgages, sold them to suckers and crashed the global economy.
The least we can do is cut them from the meager sustenance we offer them at Christmas time.
[Image via James Lee | Flickr]Narendra Modi received lavish praise today from India Inc at the biennial Vibrant Gujarat summit that began today, where the chief minister of Gujarat employs his marketing savvy to drive investment in his state.Mr Modi, in his address to the gathering, promised the creation of three million additional jobs through the various development initiatives undertaken by his government. On Twitter the Gujarat Chief Minister tweeted, "Earlier, Gujarat was the gateway to the Globe from India. Now it is becoming the Global gateway to India.Earlier, speaking at the summit, Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, said "In Narendra Bhai, we have a leader with a grand vision." He announced a Rs 500-crore university that will be set up in collaboration with the Gujarat government. (Special Feature: At Vibrant Gujarat Summit, India Inc praises Modi) His younger brother, Anil - a headlining rapprochement was reached recently - acknowledged "respected elder brother Mukesh Bhai" in his opening remarks before going on to call Mr Modi "a king among kings." There was more. "Narendra Bhai has the Arjuna-like clarity of vision and purpose." He said the chief minister's skills have "acted as a huge magnet for investors and entrepreneurs from India and across the world in the past decade."Mr Modi was re-elected for a third time as chief minister of Gujarat last month.Initiated by Mr Modi in 2003 to attract investment after the violence and an earthquake in 2001, the event is attended by thousands of corporate officials who pledge billions in investment, although in reality only a fraction has seen the light of day. Of 12,40,000 crore rupees in investment proposed at the 2009 event, just 8.5 per cent had been spent as of November 2011, according to state government data.Industry in Gujarat is helped by a long coastline and plenty of barren land that is easy to turn over to factory use.Mr Modi has also been able to leverage the well-acknowledged business acumen of Gujaratis, a prosperous global diaspora and the support of billionaires such as Adani Group chief Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani who controls Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company."Under Modi's regime, there has been significant improvement in infrastructure growth, significant improvement in industrialisation, as well as agriculture," said Jahangir Aziz, senior Asia economist at JP Morgan. "But what has been overplayed is initial conditions were actually pretty decent in Gujarat."Critics say that while Mr Modi has indeed encouraged investment and helped bring reliable electricity and law and order, double-digit growth has not been shared broadly enough. In the five years through March 2010, some states - including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka - did better at bringing down poverty levels.Led by Mr Modi, his party the BJP won 115 of the state assembly's 182 seats last month. The scale of his victory has fuelled speculation that he could lead the BJP in 2014 against the Congress party, though he repeatedly asseverates his commitment to working in Gujarat. His prime ministerial ambitions are also threatened by allegations that he did not do enough to stop the communal riots of Gujarat in 2002, in which more than 1,000 Muslims were killed.Mr Modi lured Tata Motors to the state in 2008 after the company's plans to build a factory for its low-cost Nano car were thwarted by farmers in West Bengal.Ford Motor and Maruti Suzuki are also building plants in Gujarat - high profile investments that carry the added benefit of acting as marketing tools.In the seven years through March 2011, Gujarat's economy grew an annual 10.08 per cent at constant prices, against 6.45 per cent in the eight years through March 2002 (Mr Modi took office in October 2001), which was still ahead of the all-India average of 6.16 per cent. A handful of states, including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, clocked bigger gains over the same recent period. By comparison, policy gridlock at the national level has contributed to a drop-off in corporate investment, putting India on track to record its slowest annual growth rate in a decade.Jason Isaacs typically plays “elegant villains.” (Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia)
Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs says he doesn’t support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement but is very aware of Palestinian protests about his latest project, which is partly funded by the Israeli government.
Isaacs, who “frequently plays elegant villains,” is best known for his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.
He is now playing an FBI agent in the NBC show Dig that is being filmed in eastern occupied Jerusalem and other parts of the occupied West Bank.
Isaacs made a number of comments about the controversy on the Dig set in an impromptu conversation with the Jerusalem resident known to readers of The Electronic Intifada as “Zalameh” (Zalameh posted the image of the set below on the photo-sharing site Instagram.)
Dig, to be shown on NBCUniversal’s cable network USA, has generated strong protests from Palestinians who see it is as part of Israel’s effort to consolidate its control and advance the Judaization of the militarily occupied city.
No country in the world, not even the United States, officially recognizes Israel’s claim to eastern occupied Jerusalem, and its annexation of the city has been declared “null and void” by the United Nations Security Council.
Broken promise
Faced with growing protests, Cory Shields, executive vice president of communications at NBCUniversal, assured Palestinian officials last December that “NBC Universal Cable Entertainment reiterates that there are no plans, and there will be no plans, to film ‘DIG’ in the City of David National Park or the village of Silwan.”
Palestinians in Silwan and surrounding areas of occupied Jerusalem are targets of persistent Israeli home demolitions, settler aggression and other measures designed to force them off their land to build a Jewish-themed park and Jewish-only housing projects.
But as the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has reported, NBC is violating this promise and is filming in several sites in eastern occupied Jerusalem.
Speaking to Jason Isaacs
Zalameh was able to enter the Dig set as the show was filming deep inside the so-called Solomon’s Cave, underneath the Old City of Jerusalem:
There Zalameh was able to speak directly to Isaacs and guest director SJ Clarkson. Zalameh told Isaacs why Palestinians objected to the show, including that the Israeli-funded series “is being used by Israel to whitewash its occupation” while “just meters from us Palestinians are targets of ethnic cleansing.”
The Israeli government and Jerusalem’s occupation municipality are providing the series a $6.3 million grant, as “part of an effort to brand Israel’s control of Jerusalem in a ‘positive light,’” according to the US Campaign.
The cast and crew recently met with Minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett, leader of the extreme right-wing nationalist and pro-settler party Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home).
Isaacs also heard that “his role in the show is not innocent” and “he cannot absolve himself from personal responsibility.”
According to Zalameh, Isaacs “was very receptive to talk to me and he had an immediate smile.” Isaacs said he had read all of the letters about the issue very carefully and intended to issue a reply.
He also told Zalameh that he had been approached by Miriam Margolyes, the British actor who is a strong supporter of BDS.
But Isaacs also said, according to Zalameh, “I don’t support BDS” – an indication that the actor is nonetheless fully aware of the movement.
Zalameh learned that the series would be going on to film at several sites deep in the occupied West Bank, including Nabi Musa, near Jericho, indicating the extent of NBC’s complicity in the Israeli occupation.
Zalameh also said that Isaacs claimed that the series script was “balanced” and that he planned to “reach out to the other side.”
Such assurances are unlikely to assuage Palestinians and other campaigners deeply troubled by Dig’s role in helping Israel to dispossess Palestinians and remake Jerusalem as an exclusivist enclave where its indigenous population are not welcome.
The conversation ended when Isaacs was called back to resume filming. Isaacs posted this image of himself on set on his own Instagram account:
“Israel has misused archaeology projects in occupied East Jerusalem to strengthen settlements, evict Palestinians, and damage their homes,” the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation quotes Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, as saying.
“If NBC plans to make a fictional mini-series in East Jerusalem, it should avoid filming in any location that would make it complicit in this illegality.”
It appears that NBC and Isaacs are doing the exact opposite."Come out, bring your spirit, your best NFL gear & join us for NFL on Fox this Sunday!" the casting call reads.
Fox went looking for actors to play Los Angeles Rams fans this Sunday when the team takes on the Philadelphia Eagles.
"We’re looking for LA’s biggest NFL fans to be a part of #NFLSunday’s Los Angeles Rams vs. Philadelphia Eagles Pre Game Show! Calling all LA Rams fans!" according to a casting notice posted on projectcasting.com. "Come out, bring your spirit, your best NFL gear & join us for NFL on Fox this Sunday!"
It is unclear if the actors will also be admitted into the game. According to the casting site, the event is now "sold out."
Despite the fact the Rams are having a fantastic season and their record is currently 9-3 and they sit atop the NFC West division, there are often noticeably empty seats at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during home games.
The Eagles also have had a great season and are currently 10-2 atop the NFC East.
The Rams returned to L.A. last season after being located in St. Louis since 1994.
Los Angeles went from having no professional football teams to two when the Chargers also relocated from San Diego this season.Do we now have proof that aliens exist?
NASA scientist Dr. Richard B. Hoover sent the scientific world into a frenzy this weekend when he announced that conclusive evidence of alien life was found nestled inside a rare meteorite.
Dr. Hoover’s findings, which were published late Friday night in the The Journal of Cosmology, an online peer-reviewed scientific journal, claimed that he discovered fossils of worm-like micro-organisms inside a rare CI1 carbonaceous chondrite (a fancy term for meteorite) that slammed into France in the 1800s. These fossils, Hoover claims, bear striking resemblance to bacteria found on our own planet, and can thus be considered evidence that life does exist in outer space.
(More on NewsFeed: See the microbe that proves life outside earth is possible)
“I interpret it as indicating that life is more broadly distributed than restricted strictly to the planet Earth,” Dr. Hoover told FoxNews.com on Saturday. “The exciting thing is that they are in many cases recognizable and can be associated very closely with the generic species here on earth.”
Sounds out of this |
White House, race is indeed central."
"Denial of the right to vote for those who have been convicted of felonies is another way that voter participation is suppressed on a massive scale," they added.
The non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice says felony disenfranchisement laws are "deeply rooted in our troubled racial history" and "have a disproportionate impact on minorities."
McAuliffe noted this as well, stating in his memo to the state General Assembly and local elections officials: "Virginia's felon disenfranchisement policy is rooted in a tragic history of voter suppression and marginalization of minorities, and it needs to be overturned."
According to the Sentencing Project, 5.8 million Americans are unable to vote because of a felony conviction, with such disenfranchisement affecting one of every 13 African Americans.
Iowa, Florida, and Kentucky continue the "antiquated and draconian policy" of permanently disenfranchising all those with any felony convictions.With so much cash thrown around in Silicon Valley, it’s not easy for an acquisition to cause a stir. Facebook’s (FB) acquisition of WhatsApp last year did just that – surpassing Google’s (GOOG) $3.2 billion purchase of Nest Labs and Apple’s (AAPL) $3 billion Beats Electronics procurement – to become 2014’s top acquisition and one of the largest tech buys of all time.
WhatsApp, a text messaging app used widely across the globe, stole headlines with its initial $16 billion bid from Facebook. In 2013, the app lost $138 million and brought in $10.2 million in revenue. So how did the company win over Facebook? This article examines Facebook’s record breaking acquisition and the steps it took to get there.
WhatsApp Acquisition
WhatsApp is an ad-free mobile application that allows users to send unlimited messages to contacts without using the wireless network or sustaining data fees. The app is free to download (but a $1 subscription kicks in after the first year) and is an alternative to the cell provider’s traditional text messaging platform. The app was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, two former Yahoo! (YHOO) executives.
When Facebook announced its plans to acquire WhatsApp in February 2014, WhatsApp's founders attached a purchase price of $16 billion: $4 billion in cash and $12 billion remaining in Facebook shares. This price tag is dwarfed by the actual price Facebook paid: $21.8 billion, or $55 per user.
Facebook agreed to pay $19.6 billion — adding $3.6 billion to the original price as compensation to WhatsApp employees for staying on board at Facebook. However, Facebook share prices soared to $77.56 from $68 by the time the regulatory approval process concluded in October. By then, the agreed upon 184 million Facebook shares inflated the final sale price by an additional $1.7 billion.
WhatsApp’s six-month revenue for the first half of 2014 totaled $15.9 million and the company incurred a staggering net loss of $232.5 million, though the majority of that loss was for share-based compensation.
Why WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is by far Facebook's largest acquisition and one of the biggest Silicon Valley has ever seen. It is over 20 times larger than Facebook’s Instagram acquisition, which made quite the splash in 2012. That begs the $22 billion question: why did Facebook break the bank to buy WhatsApp?
The answer is user growth. Over 500 million people use WhatsApp monthly and the service currently adds more than 1 million users per day. Seventy percent of WhatsApp users are active daily, compared to Facebook’s 62%. Additionally, WhatsApp users send 500 million pictures back and forth per day, about 150 million more than Facebook users.
The app launched in 2009 and will reach 1 billion users before long thanks to its astronomical growth. As of December 2014, Facebook has 1.39 billion monthly active users. With a shared mission of enhancing global connectivity via internet services, the merging of forces will likely accelerate growth for both companies. For Facebook, user growth comes first and monetization later.
WhatsApp will help fuel Facebook growth in developing markets where internet connectivity is sparse but where WhatsApp is widely used. Facebook will then gain access to these mobile user bases. Connecting to WhatsApp users in these areas will also aid Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to implement internet access to the two-thirds of the world not yet online.
However, Facebook does believe it will profit from WhatsApp down the line as phone calls become obsolete and mobile messages reign. This is why Zuckerberg spent one-tenth of his company’s market value to buy the text messaging app, nearly doubling Google’s bid. In doing so, he successfully kept the company out of the hands of other tech rivals.
Previous Facebook Acquisitions
Facebook’s acquisition strategy focuses on three key areas: the procurement of new talent, acquisition of new technologies, and buying out the competition. Facebook has acquired 42 companies since 2007.
Parakey, a web-operating system that makes image, video, and writing transfer to the web easier, was Facebook’s first acquisition. Facebook purchased the company for an undisclosed amount in 2007. In return, Facebook integrated Parakey’s technology into its mobile application and welcomed aboard the company’s talent, which worked on the development of the Firefox browser.
The Menlo Park-based company acquired FriendFeed in 2009 for $50 million. The technologies from FriendFeed, a site that aggregates real-time news and social media feeds, contributed to Facebook’s “like” button and updated news feed features.
In 2012, Facebook announced its plans to acquire Instagram, a popular photo sharing site that boasts 200 million active users. Not only did Facebook plan to enhance its own photo sharing features, but it also wanted to prevent any competitor from getting to the well-liked company first. Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion: $300 million in cash and the remainder in over $700 million in Facebook stock.
The Bottom LineShe's no shrinking violet! Rose McGowan wears bold pale purple lips with zany jumpsuit for dinner at Chateau Marmont
Her fashion sense has always been eclectic.
And Rose McGowan put together yet another quirky looking ensemble on Thursday evening, washing herself out with a brown jumpsuit and purple lips.
The 40-year-old Charmed actress was finishing up her evening at the famed Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood when she was spotted.
Silky chic: Rose McGowan rocked purple lipstick and a brown jumpsuit for her evening out at the Chateau Marmont on Thursday night in West Hollywood, California
Rose shot the cameras her signature enigmatic smile as she strolled down the paved driveway into the night, tossing her head back.
This time, her smile was painted in such a pale shade of purple that it almost looked blue.
Her cropped brunette tresses were swept back off her face and no jewellery was necessary for the evening.
Colouring the night: The 40-year-old Charmed actress was shimmering in her outfit and sugary lips
Home time? The star made her way down the driveway of the famed hotel which is a celebrity favourite for dinners and drinks
The Jawbreaker star took on quite a gothic look, but was sure to relax now and then as she dissolved into giggles.
Her brown jumpsuit was made of silk and featured a low plunging neckline as the loose-fitting fabric drowned her petite frame.
The colour of the garment further accentuated Rose's porcelain skin.
A fun night? Rose looked to be in excellent spirits as she bounded out of the spot to her car
That porcelain skin has been with the actress forever, according to an Instagram photo she shared on Thursday showcasing herself as a youngster on the beach.
'I never fit in at the beach,' she wrote in a caption alongside the vintage snap, adding 'pale Irish' in a hashtag.
The image shows a much younger Rose standing in the shallows with cropped locks and bangs against a pale sky.
Happy to be back? Rose has been jetting to and from New York City but clearly loves Los Angeles
There was no sign of her husband Davey Detail on her night out, with whom she is rarely seen in public.
Prior to this relationship, Rose dated Marilyn Manson, who is notorious for his jarring image.
The actress and the death metal rocker were together in a very public relationship for three and a half years, but she ended it on account of 'lifestyle differences.'Student groups came forward on Wednesday about misrepresentations in their endorsements in this year’s undergraduate student government elections.
Representatives from two student groups, UCLA Circle K and Moneythink UCLA, have filed complaints with the Undergraduate Students Association Council Election Board about inaccurate endorsements of the Bruins United slate.
Members of Bruins United, a political slate, submitted candidate endorsements for the student groups without their authorization.
The groups are listed as supporters of Bruins United by signboards on campus and on the election ballot on MyUCLA. They were also listed as supporters of Bruins United in an advertisement that ran in the Daily Bruin on May 7 and May 8. The advertisement was paid for by the Election Board, which also handles and processes endorsements.
The issue appears to stem from the practice of sending designated representatives on behalf of groups to a meeting where student groups give their endorsements for candidates, election officials say.
That meeting, which is mandatory for groups that wish to endorse candidates, took place on May 2.
At the meeting, paperwork was signed and submitted on behalf of both Circle K and Moneythink UCLA, said Eena Singh, chair of the Election Board and a third-year anthropology student.
But UCLA Circle K did not attend the meeting, nor did the group intend to, president and second-year biology student Alex Pham told the Daily Bruin on Wednesday.
The endorsement documents, however, included the names of two students who had written on an official document that they were members of Circle K.
These students, called “proxies,” were assigned by Bruins United representatives to vote on behalf of specific student groups.
Pham said he was never told that there would be proxies sent to the meeting for his organization.
“I think the proxy system is a big flaw,” Pham said. “I gave no authorization. This was all without my knowledge.”
Connie Lam, a second-year psychology student and member of Circle K, said she was first approached about endorsement by Bruins United facilities commissioner candidate Stephen Kraman. Lam said Kraman asked if the organization would be interested in endorsing him and the Bruins United slate this year.
She said she told Kraman that Circle K would likely endorse him as a candidate but added that the group would have to listen to the slate’s platform at a club meeting. Lam gave Kraman contact information for herself and Pham.
Bruins United did not present at a club meeting, Pham said.
Kraman declined a request for comment.
In an April 18 email reviewed by the Daily Bruin, a Bruins United representative notified Pham that Circle K was listed as an endorser of the slate. Pham said he replied to the email the same day stating that he did not remember endorsing Bruins United. The representative did not reply to the email, Pham said.
Proxies have traditionally been sent on behalf of organizations that are not able to attend the meeting, said Kris Kaupalolo, Election Board adviser. These representatives are not required to be part of the organization and the Election Board’s only verification on whether the representatives are designated by the student group is documentation from the student group, he added.
Pham said the people listed in the document were not authorized to represent the organization. Circle K had intended to remain nonpartisan, he said.
Lam characterized the situation as a miscommunication.
“We thought we were listening, they thought we were endorsing,” Lam said of the talks with Bruins United.
Upon hearing about similar incidents with other groups, Lam said she began to question whether the incident with Circle K was isolated.
Moneythink UCLA, a student group that teaches high school students about personal financing and budgeting, also filed a complaint about the issue. Representatives of Moneythink UCLA declined to comment on Wednesday.
The complaints came two days after a representative from Theta Xi fraternity said its endorsement in the Daily Bruin advertisement was inaccurate.
For the position of financial supports commissioner, the fraternity was listed as endorsing Bruins United candidate Sahil Seth instead of independent candidate Taylor Bazley, who is a member of Theta Xi.
The fraternity representative and members of Bruins United also characterized the incident as a miscommunication.
Theta Xi did not file a formal complaint. Investigations for the incidents with Circle K and Moneythink are underway, Singh said.
Kaupalolo said the complaints have spurred a review of the endorsement process. The review will take place after elections and will be directed at ensuring accountability and fair representation in endorsements.News > India
A huge 150 per cent jump has been witnessed in the number of Naxals killed in 2016 in comparison to the previous year, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
“The number of Left Wing Extremists killed in 2016 as compared to 2015 has increased by 150 per cent — from 89 in 2015 to 222 in 2016. This number is highest in the last six years,” Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said replying a written question.
Ahir said inclusion/exclusion of districts under the security related expenditure scheme is a dynamic process which is periodically reviewed based on the overall security situation.
Source: PTI
“There is no proposal under consideration to exclude 20 districts from the list of 106 LWE affected districts,” he said.
The Minister said the government has approved the ‘Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas’ that includes construction/ upgradation of 5,411.81 km roads and 126 bridges/cross drainage in 44 districts of nine LWE affected states at an estimated cost of Rs 11,724.53 crore.A female prison guard has herself been jailed after it emerged she planned to have a baby with her gangster inmate lover.
Alison Sharples, 46, became besotted with 31-year old Marvin Berkeley after he sent her love letters from his cell at Category B Garth jail in Leyland, Lancashire.
The pair vowed to be together after his release from prison and she got jealous whenever his'moll' girlfriend turned up for prison visits in make-up and stilettos.
As part of their plans to have a baby, Berkeley handed her a plastic bag containing his sperm so she could artificially inseminate herself when she clocked off duty.
Alison Sharples has been jailed for having an affair with jailed gangster Marvin Berkeley (right)
But the seven week affair was exposed following a routine search of Sharples' handbag as she made away past a prison security gate for a night shift at the jail in October 2014.
A custody manager seized a purple medicine syringe with the plunger depressed and traces of semen on the inside which was matched by DNA testing to Berkeley.
A month later police searched Sharples' home and found a handwritten letter from Berkeley hidden carefully in her underwear drawer.
At Preston Crown Court, Sharples, a grandmother from Chorley who has since worked as a cleaner and as a carer, was found guilty of misconduct and was jailed for nine months.
Sharples who was working as a support officer at Garth met Marvin after he was moved to the 847 inmate jail and the affair began just weeks before he was due to be freed on parole.
Camille Morland prosecuting said: 'She engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a serving prisoner which went far beyond what was expected by way of her employment and was of a sexual nature.
'It was an intimate relationship, albeit within the practical constraints under which it existed.
'Their relationship was close, covert and sexually intimate, if not necessarily physically so. She seemed besotted by Berkeley and she had been promised by him they would be together when he was released from prison.'
The court heard Sharples would get jealous when Berkeley's girlfriend came to visit him
Sharples took a syringe of Berkeley's semen which she planned to use to inseminate herself
Miss Morland added: 'During a search a purple syringe applicator was found and inside of that was a clearish residue, a very small amount. She was asked at that point what it was - but she said it was for giving a baby Calpol.'
Sharples initially said she was unaware of the sperm but later admitted she was given the syringe by the inmate who said he wanted to have a baby with her.
She said she washed the fluid out and did not think it was appropriate to discard it in prison and put it in her bag, forgetting to discard it.
Work colleague Nicola Ball claimed she had tried to warn Sharples off Berkeley and said the officer had even told her she had taken a phone into jail for her lover.
Ball added: 'I tried to reiterate that the people they are on the inside isn't the same person they are on the outside. She said she and Marvin had been talking about the possibility of having a baby... so a syringe was used for that.'
Berkeley, from Salford, was serving a prison term for kidnap and firearms offences.
A friend who discouraged Sharples from the relationship said the syringe was for insemination
He and his twin bother Michael, were jailed in 2007 after police investigating Manchester crime gang The Fallowfield Mandem had found incriminating pictures of the pair smiling proudly with guns.
Officers discovered the photographs - taken on digital cameras and mobile phones - during raids on the homes of the gang, who hijacked cars and kidnapped motorists in Greater Manchester.
Victims would be targeted in the street and one was shot in the back with a bullet which later took surgeons six hours to remove.
Marvyn Berkeley was jailed in 2013 after a series of kidnappings in Manchester
Another terrified man was kidnapped and told he would 'chopped to pieces' unless he agreed to work for the gang.
Marvin got an indeterminate sentence for public protection, with a minimum of seven years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to kidnap, possess a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to commit robbery.
As part of the investigation into Sharples, police seized Berkeley's handwritten letter in a chest of drawers in her bedroom.
The prosecutor said: 'It had been slid in between the front of the drawer and underwear. From the position of the letter the officer was of the view it had been placed carefully in the drawer rather than being stuffed.'
Expert analysis comparing the text with Berkeley's handwriting.
It read: 'I don't trust no one in here. I can't talk to you properly on them walkways but whoever has reported you for talking to me has took the p*** and is totally out of order.
'I know it's not no other con so beware of the people you're working with. Look close to home Alison.
'You didn't even have to tell me you got reported for talking to me - that shown me more, how much of a genuine person you are, so thankz a lot for being you. I appreciate it so much. Be strong.'
The couple's relationship sprung up while Berkeley was serving time at HMP Garth
Passing sentence Judge Simon Newall told Sharples: 'You had worked in the prison service for a period of 10 years and appeared to have been a respected officer. I have seen a number of references that paint you in a good light. You are hard-working and have a family and care for the elderly.
'But you attempted to become pregnant with this man's child and there was communication between you outside the prison when he was inside the prison.
'The work in the prison service carries a high degree of public trust and responsibility and the integrity of a prison service is dependent on officers acting in a professional manner.'She almost lost her life — but kept her sense of humor.
The texting straphanger who onto the subway tracks and got run over by a train is an aspiring comic who after her brush with death tweeted a thumbs-up photo from her hospital bed with the words “im alive.”
Liza Dye, who performs with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre on West 26th Street, also posted a Vine video of herself at Bellevue Hospital pressing the button on her morphine pump while whispering, “Blast off!”
Dye had been texting in the Broadway-Lafayette Station in Soho at about 10 a.m. Thursday when she slipped on the wet platform and fell onto the tracks — just as a southbound B train was rolling into the station.
Workers cut power to the track and freed Dye, who was under the train but not hit by its wheels.
The 25-year-old South Carolina native, who now lives in Bed-Stuy, had been scheduled to perform Friday night at a Valentine’s Day show at The Stand in Gramercy Park.
Instead, she was in Bellevue in a neck brace and with serious leg injuries.
“She’s very tired. She’s very weak,” said her mom, Geraldine. “I did not want her to go to New York.
“She thinks she’s invincible.”
Geraldine Dye said her daughter has no health insurance and might lose her leg — but is still cracking jokes.
“Knowing Liza, she’ll probably do standup in her bed. I can visualize it. That’s her spirit,” her proud mom said. “I’m crying my eyes out and she’s cracking jokes.”
Liza Dye’s social-media accounts are full of funny bits, including one Vine video in which she acts out a scene of Beyoncé and Jay Z bickering over what to feed daughter Blue Ivy.
“Bey, are you really going to feed Blue Captain Crunch?” she asks in a hen-pecked, high-pitched “Jay Z” voice as the video shows an accusing arm pointing at a box of the sugary cereal.
“Shut up, Jay, I’m tired and she likes it,” Dye snaps back in her “Bey” voice.
Her routines have caught the eye of some of the biggest names in comedy.
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele of Comedy Central’s “Key & Peele” show gave Dye a shoutout during a November 2013 interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air” while discussing the lack of black women on “Saturday Night Live.”
“I can think of three women who would murder on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ either as writers or performers,” Key told host Terry Gross.
“Holly Walker, Liza Dye,” Peele said.
And comic Brittani Nichols praised her during a December interview on the entertainment Web site Autostraddle.
“Her candidness about how sucky things are sometimes and unwillingness to shy away from what it’s like for a black woman trying to make it in comedy is refreshing and relatable,” Nichols wrote in her introduction.Tour de France officials said at a news conference Thursday that the positive tests indicated that their antidoping system was working.
“We said we wanted to fight against doping, but it will take time,” said Patrice Clerc, the president of the Amaury Sport Organization, which manages the Tour. “The majority of the riders are clean and the cheaters are getting caught and kicked out of the race.”
Even if doping tests are effective at weeding out cheats, the greater effect in recent years has been to drive sponsors away from cycling. Because there generally are no ticket sales for road cycling events, race organizers and teams depend on sponsors to finance the sport.
“For the sponsor, this is terrible news,” said Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour de France. Saunier Duval is a European manufacturer of home and commercial heating systems, and Scott is a sports equipment company.
Cycling has lost several sponsors in recent years, including Discovery Channel, which sponsored Lance Armstrong ’s team, and T-Mobile, the cellphone company.
Two American companies — Garmin, which makes global positioning systems, and Columbia, a sportswear maker — signed up to sponsor teams just before the Tour. Those teams have instituted highly publicized internal antidoping systems.
The director of the Saunier Duval-Scott team, Joxean Fernández, said the team was not pressured to withdraw from the Tour.
Photo
“We will suspend the activities of the team until we understand what has happened,” Fernández said. “Ricco is not just any rider, he’s a top rider. So for the sake of our team and the Tour de France, we have made this decision. We can’t act as though nothing has happened.”
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But Prudhomme said he believed the team director was “not a person of good virtue,” and he had grown suspicious after Saunier Duval riders finished first, second and sixth in Monday’s 10th stage, the toughest of the race so far, ending with a climb to Hautacam.
“They were really looking a little bit too impressive,” he said.
The three riders who tested positive during the Tour have been arrested and face up to five years in prison for the possession or use of doping products. A French prosecutor said Thursday night that Ricco denied taking EPO.
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The 12th stage took place as planned without the Saunier Duval-Scott team. The relatively flat, 104.4-mile stage ended in a group sprint that was won by Mark Cavendish of Team Columbia, his third victory at this year’s Tour. Cadel Evans, an Australian rider for the Silence-Lotto team, remained in the overall lead by one second over Frank Schleck of CSC Saxo Bank.
Asked at a postrace news conference why people should believe that any cyclists are clean, including himself, Evans said that there were cheats in all sports, as well as in other aspects of life.
“The cheats are being caught and the sport is being cleaned up in a serious, fair and transparent way, which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of other professions in the world,” Evans said. “Our sport is trying to do the right thing, and we’re being crucified for it. What are they supposed to do, have a free-for-all like some sports that don’t have testing at all?”
Evans has never fallen under suspicion for doping, but Ricco has. He was among more than a dozen riders who were reported by French newspapers to have produced suspect blood markers in tests taken before the start of the Tour two weeks ago. He had been tested at least four times during the Tour, including after the two stages that he won with explosive demonstrations of climbing prowess.
On Sunday, after Ricco’s second stage victory, he angrily denied allegations that he had suspect blood levels or that there was any reason for him to be targeted by French antidoping officials. He said he had a medical certificate acknowledging that he had a naturally high hematocrit, a measure of the proportion of red cells in a person’s blood.
A normal level for men is about 46 percent, and antidoping officials have long used the 50 percent mark as a level indicating that a rider’s blood is dangerously packed with red blood cells, if not artificially so. Ricco said he has a natural hematocrit of 51 percent.
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“I know I have nothing to worry about,” Ricco said Sunday. “My blood values are high, but for me, they are totally normal because I’ve had them since I was a child.”
He said that his previous tests should dispel questions about whether he used performance-enhancing drugs. “I’m not angry about the rumors, but I’m disappointed,” he said. “I hope people now will stop mentioning them.”
Before the Tour, rumors circulated that some cyclists were using an undetectable variant of EPO. According to Agence France-Presse, the French antidoping agency said a urine sample provided last week by Ricco after the fourth stage of the race in Cholet contained metabolites of synthetic EPO as well as evidence of a new substance known generically as Cera, or continuous erythropoiesis receptor activator.
The new drug, marketed by Roche under the brand name Micera, is a longer-lasting treatment for anemia associated with kidney disease. Clinical tests by the company showed that patients who required injections of EPO three times a week to treat their anemia could use Micera once or twice a month with the same effect.
Such a drug could provide a big benefit for an athlete in an endurance sport like cycling. The class of drugs causes the body to produce more red blood cells, which allows the blood to carry more oxygen. That allows athletes to train harder and recover more quickly.Have we ever known an actor’s breathing the way we knew James Gandolfini’s? Or the sound of an actor’s chewing? We tend to feel a more intimate connection with TV stars than we do with people we know as looming figures on a movie screen. But in the course of six seasons of The Sopranos, we got really intimate with Gandolfini. I’ve had long-term roommates whose bodily noises I didn’t know half as well. No TV character was ever this corporeal.
The Sopranos put us inside Tony’s skin from the beginning. The very beginning — think of that opening-credits sequence, Tony’s drive home to North Caldwell from Manhattan, which unfolded in a montage of jittery car-window POV shots and close-ups so tight we could practically taste his cigar smoke, the visual equivalent of the second-person singular. Were we breathing down his neck? Was he breathing down ours? The ambiguity was deliberate. This show wasn’t going to let us judge Tony from a safe distance; it meant to rob us of our objectivity. We could pretend we kept coming back every week to see what David Chase had to say about American culture or who’d get whacked next. But really we were there because we’d gotten close to these people, because underneath it all they reminded us of us. (Chris Moltisanti, teasing the crew’s old FBI antagonist Agent Harris upon catching him tucking into pastrami at Satriale’s: “I don’t think you come here for the sandwiches — I think you come ’cause you miss us.”)
Tony Soprano was a terrible person and I hated to see him sad. That was partly because of David Chase, who created the character, and the phenomenal writers and directors who helped Chase tell Tony’s story. Supposedly Chase was surprised by the degree to which people identified with Tony and rooted for him to crush his enemies; it never sat right with him. (The existence of YouTube videos that boil down entire seasons of the show to just-the-murders highlight reels probably doesn’t, either.) A lot of that was Gandolfini: The show continually served up proof positive that Tony was a monster, and then Gandolfini would pull you back in.
And he could do it with the smallest of gestures. Feel like breaking your own heart tonight? Go back — the way I did on Wednesday, after news broke that Gandolfini had died, suddenly and absurdly, in Rome, at 51, less than a year after the birth of his second child — and watch the coma-dream episodes of The Sopranos. “Join the Club” and “Mayham” followed the show’s sixth-season premiere, which ended with an addled Uncle Junior mistaking Tony for an old, long-dead enemy and shooting him in the gut. “Join the Club,” written by Chase himself, takes place two days later. Tony’s in a hospital bed, unconscious, bombed on Ativan, fighting sepsis and breathing through tubes. But we don’t know that yet. Instead, we see him waking up in a hotel room, rumpled and disoriented, looking out the window at a mysterious lighthouse-like beacon on the horizon.
He’s Anthony Soprano, but not the Anthony Soprano we know. A legitimate businessman. A citizen. Sells precision optics. Before that it was patio furniture. He’s in Costa Mesa for a convention. He’s got a wife and kids back home in New Jersey, but he doesn’t have Tony’s Jersey accent; he talks like James Gandolfini. He goes down to the lobby bar for a drink. The next morning he goes to check in at the convention and realizes the wallet and briefcase he’s carrying belong to someone else, a guy named Kevin Finnerty, of Kingman, Arizona. When he goes back to the bar, some goofball makes the Finnerty/infinity connection right away, but Tony barely registers it; you get the feeling that if he did, this whole world might roll up and disappear like a window shade.
Finnerty turns out to maybe be not that great of a guy. In the lobby, waiting for an elevator, Tony’s confronted by two Buddhist monks who accuse him/Finnerty of selling them a faulty heating system. When Tony insists that he’s not Finnerty, one of the monks snaps, “Lose your arrogance,” and slaps him across the face. The day gets worse. He slips in a stairwell and cracks his head. An emergency-room doctor shows him evidence of early-onset Alzheimer’s on his MRI. He goes to the Omni and checks into a room they’re holding for Finnerty. In Jersey, he’s fighting for his life; in the dream, he’s beginning to let go of his former self. He thinks about calling his family, but doesn’t. Roll credits, in a fairly shocking violation of the unwritten TV rule that all dream sequences must be self-contained.
“Mayham” is next. In Costa Mesa, Anthony finds a party invitation in Finnerty’s briefcase — a family reunion. He drives to a country inn somewhere in the woods. There’s a man with a clipboard working the door. It’s Steve Buscemi — who played Tony Blundetto, the cousin Tony was forced to kill a few seasons earlier — in a Lloyd the Bartender tuxedo. “Your family’s inside,” Buscemi says, as beatifically calm as you’ve ever seen Steve Buscemi look. “They’re here to welcome you. You’re going home.” Tony’s about to walk up the stairs, into the house — he can’t see who’s inside, but it’s full of music and laughter and warm white light — when Buscemi stops him, reaches for Tony/Finnerty’s briefcase, and says “We don’t bring business in here,” kindly but firmly. Then, from the woods, he hears a little girl’s voice, calling him Daddy, begging him not to go.
By now we all know what that house represents. Back in Jersey, Tony’s going into cardiac arrest while Meadow and Carmela look on in horror. He survives, of course — he lives through the rest of the season, makes it to Holsten’s for onion rings, maybe further than that, maybe not. The question of whether he made it to the end of that Journey song always seemed a little beside the point to me; we’d already seen Tony’s death, right there in Costa Mesa. Watch the weather on Gandolfini’s face when Buscemi tells him to go inside — the way he goes from confusion to relief and joy to dread and back again. The way his eyes well up. The disappointment on his face when he realizes he can’t walk up those stairs, not yet. The show had about 18 hours left to run, but if The Sopranos had a happy ending, this was it — the suggestion that even Tony might walk into the light. And Gandolfini shows you all that, while presumably staring at nothing but a camera and a couple of lights.
Gandolfini was born in New Jersey in 1961. By the time The Sopranos premiered, he was almost 40, and he’d been at this work a long time. A 1988 New York Times article about the city’s new class of apartment-hopping nomads introduces us to one Jim Gandolfini, 26, “whose calling is the theater but whose living comes mostly from bartending and construction.” Four years after that, he made his Broadway debut as Steve Hubbell, the landlady’s husband, in A Streetcar Named Desire — Alec Baldwin was Stanley Kowalski — and scored his first credited movie role, as one of the red-herring murder suspects in A Stranger Among Us.
Even back then — with a little less weight on him, a little more hair — he was nobody’s idea of a leading man. But if you watched enough movies, you got used to seeing him around. He was one of those actors you were always glad to run into, even though his arrival in a scene was almost never good news. He does some fine, squirrelly stage business with eyedrops and nasal spray as the D.A. who tries to frame Charlie Sheen for murder in 1994’s Terminal Velocity. In Joel Schumacher’s 8MM, he’s a midlevel snuff-film producer with up-to-no-good sideburns who meets with the fate God reserves for people who dare kick the shit out of Nicolas Cage in a Nicolas Cage movie. But there’s all that, and then there’s what he did in Tony Scott’s True Romance, from 1993. He’s Virgil, mob gun-thug out of Detroit, who’s trailed Christian Slater and a suitcase full of stolen coke to a motel in L.A. and found Slater’s pretty wife, Alabama (Patricia Arquette), instead. He wants to know where Slater and the coke are; Arquette won’t tell him. He beats her and beats her and beats her and she still defies him.
He’d played heavies before, but this was different in a couple of crucial ways. There’s a glimmer of Tony Soprano’s sexual confidence in the way he plays this scene. There’s a weird flicker of chemistry between him and Arquette, the feeling of a game, of mutuality, at least until he starts hitting her. And even then, he looks at her with a weird affection. A couple of times she almost makes him laugh. And there’s that moment when he tells her that she’s got heart. You believe he means it. He’s still going to kill her — he can afford to personalize this moment, he can let himself be jovial, because he knows he’s incapable of mercy. Ugly, ugly scene. Goes on forever. Memorable enough to shore up even a lesser actor’s place in the Asshole Wing of the “Hey, It’s That Guy” Hall of Fame, especially when you factor in the Tarantino speech he gets to give as he’s tossing the room looking for the coke, about how taking lives gets easier, how he’ll kill people now “just to watch their fuckin’ expression change.”
And then, a few years later, at what should have been the midpoint of a long career, along came the role of a lifetime. Tony Soprano wanted to run North Jersey, and for his sins, they gave it to him. Only |
One available in June, some people might understandably be upset that late buyers will be able to buy the console at a lesser price less than a year of release. If you're one of the many early buyers of the Xbox One and was hoping for some sort of reward for your loyalty, sadly, there's none coming. This was confirmed by Eurogamer in a statement sent by a Microsoft spokesperson when it asked whether any bonus can be expected for early Xbox One buyers.
No. As with many first generation products, the offerings can be expected to change and evolve over time. Kinect remains an integral part of our vision. Xbox One is better with Kinect, making games, TV and entertainment come alive with premium experiences.
Honestly, expecting any sort of reward other than being able to play the games early and having Kinect with your console might have been a tad much. Of course, it wouldn't hurt if Microsoft gave a free avatar, digital game or something either, too. But that might be construed the wrong way by some and think that Microsoft does indeed regret forcing to bundle the Kinect with the Xbox One.
While this might be seen as bad news to some, don't forget that as part of Microsoft's news deluge yesterday, the company also announced that it's dropping the Xbox Live Gold requirement for Netflix, Hulu and other apps.
For those who bought an Xbox One early, are you expecting some sort of reward from Microsoft or is being an early adopter and getting to play the games before anyone else enough?
Source: EurogamerDonald Trump ran for president promising a return to law and order, a pledge which was supported largely by falsehoods. As president, he has repeated these claims, stating that the murder rate in America is the highest it’s been in the past 45-47 years. In fact, the murder rate has been consistently low since the early 2000’s, and crime rates overall have been steadily declining since the early 1990’s. The graph on the left shows the percent change in rates for murder, all violent crime, and all property crime from 1970 to 2015 (the last year complete data is available). To show how much lower the current rates are compared to the highest levels of the past 45 years, the graph also projects these highest levels out to 2015 for easy visual comparison. In order for today’s rates to reach those historic highs, and for Trump’s claim about murder in America to be correct, an entire sold-out audience at the Hollywood Bowl would need to be murdered (over 17,000 people). To match the highest rates of all violent crime, the entire population of Dallas would need to be assaulted (over 1,200,000 people), and to match the highest property crime rate, the entire population of New Jersey would need to be robbed (over 9,000,000 people).
For the Data Wonks
Donald Trump’s claim about the murder rate can be found at goo.gl/A3TsCL and in video at https://youtu.be/eXYvAWvKqxct. Crime rates across the US are collected by the FBI from local police precincts and are compiled into the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) databases. These databases can be downloaded at goo.gl/LIgahM and reports can be found at goo.gl/NAfYJy. The data plotted and analyzed for this blog are also available in the Datasets page. The most recent year for which complete data is available is 2015. All rates calculated by the UCR are expressed in terms of the number of crimes per 100,000 people in the population. In order to visualize time trends across these three crime rates, percent change values were computed by calculating the difference between the crime rate in a given year minus the crime rate in 1970 and then dividing the rate difference by the 1970 rate. In 2015, the nationwide murder rate was 4.9 murders per 100,000. The highest rate since 1970 was 10.2 in 1980. The difference between these two rates is 5.3 per 100,000 people. When multiplied by the population of the country in 2015 (321,418,820), this difference in rates means that to have a murder rate of 10.2 in 2015 an additional 17,035 people would need to have been murdered. For comparison, the maximum capacity of the Hollywood Bowl is 17,500 people. In terms of all violent crime, the maximum rate was 758.2 per 100,000 people which occurred in 1991. In 2015, the violent crime rate was 372.6. By multiplying the difference in rates by the US population in 2015, it was calculated that in order to have a violent crime rate of 758.2 in 2015, an additional 1,239,391 people would need to be victims of a violent crime. The population of Dallas Texas is 1,300,092. The highest property crime rate since 1970 was 5353.3 per 100,000 in 1980. In 2015 the property crime rate was 2487 per 100,000. By the same math 9,212,828 additional people would need to be victims of a property crime in 2015 in order to match the highest rate in 45 years. The population of New Jersey is 8,944,469.Rope and Rescue is now a part of abc Window Cleaning Supply! The same great products you are used to are now combined with the service and technology of the abc website. You'll have access to real time stock levels and options for expedited shipping. Use the navigation under "High Rise" at the top of the page or the list of categories on the left to find the products you need.
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Our showroom was closed as of August 1, 2017. You can order online or by phone and we can ship orders to you. If you need product immediately, consider a local shop like Safety One (only 0.3 miles from our old showroom!) or Patroller Supply.
Can I still get your rescue and haul kits?
Yes, many of the kits are still available! The kits no longer come assembled, but the components are available with the same product codes as before. You can order them online or give us a call.
Can you still special order products from me?
We can still special order some products depending on the vendor. Email us your requirements and we'll let you know what we can get at bid@abcwindowsupply.com. Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to serving you in the future through abc. Feel free to contact us w/ questions.LAS VEGAS (AP) — Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine called on Donald Trump to release his tax returns and provide details about his companies' debts, assailing the Republican presidential nominee as untrustworthy.
"He's got to start being straight with the American people about this," Kaine said Monday. "We've got to know who Donald Trump is beholden to."
Trump has bucked long-held convention by not releasing his tax returns. The billionaire businessman has financed some of his real estate investments with help from a variety of foreign financial institutions.
The Virginia senator was speaking to the ironworkers' annual convention in Las Vegas, making an appeal to blue-collar workers attracted to Trump's anti-trade agenda. Kaine brought his father, Al Kaine, who owned a union-organized ironworking and welding shop in the Kansas City area.
Tim Kaine and his running mate, Hillary Clinton, are competing against Trump for the support of rank-and-file union members, particularly in Midwest battleground states where wages have stagnated and a decline in manufacturing jobs has hurt workers. Nevada, a political swing state, counts a number of unions for the hotel and other related industries.
Major unions, including the ironworkers, have endorsed Clinton, and the labor vote has long been a key part of the Democratic base. But Trump is aggressively courting union voters, and he's tried to paint Clinton as beholden to Wall Street interests.
Tim Kaine highlighted his family connection to the trades during his speech, noting that he grew up working weekends and summers alongside union ironworkers. Kaine said labor would have two strong allies in the White House if the Clinton-Kaine ticket won.
"You will always have a seat at the table," Kaine said.
He also criticized Trump's resistance to efforts by employees to unionize at the Republican's Las Vegas hotel.
Much of Trump's pitch to labor has centered on international trade. He has repeatedly denounced as "stupid" trade deals that he says hurt U.S. workers, and he's pledged to penalize companies for sending jobs overseas.
Trump has also said that Clinton would implement the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal if she's elected. While Clinton promoted the agreement dozens of times as secretary of state, she has since said she cannot support its current form. Kaine also opposes the TPP, though he voted in 2015 to support so-called fast-track authority allowing the president to negotiate trade deals that Congress can approve or deny but not amend or filibuster.As you may or may not recall, last year, the Cubs sought to have Wrigley Field placed on the National Register of Historic Places, which would allow the team to qualify for a 20% tax credit when rehabbing that historic place. At the time, the renovation of Wrigley, proper, was expected to be $300 million. That figure is now up to $375 million, which means that the credit could be worth up to $75 million. That’s a significant chunk of change.*
*Before anyone goes off the rails on NO PUBLIC FUNDING!, be advised that this is a federal program available equally to all people and businesses engaged in preserving historic places (because the government, and the citizenry, has an interest in preserving historic places, and wants to incentivize people to put up the cash to actually get that preservation done). Unless you want to argue that Wrigley Field is not of historic significance in the United States – good luck – then any anti-public-money beef here is rightly placed with the government and not the Cubs.
Well, about that $75 million. The Tribune has a new report out this morning indicating that the National Parks Service, which must sign off on the project before the credits can be issued, has not yet signed off on the latest iteration of the Wrigley renovation plan. Specifically, they haven’t yet approved the inclusion of the five additional (seven total) outfield signs.
Being that those signs are expected to be significant revenue generators, the Cubs likely aren’t keen on robbing Peter to pay Paul here, and losing the signs to effectuate the tax credit. The Tribune report indicates that nothing is yet finalized in either direction, and the Cubs are still working with the National Parks Service on the issue.
To be clear, this hang-up should not, strictly speaking, be a roadblock in the renovation, itself. Instead, it would merely be a financial issue. Which, in turn, could be a renovation hang-up. But not necessarily. Further, it’s not yet entirely clear whether, if the Cubs proceed with the renovation, put up all of the signs, and then try to get some of the tax credits later, they could still get something done.
You throw in the continued possibility of a rooftop issue with respect to the signage, and – surprise – this is a complicated situation.
A team source indicated that the Cubs are still committed to their full outfield signage plan at this time, however. So we’ll see how this shakes out over the offseason.The website of gaming company Big Fish Games was recently compromised by hackers who got away with the personal and financial information of an unknown number of customers.
“An unknown criminal installed malware on the billing and payment pages of our website that appears to have intercepted customer payment information,” the company CTO, Ian Hurlock-Jones, explained in a notification letter sent out to customers who may have been affected.
“Your information may have been affected if you entered new payment details on our websites (rather than using a previously saved profile) for purchases between December 24, 2014 and January 8, 2015. Your name, address, and payment card information, including the card number, expiration date, and CVV2 code, may have been among the information accessed,” the letter continued.
The compromise was discovered internally on January 12 and the malware has since been eradicated. The notification letter was sent out a month after discovery, on February 11.
Those who have been affected have been given a year’s membership to identity protection services and advice on how to ensure they don’t fall victim to fraud.
Card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV2 codes “may have been among the information accessed”, meaning that it’s feasible that those who have the stolen data could carry out card-not-present transactions.Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has marked turning 90 by urging his country to shun homosexuality at a birthday rally.
“We don’t accept homosexuality here. God made men and women so they can bear children,” said Mugabe on Sunday, at the event in Marondera, 75 kilometres (45 miles) east of Harare.
Africa’s longest-serving leader gave his trademark clenched fist salute to the crowd.
He also condemned gay people for performing what he called “unnatural acts”.
Mugabe’s actual birthday was on 21 February but he was away in Singapore for a “cataract operation” on his left eye, according to his office. He returned to Zimbabwe on Saturday.
The cost of the birthday celebration – estimated at about $1m (£600,000) – has prompted criticism in a country suffering from severe economic problems.
Mugabe is a staunch promoter of homophobic persecution.
He marked his 88th birthday party in February 2012 by urging gay people to go to “hell” in a public speech.
The Zanu PF leader branded Archbishop Desmond Tutu “evil” in July 2013 for speaking out in favour of gay rights.
Mugabe also urged for the heads of gay men to be chopped off and said gay people were worse than “pigs, goats and birds” during a speech to Zanu PF supporters in the same month.Gisela Stuart of Change Britain says move aimed at solving Irish border issue in Brexit talks would be ‘completely unacceptable’
A pressure group linked to the former Vote Leave campaign has warned Theresa May that signing up to regulatory alignment with the EU to solve the Irish border problem will not allow Britain to “take back control” from Brussels.
Change Britain, which was launched last year with the backing of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove, made clear its belief that such a move would fail to respect the mandate of the referendum result.
Gisela Stuart, the former Labour MP who led the Vote Leave campaign alongside Johnson and Gove, said: “[It] would be completely unacceptable if we were forced to agree a deal where regulatory alignment saw the UK continue to be subject to rules designed and imposed by Brussels.
“It would be single market membership in all but name. The government must stand firm in the negotiations and stick to the principles set out in the prime minister’s Lancaster House speech.”
The group said May would be signing up to become a “rule taker” if she accepted regulatory alignment in which the UK would have to comply with rules made in Brussels without having elected representatives to oversee the formation and amendment of those laws.
Change Britain said it was not the same as “mutual recognition” of each other’s laws and regulations, which is a different and clearly defined concept in EU trade policy.
Gove and Johnson are not directly involved in Change Britain but the group’s website carries a video of the foreign secretary endorsing its formation. Gove led its policy commission until he became environment secretary.
The group’s intervention comes at a time of increasing unease among senior Conservatives about the prime minister signing up to regulatory alignment as she seeks to solve the problem of the Irish border.
She was prepared to accept the concept in a proposed deal with the EU on Monday but this was vetoed by her political partners in the Democratic Unionist party and senior Tory colleagues have subsequently made clear they are not happy.
They have been further infuriated by May’s apparent attempt to bounce them into the deal, as she did not consult all her cabinet colleagues or the DUP on the exact wording before pressing ahead.
There is particular concern among Brexit-supporting MPs that May is conceding too much to Brussels and there are worries that her No 10 operation has taken too much control over the process to the exclusion of senior leave backers in the cabinet, such as Johnson, Gove, David Davis and Liam Fox.
At the same time, allies of Davis have once again been floating to MPs the idea that he should take over as prime minister – at least as a caretaker leader until the end of Brexit.
However, several newer intake MPs told the Guardian that idea should be given short shrift as the bulk of the party still believes a leadership contest would be a damaging distraction at such a crucial time in the EU negotiations.Last week it was revealed that Hillary Clinton had an approximately 40:1 advantage over Donald Trump in campaign cash. This announcement, tied, as it were, to actual numbers and not to Trump’s verbal dysentery, panicked a lot of the GOP establishment. Naturally, the Trump campaign panicked, too, and started slinging random numbers against the wall. The campaign finance director, Steve Mnuchin (hey, is that last name even American? Has Trump ever checked his passport?) between bouts of heavy drinking, said, “We just started our online campaign. Online mailing [Tuesday] did over $3 million. Donald, in an unprecedented move, agreed to match the first $2 million personally that came in. So we did over $5 million online yesterday, and we’re just starting the effort.” Hope Hicks, poor, dim little Hope Hicks, claimed the campaign raised $3.3 million on Tuesday and $3.4 million on Thursday. All of this via email solicitations. Or, more precisely, two email solicitations.
Unbelievable, you say? Well, a lot of people thought so and Advertising Age set out to investigate.
The Donald Trump email that helped the campaign generate $3.3 million didn’t score well by accepted email measures. According to email tracking firm Return Path, the first-ever fundraising email sent by the campaign had a remarkably high spam rate and a very low open rate.
…
Nearly 60% of those first-ever fundraiser emails, however, never reached inboxes. Instead, they were automatically relegated to recipients’ spam folders, according to Return Path, which evaluates email campaigns using estimates based on its panel of 2.5 million active email users. The email tracker also reported that just 12% of recipients opened the email and 6% deleted it without reading it. In May, 7.9% of the emails sent by the Trump camp were caught up in spam filters, according to Return Path. Even that nearly 8% spam rate is considered very high by industry standards.
So why were a far larger percentage of the Trump camp’s first-ever fundraising emails snagged by spam detectors? It could be because those emails came from a domain that the campaign hadn’t used in the past, said Tom Sather, senior director of research at Return Path. Throughout the primaries, the Trump campaign sent emails from the DonaldTrump.com domain but on June 16 it introduced its DonaldJTrump.com domain into its email efforts. Spam filters did not recognize the domain. “Since it’s a new domain he’s being penalized,” said Mr. Sather, noting that trained email marketing professionals would be aware of this threat. “These are things that professional email marketers prepare for,” he said.
Trump is an incompetent running an incompetent campaign staffed by raging incompetents for whom he is an employer of last resort. He can lie about his fundraising, and probably about his converting his “loan” to his campaign into a contribution. But he can’t sustain these lies for more than thirty days at a time thanks to campaign reporting requirements.
Hopefully when Trump arrives in Cleveland, down in the polls by double digits and with his staff having to hitchhike their way there, sanity will snap out of its coma and send Trump packing.EmbracePace is back again, for the third straight year, creating an updated NBA 2K17 offseason roster for PlayStation 4 fans, which includes the 2017 rookies that were just drafted and much more.
FILE NAME: 2017 Offseason w/All Rookies
PSN ID: EmbraceThePace
Full details can be seen in his OS Forum thread.
All New Draft Picks Included
Ever since September of last year, I’ve been hard at work creating loads of NBA draft prospects in order to create the most realistic draft classes possible. Hundreds of hours of research and film study went into making these prospects look and play the same way they do in real life. As always, those same creations will be featured in this roster. I’m hopeful that every player that hears his name called will be on their respective teams when this roster drops. If I have not created a player that gets drafted, they will be added in very, very shortly after the initial release. If there is not enough space on a team’s 15-man roster to add a 2nd round pick, he will be placed in the free agent pool until he is officially signed. Also, because I have over 80 players in my 2017 draft class, that means there will be at least 20 undrafted free agents included in the free agent pool!
Brand New Players
Not only will all the 2017 draft picks and several undrafted free agents be included in this roster, but several other new players will be included as well! These players include: Draft & Stash prospects, G-League prospects, Summer League invites, etc.
Updated Ages/Years Pro
I have gone in and updated every single player’s age and service time to replicate the 2017-2018 season. All players (including free agents) are now 1 year older and all have 1 more year of experience under their belt.
Updated Contracts
All of the current NBA players now have their contracts fully updated to reflect the 2017-2018 season. I have also given all of this year’s new draftees contracts that match the NBA’s rookie scale. Before I go on, let me quickly explain how I handled upcoming free agents. Because 2K requires that no less than 13 players be on a roster, it is impossible to release all upcoming free agents into the F/A pool, so when this roster releases, most upcoming free agents will still be on their 16-17 team’s roster. I’ve also given some of the bigger name players projected contracts. I chose to handle free agents this way in an effort to make the roster more playable right away. If you plan on starting a multi-year MyLEAGUE with this roster, I recommend waiting until mid-July when most of the big name free agents have signed their new deals.
Frequent File Updates
One of the main things I’ve focused on with my draft classes and rosters the past 3 years has been keeping them as updated as possible. As soon as I noticed a player was traded, had declared for the draft, signed a new contract or even just changed up his hairstyle, I made sure I updated it as quickly as possible. That habit will continue this summer. I’ll be keeping tabs on all of the latest player movement, contract signings, number changes, etc. all throughout the offseason and making sure the file stays updated.It takes most people six months or more to complete the approximately 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail (AT). Joe ‘Stringbean’ McConaughy did it in a staggering 45 days, 12 hours, and 15 minutes. That’s an average of about 48 miles per day on the rugged AT, people! What makes the feat all the more remarkable is that McConaughy—or ‘Stringbean’, as he’s called on the trail—was self-supported the entire time, meaning he didn’t receive support from a crew along the trail, instead shipping all his food and supplies to predetermined points beforehand or buying food in stores he encountered along the way. The 26-year-old ‘Stringbean,’ who also holds the current supported Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), started on July 17 in Georgia and ended atop Mount Katahdin in Maine on August 31. [Editor’s Note: Karel Sabbe did the PCT supported in the summer of 2016, finishing faster than Joe’s 2014 effort. However, Karel took several fire detours from the PCT proper.] As such, he demolished the previous self-supported FKT on the AT, held by Heather Anderson, by nearly nine days and bested the previous supported AT FKT, set by Karl Meltzer last year, by 10 hours and 23 minutes. The former Boston College track and cross-country runner took the time to fill us in on his epic accomplishment. Read on.
iRunFar: You did it! You now have FKTs on both the PCT and the AT.
Joe McConaughy: [laughs] I did it, yeah, thanks. It still hasn’t sunk it. It’s been a whirlwind since it finished.
iRunFar: I’m sure. Even after an ultra race that takes one day, it usually takes a week to digest. I guess it might take 45 weeks before this sinks in for you.
McConaughy: [laughs] Yeah, it might take that long.
iRunFar: It’s been less than a week since you finished. I bet you’re still hungry all the time.
McConaughy: That’s all I’ve been doing, eating [laughs], yeah. I ate a fair amount already today so I’m done for a second. But soon I’ll have a frozen pizza and cookies and a bunch of stuff. You don’t really realize how non-human your portions are until you eat with other people. Then you’re like, “Oh, wow, that’s what a typical dinner would be.”
iRunFar: You set an FKT on the PCT in 2014. What motivated you to try for one on the AT this year?
McConaughy: I think the Appalachian Trail was the natural next step after the Pacific Crest Trail. It’s something I turned my thoughts to after the PCT but it took a while. I didn’t run for a long time after the PCT. It was maybe two or three months later and I started going out for runs but they were shorter and really slow and it didn’t feel good. I remember thinking, I remember this being more fun [laughs]. I was still pretty beat up. And I was in this beautiful place, Austria, for a year on a Fulbright to teach English, and I wasn’t motivated at all to run. But then I slowly started to feel better and I came back to Boston and started to run to and from work for leisure and exercise. Once I was feeling better I decided to try the Long Trail [in Vermont]. I made it around 90 miles in a day-and-a-half and my knee was swollen to the size of a watermelon and I didn’t finish. I did a trip to Europe a few weeks after that and I could barely fit my knee into my jeans and I was walking around cobblestone streets in Europe. It was bad [laughs].
iRunFar: It sounds like that it was the right move to call it quits.
McConaughy: [laughs] Yeah. So, I thought maybe I should try some races. I ran some shorter races around Boston, where I’m living, and even got back on the track a little bit. Then I decided to run an ultra and I had a good run at Stone Cat [50 Mile] last fall and then thought I’d try to qualify for the Western States 100, so I signed up for Gorge [Waterfall 100k] and Lake Sonoma [50 Mile] and figured Gorge would be easier to qualify. [Author’s Note: McConaughy’s back-to-back races were nicely documented in this short film.] But I didn’t qualify there so I ran Sonoma the next weekend [laughs] and by this point I realized I was actually going to get the time off to run the AT. So, in the end, the two races were good training for the trials of the AT. I didn’t end up qualifying for Western at either race but it’s one that I want to do at some point. One day at work—this was at the end of last year—my boss asked me about my professional development, what I saw myself doing in the future, and I casually sort of said that I wanted to thru-hike the AT [laughs]. My boss, Filippa, didn’t know what it was and I never thought I could get the time off but once I said it, it kind of became a reality and I started making plans for it, and she actually granted me the time off.
iRunFar: This is jumping ahead some, but you seem to really thrive at multi-week efforts rather than a long run in a single day like an ultra. Why do you think that is?
McConaughy: I think that’s true. I think a lot of it is my demeanor. There’s a video of the woman who set the fastest time on The Long Trail that really shows how bad it can be when you’re out there on the trail—the sort of meltdowns you can have. I’m able to keep it really even-keeled I think. One day, it was Day 38, I went 2,000 feet down this mountain and then realized that I had gone the wrong way, which is funny because the AT is actually really well marked. I had to turn around and go back up it and then continue through the White Mountains. By 3 p.m. that day I had only gone 11 trail miles and I only finished with 25 miles that day—my lowest-mileage day. So, I realize I went the wrong way and I have to retrace my steps up this mountain and it’s so defeating. I told myself, Here’s where you cry and throw all your stuff down and have a tantrum. But it never happened. I just thought about doing it and kept on hiking. And I think the multi-week stuff requires different skill sets than Western States or UTMB. To do well at those events you need to be a primed, top-tier athlete with very specific training. The psychological and logistical elements are different for long, thru-hikes. The skill sets from ultras don’t necessarily translate to long, multi-day events like the AT. I mean, it’s like an ultra on steroids [laughs].
iRunFar: Why did you decide to run the AT unsupported after running the PCT supported?
McConaughy: I think the unsupported route is more authentic and more accessible to people. Sponsors are great and people should have sponsors, and I totally respect those people, but I think going self-supported is more authentic to the trail community and what that’s all about, which is an experience in the wilderness. It’s less commercial.
iRunFar: And a self-supported attempt requires a lot of planning, too. What were the logistics like before attempting the AT?
McConaughy: Definitely. Just thinking about food takes a while. I wanted to keep my pack as light as possible so I researched to figure out the most nutrient- and calorically dense foods. My girlfriend, Katie, helped me out and we looked through different books and talked to people that had done the trail before. So, we figured that out and then I estimated how much food I would need on a given day, which was about 8,000 calories. I looked at the elevation charts and figured how far I would go on a given day, and so how much food I would need to drop at a given spot. Then you have to pack up boxes to ship out to different points on the trail. I was picking up a shipment every two to four days. I had to cover a certain number of miles to get to my next pick-up spot, so I would spend a lot of time every day looking at the maps and seeing how fast I was going, how fast I needed to go, how fast I could go to get to the next drop. And then some post offices were only open during a three-hour window, so you had to plan for that.
iRunFar: And that’s probably weeks and weeks of research and planning and that’s just the food.
McConaughy: [laughs] Right. Then I had to figure out gear. I wanted to make sure I had the lightest gear. I did research on the lightest bivy and sleeping bag and pad. I had a change of clothes at most of the drop points so I would run in basically one outfit for two or four days. I was dirty but it wasn’t too bad. I think the hardest part was water. I had to make sure I had enough water. Finding streams and keeping my bottle filled wasn’t always easy. I was pulling out the maps like every 20 or 30 minutes to see what was ahead and when I would have water. I would be really proud of myself if I could go two or three hours hiking without looking at the map [laughs]. But the toughest part was that I was using this filtration system in my water bottle that made it hard to chug out of. I could only really sip out of it. That maybe doesn’t sound that bad but I was out there thirsty and I would want to down water and I could only take small drinks.
iRunFar: So, you were basically dehydrated for 45 days—that sounds pretty bad [laughs].
McConaughy: [laughs] Basically. Whenever I got to a town I would buy a Gatorade and chug it, then I would fill it up in the bathroom and chug it again. I would get some food, refill the bottle, drink it one more time, then fill it and take it with me and down it later on when I got thirsty.
iRunFar: What all was in your pack and how much did it weigh?
McConaughy: I didn’t have first aid or any type of compression. That was an issue. But I got gauze wrap, which ended up being super useful. I had a Vaseline lip balm that was useful for chafing on my feet and crotch. That really helped. Anyway, it was about a 28-liter pack. It was custom made so I don’t know the exact size. Fully packed it had my bivy, pad, sleeping bag, food, water, a poncho tarp, a long sleeve shirt, thin athletic pants, a few others small things—money, cards, a GoPro, and a phone. The pack was anywhere from 25 to 28 pounds. I honestly don’t think it slowed me down that much, the weight, it more just made me injured [laughs].
iRunFar: What were some of the injuries?
McConaughy: It was a long list. Let’s see. You know, I keep telling people about injuries and then I remember more that I had [laughs]. So, blisters. Seven sprained ankles and all my right ankle, even though my left one is now the one that’s messed up. A swollen retinaculum on my left ankle. It’s really fat right now. Multiple micro tears, probably, in all the different muscles in my lower quads. I had eight wasp stings. Countless falls and from those a lot of cuts and bruises. The worst of those were my hips landing on rocks. Those were really sore and tough to move. I also had a strained tendon, I think, behind my knee. That was accompanied with a lot of swelling and pain on both knees. I had a strained hammy for a while on my right side. I had extreme chafing around my crotch. I had an open sore on my right foot that got infected. That was three-and-a-half weeks ago and it’s still around. I also had tendinitis on the top of my feet. What else did I have? I had an open sore on my back from the pack. I lost one toenail, believe it or not, only one. The bottoms of my feet are numb. Still [laughs]. I guess I had one or two small IT band issues but surprisingly they weren’t bad. Oh, and one groin strain.
iRunFar: Walk me through a day on the trail. What did that look like?
McConaughy: Sure. The alarm would go off at 4:45 a.m. I would get up and eat a couple hundred calories and start to pack things up. Then I would get in another 800 or 1,000 calories. I would get on the trail within about an hour. Then I’d have what I called my ‘morning miles’ [laughs]. It would be slow, slow running, and I’d cover maybe 2.5 miles an hour the first couple hours. I would ease into it. And I didn’t stop much. I kept energy bars near the front of my pack so that I could eat them as I went. I’d eat a bar every couple of hours throughout the morning. The pace would slowly start to pick up and it would go smoother. Then in the early afternoon around 2 or 3 p.m., I would try to eat a bigger meal of 1,000 calories or so. I’d keep pushing into the evening until I stopped to camp. Mostly you can camp on the side of the trail. I’d set up my bivy and put my pad down next to a tree and put my feet up and let them drain for 30 minutes while I ate two or three hundred calories. I’d take off my shoes and socks, and the socks would sometimes take five minutes to get off [laughs]—that wasn’t fun. I’d eat another 1,000 calories or so and then be asleep by about 11 p.m. I’d wake up the next day and do it over again.
iRunFar: What a simple life.
McConaughy: [laughs] Simple but tough.
iRunFar: I’m curious what the journey was like for you mentally. For 45 days, you get up and cover 40, 50, or even 60 miles and you’re out there for 15 hours. How do you convince yourself that you can keep doing that day after day?
McConaughy: It’s really one step in the front of the other [laughs]. You know, I did Day 1 and I did 43 miles. I thought I would be able to do 50 miles—I was feeling good—but early on I sprained my ankle and I realized maybe I wouldn’t make 50 miles. But I did 43. Then, on |
murphs Profile Joined April 2011 Ireland 408 Posts #4 Those who aren't convinced aren't worth convincing.
Fuck em.
deth2munkies Profile Blog Joined April 2010 United States 3922 Posts #5 While I agree with the general intent behind everything you said (and am too lazy to fact check it, but it looks fine), it will never cease to amaze me how much effort you put into answering small groups of trolls. 90% of the time I see a big defensive post or a line of defensive tweets, I never see the dumbass comments that spurred it.
jchxn Profile Joined December 2012 United States 2 Posts #6 Completely agree with TB here, just another example of people on the internet not thinking things through and having the mob mentality.
TotalBiscuit Profile Blog Joined March 2010 United Kingdom 5415 Posts Last Edited: 2013-11-15 03:54:05 #7 On November 15 2013 12:46 deth2munkies wrote:
While I agree with the general intent behind everything you said (and am too lazy to fact check it, but it looks fine), it will never cease to amaze me how much effort you put into answering small groups of trolls. 90% of the time I see a big defensive post or a line of defensive tweets, I never see the dumbass comments that spurred it.
The misconception is that I'm answering trolls when what I'm actually trying to do is educate a wider audience on the realities of the industry right now. Someone's posting bullshit? Take it as an opportunity to spread more information among people who may not otherwise have access to it. Turn that negativity into something useful. The misconception is that I'm answering trolls when what I'm actually trying to do is educate a wider audience on the realities of the industry right now. Someone's posting bullshit? Take it as an opportunity to spread more information among people who may not otherwise have access to it. Turn that negativity into something useful. Commentator Host of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
Pandain Profile Blog Joined May 2010 United States 10313 Posts #8 Yeah this informs me.
So I guess my question is would you believe in region locking even if it hurt your players.
Just_a_Moth Profile Joined March 2012 Canada 1649 Posts #9 Yeh, that was educational.
Aegeis Profile Blog Joined April 2010 United States 1605 Posts Last Edited: 2013-11-15 03:56:56 #10 deleted "Skills to pay the bills" - Artosis, https://twitter.com/AegeisSC2,http://www.tumblr.com/blog/socal-esports
Ero-Sennin Profile Blog Joined July 2009 United States 744 Posts Last Edited: 2013-11-15 03:58:57 #11
How can you love people who are unwilling to love themselves first?
Edited: Perhaps you should make a series of blogs entitled "No @#*$ing bullshit" and put stuff like this in there? If the majority of the scene (read: 60-40 [that's my guess at the lowest it could go, I'd assume many more are happy about shoutcraft and all of the opportunities presented with it]) let you love them, would you still feel the need to want to love the 40%?How can you love people who are unwilling to love themselves first?Edited: Perhaps you should make a series of blogs entitled "No @#*$ing bullshit" and put stuff like this in there? Luck makes talent look like genius.
banjoetheredskin Profile Blog Joined November 2012 United States 743 Posts #12 I appreciate what you do for the community, even if other people don't. You shouldn't expect everyone on the internet to be intelligent and kind anyways. Keep doing what you are doing, so far nobody has come up with a legitimate argument that you are a bad manager. Writer #1 CJ fan | http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/508947-wcs-dreamhack-austin-interviews
TotalBiscuit Profile Blog Joined March 2010 United Kingdom 5415 Posts Last Edited: 2013-11-15 04:03:21 #13 On November 15 2013 12:54 Pandain wrote:
Yeah this informs me.
So I guess my question is would you believe in region locking even if it hurt your players.
Yes I do. Here's the thing about WCS, it's not actually that much fun. The costs associated with WCS are massive, the travel budget is being completely blown on WCS flights for a tournament that the players don't really enjoy that much anyway. Our players much prefer things like Dreamhack or various regional IEMs and we can send them to more of those events next year if we spend less money flying them to WCS America. It's not like MLG, ESL and NASL aren't trying to make the best with what they have but the WCS format doesn't lend itself well to a really fun competition whereas those weekend tournaments do. I think our guys have proven they can fight with the best in GSTL, and it's not like they escaped fighting tough players by going to WCS America, they ran into some of the top-tier Koreans in their journey through the tournament this year.
However, if region-locking were to come into effect, I feel Korean competition must be stimulated further. The talent pool in Korea is massive and there aren't enough tournaments for them to play in. You might say "oh, well just send em to the other regions", well good luck doing that. The teams doing that are the ones that have the budget for it, everyone else is just kinda stuck languishing in Code A or B. Korea has such a massive talent pool that it needs more tournaments to accommodate it. I'm constantly flabbergasted by the lack of Korean tournaments outside of WCS and Proleague. I'd like to see Blizzard can the grand-slams and use that budget to put on another regular event in Korea to give those pros something to fight for. Maybe we wouldn't have so many great Korean players retiring if they actually had place to play. Yes I do. Here's the thing about WCS, it's not actually that much fun. The costs associated with WCS are massive, the travel budget is being completely blown on WCS flights for a tournament that the players don't really enjoy that much anyway. Our players much prefer things like Dreamhack or various regional IEMs and we can send them to more of those events next year if we spend less money flying them to WCS America. It's not like MLG, ESL and NASL aren't trying to make the best with what they have but the WCS format doesn't lend itself well to a really fun competition whereas those weekend tournaments do. I think our guys have proven they can fight with the best in GSTL, and it's not like they escaped fighting tough players by going to WCS America, they ran into some of the top-tier Koreans in their journey through the tournament this year.However, if region-locking were to come into effect, I feel Korean competition must be stimulated further. The talent pool in Korea is massive and there aren't enough tournaments for them to play in. You might say "oh, well just send em to the other regions", well good luck doing that. The teams doing that are the ones that have the budget for it, everyone else is just kinda stuck languishing in Code A or B. Korea has such a massive talent pool that it needs more tournaments to accommodate it. I'm constantly flabbergasted by the lack of Korean tournaments outside of WCS and Proleague. I'd like to see Blizzard can the grand-slams and use that budget to put on another regular event in Korea to give those pros something to fight for. Maybe we wouldn't have so many great Korean players retiring if they actually had place to play. Commentator Host of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
MaxiTB Profile Joined June 2011 Austria 34 Posts #14 I think TB's main problem is simple: He cares.
A very rare attribute these days; a lot people pretend but actually they are only hiding behind etiquette labeled falsely as manners.
SC2 is in a little bit of a crisis IMHO right now. The community didn't grow (in numbers and quality), the organizational side is lacking badly (be it tournaments or simple game support for esport). I partially blame Blizzard that SC2 is not DotA... they leeched money (licensing) out of the scene instead of investing (see Riad, Valve). Hopefully things turn around 180° next year cause I feel like a lot of this frustration is just targeted into the wrong direction right now. From the Shadows I come, to cumulative stats I go (http://shoutcraft.maxisoft.org)
smashlloyd20 Profile Joined October 2012 249 Posts #15 Slight correction for the last paragraph, TaeJa was actually seeded into WCS KR Season 1 and placed top 16 to earn some WCS points before he jumped to America. Ironically, JD actually didn't qualify for WCS until season 2 and still ended up as the #3 seed in Blizzcon.
Junho.C Profile Joined May 2012 United States 73 Posts Last Edited: 2013-11-15 04:12:53 #16 Impact did not compete in WCS AM S3 because by the time he joined Axiom, WCS AM S3 was already in progress. If your entire team composed of Koreans are competing in WCS AM and taking opportunities away from regional players that you, yourself, are criticizing about. Have the decency to not criticize the format that your team and players are exploiting. Shoutcraft is a very good idea and I'm all for it. But, your two-faced attitude about region lock and developing regions DO NOT help to promote Shoutcraft or your intention of promoting global SC2 as a whole.
Also, you may now defend your team as not America-based. You have previously said that your team is America based when your team first competed in WCS AM. SC2 community also consider your team as American team, as well.
TotalBiscuit Profile Blog Joined March 2010 United Kingdom 5415 Posts Last Edited: 2013-11-15 04:14:49 #17 On November 15 2013 13:08 Junho.C wrote:
Impact did not compete in WCS AM S3 because by the time he joined Axiom, WCS AM S3 was already in progress. If your entire team composed of Koreans are competing in WCS AM and taking opportunities away from regional players that you, yourself, are criticizing about. Have the decency to not criticize the format that your team and players are exploiting. Shoutcraft is a very good idea and I'm all for it. But, your two-faced attitude about region lock and developing regions DO NOT help to promote Shoutcraft or your intention of promoting global SC2 as a whole.
I like how you didn't bother to respond to any of the things I said at all. Also since you were the person who posted the misconception this blog posts exists to respond to, to begin with I'd have thought you'd put in a bit more effort to refute some of the stuff I just said. That said, I guess it's easy to criticise when you know you're in a place where I won't call you on it. Surprise!
Impact is competing in WCS America because he's playing in WCS Korea and qualified for Challenger. Also we very specifically talked about that with him before we even signed him and he wants to play in Korea.
There's nothing two-faced about my attitude and the only people saying that are those looking for "gotcha" crap and with too simplistic an understanding of the situation to have good grounds on which to form an opinion. I like how you didn't bother to respond to any of the things I said at all. Also since you were the person who posted the misconception this blog posts exists to respond to, to begin with I'd have thought you'd put in a bit more effort to refute some of the stuff I just said. That said, I guess it's easy to criticise when you know you're in a place where I won't call you on it. Surprise!Impact is competing in WCS America because he's playing in WCS Korea and qualified for Challenger. Also we very specifically talked about that with him before we even signed him and he wants to play in Korea.There's nothing two-faced about my attitude and the only people saying that are those looking for "gotcha" crap and with too simplistic an understanding of the situation to have good grounds on which to form an opinion. Commentator Host of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
TotalBiscuit Profile Blog Joined March 2010 United Kingdom 5415 Posts #18 On November 15 2013 13:06 smashlloyd20 wrote:
Slight correction for the last paragraph, TaeJa was actually seeded into WCS KR Season 1 and placed top 16 to earn some WCS points before he jumped to America. Ironically, JD actually didn't qualify for WCS until season 2 and still ended up as the #3 seed in Blizzcon.
Ahh yes you're right.
EG also spent unholy amounts of money sending Jaedong to every possible WCS-accredited tournament they could in order to compensate for his lack of appearance in Season 1, something a lot of teams can't even afford to do. Ahh yes you're right.EG also spent unholy amounts of money sending Jaedong to every possible WCS-accredited tournament they could in order to compensate for his lack of appearance in Season 1, something a lot of teams can't even afford to do. Commentator Host of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
Junho.C Profile Joined May 2012 United States 73 Posts Last Edited: 2013-11-15 04:17:46 #19 On November 15 2013 13:12 TotalBiscuit wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 15 2013 13:08 Junho.C wrote:
Impact did not compete in WCS AM S3 because by the time he joined Axiom, WCS AM S3 was already in progress. If your entire team composed of Koreans are competing in WCS AM and taking opportunities away from regional players that you, yourself, are criticizing about. Have the decency to not criticize the format that your team and players are exploiting. Shoutcraft is a very good idea and I'm all for it. But, your two-faced attitude about region lock and developing regions DO NOT help to promote Shoutcraft or your intention of promoting global SC2 as a whole.
I like how you didn't bother to respond to any of the things I said at all. Also since you were the person who posted the misconception this blog posts exists to respond to, to begin with I'd have thought you'd put in a bit more effort to refute some of the stuff I just said.
Impact is competing in WCS America because he's playing in WCS Korea and qualified for Challenger. Also we very specifically talked about that with him before we even signed him and he wants to play in Korea.
There's nothing two-faced about my attitude and the only people saying that are those looking for "gotcha" crap and with too simplistic an understanding of the situation to have good grounds on which to form an opinion. I like how you didn't bother to respond to any of the things I said at all. Also since you were the person who posted the misconception this blog posts exists to respond to, to begin with I'd have thought you'd put in a bit more effort to refute some of the stuff I just said.Impact is competing in WCS America because he's playing in WCS Korea and qualified for Challenger. Also we very specifically talked about that with him before we even signed him and he wants to play in Korea.There's nothing two-faced about my attitude and the only people saying that are those looking for "gotcha" crap and with too simplistic an understanding of the situation to have good grounds on which to form an opinion.
I added this, so consider this as well:
Also, you may now defend your team as not America-based. You have previously said that your team is America based when your team first competed in WCS AM. SC2 community also consider your team as American team, as well.
Also, there was no misconception about the clear fact that you have criticized WCS system for a long time, yet your team and players have taken advantage of the format and competed in WCS AM for more exposure. This is the obvious thing to do from a business stand point, but you should not criticize the system that your team and players are exploiting.
I added this, so consider this as well:Also, you may now defend your team as not America-based. You have previously said that your team is America based when your team first competed in WCS AM. SC2 community also consider your team as American team, as well.Also, there was no misconception about the clear fact that you have criticized WCS system for a long time, yet your team and players have taken advantage of the format and competed in WCS AM for more exposure. This is the obvious thing to do from a business stand point, but you should not criticize the system that your team and players are exploiting.
TotalBiscuit Profile Blog Joined March 2010 United Kingdom 5415 Posts Last Edited: 2013-11-15 04:21:25 #20 On November 15 2013 13:17 Junho.C wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 15 2013 13:12 TotalBiscuit wrote:
On November 15 2013 13:08 Junho.C wrote:
Impact did not compete in WCS AM S3 because by the time he joined Axiom, WCS AM S3 was already in progress. If your entire team composed of Koreans are competing in WCS AM and taking opportunities away from regional players that you, yourself, are criticizing about. Have the decency to not criticize the format that your team and players are exploiting. Shoutcraft is a very good idea and I'm all for it. But, your two-faced attitude about region lock and developing regions DO NOT help to promote Shoutcraft or your intention of promoting global SC2 as a whole.
I like how you didn't bother to respond to any of the things I said at all. Also since you were the person who posted the misconception this blog posts exists to respond to, to begin with I'd have thought you'd put in a bit more effort to refute some of the stuff I just said.
Impact is competing in WCS America because he's playing in WCS Korea and qualified for Challenger. Also we very specifically talked about that with him before we even signed him and he wants to play in Korea.
There's nothing two-faced about my attitude and the only people saying that are those looking for "gotcha" crap and with too simplistic an understanding of the situation to have good grounds on which to form an opinion. I like how you didn't bother to respond to any of the things I said at all. Also since you were the person who posted the misconception this blog posts exists to respond to, to begin with I'd have thought you'd put in a bit more effort to refute some of the stuff I just said.Impact is competing in WCS America because he's playing in WCS Korea and qualified for Challenger. Also we very specifically talked about that with him before we even signed him and he wants to play in Korea.There's nothing two-faced about my attitude and the only people saying that are those looking for "gotcha" crap and with too simplistic an understanding of the situation to have good grounds on which to form an opinion.
I added this, so consider this as well:
Also, you may now defend your team as not America-based. You have previously said that your team is America based when your team first competed in WCS AM. SC2 community also consider your team as American team, as well.
Also, there was no misconception about the clear fact that you have criticized WCS system for a long time, yet your team and players have taken advantage of the format and competed in WCS AM for more exposure. This is the obvious thing to do in a business stand point, but you should not criticize the system that your team and players are exploiting.
I added this, so consider this as well:Also, you may now defend your team as not America-based. You have previously said that your team is America based when your team first competed in WCS AM. SC2 community also consider your team as American team, as well.Also, there was no misconception about the clear fact that you have criticized WCS system for a long time, yet your team and players have taken advantage of the format and competed in WCS AM for more exposure. This is the obvious thing to do in a business stand point, but you should not criticize the system that your team and players are exploiting.
Why should I not criticize the system that our team and players are exploiting?
Give me one good reason. Your arguments seem nothing more than purely faux-academic, in the vein of those that think you win arguments by earning fallacy points. That's not how the real world works. There's a bunch of laws I don't like either but I have to abide by em. Welcome to real life.
Also feel free to find a quote where I said my team was American. I certainly don't remember that, but then I have dyspraxia induced memory problems so hey!
Why should I not criticize the system that our team and players are exploiting?Give me one good reason. Your arguments seem nothing more than purely faux-academic, in the vein of those that think you win arguments by earning fallacy points. That's not how the real world works. There's a bunch of laws I don't like either but I have to abide by em. Welcome to real life.Also feel free to find a quote where I said my team was American. I certainly don't remember that, but then I have dyspraxia induced memory problems so hey! Commentator Host of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
1 2 3 4 5 13 14 15 Next AllNicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of the pro-sovereignty France Arise party (DLF) has said he will support Marine Le Pen.
Mr. Dupont-Aignan announced his intentions to vote for Le Pen Friday evening on broadcaster France 2. “We signed a government agreement with an evolution of the programme, clarifications, and additions … I officially announce tonight that I will support Marine Le Pen and campaign with her on an expanded government project,” Dupont-Aignan told the channel RTL reports.
A meeting between Ms. Le Pen and the DLF leader occurred in private Friday afternoon as Le Pen sought the recommendation and endorsement of Mr. Dupont-Aignan going into the second round of the presidential race on 7 May. Until now, the DLF have rejected the Front National, and the endorsement could send shockwaves across the French political establishment.
The endorsement from Dupont-Aignan is not unusual as Le Pen supports many of the issues that he ran on in the first round of the presidential race including getting France out of the euro and being broadly against a European Union superstate.
Dupont-Aignan, who identifies himself with the legacy of World War Two hero and former French President Charles De Gaulle, obtained 1,695,186 votes in the first round or close to five per cent of all votes cast. The endorsement will likely further close the gap between Le Pen and her globalist rival Emmanuel Macron.
Nicolas Bay, the secretary general for the Front National, suggested there could be a possibility for Dupont-Aignan to become prime minister under a Le Pen presidency after endorsing her. Though the position of prime minister in France is largely ceremonial, the move would likely benefit the DLF in June’s legislative elections.
The endorsement is the largest name so far to support Le Pen in the second round of the elections and will likely carry the most weight in terms of votes. Dupont-Aignan will join Christine Boutin, founder and leader of the Christian Democratic Party, another first-round candidate, to have endorsed Le Pen. Many of the other candidates knocked out in the first round, except for far left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, have endorsed Macron.
Le Pen criticised the immediate endorsement of Macron by conservative Republican party candidate François Fillon who gave his support only five minutes after exit polls emerged. Le Pen called Fillon a “traitor” to his supporters for his actions. Despite his endorsement, Fillon admitted in February that if he were eliminated most of his supporters would flock to Le Pen.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart.comThe Honolulu Police Commission on Wednesday scrapped the idea of forming a citizens selection panel to help evaluate candidates seeking to become the city’s next police chief.
The decision was at least partially the result of fallout over commission Chairman Max Sword’s decision to nominate reality TV star Beth Chapman for a spot on the committee.
Chapman is married to Duane Chapman, otherwise known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, a Hawaii-based bail bondsman who used to have his own TV show.
Anthony Quintano/Civil Beat
On Wednesday, Sword acknowledged that Chapman’s nomination served as a distraction and during the public portion of the commission meeting said that the citizens panel selection process had “overshadowed” the objective of selecting a new police chief.
He also said that the ultimate decision should stay with the commissioners.
“I thought this would be a good tool to include an extra pair of eyes, so to speak, from individuals from outside the commission,” Sword said. “However, since making the announcement regarding the panel I and other commissioners have been inundated with positive and negative feedback from the public and endless suggestions on additional individuals who should be included on the panel.
“It is very obvious that no matter who we put on the citizens panel there will always be someone who feels left out.”
Chad Blair/Civil Beat
Sword said the reason he wanted to form a citizens advisory panel in the first place was because a similar process had been used in the past. The last time the commission selected a chief was in 2009 when it hired Louis Kealoha, who at the time was a captain with the Honolulu Police Department.
Kealoha retired earlier this year after he was named as the target in a U.S. Justice Department investigation into public corruption and abuse of power.
Shortly after Kealoha left the department Sword said he wanted the commissioners to form a committee made up of “regular people” to help analyze applicants.
Earlier this month, commissioners submitted the names of 13 people who they wanted to be considered for the selection panel. Those names were to be whittled down to five people who would then grade each of the 30 or so candidates who applied for the job.
When news broke that Chapman was one of the nominees it resulted in a fair share of ridicule on social media and other online forums, because of Chapman’s bombastic persona and her own run-ins with the law. Some were concerned that the commissioners also weren’t taking the process of hiring a new chief seriously.
There was also worry that other nominees from other commissioners were overly political or too detached from the communities that are being policed.
“No matter what outcome happens we’re always the targets, and that comes with the territory.” — Police Commissioner Cha Thompson
Among those nominated were former mayor Mufi Hannemann, former HPD Chief Lee Donohue and state Rep. Ryan Yamane.
Some observers criticized the commission for not having nominated people with direct ties to groups that have disproportionately high rates of contact with HPD, including Native Hawaiians, Micronesians and homeless.
But the commissioners said their nominees were good candidates who would have considered all views.
Several, including Commissioner Cha Thompson, a Native Hawaiian, noted just how difficult it would be to ensure all stakeholders had a voice on the panel. She also noted that it would be impossible to avoid scrutiny, especially from the media.
“No matter what outcome happens we’re always the targets, and that comes with the territory,” Thompson said. “We cannot please everybody and we’re weary. And those of us here on the committee can’t really fight back because it comes with the territory.”
Thompson added that even without a citizen panel, there should be some clearly defined mechanism for public input, a sentiment that was echoed by other commissioners.
Eugene Tanner/Civil Beat
Also Wednesday, the resignation of Marc Tilker was announced. He had once served as the chairman of the commission.
Tilker, a well-known Hawaii businessman, was not at Wednesday’s meeting. He was appointed to the commission in 2009 by Hannemann.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell reappointed Tilker to the commission in December 2013. His five-year term was set to expire at the end of 2018.
Commissioner Steve Levinson said he hoped Caldwell moves quickly to appoint a replacement so that commission business is not delayed.
Levinson, a former associate justice on the Hawaii Supreme Court, said that most commission decisions require a majority vote of the entire seven-member body to move forward.
He told Civil Beat that with Tilker gone, and Commissioner Luella Costales serving as a holdover after her term expired in December 2016, the commission could be in a precarious position if it is divided on a particular issue.
“The more shorthanded we are, the more likely it is that we’ll be hamstrung in terms of taking action,” Levinson said. “I hope that the mayor is relatively timely regarding filling vacancies, and I’m hoping that he’s not going to keep Luella dangling much longer.”
Caldwell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.PHOENIX, Arizona — The Phoenix Police Department (PPD) has lost 20 officers to murder since 1981 — seven of those officers were killed by illegal aliens. With its close proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border and being situated in the path of main drug trafficking routes for Mexican transnational organized criminal groups (cartels), the PPD and other law enforcement agencies in the Phoenix metro area have suffered numerous deaths and serious injuries to officers at the hands of criminals illegally in the United States. Some of these criminals had numerous previous deportations, but were able to re-enter the U.S. through its porous southern border.
Below is a list of Phoenix police officers murdered by illegal aliens since 1981:
July 1, 1981 – Officers Ignacio Conchos and John Davis were both shot by an illegal
alien who was an armed bank robbery suspect. Conchos died immediately and Davis succumbed to his
wounds one month later.
May 27, 1988 – Officer Ken Collins was murdered by an illegal alien carrying out an armed bank robbery in Phoenix. The illegal alien was tied to a drug gang.
March 26, 1999 – Officer Todd Atkinson was murdered by an illegal alien suspected of drug activity. Officer Atkinson was murdered after being ambushed by multiple suspects.
September 18, 2007 – Officer Nick Erfle was murdered by an illegal alien during a routine stop for a civil traffic infraction. Officer Erfle was shot once, the suspect returned to where Officer Erfle lay and fired one more round, execution-style
October 25, 2008 – Officer Shane Figueroa was killed by an illegal alien who was driving a vehicle while intoxicated.
May 19, 2013 – Officer Daryl Raetz was struck and killed by an illegal alien driving an SUV while on foot investigating an earlier traffic accident.
Additionally, the following Phoenix officers were seriously injured by illegal aliens:
May 21, 1994 – Phoenix Police Officer Saul Ayala was shot in the face by an illegal alien with a shotgun. The alien had previously been deported and was a gang member that called themselves the “Wetback Power Gang.”
September 15, 1997 – SWAT Officers Jim Kliewer and Officer Jerry Kilgore were shot by an illegal alien who had violated the terms of his probation. The suspect had been placed on probation by a judge even though he was an illegal alien.
December 21, 1997 – Phoenix Police Officer Brian Wilbur was seriously injured when he was struck by a car driven by an intoxicated illegal alien. Brian was attempting to remove an injured animal from the roadway.
March 26, 2001 – Officer Jason Schecterle was severely burned when an illegal alien driving a taxi cab collided into the rear of his police car. Officer Schecterle was eventually forced him to medically retire.
April 12, 2003 – Officer Robert Sitek was shot and seriously injured by an illegal alien involved in an armed car-jacking.
October 16, 2007 – Officer Brett Glidewell was shot in the chest by an armed illegal alien who had been stopped for a civil traffic violation.
Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas)The agreement was signed in Pamplona today by EIB Vice-President Román Escolano and the President of the Navarre Region, Uxue Barkos. The ceremony was also attended by Pablo Zalba, CEO of ICO, the institution working with the EIB to implement the Investment Plan for Europe in Spain.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is helping to facilitate access to affordable social housing in metropolitan areas of Navarre by providing EUR 40 million to finance the construction of 524 units. These will be Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB), i.e. buildings with very low energy consumption owing to their design and the materials used in their construction. The agreement is supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main plank of the European Commission's Investment Plan for Europe, also known as the Juncker Plan.
Miguel Arias Cañete, the Commissioner responsible for Climate Action and Energy, affirmed that "this project is a clear example of smart investment: people’s quality of life will be improved, energy consumption will be reduced and jobs will be created. These are the goals of the EU’s energy efficiency policies, and I therefore welcome this agreement and sincerely hope that investment of this type will continue to be requested and supported. "
At the signing cereThis investment will have a positive employment impact by helping to create over 700 jobs in the implementation phase, which will run until 2020. The financing provided by the EIB will be managed by NASUVINSA, the public agency responsible for urban development and social housing projects in Navarre. The 524 new units will be built in the next three years, up to 2020, in metropolitan areas of Navarre. A total of 78 000 square metres of housing will be constructed under the project.
mony, EIB Vice-President Román Escolano said: “The agreement that we are signing today combines two of the EIB’s priorities: fostering social integration in the European Union and helping to reduce the effects of climate change. As the EU bank, the EIB works to improve the life of Europe’s citizens. We are therefore delighted to support this project, which also represents a good example of the major implementation of the Investment Plan for Europe in Spain.”
The President of Navarre, Uxue Barkos, stressed that the EIB’s backing would enable Navarre “to continue pioneering progressive rental and energy efficiency policies and spearheading social innovation in the housing sector”. She went on to welcome “the agreement’s recognition and support for bold housing policies which are helping to transform a reality that unfortunately has been too determined by the bricks and mortar development culture in recent years, and helping to ensure that the public authorities turn their attention to people’s real needs and to the whole of society’s right to quality housing, whatever their origin, level of rent or family situation”.
ICO’s CEO, Pablo Zalba, stressed that "the social function of the Investment Plan for Europe is made manifest in agreements like today’s. For ICO, it is a matter of priority to continue working to promote the implementation of this EU initiative in Spain”.
All units will meet high energy efficiency standards in line with the EU energy performance directive that will come into force in 2020, which will require all new buildings to be nearly zero-energy. Thanks to the type of construction and the use of renewable energies, the units built under the project will consume up to 75% less energy than conventional housing. And tenants will pay less to stay warm in winter: heating costs will be 90% less than for buildings that are 30 years old or more. Average costs for the efficient new units will be EUR 75 a year compared to EUR 785 a year for an old building.
The new buildings will be used for affordable rented housing, so contributing to social integration and urban regeneration. A particular aim of the project is to provide access to housing for young people and people on low incomes, in line with current social housing legislation in Navarre.
Promoting social housing is one of the goals of the EU bank, which in Spain has already provided financing for similar social housing programmes in urban centres in Andalusia and more recently in Barcelona. The EIB has also supported projects aimed at increasing or improving the rented social housing stock in other European cities such as Amsterdam, Dublin and Lisbon.
The Juncker Plan in Spain and cooperation with ICO
The backing of this agreement by the Investment Plan for Europe will enable the EIB to provide favourable financing terms regarding both interest rates and maturity to ensure the implementation of the project.
Since the Investment Plan for Europe was launched, 53 projects involving total financing of over EUR 4.7 billion have been approved in this framework in Spain, leveraging more than EUR 28.5 billion worth of investment in the Spanish economy.
As the national promotional bank, the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) works together with the EIB to implement the Juncker Plan in Spain. In this context, the two institutions have carried out two risk-sharing operations involving the venture capital and infrastructure funds Fond-ICO Global and Fond-ICO Infraestructuras, worth EUR 250 and 50 million respectively. Both operations are supported by the Investment Plan for Europe and were the first of this type signed by the EIB with a national development bank in Europe.
As well as working together to implement the Juncker Plan, the EIB and ICO are cooperating closely on other projects with the joint aim of providing liquidity to Spanish SMEs. In 2016, the EU bank granted ICO EUR 1.8 billion worth of financing via six loan agreements designed to fund over 30 000 small and medium-sized enterprises, giving them access to the credit necessary to carry out their projects.May 30, 2012
Shaun Harkin explains why Marxists believe that acts of violence committed with the aim of advancing the struggle actually accomplish the opposite.
IN AN article titled "Why Marxists Opp |
Thursday.
"We’ve been asked for input; we’ve asked that our members be treated fairly," he added.
"We’re the face of Manitoba Hydro," Velie said of the 2,700 frontline workers he represents. "We transmit, we distribute, we repair."
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IBEW argues that it already needs an additional 300 people in ‘field jobs’ to maintain current services for Manitobans, Velie said.
Velie said that Manitoba Hydro grew substantially in the past few years, adding about 1,000 staff, but only 100 were IBEW members working in the field.
"We’re hopeful they get the numbers they’re seeking," Velie said, suggesting it would be very disruptive to lay off workers, whose collective bargaining agreements would allow some to bump more junior employees in some jobs, switch positions, or have the right to be retrained.
"Maybe they (Hydro) will suck it up if they only get 800 instead of 900" taking the buyout, Velie said.
Hydro has already slashed its senior management ranks.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.caAUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday said a Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Troy Jackson of Aroostook County, “claims to be for the people but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.”
LePage also said that Jackson has a “black heart” and that he should go back in the woods and cut trees “and let someone with a brain come down here and do some good work.”
Jackson, a logger by trade, responded by saying that though he’s often at odds with the governor, the chief executive’s bluster doesn’t bother him.
“I don’t think I have a black heart; most people know I have a good heart,” Jackson said Thursday afternoon. “I don’t have any problem with anyone saying anything about what I stand for. He can say whatever he wants; I just think it’s inappropriate the way he said it. We can be disagreeable without making nasty comments like that.”
LePage’s comments, which he made to a handful of reporters following a rally against new taxes Thursday morning in the State House, came after Jackson told reporters that the governor’s claims that legislative leaders have refused to talk to him about the biennial budget were “delusional” and “inaccurate.”
“If I get a little upset with Troy Jackson, who sits up in Aroostook County and does nothing for Maine people, look, this man this year tried to take my pension away, tried to sell the Blaine House, then he realized he didn’t own it, that’s the kind of guy he is. Let’s get beyond that and bring me someone that really wants to talk,” LePage said. “People like Troy Jackson, they ought to go back into the woods and cut trees and let someone with a brain come down here and do some good work.”
Jackson said worse things have been said about him.
“I don’t know if it’s where I’m from or the way I speak or something, but it comes up that maybe I’m not the smartest guy,” said Jackson. “I don’t know if I am or not. Maybe I am the country bumpkin, but that doesn’t bother me. What’s in my heart is good and I feel comfortable about that. I’ll go back in the woods any time I have to. That’s where I made my name in my district. … I feel comfortable that my district supports that.”
Jackson had criticized the governor earlier in the day for being unwilling to compromise or at least negotiate with legislative leaders.
“He just keeps going on with things that don’t seem to be accurate and [are] delusional,” said Jackson. “When he talks about working class people, I think that I represent working class people because that’s who I am. People I know very well are concerned very much about what the governor’s budget is going to do to them.”
Senate Majority Leader Seth Goodall, D-Richmond, defended Jackson and condemned LePage’s comments.
“We don’t condone that on the schoolyard. We don’t condone that at the kitchen table. Surely we don’t condone that from our governor,” said Goodall. “This is just a really disappointing day.”
But LePage said disappointment has been something he has dealt with throughout his term in office and that too many lawmakers from both parties “look at this as a game.”
“It’s so frustrating when you put yourself out there and you want to help people and they don’t want to,” said LePage. “This is the problem with Maine and the federal government, they think of this as a game. They look at this as, ‘OK, we’ll beat them.’ It’s not about beating them. It’s about doing the right thing. It’s about allowing Maine people to become more prosperous. It’s about getting yourself out of 50th place.”
Speaker of the House Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, called LePage’s comments “obscene” in a prepared statement.
“Gov. LePage’s language today crosses a new line, even for him,” said Eves. “I would not want my children to hear those vulgar comments from the highest official in our state on the evening news.”
Eliza Townsend, executive director of the Maine Women’s Lobby, reacted with dismay.
“In the midst of a heightened awareness of and fight against the culture of rape that is rampant in the United States, it is unacceptable that the governor of our state would make public comments such as those made by Gov. LePage earlier today about a state senator,” said Townsend in a written statement. “It is more than just being crass. To make a public statement about rape as a metaphor for political disagreement is disrespectful to victims of sexual assault and feeds into our society’s dangerous rape culture.”
LePage spokesman Peter Steele said the governor did not intend to make any link to the issue of sexual assault.
“No governor has fought more to eradicate domestic violence than Governor LePage,” said Steele. “He has zero tolerance for any kind of assault on women. To equate his remark to a ‘rape culture’ goes beyond sensational.”
The administration also distributed a transcript on Thursday of a 2011 Senate debate in which Sen. John Patrick, D-Rumford, made a similar comment about Vaseline, which was quickly objected to by a Republican senator and the Senate president.
LePage was asked by a reporter whether he was concerned that his comments about Jackson would be seen as offensive.
“Good,” said LePage before ending the interview by walking away. “It ought to because I’ve been taking it for two years.”(CNN) As he walked on a beach in the western Prince William Sound town of Whittier, seabird biologist David Irons was startled when he saw hundreds of white lumps on the black rock beach.
They were dead seabirds, in what he would discover were likely record numbers, a sign the ecosystem was being troubled by abnormally warm ocean water.
The dead birds, common murres that had starved, were lined up and left where the tide had dropped them on the shore.
"We have never found close to 8,000 birds on a 1-mile long beach before," Irons said of his early January discovery. "It is an order of magnitude larger than any records that I am aware of."
Biologists like Tamara Zeller have been boating around Prince William Sound scanning the beaches for dead and sickly murres. They also count the birds floating in the water, she told CNN affiliate KTVA
They cannot stop at every beach so they estimate the disturbing total of birds from the ship. When they are able to get to shore, the toll is always much higher.
At Whittier, one day about two weeks ago, she counted 98 of the black and white birds while on the water. On shore she saw 284. The day's total for January 7 was 3,000.
The birds, all of a species known as the common murre, appear to have starved to death, federal wildlife officials say.
Heather Renner, a supervisory biologist at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, said the Whittier die-off is part of a much larger event that started in August.
Renner estimates that 100,000 common murres have died.
"It's hard to know how many birds have died because Alaska is so big, and there are so many remote areas," Renner said.
The vast majority of the bird deaths are due to starvation. Tests on 100 carcasses revealed almost all the murres were emaciated, and the culprit is likely their lack of a good food supply.
"The fish that they eat tend to have a narrow band of water temperatures they can live in," Irons said. "If the temperature gets too warm or too cold the fish disappear."
And there's plenty of warm water off Alaska's coast right now. Since 2013, an expanse of seawater that's 2 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit above average has stretched from Asia to North America. Scientists have dubbed it "the blob," and they're studying it closely for its effect on wildlife.
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, murres usually spend the winter offshore, diving into the water for fish, crustaceans and mollusks. The average adult murre weighs 2 pounds and eats up to 30% of its body weight per day.
They typically dive as deep as 250 feet, but if they need to, almost 600 feet is possible. Their short wings make them excellent swimmers.
The 8,000 dead common murres that Irons observed doesn't put a dent in the overall population. Neither does Renner's estimation of 100,000 bird deaths. There are approximately 2.8 million murres in Alaska.
Their deaths give clues to a larger picture, Irons said.
"Seabird biologists say seabirds are indicators of the health of the ecosystem. Now they're dying and that is telling us something. We should be aware of that. If we don't record they're dying it goes unnoticed," Irons told KTVA.
The scientists also say that die-offs aren't uncommon. One in 1993 was estimated at 100,000 murres. There was one in 1997 -- during an El Niño -- that affected several types of birds. At that time scientists also focused on warm water and the lack of food.
And almost 190,000 murres perished after the Exxon Valdez crashed in the sound in 1989, spilling more than 1 million gallons of oil.
But Irons and Renner say this die-off is different in its scope and the persistence of the warm water blob that may have caused it.
"Scientists tend to get blasé about (die-offs) but this is bigger than I've ever seen," Irons told KTVA.
Renner agreed.
"This is probably one of the larger events and going over a longer period of time and a bigger geographical area," Renner said.
Murres aren't just being found on shorelines. They also have been picked up as far inland as Denali State Park, CNN affiliate KTUU reported
Being on land means trouble for murres, whose bodies are designed to take off from water. The inland murres are grounded and needed to be taken back to the ocean. Before that they are taken to a rehab facility.Walmart (yes, that Walmart), is launching a new open source DevOps platform for cloud and application lifecycle management. OneOps, which was developed by Walmart Labs, is meant to help developers write and launch their apps faster and make maintaining them easier.
The company first announced its plans to open source the service last year.
“Our mission is to give our customers the most agile, cost-effective, flexible application lifecycle management solution for enterprise-class workloads in the cloud,” the team says.
While Walmart may seem like an odd company to launch a tool like this, there can be little doubt that few other legacy retailers have used technology to their advantage to the degree that Walmart has. As the company notes today, though, it’s a cloud user and not a cloud provider.
“It makes sense for Walmart to release OneOps as an open source project so that the community can improve or build ways for it to adapt to existing technology,” Walmart CTO Jeremy King and WalmartLabs VP of Platforms Tim Kimmet write in today’s announcement. “We are no stranger to open source. We’ve been an active contributor, releasing technologies such as Mupd8 and hapi with the community.”
OneOps was actually founded in 2011 and Walmart acquired it in 2013. Today, about 3,000 engineers within the company use it to build and manage new products. Its e-commerce sites like walmart.com and Sam’s Club are managed through OneOps. The company says its engineers use the platform to commit over 30,000 changes per month.
So what can OneOps actually do? According to Walmart, one of the key benefits of the platform is that it works with multiple public and private cloud platforms out of the box. These include Microsoft Azure, Rackspace, AWS and CenturyLink Cloud, as well as any OpenStack cloud (Walmart was an early adopter of OpenStack and is still one of its largest users).
“Greater control of cloud environment means that instead of cloud providers dictating what proprietary tools and technologies we have to use, or how much bandwidth we can have, OneOps puts the control back into the hands of developers,” the team writes today.
The team says it also worked with the NoSQL database company Couchbase to integrate its product into its stack. OneOps is also set up to work with technologies like Node.js, Docker, ElasticSearch and many others.
Other features of OneOps include monitoring tools, auto-healing and -replace when things go wrong, and auto-scaling tools to manage the size of a given cluster. For admins, the platform also offers integration with enterprise identity services, quota management, as well as a configuration management system.
The code for the project is now available on GitHub. “Walmart continues to make important contributions to open source and we’re looking forward to seeing how the GitHub community engages with OneOps,” GitHub VP of Product Management Kakul Srivastava said. “It’s great to see a retail giant also become a software giant.”Nnekay and James are SO excited to be apart of the Maximum Fun Network, the support has been amazing! James talks about the amazing Broadway Play, Color Purple... which is NOT featuring Jennifer Hudson anymore. Which is too bad because James has another one of his famous impressions! James breaks DOWN the play and how everyone should check it out.
Nnekay takes us to the Protect Yourself/Protect Other People Korner! First, she breaks down what to do when an active shooter is present, with information from Homeland Security. The Protect Other People part covers how straight Allies can support the LGBT community.
James takes us through an Orlando News Round Up Korner. He tells us stories of survivals, victims, the police officers who came to help, and some of the potential legislation. He also explains how even he has a connection to some of the victims. How this tragedy hits so terribly close to home. Also, James breaks down how the rest of the world has shown solidarity... including a very surprising celebrity.
We got another Quizlet Korner! Will James stump Nnekay?!?!?!
So enjoy! Share, and spread the word!
Links!
https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/active_shooter_booklet.pdf
http://www.pride.com/firstperson/2016/6/14/5-ways-straight-allies-can-su...
http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/06/allies-after-orlando/In a major blow for the Government, Britain's largest children's charity, the NSPCC, criticised the regulations for parent helpers which it said threatened "perfectly safe and normal activities" and risked alienating the public.
Esther Rantzen, the founder of the Childline charity; paediatricians; teachers; children's authors; politicians and members of the public also joined the growing coalition opposing the Vetting and Barring Scheme, which could lead to one in four adults being screened.
Ministers even came under attack from one of Labour's most powerful voices on child welfare.
Barry Sheerman, Labour chairman of the Commons' children and families select committee condemned the way the policy was being implemented and demanded that Children's Secretary Ed Balls "get a grip on this".
Next month parents in England and Wales who take part in any formal agreement to look after children – even if it is as little as once a month – will be told they have to register with the new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) – at a cost of £64. From next summer, parents who have failed to register with the ISA could face prosecution.
Critics claim parents will be wrongly labelled as criminals. Others fear that those who currently give up their time to help out in schools and clubs could give up rather than go through the hassle of registering.
Wes Cuell, director of services for children and young people for the NSPCC, said: "The warning signs are now out there that this scheme will stop people doing things that are perfectly safe and normal, things that they shouldn't be prevented from doing.
"When you get this degree of public outcry there is generally a good reason for it. I think we are getting a bit too close to crossing the line about what is acceptable in the court of public opinion. We don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater."
Mr Cuell said that while it was important to strengthen rules to protect children from potential sex offenders, over zealous interpretation of such rules could threaten the civil liberties of thousands.
The NSPCC's concerns were echoed by Esther Rantzen, the founder of ChildLine.
"This is less about protecting children than about organisations protecting themselves. Of course we need to be alert to the safety of our children. We don't want a convicted child abuser taking a job as a tennis coach, a youth worker or a police officer. But we have to be sensible about this and I don't think we are."
Prof. Alan Craft, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the state had already gone too far in creating a culture which restricted freedom for young families. He said: "We have created a climate where adults feel they can't put an arm around a child who is upset, and there is a real danger that this move takes us yet further down that road."
The new rules lead on from increased child protection procedures which followed the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002. Last week, Sir Michael Bichard, the scheme's architect, suggested that ministers should revise the guidelines.
Mr Sheerman yesterday joined the pressure on the Government: "Ministers have got to get a grip on this.
"The policy, as I understand it, is not as draconian as it has been made out to be by the civil servants. My understanding is that it would be vetting at a pretty formal level. This is a cock-up and they have given a false impression and the sooner the minister gets a hold of this the better."
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: "This scheme is wildly over the top. How are we supposed to create a country fit for our children if we regard every adult looking after children as a potential threat?"
The Conservatives have already pledged they will curb the ISA's powers if they win the next election.
Teaching professionals expressed their dismay yesterday at the new regulations.
David Lyscom, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, said: "It is a knee-jerk reaction to the issue of child protection which will be full of unintended consequences. This is another example of the Government using a sledgehammer to crack a nut."
Anthony Seldon, the master of Wellington College, in Berkshire, said: "The scheme is as crazy a Government response as I have ever come across. It will not catch evil people who do these unspeakable things and it will divert resources away from other areas of child protection."
Parents' groups and children's authors also joined in.
Margaret Morrissey, the founder of family lobby group Parents Outloud, said: "The issue is the need to protect children from people who work in schools who have constant access to them. What we have now is so far removed from the issue it is ridiculous. "
Philip Pullman, author of the best-selling Dark Materials trilogy of children's novels, said: "It's dispiriting and sinister. Why should I pay £64 to a government agency to give me a little certificate to say I'm not a paedophile."
Chris Keates, the general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said schools might be "quite suspicious" if volunteers dropped out because of the new vetting procedures.
"I just think people would express suspicion if parents had been working with children for quite a while, then said 'well I'm not going to do it because I'm going to be checked' because people who do volunteer understand the need for safeguarding."
Additional reporting David Harrison, Melissa Kite and Julie HenryInvestigative Journalist Sharyl Attkisson: ‘Where’s My FBI File and Why Withhold it? What on Earth is in There?’
Investigative journalist, Sharyl Attkisson was one of the many people targeted by the Obama administration for surveillance.
Her personal computer and CBS laptop were hacked after she began filing stories about Benghazi that were unflattering to the Obama administration. Attkisson wrote a New York Times bestseller documenting this called ‘Stonewalled’.
Today, Attkisson took to her Twitter account asking why the FBI is withholding her entire file with no explanation.
Why withhold my entire @FBI file with no explanation (as required by law)? What on earth is in there? — Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) April 17, 2017
Where’s my @FBI file and why withhold it? — Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) April 17, 2017
Attkisson also posted her Obama-era surveillance timeline citing:
I couldn’t find any comprehensive timelines cross-referencing Obama-era surveillance of whistleblowers, journalists and other U.S. citizens with Russia surveillance allegations. So I built one. Please note: temporal proximity of events doesn’t necessarily imply a connection.
In this timeline, Attkisson reveals when she began to be targeted by the Obama admin and how it progressed…
October 2012: CBS begins airing Attkisson’s Benghazi stories which rely on whistleblowers and numerous government-linked confidential sources. These sources report that the Executive Branch is clamping down on leaks to reporters re: Benghazi. DOJ continues its stepped-up National Security Division cyber efforts, holding specialized training at DOJ headquarters for the National Security Cyber Specialists (NSCS) network and the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS). November 13, 2012: The F.B.I. initiates a body of cyber security case investigations that would later relate to Attkisson’s computer intrusions. December 2012: Two intelligence-connected sources separately suggest to Attkisson that she’s likely under government surveillance due to her reporting. One source tells her the government has pushed the envelope like never before and that public would be shocked to “learn the extent that the government is conducting surveillance of private citizens.” As Attkisson arranges a forensic exam of her computer, evidence later shows the intruders then attempted to cover their tracks and to erase evidence of their intrusion. However, the erasures leave additional forensic evidence. January 2013: Two forensics examinations confirm unauthorized remote intrusions and monitoring of Attkisson’s work and personal computers. The information is not publicly reported at this time. June 2013: The FBI secretly opens a case on Attkisson’s computer intrusions under the auspices of a national security issue. The FBI contacts CBS without Attkisson’s knowledge, but fails to contact or interview Attkisson. (The FBI later withholds Attkisson’s FBI file in its entirety without explanation, and other documents, despite multiple Freedom of Information Act requests.) News of the FBI case involving Attkisson’s computer intrusions is circulated internally to the Justice Department’s national cyber security group, and grouped with a set of cases opened in November 2012.
Read the rest of the timeline outlined by Sharyl Attkisson here.Conservative leadership candidate Brad Trost wants the Conservative party to offer refunds to candidates who are considering dropping out of the leadership race.
Trost’s campaign manager Mike Patton posted a video to Twitter Tuesday morning in which he said Trost is very concerned that the Conservative party has not made allowances for all 14 candidates to have a slot on the preferential ballot.
@BradTrostCPC Campaign Update for Tuesday March 7th – gently move candidates off the ballot #cpcldr #canpoli pic.twitter.com/HC3LOm4jVs — Mike Patton (@Mike__Patton) March 7, 2017
The Conservative Party of Canada is allowing only ten spots on the preferential ballot.
“Most of the candidates who just wanted to have their say have had their say. Brad is suggesting that we are offer to reimburse … the party, that is … offer to reimburse any candidates who wish to withdraw at this point, not only their $50,000 security deposit but some or all of the $50,000 registration fee.”
The idea, said Patton, is to make it simpler for voters and to ensure that nobody is stuck with a long-term debt.
“Every leadership ends with a number of candidates stuck with quite a substantial debt and we don’t want to see that.”
Patton said Trost sent a note to the party asking if it would consider reimbursements. Patton encourages viewers to let the party know “this is a good idea.”
According to Elections Canada, “leadership contestants might be required to pay a contest entry fee or other service fees to the registered party. These fees may be refunded to the contestant at the discretion of the party.”
Conservative party spokesman Cory Hann said that candidates who inform the party before the March 31 deadline, which is the deadline candidates have to remove themselves from the race and not appear on the ballot, will be refunded the compliance deposit of $50,000. He said the party would expedite this refund to show good faith.
Anyone who stays in the race after that deadline would have to wait until the full leadership race has concluded and all appropriate filings are finished before receiving their refund for the compliance fee.
Conservative strategist and vice-chair of Summa Strategies Tim Powers, meanwhile, said that offering buy-outs for candidates is a bad idea.
Candidates know the rules upon entering, he said.
“It’s a bit of sour grapes after the fact. It’s like saying, ‘If you buy me off, I’ll step out.’ I don’t think that’s the message the Conservatives want … It’s a bad message.”Activision’s announced Modern Warfare 3 made $400 million in its first 24 hours in the US and UK, selling 6.5 million units in the process.
The sales figure is up 900,000 units on last year’s Black Ops, and is a million more than what Battlefield 3 did in its first five days.
The $400 million mark is a staggering statistic that makes the Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer collaboration the third straight year Activision has made “day one launch records across all forms of entertainment,” according to the press release it sent out.
Black Ops sold 5.6 million units in 2010 when it made $360 million in its first day, while Modern Warfare 2 sold 4.7 million and made $310 million when it released in 2009.
Activision boss Bobby Kotick claims LTD sales for the entire CoD franchise “exceed worldwide theatrical box office for “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings,” two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.
“Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row,” he added.
Acti Publishing Eric Hirshberg added: “Call of Duty is more than a game. It’s become a major part of the pop cultural landscape. It is a game that core enthusiasts love, but that also consistently draws new people into the medium. It is the most intense, adrenaline pumping entertainment experience anywhere.
“I would like to thank our incredible teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games for making a brilliant game. But most of all, I would like to thank our millions of passionate fans worldwide. We made this game for you.”
MW3 went on sale worldwide on Tuesday for PS3, 360, Wii – that particular version made by Treyarch – and PC.In a March New Yorker profile, Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter of “Michael Clayton” and “Duplicity,” told the nightmare tale of being in a New York taxi when the cell-chatting driver ran a red light and hit another car.
“So they’re lifting the other guy out of the car, and I’m thinking, I’m lucky,” he said, adding: “Then I see them come at my cab with those things, the Jaws of Life.” He’d fractured his rib and hip.
Studies show that drivers who talk on cellphones are four times more likely to be in a crash and drive just as erratically as people with an 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level.
In one study cited by the highway safety agency, “drivers found it easier to drive drunk than to drive while using a phone, even when it was hands-free.”
The agency buried its head in the sand, keeping the research to itself for years and ignoring the fact that soon nearly all Americans would own cellphones and that the phones are always getting smarter and more demanding, putting a multimedia empire at your fingertips while you’re piloting a potentially lethal piece of artillery.
Photo
Americans are so addicted to techno-surfing that they’ve gotten hubristic about how many machines they can juggle simultaneously. One reporter I know recently filed a story from his laptop while driving on the Pacific Coast Highway.
As John Ratey, the Harvard professor of psychiatry who specializes in the science of attention, told The Times’s Matt Richtel for his chilling series, “Driven to Distraction,” using digital devices gives you “a dopamine squirt.”
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That explains the Pavlovian impulse of people who are out with friends or dates to ignore them and check their BlackBerrys and cellphones, even if 99 out of 100 messages are uninteresting. They’re truffle-hunting for that scintillating one.
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Americans woke up one day to find that they were don’t-miss-a-moment addicts who feel compelled to respond to all messages immediately.
The tech industry is our drug dealer, feeding the intense social and economic pressure to stay constantly in touch with employers, colleagues, friends and family.
It also explains why Christopher Hill, a 21-year-old from Oklahoma who killed a woman last September when he ran a red light while on his cellphone and rammed into her S.U.V., tried to keep dialing and driving with a headset his mother gave him two months after the accident.
He “found his mind wandering into his phone call so much that ‘I nearly missed a light,’ ” he told Richtel. Now he says he rarely uses the phone.
Hollywood offered a cautionary story with the depressing “Seven Pounds,” which begins with Will Smith spoiling his perfect life when he BlackBerrys while driving in his fancy car with his gorgeous new fiancée. He crashes into another car, killing six strangers and his girlfriend. The movie ends with a poisonous jellyfish in an icy bathtub. Don’t ask.
Left, literally, to our own devices, we spiral out of control. States should outlaw drivers from talking on phones — except in an emergency — and using digital devices that cause you to drift and swerve; or at least mandate a $10,000 fine for getting in an accident while phoning or Twittering.
Auto companies are busy creating new crack hits for our self-destructive cravings. Ford is developing a system that would let drivers use phones and music players and surf the Internet with voice commands and audible responses.
Sounds like a computerized death machine. But, as our dealers know, we’ll never disconnect.Jun 19, 2017 at 17:35 // News
Nina Lyon Author
In the previous article about Bitcoin price trends at Coinidol.com, the experts have predicted that the price of Bitcoin could hit $3,000 by the end of December 2017. However, it’s June now and last week the Bitcoin price has already reached $3,000.
We contacted dozens of leading world experts in the field of cryptocurrency, among which are top managers of Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund PLC, Gemini Exchange, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Alphabit.Fund and many others.
We asked them to comment on the possible future of the Bitcoin price and whether we should expect a victorious continuation of Bitcoin’s price rise to $3,000 and above.
Legal recognition in Japan
One of the main reasons for this year’s largest price rise is the official recognition of Bitcoin as a currency in Japan.
The Japanese cryptocurrency market is flourishing and other countries seem to be warming their attitude towards cryptocurrency use in society.
Daniel Masters, Director at Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund PLC stated to Coinidol:
“Our stated target as of December 2015 has remained at $4,400 by year end 2017. I can say that there are obvious explanations behind this most recent price movement. Mainly, positive legislation out of Japan and Australia, and subsequent higher than expected trading volumes.”
Adam Norrie, Portfolio Manager and investment adviser at Bitstocks, a bitcoin investment company from London, said that currently, where the Bitcoin price is moving can be heavily attributed to a few reasons and also named Japan legitimizing Bitcoin as legal tender as the first reason for the Bitcoin price to grow. He stated:
“Japan legitimising Bitcoin as legal tender. This has been a huge step forward for Bitcoin and has now set the precedent for other countries to follow and has led to an influx of new capital entering the Bitcoin market.”
Juan J. Manini-Rios, CEO at SHA256 Trading S.A., a proprietary trading firm and market maker focused on developing and implementing algorithmic trading patterns in bitcoin markets, believes that there are several factors to consider that are driving this Bitcoin buying frenzy. He commented to Coinidol.com:
“During the last weeks there have been some very good news for Bitcoin of which worthwhile mentioning are the regulation of the cryptocurrency as an approved payment method in Japan and the resumption of withdrawals at the main Chinese exchanges. Additionally some jurisdictions that until last year were leaning towards a hard stance against cryptocurrencies are now looking much more friendly. Russia is a clear example of such situation with Vladimir Putin very recently meeting Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin and so on. 2017 certainly presents itself as much more regulatory friendly compared to 2016 and earlier.”
Mark Dukas, Bitcoin and Blockchain Consultant, cryptocurrency trader at BitcoinSmartMoney.com, stated:
"Over the past few months we have seen great acceptance from Japan. Japan went through the "Lost Decade" in the 90's and early 2000's and has now become a pioneer for mainstream adoption. This allows people interested in alternative payment systems to use Bitcoin. This also fuels price increases due to the limited supply of coins in the ecosystem. When mainstream adoption is coupled with speculation we have tremendous price moves."
No double tax in Australia
The Australian government has been planning to solve the problem of double taxation on cryptocurrency for several years. Finally, the Australian government decided to drop the goods and services tax (GST) on digital currency purchases, including Bitcoin, starting in July 2017.
Jonathan Millet, Bitcoin Investor, CEO of NEWSBTC, points out the importance of this decision:
“Cut of double tax on btc in Australia, legalization and increased use and investment in Japan, more funds going to crypto in general and much talk of scaling by end of 2017. Next 7 months if scaling progresses then 4 months plus. Australia set to implement very soon while Japan also expect to cut purchase tax in July”
Cryptocurrency traders are expecting another wave in Bitcoin price rise by the beginning of July, while the Australian blockchain and Bitcoin-related businesses that have relocated abroad will probably now considers the possibility of returning home.
More ICOs will drive cryptocurrencies
The emergence of the ICOs on the market makes the cryptocurrency investment industry stronger. The whole cryptocurrency market cap has already surpassed $100 billion USD and keeps growing.
Adam Norrie stated to Coinidol.com that new money entering the industry is also a reason for the Bitcoin price to continue growing. He said:
“We can chart this due to the fact that cryptocurrencies, in general, have grown in regards to their market caps and that this has not impacted the Bitcoin price at all in a negative way but rather shows how as a collective the space is growing.”
Malcolm Pallé, Managing Director at MiningMaven and Non-Executive Director at Coinsilium, also commented:
“Such fluctuations are not unusual when a new asset class is created. Whale Oil went from zero to a war time peak if $67.2 a barrel on 1864 as new use cases were discovered in lighting, lubrication and more. Better people look in the direction of the fundamental drivers for the exponential growth in cryptocurrency adoption and usage if they want to make some sense of the current speculative noise. A good starting point would be the new funding paradigm with ICOs which is driving huge numbers of new adopters into the space.”
Daniel Masters noted:
“I believe we are witnessing the emergence of a new use case for digital assets, bitcoin included. Since 2009 and the inception of bitcoin, the perception has been that digital assets initially could solve problem associated with currency. With the advent of private blockchains, we began to see the emergence of the solutions built for problems in trading and settlement. Now, with the emergence of a vibrant ICO market, we have moved to a new phase where digital assets can solve problems in capital formation.”
Juan J. Manini-Rios, also stated:
“We must consider that right now Bitcoin is less than 50% of the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies. There is much more going on in the blockchain assets space that just bitcoin. This means that it is now possible to invest money in this asset class with some degree of diversification which of course is very helpful for big investors that want to capture the return of the sector while hedging idiosyncratic risks of each specific coin. Furthermore crypto derivatives markets are slowly becoming a reality which adds another dimension to the potential investment and trading strategies that can be implemented |
frustration. I had most to gain and nothing to lose about the whole truth coming out - until my diagnosis of cancer. To those victims' relatives who can bear to hear me say this: they continue to have my sincere sympathy for the unimaginable loss that they have suffered. Profound dislocation To those who bear me ill will, I do not return that to you. And, lastly, I must turn to my conviction and imprisonment. To be incarcerated in a far off land, completely alien to my way of life and culture has been not only been a shock but also a most profound dislocation for me personally and for my whole family. I have had many burdens to overcome during my incarceration. I had to sit through a trial which I had been persuaded to attend on the basis that it would have been scrupulously fair. In my second, most recent, appeal I disputed such a description. I had to endure a verdict being issued at the conclusion of that trial which is now characterised by my lawyers, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, as unreasonable. A Libyan aircraft leaves Glasgow Airport with Megrahi on board To me, and to other right thinking people back at home in Libya, and in the international community, it is nothing short of a disgrace. As a result of my surrender, and that judgment of the Court, I had to spend over 10 years in prison. I cannot find words in my language or yours that give proper expression to the desolation I have felt. This horrible ordeal is not ended by my return to Libya. It may never end for me until I die. Perhaps the only liberation for me will be death. And I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear: all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do. The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction. I have been faced with an appalling choice: to risk dying in prison in the hope that my name is cleared posthumously or to return home still carrying the weight of the guilty verdict, which will never now be lifted. The choice which I made is a matter of sorrow, disappointment and anger, which I fear I will never overcome. I say goodbye to Scotland and shall not return. My time here has been very unhappy and I do not leave a piece of myself. But to the country's people I offer my gratitude and best wishes.
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StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionSaturday’s UFC Fight Night 92 event ended in exciting fashion when Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres battled for five rounds in the FS1-televised featherweight headliner.
Rodriguez (9-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) stayed perfect inside the octagon when he topped Caceres (12-9 MMA, 7-7 UFC) by split decision at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City.
“Pantera” wasn’t the only one to earn a victory of note at the event, though. For more, check out 45 post-fight facts about UFC Fight Night 92.
* * * *
General
The UFC-Reebok Athlete Outfitting payout for the event totaled $137,500.
Debuting fighters went 1-4 at the event.
Rodriguez, Caceres, Marcin Tybura and Teruto Ishihara earned $50,000 UFC Fight Night 92 fight-night bonuses.
UFC Fight Night 92 drew an announced attendance of 6,689 for a live gate of $481,033.
Betting favorites went 9-1 on the card. Two fights had even odds.
Total fight time for the 12-bout card was 2:37:48.
Main card
Rodriguez’s five-fight UFC winning streak in featherweight competition is the third longest active streak in the division behind Max Holloway (eight) and Conor McGregor (seven).
Rodriguez extended his winning streak to seven fights. He hasn’t suffered a defeat since December 2012.
Rodriguez has earned four of his five UFC victories by decision.
Rodriguez has out-struck all five opponents he’s faced in UFC competition.
Rodriguez has completed at least one takedown in all five of his UFC appearances.
Caceres fell to 2-1 since he returned to the UFC featherweight division in January.
Caceres fell to 2-4 in his past six UFC appearances.
Dennis Bermudez’s (16-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC) nine victories in UFC featherweight competition are third most in divisional history behind Holloway (11) and Darren Elkins (10).
Bermudez has earned six of his nine UFC victories by decision.
Bermudez’s 38 takedowns landed in UFC featherweight competition are the most in divisional history.
Rony Jason (14-6 MMA, 4-3 UFC) extended his winless skid to three fights. He hasn’t earned a victory since March 2014.
Jason fell to 1-3 with one no-contest in his past five UFC appearances.
Thales Leites (26-6 MMA, 11-5 UFC) improved to 6-2 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in August 2013.
Leites’ seven stoppage victories in UFC middleweight competition are tied for fourth most in divisional history behind Anderson Silva (11), Chris Leben (nine) and Nate Marquardt (eight).
Leites’ five submission victories in UFC middleweight competition are tied with Rousimar Palhares and Demian Maia for most in divisional history.
Leites has attempted 16 submissions in UFC middleweight competition, the second most in divisional history behind Kendall Grove (17).
Chris Camozzi (22-11 MMA, 9-8 UFC) fell to 3-2 since he returned to the UFC for a third stint in April 2015.
Camozzi has suffered all of his UFC stoppage losses by submission.
Camozzi became the 14th fighter to suffer four or more submission losses in UFC competition. Melvin Guillard holds the record for most submission losses in UFC history with six.
Santiago Ponzinibbio (23-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) three-fight UFC winning streak in welterweight competition is tied for the third longest active streak in the division behind Stephen Thompson (seven) and Maia (five).
Trevor Smith (14-6 MMA, 4-3 UFC) has earned all four of his UFC victories by decision. He hasn’t stopped an opponent inside the distance since June 2012.
Joseph Gigliotti (7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had his seven-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
Maryna Moroz’s (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) three victories in UFC strawweight competition are tied for second most in divisional history behind Joanna Jedrzejczyk (six).
Moroz landed just 6.7 percent (17 of 251) of her significant strikes attempts, the lowest accuracy rate in UFC history (minimum of 100 attempts).
Danielle Taylor (7-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) suffered the first decision loss of her career.
Preliminary card
Court McGee (18-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC) improved to 2-1 since he returned from a nearly two-year layoff in December.
McGee improved to 4-2 since he dropped to the welterweight division in February 2013.
McGee has earned five of his seven UFC victories by decision.
David Teymur (5-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has earned all of his career stoppage victories by knockout. That includes both of his UFC wins.
Jason Novelli (11-2-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
Teruto Ishihara (9-2-2 MMA, 2-0-1 UFC) has earned eight of his nine career victories by knockout. That includes both of his UFC wins.
Horacio Gutierrez (2-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
Cub Swanson’s (23-7 MMA, 8-3 UFC) 13 victories in UFC/WEC featherweight competition are second most in combined divisional history behind Jose Aldo (16).
Tatsuya Kawajiri (35-10-2 MMA, 3-3 UFC) suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in his more than 16-year career.
Kawajiri has suffered all three of his UFC losses by decision.
Kawajiri has completed 18 takedowns in his five UFC appearances. He’s landed at least one in all six of his fights.
Justin Ledet (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) improved to 2-0 with one no-contest since he returned to MMA competition after a nearly four-year layoff in February.
Ledet earned the first decision victory of his career.
Ledet’s 113 significant strikes landed set a record for the most by any debuting UFC heavyweight.
Chase Sherman (9-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) suffered the first decision loss of his career.
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 92, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
FightMetric research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.Yesterday, Chris Taylor announced his new evolution-thwacking prehistoric RTS-RPG Wildman, so naturally, we talked about that until we, ourselves, evolved extra mouths so we could more efficiently talk about evolution. But what about, well, everything else? In ye olde year of 2010, after all, Taylor and co debuted Kings and Castles, a “biggest ever” fantasy RTS with dragons, chickens, and hopefully – for the sake of competition – a few things in between. But then it went on hold and dropped off the face of the Earth. So, is it dead along with the “old Chris” who focused on size to the detriment of substance? In addition, we discuss Planetary Annihilation, a GPG-developed, Supreme-Commander-inspired mod platform/operating system called Project Mercury, and why he certainly doesn’t plan on being the first high-profile Kickstarter to fail on the follow-through.
RPS: So then, what’s the deal with Kings and Castles? Is it still on hold, or has a more unfortunate fate befallen it?
Chris Taylor: What happened there was, we were working on Kings and Castles. We were having a hard time finding a publisher. If you remember, I said in the first blog that we wanted to build the biggest RTS game ever. Well, that was part of my mentality. I was still sort of in the past, where bigger was better. We wanted to deliver more of everything to the customer. Bigger armies and bigger maps. That was my frame of mind throughout most of the ‘90s. It became clear to us that that was going to take us much longer to find a publishing partner for.
Now, Microsoft came along with Age of Empires Online, and we said, “Well, we have a business to take care of here, so we’re going to have to take a break from Kings and Castles.” Due in no small part to the fact that we didn’t have a publisher for it, and we didn’t have our own money to fund it. We were going to have to wait until those stars aligned. Plus, working on Age of Empires was fantastic. We were all big fans of the franchise. It seemed like, “Yeah, let’s definitely work on something cool while we sort that out in the background.” Age of Empires got bigger and bigger in terms of our commitment to it. It took up more and more of our time and focus.
Meanwhile, I started noodling around at home on a special secret project called Project Mercury. Mercury was an entirely web-based gaming platform. It was all written in Javascript on Canvas. I was just thrilled with how powerful the platform was. So I started working on a game design for Project Mercury called Wildman. I was going to actually do some RTS stuff inside of that. But then what I realized was is that the nature of web is that you have a big pipe, a streaming pipe, but you don’t have a big install footprint. You have to work with a small data set, because otherwise you have the customer waiting to fill up their memory every time they go to play.
I started looking at action-RPG. I said, “Oh, yeah, this makes way more sense. I want action-RPG and I’m going to bring some RTS elements in.” Then we said, “Well, heck. This is really exciting.” Kickstarter, last year, just kept growing in momentum, and we said, “You know what? I’ll bet you we can get out there and Kickstarter this and people would really dig what we’re doing.But we kind of intuitively knew that people would wonder about Kings and Castles. We want to be really honest and say, “Look. Kings and Castles… It’s sort of like, we don’t know how big the Kickstarter funds could go with the project. We don’t think we could raise $5 to $10 million on Kickstarter.” It was just an honest question we had to answer.
But we think we can do a game that starts smaller and grows over time as we get more and more people involved in the project. When you go Kickstarter, you have to make a commitment and deliver the game. You can’t just make stuff up. You have to commit to what you think you can. So that’s where the Kings and Castles versus Wildman debate started and ended. It comes down to what we thought we could fund. We still believe that. We still confidently believe in that decision.
But it’s very sad for me, because of course Kings and Castles… I was just so excited. We started the Kings and Castles video blog, and I was like… The greatest thing ever was to share the development, to go around and talk to the team members with a camera and all those things we couldn’t do with a regular publisher. If you talked to a regular publisher’s PR and marketing team, they would have a frickin’ heart attack if you were gonna show stuff off and you weren’t going to make it all exclusive and do all that regular stuff. You were just gonna take a camera round and show people what was going on in development.
The real truth of it is is that those video blogs were just fabulous. They were doing what I always wanted to do. So Kickstarter comes along, and one of the things with Kickstarter, especially when Tim Schafer did his Double Fine Adventure, is like, “We’re going to be showing you what’s going on!” And I’m thinking, “Yeah! That’s awesome. We’re with you.” Kings and Castles was a little early. The idea was early by a couple of years. But Wildman is going to hit that right on the head. We’re going to go out. We’re going to Kickstarter. We’ll expose the game’s development just like we did. Lots of updates. Lots of involvement with folks.
RPS: You were saying that, for the longest time, your approach to design and things like that was going bigger and bigger and making things as enormous as possible. Do you think that, ultimately, that sort of approach to game development leads to this end point, where it’s just too big to be feasible? Or it’s too big for people to stay creative. There’s too many risks involved.
Chris Taylor: Yeah. It’s flawed thinking. You grow as an individual. When I was in my 20s and 30s, I was very much into bigger, because things were small. It’s like transistor counts on a chip. If you design a chip and you’ve got 2,000 transistors, it’s easy to go to 4,000 or 8,000 or 16,000. But when you’re at 1.2 billion, you don’t just go to 2 billion. You cap out. I call it the S curve. The S is kind of skewed.
You go up this steep part, and then you flatten out at the top, and you realize that bigger isn’t better. More isn’t better. So you have to retreat to your roots and say, “What’s great gameplay mechanics?” Minecraft taught everyone in the industry a very valuable lesson, that a singular vision, a passion for something, doesn’t have to have state-of-the-art graphics. It just has to have fabulous gameplay. It also reminded us of where we began. People don’t just want high polygon counts [laughs]. Which we were really wrapped around for a while. We were all about the poly counts. It seems like there was a 10-year stretch where all anyone wanted to see was more. They wanted to see water and refraction, lighting models and shit, and you were just like, “We gotta have more.” And eventually somebody hit the reset switch. We came back to reality and said, “Uh, no, gameplay is what we really want. Gameplay mechanics, rules systems, the way that all these systems interrelate, these are what’s important.” Frankly, they’re way more fun to design, too.
RPS: It does bring us to an interesting point, though. You’re going off and creating a new world and a new set of mechanics and things like that. Meanwhile, someone Kickstartered a project that’s in a very similar vein to what you used to work on, Planetary Annihilation. Which is sort of taking what you did with Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander up to an even bigger place.
Chris Taylor: Yeah. When I saw that, I kind of saw the old Chris, you know? I’ve been a firm believer that multiple battlefields is not a good idea. You look at chess and you try to go to 3D chess, it just blows your mind. The brain is powerful, but the brain has limits. Only savant genius type of people can play on multiple boards at once.
Of course, I have no details as far as what they’re doing. I just saw the video like you did, and I can only infer. But that was the old Chris thinking. One of the things we’re doing in Wildman is single-player. It’s the central focus of the game. We believe that the majority of the people out there that are on the PC right now are solo players. Then you leave the door open and you go into a multiplayer game. That multiplayer game is PvE. It’s a cooperative multiplayer game. Folks are getting together and playing against the computer. Then there’s a third phase, down the road, where you can play against other humans.
But that’s a small percentage. It’s in the 10 to 20 percent range. If you look at the number of copies of a given game, like a Diablo III, that are sold, and how many people are online playing even multiplayer, let alone the PvP, the numbers drop off very rapidly. Our goal is to entertain the largest number of people. It’s a core belief that you have to follow your customers and give them what they want to play. You can’t just go and make something because you want to get together with your friends and play it.
The old adage goes, “I designed this game for me.” It sounds good. It sounds good politically. It sounds like you’re an artist with a vision and you’re building the game for yourself. But it’s actually not quite right. I’m not going to say it’s dead wrong, but I’m going to say that when you’re building a product… When you jump in your car and turn the key, you really hope that they were thinking of you when they designed the car [laughs]. So that’s my way of looking at it.
RPS: So then, Kings and Castles – is that also a relic of the old Chris? Or do you want to eventually release it?
Chris Taylor: There’s some great aspects of the game that don’t relate to its size. We can easily manage the size element, the scope of the battlefields and so on. But there’s a lot of love for Kings and Castles here. I don’t think it’s dead. I think it’s actually going to be… Put it this way. If we move forward with Wildman, one of the questions that will come up invariably in the many dialogues we have with the community is going to be, “Do you guys want to see Kings and Castles? Should we open that up for discussion and see if we can raise the money?” They’ll have the answer to that question. I think, ultimately, I’m just going to put the question to the folks who would be buying and playing the game. It’s a pretty closed system at that point. If they say they want it, we’re going to try to figure out how to build it.
RPS: You said that Mercury is a platform. But is it mainly just a map or scenario editing tool for Wildman, or is there more to it than that?
Chris Taylor: It’s actually an operating system. Would you believe that when I sat down to create it, I realized that I can launch apps realtime, just pull them off the server and launch them? So it’s a whole operating system. You can have a word processor running in it. You can run an emulator for a 6502-based game. You could play solitaire while chatting with your friends. It’s a full-on platform. You could log in anywhere and get access to your virtual desktop.
In fact, the very first name I gave it was “the Infinite Desktop.” It’s basically a scrollable, zoomable thing, just like Supreme Commander. You can zoom and zoom out. You can have 5,000 different apps running all over this desktop. The one that you’re zoomed in on is the one that’s actually sucking up the CPU. This was a secret project of mine, and I’m just like, “This is awesome, but I need content for it.” I’d show it to people who are my friends in the industry and they’d say, “Well, Chris, nobody wants a platform. They want a game. They want an application. They don’t just want to run around on an empty desktop.”
Well, that’s when I started getting more serious about what Wildman was going to be on the platform. That’s where Wildman really came from. When folks go to use the mod tool for Wildman, what they’re going to do is launch an app. They’re going to log in. They’re going to be on the desktop. They’ll be able to scroll around and they’ll see this big, wide-open infinite space. Geometrically, it’s infinite, or near infinite. I use the double-precision floating-point value, which means that if you scroll, you’d scroll for a thousand years to get to the end. The app you would launch is the mod tool app, and if you closed your web browser and logged in on another computer, it would appear exactly where you left it.
It’s a completely persistent work space. It’s probably one of the coolest damn things I’ve ever hacked together. To be honest with you. I was sitting there going, “Holy shit, this is really amazing.” I didn’t really come up with an application until I put all these pieces together and I said, “Oh, wait. If we go Kickstarter with Wildman as a compile C app, now we can use this whole system here as a development tool platform. And then what we can do is open it up to the community, and the community can start developing apps on here. That’s even better! Then we’ll have some real synergy as to how all these pieces fit together.” I hope that makes sense.
RPS: Sort of. So it’s a full-blown operating system? When and how do you plan to release it?
Chris Taylor: We’re hoping that, with this Kickstarter, I’m going to be able to turn this up and we’re going to be able to have a real reason to be supporting it now with the demand that’s placed on it from the Kickstarter community. From the backers, frankly, that want to start modding the game. It would happen six, seven, eight months into the development, when we release our first beta set of tools for folks. But the whole thing is that we’d release the stuff as soon as people wanted to play with it. Gone are the old rules of, “Wait until it’s really perfect and polished.” If you tell people, “Hey, listen, if you want to wade into this and fiddle around with it in an unfinished state, go for it,” they can become part of the development effort on it. It’s kind of a crowdsourced development effort.
We could spend all day going through the variables and how they interrelate and what this is going to do to the business. It’s so exciting. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen in the next couple of years in game development. I tend to think all good things, because by nature I’m a positive person, but there might be some disasters that are going to happen too. I just don’t know.
RPS: Yeah, certainly. I don’t think that we’ve had the first real major Kickstarter flop yet, or the one that comes away with a million dollars from its campaign and then never materializes.
Chris Taylor: Yeah. Well, it ain’t gonna be me [laughs]. We really have a sense of ethics, business ethics. Most everything that we’ve worked on, going back for years now, has shipped on time and on budget. We’ve got a great reputation. Plus, for us, it’s not about money. It’s about game-making. Gas Powered Games has been very focused on its art and its craft rather than on the dollar. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve chosen the art over the dollar. Yes, it hurt me as a businessman, but as a creative person and as an artistic person, that’s what allows me to sleep at night, when I know I make decisions that are creatively driven and not financially driven.
I hope people recognize that we’re not going for an old classic, because we feel that… For us, creatively, we enjoy creating things that are new. We also… There’s a bias… These are all influences, right? Nothing is an absolute black or white. But there’s an influences that pushes us a little bit away from doing an old classic game, or a sequel to something, because there’s a lot of that going around.
We think that the Kickstarter audience has evolved over this last year very quickly, and their appetite is increasing for new content and for stuff that’s a little more out-there and fresh and dangerous and innovative and risky. All of these things that feel like, “Hey, I want to plop some money down on something new.” We hope that folks do recognize that, because we’re very aware of it. It’s a critical part of the messaging of our campaign. We want to do something new and exciting.
RPS: Thank you for your time.PHOTO: This is the lear jet that crashed at Teterboro airport inbound from Philadelphia. 2 crew members dead. #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/MoyqfKjzUc — Darla Miles (@DarlaMiles7) May 15, 2017
EMBED >More News Videos Eyewitness News viewer video following a plane crash in Carlstadt, NJ. Credit GodwinClassic33 via Twitter
EMBED >More News Videos Carlstadt Spokesperson Joe Orlando and reitred pilot J.P. Tristani share their thoughts on the plane crash.
EMBED >More News Videos Toni Yates reports from the scene.
EMBED >More News Videos It happened in an industrial area on Kero Road in Carlstadt.
Two crew members were killed after a small plane crashed into an industrial area and burst into flames in New Jersey Monday afternoon.It happened just after 3:30 p.m. ET on Kero Road in Carlstadt, near Teterboro Airport -- a small airport located close to New York City.Officials said the small, Learjet 35 jet came from Philadelphia and was just about to land at Teterboro. There was no indication in the radio communication with the tower that there was anything wrong -- the plane simply dove into the the industrial area about a 1/4 mile from the airport and burst into flames. Three buildings caught fire as a result.Carlstadt spokesman Joe Orlando said two crew members on board -- believed to be the pilot and co-pilot -- were killed in the crash. No passengers were on board, and no people on the ground were injured. In a press conference, officials said the fact that no one on the ground was injured at that time of day was "quite remarkable."The Medical Examiner is working to determine the identity of the victims.Here are photos showing the scene of the crash:A person who worked in one of the buildings hit by the plane said the crash happened about 30 minutes after one of the businesses closed, so no one was inside. However, there were people in the second building -- and they were all able to get out safely. Officials said that two of the three buildings affected suffered exterior damage only. 13 cars were also damaged by the plane crash.The FAA issued this statement shortly after the crash:The FAA is expected back at the scene on Tuesday along with the NTSB.Here is a look at the plane that crashed, as posted on the website FlightAware.com:People nearby at the time of the crash captured video showing the scene of the crash:Airport officials closed Teterboro Airport immediately after the crash. It reopened about three hours later.Officials give their insight on the crash:Here's breaking news coverage of the crash as information was first unfolding:http://www.rockislandauction.com/viewitem/aid/1026/lid/2073
Marlin's 1892 lever action rifle in.22 rimfire caliber proved to be a very popular firearm, and so the company released an improved version in 1897, offered only as a rimfire takedown model. The 1897 would also prove very popular, and the same basic design would continue later as the Model 39.
One interesting variant of the 1897 offered was a Bicycle Rifle. While the rifle was generally available only with fairly long barrels, the bicycle version had a 16" barrel and full-length magazine tube. This was sized specifically to fit in a special case (disassembled) underneath the top bar of a bicycle frame, allowing kids to easily use their bicycles to take these rifles to their favorite shooting spots.
While the 1897 itself was popular, the bicycle variant was not, with Marlin sales records showing only 197 sold.
http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeaponsOne of the many astounding things that humans can do is recognize faces. Even though most faces we encounter are basically similar — a rough oval shape, two eyes, a nose, a mouth — most of us can pick out subtle differences and distinguish among hundreds of mugs. In an instant. Monkeys and other primates are similarly adept.
For a long time, scientists thought this feat required sophisticated brain machinery — a combination of perception and memory. Brain scans show that a part of our neocortex known as the fusiform gyrus becomes activated when we look at faces. People with damage to the fusiform gyrus lose their ability to recognize faces, a disorder known as prosopagnosia. Surely this was a special talent.
But perhaps not! A fascinating new paper in Scientific Reports offers evidence that archerfish — a tropical fish that spits jets of water to stun prey — can be trained to recognize human faces with surprising accuracy, even though they lack the same complex brain structures. If true, it's yet another piece of evidence that fish are much, much smarter than we think.
How to teach a fish to recognize human faces
In the study, led by Cait Newport of Oxford University, the researchers trained four archerfish to spit water at an image of a particular human face in order to receive a food prize. They found the archerfish could then distinguish that face from 44 other faces with surprising accuracy (81 percent of the time, at peak).
Here's a video from LiveScience below showing them in action:
As always with animal studies, it's tough to be 100 percent confident that the fish are actually recognizing faces. We don't have access to their inner lives, only their behavior. But it sure seems like they do. The researchers tried again with a fresh set of four archerfish, standardizing face shape and switching to black and white images. The fish could still reliably distinguish among 18 faces, 86 percent of the time.
Now, fish aren't the only animals that can do this. Pigeons have also demonstrated an ability to distinguish between different human faces. But bird brains have neocortex-like structures — long thought to be important to cognition — similar to those in human brains. Fish don't have anything like a neocortex. That's what's so surprising.
I asked Culum Brown, an Australian biologist who studies fish intelligence but wasn't involved with this study, what he made of these results. He argued that it should make us rethink some of our ideas about the brain:
I think humans are overly wrapped up in the importance of the neocortex with respect to its role in cognition. The human neocortex has taken over many of the functions that take place in other parts of the brain in other animals. This recent work on object/human face recognition in archerfish is just another example. Indeed much of the visual processing that takes place in the optic lobes and cerebellum in fish occurs in the neocortex in humans. This is also true of pain perception. The result clearly indicate that the neocortex is not the grail of intelligence.
To put this another way: Yes, scientists can see our fusiform gyrus light up in brain scans when we recognize faces. But that doesn't mean this brain structure is absolutely necessary. It might just mean that this is the spot where humans happen to process that information. Other brains have different ways of accomplishing the same task.
This is more evidence that fish are smarter than we think
Brown also noted that the facial recognition study jibes with quite a bit with what we've been learning lately about fish intelligence. "Most fish species are social and have the capacity for individual recognition," he wrote. "We have known that for more than 20 years. We also know that fish can use facial features to categorize predator and non predators. Fish are much smarter than people think."
A few years ago, Brown published a review essay called "Fish intelligence, sentience and ethics" in which he laid out the considerable body of research that fish are surprisingly intelligent — no less than, say, pigs or cows. He also expounded on this argument at length in this Q&A with Joseph Stromberg for Vox.
Fish can learn from each other. They can recognize other fish they've spent time with previously. They know their place within fish social hierarchies. They remember complex spatial maps of their surroundings. (Also it's a myth that goldfish have a three-second memory.)
"Anybody who feeds fish will tell you this," Brown said. "In the morning, at the appropriate time, the fish will gather at the right end of the tank, expecting to be fed. That's called time-place learning — they're learning a place and associated it with a time."
If fish really are intelligent, should that change how we think of them?
The really provocative question is whether fish intelligence has any big ethical implications. Some people go vegetarian because they think it's morally wrong to kill and eat a sentient cow or pig. But a subset of vegetarians will make an exception for fish — perhaps because they might think of fish as "lesser" creatures. So what if that's wrong?
Similarly, while animal rights groups will often campaign for better living conditions for cows or pigs or chickens, you don't quite see the same activism around the welfare of fish caught in the wild or raised in aquaculture. Here's Brown:
[B]ack in the '50s and '60s for terrestrial commercial farms, we started to think about things like moving pigs on the backs of trucks, and whether chickens had access to the real world. That revolution stopped at the water. Every major commercial agricultural system has some ethical laws, except for fish. Nobody's ever asked the questions: "What does a fish want? What does a fish need?" Part of the problem comes back to the question of whether fish feel pain. But for the last 30 years, the neurophysiologists have known that they do, and haven't even argued about it. And from an evolutionary perspective, our pain perception systems — and the systems of all terrestrial vertebrates — come from a fish-like ancestor. Whether they're in the water, or on the land, they all have the same pain receptors. But for some reason, a lot of people refuse to believe that fish can feel pain. … I think, ultimately, the revolution will come. But it'll be slow, because the implications are huge. For example, I can't think of a way to possibly catch fish from the open ocean in a massive commercial way to meet demand that would be anyway near our standards for ethics if we think of them like other animals. Currently, you go out, you catch a bunch of fish, you crush most of them to death in a net, you trawl them up from the bottom of the sea — which causes barotrauma for most of them — you dump them on a deck, half suffocate to death, the ones you don't want get thrown overboard and die anyway, and the ones you keep go on ice, just to preserve the flesh for market reasons. How do you do that in a way that has the fish's interests involved to any degree? You can't. So it's not surprising that there is some fierce opposition to this idea. It would mean a massive change in the way we do things.
It's a provocative argument. Obviously not everyone will find it convincing. But it's certainly a challenge to many of our usual notions of animal rights.
Further reading:More than nine million people watched the GB women's hockey team clinch gold - forcing the BBC to delay the News at Ten
Great Britain have been named the world's best Olympic team following their record-breaking performance at Rio 2016.
Team GB's women's hockey team have also been named best female team at the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) awards in Doha.
Britain finished second in the medal table, ahead of China for the first time, winning 27 golds, 23 silvers and 17 bronzes - and became the first team to win more medals after hosting the Games.
"That feat created history as we became the first nation ever to win more medals at a Games immediately after hosting, surpassing our achievement of 65 medals at London |
the research posits that, in the right scenario, someone could use smart contracts to guarantee payments to miners who, in that case, would then withhold information from the pools (or large conglomerations of miners) to which they are connected.
By doing so, the malicious actor effectively increases their share of any profits relative to the pool’s total hash rate. Conversely, this attack could be deployed to break up an opposing pool to the benefit of another.
Yet the key is the use of a smart contract, the authors say, who go on to explain:
“The use of smart contracts is crucial in order for the attack to be successful. Indeed, it is unlikely that miners would collaborate with such an attack unless their payment is guaranteed. Moreover, rewarding via smart contracts makes it possible for the attackers to remain anonymous, and prevent other parties from targeting the attacker (e.g., with a denial of service attack) and shutting him down.”
Why take this route? Those who mine on their own without a significant amount of hashing power run the risk of burning all that electricity with no profits to show for it.
So, miners congregate around pools, which concentrate that hashing power onto one point, splitting the block rewards received (if any) and distributing those bitcoins to the miners miner based upon the hash rate they contribute.
With a block withholding attack, a miner who has a big amount of hashing power divides it between two pools, withholding full proof-of-work solutions from one of them.
Yet according to the authors, it wasn’t until the development of smart contracts that this type of coordinated internal mining attack was possible.
Still, the attack isn’t guaranteed, as some miners – particularly those guided by ethical considerations and those who don’t want to rely on a smart contract to get paid (given that those contracts have failed due to flaws in the past) – might not want to participate, according to the researchers.
Read the full paper here.
Image via Shutterstock01:06 Winter Storm Ryan Spreading Snow From West to Upper Midwest After hammering the Northwest, here's what we expect from Winter Storm Ryan's next phase.
At a Glance A man was found dead in a home in Cleveland, Ohio, as lake-effect snow and frigid temperatures swept across the Great Lakes.
A second fatality was reported in a crash in Oswego County, New York.
At least 50 vehicles were involved in a pileup that shut down Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania.
At least two deaths have been reported in Ohio and New York as heavy lake-effect snow affected several cities in at least four states in the Great Lakes area. The inclement weather triggered traffic nightmares, including a 50-vehicle pileup in Pennsylvania that shut down Interstate 80 Thursday.
The lake-effect snow is hitting one week after up to 3 feet of snow buried some of the same Great Lakes snow belts from central New York to Upper Michigan last week.
Pennsylvania
A multi-vehicle accident was reported Thursday morning on I-80 eastbound in Jefferson County near Falls Creek, reports the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Officials estimate that at least 59 vehicles were involved, including 22 tractor-trailers. Only three minor injuries were reported by police, according to WJAC. All lanes are closed and multiple emergency agencies have been dispatched to the scene, EYT Media reported.
Several other accidents were reported on I-80 as speed restrictions were imposed due to hazardous driving conditions.
Ohio
A man was found dead in a home in Cleveland early Thursday morning due to exposure to winter weather, according to NEWS 5 Cleveland.
The man's name was not immediately released. He was found in a residence on the 2100 block of East 68th Street, NEWS 5 also reports.
Whiteout conditions were being reported in northeastern Ohio on Thursday morning, including in Cleveland.
According to the National Weather Service, snowfall rates of up to 2 inches or more per hour with the heavier bands have made travel very difficult as visibility diminished
(FORECAST: Lake-Effect Snow Updates )
The snowfall caused massive delays on roads and highways throughout northeastern Ohio and has prompted hundreds of schools to close, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Broken-down vehicles are being reported on Interstate 90 eastbound, the Ohio Department of Transportation, adding that delays are expected throughout the morning.
New York
One death was reported Thursday in Oswego County following a two-car crash on snowy roads.
Officials told Syracuse.com that a man, whose name has not been released, died when two cars collided on Route 57 in Schroeppel just before 10 a.m. EST Thursday morning. Authorities believe the crash was due to the poor weather, and the stretch of Route 57 was closed for hours, the report added.
Snowfall made travel dangerous in the Empire State, including parts of the Adirondack Northway north of Albany, which had to be closed for more than four hours after a crash involving a tractor-trailer and a snowplow. There were no injuries reported.
Wednesday officials were forced to close the Skyway, as well as a portion of Route 5, according to the Buffalo News.
Near Cheektowaga, thundersnow was reported Wednesday afternoon, the report added.
(MORE: Winter Storm Decima Triggers Avalanche in Oregon )
"A persistent band of lake-effect snow from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario continues to pummel western New York," said weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles. "Parts of southern Buffalo saw 5 inches of snow in 90 minutes this afternoon, and snow totals continue to climb to near a half-foot to the northeast of Buffalo."
Northeast of Buffalo, heavy snow also impacted travel in the Watertown area. WWNY-TV said there were a slew of incidents on snow-covered roadways Wednesday, one of which involved Louis Rivera, whose car went into a ditch following a spinout.
"Kinda just started stepping on the breaks, tapping it a little bit," Rivera told WWNY. "Then the white patches of ice got me and next you know I got sucked into this ditch over here, and I hit the stop sign."
Michigan
Whiteout conditions and slippery roads were being reported in parts of Michigan on Thursday morning, according to 9 & 10 News.
Three snowplows slid off the road in Chippewa County, reports the county's central dispatch. In Grand Traverse County, multiple vehicles have slid off roadways, including a tractor-trailer that is blocking a lane on M72.
The heaviest snow accumulation thus far has been reported in Sault Ste. Marie, which picked up 11 inches of snow in 18 hours, according to weather.com chief meteorologist Jonathan Erdman.A few moments ago, Brian Roberts told reporters at Camden Yards that he is opting to have surgery on the labral tear in his right hip. He played last night in Aberdeen, going 0-for-4 with a walk, but decided this was the best course of action.
Here is Roberts’ opening statement to reporters along with the questions and answers that followed:
“After playing last night and giving it a go with my hip, we’re going to proceed with surgery. It just hasn’t responded the way we were hoping it would. I kind of knew this was a possibility going in, but we wanted to give it the best possible shot we could to get back out there and try and help for the last two months of the season. But it just is not going to put me in a position to play the way I want to play and the way I think is necessary to help.
What convinced you after last night to go this route?
“I think, deep down in my gut, I probably knew before last night. Some of the things working out leading up to it had definitely given me some concern that it wasn’t going to get a whole lot better. With the cortisone shot in there now already and still having symptoms and pain, and not being to move to the ability with movements that I am used to be able to, it really just didn’t provide a great avenue to go out and there succeed.
What timetable have you been given and are you are optimistic about playing next year?
“I am. That is one of the reasons why we are going ahead and getting it done now. I might get out there and battle through 100 at-bats the next month or two and they might be so-so, I don’t know. But the main goal right now is get ready for 600 good at-bats in 2013.... It’s about a four- to six-month rehab, probably.
“It should lend itself to a fairly normal routine process after the first three months of getting ready for the season next year and that is the consensus we came to. Let’s be ready to go for a healthy 2013. We all believe we are having a great year this year and we are going to have an even better next year. I want to be part of that in a healthy way.”
How difficult was this decision after all you have been through?
“It’s been a long two years. It hasn’t gone the way I would have drawn it up, but as we all know, life doesn’t go the way you plan it. It’s very hard to sit here and watch those guys play in these games. While I was in Sarasota on Friday night, to see the atmosphere in this stadium on TV and to see the excitement in the dugout and not be able to be a part of that after so many years here of playing in atmospheres that weren’t like that, it’s very hard.
“That is why I wanted to give it one more chance. The first doctor I saw recommended surgery pretty much right away. He thought that was the necessary way to go and the second doctor said, ‘Let’s give it at least one try.’ When they laid out there, I thought, yeah, I mean, I’ll give it a shot if I can. I want to be a part of this.
“But I also want to do it in a way that benefits the team and is not a detriment to the team. I’m not going to be selfish enough to be out there if I don’t think I can help.”
When will the procedure take place?
“We don’t have it set up yet. I’m assuming it will be in the next week or 10 days. The plan right now is it looks like I’ll probably have surgery in Vail (Colo.) with a specialist out there. I talked to Ed Reed. He had surgery with the same physician (Dr. Marc Philippon). He stayed out there and rehabbed about a month so that is probably my plan right now, to stay out there and rehab the first month. Get my feet on the ground with The Steadman Clinic out there and then go back to Sarasota and begin the process of getting ready for next season.”
Can you return to play full go?
“Both doctors I saw said that with this surgery, there is a 95 percent success rate of getting back to playing at the same or better level than you ever were. I’d say that’s pretty high when it comes to a surgical procedure. I’ve talked to multiple people that have had it and the success rate is very good. I have no reason to believe I can come back and never have a leg problem again. I’ve never had one before.”Muramasa: The Demon Blade: Why Vita And What About The Lost Wii Content?
By Spencer. November 2, 2012. 6:19pm
Vanillaware’s gorgeous action RPG Muramasa: The Demon Blade is coming to PlayStation Vita in March right after other Marvelous AQL Vita games like Valhalla Knights 3. When I met with producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto, I asked why Marvelous AQL didn’t bring Muramasa: The Demon Blade to PS3 and Xbox 360 too.
"Considering the sell rate of the hardware, it would be better to release it on PS3 or Xbox 360," Hashimoto explained. "Since Muramasa: The Demon Blade is tied to Japanese culture the colors and art style are Japanese-like. You’ll see bright colors like red or sometimes orange and green. Because of this I thought it would be better to present the game and the world itself on an OLED display."
Muramasa: The Demon Blade was developed as a Wii exclusive back in 2009. What you may not know is the Wii game in stores was far from complete. A sizable amount of content was cut including gameplay features and story scenes. I asked Hashimoto if they would add any of the "lost" content to the Vita version of Muramasa: The Demon Blade.
"Yes, there were some features that were cut from the Wii version, but Vanillaware is not the type of company that likes to use old designs or plans. Also at Marvelous AQL we feel the same way. All of the new content will be made specifically for the Vita version," Hashimoto answered. "The gameplay will be the same, but there are new features with the new characters."
"Have we seen the ‘new’ characters in Muramasa: The Demon Blade before? Are they already in Momohime or Kisuke’s story," I wondered.
"This is difficult to talk about because of the timing of the interview, but these will be exciting characters. They will be totally new, someone you haven’t seen before," Hashimoto said.
When Ignition brought Muramasa: The Demon Blade to North America they released it with a bland localization. I think it could’ve been much better, so I explained my concerns to Hashimoto and asked if they plan on making the Vita version’s localization better.
"We are discussing about that internally right now," Hashimoto replied.William Bennett at the Values Voter Summit (AlterNet, 9/22/09):
Frederick Douglass at the dedication of the Freedman’s Monument in Memory of Abraham Lincoln (4/14/1876):
It must be admitted, truth compels me to admit, even here in the presence of the monument we have erected to his memory, Abraham Lincoln was not, in the fullest sense of the word, either our man or our model. In his interests, in his associations, in his habits of thought and in his prejudices, he was a white man.
He was preeminently the white manâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s president, entirely devoted to the welfare of white men. He was ready and willing at any time during the first years of his administration to deny, postpone and sacrifice the rights of humanity in the colored people to promote the welfare of the white people of this country. In all his education and feeling he was an American of the Americans. He came into the presidential chair upon one principle alone, namely, opposition to the extension of slavery. His arguments in furtherance of this policy had their motive and mainspring in his patriotic devotion to the interests of his own race. To protect, defend and perpetuate slavery in the states where it existed Abraham Lincoln was not less ready than any other President to draw the sword of the nation. He was ready to execute all the supposed guarantees of the United States Constitution in favor of the slave system anywhere inside the slave states. He was willing to pursue, recapture and send back the fugitive slave to his master, and to suppress a slave rising for liberty, though his guilty master were already in arms against the government. The race to which we belong were not the special objects of his consideration.
Knowing this, I concede to you, my white fellow-citizens, a pre-eminence in this worship at once full and supreme. First, midst and last, you and yours were the objects of his deepest affection and his most earnest solicitude. You are the children of Abraham Lincoln. We are at best only his step-children; children by adoption, children by forces of circumstances and necessity.But Marchewka says Techland think of the player as the most important thing, rather than journalists. “They can see the difference in experience between us and other triple-A published games,” he says. “They can feel the dedication and support, and this is the most important thing. After some time perhaps the critics will notice this, and that's fine. “
For now, Techland are focussed on delivering the games they want as an independent studio. “If you have a publisher, one thing is that you promise them a shipping date,” says Marchewka. “Then we feel like it's our responsibility to deliver on that. Sometimes we would try to persuade them to give us two months more to polish it, but the release date was kept, and that it was a management decision.” He feels that these decisions aren’t always right, particularly for the Dead Island franchise. “Obviously we were the ones who were doing the game,” he says. “So it was always a fight, and one that we couldn't win as it wasn't under our control. So we would have to be okay with delivering on time, but at the cost of some quality.”
Marchewka says Techland want to do better. “I'd like people to think we try our best to make sure they have what they like,” he says. “And that we'd try to surprise them with something they didn't know they wanted. We try to predict what we think people will really enjoy, but still in the form of our Techland identity of gameplay, that goes from every game to the next one.”
“We just hope that more players will have a chance to try that out. Dying Light is a great game because the vision is good. And that's because of the people we have here who are really outstanding visionaries and dedicated players who constantly think about what we can do to make sure we have the biggest fun in our game. This is the most important part of the success.”
Perception is a funny thing, from a company that looked like it was crass, to one that talks about the importance of the end-user, and one that honours its biggest fans by putting a tribute to them in-game. Techland has been around for a very long time, but they want to be better known. “We won't make the same mistakes, or as many mistakes - no game is perfect,” says Marchewka. “With Dying Light we were very independent, where previously we had strong values in the company regarding quality, but also had responsibility towards the players and the publisher. This time, we knew we could make the decisions ourselves, and no-one would make it worse.”Namco Bandia’s Tales series is already on the way to PS4, but is not expected to appear on the Xbox One.
The platform exclusivity news comes from series producer Hideo Baba, in an interview with Gaming Angels conducted at New York Comic Con.
“We are currently in the very early phases of work for next generation Playstation titles,” Baba confirmed.
“But we still have no plans to bring the series back to the Xbox, or Xbox One. We feel that our core fanbase leans toward the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4, so we are focusing our efforts on bringing the best possible Tales experience there.”
Only one game in the series made it to Xbox 360 – Tales of Vesperia. The latest release is Tales of Xillia for; Tales of Xillia 2 and Tales of Symphonia Chronicles arrive next year for PS3.
Thanks, Shack News.In a move doomed to alienate a signiicant hunk of her fanbase, Carrie Underwood has revealed to the Independent that she is a strong believer in marriage equality:
"As a married person myself, I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love, and want to marry," she said. "I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love."
Ms. Underwood was speaking to the British newspaper in preparation for her first-ever concert in the UK, which shall be held at the Royal Albert Hall later this month. (Incidentally, Underwood isn't the first American country star to visit London and make statements which might annoy her red-state fanbase. It was there that the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines famously voiced her unhappiness about the United States' rush to war in Iraq.)
From the Independent:
Underwood … draws much of her fanbase from evangelical Christians, speaks frequently about her faith and has made religion the subject of several of her best-known songs, including the No 1 country hit "Jesus Take the Wheel". She said, however, that her liberal attitude towards same-sex marriage comes because of her Christian values, rather than in spite of them. Though raised a Baptist, a church that tends to oppose homosexuality, Underwood and her husband Mike Fisher, a professional ice-hockey player, now worship in a non-denominational congregation. "Our church is gay friendly," she said. "Above all, God wanted us to love others. It's not about setting rules, or [saying] 'everyone has to be like me'. No. We're all different. That's what makes us special. We have to love each other and get on with each other. It's not up to me to judge anybody." Underwood, 29, swept to fame in 2005 after winning American Idol and has since drawn much of her estimated $20m (£13m) annual income from touring the US. In the interview, she condemned "people who use the Bible for hate", adding: "That's not how I would want myself as a Christian to be represented."
Underwood's new album, Blown Away, and her single, "Good Girl," currently occupy the top spots on the Billboard country charts.The first thing we learn about the Reavers on Joss Whedon’s Firefly is that when they take a ship: “they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing – and if we’re very very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.” In the show we see Reaver ships, but not the Reavers themselves. We do see a guy who emulates Reaver behaviour. He cuts his own tongue in half and jumps on top of an Alliance officer, screaming and bleeding and attacking him. We see more of them in the movie Serenity, but everything suggests Reavers are not big thinkers.
Attack, scream, rape, eat seems to be their motto. And sewing, oddly. We all watch Star Trek right? Who the fuck is the Reaver captain? Who is the engineer? I’m going to assume they have neither a chief medical officer nor a ship’s counselor. You need to have some kind of organization to run a ship. Where are we going? Who is going to plot the course for the ship to get there? How would a discussion be had about this? Reavers seem not much different than zombies.
Space zombies (that can rape and sew) would be an isolated threat. “Oh my God, zombies took over the space station,” would mean you can’t go back to that space station anymore. Unless a space zombie accidentally gets inside an escape pod that launches, that zombie problem is isolated. They would not have ships, destinations, or air space as the movie Serenity suggests. If there is such a thing as a Reaver chef I’m not sure I would want to try his eggs.Why haven’t we had alien contact? Blame icy ocean worlds
Might ET be buried under too much ice to phone Earth? That’s what planetary scientist Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, has concluded may be delaying our contact with alien civilizations. Most extraterrestrial creatures are likely deep inside their home planets, in subsurface oceans crusted over in frozen water ice, according to a new proposal at this year's American Astronomy Society Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Provo, Utah. The hypothesis could explain the lack of signals from other technologically advanced civilizations, a conundrum known as the Fermi paradox.
It’s only recently that astronomers have come to appreciate how common oceans are in our solar system; evidence for them can be seen on several moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, and even distant Pluto. These worlds all have water ice as a major component of their crusts, which forms towering mountains and cracked canyons on their surfaces but melts into liquid water at lower depths. Hydrothermal vents on these ocean beds might pump nutrients into their surroundings, similar to ecosystems at the bottom of Earth’s oceans. Such nurseries for life—shielded from space by a thick ice shell—might even be more productive than our own exposed environment.
And should living organisms on icy ocean worlds evolve into intelligent creatures, they probably wouldn’t know the night sky as well as us humans. Perhaps the equivalent of their “space program” would simply be boring through to the frozen surface of their planet, Stern suggests. His proposal wasn’t based on new evidence, but for the first time links up the prevalence of icy ocean worlds with the lack of alien signals.
The idea is intriguing, says psychologist Douglas Vakoch, president of the San Francisco, California–based Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence, though he believes there’s no need to invoke the Fermi paradox. Biochemical indications of life are simply hard to detect remotely, he says, and it will likely take new telescopes and techniques to find them. If they don’t find us first, says Stern, it could be because they decide long-distance communication isn’t worthwhile, especially if they think everybody else is trapped in their own little icy bubbles.Cristiano Ronaldo's thighs and calves have been insured by Real Madrid for $144 million:
"Real Madrid is attempting to protect themselves in case Cristiano, 24,
ever gets seriously injured during a soccer match, according to Spanish
newspaper El Mundo. While the sum may sound extravagant, the amount realistically quantifies Cristiano's dollar value to Real Madrid in terms of market and monetary income. In June, Real Madrid shelled out a stunning $131 million transfer fee to acquire the Portuguese international winger from Manchester United. That amount (which was only the transfer fee) does not include Cristiano's lofty salary of over $18.7 million a year.
The insuring of Ronaldo's legendary pins comes shortly after Czech footballer Zdenek Grygera delivered a vicious kick to Cristiano's leg near the knee during a recent friendly."Eloquent JavaScript By Marijn Haverbeke (490 pages) Eloquent JavaScript offers readers an illuminating introduction to the JavaScript programming language and programming in general. Sections cover: Introduction
Basic JavaScript: values, variables, and control flow
Functions – an introduction to code that a program can go through whenever it wants. They can play the role of pure functions, algorithms, indirections, abstractions, decisions, modules, continuations, data structures, and more
Data structures: Objects and Arrays – at the same time as solving a few simple problems, this chapter discusses arrays and objects, and examines some related techniques
Bugs and Error Handling – strict mode, testing, debugging, error propagation, exceptions are explored
Functional Programming – produces abstraction through clever ways of combining functions
Searching – goes through the solution to two problems, discussing some interesting algorithms and techniques along the way
The Document Object Model
Regular Expressions – a way to describe patterns in string data. They form a small, separate language that is part of JavaScript and many other languages and tools
Modularity – deals with the process of organizing programs
Regular Expressions – a language for describing patterns in strings. They form a small, separate language, which is embedded inside JavaScript (and in various other programming languages)
Web programming: A crash course – a quick, superficial introduction to the various elements that make the web work, and the way they relate to JavaScript
The Document-Object Model
Browser Events
HTTP requests The book has been translated into Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Russian. This version is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial license.
You Don’t Know JS (book series) By Kyle Simpson (Up & Going – 88 pages, Scope & Closures – 98 pages, this & Object Prototypes – 174 pages, Types & Grammar – 198 pages, Async & Performance – 296 pages, ES6 & Beyond – 278 pages) This 6 book set gets to grips with the core mechanisms of JavaScript. Widely acclaimed, it’s a firm favorite with beginners and intermediate programmers. Up & Going teaches you: Essential programming building blocks, including operators, types, variables, conditionals, loops, and functions
JavaScript’s core mechanisms such as values, function closures, this, and prototypes
, and prototypes Overview of other books in the series, and learn why it’s important to understand all parts of JavaScript Scope and Closures dives into trickier parts of the language. Learn about scope, a set of rules to help JavaScript engines locate variables in your code
Go deeper into nested scope, a series of containers for variables and functions
Explore function- and block-based scope, “hoisting”, and the patterns and benefits of scope-based hiding
Discover how to use closures for synchronous and asynchronous tasks, including the creation of JavaScript libraries this & Object Prototypes: Explore how the this binding points to objects based on how the function is called
Look into the nature of JS objects and why you’d need to point to them
Learn how developers use the mixin pattern to fake classes in JS
Examine how JS’s prototype mechanism forms links between objects
Learn how to move from class/inheritance design to behavior delegation
Understand how the OLOO (objects-linked-to-other-objects) coding style naturally implements behavior delegation Types & Grammar Get acquainted with JavaScript’s seven types: null, undefined, boolean, number, string, object, and symbol
Understand why JavaSript’s unique array, string, and number characteristics may delight or confound you
Learn how natives provide object wrappers around primitive values
Dive into the coercion controversy—and learn why this feature is useful in many cases
Explore various nuances in JavaScript syntax, involving statements, expressions, and other features Async & Performance Explore old and new JavaScript methods for handling asynchronous programming
Understand how callbacks let third parties control your program’s execution
Address the “inversion of control” issue with JavaScript Promises
Use generators to express async flow in a sequential, synchronous-looking fashion
Tackle program-level performance with Web Workers, SIMD, and asm.js
Learn valuable resources and techniques for benchmarking and tuning your expressions and statements ES6 & Beyond Learn new ES6 syntax that eases the pain points of common programming idioms
Organize code with iterators, generators, modules, and classes
Express async flow control with Promises combined with generators
Use collections to work more efficiently with data in structured ways
Leverage new API helpers, including Array, Object, Math, Number, and String
Extend your program’s capabilities through meta programming
Preview features likely coming to JS beyond ES6 The 6 books are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
JavaScript Enlightenment By Cody Lindley (141 pages) JavaScript Enlightenment seeks to give an accurate JavaScript world-view through an examination of native JavaScript objects and supporting nuances: complex values, primitive values, scope, inheritance, the head object, etc. The book solidifies your understanding of the language. Get a short and digestible summary of ECMA-262, Edition 3; the most widely implemented version of JavaScript to date
Examine the creation of JavaScript objects
Learn complex values, primitive values, scope, and inheritance
Understand the importance of the head object
Work with string, number, and Boolean objects and values
Discover how to use the null value and the built-in math object
Get into the details—beyond Mozilla’s reference guide for JavaScript 1.5 The book is targeted at advanced beginners or intermediate JavaScript developers who wish to solidify their understanding of the language through an in-depth look at JavaScript objects. The book also aims to reach the JavaScript library veteran who is ready to look behind the curtain. It is not an exhaustive reference guide to JavaScript. The author confirms the first edition of the book is under an open source license.
Building Front-End Web Apps with Plain JavaScript By Gerd Wagner (222 pages) Building Front-End Web Apps with Plain JavaScript is an in-depth tutorial. Chapters cover: Getting Started
More on JavaScript
Building a Minimal App with Plain JavaScript in Seven Steps
Integrity Constraints
Constraint Validation in a Plain JS Front-End App
Enumerations and Enumeration Attributes
Implementing Enumeration Attributes in a Plain JS App
Reference Properties and Unidirectional Associations
Implementing Unidirectional Functional Associations with Plain JavaScript
Implementing Unidirectional Non-Functional Associations with Plain JavaScript
Bidirectional Associations
Implementing Bidirectional Associations with Plain JavaScript
Part-Whole Associations
Subtyping and Inheritance
Subtyping in a Plain JavaScript Front-End App
The Model-Based Development Framework mODELcLASSjs
Constraint Validation with mODELcLASSjs This book, along with any associated source code, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL).Squadron Leader Mohinder Singh Pujji DFC (14 August 1918 – 18 September 2010), also known as Mahinder Singh Pujji, was a distinguished Royal Air Force fighter pilot and one of the first Sikh pilots to volunteer with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.[1]
Early life [ edit ]
Mohinder Singh Pujji was born in Simla, British Punjab, on 14 August 1918, the fourth son of Sardar Sohan Singh Pujji and his wife, Sant Kaur. His father was a senior government official who worked in the Department of Health and Education.[2] He attended the Sir Harcourt Butler High School in Simla, then on his father's retirement to his home state of Punjab attended the Government College and later the Hindu College in Lahore.[1][3][4]
He learned to fly in 1936 as a hobby pilot at the Delhi Flying Club, where he fell in love with flying and in April 1937 received his Indian commercial 'A' pilot's licence.[1] His first job was as a pilot with Himalayan Airways, flying passengers between Haridwar and Badrinath, but soon after was offered a better job with Burmah Shell as a refueling superintendent in 1938.[1]
He married Amrit Kaur in November 1944. Their first daughter, Veena was born in March 1946. The couple had two more children, Rita and Satinder. [5] These three Sikh children grew up and married spouses from three different religions, showing one of the earliest acts of a truly global family. Veena, a sardarni, married Hindu businessman, Prem Gupta, owner of The International Angora Breeding Farm. Rita, also a sardarni, married a Muslim man, Mobez Arsiwala, working in the aviation industry. Satiner, a sardar, married his catholic British girl-friend, Maggie Little.
War service [ edit ]
In 1940, he attended the Indian Air Force 4th Pilots Course, and became one of the first batch of 24 Indian 'A' licence holder pilots accepted to receive a Volunteer Reserve commission with the Royal Air Force during the early part of the Second World War, despite his parents' fears.[1]
Embarking for the United Kingdom, his first posting was on 8 October 1940 to No. 1 RAF Depot in Uxbridge. Within a few days he was posted to No. 12 Elementary Flying Training School RAF at Prestwick in Scotland. From there the first 24 volunteer Indian pilots went on to No. 9 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit RAF at RAF Hullavington. They completed the course, and received their RAF wings on 16 April 1941. A few weeks later he and a handful of other pilots from the first 24 went on to the renowned No. 56 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Sutton Bridge, where they joined British and other foreign-allied pilots for advanced fighter pilot training on the Hawker Hurricane.[1]
He flew active service with No. 43 Squadron RAF, the formidable 'Fighting Cocks' fighter squadron. He flew Hurricanes, which he preferred to Spitfires, for their relative ease of flying.[6] He was forced down twice; in one instance, his aircraft was disabled over the English Channel by a Messerschmitt, but he managed to coax it to dry land, where he crashed. He was rescued from the burning wreckage and after a week in hospital, Mohinder Singh returned to duty.[3]
He was treated well in England, getting preferential treatment at local cinemas and restaurants, often without payment. He subsequently commented, "I felt very welcome indeed, I never felt different or an outsider and my experiences in this country made me keen to return some time after the war. I was made to feel very much at home by everyone I met"[3] and "I wrote back to my father saying that I did not mind if I was killed because the British people were wonderful and so brave, and I was being so well treated. I could not queue for a movie without being told to move to the front."[4] As a Sikh, he insisted on retaining his dastar (Sikh headdress), with RAF insignia, even while flying, even carrying a spare, in case it was needed. The dastar interfered with use of his oxygen mask and resulted in damage to his lungs. (Subsequently, in 1960, he gave up wearing the dastar.)[6]
After the Battle of Britain, Mohinder Singh was sent to the Middle East where, in 1941, he was forced down, for the second time, in the North African desert and was picked up by British troops.[6] He had dietary problems, as he could not eat the standard issue bully beef for religious reasons. He returned to south Asia and served in Afghanistan and Burma, where he was awarded the DFC.[1][7] Announced in The London Gazette on 17 April 1945, and followed with a personal letter of congratulations from Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park,[8] the DFC citation reads in part:
Acting Flight Lieutenant Mahinder Singh Pujji No. 4 (RIAF) Squadron
"This officer has flown on many reconnaissance sorties over Japanese occupied territory, often in adverse monsoon weather. He has obtained much valuable information on enemy troop movements and dispositions, which enabled an air offensive to be maintained against the Japanese troops throughout the monsoon. Flight Lieutenant Pujji has shown himself to be a skilful and determined pilot who has always displayed outstanding leadership and courage."
In late 1946, after suffering from a long illness of tuberculosis, which nearly cost him his life; caused him to become classified unfit for military service and receive a permanent disability discharge from the Royal Indian Air Force.[1] From 1947, Mohinder Singh was employed as an Aerodrome Officer at Safdarjung Aerodrome Delhi, where he also continued to fly in a civilian role.[1] He went on to aspire as a champion air race pilot and holder of gliding records.[1][9]
Mohinder Singh moved to East Ham, England, after retirement and he became an active member of the local community. Later, he settled in Gravesend, Kent. On 12 October 2000, he was made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Newham.[4]
In 2005, Moh |
was a secret of its own until just now! If you do have some local friends who can come over and hold a controller, buy this game immediately and invite them over, because TowerFall: Ascension is easily one of the best things you can do on a couch.
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Towerfall Ascension reviewed by Patrick Hancock(This post has been updated)
Leading Minnesota lawmakers agreed Thursday on a $373 million list of debt-backed construction projects that will get a vote in the upcoming special session, a sign of progress in an ongoing budget stalemate at the Capitol but not yet enough for Gov. Mark Dayton to call the Legislature back to St. Paul.
Representatives for the DFL governor and legislative leaders from both parties continued private meetings and communications Thursday in pursuit of an overall state spending deal. By late afternoon, the final deal was still out of reach.
“We’re not all the way there yet. We are getting closer,” said GOP Speaker Kurt Daudt, echoing his recent assurances that the lingering impasse would be resolved soon. But the two sides have yet to produce final, detailed agreements on any of the bills Dayton vetoed earlier: jobs and energy; environment and natural resources; and even K-12, where leaders reached agreement on an overall spending target Monday, but no details on how that money was to be spent.
Daudt on Thursday pushed for a special session, but the governor’s office remained silent on timing.
Only Dayton can officially summon lawmakers back to the Capitol — a move that typically requires signed agreements by both sides on the scope and duration of any special session.
Dayton has said that he will not call a special session until Republicans agree to repeal language in a separate bill — which Dayton already signed — that would vastly diminish the role of the state auditor by allowing counties to obtain private audits.
Daudt said Thursday that if Dayton would withdraw his ultimatum, he would guarantee that the House would revisit the issue in 2016, but would go no further.
In recent days, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith has been the chief envoy between Dayton and Daudt. She re-entered Daudt’s office late Thursday afternoon. Asked whether a declaration of special session was likely soon, she said: “That’s up to the governor and the speaker.” Daudt had said he had not spoken with Dayton since last Friday, after several days of private talks. But late Thursday, Daudt and Dayton re-engaged as the speaker headed to the governor's residence where he met with Dayton directly.
The new bonding bill, which was hammered out a day earlier and finalized early Thursday, amounts to a heftier public works spending infusion than previously seemed likely, but still less than half what Dayton had proposed: about $827 million in projects. Both House GOP and Senate DFL leaders spent much of the regular session downplaying the prospects for a sizable bonding bill.
On the last night of the session last month, the Senate passed $247 million in total bonding in the very final minutes before adjournment, too late for the House to take up the bill afterward.
That $247 million package has now swelled to $373 million. It includes $140 million in highway bonds for an Iron Range-area project that involves relocating a portion of state Hwy. 53 near the city of Virginia. It also includes $59 million for projects on higher education campuses, $26 million in additional funds for the restoration of the Capitol, $24 million for flood prevention efforts in parts of the state, $32 million for transportation projects, $19 million for a water pipeline expansion, and a number of smaller spending initiatives. A full list of the agreed-upon projects was posted early Thursday afternoon.
“It’s a nuts-and-bolts, infrastructure, get-stuff-done kind of bill,” said Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, who chairs the House committee that assembles the bonding bill. Though it’s considerably more than Republicans initially sought, Daudt called the project list “lean and mean.”
One controversial provision has been removed: $7.2 million for a 30-stall parking garage that was a priority for Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook.
“I think that was the wrong decision to have that in the first bill,” said Sen. LeRoy Stumpf, DFL-Plummer, who chairs the Senate’s bonding committee.
Stumpf said DFLers wanted more bonding but agreed to the current level, believing that Republicans would go no higher.
“The biggest disappointment is what I would call a missed opportunity for a larger bill,” Stumpf said. “That’s based on the fact that interest rates are very low and there’s a pent-up demand for taking care of public buildings and facilities and parks.”
Bonding bills require three-fifths majorities in both the House and Senate. Torkelson said representatives of both Senate Republicans and the House DFL were brought into the final negotiations and had signed off on the deal. House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said he expects significant support from House DFLers for the bill.Image: Microsoft
Starting Monday, Microsoft is beginning to roll out Office Delve — its Flipboard -like service for Office 365 — to Office 365 business users.
Delve, codenamed "Oslo," is a new internal search and presentation application that Microsoft executives first unveiled earlier this year.
Tech Pro Research Windows 10 power tips: Secret shortcuts to your favorite settings Are you tired of clicking through categories to find a specific Windows 10 setting? If you know the right commands, you can create shortcuts that take you to specific pages with a single click Read More
Delve displays information based on "the work they are doing and the people with whom they are engaging," in a card-like user interface. With Delve, the idea is users won't have to remember where their information is stored or who shared it. That information will be surfaced for users automatically, but only when the appropriate permissions are granted.
Delve uses Microsoft's internally built Office Graph to ascertain relationship between people, content and activity across Office 365. Microsoft officials have said Delve is just the first app that will make use of Office Graph information.
With the initial release, Delve will present information from Exchange, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online and Yammer enterprise-social networking components.
Over the coming months it will enable Delve to discover information from more content sources, including email attachments, OneNote and Lync, officials said in a September 8 blog post.
In calendar 2015, Microsoft officials have committed to extending Delve with application programming interfaces (APIs) that will open it up to customers who aren't running exclusively on Office 365, a spokesperson told me. "We also have plans for hybrid support for Office Graph, but we are not sharing timing," the spokesperson said in response to a question I had on Delve support beyond Office 365.
Microsoft plans to roll out Delve to Office 365 users in phases. Both new and existing Office 365 business users will get Delve as part of their subscriptions, but Office 365 Personal and Office 365 Home Premium users will not.
The first to get it will be Office 365 E, A and G plan business users who opted into Microsoft's Office 365 First Release program. Then, Delve will be rolling out to all Office 365 business users. The first to get it will be those with Office 365 E1 to E4 subscription plans, as well as the corresponding A2 to A4 Academic and G1 to G4 Government plans.
(First Release, for those who need a refresher, is an opt-in program via which administrators can enable a subset of their users to receive certain significant service updates a couple of weeks earlier than the rest of their users get them. First Release is meant to help users head off compatibility and other issues earlier in the Office 365 deployment process.)
Beginning in January 2015, Microsoft will be rolling out Delve to Office 365 Business Essentials, Business Premium, Office 365 Small Business, Small Business Premium and Midsize Business plans. Those in these plans who signed up for First Release will get Delve first, starting in January.
Microsoft officials said they expect the Delve rollout to be complete for all eligible Office 365 users by early 2015.
Meanwhile, speaking of Office 365, Microsoft last week made some changes to its Office 365 deployment strategy that are worth a mention.
At its Worldwide Partner Conference earlier this year, Microsoft execs said the company would be performing directly more customer onboarding than it had previously — a revelation that worried some of its reseller partners. Last week, the company went public with more details on that onboarding. Specifically, Microsoft is making changes to its FastTrack program that will result in free email migration to Office 365 from Exchange Server, Lotus Domino, Google Gmail and/or IMAP accessible environments for customers purchasing 150 seats or more.
As part of the changes, Microsoft has created an Office 365 FastTrack Onboarding Center, which it is making available to customers and their "preferred partners." The Onboarding Center "will support the provisioning and configuration of Office 365 workloads including Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Office 365 Pro Plus, and Yammer."Typically we tell you about the best deals out there that come from the sales flyers of various retailers like Target and Best Buy. However, today’s deal we have for you is a little bit different, as it’s a little more under wraps as it isn’t being advertised. Often times products are discounted in the system of stores after awhile, which appears to be the case with Target right now.
Many discontinued game systems and games are 50% off right now at Target, which has led to people finding crazy deals. This isn’t some sort of shady workaround, as Target is just doing this to clear stock. This includes the Super Smash Bros. themed 3DS and Yoshi’s Island 3DS for only $99.99, as well as the Xbox One Madden bundle for only $199.99. There are even some Vita bundles that are very hard to find, but also on sale for $99.99.
While not always accurate up to the minute, you can use BrickSeek to search Target’s inventory by DCPI number. The few ones of note have the following DCPI number:
Smash Bros 3DS – DCPI #207-01-0210
Yoshi 3DS XL – DCPI #207-01-0209
Madden Xbox One Bundle – DCPI # 207-31-2015
Plenty of games have said to be on sale too, so it would be best to check out the thread on CAG that had members discussing their various finds, as well as plenty of other DCPI numbers. As always with deals like this, your mileage may vary, but for deals like this, it is certainly worth checking out.Are you looking for some of Montreal’s best geeky destinations? We got you covered! Whether you’re new to in town and looking to mingle with fellow geeks or are visiting to enjoy some of Montreal’s finest events like Comiccon, Otakuthon, MEGA or MIGS, here are some of our favourite spots to hang out and geek out.
Gaming Bars, Barcades and Arcades
These are some of our favourite hang out spots where we can relax, enjoy a drink and play a few games.
Meltdown Esports Bar
Located in the heart of the Quartier Latin, Meltdown offers esport matches on the TVs, Gaming PCs, console games, weekly events, friendly competitions and signature gaming themed cocktails.
2035 Saint Denis
www.meltdown.bar/montreal
MeltdownMTL
@MeltdownMTL
Arcade MTL
A classic arcade but for adults. Enjoy classic arcade games while sipping on a microbrewery beer or a signature cocktail.
2031 Saint-Denis
ArcadeMTL
Foonzo
The place for retro consoles and more. A chill gaming bar located downtown with lots of seating space.
1245 Drummond
Foonzo
@foonzo
Gam1ng Café
A gaming center where you can pop in and out or book a special event.
3311 Masson
gam1ngcafe.com
gam1ngcafe
Amusement 2000 Plus
A classic arcade with all the bells and whistles, located in downtown Montreal. Perfect place to play a few games after a shopping spree.
1381 Sainte-Catherine Ouest
2kPlusMTL
Table Top Pubs and Stores
Sometimes, we just have to let go of the controller or mouse and go analog. Here are some of our favourite pubs and stores for table top games.
Randolph Pub Ludique
Enjoy food and drinks while playing a wide selection of table top games at the suggestions of the game masters.
6505 Rue des Écores (Rosemont-la-Petite-Patrie) & 2041 Saint-Denis (Quartier Latin)
randolph.ca
La Récréation
A chill spot in Montreal’s Quartier Latin that offers a varied menu, a wide selection of tabletop games and weekly events.
404 Ontario East
larecreation.ca
larecreation
Le valet d’coeur
One of Montreal’s quintessential tabletop store, located in the famous Plateau-Mont-Royal.
4408 Saint-Denis
levalet.com
Le valet d’coeur
Chez Geeks
Your spot for everything table top and cool geek stuff in Montreal’s Quartier Latin. Stop by to shop or to take part in a tournament.
1163 Saint-Denis
chezgeeks.com
Chez Geeks
@ChezGeeks
Comic Book and Manga Stores
Who doesn’t love a good story coming to life thanks to beautiful art? Here are some great destinations for your manga and comic fix.
O-Taku Lounge
The best manga spot in Montreal. Enjoy japanese style snacks and drinks while browsing an extensive collection of mangas.
3623 Saint-Denis
otakulounge.com
O-Taku Manga Lounge
Drawn and Quarterly
Located in the Mile-End, Drawn and Quarterly is the location for graphic novels of all kinds as well as weekly events such as book clubs and book launches.
211 Bernard West
mtl.drawnandquarterly.com
LibrairieDandQ
@LibrairieDandQ
Millenium Comics
A great spot to shop all sorts of new and classic comics and graphic novels in Montreal’s iconic Plateau-Mont-Royal.
451 Marie-Anne East
milleniumcomics.com
Millenium Comics
Capitaine Québec
One of Montreal’s oldest comic book store. Located in downtown Montreal, Capitaine Québec carries comics, mangas, trading cards, collectibles and more.
1837 Sainte-Catherine Ouest
Capitaine Québec
The Bonus Round: Merch and Misc
Boutique Geekatorium
This is the place to gear up on geeky apparel and accessories. This boutique offers a wide selection of merch from some of our favourite universes: Pokémon, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, The Legend of Zelda and more.
4323 Saint-Denis
geekatorium.ca
Boutique Geekatorium
Montreal Science Centre
Located in the historical Old Port, the Science Centre is the place for science geeks. Walk through one of their interactive exhibition or watch a breathtaking documentary projected in the centre’s IMAX theatre.
2 de la Commune West
montrealsciencecentre.com
Centre des Sciences
@centresciences
What are your favourite geeky hang out spots? Let us know in the comments below!Bitcoin Primer: Bitcoin and bitcoin
Adam Adamou Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 26, 2017
There’s a lot of buzz about the blockchain and many business executives are intrigued, confused and alarmed by how quickly this technology has entered into the business consciousness. We’re used to the rapid rate of change in technology industries but at the same time there’s something intimidating about blockchains, which seem to have sprung from nothing into everything in near record time. The good news for the technology executive is that it’s not that hard to understand and to see its business potential. This short primer is not intended as a technical manual but as a business primer for time-constrained executives to get you up to speed in business friendly terms as to what this is and why it’s the next big thing. In this discussion I’m going to focus on Bitcoin (and bitcoins) and in the next part I discuss Ethereum and ether.
Supply side - bitcoins are scarce: Bitcoin is the genesis of the blockchain concept though its founding is riddled in mystery. in 2008 an unknown person or group of individuals going under the pseudonym Satashi Nakamoto published a white paper titled Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash Payment System. Published right in the middle of the financial crisis it described a decentralised form of digital currency as an alternative to fiat-based government-issued currencies. You can read the paper directly via the link but at its core it describes a peer-to-peer form of electronic payment and verification system that ensured that the same digital bitcoin could not exist in two accounts at the same time. This is a simple concept but it's at the core of the technology. If each bitcoin is unique and cannot be duplicated or copied, and everybody can trust that this applies and can verify it independently, then the scarcity of bitcoins means that the laws of supply and demand will apply and each bitcoin can have a monetary value. Scarcity is the crux of the bitcoin ecosystem - the coins can have value because they are scarce. Many are confused by this and think that value is being created out of 'nothing' and that this means that this is a de facto scam. They are partly right. Value is created out of nothing to be sure, because bitcoins didn't exist before and now they do as a digital construct. In market economics however goods don't have a value that is tied to their functional use alone - they have a value tied to their relative supply and demand. If something is truly scarce, that means that at some level of demand it will have a value. A functional use isn't required for it to be valuable - gold for example has a value that is many times greater than its functional use might imply, as do collectables like art or baseball cards.
Demand side - Bitcoin as a virtual machine: The scarcity of bitcoins means that the supply is limited, but what about the demand? Bitcoin was launched during a tumultuous time in which central banks were dealing with a financial crisis that many believed to be of the banks' own making. Powerful voices claimed that the endless printing of fiat currencies was debasing money and leading to on-going cycles of booms and busts. A digital currency that was limited in supply and not subject to management by a central government or bank was appealing. As early adopters began to explore the technology an amazing thing happened, the first self-contained payment system was formed. It's important to note that when we talk about bitcoin that we're talking about two related but different things. One is bitcoin (non-capitalised) which refers to the digital coins themselves. The other is Bitcoin (capitalised) that refers to the virtual machine on which bitcoin payments are processed. While markets require scarcity for goods to have value, they also require demand - and the demand for bitcoins is tied to the Bitcoin virtual machine and its ability to process transactions quickly, inexpensively and accurately. This is where the brilliance of the concept really shines. The creation of bitcoins requires computing power in a process referred to as mining. People (and now companies) are incentivized to hook up their computer systems to an app that exchanges their computing power for bitcoins that are stored in a digital wallet, and as discussed above these bitcoins have real value. These computers when connected together, all simultaneously mining for bitcoins, form a sort of supercomputer, that I refer to as the Bitcoin Virtual Machine. As each bitcoin is generated, the next bitcoin requires that more processing power be applied before it is released, so that the marginal cost of every new bitcoin issued is higher than the one before. This means that more and more computing power will need to be applied as more and more bitcoins enter circulation - and it is this computing power, paid for solely through the issue of new bitcoins, that processes the transactions and makes the entire system possible. It is a self-contained but massive and distributed virtual computing platform that pays for itself through the generation of its own scarce digital currency. Let's follow the logic: without the mining, there is no virtual machine, without the virtual machine there is no payment processing, without payment processing there's no transactions, without transactions there's no reason to own a bitcoin and so there's no value in holding it. It is an elegant and powerful concept. Beyond the sheer elegance of the system is the fact that there is no central authority or central depository of information. It is a complex, distributed peer-to-peer system that is self-contained, self-funding and functional. This of course has many repercussions and it also provides for many opportunities that we will explore in Part 2.
TL;DR: Bitcoin is a virtual machine focused on transaction processing, powered by millions of individual machines that are paid for by bitcoins that the system generates, and that have value because they are scarce.The Beginning of the
French Revolution, 1789
Printer Friendly Version >>> King Louis XVI needed money. His financial crisis forced the French monarch to reluctantly convene the Estates General in order to levy a new land tax that would hopefully solve his monetary woes. It had been 175 years since the last meeting of this deliberative body that included representatives of three Estates: the First comprised of the clergy, the Second comprised of the nobility and the Third comprised of the middle and lower classes. The Estates began their meeting at Versailles on May 5, 1789 and quickly entered into a power struggle. The Third Estate soon declared itself a "National Assembly" that was representative of the people. This new National Assembly expressed its desire to include the other two Estates in its deliberations but also made it clear that it was determined to move forward without them. Louis attempted to shut down the National Assembly, but on June 20 its members declared that they would not disband until they had written a new constitution for France. The tension increased, exacerbated by massive crop failures that led to a shortage of food. In Paris, mobs filled the city's streets. The fear spread that the king would retaliate with force. On July 14 the mob stormed the Bastille to obtain arms. The attack launched the nation down a pathway that would eventually lead to the destruction of the monarchy and the execution of Louis XVI. "... in that instant a discharge from the Bastille killed four people." Thomas Jefferson was America's minister to France in 1789. As tensions grew and violence erupted, Jefferson traveled to Versailles and Paris to observe events first-hand. He reported his experience in a series of letters to America's Secretary of State, John Jay. We join Jefferson's story as tensions escalate to violence on July 12: "July 12 In the afternoon a body of about 100 German cavalry were advanced and drawn up in the Place Louis XV. and about 300 Swiss posted at a little distance in their rear. This drew people to that spot, who naturally formed themselves in front of the troops, at first merely to look at them. But as their numbers increased ADVERTISMENT their indignation arose: they retired a few steps, posted themselves on and behind large piles of loose stone collected in that Place for a bridge adjacent to it, and attacked the horse with stones. The horse charged, but the advantageous position of the people, and the showers of stones obliged them to retire, and even to quit the field altogether, leaving one of their number on the ground. The Swiss in their rear were observed never to stir. This was the signal for universal insurrection, and this body of cavalry, to avoid being massacred, retired towards Versailles. The people now armed themselves with such weapons as they could find in Armourer's shops and private houses, and with bludgeons, and were roaming all night through all parts of the city without any decided and practicable object. July 13 The next day the States press on the king to send away the troops, to permit the Bourgeoisie of Paris to arm for the preservation of order in the city, and offer to send a deputation from their body to tranquillize them. He refuses all their propositions. A Committee of magistrates and electors of the city are appointed, by their bodies, to take upon them it's government. The mob, now openly joined by the French guards, force the prisons of St. Lazare, release all the prisoners, and take a great store of corn, which they carry to the corn market. Here they get some arms, and the French guards begin to form and train them. The City committee determines to raise 48,000 Bourgeois, or rather to restrain their numbers to 48,000. July 14 On the 14th, they send one of their members (Monsieur de Corny, whom we knew in America) to the Hotel des Invalides to ask arms for their Garde Bourgeoise. He was followed by, or he found there, a great mob. The Governor of the Invalids came out and represented the impossibility of his delivering arms without the orders of those from whom he received them. De Corney advised the people then to retire, retired himself, and the people took possession of the arms. It was remarkable that not only the Invalids themselves made no opposition, but that a body of 5000 foreign troops, encamped within 400 yards, never stirred. Monsieur de Corny and five others were then sent to ask arms of Monsieur de Launai, Governor of the Bastille. They found a great collection of people already before the place, and they immediately planted a flag of truce, which was answered by a like flag hoisted on the parapet. The deputation prevailed on the people to fall back a little, advanced themselves to make their demand of the Governor, and in that instant a discharge from the Bastille killed 4. people of those nearest to the deputies. The deputies retired, the people rushed against the place, and almost in an instant were in possession of a fortification, defended by 100 men, of infinite strength, which in other times had stood several regular sieges and had never been taken. How they got in, has as yet been impossible to discover. Those, who pretend to have been of the party tell so many different stories as to destroy the credit of them all. They took all the arms, discharged the prisoners and such of the garrison as were not killed in the first moment of fury, carried the Governor and Lieutenant governor to the Greve (the place of public execution) cut off their heads, and set them through the city in triumph to the Palais royal. About the same instant, a treacherous correspondence having been discovered in Monsieur de Flesselles prevot des marchands, they seize him in the hotel de ville, where he was in the exercise of his office, and cut off his head. These events carried imperfectly to Versailles were the subject of two successive deputations from the States to the King, to both of which he gave dry and hard answers, for it has transpired that it had been proposed and agitated in Council to seize on the principal members of the States general, to march the whole army down upon Paris and to suppress it's tumults by the sword. But at night the Duke de Liancourt forced his way into the king's bedchamber, and obliged him to hear a full and animated detail of the disasters of the day in Paris. He went to bed deeply impressed. The decapitation of de Launai worked powerfully thro' the night on the whole Aristocratical party, insomuch that in the morning those of the greatest influence on the Count d'Artois represented to him the absolute necessity that the king should give up every thing to the states. This according well enough with the dispositions of the king, he went about 11 oclock, accompanied only by his brothers, to the States general, and there read to them a speech, in which he asked their interposition to re-establish order... Tho this be couched in terms of some caution, yet the manner in which it was delivered made it evident that it was meant as a surrender at discretion.... The demolition of the Bastille was now ordered, and begun. A body of the Swiss guards, of the regiment of Ventimille, and the city horse guards join the people. The alarm at Versailles increases instead of abating. They believed that the Aristocrats of Paris were under pillage and carnage, that 150,000 men were in arms coming to Versailles to massacre the Royal family, the court, the ministers and all connected with them, their practices and principles. The Aristocrats of the Nobles and Clergy in the States general vied with each other in declaring how sincerely they were converted to the justice of voting by persons, and how determined to go with the nation all it's lengths. The foreign troops were ordered off instantly. July 16 Every minister resigned... and that night and the next morning the Count d'Artois and a Monsieur de Montesson (a deputy) connected with him, Madame de Polignac, Madame de Guiche and the Count de Vaudreuil favorites of the queen, the Abbe de Vermont her confessor, the Prince of Conde and Duke de Bourbon, all fled, we know not whither. The king came to Paris, leaving the queen in consternation for his return...the king's carriage was in the center, on each side of it the States general, in two ranks, afoot, at their head the Marquis de la Fayette as commander in chief, on horseback, and Bourgeois guards before and behind. About 60,000 citizens of all forms and colours, armed with the muskets of the Bastille and Invalids as far as they would go, the rest with pistols, swords, pikes, pruning hooks, scythes &c. lined all the streets thro' which the procession passed, and, with the crowds of people in the streets, doors and windows, saluted them every where with cries of 'vive la nation.' But not a single 'vive Ie roy' was heard. The king landed at the Hotel de ville. There, Monsieur Bailly presented and put into his hat the popular cockade, and addressed him. The king being unprepared and unable to answer, Bailly went to him, gathered from him some scraps of sentences, and made out an answer, which he delivered to the Audience as from the king. On their return, the popular cries were 'vive le roy et la nation.' He was conducted by a garde Bourgeoise to his palace at Versailles, and thus concluded such an Amende honorable as no sovereign ever made and no people ever received." References:
Jefferson's account appears in: Boyd, Julian (ed.), The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol 15 (1958); Hibbert, Christopher, The Days of the French Revolution (1981). How To Cite This Article:
"The Beginning of the French Revolution, 1789," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2007).This email has also been verified by Google DKIM 2048-bit RSA key
MI | 3.4.2016
Jobs speech was great. She stuck to the script mostly, cut out a few things (didn't mention the /ideas webpage and cut out the story at the end). Only real add was a line at the end about "bad mouthing America" that some tried to seize on as a shot at Bernie, but it was (mostly) about the GOP. The Harwood interview was a little less substantive than promised, but she did fine. Got clawbacks in there, and a lot of questions about her approach to the economy, but all in the context of Bernie, Trump, what's politically viable. She got emails as well, handled well. Did an OTR at Kuzzo's Chicken and Waffles with the Mayor and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence. Lots of enthusiasm, lots of selfies. We did 4 radio interviews, into Jackson, MS, New Orleans x2, and Detroit. All very positive interviews, disproportionately about college affordability and education writ large. More tomorrow. On Mar 1, 2016, at 2:50 PM, Nick Merrill <nmerrill@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: Two OTRs with Governor Mark Dayton complete. Walked into Mapps Cafe in a trendy neighborhood near U of M, greeted by about 50 patrons and 25 press. We are now officially no longer 88 days from a press avail, but 0. Merica, Karni, Abby Philipps, and some locals asked her questions. Merica asked her about expectations today, she said were working hard, hope people turn out. Asked about Sanders' path, she declined to comment, said she's going to keep going. Local asked about message for Minnesota voters today. Talked about breaking down barriers. Abby Philipps asked her about Trump being the eventual nominee. She dodged. Said they all have deeply troubling views. of the WaPo asked about Trump, she said things like this need to be repudiated. She would continue speak out against bigotry. Annie Karni asked her another expectations question (I think), she again have a pretty stock answer. She tried to ask about asking for Bernie to get out of the race, she said that everyone has to make their own decisions. Local asked her about Trump, she talked about speaking out against insults. She met a Somali woman who wanted to tel her she was going caucus for her through her daughter who was translation. HRC told her she would be the president for everyone. She met another Somali American on the city council who she was impressed by. HRC, Dayton, and the Lieutenant Governor made it to the counter ordered coffee (HRC got something called the Big Bang). A guy came over to her at the counter and told her that he had just received a letter back from her yesterday. He had written HRC about a health problem (I think with his dad). They had a really nice exchange about how useful it was for her to hear stories like his so she can figure out how to help. Her final real interaction before leaving was with a Somali-American girl, probably 26 or 27, who said that Somali-American youth are being marginalized and experiencing prejudice, and given her comments about the African American community, how do we know she'd be any different now? She mentioned super predator specifically. HRC said she'd used the word one time, and to look at her record. The young woman said she knew what her record was and that it was supportive of the African American community, which is why so many have supported her campaign. She mentioned the Somali-American councilman that she'd just seen, and that she'd met with members of the community last time she was in Minneapolis. The girl responded by saying something to the effect of the councilman doesn't count. HRC told her that if she believes that than maybe she should run for office. At this point the Governor intervened and the conversation ended. Left the coffee shop for Global Market, and indoor market with food and other stands that sell various things. We got mobbed in the lobby so barely made it to the proper market everywhere. Took some selfies and then out. Taxiing now to head to Miami. On Mar 1, 2016, at 11:19 AM, Nick Merrill <nmerrill@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: 8 interviews in the can here in Minneapolis this morning. We did early morning radio into Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and did the Tom Joyner show with special guests. All very positive, with a few questions about trust. *Ryan Cameron, Host, The Ryan Cameron Morning Show, V 103, Atlanta, GA * Asked her how she was feeling, why they should vote for her, being a woman, 90s, crime bill, Superpredator (did her points), how will you continue a dialogue with the community. *Tom Joyner, Tom Joyner Morning Show* Roland Martin started off with a question about job growth for small businesses. Sharpton asked her about who she'd appoint as AG to protect voting rights, same with SCOTUS justices. Don Lemon, said she stopped talking about Sanders on the trail. She basically refuted that citing her rallies yesterday and proceeded to draw contrasts. Jacque Reid asked her about what can be done in communities. She talked a lot about breaking down barriers. Finally, Sybil Wilkes asked her about how her presidency would be different than her husbands. *DeDe, Host, Dede in the Morning (KKDA), Dallas, TX* Why is it important to get out and vote, Trump, asked about WJC in the WH. Last question was about Morgan Freeman voice HRC's ads. *Madd Hatta, Host, The Madd Hatta Morning Show (97.9), Houston, TX* "Mista Madd" opened by calling her Madam President, pretending it was a slip of the tongue. Questions were college loans, talked about making America whole again. Final Q was about wages. And then the final final Q was about what she'd do about health care. We just wrapped up some satellite TV hits into Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Denver, and Little Rock. She got or emails in all but Denver. She didn't go full-bore on her most recent trust answer, but talked about not being a natural politician, had a warm tone, all in all did well. Not really a flag unless Healy and Chozick are trolling for nonsense this morning, but should mention that she told the OK City anchor that WJC was her chief advisor. It was playful, but nonetheless. *Lori Geary WSB (Atlanta)* Trump/David Duke Trust/FBI Lied on BG? College affordability Ever thought we'd be where we are today with the name calling on the Republican side? *Christie Lewis KWTV (Oklahoma City)* What do you want to say to voters? Trust Energy sector WJC (called him her chief advisor) Emails *Marshall Zelinger- KMGH (Denver)* Why not Colorado today? Caucuses Federal banking system for marijuana/Hickenlooper Mental health and guns *Mallory Brooks- KARK (Little Rock)* Arkansas Travelers What was so special about AR, what are you most proud of? - Wants to win in the fall VP candidates? Emails Bernie's message On Feb 29, 2016, at 12:37 PM, Nick Merrill <nmerrill@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: 600 at the Museum of Springfield history this morning, where I've learned that Springfield used to be a place where they manufactured Rolls Royces. They have some here from the 20s on display that are just beautiful, if you like that millionaires/billionaires stuff. Remarks were met with enthusiasm, but she was largely back to her longer/policy-laden stump, with trickle down again and a return to some other old hits on Republicans. In other words, November, with some of the new |
argument: If interest rates go up, bond-fund investors lose money. But if you own individual bonds, you can hold them to maturity and get your money back.
The irrepressible Cliff Asness, managing principal of AQR Capital Management in Greenwich, Conn., took issue with this contention in an article last year for the Financial Analysts Journal. “Bond funds are just portfolios of bonds marked to market every day,” he wrote. “How can they be worse than the sum of what they own?”
He notes that when interest rates go up, individual bonds fall in price, just like the bond funds that own them. True, you can hold your individual bonds to maturity, so you get your principal back, though you’ll collect a below-market interest rate meanwhile.
Asness continued (and I quote with his permission): “If you own the bond fund that fell in value, you can sell it right after the fall and still buy the portfolio of individual bonds some say you should have owned to begin with (which, again, also fell in value!).
“Then, if you really want, you can still hold these individual bonds to maturity and get your irrelevant nominal dollars back.”
You should never pay ahead on a mortgage.
Some readers fervently believe that the mortgage-interest tax deduction is such a wonderful tax break that you should never make extra-principal payments, with a view to paying off your mortgage early.
The problem is, even with the tax break, all that mortgage interest is still costing you a hefty sum. Let’s say you have a 4% mortgage and you’re in the 25% federal income-tax bracket. After the tax savings, the mortgage is costing you 3%.
This assumes you itemize your deductions—and that your itemized deductions are substantially higher than your standard deduction, which in 2015 is $12,600 for married couples filing jointly (up from $12,400 for 2014) and $6,300 for single individuals. If you aren’t itemizing, or your itemized deductions aren’t much above your standard deduction, all that mortgage interest is saving you little or nothing in taxes.
But let’s assume your mortgage’s after-tax cost is indeed 3%. You should be able to earn more than that over the long haul by buying risky bonds in a retirement account or purchasing stocks in either a taxable or retirement account.
What if the alternative is to stash the money in a savings account, certificates of deposit or high-quality bonds with short or intermediate maturities?
In that case, you’ll likely be better off paying down your mortgage.I was raped during my freshman year of college. To add to the burden, I got pregnant.
This is one of a series of powerful stories from survivors of rape, you will find them all here.
I was raped during my freshman year of college.
It was not the first time I had been sexually assaulted, and I was just beginning to heal from the prior assault when it happened. To add to the burden, I got pregnant.
I reported my rape to the college and was forced to go to “mediation” with my assaulters. The college-appointed therapist sent me to a “crisis pregnancy center,” rather than Planned Parenthood. The center tried every tactic to get me to keep the child that I could not bear to have. They even argued that since the father (my rapist!) was also white, people would hurry to adopt my white baby. It was bizarre, obviously racist, and deeply traumatizing.
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I miscarried before actually having the abortion I had scheduled back home in Maryland, with the help and support of my family. After the trauma at my school with “mediation,” I dropped many of my classes and switched schools.
The thing about my experience is that it was not an isolated incident. It was not the first time the system failed me personally, and it wasn’t the last. Being friends with and working in support groups with other survivors, I hear stories like mine all the time: college cover-ups and crisis pregnancy centers who specifically target women living in poverty.
This has been my experience with the pro-life movement and with an institutional system that continually fails rape survivors.
The fact that flailing lawmakers such as Richard Mourdock, Todd Akin, Paul Ryan, and by extension Mitt Romney—who continues to endorse Mourdock and has kept Ryan as his running mate—seek to hold onto or increase their legislative power despite their failings is part of this landscape of institutional failure, too.
These are men who fundamentally believe in their own rhetoric over freedom of choice, human empathy, and support. Men who would further victimize someone who has suffered a terrible trauma than offer that person a choice they don’t agree with.
This was what I got from the system I had to deal with as a teenager, alone and terrified, far from home—a system that had a pro-life agenda but that did not care at all about MY life, which I seriously thought about ending many times because I was in so much pain.
When survivors come forward, we need support. Many of us need support in ORDER to come forward. We need to be listened to. We need to be trusted to make the choices that are right for us. We need space to heal.
We do not need to hear judgment, that what happened to us was our fault, that a theoretical life is more important than our own lives.
Consider how you would feel if you had been in my shoes: isolated after a violent attack, still a child in many ways, faced with carrying my rapist’s child to term instead of starting the young adult life I hoped for. Whether one chooses to carry on with a pregnancy or not, we need safe and fair access to all options so that we can make our own choices, rather than continual, intimidating, and terrifying pressure in one direction.
Our voices and our stories need to be part of this debate, because we KNOW what it feels like. Mourdock, Akin, Ryan, Romney: they have never had to face these circumstances, yet they seek to legislate on our behalf. They would be well served to listen to us.New research from the National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University shows there is substantial variation in the first-time divorce rate when it is broken down by race and education. But, there is also evidence that a college degree has a protective effect against divorce among all races.
The data for the family profile, "First Divorce Rate, 2010" were gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010. At that time, the rate of first divorce in the U.S. was 17.5 per 1,000 women 18 years old and older in a first marriage. According to the research, recent declines in the probability of divorce largely reflect an increase in marital stability among the more educated.
Among women in a first marriage, the rate of first divorce is highest for those who received some education after high school, but have not earned a bachelor's degree - 23 per 1,000. The association between education and divorce is also curvilinear. The least (no high school diploma or GED) and the highest (college degree) educated women share the lowest rate of first divorce, with 14.4 and 14.2 per 1,000, respectively.
Broken down by race and ethnicity, the study found Asian women have the lowest first divorce rate at 10 divorces per 1,000 women in a first marriage. The first divorce rates of white and Hispanic women were similar at 16.3 and 18.1, respectively. African-American women have substantially higher rates of first divorce compared to all other racial and ethnic groups, at 30.4 divorces per 1,000 women in a first marriage.
Once education was factored in, the NCFMR found, with the exception of Asians, the highest rate of first divorce was among women with some college, regardless of race or ethnicity.
"Contrary to the notion that women with a college degree face the lowest chances of divorce, those without a high school degree actually have similar low odds of divorce," explained Dr. Susan Brown, NCFMR co-director. "The relationship between education and divorce is not straightforward."
However, according to co-director Dr. Wendy Manning, these patterns are consistent with patterns they are finding in other national data sources.
The association between education and the first-divorce rate held up even when race was factored in. Among African-Americans, Asians and Hispanics, women with less than a high school degree had a similar divorce rate to women who graduated from college. Among African-American and Hispanic women, the lowest first-divorce rates were found among women with less than a high school diploma.
"Among white women, there were few differences according to education, but those with a college degree experienced lower divorce rates than any other education group," Manning said. "These findings showcase that the association between education and divorce differs for racial and ethnic groups, and it is important to consider this variation."Meg Whitman, chief executive officer and president of Hewlett-Packard, speaks during the grand opening of the company's Executive Briefing Center in Palo Alto, California January 16, 2013. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
By Poornima Gupta
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When Hewlett-Packard Co was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average a month ago, Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman sent an impassioned email to the company's 300,000-plus employees.
"I hope that every HP employee took today's announcement personally," she said in the one-page internal memo on September 10.
Calling HP's departure from the benchmark index it joined in 1997 a "blow to our brand," Whitman said the moved showed many people still harbored doubts about her turnaround plan.
"We need to make every sale," she stressed in the memo, which was seen by Reuters.
Whitman's urgency is easy to understand. Two years into what she has always described as a five-year effort, HP's sales and profits are still sliding and Wall Street is losing patience. The stock has fallen 17 percent in the past three months and is down more than half its value since 2010.
The CEO has sidelined senior executives including PC chief Todd Bradley and enterprise chief Dave Donatelli. Strong new leaders have yet to emerge from the ranks, analysts say.
Though Whitman has vowed to jumpstart innovation, HP Labs - the division that came up with pocket calculators and light-emitting diodes - has been slashed in half over the past two years, part of a company-wide effort to cut costs.
At HP's analyst day on Wednesday, Whitman will give Wall Street an updated picture of 2014. She has already said the company will not grow next year as she once predicted.
Given low expectations, analysts said the stock could get a short-term bump on any glimmer of good news. But in the medium term, HP's prospects rest largely on Whitman's ability to remake the $28 billion enterprise division that sells hardware, software and services to big companies.
"Its enterprise product portfolio has improved," said Raymond James' Brian Alexander. But the company still lacked "a message that resonates with channel partners and customers, and continues to lose share to Cisco and Dell in servers and EMC or NetApp in storage."
THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE
Whitman, who took the helm of HP in 2011 after a failed bid to become governor of California, inherited a company ravaged by board shakeups and executive departures, and a bureaucracy unable to respond quickly enough to changes in the industry.
While HP's massive but stagnant printer division still made money, the personal computer business was contracting as more customers switched to tablets and mobile devices. Like many of its peers from Microsoft to Intel, HP's own mobile computing efforts were too little, too late.
Whitman has said her strategy is to turn HP into a major player in a corporate technology services market now dominated by Oracle Corp, IBM Corp and Cisco Systems Inc.
In August, Whitman installed Bill Veghte, a former Microsoft Corp executive who had been HP's chief operating officer, as head of the Enterprise Group. One insider described Veghte as "a good sales guy" who "knows how to rally the crowd."
Veghte told Reuters his first priority is to slice layers of red tape and overlap that now clutter the sales process, resulting in months of delay in closing deals.
"We need to address our execution challenges with focus and urgency," he said in an email. "And one of my priorities is to ensure we get these brilliant innovations out to market faster."
HP is plagued with disparate systems for managing customers, partners and vendors, with each group in the company running its own sales team. A single customer often has to deal with multiple reps for PCs, printer, software and networking gear.
"Transactional fragmentation" is phrase many HP insiders use to describe the process.
"This is a very big, very complicated sales motion, and frankly we've got to simplify it," Whitman told analysts on a post-results call in August.
Veghte has already made an impression on some of HP's most important customers: the third-party vendors who help package and sell HP products for businesses, and collectively account for 70 percent of the enterprise group's revenue.
Norbert Wojcik, chief executive of American Digital, said Veghte flew to Chicago with about a dozen members of his team to dine with Wojcik last month. American Digital resells HP products to clients with revenues of $500 million to several billion dollars.
Story continuesA potentially catastrophic collapse of the sockeye salmon run is unfolding on the Columbia River system this year.
Scientists once predicted that about 100,000 sockeye would return to spawning grounds in the rivers and streams in British Columbia's South Okanagan region.
In fact, it was supposed to be one of the largest sockeye runs in recent history, said Okanagan Nation Alliance fish biologist Richard Bussanich.
Drought conditions stress sockeye
But Bussanich said the latest projection falls short of earlier expectations. Instead, it's now thought that a range of 18,000 to 47,000 will return to the spawning grounds this year. He said higher water temperatures and low water levels are stressing the migrating salmon.
"Fish are showing signs of physical stress," Bussanich said. "So there are open wounds and fungi and other things. The conditions are harsher than normal."
He said more than half of the sockeye on the Columbia have died.
"This is shaping up to be catastrophic for this year. And hopefully we don't have repeat years because then we will be into major conservation concerns."
Authorities have cancelled recreational and commercial sockeye fisheries on Osoyoos Lake.
In normal seasons, the sockeye fishery contributes up to $400,000 to the local economy.Georgia Law Would Ban Public Broadband Service If Just One Person Has So-So Internet Access
A number of municipalities around the country, especially in rural areas, are considering public broadband networks as a way to spur development and enterprise. Yet legislators keep drafting laws intended to keep some citizens in the stone age — at least until the telecoms get around to building private networks.
The ludicrously titled “Municipal Broadband Investment Act” in Georgia first states that it’s purpose is to “allow for public providers of broadband service to provide such services in unserved areas,” which sounds great. The nation’s rural communities are drastically underserved in terms of broadband access.
But only a few words later, the real purpose of the bill becomes apparent: “to prohibit a public provider from providing broadband service to areas that are not unserved areas unless such provider is providing such broadband service as of a date certain.”
Now it might make sense for lawmakers to not want municipalities investing time and money in a network when residents in that area are already served, but it’s the bill’s definitions of “unserved areas” and “broadband service” that is distressing:
“‘Unserved area’ means a census block for which the most recent National Broadband Map shows no broadband service is available.” “‘Broadband service’ means Internet access service with transmission speeds that are equal to or greater than 1.5 megabits per second in the faster direction.”
So if a single person in a census block has a meager 1.5 mbps downstream connection, that proposed law says that the block can not receive public broadband unless the public network is already in existence before July 2013.
Problem is, the FCC doesn’t even consider 1.5 mbps downstream as “broadband.” In 2011, the agency’s Sixth Broadband Progress Report updated the definition of broadband to “4 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.”
“This is a minimum speed generally required for using today’s video-rich broadband applications and services,” wrote the FCC at the time.
Much like similar laws passed in North and South Carolina, telecom companies like AT&T and Windstream are reportedly the ones lobbying the hardest for legislation that effectively kill public broadband. Which might be acceptable if any of these companies were actually doing anything to provide broadband service to rural areas in the foreseeable future.
We’re not saying that Americans have any sort of right to publicly built broadband networks, but if a municipality wants to build one, it should not be stopped from doing so because large telecoms may eventually, someday, maybe get around to providing the same service.
Windstream, AT&T Aim to Keep Georgia at 1.5 Mbps [BroadbandReports.com]
Georgia Bill Aims to Limit Investment In Internet Networks [MuniNetworks.org]
Bill would ban muni broadband if one home in census tract gets 1.5Mbps [arstechnica]Austin City Council has decided to begin the process of trying to change the name of Robert E. Lee Road in South Austin, council member Ann Kitchen confirmed to KVUE Tuesday.
The news comes after someone vandalized four of the road signs in the area following white supremacist demonstrations in Virginia that became violent over the weekend. After the road signs were vandalized, a petition was started to rename the road.
District 5 Council Member Ann Kitchen said she was motivated by the rising rhetoric, encapsulated in this weekend's deadly protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"It should be an eye-opener to everyone in this country," said Kitchen.
The street is in Kitchen's district.
The name of the street has been a point of contention for years; a recent online petition has garnered nearly 15,000 signatures to change its name.
But city law is clear: the application to change a street name must be initiated by a city department, council member, or property owner on the respective street.
Because Kitchen is filing the application, she said the city would absorb any fees.
"Otherwise the cost of initiating the process falls on the individuals," explained Kitchen.
Once Council Member Kitchen submits the application, her office will contact all property owners along Robert E. Lee Road.
At least half will need to approve of a name change before the matter is heard by city Council.
If any object, a public hearing will be required.
"Whenever we act on anything, people have the opportunity to talk to us," said Kitchen.
After the signatures are gathered, the city's Transportation Department, along with other agencies will begin reviews of the proposal.
The street name change will also need the approval of all APD, AFD and EMS.
Then, the item would be placed on the Council's Agenda to be heard and voted on.
Mayor Steve Adler has voiced his support for the name change.
"There are so many wonderful people and ideals that could be celebrating that more represent the character of this city or the spirit of this city," said Adler, who noted the city owned most of the property along the road.
The proposal comes as the battle to conserve Confederate tributes rages on across the country, including here in Texas. Earlier this month, state Senator Brandon Creighton filed a proposal to protect all heritage monuments - including Confederate monuments - that are on state property and have been up for at least 40 years.
"I've learned in this city there's a little pushback regardless of whatever it is that you want to do. But there are elements in our history that we should be celebrating, that are reflective of who we are, and what we value," said Adler.
Kitchen said she would bring an application forward to change the name of the road and ask the community to suggest alternatives. The renaming process would take months of reviewing the costs of the name change, the public safety implications and the opinions of the community.
She planned to file the petition by the end of the week, possibly as early as Wednesday.
To read the city's street name change policy and process, click here.Unfortunately, EC2 instances aren’t fault-tolerant. Under your virtual server is a host system. These are a few reasons your virtual server might suffer from a crash caused by the host system:
If the host hardware fails, it can no longer host the virtual server on top of it.
If the network connection to/from the host is interrupted, the virtual server loses the ability to communicate via network as well.
If the host system is disconnected from a power supply, the virtual server also goes down.
But the software running on top of the virtual server may also cause a crash:
If your software has a memory leak, you’ll run out of memory. It may take a day, a month, a year, or more, but eventually it will happen.
If your software writes to disk and never deletes its data, you’ll run out of disk space sooner or later.
Your application may not handle edge cases properly and instead just crashes.
Regardless of whether the host system or your software is the cause of a crash, a single EC2 instance is a single point of failure. If you rely on a single EC2 instance, your system will blow up: the only question is when.
Redundancy can remove a single point of failure
Imagine a production line that makes fluffy cloud pies. Producing a fluffy cloud pie requires several production steps (simplified!):
Produce a pie crust. Cool down the pie crust. Put the fluffy cloud mass on top of the pie crust. Cool the fluffy cloud pie. Package the fluffy cloud pie.
The current setup is a single production line. The big problem with this setup is that whenever one of the steps crashes, the entire production line must be stopped. Figure 1 illustrates the problem when the second step (cooling the pie crust) crashes. The following steps no longer work either, because they don’t no longer receive cool pie crusts.
Why not have multiple production lines? Instead of one line, suppose we have three. If one of the lines fails, the other two can still produce fluffy cloud pies for all the hungry customers in the world. Figure 2 shows the improvements; the only downside is that we need three times as many machines.
The example can be transferred to EC2 instances as well. Instead of having only one EC2 instance, you can have three of them running your software. If one of those instances crashes, the other two are still able to serve incoming requests. You can also minimize the cost impact of one versus three instances: instead of one large EC2 instance, you can choose three small ones. The problem that arises with a dynamic server pool is, how can you communicate with the instances? The answer is decoupling: put a load balancer between your EC2 instances and the requestor or a message queue. Read on to learn how this works.
Redundancy requires decoupling
Figure 3 shows how EC2 instances can be made fault-tolerant by using redundancy and synchronous decoupling. If one of the EC2 instances crashes, ELB stops to route requests to the crashed instances. The auto-scaling group replaces the crashed EC2 instance within minutes, and ELB begins to route requests to the new instance.
Take a second look at figure 3 and see what parts are redundant:
Availability zones—Two are used. If one AZ goes down, we still have EC2 instances running in the other AZ.
Subnets—A subnet is tightly coupled to an AZ. Therefore we need one subnet in each AZ, and subnets are also redundant.
EC2 instances—We have multi-redundancy for EC2 instances. We have multiple instances in a single subnet (AZ), and we have instances in two subnets (AZs).
Figure 4 shows a fault-tolerant system built with EC2 that uses the power of redundancy and asynchronous decoupling to process messages from an SQS queue.
In both figures, the load balancer / SQS queue appears only once. This doesn’t mean ELB or SQS is a single point of failure; on the contrary, ELB and SQS are fault-tolerant by default.
Introducing redundancy doesn’t necessarily increase your costs. An m3.large instance with 2 CPUs and 7,5 GiB RAM costs exactly the same as two m3.medium instances with 1 CPU and 3,75 GiB of RAM. The only additional costs are created by the decoupling layer: ELB or SQS.
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Michael Wittig I’m the author of Amazon Web Services in Action. I work as a software engineer, and independent consultant focused on AWS and DevOps. You can contact me via Email, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Hire meReading about other people doing cocaine is so much more fun than doing cocaine yourself. I received Lizzy Goodman’s new oral history Meet Me in the Bathroom last week, a 622-page book about music in New York City in the aughts. The Strokes are the marquee band and get the most attention, Interpol a close second, along with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio, Grizzly Bear, Vampire Weekend, among many others familiar and forgotten: Le Tigre, Fischerspooner, Jonathan Fire*Eater, The Hives, The Vines, Ryan Adams. I thought I’d just paw at it in pieces over time, but like some bad coke flashback, I found myself on the couch sweaty and bleary-eyed after sitting down intending to read for 10 minutes and going a couple of hours in that horrible coke goblin rigor, cramped and drained. I’ve blown so much time on rock biographies, people I dig along with bands I never listen to: every single Guns ’n’ Roses book (Duff’s is the best), Boy George, Bob Mould… if you’ve got Tupperwares full of cocaine and exploding livers, I’ll have it here, in my mind.
Meet Me in the Bathroom is expansive and thoroughly researched, featuring hundreds of interviews with band members, publicists, artists, critics, editors, promoters, drug dealers, scenesters. Goodman picks up New York history in a bland and boring time: by the late 1990s, after Giuliani had sanitized and sandblasted the city, there was no music scene left, and the people that remained wanted so badly to have amazing bands come out of Manhattan again. The book’s arc begins with Jonathan Fire*Eater, the archetypal almost got signed band that was completely forgotten four years later, and ends with Vampire Weekend signing to XL just 18 months after they formed. By the time their self-titled debut came out in January 2008, there was no stigma about signing to a major label or even licensing your songs to commercials (Animal Collective and Dan Deacon were both featured in separate Crayola ads that same year).
Everyone keeps coming back to The Strokes in Goodman’s book: the band that got in right at the end of a music industry making $15 billion a year, the last band that trashed hotel rooms and punched publicists in the face and got away with it, the band that should’ve been so much bigger but self-sabotaged and laid back because of typical Gen X hang-ups: the right influences, the right haircut, that infuriating forced ambivalence, the beautiful people feigning not giving a shit about what other people think. But they were the New York band that lifted the water for everyone else, and after 9/11, everyone describes coming out of the confusion and horror of it all determined to do more drugs and make more stuff.
The book’s scope is so vast, I didn’t know what I was getting into—I bought it for the Interpol bits. Paul Banks is the best lyricist of the 21st century, and his singing on Interpol’s second album Antics is still breathtaking. That’s the sound of God that John Lennon was talking about when he was trying to get George Martin to fix something up for his vocal on “Tomorrow Never Knows”: monks chanting from the top of a mountain. That’s the power of Banks’ voice and his mellifluous lyrics, a sublime mix of odd word choices and bizarre phrasing bordering on English as a second language, non-sequiturs, bleeding heart pleas, and plain statements of yearning: “I can’t pretend I need to defend some part of me from you/I know I’ve spent some time lying.”
Everyone always fixates on the obvious ones: subway = porno, her stories are boring and stuff, her love’s a pony, let’s see about this ham. Forget all that shit. This is the last lyric on Antics: “When the cadaverous mob saves its doors for the dead man, you cannot leave.” Interpol lost the plot by 2010, but for most of the aughts, Paul Banks was the best New York lyricist since Bob Dylan.
Marc Spitz is an excellent reoccurring voice, and it’s a bittersweet pleasure reading him just a few months after his sudden and unexpected death. Catty, whip-smart, insightful and exciting in a way that few of his peers were: “I saw kids in Connecticut and Maine and Philadelphia and DC looking like they had just been drinking on Avenue A all night. Sixteen-year-old kids in white belts and Converse Chuck Taylors with the greasy hair—hair that had been clean a week ago. Those kids had probably never even smelled the inside of a thrift store before Is This It came out.”
It’s a sad book because it’s about the end of the rainbow in music and in publishing. Pretty much everyone interviewed for this book would be richer if the Internet never decimated media. I’ve seen some people say that it’s too soon to revisit this era, but looking at The Strokes, and even Interpol’s success through the middle and late aughts, we feel a world away. And Vampire Weekend is such a nice note to end on, because Goodman gets to tie in the key difference between Millennials and Gen X musicians: now, there are no hang-ups, and everyone’s a polyglot. It might’ve been daring for Jack White to sing “Jolene” in 2001, but everyone loves a little bit of everything now. We’re carried all the way over to Brooklyn when everything coalesced and culminated again in New York in 2009, with the simultaneous success of Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, and Animal Collective (who are conspicuously absent from the book, not even mentioned). It’s Please Kill Me, it’s Live from New York, it’s a deliriously addictive book that’ll hook anyone who digs these bands but especially those that lived in New York at the time and remember how everyone came together for just a bit.
—Follow Nicky Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER1992As the Civil War continues to rage, America’s president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield and as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves.
With a historical/biographical movie of this magnitude, I must being with the character and portrayal of Abraham Lincoln by the legendary Daniel Day-Lewis. While I do enjoy reading and learning of our history, I know little about the actual person that Lincoln was. I have only seen pictures and heard little tid-bits of his personality, and of course we all know of his historic accomplishments.What Day-Lewis has done in Lincoln transcends any other acting performance I have ever seen in film or television, because Day-Lewis is not acting. As per his usual acting methods, the name Daniel Day-Lewis is never heard or seen on [or off] set once production has started. Instead, Day-Lewis goes by Lincoln’s name, and remains in character for months on end. I did not see this performance as an act. What I saw on the screen wasn’t a made-up character, but a real person. When you look into his face and his eyes as he is recalling a funny story or as he intensely pines for change, you don’t see Daniel Day-Lewis, you see an Abraham Lincoln. He does not “act”, or “pretend” to be this character, he is this Lincoln. Every other performance in this film and probably every movie I have ever seen has paled in comparison. This is the greatest acting work [if I can even call it acting] that I have ever seen in my life.
That is not to say that the other performances in this film weren’t great, because some of them truly were. Tommy Lee Jones‘ Thaddeus Stevens might be my favorite supporting performance of the decade. He is both hilarious and stern, determined to change this horrible act of slavery. This was the most interesting and unique character that I have seen Jones play. Sally Field also gives a wonderfully estranged performance as the maybe-crazy Mary-Todd Lincoln. Apart from them, the entire cast is filled with an awesome ensemble of really talented actors who all bring something different to the film: David Strathairn‘s faithful Lincoln sidekick William Seward; James Spader‘s unkempt, raunchy, funny behind-the-scenes worker for Lincoln, with his partners played by John Hawkes and Tim Blake Nelson, who are perfect fits for the times; Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s righteous and rebellious son of Lincoln, Robert; Jared Harris‘ eerily accurate look of U.S. Grant; and other perfectly casted actors such as Hal Holbrook, Jackie Earle Haley, Bruce McGill, Joseph Cross, and Lee Pace. For a film with one of the most influential and powerful lead figures as Abe Lincoln, the supporting cast of characters is surprisingly awesome.
The movie itself was surprisingly light and funny, while still having some thick, heavy drama, of course. The forgiving run-time and not so heavy tone of the film allow for viewers of all interests and demographics, not just history nerds. That does not take away from the importance of the film, however. The viewer is constantly beat over the head with the fact that this man has to resolve the two biggest problems this country has ever faced in the span of a few weeks. The script is littered with powerful punch lines from many different characters re-enforcing both the importance of ending the war, ending slavery, and the impossibility of achieving both. The situation is handled surprisingly calmly by Day-Lewis’ cool and collected Lincoln. While not forfeiting some serious, intimidating, and powerful words, he usually relies on subtle revelations and metaphors, even a funny story or two. The courthouse is where you will find the dramatics: the racism, the slander, the insults, and the real hits to each party in their fight to destroy or save slavery.
The second unit work, which is what I refer the set, costume, and make-up crew as, is really good and convincing, and the film features a subtle yet satisfying soundtrack from the illustrious John Williams. The theme for this movie is one of my favorites from him. The camera work is classic Spielberg, involving some great cinematic work to enforce many themes like importance and power. It was very fitting for the telling of this story. And there was one thing that Steven Spielberg did that I really noticed and enjoyed, and that was the introductions of a lot of the characters. The camera work and dialogue schemes used to first show several of the characters, including Lincoln, Thaddeus Stevens, and the Spader/Hawkes/Nelson trio, was really cool.
My Rating
4/4 – Combined with the most true acting performance I have ever seen with Daniel Day-Lewis’ Abraham Lincoln is a funny, powerful, flawless presentation of the most important couple of months in U.S. history.
AdvertisementsThe Department of Homeland Security is moving forward on condemning property for several miles of South Texas border fence that was authorized a decade ago but never built.
Landowners in Los Ebanos, near McAllen, and Roma, 30 miles upstream, said in recent months they received notices that the federal government is reviving long-dormant lawsuits to condemn acreage they own near the Rio Grande.
Noe Benavides, a former Roma city councilman, said earlier this month he received a letter telling him the government is taking 5.7 acres of real estate his family owns near the riverbank.
The land was initially condemned in 2008 after then-President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act, but a clerical error kept the government from taking control of his property, Benavides said.
"It's a strip 60 feet wide by the lands on the river that we have there," he said. "And you know, I wouldn't mind if they went parallel to the river, but they're not. They're following a road that I have there, and there's probably about 20 acres plus left behind the fence."
Reviving the plan
Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security, the Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorney's Office, which has filed lawsuits to condemn property for the fence, did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
President Donald Trump has ordered DHS to build a wall, estimated to cost $21 billion. Congress has yet to fund it, and the notices sent out this year are related to an earlier law that authorized construction of a physical barrier on the border with Mexico.
Scott Nicol, co-chair of the Borderlands Team for the Sierra Club, said DHS is likely trying to build 14 miles of fencing that were abandoned in 2008 because they were planned in the Rio Grande floodplain.
About 650 miles of fencing was constructed, much of it in Arizona and New Mexico, under the 2006 Secure Fence Act. Almost 60 miles were built in the Rio Grande Valley, most of it on levies above the river.
An international treaty restricts construction in the floodplain, and in 2008 the International Boundaries and Water Commission, the bi-national organization that oversees the U.S.-Mexico border, rejected DHS's request to build segments of fence near Roma, Rio Grande City and Los Ebanos, Nicol said. In 2012, the U.S. Section of the commission reversed itself, over the objection of their Mexican counterparts, and authorized the construction, but the funds weren't available, he added.
Recognizing that Trump's wall could be held up by years of legal wrangling, like its predecessor, Nicol said DHS appears to be going after sections of fencing that were authorized by Congress but never constructed.
A spokeswoman for the commission directed questions to DHS.
'Completely against it'
Yvette Salinas of Mission said that on Jan. 12, DHS sent her family a letter warning them it is moving forward to condemn 1.2 acres near Los Ebanos and offering the family $2,900. The federal government had initially tried to condemn the property in 2008, Salinas said. It belonged to her great-grandmother who passed away without writing a will |
, who consumes 5kg of meat a day and weighs almost 200kg. It will only leave its enclosure once it has been "booked"' by a hunter, most of whom are from the United States. At that point the big cat will be set loose in the wild for the first time in its life, 96 hours before the hunt begins. It usually takes about four days to track down the prey, with the trophy hunter following its trail on foot, accompanied by big-game professionals including Hermanus. He currently has 14 lions at his property near Groot Marico, about two and a half hours by road west of Johannesburg.
After the kill Hermanus will be paid $10,000, but he can boost his earnings further by selling the lion's bones to a Chinese dealer based in Durban. At $165 a kilo (an average figure obtained from several sources) the breeder will pocket something in the region of $5,000.
If his client does not want to keep the lion's head as a trophy, the skull will fetch another $1,100. "If you put your money in the bank you get 8% interest," he explains, "but at present lions show a 30% return."
According to several specialists the new market is soaring. "In the past three months we have issued as many export licences as in a whole year," says an official in Free State, home to most of South Africa's 200 lion breeders. In 2012 more than 600 lions were killed by trophy hunters. The most recent official figures date from 2009, certifying export of 92 carcasses to Laos and Vietnam. At about that time breeders started digging up the lion bones they had buried here and there, for lack of an outlet.
Asian traders started taking an interest in South African lions in 2008, when the decline in tiger numbers – now in danger of extinction – became acute. In traditional Chinese medicine, tiger wine, made using powdered bones, allegedly cures many ills including ulcers, cramp, rheumatism, stomach ache and malaria. The beverage is also claimed to have tonic qualities, boosting virility.
Despite the lack of scientific proof this potion is very popular, so with tiger bones increasingly scarce, vendors are replacing them with the remains of lions. Traders soon realised that South Africa could be a promising source. It is home to 4,000 to 5,000 captive lions, with a further 2,000 roaming freely in protected reserves such as the Kruger national park. Furthermore such trade is perfectly legal.
But a South African investigator, who has been working in this field for 35 years, paints a murky picture. "The legal market only accounts for about half the business, the other half depends on fraud and poaching, which make it possible to obtain bigger volumes, more quickly, and without attracting attention," he asserts, adding: "It's exactly the same people buying lion bones and poaching rhino horns. It's all connected." Sentenced to 40 years in prison last November for fraudulently obtaining and exporting rhino horns, the Thai trafficker Chumlong Lemtongthai also purchased lion bones on his trips to South Africa. "At the end of last year, at Johannesburg international airport, we intercepted several lion bones among bits of rhino horn and ivory, all in a packet ready for despatch," says Hugo Taljaard, head of the Revenue Service's detector dog units. In six months' time South Africa will have 16 dogs trained to detect the smell of lion bones, compared with only two at present.
In June 2012 an online petition calling on President Jacob Zuma to ban the export of lion bones and body parts attracted 750,000 signatures. "The fact that the business is legal just fuels demand, but with the supply-side unable to keep up, buyers will increasingly switch to lions that are still in the wild, including elsewhere in Africa, despite them being endangered," warns Pieter Kat at the NGO LionAid. "To prevent that risk, it would be better to let us cater for growing demand," counters Pieter Potgieter, head of the South African Predator Breeders Association.
"As the price of bones is rising steadily, some breeders have started slaughtering their own lions, without obtaining a permit or getting a vet to put the animal to sleep," says a fraud inspector. "But with the present wave of rhino poaching, we've neither the time nor the resources to address the problem."
• This story appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from Le MondeWe’ve got a few posts on the topic of UKGE:
I haven’t wanted to admit it to myself today but I haven’t really enjoyed my time at the UK Games Expo.
Don’t get me wrong, the first day I was here was fascinating – an array of sights and sounds and colours and activities that gave everything a vaguely otherworldly aura of beckoningly seductive promise. I thoroughly enjoyed that part – looking into what seemed like a vast hall of endless choices, with everything new and interesting and with options branching out and branching away in ever broadening variety. From the press event onwards, there was always something new to see. Sometimes, those things were genuinely astounding Like this massive, city-scale spaceship from Dropship Commander.
And sometimes they were the comparatively mundane but excitingly dedicated cosplayers that made reality bend slightly every time they hove into view. There’s nothing quite as disorienting as stepping aside to let an Uruk-Hai warrior pass on his way to the bathrooms. I think I managed to keep my head in the right mindset though, and as far as I recall I didn’t try to entice Garrus into weird alien sex through the suggestive promise of heavy weapon calibration.
If I had a plan for our first day at the UKGE it was to get the lay of the land, map out the events and games we most wanted to sample, and then use Saturday and Sunday to actually sit down and enjoy the rich array of excitement laid on before us. I wanted to sample from this ludic buffet like a pleasingly well-provisioned gourmand. Actually, that’s too tame an explanation of what I wanted. Truth be told, I wanted to gorge myself on fun until I burst like Mr Creosote from Monty Pythons Meaning of Life.
At the moment, I’m sitting in the sterile refectory area of our Holiday Inn. It’s four PM. I left the convention centre an hour ago. I have a packet of weird kettle chips and a bottle of Pepsi Max on the table beside me. Mrs Meeple is upstairs, trying to catch some sleep to make up for that which we lost to motorway traffic during the night. I’m by myself here. I’m not playing any games. This is the absolute opposite of what I wanted from today. And yet all I can think is ‘I wish I had left that infernal crucible a bit earlier’. I’m going back tomorrow, but for now – oh God, I am so glad I’m not there.
Oh dear, this is all sounding very negative. Let me back up a bit.
Some people are energised by crowds. Some people can feel the electricity of society run through them like an alternating current. I have never been one of those people. I like quiet. I am not gregarious. I’m a textbook introvert – and a hard-core introvert at that. I enjoy the company of people in smaller numbers. In large numbers they can very rapidly overwhelm my psychic energy stores. Yesterday at the UKGE the crowds managed to walk the tight line between ‘energising’ and ‘exhausting’. Today, that balance shifted.
I spoke to a very nice woman demonstrating for Esdevium, and she said that they were told to expect 12,000 people at the Birmingham NEC on Saturday. Twelve thousand people in a convention centre space that could comfortably support perhaps half of that. The morning was fine – very busy, but no so busy that you couldn’t make progress and try things out. In the afternoon, that changed dramatically.
The problem with a convention that is about people getting together and playing games is that it takes space. Selling games takes space. Showing demos of games takes space. And there is only a certain amount of space available around those spaces. UKGE is crowded. My god, is it crowded. It is a massive, unrequited success and my experience of the convention is that very success runs the real risk of ruining it. The demand for novelty and recreation far, far outstrips the supply.
The result today has been that my UKGE experience consists of 10% playing games and talking to people, 20% shuffling around the mass of bodies hoping to get to where I want to go, and a good 70% staring wistfully at the tables full of people enjoying the games I’d really like to try out myself. We spent far, far more time orbiting the convention hall looking for a game available to play than we did actually playing games.
We drove all the way from Scotland to attend UKGE and not play games. I could have stayed home and not played games just as easily and it would have been considerably less stressful. I could have taken a frustratingly slow amble around my house before arriving back at a shelf full of games I’m not playing. The only meaningful difference between that and my time at UKGE is that it would be quieter, the drinks would be cheaper, and I wouldn’t need to walk 20 minutes to get to my car.
The good news in all of this is that I never really felt at any point like any of the exhibitors were hurting for attention. At no point did I feel like anyone really needed any pity from passing trade. Everyone seemed rushed off their feet including some people that I specifically made an effort to try to see. That can only be a good thing for the hobby. Even the playtest sections, full of untried and untested concepts, were filled to bursting with eager participants.
It’s not that I didn’t get to see or do anything at the convention, of course. If you orbit the convention centre for long enough you’ll eventually find an opportunity to do something just as a sheer result of inexorable probability. It’s just that the whole thing has been a good distance from the shameless orgy of gaming that I had hoped for.
We spoke to Nigel and Sarah Kennington from One Free Elephant during the press event, discussing their games Ore-Some and Carcosa. In the interests of disclosure, we already knew them before this event. They are, as the mafia might say, friends of ours. Mrs Meeple backed Ore-Some on Kickstarter (and we’ll get around to talking about it on the blog just as soon as we’ve played it) and I wanted to give Carcosa a try at some point during the expo but demand for play slots there was intense. Carcosa seems on the face of it to be a kind of Cthulhu Carcassonne but there’s a lot more to it than that. How much more, I don’t know yet but certainly enough to pique my interest.
Of most interest at the press event was Century: Spice Road (which I bought literally as soon as the expo opened to the general public), the Splendor expansions (which I wanted to try during the expo but, you know), and Pandemic Legacy Season Two (or at least, the box). We spoke to Cool Mini or Not about the Godfather game from Eric Lang – I’m not sure it’ll end up being my cup of tea but it was obviously intensely popular during the course of the day. Thematically enough you’d need to literally kill someone to get a go on it at the moment. I suspect Mr. Lang has another crowd-pleaser on his hands judging by the demand for play sessions.
We also got a chance to talk about Codenames Duet with Czech Games This site has a somewhat textured relationship with the various instalments in the Codenames franchise. I suspect this particular title isn’t going to sway us into the broader fold. For those that like Codenames, it’s almost certainly going to be a winner. For the rest of us that remain politely baffled by the enduring popularity of the game, that bafflement is projected to continue without interruption.
Part of our Friday was broken up by the Books and Boardgames panel. I stepped in to cover an absence by a panel member rather than being a particular relevant choice to talk about the topic. It was I think an interesting discussion about the various ways in which gaming could be incorporated into public spaces and some of the barriers that stand in the way. David Wright will be putting up an audio recording of the session, which was between myself, Darren Edwards and Chris Standley. Check it out, maybe!
As I say, mostly the Friday was an exercise in seeing what was out there rather than actually participating much but we did a chance to play the oversized version of Colt Express with a couple of people we’d arranged to meet at the convention. So many of the accessibility issues that we outlined in our teardown of that game would be solved by the over-sized version being made available at retail. I suspect though the associated cost might perhaps be too large to realistically bear for anyone other than real life robber rail barons. We also tried out Ominoes – worth playing, but not a title I felt compelled to buy. It’s a kind of madcap cross between connect-four and craps, but it just didn’t really grab me all that much.
Perhaps the most useful thing we did during the day was meet up with the designers of a game called Tranquil Vale and spend half an hour or so talking through accessibility of their design. Really, that was probably the highlight of the Expo so far because it’s the kind of meaningfully helpful thing that we can do while wandering around. It was extremely gratifying to see how seriously they took accessibility in the design process. They showed Mrs Meeple and myself a couple of iterations of the design that showed how they were adapting the aesthetics and theme around design for disability. I made some suggestions. Mrs Meeple made some suggestions. They made some suggestions of their own. That was grand.
Oh, and then we saw Shut Up and Sit Down do their live podcast where they talked about the games that they had tried during the expo. I suspect getting access to play sessions is a good deal easier for an outlet that can almost single handedly convert a game from an obscure triviality into a meaningful hit through little more than alchemical charisma. Apparently First Martians is good, but all I can say is that I hope the copy I eventually get doesn’t come surrounded by quite so many people. Barenpark is apparently fun, but as soon as they mentioned it I knew my getting to see it was not on the menu any more. SU&SD were as charming and entertaining as ever, although it was a shame that Paul Dean is apparently imprisoned in Canada and unable to leave. Also, where is Brendan? Is he okay?
On Saturday we played a game of Wreck and Ruin, which is a Mad Max style smash ‘em up set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of ramming big-rigs and drive-by shootings. It’s yet to go to Kickstarter, but I genuinely enjoyed the session we had and I’ll be watching its progress with interest. Lots of accessibility issues, but few that aren’t relatively easily fixable. Feel free to hit me up for suggestions, Mark!
We also got a chance to talk to Bezier games about Werewords (meh… it’s okay) and New York Slice (which is much better than okay). Werewords is kind of a mash up between One Night Ultimate Werewolf and Twenty Questions and I’m not sure it works particularly well. True, we only had four people to play it and so we didn’t quite get the full experience. Nonetheless it didn’t strike me as being an especially strong premise. Time will tell though.
New York Slice on the other hand is ridiculously simple and yet possessed of an intensely satisfying gameplay mechanic. All you do is work out how you’re going to slice up a cardboard pizza, and then everyone takes one of the slices you’ve set up. You get whatever grimly unsatisfying slice is left over once everyone else has had their pick. It basically gamifies the etiquette of cutting a cake – the person that slices is the last person to pick up a serving. You’re looking to make up sets of numbers, eat pepperoni, and avoid anchovies (because God, anchovies are the worst). It sounds trivial, and yet I enjoyed it a lot. I’m hoping to pick it up tomorrow if I can get anywhere near a goddamn vendor.
Oh, that’s another thing about UKGE – the average price of games seems to be creeping up noticeably over the course of the weekend. I don’t think anyone is changing the prices directly, but as the cheaper options are picked up early in the weekend all that you’re left with on the Saturday are the more expensive choices. I picked up a few bargains on the Friday, but there’s not much incentive to pick up games from the convention on the Saturday if price is the factor. We’ll see about Sunday – I’m hoping the simple logistics of transporting games back to the stores puts a little elasticity in the economics.
We checked out the Spiel nominated Kingdomino too – it’s very simple, but very satisfying. It’s a bit like box of Dominoes had unprotected sex with the Isle of Skye. Wow, that’s a mental image that’s going to stay with me. You’re constructing small kingdoms of terrain to create contiguous spaces peppered with crowns. There’s not much more to it than that, but I did enjoy it considerably more than I expected from the description I’d been given at the press event.
Finally, we tried out of the Game of Thrones reskin of Cosmic Encounter (the Iron Throne). We’ve played Cosmic before. Or rather, we played a game using Cosmic Encounter components We got a vanishingly small number of the actual rules correct. Iron Throne seemed okay but it lacked a lot of the vigour and energy of the original. The restrictions that are newly placed on negotiation really rob it of flexibility. There is though no denying there is a visceral pleasure in having Margery Tyrell absolutely kick the ever-living shit out of Joffrey Baratheon on the battleground of Kings Landing. Seriously, everyone should get to do that at least once in their lives. It’s very cathartic.
That, sadly, is the sum total of what two days of the UK Games Expo have yielded to me, and it’s somewhat disheartening. The will is there, but it seems somewhat uncivil to channel that will into the physical attacks that would have gotten me access to a wider range of gaming experiences. I have not given up hope for a more successful day tomorrow in the time before we begin the long trek back northwards beyond the Wall, Those hopes though are hanging on by the most tenuous grip of the weakest possible fingertips.
Really, it’s probably best to think of this post as a cautionary counter-story of how wonderful people might find the convention experience. The simple fact is that when you throw 12,000 people into a relatively small area with only a comparative handful of gaming spaces there’s going to be some proportion of that visitor pool that end up feeling intensely disappointed by the experience. That’s not to say it’s likely to reflect the majority view (because I don’t know that’s the case) or even a particularly sizeable minority. All I really know is that if Mrs Meeple and I had decided to invite some friends around and play the games we already owned it would have been a noticeably more effective use of our limited time and we would have seen almost as many newly released games.
It’s not that the experience has been terrible so far – it’s just that it’s been dramatically below the par that a cheaper, easier and more convenient arrangement could have comfortably accomplished. I am not going to leave UKGE excited for next year. I’m most likely just going to leave it for the first and last time.
So really, just remember this the next time you are looking at pictures of UKGE, Gencon, Essen, BGGCon or any of the other large gaming conventions. The testimonies of those that are enthusing about the experience might not be fairly reflective of what it’s like for the average attendee. You might feel isolated and left out, or consumed with envy. But at least you’re not making your fifth circuit of an overstuffed and boiling hot convention hall just looking for something to do.
We’ve got a few posts on the topic of UKGE:Despite Sally Yates’s warning, Michael Flynn remained in his position as national security adviser for more than two weeks. | AP Photo Sally Yates: Russia had'real leverage' over Flynn
The Russian government had “real leverage” over former national security adviser Michael Flynn before he was fired by President Donald Trump, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said in excerpts from an interview to air Tuesday night on CNN.
Yates informed the White House that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about the nature of conversations he had had with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., information she delivered shortly before she was fired over her unwillingness to defend the president’s executive order banning individuals from certain majority-Muslim nations from entering the nation.
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Despite Yates’ warning, Flynn remained in his position as national security adviser for more than two weeks and was fired only after the disparity between the true substance of his conversation with the Russian ambassador and what he told the vice president was published by The Washington Post.
“I think that this was a serious compromise situation, that the Russians had real leverage. He also had lied to the vice president of the United States,” Yates said in an interview with Anderson Cooper, excerpts of which aired Tuesday morning on “New Day.” “You know, whether he's fired or not is a decision for the president of the United States to make. But it doesn't seem like that's a person who should be sitting in the national security adviser position.”
Yates denied an allegation from the president that it was she who had leaked the information regarding Flynn to the Post, telling Cooper that she had never leaked classified information to the newspaper nor had she authorized anyone else to do so. She also said that Flynn’s actions were potentially criminal in nature, even though White House press secretary Sean Spicer has said that the former national security adviser was let go because of a “trust issue” and not over legal concerns.
“I don’t know how the White House reached the conclusion there was no legal issue,” she said. “It certainly wasn’t from my discussion with them.”
The interview is to air at 8 p.m. Tuesday on "AC360."In celebration of the Lunar New Year, each victory you earn in normal Dota Matchmaking from February 1 – 11 will grant you progress along the New Bloom rewards line, where you’ll find a host of seasonal delights including gifts, celebrations, and chat wheel sounds.
Start off by claiming your New Bloom consumables bundle at level one, and bring some festive flair into the lanes with New Bloom Celebrations. Use celebrations in your games safe in the knowledge that you can earn more on the rewards line or by purchasing a fresh bundle with shards.
As you advance along the line, you can even help your friends get into the spirit of the season by gifting them free spins on the New Bloom rewards wheel. Every spin you and your friends make offers the chance to win an indescribably-rare Nian Courier.
You’ll receive 200 points for a Normal victory, 100 points for Turbo, and the first win of each day will grant a bonus of 1250 points.
You’ll be able to use your consumables and chat wheel sounds in your games until March 1, so prepare yourself for battle and start the New Year in style.Tommasi, 34, has returned to live with her parents at her home in San Benedetto dei Marsi, a town in Abruzzo, while working as the sporting manager for her local football team, Marruvium.
A spokesperson for Marruvium, who ply their trade in Italy's amateur league 2B, told The Local the role was "a sort of rehabilitation programme for Sara", who has had a tough time since being embroiled in the Berlusconi sex scandal.
"She started helping out at the end of October and since then she's been much happier," the spokesperson added.
Club president Romeo D'amore said he was happy to hire the former beauty queen to help steer the minnows in the right direction, declaring he had no doubt she was the right woman for the job.
"I'm honoured, we are a very serious outfit and Sara is going to fit right in," he told reporters.
Tommasi, who studied for four years to obtain a degree in economics from the prestigious Bocconi university in Milan before beginning her career as a showgirl, said was also looking forward to her new role.
"I've been through a period in which I haven't been at my best," she added.
"Now I'm feeling good and willing to give it my all."
Her new role follows a turbulent few years.
In 2011, she was at the centre of a media storm after being implicated in Silvio Berlusconi's underage sex trial as one of the escorts who were allegedly paid to attend the former premier's infamous 'bunga bunga' parties.
In an interview given that year to the women's magazine, Dive e Donne, Tommasi accused the Italian secret service of implanting a microchip under her skin and drugging her "for sexual ends" in order to encourage her to participate in the lurid parties.
Tomassi, who also dated footballer Mario Balotelli, then began working as an adult film star. Her first hardcore pornographic film, entitled 'My First Time', was given a high profile release on July 6th 2012.
But immediately after the film came out, the star announced she was undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder, which she claimed had been brought on by the intense media scrutiny cast upon her during the so-called Ruby trial.
Tommasi soon found herself at the centre of another high-profile scandal when she had her second pornographic film, 'Private Confessions', seized by police before it could be released.
She claimed the film's producer, Federico De Vincenzo, had drugged her before forcing her to film. In 2014 a court found in favour of Tommasi and sentenced De Vincenzo to two years and 10 months in prison.
In her new role as sporting manager of Marruvium, Tommasi waves goodbye to pornography - a chapter of her life she has called "regrettable".
Tommasi, herself an avid fan of AS Roma, admitted to now following the fortunes of Marruvium home and away as she bids to turn over a new leaf.
"I'm a woman dedicated to home and sport," she said.In July of 2000, during Newcastle United’s preseason tour of America, English journalist Jason Mellor noted that the Magpies had departed Washington D.C. to head to Columbus, which he described as “an altogether less fashionable part of the United States.” I thought it was hilarious and it remains my BigSoccer signature to this day.
Of course, unknowing impression of Columbus and one’s actual impression of Columbus are two different things. When I spoke with Newcastle manager Bobby Robson after the game, he raved about the city, the stadium, the training grounds, the fans, and the visionary commitment of Lamar Hunt.
So now that he’d been to Columbus, would he come back?
“Coming back?” he asked in astonishment, as if it were the silliest questions in the world. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world! Nobody’s homesick or wishing tomorrow was here. We’ve enjoyed great hospitality, great food, great hotels, great people around us. I’d come again and I’d recommend to all the teams in England to come if they can.” (Several English clubs, including Newcastle again in 2011, have heeded Robson’s advice.)
Sometimes what is altogether less fashionable reveals itself to be a true gem upon closer inspection.
To give another example, that’s why goalkeeper Jon Busch was such a perfect fit for Columbus and the Crew.
*****
Despite a stellar collegiate career at UNC-Charlotte, the knock on Jon Busch was that he was too small to play goalkeeper at the pro level. Generously listed at 5’10”, Busch’s brains, agility, and command were overshadowed by the fact that he did not fit the goalkeeping prototype that required imposing size and a condor’s wingspan. Brad Fiedel? That’s a goalkeeper. Jon Busch? That’s a guy who should maybe try to make a career out of indoor soccer.
Despite his size, Busch was talented enough to land gigs at the A-League (now USL) level, bouncing around such teams as the Worcester Wildfire, Carolina Dynamo, Hampton Roads Mariners, and Hershey Wildcats. By 2001, he had led Hershey to the A-League title game (a 2-0 loss to the Rochester Rhinos) and was named the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year. All the while, he’d receive the occasional invite to an MLS training camp or would be on call in the event of a goalkeeping injury, but there wasn’t much in the way of a real chance to move up to the next level. That was a tall man’s game.
Everything changed late in 2001, due to the impending retirement of Columbus Crew goalkeeper Mark Dougherty. The Crew went looking for a backup to incumbent Tom Presthus. Due to his work at goalkeeping camps, Crew coach Greg Andrulis had known about Busch since the goalkeeper was 14 or 15 years old and knew there was more to Busch than his tape measure metrics. He began scouting him at Hershey and spoke to him after a playoff game late in 2001, telling Busch that he planned to draft him in the upcoming SuperDraft and that he could come in, work hard, and land a roster spot behind Presthus.
“I was excited after five years of riding buses and doing all of the hard work,” Busch recalls. “I didn’t know anything about Columbus at the time other than it was in Ohio.”
It’s an altogether less fashionable part of the United States. It was a perfect fit.
*****
Busch made the team in 2002, and he caught a break early. Presthus injured his ankle in a game against New England in April. Busch got about a half-hour of mop-up work that day and when Presthus wasn’t able to go the following week, he made the first start of his MLS career on April 27 at home against D.C. United. Apart from Andrulis and himself, Busch figured not many people really knew what he was truly capable of in a game situation, whether it be the fans in the stands or even his own teammates. Busch’s main memory of his first career MLS start was a brief word from World Cup veteran and Crew teammate John Harkes in the tunnel as the teams took the field.
“I remember walking out for that first game and Harkesy says to me, ‘Good luck, kid. Don’t shit yourself.’ I kinda laughed because it perfectly summed it up. Here’s an older guy wishing me luck, but at the same time, also making a joke because he probably doesn’t know, apart from what he saw at training, what I can or can’t do. It broke the ice a little bit. Then I go out and we win 1-0, so it was a good start I guess.”
Busch made one more spot start in June, but then another Presthus injury in July gave him an extended audition. He seized the opportunity to such an extent that he remained the starter even after Presthus returned to health. Busch finished the year with a record of 8-3-2 and a 1.09 goals against average.
“I had a good run of form and the team was doing well and that was it,” Busch recalls while giving tons of credit to Presthus for lending his support and expertise despite the loss of his own starting job. “Tom was great about it. I know he was frustrated because here comes this short little guy that nobody has heard about, and he was an MLS Cup champion and he was the man in Columbus. I’m sure it was hard for him when Greg made the change, but he treated me great and he helped me.”
The culmination of Busch’s fairy tale ascendancy from minor league journeyman to first-division starter came on October 24, 2002, when he backstopped the Crew to a 1-0 victory in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final, claiming the first major trophy in club history. It meant even more to win it with so many veterans who had been knocking on the door for so long before finally breaking through, and they all got to celebrate on the podium with club founder Lamar Hunt.
“What an unbelievable team to come into,” Busch recalls. “You look at that roster…Clarkie, Mais, Yeags, McBride, Bobby, Dante…the list goes on and on. Me being one of the few young kids there, you follow suit. There was a responsibility to these veteran guys to pitch in and do whatever you needed to do to win the first championship for the club. You wanted to win it for them because they were such good people, and especially for Lamar.”
*****
To fully explain Jon Busch’s love for Columbus, one must first explain his love for his wife, Nikki. They met in Bradenton, FL when Busch was doing some offseason training at the IMG Academy. Nikki worked at the complex’s pro shop. One day, as Busch at lunch, Nikki entered the room to ship some packages. Busch was a goner before they’d even technically met. He later asked her out to lunch and they are still together two decades later.
And what a two decades it has been, especially in those early days. As Busch bounced around the minors for not much money and not necessarily rosy prospects for reaching the MLS level, Nikki was with him every step of the way, offering support and encouragement. It wasn’t an easy life, but they kept the dream alive together.
“The good thing is we were young, so we didn’t have a lot and we didn’t need a lot,” Busch recalls. “We didn’t have roots, per se. We had two cars and a couple duffel bags.”
One of my fondest memories of the night that the Crew won the U.S. Open Cup was when Busch delivered an impassioned soliloquy dedicating the championship to Nikki, saying he never would have been in position to achieve it without her love and support. I wish I still had the tape or my original notes. Those quotes are lost to history, but the sentiment endures.
“I think about it even today,” he says. “Nikki’s sitting over there working on her computer right now and we were just talking about this the other day. It’s been 21 years as a pro for me, and she’s been with me for 20 out of the 21. You think about all of the moves and the injuries and the questions. We were even joking about it yesterday with everything going on with the NASL maybe here, maybe not here. We’re laughing that 21 years and we’re still going through the same shit.”
Subsequent moves have taken the Busches to Chicago, San Jose, and Indianapolis, where Busch plays (for now, pending the fate of the NASL) for the Indy Eleven. Still, all these years later, Columbus is the city that is anchored in their hearts. It was in Columbus that they went from two cars and a couple of duffel bags to bonafide homeowners with furniture and everything.
“We like to say that we kind of became adults in Columbus,” he says. “We were there for five years, and we kept the house for two years after I was in Chicago before we sold it. For us, Columbus is special not just because of the championship and the fans and all the friends we made there, but also because we went from kids to being adults. We grew up there. We got a house. We paid our bills. Columbus is still so special to Nikki and I. We still call it home and we try to go back in the winters as much as possible.”
*****
Like many Crew alumni, Busch was aghast when word broke that team owner Anthony Precourt may move Major League Soccer’s founding club to Austin, TX. On his social media, he has been an advocate of the #SaveTheCrew movement.
“It doesn’t sit well with me,” Busch says. “Business is business and I get that. I own my own glove business so I get the business side of certain things, but at the same time, playing for the Crew and winning with the Crew and being with those fans for five years, when you think of Columbus, you think of the Crew. We still go back because we have a lot of friends in that community and the Crew is part of Columbus. It doesn’t sit well with me.”
There’s a huge different between owning a glove business or a needlepoint store or a cupcake shop versus own a professional sports team. A team like the Columbus Crew is a civic institution that bonds so many people from so many walks of life. Precourt himself has described being an owner as being a steward of a community asset, which makes this Austin flirtation all the more painful. Busch feels that while sports can certainly be a business, there’s also something more to it than a regular business.
“The owner might be a good business man, but he doesn’t understand the connection between the players and the fans there and what it means to the city,” he says. “He comes from outside and he only thinks bottom dollar, but he’s probably never understood the connection between the players and the city. To me, it doesn’t sit well that he’s trying to pull the team out of Columbus.”
Then again, this is all a rich man’s game from both sides. It’s a wealthy owner in a wealthy league squabbling with wealthy CEOs and other local leaders. I don’t know how rich people work. Maybe this is just a standard part of the rich-guy process and things aren’t as dire as they seem to the people who are bearing the brunt of the immense emotional pain from the situation. Busch and I share that hope.
“I don’t understand how rich people work either,” he says, “but I said to Nikki, ‘I don’t know if this is really part of his plan or if he’s just using this to get something from the city, whether it is a new stadium or a better deal at Crew Stadium.’ I don’t know what he does or doesn’t get in terms of parking and concessions. But is he just holding the city’s feet to the fire? Or is he really, and I’ve never been to Austin, but from what I hear, it’s not been the best place for a soccer team. I don’t understand. I’m hoping it’s just a threat that goes away eventually and he says it was just a business ploy to get a better deal to make the Crew more successful in Columbus. Time will tell.”
And now Busch waits like the rest of us. In his career, he’s no stranger to being told his |
] well knew that maintenance must be done by the book. On one occasion, that fundamental rule was broken. It resulted in the failure to detect a significant fault in the helicopter's gearbox, which possibly – but only possibly – resulted in the crash."
"Everything affects safety," Buckley says. "If the pilots are frustrated because they're delayed – you've started engines, you're burning fuel, you miss your slot, you're at the back of the queue, then you have to taxi back to get more fuel – these are little holes that are beginning to line up. It's not just one person, it's everybody who's involved. It includes the managers, it includes the culture."
And there is a fear of speaking up. "It's supposed to be a no-blame culture," Sharp says. When you report a safety issue on the rigs, "you're supposed to put your name at the bottom, but a lot of people leave that blank". Of course, safety on the rigs is different from safety on the helicopters, but it is probably instructive to look at aspects of the wider North Sea culture. There used to be, for instance, a culture of blacklisting, or NRB – Not Required Back. "They say you can't NRB anyone any more. That's rubbish," Sharp says, and laughs.
After the incident in August, the oil companies made a show of saying they would not force anyone to fly, but it's difficult to see what choice they have. There are already stories of workers mentioning they are afraid of the helicopters, only to be told, "If you don't think they're safe, son, find yourself another career." Sharp says: "That's why people don't say anything. They're afraid."
"After the accident, a lot of safety reps emailed us with questions," says John Taylor at Unite. "Every one asked to be kept anonymous."
Are there issues with pilot training? Buckley wonders if they do enough hours on automatics. The autopilot systems are radically different on each variant of the Super Puma. Do they need to support copilots better? "Some copilots with low hours don't have a lot of confidence, and if you're flying next to a grizzled captain who doesn't like copilots anyway…" When a Sikorsky S92 crashed off Newfoundland in March 2009, killing all but one on board, Buckley says this was found to be one of the reasons: the copilot suggested, three times, that they ditch, but the captain overruled him.
But the most urgent thing, right now, is why did four people die last August? In mid-December, the BBC reported that, according to the AAIB, the crash was "survivable" and that the death certificates for three of the four fatalities recorded drowning as the cause of death (the fourth was Gary McCrossan, who died of a heart attack).
Survivors, and offshore workers polled by Unite, are clear: put fewer people on the helicopters, Sharp says – 16 at most – and change the seat configuration so that more people are closer to the windows. (When, after the crash, Nugent told another worker where he had been sitting, he discovered it was known as "the death seat".) Training should be made more realistic. The window Sharp dragged himself out of was, he estimates, only just over a foot high and 18 inches wide: "In training, the windows are massive. In reality it doesn't work like that." He suggests adding wave machines to give a sense of actual sea, but this is not allowed: health and safety guidelines bar putting trainees under "undue stress", says Matt Scaife at Falck Nutec, which runs many of these courses.
By far the most difficult issue to broach is that of body mass. There is understandable sensitivity about this. Food is a major morale booster in an industry in which there is no alcohol allowed (there is drug and alcohol testing at takeoff, and random bag searches) and there is nowhere to go; it also feels unfair to put pressure on men who've spent years in the industry to lose weight. But as Nugent says: "I've looked at some of those guys and thought, there's no way you're going to fit through that window. Even if you were naked and greased up, you wouldn't fit." Buckley points out that those who did not survive the August crash were the larger people on the flight. "I feel you should put on your survival suit, your life jacket, and try to get out of the smallest window in the smallest helicopter," Garcia says. "If you can't do that, you need to get your weight down."
At the end of February, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) published a 293-page safety review of offshore helicopter operations, stipulating that, from 1 April 2015, helicopter operators will be prohibited from carrying anyone "whose body size, including required safety and survival equipment, is incompatible with push-out window emergency exit size". Most dramatically, from June this year, no one is allowed to sit in a seat not adjacent to a window or door, unless they have been provided with Category A breathing systems or the helicopter has side-floats – but the latter are not available and the former not certified (even if they were, the entire workforce would have to be trained to use them). Which means that, unless many new helicopters and pilots are made available in the next three months, the number of people who can be flown out to the rigs will be reduced by 40%, with an obvious impact on the industry.
"We welcome the recommendations in the CAA's report, especially those that encourage standardisation in safety procedures," says Melinda de Boer, director of communications at CHC. "The industry is safer now than ever… It's also an industry that knows one accident, one injury, much less one loss of life, is too many."
"I have nothing but admiration for a chap prepared to work offshore in the environments they do," Buckley says, "but there's a feeling that their wellbeing is not being thought of as perhaps it should be, and it manifests itself in the design of the helicopters." Nugent is blunter: "Those helicopters are not fit for purpose – and what do you do with a piece of kit not fit for purpose? Scrap it. Simple as." It's not as if there isn't the money. "We're talking about the oil and gas industry: these people make profits in the billions." Oil & Gas UK points out that they do not own the helicopters and, more pertinently, that it takes many years to design them.
The hope is that it will not take that long for the five current investigations into the August crash to report their findings, and in the meantime, life must go on. Bull tries not to think about it too hard. Sharp expected to be able to get a 15-minute test flight, then be back at work in January ("It's not the flying that's the problem," he said drily, "it's the crashing"), but there have been endless delays and now: "I'm skint." He says he keeps being asked for paperwork – physiotherapists' and counsellors' reports, back-to-work certificates: "We're the victims and we're doing all the running about." Garcia had such bad post-traumatic stress disorder that he only recently went back to work. Nugent, who fractured his spine, still has severe migraines if he exerts himself. He worked freelance for a company called Axiom; unlike those with permanent jobs, he has not been paid since the crash.
He struggles with the surrealness of it – the sudden rent in normality, which stretches out as usual on either side – and never wants to get in a helicopter again. He has flashbacks during the day and still dreams about the crash: about struggling to get out and being unable to undo his seatbelt, about someone holding him back, about going back to find George, or Sarah, and either can't find them or can't find his way out again, can't work out which way is up and which is down. He is overwhelmed by guilt and wakes sweating, fighting his way out of the duvet, night after night.Idea Factory otome visual novel 7’scarlet is coming to PS Vita in North America in 2018, Aksys Games announced at Anime Expo 2017.
Here’s an overview of the game, via VNDB:
The summer holdays.
A town caged by nature, Okunezato.
One year ago in this town, her older brother suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Shaped like a fragment of the moon, a nostalgic atmosphere permeates the town. It is known for having many legends and folklores. As a result of the continued population decline, the amount of modern-looking buildings have increased in the main street. The town is starting to gain attention due to its status as a “mystery hot spot” amongst the youngsters in the underground scene.
One day, during summer vacation, the protagonist and university student Hanamaki Ichiko is invited by Kagutsuchi Hino- her childhood friend in the same university year level as her- to go to Okunezato in order to look for her disappeared older brother together. Hino had found the “Forbidden Okunezato Club”, a website in which its visitors discuss the mysteries and legends of Okunezato. Taking advantage of the offline meeting between the visitors that will take place during the summer holidays, he suggests to look into her brother’s disappearance during this time. With Hino having pushed her back, Ichiko wills herself to go to Okunezato.
The young men from the Forbidden Okunezato Club website had gathered at the Fuurin Hotel- the live-in chef Amari Isora, the cat lover otaku Kushinada Toa, the med student Tatehira Sousuke and the owner of Fuurin Hotel Murakumo Yuzuki. Others such as the genius middle schooler who assists with managing the hotel, Hirasaka Yuki, the landscape photographer Tsukuyomi Kagura, the unsociable novelist Karasuma Chikage and the video game-loving female employee of Fuurin Susano Yua also become involved as they all get caught up in mysterious incidents.
The “other face” of Okunezato comes to light as rumours regarding the “Legend of the Dead” are treated as though they were fact. Everytime they follow the footsteps of her disappeared brother, mysterious events spark. The true existence of the forbidden grounds, and the legendary flower that only blooms in Okunezato…
The truth behind these incidents lead to a surprising and totally unexpected ending.Week four of the MTM; it's hard to believe that Spring Training has been going on for a month. This week we'll combine the pitchers and hitters into one MTM, as the roster has been trimmed quite a bit from cuts, and only a few key battles remain.
To begin with we'll assume that there is a group that has already made the team. This week I'm adding Martinez and Medlen to the relievers list, as it has been repeatedly said that both of them will be in the bullpen. There is still a chance that Meds ends up in the rotation, but for now we'll assume he's in the pen. I also added Minor to the rotation, as he's absolutely locked down a spot.
Starters: Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Brandon Beachy, and Mike Minor (1 spot available)
Relievers: Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters, Eric O'Flaherty, Kris Medlen, and Cristhian Martinez (2 spots available)
Starting Lineup: Michael Bourn, Martin Prado, Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Dan Uggla, Jason Heyward, and Freddie Freeman (1 spot available at shortstop)
Bench: David Ross, Eric Hinske, and Matt Diaz (2 spots available)
And now the hitters.
Player, Position This Week
Last Week Roster Status Notes and Comments
Jose Constanza, OF 40-Man He has not made this team. There's still time left for him to come on strong, but at this point he starts in Gwinnett (and might have even earned himself a trip off the 40-man).
Luis Durango, OF NRI Right now Durango is playing lights-out, and I'd say he's streets ahead of Constanza. A lot will depend on how each of them perform in the final two weeks of spring. Both of them are also in contention with Parraz. This is a good three-way battle, though more like a two-way battle right now.
Jordan Parraz, OF NRI He's making the backup outfield choice an interesting one for the Braves. He's hit as well as Durango all spring, and seems to offer a more complete offensive package. Between him and Durango it should be a tough choice.
Tyler Pastornicky, SS 40-Man Hitting better of late, and he seems to have gotten over the early spring jitters (he was really nervous at the start of spring). We'll see what he does the next two weeks, but a strong showing at the plate and in the field will keep him in the starting shortstop role. If Jack Wilson comes back to start the year, that should take a lot of the pressure off of Pastornicky.
Andrelton Simmons, SS NRI His defense is still there, but his hitting is coming back down to earth (ah, spring training sample sizes). There seems to be some internal disagreement on the Braves about who to take North as the starting shortstop, with the dugout opting for Simmons' defense, and the front office opting for Pastornicky's track record. I bet the front office wins.
Drew Sutton, IF NRI Pretty much still on track to be the super-utility guy. It will be interesting to see how the Braves construct the bench if Jack Wilson is healthy. Sutton's ability to play some outfield in a pinch only helps his chances of making the team.
Josh Wilson, IF NRI He's been on the shelf with a strained hammy. At this point I'd say it's far fetched that he would make the team. Though he's good depth at triple-A.Welcome to the awkward HDTV transitional phase. If you need to buy a new TV right now, what do you do? Bet big on an UltraHD TV and wait for 4K content to become as plentiful as HD? Splurge on an early-generation OLED, then kick yourself in two years when they become more affordable? Buy a massive, high-end 1080p set, then regret it when everybody flocks to your buddy's house to watch Super Bowl 50 on his 4K OLED?
At this moment, your smartest move is to go cheap. Buy a holdover HDTV, something simple and no-frills to keep you happy and entertained while UltraHD panels get cheaper, 4K programming becomes ubiquitous, and OLED prices fall to earth. For $500, you can get an excellent television between 39 and 50 inches. You may not get absolutely outstanding picture quality, but there are plenty of cheap sets that still rate as very, very good. You will also have to skip the design aesthetic of the more expensive models.
But the bulk of your savings will come from outsourcing features. For example, take a pass on those built-in streaming features and just buy a $60 Roku box, which has a better UI and more channels than any TV's built-in "Smart" software ever will. Get a good soundbar if you care about sound; even the cheaper soundbars will outclass the speakers you'd find in a $500 TV set, and you'll be able to use it with your next TV too. Cheap TVs usually only come with two HDMI inputs, so if you need more, just buy a $30 HDMI switch. And you most certainly do not need 3-D — why pay extra for it if there's nothing good to watch?
By just buying a solid, affordable, and no-frills HDTV, you can minimize the compromises while you wait out the HD-to-4K transition.
Image: Courtesy of Vizio
Vizio E420I-B0 (42-Inch Full-Array LED) – $430
Good TVs at very low prices has always been Vizio’s schtick, and 2014 looks like a banner year. This full-array backlit sethas local dimming and a 120Hz refresh rate for less than $450, which seems like a typo but is actually just an incredible deal. Built-in Wi-Fi, apps, and plenty of inputs sweeten the deal.
Image: Courtesy of Sharp
Sharp LC-48LE551U (48-Inch Full-Array LED) – $500
There's another direct-lit LED HDTV in this price range, and it's a big one. Sharp's slim-bezeled 48-incher earned an Editors' Choice award from PCMag. It lacks Wi-Fi, so make sure you have a set-top box if you want to stream. It's also a 60Hz set with an "Aquomotion 120" setting that simulates a higher refresh rate.
Image: Courtesy of TCL
TCL 50FS5600 (50-Inch LED) – $500
If you want to go even bigger, this 50-inch TCL set is the biggest one in this roundup. It has a native refresh rate of 120Hz, and it features an edge-lit LED backlighting system instead of the aforementioned full-array systems. No built-in Wi-Fi, but that's what your Roku or Apple TV is for.
Image: Courtesy of Sony
Sony KDL-40W600B (40-Inch LED) – $480
This edge-lit Sony LCD set has a slick design, a rarity for its sub-$500 price. It's among the most-popular sets in this price range on Amazon, with built-in Wi-Fi and plenty of inputs. Its 60Hz native refresh rate raises eyebrows, but it has a feature that ably simulates a 240Hz panel.
Image: Courtesy of Panasonic
Panasonic TC-39AS530U (39-Inch LED) – $450
Panasonic's plasmas were considered the best in the business, but now the company has shifted to an all-LCD lineup. The 120Hz edge-lit AS530's slim bezel is an eye-catcher, making its 39-inch screen look bigger than you’d expect. Wi-Fi and mobile-device content sharing are also part of its tricks.
Image: Courtesy of Samsung
Samsung PN43F4500 (43-Inch Plasma, 720p) – $380
Picture-quality connoisseurs have long hailed plasma sets, which keep up well with fast motion and offer deep blacks and snappy contrast. This Samsung set punches well above its price, with great ratings on Amazon and a "Best" pick from The Wirecutter. A few things: It's only 720p, you'll have to BYO Wi-Fi, and it only has two HDMI inputs.
LG 42PN4500 (42-Inch Plasma, 720p) –$400
LG and Samsung aren't just battling on the OLED front, they're also competing on the super-affordable 720p plasma battlefield. This LG set gets very good reviews on Amazon, but like the competing Samsung, it has no Wi-Fi, no 1080p, and just a couple of HDMI ports.Image caption Councils say existing planning rules act as a form of quality control
High Streets in England could be overrun by betting shops and payday lenders under new planning rules, local councils have warned.
The owners of certain premises no longer have to apply for permission for a change of use from Thursday.
The government says the move will boost economic growth and bring boarded-up shops back into use.
But the Local Government Association calls it a "panic measure" that will cause "lasting damage" to High Streets.
The change in planning law is designed to encourage "pop-up" shops or restaurants, which take over empty premises for a short period of time, helping to revive ailing town centres.
'Unintended consequences'
LGA chairman Sir Merrick Cockell said he also wanted to boost trade but the changes would rob local people of a say over the character of their High Streets and could have serious "unintended consequences" in some areas.
We hope these changes will speed up regeneration while still maintaining vital protections for vulnerable town centres Federation of Small Business
Local authorities are already powerless to prevent bookmakers and payday lenders opening up on High Streets says Sir Merrick, which has led to the "clustering" of such businesses, often in low income areas.
"We have problems already - you might look at somewhere like Tottenham High Road in Haringey (in London) - they've got 11 betting shops in the centre of that High Street under the current rules, because in planning terms we can't tell the difference between a bank, a betting shop or indeed a payday loan company.
"Now with the changes coming in today, shops that are currently normal shops or cafes or restaurants could also be turned into betting shops without any say whatsoever."
Planning Minister Don Foster said he was concerned about the growth of fixed-odds betting terminals, roulette machines in betting shops which campaigners claim are highly addictive and which account for a growing proportion of bookmakers' profits.
He said the Gambling Commission was carrying out a "major review" of such machines, which could lead to new restrictions on them.
Temporary change
But he said betting shops and payday lenders were not unregulated and still had to apply for licenses to operate - and councils could still appeal against a change of use under something called an Article 4 Direction.
The new planning rules had been welcomed by small business groups and the government's retail adviser Mary Portas, who wanted a "reduction in red tape", added the Lib Dem minister.
The government says Barking and Dagenham Council, in East London, is considering the use of an Article 4 Direction to curb the "proliferation of betting shops".
But Sir Merrick said most councils were reluctant to use the powers due to their cost and the length of time they took to enact.
Labour's Hilary Benn warned that the new rules could also make it easier for betting shops to open in pubs - something denied by the government.
"These changes, which have been pushed through without Parliamentary scrutiny, weaken the ability of local communities and councils to shape their High Streets and local economy in the way they want," added the shadow communities and local government secretary.
Under the planning changes, buildings currently used as offices will also be able to be converted into flats without the need for planning permission, or any obligation to include affordable housing, until 2016.
Listed buildings are excluded from the new rules, while 17 local authorities, including 10 in London, have been granted full or partial exemptions on the grounds of specific economic circumstances in their areas.
At the same time, a two-year freeze is also being introduced on the need for planning applications for temporary change of use for a range of High Street premises, including hairdressers, banks, bars, cafes, post offices, takeaways, libraries and cinemas.
This would allow units not exceeding 150 sq m to spring up at short notice and trade for a limited period as long as long as they meet the criteria of being either shops, restaurants, business offices and financial or professional services.
Multiple changes will be permitted within the two-year period but retailers will need to notify councils what they intend to use the building for, and for how long, in advance of setting up.
'Unacceptable impact'
The Federation of Small Businesses welcomed the changes, saying it hoped they would "speed up regeneration while still maintaining vital protections for vulnerable town centres."
Controversial changes allowing homeowners to build larger home extensions will also come into force.
Ministers originally proposed relaxing the rules to allow single-storey extensions of 8m for detached houses and 6m for other properties without the need for planning permission.
But following opposition from Tory and Lib Dem backbenchers, the government revised the proposals to require homeowners to "notify" councils of their plans and to consult their neighbours.
In the event of objections, local authorities will decide whether a development would have an "unacceptable impact" on the quality of life or value of a neighbouring property.Class of 2014 three-star quarterback Michael Scarnecchia (Orange Park, Fla./Fleming Island) and was one of 13 South Carolina commitments to take his official visit last weekend.
Quarterback Michael Scarnecchia was blown away by his visit to South Carolina.
The 6-foot-4, 189-pound prospect made the trip with his parents and got to take his first full in-depth look at the program.
"I didn't know everything was this nice, because we didn't really get to see everything until this weekend," Scarnecchia said. "After seeing it all, this is probably going to be the best four years of my life. It is going to be a lot of hard work but it is going to be fun."
Scarnecchia, who has a rating of 0.8095 in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, detailed some of the events of the trip.
"It was real fun," Scarnecchia said. "We got up here Friday and we went to dinner. We went out with some of the players and hung out for the night. We saw the town and all that kind of stuff. Saturday we hung out, we got some lunch -- we went to Jillian's and played some games and pool -- that was fun. Then we went to dinner and went to the basketball game which was fun, also. There were a lot of people there. Then we went out again."
Scarnecchia was hosted on the trip by walk-on quarterback Perry Orth.
"We also hung out with (Brendan) Nosovitch and two other linemen, Clayton and Brock (Stadnik). We were all cool," Scarnecchia said. "They said they were going to take me in when I come up here. All the players, when we hung out, they were all funny. Coming up here and already knowing everybody will be fun. I like all of the commits. They are all good guys. I think we're all cool. We are going to have a really good class. Hopefully we will be the next senior class that has the most wins in USC history."
"It was real fun hanging with the players and getting to know them more," he added. "We all exchanged numbers and are going to keep in contact and try to get these other recruits."
Scarnecchia, who is ranked as the No. 76 pro-style quarterback in the country by the recruiting industry, also spent time with head coach Steve Spurrier and quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus as they went over the Gamecocks' offense.
"We actually watched some film on the Wisconsin game and went over some of the stuff they are going to be talking about, some of the lingo they use for the plays and formations," Scarnecchia said. "They are just going to ease me into their system, because I'm probably going to redshirt my first year because they have Dylan (Thompson).
"My second year here, hopefully I can get that starting job and beat out the other guys. Coach Spurrier was just talking about how he's more the passer guy talking and Coach Mangus has more of the details. We're going to get into a lot more details when I get up here on June 1."
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MOSCOW — Mikhail Prokhorov, a super-rich tycoon challenging Vladimir Putin for Russia’s presidency in March, said his country faced the danger of violent revolution if it did not break conservative resistance and move quickly to democracy.
Prokhorov, a billionaire bachelor long seen more as playboy than politician, told The Freeland File on reuters.com
Russians had shaken off a post-Soviet apathy and were now “just crazy about politics.” He denied accusations he was a Kremlin tool, let into the race to split the opposition and lend democratic legitimacy to a vote Putin seems almost certain to win.
Putin is seeking to return to the Kremlin and rule until at least 2018, but protests against alleged fraud in a December 4 parliamentary vote have exposed growing discontent with the system he has dominated for 12 years.
“What worked before does not work now. Look in the streets. People are not happy,” Prokhorov, 46, said in the interview beneath the windowed dome that soars above his spacious office on a central Moscow boulevard close to the Kremlin.
[np-related]
“It is time to change,” said Prokhorov, ranked by Forbes magazine as Russia’s third-richest person, with an $18-billion metals-to-banking empire that includes the New Jersey Nets basketball team in the United States.
“Stability at any price is no longer acceptable for Russians.”
But Prokhorov made clear he considers revolution equally unacceptable for a country with grim memories of a century of hardship, war and upheaval starting with Vladimir Lenin’s 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, instead calling for “very fast evolution.”
“I am against any revolution, because I know the history of Russia. Every time we have revolution, it was a very bloody period,” he said.
The son of a Soviet sports official, Prokhorov has a basketball player’s 204-cm (6-foot-8) frame, a narrow face and a head of short-cut hair graying around the edges. In a dark suit and blue shirt that looked modest for a
Russian tycoon, he sat straight and spoke in English.
Public political consciousness is on the rise after years of apathy. The Soviet mentality is fading as a generation of Russians who “don’t know who Lenin was” grows up, he said. The country was finally ripe for change.
“We now have all the pieces in place to move very fast to being a real democracy,” Prokhorov said.
But he suggested there was a mounting battle in the ruling elite between liberals like himself and conservatives “ready to pay any price” to maintain the status quo. Russia, he said, could face a bloody revolution if opponents of reform prevail.
“If there are no changes in Russia, from day to day this risk will increase,” Prokhorov said. “Because 15, 20 percent of the population, the most active ones living in the big cities, want to live in a democratic country.”
Who is Mikhail Prokhorov? The 46-year-old metals magnate is Russia’s third richest man, with a reported fortune of $US18-billion. He is described as the country’s most eligible bachelor, and is known for his taste for lavish parties and beautiful women. He also owns the New Jersey Nets NBA basketball team, which he is moving to Brooklyn and hoping to make into New York’s new sports darling. His other ambitions include building Russia’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicles — painted outrageous fluorescent colours and branded the Yo-Mobiles — and helping the biathlon team train for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. What’s his background? He graduated from the Russian Government Finance University in 1989, joined the International Bank for Economic Cooperation, and went on to manage the acquisition of Norilsk Nickel by Onexim Bank, of which he was then chairman. He overhauled the company and in May 2007, Mr. Prokohorov launched a $US17-billion private investment fund, Onexim Group, focused on the development of nanotechnology. Also in 2007, Mr. Prokohorov was detained by French authorities in a prostitution probe in the ski resort Courcheval. Prosecutors dropped the case in 2009.
PUTIN’S PUPPET?
Prokhorov cast himself as the candidate for the upwardly mobile Russians who, wearing white ribbons or clutching white carnations in a symbol of protest, turned out in force last month for the biggest opposition rallies of Putin’s rule.
“I think the era of ‘managed democracy’ is over,” Prokhorov said. “I am in the habit of being very active, and I feel that it is time for politics.”
He said that feeling was sweeping Russia, with debate over the future heard “in the kitchens, on the streets, in the elite — everywhere. Now we are just crazy about politics… Just half a year ago, nobody had any interest in it.”
He said he had proved he was his own man in September when he quit after a brief stint leading Right Cause, widely seen as a party controlled by the Kremlin to win liberal support.
Many opposition politicians, however, suspect Putin is using him to shunt middle-class anger into a safe channel in the presidential vote and to blunt opposition in its aftermath.
Russia’s third richest man trod carefully around Putin.
Prokhorov distanced himself from the prime minister by saying they had not met since April and that his “first act” if elected would be to free Khodorkovsky, the jailed former oil tycoon Kremlin critics say was singled out for punishment by Putin during his 2000-2008 presidency.
Prokhorov said he had no evidence that corruption, one of Russia’s biggest problems, reached to the top.
“I am a very practical man, and I like to have evidence.”
He voiced one of the key demands aired at the street protests, calling for a new parliamentary election after reforms to let more parties seek seats in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house, and run in other votes.
If he wins the presidency, he said, he would dissolve the Duma elected December 4 and hold a new vote in December 2012.
Prokhorov’s fun-loving party image took a sour turn in 2007 when French police detained him on suspicion of arranging prostitutes for guests at the Alpine ski resort of Courchevel. He denied any wrongdoing and was later cleared.
His riches and reputation are a hurdle in a country where millions see the ‘oligarchs’ as a criminal class whose wealth comes from corruption and misplaced government largesse.
Prokhorov, who attended the biggest rally in Moscow, on December 24, but did not address the crowd, offered measured praise for some of the street protest leaders.
But he echoed Putin’s assessment that opposition leaders were disorganized, though in nicer terms than those employed by Putin, who likened them to chattering monkeys from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book.
“They know how to bring people out onto the street, but then what? They have no position, no program,” he said. A veteran of boardroom battles and business negotiations, he suggested his own brand of politics is more practical and productive.
Prokhorov made clear he intended to use the campaign to carve out a lasting, leading role in Russian politics as a liberal leader.
“My goal is to win, but I have a long-term strategy and a short-term strategy,” he said.
“For the short-term strategy, I want to address all my ideas to the audience, and I want to receive maximum support from this presidential election. It will be a great platform to make a political party.”
And while he is challenging Putin, he did not rule out becoming Putin’s prime minister — if the 59-year-old leader shifts course and moves close enough to his vision of the future.
“If we have 80% or 90% the same program or we are on the same page, it’s possible.”
SHIFTING GROUND
Putin and Medvedev have taken steps to appease protesters and blunt public anger triggered by their announcement in September that they would swap jobs in a deal they said predated Medvedev’s ascent to the presidency in 2008.
They have promised to register political parties long barred from ballots and to restore popular elections of regional governors, albeit with candidates ultimately endorsed by the Kremlin. But they have rejected calls for a new parliamentary vote.
Though his popularity may have fallen since the elections, Putin as yet sees no clear rival in the ranks of liberal, communist or nationalist politicians.
Prokhorov said it was unclear whether Putin was capable of defusing growing discontent.
“It depends. He is smart, he is a very good politician, and as far as I know, a politician needs to react to what is going on in the world and what is going on in the country,” he said.
“But he is my opponent for the time being, I have another view about what we need for Russia,” Prokhorov said. “We will see who’s right.”
The very idea of Russia’s third richest man running for president is a sign the ground is shifting beneath Putin’s feet.
Prokhorov and other ‘oligarchs’ who built flashy fortunes on assets snapped up in Russia’s scandal-tainted post-Soviet privatization drive were all but barred from politics as the ex-KGB officer tightened control after becoming president in 2000.
Khodorkovsky, who broke an unwritten compact with the Kremlin by funding opposition parties, was jailed in 2003 and is due to remain behind bars until late 2016, his Yukos oil empire long ago carved up and sold off into state hands.
Prokhorov’s riches are rooted in Norilsk Nickel, a former Soviet slave labor operation and now world’s largest nickel miner, which he and Vladimir Potanin bought at a knock-down price in the 1990s.
Already a billionaire, he sold his stake to Potanin before the 2008 market crash. He kept his hand in an array of investments and was a stranger to politics until his brief stint as Right Cause leader last year.
Prokhorov dismissed the notion that his personal and business history made him vulnerable to control by the Kremlin.
“I have a great biography — it’s very transparent,” said Prokhorov.
“I am a fighter and I am ready to fight, for my ideas and for my country,” he said.
© Thomson Reuters 2012"Friday the 13th: Jason vs Titans"During the famed 80s run of NEW TEEN TITANS, the group would gather for downtime camping trips and swap origin stories and teen angst. Meanwhile, at the Cineplex, hulking hockey-masked Jason Voorhees slaughtered sexy teens who dared to pitch a tent at Camp Crystal Lake. Here's my mash-up of two 80s favorites, with Jason prepared to hunt down the beloved Titans. It's amazing how each of them fit one of those teen character tropes. So welcome to Camp Crystal, Titans.... hope you survive the experience!This piece was done for CBR's "The Line Is Drawn," where a list of artists (including myself) had to choose from twitter feed responses. The themes: "Comic book characters fighting villains that theyve never faced before!" I chose Jason Voorhees vs Teen Titans.Link:Three Killed Eight Injured In Offshore Platform Fire
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in 2003, including its National Operations Center, Office of Intelligence and Analysis and Office of Security. Its employees do everything from deciding which threats to investigate to answering phones.
General Dynamics' bottom line reflects its successful transformation. It also reflects how much the U.S. government - the firm's largest customer by far - has paid the company beyond what it costs to do the work, which is, after all, the goal of every profit-making corporation.
The company reported $31.9 billion in revenue in 2009, up from $10.4 billion in 2000. Its workforce has more than doubled in that time, from 43,300 to 91,700 employees, according to the company.
Revenue from General Dynamics' intelligence- and information-related divisions, where the majority of its top-secret work is done, climbed to $10 billion in the second quarter of 2009, up from $2.4 billion in 2000, accounting for 34 percent of its overall revenue last year.
The company's profitability is on display in its Falls Church headquarters. There's a soaring, art-filled lobby, bistro meals served on china enameled with the General Dynamics logo and an auditorium with seven rows of white leather-upholstered seats, each with its own microphone and laptop docking station.
General Dynamics now has operations in every corner of the intelligence world. It helps counterintelligence operators and trains new analysts. It has a $600 million Air Force contract to intercept communications. It makes $1 billion a year keeping hackers out of U.S. computer networks and encrypting military communications. It even conducts information operations, the murky military art of trying to persuade foreigners to align their views with U.S. interests.
"The American intelligence community is an important market for our company," said General Dynamics spokesman Kendell Pease. "Over time, we have tailored our organization to deliver affordable, best-of-breed products and services to meet those agencies' unique requirements."
In September 2009, General Dynamics won a $10 million contract from the U.S. Special Operations Command's psychological operations unit to create Web sites to influence foreigners' views of U.S. policy. To do that, the company hired writers, editors and designers to produce a set of daily news sites tailored to five regions of the world. They appear as regular news Web sites, with names such as "SETimes.com: The News and Views of Southeast Europe." The first indication that they are run on behalf of the military comes at the bottom of the home page with the word "Disclaimer." Only by clicking on that do you learn that "the Southeast European Times (SET) is a Web site sponsored by the United States European Command."
What all of these contracts add up to: This year, General Dynamics' overall revenue was $7.8 billion in the first quarter, Jay L. Johnson, the company's chief executive and president, said at an earnings conference call in April. "We've hit the deck running in the first quarter," he said, "and we're on our way to another successful year."
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In the shadow of giants such as General Dynamics are 1,814 small to midsize companies that do top-secret work. About a third of them were established after Sept. 11, 2001, to take advantage of the huge flow of taxpayer money into the private sector. Many are led by former intelligence agency officials who know exactly whom to approach for work.
Abraxas of Herndon, headed by a former CIA spy, quickly became a major CIA contractor after 9/11. Its staff even recruited midlevel managers during work hours from the CIA's cafeteria, former agency officers recall.
Other small and medium-size firms sell niche technical expertise such as engineering for low-orbit satellites or long-dwell sensors. But the vast majority have not invented anything at all. Instead, they replicate what the government's workforce already does.
A company called SGIS, founded soon after the 2001 attacks, was one of these.
In June 2002, from the spare bedroom of his San Diego home, 30-year-old Hany Girgis put together an information technology team that won its first Defense Department contract four months later. By the end of the year, SGIS had opened a Tampa office close to the U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command, had turned a profit and had 30 employees.
An alternative geography Since Sept. 11, 2001, the top-secret world created to respond to the terrorist attacks has grown into an unwieldy enterprise spread over 10,000 U.S. locations. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the top-secret world created to respond to the terrorist attacks has grown into an unwieldy enterprise spread over 10,000 U.S. locations. Launch Photo Gallery »
SGIS sold the government the services of people with specialized skills; expanding the types of teams it could put together was one key to its growth. Eventually it offered engineers, analysts and cyber-security specialists for military, space and intelligence agencies. By 2003, the company's revenue was $3.7 million. By then, SGIS had become a subcontractor for General Dynamics, working at the secret level. Satisfied with the partnership, General Dynamics helped SGIS receive a top-secret facility clearance, which opened the doors to more work.
By 2006, its revenue had multiplied tenfold, to $30.6 million, and the company had hired employees who specialized in government contracting just to help it win more contracts.
"We knew that's where we wanted to play," Girgis said in a phone interview. "There's always going to be a need to protect the homeland."
Eight years after it began, SGIS was up to revenue of $101 million, 14 offices and 675 employees. Those with top-secret clearances worked for 11 government agencies, according to The Post's database.
The company's marketing efforts had grown, too, both in size and sophistication. Its Web site, for example, showed an image of Navy sailors lined up on a battleship over the words "Proud to serve" and another image of a Navy helicopter flying near the Statue of Liberty over the words "Preserving freedom." And if it seemed hard to distinguish SGIS's work from the government's, it's because they were doing so many of the same things. SGIS employees replaced military personnel at the Pentagon's 24/7 telecommunications center. SGIS employees conducted terrorist threat analysis. SGIS employees provided help-desk support for federal computer systems.
Still, as alike as they seemed, there were crucial differences.
For one, unlike in government, if an SGIS employee did a good job, he might walk into the parking lot one day and be surprised by co-workers clapping at his latest bonus: a leased, dark-blue Mercedes convertible. And he might say, as a video camera recorded him sliding into the soft leather driver's seat, "Ahhhh... this is spectacular."
And then there was what happened to SGIS last month, when it did the one thing the federal government can never do.
It sold itself.
The new owner is a Fairfax-based company called Salient Federal Solutions, created just last year. It is a management company and a private-equity firm with lots of Washington connections that, with the purchase of SGIS, it intends to parlay into contracts.
"We have an objective," says chief executive and President Brad Antle, "to make $500 million in five years."
Anti-Deception Technologies From avatars and lasers to thermal cameras and fidget meters, this multimedia gallery takes a look at some of the latest technologies being developed by the government and private companies to thwart terrorists. From avatars and lasers to thermal cameras and fidget meters, this multimedia gallery takes a look at some of the latest technologies being developed by the government and private companies to thwart terrorists. Launch Gallery »
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Of all the different companies in Top Secret America, the most numerous by far are the information technology, or IT, firms. About 800 firms do nothing but IT.
Some IT companies integrate the mishmash of computer systems within one agency; others build digital links between agencies; still others have created software and hardware that can mine and analyze vast quantities of data.
The government is nearly totally dependent on these firms. Their close relationship was on display recently at the Defense Intelligence Agency's annual information technology conference in Phoenix. The agency expected the same IT firms angling for its business to pay for the entire five-day get-together, a DIA spokesman confirmed.
And they did.
General Dynamics spent $30,000 on the event. On a perfect spring night, it hosted a party at Chase Field, a 48,569-seat baseball stadium, reserved exclusively for the conference attendees. Government buyers and corporate sellers drank beer and ate hot dogs while the DIA director's morning keynote speech replayed on the gigantic scoreboard, digital baseballs bouncing along the bottom of the screen.
Carahsoft Technology, a DIA contractor, invited guests to a casino night where intelligence officials and vendors ate, drank and bet phony money at craps tables run by professional dealers.
The McAfee network security company, a Defense Department contractor, welcomed guests to a Margaritaville-themed social on the garden terrace of the hotel across the street from the convention site, where 250 firms paid thousands of dollars each to advertise their services and make their pitches to intelligence officials walking the exhibition hall.
Government officials and company executives say these networking events are critical to building a strong relationship between the public and private sectors.
"If I make one contact each day, it's worth it," said Tom Conway, director of federal business development for McAfee.
As for what a government agency gets out of it: "Our goal is to be open and learn stuff," said Grant M. Schneider, the DIA's chief information officer and one of the conference's main draws. By going outside Washington, where many of the firms are headquartered, "we get more synergy.... It's an interchange with industry."
These types of gatherings happen every week. Many of them are closed to anyone without a top-secret clearance.
At a U.S. Special Operations Command conference in Fayetteville, N.C., in April, vendors paid for access to some of the people who decide what services and gadgets to buy for troops. In mid-May, the national security industry held a black-tie evening funded by the same corporations seeking business from the defense, intelligence and congressional leaders seated at their tables.
Such coziness worries other officials who believe the post-9/11 defense-intelligence-corporate relationship has become, as one senior military intelligence officer described it, a "self-licking ice cream cone."
Another official, a longtime conservative staffer on the Senate Armed Services Committee, described it as "a living, breathing organism" impossible to control or curtail. "How much money has been involved is just mind-boggling," he said. "We've built such a vast instrument. What are you going to do with this thing?... It's turned into a jobs program."
Even some of those gathered in Phoenix criticized the size and disjointedness of the intelligence community and its contracting base. "Redundancy is the unacceptable norm," Lt. Gen. Richard P. Zahner, Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence, told the 2,000 attendees. "Are we spending our resources effectively?... If we have not gotten our houses in order, someone will do it for us."
On a day that also featured free back rubs, shoeshines, ice cream and fruit smoothies, another speaker, Kevin P. Meiners, a deputy undersecretary for intelligence, gave the audience what he called "the secret sauce," the key to thriving even when the Defense Department budget eventually stabilizes and stops rising so rapidly.
"Overhead," Meiners told them - that's what's going to get cut first. Overhead used to mean paper clips and toner. Now it's information technology, IT, the very products and services sold by the businesspeople in the audience.
"You should describe what you do as a weapons system, not overhead," Meiners instructed. "Overhead to them - I'm giving you the secret sauce here - is IT and people.... You have to foot-stomp hard that this is a war-fighting system that's helping save people's lives every day."
After he finished, many of the government officials listening headed to the exhibit hall, where company salespeople waited in display booths. Peter Coddington, chief executive of InTTENSITY, a small firm whose software teaches computers to "read" documents, was ready for them.
"You have to differentiate yourself," he said as they fanned out into the aisles. Coddington had glass beer mugs and pens twirling atop paperweight pyramids to help persuade officials of the nation's largest military intelligence agency that he had something they needed.
But first he needed them to stop walking so fast, to slow down long enough for him to start his pitch. His twirling pens seemed to do the job. "It's like moths to fire," Coddington whispered.
A DIA official with a tote bag approached. She spotted the pens, and her pace slowed. "Want a pen?" Coddington called.
She hesitated. "Ah... I have three children," she said.
"Want three pens?"
She stopped. In Top Secret America, every moment is an opportunity.
"We're a text extraction company...," Coddington began, handing her the pens.
Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.By Pat Borzi
MINNEAPOLIS -- The trees are back. Just not the same kind, and not in the same place.
At Target Field last weekend, 14 narrow Spartan Juniper evergreens swayed gently in forest-green planter boxes behind Section 334 high above center field, just below the Minnie and Paul sign. Installed before the season, the trees are a living reminder of the one perceived flaw in the stadium's original design.
When Target Field opened in 2010, the green batter's eye in center featured 14 black spruce trees, an aesthetic element that tickled the front office but irritated the players. From the first month of the season, Twins hitters griped about shadows that made it difficult to pick up the ball. Manager Ron Gardenhire half-jokingly threatened to cut down the trees with a chainsaw. He never had to; the Twins removed them after the season.
Hitters are as particular about the batter's eye, or hitting background, in a ballpark as they are about their bats, their gloves and their favorite restaurants on the road. The darker and wider the "eye", they say, the easier to see the ball out of the pitcher's hand.
But for the last three years, the missing trees haunted the Twins. After going 53-28 at home in 2010, tops in Major League Baseball, to win the AL Central, the Twins followed with marks of 33-48, 31-50 and 32-49. A curse, perhaps? Lousy Twins starting pitching had more to do with it than any arbor-related hex, but it made a nice story. Now the background is black, with a little slope of grass at the base.
"It wasn't just the trees," said outfielder Jason Kubel, a Twin from 2004-11 who rejoined the club this season after stints in Arizona and Cleveland. "(The background) was painted green, so it was kind of the glare from the sun, too. And the shadows would show up on the batter's eye, too. Now they don't. It's definitely a lot better now."
The notion of darkening the background behind the pitcher to help batters see the ball dates to the 19th century. Michael Benson, in his book Ballparks of North America, cited Cincinnati's League Park, the home of the Reds from 1884 to 1901, as the first to paint the center field fence black.
The third edition of the Dickson Baseball Dictionary lists the earliest uses of the term "batter's eye" as 1906, when stories in the Atlanta Constitution and the Chicago Tribune describe clubs darkening fences.
Yet many of the ballparks built in the early 20th century -- the original Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, to name three -- featured bleachers in center field. The new wave of ballparks in the 1960s, with Candlestick Park, Dodger Stadium and Shea Stadium, brought freestanding black batter's eyes into widespread use in major league ball. The Metrodome might have been the last modern stadium without one; retracted blue seats provided the background until the Twins left after the 2009 season.
Over time, older stadiums fell in line. The Cubs closed Wrigley's center field bleachers in 1952, reopened them in 1962 for that season's second All-Star Game, then shut them for good, covering the area at various times with Astroturf, a tarp and junipers.
The remodeled Yankee Stadium opened in 1976 with center-field seating removed and the flooring painted black. The so-called "black seats" remained that way until the stadium closed in 2008. (The Yankees also blackened the 408 marking in straightaway center; the rest were white.) Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, a Twins coach, called the black seats his favorite hitting background, even though his.289 average there fell well below his career.306 mark.
"It was expansive enough where you didn't have to worry about tall pitchers or sidearm pitchers that might come outside the limits of the actual width of the batter's eye" he said. "It was dark. Didn't have much issue with sunlight or shadows. It was just fairly consistent."
In Boston, after decades of complaints, the Red Sox finally stopped selling seats in three straightaway sections of Fenway's center-field bleachers in 1997. The Red Sox long resisted because too many of their lefthanded starters with three-quarters deliveries, like Bruce Hurst, benefited from throwing out of the shirts of fans. Now those seats are only sold for night games.
The danger for hitters was never more apparent than on July 18, 1993, a sunny Sunday afternoon, when hard-throwing Seattle lefty Randy Johnson beaned Mike Greenwell with a fastball. Greenwell said he never saw the pitch until it was two feet from his head. I was there working for the Portland Press Herald, and the scary clack of the ball striking Greenwell's helmet above the earflap brought a gasp from the crowd of 33,795. Greenwell left the game, but wasn't seriously hurt.
Baltimore shortstop J.J. Hardy shuddered when I told him the Greenwell story recently. He said Fenway can still be problematic. "Sometimes they don't even put that hitter's eye up there, and the ball is coming out of white T-shirts," he said. "That's not good."
It's difficult enough to stare down a major league pitcher when there isn't also distracting color behind him. (Getty Images)
So what makes a good batter's eye? Wide and dark, like the two-level background at Chase Field in Arizona.
"For me, a good park to hit in is a batter's eye that's all black," said Detroit right fielder Torii Hunter. "Minnesota is all black. Seattle is all black. At our park (Comerica), it's dark green and some black, so you can kind of pick up this little white ball.
"If you see anything light out there, or they try to create a fun area back there, it's not fun for the hitters. We hate that. But a batter's eye that's dark, I think it's really friendly for hitters."
Added Toronto's Jose Bautista: "Obviously, the darker the better. You just want to make sure the ball isn't coming out of bright or light-colored background. A screen would be really bad. But I think most parks in the league are pretty good.
"There are a couple of exceptions. Baltimore, during the daytime with a left-handed pitcher on the first base side of the rubber, that one is pretty bad, but not necessarily because of the batter's eye. There are seats, and a Southwest sign on the wall. Boston is kind of tough because sometimes you can see the people in the back, like people waving when you're shooting free throws. But they're really far away, and I don't notice it too much."
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Baseball Immemorial Our baseball history is our own history. It is a marker for our own lives. Which is why we're delighted to spread… More» Anaheim can be troublesome in the daytime, Kubel said. "If Jered Weaver is throwing and he's way off to the side, you lose balls in the rocks," he said. Progressive Field isn't the greatest for left-handed hitters, either.
"For me, Cleveland was always a tough place because left-center is a big wall with a bunch of bright lights," Dodgers left fielder Carl Crawford said. "It always seemed like I had problems there picking up the ball. Other places, it's not too bad."
And though Miller Park in Milwaukee features a wide batter's eye, other factors negate it.
"Day games in Milwaukee are probably the worst, because the sun comes through those windows on the side, behind home plate, and put a glare on the hitter's eyes, so the ball comes out of a glare," said Hardy, a former Brewer. "Some day games in Milwaukee, it's just really dangerous because of the glare out there."
Hardy, a Twin in 2010, much prefers the treeless look at Target Field. Funny thing: The foliage never seemed to bother Toronto. The swaggering Jays crushed six home runs on Sept. 30, 2010, when the black spruces were still in place, two by Bautista, who led the majors that season with 54. Two years later, without the trees, Bautista hit three in one game and five in a three-game series. His 11 career homers in 14 games at Target Field tops all visiting players.
"Now that you mention it, I don't even remember the fact that those trees were there," Bautista said with a laugh. "I don't pay that close of attention. If it's fine and it feels good and you don't notice anything, it's got to be good, right?"
* * *
Pat Borzi, a former Yankees and Mets beat writer for the (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger, has covered major league baseball since 1988. His work appears frequently in The New York Times.Newly released satellite images of Iran’s top-secret Parchin military complex reveal that even as Iran was working to negotiate a nuclear deal, it was apparently working to hide its atomic work of the past and hedge its bets for the future.
Forecasting site Stratfor.com says the images published Monday show Iran building a tunnel into a heavily guarded mountain complex inside the Parchin facility, some 20 miles southeast of Tehran, while also working to erase signs of alleged high-explosive testing at another area on the site.
“We’re not saying they’re cheating on the nuclear deal,” Stratfor analyst Sim Tack told The Daily Beast. “The images show Iran was going through the motions to hide what it’s done before, and it is still…developing facilities that the IAEA may or may not have access to,” Tack said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The progression of satellite images tracking construction at Parchin from 2012 to 2015 show how Iran’s leaders apparently worked to keep regime hardliners happy by moving forward with weapons programs, even as the leadership worked to erase signs of an illegal nuclear weapons program, Tack said.
The satellite images appear to show new paving around the building that was alleged to be a test site for high-energy explosive charges used to detonate a nuclear weapon. Comparing satellite images from 2010 to one taken this year, Tack points out that the area has been paved, and plants and trees surrounding it removed and the soil scraped—all steps one would take to hide the radioactive fallout of nuclear weapons testing.
The IAEA sent a team to inspect the site last fall, one of the final steps up to the adoption of a deal that will give the country tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
“In September, IAEA Director General [Yukiya] Amano visited the inside of the suspected explosives test chamber building, and found it had been emptied,” said Andy Weber, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs. He added that in his opinion, Stratfor’s analysis “tracked well with the photos.”
While the destruction of that controversial building has been reported before, Tack said the publication of images of the near-simultaneous construction of the tunnel entrance to another part of the complex is new.
“The imagery showed they were working on a tunnel entrance within the Parchin complex…and it looks like it’s complete,” Tack said. A 2014 image Stratfor did not release showed construction equipment outside tunnel entrance.
“They were still going forward with that construction during the talks,” he said.
The mysterious subterranean complex could be part of Iran’s ballistic missile program that triggered new U.S. sanctions in January, even as the nuclear sanctions were being lifted. The U.S. first detected that Iran was testing missile engines at the site in 1997.
Parchin was also the site of a large explosion in 2014 that the Iranian government never explained.
“It could have come from a test of rocket fuel or conventional warheads,” Tack said.
Whatever’s hidden beneath that mountain, the IAEA didn’t get a look at it last September, he said.
“There are places where nobody knows what’s going on,” he said.
The IAEA declined to comment on the new satellite photos.
The Iran’s U.N. Mission did not respond to requests for comment.
Iran has dismissed questions about suspicious construction at Parchin before. The Iranian official news agency IRNA reported that when IAEA chief Amano inspected the facility, he “visited construction works at Parchin, about which there are some irrelevant claims.”
Obama administration officials would not comment on what the photos show, but insisted that IAEA inspectors can check it out if they see fit.
A senior Obama administration official said the nuclear deal, known by the cumbersome acronym JCPOA, for Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, “means the IAEA will have the access it needs to any suspicious location going forward. Such transparency will ensure that these past activities will not occur again, and if they do, that they will be quickly detected.”
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to defend a deal that is described as the cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy.A lighthouse and old migrants boats on the ground of the marine museum, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014 at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in this photo approved for release by the U.S. military.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has no intention of withdrawing from the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, despite the sudden shift in U.S.-Cuban relations.
“There is no impact to Guantanamo from the changes announced today,” the National Security Council spokeswoman, Bernadette Meehan, said Wednesday evening.
Hours earlier, at the U.S. outpost in southeast Cuba, base spokeswoman Kelly Wirfel said amid reports that American prisoner Alan Gross was on his way to freedom that there was no change in security posture at the 45-square-mile outpost of about 6,000 residents that straddles Guantanamo Bay and sits behind a Cuban minefield.
From the earliest days of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro sought to get the U.S. out of the base — a prime piece of real estate long before the George W. Bush administration decided to put its iconic war-on-terror prison there.
Successive U.S. administrations have said the military has permanent tenancy under a 1934 treaty made public by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The United States cuts an annual check for $4,085 in rent, even though the Cuban government does not cash it.
Wednesday, a senior Obama official told McClatchy that Cuban diplomats object to the continued U.S. presence on the base “in every discussion... but there won’t be change to that status quo.”
The Pentagon spokesman for U.S. military activity in Latin America and the Caribbean said the administration was still committed to closing the base’s war-on-terror prison, which currently hold 136 foreign captives there in an operation staffed by around 2,000 U.S. troops and civilians on temporary duties.
But the U.S. military uses Guantanamo for other purposes. Its airstrip has been a launch pad for drug-interdiction and humanitarian relief missions in the Caribbean. U.S. Coast Guard and Navy vessels pass through on resupply missions. Just this past weekend, the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa was in port.
“As of today, the Defense Department is maintaining current operations and policies throughout the region,” said Army Lt. Col. Myles B. Caggins III, the spokesman. “We continue to support the president’s goal of reducing the detainee population at Guantanamo through transfers and prosecutions.”
Beyond the Detention Center Zone, there was no hint this week of the coming upheaval in U.S.-Cuban relations on the base, which resembles small-town America. It has a church, McDonald’s, a scruffy golf course, schools for sailors’ children and every morning at 8 a.m. the blare of the Star Spangled Banner.
At the U.S. Navy’s base radio station, called Radio Gitmo, the shelves were bulging with fresh stocks of “Rockin’ in Fidel’s Backyard” T-shirts, Castro bobble head dolls and other souvenirs. It was also offering a new item: $5 Santa caps in advance of the holiday season.
During the height of the Cold War, tens of thousands of troops served at Guantanamo with munitions hidden in hillside bunkers and U.S. Marines guarding a tense frontier — as portrayed in the Hollywood hit “A Few Good Men,” starring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise and Demi Moore.
The 17.4-mile fence line was known as the Cactus Curtain. Then in 1999 U.S. President Bill Clinton had the Marines remove the minefield, heralding a new era. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, successive Guantanamo base commanders, Navy captains, described the U.S.-Cuban relationship along the minefield as “benign.”
Now, only the occasional sound of Cuban mines popping off in the heat or by something rustling in the minefield remind of the dangers of the frontier.
———
(Lesley Clark of the McClatchy Washington Bureau contributed to this report.)
———
©2014 Miami HeraldApple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone and iPad devices have officially returned to Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ:COST) shelves.
The tech titan’s gadgets have been missing from Costco store shelves since 2010, after the wholesale retailer was unable to come to an agreement with Apple to sell its iPad, according to iLounge. While the return of Apple devices to Costco is welcome, the selection of available devices is limited. But if you’re just looking for a basic model iPhone 5S, iPad Air or iPad Mini, substantial savings are available through Costco.
According to Costco’s online site, the iPhone 5S selection costs only $77.99 (normally $199) with a two-year contract and is limited to 16GB models on AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Sprint Corp. (NYSE:S), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) unit Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile Inc. (NYSE:TMUS). A 16GB iPhone 5C is also available from the retailer as well, but is oddly priced higher at $99.99 for AT&T and limited to the color blue.
Costco will also begin stocking iPad Air and iPad Mini tablets. However selections are also limited to cellular versions of the devices on T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. The T-Mobile iPad Mini and iPad Air are currently only available through Costco Wireless kiosks located in Costco Wholesale stores. Verizon Wireless iPad Air and iPad Mini Retina tablets can be had for $519.99 (normally $629.00) and $419.99 (normally $529.00), respectively.This email has also been verified by Google DKIM 2048-bit RSA key
Fwd: UFOs and Jimmy Kimmel
From:slatham@hillaryclinton.com To: john.podesta@gmail.com, mharris@hillaryclinton.com Date: 2015-11-04 18:01 Subject: Fwd: UFOs and Jimmy Kimmel
UFO clearance....for Jimmy Kimmell ---------- Forwarded message ---------- he thinks it would be awesome and funny, if she explained that you don't use the term UFO anymore... 'Jimmy if you talk about UFOs, people think you're nuts - you have to use the term, UAP - unexplained aerial phenomenon. this is an issue I think the govt should take this more seriously the govt has been too stingy on what information we should know and when I'm President, the american people will find out!! John's line is - the american people can handle the truth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unidentified_flying_object On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 2:35 PM, Sara Latham <slatham@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: > ha yes, I am v familiar with JDP's area51 and X Files obsession..... > > the question seems odd? is there any further context on why Jimmy is > going down the alien road?? > > which skit did we agree, in the end? > > > On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 2:30 PM, Betsaida Alcantara < > balcantara@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: > >> Sara, >> Jimmy Kimmel is planning to ask HRC about UFOs and area 51. Jimmy >> Kimmel's producer noted that Podesta is particularly interested in the >> topic. The producer cited the Mother Jones story below titled “ETs for >> Hillary: Why UFO activists are excited about Clinton presidency”, in it >> they quote Podesta's comments on the topic. I'm also including comments >> Bill Clinton made on the topic. Schake thinks Podesta could help us develop >> a fun answer to this. The memo is due at 6:30pm tonight. Let me know if you >> can help. >> >> Potential Q: >> *Two of your closest advisers Bill Clinton and John Podesta have spoken >> out about their strong interest in UFOs and area 51. Mother Jones had an >> article this spring titled, “ETs for Hillary: Why UFO activists are excited >> about Clinton presidency”. Is there a reason they should be excited? Are >> you ready to make a campaign promise to this critical constituency tonight?* >> >> >> >> *BACKGROUND* >> >> *MOTHER JONES STORY:* >> >> >> http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/03/hillary-clinton-ufo-aliens-podesta >> >> The UFO activists' hopes for Hillary are pinned on the assumption she >> believes in their cause—despite having never spoken publicly about it. In >> particular, they are encouraged that John Podesta, Bill Clinton's former >> chief of staff, will likely chair Clinton's campaign and would likely serve >> in another Clinton White House. As a self-described "curious skeptic," >> Podesta has openly called forgreater government transparency on UFO-related >> matters. In his forward to UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials >> Go on the Record, a 2011 book by journalist Leslie Kean, he wrote, "It's >> time to find out what the truth really is that's out there. The American >> people—and people around the world—want to know, and they can handle the >> truth." >> >> Podesta's interest in extraterrestrial phenomenon is nothing new. In >> 1998, theWashington Post described his "fanatical devotion to 'The >> X-Files'—especially FBI agent Fox Mulder, with whom he shares a penchant >> for obsessiveness and paranoia." Grant Cameron, a Canadian UFO researcher, >> unsuccessfully tried to get the Clinton Library to release records >> detailing Podesta's X-Files-themed 50th birthday party, which was >> apparently thrown by the first couple—who may have dressed up as the show's >> main characters. >> >> Asked for clarification of Hillary Clinton's stance on UFO disclosure, a >> spokesman from her office responded via email. "Our non-campaign has a >> strict policy of not commenting on extraterrestrial activity," Nick Merrill >> wrote. "BUT, the Truth Is Out There." >> >> *BILL CLINTON COMMENTS ON UFOs:* >> http://www.openminds.tv/bill-clinton-talks-ufos-area-51/26772 >> >> "What do we know now? We know we live in an ever expanding universe. We >> know that there are billions of stars and planets, literally, out there, >> and the universe is getting bigger. We know from our fancy telescopes that >> just in the last two years more than 20 planets have been identified >> outside of our solar system that seem to be far away enough from their suns >> and dense enough that they might be able to support some form of life. So, >> it makes it increasingly less likely that we are alone." >> > >“Rekt,” a variation of “wrecked,” is a word used in some sections of the internet to describe utter, humiliating defeat — or, if you’re on the winning side, total victory.
It’s a word that could be used to describe what happened to UC Irvine, the college that tried, and failed, to ban the College Republicans for an entire academic year after learning of their decision to host a second event with Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos.
In a letter to the College Republicans, UC Irvine’s Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs wrote that the initial decision to revoke the club’s permissions to host events on campus had been commuted to a warning. The decision had already been temporarily overturned by the university, but UC Irvine wanted the College Republicans to enter an appeals process before restoring their permissions permanently.
However, the College Republicans refused to play ball with the administration. They declined to enter the appeals process, arguing that to do so would be to acknowledge the legitimacy of the administration’s complaint.
Despite the College Republicans’ refusal to appeal their decision, UC Irvine have capitulated anyway. In the letter, the Vice Chancellor noted the appearance of “media reports” about the controversy that appeared prior to their decision — no doubt a reference to Breitbart’s coverage.
The decision followed backlash from conservatives and liberals at UC Irvine and elsewhere. In addition to scathing reports from conservative and libertarian media, the President of the Holyoke College Republicans, Kassy Dillon, slammed UCI for |
Minister of Small Business and Tourism, said in a statement on Destination Canada's website. "There is something for everyone here," she said, adding that the honour comes at a great moment for the country, which is poised to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2017. "We couldn't think of a better time to invite the world to discover Canada," she said.
Alex Howard, Lonely Planet's Canada destination editor, says the country took the top spot for 2017 because "there's so much happening" in the year ahead. "It's the country's biggest birthday party in recent memory with the sesquicentennial next year, and they won't be shy about celebrating. Now is the time to start planning a trip."The number of coal miners diagnosed with severe black lung disease in central Appalachia has increased to levels not recorded since the 1970s, according to a new report.
The report released by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says cases of black lung have surged in the region faster than previously thought.
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The study comes as the coal industry is fighting the Obama administration over more stringent coal-dust rules.Severe black lung cases reached 3.2 percent in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky in 2012, according to the study published Monday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.That's up from.4 percent in 1998. In 1974, black lung among miners was at 3.3 percent for the same states. The federal government began regulating coal dust 40 years ago, placing today's levels equal to those before rules were enacted.Researchers note that stronger machines used to grind coal into finer particles could cause the increase, as well as a change in the composition of the dust.Submitted by Dan Bacher on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 10:51am
An Orange County Judge fined a Riverside County man over $20,000 and sentenced him to a week in jail for poaching lobsters inside a “marine protected area” (MPA) created under Arnold Schwarzenegger’s controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
“This is the first resource crime conviction since the MPAs off the Southern California coast went into effect on Jan. 1, 2012,” according to a May 8 news release from the California Department of Fish and Game touting the poacher’s conviction.
This is the same agency that recently released a report documenting the “salvage” of millions of fish including 42 species in the state and federal water export pumping facilities in the South Delta in 2011. In contrast with the case of the lobster poacher, government officials responsible for the fish slaughter have never been prosecuted for the violation of numerous state and federal laws.
Marbel A. Para, 30, of Romoland pled guilty in Orange County Court on May 4 for violating Fish and Game Code 12013 that stipulates a minimum $5,000 fine for anyone who takes or posses more than three times the daily bag limit of lobsters.File Photo
CopyCat Android mobile malware was able to infect over 14 million devices last year and root eight million of them, researchers have revealed.
The malware, spread through popular apps repackaged with the malicious code and distributed through third-party stores and phishing scams -- but not Google Play -- infects devices in order to generate and steal advertising revenue.
According to Check Point researchers, the hackers behind the campaign were able to earn roughly $1.5 million in two months, infecting 14 million devices globally and rooting 8 million of them in what the security team calls an "an unprecedented success rate."
Check Point
Once a device is infected, CopyCat waits until a restart to allay suspicion then attempts to root the device. Check Point says that CopyCat was able to successfully root 54 percent of all the devices it infected, "which is very unusual even with sophisticated malware."
In order to achieve root status, the malicious code uses six different vulnerabilities for Android versions 5 and earlier through an "upgrade" pack pulled from Amazon web storage. Some of the flaws the malware tests for are extremely old and the most modern ones were discovered over two years ago -- and so should your device be patched and up-to-date, CopyCat should not be a worry.
"These old exploits are still effective because users patch their devices infrequently, or not at all," the researchers note.
The malware then injects malicious code into the Zygote app launching process, which permits attackers to generate fraudulent revenue by installing apps and substituting the user's referrer ID with their own, as well as display fraudulent ads and applications.
This technique was first used by the Triada Trojan. According to Kaspersky Labs, the malware targeted the same process to gain superuser privileges before using regular Linux debugging tools to embed its DLL and target mobile browsers.
In total, fraudulent ads were displayed on 26 percent of infected devices, while 30 percent were used to steal credit for installing apps on Google Play. In addition, Check Point says the malware would also send device brand, model, OS version, and country to CopyCat command and control (C&C) centers.
At the peak of the campaign in April and May 2016, CopyCat mainly infected users in Asia, although over 280,000 infections were also recorded in the United States.
Check Point
Google was able to quell the campaign, and now the current number of infected devices is far lower -- but those affected by the malware may still be generating revenue for the attackers today.
The researchers are not sure who is behind the malware campaign but has tentatively linked MobiSummer as some of the malware's code is signed by the Chinese ad network.
See also: Windows ransomware found to be incredibly rare
Earlier this week, a UK teenager was charged for supplying malware for use in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and assisting criminals in striking high-profile targets worldwide, including NatWest, Vodafone, O2, BBC, BT, Amazon, Netflix, and Virgin Media, among others.ASCAP Now Claiming That Your Mobile Phone Ringing Is A Public Performance
from the pay-up dept
Ah, those collection societies just never learn, do they? We've discussed in the past how ASCAP once threatened the Girl Scouts for singing songs around the campfire, but in the past few years it's been ASCAP's counterpart in the UK that's been in the news the most for things like threatening small business owners after calling them on the phone and saying they hear music in the background or threatening a stable owner for playing the radio to her horses. I guess ASCAP was feeling a bit left out. Its latest move is to claim that legally purchased ringtones on mobiles phones, playing in public places, represents a public performance for which it is owed royalties. Songwriters and music publishers already are paid royalties on ringtone purchases, but ASCAP is claiming that buying the file is entirely different than "the performance" (i.e., the phone ringing).In the EFF's response to ASCAP, it notes that copyright law makes a specific exemption for performances made "without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage." ASCAP counters that even if that's true, only the owners of mobile phones can make that assertion, but the mobile operators (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc.) still need to pay up for performance rights becauseare commercial entities, even if the use of the phones is not. The EFF goes on to point out how this reasoning does not mesh with the law, the case law, or the intended purpose of copyright.On top of this, even if, in some bizarre, twisted interpretation of the law, a ringtone playing on a phonea public performance, how would it be the mobile operators' liability to pay? That would be like saying that Apple should pay ASCAP royalties because songs it sells on iTunespotentially be played through speakers publicly somewhere. Perhaps I shouldn't be giving ASCAP ideas...However, this is not a surprise. It's simply the way industry groups (even those representing the songwriters, rather than the labels) have always worked. It's always about "extending" rights. That's why copyright was broken down eventually into different types of rights -- including distribution rights and performance rights, because the "old" rights didn't fit the new technologies. It's a particularly obnoxious trick to claim that, because a single file can be used in multiple ways (for both distribution and performance), it is now subject to both types of royalties. The only reason those separate royalties were broken out in the first place was due to angry demands from these sorts of groups about how the old "rights" didn't cover new media versions of content. To then double back and claim multiple coverage is beyond obnoxious.
Filed Under: copyright, music, public performance, ringtones
Companies: ascapWASHINGTON (JTA) — Lawyers for the two former AIPAC staffers charged four years ago with dealing in government secrets credited the Obama administration for dropping the case.
“We are extremely grateful that this new Administration, in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia, has taken seriously their obligation to evaluate cases on the merits and not to allow an unjust prosecution to continue solely due to momentum,” said the joint statement by lawyers for Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman issued Friday, hours after the government filed for a dismissal of the charges against the two former senior staffers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “This Administration truly shows that theirs is a Department of Justice, where the justice of any case can be re-evaluated and the government can admit that a case should not be pursued.”
Sources close to the defense said the investigation, which first came to light in 2004 when FBI agents raided AIPAC offices, appeared to be of a piece with the Bush administration policy of expanding its secrecy powers that President Obama has said he will reverse. Rosen and Weissman were the first civilians to be prosecuted under 1917 statute that criminalizes the receipt and retention of classified information.
JTA has learned that the defense lawyers two months ago launched an intensified effort to get Obama appointees at the Justice Department to review the case.
Abbe Lowell, Rosen’s lead lawyer, said now was a time for AIPAC and the organized Jewish community to consider its treatment of the two.
“Now, we mostly look for ways for Keith and Steve to get their life back,” Lowell said. “What happened to them at AIPAC, how the community treated them, how they get on with their lives.”
The others lawyers signing the statement included: Erica Paulson for Rosen; and John Nassikas, Baruch Weiss, Kate Briscoe and Kavitha Babu for Weissman.If you own a General Motors vehicle, it's worth the few seconds it takes to go on the company's website to check if your car has been recalled.
GM (GM) announced additional recalls Saturday, bringing its 2014 count to about 30 million vehicles.
An ignition problem is at the heart of the latest recall.
On certain Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet Caprice models, the vehicles "may experience unintended key rotation from the 'Run' to 'ACC' position if the driver's knee interacts with the ignition key," according to GM.
GM is under fire after disclosing a fatal ignition switch flaw in February. CEO Mary Barra testified in front of Congress this spring to explain how the problem was overlooked for a decade.
Related: 1 million GM cars with fatal defect still on road
The company has been reviewing all of its older vehicles for issues. CEO Mary Barra said last month the company is mostly done with that process.
The latest recalls announced today affect about 60,000 cars, including some Pontiac G8, Chevrolet Caprices and Cadillac models. The Caprice model is a police vehicle.
The Cadillacs have a different kind of problem that impacts the vehicle's fuel pump. Most dealers should be able to replace the faulty part, the company said.
No injuries or fatalities have been reported from these latest problems, although GM is aware of one crash.
Despite the high profile of the ignition switch recall, which has been tied to at least 23 deaths so far, many GM car owners aren't bothering to get the replacement parts. As CNNMoney reported this week, over a million cars with the fatal defect are still on the road.
The latest recalled models are:
2008-2009 Pontiac G8
2011-2013 Chevrolet Caprice PPV (police patrol vehicles)
2004-2007 Cadillac CTS-V
2006-2007 Cadillac STS-V
2014 Chevrolet SonicsEric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
The Montreal Canadiens' hiring of Claude Julien and cold-blooded assassination of Michel Therrien on Valentine's Day did more than just inject life into a NHL franchise that was clearly fading. It revealed the stark contrast between Montreal's Marc Bergevin, a general manager with a singular focus on a Stanley Cup; and Boston's Don Sweeney, a general manager with a focus on hoping his fan base was as easily distracted by a Super Bowl parade as he has been from creating a tangible plan for his team during his two years in office.
Let's start with the latter
Read More: This Super Intense NHL Ref Is Awesome
Sweeney took over the Boston Bruins general manager job from Peter Chiarelli in May 2015 during something that resembled an internal coup to outside observers. Team president Cam Neely helped install Sweeney, who had been an assistant GM, to run an aging team that was no longer a contender and desperately in need of a rebuild—or, at the very least, a smart makeover.
At the time, that seemed to be the plan. It should have been the plan. The Bruins went from Cup winner in 2011 to Cup finalist in 2013 to out of the playoffs altogether in 2015, and the time had come to refresh. Sweeney appeared headed that way, as he spent the summer acquiring draft picks and shipping away Milan Lucic... but overpaying for Matt Beleskey? And extending Adam McQuaid? And trading a draft pick for Zac Rinaldo? Is Sweeney the GM version of the Good Cop/Bad Cop from The Lego Movie?
Ever fill out multiple NCAA brackets? There's one rule—you can't hedge too much. You're either committed to a plan or you're not. Maybe you make a few tweaks to the brackets here and there, but you can't have one Final Four on one bracket and a totally different Final Four on another. That's how you finish in the middle of the pack and get nothing out of it.
That was the Bruins in 2015-16; they were competitive, far from an also-ran, but not postseason-bound for the second straight year. They had one foot in a rebuild and one foot in a five-year contract for Matt freaking Beleskey. And they finished 2016 almost exactly where they finished 2015, just outside the playoffs and nowhere near a top-five draft pick.
But hey, lesson learned, perhaps? Sweeney didn't overpay to re-sign free agent Loui Eriksson... but he overpaid for free agent David Backes? Why, man?
And here they are again, on the fringe of the playoffs, a roster begging for a refresh. And for reasons that existed the past two years just as clearly as they did a week ago, Sweeney finally dropped the axe on Julien, then the Bruins' coach, and let the news of it be known in the middle of Boston's celebration of the New England Patriots' championship.
Claude Julien is heading to Montreal. Photo by Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Therein lies the difference between the two GMs—Sweeney has been indecisive in his nearly two years in Boston, playing the Donald Trump to Neely's Steve Bannon, while Montreal's Bergevin has been pointed in every move he has made, including the poaching of one of the NHL's top coaches from a divisional rival.
Say what you want about the quality of Bergevin's moves, but he clearly has a better understanding of his roster and where it sits in the NHL hierarchy. Last season's horror show that was result of Carey Price's season-long injury aside, the Canadiens are in it to win it now. And Bergevin knows it.
That's why he shipped out Lars Eller to make room for Andrew Shaw (not a great move). That's why he took a gamble on Alex Radulov (a great move). That's why he jumped at the chance to swap PK Subban for Shea Weber (a bad move in the long term, but a negligible one in the very, very short term). And that's why when the opportunity arose to part ways with Therrien and his archaic ways and replace him with a coach in the same echelon as Mike Babcock and Joel Quenneville, Bergevin did what Doug Armstrong failed to do in St. Louis with Ken Hitchcock.
He took out his friend with ruthless efficiency, and put the team first.
That's also why Bergevin will add Kevin Shattenkirk or some other impactful player at the deadline. The time is now for the Canadiens and nothing about Bergevin's actions since the offseason says he will hesitate to make another win-now move.
It won't happen, but how funny would it be if the Canadiens added Zdeno Chara at the deadline? Don, hey, it's Marc. No hard feelings about the Claude thing, right? It's just business. You get it. You're smart. Anyway, how do you feel about something along the lines of Chara for Alexei Emelin? Didn't Emelin try to fight Chara once? Tough as nails. A real Boston guy. Much younger too. Throw in, I don't know, Ryan Spooner and we'll announce it at the same time some big Red Sox news breaks. Deal?
Don Sweeney's tenure as Boston Bruins GM arguably has been muddled. Photo by Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
There's no place in hockey that's worse to find yourself than in the middle of the standings—nowhere good enough to win a Cup, nowhere bad enough to win a draft lottery. That's where the Bruins were when Sweeney took over, and that's where they will be whenever their 2016-17 season ends.
Even with Julien, the Canadiens aren't guaranteed to get out of the first round. They've lost six of seven. Should they hang on to first place in the Atlantic Division, their reward likely will be a first-round matchup with the fourth-best team in the stacked Metropolitan, a.k.a. the fourth- or fifth-best team in the NHL. The league's idiotic playoff format will almost definitely result in the second-best team in the Atlantic getting a cushier matchup than that division's regular-season champion.
But Bergevin has a plan, and for better or worse, he's sticking to it. He's all-in. Unlike the Weber-Subban trade, swapping Therrien for Julien is an upgrade forever. In a salary-capped league, it's almost impossible to find a competitive edge, and it's even more difficult to do it in the middle of February without trading assets.
Bergevin saw a way to better his team now and didn't wait two years to do it. It seems like the bare minimum to ask of a team's GM, but when you look at Sweeney feeling around in the dark without a flashlight, it should provide a lot of comfort for Habs fans and make Bruins fans feel even worse than they did when Julien was fired a week ago.
Want to read more stories like this from VICE Sports? Subscribe to our daily newsletter.Two-step verification is incredibly important for maintaining the security of your devices and accounts. But it is a little annoying – all that code entering and cross-referencing. But Google has just announced a simpler way to verify your identity, called Google Prompt, which is rolling out today to all users of Google apps.
Google Prompt is a popup window that will appear on an approved device to confirm you are trying to login. You can simply tap Yes to verify your ID or No to block the attempted login. It’s a much simpler and more intuitive implementation than entering a code sent to your phone or using a security key. Just make sure you don’t tap Yes by accident when it’s not you trying to log in.
Google Apps admins are encouraged to send a memo to all employees affected by the change. iOS users can also make use of Google Prompt just as long as they have the Google Search app installed on their phone. Android users will need to update Google Play Services before the change will appear.
For whatever reason you can’t currently have Google Prompt and a security key enabled at the same time and it may take up to three days for the feature to appear. To enable Google Prompt, you’ll just need to select it in the My Account section of your Google account. Just go to Sign-in & Security > Signing in to Google > 2-Step Verification to turn it on and choose the device on which to receive Google Prompt.
Do you use two-step verification? Do you prefer this 2SV option to those already available?Police say they’ve apprehended a man they believe stole a backpack and wedding ring from one of the victims of last week’s stabbing on a Portland, Oregon, train.
Suspect in theft of property from Ricky Best has been apprehended. More details released soon. Great job Portland! pic.twitter.com/LwOXxTdnpT — Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) June 2, 2017
George Elwood Tschaggeny was arrested Friday wearing the wedding ring of Ricky Best, according to a news release from the Portland Police Bureau. Police say Tschaggeny was previously caught on surveillance footage carrying the Best’s backpack after the incident.
The backpack contained “personal items important to the Best family,” detectives said in a statement.
Some of Best’s possessions ― including his wallet ― were missing from the backpack when officers recovered it. Tschaggeny is facing multiple charges, including second-degree theft and second-degree abuse of a corpse.
George Elwood Tschaggeny in a police booking photo. (Portland Police) More
Best, a retired Army veteran and married father of four, was one of three men who stood up for two girls on Portland’s MAX train when Jeremy Joseph Christian allegedly began threatening them in a bigoted, anti-Muslim tirade. When the three men tried to intervene, police say Christian stabbed them, killing Best and recent college graduate Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche. The third man, Micah David-Cole Fletcher, survived but suffered serious injuries.
Portland police did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
This story has been updated with Tschaggeny’s name and additional details.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said sideline outbursts and locker room tirades at the media were distractions this season the team needs to avoid in the future.
A season that ended too soon for coach Pete Carroll also finished in a manner he didn’t really like — with Seahawks players visibly displaying their frustration with a few tiffs on the field against the Falcons, and in one notable instance in the locker room afterward at a reporter.
And Monday, as he held his end-of-season press conference, Carroll said a focus for the future will be to make sure his players understand the fine line between emotion and distraction and attempt to stay on the right side of it more often.
[ Seahawks have crossed the line from brash to unlikeable | Calkins ]
“I think there was a couple outbursts that we had that we documented well, that really took us to a place we don’t want to be, we don’t want any part of it,’’ Carroll said. “The emotional side of it brought out some expressions, took us to a place that was a distraction and we had to get through and we did. … Sometimes the setbacks can allow you to grow and they did. We don’t need those distractions, it’s hard enough. It’s hard enough to get it done when everybody is in lock step and all of that.’’
Carroll said that message was relayed to the team when he met with his players for one final time Sunday.
“Clearly it’s not where we want to be representing who we are and what we’re all about,’’ Carroll said. “We have to do better at that.”
The outbursts this season included sideline rants by cornerback Richard Sherman directed at defensive coordinator Kris Richard in a game against Atlanta on Oct. 16 and at offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and Carroll in a game against the Rams on Dec. 14.
Then Saturday, defensive tackle Michael Bennett erupted into an expletive-laden tirade at local television reporter Bill Wixey in the locker room when Wixey asked a question about the team’s pass rush (Bennett also got into it on the field with Atlanta offensive linemen throughout the game, notably with Jake Matthews — with whom he had been angry due to an incident in the first game on Oct. 16).
Carroll said he didn’t see Bennett’s outburst — Carroll held a press conference in another room at about the same time — and said he had not talked to Bennett about it.
But he said the incident was “just another example of not being poised at the time.’’
And as the head coach, Carroll said he takes responsibility for the way the players act.
“I do, because it’s important for me to tap into these guys, their emotional side, and it becomes part of their play when it fits the person and that’s how they operate,’’ he said. “But sometimes, like I said, we make mistakes. I needed to do a better job of helping them head that off. This is a game that calls for guys to play at the edge and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. But I think there’s a mistake when they go too far.”
Carroll has often talked about creating a culture with the Seahawks in which players are allowed to freely express themselves on and off the field and observers have often credited that culture with enabling the team’s success of the past five years.
Carroll said understanding the makeup of his players was a reason he was “not necessarily surprised’’ at some of what happened this season.
“But I’m disappointed we weren’t able to control it, that guys weren’t able to keep it inside,’’ he said. “These guys have been very emotional players, and it’s part of the thing that we like about them. But there’s a point where you can go too far. Our guys are working at figuring that out.”
Carroll, though, insisted that the outbursts were not a sign of a team that had internal issues.
“We did deal with it and got through with it, I think better on the inside than the outside for those watching,’’ he said. “We were able to directly go at that stuff and we grew from it.’’
That led Carroll to make an interesting assessment that this team had as close of a bond as any he has had since coming to Seattle in 2010, which he said made having the season end before the ultimate goal of the Super Bowl even harder to accept.
“The connection between the players was unbelievably tight,’’ he said. “As much so as any team we’ve had in the time we’ve been here. I wanted to make sure we were all clear about that, so we could take that connection and the efforts we made to get there, into the next season.’’You know who we haven’t talked about in a while? Donald Trump. Trump last appeared in a FiveThirtyEight headline on Oct. 2! That cannot stand. So for this week’s 2016 election Slack chat, we’re talking Trump. As always, the transcript below has been lightly edited.
micah (Micah Cohen, politics editor): So what’s going on with Donald Trump? He fell in national polls after the second Republican debate, but that fall was brief and small, and he’s still in the high 20s.
He has now led in the polls since the first week of July, and we’ve had several rounds of “this is the end of Trump” stories that proved off. We’ve been pretty skeptical of Trump’s chances to win the Republican nomination, but has his durability changed in your view?
hjenten (Harry Enten, senior politics writer): Trump is ahead and was ahead. He has never trailed nationally outside of that IBD/TIPP poll.
But here’s an important thing to keep in mind about Trump: We’ve been skeptical of Trump because even as he has led, he still hasn’t shown the ability to cobble together enough GOP voters to win after candidates start dropping out. In two of the three national polls out in the last week, it’s Ben Carson, not Trump, who led in first and second choice combined.
natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): So, my theory of the case is still contained in the “Six Stages Of Doom” article I wrote about Trump in August. That suggests that it’s still very early. Trump has perhaps survived Stage 1, “Free-for-all.” It seems clear that his success in the polls is not purely a result of media coverage — although media coverage plays a very important part of it, as we can discuss later on. But we haven’t really entered Stage 2 yet, which is “heightened scrutiny.” That’s when voters start to pay more attention to the race and polls start to measure likely voters instead of all Republican-ish adults.
It’s interesting that Trump’s numbers were rattled a bit after each of the first two debates, for instance, since that’s a time when the candidates were on a more level playing field.
tl;dr: Sure, his chances look a little better than they did a month or so ago. But I’m not sure anything all that fundamental has changed, and the fundamentals would imply his odds of winning the nomination are still pretty darn low.
micah: Let’s try to get a more exact sense of where we see things. What were Trump’s chances of winning the nomination on Sept. 1? And what do you think they are now?
hjenten: 2 percent and 4 percent.
micah: TRUMP DOUBLES CHANCES OF WINNING!
natesilver: Trump’s chances of winning the nomination are exactly 7.1459814514128405 percent. Just kidding. I’m somewhere in the high single digits.
micah: And on Sept. 1?
natesilver: Well, I put his chances at 2 percent in that “stages of doom” article, which lays out a procedure for how you’d calculate them. If he has cleared Stage 1, his chances would double, to 4 percent.
micah: Harry’s dead on.
natesilver: But I’d round up a little bit higher than that because I think he’s made some progress on some of the later stages. For instance, his favorability ratings — although still potentially a liability down the road — have improved some.
hjenten: I think that “high single digits” is awfully high. Mitt Romney had a better shot of winning on Election Day 2012 than Trump now.
natesilver: But there’s a lot of existential uncertainty here. If you’re being purely empirical — well, nobody quite like Trump has won a party nomination before, or even come all that close to it. So there’s some universe where his chances are 0 percent.
hjenten: Most of the uncertainty for me is not whether Trump loses, but when he loses.
natesilver: I agree. And look, to some extent 4 percent vs 7 percent is an angels-dancing-on-pinheads debate.
hjenten: As for favorability, let’s point out that his favorable rating is the same now as it was in August. You can see that in the Monmouth poll out Tuesday. (It’s up from June and July.)
natesilver: Some of what caused the big uptick in Trump’s favorability ratings in the spring and summer may have been that he went from someone who wasn’t identified with a party to someone who began calling himself a Republican. Interestingly, his overall favorability ratings (i.e. with Democrats plus Republicans plus independents) have been extremely steady throughout the campaign. Nonetheless, one of the lessons of Trump is that favorability ratings can be volatile too.
hjenten: Yes, it can be very volatile. We’ve seen it move around. It probably spiked before the second debate. I think based on the data that he’s halted his post-second-debate slide, but he’s off his peak.
micah: That seems right …
natesilver: So, I think we might want to contemplate that very pattern, which is that Trump fell a bit in the polls after each of the first two debates before recovering some. That was clearer after the second debate than the first one, but probably true for the first one, too, if you look carefully enough.
micah: And you see that as foreshadowing? Do the debates have anything in common with later stages of the primary?
hjenten: I think they do, in so far as it’s the one time when more people are paying attention to politics.
natesilver: But the voters who participate in Iowa, New Hampshire and other early primary states will have paid a LOT of attention by the time they vote. It’s not perfect, but you can look at a Google Trends chart of when interest in the 2012 primary campaign spiked, for example. It was about seven times higher in January, February and March than it was in October.
micah: I’m not sure what point you’re making.
natesilver: The point is that “campaign time” is not linear. We’re still in the functional equivalent of the top of the second inning.
micah: But what do Trump’s post-debate dips suggest to you?
natesilver: That possibly his numbers will suffer as he faces more scrutiny from voters. And as the media coverage evens out a bit. OTOH, the steady state where nothing much is happening in the campaign seems helpful to Trump, who is able to turn empty news cycles into Trumpian ones.
hjenten: I should point out that it’s clear that Trump has suffered at least a little bit, even WITH the debates relatively far in the rearview mirror. For instance, it’s clear now that Trump has weaker support among women than men. It’s clear that better-educated Republican voters are less likely to support his campaign — stuff you might have expected after his earlier controversial comments.
Back when he started leading in the polls, Trump’s numbers were strong across the board. They’re still good, but they’re not uniformly good. It’s as if he’s become more of a traditional candidate, and the rules of politics now apply to him.
natesilver: Maybe. But I’m more on the side of saying that nothing much has changed in the campaign, so we shouldn’t necessarily expect dramatic changes in Trump’s numbers. For that matter, I don’t take for granted that he’s going to fall to zero, or into the single digits. Some Trump-like candidates have won 20 or 25 or 30 percent of the vote before, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire.
hjenten: That’s why I look at the first and second choice numbers, to get an idea of the ceiling.
micah: Is it safe to say we’ve seen Trump’s ceiling?
hjenten: No. Not in my mind.
natesilver: I don’t think there are any totally safe predictions about what Trump’s polling will look like in the near term.
micah: And how much of Trump’s durability has to do with the other candidates? It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing, but no one else is catching on it seems, right?
natesilver: Carly Fiorina’s rise and fall is interesting. She doesn’t seem to have a way to stay in the news cycle in between debates.
micah: Right … Carson is basically co-leading with Trump, but everyone else has fallen into a pack in the high single digits at best. And even beyond the polls, no one seems to be getting much favorable buzz or much of anything.
natesilver: Yeah. It’s not just that support is divided but that attention is divided, too.
hjenten: Look at the Democratic side. Note how Hillary Clinton has gone up in the polls with positive press coverage. Notice how she has led now in two of the three post-debate polls in New Hampshire. Press coverage means a lot. When you get down to just one or two folks to concentrate on in addition to Trump, that should hurt him significantly.
natesilver: Certainly, the Democratic polls over the past couple of weeks have made political scientists and “data journalists” look smart. But it’s possible that the Republican Party is a different beast.
micah: It does kind of all go back to something we talked about early on in the summer: Even without Scott Walker and Ricky Perry, this is a historically huge GOP field, and that fact is underappreciated by the media.
natesilver: It’s historically huge, and also the establishment hasn’t really settled on a candidate.
hjenten: Of course, it’s possible that this is a different beast. We’ve had 12 open primaries (i.e. no incumbent president running for the nomination) since 1980. It’s a small sample size, but I don’t know how we can say the system is broken when there is no clear party-actor favorite. Perhaps that gives Trump a better shot, but it also may mean (and in my mind, probably does mean) that Trump is adios goodbye when they do settle on the anti-Trump.
Trump for the record still has 0 endorsement points.
micah: Right, part of me wonders if the Trump fade won’t come until the establishment rallies behind a candidate.
natesilver: Even if “this time is different,” that doesn’t necessarily culminate in Trump’s nomination. He has a lot of other liabilities, such as still-just-lukewarm favorability ratings, the lack of a traditional campaign organization, and a bunch of policy positions that are at odds with those of Republican primary voters.
hjenten: If the system is broken — or at least different — then it could benefit someone besides Trump. That’s part of the reason that I think Ted Cruz has a shot.
natesilver: Yeah. I’m more of a Trump skeptic than a Party Decides truther. Maybe the Republican establishment is partly but not entirely broken, and that results in a messy nomination process, but Trump still doesn’t win. About the only thing the Republican establishment agrees upon is that it doesn’t want to nominate Trump.
There’s also this: “Mr. Trump spent more on hats and T-shirts — about $678,000 — than he did on field staff and offices in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where his expenses totaled just $353,363.”
hjenten: That’s the thing here: Candidacies — even the strongest of candidacies — hit bumps in the road. Al Gore lost his New Hampshire lead in 2000. George W. Bush lost New Hampshire in 2000. Trump hasn’t shown any willingness to spend money on |
in 2015, but dealing him and Gordon netted them a prospect package that included Andrew Heaney, since dealt to the Los Angeles Angels for second baseman Howie Kendrick.
Minus Haren, the Dodgers signed Brandon McCarthy to a four-year, $48 million contract.
"We feel good about him turning the corner," Zaidi said of McCarthy, who excelled after a midseason trade to the New York Yankees.
Zaidi acknowledged that the McCarthy signing was motivated in part by the specter of No. 2 starter Zack Greinke opting out of his $147 million contract next season.
While the Dodgers are paying out plenty of money, they are getting some salary relief - approximately $4 million from the Boston Red Sox as part of the September 2012 blockbuster that sent outfielder Carl Crawford and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to Los Angeles. That, however, figures to be canceled out by the dollars they send to the San Diego Padres to offset Matt Kemp's salary. The Dodgers have agreed to pay $32 million over the final five years of Kemp's deal, though it's not yet known what that sum will be in 2015.Use the search box below if you know your specific event, or browse displays with the menu up top!
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If you find incorrect information here, please hit the contact form and I’ll be happy to fix it.
Your Community Needs Your Help!
If your area isn’t holding a display this year, please check for a neighboring community. And if it’s at all possible, please donate, or volunteer to help out. Don’t let the community fireworks displays go the way of the drive in theaters in Michigan!
I Need Your Help!
Over the years this has become something of a massive project (specially with seven sites total) and I need help getting the latest information on upcoming fireworks displays! If you know of one in your area, or if you’re responsible for putting one on, or you have better details on one than I have, I am begging, pleading, asking you to use the submit form, or drop me a line – via my contact form, on the Facebook page or on Twitter. I am dedicated to keeping this the biggest and most comprehensive list of fireworks displays anywhere, but… Michigan is a biiiig state. I particularly need more information on events in the Upper Peninsula; I lost my source up there. Thanks in advance!
Note to communities, convention and visitors bureaus and anyone else who puts on a fireworks show or posts events: people are already searching for your events! Please let me know if you’re updating for this year, or update your website and I’ll find it. You’d be amazed how many people start planning their summer vacations in January!
Pssst… we’re working on a whole new design!We've perhaps not given the upcoming big screen return for Riddick as much attention as we should have done these past few months. The new movie sees Vin Diesel reprising arguably his best big screen live action role, and it's been a tough job by the sounds of it to get the film made. Certainly there were budget issues and talks of shutdown at one stage, but all concerned finally managed to make their movie.
David Twohy is directing Riddick, and joining Diesel in the cast are Katee Sackhoff and Karl Urban, amongst others. A first poster for Riddick has popped up, too, and that increasingly tends to hint that a trailer isn't too far away. When one appears, we'll bring it your way.
For now, though, here's that poster...
Cine Heroes.
Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.Story highlights Air Force officials report both pilots are uninjured
The fighter jet sputtered and popped before gong down, witnesses said
Two pilots safely ejected before an F-16 crashed during a training mission on Wednesday night near Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Arizona, an Air Force spokeswoman told CNN.
They were recovered a short time later by an ambulance crew, CNN affiliate KPHO reported. Air Force officials reported both pilots were uninjured.
Witnesses said they could tell the plane was sputtering and popping just before it went down.
"The jet exploded. It went boom," Eva DelaCruz, who lives near the base, told KPHO. "It exploded again and we looked up and saw the jet with a lot of flames. Like a lot of fire and I said that's not normal because we see jets left and right."
The Air Force will investigate the crash, according to KPHO.Grindr is just about the last place I’d expect to find a rabbi. I mean, sure, a rabbi would probably less likely be at, say, a brothel, too, but Grindr’s pretty high up on the list.
And yet 24-year-old Matt Green, a second year rabbinical student at New York City’s Hebrew Union College, is making a name for himself as the Grindr Rebbe.
Having returned to the United States this summer after his first year of rabbinical school in Israel, Green quirkily decided to indicate that fact in his personal Grindr profile. The response, Green recalls, was overwhelming. “People were contacting me saying are you Jewish? How was Israel? Then,” he adds, “when I mentioned I was in rabbinical school, everyone kept asking about Kashrut [Jewish dietary laws], and Judaism!”
That's how the Grindr rabbi idea was born. “It occurred to me that what happened on Grindr was speaking to a Jewish communal need. People wanted to talk about being Jewish and Jewish things,” he adds. When Green moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, at the end of the summer, the Jewish guys talking to him about Jewish topics on Grindr skyrocketed.
In early fall, when his rabbinical college issued a call for this year’s Be Wise Fellowship in Entrepreneurship grants, a program created exclusively for HUC-JIR students to creatively respond to changes in the American Jewish landscape, Green remembered his Grindr experience.
He submitted a grant proposal to the Be Wise board, led by the Fellowship director, Rabbi Peter Rubinstein, the Rabbi Emeritus at Central Synagogue who is now 92Y's Director of Jewish Community. In his proposal, Green called for using Grindr as a way to locate and gather curious or unaffiliated Jews in a certain area to bring them a Jewish experience to which they could relate. In the proposal, he explained Grindr as “an LGBTQ social network known as Grindr, which uses geolocation (GPS) technology to bring people together based on their geographic location.”
Okay, so he white washed it a little bit, but how would you have explained Grindr to a 70+ year old rabbi tasked with divvying out grant money?
The real appeal of his pitch was the geolocation element. Of all the five boroughs, Green’s home, Brooklyn, has the highest percentage of Jews between the ages of 18-44, according to the UJA’s most recent Jewish Community Study of New York. Green wanted to tap into this demographic using a new tool—Grindr. That statistic, coupled with the fact that LGBT households are less engaged in Jewish communal life suggests that Grindr could be a great place to find unaffiliated but interested Jews.
“Grindr is an untapped place for outreach potential,” Green explains, “There are a ton of Jews of all stripes, especially people who have nothing to do with organized religion. Why not try getting to them on Grindr?”
After his presentation to the board, Green received the grant. He immediately got to work.
“I started bageling,” he jokes. It was probably the first time things like “So I went to a bar mitzvah last weekend” and “The lecture I’m in is longer than my grandfather’s Passover seder,” were used as pick-up lines on Grindr. But you know, it worked for Green.
Since launching his initiative in December, the Grindr Rebbe has already seen marked success in his outreach. “Initially I was uncomfortable that I was on an app primarily used for hook ups even though I’m committed to my boyfriend,” he reveals, “but it’s my professional account...which is absurd!” he laughs.
He hosted the first Shabbat dinner for ten people last month, and the second one for twelve this past weekend. “Shabbat has largely consisted of long, hilarious, and Jewishly rich dinners,” he explains. “So many people don't have Judaism in their lives, so I said look, come over, and we’ll talk about Woody Allen and eat kugel.” The concept appealed to many people, Green says.
The dinner began with Green lighting the traditional Shabbat candles, making Kiddush, a ritual right performed over wine, and hamotzi, the blessing over challah bread. From there, the dinner attendees melded. The conversations at the dinner spoke to “relevant issues in the sphere of queer Jewish life,” Green tells me.
“I think it had a lot to do with the fact that we all had the two huge things in common already—we were all gay and Jews so there was that baseline,” said Ryan Mendías, a dinner attendee who is currently converting to Judaism.
Green is hoping to expand his reach too. “Kabbalat Shabbat services,” Friday night services, “are on the horizon,” he says. He also plans on hosting a holiday party for Purim, a Jewish holiday in March.
Rabbi Dr. Shirley Idelson, Dean of HUC, is “excited to see how Matt moves ahead with the program.” She emphasized that education is the program’s chief aim, so she is “hopeful it will thrive and he will learn a tremendous amount from the experience.”
Without knowing or realizing it, the Grindr Rebbe is ushering in a new age of religious outreach. As he explains, “I view these two dinners as successes largely because they serve as proof that Grindr is a viable means of bringing Jews together to build community.” But it’s more than that. Using geotechnology and bageling (or the equivalent) might have real potential for other faith based outreach programs and usher in a new innovative way to pursue religious education and engagement.
Until then, if you have any questions about Judaism, get on Grindr, find the Rebbe, and ask him how he likes his Manischewitz.Next month, in a first-of-its-kind measure, San Francisco Bay Area residents will decide if they’re ready to put real skin in the game when it comes to protecting the region against climate change. On the June 7th ballot in nine Bay Area counties is a property tax that would cost residents $12 a year for the next 20 years. If passed, the measure—known as Measure AA— would raise $500 million dollars to protect the San Francisco Bay from sea level rise, which could claim large swaths of land in the coming decades if not confronted, and other negative environmental trends.
While many view the innovative approach as working in everyone’s favor, some are concerned about equity issues with low-income residents paying the same amount as those from places like Silicon Valley’s well-to-do tech industry—even if the annual fee amounts to less than a workweek of to-go coffees.
“I think that because the fee is regressive, people should vote against it,” said Brian Beveridge, co-director of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project. “The Bay, and the environment in general, is a public asset. In the private sector the owner of an asset would not willingly pay to repair damage done by another person, so why are we charging the public for damage by industry and developers?”
Beveridge thinks that since the public has already suffered the loss of these resources, polluters and developers should pay for any restoration.
“Twelve dollars for one person is just the cost of a fancy cocktail in Uptown Oakland,” he said. “For someone else it might be the monthly power bill in July or a week of lunches for their child.”
Beverage said he thinks the people promoting the measure should look for funds elsewhere, such as the hundreds of millions of dollars being released from the state cap-and-trade program. He also thinks the Bay is in better shape than it has been in decades, having already benefited from a number of revitalization programs.
Monica Canfield-Lenfest with Save The Bay, a non-profit in full support of the tax, said the measure’s pros far outweigh any cons and that $1 per month is a reasonable price for everyone to pay.
“A small investment from a large number of people will generate a huge impact for the future of the Bay Area,” she said. “Ultimately, our region will need to generate even more resources, and everyone will need to contribute their fair share. But we cannot afford to wait, and this small parcel tax will allow us to get started now.”
Canfield-Lenfest said the Bay needs 100,000 acres of new wetlands to be fully healthy and sustainable and that while more than 30,000 acres of shoreline await restoration, funding is lacking. While other coastal cities across the country are relying on government or private funding for this type of action, San Francisco could be the first to put matters directly into residents’ hands, and wallets.
“We’ve found that the health of the Bay is something that virtually everyone in the region cares about.”
If passed, the money raised from the measure will be utilized in a number of ways. To confront sea level rise and flooding, the Bay’s wetlands, which act as a natural barrier against these threats, will be extensively built-out. Overall water quality will be improved and trash and other pollution will be cleaned up. Wildlife habitat will be restored and increased access to shorelines will be provided for the public.
Before the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, some 350,000 acres of bay wetlands existed that have since been destroyed by drainage, agriculture, and development. This represents almost 85% of the entire region’s marshlands. According to The Bay Institute, nearly 40% of the historical Bay’s aquatic ecosystem has been lost.
Canfield-Lenfest said the improvements from these efforts will benefit even those who don’t live directly next to the Bay. For instance, better flood protection will help safeguard billions of dollars’ worth of critical infrastructure that helps fuel the region’s economy.
She also said the lessons learned from this process can be applied to other fast-growing and dense urban areas across the country, such as New Orleans or New York City
“All of us will need to take a hard look at our natural resources in our regions that provide ecosystem services that are going to be so important for fighting climate change, and figuring out how to protect and restore and enhance those resources.”
The parcel tax is being proposed by the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, a California government entity established by the state legislature in 2008. According to the SFBRA, projects to improve the Bay would be prioritized by their positive impact on the San Francisco Bay as a whole. The six representatives on the SFBRA’s governing board approved the ballot measure unanimously in January. In order to pass, two-thirds of voters will have to approve the measure—a high bar but one that the liberal-leaning, environmentally minded populace could support.
Wikipedia
Adrian Covert, policy director for the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored public policy outlet that supports the measure, said this approach to saving the Bay was selected after “years of careful scrutiny and consideration.”
“We’ve found that the health of the Bay is something that virtually everyone in the region cares about, and that huge majorities feel strongly enough about it that they’re willing to pitch in a modest sum to keep the Bay healthy,” he said.
Covert also said that there’s no question that if the measure doesn’t pass the issue will cost Bay Area residents more money in the long run.
“Wetlands are cheaper to build and maintain than levees, and in areas that need extra protection, levees can be built smaller and cheaper if there’s a wetland in front of it,” he said. “So we’re asking for $500 million to prevent over $10 billion in the near term, and billions more in the long term. In exchange, we’ll also improve the environment for fish and wildlife and expand public access to the Bay. This is a win across the board.”
The Bay Area Council Economic Institute recently produced a study saying that the region could suffer $10.5 billion in damages from a 150-year storm event right now. Another recent report from the San Francisco Public Press found that the Bay Area’s “current waterfront building frenzy” includes at least $21 billion-worth of construction in low-lying areas that could become victim to sea level rise of up to five feet (possibly 8 feet during high tide) by the end of the century.
According to the report, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Facebook are among some of the corporations driving this bay-side expansion. If left unaddressed, the public cost of protecting these developments with dikes, levees, and artificial wetlands will only increase in the future.
This post has been updated to reflect Brian Beveridge’s comments.Greetings True Christians!
Did you know that God hates that Satanic homosexual teenaged British boy band called One Direction? One of their members, the American one, Justin Bieber, just got arrested for drunken driving. All of the members are homosexuals, as evidenced by their chosen genre of music. Much like Insink and the Backstreet Boys, all “boy bands” are homosexual. It’s a proven fact. Let’s take a look at these “boys”.
The music videos released by One Direction are laced with homosexual themes. Consider their video for their song “Wrecked Ball”. In the video, one of the members cross-dresses, mimics the act of giving a blowjob on a hammer, and even rides a giant ball. This is a blatant embrace of homosexual themes if I have ever seen one! Here’s proof:
While the crossdressing moment by the One Direction singer is disturbing, One Direction is not the first British band to dress as women. Queen did the same thing for their music video “I Want to Break Free.” Why did they do this? Because Freddie Mercury, their singer, was a raving homosexual that embraced the spirit of sodomy, moved to Denmark, and bought little boys as sex slaves. This is sinful stuff, and One Direction is following Freddy Mercury, who died of AIDS as a punishment from God for homosexuality, straight to Hell.
In an attempt to dispel their homosexual image, the boys from One Direction have allied themselves with Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is a sinful, evil, woman that may in fact be the human embodiment of the whore of Babylon. One thing is for certain, she is an agent of Satan, and was perhaps sent by Satan to recruit One Direction to Satan’s cause.
The American and British support of One Direction has been overwhelming. This has led to a quick deterioration of the American and British image overseas. In fact, things have gotten so bad that the American government has warned Olympic athletes to not wear Team USA gear outside of the Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia. This is because Russia has remained staunch in the fight against homosexuality. There is fear that the Russians will attack Americans for their support of sodomy.
We need to reject One Direction and send them back to the depths of Hell where they came from. God hates One Direction and will cast their fans into the depths of Hell with the band. Anyone that supports One Direction supports homosexuality, a sin that God Himself tells us is an abomination in the Bible.
Let us take back the radio with Johnny Cash and other True Christian artists. Let us take back the airways for Christ.
I’m Jim Solouki, and I’m a True Christian.
http://www.creationsciencestudy.wordpress.com
Elect Rick Santorum as president in 2016!Ukip has won its sixth seat on Hartlepool Borough Council in a landslide by-election victory over Labour.
Ukip's Tim Fleming was elected to the Headland & Harbour ward seat, recently vacated by Labour's Peter Jackson, due to work commitments.
Coun Fleming's 496 votes, were almost double that of the 255 votes received by Labour's Trevor Rogan, and brings the number of Ukip members to six.
Second runner-up Steve Latimer, of Putting Hartlepool First got 155.
He is followed by Benjamin Marshall (Local Conservatives) with 41 votes, John Robert Price (Patients not profit in our NHS) with 36 and Chris Broadbent (Independent) who received 26 votes.
The current make-up of Hartlepool Council is now Labour (19), UKIP (6), Independent (3), Local Conservatives (3) and Putting Hartlepool First (2).
The turnout for the by-election was 17.8%.(Jim Mone/AP)
This post was updated at 11:38 a.m. to include comment from the Gary Johnson campaign.
At least two of the original sponsors of the 2012 presidential debates have pulled their support over the exclusion of Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, arguing that the commission which runs the debates is locked into a two-party outlook.
The first presidential debate will take place in Denver on Wednesday between President Barack Obama and Republican contender Mitt Romney.
Multinational corporation Philips Electronics and the women's organization the YWCA both dropped their sponsorship after being flooded with E-mails and letters from supporters of former Republican New Mexico Gov. Johnson, as well as two election watchdog groups, Open Debates and Help the Commission.
"I've been trying this since 2004... and this is first time any sponsor has peeled off from supporting the commission," says George Farah of Open Debates, who wrote the book No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates. "For this to happen on the eve of the first presidential debate is a remarkable act."
The Commission on Presidential Debates, which runs the debate logistics, didn't immediately respond to request for comment from Whispers. But the commission, which is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation and relies heavily on sponsors, is likely to feel the impact of its missing sponsors.
Back in July, the commission's executive director Janet Brown told Whispers that Johnson could possibly appear in the debates. Over the last month, however, it became clear that Johnson did not have the polled support of at least 15 percent of the national electorate, one of the commission's three debate participation requirements. Last week, Johnson filed a lawsuit over his exclusion from the debates, but that effort is not expected to be successful.
In a letter announcing its sponsorship withdrawal, Philips wrote that it was concerned the commission's work "may appear to support bi-partisan" instead of "non-partisan" politics. YWCA similarly wrote that it was dropping out because it is a "non-partisan" women's organization.
Joe Hunter, spokesman for the Gary Johnson campaign, says of the pulled sponsors: “It appears that they have recognized what we have recognized – that the debate commission is a product of the Democratic and Republican National committees, and that they have structured the rules and their agreements among themselves to exclude third party candidates like Gov. Johnson.”
Open Debate and Johnson supporters have been sounding the alarm for months that they believed the commission was too loyal to the Republican and Democratic parties.
The commission, which was created by the two parties in 1987, was founded on the principle that the debates would be run between candidates, and said from the start that it was unlikely to include third-party candidates in debates. At the 1992 debate, however, third-party candidate Ross Perot appeared on stage with President George H. W. Bush and Gov. Bill Clinton.
Elizabeth Flock is a staff writer for U.S. News & World Report. You can contact her at eflock@usnews.com or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.Image copyright Santosh Jagdev Image caption The couple were married inside an Orissa jail
The family of an Indian woman in the northern state of Orissa who married a man she accused of raping her has told the BBC she had "no other option".
Her father told the BBC's Hindi Service that the family was also considering withdrawing their complaint against the man, who has been freed on bail.
The woman has previously told local media that she was a willing participant in the marriage.
Rape and other sexual crimes are a taboo subject in Indian society.
Victims find it difficult to marry and are often blamed for inviting the attacks on themselves.
The woman's father told the BBC he had no choice other than to marry his daughter to the alleged attacker.
"Her whole life would have been ruined. And we would have to put up with the embarrassment forever," he said.
The wedding took place inside Jharpada jail on 28 January in Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Orissa, where the man had been held since his arrest last year on rape charges.
The judge ordered the prison officials to organise the wedding after the alleged victim and attacker filed a joint petition in court, requesting permission to marry.
'My own decision'
"It was my own decision to marry him. Our parents also agreed to it. I am optimistic that we will have a smooth life," the women was quoted as saying by The Times of India at the time of the ceremony.
The groom was freed on bail and the couple are now living with the bride's family.
Sexual crimes in India have been in the spotlight since a student died after being gang-raped in Delhi in December 2012.
Rape cases that have shocked IndiaA new study from a team of researchers specializing in psychology and social networks suggests that loneliness can spread through groups of friends and family members. In the analysis of nearly 4,500 polled about how frequently they felt lonely, researchers found that close friends and family members of people who reported persistent loneliness were 52% more likely to report feeling isolated themselves. So how does this contagion effect work? John Cacioppo, a psychologist at the University of Chicago and an author of the study spoke with TIME’s Alice Park:
“People who feel lonely view the social world as more threatening,” he says. “They may not be aware they are doing it, but lonely individuals think negatively about other people. So if you are my friend, and I started to treat you negatively, then over time, we would stop being friends. But in the meantime, our interactions caused you to treat other people less positively, so you’re likely to lose friends, and they in turn are likely to lose friends. That appears to be the means of transmission for loneliness.”
Read the full article here.In Madison, Wisconsin, a group of Christian parents have brought it upon themselves to coerce students at Middleton High School into accepting Jesus. They’re doing it by luring the kids off school property once a week, giving them free food, and using the opportunity to tell them all about Jesus.
It’s so widespread at this point — it’s been happening since spring of 2014 and now draws about 450 students each time — that the students and adults have just come to call them “Jesus Lunches.”
Now, Principal Stephen Plank is trying to put a stop to it before the lawsuits come flying in. In a letter sent to all parents and staff this week, he explained the origins of the Jesus Lunches and why they pose a legal problem.
Pay close attention to what he says, because it’s very clear he’s an administrator who’s genuinely not out to persecute Christians, but trying his best to uphold his duty as the head of the school:
These lunches began on a very small scale with one/two parents bringing sandwiches to their own children at MHS, sitting down with them at lunch, outside the building and discussing their Christian faith. It then expanded to the parents bringing more and more lunches to give to students interested in sitting down and discussing their religious faith. In speaking with parents about concerns regarding informal gatherings growing into larger ones with the dissemination of food and giving away of Bibles. The parents/students moved from outdoors on the south lawn of the school, to an off campus location (which would have been allowable but would have required school administration to inform parents of any incentivizing of students to eat lunch free in exchange for attendance), and finally to Fireman’s Park in the fall of 2015. In both cases of the south lawn and off campus locations, Steve Plank expressed an opposition to this growing event, and conveyed to these parents that this practice violates school and district policy. The group went to the City of Middleton and reserved Fireman’s Park starting in September of 2015. The parents provided large quantities of free food at the pavilion and began more organized events. The lunch event developed the name “Jesus Lunch” amongst MHS students, as it promoted a Christian-based worship. Steve Plank once again asked the parents to stop holding these lunches. They refused, and continued to expand them. The School District’s lease of Fireman’s Park permits enforcement of school policies during school hours/days. The School District’s concerns related to this event come down to policy expectations that MCPASD maintains — policies in place to ensure student safety, health and welfare. The policies in question include food handling, visitors to campus, and expectations around student organized events. We are in no way interested in opposing religious practice in otherwise legal circumstances. Below are three of the policies being ignored: Anyone providing food for students must follow the district’s food handling standards found in the district Food Safety Plan. Food of any kind that is served to students must be approved by the school/district to ensure food safety, cleanliness, and health. In addition, many students are subject to food allergies, so additional protocols must be followed to safeguard students with these conditions. A parent group bringing large quantities of food to a school also raises significant questions regarding whether it is, in fact, an adult organized event that has not followed Administrative Policy 371.
Food of any kind that is served to students must be approved by the school/district to ensure food safety, cleanliness, and health. In addition, many students are subject to food allergies, so additional protocols must be followed to safeguard students with these conditions. Adult visitors to school/school campus must follow Administrative Policy 860 Visitors to the Schools, which requires registering in the school office, or the greeter’s station. This is a requirement of all visitors to our schools/school campus during school hours, whether or not they are parents.
This is a requirement of all visitors to our schools/school campus during school hours, whether or not they are parents. If students are interested in organizing student led activities, MHS staff are happy to work with them and will convey the district and school policies that govern activities. This, however, appears to be an event initiated by adults without approval by the school. These policy concerns have been repeatedly conveyed to the group of parents organizing the “Jesus Lunches”. Just two weeks ago, Steve Plank learned that the parents intended to continue the lunches starting today. We have been working actively with city officials to make sure we are on the same page with our understanding of this situation and our lease of Fireman’s Park. Steve Plank again asked the parents to cancel the event earlier this week in a telephone conversation that was to precede a scheduled meeting. The response was that they would not respect this request, and that they intended to move forward.
In short, the District is trying to stop this illegal (but popular) practice, while the irresponsible parents in question don’t give a damn what the law is. They’re going to convert these children — and if a kid dies of a peanut allergy, or some kids’ parents object to the proselytizing, or a stranger has access to kids during the school day, so be it.
The letter continued:
The parents contend that it is their First Amendment Right to provide free food and hold a religiously oriented event on this property during school hours. The District believes that we have jurisdiction of this leased property, which is part of our campus. We believe that religious or political events do not have a place in our school or on our campus, except when sponsored by a student group in accordance with our rules, which require prior approval. In addition, many students have conveyed to us their concern about a group offering free food to incentivize participation in a religious event on campus. The result of which has a divisive impact on our learning community. As such, we will continue to work with the parent group to find an amicable resolution.
Imagine for a second these were Muslim or atheist parents trying to do the exact same thing. All hell would break loose.
Ted Cruz would jump on a plane to Wisconsin to put a stop to this travesty and score some easy political points. Fox News Channel would be having a field day. The screenwriters for God’s Not Dead 3 would be having a collective orgasm.
But because these are Christians, no one involved seems to be saying the obvious: This is really fucking creepy.
This isn’t about feeding hungry kids. The school already takes care of that. This is about taking advantage of children when their parents aren’t around in order to push Christianity on them.
The parents have no “First Amendment Right” to do this, either. Strangers can’t walk up to a public school and offer kids candy, just like they can’t tell those kids to walk off campus property during the school day in order to acquire the goods.
This is appalling behavior and any reasonable person should be able to admit that.
By the way, this isn’t a secret, either. The Jesus Lunch Moms flaunt their events on Facebook, Instagram, and hastily constructed websites.
Last night, they posted this statement online:
The following statement can be attributed to Attorney Phillip Stamman of Southworth and Stamman, LLC, the firm representing Jesus Lunch regarding the School District of Middleton’s attempts to shut down the “Jesus Lunch” at Fireman’s Park in the City of Middleton, Wisconsin: Fireman’s Park — a public park owned by the City of Middleton — remains accessible to everyone in the public for the purposes of assembly and free speech. By law, the lease agreement between the city and the School District of Middleton does not privatize the park. Christian parents who provide a free lunch and share their religious beliefs with park visitors retain their First Amendment rights to do so, notwithstanding unfounded protests from the school district.
Again, they have every right to set up shop in the park on a weekend or during the summer. But when they’re asking kids to join them on a school day, the District, which is responsible for those kids when school is in session, has the right to make sure rules are being followed. That means following the food safety protocol, getting names/IDs from all volunteers, and — most importantly — making sure this is a student-led activity.
That last one is the kicker. Students have every right to form religious clubs in high school. Not adults. Students could organize these lunches, too, but adults can’t come in from the outside to do it. That applies to all groups, not just Christian ones.
These parents think the laws don’t apply to them because they have everyone’s best interests at heart. Bullshit. Tell that to the Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, atheist, and non-creepy-Christian parents who don’t want strangers preaching to their kids, telling them they’re going to Hell unless they submit to Christ, when they’re supposed to be getting an education.
The Jesus Lunch organizers have been given ample warning — and they haven’t listened. It’s time for the District to use the force of law against them. That way, at least someone is thinking about the kids.
If nothing else, the District should simply adopt a policy forbidding students from going off campus during their lunch periods.
(Thanks to Liana for the link)Bribery exists everywhere and in many different forms, but corruption in India sometimes looks like a civil servants' favorite contest nationwide. Since 2005, India has been ranking around the middle (90 out of 180) of Transparency International's league table of country perception of corruption by the people (including investors, businessmen, etc).
But what if corruption is perceived as “just the way things are in the country”? A normal part of life… But what do we mean by corruption, really? Simply the misuse of public property for private gain, as defined by the World Bank. It ranges from embezzlement of public money to abuse of power (e.g. asking for bribes).
Corruption in India affects all levels of the society but it’s in the administrative one that the biggest damage is done to the people and comes to exacerbate poverty. The most simple daily-routine administrative tasks cannot be performed without a bribe to the civil servant in charge of the paperwork. Got your stuff stolen? Had a car accident? Need to register your name for a permit, a loan, a government grant or subsidy? Don’t forget your bribe money.
That creates three kinds of situations:
You don’t turn to your government to protect yourself and you get used to getting things done by yourself. Whatever business you’re in you end up not paying taxes anymore. Whatever problem you’re having you’ll deal with it on your own, which can easily get out of hand if you have to settle on your own an argument over a car accident (which sometimes comes down to who's got the biggest baseball bat). You don’t trust the authorities anymore and any new policy or plan they have has meager chances of working because the whole system resists it, even the people. If you’re actually trying to be a good law-abiding citizen, you pay your bribes and you end up even poorer than before. Bribes suck a significant share of the poor's income.
So there’s no doubt poverty and corruption are linked. And corruption in India is quite the thing. In 2003, only 15% of the government's anti-poverty funds reached the poor. Anti-corruption laws have existed since 1968, supported by agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Vigilance Commission and yet… failure has been the common point of these efforts. The agencies lack independence and power; of course it’d be dangerous to create a tool that actually works and risks putting its own creators in jail.
Corruption, Indian style
Index of corruption by Indian states in 2005
“The more the corruption, the slower the economic growth.” (rule of thumb confirmed by many studies - see references below)
Not only does corruption in India worsen poverty, it also drags the whole country’s development down by stealing its resources. When you think of it, if 85% of public money doesn’t go to the poor (millions of them), this money surely doesn’t land in more than a hundred people’s hands. Quite a waste. And to make things just a little worse, corruption also increases inflation (it's a general effect of it). And then... Bam, more poverty
Yet, India’s been developing and it’s become important to polish its image especially to reassure investors of the stability of the Indian market. Oh yes, because corruption also affects investment and market stability by increasing uncertainty. Quite a bummer when you’re trying to develop your country.
But people have also stepped up in the fight against corruption and citizen websites such as |
and fans encounter this massive force of nature. In the first episode, Bronson and his entourage roll into Washington, D.C.’s Rose’s Luxury, recently hyped as America’s best new restaurant, for smoked trout and fried oysters, and patter about food with the chef. Later, they infiltrate a humble roadside joint in Atlanta for some barbecue ribs before heading off to the beach in Miami.President Trump is set to sign an executive order aimed at boosting historically black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs, on Tuesday amid a period of increased outreach to the institutions from high-level members of the administration.
The order will allow HBCU officials to serve as advisors to Trump on his urban agenda as well as increase the private sector's role in the colleges and universities, a White House official said.
Trump's executive order comes one day after Vice President Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos hosted representatives from dozens of HBCUs at a "listening session" in the executive office building next door to the White House.
"Our administration, at the president's direction, is working to find new ways to expand your impact so that more students, especially in the underserved communities in this country, have the chance at a quality education," Pence said at the outset of the meeting on Monday.
"We want to partner with you. We want to partner with you to help train the students of today to face the challenges and to lead in America tomorrow."
Trump had personally welcomed some of the HBCU representatives in the Oval Office earlier Monday.
DeVos visited Howard University, a historically black school in Washington, D.C., as one of her first official acts as education secretary.
The president is also expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday related to Obama-era environmental regulations.I remain convinced that if anyone else had found the cylinder, there would be no story to tell. A well adjusted person would've taken it to the police, to a pawn shop, or simply left it buried. Curiosity kills the cat, if it's lucky.
The logging woods were my secret refuge from the concrete and asphalt monstrosity where I lived and worked the other six days of the week. Some part of me recoils from it and must be periodically recharged by immersion in natural beauty if I'm to keep up the pretense of being a civilized adult.
It was on one of these Sunday hikes that I found the cylinder. I tripped over what I assumed was an unusually angular rock. If I hadn't looked back to confirm it, you wouldn't be reading this. When I did, I noticed at once from the texture that it wasn't rock but concrete. And that it wasn't some formless lump, but the protruding corner of a cube.
Some rectilinear shape, anyway. This was the hook. The catnip. The gentle tug on the loose thread which made it impossible for me to stop. With an hour's work I'd managed to clear away most of the dirt from the top of the structure as only an an inch or two concealed it. There was a manhole, or something very similar in size and shape. But it was hinged, with a padlock.
I searched the rusted lock for a logo of some kind to get an idea of where to start. "Locks ltd." I smiled. I don't know what I was expecting. "Company inc."? I took some photos with my phone, briefly turned on the GPS and saved the coordinates. "I'm not done with you" I muttered.
Submitting the photos to a subreddit specific to my city yielded some promising information. One user suggested it was an abandoned utility enclosure. Another said it was a disused sewer entrance. Not likely in that location. Another suggested it was for storing rainwater. A week of tepid workaday routine blurred by. I was consumed for most of it by thoughts of the chamber.
When I returned, I was prepared. Or whatever you'd call bringing $12 Wal Mart bolt cutters. They did the job but were mangled beyond the possibility of reuse in the process. I got what I paid for. With the lock removed I squatted over the hinged steel lid, slid my fingers under the rim and lifted with my knees. It budged but did not open as easily as I hoped. I wondered if my back would give out before the hinge did.
With a loud groan, the lid gave way. Rank air issued forth from the opening. I regretting not buying something to cover my mouth and nose. But after waiting a week to get this far I was in no mood to stop here. There was a rusty ladder just inside. I thought for a moment about what would happen to me if it broke under my weight and I fractured my ankle or something. Nobody knew where I was.
The nagging splinter of curiosity in my mind took the wheel and soon I was descending the ladder into the black, pungent unknown. I flipped through a few pages on my phone before I found the light widget. I tapped it and the rear flash came on and stayed on, sparing me from using the screen to light my way.
Inside the concrete chamber, on a raised platform in the center of it all sat a steel cylinder. Somewhat rusted itself but in much better shape than the ladder or manhole. The only clue to its contents were written on one end of it in cyrillic. I scanned it with Google translate but as my phone couldn't get a signal underground, it eventually gave up. So did I. The sun was going down and I felt certain that whatever I came for could be found in the cylinder, so I headed home.
I picked up a take and bake pizza from Ernesto's deli on the way home. This was a common occurrence, and I think only my weekend hikes and fast metabolism prevent me from ballooning up. My cat, All Ball, began yowling at me about six minutes into baking it. Pavlovian reaction. She knew it meant there'd be pizza soon and that she had to begin wearing me down before it finished.
It reminded me to check her dish, waterer and litterbox, which my ex had lovingly written "The Shitter" on the side of in sharpie. "You little fur goblin, you have plenty of food, fuck off." The yowling intensified. In the end she claimed most of it. I was distracted by the cylinder.
The only seam was around the rim at one end. Twisting it hard enough made it rotate. It turned out the entire thing was threaded, and could be twisted off like the cap to a soda bottle. The rust made that a difficult proposition but with a little sweat I soon had it open. I poured out the contents and began examining them.
Inside I found a pair of dusty sunglasses, a brittle yellow booklet, and a beige plastic case containing several cassette tapes. I suspect the case was white when new. The cassettes were in relatively good shape but the labels were all in cyrillic. I'd taken an elective course in Russian but was out of my depth. Thank god for Google. Scanning the characters with my phone revealed that the text on the lid of the cylinder read "Native Modesty".
Bizarre. The booklet appeared to be instructions for some type of small personal computer called a Didaktik Gama, with little greyscale illustrations. On the back were two numerical strings I recognized as latitude and longitude coordinates in faded pen. I sat dumbfounded by all of it. Then hit up Ebay for a "Didaktik Gama" and a tape drive.
The only guy selling one wanted $600 but living alone and working all the hours I could get left me with ample disposable income to match my ample curiosity. Thinking things through a bit more, I also bought an NTSC to SECAM adapter.
The next week went by again without anything to note except concern from coworkers that I hadn't been very responsive on Facebook. I told them I had a project keeping me busy. One of them joked that it was a nuclear bomb. Another joked in deadpan that was exactly the sort of thing I’d do. I promised I'd tell them about it over beers and pizza after work one of these days, as if I wasn't getting enough pizza in my diet already.
It was a little embarrassing how savagely I tore open the package when it came, like a five year old on Christmas. The label said it had actually come from Russia. That explained the absurd shipping cost. The computer itself was in much rougher shape than advertised, I now guessed he'd used the photo from the Wiki article about Didaktik computers instead of a real photo of the unit. Not a problem so far as I was concerned, provided it worked.
It did, although only with great difficulty. I had to hover over the keyboard with my phone to make sense of the keys, and point it at the little CRT television I'd fished out of the dumpster outside my apartment complex some time ago to translate the characters on the screen.
When I found out online that any number of tape players would have worked I kicked myself for not doing my homework before submitting payment. But things were moving forward. That itch in my brain was being scratched for the moment, and releasing dopamine.
The tapes were numbered, so I loaded them in the indicated order. Miraculously all were still readable. The metal cylinder must've helped slow down the normal rate of decay for magnetic tape. Some method to their madness, I thought.
It wound up taking three full hours before I'd loaded the contents of every tape. Finally a circle appeared in the center of the screen with a larger circle around it and a small circle intersecting the large one as well as a tiny dot off to one side of it. A prompt appeared onscreen in the upper left followed by a blinking question mark.
I immediately tried "Native Modesty". It displayed a rapidly blinking X, then the question mark again. A 2 now appeared next to it. Three tries, I figured. I sat back and gave it more extended thought. I scrutinized the logo. It wouldn't be there for no reason. Was it a hydrogen atom? Then what was the little dot? It could be the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, in which case the dot was the Moon.
It kept me up into the night but I eventually collapsed, mentally exhausted. Weird how sitting in one place and just thinking nonstop for hours can make you feel like you've run a marathon. I did wind up making good on my promise to meet up with the guys for beers and pizza.
I lied about the project, said I was building a motorized bicycle. Something in my gut told me I was onto something that it would be unwise to talk about indiscriminately. Darts and karaoke followed. Partway through "Rock Me Amadeus" it struck me. The orbital diagram. Native Modesty. It was an anagram.
We split the check and parted ways. I must've been driving like a madman but mercifully evaded police attention. Once home I searched everything to do with Galileo. "And yet it moves". He'd never actually said it, just a popular misattribution. My wandering brain during that insipid karaoke number stumbled across it nestled deep in the recesses of my memory.
I confirmed with an online anagram generator that it was a match for Native Modesty. I fired up the computer and began the arduous process of loading the program. I didn't want to do this too much as the tapes were quite old but I also worried about leaving this ancient piece of shit computer on for days at a time.
Finally it finished and I was presented with the orbital logo and blinking cursor. "And yet it moves", I typed in cyrillic. I was somewhat baffled that it worked. Was I intended from the start to translate it, anagram it, then translate the result back to Russian? Who programmed this, and why?
The display was now overtaken by a circuit diagram. My heart sunk. I'd never tried my hand at amatuer electrical engineering. Never even touched a soldering gun. Cyrillic text below the diagram, when translated, read “Avert gaze from picture tube while in use. If unavoidable, wear included eye protection.”
I took pictures of the diagram. I tried pressing every key but this schematic seemed to be the only contents of the program beyond the password screen. So I turned it off, packed the tapes back into the beige case and turned my attention to browsing for electronics kits. Yippee, I thought. More shit to buy. I thought better of it as there was a Radio Shack nearby that had not yet gone out of business. It was closed at this hour, so I retired for the evening.
When I finally got a chance to visit, one of the two scrawny bearded fellows who both looked to be college aged studied the diagram on my phone and picked out the components it called for. Some of the resistors were of a type not made in the US, and not made in Russia since the 1990s but those could be improvised by combining two smaller conventional ones.
I drove home dreading the process of putting it all together. I'd bought a soldering iron, a spool of solder, and all the little accoutrements they convinced me I'd need for this. Like a trip to the mechanic, there was little way to be sure how much of what they prescribed was actually necessary and how much was shameless upselling.
Putting it together went quicker than I thought. Most of it could be done with the breadboard I’d purchased. It called for a small CRT monitor that Radio Shack didn’t have, but I realized I could cannibalize the little TV I’d used as a monitor for the Didaktik Gama since I’d already gotten everything from that program that I knew how to.
The resulting contraption was a huge mess of wires, resistors, breadboard and amatuer soldering. I wound up hot gluing all of it to the backside of the CRT for portability. Judging by the coordinates I found on the back of the instruction booklet I’d have to take it someplace.
I didn’t get a chance to for most of a month. The coordinates turned out to be very near the border to Canada in the middle of the wilderness. It would be an all day drive, plus however long I’d have to stay, plus a day for the return trip. My work schedule made no time for such a thing. Until Labor Day. It would be tight, but depending what all I found at those coordinates I felt confident I could do it. I made a note to stock up on caffeine pills.
The Sunday before Labor Day rolled around. I’d shelved the computer, cylinder and bizarre device, almost forgetting about them. Almost. That splinter was still there in the background, pestering me. As the date approached it grew louder and more insistent. I was practically manic by the time I set off for northern Washington.
I brought all of it, not knowing what I’d need. I could have saved myself some trouble and just brought the gizmo. I could have also forgotten about the whole thing and moved on with my life. God help me, if only I’d done that. I made good time thanks in part to an app that lets drivers warn each other about upcoming speed traps. I wondered about the legality of it but chose not to look that gift horse in the mouth for the time being.
The coordinates eventually required me to offroad. “YES!” I cried, finally feeling vindicated for buying an SUV. This would be the first time I’d ever properly needed one. There was a muddy path of sorts but it got narrow enough in some places I doubted it was ever meant for cars. Motorbikes maybe?
The trees eventually got thick enough I had to park and continue on foot. It was less than a mile according to my phone so I just took the CRT device, reasoning that I could come back for the rest if I had to. Not much daylight left though.
For a few minutes of wandering in the cold, damp darkness I wondered if perhaps I’d gotten the coordinates wrong. Then, illuminated by the phone’s rear light I spotted a handrail. Rusted to shit, but that was par for the course. Soon after, the walkway began. I had some serious fucking reservations about it, picturing it collapsing under me, jagged fragments of it cutting my legs to ribbons and giving me tetanus.
Maybe I’d been a bit dramatic. It held up well enough, although I was still extremely cautious about where I stepped. Before long I came upon a staircase. Shit! First the ladder, then the walkway, now this. But I’d come too far to be stopped so easily. Taking care to shield the CRT device under my jacket from the occasional water droplet I gingerly descended the stairs, to find more walkway at the bottom. But also, a dim light in the distance.
I hadn’t seen any power cables strung along the ceiling or walls of the cave on the way in. How could there be light? When I got close enough, a turnoff in the cave terminated in a moldy concrete wall with a rusted metal door inset in it.
There was a metal plate to one side with a little aperture above it. I reached out and touched the plate. It didn’t look like any handprint scanner I’d ever seen so I guess it just sensed my body heat, as the aperture above it opened to reveal a dusty lens. I wiped the dust away. What now?
There was nowhere dry to sit. Although the temperature down here was actually fairly comfortable, the constant filtration of rain from the surface formed a creek down the cave floor, rivulets of water down the walls, and the occasional droplet from the roof. I’d come bundled up, assuming cold would be the problem. I’d made no real provision to stay dry. I did bring energy bars though, so I dug into one of them while I thought.
Something to do with the CRT, surely? Or else why have me build it? I’d also brought the sunglasses recommended by the program. If I wasn’t meant to look at it during operation, who was? My gaze shifted to the exposed camera lens above the hand plate. It was worth a shot.
The circuit called for a 6 volt battery. I’d considered powering it with 5 rechargeable AA batteries since they’re around 1.2v each but given the age of the instructions, reasoned they probably intended a small lead acid battery like the ones used to start motorcycles.
It was a pain to carry but I didn’t want to fuck up something that crucial. I’d duct taped to the monitor, leaving it unconnected until I meant to use it. I attached one alligator clip to the red electrode and one to the black.
The monitor hummed to life. I remembered the instructions and pointed it at the camera. From the reflected light I could see it was emitting pulses every few seconds. It gave me a mild headache but I stood firm, monitor pointed at the camera. After a few pulses, the aperture closed, a loud grinding noise followed, and the door slid open. Eureka.
I disconnected the battery in case I needed the device later. Just through the door was an airlock of sorts. A green screen monitor in the wall flickered to life with blinking text. I tried my phone only to find there was no service, so I couldn’t translate shit. But I did have photos of the screen I’d taken during the process of running the program. One of them displayed “And yet it moves” in cyrillic, before I’d hit enter.
I punched in the same string of characters. Loud chunky whirring noises followed. The door I’d come through slid shut with a bang. I cried out in protest but it was too late. The inner door then slid open with a dull electrical whine.
Once inside I set down the CRT device by the door. It was a bitch to carry and so far that was the only thing I’d needed it for. I sized up the room I was in. The very slight curvature of the outer wall clued me in to the fact that it was part of an immense circular underground structure. A diagram with a legend and various labels in Russian confirmed this, just in front of what looked like petite train tracks.
I couldn’t read any of it but there was a button to press, and I certainly understand buttons. It emitted a loud buzz and after a short wait, some sort of little people mover trundled up to the station. I was startled by a recording of a Russian woman calmly reciting some sort of instructions or warning. Probably “Mind the gap, keep your hands and arms inside” and whatnot.
The ride was illuminating. Along the way were murals depicting scenes of rural labor. The workers were in sharp red and black contrast, and the sun had a hammer and sickle in it. Equally distributing sunlight to the plants I suppose. I had a sense of who built all of this now but it still wasn’t clear how or why.
The first stop were barracks of some sort. Very nicely apportioned although the wood was rotting and many of the lights flickered or didn’t work at all. It was somewhat surprising that any of them still did, although older bulbs are indeed made to last. I knew of one in a firehouse that made the news for shining continuously for over a century. Before the era of planned obsolescence.
There was another map of the facility outside the barracks. I now understood it was a colony or base of some sort. This was the section the personnel lived in. There was a cafeteria, the entry plaza, even what the illustration suggested was a small indoor forest.
For morale, maybe? Whoever designed this place intended people to live down here for years, possibly decades at a time. As further evidence of that, one of the sections had a nuclear symbol on it. At least now I knew where the electricity was coming from.
There were other computers, but few would boot and none of the tapes were good. Stored in the open as they were, that was unsurprising. There were shelves upon shelves of Russian books. I could only read the dates. None more recent than 1987. Some of the posters showed generic human figures going through what I recalled were safety procedures for nuclear war. Crouching under desks or tables, that sort of thing.
A shelter, then. Sealed from the outside. But how could it have been built here during the cold war without our own government finding out? And where was everyone? I expected skeletons at least. It definitely looked lived in.
Remains of meals left out to rot sat here and there, clothing strewn across beds, notes taped to the computer monitors. And the pantries were mostly empty. The remaining boxes of dehydrated foodstuffs were covered in cyrillic text, with unfamiliar animal mascots on the front.
Finding nothing of note, I returned to the tram. In order I explored the cafeteria, the little indoor forest (which turned out to be comprised of artificial turf and fiberglass trees with a looped recording of birdsong playing over loudspeaker and murals of nature on the walls) then finally some sort of laboratory complex in the center. I had to make nearly a full circuit on the tram to reach the stop from which the middle of the facility was accessible.
A pair of security doors sat propped open with pieces of lumber. Hastily scrawled notes were taped to either side of the doorway. Warnings or invitations? I began giving serious thought to whether the airlock doors would even open for me when I tried to leave. I wished I’d tested that when I came in. Being me, I couldn’t just turn around, go back and make sure. I was close to something. So close. I could feel it in the little hairs on my neck.
Through the security doors was a lead lined spherical chamber with a walkway around the rim. An open door in the far side of it led to a small viewing room which, through thick tempered glass, looked out on the device in the center of the chamber. The viewing room had several ancient computers inside and wiring running in conduits along the wall.
I stepped out to examine the thing in the middle of the chamber. It was a platform with a metal chair welded into place on it. Above and below were two large hollow glass hoops filled with a substance I guessed was mercury.
Each hoop was attached to a robot arm resembling something you’d expect to see assembling cars. Looking carefully, one hoop was very slightly smaller than the other. Overhead lights cast sharp shadows from the chair. Were people executed here?
No, that couldn’t be. I knew what an electric chair looked like. And what gas chambers looked like. This was neither. Stepping back into the control room, one at a time I booted up the computers. To my relief they didn’t use tapes, but were instead connected to some type of hard drive as revealed by the same loud clunky whirring I’d heard in the entry lock. On the desk with the monitors sat some sort of chunky electronic wristwatch. I picked it up and turned it over a few times in my hand, then put it in my pocket.
One by one as they warmed up, on each monitor appeared some kind of elaborate geometric sigil, encircled by cyrillic text. All but one then appeared to go through some sort of automatic diagnostic procedure, occasionally displaying page upon page of complex equations, then diagrams of the chamber with little check marks appearing next to various parts of it. The computer in the center, however, displayed only a question mark and a blinking prompt.
I got out my phone again, brought up the photo and typed in the cyrillic characters from the password screen. It went blank for a moment. Then displayed a crude, looping animation of a generic human figure putting on a wristwatch of the type I’d pocketed earlier, then sitting down in the central chair. Like hell, I thought. But then, why was I here? Why did I build the device? Why did I buy the computer? Why did I bring that cylinder home with me if I wasn’t going to see this through?
I can think of so many movies where the main character keeps exploring or investigating long after you feel certain a sane person would nope the fuck out of there. Now I understood. When you’re living it, a sort of perversely intense curiosity grips you. Like a primal drive you never knew you possessed. Having never seen anything truly strange before you feel compelled to put one foot in front of the next, almost daring things to get even stranger.
So with no small amount of trepidation, I stepped across the small gap from the walkway around the rim of the chamber onto the central platform, and sat in the chair. Again, it must’ve sensed my body heat because the robot arms immediately began grinding to life.
The first, larger hoop came to rest angled at about 45 degrees. The other too, but inclined in the opposite direction, with me caged by them in the center. The whine of electric pumps sounded and the mercury could be seen circulating in the hoops. Faster and faster.
Naturally that’s when I chose to come to my senses, and began to panic. But the hoops started to crackle and little wisps of blue electricity fanned out from their surfaces making me fearful of what might happen if I touched them or even got close enough for them to arc. So I sat there, gripping the armrests with white knuckles as the electrical hum grew louder and the mercury circulation continued to accelerate.
The chamber around me started to blur. And “glitch”. I don’t know how else to describe it. Like it would drift around me a little bit then snap into place. I wondered if it was my perception being fucked with until I noticed the chair and platform weren’t affected. The blurring and glitching grew more severe until everything outside the hoops distorted to the point that it resembled a kaleidoscope.
A piercing white light enveloped me. I felt weightless. No chair, no chamber, nothing. I couldn’t move or feel my limbs. I caught myself wondering if I was dead until the light receded. I collapsed onto a verdant grassy hill. The sun was shining, birds were chirping. I rubbed my eyes and double checked to make sure my arms and legs were where they should be.
In the distance was an odd purple curvilinear cabin of some sort. And a glittering pond, a fountain, a treehouse….and...a house shaped like a hamburger? I squinted. Yep. A fucking hamburger house. I descended the hill. Two indeterminate balls of red and blue fluff approached me. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out if they were animals.
When they got close enough I could see beady black eyes amidst the fur. They made excited high pitched noises and tried to climb on me. What in god’s name are these things, I thought. They seemed to think I had food on me. I tried telling them I didn’t. One asked what sounded like a question. In Russian. Oh good, more Russian. The other said something to the first. Then they scampered off into the distance.
Approaching the unusual cabins, I came upon bushes. I couldn’t place the smell until I was nearly on top of them. But there it was before my eyes. The bushes weren’t conventional foliage of any kind, but clusters of french fries. Holy hell. How did I get here? What in god’s name is this place?
Sharp, angry Russian shouting pierced the air. I almost fell on my ass when I saw who it was. Ronald McFucking Donald came out of the hamburger cabin, big floppy shoes, fire engine red wig, yellow jumpsuit, the works.
He continued shouting and gesturing wildly. The red and blue creatures came to him and fell in line. Then Grimace emerged from the purple cabin. Grimace. The pear shaped purple guy. He looked frightened.
Birdie climbed down from the treehouse, and joined the others in the lineup. The redhead clown looked them over, apparently deemed them satisfactory, then barked out commands. I watched from behind the french fry bushes, damned close to losing my mind at how weird all of it was.
Suddenly all around them appeared rectangular portals. All close to the same size but not quite. Some wider than they were tall. Others slightly rounded. From this distance I could make out children sitting in various different livingrooms, peering through the portals at Ronald and the others.
He put on a wide smile. He and the others began acting out some sort of skit. A fellow dressed like a cartoon robber dashed in, said “robble robble!” snatched a hamburger from Ronald and then ran off.
I expected a harsh shriek in Russian. Instead he gave an exaggerated sigh and put his hands on his hips. Many of the children watching through the portals laughed. Birdie then flew after him as the portals followed.
With the help of Ronald and Grimace they quickly subdued him and retrieved the burger. Ronald held it up, took a big bite, smiled and recited some kind of slogan I couldn’t make out. Then the portals rapidly vanished.
Once they were all gone, Ronald stomped around yelling in Russian at Birdie, Grimace, the robber guy and the two creatures I now recalled were “fry guys”. They cowered as he yelled. He withdrew a whip and began lashing Grimace as Birdie cried and pleaded with him incomprehensibly.
A loud beeping came from my pocket. They all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at me, their eyes wide and expressionless. Then they broke out in a sprint towards my hiding place. I panicked and fumbled with my jacket, pulling out the watch I now remembered I’d taken. I almost threw it away, but noticed right as I was about to that it displayed a countdown four seconds from 0.
Once it hit zero, my surroundings began their familiar kaleidoscopic dance of distortion. It peaked right as the fast food creatures were nearly upon me. The white light again swallowed me whole.
I tried to laugh but found that I had no mouth just then. Nor a body of any kind that I could feel. I floated for a few more seconds in that comforting void until it again receded, depositing me onto a cold concrete floor.
I dry heaved. I don’t know whether it was fear or the process of transport. When I felt my wits had returned, I scoped out the room I was in. A concrete cube with no doors or windows. Just a single bulb hanging from the ceiling by wiring. In the middle of the room was a pedestal with a familiar metal cylinder on it. In the far corner, a small body hunched over as if to hide.
“Hello? Don’t be frightened. I don’t know how I got here. Is there a way out? Are you hurt?” It twitched almost imperceptibly in response to my voice. And began to turn towards me as if in slow motion.
I noticed then that words were etched into the walls. Over and over, looping around the room from floor to ceiling. A string of cyrillic characters I now knew like the back of my hand. “And yet it moves.”
When I looked back at the child, it was standing. I couldn’t determine the gender. It wore a white sleeping gown of some kind. But the face. I couldn’t force myself to acknowledge it initially. But reality is what continues to exist even if ignored.
The face was as smooth and featureless as an egg. I cried out, and backed into the corner. The light began to flicker. Each time it flickered, however briefly, the child moved towards me by the smallest increment. The flickering intensified. Longer and longer without light. It drew closer, moving further each time. The watch in my pocket began beeping. The light went out.
I continued screaming as the darkness tore apart around me into the geometric fractalized nonsense from before. Not before I felt a small, cold hand grasp at my throat. But it wasn’t touching the watch, so it was left behind. I still cannot say what might’ve happened otherwise. Or where I’d be now if I hadn’t pocketed the watch to begin with.
As it had now saved me twice, although from what I could not precisely say, I took the trouble of strapping it to my wrist. I could see now that it was counting down sixty seconds, and must have been doing so each time I was sent someplace new. None of it made much sense to me, but at least I now suspected I knew where all the shelter personnel had gone.
I was deposited in a crumbling building. Outside, thick grey stormclouds rolled by overhead. Every other building was in the same or worse shape, like a war zone. I detected motion on the street below. Three creatures like nothing I’d seen until now hopped along.
As they grew closer I could see they were people, with agonized expressions on their faces. Their tongues hung from their mouths, bloated to several times normal size, and they were wrapped head to toe in thickly bundled yellow cord of some kind.
I made my way down to street level to meet them. I searched my jacket for a knife to cut their bonds with but found nothing useful. When I descended the stairs one of them was already trying to force itself inside through the doorway. “Easy fella. I just got here. Where is this? What’s happened? Are there any more survivors or just you three?”
He glared at me, wild-eyed, and howled as best he could with a swollen tongue. He stretched it out towards me as if trying to lick me with it and cried in apparent frustration because it wouldn’t reach. The other two could be seen through the windows on either side of the door, hopping about, groaning and crying, seemingly as desperate as this one to get inside.
I turned to leave. That’s when the one stuck in the doorway spoke. It was slurred because of the tongue but understandable, and refreshingly in English. “You….will be...delitized.”
I furrowed my brow. “Pardon? I’ll be what?”
It grunted and resumed struggling. “Delitized! Permanently, forevially delitized! Permanent ham and cheese skin, permanent ham and cheese tongue! From your real working delitized eyeballs down to your delitized toes, with ketchup and taco sauce for blood! Forevially wrapped up in the yellow rope and loving it!”
I noticed more had shown up outside. Groaning, crying, or babbling about “delitization”. The one in the doorway, pushed by the throng of hopping madmen bound up in yellow rope just outside, began to slide through.
Some of his skin, crispy on the outside by the looks of it, began sloughing off. As slabs of his flesh fell to the floor, the muscle underneath oozed with what I recognized by the strong scent was sour cream.
I managed to vomit this time. But when it stumbled towards me I collected myself and retreated up the stairs. I looked at the watch. Twelve more seconds. On the blown out second floor I was again afforded a panoramic view of the city street below.
It was now jam packed with those people. Or things. Bound up in yellow rope, hopping towards the commotion I’d started. Bloated tongues hanging out, swinging to and fro. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of them spreading out in all directions, forevially delitized and loving it.
The one from the doorway began stumbling up the stairs just as the watch started beeping. I caught a glimpse of what remained of his face staring at me with a mixture of rage and confusion as the distortion overtook my surroundings.
I wanted to cry. Of course the light wouldn’t let me. I didn’t have a body here, at least not one I had any control over. Everything else seemed worse, so part of me wished I could stay here. But as before, the light faded and I found myself someplace new.
An infinity of possible realities. Had to be. Multiverse or whatever. I was never one of those guys who followed this shit, all I had to draw on were half remembered episodes of that Michio Kaku science program I used to watch while stoned with my roommate. These weren’t different planets, or time periods. They were possible Earths. Parallel dimensions, whatever. Of which there are supposedly infinite.
I exited the darkened room into a bustling city. The sky was pure white like on a winter’s day, but it was comfortably warm. Several men and women in business suits hurried past me, all appearing nervous and looking at the ground. I might’ve written it off as a fluke except everyone else I saw was doing the same thing.
A woman gasped when she spotted me. “Don’t look!” she said in a harsh whisper. Like some hidden camera show and I wasn’t in on the joke. “Don’t look at what?” I asked. She stared at me as if I had two heads. “Don’t talk about it either, idiot! It can always hear us. Keep your head down!” With that she hurried off.
Alright, I thought. An alternate Earth populated by paranoid schizophrenics. By now I’d seen worse. As I navigated the city I suddenly came upon an unfamiliar sight. Something like an elevated highway |
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Other websites to explore include Inkshares (allowing readers to fund the creation of independent books in print and digital formats), Beacon (a purely journalism-focused crowdfunding platform that operates similarly to Patreon) and The Canary (a left-wing political blog that splits all of its advertising revenue directly with writers).
This blogpost is based on a session I ran at The Norwich Radical’s Progressive Media Conference on 20th February 2016.This morning in a Melbourne court room, via telephone, Michael Lawler attempted to represent his partner Kathy Jackson in a HSU dispute. Peter Wicks from Wixxyleaks asks whether there is a conflict of interest.
This morning, in a Melbourne court room, a strange thing happened.
Someone who has spent a long time claiming to have nothing to do with anything concerning the Health Services Union or the allegations of corruption that have surrounded the union, appeared to contradict his own claims.
The name of this person is Michael Lawler, and readers of my investigation into the HSU saga would be familiar with who he is.
For those who aren’t, Lawler is the vice president of Fair Work Commission (FWC), formerly the FWA. This is the same FWA that investigated the Health Services Union and led to the allegations against Craig Thomson. A recent article that gives a brief outline of Lawler's involvement can be found via this link.
Lawler was appointed by Tony Abbott, who at the time was the industrial relations minister under PM John Howard.
Michael Lawler is also the partner of Kathy Jackson, the self-proclaimed HSU whistleblower who now finds herself in the centre of a corruption scandal, where the dollar figures she is alleged to have embezzled far exceed those she brags about blowing the whistle on.
More on that later.
Michael Lawler is vice president of the Fair Work Commission and is an industrial judge of equivalent standing as a Federal Court judge.
This is a position that the taxpayers like us pay an enormous amount of money for — somewhere in the vicinity of $400,000 per annum. It is the Fair Work Commission's responsibility to act in an independent manner — otherwise you may as well drop the word “Fair” from their title.
This morning in the Federal Court in Melbourne, Kathy Jackson was due to appear to give her defence against civil actions being taken by the national office of the Health Services Union to retrieve funds.
Part of this action relates to the employment contract for Rob Elliott, drawn up and signed by Kathy Jackson and Michael Williamson, the latter of whom now lives in a room with bars on the windows.
Kathy Jackson has so far failed to file a defence and was not in court this morning.
In order to avoid being charged with contempt of court, Jackson attempted to have the matter heard remotely.
Acting on her behalf, or seeking to act as Jackson's legal representative in this case, was Michael Lawler.
In other words, Mr Lawler, an industrial judge, who claims nothing to do with HSU business, was seeking to act as a lawyer for a HSU union official facing corruption allegations in an action against her by her union. Though being heard in a different court, this sounds very much like an industrial dispute.
The judge in the case was allegedly rather irritated by this intervention from Michael Lawler, having to explain that Lawler could not act on Jackson's behalf without being present in the court — something one would have hoped and assumed someone in Michael Lawler’s position would fully across.
Whatever potential damage Michael Lawler may wish to do to his own reputation by his continued defence of Kathy Jackson is, of course, his own concern.
However, it is of significant public interest when the independence and integrity of the country's industrial relations watchdog and umpire appears to be brought into question by the actions of one of Australia’s highest paid public servants and judicial officers.
The public should have every right to feel concerned.
Surely, taxpayers dollars should not be spent on a public servant meant to be an impartial indistrial judge who is freelancing as a barrister for a union official with whom he is in a long-term relationship that is facing civil action from her own union.
The conflicts of interest there should surely be obvious and manifest to anyone. The fact that they are apparently not for Jackson and Lawler is somewhat hard to fathom. Perhaps they feel above the law and untouchable?
It should be noted that no other media organisation has so far reported on today's events, apart from Pia Akerman from The Australian, who did not mention any conflict of interest concerns.
Her report did have it moments, however, such as this melodious stanza:
Mr Lawler, who was often difficult to hear over birdsong from his end of the telephone line, also asked if Mr Irving could intercede to have a photo of Ms Jackson removed from the internet. He said Andrew Landeryou, husband of HSU Victoria #1 branch general manager Kimberley Kitching, had posted a photo online last night of Ms Jackson’s face following a cosmetic skin treatment which had left “unsightly scabs”. Mr Lawler said Ms Jackson was distressed by the publication of the photo which could only have come to Mr Landeryou in an “unlawful fashion”, and asked that Mr Irving ask the HSU to take steps to have the photo removed. The case has been adjourned, with a December trial date preserved.
Birdsong? Could Jacksonville be any more bizarre?
But, more importantly, has Michael Lawler’s position within the Fair Work Commission just became untenable?
You be the judge.
Coming up soon: Peter Wicks explains what Jackson stand-over man Marco Bolano confronted him outside The Union Royal Commission this week. You can follow Peter on Twitter @madwixxy.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
Monthly Donation Frequency Monthly Annually Amount $ Single Donation Amount $Uber founder Travis Kalanick. Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images Many Uber employees took to an anonymous chat app called Blind on Tuesday to discuss the company's plan to change its corporate culture. And some indicated they were not yet convinced.
103 employees took part in a poll on the app shortly after the company's all-hands meeting on Tuesday. During that meeting, Uber's board members discussed the results of an intensive investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, a difficult work environment and other issues.
In the poll 70% of them said that the meeting did not change their attitude toward the company. 31% said their attitude hadn't changed and they will leave; 44% said that their attitude toward the company wasn't changed by what they heard, and they plan to stay.
19% said that before the meeting they had planned to stay, but after it they plan to leave. Only 9% said they were convinced by the meeting, had decided not to quit after all.
There were also many comments about board member David Bonderman on the app including calls for his resignation. Bonderman got himself into hot water at the meeting by making a sexist joke. Employees used words like "embarrassing us," and "personally offended" in their comments about it. Bonderman quickly apologized for the remark and by late Tuesday, he did resign.
Business Insider does not have access to the app because it's available only to verified employees. But someone with access to it showed us a limited number comments made by Uber employees on Tuesday.
Uber isn't the only company using the app. Employees at about 150 companies use it including Amazon, Microsoft, Glassdoor, Pinterest, Lyft, Docker, Medium and WeWork, Blind's head of operations Alex Shin previously told Business Insider.
Uber was at one time so unhappy about its employees' use of the app that it briefly blocked the app from its internal network, Shin told Business Insider back in February. It reversed course on that decision and these days does more than simply allow the app on its network. Company executives actively and openly monitor employee comments on the app. Employees sometimes even address their remarks to the powers that be at the company, such as HR chief Liane Hornsey.
Blind declined comment. Uber could not be immediately reached for comment.Justin Bieber faced a hostile homecoming during his halftime performance at Canada's football Grey Cup, facing boos and jeers.
The Toronto crowd booed Sunday when the 18-year-old pop star's face popped up on the JumboTron screen. They booed when a host spoke his name. And they booed as he took the stage and throughout his medley of the chart-topper "Boyfriend" and the disco-inflected "Beauty and a Beat."
If Bieber was bothered, it didn't show.
"Thank you so much Canada," Bieber said. "I love you."
Earlier in the week, Bieber was presented with a Diamond Jubilee Medal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and caused a scene by wearing overalls, unbuttoned on one shoulder, over a white T-shirt, with a backwards baseball cap.
There was sufficient uproar that Harper even weighed in on Twitter.
"In fairness to (Bieber)," Harper tweeted Sunday, "I told him I would be wearing my overalls too."
The Canadian Football League may have been hoping to court Bieber's army of tween followers on Sunday. But recent Grey Cup halftime performers have skewed toward the comparatively heavy likes of Nickelback and Lenny Kravitz.
"J-Biebs doesn't scream football, you know? Neither does Carly Rae Jepsen," said Calgary's Ryan Prisque, 22.
The 27-year-old Jepsen also received a mixed reaction at first Sunday but won the crowd over during an enthusiastic medley of her latest single, "This Kiss," and her infectious hit "Call Me Maybe."EVERETT — Boeing Co. officials merely need to ask for permits to add a 777X wing fabrication site in Snohomish County and their wish will be granted.
And granted quickly at that.
State and local lawmakers paved the way Thursday for a composite wing manufacturing facility at or near Boeing’s Everett plant at Paine Field. They also sought a designation that will make it easier to get funding for transportation projects that benefit Boeing 777X production in the future.
None of that guarantees Boeing will assemble the upgraded 777’s wings in the Puget Sound region or assemble the jet here.
Boeing has yet to commit formally to designing and building an upgraded version of its popular Everett-built 777. Company officials have indicated the program’s launch likely will come before year’s end. A decision on where to assemble the jet and its innovative wings could come shortly thereafter.
“I can’t imagine a project that has more significance to the entire state of Washington than the facilities necessary to design and fabricate the 777X and its component parts,” Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday in a news release.
Inslee said he has instructed the state Department of Commerce to consider 777X facilities a “project of statewide significance.” It’s a designation Washington lawmakers created in 1997, but it has never invoked. The Department of Commerce decides based on certain criteria.
Communities surrounding a project need to request the designation, and leaders in Snohomish County and the City of Everett on Wednesday passed a joint resolution seeking the designation for 777X manufacturing. The two municipalities also pledged to expedite 777X facility planning and permitting within their own jurisdictions.
“We’re doing everything we can to land the 777X,” said Snohomish County Executive John Lovick.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson, who leads the governor’s 777X permitting task force, believes Boeing has enough room within the Everett factory to assemble the revamped 777X. The jet maker, however, would need to construct a facility to fabricate the 777X’s longer composite wings.
The task force has identified six locations at or near Boeing’s Everett factory that could accommodate a 600,000-square-foot facility for wing fabrication. Five of those sites are at the Boeing site near the airport under the City of Everett’s jurisdiction. One is on Snohomish County property not far from the Future of Flight center on the west side of Paine Field.
Both Everett and Snohomish County plan to take steps to make building on any one of those six sites possible, though Boeing hasn’t asked them to.
“There are no show-stoppers preventing Boeing from building the wing here,” Stephanson said in an interview.
Lovick and Stephanson plan to request a meeting soon with Boeing leaders to go over the options they’ve identified.
The 777X permitting team doesn’t believe any mitigation would be needed to develop any one of the sites. They’ve also studied the traffic and roads around Boeing’s Everett facility and determined no changes would be required to add the 777X wing building.
Lawmakers will have an advantage when seeking funding for transportation projects that benefit the 777X site, even if no road projects are required for permitting the facility. Deeming the 777X facility as one of statewide significance makes getting funding easier. However, there’s no specific money allocated to a 777X-related project.
Transportation was one of two areas identified by Inslee as important to the aerospace industry during the 2013 session of the Legislature. Lawmakers in Olympia approved nearly $30 million in funding for education and workforce training projects that will benefit aerospace. After two special sessions, the Legislature adjourned June 29 without approving transportation initiatives.
Unlike the 2003 competition to convince Boeing to build the 787 in Washington, Boeing hasn’t come out with a list of specific demands for a 777X assembly line. Stephanson, however, believes the company would make it clear if Washington leaders weren’t moving in the right direction.
Everett and Snohomish County officials also are contributing funds to the Washington Aerospace Partnership, a nonprofit group consisting of labor groups, government and a few businesses. The Partnership will use the money — $60,000 from Everett and $70,000 from Snohomish County — to fund two new studies relating to the aerospace industry in Washington.
One study will look at the economic benefit the aerospace industry has in the state. The second will analyze the 777X competition and make recommendations to leaders seeking to secure the design and assembly of the 777X and the jet’s wing.
The combined cost for the two studies is $200,000. The studies should be completed in September. The state’s contribution will depend on how much money the Aerospace Partnership raises from other entities.
A similar competitiveness study was conducted less than two years ago when Washington was vying for the 737 MAX. The Aerospace Partnership sought and received donations from local government, business and labor groups to fund the $600,000 study. Boeing decided to build the MAX in Renton, where 737s have always been assembled.
Several previous competitiveness studies — some specific to Snohomish County — have been conducted over the past decade, including a statewide one in 2003 for the 787 assembly line.
“We intuitively know that aerospace is an important element of our economy … but we need to be able to articulate in dollars and cents just how essential it is to the financial well being of every Washingtonian,” Bob Drewel, president of the partnership, said in a statement.
Likely competitors for the 777X wing plant include Utah, Kansas and South Carolina, where composite aircraft sections are produced for the 787. Japan and Italy also provide composite sections for the 787. It’s unclear how Boeing would transport the 777X’s large wing from a remote location to a final assembly site, if that were the decision.
Boeing CEO Jim McNerney has called Everett an “attractive” site for 777X assembly. It’s where Boeing will build the 777X wing that has state and local leaders concerned. Boeing workers in Frederickson in Pierce County fabricate 787 composite sections, but that’s a fraction of the composite work being done around the world for the Dreamliner. Since composites are considered the future of aviation, Washington workers slowly will fall behind if more work with composites isn’t done here.
“A composite wing is very representative of whether we have a long term future” with Boeing and the aviation industry, Stephanson said.
Herald reporter Noah Haglund contributed to this article.To accommodate transgender athletes, many women will have to give up their dreams of Olympian gold. That goes for girls in everyday sports leagues, too.
“I’ve never felt so overpowered in my life,” said female mixed martial arts fighter Tamikka Brents. “I’ve fought a lot of women and have never felt the strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night. I can’t answer whether it’s because she was born a man or not, because I’m not a doctor. I can only say I’ve never felt so overpowered ever in my life, and I am an abnormally strong female.”
The woman Brents was referring to isn’t a woman at all, but transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox, who fights as a woman against women. Brent felt the full weight of what it was like to fight a man, and even with all her training and strength, she quickly fell to Fox.
Transgenderism has invaded the public consciousness, raising awareness of gender dysphoria; but not as the disorder linked to depression and suicides at an alarmingly high rate, but a celebrated identity everyone must respect—or else. The concept of transgenderism has become so pervasive that a man can step into the ring with a woman and pummel her for money, and the media will cheer for him.
What Brents reportedly experienced at Fox’s hands was a concussion and a broken orbital bone that required staples. In other words, this woman was savaged by an opponent that was genetically advantaged with a thicker bone structure, longer reach, and denser musculature—or, put more simply, was a man. Fox was able to do this despite hormone treatments that made him more feminine in certain aspects.
Reality Is No Match for Our Logic Pitting men against women in sports very rarely ends with the woman coming out on top. Men are typically faster, stronger, and better physically built than women. In fact, studies consistently show that women tend to fall 10 percent shy of men’s records. All this to state the obvious: men generally are stronger than women.
Studies consistently show that women tend to fall 10 percent shy of men’s records. That said, it should be common sense to not pit men against women in any serious sporting event, regardless of any hormone treatment or any genital surgery.
This has not been the opinion of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), however, which has been allowing transgender athletes to compete against athletes not of their sex since 2004. They had formerly allowed transgender athletes to compete if they had fully transitioned with cross-sex hormones and surgery. As Fox demonstrates, this transition makes very little difference to a fully trained athlete.
But now the IOC has recommended ending the surgery requirement. In the “IOC Consensus Meeting on Sex Reassignment and Hyperandrogenism” report, the committee recommends that a male-to-female transgender “must demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition.” Female-to-male transgendered athletes may register to compete with male athletes without restriction.
Let’s Smash Olympians’ Dreams While many Olympic sports don’t require athletes to physically come into contact with each other, the ones that do will have the female-to-male transgender athletes at a disadvantage. If the 90 percent figure is any indication, these women may have to give up their dream of having a gold.
Imagine being one of these girls as they watch a man identifying as one of them walk away with a medal he shouldn’t have. This might not bother many male athletes, as events revolving around strength and speed will tilt in their favor. Regardless, some male athletes may feel pressure to hold back in fear of injuring a female who identifies as a male. While she may consider herself one of the guys, they might not. In a competition where giving your all is required to win, this may end up being somewhat costly.
The men transitioning to women, however, will have a major advantage in various competitions. In the Olympics, who stands on the platforms depends a lot on who is the strongest, fastest, and most able to endure. Teams in events like basketball will have major benefits if they have a transgendered player, as these athletes will be taller and likely faster. Weight-lifting competitions will not be remotely fair for women, as their transgender competition will have extra muscle mass and bone density, making them capable of lifting more.
Aside from being wholly unfair and dangerous to women, your heart has to break for these athletes. Many are very young women who have trained all their lives to compete in the Olympics, in hopes they’ll bring home gold. Imagine being one of these girls as they watch a man identifying as one of them walk away with a medal he shouldn’t have. What’s worse is that in today’s political climate these girls will have to smile and pretend it’s wonderful, or else they will become public pariahs, with all the ridicule and non-endorsements that go with it.
Newsflash: Men and Women’s Bodies Are Different This isn’t just bad for the athletes who compete against transgendered opponents, it is bad for women’s sports as a whole. Women’s and men’s sports are categorically different for a reason. The male and female forms are different in many ways, and both have advantages and disadvantages compared to the other.
All the accolades, rewards, and recognition will be taken from the women who rightfully deserve them and given to a man who essentially cheated. In some sports, mixing male and female may not affect the outcome, such as tennis, equestrian sports, or curling, but in many others this is not the case. Men typically outpace women when running, lifting, throwing, jumping, etc. If men can claim to be women and invade a sport that only women are allowed to compete in, then it’s a safe bet men will win. All the accolades, rewards, and recognition will be taken from the women who rightfully deserve them and given to a man who essentially cheated by putting on makeup, injecting himself with hormones, and saying he’s a woman.
All in all, this decision by the IOC is incredibly unfair to women. While the IOC bends rules around people who bend gender, the athletes who legitimately spend almost every waking hour dedicated to their sports are being given a raw deal. They take their sports very seriously, and while transgendered athletes may also love their sports, they should do the honorable thing and recognize that regardless of how they identify, their body identifies as something else.
Pop-culturally speaking, this is a very unpopular opinion to have, and a lot of social pressure is put on organizations to bend to the will of various communities and causes. But biology often ignores public opinion, and so should sporting organizations that wish to maintain the legitimacy of their sport and any records set wherein.
Now, this report is currently just a committee suggestion, and is not official yet. However, it’s very likely these positions will be adopted, and many other organizations that look to the IOC about such rulings, such as the NCAA, will follow suit. In fact, IOC Director Dr. Richard Budgett has said he hopes this decision will cause other sports to follow suit.There are some people who will do anything to get ahead in a race (or life), even if it means endangering other people’s lives. But no matter how fast they’re going, karma will catch up with them eventually, as illustrated by this video of a motorcycle racer’s revenge that went viral in Indonesia over the weekend.
The incident took place at the East Java Series V Championship Road Race in Bondowoso on Sunday during the 116 cc class race. It starts when a driver, identified by the media as Dimas, gives a hard check to one of his competitors, identified as M Hasan, causing him to slam into the dividers protecting the spectators. Hasan hit the pavement hard and tumbles down the road, several spectators are knocked off their feet and Dimas drives away like nothing happened.
Hasan apparently wasn’t too injured to get back up and seek revenge. During a following lap, he waits until he sees Dimas returning to the scene of the crash and then quickly runs onto the track and grabs one of the sandbags from the central divider.
It almost looks like Dimas is prepared to drive directly into Hasan, but swerves away at the last moment, but not fast enough to avoid the big bag of karma Hasan tosses in his way, causing him to hit the pavement.
“Due to the incident, both racers were immediately disqualified from the championship,” said Didit, one of the race’s organizers, told Detik on Sunday.Mumbai experienced its worst rainfall since 2005, devastating the city. Trains were stalled and citizens waded waist-deep in water. But city’s police force did not stop. They were out in strength on the roads, managing traffic and helping those stranded.
Their Twitter handle was also in top form, handling queries individually from citizens.
1.
Pls don’t believe in rumours. ‘Cyclone Phyan’ details are of 2009 & the coordinates are of 2009 too. pic.twitter.com/MTgGvngODx — Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) August 29, 2017
2.
Police Officers and men are present on road and will be there throughout. Ask them for any assistance you need. — Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) August 29, 2017
3.
High tide of 3.32mts at 16:30 Avoid waterfronts,sitting on tetrapods or on promenades. Pls cooperate with policemen on duty #MumbaiRains — Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) August 29, 2017
4.
Traffic from Bandra Worli Sealink towards airport is moving now.However,south bound traffic is still very slow due to waterlogging at Vakola — Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) August 29, 2017
Several citizens took to social media to share their appreciation –
1.
Salute to #MumbaiPolice who are out there on their toes, all drenched! extending their help & support to people. #Trueheroes #MumbaiRains — Meenakshi Dixit (@Meenaxidixit) August 29, 2017
2.
3.
4.
Thanks #MumbaiPolice and DCP office to call up and confirm that my nephew is ok and if he needed help. Love the online community. — Mayank Gandhi (@mayankgandhi04) August 29, 2017
5. The Master Blaster had some praise to share too!
Heavy rains predicted. Pls get back home & stay safe. Kudos to @MumbaiPolice & others who are out trying to ease the situation. #MumbaiRains — sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 29, 2017
“Cops stood in ankle-deep water and were soaked to the skin, but continued directing motorists anyway,” said chartered accountant Vishal Bafna to the Times of India.
“We were dealing with a crisis situation on Tuesday evening. Roads at Worli and Dadar, which connect north and south Mumbai, were submerged and the BMC was doing its best to pump out water. These roads are also used by vehicles of Ganpati mandals headed for immersion.A majority of our personnel we re out trying to keep the traffic moving,” said joint commissioner, traffic, Amitesh Kumar to ToI.
You will also like: True Hero: Bengaluru Cop Performs Last Rites of Slain 5-Year-Old Sexual Assault Victim
Most of the city police personnel, ranging from constables and senior police inspectors to DCPs, were asked to be on the roads. DCP Rashmi Karandikar, the city police spokesperson, told TOI that the Mumbai police was in constant touch with the BMC’s disaster control management and fire brigade. “No untoward incident has been reported,” she added.
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NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!The Internal Revenue Service is seeking a narrower focus in its investigation of digital currency startup Coinbase, new court documents reveal.
Perhaps most notable, according to the July 6 notice, is the fact that the IRS is only trying to obtain records on users who have conducted “at least the equivalent of $20,000 in any one transaction type (buy, sell, send, or receive) in any one year during the 2013-2015 period”.
This suggests that the tax authority – which began pushing for more information in November – may be looking to prioritize data related to more frequent users of the startup’s services.
News reports last week revealed that the IRS was moving to limit the scope of the summons it wants to serve on Coinbase. According to Fortune, the agency said it wouldn’t seek information related to account security.
The filing from last week goes into greater detail, outlining how the IRS will not seek information on users “who only bought and held bitcoin during the 2013-2015 period”, as well as users for whom the startup filed 1099-K forms in those years.
Additionally, “certain users known to the Internal Revenue Service” will also be excluded, a list of whom – which wasn’t disclosed in the filing” that will be provided to Coinbase at some future date, according to the filing.
Narrower scope aside, the IRS indicated that it could ultimately seek more information on the users in question, writing that it may still “issue summonses in individual examinations of Coinbase users for the information that it no longer seeks in this proceeding”.
The filing is the latest legal twist in the long-running IRS effort to obtain user information from Coinbase. The tax agency’s effort has run into headwinds, with pushback coming from both the startup itself as well as some of its users.
In March, the IRS asked a federal court to compel Coinbase to turn over the records, and last week’s filing resulted from that case. A pair of unnamed Coinbase users filed a motion to intervene in that case in May in an attempt to stop the summons from being executed.
The IRS effort, as might be expected, has sparked a broad outcry from both digital currency advocates as well as users of the tech. The agency’s strategy has also come under scrutiny from both its government watchdog as well as Congress.
Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase.
The full court filing can be found below:
Notice by CoinDesk on Scribd
Justice image via Shutterstock× Davidson County man accused of shooting wife through locked door
DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — A Davidson County man was arrested after authorities say he shot his wife through a bathroom door.
Melvin Lee James, 61, of Lexington, is charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.
According to a news release from the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, detectives on Saturday began investigating an assault that occurred on Swicegood-Waitman Road outside Lexington.
Detectives discovered that James shot at his wife through a locked bathroom door, striking her in the arm following an argument inside the home, according to the news release.
The wife was taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center with a non-life-threatening injury.
James was arrested and jailed under no bond. He is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 29.and the Jays are atop the AL East thanks to an eight-game win streak. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) Jose Reyes and the Jays are atop the AL East thanks to an eight-game win streak. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
The Toronto Blue Jays have won eight straight games and 11 of their last 12, and at 19-7 (.731) have baseball's best record this month. As a result, they have opened up a three-game lead over the second-place Yankees in the American League East and have the fourth-best record in the majors this season as they chase their first postseason berth since winning the second of back-to-back World Series titles in 1993.
Had Toronto done this a year ago, after an offseason in which it added shortstop Jose Reyes, leftfielder Melky Cabrera and starting pitchers Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, and R.A. Dickey, the last the previous season's National League Cy Young award winner, it wouldn't have come as a surprise. Instead, the Jays won just 74 games in 2013, just one more than the year before they added those five former All-Stars to their roster. This year, with Johnson having moved on and catcher Dioner Navarro having been its only significant addition over the winter, Toronto's sudden surge to the top of the standings seems more suspect.
The engine behind the Blue Jays' success isn't hard to detect: They are tearing the cover off the ball. The 143 runs they have scored in May are 17 percent more than the next most productive teams in the majors (Detroit and, surprisingly, Cleveland) and work out to 5.5 runs per game. They've hit.275/.341/.497 this month as a team, leading the majors in May OPS by nearly 50 points with a.838 mark and in OPS+ by 13 points at 133. On the season, they trail only the Rockies and A's in runs scored per game and are first in the majors in OPS+ at 115, just edging out the A's, who despite the favorable ballpark adjustments, simply don't hit for enough power relative to Toronto.
Power is indeed the key element in the Blue Jays' game. They lead the majors with 76 home runs (nine more than the second-place Rockies). Edwin Encarnacion is second in the majors with 16 round-trippers, 14 of which have come in May, tying Jose Bautista's franchise record for most home runs in a single month. Bautista himself has 12 for the season. Including those two, six Blue Jays have hit eight or more home runs on the year (a 25-plus-homer pace). Included in that group are Brett Lawrie, whose previous season high is 11; Cabrera, who hit just three last year and whose previous high is 18; and early-April addition Juan Francisco, a lefthanded hitter whose previous high is also 18 and whose hot hitting has earned him starts at third base against righthanders, pushing Lawrie to second base in those games.
As those histories suggest, Toronto's offense is playing over its head. There are reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the power surges of Lawrie, who slugged.489 in the minors and.580 in 171 plate appearances as a rookie, and Cabrera, whose poor 2013 can be blamed on a benign tumor on his spine which caused back and leg pain and weakness. However, Lawrie is a lock to spend some time on the disabled list every year, and Francisco, while his power has never been in doubt, is likely to regress with increased exposure (he has just 114 plate appearances on the season).
There are three other Blue Jays hitters enjoying small-sample success that is unlikely to last. Adam Lind, who missed three weeks with a back injury, is hitting.341/.419/.573 in 93 PA while splitting time between first base and designated hitter, and, justifiably, avoiding lefthanded pitching like the plague. R.A. Dickey's personal catcher, Josh Thole, is hitting.360/.429/.400 in 56 plate appearances, and utilityman Steve Tolleson is hitting.311/.392/.622 in 51 PA having ascended into the short side of the platoon with Francisco, starting at second base against lefties with Lawrie returning to third in those games.
Francisco, Lind, Thole and Tolleson will all regress, Encarnacion is sure to cool off at least a little, and if any of the often-injured quartet of Lawrie, Reyes, Cabrera and Bautista experience further health problems it could undermine the lineup's early success.
Still, the offense should remain productive. Encarnacion, though unlikely to hit 14 homers in 21 games again this season, has established a new level of performance over a long enough period for his start this season to be accepted as real. The same can now be said about Cabrera, who has returned to his 2011 and '12 level this season after being derailed first by a performance-enhancing drug suspension and then that spinal tumor. Reyes is a four-time All-Star. Lawrie is a former top prospect and still just 24, so a breakout remains well within the realm of possibility (though outside of those eight home runs, he has not hit much this season). Lind at least has value against righthanded pitchers, and Thole and Tolleson have proven on-base skills. The offense is thus well-constructed, though a mid-season move to fortify second base may yet be required.
The pitching staff is a bigger concern. The Blue Jays issue walks more often than every other team in baseball except the White Sox, and their rotation leads the majors in free passes despite being 16th in innings pitched. Overall, the rotation has been average at preventing runs, but even with closer Casey Janssen having yet to allow a run after debuting on May 12, Toronto has the the second-worst bullpen ERA in the majors, a 4.96 mark that is lower than only that of the Astros' relievers. The 'pen's woes have been exacerbated by the regression of 2013 All-Star relievers Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar, the latter of whom has seen his strikeout rate fall precipitously this season.
The staff's bright spot has been Buehrle, the man with the iron arm, who leads the majors with nine wins (against only one loss) and has a 2.33 ERA and an AL-best 179 ERA+ in his first 11 starts. A shift away from his cutter in favor of his curveball appears to be playing a role in his success, though his lack of home runs allowed (just two in 73 1/3 innings) seems like a product of luck more than skill. Another potential warning sign: Buehrle's other peripherals are no better than they were a year ago, when his results (12-10, 4.15 ERA) were merely average.
Elsewhere in the rotation, prospect Drew Hutchison's reemergence in the wake of August 2012 Tommy John surgery has been encouraging, but Hutchison is not yet, and may never be, a front-of-the-rotation arm. Dickey continues to regress from his Cy Young height, thus |
comparative perspective, we aim to gain a more systematic understanding of the role played by political scientists in electoral reform processes, and their ability to exert an influence. The direct involvement of the contributors into practical politics helps to bring important new advances, both at the empirical and theoretical level. This symposium thus also contributes to the reflection on “practical reflexivity” of political science as a whole (Villumsen, Berling, and Bueger 2013).
In the first contribution to the symposium, Alan Renwick reports on his experience as one of the main government and media experts in the (unsuccessful) 2011 electoral reform referendum in the United Kingdom. The referendum asked voters to decide whether the first-past-the-post system should be replaced by a system of alternative voting. Renwick explains why the common wisdom that practitioners know less about electoral systems than political scientists is largely unfounded. Practitioners have a clear idea about the effects and consequences of electoral laws. He draws three main conclusions from his involvement in the British process. First, political scientists should focus on educating the public rather than the politicians. Second, they should be very modest about the knowledge they have gained about electoral systems over the years, as the systematic empirical patterns identified by political science are already well known by practitioners. Third, they should also accept to learn from practitioners, as they sometimes know better about electoral systems than the political scientists.
In the second contribution, Henry Milner builds upon years of involvement in various electoral reform processes in Canada. In 2015, the Liberal government committed itself to reform the first-past-the-post system and started consulting political scientists on the topic. Milner notes that the consultations tend to focus on electoral system technicalities. Despite the clear preference built over the years by some political scientists in Canada for a mixed-member proportional system, they have not been able to put it forward. According to Milner, political scientists should engage in the strategic dimension of electoral reforms, for example in anticipating the arguments of the proponents of the status quo.
In the third contribution, André Freire answers the questions of the symposium in view of his involvement as the main government expert in an important electoral reform in Portugal in 2009. Freire identifies two key points regarding his involvement in the process. First, although political scientists have specific knowledge vis-à-vis practitioners, the electoral reform outcome is at the end political, not academic. Along this line, the major difference between political scientists and practitioners is not so much about knowledge but about the specific (partisan) interests. Second, the involvement of political scientists in electoral reform processes makes them more open and transparent. It also forces politicians to be more accountable.
In the fourth contribution, Pedro Riera and José Ramón Montero report on their involvement in the (failed) electoral reform process that occurred in Spain in 2008 and 2015. According to them, parties are to blame for these failures. Although some of the new parties managed to put the issue on the government agenda, the long-standing parties strongly opposed it. Riera and Montero admit, quite honestly, that despite their formal involvement in the process their influence was almost nil. They argue that in situations where there is a divergence of interests among parties, there is little that political scientists can do to affect the electoral reform outcome.
We believe this symposium advances the literature on electoral reform in four directions. First, it offers a comparative perspective on the topic by presenting concrete cases in which political scientists were involved in electoral reform processes. Just as in the U.S., local political scientists tend to be consulted, although this consultation seems to be mostly about technicalities of electoral systems.
Second, this symposium discusses the ability of political scientists to exert an influence on electoral reform outcomes in Europe and Canada. This influence is limited, given the strategic dimension of electoral reforms for political parties. Whereas political scientists attempt to promote the “best” electoral system, politicians have other considerations in mind, including their reelection. Along this line, the knowledge of political scientists seems to be utilized by practitioners to legitimize their preferred option.
Third, this symposium highlights the need for political scientists to concentrate their efforts on informing the general public. This seems to be the main channel through which they can exert some influence. This, however, implies leaving the “cozy circles” of the parliament to engage in more down-to-earth dialogue with the media and citizen associations.
Fourth, the case studies of the symposium show that political scientists have an influence on the quality of the electoral reform process. Their participation makes the process more transparent and open, and forces politicians to be more accountable in their decisions. To conclude, local political scientists certainly have a role to play in electoral reform processes everywhere in the world. However, their involvement is contingent, short term, and limited to the role that political elites are willing to give them.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the ECPR for letting us organize the roundtable on which this symposium is based at its 2016 General Conference in Prague. Also, we would like to thank the attendees and participants for their insightful feedback during this roundtable.
1 It is interesting to note that, despite his involvement in actual politics, Max Weber was one of the first scholars to theorize the distinction between the “scientist” and the “political actor,” and the concept of axiological neutrality (Weber 2003).AT first glance, it is easy to point to the addition of a Shamrock Rovers reserve team to the First Division and conclude that it makes a mockery of that league.
AT first glance, it is easy to point to the addition of a Shamrock Rovers reserve team to the First Division and conclude that it makes a mockery of that league.
The obvious counterpoint is that it's already beyond parody. Nothing could make the second tier worse than it already is.
There are valid questions to ask about the manner in which the addition of Rovers' development side has come about, but there's something laughable about the integrity of the First Division, the cold sore of the Airtricity League, suddenly becoming a burning issue in Irish football.
To put it in perspective, the combined attendances for the entire 2013 First Division season totalled 44,000 according to the FAI; that's an average of less than 400 people per game. And that was an increase thanks to Athlone's late attendance spurt.
Once Mervue United and Salthill Devon were ushered in to make up the numbers for the past few seasons, an already weakened division lost any sense of credibility.
Every so often, a disaffected minority will argue that the First Division warrants coverage on 'Monday Night Soccer' when the truth is that the facilities and attendances at certain grounds are not fit for broadcast.
It would serve the clubs better if absent fans lived under the illusion that the bar was raised higher than the reality.
Certainly, aspects of the new Shamrock Rovers initiative sit a little uncomfortably. It seems strange that three outfield players and a goalkeeper could conceivably line out in the Premier Division on a Friday and again in the First Division on a Sunday.
Regular movement between the club's seniors and 'SRFC2' was a dealbreaker for the Hoops, who are digging the FAI out of a hole by making the First Division an eight-team contest.
But the solution arrived at seems a little too flexible. Restricting it to players outside the Premier match-day squad on a given weekend would represent some kind of solution, albeit in an unprecedented situation that is never going to satisfy everybody.
However, the negatives offered on behalf of the First Division competition simply do not stand up.
After all, if the schedule allows even 50 die-hard Shamrock Rovers fans to travel and watch the second team play, that would represent 50 more away supporters than most clubs bring.
Yes, it will be jarring for Shelbourne, the former landlords, to now rub shoulders with Rovers reserves on a competitive basis. Still, there's every chance their gate from the oddest renewal of the old Ringsend derby, if timed correctly, will do more for their coffers than any meeting with Mervue or Salthill ever would have done.
And a few less trips out of Dublin will help the travel budget, too.
Ultimately, the Rovers idea stemmed from the FAI inviting applications for the First Division and finding that prospective options in the untapped areas that the League of Ireland needs to spread into -- Kerry and Mayo for starters -- are either not ready or just not interested.
They have to be presented with a more appealing prospect than a repetitive league with limited fanfare and onerous expenses.
At least the new Galway FC have dormant support to draw upon as they prepare to lock horns with unfortunate regulars Longford, Finn Harps, Waterford and the returning Shels at a level where the prospect of escaping is the only thing keeping them going.
For their sakes, a development side that cannot be promoted and operates under the umbrella of a secure club is preferable to introducing an unsustainable entity that could vanish mid-season like Dublin City or Monaghan.
Naturally, top-flight rivals of the Hoops have grumbled. They should have been officially notified by the FAI that Rovers were being lined up to fill the First Division gap, but it's highly unlikely that any other club would have the resources to finance another team.
The licensing window should be extended if that assertion is incorrect. Otherwise, the unhappiness is borne from the fact that a club which so many love to hate is stealing a march on their rivals because they can afford it.
Talk of a level playing field would suggest it has always existed in a league where the wealthier teams at a particular point in time habitually seek to plunder their weakened rivals.
The difference here is that Rovers are seriously committing to an idea that will prioritise investment in young players.
SELECTION
Spending €80,000 with a view to recruiting a selection of the best youngsters in Dublin at an earlier age is a better plan than throwing the same amount at a senior performer from a rival club with short-term prospects and no sell-on value.
And Rovers are no strangers to that policy.
They may fail in this fresh mission. It is entirely possible they will one day reflect on this unique departure as a spectacular waste of cash, a bridge too far, with their vision unattractive to the calibre of youth they wish to attract.
Yet it would be extremely insular to oppose it on the basis that it's a break from tradition, because that would suggest it's interfering with a tradition that desperately requires protection.
This concept is different, and that's why it deserves a chance, because trying the same thing for a long time hasn't brought the local game very far.
Even if the Hoops 'B' have three stubbled faces, there will be eight others furthering their education, players who might otherwise drift away from the sport.
If the First Division becomes the guinea pig for bigger clubs that have hitherto failed to adequately develop their youth structures, then so be it. It's better than a league having no real purpose at all.
Little knowledge a dangerous thing for lazy hacks
Martin O'Neill has brought clarity to Ireland press conferences after the chaos of Giovanni Trapattoni, but the new man's words can still get lost in interpretation
Last week, an English journalist popped up at O'Neill's end-of-year press briefing where a question was posed about possible additions to the back-room staff.
"I'm seeing John this evening and I am going to put a few things across to him and him likewise to me," responded the Derryman.
The locals knew it was a reference to FAI chief John Delaney, but the guest inaccurately thought it was a reference to another John -- O'Neill's well-respected former assistant, John Robertson.
A story duly popped up on the wires indicating that the Scot was being lined up to bolster Ireland's 'dream team.'
Mistakes happen and it is easy to see how an outsider got it wrong, although this error went miles further than it should have.
For the FAI press department, who had to contact some notable outlets to inform them of the misunderstanding when they were alerted to it by Irish hacks, it must have been like old times.
Shoehorning fixtures a sore on domestic game
APOLOGIES for returning to a familiar gripe, but the flaw of the League of Ireland's ridiculously long off-season is emphasised by the publishing of the fixture list.
The FAI have to cram games into a narrow window because clubs want to pay players for only 40 weeks a year. It means that the quantity of matches in the early part of the campaign dilutes quality and also empties the pockets of supporters.
As it stands, Premier Division clubs are pencilled in to play six games in the space of 21 days in April, including two midweek rounds that are shoved in towards the climax of the English Premier League and Champions League.
The Munster derby between Limerick and Cork at Thomond Park, a game that deserves weekend billing, is provisionally jotted in for Monday, April 7.
Setanta Cup participants may have other commitments to juggle, too.
It's absolutely preposterous, but unless clubs are willing to pay for longer or players are willing to sacrifice the summer break, then this will keep happening.
Win One of Five Pairs of Tickets to Ireland v France - Click here
Irish IndependentWe just shipped React v0.12.2, bringing the 0.12 branch up to date with a few small fixes that landed in master over the past 2 months.
You may have noticed that we did not do an announcement for v0.12.1. That release was snuck out in anticipation of Flow, with only transform-related changes. Namely we added a flag to the jsx executable which allowed you to safely transform Flow-based code to vanilla JS. If you didn’t update for that release, you can safely skip it and move directly to v0.12.2.
The release is available for download from the CDN:
React
Dev build with warnings: https://fb.me/react-0.12.2.js
Minified build for production: https://fb.me/react-0.12.2.min.js
Dev build with warnings: https://fb.me/react-0.12.2.js Minified build for production: https://fb.me/react-0.12.2.min.js React with Add-Ons
Dev build with warnings: https://fb.me/react-with-addons-0.12.2.js
Minified build for production: https://fb.me/react-with-addons-0.12.2.min.js
Dev build with warnings: https://fb.me/react-with-addons-0.12.2.js Minified build for production: https://fb.me/react-with-addons-0.12.2.min.js In-Browser JSX transformer
https://fb.me/JSXTransformer-0.12.2.js
We’ve also published version 0.12.2 of the react and react-tools packages on npm and the react package on bower. 0.12.1 is also available in the same locations if need those.
Please try these builds out and file an issue on GitHub if you see anything awry.
Changelog
React Core
Added support for more HTML attributes: formAction, formEncType, formMethod, formTarget, marginHeight, marginWidth
,,,,, Added strokeOpacity to the list of unitless CSS properties
to the list of unitless CSS properties Removed trailing commas (allows npm module to be bundled and used in IE8)
Fixed bug resulting in error when passing undefined to React.createElement - now there is a useful warningPogo Knight, the fully animated sprite! For the unaware, here's my initial drawing of him: cyberguy64.deviantart.com/art/… The concept of a battle with Pogo Knight would be... well, bouncing. He'd be bouncing all around the arena, while you either try to slash at him and knock him away, or bounce on top of him. Basically, you want to be higher then he is. On the ground, you're vulnerable to getting stomped. On the same level, and he'll sock you with his pogo punch. And even while you're bouncing on top of him, he can block you by pulling out the punch. Hitting either of his gloves would merely knock him back without damaging him. You have to specifically aim for him and not his ride or weapon to deal damage.This guy took me a while to pull off effectively. Shovel Knight's style is bit more lenient on color usage then your average NES styled game, allowing up to five colors per sprite. Most characters stick to one side of the color wheel and follow a simple color progression from light to dark on their design. It took me a good long while to find an acceptably limited palette that fit his red and blue color scheme while still allowing me to add a real sense of depth to him.I also wanted to avoid the old "Ambidextrous Sprite" issue most games have. Shovel Knight was all about impossible levels of polish, so I made sure that every detail of his asymmetrical design was flipped when he turns around.What do you think? I really want feedback on this one.This story was updated March 11
WASHINGTON — Representatives from the U.S. launch industry’s two biggest rivals — SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and United Launch Alliance Chief Executive Tory Bruno — will face off at a U.S. House subcommittee hearing March 17.
The two executives will testify before the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee as part of an industry panel on “Assured Access to Space.” The subcommittee originally invited SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to the hearing, but a witness list released March 11 shows Shotwell will represent the company.
The two companies are battling for the U.S. government’s launch business but also for the hearts and minds of U.S. lawmakers, many of whom have complained about the current high cost of launching national security missions.
This would not be the first joint appearance before Congress by the top executives of SpaceX and ULA. Last March, Musk and Michael Gass, Bruno’s predecessor, squared off before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, where they were offered the opportunity to submit written questions to one another.
Musk’s questions zeroed in on the roughly $1 billion ULA receives annually in so-called Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Launch Capability funding, which covers costs that are not necessarily tied to individual missions. He challenged Gass to fold those costs into a single overarching EELV contract whose value is divided on a mission-by-mission basis.
Gass, for his part, forced Musk to acknowledge that SpaceX currently is capable of handling only 60 percent of the Defense Department’s payloads and that government requirements would tend to drive SpaceX launch prices higher than the company’s advertised rates.
Bruno is a former Lockheed Martin vice president — ULA is a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture — who took over ULA in August. He has proved more outspoken than Gass, using social media, mainly Twitter, to advocate for his company and take jabs at Musk.
Following the industry panel will be a second session in which witnesses include: Katrina McFarland, assistant secretary of defense for acquisition; Bill LaPlante, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition; Gen. John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command; and Mitch Mitchell, vice president at the Aerospace Corp., which provides engineering advice on U.S. national security space programs.I found an online discussion that I enjoyed enough to pull this list from. It spoke to me deeply, and I’d like to break down my favorite options.
For Indiana Jones fans, the logo fade at the start of each film, in which the Paramount logo fades into something — anything — with a similar silouette, is essential. I know it entranced me as a kid, and I was unreasonably happy when the Crystal Skull came out with a good one: a fade into a gopher hill. Now, the fifth Indy movie is inevitable, and after the Disney buyout of Lucasfilms, I’m looking forward to it. But there’s one touch they simply can’t fail on. I mean, look at the options.
1. The pyramids.
As you can see above, the three pyramids pictured almost mesh with the three mountain peaks of the logo, making for an even better transition than usual. The pyramids would have to be shot from a different angle than this one for it to work perfectly, though, and if that doesn’t work, a camera shot moving to the right might do it. But these fades haven’t been completely perfect in the past, so a little fudging is okay.
2. A mountain of books that Indy is studying behind.
Reasonable and different. Indy probably isn’t adventuring all over the globe a lot in his old age, so the action would have to start at home, before, naturally, shoving the poor guy all over the globe anyway.
3. The 60s-era Paramount logo playing in a drive-in theater.
Suitably meta.
4. A map of the Bermuda triangle.
One of my favorite possibilities: the camera shot could then pull up from the map as the wind pulls it away. We’re in a helicopter! It’s going down! Indy’s hat flies around, almost escaping the helicopter! A hand grabs it! We see the hat on the head, which raises to reveal — Sorry. Got carried away.
5. A bird’s eye shot of a similarly-shaped island.
If they use the Bermuda idea as the meat of the film, neither this or the map idea would work… At the least, Indy needs thirty minutes of scene-setting before he can get to the main adventure. But as a one-off, ten-minute mini-adventure, the Burmuda triangle would be amazing.
6. Dorsal fins.
I’ll let you guess what they would be attached to.
7. The actual mountain used in the logo. Just zoom in.
Might as well get back to basics.
8. A graded paper.
The most specific and, quite possibly, the best option:
“Could be neat if the movie opens on an A-grade on some paper. Camera pulls out further to show it flapping gently in the wind, caught on a cliff ledge cause Indy’s trying to juggle his workload with the part of the job he actually enjoys.” ~Lao_Che
Based on my experience, this is pretty accurate to a college professor’s life.
AdvertisementsA few years ago, a piece I wrote about design thinking totally exploded. It was pretty surprising because it wasn't one of those 'Unlock the power of design in your company' posts, it was all about how confusing and meaningless 'design thinking' has become. Near blasphemy for a design leader (and former employee of IDEO) like myself to say, right? It's not that I don't believe in the methods espoused by design thinking... it's that much of what people focus on is the 'thinking.' My issue is that designers spend too much time thinking about problems and enthusiastically proclaim they are using design thinking as if that has somehow done something. Folks, most thinking is waste of time and doesn't produce better results.
In fact, most designers overvalue their thinking time and spend too much of it on hypothetical issues instead of actively solving the problems that matter most. I'm guilty of this too. It's fun to talk about how we'd solve problems with no real world constraints, or what we'd change in industries we don't fully understand or grasp. This type of thought can seem beneficial and constructive, but it's actually tangential. It diverts us from the exercises that actually will get us closer to solutions, from actually designing. The beauty of design is that you can quickly mock up ideas and get new insights from your team or customer. It takes very little time to get as much value as you're going to get out of thinking through the projects- the bulk of the insights come from actively working in the problem.
Do, then think
'Don't think.' I say it all the time in the office. What I'm really saying is,'make the thinking smaller, then execute.' It's not that they shouldn't be learning about what they're building or making, but the lessons become more valuable after the work gets done. Thinking is costly time. Better to get a wrong answer and learn from it.
Working in this way can feel scary and unnatural but science has proven that quick decisions are often our best. In his book Blink, Malcom Gladwell explores this at length:
We believe that we are always better off gathering as much information as possible and spending as much time as possible in deliberation. The first task of Blink is to convince you of a simple fact: decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately.''Malcom Gladwell, Blink
Ironically, the longest lasting benefits often come from the wrong decisions. Wrong answers aren't something to be feared and avoided because they help us get faster at adjusting our thinking through doing. They expose new parts of the problem and help us create better answers. So we need to push through as many ideas as possible, right or wrong, with our teams and help them see the value of thinking less and doing more. In other words, you can't steer a ship that's not moving.
There is another benefit to promoting action over inaction- when we don't do this, sitting and thinking can be confused with laziness, procrastination and idleness. Given the importance of design in businesses, we must understand that the perception of our work is equally important to the output- it's hard to move teams forward if they don't believe in our work. Like I shared in my previous post, my job doesn't really require me to have any right answers, instead, I must have ways to get to the right answer.
Play like you practice
Early on in a designer's growth, we practice the basics of design to improve our literacy. Our goals may be to strengthen our creativity, master our tools, or even just learn how properly complete something. As we advance in our skills though, we need to modify both how we practice and what we practice.
Up until recently, it was accepted that merely engaging in an activity for 10,000 hours made you an expert, but recent studies have debunked this. We now know that not all practice makes perfect. To truly improve, we need to engage in what's called deliberate practice. This is specific and sustained effort focused on improving in something we don't do well.
Most designers don't practice being able to make quick decisions and execute them, and are content with the same basic practice they did at the start of their careers. This can work well for a time, but as they advance in their career and begin working in collaborative environments, the cracks start to show. Some of the bad habits we try to help designers unlearn here at ZURB are:
Unfocused thinking. Being able to think freely and not have your solutions colored by how things are or what has come before is special skill great designers should cultivate, but that thinking is most impactful when it incorporates the real world considerations we need to work with including our audience, resources, time, etc.
Being able to think freely and not have your solutions colored by how things are or what has come before is special skill great designers should cultivate, but that thinking is most impactful when it incorporates the real world considerations we need to work with including our audience, resources, time, etc. Lack of time management. We have the freedom to decide when and how much time we can devote to side projects and hobbies, but we rarely have that authority when it comes to our work in an organization. Great designers train themselves to use time efficiently and productively.
We have the freedom to decide when and how much time we can devote to side projects and hobbies, but we rarely have that authority when it comes to our work in an organization. Great designers train themselves to use time efficiently and productively. Creative output without purpose. It's perfectly fine to create art or work on personal projects with no specific function or purpose. It is, however, important for designers to realize that the critical thinkers in their organizations want and expect a reason for any and all of their choices, creative or not. Understanding how to generate work that furthers a shared story or vision and be able to adequately explain how that work advances those goals is vital skill.
So how does one practice doing better design? The design methods are endless, but an example of a technique we use at ZURB is holding new designers accountable to 45 sketches/ideas in 3 hours when they first start. Most fail at this task, but within a few tries almost all are able to make amazing progress. They begin to move ideas forward and learn that they need to keep their pen moving, get the worst ideas out.
Collaborative environments require a work style that enables ideas to be shared quickly- thinking too much can get in the way of collaborating effectively. The problem is that most new designers want to take their time and show their best work. The harsh timebox makes them feel like they're being set up to fail. What they later realize, is that true collaboration is working through incomplete ideas together in order to get to the best ones quicker, not working in isolation to feed their ego's desire for a perfect big reveal. Design is messy.
Incremental thinking through Progressive Design
So how do we learn to think faster, for the intent of moving our teams forward? We must break problems into smaller chunks that are easier to get feedback on and get others on our team invested to create momentum. Iteration builds momentum. At ZURB, we use Progressive Design. It's a design system built around the concept of a design feedback loop that has teams creating, showing work, sharing reactions, and shaping that work in small, manageable cycles that drive work forward, fast.
If we sit idle trying to be creative, or focus too much on getting the right answers we start to slow down. Slowing down decision making gets in the way of building momentum with a team. Designers need to build confidence with their teams through solid decision making and visible progress. The more we get good at creative decision making, the easier it is to get our teams moving forward. Lead by design!
In my next post I'll share how some of the best athletes in the world improve their reaction time and how designers can use these tactics to make decisions faster.Autodesk is backing away from its Stingray game development engine and will halt its sale on January 7, 2018.
This means that, one week into the new year, game developers will be unable to purchase or renew subscriptions for Stingray, though current subscribers will be able to use the software until their plan expires.
In a post detailing the coming closure, Autodesk explains that its customers seem to be flocking toward Unreal and Unity as game development standards and, as such, believes that its own efforts would be better spent trying to work closely with those two engines than trying to compete and develop its own alternative.
For now, the change means that Stingray will no longer be developed, updated, or sold as a standalone engine, though the 1.9 version software will be still included with Maya LT subscriptions for the foreseeable future.
The move comes also roughly five months after the company discounted its suite of game middleware products. At the time, Scaleform, Beast, HumanIk, and Navigation were all shut down in a similar manner. Additionally, the announcement falls less than a month after Autodesk laid off roughly 13 percent of its workforce to facilitate its shift toward a purely subscription-based software model.PRINCE MADOC AND THE WELSH DISCOVER AMERICA.
The story of the emigration and discovery of America of Prince Madoc, or Madog, is told in the old Welsh books as follows:
About the year 1168 or 1169 A.D., Owen Gwynedd, ruling prince of North Wales, died, and among his sons there was a contest for the succession, which, becoming angry and fierce, produced a civil war. His son Madoc, who had “command of the fleet,” took no part in this strife. Greatly disturbed by the public trouble, and not being able to make the combatants hear reason, he resolved to leave Wales and go across the ocean to the land at the west. Accordingly, in the year 1170 A.D., he left with a few ships, going south of Ireland, and steering westward. The purpose of this voyage was to explore the western land and select a place for settlement. He found a pleasant and fertile region, where his settlement was established. Leaving one hundred and twenty persons, he returned to Wales, prepared ten ships, prevailed on a large company, some of whom were Irish, to join him, and sailed again to America. Nothing more was ever heard in Wales of Prince Madog or his settlement.
All this is related in old Welsh annals preserved in the abbeys of Conway and Strat Flur. These annals were used by Humphrey Llwyd in his translation and continuation of Caradoc’s History of Wales, the continuation extending from 1157 to 1270 A.D. This emigration of Prince Madog is mentioned in the preserved works of several Welsh bards who lived before the time of Columbus. It is mentioned by Hakluyt, who had his account of it from writings of the bard Guttun Owen. As the Northmen had been in New England over one hundred and fifty years when Prince Madog went forth to select a place for his settlement, he knew very well there was a continent on the other side of the Atlantic, for he had knowledge of their voyages to America; and knowledge of them was also prevalent in Ireland. His emigration took place when Henry II. was king of England, but in that age the English knew little or nothing of Welsh affairs in such a way as to connect them with English history very closely.
communicated with that side of the ocean, became weak, and, after being much reduced, was destroyed or absorbed by some powerful tribe of Indians. In our colony times, and later, there was no lack of reports that relics of Madog’s Welshmen, and even their language, had been discovered among the Indians; but generally, they were entitled to no credit. The only report of this kind having any show of claim to respectful consideration is that of Rev. Morgan Jones, made in 1686, in a letter giving an account of his adventures among the Tuscaroras. These Tuscarora Indians were lighter in color than the other tribes, and this peculiarity was so noticeable that they were frequently mentioned as “White Indians.” Mr. Jones’s account of his experiences among them was written in March, 1686, and published in the Gentleman’s Magazine for the year 1740, as follows: It is supposed that Madog settled somewhere in the Carolinas, and that his colony, unsupported by new arrivals from Europe, and cut off from with that side of the ocean, became weak, and, after being much reduced, was destroyed or absorbed by some powerful tribe of Indians. In ourtimes, and later, there was no lack of reports that relics of Madog’s Welshmen, and even their language, had been discovered among the Indians; but generally, they were entitled to no credit. The only report of this kind having any show of claim to respectful consideration is that of Rev. Morgan Jones, made in 1686, in a letter giving an account of his adventures among the Tuscaroras. These Tuscarora Indians were lighter in color than the other tribes, and this peculiarity was so noticeable that they were frequently mentioned as “White Indians.” Mr. Jones’s account of his experiences among them was written in March, 1686, and published in the Gentleman’s Magazine for the year 1740, as follows:
“REV. MORGAN JONES’S STATEMENT. “These presents certify all persons whatever, that in the year 1660, being an inhabitant of Virginia, and chaplain to Major General Bennet, of Mansoman County, the said Major General Bennet and Sir William Berkeley sent two ships to Port Royal, now called South Carolina, which is sixty leagues southward of Cape Fair, and I was sent therewith to be their minister. Upon the 8th of April we set out from Virginia, and arrived at the harbor’s mouth of Port Royal the 19th of the same month, where we waited for the rest of the fleet that was to sail from Barbadoes and Bermuda with one Mr. West, who was to be deputy governor of said place. As soon as the fleet came in, the smallest vessels that were with us sailed up the river to a place called the Oyster Point; there I continued about eight months, all which time being almost starved for want of provisions: I and five more traveled through the wilderness till we came to the Tuscarora country. “There the Tuscarora Indians took us prisoners because we told them that we were bound to Roanock. That night they carried us to their [ 287] town and shut us up close, to our no small dread. The next day they entered into a consultation about us, and, after it was over, their interpreter told us that we must prepare ourselves to die next morning, whereupon, being very much dejected, I spoke to this effect in the British [Welsh] tongue: ‘Have I escaped so many dangers, and must I now be knocked on the head like a dog!’ Then presently came an Indian to me, which afterward appeared to be a war captain belonging to the sachem of the Doegs (whose original, I find, must needs be from the Old Britons), and took me up by the middle, and told me in the British [Welsh] tongue I should not die, and thereupon went to the emperor of Tuscarora, and agreed for my ransom and the men that were with me. “They (the Doegs) then welcomed us to their town, and entertained us very civilly and cordially four months, during which time I had the opportunity of conversing with them familiarly in the British [Welsh] language, and did preach to them in the same language three times a week, and they would confer with me about anything that was difficult therein, and at our departure they abundantly supplied us with whatever was necessary to our support and well doing. They are settled upon Pontigo River, not far from Cape Atros. This is a brief recital of my travels among the Doeg Indians. Morgan Jones, “ the son of John Jones, of Basateg, near Newport, in the County of Monmouth. I am ready to conduct any Welshman or others to the country. “New York, March 10th, 1685-6.”Woolworths attempt to cash in on an alcoholic export from the long-running TV show The Simpsons has come to an end after an advertising standards body ruled the campaign was marketing alcohol to children and young adults.
The grocery giant will soon no longer sell Duff Beer through its outlets Dan Murphys and BWS, after copping a complaint by the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code, the standards scheme for liquor marketing.
"Can't get enough of that wonderful Duff": Beer made after Homer Simpson's favorite brew will be taken off liquor shops' shelves after complaints from the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code.
Woolworths had been selling the brew, which had existed on our television screens in the fictional world of The Simpsons long before it entered the real world, since late May.
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to make the world such a hostile place for Spider Man that Spidey will be driven back to him. Strand can say, see how fucked up people are? See how frightened and dangerous they can be? He wants to sour Spidey on humankind. Then he wants to be there for him, as the only one who understands what it is to be different from the herd. To be truly alone. He even gets thugs to dress up in knock-off Spider Man costumes and rob stores, beat people up. Push down old ladies. There is a proliferation of Spider Man sightings, all negative. Now even the neighborhood people don't trust Spidey. When he tries to help they tell him to get lost. To make matters worse, his costume got wrecked in the big fight with Strand and Sandman. Can't be fixed. He goes looking for a new suit and... Incredibly, Spider Man has become so popular that his costume is available in a specialty store for 120 bucks. They even have his size. Peter shrugs and buys it. What the heck. It's made better than his old one anyway. He gets the flu one day and he still has to go out and do the Superhero bit. He's swinging from building to building and has to stop on a ledge and throw up. A black kid sticks his head out. KID Hey yo, hey yo, Spidey. S'up, man? SPIDER MAN I've got the flu. KID Hey yeah.'s'goin' around, man. The kid goes back in. His mom asks who you talking to? KID Spidey got the flu, mama. He puking on the fire escape. MOM Well you tell him to "spidey" his ass on over to the next building and throw up there. Shit, it's bad enough with the wino's in the neighborhood... Peter is disheartened by the ungrateful response of the general populace to his well-meant attempts. And then he hits a string of bad luck, where his intervention makes the situation worse, because of his lack of experience in human affairs... the sheltered science nerd gets a rude education in the ways of the world. He comes in contact for the first time with the pain, desperation, and frustration which causes criminal behavior. Peter will have a crisis of faith, where the burden of the world's ills becomes so overwhelming that he feels paralyzed. His new power is partially about the power to see, and the responsibility to not turn his head away -- he can go into the shadows, look in the windows, watch us all from above... and he will see human nature for what it is. He will enter a moral twilight zone where the victims and the crimes are not so clear cut, where it is hard for a well-meaning crusader to jump in and help or save when the victims must be saved from themselves, or from a society which grinds them down. And how can one man, one boy really make a difference? The tide of injustice and pain is too great... too overwhelming. Like an avalanche thundering down on him... until he starts to think there are no good people to save. Only varying degrees of bad. That the whole city is a toilet of greed and dark passions. He busts some thieves only to find out that they are just a bunch of kids, like himself. One of the kids runs, trying to escape, and slips off a fire-escape. Peter tries to catch him but he can't. The kid hits the street and dies. Just kids. Needing some money in a tough world. Just like him. The line between good and evil is getting blurred. Aunt May can't make the house payments on just her social security check. Now with medical bills piling up. Peter is going to have to get a job. Let's see... there's Pizza Hut. Or the car wash. Or... mmmm. There's always the 20,000 dollars in twenties and fifties sitting on the coffee table of the drug-dealer's house he just dropped in on. There won't be any objection from the drug dealers, who are all webbed up and waiting for the cops (who will take credit for the bust). And there's the money. Go on, take it. Aunt May needs that operation. Her medicare won't cover it. Why should she suffer in pain? Maybe die? There's the money. Nobody would know. Spider Man can move like a ghost. And Peter would have a little extra cash. Stop having to ride a moped or take the bus. He could buy a car... and take a girl on a real date. That would show those sosh buttheads with the dentists and lawyers for dads... the smirking laughter of all the Mindys and Mandys and Sandys would finally stop ringing in his ears. He is hovering on the brink of going over the line... of becoming a criminal himself. He sees the opportunities right in front of him. It would be so easy. CUT TO: TOP OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER... Spidey's lonely vigil. Still hanging upside down, over the world of bright lights and chaos. SPIDER MAN I figured being your friendly neighborhood Spider Man would get easier as I went along. Well... I'm waiting. CUT TO SPIDER MAN, his hands reaching slowly for the stack of bills. He looks into the eyes of the drug dealer. SPIDER MAN What the hell are you looking at?! He leaps out the window with the money. CUT TO next morning. A parking lot in a bad neighborhood. Asphalt, chainlink and graffiti. Kids playing basketball. Suddenly hundreds of bills come fluttering down into frame like green snow, scattering far and wide on the wind. The kids chase the bills up and down the block. It is an instant celebration in the whole neighborhood. Somebody looks up in time to catch a glimpse of a red and blue figure swinging between rooftops. SPIDER MAN (V.O.) What was I gonna do? Track down all the crackheads and give it back? Anyway, I figure there's more than one way to be a saint in this world. But I've gotta tell you, even fighting Sandman was easier than turning that bag upside down. Meanwhile, Strand is analyzing the Spider Man sightings and incidents. He of course, knows which ones are real and which are faked to discredit Spidey. He has his analysis people plot everything on a map of the greater New York area and they see quickly that Spider Man's activities seem to center on Queens. Strand tells his minions to concentrate their search there. CUT TO Mary Jane doing a TV interview. She is introduced as a local high-school girl who actually met and talked to the Spider Man. She has come forward, she says, because she is outraged by the beating he is taking in the media. Spider Man saved her, she says, and he is a kind, gentle man. He is a hero, and we should be thankful he is here. MARY JANE goes alone to her private spot. She is sitting, thinking, when she hears something behind her. She turns as Spider Man drops down to her, and gasps, startled by his sudden presence. She feels a rush of excitement as he offers his hand to help her up. SPIDER MAN Do you still trust me? Her answer is a kiss. Sweet and soulful... their lips separated by the sheer fabric of the mask. She can feel his breath on her face. MARY JANE Where are we going? SPIDER MAN It's a surprise. CUT TO: The Brooklyn Bridge. A stunning aerial shot. A tiny shape swinging in an arc, racing past the support cables, sweeps toward us. It is Spidey, with MJ in his arms. He shoots another web strand, swings to one of the stone towers, and races up the side. She is light as a feather in his arms. She screams like a kid riding Colossus, in fear and exhilaration. They pass us. Her screams continue, fading as he carries her up to the dizzying heights above us. ON TOP OF THE BRIDGE TOWER. Hold a beat. We hear screams approaching. Spidey appears and sets her on terra firma. She clings to him, looking down and around in wonder. He has put the world at her feet. She can't believe this is happening to her. In a dizzying down-angle we see how the suspension cables all meet radially at the top of the tower... like the treads of some vast spider web. Peter and MJ seem to sit at the very center of the web, surrounded by the lights of the city. It is a warm spring night. And the moment is pure magic. She stands with her back against a girder, needing to feel something solid. Spider Man stands before her, a perfectly formed male silhouette with a soothing low voice. SPIDER MAN Courtship among the spiders is highly ritualized. It varies from species to species. The male spider may circle the female, or wave his front legs... to signal that he is not prey. Spider Man moves in a hypnotic arc around her. He raises his hands in a dance-like movement. Lowers them. SPIDER MAN The female usually signals her willingness by an uncharacteristic passivity. MJ takes a deep breath. Her lip trembles. Her knees are weak. Her eyes, though, are steady, gazing at the silhouette before her. She doesn't move of speak. He moves closer. SPIDER MAN In certain crab spiders, such as Xysticus, the male will attach strands of silk to the female... tying her limbs... Spider Man moves his hand gracefully across her, and she sees the sheerest silk webbing glinting in the moonlight. First one wrist. Then the other. Hypnotic movement in the moonlight. Her arms are bound to the wall. Her breathing gets more rapid. SPIDER MAN Since the female can break free at any time, the bonds have only symbolic significance. MARY JANE The male must be very bold... to take such liberties with the predatory female. SPIDER MAN Yes. He is very bold. But he must also trust her. (he moves very close) Close your eyes. He removes his mask and kisses her. Their mouths very slowly and very sensuously devour each other. Peter and MJ are locked together. He is mesmerizing, gentle, powerful. He pushes up her skirt. They make love, high above the world. She doesn't look. CUT TO MARY JANE the next day at school. She is humming happily as she lets a tarantula walk over her arm in the science room. Two of her sosh girl-friends come up and are completely grossed out. They talk about Peter Parker having a negative effect on her, that she's becoming a nerd like him. She laughs at them and tells them exactly how full of shit they are. We see that she is becoming more confident herself... more able to be different. The brushing need for acceptance has been lifted. Her mask is not important anymore. CUT TO STRAND, in his luxurious living room. Boyd is showing him a videotape he shot the night before. It is a shaky, long lens shot, quite amateurish. We see Spider Man drop down to MJ, startling her, then he and MJ kissing. Finally he hoists her in his arms and swings off into the darkness. Boyd says he followed the girl for two days, but it paid off. Looks like she's this spider geek's main squeeze. Carlton Strand just nods. Thinking. The Sandman comes to MJ that night and puts her to sleep. When the chloroform wears off, she wakes up at Strand's place. A prisoner. When MJ turns up missing, Peter goes to her house. He finds traces of sand in her room, and figures out what has happened. At that moment, Jameson is airing a tape which was submitted anonymously to the station. It is Boyd's tape, but the kiss has been edited out so what you see is Spider Man dropping down, surprising MJ, and then whisking her off into the darkness. The announcer says police have no other leads in the case of the missing girl, and this tape is compelling evidence that Spider Man may have kidnapped her. Meanwhile, Peter swings into action as Spider Man. Various action shots of him swinging from skyscraper to skyscraper. Eating up the miles across town. He arrives at the mansion in midtown. He searches the mansion... can't find them. But he finds Cordelia dead. Strand was in a hurry, didn't have time to jumpstart her after his farewell kiss. The huge bank of TV monitors all show the same image. It is Strand's smiling face... held in PAUSE from a VCR. Peter hits PLAY. Strand pulls MJ into the frame with him. He says meet him at the top of the World Trade Center. A second later the doors are kicked in. SWAT team members pour into the room. Another set-up. The SWATs see Spider Man, the body... it looks bad. SPIDER MAN Sorry boys. Can't stay. They open fire and Peter leaps, spins, ducks... barely escapes. He swings across the room in a vicious arc, swooping up and crashes out through a sky-light. In mid- air, surrounded by broken glass, he fires a web and catches a flagpole... swinging across the street, as... A Police helicopter swoops toward him... Cutting his web, and... He falls ten stories, shooting strands, missing... Shooting one, which catches and he does a bungee bounce at a hundred miles an hour... straight back up... He spins around a horizontal flag-pole sticking out the side of a building and launches himself across the street. Now he's in the groove, swinging across town like a Spider Man should. ON THE NEWS, the manhunt for Spider Man is the top story. His escape from the police, the kidnapping of Mary Jane Watson, and now the murder of Cordelia... it's all stacking up against him. Live feeds from news helicopters show cops in the streets, police helicopters circling. One of the copters even got a fleeting shot of Spider Man on the move, in the canyon between two rows of buildings. But they lost him. PETER reaches the World Trade Center towers. He starts to climb... racing up the sheer metal face of 2 WTC like he's never climbed before. He crashes through the glass into the observation deck (closed). There he confronts Strand, who is holding MJ. Peter tells him to let her go and Strand shrugs. STRAND I don't care about her now that you're here. She was just a lure. (he let's go of her) It's hard to get a meeting with you, young man. MJ goes to Spider Man. She seems to be okay. Strand comes over to them. He gestures to the world laid out at Peter's feet, like it's something he made just for him. The city glitters like a billion jewels, as far as the eye can see. STRAND Relax, kid. I just want to talk. SPIDER MAN About what? STRAND About you. About your career. Think of me as a kind of guidance counselor. So let's take your chosen field... hero. See? Bad choice. I'm recommending against it. SPIDER MAN It's not up to you. Strand goes to the window and looks down. He puts his hands on his hips, surveying the world below like some wise lord. STRAND Think about it. You can't save the world. Why? Because you can't save people from themselves... from their own brutal and venal natures. You're either a predator of prey in this world. A killer or a victim. People are by nature violent, stupid, confused, greedy. Why waste your gift on the ungrateful masses, who would love to see your mask ripped off and see you dragged through the slime. The only thing they love more than a hero is to see that hero fail, fall, screw-up... to see him exposed in a scandal, arrested with his pants down, caught with his hands in the till. You know why? It lets them feel better about their own miserable lives. He turns dramatically to face Spider Man. He moves closer, his voice hypnotic. STRAND It's a myth that people need heroes. People hate heroes! Heroes make them feel bad! By creating examples they can never live up to. As long as the media can show, day after day, that the people they respect and admire are just as twisted inside as they are... they're reassured. They can sleep at night. They can face their puffy faces in the mirror in the morning. MJ looks at Spider Man. It is impossible to read his expression through the mask from her perspective (though by clever lighting we will be able to see the uncertainty in his eyes). STRAND Misery loves company. And everybody's miserable. You run around in your long underwear coming off to them like some holier than thou saint, Mr. My Socks Don't Smell... you're heading for a big fall. They hate you. Strand step up to Peter. STRAND I want this to work out. You're a smart kid. Like those phony bracelets. That was a good idea. PETER (alarmed) What are you talking about? Strand puts his hands on Peter's shoulders. STRAND Son. I know your secret. See... I had the web material you left all over my living room analyzed. It's real spider silk. He grabs Peter's wrist and rips off the fake wrist- shooters. Looks closely at his wrists. Bends the hand back, forcing the spinneret to poke out a little. Mary Jane looks a little shocked at that one. Peter sees the fear in her eyes and his will seems to collapse. He sees the everything she feels for him changing in a second. It's true. He is a freak. He is no longer human. STRAND You can take off the costume, but you will always be the Spider Man. SPIDER MAN It's just Spider Man. STRAND The point is, you are not a hero. You are a spider. It's something you don't have a choice in. And spiders are predators. They kill to live. They kill to live. They are not hampered by humanitarian ideals or impeded in their lethal efficiency by delusions of morality. They are pure. Powerful. As God made them. There are no merciful spiders. There are no vegetarian spiders. It is now time for you to face and accept your true nature. Strand turns again to the window, this time putting his arm around Peter's shoulders. Father and son, staring down at the world they can own. STRAND Join me. Together we can shake this two-bit planet down for its last nickel. Take what is rightfully yours. You have been given a great gift, for a reason. Do not squander it. Peter stares out at the vista for a long time. It all makes so much sense. And it seems to explain so much of what he feels. All this churning confusion. Strand gestures to Boyd, who walks to a shape in the shadows nearby. Its about the size of two refrigerators and its covered by a tarp. Boyd pulls back the tarp to reveal... Money. Neatly stacked bankslipped, piles of hundreds. Six feet tall by eight feet long. Mary Jane gasps. STRAND Of course I seldom carry cash, but I had Boyd bring this for demonstration purposes. Much more dramatic than a bank statement, wouldn't you say? MARY JANE How much is it? STRAND It's about... what is it, Boyd? BOYD Two hundred and fifty. MARY JANE Thousand? STRAND (insulted) Million, dear girl. Million. It's all I had lying around on such short notice. (to Spider Man) Of course it's chump change compared to what you and I could do together. It's out there. All we have to do is take it. You know how I get this? It's a half a cent here, a half a cent there... electronic transactions taking place a million times a second... all over the world. And nobody misses it. That's the beauty. SPIDER MAN You know, I took some money once. It was easy. It was just sitting there. It was the solution to all my problems, and there was nobody to stop me. Nobody could touch me. So I took it. And you know what I found out? STRAND What, son? SPIDER MAN That there is a line you don't cross. And that sometimes you only find the line by tripping over it the first time you cross it. But once you do, you always know right where it is. STRAND Oh, please! Next you're going to tell me you gave the money back. SPIDER MAN More or less. STRAND This is a disappointment. SPIDER MAN Listen, you want to talk about fate? Maybe there is a reason for all this. Maybe I was put here to stop guys like you when nobody else has the balls. BOYD Pretty tough talk for a guy in a danceskin. Strand moves without warning, grabbing Mary Jane before Peter can pull her away. She feels the current running through her. Peter lunges forward and Strand turns up the juice. Mary Jane cries out. Peter stops. He can only watch helplessly as Strand toys with her life. Strand grabs her head and kisses her. The voltage makes her hair shoot straight out. She starts doing the watusi. STRAND See how power turns women on? He breaks the kiss. She slaps the shit out of him and he kisses her again, this time at a much higher voltage. MJ starts to convulse wildly. Meanwhile, Sandman has dissolved and is flowing across the floor. He reforms behind Peter and grabs him in a grip of solid rock. Peter struggles as Strand electrocutes MJ. She bucks and goes still. Her head falls back and Peter sees her staring eyes, pupils fixed and dilated. Dead as they come. Peter can only stare in horror. STRAND Mmmm. What should we do? Call 911? PETER I'll kill you! Motherfucker! You hear me?! You're dead, you sick bastard! STRAND See! That's my point exactly! You are a killer, kid. You've got it in you. Why don't you accept it? You want to rip my throat out right now. Strand puts his hand on Mary Jane's sternum and zaps her with a defibrillating pulse. She arches, then relaxes. Her chest starts to move. She opens her eyes, weakly, seeing Strand looking down at her. STRAND I think there's real electricity between us, don't you? Peter goes berserk. He fires webs at MJ, jerking her out of Strand's arms before he can react. Then... Mustering all his force, he EXPLODES the Sandman into loose chunks, which rain down around the room. He dives out of the way of Strand's first bolt of lightning, which sets a wall on fire... Peter tackles MJ and scoops her up... Diving right through the glass, a quarter mile up... Her scream vanishes on the wind. Sandman chunks dissolve into puddles of sand and quickly flow together... forming back into a human shape. Strand, in a fury runs to the window, looking down. No sign of Spider Man. Looking up he catches a glimpse of a figure leaping from one tower to the next... carrying MJ to safety. He fires a lightning bolt which sears the night. It explodes glass out of the north tower. ON THE ROOF of the tower, Spider Man gets MJ to the stairwell door. He rips it off its hinges and he tells her to run. She starts down. Then turns back to him. MARY JANE I love you. SPIDER MAN Cool. He turns to see... Across the gap, on the outdoor deck of the south tower, Sandman and Strand come out the door. Strand fires lightning bolts across to the other roof, blasting debris into the air. Peter knows enough not to leap onto the microwave tower... a natural lightning rod. Strand summons a furious force field of electromagnetic energy, like a sorcerer calling up a demon. The fiercely glowing plasma leaps across to the base of the microwave mast on the north tower. It starts to glow cherry red. Concentrating, he uses the electromagnetic force to bend the microwave tower toward him. It topples, falling across the gap. Bridging the two towers. Sandman leaps onto the bridge and runs across to Spider Man. THE FINAL BATTLE IS JOINED. And it's a real barn-burner. Vicious and elemental. I won't bore you with the details right now, but it's big. Some of the highlight: A major slug-fest with Sandman, during which... They pound each other mercilessly and reduce every object in sight to junk... Peter is pummelled, his costume ripped half off... Sandman gets spread around and reforms... All the while, Strand is ripping open the power panel next to the huge roof fans... Pulling out the 440 volt main cables... And FEEDING off the power... Screaming to high heaven as the energy blasts through him and... A brown-out darkens the whole lower half of Manhattan... And Strand conjures a writhing, living field of blinding blue-white force around him. It lifts objects into the air and melts the steel railing near him. The power of his mind to control the electromagnetic forces has grown exponentially. Sandman pounds Spidey into semi-consciousness. Hurls him off the roof... But he catches a web and pulls himself back up, like one of those spiders you can't get to stay down the drain... Spidey sees Strand readying a mega-blast... He leaps as the bolt rips along the edge of the roof... Blasting glass into space and fusing the steel in a glowing track a yard wide. Spidey sees that Strand is about to fire again... He fires a web at Sandman, lassoing him... Just as Stand unleashes a bolt... Spidey drops over the edge, pulling the web taut... Jerking Sandman, screaming, right into the path of the lightning beam... The furious bright plasma wraps over the Sandman... Fusing him into molten glass. Strand swears and runs across the bridge to the north tower. Sandman is a smoking lump of melted glass in the vague form of a man. Poised, cooling, in a position of agony. Like Michaelangelo's dying slave. His glass mouth is a shapeless pit of eternal pain. Bummer. Strand looks around and in a fury. Spider Man appears around the superstructure of the tower with a fire-hose. He unleashes a stream of water at Strand just as he is summoning a surge of power. It shorts, and there is a tremendous steam explosion. They are both hurled several yards. Spider Man comes up running and dives at Strand, smashing him brutally across the face... Pummelling him even as Strand shoots pulses into Peter's body which cause him to scream and writhe in agony. Peter is hurled back against a wall... He is crumpled on the ground, his costume in smoking rags... And Strand, unsteady and bleeding, advances. Strand summons his amperage for a single, lethal blast. The veins stand out on his neck and forehead. This is the big one... And Peter raises his head, his eyes steady... They lock eyes... And in the blink of an eye... Strand fires. Peter leaps. In midair he tags Strand with a loop of web and sails past him... Over the edge... Jerking Strand with him, over the side... And they fall together, down the face of the tower... Strand screams, unleashing bolts of power in all directions... From a distance it looks like some kind of fantastic Jacob's Ladder as the arcs light up the gap between the two towers. Strand's death fall is one of the most beautiful displays ever seen, like a symmetrical release of the energy which created him out of art and the elements. Falling... Peter, fighting for consciousness, fires webs at the wall... And one finally sticks... But it breaks. They're going too fast... He fires one at the far tower, fifty feet away... It grabs... And he swings toward the tower... Slamming against it as the line pulls taut... HOLDING. Jerking him to a stop, from a hundred miles an hour to zero in one second... And Strand rockets past him, still falling... Peter holds the web with all his might... Stopping Strand so suddenly that he slams into the steel columns along the side of the building with a sickening smack. The lightning stops suddenly. A few stray arcs as Strand's broken body dangles at the end of Peter's line. The sound of sirens wafts up from the street far below. OBSERVATION FLOOR, SOUTH TOWER: It is the window Peter shattered leaping out with Mary Jane. He climbs painfully up into view. Moving slowly, he swings in until he is on the floor. He pulls up on the taut lifeline, dragging a semi-conscious Strand up into the building. He lays him out on the floor. Strand is bleeding badly, and broken inside. Dying. Peter's mask is ripped half off by the fight. He pulls it off his head, showing his face to Strand for the first time. STRAND What's your name kid? PETER Parker. Peter Parker. STRAND Peter Parker. So... what're you? Senior in high school? PETER Yeah. I graduate next week. Strand chuckles weakly, coughing blood from ruptured lungs. STRAND Unbelievable. He dies. Peter sags, spent. Then he sees the pallet of money. Two hundred and fifty million dollars. Stolen a half a cent at a time from a billion accounts all over the world. Impossible to give back. What the heck. People don't notice the cloud at first. A green cloud, covering the city... a cloud of hundred dollar bills fluttering out across the city on a brisk breeze. Spreading for miles. But New York notices when it reached the street. From Central Park to the Battery, it is one big street party. On a warm evening, the first night of summer, it's raining hundred dollar bills as far as the eye can see. CUT TO: SPIDER MAN hanging in his eyrie. SPIDER MAN Well, when they rebuilt the radio tower, I sort of made it my favorite hang. The money? Cute trick, huh? Like I said, there's more than one way to be a saint. Did it save the world? Naw. It probably didn't save anybody. Except maybe me. CUT TO PETER, at school. It is the end of the schoolyear. He has a lot of bruises. He tells them he fell off his moped. They think he's a putz. MJ is back too. She is very quiet. She doesn't hang with any of her old friends. They think she's odd now. She doesn't care. SPIDER MAN (V.O.) There was still the small matter of the woman I loved... Peter and MJ get their grade on the science project. A+. He is happy for her that she will graduate with a B and get her car. But she doesn't care about that anymore. She's decided to go to a different collage, get her grades up, and then go to med-school. She thanks him for helping her see the wonder of things. She kisses him. And whoa... wait a minute. Why does that kiss seem so familiar? Peter is smiling. Not a geek. But confident. Even, somehow... charming. PETER Mary Jane. Close your eyes. She does. Puzzled. He moves very close to her. PETER (in Spidey voice) Do you still trust me? She gasps and her eyes pop open... staring at him. Then she gulps, nods once and squeezes them shut. He kisses her long and deep, and she twines her fingers in his hair. Two of MJ's snotnose girlfriends are walking by. They just stare, shocked. MJ breaks, staring at him in wonder. MARY JANE My God, Peter. Are you really him? I mean-- PETER Shhhh! It is what everybody secretly hopes for... that someday someone will see past the face that everyone sees to their secret self -- what is inside and hidden. Peter grins, and she returns it. They go back into the kiss, just as... Flash grabs Peter by the shoulder and spins him around. He can't believe it's true. MJ with this pencil-neck. He tells Peter to walk with him a second and Peter shrugs. Sure. He turns back to Mary Jane. PETER When two male wolf spiders, Pardosa, encounter one another in the presence of a female, they assume ritual threat postures. MJ smirks. Her eyes merry. Poor Flash. Flash drags Peter by his arm around the corner. He whirls on Peter without warning, with a lightning roundhouse. But of course Peter ducks and Flash hits a brick wall. PETER Careful, Flash. You could sprain something. Howling in pain, Flash holds his hand, then charges again. Peter steps aside, and Flash roars past. In the blink of an eye Peter shoots a tiny strand of web to a nearby railing. Flash rushes him, tripping on the silk, and cartwheels into a wall. PETER Flash, you should really watch your step. Here, let me help you up. Peter helps Flash to his feet, surreptitiously attaching a web to the back of his jacket. He shoots the other end to a nearby railing. Peter dusts Flash off and turns, walking away. Flash roars and charges... only to get jerked short like a mean dog on a short chain. His feet fly out from under him and he crashes on his back. Dazed. All the kids standing around the schoolyard laugh uproariously. Peter grins and holds up his hands. PETER I never laid a glove on him. I swear. Everybody cheers. Because the truth is: we really do like heroes. Especially when they're underdogs. CUT TO SPIDER MAN: STILL HANGING. SPIDER MAN Mary Jane and I got accepted to different colleges. Wouldn't you know it? But we see each other every weekend. Her grades are better than mine, but I blame it on the heavy hours. It's not easy being your friendly neighborhood Spider Man. Takes it out of you. Well, it's a schoolnight. Gotta fly. Be good. He pushes off from the mast... swinging in an arc out over the edge of the roof. Paying out web-line he drops like an express elevator toward the street far below. TILTING DOWN to follow as he becomes a black dot above the sea of lights. A tiny spider going home. THE ENDThe administration of Chris St. Lawrence, Town of Ramapo supervisor, continues to blame its woes on Finance Department administrator Melissa Reimer. An unfavorable financial review from the NY Comptroller’s Office, ranking Ramapo as the second most financially stressed town in New York State, came out Tuesday and the town immediately said it’s based on “incomplete data” that Supervisor of Fiscal Services Reimer “improperly” provided the state. The town complains that Reimer’s information, allegedly provided to state officials without town board review, did not include $3.5 million in anticipated revenue.
Sources say Reimer has been very helpful with the FBI’s recent investigation into the St. Lawrence administration and she apparently has been on the outs with the St. Lawrence in recent years. A source close to the situation said that Reimer resisted St. Lawrence’s funding and bookkeeping methods for the Pomona ballpark and this led to tension between herself and St. Lawrence.
In December 2012, Reimer officially got into hot water with the town, and has been the subject of recent disciplinary hearings over supposed improprieties in handling of overtime paperwork of a police officer she had a “personal relationship” with. The town described the married police officer as Reimer’s “paramour” in a press release Tuesday, and stated that Reimer tried to fudge his vacation records to his advantage. Reimer’s version of events is that she merely was attempting to correct an inaccurate piece of paperwork, something she’d done for many cops in the past when they needed a correction.
The Town of Ramapo’s press release stated that “On Monday afternoon, June 17, 2013, the supervisor received a telephone call from the Office of the New York State Comptroller indicating that the Town of Ramapo was to be included on a list to be released the following day of municipalities currently in significant fiscal distress. When asked what formed the basis of this determination, he was advised that it resulted from a report called an ‘Annual Update Document’ or ‘AUD’ submitted by a town Finance Department employee [whom the RC Times knows to be Reimer] in May suggesting certain fund deficits.”
Ramapo claims that since the AUD was submitted without town board review, it should not be considered valid.
Ramapo town claims, “The report is based on incomplete, unaudited and misleading information provided by a now suspended Finance Department employee facing disciplinary charges for attempting to falsify town records of her paramour. In an apparent attempt to embarrass the town, she failed to disclose to the comptroller over $3.5 million in anticipated revenue. Her conduct was discovered too late to correct the Comptroller’s report.”
St. Lawrence’s administration further stated that they do not expect the report from the Comptroller’s Office to cause a negative effect on their A1 Moody’s rating, because they anticipate that an independent auditor will clear the matter in the town’s favor.
See Town of Ramapo poor fiscal review here: Comptroller’s reviewNot only is Jimmie Johnson a better stock car driver than any of us mere mortals will ever hope to be, he could probably kick most of our butts in a bike race too.
Need proof? The day after last Sunday's race at Dover, Johnson (along with fellow Sprint Cup Series drivers Landon Cassill and Josh Wise) took part in the Assault on Mount Mitchell bike ride. The 103-mile jaunt with a 10,000 foot climb starts in Spartanburg, South Carolina and ends at the summit at Mt. Mitchell State Park.
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While Johnson said last week that he'd be in "survival mode" for the ride, he finished it in just over 6:11 and rode with former pro cyclist and Tour de France stage winner George Hincapie.
What Johnson calls survival mode on a bike would make a lot of us humans extinct.
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Johnson swam as a child and caught the fitness bug as an adult while he was in the midst of his run of five-straight Sprint Cup Series championships.
It was a hot summer day in Charlotte like it typically is and I wanted to get back in the water," Johnson told Yahoo Sports earlier this month. "So I got in the pool and swam and … after I was there a couple weeks someone asked me what triathlon I was getting ready for. It wasn |
that he comply with all of the judge's orders in his criminal case, including reporting to jail as scheduled June 1.]
He told commissioners Wednesday that he would begin his jail sentence on that date, a commitment that was cited by Manny Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, as a complication in arranging the anticipated super-fight between the men considered the world's top two boxers, pound-for-pound.
Instead, Mayweather has turned to Arum's former fighter, Cotto, who has lost only to Antonio Margarito and Pacquiao (by technical knockout in November 2009), and avenged the Margarito loss by TKO in December in New York.
The bout was Cotto's last on his contract with Arum's Top Rank promoting company, and he's now made a free-agent splash in positioning for a date with Mayweather.
By doing so, the likelihood increases that Pacquiao will now fight Cathedral City's unbeaten junior-welterweight world champion, Timothy Bradley, on June 9.
RELATED:
Mayweather-Pacquiao won't happen in the spring
Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. already are fighting
Manny Pacquiao has a backup plan if Floyd Mayweather fight doesn't happen
-- Lance Pugmire
Photos: Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, and Miguel Cotto. Credits: Julie Jacobson / Associated Press; Kathy Willens / Associated PressChris Sale keeps racking up strikeouts at a historic pace for the Boston Red Sox.
The elite left-hander, who recently struck out 10 batters in Boston's 2-1 loss to Detroit in his second start of the season, has more strikeouts through 150 career starts (1,149) than any pitcher in baseball history, according to ESPN's Scott Lauber, citing the Elias Sports Bureau.
Sale is also the youngest starter (28 years old) with the shortest service time (eight-year career) to accumulate 1,273 strikeouts, placing him 31st on the active all-time strikeout leaders list.
The southpaw's first three starts, including Saturday's 12 strikeout performance in which he limited the Tampa Bay Rays to one run over seven innings, have been everything the Red Sox could have dreamed of when they acquired him in the offseason. To date, Sale has combined for a 5-29 walk-to-strikeout ratio, 1.25 ERA, and 0.74 WHIP.
Unfortunately for Sale and Co., the Red Sox have failed to score more than two runs in each of his three starts. The team's offense has provided the lefty an average of one run of support per game - second-worst in baseball.Columnist
One of Washington's permanent parlor games is how much credit or blame a president deserves for the state of the economy. Inevitably, then, the question being asked now is whether Donald Trump or Barack Obama created today's strong economy. The correct answer: neither. To the extent that personal responsibility can be assigned, the worthy recipient is Janet Yellen.
In practice, presidents' influence over the economy is limited. If it were otherwise, we'd live in an economic paradise. Unemployment would always be low, wages would always rise, and recessions would never occur. No one has that kind of power. Presidents and their agencies can't govern the business cycle.
The obvious qualification to this reality is the Federal Reserve. By regulating the flow of money and credit, the Fed stimulates or retards the economy, though not always in predictable ways. There are regular collisions between what the Fed can actually achieve and what the public thinks it should achieve. Yellen has led it since 2014 but will leave early next year and be replaced by Fed governor Jerome Powell.
Under Yellen, the economy has made huge progress. Here's the record since she became Fed head in February 2014: Payroll employment has expanded by nearly 10 million jobs; the unemployment rate has dropped from 6.7 percent to 4.1 percent; average hourly earnings, uncorrected for inflation, rose from $24.32 to $26.55. (Corrected for inflation, the wage gain is about 4 percent — not great but not stagnation either. The pace, if maintained, would be roughly 10 percent over a decade.)
None of this was preordained. It's true that Yellen followed the policies of her predecessor, Ben Bernanke, but these policies were not, as Yellen has repeatedly stated, on "automatic pilot." They required much judgment. The problem faced by Yellen was to maintain a policy of easy money long enough to promote the economy's recovery but not so long as to feed either inflation or financial speculation.
It will be some years before a final verdict can be rendered on Yellen's stewardship. Is the stock market overvalued? Did the Fed contribute to that? What happens if stocks crash? Questions linger.
Still, for the moment, most of Yellen's judgments seem on the mark. Bernanke's Fed had adopted a policy of ultra-easy money. It had reduced short-term interest rates to near zero and, in an effort to bring down long-term rates, had purchased more than $3 trillion of Treasury and home-mortgage securities. (When the Fed buys securities, their price typically goes up and their interest rate goes down.)
Yellen has slowly been reversing this policy. Since December 2015, the Fed has raised short-term interest rates five times, including an increase last week. The so-called Fed funds rate has risen to a maximum of 1.5 percent. More increases are expected in 2018. Likewise, the Fed is reducing its holdings of Treasury and mortgage securities, putting upward pressure on long-term interest rates.
All this has gone smoothly — and that's just the point. It wasn't inevitable. The mechanics of raising interest rates from their ultra-low position involved new and untested procedures. There were dire predictions that things would go awry. They didn't.
"The Fed was acutely aware that it had to be perceived as successful... to have public support," says economist Ken Matheny of Macroeconomic Advisers.
Given her reputation as a conciliator, Yellen may also have improved the Fed's public standing. Remember: The chair can't single-handedly impose policy. The Fed's key decision-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), has 12 members. Despite a tradition of deference to the chair, "you have to achieve a consensus," says Matheny. "It's not a dictatorship."
Yellen leaves a solid legacy, built on professional competence, integrity and dignity.
Just what prompted President Trump to pass her over in favor of Powell is unclear. It's not monetary policy, where both adhere to the present Fed consensus.
Trump's decision flouts an informal custom, since the 1980s, to reappoint the Fed chair to at least a second four-year term. It may be that the president feels more comfortable with Powell. Or he may think (inaccurately?) that, if the economy weakens, he can more easily bend Powell to his will than Yellen.
Whatever the case, the irony is hard to miss. Powell's performance, at least initially, will be compared with Yellen's. It is a high hurdle to clear.
Read more from Robert Samuelson's archive.More NSA surveillance news is out: First, Japanese authorities refused to assist the NSA in Internet surveillance. Second, as put by Glenn Greenwald, the co-author of an article in Spain's El Mundo, "NSA collected data on 60 million calls in Spain in one month".
I'd like to say I'm as mad as everyone about the massive surveillance programs disclosed by Edward Snowden, but I'm not. I am very upset about some specific practices, but not others. So much of the outrage is over government actions which any reasonable person would presume were happening anyway.
In that sense, at least from the point of view of an American, the slowly-released stories of NSA surveillance abroad are getting quite boring. Point made: The NSA spies on friend and foe alike, and foreigners not in the US have no privacy rights under US law.
There have been calls, such as those of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, for changes in Internet governance. As The Guardian put it:
Rousseff called on the UN oversee a new global legal system to govern the internet. She said such multilateral mechanisms should guarantee the "freedom of expression, privacy of the individual and respect for human rights" and the "neutrality of the network, guided only by technical and ethical criteria, rendering it inadmissible to restrict it for political, commercial, religious or any other purposes.
John Levine, a true expert in the technology and governance of the Internet and no NSA apologist, rightly calls this "a crock."If the US has extraordinary access to the networks in other countries like Brazil, it's because of bad telecom policies in those countries. In Brazil specifically, laws which protect domestic monopolies make it cheaper for Brazilian networks to pair with each other through US networks. Seriously. Obviously this makes it easy for US authorities to spy on Brazilian networks. What do they expect?
Rousseff's raising of net neutrality arguments makes the speech even more bizarre. Such arguments have no merit even when they are in context. No doubt extremists of all types would like to restrict Internet speech for the reasons she lists, but it's not an actual problem, at least not in the US; perhaps Brazil has such restrictions.
ICANN also thinks it will be at the center of Snowden-inspired changes. I find this amusing. ICANN policy has, at least as often as not, weakened the security of the Internet through added complexity and naïve governance.
In fact, as Levine reminds us, the Internet is a collection of networks with voluntary agreements to connect to each other and route traffic. The only possible leverage countries like Brazil have with the US on this matter would be to disconnect their networks from us and connect through other countries. Doing this will certainly cost them enough money to trump their principles and they'll just get spied on by the countries with whom they connect instead of the US.
Long before the Snowden revelations, every time there was another story about the Chinese spying on our Internet, I would write that it just stands to reason we're doing the same thing; or at least I hoped we were. No rules promulgated by some UN or other bureaucracy have the slightest chance of stopping nation states from conducting espionage on each other. As individuals and organizations, all we can do is to use defensive security technologies, such as encryption, to protect ourselves. At the very least, you can make it much harder.Antony van Zyl and wife Antonia Connor, along with their five children, have big plans for the former Growling Rabbit in Rogers Park. View Full Caption Wired Coffeehouse
ROGERS PARK — The store front left behind when The Growling Rabbit moved to Edgewater will soon be home to restaurants serving international breakfasts, customized mac and cheese and gourmet marshmallows.
Husband and wife Antony van Zyl and Antonia Connor, Evanston residents who own Wired Coffeehouse, are taking over the vacant 6981 N. Sheridan Road store and a former hair salon next door with plans to open multiple businesses that will involve seven members of their family.
"They're all grown children, so for me it's kind of nice because I get to spend time with them," van Zyl said. "The way that we run things we're really like a second home, so everyone's family. We try to make everyone feel like they're coming home for a while."
A cafe and coffee shop called Nibbles and Nosh will offer international breakfasts and midday bites from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. on one side of the L-shaped space, while the other will be transformed into a formal dining area that will be used for prix fixe pop-up dinners on Friday and Saturday nights.
Those meals will feature a sampling of chefs from around the city and country, possibly even farther, van Zyl said.
The cafe side will also feature a "pay-it-forward" board where customers can buy items in advance for others, a concept van Zyl used at a former location he plans to continue in Rogers Park.
From 4 p.m-2 a.m., the kitchen will serve customizable macaroni and cheese to-go or for delivery as part of another business called Midnight Mac and Cheesery.
Customers with a late-night craving can add toppings like Buffalo chicken, lobster, steak, tofu and more to a gooey base of cheesy goodness.
Law school graduate and daughter Kathryn Connor-van Zyl's end of the business, XO Marshmallow, will operate next door.
The retail shop will offer unique gourmet flavored marshmallows, as well as specialty drinks and a small seating area.
Van Zyl said he expects to be serving macaroni first beginning in early April, with Nibbles and Nosh and XO Marshmallow following shortly after.
The couple's four daughters and son pitch-in part-time with their parents manning the business.
And, as a 20-year customer of the Growling Rabbit and its predecessors, van Zyl said he knows how a coffee shop can come to feel like a second home itself.
He hopes to connect with new customers and build neighborhood regulars with his new ventures.
"That's a very important element... is making sure people who come there aren't just coming to get a cup of coffee and then go on with their busy lives, but to feel comfortable and stay," he said.
The businesses also give van Zyl a chance to showcase some of his South African roots, like with a South African food-themed international breakfast.
Van Zyl sought refuge in the United States in the 1980s after speaking out on apartheid. Thereafter, he met his wife, an Italian New Yorker who "won him over completely."
"I've been here for 30 years," van Zyl said. "So I'm more Chicagoan than I am South African, but I cling tightly to my roots."Tim Krul: Has been unable to halt Newcastle's defensive woes
After a fifth-place finish in the Premier League last season, Newcastle have struggled so far in this campaign and sit just two points off the relegation zone, having won just two of their last 15 matches in all competitions.
Krul, who gained significant plaudits for his impressive performances last season, believes that his form has slipped as his side have faltered.
"I can't be happy with my performances and it hurts me a lot," Krul said.
"I know the manager has shown trust in me, which is very important, but he gave me the chance here so I hope I can repay him.
"The last two games we've played fantastic stuff, but we've conceded too many goals.
"When you're putting a massive shift in and you've got zero points again, it hurts."
Krul, who has four caps for the Netherlands, has kept just two clean sheets in his 20 games this season, in comparison with 15 in 42 games in 2011/12.jQuery 1.6.1 Released
Posted on by
We’re pleased to announce the first update to jQuery 1.6!
You can get the code from the jQuery CDN:
Additionally you can also load the URLs directly from Microsoft and Google’s CDNs:
Microsoft CDN: http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.6.1.min.js
Google CDN: https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js
You can help us by dropping that code into your existing application and letting us know that if anything no longer works. Please file a bug and be sure to mention that you’re testing against jQuery 1.6.1.
We want to encourage everyone from the community to try and get involved in contributing back to jQuery core. We’ve set up a full page of information dedicated towards becoming more involved with the team. The team is here and ready to help you help us!
Upgrading From 1.5.2 to 1.6.1
With the introduction of the new.prop() method and the changes to the.attr() method, jQuery 1.6 sparked a discussion about the difference between attributes and properties and how they relate to each other. It also came with some backwards compatibility issues that have been fixed in 1.6.1. When updating from 1.5.2 to 1.6.1, you should not have to change any attribute code.
Below is a description of the changes to the Attributes module in jQuery 1.6 and 1.6.1, as well as the preferred usage of the.attr() method and the.prop() method. However, as previously stated, jQuery 1.6.1 will allow you to use.attr() just as it was used before in all situations.
Note that the changes described in the 1.6 release notes regarding the.data() method have been worked around and now work seamlessly between 1.5.2 and 1.6.1.
What’s Changed
The changes to the Attributes module removed the ambiguity between attributes and properties, but caused some confusion in the jQuery community, since all versions of jQuery prior to 1.6 have handled attributes and properties in one method(.attr() ). The old.attr() method had many bugs and was hard to maintain.
jQuery 1.6.1 comes with several bug fixes as well as an update to the Attributes module.
Specifically, boolean attributes such as checked, selected, readonly, and disabled in 1.6.1 will be treated just as they used to be treated in jQuery versions prior to 1.6. This means that code such as
$(“:checkbox”).attr(“checked”, true); $(“option”).attr(“selected”, true); $(“input”).attr(“readonly”, true); $(“input”).attr(“disabled”, true);
or even:
if ( $(“:checkbox”).attr(“checked”) ) { /* Do something */ }
will not need to be changed in 1.6.1 in order to work as previously expected.
To make the changes to.attr() in jQuery 1.6 clear, here are some examples of the use cases of.attr() that worked in previous versions of jQuery that should be switched to use.prop() instead:
.attr() Proper.prop() usage $(window).attr… $(window).prop… $(document).attr… $(document).prop… $(“:checkbox”).attr(“checked”, true); $(“:checkbox”).prop(“checked”, true); $(“option”).attr(“selected”, true); $(“option”).prop(“selected”, true);
First, using the.attr() method on the window or document did not work in jQuery 1.6 because the window and document cannot have attributes. They contain properties (such as location or readyState) that should be manipulated with.prop() or simply with raw javascript. In jQuery 1.6.1, the.attr() will defer to the.prop() method for both the window and document instead of throwing an error.
Next, checked, selected, and other boolean attributes previously mentioned are receiving special treatment because of the special relationship between these attributes and their corresponding properties. Basically, an attribute is what you see in the html:
<input type=”checkbox” checked=”checked”>
Boolean attributes such as checked only set the default or initial value. In the case of a checkbox, the checked attribute sets whether the checkbox should be checked when the page loads.
Properties are what the browser uses to keep track of the current values. Normally, properties reflect their corresponding attributes (if they exist). This is not the case with boolean attributes. Boolean properties stay up to date when the user clicks a checkbox or selects an option in a select element. The corresponding boolean attributes do not. As was stated above, they are used by the browser only to store the initial value.
$(“:checkbox”).get(0).checked = true; // Is the same as $(":checkbox:first").prop(“checked”, true);
In jQuery 1.6, setting checked with
$(“:checkbox”).attr(“checked”, true);
would not check the checkbox because it was the property that needed to be set and all you were setting was the initial value.
However, once jQuery 1.6 was released, the jQuery team understood that it was not particularly useful to set something that the browser was only concerned with on page load. Therefore, in the interest of backwards compatibility and the usefulness of the.attr() method, we will continue to be able to get and set these boolean attributes with the.attr() method in jQuery 1.6.1.
The most common boolean attributes are checked, selected, disabled, and readOnly, but here is a full list of boolean attributes/properties that jQuery 1.6.1 supports dynamically getting and setting with.attr() :
autofocus, autoplay, async, checked, controls, defer, disabled, hidden, loop, multiple, open, readonly, required, scoped, selected
It is still recommended that.prop() be used when setting these boolean attributes/properties, but your code will continue working in jQuery 1.6.1 even if these use cases are not switched to use the.prop() method.
Below is a list of some attributes and properties and which method should normally be used when getting or setting them. This is the preferred usage, but the.attr() method will work in all attribute cases.
Note that some DOM Element properties are also listed below – but will only work with the new.prop() method.
Attribute/Property.attr().prop() accesskey ✓ align ✓ async ✓ ✓ autofocus ✓ ✓ checked ✓ ✓ class ✓ contenteditable ✓ defaultValue ✓ draggable ✓ href ✓ id ✓ label ✓ location * ✓ ✓ multiple ✓ ✓ nodeName ✓ nodeType ✓ readOnly ✓ ✓ rel ✓ selected ✓ ✓ selectedIndex ✓ src ✓ style ✓ tabindex ✓ tagName ✓ title ✓ type ✓ width ** ✓
* For example, with window.location
** If needed over.width()
Neither.attr() nor.prop() should be used for getting/setting value. Use the.val() method instead (although using.attr(“value”, “somevalue”) will continue to work, as it did before 1.6).
Summary of Preferred Usage
The.prop() method should be used for boolean attributes/properties and for properties which do not exist in html (such as window.location). All other attributes (ones you can see in the html) can and should continue to be manipulated with the.attr() method.
jQuery 1.6.1 Change Log
The current change log of the 1.6.1 release.
Attributes
#9071: $(‘<option></option>’).val(‘myValue’) no longer sets value
#9079:.attr(“selected”) returns non-useful value in 1.6
#9089: 1.6 atrr() Inconsistant in IE7,8
#9094: Issue with jQuery 1.6: Can’t uncheck checkboxes
#9103:.attr(‘foo’, true) not setting related DOM property
#9123: Strange behavior of attr method when generate input element.
#9129: jQuery does not support enumerated attributes such as contenteditable
#9191: attr checked bug on radio
Data
#9124: Changes to $.data illogical in certain case
#9126: jquery breaks on use strict
Deferred
#9104: Returning null or undefined in a pipe filter function causes an exception
Effects
#9074: Cannot animate position and opacity at same time
#9100: Order of hide() callbacks has changed
Event
#9069: when hover over a child of an element, mouseleave fires when using live or delegate
Manipulation
#9072: jQuery 1.6 Crashes IE 6
#9221: Javascript within AJAX fails to load in IE – Error 80020101
Queue
#9147: Variable tmp in promise implicitly declared?
Selector
#7341: Slow.add() in IE
#9096: Selector or find bug in jQuery 1.6
#9154: :reset pseudo-selector broken
SupportWith all of the intense, disturbing real-world stuff that went down in Boston all day Friday, basketball games don’t seem so important any more, do they? But here we are. It’s Saturday, the first day of the NBA Playoffs, and after the last week, we probably all need a major dose of basketball played by the world’s greatest athletes to take our minds off of current events.
This is what the schedule looks like:
Can you think of anything more entertaining than what we’re about to get with Nuggets/Warriors? It’s a shame that Danilo Gallinari is out; both teams at full strength would be wild…
Do you know who else is ready for the NBA Playoffs to start? Pat Riley:
On the next page, David Stern attacks flopping … and Sean Elliott??Adult-born hippocampal neurons are important for cognitive plasticity in rodents. There is evidence for hippocampal neurogenesis in adult humans, although whether its extent is sufficient to have functional significance has been questioned. We have assessed the generation of hippocampal cells in humans by measuring the concentration of nuclear-bomb-test-derived 14C in genomic DNA, and we present an integrated model of the cell turnover dynamics. We found that a large subpopulation of hippocampal neurons constituting one-third of the neurons is subject to exchange. In adult humans, 700 new neurons are added in each hippocampus per day, corresponding to an annual turnover of 1.75% of the neurons within the renewing fraction, with a modest decline during aging. We conclude that neurons are generated throughout adulthood and that the rates are comparable in middle-aged humans and mice, suggesting that adult hippocampal neurogenesis may contribute to human brain function.Tomokatu: 21 May 2015 8:22:24am As this world becomes more populated with us, we are forced willy-nilly into closer proximity. Because of the inherently violent nature of our killer ape ancestry, that's a guaranteed immediate increase in violence of all kinds.
There is no cure beyond either to increase space between us or a really, really profound mutation in our brain structures. Mutations cannot be predicted or controlled so we either reduce population densities everywhere or colonise space. Reply Alert moderator Audax: 21 May 2015 9:15:50am Oh so true. We are a species of two legged rats that now populated the planet in plague proportions. We are clever enough to dominate the Earth, displacing and eradicating other species at our whim, but not clever enough to limit our numbers.
Reply Alert moderator
Alpo: 21 May 2015 9:22:22am All true, but let's not forget that very big chunks of our behaviour are controlled by regions of the brain that are flexible, dynamic.... "plastic" (as the scientists would say). So, our most basic "instincts" can still be modulated, to a great extent, by our brain. Training the brain (education) does help.
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Fenix: 21 May 2015 9:35:24am I read a sci fi recently (called 'elegans', on Amazon) which dealt with the concept of a new species of human arising on Earth. This species was superior because it was LESS greedy and impactful on the planet, reproduced at a lower rate, lived for hundreds if not thousands of years and had a measure of telekinesis. The reaction of Homo sapiens to this new species.. destroy it! And that's exactly what would happen. For a new species to gain ascendancy, the old species must give way, but when it comes to the most intelligent, greedy,
unimaginably violent creature that has ever walked the Earth, Homo sapiens will not go quietly. We are doomed, and even the concept of our own evolution is doomed. We would rather kill ourselves off and take the rest of the planet with us than yield to a better type of human. Reply Alert moderator JoeBloggs: 21 May 2015 1:32:39pm We are no more violent than most other predatorary species on this planet.
Predatory species have particular behavioural traits and we have become the apex predator on this planet (though other non-terrestrial species may well surpass our abilities).
We don't bemoan a lion or an Orca for its behaviours, nor should we overly bemoan our species. Reply Alert moderator Fenix: 21 May 2015 1:51:38pm No, but lions don't have nuclear weapons, jet fighters, bombers, attack helicopters, drones carrying hellfire missiles, controlled by lions on the savannah, flying around over a country half a planet away. Lions don't have nuclear subs carrying enough destructive capacity to obliterate an entire country. Lions do not have a religion that proclaims that lions are the rightful owner of the planet and have the divine right to eradicate any and all other creatures on the planet. Reply Alert moderator Zing: 21 May 2015 3:30:25pm "lions don't have nuclear weapons, jet fighters, bombers, attack helicopters, drones carrying hellfire missiles...."
Which leads to the obvious question - if lions did have these things, how do you think they would be used?
Lions don't have guilt, mercy or moral boundaries to restrict their actions. If they are less violent than a human, it's not for want of trying. Reply Alert moderator Fenix: 21 May 2015 4:14:52pm Well, to achieve these things, they would have to have a brain that operates like a human's. In which case they'd no longer be lions. They would be a new and dangerous species that used its prodigious intelligence designing ways to kill every other species on Earth. The same as us.
I'm pretty sure if you dropped a shipping container load of assault rifles in the midst of a pride of lions, they'd still ambush and chase down their prey, eat it, then lie around in the sun for the next couple of days until they were hungry or horny. Drop the same shipping container load in the midst of a crowd of humans and see what happens.
Lions don't have guilt or mercy, but nor do they have greed, envy, arrogance, dishonesty, religion, nationalism or politics. And they're not violent, they kill to eat, and they fight to secure mating privileges or defend territory. They walk an incredibly fine line between failure and survival, both as a species and as individuals. Reply Alert moderator
Fenix: 21 May 2015 10:18:03am I read a sci fi recently (called 'elegans', on Amazon) which dealt with the concept of a new species of human arising on Earth. This species was superior because it was LESS greedy and impactful on the planet, reproduced at a lower rate, lived for hundreds if not thousands of years and had a measure of telekinesis. The reaction of Homo sapiens to this new species.. destroy it! And that's exactly what would happen. For a new species to gain ascendancy, the old species must give way, but when it comes to the most intelligent, greedy,
unimaginably violent creature that has ever walked the Earth, Homo sapiens will not go quietly. We are doomed, and even the concept of our own evolution is doomed. We would rather kill ourselves off and take the rest of the planet with us than yield to a better type of human. Reply Alert moderator mick: 21 May 2015 10:53:39am "We are doomed, and even the concept of our own evolution is doomed."
Rubbish, we're inching civilisation forward ever so slowly, and every so often we are reminded of the perils of mankind, for example ISIS right now.
There has always been entertainment, and it might not suit you, but that's more about choice than determination.
You can be a miserable naysayer, a doomsayer who regularly demands his fellows change their ways, and we tolerate you all, but would also ask that you tolerate us.
It's the same with the climate cranks, peak oil hysterics and all the other people who demand we must do this that or the other.
Your lack of tolerance changes nothing.
When we stop tolerating your lack of tolerance however, then you will have cause to be concerned.
Currently you enjoy our tolerance while you shout at us and call us names, for the time being.
Reply Alert moderator Dave: 21 May 2015 11:28:32am "You can be a miserable naysayer, a doomsayer"
It's a simple fact of biology, no matter how uncomfortable, that no dominant species has ever remained very dominant. We're at the top of the tree as at right now bit we've been lucky to avoid nuclear war by the skin of our teeth only a generation ago and now the evidence of the world's environment creaking at the seams is mounting.
Homo sapiens is headed for, at the very least, a significant population crash one way or another. Biology guarantees it, it's only a matter of time. Sorry for being a'miserable naysayer', or as I prefer, a realist. Reply Alert moderator JoeBloggs: 21 May 2015 1:37:25pm Dave,
The only reason prior apex predator species did not remain as the dominate species on this planet is simply because they did not develop the necessary technical ability to get off planet and survive as a species off planet.
Eventually a snowball from space will impact on Earth again, or some other extinction level event will occur again.
For the first time in the 4.5 billion year history of our planet our species has the opportunity to become a true space fairing species.
If we are to survive as a species long term we must live off planet.
It is inevitable, and we should do it sooner rather than later in order to minimise the risks to our species.
ps. biology does not guarantee a population collapse. Reply Alert moderator Fenix: 21 May 2015 12:00:22pm Now if you're not going to take this discussion seriously.. Inching civilisation forward? Where's the evidence of that? Because our population is proliferating? Because we are able to dig up more stuff out of the ground? Because there is a class of electronic device that holds billions of people in a state of constant stupefaction? Because we have, as a species, changed the very climate of the planet we live on? Or is it because we now possess weaponry that can obliterate an entire world? This is civilisation? Inching forward? Wow. Reply Alert moderator JoeBloggs: 21 May 2015 1:40:27pm Fenix,
For the first time in our planets 4.5 billion year history a species has evolved that has the ability to live off planet and thus guarantee its long term survival (even beyond the life of our local star the sun and this little blue planet).
That... is civilisation.
And that is our species civilisation.
Have some pride in your species mate. Reply Alert moderator Fenix: 21 May 2015 2:39:29pm The ability but so far not the will. One day's military spending would fund the space programme for years- yet here we are, 46 years after first setting foot on the moon and we haven't been back since the early 1970's. And that's 1 country- the US in fact, before it fell victim to a long and irrevocable decline. And the rest of the planet? South East asia is bursting at the seams, china and india alone account for half the world's population. Europe is in turmoil, Africa is a basket case, the middle-east an insane asylum, south america a drug and violence-ridden pesthole.
Iceland's nice. Reply Alert moderator JoeBloggs: 21 May 2015 4:00:23pm Fenix,
That is quite true in relation to military spending.
However without military spending much of the discoveries/inventions needed for the colonisation of space would not have occured and more importantly our economies that fund the long slow process of the colonisation of space would not have been able to fund said research/exploration if our military might had not been able to create the necessary geopolitical conditions that have provided decades (almost a century now) of real and effective global peace between superpowers (minor regional conflicts ignored).
For example the military X-37 drone that is currently being used in semi secret missions provides an excellent blueprint for the command and control systems (and spacecraft) needed to obtain resources from asteriods and operate remotely operated industrial stations that would refine key resources in situ or in orbit. Couple that with a RIO/BHP style remote fully robotic mining operations centre and we have much of what we will need to begin the process of industrialising space.
ps. we don't go to the moon because there isn't any need to go there.
pps. iceland is cold.... and broke... I hope you like fish. Reply Alert moderator capewell: 21 May 2015 1:43:08pm Tend to agree Fenix. I think our downfall is pretty well illustrated in the Idiocracy movie, where the dumbest breed most prolifically and swamp the planet. Look around at the majority of people around the globe that have large numbers of kids. They are generally low IQ individuals and often stuck in cultures that really ceased to evolve hundreds of years ago or are still under the sway of the big bogeyman in the sky/vatican. This is the contagion that will eventually destroy us. Reply Alert moderator Fenix: 21 May 2015 2:40:05pm At last, a voice of reason. Reply Alert moderator Clicky The Robot: 21 May 2015 4:45:43pm " majority of people around the globe... are generally low IQ individuals... stuck in cultures" That's always been the case and yet we advance despite them.
Animals don't know anything about conservation, they will happily over breed, over graze and over hunt until they crash their ecosystem. Humans are aware of the problem - that in itself is a huge advance over other creatures.
I swear some people get a thrill out of doomsaying. They're also the least likely to actually do anything. They want to see it crash so they can feel smug. Meanwhile the few clever ones, not distracted by petty and tribal BS, carry on inching us forward, as Joe says. Even though the others mock them, even execute them for it. Reply Alert moderator
JoeBloggs: 21 May 2015 1:26:35pm The colonisation of the solar system is inevitiable.
Plans for the mining of resources, to enable the industrialisation of orbital space around Earth, to enable the develoment of orbital settlements is already well underway.
Various joint venture type operations between groups like Planetary Resources and NASA are already underway.
Hopefully in my lifetime it will occur.
Still, humans will be humans.... thankfully 99.99% of us are inherently decent. Reply Alert moderator
MCW: 21 May 2015 8:25: |
before the age of five, and it often manifests as gender non-conforming behavior, or not exactly feeling like a boy or a girl. Soon after that time, we start to receive subtle or overt messages from the people around us that there is something unacceptable about being different, something worthy of rejection. Often we get these messages not just from our friends and communities, but also from the people we love and depend on the most, including our parents.
Through those early messages, we get a taste of what rejection feels like, and it hurts deeply, like a life threatening injury. For a child under ten, being rejected by parents and community is actually life threatening, so the feeling of rejection that we go through at that young age may become linked with possible death.
So at an age far too young, many gay boys are faced with a crucial and defining choice. Keep sharing our authentic selves with the world, and risk feeling rejection again, or avoid the emotion altogether by hiding the parts of ourselves that our parents and communities wont accept. Most of us choose the latter because that is the path that gives us the best chance of survival. And with that decision, a very important link gets forged –-avoiding an emotion, and surviving.
In place of the authentic selves that we hide and repress, we construct a false self, a self that can never be rejected or abandoned. The false self is all about perfection and control. If we can just be perfect, we tell ourselves, everyone will accept us, our parents will love us, and we will never have to feel those painful emotions again. We search for areas in our lives where can be perfect and win the love of our parents and communities, areas where the false self can excel; school, extracurriculars, careers, and of course, our bodies.
We see the bodies that receive acceptance and love in our culture, we listen to the body standards that our parents place on us, and we resolve to be perfect in that regard. Gaining weight or revealing an undesirable body part comes to be associated with rejection, which still carries the weight of death in our minds. When we sense that our bodies aren’t exactly the way they “should” be, that may open up the door to that feeling of rejection, which can be experienced as a terrifying, life threatening loss of control. So we find a way to regain control and avoid the feeling; through purging, fasting, working out, hiding the body part, etc. Again, avoid the feeling, and survive.
As with anything in life, our decision to run from the feeling only makes the feeling more threatening. As the feeling gets bigger and scarier, our standards become stricter. The smallest imperfection can put us at risk, and so our ideas of perfection can become increasingly and often impossibly strict. Where others see perfection, we still see flaws.
At some point, we decide to come out of the closet. Maintaining the false self and seeking perfection becomes too exhausting, and we finally embrace our repressed sexual identities. But coming out is just the beginning of undoing a lifetime of emotional patterns, because we didn’t just repress our sexual identity, we also repressed our authentic emotional core. The emotional coming out process usually takes years because it means being vulnerable and giving up power and control, which goes against everything we knew growing up. Often gay men still crave perfection and intensely fear rejection years after they come out, and when it comes to our physical bodies, many gay men find themselves completely stuck, unable to abandon their false, perfection-seeking self and embrace their authentic, imperfect bodies.
In some respects, the gay community is a great catalyst for the process of shedding the false self and embracing authenticity, encouraging people to be themselves and love who they want, but when it comes to body image, the gay community can actually hinder that process. Instead of reducing our fears of rejection, the rigid body standards within the community can reinforce those fears, and exacerbate them.
So the maladaptive links remain – imperfect body means feeling rejection means possible death. We continue to control our bodies as a way of avoiding painful emotions and surviving.
So what’s a possible answer? The simple answer is to stop running from emotions, but obviously that’s easier said than done. When we avoid an emotion for a lifetime, it builds up inside of us and can feel completely overwhelming to access. The real answer may start with reversing emotional isolation. Rejection may feel overwhelming because we’ve always experienced it in isolation, since that very young age when we felt it for the first time. The same often goes for our other negative emotions, like shame and anger.
Letting other people in on our painful emotions might feel like going against everything that makes us who we are. It means giving up the power and control that has made us feel safe for so long, but there is one old adage that I use constantly with my clients: The only way out is through.
In order to move past the body image issues that keep us pained and stagnant, we have to find safe spaces and supportive people with whom we can share the painful emotions. People who will hold the space for us, and help us to regulate the emotion, and allow us to realize that it will not overwhelm us or cause our death. People who don’t buy into the rigid body standards of our community, and who will not further shame us for our struggles.
When we stop running from ourselves, we start gaining comfort with ourselves, and accepting ourselves. From there, we open the door to loving ourselves, and our bodies.
Nick Fager, KIP Fellow
KIP has a new therapy group starting for gay men with a focus on body image. The full description of the group can be found here. Email nick@kiptherapy.com with questions or to join. You can also follow Nick on Instagram @gaytherapy.Cornerbacks have evolved into the divas of the defense. The Vikings’ unit isn’t short of personality quirks, from Mackensie Alexander’s brash nature to Terence Newman’s red wine. Even in the depth of the roster, weird stories like Tre Roberson’s position switch and Terrell Sinkfield’s unorthodox career make for plenty of potential headlines. There’s not a lot of potential for motion at the top of the roster, outside of whoever Newman bumps off the field (if anyone). Below the five locked in veterans, however, a gaggle of hopefuls from incredibly diverse backgrounds will vie for a chance to participate in the Vikings’ elite secondary.
Xavier Rhodes – There’s no ambiguity to Xavier Rhodes’ role on the Vikings. Not only is he clearly the top corner on the team, but occupies a space as one of the faces of the franchise and a top corner in the whole league. He’s gone from idolizing those like Darrelle Revis to supplanting them atop the football world. Rhodes won’t have much to fight for, and will instead utilize training camp as preparation for the season, and to emerge as a leader in the Vikings’ locker room.
Terence Newman – Old Man Newman believes in the Vikings, and came back for what is likely his final year in football to chase a ring. Newman has already occupied a warm space in the heart of Vikings fandom by defying age and providing excellent cornerback play, allowing the Vikings to operate patiently with their younger understudies. Newman’s headline of this past season came in week 16, when a perceived mutiny called him and coach Mike Zimmer into question. It turned out to be an innocuous misunderstanding of what to do when Jordy Nelson motioned across the field, but regardless, the Vikings signed him to another year and Zimmer may even invite him to be a coach after his body wears down on him. It’s unclear when that will happen, but in the meantime, Newman will challenge Trae waynes for the third year in a row, move inside to slot, or even play safety if necessary. His snaps will likely be limited, but his role on the team will be decided by what he’s still capable of, and over the course of camp, we’ll see that question be answered.
Trae Waynes – Waynes may be the first player that many analysts look to during traning camp and the preseason. After a successful tenure at Michigan State, the Vikings selected Waynes 11th overall and are waiting patiently to see the return from that. Last season, Waynes only played in about half of the defensive snaps, leaving fans to ask what the problem is. Most are familiar with the two sides of the Waynes debate – either he’s not living up to expectations, or he’s buried behind the transcendent play of Terence Newman. In both 2015 and 2016, Waynes went through a similar battle with Terence Newman to be the #2 corner behind Rhodes. He’s 0-2 in that regard, and this year provides him an opportunity to settle into his role on the Vikings’ defense.
Mackensie Alexander – The pre-draft process was very strange for former National Champion Mackensie Alexander. His impressive resume of game tape was overshadowed by whispers of character concerns and an eye-opening press conference. After getting to know Alexander’s brash personality, his rookie years was surprisingly quiet, with Alexander contributing mostly on special teams before unceremoniously ending his season on IR. In his second year, there’s time for him to develop, and the team believes in his ability to follow in Trae Waynes’ footsteps. Currently, he’ll be competing with Terence Newman as the slot receiver, though, Newman’s battle with Waynes could nullify this one.
Marcus Sherels – It’s time we learn our lesson about Marcus Sherels and the roster bubble. The 5’10” former Minnesota Gopher has scratched and clawed his way from college walk-on to NFL rookie tryout to elite punt returner. Throughout his career, Sherels has experience competition for his punt returning duties from names like Jaymar Johnson, A.J. Jefferson and a litany of other walking 40 times. But Sherels has persisted, drawing inspiration from his brother and Gophers linebacker coach Mike. It seems unlikely that Sherels’ roster spot is in any jeopardy, barring an emergence from someone like Rodney Adams or Moritz Böhringer. However, the open battle at kick returner will likely take the attention away from Sherels’ entrenched role as a hard-working everyman who’s earned his keep and then some.
Jabari Price – In football every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In 2010, Jabari Price’s alma mater was involved in a well-documented academic scandal that resulted in a gauntlet of suspensions. For Price, while it was a black stain on the school he had just joined, was able to start as a true freshman– a rare honor for a player of his caliber. Someone else’s career-defining issues provided Price an opportunity, which was one that ultimately led Price to sneak into the 7th round of the 2014 NFL draft. He impressed early, but a DWI arrest and a scuffle with Laquon Treadwell last year have dominated Jabari-related headlines most recently. Price will now fight with Tre Roberson, Terrell Sinkfield and Horace Richardson for what is likely only one available CB slot.
Tre Roberson – It’s easy to root for a position convert. Roberson was a quarterback throughout his high school and college days. He transferred from Indiana to Illinois, skipping over the normal redshirt season by transferring to lower competition. He played well there, and during his pro day, worked out as a defensive back, drawing teams with his athleticism. The Vikings took note of this and signed him as a UDFA, where he came into camp. Roberson has embraced the position switch. Despite playing with a broken hand, Tre Roberson played better than he was expected to. It wasn’t quite enough to make the roster, but Roberson made the practice squad and will have another chance to make the roster this season, primarily gunning for Jabari Price’s place there.
Terrell Sinkfield – You may recognize this name from a different position group in the past. A former standout wide receiver for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats is known nationally for an eye-popping 40 time. But the former Northern Iowa Panther has dressed in Vikings gear before, failing to make it through the first round of cuts. Sinkfield has a burning desire to make it in the NFL, even if it requires a full-on position switch. Surrounded by vets like Terence Newman and fellow position convert Tre Roberson, Sinkfield has the resources to ease the burden of transition into cornerback. Still, the group is crowded, and Sinkfield would have to overcome incumbent Jabari Price and the other low-ranked CBs to make the roster. It will always be an uphill climb to transition from Canadian to American football.
Horace Richardson – Heading into the is collegiate career at SMU, Horace Richardson was highly regarded. But back-to-back ACL tears, along with a myriad of other injuries, kept his talents a relative mystery. But he managed to stay healthy his senior year, earning All-ACC honors and attracting NFL attention. His return to the team propelled SMU’s entire secondary to great heights, despite a disastrous 2015. Richardson, however, wasn’t enough of a difference-maker to earn a spot at the NFL combine, and fell out of the draft. As an undrafted free agent, Richardson will look to prove he can stay healthy and develop into an NFL-caliber corner. Considering the roster ahead of him, he’ll likely eye a practice squad slot, and will have to rely on special teams to get anywhere near the 53-man roster.
BATTLE TO WATCH: Obviously, all eyes will be on the battle between Trae Waynes and Terence Newman, but those players won’t be in the game forever, and that battle may be decided by the play of Mackensie Alexander and the extend of Newman’s age decline. In the late stages of the preseason, watch the corner play of Jabari Price and Tre Roberson – with five CB slots likely decided (Rhodes, Newman, Waynes, Alexander and Sherels), those two will compete for the sixth slot. Price, who has taken a much more traditional route, could be challenged by the surprising play of Tre Roberson. Should Roberson continue to improve at his new position, he could knock Price off the roster, and Price will fight to prevent that.
Thanks for reading!Florida Republicans have proposed a bill that would impose felony charges against doctors who carry out abortions unless two medical professionals certify in writing before the procedure that it is medically necessary to save the mother’s life.
Proposed by state Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, House Bill 1151 would shutter all abortion clinics and criminalize almost all induced abortions. The only exceptions the bill allows are if two physicians certify in writing that “the termination of pregnancy is necessary to prevent the death of the patient.”
If only one physician is available, that doctor must certify in writing that “a medical emergency existed and another physician was not available for consultation.” The doctor would also be required to describe the medical emergency.
If the doctor or doctors do not fulfill the certification requirements, the bill proposes subjecting them to a maximum penalty of life in prison.
In addition, the proposed law would mandate that doctors provide patients with information about adoption services, including contact information for lawyers who will volunteer their help to aid the process.
The bill’s author, Rep. Van Zant, is a Baptist minister. His previous efforts to pass similar bills have failed. It’s just one of several Republicans in the state are pursuing, including one that would upgrade an accidental fetal death in vehicular accidents to a charge of manslaughter, and another known as the “fetal pain” bill, which seeks to outlaw abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
(H/T: The Florida Independent)San Francisco socialite Joy Venturini Bianchi has long been a striking presence among the city’s elite, soliciting donations and earning accolades from fashion icons, philanthropists and politicians for the cause she says propels her: helping people with developmental disabilities.
At a recent VIP fundraiser at Ghirardelli Square, Bianchi, 78, beamed in a silver-sequined dress and her signature oversized eyeglasses as she received a state Senate resolution honoring her “outstanding community service” and “high business ethics.”
Yet some donors to Bianchi’s 60-year-old charity have struggled with concerns that their donations were misused, raising doubts they said were never resolved.
A Chronicle examination of the public financial records of Helpers Community Inc. — known until 2015 as Helpers of the Mentally Retarded — shows the $6 million charity indeed appears to have strayed from its cause, pursuing questionable practices with scant oversight from a small board that includes its director, Bianchi, and her longtime friend.
Over the last decade, filings to the Internal Revenue Service reveal the nonprofit has done little charitable work while amassing millions of dollars in assets and donations and generously compensating Bianchi, as she travels to red-carpet galas from Beverly Hills to Manhattan, appearing alongside celebrities such as Demi Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow and Katy Perry.
Back to Gallery A fashionable San Francisco charity’s ugly reality 11 1 of 11 Photo: Alex Washburn, Special to the Chronicle 2 of 11 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 3 of 11 Photo: Laura Morton, Special to The Chronicle 4 of 11 Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle 5 of 11 Photo: Laura Morton, SFC 6 of 11 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 7 of 11 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 8 of 11 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 9 of 11 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 10 of 11 Photo: Carolyne Zinko/San Francisco Chr 11 of 11 Photo: Carolyne Zinko/San Francisco Chr
Helpers’ mission statement defines its “most pressing and important goal” as supporting quality residential care for the developmentally disabled. But in the past 13 years, the charity has given nothing to residential programs. And for a six-year period from 2003 to 2008, Helpers gave nothing at all to any charitable cause, according to financial records.
Bianchi, meanwhile, has been paid far above the norm for directors of charities. With base compensation of $193,828 in 2015, Bianchi earned roughly $100,000 more than the CEOs of about two dozen similar San Francisco nonprofits, according to a leading charity watchdog group.
Five accounting experts and a former bookkeeper for Helpers, who reviewed 18 years of the charity’s financial disclosures to the IRS at The Chronicle’s request, questioned Helpers’ legitimacy as a nonprofit and cautioned future donors about contributing.
“It’s absolutely appalling; it turns my stomach, actually,” said La Salle University Professor Laura Otten, who has advised the nonprofit industry for 30 years. “In the nonprofit sector, we take money from people with a promise. The farther we go away from the mission, the more eyebrows we are going to raise.”
Based on The Chronicle’s findings, the San Francisco assessor’s office is reviewing the property tax exemptions Helpers receives as a charity.
Bianchi and her board members defend their organization, and dispute any notion they are mismanaging the charity. They consider it “misleading” to characterize Helpers as primarily a grant-making organization, saying their mission also includes consultation and education. Bianchi’s compensation is commensurate with her duties, they said, and they believe it would take three people to replace her. Bianchi works as many as 80 hours a week, according to the board.
“We’re very happy with what we’re doing,” Bianchi said in an October interview, adding that in years when Helpers’ donations to other nonprofits were minimal, “we were fiscally responsible for our donors’ money, and they trusted our judgment to find where those dollars — according to our standards — would make a difference in the lives of those who are developmentally disabled.”
Helpers board President Peggy Bachecki, however, said that the organization “is arriving at a crossroads” and must re-examine its resources — including its investments and real estate — and how it is benefiting the developmentally disabled. The board pledged to do more with its “targeted grant-making” and hire outside advisers to help with accounting, finances, strategic planning and legal matters.
From 1963 to 2002, Helpers housed people living with developmental disabilities in a collection of stately homes near Golden Gate Park. Since then, it has relied on Bianchi’s personality and persuasiveness to become a fundraising and advocacy organization, raising money and selling donated designer apparel at its resale shops to support other nonprofits.
But Helpers granted nothing to any charitable organization until 2009, the group’s records show. Since then it has given about $405,000 — primarily to purchase wheelchairs for people with developmental disabilities and to fund Medical Missions for Children, a Massachusetts nonprofit that finances surgeries to repair congenital facial defects in countries such as Tanzania and Cambodia. Other funds have gone to a gardening program for the developmentally disabled and a music program for rural children in Washington state.
Bianchi said Helpers has not given more to charities because she has struggled to find suitable recipients. At some residential centers for the developmentally disabled she has visited, she said, she saw scenes that disturbed her, including one resident spending all night sitting in a chair and others receiving too many psychotropic drugs.
“I went incognito for about four years traveling throughout the U.S. trying to find facilities we could help,” Bianchi said. “It was very difficult to give money away.”
Asked why Helpers did not give money to prominent residential programs for the developmentally disabled in the Bay Area, such as those operated by The Arc San Francisco, board members declined to comment.
Bianchi volunteered for Helpers as a teen in the 1950s, eventually joining the organization in the 1960s just as it opened its first residential care home. For roughly 40 years, money raised by the organization helped fund its group homes, which boasted lush drapery, crystal chandeliers and needlepoint-covered chairs. Helpers cared for a total of 33 residents, offering them craft-making workshops and lessons in etiquette and fine dining.
Bianchi steered the charity’s fundraising efforts toward her love of high fashion, opening a boutique called Helpers Bazaar in 1966 in donated space at Ghirardelli Square. The shop sold crafts made by Helpers’ residents, and designer apparel donated by clothier Wilkes Bashford and others.
After Helpers closed its homes, Bianchi began soliciting donations of high-end apparel from socialites and philanthropists for resale at private shopping parties. In 2008, she opened an appointment-only resale shop, Helpers House of Couture, in one of the former group homes on Fulton Street. Contributors of clothing have included philanthropists Ann Getty, wife of billionaire oil heir Gordon Getty, and British fashion designer Stella McCartney.
The boutique offers eight rooms full of designer-label apparel and accessories, including Chanel, Oscar de la Renta and Christian Dior. Stacks of handbags and shoes line shelves and floor space alongside glass displays showcasing hundreds of pieces of paste jewelry. Bianchi, an effervescent hostess, greets visitors to the boutique with tales of Helpers’ history and its vast collection of designer goods, with pieces selling for thousands of dollars.
A longtime San Francisco resident, Bianchi emerged as a fashion icon in the mid-2000s, her celebrity boosted by widely published photographs of her elegant presence at high-society events.
Bianchi already was known for another high-fashion fundraising effort, “Mouse Couture.” For that campaign, begun in 1995, Bianchi enlisted top designers to create outfits for toy mice that were sold in the bazaar.
Bianchi said the idea came to her when a mouse scampered across her path one day in Manhattan. In that moment, she said, she realized people fear the developmentally disabled like they fear mice, and she decided she could help combat that fear by dressing mouse-like dolls in formal wear.
“I was in front of a window at Bergdorf Goodman in New York and a voice came to me and said, ‘Dress the mouse, dress the handicapped, so people can find their souls,’” Bianchi recalled in a recent interview.
Such statements dismay some disability rights advocates, who questioned Bianchi’s approach to the vulnerable population her organization vows to serve.
“I see this not infrequently — sort of well-intentioned people who miss the mark,” said Katie Hornberger, a lawyer with Disability Rights California, a prominent legal advocacy group. “There are some outmoded ideas about people with disabilities.”
Hornberger also pointed to the organization’s longtime name: Helpers of the Mentally Retarded, which was changed to Helpers Community Inc. only last year. The term “retarded,” Hornberger noted, has been considered offensive for at least 15 years.
Bachecki said Helpers is unaware of such concerns.
About this investigation
Chronicle investigative reporters Karen de Sá and Cynthia Dizikes and Style reporter Carolyne Zinko reported this story on Helpers Community Inc. over several months. They examined 18 years of the charity’s Form 990s filed to the Internal Revenue Service, as well as court and property records and other documents related to the organization. Six experts in nonprofit operations were consulted throughout the reporting process, and dozens of interviews were conducted with disability rights advocates, politicians, fashion experts, philanthropists and Helpers officials.
All the while, Helpers has flourished, doubling its worth to more than $6 million over the past decade through donations and investments. That figure does not reflect the current market value of the four properties on Fulton Street, now estimated to be $8 million, according to real estate website Zillow.
Jack Calhoun, a former global president of Banana Republic who sits on prominent San Francisco fine arts boards, said he was impressed by Bianchi’s commitment after he attended Helpers’ 2013 black-tie gala at the Fairmont Hotel.
“Seeing Joy — my God, the woman pours her heart and soul into it. She’ll hit you up wherever you’re standing,” he said. “She has so much energy and is so passionate about this and anybody who has developmental issues. And it’s not fake.”
Calhoun dismissed concerns about Helpers’ operations. “It sounds like a very small charity that may not have enough of its money going into programming,” he said. “I feel like you could challenge a lot of nonprofits on that.”
Nonprofits such as Helpers can receive federal, state and local tax breaks as organizations benefiting the public. As such, they are expected to reserve the bulk of their spending for their mission — ideally at least 65 percent, according to best practices identified by charity evaluators and watchdog groups.
Since Helpers ended its residential programs in 2002, financial filings show an average of 23 percent of its annual spending has gone to its own “outreach, advocacy and education” programs that the group describes as central to its work.
But Bianchi and three board members could provide no specifics about the more than $100,000 a year the organization reports spending on those efforts, beyond Bianchi’s informal conversations with shoppers at Helpers stores and her occasional talks to retail employees and fashion students. They described outreach efforts as also including Bianchi’s “mentoring” of a girl from New Zealand and two girls she invited to play violin at fundraising events.
When pressed, the board said it “does not have sufficient resources” to detail those activities, and “does not maintain contemporaneous records of this type.”
On average, just 5 percent of Helpers’ annual spending from 2003 to 2015 has gone to grants benefitting charitable organizations, although recent annual donations have grown — from $75,533 in 2013 to $160,250 in 2015, records show.
Much of the increase has gone to Medical Missions for Children, the charity that repairs facial defects in children, some with additional disabilities. This year, Helpers has pledged to give more than $300,000, including about $200,000 to Medical Missions, a sum it raised through designer apparel sales in a pop-up shop in Bloomingdale’s department store in San Francisco over the summer.
Their recent spending uptick, however, still falls short of the norms in the nonprofit world, experts said. And in each year since 2003, Bianchi’s annual compensation has been larger than Helpers’ total charitable giving, according to the group’s federal filings.
In 2015, Bianchi’s compensation far exceeded the pay of CEOs at 22 similarly sized San Francisco human services nonprofits tracked by Charity Navigator. Bianchi also earned $29,074 in retirement and other deferred compensation, raisng her total that year to $222,902.
Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University who specializes in nonprofits, said the outsize spending on Bianchi’s salary raises questions about whether donor funds are being used to enrich a single person at the expense of the mission.
“In general, it is difficult to explain why one person would be the recipient of so much of the organization’s spending,” he said.
Mark Bettini, an accounting and business instructor at UC Berkeley Extension who kept the books for Helpers in the late 1990s, agreed. “There seems to be no separation between Joy as the CEO and the charity itself.”
Nonprofit boards are tasked with providing independent oversight. Experts said larger boards allow for more perspective, with turnover ensuring greater objectivity. A typical board has at least 12 members, according to a recent survey by the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
This year, Helpers’ board added a fifth member, Cati Gallardo, a former public relations manager at Bloomingdale’s department store who met Bianchi on the social circuit. Between 2010 and 2015, Helpers’ board had four members, including Bianchi and her longtime friend Bachecki, who has been on the board for 21 years. Bianchi, Helpers’ paid director, has served on the board since 2002.
“It’s a huge, huge conflict of interest,” said Otten of Philadelphia’s Nonprofit Center at La Salle University. “The board is safeguarding the money, and when there is a person on the board who is getting paid, it looks suspicious.”
Bachecki, the board president, said Helpers hopes to expand its board but believes members’ long tenures provide the organization with a needed historical perspective. She noted that Bianchi does not vote on her own compensation.
The Helpers board argues that much of its charitable work does not show up in its financial filings, such as more than 4,000 hours of volunteer time spent “spreading its mission” at the group’s administrative offices and retail shops. It also says that its spending on programs includes the cost of operating its resale shops and maintaining the four homes it owns on Fulton Street.
From 2003 to 2015, Helpers reported spending more than $850,000 maintaining the four properties. Those homes, however, have long been listed in federal filings as “temporarily closed homes for developmentally disabled adults,” despite Helpers’ acknowledgment that it has no plans to reopen them for residential care services. They are now used for storage, office space and the resale boutique.
Helpers has never been publicly sanctioned by any agency charged with oversight of its operations. If a nonprofit is found to have engaged in improper activities, the IRS and state regulators can take a variety of actions, including conducting an audit, imposing financial penalties, bringing legal action or revoking its charitable status.
The IRS and the California attorney general’s office declined to comment on Helpers’ practices.
San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu, however, said she has launched a review. From 2003 to 2016, Chu’s office granted Helpers about $100,000 in property tax exemptions at its Fulton Street homes. The assessor’s office ended another long-held Helpers tax exemption for its Ghirardelli Square shop in 2013, after it discovered the organization was not using it for rehabilitation programs, such as employing people with developmental disabilities.
“We rely on these organizations to truthfully declare any changes and to reaffirm their eligibility for exemption under penalty of perjury,” Chu said. “Our office will review the information gathered in this case and work to ensure we pursue payment if property taxes are found to be due.”
After years of concerns about Helpers, some donors welcomed the new scrutiny.
Six former donors told The Chronicle they abruptly halted their giving to Helpers because they believed Bianchi misled them and could not adequately document the charity’s spending. Some found it odd that, to date, Helpers does not have a website describing its operations, though it does have an Instagram account and conducts sales of donated apparel online at 1stdibs.com, a fashion and furniture website.
Elisabeth Thieriot, a philanthropist and founder of a skin care line, said she has donated at least $150,000 worth of furniture, designer suits, cocktail dresses and gowns to Helpers. But roughly 10 years ago, she inadvertently donated some custom-made clothing of her late mother’s and said she was rebuffed after repeatedly asking Bianchi for its return. Thieriot later found her mother’s Scaasi gown on Helpers’ racks during a private shopping party in Pacific Heights.
Tatiana Sorokko, a former runway model and vintage couture collector, said that roughly a dozen years ago she saw Bianchi at a party wearing the unique, cap-sleeved Claude Montana jacket she had given for resale to benefit the disabled. After that incident, “I was on alert,” Sorokko said. “I felt the charity was not legitimate.”
Helpers board President Bachecki said Bianchi has worn donated clothing in public only once — an evening gown in 2009, as “a fitting tribute” to a deceased donor’s legacy. Bianchi recalls receiving the donations from Thieriot and Sorokko but says she is unaware of any unresolved concerns.
Marin County resident Patti Hester, an e-commerce and shipping consultant, became concerned about Helpers more recently, after meeting Bianchi at the Helpers pop-up shop in Bloomingdale’s in June.
She said she had been looking for a charitable effort to support, particularly since marrying a man with a 12-year-old son with a developmental disability. Hester purchased clothing, made a donation, and considered helping Bianchi organize a fundraiser. But she later withdrew her support after reviewing the group’s financial disclosures online and noting the meager spending.
“We very much wanted to believe in Joy and her charity, but the more we looked into it, fewer things were making sense,” Hester said. “It felt like she misrepresented the charity and preyed on my desire to help the developmentally disabled.”
State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco — who bestowed Bianchi with the state resolution in October — called the in-home care that Helpers once provided for developmentally disabled adults on Fulton Street a “revolutionary concept.”
“Prior to Joy,” Leno proclaimed, “they were locked up in dark, dank institutions.”
But after learning of the newspaper’s findings, he encouraged caution: “It would appear that the board is in need of a serious governance makeover.”
Carolyne Zinko, Karen de Sá and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: czinko@sfchronicle.com, kdesa@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter @CarolyneZinko, @cdizikesFrom now until the 2017 NFL Draft takes place, we hope to examine as many prospects as possible and showcase both their strengths and weaknesses. Most of these profiles will feature individuals that the Pittsburgh Steelers are likely to have an interest in, while a few others will be top-ranked players. If there is a player you would like us to analyze, let us know in the comments below.
#23 Cameron Sutton/CB Tennessee: 5’11 182
The Good
– Fluid athlete, quick feet and turn, with good-enough speed
– Shows burst acceleration in turn and in the return game
– Physical, plays bigger than his size, and does well to jam receiver in press man
– Shows strong ability to recover when he’s beat, works hard to get back to inside hip of the receiver, and technique to read the receivers eyes/hands, play the pocket, and break the ball up (good ball skills)
– Impressive punt returner, quick decision maker and gets upfield with great burst, threat in the open field
– Does well to get square to and under each punt, fields the ball cleanly, no bobbles/double-catches
– Versatile, can wear multiple hats
– Shows high football IQ and ability to handle new information on te fly
– Tons of starting experience at a high level of competition
The Bad
– Average size, needs to add weight and arm length is poor (29 ¼ arm, 72 ½ wing), likely not a fit for press man defenses
– Needs to treat run game like the pass, play more aggressively, and fight harder off
– Seemingly not around the football much in his career, limited amount of tackles
– Will gamble and can get beat by double-moves
Bio
– 45 career starts, became starter immediately as a true freshman
– Career: 127 tackles, 30 pass breakups, 7 INTs
– 2016: 23 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 INT (seven games)
– 45 career PRs, 14.6 average, 3 career TDs (2 in 2015)
– Fractured right ankle during senior season, missed seven games, but returned to finish out the year
Tape Breakdown
Sutton was a guy I watched prior to the Senior Bowl but I liked him more leaving Mobile than I did coming down there. If for nothing else, his versatility, which we’ll talk about in a moment.
He’s not a big guy but he plays big and physical in press at the line of scrimmage. Sort of a tough sell because he’s not a big guy, and his length is really poor, but it’s the same as Ross Cockrell, who has rolled up before in coverage. For other teams, who really covert length, it may change the evaluation.
His best trait, by far, are his ball skills. Solid in coverage and plays catch points really well. Has good ball skills, that is, the ability to track and make a play on the football, separate from just interceptions (hands).
Great job to get over top this rub route against Alabama and close on the slant against Calvin Ridley, Bama’s top weapon, jam his hand into the receiver’s chest, and disrupt it enough to knock the ball out.
Even when he’s beat, he shows the technique and recovery to still make a play. Stop ‘n go where the receiver beats him clean. But Sutton stays in-phase, gets to the hip of the receivers, reads the body language to know when the ball will be there, and plays the pocket at the end with a hard swipe down and through, breaking the pass up.
Sure, the pass was a bit underthrown but making a play is making a play. And Sutton made a play.
As aggressive and talented Sutton is against the pass, I wish I saw the same against the run. Doesn’t seem to embrace it as much; not that he’s terrible, but he’s much more passive.
I know this is against Derrick Henry |
Stream numbers don't count for much, either. You could argue the Blizzcon format is the best because they had 200k viewers during Blizzcon, but well... that's because it was Blizzcon.
Personally I share the same belief as you - that a single balanced deck is a much better approach than playing the rock-paper-scissors format that the Blizzcon setup offers. However, according to both of our polls thus far the current Managrind format isn't popular at all, and the older swiss format and my "single-class" format are about the same - both being completely out done by the Blizzcon format. Bummer.
I'll see if I can edit my poll options to better represent your formats. Thank you for taking the time to make an account over here and correct me! I HAVE 5 TOAST POINTS
Ezmod Profile Joined November 2013 Canada 15 Posts #20 Serejai,
Thank you for your response though I wouldn't worry to much about the Blizzcon format being the standard format for tournaments as ManaGrind has a very large pool of experienced TCG/CCG players and there is also a consensus on the one deck format being more competitive within that specific circle. As always, ManaGrind has plans on making everyone happy and we will do our best to live up to that expectation!
Cheers
1 2 Next All* Customers who have installed the complete set of ESXi 5.5 U3
Bulletins, please review VMware KB 2133118. KB 2133118 documents a known
non-security issue and provides a solution.
b. VMware vCenter Server JMX RMI Remote Code Execution
VMware vCenter Server contains a remotely accessible JMX RMI service that is
not securely configured. An unauthenticated remote attacker who is able
to connect to the service may be able to use it to execute arbitrary
code on the vCenter Server. A local attacker may be able to elevate
their privileges on vCenter Server.
vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) 5.1, 5.5 and 6.0 has remote access to the JMX RMI service (port 9875) blocked by default.
VMware would like to thank Doug McLeod of 7 Elements Ltd and an anonymous
researcher working through HP's Zero Day Initiative for reporting this
issue to us.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2015-2342 to this issue.
CRITICAL UPDATE
VMSA-2015-0007.2 and earlier versions of this advisory documented that CVE-2015-2342 was addressed in vCenter Server 5.0 U3e, 5.1 U3b, and 5.5 U3. Subsequently, it was found that the fix for CVE-2015-2342 in vCenter Server 5.0 U3e, 5.1 U3b, and 5.5 U3/U3a/U3b running on Windows was incomplete and did
not address the issue.
In order to address the issue on these versions of vCenter Server Windows, an
additional patch must be installed. This additional patch is available
from VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article 2144428.
In case the Windows Firewall is enabled on the system that has vCenter
Server Windows installed, remote exploitation of CVE-2015-2342 is not
possible. Even if the Windows Firewall is enabled, users are advised to
install the additional patch in order to remove the local privilege
elevation.
Column 4 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.The Democratic and Republican parties are announcing their respective official presidential candidates this month, but they aren’t the only parties, and some are hoping to make a change in America's election system.
Along with Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, the Green Party is hopeful it can move in on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton by disrupting the two-party system.
The Green Party will hold its convention in Houston from August 4 to 7, and Jill Stein is its presumptive nominee.
Stein is currently on the ballet in 23 states, not including Indiana. However, voters will be able to write her in. You can read more about Stein’s campaign on her website.
Stein, a previous presidential candidate, physician, activist, Harvard graduate and musician, hopes to garner support from people who are tired of the two-party system.
The Green Party's four pillars include peace, ecology, social justice and democracy, with focus on cutting the military’s budget, addressing climate change by using renewable energy, demanding a living wage and stronger safety net and reform in the election process.
Stein is currently polling at 2 percent in a four-way poll between Clinton, Trump and Johnson, according to an Associated Press-GFK poll. In order to debate with the major party candidates, she will need at least 15 percent in five mainstream polls.
A Green New Deal, wages and taxes
Stein proposes “A Green New Deal” that would put the U.S. on track to use 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2030. She's said she believes this would create millions of living-wage jobs for any American that needs work. The program would invest in public transit, sustainable agriculture and infrastructure.
The candidate compares the “Green New Deal” to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and hopes the program will launch a WWII-like mobilization of the workforce.
Stein also supports a $15 an hour minimum wage and a guaranteed minimum income. The candidate plans to simplify the tax code and cut taxes for the poor and middle class and raise taxes for rich Americans.
Health care
The physician wants there to be a list of economic human rights that include access to food, water, housing and utilities, along with “Medicare For All,” which is a single-payer health insurance program.
The program would put emphasis on preventative care like physical activity and eating healthy diets. Label requirements on food products, like the contents of the food and where it was produced, would also be expanded.
Stein believes expanding access to contraceptives and sex education would cut down the number of abortions in the country, but she still thinks it’s the woman’s right to have an abortion.
Having more community health centers in low-income communities is also a goal of the Green Party candidate.
Military and foreign policy
Stein wants to cut military spending by at least 50 percent and close more than 700 military bases around the world to save money. She would also cease financial and military support to countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. The candidate cites human rights abuse as the reason to remove support from these countries.
Countries that support terrorism would have freezes on their bank accounts. Stein includes the Saudi royal family under this policy.
If the candidate obtains the presidency, she would try to end the supply of arms coming out of the country as well as enacting a policy to further reduce America’s nuclear arsenal.
She plans to withdraw the military in Iraq and Afghanistan and end U.S. military involvement in those countries.
Criminal justice
The presidential candidate supports programs that address police brutality, the justice system and mass incarceration.
Stein wants to end the war on drugs and replace it with programs that treat addiction as a health problem. She also believes marijuana should be legal.
Education
When it comes to education, she wants schooling from pre-school to college to be tuition-free and believes in a bailout program for students with college debt.
On her Twitter page, Stein tweeted, “If we can bail out the crooks on Wall Street we can certainly afford to bail out our students. It's time to abolish student debt."A Pittsfield Township man could face 10 years in prison when he's sentenced Thursday for beating a young boy with a belt after the boy refused to eat a banana.
Paul Magala Courtesy of WCSO
Paul Magala, 37, pleaded guilty on Jan. 10 to one charge of second-degree child abuse in exchange for one charge of third-degree child abuse being dropped at his sentencing hearing on Thursday. Magala was arrested and charged in November on the two charges before being jailed in Washtenaw County on a $75,000 bond.
Pittsfield Township police did not immediately release details of the incident but new information came to light after AnnArbor.com received a search warrant affidavit from the case.
The affidavit was received through a Freedom Of Information Act earlier this month. In it, Pittsfield Township police Detective Michael Robinson details a Dec. 30, 2011, incident when Magala repeatedly whipped a boy with a belt.
Robinson writes Child Protective Services alerted him to the case on Nov. 5 after a CPS worker spoke with a Wisconsin woman. Robinson then contacted the woman, who had taken a video of Magala beating the boy on Dec. 30, 2011.
According to the affidavit, the woman drove Magala and the boy to an apartment on that date.
“... They gave (the boy) a banana to eat but that (the boy) didn’t want to eat it because it was too ripe,” the affidavit stated.
Magala whipped the boy after discovering the uneaten banana, the affidavit says.
The woman videotaped the beating with her camera and told Robinson it went on between seven and 10 minutes. Magala hit the boy at least 14 times during the course of the video.
Magala lectured the boy as he beat him, yelling over his screams, according to the affidavit. The boy was in a seated position as Magala struck him numerous times in the legs before knocking him to the ground with a strike to the face.
According to a Child Protective Services law enforcement notification included in the affidavit, there was a past history of abuse between Magala and the boy.
Police were contacted about the Dec. 30, 2011, incident on Nov. 5, 2012. Magala was arrested two days later. Police took four black belts from the apartment during the search, conducted that same day.
Magala is still lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail until his sentencing hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in front of Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge David Swartz. The maximum punishment for second-degree child abuse is 10 years in prison.
A message left with Magala’s lawyer, Erika Julien, was not returned.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.Our 25th Anniversary Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America will take place May 3 - 11, 2019. Below is a list of our Overnight Stops:
25th Anniversary Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America Schedule:
Day 1 Friday, May 3: Seattle, WA to Ontario, OR Day 2 Saturday, May 4: Ontario, OR to Orem-Provo, UT Day 3 Sunday, May 5: Orem-Provo, UT to Glenwood Springs, CO Day 4 Monday, May 6: Glenwood Springs, CO to Santa Fe, NM Day 5 Tuesday, May 7: Santa Fe, NM to Childress, TX Day 6 Wednesday, May 8 Childress, TX to Shreveport-Bossier City, LA Day 7 Thursday, May 9: Shreveport-Bossier City, LA to Pensacola Beach, FL Day 8 Friday, May 10: Pensacola Beach, FL to Tampa, FL Day 9 Saturday, May 11: Tampa, FL to Key Largo, FL
We will post our entire route, including all pit stop locations and fan events, in March 2019. STAY TUNED... Our 25th Anniversary Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America will take place May 3 - 11, 2019. Below is a list of our Overnight Stops:We will post our entire route, including all pit stop locations and fan events, in March 2019. STAY TUNED...I met him my sophomore year in college. Tall, dark, handsome, popular, talented, articulate, and immensely charming, I formed a crush on him almost instantly. But, I knew to my marrow that someone like me could never be with someone like him. I didn’t move in his celestial spheres; I wasn’t worthy of his time or attention. I knew myself to be beneath him.
So, when in my junior year he began paying attention to me, I was more than flattered. I was grateful. I couldn’t believe that he wanted me—nerdy, dowdy, me. That gratitude propelled me into three years of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse.
He broke our engagement three months before the wedding; his only explanation was that he couldn’t trust me to be “properly submissive.” I had been willful, defiant, had disobeyed him in recent months, and because of that he would not bestow upon me the title of “wife.” In the religious subculture we came from, I had committed a grave sin when I told him he couldn’t treat me badly anymore, and in the view of most of my friends and leaders, I deserved to get dumped.
So, last night, when I saw Christian Grey strike Anastasia Steele for displaying frustration after he stole her car and sold it out from under her, everything inside of me cringed because I’ve been there. I’ve been Anastasia Steele. I’ve been swept off of my feet by what I desperately believed to be—but were not—grand romantic gestures.
There’s been, and should continue to be, a lot of spilled ink over the unhealthy and inaccurate portrayal of BDSM/kink in the books and film. As a member of the BDSM community, that part of myself was horrified and sickened by what we were being introduced to.
But as I sat in that theater and experienced the film with a hundred other women, I was even more horrified by the fact that we were all being groomed for abuse.
In some ways, the film is an improvement over the books in that it removes the rape scenes, but in a way, those improvements make it all so much worse because the obviousness of the abuse has disappeared. What’s replaced it is possibly even more dangerous, because it’s easier to argue that what we’re being presented isn’t abusive—it’s romantic. When he shows up at her workplace after meeting her once and knowing nothing about her except her name and the school she attends, it’s not creepy that he stalked her, it’s sweet that he seems that interested in her. When she wakes up in a virtual stranger’s bed in clothes she didn’t dress herself in, it’s not a blatant violation of boundaries, he’s just being attentive. When she (perhaps jokingly? The narrative wasn’t clear to me) rejects his offer to be his submissive, it’s not disturbing that he breaks into her apartment, it only shows how much he desires her—after all, he brought wine.
What I found alarming about Fifty Shades of Grey was the overlap between my experience as an abuse victim and the specific way the audience was being conditioned to accept Christian as a romantic lead.
My abuser and I both read the Twilight series when we first began dating, and he immediately latched onto them. “See?” He assured me. “We’re just like Edward and Bella. That’s how I feel about you.” When I started planning the wedding, he approved of my “Jane Austen” theme choice because, after all, that was like their wedding. When he isolated me from my friends, he was just trying to take care of me. He was protecting me, just like Edward wanted to protect Bella from Jacob.
He also wanted to be my dominant. “It’s just the way I am. You have to accept this about me,” he said. He gave me the same ultimatum Christian gives Ana—accept my sadistic need to hurt people because I was hurt as a child, or leave, because this is it. This is all you’re going to get. It will be the way he wants it, exactly the way he wants it, or it will be nothing at all.
Fifty Shades of Grey does to its audience what Christian does to Ana and what my rapist did to me: it completely resets our expectations and what we believe to be acceptable. Christian makes it clear to Ana and to us that he is narcissistic, controlling, violent, and demanding, and we are not permitted to expect anything more from him. So, in the rare moments when he is genuinely sweet (with “eat me” and “drink me” cards next to ibuprofen and orange juice, with champagne served out of tea cups) the audience oos and awws. In any other context, those things would be sweet, even adorable. But, when Christian Grey does it, it takes on a whole new meaning because Ana—and the audience—is being graced with crumbs of normalcy as if we should be grateful for them.
Dakota Johnsons’ portrayal of Ana does something E. L. James’ version of her doesn’t quite achieve: she asserts herself. She’s smart, a bit of a smart-aleck. She talks back, she sasses. Which makes it all the more puzzling when instead of saying “uh, no, you are not going to spank me—DUDE YOU STOLE MY CAR” she behaves demurely and accepts his punishment for rolling her eyes at him. The audience cheered her on when she removes his hand from her waist and reminds him that she wants a business meeting. We were impressed the few times she stands up to him—awed, even.
And that should trouble us, because Ana isn’t doing anything we should consider remarkable. When she tells Christian what she wants and what she doesn’t want, she is being a normal human being establishing normal relationship boundaries and setting normal expectations. She is acting as any healthy adult would; but in the setting of her relationship with Christian, those completely normal responses become acts of defiance.
All of this is what happens in the early stages of any abusive relationship, especially with an abuser who uses “BDSM” to disguise his intentions. Victims are instructed by their abusers to view the abuse as normal, and normalcy as special. Anastasia Steele and I were so brave any time we dared to “stand up” to him, and Christian and my abuser were so unbelievably wonderful for having brief moments of normal human decency.
The danger in Fifty Shades of Grey is that it does what an abuser does: it makes us think that abuse is normal.
Samantha Field is a writer and blogger, covering feminism, religion, pop culture, social justice, and all things geek-related. Her earliest memory is of The Next Generation theme song, and she walked down the aisle to the theme from First Contact. You can also find her on Twitter and Tumblr.
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Illustrated King Mickey Has Arrived!
"No matter what happens, I'm going to be there to help you. I'm not backing down. Unless you don't believe. I'll come through for you..." - King Mickey
● New Medals, and a new Epic Medal Carnival!
This week we are introducing 4 new Epic Medals including Illustrated King Mickey along with a new Epic Medal Carnival you are sure to enjoy! Read on for more details!
■ New Epic Medal Details
Illustrated King Mickey
Master Xehanort
Master Eraqus
Vanitas
Medal Attribute Reversed / Upright Special Attack Bonus Tier Special Attack Target Gauge Cost Illustrated King Mickey P Upright 4 Deals 4 hits. Raises strength of all attributes by 1 tier for 2 turns. Inflicts more damage the higher your HP. All 1 Master Eraqus P Upright 3 Deals 5 exceptionally powerful hits. Single 5 Vanitas S Reversed 3 Deals 7 extremely powerful hits. Random 1 Master Xehanort M Reversed 3 Deals an exceptionally powerful hit. Single 5
is ready to fight with a Tier 4 Special Attack Bonus! He is also joined by the heavy hitting, and
There's also a small chance of getting an even rarer version that has 1,000 more base strength than the standard Illustrated King Mickey!
* The rare version of the Medal has the boosted strength stat highlighted in yellow, instead of the standard white text.
* The rare version of the Medal can have its Special Attack Bonus strengthened by using the standard version of the Medal as well.
* However, make sure that you don't fuse the rare version onto a normal version, or else you'll lose the stat boost!
In addition, the chance of drawing a boosted Illustrated King Mickey during this period is 3 times the usual rate!
■ Epic Medal Carnival
■Campaign Period:
Nov. 11, 2016 12:00 a.m. to Nov. 24, 2016 11:59 p.m. (PT)
Nov. 11, 2016 8:00 to Nov. 25, 2016 7:59 (UTC)
During this deal, you are guaranteed at least THREE Epic Medals, one of which will be one of the new Medals!
And if you purchase the Epic Medal Carnival Deal 9 times and don't get an Illustrated King Mickey, we will guarantee an Illustrated King Mickey Medal in your 10th purchase of the Epic Medal Carnival deal!
See below for a list of all current Epic Medals included in this deal.
Tier 4 Special Attack Bonus
Illustrated King Mickey **NEW**
Illustrated Kairi
Illustrated Sephiroth
Illustrated Ansem
Boss Marluxia
Illustrated Aqua
Illustrated Ventus
Illustrated Terra
Illustrated Sora
Illustrated Riku
SP Roxas
SP Axel
SP Xion
Illustrated Cloud
Sora & Donald & Goofy
Pooh & Piglet
Sephiroth
Illustrated Sora & Pals
Tier 3 Special Attack Bonus
Master Eraqus **NEW**
Vanitas **NEW**
Master Xehanort **NEW**
Riku Replica
KH CoM King Mickey
Antiform Sora
Crocodile
Mr. Smee
Captain Hook
Uniform Kairi
Uniform Selphie
Ansem the Wise
Roxas
Axel
Xemnas
Belle
Cogsworth
Lumière
Rock Titan
Ice Titan
Hydra
Winnie the Pooh
Piglet
Owl
Timeless River Sora
Timeless River Donald
Timeless River Goofy
Cinderella
Megara
Jasmine
KH Kairi
Musketeer Goofy
Musketeer Mickey
Musketeer Donald
Xaldin
Saïx
Xigbar
Demyx
Luxord
Lexaeus
Marluxia
Larxene
Vexen
Zexion
Cerberus
Pain & Panic
Hades
Alice
KH CoM Naminé
Pinocchio
Black Coat King Mickey
Zack
Aladdin
KH II Kairi
KH CoM Black Coat Riku
Final Form Sora
Follow us on Twitter for the latest news!PortKit shows you each Cocoa UI Element in iOS 6 / iOS 7 and its Android widget version, side by side, so you can compare and find the correct equivalent when porting an app. We are a Brisbane based company that develops iPhone & iPad Apps and Android Applications and we wanted a simple way to visualise, reference and compare UI elements, and have quick access to documentation and the respective naming conventions.
Due to the popularity of this post we decided to add a tonne of handy resources, tools, and tips that we use day to day available at the bottom of this post.
UX Comparison Chart
Skip to awesome resources below ↓
Icons
Every App needs good icons, here are some great resources and tools we’ve used in our icon design and implementation for iOS and Android. Pay particular attention to correct sizing, we suggest creating your App Icon at at least 1024px by 1024px as this is the minimum for iTunes artowkr when submitting to iTunes connect. All other icon sizes can be automatically generated from this 1 file used the iDeveloper Icon Generator below.
Sizes IconHandbooks Icon Reference Chart for Android & iOS Android Iconography, size and design guide by Google Mrgan’s iOS App Icon Sizes Viki Wenderlich’s iOS App Icon Size Tools iDeveloper Icon Generator lets you quickly exports icons for both iOS and Android with a single click ($0.99)
Android Asset Studio lets you generate icons from existing source images. Design Icon Handbook has some great resources as well as a free Illustrator & PSD download about icons on various platforms.
MediaLoots Free iPhone App iCon Kit PSD
AppIconTemplates Free iOS App Icon Template PSD
Fonts
Debugging bad fonts
Ever had problems where the Ascenders and Descenders are wrong on your font? Screw manual adjustment with ftxdumperfuser -t hhea -A d font.ttf. Use Fontlab Studios Auto Calculate Function. Go to FontLab and Go:
File -> File Info -> Metrics and Dimensions -> Key dimensions and TrueType-specific metrics.
Then hit that beautiful Diamond Button. Save and Smile.
Wireframing
Handy Utilities
iExplorer lets you easily access files inside your iOS apps while they are running.
Navicat lets you manipulate those SQLite databases like a boss. There is no better SQL Client. Even works great on CoreData SQLite files just dont touch the Z_METADATA table and remember to update the Z_PRIMARYKEY tables max values.
Resizer lets you drag all your @2x files in and it will create non-retina ones for you
iOS-Simulator Cropper is a god send when you want to take screenshots and auto crop out the Status Bar.
Android Action Bar Style Generator lets you easily create custom themes for your ActionBar
Android Holo Colors Generator lets you easily create Android Theme colors based on Holo Light or Holo Dark.
Android DPI Calculator lets you easily back calculate a size in one DPI to another DPI
Beta Testing with TestFlight
TestFlight is an App Beta Testing platform for iOS and Android. Also the SDK has an Auto Update feature which kicks ass for Beta Testing!
Pro Tip: If you have an Enterprise iOS Account you dont need your testers UUIDs before building your Beta builds. Talk about $300 well spent. Just build for Enterprise and upload to TestFlight then allow access to anyone via TestFlight and voila. Nothing worse than a client who suddenly needs access to the Beta on another device which you dont have in your Provisioning Profile!A fun one, this. You know how there are four endings to the first-person lost-in-space style exploration Event[0] [official site], right? Well, if you did know that then you know more than the developers themselves, apparently.
As Emmanuel Corno of developers Ocelot Society explains, the realisation started with a trip to Wikipedia…
Insane story: I was wandering around the Internet when I read the Wikipedia page of Event[0]: https://t.co/GTMVNYABSp — Manu (@Yakkafo) July 11, 2017
The page entirely describes the main plots, including all the four endings. Yes, four. — Manu (@Yakkafo) July 11, 2017
As one of the developers, game designers and writers, I know that the game features only three endings. I mean, I wrote them. — Manu (@Yakkafo) July 11, 2017
Even crazier, it doesn’t look like a mistake since the description of the fourth ending is well detailed, including how to trigger it. — Manu (@Yakkafo) July 11, 2017
After investigating, Ocelot Society concluded that the ‘fourth ending’ arose because of a bug that the team hadn’t caught.
So we made a game with an ending so secret we didn’t even know it ourselves. Emergent storytelling, I guess? — Manu (@Yakkafo) July 11, 2017
It appears to be down to the way the game’s AI, Kaizen, is programmed. Talking to Kaizen by typing into terminals is a core part of Event[0], and if you give certain answers you can trigger a sequence that the developers never intended.
It will happen if the player refuses to destroy the station’s singularity drive, refuses to upload their consciousness, and has treated Kaizen nicely throughout the game, making lots of small talk. After questioning if he should trust you, Kaizen can be convinced that you are true friends and that he should take you to Earth even though you didn’t destroy the drive as requested. You’ll then see a cutscene from another ending, of the spaceship moving towards Earth.
Corno reflects that even this ‘ending’ is “interesting”, “even if it contradicts the golden rules we wrote about Kaizen”. He says that it makes the AI “more human”.
If you haven’t played Event[0], then you might want to consider it. Here’s an excerpt from Wot Alec Thinks:Thought to be lost for ever, short films co-written by Mordecai Richler to have first screening in almost 50 years
Two long-lost short films starring Peter Sellers will be shown in public for the first time in 2014, more than half a century after they were made.
In 1957, the iconic comic actor starred in the 30-minute shorts, Dearth of a Salesman and Insomnia Is Good for You, for the now-defunct Park Lane Films. They were discovered in 1996 in a skip outside the production company's headquarters by the building manager, Robert Farrow, who says he "put them in a cupboard and pretty much forgot about them".
He continued: "During a recent clear-out, I found them … and decided to see what the tins contained. It was then I realised they were two Sellers films, including the negatives, titles, show prints, outtakes and the master print. It was amazing."
The shorts were made early in Sellers's career, after success on radio with The Goon Show but before his work on screen took off. He went on to find global fame with the Pink Panther films and Dr Strangelove.
Farrow gave the shorts to Paul Cotgrove, director of the Southend-on-Sea film festival, who will screen them next May on the event's opening night, after both have been digitally restored. Little is known about the works, which were deemed lost for good, but both were co-written by the Canadian novelist Mordecai Richler. Sellers plays multiple roles in each film, making them a cross between a sitcom and sketch show.
Cotgrove told the BBC: "They're a kind of a pastiche of the public information films at the time. They're not riotous comedy, they're just good fun to look at."Watford and West Ham were linked with Matheus Jesus recently but Everton now appear to be among the frontrunners.
A new centre-back would be the perfect welcoming present for whoever takes the reigns at Everton.
Only bottom of the table Crystal Palace have conceded more Premier League goals than The Toffees’ 21 this season with the defensive resilience that characterised The Merseyside giants during their 21st century heyday nowhere to be seen.
Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka are well past their best while Michael Keane’s £25 million price tag appears to be weighing him down. Ramiro Funes Mori, who made good strides last season under Ronald Koeman, is likely to miss the majority of this season after suffering a knee injury in the summer.
Everton, then, will be hoping that Matheus Jesus lives up to his name and performs miracles at Goodison Park.
Calciomercato reports that Everton are fighting Serie A duo Sampdoria and Bologna for the 20-year-old centre-back, who is on loan at Santos from Portuguese side Estoril.
Jesus, who made one appearance for Brazil’s Under-20s against England in 2016, is valued at around £7 million so is comfortably within budget for a Toffees side who spent £140 million on new players during the summer window.
The youngster, who can also play in defensive midfield, is renowned for his typically Brazilian flair, encompassing the ability to stride forwards from the back and a penchant for shooting from long-range.
Calciomercato reported in October that Watford and West Ham were hot on the trail of Jesus but it seems he has a new disciple in Everton.
The Hammers, however, should not drop their interest with the club conceding the softest of goals on a weekly basis. New manager David Moyes says sorting out the defence is his priority and signing Jesus would help in that regard.At the end of last night’s game between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues, we had ourselves a good ol’ fashioned controversy. With about two and a half minutes left in the game and the Blues leading 4-3, it looked like Mikko Rantanen had tied it for the Avs. The play, however, was offside. Sven Andrighetto was clearly in the attacking zone before he received the pass from Nikita Zadorov.
The Blues challenged the play and the goal was called back.
Carter Hutton stood on his head for the next two minutes and the Blues escaped Colorado with a 4-3 victory. But as it turns out, they probably shouldn’t have.
As the play was being challenged, there was a bit of confusion. Blues coach Mike Yeo had challenged a goal earlier int he game when Blake Comeau scored after what was perceived to be goaltender interference. The failed challenge meant a loss of timeout and that he couldn’t challenge anything else right?
As it turns out, when the NHL announced the change to the offside review rule - a failed challenge now resulting in a 2-minute bench minor - they didn’t really make clear that you don’t need a timeout anymore. A team is welcome to challenge as many offside calls as they want - as long as they’re willing to take the penalty.
So ok, that part got cleared up after the game. But that’s not the part that we should have been worried about.
The play in question should not have been able to be challenged. Not because of timeouts, but because of another part of the rule altogether. Here is a look at Rule 78.7 from the 2017-18 NHL Rule Book.
The video review mechanism triggered by the Coach’s Challenge is intended to be extremely narrow in scope and the original call on the ice is to be overturned if, and only if, a determination is made that the original call on the ice was not correct. If a review is not conclusive and/or there is any doubt whatsoever as to whether the call on the ice was correct, the original call on the ice will be confirmed. NOTE: Only one Coach’s Challenge per team per stoppage will be permitted. A team may only request a Coach’s Challenge to review the following scenarios: (i) - – A play that results in a “GOAL” call on the ice where the defending team asserts that the play should have been stopped by reason of an “Off-side” infraction by the attacking team. (a) The standard for overturning the call in the event of a “GOAL” call on the ice is that the NHL Situation Room, after reviewing any and all available replays and consulting with the Linesman, determines that one or more Players on the attacking team preceded the puck into the attacking zone prior to the goal being scored and that, as a result, the play should have been stopped for an “Off-side” infraction; where this standard is met, the goal will be disallowed. (b) If the result of the challenge is that the play was “On-side”, the goal shall count and the team that issued the challenge shall be assessed a minor penalty for delaying the game. (c) In the event a goal is reversed due to the NHL Situation Room (after consulting with the Linesman) determining that the play was “Off-side” prior to the goal being scored, the clock (including penalty time clocks, if applicable) will be re-set to the time at which the play should have been stopped for the “Off-side” infraction. NOTE 1: Goals will only be reviewed for a potential “Off-side” infraction if: (a) the puck does not come out of the attacking zone again; or (b) all members of the attacking team do not clear the attacking zone again, between the time of the “Off-side” play and the time the goal is scored. NOTE 2: If one or more penalties (major or minor) are assessed between the time of the “Off-side” play and the video review that disallows the apparent goal, the offending team(s) (and responsible Player(s)) will still be required to serve the penalty(ies) identified and assessed, and the time of the penalty(ies) will be recorded as the time at which the play should have been stopped for the “Off-side” infraction.
The bolded part is what matters. In order for a play to be reviewed, the puck must not have left the attacking zone and return on an onside play.
There is no doubt that Andrighetto was offside on the play. The puck came out and he hadn’t cleared the zone. But by the nature of the rule, that becomes void the second the puck comes back outside of the attacking zone.
Andrighetto clearly brings the puck back across the blueline and then re-enters the zone with possession on an onside play. When he does this, the play is no longer eligible to be challenged since he was the last Avalanche player in the attacking zone. The rule is worded as such that only immediate attacking plays can be reviewed for offside - this is probably to avoid teams going back and challenging an offside a minute or two before a goal went in.
Or, more specifically, St. Louis shouldn’t have been permitted to initiate an offside challenge. — Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 20, 2017
The officials got it wrong on the ice, and the war room back in Toronto got it wrong when they allowed the play to be challenged. By the wording of the rule - and intent of the rule for that matter - Rantanen’s goal should have counted. The Avalanche should have tied it up. And the game should have probably gone to overtime - something that you would assume would have helped the Avalanche team that was coming on strong and hadn’t played the night before.
Looks like a pair of missed calls here: the initial offside and the challenge being allowed after the second zone entry. — Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) October 20, 2017
Did the linesmen miss an offside call? Absolutely. But by the letter of the NHL law, that point is irrelevant here. The goal should have counted and the teams should have been off to overtime. It’s all too often that we see fans accusing officials or the league costing their team a game. |
here.
“It’s a great business to fund studies whose conclusions provide candy makers with the ability to promote people’s favorite foods as healthful,” said obesity doctor Yoni Freedhoff, “and while maybe not everyone will believe their candy bars are the ticket to health, I bet plenty, consciously or unconsciously will think [chocolates are] not as bad for them as they thought and buy them more often.”
“The idea that dark chocolate is healthy has worked its way into the mainstream psyche,” said NYU food historian Amy Bentley, adding that even the very restrictive Paleo dieters sanction dark chocolate because of its “numerous health benefits.”
There is a case for high-quality cocoa science
Some researchers argue that we really do need high-quality studies on nutrition, even if they are funded by Big Chocolate. Referring to the Mars-funded COSMOS trial, Stanford University health researcher John Ioannidis said he thought the effort was not a waste since this is a health question people care about.
“We have already spent billions of dollars and tens of thousands of studies trying to address [nutrition] questions with observational data and small, biased trials that really get us nowhere. At least these large trials can be definitive,” he said, and put all the noise from smaller studies to rest. (He did add, “If I have to bet, I believe that these trials will almost always give conclusively negative results regarding major health benefits.”)
Bigger, better studies may find that cocoa is in fact a health elixir, so we should keep doing them. “It’s important to understand whether something as simple and low-risk as increasing a nutrient in the diet could also have health benefits,” said JoAnn Manson, a Harvard nutrition researcher. “[Cocoa] has looked promising in small-scale randomized controlled trials and in observational studies, so it’s worth moving now to more conclusive and large-scale randomized controlled trials.”
Manson also noted that she’ll be publishing the results of the COSMOS randomized trial regardless of the outcomes — whether they prove cocoa is a health food or not — which would help combat the kind of publication bias Bazinet was worried about.
Perhaps the COSMOS trial will end the debate about cocoa’s true effects on the body. Until then, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s rarely clear evidence that specific foods have miraculous health effects. Instead, healthy eating patterns seem to matter much more than how much of any one food you consume. And a diet heavy in chocolate is a diet heavy in sugar, calories, and fat.
Editor: Eliza Barclay
Graphics: Javier Zarracina
Research: Ruairí Arrieta-Kenna
Copy editing: Tanya PaiCopyright by WCMH - All rights reserved Fellony Hudson is accused of multiple felonies including kidnapping and possession of a stolen vehicle. (MCSO)
Copyright by WCMH - All rights reserved Fellony Hudson is accused of multiple felonies including kidnapping and possession of a stolen vehicle. (MCSO)
KOIN Staff - PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) - Fellony Hudson, a 22-year-old man from Salem, Oregon, is accused of felony kidnapping, felony eluding, felony possession of a stolen vehicle and nearly a handful of misdemeanors after being pursued by police across state lines.
Hudson appeared in court Wednesday afternoon in Multnomah County Circuit Court where he was formally charged with a total of 3 felonies and 4 misdemeanors.
According to Vancouver Police spokesperson Kim Kapp, officers received a report around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday of a female being assaulted inside a moving vehicle. The vehicle was traveling northbound on C Street in Vancouver. The driver, later identified as Hudson, ran a red light and continued to drive erratically.
Kapp said the vehicle had been reported stolen out of Portland about a week ago.
Patrol units in Vancouver caught up with the vehicle in the area of Fourth Plain Blvd. and Norris Street. Hudson, according to Kapp, refused to stop. The chase spanned several miles and eventually took law enforcement on southbound I-205.
Police said that based on their observations, it appeared that a woman - known to Hudson - was attempting to jump out of the vehicle as it was in motion, but that he was seemingly preventing her.
The pursuit entered Oregon and Portland Police helped with the pursuit.
Eventually, the chase entered Gresham city limits, according to a Gresham police spokesperson. While Gresham officers did not join in on the pursuit, they did assist with setting up spike strips.
The vehicle that Hudson was driving was successfully hit with a set of spike strips, which caused at least one of the vehicle's tires to deflate, bringing the chase to an end near Western Kia in Gresham. Hudson nearly hit a K-9 officer assigned to the Gresham Police Department while the officer was setting up to deploy the spikes, police said.
Eventually, Hudson was taken into custody.
Jail records indicate the woman inside the car with Hudson was his ex-girlfriend. The case is now being prosecuted by the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office Domestic Violence unit.
According to his criminal record, he has been convicted of at least 4 felonies in Washington. Records also show that he told jail staff he is transient, or has no permanent address.
Jail records also show that at the time of his booking into the Multnomah County Detention Center, Hudson told staff that he uses meth daily and that he was high when he was booked into jail. He also told jail staff that he uses heroin weekly, according to jail records.
Hudson will be back in court later this month.
He will be charged in Washington with first-degree kidnapping, attempt to elude, and fourth-degree assault, according to Kapp.In a Dallas Hilton conference room last summer, a few dozen state lawmakers from around the country gathered for a closed-door presentation about an all-American industry under threat. The pitch was part of an annual conference hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a powerhouse conservative consortium that promotes — and often drafts — pro-business legislation. The endangered industry was bail.
Bail is an essential lubricant of American justice, asserted Nicholas Wachinski, executive director of the American Bail Coalition, a trade group for insurance companies that underwrite bail bonds. But now bail agents are under siege by so-called reformers, who argue that the traditional bail system forces poor defendants to choose between paying fees they can’t afford and sitting in jail until they go to trial. A growing number of states — New Jersey, Colorado, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, Hawaii and others — are limiting the use of bail for defendants who don’t pose a threat, or replacing for-profit bail with government supervision.
Of course, Wachinski said, the bail bond industry will continue its tireless lobbying to protect its lucrative franchise, but he was there with another message: Innovation! New products! New markets! “A brave new world!” Why should bail bonds be only for defendants who are awaiting trial? How about bail bonds for a whole new class of customers: people who have already been convicted.
“My task,” Wachinski told the crowd, “is to bring the sexy side of bail back.”
In a courtroom just outside Jackson, Mississippi, Kristina Howell was about to experience a new, “sexy side of bail.”
After spending two days and nights in jail for drunk driving this past August, Howell was brought to the Byram city court, where she pled guilty and was told she had to pay a fine of $1,044. If she couldn’t come up with the money on the spot, she was headed back to jail. “I panicked,” said Howell, who lives and supports her son “paycheck to paycheck.”
But there was one other option. The judge explained to Howell that she could avoid jail by purchasing a new kind of bail bond, a post-conviction device that bail agents in Mississippi are busily promoting around the state. It would cost $155, and would buy her two extra months to come up with the money to pay her fine. Howell was then escorted to another room, where Patty Hodges from the Mississippi Bonding Company sat ready with the paperwork.
If Howell had been arrested two months earlier, her experience would have been different. Before this summer, those who found themselves facing a fine they couldn’t afford were allowed to pay the court in installments. But that system wasn’t working, says Dale Schwindaman, a Byram judge. “People would sign up for a payment plan, but then they wouldn’t come in and pay,” he said. Under the new system, if a person doesn’t return to court to pay her fines, it’s the bail agent’s job to track her down. This new system takes some of the burden off court clerks, who were hounding defendants to pay, as well as local law enforcement officers, who were tasked with rounding up the people who failed to settle their debts. “It gives people some time to come up with the money, and they also give us a way to secure them actually paying the fine,” said Schwindaman. And it gives the bail bondsman a tidy profit.
Mississippi has been a kind of laboratory for bail industry experiments. The state is the country’s poorest and has the third-highest per-capita incarceration rate. The Mississippi Bail Agents Association exercises strong legislative influence, boasting on its website that “[s]ince 1992, there have only been two years in which the MBAA did not succeed at making changes to the state bail statutes.” The bail industry has given more in campaign contributions per capita to state politicians in Mississippi than anywhere else. Versions of post-conviction bail legislation have also passed in South Dakota and Michigan, a victory celebrated by bail agents but not yet put into widespread practice.
“It’s just another tool in the toolbox,” says Gene Newman, a bail bondsman who claims credit for writing Mississippi’s post-conviction bond bill, which passed the legislature in 2007. After a person is convicted, a judge might order the defendant to complete certain requirements to avoid jail, paying a fine (as in Howell’s case), going to rehab, or submitting to other types of monitoring. In order to ensure that the person returns to court and proves she has met the requirements, the judge can require her to purchase a bail bond. As with traditional pretrial bonds, it becomes the bail agent’s responsibility to locate and apprehend people who don’t return to court.
Mississippi doesn’t track how widely the new bonds are being used, but Newman said he has been traveling the state, “selling them to the courts.” He predicts that other states will follow Mississippi’s lead, given the packed jails and exploding caseloads for probation and parole officers across the country. “The system is so overwhelmed,” he says. “They need private help.”
Back in Byram, Kristina Howell paid the $155. It was a hefty fee for Howell, who earns about $300 a week waitressing at a local Mexican restaurant, but it beat going back to jail. By mid-October, her bond was up and the money for her court fine was due. She had paid down some of it, but still owed $744, and she pleaded for an extension. Her bail agent, who had the power to revoke the bond and send Howell back to jail, decided to give her a break. “She’s doing the best she can,” she told the court. “I don’t mind continuing the bond.” The judge gave Howell two extra weeks to come up with the rest of the money.
After her hearing, Howell went to the nearest pawnshop and hocked her engagement ring and a gold necklace from her baptism. During her frantic search for money, electricity bills had piled up. The Internet was shut off. But a few days before her final court date, Howell scraped together the rest of what she owed, mostly by borrowing from friends. “Right now I’m just trying to make enough money to keep anything else from getting cut off,” she said.
She was not done yet. In addition to the cost of her bond, Howell would be paying a stack of other bills to private contractors. Defendants in Mississippi courts pay a growing share of the court’s administrative expenses— including fees for private probation, private drug tests, and private DUI classes. By the time she has completed all her requirements, Howell’s payments to private companies will total more than $1,000, effectively doubling her original court fine.
The United States is one of only two countries — the other is the Philippines — with a private bail industry. In America the process typically works like this: After people are arrested, either they are released on their own recognizance or a judge will require them to put up bail money to be returned once they appear for trial. (Only those accused of the most violent crimes are denied bail entirely.) Those who can’t afford to pay their bail have the option of either staying in jail or using a bail agent, who will charge a nonrefundable fee—usually 10 percent of their bail—to post a bond and bail them out. Defendants do not get that fee back even if they are found innocent. In exchange for the fee, bail agents promise courts that they’ll track down defendants who fail to appear for their next court date. If the defendant can’t be located, the agent is responsible for paying the entirety of the bail. (In reality, courts are often inefficient about collecting the money.)
“We’re their jailer,” says Scott Hall, a bail agent and the president of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States. “Every time I sign my name [to a bail bond] I’ve got to bring a body or bring a check.”
In many other countries’ court systems, the influence of commercial bail is seen as “a public mischief in that it attempts to pervert and obstruct the court of justice,” wrote F. E. Devine in his 1991 book, Commercial Bail Bonding, which remains the only international survey on pretrial release. In some countries, such as England and Canada, making a profit by posting a defendant’s bail is a crime.
We Are Witnesses A portrait of the U.S. immigration system in 12 short films
America’s current pretrial system is an outgrowth of English common law, which like many other court systems relies on the word of defendants and relatives, as well as collateral, such as property, to safeguard against people skipping court. This evolved, in the entrepreneurial American spirit, into the practice of posting bail for profit, and the business has since become an integral part of the justice process in most of America. Thanks to the influence of the bail bond industry—mostly subsidiaries of major insurance companies—bail amounts have surged, generating huge profits for the industry. In 1994, 24 percent of defendants were released on a commercial bail bond. By 2004, that number was 42 percent. Average bail amounts for those detained pretrial on felony charges more than doubled between 1992 and 2006, from $40,000 to $90,000. It’s estimated that bail bonds are a $14 billion industry1.
$14 billion industry1, the number of felony defendants released on their own recognizance decreased from 41% to 28%. Over that same time period, bail costs surged, from an average amount of $25,400 in 1992 to $55,500 in 2006. Between 1992 and 2006, the number of felony defendants released on their own recognizance decreased from 41% to 28%. Over that same time period, bail costs surged, from an average amount of $25,400 in 1992 to $55,500 in 2006.
Opponents of this system argue that it effectively punishes poor people who can’t afford to get themselves out of jail. In 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder characterized the costs of bail as an impediment to lowering prison populations, noting that nonviolent, non-felony offenders remain in custody “because they simply cannot afford to post the bail required—very often, just a few hundred dollars.” While they languish in jail, they may lose their prospects of returning to a normal life. Research has shown that those who remain detained while awaiting trial were more likely to go to prison and received longer sentences compared to those who were released. It’s harder to mount a robust defense from jail—to find witnesses, to meet with an attorney, to raise the money to pay for a defense. Moreover, jailed defendants could lose jobs, housing, custody of their children, and ties to the community that may influence judges and juries at sentencing.
Studies indicate that both commercial bail and nonfinancial alternatives such as government tracking can be effective at ensuring that defendants return for trial. Many recent reform efforts2 have focused on developing those nonfinancial means.
recent reform efforts2 Most recently, New Jersey passed a comprehensive bail reform package that allowed judges to deny bail based on public safety concerns, and set up a government-run pretrial services agency, which will serve as a non-monetary alternative to release low-risk defendants from jail. Much of the advocacy behind the legislation
New Jersey is joining a growing number of states that are moving away from pretrial systems that require the exchange of money for jail release (commercial bail bonding is just one vehicle for that financial arrangement. Other reforms often involve establishing a “risk score” that calculates how likely a defendant is to skip court, based on their crime and prior offenses, to help judges determine whether they need to set bail. Those considered low-risk are typically released without financial conditions, and some programs also include government supervision for low-level defendants to help ensure they show up for their court dates. Most recently, New Jersey passed a comprehensive bail reform package that allowed judges to deny bail based on public safety concerns, and set up a government-run pretrial services agency, which will serve as a non-monetary alternative to release low-risk defendants from jail. Much of the advocacy behind the legislation centered on a report commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance that found nearly 75 percent of those held in New Jersey jails are there waiting for their trial for an average length of 314 days. Nearly 40 percent of those inmates were incarcerated because they couldn’t afford bail. Twelve percent had a bail amount of $2,500 or less.New Jersey is joining a growing number of states that are moving away from pretrial systems that require the exchange of money for jail release (commercial bail bonding is just one vehicle for that financial arrangement. Other reforms often involve establishing a “risk score” that calculates how likely a defendant is to skip court, based on their crime and prior offenses, to help judges determine whether they need to set bail. Those considered low-risk are typically released without financial conditions, and some programs also include government supervision for low-level defendants to help ensure they show up for their court dates.
“It really boils down to a philosophy of whether you think people should have to pay to get out or not,” says Robert Morris, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas. “[Bail agents] handle the release of most defendants, period. It would require massive government spending to handle everything pretrial.”
Industry advocates argue that without for-profit bail bonds, there would actually be more people in jail. “I don’t believe there are people in jail who can’t afford bail,” says Eric Granof, vice president of communications for AIA Bail Bond Surety, an organization representing some of the largest insurance companies that underwrite bail bonds. “There are payment plans, and families can work with bail bondsmen to get people out. Saying people are languishing away is just not true.”
National data suggests otherwise. About two-thirds of the jail population consists of people awaiting trial—more than 450,000 people. And five out of six of those individuals are there either because they couldn’t afford bail or because a bail agent declined to post a bond.
Bail agents run a business with a singular focus: to ensure that a defendant returns to court. If a person is arrested for a new offense while out on a bail bond, the bail agent does not have to pay the court. Advocates for reform say this means there is no incentive for bail agents to help people stay on track while awaiting trial. E. Thom Rumberger, a representative of Accredited Surety and Casualty Co., Inc., put it this way to Congress in 1998: “We write bonds for appearance. We do not write bonds for performance.”
Scandals involving commercial bail—such as bondsmen extorting sexual favors in exchange for their services—have earned the system a reputation for being vulnerable to corruption. These concerns have been around since the early 1900s, and have led to the abolition of commercial bail in Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C. There is no reliable research indicating whether abolishing commercial bail has affected jail populations. The most recent data compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 2006, shows that the incarceration rates in the jails of Illinois, Kentucky, and Oregon are somewhat lower than in neighboring states; Wisconsin’s rate is higher than its neighbors’.
Challenges to this centuries-old system have gained momentum again in recent years, and this time, the industry has responded with the campaign to expand into new markets. The successful implementation of post-conviction bonds in Mississippi courts is just one frontier in a growing effort on the part of the bail industry to find new business opportunities in a political climate increasingly concerned about mass incarceration.
“There’s a sense in the bail industry of a dwindling marketplace,” says Tim Murray, director emeritus of the Pretrial Justice Institute, which advocates bail reform. “And they are tenacious in their fight for survival.”
Another bail industry product under consideration is a bond that secures early release from prison. An inmate seeking parole could be required to purchase a bond, and the risk of forfeiting the money would be a strong incentive to obey the conditions of parole.
Steven Pickett, chairman of the Mississippi Parole Board, said this could be a solution to the state’s exploding prison population. Pickett expects legislation allowing these types of bail bonds to be introduced during this session.
ALEC has pushed legislation for these early-release bonds with claims that such programs “would rely on the proven success of the private bail bond industry, rather than the proven dysfunction of the government-run parole and probation system.”
There’s also a push to use bail bonds as a way to keep nonviolent drug offenders out of jail and ensure that they attend treatment programs. The glut of low-level drug offenders clogging jails and prisons has increasingly attracted the attention of politicians and the public, and commercial bail proponents often describe their new products using the same language as reformers. “Minimal drug use should not be criminalized, because it leads to bigger addiction problems,” Nicholas Wachinski told his Dallas audience.
Rather than incarcerate someone with a drug- or alcohol-related offense, he explained, the offender could pay a bail agent, who would in turn be charged with assuring that a person goes to drug counseling meetings. According to Wachinski, California judges have already expressed interest. “Get these treatment bonds introduced in your states,” he urged the legislators. In other words, the bail industry not only wants to be your jailor, it wants to be your parole officer.
ALEC has proved an effective legislative vehicle for the bail industry. According to documents leaked in 2011, roughly 1,000 bills based on ALEC language are introduced in state legislatures in a typical year, and about 20 percent of them are enacted. Bail industry leaders hold top positions within ALEC, and in 2010, the industry referred to the council as its “life preserver.” Forms of the post-conviction bail law that passed in Mississippi have been introduced in at least fourteen other states, in some cases with the help of ALEC-backed legislators.
Toward the end of the summer’s ALEC conference, the time arrived for the main event: the approval of the year’s new slate of model legislation. One resolution urged close supervision of offenders released from prison, “which typically includes such practices as regular reporting, electronic monitoring, drug testing, treatment referral if needed, and job placement.”
Before the members cast their votes, Wachinski requested an amendment: “Whenever possible, public-private partnerships should be engaged” to facilitate that supervision.
The bill passed unanimously.TAIPEI, Taiwan — Along with China's new leaders came talk of possible reform.
That has died down since their names were announced this week. Most of the seven Politburo members, including incoming President Xi Jinping, are remnants of old regime — terrible news for many, but especially the minority groups that say they're being oppressed by the government.
Prominent among them is Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that melds meditation and slow-moving exercises with teachings on compassion and humility, and has accused the Chinese government of torturing members for decades. It says their persecution has intensified because of the Party congress.
“It's always been severe, but now it’s getting worse," Theresa Chu, a Falun Gong spokeswoman and human rights lawyer, said earlier this month.
"Any event like this in China leads to more persecution, not just for us, but for everybody," she added. "This week has been very tough for Falun Gong practitioners because more of them are being locked up."
Chu says she has no expectations for political reform. "Unfortunately, this persecution won’t end until the CCP collapses.”
James Liu and several of his Falun Gong friends stand outside Taipei 101, until recently the world's tallest building, silently holding huge signs depicting scenes of torture. One picture shows an emaciated victim with a massive abdominal scar, which Liu says is the result of organ harvesting. Other images show people who appear to have undergone electrical burns and savage beatings.
He says the scenes are proof the Communist Party aims to eradicate Falun Gong.
“We want to inform Chinese tourists to Taiwan about the brutal repression of the Falun Gong in China," he said. "The Communist Party has unleashed so much misinformation about us. It’s important they know the truth."
In fact, the truth is murky. Falun Gong has been criticized for exaggerating its claims in the past. But the persecution, extra-judicial jailings, beatings and torture of its members are a matter of public record, at least according to the European Union, the United Nations and US Congress.
A recent report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent government body, says Beijing has created “an extrajudicial security apparatus” known as the 6-10 office, which runs special facilities known as "re-education centers" that are trying to “stamp out” the Falun Gong.
The report states “large numbers of practitioners” are being jailed and that those who refuse to renounce their beliefs are "subject to torture, including credible reports of deaths in custody and the use of psychiatric experiments.”
Exact figures for the number of Falun Gong practitioners in custody are hard to come by. However, the US State Department last year said that Falun Gong practitioners make up at least half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates in “re-education through labor” camps.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture estimates Falun Gong members make up two-thirds of the alleged torture victims in custody, and has called for an independent investigation into allegations of state-sanctioned organ harvesting.
Falun Gong has always fallen outside China's five officially sanctioned religions — Buddhism, Daoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam. But the movement wasn't always attacked.
Once welcomed by Beijing, Falun Gong included many Party officials. In the 1990s, some estimates put its membership in the tens of millions.
But when the state placed restrictions on the group in 1999, Falun Gong members rallied in Tiananmen Square. After the protest, China outlawed the movement and branded it a heretical “evil cult.”
Rights groups say the authorrities cracked down on the group because they wanted to control civil society and feared large independent organizations.
In the years following the ban, Falun Gong has pushed itself to the front of the Chinese dissident community, advocating political reforms, human rights and the end of Party rule.
More from GlobalPost: China seeks drone buyers in developing countries
The watchdog Freedom House says "Falun Gong" is among the most censored words and phrases on the internet in China, along with "Tiananmen" and "Tibet."
John Xi, one of the first Chinese students allowed to study in Taiwan since a thaw in relations between the two sides, says he’s spent part of his time on the island researching modern Chinese history.
“I’ve been reading a lot about Tibet and Tiananmen Square, which you can’t access online in China," said John, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of being identified by authorities. "It’s pretty obvious the rest of the world’s version of what happened is different from my government’s."
“Taiwan can be a model for change at home," he added. "It was a one-party state that controlled everything from media to the economy. The similarities are definitely there, but look at it now. People have the freedom to choose which leaders they want, what they want to read and write, and what they want to protest.”
Protests, particularly peaceful ones, are commonplace in Taiwan, the Chinese-speaking world’s first real democracy. James Liu and his Falun Gong friends have been holding silent demonstrations at 50 sites in Taiwan since the island republic's President Ma Ying-jeou lifted a travel ban on mainland Chinese tourists in 2008.
"If we were protesting in Beijing or Shanghai," Liu said, "we'd be arrested within minutes."
However, most tourists don't pay much attention, he added. They scurry by, barely looking up as they head for the elevators inside Taipei 101.ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Mike Bloomberg is spending $12 million on attack ads designed to force U.S. senators to vote for national gun control laws that will supposedly save lives. However, the New York mayor’s commercials running in 13 states over the next two weeks could cause injury or death by showcasing irresponsible handling of a firearm.
Mr. Bloomberg’s organization, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, produced two ads featuring a man holding a shotgun, wearing plaid flannel with a camouflage cap and sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck. While a child swings on a tire in the background, the man says, “I support comprehensive background checks so criminals and the dangerously mentally ill can’t buy guns.”
The ad does not specify if the man is an actor, but the text accompanying it says he is a “gun owner.” Either way, the man violates all three gun safety rules taught by the National Rifle Association (NRA). (Click here to see the ads.)
The first rule is to always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. In this case, the children are playing in the yard. Although the viewers can’t see what is to the side of the truck, the man should be pointing the muzzle in the air or at the ground.
The second NRA rule is always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
In the ad “Responsibility,” the man has his finger on the trigger, as if ready to shoot. While doing this, he says, “I believe in the Second Amendment, and I’ll fight to protect it. But with rights come responsibilities.” To make an ad demonstrating actual gun responsibility, the man would put a straight forefinger above the trigger guard to make sure he doesn’t accidentally touch the trigger.
SEE ALSO: MILLER: Where’s the concern? Seven Marines die and Obama tweets this picture of snack time
The third NRA safety rule is always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use. This means a situation in which the gun is available for immediate use — such as when hunting and a deer could step out at any time or when the firearm is safely stored but ready for quick self-defense as needed.
In the ad called “Family,” the man says that, “My dad taught me to hunt, and I’ll teach my kids. I’ve owned a gun all my life, and I’ll fight for my right to keep it.”
While saying this, he holds the pump-action shotgun with the action (bolt) closed, so it is impossible to know if it is loaded. To make this a demonstration of safety, the bolt would be wide open to demonstrate that it is unloaded.
A man who grew up hunting would know that by holding a shotgun straight horizontal, with the action closed and his finger on the trigger, he is committing all three cardinal sins of gun safety.
The dangerous ads are intended to pressure senators to get 60 votes for regulating private gun transactions, one of the measures the Senate take up when Congress returns from Easter recess. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, was supposed to be negotiated with Republicans, but instead a partisan bill was voted out of committee. Mr. Schumer said he will try to find consensus before the floor vote.
Lawmakers who support gun rights don’t easily divide along party lines. While most Republicans in Washington are pro-Second Amendment, some Democrats from rural or other pro-gun states support the right to keep and bear arms. So Mr. Bloomberg is directing his ire at both sides of the aisle.
Hizzoner believes that these Republicans might be willing to bow to the pressure from the attack ads: Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Dan Coats of Indiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Chuck Grassley of Iowa (who is the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee), Dean Heller of Nevada, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
The Democrats getting whacked are Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
If Mr. Bloomberg is sincere in wanting to save lives, he should consider spending his billions on TV ads that showcase people demonstrating basic gun safety measures.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Early on a Saturday morning, the Kapiolani Community College (KCC) Farmers' Market in Honolulu, Hawaii, bustles as patrons compete to purchase 100% Kona Coffee, locally made honey, and Hawaiian-grown produce and flowers. This market is only one of several Saturday markets on Oahu. Honolulu's urbanites flock to farmers' markets in scores and often patronize weekday markets in addition to weekend markets. This vibrant farmers' market scene might ensure the preservation of the island's remaining farmland.
Papaya for Sale at the KKC Market!
Farmers' markets establish a bond between Oahu's city-dwellers and farmers, who are otherwise often at odds over prospective real estate developments. When city-dwellers patronize markets, they engage in conversations with farm owners, managers, and employees, and they learn about the farms' practices. Patrons value this information and rapport, and often frequent the same farms' stands from week to week, and thereby become stakeholders in the island's remaining farms.
Patrons Engage Local Farmers
Naked Cow Dairy, a small-scale, 20-cow dairy located in Waianae, is the only producer of butter, cheese, and cream cheese on the island. Naked Cow sells its products at the KCC, Ala Moana, Waianae, Blaisdell, and Mililani markets. The exorbitant cost of land could force a small-scale farm like Naked Cow to close. If Honolulu's urban-dwellers hope to continue to frequent thriving, sustainable markets offering locally grown and produced foodstuffs, they must advocate for the protection, and perhaps expansion, of land that is zoned for agricultural use.
Locally-produced Honey
Hopefully, Honolulu's citizens' love of farmers’ markets will reverse the preceding twenty years' trends:
In 1990, Honolulu County's population was 836,231 1.5 percent
Are farmers' markets propelling the preservation of farmland where you live? Comment below or on Twitter!
Credits: Photographs by Sunny Menozzi. Data linked to sources.Greetings Project SWG community
Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a replacement for our previous launcher. The primary reason for starting the project was because nobody on the team was willing to do work on it because the code was very hard to jump into. As I started the process of improving it, I realized the entire thing needed to be redone. This opened up a plethora of other opportunities that I'm very excited to announce!
Big new features coming in version 1.0.0:
Auto updates - instead of having to download a new launcher every time we post an update, the launcher handles this automatically and you can get started right away without any hassle!
Multiple languages supported - can now add in your own language for nearly every string in the launcher. Currently only English and German are supported. If you want to add other languages, check out my facebook page for more information!
Server status is displayed - now you can see what the server is up to at a glance! It'll be one of the following strings: INVALID, OFFLINE, LOADING, LOCKED, or UP.
Streamlined UI - I removed some of the superfluous settings that didn't really add much to the launcher but made the UI take longer to load
I'm very excited about these new features and to share it with everyone. Without further ado, here's the download link:
https://bitbucket.org/projectswg/launcher/downloads/
Note: For the time being, both launchers will be supported by Holocore. However, at some point Holocore will lock out any old launchers, so try updating now!
If you have any questions, concerns, or comments please let me know via facebook message or forum message!
Team ProjectSWGHaving ridden the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España for the past two seasons, Sergio Henao will make his debut at the Tour de France riding in support of Chris Froome. The Colombian climber who has returned home for Christmas following a Team Sky training camp on Majorca told Biciciclismo.com of his 2014 plans. Henao, who will also ride the Tour of the Basque Country and will lead the team in the Ardennes, will be a key domestique for Froome with Richie Porte targeting the Giro. Related Articles Henao is this year's revelation of the Giro d'Italia
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With Rigoberto Uran moving to Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Henao, who turns 26-years old today, has the opportunity to step up in his third season in Europe.
"The intention is to be at the Tour de France which is what I'm thinking about. My season will begin in Majorca and then I'm scheduled to race the Tour of Oman," Henao said.
"After that, it will be similar to last year's calendar with Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of the Basque Country and then the Ardennes."
Henao explained that he will then take a break from racing to train on Tenerife, building form for the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour.
This year Henao had a breakout six months of racing but faded in the latter half of the |
leave.
Vladimir Putin orders withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria Read more
“Personnel are loading equipment, logistics items and inventory into transport aviation aircraft,” the defence ministry wrote, adding that Shoigu had ordered the “main part” of the contingent in Syria to be redeployed.
The first planes from Latakia landed at an airbase near Voronezh on Tuesday afternoon. Returning pilots were tossed in the air by celebrating crowds of comrades, with television crews on hand to capture the scenes and broadcast them to Russian homes as a sign of the mission’s success.
“We will carry out any command of our commander-in-chief at any point on the planet,” one unnamed pilot said on his return.
While state television covered the withdrawal with fanfare, the deputy defence minister suggested the bombing campaign was not over. At a ceremony to mark the withdrawal, Nikolai Pankov said the Russian planes remaining in Syria would continue to carry out missions.
“Certain positive results have been achieved. A real chance has emerged to put an end to this long-running standoff,” Pankov said, according to RIA Novosti. “But it is still early to talk about victory over terrorism. The Russian aviation group has the task to continue carrying out strikes on terrorist facilities.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A pilot of a Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet prepares to leave the Hmeymim airbase for Russia. Photograph: Tass
On Monday night, Putin telephoned Barack Obama to inform him of his decision, and the pair spoke about both Syria and Ukraine “in a constructive and frank manner”, according to the Kremlin.
“The heads of state noted the importance of full coordination of efforts between representatives of Russia and the United States, including on military matters, to preserve the truce and provide humanitarian assistance to besieged towns, as well as effectively fighting terrorist groups,” said Moscow’s readout of the call.
The White House said the US president told Putin that he “welcomed the much-needed reduction in violence since the beginning of the cessation, but stressed that continuing offensive actions by Syrian regime forces risk undermining both the cessation of hostilities and the UN-led political process”.
Putin’s move was clearly designed to coincide with the start of Syrian peace talks in Geneva and will be seen as a sign that Russia believes it has done enough to protect President Bashar al-Assad’s regime from collapse.
The Russian decision, which caught the most senior peace negotiators in Geneva by surprise, has injected further impetus into the process.
Staffan de Mistura, the UN’s Syria envoy, welcomed Putin’s announcement as a significant development.
“We hope it will have a positive impact on the progress of the negotiations in Geneva aimed at achieving a political solution to the Syrian conflict and a peaceful political transition in the country,” he said.
Although western diplomats are wary of Putin’s sincerity and motives, they acknowledge that his decision will help strengthen the partial ceasefire – one of the building blocks to creating an environment of trust for the negotiators. They also sense it was a decision made in Moscow and relayed to Damascus in a way that makes clear Russia is the dominant partner in the relationship.
Some opposition delegates cried when they heard the news, in part because of the destructive effect of the Russian air campaign on daily lives but also because of its impact on the opposition’s bargaining hand at the negotiating table.
The opposition dared to hope that Putin’s move signalled a wider Russian decision, if not to abandon Assad, then at least to serve notice to Damascus that it will have to compromise in the talks, including on the critical issue of the powers and status of a transitional governing body that would take charge of Syria, pending elections of a new parliament and president in 18 months.
The role of Assad in this transitional body will become a major focus as talks progress, and assuming they do not fail. The negotiators will have to agree if he can stay in a titular role for an interim period.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Russian SU-34 takes off from the Hmeymim airbase. Photograph: Russian defence ministry/EPA
A spokesman for the high negotiations committee – an umbrella group for the opposition – said on Tuesday: “Hearing is different from seeing things on the ground. We want to see an end not only to Russian troops but all foreign troops. We want to see an end to terrorism in Syria … It is a positive step if they [the Russians] are serious.”
Despite the Russian move, it is thought unlikely that De Mistura will move away from his policy of slowly building trust, and that he will continue to focus on securing agreement on easier issues. An early step may be the release of political detainees.
On Monday, the Syrian government delegation submitted a paper on the country’s future political structure. De Mistura is due to formally meet the opposition for the first time on Tuesday afternoon.
The UK has argued, sometimes with little supporting evidence, that Putin is not wedded to Assad personally but wants a veto over what happens in Syria. It also acknowledges that Putin wants to be seen as a major diplomatic player, and that means he is likely to follow the withdrawal with an intensified role in the diplomacy.
Philip Hammond, the UK foreign secretary, wrote on Twitter that the Russian move could be positive if it was part of a real commitment to a Syrian-led political transition and continuation of the cessation of hostilities.
The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was the most senior western politician to express hope that Putin was now set to put pressure on Assad. He said: “If the announcement of a withdrawal of Russian troops materialises, this increases the pressure on President Assad to finally negotiate in a serious way in Geneva a political transition which maintains the stability of the Syrian state and the interests of all populations.”
Shoigu said Russian planes had made more than 9,000 flights during the campaign. While Russia has officially claimed to be fighting Islamic State, many of the attacks have targeted other opposition groups.
Putin has ordered that the Hmeymim airbase remain open with a limited contingent of Russian forces and be defended from “land, sea and air”, leading some to question whether the withdrawal might be more of a tactical gambit than a full wind-down of the Russian military presence.
The Syrian army said it would continue its operations against Isis, al-Qaida’s Syria branch and other militant factions that have been designated as terrorist groups by the UN “with the same tempo”.Buy Photo Alison Lundergan Grimes high-fives supporters after Wednesday's rally. (Photo: The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy )Buy Photo
Conventional wisdom would deem Northern Kentucky as safe ground for Republicans.
The hundreds of Democrats on Wednesday who gathered around the World Peace Bell in Newport, however, didn't think so.
Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes received an ear-splitting welcome from Democrats cheering at the top of their lungs as her bus pulled up alongside the World Peace Bell. A sizable contingent of press, including CNN, was there.
Buoyed by a new Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll that showed Grimes retaking the lead over Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell by two percentage points, the large crowd showed the enthusiasm in the Kentucky senate race hasn't waned.
While surveying the crowd, State Rep. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, said he hasn't seen this much enthusiasm for a Democratic Senate candidate since the 1980s when Democrats held a stronger grip on Kentucky politics.
"This is a good sign if we can get this many people energized and talking," Simpson said. "This a ground swell of ordinary Kentuckians."
Both Grimes and McConnell in the past two weeks have paid close attention to Northern Kentucky, with McConnell making at least four visits in that time to the region.
Grimes hoped to win the crowd over by focusing on two of the region's biggest issues, the Brent Spence Bridge and heroin abuse. Rep. Leslie Combs, D-Pikeville, spoke before Grimes and promised the crowd Grimes would get a new bridge built.
Buy Photo Alison Lundergan Grimes addressed supporters Wednesday at a rally at the World Peace Bell in Newport. (Photo: The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy )
Both Grimes and McConnell have touted plans to pay for the $2.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge replacement and renovation. McConnell's would repeal prevailing wage on federal construction projects to save money and direct that savings toward infrastructure projects. Grimes' would repeal some corporate tax breaks and direct the tax revenue to projects like the Brent Spence Bridge.
Critics of both plans have said they stand little chance of passing Congress.
When asked by The Enquirer how she could get her plan passed, she answered by calling McConnell names.
"I think you get the 'Guardian of Gridlock,' 'The Doctor of No' out of Washington, and you'll see the impossible be possible," Grimes told The Enquirer after the speech.
Grimes' plan to address the heroin problem in Kentucky would also rely on repealing corporate tax breaks to generate more money for law enforcement and drug treatment. Grimes accused McConnell of ignoring the heroin problem.
"I challenge you, Mitch McConnell, to come here and tell the folks in Northern Kentucky that you have no plan to address the heroin problem that's here in the northern part of our state," Grimes said.
That drew the ire of McConnell's campaign. "Brazen falsehoods," tweeted McConnell's top aide Josh Holmes.
Buy Photo Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky's Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, addressed supporters at a rally Wednesday in Newport. (Photo: The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy )
McConnell, in recent visits to Northern Kentucky, has said he wants to expand the number of counties designated High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, which might increase the amount of money and law enforcement coordination available. But whether Northern Kentucky would be included wasn't clear.
McConnell's campaign slammed Grimes' speech by tying her to President Barack Obama, calling her bridge plan a tax increase and touting an award McConnell received from law enforcement.
"Alison Grimes has officially entered an alternate universe where she's surrounded by left-wing Obama loyalists with a fleeting grasp on reality," said Allison Moore, spokeswoman for McConnell's campaign,in a statement. "She is touting a $273 billion federal tax increase as a bridge plan, while attacking the Kentucky Narcotics Officer Association's 'legislator of the year' on his efforts to combat our drug epidemic."
Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/1xqOVrgplease select a rating to see the next picture. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tat Ink! I want to rate All Angels & Wings Animals & Wildlife Tribal & Celtic & Maori Arm Band Butterflies & Fairies Cartoon & Movie Characters Celebrity Tattoos Cover-Up Ink Crosses & Religious Dragons Flowers & Mushrooms Full Back Hearts & Love Indian & Feathers Koi Lettering Magazine Pictures Moons & Stars & Suns Over 18's Only Portraits Skeletons & Skulls Symbols & Logo's Traditional Miscellaneous tattoos Umbreon Next Picture -> Gallery Tweet Use this link to share this picture
http://www.ratemyink.com/?action=ssp&pid=148506 posted by mcase7 2012-11-25 Umbreon tattoo. Ignore the Espeon on the top of it, this was intended as a separate counterpart to that. You can actually see the full espeon one if you click on my profile :) Rate it however you wish, but I personally love it and that's all that really matters anyway :) post a comment 1 to 2 of 2 comments
mcase7 2012-11-26 Oh, I never said it was horrible lol otherwise why would I post it? Some people seem to criticize tattoos unfairly however so I was just letting them know that I really like this one and not to be too cruel if this isn't thier cup of tea :) TheTruthHurtsSometimes 2012-11-26 If it's all that matters then why post it? It sounds like you aren't sure about the quality yourself. It's not too bad. It's blown out which is a shame but not ass horrible as you make it out to be.New Delhi: India and the US on Wednesday underscored their military partnership with the signing of a deal worth over $1 billion for the purchase of four additional Poseidon-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft.
The contract is a follow-up order to the eight P-81 planes already bought by India in a direct deal with Boeing’s Indian subsidiary worth $2.1 billion in 2009. The P-8I fleet is based at naval air station Rajali, in Arakkonam town of Tamil Nadu.
The deal was signed during the visit of US under secretary for defence on acquisition Frank Kendall, who is in India for talks.
The P-8I is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad area, maritime and littoral operations. The P-8I is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon that Boeing is developing for the US Navy," Boeing India’s website said.
The Indian Navy is the first international customer for the P-8," it said.
Equipped with the sophisticated Harpoon missiles, lightweight torpedoes and rockets, the Indian Navy has been using the P-8I to keep watch over the Indian Ocean, which has seen forays by Chinese submarines including the docking of a Chinese nuclear submarine in Sri Lanka.
The acquisition of additional P-8I aircraft will give the Indian Navy much-needed punch as India builds up its naval surveillance capabilities.
“This military derivative of the next-generation 737-800 combines superior performance and reliability with an advanced mission system that ensures maximum interoperability in the future battle space," the Boeing India website said.
With Wednesday’s deal, the total value of Indian defence contracts with the US since 2000 stands at about $15 billion.
Last year, India signed a $3 billion contract with the US through the Foreign Military Sales route for 22 Apache and 15 Chinook helicopters.
Another deal in the works includes one to get 145 pieces of M777 lightweight howitzers from the US.
That India is buying military hardware from the US shows the extent to which ties have warmed between the world’s largest and oldest democracies, seen to be on opposite sides during the Cold War years.
India’s largest military hardware supplier then was the former Soviet Union with whom the Indian government signed a treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation in 1971 that specified mutual strategic cooperation despite India’s espousal of non-alignment.
Currently, the US figures among India’s top military hardware suppliers along with France and Israel.
The two countries also have a Defence Technology and Trade Initiative -- a bilateral cooperation programme to expand Indo-US military-industrial ties and support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative.Munster (16) 19
Tries: Howlett Pens: Keatley 4 Con: Keatley
Benetton Treviso (3) 6
Pens: Di Bernardo 2
Treviso were unable to build on their surprise win over champions Ospreys as they lost to Munster in Friday night's Pro12 game at Thomond Park.
A Doug Howlett try and three penalties and a conversion by Ian Keatley helped Munster to a 16-3 half-time lead.
Alberto Di Bernardo scored a first-half penalty for the Italians and added another in the second half.
A Keatley penalty was Munster's only score of the second half as they kept up their winning start to the season.
The former Celtic League champions had defeated Edinburgh in their first game under new head coach Rob Penney last weekend.
Captain Howlett dashed through for a fifth minute try, in response to di Bernado's opening penalty.
The Italians were kicked in front by di Bernardo, but their lead lasted only two minutes as Munster hit back at them.
Damien Varley threw over the back of a lineout to Dave O'Callaghan who burst forward and Howlett timed his support run to perfection as he took the flanker's pass and thundered in under the posts.
Keatley converted and soon added his first penalty, with the home crowd enjoying Munster's eagerness to shift the ball and get their outside backs involved.
This attacking adventure under Penney was a feature in the win away to Edinburgh last Saturday, but a forceful scrum also yielded points tonight.
The Treviso front row popped up under the pressure and Keatley landed a 24th-minute penalty.
The penalty count increased against the Italians, allowing Keatley to push the gap out to 13 points.
Franco Smith's men got no reward for a strengthening scrum and better share of territory - a Luca Morisi counter attack might have led to a try but for a knock on from the supporting Williams.
After weathering an early second half storm from Treviso, Munster went in search of an elusive second try.
Keatley knocked on to spoil a brilliant break from Howlett and Casey Laulala, James Coughlan and Mike Sherry all went close during a purple patch for the Irish province.
Treviso lost centre Alberto Sgarbi to the sin-bin for not rolling away, leaking a further three points to Keatley in the process.
Munster's dominance of territory merited more but they were unable to finish off their chances.
Treviso came more into it late on, buoyed by di Bernardo's second penalty.
After previous warnings, Munster had replacement hooker Sherry sin-binned for hands in the ruck.
Munster: Denis Hurley; Doug Howlett (capt), Casey Laulala, James Downey, Luke O'Dea; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Wian du Preez, Damien Varley, Stephen Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan.
Replacements: Mike Sherry, Dave Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, Dave Foley, Paddy Butler, Peter Stringer, Scott Deasy, Ivan Dineen.
Benetton Treviso: Brendan Williams; Brendan Williams, Alberto Sgarbi, Luca Morisi, Tommaso Iannone; Alberto Di Bernardo, Edoardo Gori; Michele Rizzo, Enrico Ceccato, Lorenzo Cittadini; Antonio Pavanello (capt), Valerio Bernabo; Simone Favaro, Dean Budd, Paul Derbyshire.
Replacements: Giovanni Maistri, Alberto De Marchi, Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, Corniel Van Zyl, Robert Barbieri, Alessandro Zanni, Fabio Semenzato, Kristopher BurtonPhoto: Jeff Sorn, Oregon Department of Transportation View of the Steens Mountains from the Buena Vista Overlook in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
You probably like parks. You assume everyone feels that way. You are wrong.
As the National Park Service prepares for next summer’s centennial, I’ve been thinking about the people on the wrong side of national park history. A recent tweet from Danielle Brigida, who works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shows that such objectors were intense and taken seriously in their time.
Proof that we've come a long way. Here's a 1920 ad campaign that didn't want to save Malheur Lake. pic.twitter.com/I6kYMg9D7X — Danielle Brigida (@starfocus) October 13, 2015
This image sent me rummaging through old newspapers. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt established Oregon’s Lake Malheur Reservation, dedicating about 100,000 acres of (allegedly) unclaimed government land to the preservation and breeding of native birds. American birds were in crisis. Milliners, in search of feathers for the fancy hats of the time, had nearly wiped out several species, including snowy egrets and roseate spoonbills. Headwear was such an important part of turn-of-the-century etiquette that there were instruction books on how to properly tip one’s hat, written at a level of detail reminiscent of the Japanese bowing tradition.
Lake Malheur Reservation specifically protected the formerly abundant great egret, which was a prime target for hatmakers. Earlier that year, conservationist William L. Finley had surveyed the area and found only two egrets during a full month of searching. Finley also interviewed a plume hunter who reported making as much as $500 per day (more than $12,000 in today’s dollars) selling the wading birds he shot. The same hunter boasted of plundering bird populations all the way to Mexico, exterminating entire egret colonies across the West. Finley’s report inspired Roosevelt to set the land aside for the bird’s benefit.
It worked for a while, but problems arose by 1920 (perhaps not surprisingly—malheur is French for “woe” or “misfortune”). As Oregon farmers drained water from the Silvies and Blitzen rivers, which feed into Lake Malheur, the lake was drying up and becoming alkaline. So a bunch of Oregonians came up with an idea: Why not just drain the lake and the surrounding wetlands entirely, then sell the land to farmers? To make the idea more palatable to the public, the proceeds from the sale would be earmarked for schools, hence the “babies before birds” motif in the advertisement above.
The ad’s complaint about mosquitoes seems trifling to a modern reader, but malaria was a major problem at the time. It was one of several imported diseases that together reduced Oregon’s indigenous population by 80 percent by the end of the Civil War in 1865. In 1920 the disease was still killing 58 out of 100,000 Americans annually—the approximate malarial death rate in modern-day Rwanda.
Photo: TexasEagle/Flickr Great egrets were a prime target of hatmakers in the
A political and legal battle ensued over Lake Malheur. The state gave voters the option to officially cede management of the area to the federal government. Angry Oregonians wrote letters to newspaper editors opposing the ballot measure, complaining that selling the land would bring value “far above any anticipated benefits that could possibly be derived from a bird reserve.” In a piece titled “Birds and Babies,” one writer noted that those pesky birds were stealing grain from local farmers. The ballot measure was defeated.
The U.S. government still wanted the land and fought a lengthy legal battle with Oregon. The state contended that the feds had more or less stolen the lake because Uncle Sam never really held title to the reserve in the first place. In 1935, the Supreme Court finally settled the issue, ruling that the land belonged to the federal government. The reserve was legitimate and the federal government had the authority to protect the wetlands from destruction. Take that, babies.
This story is, admittedly, a relic. But it’s an important one, because it encapsulates most of the arguments people continue to make against parkland. Opponents claim the land could be made more economically productive. They say wildlands are a detriment to society and do not help the average citizen. And they argue—somewhat bizarrely—that our children will one day thank us for not making parks.
Photo: NPS President Theodore Roosevelt in Yellowstone National Park in 1903.
Before establishing Yellowstone as a national park in 1872, for example, Congress demanded hard evidence that the land could not be used for farming, ranching, or housing. After its establishment, opponents still wanted to transfer management to a private company that would administer it in a less elitist and “imperial” manner. Before Glacier National Park was created in 1910, opponents cut the proposed area by two-thirds to allow mining and ranching. Similar concerns shrank the size of Grand Canyon National Park. (William Randolph Hearst also won a prohibition on structures that would impair the view from one of his houses.) Indeed, according to University of Montana historian H. Duane Hampton, two-thirds of existing national parks faced significant opposition.
The arguments continue. Last year, fishermen insisted that a proposed marine national monument was a waste of perfectly good tuna. Opponents of a massive Nevada national monument argued that President Obama was putting landscapes before our children’s safety (sound familiar?), because the Air Force needed the airspace for exercises.
No matter how good an idea is, there are always people who are against it. Pope Paul V declared Galileo’s ideas about the solar system heretical and told him to drop all that Copernican stuff. Of Darwin’s theory of evolution, William Jennings Bryan wrote that “no one has ever been able to trace one single species to another.” I’m sure there were people who warned against combining peanut butter and chocolate. I guess America’s best idea can’t escape the same fate, even after more than a century of making people (and their babies) happy.
onEarth provides reporting and analysis about environmental science, policy, and culture. All opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of NRDC. Learn more or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.Kristina Hansen. John Hembling. Dean Esmay. In the past couple of years A Voice for Men — the premier “men’s rights” website — has seen the very public departure of several high-profile employees under circumstances that are usually far from amicable.
Today, Paul Elam revealed that attorney and “Canadian Activism Director” Attila Vinczer had quit both AVfM and the “men’s rights” movement as a whole. Yes, this is the same Attila Vinczer who attempted to “dox” blogger Dave Futrelle — whom Vinczer labelled a “pathological liar” and a “criminal”, in addition to a litany of other insults. The same Attila Vinczer who was prone to going on scatological rants against feminists on Twitter.
In a farewell letter to his former comrades, Vinczer wrote that he originally “decided to join AVFM as what I believed to be the most suitable organization and vehicle for my advocacy endeavours” but had grown sick of Elam’s abuse. According to Vinczer:
I am no longer willing to remain silent, particularly with the incredulously wanton threats made against me, by those who at a time, I thought were my friends and allies. I have been accused of being a cheat, a liar, a thief, a con artist, dishonest in addition to being called a scum bag and coerced into doing things I was unable to do. Moreover, I have been threatened by a number of people to be publicly shamed, humiliated and thus excommunicated from the MRM for ever. This added stress has had a profoundly negative effect on my health, which deeply cruel, after I made it clear, that I was not well back in April. In my risk estimation joining AVFM, I failed to assess the fact that those who could cover my back, could just as easily stab me in the back. I have seen this done to others and it was only a matter of time it would be done to me or to any other member of AVFM when the organization places you in their crosshair.
If the type of treatment Vinczer is describing sounds familiar, that’s because Paul Elam and his organization does this to anyone considered an enemy. Feminists, women in general, journalists who say negative things about the group — all become targets of insults, doxxing attempts, threats, and so on.
Critics are routinely lambasted as “manginas”, “white knights”, “scumbags”, and “bigots.” In fact, if I had a dime for every time Paul Elam flew off the handle and told someone to “fuck off” or “go to hell” I’d be debt free by now.
Vinczer continues to air out AVfM’s dirty laundry, describing the difficulty he encountered while attempting to host the second annual TorontoDV Symposium (one speaker, Dr. Tanveer Ahmed, requested a flight on a different airline which more than doubled the original flight cost), his inability to sell his commemorative AVfM silver coins (sales of the coin, he said, “have been at a dismal 23 pieces”), and the severe financial losses he’s experienced for associating with AVfM and MRAs — which he puts at over two million dollars.
And he bitterly described how he paid for Elam’s “first class” flight from Houston to Toronto as well as his hotel room.
In his closing remarks, Vinczer wrote:
Management is wondering why readership at AVFM is down. Its like this. People will slow down and take a look at a crash on the side of the road. The bigger the crash the more they will stop and look. After a while it becomes boring. This is the chasm AVFM is in. It will either fall back to where it began. cross it and move to a higher elevation or fall into the chasm and self destruct. Again, I will strongly urge management to develop a solid business plan with short, mid and long term goals. This will enable it to seek funding either publicly or privately as a business. How many people/volunteers will AVFM grind up, before it realizes, it must pay their staff? Paul told me he would fly my father and I to the next ICMI event to ensure we were comfortable. Instead I got insulted with, if you volunteer in October, you will get a free pass with a value of $600.00, but your dad and kids will need to pay to get in. Moments after that I was ready to submit my resignation. Suzy [McCarley] talked me out of it.... It has come to my attention that AVFM CEO and Dr. Tanveer Ahmed are possibly conspiring to destroy my reputation publicly. Is this what AVFM is about? Does this stand for due process it profoundly says it protects? I attempted to deal with this at the highest level privately, but was instead silenced by it. I will never return to the MRM or the cult that has without thought or consideration thrown me under the wheels of the bus. Will deal with my obligations and never look back on this treacherous dark moment and happily return to my business and executive life to enjoy my time with my family and children.
Yes, Attila Vinczer described a “cult” that threw him “under the wheels of the bus.” A “cult” headed by Paul Elam, who countered Vinczer’s resignation letter by writing of “dozens of broken promises, unpaid bills, manipulating people into covering your expenses knowing full well that if you did not make the money back that you could not reimburse.”
He labelled Vinczer’s “disregard” for the “well-being” of his former coworkers as “atrocious.” He attacked Vinczer as “a liar, a con artist and a dishonest scoundrel that has ripped off people over three countries and two continents.”
In other words, Elam handled the situation the way one might have expected. I’m sure the reverberations of this latest falling out between Elam and one of his allies will continue for the foreseeable future.
In the meantime, let’s have Taylor Swift sum this up:Many were surprised to see the 84 Lumber Superbowl commercial which attempted to push the idea of immigrant sympathies even further by literally showing migrants journeying to the US border.
84 Lumber has a dicey past even thought its founders have a nice humble American dream story.
Following the housing bubble the company faced extreme challenges and was forced to lay off nearly everyone at the company and close almost all its stores. Magerko laid off approximately 6,000 workers and closed 250 stores.
The company then looked to the US Government to aid it applying for $20M of Federal and State loans. This was met with backlash from locals who realized that 84 Lumber was the owner of another company, called Nemacolin. A plush resort located in Farmington, PA. 84 Lumber founder Hardy bought the site in the 90s and since then the family has invested $600M into it. When 84 Lumber applied for their federal loan some residents in the area (which has an unsually high 9%+ unemployment rate) wondered why the government was supporting a family so fond of hiring foreigners.
Nemacolin is well known for its hiring of people from Ukraine, Uzbekistan, the Philippines, and other far-flung countries.
“Nemacolin Woodlands applied for 250 worker certifications and received 234, the most of any employer in the region, records show. The positions the resort sought to fill included housekeepers, janitors, laundry workers, kitchen helpers and cooks at wages ranging from $7.15 to $9.50 per hour.” A hotel or restaurant employer who offers good wages and benefits can find employees willing to fill those jobs, said Ivana Krajcinovic, a staff representative for Unite Here Local 57, which represents about 1,500 workers in the Pittsburgh region’s hotel and hospitality industry. “When an employer says they can’t find workers, that really means they can’t find workers who will work for poverty wages and no benefits,” said Krajcinovic, a union representative in the hotel industry for 18 years.
Why does a Pennsylvanian resort need to rely on foreign workers when its peers in the region have nowhere near the need?
“Other vacation spots in Southwestern Pennsylvania said they do not hire from overseas, though some have in the past. Anna Weltz, a spokeswoman for Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Somerset County, said that while the resort had once hired some Polish students through the J-1 visa program, no foreign workers were hired this year. Kennywood Entertainment, which owns the Idlewild and Sandcastle theme parks, does not bring workers from overseas. “We have such a great pool of high school and college students, we’ve never had the need,” spokesman Jeff Filicko said.”
As expected, locals were not pleased when the company then asked the people they felt weren’t qualified enough to even work for them, to foot a $15M bail out for their parent company:
“At a public meeting held in Uniontown to discuss the loan, some county residents expressed concern that the immigrant workers at Nemacolin were taking jobs that could have gone to local people. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Fayette County had an average unemployment rate of 9.4 percent over the past year and hit 10 percent in August, when 6,700 were unemployed. “That ticked a lot of people off,” said Bob Foltz, who hosts a conservative radio talk show on Uniontown-based WMBS. Foltz said listeners began calling about the foreign workers shortly after 84 Lumber requested the loan. Uniontown business owner Brian Oros, 49, has been one of the most vocal. “How can they be talking about creating jobs when they’re bringing in foreigners?” Oros asked. “I don’t believe that they can’t get people from here.””
Does this company even believe what it preached in its ads or was this just another pathetic publicity stunt from a struggling company?
“Magerko said the ad shouldn’t be considered provocative at all. In fact, she says she voted for Donald Trump in the election, and the image of the door in the wall comes directly from Trump himself, who said he wanted a ‘big beautiful door’ in his wall, for legal immigration.
What we most likely have here is a foolish corporate decision making chain which was sold on an overly controversial ad by an advertising agency which probably didn’t care about the company’s history. And however stupid it might have been, since this whole article is written about the company, I guess it worked.A trader wears a hat in support of President Trump while working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, on Jan. 20, 2017. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)
From the confines of his luxurious resort at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, President Trump tweeted a now-familiar case for his presidency.
The Stock Market is setting record after record and unemployment is at a 17 year low. So many things accomplished by the Trump Administration, perhaps more than any other President in first year. Sadly, will never be reported correctly by the Fake News Media! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017
“So many things accomplished” by his administration, Trump argued, leading that argument with the “record after record” being set in the stock market.
It is true, as Trump noted earlier this month, that the Dow Jones industrial average has hit more record highs over the course of 2017 than in any prior year. (While the fake news media may not have reported it, whatever that is, The Washington Post did.) But that’s an odd metric to use. The market could gain one-tenth of a point a day for a year and set a record for new highs, but see a lackluster 36.5-point gain overall.
In fact, Trump used to more regularly use another, more significant metric: the percentage increase in the market. Here’s a tweet from October:
Stock Market has increased by 5.2 Trillion dollars since the election on November 8th, a 25% increase. Lowest unemployment in 16 years and.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017
As of the market close on Dec. 22, the Dow Jones industrial average had done better than that, up 35 percent since Trump’s inauguration. In February, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway claimed that the gain in the markets were an indicator that the markets “continue to like the policies, action, and vision” of Trump.
But there are a few points of context worth adding.
The first is that, since the Nov. 8, 2016 election, it isn’t just the Dow that’s seen an increase of 30 percent or more. Two Asia stock indexes, the Nikkei and the Hang Seng have increased 33.6 and 29.1 percent, respectively. Nor were all American indexes as successful: The Standard & Poor’s 500 only gained about 25.4 percent since its close on Nov. 8 — about the same as the German DAX.
Do the Germans and Japanese also “continue to like the policies, action, and vision” of Trump?
What’s more, the Dow is not the top-performing index of the six we looked at, considering only the period during which Trump’s policies were actually able to be implemented — that is, since his inauguration. The Hang Seng has grown by almost 30 percent since Jan. 20, while the Dow has gained a bit under 25 percent.
Why is the Dow doing so well? There are myriad factors, but it’s worth noting that it and several of the other indexes we looked at are experiencing a years-long bull market. Since Jan. 20, 2009 — the day Barack Obama was first inaugurated — the Dow is up about 212 percent. The S&P has done better, increasing by more than 233 percent. The DAX is up over 209 percent. The Nikkei is up more than 183 percent.
The comparison with Obama is interesting for another reason. Over an equivalent period of Obama’s first year in office, the Dow actually did better than it has done so far under Trump. Both presidents saw gains that were smaller than the one overseen by Franklin Roosevelt (and |
amed for his lack of masculinity by the film’s female lead. Unlike in “Jurassic Park,” where male sexuality is permissible when it’s directly useful, the message is rather different for the slob in the kids t-shirt: go kill yourself, you’re a loser.
The film’s impossibly Alpha, ex-Navy, exceedingly handsome, fearless Velociraptor wrangling male-lead, Owen Grady- played by impossibly handsome, etc.etc.etc., Chris Pratt- is a carefree loner as the film opens. When he’s not training dinosaurs, he’s fixing motorcycles. Obviously. And it’s quickly revealed that Grady tried to date the stiff, Feminist career women- female lead, Claire Dearing- who rejected him for wearing shorts on their date. High five, ladies- for all the sexy men who left you cold after only a few scant minutes in a bathroom stall, you won this one. Dearing is played by the only marginally attractive Bryce Dallas Howard, which is another modern Hollywood trope: average is the new beautiful. Fay Wray she isn’t.
While I’d certainly rather be hot-as-fuck Grady over the gross, nameless masturbator in the “Jurassic Park” t-shirt, both characters share more in common than you’d think; they each exist for strong independent Dearing. While the masturbator only serves to bolster her ego in his emasculation, Grady exists as accessible Alpha male sexuality on Dearing’s terms.
When the two finally get together romantically, it is presented as the height of unreality. It isn’t Dearing’s own sexual viability, nor a display of her femininity, that attracts Grady but when she grabs a big fucking gun and blasts a rabid dinosaur off of him that he finally pulls her in for a kiss. What sealed the deal for Grady, and made Dearing irresistible, was her strength– not her aesthetics, nor sexual presence, nor a submission to his masculinity. This way Dearing can have her cake and eat it too, because we all know that the strongest women always get the hottest men… or something.
“King Kong” is charmingly straight forward in its balance of fantasy and reality, certainly a product of its time- giant apes and dinosaurs as unreality, and traditional heterosexual romance as the necessary grounding of reality. “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” attempt to shape the narrative- sadly a product of alternate-1985; where the reality of male sexuality is either neutered for utility or made to exist solely for the benefit of women- certainly the sad reality of modern expectations.
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Litecoin: LUnm1qzk7zsBPDMLqhqGDC3bWa7pWVvPSfManchester City face Burnley in the first of two home premier league games in a row. Now the question is can they continue their great run of form into the New Year?
Manchester City continue to have injury problems up front (and will for the foreseeable future). Hopefully Stevan Jovetic will be fit enough to start for City, and link up with David Silva and Samir Nasri who have been performing brilliantly as of late.
Despite being without a striker for the past two games, Manchester City have scored 6 in 2 games, showing that when they have their heads straight, City’s players can really step up. The movement in the last few matches has been absolutely superb, with real fluidity in the midfield resulting in defenses just not being able to keep track of all the runners.
David Silva has been instrumental in ensuring Manchester remain a potent attacking team, as he not only drags players out of position with his runs, but his passes have been inch perfect. It doesn’t hurt that the Spanish play maker has added a few goals to his tally as well, with 3 in the last 2 games.
Clearly Burnley have a problem with getting the goals they need, but defensively they have been fairly sound.
Burnley may have lost their last two games against Tottenham and Liverpool, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. They scared both teams, and could have nicked a point or better in either match. Clearly Burnley have a problem with getting the goals they need having only scored 12 in the Premier League so far, but they have been saved further blushes by relatively solid defensive performances.
The inclusion of Jovetic will come in handy against this fairly robust Burnley defence, the Montenegrin providing an extra attacking threat to try and split center backs Keane and Shackell who are expected to start.
Vincent Kompany could make a return from injury as well, although given that Mangala and Demichelis have been pretty solid it may not hurt to keep him as a substitute until he regains full match fitness, especially considering the trickier fixtures later in the month.
The main worry for Manchester City will be Danny Ings, linked with a move to West Brom in the past few days. The 22 year old’s penchant to take on his man could trouble a high Manchester City back-line, so hopefully Zabaleta will be starting this time given Sagna’s tendency towards disappearing at times.
On paper, this is Manchester City’s to lose. Barring a Typical City performance, a 3-0 will is well within the realms of possibility. With Jovetic and Kompany both hopefully starting their returns, City should be going into the New Year ever more hopeful of grabbing the top spot.On February 21st, 2016 the news spread across the world that Riverside guitarist Piotr Grudzinski had died unexpectedly at age 40. The band took a year off to mourn the loss of their friend and to contemplate their future. Now on February 25th, 2017, almost exactly one year later, in Warsaw the music hall Progesja is sold out for the first of two special shows, and the fans call for the band with loud a loud “Reeverside!”.
As Mariusz, Piotr and Michał enter the stage, as the threesome they now are, Mariusz says a few words to the audience, which seems to agree with him. Unfortunately he speaks only Polish tonight, except for that one moment he acknowledges the many fans who have come from abroad for this concert – as far away as Australia!
And off they go, opening with “Eye of the Soundscape”. Halfway through the song the three are joined by the first guest guitarist, Maciej Meller (Meller Gołyźniak Duda). It’s clear he is no Piotr Grudzinski – if only for the fact that he sports a massive amount of hair. But Meller’s playing sounds different, too, as fortunately he does not try to sound like Piotr. Instead, he plays in his own style.
It must be hard being back on stage again after that year, and during the first few songs the band is visibly tense. But they are clearly having fun, and after a while they relax and start smiling at each other. The set list contains mostly songs from “Love, Fear and the Time Machine” and “Shrine of the New Generation Slaves”. There are also some special goodies included – “Coda”, “Caterpillar and the Barbed Wire” and a number of other songs are played live for the first time ever. “Lost (Why Should I Be Frightened by a Hat)” is performed in an early version and acoustically. For “02 Panic Room” and “Time Travelers” the band is joined by their second guest guitarist – Mateusz Owczarek (Lion Sheppard). Another fantastic guitar player!
And there is one more guest joining in for “Deprived (Irretrievably Lost Imagination)” and “Night Session – Part 2”. Again, two songs that debut live tonight. In the first song Marcin Odyniec plays the clarinet and for the second song the saxophone, really adding to the music with those unexpected sounds.
Finally, the song everyone had been waiting for. “Towards the Blue Horizon” was originally written for a friend that passed away, but it has become the one song to remember Piotr Grudzinski. Everyone knows what is coming – pure emotion. Mariusz rests his right hand on top of his microphone and presses his face against it. That he is preparing himself to sing the most difficult lyrics of the night is made clear in the deep breath he takes before singing them:
Where are you now my friend?
I miss those days
I hope they take good care
Of you there
And you can still play the guitar
And sing your songs
I just miss those days
And miss you so
Wish I could be strong
When darkness comes
These words bring home what tonight is all about – a band finding its feet again on stage after their most difficult year to date. And they do so admirably in probably the longest concert they have played. Mariusz sings “We are moving on”…
And it is true. Riverside is back!
All photos: Nico Reinders – bowiefan1968@hotmail.comBarrel Harbor Brewing Company 2575 Pioneer Avenue #104, Vista
“Are you reviewing the beers?” It was a question both innocent and unexpected.. Amazingly, this is the first time anybody has ever approached me in the middle of a quality check, so big props to the astute staff at Barrel Harbor Brewing Company (2575 Pioneer Avenue, Suite #104, Vista), not just for recognizing why I was there, but for handling it so well. Happy to stand by their product, the only reason they inquired was so that, if I wanted to try more beers, they could make sure I had the chance. To keep things as authentic as they would have been had nobody found me out, I stuck with my quintet of beers and went about my sampling.
It wasn’t my first taste of Barrel Harbor beers, but it was definitely my most enjoyable session with suds from this new operation, which had its grand opening last month. The first beers I tried were rangy in their flavor, thin in body, and simply not that impressive. The worst of the bunch was the company’s red ale, which I described as “grains gone wild.” But it's one of their best sellers, according to a very friendly and attentive member of the tasting room staff (who, I should note, had no idea I was anything other than a normal paying customer). She didn’t convince me to retry it, but she did sell me on a pilsner I normally would have abstained from. And I’m glad she did.
Though not a pils in the traditional Trumer model—super crisp and bitingly hoppy on the finish—I found it to be quite enjoyable. Subtle and balanced at just 33 International Bittering Units, it made for a decent starter. It won’t win a medal or anything, but even without assertiveness, most visitors, particularly those used to drinking lawnmower macrobeers, are bound to enjoy it. Similarly, a dry stout served on nitro makes for a nice answer to those who worship at the church of Guinness.
Another beer with roasted malt in the bill, a black India pale ale, was less assertive and a little thin. I tried to remember that I live in the IPA capital of the world and, therefore, most local black IPAs are either imperial or just overly-hopped, but even so, the beer needs more body and more hops as it currently tastes like a brown ale with a slightly increased hop dosage. The IPA is more vibrant, coming across like an orangey creamsicle at first before degrading into something a bit too sweet and persistent on the finish.
I was also surprised to come across a bit of a rarity on the beer menu—a framboise. Only mildly sweet and pleasingly sour in its raspberry-infused makeup, it wasn’t anything that will make me cheat on The Lost Abbey’s Framboise de Amarosa (the best example of this style in San Diego County), but it was darn nice and I find it admirable that this more esoteric style is being brewed by a start-up. Barrel Harbor has both a strong ale and an imperial stout en route. Used Jack Daniels barrels have been purchased for aging the latter.
Overall, I enjoyed my time at Barrel Harbor, particularly the service. Servers interact nicely and often with visitors, even going around the tasting room to check on all of them. Music is played overhead while a muted television provides unimposing visual stimulus (in my case, college football). As a bonus, the simple tasting room looks good thanks to a brilliantly designed arcing bar designed to look like a barrel.McCormick Field, Asheville, NC – On Sunday July 30, 2017, The Asheville Tourists hosted the Rome Braves in a Sally League matchup that pitted Kansas high school rivals and teenage phenoms Riley Pint and Joey Wentz against each other for the second time this season. Pint, the 4th overall pick in the MLB draft and MLB.com’s 64th ranked prospect, has struggled to control his plus stuff. Scouts rate his fastball 70/70, slider 50/70, and change-up 40/55 but his control (30/50) has been his Achille’s heel. Going into the game, Pint has posted an atrocious 5.47 BB/9 (the worst in the Sally League) and a 1.41 K/BB (2nd worst).
On the other hand, Joey Wentz has been stellar in 2017 and continues to climb the prospects ranks posting 10.32 K/9, 2.87 BB/9 to the tune of a 3.59 BB/K ratio. Coming out of the draft, scouts rated Wentz’s 3 pitches at 50/55 fastball, 55/60 curve, and a 40/55 change-up. The Braves saw enough of the lefty Wentz to take him with the 40th overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft and pay him a $3.05m bonus well over the $1.6m slot.
On Sunday, I saw the numbers and scouting grades play out in person. Pint struggled all game keeping runners off base and using his plus stuff to control the strike zone. He posted a disappointing 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2BB, 4K. He threw 91 pitches with 59 for strikes.
While Pint struggled, Wentz shined. He dominated the Asheville lineup, holding them to 1 hit and 1 walk through 6 IP. He consistently pounded the zone to stay ahead of the hitters, mixed all of his pitches, and showed good poise when runners did reach base. He finished the game throwing 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8K with 91 pitches and 64 strikes. The only blemish on an otherwise stellar performance came in the 7th inning when Tyler Nevin took Wentz deep to RF for his 6th HR. After retiring Vince Fernandez, Wentz gave up another solo HR to Max George, his 10th of the season.
Wentz and Pint were not the only big name prospects in the game. The aforementioned Tyler Nevin (.262/.317/.429), Colorado’s 2015 CBA pick, finished the game 1-3 with the HR, 1 walk, and 2 K’s. Vince Fernandez (.304/.370/.527 13 HR 11 SB), Colorado’s 2016 10th rounder, was 0-4 with 1K, while the Braves featured Cristian Pache (.278/.335/.344) who went 0-4 with 1 BB and his 24th SB and Lucas Herbert (.263/.313/.403) 2-5 with 2 hard singles up the middle. 2016 4th round pick Thomas Burrows closed the game out in the 9th for Rome, striking out the side, including Nevin and Fernandez.
Tyler Nevin with the oppo 🌮off Joey Wentz pic.twitter.com/hq7LCs94zS — Jason Woodell (@JasonAtTheGame) July 30, 2017
My impressions from the game are that Wentz is the more polished pitcher and at this point in their careers, the better prospect. He threw whatever he wanted, whenever wanted, keeping Asheville off-balance. I liked his pace, his poise, and his willingness to attack the zone. Wentz should move rather quickly through the Braves system and crack Top 100 lists by season’s end. Pint on the other hand appears to be a long-term project at this point. He has yet to show any command of his pitches and is unable to take advantage of his stuff. The good news for Rockies fans and Pint is that he still only just 19 years old playing in a league where the average is 22. Once he can learn to command the zone he has the stuff to be a big league ace.
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Sen. Ted Cruz finished Colorado’s delegate fight the way he started it: With overwhelming victory.
Donald Trump finished it the way he started as well: With a disorganized and frustrated campaign plagued by mistakes.
Cruz took all 13 of the delegates up for grabs on Saturday to complete a clean sweep of the state. Delegates endorsed by his campaign swept all seven congressional district conventions held over the last week as well, which added another 21 delegates. Another three slots are reserved for state party officials.
"Today was another resounding victory for conservatives, Republicans, and Americans who care about the future of our country," the Cruz campaign said in a statement Saturday night.
Trump’s aides set expectations at rock bottom heading into Saturday’s contest, citing the state’s unfavorable demographics and a complicated process that empowers local party activists to vote on delegates.
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Supporters in Colorado nonetheless said they were frustrated with the campaign’s chaotic and uncommunicative campaign, which failed to reach basic levels of competence.
"We could have had some things going, but the campaign decided to not put resources here," Becky Mizel, a former Pueblo County GOP chair and Trump delegate candidate, told NBC News.
Related: Trump's Colorado Supporters 'Feeling Demoralized' as He Battles Cruz
On Saturday, Trump backers passed out flyers at the convention site with official campaign slate of 13 delegates and 13 alternates accompanied by their three-digit number position on the 600-plus person ballot. Seven of the names, however, directed people to the wrong number and one delegate’s name was misspelled. Other candidates did not have errors on their slates.
In one case, an erroneous number corresponded with a Cruz supporter. A second flyer handed out by the Trump campaign contained four mismatched names and numbers.
Among the names listed incorrectly on both flyers: Becky Mizel.
Related: Bernie Sanders Wins Wyoming Democratic Caucuses
It was the second major error concerning campaign materials this week. On Thursday, a Trump slate of three names in the 7th Congressional District convention contained two that weren’t listed on the ballot. The campaign’s state director, Patrick Davis, said they failed to pay the necessary fees to qualify.
Trump’s campaign wasn’t the only one who made mistakes, though. Colorado Republican chairman Steve House announced several corrections to the ballot from the stage, including multiple names that were on the ballot twice, none of which affected any candidate’s official slate. One Trump alternate, Jerome Parks, was not on the numbers-only ballot at #379 — instead the ballot listed #378 twice.
"They’re not in there!" Trump supporter Karen Kasel said to herself in frustration as she tried to find #379 on her ballot in the hallway.
Related: Cruz Swipes Delegates in Trump-Backed Virginia District
There were also discrepancies between delegate guides posted to the state party’s website and printed materials distributed by the state GOP. Mizel, for example, was listed on a delegate list on the party website as number #610, but a brochure from the state GOP listing delegates alphabetically cut off at #588.
Trump campaign aide Alan Cobb accused the Colorado GOP of altering its delegate lists at different points, leaving them in the lurch as it changed, and threatened to dispute the results over its ballot inconsistencies.
"We'll do whatever it takes to protect the legitimacy of our support in Colorado," Cobb told NBC News. "Clearly there are some serious issues with the ballot and balloting.
A spokesman for the Colorado GOP said they were looking into the matter.
In another mix-up, the party’s Twitter account appeared to be hacked in the aftermath of the results, tweeting "We did it. #NeverTrump." A spokesman for the party said that their account had been taken over and the tweet was not authorized.
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Cruz’s all-volunteer Colorado campaign distributed accurate slates not only on flyers, but also on bright orange t-shirts. Groups like Gun Owners of America that endorsed Cruz distributed their own materials backing the same slate.
Dustin Olson, a delegate whip for Cruz, manned a “persuasion team” in the halls of the arena. The heavily pro-Cruz crowd needed little convincing, Olson said, but he worked hard to make sure no one split the vote by supporting Cruz delegates who weren’t on the campaign’s official slate.
Cruz personally addressed the state convention on Saturday while Trump campaign and Ohio Governor John Kasich supplied campaign surrogates on their behalf.
“It’s easy to talk about making America great again, you can even print that on a baseball cap,” Cruz said. “The real question is do you understand the principles and values that made America great in the first place?”
Afterwards Cruz told NBC affiliate KUSA that Trump’s absence “illustrates that when it comes to the grassroots, Donald has a very hard time competing.”
Speaking on behalf of Trump, policy adviser Stephen Miller devoted nearly all his remarks to recounting Americans who had been killed by undocumented immigrants.
"We smoked them"
“The special interests in DC who have controlled our political process for 40 years, they don’t care about you, they don’t care about your family, and they don’t care about your security,” Miller said.
Former New Hampshire Senator John Sununu represented Kasich, who he described as “tough,” “conservative” and a “fighter” who was willing to take on his own party to balance the budget in the 1990s.
The Colorado results come as the race increasingly hinges on a complex war over delegate selection that requires foresight and grassroots organization to win.
Unlike Colorado, most of these fights are taking place in states where voters have already weighed in on how many delegates are bound to each candidate, but where the state party has a separate process for choosing the actual delegates.
Cruz shakes hands with supporters in Colorado on Saturday. Stacie Scott / AP
The results are crucial because most delegates are free to vote for any candidate they choose in a contested convention that goes beyond the first ballot.
Several states held delegate selection events on Saturday, with Cruz’s campaign continuing his string of success in most cases but falling prey to a surprise alliance between Trump and Kasich in one state.
In Iowa, Cruz supporters nearly swept up each of Iowa’s 12 national delegate slots up for grabs. Each of Iowa’s four congressional districts voted to send three delegates to the convention in Cleveland, and all but one of those 12 delegates committed to backing Cruz on a second ballot if the race comes down to a contested convention at July’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
“We smoked them,” said Matt Schultz, Cruz’s campaign chair in the state.
The Trump campaign — despite the results — pushed back on suggestions they amounted to a loss for the candidate.
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“It was definitely obvious Ted's camp thought they’d come in and clean up and sweep the whole slate of delegates, so I consider it a Trump victory for the Trump campaign,” said Tana Goertz, who led Trump’s efforts in the state after chairing his caucus efforts. "We were just happy the full slate wasn’t filled with all Cruz people.”
Meanwhile in Virginia’s 9th Congressional District — which Trump won with 47% of the vote — Cruz supporters took two delegate slots to one for Trump.
In South Carolina — where all delegates are bound to Trump on the first ballot — Cruz secured three delegate seats out of six up for grabs in two districts on Saturday while Trump won just one. Two more were uncommitted.
In Michigan, though, Trump and Kasich supporters appeared to team up to deny Cruz any spots on the important convention committees that will determine rules and credentials for delegates. Trump supporters took five of eight slots, while Kasich supporters took the other three.Bacardi recently launched their latest deep saturation advertising campaign, with videos on TV, cinema, and YouTube and bill hoardings in train stations and tube stations and bus stops. The adverts brandish the Cuban flag, with slogans such as ‘we survived exile from our own country’ and ‘we thrived during prohibition’. Bacardi, the richest family-owned business in the world has an army of lawyers and marketing and public relations professionals, to clean up their murky past and right-wing agenda. Scratch the surface, however, and the truth is there.
Bacardi began leaving Cuba long before the revolution, back in 1910 when they moved their bottling to Barcelona, Spain. Later in the 1930s they opened facilities in Mexico and Puerto Rico. This information can found on Bacardi’s own website. Bacardi boasts about how they benefited from the abuse of Cuba as a colonial playground for wealthy Americans during the prohibition years. However, they also claim that their assets were ‘illegally confiscated without compensation’ by the Cuban government in 1960. In fact, they were offered compensation by the revolutionary government, a sum based on the value of the assets they had themselves declared for tax payment purposes. The figure didn’t take into account the international holdings the family held. Pepin Bosch, head of Bacardi at the time of the Cuban Revolution, a man referred to as ‘the saviour’ on Bacardi’s website, was linked to the CIA and exiles groups actively involved in sabotaging and attacked revolutionary Cuba. Later, he and other members of the Bacardi family helped set up the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF). Membership was initially admitted to Cuban exiles whose businesses were worth more than $50,000 when they were nationalised by the Cuban government. This exclusive club used their wealth to buy power, cultivating the support of influential right-wing US senators. The fruit of this partnership was the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, which penalises any country trading with Cuba. Even the European Union questioned the legality of the Act, but CANF lawyers found a loophole around this.
The establishment of the campaign Rock around the Blockade (www.ratb.org.uk), set up by members of the Revolutionary Communist Group, coincided with this period. One of RATB’s most prominent campaigns was to expose and oppose the Bacardi corporation highlighting their involvement in the illegal blockade and terrorism against Cuba and progressive movements in Latin America. We did Bacardi bar busts, street theatre, subvertising and appealed for conscientious drinkers to choose Havana Club, real Cuban rum, whose profits are invested in Cuban society. A really useful source of information about Bacardi’s history was the book Bacardi: the Hidden War (Bacardi: La Guerra Oculta) by Colombian journalist Hernando Calvo Ospina. This review of the book appeared in Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! in 2001 http://tinyurl.com/ldlawu3. The following year the book was published in English with a forward from James Petras.
Rock Around the Blockade photos from our previous Boycott Bacardi campaign.Marta Łuksza, Michael Lässig and I have done an analysis of Ebola virus evolution using the recently published Gire et al. dataset of 78 full genomes. We've put the manuscript up on the arXiv.
The Gire et al. paper examines Ebola sequences from Sierra Leone during May and June identifying 55 new mutations that have occurred during the West African outbreak. Most of these mutations are shared by just one or a small handful of cases, but there is a particular mutation at genomic site 10218 that first appears at the beginning of June that distinguishes two major clades of virus (shown in blue and red below).
Previous phylodynamic studies have developed general methodologies to estimate epidemic growth rates from sequence data. Here, we developed a novel approach to look for differences in epidemic growth rate across genetic clades. We use this method to compare growth rates in clade 2 and clade 3 viruses, finding a significantly higher growth rate in clade 3 viruses. This suggests that clade 3 viruses spread more rapidly than clade 2 viruses during the May/June study period.
This result could be explained in two fashions, either the mutation at site 10218 has functional and evolutionary consequences that aid the spread of the virus or this mutation represents a neutral marker and the difference in growth rates is entirely due to epidemiological circumstance. In the former case, we expect natural selection to favor a virus that transmits more readily or a virus that has a longer duration of infection, perhaps due to attenuation (a common occurence in the process of host adaptation). In the latter case, we might expect that clade 3 viruses happened to arise in a more favorable local environment or underwent a superspreading event that rapidly boosted the number of infections. Either of these scenarios demands more detailed follow-up.
However, we would predict that if the mutation at site 10218 has adaptive significance then the observed difference in growth rate will be sustained, while if it is epidemiologically driven, then the observed difference will be transient. The mutation at site 10218 is now an event that occurred 5 months ago; either clade 3 has continued to take over or it has not. Sequence data from more recent infections would immediately tell us which scenario took place.
In general, I would hope that this methodology could be used to search for novel adaptive variants in near real-time as sequence data is released.Image copyright Reuters Image caption The US-allied militia has spent months encircling Raqqa
US-backed Syrian forces have breached the wall at Raqqa's Old City as they try to retake the city from so-called Islamic State, the US military says.
It says the coalition had helped the advance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) by firing on two sections of the historic Rafiqa Wall.
The SDF, supported by US-led coalition air strikes, has spent months encircling the city.
IS seized Raqqa in 2014, proclaiming it the capital of a "caliphate".
The city has been an important hub for the jihadist group's operations, though as the SDF closed in, key IS officials are believed to have fled from there towards Deir al-Zour province, which is mostly under IS control.
About 2,500 IS militants are still in Raqqa, according to the US-led coalition, with about 100,000 people trapped by the fighting in the city.
US Central Command said air strikes had hit two "small" 25m (80ft) sections of the Rafiqa Wall, which it said "will help preserve" the remaining 2,475m.
It said IS had been planting mines and IEDs [improvised explosive devices] at openings in the wall, through which SDF fighters would have been channelled.
The Old City is highly strategic for the Arab-Kurdish alliance to capture from IS, given its close proximity to the city centre.
Last week, the SDF said its fighters had fully encircled IS in Raqqa.
The US-backed forces have been gradually advancing on the city since November, and launched an offensive to take it on 6 June.
The coalition has said the capture of Raqqa will deliver a "decisive blow" to the jihadist group.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Welcome to Raqqa, capital of a caliphate under siege": Gabriel Gatehouse reports from the front line
The battle for the city has been brutal for the civilians there.
The UN says that at least 173 were killed in June, and that the actual figure could be far higher, stressing that "civilians must not be sacrificed for the sake of rapid military victories".
Reports continue to emerge of IS militants preventing civilians from fleeing.
IS is under pressure on multiple fronts, and is on the verge of defeat in what was formerly its biggest stronghold, Mosul in Iraq. It has lost most of the areas it controlled at its height, though it still occupies swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
More than 300,000 people have lost their lives in six years of conflict in Syria, which began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad before escalating into a full-scale civil war. Eleven million people have been displaced by the fighting.The Konami drama continues. After rumours that the veteran publisher is leaving AAA development and the confusion surrounding the employment status of Hideo Kojima - its most famous staffer - Konami has recently confirmed that it is shuttering the LA-based studio responsible for Metal Gear Online, which recently launched alongside the critically and commercially successful Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
All of this might lead you to assume that the Metal Gear franchise is dead in the water, but in a recent interview with Nikkei, Konami has been quoted as saying that the production of another instalment in the million-selling series is a matter of "when" rather than "if":
When we start development, a large-scale investment will become necessary.
Konami had previously claimed it was committed to making more Metal Gear games, but this latest statement seems to indicate that wheels are already in motion. Will its legendary creator be involved? Konami still insists that Kojima is "on vacation" and remains a full time employee, but there are reports that his contract expires in December, at which point he is free to leave the company.
Metal Gear began life on the MSX computer, but found fame in the west thanks to the subsequent NES conversion, which Kojima ironically wasn't involved in. Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation would lift the brand to AAA status, and since then we've seen the series come to the GameCube, Game Boy Color and 3DS.
While the franchise has skipped the Wii U, any future Metal Gear title would have a good chance of coming to the NX, as Nintendo's new system is rumoured to offer power similar to that of the PS4 and Xbox One.Of all the things Samsung has copied from Apple over the years, the polished metal edges introduced with the iPhone 5 have been one thing the Korean company hasn't yet reproduced — at least not in any officially announced devices. New images of the rumored Galaxy Alpha handset show a white phone that seems to be a blend between the Galaxy S5 and Apple's latest iPhone models. A metal band runs around all sides of the device, featuring a prominent chamfered treatment that grows larger at the top and bottom. The simple one-button front layout and dimpled back cover have been retained from the S5, though the overall shape is a bit more rectangular. These photos appear to show a subtly more refined design than the black Galaxy Alpha that had been pictured previously.
The Alpha is expected to be announced at some point later this month, and the poster who has revealed these images says it'll come in two sizes: the anticipated 4.7-inch model and a phablet-sized 6.7-inch version. Samsung has already promised to release phones featuring new materials this year, and though the hope might have been to see something closer to the HTC One — which comes in a unibody aluminum shell — the Galaxy Alpha looks to at least be a move in that direction.
Update August 5, 5:05AM ET: Another set of photos has emerged, depicting Samsung's iPhone-esque Galaxy Alpha next to an actual iPhone. It appears to be slightly thinner than Apple's handset, though the camera module protrudes a couple of millimeters from the rest of the body.Brussels (AFP) - Belgium is to provide iodine pills to its entire population of around 11 million people to protect against radioactivity in case of a nuclear accident, the health minister was quoted as saying Thursday.
The move comes as Belgium faces growing pressure from neighbouring Germany to shutter two ageing nuclear power plants near their border due to concerns over their safety.
Iodine pills, which help reduce radiation build-up in the thyroid gland, had previously only been given to people living within 20 kilometres (14 miles) of the Tihange and Doel nuclear plants.
Health Minister Maggie De Block was quoted by La Libre Belgique newspaper as telling parliament that the range had now been expanded to 100 kilometres (60 miles), effectively covering the whole country.
The health ministry did not immediately respond to AFP when asked to comment.
The head of Belgium's French-speaking Green party, Jean-Marc Nollet, backed the measures but added that "just because everyone will get these pills doesn't mean there is no longer any nuclear risk," La Libre reported.
Belgium's creaking nuclear plants have been causing safety concerns for some time after a series of problems ranging from leaks to cracks and an unsolved sabotage incident.
Last week Germany asked that the 40-year-old Tihange 2 and Doel 3 reactors be turned off "until the resolution of outstanding security issues".
The reactor pressure vessels at both sites have shown signs of metal degradation, raising fears about their safety. They were temporarily closed but resumed service last December.
Belgium's official nuclear safety agency (AFCN) rejected the German request, saying the two plants "respond to the strictest possible safety requirements."(CNN) Whether Ed Gillespie likes it or not, the Republican's fate in the Virginia governor's race is tied to President Donald Trump.
In a state that chooses a new governor every four years -- one year after the presidential election -- Trump was always going to be a dominant factor. But with two relatively bland candidates and a hyper-partisan national environment, Gillespie's campaign against Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam has revolved even more than usual around the President.
Trump's popularity in Virginia mirrors his low national approval ratings. But Gillespie needs Trump's loyal base to turn out to vote. So he's adopted a strategy of airing ads that don't mention Trump but appeal directly to Trump's voters, warning of the MS-13 gangs and sanctuary cities, of which Virginia has none, and promising to keep up Confederate monuments.
In person, though, Gillespie is loathe to even mention the President. He |
automatically included with a gun licence, with an electronic record available to police officers on their in-car computers.
He also took issue with the Liberal pledge to put “decision-making about weapons restrictions back in the hands of police, not politicians.”
“We elected politicians to go to Ottawa and make our laws, we don’t elect police to make our laws,” he said.
– With files from Postmedia News
imacleod@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/@macleod_ian
Excerpted from the Liberal platform: gun reform promises
Repeal changes made by Bill C-42 that allow restricted and prohibited weapons to be freely transported without a permit, and put decision-making about weapons restrictions back in the hands of police, not politicians.
Provide $100 million annually to provinces and territories to support guns and gangs police task forces.
Modify the membership of the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee to include knowledgeable law enforcement officers, public health advocates, representatives from women’s groups, and members of the legal community.• Southampton believe Schneiderlin is more valuable than Shaw • Arsène Wenger is also an admirer of the French midfielder
Southampton will signal their determination to hold on to Morgan Schneiderlin by telling his suitors, who are headed by Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, that he would cost them in excess of the £27m that Manchester United paid for Luke Shaw.
Ronald Koeman, the new Southampton manager, will meet Schneiderlin for the first time on Monday, when the France defensive midfielder reports for pre-season training, having been on leave since the World Cup finals. Koeman has spoken to Schneiderlin on the phone but when he sees him, he will stress how fundamental the player is to be to the project at St Mary’s.
Koeman wants the centre-halves in his 4-3-3 formation to be able to step out of defence with the ball at their feet and so Schneiderlin’s ability to tuck in will be crucial. Southampton have already sold Shaw to United; Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert to Liverpool for a combined £29.5m and Dejan Lovren is also poised to move to Anfield. Southampton will receive £20m for a player that cost them £8.5m last summer from Lyon.
They have no need or intention to sell Schneiderlin and, if bids were to be submitted, they hope that their valuation of the 24-year-old would serve as a deterrent.
Southampton accept that they got over the odds for Shaw, the 19-year-old England left-back, but they believe that Schneiderlin is more valuable, given the position he plays; his status as a France World Cup player at an age when he is primed to fulfil his potential and the fact that the statistics marked him as one of the Premier League’s top holding midfielders last season.
Schneiderlin even qualifies as homegrown, having joined Southampton at the age of 18 from Strasbourg, when the club was in the Championship. He has also played for them in League One. He is a symbol of Southampton’s recent resurgence.
Tottenham have tracked him for the last year and they have now taken Mauricio Pochettino to be their manager from Southampton. Pochettino has doubts over Sandro’s capacity to work as the team’s defensive midfielder and he wants Schneiderlin to follow him to White Hart Lane. Schneiderlin talked in glowing terms about Pochettino earlier in the week, crediting him as the man who made him and Southampton play.
Arsenal have kept a close watch on Schneiderlin, with the manager, Arsène Wenger, ever alive to the possibility of signing talent from his native France. Wenger, though, is under pressure from boardroom level to retain the British identity of his team and, also, to work with his existing options in central midfield.
Wenger has the British players Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere, plus Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the winger who can play in midfield, along with the Spaniard Mikel Arteta and the Frenchmen Abou Diaby and Mathieu Flamini. Diaby is fit again, although his wretched luck with injury means that it is difficult to rely upon him.
The board would like Wenger to turn the focus inward, rather than look at Schneiderlin or Germany’s Sami Khedira, of Real Madrid, whom he has inquired about. Wenger has always said that a player’s nationality is unimportant.
Southampton have received no bids as yet for Schneiderlin, who wants to test himself at the highest level of club football and it is unclear how he might react if and when they do arrive.
Koeman intends to press on with his incoming business and he is close to a deal for the Celtic centre-half Virgil van Dijk while he has an interest in the Aston Villa centre-half Ron Vlaar. There is the acceptance at the club that Koeman needs a goalkeeper, one or most likely two centre-backs, a striker, as Dani Osvaldo is available for transfer and, probably, another wide midfielder.
The forward, Jay Rodriguez, has returned to light training after the cruciate knee ligament injury that he suffered last April and which ruled him out of England’s World Cup squad. Rodriguez hopes to play again in October.Campaigning in Florida on Tuesday, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton claimed that she was in New York City on 9/11, when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center. She made her claim while discussing terrorism and the threat posed by ISIS.
“I know what happened not far from here at Pulse night club in Orlando,” she said. “I was in New York City on 9/11 as one of the two senators. I will defeat ISIS. I will protect America.”
Hillary says she was in New York City on 9/11 (She wasn't) pic.twitter.com/3ppmncpeTI — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) November 2, 2016
But Clinton wasn’t in New York on 9/11, according to Politico.
As a United States Senator she was in Washington D.C. at her home in Whitehaven when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. She spent most of the day reacting to the attacks in media interviews and joined her colleagues singing “God Bless America” on the Capitol Hill steps.
Clinton flew to New York on September 12, after making a speech on the Senate Floor in the morning. She traveled with her fellow New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel.
Clinton toured the disaster site with New York mayor Rudy Giuliani before leaving the city that evening to travel back to Capitol Hill.S
Who are K.Olin Tribu?
Huck Gee’s Skullhead Blank in Porcelain
lightly more than a month after the opening of July 2017’s 2nd Annual Blank Show, which focused on his Skullhead Blank (2015) creation, artist Huck Gee announced that he was departing from the designer toy movement as a full-time artistic focus. Deterring thoughts that this would be a complete abandonment, Gee confirmed that his Gold Life series produced by Mighty Jaxx would continue and that he had a project nearing completion with BAIT. Additionally, he’d entered talks with Clutter Studios for them to assume production control of his Blank creations, including the Skullhead Blank. Regardless of the outcome of those discussions, Gee had omitted noting at the time that another version was planned: a rendition of the Skullhead Blank in Limoges porcelain courtesy of K.Olin Tribu Before discussing Gee’s Skullhead Blank design further or the forthcoming porcelain edition of it, it’s important to understand who exactly K.Olin Tribu are. Founded in 2009 by Matthieu Dutheil, the guiding principle behind K.Olin Tribu was to provide access to porcelain as an alternate medium for designer toy sculptures. Located in Limoges, Frace, where all the pieces are cast and decorated, K.Olin Tribu takes pride in their flawless production standards, ensuring the highest quality is associated with the official label Porcelaine de Limoges that they are entitled to use. Having previously issued works designed by established artists like Frank Kozik and Ron English, it feels appropriate for Gee, with his remarkable 15 year designer toy focused career, to join their ranks.
Gee’s Skullhead design was introduced in 2004 as part of the first Dunny series release, with a uniquely sculpted rendition of the form being produced by Kidrobot the following year. Depicting a stylized skull and crossbones, the popularity of this concept would result in a variety of sculptural interpretations over the years, ultimately leading to the artist’s self-produced Skullhead Blank rendition. But the history behind this has been detailed in previous articles, which one can read more on here and here.
Cast as a single, non-articulating shape, the 6⅓-inch (16 cm) tall Skullhead Blank (Porcelain Edition) stands slightly shorter than its resin counterpart. And while some of the subtle indentations, like the definition lines for the teeth, aren’t quite as prominant as on previous renditions, the high gloss appearance of the extra white porcelain adds a mesmerizing, reflective quality to the form. Limited to an edition of 50 numbered pieces produced in Limoges porcelain, each is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Gee.
Click Here to Purchase Huck Gee’s Skullhead Blank (Porcelain Edition)
For more information on Huck Gee:
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Bill McMullen's AD-AT Nick Curtis Creatively speaking, it's fair to say that most designers are content to come to the party late, exploiting the innovative ideas of others that have proven successful. Continuing this analogy, Bill McMullen, on the other hand, always seems to be heading to the next party before most even heard of…AGÊNCIA ESTADO
O Ministério da Justiça do Brasil travou a negociação de um acordo de cooperação com a Suíça para acelerar investigações de casos de corrupção na Operação Lava Jato. A proposta da Procuradoria-Geral da República brasileira é criar uma força-tarefa com o Ministério Público do país europeu para depurar milhares de páginas de extratos bancários, levantar identidade de suspeitos e tratar de acordos de delações premiadas ainda não celebrados.
Uma troca de e-mails cujo conteúdo o Estado teve acesso revela exigências feitas pelo governo brasileiro a autoridades do MP suíço. Para dar prosseguimento à parceria, lançada em março do ano passado, o Executivo do Brasil pediu o nome de suspeitos e a lista de potenciais alvos que poderão vir a ser investigados. A condição causou estranhamento, e o pedido não foi acatado.
A cooperação bilateral foi proposta em março de 2016 pelo procurador-geral da República, Rodrigo Janot, ao MP suíço - em Berna responde pela instituição o procurador-geral Michael Lauber. Em uma reunião na Suíça, ele sugeriu que os dois órgãos reunissem na força-tarefa procuradores, policiais e especialistas. Ao romper um tabu, as autoridades suíças aprovaram a iniciativa e começaram a escolher os integrantes da equipe. Passado quase um ano, porém, o lado brasileiro não conseguiu fazer sua parte nem consolidar a cooperação.
Em novembro, a proposta foi mais uma vez apresentada por Janot em encontro com o presidente Michel Temer, o ministro da Justiça, Alexandre de Moraes, o chanceler José Serra e outras autoridades brasileiras. Naquele momento, todos os presentes à reunião indicaram apoio às ideias do procurador-geral.
Dias depois, contudo, os suíços receberam um primeiro e-mail do Ministério da Justiça no qual o governo brasileiro dizia não ter chegado a um consenso sobre o assunto e, portanto, o projeto estava cancelado. Sem entender o motivo do entrave, autoridades de Berna encaminharam a mensagem à PGR. A instituição brasileira pediu explicações a Moraes, que alegou não ter conhecimento do e-mail e prometeu solucionar o impasse.
Condições
Em uma segunda comunicação com os suíços, semanas depois, o Ministério da Justiça indicou que estava de acordo com a cooperação. No entanto, o governo fez as exigências: as listas de investigados e de potenciais suspeitos.
Os suíços estranharam o pedido, visto como intromissão do Executivo nos processos judiciais. A mensagem foi encaminhada, então, ao MP brasileiro, e os europeus optaram por aguardar. Sem a cooperação do governo Temer, a esperança era de que o assunto fosse tratado em um encontro marcado para sexta-feira passada, em Berna, mas, com a morte do ministro do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) Teori Zavascki, relator da Lava Jato na Corte, Janot optou por cancelar seus compromissos e voltar ao Brasil.
Questionado sobre o atraso de quase um ano na implementação da força-tarefa conjunta, o MP suíço se limitou a dizer que não teria como responder à demanda da reportagem anteontem e vai se pronunciar apenas nos próximos dias.
Procurados, o Planalto e o Itamaraty informaram que a resposta seria dada pelo Ministério da Justiça. A pasta afirmou que colabora com todos "os esforços e garante auxílio integral às investigações relacionadas à Operação Lava Jato" (mais informações nesta página). Procuradoria-Geral da República não comentou o caso. Nova Fase. Na PGR, a percepção é de que a leva de colaborações premiadas em andamento amplia de forma inédita as investigações, o que exigirá uma nova fase na cooperação internacional. Fontes indicam que as delações, principalmente a dos 77 executivos e ex-executivos da Odebrecht, atingirão integrantes do governo Temer.
Para desbloquear a nova fase, caberá ao Brasil apresentar aos suíços os novos nomes das delações e pedir a Berna confirmações sobre a existência de contas e de depósitos em nome de políticos e partidos. Fontes brasileiras dizem acreditar que, com os servidores da Odebrecht confiscados na Suíça, a procuradoria em Berna poderá auxiliar no esforço de confirmar as informações passadas por delatores.
Uma dimensão central da cooperação é a de identificar não apenas para quem o dinheiro foi pago, mas quem de fato foi o beneficiado final. Os suíços já apontaram que campanhas eleitorais e políticos foram abastecidos por recursos em contas no país europeu.
A cooperação entre Brasil e Suíça na Lava Jato começou de forma sigilosa em novembro de 2014, com um pedido de colaboração por parte dos brasileiros. Desde então, a procuradoria suíça abriu mais de 60 processos criminais, congelou cerca de mil contas bancárias em 42 instituições financeiras, prendeu brasileiros, fez operações de busca e apreensão e ainda confiscou servidores da Odebrecht com o equivalente a 2 milhões de páginas de documentos e dados.
No total, os suíços já autorizaram a repatriação de US$ 190 milhões ao Brasil. Mais de US$ 600 milhões estão bloqueados à espera de uma definição do que vai acontecer no País. As informações são do jornal O Estado de S. Paulo.Archaeologists working on a dig in Turkey say they might have found a very important relic: a piece of the holy cross.
While working in the ruins of Balatlar Church, scientists say they discovered a small stone chest with two crosses carved into it. Inside was a splinter of wood which they believe may be one of the greatest finds ever made.
According to experts, the church–which was built in the year 660–could very well have been one of the final resting places of one of the four pieces of wood which were taken from the cross and sent to parts of Rome, Constantinople, and Turkey. Several other interesting finds have been made at the site, such as around 1,000 human skeletons, but this is by far the most important, according to excavation leader Professor Gülgün Köroğlu.
“We have found a holy thing in a chest. It is a piece of a cross, and we think it was [part of the cross on which Jesus was crucified]. This stone chest is very important to us. It has a history and is the most important artifact we have unearthed so far,” said Köroğlu.
The chest has been taken to a lab for testing and further examination, but scientists are hopeful that this find will yield answers to age-old questions.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyHundreds of residents have been relocated and dozens of homes cleared from Baltimore's Middle East neighborhood in recent years. Now the area just north of Johns Hopkins Hospital may be losing something more: its name.
As an ambitious redevelopment project with biotech research labs, corporate offices and homes reshapes the neighborhood, the area is being marketed around the yet-to-be-built Eager Park — a strategy that upsets some longtime residents.
"They want it to sound like there's no history here until they got here," said Donald Gresham, a leader of the now-defunct Save Middle East Action Committee, created more than a decade ago to oppose the displacement of residents. "Eager Park is just another slap in the face. Nobody cares about what this community represented. It's all about the glamour."
East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit behind the sprawling revitalization, says the Eager Park name will attract more new residents and businesses than Middle East, a label with "unhelpful associations." Already, Eager Park has been highlighted in brochures, a website and colorful flags surrounding the area.
The battle over changing a name that has been used for more than three decades is the latest example of the continuing tensions surrounding the 88-acre redevelopment — which EBDI describes as the largest in Baltimore history — and similar projects around the Hopkins medical campus.
It also illustrates a conflict that has played out nationwide as older cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington revitalize. Experts say market-driven name changes are likely to become more common in Baltimore as neighborhoods get more savvy about luring residents and developers gain influence over large city tracts.
Neighborhood names and borders are constantly shifting, said Christopher Leinberger, professor and director of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at George Washington University. "It happens all of the time, and it's happening with increasing velocity. … This is just the beginning in Baltimore."
The name Middle East calls to mind a conflict-ridden region of the globe, said Scott Levitan, development director for Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership, the company contracted to renew the neighborhood. That isn't marketable, he said.
Chris Shea, president of EBDI, added, "Developers want … interesting but noncontroversial names for things."
Genesis of a name
The official names of some Baltimore neighborhoods, like Ridgely's Delight and Fells Point, go back centuries. Middle East is not one of those.
The name was applied in 1978, as residents of the decaying blocks — then a largely black, lower-income community — joined to ask the city for money to repair deteriorating properties.
At the time, there were 200 vacant homes in the neighborhood, according to a contemporary news report. The city allocated $800,000 in federal grant funding over a three-year period, but even then, the housing department estimated that it would take $120,000 to improve just three homes.
Community organizers set neighborhood boundaries across a large swath north and west of the Hopkins complex. (The western portion started its own community group in 2004 and is now called C.A.R.E. — Cleaning, Active, Restoring, Efforts.) They also created a group to oversee the money: the Middle East Community Organization.
In 1982, Lucille Gorham, then director of the organization, described the community's naming to The Baltimore Sun. The "51-year-old widowed mother of eight" instructed a young man who was headed to the city's grant hearing: "We have the Northeast Community Organization on one side and the Southeast on the other. So tell them you're from the Middle East Community Organization, because you're right in the middle of everything.'"
"There was no long, drawn-out [naming] process. It was real simple," said the Rev. Rick Mosley, 61, the "young man" who started the organization with Gorham. He was a 26-year-old Vietnam veteran and not yet a minister. He threw himself into community organizing to stay occupied, he said.
Mosley recalls that there was discomfort with the name from the start, because it was declared months after the Camp David accords, the framework for a treaty to end warfare between Israel and Egypt.
Middle East was a handy identifier for use in city politics, a way for residents to demarcate their area. But the name never quite caught on. When residents introduced themselves to someone from West Baltimore, they used nearby landmarks, mainly the hospital, to describe where they lived.
"What do we call the neighborhood? To my knowledge, nothing," said Maxine Clark, who has lived on East Chase Street for decades. William Evans, who has been on East Chase for 20 years, tells people he lives in Collington Square, after the park a few blocks away.
Of course, there are not many people left in Middle East who would remember it by that name.
Over the past decade, hundreds of households have been displaced for redevelopment. Clark and Evans live in the northeast corner of the square of roughly 35 city blocks that is Middle East. Their portion of the neighborhood is on the northeast side of the railroad tracks, the only section of Middle East not in the redevelopment zone.
"Most of the people originally from that neighborhood, they are not there now," said Josephine Gilliam, 85, who has lived in the middle of East Baltimore since she was a girl. Growing up, the neighborhood was nicknamed "the Hog's Eye"; she doesn't know why.
Gorham remained a pillar of her community until 2008, when, after being compensated, she was forced to move from her home in the 1900 block of E. Chase St. Through it all, she asked the developers to keep the name Middle East in use.
Gorham's children say she was heartbroken at leaving the neighborhood where she'd worked to have new housing built, fostered community gardens and led an urban chapter of 4-H. She was moved to a home in Northeast Baltimore, off Belair Road, and the spot where her East Chase home stood is now a modern apartment and townhouse community called Chapel Green.
Gorham, who told The Sun in 2007 that receiving the relocation notice "was like sticking a knife in my chest," died of cancer in November at age 81.Voters in a Florida congressional district went to the polls Tuesday to elect a new representative following Trey Radel’s resignation this year after pleading guilty to cocaine possession. The winner was millionaire businessman and Tea Party darling Curt Clawson, who self-funded his campaign to the tune of $2.65 million. But the story of who won isn’t much of a surprise: A rich, white Tea Partier is not a new breed in Washington these days. It’s the story of who lost that’s more telling for the GOP: Florida state Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto.
Benacquisto was the establishment favorite for the seat and had the most political experience by far. Her supporters in Tallahassee spent almost $300,000 in Super PAC money to help get her elected and she received money from Republican Reps. Aaron Schock and Jason Chaffetz. Not to mention former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin came and campaigned for her.
But while she raised almost $1 million in less than three months, Benacquisto couldn’t compete with Clawson’s self-funding. Nor could she keep pace with the nastiness of the special election.
During a midterm election cycle in which establishment candidates are generally beating back Tea Party challengers, it’s striking how many female House GOP candidates have lost primaries or are trailing in both polls and in fundraising. In statewide elections this year, Republicans have succeeded in attracting a host of qualified women who are running strong campaigns. But House candidates continue to lag. To date, House Republicans have 33% less women running this cycle than in 2012.
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Theoretically, Benacquisto should have gotten help from Project GROW, the National Republican Congressional Committee’s push announced last year to help elect women. But that program has done little since failing to help Kathleen Peters, a Florida lawmaker, win a primary in another special election earlier this year. And the NRCC’s director of strategic initiatives and coalitions, Bettina Inclan, who ran Project GROW, made a rare mid-cycle jump from the NRCC earlier this month to a Florida consulting firm. Jessica Furth Johnson, the NRCC’s deputy executive director and general counsel, has taken over running to program, according to NRCC spokeswoman Andrea Bozek.
As I wrote earlier this week in a story about another neglected female House candidate, highly qualified Republican women are struggling to break through in House races this cycle. Female lawmakers on the state level tend to be more moderate and thus have a harder time competing in highly gerrymandered districts where primaries favor the most conservative candidate. And even if they are as conservative, women candidates also tend to be less bombastic, making it tough to break through on a rhetorical level. “The NRCC doesn’t endorse candidates in primaries,” Bozek says. “We work with all candidates in competitive races put together strong campaigns.”
At this rate, there won’t be many Republican women left standing come November.
Contact us at editors@time.com.IDEAS Stan Stumbo is a retired Navy commander and a retired marine engineer.
I was a member of the National Rifle Association for more than 50 years. In 2012, I decided not to renew my membership.
My NRA was all about marksmanship, safety and responsibly. But the NRA today is off the rails. It’s being irresponsible, and it has been for years. NRA leaders should be sponsoring responsible gun laws instead of opposing them, in my opinion.
In 2006 my daughter was one of the victims in the shooting at the Jewish Federation in Seattle, where a shooter killed one and inured five. My daughter survived, barely. After she recovered, she wanted to put the tragedy behind her, but she found that it was too life-changing. She started telling her story, and she began advocating for more effective gun-control laws in Washington.
Time Magazine Cover Story: Why the rules of hunting are about to change
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I’ve always enjoyed shooting sports. As a Boy Scout and an Explorer Scout, I joined the NRA in high school. I then spent 20 years in the Navy, where I qualified as an expert in both rifles and pistols. I still own guns: four modern firearms and two old-fashioned pistols that are more than 100 years old.
But I strongly believe that being a responsible gun owner means supporting sensible laws to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. This belief was cemented by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. The shooting in Oregon last week was another tragic reminder.
I feel that four things can help prevent such tragedies in the future. Requiring background checks on the state and federal level is the sensible first step. In addition, there should be penalties for officials of city, state and county governments who fail to enter people’s names in the database when they’re judged to be mentally ill, or a danger to themselves or others, or have convictions that would make them no longer eligible to own firearms.
Another safety precaution would be to make sure that when a protection order is issued by a judge, that person’s guns are confiscated until the order is lifted. Finally, no one needs high-capacity magazines, firearms capable of holding more than 10 rounds, for target shooting, hunting for personal protection. Not only should they not be sold, but their possession should also be illegal.
Many NRA members would agree that we need more common-sense gun laws: A 2013 survey found that about 75% of members support stronger restrictions on guns. The NRA leaders should listen to the members and do more to make sure that gun ownership goes hand-in-hand with responsibility and safety.
Gun-rights advocates often make the argument: “Guns don’t kill people; people do.” But the reality is: People with guns kill people. And there’s a lot more we can do to stop them.
Contact us at editors@time.com.Thousands drawn to Australia-wide protests against government policies
Updated
Thousands of Australians have taken to the streets this weekend to protest against a range of Federal Government policies.
The March in March protests started in regional centres yesterday and stepped up in major capital cities today.
Protesters say they are non-partisan, but united in frustration with the Abbott Government's approach on numerous policy issues.
Demonstrators waving placards have today voiced anger on issues including climate change, the treatment of asylum seekers, marriage equality, the tax system and media ownership.
Coordinators gave massive estimates of crowds in Melbourne and Hobart, and Sydney police say about 10,000 braved the rain in the city.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott was asked about the protests during a press conference with NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, in which they announced a green light for Sydney's NorthConnex tunnel.
"My understanding is that the only big rally in Sydney is the St Patrick's Day parade," Mr Abbott said.
"That is the big event in Sydney today. I wish all of them well.
"If their parade is rained on, there is always some Guinness available around the city."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten distanced himself from the rally, telling reporters the Labor Party is not formally involved.
"But I do get that people want to express their views. It's a free country," he said.
The March in March event will continue until Monday, when protesters deliver a motion of no confidence to Parliament House in Canberra.
The protests spawned from a conversation between several people on social media.
Take a look at how the protests have taken shape:
Topics: federal-government, community-and-society, government-and-politics, federal---state-issues, melbourne-3000, australia, sydney-2000, nsw, qld, nt, vic
First posted'Open Schools' Made Noise In The '70s; Now They're Just Noisy
Enlarge this image toggle caption Elissa Nadworny/NPR Elissa Nadworny/NPR
It's a perennial debate in American education: Do kids learn best when they're sitting in rows at their desks? Or moving around, exploring on their own?
Back in the 1960s and '70s, that debate led to a brand new school design: Small classrooms were out. Wide-open spaces were in. The Open Education movement was born.
Across the U.S., schools were designed and built along these new ideas, with a new approach to the learning that would take place inside them.
It was a response, historians say, to fears that the U.S. was falling behind in key subjects like science and math. The approach "resonated with those who believed that America's formal, teacher-led classrooms were crushing students' creativity," Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus at Stanford University, wrote in 2004.
"No whole-class lessons, no standardized tests, and no detailed curriculum," he wrote. "The best of the open classrooms had planned settings where children came in contact with things, books, and one another at 'interest centers' and learned at their own pace with the help of the teacher."
Sounds great, right? But within just a few years — by the late 1970s — the open schools movement had faded. A backlash set in. "Traditional schools sprang up in suburbs and cities," Cuban wrote. "This time the call was not for open education but for a return to the basics."
Of course many open schools remained in operation long after that. I remember visiting one in Detroit in the 1990s, when I was a student teacher. By then, open schools were already an endangered species: education's equivalent of a red-cockaded woodpecker. Or a Ford Pinto.
So, what happened?
Recently, I ran across another survivor just a few miles from NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. What better place to explore this mystery than a visit to Benjamin Orr Elementary School?
I asked the principal, Carolyn Jackson-King, what she thought the philosophy behind this model was back in 1974 when the school was built. "I think it was mainly for collaboration for teachers," she explained. "A lot of times, teachers are in their silos, by ourselves, doing our own thing."
The openness allowed them to work together and students too: "If I'm a first-grader doing second-grade work," Jackson-King says, "I could easily go over to that second-grade classroom and work."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Elissa Nadworny/NPR Elissa Nadworny/NPR
To see all this in action, Jackson-King hands us off to an educator who knows this building inside and out: Marlon Ray, Orr Elementary's director of strategy and logistics. He takes us upstairs.
"Here we have three first-grade classrooms, in one huge space," Ray says. At one end of a long, vast room — maybe 30 yards from end to end — Dyanna Gardner's class is working on a poem and song about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"D! R! E-A-M!" they sing.
"We have to work out these kinks," Gardner tells her students. "You have to practice this like 20 times tonight."
About halfway down this space, a second class — Marquitta Johnson's — is having a silent-reading exercise. But when we stop to watch, I notice that you can still hear the other class singing off in the distance.
Marlon Ray takes us upstairs again, where we meet some second-graders. They're working on writing sentences.
"Same concept," he explains. "Same layout." Three classes, one big space.
And this is about the point where I'm starting to notice something about this "open" school.
"You know what I don't see?" I ask him. "A lot of 'openness.' "
Marlon Ray laughs. Everywhere you look, there are partitions, bulletin boards on wheels, crates stacked up high. "Metal cabinets," Ray says, "bookshelves, hanging, dangling things."
And so, I ask Marlon, here in this school without walls, they've created... "Walls," he finishes.
Tomiko Ball has taught for nine years in the D.C. public schools, but this is her first in this building. I ask her what she thinks about it:
"Oh, boy!" she says. "It's a bit difficult at times." Ball says she came to this building "because of the principal" — the chance to work for Jackson-King. She loves the students and the other teachers, too.
But the open floor plan? She can't get used to the noise. Every teacher has a different noise level, Ball says, and that takes a lot of adjustment. "This is my noise level, this is another noise level."
Teaching here, she adds, takes a special mindset: "You have to put it in your psyche to say, 'I'm going to make this work, I'm going to do the best with what I have.' "
Enlarge this image toggle caption Elissa Nadworny/NPR Elissa Nadworny/NPR
Historians say that's pretty much why this open school design died out. Bottom line: Too loud. Too distracting. Teachers hated it.
The open school model tried to tear down the walls and barriers, and for 40 years teachers at this school have been putting them back up.
Chalk it up to another education fad that came and went.
There's more to all this of course. Larry Cuban notes that it wasn't just that teachers didn't like it. Societal and cultural factors intervened, too. "In the mid-1970s," he writes, "with the economy stagnating and the nation deeply divided over the Vietnam War, critics again trained their sights on the public schools." Now, concerns were that standards had slipped, that schools were too free and open. A "back-to-basics" mood set in.
At schools like Orr Elementary, teachers and students learned to adapt.
"It's all I know," says Julie Morgan, Orr's instructional coach, who's been teaching here for 24 years. Morgan says the model does lead to collaboration. "We communicate well, we're a close-knit staff. I attribute that to the openness."
Like it or not, this building is facing extinction — they're going to tear it down this year and build a new one next door. And across the city the vestiges of the Open Schools era are disappearing. Here's how the DC schools website puts it, "Open space is a challenging educational environment for today's teachers and students and DCPS is in the process of enclosing or replacing all of these schools."
At Orr, the educators are ready — not just for the learning space, but simply to have modern heating and cooling and all the other conveniences a new building will bring.
And while the movement itself may have crashed, many of the concepts and ideas behind Open Education remain — they're a big part of what lots of schools around the country are trying to do: Collaboration. Independent, student-centered learning. Exploration.
And here at Orr, when they get that new building? Those things aren't going away, either. "The openness is in the room, the collaboration still exists," Tomiko Ball says. "Whether there's walls and doors or not."
Ball says open education isn't so much about the floor plan, but the way teachers work together and work with their students.Prisoner Arthur Taylor, who campaigned for the right for inmates to vote.
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wine, sugar, cinnamon sticks and pears in a pot large enough to accommodate the pears. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. When boiling, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Remove pot from heat and let everything cool to room temperature.
3. When room temperature, cover the pot and refrigerate until serving.
Almond Cream
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or Crème Fraîche
2 egg yolks
1. In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt butter then toss in almonds. Stir constantly until almonds are golden. Remove 2 tablespoons almonds and reserve for garnishing.
2. Remove skillet from heat and add cream, sugar and yogurt. Whisk until well combined.
3. Return skillet to heat and whisk in egg yolks. Whisk constantly until sauce thickens. Consistency will be that of ice cream when it just begins to melt.
4. Remove from heat and continue to whisk for about a minute or two so that the eggs don’t cook. Transfer sauce to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Red Wine Jelly
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin ( 1/2 oz)
1 cup red wine
Poaching liquid from pears
1/2 cup sugar
1. In a medium size bowl, dissolve gelatine in wine. Set aside.
2. Strain poaching liquid into a medium size pot. Stir in sugar and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce until you have 1 cup left.
3. Pour warm poaching wine into the gelatine/wine combo. Stir until well mixed.
4. Pour into a shallow container or small tray with sides and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or until set.
5. Cut into even sized cubes a little smaller than the size of a sugar cube.
You can dip the jelly cubes into sugar for an added bit of sparkle if you like.
Serving
Use a small, sharp knife to trim off the bottom of the pear so that it will sit upright when plated.
To achieve Oli’s lovely, fanned out presentation, stand the pear on a cutting board. Use a small, sharp knife to cut from top to bottom. Start the cut about one inch from the top. Do not cut straight down, but curve the cut so that when all of them are completed, the pear will automatically fan out. Cut only half way into the center of the pear. Make slices all around the pear.
Take a look at the posted picture – it will help you to “see” how to cut.National security adviser H.R. McMaster on Fox News. Fox News
Fox News anchor Chris Wallace pressed national security adviser H.R. McMaster over why President Donald Trump retweeted several tweets posted by a British anti-Muslim group last week.
In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," McMaster shrugged off questions about why the president retweeted three videos posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, a group known for its far-right, anti-Muslim politics.
"President Trump is the best judge of why he did that, but I know it was his intention to highlight the importance creating safe and secure environments for our citizens," McMaster said.
Wallace quickly pointed out that there were inaccuracies in the videos Trump tweeted. One video titled "Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches" did not in fact show a Muslim migrant, Dutch police confirmed. He also noted that Fransen was convicted of hate crimes.
"Why is that useful for the president of the United States?" Wallace said.
"I mean the key thing is, as you highlight the real risk these terrorists pose to our citizens, that we make sure we never buy into or reinforce the terrorist narrative, this false narrative that this is a war of religion," McMaster said.
When Wallace interjected and pointed out that Trump's tweets were "about Muslim violence," McMaster did not answer the question, but instead argued that religious terrorists are warping religion to suit their violent tactics.
"Well, those who adhere to this ideology are really irreligious criminals who use a perverted, what the President has called a wicked interpretation of religion, in an effort to recruit young, impressionable people to their cause, to foment hatred," McMaster said.
Figures across the political spectrum in the UK and US condemned Trump's decision to retweet the videos.
"I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do," British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also said the videos "elevated the conversation," and that it didn't matter whether the anti-Muslim videos were factually accurate.
"Whether it's a real video, the threat is real," Sanders said on Wednesday. "His goal is to promote strong border security and strong national security."ALBUQUERQUE N.M. (Reuters) - Weaker winds on Thursday allowed firefighters to gain ground on a wildfire that has raged for seven days through parched pine woodlands and brush on a Navajo reservation in northwestern New Mexico, a state fire official said.
The wind-driven Assayii Lake fire has charred more than 13,000 acres (5,261 hectares) since it erupted last Friday in the Chuska Mountains, about six miles (10 km) east of the Arizona border, and spread eastward toward the communities of Sheep Springs and Naschitti.
“The winds have died down and that has helped substantially,” said New Mexico fire information spokeswoman Lori Cook. The fire, which has raged largely unchecked, was 20 percent contained as of late on Thursday, she said.
More than 800 firefighters aided by helicopters dropping fire suppression chemicals have battled wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour which has fanned the fire.
“We had a lot of boots on the ground today and they were able to establish a containment line on the westside of the mountain stemming the spread (there),” Cook said.
Crews have sustained two minor injuries, Cook said. They have yet to assess the full extent of the damage to residences and grazing land, though nearly a dozen homes have been damaged.
Officials say the fire was likely caused by people.Were you happy with your Linux (sorry, “GNU/Linux”) desktop system circa 2010? Is strict adherence to Software Freedom highly important to you?
If you answered yes to either of those questions then gNewSense, which just released version 3.1, may be the perfect Linux distribution for you.
That bit about “2010” may sound a bit snarky, but it really isn't meant that way. In fact, after having spent a few days with gNewSense, I have come to truly appreciate this little Free Software Foundation-approved (and funded) system.
My beautiful gNewSense screenshot.
For those unaware: gNewSense is a Debian-based Linux distro which focuses on including zero non-free software packages. You won't find any binary blobs here. In fact, gNewSense is strict enough about its “only Free Software” policy that even Richard Stallman feels comfortable enough to use it.
Now, reviewing gNewSense is a rather odd thing. It's sort of like reviewing Ubuntu or Debian from 2010 – just about every package in the gNewSense repositories dates back to that time.
That's right. Out of the box you get cutting-edge (*cough* in 2010) software like GNOME 2.30 and OpenOffice 3.2. Not only are both of these discontinued pieces of software, but both of them have newer versions than what’s included in the gNewSense repositories. So, in a sense, they are doubly outdated.
But is that bad? Do we really, absolutely need the latest versions of every package available? Truth be told, I loved my GNOME 2.30 desktop back in 2010. It was fast, stable and relatively customizable. And you know what? It still is.
In fact, the stock installation of gNewSense – thanks, in large part, to using older and lighter versions of popular software – is incredibly fast and astoundingly un-taxing on your hardware. The whole system, when logged in with no additional software running, uses roughly 105 MB of RAM. So this plucky little distro will perform well on even modest hardware.
Of course, just make sure your hardware doesn't require any proprietary drivers, because you won't get any of those here. Just because other, modern Linux distros run on your laptop, with support for things like “Wi-Fi” and “Video cards” doesn't mean gNewSense will. Luckily, it comes with a Live ISO, so you can test it out before installing.
One bit that I found rather interesting - using either of the default web browsers (that's right, it comes with two pre-installed: Epiphany and Iceweasel) you can play standard-definition YouTube videos admirably well using a pre-setup gnash installation. Right out of the box, this worked like a charm. For those determined to not use the proprietary Flash software, this is definitely a plus.
Overall, I'd say that gNewSense is not meant for those new to Linux. It includes a graphical installer... but it's a bit more old-school than some of the polished installers we see nowadays in other distros. And for package management, Synaptic is included, which, while excellent, isn't exactly tailored to folks unfamiliar with Linux.
In a lot of ways, this system is a bit of a blast from the past, reminding me of all of the things I loved about using my Linux desktop in days of old (does that phrase work when we're only talking about four years ago?). It's fast, stable and highly functional.
In fact, I can't think of many things I can't do with gNewSense 3.1. Could I use it as my primary work machine? You know what... I absolutely could. It might be a bit of a pain on occasion (due to outdated software and a lack of proprietary drivers), but it would be doable.
But, if I'm being realistic, I definitely won't be using it. The reality is that I am comfortable with using things like the occasional proprietary driver, and I'm a big fan of some of the newer desktop environments (such as GNOME Shell). Even if I were living, right now, in the year 2010... I still probably wouldn't use this distro when there are so many others available that make it easier to use a wider array of hardware.
That may not sound like high praise for gNewSense, but it really is. This system sets out with a major goal in mind: to provide a Free Software Foundation-approved Linux distro (of which there aren't many) that works well. And, by that metric, gNewSense 3.1 is a rousing success.
Now, here's what I'm wondering - would you be willing to live with four-year-old software if it meant you could be confident that you were running a 100% Free Software system?Norway is deploying hundreds more troops to the remote region of Finnmark, bordering Russia, as part of a plan to expand defences within the Arctic Circle.
The bolstered military presence in the far north of the country comes as the UK, US and Norway begin to revive a Cold War-era pact to monitor Moscow’s activities in the North, Norwegian and Barents seas.
The deployment is part of a plan approved by the Norwegian government late last year to significantly increase defence spending.
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Describing the move as “historic”, the political adviser to Norwegian Defence Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide said Norway would “further increase our land forces in the northernmost county, Finnmark, by establishing a new company sized ranger unit at the Norwegian-Russian border” of around 200 troops.
Audun Halvorsen told The Independent that providing a deterrent in Finnmark, which shares a remote land border with Russia, “continues to be high on the agenda of the Norwegian government”.
“We do not consider Russia a direct military threat to Norway today," he said.
“But we pay close attention to the Russian military activity in the High North.”
The deployment comes as Norway looks to revive a Cold War surveillance pact covering international waters stretching from the Arctic Circle to the UK.
Oslo and London are buying new maritime surveillance aircraft – five and nine new Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft respectively – in a deal that British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said would allow the UK to “step up cooperation with Norway on maritime patrol”.
A decade ago the Pentagon announced it was withdrawing from an Icelandic air base used to house its P-3 aircraft.
Joint maritime surveillance efforts were further harmed when the UK scrapped its equivalent to the P-3 – the Nimrod – in 2010.
But Magnus Nordenman, director of think tank the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative, said a surveillance “triangle” operated by the US, UK and Norway was being brought back.
He told Defense News: “During the Cold War there was this triangle between the US flying missions out of Keflavik, the Brits flying out of Scotland and the Norwegians flying P-3s out of Andoya.
“That triangle that existed in the Cold War is coming back.”
Questioned on the revived surveillance pact, Mr Halvorsen said: “The procurement of new maritime surveillance aircraft is necessary to enable the continuation of monitoring of Norwegian and adjacent waters.
“Norway´s old P-3 aircraft are approaching the end of their lifespan.
“The surveillance of the North Atlantic has traditionally been subject to close cooperation with the US and UK.
“The cooperation will be strengthened by the fact that all three countries will operate the same aircraft.”
In a separate development on Monday, 300 US Marines landed in Norway for a six-month deployment, the first time since the Second World War that foreign troops have been allowed to be stationed there.
American soldiers will remain in Norway for a year, with a second batch of Marines replacing the first deployment in six months time.
Mr Halvorsen said training missions undertaken by Nato allies would be increasing in future.
The senior Norwegian official added: “The long term plan also underlines the importance of further allied participation in training and exercises in Norway, especially in the North.
“We consider such activities as an important part of Nato’s collective defence, demonstrating allied solidarity and providing useful experience in operating in the northern region of the alliance.
“We are improving our ability to receive allied forces, and we will train and exercise together with them more frequently when they are in Norway.
“US and UK are both key allies, and we maintain longstanding and close relationships; allied training in Norway is increasing.”
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Subscribe nowWinnipeg's drug scene is using secret group conversations via Facebook's Messenger app to score everything from potentially lethal fentanyl to crack cocaine, CBC News has learned.
"It's all there, hiding in plain sight," said one participant CBC News agreed not to identify. "Deals are being made day and night, all over the city."
CBC News took an inside look into two group Messenger conversations titled "Wpg drug mart" and "ChOp ShOp."
They're accessible by invitation only and only through a Facebook account. But once inside, members enter an online marketplace where they post messages to buy and sell whatever drugs they can get.
Even fentanyl — suspected in the fatal overdoses of at least four Winnipeggers this fall — is sold.
Its deadly reputation is no deterrent and its lethal strength is billed as a selling point, including in this message: "fentanyl Powder really potent just got the pure package today! HMU (hit me up) for your needs."
There were also messages for morphine: "200 mgs morph (morphine)," xanax, "green bars, text or hmu," ecstasy and marijuana, "Mollys, kush, hmu for deals.....delivery city wide."
Similar groups worldwide
Stolen goods are also for sale and there's something for almost everyone: Samsung phones, Gucci purses, brass knuckles and even baby formula.
In most cases, a single click on the Messenger's profile image sent one directly to that person's Facebook profile. In some cases, members even posted their cellphone numbers.
"No one worries about being caught," the participant told CBC News. "I don't think the police even know about it."
A Winnipeg police spokesman told CBC News they are aware these sites exist, but confirmed they've not made any arrests in relation to them.
Previous Next
In fact, only a handful of authorities throughout the world have cracked down on them.
In May 2016, Colorado authorities, with co-operation from Facebook, shut down a similar group conversation called "Fly Society 420." In that case, members were mostly high school students, buying and selling hard-core drugs like LSD.
In February 2015, Facebook shut down an Australian group called "Adelaide street pharmacists."
A Facebook spokesman told CBC News the social networking site investigates any reports of illegal activity. Facebook's policy, he said, is clear:
"We prohibit the use of Facebook to facilitate or organize criminal activity that causes physical harm to people, businesses or animals, or financial damage to people or businesses. We remove content, disable accounts, and work with law enforcement when we believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety. We also refer information to law enforcement whenever disclosure is we believe it is necessary to prevent harm."
Illegal Facebook activity tough to bust: researcher
But sniffing out these secret group conversations and shutting them down can be a mammoth task, says Danah Boyd, a researcher of technology and society with Microsoft's U.S. offices.
It's "very hard to track all of the illicit uses" that Facebook's more than 1.7 billion members could be involved in, Boyd said.
Furthermore, the turnover rate of these group Messenger conversations is high. They open, shut down and pop up again under new names regularly. (In fact, within a week of accessing Wpg Drug Mart, the group had renamed itself "204 Drugs.")
It can therefore be a "frustrating game of whack-a-mole," Boyd said.
Facebook's spokesman would not comment on the specific tools used to monitor suspicious activity.
He confirmed that in response to CBC's story, Facebook's Messenger team is now investigating the chat groups.
But by press time, they had not been closed down.The fifth movie in the Die Hard franchise has been christened A Good Day to Die Hard, which is a bad name to give anything. The plot is said to involve John McClane and his son in Russia, which makes Die Hard 5 both the Rocky IV and Police Academy 7 of the series.
A Good Day to Die Hard is slated for a February 14, 2013 release. Yes, that's Valentine's Day, so you can give your loved one the gift of Die Hard.
I'm not particularly good with titles and I don't mean to tell the filmmakers how to do their job, but below are 20 other titles they could have used for the movie. Please suggest your own titles for Die Hard 5 in the comments.
[via Deadline]
The Bigger They Come, the Harder They Die
Get Rich or Die Hard Tryin'
Make Them Die Hard Slowly
Twenty-Sided Die Hard
Die Hard with Almonds
Dielander: The Hardening
Eat, Pray, Die Hard
You Go to Hell! You Go to Hell and You Die Hard!
John Tucker Must Die Hard, Romeo Must Die Harder, Surf Nazis Must Die Hardest
Die Hardermaus
Goonies Never Say Die Hard
X-Men, Welcome to Die Hard
Johnny McClane and the Order of the Phoenix
My Name Is Inigo Montoya. You Killed My Father. Prepare to Die Hard.
Can't Die Hard Me Love
Father of the Bride of Die Hard
Hope I Die Hard Before I Get Old
As I Lay Dying Hard
Mr. Falcon or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Die Hard
1,000 Bad Guys to Shoot Before You Die Hard
You are logged out. Login | Sign upIsrael has said it will not meet a delegation of European foreign ministers, including William Hague, this week as diplomatic pressure mounts on its government to extend a 10-month settlement freeze that ends next week.
The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday told Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy, that current restrictions on building West Bank Jewish settlements will not remain, but there would be some limits on construction. "We will not freeze the lives of the residents," he said.
Israel has bridled at what it calls an "insensitive" European demand to hold meetings on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The ministers from Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Germany had apparently proposed to hold meetings on Friday morning, hours before the start of the Yom Kippur fast.
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"They showed very high insensitivity to this special date. It's just not done," said Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman. "Everyone is away, no meetings are planned, all agendas are empty. We suggested alternative dates, which were refused."
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the meetings had been cancelled because the European ministers intended to pressure Israel over the settlements. A British embassy spokeswoman said Mr Hague's trip was postponed because of scheduling difficulties.
The spat comes amid Israel's growing irritation that EU countries, excluded from the US-sponsored bilateral peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, are bidding for an eleventh-hour seat at the negotiating table.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, Mr Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority President, are to meet for a second round of discussions in Egypt on Tuesday, two weeks after talks were launched amid much fanfare in Washington.
President Barack Obama has made achieving peace in the Middle East a key tenet of his foreign policy, and ahead of mid-term elections has staked his political reputation on bringing the reluctant partners to direct talks.
"They [the Europeans] can't just barge into the negotiating room when they were not involved in the process that led to these talks," said an Israeli government official. "Where were they when the process was being laboriously pushed forward?"
Europe's sense of exclusion was underscored when the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, criticised Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, after she opted to fly to China rather than join the opening of direct peace talks at the White House two weeks ago.
Baroness Ashton responded on Friday saying she had no wish to be a second-tier participant in Washington when she could bring more influence to bear in discussions in China.
Her view was supported yesterday by at least one European diplomat in Jerusalem, who said that it was not clear what role the Europeans could play at this stage. "It's not obvious that the EU being in the room for the direct bilateral talks makes much sense when the US has to hold the ring," the diplomat said.
A beleaguered Mr Netanyahu is likely to come under pressure on the issue of settlements during the second round of talks, an obstacle that has loomed large over the process.
Mr Obama upped the stakes on Friday when he urged Israel to extend the settlement freeze, which expires at the end of September.
"What I've said to PM Netanyahu is that given, so far, the talks are moving forward in a constructive way, it makes sense to extend that moratorium," he said in remarks that he has previously resisted making publicly.
Pushed to respond, Mr Netanyahu appeared to hang back from an extension in an apparent sop to his pro-settler coalition partners, who have threatened to leave the coalition if he calls for a new freeze. But he also said that not all of the "tens of thousands of housing units" in the pipeline would go ahead, remarks aimed at the Palestinians, who have threatened to quit the talks if settlement construction is not stopped.
The Palestinians remained adamant yesterday that they would accept nothing less than a freeze.
"Our position is very clear," said Husam Zomlo, a Palestinian spokesman. "Should the settlement construction and expansion continue, we are out." Palestinians, who want a state based on the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, have agreed in principle to limited land swaps, but have insisted that Israel refrain from putting "facts on the ground" before an agreement is reached.
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Subscribe nowCast member Mike Myers gestures at the premiere of "The Love Guru" at the Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California June 11, 2008. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - After the “Austin Powers” trilogy, there was a sense that comedian Mike Myers had elevated his game. He evolved the series from slapdash skits into real movies that had connective tissue and continuing characters. “Love Guru” is a regressive step in the extreme.
Not only does the film stumble badly from one skit to another, but the skits themselves have too much dead air. Neither Myers nor a group of hesitant actors — who seem more like an endless number of sidekicks than supporting players — show much confidence in the material. They seem to deliver lines or perform bits so that they may quickly duck the rotten tomatoes surely headed their way.
Two film comedies go head to head this weekend, “Love Guru” and “Get Smart,” a strategy that’s anything but smart on the studios’ part. But the real question is, which is the worst?
Quite possibly “Love Guru” will out-awful “Get Smart.” Myers’ name should ensure a respectable No. 2 finish, but all bets are off the following weekend.
The basic problem with “Love Guru,” as it was for “Get Smart,” is that the filmmakers never define the central joke. Myers plays Guru Pitka, the No. 2 Near-Eastern Self-Help Specialist. (Deepak Chopra is No. 1.) This inspires all sorts of spoofs of self-help mumbo jumbo, inane mantras, Bollywood dances and Beatles-era costumes. These almost get lost, though, amid gags involving urination and defecation, elephants, ice hockey and penis size. Not to mention Verne Troyer, the little person who played Mini-Me in two “Austin Powers” films, who here is the butt of endless size jokes as well.
Oddly, Myers entrusted his first film with a new character to a rookie director, Marco Schnabel, who directed second unit on all three “Austin Powers” films. Schnabel not only lacks visual flair and the ability to pull together a style to link the skits, but he is probably too young and inexperienced to help Myers edit himself. When, say, one in four gags hit with any force, there is a need for serious editing.
Guru Pitka is hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs owner (Jessica Alba) to reunite her star player (Romany Malco) with his wife (Meagan Good), who is shacked up with Los Angeles Kings goalie Jacques “Le Coq” Grande (Justin Timberlake); on the eve of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals, that turn of events has sent her player’s game into the toilet. This tissue-thin plot gets interrupted for flashbacks to Pitka’s guru classes at an Indian ashram by an exalted cross-eyed guru played by Ben Kingsley.
A good actor is a terrible thing to waste, but this profligate film totally marginalizes Kingsley, Alba, Good and Malco. Timberlake fairs not too badly because he has a fun caricature to play, a Quebecois goalie with a huge crush on Celine Dion and an even larger physical endowment. The only actor who really scores is Stephen Colbert, who plays a drug-addled, sex-addicted hockey broadcaster. He is absolutely hysterical.
Reuters/Hollywood ReporterDon't Blame Jews for the Evil of Zionism
Don't Blame Jews for the Evil of Zionism Why "Real" Jews Reject Zionism; Whereas "Jezebel" Jews Embrace It
Why do Jews, such as Rabbi Dovid Weiss, Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, Dr. Norman Finklestein, Miko Peled, Sir Gerald Kaufman, and thousands more, reject Zionism?
Why are there organizations of Jews that are devoted to eliminating the evil of Zionism in the world; such as the American Council for Judaism and Neturel Karta, an international organization of Orthodox Jews against Zionism?
Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism
It's because Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism; in fact, it is the antithesis of it.
In short, Judaism is the worship of God and His love for all people, whereas Zionism is the worship of the desert sand of Israel and the quest to create a Kingdom of Zionism, also called the Rothschild's New World Order, on earth.
Moses brought to all people the Ten Commandments from God. The Ten Commandments are simple to understand and yet, most men, and some women too, find them impossible to follow. For example, Zionists continue to kill the Palestinians and steal their land. How can these sins be consistent with people who love God and want to please Him by loving others in His name? Obviously, the sins of murder of the Palestinians and the thief of their land is incompatible with Judaism, but consistent with Zionism.
Moses warned the Jews (a warning which extends to all of God's creation) not to worship the"Golden Calf" of greed, political, military or economic power and self-aggrandizement. However, for many people, Jews and non-Jews alike, the temptation to worship the idol of their own self-worth, (through the acquisition of money and expensive "things" and the power to rule over other people on earth), consumes their daily lives. Like Narcissist gazing into the watery reflection of his mortal image, Zionists reject God and worship themselves in a daily fight for more riches and political and military power with which to support their delusions of grandeur; consequently, they are guilty of worshiping the "Golden Calf." Because Zionists worship the "Golden Calf", which is a false god, I call them, "Jezebel Jews."
Why should Zionists be called, "Jezebel Jews?" The story of Jezebel is recounted in 1 Kings and 2 Kings, where she is described as a worshiper of the god Ba'al and the goddess Asherah, as well as, an enemy of God's prophets. Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who married Northern Israel's King Ahab. Jezebel convinced King Ahab to build an altar to her god Ba'al in Samaria. Jezebel, through her husband King Ahab, then mandated that her religion become the national religion of Israel. As a result, Jezebel is described in the Bible as an enemy of God because she refused to love Him and follow His Ten Commandments; instead, she worshiped false Gods, like the Jews who worshiped the "Golden Calf" idol of greed, power and self-adoration. Jezebel rejected the essence of God, which is love and compassion for all people. In other words, Jezebel's beliefs and behavior are consistent with what is called Zionism today.
Like oil and water
Today, Zionists mix with the real Jews like oil mixes with water; and that means that they are as different as night is to day. Zionists ignore the Ten Commandments of God so that they can kill the Palestinians and steal their land; consequently, they are Jews in name only. Whereas real Jews, such as Rabbi Dovid Weiss, Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, Dr. Norman Finkelstein (who wrote, Farewell to Israel,"), Miko Peled (who wrote, "The General's Son"), Rabbi Michael Lerner, and Sir Gerald Kaufman, for example, worship God and voice their outrage at the murder of Palestinian in the name of Judaism, are not permitted to speak on American Zionist-owned television, nor are their views published in any American Zionist-owned newspaper or magazine.
Zionists don't want the public to hear the feelings and thoughts of real Jews, such as Sir Gerald Kaufman, for example, a British Member of Parliament who was raised an Orthodox Jew, and who bitterly complained after visiting Gaza in 2009: "My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazi's came to her home town. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed. My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as a justification for their murder of Palestinians."
Furthermore, in an article criticizing the murder of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers,
Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun Magazine, wrote, "...according to Judaism, a person without compassion who claims to be Jewish cannot be considered Jewish." He goes on to say, "...I mourn for the Judaism of love and kindness, peace and generosity, that Israel worshipers dismiss as Utopian fantasy."
However, the most obvious proof of the of the capacity for love, compassion and forgiveness of the real Jew, is the following example: Miko Peled's sister's teenage daughter was murdered by two teenage Palestinian suicide bombers when they blew themselves up on a bus in Jerusalem. Zionists from the government of Israel immediately rushed to her home and told her to speak out in hatred for the Palestinians and to call for revenge against them, but she refused. Although her heart was crushed with the death of her daughter, instead of speaking of hate and revenge, she told the Zionists that she did not want anymore mothers to endure the agony that she was suffering. She said that she felt empathy for the two Palestinian mothers who had lost their sons in the suicide bombing. Moreover, she blamed the Zionists of Israel for forcing the Palestinians into these desperate acts of retaliation by stealing their land, destroying their homes and killing them since the first day that Israel was created, on Palestinian land, in 1948.
As a devout Christian, I want to believe that I possess the amazing capacity for love and forgiveness that Miko Peled's sister gave to her daughter's killers; but I'm afraid to say that I don't think I could forgive someone who killed my child. Instead, I fear that my heart and soul, too, would be contaminated with hate and the desire for revenge.
However, it is not only Jews who have the purity of the soul to forgive and love in an alliance with God. One of my best friends in the US, is a Muslim who immigrated from Palestine many years ago. He grew up in a city called Nabulus in the West Bank. I asked him what it was like to grow up in a land occupied by the Israeli army. He told me how he and his friends would throw rocks at the Israeli bulldozers as they destroyed one Palestinian home after another. He also described to me how he felt when he saw several of his teenage friends shot to death by Israeli soldiers and how he was beaten on several occasions by the Israeli soldiers after he was arrested for throwing rocks. As he spoke of these memories, I never heard any hint of hate or anger in his voice, nor did I see it reflected in his facial expression.
I said to him, "Anwar, I've never heard you to speak ill of anyone. Do you hate the Jews?" He replied, "Of course not. The Jews didn't kill my friends or beat me. And they didn't bulldoze down our houses. The Jews are innocent of these sins against my people." Confused by his statements, I said, "I don't understand. The Israeli's are Jews." That is the moment when I learned the difference between Jews and Zionists. Anwar showed me a web-page on his computer which had a photograph of 7 Rabbis, laughing and walking with Yasser Arafat, the late chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. I was shocked and asked him, "Who are those people walking with Arafat?" He said, "That's what I'm trying to teach you; those are real Jews who want to live in peace with my people, as we did before Palestine was invaded and conquered by Zionists from Europe in 1947." He continued on to say, "Don't ever blame the Jews for the evil deeds of the Zionists; they are not the same people. The Jews walk with God and the Zionists walk with the Devil."
My Muslim friend, Anwar, taught me that real Jews show their love, kindness, generosity and forgiveness to others because they know that such actions build the path for their souls to go to God after this physical life is over and their bodies turn to dust. Conversely, Zionists are Jews in name only; they are people who see themselves as superior to others. That is why "Jezebel Jews" are creating their "kingdom" of greed and power on the land of the Palestinians that will exist only for their superior race. Their superior race is white and from Europe. That is why the Zionists of Israel reject black Jews from African countries, such as Ethiopia, and have even sterilized many of those women with mandatory "vaccines" to keep them from reproducing more black Jews. It appears that the white European Zionists, want to create a state for themselves where only white "Jezebel Jews" can be citizens. How is that different from Adolf's Hitler's quest to create a superior white race that would rule over all other "inferior" races of the world?
People around the world must recognize the difference between real Jews and Zionist "Jezebel Jews" and not misplace their anger on real Jews who are innocent of the war crimes committed by the Zionists of Israel and the US in the name of Judaism. It is therefore righteous to criticize the Zionists for their hate, abuse and murder of the Palestinians and not be "anti-Semitic" in doing so.
However, Americans are so terrified of being called "anti-Semitic" by Zionists loyal to Israel that they refuse to criticize Israel for any anti-American act; even acts of treason. For example, Israel has tried to manipulate the US government, through lies and deception, into attacking peaceful countries in the Middle East for decades. In the infamous Lavon Affair in 1954, for instance, Israel tried to trick the US into believing that it |
transformed and well during when it’s on its mobile suit mode. The back pack is a joy to build, though I at first, I was worried that the wings part would be flimsy as hell it turned out to be quite solid (I remember fucking up this part on my Impulse, Thankfully I didn’t fuck this commissioned kit).
As well it is a surprisingly well-balanced weighted kit, even with all the weapons equipped on the kit the anti-ship sword, the beam rifle, the shield and the huge Force Silhouette backpack fully opened it still managed to get itself standing well. The best part even if you decide to pose it without the stand it would still be able to without you having to worry it stumbling over its own weight. I love how the articulation is in this kit is made to be, an unconventional way (due to its lack of tech at this time) but one enables the kit to do more complicated poses though the way they made it, makes the joints feel flimsy.
But even that it wasn’t so, through my experiences with it, it has proven itself to be able to hold itself well during the transformation part (as the Chest Flyer). The same can be said for the leg section for this kit. It does have a weird way to transform but in no occasion that I feel that the kit feels flimsy during the transformation or when it was in its mobile suit form. That to me is a very impressive feat overall.
The inner frame as well holds the outer frames well, better than how they did it on the Freedom 2.0, on the freedom 2.0 I do have some fitting issues with some of the parts, some of the parts annoyingly needed me to glue it up and for me it kind of annoys me that I needed to do that on a Gunpla kit. As well I noticed that some parts of the Freedom 2.0 don’t look as impressive as how the impulse parts were and mind you the impulse was the older kit (not being biased here, because I do love how the 2.0 looked, to be honest).
Honestly, the impulse wasn’t as detailed nor as well articulated as the newer MG lines BUT the same can be said for the Freedom 2.0 and that’s where I find myself understanding the root problem of the issue. When the Freedom 2.0 was announced, no actually even when they announced that they would remaster some of the SEED MG kits and as well finally releasing more SEED MG kits line I was expecting them to give the SEED MG line more love.
Then I build the Freedom 2.0, to be honest, besides the look and the new shoulder joints to make the articulation looked more natural. There weren’t many improvements I could see on the freedom 2.0 and it was the latest addition to the SEED remaster line. I was expecting more inner frame goodness like how you get with the RX series. I was expecting to see better-looking runner parts than the older kits, heck I even expected to not have fitting issues on the supposed new iteration of this kit. The saddest part is that I hoped that I would make me feel as happy as I did when I built the Impulse.
Goddamit you do look good Freedom 2.0 but you ain’t as fun as the Impulse, and for an older kit it does so many things that were better than you, even though at times it can be flimsy. The best part of the Impulse is that it looks simple, functional and it didn’t have to try so hard in the looks department because…just look at it.
And then there is you….
The impulse looked a lot more elegant, simple but yet so much better than how you are. A kit that tries too hard to look awesome. Honestly, when I put it side by side with the impulse I can’t help to think that the Freedom looked like an old man trying to look cool. Whilst the Impulse looked like the old person that aged gracefully in time.
Towards the end when I finished the Impulse, I finally understood why I was so disappointed with the Freedom 2.0 because I feel that they didn’t really do enough to make people that have probably bought the older freedom to buy the newer version. It was not as good to remaster as compared to the rest.
I really hope if they have any plans to remaster the impulse, please oh please make it more detailed as compared to the older one. I really want Bandai not to fuck my impulse. Really, if you guys have no plans to really include more detail. Don’t bother remastering the Impulse.
It’s good enough as it is, please don’t bother please don’t ruin my good memories with it.
On the other note, after finishing this one up I am looking forward to the P Bandai (I know, I know) release of the Destiny Impulse R this coming September! 😀
That’s all for my review of the ZGMF – X56S/a Force Impulse Gundam (MG), what do you guys think of this review and of the kit itself? Have you guys built one or planning to get one? I do look forward to reading your comments and thoughts on the matter. I do enjoy reading and to discuss with you all here! AS ever if you guys like this article and this blog please do give us a like and as well you can share this site to all of you gunpla loving friends! Your support and your love are truly appreciated here!
Will be back this coming Wednesday with a new Let’s Talk Gunpla Post! See you guys then!
Till next time! Toodles!
AdvertisementsLet's face it: Britain has an ethnic problem. Its patchwork of peoples, once the envy of the world, has become frayed, its harmony devolving into anger and xenophobia. And, we should be honest, the problem is rooted in one ethnic group – one large but troubled people who are failing to integrate into modern postindustrial society.
While some of its more ambitious members have found success in politics and business, this community is falling behind educationally and economically as a whole, self-segregating into ethnic enclaves, becoming increasingly prone to violence, rioting and substance abuse. More troubling, in recent years they have begun to vote for ethnic extremist parties that threaten to undermine basic British values.
Who are these people? The English. Once a tolerant, welcoming people who thrived in scholarship and commerce, they have become a drag on British society.
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They have become Britain's problem group. Government figures show that "white English" students are now outperformed in school results by British children of Bangladeshi, Ghanaian, Indian, Sierra Leonean, Chinese, Sri Lankan, Vietnamese and Nigerian ancestry.
This was not always the case: A decade ago, it seemed as if Britons with darker skin colours were trapped behind the English in education and income. But it's all changed: In 2009, Bangladeshi-British kids soared ahead of the English; black African kids caught up with them in 2010 and Pakistani kids are on course to pass them this year.
Unlike the island's other ethnic groups, low-income members of the English community seem determined to stay poor and uneducated. Britain's Department of Education has published figures listing how many low-income children achieved passing grades in secondary school in 2012. Sixty per cent of black African and Bangladeshi students did, about half of Pakistanis and black Caribbean kids did, 40 per cent of Indians did – and only three in 10 "white British" (mainly English) kids did, putting them at the bottom of the list.
On top of this – or perhaps because of it – the English are now self-segregating into isolated, and sometimes impoverished, uni-ethnic enclaves. Some 600,000 white English people moved out of the mixed-ethnicity districts of London between 2001 and 2011 for less integrated areas, while other ethnic groups moved into areas of higher diversity.
The English are more prone than other groups to drop out of school early, to live on welfare benefits, to become unhealthy and to engage in crime. In measures of alcohol abuse, "trouble with police while drinking" and lawbreaking, they outrank any other ethnic group in Britain (except the Irish). Riots led by ethnic English youths tore the cities of England apart in the summer of 2011, while ethnic Turks, Bangladeshis and Africans guarded shops and became heroes for rescuing people from the riots. There is a constant sense that the poor English are about to break out in violence.
This was one thing when it was all kept inside the English community, but it is now beginning to affect Britain's future. Growing numbers of the ethnic English are casting votes for the extremist UK Independence Party, which seeks to end immigration and pull Britain out of Europe. The party seems poised to capture a third of Britain's seats in next year's European Parliament elections.
They are unlikely to win seats in national elections – they tend to spoil the Tory vote – but their threat has caused the English community's traditional party, the Conservatives, to become less moderate. Prime Minister David Cameron has recently taken a weird turn into anti-immigrant nastiness, denying benefits to newcomers (even though immigrants rarely claim unemployment benefits) and buying into an implausible media theory about Romanians and Bulgarians flooding the country, all to appease the ethnic English.
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These xenophobic attitudes are harming Britain's economy. As the Economist recently wrote, the Prime Minister's pledge to drive immigration below 100,000 a year has done serious damage – steep visa fees, quotas and restrictions have driven away foreign students, educated elites and investors, while many British companies are moving their operations overseas, where it's easier to hire the best workers. And it is causing a fiscal crisis – according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, immigration rates will need to double if national debt is to be lowered to half its level (and UKIP's immigration freeze would double public debt).
Don't get me wrong about the English. I know quite a few English people who are rather decent (including my dear old Mum and Gran), and their culture is not without its charm. But they need help. Ethnic English numbers are growing, and if they're allowed to gain any more influence in British society, they could be trouble.
Follow me on Twitter:New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Senator Rand Paul are currently in the middle of a feud. Well, I guess it’s not much of a feud for Rand Paul, considering he’s getting his ass kicked.
It all started last week when Christie criticized libertarians for supporting dangerous policies such as isolationism. In response, Paul took a swipe at Governor Christie and New Jersey on Fox News this past Monday claiming:
“If he cared about protecting this country maybe he wouldn’t be in this gimme, gimme, gimme all the money you have in Washington or don’t have, and he’d be a little more fiscally responsive.”
Paul was referring to Christie asking for and receiving federal aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a severe storm that devastated parts of New Jersey in 2012.
So, to Paul, Christie is fiscally irresponsible for securing critical aid in order for his state to rebuild what Sandy destroyed. That was a major mistake for Paul to make because on Tuesday, Christie fired back and scored a direct hit and in the process reminded us all that most conservative states are welfare states.
During the press conference, Christie blasted Paul for daring to question the fiscal responsibility of New Jersey when he is the Senator of Kentucky, a welfare state.
“I find it interesting that Senator Paul is accusing us of having a gimme, gimme, gimme attitude toward federal spending when in fact New Jersey is a donor state, we get 61 cents back on every dollar we send to Washington. And interestingly Kentucky gets $1.51 on every dollar they sent to Washington. So if Senator Paul wants to start looking at where he is going to cut spending to afford defense, maybe he should start looking at cutting the pork barrel spending he brings home to Kentucky at a $1.51 on every dollar and not look at New Jersey where we get 61 cents for every dollar. Maybe Senator Paul could deal with that when he is trying to deal with the reduction of spending on the federal side, but I doubt he would because most Washington politicians only care about bringing home the bacon so they can get reelected.”
Here’s the video:
Are you shocked, too? Rand Paul accuses New Jersey of being a welfare state and Republican Chris Christie hits him back with actual facts that reveal the total opposite. In 2007, the Tax Foundation ran the numbers and found that for every dollar that Kentucky sends to Washington in taxes, it gets $1.51 in return. That ranks conservative Kentucky the ninth most parasitic state in the nation. New Jersey, on the other hand, only gets back 61 cents of every dollar it sends to Washington, which is the least among all 50 states. The point is, New Jersey takes less federal money than Kentucky and is therefore a donor state, as Christie rightfully claims, while Rand Paul’s Kentucky is a welfare state.
While Christie’s takedown of Rand Paul is something we should all applaud, the New Jersey Governor also just helped remind us that conservative states are the real welfare states. For many years now, conservatives have referred to blue states as lazy, while bragging about how fiscally responsible their own states are. When they say these things, conservatives are lying through their teeth. Nine of the ten poorest states are located in the conservative South and those states only get by because of the extravagant amount of federal cash they rake in. Blue states, meanwhile, get less money back in return for every dollar in taxes paid. In short, blue states have been supporting red states all this time. Without the federal cash that is redirected from blue states, red states would collapse because their elected officials (Republicans) are fiscally IRRESPONSIBLE and RECKLESS. And because of that recklessness, conservative states are harming the nation as a whole.
Senator Rand Paul enjoys crowing about how fiscally responsible he supposedly is, but because he attacked Chris Christie and New Jersey, Paul will have to take that crow and eat it. This is a smackdown that’s worthy of being bookmarked as a reminder of how hypocritical and fiscally reckless Rand Paul and his fellow Tea Partiers are, especially as we move closer to the 2014 and 2016 elections.President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel had a lower occupancy rate than the industry average in the first four months of 2017, but it more than made up for that by charging significantly higher rates than projected after Trump won the presidency, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reported.
The Journal on Friday based its report on hotel records that were briefly posted online Thursday by the General Services Administration — the government agency that, despite Trump’s control of it as President, serves as the Trump hotel’s landlord — with financial data included. The financial information was later redacted, the Journal reported.
While the hotel had projected its average daily room rate would be $416, it ended up charging $660.28 on average from January to April, the Journal reported, citing the financial records. The industry average is $495.91 for comparable hotels, the Journal noted.
The hotel projected a $2.1 million loss during that four-month period. It ended up posting a profit of $1.97 million, according to the Post, which also viewed the financial records and reported on them Thursday.
The Post noted that Trump has spent time at his private businesses’ properties on 65 of his 202 days in office thus far, nearly one-third.
The Trump International Hotel also outperformed its expected food and beverage revenue by 37 percent, according to the Journal. It had an occupancy rate of 44.4 percent, versus an average 69.5 percent occupancy rate for comparable hotels.
The paper noted the hotel underperformed its own expectations in September and October of last year, before Trump was elected, according to data presented by several Democratic representatives who received it from the GSA.
The increase in room rates following Trump’s election recalls a similar scenario at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. CNBC reported in January that the club had doubled its initiation fee, from $100,000 to $200,000, at the start of the new year.5272280
Chelsea Clinton ran into an immediate buzz-saw of internal opposition when she attempted to get a prestigious law firm to undertake an unprecedented “governance review” of the Clinton Foundation, according to a WikiLeaks Chelsea Clinton ran into an immediate buzz-saw of internal opposition when she attempted to get a prestigious law firm to undertake an unprecedented “governance review” of the Clinton Foundation, according to a WikiLeaks email made public Thursday.
The first daughter said she was trying to “professionalize” the foundation, but that apparently sounded like a death sentence to old-time Clinton loyalists like Doug Band, who was trying to mount a back-door effort to thwart Chelsea even after the law firm, Simpson Thacher, was retained.
Prior to 2011 when Chelsea joined as a foundation director, only a tiny circle of veteran Bill Clinton cronies had served in the same capacity. According to the foundation’s Prior to 2011 when Chelsea joined as a foundation director, only a tiny circle of veteran Bill Clinton cronies had served in the same capacity. According to the foundation’s tax filings, the organization was led in 2010 by only two directors as its net assets mushroomed to $181 million, operating 19 overseas offices.
One of those directors was Terry McAuliffe, Bill Clinton’s most prolific presidential campaign fundraiser and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. McAuliffe is now Virginia’s Democratic governor. McAuliffe gave the Clintons’ $1.35 million to enable them to purchase their 11-room mansion in Chappaqua, N.Y. in 1999.
The other director was “Skip” Rutherford who originally established the foundation solely for the mission of building and operating the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., where Clinton served as governor before entering the White House. (RELATED: “Clinton Foundation Deceived IRS On Tax Exemption From Start”) The other director was “Skip” Rutherford who originally established the foundation solely for the mission of building and operating the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., where Clinton served as governor before entering the White House.
As previously (RELATED: “Clinton Foundation Ignored All ‘Best Practices’ For Good Governance”) As previously reported by The Daily Caller News Foundation, nonpartisan, good-governance organizations such as the Independent Sector urge the use of independent boards, stating, “A substantial majority of the board of a public charity, usually meaning at least two-thirds of its members, should be independent.”
Chelsea’s chief critic was Band, Bill Clinton’s so-called “body man” or “fixer” at the White House, who later co-founded a consulting company called Teneo that trades on its access to the former president and other world government, corporate and philanthropic leaders.
Teneo sought to profit from foundation relationships with thousands of wealthy donors, including Arab sheiks and Eastern European tycoons. Bill was a Teneo adviser Teneo sought to profit from foundation relationships with thousands of wealthy donors, including Arab sheiks and Eastern European tycoons. Bill was a Teneo adviser and client
Chelsea’s choice of Simpson Thacher was a warning shot to the cronies because it is one of the leading law firms in the nation advising foundations and charities.
Chelsea was able to get Victoria Bjorklund to come out of retirement from the firm to head the investigative team. Bjorklund is among the nation’s top-ranked legal experts on philanthropic, good-governance and was named “2014 Nonprofit Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers Magazine.
But the investigation ran into immediate resistance from Band and his aide, Justin Cooper, another entrenched Bill Clinton loyalist.
In a defensive Nov. 3, 2011 email, Chelsea told long-time Clinton aide John Podesta that “Doug (Band) apparently kept telling my dad I was trying to push him out, take over.”
Chelsea wrote when her father met with Band and Cooper the previous evening, he “listened to them calmly,” then later told them that “we should not make any decisions until we had the report – written and verbal – from Victoria.”
She said her father challenged Band to provide evidence she was trying to remove him. “Dad kept asking him,” Chelsea wrote, “has she said that to you? To anyone?”
Chelsea reminded Podesta that the foundation’s leadership “had agreed to a corporate audit to help professionalize the Foundation.”
She also raised the issue of getting a new chief operating officer, saying “all [we] should be thinking about is what a strong COO would look like because everyone knew the foundation would need that.”
She added, “my only objectives were to help to take stock, professionalize the foundation, build it for the future and build it in such a way that supported his work and mom’s.”
Eventually, Chelsea, who rose to the rank of vice chair of the foundation, was able to bring in Eric Braverman, a former colleague from McKinsey & Company, as the foundation’s CEO.
During Braverman’s brief stint, the foundation fired its long-time accounting firm — a small regional company — and replaced it with one of the nation’s largest auditing firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
PwC also undertook a review of the foundation’s federal tax filings, which resulted in “restatements” of the the organization’s revenue and spending for four years. The restatements included posting some new foreign government revenues and revealing the six-figure income Bill Clinton received for his speeches.
But Braverman left the Clinton Foundation only one month after signing a But Braverman left the Clinton Foundation only one month after signing a $395,000 employment contract. It is unclear whether he left because of what he discovered within the foundation or if he was pushed out by Chelsea’s antagonists.June 7, 1938
Miss Mary V. Ford
Searcy,
Arkansas
Dear Miss Ford,
Your letter of recent date has been received in the Inking and Painting Department for reply.
Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school.
The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with Indian ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions.
In order to apply for a position as "Inker" or "Painter" it is necessary that one appear at the Studio, bringing samples of pen and ink and water color work. It would not be advisable to come to Hollywood with the above specifically in view, as there are really very few openings in comparison with the number of girls who apply.
Yours very truly,
WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS, LTD
By:
(Signed)
Back in 1938, women who applied for animation jobs at Disney were destined to receive a visually attractive but ultimately depressing rejection letter like the one below — a missive in which it was advised to instead shoot for a lower star in the tracing department; a place where, it seems, ladies could be trusted with ink.Interestingly, in 1942, four years after this particular letter was sent, Retta Scott (pictured above) became the first woman to be credited as an animator at Disney, for her work on Bambi Transcript follows.1. Male bisexuality doesn’t exist.
The biggest misunderstanding about bisexuality is that it’s a precursor to either coming out as gay or it’s a “phase.” In other words, that it doesn’t exist. But it’s right there, alongside straight and gay and wherever else you could possibly fall on the spectrum. It’s as natural as anything else.
2. Bisexual men are just in-the-closet gay men.
Just because a guy claims that he is bisexual does not mean that he is in denial about being gay. That is presumptuous of people to assume that just because a guy claims he is bisexual that he is going to eventually come out as gay. Some guys might “test the waters” by admitting their bisexual before they are gay, but that absolutely does not invalidate that there are men who are bisexual and that’s all there is to it.
3. They’re just promiscuous and that label is an excuse for it.
This is one of the most offensive misunderstandings about bisexual men. Bisexual men are not just trying to sleep with as many people as possible. People should remember correlation is not causation!
4. They have more diseases than other sexually active people.
It’s rather harsh of some people to assume that just because a guy is bisexual that he is automatically doomed to get AIDS/other STDs. You cannot assume that because a man is bisexual that is more sexually active than anybody else, or more unsafe than anybody else. Safe sex can be practiced regardless of gender.
5. They’re just indecisive — they want to have their cake and eat it too.
The expression might be corny, but it definitely applies to this scenario. Bisexuality is not code for someone trying to “have everything.” For some guys, love is not mutually exclusive with gender. Regardless of an individual’s sexuality, the person that someone falls in love with is much more important than what they identify as, and that identification may change as they become aware of what they’re attracted to.
6. They’re greedy.
A guy is not selfish if he is bisexual. There is nothing wrong for a guy to be into males and females. The idea that just because a guy could swing either way means that there will be no one left for everyone else to date is laughable. The entire dating world isn’t going to come crashing because of bisexuality.
7. They take away support.
Male bisexuality does not detract from male “gayness.” Both are two equally important issues and should be addressed together as being on the spectrum and separately as being separate identifications all at the same time.
8. They’re just more… complicated.
There is false perception that if a guy is bisexual, he will be making his life more complicated. That they are more complicated. It’s not about them, though, it’s about the people who don’t understand their sexual identification so it’s complicated to them.
9. They’ll never be happy because they don’t “fit in anywhere.”
Your life and lifestyle does not have to reflect your sexuality.
10. Women can be bisexual though.
This has got to be one of the most absurd ideas ever. Bisexuality is not just for women. While bisexual females might still struggle with their sexuality, there has been a softening in attitudes about the idea of a woman hooking up/experimenting with another woman. The same cannot be said for guys. And that leads me to my next point…
11. Casual girl-on-girl is “hot,” but the same does not apply to men, especially out at a party or whatever.
The idea might be offensive, but it holds truth. Some people find the idea of girl on girl hot. But even if girl on girl might be considered hot, that should not delegitimize guy and guy. And while there might be more a shock value for guy on guy because of the “mechanics” of the sex, having girl on girl be okay because of some sexual fantasy is not okay. Love is still love.
12. They’re underrepresented (not a misunderstanding as much as it is just a frustrating struggle).
Just because there might be gay storylines that involve men on television like with Teddy on 90210 and super couple Will and Sonny on Days of Our Lives, does mean that guy on guy is fully addressed. It is not about pushing an agenda though. Male bisexuality is an aspect of life and deserves to be addressed more in pop culture. In fact, the ABC show Revenge is the only show with a regular plot about male bisexuality.
13. They’re weird.
If a guy is bisexual, that does not make him weird. It just makes him different. Different is not always a bad thing. It isn’t even about pushing the idea about sexual diversity. Differentially only adds to the discussion. That does not mean that it is the end all be all.
14. They are “lesser men.”
The concept might sound obvious, but it really isn’t as apparent as one might think. This idea exists in the subtext. A guy being bisexual does not make him any less of a man. It just means that he is open-minded and in tune with his wants and desires. To me, that makes him more of not just a man, but a person.
15. It’s gross. Women rarely consider dating bisexual men.
The last misunderstanding about bisexuality definitely stings. Just because a guy fancies men (along with women) does not mean that a female should be turned off by it. Yes! Some people might be in denial about being gay, but that “concern” should not be forced onto all bisexual guys. A woman should still be able to date a bisexual guy because bisexuality should not be synonymous with being unlovable. After all, more people have probably had romantic/sexual thoughts about a person of the same gender then they would care to admit.Like a Boss
Don't Panic
Things aren't going well for Sony's PS Vita. The handheld sold just 400,000 units worldwide in the last quarter, while Sony president Shuhei Yoshida recently admitted that the company is having a difficult time getting third-party developers on board.So you may well do a double-take if I were to tell you there's a new publisher on the block that is not only focused on bringing games to the Vita, but focused almost exclusively on publishing indie games for the handheld.The Liverpool, UK-based Ripstone is doing just that. VooFoo Studios'for Vita and PlayStation 3 was released earlier this year through the Ripstone brand, and now the publisher has picked up more big names in the indie scene for releases later this year. Big Sky Infinity is the next in theprocedurally-generated shooter series from Boss Baddie, while Knytt Underground continues Nifflas' much-lovedstories. There's also Panic! on the way from new studio Thumbs Up -- all three titles are set to hit the Vita before the year is out, complete with PS3 cross-play."I'm a passionate hardcore gamer, and I love my Vita," says Phil Gaskell, creative director and co-founder of Ripstone. "I don't see another portable device currently servicing hardcore gamers. There are other devices out there, but none of them are dedicated gaming machines as good as this one."With Ripstone, Gaskell and the rest of his team is looking to set an example. "For me as a publisher, we can either whine about lack of sales, or we can go out and publish unique and compelling games for the Vita that drive sales," he notes."So my role now is to help these indies get their games onto the console, in the hope that it will drive further sales of the console, and we can all have a good time making games for it!"Nicklas Nygren of Nifflas received his offer from Ripstone after showingto the publisher, and didn't hesitate to jump on it. Development studio Green Hill is porting the game to the PS Vita and PS3 for Ripstone, meaning that Nygren can simply concentrate on making sure the game is on a par with his previousreleases.For most of his developer life, Nygren was happy to create freeware. However, as of late he's realized that gamers are more than happy to pay for his games, starting withon PC, and now this Vita and PS3 release."My game development is going so well, so I can [make money]!" he laughs. "Otherwise I would have to get a normal job and I would not be able to spend as much time on what I want to do."But doesn't having a publisher go against 'the indie way'? I ask him. "To be honest, I don't have very strong opinions about these things," he responds. "I'm just testing stuff and seeing what happens."I think it's very silly to have these idealist kind of views that a publisher is always a bad thing. There are no simple rules saying that you should do it like this or that. I guess everybody has to find their own way to do things. I just like going with the flow and taking opportunities to show up. If I get the chance to make a game for Vita and PS3 -- why not? It sounds amazing."Boss Baddie's James Whitehead is also new to this whole having-a-publisher malarkey. Ripstone will publishlater this year, building on the previous titles in the series including"It's a lot more formal," he says of having a publisher for his Vita and PS3 title. "It's a different experience. When I built, it was me, and I was just listening to feedback from other players, and playtesting it myself an awful lot and coming up with new ideas all the time."But working with a publisher, you get all that done beforehand, it's a lot more streamlined. Plus, working with a publisher has meant that I've been introduced to people like VooFoo Studios and the artists and coders -- I couldn't have done all this myself."was picked up by Ripstone after Gaskell spotted the trailer over on Gamasutra sister site IndieGames.com -- "I loved what I saw, and I thought it would make a great Vita game," he tells us. "It's really colorful, I thought the colors would pop on the OLED screen."Like Nygren, Whitehead was very keen to get cracking on a Vita version of his game. "I really wanted to work on it, I thought there was a lot of potential in the Vita," he notes. "I wanted to break into console development, with trophies in my games and all that kind of stuff."Moving to the Vita for hisseries is "an easy progression," says Whitehead, as the franchise has always been built with a controller in mind, rather than a keyboard and mouse."Plus, I've always loved handheld consoles," he adds. "So it's kinda fulfilling a dream in a way." Whitehead is working withdeveloper VooFoo to bring the game to Vita, and when it launches, it will support cloud saves across both the PS3 and Vita versions -- "you can be playing it on the train, then go home and take your save data over to your PlayStation 3," he says.Nicolas Marinus is managing director of Thumbs Up, a new start-up that was originally aiming to primarily put out iOS games. However, as his team began to look into its options, Marinus came to the conclusion that he was perhaps looking at the wrong platform."iOS is very open, so there's a huge amount of games out there, and a huge amount of people buying those games," he tells us. "But they're less inclined to pay for them. So you've got a very divergent market with a lot of crap games in them as well"In comparison, he says, "PlayStation is this seal of quality. Every game that they publish is of a certain standard, and the customers are more loyal. Their fan base is more dedicated, so they're more open to paying for those games as well."While developing for iOS may be easier for the average developer, it's also a lot more difficult to get noticed on the platform, he reasons. "Whereas with PlayStation, it's harder to develop for it, but the chances of your game being picked up are larger as well. So that's the main reason I've chosen Vita and PS3: Dedicated people, and a quality seal."In fact, the first time that Marinus brought an iOS prototype for his game to Ripstone, the publisher wasn't into it. However, after meeting the Green Hill studio and being coaxed into aiming for PlayStation Mobile instead of iOS, Marinus put a new trailer to Ripstone. He was in."My game is developed specifically for PlayStation Mobile, so our main focus was the Xperia line first, and now we're tackling the Vita as well," he adds. "Sony is very much dedicated to making sure that all the games for PlayStation Mobile also work very fluidly on the Vita."Marinus was wary of using a publisher for his first game, especially given all the horror stories he had been told "about how they will take your IP and then kick your game out into the market -- if it performs well, great for them, but if it doesn't perform well, they're just going to let it die."However, with Ripstone, Marinus is more than happy to go ahead with his PlayStation Mobile development. "They've put money on the table and they've offered some really good feedback. They're offering services like QA out of their own pocket. I don't have to worry about that. The deal that we have is very much a win-win situation, so I don't feel that a publisher is a bad thing."He warns, "Just make sure you find the right publisher, and get a good deal."It may well be this nurturing edge that allows Ripstone to coax more indie developers over to the Vita -- and Sony will no doubt be quietly watching from the shadows if Shuhei Yoshida's previous words on the topic are anything to go by."I think some people have a bad experience [with publishers] because the publisher has exerted control over them to the point where they don't feel like they own what they're creating," says Ripstone's Gaskell. "It's something that we're very conscious about.""These are the creative guys, it's their vision, their story. We're not intending to meddle with that. We're here to help them get their vision out, not here to tell them that that should be green, not blue, or that the characters should wear a hat."California legislators never have enough time, and always lack the vision, to deal appropriately with the state’s pressing budget and infrastructure problems. But they are great at self-aggrandizement and at catering to the special-interest groups that assure their re-election.
One would think, for instance, the Assembly Transportation Committee would be deeply concerned with the massive predicted cost overruns for the proposed High Speed Rail system, or with planning cost-effective ways to meet the transportation needs of a growing population. Yet the committee spends nearly a third of its time on a task that few readers would consider of vital importance: naming highways.
California highways already have real names. We know that the 55 Freeway, also known as the Costa Mesa Freeway, goes from the Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach to the intersection of the 91, or Riverside Freeway, in Anaheim. It’s clear that 99—central and northern Californians don’t use “the” before referring to their freeways—cuts through the urbanized regions of the Central Valley.
But you can’t drive far on any freeway in California without seeing signs referring to the “Joe Colla Interchange” or the “Eric W. Rood Memorial Expressway.” Such freeway namings, which only confuse drivers |
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has hit back at both the media and police unions for trying to “divide” people in the aftermath of the murder of two police officers in Brooklyn on Saturday.
During a press conference at NYPD headquarters on Monday, de Blasio was asked by a reporter whether he would allow his children to attend protests against killings by police that some people claim were indirect causes of the officers’ murder. When the reporter recited a chant he’d heard that compared the NYPD to the Ku Klux Klan, de Blasio appeared to lose patience.
“No, of course not,” he said.
“What are you guys gonna do?” de Blasio asked, his arms wide. “Are you gonna keep dividing us?”
He pointed to recent marches, emphasising that 25,000 people had protested “totally peacefully”, and the NYPD protected them.
“What you managed to do is pull up the few” bad examples, de Blasio said.
Also at the press conference, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said that he had spoken to the leaders of the five biggest police unions – which would include Pat Lynch, who said on Saturday that the blood of the murdered officers was on the hands of the protesters, and “on the steps of City Hall, in the office of the Mayor” –and that they had agreed to stand down their “dialogue” until after the funerals of the two officers.
“First we need to honour the families [of officer Ramos and officer Liu] without getting into a back-and-forth,” the mayor said.
De Blasio did say, however, that he thought what Lynch said “was a mistake, and it was wrong.”
“Do some police officers not like the mayor? Guaranteed,” said Bratton. “But you guys have been around a while. Can you point to one mayor that has not been battling the police unions? You can’t. Not one.”
“Union leaders are free to say what they feel,” Bratton said. “Morale in policing, it goes up, it goes down.”
De Blasio said he would “keep reaching out to those who serve this city.”
“They are people with a lot of different backgrounds,” he said. “There are 35,000 people [in the NYPD]. The way I see it is, some people feel one way, some people feel another way.”
“I need to support them no matter what.”I'm not sure I fully understood the Mad Max game until I read one particular loading screen tip. Not that on the surface there's a lot to misunderstand, of course. The plot of Avalanche's Mad Max game can be summed up as follows: man beats up other men in order to rebuild his car. Mechanically, it's pretty straightforward too: you drive about, you beat up men, you upgrade things so that you're better at driving and beating up men. You explore, you solve simple physics-based puzzles you encounter as you explore. You unlock the map so that you can explore more, and solve more puzzles. And drive further. And find more men to beat up.
It's a standard open-world game, in other words. Strip out the post-apocalyptic brutality and it's wonderfully comforting stuff. And yet it has really, really got its hooks into me, so much so that, faced with a month off work, I'm pretty much playing through it for a second time. Partly this is because Avalanche is better than most at making an open world sing, I guess. Partly because being a Warner Bros game has meant that Mad Max's man-beating-up has been able to lean very heavily on the Arkham template. But there's something else in the mix too. And that tip on a loading screen finally made it clear to me.
Man, I wish I could remember the wording. But the gist of it was this: If I wanted to grow a beard, I would have to pour points into Mad Max's personal upgrade screen. Or maybe it's the other way around: as I upgraded Max, I would also grow a beard. Either way, the genius of the thing is this: mechanically, the element that's important is the upgrade system. But the dream that's being sold? The dream that's being sold is growing a beard.
And this is what makes Mad Max so special. It's not just an open-world game, it's a Mad Max, The Person, simulator - as wonderfully brutal and camp as that sounds. He beats up men. He grows a beard. His car is a junker, but it's also amazing. He is angry and driven by revenge, but he'd also probably be doing this stuff anyway. Did I mention the beard?
All open worlds could be character pieces, of course. But so few of them truly are. Arkham games? Those games get it: there's a plot, and there are mechanics and gadgets, but there's also that essential promise: in this game, you get to be Batman. Just Cause? That just about gets it too. You get to tie objects together, but you're also this glorious stereotype who gets to do good while having fun. Mad Max, though, Mad Max takes it to new heights. I'm not sure this game had a vast budget to play with. Its wilderness is rather empty and its set-pieces are pretty repetitive, but to get past that, to make the most of its double-A-ness - and isn't double-A always better that triple-A anyway? - it channels absolutely everything it has through the character, to the point that it is first intoxicating and then deeply, deeply endearing.
Here is how you open locked doors in Mad Max: you press and hold A. Here is how you smash up enemy propaganda in Mad Max: you press and hold A. Here is how you take out the characters who buff other characters in battles: you press and hold A. And yet look at what Mad Max is doing while you're pressing and holding A.
Here is how Mad Max opens locked doors: he kicks and kicks and kicks the hinge until the door bursts open. Here is how he smashes up enemy propaganda: he slams his fists against it until it is splintered into pieces. Here is how he takes out those buffing guys: he smashes the crane wheel that holds them in the air, all while they ask him to stop, and once he's finished smashing that wheel, the whole place is on fire.
It continues. To create shortcuts back to his car he boots ladders down from their ladder clips. To finish off a fight double-quick, he'll bust a guy's head against a wall. If he's out of health, he'll eat maggots and dog food from a tin - no second-thoughts, no cutlery, he just scoops it up and whacks it in his mouth and chews. And he feels pretty good about it. You can tell.
After a few hours of this, I found I was playing in character. I was being unnecessarily mean in fights. I was searching through each camp for every last bit of scrap. I was doing needless angry donuts out there in the irradiated dirt, because that's what Max would do: that's what a man who eats this much dog food and tops it off with maggots does, when his car is almost rebuilt and then are no men around to punch. He does donuts in the dirt.
And then occasionally I would climb into the sky on a hot air balloon. These are Mad Max's ways of dealing with the classic Ubisoft map-unlocking towers. But given all of Max's anger, and given the sheer strength of his characterisation in this game, they become much more. Up here, above the carnage, the landscape looks beautiful and serene. Sure, there are mission markers to tick off and the promise of more mayhem to come, but I swear that up alone in bright blue, Mad Max stands a little differently, breathes a little easier, and lets go of some of that rage.
Listen! Up there alone in the clouds, you can almost hear that beard growing.Beau Flynn is on board to produce a project that reunites the players behind the hit "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island."
Movie ideas and projects come in many forms. A script, a life story, a sentence on a napkin.
Now New Line has bought one based on an illustration, and it comes with Dwayne Johnson attached to produce and potentially star and Beau Flynn on board to produce.
The picture in question was drawn by Alex Panagopoulos, a Greek software engineer turned fantasy artist. It features a little girl asleep in bed while a small brown teddy bear -- brandishing a laughably small wooden sword and shield -- holds an enormous, fanged monster at bay. And in the fashion of a motivational poster, a caption reads “Teddy Bears: Protecting innocent children from monsters under the bed since 1902." (The teddy bear was invented in 1902 by Morris Michtom, who was inspired by a political cartoon featuring President Theodore Roosevelt and a bear he refused to shoot.)
Hiram Garcia, a former assistant to Johnson, found the illustration and brought it to Flynn’s FlynnPictureCo and New Line. The company, Flynn and Johnson together made the 2012 family adventure movie Journey 2: The Mysterious Island; Garcia was an associate producer on the film, which made nearly $328 million worldwide.
Johnson, Flynn and Garcia will produce what is tentatively called Teddy Bear. Michael Disco and Sam Brown will oversee for New Line; Adam Yoelin is shepherding for FlynnPictureCo.
No writer is attached and the story’s take is being kept secret, but New Line is hoping to launch a big four-quadrant franchise. They no doubt were emboldened by the megahit bear comedy Ted, which made more than $500 million worldwide for Universal last summer -- this project will be much different in tone.
Johnson has a big year ahead of him. The actor formerly known as The Rock next stars in Snitch from Summit, followed by the spring releases G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain. The former pro wrestler also has The Fast and The Furious 6 this summer.
He is repped by WME and Gang Tyre.
Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com
Twitter: @Borys_KitA previous study has shown that the degree of trust into others might be biased by inducing either a more “inclusive” or a more “exclusive” cognitive-control mode. Here, we investigated whether the degree of interpersonal trust can be biased by environmental factors, such as odors, that are likely to impact cognitive-control states. Arousing olfactory fragrances (e.g., peppermint) are supposed to induce a more exclusive, and calming olfactory fragrances (e.g., lavender) a more inclusive state. Participants performed the Trust Game, which provides an index of interpersonal trust by assessing the money units one participant (the trustor) transfers to another participant (the trustee), while being exposed to either peppermint or lavender aroma. All participants played the role of trustor. As expected, participants transferred significantly more money to the alleged trustee in the lavender as compared to the peppermint and control (no aroma) conditions. This observation might have various serious implications for a broad range of situations in which interpersonal trust is an essential element, such as cooperation (e.g., mixed-motives situations), bargaining and negotiation, consumer behavior, and group performance.
Introduction
Interpersonal trust is one of the most important determinants of initiating, forming, and maintaining social relationships (Balliet and Van Lange, 2013). As it facilitates important social behaviors, such as social bonding and cooperative behavior, it is often regarded as the social glue of society (Pruit and Kimmel, 1977; Yamagishi, 1986; Grovier, 1997; Van Lange et al., 2011). Therefore, increasing our knowledge about the factors that influence interpersonal trust is crucial for a better understanding of social life.
Earlier studies indicate that interpersonal trust is a rather volatile state that is sensitive to and adjusts to the situation at hand. Research has shown that the degree to which people trust each other is influenced, for example, by their mood (Capra, 2004) or self-construal (Maddux and Brewer, 2005). More recent studies have demonstrated that interpersonal trust increases by administering the food supplement L-Tryptophan, the biochemical precursor of serotonin (Colzato et al., 2013), and the neuropeptide oxytocin (Kosfeld et al., 2005). Moreover, Tops et al. (2013) reported trust scores to increase with salivary oxytocin levels under conditions of social novelty, but to decrease with such levels under conditions of social familiarity.
In a seminal study, Baron (1997) showed that prosocial behavior (i.e., by retrieving a dropped pen or providing change for money) was significantly greater in the presence of pleasant fragrances than in their absence.
In the present research, we examined whether interpersonal trust can be influenced by specific odors in the environment that are likely to impact cognitive-control states. Research has suggested that calming scents, like lavender (Diego et al., 1998; Field et al., 2005; Lehrner et al., 2005), bias individuals’ attention toward inclusive representational levels, whereas stimulating scents, such as peppermint (Kovar et al., 1987; Warm and Dember, 1990), bias it to exclusive ones (see Herz, 2009; Johnson, 2011, for reviews). For instance, peppermint aroma has been found to improve memory (Moss et al., 2008), sustained visual attention (Warm et al., 1991), alertness in a driving simulator task (Raudenbush et al., 2009), and athletic task performance (Raudenbush et al., 2001). In contrast, lavender aroma has been shown to attenuate fatigue (Sakamoto et al., 2005), to promote behavior commitment (Grimes, 1999), and to increase the amount of time customers spend in a restaurant and the amount of purchasing (Guéguen and Petr, 2006).
Recent studies have shown that inducing particular (non-social) cognitive-control states or control styles by means of creativity tasks affects the processing of social information in a systematic ways (Colzato et al., 2013; Sellaro et al., 2014). As shown elsewhere, tasks tapping into divergent thinking are accompanied with a more “inclusive/integrative” thinking style, whereas convergent thinking has been found to be linked with a sort of “exclusive” thinking (Fischer and Hommel, 2012; Hommel, 2012). By exploiting this property, Colzato et al. (2013) showed that people are more likely to relate their own actions to that of a co-actor in the context of a divergent-thinking task than in the context of a convergent-thinking task. This implies that divergent thinking involves a cognitive-control state that promotes self-other integration. Interestingly for our purposes, Sellaro et al. (2014) showed that adopting such thinking styles affects interpersonal trust as well: interpersonal trust is more pronounced after engaging in divergent thinking as compared to convergent thinking. Considering that interpersonal trust can be enhanced by inducing a more inclusive cognitive-control state (Sellaro et al., 2014), this suggests that being exposed to the (calming) scent of lavender will result in higher interpersonal trust, while being exposed to the (stimulating) scent of peppermint will reduce it.
We tested the link between aromas and interpersonal trust by exposing healthy young adults to the scent of either lavender (i.e., relaxing aroma) or peppermint (i.e., stimulating aroma), while engaging in a social interaction (a behavioral Trust Game). As a control condition, a third group of participants was required to perform the Trust Game in a non-scented room (cf. e.g., Guéguen and Petr, 2006; Moss et al., 2008).
Given that interpersonal trust has been found to be enhanced by positive mood (Capra, 2004) and that the exposure to pleasant aromas is reckoned to increase mood (Herz, 2009), we also assessed participants’ subjective affective states, and we did so before and after the Trust Game. To this end, we used the Affect Grid (Russell et al., 1989), a single-item scale that is particularly suitable for rapid and repeated assessment of people’s subjective affective states. The scale consists of a 9 × 9 grid, where the horizontal axis represents affective valence (ranging from unpleasantness to pleasantness), and the vertical axis represents perceived activation (ranging from high arousal to sleepiness; see Figure 1). Thus, two scores can be derived from the scale, one for pleasure and one for arousal. The Affect Grid has been shown to have good reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity (Russell et al., 1989).
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1. The Affect Grid (taken from Russell et al., 1989). The scale requires participants to rate their current affective state by placing an “X” in one of the 81 cells of the matrix. The horizontal axis represents variations in unpleasant–pleasant feelings (ranging from -4 to +4), whereas the vertical axis represents variations in arousal–sleepiness feelings (ranging from +4 to -4). The scale provides two scores, one for pleasure and one for arousal, which indicate the location of the participant’s affective state within a two-dimensional space defined by hedonic tone and activation.
Materials and Methods
Participants
Ninety healthy young adults (mean age = 20.20 years, SD = 1.80, range = 18–24 years; 68 females) came to the lab as unacquainted same-sex dyads. Participants were screened via a phone call by the experimenter before inclusion, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.; Sheehan et al., 1998). The M.I.N.I. is a short, structured, interview of about 15 min that screens for several psychiatric disorders and drug use, often used in clinical and pharmacological research (Sheehan et al., 1998; Colzato and Hommel, 2008; Colzato et al., 2009).
Participants were equally and randomly distributed over three experimental groups. Thirty participants played the Trust Game in a lavender-scented room, 30 in a peppermint-scented room, and the remaining participants performed the task in a non-scented room.
Prior to the testing session, participants received a verbal and written explanation of the procedure, and they were told to take part in a study investigating decision-making processes. No information was provided about the presence of aromas. At the end of the testing session participants were debriefed. Only four participants (two in the peppermint group and two in the lavender group) asked the experimenter spontaneously whether there were any aromas in the testing room but were naïve about the hypotheses concerning the outcome of the experiment.
Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects; the protocol was approved by the local ethical committee (Leiden University, Institute for Psychological Research).
Procedure
The three experimental groups [lavender, peppermint, and control (no aroma)] were tested in three different cubicles identical in size. “De TuinenTM” pure essential oils (De Tuinen Aromatherapie) of peppermint and lavender were used to generate the ambient aromas. The smell of the non-scented room was odor-neutral. Following Colzato et al. (2014), four drops of the appropriate oil were applied to a candle diffuser, diluted in 30 ml of water. Two separate diffusers were used for spreading the two aromas. The diffuser was out of participants’ sight and the candle was lighted 20 min before the testing session started to assure a uniform diffusion in the testing room.
Participants came to the lab as unacquainted same-sex dyads. Upon arrival, members of each dyad were seated in separate cubicles where, after having read and signed the informed consent, they were asked to rate their affective state on a 9 × 9 Pleasure × Arousal grid (values ranging from -4 to 4; i.e., The Affect Grid; Russell et al., 1989). Once they filled out the Affect Grid (i.e., after 5 min of exposure to the specific aroma), they played a behavioral Trust Game (Camerer and Weigelt, 1988; see Figure 2) and, immediately after, they rated again their affective state. The trust game lasted about 3 min (including instructions).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2. Schematic representation of the Trust Game. In the trust game the trustor is endowed with a certain amount of money (e.g., € 5), which s/he can keep or (partially) transfer to the trustee. Participants are told that the transferred money would be tripled and that the trustee then must decide if and how to share the new amount. The amount of money the trustor transfers to the trustee is an indicator of interpersonal trust.
Trust Game
Participants were led to believe that one of them would play the role of trustor and the other the role of trustee (in reality, all participants were trustors). Participants were endowed with € 5, which they could keep or (partially) transfer to the trustee (allegedly the other member of their dyad). Participants were told that the transferred money would be tripled and that the trustee then must decide if and how to share the new amount. In this game, the amount transferred by the trustor is an indicator of interpersonal trust (Camerer, 2003).
Results
Trust Game
The dependent measure was the trust score, computed as the amount of money transferred to the trustee, for each experimental group (Lavender, Peppermint, Control). To assess the effect of aroma, trust scores were submitted to a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with condition (Lavender, Peppermint, Control) as between-subjects factor. As expected, aroma modulated participants’ performance in the Trust Game, F(2,87) = 3.53, p = 0.03, η p 2 = 0.08. Fisher LSD post hoc tests showed that participants in the lavender-scented room transferred more money to the trustee (M = 3.90, SD = 125.5) than participants in both the peppermint-scented room (M = 3.23, SD = 115.0) [95% CI = (7.48, 125.85), p = 0.03], and the non-scented room (M = 3.20, SD = 104.5) [95% CI = (11.08, 129.45), p = 0.02], whose performance was comparable [95% CI = (-55.59, 62.79), p = 0.90].
Affect Grid
Pleasure and Arousal scores were analyzed separately by means of two repeated-measures ANOVAs with effect of time (first vs. second measurement) as a within-participants factor and group (Lavender, Peppermint, Control) as a between-participants factor.
The ANOVA performed on the Pleasure scale did not reveal any significant effect or interaction between time and group, Fs ≤ 1.90, ps ≥ 0.15. Pleasure levels were thus comparable across group and time: the mean scores at the two time points were 1.20 (SD = 1.5) and 1.40 (SD = 1.6) for participants in the Lavender group, 1.30 (SD = 1.1) and 1.20 (SD = 1.4) for participants in the Peppermint group, and 1.70 (SD = 1.0) and 1.80 (SD = 0.9) for participants in the Control group.
The ANOVA performed on the Arousal scale revealed a significant main effect of group, F(2,87) = 7.04, p = 0.005, η p 2 = 0.14. Fisher LSD post hoc analyses showed that arousal scores were lower in the Lavender group (M = -0.07, SD = 1.3) than in both the Peppermint (M = 0.90, SD = 1.3) [95% CI = (-1.62, -0.24), p = 0.008] and the Control (M = 1.20, SD = 1.3) [95% CI = (-1.94, -0.56), p < 0.001] groups. Arousal levels for the Peppermint and Control groups were comparable [95% CI = (-1.01, 0.37), p = 0.36]. Neither a main effect of time nor an interaction between group and time was significant, Fs ≤ 1.50, ps ≥ 0.25, reflecting stable arousal levels across time in all groups: the mean scores at the two time points were -0.10 (SD = 1.5) and 0.0 (SD = 1.7) for participants in the Lavender group, 0.77 (SD = 1.5) and 0.97 (SD = 2.0) for participants in the Peppermint group, and 1.07 (SD = 1.1) and 1.30 (SD = 1.3) for participants in the Control group.
To rule out the possible influence of arousal and pleasure levels in mediating the observed relationship between the degree of interpersonal trust and scent, Pearson correlations coefficients were computed between the amount of money transferred and the levels of arousal and pleasure at the first and second measurements, separately for the three groups. No significant correlations were found, ps ≥ 0.18, suggesting that levels of (conscious) arousal or pleasure did not affect participants’ money transfers.
Discussion
This study is the first to demonstrate that scent can have an impact on interpersonal trust. Indeed, we observed that, compared to peppermint and control (no aroma) exposure, being exposed to lavender aroma increased interpersonal trust, as indexed by the Trust Game. We argue that the calming scent of lavender temporarily induces a more inclusive cognitive-control state that, in turn, influences the extent to which people trust others. By comparison, being exposed to peppermint aroma did not reduce interpersonal trust compared to the control (no aroma) condition. This might be due to the ineffectiveness of the selected aroma to induce a more exclusive cognitive-control state to affect interpersonal trust accordingly. Alternatively, it is also possible that interpersonal trust is affected selectively by a more inclusive cognitive-control state, but not by a more exclusive cognitive-control state. Future studies might consider the idea to test whether interpersonal trust can be influenced by other aromas that, similar to peppermint, are suspected to bias cognitive-control toward a more exclusive state.
It is interesting to note that we did not find any evidence that pleasure or arousal changes might be directly responsible for the observed outcome. However, our measures relied on conscious self-assessment and thus reflect merely conscious aspects of the participant’s affective state. This does not allow us to exclude the possible impact of more implicit pleasure and arousal changes that future studies might consider by including physiological measurements, such as galvanic skin response, heart rate, and diastolic and systolic blood pressure.
The present study has some limitations that deserve discussion. First of all, we did not assess participants’ olfactory sensitivity, which would have allowed us to exclude anosmic participants and to control for potential differences in participants’ smell threshold. Thus, it is crucial for future studies to asses participants’ olfactory threshold, for example, by means of dilution-to-threshold techniques in which an odor sample is diluted with odorless air at a number of levels, and the dilution series is presented in ascending order of odor concentration. Second, we did not address explicitly whether participants were aware of the presence of the aroma, whether they could identify the specific aroma they were exposed to, and/or whether they found the scent really calming (vs. arousing). Future studies should take into consideration these important aspects. Third, it would be useful to include more objective measures to verify whether the two selected aromas differentially affected participants’ cognitive-control state. However, given that a previous study has shown that interpersonal trust may be increased by inducing a more inclusive cognitive-control state (Sellaro et al., 2014), we have reasons to believe that at least lavender aroma worked as expected. Finally, in order to control for expectancy effects, besides blinding the participants to the type of odor exposure, follow-up studies should consider to blind the experimenter in this regard as well. Moreover, given that in the current study participants met the other member of the dyad, i.e., the participant with whom they supposedly played the Trust Game, it is important for future studies to obtain evaluations regarding trustworthiness and likeability of the other member.
To sum up, these findings provide converging support for the idea that interpersonal trust is a volatile state that is, at least to some extent, controlled by domain-general (i.e., not socially dedicated) cognitive states. Moreover, the present findings reinforce the idea that interpersonal trust is sensitive to situational and environmental factors (Buchan et al., 2002; Capra, 2004; Maddux and Brewer, 2005; Colzato et al., 2013). Our results might have various serious implications for a broad range of situations in which interpersonal trust is an essential element, such as cooperation (e.g., mixed-motives situations), bargaining and negotiation, consumer behavior, social bonding, and group performance. As in the case of a previous study (Baron, 1997), which showed that prosocial behavior was significantly greater in the presence of “sweet” fragrances (e.g., baking cookies, roasting coffee), smelling the aroma of lavender may help a seller to establish more easily a trusting negotiation to sell a car, or in a grocery store it may induce consumers to spend more money buying products. The smell of lavender may also be helpful in sport psychology to enhance trust and build team spirit, for example in the case of team games such as soccer and volleyball.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Warm, J. S., Dember, W. N., and Parasuraman, R. (1991). Effects of olfactory stimulation on performance and stress in a visual sustained attention task. J. Soc. Cosmet. Chem. 42, 199–210. Google ScholarThe Cougar men’s basketball team lost to Utah 86-64 Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, so it must sound crazy to say I’m excited about the direction of the program after a 22-point defeat.
But I am.
In his first season, Ernie Kent has turned the Cougs into a competitive team and one that’s fun to watch again.
On a personal level, I liked Ken Bone, the previous coach, but we were lacking pizzazz and zip, and now we have it with Kent.
At 3-3 in Pac-12 play, the Cougars have already won as many conference games as they did last year. When they won at Cal two weeks ago, they broke a 15-game conference road losing streak.
What’d they do after that? Followed it up with a surprising win at Washington and a rousing overtime 108-99 victory over Oregon last Thursday in Pullman.
The Cougars then lost to Gary Payton’s kid and the Beavers before the trouncing at Utah, but still, hope has returned thanks to Kent, who led Oregon to five NCAA Tournament appearances from 1997-2010.
Aside from Ny Redding, the team leader in assists, and Trevor Dunbar, a shifty backup point guard, the Cougars have rebounded with most of the same players that were on the team last year.
DaVonte Lacy, the senior from Curtis High in Tacoma, is still the best player and leading scorer, but 6-foot-10 Josh Hawkinson has gone from afterthought last year to center stage this year.
The sophomore from Shoreline High has been mostly sensational, averaging 15.2 points and a Pac-12 leading 10.9 rebounds a game. Hawkinson averaged 1 point and 1.5 rebounds a game last year. His emergence is remarkable. He consistently cleans the glass, hits free throws and has a nice touch from 15 feet.
Ike Iroegbu has harnessed his occasional wildness and become what Pac-12 Network analyst Kevin O’Neill calls “the fastest guard with the ball in the conference.” He’s the team’s third-leading scorer, averaging 8.8 points a game.
Brett Boese, a junior from Shadle Park in Spokane, was rarely seen last year and only when the Cougs were desperate for a random three. This year he’s become a reliable three-point shooter, hitting 44 percent of his shots from behind the arc. And he’s a fixture in Kent’s rotation, playing 30 minutes against the Utes.
Jordan Railey’s a guy I’d given up on, but then his impressive dunk against Texas-San Antonio was ESPN SportsCenter’s No. 1 play of the day on Dec. 6. Since then, he seems more confident posting up and using his size to get off high-percentage shots inside.
I also like small forward-shooting guard Que Johnson, who appears to have as much athleticism as anyone on the team. He also looks like he’s capable of scoring 20 points on any given night. But for whatever reason, maybe lack of focus, Johnson gets sporadic playing time, and I’ll defer to Kent for having good reasons why.
The fact that Junior Longrus and Dexter Kernich-Drew don’t play as much as they used to is another good sign. Longrus is a good scrapper, but he can’t shoot at all. And Kernich-Drew’s a good shooter who seems to lack confidence. If he were a sophomore or even a junior, I’d be more forgiving, but he’s a senior, and if it hasn’t come by now, it probably never will.
We’re still seeing more empty sections than filled ones at Beasley Coliseum, but that figures to change with the brand of basketball the Cougars are now playing. I don’t know if they’ll be keep it up, but they’ve been encouraging enough to think that an NIT invitation is more of a possibility than a pipedream.
The Go 2 Guy also writes for SeattlePI.com and KitsapSun.com. You can reach Jim at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo.New Regency has ditched plans to produce “Pyongyang,” a paranoid thriller starring Steve Carell that was to be set in North Korea.
The decision came after a group of hackers called the Guardians of Peace threatened to attack theaters |
this autumn: Startup Weekend Eugene, this weekend.
Not biting? Hrmph. Well, what if they give you a bunch of awesome stuff?
Like what? Well, like mentoring, networking with amazing entrepreneur types, seven catered meals, free software from Microsoft Bizspark, free software from Palo Alto Software, free business cards from Moo.com, free domain registration from.CO, stuff from SendGrid, and stuff from Cloudmine. Well and last but not least, the badge of honor of having completed a Startup Weekend.
Still not budging? Okay hardass. How about a discount? Like half off? Would that do it? Good. Because I got one for you. But I had to whine and cry to get it. But I did. Because I like you.
So if you want to get all of that stuff up there for half price, just use the code “PDX” when you register. Done.
Now all of that? Clearly awesome. But there may be even more awesomeness. It’s true.
Don’t tell anyone I told you but… word around the campfire is that—if enough Portland people register—there may be a chartered bus to get you down there and back. And maybe even housing for the weekend. Shhh! It will be our secret.
For more information, visit Startup Weekend Eugene. For more on all the startup activity in Eugene, visit Silicon Shire.
Want to connect with more awesome dots in the Portland startup community? Consider joining us over on Patreon ❤️
Like this: Like Loading...Flag on Russia's humanitarian convoy described on TV1 as "International Committee of the Red Cross"
Staunton, December 26 – Igor Trunov, the head of the Moscow city office of the Russian Red Cross, says that the Russian government used what it called “humanitarian convoys” to “most likely” ship arms to pro-Moscow fighters in Ukraine, in direct violation of international humanitarian law and practice.
Trunov said December 25 that he doesn’t like to “cast stones” at the Russian government. But “there is international law,” and Moscow has violated it. Using humanitarian convoys to send arms across an international border is “an invasion” and “a violation” of the law.
Given the way in which Russian officials oversaw these convoys, it was possible for them to carry whatever Moscow wanted, including arms and military personnel, the Red Cross official said. Such actions, he said, make it far more difficult to ensure the delivery of real humanitarian assistance of the kind his organization provides to people in Ukraine who need it.
Trunov’s declaration follows confirmation by Russian activists that they sent armed militants into Ukraine via these convoys And his words suggest that Moscow may very well continue to do so even as it talks about its supposed support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
See Moscow Red Cross Chairman Denies He Gave Interview to Ukrinform Criticizing Russia’s ‘Humanitarian Convoys’Google announced early this morning that they are now using SSL/HTTPS as a ranking signal in their Google search algorithm.
The signal is incredibly weak and webmasters should not go crazy about it, but it is indeed a signal now. Google said they are "starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal." Google did add it is "only a very lightweight signal" and that it only had an impact on "fewer than 1% of global queries." Google equated the SSL ranking signal with the Panda signal and said it carries "less weight." Google did say they may "decide to strengthen" the HTTPS ranking signal "over time" to "give webmasters time to switch to HTTPS."
In March, Google's Matt Cutts said he'd like for HTTPS to be a ranking signal and I guess, even though he is on leave, he got his wish. Matt did decide to tweet about it even while on leave:
Reading "HTTPS as a ranking signal": http://t.co/nEjcGhm8bJ — Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) August 7, 2014
I Have SSL Already, Do I Need To Do Anything?
I am seeing this question a lot, from e-commerce sites that have SSL on their checkout forms. The answer is, yes, you need to still do something. This ranking boost is applied to only the pages that have SSL on them. Typically, SSL is only on those checkout pages and not on your product pages, content pages, etc. So you need to make your whole domain name, all the URLs, all the files, all the includes, all of it, go over HTTPS. So yes, you need to do something.
This obviously will take some time, you need to test and then test, to make sure the HTTPS certificate doesn't show errors to your users. There can be images, videos, and third-party includes that need to be adapted on the pages to ensure that it doesn't give the user a security warning.
Is There A Negative Side To Going SSL
Google has told us time and time again, that if you switch your site over properly, there is no downside. Google has said before there was an SSL boost there there is no ranking change in a negative way for going SSL. Even back in 2012, Matt Cutts encouraged users to go SSL with their sites. Google even improved Google Webmaster Tools to support HTTPS vs HTTP reporting.
But the key is you need to do it right. Google gave this advice:
Decide the kind of certificate you need: single, multi-domain, or wildcard certificate
Use 2048-bit key certificates
Use relative URLs for resources that reside on the same secure domain
Use protocol relative URLs for all other domains
Check out our Site move article for more guidelines on how to change your website’s address
Don’t block your HTTPS site from crawling using robots.txt
Allow indexing of your pages by search engines where possible. Avoid the noindex robots meta tag.
Google also recommends you use Qualys Lab tool to test your SSL certificates and pages.
Let's not forget the HTTPS everywhere video presentation, watch that.
My only concern right now is with sites included in Google News. Google News has your URLs plugged in so I think it is more than just a 301 that will communicate the change to Google News. Google said they will get back to me on that question, but once we hear back, we know Google News can index and rank HTTPS content.
Webmaster/SEO Reaction:
So what is the reaction of the SEO and webmaster community to this news? Personally, I think there is little downside to going SSL, but it does take time and testing to do right. SSL certificates are really not that expensive, of course there are expensive ones, but you can buy cheap ones that work the same.
We have forum threads at WebmasterWorld, Hacker News, Google+, Google Webmaster Help and Twitter. I even asked people what they felt, if there was a negative side to this, on Twitter, I'll include a screen shot of those responses below.
Here are some lines of reaction:
And a lot of cash for certificate authorities. This'll be another craze like site speed. It's manipulation of the webmaster community, and I don't believe it's fair to judge every site based on HTTP vs HTTPS. People will be buying certificates just because it might help a teeny-tiny bit, when in fact their site does not warrant a secure connection.
My site is informative only, no login or personal/sensitive information, so why the hell do I need to use SSL?
It makes sense for some sites, but is completely unnecessary for others, and as long as WIndows XP is around it will exacerbate the shortage of IP4 addresses.
This will add extra costs for certificates and administration, which will hinder small business owners...
Social share count problems (nr. of tweets, shares, etc) will come as a surprise for many marketers and bloggers.
what about reduced pagespeed from extra payload?
But overall, the feedback is not negative and mostly positive.
Truth is, any new site I launched since March, was launched using HTTPS. We are about to switch our company web site to HTTPS later today. This site, since it is in Google News, I want more clarification before I make the switch. But it is something all site owners should look into now versus later.
Pierre Far answered some questions on HackerNews:
Q: Google treat the http and https versions of a domain as SEPARATE PROPERTIES. A: That's not quite accurate. It's on a per-URL basis, not properties. Webmaster Tools asks you to verify the different _sites_ (HTTP/HTTPS, www/non-www) separately because they can be very different. And yes I've personally seen a few cases - one somewhat strange example bluntly chides their users when they visit the HTTP site and tells them to visit the site again as HTTPS. Q: This means that even if you 301 every http page to https when you transition, all of your current rankings and pagerank will be irrelevant. A) That's not true. If you correctly redirect and do other details correctly (no mixed content, no inconsistent rel=canonical links, and everything else mentioned in the I/O video I referenced), then our algos will consolidate the indexing properties onto the HTTPS URLs. This is just another example of correctly setting up canonicalization.
John Mueller of Google is answering questions about this on Google+. Google also added a new resource this morning on securing your site.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Hacker News, Google+, Google Webmaster Help and Twitter.
Update: New stories on this you may want to check out:CaO particles as promising templates for hierarchical porous graphene growth
(Nanowerk Spotlight) Many biomaterials such as bones or shells have a hierarchical structure that provides them with exceptional mechanical and load-bearing properties, even though the building blocks of these structures may themselves have very poor mechanical properties.
These hierarchical structures are of great interest to nanotechnology researchers as well. Over the past few years, a number of biomaterials and biostructures have been introduced into their research in order to fabricate functional hybrid nanocomposites with hierarchical nanostructures (see our previous Nanowerk Spotlight: "Peacock feathers and butterfly wings inspire bio-templated nanotechnology materials").
For instance, egg-shell membrane, wood and other plants organisms with hierarchical porous structures, have been used as template to synthesize hierarchical porous functional nanomaterials. The specific hierarchical porous structures of these materials have been observed to influence the gas sensing and photocatalysis properties of biomorphic nanomaterials.
"Hierarchical porous carbon/graphene (HPC/HPG) materials have been intensively investigated over the past decades," Qiang Zhang, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University, tells Nanowerk. "These materials are demonstrated as promising electrode materials for various systems, such as lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells, with a remarkable capacity, high efficiency, long stability, and excellent rate capability."
Morphology of as-obtained hierarchical porous carbon/graphene material. (Image: Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University)
Generally, researchers employ fabrication strategies with a multistep process or/and multiscale templates to obtain the desired hierarchical porosities in their materials. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth on the copper foil has been regarded as the most effective method to fabricate high quality graphene films, while some porous metal/metal oxide substrates were recently demonstrated as catalytic templates to create structural hierarchy for graphene materials through a one-pot synthesis.
Based on this concept, Cheng Tang, a PhD candidate in Zhang's group, has proposed the employment of hierarchical porous calcium oxide (CaO) particles as effective catalytic template for the facile CVD growth of graphene.
These findings have been published in Advanced Functional Materials ("CaO-Templated Growth of Hierarchical Porous Graphene for High-Power LithiumSulfur Battery Applications").
This is the first time that CaO, commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, has been utilized for the CVD growth of graphene.
Schematic illustration of hierarchical porous graphene obtained by CVD growth on CaO templates. a) Porous CaO templates. b) Continuous graphene layers cast on the CaO templates after CVD growth. c) HPG obtained after the template removal, exhibiting a hierarchical structure with macrosized strutted cavities (the space surrounded by graphene sheets), mesosized wrinkled pores (illustrated as the light-colored circles on the sheets), and microsized in-plane vacancies (as illustrated in the enlargement). (Reprinted with permission by Wiley-VCH Verlag) (click on image to enlarge)
"We found that CaO nanoparticles can serve as effective catalysts to stimulate the CVD growth of ultrathin graphene with a self-limiting behavior due to vast surface defects and step edges," says Tang. "This is an exciting result, as CaO is a very common and low-cost material with facile purification and promising cyclic utilization. Additionally, various hierarchical structures can be readily obtained for CaO, making it a versatile strategy to fabricate hierarchical porous graphene materials with tunable structural hierarchy."
He adds that the gas atmosphere during CVD and the nanostructure of the used catalysts have a significant impact on the graphitization degree and hierarchical porosity of the resultant materials.
As the team demonstrated in their experiments, the as-fabricated material exhibits abundant microsized in-plane vacancies, mesosized wrinkled pores, and macrosized strutted cavities, thereby contributing to a strong surface entrapment, short ion diffusion pathways, rapid mass transport, low interfacial resistance, and robust framework.TAMPA, Fla. -- If you think recovering from a torn ACL and starting an NFL game is hard, try training a horse. That's what Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie linebacker Kendell Beckwith likes to do when he's not flying sideline to sideline on Sundays.
In fact, he'll tell you that the process of training a horse -- or better yet, trying to bathe one -- is the hardest of all three.
"Definitely bathing a horse [is the hardest]. They don’t get many baths," Beckwith said with a chuckle. "They just move around [and] won’t be still."
After a brief pause, he changes his mind. "Well, no. [An] ACL may still be harder than that."
Regardless, all three played a role in shaping the 22-year-old rookie out of LSU, who not only started at the strongside linebacker position in Week 2 but stepped in for Kwon Alexander at middle linebacker just 10 months removed from ACL surgery.
'Almost like another job'
Beckwith wanted to be a cowboy since he was a little boy growing up in Clinton, Louisiana. In fact, he used to make his younger brother Justin, now a freshman wide receiver at LSU, climb up on his back and they'd play horse around the family's home.
"He used to make me ride his back or he would not go outside and play with me," Justin said laughing. "I had an option -- ride [on] his back or he would not play with me."
Kendell Beckwith, shown at 10 years old, has worked with horses most of his life. Courtesy of Kendell Beckwith
While Justin couldn’t stand horses and instead wanted to ride ATVs, Kendell fell in love with them, just like his father, Wendell. He’d been around them since he could walk.
"They were all he knew," Justin said. "He even had toy horses."
Beckwith learned that caring for horses was no easy task. He fed them at 8:30 every morning followed by grooming and training as well as cleaning their stalls and riding them.
"It’s definitely hard. It’s almost like another job," Beckwith said. "It’s tough. It’s a lot of work. But if you just have a love for those things, it makes it all worth it, I guess."
It also taught him patience. Some horses are more stubborn than others. It's a process gaining their trust and getting them comfortable with human interaction.
"The starting phase, that's probably the hardest part," Beckwith said. "When they’re first born, you just kind of put your hands on them. And from then, each day you just try to put your hands on them and then just keep working your way through that."
But what works for one may not work for another. He once had a horsed named "Big Pulley," who was very stubborn. He never wanted a rider. Every time they saddled him, he'd lay down. The family ended up having to sell him.
They now have four horses -- Coco, Vicki, Gucc and Bucc, the baby who was born after Beckwith was drafted by the Buccaneers. They all live in a brand new stable adjacent to their home. His family takes care of them while he's in Florida.
"They have their own minds," Beckwith said. "All of them have different personalities. So you have to try to figure them out. That’s what makes them so special. They’re just all different. They may look the same but they have their own minds and you just have to know how to deal with each one of them.
"You definitely have to be patient. You have to be real patient. And you really can learn a lot from those things. Growing up, they taught me a lot of responsibility. They’re fully dependent on you. You have to go out and give them water, you have to go out and feed them, you have to make sure they eat. It teaches you responsibility as a kid."
Bucs rookie linebacker Kendell Beckwith has made a remarkable recovery from ACL surgery just 10 months ago. "I can’t say it enough times, it’s an amazing story," Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said. Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire
It's that discipline that helped him to start for two and a half years on LSU's vaunted defense. It's that patience that also helped him recover from a torn ACL, suffered during a bowl game practice in November 2016.
"It definitely [helped]. This was my first [major injury]," said Beckwith, who underwent surgery in December and immediately began rehab at LSU and EXOS in Pensacola, Florida.
He spent rookie minicamp and mandatory minicamp on the sideline before finally being cleared to practice.
Miraculously, he was back fully practicing less than nine months later, starting his first NFL game just two days shy of 10 months from when the injury happened. He finished the game with five tackles, two tackles for a loss and a pass breakup.
"I can’t say it enough times, it’s an amazing story," Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said. "The fact that the guy is even out there playing coming off that ACL [injury]. We’re so fortunate that we were able to get him where we got him and the fact that he can play multiple positions. Kwon had to come out, and Kendell stepped up and did a really nice job."
It took a lot of grit to get there, but for a guy who has zero qualms about shoveling manure, it was another step in the process of realizing a dream.
"That’s nothing but scoopin’ and dumpin,’" Beckwith said with a chuckle. "It doesn’t [smell good], but I’ve been smelling it for so long, it doesn't really bother me."
Turns out, a little adversity didn't either, although Justin admitted that his big brother did spend a few days moping around the house when the injury happened.
"I just tried not to get down on myself, just tried to get confident, knowing I’d be OK, knowing that once I got that opportunity again, I was going to be ready," Beckwith said. "I’m just thankful right now."Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
After World War II, people in the U.S. started buying vinyl and record players more than ever before. But over in West Germany, another music player took off: the Tefifon.
Invented in the 1930s by a German engineer named Karl Daniel, the Tefifon is like a mash-up of several obsolete music technologies. Like an 8-track, it plays a cartridge. Unlike the 8-track, a Tefifon cartridge— called, adorably, a “Tefi”— is not magnetic. It actually works more like a record player, since the Tefifon reads these cartridges by pressing a stylus to deep plastic grooves. And like a Minidisc player, the Tefifon is now almost impressively obsolete.
Even though it never really made it out of West Germany, the Tefifon was a legit audio player at the time. Bigger cartridges held around four hours of music, and sound quality was better than shellac records. Then again, it was not as good as vinyl, and as the 1950s died down, so did the short-lived audio player. The Tefifon plant closed down in 1965. If they ever do a German reboot of Mad Men, this is one period detail they could get right for the early seasons. You can still buy vintage tefifons on Ebay.
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[Techmoan | Obsolete Media]
GIFs by Andrew Liszewski
Contact the author at kate.knibbs@gizmodo.com.
Public PGP key
PGP fingerprint: FF8F 0D7A AB19 6D71 C967 9576 8C12 9478 EE07 10CSubmitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,
Throughout history, bankrupt governments in decline almost ALWAYS fall back on a time-tested playbook.
This includes imposing controls on EVERYTHING– wage and price controls, trade controls, capital controls, border controls, people controls. Everything. And this idea goes back to the dawn of human civilization.
The Third Dynasty of Ur in ancient Mesopotamia, for example, built a very early version of a commodities future exchange. People would commit to terms of trade on clay tablets for the future delivery of agricultural crops, then trade the tablets in a secondary market. It was genius.
But when the economy started to turn in earnest, the government set up a bizarre, complex, and increasingly bureaucratic system of regulating such trade and collecting taxes from it. They even started rationing resources and regulating irrigation.
It was debilitating. The market could no longer function, and the society soon collapsed.
Later, in the 4th century AD, Roman Emperor Diocletian infamously failed to control runaway inflation by fixing the prices of everything from labor to food to articles of clothing.
In the 1790s, the post-Revolution French government tried the same trick whilst inflating away their new paper currency. French farmers could no longer grow their crops profitably, and the 1793 ‘Law on Maximum’ created severe shortages of staple foods in the country.
In our modern times, Argentina has become the poster child for these tactics; the government has fixed prices at the grocery stores, banned advertising, prevented people from holding precious metals and foreign currency, nationalized pensions, and restricted beef exports.
Needless to say, these policies have been a complete disaster for the country. But as the rest of the world looks on, people in ‘rich’ countries foolishly believe that ‘it can’t happen here.’
This is wishful, ignorant, dangerous thinking. It can happen. It is already happening.
Just in the past week in the Land of the Free, for example, two pieces of legislation have been quietly introduced.
One, S.435, is an appalling bill that proposes to BAN the exportation of crude oil or refined petroleum products that originate in the United States.
The second bill would follow the European model and introduce a financial transactions tax (FTT) in the US. Like all taxes, they start with a small sum (0.03% in this case). And, like all taxes, we can be certain that this one would rise as well.
The FTT would apply to nearly all financial instruments– stocks, bonds, options, derivative contracts, etc. Everything except, of course, US government debt purchased directly from the Treasury.
To be clear, neither of these is law yet. But both give a very clear idea of how far the political elite is willing to go.
So, again, if you think that gold criminalization, price controls, and IRA/pension confiscation could NEVER happen where you live, think again. The chances of something happening are clearly greater than zero… which begs the question: why take the risk?
If you diversify internationally– establish a foreign bank account, form a Global Self-Directed IRA, store gold overseas, etc.– you substantially mitigate these risks. And no matter what scenario plays out, you won’t be worse off for having done these things.Police and "Occupy Cal" protesters squared off Wednesday evening in front of Sproul Hall. UC Berkeley officials told the group they could not have tents and when some demonstrators started to defy those rules, police moved in to make arrests and remove the tents. Police also pushed the crowd off of the patch of grass the group was occupying.
Latest Developments:
Arrests: There were 32 arrests this evening, 7 people were arrested earlier in the afternoon.
3:49 a.m. Update: Things still remain peaceful and the crowd seems to have shrunk down considerably. The police are still standing by monitoring things.
2:40 a.m. Update: Two new tents went up around 1:45 a.m. and they might be people from the "Occupy SF" protest that had just arrived at the time. Things are currently still peaceful.
1:45 a.m. Update: "Occupy Cal" protesters held a general assembly to discuss what their next actions are and have voted amongst themselves to hold a strike and not show up to class on Tuesday, Nov. 15. They also plan to meet every day until Tuesday at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. to have a general assembly meeting to prepare for the strike.
One person set up a tent and police have not yet gone after it, but many others are sleeping in sleeping bags, which is in violation of the university rules. The police are still present and silently monitoring the demonstration. The crowd is down to about 1,000 people and earlier tonight there were 1,500 at the height of the demonstration.
12:46 a.m. Update: The crowd is talking with each other and considering a strike sometime next week. Earlier reports we have received today said the Berkeley City Council voted Tuesday night not to send mutual aid officers to assist in the Occupy protests.
12:04 a.m. Update: 1,500 Occupy Cal demonstrators are now sitting in front of Sproul Hall. Things are peaceful.
Around 11 p.m. Wednesday night we reported that a protester took a beating at the end of a baton on the UC Berkeley campus. Police there were trying to put a quick end to an occupation, just as it was getting started. Police said people can protest outside Sproul Hall, just not camp out. So when the tents started going up, the law started moving in.
Around 9 p.m. there was a crowd of about 200 people and riot police moved in on them to take away their tents. The police swept into the plaza from two sides and immediately engaged the students who were three-deep with arms linked around the eight Occupy Cal tents that they were protecting.
The crowd of spectators immediately rushed in to meet the police face-to-face and began chanting "peaceful protest, peaceful protest." As the tension escalated, plenty of people started feeling the business end of a Billy club as the officers bull-dogged their way toward the tents and began tearing them down.
The crowd stayed in their face the whole time chanting, "shame, shame" and several of them were wrestled down and placed in plastic handcuffs.
Earlier Wednesday night, vice chancellor Harry Legrand warned the crowd they would be arrested if they camped out, used sleeping bags, cooked, or even slept in Sproul Plaza. He was booed off by the crowd and about two hours later the police marched in with a strategic plan to pinch off the protesters and regain the tiny patch of grass that was "Occupy Cal."
"I think is a really horrible effort at crowd control if you want to call it that. I also think there's some really bad tactical decisions being made by the administration towards peaceful protesters. So how is this going to end and what is the positive for the administration, the university? It's certainly not positive for the community?" asked Greg Levin from the Cal history department.
"I thought it was excessive force. I think there's some tents on the lawn, I get that they're breaking a rule, but I think that the force that we saw was far in excess of what any were committed, if any were committed at all," said Cal student Ralph Boniello.
"I just think it really wrong when students can't assemble peacefully. There's no space on campus for us to assemble 24 hours in this magnitude. So UCPD, when we're just standing here and UCPD is shoving students out of the way, is beating students with batons, that's unacceptable," said student senator Andrew Albright.
In the afternoon, SKY7HD was over the crowd at U.C. Berkeley's Sproul Plaza when a large group of people gathered earlier in the day. Most of those people had cleared out, but an encampment similar to ones found on other Occupy sites has started to form.
It was not a surprise when students made the formal announcement of the occupation. They promised it would be peaceful and non-violent. Sproul Plaza was chosen because of its association with the freedom of speech movement and peaceful demonstrations.
Before the announcement of the occupation, there was a rally and then a march where demonstrators stopped in front of a Bank of America branch.
Tuition hikes are the reason the demonstrators are at Sproul Plaza. Students have been hit with several fee increases and face even more tuition hikes.
"There is no system of accountability, therefore things fall through the loopholes of irresponsibility," one student said.
The chancellor of U.C. Berkeley sent out an email to students saying the school stands "ready to support our campus community in leading the movement in a way that is productive, dignified and consequential." The letter goes on to say the university will not allow students to set up tents or encampment structures..- Pope Benedict XVI has told the 7th World Meeting of Families in Milan that the family based upon marriage can revolutionize modern society for the better.
“Your vocation is not easy to live, especially today, but the vocation to love is a wonderful thing, it is the only force that can truly transform the world,” he said during his homily to almost 1 million pilgrims gathered in Milan’s Bresso Park on June 3.
Pope Benedict was concluding a three-day visit to the event in northern Italy. Over the past week it has brought together families from over 150 countries to pray, celebrate and study marriage and family life. The theme for this year was “The Family: Work and Celebration.”
The Pope used his homily to provide some advice on the “elements that build up family life.”
He recommended: “maintaining a constant relationship with God and participating in the life of the Church,” “cultivating dialogue, respecting the other’s point of view, being ready for service and patient with the failings of others,” agreeing on “principles of upbringing,” “being open to other families, attentive towards the poor, and responsible within civil society.”
The Pope also stressed the importance of family life built upon a man and woman who are married to each other. This is because God “created us male and female, equal in dignity, but also with respective and complementary characteristics, so that the two might be a gift for each other, might value each other and might bring into being a community of love and life.”
He told the married couples present in the large outdoor congregation that they were “not giving each other any particular thing or activity” in marriage “but your whole lives.”
This love becomes most fruitful in its desire to “accomplish one another’s good” as well as in the “generous and responsible procreation of children,” followed by their “vigilant and wise education.”
The Pope also explained that the benefits of married families go beyond the spouses and children to include society at large, since “family life is the first and irreplaceable school of social virtues, such as respect for persons, gratuitousness, trust, responsibility, solidarity, cooperation.”
He then urged parents to transmit to their children “with serenity and trust, reasons for living, the strength of faith, pointing them towards high goals and supporting them in their fragility.”
Pope Benedict next turned his attention to the children present and encouraged them to “always maintain a relationship of deep affection and attentive care for your parents, and see that your relationships with your brothers and sisters are opportunities to grow in love.”
Towards the conclusion of his homily, the Pope addressed the damaging impact that modern economic theories based upon “a utilitarian concept of work, production and the market” can have upon the family.
Both God’s plan and experience, he said, show that this “one-sided logic of sheer utility and maximum profit” is not conducive to the good of the person, family or society.
“Indeed, the utilitarian mentality tends to take its toll on personal and family relationships, reducing them to a fragile convergence of individual interests and undermining the solidity of the social fabric.”
One of the ways in which Christian families can combat this trend is by making sure they keep Sunday as a special day for the family each week. It should be a day “of man and his values,” set aside for “conviviality, friendship, solidarity, culture, closeness to nature, play, sport,” said the Pope.
“Dear families, despite the relentless rhythms of the modern world, do not lose a sense of the Lord’s Day! It is like an oasis in which to pause, so as to taste the joy of encounter and to quench our thirst for God.”
At the conclusion of the Mass, Pope Benedict announced that the next World Meeting of Families will take place in 2015 in Philadelphia.
“I send my warm greetings to Archbishop Charles Chaput and to the Catholics of that great city, and look forward to meeting them there along with numerous families from all around the world. May God bless you all!”Think of your favourite high school movie. Everyone’s got one. That film you saw at an impressionable age which just stuck with you – offering that potent mix of dorm parties, teen crushes and drama set against a blissful backdrop of sunny American suburbia.
If you grew up in the ’90s, then Clueless may have been that film. It had everything we love about the teen movie genre: snappy dialogue, vicious girl gangs, and a healthy dose of justice served up to the high school bullies. It went on to influence 2004’s edgier Mean Girls, another pithy teen movie brimming with the genre’s best-loved tropes. Both had bite, but both were essentially good-hearted comedies with affirmative endings for the protagonists. There is one other high school girl gang movie to add to this list, one that never quite achieved the mainstream success of its successors.
Released 27 years ago, Michael Lehmann’s scathing black comedy, Heathers, delivered a bitter slab of cynicism but failed to make a splash at the box office. Despite its poor performance, the film went on to amass a cult following thanks in no small part to the thriving home video market. A lot of Heathers’ controversy lies with its eagerness to cheerily address topics other teen movies simply wouldn’t touch: eating disorders, rape, school shootings, suicide. Actually, Heathers doesn’t just address these topics – it turns them into punch lines.
But what may seem like a near two-hour-long callous joke is, on consideration, a caricature of high school indifference and cruelty. That doesn’t mean the eating disorder jokes any less easy to digest, though. When Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) says, “Grow up, Heather. Bulimia is so ’87,” to a lesser Heather, it sounds like a glib joke to make at the expense of a girl with a serious eating disorder. But really, the joke is being made at our expense, not hers. In a later scene, Veronica (Winona Ryder) and JD (Christian Slater) discuss their relationship while a lesser Heather is attacked. The abuse takes place in the background, for us to partially observe – or ignore.
Nothing is off limits, and the subject of death is one of the film’s biggest and longest-running jokes. When the lead Heather gulps drain cleaner, JD stages it as suicide – which then becomes the school’s latest fad. And when JD blows himself up with a suicide vest, Veronica simply uses the deadly blast to light her cigarette. After that first murder, Heathers spirals into depravity. The body count rises and the colour palette darkens to match the mood: frothy pinks and primary colours switch to dark reds, neon greens and blues that have more affinity to giallo horrors than any high school teen flick.
If you’re wondering whether Heathers even has a place alongside Clueless and Mean Girls, the answer is ‘no way’. It isn’t an affirmative teen movie about outcasts and high school bullies finding redemption, but a subversive satire about self-obsessed indifference to suffering. It’s a grim, nihilistic mega-bitch wrapped up in a snappy pink skirt suit. If you did have a favourite feel-good high school teen movie growing up, Heathers probably wasn’t it. But now you’re a little older, it just might be.
Published 19 Jun 2016MSNBC host Rachel Maddow confronted Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton on her program Thursday, asking about her campaign's recent attacks against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who happens to be rising in the polls in early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire.
"Your campaign is essentially fighting with him now in a way that is casting aspersions on his character, calling him dishonest,” Maddow said to Clinton.
Earlier this week, Clinton attacked Sanders for a vote he made in 2005 on a bill backed by the NRA that would provide legal immunity to gun manufacturers if their weapons were used to commit a crime.
Chelsea Clinton also hammered the candidate on Tuesday over health care, saying he would "dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the [Children's Health Insurance Program], dismantle Medicare and dismantle private insurance."
Maddow called out Hillary Clinton on her campaign's recent attacks.
“The character of the campaign, the tone of the campaign, the way you are trying to persuade those undecided voters seems to have changed a little bit in the last week or so. Just this afternoon, your campaign, in my estimation, set its hair on fire a little bit,” Maddow told the candidate, pointing to a press phone call that happened earlier that day in which Clinton's campaign asserted that Sanders attacked her in his latest ad.
Watch the Bernie Sanders' advertisement "Two Visions," mentioned by Clinton's campaign, here:
The ad, as Maddow pointed out on her program, did not explicitly name Hillary Clinton.
When pushed by Maddow, Clinton reiterated that there |
venture succeeds. "It took us a while to find a big enough spot for one, but it's on a reasonably busy highway, and I feel a U.S.A. is the sort of place that people will stop and see if it's convenient enough."
Several business experts have said America's recent credit-rating downgrade, rising levels of customer dissatisfaction, and high incarceration costs might end up proving a liability for franchisees, and few investors have been bullish on the United States since its failed attempts to extend its brand by opening wholly owned outposts in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade.
"It's definitely a gamble," 28-year-old Ahmad Nimeiri of Sudan said. "But the prospect of heading up my own United States of America sure as hell beats herding goats for my uncle for the rest of my life."
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Added Nimeiri: "Hopefully I won't wind up regretting my decision not to just open up a China like my brother Samir did. He's doing great."Please enable Javascript to watch this video
DALLAS — A skyrocketing murder rate is wearing on the citizens of Dallas.
“It’s getting a little trying, to see all these young men dying over stuff that is really not important,” said Jordan Hart, a resident of the Las Brisas Apartment Complex.
And it’s also leading to a civil war in the Dallas Police Department.
Chief David Brown announced new sweeping plans to fight the rising tide of murders in the city, which are up 86% from this time last year. “We are bringing the full force of the police department to bear on this spike in crime,” said Chief Brown, “And we are determined to keep the citizens of Dallas safe.”
But critics call his plan to increase cops on foot patrol, and moving more men to the evening shift, a Band-Aid fix.
“Violent crimes are up, murders are up, and it’s all because of bad management in the police department,” said Ron Pinkston, president of the Dallas Police Association.
Now, two major police associations are calling for the chief’s removal from office.
“We emphatically stated that we were no longer supporting him as chief of police,” said Thomas Glover, president of the Dallas Black Police Association. “Very difficult decision; it took us a long time to come to it.”
Mayor Rawlings says he is standing by Chief Brown, but is also listening to those concerns.
All this happens on the same day that two young men were killed in what police suspect was a drug deal gone wrong.
“I’m sitting here sleeping with my pregnant girlfriend. All I hear are eight shots ring out, go outside, and there’s a dead body just laying under the steps,” Jordan Hart said.
The residents in these neighborhoods hit hardest by the crime wave are ready for the city to step up.
“I honestly do not think the city is doing enough at all, period.” Hart said.
But only time will tell if anyone has the answers to make the streets of Big D feel safe again.This is sorta what happned to me...becuse for a moment I was totally baffled why my spells didn't do any demage on Braith Q7Q But then I remembered that children in Skyrim were invincible and this comic was born.
Ngggh, sorta feel bad that I used screenshots in this one, but as it was in Whiterun and I just wanted this comic done I did my best to work with it. Instead I added more time with shadows, which I feel I have gotten better at ; w ;
I also notice that my style changes a bit for every comic, but I just trying to find the best layout and even color on the lineart. So if I make more comics like this, there might be a chance that they probebly change in apperance until I have found my "comic" style.
And I FINALLY managed to find a last name for Jarvis Q7Q
As I've become such a Mass effect junky, I thought it would make a bit of fun trivia to give him a last name after a charakter from the game. And so I gave him the last name after the crazy Eclipse leader Jona Sederis from Mass effect 3~
Becuse they are both crazy uvu
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this QvQ
Screenshots taken from Skyrim (c) by Bethseda
Jarvis Sederis and my work belongs to me
Braith, Nazeem and Cicero belongs to BethsedaTAMPA, Fla. -- They both played the same position on the big blue field at Boise State and are now members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But don't confuse rookie Jeremy McNichols with Doug Martin. The fifth-round draft pick is out to create his own identity at the next level, not emulate the two-time Pro Bowl running back.
"I want you guys to look at me as Jeremy McNichols. But of course everyone is gonna compare the numbers and the height, the weight, things like that, same school, so I really don't get bothered by that," McNichols said. "I feel like me and him are different and the same on certain levels.'"
McNichols is 5-foot-9 and 214 pounds. Martin is also 5-foot-9 and weighs 223 pounds. They both have thick, powerful builds, although Martin's legs are rounder and have more bulk. Martin also runs low to the ground.
Their numbers are strikingly similar.
In four years at Boise State, Martin rushed for 3,431 yards on 617 carries (5.6 average) with 43 rushing touchdowns. In three years, McNichols rushed for 3,205 yards and 44 touchdowns on 571 carries (also with a 5.6 average).
"What strikes us the most or what jumps out at you the most is his ability on third down and in the receiving game," general manager Jason Licht said of McNichols. "But he is a good runner, too."
Martin had 67 catches for 715 receiving yards and four touchdowns in college. McNichols, a former receiver in high school who played the position for a year in college, finished his Boise State career with 103 catches for 1,089 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.
"I'm pretty confident in catching," McNichols said. "I think me playing receiver really helped me to transition to running back, just because I feel like I can line up anywhere on the field and have an impact."
His other strength is pass protection, something most rookies struggle with coming out of college. That stood out to Licht and his staff.
"He’s a really good pass protector," Licht said. "He was one of the best pass protectors in the draft from that position."
Do the Bucs believe McNichols could blossom into an every-down back like Martin?
"On film, he’s got excellent hands, just rare hands," Licht said. "He’s a very well-rounded guy, runs well -- he’s got three-down value."
For right now though, McNichols is focused on learning the playbook and healing a torn labrum in his shoulder. He underwent surgery shortly after the NFL combine, sidelining him for Bucs rookie camp.
McNichols' timetable is four months, and he hopes to be ready by training camp. Then he'll have to compete for a roster spot with Martin, Jacquizz Rodgers, Charles Sims and Peyton Barber.20 December 2013, a young woman, Justine Sacco, was waiting in Heathrow airport before boarding a flight to Africa. To while away the time she sent a Tweet in questionable taste about the hazards of catching AIDS. There was no immediate response, and she boarded the plane unaware of the storm that was about to break. Eleven hours later, on landing, she discovered that she had become an international cause célèbre. Her Tweet and responses to it had gone viral. Over the next 11 days she would be googled more than a million times. She was branded a racist and dismissed from her job. Overnight, she had become a pariah. The new social media have brought about a return to an ancient phenomenon, public shaming.
Two recent books, Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, and Jennifer Jacquet’s Is Shame Necessary?,[2] have discussed it. Jacquet believes it is a good thing. It can be a way of getting public corporations to behave more responsibly, for example. Ronson highlights the dangers. It is one thing to be shamed by the community of which you are a part, quite another by a global network of strangers who know nothing about you or the context in which your act took place. That is more like a lynch mob than the pursuit of justice.
Either way, this gives us a way of understanding the otherwise bewildering phenomenon of tzara’at, the condition dealt with at length in last week’s parsha and this. It has been variously translated as leprosy, skin disease, or scaly infection. Yet there are formidable problems in identifying it with any known disease. First, its symptoms do not correspond to Hansen’s disease, otherwise known as leprosy. Second, as described in the Torah it affects not only human beings but also the walls of houses, furniture and clothes. There is no known medical condition that has this property. Besides, the Torah is a book about holiness and right conduct. It is not a medical text. Even if it were, as David Zvi Hoffman points out in his commentary, the procedures to be carried out do not correspond to those that would be done if tzara’at were a contagious disease. Finally, tzara’at as described in the Torah is a condition that brings not sickness, but rather impurity, tumah. Health and purity are different things altogether.
The sages decoded the mystery by relating our parsha to the instances in the Torah where someone was actually afflicted by tzara’at. One happened when Miriam spoke against her brother Moses (Num. 12:1-15). Another occurred when Moses at the burning bush said to God that the Israelites would not believe in him. His hand briefly turned “as leprous as snow” (Ex. 4:7). The sages regarded tzara’at as a punishment for lashon hara, evil speech, speaking negatively about or denigrating another person. This helped them explain why the symptoms of tzara’at – mold, discoloration — could affect walls, furniture, clothes and human skin. These were a sequence of warnings or punishments. First, God warned the offender by sending a sign of decay to the walls of his house. If the offender repented the condition stopped there. If he failed to do so, his furniture was affected, then his clothes and finally his skin.
How are we to understand this? Why was “evil speech” regarded as so serious an offence that it took these strange phenomena to point to its existence? And why was it punished this way and not another? It was the anthropologist Ruth Benedict and her book about Japanese culture, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, that popularized a distinction between two kinds of society: guilt cultures and shame cultures. Ancient Greece, like Japan, was a shame culture. Judaism and the religions influenced by it (most obviously, Calvinism) were guilt cultures. The differences between them are substantial. In shame cultures, what matters is the judgment of others. Acting morally means conforming to public roles, rules and expectations. You do what other people expect you to do. You follow society’s conventions. If you fail to do so, society punishes you by subjecting you to shame, ridicule, disapproval, humiliation and ostracism. In guilt cultures what matters is not what other people think but what the voice of conscience tells you. Living morally means acting in accordance with internalized moral imperatives: “You shall” and “You shall not.” What matters is what you know to be right and wrong.
People in shame cultures are other-directed. They care about how they appear in the eyes of others, or as we would say today, about their “image.” People in guilt cultures are inner-directed. They care about what they know about themselves in moments of absolute honesty. Even if your public image is undamaged, if you know you have done wrong, it will make you feel uneasy. You will wake up at night, troubled. “O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!” says Shakespeare’s Richard III. “My conscience hath a thousand several tongues / And every tongue brings in a several tale /And every tale condemns me for a villain.” Shame is public humiliation. Guilt is inner torment.
The emergence of a guilt culture in Judaism flowed from its understanding of the relationship between God and humankind. In Judaism we are not actors on a stage with society as the audience and the judge. We can fool society; we cannot fool God. All pretense and pride, every mask and persona, the cosmetic cultivation of public image are irrelevant: “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16: 7). Shame cultures are collective and conformist. By contrast, Judaism, the archetypal guilt culture, emphasizes the individual and his or her relationship with God. What matters is not whether we conform to the culture of the age but whether we do what is good, just and right.
This makes the law of tzara’at fascinating, because according to the sages’ interpretation, it constitutes one of the rare instances in the Torah of punishment by shame rather than guilt. The appearance of mold or discoloration on the walls of a house was a public signal of private wrongdoing. It was a way of saying to everyone who lived or visited there, “Bad things have been said in this place.” Little by little the signals came ever closer to the culprit, appearing next on his bed or chair, then on his clothes, then on his skin until eventually he found himself diagnosed as defiled: When a person has the mark of the defiling disease, his clothing must have a tear in it, he must go without a haircut, and he must cover his head down to his lips. ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ he must call out. As long as he has the mark, he shall remain unclean. Since he is unclean, he must remain alone, and his place shall be outside the camp. (Lev. 13: 45-46)
These are quintessential expressions of shame. First is the stigma: the public marks of disgrace or dishonor (the torn clothes, unkempt hair, etc.). Then comes the ostracism: temporary exclusion from the normal affairs of society. These have nothing to do with illness and everything to do with social disapproval. This is what makes the law of tzara’at so hard to understand at first: it is one of the rare appearances of public shame in a non-shame, guilt-based culture. It happened, though, not because society had expressed its disapproval but because God was signalling that it should do so.
Why specifically in the case of lashon hara, “evil speech”? Because speech is what holds society together. Anthropologists have argued that language evolved among humans precisely in order to strengthen the bonds between them so that they could co-operate in larger groupings than any other animal. What sustains co-operation is trust. This allows and encourages me to make sacrifices for the group, knowing that others can be relied on to do likewise. This is precisely why lashon hara is so destructive. It undermines trust. It makes people suspicious about one another. It weakens the bonds that hold the group together. If unchecked, lashon hara will destroy any group it attacks: a family, a team, a community, even a nation. Hence its uniquely malicious character: It uses the power of language to weaken the very thing language was brought into being to create, namely, the trust that sustains the social bond.
That is why the punishment for lashon hara was to be temporarily excluded from society by public exposure (the signs that appear on walls, furniture, clothes and skin), stigmatization and shame (the torn clothes etc.) and ostracism (being forced to live outside the camp). It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to punish the malicious gossiper using the normal conventions of law, courts and the establishment of guilt. This can be done in the case of motzi shem ra, libel or slander, because these are all cases of making a false statement. Lashon hara is more subtle. It is done not by falsehood but by insinuation. There are many ways of harming a person’s reputation without actually telling a lie. Someone accused of lashon hara can easily say, “I didn’t say it, I didn’t mean it, and even if I did, I did not say anything that was untrue.” The best way of dealing with people who poison relationships without actually uttering falsehoods is by naming, shaming and shunning them.
That, according to the sages, is what tzara’at miraculously did in ancient times. It no longer exists in the form described in the Torah. But the use of the Internet and social media as instruments of public shaming illustrates both the power and the danger of a culture of shame. Only rarely does the Torah invoke it, and in the case of the metzora only by an act of God, not society. Yet the moral of the metzora remains. Malicious gossip, lashon hara, undermines relationships, erodes the social bond, and damages trust. It deserves to be exposed and shamed. Never speak ill of others, and stay far from those who do.
I've argued that Jews are the leading anti-free speech force within our civilisation and it is their successful suppression of our freedom of discourse that prevents us speaking honestly about immigration and Mohammedan-related problems and thus finding solutions to them. This article in the Times of Israel by Britain's former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks illustrates the intense, mystical, almost pathological obsession with speech suppression that lies at the heart of Jewish culture. In it, I think we see the origins of the modern concepts of "hate speech", "racism", "antisemitism", "Islamophobia", etc. The free speaker becomes the outcast, the impure pariah to be shunned by all.I'm not sure I agree with him about the validity or utility of the guilt culture/shame culture distinction or his description of Judaism as a guilt culture. It seems to me inherently collectivist and authoritarian in spirit, antithetical to European individualism. Most likely, he is simply projecting the norms of the society he has grown up in onto his own traditions, as Jews have done throughout the centuries, for example when they readily adopted the practice of slavery when living in Mohammedan societies ( link ).But the characterisation of free speakers as an almost demonic, polluting force, complete with supernatural disease metaphors, makes clear the profound, irrational roots that speech suppression has in Judaic culture. And, unfortunately, this Middle-Eastern mind virus has now infected our entire civilisation.NBC will be the only place to watch the Olympics for a very, very long time. The network has just locked down exclusive US rights to Olympic Games coverage through 2032. The new deal is extremely broad and covers just about any broadcast scenario you can think of, including free-to-air television, cable/satellite TV, internet, and mobile viewing. Today's announcement extends an existing deal with the International Olympics Committee that previously spanned through 2020. The new aspect of the pact, which covers 2021 to 2032, is valued at $7.65 billion.
The IOC says the multi-billion agreement is a huge boost to its future. Over 90 percent of revenue generated by the deal will support the International Sports Federations, Olympic committees and teams across the globe, and the committee that organizes each Olympic Games. "NBC’s expertise in sports broadcasting, as well as their passion for the Olympic values, will mean we shall be able continue to offer first-class broadcast coverage of the Olympic Games to the widest possible American audience for many years to come," said IOC President Thomas Bach. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts expressed similar jubilation, saying "All of us at Comcast NBCUniversal are extremely proud that we have been entrusted to be the U.S. home for nine more Olympics, and we look forward to using all of our resources to continue our tradition of ground-breaking Olympic coverage."
Despite its best efforts to expand Olympics coverage to new platforms — led by smartphones and tablets — NBC has frequently been slammed for problems and questionable programming choices along the way. Most recently, the network streamed every event from Sochi live online to satisfy diehard viewers, while sticking with tape-delayed, traditional primetime coverage for its primary audience. The new deal gives NBC nearly two more decades to experiment with how it presents the world's greatest athletic contest.BENGALURU: E-commerce major
founders
and Binny Bansal and three employees of the company have been booked for allegedly
a businessman of Rs 9.96 crore by not clearing the dues the company owed him towards 12,500 laptops he had supplied.
Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal, sales director
, accounts managers
and Sharauque among other employees have been named in the FIR registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by
, owner of Indiranagar-based C-Store Company.
In his complaint lodged on November 21, Naveen has said that he had entered into a contract with Flipkart to supply laptops and other electronic goods, and had supplied 14,000 laptops to the company between June 2015 and June 2016 for its Big Billion Day sale.
“Flipkart returned 1,482 units but did not pay for the remaining units. TDS and shipping charges for those units too were not paid. When asked to clear the dues, Flipkart falsely claimed it had returned 3,901 units. By not clearing the dues, they have cheated me to the tune of Rs 9,96,21,419,” the FIR says.
A copy of the FIR is with the TOI. Indiranagar police have said that a case has been registered under IPC sections 34 (common intent), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating), and a probe was on.
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are among those named in the FIR filed on the basis of a complaint lodged by Naveen Kumar, owner of Indiranagar-based C-Store Company.How do you digitize touch?
You may have played video games where the controller shakes and buzzes, heightening the effect of onscreen crashes. In fact, you can find that digital touch sensation — known as haptic technology — in devices from your smartwatch to your cellphone.
But as engineer Katherine Kuchenbecker explains, the haptic possibilities don’t end with our entertainment and communication tools — haptics are now being used to “smarten” everything from virtual reality to robotics technology.
Kuchenbecker, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, has even worked on haptics that can suggest textures as detailed as cotton or wood, using a technique she calls haptography — recording “how surfaces feel to touch with the same accuracy that we can capture them with a camera.”
“Imagine you take a tool and you drag it back and forth over a piece of leather, or say, a rough piece of stone,” she says. “You can feel the tip of the tool bounce across the little bumps on the surface or be dragged. It might be more difficult to move across the leather. And also you can feel how hard or soft the surface is.”
“And so we created a little tool that we call a haptic camera, a touch-based camera that can record all those sensations. And then we do a bunch of math and make a model so that when you go touch a virtual version of that piece of leather or that stone, we can create sensations that make it feel almost as though you’re touching the real thing.”
Using the technology, users can drag a stylus across a tablet screen showing pictures of, say, the stone, or a scrap of leather. A little motor in the stylus vibrates according to the user’s movements and force, Kuchenbecker explains. “And then as you drag the stylus across the picture, you would feel like the tip was going over the stone or the leather, even though it’s really just going over glass.”
In a further step, her research has applied haptics to virtual reality, creating a device that can be used to feel virtual objects in 3-D space. She calls it haptography 2.0, and says that adding touch is crucial to making believable virtual environments.
“Life is a lot more than just what you see and what you hear,” she says. “You can’t do anything in the real world without reaching out and touching something.” And in fields like surgery, touch can have life-altering consequences. Not surprisingly, Kuchenbecker says, haptics are at the cutting edge of medical tools and training technology.
“Certainly, one big opportunity is to improve the kind of video games that doctors train on,” Kuchenbecker says. “There’s a big movement in medicine right now to help surgeons or dentists or other medical practitioners practice on a realistic computer simulator before they try out, say, suturing or drilling a cavity on a real human.”
Another promising path for haptics, she says, is in robotic surgery. Robots like Intuitive Surgical's FDA-approved da Vinci system allow doctors to perform minimally invasive surgeries deep inside the human body, but have “absolutely no touch feedback,” Kuchenbecker says. “So, the doctor can’t feel anything of what they’re doing.”
Haptography can change that by recording sensations during surgery, she explains. “And then instead of modeling [the sensations], you can just transmit them immediately, sort of like a microphone and a speaker where we measure what the tools are feeling and play it for the surgeon’s hands right away,” she adds.
Other robots can also benefit from touch technology. Kuchenbecker says haptics can help autonomous robots put objects in a dishwasher or safely hand something to a human. “When you try to program robots to do tasks like that, you really start to see how important... haptic signals are for coordinating these movements in the real world,” she says.
Haptic technology can connect us to each other, too. “People who’ve had an amputated upper limb, like, let’s say they’ve lost their hand, it’s not just that they want to be able to pick up their coffee. They would really love to be able to hold hands with their loved ones,” Kuchenbecker says. (Here too, the technology is making inroads.) “And so the emotional side of touch and physical contact between people is really important.”
It’s so important, Kuchenbecker says, that her lab is working to create a hugging robot — which is, just as it sounds like, “a robot that delivers really good hugs.” “Give me a few more years and I’ll have a PhD student, and maybe we’ll see if it might have some true benefits,” she says.
“Could it really uplift your mood or help figure out how you’re feeling or help people stay in touch long distance? That’s some of the things we’re thinking about.”
This article is based on an interview that aired on PRI's Science Friday with Ira Flatow.Is this real? [UPDATE - it seems it's for real - we've dug around and uncovered more info since this item was posted and inserted it into this post]. At first there was very little information, other than a claim that "Gygax Magazine" is being produced by "TSR" in December - a company which hasn't existed since 1997 (there's a website for this new TSR here - it's called "TSR Games"). Plus there's no clear connection to Gail Gygax or anyone else in Gary Gygax's family. [Update below- the Gygax family is involved].
A "whois" search on the domain name reveals it's owned by a Jayson Elliot, who has a website, JaysonElliot.com and has links to something called "Permission Magazine" (a 'gothic lifestyle' magazine - website here). Anyone know who he is? It does seem like he's actually a magazine producer, so maybe there's something in this - but in that case why the references to "TSR", a long-extinct company? Additionally (thanks to @ dreadgazebo, below) he's appeared in a celebrity D&D game, and has a D&D podcast.
I have contacted Jayson Elliot via Twitter - I'll let you know if I get a reply. Seems this thing is real, though.
Update - Jayson has posted below in this thread. It seems the Gygax family IS involved in this venture - which turns it into something awesome.
Hi guys, this is Jayson. I'm the editor for Gygax Magazine.
Gygax Magazine is myself, Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, James Carpio, and Jim Wampler. Our first issue is out in December; since it's not finished yet, we've been pretty quiet about things until it's ready.
Just to address some of the questions, I thought it was best that I leave a reply. We do own the trademark for TSR, and have since December of 2011. We are a new company, not the old TSR, as they were purchased by Wizards in the '90s. The trademark was abandoned about nine years ago, and we registered it in 2011.
We decided the best thing to release first as TSR was a gaming magazine, because we wanted a way to bridge the traditions of the old guard with the awesome new games that are out today.
Another update! We've been contacted by Gail Gygax (Gary's widow) who has asked us to add this statement:
Please respect my wished to change the caption of this thread to:
Gygax Magazine? {UPDATE -, does not have the support of the "Gygax Family Estate" }
I wish to clear up any confusion I am the proper owner of the use of the name of my late husband, E. Gary Gygax. And furthermore would ask respect from his public and children from his first marriage, who are fully aware I own all rights to the use of his name and likeness, and all intellectual properties.
We have previously informed Jason Elliot of my ownership rights.
I can understand the enthusiasm for this project and will remain neutral in regard to its merits however, not at the expense of the Gary Gygax Estate, which represents his wishes.
Two more updates:
The Gygax Memorial Fund had this to say in response to an email from David Flor:
Thank you so much for bringing this project to our attention. We are aware of a group from NYC, which includes Jayson Elliot, that bought the TSR trademark. Not sure if they can legally use it in the way they want to.
In answer to your question, Gail Gygax, Gary's widow, represents Gary Gygax's estate, and is the sole owner of all trademark for the name and likeness of Gary Gygax.
With regard to this magazine, we were approached by Jayson Elliott's group about a year ago and were not interested in a business relationship with them, as they presented no specific business plan for this magazine, yet were requesting use of the trademark. Therefore, this magazine does not have any legitimate endorsement by the representative of the Gary Gygax estate or Gygax family.
Please feel free to share this information.
Of course, nobody has used "Gary Gygax" as a trademark here. Luke and Ernie have simply used their own surname, "Gygax". Luke Gygax has asked me to remove the reference to the Gygax Estate not supporting the project from the thread title (the one which Gail Gygax asked me to add), pointing out that he and Ernie are both involved and the use of the Gygax name - their name - is legit. So I've gone with "Electric Boogaloo" rather than keep switching it back and forth!
Luke has posted in this thread to clarify things a little with an elegant statement:Originally published May 11, 2013 at 8:04 PM | Page modified May 13, 2013 at 10:46 AM
The carbon footprint of producing 2.2 pounds of marijuana indoors, one study says, is equivalent to driving across country seven times. Yet almost no one is pushing for cleaner sun-grown weed as state officials make rules for legal growing operations.
Marijuana growing is not a green industry.
Done mostly indoors in Washington, pot production often uses hospital-intensity lamps, air conditioning, dehumidifiers, fans and carbon-dioxide generators to stimulate plants and boost their potency.
The power-hungry crops rival data centers or server farms in intense use of electricity, according to a peer-reviewed study last year in the journal Energy Policy. One kilo, or 2.2 pounds, of pot grown indoors, the study says, leaves a carbon footprint equivalent to driving across the country seven times. Producing one joint is equivalent to leaving a light bulb on for 25 hours.
There’s little question sun-grown pot is a cleaner alternative, even in Washington which uses mostly hydropower, considered greener than most energy sources.
“It’s great we have relatively low-carbon electricity, but that’s not a license to waste it,” said KC Golden, policy director for Climate Solutions, a Northwest nonprofit working against global warming.
It doesn’t make sense to move agriculture indoors, Golden said, given the sun’s track record of “encouraging photosynthesis for some four billion years now, without an outage.”
But in this blue-green state, very few folks are lobbying for pot grown under the sun in Eastern Washington where the climate is suitable, in part because of security concerns about outdoor grows. And absent a stronger push, it appears state-regulated retail stores will open next year without sun-grown weed on their shelves.
Golden said he hasn’t studied the issue, particularly the implications of outdoor pot for law enforcement. Leaders at other environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Conservation Northwest say they have other priorities. Even in Seattle, where the City Council is writing new zoning rules allowing large indoor grows, no one seems very concerned with the carbon footprint of indoor pot.
Instead, the chief advocates for outdoor pot in the state are Okanogan County activist Jeremy Moberg and state Rep. Joel Kretz, a Republican from Wauconda. They say outdoor pot should be grown in greenhouses that allow in natural sunlight, not expansive open fields.
“The waste of our clean hydropower, wind and solar electricity for a nonfood crop used primarily for recreation is simply unacceptable,” Kretz, a rancher, wrote the state Liquor Control Board, the agency charged with carrying out voter-approved Initiative 502. Sun-grown pot could also be an economic boon for his rural constituents, Kretz noted.
And it probably would be cheaper than indoor weed, Moberg said, helping the state achieve its goal of undercutting the black market.
The politics of producing pot are complicated, however, by the federal prohibition of marijuana looming over the state, and a state timeline for opening retail stores that seems to give the entrenched indoor industry a running start in competition with outdoor cultivators.
Gov. Jay Inslee won’t comment on pot growing, according to spokesman David Postman, even though the governor recently declared Washingtonians “are the people who are destined to defeat carbon pollution.” He doesn’t want to micromanage the Liquor Control Board, said Postman.
Inslee did address the subject on a radio show earlier this year. He said he assured U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that Washington will keep its weed from leaking into other states, and there may be security reasons for keeping pot production under lights, behind locked warehouse doors.
Some at the liquor board question how the energy study, based on California research, translates to Washington. State pot consultant Mark Kleiman co-wrote a book that claimed the study overstated pot consumption.
Still, the board seems somewhat receptive to sun-grown weed.
Sharon Foster, the board’s chair, recently said the state would license indoor and greenhouse growing, though not open-field production. Chris Marr, a board member from Eastern Washington, agreed the state agency is leaning in that direction, though no decisions have been made.
Outdoor growing can be made secure with a razor-wire fences, surveillance cameras and other measures, according to Dan Williams, president of Canna Security America, a firm based in Colorado where outdoor cultivation is allowed. “It’s absolutely doable,” Williams said.
California pot activist Steve DeAngelo emphasizes that just an acre of weed can yield enough to sustain a family farm.
“People who care about our environment, who respect Mother Nature, need to make this a priority and demand that rule-makers and regulators allow cannabis to be grown like every other crop in the country,” said DeAngelo, while in Seattle recently for a meeting of investors hearing pitches from marijuana entrepreneurs including Williams.
Undercover grows
The director of California’s largest dispensary, DeAngelo said the best pot he’s ever seen came from northern California outdoor grows in the 1970s. But federal flyovers and crackdowns on outdoor plants in the 1980s pushed many growers indoors.
By bombarding plants with light and nutrients, indoor growers were able to produce higher-potency weed, said Scott Zeramby, technical consultant on the carbon-footprint study by scientist Evan Mills.
A generation or two of consumers have grown up with the misperception, DeAngelo said, that sun-grown is inferior.
As with grapes, outdoor pot can exhibit traits of the environment it’s grown in — what wine aficionados call “terroir.”
“Think about it,” DeAngelo said. “Do you want to eat tomatoes grown in a hydroponic solution under high-intensity lamps, or do you want tomatoes grown organically under the sun?”
No one knows how much weed is now grown in Washington, not to mention where and how. But state officials have roughly estimated annual consumption at 186,000 pounds.
According to the carbon-footprint study, the energy used to produce one joint would produce 18 pints of beer. That means growing the state’s supply indoor for a year would require the same energy as producing 3 billion pints of beer.
No one was making that case in Washington, though, until Moberg of the Okanogan Cannabis Association started agitating a few months ago.
A wildlife biologist by profession, Moberg, 38, grows for medical patients in a greenhouse with fabric roof and walls.
Washington’s northern latitude doesn’t allow the kind of unfettered outdoor gardens that thrive in California, he explains. He augments his growing with lights early in the plants’ lives — although he figures he uses only 1.4 percent of the electricity that an all-indoor operation requires. In the hottest days of summer, he peels back the greenhouse roof and walls to cool plants.
When Moberg made a pitch to the Liquor Control Board, replete with PowerPoint photos of large greenhouses in the Netherlands, Marr said state officials |
photographer for Tut.by, for a "document check" at the railway station in Orsha. They were released only after the protests ended, BelaPan and Tut.by reported.
Also on March 12, in Gomel, freelance journalist Anatoliy Gotovchits was briefly detained on the charge of "participating in unsanctioned protests" after covering the March 12 rally in the southeastern city of Rahachow.
Freelance journalist Larisa Schirakova, who also covered the March 12 protests in Rahachow, stood trial on March 14 for "participating in unsanctioned protests" and was ordered to pay a fine the equivalent of US $85. She told Svaboda that authorities demanded that she stop practicing journalism and threatened to strip her of custody of her son "because [she had] several administrative penalties."
Belsat's Chaychits and Kovalyov, along with their colleagues Evgeny Merkis and Sergey Kozel, were also detained on March 12 while they traveled to cover protests in Rahachow, according to media reports. All were released two hours later, after the protests had ended. Merkes is awaiting trial on charges of "manufacturing and distributing [illicit] mass media products."
BelPan photographer Andrey Shavlyuga and blogger Anastasiya Pilyugina were also detained before reaching the protest site in Rahachow that day, according to media reports.
Dmitry Gorbunov and Sergey Petrukhin, video bloggers who were planning to livestream March 12 rallies in Brest, near Belarus' border with Poland, on their YouTube account, were detained and sentenced to 15 days in jail for "participation in unsanctioned protests," according to local reports.
BAJ reported that police prevented Igor Kazmerchak, editor of the regional news website orsha.eu, from leaving his house to cover the protests in Orsha on March 12. According to media reports, police searched the house of Artyom Sizintsev, a journalist for Belarusian Radio Racyja the same day.Brief rail history
The New Zealand rail system grew from separate beginnings made by individual provinces or entrepreneurs from the 1860s onwards. Colonial Treasurer and later Premier Sir Julius Vogel made rail a major plank in his programme to develop the colony in 1870.
By 1880 New Zealand Railways (NZR) was operating more than 1,900 kilometres of track, and carrying almost 3 million passengers and 830,000 tonnes of freight a year. The first half of the twentieth century was a ‘golden age' for rail.
By 1953 the rail network reached its peak in terms of network reach - 5,689 kilometres. But advances in air and road transport began to cut into its competitive advantage. In 1936 a system of transport licensing had been introduced to protect rail from competition. Initially, road was limited to carrying loads no more than 30 miles but this gradually increased, reaching 150 kilometres in 1977.
The Railways Department was reorganised in 1982 to become a government-owned corporation with a commercial mandate. The same year, the government began deregulation of the transport industry, removing statutory protections for rail against competition by road. In 1980, rail carried approximately 30 percent of all goods, but following deregulation, its market share dropped significantly.
In 1990, the operating assets of the Railways Corporation were transferred to a limited liability company under government ownership, New Zealand Rail Ltd. In 1993, the company was sold to a private consortium comprising Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation and two investment groups. Three years later, the new owners made a public offering of shares in Tranz Rail Holdings, listing the company on the New Zealand Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ market in the United States.
The process of deregulation, commercialisation and privatisation saw a reduction in the number of employees, from 21,000 with the Railways Department in 1982 to 3,757 with Tranz Rail in 2002. After the sale in 1993, the New Zealand Railways Corporation continued as a residual government body with two principal activities: to manage all known litigation, contingent issues and statutory obligations; and to manage the rail corridor lease with Tranz Rail and the lease of other Crown land held for operational rail purposes.
During the 1990s, Tranz Rail expanded into new markets, including the movement of bulk milk to dairy processing plants and establishment of New Zealand's first inland port south of Auckland. The new port, a joint development with the Port of Tauranga, is connected by train with Tauranga and created a significant new line of containerised freight business.
In 2003, Toll Holdings Limited, an Australian-based transportation and logistics operator, acquired approximately 85 percent of the shares in Tranz Rail. As a result of Toll's offer for shares in Tranz Rail becoming unconditional, an agreement between Toll and the Crown was triggered, a key feature of which was the buy-back of track and associated infrastructure by the Crown.
The Crown undertook to invest $200 million in improving rail infrastructure while Toll undertook to invest $100 million in new rolling stock. In September 2004, ownership and management of the network and its assets was vested in the existing Railway Corporation of New Zealand which adopted the trading name, KiwiRail Network (ONTRACK). Under the agreement, Toll retained exclusive rights to the network for freight purposes, subject to meeting minimum tonnage levels annually.
150 years of rail in New Zealand
On 1 December 1863 the first steam hauled passenger service operated between Ferrymead and Christchurch. In 2013, as the current guardian of the New Zealand rail network, KiwiRail began the 150 years of rail celebrations by taking the 'Exhibition Express' to 12 locations throughout New Zealand.
We also worked in partnership with the Canterbury Railway Society and the Ferrymead Heritage Park to provide a Labour weekend celebration of heritage services.
Also at Ferrymead Heritage Park a sculpture commissioned by KiwiRail was unveiled on 1 December by Chief Executive Jim Quinn, Mayor of Christchurch Lianne Dalziel, and the sculptor Mike Reddington.
For more information about our celebrations click here.
A chronological history of New Zealand rail
1862 - First railway opens - a horse-drawn tramway from Dun Mountain copper mine to Port Nelson.
1863 - First steam railway opened on the Christchurch-Lyttelton line, via the Lyttelton tunnel.
1870 - With less than 100km of track operating, Prime Minister Julius Vogel calls for railways to aid economic development, and a narrow gauge is chosen to save money.
1873 - First train in North Island, Auckland-Onehunga.
1878 - First express trains Christchurch-Dunedin cover 370km in 11 hours.
1879 - Possible to travel 600km from Christchurch to Invercargill by train.
1880 - Almost 1900km of railway open.
1886 - Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company opens line to Longburn, near Palmerston North, introducing gas lighting and dining cars. It was profitable for 22 years, until taken over by Government.
1908 - North Island main trunk line completed after 23 years work - the crowning achievement of the "railway age". First train carried MPs on a junket to Auckland, in August.
1923 - West Coast line opens - its Otira tunnel, at 8.55km the longest in the British Empire and containing the nation's first electric railway.
1930 - Rotorua Limited introduced for tourists from Auckland, with observation car.
1936 - First successful railcars, Wairarapa route.
1945 - South Island main trunk from Christchurch to Picton completed.
1953 - The length of railway line operating hits its all-time peak - 5656km. Christmas Eve crash at Tangiwai kills 151 rail passengers.
1955 - Rimutaka tunnel opens, eclipsing Otira as the longest at 8.8km and Nelson railway closes.
1959-1971 - Numerous country branch lines closures across country as steam era comes to end as re-equipping lines with modern locomotives and updated infrastructure not considered viable.
1971 - Last regular steam train in New Zealand signal completion of dieselisation of railway network.
1978 - Completion of the Kaimai tunnel signals more direct freight link between Waikato and Bay Of Plenty.
1982 - Railways Corporation created as statutory corporation from Railways Department.
1983 - Start of deregulation of "distance limits" on trucking companies opens railways to road-based competition. Rail employs 21,000 workers.
1984 - Electrification of North Island main trunk starts. Completed in 1988 at a cost of $250 million.
1986 - Labour government makes railways a state-owned enterprise. In six years the workforce is cut from 21,000 to 5000, while productivity of the land-based workforce is lifted 300 per cent.
1990 - Finance Minister says Railways Corporation has accumulated debt of $1.1 billion, and the Government is considering restructuring it.1990Limited liability company New Zealand Rail (NZR) is formed.
1993 - Government announces sale of NZR to a consortium of Wisconsin Central Transportation Corp and Berkshire Partners (60 per cent stake) and Fay Richwhite (40 per cent) for $328.3m.
1995 - Company re-named Tranz Rail.
1996 - Wisconsin Central and Fay Richwhite float 31 million shares to the public at $6.19/share.
1997 - Tranz Rail share price peaks at $9.
2003 - Stock plunges towards 30c/share, details emerge of how the company needs to sell assets to meet lease payments and repayments of debt required by bankers.
2003 - Tranz Rail taken over on market by Toll with Toll will also assume debt and lease obligations. Track to be sold back to Crown.
2004 - Government assumes ownership of national rail network and ONTRACK formed to run it. National Rail Access Agreement (NRAA) with Toll comes into effect with Toll exclusive operator and ONTRACK network provider.
2006 - Toll NZ threatens to slash services on much of the national rail network including the main trunk line unless it gets a long-term agreement from the Government on its track-access fee.
2007 - Toll Holdings buys another 10 per cent of railway shares, triggering a compulsory takeover for the remaining shares at the same price of $3 each. Toll could finally take full control of its New Zealand assets and "grow the business more quickly", it said.
2008, July 1 - The Government buys back Toll's rail and ferry business for $665m, after several months of negotiations.
2008, October 1 - ONTRACK and KiwiRail form a single integrated above and below rail business under New Zealand Railways Corporation banner.
2009, March 23 - KiwiRail brings the maintenance of locomotives and wagons in-house by purchasing United Group Ltd.In case you haven’t already been introduced, AngularJS is a popular JavaScript framework for creating dynamic web applications. It provides many of the services required to build such applications, not the least of which is a declarative approach to updating the UI. It favours the use of data binding and templates over direct DOM manipulation, and it makes it possible to create complex sites with a minimum of code. For more information, check out the examples on their home page, or take a look at the video tutorials by our very own John Lindquist.
We’ve just released a plugin that adds ReSharper support for some of AngularJS’ features (here’s a direct download link). It’s an initial version, so doesn’t cover everything, but what it provides should give you a helping hand in creating your sites. Currently, the plugin provides code-completion for Angular’s custom HTML attributes, and a bundle of Live Templates to make building common constructs easier.
Code completion will include all of AngularJS’ “ng-” attributes when editing HTML files, and include a description tooltip:
It also supports the HTML5 “data-” prefixed versions of the same attributes.
And of course, since ReSharper has smart matching, you can type initials to quickly get to the start of the attribute you want. For example, you can type “dngbh” to get to the “data-ng-bind-html” attribute:
The plugin also ships with 26 Live Templates, based on the IntelliJ and WebStorm templates by Pawel Kozlowski and John Lindquist, respectively. They are split into functionality for directives, modules, scope, routing, html and global helpers. For example, you can use the “ngindex” template to create a simple HTML page to start your development, or “ngb” to create a binding expression. These work in HTML or HTML-like files (Razor, ASPX,.html)
The JavaScript templates can create code for directives, for loops, modules, routing and scope. These are available in JavaScript files, and within script tags in HTML-like files:
Please check out the templates explorer to get a full list, or to edit, add or remove templates.
This is just an initial release. We’d love to expand the feature set, supporting custom HTML element directives, navigation to model properties, binding expressions, and more. If there are any features you’d like to see, or if you find any bugs, please add a feature request to the Issues page. And of course, it’s Open Source – if you’d like to see a new feature, how about taking a crack at it? We’ll help.
Now, go and download it, and make lovely dynamic JavaScript applications.Reader Question: What is white balance and why is it important? Is there a downside to setting my camera to “auto”?
My Answer: Before the rise of digital photography most magazine pictures were shot on color transparency film, more commonly known as slides. Slide film was calibrated to be used in certain lighting conditions because different light sources change the color of the things they illuminate.
We don’t notice the color shifts because our brain’s visual perception tends to correct for radical color shifts. That meant you had to choose to use daylight-balanced film, which was by far the most common, or tungsten-balanced film, which was meant to be used indoors under incandescent lights.
Many photographers didn’t bother to use tungsten film indoors, so their photographs, taken with regular old daylight film, ended up having a pleasing yellow “warmth” that many people took for granted. As a photo editor, this was one of my pet peeves.
Digital cameras were a big improvement in this regard, allowing photographers to adjust for different lighting conditions by changing the white balance settings from one shot to the next. Incandescent lights can make a picture that has been white-balanced for natural daylight look warm or yellowish. Likewise, a photo taken outdoors in the shade will probably look blue because the subject is lit by the huge expanse of sky, not the sun. Having the ability to adjust for these changing conditions helps photography impart a truer reflection of reality.
View Images Taken using the “daylight” white balance preset (Photograph by Dan Westergren)
Digital cameras are usually set by default on auto white balance — which works well most of the time. But this auto setting can fail spectacularly.
Imagine waiting for the last rays of the sun to hit the subject of your photograph, adding just the right twist of color to make the picture exceptional. Click! Then, when reviewing the photo on your screen you see that, though the image is lovely, all the extra color you had waited for is gone. That’s the auto white balance thinking it’s doing you a favor by removing the unnatural color cast! Here’s what I’m talking about:
View Images Taken using the “auto” preset. Notice the blue hue. (Photograph by Dan Westergren)
Auto white balance also can cause problems when making portraits. If the subject is wearing colorful clothing, their skin tone will change from one picture to the next depending on how much of what they are wearing or their surroundings are included in the frame.
To really wrap your head around how white balance works — and why it’s crucial to good photography — I would recommend setting your camera to take JPEGs, then photographing the same scene over and over using the different white balance presets. When you’re through, have a look at the results on your computer so you can start learning to see how your camera sees.
Alternatively, you can shoot with your camera in raw format and adjust the white balance later. But even when I’m shooting in raw I try to manually set the white balance using the presets to match the particular situation I’m in. I spend enough time at the computer without having to adjust the white balance on every picture I take.
Dan Westergren is director of photography for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Follow him on Twitter @dwestergren and on Instagram @danwestergren.
Do you have something you want to ask Dan about travel photography? Join him for a live Twitter chat on January 28 at 12:30pm EST. Follow along and ask your travel photography questions using #enroute.For the first time in 11 years, US Quidditch Cup is leaving the east. USQ’s signature event has spanned from Vermont to Florida, with short stays in New York and South Carolina, but now it is heading west to Texas, home of four of the last five championship winners. The tournament will be held in April 2018 in either Round Rock or Lubbock, Texas. USQ also announced the finalists for each of its regional championships, but is in the process of soliciting additional bids for some of those tournaments. We previously took an in-depth look into the bidding process.
This year’s US Quidditch Cup will mark the third major quidditch event in Texas with the 2016 and 2017 Major League Quidditch Championships taking place in League City, a suburb of Houston.
Round Rock, the self-proclaimed sports capital of Texas, is a northern suburb of the state’s capital of Austin, which is home to defending champions Texas Cavalry, three-time champions Texas Quidditch as well as Austin Quidditch, and perennial powerhouse Lone Star Quidditch Club. Within a two hour drive from Round Rock there are more than 10 quidditch teams. The city boasts a population of over 100,000 and AAA baseball team the Round Rock Express. The city is approximately a 30 minute drive from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport which is served by Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines among others and is approximately two hours from San Antonio and three hours from both Dallas and Houston. In April, the average high temperature is 79 degrees and the average low is 55 degrees. The tournament would be hosted in the not yet completed Round Rock Multipurpose Complex, which features four natural grass multipurpose fields, four turf multipurpose, and a grass and turf championship field. The city’s bid was supported by letters of nominations from local teams and fostered by an existing relationship that Joe Pickett, USQ’s location coordinator has with the Round Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Lubbock, in the northwestern part of the state, has a population nearly twice that of Round Rock and is home to Texas Tech University. The city is served by Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport with flights to Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Austin, Denver, and Phoenix. The city is approximately a five hour drive from Austin, Dallas or Oklahoma City. One official team, Texas Tech is located in Lubbock. The average high in April is 75 degrees and the average low is 46 degrees. The tournament would be hosted in the Berl Huffman Athletic Complex located near the airport.
“Besides the location, we were impressed with the bids from both cities, including the amount of financial support (both cash and in-kind), the quality of the facilities, and the level of community support,” said USQ Events Director Mary Kimball.
The sole finalist at this time for the Great Lakes Regional Championship is Dayton, Ohio which hosted last year’s regional tournament.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship has two finalists: Henrico County, Virginia, which hosted the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship and Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Henrico County contains the state’s capital, Richmond, Virginia, which is home to three teams. Monroeville is an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh, which is home to two teams.
The Midwest Regional Championship has two finalists: Ames, Iowa and Madison, Wisconsin. Ames, home to Iowa State University, does not have a USQ official team. The city hosted last year’s regional championship. Madison is the home of Wisconsin Quidditch.
The sole finalist at this time for the Northeast Regional Championship is Rochester, New York, which has hosted every Northeast Regional Championship since 2013. Rochester is home to three USQ official teams.
The sole finalist at this time for the Northwest Regional Championship is Kennewick, Washington, which hosted last year’s regional championship.
The South Regional Championship has two finalists: Polk County, Florida and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Polk County hosted the 2016 South Regional Championship and is Southwest of Orlando, close to Kissimmee, Florida which hosted US Quidditch Cup 10. The Nearly Headless Knights are located in nearby Orlando. Tuscaloosa is home to the University of Alabama. There are currently no quidditch teams in the state of Alabama.
The Southwest Regional Championship has two finalists: Round Rock, and Wichita Falls, Texas, in the northwestern part of the state, close to the border with Oklahoma. The closest quidditch team to Wichita Falls is the Firebolts in Denton, just short of two hours away.
The West Regional Championship has two finalists: Placer Valley, California which hosted the 2015 West Regional Championship and Tri-Valley, California. Placer Valley is a suburb of Sacramento, the state’s capital. Tri-Valley is a suburb of San Francisco located Southeast of Oakland.Saudi Arabia has renewed a fatwa on Pokemon because it violates Islamic rules on gambling and uses images such as Christian crosses and Jewish stars.
The edict warning the popular game was haram, or forbidden, was first issued in 2001 when it was played with cards. Now Muslim clerics have re-issued the ruling following the release of Pokemon GO for smartphones.
It warns the game includes triangular symbols related to Freemasonry and other symbols that promote the Islamic sin of Shirk, or worshipping any God other than Allah.
Image: Muslim pilgrims pray near the Prophet Muhammad mosque, Medina, Saudi Arabia
In the game, players walk the streets to find virtual cartoon or Pokemon characters that appear on their smartphone screens, but the decree warns that parents may be using the game to punish and reward their children.
There are also fears the game promotes gambling, which is also forbidden under Islamic law.
In response to the game's popularity, Saudi Arabia's General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars has renewed fatwa number 21,758 of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas banning the game.
A senior official at Egypt's Al-Azhar, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni scholarship in the Muslim world, has also weighed in. Abbas Shumman said users could lose their sense of reality and endanger themselves while playing.
Egypt's state-run al Ahram newspaper also reported Shumman announcing the game could lead to a "manic attachment to technology" making people forgetful toward worship and prayer.
Neighbouring Kuwait's Interior Ministry warned users last week not to play the game at mosques, shopping centres, malls and oil installations.Last month, The FADER reported that Frank Ocean's newest album, Blonde, is an independent effort and that Ocean's former label, Def Jam, had no part in its release. According to reports, the R&B singer's first new album, Endless, fulfilled his contract with Def Jam.
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But now, the Associated Press is reporting via an anonymous source that Ocean's contract wasn't actually up. Instead, Def Jam opted to release him from his contract early because their relationship with the singer was tantamount to a "bad marriage." There's no word on how many albums Ocean owed Def Jam, but whatever the case, Def Jam didn't want to drag out the inevitable.
"He didn't want to be on a label," the anonymous source told the AP. "He wanted to do his own thing."
The FADER has reached out to Def Jam for comment.The life of a professional baseball player comes pretty easy for Ronnie Richardson. The second-year Eugene Emeralds center fielder, despite standing at 5-foot-maybe-6, commands the respect of a seasoned veteran.
“Some guys gotta wake up at 7:00 and go work a job,” Richardson says. “I get to sleep in, do my daily routine and then come out and play baseball. It doesn’t get any better than that.
“No matter where I go personally, I’m just glad to be out on the field — glad to be playing baseball every day for my job.”
Richardson stands along the first base line during Eugene’s batting practice, collecting the balls that go toward far right. He stands unassuming behind first, and you wouldn’t know from looking that he leads the team in hitting.
But he won’t be the one to tell you that.
“I wouldn’t say I was ‘the guy’ because I didn’t do it by myself,” Richardson says. “The credit goes to the guys that got on base before me.”
Ronnie’s bat and his plate discipline speak for him on the field perfectly well. He has so many walks this year (24) that the second-closest Em has about a third as many (9). He leads the team on base percentage (.482) by.113 and on base plus slugging (.994) by.238.
On a team that struggled with hitting from the very first game to basically this last week, Richardson (.305) has been a point of consistency and is the one player not named Hunter Renfroe batting over.300 this season. Renfroe, in fact, completes a starting outfield that — along with home run leader Henry Charles — set a tone in big wins against Everett last week.
“(Renfroe) fits right in, he made himself at home,” Richardson says with a bright smile. “He got two or three knocks (on his debut Thursday), he’s a pretty good player.”
Ronnie added that, while the team had a lot of outfielders in the wings, “We all fit in pretty good and we all play together. We cover the gaps pretty well.”
In a pitcher’s park, like PK, the outfield becomes one of the most important features. If a team can hit deep and the outfield isn’t solid, a team can take advantage of it, even without knocking balls past the fences. But nothing much gets past Richardson, who stands a head shorter than his outfield partners.
Ronnie did this in college, too. From center field, he played on three winning seasons for the University of Central Florida Knights baseball team, twice going to regionals.
“I went to UCF for three years, and had a great time,” Richardson says. “(UCF coach Terry) Rooney did a great job recruiting there, and we actually turned that program around and they’re still building there. He’s a great guy, great coach, great recruiter.”
Ronnie thrives under pressure. That became clear to the people of Eugene when he got them a walkoff win in extras, but it’s been clear to coaches throughout his career.
“Ronnie Richardson is one of the best players in the country and is one of the most clutch players in college baseball,” Rooney told UCF Today after a key hit in regional play last June.
In fact, in a rivalry game with regional opponent Stetson, he called his shot in an extra-innings situation. He may not have chosen a direction like the Babe, but he told a teammate before walking out in the top of the 13th that he was going to hit a homer to end it.
He did.
The leadoff shot set the final score at 5-4 and the Knights laid down the Stetson Hatters in order in the home half. Richardson was even able to secure the last out on a flyout to center.
“I told my guys — my pitchers — before the inning, I said, ‘Hey, put up a zero, I’m hitting a home run this next at bat,'” he said. “It actually happened. He put up a zero, I hit a home run for the go ahead, and they went out and put up another zero and we beat ’em.”
Playing in Florida, he got to play against some of the best teams in D1 baseball, and his Knights were up there with them.
In his first and only college save opportunity against Florida, he struck out Mike Zunino — future Seattle Mariners prospect and current M’s starting catcher — to secure the save, and UCF’s win. Down 3-2 to the Gators, the team surged in the ninth to take a 4-3 lead and Ronnie’s 1-2-3 ninth sealed it.
After the go ahead run, “Rooney looked at me and said, ‘Hey, you’re closing this game out,'” Richardson said. “I played with (Zunino) growing up, so it was kinda cool to be in that position.”
That 2011 Florida Gators team went on to lose in the championship game to South Carolina, but was widely regarded as one of the best teams in college that whole year.
The stories all start to run together for the two-year Emerald, who, if he had to pick a position before college, would simply say “competitor.” Though you wouldn’t see it from his height, Ronnie pitched primarily until college and says he was one of the harder throwing guys.
“I wasn’t a pitcher, I was just a guy that was going to go out there and compete,” he said. “If I got bases loaded, I was going to get that next guy out … that’s just the type of player I am.”
When it comes down to it for him, the easiest way to describe Ronnie is that he simply loves being able to play baseball for a living.
The soft-spoken little guy has a texture to his voice and sparks in his bat, as well that unspoken quality that makes a player a good leader in a place like Eugene.
Richardson studied health, hospitality and even a little coaching while at UCF and says the institution really took pride in the student-athlete title.
“Hopefully, I can coach one day in the (Padres) organization,” he said, adding with a chuckle, “maybe be a manager for the Emeralds one day, who knows?”
Comment below, like EDN Sports on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @EDN_SportsToday marks a very sad day in American theatre history–a very sad day indeed–the earliest documented example of a poor review. Yup. A play was presented on this day–August 27–in 1665 at Fowkes Tavern in Accomack County on the eastern shore of Virginia and, it seems, some critic didn’t like it. Not one bit. His review was so bad, in fact, the run of the show was halted and the actors arrested. Not good. (Apparently, critics had a lot more power back then and were particularly surly as well.) The three performers–and presumably creators of the play–were hauled before a local magistrate (who, it just so happened, was convening his court in the very tavern where the offensive performance took place). The three were charged with “performing a play.” A very bad play. To prove the point, the judge demanded that the offending performers reenact their filthy and disgusting show before the court. And so they did. Finally, after viewing the work in person, the judge did something unexpected–he dismissed the charges. Either the performance was so bad it really didn’t warrant labeling it a “play” and, hence, was not in violation of being one. Or, more likely, the judge found nothing especially offensive. Indeed, he not only freed the three actors, he also fined the critic for bringing such nonsense to the court’s attention in the first place. (Oh, if only critics were held to such standards today…) The play in question was entitled Ye Bare and Ye Cubb, and was likely the invention of the three offending presenters–Cornelius Watkinson, Philip Howard, and William Darby. The particularly demanding critic was one Edward Martin who never again exercised his reviewing skills, at least to the extent that they ended up in court. Unfortunately, no copy of the play survives, only the public record that documents this odd and curious little bit of very early American theatre history. Ye Bare and Ye Cubb remains the earliest known performance of a play in the British North American colonies and the first one to receive a very poor review.
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Wayne Rooney fears he is out for up to six week with a knee injury.
Manchester United are concerned the England captain will be out until the end of next month in a massive blow for club and country.
Rooney did not travel with the rest of the United squad for the Europa League tie at Midtjylland tomorrow night.
England boss Roy Hodgson and the FA will be desperate to know the full extent of the problem.
Rooney did not appear to suffer the injury during Saturday’s defeat at Sunderland and must have done it subsequently in training.
In pictures - Manchester United players head to Denmark:
England have friendlies next month with Germany and Holland but that will not be the biggest concern for Hodgson.
Hodgson will be worried that Rooney has enough time to get his full fitness and sharpness back ahead of the Euros.
United will be equally concerned that Rooney is one of their best hopes of getting them back into the top four and also winning some silverware as they are still in Europe and the FA Cup.
(Image: Getty)
Rooney suffered a metatarsal injury before the 2006 World Cup and struggled to get his fitness back in time for the tournament.
England will be hoping that Rooney is not left in the same situation again this time around.
The 30-year-old was almost lost for words as United's season went from bad to worse at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
Rooney could hardly hide his disappointment at yet another defeat in a wretched United season.
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"I didn't think we created enough chances, weren't aggressive enough," said Rooney. "Disappointing result.
"It'll be difficult to quality for the Champions League in the top four now. We know that. It's a sad day for us. We have to somehow move on.
"I think we didn't play well today, we know that. We didn't win enough second balls. It's not good enough."
Louis van Gaal's men are six points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City in the battle for the Champions League spots.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
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A video of a young man being savagely kicked unconscious in a brutal St Patrick’s Day assault has gone viral.
Gardai are investigating after the disturbing footage of a vicious assault in Dublin city centre was posted on social networking sites on Tuesday evening.
Within hours it had gone viral along with a nationwide appeal to identify the attackers.
The guys in the video have taken to Facebook this morning to defend their actions against claims by their pals that they were out of order.
At least two men in tracksuits were caught on camera running into the road on Aston Quay and kicking a young man lying on the ground.
One of the boys kicked the helpless victim, thought to be from Brazil, in the head and ran off before the other booted him in the face, knocking him unconscious.
Terrified eyewitnesses looked on and screamed in horror as the savage assault played out in broad daylight.
And as soon as the attackers ran off, a number of bystanders - some draped in tricolours and wearing leprechaun hats - ran onto the road to help the lifeless victim.
Horrifically, the camera phone that filmed the assault picked up the sound of the kicks to the face.
One angry Facebook user who saw the video online fumed: “Absolutely disgusting! Made my stomach turn looking at this!
“Hard man attacking a defenceless man like that.
“On a day where we’re all proud to be Irish and celebrating our culture & heritage and some little s**t degrades our nation with his vicious behaviour.”
Another added: “I am horrified to think another human being could do this. Total and utter filth.”
A garda spokesman confirmed detectives are investigating and “following a definite line of enquiry”.
He added: “Officers in Pearse Street are investigating an affray on Aston Quay in the city and are appealing for anyone with information to contact us.”
And now the young girl who posted the video online is living in fear, her pals have claimed.
It's believed the attackers were as young as 15.
Do you recognise the people in this video? Call gardai in Pearse St on 01 666 9000Mouse over the icons for more information about the Nautilus-X spacecraft
Illustration by Adrian Mann
Words by Jonathan O’Callaghan
When it comes to manned missions into deep space there are no shortage of proposals on the drawing board. People have dreamed up spacecraft with various fantastical elements, from futuristic propulsion engines to somewhat ambitious aesthetic designs, but one proposal that warrants a serious glance is Nautilus-X. It’s a spacecraft that builds largely on existing technology to make human exploration of the Solar System a realistic possibility, and at a reasonable price too.
Drawn up by NASA engineers Mark Holderman and Edward Henderson, this deep space vehicle might not be as exciting to look at as some of the other futuristic proposals being touted but its certainly one of the most promising. The full name of the vehicle is theNon-Atmospheric Universal Transport Intended for Lengthy United States Exploration (Nautilus-X), while this type of spacecraft is known as a Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV).
Nautilus-X would be capable of supporting a crew of six for missions lasting from one month to two years. Although it might look like a mini space station, the whole thing is designed to be able to travel throughout the Solar System, be it near the Moon or Mars. Although not capable of descending to the surface of another world itself, it has docking ports to which landing craft can be attached.
The intention of the vehicle is that, once built, it could remain in space for many years with several different crews utilising it. For example, one crew could travel to Nautilus-X in an Orion spacecraft and then take the entire spacecraft to Mars for a mission lasting up to a year. They would then return in Nautilus-X at the conclusion of the mission and leave the spacecraft near Earth orbit, ready and waiting for another crew, while they travel back to the surface of |
lunch, to discuss strategies. Everywhere I look I see people with jobs. Where do they find them?
There are jobs I’m unsuited to: physical labour, retail. But I’ve always flourished in offices. I have a knack for organisation and filing, for communicating information. The kind of office work anyone can do – drone work – I’m particularly good at. Why can’t I get a job doing that?
Probably because my CV doesn’t look like that of an office drone. I’ve spent too long pursuing work and amassing qualifications in a more specific field.
So I sit down with my curriculum vitae and try to tailor it to a new application.
It’s a good CV. There is a part of me that feels a little justified feeling arrogant, even though I know I shouldn’t, no matter how good the CV.
I want an office-drone job because my chosen career doesn’t seem to have an entrance.
I really want to work in film and TV. I’m passionate about it, skilled at it, even experienced at it. I’ve had top producers tell me (believably) how impressed they are with my CV. But there are no openings.
In three years since I left college I have had many interviews. I had an interview with a big tech company a few years ago, for an entry-level drone position. They said I was too senior for the role.
Another time I had a mock interview with a bank. They told me they’d hire me if they actually had a real position to offer.
In three years I have found two openings I was eligible for in my field. I got both jobs, but the positions were short-term.
I have worked in television. I have been good at it. I have experience in the more technical roles, and a strong aptitude for them. I have produced professional-standard work using software I taught myself how to use one afternoon.
I have a master’s degree. I thought that would help me get a permanent job. It has not.
I helped write a script for a short film, which won several international awards, and was shortlisted for an Oscar; the script was nominated for awards too.
At the Ifta awards I stood in a room full of the people I most admire, hoping to meet someone who might let me make their coffee.
I was an important part of the creative team behind a hugely successful film. Last week I got to put that down on an application for a JobBridge internship.
I have a child, and previously I couldn’t afford to take a JobBridge internship, because an extra €50 a week wouldn’t cover the resulting childcare costs. But because my partner will soon be going on maternity leave for our second child I can apply for a JobBridge internship. And I can put the master’s and award-winning film on the form.
The landlord is raising our rent, so we have to move. We’ve lived here for three years, enrolled our daughter at the local Montessori, and were preparing our applications for the schools.
I got called into the social-welfare office the other day. “Fill this in. We’re sending you on a course.”
“What’s the course?” I asked.
“It starts on Wednesday. You’ll get the details before then.”
That’s short notice. I’m going to have to line up some childcare I can’t afford. I need more details, but instead of details I get threatened. I’m supposed to be available to work, and if I decline the place my Jobseeker’s Allowance will be reviewed and I’ll get a disallowance.
I fill in the form. I have no problem doing a course. But it really is short notice.
The form has a bit more detail. There is a computer course I could probably teach. And there are two schemes that won’t do a tap for my employability. But they will cost me money in the form of childcare.
I fill in the form.
I have been mostly unemployed for almost two and a half years. I am passionate and capable in my field.
I am angry. Angry that I can’t find an opening. Angry that I don’t know the people who talk about the openings, because openings don’t get advertised outside the friends of friends. Angry that I’m wishing for a job as a drone.
Angry that my master’s and successful experience are sitting on a JobBridge application. Angry that the welfare office is putting me on a pointless course to fill a quota.
Angry at myself because it must be my own fault that I haven’t landed any of the jobs that aren’t advertised. (It’s definitely my fault that I’m not good enough at faking the passion needed to land a crappy job, right?)
Angry at two years of unemployment and only having myself to take my anger out on. And I’m tired too.President Donald Trump attends the Arab Islamic American Summit at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 21. AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump has now officially become the first president in nearly two decades to not host an iftar dinner marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Instead of continuing with the tradition that began under President Bill Clinton, Trump and first lady Melania Trump released a statement wishing “warm greetings to Muslims as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr.” Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims around the world abstain from eating and drinking from dawn until dusk.
The annual White House dinners were typically attended by prominent members of the Muslim community as well as lawmakers and diplomats. The dinners continued uninterrupted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as then-President George W. Bush emphasized the country was combating terrorism and not Islam.
“It is disappointing because that’s been a good tradition,” Imam Talib Shareef of the Nation’s Mosque in Washington told Newsweek. “To stop it doesn’t send a good message. You get the chance to go golfing and all this other kind of stuff. How come you don’t have time for a population of your society that needs some assistance? The message that it sends is that we’re not that important.”
When he was campaigning for the presidency, Trump said in an interview that he wouldn’t be opposed to continuing the tradition. “It wouldn’t bother me. It wouldn’t bother me,” Trump said. “It’s not something I’ve given a lot of thought to but it wouldn’t bother me.”
Confirmation that the White House won’t commemorate Ramadan comes shortly after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also raised eyebrows by refusing to host the annual Ramadan event at the State Department.
Historians believe the first iftar dinner at the White House took place in 1805, when President Thomas Jefferson hosted Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, Tunisia’s envoy to the United States, reports the Washington Post. Although Jefferson’s working dinners usually began at 3:30 p.m., in December 1805 the invitations noted that “dinner will be on the table precisely at sun-set.”MSA Sordin Supreme top model. Optimized hearing with high amplification. Fully waterproof microphones. AUX-inlet and waterproof battery compartment. Slim design cups for both right and left handed shooters. OD Green cups with camouflage headband cover.
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NRR rating - 18dBIn a panel at PAX East, Mass Effect executive producer Casey Hudson has given some details about the next entry in the series. Okay, so 'details' might be a little strong. 'Vague hints of the studio's development plans' is probably closer to the mark. Hudson did, however, also give a similarly cryptic teaser about the existence of a brand new fictional universe being developed by BioWare Edmonton.
"We are starting to get ready to develop another Mass Effect game, and it's going to be a new thing," Hudson said. "We want to be able to give fans an opportunity to get back into the world with these things you've come to know and love about the Mass Effect experience but start something fresh and new — a new way for you to explore the whole universe in Mass Effect."
Production of the next Mass Effect game is taking place at BioWare Montreal, with the Edmonton-based Hudson keeping his executive producer role. That frees up the Edmonton team to work on something entirely new. "We are developing a whole new fictional universe at BioWare for myself and Preston [Watamaniuk, Mass Effect's lead designer]. That's kind of our next thing," Hudson said. "We're focusing on building something new the way we did at the very beginning on Mass Effect."
And if the promise of more Mass Effect and a new IP doesn't spark your interest, Hudson also mentioned... oh, false alarm, it's just the Mass Effect movie. In fairness, the team sounds excited by the work done on the game's big screen debut, with Hudson saying, "what we're looking at are, I think, the right things to make sure it's gong to be a great movie. It's not just going to be a movie; it's going to be really special." Still, even these reassurances aren't enough to break through my wariness of game to film adaptations. I've been hurt before.
Thanks, Kotaku.Cult favourite... TV creator Joss Whedon, pictured on the set of Dollhouse, has experienced his fair share of career ups and downs. Between the three generations of Whedons there probably aren't many lessons about the perils of the craft they haven't experienced. And just as many lessons they chose to ignore. It's why Joss Whedon could find himself in his car in Los Angeles seven years ago, shaking his head at his own madness. He'd just pitched, to a very cool reception among the film executives, a Batman film that would return to the origins of the crusader-vigilante. He was talking personal epiphanies, they were talking franchise. He left empty, they went on to make a blockbuster. You idiot, he told himself. How many more times do I need to be told that the machine doesn't care? The machine is not aware of what is in your heart as a storyteller. That trip ended back in the office just in time to hear that the Fox Network had cancelled Firefly before its first season had even been completed. As Whedon later recounted, he now had his answer to the question posed in the car. “Oh! So, uh, just once more. OK!” But it wasn't just once more. And he knew it. Since that ugly LA afternoon, Whedon, now 46, with an Emmy on the shelf and an Oscar nomination in the drawer, has tallied up a few more examples of why no sensible person should go into the film and television business. And why he can't stop. Obsessive? “People who aren't obsessive go home at the end of the day and don't think about their work,” Whedon says. “I've read about them."
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The cancelled Firefly (“still the greatest grief I have about my career”) begat his first film as director, the Firefly “sequel” Serenity. It didn't do Batman business but as a space-western with wit and social consciousness it made money and, along the way, gave him another young female character who – literally and metaphorically – kicked arse. Then he thought he was signed to direct a Wonder Woman film, only to find that was a promise written in smoke rather than ink. But his return to television last year with the series Dollhouse allowed him to begin exploring the moral and social implications of identity, memory and manipulation. That is, until differing views on its direction saw creator and network part ways. The greatest grief of his career... Firefly was cancelled during it's first season. Whedon ended up reassembling the cast for the film Serenity. Still, Whedon has written two films that are due out in the next year – the horror comedy The Cabin in the Woods (delayed a year by MGM, so desperate for a 3D hit that it's remodelling the film) and Captain America: The First Avenger, the first in a new franchise of comic book-inspired superhero action films that will peak in 2012 with the Whedon-directed The Avengers.
“Right now I'm working on a movie that's got enormous stipulations and is going to be changing and fluid every second. I've come up with dozens of scenes and lines and exchanges and monologues that I adore that are not going to be in it,” he says of The Avengers. “But while I'm writing them they feed me, excite me and they ultimately inform the character. It all goes in.” Exploring new genres... Joss Whedon created an online musical during the Hollywood writers' strike, starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. People who aren't obsessive go home at the end of the day and don't think about their work. I've read about them. The issue of inevitable compromise and restraint imposed is a fascinating element throughout Whedon's career. He may have a genuine cult status among the geeks and freaks. He may have created the hilarious and hugely popular online musical comedy-action spoof Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog during the 2008 writers' strike. But the bulk of his work has been for mainstream film companies and networks or the relatively conservative end of cable networks. Does he secretly – or not so secretly – prefer an environment that comes with explicit and implicit constraints as a means of sparking creativity? “In a way, yes. I feel that movies got more imaginatively dirty after the Hays Code was introduced in America,” he says, referring to the self-censorship guidelines under which many US films were made between 1930 and 1968. “There's something about having restrictions that does make you want to be sly about how you come at something. I do think that fighting against something, if it's a real creative collaboration, the frisson between what the artist is trying to get out there and what the market place expects, creates very exciting entertainment.”
Whedon's most recent TV venture, Dollhouse, stars ex-Buffy actress Eliza Dushku. The problem can come when you butt your head against a wall and it doesn't break but you do. He's often laughed about the pain of scripts in limbo, of films derailed, of utterly ridiculous decisions, such as a network deciding not to screen the opening episodes of a series until after the rest of the show had screened. More seriously, he says that the cancellation of Firefly not only made him “the sourest man alive” but had an unexpected and potentially devastating side effect. “I stopped having ideas, which for me is an extremely rare experience,” Whedon says. “It was something much more subtle [than losing hope], it took away my ability to think in terms of episodic television. For years.” Superhero focus... Whedon's next project sees him directing The Avengers, which brings Marvel characters together in one film. He says that almost casually, as if losing the focal point of your life – of your family's life for three generations – was a hiccup. Is one of the skills of being a successful writer and a director being able to handle what you might call these little creative deaths?
“It has to be but I'm not entirely sure that it's a skill that I've learned or know anyone who has,” he sighs. “I have to feel this emotionally raw because I have to believe when I write something it's going to exist. You have to have a certain naivety, almost Memento-like, and get bitch-slapped over and over. "You've got to go in with an enormous amount of confidence because everyone is going to question everything you do. You have to be the person who believes when nobody else does.” It seems that rather than the five stages of grief, for writers there is just one stage: wiping your memory and starting again, like the characters in Dollhouse. "Yeah, pretty much. Anger, anger, anger. Anger. Bargaining,” he deadpans. "Honestly, this year with my career, I've been going, OK, is it over? Are they done with me and is it time for me to start doing really small or make a graceful exit? Because I'm OK. I have my family, I love to write, I'll always write, they can't stop me doing that. "But maybe I'm not going to get my shot to reach a mass audience. But then I got The Avengers. So, clearly, I'm an idiot.”
He describes directing The Avengers as the job “I've waited for my whole life” but says in the same breath that if it was cancelled tomorrow, “I'd go join my family on the vacation I'm not on and start working on things I've put on hold to do this.” Sanguine or fatalistic? “I have always felt, my whole life, that everything could be taken away at any second. It has actually been a huge problem for me that I know that,” he says. “I certainly will do everything in my power not to have that happen, everything in my power to make it good. That's my power, that's all I've got. All I can do is make it good enough for somebody to see it twice.” That's a unique special power. I wonder what kind of costume someone with that special power would wear. “There's a codpiece, so I don't wear it, because a codpiece is embarrassing. Also, I'm always stepping on the cape.” Joss Whedon will speak at the Opera House Concert Hall on August 29 at 3pm. Tickets sold out.The UN-sanctioned military intervention in Libya by the United States and NATO allies created conditions ripe for Tuesday's attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that claimed the life of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other members of his staff, a former CIA director said Wednesday. In an interview with Newsmax TV, retired Air Force General Michael Hayden said the decision to intervene on behalf of the rebels seeking to overthrow Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi may have been made without a "deep and true" appreciation of all the consequences, and has left the United States with a "moral responsibility" for the future of Libya.
"Here's a case where we went into Libya for reasons that seemed very powerful for some people at the time, almost all of them humanitarian, perhaps without a true or deep appreciation for what the secondary and tertiary effects of overthrowing Gadhafi would be," said Hayden."This was always the story we saw in those cell phone videos of oppressed and oppressor, but there were other stories going on too, other narratives — East vs. West in Libya, tribal disputes in Libya, eastern Libya being home of the Islamic Libyan fighting group." Policymakers in the West failed to heed the "subplots" in the Libyan drama, he said.
"All these subplots were always out there and once you shatter the old society, these subplots become far more powerful and now we are seeing the results of that: Loss of control, portable air missiles, weapons from Libya being used to grab the northern half of Mali away from the Malian government, which is a good friend of the U.S.," he said.
Hayden, 67, was on active duty as a four-star general when President George W. Bush chose him to head the CIA in May 2006. He served in that post until February 2009, at the beginning of the Obama administration. He is now a principal of The Chertoff Group, a business consulting company founded by former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Both Chertoff and Hayden have served as foreign policy advisors to Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Hayden is also on the advisory board of the Langley Intelligence Group Network (Lignet.com), an online news service that is part of the conservative NewsMax Media group. The retired general, who was head of the CIA during part of the Iraq War, said the crisis in Libya is a reminder of the cautionary words of Army General Colin Powell, then secretary of state, when President Bush was planning the campaign in Iraq.
"I'm reminded of Secretary of State Powell's comments about Iraq going back almost a decade — the Pottery Barn theory that if you break it you own it," Hayden said. The United States was part of a coalition of NATO members and some Arab nations that acted under the authority of a UN Security Council resolution. The coalition provided air strikes in support of Libyan rebels who were in danger of being slaughtered by Gadhafi's forces. The United States also provided non-lethal humanitarian aid to the rebels. The intervention has been credited with turning the tide against Gadhafi, leading to his overthrow and assassination later in the year. Hayden believes the United States is left with a "moral responsibility" for what happens in that nation.
"Now you've got a state, a heavily armed state in Libya that is armed at the militia and tribal level," he said. "I actually said when we first intervened that we now take on a moral responsibility for the future of the Libyan state and here we are." Hayden also faulted the United Nations for misrepresenting the mission. "The U.N. Security Council resolution on Libya was bait and switch," he said. "It was never just humanitarian assistance, it was to overthrow the regime."
Anti-American demonstrations took place Tuesday both in Libya and in Egypt, where an Islamic uprising drove President Hosni Mubarak from power last year. The immediate cause of the demonstrations was reportedly a film that depicts the prophet Mohammed as a fraud and portrays him having sex and calling for massacres. A trailer for the film appeared on YouTube, causing an uproar among Muslims, who regard any depiction of Mohammed as a grave offense.
In Egypt, demonstrators scaled the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and tore down the American flag. They raised a black banner bearing the Muslim declaration, "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet."
The American-made movie entitled The Innocence of Muslims is being promoted by Terry Jones, the minister in Gainesville, Florida, whose burning of the Koran sparked violent demonstrations in Afghanistan in 2011. Hours before Tuesday's demonstration in Egypt and the attack In Libya, the U.S embassy in Cairo had issued a statement condemning the "continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.... We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others." Candidate Romney condemned the statement as "akin to an apology" and a "severe miscalculation," drawing in return a sharp rebuttal from President Obama.
"Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later," Obama said in an interview for the CBS program 60 Minutes.In response to the attack in Benghazi, Obama issued a televised statement from the White House, promising retribution. "Make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people," he said.
President Obama ordered the military intervention in Libya in March 2011 without seeking or receiving authorization from Congress, and continued the military actions beyond the 60-days established in the War Powers Act as the length of time a president may carry on a military mission without congressional approval. The White House issued a statement in June of that year, saying the War Powers Act did not apply. "U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve U.S. ground troops," the statement said. The Obama administration acknowledged at that time the operation had cost $716 million in its first two months and would cost an estimate $1.1 billion by September of 2011.
Apparently, Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, assigning to Congress the power to declare war, did not apply to U.S military actions either. Congress has not issued a formal declaration of war since 1941, despite multi-year wars since then in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Photo of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens: AP ImagesWhere to?
In the next Hitman game, for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, you play a "globetrotting Agent 47 at the prime of his career", developer IO Interactive has revealed.
In an open letter to Hitman fans, the studio said we'll see Agent 47 "stalking his prey across the world" with the support of his long-term handler Diana Burnwood and the whole of the ICA.
The game revolves around the "core Hitman fantasy", the studio said, and is built on the Glacier 2 game engine, using "the best parts and what we have learnt through Hitman: Absolution and drawing inspiration from past titles like Contracts and Blood Money".
"That means we're packing in an extreme level of detail on the largest levels we have ever built for a Hitman game," the studio continued.
"We've adopted an open, non-linear level design approach to the game, ensuring the game will play out across huge, checkpoint-free, sandbox levels. Our aim is to create living, breathing and believable levels which will allow gamers to play around with the AI to create those unique moments every fan of the Hitman franchise loves."
Contracts Mode returns. In it you can create and build challenges and share them with others.
"You will also be glad to hear that we have removed 47's magic pockets," IO added. "We believe that's all we need to say about that subject."
Expect more information in the coming months.Australia Post returns to profit despite drop off in snail mail
Posted
Australia Post has returned to profit despite another significant and damaging decline in its traditional letter deliveries business.
Full-year profit after tax rebounded to $36 million after the continued terminal decline of "snail mail" prompted last year's $222 million loss.
But ongoing digital disruption has seen addressed letter volumes fall by another 9.7 per cent, contributing to a $138 million loss in the postal business — the largest decline in Australia Post's 207 year history.
Chief executive Ahmed Fahour has described the profit as "modest" and driven by the rise of Australia Post's parcels business, which has grown by eight per cent in a competitive market.
Despite the turnaround, Mr Fahour painted a pessimistic outlook for traditional letter deliveries, which will remain a loss-making part of the Australia Post business.
"We do have a business that is in structural decline. There's no question about it," Mr Fahour told the ABC.
"We've stemmed the losses in our letters business but it's still losing money. We lost $138 million in delivering the mail this financial year.
"Unfortunately Australians are saying we want alternatives, we want to communicate in a different way. And that large volume decline means 43 percent less letters per letterbox compared to our peak eight years ago.
"So we've nearly halved the size of the business by Australians switching to alternative forms."
However, Mr Fahour said Australia Post remained committed to traditional letter deliveries despite the mounting losses.
"We will be there until the last letter is delivered. But unfortunately digitisation and the digital economy means that Australians are shifting very rapidly," Mr Fahour said.
"They're going online, they're using social media, they're using email and texting. The reality is that they're communicating but they communicating in digital ways."
Australia Post now believes the losses are more manageable after reforms to the business, with the five-year loss forecast reduced from $5 billion to $1.5 billion.
Mr Fahour also reaffirmed Australia Post's universal service obligation to maintain deliveries to rural and remote Australia.
He also confirmed Australia Post was continuing to experiment with drone technology to deliver parcels, putting it in direct competition with the likes of Amazon and Google.
Follow Peter Ryan on Twitter @peter_f_ryan and on his Main Street blog.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, company-news, information-and-communication, australiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Sunday seized control of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, launching what could be its biggest federal bailout ever, in a bid to support the U.S. housing market and ward off more global financial market turbulence.
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson (L) and Jim Lockhart, Director of the the new independent regulator, the Federal Finanace Agency (FHFA), announce that the government is taking control of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during a news conference at the Office of Management Supervision in Washington, DC, September 7, 2008. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Officials were concerned mounting losses at the two companies, which own or guarantee almost half of the country’s $12 trillion in outstanding home mortgage debt, was sapping their vitality and threatening to undermine them at a time other sources of housing finance have largely run dry.
“Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said at a news conference. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical to turning the corner on housing.”
The two companies, publicly traded but also serving a government mission to support housing, were put in a conservatorship that allows their stock to keep trading but puts common shareholders last in any claims.
Their top executives were ousted. Freddie Mac chief executive Richard Syron and Fannie Mae’s CEO, Daniel Mudd, were replaced by David Moffett, a former top official at US Bancorp and Herb Allison, formerly with Merrill Lynch and pension fund TIAA-CREF.
In addition, the U.S. Treasury will immediately take a $1 billion equity stake in each company in the form of senior preferred stock and if needed could inject up to $100 billion into each firm.
The government’s senior preferreds stock would rank above both existing preferred and common shares and will carry warrants that could give the government an ownership stake of 79.9 percent.
Treasury also set up a program under which it would buy mortgage-backed securities currently held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pump fresh funds into the mortgage market. It said it would begin buying MBS later this month, and it would have authority to make such purchases through December 31, 2009.
Paulson said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were so large that “a failure of either of them would cause great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe.”
Several analysts said the move should help instill some confidence in shaky credit markets and lower mortgage costs.
“The government had to do something to eliminate uncertainty,” said Peter Goldman, a principal with Front Barnett Associates in Chicago. “Anything that eliminates uncertainty in the credit markets is a good thing.”
The Treasury Department said the plan to shore up the finances of the two government-sponsored enterprises, which have $1.6 trillion in debt outstanding, should not cost U.S. taxpayers money in the long run and could even return cash to the government coffers eventually.
The companies have suffered combined losses of nearly $14 billion in the last four quarters and large holders of their debt, including overseas central banks, have begun to show signs of increasing nervousness over their financial health.
Worries over their shrinking capital position led their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to place them in conservatorship.
“As house prices, earnings and capital have continued to deteriorate, their ability to fulfill their mission has deteriorated,” FHFA Director James Lockhart told the news conference. “They have been unable to provide needed stability to the market.”
He said the companies lacked sufficient capital to continue taking losses while supporting the housing market at the same time.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a statement that he “strongly” endorsed the action. “These necessary steps will help to strengthen the U.S. housing market and promote stability in our financial markets,” he said.
As part of the plan, FHFA will operate the companies until they are stabilized and the Treasury will extend financing to the companies, as well as to the Federal Home Loan Banks, through a new lending facility until December 31, 2009, if needed.
Slideshow (6 Images)
In addition to the senior preferred stake Treasury is taking in the companies, it will immediately receive warrants for the purchase of some common stock.
The stock of the two companies has fallen more than 90 percent in the past year and in recent months foreign investors have pared their holdings of the companies’ securities.
Paulson had briefed both Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and Republican contender Sen. John McCain earlier in the weekend. Both candidates indicated they would support the plan, but wanted to ensure taxpayers were safeguarded and shareholders and management took a hit.Video
Washington, DC, is known as a pretty conservative town, so it might surprise you to know the US capital has a lively - and loud - history of punk music.
Indeed so much so, that now the DC Public Library has created a punk rock archive.
The library even had a punk show in the basement to launch the initiative, which includes collecting paraphernalia dating back to 1976.
It is an unusual combination of loud music and quiet book-stacks which musicians and historians say will help preserve an important part of the city's history.
Shot and Edited by Bill McKenna
Bands from Basement Shows: Joy Buttons, Flamers, Hemlines, Nox, Blockhead, Priests.
Special Thanks to Michele Casto, Maggie Gilmoreand Bobbie Dougherty of the DC Public Library and the filmmakers James Schneider and Paul Bishow.
Additional Music Archive: Sohrab Habibion; Photographs: Alex Schelldorf.Two months before the election of the new chairman of the French centre-right party UMP, its secretary-general and candidate for the chairmanship, Mr. Jean-François Copé, published a manifesto with the title ‘Manifesto for a Right unhibited’. Le Figaro, a leading French newspaper associated with the right, has published some abstracts. I have translated one of the abstracts because it deserves to be shared among a wider audience. It illustrates the point that the multicultural utopia is just that—an unrealistic, impossible dream promoted by elites that are completely out of touch with the lives of ordinary people.
Meaux as an example
If I have inherited a love for France and a desire to serve her, it is at Meaux [Copé is the mayor of Meaux and deputy for the department in which Meaux is located] where this love came about, developed in the complexity of life, because the France of which I have been talking about across these pages is not a France which is abstract, conceptual or romantic. It is also not the France of the beautiful neighbourhoods and the elite. (…) The ‘reality shock’ is also this mother who came to see me recently. She lives alone with her son in a flat in the Beauval district where she feels threatened after she stood up against agression. Her son was playing his portable video game in front of the building, when it was stolen from him by a youngster. The mother knew the youngster and the mother went to see the parents and the neighbours to claim back the object, which she had bought after months of saving money. She was told: “If you are not satisfied here, move away, Gaul…” Thereafter, this woman felt being watched, she feels like a stranger in the neighbourhood where she has lived for many years. An ‘anti-White racism’ is developing in the districts of our towns where individuals – some of them have French citizenship – have contempt for Frenchmen, which they call ‘Gauls’, under the pretext of not having the same religion, the same skin coloror the same origin as them.
I am hearing more and more residents of Meaux complaining and that particular racism is also unacceptable like all other forms or racism: we have to denounce it, like we condemn all other discriminations. I know that I am breaking a taboo by using the term ‘anti-White racism’ but I do it with a purpose, because it is the truth is in which some of our citizens live and the silence is just making the trauma worse. These phenomena are impossible to see from ‘Paris’, in the media and political circles where the overwhelming majority of the leading people are White Frenchmen born from French parents. In these microcosms, the lack of diversity limits the presence of people of color or foreign origin. But let’s face reality: the situation in completely inverse in a lot of neighbourhoods of our suburbs.”
I await with interest the longer version of Mr. Cope’s Manifesto, to be published on October 3.Eggplant isn’t supposed to make you cry. But since we can’t control how food makes us feel, any single bite can send us reeling. It happened to Michael Vincent Ferreri, and the timing couldn’t have been worse.
Ferreri, the chef of Philadelphia’s Res Ipsa, was dining for the first time at Zeppoli, an acclaimed Sicilian restaurant a sitcom-length drive away from his Center City coordinates. It was a meet-the-parents meal with his then girlfriend, and the Rochester, New York, native was doing pretty well, making nice with Mom and Dad over wine in the cozy, nonna-fied dining room.
Then arrived the antipasti, an Instagram-worthy menagerie of meats, cheeses, and perfectly primped veggies arranged on a skinny canoe of a plate. The server lavishly name-checked each and every item on hand, landing on one that perked Ferreri up immediately: caponata, the vivid eggplant relish he’d grown up inhaling at family gatherings presided over by his Sicilian great-grandmother, Sara.
“I dug in, put it in my mouth, and immediately starting weeping,” he recalls. “Wet shirt, everything.” And it happened a couple more times, continuing with the rigatoni alla disgraziata through to the sprinkles-studded struffoli that dropped with the check—flavors he hadn’t felt in years, waiting for him in a teeny bedroom community a couple minutes over the PA-NJ border. It brought him back…and messed him up.
Ferreri’s unexpected reaction had just as much to do with himself as the food in front of him that night. Yes, it was a little intense to cry over caponata—“incredibly awkward,” to use his plainer description. But this is how a chef responds to a food epiphany, and it helped put some stuff into focus. Sic |
end myself.”
Ms Carter told police that she had initially screamed out for help, but nobody nearby responded. After narrowly avoiding death, she said she began shaking and crying uncontrollably.
Soon after arriving on the scene, police arrested a man, 23-year-old Dennis Evans, at his home a few blocks away over the alleged crime.
Ms Carter lives in a southside Chicago neighbourhood, and works in a hotel kitchen across town — that’s why she was up so early on a Saturday, waiting for the bus. When the man, who was considerably larger than her, finally gained control of the gun and told her he was going to shoot her, she said she thought of her three children.
Mr Evans is being held in jail without bond after a hearing on Sunday. He faces charges of attempted murder and attempted robbery.Ethers’ downside seems to be limited against the US Dollar and Bitcoin, suggesting a bullish bias for ETH/USD in the near term.
Ether also traded with a positive bias against Bitcoin, but struggled to remain stable above 0.040BTC.
The ETH/USD pair is in a clear uptrend, but facing a major resistance near $51.00 and $53.00.
Technically, the 12-hour chart indicators are steadily moving in the bullish territory.
Ether Price Facing Crucial Resistance
There were mostly range moves in Ether price against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. Dips in both ETH/USD and ETH/BTC remained supported with an overall bullish bias.
Let’s start with the 12-hour chart of ETH/USD. There are two important points to note. First, the pair is facing a crucial barrier near the $51.00 and $53.00 resistance levels. Second, there is an important bullish trend line with support at $45.00.
The pair attempted an upside move above the $51.00 resistance on a couple of occasions this past week, but failed and moved down. However, losses were limited, as the $48.00 and $47.00 support prevented a downside break.
It looks a contracting triangle pattern is forming on the 12-hour chart with ascending bullish trend line and horizontal resistance.
Moving down to the 2-hour chart, the pair is currently attempting an upside break above a bearish trend line at $48.50. ETH/USD recently dropped to the $48.00 range support, found bids and started recovering.
It looks like Ether price may soon trade towards the $49.00 horizontal resistance, which is an initial hurdle for buyers. If there is a break above $49.00, the price could test the $51.00 resistance in the near term.
A close above $49.00 is a must, since it also represents the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of the last decline from $51.02 to $48.05. On the other hand, if there is a break below $48.00, the next support could be at $47.00
In my view, we may still see a few ranging moves between $47.00-51.00 before Ether buyers make an attempt to take the price towards $53.00-54.00.Are the St. Louis Blues for real?
Greg Wyshynski: The St. Louis Blues are 12-3-1 and sit atop the Central Division. Are they for real? Depends on your concept of reality, man.
They're not this good. With a PDO of 103.32, the Blues are bound to have some level of regression. They're averaging 3.27 goals per game, up from 2.84 last season. They're probably facing a course correction on the defensive side, where their expected goals-against is a minuscule 1.88 per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, down from their already-impressive 1.97 last season. Plus, they're living off the spark of their top line of Vladimir Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz, which has produced 37 percent of the team's total goals this season.
That the Blues have accomplished this despite some critical early-season injuries -- including to Robby Fabbri, who has been done for the season since training camp -- is nothing short of remarkable and should be lauded no matter how and when this torrid start cools off. Which brings us back to the concept of reality: The Blues are, without question, a playoff team, and, without question, a team that will challenge for the division lead. I just don't know if this early-season juggernaut is what we end up seeing in the playoffs -- although I imagine that goalie Jake Allen wouldn't mind it if this offense actually showed up in the postseason, unlike last spring, when the Blues averaged just 2.00 goals per game.
There's more to the Blues' success than scorer Vladimir Tarasenko. AP Photo/Bill Kostroun
Emily Kaplan: Last week, I designated the Blues as the best team nobody was talking about, so my stance is clear: Take these guys seriously. They have resolve, and their story of how they got here is pretty good too.
Right before their game against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, the Blues' public relations staff sent out an email announcing that Fabbri had undergone successful surgery on his left knee. It was a timely reminder that for all of the success the Blues have enjoyed -- they have an NHL-best 25 points through 16 games -- it wasn't supposed to be this way. I'll flash back to September, in training camp, when Fabbri's season-ending injury was first announced. I was visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins' training camp around that time and ended up hanging at the practice facility all day to watch a USHL tournament. A bunch of NHL scouts were there, and in the breaks between games, I asked about the significance of Fabbri's injury. I remember one scout said, "Yes, it's a problem." But he noted just how many injuries the Blues were working through. "That's the problem," he said. Indeed, fellow top-six forward Alexander Steen ended up missing the first six games. Patrik Berglund is still rehabbing from shoulder surgery, while defenseman Jay Bouwmeester experiences lingering effects from his broken ankle. Zach Sanford is out indefinitely. So, shortly after the Fabbri injury, Blues GM Doug Armstrong announced that the team was exploring signing Jaromir Jagr, essentially because they were desperate for forward depth. It obviously didn't happen, but when you have a team considering all options that late in training camp, you know things are dire.
I compare that backdrop to the product we're seeing now, and it's hard to ignore: This team has mettle. And this has nothing to do with stats or fancy stats, but teams with mettle tend to make it far into June.
Chris Peters: I tend to agree with Greg on this one, especially given the numbers he cited. I don't think there's any question that the Blues are a really good team. That said, you can't have a start this hot without having a little good fortune, and it's hard to make that last for a full season. But this is a team with a good amount of talent up and down the lineup, with their top players playing at a high level, which is making a huge difference.
Schwartz has been out of his mind to start the season. In 16 games, he has 21 points, including nine goals. The talented winger has scored on 24.3 percent of his shots. With a career shooting percentage of 13.9, we should see his scoring cool over the course of the longer season, but he's still on his way to a career year. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is kind of doing the same thing, averaging nearly a point per game with some help from a higher shooting percentage. Then there's Vladimir Tarasenko, who has been a reliable producer for years now but might be approaching another level.
Those three players might not produce at the levels they're producing at now for the entire season, but they might not have to. St. Louis is getting some decent secondary scoring, particularly from Paul Stastny and Vladimir Sobotka. The Blues are also playing in a Western Conference that is up for grabs. Aside from the Los Angeles Kings, no team has really established itself as a force to be reckoned with. So even if the Blues taper off some, they're positioning themselves well for when we get closer to playoff time.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
THE MORNING PLUM:
At the Democratic convention, President Obama sought to absolve the GOP of blame for the rise of Donald Trump, largely for strategic reasons. The rage and hate on display at Trump’s own convention “wasn’t particularly Republican,” Obama said, in an effort to give GOP voters and GOP-leaning independents a way to support Hillary Clinton without feeling as if they were betraying party loyalty.
But now that Trump is in full meltdown mode, and beating him looks easier, Democrats are shifting hard into an effort to hold the GOP responsible for Trumpism’s rise — in order to translate Clinton’s gains into more support for Democratic Senate and House candidates. At a rally in Ohio last night, Obama sounded the new message, per reporter Sahil Kapur:
“The problem is not that all Republicans think the way this guy does. The problem is that they’ve been riding this tiger for a long time. They’ve been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years, primarily for political expedience.”
Obama accused Republicans of relentlessly feeding a “swamp of crazy,” adding that they looked the other way while many base voters descended into delusions about Obama himself (birtherism) and about his presidency (claiming he founded ISIS and wanted to take away everyone’s guns).
President Obama chastised the Republican party for making Donald Trump the Republican presidential nominee saying, "You claim the mantle of the party of family values, and this is the guy you nominate." (Reuters)
Obama noted that GOP lawmakers had a choice — they could have differed with him on the issues while simultaneously telling their voters a more balanced story about the Obama years. Instead, Obama suggested, they decided it was their interests to keep the base as riled up as possible, so they looked the other way while the conspiracy-mongering took deep root. And Obama sought to pin this right on down-ballot Republicans (in this case, Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who’s being challenged by Dem Ted Strickland), by arguing that they are only distancing themselves from Trump out of political expedience:
[The hideous, diabolical truth about Hillary Clinton]
“People like Ted’s opponent, they stood by while this happened. And Donald Trump, as he’s prone to do, he didn’t build the building by himself, but he slapped his name on it and took credit for it. And that’s what’s happened in their party. All that bile, all the exaggeration, all the stuff that was not grounded in fact just kind of bubbled up, started surfacing. They know better, a lot of these folks who ran, and they didn’t say anything. So they don’t get credit.”
There is some truth to Obama’s broader claim. Republican leaders have long hyped genuine separation of powers disputes into exaggerated tales of Obama lawlessness. They have long fed versions of the lie that Obama has allowed the hordes to overrun the southern border, or that he “can’t be trusted” to “enforce our immigration laws.” They’ve played little wink-wink-nudge-nudge games around Obama’s identity, such as claiming they “take him at his word” that he’s a Christian. And they haven’t exactly killed themselves to knock down the idea pushed by some on the right that Obama secretly harbors ill will towards America. The degree to which this is responsible for the rise of Trump, however, cannot be settled here and will be debated for many years to come.
All of this said, the new effort to pin this on down-ballot Republicans will probably reignite a debate among Democrats over whether it’s coming too late. As Brian Beutler has recounted, Dems overseeing down-ballot contests badly wanted Obama and Hillary Clinton to say this months ago. Instead, they essentially extended an escape ladder of sorts to Republicans in hopes of getting more cross-over votes to build a large anti-Trump coalition at the top of the ticket, and are only pulling up the ladder now that Clinton seems to be comfortably ahead and the down-ballot Dems need help.
[Donald Trump is right: The GOP is utterly pathetic]
But even if this is coming late, it’s exactly what Democrats have been pushing for right now. Internal Democratic polling shows that GOP lawmakers who are only belatedly distancing themselves from Trump might not get credit for it from swing voters. Meanwhile, Dems think these Republicans are caught in a Trump Trap: Even as Trump’s escalating toxicity is further alienating those voters, they can’t distance themselves too much, because it will anger the Trump voters they need to turn out on election day. Trump himself is busily feeding this dynamic by pinning the blame for his own woes on the very Republicans who are fleeing him. So Dems want those with the biggest megaphones (Obama and Clinton) to tighten this trap, by amplifying the argument that Republicans now stiff-arming Trump deserve to be held accountable for him.
It’s hard to know whether this will work, and obviously each race is different. But as FiveThirtyEight notes, it’s now clear that down-ballot Democrats are running significantly behind Clinton in many contests, and it’s possible some voters are mulling purposely splitting their tickets. So something needs to change.
*************************************************************
* CLINTON LEADS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: A pair of new polls, one from UMass Lowell/7 News and the other from WBUR/MassINC, put Clinton up in New Hampshire by 45-39 and 41-37. Both show dead heats in the Senate match-up.
The polling averages show Clinton up in the state by five points. Remember, if Clinton holds Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Colorado, she can likely win with just one more — such as New Hampshire — while losing Ohio and Florida and North Carolina.
* AMERICANS REJECT TRUMP’S ATTACKS, POLL SHOWS: A new Huffpost/YouGov poll finds:
By a 14-point margin (52 percent to 38 percent), Americans who tuned into the debate say that it was inappropriate for Trump to threaten to jail Clinton if he’s elected president. ”Tuned into the debate” covers people who watched any part of it, saw clips of it afterward or followed subsequent news coverage….By an 18-point margin (55 percent to 37 percent), they say it was inappropriate to attack her by bringing up Bill Clinton’s past personal behavior.
Recall that Trump’s advisers have basically given up on expanding his appeal, and have decided his best hope is to wrestle Clinton down into the mud with him.
* RNC CHAIRMAN IS ‘DEEPLY SHAKEN’ BY TRUMP: The New York Times talks to people around RNC chair Reince Priebus:
For all Mr. Priebus’s public expressions of loyalty, he has been deeply shaken by revelations about Mr. Trump and the rifts within the party, seeing years of Republican organizational work potentially being undone, according to multiple people who described private conversations with Mr. Priebus on the condition of anonymity. He has said he feels adrift, fearing that Mr. Trump is headed for disaster, and told one longtime associate that he was having sleepless nights.
“Years of work potentially being undone.” The post-election recriminations should be interesting to watch.
* CLINTON PLOTS QUIET ENDGAME: As Trump rages at groping allegations and threatens lawsuits, the Associated Press reports that Clinton will opt for a low-key approach to the final stretch:
She rarely makes news or veers from her script. She keeps a plodding schedule of modest-size events. She relies heavily on her cast of loyal — and arguably more effective — surrogates. And she doesn’t overdo it…There’s little sign that the relatively low-key strategy is hurting Clinton,
But what about the size of Trump’s rallies??? Even as Trump basks in adoration from crowds, Dems are also contacting voters…and contacting voters…and contacting voters.
* DEMS OUTWORKING GOP ON GROUND IN FLORIDA: Marc Caputo reports this interesting nugget:
Remember when the GOP said it had this great ground game in Florida? Yeah. The Florida Dems are beating the GOP in voter-registration forms submitted by 503,000 to 60,000.
Meanwhile, Caputo reports that absentee ballots cast so far are tilting slightly more Democratic than in 2012. It’s all about the composition of the electorate at this point.
* WHY CLINTON NEEDS A BIG VICTORY: Paul Krugman says the size of a Clinton victory will help determine both control of the House and how expansive her agenda can be:
She would significantly strengthen the social safety net, especially for the very poor and children, with an emphasis on family-related issues like parental leave…she proposes, credibly, to raise that money with higher taxes on top incomes, so that the overall effect would be to reduce inequality. Democratic control of the House would also open the door for large-scale infrastructure investment….many progressive economists…will urge Mrs. Clinton to go significantly bigger than she is currently proposing.
It’s hard to see House Republicans supporting a big safety net expansion or the large scale spending progressives will want. But Dem control of the House still seems unlikely.
* AND THE POLL FINDING OF THE DAY: From the new Fox News poll of likely voters nationally poll :
Do you think Donald Trump is a good role model for children? Yes: 20 No: 77
By contrast, Clinton is seen as a good role model for children by 54-43. Maybe Michelle Obama was on to something.Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday defended GOP presidential nominee 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, who again linked Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzCornyn less popular than Cruz in Texas: poll Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 Inviting Kim Jong Un to Washington MORE’s (R-Texas) father to President John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald last week.
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“He’s got a right to talk about whatever he wants to talk about, however, I don’t think he was ever saying this was some sort of factual information,” Priebus said at a Sunday press conference in Philadelphia, according to the Washington Examiner.
“It was something he referred to. He’s talked about it, he’s gotten off from it. As far as I’m concerned we can move on from it.”
Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort put the blame on Cruz for reviving the controversy.
“It was raised by Sen. Cruz on Friday morning after the convention; it wasn’t raised by Mr. Trump,” he said.
Trump originally linked Cruz’s father to Kennedy’s assassin in May.Nthnews
Chinese Ambassador in Yemen Tian Chi, reiterated his country’s objective and justice situation from the Yemeni issue, while calling for preserving Yemen’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.
He reiterated in his article on the Internet, that China will firmly supports the political transition operation and economic reconstruction in Yemen and his country’s willingness to expand the cooperation with the Yemen.
Chi Jinbing En said “China will continue its obligation to the right values between interests and justice, and will continue to promote the solidarity and the cooperation with developing countries and bring China’s solution to global challenges”, revealing by the same path of “Chinese properties to solve the hot issues.”
He said in the Yemeni issue, China will continue its objective and justic situation, calling for the preservation of Yemen’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.
The Ambassador also confirmed his country’s firmly support for the political transition operation and the economic reconstruction of Yemen.
“The China is ready to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with the Yemen and promote the building “belt and road” after the war, especially in the scope of communication, exchanging, production capacity and cultural exchange to achieve common win”, he concluded.
The Chinese ambassador spoke in his article about the opening of the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese development line with the framework of the 2022-2035 vision, which extends into the middle of this century, beside the fixed foreign policy toward various international issues, including Yemen.A California high school teacher has been placed on paid leave after drawing comparisons between Adolf Hitler and President-elect Donald Trump in his classroom.
History teacher Frank Navarro was asked to leave Mountain View High School midday Thursday after a parent wrote an email to the school complaining about his lecture, he told the Monterey Herald.
Navarro, who is a Holocaust scholar, said his lesson was based on facts. Both Trump and Hitler, during their rise to power, vowed to deport foreigners and make their country “great again,” he noted.
KPIX Mountain View High School history teacher Frank Navarro was placed on paid leave after comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler during a class lecture.
“This feels like we’re trying to squash free speech,” he told the paper. “Everything I talk about is factually based. They can go and check it out. It’s not propaganda or bias if it’s based on hard facts.”
Navarro, who has taught at the school for the last 40 years, told The Mercury News that he was not allowed to read the parent’s email and that school officials declined his offer to review his lesson plan with him.
A Change.org petition to reverse Navarro’s administrative leave received more than 6,500 signatures as of Sunday morning.
Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc via Getty Images Navarro has maintained that he delivered facts to his students, not opinions. Others around the world have drawn similarities between the president-elect and the fascist dictator.
The petition quotes Navarro as saying: “To stand quiet in the face of bigotry and to turn your eyes away from it is to back up the bigotry, and that’s not what I, or any history teacher, should be doing in our work.”
In addition to revoking his suspension, the petition seeks an apology to the teacher from the school, “for attempting to intimidate a respected educator. We will not stand for censorship and respectability politics.”
Navarro, speaking to The Mercury News, said he was initially told he could return on Wednesday, but the school district’s Superintendent Jeff Harding has since told him he can come back as early as Monday.
“We are interested in getting Frank back in the classroom … we’re just trying to maintain our due diligence,” Harding told the paper. “We have a heightened emotional environment right now with the election. It’s always a challenge to maintain a line in a classroom.”Brendan Gleeson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw win the acting honors
Though not one but two American critics' groups handed out their awards on Sunday, UK eyes were on the British Independent Film Awards, where Pride was particularly successful. But on the whole, it was a nicely varied group of winners.
Pride got Best British Independent Film, with Imelda Staunton named Best Supporting Actress and Andrew Scott scoring Best Supporting Actor. Other awards went to the likes of Frank’s Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan for their script, while ‘71’s Yann Demange won Best Director. And even here, Boyhood managed to sneak in, nabbing Best International Independent Film.
Take a look at the full list below.
Best British Independent Film
*Pride*
Best Director
Yann Demange – ‘71
The Douglas Hickox Award [Best Debut Director]
Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard – 20,000 Days on Earth
Best Screenplay
Jon Ronson, Peter Straughan – Frank
Best Actress
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Belle
Best Actor
Brendan Gleeson – Calvary
Best Supporting Actress Imelda Staunton –Pride
Best Supporting Actor
Andrew Scott – Pride
Most Promising Newcomer
Sameena Jabeen Ahmed – Catch Me Daddy
Best Achievement In Production
The Goob
Best Technical Achievement
Stephen Rennicks – Music – Frank
Best Documentary
Next Goal Wins
Best British Short
The Kármán Line
Best International Independent Film
Boyhood
The Raindance Award
Luna
The Richard Harris Award
Emma Thompson
The Variety Award
Benedict Cumberbatch
The Special Jury Prize
John BoormanCan we take a minute to talk about the amazing spectacle that is Jimmy Fallon impersonating Jim Morrison singing "Reading Rainbow"? Starting... now.
If you missed "Late Night" last Friday, you missed yet another installment in Fallon's music-legend-covering-unexpected-songs series that started with his Neil Young singing "Pants on the Ground." This time, Fallon performed a dead-on impersonation of Mr. Mojo Risin' crooning the theme song to the classic children's educational program that begins, "Butterfly in the sky..."
Our favorite part is the lengths the show goes to for authenticity: The outfits worn by "The Doors," the camera angles, even the aspect ratio make it look more of a '60s-style TV performance. And while we're not surprised that The Roots can effortlessly nail The Doors' sound, we're still impressed.by Beth Daley and Bruce Gellerman
Federal prosecutors are investigating an asbestos-removal company active in the Boston area to see whether the firm withheld wages and benefits from workers, according to people familiar with the matter.
The case is part of widening U.S. Justice Department activity and private civil action targeting asbestos-removal and demolition contractors for alleged worker mistreatment amid a construction and renovation boom in Massachusetts.
Registered asbestos-abatement jobs in the state totaled 25,660 in 2016, up 64 per cent in five years, as construction materials in many older buildings being torn apart for renovation often contain the carcinogenic mineral.
Within the last two years, two criminal cases and three civil lawsuits have been brought in U.S. District Court in Boston alleging companies are cheating asbestos-removal or demolition workers on wage and benefits payments. In one of the cases, the owner of an asbestos-abatement firm pleaded guilty to federal charges after prosecutors alleged he paid workers in cash to avoid employment taxes and payments he owed to union benefit funds.
The asbestos and demolition workforce has a large number of immigrants, some of whom have told The Eye and WBUR Public Radio that they believe they are being exposed to asbestos without adequate protective breathing masks or other required safeguards. Inhalation of asbestos fibers can lead to lung cancer and other potentially deadly diseases.
On the wage front, a federal investigation is looking at Absolute Environmental, a Salem, New Hampshire-based company according to industry insiders, including one former worker who testified before a federal grand jury in Boston hearing evidence in the case.
Union benefit-fund officials sued Absolute Environmental Inc. and a second company, Absolute Environmental Contractors Inc., in 2015. The officials alleged a scheme in which Absolute Environmental’s owners used the second company as a front to pay workers less and avoid making benefits payments mandated by a collective bargaining agreement.
Proceedings in the lawsuit have been put on hold until May as the parties try to reach an agreement.
“Absolute was cheating me,” said Jean Jimenez, 27, of Methuen, who said he went before the grand jury about nine months ago, and was asked about the company and how his wages were paid there.
Two other people with direct knowledge of the investigation say it is ongoing. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston did not respond to several requests for comment.
Absolute Environmental said in a statement that it “is a highly regarded business which operates in a lawful and responsible manner.” It called the union lawsuit “without merit” and said “it looks forward to vindicating its position in court.” The statement said the company wouldn’t comment on “speculation about government investigations.”
Jimenez, a union member, said he worked for the company for about two years and quit in 2015 because he wasn’t always paid the wages he was due.
Red check, green check
According to Jimenez and the union lawsuit, he was paid $34.75 an hour from Absolute Environmental for removing asbestos-filled floor adhesive from the Prudential Center in Boston and for abatement work at a power plant in Salem, Massachusetts.
But the lawsuit said that in his next paycheck he was paid $17 an hour for similar work in a South Boston warehouse. In both cases, Jimenez said he picked up a company truck at the same Absolute location in Salem, N.H., before heading to work.
“They think people are not going to talk” and “that they are just grateful to work,” said Jimenez, who estimated he is owed at least $5,000 in back pay. He said union wages were paid with a red check, and non-union wages were paid with a green check.
In a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, 11 workers have accused another contractor, Skinner Demolition, of underpaying them and providing them with inadequate asbestos protection. Scott Connolly, an attorney for Skinner Services Inc., which runs the demolition company, said the allegations in the MCAD complaint were unfounded.
One of the complainants in the case, Marco Lopez, is also a plaintiff in a separate federal lawsuit filed in November against Skinner and its owners for alleged non-payment of wages. According to the lawsuit, Lopez drove workers between job sites and Skinner’s headquarters without pay, sometimes up to three hours each way, and also had weekly deductions taken from his checks for “uniform washing” that was done only two or three times in 18 months.
“We don’t get paid for all the work we do,” said Lopez.
Skinner and its attorney didn’t return requests for comment on the federal lawsuit and Lopez’s allegations.
Disputes about wages and working conditions are hardly unique to the asbestos abatement industry. But many asbestos workers are vulnerable because they have entered the country illegally, and are typically in no position to complain or switch jobs, according to workers and labor advocates.
There are more than 3,400 asbestos-removal workers licensed in the state, and demolition companies employ thousands of others who can also confront the carcinogen on the job.
“Because of the nature of asbestos work, the industry uses the most vulnerable workers,” who fear deportation, according to Tom Juravich, professor of labor studies at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Union allegations
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston indicted the New Hampshire owners of Air Quality Experts Inc. and AQE Inc. in January 2016, alleging a scheme that cheated workers out of about $2 million in payments to health, pension and other employee benefit funds. Union officials who run the funds filed a federal civil lawsuit with similar allegations against the companies in 2015.
Both the indictment and civil case allege that AQE signed an agreement with a local union in 2005 promising to pay union wages to all its employees. According to the lawsuit and indictment, AQE owners Christopher and Kimberly Thompson also own Air Quality Experts, which allegedly paid workers below their entitled rates and didn’t contribute toward their pension and other funds. The indictment also said some employees weren’t paid for all hours worked.
Owners are allowed to have two companies that do similar work, one union and one non-union. But case law and construction-industry attorneys say they must be run as separate organizations with separate employees, operations and management. The criminal indictment alleges that AQE and Air Quality Experts were essentially operating as a single organization.
Howard Cooper, the Thompsons’ attorney, said that prosecuting the couple “is unjust and absurd.” He added that they “would like to know where that $2 million is because they don’t have it.”
Cooper said Air Quality Experts existed for more than two decades as a non-union shop and always paid non-union wages. AQE was formed later to give union workers, and the business, more opportunity, but that did not require the Thompsons to start paying non-unionized workers union wages, according to Cooper.
In pre-trial proceedings, U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris said she had “deep concerns” about the case because it wasn’t clear workers were being defrauded, according to hearing transcripts.
In a separate federal case, Ronald P. Mulcahey, the owner of Andover-based Wing Environmental, pleaded guilty in October to tax evasion and making false statements to union benefit plans covered by the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act.
Mulcahey paid asbestos abatement workers in cash to avoid benefits payments and employment-tax payments to the government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March.
Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@bu.edu. Bruce Gellerman can be reached at bruceg@bu.edu. Jenifer McKim of The Eye and Will Norris, an Eye intern, contributed to this story.Per Danny Morrison:
Carolina Panthers outline deal, stadium priorities - Charlotte Business Journal
An indoor practice facility, escalators at all of the stadium entrances and two cycles of video boards and other high-tech features top the list of improvements for the Carolina Panthers as part of a $300 million proposal with local and state taxpayers. Danny Morrison, the Panthers' team president, outlined more details from the negotiations and a stadium master plan on Monday afternoon during an interview at his office inside Bank of America Stadium. Populous, the Kansas City-based firm that designed the 17-year-old stadium, conducted the assessment. The firm was known as HOK Sport when it drew up the plans for the 74,000-seat uptown stadium.
So we are going to pump $300M into a stadium that we already plan to replace in 2026? Hey, I'm all about top of the line scoreboards and video. Escalators are a welcome improvement as well coming from someone usually in the upper deck.
Nothing is free in this world right? The money has to come from somewhere and the city agreed to help out:
The agreement relies on a 1 percent increase in the tax on restaurant meals and bar tabs, a hike that requires approval from the state legislature.
Now before you get too offended please know the Panthers economic impact to the city as a whooping $636M annually.
On Friday, City Council endorsed the framework of a deal that would contribute $143.75 million toward renovations at the team's privately owned stadium in exchange for a 15-year commitment to keep the Panthers in Charlotte.
A little less than half with the remainder paid by the team. I would say the shrewd Mr. Jerry Richardson got another nice deal done. Yet the city got a sweetener as well:
In addition, the Panthers would kick in $96.25 million, though $15 million of that is for maintenance, an obligation the team undertook from the start since it owns the stadium. Another $18.75 million from the Panthers comes from a clause providing the city with five rent-free days to use the stadium each year, including the Belk Bowl college football game.
The Belk Bowl Lives!Anybody who owns an ADT-1 has noticed the inexplicable absence of a Play Music app, something that became even more apparent after the Nexus Player began shipping with it. Well, the wait is finally over! An update to the Play Music app began rolling out earlier today, and it includes a banner on the Leanback Launcher for those of us with Google's development hardware. If you've got a Nexus Player, you haven't been left out with this update. You've now got access to a list of recently played tracks and recommendations, just like you would have on a phone, tablet, or the web.
Left: old, Right: new.
Play Music banner on the ADT-1
The only other immediately noticeable addition is a menu option for Settings, but it just provides a link to the open source licenses Google has to disclose. Hopefully it will gain a little more value in the future. While this update does bring the Android TV experience a little closer to that of its Android brethren, there are a few missing features. Most notably, there's no way to manage a playlist, and the artist page still doesn't show a background description.
There don't appear to be any visible changes to the app on phones and tablets, but we're still looking. Let us know in the comments if you stumble on to anything.
The app is still not showing up on the Android TV Play Store for me, so it's either on a staged rollout, or it hasn't been officially cleared by Google's recently assembled team of curators yet. But you don't have to wait, we've got the apk available for download below.
Download
The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.
File name: com.google.android.music-5.7.1780Q.1590147-1780-minAPI14.apk
Version: 5.7.1780Q.1590147 (1780)
MD5: 3a71155a80fa4baee576f4d3de70d879Update: At the request of Ancient Faith Radio, this post has been recorded for your listening edification.
In the anticipation preceding yesterday’s election of the new Roman pontiff, especially what with the American media’s constant chatter about reform for the Roman Catholic Church, I could not help but be reminded of a somewhat less-anticipated primatial election that is still fresh in the hearts of the faithful of my own church, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch. In December, the Holy Synod of Antioch somewhat surprisingly elected Metropolitan John Yazigi of Europe, a Syrian-Lebanese scholar and pastor who for only a few years served as the Antiochian Orthodox Metropolitan of Europe.
Patriarch John X of Antioch is very much regarded as someone with a fresh and flexible approach to church life, though nevertheless uncompromising in the ways that an Orthodox hierarch should be. In this at least, it may be said that the election of the new bishop of Rome, the Argentinian Jesuit Cardinal-Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, marks a similar accession for his own church.
My purpose here, though, is not to engage in a thoroughgoing comparison of these two men in terms of their personal biographies and qualities (though that might be quite interesting) but rather to offer a few brief reflections in terms of the kinds of reform each of these two men might be capable of offering by virtue of their office as it is understood in the dogma of the respective churches.
And it’s also worth noting here that I am not merely comparing two primates but rather two primates who, according to Christian tradition, sit upon the Chair of Peter. Even though there is no evidence (Update: I really should have written “scant and not universally established evidence”) that Peter was ever bishop in Rome, it is the tradition of both the Orthodox and Latin churches that Peter did indeed exercise episcopal authority in Antioch, long before he ever came to Rome. There is even a feast day on the Roman calendar whose ancient name was |
of cowboys, you’re a kung fu master in a group with a demon, Harry Potter’s older brother, and a centaur who shoots lasers named Laserhorse. This means the lone wolf has to work harder to be a misfit among misfits, and odds are good that at least one of them is also a lone wolf. This brings about the minigame which I like to call The Loniest Wolf that Ever Did Wolf. You can’t have two lone wolves (or three, or four), so it becomes a bit of a competition to see who can be loner. I once had this end with a character who spent the entire session in the forest, ignoring everything, and then left the party. The point is that even if you win the game, you still lose. You lose out on participating in the game, which is what you came to do in the first place.
The Anti-Team
The other problem is that the core concept of the lone wolf involves not participating. It doesn’t just mean building different relationships, but not building relationships, whether that’s with the innkeeper or with the other party members. That works fine in stories because the author is in control of all of the characters, but players can feel like they’re being taken for granted, or that the lone wolf isn’t participating fully.This works both ways, as well. The lone wolf doesn’t necessarily reap all of the rewards which other PCs do, which can leave the player feeling left out, rather than just the character.
When addressing the lone wolf concept, the usual line is that they’ll come out of their shell and grow into the group, which happens all of the time in media, but is harder when you have four other misfits bombing around a fantasy world. For one thing, the thing that makes the lone wolf stand out is that they’re the lone wolf, so losing that by running with the pack means sacrificing something important about the character. Look at Wolverine, who’s had to play the lone wolf for nearly forty years now, resulting in all manner of ridiculousness. For another, we all know that characters shake out differently in play than they do in our heads. If you don’t know that, let me reiterate. Your character is never going to play out exactly like they do in your head, because you didn’t think about how they’ll react to the party’s bomb-obsessed gnome and philandering ogre. If it’s any consolation, no one else’s will either.
So those are the problems with the lone wolf. They have trouble participating, they’re hard to bring in from the cold, and they have to be lonier than any other lone wolf to really be the lone wolf. In short, they’re focused on isolation, when roleplaying games are chiefly focused on co-operation. But it is a really important archetype, so how do you make it work? Here are a few ways.
1. Negotiate
As with any character, negotiate. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. Making what you’re looking for clear to the GM and the players vastly improves your odds of getting it. It lets them set up the kind of opportunities that you’re looking for, and tells them that this is a goal that you have as a player. Imagine the kinds of circumstances you want to see your lone wolf in, and be open to suggestions and other ideas. It’ll also let you know if anyone else is planning on being a lone wolf type, and help you work together to accommodate each other, rather than playing the Loniest Wolf that Ever Did Wolf.
2. Have a Trigger
Have something that immediately brings your character in from the cold. Something that, if the issue arises or is framed in that way, there’s no question of your character’s cooperation. A good example of this is kids. A lot of lone wolf characters care about kids, and will stop at nothing to help them. So if a situation is framed in such a way taht it helps a kid, then they’re in, no questions asked, no hemming and hawing. This lets the group rely on your character more effectively, and creates a way of building relationships both with characters in the setting and the other PCs. Make it broad, an idea or class of person, rather than a specific person. Of course your character will cooperate to destroy their nemesis, but that serves them, rather than serving the rest of the group as well.
3. Recognize that the Lone Wolf is Transitory
You can’t be the lone wolf forever. In fact, you don’t even want to be the lone wolf forever. Imagine if Han Solo had just taken off, and never come back to the rebellion. He never would have gotten the girl, or had amazing adventures…Or been frozen in carbonite. Carbonite aside, the purpose of the lone wolf is to one day not be the lone wolf. Be ready to move beyond that. Have a list of things you want to happen in order to move beyond that, but don’t get married to that list. Most importantly, don’t make being the lone wolf the defining part of the character. What makes them stand out once they’re part of the party? That’s the question that matters the most.
The lone wolf is a really challenging concept, but with some preparation and cooperation from the GM and the rest of the players, it can be a lot of fun. Unlike a lot of things in roleplaying, it’s the planning that matters most rather than the execution. What experiences, good or bad, have you had with lone wolf characters?Finally, somebody said it. It’s out there now. For those of you who haven’t seen it, Angel Garcia, father of undefeated welterweight Danny Garcia, expressed his confusion to fighthype.com over just why in the hell Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman, two young, talented welterweights, would want to fight each other. FOR GOD’S SAKE, ONE OF THEM COULD LOSE.
Garcia is correct, one of them would likely walk out of the ring with a loss on the old record. This is how boxing works now. If a fighter loses, the fame, fortune, and women all vanish into the ether like they were never there. Why take that kind of risk when you don’t have to?
To be fair, this isn’t an indictment of Angel. His son is a fighter. If one of my sons were fighting, I’d certainly feel better if he got paid well to fight guys who didn’t pose a serious risk to his health. That’s just nature. But Angel wasn’t talking about his son. He was talking about two other guys. Why fight each other “when they could fight a Salka?” He was of course referencing the guy Danny bludgeoned in 2014, Rod Salka, who at the time was ranked just above Rod Stewart at junior welterweight. It was a pathetic, disgusting mismatch on paper. It was worse in the ring. If a boxer can make a million or so fighting a no-hoper, why the hell would he fight a top dog?
This is The Haymon Effect — low risk, high reward, everybody goes home happy. Except the fans. Sadly, it isn’t confined to powerhouse advisor Al Haymon’s stable, but he is the archetype.
Garcia, who fights Robert Guerrero as part of Haymon’s “Premier Boxing Champions” network on Fox Saturday night, has got the full treatment. He sparked Amir Khan before defeating the murderous-punching Lucas Matthysse in 2013. He was the king at 140 lbs.
Since then, he’s become one of the most despised fighters in the sport. He was gifted a decision against Mauricio Herrera. Then he ruined Salka, a lightweight he had no business fighting. Next was another questionable decision victory over Lamont Peterson, followed by another easy victory over the completely shot Paulie Malignaggi. Not exactly a murderer’s row. Not exactly a career-building resume. But it wasn’t just him.
Peter Quillin called out Gennady Golovkin and fought Michael Zerafa before he was humiliated in one round by Daniel Jacobs. Floyd Mayweather’s swan song came against Andre Berto, a guy who hasn’t been relevant in years. Manny Pacquiao opted to fight Tim Bradley for a ridiculous third time — after arguably winning 20 out of the 24 rounds they’ve fought — instead of the dangerous Terence Crawford. The point is, this is happening all over, and it will continue because nothing will be done about it. Oscar De La Hoya can tell us until he’s blue in the face that his star, Canelo Alvarez, wants to fight Golovkin. But he will make a ton of money regardless of who he fights. Will he really risk his title (and his long-term health) fighting that beast?
The UFC isn’t perfect. But there’s one guy there who calls the shots. The champion faces the top contenders or he’s no longer the champion. It just doesn’t work that way in boxing. There are too many cooks in the kitchen. Frankly, there are too many kitchens. WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, etc. Each weight class has about 14 champions, interim champions, champs in recess, silver champs, diamond champs, super-extra-awesome champs, and plain, boring regular champs.
Real, lineal world champions are either barely recognized by networks or completely ignored. The fighters who are skilled enough to reach the highest levels of the sport simply don’t have to fight to stay there. There are plenty of lower-tier contenders who would kill to get a shot at one of them, even if it likely ends in a beating.
Outside of being on the receiving end of some hellish twitter-wrath, there just isn’t much incentive for fighters to take major risks. But what many of them don’t understand is that a guy like Canelo could lose to Golovkin and the world wouldn’t implode. Nothing would change for him, like it didn’t change when Mayweather schooled him. He’d be lauded for taking the shot.
Garcia could do the same. Would it be risky to fight a guy like Terence Crawford? Absolutely. But a loss wouldn’t signal the end for him, just like it wasn’t the end for guys like Mosley, De La Hoya, Pacquiao and Froch.
A precious handful of fighters leave this sport with an unscathed record. Here’s a surprise — nobody gives a shit. Fight the best. Take the risk. Reap the rewards, win or lose. Guys like Garcia will earn a lot of money either way. But one way earns scorn, while the other earns respect. Sometimes, respect gets you farther. Because when you lose, and odds-on you will, isn’t it better for it to be at the hands of a fighter considered your equal, rather than “a Salka?”
Some Random Notes From This Weekend:
Showtime is back, baby!!! And what a show to make their triumphant return. We had Paulie Malignaggi stumbling all over every sentence, Jimmy Lennon introducing a fight for the nonexistent “IBAF” belt, Mike Tyson making up new words and a guy shredding his ACL. And that was just the first half hour.
How many freak injuries have to occur before somebody does something about the advertisements plastered all over ring canvases? Now, Vyacheslav Glazkov was probably on his way to a loss anyway, and the injury probably spared us from a God awful fight, but that was just a horrible break for the guy. A Corona slogan ended not only his night, but most likely his entire 2016 campaign. That is an awful, senseless, completely avoidable way to go out.
We weren’t real sure what to make of southpaw heavyweight Charles Martin before his bout with Glazkov. Unfortunately, not a damn thing has changed.
Deontay Wilder didn’t exactly wow the crowd during his fight with Artur Szpilka, but good lord did he end the festivities properly. He landed a short but monstrous right hand directly on Szpilka’s jaw in the 9th round, rendering him instantly unconscious. He remained on the mat for a scary amount of time, and of course Showtime made sure to catch Szpilka’s horrified wife sobbing at the sight of him. One thing is clear — Wilder has good hand speed and the power to wipe anybody out with a single shot.
Wilder’s post-fight interviews are always entertaining, but there’s nothing more entertaining than when a 6’9” drunk gypsy who happens to be the real heavyweight champion of the world stumbles into the ring and makes Jim Gray soil himself. Fury did all of us a favor by ripping the microphone away from him. If he’d bopped him on the head with it like whack-a-mole, he’d have been my hero.
The sight of those two giants smack talking each other from mere inches away gave me hope for the heavyweight division. Finally, I think this thing has a pulse. Now all they have to do is fight each other. Should be simple, right?Storm-clouds seen June 23, 2015 in Southeast Michigan. (Photo: Getty Images)
Hail and wind gusts up to 60 m.p.h. are possible in southeast Michigan today as afternoon thunderstorms are forecast, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service issued a "Hazardous Weather Outlook," advising that strong thunderstorms, "with a couple becoming marginally severe," are possible. But weather service meteorologist Sara Schultz said the storms likely will be isolated.
"With the few storms that may develop, threats are damaging winds and hail of 1 inch," said Schultz, based in White Lake Township.
She said there's a 70% chance for rain today, and the highest chances for storms will be from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. After a mild Friday, temperatures are to plummet, "leading to possible freeze/frost concerns," according to the weather service.
Schultz said to expect highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s this weekend.
Contact Robert Allen @rallenMI or rallen@freepress.com.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1TcAeDXWHAT does Germany want? The question comes up in every discussion about the euro. What it does not want is clear enough: no “transfer union”, no pooling of national debts and no break-up of the single currency. But it is hard to know how it hopes to reconcile these aims, harder still to discern the ultimate goal of Germany's European policy.
All of a sudden, though, Berlin is abuzz with talk of remaking the European Union: issuing joint Eurobonds, renegotiating the EU's treaties, even creating a federal Europe. Nobody knows if any of this will come about. The obstacles to fundamental change are so forbidding that leaders will always be tempted to try to muddle through. Yet the terms of Germany's debate are shifting. German politicians seem to have decided that the time has come to start redesigning European institutions. Again.
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German Euro-federalists have woken up after a long slumber. It is no surprise that Joschka Fischer, the Greens' elder statesman, should call for the “United States of Europe”. More striking is that Gerhard Schröder, a former Social Democratic chancellor, uttered the same words, as did Ursula von der Leyen, the labour minister and a leading Christian Democrat. This week Mr Schröder was in Brussels alongside other ex-leaders—Felipe Gonzáles of Spain, Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium and Matti Vanhanen of Finland—calling for Eurobonds, EU powers to raise taxes, “Europe-wide public goods” and a European “federation”.
This might sound like the ravings of a has-been. Certainly, it flies in the face of rising Euroscepticism across the continent. Yet the German government itself is talking of reshaping the EU's institutions. Angela Merkel, the chancellor, says that reopening the treaties is no taboo. Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, talks of one day giving up some sovereignty over budgets.
Germany's change of mind is born of twin failures, of the financial measures so far taken in the euro zone and of political strategy in Germany. As the debt crisis has deepened, Germany has had to retreat from one red line after another. Last year's bail-out of Greece was meant to be a one-off; since then Ireland and Portugal have been rescued and Greece has come back for more. A big European bail-out fund was supposed to be a temporary measure; now it is being made permanent.
The debacle is weakening Germany's ruling coalition. Surveys show that Germans are fed up with the euro. But neither the Christian Democrats' opposition to Eurobonds nor the Free Democrats' flirtation with more overt Euroscepticism are winning them votes. By contrast, the Social Democrats and the Greens are making gains even though they want Eurobonds that could merge ultra-safe German debt with Greek junk.
“This is a strange country,” says Hans-Olaf Henkel, a former head of the German business federation, who once supported the euro but now advocates breaking it up into a northern and southern currency. “Public opinion does not like the euro, but does not want to hear of an alternative to it.” The strangeness is due, in no small part, to the disasters of history. Post-war Germany bound itself with rules and treaties in order to resist past temptations: a strong constitution to restrain politicians, fiscal rules to banish hyperinflation, the EU to tame nationalism.
The euro zone's crisis has tested the efficacy of these European rules and led Germans to ask why they should pay when others break them. But as the constitutional court showed this week, European integration is too much part of Germany's post-war redemption to be abandoned easily, however many problems it may cause. So some Christian Democrats now want to reclaim the pro-Europe heritage of Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl. The best way to confront Euroscepticism, they say, is to improve and deepen the EU.
There is some difference between Mrs Merkel and the Europhile Mr Schäuble over how to do it. Both agree that the euro zone's problems have been caused by the laxness of countries that piled up debt and lost competitiveness. Both want new ways to enforce budget rules. Both think that, issued now, Eurobonds would kill what little zeal for reform exists. Both hope stricter rules would not only resolve the crisis but ensure it does not recur. But they differ on the future and on Eurobonds. For Mrs Merkel, rules and rectitude would narrow bond spreads and make Eurobonds unnecessary. For Mr Schäuble, tougher rules are a necessary condition for Eurobonds and closer political union.
We don't know what we want but we're happy to discuss it
Germany, then, does not know what it wants—but is ready to talk anyway. Its politicians recognise that the current system cannot provide long-term stability in the euro zone. They also know that dangers lurk in any attempt to renegotiate that system.
Resistance in the German Bundestag and elsewhere means that even the partial bail-out measures agreed in July are getting bogged down. What are the chances that the EU can agree on an even bigger leap towards fiscal integration? And what are the chances that citizens would vote for it? Perhaps the crisis might be a spur to the federalist impulse, but nobody can count on that. What is certain is that any treaty changing the EU's institutions would be disruptive. The EU spent the best part of a decade writing a constitution, rejecting it and finally reviving it as the 2009 Lisbon treaty. Any further loss of sovereignty might require Germany to amend its constitution. Britain would seek to repatriate powers. Inevitably, a more integrated euro zone would raise questions about the ten countries, many in Germany's hinterland, that remain outside. Without liberal economies like Britain to resist protectionism, the single market might be endangered. It would be a tragedy if the attempt to save the euro were to put the single market at risk. Germany would not want that either.Even in 2016 there’s a lot of brave talk from newspaper and magazine publishers insisting their print products are not doomed, despite falling advertising revenue and circulation, quarterly announcements of layoffs and buyouts, and unconvincing arguments that they’re adapting to digital quite nicely. It’ll just be a matter of time, they say, before survival is assured.
In fairness, what else can they say? Yet it’s wishful thinking. After James Comey’s FBI stunner about Hillary Clinton last Friday, there was, of course, a social media fury, with partisans slugging it out, and, as Stephen Stills sang 50 years ago, “mostly saying hooray for our side.” I’ve no idea—and neither does anyone else who’s honest—how Comey’s last-minute announcement affects next week’s election, but I can just imagine the reaction of acclaimed author Thomas Mallon upon hearing the news. Mallon, whose historical novels Finale, Watergate, Bandbox, and Dewey Defeats Truman, among others, are hilarious romps through well-known eras, published an essay in the October 31 New Yorker headlined “Presumptive,” which speculated on how a historical novel of this campaign might be constructed. (He’s not volunteering, as he’s currently at work on a book about George W. Bush’s second term.)
Yet once Comey became the center of attention, Mallon’s piece was essentially obsolete. On the assumption of a Clinton victory, Mallon wrote that the central character had to be Hillary, as the most nuanced, bitter, and conflicted figure in the election. He said Donald Trump would be given short shrift because, “Trump lacks even the two-dimensionality required in a sociopath; the emotional range is as impoverished as the vocabulary.” No disagreement here, but if Trump does win on Nov. 8—far more of a possibility than when the story was written—Mallon’s hypothetical outline for Presumptive would be thrown in trash.
And that’s just a small example of how instantly dated weekly magazines can become when centering on political events. It’s one reason that I, a New Yorker subscriber since the 1980s, rarely get around to reading the magazine anymore, save for Anthony Lane’s film reviews and perhaps a short story. I’m not a fan of Ryan Lizza’s political slant, but he works hard, sometimes for months at a time on a story, but how many readers, even fellow subscribers, get around to his dispatches? It reminds me of Elizabeth Drew’s “Letter From Washington,” a staple in The New Yorker until Tina Brown, upon assuming editorship in 1992, wisely cut her off, certainly because her long essays were dated—and this is pre-Internet—and likely because Drew is such a boring writer.
Daily newspapers face the same hobgoblin: each morning I pick up The Wall Street Journal and New York Times from my curb, and, scanning the headlines, realize I’m already familiar with the stories from the afternoon or night before. Worse still, at 61, I was raised on print and stubbornly continue to subscribe to a number of publications; younger men and women, perhaps no less dedicated to reading, don’t; instead scrolling online for material of interest.
In Mallon’s story, he explains why Anthony Weiner wouldn’t rate much space in Presumptive: “The temptation to add to this cohort Anthony Weiner, another minor character with a manna-from-heaven name and career story is overwhelming… but he doesn’t get a callback for something like the opposite reason of the one excluding Kaine and Pence: Weiner is the sort of character who could run away with the book. Moreover, his once farcical story has recently taken a dark and creepy turn with those texts to an underage girl; if all he can offer, instead of comic relief, is more misery and loathing, we don’t want him.”
Scratch! Now that Weiner, perhaps the only man in America who tops Trump for sheer grossness, is a key figure in the FBI investigation of Clinton’s emails, he’d have to, and I think Mallon would agree, take a role in Presumptive. Perhaps the worst news for Clinton, rather than the hard-to-understand workings of the FBI, is Weiner’s mug (and sexts) now reprised in the media, and the thought that he had access to then-wife Huma Abedin’s computer, and Hillary’s emails, has caused serious Democrats across the country to dirty their drawers.
At least for Thomas Mallon, this sudden change in the political environment was a “Nuts, my story doesn’t work now” moment, but he’ll be paid a handsome fee, and get on with his writing. But for The New Yorker, it’s a clear sign that its days as a “must-read” are over.
—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER1955Magic Leap, an augmented-reality startup that has raised close to $2 billion without even publicly demonstrating a product, is pulling back the curtains a bit—on its website, at least. The company now says it will release a headset next year for developers, though it still won’t divulge how much it will cost or when, exactly, it will ship.
On a new version of its website unveiled Wednesday, Magic Leap showed images of an almost retro-looking pair of black, goggle-like glasses called Magic Leap One, which it says will mix digital images with reality in a way that appears extremely realistic and is comfortable to view for a long time. As in the past, though, the company doesn’t get too specific about how this will work, beyond saying it’s using technology involving the re-creation of light fields, which are the patterns created when light bounces off an object.
Magic Leap, which is based far from most tech hubs in South Florida, has been working secretively on its headset since 2011; a demo of the technology I saw in late 2014 included impressively rendered monsters that seemed to exist in the room with me. Those images were created by large machines rather than a head-mounted display, however, and shrinking the technology down to a comfortable, wearable size is a daunting task, even with the company’s funding.
Magic Leap founder and CEO Rony Abovitz has spent years working on an AR headset, raising nearly $2 billion in the process. Brian Ach | Getty Images
It’s still unclear how big or heavy Magic Leap One will be. It will not be tethered to a computer, but it will need to connect to a device called a Lightpack for computing and power.
The company says it will have sensors that allow it to take stock of the world around you in order to properly place digital objects in it, like a virtual pet on your desk, for instance—something that sounds similar to what Apple and Google are enabling developers to do with their AR tools for iPhones and Android-running smartphones. Magic Leap also says the headset will remember physical details of your environment, like walls and objects, so that digital objects you put in specific places while wearing the headset (say, a virtual computer display on a desk in your office) will still be there the next time you put on the headset in the same room.
The company says users will be able to interact with Magic Leap One by using their voices and gestures, and that the headset will also track head pose and eye position. There will be a handheld remote as well.
Additionally, Magic Leap plans to offer software tools for developers to start making apps for the headset early next year.
The augmented- and virtual-reality landscape has grown a lot in the years since Magic Leap began its work. There are now a number of consumer-geared virtual-reality headsets on the market, though they’re still very much a niche product. A handful of AR headsets such as Microsoft’s HoloLens and Meta’s Meta 2 have been released, but they are still mainly geared toward developers, and they are still quite limited in terms of how well they work and what you can do with them (at this point, Magic Leap is not the only company working on light-field technology for AR, however). Smartphone-based AR, meanwhile, has greatly improved.
Magic Leap is often reluctant to speak to journalists, and spokeswoman Julia Gaynor had no comment beyond the details shown online. CEO and founder Rony Abovitz seems to prefer occasionally promising Magic Leap details via social media—on December 12, for instance, he said that some “fun and cool stuff” might be coming the following week.In The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road, Cameron Tuttle suggests the following technique for getting out of a DUI: If you get pulled over, immediately step out of the car with a bottle of your favorite liquor and chug a couple shots' worth. The officer now has no way of proving you were drinking before you got out of the car. Interesting thought, but is this actually true? Perhaps the most the officer could do would be to cite you for public intoxication/open container in public?
Cecil replies:
Yes, Hazle, that’s an interesting thought. But can you imagine this ridiculous gambit actually working here in reality land? I didn’t think so. Tuttle concedes as much, prefacing her advice with the comment that “if you’ve been drinking and have an open bottle of hard liquor in your car, you’re already in deep shit. So what do you really have to lose?”
Let’s back up a bit. Prior to Breathalyzer-type technology, which measures blood alcohol concentration (BAC), drunk driving was a tough charge to make stick — prosecutors needed witnesses to testify about the defendant’s slurred speech, unstable gait, and so on. Things got only slightly easier after BAC testing devices became available in the 1930s. Although a high BAC was telling evidence, you still needed corroborating testimony about drunken behavior, plus you had to have an expert witness explain what BAC meant. Eventually states wised up and passed “per se” laws, which defined drunk driving quite simply: operating a vehicle with a certain minimum BAC. Today it’s.08 percent.
Depending on how the law is written, this approach can still present problems for prosecutors. BAC, of course, is measured only after the driver’s been pulled over, enabling some to claim their BAC increased after they stopped driving. There’s something to that argument, as BAC typically peaks 30 to 60 minutes after your last drink.
Some states get around this by defining drunk driving as (a) operating a vehicle and (b) having a BAC over the limit within a given time afterward. In these jurisdictions it’s legally irrelevant whether the offending BAC was achieved after you stopped driving. Certain states, however, do permit the defendant to prove postoperation consumption was responsible for the offending BAC.
So maybe you could weasel your way out of an incriminating Breathalyzer test. That doesn’t mean Tuttle’s stratagem will work. Courts in New Jersey, evidently a hotbed for this sort of thing, have dubbed her approach the “glove box defense,” after the presumed location of the driver’s emergency liquor stash. In one classic early case, State v. Lizotte (1993), police pulled the defendant over for speeding. He seemed drunk when questioned, had an open beer can on his dashboard, and blew BACs of.13 and.14. He was convicted of drunk driving but appealed the verdict, claiming he’d quickly downed the beer after being pulled over to avoid being charged with an open-container violation. Because he’d consumed alcohol after he’d stopped driving, he argued, the Breathalyzer test was invalid.
Nuh-uh, said the appeals court. Its implicit rationale: You’re operating a motor vehicle whenever you’re in control of it, not just when you’ve got it in motion. (In fact, people have been convicted of drunk driving for sleeping it off in a parked car.) That you claimed to have been stopped when you drank the beer makes no difference; you were still operating the vehicle.
You see what this means. If you’re in a jurisdiction that accepts a broad definition of operating a vehicle, chugging a bottle in front of a cop won’t help you, even if you’re physically outside the car. A court could easily conclude that technically you were still in control.
Despite its futility, the glove box defense apparently remains popular among New Jersey drunk drivers and their lawyers. In one 1999 incident, a guy had three beers at a tavern, then hit a car in the parking lot; he was subsequently convicted of DUI despite claiming that his BAC results were misleadingly high because following the collision he “drank whiskey from a VO bottle that he kept in his car.” More recently, the judge in a similar case noted, “To dismiss defendant’s charges based upon this finding would lead to the absurd result that anyone wishing to avoid a DWI conviction would merely have to drink alcohol after operation.” The glove box defense has been written up in practice guides for New Jersey lawyers as an example of a stunt not to try.
OK, you say, I won’t try it in Jersey. That still leaves 49 other states, the District of Columbia, and numerous territories and minor outlying islands. True, but bear in mind that state courts freely borrow legal precedents from one another. (Minnesota and Indiana, the other two main sources of case law on this point, are largely in line with New Jersey.) But who knows? Maybe they do things differently in Guam. Give it a whirl and let us know.
Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com.Three out of five authors in the popular non-fiction category at the Irish Book Awards sold less than 1,000 copies, Independent.ie can reveal.
Three out of five authors in the popular non-fiction category at the Irish Book Awards sold less than 1,000 copies, Independent.ie can reveal.
The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards took place on Monday night at Dublin's Clayton Hotel with expected aplomb - big names from the literary community including David Walliams and Cecelia Ahern rubbed shoulders with tv presenters and models, most of whom are relatively new to the publishing industry.
Vogue Williams & Spencer Matthews and Nicky Byrne attend The Marketing Society Annual Christmas Lunch and Research Excellence Awards 2017
Newcomers like Vogue Williams and Maia Dunphy were among the more recognisable on the red carpet, but both of their respective works weren't among some of the best-sellers in the room, or even their category, despite both of them bagging a nomination in the Popular Non-Fiction category.
Vogue's' book Everything, a lifestyle advice guide which covers everything from "her weekly workouts, to her go-to recipes for healthy eating, to make-up looks, tips on skin, how-to hair styles, packing for weekends away and dressing for different occasions", sold 883 hard copies in Ireland, according to Nielsen sales figures.
You could argue that it was a missed opportunity for Vogue, who, instead publishing a memoir about her personal life, instead focused on topics she largely covers on her social media channels, which followers can find free of charge. It still made €16,369.54.
RTE broadcaster Maia's book sold the worst out of the five nominees. Her work The M Word, the same name of her website, which again offers content free of charge, is inspired by her life as a new mother in which she "shares her experiences of dealing with unwanted advice, sleep deprivation, competitive parenting and dirty nappies". Its sales are valued at €6,425.
In fourth place came Dustin the Turkey's Wikibeaks, which sold 551 copies.
Writer Stefanie Preissner's book Why Can't Everything Just Stay The Same? And Other Things I Shout When I Can't Cope sold 1,867 copies in Ireland since it was published in October. The book details her personal experiences as she navigates through adulthood.
"From birthdays, to friendships, to Christmas homecomings, to social media (she's more JOMO than FOMO), to the importance of asking WWNSD? (What Would Nicole Scherzinger Do?) when faced with big decisions, to the changes you can't prevent like when someone breaks up with you, Why Can't Everything Just Stay the Same? is the hilarious and honest account of one woman's journey through the biggest change of all: adulthood," its description by publisher Hachette reads.
Eventually, the top prize on the night went to Motherfoclóir by Darach Ó Séaghdha, which "takes an irreverent, pun-friendly and contemporary approach to the Irish language". It sold 4,391 copies and made €53,047.65.
But the biggest seller in the group by a mile came in the form of journalist Caroline Foran's book on mental health, titled Owning It: Your Bulls**t Free Guide to Living with Anxiety, which sold an impressive 12,124 copies since it was published in May.
A spokesperson for the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Award did not comment, but when asked about the selection process for the popular book category, directed us to its website which explains how books are selected in each category.
"It should be noted that The Irish Book Awards are different in character from conventional literary awards where winners attract the subjective approval of a jury normally comprising 3-5 judges. To decide fifteen awards in this way would be impractical and inimical to our aim to canvas the widest possible sector of the reading public," the website reads.
"The aim is to select the books which, on merit, represent the best of Irish publishing in a given year including titles which have raised the profile of books, both in terms of publicity coverage and performance. These will often include books published late in the year which are widely expected to make a substantial impact. Such books will have been presented to individuals on the panels months before publication date."
Online EditorsWASHINGTON — Vector Space Systems said Nov. 18 that it has raised $1.25 million in funding to support development of its small launch vehicle, with a goal of a first launch by the end of next year.
The seed investment into the Tucson, Arizona-based company is led by Space Angels Network, a group of individual angel investors that make early-stage investments in space companies. While Space Angels Network has invested in a number of space startups, including Astrobotic Technology, Planetary Resources, and World View Enterprises, this is its first investment in a launch company.
“We see endless opportunity in Vector’s vision to build affordable and reliable launch vehicles for microsatellites and are committed to working with them to make that vision a reality,” Chad Anderson, chief executive of Space Angels Network, said in a statement.
The new round brings the total raised by the company to $2.25 million. The company also has Small Business Innovation Research contracts from NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency valued at an additional $2.5 million to work on vehicle technologies.
“We are honored by the continued support of our existing angel investors and by this new infusion of capital from Space Angels Network,” Jim Cantrell, chief executive and co-founder of Vector Space, said in a statement. “This investment, by experienced space industry investors, helps to further validate the market and demand for a dedicated micro satellite |
fact about the president-elect: In the past, he’s made his biggest fans believe that he’s going to use his power, wealth, and knowledge to help them — and then exploited them to enrich himself.
This is a facet of Trump’s personality that should trouble his supporters as much as his critics. During the campaign, white voters seemed undeterred by his racist remarks about Muslims and Mexicans. Lots of men — and plenty of women — weren’t put off by his misogyny. As ugly as those qualities seemed to Trump’s opponents, they signaled to his base that he was on their side against the forces of liberal elites, political correctness, and the Washington establishment.
But what happened at Trump University shows how Trump treats the people who think he’s fighting for them. The students at Trump University weren’t part of the liberal elite. They sincerely believed he wanted to help them. Instead, what Trump really wanted was to make as much money as possible.
The choices Trump has made so far in setting up his administration suggest that pattern of behavior wasn’t an anomaly. Instead, it could be a prelude to more of the same during his presidency.
Trump University had one goal: to separate gullible people from their money
The misleading claims about Trump University, which was in business from 2005 to 2010, started with the name.
Trump University wasn’t a sleazy for-profit college, as the name might suggest. It wasn’t any kind of college at all. It didn’t offer degrees, it didn’t hire professors, and it didn’t enroll students. It was just a grandiose name for a series of real estate seminars that promised participants they could learn the financial secrets that made Donald Trump so successful.
The first seminar was free. The second, a two-day affair, cost $1,500. And after the second seminar, the salespeople were supposed to upsell participants one more time to the real moneymaker: a $35,000 year-long mentorship.
And recruiters put on a hard sell. The playbook unsealed as part of the class-action suits against Trump University shows that they were trained to pressure participants who had come to the free seminar or the $1,500 version to sign up for the mentorship, telling them they couldn’t be successful otherwise.
They asked participants at the seminars to ask for increases in their credit limits, telling them that it would help improve their credit score, without mentioning that it would also allow them to charge more expensive Trump University courses. They sorted participants based on their financial background, so that they could put the most pressure on the ones with enough resources to pay for the $35,000 year-long course.
Salespeople toyed with customers’ emotions: “Fear is preventing you from investing in yourself,” one script read, according to the unsealed playbooks. “I find it very difficult to believe that you'll invest in anything else if you don't believe enough to invest in yourself and your education.”
The sales staff were cautioned against making specific promises, like telling students how soon they would be successful, because they could be held to it in court.
And the product they were selling was, some former employees said, ultimately worthless. "To my knowledge, not a single consumer who paid for a Trump University seminar program went on to successfully invest in real estate based upon the techniques that were taught," Ronald Schnackenberg, a former sales manager for Trump University, said in a deposition unsealed in May.
Without the puffery used to promote the seminars — calling them a “university,” saying Trump had “handpicked” the professors — Trump University might have been able to stay in business. It’s the specifics that tripped it up in court.
But even if it had been able to continue to operate, the business model was scammy. It played on the hopes and dreams of Trump’s fans, and used them to make more money for Trump.
“It was a façade,” another former executive said in a deposition. “A total lie.”
The students at Trump University looked a lot like Trump’s base
Trump University had specific types of people it preferred to target. The chief prospects, according to the playbook, were middle class or wealthier — well-educated, in their 40s or 50s, making at least $90,000 per year, worth at least $200,000, and living in a single-family home with a man as the head of the household. They should be married with children. They should give to charity. They should be "early adopters of the internet and currently heavy users."
The class-action lawsuits filed against the university, which have since been settled, suggested it swept in more vulnerable customers, too. One lawsuit was on behalf of retirees who had bought into Trump University’s promises and lost their savings.
Trump University’s customers, in other words, were similar to Trump’s voters — both demographically and in their faith in Trump to elevate them. During the campaign, this meant that the Trump University lawsuits were potentially very damaging. They suggested that even when Trump claims to be on the side of the little guy, he’s really working for himself.
But Trump proved a master of distraction. When the lawsuits started making headlines more often, he struck up a fight with Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was overseeing two class-action lawsuits in California and had issued some rulings Trump disliked. Curiel, he said, couldn’t be trusted to oversee the case fairly because his parents were Mexican (he was born in the US) and belonged to a Hispanic lawyers’ association. Trump argued Curiel couldn’t be neutral in the case because Trump was promising to deport Mexican immigrants and build a wall on the border.
The comments about Curiel immediately drew censure and dominated the news cycle. Rep. Paul Ryan called them the “textbook definition” of a racist comment. It seemed like Trump was engaging in self-sabotage.
But he was also distracting the voters he needed most. The Curiel comments were appalling to many Americans, but they also changed the subject. Instead of talking about how Trump University was accused of cheating the people who looked like Trump’s supporters, the media, Trump’s critics, prominent Republicans, and Trump himself were all talking about Trump’s attitude toward a group that wasn’t likely to support him.
A Trump presidency could turn out a lot like Trump University
Trump didn’t just make exorbitant promises in the Trump University marketing materials. He also made them on the campaign trail, promising supporters that “every dream you’ve ever dreamed for your family and your country” would come true if they elected him.
Promising to make every dream come true is a tall order for anyone. But even the more concrete promises Trump made, and the messages his supporters took away from his less specific remarks, seem unlikely to be fulfilled. The president can’t force companies to bring back jobs from overseas or coal mines to reopen.
And Trump’s actual policies won’t do anything to help some of the people who propelled him into office: the white working class. His tax proposal would actually increase taxes for some middle-class families. The policies Ryan wants Trump to sign into law would cut programs that many working-class people depend on, including Medicaid. While Trump railed against the elites, he’s likely to appoint a former Goldman Sachs partner as Treasury secretary. Bankers are thrilled with his election.
This is why the Trump University story was so potentially damaging for Trump. It shows how his promises to help elevate the little guy ended up actually enriching the wealthy. The way he’s setting up his presidency so far suggests it could be more of the same.Most of Thomas Edison’s ideas were bad.
At least they weren’t good enough to make it out of the laboratory. Or from the patent office to the product line. Thousands of ideas, never to see the light of day.
An associate of Edison’s, Walter S. Mallory, recalled asking the inventor about this, according to a 1910 biography “Edison: His Life and Inventions.” Mallory recalled that Edison had been working for months on a nickel-iron battery. Mallory visited Edison in his shop and learned his friend had tried more than 9,000 experiments for the battery and none had been successful.
“In view of this immense amount of thought and labor, my sympathy got the better of my judgment, and I said: ‘Isn’t it a shame that with the tremendous amount of work you have done you haven’t been able to get any results?’”
Mallory sympathized with Edison. He felt sorry for him that so many ideas had not yet produce one result. Edison saw it differently.
“Edison turned on me like a flash, and with a smile replied: ‘Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work.'”
More ideas are good ideas
Edison’s story illustrates a principle that some of the most successful people and companies in history have long known. If you want to have good ideas. You’re going to need a lot of ideas. Even bad ones.
Especially bad ones.
Author and Entrepreneur Frans Johansson discusses this in his book “The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures.”
““The strongest correlation for quality of ideas is, in fact, quantity of ideas. A closer look at the number of new products, songs, books, scientific papers, strategy concepts, ideas, ideas.”
For example, he writes, many teams will generate ideas in the thousands knowing that more than 99 percent will never be touched. Those bad ideas aren’t wasted time. They serve the greater purpose.
“Some individuals or creative teams will come up with ten, a hundred, or even a thousand times more ideas than their peers,” Johansson wrote. “Not only that, those who have created the most are also the ones who have the most significant innovative impact. This was true in the past; Pablo Picasso, for instance, produced 20,000 pieces of art; Einstein wrote more than 240 papers; Bach wrote a cantata every week; Thomas Edison filed a record 1,039 patents. This holds true today. Prince is said to have over 1,000 songs stored in his secret ‘vault,’ and Richard Branson has started 250 companies.”
In Google’s early years, the company’s astronomical growth was due in part to the huge volume of ideas all of its employees were generating.
If you wanted to work at Google, you had to be an idea machine.
The company maintained an ideas e-mail list where anyone could submit or comment on an idea.
“At times, the thread more resembles a form of techie Darwinism. Google newcomers who proffer an especially obvious suggestion …, or something off-topic like how to arrange the cafeteria tables, often suffer withering rebukes,” reads a 2005 Bloomberg Business article on the company and then-executive Marissa Mayer, who today is President and CEO of Yahoo.
“It’s about 50% new ideas, 50% indoctrination of new employees,” Mayer said of the e-mail list.
Or as Linus Pauling, chemist and winner of two Nobel Prizes, put it: “The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas, and throw away the bad ones.”
The science of bad ideas
There is science to support the art of bad ideas.
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Texas-Austin found that a larger variance in the quality of ideas leads to more positive progress generating high-quality ideas. In other words, the more your ideas pool includes a mixed bag of ideas — good, bad and mediocre — the more likely you are to stumble upon a great idea.
If you strain over every bad-seeming idea and try only for ones that seem world class from the beginning, you’re hurting your progress.
Researchers from the Wharton School and INSEAD studied idea generation in research subjects organized into two groups. They found that the group that produced more ideas also produced better ideas.
How to have more ideas
Now that you — hopefully — believe in the power of bad ideas, it’s time to learn how to put them into practice. To put more ideas out into the world, you might have to start by taking more in.
Read
As Y Combinator cofounder and partner Paul Graham put it, read more. Keep an eye out for problems in the world that need addressing.
“Reading the Wall Street Journal for a week should give anyone ideas for two or three new startups,” Graham has wrote. “The articles are full of descriptions of problems that need to be solved.”
Write
Get your ideas recorded. It sounds simple, but something as easy as a “bad ideas” file in Evernote or Trello could serve as a clearinghouse for your ideas. Let the ideas sit for a while, then revisit them days or weeks later. If you record enough ideas, many you may not even remember writing. It will give you a fresh perspective, and you’ll feel confident moving some ideas over to a file called “maybe OK ideas.”
Work Alone
It may seem counterintuitive — especially if you have bosses eager to cram everyone into a conference room to scribble ideas on a white board — but working alone on generating ideas could be more effective than working in groups.
The Wharton School and INSEAD researchers studied idea generation in subjects who were placed into two different group. One group worked as a team, the second worked in a hybrid structure, working first individually and then in a group setting.
The hybrid group performed much better than the group that worked only as a team.
“We find that groups organized in the hybrid structure are able to generate more ideas, to generate better ideas, and to better discern the quality of the ideas they generate,” the researchers wrote.
Furthermore, the researchers found that the group brainstorming session may actually inhibit productivity.
“Moreover, we find that the frequently recommended brainstorming technique of building on others’ ideas is counterproductive; teams exhibiting such buildup neither create more ideas, nor are the ideas that build on previous ideas better.”
Grind it out
It’s important to keep hustling when it comes to generating ideas. It’s not about the quality of any one idea, it’s about trusting the process.
If that seems difficult, remember that you’re in good company.
“Painters, musicians, entrepreneurs, writers, chiropractors, accountants–we all fail far more than we succeed. We fail at closing a sale or playing a note. We fail at an idea for a series of paintings or the theme for a trade show booth,” wrote bestselling author Seth Godin in a blog post.
“But we succeed far more often than people who have no ideas at all.”
Don’t be a person with no ideas. Get your thoughts out there. Even the bad ones. If you trust this process, things will come together.
Something good will happen.
P.S. If you liked this article, you should subscribe to our newsletter. We’ll email you a daily blog post with actionable and unconventional advice on how to work better.React gains the hearts of many javascript developers since its release in 2013. Because of an unconventional JavaScript extension (JSX), world wide known conferences, custom dev tools and proper documentation many eyes turned to Facebook’s tools. Big players such as Uber, Netflix, Slack, Yahoo talk about rewriting code with React.
Its community is also very active, enthusiastically willing to create new open source components (In fact lots of them). The idea of building apps with components already caught on in the way web-apps are developed. Surprisingly, WebComponents did not take part in this success. There is another big figure next to React – Flux.
What is Flux?
Flux is unidirectional data flow architecture. We should think about it as a pattern, not as a framework although Flux is also the name of a framework using flux architecture (your confusion is justified). Data in a Flux application flows in a single direction. It should make a programmer’s work more pleasant because it is easy to build and debug a data flow step-by-step.
The grounds of Flux are:
Data in a Flux application flows in a single direction (a new action can be triggered from View, see below)
The system should know as little as possible about the other objects in it
Flux is framework-agnostic and could be used standalone or with any javascript framework.
There are lots of Flux implementations: Flux comparison by example
Let’s begin with describing the problem that Flux is trying to solve. React deals only with the View application layer. It did not provide any satisfactory data flow guidelines for building apps. The only react-way to handle data is passing it down in the component tree. Passing callback 4 levels down is not the right way to go. So we started to look for alternatives to avoid tedious work.
Why Flux is so good
Flux makes the data flow easy to track and manage. It standardizes synchronisation between different components as React does not provide any data bus itself. It should limit situations like “There is one guywho knows how this piece of code works, but he’s on a trip around the World”. You should just know, where data comes from, and where it goes next. The fact that it’s easy to follow what’s going on is the key benefit over two-way binding based systems.
Both Flux and React takes lots of good stuff from functional programming. Actions passed to Dispatcher are immutable. The same with components’ `state` and `props`. A programmer is also encouraged to write stores and action creators as pure functions.
It has a huge community, so you’ll always find an answer or applications using it.
Why Flux is so bad
Flux suffers from many reasons
The learning curve is pretty high in comparison to solutions, we just to.
There are more than a dozen of flux implementations. Some of them fix one problem to bring another.
Most of Flux implementations rely on singletons making it very hard to encapsulate components instances between each other.
Using Flux is laborious because of the oversized boilerplate. Even the example from Facebook’s sample Flux implementation brings lots of redundant code:
constants/ChatConstants.js
module.exports = { ActionTypes: keyMirror({ CLICK_THREAD: ‘CLICK_THREAD’, CREATE_MESSAGE: ‘CREATE_MESSAGE’, RECEIVE_RAW_CREATED_MESSAGE: ‘RECEIVE_RAW_CREATED_MESSAGE’, RECEIVE_RAW_MESSAGES: ‘RECEIVE_RAW_MESSAGES’ }) };
actions/ChatServerActionCreators.js
var ChatAppDispatcher = require('../dispatcher/ChatAppDispatcher'); var ChatConstants = require('../constants/ChatConstants'); var ActionTypes = ChatConstants.ActionTypes; module.exports = { receiveAll: function(rawMessages) { ChatAppDispatcher.dispatch({ type: ActionTypes.RECEIVE_RAW_MESSAGES, rawMessages: rawMessages }); } };
dispatcher/ChatAppDispatcher.js
var Dispatcher = require('flux').Dispatcher; module.exports = new Dispatcher();
stores/MessageStore.js
var ChatAppDispatcher = require('../dispatcher/ChatAppDispatcher'); var ChatConstants = require('../constants/ChatConstants'); var ChatMessageUtils = require('../utils/ChatMessageUtils'); var EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter; var ThreadStore = require('../stores/ThreadStore'); var assign = require('object-assign'); var ActionTypes = ChatConstants.ActionTypes; var CHANGE_EVENT = 'change'; var _messages = {}; function _addMessages(rawMessages) { rawMessages.forEach(function(message) { if (!_messages[message.id]) { _messages[message.id] = ChatMessageUtils.convertRawMessage( message, ThreadStore.getCurrentID() ); } }); } function _markAllInThreadRead(threadID) { for (var id in _messages) { if (_messages[id].threadID === threadID) { _messages[id].isRead = true; } } } var MessageStore = assign({}, EventEmitter.prototype, { emitChange: function() { this.emit(CHANGE_EVENT); }, /** * @param {function} callback */ addChangeListener: function(callback) { this.on(CHANGE_EVENT, callback); }, removeChangeListener: function(callback) { this.removeListener(CHANGE_EVENT, callback); }, get: function(id) { return _messages[id]; }, getAll: function() { return _messages; }, /** * @param {string} threadID */ getAllForThread: function(threadID) { var threadMessages = []; for (var id in _messages) { if (_messages[id].threadID === threadID) { threadMessages.push(_messages[id]); } } threadMessages.sort(function(a, b) { if (a.date < b.date) { return -1; } else if (a.date > b.date) { return 1; } return 0; }); return threadMessages; }, getAllForCurrentThread: function() { return this.getAllForThread(ThreadStore.getCurrentID()); } }); MessageStore.dispatchToken = ChatAppDispatcher.register(function(action) { switch(action.type) { case ActionTypes.RECEIVE_RAW_MESSAGES: _addMessages(action.rawMessages); ChatAppDispatcher.waitFor([ThreadStore.dispatchToken]); _markAllInThreadRead(ThreadStore.getCurrentID()); MessageStore.emitChange(); break; default: // do nothing } }); module.exports = MessageStore;
components/ThreadSection.react.js (finally we come up to a component. Hopefully we didn’t forget what we wanted to do here at the first place)
var React = require('react'); var ThreadListItem = require('../components/ThreadListItem.react'); var ThreadStore = require('../stores/ThreadStore'); var UnreadThreadStore = require('../stores/UnreadThreadStore'); function getStateFromStores() { return { currentThreadID: ThreadStore.getCurrentID(), unreadCount: UnreadThreadStore.getCount() }; } var ThreadSection = React.createClass({ getInitialState: function() { return getStateFromStores(); }, componentDidMount: function() { ThreadStore.addChangeListener(this._onChange); UnreadThreadStore.addChangeListener(this._onChange); }, componentWillUnmount: function() { ThreadStore.removeChangeListener(this._onChange); UnreadThreadStore.removeChangeListener(this._onChange); }, render: function() { //... ); }, _onChange: function() { this.setState(getStateFromStores()); } }); module.exports = ThreadSection;
Do you see it? Massive amount of code for simple data manipulation. It may be useful for large-scale apps and long-term maintenance, but in most cases you don’t create large-scale apps. In fact component-based architecture should encourage to do multiple simple small-scale components independent from rest of the application.
Flux is super hyped because Facebook developers use it with React. You won’t see any alternatives on Facebook Developers’ YouTube channel. After a few hours of reaserch in React/Flux documentation, forums, Stack Overflow and reactiflux.com I felt like the only choice I have is: which Flux implementation should I use with my app? Fortunately you are not stuck in the React-ecosystem!
What alternatives are there?
In fact there are many alternatives.
When using React+Backbone you’ve got everything set: Just bind the model/collection `change` event and you’re ready to go. When your model or collection is singleton accessible from any child component, it’ll be much easier to use than creating a custom action type, store and dispatch it like flux does.
When you’re using React+Angular: $emit/$broadcast in model/collection and listen in react component by $on. Dead simple.
Using Backbone, Angular or any other full-framework with Reacts’ View layer solves lots of other problems like: Handling ajax, routing, model validation etc. Avoid reinventing the wheel.
Other data-flow approaches worth to mention and further research:
Read later:
Questions, suggestions? Leave your comments below.At the turn of the 19th century, the US government built six forts to protect the Puget Sound and the naval shipyard at Bremerton from water-based attack. All have since been decommissioned and sold to the State of Washington, and five are now state parks. The three heavy batteries at the entrance to Admiralty Inlet are perhaps the most well-known: Fort Worden near Port Townsend, Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island and Fort Casey, midway along the west shore of Whidbey Island. Middle Point (now Manchester State Park) and Fort Ward, also popular destinations on opposite sides of Rich Passage, provided extra protection for the naval shipyard. (Map of area).
The sixth fortification, Fort Whitman on Goat Island in Skagit Bay, guarded the entrance to Puget Sound through Deception Pass and along the east shore of Whidbey Island. Goat Island is part of the Skagit Wildlife Area rather than a state park, and further differs from the others in being accessible only by water. The fort also is relatively unknown, despite the thousands of boaters that pass close by each year en route through Swinomish Channel. Fort Whitman, like many batteries of the period, is completely invisible from the water. Even though we’ve been ashore there, when we passed Goat Island on our way to and from TrawlerFest in Anacortes last weekend, we could see no evidence of the fort. The only clue to its existence is the decaying dock along the north side of the island.
The Battery Harrison gun emplacement, with mounts for four six-inch disappearing guns and supporting buildings, form the majority of the fort. When we last visited in 2007, the battery was in good condition, with relatively little graffiti compared to some others we’ve seen. Even though we were expecting the battery, it’s a bit of a shock to find such huge infrastructure tucked away in the woods out of sight.
The remains of a mine field control and observation post are down the road beyond the battery, on the western tip of the island. They were more overgrown than the battery.
If you go: It’s an easy dinghy ride or paddle from the Deception Pass area to visit Fort Whitman. The trail to the fort starts along the north shore, behind and about halfway along the dock. The trail head is difficult to spot from the water, but was reasonably obvious once we were ashore. When we were last there, a log was strapped straight up onto another one at the trail head. The going is steep for a short distance, then becomes wide and easy when the trail joins the road to the fort.The White House warned political foes Sunday not to provoke a partisan tug of war over terrorism, with President Barack Obama yet to publicly address the thwarted attack on a US airliner.
A political storm erupted over the attempt by a 23-year-old Nigerian to bring down a Northwest jet carrying 290 people, as senior Obama aides cranked up a sweeping national and homeland security operation.
But the president, vacationing in Hawaii, conspicuously has not commented on television about the Christmas Day drama, apparently seeking to project calm and avoid the political trauma and panic unleashed by past terror incidents.
“The president believes strongly that this has to be a non-partisan issue,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told NBC in one of a string of television appearances he and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made Sunday.
“This should not be a tug of war between the two political parties. I hope everyone will resolve in the New Year to make protecting our nation non-partisan — rather than what happens in Washington, devolving into politics,” he said.
Obama got a 6 am (1600 GMT) briefing on latest developments in the probe into the airborne terror bid from top national security aides, the White House said in the latest regular bulletin on his response to the crisis.
Gibbs also said that Obama ordered a review of US no-fly watch-lists and demanded information on how a suspected radical could board the Detroit-bound airliner rigged with explosives.
After his security briefing, Obama headed to the gym for a game of pick-up basketball, as the native son recharged in balmy Hawaii.
But the president’s Republican foes made the first political thrusts following Thursday’s attack on a Northwest jet heading to Detroit, accusing him of softening the US focus on radical Islamic terror threats.
They also questioned Napolitano’s statement that the air security system “worked,” referring to the fact that alert passengers and crew jumped Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab before his device could fully detonate.
New York Congressman Peter King said there was no need for Obama to “rush for a microphone” but noted the president’s media ubiquity over the past year and asked him for a “calm, reassuring” pep talk.
“Tell the American people, ‘this is what we’re doing; we’re on top of this; we’re going to win, but this is a reminder of why we always have to be alert to the evils of Islamic terrorism,'” King told CBS.
“There has been a virtual vacuum for the last day- and-a-half.”
The White House countered that Obama has constantly monitored the situation, ordered probes into airline security and the use of intelligence and hiked airport precautions.
“The president refuses to play politics with these issues as he said at West Point (in December). We must put aside petty politics and recapture the unity that we had after 9/11,” said another Obama spokesman, Bill Burton in Hawaii.
Democrats repeatedly accused ex-president George W. Bush’s administration of exploiting terror scares for political gain.
But Republicans leveraged Thursday’s drama to bolster their theme that Obama’s policies, including reaching out to the Muslim world and closing the Guantanamo Bay terror camp, were making Americans less safe.
“This whole thing should remind us, that the soft talk about engagement, closing Gitmo — these things are not going to appease the terrorists,” said South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint on Fox.
“They’re going to keep coming after us.”
Republican congressman Pete Hoekstra added “What do we have here? this is an international movement of radicalization.
“The Obama administration came in and said, ‘We’re not going to use the word terrorism anymore’ … trying to, you know, I think, downplay the threat from terrorism.”
Obama aides have been less prone to use the phrase “war on terror” than the previous White House, but insist they have refocused the US anti-terror fight.
“The president certainly has taken steps in his time in office to re-orient our priorities as it comes to fighting that war on terror,” Gibbs said.
“We are drawing down in Iraq and focusing… on Pakistan and Afghanistan, the place where the attacks of 9/11 originated,” and also focusing on Yemen and Somalia, he added.On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration, Democrats are lost. The Democratic National Committee has not elected a new leader. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton supporters are still blaming each other for her loss. The party holds no branch of the federal government and fewer than half of state legislatures. What in mid-2016 looked like a fractured Republican party is increasingly uniting behind its new leader. The Democratic Party looks like its falling apart.
Maybe money can put it back together. Longtime Democratic fundraiser and political operative Jonathan Zucker today is launching It Starts Today, an online donation platform he believes can reassemble the Democratic Party for less than five dollars per month—$4.68, to be exact. That's one cent for every congressional seat in play.
Zucker's plan is to pour those monthly donations into one political action committee that will disperse the total evenly to every single Democrat running for a congressional race in the general election in 2018. It’s a one-click approach to building a 50-state strategy based on small donations. Because every candidate will get the same amount, whether a far-left Bay Area progressive or pro-gun, anti-abortion blue dog, the PAC—if it actually works—could act as a kind of de facto public financing that lifts all Democrats.
'How many Obamas are we not finding because when they tried to run for Congress they didn't have enough money?' Jonathan Zucker, It Starts Today
"At 3 AM on election night, after it started to sink in that Clinton had no path to victory, I saw the sniping start between the Bernie people and the Hillary people on my Facebook feed," Zucker says. "We cannot afford this."
Zucker has already made his career marrying technology and political fundraising. He’s the founder of Democracy Engine, a suite of digital tools that candidates and organizations can use to raise money. He's also the former executive director of fundraising platform ActBlue, the one-click small-donation tool Bernie Sanders famously used to raise an average of $27 bucks per donor to keep pace with Clinton’s blue chip fundraising machine. It Starts Today is his attempt to use what he's learned about tech and fundraising to take the House and Senate back. The key to his strategy: Instead of focusing on fractious primaries or specific candidates, back everyone in the general election equally.
Once the primaries are over and the nominee is set, It Starts Today will send out a check—and keep cutting checks every week until Election Day. And—counterintuitively—if enough people paying just a small amount subscribe, those checks could add up to more money than candidates would receive by relying on wealthy donors. Following federal election guidelines, the It Starts Today PAC is acting as a legal intermediary able to fund as much money to candidates as it can, provided each individual donor whose money passes through the PAC does not give more than the $2,700 legal limit to any individual candidate.
This shouldn't be a problem: Zucker is only asking donors to give a total of $56 per year. If everyone who gave Sanders or Clinton money—some 10 million donors—gave just $5 per month to congressional candidates, Zucker says, It Starts Today would be able to hand each candidate $2.5 million dollars to run on in 2018. "You’re not having to raise this money, and you’re accountable to millions of people, each of whom only gave you a little bit," he says.
The Long Shots
That's a great dream, but a highly unlikely one. To put that figure into perspective, Barack Obama's lauded populist campaign garnered donations from just over 4.5 million people. Most challengers running in congressional races raise around $200,000. Still, if It Starts Today were able to raise even that much, it could have a real effect. "It might give your local official incentive to run, knowing that you wont have to go into debt to do it for a hopeless cause," says Michael Malbin, director of the Campaign Finance Institute.
And it's in those seemingly hopeless races where political scientists see the potential for real change. Under the current funding model, Malbin says national political organizations tend to focus their resources on competitive races where slight advantages could tip the results. It Starts Today, on the other hand, is agnostic about district or probability of victory—everyone gets the same amount. Long shots get the same backing as sure things and candidates in swing districts. Individual donors are rarely eager to similarly distribute their largesse because who wants to throw their money at a lost cause?
But it's often seeming lost causes that can bring a party back. Currently, the Democrats lack a deep bench of up-and-comers. Challenging incumbents in more races is how you build a bench of candidates and professionals who know how to run campaigns. Non-competitive races are great proving grounds for new politicians to take risks, to try out messages, to learn the ropes of political advertising, and to let powerfully good politicians find their way to the national stage. Take Barack Obama, a state senator who made a long-shot run for US Senate. "How many Obamas are we not finding because when they tried to run for Congress they didn't have enough money and we never heard from them again?" Zucker asks.
And when more people run, more people vote. Democrats in red states and Republicans in blue states are more likely to vote when there's someone on the ticket who they care about—even if that candidate has little chance at winning. That's what Spencer Overton, president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, likes best about Zucker's newest venture. "This is exactly the kind of engagement we need," Overton says.
With It Starts Today, the buy-in for Democrats to unite behind every single Democrat running for congress in 2018 is roughly equivalent to the cost of a latte. If Bernie Bros and Clintonistas can give up one coffee a month to come together, the gains for the party could be big.
Correction 8:19am ET: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the name of the organization. It is It Starts Today.Listen to the broadcast version of this story.
All this week we're bringing you stories about the chemical company responsible for the PBB tragedy in Michigan. Michigan Chemical accidentally contaminated the state’s food supply in the 1970s, but the legacy of that company is still very much with us today.
Michigan Chemical – which later became Velsicol Chemical – made more than just PBB, and it left these toxic chemicals behind in St. Louis, Michigan.
One woman insists something is wrong with the birds
Teri Kniffen and her family moved to St. Louis in 1994. She had heard about Velsicol Chemical and the PBB tragedy in Michigan, but when they bought their house, they didn't realize they were moving right next to where the old plant site was buried.
In 2001, she started noticing dying robins in her yard.
“When I’d go out in the backyard, and get near them, they wouldn’t move," says Kniffen. "They just would stagger around the yard, and they’d end up dying.”
Kniffen said she would find around 10 to 12 dead birds a year – mostly American robins. She said she tried to get officials from the MDEQ and the EPA to test the birds, but they mostly ignored her. An MDEQ official told her to collect the dead birds in her freezer, but she says by the time they came to collect them four years later, she was told the birds could not be tested.
So two years ago, Kniffen had the birds tested herself at MSU, and the birds tested positive for acute DDT and DDE poisoning.
Kniffen videotaped the birds as well. Here's what she and her neighbors would see (this video might be disturbing for some viewers):
Velsicol Chemical leaves its mess behind
For more than 40 years until it closed in 1978, Velsicol Chemical made all kinds of chemicals – including DDT. The company is long gone. The story is a familiar one. It was bought out, and then the company that bought it, Fruit of the Loom, went bankrupt.
So the old company ceased to exist, but its chemicals are still here in this small town in the center of the Lower Peninsula.
Air deposition is one way people believe the chemicals spread. People who lived in St. Louis at the time the plant was in operation often describe a white dust that would settle on the neighborhood at times. That could be one way the chemicals from the plant got into the ground. Others tell stories of the company offering free fill dirt to neighbors.
Birds tell a story of what's underground
Matt Zwiernik is a wildlife toxicologist at Michigan State University. He tested the two birds Kniffen first brought to MSU in 2012. Then in 2013, his team studied the birds and their nests in and around St. Louis.
All the adult birds they collected in a nine-block area around the old chemical plant had also been poisoned.
"These concentrations, from my literature search, are the greatest ever reported in wild birds." - Matt Zwiernik, wildlife toxicologist, MSU.
“These concentrations from my literature search are the greatest ever reported in wild birds,” says Zwiernik. “When they arrive in May and by June they’re dying of convulsions, and they’ve got ten times the concentration in their brain that causes death in laboratory animals |
.BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese customs have seized 11.9 tonnes of scales of pangolins, the world's most poached animal and under threat of extinction, in their biggest seizure of its kind, state media said on Wednesday.
The scales, used in traditional remedies for ailments such as asthma, rheumatism and arthritis, are estimated to have come from at least 20,000 pangolins in Africa. They were seized on a ship in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, in July.
Arrest warrants have been issued against two individuals, state news agency Xinhua said. The state-backed China Daily said this was the biggest volume seized by Chinese customs in any single case.
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Found only in Asia and Africa, the largely solitary and nocturnal pangolins are in high demand in countries like China and Vietnam for both their meat and their scales.
A ban on global trade of pangolins took effect in January."Under NO circumstances would a Satanist sacrifice any animal or baby! For centuries, propagandists of the right-hand path have been prattling over the supposed sacrifices of small children and voluptuous maidens at the hands of diabolists. It would be thought that anyone reading or hearing of these heinous accounts would immediately question their authenticity, taking into consideration the biased sources of the stories. On the contrary, as with all "holy" lies which are accepted without reservation, this assumed modus operandi of the Satanists persists to this day!
There are sound and logical reasons why the Satanists could not perform such sacrifices. Man, the animal, is the godhead to the Satanist. The purest form of carnal existence reposes in the bodies of animals and human children who have not grown old enough to deny themselves their natural desires. They can perceive things that the average adult human can never hope to.
Therefore, the Satanist holds these beings in a sacred regard, knowing he can learn much from these natural magicians of the world."
-- Anton Szandor LaVey.
Founder of The Church of Satan0 Drivers petition against proposed HOT lane on Ga. 400
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. - Georgia’s Department of Transportation is mulling over strong reaction from drivers over a proposed HOT lane on Georgia 400.
GDOT said something needs to be done on Georgia 400 to ease congestion, and adding a HOT lane could do the trick, but some drivers disagree.
Drivers already pay a 50 cent toll to drive on the road, and many say putting a HOT lane on top of that is just too much.
Drivers against the HOT lane said all anyones has to do is look at the controversial HOT lanes already existing on Interstate 85 to know that they don’t work.
“It will not help the situation. It will make it worse,” Bernard Ransby said. “We pay enough already. The Peach Pass on I-85 is not really working.”
Valerie Gourley of Roswell disagrees. She said the end result of less congestion makes it a good idea.
People are already signing a petition to stop the Georgia 400 HOT lane before it begins.
The HOT lane would run 24 miles between I-285 going north to Highway 20 in Cumming.
GDOT said the new HOT lane is just an idea for now, and it will get input from the community before moving forward.
Transportation experts held an informational meeting in Roswell Tuesday evening to discuss the proposal. At Tuesday's meeting, the State Road and Tollway Authority said theplan would be to add a lane to Georgia 400, not use an existing lane.
GDOT said it plans to hold more meetings with the public, the next on Thursday at the Piney Grove Middle School in Cumming at 5 p.m.U.S. pay-TV companies rake in an estimated $20 billion a year in rental/lease fees for set-top boxes, but the FCC’s recent decision to draft rules to increase competition in the set-top box market could put that dependable revenue stream at risk. But one analyst says that if cable companies lose money from competing devices, they’ll just make up for it by charging more for TV.
In a recent report [PDF] for New Street Research, industry analyst Jonathan Chaplin seeks to allay investors’ concerns about the possible loss of set-top box (STB) revenue.
“STB revenue is just video revenue in disguise,” writes Chaplin, who notes that if the industry has to recoup that lost income, it “would simply reclassify revenue.”
“Cable companies aren’t in the STB business; boxes are just a cost of doing business,” he explains in the report. “If this revenue stream is threatened, we assume the cable industry will simply shift the revenue from boxes to service as they go through their annual rate adjustment process. After all, box revenues just go to help pay rising content costs.”
More bluntly, Chaplin states that the industry “has used set top box rental fees as a creative way to hide price increases over the years.”
As for implementing higher rates to account for the lost STB revenue, he argues that cable companies would not have any real problems raising prices “since they change the bill essentially every year as the initial discounts and promotions unwind.”
Chaplin also contends that, even though STB fees account for around 11% of industry revenue, cable companies “don’t make money on boxes” because of all the costs associated with installing and maintaining the boxes.
However, saying they “don’t make money” may be a bit misleading. By his own estimate, pay-TV operators are generating $5 in free cash flow per subscriber each month from these devices. For a company like Comcast or DirecTV, each with more than 20 million subscribers, you’re talking about $100 million per month — $1.2 billion per year — for each of of those providers.
The report raises a substantial potential roadblock to set-top box competition, and it’s one we’ve been mentioning since the new rules were first mentioned — that consumers might just not care.
Third-party set-top boxes have — through the use of Cable Card technology — been available for more than a decade, but Chaplin points out that that they represent fewer than 1% of boxes currently in use. One of the reasons for the lack of adoption — aside from the fact that many consumers may not know they have a choice — is the upfront cost of these devices.
Why pay $150 or more for a set-top box when you can get one from your cable provider for a monthly fee? Obviously, going the third-party route could save you money in the long run, but consumers have simply not done it. For new STB devices to compete, they’ll have to either be priced at a more reasonable rate, or provide other benefits not found in models offered by the cable companies.
Thus, argues the report, pay-TV operators may be better off creating an STB platform that fully integrates their video content into streaming services.
“If they do, they would have some data on household viewing across all content; not just Cable content,” explains Chaplin. “This would be valuable data that Cable can monetize.”
[via FierceCable]When Mary Bollero heard that her dog was found after seven years she was elated. A vet found the dog by scanning the animal for a micro chip, but before she could get to the vets office he gave the dog away.
"Little Girl was my little girl, she was part of the family," said Bollero.
She was crushed when her dog was stolen seven years ago and elated when just nine days ago she got a call in the middle of the night that her dog had been found.
"Your Little Girl has been found and you need to go pick her up at the emergency vet hospital," recalled Bollero.
Bollero rushed to the veterinary clinic where the dog had been scanned and a microchip found, but by the time she got there the dog was gone and given back to the couple that bought it in.
"They were still wanting to keep the dog and felt that it was their dog," said Noel Koeman, the emergency clinic manager.
The manager of the clinic says he called the Peninsula Humane Society and was told anyone who finds a dog and keeps it for 30 days without anybody claiming it, the dog is theirs.
"Again, it's not a law, it's just what most shelters use as a general rule of thumb," says Scott Delucchi fromt eh Peninsula Humane Society.
Koeman said he heard the same thing from the San Mateo Police.
"Because the people had the dog more than 30 days, under the law it was now their dog. It doesn't make sense to me, but I'm bound to oblige it," said Koeman.
So when Bollero got to the clinic with the dog's license and papers, the police report from seven years ago, none of that mattered.
"My dog had been given to the person that brought the dog in. I was absolutely horrified," said Bollero.
The veterinary clinic did put the Bollero on the phone with the young man who took her dog.
"He said I found your dog. I love your dog and I'm not giving your dog back," said Bollero.
When asked why the clinic didn't just wait until the woman got there with the documents to prove that the dog was hers, Koeman replied, "Well again we were following the instructions we were given."
When Koeman was asked what about common sense in this case, he replied, "Well common sense is one thing, the law is another."
The watch commander at the San Mateo Police Department said he was not on duty when this happened, but he has never heard of a 30-day finders keepers law.
ABC7 tried to speak with the South San Francisco man who has the dog, but the clinic could give out his information or give his information to Bollero. For any information, the manager said Bollero would have to get a subpoena.FX has renewed Marvel Comics-inspired drama “Legion” for a second season.
The cable channel announced the renewal Wednesday ahead of the premiere of the series’ sixth episode. The season finale is slated to air March 29.
Created and executive produced by “Fargo” showrunner Noah Hawley, “Legion” is the first live-action television series based on Marvel’s “X-Men” comics. It tells the story of David Haller, a man who has been told his whole life that he is mentally ill, then discovers that what he thought were symptoms of his illness may actually be manifestations of a mutant superpower.
“The first season of Legion was a stunning achievement,” said FX original programming co-president Eric Schrier. “More than a new series, Legion is a wholly original take on the super hero genre. Our thanks to Noah Hawley for taking the creative risks and shattering expectations. It’s a privilege to work again with Noah, his producing partners, the outstanding cast and our partners at Marvel Television on another season of Legion.”
Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb added, “We are thrilled there will be a new season of Legion. Noah’s spectacular take on David Haller and all the other characters he brought to life makes us ache for more. We’re particularly proud of our partners at FX and the success we share on our first TV series together.”
Related ‘Legion’: Creator Noah Hawley on Taking FX Series Beyond X-Men
Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Loeb, Jim Chory, and John Cameron serve as executive producers with Hawley. “Legion” stars “Downton Abbey” veteran Dan Stevens with Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Jean Smart, Bill Irwin, Katie Aselton, Jeremie Harris, Amber Midthunder, and Mackenzie Grey. It is produced by FX Productions and Marvel Television.
Under a longstanding licensing agreement, 21st Century Fox holds screen rights to adapt Marvel’s X-Men characters. The two companies are currently collaborating on executive producer Matt Nix’s untitled pilot for Fox Broadcasting, with Singer set to direct and 20th Century Fox Television producing with Marvel.
“Legion” has garnered largely positive critical reception for its often surreal approach to telling the story of a relatively obscure comics character. Speaking to Variety for a January cover story, Hawley said, “If you have a character whose experience of reality is unusual, that’s the show. You shouldn’t look at him from the subjective, normal point of view. But that brings you to a place that’s surreal, which is not something that television does. It might take dramatic risks and tell you antihero stories, but it’s very rare that it does something surreal.”
WATCH: Behind the scenes of the Noah Hawley & Dan Stevens Variety cover shootMy friend Stacy and I have recently read your latest issue and I can say, without a doubt, that the quality of the paper has sharply declined during the summer and fall issues. There are many problems with your newspaper and they should be addressed immediately or else you will lose trust in the majority of your readership.
While I thought your news section in last week’s issue was overall decent, I am still bothered by the apparent bias in the article about Greg Selinger (“The only game in town,” page 5). Throughout the article, there are quotes that praise him and there is also no mention of the other NDP leadership candidate, Steve Ashton.
If you are to cover the leadership campaign of a political party, make sure that you give a fair reportage and do not endorse any one of the candidates over the others.
Your political commentary is also biased. There needs to be some coverage given to all major parties and political sides, not just the left.
Another thing is your lack of coverage of rural Manitoba. Your slogan is the “University of Winnipeg’s Weekly Urban Journal,” but you must realize that downtown Winnipeg is not the entire world. You must deal with concerns outside Winnipeg, because it may concern the number of students who live outside the city. Your paper will be much better served if you implement such changes.
In your comments section, I am struck by a glaring absence of any letters to the editor. I am not sure if there is such a disinterest in your newspaper that no one is writing in to voice their opinion, or if people are voicing their opinions and you refuse to make it known because of your own beliefs.
Either way, it does not surprise me. From what I hear, the writers of The Uniter are mostly liberal arts majors who only report on their interests, not the interests of the student body.
However, one of the most appalling features of your newspaper is the amount of pages given to the arts section, while sports do not have its own section. A bit more than half your paper is given to arts while the only sports article was a brief 250-word profile about a Wesmen basketball player.
Meanwhile, two very obscure and probably talentless bands known as Apostle of Hustle and Shrimp each get half a page. I do not think that the majority of the student body cares that an all-girl punk band only known within 10 blocks are breaking up. There are people who like to read about sports (not nutrition!) and sports have been a proud tradition at the U of W for years.
If a budding high school athlete reads this paper and then decides not to play for the Wesmen, then the loss of a good talent is your responsibility. Next year, the Winter Olympics will be on Canadian soil and the World Cup of soccer is happening too. For The Uniter not to have a record of these events is a shame.
In conclusion, your newspaper needs to make changes or else students will not read this publication. The Uniter needs to stop being a hipster magazine and start being a serious journal that is newsworthy.
A disillusioned reader,
Candace Flynn
P.S. The Bob: The Suicidal Penguin comics and Good and Evil with J. Williamez are not funny.
Editor’s note: If you do not see any letters in The Uniter, it is because none have been sent to us. We try our best to publish every letter we receive. Send your thoughts to editor@uniter.ca, or drop something off at our office: Room ORM14 in the Bulman mezzanine on campus at the University of Winnipeg.
Just be sure to include your full name and contact information. Also, as noted on page 2 of every issue, The Uniter reserves the right to refuse to print submitted material. The Uniter will not print submissions that are homophobic, misogynistic, racist or libelous. We also reserve the right to edit for length and/or style.
Finally, while there may not always be letters in the print version of The Uniter, many people comment on articles on our website. Join the discussion at www.uniter.ca. Recent comments can be seen roughly half-way down on the right-hand side of the main page.
– Candace FlynnTrump's 'fire and fury' rhetoric baffles and outrages foreign policy establishment and its toadies
The Smart Set agrees that once again, President Trump has said something ridiculous, amateurish, and downright embarrassing. His warning to North Korea, using rhetoric that resembles the hyperbole that regime long has favored, is something they would never do (and just look at how successful they have been preventing North Korea from getting nukes). But watch as the president makes his point twice, very deliberately, using the exact words "fire and fury" that he had committed to memory:
Left-wingers bandied about works like "insane," and NeverTrumps of the right muttered, "Trump is trying to out-crazy Kim Jong-un." The foreign policy establishment was equally critical, if more measured. Axios eagerly sought out one of the deans of the foreign policy establishment, Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, interrupting his "golfing, riding and hiking in Wyoming" in order to sneer at the sort of rhetoric that Just Isn't Done by People Who Are Experts (because they have been doing such a great job, presumably). Here's his Axios smart-brevity take on the developments: "Potus's words (fire and fury) [were] counterproductive as it will raise doubts around the world and at home about his handling of the situation when all the attention and criticism ought to be placed on NK."
"North Korea is engaging in bluster in the wake of its diplomatic isolation at the UN. The bluster could be meant for domestic consumption and to persuade China or Russia to reconsider their distancing from NK."
"But Kim Jong-un is playing a dangerous game, as his words will add fuel to the argument here and elsewhere that he cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons and that deterrence cannot be assumed to work here."
"I assume Potus's words were meant to signal NK and others that NK's bluster would not succeed in getting the US to back off its effort to isolate NK and pressure it to change course on its missile program."
"[T]his may all be seen in hindsight as posturing. Diplomacy could still bring about a freeze on NK's capabilities or some other outcome that both sides can live with." Just for a moment, and just for fun, let's see if there might be any logic to trying a different approach from the one that has consistently failed for decades under the knowledgeable stewardship of the foreign policy establishment. A couple of possibilities occur to me. Psyching out the psycho: speaking directly to Kim Jong-un In choosing words that reflect North Korea's past rhetoric, President Trump may be speaking directly to Kim Jong-un and saying, in effect: "We know that you don't have the capacity to pull off an attack that would utterly destroy us in a'sea of fire' and the other terms you have used. And you know that we do have the power to destroy you, maybe with a cruise missile or MOAB on your bunker, or maybe take out all of Pyongyang, where the regime's insiders all are clustered. Or we could take out the entire country, if we are really annoyed, or if you inflict damage on Guam, Seoul, or any place we care about (everywhere but your territory). We have power [Trump added this, seemingly extemporaneously], and you do not." North Korea's people, as well as its leadership, now understand – as they never did before – that their country is truly backward. Until cell phones and video players were parachuted into the country in vast numbers and software supplied of everything from soap operas to documentaries to pictures of traffic jams, the regime could get by telling its subjects they were the lucky ones, that everyone else had it much worse. Now they all know that it is a lie. The information age and economical South Korean-manufactured consumer electronics have destroyed the information wall around Kim's domain. Kim Jong-un, who was educated in Switzerland, personally understands the gap between his country's capabilities and those of the West, and President Trump knows he knows this. Remember that President Trump is far more accustomed to bare-knuckle negotiations than foreign policy types, for whom the niceties of etiquette and protocol are the very vehicle of negotiations. Little shadings of language and behavior carry deep meaning, well understood by all the diplomats. That's why they are so outraged. Trump is throwing their toolbox out and bringing in tools they regard as crude, counterproductive, and dangerous, which is exactly the image of Trump they already have. On the other hand, North Korea does not play this game of etiquette and shadings, at least in public. President Trump knows there are multiple paths to achieve his goal of eliminating this threat, ranging from getting Kim to decide that a new course is merited owing to a new understanding of the carrots and sticks being wielded to encouraging or even helping a coup by the generals to remove him to the most unpleasant of all: overwhelming military force ("shock and awe"). Keep in mind that Iran's mullahs are the other audience Trump is addressing. They are sending billions of dollars a year to Kim in order to get help with their nuclear arsenal. Every move the president makes, every word he speaks, is also directed at them. They have flourished thanks to the deal President Obama gave them, and now they must realize that the game has entirely changed. The North Korea precedent will tell them a lot. Could "fire and fury" be a coded message? The deliberateness with which President Trump spoke those words suggests that it was important to get them exactly correct, so they would be recognized for some other meaning than the obvious. The idea of a coup by the generals who control the means by which Kim's power is enforced surely has been on the minds of the President Trump's team. I have no idea if there has been any progress, and neither does anyone else who would write or speak on the subject.Wolf Hunt
The second wolf killed in the state's first wolf hunt is tagged and will be checked for age and other data. Field researchers also trap and radio-collar wolves to do more extensive research. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)
(CORY MORSE)
Calling it "very rare," a researcher attempting to collar a trapped wolf in the Upper Peninsula was bitten and the animal killed, Michigan wildlife officials say. “He had placed a trap to try to get wolves radio-collared and when he approached this wolf it was just a little more aggressive than he was anticipating,” said DNR spokeswoman Debbie Munson Badini, of the Marquette office. "It was definitely a bite; it broke the skin, but isn’t going to do long-term damage.” The researcher, who was alone during the incident in Gogebic County last month, shot the wolf in the head, she said. The action was necessary to test for rabies and other diseases, though the damage to the brain tissue made the tests impossible, she add. “We’ve have had other field staff bitten (by wolves). It’s not common but it’s not unheard of,” Munson Badini said. DNR wolf expert Adam Bump was not immediately available for comment. But in a recent radio interview he characterized the early-July incident as “very rare” and said “It’s one of the risks that researchers have to take when they are trying to get information on animals to help with management.” He said the injured researcher is under contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Fish and Wildlife Services, and has done control work in the past.
Don Lonsway, a wildlife agent for the federal government, checks the teeth on wolf shot at an Ontonagon County farm, where wolves were attacking cattle. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)
“Because of the nature of the interaction … we did not want to take any risk of the wolf continuing that behavior when there weren’t extenuating circumstances,” Bump said on the
radio show. He reiterated the incident is “nothing major, nothing for the general public to be concerned about. It is not an escalation of fearless wolf behavior in the U.P.” There are an estimated 636 wolves in the Upper Peninsula. Twenty-two were killed last year in Michigan’s first managed wolf hunt, out of a possible 43. An MLive.com investigation found government
skewed by a single farmer distorted some arguments for the inaugural hunt. Supporters say that wolf hunts are an effective population-control tool for limiting attacks on livestock and pets, arguments bolstered by recent news that wolves had
, along with a cow. Anti-hunt groups have placed two measures on the November ballot to stymie future hunts. But the state Senate passed a citizen initiative Wednesday that would essentially makes those measures not, and leave decisions in the Natural Resources Commission's hands. House passage is also required for it to go into effect. The House next meets on Aug. 27.
-- Email statewide projects coordinator John Barnes at jbarnes1@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.Geelong has agreed with senior coach Chris Scott on a new contract that will see Scott locked in as Cats coach until the end of the 2019 season.
Scott took over the reins at Simonds Stadium following the 2010 season, and has guided the club through a significant period of change throughout his time with the Cats.
Geelong Cats CEO Brian Cook is pleased the club has been able to lock away Scott through the 2019 season.
“Extending Chris’ contract has been on our agenda since last year, and we are pleased that we have been able to come to this agreement,” Cook said.
“We want Chris to be our coach and he wants to continue with the club. From the time Chris joined the club in late 2010, he has consistently demonstrated all the attributes what we look for in a senior coach. Chris has overseen the team through a period of significant regeneration, and we set him a difficult task from the very beginning.
“We asked that he embrace the challenges that a list overhaul would bring while at the same time continuing to challenge for success at our near the top of the ladder. That Chris and the football department have been able to achieve both goals is a credit to everyone involved.”
Scott, who has already coached the third most games in club history, is ready to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
“The club and I are committed to each other,” Scott said.
“The contract formalises it, but in a practical sense we have always been on the same page in terms of what we are trying to achieve. I have been very lucky to be at Geelong, and continue to enjoy working with our players, coaches and staff. There are always challenges in football, and we will keep working together to meet these as we strive for success.”
Geelong has posted a 107-39-1 record under Scott, a 73% success rate. Scott’s winning percentage is the highest in the history of the league for any coach that has been at the helm for at least 100 games. Geelong has reached the finals five times in his tenure, and won the 2011 premiership.Ian Reid, a psychiatrist at the Royal Cornhill Hospital in the Scottish city of Aberdeen, has treated people with severe depression for 25 years. “It’s a very nasty illness, depression,” he says. “I have worked with people who have cancer and depression, and more than one of them has said, ‘If I had to choose one of those two diseases, I’d go for the cancer.’ ”
When patients come to Royal Cornhill with major depression, they’re first treated with psychotherapy and antidepressants. Only about 40 percent respond to their first medication. Sometimes a different one will do the trick, but in Reid’s experience, about 10 to 20 percent of depressed people respond to no drug at all. In those cases, Reid regularly shifts to a third option. It’s officially called electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT—better known by its unofficial name, shock therapy.
Reid is an expert on ECT, and over the years he has received plenty of grief for it. “There are people on the Internet who describe me as a Nazi, as a barbarian,” he says. “And there’s one person who suggested I should get ECT so I know what I’m doing.”
Reid is not surprised by the reactions. For many people, the sum of their knowledge about ECT comes from the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Jack Nicholson plays Randle McMurphy, a criminal hoping to escape hard labor by spending his term in a mental institution. But McMurphy gets more than he bargained for, including a harrowing session of ECT. The hospital staff straps him down, puts a piece of rubber in his mouth so he won’t bite off his own tongue, and delivers a blast of electricity to his temples. He writhes in agony and then slumps back, his body limp.
That scene bears no resemblance to what Reid does for his patients. For one thing, he gives them anesthesia and muscle relaxants so they don’t experience any flailing. But most crucially, ECT works. “You can watch someone going from being unresponsive and soiling themselves to being completely transformed,” Reid says.
In Scotland, a country of 5 million, 400 people receive the treatment each year. And for about 75 percent of them, it brings relief. “ECT outperforms psychotherapeutic treatments and antidepressant drugs,” Reid notes. Yet its effectiveness is a mystery. “It doesn’t sound intuitive at all,” he admits. “Making someone have a seizure, giving them an electric shock, and making something as complex as depression better just seems crazy.”
Shock Therapy in Analysis
Fortunately, we don’t have to understand why a treatment works before using it. “Captain Cook was handing out limes to his crew for scurvy before anyone knew what vitamin C is,” Reid says. But since ECT is so invasive, and since its effects can fade, he has long wanted to figure out how shock therapy works, in the hopes of tapping the same mechanism to find a longer-lasting, less arduous means of beating back depression. “Always in the back of my mind has been the thought that it would be awfully nice to know what was going on here,” he says.
Doctors in Italy first used electroconvulsive therapy in 1938 to treat schizophrenia; in the decades that followed, the treatment spread to other countries and other disorders, especially depression. Although ECT was clearly effective, it could be a frightening experience. Patients remained conscious until their seizures made them black out. Sometimes they broke bones during the process. In the 1960s, psychiatrists added anesthesia and muscle relaxants to ECT to eliminate some of this trauma, but memory loss was still a common complaint. Amnesia became less of a problem in the 1980s, when pulses were reduced to brief, sharp stimulations.
By the 21st century, the negatives surrounding ECT had been mitigated to a large degree. In a 2010 study, Maria Semkovska and Declan M. McLoughlin of Trinity College in Dublin reviewed 84 studies of 2,981 patients who received ECT. The only significant memory troubles they found occurred within three days after treatment; by 15 days, the patients’ memories actually improved.
With safety questions put to rest, Reid and his colleagues have been trying to find out how ECT works. Beginning in 2009, they used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of patients prior to treatment for depression; they then followed the patients through the course of therapy, generally for four weeks. Successfully treated patients, nine in all, returned for follow-up scans. Reid knew from previous studies that depression reduces the size of certain brain regions, including the hippocampus and gray matter, both generally implicated in emotion. After ECT, Reid’s team measured the volume of each subject’s brain. The researchers found an increase in hippocampus size but not in gray matter.In the United States and many other countries, music downloading and streaming services have led to the rapid decline of physical music purchases and historic lows for albums sales in general.
But in Indonesia, album sales are still booming. In fact, its most popular music retailer still sells around half a million CDs a month.
That retailer’s secret recipe for success? They sell the CDs with fried chicken.
Which may seem strange, until you realize the retailer is actually global fast food powerhouse KFC.
Mau makan puas, dapet CD Musik Original, n bisa dapet Galaxy Tab jg? Langsung aja beli Kombo SuperStar di Store KFC pic.twitter.com/GddoYjFJCU — KFC Jagonya Ayam! (@KFCINDONESIA) March 4, 2013
The American chicken chain has revolutionized the music industry in Indonesia by offering CDs to customers as they purchase their deep-fried poultry. By selling a mix of new music and greatest hits compilations, the initiative has been a huge success since it launched about 5 years ago. It’s not just taking advantage of the fact most Indonesian don’t yet have access to high-speed Internet connections (most currently rely on mobile phones to browse the web), but it’s also tapping into the vast country’s deep love of both music and ayam goreng (fried chicken).
With over 500 KFCs across the archipelago, outlets of the fast food chain are often the only game in town when it comes to selling CDs in some of the Indonesia’s more far-flung locales.
But KFC doesn’t just pick any music to sell at the store. It is all carefully selected and distributed by a true legend of the music industry – British producer Steve Lillywhite.
由 Steve Lillywhite 发布于 2015年7月21日
Legendary is really one of the only ways to describe Lillywhite’s storied career. He has won six Grammy Awards while producing songs and albums for some of the world’s most iconic musicians, from U2 and the Rolling Stones to Peter Gabrial and The Pogues (and he still works with such acts regularly).
Regarding the new version of #RedHillMiningTown.. Bono resung verses in Dublin and I remixed in Jakarta Its not EDM, sorry…… — Steve Lillywhite CBE (@Sillywhite) February 19, 2017
In 2012, he was even made a Commander of the Order of The British Empire (CBE) for his contributions to music.
So how did super producer Steve Lillywhite CBE end up involved with KFC in Indonesia?
When Coconuts Media spoke to Lillywhite, he said the attraction to Indonesia came out of his fascination with Asian culture and a search for authenticity.
He originally traveled to Singapore but was disappointed, because it reminded him “of Disneyland rather than [what his] vision of what Asia should be like.” But after hearing that prominent Indonesian band Noah needed a producer, he flew to Jakarta for the first time and was immediately enthralled.
“All of a sudden I was sitting in the hot sticky weather with this band and I thought, ‘oh, I like this place.’ This is more what I was expecting, in a strange way, of what Southeast Asia was like,” he said.
“And once I got here and noticed the reaction of people to music was very strong. And my job is about art, not exactly about commerce. Because I believe with great art comes great commerce.”
“So I thought there was an opening here, that maybe I could come here and just work. And then, through a series of coincidences really, I got this great job working on the music that’s sold through KFC.”
A significant part of his job is to decide which music makes the cut for KFC, and it’s a responsibility he takes very seriously. With KFCs now one of the main places where many Indonesians buy CDs, Lillywhite directly curates and shapes much of what the average Indonesian listens to through his choices.
“I have to choose a well-balanced selection of music that goes into the stores. KFC is the number one place for children’s parties in Indonesia, so we have to cater to the children. But there’s also a very good heritage of quality music and musicians here. So it’s something I’m very proud of.”
His company, JMSI (Jagonya Music & Sport Indonesia), has an exclusive deal with KFC, allowing them to distribute their music through their stores.
While Lillywhite’s role is mainly just to choose the albums which are sold, he does sometimes tweak the music, noting how he recently mixed legendary Indonesian band Slank’s newest album.
“Some other records I don’t have any involvement in. But it’s my taste a lot of the time and I’m learning a lot about the Indonesian market.”
For my Indonesian friends!! pic.twitter.com/V5sIJpyPtC — Steve Lillywhite CBE (@Sillywhite) October 31, 2016
But why do Indonesians continue to buy so many CDs in the age of MP3s and streaming? Lillywhite believes it is because “under 5% of the population have credit cards” and this makes it impossible for many of them to use streaming services like Spotify.
“Also, digital streaming is still in its infancy here, because of the hardware Indonesians own. A lot of people still have Blackberries, which you can’t stream on. Also, good 3G is difficult to get ahold of in the rural areas,” he said.
“All of this is changing and it’s changing very quickly, so Indonesia will catch up with the rest of the world eventually. But if you look at the total plays of something like Spotify, they are very small as a percentage of the population compared to Spotify plays in the US.”
The boom in CD sales is not only profiting KFC, but is also benefitting local musicians. Most of the music selected is made by Indonesian artists and JMSI offers the artists a much better royalty rate than other record labels can, because his company has exclusive rights to KFC music.
“We’re going to the artists now and doing deals directly with artists and bypassing record companies,” he said. “It’s like getting rid of one of the levels of things. If there arethree people in the food chain, you don’t get as much as if there are two people sharing it.”
Music fans also benefit from KFC’s foray into the music industry, with artists giving back to the community by visiting the stores their music is sold at.
“We have press releases and launches. One of the things is artists have to visit the stores as well. Because KFC are very kind to sell our CDs for us, we must give something back. It’s quite fun actually, we get |
to $17.2 billion by 1980, and the rate of gross national product—which measures the total value of production—took a dive. Already crippled, the Philippines was gasping for air when world recession hit and its exports suffered way worse than those of its neighbors. "External factors could help trigger a crisis; but domestic fundamentals (or the lack of it) will dictate resilience to these external shocks. For the most part, I think the crisis in the Philippines was largely man-made—the external shocks merely exposed them," Ateneo Dean Ronald Mendoza said in an online interview with Philstar.com. Filipinos today are able to look back and understand what happened, but in those years even the experts misinterpreted the signals of an impending crisis by the end of 1983. Myth: Aquino's assassination to blame In 1983, Aquino, the staunch Marcos critic, returned to the Philippines from exile and was killed on the tarmac as he alighted from the plane. As a result, foreign banks lost confidence in the regime and refused to grant further borrowings, De Dios wrote. This explains why Martial Law advocates to this day blame Aquino's return and death for economic misfortunes in the latter Marcos years. "All it took was a crisis to expose these weaknesses and for the facade of democracy to unravel." — Ronald Mendoza, economist For Mendoza, the senator's assassination played a role in triggering "what was already a simmering political and economic crisis." "But if it wasn't the assassination of Ninoy, it would have been something else, perhaps." The economist said the weakening of institutions under Marcos had by then taken its toll. The institutional cracks included the lack of independence of the central bank, weaknesses in competitive bidding for government projects, rent-seeking and cronyism in government subsidies for industrial policy and outright plunder of the public purse. "All it took was a crisis to expose these weaknesses and for the facade of democracy to unravel," Mendoza said. Spoils of dictatorship Tasked to recover what was believed to be the strongman's hidden wealth, the Philippine Commission on Good Government set to work by going after agents working for Marcos in the Philippines and abroad. The PCGG was among the first bodies President Corazon Aquino formed after Marcos was overthrown through "people power." The Jovito Salonga-led commission uncovered a trail to what appeared to be vast assets of Marcos "stretching from a small Texas motel to a San Francisco bank, from a glitzy Manhattan shopping mall to a block of apartment buildings in downtown Seattle," the Los Angeles Times reported in 1986. As president, Marcos earned a yearly salary of $4,700 or about P100,000, and was not part of the traditional elite before becoming a politician. How he came to be worth billions of dollars by the end of his rule was seen as a sign of how he used martial law to line his pockets. As dictator, Marcos wrote letters of instruction and decrees to position his cronies—as his associates came to be called—to set up monopolies of key industries. Even as he gained popular support for attacking the ruling class he called the "oligarchy," Marcos ironically created a loyal new elite controlling the country's largest enterprises. "Some are smarter than others," Marcos' wife, Imelda, famously answered when Fortune magazine asked her about relatives and friends who grew rich during the period. Loyal Marcos backer Roberto Benedicto took over the lucrative sugar industry, while Eduardo Cojuangco led a powerful crony corporation sitting on taxes from coconut farmers. "By the 1980s, the 'coco levy' would become one of the major issues against the dictatorship, the term connoting its most rapacious aspects," wrote business journalist Rigoberto Tiglao in 1988. Historian Alfred McCoy said Imelda's brother, Benjamin Romualdez, took control of P5.7 million in holdings of the influential Lopez family, including the largest power distributor Meralco, newspapers and television studios, for a mere $1,500. Marcos allowed a handful of families to cinch monopolies and semi-monopolies in manufacturing, construction, finance and other important sectors of the economy, which were even favored with tax cuts and other privileges. When these select corporations proved unprofitable and inefficient, the government loaned millions to keep them going. The massive bailouts for failed crony businesses and the earnings from sugar and coconut exports placed in foreign banks were critical factors leading to another economic disaster. While this caused much resentment among a portion of the business community, it was the most vulnerable and voiceless that were hit the hardest. After all, many of the crony business leaders continued to hold levers of power even after the dictator was deposed in 1986, Canada-based economist Polvorosa observed. The captain at the helm not only caused the ship to sink, he also managed to swim away with a sizeable loot for himself. And the poor were poorer Myth: 'Mas madali ang buhay noon' Women started to seek jobs in the mid-1970s due to the decline in their husbands' income. Some Filipinos today recall that life was "simpler"—even better—during Marcos's years. But these anecdotes are nowhere reflected when looking at the hard data on the population's welfare. About 42 percent of Filipinos were considered poor in the 1960s when Marcos rose to power. In 1971, the year before Marcos declared martial law, poverty incidence rose to 52 percent. By the time Marcos approached the end of his 21-year rule, already three of five Filipinos (59 percent) were poor. Income distribution also worsened during Martial Law, with the poorest segment of society seeing a decline in their share of the total income between 1971 and 1979. The richest 10 percent, on the other hand, enjoyed a much larger piece of the pie. Shifts in employment in those years get even interesting. De Dios and fellow economists observed an "unusually high" expansion of labor supply, or the number of people available for work. This was due to housewives who started to seek jobs in the mid-1970s—a phenomenon attributed not necessarily to women empowerment, but to the decline in husbands' income below what used to be enough for their families' subsistence. The economy today is dramatically better than the Marcos economy; but without inclusion, many of our citizens probably can't tell the difference. — Ronald Mendoza, economist From 1978 to 1983, the number of workers without jobs increased from 800,000 to 1.2 million. But the figure for underemployment was more shameful, going from 1.6 million to 5.6 million. How people could afford goods also suffered from dramatic swings in inflation. While an annual inflation rate of 1 to 4 percent is considered respectable today, in the 1970s, it sprang to double digits. This was partly ascribed to roiling external conditions, but a comparison of the Philippines' performance with those of its neighbors suggests that high inflation rate and lower economic growth "could have been avoided and could be attributed, not to the general problems of a developing country, but to the character of the policies of the present government," De Dios and colleagues explained in 1984. If a critical measure of an economy's performance is its trickle-down effect, then the Martial Law enablers miserably failed. Challenges of inclusion, however, continue to this day. For Dean Ronald Mendoza, this has likely made the Marcos prosperity myth endure for decades even when the economy has grown dramatically better. "I think the Marcos myth persists largely because we have failed to effectively push in the Post-Marcos era the key or deep institutional reforms, notably political and economic reforms that could make our politics and economy much more inclusive," Mendoza explained. "Understandably, many are tempted by shortcuts and strongman rule, instead of faithfully building the institutions that could strengthen our democracy and economy. "The economy today is dramatically better than the Marcos economy; but without inclusion, many of our citizens probably can't tell the difference," he added. — Philstar.com NewsLab with reports from Audrey Morallo
Was it an age of prosperity under Marcos? DEBT,
DEPRIVATION AND
THE SPOILS OF DICTATORSHIP By Camille Diola
Shortly after academics slammed his "revisionist" view, defeated vice presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos denied having said that the years of his father, the dictator Ferdinand, were the Philippines' golden age. But on the campaign trail last year, Marcos Jr. did fuel the myth by praising his father's "good work" which for him continues to benefit the people. The prosperity myth has endured for decades despite a peaceful revolution that drove the autocrat from power. Marcos supporters usually back their view with mini-narratives on the narrow peso-to-dollar conversion rate, growth in early Marcos years, free-flowing traffic, enthusiastic government spending and the country's regional competitiveness, among others. Experts such as Cesar Polvorosa Jr. of Canada's Humber Business School say, however, that economic performance under any given administration should be measured by the sustainability of growth and its benefits to the general population. "Other aspects of economic policymaking simply follow from those two major issues. Promoting economic growth enhances employment and livelihood opportunities," Polvorosa wrote last year. THE EC UNDER MARCOS -1960'S- Marcos assumed
presidency Campaign period (Overspending, raiding of public treasury) Export became
sluggish ISI stagnant Reelection
of Marcos Balance of
payments crisis Devaluation,
fueled inflation -1970'S- Martial law Incoherent
development
strategies Promotion
of exports Protection of
ISI firms External funds for
borrowing remained
available Debt-driven growth
(foreign loans sustained growth) Centralized,
longer term control
over state apparatus -1980'S- Economic crisis
intensified after
assassination of Aquino Crony abuses
brought economic
disaster IMF becomes vengeful
God and limits
Philippines' borrowings Unpopularity
of the regime *Based on 'The Philippine Economy: Development, Policies and Challenges' (2003) by Arsenio Balisacan and Hall Hill, Oxford University Press
Retelling the tragedy necessarily starts with a picture of the economy in a dismal state, worse than it had ever been, in the years leading to the ouster of the Marcos family in 1986. It is a story of debt, deprivation and the spoils of a dictatorship. Debts and downturns The country was deep in debt—owing $24 billion by 1984 to be exact—with major businesses having absorbed much funding despite lacking in productivity. Massive government construction projects remained either unfinished or without immediate socioeconomic yield. There was a broad gap in incomes of the richest and poorest, while prices of goods skyrocketed. Only a few families controlled and benefited from key industries. The list went on. Economists from the University of the Philippines led by Emmanuel de Dios sought answers on the crisis felt then. Was it mainly an effect of external shocks, as Marcos supporters claimed? Was it because of the assassination of opposition leader Sen. Ninoy Aquino in 1983? Or was the downturn primarily due to Marcos' policies and abuses?
Was the economic disaster mainly an effect of external shocks? Was it because of the assassination of opposition leader Sen. Ninoy Aquino in 1983? Or was the downturn primarily due to Marcos' policies and abuses? Presidential Museum and Library PH
They found all three factors playing a role, but the explanation that best satisfied their inquiries pointed to a concentration of power in government and its economic policies that dug deeper and deeper holes. "While the Philippines experienced more or less the same external shocks as other developing countries, there is a residual variation in its performance and response which makes it fall below the average for countries in its class," they wrote. Needless to say, the economy did not simply sink overnight. Myth: The region's powerhouse In the 1950s, the Philippines was second to Japan in terms of per capita income in the region. The country enjoyed moderate economic growth alongside its neighbors while focusing on imports. A common anachronism today's apologists commit is to label this relatively prosperous time part of the "Marcos period." Marcos assumed the presidency only in 1965, when things started to spiral downward in the late 1960s as existing policies no longer encouraged rapid growth. The would-be dictator then pursued an aggressive, expensive run for a second term by foraying into the public treasury to boost his campaign, buy votes and threaten voters. The peso crashed in late 1969, and by the dawn of the following year it lost half its value, Conrado de Quiros wrote in "Dead Aim." The 1960s crisis, for economists Arsenio Balisacan and Hall Hill, "was triggered by one politician's particularly shameless efforts to maintain a grasp on the reins of the political machinery." Among its peers, the country could no longer keep up. "While the Philippines started with the highest growth rates for [Southeast Asia] in 1950-1960 (3.6 percent annually), it lagged behind its neighbors in 1960-1970," economists De Dios, Dante Canlas, Solita Monsod and their fellow U.P. economists wrote.Sep 18, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers defensive back Pierre Desir (40) and inside linebacker Manti Te'o (50) celebrate a defensive stop during the second half of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Qualcomm Stadium. San Diego won 38-14. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Cornerback will be a position to watch at this Seattle Seahawks offseason progresses, but the team believes Pierre Desir could be the answer they need.
One of the offseason priorities for the Seattle Seahawks is to add both talent and depth and cornerback. With Deshawn Shead’s ACL injury, the talent level drops off very quickly after Richard Sherman.
Part of the answer at cornerback may already be on the roster, and many Seahawks fans likely have no idea who he is. Seattle added a significant player in Pierre Desir in a move that went completely under the radar.
Desir has all the makings of a Seahawks corner. He’s tall (6-1) with long arms giving him the length Seattle loves. He’s also a great overall athlete, posting a 133 inch broad jump, a 6.86 three cone, and an 11.6 second 60-yard shuttle at the NFL Combine in 2014. Thrown in good hands, smooth hips and a great work ethic, and there’s very little not to like.
Unfortunately for Desir, he had the misfortune of being drafted by the Cleveland Browns, who have a way of sucking the life out of football. After a promising rookie campaign, Desir settled into a role as a nickel corner in year two.
After that, Desir was part of the Cleveland talent purge that saw other good players like Taylor Gabriel and Alex Mack leave town for other teams. Desir landed with San Diego, who couldn’t decide if he was a CB or a safety. After 5 weeks, they released him hoping to move him to their practice squad.
Instead, the Seahawks poached him and added Desir to their practice squad. He spent the rest of last season learning Seattle’s defensive scheme and the kick-step technique they require from their cornerback.
According to his agent, Desir had 8 teams who wanted him after the 2016 season, but Pete Carroll and John Schneider convinced him to stay in Seattle. Desir impressed the coaches last season, and he as promised a chance to compete for the starting job opposite Sherman in training camp.
The Seahawks believe they have their “next DeShawn Shead” already on the roster. That likely means they won’t view CB as a huge priority like most fans do.Researchers in Australia reported that endometrial exposure to seminal plasma could contribute to the progression of endometriotic disease. The study, conducted at the University of Adelaide and titled “Seminal Plasma Promotes Lesion Development in a Xenograft Model of Endometriosis,” was published in The American Journal of Pathology.
“In laboratory studies, our research found that seminal fluid (a major component of semen) enhances the survival and growth of endometriosis lesions,” Dr. Jonathan McGuane, a co-lead author on the paper from the university’s Robinson Research Institut, said in a press release.
Louise Hull, an associate professor at the institute, said that while the cause of endometriosis, and its prevent or treatment, remain elusive, the study adds to knowledge of its aggravating factors. Current pharmacological therapies suppress endometriotic lesions and can ameliorate the symptoms of dysmenorrhea and chronic pelvic pain, but are associated with significant side effects. Surgical excision of endometriotic lesions also shows poor long-term efficacy, being associated with five-year recurrence rates of 40 percent to 50 percent.
“This is an important finding and raises the possibility that exposure of the endometrium (the inner lining of the uterus) to seminal fluid may contribute to the progression of the disease in women,” Professor Hull said, adding that more studies are necessary to establish the relationship between sexual activity and endometriosis. “The next stage of the research will look at what this means for women with and without endometriosis.”
It will be important to determine whether physiological routes of seminal plasma exposure do indeed confer an increased risk or contribute to endometriosis development in women. And, if so, what “modifications to sexual activity could lower the severity of the disease in women with endometriosis,” Professor Hull concluded.
Endometriosis, a condition in which uterine tissue grows outside the uterus, affects one in 10 reproductive-aged women, the study noted. Disease symptoms vary but can include painful menstrual periods and pelvic pain, and women with endometriosis may have difficulty conceiving.The RT-20 is a Croatian anti-materiel sniper rifle developed by Metallic in Rijeka in the mid-1990s and marketed by RH-Alan. It was developed to shoot the thermal sights on Serbian M-84 and T-72 tanks. The name itself is actually an acronym of the Croatian word Ručni Top 20, or "Handheld Cannon 20mm". Operating with a bolt action, it houses a single 20mm round and must be reloaded after each shot. Given its large caliber, it is one of the most powerful anti-materiel rifles currently in use by any country and is comparable to the South African Denel NTW-20 and the Indian Vidhwansak, with the difference being that the RT-20 is recoilless.
Specifications [ edit ]
A unique feature of the weapon is the counter-recoil reactive tube or the back blast above the barrel. This tube funnels gasses from the cartridge out the back end, similar to that of a recoilless rifle or rocket launcher.
This system is seldom used in small arms and comes with its disadvantages. It can not be fired in confined spaces, for example with things, such as walls, in close proximity to the rear. Another possible disadvantage would be that the gases from the back-blast can be detected by the enemy and the sniper's hiding position would so be compromised.
In the RT-20 however these negative effects proved to be not as relevant as in an anti-tank weapon, as in its case the portion of gas funneled through the venturi tube is far less than what will exit from the muzzle.
Another characteristic that differs RT-20 from other heavy sniper rifles is that both optics and bolt lever are positioned on the left side of the rifle itself. It is also important to note that the maximum effective range of the RT-20 depends on the nature of the target.
Chambering 20x110mm Hispano, the rifle fires a 130 gram (2,006 grains) projectile at a muzzle velocity of 850 m/s, producing a massive muzzle energy of 46,962.5 J. In other words, it can penetrate the armour of any modern day APC at ranges out to 800 metres.
Users [ edit ]
Croatia - 80 in service.[ citation needed ]
See also [ edit ]Wisconsin state senator and American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) member Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) is perpetuating discredited allegations of "voter fraud" to argue that the state's unconstitutional voter ID law would help Mitt Romney win the state in the November elections.
Think Progress' Scott Keyes interviewed Grothman, a member of the ALEC Education and International Relations Task Forces, on July 22 and asked him about the state's ALEC-inspired voter ID law, which has been struck down as unconstitutional by two separate Wisconsin courts.
Think Progress: If [the voter ID law] were upheld and in place in time for the November election, do you think -- polls have shown a pretty razor-thin margin -- do you think it might ultimately help Romney's campaign here in the state?
GROTHMAN: Yes. Right. I think we believe that insofar as there are inappropriate things going on, people who vote inappropriately are more likely to vote Democrat.
Think Progress: So if these protections are in place of voter ID, that might ultimately help him in a close race.
GROTHMAN: Right. I think if people cheat, we believe the people who cheat are more likely to vote against us.
On the contrary, extensive investigations have revealed that neither Democrats nor Republicans are committing voter fraud. Earlier this month, Dane County Judge David Flanagan struck down Wisconsin's voter ID law as violating the state constitution's express protections for voting rights, noting that:
"Since 2004, voter fraud investigations have been undertaken by the Milwaukee Police Department, by the Mayor of Milwaukee and by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, working with various county prosecutors working through the [Republican] Attorney General's Election Fraud Task Force. None of these efforts have produced a prosecution of a voter fraud violation that would have been prevented by the voter ID requirements" in Wisconsin's voter ID law.
On balance, Judge Flanagan found that the purported benefits of voter ID -- stopping nonexistent voter fraud -- did not outweigh the costs of disenfranchising more than 300,000 Wisconsin voters who do not have the forms of ID required under the law.
Many of those who lack ID are students, people of color, and the elderly -- populations that tend to vote for Democrats.
Voter ID's Partisan Motivation Made Clear
Despite the disproportionate impact that voter ID laws in Wisconsin and elsewhere will have on Democratic constituencies, supporters have long argued that the laws should not be considered a partisan issue. Grothman's unsupported comments ("people who vote inappropriately are more likely to vote Democrat") and other recent developments have revealed the partisan motivations behind the push for "voter ID."
Prior to the June 5 Wisconsin recall elections, GOP leaders and right-wing media declared that not having a voter ID law would lead to rampant fraud. But after Walker and three Republican senators survived their recall elections, there were no further allegations of statewide voter fraud or election irregularities in districts where Republican legislators kept their seats. Right-wing media and legislators only claimed voter fraud had happened in Racine, the one district where a Republican had lost (claims that were called "unsubstantiated" and "unsupported" by Wisconsin's elections board).
In June, Republican Rep. Robin Vos, the ALEC state co-chair in Wisconsin, sought to intervene in an appeal of the decision striking down the voter ID law, but refused to disclose who was funding his legal fees. Vos had spearheaded the effort to pass the bill in 2011, which reflects key elements of the ALEC "model" Voter ID Act. Only after the state ethics board advised that Vos would likely violate Wisconsin's ethics law by accepting secretly-funded legal services was it revealed that the Republican National Committee had been secretly bankrolling his effort to intervene in the case.
Also in June, Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R) declared that voter ID "is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania." That state's voter ID law is currently being challenged in court, and the federal Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is investigating whether the law discriminates against people of color.
Grothman Doesn't Want to Help Students Register to Vote?
Grothman's statements to Think Progress are the second time this month he has made controversial comments on voting rights. Last week, he attacked an ordinance passed by the Madison City Council requiring that landlords provide voter registration forms to new tenants, calling it "sheer arrogance."
Grothman, whose district is not even near Madison, said that asking landlords to hand tenants a piece of paper is an undue burden on freedom and free enterprise. "Landlords are already over regulated in this state," he said. "It is my sincere wish that the city's landlords find a way to strike a blow for freedom and avoid this new imposition."
Madison is home to the state's largest university and around half the housing units in the city are rentals, and a large percentage of those units turn over every year -- and in many cases, students or other renters don't know they must re-register when moving across town into a new district. Grothman sees efforts to help them register as intimidation.
"One could argue that by the nature of their relationship a landlord who gives a tenant a registration form is compelling someone to vote. One could see an 18 year old college student feel they were being intimidated into voting with such a requirement," he said.
Grothman knows that increased voter registration in liberal Madison, particularly by young people, would likely help Democrats in statewide elections.Although a week ago Palm’s CEO Jon Rubinstein still believed that “Palm can survive as an independent company” (FT), Palm was already up for sale and it was pretty obvious they would quickly find a buyer.
And they did. The company announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with HP, under which HP will purchase Palm at an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion.
The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors.
“The combination of HP’s global scale and financial strength with Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets,” according to the press release.
The companies claim that Palm’s webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as “true multitasking” and “always up-to-date information sharing across applications.”
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Palm stockholders will receive $5.70 in cash for each share of Palm common stock that they hold at the closing of the merger.
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of Palm’s stockholders. The companies informed that the transaction is expected to close during HP’s third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010.
Palm’s current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.
According to HP’s executive vice president Todd Bradley, Palm’s OS provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a “unique” HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices.”
“And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market,” he said.
Jon Rubinstein said: “We’re thrilled by HP’s vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP’s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS.”Recent scandals have led the leadership at Auburn to lay the groundwork to dismiss Athletics Director Jay Jacobs.
Auburn’s president and board of trustees have laid the groundwork to end Jay Jacobs’ tenure as athletics director, AL.com’s Kevin Scarbinsky reported. Two major scandals involving the softball team and men’s basketball team are the main issues related to Jacobs’ status at the school.
Scarbinsky reported that unless the leadership changes its current position, which it discussed in a conference call this week, the only variables are who will replace Jacobs and when the transition will take place.
That transition was expected to take place after the current football season, but recent scandals involving the school’s softball and men’s basketball programs have accelerated the process, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Earlier Friday afternoon, Leath declined to comment when asked by AL.com if he still maintained confidence in Jacobs’ ability to run the program given the scandals.
The softball incident was related to the resignations of head coach Clint Myers and associate head coach Corey Myers after a Title IX complaint alleged the younger Myers had and pursued improper relationships with student-athletes and the elder Myers, his father, allowed the behavior to occur, AL.com reported.
The men’s basketball review is related to an FBI probe that has resulted in the arrests of 10 different people connected to the sport, including Auburn associate head coach Chuck Person. Person has been charged with six federal crimes for his alleged involvement in a bribery and conspiracy scheme to steer Auburn players to a disgraced financial adviser named Martin Blazer, who was working as an FBI informant.
In August, Jacobs said he “could have been more forthcoming” about the school’s own investigation into former softball assistant Corey Myers. The basketball scandal has called into question Jacobs’ selection of head coach Bruce Pearl, who was still under a show cause for NCAA violations in his previous coaching position at Tennessee when Auburn hired him.
Jacobs has strong ties to the Auburn program. He walked on to the football team and later earned two letters as an offensive tackle in 1982 and 1983. As a senior, he started for the SEC Championship Tigers that finished the season No. 3 in the country. He was named Auburn’s 14th athletics director in 2004 after he worked in the athletics department for two decades.
Auburn has won 12 national championships during Jacobs’ tenure as AD, but the program has been plagued in recent years by a series of coaching hires that went wrong and scandals that put the university in a bad light.
Birmingham law firm Lightfoot, Franklin and White is conducting separate reviews at the request of the university of the softball and men’s basketball programs.TV review: House of Cards – Season 4, Netflix
Henry Northmore
24 February 2016
Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright return in the sharp political drama
House of Cards helped legitimise video on demand and streaming services. The first Netflix Original series to garner universal critical praise. A powerhouse political drama set behind the scenes at the White House following Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and his assent to power. HoC's cleverest tick is that despite committing some undeniably evil acts you still kinda like Frank. It's the way he breaks the fourth wall, directly addressing the viewer, drawing you into his schemes, confiding in you. It's a career best performance from Spacey, terrifying yet still effortlessly charismatic.
With the current presidential race in America the return of House of Cards couldn't be more timely. Frank is on his own campaign trail seeking the endorsement of the Democratic party to stand for election. The end of the last series saw Frank losing many of his greatest allies and most shockingly of all his wife, Claire (Robin Wright), announced she was leaving him. However political pitbull, Chief of Staff and Frank's staunchest ally Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) is back after his enforced sabbatical.
Leaks, backroom deals and treachery breed paranoia. Frank's backed into a corner, attacked from all sides, but you know what they say about wounded animals being the most dangerous. Claire and Frank circling each other like sharks. Frank is a master manipulator, as he proves with a subtly devastating play in episode two. Claire can be just as ruthless fighting back just as dirty the following episode. These are people who will exploit almost any event for a couple of points in the polls. Who will hold their nerve in this high risk game of political poker? Meanwhile spin and PR manages the public perception of their lives, highlighting the massive disconnect between the media image and reality.
And that's exactly where House of Cards is so effective. It isn't afraid to tackle the ugly face of power brokering, journalism, big business and pressure groups and the complicated interrelations between these factors that fuels modern politics.
Past crimes have a way of catching up with you and season four might be the tensest yet. We don't want to ruin any upcoming surprises but believe us something big happens that throws Frank's life into chaos. Spacey and Wright are at the top of their game, in lesser hands they could be figures of hate, but they give Frank and Claire such depth that you understand (even if you don't support) their motives. There are also a couple of great additions to the cast with Ellen Burstyn as Claire's mother and Neve Campbell as a tough campaign manager. Four seasons in and House of Cards hasn't lost its edge it's still one of the sharpest, darkest dramas on TV.
House of Cards season 4 is available on Netflix from Fri 4 Mar.BELLEVUE, WA—Following yesterday’s announcement that Amazon.com founder Jeffrey Bezos would be purchasing daily newspaper The Washington Post, sources confirmed today that Post associate editor and legendary investigative journalist Bob Woodward had already been repositioned at a new staff position in one of Amazon’s main warehouses just outside of Seattle.
Amazon.com sources say that Woodward, who is reportedly now a junior warehouse associate at the web company’s Bellevue-based warehouse, will be primarily responsible for stocking the factory shelves, tracking and packaging online orders, and several other daily tasks related to the location’s inventory.
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“I know it’s only Bob’s first day, but I think it’s going to take him a little while to get the hang of working here,” said warehouse manager Sam Griffin, who confirmed that the veteran reporter who helped break the Watergate scandal would be making $11.50 an hour at his new position and $12.50 for any weekend or night shifts. “He keeps saying that at his old job he got to ‘pick his own assignments’ or something, so I guess he’s not really used to having a boss. Apparently, the guy’s never worked a forklift before either, so that’s going to be a tough couple of weeks of training.”
“The one thing I’ll give him is that he does seem very curious,” Griffin added. “I mean, he’s always asking questions and he has a little notepad and a tape recorder out at all times, so hopefully he picks something up from all that.”
Warehouse sources told reporters that, when not undergoing training, Woodward has so far spent the majority of his first day attempting to conduct short one-on-one interviews with his coworkers, and reportedly sorting through copious amounts of handwritten notes in high-traffic areas of the warehouse’s floor.
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Other employees added that in the few hours of the day Woodward has managed to do his job, he has displayed virtually no skill for it.
“Bob was barely able to pack one box of shoes that was going out for shipment today, and then once he finished he wanted to know everything about the recipient,” said fellow warehouse associate Matt Briggs. “He said he was using it for some sort of investigative thing he was writing about conditions at Amazon.com warehouses. I told him to do that stuff on his own time if he really wants, but for now we’re all trying to get out of here at 5.”
“Christ, if he wants to investigate something, then he can investigate where the boxes of Sopranos Season 4 DVDs are and go shelve them in backstock,” Briggs continued.
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Woodward had no comment for reporters about his new position, but was able to confirm that an unnamed source in the warehouse’s HR department said he would need to find new employment by the end of the week.Despite not showing up at the Republican Fox News debate tonight, Donald Trump still dominated the online conversation.
Google, Fox News’ partner for the debate, kept track of which candidates were the most searched during the debate. Guess who topped the chart almost all throughout:
Yep, aside from that brief Marco Rubio blip, it was Trump all the way.
And take a look at who was the most searched candidate in every single state early on:
This is how America looks now. Stick with us to see how it changes during the main #GOPdebate. pic.twitter.com/IoObwFVTWN — GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) January 29, 2016
Twitter put out two different statistics on the most talked-about candidates––one with all the candidates and one with only the candidates on stage. Take a look at how they differed halfway through:
And compare both after it was over:
And take a guess who won the most new followers:
In fairness, it’s worth noting this stat that gave the debate a big advantage over Trump’s rally:
Which one is being searched more: “Debate live stream” or “Trump live stream”? #GOPdebate pic.twitter.com/PG0ZXglFCo — GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) January 29, 2016
[image via screengrab]
— —
Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comThe revival of retro toys based on the action figures of yesteryear is perhaps at its height right now — but one area where most lines are slipping up is in the distinct lack of retro playsets. Figures Toy Company is changing that with their line of retro DC action figures though, and it's off to a great start.
Figures have been putting out 8-inch retro toys based on the classic Batman TV show and DC's Justice League Mego figures for a while now, but these two new playsets are their first attempt at recreating the old-school cardboard cutout playsets or "deluxe" vehicle sets, and they look great:
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Well, technically only one is a playset: Batman is getting a recreation of the classic mego Batcave from the 1970's, a massive 15" x 15" x 11" cardboard replica completely with a flashing Bat Signal for you to mess around with. Aquaman though... well, he gets himself and a Giant Plastic Shark to fight and/or communicate with. Poor guy.
This is exactly what I want from all these new-but-retro-again toylines: so few are just doing the cheap, tiny figures, and forgetting that just as much appeal was getting these elaborate vehicles and playsets to play with them all. There's just as much nostalgia in them than there is in the figures, and it's finally nice to see a company putting some out.
The Batcave and Aquaman vs. The Great White Shark don't have prices just yet, but they'll be out later this year.
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[Action Figure Insider]
You're reading Toybox, io9's blog for all things pop culture. From merchandise to awesome fan creations, TV recaps and critical commentary on the hot topics of the day, you can find it all here!Kick start: Cubs’ Javy Baez tweaks mechanics, goes on 6-for |
, snarling and fierce (“i don’ want it all! / i jes wanna leetle bit!”), his exhortations as raw and lewd and laden with insinuation as a carnival kootch-show pitchman’s hype (“git yo’ hands outta yo’ pockets and turn on yo’ love light!”), and every now and then i seem to hear a line of such brazen, unbounded lickerishness (“dew yew lak ta fu-u-u-uckkk?”) that i start and blink and wonder did he really say that?—and the whole thing builds and builds, ten minutes, fifteen, twenty, and now the audience is clapping to keep time, they have joined the dead en masse as one enormous synchronized syncopated single-minded rhythm section, taking up the beat from bill the drummer’s tom-tom and making it their own, insisting on it, demanding it, and the dead are delightedly handing it over to them, one by one laying down guitars and drumsticks and leaving the center of the stage to pig and jerry, first weir, then hart and lesh, then even bill the drummer, leaving their posts to join the crew of groupies and quippies and buddies and wives and old ladies at the rear of the stage back against the light-show screen among the throbbing blobs, greeting friends and accepting tokes on whatever gets passed their way, beer or joints or coke or ripple, and just jerry and pig and the audience are left to mind the music, jerry’s guitar weaving incredible intricacies in front of the rhythmic whipcrack of applause, pig chanting his unholy litany (”… so come awn, bay-beh, baby please, I’m beggin’ ya, bay-beh, and I’m on my knees …”) like a man possessed by a whole mob of randy, rampant demons, and now jerry too puts down his guitar and leaves, and it’s just pig up there alone with his tambourine and his snarl (”... turn on yo light, all i need …”) and his three-thousand-member rhythm section keeping time, keeping time, I’ve never before considered (”… huh! …”) what that expression really means, the crowd has undertaken to tend and cherish the beat until the band comes back (“… I jus’ gotta git sum, it’s all I need …”) and resumes its stewardship, the whole arrangement amounts to a very special kind of trust, we are (”… huh!…”) not just audience but keepers of the flame, we are of the grateful dead, with them (”… got ta keep pooshin’, all i need...”) and for them and of them …
blam!
It’s the crack of doom or the first shot of the revolution or, anyhow, a cherry bomb that Pig has somehow set off just at his feet. A cloud of dense gray smoke still boils up around him; no longer any doubt about it, he is plainly a satanic manifestation. And without my noticing them, the other Dead have stolen back to their places and taken up their instruments, and at the signal of the cherry bomb, the song blasts into life again, the decibel count is astronomical, the crowd is shrieking in one hysterically ecstatic voice, and the volume of the music is so great it swallows up the very shriek itself; by a single diabolic stroke, a multitude three thousand strong has suddenly been struck dumb. The din is enough to wake even the moldering spirits of those moribund old poots who once set myriad toes a-tapping in this hallowed hall. I can almost see them now: Vaughn Monroe and Wayne King the Waltz King and Clyde McCoy and Ginny Sims and the Ink Spots and Frankie Yankovic and Ralph Flanagan and the Hill-toppers and Kay Kyser and His Kollege of Musical Knowledge and Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights … a whole host of phantoms, troupers to the last, crawling out of this old wormy woodwork and rising up from the rankest, dankest depths of memory to join the living Dead for one last encore. Just listen to the racket! Bill the Drummer’s heavy artillery is pounding at my temples, and Mickey Hart is laying into his four great shimmering gongs until the pandemonium itself is all atremble with their clangor and my back teeth taste of brass, and Lesh and Weir are ripping furiously at the faces of their guitars, and the crowd is screaming as if that enormous palpitating blood-red blob of light behind the band were the flaming dawn of doomsday, and Jerry’s guitar is winding out a shrill silvery coil of sound that spirals up and up and up until, whining like a brain surgeon’s drill, it bores straight through the skull and sinks its spinning shaft into the very quick of my mind, and Pig, a rag doll buffeted by hot blasts of ecstasy gusting up from three thousand burning throats, flings himself into a demented little Saint Vitus’ dance of demonic glee and howls the kamikaze cry of one who is plunging headlong into the void, the last word beyond which all sound is rendered as meaningless as silence…
YEEEEEEEEE-o-o-o-o-oowwwwwwwww!
***
… True, we travel this treacherous road at our own risk; but could we ever have supposed it might prove otherwise? And if the absence of "signs” and “dividin’ lines” and “rules to guide” guarantees a hazardous journey, it also promises times when this heaven-bound ride is indescribably wild and sweet and free; things will get “out of hand”—“always”—but even that inevitability has its compensations, so long as we are among friends.
Still and all, “if the horse don’t pull, you got to carry the load”—that is, if the communal vehicle and the full power of the community’s combined energies will not bear one safely through, then the whole burden of care and growth must rest upon oneself. And, the minstrel cautions, it may well be that none of us is capable of that effort, that the whole enormous enterprise will come to nothing. But this is a time of testing, of pitting our strength against all the forces that oppress us— our guilt and our despair; our selfishness, our failures and our fear of failure—for “one way or another” relief must come, these gloomy times must pass, the darkness will give.
Thus “New Speedway Boogie” is at once a sober—if highly subjective—study of a violently traumatic moment in the course of human events, a desperate prayer for deliverance, and a hymn of hope. And when those final fervent lines—
One way or anotherOne way or anotherOne way or another;This darkness got to give.
—come echoing and reechoing down like “Excelsior!” from the heights, it also becomes an anthem quite as stirring, in its own somber introspective way, as “Onward, Christian Soldiers.”
***
“When I talk about musicians, I’m talkin about people who make music, not just people who are technically perfect. Music bein That Thing Which Gets You Off. I mean, that’s just my definition of that word. And when you’re playin and really Gettin Off that way, it’s like when you’re drivin down a road past an orchard, you know, and you look out and at first all you can see is just another woods, a bunch of trees all jumbled up together, like there’s no form to it; it’s chaos. But then you come to a certain point and suddenly—zing! zing! zing!—there it is, the order, the trees all lined up perfectly no matter which way you look, so you can see the real shape of the orchard! I mean, you know what I mean? And as you move along, it gets away from you, it turns back into chaos again, but now it doesn’t matter, because now you understand. I mean, now you know the secret…”
FOOTNOTE
* A very literal interpretation of the refrain might also make reference to the fact that the Dead, scheduled to go on after the Stones, never actually played that day; thus they had ample opportunity to climb “the hill” overlooking the scene and see for themselves that things were indeed “gettin’ out of hand.”Yeah, the characters are pretty Sonic-like but I don’t care, they look cute and the gameplay is solid, I don’t usually let fandoms or idiots obscure my vision when all that matters is gameplay in a game like this.
Finally I'm done with this one, it took me nearly 2 weeks to actually finish this, not because the piece itself was hard to make ( It really wasn't, normally i'd finish something like this in 1-2 days ) but because I barely had any spare time these last weeks. But hey, I did it! Finally!A really fun Sonic-like game that's kind of a mix between Sonic, Gunstar Heroes and Ristar, I initially dismissed it because of the Sonic OC do-not-steal kind of characters but later I decided to give it a try, and boy... I swear I never had so much fun in a fast-paced game before, if you're a fan of 2D Platformers give this a try, it's worth your money, it's actually better than most of what SEGA has been doing with their blue hedgehog in the last years, and this was made by mere fans ( It was originally a Sonic fan-game before they decided to make it their own "franchise" ), I gotta admit, I was really impressed with what Galaxy Trails made and I hope to see what they can come up with in the future, both the DLC for more playable characters and their next projects.The trailer itself was what gave me the hype to play this game check it out, it gets especially good at 0:56 ( It was exactly that boss battle with the yellow mech that made my mind about getting this game )And I can't really talk about this without mentioning the amazing soundtrack, it's great and if you're a fan of videogame music, you should consider giving it a try, the boss theme itself is by far my favorite song, and it goes REALLY well when you're low on health taking on a difficult boss, that part at 0:34 still gives me goosebumps.Of course it has it's flaws, a story that bites more than it can chew by constantly mentioning organizations, kingdoms, exposition, etc that are never fully explained, voice acting with varying levels of quality, XxXSpadeXxX The Hedgehog Do Not Steal, an ocean of glitches with Milla ( one of the playable characters ) and questionable physics at certain points of the game, but it was still a great experience for me, I definitely recommend it.Here are the main characters, Lilac ( Purple dragon ), Carol ( Green wildcat riding the motorcycle ) and Milla ( White dog/rabbit thing at the plane ), the sort-of useless sidekick Commander Torque ( Green alien guy piloting the plane ), Neera ( Panda girl in the center, there was a lot of missing space in the middle so I slapped her in there, she's not that relevant to the plot ), and the villains Lord Brevon ( Eyebrow Lord ) and Serpentine ( You don't really need a description do you? At this point you probably already know who I'm talking about... )As Jodi Rudoren exits the Jerusalem bureau of The New York Times, she leaves behind a series of gaping holes in coverage of Palestine-Israel, above all in her failure to expose the treatment of the most vulnerable, who suffer disproportionately under the constant brutality of the Israeli occupation.
Readers of the Times have never been told of the international outcry over the abuse of Palestinian children detained by Israeli security forces. They know nothing about the myriad Israeli breaches of the 2014 ceasefire with Gaza, especially the frequent attacks on fishermen and farmers; and they are uninformed of the cruel measures imposed on struggling Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere.
Rudoren, who leaves her post as Jerusalem bureau chief at the end of this month, replaced Ethan Bronner nearly four years ago. She has written from inside a Israeli Jewish perspective, giving voice to official Israeli spin and omitting the stories that beg to be told.
Thus, although Rudoren visited Gaza, she had nothing to say about the numerous attacks on defenseless farmers and fishermen there, some of whom have died simply trying to do a day’s work. These attacks are in violation of the truce that ended the assault on Gaza in the summer of 2014 (as well as previous agreements), but Rudoren’s reporting from the enclave has strained to deflect the blame from Israel.
Instead of telling the stories we need to hear, Rudoren has written about individual Gazans who are anything but typical—a woman artist who defies the authorities, a man who goes against the grain by advocating for the two-state solution.
In this way she has given us the appearance of entering into Gazan society, of “balance” in covering both Israeli and Palestinian affairs, while she actually provided a smokescreen to avoid looking at the urgent issues.
The Bedouin of the West Bank received even less attention during Rudoren’s term in Jerusalem, but their stories are equally disturbing and compelling. In the Jordan Valley and east of Jerusalem (and also within Israel, in the Negev), Israeli forces often confiscate and destroy the basic necessities of life in these poverty-stricken communities.
The Israeli Civil Administration, a branch of the army, routinely destroys tents, latrines, animal shelters, water pipes, cisterns, wells, houses, solar panels and storage sheds, usually under the pretext that they lack building permits. Many of the confiscated and destroyed items have been donated by the International Committee of the Red Cross or other aid organizations.
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has documented these acts of destruction and the many times Israeli troops have forced entire communities to leave their homes for hours and days at a time under the pretext of needing the area for “military training.” These live fire training sessions have more than once set the Bedouins’ fields on fire, destroying valuable crops and grazing land.
And yet, as she ignored these depredations, Rudoren chose to write about illegal settlers in the Jordan Valley, presenting them as plucky and determined and ignoring the plunder of indigenous communities in the area.
Although B’Tselem, the United Nations, Amnesty International and other monitoring groups have exposed the contemptible actions and policies of the Israeli government and its security forces, Rudoren has almost totally ignored the reports and even worked to undermine them.
Numerous groups, for instance, have raised alarm over the abuse of Palestinian children in Israeli custody, but Rudoren never saw fit to address the issue in the Times—except for a somewhat oblique attempt to defuse the charges. Thus, she wrote about stone throwing as a rite of passage in one West Bank village, presenting the youthful efforts at resistance and the Israeli response as a kind of game, nothing to be taken seriously.
The story mentions the arrests of children and military interrogations, but readers never learn that Israeli courts and security forces have been accused of serious mistreatment, amounting to torture: beatings, forced confessions, sleep deprivation, threats and more.
Instead, Rudoren says that it can be cold in those infamous interrogation rooms, as if that is the worst of it.
In the latest uprising, marked by a series of lone wolf stabbing and vehicular attacks, Rudoren continued to ignore the reports of monitoring groups, saying nothing about the well-documented charges that Israeli security forces are carrying out street executions of Palestinians who pose no threat.
This kind of news is deemed unfit to print in the Times. Rudoren, who goes on to join the international desk at the paper’s headquarters, played her part well, according to Times protocol, which expects that its reporters will maintain the Israeli narrative of victimhood, suppress anything that contradicts this claim and betray its readers under a camouflage of “balanced” reporting.
Barbara Erickson
AdvertisementsBy Mick Krever, CNN
An American default on its debt could do “nothing good” for the economy, either in the U.S. or abroad, Former Republican Senator Judd Gregg told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
Gregg spoke with Amanpour as the U.S. faced dual financial crises: An impeding government shutdown imposed by a congress unwilling to fund the government, which could come Monday night, and a possible default on the government’s debts, which would come in about three weeks.
It is that second problem, a default on America’s debts, that would be the much “bigger problem,” Gregg said.
“It would,” he told Amanpour, “obviously [have] significant ramifications for the country and for our fiscal policies.”
There are a group of Republicans in the House of Representatives who do not want President Obama’s healthcare reform – dubbed Obamacare – to go into effect, and are willing to do anything possible to block it.
Congress itself approved Obamacare, the president’s signature legislative achievement, when it passed the bill three years ago and made it law
“The problem here is very fundamental,” Gregg said. “There are two things which are not negotiable. One is killing Obamacare. The president is obviously not going to agree to do that – that’s his signature proposal. And Republicans aren’t going to agree to raise taxes.”
“If they try to reach an agreement on those two grounds, agreement can’t be reached,” he said. “But there’s a huge area in between those two points, such as reforming our entitlement systems or just doing very targeted action in the area of spending restraint that could be accomplished, and which could be part of an agreement for increasing the debt ceiling.”
Gregg said that responsibility for the impasse lies with both Republican and Democrats, blaming the president for failing to negotiate with his congressional colleagues.
But it was clear that the former Republican senator saw much fault within his own party.
“There are a few people in our party who don’t seem to understand the process of governing,” he told Amanpour.
“I think they’re pursuing it for personal political gain,” Gregg said. “There’s a very small group of folks in our party who are gaining significant national attention, and they’re raising a huge amount of money” by saying that they won’t increase the debt ceiling unless Obamacare is delayed or repealed.
But not only would a default be terrible for the economy, he told Amanpour, it would be politically bad for Republicans as well.
“The Republican Party would be the loser in a shutdown” – the first problem – “and it would be the dramatic loser in a default,” the second problem, he said. “It’s sort of like that like from Man of la Mancha where Sancho Panza says ‘Where the rock hits the jar [or] the jar hits the rock, the jar loses.’ And in this case the jar is the Republican Party.”Canberra could be producing its first legal cannabis plants within months after the ACT government praised the federal government for filling the missing link in providing medicinal cannabis.
Greens minister Shane Rattenbury said he would introduce legislation to establish an ACT scheme for the cultivation and supply of medicinal cannabis after federal Health Minister Sussan Ley announced on Friday she was finalising changes to the Narcotics Drugs Act.
Ms Ley said the government's planned changes would allow the Department of Health to licence growers under a new scheme, with obligations and legal requirements for states and territories.
Mr Rattenbury, whose draft legislation led to an Assembly review of the issue released this year, said it was a significant move forward and highlighted how fast community opinions had changed on the issue.
"Federal laws have always prevented the ACT from setting up a formal model for cultivation and supply of medicinal cannabis," he said.RIO DE JANEIRO — Thirty-one inmates were slain Friday in northern Brazil, some with their hearts and intestines ripped out, during a prison killing spree led by the country’s largest gang, authorities said.
The bloodshed comes just days after 60 inmates were killed during rioting at two prisons in a neighboring state and it increases fears that violence could spread, including to the streets of major cities, as gangs vie for influence and territory both inside prisons and in slums where trafficking operations are often based.
It’s also becoming a flashpoint for the government of President Michel Temer, whose administration is already struggling with an economic crisis and mounting corruption allegations. Authorities of the state of Roraima, on the border with Venezuela, said they requested help from Brazil’s federal government more than once to deal with its prison crisis, but no support was sent.
“This is a national crisis,” said Uziel Castro, security secretary of the state where the latest massacre happened.
Castro said the slaying spree began around 2:30 a.m. Friday at the Agricultural Penitentiary of Monte Cristo in the town of Boa Vista. He said it was led by members of Sao Paulo-based First Command, Brazil’s biggest criminal organization.
He said First Command members did not attack members of a rival gang, but rather other prisoners, for motives that were not yet clear.
“There was no confrontation, this was a killing spree,” said Castro. “It was barbaric. Some were beheaded, others had their hearts or intestines ripped out.”
Castro said firearms were not involved, and none of the 1,500 inmates in the prison built for about 700 had escaped.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether there was a connection to the gruesome rioting earlier this week in the neighboring state of Amazonas, which officials blamed on a gang war between the First Command and Family of the North, which fight over control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil along the borders of Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and the Guianas.
Brazil’s justice secretary lowered the death to 31 later Friday after authorities said throughout the day that 33 had been killed.
A police statement said officers, including a heavily armed military-like riot squad, had been deployed to the prison.
Just as details about the latest disturbance were emerging, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes announced measures to curb the violence.
Moraes said federal police would be more integrated in state capitals and that special task forces would be created to more quickly process criminal charges, a measure aimed at reducing overcrowding. Moraes offered no deadlines for the initiatives but said they would “be realistic” given the recession in Latin America’s largest economy.
“The situation isn’t out of control,” said Moraes. “It’s (just) another difficult situation.”
The rioting Sunday and Monday in Amazonas included the country’s worst prison massacre since 1992, with half of the 56 slain at one institution beheaded and several others also dismembered. In another of the riots in the state, four prisoners died.
A total of 184 inmates escaped from Amazonas prisons in the disturbances. As of Thursday afternoon, only 65 had been recaptured.
“The federal government needs to prepare for a worst case scenario, and that means accelerating measures to keep the situation from getting worse,” said Col. Jose Vicente, a former national security adviser and risk consultant.
In October, a riot at the Agricultural Penitentiary of Monte Cristo, the same where disturbances were reported on Friday, left 10 dead. Authorities said that clash involved the First Command and Red Command, which has its base in Rio de Janeiro. On the same day, eight others were killed in a prison in the state of Rondonia, which borders Bolivia.
After that clash, Roraima state’s Castro asked the federal government for help with the prison, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
Castro requested that the national guard be sent in to help because the moving of prisoners deemed leaders of the rebellion had led to threats of retaliation.
Asked about the request Friday, Moraes, the minister of justice, said that Roraima had requested policemen to help in patrolling Venezuelans that were entering Brazilian territory — though that is not what the letter itself stated. He acknowledged that no help had been sent.
Moraes cancelled his trip to Roraima after Castro said the state had repeatedly asked the federal government for help and was always denied. Brazil’s Justice Ministry did not offer any explanation on the decision.
“Criminals are trying to kill each other. What we need is the federal government help,” said Castro. “This is all over Brazil.”Sosa, venezolana y doctora de 29 años, se convirtió así en la sucesora de Nilson Viazzo y en la primera mujer en ostentar el título de mejor cocinero amateur otorgado por el certamen en Uruguay, por el que además recibe un premio en efectivo de $ 200.000, un auto, un curso de especialización gastronómica en el Instituto Crandon, y un viaje de tres días al restaurante español El Celler de Can Roca.
La ganadora llegó a Uruguay junto a su novio ante la crisis política, económica y social que atraviesa su país de origen. A lo largo de la temporada reflejó sus orígenes en distintos platos (incluso en los preparados en la final), y llegó a hacer emocionar a Sergio Puglia por homenajear a su país en sus preparaciones.
Final Masterchef 2 I. Guimaraens
La triunfadora fue elegida por los tres jurados, Sergio Puglia, Lucía Soria y Laurent Lainé, quienes estuvieron acompañados en el final del programa por Joan Roca, uno de los dos hermanos fundadores del restaurante español y por el primer ganador del certamen, Nilson Viazzo.
La semifinal comenzó con una prueba de suerte. Las tres finalistas tuvieron que, de a una, retirar una piedra de un tocón. ¿Por qué? Porque la prueba estaría inspirada en el célebre restaurante español de los hermanos Roca. Debajo de cada piedra había un elemento de la naturaleza, en el cual debían basarse para cocinar una entrada y un plato principal. Además, también se les especificó el sistema de cocción que deberían utilizar. Final Masterchef 2 I. Guimaraens La primera fue Luciana, que tuvo que preparar un plato con la tierra como base. A su vez, debía cocinar al vapor. Por eso, presentó ante el jurado una galleta catalana con vegetales al vapor, peceto braseado en oporto y salsa de su reducción. Su segundo plato consistió en Tierra de hongos con dumpling rellenos de duxelle y salsa de puerros, almendras y espumante. Magdalena de los Santos, que finalmente quedó tercera, debió cocinar sus platos teniendo en cuenta que su elemento era el aire y que el plato que preparara debería ser confitado. Su primera presentación consistió de Espumoso de frutilla con avellanas tostadas y salsa de frutilla, mientras que su plato principal fue brótola confitada con trigo bulgur, espárragos salteados y hongos confitados. Final Masterchef 2 I. Guimaraens Por último, María Gracia debió cocinar su plato con el que pretendía llegar a la final tomando en cuenta al mar como elemento y que debía freír los alimentos. Su primer plato fue arroz meloso de mejillones y langostinos con chips de plátano. El segundo fue langostinos con crema de palta y chutney de mango. Al final, y luego del característico momento de suspenso sostenido, María Gracia y Luciana pasaron a la final. El menú final Los platos finales de Luciana y María Gracia, las dos finalistas, tenían un solo requisito: debían presentar un menú de tres pasos: entrada, plato principal y postre. En la entrada, Luciana presentó ajo blanco con uvas, mientras que María Gracia prefirió sorprender al jurado con un tataki de lomo. Para el plato principal, Luciana preparó fagotini de seso y espinaca, que fue especialmente elogiado por Sergio Puglia. María Gracia, por su parte, presentó chivo al coco, un plato difícil que fue, según el jurado, correcto. El postre de Luciana se basó en una deconstrucción de cannoli, un plato calificado como arriesgado, pero "estupendamente bien hecho", según Puglia. "En este postre está Nápoles, esta Uruguay y está la excelencia", agregó el cocinero uruguayo. Final Masterchef 2 I. Guimaraens María Gracia eligió para el final una mousse de maracuyá con crocante de chocolate. "Es un postre muy fino, muy delicado. Muy bueno", destacó Lucía Soria. Para resolver el ganador, el jurado calificó cada plato con un puntaje por separado. Cada uno de los platos fue evaluado bajo diferentes aspectos, como su calidad o su presencia.
María Gracia Sosa ganó en la madrugada de este martes la segunda edición uruguaya de MasterChef, luego de imponerse en la final del reality show de cocina frente a Luciana Dangelo.(This article was written by Anuradha Gandhy in 2001 on the verge of Narendra Modi becoming the chief minister of Gujrat and is now made available on internet for the first time. Do read and share widely.)
Exactly one year after the carnage in Gujarat began; the country is still reeling from the horror of the events. Narendra Modi’s expected victory in the assembly elections has further strengthened the position of the Hindutva fascist forces not only in Gujarat but also in the country as a whole. Reviewing the strategy of Hindutva forces and the lessons from Gujarat become even more relevant now. Here we are concerned with the impact of the Hindutva fascist forces on women and on the women’s movement.
The agenda of the Hindu fascist forces is political. Their strategy is the maximum political mobilisation of the Hindu masses and their aim is the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra. It will be noticed that the present phase of Hindu fascist growth can trace its growth with the neo-liberal economic policies of the early 1980s. And the aggressive policies of economic reforms and globalisation of the 1990s is accompanied with the aggressive policies of Hindutva. The reasons for this is not far to seek: the policies of economic reform have led to the extreme impoverisation of, not only a large section of the masses, but even of sizable sections of the middle classes; so there was urgent need to divert peoples’ attention from their mass destitution through the whipping up a frenzy against Muslims and other minorities. Besides, mass anger against the blatant capitulation to the imperialists, particularly the US, is sought to be diverted through fake nationalism, like slogans of cultural nationalism and Hindu Rashtra.
The extreme and continued polarisation of Hindu society in Gujarat along religious lines, the sense of brazen confidence with which the attacking, looting and killing was carried out and the active participation of a section of the women from the upper castes, shows that the Hindu fascist forces have been successful in Gujarat in taking their agenda forward. They have penetrated and succeeded in converting a section of the Hindu masses to their ideology and imbue them with the goal of Hindu Rashtra. What horror this portends for the oppressed sections — the lower castes, women, especially women of minority communities and the poor —does not need mention.
Growing Fundamentalism Worldwide — What it means for Women
The rise of Hindu fascist forces is part of the world-wide rise of fundamentalism and fascism.. Imperialism faced with its worst ever crisis since the inter-war years is encouraging and promoting fundamentalist forces and fascist organisations and propaganda. “Imperialism strives for reaction everywhere” Lenin. As Hawley has argued, “fundamentalist perspectives on gender cast a uniquely revealing light on the nature of fundamentalism as a whole.” As it is, all religions have been patriarchal in the moral code they sanction and the social arrangements they uphold. And one of the central points of fundamentalist propaganda is a conservative ideology of gender — all fundamentalist forces, be they of the Christian denominations in the US, or Hindu, or the New Religions in Japan or Islamic forces — they proclaim the specific agenda of restoring the centrality of the family and home in the life of women and patriarchal control over her sexuality. Hence ideologues of the New Right even in the US are claiming that there is a moral crisis in American society and this is because of the fact that women are working outside the home. Though they have mobilised actively around opposition to abortion rights for women, they begin by arguing that welfare state expenditures have raised taxes and added to inflation, pulling the married woman into the labour force and thereby destroying the fabric of the patriarchal family and hence the moral order of society. According to Jerry Falwell of the Moral majority, “children (in the US) should have the right to the love of the mother and a father who understand their different roles and fulfil their different responsibilities…to live in an economic system that makes it possible for husbands to support their wives as full time mothers in the home and enable the families to survive on one income instead of two.”
Giving specious moral arguments these fascists in the US are aggre-ssively presenting the so-called pro-life campaign. This campaign started with reactions to court judgements but it has gone beyond that and has included attacks on abortion clinics, killing of activists and doctors who help women get abortions done. At the same time these very so-called pro-life forces are among the active campaigners for the continuation of the death penalty and larger military spending and aggressive international policy by the US Government. Hence they are among the most conservative and reactionary sections of US society. They have white supremacist views, indulge in openly racist activity and are fascist in their nature of organising and propaganda.
The same is to be found in the conservative New Religions that have sprung up in Japan, especially in the post war period. A study in the early nineties says that “ In the post-war period many New Religions have adopted an agenda of social issues on which re-establishing a patriarchal ideology of the family heads the list. The pre-war family system that they seek to reinstate institutionalises male dominance and the authority of elders and keeps women’s status low by restricting their sphere of choice in matters of marriage, reproduction and divorce. The older family form is imbued with religious significance in such a way that to be a good wife and mother is not only proper, it is essential to women’s salvation.” Both in the US and Japan these movements have arisen in the context of a rapid change in women’s role and transformation in the family structures. Women have been going out in large numbers working outside the home and earning an independent income.
Islamic fundamentalism is a more complex phenomenon. Initially, in the post second world war period, it was propped up and sustained by US imperialism in the face of democratic and socialist movements of people, like in the Arab countries. But with the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union and especially China, and the betrayal of the democratic national liberation movements by their compromising leadership, anti-imperialism has been expressed in traditional and often religious ways. Islam has also become an ideological force adopted by movements against the US imperialists like in Iran, or become the expression of resistance as in Palestine today (due to the betrayal of the older more secular and ‘left’ leadership). In the countries of the former Soviet Union too Islamic fundamentalism has become the means through which nationalist opposition to Russian domination and exploitation is being expressed. In countries like Afghanistan where there was no anti-feudal democratic mass movement, modernisation and, where increase in freedom to women was initiated from above during Soviet occupation, it could gain no support from the rural masses, and thus Islamic fundamentalism maint-ained its social base. Hence the warlords who came to power in Afghanistan after the Soviet withd-rawal in 1992 were as reactionary as the Taliban that swept to power several years later, and RAWA, the women’s organisation that opposed the restrictions on women’s rights, was as critical of the warlords as of the Taliban. Today the same warlords are back in power under US protection. But whether they are reactionary regimes like the Saudi monarchy or the more mass movement based organisations, they have been making control over women’s dress, her movements and manner of her participation in public life an important part of their campaign and this is what has gained the maximum publicity in the bourgeois and imperialist media given the campaign being launched by American imperialism against Islam.
Given the complex role of fundamentalism in the world today, the political role it plays will determine the manner in which we struggle against it. Religious fundamentalism of all types promotes patriarchy and other backward values, and must therefore be generally countered by all democratic and revolutionary forces. Yet today, fundamentalism has a dual role. First, fundamentalism of the Christians in the US, the Hindutva brigade of India, etc. is part of the growing fascist policies of the State and ruling classes, and has to be seen and attacked in that context. On the other hand, Muslim fundamentalism today, is growing in reaction to the US’s aggressive war-mongering and in reaction to the Hindu fascist offensive in the country, and so plays a different political role vis-a-vis the State. So, with respect to the former it is necessary to attack it thoroughly on all fronts; while regarding the latter, there is need to see its anti-US/anti-Hindutva role, while at the same time exposing its retrograde patriarchal and feudal thinking.
The Indian Context
In the Indian context it is clear that at present the foremost enemy of women are the Hindutva forces. Hindutva breeds on the festering stagnant pool of feudal values that continue to thrive in this backward semi-feudal, semi-colonial system. The casteist, patriarchal and other feudal values already prevalent in this system, acts as dry hay for the Hindu fascist fire; and the upper caste elite form natural allies for these venomous political vampires. Besides, due to the general backward thinking and a weak democratic movement, other castes and classes also tend to fall prey to the aggressive and wide scale propaganda of the Hindutva forces.
During Roop Kunwar’s sati/ immolation in 1987, which some commentators consider as a dress rehearsal for the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Hindutva forces publicly revealed their patriarchal biases and attitudes. The event took place in a well-off village, Deorala, about 50 kms from Jaipur in Rajasthan, but it snowballed into an all-India issue with the various organisations |
are very proud of the value we’ve been able to pack into Jotunheim. An all-new, proprietary Pivot Point™ differential discrete topology, multiple switchable inputs and preamp outputs, balanced and single-ended headphone outs, a big 27mm Alps 4-gang balanced pot, and an optional differential DAC module with passive filtering. And a ton of power. And a 5-year warranty. And…but we’re getting tedious, aren’t we?
But this is probably a “fake” balanced amp, right, where you convert from balanced to single-ended and back again?
Nope. When we say, “balanced, differential,” we say what we mean, and mean what we say.
Wait a sec, there are a lot of combined amp/DACs out there using op-amps and digital volume, or converting to single-ended internally, or all of the above, that cost a whole lot more than this, right?
Right.
Aaaannd?
And they ain’t Schiit.
So, if we get a DAC module, is this an amp/DAC or DAC/amp? Yes. And how did you achieve this magical no-compromise bullschiit? By not simply sticking a headphone amp chip in a DAC or sticking a half-assed DAC in a headphone amp. Used as a DAC, it operates no differently than Bifrost or Gungnir—but with the added functionality of a volume control, and, of course, a headphone output. So I can use this as just a DAC? Sure. If you get one of the optional DAC modules. What’s the difference between the DAC modules? $100. Sheesh. Besides that, what’s the difference between the DAC modules? Okay, we’ll be serious. You can choose one of two different DAC modules for Jotunheim: Multibit DAC Module. This one uses Schiit’s unique DSP-based digital filter and true multibit DAC architecture, with the AK5547 D/A converter. It’s essentially a Modi Multibit with only USB input.
This one uses Schiit’s unique DSP-based digital filter and true multibit DAC architecture, with the AK5547 D/A converter. It’s essentially a Modi Multibit with only USB input. AK4490 DAC Module. This one uses two AK4490 DACs (hardware-balanced configuration) for excellent measured performance at low cost.
Or can I use it as just an amp?
Yep, you can do that too. You can also use it as a great preamp. And you can even use it as a phono preamp with the phono input card. You just can’t have both DAC and phono at the same time, sorry.
What is this “Pivot Point topology?”
It’s a new, Schiit-proprietary, differential current-feedback topology that provides exceptional performance—low distortion, high bandwidth, inherently balanced output, and the ability to use one side of the topology as a single-ended output, to eliminate the need for summers. It’s also fully discrete, with no op-amps (except the DC servo) or integrated “chip” outputs, and is completely DC-coupled from input to output. It is, quite simply, the highest-performing, most flexible gain stage we’ve ever created. And it’s like nothing else out there.
So it’s not a circlotron?
No. It is inherently differential and balanced, but it is not a circlotron, nor is it supersymmetric. Beyond that, buy one and reverse-engineer it, like any other company with no imagination.
I’m frustrated! I want to know everything about this magic gain stage!
Go to college. Learn engineering. Be nice. Stop by at shows. Then maybe we’ll tell you more.
You’re screwing with me!
Yep. We probably won’t tell you anything, even at shows. Yes, I know, we’re dinosaurs in this open-source age.
Hey, this isn’t the same old Schiit chassis you’ve been using forever. What gives?
Oh, you noticed. This new, more efficient chassis is sleeker than our previous products, isn’t it? It’s also a big part of the Jotunheim’s attractive price. We’re not about putting the same old stuff in bejeweled boxes. In this case, there’s a whole lot of insanely-new-and-cool stuff in a very simple, affordable box.
What’s Jotunheim in Norse mythology?
It’s the land of the giants. Which we believe is very appropriate for this all-new concept. But you tell us…Novel tool that shows root causes of iron imbalance discovered
Tue, 01 Jan 2008 ANI
Washington, August 6 (ANI): U.S. scientists have discovered a novel tool for distinguishing among root causes of iron overload or deficiency in humans.
Reporting their work in the journal Cell Metabolism, University of Utah researchers in Salt Lake City highlighted the fact that iron helps the body produce haemoglobin that enables red blood cells to carry oxygen, but too much iron could bind up and eventually damage organs.
The researchers said that the balance of iron in mammals is controlled by a liver-produced hormone called hepcidin and the iron transporting receptor ferroportin.
Hepcidin binds ferroportin to stimulate its break down, thereby lowering iron export. While too much hepcidin results in anaemia, too little of it disables the body to get rid of enough iron.
Now, the researchers have identified the critical hepcidin-binding domain (HBD) on ferroportin.
According to them, by placing that binding site on a bead, they now have a very specific method for detecting hepcidin levels in human blood.
"We've identified the hepcidin-binding site. It will allow the diagnosis of underlying inflammation to distinguish diseases of iron metabolism that stem from hepcidin versus those with other causes," said Jerry Kaplan, a university researcher.
He said that hepcidin was first known not for its effects on iron but for its antimicrobial action, and that the liver produces more of the hormone in response to inflammatory cytokines as a defence mechanism.
He further said that given that microorganisms need iron, increases in hepcidin that lead to a decline in ferroportin and iron were believed to be antimicrobial.
Kaplan and his colleague Diane Ward have also found that their HBD assay can readily detect variations in serum hepcidin levels due to mutations in genes known to affect hepcidin levels as well as mutations in other genes involved in iron metabolism.
They said that while other tests for hepicidin have been developed, the new assay was unique in that it specifically identifies the hormone's biologically active form.
They believe that the new assay could also be used in other vertebrates due to remarkable degree of evolutionary conservation of the binding site.
"This test narrows it down to (active hepcidin). It can help us divine the effects of inflammation on body iron stores," Ward added.
Apart from that, the researchers have also discovered that human hepcidin binds ferroportin at 37 degree Celcius, but not at four degree Celcius.
It so happens because the hepcidin from humans changes its conformation at low temperatures, they say. (ANI)To Your Health
January, 2007 (Vol. 01, Issue 01) Share |
Your Foot Bone's Connected to Your Spine Bone
Spinal Stabilization: Your First Step Toward Lifelong Spinal Health
By Dr. Brian Jensen
Stabilizing your spine plays a vital role in your overall health. Your spinal cord contains the nervous system, the center for all your mental activity.
Misalignments in your spine can prevent your nervous system from functioning normally, causing you pain and discomfort. It even can weaken your immune system, making it easier for you to get sick.
Many factors can contribute to misalignments in your spine. Poor posture, excess weight, injuries, heavy lifting, an unhealthy diet and improper sleeping positions are just a few causes. Something you might not know is that the majority of spinal problems start at your feet.
If you have pain in your neck, back, hips or knees - check your feet. Why? In the old song favorite, it's because "Your foot bone's connected to your leg bone, your leg bone's connected to your hip bone," and so on. By age 20, an estimated 80 percent of people develop some type of foot imbalance. By age 40, foot imbalances plague virtually everyone.
Your feet are the foundation for your entire body; they allow you to stand, walk and run. Every day we expect our feet to take us where we want to go, support our weight and act as our body's main shock absorbers. Your feet contain one-quarter of your body's bones. Each foot has 26 bones and 19 muscles. If that foundation is not solid and balanced, your entire body is affected.
Chiropractors have long known what some other health care professionals are just discovering: There is a cause-and-effect relationship between your foot and your spine. Movement at one joint affects movement at other joints, and every time your foot hits the ground to take a step, you're passing that imbalance all the way up your skeletal structure. Over time, your body tries to compensate and this imbalance can cause pain in any number of places, such as your knees, hips, pelvis, low back and neck. Every time your feet hit the ground, a shock wave travels all the way through your body. If your feet are balanced, they can absorb much of that shock. But if they're not in balance, the shock can cause your body additional strain, and eventually pain. Surprisingly, most of the time, your feet don't hurt!
When you walk, your feet go through a three-phase process known as the gait cycle. Phase one is when your foot hits the ground (heel-strike); phase two is when your whole foot is on the ground (mid-stance); and phase three is when you start to take the next step (toe-off). Research has proven that during the gait cycle, there are small movements in your spine. If there is a problem with your gait cycle, it eventually will create problems in your spine.
Inadequate or unbalanced support from your feet puts abnormal stresses on your spine. Excessive shock, unequal leg lengths, or poor joint function in the feet or ankles all can affect your spine. The most common foot problem is pronation, or collapsed arches, which can seriously affect your body's ability to absorb shock.TELLING THE WIFE
I hate telling my wife of my idiocy. I go to great lengths to avoid doing so. It is best that way. For everyone.
But especially for me.
Like when I recently embedded a beaut VROD into the side of a mum-taxi.
As I sat in the gutter being fed water and gentle condemnation by the local fire brigade, all of whom took turns gazing wide-eyed at my bloodstained radius and ulna peeking at them from the remains of my wrist, I got my phone out. They were about to cart me off to hospital and I needed to inform my wife about what was going on.
So I rang my son.
“Boy,” I said pleasantly. “Is mum up yet?”
“She’s in the shower.”
“Great. Look, I’m alright. I’ve had a bit of an accident. I think I might have broken my wrist, but I’m fine. They’re just gonna take me to hospital for a check-up. Could you let her know I’m fine and I’ll call her a bit later?”
“Sure,” my son replied.
Then I rang my mate, Al.
“Al,” I puffed. “I’ve smashed myself to bastard buggery and back. There’s bones sticking out of my arm-meat and they think my neck’s broken. I will require lawyers, guns and money. The shit has hit the fan.”
Now I’d like you to note the difference between the two phone-calls.
I have no problems confessing my sins openly and honestly to my friends. But there are times when a full and detailed confession to the wife is counter-productive.
My mates are not my wife. They do not require a gentle, roundabout approach when being informed of a catastrophe. They need all the information, succinctly delivered, so that whatever action needs taking can be taken. Wives, by contrast, do not need all the grisly details force-fed to them in a teeth-clenching 30-second sound-bite. It is always better if they come to their knowledge gently and kindly and in the fullness of time.
I am not alone in understanding this.
Just the other week a kangaroo leapt into the side of my mate, Bluey, as he was hurtling down the Ilford-Sofala Grand Prix track. Bluey ended up with a hole in his arm from a broken mirror-stem and was sporting a nice neck-brace as the Sofala ambulance crew loaded him into their happy-van for transportation to Bathurst.
“Don’t tell my wife!” he shrieked from the gurney as another mate produced a phone and offered to call his missus. “She’s with the kids at the school musical. It’ll only wreck her evening. I’ll call her…um, tomorrow.”
I beamed with pride. Such self-sacrificing selflessness! Such a generosity of spirit! Here was a man who truly loved his woman.
Because that’s what it’s really all about.
If it is in our power, we will do anything we can to spare our wives any unnecessary anguish when we’ve messed up on the road.
If you can, make sure you’re the one making the phone call.
Stay conscious. Make the paramedics dial the number if you can’t. Keep your tone light and pleasant.
In terms of horribleness, if the cops call your wife to advise her of shit having happened, it’s as bad as it gets for her.
Right up there next to that call, is the hospital contacting next-of-kin to come and tell them to make arrangements with the local funeral home or wheelchair supplier.
It’s a little less horrible when a mate calls the wife and tells her you’ve been in a crash. And even if Pete’s internal organs are being gently pushed back into abdomen by the paramedics, his first words to her better bloody well be: “Hi, Tracey! Pete’s fine, he’s just had a bit of a spill and they’re going to take him to the hospital for check-up.”
And at the bottom-end of the awful-scale is when you yourself call Her Imperial Majesty and advise her that there has been a slight interruption to the program and that normal transmission shall resume shortly, and could she, if she has time, pop over to the hospital and maybe say “Hi!”.
So that’s what you need to aim for.
Of course there have been occasions, albeit rare, when I have left home on a bike and returned in a ute. Having self-diagnosed and established that hospitalisation was not required and that there was nothing going on that a few days on the couch couldn’t repair, I have found these to be the best in terms of wife-husband-motorcycle relationships.
The wife gets to vent her spleen at your failure to remain on the road and the massive inconvenience your subsequent convalescence will cause to the family paradigm, and then her instincts will kick in and she will nurse you back to health with the selfless devotion you would expect.
But make no mistake. That spleen-venting is vital for her. She simply has to tell you what a spastic you are. After all, she is massively relieved that you’re alive and not maimed, and because she is a woman, this relief will manifest itself in her telling you what an atrocious dickwad you are for falling off your bike. She’ll wipe your arse and change your pus-filled dressings later. But she first has to express her relief that you’re alive and that she doesn’t need to sign up to e-Harmony or go trawling through nightclubs in a short skirt.
And then there’s the whole Brownie Points situation. Following your accident, you are now deep in the red. It matters not that you may well have been high into the black before your get-off. The second the steel kissed the tarmac and you floppy-dolled yourself into Casualty, your Brownie Points were flushed down the shitter and off her perpetual scorecard.
It’s how this shit works.
And I’m not sure I’d have it any other way, quite frankly.
Comments
commentsIt's Thanksgiving tomorrow, which for many New Yorkers means taking a break from the stresses of the city, and stuffing oneself with food, family, mirth and merriment. But for some people, it's just another time to have a fight in a Bodega. AnimalNY has video of such a fight at a Bodega at E112th and 3rd, in which an agitated, possibly tweaked customer flips out on a display aisle and then gets into a fight with someone working at the store as a crowd gathers and cheers/jeers. The police are called, and the large man with long hair is brought down after many false stalemates. Everyone who watches this video will find a different moral in it, but we just want to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving, and let's all try to avoid Bodega fights for one day!President Donald Trump denied Sunday any knowledge of pardoning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an idea that has been floated by Republican California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.
“I’ve never heard that mentioned, really, I’ve never heard that mentioned,” Trump said to a reporter at a New Jersey airport during the president’s return to the White House.
Rep. Rohrabacher met with Assange in August at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Assange has taken asylum since 2012 for sexual assault charges in Sweden that have since been dropped. However, the WikiLeaks founder still faces legal challenges as the U.S. is reportedly investigating Assange for his site’s role in disseminating thousands of classified documents.
Rohrabacher told The Daily Caller that Assange told him he had proof that Russia was not behind the hacking and leaking of emails from Democratic National Committee officials during the 2016 election.
“Thus if he comes up with that, you know he’s going to expect something in return. He can’t even leave the embassy to get out to Washington to talk to anybody if he doesn’t have a pardon,” Rohrabacher told TheDC. The president has the authority to pardon someone before they are charged of a crime.
The Wall Street Journal reported two weeks ago that Rohrabacher had spoken to White House chief of staff John Kelly about the information Assange promised the congressman. Kelly reportedly told him to bring the information to the U.S. intelligence community, which has maintained Russia was involved in the DNC email leak.
Rohrabacher’s meeting with Assange in August was arranged by Chuck Johnson, a conservative journalist, who told TheDC that Rohrabacher would serve as an envoy to bring a deal back to President Trump.
The California congressman subsequently told TheDC, “I can’t remember if I have spoken to anybody in the White House about this.”
However, Rohrabacher added, “There has already been some indication that the president will be very anxious to hear what I have to say” if this information is of “major historical significance.”
The congressman also told Sean Hannity in late August, “It is my understanding from other parties who are trying to arrange a rendezvous with myself and the President, it is being arranged for me to give him the firsthand information from [Assange].”
A spokesman for Rohrabacher did not return a request for comment.Pregnant women show increased activity in the area of the brain related to emotional skills as they prepare to bond with their babies, according to a new study by scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London.
The research, which will be presented at the British Psychological Society's annual conference on 7 May, found that pregnant women use the right side of their brain more than new mothers do when they look at faces with emotive expressions.
"Our findings give us a significant insight into the 'baby brain' phenomenon that makes a woman more sensitive during the child bearing process," said Dr Victoria Bourne, from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway. "The results suggest that during pregnancy, there are changes in how the brain processes facial emotions that ensure that mothers are neurologically prepared to bond with their babies at birth."
Researcher examined the neuropsychological activity of 39 pregnant women and new mothers as they looked at images of adult and baby faces with either positive or negative expressions. The results showed that pregnant women used the right side of their brain more than new mothers, particularly when processing positive emotions.
The study used the chimeric faces test, which uses images made of one half of a neutral face combined with one half of an emotive face to see which side of the participants' brain is used to process positive and negative emotions.
Dr Bourne said: "We know from previous research that pregnant women and new mothers are more sensitive to emotional expressions, particularly when looking at babies' faces. We also know that new mothers who demonstrate symptoms of post-natal depression sometimes interpret their baby's emotional expressions as more negative than they really are.
"Discovering the neuropsychological processes that may underpin these changes is a key step towards understanding how they might influence a mother's bonding with her baby."Google's slick Android keyboard, Gboard, has always lagged a little behind its iOS app—but that's quickly changing. Following the company's latest update to GIF and Emoji suggestions, Google's made it easier than ever to type (and type fast) on Gboard after announcing new updates to the Android app on Monday.
The latest update allows you to search for emoji just by drawing. The new feature is part of emoji search, and it'll automatically recognize and show related emoji in the results.
Image: google
Gboard's Emoji drawing recognition comes after a series of AI-based drawing experiments by the company, including Autodraw, which recognizes drawings and suggests professionally produced illustrations you can use based on your drawing.
Additionally, the company has also added phrase suggestions that predict phrases to help you type faster. For example, if you type "looking forward" Gboard will suggest "to seeing" or "to it." Gboard now supports 200 languages.
The updates are rolling out on Monday to all Android users.Oracle has been accused of hiding MySQL test cases and obfuscating revision history by MariaDB VP Sergei Golubchik. In a blog post entitled "Disappearing test cases or did another part of MySQL become closed source", Golubchik says they noticed that, according to the release notes, a number of bugs had been fixed in the most recent MySQL 5.5.27 release, but there were no test cases associated with any of the bug fixes – indeed, there are no tests associated with bug 61579 or 60926. When he asked on the MySQL internals mailing list, he was unable to get a response from Oracle as to whether this was new policy or an oversight.
One of the other changes he noted was that the test framework mysql-test-run had been modified to not only run tests from mysql-test but also from a new directory, internal/mysql-test, which has not been published as part of the MySQL source. Golubchik also found commit mail that showed test cases were being put into this internal directory. The MariaDB VP considers test cases to be an "important part of the MySQL source tree" enabling storage engine developers, Linux distributors or even users to verify their patches to MySQL. The policy had always been that any correction for a bug would be accompanied by a test to ensure that once fixed, a bug stayed fixed, and Golubchik suggests that Oracle would not do without that assurance and therefore, something else is going on.
Regarding revision histories, Golubchick pointed to a recent post by Stewart Smith, Director of development at Percona. Smith has noted in his blog that the source code available in the MySQL BZR trees is out of sync with the source tarballs and binaries that Oracle ships. For example, the tree for MySQL 5.1 was last tagged for MySQL 5.1.63 but MySQL 5.1.65 has just been released. The 5.6 tree is further out of sync; MySQL 5.6.6-m9 has just been released but the BZR tree is "somewhere after 5.6.5". Stewart notes that "It is well within the rights of Oracle to not publish a BZR tree at all. What stings is the lack of communication".
Other MySQL developers have complained of bugs that were previously publicly available being set to "private" without Oracle explaining why. The bug in question in this case caused the server to crash and has been fixed in 5.5.27, but the release notes contain no evidence of that change.
Mark Callaghan, who is on the MySQL team at Facebook and was instrumental in accelerating the performance of the MySQL InnoDB plugins at Google, summarised the phenomena as "(less) open source". He noted that "MySQL is much harder to make better when tests are missing and bzr is no longer updated. My teams at Google and Facebook have made MySQL a lot better. I wish we didn't have to deal with problems like this that slow us down". Callaghan, while recalling that Oracle has been productive with MySQL, pointed out that the developer community has also helped improve MySQL, and hoped that Oracle will explain the changes.
(djwm)The texts show that Lt. Jeff Niiya had a friendly rapport with far-right organizer Joey Gibson.
By Katie Shepherd | Published February 14 at 12:31 PM Updated February 14 at 5:46 PM
Hundreds of texts between Portland police and right-wing organizer Joey Gibson reveal the extent to which law enforcement officers talked to and even coordinated with right-wing activists in order to police protests in 2017 and 2018.
The texts, obtained by WW through a public records request, show that Portland Police Lt. Jeff Niiya had a friendly rapport with Gibson, frequently discussing Gibson’s plans to demonstrate in Portland and even joking at times.
[…]
Niiya is the commanding officer for the Portland Police Bureau rapid response team that patrols protests. That makes him one of the primary officers collecting intelligence about protest groups in Portland.
Niiya and the Portland Police Bureau have good reason to collect intelligence from right-wing organizers. Yet some of Niiya’s texts raise questions about whether Portland Police help Patriot Prayer supporters to evade arrest during events.
Several texts involve Gibson’s longtime adjunct, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, who often brawls with antifascist protesters, has allegedly assaulted people who were not protesting, and has been arrested multiple times in Portland.
On Dec. 8, 2017, Niiya asks Gibson if Toese had “his court stuff taken care of,” referring to an active warrant for Toese’s arrest. Niiya goes on to say officers ignored the warrant at a past protest and tells Gibson that he doesn’t see a need to arrest Toese even if he has a warrant, unless Toese commits a new crime. “Just make sure he doesn’t do anything which may draw our attention,” Niiya texted on Dec. 9. “If he still has the warrant in the system (I don’t run you guys so I don’t personally know) the officers could arrest him. I don’t see a need to arrest on the warrant unless there is a reason.”
[…]
WW asked Gibson for comment on his relationship with Niiya and the texts. His response was brief: “Sweet,” he texted.
The texts also show that Niiya at times told Gibson where leftist protests were taking place, including unrelated protests as well as antifascist marches with people in black bloc intent on protesting Patriot Prayer.
[…]
Portland Police have taken criticism from left-leaning activists for appearing to favor right-wing protesters in the past. Drafts of an Independent Police Review analysis of police actions at a June 4, 2017 protest noted that at least one officer viewed the right-wing protesters affiliated with Gibson’s Vancouver, Wash. group, Patriot Prayer, as “much more mainstream” than left-wing antifascist groups.
[…]
Gibson also told Niiya over text that he was planning to run for U.S. Congress in January 2018, before he formally announced his campaign. He said he would intentionally “use” protesters in Portland and Seattle to promote his run for office. From the outset, Gibson doubted his chances to win the election. “The hate against me will multiply because I am running for office, so when I come into Portland and Seattle the energy will be high,” Gibson wrote. “I know it’s a pain in the ass for you guys, but I will do the best I can to work with you.”
Niiya responded: “Your [sic] running for office?!! Good for you. County level?”
“Running for US senate,” Gibson said. “Will take a miracle for me to win but people are backing me so we will see what happens. I will be using Portland and Seattle protesters as a part of the campaign so it will impact you guys unfortunately, so I appologize [sic] now ahead of time.”
(Source: wweek.com)COLUMBUS, Ohio--The head of the Cuyahoga County Republicans defended Senate Majority Leader Tom Patton's controversial comments questioning whether primary opponent Jennifer Herold should run for office as a young mother.
"These are not sexist or out-of-line comments," county party chair Rob Frost told radio host Bob Frantz on Thursday morning (his comments start around the 38:00 mark). "This is his opponent, who really, you know, is desperate to try to get some attention onto her run, against a guy who is going to do a stellar job."
In a Jan. 18 radio interview, Patton, a 62-year-old term-limited Strongsville Republican now running for state representative, referred to Herold as a "young gal" and "sweetie," and questioned whether the 30-year-old mother of two young children knew lawmakers have to spend three nights per week in Columbus.
Herold called the remarks "insulting and discriminatory." Patton later apologized, saying his comments were "misunderstood."
Frost said the county party stood by its earlier endorsement of Patton in the race. Patton, he said, was just trying to ask whether Herold, a political newcomer, understood the responsibilities of being a state lawmaker.
Patton's remarks, he said, "would be the same if he had said, 'You know, hey, there's a guy running against me who's an insurance agent or a lawyer or a radio host.'"
Frost also noted that Patton raised five daughters and a son after the death of his wife.
"Believe me, he knows being a full-time parent is a full-time job. And he respects that," he said. "He's shown that in everything that he has done as a parent and as a leader for our community."The Los Angeles fetus disposal scandal was the 1982 discovery of over 16,000 aborted fetuses being improperly stored at Malvin Weisberg's Woodland Hills, California, home and the ensuing legal battle regarding their disposal. It was called a "national tragedy" by the then-president Ronald Reagan and inspired a song by pop singer Pat Boone, with the fetuses finally buried in 1985. No criminal charges were filed against any of the parties involved.[1] Weisberg had stored the specimens properly but had not disposed of them due to financial difficulties.[1] Contents
Discovery Edit
Source and age of the fetuses Edit
Legal action Edit
Pro-life service Edit
Disposition Edit
Financial fallout Edit
Weisberg's Medical Analytical Laboratories received nearly $175,000 in Medi-Cal payments, with $88,000 coming from pathology tests on aborted fetuses. Of this, half of it ($44,000) was paid federally through the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). By the Hyde Amendment, this money was ineligible for testing on pre-abortion or post-abortion tissue, which meant the state of California would need to pay back federal funds claimed by Weisberg and by any other laboratories, according to HHS inspector Richard P. Kusserow. Kusserow also stated "prior to its closing in April, 1981, [Medical Analytical Laboratories] had routinely submitted questionable billings under the Medi-Cal program, using an erroneous billing code.... the case lacked criminal prosecutive merit due to a lack of proof that the false billings were intentional. Because the laboratory was out of business, and its owner had declared bankruptcy, there were no assets against which to proceed for civil recovery".[32]
See also EditGOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Cincinnati Reds acquired first baseman Dan Johnson from the Houston Astros on Thursday for a player to be named or cash, one of two trades involving minor leaguers. They also sent infielder Devin Lohman to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named or cash.
The Astros traded Dan Johnson to the Reds, who will be his seventh big league team. Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire
Johnson played in 15 games for the Blue Jays last season, batting.211 with a homer and seven RBIs. He left as a free agent after the season and signed with Houston in December. He'll report to the Reds' minor league camp.
The 35-year-old infielder also has played for Oakland, Tampa Bay, the White Sox and Baltimore. Johnson's big moment came on the final day of the 2011 regular season, when he hit a home run for the Rays with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Yankees, tying a game Tampa Bay eventually won to earn a wild-card playoff spot.
Lohman batted.245 with five homers and 29 RBIs in 108 games at Double-A Pensacola last season.Let's get the obvious question out of the way: why American cheese?
For the philosophical argument, I defer to greater minds such as those of J. Kenji López-Alt and Kat Kinsman, who rise in defense of the ubiquitous, much-detested cheese product. "It is my moral and ethical imperative to tell you that breakfast would be a lesser beast in the absence of American cheese," writes Kinsman. "All cheese is processed," writes López-Alt—cheese only seems like a gift from god, he reasons, but in reality requires human intervention. American cheese is no different, so what's all the fuss about?
There are dissenters, of course. "If cheese is'milk's leap towards immortality,'" objects one particularly fiery writer from the site Organic Authority, "then pasteurized processed cheese product is milk's deal with the devil—a complete transformation into a shell of its former self, utterly stripped [of] soul and substance."
Leaving aside this debate, I'd prefer to narrow our field of American-cheese inquiry to just three words: grilled cheese sandwich. That is why American cheese. Also burgers, I guess. The short-order cooks at Waffle House make a convincing case every time they serve up a bowl of cheese grits; I'm reliably informed, too, that at least one old woman in Italy finishes her pots of risotto with a slice of American cheese, because it "brings it all together." And what else should New York City food-cart vendors put on a classic egg-and-cheese roll—gorgonzola? GTFO.
Not only is American cheese unique in its capacity for melting, it represents a proud history, created in the early 20th century as a way to use up scraps left over from the cheese-making process, or to repurpose cheese that was otherwise less than perfect. James L. Kraft's idea was to melt that rejected cheese down, add a stabilizer—and bang, Mssr. Kraft was bouncing down the road toward his eponymous Singles. His "process cheese product," as it's now called, would come to be defined as "a mild, meltable, and stable concoction of natural cheese bits mixed with emulsifying agents to make, in the law of the land, 'a homogeneous plastic mass.'" ("Plastic" in the older adjectival sense, of course: "capable of being molded or modeled." Not that this is great for American cheese's branding.)
And that, friends, is the story of American cheese: one of wastelessness and ingenuity. It is not necessarily a story of great flavor, but flavor is sort of beside the point when it comes to American cheese—mostly it's about the meltability.
Unless you make your American cheese at home, in which case you have access to a wide range of flavors. And it's shockingly easy.
A quick spin in the food processor is just about all it takes.
Despite their bad reputation, modern-day process cheese products generally come with an ingredient list that only a few brave heroes are willing to defend in public. (López-Alt, for instance, who published a piece last year listing and explaining all the typical components making up your slab of Velveeta.) Included in that list is "sodium citrate," for instance, which sounds alarming but in truth is the crucial element that keeps process cheese from breaking or becoming greasy when it melts—and also lends its emulsifying muscles, Kenji points out, to such everyday foods as bratwurst, Italian sausage, and ice cream.
Unless you're Nathan Myhrvold, though, it's not like you've got sodium citrate in your kitchen cupboard. What you may have, however, is gelatin—the key ingredient for homemade American cheese. When I started this project I dug through various other DIY recipes, which tend to call for ingredients that might not be immediately at hand: whole milk powder, for instance, or tapioca starch, or evaporated milk. Was this really necessary, though? Would it be possible to make American cheese at home that required no special ingredients, tasted delicious, and would melt beautifully?TIRANA (Reuters) - A bus carrying Serbia’s national football squad was hit by stones within hours of the team arriving in Albania on Wednesday for a Euro 2016 qualifier, a year after their previous encounter was abandoned in chaos.
Albania has stepped up security for the politically-charged match, after their first meeting in Group I in Belgrade was abandoned when a drone carrying a flag depicting ‘Greater Albania’ flew over the stadium and a brawl ensued between players.
The Balkan countries have long been at odds over Serbia’s majority-Albanian former Kosovo province, which declared independence in 2008 almost a decade after NATO went to war to halt the massacre and expulsion of civilians during a Serbian counter-insurgency war.
Serbia’s foreign ministry said it had prepared a protest note over the incident, in which stones struck the bus as it drove into the Albanian capital, Tirana, cracking a window. Video broadcast on Serbian media showed streets lined with people, and at least two stones striking the bus.
“Lower your heads, heads down,” a voice was heard saying inside the bus. No one was hurt, but Serbia said the incident |
Institute for African-American trade unionists, also approved. "Our biggest concern was to make sure that voters who were illegally purged from the voter rolls will be able to cast their ballots in November and we believe this ruling largely resolves that," Brickner said.
But, he told ThinkProgress that with less than 20 days until November 8, it was "imperative that election officials and voters have clarity on this ASAP."
"People may just been realizing now that they've been illegally purged," Brickner said. "We need the information to get out as quickly as possible."A group of fisherman caught a 12-foot hammerhead shark last week on a Florida beach and delivered her 20 pups after realizing that the female shark was too weak to give birth.
WPTV.com reported that the men, who were fishing at night off Venice, a beach on the Gulf of Mexico, hooked the fish and fought it for about two hours.
It is not uncommon for a fish to be attacked by other fish while being reeled in, and this shark suffered what appeared to be a large bite on her underbelly. The fishermen observed the injury and told the station that they saw the pups inside the shark.
RARE GOBLIN SHARK CAUGHT OFF KEY WEST
"We seen [sic] the tail, pushing out. They were trying to push their heads out, so i'm guessing the mom tried to give birth but she didn't have the strength to push them out," one of the fishermen told the station.
The fishermen said they released the 20 pups into the ocean and saw them swim out to sea. The female shark died from the injuries.
WPTV.com reported that hammerheads are endangered and should not be dragged to the beach.
Click for more from WPTV.comDENVER – With some arm-twisting by Vice President Joe Biden, the Obama administration has pressured Democratic lawmakers in gun-friendly Colorado to “fall on their swords” and pass restrictions on firearms it hopes will be a model for the nation, a state lawmaker contends.
While much attention has been focused on President Obama’s calls for federal legislation establishing universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons, the administration is working hard at the state level.
New York was the first to pass strict controls on guns after the Sandy Hook shooting, with its ban on assault weapons and magazines, but the move was not a surprise in the liberal Northeast.
In Colorado, where gun control is far less popular among a large rural population, a flurry of gun control bills include one that would hold gun makers and owners responsible for any crimes committed by their weapons, even if they were stolen.
“The first thing the Democrats did was introduce a bill that would have declared an unloaded gun to be a deadly weapon,” said Lori Saine, R-Dacono. “This would enable police to confiscate any firearm on the basis it is a deadly weapon, even if it is unloaded.”
The other bills introduced are:
HB 1224, which would bans all magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.
HB 1226 would prohibit those with concealed carry permits, including off duty police officers and former military personnel, from bringing their weapons on college campuses.
HB 1228 would force residents to pay for exercising a constitutional right by making them pay for a background check to prove they are not criminals. There is no limit on the amount the Colorado Bureau of Investigation could charge for the background check.
HB 1229 bans the private sale and transfer of firearms and institutes universal background checks and/gun registration for all Colorado gun owners.
All the bills are moving forward through the legislative process.
Friday, before an hours-long marathon debate on the plans, a handful of Democrats from rural areas planned to oppose the bills. The rural Democrats ran on platforms of support for the Second Amendment, and their constituents want them to vote that way.
But everything changed late in the day when the lawmakers got some arm-twisting advice from Vice President Joe Biden, who happened to be vacationing in Aspen at the time.
Biden reportedly called Democratic lawmakers and pressured them to vote for the measures in exchange for promises of campaign cash and support during their reelection bids in 2014.
“What he essentially did was tell these Democrats to fall on their swords in order to pass the president’s agenda, which is ultimately about gun confiscation,” Saine said. “What they need to realize is that these promises are almost never kept, and come next year, they will be left to face angry voters on their own.”
While some have questioned why the administration has chosen to so forcefully insert itself into what should be a state issue, Saine said there is a very clear agenda at work.
“The consensus appears to be that Obama wants all of these gun bills passed in order to use as a model for other states to emulate,” she explained.
“If they can pass these draconian bills in a state like Colorado, it can have an effect on other states beyond the progressive states like California and New York,” she said. ‘The issue goes beyond us; our state is literally a battleground for gun rights and personal safety through self-defense right now.”
Open homosexual Mark Ferrandino, the House speaker, has ridiculed the idea the Obama is pushing a national agenda with the Colorado gun-ban effort.
The Denver Post reported he said the response to the bills had nothing to do with Biden’s visit.
However, another Democratic lawmaker revealed that there was, indeed, a plan by the Obama administration at work.
“He (Biden) said it would send a strong message to the rest of the country that a western state had passed gun-control bills,” Tony Exhum, a Democratic lawmaker from Colorado Springs, told the Post.
Ferrandino also tacitly admitted the gun-control bills introduced by Democrats have national implications.
“I was shocked that he called. He said he thought the bills could help them on a national level,” he said.
The move to push the bills is even more noteworthy, as the message state lawmakers have been getting from their constituents is overwhelmingly against gun control. It was reported that several lawmakers canceled town hall meetings last weekend to avoid being confronted with their constituents on the issue.
Dudley Brown, president of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the executive director of the National Association of Gun Rights, said during debate at the capital last week that gun-rights supporters far outnumbered advocates of gun control.
“At a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, there were maybe 15 supporters for these gun control laws, compared to over 250 people who were there to support the Second Amendment,” Brown said. “Despite this, Democrats seem determined to push these bills through, but if they do they will pay a heavy price come next November.”
WND has reported that since Democrats took control of both chambers in Colorado they have also taken a hard-line approach on the issue of homosexuality.
During the debate on a civil union bill, since homosexual marriage is banned in the state Constitution, Democrats removed an exemption from the bill that would have given conscience protections to Christian business owners.
Senate Majority Leader Pat Steadman, a homosexual, publicly told Christians who regard homosexuality as a sin, based on the Bible, to “get thee to a nunnery” and remove themselves from society.
In the debate on the gun bills, lawmakers criticized the state’s largest manufacturer of high-capacity magazines for threatening to leave Colorado if the state bans magazines over 15 rounds.
“If we’re able to stay in Colorado and manufacture a product, but law-abiding citizens of the state were unable to purchase the product, customers around the state and the nation would boycott us for remaining here,” said Doug Smith, chief operating officer for Magpul Industries. “Staying here would hurt our business.”
Democratic Rep. Daniel Kagan said Magpul just doesn’t understand.
“Manufacturers will be able to still sell and transfer these high-capacity magazines to individuals in other states, the U.S. military and law enforcement,” Kagan told the Post. “We want [Magpul] to stay here in Colorado. It would be sad to see them leave.”
House Minority Leader Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, noted the hypocrisy on the part of the Democrats, who proposed an amendment allowing Magpul to continue making high-capacity magazines for out-of-state sale.
“Apparently, they are not instruments of destruction when they’re purchased outside the borders of Colorado,” he told the Post.
Brown said lawmakers from both parties will ultimately be sorry if they push ahead with plans to follow the will of Obama rather than their own constituents.
“Gun owners are coming out of the woodwork right now to fight the battle,” Brown said. “What they are doing to us now in the legislature, we get to do to them in the next election, and we’re not going to play nice, either. We know how to play hardbal,l and we’re really going to play hardball this year.”An Obama nominee for an ambassadorship died after waiting more than two years for her confirmation.
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Cassandra Butts, a friend of President Obama's since law school, died on May 26 at the age of 50 — 835 days after he nominated her to be the ambassador to the Bahamas.
“All Cassandra wanted to do was serve her country,” Valerie Jarrett, an aide to Obama, told New York Times columnist Frank Bruni.
“Looking back, it is devastating to think that through no fault of her own, she spent the last 835 days of her life waiting for confirmation.”
Sen. Tom Cotton Thomas (Tom) Bryant CottonHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid Inviting Kim Jong Un to Washington MORE (R-Ark.) reportedly put a hold on Butts's confirmation along with that of two other nominees in retaliation for a Secret Service leak regarding a GOP congressman.
Cotton later relented on the hold with the two other nominees. But Bruni said Butts told him that Cotton was purposely holding up her confirmation process in order to anger the president.
The Bahamas have been without an ambassador from the U.S. for 1,647 days.
This story was updated at 4:47 p.m.When scientist Ron Fouchier, from Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, presented his research at a conference in Malta last year, he described how he and his colleagues induced mutations into the H5N1 virus, ultimately giving the deadly virus the ability to become airborne and transmit infection as efficiently as the seasonal flu. Fouchier was ostensibly trying to learn more about the virus in order to protect humanity from its dangers, but his work also meant risking that the virus he created would escape the lab or be mimicked by a rogue scientist with terrorist ties.
When scientist Ron Fouchier, from Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, presented his research at a conference in Malta last year, he described how he and his colleagues induced mutations into the H5N1 virus, ultimately giving the deadly virus the ability to become airborne and transmit infection as efficiently as the seasonal flu. Fouchier was ostensibly trying to learn more about the virus in order to protect humanity from its dangers, but his work also meant risking that the virus he created would escape the lab or be mimicked by a rogue scientist with terrorist ties.
It’s what is known as a “dual-use” dilemma. Research pursued for peaceful ends could also be used in warfare or terrorism.
The foundation of bioethics. The field of bioethics largely began after Nazi physicians conducted crimes against humanity in the name of science during World War II. The Nuremberg trials brought to light these “experiments” and led to the Nuremberg Code, which established 10 directives for experiments involving human subjects, including: the risks should never exceed the benefits, voluntary consent is essential, physical and mental suffering should be avoided, and the experiment should be terminated at any stage in which continuation would likely lead to injury, disability, or death of the subject.
In 1964, the World Medical Association passed guidelines even broader in scope with the Declaration of Helsinki: Recommendations Guiding Medical Doctors in Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects, which promoted 20 principles for medical research and an additional five principles for medical research combined with patient care. One of these principles states that research protocols must be submitted for consideration to independent ethics committees prior to the start of a study in order to decide if the study meets international norms and standards.
But neither the Nuremberg Code nor the Declaration of Helsinki were enough to get the US Congress to pass laws mandating the ethical treatment of human subjects. For that, public outrage had to be closer to home. Embarrassment from the infamous Tuskegee experiments — conducted from 1932 to 1972 by government physicians who withheld lifesaving antibiotics from poor black men infected with syphilis — was finally enough to prompt legislators to pass the National Research Act of 1974. The act established the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, which created its own fundamental ethical principles for research involving human subjects. (Current ethics policies for federally funded research can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations.)
For basic science research not involving human subjects, however, there are no equivalent ethical principles. Instead, Institutional Biosafety Committees oversee the biosafety of experiments with the goal of protecting people and the environment from potentially harmful genetically modified microbes. Their focus, in other words, is on safety and containment — not ethics.
Ethics in life sciences research. While Institutional Biosafety Committees focus on safety over ethics, organizations that do examine ethics, like the National Institutes of Health and Institutional Review Boards, zero in on two main areas: the morals and behavior of the researchers themselves and the morals and values of experiments being conducted on human subjects. No entity currently oversees the morals and values of basic life sciences research analogous to human subject research.
Researchers. All researchers in laboratories and clinical settings are expected to adhere to strict codes of conduct and be held accountable when they breach the public’s trust by misrepresenting or falsifying data. In 1989, the National Institutes of Health even required all graduate students on training grants to receive education on the responsible conduct of research; and the National Academy of Sciences issued a number of publications dedicated to responsible science and conduct.
Unfortunately, despite these and other efforts, more and more papers in scientific journals are being retracted for ethics violations. This troubling trend is likely due to increasing pressure to publish in an environment of diminishing jobs and grant funding.
Basic Life Sciences Experiments. Then, there is the challenge of the ethics of the experiments themselves — arguably more difficult to address than the researchers’ behavior. It brings us to the debate surrounding the H5N1 influenza research conducted by Fouchier and other scientists as well as the subsequent flare-up over the publication of their research in Nature and Science.
The H5N1 controversy centered on biosecurity and biosafety concerns, including whether to publish the results in part or in full. What has not been discussed is whether or not this research should have been done in the first place. It’s easy to see why: Scientists will always argue that their research is justified because good science merits support and publication. Concerns about safety and security are acknowledged but frequently considered secondary to the need for unimpeded scientific inquiry. This was the case with the H5N1 brouhaha; Time magazine even named Fouchier one of its “100 Most Influential People in the World,” declaring that he is among a “new breed of virologists” willing to tackle risky work. Scientists largely defended the H5N1 research, claiming it was good science.
But security experts were not so laudatory. Of course, the security experts weren’t aware of the project until after it had already been conducted.
Limiting the risks. The National Institutes of Health has biosafety guidelines for research involving recombinant DNA molecules. And the National Academy of Sciences has delineated “seven experiments of concern,” which are presented primarily from a biosecurity perspective. But research proposals typically don’t undergo ethical- and risk-assessment evaluations. No one is vetting experiments for ethical and security concerns from the beginning.
Was the H5N1 research, for example, ethical and did its benefits outweigh its risks? The answer depends on whom you ask. Scientists insist that the benefits outweigh the risks, while security experts believe that the risks outweigh the benefits. But it’s difficult to judge how strong a case the security experts have, because right now all the decision-making power about the value of an experiment rests mainly with the scientists.
Even if some security risks are worth taking in the name of life sciences research, it certainly doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way to oversee dual-use experiments. After all, societal interest in ethically challenging science has never been higher. Issues such as human embryonic stem-cell research, cloning, nanotechnology, and genetically modified food, to name a few, generate intense debates. And now, there’s enthusiasm about the ethics of synthetic biology. Though, in 2010, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues released a study on synthetic biology and emerging technologies stating, “While many emerging technologies raise ‘dual use’ concerns — when new technologies intended for good may be used to cause harm — these risks alone are generally insufficient to justify limits on intellectual freedom.” (Emphasis mine.)
The question is: At what point do the risks justify limits on intellectual freedom? I’d argue that it comes before scientists are creating airborne versions of H5N1.
Just as there are ethical principles and guidelines for protecting individual human subjects from undue harm, there must be ethical principles and risk-assessment guidelines for protecting societies and ecosystems from the potential undue harm caused by the creation of enhanced or synthetic pathogens. The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has proposed a framework for the oversight of dual-use research with an emphasis on engaging scientists in issues of biosecurity. And Britain’s Royal Society has been working on developing new approaches to biological risk assessment. But these issues should not be left to the scientists themselves. Bioethicists and security experts should get more involved, too — by holding seminars, classes, and debates on dual-use research. And dual-use research proposals must be evaluated before proceeding.
Ethical principles and guidelines, including risk assessments, for the ethical oversight of dual-use research must be fully developed. There has been movement toward a more engaged bioethics community, but it’s time for them to get much more involved in the dual-use dilemma.
Editor’s note: This column was updated on August 28, 2012.VERIFY – YOU’VE GOT QUESTIONS, WE’LL FIND ANSWERS
A 9NEWS project to make sure what you’ve heard is true, accurate, verified. Want us to verify something for you? Email verify@9news.com.
THE QUESTION
Every place has its local lore; legends passed down in stories. But are those stories actually true?
9NEWS’ verify team decided to find out. It’s a new, occasional series we’re starting called Verify – Legends.
The first legend the team tackled surrounds an icon in the heart of Denver: The eagle statue that sits atop Denver’s City and County Building.
The legend – propelled by politicians, business people and the Denver Free Walking Tour -- claims the eagle’s sculptor exacted revenge on Mayor Robert Speer by designing the eagle in a defecating position.
The Verify team went looking for an answer and found an incredible story. You can watch it in the video above.
The eagle on top of Denver City and County building
WHAT WE FOUND
To crack this myth, the Verify team talked to a bird expert at the Denver Zoo, the grandson of the lead architect and combed through hundreds of pages of public and private records.
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The first question is the easiest to answer: Is that what an eagle looks like when its relieving itself?
For the answer, we traveled to the Denver Zoo and asked John Azua, the Zoo’s curator of birds for the last 20 years.
He said it’s possible for an eagle to poop in that position because they can go to the bathroom from almost any position – even while in flight.
Our Verify team saw the zoo’s male eagle poop while perched on a branch during our interview. The eagle lifted his tail feathers slightly, but that was it.
The eagle at the Denver Zoo, watching us watch him
What does Azua think the eagle on top of the city and county building is doing?
“To me that eagle by the sculptor looks like it’s taking off not pooping,” Azua said. “And there’s so many poses an eagle could take to poop. That’s just one of them. But I think that eagle is taking off.”
OK, so there’s no one way an eagle defecates, but we wanted to know whether the sculptor thought he smited Speer by creating an eagle forever unloading on the building.
It's true Speer had the vision for a great civic center downtown with a big park between the Capitol and Denver's city hall. But the notion he ticked off the sculptor falls apart when you look at the building’s timeline.
The city chose the winning design in 1925 and broke ground in 1929. The sculptor, Joseph Nicolosi, was picked sometime between the ground breaking and the building’s completion in 1932.
If it sounds like that’s long enough to get fed up with Speer, there’s one, small problem. The mayor died in 1918 – almost seven years before anyone knew there would be an eagle on top of the building.
This eagle story isn't timing out quite right
Nicolosi likely never even met Speer. He was a 25-year-old Italian immigrant when Speer died, and he never lived in Colorado.
Mayor Benjamin Stapleton shepherded the building through its design, funding and construction.
Is it possible Nicolosi or someone else involved in the building’s design got fed up with Stapleton?
The city has scant few records from that period. And the Denver Public Library only had half a blueprint from the original drawings that didn’t show the top of the building.
The top of the building doesn't even appear on this blueprint
But we found something better. The lead architect’s grandson.
“I have never heard of the eagle poop rumor,” Bob Fuller said.
Fuller’s grandfather, Robert Fuller, led the Allied Architects Association. It was a group of Denver architects who got together to bid on the city and county building project.
No local firm was big enough to take on the project by itself, Fuller said.
The Allied Architects kept detailed records of the project. Its ledgers contain everything from which companies were in the running to paint the building down to how much money the architects spent on towels for the office.
And those records have been sitting in cardboard boxes in Fuller’s garage.
Our Verify team combed through those boxes and read the Allied Architects’ ledger from cover to cover to see whether anything might point to this legend being true.
Here’s what we found:
City Council approved the Allied Architect’s plans for the building June 29, 1925. They broke ground on March 26, 1929.
Fuller said that’s normal for a project of this size because the architects had to produce a mountain of detailed drawings and work with engineers to bring the initial design to life.
The ledger shows the architects hiring the first, main contractor in February 1929 – a few weeks before they broke ground.
The project sailed along until that October. That’s when the Great Depression hit.
“Which was a very awkward time to go into construction on this elaborate new municipal building,” Fuller said.
The building’s price tag was $4.6 million, and the city promised to pay the architects 6 percent in fees.
Suddenly, the city produced an “obscure law” saying architects couldn’t practice as an association and declared the contract invalid, Fuller said.
That’s true. The ledger and news clippings from the time show the city stopped paying the architects and took them to court.
The lawsuit went all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court, which decided in the city’s favor in June 1931.
The architects lost about $84,000 or $1.3 million in today’s dollars, and the city took the project from them.
That sounds like bad blood.
But Robert Fuller never discussed it with his grandson.
“My grandfather was a very professional and somewhat distant man. He was not the warm, fuzzy grandfather that we see nowadays,” Fuller said. “He was strong and professional but somewhat reserved personality.”
The architects’ meeting minutes don’t mention any plans for the sculpture either.
It started to sound like the myth was unsolvable, but then we found the answer in Fuller’s living room.
Leaning against Fuller’s fireplace during our interview was the original drawing of Denver’s City and County building. It’s signed and dated June 30, 1925.
The clue was in plain sight the entire time
When you look at top of the building, you see an eagle with its wings up, pointed towards the sky.
The eagle looked the same in the photographs Fuller had of the model the architects built as part of their presentation to the city.
“Well, I think the rendering probably has more to do with the reality of the situation than anything,” Fuller said. “That eagle in that posture well predates any of the financial issues that the architects went through, or any possible bad blood during construction or unhappy politicians.”
The architects were also proud of their work.
During their final meeting in January 1934, the minutes describe the members as men of vision who should be proud of the building and their hard work to create it.
And rather than keeping the final $3,400 payment from the city, the architects started a scholarship fund.
Today, the Architectural Education Foundation is worth more than $3 million and gives out several scholarships each year.
“The whole hope was that it would in some way, that little bitty sum born out of conflict, would amount to a good thing ultimately, which it has,” Fuller said.
A more realistic theory for why the eagle has its wings up is the architects copied the city seal, which had already been around for two decades. It shows an eagle taking flight with its wings pointing towards the sky.
BOTTOM LINE:
The eagle isn’t in a defecating position because there is no one way an eagle relieves itself. (You can see how the Denver Zoo experiment ended in the video above, as well as this entire story.)
Speer couldn’t have fought with the sculptor because he died years before the city hired anyone to work on the building.
And despite a serious legal battle between the city and the architects, the eagle’s design remained unchanged from its original iteration.
We found nothing to support this legend, and holes in every part of the story. We're calling it false.
The legend of Denver's defecating eagle is all kinds of fun, but it stinks, wings up to high heaven.
Copyright 2017 KUSAOne mornnig in the town of Souht Patk, Colirodo, Kyel was havign a reel bad dayy. Cart man was having teh tiem of his lief, and he was cleraley shwoing it of liek theer was no tomororw.
Keyl, Crartman, Satn, and Kenyn werr at teh bus stope. Catmran was psising Kely of like teh treu fate bastrad he awlyas was.
"Hye, Kalh!" Cratmna yeleld ta Klye. "Yuo sptuid Joo!"
Kyel was mad and agnry and has annyode faicil eksprusin no his faec.
"Carmtan! Shtu yuor fat as peixe of siht mnouth! Yo haev on ieda what yuoer takling aboot!"
"Holly shit, dud.e" Satn relplied.
(My apologies. Those first few chapters were typed by a defective retrardde computer program with Down syndrome. Since I can't proofread them, Ill just moev along with the stroy now.)
"lol wtf r u talking about Cartman" Kenny said under his breadth.
"oh nothing Kenny. oh btw I like sooo toadilly have a crush on you tbh Kyle" Cartman explainde.
"omfg wtf r u fucking talking about I thought we both heated each other" Kyle relied; Kyle and Cartman were actually texting each other while Kenny was starring at Cartman's screne.
"WoW, since when do you two have a crush on each other?" Stan wondered.
"Kyle loves my fatass. Dont you Khal? Wattch me shaek me fat but liek a Mann!" Cartman replied, sending Kyle a video recording of his beuwtifewl butocks.
"WE! CARTMAN! STOP SHOWING ME YOUR BUT! YOUR GIVEING ME A MASSIF BONNER!" Kyle replied.
"So...your gay, then?" Cartman replied.
Kyle sight. "Yes..." Kyle replied.
Cartman gigeld like a madamn. "Ho, this is soo todilly fcuking sweat and awssoem! Kyle's gonan put his dike in my anil caveity! It's gonna fell so god-damnde god!"
(Okay, enough of this stupid troll. I'm going to be writing the rest of this story from now on. Those last two writers can go fuck themselves and shove the fucking Titanic up their asses for all I care. I'm a sophisticated genius of high intellect and I aim to write using a vibrant style that shows my flowing and vivid stream of brilliancy.)
Kyle and Cartman went to school together. At school, Kyle could not stop thinking about Cartman's ass. The mental image of Cartman's juicy, sweaty, plump, rosy, sensual butt cheeks flooded Kyle's brain with unpleasant thoughts of intense lust. He could feel his intense erection stiffening and creating an embarrassingly unwelcome protrusion in his pants. Hiding the protrusion from view, he tried to continue writing the majestic words on his wondrous sheet of paper with his first-class wooden pencil.
As Kyle was trying to finish his polynomial long division problem, he could hear Cartman teasing him in his mind.
"Look at this big, fat, shapely body of mine. You know you want it, butt-licker."
"Butt-licker...Butt-licker...Butt-licker..." A mental image of Cartman removing his glitter-coated thong underwear and revealing his burly, muscular penis flashed right in front of Kyle's eyes, causing Kyle to break out into a fit of screaming.
"Kyle, what's the problem?" Mrs. Garrison asked. "You're not catching Cartman's gay genes, are you?"
"I can't stop thinking about Cartman's magnificent nether regions!" Kyle panicked. "Help me! Give me some therapy! Or a barf bag! Just give me SOMETHING!!"
"Magnificent nether regions?" Mrs. Garrison chuckled. "Who in the hell talks like that?"
"A total faggot, that's who." Cartman confirmed. "Kyle, admit it. You are developing an unhealthy fetish for me. Once we get home, you are going to suck my balls whether you like it or not. You got me?"
At lunch, Kyle was trying to eat his meal while Cartman was waving his butt back and forth right next to Kyle's face. "Kiss it...kiss it...come on...you know you wanna..." Kyle, irritated, slapped Cartman's ass.
"Come on, slap it again!" Cartman replied. "Harder!"
"FUCK NO!" Kyle replied; he was starting to really feel like throwing up. Kyle ran to a nearby bathroom and vomited into one of the toilets while Cartman pooped on Kyle's tray.
In the locker room, Cartman did various poses, each one sluttier than the last, to try to seduce Kyle. Kyle was not impressed. "Cartman, when are you going to leave me the fuck alone?"
"Never!" Cartman answered. "Not until you finally decide to face your fears and KISS MY ASS!" Cartman pretended that he was about to rape Kyle, but Kyle was prepared for the kind of crap that Cartman pulled.
On the bus, Cartman had taken many photographic pictures of his buttocks from various angles; he taped them onto the back of the seat right in front of Kyle's seat so that Kyle would see them.
"God damn it, Cartman, stop it! I've never seen you be this annoying before...Although, I do have to admit, those photos look a little sexy since you've lost a bit of weight..." Kyle replied.
"See? You're gay!" Cartman replied. "Accept the fact that you are gay and come over to my house! If you don't then I will cut your balls off with scissors and feed them to my pet kitty!"
"You will not!" Kyle yelled.
"Will too! Try me..." Cartman threatened, pulling out a pair of rather sharp hedge shears.
Once he got home, Kyle asked his mother if he could have a sleepover at Cartman's house since it was Monday. His mom said: "Sure, but make sure you get back home before 10:00 AM tomorrow."
"Okay." Kyle replied, packing his stuff.
AT CARTMAN'S HOUSE...
Kyle was eating dinner with Cartman. Actually, no. Both of them had already eaten dinner before the sleepover. This was lucky because it meant that Kyle did not have to discuss his man-crush on Cartman with Cartman himself at the dinner table.
AT 11:00 PM, AFTER CARTMAN'S MOM HAD GONE TO BED AND PUT HER EARMUFFS ON...
After eating dessert, which was a cake sundae with fudge brownies, whipped cream and cherries on top, Cartman and Kyle went up to Cartman's bedroom. Cartman shut the door behind him, locked the door, shut the window blinds, turned on the lamp, and began to remove his clothes.
Kyle was shocked at what he had just witnessed. He had no words to describe how naked Cartman had become. "You're...you're..."
"Naaakeeed." Cartman replied, clutching a flower between his teeth.
"Yes, yes indeed, you've got NO FREAKING CLOTHES ON!" Kyle replied with a hint of panic in his voice.
"You don't say?" Cartman replied sarcastically. "Anyway, ready for some sex?"
Kyle sighed. "If I have to, yes. Just please don't poop and/or fart on my dick."
"I won't, trust me." Cartman reassured him.
Cartman got on his hands and knees, fully and openly exposing his astonishingly huge buttocks. Kyle's mouth actually began to water a little. "Ready for some action?" Cartman asked teasingly. Kyle caressed Cartman's butt with his hands and could not believe how incredibly nice and soft it was.
Kyle reluctantly thrusted his kosher wiener into Cartman's anus. "Oh yeah, push it in deeper..." Kyle thrust it in deeper and could feel himself acquiring an erection. "Push it in harder!" Cartman whispered, wanting to please Kyle. Kyle let out a soft, low moan as he filled Cartman's butt with his love.
"Now let's drink each other's cum!" Cartman instructed. "We will both masturbate furiously while observing each other's naked bodies, then when the time is right, we will cum into our palms and lick the cum off of each other's palms."
The challenge began. "Oh, yeah...come on baby...ooooooo!" Kyle licked the juicy, creamy, milky white semen off of Cartman's sweaty palm and vice versa. They then proceeded to massage and lick each other's feet, then they both licked each other's sweaty, hairy bungholes, gently caressing them with their tongues. After kissing each other and twirling their tongues together, they prepared for the final test.
"Now for the final test, Kyle. You and I must get into a 69 position and then lick each other's armpits." Cartman explained.
"Oh, brother..." Kyle groaned.
Kyle and Cartman bonded together into a "69" shape and preformed the act of fellatio on each other's penises, then cummed on each other's beautiful faces before licking each other's armpits vigorously.
"Now for the grand finale." Cartman whispered, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"WHAT? We haven't done enough gay shit already?" Kyle whispered angrily; he felt like he was almost ready to puke his guts out, yet at the same time he was somehow enjoying this disgusting predicament.
"I am going to take a huge dump into your mouth. You must chew my poop one hundred times and then swallow it." Cartman explained.
"Well, I suppose I'd rather do this than get my balls chopped off..." Kyle groaned, his face turning slightly green as he was gagging at the thought of doing this.
Cartman strained his rectal muscles and took a chunky, sloppy dump into Kyle's open mouth. Kyle screamed, his voice muffled by the vile bile that filled his mouth. Somehow resisting the urge to vomit, Kyle began chewing. "Just ignore the taste and it'll all go away..." Kyle thought to himself, trying to distract himself from the horrendous taste of the poop. Kyle began counting in his mind.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12..."
"58...59...60...61..."
"96...97...98...99..."
"100!"
"Here's your glass of my piss." Cartman explained, handing the glass to Kyle. Kyle snatched the glass out of Cartman's hands and frantically poured it down his throat to wash the poop down; it tasted and felt like diarrhea.
"Cartman! You owe me A LOT for making me do that! THAT RIGHT THERE IS WHERE I CROSS THE LINE!" Kyle yelled after putting his pajamas back on. Kyle heard Cartman's mom about to open her bedroom door, so he opened Cartman's window blinds, lifted the window open, threw his bag out the window, and jumped out of it. Luckily, Kenny and Stan had set up a mattress right below the window.
Kyle had no time to thank them as he grabbed his bag and frantically fled back to his home. He rang the doorbell.
"Back so soon? Why'd you have to wake us up in the middle of the night?" Kyle's dad asked.
"Sorry, dad, but the sleepover's been cancelled. Me and Cartman just don't get along. Say, umm...can I go upstairs and use the bathroom? I need to take a shower." Kyle explained.
"Oh, well you can use the shower if you want. Are you really that dirty?" Kyle's dad asked.
"Umm...yes, don't you see?" Kyle had smeared Cartman's poop onto his body to make it look like mud.
"Oh my god, I don't even want to ask what kind of mud you got yourself into!" Kyle's dad said with |
. In the first game politics was fairly simple and flat. You had an approval rating, if it was high, the people were productive. Here, you have multiple political factions to deal with. You also have to consider how your decisions in quests, as well as events that simply happen through general play, will change people’s thoughts. You explore from your system to find that the warmongering Craver are nearby, there’s a chance that any aggressive faction in your nation will grow.
Selecting a faction to support will determine so much of what you can even do within the game. For example, if your senate is mostly composed of pacifists, then you are going to find it incredibly difficult to gather support for aggressive options, such as declaring war on an enemy. In addition, the composition of your senate will affect what general laws you can enact, which can do anything from increasing production or ship damage, to expanding the population growth of your empire.
This would be enough of an upgrade in most cases, but not for Endless Space 2. Amplitude have expanded both the exploration and military aspects of the game. In addition, they’ve made it such a visually splendid thing to behold. There are ship battles, which are in full 3D with excellently designed ships, against stunning backdrops. Colorful and sleek menu’s that are informative and pleasant on the eyes. Most of all is the new ‘Amplified Vision‘ system: this lets players like myself, who are interested in seeing further details and the behind-the-scenes links within the world, view so much more. The linked image just shows one of the number of views that Amplified Vision has to offer.
Where this will work with best is in the new exploration system on offer. Although it’ll seem like a small addition, it’s surprising how much of an impact it can have. Once you’ve researched enough, you’ll be able to manufacture probes that you can send off to explore the galaxy. Point them in a direction and they will move forward, turn by turn, revealing more to you without putting any of your forces at risk. Probes will also be used for exploring a new planet, reminiscent of the way they were used in Mass Effect 2. Rather than landing on a planet to find out what, exactly, it had to offer, now you will send probes and learn what surprises the planet contains before colonizing it.
Growing from the Disharmony DLC for Endless Space, ships have more customization than they had in the previous game. Amplitude have developed in a way that also looks easy to use and adapt to. You effectively create your own ships, adapting them using the tech you’ve researched. This lets you make your own variations, leaving you with fleets that genuinely make you feel like they’re your own. This will be particularly good when you see your ships in battle. Prior to these battles there is a new opening tactical system, where you pick a plan for the AI to follow. It also shows you, based on your intelligence of the opponent, what you believe their plan of attack to be.
It’s an absolutely great sign that Amplitude have got so much to show already. Endless space hasn’t even entered Early Access, so for everything to be so solid already makes me very happy. The 4X genre has made a resurgence over the past five or so years and Endless Space 2 looks to be building on this. I own every game by Amplitude and this isn’t going to be an exception to that rule.
A fitting sequel to Endless Space, this is a game that you should be watching. In the meantime, you can read our previous interview with Creative Director Romain de Waubert de Genlis if you haven’t already.CANTERBURY, England — After 20 years of turmoil and angry debate, on Monday (July 14) the General Synod of the Church of England said “yes” to women bishops.
The first could be named by the end of the year with the appointment of at least three additional women sometime in 2015, say senior church officials.
The General Synod is the three-tier governing body of the Church of England and it is made up of bishops, clergy and laity.
At a meeting in York, the General Synod gave final approval to legislation introducing the changes by the required two-thirds majority.
Overall, the Synod voted 351-72 on the measure. Ten abstained.
Despite the Archbishop of York John Sentamu calling for the result to be read in silence, cheers and clapping broke out as the dispute that has dogged the established church in England and Wales ended.
After the vote, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, was seen relaxed and smiling as he walked next to women clergy along a corridor at the University of York where the meeting was held.
Earlier, Welby indicated that the General Synod would be dissolved and later reconstituted if the vote was defeated, as it was by six votes in November 2012.
In a statement Welby said: “Today marks the start of a great adventure of seeking mutual flourishing while still, in some cases, disagreeing.”
In the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Barbara C. Harris was elected as the first woman bishop when she was named suffragan bishop of Massachusetts in 1988.
Referring to those who have long since opposed the consecration of women, Welby said: “I am also mindful of those within the church for whom the result will be difficult and a cause of sorrow. My aim, and I believe the aim of the whole church, should be to be able to offer a place of welcome and growth for all.”
Unlike the highly controversial issue of homosexuality, the ordination of women bishops is only sporadically controversial in Africa, where the Anglican Church is growing fastest.
“This may not necessarily mean other provinces will follow suit,” said Anglican Bishop Julius Kalu of Mombasa, in Kenya. “I think it’s not a doctrinal issue, but that of the church’s tradition.”
Kalu said it would need to be discussed among the African provinces.
Two African provinces — Nigeria and Central Africa — do not consecrate women to any position in the church.
Most of the other provinces accept women’s leadership. In 2012 and 2013, respectively, the Southern African province consecrated the Rev. Ellinah Wamukoya bishop of Swaziland and the Rev. Margaret Vertue for the False Bay diocese.
In Uganda and Sudan women bishops have been approved but no woman has been named bishop.
“We do not have a problem with women becoming bishops in the Church of Uganda,” said Archbishop Stanley Ntagali of Uganda. “I support the ordination of women as bishops in the Church of Uganda and elsewhere.”
Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Religion News Service LLC.On Sunday, it was announced that Florida State was a Regional Host for the 2017 NCAA Tournament, marking the 40th consecutive season the team will continue into the postseason. Today with Miami (FL) missing out on the tourney for the first time in 44 years, the Seminoles now hold the active record for most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
Miami started the season 17-19 before finding its rhythm late in the season, winning six of its final seven games. Despite their final record of 31-27, it wasn’t enough to get the Canes into the postseason.
The ultimate factor in Miami missing the postseason was its final RPI of 41 and many teams clinching an auto-bid by virtue of winning their postseason tournaments that would have not gotten in otherwise, taking what would have been UM’s at-large bid away.
This season, the teams split a pair in Miami with the final game rained out in the early stages and a Florida State lead.Unity is clearly Kryptonite for the Women’s March.
We’ve watched Texans of all colors, sexes, creeds and abilities help, support and even rescue one another for the past several days, none of them concerned about the difference they may see in one another. So why in the Hell would Women’s March think this is in anyway appropriate?
Here's a list of orgs working to keep immigrant, Black, Latinx & other communities safe after Hurricane Harvey. https://t.co/qoB0xH9LXL — Women's March (@womensmarch) August 29, 2017
Gotta keep that hateful narrative going, don’t you Women’s March.
Every organization in Houston is helping *everyone* and no one there cares about this nonsense. Stop *creating* divisiveness. https://t.co/cBKsTBhwyR — Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) August 30, 2017
Otherwise everyone would figure out their whole schtick is pointless.
What the literal HELL is wrong with us? We start picking and choosing what ethnic groups we're going to help in a time of crisis? pic.twitter.com/zzXlBrDRy7 — Victor Haymon II (@ii_haymon) August 30, 2017
Nope. Well the Women’s March did but not sane, rational, everyday Americans.
Bravo for dividing disaster relief along color lines you sad haters Also if you Latinx as a silly descriptor shouldn't it be Blax too? — Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) August 30, 2017
The X provides both sexes of the race, so basically they broke down the Latino population by sex.
Because that’s what they do, they divide.
In Texas, we are making sure everyone is safe, but you do you… — Kerry W (@Texican1957) August 30, 2017
They can’t have that! Groups like the Women’s March NEED people to hate one another, to be scared of one another and to feel victimized by society so they can swoop in and save them.
It’s really gross.
When your waist deep in flood water SJW politics is the last thing on ppl's mind. Nice try though. — Texas Guy (@Collinsdw) August 30, 2017
Which terrifies these broads.
Why just communities of color? Harvey didn't discriminate. Why should I? I don't care who my sis helps long as it helps. pic.twitter.com/XmRN0Xdqga — Mrs_Pinky85 (@mrs_pinky85) August 30, 2017
Why not just put out information to help EVERYONE. Thanks for demonstrating that your group & feminists today are just frauds & bigots. — Mr. Bat-man?? (@KnightWing19) August 30, 2017
#Harvey demonstrated how irrelevant you all are. — Jen Stroup (@JenStroup) August 30, 2017
And they know it.
One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Key word – ALL. Those who cause division are operating out of hate. —??Joe Caruso (@JoeCaruso) August 30, 2017
Amen.
Can't we just forget about race and love and help everyone? — Gary Morris (@GaryMorris13) August 30, 2017
Evil white man!
Always the divider never the uniter — donna ahart (@dahart66) August 30, 2017
That may actually be their new tagline.
Related:
‘Best one-word tweet EVER’: ‘The Mossad’ trolls Linda Sarsour with 1 word, in 1 tweet, and it’s PRICELESS/
Gyeongbokgung: This is almost always shown in Saguek drama. The palace was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. a few dramas such as Moon Embraces the sun, Queen In Hyun's Man, Tree with deep roots would be your guide around the palace.
For more locations in Korea, do check out this link. This site gives you a detailed look at all the fun places in South Korea you can visit.
Let us know in the comments below, what locations you came to know thanks to Korean Dramas. 3)This is almost always shown in Saguek drama. The palace was the main royal palaceJoseon dynasty. a few dramas such as Moon Embraces the sun, Queen In Hyun's Man, Tree with deep roots would be your guide around the palace.For more locations in Korea, do check out. This site gives you a detailed look at all the fun places in South Korea you can visit.Let us know in the comments below, what locations you came to know thanks to Korean Dramas.
We fans of Korean dramas obsess over every single minute details in a drama that we know the catch phrases, OST and clothes. I recently made a list of medical terms I came across in non-medical dramas. And now I make a list of landmarks I have come to know only through such dramas.1)Namsang Tower: I first came across this beautiful structure in Boys over Flowers. But over the years, i have seen this crop up in movies and dramas including You Who Came From the Star This is usually the place where our OTPs make a promise of undying love and promptly break up a few episodes later.2)Again another spot seen in numerous dramas. Usually a pretty site needs to be used more often for a kiss scene. But then again K-dramas do things differently. Usually a scene here leads to a break up or one of our leads finding out some tragic truth. Whatever the reason, the river has witnessed many of our pretty boys and girls shed tears.SEATTLE -- They say not all things in life are fair. And one astute neighbor in Seattle has the photos to prove it.
A user who goes by "plutowasmyfav55" on the web site Imgur posted an eight-photo story that documented what unfolded out his window. Namely: A city street packed full of parked cars that as of early Thursday morning, looked like perfectly legal parking spots. But by a few hours later, they were ticketed and then cleared by tow trucks.
The first photograph shows the cars lined up on the city street, and then a worker at a nearby construction site coming out of his truck and placing a temporary "no parking sign" on the curb.
Then, 1 hour and 21 minutes later according to the photographer, a Seattle Police officer arrives and writes parking tickets to the cars still parked on the block -- cars that had apparently already been there before the temporary sign was placed. Sixteen minutes later, according to the photographer, a tow truck is on scene and tows away one of the remaining cars, with a second car being towed a short time later. The final photo is time-stamped 1 hour and 58 minutes after the temporary sign was placed, and shows a now-cleared street.
After the story got some traction on the website Reddit, a Seattle Police spokesperson responded in the comment thread that after speaking with their parking enforcement unit, they were canceling the four tickets that were issued.
"The Parking Enforcement Officer was unaware the signs had not been posted for the required amount of time," the SPD official wrote. "This shouldn't have happened, and we're in contact with the Seattle Department of Transportation--which runs the No Parking Zone self-certification program--about the incident." The towing fees were also refunded to those affected, an SPD spokesperson told KOMO News.
According to the City of Seattle web site, a temporary no parking zone sign must be in place at least 24 hours before it can be enforced.I had not thought of this angle before:
US hospitals are exploring ways to buy “Obamacare” insurance plans for their sickest and poorest patients as they strain under the weight of tens of billions of dollars in uncompensated costs from the uninsured.
But the move is opposed by the Obama administration and insurers, who fear it could add to the turmoil surrounding the new healthcare marketplace.
…Both the White House and insurers are concerned that if hospitals started paying for insurance for certain chronically ill patients, it will skew the insurance risk pool for the new healthcare exchanges, created under the Affordable Care Act. The exchanges need to attract at least 2.7m healthy and young people, out of 7m that were estimated to join the exchanges by March 2014, in order to keep monthly premiums low.
Ms Hatton said the prospect of buying health insurance for patients has become especially important in Republican-controlled states that have decided not to expand the federal insurance programme for the poor, known as Medicaid.A Sunshine Coast man was bashed to death, put in a shopping trolley and dumped in a creek following a drunken fight over music selection, a court has heard.
The court was told Emmanuel McPherson, 48, objected when his flatmate, James Albert Madden, played a Limp Bizkit album on Mr McPherson's stereo.
A fight then broke out, in which Mr Madden allegedly beat Mr McPherson to death.
Mr Madden, 24, is on trial for Mr McPherson's murder. He pleads not guilty to the charge.
The two men and two women, Kila Jones and Lee Jolae, had been drinking at a unit they shared on Reilly Road at Nambour on May 25, 2009 when the violence broke out.
The dispute reportedly began when Mr McPherson told Mr Madden not to touch his stereo and told him to turn the CD off.
A Brisbane Supreme Court jury was told Mr Madden hit Mr McPherson victim about the head with an alcohol bottle, punched him and stomped on his face as he lay on the floor.
Mr Madden and Ms Jolae then bundled Mr McPherson in a sheet and doona before he was carried outside and placed in a shopping trolley.
Crown prosecutor Greg Cummings said Ms Jones and Mr Madden wheeled their friend down the street and tipped his body into a creek bed.
He was found the next morning and although Mr Madden initially denied any involvement in the death of his "bro", he was charged with Mr McPherson's murder.
Mr Cummings said the jury would hear a confession he made to a man Mr Madden believed was a fellow cellmate, but was in fact an undercover police officer who had recorded four hours of conversations he had with Mr Madden in a jail cell.
The jury will hear the officer ask Mr Madden if he was going to be released. He replied: "No. I've murdered a man. Killed him a couple of days ago."
Both Ms Jones and Ms Jolae had given statements to police about the violence they say they saw Mr Madden inflict on Mr McPherson on the day of his death. The two women will give evidence at the trial.
Mr McPherson died from blunt force trauma to his head.
The case continues.It’s stamp inception! The 1972 Stamp Collecting Stamp issued by USPS. U.S. Postal Service/Public Domain
The early 1970s were a boom time for postage stamps. The U.S. Postal Service, which had reorganized itself at the beginning of the decade, cranked up production and was releasing ever more—and ever more interesting—designs. “Larger stamps, with more color, and many varieties of novelty, seem to be the order of the day,” wrote Boys’ Life in 1972. Where collectors once had to choose largely between different versions of the same great men, they could now get women, animals, buildings, and more.
Despite all these riches, there was still one topic you couldn’t collect a stamp about: stamp collecting. To a certain segment of enthusiasts, this was a disappointment. According to R.R. Higgins—author of the column “The Stamp Man,” which ran in the The Republic newspaper of Columbus, Indiana—philatelists frequently wrote in to the USPS specifically to request a stamp-collecting stamp.
So in October of 1972, the Postal Service announced that they would soon throw a bone to this particular species of loyal customer. The next month—on the 125th anniversary of the very first official U.S. postage stamp—they would release a commemorative stamp to honor stamp collecting. They hired one Frank E. Livia to design it, and it would cost eight cents. They even invented a new size for it: “semi-jumbo,” a compromise between the normal commemorative size and the “jumbo” size, which had recently been invented for a wildlife-themed set.
One of the first jumbo-sized stamps, part of 1971’s wildlife-themed collection. U.S. Postal Service/Public Domain
This news pleased collectors. “Stamp collecting, the hobby of millions in this country, gets its due recognition,” opined the Associated Press. “The thought occurs to me that it is also being issued during Thanksgiving season,” wrote Higgins. “No doubt the USPS is… issuing up prayers of Thanksgiving for the money we have poured into their coffers.” His and other columns printed news of the upcoming design, complete with somewhat tautological ordering instructions: “Collectors may send self-addressed envelopes with remittance… to ‘Stamp Collecting Stamp, Postmaster, New York, NY 10001.’”
Livia took his assignment quite literally. He based his design around the first ever U.S. postage stamp, which was released in 1847 and featured a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Over the course of his career, Franklin served as postmaster general several times—first for Philadelphia, then for the British-helmed American colonies, and finally, after the Second Continental Congress, for the newly declared independent colonies.
Although stamps did not exist during Franklin’s lifetime, when the U.S. did start issuing them, in March of 1847, they chose to honor their first postmaster by using his portrait.
The first two stamps released in the United States depicted Benjamin Franklin, left, and George Washington, right. U.S. Postal Service/Public Domain
Livia placed an entire, exact replica of the 5-cent Franklin Stamp smack in the middle of his 8-cent Stamp Collecting Stamp. A large black magnifying glass juts into the frame, completely encircling the Franklin stamp (which, despite the instrument’s presence, seems to maintain its original size). On the right side, a white serif font declares the theme: “Stamp Collecting.” The “8” in “8c.” is huge—it looks, fittingly, like a vertical infinity sign. The background color is a swingin’ ’70s turquoise.
When the stamp was finally released, it was greeted with both confusion and derision. In the Asbury Park Press, a stamp columnist called it a “postal horror.” “Hopefully, postal officials will learn some day that there is a difference between poster art and stampic art,” he wrote, derisively. “The new issue looks more like a label issued by the West Burlap Stamp Club.” To make matters worse (the stamp is bad—and such small portions!) production was delayed for weeks, because the government’s go-to adhesive makers went on strike. (This was probably a coincidence.)
The popular Cape Hatteras stamp, which collated four separate stamps. U.S. Postal Service/Public Domain
Compared to the era’s hits—such as June 1972’s four-in-one Cape Hatteras stamp quadriptych, which got rave reviews—this was a certifiable dud. Today, you can find one for sale for just 60 cents, which, with inflation, is barely more than the 8 cents it cost when it came out.
But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth a try. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries.” Of the many stamps he appeared on before and since, Franklin might like this one the best.
Stamp of Approval is an occasional column that explores the designs and backstories of the world’s strangest stamps. Have a stamp you want investigated? Stick it in an email to cara@atlasobscura.com.The world's largest and most resilient BitTorrent site plans to redefine "cloud computing" with a plan to move at least some of its servers onto unmanned drones miles above Sweden.
In a Sunday blog post, The Pirate Bay announced new "Low Orbit Server Stations" that will house the site's servers and files on unmanned, GPS-controlled, aircraft drones.
[Porn Companies File Mass Piracy Lawsuits]
One of the sites administrators, MrSpock, said with the advent of miniature computers such as the Raspberry Pi, a $35 micro computer the size of a thumb drive that includes a WiFi and SD card slot for storage, the site can take its servers far from any law enforcement.
"We're going to experiment with sending out some small drones that will float some kilometers up in the air," MrSpock wrote. "This way our machines will have to be shut down with aeroplanes in order to shut down the system. A real act of war."
The Swedish site has operated since 2003 by an "anti-copyright organization" and despite numerous raids, remains one of the most popular music and movie pirating sites on the web. The site hosts thousands of "torrent" files--tiny files that allow users to connect to and download files from other users. The system is one of the most popular ways to anonymously share large files and often comes under fire from copyright holders, who argue that the service allows people to easily share copyrighted movies, music, games and software.
[Opinion: Digital Piracy is Still a Problem]
The site has repeatedly mocked American copyright laws and has said that American laws "[do] not apply [in Sweden]." Earlier this year, four of its staffers were sentenced to Swedish prison. Last year, the site apparently moved some of its servers to a mountain cave complex in Sweden.
"Experiencing raids, espionage and death threats, we're still here," the site wrote in a blog post last month. "We've been through hell and back and it has made us tougher than ever."
The move to hovering servers could make it nearly impossible for authorities to shut the site down, a fact not lost on the site's administrators.
"We can't limit ourselves to hosting things just on land anymore," MrSpock wrote. "When time comes we will host in all parts of the galaxy, being true to our slogan of being the galaxy's most resilient system."
--Is Internet Porn Destroying America?
--Founder of File-Sharing Site Arrested
--More technology newsSurveillance technologies have historically restricted the freedoms of communities of color and immigrants in this country. This history continues today through a resurgent national security apparatus with emboldened nationalist tendencies. Members of Congress have the power to rein these surveillance mechanisms. At this moment, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is pending reauthorization from Congress. This piece of legislation must be reformed in order to prevent dragnet surveillance, backdoor searches of phone and email records, and unlawful targeting of communities of color and immigrant communities. Unless these revisions are made, Congress should let the provision expire.
WIRED OPINION ABOUT Ken Montenegro (@kmontenegro) is national vice president of the National Lawyers Guild in New York. Steven Renderos (@stevenrenderos) is organizing director at the Center for Media Justice in Oakland, California.
Section 702 allows for warrantless surveillance of conversations between people in the US and in foreign countries. The law passed in 2008 during the George W. Bush's presidency, was extended by the Obama administration, and is now set to expire at the end of 2017, unless Congress reauthorizes the provision—a move the Trump administration supports.
Rebuttals to questions of surveillance often go something like this: 'If you’ve got nothing to hide, then you shouldn’t be worried.' But a review of American history points to the same groups being routinely spied on by the government: black and native bodies, immigrants, poor communities, and anybody deemed as an “other” or a threat to national security. High-profile cases of surveilled prominent figures include civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, who were both monitored by the FBI.
More recently, cities like Baltimore experienced dragnet surveillance after protesting against the police murder of Freddie Gray. Black Lives Matter activists in Ferguson, Missouri became targets of surveillance. Muslim communities have long withstood surveillance of their neighborhoods, mosques, and community leaders. If history is any indicator, the net cast on those suspected of being threats to our nation’s safety is vast—and in a time where much of the nation is intent on resisting and dissenting, this puts much of the country at risk of being surveilled. Furthermore, surveillance, particularly enabled under 702, is nefariously opaque.
Proponents of Section 702, such as the Heritage Foundation, and Trump’s homeland security and counterterrorism advisor Thomas Bossert, argue that oversight protocols and existing language in the provision will prevent significant overreach. In an op-ed in the New York Times published earlier this year, Bossert claimed that Section 702 doesn’t allow for targeting of US citizens, emphasizing that the provision “expressly forbids intentional targeting” and that an individual court order supported by probable cause is needed to surveil citizens and foreigners inside the US.
But newly declassified memos reviewed by The Hill revealed a slew of violations by the NSA and FBI during the Obama administration, proving that although intentional targeting of US citizens may not be allowed, citizens' data is nonetheless being intercepted—and searched. Among the various violations cited in the memo are “numerous overcollection incidents,” and “the misuse of overly broad queries or specific US person terms to search through NSA data.”
Immigrants are also largely at risk of being surveilled through Section 702’s so-called upstream monitoring, which allows communication to a friend or family member outside of the country (or browser history, chat logs), to be searched for potential “selectors” or keywords of interest. This means that more than a quarter of the US population—more than 84 million people—are at risk of having their data intercepted.
We recently visited our nation’s capitol with a delegation of community leaders and policy advocates from across the country to meet with Senators Al Franken (D-MN), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), along with Representatives Justin Amash (R-MI) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), to discuss the impacts of new surveillance technologies on immigrant communities and religious minorities. Among the solutions proposed was to reform Section 702 to close the backdoor search loophole, and prevent overly broad law enforcement from being used to target immigrants and citizens of color, religious minorities, and activists.
Last month, the Center for Media Justice joined over two dozen civil rights and civil liberties groups including the ACLU and Color of Change to send a letter to the House Judiciary Committee recommending reforms to the provision. History shows that intelligence programs without adequate oversight, demonstrated by COINTELPRO and the contents of the Edward Snowden revelations, inevitably overstep their mandates.
Congress should recall the origins of the fourth amendment in this moment: Let’s stop putting mass surveillance technologies in the hands of intelligence agencies, especially with nothing but the misplaced hope they will do the right thing.
Ken Montenegro (@kmontenegro) is national vice president of the National Lawyers Guild in New York. Steven Renderos (@stevenrenderos) is organizing director at the Center for Media Justice in Oakland, California. WIRED Opinion publishes pieces written by outside contributors and represents a wide range of viewpoints. Read more opinions here.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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Why are reproductive rights losing while gay rights are winning? Indiana’s attempt to enshrine opposition to gay marriage under the guise of religious freedom provoked an immediate nationwide backlash. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has allowed religious employers to refuse insurance coverage for birth control—not abortion, birth control—to female employees; new laws are forcing abortion clinics to close; and absurd, even medically dangerous restrictions are heaping up in state after state. Except when the media highlight a particularly crazy claim by a Todd Akin or Richard Mourdock, where’s the national outrage? Most Americans are pro-choice, more or less; only a small minority want to see abortion banned. When you consider, moreover, that one in three women will have had at least one abortion by the time she reaches menopause, and most of those women had parents, partners, friends—someone—who helped them obtain it, the sluggish response to the onslaught of restrictive laws must include many people who have themselves benefited from safe and legal abortion. Ad Policy
The media present marriage equality and reproductive rights as “culture war” issues, as if they somehow went together. But perhaps they’re not as similar as we think. Some distinctions:
§ Marriage equality is about love, romance, commitment, settling down, starting a family. People love love! But marriage equality is also about tying love to family values, expanding a conservative institution that has already lost most of its coercive social power and become optional for millions. (Marriage equality thus follows Pollitt’s law: Outsiders get access when something becomes less valued, which is why women can be art historians and African-Americans win poetry prizes.) Far from posing a threat to marriage, as religious opponents claim, permitting gays to marry gives the institution a much-needed update, even as it presents LGBT people as no threat to the status quo: Instead of promiscuous child molesters and lonely gym teachers, gays and lesbians are your neighbors who buy Pottery Barn furniture and like to barbecue.
Reproductive rights, by contrast, is about sex—sexual freedom, the opposite of marriage—in all its messy, feckless glory. It replaces the image of women as chaste, self-sacrificing mothers dependent on men with that of women as independent, sexual, and maybe not so self-sacrificing. It doesn’t matter that contraception is indispensable to modern life, that abortion antedates the sexual revolution by thousands of years, that plenty of women who have abortions are married, or that most (60 percent) who have abortions are already mothers. Birth control and abortion allow women—and, to a lesser extent, men—to have sex without punishment, a.k.a. responsibility. And our puritanical culture replies: You should pay for that pleasure, you slut.
§ Same-sex marriage is something men want. Lesbian couples account for the majority of same-sex marriages, but even the vernacular “gay marriage” types it as a male concern. That makes it of interest to everyone, because everything male is of general interest. Though many of the groundbreaking activists and lawyers who have fought for same-sex marriage are lesbians, gay men have a great deal of social and economic power, and they have used it, brilliantly, to mainstream the cause.
Reproductive rights are inescapably about women. Pervasive misogyny means not only that those rights are stigmatized—along with the women who exercise them—but that men don’t see them as all that important, while women have limited social power to promote them. And that power is easily endangered by too close an identification with all but the most anodyne version of feminism. There are no female CEOs pouring millions into reproductive rights or threatening to relocate their businesses when a state guts access to abortion. And with few exceptions, A-list celebs steer clear.
§ Marriage equality has cross-class appeal: Anyone can have an LGBT child, and parents across the political spectrum naturally want their kids to have the same opportunities other children have. Any woman might find herself needing an abortion, too, but she may not realize that. Improvements in birth control mean that prosperous, educated women with private doctors can control their fertility pretty well—certainly better than women who rely on public clinics—and if they need an abortion, they can get one. It’s low-income women who suffer the most from abortion restrictions—and since when have their issues been at the top of the middle and upper classes’ to-do list?
§ Marriage equality costs society nothing and takes no power away from anyone. No one has been able to argue persuasively that your gay marriage hurts my straight marriage. But reproductive rights come with a price tag: Government funding is inevitably involved. (“If you want to have a party, have a party, but don’t ask me to pay for it,” said one New Hampshire lawmaker as he tried to cut funding for contraception.) Also, contraception and abortion give power to women and take it from others: parents, employers, clergy, and men.
§ In marriage equality, there is no loser. But many, including some who call themselves pro-choice, feel that abortion creates a loser: the embryo or fetus. You have to value women a lot to side with the pregnant woman, with all her inevitable complexities and flaws, over the pure potentiality of the future baby.
§ Marriage equality is a wonderful thing, an important civil right that brings dignity to a previously excluded group. Over time, it may subtly affect the gender conventions of straight marriage, but it won’t fundamentally alter our social and economic arrangements. Reproductive rights, though, are inescapably connected to the larger project of feminism, which has already destabilized every area of life, from the bedroom to the boardroom. What might women demand, what might they accomplish, how might they choose to live, if every woman had children only when and if she wanted them? “Culture war” doesn’t begin to describe it.Jimmy Wales says his website would encrypt all connections with Britain, and called the plans 'technologically incompetent'
Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has sharply criticised the government's "snooper's charter", designed to track internet, text and email use of all British citizens, as "technologically incompetent".
He said Wikipedia would move to encrypt all its connections with Britain if UK internet companies, such as Vodafone and Virgin Media, were mandated by the government to keep track of every single page accessed by UK citizens.
The entrepreneur said he was confident there would be a general move to encryption across the internet if British-based communication service providers were required to collect and store data for 12 months from overseas companies, such as Google and Facebook, for possible access by the police and security services.
He said the British government would have to resort to the "black arts" of hacking to break encryptions: "It is not the sort of thing I'd expect from a western democracy. |
hypotheses
Several hypotheses have already been put forward to explain why girls' reading skills appear to be better than boys' at school age. A difference in intelligence has been rejected, since girls obviously do not have higher IQ than boys. The same goes for the theory that the difference could have something to do with specific teaching methods, since reading is taught using a variety of methods. Some researchers claim that girls are subject to different requirements and expectations than boys, and that this could explain why girls appear to be better at reading. However, if this is the case, it cannot fully explain the differences. And we still do not have the answer to why this difference seems to disappear when the pupils leave secondary school and move into adult life.
Is the answer in the tests?
Literacy researchers Oddny Judith Solheim and Kjersti Lundetræ of the Norwegian Reading Centre, University of Stavanger have investigated whether the design of the tests themselves can provide at least a partial explanation as to why the differences that become more pronounced as children progress through school, then disappear in 16-24 year olds. The researchers studied the PIRLS (5th grade), PISA (10th grade) and PIAAC (adults) tests. They compared the tests in terms of the way they are designed, the way in which they measure reading, and the manner in which they are implemented.
All the tests apply the same definition of'reading literacy': It is about being able to understand and use written text, and PISA and PIAAC also assess the ability to reflect on and evaluate texts.
To obtain a sufficiently extensive picture, the researchers at the Norwegian Reading Centre have examined the results of schoolchildren and adults in all of the Nordic countries. These countries are very similar, and have a high level of equality. But with a few exceptions, the gender differences in tests that measure reading tend to be equally great in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway. The differences are apparent by the 5th grade, are greatest among 15 year olds, but then become imperceptibly small or completely absent in 16-24 year olds.
"Based on earlier research, it appears that PIRLS and PISA -- i.e. the tests used in schools -- are designed in a way that may favour girls. PIAAC is designed differently. This could be one explanation as to why we are seeing gender differences in the results," says Solheim.
Continuous texts in the school tests
One of the characteristics of PISA and PIRLS is that these tests contain numerous 'continuous texts'. This means long texts, which may be descriptive, narrative, explanatory, etc. Previous research has shown that girls and women are generally better at reading such texts than boys and men. Boys and men are better at reading 'non-continuous texts', such as graphs, forms, advertisements, etc. A number of studies also show that the differences are greater in favour of girls when pupils have to read fictional texts, than when they read factual texts.
In PIRLS, i.e. the tests for 10 year olds, the vast majority of texts are continuous, and the distribution of fictional texts and factual texts is the same. In PISA, 60 per cent of the texts are continuous, and 15 per cent of the texts are fictional. However in PIAAC, there are equal numbers of continuous texts as non-continuous texts, and the participants only have to read factual texts.
"Since we know that it is an advantage for girls to read long, fictional texts, it could be giving them an advantage to provide them with this type of text in the reading tests, which could affect the results in terms of measuring pupils' skills," says Solheim.
Measuring reading through writing
Although there are no differences between young adult men and women when their reading skills are measured, several international studies show that girls and women are better at writing than boys and men. Some of the questions in PISA and PIRLS are multiple-choice, where pupils must select what they believe to be the correct answer. However, in recent years, more of the questions have been open-ended, requiring the pupils to provide a written answer. It is believed that this achieves a better picture of what the pupils have understood from the text, and how they reflect on it and assess it. Reading is then being measured through writing -- which gives girls an advantage. In PISA, where the difference between girls and boys is greatest, 65 per cent of the exercises involve writing. In PIAAC, on the other hand, the participants do not need to write, and instead have to select words, sentences or extracts from the texts.
Several studies have shown that the gender differences are greater in written exercises than in multiple-choice questions, and that boys have a greater tendency to skip the written questions. For this reason, the two literacy researchers believe that we may say that in this aspect too, PISA and PIRLS are more girl-friendly than PIAAC.
Motivation
Motivation is an important element when we look at how reading skills are measured in these tests. Motivation to do one's best, to read the texts thoroughly, and actually to take the trouble to answer difficult written exercises. Differences in motivation to do the tests could explain a great deal of why girls appear to read better than boys at school, but not when they reach adulthood.
For example, earlier research shows that it is more difficult to motivate boys to be interested in a text than girls. The gender of the protagonist, the subject of the text and attitudes to the text or general subject play more of a role for boys in how well they perform when they have to read than for girls. For this reason, the researchers at the Norwegian Reading Centre believe that the test designers should take into account boys' motivation to read the texts they are given in the tests.
We also know that girls are more likely to do what is expected of them than boys. Boys are more likely to ask whether there is a point to what they have been asked to do, such as a test. We see the biggest differences in the tests that are performed in the 10th grade. This is a period during which pupils are facing many other challenges from their school.
"Since we know that boys are more critical about doing things that have no direct significance for them, it is conceivable that they are more likely to avoid expending energy on a test that will not affect their qualifications. Motivation could also explain part of the reason why the differences are greater at lower secondary school than primary school, since it is well known that teenagers are more likely to question authority, such as the school, than younger children," says Solheim.
While the pupils performed the tests at school, the adult participants in PIAAC were invited to do the test in their own home, supervised by a PIAAC representative. The participants in PIAAC were also rewarded for their contribution once they had completed the test.
The researchers suggest that when a person comes home to you and stays with you while you answer questionnaires and sit tests, and is offered an incentive to participate, it is reasonable to assume that you might feel more obligated to do your best, than someone sitting in a classroom who will not receive any particular reward for doing the test as well as they can. Is it therefore conceivable that the boys and men who underwent PIAAC were more likely to show the full extent of their reading ability, than the boys who took part in PISA.
Reason to be concerned?
The difference in reading between girls and boys has been highlighted as an educational challenge in most OECD countries, including Norway. Lundetræ and Solheim believe that their findings must be taken into consideration in the design of tests aimed at measuring reading skills, and in the interpretation of the results of these reading studies.
"Reading is described as a skill, which we have the potential to achieve. We may question whether the various tests, in their current design, give boys and girls, and men and women, an equal basis for achieving their potential as readers. We now know that reading tests in schools are designed in a way that affects girls positively. We also have to question whether PIAAC reflects men's reading skills more accurately than PIRLS and PISA, or whether the adult tests may be giving the men an advantage. This means that the challenge now is to find out how we can create reading tests that accurately demonstrate the actual skills of all boys and girls, and men and women, in terms of reading. That would give us a better basis for saying whether there really is reason to be concerned about boys' reading skills," says Solheim.Have you ever found one last beer in the fridge, only to have it explode in a foamy mess when you open it? That’s pretty much what happened with one of last year’s most-discussed laws, the so-called Beer Jobs Bill.
Throughout the 2015 legislative session, Georgia’s craft breweries fought an uphill battle against both the alcohol wholesalers and the lawmakers who insist they’re for free markets and small businesses, but whose actions tell us otherwise. Finally, they won a relatively small victory — permission to sell their beer to visitors touring their breweries — only to watch as the Revenue Department issued a groundless regulation that left them worse off than before.
Speaker David Ralston told the AJC in December that Revenue should “go back and revisit that (regulation), because if they don’t, we may have to.” Kudos to him for making that clear. But don’t stop there.
Legislators shouldn’t have stopped there last year, and the actions of the wholesalers and regulators demonstrate why. The law already tilts the playing field steeply in the wholesalers’ favor, and they pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into campaign coffers to keep it that way. They won’t stop overreaching until legislators do more than slap them on the wrists.
So here’s what a real, pro-business reform of Georgia’s dated distribution laws would look like:
No more restrictions at all on how much brewers can sell at their own facilities. We’re not barely post-Prohibition anymore. Let brewers — including Budweiser in Cartersville — sell as much beer as they can, packaged in any way, from their own manufacturing premises. That goes for brewpubs, too.
While they’re selling, let them sell food to their customers. Currently, breweries may only allow food trucks on their property — but not necessarily all food trucks, and they are reluctant to allow customers to buy food and beer in a single transaction. This is not just anti-business, it’s anti-public safety: Making it hard for people drinking alcohol to have food with it only creates problems. The only ostensible reason for such a prohibition is to make life hard for brewers.
Another problem for breweries is Revenue practically prohibits them from telling customers, including followers on social media, where their products are actually available for sale. (Such publicity is deemed a “thing of value” barred by law.) This is nonsense: We’re talking about the Revenue Department, not the Ministry of Truth.
Finally, keep the wholesalers from retaliating against them by significantly altering the contractual relationship between the two. Currently, brewers must sign what amount to lifetime agreements with the wholesalers that distribute their products to retailers. If the relationship goes sour or isn’t working out to the brewer’s liking, for all intents and purposes it can’t change distributors without going out of business first. That’s absurd.
Some readers may wonder why I and others make such a big deal about a relatively small sliver of Georgia’s economy. The answer is simple: It’s as clear a view as you’ll get on the way power and money interact in a manner wholly contrary to the stated principles of our Republican majority. It’s an ugly scene, and many of us won’t forget what we’ve seen come election time — this year, or in the future.A life well tweeted is not considered a life well lived. Our lives are framed by Facebook posts, texts, and Instagrams, measured by the best, most shareable version of our digitized selves. But, while selfies and smart tweets are social currency, we treat these things as functional ways of navigating our world, not art. Social media is still largely considered a cheap and unsophisticated medium. But does that mean those forms of expression shouldn’t, or can’t, be adapted into something more highbrow?
Dorthe Nors sets out to do just that in So Much for That Winter, a pair of novellas about navigating middle age and womanhood in the 21st Century. In addition to Nors’ poetic flair, the thing that separates these stories from other contemporary tales of woe and redemption is the forms they take to match. The first novella, "Minna Needs Rehearsal Space," is told in status-update-sized chunks and the second, “Days,” is written in listicles. The first two lines of the book: "Minna introduces herself./Minna is on Facebook."
Plenty of novels, from The Circle to Super Sad True Love Story, examine the consequences of a hyper-connected world. (Spoiler alert: it’s alienation and loneliness.) “Social media as art” isn’t new either. Instagram, an intrinsically artistic platform, has seen plenty of articles and books published section-by-section alongside corresponding photos. Likewise, we’ve embraced the comedy and brevity of texts—just Google “texts from my mom” if you’re unconvinced. And, perhaps one of the more common literary forms of social-media driven art, Twitter fiction, has been embraced by authors like David Mitchell, Jennifer Egan, and Teju Cole, whether they're tweeting parts of novels or sending out self-contained pieces 140 characters at a time.
But social media hasn't ingratiated itself into all forms of creativity just yet. Say the words "Facebook post" and you’re not likely to think of sonnets; say the word “listicle” and you’ll elicit hard eye rolls from the New Yorker set. Basically, no one can decide if there's an art to digital communication. Even Jonathan Franzen, everyone’s favorite author to hate, said a few years ago, "Can Twitter be an art form? Toothpicks can be an art form!"
And, to Franzen's point, the lit world still has not figured out where all these new forms of writing fit. (Yes, status updates are writing.) Novels have long incorporated authors’ renderings of letters, journal entries, newspaper clippings, and even emails. Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad notably included a chapter told entirely in PowerPoint slides. (Very experimental, that Jennifer Egan.) But are status updates and lists somehow an unworthy medium? Is it questionable to spend our time reading a book full of the stuff we’re inundated with everyday?
Are status updates and lists somehow an unworthy medium? Is it questionable to spend our time reading a book full of the stuff we’re inundated with everyday?
In the case of Nors' novellas, available for the first time in English today, the answer is yes. Sure, Nors could have written these stories in straightforward prose, complete with scenes of her characters reading texts and scrolling through Facebook. But the tales in Winter focus intensely on how we exist with and inside our digital worlds. “If we want to find out what online communication does to us, we have to explore it through language,” she says. Her stylistic choice both highlights the simplicity of the form and exemplifies how these little phrases can pack a big punch, creating the same effect as lines of poetry.
“Days,” written in 2008, reflects the more “bashful” way we communicated online at that time. “The woman in ‘Days’ is covering herself, somehow and it gives the text an interesting tremble between being seen—and being invisible,” Nors says.
In “Minna Needs Rehearsal Space,” written later, Nors began writing short poems from the perspective of the title character, who can only express herself in status updates. Minna is a 40-year-old composer with nowhere to play her music and she can’t seem to find solace from her friends and family’s digital personas, whether it’s her basic friend bothering her via email or her sister calling her cell or her mother’s blog posts. To top it off, her ex-boyfriend blocks her on Facebook.
Minna also has a tendency to compare the “perfect” lives she sees online to her own mess of an existence—and doesn’t have the self-awareness to realize that she also disparages the people whose online selves fall short of her expectations.
Nors’ critique extends to how we communicate digitally as a whole. In the first pages of Minna’s story, her boyfriend Lars dumps her over text. “Back in Jane Austen’s era bastards like Lars would write letters in the candle light, breaking off engagements and rambling on about how sorry they were,” Nors says. “These days people—and I guess both men and woman know how to do this nasty trick—sit in the light of their iPhones, deleting, unfriending and breaking up in one-liners. Human behavior, the cowards we sometimes are, hasn't changed one bit."
Minna is “so wounded by online life, that she has to escape it,” Nors says. Ultimately, the character ditches her devices for a seaside vacation. She struggles to find solitude—it seems like there are always people around—and finally finds a space where she can unleash her voice on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Still, even alone and disconnected, her story is still being narrated in this abbreviated form. Like Minna, we also may never be able fully break away from the new ways we're learning to communicate. Try as we might, we never can shake it. But if we are resistant to Nors’ style, it’s probably because we’re inundated with and exhausted by this form of language every day—and that’s exactly why we should read it.27 Shares
In the late 1970s, throughout the “Darkness on The Edge of Town tour”, Bruce Springsteen used to add a verse to one of his signature songs, Backstreets, in which the song’s main character bemoaned being betrayed by the girl he loved.
“You lied,” sang Springsteen, initially in a melancholic, matter of fact voice, before following the music’s crescendo to utter those words in a mixture of ferocious anger and disgust.
Ed Woodward is nobody’s idea of a lost love but, bar major surprises, United fans could soon be uttering those words soon as, for the second consecutive summer, the club’s executive vice-chairman looks unlikely to deliver on the promises he made before the transfer window opened when he trotted out the now sadly familiar line about United having no budget.
Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera are fine signings, of course, but with just over a week left until the start of the season, it’s hard to argue against the fact that the summer has been, well, a bit of an underwhelming in terms of transfers. The arrival of Shaw and Herrera in June could have and should have been the catalyst for the overhaul the current squad has needed for a few years, but the momentum soon vanished as United were linked with every man and his dog.
Arturo Vidal, Angel Di Maria, Mats Hummels, Juan Cuadrado. One could put together a rather formidable XI with the players United have allegedly looked at this summer but, as things stand, Herrera and Shaw are the only two names in the arrivals column.
A day before the opening game of the season, United have only three centre-backs in their ranks which, considering that Van Gaal intends to play with three defenders at the back, is a case of cutting it almighty fine and while Herrera has shown indications of being an excellent player and Darren Fletcher looks to be back to full fitness, United’s midfield will hardly set the world on fire.
Van Gaal has openly declared the squad is unbalanced, courtesy of years in which United allowed themselves to carry passengers before conjuring to take disaster up a notch by appointing David Moyes last summer, and while the Dutchman is a wonderful manager, one can’t expect miracles from him.
He might well have dragged a largely unfancied Holland side to third spot at the World Cup, but negotiating seven games and coming to terms with the roller-coaster that is a 38-match league campaign are different entities altogether and United ought to have done more to help their new manager this summer.
Moyes and Woodward last summer served up a failure of epic proportions and trying to identify who suffered more from the other’s mistakes is a tedious argument. However, if United’s struggle last summer were down to Moyes’ limited calibre, then why have the same problems resurfaced again, albeit not as vigorously, now that the club has hired one of the best managers in the world?
Last month, during one of those ego-inflating speeches he so dearly loves, Woodward boasted that United were capable of competing financially with every club in the world and that they could even break the world’s transfer record, if they felt they needed to. That statement must have undoubtedly sent the club’s commercial partners scattered to the four corners of the globe in ecstasy but, until followed by facts, Woodward’s words are just that: words.
Van Gaal might not be a manager keen to splash cash just for the sake of doing so but it seems rather odd that none of his targets has so far joined the club, despite the Dutchman’s admission that United to buy and sell. Is no one interested in joining the self-proclaimed best club in the world – a tag which, frankly, gets more and more embarrassing each time it’s trotted out by one of the club’s suits – is Woodward really as inept as we suspected last season or, dare we say it, is the club dragging its heel over financial details?
The latter option is one the Glazers apologists would dismiss a paranoia, but United aren’t in a position where they can dictate the rules in the transfer window and while spending money for the sake of it is best avoided, quality generally demands a higher price than mediocrity.
United have tolerated mediocrity for far too long and if the club is serious about ensuring last season was only a blip rather than the beginning of a new era, then Woodward must walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. Three weeks can be a incredibly long or dramatically short period of time in the transfer window and United need the next 14 days to bear fruits off the pitch.
None of us wants experience what we did on transfer deadline day last season or, even worse, to shout “You lied!” towards Ed come September 1st.
Dan
Follow @mufc_dan87For the similarly named fibre produced by AMSilk Gmbh, see AMSilk
BioSteel was a trademark name for a high-strength fiber-based material made of the recombinant spider silk-like protein extracted from the milk of transgenic goats, made by Montreal-based company Nexia Biotechnologies, and later by the Randy Lewis lab of the University of Wyoming and Utah State University.[1] It is reportedly 7-10 times as strong as steel if compared for the same weight, and can stretch up to 20 times its unaltered size without losing its strength properties. It also has very high resistance to extreme temperatures, not losing any of its properties within −20 to 330 degrees Celsius (−4 to 626 degrees Fahrenheit).
The company had created lines of goats to produce recombinant versions of either the MaSpI (Major ampullate spidroin I) or dragline I (for its superior elasticity, flexibility and strength) from Nephila clavipes, the golden orb weaver) or MaSpII (Major ampullate spidroin 2 or dragline 2 from Nephila clavipes) dragline proteins in their milk.[2][3] When the female goats lactate, the milk, containing the recombinant DNA silk, was to be harvested and subjected to chromatographic techniques to purify the recombinant silk proteins.
The purified silk proteins could be dried, dissolved using solvents (DOPE formation) and transformed into microfibers using wet-spinning fiber production methods. The spun fibers were reported to have tenacities in the range of 2 - 3 grams/denier and elongation range of 25-45%. The "Biosteel biopolymer" had been transformed into nanofibers and nanomeshes using the electrospinning technique.[4]
Nexia is the only company which has successfully produced fibres from spider silk expressed in goat's milk. The Lewis lab has produced fibers from recombinant spider silk protein and synthetic spider silk proteins and genetic chimeras produced in both recombinant E. coli and the milk of recombinant goats, however, no one has been able to produce the silk in commercial quantities thus far. The company was founded in 1993 by Dr. Jeffrey Turner and Paul Ballard, and was sold in 2005 to Pharmathene.
In 2018, two transgenic goats were sold to the Canada Agriculture Museum after Nexia Biotechnologies went bankrupt.[5]
Research has since continued with the help of Randy Lewis, a professor formerly at the University of Wyoming and now at Utah State University. He was also able to successfully breed spider goats in order to create artificial silk. There are now about 30 spider goats at a university-run farm.[6]
Applications of artificial spider silk biopolymers include using it for the coating of all kinds of implants and medical products as well as for artificial ligaments and tendons due to its elastic tendencies and also since it is a natural product which will synthesize well with the body. Furthermore, artificial silk biopolymers can be applicated in personal care products as well as in textile products.No glorious comeback for Bulldogs’ star
ATHENS – This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, not in the minds of Georgia fans and certainly not in the mind of Nick Chubb.
The Bulldogs’ star tailback had already made his triumphant comeback from the major knee injury he suffered on the first play against Tennessee last year. That happened way back in Week One when he ran roughshod over North Carolina in a resounding 33-24 win over North Carolina. He went for 222 yards and two touchdowns that day in the Georgia Dome. By the time Georgia got around to the Vols – which it will in today’s nationally-televised, 3:30 p.m. tilt — Chubb was supposed to be rolling.
Only, Chubb never got to rolling. In fact, he got stopped all together this past Saturday at Ole Miss. After gaining 57 yards on 12 carries in the first half, Chubb was conspicuously sidelined late in the second quarter with a left ankle injury. He did not return.
And he won’t return to the field today at Sanford Stadium. Chubb is going to be unable to play today against the No. 11-ranked Vols, according to his father.
“I don’t think he’s going to play,” Henry Chubb said Friday afternoon. “He’s got that high-ankle sprain. He twisted it trying to make a cut against Ole Miss. He’s in good spirits and all. He understands it. The doctor said he’d need a couple weeks, so he’ll probably play next week.”
Chubb has been receiving treatment and rehabbing the injury early each afternoon when he got out of class this week. Head coach Kirby Smart said Chubb would join the team at the practice complex later to “do some running.”
Whether it was genuine hopefulness or gamesmanship is unclear, but Smart insists that there remains a possibility Chubb could play.
“Nick Chubb remains a game-time decision,” Smart said during an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show late Friday afternoon. “Nick has improved in the last probably 48 hours immensely. We’re going to go out tomorrow and warm up and see how he does. If the medical staff clears him, then he’s going to play. That’s where we are with it.”
There’s virtually no hope of that, according to those in the know. And Chubb is supremely bummed about it.
“He was very upset that had twisted his ankle,” Henry Chubb shared. “He was mad at himself and kind of upset about it. He knew (Tennessee) was coming. But those things happen, you know. He’ll go out there and play when he’s healthy. He doesn’t need to go out there now and make the injury worse. He wants to play bad. Of course, he wants to be out there. But he can’t.”
With Chubb out, the Bulldogs will start junior Sony Michel. Michel, who is nearly three months removed from breaking his left arm in a summer ATV accident, filled in admirably for Chubb not only the rest of last season, but the rest of that game after Chubb tore three knee ligaments on the Bulldogs’ first offensive play from scrimmage.
Michel rushed for 145 yards and had a 66-yard run in that contest, which the Bulldogs led 24-3 before eventually falling 38-31. He rushed for 1,161 yards and 8 TDs on the season. Michel has been slow to get rolling himself so far this season. After sitting out the first game, he has just 106 yards on 23 carries since, an average of 4.6 yards a carry. He has yet to score this season.
Georgia also has played true freshmen Brian Herrien and Elijah Holyfield this season. Herrien was the Bulldogs’ leading rusher with 78 yards and scored their only touchdowns in last week’s 45-14 loss to Ole Miss. He has 184 yards on 26 carries and 3 touchdowns this season.
“I feel better now than I did because we’ve got two kids who have played a little bit in Brian and Elijah,” Smart said. “And Brendan (Douglas) has played a lot of good football around here.”
Chubb’s absence will not alter Georgia’s game plan for Tennessee. The Vols come into Saturday’s game ranked eighth in the SEC against the run (141 ypg) and are fourth in total defense (351.5).
“I don’t think that stops our mentality as an offense at all,” senior tackle Greg Pyke said. “We have great backs back there who are just as good as 27. That kind of makes you want to block that much harder for those guys, those freshmen guys, because they probably have some jitters, and a freshman quarterback. But we have a veteran offensive line, and I know if we do our jobs up front we’ll have a good game.”
Meanwhile, the Vols have their own injury issues with which to contend. Tennessee already knows it will be without All-SEC cornerback Cameron Sutton and inside linebacker Darrin Kirkland, with ankle injuries. And reports late this week were that they’ll also be without middle linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin due to a shoulder issue. That’s the ultimate irony because it was Reeves-Maybin, a senior from Clarksville, Tenn., who gave Chubb the last shove as he hurtled [cq] out of bounds at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee coach Butch Jones, like all coaches, remains suspicious and cynical when it comes to Chubb’s availability. Not only does he expect the junior tailback to play, he insists he would prefer that Chubb play.
“You like to play a team at full strength and they will be full strength even if they don’t have Nick Chubb,” Jones said. Again, I hurt for him because these players work so hard to get back. But we’re anticipating that he’ll play and we’re preparing as though he’s going to play. And we have to prepare for the stable of running backs that they have as well. I have a tremendous amount of respect for their program, for their physicality and the way they play.”A Star Trek podcast by two guys who are a bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. After reviewing all of Star Trek: The Next Generation, we're reviewing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from beginning to end! New episodes on Mondays. Also check out The Greatest Discovery!
When the woman who unwittingly modeled for Geordi’s favorite real doll boards the ship, the Chief Engineer is scrambling to understand why she isn’t as receptive to his romantic overtures as her lookalike. To make matters worse, an alien pot pie has been tossed at the ship, and the crew is having a heck of a time cleaning it off. Why won’t the Captain ever let Worf raise the shields? What ever happened to that calzone? Is this whole thing Guinan’s fault? It’s the episode where TNG goes full MRA.T here is a side to the twin cities that few tourists venture to see, but most locals guard zealously, preserving a piece of history that has its own fan following: the simple Irani chai, served in Irani cafes, the sweet tea served in tiny cups.The 17-km stretch between Shah Ali Banda in the Old City and the Clock Tower on SD Road in Secunderabad is home to 29 such Irani cafes, all serving their own version of the hot beverage that was first made popular in India by the British. These cafes may be bravely facing the onslaught by the Baristas and Cafe Coffee Days that have mushroomed at every corner today, but they still are a part of the city's wallpaper, married to its population and culture.A tour of the city's Irani cafes, in a quest to savour the famous Irani chai, could begin at the Shah Ghouse Restaurant at Shah Ali Banda. A few paces along, near the calm courtyards of the Mecca Masjid is the Farasha Irani Cafe, and tucked away in a corner of Machli Kaman is the Shahrah Cafe.And opposite the large white domed Afzalgunj Masjid, a little further on, is the New Grand Hotel. "My ancestors came from Yazd in Iran on a ship and reached the port city of Bombay," says Jaleel Farrokhroz, the proprietor of New Grand Hotel. "From there they moved to Pune, and later set foot in Hyderabad," he adds. Farrokhroz claims that the New Grand Hotel was the first Irani cafe in the twin cities and was established in 1936. "Hyderabadis love all things sweet, rich and fattening," he smiles. "It is a part of Hyderabadi culture," he says, adding that there is no substitute for Irani chai, which refreshes the weary and energises the weak.According to Farrokhroz, tea in Iran was made with tea leaves and water and contained no milk. A large granule of sugar was tucked behind the cheek, and tea was enjoyed in small sips. The new settlers from Persia, he claims, realised that they needed to add something native in their new homeland. And so, milk and sugar were added to the original recipe and Irani chai as we know it today, came to be born.But leave the Old City behind, paying heed to the changing landscape that moves from tiny mom-and-pop stores to large supermarkets and Hellenic named apartment blocks. Arrive in the swankier Banjara Hills, Road no. 11, and opposite Care Hospital, and come upon another Irani oasis in the form of Sarvi Cafe. One of the more modern Irani cafes, it is a far cry from the old signature wooden chairs and tables, with its yellow tiles and new furniture. This cafe houses a bakery and a take-away counter, catering to those always on the run."Sarvi in Farsi means greenery," says Mirza Ali Sarvi, proprieter of the Sarvi cafe. "We started 25 years ago and have three branches." He ponders for a few moments as if to align his thoughts and continues, "The best thing about Irani chai is that it is within the reach of the common man."The British, he adds, were fastidious in their management of tea estates, raising the bar on its quality every year. He rues the changes from then, saying that the quality of tea dust and milk have both deteriorated. Add to that the craze for skimmed and low fat milk by the younger generation, who also dislike malai, and this changed the original rich taste of the chai.But back to the quest for the favourite Irani café haunts, and after negotiating the tricky traffic from Cafe Sarvi and arrive in the 200-year-old city of Secunderabad. Near the Clock Tower on Sarojini Devi Road is Garden Restaurant. "Iranian migrants chose Hyderabad as their home because both Urdu and Farsi were the lingua franca," informs Kazim Khorrami, who established Garden Restaurant in 1952.Irani chai, he says "is very different from the tea you get in Udipi restaurants and darshinis. Udipis add 3-4 litres of water to every litre of milk. They pour milk, water, tea powder and sugar in the same vessel and as soon as the colour changes they take it off the stove. They don`t let the tea brew," he explains.A characteristic of the old Irani cafes is their charm. The owners, the murmur of the old and the young customers, the rustle of newspapers, the lack of fancy decor and the old but serviceable wooden furniture, and tea cups on every table. For some, this atmosphere is soothing and comforting, reminiscent of times spent relaxed. Mujtaba Hosayn, a 24-year-old avid tea drinker from Malakpet says, ``After a long day at work, the only way to calm my mind is by drinking a cup of Irani chai."In the first half, financial analyst Mish Shedlock talked about the state of the economy. Regarding the possible bankruptcy of the corporate owner of Kmart and Sears, he commented that "vulture capitalists" came in and stripped out the company's assets and unleashed its debt causing the stock price to soar. They made huge amounts of money, he cited, but now the company is languishing again. Payless Shoes is also said to be moving toward filing for bankruptcy. A lot of retail purchasing has shifted to online outlets such as Amazon, and "I think the whole retail mall structure is in for an enormous shock," and along with that will come many lost jobs, he cautioned.
Homes are back up at "bubble prices" and the National Association of Realtors suggested that there is a lack of inventory. There's a lack of inventory because home prices have advanced beyond the affordability of the average consumer, he remarked. There is also a massive glut of used cars on the market, and prices for them have gone down for eight months in a row, Shedlock added. He is suspicious of the "healthy" US jobs reports over the last year and believes that many people are taking multiple part time jobs which fall outside of the government report.
------------------
Political consultant and strategist Roger Stone appeared in the latter half, talking about the 2016 presidential campaign, and news and controversies associated with himself and the Trump administration. Stone spoke about recently recovering from a severe illness-- he believes he was poisoned with polonium, as well as being the victim in a seemingly deliberate hit-and-run broadside car crash in Broward County, while he was on his book tour. He suspects these attacks might have been done to prevent him from testifying in the government hearings on Russian involvement with hacking and election interference. Stone said he's had no associations |
click a link and see an exclusive video of Robin Williams saying goodbye through his cell phone. Of course there was no video, and the link led to a bogus BBC news page which tried to trick clickers into clicking on other links that led to scam online surveys.
Since we train others and actively create test phishing campaigns for our customers to use, my staff tried to social engineer me the other day, trying to catch me as a prank.
It was a 2-stage attack, trying to get me to reveal my credentials. They spoofed our Director of HR, and sent me the email below. This is an example of very high operational sophistication, typical of top-tier whaling attacks, those cases when an individual is subjected to spear phishing attempts because they hold valuable information or wield influence within an organization. They had done their homework and knew I was active on the SpiceWorks forum for IT admins.
HR@knowbe4.com
10:45 AM (1 hour ago)
to: stus
Stu,
I noticed that a user named securitybull72 (claiming to be an employee) in a security forum posted some negative comments about the company in general (executive compensation mainly) and you in specific (overpaid and incompetent). He gave detailed instances on his disagreements, and doing so, may have unwittingly divulged confidential company information regarding pending transactions.
The post generated quite a few replies, most of them agreeing with negative statements. While I understand that the employee has the right to his opinion, perhaps he should have vented his frustrations through appropriate channels before making this post. The link to the post is located here (it is the second one in the thread):
www.spiceworks.com/forums/security/234664/2345466.
Could you please talk to him?
Thanks.
Nine out of ten would fall for something like this. The only thing that saved me was the fact that when I hovered over the link I saw that the domain was one I had created myself for simulated phishing attacks. But it was a close call! One more second and I would have been pnwned.
The best prevention actions are:
1. Train users with an effective training program that routinely uses an integrated anti-phishing tool that keeps security top of mind for users and help them recognize what a phishing email might look like.
2. Back up just in case and regularly test those backups to make sure they work.
Paul Kubler, CISSP, CCNA, Sec+, ACE
@lifarsllc
Paul Kubler is a Cyber Security and Digital Forensics Examiner at LIFARS LLC, an international cybersecurity and digital forensics firm. He’s a former employee at Boeing, in the Global Network Architecture division, the nation’s largest private cyberattack target. He previously worked at the Flushing Bank, in Network and Systems Infrastructure, protecting valuable financial data at various levels within the network and system. Paul has also performed forensic investigations into mobile devices aiding in the prosecution of criminals.
With several years of experience in cybersecurity and digital forensics, he conducted a wide range of investigations, including data breached through computer intrusions, theft of intellectual property, and computer hacking. He has worked on hardening the systems and deploying protection over an international organization. He has also created business networks with a defense in depth strategy and implemented firewalls on these networks.
Some of the more common forms of social engineering (and how to prevent them) include...
PHISHING
Phishing has become a big player in malware attacks in the last few years and this type of social engineering has proven hard to overcome. Attackers usually send well-crafted emails with seemingly legitimate attachments that carry a malicious payload. These aren’t the typical “Nigerian Prince” scammers, but rather sophisticated hacking groups with sufficient time and funding who launch these exploits. They usually hide behind a Tor network or the like and become hard to find, especially when they are backed by organized crime who use this as a source of income.
RANSOMWARE
In the recent years, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the use of ransomware being delivered alongside phishing emails. They usually send an attachment such as “URGENT ACCOUNT INFO” with a file extension of “.PDF.zip” or “.PDF.rar,” which slips by the unsuspecting victim and delivers the payload. This attack often encrypts the entire hard disk, or the documents and requires a bitcoin payment to unlock. Luckily, these groups actually do unlock the data - this way future victims are more likely to pay.
What can you do to minimize the chances of yourself as an individual of falling a victim to these dirty schemes? Here are a few steps you can take:
DO NOT open emails in the spam folder or emails whose recipients you do not know.
DO NOT open attachments in emails of unknown origin.
Use a reputable antivirus software - I recommend Kaspersky or Symentec.
Perform a regular backup to an external medium (external hard drive or the cloud).
After backing up, disconnect your drive. Current ransomware is known to encrypt your backup drive as well.
DO NOT pay the ransom. The reason why the criminals keep utilizing this form of blackmailing attacks is that people keep paying. To try to get your data back, consult a professional in your area.
What can your company do to prevent being victimized by these types of attacks?
Humans need to be trained – they are the weakest link. Companies should employ, at minimum, a bi-annual training geared towards each user group (end-users, IT staff, managers, etc.) so that everyone is aware of the latest attacks.
Employees should be tested by having an outside party conduct a social engineering test. These kinds of tests help keep the employee on their toes and more likely to avoid the attacks.
Since these attacks are on the rise, a number of new defenses have been developed. AppRiver is a great Spam and Virus email filter that can block a large number of phishing exploits before they even reach the internal servers.
If they happen to get through, an endpoint protection system that can block the latest malware is probably your best bet at stopping the attack.
As a last line of defense, Cyphort has a good IDS/IPS solution that can help detect known attacks and how far they managed to get into the network by signature, behavior, and by community knowledge.
Doug Fodeman
@dailyscams
Doug Fodeman is the content director and co-owner of The Daily Scam, a web site devoted to helping individuals, companies, and organizations increase their understanding and awareness of internet-based threats, scams, and fraudulent practices in order to significantly decrease their risks and associated lost productivity.
When it comes to social engineering attacks, companies should understand...
Social engineering attacks that target companies or individuals are most easily and successfully launched through email. Everyone depends on email for communication, even more than social media which might be monitored by just one or a few company staff. Email is also a tool used daily by older members of the workforce. Also, email can direct a threat to everyone in an organization, including the CEO and CFO. But malicious emails require two triggers to be effective. The first is a cleverly worded subject line that will engage the recipient's curiosity and engineer them to open the email.
Some of the most effective subject lines are often innocent and simple like these recent ones I saw targeting an organization in just the last two weeks:
A Special Invitation Advisory: Your online file was accessed
Celebrate Mom this Sunday with an exquisite $29.96 bouquet
Get noticed and watch your career take off
Learn about harp
Mothers Day bouquets with DESIGNER VASES
Service cancellation May 10
SHIPPING DOCUMENT / BL CONFIRMATION
Welcome to the Whos Who Connection
Confirm for your delivery
Confirm your 3K transfer by Monday
FBI letter of notification [code 210]
Incoming fax
I think you'll like this
New health care reform laws are in
No interest for the first year
Notice of payment
Treat as urgent and get back to me
Your installation
Your phone number
Once the recipient opens an email, the message has to be compelling enough to engineer a click of a link or attached file in order to initiate or deliver the attack. Many engineering strategies have been very successful including:
Emails with a very professional look and presentation. These emails may include spoofed email addresses of legitimate companies or seemingly innocent pitches such as the sale of Mother's Day flowers.
Emails that are very short and to the point, often citing a bogus invoice, blocked payment, delivery, or fax.
Emails that are meant to engineer click-behavior by intimidation, such as an email made to look like it is from the FBI, a bank authority, or the IRS.
Unfortunately, most companies seem to put all of their defense efforts into software and hardware solutions to keep these threats from ever reaching employees. Using this approach is flawed because employees connect to the Internet through email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and web pages from home, mobile devices, and work. Few companies also include employee education. I have found that educating employees about the threats that target them is MORE important than hardware and software defenses. And it isn't difficult to teach employees the simple methods to recognize threats such as mouse-over skills and understanding the anatomy of an email address or domain name.
Curtis Peterson
@SmartFile
Curtis Peterson is the Digital Marketing Manager for SmartFile. Peterson is responsible for strategy and execution of SmartFile's content, email, search, and social strategies. SmartFile provides IT administrators with time-saving file and user management tools that enable non-IT employees to access and share files securely. Scalable cloud or on-premise storage is available for any size business that regularly sends, receives, and archives files.
In terms of identifying and preventing social engineering attacks...
Obviously, Edward Snowden was the poster boy for social engineering attacks. He either befriended folks or asked for their passwords and logins by telling them they were needed for his computer systems administrator role. Pretext, or creating a fake persona or using one's role in an improper way, is pretty popular for social engineering attacks.
The bottom line is 63% of data breaches come from internal sources, either control, errors, or fraud. In 2013, $143 billion dollars came from data theft (both stats can be found on isyourdatasafe.com).
Social engineering is hard to prevent. That's the tough part. A lot of prevention comes from IT compliance best practices. But still, even in the case of Edward Snowden, how can you tell something bad is happening when it appears to be a user with clearance? We'd recommend diligent monitoring and analytics to try to understand when this is happening. For instance, if you have a number of highly sensitive files, you should track when those are downloaded/shared. An IT administrator should also receive instant notifications when these actions are taken on sensitive files. Finally, there should be logs that are analyzed regularly to understand abnormal usage behaviors. For instance, if the file is downloaded after hours, it should be a red flag. Or if multiple sensitive files from same user are downloaded, that should be identified and looked into.
Jeremy Schoeneman
Jeremy Schoeneman is an information security specialist with a focus on social engineering. He has worked at SecureState for over one year, and conducts social engineering engagements as part of client penetration tests on a regular basis.
The most common social engineering techniques used today include...
Today, there are many ways an attacker will try and compromise a corporate network, but in the end, the individual is at the highest risk from an attack. Attackers will take whatever means necessary to break into a network and steal information, and the most popular, and most successful, is by way of social engineering. Social engineering is responsible for many of the recent major attacks, from Sony to The White House. There are essentially two very popular types of attacks: phishing and vishing (voice phishing).
Phishing attacks are the most prevalent way of obtaining information or access into a network. An individual will open a seemingly harmless email, either click a link that leads to a malicious site or download an attachment which contains malicious code, and compromise a system. Phishing has been increasingly successful because the attackers are creating more legitimate looking emails and the attacks are more sophisticated. Thanks to the prevalence of social media, an attacker can look up everything they need to know about a person and their interests, craft an email specially tailored to that person, and email something directly to them, which increases the chances of that person clicking.
Vishing is essentially phishing over the phone. An attacker will call someone, such as an IT help desk, and with a little bit of information about a person (such as a name and date of birth) either get login credentials or more information about the individual, such as a social security number.
Protecting a company from these attacks starts with education. Teaching people what to look for when getting an email or receiving a phone call from someone asking for information or to click on something is what's going to lessen the likelihood of a successful attack. Actually looking at the from address, hovering over links and verifying the URL, and never downloading attachments unless you absolutely know where the email comes from will drastically decrease the likelihood of a successful attack against a company. When an individual receives a phone call asking for information, it's important to establish the identity of the person without giving hints. Remember: people's information is easily found on the internet. Asking good security questions on the IT help desk level is a great way to help guard against these attacks. Something like: What high school did you go to, or what was the make of your first car, is a thousand times better than your birthday.
Pierluigi Paganini
@InfosecEdu
Pierluigi Paganini is a Security Researcher for the InfoSec Institute and has over 20 years experience in the field.
Here are a few basic rules to protect users' digital identities from social engineering attacks...
Be aware of spam and adopt special cautions for email that: requests confirmation of personal or financial information with high urgency. requests quick action by threatening the user with frightening information. is sent by unknown senders.
Monitor online accounts regularly to ensure that no unauthorized transactions have been made.
Never divulge personal information via phone or on unsecure websites.
Do not click on links, download files, or open email attachments from unknown senders.
Be sure to make online transactions only on websites that use the https protocol. Look for a sign that indicates that the site is secure (e.g., a padlock on the address bar).
Beware of phone phishing; never provide personal information over the phone if you receive a call. Beware of emails that ask the user to contact a specific phone number to update user’s information as well.
Never divulge personal or financial information via email.
Beware of links to web forms that request personal information, even if the email appears to come from a legitimate source. Phishing websites are often exact replicas of legitimate websites.
Beware of pop-ups; never enter personal information in a pop-up screen or click on it.
Adopt proper defense systems such as spam filters, anti-virus software, and a firewall, and keep all systems updated.
For a social network user, it’s fundamental to trust no one and reveal only a limited amount of information. Never post personal information, such as a vacation schedule and home photos. Never click on links and videos from unknown origin and never download uncertified applications.
Keith Casey
@CaseySoftware
Keith Casey currently serves as Director of Product for Clarify.io working to make APIs easier, more consistent, and help solve real world problems. Previously, as a developer evangelist at Twilio, he worked to get good technology into the hands of good people to do great things. In his spare time, he works to build and support the Austin technology community, blogs occasionally at CaseySoftware.com and is completely fascinated by monkeys. Keith is also a co-author of “A Practical Approach to API Design” from Leanpub.
The most common social engineering attacks by far come in the form of...
"I just need." Basically, someone calls the company claiming to represent the phone company, internet provider, etc., and starts asking questions. They claim to have a simple problem or know about a problem that can be fixed quickly but they just need one little thing. It could be as innocuous as asking for a username or someone's schedule or as blatant as asking for a password. Once the attacker has this information, they call someone else in the company and use the new information to refine their attack. Lather, rinse, repeat.
After a few calls, they can often pass themselves off as an employee — often the assistant of someone significant — and ask for access or more detailed information right now. The unsuspecting employee doesn't want to annoy the significant person, so they answer and help before they've had a chance to think. At this point, it's almost trivial to get access to email accounts, phone records, travel itineraries, etc.
The only solution to this is to never trust someone that calls you. Instead of immediately giving the requested information, get the person's phone number from the company directory, and offer to call them back at that number. An honest person may be annoyed but it will work. An attacker will give up and try someone else. Also, never ask the person for their phone number, go to a known safe source — like the company directory — to get the information.
The same applies to your credit card company. Never give sensitive information to someone who calls you. Use the phone number on your card and call them back.
Joe Ferrara
@WombatSecurity
Joe Ferrara is President and CEO of Wombat Security Technologies. Joining Wombat in 2011, Joe brings 20 years of experience in technology marketing, operations and management to his role as President and CEO. Recently Joe was a finalist for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia and received a CEO of the Year award from CEO World. Joe has provided expert commentary and has spoken at numerous information security industry events including RSA Europe, the CISO Executive Network forum, ISSA International, and information security regional conferences.
My advice for companies related to the increasing prevalence of social engineering attacks is...
Commonly defined as the art of exploiting human psychology to gain access to buildings, systems, or data, social engineering is evolving so rapidly that technology solutions, security policies, and operational procedures alone cannot protect critical resources. A recent Check Point sponsored survey revealed that 43 percent of the IT professionals surveyed said they had been targeted by social engineering schemes. The survey also found that new employees are the most susceptible to attacks, with 60 percent citing recent hires as being at high risk for social engineering.
Companies should:
Take a baseline assessment of employee understanding.
Help employees understand why their security discretion is vital to corporate health.
Create a targeted training program that addresses the most risky employees and/or prevalent behaviors first.
Empower employees to recognize potential threats and independently make correct security decisions.
Improve knowledge retention with short interactive training sessions that work easily into employees' busy schedules and feature proven effective learning science principles.
Monitor employee completion of assignments and deliver automatic reminders about training deadlines.
Show measurable knowledge improvement over time with easy-to-read reports for executive management.
Companies should promote a people-centric security culture that provides ongoing training to consistently inform employees about the latest security threats. Fighting attacks against the human mind requires behavioral changes more than technology defenses.
Companies should use a combined approach of simulated social engineering attacks coupled with interactive training modules to deliver the best result. Incorporating continuous training methodology can be the difference between a five-alarm data breach and a quiet night at the office.
Sanjay Ramnath
@Barracuda
Sanjay Ramnath is a Senior Director of Product Management for Barracuda, the go-to provider of powerful, easy-to-use, affordable IT solutions for security and storage.
When it comes to social engineering, my advice for companies is...
Social media is a necessary evil. Companies need to recognize the value of these sites for business use and cannot just outright block these sites from the network.
There are, however, a few ways to help mitigate the risks while allowing social networks to be in use. When it comes to training, sure you can hold a class for new and older employees to show them the Do's and Don'ts to better protect themselves against threats; however, most of this is common knowledge and hard to really enforce.
BYOD has really put stress on network admins to protect the network from users' mobile devices.
Social media is a zero trust environment. Social networking is so simple to use that, often, people's guards are lowered. A friend you know well could send you a link to an album of a trip they recently took for you to click on to view or download. You, of course, seeing your friend's picture next to the link, or getting an email from their email address, click on it because you assume that it's safe, not knowing that they have been hacked and now the pictures you think you are downloading are actually downloading malware onto your computer.
Companies need to consider securing all threat vectors and putting in place dedicated solutions to address every need. In a case like social engineering where victims are subject to spear phishing attacks, phishing attacks, malicious emails, and compromised sites, it is good to have a spam firewall and web filter in place to mitigate those threats before they even reach the network.
Having a secure web browser or mobile device management solution to address BYOD both on and off the company network is something they should also consider to protect company and employee information.
Alex Markowitz
@ChelseaTech
Alex Markowitz is a Systems Engineer for Chelsea Technologies, a managed IT services firm that provides design, implementation, hosting, and support services to the global financial industry. Alex has over 10 years of IT experience in the financial sector.
My top suggestion for companies in preventing social engineering attacks is...
The Power of No.
Google the top social engineering attacks. What do you get? Stories about Trojan Horses, phishing attacks, malware injections, redirects, spam, and people giving up way too much personal information on public websites. The surface area for social engineering attacks is as big as all the employees and users in your corporation. The best social engineering attack will involve nothing but an unnoticed slip or mistake from one user. I am going address the very specific aspect of internal security and leave you with the following: the most important protection you need in your company is the ability to say, "No."
Knowing the history of these attacks is useful, but overall, it is not going to protect you. The attackers are always ahead of those of us who are defending our information. A social engineer will always find a new way to do what they do. Someone who wants to target your company is considered an unending well of creativity, and must be treated as such. Keep in mind, technology always changes, but the humans utilizing that technology do not change. You can protect yourself with all the technology you want, but just one human mistake can blow your company's doors wide open. Humans are the attack surface on which a social engineer strikes.
Therefore, the problem we have as IT Professionals is keeping age-old human flaws from causing a technological attack. The following is an omnipresent human flaw that I would like to specifically address: I have worked at many financial institutions. At every institution, there is always a slew of executives, managers and the like that want to be treated special. They want access to the network on their personal laptop. They want access to the network on their iPad, but also let their kids play with that iPad. They want access when and where they should not have it, and they are in powerful positions that make them very difficult to reason with.
They want things that will make their professional lives even easier than we, in IT, struggle to make it. Unfortunately, in IT, we are in the habit of saying, "Yes." I have seen directors and CTOs create special exceptions for other high-ranking users to garner favors and popularity, but also because they are scared for their own position. This is lazy; this is arrogant; this is stupid, but this is most of all, human. We human beings are the system attacked by social engineering, and then we leave ourselves open by falling prey to our insecurities, giving an attacker an invitation to storm our gates. All IT needs to learn how to say is "No," and IT management needs to be strong and stubborn for the good of a company. One of the best ways to protect your company from social engineers is to learn how to say, "No." Keep politics and climbing the office ladder out of IT security.
I know I am addressing a very specific aspect of IT, but one of the best ways to shrink your attack surface is to learn how to say, "No." It takes strong leadership and determination from IT management to keep our protection streamlined. Only after our protection is streamlined can we accurately educate our users and create a secure infrastructure. Every individual exception opens a Pandora's Box for social engineers to find (or even just stumble upon) and exploit.
Robert Harrow
@robert_harrow
Robert Harrow is a research analyst for ValuePenguin.com, where he covers various personal finance verticals, including credit cards, home insurance, and health insurance. His interest in security comes mainly from studying credit card and health insurance data breaches.
The biggest social engineering threat to companies today is...
Phishing scams are the biggest threat, and the most common means of social engineering. According to the most recent report by EMC, there has been $5.9 billion in losses due to phishing scams in 2013 alone — this from close to 450,000 attacks.
Spam filters can be useful in helping employees avoid exposure to these attacks. However, these fail in what is referred to as spear phishing. These attacks are less frequent, but more targeted to specific high value individuals — likely CEOs, CFOs, and other people with high-level access in their company. These attacks are generally not picked up by spam filters and are much harder to detect.
Educating employees about the dangers of phishing and being careful about all e-mails they receive is crucial.
Steven J.J. Weisman, Esq.
@Scamicide
Steven J.J. Weisman, Esq. is a lawyer, college professor at Bentley University where he teaches White Collar Crime, and one of the country's leading experts in scams, identity theft, and cybercrime. Weisman writes the blog Scamicide.com, where he provides daily updated information on the latest scams and identity theft schemes.
When it comes to social engineering attacks and how companies can prevent them, I advise...
Major data breaches and hacking of major companies such as Target, Sony, or even the State Department generally have one thing in common, and that is that despite the sophistication of the malware used to gather information, that malware has to be downloaded into the computers of the targeted company or agency and that is done, most often, through social engineering tactics that trick employees into clicking on links or downloading attachments that unwittingly download the malware.
So how do they convince employees to click on the links and download the attachments?
They make it appear that the email comes from a friend, whose email they have hacked.
They make it appear that the email comes from someone within the company, whose name and email address may have been obtained through a myriad of available databases including LinkedIn.
They gather information on the targeted employee through social media, where the employee may have made personal information public that enables a skilled hacker to use that information to trick the employee into clicking on a link dealing with something in which they are interested in.
The link is for free pornography.
The link is to provide celebrity photos or gossip.
The link is to provide sensational photographs or videos of an important and compelling news event.
It appears to come from someone in IT security from the company informing the employee of an emergency.
These are just a few of the more common social engineering tactics used by hackers.
So what can be done to stop them?
Train employees on my motto, "Trust me, you can't trust anyone." No one should ever provide personal information to anyone in response to a request until they have verified that the request is legitimate. No one should ever click on any link without confirming that it is legitimate.
Train employees to be skeptical and what to be on the lookout for in regard to common phishing and spear phishing schemes.
Install and maintain the latest and constantly updated anti-virus and anti-malware software with the understanding that the latest updates are always at least a month behind the hackers.
Limit employees' information access to only that information that they have a need to have access to.
Use dual factor authentication along with strong passwords that are regularly changed.
Aurelian Neagu
@HeimdalSecurity
A technical writer with 6 years' experience in the cyber security field at Bitdefender & Heimdal Security, Aurelian Neagu tries to discover and understand how technology changes human relationships in a society and modifies social perception of the world.
Social engineering attacks on companies...
Can come from both within and outside the organization.
Social engineering carried out by malicious insiders
According to PwC’s 18th Annual Global CEO Survey 2015, 21% of current or former employees use social engineering to gain financial advantage, for revenge, out of curiosity or for fun.
Social engineering methods used inside the organization can include:
Extracting company information (such as passwords, credentials) from the inside and delivering it to third parties.
Using confidential information as leverage for finding a new job or achieving a better position inside the company.
Leaving the organization with login information and confidential information and using it for malicious purposes.
Social engineering carried by malicious outsiders
Malicious outsiders very often pose as company contractors to extract confidential information from gullible employees. They can do that either through phone calls, emails, or by physically gaining access to company premises.
Social engineering often relies on the strong confidence that cyber criminals possess and on the trust that is usually instilled in external contractors, especially if they come from reputed companies, such as Cisco or IBM.
Information about employees found on social networking sites can also be a method of gaining the victim’s trust in order to gather sensitive information from him/her.
Malicious outsiders can also use malware-laden programs or executables hidden in email attachments. Once such a Trojan gets inside an employee’s computer, it can act in various ways, such as sending copies of documents or spying on the employee’s computer activity.
Phishing is yet another method used by cyber criminals. It includes the use of e-mails that appear to originate from a trusted source to trick an employee into entering valid credentials on a fake website.
Social engineering can be used either to extract information or to penetrate the company’s defenses in order to implant malware that can spread through the organization and cause massive damage, as it happened in the case of Target’s breach from 2013.
Another example of a spear phishing attack targeted Danish architecture firms in March 2015.
How can social engineering attacks be prevented
The most important advice for companies is to invest in educating their employees about cyber security. If employees learn how to protect their data and the company’s confidential data, they’ll be able to spot a social engineering attempt and mitigate its consequences. Additionally, they can become more vigilant and become a much-needed security layer themselves.
Periodic cyber security assessments are also necessary, because companies evolve, they grow, they change — and the information flow changes within the organization. Consequently, penetration testing should be carried out on a regular basis and lead to actionable recommendations that can improve data security across the organization.
Additionally — I always recommend companies who haven’t done this yet — define and implement a thorough security policy. This is the type of policy that is worth investing in, because it can have a huge impact on the organization and prevent cyber attacks from happening and leading to serious consequences.
Shobha Mallarapu
@anvayasolutions
Shobha Mallarapu is the President and CEO of Anvaya Solutions, Inc., a cyber security company. She has been featured in Business Journal articles on security and has taught hundreds of businesses on cyber security. Anvaya Solutions, Inc. has trained thousands of employees on security awareness in various organizations.
The common social engineering attacks on companies include...
1. Phishing: This is one of the most common attacks that entices employees to divulge information. An email impersonates a company or a government organization to extract the login and password of the user for a sensitive account within the company, or hijacks a known email and sends links which, once clicked, will embed a malware or a Trojan on the computer of the user. Hackers then take the reigns from there.
Similar attacks by phone, with the caller claiming to be a trusted source or an authorized organization, also can lead to employees revealing information that may be detrimental to the bottom line of the company or its reputation.
2. Information Sharing: Sharing too much information on social media can enable attackers to guess passwords or extract a company's confidential information through posts by employees. Security Awareness is the key to prevent such incidents. Developing policies, training employees, and implementing measures, such as warnings or other other disciplinary actions for repeat or serious incidents, will mitigate the risk of social engineering attacks.
If you are not expecting an email, type the link address instead of clicking on it. Or, call a person to confirm that the email came from them. The same principles apply to phone phishing attacks. Tell them you will call back and get their number. Make sure that number belongs to a valid organization by using the phone lookup before calling them.
Elvis Moreland
Elvis Moreland, CISSP-ISSEP, CGEIT, CISM, NSA IEM-IAM, CNSS 4012-4015-4016, is a Computerworld Magazine Premier 100 IT Leader and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
One of the most common social engineering attacks today is...
A Spear Phishing attack. This is an email that delivers malicious content via a web-link or attachment in an email.
Countermeasure(s):
1. Never open links or attachments from unknown sources. If in doubt, report it!
2. If the email seems to be from a normal source, ask yourself "Why would they want me to open this link or attachment? Is that normal behavior?" If not, report it!
3. When in doubt, double check the source, content, and/or ask for help from your IT security or cybersecurity department.
4. In a corporate setting, your business should be protected by using one of various, if not several combined, network security architectural appliances or countermeasures such as a SMTP Gateway with scanning and/or some filtering mechanism to help you tag or remove questionable email campaigns and content.
5. Never solely rely on just anti-virus or firewalls to protect you from these types of advanced attacks. They arrive bearing variants of malicious content that cannot be detected by blacklists or signature-based countermeasures (AV or firewalls) alone, because they just can't keep up.
Greg Mancusi-Ungaro
@BrandProtect
Greg Mancusi-Ungaro is responsible for developing and executing the BrandProtect market, marketing, and go to market strategy. A passionate evangelist for emerging technologies, business practices, and customer-centricity, Greg has been leading and advising world-class marketing initiatives, teams and organizations for more than twenty-five years. Prior to joining BrandProtect, Greg served in marketing leadership roles at ActiveRisk, Savi Technologies, Sepaton, Deltek, Novell, and Ximian, building breakthrough products and accelerating business growth. He is a co-founder of the openSUSE project, one of the world's leading open source initiatives.
Common quick cash-grab social engineering schemes usually involve...
Variations of the stranded traveler scam. In this type of scam, a social engineer sends their target an email that appears to be originating from a trusted colleague's personal email account. After a quick explanation of why they can't use the company email system, such as a lost/broken computer, VPN connection issues, or forgotten Outlook Web access domain, they claim that they are stranded in a far off place and need money wired to them. As this social engineer has access to your email, he or she knows who your colleagues are and can create a pretty convincing story.
Another common class of social engineering attacks occurs outside of the business environment, on social networks and other social media sites. There, social engineers will copy profiles, substitute headshots and literally steal an entire online identity, which they can then use to friend others at your firm or at other establishments, parlaying the stolen identity into a series of seemingly legitimate online friendships. From that moment forward, it's only a matter of time before the next social engineering ask is made.
Far more serious, however, are the social engineering schemes where the friend request involves using the company network. For example, a colleague emails you late at night and claims to have forgotten the VPN access code — this is a suspicious email to receive, and likely a social engineering attack. As a second example — and an even more sophisticated approach: Imagine a social network friend sending you an email with a cover letter and resume attached, requesting that you forward it to your hiring manager. The email might have the name of the hiring manager or the name of an open position, but in either case, it's a very effective approach. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the social engineer is hoping you'll click on either document, unknowingly installing malware on your computer and infiltrating your company network.
Once a social engineer gains a trusted identity, or is accepted within a trusted circle of colleagues, they will leverage that trust to gain access to other people, networks, IPs, or corporate assets. Social engineers usually have their eyes on something bigger than their unsuspecting targets; the innocent victims are just a convenient and easy way for the cybercriminals to get to a bigger prize.
So, how do you prevent social engineers from succeeding?
As a company, the easiest way is to diligently monitor for unauthorized emails that use your brand, and validate that the social domain profiles that carry your brand are owned by individuals who have the right to do so. For instance, recently, a BrandProtect client discovered that more than half of their branded online agents were actually not authorized agents. Some of that activity was innocent — some former agents forgetting to remove a logo — but some of it was masquerading and identity theft!
As an individual, the simplest way to reduce social engineering exposure is to always be sure of who you are communicating with. If there is the least bit of doubt, explain that you can't assist with the incoming request. If they claim that they are your friend, there are additional ways to gently validate someone's identity. For instance, they can call you on your cell phone or email your personal account instead. After all, if they are who they claim to be, they will easily be able to reach you via other forms of communication.
Much of the personal defense against social engineering may seem to be common sense, but companies should invest in employee education about these and other online risks. By simply raising awareness of these dangers attacks, significant amounts of corporate risk will be mitigated.
David Howard
David Howard has been a Certified Ethical Hacker since 2009, and has worked in the security segment of IT since. Recently, David has founded PPL HACK, a Cincinnati based company that offers free seminars across the country including live hacking demonstrations to help small and medium sized businesses educate their staff to become better equipped to protect company data.
The most common types of social engineering attacks are...
As a Certified Ethical Hacker and founder of PPL HACK, I have done numerous intrusion attempts and social engineering are both the most fun and most common vectors of attack on a company's data. Phishing email, by far, is the number one method, where a company is flooded with email that looks legitimate, but gets you to click a link |
D Model. While there are great open source 3d Options available, we had access to Solidworks and used this option. The final design included a raised copy of our logo. The logo design was made in Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org) and imported to Solidworks as a DWG file.
2) Get a 3D Print. Once the model was finalized, it was uploaded to Shapeways (www.Shapeways.com). On our first attempt, we were rejected due to a problem with our tolerances, we had lines thinner than.7mm. After correcting this problem we resubmitted the model and were in possession of our Dice Dome within ten days or so.
General precautions from here on out: This isn’t photoshop, autocad, or minecraft. This is real life: fumes, stains, and all. Make sure to work in well ventalated areas, wear eye and skin protection, and make sure to take breaks. Don’t get scared off though, its no more precautions than you would need for scrubbing your tub!
3) Make a Two-Piece Silicone Mold. While we loved our prototype, you can’t play Roll Call with one cup. You can play Roll, I suppose, but that is only half the fun. No, we needed to make more. Shapeways charged us roughly 48 Dollars for our dome, which is very reasonable for one model- but becomes expensive quickly when you need fifty. We decided to go for Silicone Molding. A big, big help was the detailed series on youtube by XanderXereus (Part One begins here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFfXT_Cjpuk). This gave us a solid place to start.
I think its going to be time for a nice, ordered list to describe the process from here on out. It is a cycle pretty much repeated twice, once for each side of the mold.
Create, find, “acquire” a container that fits comfortably around your mold. The video above used Lego to form the outside shape of the mold, but sadly we didn’t have Lego on hand anymore (please, don’t take our geek cards). Instead, we used a shadow box hot-glued to a flat piece of plastic. Because the shadowbox is basically a box that is open on two ends, it made it easy to cut off the hot-glue and eject the cured piece of mold from this outer mold of the…mold. Keep this in mind when selecting your container! We recommend a straight-sided container, as it will allow more stable orientations for the finished mold. Fill the base of the container with Plasticine or modeling clay. Try to make it smooth, as any texture or flaws will be reflected in your final mold. Apply sealant to any and all porous surfaces. This will include the model if it comes from Shapeways. Pay special attention to detailing, but do not flood the details with sealant. Place your model on the clay. Make “Keys” by placing small objects halfway into the clay, around the edges and away from the model. These will help you line up the two halves of the mold later. Do not make them symmetrical: either arrange them so that only one alignment of the mold sides could ever seal properly, or use a mix of shapes. Apply releasing agent to any and all surfaces coming into contact with the Silicone. Pay special attention to detailed portions of your model. Mix your silicone of choice according to the included instructions. We tried OOMOO 30 and OOMOO 25 and went with the 30. It created a firmer, more stable mold and was well worth the extra curing time. OOMOO25 cures in an hour and a half, while OOMOO30 takes six hours. Its two parts mix in a simple ratio of 1:1, making a nice smooth lavender color when properly blended. Pour the mixed silicone as slowly as you can starting from the farthest edge, allowing the silicone to slowly fill over any detail you may have in your mold. Give yourself a half-inch to an inch of clearance between the top of your object and the fill line of your mold. Allow to cure. Remove the mold from the container. Remove clay and objects used as “Keys”. DO NOT REMOVE MODEL. Clean the surface to remove any clay particles. Replace mold half into container, with unmolded side facing you. Apply release agent to all surfaces that will be touching Silicone. Mix and Pour Silicone Rubber again. It will slowly flow, filling the cavities left by the removed keys, and covering the model. Once again, allow a half inch to an inch of clearance. Allow to cure. If your model has fine detail, we recommend letting the silicone cure for 24 hours before extraction. Remove mold from container, open and slowly remove the object. You now should have a negative of the object you are trying to make.
4) Prepare the Mold for Casting. Study the location of the seam on your mold. Where will the resin flow once it is poured into the cavity? How will the air that the resin is displacing escape from your mold? Once this is understood, determine an appropriate location for your sprues. A sprue is a channel through which you will pour resin, or through which air will escape the mold during resin pouring. Much like pouring the silicone, you will want to make sure the liquid resin can flow OVER the detailed portions of the cavity. Consider the different orientations your mold will allow you to use. Often, the side that was “up” when you poured your mold will not be ideal for pouring into the cavity within. Remember that the resin will always flow down, while air can only escape upwards. Find a point at the top of the object you are casting that will naturally collect air bubbles, and locate the end of your air escape sprue there. When you have determined the where resin should fill the cavity, and where air should exit- use a hobby knife to cut small channels from the seam to the outside of the mold.
5) Make a Resin Cast. Make sure to have plenty of small cups and craft sticks handy for mixing and pouring. Use rubber bands, or other mechanism for putting reasonable pressure on the mold for the purpose of holding in the resin. Be careful though, as the silicone is flexible, and you might warp the cavity inside. Try to apply pressure across a broad surface area. Mix your resin according to the included instructions. We used SmoothCast 300 from OOMOO. Like the silicone, it mixes in a simple 1:1 ratio by volume with part A and B. Please read the data sheet that comes with these materials! There is lots of good information int hem. After mixing completely with a disposable craft, slowly pour into the mold. When it has completed curing, remove from mold. Don’t futz with it for a while; even though it is firm enough to demold, it won’t be usable for a few hours. In our case, we needed the cup and lid to fit together nicely, so we fit our demolded cup into the lid at this point, so they could cure into a compatible shape.
6) Get Creative! Notes on Colors, Blending, and Additives to come!
There you have it. With one 3D print get enough prototypes to fit your needs.
In our case, a Launch Party!The Land of Echoes (Part 1)
It is impossible for me to vacation anywhere without having first conducted a little bit of research about the history and contemporary politics of the destination. The last thing I want to appear to be to locals is a bumbling, passing-through tourist with zero interest in the land and people who are hosting me. To be at least mildly informed is the least I can do. It was with this attitude and mindset that I approached my recent vacation in Nicaragua.
In preparation for my visit to the “land of lakes and volcanoes,” I studied the country’s tumultuous history, namely from the beginning of the Sandinista Revolution to today, by reading Gioconda Belli’s gripping (and sex-infused) memoir, The Country Under My Skin; The Sandinista Revolution: National Liberation and Social Transformation in Central America, a dense Marxist take on the Sandinista Revolution by Carlos Vilas;the novel Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea (Margarita, está linda la mar) by Nicaragua’s first vice president after the Revolution, Sergio Ramirez; Nicaragua: A Decade of Revolution, a terrific photo essay and history, edited by Chris Vail and Lou Dematteis and introduced by Eduardo Galeano; as well as a smattering of pieces published by Democracy Now!, The New York Times, and other outlets.
A volcano on Ometepe Island, located in Lake Nicaragua (SR).
I spent only one week in Nicaragua: a few days in the capital, Managua, and then three days in the seaside town of San Juan del Sur. Over the course of my stay, I had the opportunity to meet with and informally interview a wide stripe of people, from former Sandinista revolutionaries and disaffected Leftists, to less politically-charged folks, including a housekeeper, an architect, and a hotel owner. My host, who is my age (32), grew up under Sandinista rule, and is well-versed in the country’s history and contemporary politics. My readings and my casual conversations informed my observations on this beautiful country, the largest in Central America.
This is what I’ve come up with: I can’t help but think that Nicaragua is a land of volcanoes, lakes, and … echoes. Reverberations from Nicaragua’s recent history continue to inform and shape the country, for better or for worse. The country and its people just can’t seem to—or don’t want to—shake these ethereal chains. That Nicaraguans variously live behind cold steel bars and razor wire, unforgiving concrete walls, and stiff tin roofs gives a physical grounding on which these echoes can resound practically ad infinitum.
Those historical echoes largely originate in five defining people or moments:
Augusto César Sandino, revolutionary and national heroThe devastating 1972 earthquakeThe triumphant 1979 Sandinista RevolutionThe Contra War / Reagan interventionDaniel Ortega (current/again president)
Briefly…
Augusto César Sandino is a legend in Nicaragua. He’s like George Washington and Che Guevara rolled into one. Like Washington and Che, Sandino was a cunning guerilla. Also, like Che, Sandino gained regional fame and support, before (like Che) ultimately falling to an assassin’s bullet.
From 1927 to 1933, Sandino (from whence the Sandinista’s take their name) rebelled against the United States’ occupation of Nicaragua (which ended with the selection of Juan Bautista Sacasa as president). The next year, Sandino was assassinated by Anastasio Somoza García, who would soon take control of the country and instill a ruling dynasty that would last over forty years.
For his heroic exploits, Sandino has practically been canonized. One cannot travel anywhere in the country without seeing “Viva Sandino!” scrawled across walls in crude graffiti or his iconic image (including the wide-brimmed hat) plastered on political murals or campaign advertisements. Indeed, a giant silhouette of Sandino overlooks the city of Managua, a visage whose attitude oscillates between ghostly overlord and triumphalism, depending on your angle (or mood). Having landed in Nicaragua shortly after nation-wide elections, in which Daniel Ortega claimed (some say stole) yet another presidential victory, it was hard to miss the posters that displayed Ortega’s and Sandino’s images, as if they were equal revolutionary partners.
Celebratory murals are everywhere in Nicaragua. This one in San Juan del Sur, featuring Nicaraguan hero Sandino, says "We will never be defeated" (SR).
*
Much like the ghost of Sandino past, the 1972 earthquake has also left an indelible impact on the relatively small city of Managua. Striking just after midnight two days before Christmas, the earthquake leveled most of the city, killed thousands, and left a quarter of a million homeless. With water and sewage treatment infrastructure significantly impaired, disease spread quickly. Hundreds of thousands fled Managua, setting up temporary residence elsewhere in the country. Fires burned in the capital for days.
Managua has never been the same. The core of the city (downtown) was not rebuilt, so that now there is effectively no locus of business, political, or cultural affairs. Instead, these societal hotspots are scattered across the increasingly sprawling city. Amusingly (and confusingly), poor city planning resulted in city crisscrossed by streets with no names. Though U2 has never explicitly said so, many claim that the band’s song “Where the Streets Have No Name” is a song about Managua.
In the former city center, the Plaza de la República, the Catedral de Santiago, known now as “the old cathedral” fades into history. Damaged in the earthquake, it sits empty, rotting, and crumbling into the square. A shadow of its former glory, the cathedral is a stark reminder of the earthquake’s lasting damage, as well as a metaphor for the country on the whole.
The crumbling Old Cathedral in Managua (thenicaraguareport.com).
In the wake of the earthquake recovery, President Anastasio Somoza Debayle (the third child of the first President Somoza), his political and business partners as well as military leaders were revealed to be inept and corrupt. Disaster relief was pocketed by elites and distributed to friends and family, leaving much of the earthquake’s victim’s to fend for themselves. This misstep turned out to be one Somoza would forever regret: anger over the president’s handling of the disaster fueled the Sandinista Revolution that would remove Somoza from power before the decade was up.
Which brings us to the victorious Sandinista Revolution…
[read Part 2 here]
Follow Shaun on Twitter: @shaunrandolLast week The Next Web was at Echelon 2012, an e27-organised event dedicated to startups and technology across Southeast Asia. In addition to listening to a number of interesting speakers and panel sessions, the exhibiting companies were a veritable feast of fledging tech firms across the region and, more broadly, Asia as a whole.
Here is a look at nine companies that stood out for us, each one of which was either exhibiting on the floor or actively involved in the startup competition or speaking schedule.
Bistip
An interesting service for those in emerging markets, Indonesia’s Bistip is a peer-to-peer courier service that allows those making trips overseas to take orders for others, turning in a profit at the same time.
For example, the next time I head back to London, I could take orders for specific products not available in Indonesia, and agree a marked-up price with buyers on Bistip.
Currently the service is particularly popular in its home country — with many of the most popular routes going in and out of Jakarta — but, speaking as an expat who is often subject to similar requests, it could have potential across Southeast Asia and other markets.
➤ Bistip
Busification
Currently available in public beta, Busification is an interesting startup that is looking to disrupt the project management sector by introducing gamification and other incentive-gamed targets for employees.
The service allows companies to manage projects and teams using a system that rewards workers for hitting a range of targets and producing the goods with their everyday work.
The micro-incentives on the service are currently being put through their paces — with a first series of up 30 companies enrolled to test the service — but, given the financial crisis and the demise of annual salaries for many, the company could be onto something with bitesize chunks of praise and rewards.
It isn’t all about fun and play, as Busification offers managers and supervisors analytics and other performance indicators to help get their team working efficiently.
➤ Busification
Cruxbot
Without a doubt one of the most impressive demonstrations at Echelon 2012 came from Cruxbot, a service that summarises news and long form text in a Summary-like style.
However, unlike its more established rival, Cruxbot offers the chance to tweak the summary based on keywords within the article. Other settings allow the summary to be shortened or lengthened, providing an option to grab more details or information for those in a hurry or collecting summaries.
The company has a number of interesting plans, including partnerships to help researchers glean information faster and more efficiently.
For the rest of us, it is an interesting tool that is definitely worth a look, particularly as and when the service expands beyond its initial browser boomarklet.
➤ Cruxbot
Cubie
Born out of Taiwan, Cubie is a mobile messaging app that is specifically aimed at women aged 18-35, with the husband-and-wife pair behind the app admitting they are prioritising the use of ‘cute’ emoticons and other female-focused features.
The app has seen impressive growth in a number of markets across Asia — including Taiwan and Thailand — showing that the dominance of messaging giants WhatsApp, Line and vendor-owned BBM (BlackBerry) and ChatON (Samsung) still leaves room for others competitors in the market.
Cubie has close to 2 million members and is available for the iPhone and Android devices.
➤ App Store | Google Play
DropMySite/DropMyEmail
One of Singapore’s most visible startups, DropMySite was founded by charismatic South African John Fearon who was involved in a number of panels at Echelon 2012.
The company’s main service is website back-up service, however an offshoot service for email — DropMyEmail — has become its most popular, hitting up 632,000 sign-ups since March 2012, compared to DropMySite’s 500,000 registrations.
The company is headquartered in Singapore, with technical teams in Mumbai, India, and Argentina.
The basic package for both services is free to use, while more advanced usage is billed using a freemium model.
➤ Dropymysite | Dropmyemail
Merge Pay
A service that keeps track of recurring payments and bills, Merge Pay is run by American designer-cum-entrepreneur Ian Borders, who is based out of Thailand.
The service is particularly useful for businesses that run up considerable concurrent bills for hosting, domains and other Web and general services.
The service was inspired by Borders’ own experience, after he discovered that he’d been so inundated with bills that he’d continued to hold on to (and pay for) an unused domain for three years without his knowledge.
A range of bills and statements can be submitted to Merge Pay accounts — including customised entries — and alerts can be set to trigger in the lead up to a bill being due.
More features and apps will be forthcoming, we’re told, and the service is set to imminently come out of beta. Until then, invites are available for the homepage link below.
➤ Merge Pay
ShopSpot
ShopSpot came through the inaugural JFDI-Innov8 accelerator program, and the service sells itself on making ecommerce as easy as tweeting. Users literally photo the item they are selling, set a price and then upload the information to the app.
The team is planning to expand the service across Southeast Asia’s nascent online retail market, beyond its current base of Singapore and Thailand, but a few challenges remain. Due to payment system issues in the region, ShopSpot is unable to process payments, which must be set-up and made person-to-person – that also raises revenue generation issues.
That said, the app is a delight to use and, with new funding on its way, more Asians will get the chance to use ShopSpot.
➤ App Store
Snapdish
Another interesting food app from Asia (we recently wrote about Burrple), Snapdish hails from Japan and is available for Android or iOS devices.
Users can upload snaps of their food adding numerous tags and specialities (such as ‘Thai cuisine’), all of which makes the discovery of new food or existing favourites particularly easy and effective.
Added to that food can be geotagged — allowing users to find nearby dishes — and, furthermore, aspiring chefs can provide a recipe for homecooked efforts.
➤ App Store | Google Play
Splaype
Splaype is a service for anyone with kids, as it helps increase children’s engagement with Skype video calls.
If you have little ones, or have been at the receiving end of calls from relatives with young’uns, you’ll appreciate that Skype calling is very much a norm for many families. That means that kids have got over the ‘wow’ factor of connecting from thousands of miles away, and often prefer to devote their attention to other activities, leaving grannie/grandad/another member of the family upset at failing to hold their full attention.
Currently available for Windows computers only, Splaype brings interactive content — including two-way games and songs — to the calls, with the aim of providing a ‘stickier’ experience that will help kids and family/friends bond over Skype.
➤ Splaype
And not forgetting…
A notable mention goes to Builk, the Thai startup focused on digitising the construction industry, which scooped Echelon 2012’s Startup Battlefield. You can find more about Builk in our earlier write-up.
Between was runner up, and regular readers may recall that the Korea-headquartered social network for couples scooped the ‘Best Mobile App’ award at The Next Web 2012.
All images via TNW/companies, except 6: via Startupcentral.In
Read next: Index Ventures launches new €350m fund for early stage startups, with a big focus on EuropeINDIANAPOLIS -- The Green Bay Packers have watched their season end in cruel fashion in each of the last three years.
Rookies have made grave mistakes in each of their season-ending defeats, leading one reporter to ask general manager Ted Thompson on Thursday if it's time for Green Bay to consider becoming more aggressive in free agency.
The presumed logic: By leaning on savvy veterans rather than mostly inexperienced players, you leave yourself less vulnerable to the type of physical and mental errors that can sink a season when the stakes are highest.
"We value draft and development," Thompson said at the NFL Scouting Combine. "We value free agency. We have guys like Julius Peppers, guys that have been free agents. If you can help us win football games and be a good teammate and that sort of thing, you have a place for us. So we're not opposed to doing that."
Aaron Rodgers is set to enter his 12th season. The Packers have gone six years since their victory in Super Bowl XLV. Would Thompson make an uncharacteristic offseason move because he feels Green Bay's window is beginning to close?
"We're not going to chase a ghost just because we think the clock is ticking," he replied.
Translation: Don't expect the Packers to make a big free-agent splash in the next few weeks. The Packers remain a very good team that can again become a great one with a few tweaks and a little luck. Thompson's strategy isn't sexy, but that doesn't make it wrong.
Some other Packers takeaways (Mike McCarthy followed Thompson on the podium):
1. Jordy Nelson is on track to be a full-go by training camp. "Jordy looks great," McCarthy said. "I think where he is in his career, I'm not worried about him getting back to where he was. He's way ahead of schedule. I've already talked to him, with this fifth preseason (Hall of Fame) game, about how we play him in the preseason. He'll work some in the OTAs, but I don't see him having any limitations come training camp." Thompson joked that Nelson looked so good he wonders if the wide out was ever actually injured.
2. We asked McCarthy if he expected Randall Cobb to revert back to 2014 form once Nelson returns. The coach said Cobb played through significant injuries, while acknowledging that Cobb was played against his strengths in Green Bay's attack. "If you look at the offense last year and his production the year before, obviously his opportunities came from different positions, different situations, different combinations of players. So Randall will be a better player because of what he was asked to do this past year. There was definitely a lot of things we did with Randall in prior years that we really didn't get to enough of those probably until the end of the year."
3. McCarthy expects Aaron Rodgers to be ready for OTAs following a knee scope. "I would think so. The way he's hitting the golf ball I would think he's ready to go."
4. Thompson's dry wit and understated sense of humor is welcome in these overly serious proceedings. His audience laugh-to-minute ratio lapped every other coach and GM in the building over the past two days.Last week, Margaret Cho revealed on comedian Bobby Lee’s podcast, TigerBelly, that Tilda Swinton reached out to ask her about the whitewashing controversy over Doctor Strange. Cho characterized the conversation as “a long kind of a fight” and told Lee that she felt like “a house Asian.”
When asked for comment, Swinton (via her reps) released the full email exchange between the two actresses. The “entire unedited and only conversation [Tilda] has ever had with Margaret” (according to Swinton’s team), which took place on May 13, 2016, can be read in full here and is referenced below.
Dear Tilda Swinton,
You emailed Margaret Cho seeking understanding about the “diversity debate” surrounding your latest movie, Doctor Strange. I know you didn’t ask me, but since I wrote a few of the stories surrounding said debate, I’d like to respond to some of the questions and points you raised, especially since the original subject — how can established actors respond to Hollywood’s inclusion problems? — has somewhat turned into a tabloid story about a fresh celebrity beef.
First, some useful context on the state of Asian representation onscreen. Among the 100 top-grossing movies released last year, just 3.9 percent of characters who had lines or even names were Asian. Forty-nine (in other words, basically half) of those films had no named or speaking Asian characters at all. It should go without saying that not one lead or co-lead in 2015 was played by an Asian actor. (That’s not to say there were no Asian characters. The 100th-highest-grossing film in 2015 featured a female love interest who was a quarter Chinese and a quarter Polynesian. Her name was Captain Allison Ng, the movie was Aloha, and she was played by Emma Stone.)
These statistics come from the latest study, released in September, from USC’s Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative. You wrote to Margaret that diversity is your “comfort zone,” i.e., a dearly held value. I highly recommend that you keep an eye out each year for USC’s comprehensive reports on gender, race/ethnicity, LGBT and disability inclusivity in film. It’s an excellent resource!
As you stated, the original comics incarnation of your character, the Ancient One, is nowadays considered an offensive “wise old Eastern geezer”/Fu Manchu cliché. In your telling, Marvel wanted to avoid that trope and be gender-inclusive at the same time, but in so doing ran the risk of engaging with another racist Asian trope: the Dragon Lady. Therefore, the filmmakers switched the character’s ethnic background to Celtic.
The problem is that this solution essentially throws the baby (Asian actors) out with the bathwater (racist Asian stereotypes). Skilled filmmakers rewrite characterizations, not characters. The problem with a sexy damsel in distress is not that she’s a woman; it’s that she is sexualized and rendered powerless. King Kong’s Ann Darrow went from a terrorized Fay Wray in 1933 to a more empowered Naomi Watts in 2005 (and, presumably, an even stronger Brie Larson next year). It’s hard to imagine any studio deciding to “solve” Ann Darrow by removing a woman from the story. You understand that “a woman who’s a badass, over 26 and not simply bursting out of a bikini” is a rare sight at the movies — how much more so are Asians of any stripe, given the statistics above?
And yet, Hollywood continually abstains from opportunities to put Asians onscreen, none more egregiously than when the source material calls for them. Margaret referenced Scarlett Johansson’s upcoming movie Ghost in the Shell in one of her emails to you. It’s based on a very popular Japanese manga series, centered around a strong, action-oriented female cyborg named Major Motoko Kusanagi in all its previous incarnations. Paramount’s version has cast Scarlett in the role but, as you can see from the trailer, has retained all of the “exotic” signifiers of the original’s cyberpunk Tokyo setting.
You told Margaret that there is “precious little projected on contemporary cinema screens that means a great deal to [your] life.” I don’t know if you meant that little of what you see reflects your experience, but if so, that is exactly the sentiment that so many Asians can relate to. When we look at Ghost in the Shell or Doctor Strange, we see cinematic universes that appropriate Asian cultural elements as literal set dressing, but do not allow Asian people themselves to be seen, much less to tell the stories.
Finally, you asked how to move things forward. Supporting content that boosts Asian American voices, as Margaret suggested, is one excellent way, and I am excited that you are continuing your collaboration with Bong Joon-ho with Okja. Please keep in mind that Asian nationals may have a different experience or perspective than Asian Americans or British Asians. I’m sure your co-star Steven Yeun has many enlightening stories about the challenges facing Asian actors in English-language cinema, if he chooses to share them.
Although you were unwittingly thrust into this controversy, perhaps this will become a pivotal opportunity for you to become an even more informed ally of the diversity you champion. Whether speaking publicly from the platform that you have or privately within the artistic circles you inhabit, please share the facts about underrepresentation. Ask your agents if they represent any Asian talent, and if they know where to find some. Ask your directors if there is a role that can be filled by an Asian actor (and for the love of God, if it’s an adaptation, if there were any Asians in the original source material!).
So much of our decision making is driven not by intentional prejudice, but by unconscious exclusion. So here’s a cliché that is true: Awareness really is the first step.
Sincerely,
Rebecca SunBreaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Oct. 12, 2011, 12:55 PM GMT By Caity Weaver and Caity Weaver
Imagine this: You take a bite of a crisp fall apple and notice your lips feel a little itchy. An odd sensation, but you ignore it and take another bite. Now your tongue is itchy too. After another bite, the itch spreads to your throat. As you swallow the apple, your throat starts to swell. The weird thing is, you're not allergic to apples; you've eaten them all your life. So what's up?
“I like to call oral allergy syndrome 'the cocktail party allergy,” says Dr. Chris Webber, an allergy/immunology specialist based in Denver, Colorado. “It is surprisingly common among people who have seasonal allergies, but (the sufferers) think there's something strange about (themselves) and never bring it up to doctors or friends. But if you bring it up at a social event, you find it is very, very common.”
Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is a bodily response that occurs in some adult hay fever sufferers when they eat certain raw fruits and vegetables. For the majority of people, its side-effects are annoying but not life-threatening: a temporary itching of the mouth area coupled with a swelling of the throat. The more disturbing aspect is mental: Why are people suddenly allergic to foods they've eaten hundreds of times before?
In fact, it's not specific foods that are the problem: It's pollen. And OAS is just your body being a little over-protective.
Of course, your immune system means well. When you develop a pollen allergy, it's responsible for producing an antibody against that pollen. OAS occurs when your immune system mistakes the food you're eating for the pollen to which you are allergic.
Say you're allergic to birch pollen and eat an apple. Your body might detect trace amounts of pollen left on that apple and start producing antibodies. In one bite, a food you've enjoyed all your life has become an itch-inducing enemy.
Luckily, there are a couple of ways for those affected by OAS to go around the problem and enjoy their food. A common method is to literally go (all) around it, by removing a fruit's outer skin. If that's not sufficient, another tactic has even more dramatic results:
“Heating the foods denatures the fruit's cross reactive protein and renders it nonfunctional,” Dr. Webber explains. In layman's terms: cook it before you eat it, and you're good to go.
Of course, if you suffer from OAS and can't bring yourself to stay away from the raw foods, you can always just wait out the reaction; it typically only lasts about 15 minutes.
And don't forget to bond with fellow oral allergy syndrome sufferers at your next cocktail party!
OK, your turn, readers: Has this ever happened to you, or someone you know?
Related:Scientists revealed Wednesday that they have found the first solid archeological evidence that some of the earliest American colonists at Jamestown, Va., survived harsh conditions by turning to cannibalism.
For years, there have been tales of people in the first permanent English settlement in America eating dogs, cats, rats, mice, snakes and shoe leather to stave off starvation. There were also written accounts of settlers eating their own dead, but archeologists had been skeptical of those stories.
But now, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and archeologists from Jamestown are announcing the discovery of the bones of a 14-year-old girl that show clear signs that she was cannibalized. Evidence indicates clumsy chops to the body and head of the girl, who appears to have already been dead at the time.
Smithsonian forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley said the human remains date back to a deadly winter known as the "starving time" in Jamestown from 1609 to 1610. Hundreds died during the period. Scientists have said the settlers likely arrived during the worst drought in 800 years, bringing severe food shortages for the 6,000 people who lived at Jamestown between 1607 and 1625.
'World of miseries'
The historical record is chilling. Early Jamestown colony leader George Percy wrote of a "world of miseries," that included digging up corpses from their graves to eat when there was nothing else. "Nothing was spared to maintain life," he wrote.
In one case, a man killed, "salted," and began eating his pregnant wife. Both Percy and Capt. John Smith, the colony's most famous leader, documented the account in their writings. The man was later executed.
"One amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered her, and had eaten part of her before it was known, for which he was executed, as he well deserved," Smith wrote. "Now whether she was better roasted, boiled or carbonado'd [barbecued], I know not, but of such a dish as powdered wife I never heard of."
Archeologists at Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia were somewhat skeptical of the stories of cannibalism in the past because there was no solid proof, until now.
"Historians have questioned, well did it happen or not happen?" Owsley said. "And this is very convincing evidence that it did."
Owsley has been working with William Kelso, the chief archeologist at Jamestown, since their first burial discovery in 1996.
Remains of 14-year-old girl discovered last summer
The remains of the 14-year-old girl, named "Jane" by researchers, were discovered in the summer of 2012 and mark the fourth set of human remains uncovered at Jamestown outside of graves. Her remains were found in a cellar at the site that had been filled with trash, including bones of horses and other animals consumed in desperation, according to archeologists.
Numerous small knife cuts and punctures in the mandible of Jane of Jamestown are seen during a news conference at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)
The discovery detracts from the happier mythology of John Smith and Pocahontas that many associate with Jamestown. The vice-president of research at nearby Colonial Williamsburg, which oversees excavations of the original Jamestown site, said visitors will have a fuller view of a terrible time in early American history.
"I think we are better served by understanding history, warts and all, because I think it gives us a better understanding of who we are as a people," James Horn said.
Owsley, who has also done forensic analysis for police investigations, examined the girl's remains and how the body had been dismembered, including chops to the front and back of the head. The girl was likely already dead at the time. There was a cultural stigma against killing someone for food.
But it was clear to Owsley immediately that there were signs of cannibalism.
"This does represent a clear case of dismemberment of the body and removing of tissues for consumption," he said.
It was the work of someone not skilled at butchering, Owsley said, indicating a sense of desperation.
The bones show a bizarre attempt to open the skull, he said. Animal brains and facial tissue were desirable meat in the 17th century.
The archeologists are publishing their findings in a new book but decided against waiting to announce the discovery.
The human skull will be placed on display at Jamestown, and a sign will warn visitors of the room's content. At the Smithsonian, curators will display a computer-generated reconstruction of the girl's face in an exhibit about life at Jamestown.
Owsley said archeology is helping to fill in details from a time when few records were kept — details that won't likely be found in history books.
Bones will be displayed
Kelso, whose archeology team discovered the bones, said the girl's bones will be displayed to help tell a story, not to be a spectacle. Through the remains, scientists traced her likely origin to the coast of Southern England.
"We found her in a trash dump, unceremoniously trashed and cannibalized, and now her story can be told," Kelso said. "People will be able to empathize with the time and history and think to themselves, as I do: What would I do to stay alive?"
At Jamestown, officials removed a large tarp covering the site where the remains were found for visitors to see. Tourists were told Wednesday of the discovery.
"Oh, wow," said Kim Reyes, who was on a field trip escorting fourth grade students from Alexandria, Va. |
were killed in two attacks in Dantewada. Considering that the police intensifies search operations after every round of heightened Maoist activity, the latest attacks are likely to trigger a fresh round of random arrests. Sadly, the war continues.12 cases including explosion of passenger buses and burning trucksDied as an under-trialBy the time he reached Raipur's Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital in August 2012, Bhima Kadti, an alleged Maoist from Dantewada's Phulpad village, had been severely ill for fifteen days. His bowels were inflamed, he had high fever and was diagnosed with a fatal form of malaria. After surgery, he suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest. Two days later, he was dead."I could count his ribs. He had turned into a skeleton," says his father 48-year-old Sanna Kadti, as he describes receiving the corpse of his only son.Bhima was 19 when he was arrested in October 2010. The 12 Maoist-related cases slapped on him included destruction of the Kuakonda tehsil office, causing explosion of a passenger bus in Gaadiraas, and burning trucks in the Nerla valley in Bacheli. However, a close look at the case files reveals holes in the police theory. Take, for example, two cases of rail derailment in which Bhima was a co-accused: In both the cases, the same two witnesses (villagers) gave their statements, eight months after the first incident and three months after the second derailment. They claimed to have learnt from some villagers that people from the "Kuakonda region" - a tehsil in Dantewada district with several dozen villages in its jurisdiction - were involved in the incidents.How did such vague information lead the police to zero in on Bhima? Here is what the Chhattisgarh police stated in the chargesheet: "Based on the information provided by our trusted secret source and the interrogation of the arrested accused we came to know who were involved in the unlawful assembly". It is this line alone that incriminates Bhima. There is no mention in the charge- sheet or confession or witness statement about who the sources were and what kind of information they gave. "Secret informers" tipped off the police in two more cases in which Bhima was named.Last month, the NHRC awarded Rs 2 lakh in compensation to Bhima's family on the grounds that there was an unexplained five-day delay in his medical treatment. In the 22 months that Bhima survived in Datewada prison, he was acquitted in five cases. His acquittal in six other cases came after his death. "So what if he was proved innocent? He is dead," says Sanna Kadti, wrapping his son's death certificate in a plastic bag.Attack on a police patrol party in Bastar, killing 23 policemenAcquittedThe Ramaram fair of January 2008 is etched in Kawasi Hidme's memory. With a detatchment that only increases the listener's sense of unease, the adivasi girl from Borguda village in Sukma district recalls how CRPF personnel detained her at the fair. "I was applying mehendi on the palm of my younger sister when they surrounded me," Hidme says in her native Gondi language. She was 17 then, she says. It would be seven years before she was seen in public again.Named in the attack on a police patrol party in Bastar's Errabore village in July 2007 in which 23 policemen were killed, Hidme was kept under detention for fifteen days across three police stations. During that time, she was brutally assaulted. "They used to tie me to a chair and break logs of wood on my body. I was blindfolded every time male policemen beat me," she recalls. "They said they would stop beating me only if I accepted that I used to work for andar-waaley (Maoists)," she says. The detention was followed by fifteen days of treatment at a hospital in Sukma, after which she was presented before court and remanded to judicial custody.During her incarceration, Hidme suffered cholecystitis (swelling of the gall-bladder) and a prolapsed uterus, which is consistent with her allegations of police torture. But Hidme does not want to talk about her ordeal, or at least the severe sexual torture to which she has possibly been subjected. "It was not like this before I went to prison," she mutters staring into the middle distance. Persist with your questioning and she's only says: "I am improving. I can sit upright now."Hidme was arrested on the basis of the statement given by two Special Police Officers (SPOs), three months after the Errabore incident. Interestingly, in the initial three statements, the police personnel who survived the attack had recalled the same 50 names that they claimed were being called out by Maoists during the three-hour-long exchange of fire. In a fourth statement, they added a few more names to the list. One of those names - the fifty-third in the list - was Kawasi Hidme's. The only other testimony against her is by two sisters-in-law, who claimed she was friends with Maoists. The statement did not prove her involvement in shooting on the patrol party. In July 2012, one of the SPOs who testified against Hidme died and the other turned hostile. 30 months after the appearance of witnesses who had not named her and doctors who never treated her, a fast track court in Dantewada set Hidme free for want of evidence. "I am wondering if I should ever go outside the village as my last experience was a nightmare," she says.Attack on Congress leader Avdhesh Gautam's house in July 2010Facing trialSoni, the barefoot, frail woman with hollow cheeks, is perturbed by our presence at her home in Mahrakadka, a remote village in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. "You people are the ones who took him. CRP (sic) sent you?" she says, shooing us away, as we enquire about Barse Manjhi, her husband of two years. She puts down her son, whom she was feeding, and shouts out to fellow villagers. "She thinks you are from the police or the CRPF as they are the only outsiders who visit our village," says a local man.Manjhi is facing trial for the July 8, 2010 attack on the house of Avdhesh Singh Gautam, senior Congress leader in Dantewada. Gautam named 67 people including Barse Manjhi, as attackers. There was a catch though: Manjhi and the two tribal men mentioned in the list of 67 were already in jail on the day of the attack. During the trial, this was pointed out and the court was told that the FIR was unreliable as it contained names of those who were in prison on the day of the attack. That did not help. Manjhi was declared an absconder by the court while he was still in prison.Meanwhile, Avdhesh Gautam admitted before court that he had not seen the 67 persons he had named as attackers and that the police had given him those names.In 2012, Manjhi was acquitted in all the other cases for which he was facing trial. But his freedom would not last long. In November 2014, a joint squad of the CRPF and the police claimed a major breakthrough in the Avdhesh Gautam case with the arrest of three "Maoist cadres" from the forests of the Kuakonda police station range. Barse Manjhi was one of those arrested. He found himself behind bars once again. Now, he will be released only if Avdhesh Gautam specifically tells the court that he was not involved in the attack.Interact with the author @ Twittter/razadanish
First Published: Apr 26, 2015 09:12 ISTBACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Friday mourned the death of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, the first member of the High Tribunal to be impeached in Philippine history.
“I am heartsick. I would have hoped he could have redeemed himself,” said the feisty senator who opposed the impeachment of the former Chief Justice in 2012.
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At that time, Santiago voted “not guilty” for Corona’s failure to disclose his assets and discrepancies in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). He was ousted by a 20-3 vote in the six-month impeachment trial in the Senate.
“I always believed that he did not commit an impeachable offense. I think because he was a brilliant lawyer it was his basic belief it helped to send him to the grave,” the senator told reporters.
“Those who are enthusiastic about sending him to an early grave succeeded,” she added.
Corona, the 23rd chief justice of the country, died from cardiac arrest early Friday at 68 years old. He was survived by his wife Cristina and their three children.
READ: Former Chief Justice Corona passes away
He served as Chief Justice from 2010 to 2012, a controversial one after being designated by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a month before her term ended. Critics tagged his designation as a “midnight appointment.” President Benigno Aquino III, who was against his appointment, replaced him with now Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. RAM/rga
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MOST READHannah Arendt wrote these words in 1943 in one of her most beautiful and heartbreaking texts, “We Refugees.” A few paragraphs earlier, with a view to forced displacement and concentration camps, she warned that contemporary history had created “a new kind of human being,” one who set a precedent for times to come. Today, over seven decades later, and in the context of European refugee crisis, the temporary ban on refugees in the United States, and rising nationalism around the world, the echo of her words resonates powerfully as a painful prophecy. Painful because it confirms her worst fears, and also because it shows the most ignominious version of a Europe that is determined to forget its own past.
The record number of forcibly displacement people reached during the First and Second World Wars was exceeded in 2015. There are now more than 65 million people who have fled their countries of origin in conditions of extreme vulnerability. This crisis has revealed an alarming situation: as the vulnerability of the Other (whether the refugee, the asylum seeker, the economic migrant) has increased, the feeling of fear on behalf of national citizens has also increased, and this has brought about the proliferation of anti-immigrant reactions in a considerable part of Europe and America.
In this context, we witness a challenge to the construction of personal identity in terms of intersubjectivity in two very different ways: if, on the one hand, migrants who escape from the violence of war or extreme inequality and poverty are deprived of the possibility of appearing as unique persons, it is also true that in Europe (and elsewhere around the world) there is a radicalization of homogeneous identities, which restricts the sense of identity to the single belonging of the “nation.” The first case involves an exclusion that exposes the subject to forms of physical violence. In the second case, we confront the reproduction of identities that promote such exclusions and that may well turn into what Amin Maalouf calls “murderous or mortal identities.”
In this regard, it has become necessary to rethink the refugees crisis, or migrant crisis in general, not only in terms of the boundaries of sovereign states and the limitations of international law, as well as new global responsibilities, but also in terms of violence that emerges in connection with the destruction of the intersubjective grounds of personal identity. Only if we take into account relations of violence and identity, will we be able to understand what “terrors worse than death” Hannah Arendt speaks of in the above quotations and what, if not life itself, could serve as the highest good.
Arendt builds her thinking about the refugee crisis in response to her own encounter with totalitarianism. In the preface to the first edition of The Origins of Totalitarianism, she already points in the direction that her thought will take when she stresses that “human dignity needs a new guarantee which can be found only in a new political principle, in a new law on earth, whose validity this time must comprehend the whole of humanity.” From that moment on, Arendt devotes her work to defending the public and political spheres as spaces of human fulfillment, public spaces in which women and men can appear through their actions and words and where they can reveal their unique personal identities to others. From this perspective, “the political” can no longer be conceived as sphere restricted to “professional politicians,” but as “space of appearance,” one of meeting and mutual recognition, to which every individual must have potential access.
Arendt argues that “who we are” cannot be disclosed in the private sphere of life, which, according to her, is tied to the biological needs shared by all humans as members of the same species. This does not mean that the private realm has no relevance in her theory as a necessary counterpoint to public space. But to the extent that it is a way of life that is not based on the power of speech, it does not distinguish one individual from another. Moreover, we cannot discover a sense of our uniqueness, in terms of an essential identity, in our interior life. Arendt’s critique of introspection is rooted in a double loss: the loss of the “common world,” owing to the subject who leaves it to dive within him/herself, but also the loss of the “self,” since “without direction in the darkness of each man’s lonely heart, [each of us is] caught in its contradictions and equivocalities.”[i] This is a darkness which, in Hannah Arendt’ s view, “only the light shed over the public realm through the presence of others […] can dispel.”[ii]
In order to turn ourselves into someone with a proper name, it is not enough to accept what has been received by nature. On the contrary it is necessary to participate in political space through our actions and speech. However, neither these actions and words nor the mere presence of others is enough, it is also necessary that they actively look and listen. The configuration of personal identity requires reciprocity between acting and being recognized as an agent. Thus, living a life of passivity leads subjects to abandon the disclosure of who they are. But the indifference of spectators to actors renders actors invisible and eventually excludes them from the political space of appearance.
The instrumentalization of individuals displaced from the political sphere, who are recognized only in terms of their functionality in social life, has been a constant throughout history. Nevertheless, what the figure of the refugee in twentieth century introduced, was the maximum manifestation of a type of violence that is not exactly instrumental in its tools, nor in its dynamic. It represents a way to, as Arendt writes, “kill men without any bloodshed” and very often without a defined aim.
This ontological and existential violence makes people superfluous and disposable precisely because it does not matter who they are, or even how they can be used to play a subordinate social role. They become irrelevant for other people and the world. This is what Arendt means by “worse terrors than death”: The social and political death that occurs in different grades in everyday life and may well precede extreme situations in which individuals even become dead to themselves, as happens in extermination camps.
The bloodless deaths of superfluous persons, which open the door to bloody deaths, have increased dramatically in recent years, placing millions of women and men into what we may call “spaces of nonappearance”. In this situation, people not only cannot appear as a recognized biographical life to others, but they also lose the possibility of being seen and remembered.
The contemporary migrant crisis demonstrates that these symbolic “spaces of nobodies” coincides to a large degree with those “nobodies” without a physical space in the world. In “We Refugees,” Arendt gives an account of the tragedy that involves the loss of refugees’ countries and their homes, the loss of their occupations and languages and even the loss of the naturalness of their reactions, in short, the destruction of their “everyday world.” However, what had no precedent was that all of these losses were accompanied by the impossibility of finding a “place in the (common) world.” When this happens, individuals also lose the possibility of disclosing who they are anywhere. They are in danger of ceasing to exist in the meaningful world.
The world refugee crisis has given visibility to the miseries of our age, in which the dynamics of physical and nonphysical violence come together in a tragic confluence. Thus, we see images of boats full of migrants stranded at sea. We register images of lifeless bodies on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and news of makeshift cemeteries for migrants without names (such as in Greece); there is news of legislation that promotes expulsion and closes borders without taking into account the right to apply for asylum, a pillar of international law. We also register images of people trying to jump border fences and images of what is known as “unlawful expulsions” or “hot returns”, accompanied, not infrequently, with police brutality (such as in Spain), as well as images of mistreatment and abuses committed by “civil” militias who call themselves “immigrant hunters” (such as in Bulgaria).
The news and images that we are witnessing force us to rethink if, as Judith Butler points out critically, “it is not just that some humans are treated as humans, and others are dehumanized; it is rather that the dehumanization becomes the production of the human.”[iii] And this is exactly what seems to characterize the processes of renationalization that have emerged throughout Europe and now in America. If this is so, we will have to think, once again, what sense of “human being” we want to (re)construct. The current situation highlights how the dehumanization of the refugee is always a process of our own dehumanization: by denying human beings the right to act and to disclose who they are, we get used to their despair, becoming “morally indifferent” to violence, as Zygmunt Bauman argues.
If Arendt is right and there are worse terrors than physical death, it is because biological life is not the highest good. The “common world” that emerges from shared actions and words, and not the individual life, is the highest ideal to which Arendt dedicated her work. And precisely this common world vanishes not only for the excluded refugee but also for us, whenever we do not let him/her take part in it. As Lyotard, inspired by Arendt, writes, “what makes human beings alike is the fact that every human being carries within him the figure of the other (…). To banish the stranger is to banish the community, and you banish yourself from the community.”[iv]
When we are unable to recognize refugees and share with them the world, we make our shared world narrower; eventually it can disappear. The refugee crisis reflects this erosive process and, precisely for this reason, it has become a matter of urgency to rethink the boundaries of “the political”, as well as the limits between inclusion and exclusion, not by defining and closing margins, but in terms of continuous and necessary variation and negotiation, which, nowadays, seem to have ceased.WASHINGTON — Of nearly 2.2 million immigrants deported in the decade ended 2007, more than 100,000 were the parents of children who, having been born in the United States, were American citizens, according to a report issued Friday by the Department of Homeland Security.
But the department lacks data that might have addressed questions left unanswered by the report, like the number of American children who were left behind in the United States or, alternatively, exited the country with their deported parents. Nor could the report say in how many instances both parents of such children were deported.
Similarly, said Representative José E. Serrano, Democrat of New York, since no one knows how many children a given deportee had, the number of affected children could be much higher than 108,434, the exact number of deported parents of American citizens.
So “the problem goes deeper than just the numbers you see,” said Mr. Serrano, who requested the study. He called the circumstance “tragic.”
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“If they took their children back,” he said of the deportees, “then technically we deported an American citizen. No matter which side of the immigration issue you fall on, there’s something wrong with the notion of kicking American citizens out of their own country.”
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The Homeland Security Department’s office of inspector general, which conducted the review, said it had ordered a look at the feasibility of tracking down more data about the deportations.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Billy Crystal and Bill Clinton talk about Muhammad Ali
Rousing tributes have been paid to boxing legend Muhammad Ali at a memorial service in his home city of Louisville, Kentucky.
Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other speakers spoke of his fight for civil rights, while a message from President Barack Obama praised his originality.
The interfaith event took place hours after thousands said farewell as his coffin passed through city streets.
Ali was buried in a private ceremony attended by friends and family.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jon Sopel reports: "A defining figure of his age...there was no-one quite like Muhammad Ali"
The ex-heavyweight champion and rights activist died last Friday aged 74.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Former President Bill Clinton described Ali as "a free man of faith"
The service, attended by dignitaries and by several thousand people who acquired free tickets, was held at the KFC Yum! Centre.
It started with a Koran reading in Arabic. Imam Hamzah Abdul Malik recited Sura Fosselat, Prostration chapter 41 verses 30-35, which includes the words: "Truly those who say our Lord is God and are righteous, the angels will descend upon them saying have neither fear nor sadness but rather rejoice in this paradise that you have been promised."
Local Protestant minister Kevin Cosby said: "Before James Brown said 'I'm black and I'm proud', Muhammad Ali said 'I'm black and I'm pretty'."
Rabbi Michael Lerner attacked injustice against black people and Muslims, saying "the way to honour Muhammad Ali is to be Muhammad Ali today - speak out and refuse to follow the path of conformity."
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Lonnie Ali, Muhammad's wife, said her husband rewrote the rules he didn't like
Ali's wife Lonnie told the crowd: "If Muhammad didn't like the rules, he rewrote them. His religion, his beliefs, his name were his to fashion, no matter what the cost. Muhammad wants young people of every background to see his life as proof that adversity can make you stronger. It cannot rob you of the power to dream, and to reach your dreams."
Former US President Bill Clinton described Ali as "a free man of faith". He said: "I think he decided very young to write his own life story. I think he decided that he would not be ever disempowered. Not his race, not his place, not the expectations of others whether positive or negative would strip from him the power to write his own story."
Valerie Jarrett, an aide to President Obama who knew the boxer personally, read a letter from the president describing Ali as "bigger, brighter and more influential than just about anyone in his era... Muhammad Ali was America. Muhammad Ali will always be America. What a man." The president was not there, as he was attending his eldest daughter Malia's graduation.
Comedian Billy Crystal said: "Thirty-five years after he stopped fighting, [Ali was] still the champion of the world. He was a tremendous bolt of lightning created by Mother Nature. Muhammad Ali struck us in the middle of America's darkest night and his intense light shone on America and we were able to see clearly."
Look back at the life of the ultimate fighter
Image copyright Reuters Image caption The pallbearers, including Mike Tyson and Will Smith, loaded the coffin into the hearse for the procession
Image copyright AP Image caption Well-wishers threw flowers onto the hearse
Image copyright AP Image caption A Louisville city bus displays the words "Ali - The Greatest"
Image copyright AP Image caption A Muhammad Ali action figure sits on the seat of a bicycle as fans await the funeral procession
Among those attending the service were King Abdullah of Jordan.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended Thursday's prayer ceremony and had been due at the service, but cut short his visit to the US. The reasons for his departure are not clear, though there are reports of differences with the funeral's organisers.
Rose petals
The motorcade procession began at about 10:35 local time (14:35 GMT), more than an hour behind schedule, and took the coffin past Ali's childhood home, then the Ali Center, the Center for African American Heritage and then down Muhammad Ali Boulevard.
Onlookers lining the roadside waved, took photos and chanted "Ali, Ali" as a cortege led by the hearse carrying his coffin drove through the downtown area.
Muhammad Ali: 1942-2016
Image copyright AP
The man who changed his sport and his country
'No sportsman has touched more lives'
Obituary: Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali in his own words
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Fans threw flowers at the hearse and rose petals were scattered along the route.
In one neighbourhood, several young men ran alongside the vehicle carrying a placard which read: "Ali is the greatest, thanks 4 all the memories."
The cortege then brought the coffin to the Cave Hill cemetery, where Muhammad Ali was buried in a private ceremony. Actor Will Smith and ex-boxer Lennox Lewis were among the pallbearers.
Muhammad Ali Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, 17 January 1942 61 fights over a professional career lasting 21 years 56 wins including 37 knockouts 3 times crowned World Heavyweight Champion
1 Light-heavyweight Olympic gold medal
31 straight wins before being beaten by Joe Frazier Getty
In 1964, Ali famously converted to Islam, changing his name from Cassius Clay, which he called his "slave name".
He first joined the Nation of Islam, a controversial black separatist movement, before later converting to mainstream Islam.
In his boxing career, he fought a total of 61 times as a professional, losing five times and winning 37 bouts by knockout.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Barack Obama on Muhammad Ali: "In my book he'll always be the greatest"
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Ali meant I could be who I am"
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Muhammad Ali: Benjamin Zephaniah's 'ode' to legendary boxer
Soon after he retired, rumours began to circulate about the state of his health.
Parkinson's Syndrome was eventually diagnosed but Ali continued to make public appearances, receiving warm welcomes wherever he travelled.
He lit the Olympic cauldron at the 1996 Games in Atlanta and carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony for the 2012 Games in London.
He was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.The Labour Party is promising tax cuts for individuals with incomes of up to €120,000, while those above that figure can look forward to an effective tax freeze.
The Labour Party is promising tax cuts for individuals with incomes of up to €120,000, while those above that figure can look forward to an effective tax freeze.
Tánaiste Joan Burton will seek to entice the middle-class and high earners to her candidates with a series of tax reforms that she says will raise the standard of living.
The latest move to revive Labour's flagging fortunes in the polls comes in the wake of Fine Gael targeting Labour's traditional working-class voters with wage subsidies for those on low incomes.
Labour's manifesto will outline a reduction in the much-hated Universal Social Charge (USC) for people earning up to three times the average wage, which is currently around €36,000.
On the opposite page today, Ms Burton outlines where her party differs on taxation from its coalition partner.
"Fine Gael's natural instinct is to drive the bulk of available resources to tax reductions, with the remainder to public services. In Labour, we take a different view," she says.
The Tánaiste argues that the Labour Party can find the correct balance between tax reductions and public spending.
Making her pitch to a section of voters who would be seen as more likely to be Fine Gael supporters, she says that the USC will be abolished for everybody on a salary of up to €70,000.
All those earning above that threshold will benefit from that change too - but they will continue to pay USC on the portion of their income over €70,000.
A new 'claw-back' mechanism will then kick in at €100,000 and it will gradually reduce the USC benefit as a person's income increases - but everybody earning up to €120,000 will enjoy some level of tax cut.
"This means that under our plan those on individual incomes above €120,000 will continue to pay precisely the same taxes as they do now," Ms Burton writes.
She says that the "progressive tax reform" will ensure that low- and middle-income workers will see the greatest increase in their take-home pay.
"There will be those who say this sounds like auction politics. It is nothing of the sort," says Ms Burton.
Labour believes the reforms will be achievable within the term of the next government. Labour strategists say the €120,000 threshold was chosen so that the top 5pc of earners would not get tax reductions.
"The plan will be laid out very clearly in the manifesto. It will be the low- and middle-income people who will benefit the most," said the source.
Despite agreeing to a vote-transfer pact, Labour and Fine Gael have now proposed vastly different changes to the tax and welfare systems.
Already, Enda Kenny has confirmed he wants to abolish the USC, which collects around €4bn a year for the Exchequer.
Hikes
It also wants to introduce a State-funded Working Family Payment as an alternative to Labour's Living Wage initiative.
The Labour Party has committed to a Living Wage of €11.50, hikes in the minimum wage, that would see it rise to €11.30, and an extra €25 a week for pensioners.
Despite the differences, Ms Burton insists that the current Coalition has largely rebuilt the economy and should be allowed to continue its work.
"We are different parties, with different outlooks on economic and social issues. But the people chose a balance of centre-left and centre-right parties in 2011 to turn the country around and the balance has worked," she says.
Irish IndependentStory highlights Philippines meth raid leads to arrests of Mexican drug cartel affiliates
The cartel, Sinaloa, is known as one of the most powerful drug syndicates in the world
Police view the cartel's expansion into Asia as a worrying development
Shady cock-fighting farms are common enough in the Philippines, but a raid on a small operation in Lipa City south of Manila late last year revealed a much larger problem.
Alongside the cock-fighting spurs and breeding paraphernalia, the raid netted 84 kilograms of "shabu" -- the Filipino street name for methamphetamine or "ice" -- and three affiliates of the deadly Mexican drug cartel Sinaloa were arrested.
For police, the presence in Asia of one of Mexico's most powerful organized crime groups was a worrying development.
Not only did it point to growing transnational links between crime groups, it also displayed an increased professionalism in "ice" production as it moves away from its 'Breaking Bad' image of cellar drug kitchens and backyard meth labs.
"We have previously received reports that the Mexicans are in the country, but this is the first time we have confirmed that the Mexicans are already here," Senior Superintendent Bartolome Tobias, chief of the Philippines National Police (PNP) Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force told a news conference.
PNP Director General Alan Purisima said going after the group would "entail more hard work."
"We know that they are just starting -- that's why we have to act immediately to stop them before they can expand their presence," Purisima told the news conference.
Notorious syndicate
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Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel is one of the most powerful and notorious drug syndicates in the world.
Named after the state on Mexico's Pacific Coast where it was formed in 1989, the cartel's heartland extends from Sinaloa to Mexico's Durango and Chihuahua states. But it is known to operate in locations as diverse as Russia, Australia and Sierra Leone.
The group's leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 and was only just captured on Saturday during a pre-dawn operation in the Mexican Pacific resort town of Mazatlan.
Formerly America's most wanted drug trafficker -- rated by Forbes as the most powerful criminal on the planet -- Guzman played a key role in a drug war that has claimed more than 70,000 lives since it was launched in 2006.
Hong Kong's Triads
The Mexican attorney general's office last year released a report that named Hong Kong triad groups 14K and Sun Yee On as the main suspects in the supply of ephedrine and ethyl phenylacetate -- precursor chemicals in the manufacture of "ice" -- to Mexican cartels feeding into the lucrative American market for methamphetamine.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, Hong Kong's triads already maintain close contact with their Asian gang counterparts -- Wah Ching, Black Dragons, Tiny Rascal Gangsters, and Black Star -- whose members operate in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.
The raid in the Philippines, meanwhile, came within days of a major drug raid in China.
In late December, some 3,000 Chinese police, equipped with helicopters, sniffer dogs and speedboats, descended on the village of Boshe in Guangdong province, uncovering China's largest methamphetamine operation to date
Three tons of methamphetamine worth an estimated $234 million were seized from 77 clandestine meth laboratories, and 182 arrests were made -- including the town's Communist Party boss Cai Dongjia and 13 other party officials.
The raid was further evidence of a growing industrialization of crystal meth production.
Industrial scale
Before 2012, Chinese police mostly dismantled small-scale operators, but in September of that year, police raided their first industrial-scale facility in Hunan, seizing 660kg of crystal meth and 19.8 metric tons of unidentified materials used in the manufacture of the drug.
Among the 14 people arrested in the raid, one was a Mexican national, a development which analysts say was the first indication that Mexican transnational syndicates were working closely with the Chinese to produce crystal meth.
Professor Karen Laidler, an analyst in illegal drug trends at the University of Hong Kong, said China's meth labs were increasingly internationalizing their illegal drugs operations.
"The manufacturing in Guangdong? I suspect that much of that was for export," she told CNN.
She said the United Nations and the U.S. State Department had long identified China as a country where the precursor chemical ephedrine was being exported to other countries for the manufacturing of various amphetamine drugs.
The huge scale of China's chemical industry, with an estimated 80,000 individual chemical companies in 2009, presents widespread opportunities for chemical diversion, according to the U.S. State Department.
Hong Kong, once the bottleneck through which Chinese contraband was forced to pass -- and on a U.S. blacklist for the transit of heroin throughout the 1970s and 1980s before being removed in the 1990s -- is no longer the only gateway for drugs manufactured in China, Laidler said.
"There are many large ports in China where drugs can be imported and exported quite easily," she said.The reigning world champion team trails rival Ferrari by 17 points in the constructors' championship, having scored three wins in six races.
At this point last year, it had won five from six and led Ferrari by 67.
In the drivers' championship, Sebastian Vettel leads Lewis Hamilton by 25 points, with Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda saying his team's title ambitions are over unless the former retires at least once.
When asked by Motorsport.com if Mercedes was the underdog given the current state of play, Wolff said: "I like the notion of underdog, because the underdog is the one people want to see win.
"As a matter of fact, I think we've been that since the beginning of the season. We have been dropping in and out of the tyre window, we never had two drivers or two cars over the course of the weekend within that window.
"We saw an exceptional performance of Valtteri [Bottas] in Sochi, that we weren't able to replicate on Lewis' car. We've seen and exceptional performance from Lewis in Barcelona and that inconsistency has been following us through the season.
"On the opposite side, Ferrari put the car on track in Barcelona and they were quick from the get go, so yes, we are the underdog. We need to catch up and this is the reality at the moment."
Mercedes is not enjoying the performance advantage it has had in recent seasons while its core problem is getting its tyre working, particularly the ultrasoft.
With Ferrari a regular threat, the Italian team is able to take advantage on the low-energy tracks its SF70H has proven to have a broader working range on.
When it was put to him that it was ironic Mercedes was |
cut, with a few of his interruptions for good measure. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)
My heart went out to Donald Trump Monday night when it appeared that he was under the weather.
What could be worse than to be sick, sniffling through his first presidential debate just days after he was challenging Hillary Clinton’s health and, during the debate, taunting her lack of stamina? Trump’s own stamina was not, shall we say, in abundance Monday. Weary-eyed and gulping water, he looked as though he might fall asleep were it not for the lectern’s support.
Could his malady perhaps explain his utter incoherence? Might whatever was drying out his mouth, but not his nose, explain his childish running commentary as Clinton was answering a question?
As karma would have it, Clinton seemed perky by comparison. Pitch perfect throughout the debate, she was never at a loss for a coherent answer or a rebound. She even managed to conquer her habitual impulse to nod her head affirmatively when someone else is talking.
Otherwise, she smiled through her contempt for Trump’s inane responses or nonresponses. In the course of the evening, she seemed to get him to admit to not paying any federal taxes, which Trump appeared to confirm by saying, “That makes me smart.” Moderator Lester Holt’s question about Trump’s birther crusade elicited not only a defense of his efforts but a declaration of pride that he, Trump, had forced President Obama to present his birth certificate.
1 of 17 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Memorable quotes from Clinton and Trump’s first presidential debate View Photos Here are some memorable quotes from the presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y. Caption Here are some memorable quotes from the presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y. Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
[Trump committed a big mistake this week, and Democrats will hammer him on it]
“I think I did a good job,” he said.
This is false, as any serious news consumer knows. But these two examples illustrate two key components of Trump’s character — braggadocio and preening pride. Translation: insecurity and weakness. He was proud of two things — paying no taxes and racist pandering — for which most people of conscience would feel shame.
Sure, if you’re someone whose career is built on gaming the system, you might gloat about being the best gamer. But is this who you want for president?
As for racist pandering, that’s what birtherism was. It was never really about Obama’s birthplace, no matter who thought of it first. Democrats aren’t any more virtuous than Republicans when it comes to foul play; Republicans are just better at it.
In Sniffles’ hands, the birther issue was an instrument to mine the subliminal racist attitudes that Trump knew were out there. His strategy was to constantly remind voters of Obama’s Kenyan heritage, thus building a rapport with a certain segment of the population that ultimately would catapult him onto the debate stage. He subsequently reinforced his monument to infamy by marginalizing other darker-skinned groups, including Mexicans and Muslims of Middle Eastern extraction.
Thusly was Trump’s presidential campaign launched. His made-for-TV descent on the escalator of New York’s Trump Tower was merely a dramatization of the direction he would lead his acolytes and, if elected, the nation.
Here are the key moments from the first 2016 presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Sept. 26. NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt moderated the debate at Hofstra University in New York. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
[Trump is too much of a wacko bird to be an albatross]
During his part of the “debate,” Trump did manage to make a couple of points, notably that Clinton is a career politician while he’s a builder and job creator. Noted. Otherwise, he was often if not mostly a donnybrook of babbling nonsense. At one juncture, criticizing Clinton for posting her anti-Islamic State plan on her website (as opposed to not actually having a plan), he said with rough conviction: “No wonder you’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.”
Asked by Holt what he would do to prevent cyberattacks, Trump replied: “As far as the cyber... we should be better than anybody else, and perhaps we’re not. I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC [Democratic National Committee]. She’s saying Russia, Russia, Russia.... Maybe it was.... But it could also be China, it could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.”
What came next was, well, this: “You don’t know who broke into DNC, but what did we learn with DNC? We learned that Bernie Sanders was taken advantage of by your people. By [former DNC Chair] Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Look what happened to her.”
As a matter of fairness, I would include similarly confused responses by Clinton, but there were none. When the worst criticism is that you’re “overprepared,” as some have accused Clinton, you’re in pretty good shape, debate-wise. Meanwhile, the global marketplace may tell the larger story. As the evening concluded, thanks to Clinton’s obvious dominance, as well as her assertion that a Clinton presidency would honor U.S. commitments abroad, the Asian markets recovered, the Mexico peso rallied, and Dow futures added 100 points. That’s nothing to sneeze at — or sniffle about.
Read more from Kathleen Parker’s archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook.(CNN) New South Korean President Moon Jae-in has cast doubt on a landmark deal with Japan over wartime sex slaves.
"The reality is the majority of our people cannot emotionally accept the comfort women agreement," Moon told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday.
Moon emphasized "the two sides should work together based on understanding of the emotions and reality of the people," according to a statement from the presidential office.
However, he was clear that he thought the issue shouldn't affect the wider South Korea-Japan relationship, saying the two countries should deal with the "comfort women" dispute and "work independently in order to respond to the North Korean nuclear and missiles issues."
The issue of so-called "comfort women" has caused rifts between the two countries for decades. An agreement signed by the governments of South Korea and Tokyo in 2015 was intended to settle the matter, but victims' groups objected to it and the issue remains highly controversial.
Read MoreImage caption Ryanair and other airlines incurred big losses in the ash cloud disruption
Ryanair should have fully compensated a passenger whose flight was cancelled because of the volcanic ash cloud in 2010, the EU's top court has said.
On such occasions there is no limit - in time or money - to the airline's duty to look after its passengers, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled.
Denise McDonagh had a seven-day wait for a Faro-Dublin flight on Ryanair and said she spent nearly 1,130 euros (£968) on a hotel, food and transport.
Her compensation has not yet been paid.
Ryanair had argued the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano was so extraordinary that normal rules should not apply.
But the judges' ruling - now binding across the EU - said such events "constitute 'extraordinary circumstances' which do not release air carriers from their obligation to provide care".
Unacceptable hazard
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Michael O'Leary: "You can't make the airlines responsible for all of these acts of God"
The EU regulation on passenger rights "does not provide for any limitation, either temporal or monetary, of the obligation to provide care to passengers whose flight is cancelled due to extraordinary circumstances", the ECJ said.
"Thus, all the obligations to provide care to passengers are imposed on the air carrier for the whole period during which the passengers concerned must await their re-routing."
Ryanair has already paid out 27m euros to compensate people left stranded by the ash cloud, BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott reports.
The airline is not expecting a rush of new claims, because it has settled its ash cloud debts already, our correspondent adds. But it had hoped to win the case in order to limit such claims in the future.
Much of north Europe's airspace was closed for more than a week in April 2010, as the volcano spewed dust into the atmosphere.
Aviation officials feared the dust could stop jet engines - an unacceptable hazard - and Ms McDonagh was among the thousands left stranded.
The ECJ ruling on Thursday said an Irish court must decide the amount of compensation to which Ms McDonagh is entitled. Her case had been referred to the ECJ by the Dublin Metropolitan District Court, which had sought clarification of EU law.
The passenger is entitled to "reimbursement of the amounts which proved necessary, appropriate and reasonable to make up for the shortcomings of the air carrier", the ECJ said.Two Norwegian teens returned 467,200 kroner (some 62,000 euros, $81,500) they found left on a train by an elderly passenger, Norwegian media reported Thursday.
The pair found the treasure Wednesday in a bag left on the seat of a train running between Oslo and a small town in southeastern Norway.
“When I opened the bag, the first thing I saw were these wads and wads of bills,” one of the teens, identified as 16-year-old Bendik, told local daily Vestby Avis.
“My first thought was to call the police,” he said.
After looking in the bag more closely, the good samaritans found the passport of its owner, a man in his 70s who was expected to pick up his money from the police on Thursday.
Police said they did not suspect any foul play behind the man’s huge quantity of cash, and said they did not know if the two teenagers had been rewarded for their honesty.On the eve of Windows 10 being released, Net Applications reports that XP still has as much as 11.9 percent of the desktop operating system market share. Really? Seriously?
Net Application operating system numbers, along with those of StatCounter, are reported as gospel by most publications. We used to report on them too. But, as I and Ed Bott have found over the years, both companies' numbers are massaged and come to their conclusions using very different methodologies.
Fortunately, I discovered a source for objective data about operating system and web browser use in the United States: Digital Analytics Program (DAP). This a customized version of Google Analytics that collects information from visitors to 3800 total websites run by government agencies. This is a gigantic database that's broadly representative of U.S. consumers and businesses. In the last 90 days, DAP charted 1.42-billion website visits.
So, what's really going on with the desktop as Microsoft gives Windows 10 its last polish before releasing it to manufacturers?
Tech Pro Research Windows 10 power tips: Secret shortcuts to your favorite settings Are you tired of clicking through categories to find a specific Windows 10 setting? If you know the right commands, you can create shortcuts that take you to specific pages with a single click Read More
Well, while Net Applications has Windows 7 on top with 60.9 percent, followed by Windows 8.1, 13.2 percent; Windows XP, 11.6 percent; Mac OS X Yosemite, 4.5 percent; and Windows 8 with 2.9 percent, DAP paints a very different, and more accurate, picture.
For starters, Windows 7, to no one's surprise, is still number one. Taking out Android and iOS's numbers, Windows 7 has 60.8 percent.
What this tells us is that the biggest competition by far Microsoft will have to Windows 10 adoption will be its own Windows 7.
After Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1 has 18.7 percent. Again, not that different. Where things take a radical twist is that this real-world, unmassaged data shows XP has only 4.5 percent of the desktop operating system market share.
Further, XP has been well behind Windows 7 for months. With only 5.8 percent marketshare in March 2015, XP was already lagging far behind Windows 8.1 earlier this year.
XP has not hung on nearly as well as many people thought it would. True, there are outliers, such as the U.S. Navy that are still using XP, but they're the exception, not the rule.
This government report also shows that Microsoft has been successful in moving its users from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. Indeed Vista -- yes Vista -- with 2.7 percent, is more popular than Windows 8.
The report also shows that Macs are more popular than usually reported. 13.1 percent of users are using Mac OS X. Much as I wish it otherwise, Linux -- not counting its mobile relative Android -- can account for no more than 2.3 percent of desktops at most.
So, looking ahead, I see a mixed bag for Microsoft. The good news is that the company was successful in moving users from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. The bad news is that getting people off Windows 7 will not be easy.
XP? Stick a fork in it. It's dead.
Related Stories:This article is about the actor. For the Scottish international footballer, see Denis Lawson (footballer)
Denis Stamper Lawson[1] (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish actor and director. He is known for his roles as John Jarndyce in the BBC's adaptation of Bleak House, as Gordon Urquhart in the film Local Hero, as DI Steve McAndrew in BBC One's New Tricks, and as Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars trilogy. He is the uncle of actor Ewan McGregor.
Early life [ edit ]
Lawson was born in Crieff, Perthshire, the son of Phyllis Neno (née Stamper), a merchant, and Laurence Lawson, a watchmaker.[1] Lawson was educated at Crieff Primary School (then called Crieff Public School). After the Control examination (Scottish equivalent of the 11 Plus examination), he went on to Morrison's Academy before attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, having first unsuccessfully auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He then sold carpets and did amateur theatre work for a year in Dundee before auditioning again at RADA in London and successfully at RSAMD in Glasgow.[2]
Career [ edit ]
Lawson began his acting career with a small role in a 1969 stage production of The Metamorphosis in London's West End. and has since starred in television dramas such as The Merchant of Venice (1973) opposite Laurence Olivier as Shylock, Rock Follies (1976) and Dead Head (1986).
Lawson played X-wing pilot Wedge Antilles in all three films of the original Star Wars trilogy. In 2001, he reprised the role, in voiceover form, for the Nintendo GameCube game Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.
He has appeared often on the West End stage, notably in the musical Mr. Cinders at the Fortune Theatre from 1983–84.[3]
In 1999, Lawson directed a production of Little Malcolm & His Struggle Against the Eunuchs which was first staged at the Hampstead Theatre before transferring to the Comedy Theatre in London's West End starring his nephew Ewan McGregor in the lead role of Malcolm Scrawdyke.
He appeared on an episode of Loose Ends hosted by Ned Sherrin on BBC Radio 4 on 10 December 2005.
In 2005, he played the leading role of John Jarndyce in the critically acclaimed BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, receiving an Emmy nomination. Two years later he played Peter Syme in the BBC One drama serial Jekyll, a modern version of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.[4] Lawson also appeared as Captain "Dreadnought" Foster in ITV's dramatisations of C.S. Forester's Hornblower. He appeared in Robin Hood in which he played the Sheriff of Winchester.
He also appeared in the West End playing the character of Georges in the revival of the musical hit La Cage Aux Folles. No stranger to musical theatre, Lawson previously starred in the London revival of Pal Joey.
He starred as the lead in Above Their Station, a sitcom for the BBC written by Rhys Thomas about Community Support Officers; it was made as a pilot but never commissioned, only being shown as a one-off special.[5] Lawson appeared alongside actress Helena Bonham Carter in the BBC Four movie based on the life of Enid Blyton, playing Kenneth Darrell Waters, a London surgeon who becomes Blyton's second husband. In July 2009 Lawson appeared as Alexander Fleming in a BBC Four drama called Breaking the Mould: The Story of Penicillin alongside Dominic West. Lawson played the part of Alice's grandfather in ITV1's supernatural crime thriller Marchlands which was shown in February 2011.
Lawson appeared at the Royal Court Theatre once more in The Acid Test by Anya Reiss in 2011.[6]
Lawson replaced James Bolam in the BBC One series New Tricks in its ninth series in 2012.[7]
Lawson has said that he was asked to reprise his role as Wedge Antilles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but reportedly turned down the role because he believed it would have "bored" him.[8] However, Lawson later claimed that he actually declined to appear in The Force Awakens due to a scheduling conflict, and would have appeared in the film if he had been available.[9]
Personal life [ edit ]
In 1979, Lawson fathered a child, Jamie Lawson,[10] with actress Diane Fletcher, with whom he had a seven-year relationship after meeting in a stage production of Twelfth Night.
He met his wife, actress Sheila Gish, on the set of the 1985 film That Uncertain Feeling. They lived together for nearly 20 years before marrying in March 2004 in Antigua; she died of cancer a year later (9 March 2005). He married Karen Prentice in Italy in the summer of 2017.[11]
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Television [ edit ]
Theatre [ edit ]Trade, Pollution and Mortality in China
NBER Working Paper No. 22804
Issued in November 2016
NBER Program(s):Development Economics, Environment and Energy Economics, Health Economics, International Trade and Investment
Has the expansion in exports affected pollution and health outcomes across different prefectures in China in the two decades between 1990 and 2010? We exploit variation in the initial industrial composition to gauge the effect of export expansion due to the decline in tariffs faced by Chinese exporters. We construct two export shocks at the prefecture level: (i) PollutionExportShock represents the pollution content of export expansion and is measured in pounds of pollutants per worker; (ii) ExportShock measures export expansion in dollars per worker. The two measures differ because prefectures specialize in different products: while two prefectures may experience the same shock in dollar terms, the one specializing in the dirty sector has a larger PollutionExportShock. We instrument export shocks using the change in tariffs faced by Chinese producers exporting to the rest of the world. We find that the pollution content of export affected pollution and mortality. A one standard deviation increase in PollutionExportShock increases infant mortality by 2.2 deaths per thousand live births, which is about 13% of the standard deviation of infant mortality change during the period. The dollar value of export expansion tends to reduce mortality, but is not always statistically significant. We show that the channel through which exports affect mortality is pollution concentration: a one standard deviation increase in PollutionExportShock increases SO2 concentration by 5.4 micrograms per cubic meter (the average is around 60). We find a negative, but insignificant effect on pollution of the dollar-value export shocks, a potential “technique” effect whereby higher income drives demand for clean environment. We find that only infant mortality related to cardio-respiratory conditions responds to exports shocks, while deaths due to accidents and other causes are not affected.
The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this. You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email.
Acknowledgments
Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX
Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w22804
Users who downloaded this paper also downloaded* these:The San Francisco 49ers are halfway through their schedule, and unfortunately have lost defensive lineman Solomon Thomas for a week or two. He suffered a mild MCL sprain, and has been ruled out for Week 9. My guess is he sits out Week 10 as well, and is back after the Week 11 bye.
That being said, he is getting some midseason recognition for his first eight games worth of work. Mel Kiper released his midseason All-Rookie team, and Thomas joined Carl Lawson as the defensive ends. Dalvin Tomlinson and Nazir Jones were the two defensive tackles. Here’s what Kiper had to say about Thomas.
With Tank Carradine on injured reserve, Thomas has taken on a much bigger role, starting the past five games. But he hurt his knee last weekend and could miss some time. Thomas has two sacks and eight tackles for loss, and he has flashed the talent that made him the No. 3 overall pick. He played like a veteran at Stanford in 2016, causing disruptions in both the running and passing games. He's also big enough that he can move to tackle in passing situations and get after quarterbacks.
Thomas has had ups and downs all season long. Prior to last week, he led rookie defensive linemen in tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage. We see plenty of hustle from him, but he is still working on his skill-set. John Middlekauff wrote about his lack of a signature pass rush move, and that is an area that hopefully he can build on this coming offseason. He has shown a willingness to work with a host of great pass rushers, and that should only serve to benefit him.
As the 49ers head into the second half of the season, several rookies will have a chance to make a name for themselves and claim a spot on end of season all-rookie teams. If Thomas doesn’t miss more than a couple games, he could end up on those kinds of teams. Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon has a serious chance now that he has moved into the starting lineup. If Reuben Foster can stay healthy, he easily could end up on these all-rookie teams. George Kittle is a bit more of a long-shot with the emergence of Evan Engram.Why Ultraviolet Is Killing DVD And Blu-ray, Not Saving Them By Katey Rich Random Article Blend We are moving constantly closer to a world in which movies are not a physical object. Most people lived in that world for decades, of course, as movies were limited to reels of film projected in a movie theater, and the idea of "owning" your favorite film was as crazy as the idea of "owning" the movie stars who acted in it. But after decades of VHS and DVD and Blu-ray we grew used to shelves crammed with movies the way others collect books-- and now, with digital downloads and streaming taking over more and more of the market, we're getting used to owning these movies without purchasing anything physical at all.
Studios and DVD manufacturers hate this-- there are still a ton of profits to be made in selling physical DVDs and especially trumped-up Blu-ray sets, and a lot of studios seem frustrated with Apple's iTunes being the default method to buy digital copies of both music and movies. But just as there were years in which Blu-ray and HD DVD both competed for the high-def home video market, there are all kinds of ways to own your movies digitally right now, and it varies greatly based on how you're watching them. You need to do something different if you want to store your movie on your Xbox or on your computer, on iTunes or simply somewhere on your hard drive. There's still incentive to own movies, since streaming licenses can run out with little warning, but the ability to organize your movies as neatly as they would be on your shelf is virtually nonexistent.
The closest thing we have to a universal content source is iTunes, where many many movies are available for purchase or rental, and where you're probably already keeping your music anyway. But many studios have embraced Ultraviolet, which allows them to promise the same "digital copy" you would get with your DVD that would work with iTunes, but offers them a system over which they have more control (using a handful of third-party systems like Flixster and Vudu). The problem with it is simple: Ultraviolet is garbage. And as long as studios hang on to it, they'll only be killing their own physical media faster.
Today I attempted to use Ultraviolet to access two digital copies of movies I recently received-- the Magic Mike DVD, and the Lawrence of Arabia Blu-ray. The Magic Mike attempt was abject failure-- I went to the URL provided, entered my code, was told several times the code was invalid, finally got them to recognize the code, then watched the system freeze in two separate browsers. I gave up. I have Handbrake on my computer and can easily transfer the DVD file into my iTunes, easy to access and mine forever.
The Blu-ray is more complicated, since I don't have a computer drive that can read Blu-rays, and by God you want the best quality Lawrence of Arabia you can get. Accessing that digital copy required going to an entirely different URL, and using an entirely different program in tandem with Ultraviolet-- Magic Mike used Flixster, and Lawrence used a Sony Pictures program. The Sony program required a new login, which I set up, and then remembering my Ultraviolet login, which I had attempted to use years ago and forgot. Two new passwords later I finally had the Sony Downloader program on my desktop… and only had to spend two hours downloading the 2 GB file that would finally put Lawrence of Arabia on my computer.
It worked out, finally, but the quality of the movie on my retina display computer is still totally inferior to the Blu-ray on my TV, so in a way I'm back at square one. And the entire time I was entering new passwords and following URLs and trying to get the system to recognize my password, I wondered just how many people on earth are technologically savvy enough-- or patient enough-- to deal with. My parents are both computer literate, but I wouldn't dream of asking them to go through this. It's infinitely easier to teach someone to use Handbrake to rip their own DVDs, and so long as they paid for them, essentially legal.
More importantly, using Handbrake would cut off at the knees the dysfunctional program that is Ultraviolet, which is attempting to be a competitor to the dead-simple iTunes by being as infuriating as possible. I can buy Magic Mike in HD on iTunes right now for $13-- more than the physical DVD cost, but totally worth it for the lack of clutter and rage around trying to get Ultraviolet to work. I try to limit my purchases of physical media these days to only the Blu-rays that I know won't be equaled by streaming media any time soon, and I like that through Ultraviolet, studios are at least taking steps toward acknowledging this all-digital future. But the system they're forcing upon us right now is garbage, and actually creates less incentive to own the DVD than to just download the copy from iTunes. That can't be how they're hoping to save home video.
I want to support the studios that pay for the movies I love, and I want people who haven't transferred completely over to digital format to be able to access films (that's the main reason DVD and Blu-ray won't go away any time soon). But when the system we have is so broken, it's really hard to support it. Until major studios demand changes in Ultraviolet or move away from it, streaming and VOD will continue to hammer away at the DVDs and Blu-rays they're trying to save. The Blu-ray is more complicated, since I don't have a computer drive that can read Blu-rays, and by God you want the best qualityyou can get. Accessing that digital copy required going to an entirely different URL, and using an entirely different program in tandem with Ultraviolet--used Flixster, andused a Sony Pictures program. The Sony program required a new login, which I set up, and then remembering my Ultraviolet login, which I had attempted to use years ago and forgot. Two new passwords later I finally had the Sony Downloader program on my desktop… and only had to spend two hours downloading the 2 GB file that would finally puton my computer.It worked out, finally, but the quality of the movie on my retina display computer is still totally inferior to the Blu-ray on my TV, so in a way I'm back at square one. And the entire time I was entering new passwords and following URLs and trying to get the system to recognize my password, I wondered just how many people on earth are technologically savvy enough-- or patient enough-- to deal with. My parents are both computer literate, but I wouldn't dream of asking them to go through this. It's infinitely easier to teach someone to use Handbrake to rip their own DVDs, and so long as they paid for them, essentially legal.More importantly, using Handbrake would cut off at the knees the dysfunctional program that is Ultraviolet, which is attempting to be a competitor to the dead-simple iTunes by being as infuriating as possible. I can buyin HD on iTunes right now for $13-- more than the physical DVD cost, but totally worth it for the lack of clutter and rage around trying to get Ultraviolet to work. I try to limit my purchases of physical media these days to only the Blu-rays that I know won't be equaled by streaming media any time soon, and I like that through Ultraviolet, studios are at least taking steps toward acknowledging this all-digital future. But the system they're forcing upon us right now is garbage, and actually creates less incentive to own the DVD than to just download the copy from iTunes. That can't be how they're hoping to save home video.I want to support the studios that pay for the movies I love, and I want people who haven't transferred completely over to digital format to be able to access films (that's the main reason DVD and Blu-ray won't go away any time soon). But when the system we have is so broken, it's really hard to support it. Until major studios demand changes in Ultraviolet or move away from it, streaming and VOD will continue to hammer away at the DVDs and Blu-rays they're trying to save. Blended From Around The Web Facebook
Back to topDoctors Pankaj Satija, right, and his wife Monika Ummat, left, talk to media about their immigration case at the Quan Law Group Thursday, March 30, 2017, in Houston. Satija and Ummat are facing possible immediate return to India. less Doctors Pankaj Satija, right, and his wife Monika Ummat, left, talk to media about their immigration case at the Quan Law Group Thursday, March 30, 2017, in Houston. Satija and Ummat are facing possible... more Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Two Houston doctors facing removal by Immigration officials are granted temporary stay 1 / 8 Back to Gallery
Two prominent Houston doctors facing removal by immigration officials to their native India have been granted a temporary, 90-day reprieve while they try to sort the paper-work that will allow them to continue living and working legally in the United States.
The married couple are both neurologists and faced removal Thursday after immigration officials refused at the last minute to extend their temporary permission to stay in the U.S., potentially jeopardizing the care of dozens of patients who have specialized surgeries scheduled with the two doctors in coming weeks.
It's the latest example of the government taking an unusually hard line on immigration and declining to consider cases on an individual basis.
"I have 50 patients today and 40 patients tomorrow," said Dr. Pankaj Satija, a neurologist who helped found the Pain and Headache Centers of Texas. "I'm just concerned they'll be left in a lurch. They could land up in the emergency room."
The couple has been here legally for more than a decade after coming here from India to do research and complete their medical residencies. The Houston Methodist Hospital System sponsored Satija for his green card around 2008 and the Labor Department certified that no Americans could perform his job in 2010.
But because of rules limiting how many immigrants can actually receive permanent residency each year and a tremendous backlog in the process, the couple was provided a provisional status until their green cards become available. The category for India is currently so behind that only immigrants who applied for the labor certification before June 2008 are receiving their green cards.
Satija and his wife, Dr. Monika Ummat, who is also a neurologist specializing in epilepsy at Texas Children's Hospital, renewed their temporary work authorizations and their travel documents every two years as required. They bought a house in West University Place and had two children, Ralph, who is 7, and 4-year-old Zooey.
The problem began last year when for some reason their travel document was issued for only one year, unlike the typical period of two years like their employment authorization.
Further confusing the issue was that Customs and Border Protection officials stamped their travel document saying that it expired in June this year, when in fact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services noted that their document actually expired in June 2016.
The surgeons did not notice the discrepancy. They had an unusually busy year and were not planning international travel. Then last October, Satija's brother called from Delhi and said that their father was extremely ill and had been admitted to intensive care. The family needed to go right away.
They immediately bought plane tickets and packed their bags. Upon returning to the United States about a week later, a Customs and Border Protection official at the airport noted the discrepancy on their travel document and that in fact it had already expired four months previously.
Read Full ArticleLongtime Ottawa Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a rare and incurable neurological disease, he announced Monday in a statement.
Bélanger says he will stay on as MP for Ottawa-Vanier, the riding he has represented since winning a 1995 byelection, but will withdraw his candidacy for Speaker of the House of Commons.
The 60-year-old political veteran had been experiencing speaking problems since the Oct. 19 federal election and said earlier this month that he would withdraw from the race for the Speaker’s chair if his doctors couldn’t find a cause of what was then a mystery illness. Doctors had already ruled out cancer and stroke.
The devastating ALS diagnosis was delivered by Ottawa neurologist Pierre Bourque after a series of tests.
“I wish to thank everyone who has encouraged me and supported my candidacy for Speaker,” Bélanger said in an email circulated to colleagues Monday.
“I will be eternally grateful. Thank you to my election team and the voters of Ottawa-Vanier for the privilege of serving them.
“I look forward to seeing you all at the opening of Parliament.”
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is almost always fatal within three to five years. It progressively attacks the motor neurons that trigger muscle function, leaving victims paralyzed and ultimately unable to breathe or swallow. The cause is still unknown and there are no known treatments that stop or substantially slow its progress.
In the bulbar form of ALS, the muscles used to speak are among the first affected.
Patients with bulbar ALS may require assistance communicating, says Dr. Lorne Zinman, the director of the Toronto Sunnybrook Hospital’s ALS clinic and chair of the Canadian ALS Research Network.
“At some point, most patients lose the ability to speak,” said Zinman.
But an ALS clinic can equip patients with technology that will allow them to communicate through eye movements or other means, he said.
“We can make a major difference.”
As the disease progresses, patients require wheelchairs, then ventilators and feeding tubes.
Zinman says approximately one in 1,000 people is diagnosed with ALS in his or her lifetime, about the same rate as multiple sclerosis, though the prognosis with ALS is far more grave.
Bélanger, now serving his eighth term in Parliament, was considered a front-runner in the contest to replace Andrew Scheer as Speaker. His withdrawal leaves Liberal MPs Geoff Regan, Denis Paradis and Yasmin Ratansi as the declared contenders. MPs will elect a new Speaker Thursday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among the political figures expressing support Monday, saying on Twitter, “My thoughts are with my friend @Mauril_Belanger today. Stay strong. We will always have your back, Mauril.”
Former foreign minister and Ottawa-area MP John Baird said Bélanger has been “an exceptional Member of Parliament, and now becomes the best Speaker we never had.”
He called Bélanger “a great friend and colleague for many years. He is one of the good guys. In my time in government, he always put aside partisanship to work together for the people of Ottawa.”
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said he was saddened to hear of the diagnosis, calling Belanger “a great advocate for Ottawa-Vanier,” particularly on affordable housing.
Former Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar said he was stunned to hear of Bélanger’s diagnosis and hopes he can continue on as MP despite the “brutal” disease.
“I know he’d lost weight but he always did during elections,” Dewar said of his former colleague, who he has known since the 1990s when Bélanger worked as chief of staff for Peter Clark, chair of the then-Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton.
“He’s the most experienced MP you can find. He commands the respect of people. I thought he would have been a slam-dunk for Speaker.”
Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose said on Twitter that her prayers are with Bélanger. “We are all together with you in this fight against ALS,” she wrote.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair tweeted, “We are all saddened by this news.”
Paul Calandra, who served as parliamentary secretary to former prime minister Stephen Harper, described Bélanger as an “excellent MP, kind man and absolute credit to Parliament.”
Although ALS is comparatively rare, there have been a few cases involving people who work on Parliament Hill in recent years. William Corbett, the former clerk of the House of Commons, died from ALS in 2010, a year after the disease took the life of Richard Wackid, a Liberal |
ans do—in good Catholic fashion—that theirs is the one true church (“the Church of England is the church in England”). As an undergraduate, I defected to the Anglicans anyway. It was a matter of principle, the principle being that the girls were hotter.
To mix it up yet further, my academic research has focused on Roman Catholic philosopher-theologians—much stronger on ethics and politics, in my view, though my grandmother would turn in her grave to hear me say it, virulently anti-Catholic as she was. “When the college of cardinals elects a new pope,” she used to say, “they release smoke through the chimney of the Sistine Chapel... Blue for a boy, pink for a girl...”
Brought up low church, I have found strange, passing strange, the recent lurch to the liturgical among some Evangelicals.
Not long ago, I visited a new church plant in the South. It met in a school gymnasium; again, no problem for me (nostalgic, in fact). What was weird was what they tried to superimpose onto this setting. Rather than simply settling for informal, conceding casual—a gymnasium!—they instead projected an image of a stained-glass window onto a screen behind their makeshift altar. And then the fully robed clergy processed in along the three-point line, singing and gently swinging their thuribles of incense. Each thing should be the same with itself and different from another.
Back in Charlottesville, we search for seats in the packed sanctuary. Finally finding two next to each other, right in the middle of a row, my wife begins to shuffle in. And I’m about to follow her until, suddenly, I realize I’ve got my priorities wrong. I forgot to get coffee. “Back in a sec.” I shoot back to the vestibule, before being directed by stewards down various hallways out into a different reception area and—lo and behold—a coffee table. The only other soul is a kid adding a splash of water to the thick pulp of hot-chocolate powder in his polystyrene cup. Soon I’m pumping down vigorously on the coffee thermos to flush out every last drop. Having filled a cup, I reach for the stainless-steel jug marked “Half and Half” (some kind of cream, I think).
You’re not going to believe what happens next. The jug is empty. Still reeling from the crisis, I troop back despondent.
As the service gets underway, two things strike me. First, there’s a lot of standing up and sitting down. Liturgical gymnastics. I needn’t have joined the gym. Coming from a low-church background, even a modicum of liturgy seems a lot.
Second, the acoustics are dreadful. They say every architect has a cathedral in him, and also that architects never actually have to go to the churches they design. Here, the combination of a grand vaulted ceiling and flat walls causes the sound to bounce so much that, when the announcements are given, it’s like we’re in a railway station.
Nothing, though, can detract from the worship that ensues. None of this early-nineties soft-rock, poor-man’s Coldplay malarkey. Instead, complete with string arrangement and banjo, the director of music strikes a brilliant balance between musically accomplished and genuinely participative. Plus, it’s as if they’ve been briefed, because we start with “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” my favorite hymn, the one we had at my (sorry, our) wedding.
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
“Interposed”? Yes. What a word.
As things develop further, I begin to feel a genuine sense of disappointment. There is little suggestion of any impending crash.
Sounds terrible, but sometimes I look forward to church for the same reason that I look forward to Formula One (or, indeed, ski jumping at the Winter Olympics): for the crash. The crash usually comes in the form of “open mic,” when the minister, in a moment of madness, opens up the service to the floor. I would like to invite any member of the congregation—any member, oh Heaven forfend!—to come and share.
In Four Weddings and a Funeral, there’s a scene where a novice vicar, played by Rowan Atkinson, completely cocks up a marriage ceremony. When, jittery, Atkinson gets up, John Hannah leans across to Hugh Grant: “Friend of the family.” “Ah, excellent!”
Well, that’s what I whisper in my wife’s ear whenever a minister ominously declares the mic open.
I was once in a church in Texas. The minister: “Anyone?” Prolonged, painful silence, before, finally... movement in the third row. A stout older lady—long floral dress—tries to shuffle out. She’s making her way up the aisle as if each step is a leap of faith. When she eventually reaches the front, the continuingly guileless minister hands her the mic and steps back. She begins with the requisite, “Thus Saith the Lord”... before closing her eyes and... breaking into song. In a low, powerful, discordant voice:
My little ones, return to me and I
will return to you,
This is what I am saying...
This is the springtime season of
my love...
She’s warbling through some Old Testament text, and it seems interminable.
Back to this morning. After a few announcements, it’s time for the sermon. Minister gets up. Coat and tie; beard, neat. Routine, I think to myself. Which couldn’t be farther from the truth. For what follows is an absolute tour de force. The season is Epiphany; the theme is mission; the text is Jonah:
What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous...
The preacher finishes the reading, looks up, looks round:
This is absolutely true. It’s also pretty hilarious. And it’s written because He loves you.
I’ve been to church all my life. Conservative estimate: Say I started fully digesting sermons when I was age... eighteen months? That’s 1,638 sermons, not including conferences. But this preacher—one of the most arresting I’ve ever heard. No British blathering. No dithering. Cuts to the chase.
First, he delves into genre; offers us a range of exegetical options; explains the Hebrew artistry missed in translation—imposing on us with swift authority,in poet Craig Raine’s formulation. But he won’t let it become a lecture; soon he’s building a psychological profile of “the worst missionary the world has ever seen.... Jonah was given simple instructions on where to go, and then fled in precisely the opposite direction.”
The preacher continues: evocative, wry, winsome. But then he won’t let it become too lyrical either. He won’t let his rhetoric run away with itself. He’s neither indulgent nor highfalutin. This isn’t entertainment. “I want you to shut your eyes and imagine in your mind’s eye a group of people, a group of people whom you despise. You can say you don’t despise anyone. You can say that.... What I want you to do is to hold them in your mind. Now hear the word of the Lord to Jonah: ‘You are not better than them.’”
Totally convicted, I’m ready to rush forward and repent. I’m already on my iPhone, checking cheap flights to Nineveh. Altar call? I’m so there. But when the preacher finishes, instead of giving an opportunity to respond, he promptly sits down. At which precise moment the congregation suddenly erupts into a strangely synchronized, harmonized chorus:
Aaamen...
Aaamen...
Aaaaaaaaaaamen...
And that’s it.
We disband, and meet a few folks. They’re welcoming but not weird, engaging but not creepy.
As we file out, my lasting impression is that of resolve. I’m from post-secular Europe. Here, though belonging to the late-modern world, it’s as if Americans are saying, “Church isn’t perfect. It’s not slick. But you know what? This morning we’re going to forgo flea markets and Little League. And we’re actually going to do this.”
At the door we shake hands with the preacher. A little overawed, I manage to introduce myself. Him: “Anything I can get you?” My first thought: Half and Half? But he’s probably got a lot going on.
James Mumford is an English writer and currently a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. This article, exclusive to First Things, is one of a series of ‘Letters from America’ he has written since moving to the U.S. last year. Others are available on his site: www.iwritewhatilike.netNullification, in United States constitutional history, is a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional with respect to the United States Constitution (as opposed to the state's own constitution). The theory of nullification has never been legally upheld by federal courts.[1]
The theory of nullification is based on a view that the states formed the Union by an agreement (or "compact") among the states, and that as creators of the federal government, the states have the final authority to determine the limits of the power of that government. Under this, the compact theory, the states and not the federal courts are the ultimate interpreters of the extent of the federal government's power. Under this theory, the states therefore may reject, or nullify, federal laws that the states believe are beyond the federal government's constitutional powers. The related idea of interposition is a theory that a state has the right and the duty to "interpose" itself when the federal government enacts laws that the state believes to be unconstitutional. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison set forth the theories of nullification and interposition in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798.
Courts at the state and federal level, including the U.S. Supreme Court, repeatedly have rejected the theory of nullification.[2] The courts have decided that under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, federal law is superior to state law, and that under Article III of the Constitution, the federal judiciary has the final power to interpret the Constitution. Therefore, the power to make final decisions about the constitutionality of federal laws lies with the federal courts, not the states, and the states do not have the power to nullify federal laws.
Between 1798 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, several states threatened or attempted nullification of various federal laws. None of these efforts were legally upheld. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were rejected by the other states. The Supreme Court rejected nullification attempts in a series of decisions in the 19th century, including Ableman v. Booth, which rejected Wisconsin's attempt to nullify the Fugitive Slave Act. The Civil War ended most nullification efforts.
In the 1950s, southern states attempted to use nullification and interposition to prevent integration of their schools. These attempts failed when the Supreme Court again rejected nullification in Cooper v. Aaron, explicitly holding that the states may not nullify federal law.
The Constitution and the theory of nullification [ edit ]
Provisions of the Constitution [ edit ]
The Constitution does not contain any clause expressly providing that the states have the power to declare federal laws unconstitutional.
Supporters of nullification have argued that the states' power of nullification is inherent in the nature of the federal system. They have argued that before the Constitution was ratified, the states essentially were separate nations. Under this theory, the Constitution is a contract, or "compact", among the states by which the states delegated certain powers to the federal government, while reserving all other powers to themselves. The states, as parties to the compact, retained the inherent right to judge compliance with the compact. According to supporters of nullification, if the states determine that the federal government has exceeded its delegated powers, the states may declare federal laws unconstitutional.[3] Nullification supporters argue that the power to declare federal laws unconstitutional not only is inherent in the concept of state sovereignty, but also is one of the powers reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment.[4]
This view of the Constitution has been rejected by the federal courts, which consistently have held that under the Constitution, the states do not have the power to nullify federal laws. The courts have rejected the compact theory, finding that the Constitution was not a contract among the states. Rather, the Constitution was established directly by the people, as stated in the preamble: "We the people of the United States..."[5] The people made the federal government superior to the states in certain ways. Under the Supremacy Clause of Article VI, the Constitution and federal laws made in pursuance thereof are "the supreme law of the land... any thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."[6] The courts have held that federal laws are therefore superior to state laws and cannot be negated by the states. Federal laws are valid and are controlling, so long as those laws were adopted in pursuance of—that is, consistent with—the Constitution. Determining whether a federal law is consistent with the Constitution requires interpretation of the law, which is inherently a judicial function. The federal judicial power granted by Article III of the Constitution gives the federal courts authority over all cases "arising under this Constitution [or] the laws of the United States".[7] The federal courts therefore have been given the power to determine whether federal laws are consistent with the Constitution, with the Supreme Court having final authority.[8]
Thus, the federal courts have held that under the Constitution, federal law is controlling over state law, and the final power to determine whether federal laws are unconstitutional has been delegated to the federal courts. The courts therefore have held that the states do not have the power to nullify federal law.[9]
The Constitutional Convention and state ratifying conventions [ edit ]
The concept of nullification of federal law by the states was not discussed at the Constitutional Convention.[10] The records of the Constitutional Convention therefore do not provide support for the theory of nullification.
On the other hand, the records of the Convention support the idea that the power to declare federal laws unconstitutional lies in the federal courts. At least fifteen Constitutional Convention delegates from nine states spoke about the power of the federal courts to declare federal laws unconstitutional. For example, George Mason said that under the Constitution, federal judges "could declare an unconstitutional law void".[11] James Madison said: "A law violating a constitution established by the people themselves, would be considered by the Judges as null & void."[12] Elbridge Gerry said that the power of federal judges to interpret federal laws includes "a power of deciding on their constitutionality".[13]
Several of the Convention delegates said that the federal courts would have power to determine disputes between the federal government and the states. Charles Pinckney referred to federal judges as "Umpires between the U. States and the individual States".[14] John Rutledge indicated that the Supreme Court would "judge between the U.S. and particular states".[15] These statements indicated that the Supreme Court would have final authority in constitutional disputes between the federal government and the states.
The records of the state ratifying conventions do not include any assertions that the states would have the power to nullify federal laws. It has been argued that certain statements in the Virginia ratifying convention, although not asserting a right of nullification, articulated a basis for the compact theory. Edmund Randolph and George Nicholas stated that Virginia's ratification of the Constitution would constitute its agreement to a contract, and that if Virginia were to state its understanding at the time of ratification that the federal government could exercise only its delegated powers, this understanding would become part of the contract and would be binding on the federal government.[16] These statements implied a belief that Virginia, as a party to the contract, would have a right to judge the constitutional limits of federal power.[17]
The records of the state ratifying conventions include over three dozen statements in more than half the states asserting that the federal courts would have the power to declare laws unconstitutional.[18] For example, Luther Martin's letter to the Maryland ratifying convention asserted that the power to declare laws unconstitutional could be exercised solely by the federal courts, and that the states would be bound by federal court decisions: "Whether, therefore, any laws or regulations of the Congress, any acts of its President or other officers, are contrary to, or not warranted by, the Constitution, rests only with the judges, who are appointed by Congress, to determine; by whose determinations every state must be bound."[19] John Marshall said in the Virginia convention that protection against infringement of the Constitution would be provided by the federal courts: "If [Congress] were to make a law not warranted by any of the powers enumerated, it would be considered by the [federal] judges as an infringement of the Constitution which they are to guard.... They would declare it void.... To what quarter will you look for protection from an infringement on the Constitution, if you will not give the power to the judiciary? There is no other body that can afford such a protection."[20]
In short, there were no statements in the Constitutional Convention or the state ratifying conventions asserting that the states would have the power to nullify federal laws. On the other hand, the records of these conventions support the idea that the power to declare federal laws unconstitutional lies in the federal courts.[21]
The Federalist Papers [ edit ]
The Federalist Papers do not assert that the states have the power to nullify federal law. On the contrary, they say that the power to declare laws unconstitutional concerning is delegated to federal courts, not the states.
Federalist No. 33 states that federal laws are supreme over the states, so long as those laws are within the federal government's delegated powers.[22]
Federalist No. 39 directly addresses the question of who is to decide whether the federal government has exceeded its delegated powers and has infringed on the states' reserved powers. It explains that under the Constitution, this issue is to be decided by the Supreme Court, not the states: "[The federal government's] jurisdiction extends to certain enumerated objects only, and leaves to the several States a residuary and inviolable sovereignty over all other objects. It is true that in controversies relating to the boundary between the two jurisdictions, the tribunal which is ultimately to decide, is to be established under the general [i.e. federal] government.... Some such tribunal is clearly essential to prevent an appeal to the sword and a dissolution of the compact; and that it ought to be established under the general rather than under the local governments, or, to speak more properly, that it could be safely established under the first alone, is a position not likely to be combated."[23]
Federalist No. 44 discusses the role of the states in checking actions of Congress that exceed its delegated powers. According to Federalist No. 44, the role of the states is to "sound the alarm" regarding any unconstitutional exercise of power by Congress, and to assist in electing new representatives to Congress.[24] Federalist No. 44 does not imply that the states have the power to legally nullify federal law, although this would have been an appropriate context in which to mention it if such a power were thought to exist.
Federalist No. 78 says that the federal courts have the power "to pronounce legislative acts void, because contrary to the Constitution".[25]
Federalist No. 80 asserts that the final authority to interpret the Constitution and federal law lies in the federal courts, not the states, because of the need for uniformity.[26] Likewise, Federalist No. 22 says that the federal courts should interpret federal law due to the need for uniformity.[27]
Federalist No. 82 says that because of the need for uniformity and the federal government's need to effectively enforce its laws, the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power to review decisions of state courts in cases arising under the Constitution or federal law.[28]
The Federalist Papers therefore indicate that the power to declare federal laws unconstitutional lies in the federal courts, not in the states.
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions [ edit ]
The earliest assertion of the theories of nullification and interposition is found in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, which were a protest against the Alien and Sedition Acts. In these resolutions, authors Thomas Jefferson and James Madison argued that "the states" have the right to interpret the Constitution and can declare federal laws unconstitutional when the federal government exceeds its delegated powers. These resolutions are considered the foundational documents of the theories of nullification and interposition.
The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, written by Jefferson, asserted that the states formed the Constitution as a compact, delegating certain specified powers to the federal government and reserving all other powers to themselves. Each state, as a party to the compact, has a "right to judge for itself" the extent of the federal government's powers. When the federal government acts beyond the scope of its delegated powers, a state may determine that the federal government's "acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force".[29] The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 called on the other states to join Kentucky "in declaring these acts void and of no force" and "in requesting their repeal at the next session of Congress".
The Kentucky Resolutions of 1799 added the assertion that when a federal law is unconstitutional, the remedy is "nullification" of the law by "the several states".[30] The Kentucky Resolutions of 1799 did not assert that Kentucky would unilaterally refuse to enforce, or prevent enforcement of, the Alien and Sedition Acts. Rather, these resolutions declared that Kentucky "will bow to the laws of the Union" but would continue "to oppose in a constitutional manner" the Alien and Sedition Acts. The resolutions stated that Kentucky was entering its "solemn protest" against those Acts. The author of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799 is not known with certainty.[31]
The Virginia Resolutions of 1798, written by Madison, did not mention nullification. Rather, they introduced the idea of "interposition". The Virginia Resolutions asserted that when the federal government engages in "a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise" of powers not granted by the Constitution, "the states, who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining, within their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties, appertaining to them".[32] The Virginia Resolutions did not explain what form this "interposition" might take. The Virginia Resolutions appealed to the other states for agreement and cooperation in opposing the Alien and Sedition Acts.
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions did not attempt to prohibit enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Acts within the borders of those states. Rather, these resolutions declared that the legislatures of these states viewed the Alien and Sedition Acts as unconstitutional, called for the repeal of these Acts, and requested the support and cooperation of the other states.
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were not accepted by any of the other states. Rather, ten states rejected the Resolutions, with seven states formally transmitting their rejections to Kentucky and Virginia[33] and three other states passing resolutions expressing disapproval.[34] At least six states responded to the Resolutions by taking the position that the constitutionality of acts of Congress is a question for the federal courts, not the state legislatures. For example, Vermont's resolution stated: "That the General Assembly of the state of Vermont do highly disapprove of the resolutions of the General Assembly of Virginia, as being unconstitutional in their nature, and dangerous in their tendency. It belongs not to state legislatures to decide on the constitutionality of laws made by the general government; this power being exclusively vested in the judiciary courts of the Union."[35]
Virginia responded to the criticism of the other states by issuing the Report of 1800, written by Madison. The Report of 1800 affirmed and defended the Virginia Resolutions. The Report of 1800 also said that a declaration of unconstitutionality by the states would be only an expression of opinion designed to spur debate, rather than having the authoritative effect of a federal court decision.[36] During the Nullification Crisis of the 1830s, Madison denounced as unconstitutional the concept of nullification of federal law by a state.[37][38][39] Madison wrote, "But it follows, from no view of the subject, that a nullification of a law of the U.S. can as is now contended, belong rightfully to a single State, as one of the parties to the Constitution; the State not ceasing to avow its adherence to the Constitution. A plainer contradiction in terms, or a more fatal inlet to anarchy, cannot be imagined."[40]
Nullification attempts in the 19th century [ edit ]
The Peters case [ edit ]
The Supreme Court first dealt with nullification in 1809 in the case of United States v. Peters, 9 U.S. (5 Cranch) 115 (1809).[41] The Court rejected the idea of nullification. The Pennsylvania legislature had passed an act purporting to nullify a federal court's decision. The Pennsylvania statute stated that the federal court had acted unconstitutionally because it did not have jurisdiction, and that the federal court's judgment "was null and void". The Supreme Court held that the Pennsylvania legislature did not have the power to nullify the federal court's judgment, stating: "If the legislatures of the several States may, at will, annul the judgments of the courts of the United States, and destroy the rights acquired under those judgments, the Constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery, and the nation is deprived of the means of enforcing its laws by the instrumentality of its own tribunals."
In response, the Governor of Pennsylvania called out the state militia to prevent enforcement of the Supreme Court's judgment. However, the U.S. Marshal summoned a posse, carried out the Supreme Court's order, and arrested the leaders of the state militia. The Pennsylvania legislature passed a resolution declaring the action of the Supreme Court unconstitutional, invoking states' rights, and appealing to the other states for support.[42] Eleven states responded by disapproving Pennsylvania's attempted nullification. No state supported Pennsylvania.[43] The Governor of Pennsylvania made a plea to President James Madison to intervene, but Madison affirmed the authority of the Supreme Court. The Pennsylvania legislature backed down and withdrew the militia.[44] Thus, Pennsylvania's attempt to nullify the federal court judgment failed.[45]
New England's protests against federal authority [ edit ]
Several New England states objected to the Embargo Act of 1807, which restricted foreign trade. The Massachusetts legislature passed a resolution stating that the embargo "is, in the opinion of the legislature, in many respects, unjust, oppressive and unconstitutional, and not legally binding on the citizens of this state". The Massachusetts resolution did not purport to nullify the Embargo Act, but instead stated that "the judicial courts are competent to decide this question, and to them every citizen, when aggrieved, ought to apply for redress". Massachusetts called on Congress to repeal the act, and proposed several constitutional amendments. Connecticut passed a resolution declaring that the act was unconstitutional and declaring that state officials would not "assist, or concur in giving effect to the aforesaid unconstitutional act". Connecticut joined in the call for constitutional amendments. Neither Massachusetts nor Connecticut attempted to ban enforcement of the act within the state. A federal district court ruled in 1808 that the Embargo Act was constitutional.[46] Congress repealed the Embargo Act in 1809 because it had been ineffective in achieving its goal of bringing economic pressure on England and France. Neither state attempted to block enforcement of the Embargo Act, so nullification did not come to a legal test.
The War of 1812 was harmful to New England's commercial interests and was unpopular in New England. The New England states objected to putting their state militias under federal control, arguing that the Constitution did not give the federal government authority over state militias in those circumstances. There was some discussion in New England about making a separate peace with Britain or even seceding from the Union. At the Hartford Convention of 1814, delegates from several New England states met to discuss their disagreements with the federal government's policies. The final report and resolutions from the Hartford Convention asserted that "acts of Congress in violation of the Constitution are absolutely void" and asserted the right of a state "to interpose its authority" to protect against unconstitutional government action. The final resolutions did not attempt to ban enforcement of any act of Congress. Rather, the resolutions recommended to state legislatures that they protect their citizens from unconstitutional federal action, called on the federal government to fund the defense of New England, and proposed a series of amendments to the Constitution.[47] No state legislature followed up by attempting to nullify a federal act. The end of the war made the issue moot.
Virginia's opposition to Supreme Court review [ edit ]
In 1813, the Supreme Court reversed a decision of the Virginia Court of Appeals, basing its decision on the terms of a federal treaty.[48] The Virginia Court of Appeals refused to accept the Supreme Court's decision, stating that under the Constitution, the Supreme Court did not have authority over state courts. The Virginia court held that as a matter of state sovereignty, its decisions were final and could not be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Virginia court found unconstitutional the federal statute providing for Supreme Court review of state court judgments. This decision would have allowed each state's courts to decide for themselves whether federal actions were unconstitutional, effectively giving state courts the right to nullify federal law. In Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, 14 U.S. (1 Wheat.) 304 (1816), the Supreme Court rejected this view. The Supreme Court held that Article III of the Constitution gives the federal courts jurisdiction in all cases arising under the Constitution or federal law, and gives the Supreme Court final authority in such cases. The Supreme Court stated that the people, by providing in the Constitution that the Supreme Court has final authority in such cases, had chosen to limit the sovereignty of the states. The Supreme Court therefore found that the federal courts, not the states, have the final power to interpret the Constitution.
Virginia again challenged the Supreme Court's authority in Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) 264 (1821). The question was whether the Supreme Court had authority to hear an appeal in a criminal case decided by a state court based on violation of a state law, where the defense was based on federal law. The Virginia legislature passed resolutions declaring that the Supreme Court had no authority over it due to principles of state sovereignty.[49] The Supreme Court held that under Article III of the Constitution, the federal courts have jurisdiction over all cases involving the Constitution or federal law, including state cases in which a federal defense arises. Because the defendants in the case claimed that their actions were authorized by a federal statute, there was a disputed issue of federal law and the Supreme Court had authority to review the state court's judgment. Thus, the Supreme Court again found that the final power to interpret federal law lies in the federal courts, not the states.
These two cases established the principle that the federal courts, not the states, have the final power to interpret the Constitution and to determine the Constitutional limits of federal power. These cases rejected the state's attempt to determine the limits of federal power.
Ohio and the Bank of the United States [ edit ]
In 1819, Ohio imposed a tax on the federally chartered Bank of the United States. The Supreme Court already had ruled that such taxes were unconstitutional in McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819). Despite the Supreme Court's decision, Ohio seized $100,000 from the Bank to satisfy the tax. Ohio's legislature passed resolutions declaring that it did not accept the result of the McCulloch case and denying that the Supreme Court had the final authority to interpret the Constitution. The Ohio legislature's resolutions, relying on the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, asserted that the states "have an equal right to interpret that Constitution for themselves". The resolutions declared that Ohio had the legal power to tax the Bank.[50]
The controversy eventually reached the Supreme Court in Osborn v. Bank of the United States, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 738 (1824). The Supreme Court held that Ohio's tax on the Bank was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court stated: "[T]he act of the State of Ohio... is repugnant to a law of the United States, made in pursuance of the Constitution, and therefore void." The Supreme Court thus rejected Ohio's attempt to nullify federal law.
Georgia and the Cherokees [ edit ]
In the 1820s, Georgia passed an act making Georgia state law applicable on all Cherokee lands and declaring all laws of the Cherokee nation void. This contradicted federal treaties with the Cherokees, effectively nullifying those federal treaties. Georgia's actions were reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832). While the case was pending in the Supreme Court, the Georgia legislature passed a resolution asserting that under the Tenth Amendment, the federal government had no jurisdiction over Georgia criminal law and the Supreme Court's review of the case was unconstitutional.[51]
The Supreme Court rejected Georgia's attempt to nullify the federal treaties with the Cherokees. The Court held that "according to the settled principles of our Constitution", authority over Indian affairs is "committed exclusively to the government of the Union". The Court held that under the federal treaties with the Cherokees, "the laws of Georgia can have no force" on Cherokee land. The Court held that Georgia's laws regulating Cherokee land were "void, as being repugnant to the constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States".[52] The Supreme Court thus asserted final authority to interpret the Constitution and federal treaties, rejecting Georgia's nullification attempt.
Georgia refused to accept the Supreme Court's decision. President Andrew Jackson did not believe Georgia had the right to nullify federal law, but was sympathetic to Georgia's goal of forcing the Cherokees to relocate to the west. He took no immediate action against Georgia. Before the Supreme Court could hear a request for an order enforcing its judgment, the Nullification Crisis arose in South Carolina. Jackson wanted to avoid a confrontation with Georgia over states' rights. A compromise was brokered under which Georgia repealed the law at issue in Worcester. Despite the Court's decision finding Georgia's actions unconstitutional, Georgia continued to enforce other laws regulating the Cherokees. Ultimately the Cherokees were forced to agree to a treaty of relocation, leading to the Trail of Tears.[53]
The Nullification Crisis [ edit ]
The idea of nullification increasingly became associated with matters pertaining to the sectional conflict and slavery. The best known statement of the theory of nullification during this period, authored by John C. Calhoun, was the South Carolina Exposition and Protest of 1828. Calhoun asserted that the Tariff of 1828, which favored the northern manufacturing states and harmed the southern agricultural states, was unconstitutional. Calhoun argued that each state, as "an essential attribute of sovereignty", has the right to judge the extent of its own powers and the allocation of power between the state and the federal government. Calhoun argued that each state therefore necessarily has a "veto", or a "right of interposition", with respect to acts of the federal government that the state believes encroach on its rights.[54]
In the Webster-Hayne debate in the Senate in 1830, Daniel Webster responded to this nullification theory by arguing that the Constitution itself provides for the resolution of disputes between the federal government and the states regarding allocation of powers. Webster argued that the Supremacy Clause provides that the Constitution and federal laws enacted pursuant thereto are superior to state law, and that Article III gives to the federal judiciary the power to resolve all issues relating to interpretation of the Constitution. Under the Constitution, the federal courts therefore have the last word, said Webster. Webster said that the Constitution does not give the states a power of constitutional interpretation, and that any such power would result in as many conflicting interpretations of the Constitution as there are states.[55] Therefore, said Webster, under the Constitution, the states do not have the power to nullify federal laws.
In 1832, South Carolina undertook to nullify the Tariff of 1828 and the Tariff of 1832, as well as a subsequent federal act authorizing the use of force to enforce the tariffs. South Carolina purported to prohibit enforcement of these tariff acts within the state, asserting that these acts "are unauthorized by the constitution of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens".[56] President Andrew Jackson denied that South Carolina had the power to nullify federal statutes, and prepared to enforce federal law forcibly if necessary. In his Proclamation to the People of South Carolina, Jackson said: "I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which It was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed."[57] No other state supported South Carolina. James Madison, author of the Virginia Resolution, also weighed in at this time, stating that the Virginia Resolution should not be interpreted to mean that each state has the right to nullify federal law.[40] The issue was made moot by an enactment of a compromise tariff bill. While the Nullification Crisis arose over a tariff law, it was recognized that the issues at stake had application to the slavery question as well.[58]
Nullification attempts and the Fugitive Slave Laws [ edit ]
Northern states in the mid-19th century attempted to block enforcement of the pro-slavery federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Several northern states passed personal liberty laws that had the practical effect of undermining the effectiveness of the federal fugitive slave statutes and preventing slave owners from recovering runaways. For example, a Pennsylvania law enacted in 1826 made it a crime for any person to forcibly remove a black person from the state with the intention of keeping or selling him as a slave.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the validity of the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 in the case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 (1842). The Court rejected Pennsylvania's argument that Congress had no constitutional authority to enact the Fugitive Slave Act, finding that the Act was authorized by the Constitution's fugitive slave clause (Article IV, Section 2). The Court found that Pennsylvania's personal liberty law was unconstitutional because it |
I am actually a rogue Disney princess that decided I liked profanity and porn, and so ran away from the studio. And that is what you get out of a Seanan book. I do a lot of urban fantasy, which is modern-day cities, but you’ve got magic, you’ve got fairies running around, or cryptozoological creatures running around, and I’m pulling very heavily on my background as a folklore major and having done some animation work and all of that, and I’m pulling from the modern fairy tale narrative. With Mira Grant, I’m doing a lot of political and medical science fiction, and that’s more drawing on the fact that I’d really like to talk to you about tapeworms while we’re trying to eat raw fish.
Wired: You’re on the Hugo ballot four times this year. Could you tell us a bit about your Hugo-nominated works?
McGuire: I’m on the Hugo ballot four times, and it’s the first time a girl has ever done that, ever! I’m on the ballot twice as myself and twice as Mira. As Mira, I’ve been nominated for Deadline, which is the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy. The first book, Feed, was on the ballot last year. And I’m also up as Mira for “Countdown,” which is a novella set in that same universe. When I was getting ready for the release of Deadline, when it was coming out soon, I decided that the appropriate way to get people excited about the book would be to write a novella in 30 pieces, and publish a piece on my blog every day for a month … during a convention, a week-and-a-half-long trip to New York, and a doll traders’ expo. And I managed to do it without missing a single day.
And when it was all done my editor at Orbit was like, “Hey, that thing you did, you want to sell it to us?” So I said, “Sure,” and they bought it, and they put it in the Orbit short fiction program. It’s going to be coming out in physical form from Subterranean Press later this year. So I think that that actually counts as “monetizing my blog.” I’m very proud of that. As Seanan, I’m actually not up in any fiction categories. I am nominated for best fancast as part of the crew that does the SF Squeecast. The other nomination under my own name is actually, for me, the most exciting. I’m up for a filk CD, which is called Wicked Girls. It is the first time a solo filk CD has ever made the ballot in any category. Filk has been huge in science fiction fandom for more than 30 years, and this is the first time that we’ve been able to get it representation on the Hugo ballot.
Wired: Could you explain what filk music is for people who don’t know?
McGuire: Filk is the folk music of the science fiction and fantasy community — you get parodies, you get traditional music that’s had the words slightly modified, and you’ll also get just original works that have been written about science fiction and fantasy works, or with science fiction and fantasy themes. Some of it is silly sing-a-longs, some of it is really big, dramatic, heartbreaking stuff. I love the filk community. It’s the single most welcoming part of fandom that I’ve ever encountered, and filk saved my life a lot of times when I was a teenager. It was always somewhere I could go, and I think that’s the strength of the filk community, that no matter whether you sing, you play, you just want to listen, as long as you want to be there, they want you to be there.
Wired: Your latest Mira Grant book is called Blackout, which is the third book in the Newsflesh trilogy. Could you give us some background on that setting?
McGuire: The basic concept behind the Newsflesh trilogy is that in 2014 the Zombie Apocalypse happened, and it took us about three years, but around 2017, 2018, we actually managed to win. A lot of people died, a lot of land was permanently ceded, but we came out on top. So 20 years pass, and you have an entire generation of people that’s grown up in a world where zombies just are. They’re not something special. They’re not something exciting. They just are. And people go on, people do what they do.
The Newsflesh trilogy actually follows a pair of bloggers — primarily — Shaun and Georgia Mason. They’re what’s considered “orphans of the rising,” which means that their biological families all died when the zombies rose, and they were adopted together and became professional bloggers, because it’s the blog community that, when the dead actually started walking, was willing to stand up and say, “The dead are walking. We have a problem here,” rather than just going, “Oh, it’s the flu. Oh, it’s something. We don’t know what it is, but we’ll deal with it.”
“Feed is a political thriller with zombies, Deadline is a medical thriller with zombies, and Blackout is a conspiracy thriller with zombies.”
Feed follows the political campaign of Sen. Peter Ryman as he is running to be the Republican candidate for president of the United States, and Shaun and Georgia and their friend Buffy have been selected to be his campaign bloggers, to basically follow him through this process. Deadline picks up where that left off, and it’s dealing with the aftermath of the political campaign, and Blackout is sort of bringing those two things together. So Feed is a political thriller with zombies, Deadline is a medical thriller with zombies, and Blackout is a conspiracy thriller with zombies.
Wired: So the zombie virus in your books is described in great detail. How’d you go about inventing that?
McGuire: In order to come up with the Kellis-Amberlee virus, I read enough books on viruses to qualify for some kind of horrible extra-credit program, audited a bunch of courses at UC Berkeley and at the California Academy of Sciences, and then started phoning the CDC persistently and asking them horrible questions. Now, back to filk, I wrote a song several years ago called “The Black Death,” which is a Schoolhouse Rock-type song about the epidemiological, anthropological origins of the Black Death, and why I do not believe that it can have been bubonic plague, because I subscribe to the hemorrhagic fever theory of the Black Death. It’s a really bizarre little song, but it’s managed to get me some fascinating connections in the epidemiological world.
The first time I called the CDC, I said that I wanted to talk to someone about possibly designing a zombie virus. “I’m a writer, blah-blah-blah.” And the lady who answered the phone was like, “Uh …”
I said, “My name’s Seanan McGuire. Can I leave a number? Can I do this?”
And she went, “Wait. Are you ‘The Black Death’ girl?”
“Yeah.”
She says, “Sing for me!”
So I sang “The Black Death” for the receptionist at the CDC, at which point she actually helped me find people to talk to. So every time I came up with a new iteration of Kellis-Amberlee, I would call back and say, “If I did this, this, this, this, this and this, could I raise the dead?” And every single time they would say, “No.”
And I’d say, “OK,” hang up, and go back to working. After about the 17th time, I called and said, “If I did this, this, this, this, this, this and this, could I raise the dead?” And got, “Don’t … don’t do that.” And at that point, I knew I had a viable virus.
The final iteration, Kellis-Amberlee, is actually a chimera virus resulting from the union of a genetically engineered strain of Marburg, which is a filovirus — it’s related to Ebola — meeting up with a genetically engineered coronavirus, which is one of the common cold viruses. The Marburg was designed to cure cancer, basically. It’s something that you’re supposed to get in your body and just keep there, and anytime that you develop cancerous cells, the Marburg will wake up, begin reproducing and eat them. Then the coronavirus portion, which is the “Kellis” portion, was designed as a cure for the common cold, and it’s supposed to be a pernicious infection.
Basically, it’s a shifting-antigen base. It gets into your body and it never, ever leaves, because your immune system winds up treating the Kellis infection as a part of the immune system, and doesn’t fight it off. The Kellis infection is self-replicating, and that shifting antigen means that it’s continually finding new food sources. It’s supposed to prevent other infections from getting into your body, because it’s taking up all the available space. Well, when those two viruses met, they had babies, and what you got was a shifting-antigen flu that does not leave the body under any circumstances but is capable of turning into something that converts human tissue into more of the virus. And that’s how we got Kellis-Amberlee, which makes zombies.
Wired: You’ve said that the modern lack of respect for basic health and quarantine procedures makes you want to scream.
“No one respects quarantine anymore!”
McGuire: No one respects quarantine anymore! Nobody comprehends quarantine, and absolutely nobody comprehends the fact that sometimes your “rights” and “liberties” do not have any place in this conversation. We have totally drug-resistant tuberculosis! And what do people with totally drug-resistant tuberculosis do? Do they lock themselves in their houses for the rest of their lives? Do they eat a bullet? No! They get on airplanes. And then they get pissed off when the CDC yells at them. Quarantine exists so that we can continue as a species to exist. And yes, it sucks if I say to you, “Dude, really sorry, had to shoot your wife. Had the totally drug-resistant tuberculosis, yo.” But you know what sucks more? Killing an elementary school because you went outside with your totally drug-resistant tuberculosis.
The Crazies, a fantastic movie, was built entirely on the precept that you should break quarantine, like, that’s just what you should do. I think I may have been the only person in that theater that was rooting for the government. I liked our heroes. They were nice people. It’s not their fault. But at the end of the day, when you’re in the contamination zone, sometimes it doesn’t matter if it’s your fault.
Wired: My dad just read Feed, and his reaction was that he could believe that a virus could reanimate the dead, but he had a harder time believing that anyone could make a living as a blogger. What do you think about that?
McGuire: There are already people that are essentially making a living as bloggers, that are already beginning to make a living in the new media. It’s not a great living. I mean, none of the people that are presented in Feed are getting really wealthy off of what they do, unless it’s off of merchandising and counter hits. But keep in mind that in the Feed world, “blogger” now contains a lot of different subcategories. Buffy, who is one of the main characters in that first book, is essentially a romance writer who sells her work through their blog. Georgia is a political and factual reporter. She syndicates her articles, she sells advertising. She makes very little money, whereas her brother, who is an I-will-do-stupid-shit-if-you-would-just-give-me-more-page-hits-and-buy-more-T-shirts blogger, makes about everything the two of them bring home together. So we actually did work on the economy of my blogosphere fairly intensively. It probably does not hold up to the internet as it is now, because when I was first writing Feed and setting up this world, Facebook was pretty small and there was no Twitter. But I think you could make it work if you had to.
Wired: As someone with a popular blog yourself, do you have any advice on how to go about creating a popular blog in the real world?
McGuire: I see a lot of authors — like, a lot of authors — who’ve been told, “You need to create a blog, you need to have an internet presence, you need to do this thing,” who just set out and they create a blog, and all it is is “Buy my book!” over and over again, all the time. And I’m not talking about the two weeks leading up to your book’s release. That is really the time at which “buy my book, buy my book, buy my book” is kind of a reasonable statement. I’m talking about 100 percent of the time, and there is nothing of that person in that blog. Now, I don’t think that anyone is 100 percent honest all the time on the internet. There is an element of self-censorship, but there’s also an element of you have to be a person. You have to talk about who you are, and be who you are, or you risk becoming nothing more than a persona. And I think the internet is pretty clever, in terms of knowing when you are being a persona rather than being a person.
Wired: Do you have any general advice for dealing with hostile comments online?
McGuire: In March of this past year, the physical edition of my book Discount Armageddon was released almost a month early. People started receiving the book, and it was fine — well, it wasn’t fine, I was very upset — but things happen, it’s not your fault. Except that the e-book was not released at the same time, and someone somewhere told some message board that I was being a horrible greedy cunt and withholding the e-book to try to force people to buy the physical edition, and the amount of hate mail I received in a 24-hour period exceeded the previous 18 months. I was called a “greedy cunt.” I was called a “stupid whore.” Pretty much any variation of “cunt,” “whore” or “bitch” that you can come up with was applied to me directly.
I had several offers to “rape the stupid out of me.” I had one particular master of the rape threat threaten to rape my best friend in front of me repeatedly, so that I would understand his position — somehow raping my best friend is equal to you not getting an e-book when you want it, when when you want it is prior to the release date. And I looked at the fact that I was crying so hard I was shaking, and I said, “You know what? That’s why I have a personal assistant.” And I gave the password to that e-mail box to my PA, and told her not to let me see anything. And that was the only way I could get through that process. And in case you’re going, “Well I don’t have a PA,” everyone for this purpose can have a PA fairly easily. You go to your friend, you go to your brother, you go to someone you trust — and you be prepared to change the password on that e-mail box when you’re done — and you say, “Hey, John, this is the situation, these are the e-mails I’m getting. Can you please monitor these e-mails for me for the next week?”
Wired: Your short story “Everglades” appeared in John’s anthology The Living Dead 2. What was that story about?
McGuire: Something that frustrates me a lot in zombie fiction is that everyone is instantly a hero. You almost never see anybody who looks at this situation and looks at this world and says, “Peace out, yo. I’m done.” And I really wanted to follow that character for a little while. I wanted to show what happens when someone realizes that the world has just undergone a sea change, and they’re not ready to evolve with it. So “Everglades” was kind of my evolution piece. It was this character standing at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, wondering if there’s a cure, wondering if there’s a salvation. What they know is that a lot of people are dead, and that even if the cure comes tomorrow, they’ll be rebuilding for 15-20 years. That this has been a huge, huge disaster.
Wired: Apparently the Defense Department and the CDC both have actual zombie-response plans. What do you think of their plans?
McGuire: So you have to understand that the zombie defense plans in question, they’re actually quite good plans, but if you really read them they’re quite good plans explaining how we could shoot several thousand unarmed civilians if necessary. And that is a lot of the motivation for having them. Creating a “zombie defense plan” is an acceptable way of saying, “OK, if we need to clear 3,000 people out of the area in front of the White House, what’s our plan of attack there, guys? How are we going to do it?”
But if you want some really good reading, pick up a copy of the 2011 Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Manual. One of the best things that’s ever happened to me on an airplane in my life is I was sitting on a plane next to this lady, and I was reading Parasite Rex, which is Carl Zimmer’s beautiful, beautiful book on parasitism in humans and other creatures. And the lady next to me commented that she had read that book, she liked it. I asked her her name, what did she do, and it turned out she was one of the people who’d worked on the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Plan. So we spent the entire flight from California to Massachusetts happily talking about stacking dead bodies in hockey rinks, and how we’d deal with certain outbreaks, and it wasn’t until we started to land that we realized we had just spent an entire airplane ride gleefully discussing these things.
Wired: Speaking of parasites, you’ve said that you’re one of the people who believe that a lack of hookworms explains peanut allergy. How does that work?
“Our immune systems are basically really, really bored 5-year-old boys standing in rooms full of breakable things, and they have baseball bats.”
McGuire: The “hygiene hypothesis” basically holds that the ongoing rise of allergies and autoimmune disorders is connected to the fact that we have reduced the contaminants in our environment at an unnaturally fast rate. So we spent millennia evolving immune systems to cope with parasitic infection, to cope with having things squirming around in and biting on us all the time, and then we took them away essentially overnight. So our immune systems are basically really, really bored 5-year-old boys standing in rooms full of breakable things, and they have baseball bats.
There have been some really fascinating scientific studies done, several of which are fairly conclusive. My favorite is the Venezuelan study, where they were able to take two essentially genetically identical populations — one living in the city environment, one living outside the city environment — and test them for incidents of allergies and autoimmune disorders, and they were actually able to chart a pretty much one-to-one correlation between “lives outside the city, has a parasitic infection, has no allergies” and “lives inside the city, has no parasitic infection, has lots of allergies.” So there is some very strong scientific support for the hygiene hypothesis, and for the idea that controlled reintroduction of parasites to the human body is a way to deal with all of these conditions.
There have also been some folks who — because humans will always be smart this way — have been experimenting on themselves, and have been going out and getting themselves some hookworms, to find out if it would work, and for the most part they are in fact finding that it will work, and it will control their allergies, right up until they inevitably let their hookworm population get out of control and have an exciting new problem to contend with, which is, you know, hookworms — they’re not your friends. That’s actually the topic of the new Mira Grant duology I’m writing, which is called Forced Evolutions, and it’s about the hygiene hypothesis, and genetically engineered parasites, and lots of other fun things that have made me the world’s best dinner conversationalist for the past year.
Wired: Are those coming out soon?
McGuire: Yeah, actually at the beginning of our little pre-interview chat, I said I’d finished a book last night, and the book I finished was Parasite, the first of those two. They’ve been sold to Orbit, and I believe the plan is that Parasite will be out next year.
Wired: You mentioned earlier that you and some of your writer friends have started up a podcast called Squeecast. How did that idea first come about, and what sorts of topics do you cover?
McGuire: So, in Australia in 2010 they held the Worldcon, and because it was an Australian Worldcon, they were very generous with certain panel spaces, because it was a small convention in terms of Worldcons, so they had a lot of room to fill. And this led to Paul Cornell and me being given an entire slot just to talk about Fringe. Not to lead a discussion, not to involve other people in any meaningful way, just “Seanan and Paul are going to have a conversation about Fringe, and ya’ll can watch.” So we in fact had a conversation about Fringe, and a lot of people showed up to watch, and it was surprisingly a lot of fun.
And last year we were chatting on Twitter, talking about how much fun we’d had in Australia, and how great it was to sit down with someone who loved a thing that you loved. And so we’re talking on Twitter about how much fun this was, and how we wish we could do it again, and we’ll probably never convince another Worldcon to let us do that, but god that was great. And Lynn Thomas saw us having this conversation and went, “You know, we could do a podcast.” The next thing we know, Lynn’s giving us instructions on what microphones to buy, and Cat Valente and Elizabeth Bear — who are good friends of ours — have been roped into this, and we’re meeting once a month to talk about things. Basically what we cover is whatever we want to cover. So for each podcast, we will each come in with a topic, and that topic will be a thing that we want to be positive about this recording session, and then anyone else who has any experience with the topic will chime in and give their opinions on things.
Wired: Are there any recent or upcoming projects you’d like to mention?
McGuire: Blackout just came out. I’ve got my first book with Subterranean, which I’m very excited about; they’re publishing a print edition of Countdown. I have a new novella coming out on July 11th. It’s called “San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats.” It’s a Newsflesh universe novella, and was sort of my exercise in giving Orbit’s legal department fits. Because when you come in and say, “I want to set something at a comic convention, so two-thirds of the characters will be running around dressed as representatives of other peoples’ licensed properties. Is that OK?” they kind of make this little squeaking noise deep in their throats. And that was maybe mean of me, but it was so much fun. Then I have the sixth book — because I also write, not just Mira — in my ongoing urban fantasy series, the October Daye books, coming out this September. I have a Toby Daye book in September, and then an InCryptid book in March.I realised that I was different to my friends as a 13-year-old in 1995.
I didn’t think about boys the way you were meant to; I had those thoughts about my brother’s older girlfriend instead. At the same time, I started high school in rural Queensland. To say that sex education as it pertained to me was non-existent is an understatement. My state school’s sex-education classes were rare, and not particularly useful even for the heterosexual students who were their sole target audience.
During those classes, I would sit and scribble on my book that was covered in pictures of Scott Wolf, the dimpled actor I used as my celebrity crush cover throughout high school (Scott Wolf if you are reading I would still kiss you though). It would be another four years before the momentous occasion of seeing two women in a romantic relationship on television (Tara and Willow on Buffy), and another few years on top of that before I came out to my friends and family.
During my formative years, I had a wonderful family life, knew zero queer people, had an education that excluded talk of anything but heterosexuals, didn’t see any representations of lesbians on screen, and lived a life where the only mention of gay people was usually derogatory.
And yet, when I went through puberty, my brain, body and genitals were automatically and exclusively interested in other girls. It’s almost as if I was born that way - but who can say.
I can say that if I had attended a school in 1995 that focused on inclusiveness, teaching that people like me were normal and could have happy relationships, and maybe tried to stop me hearing the word ‘fag’ constantly, it would not have made me more of a lesbian.
It would have just made my life easier.
Now, it’s 2014, and the Minister for Education Christopher Pyne, in a trolling for the ages, has appointed education commentator (and Kevin Andrew’s ex-chief of staff) Dr Kevin Donnelly as one of the two men to review the national school curriculum. Donnelly has a long history of blaming declining standards in Australian schools on a typical list of conservative boogiemen – left-wing academics, unions, sympathetic governments (coincidentally always ALP) and, of course, political correctness.
He believes religion should be taught in all schools, and that private schools are underfunded. There’s also the time he was employed by the tobacco company Philip Morris to design a program teaching school children about peer-pressure which initially did not mention the dangers of smoking, but he was probably distracted by terrifying left-wing professors.
Most disturbing for those of us who are concerned for teenagers who identify as queer or transgender are Dr Donnelly’s comments on these issues in relation to education.
In his 2004 book Why Our Schools Are Failing (to which Malcolm Turnbull wrote the forward) and continuing in more recent articles, he criticizes the Australian Education Union (AEU) for their policy that lessons about GLBTQI issues should be "positive in its approach" and that the "sexual orientation and/or gender-preferred identity of individual teachers should not be a factor in determining which teachers are able to teach sex, health or human biology education”.
Is he saying that a teacher who is transgender shouldn’t be able to teach biology? Wouldn’t they likely know a lot about biology? Does he believe that only sexually active heterosexual people should teach sex education? Should only cows teach Ag Science? I’m not smart enough to figure out exactly what he is implying, so maybe all my teachers were secretly gay.
Donnelly is also critical of the AEU for maintaining that school curricula should “enhance understanding and acceptance” of GBLTQI people (heaven forbid). He says this disregards, “…that many parents would consider the sexual practices of gays, lesbians and transgender individuals decidedly unnatural and that such groups have a greater risk in terms of transmitting STDs and AIDS”.
I just have a couple of notes here for Dr Donnelly. First of all, you don’t transmit AIDs – you transmit HIV. Secondly, I would have thought a good way to decrease the risk of queer people transmitting STIs would be to include comprehensive sex education in schools, but maybe that’s just me. Thirdly, the sexual practices might seem unnatural to you, but they probably feel very natural to queer teenagers, and trying to prevent them being accepted will serve no purpose but to make them miserable. And finally, I imagine that many more parents than those who consider it unnatural would consider it more important that their queer children go to school and feel included and supported.
It is hard to know what Kevin Donnelly is frightened of. Does he believe that gay people are making our children bad at reading? That religious schools will be forced to burn their bibles and exclusively hire gay teachers? That school sports days will involve Ru Paul’s drag racing? That schoolgirls will be forced to dress like Ellen?
Whatever it is, I know he is not as scared as I am. I am scared that Christopher Pyne has put a man like this in charge of reviewing the education curriculum.
I am scared that our secular nation becomes less so with appointments like this.
I am scared that young GBLTIQ people around Australia, already at higher risk of suicide, will be placed in further danger.
Rebecca Shaw is a Brisbane-based writer and host of the fortnightly comedy podcast Bring a Plate.An Old Tin Badge
Over recent months, I have spent a lot of time studying the photographs of the people who lived in the yards beside Quaker St that Horace Warner took around 1900, in order to write my introduction for the book of Spitalfields Nippers which is to be published on 1st November. The sharp focus of these pictures permits me to examine them closely and they reward attention because the plethora of detail can reveal unexpected things.
I especially like this photograph of a girl holding scrap timber. It fascinates me that her clothes and jewellery demonstrate such pride in her appearance, even while her hands are dirty and she is collecting firewood. It is obvious that Horace never asked his subjects to smile, instead he granted them the space for self-possession and she presents herself on her own terms, with composed equanimity and preoccupied in her world.
James McBarron who grew up in Hoxton in the thirties and, as a child, knew Celia Compton – portrayed in another of Horace’s photographs – explained to me the practice of wood-chopping for pennies. “We kids chopped firewood to make money. The boys and girls used to go around collecting tea-chests and packing-boxes from the back of furniture factories, and say ‘Can we take it away, Mister?’ We chopped it up into sticks and made bundles, and we’d sell them for a penny or a ha-penny.”
I am fascinated by the variety and individuality of clothing in Horace’s photographs, which belong to an age before the industrialised mass-production of clothes we know today. These were garments that went through many owners, handed down through the family, altered, patched and refashioned until they fell apart. The ancient Houndsditch Rag Fair existed just a mile to the south, until it was closed permanently to prevent the spread of smallpox, and this may explain the presence of so many elaborately-detailed garments in antique designs – such as the dress in this photograph – which could have been acquired cheaply in the market and cut down to size.
In particular, I grew curious about the badge that this girl wears upon her decorative collar and, in close-up, I could see that it was King Edward VII & Queen Alexandra. Another of Horace’s photographs show boys holding up newspaper hoardings announcing the end of the Second Boer War in June 1902 and, since the Coronation of Edward & Alexandra took place in August 1902, this gives us an indication of the date of this photograph.
Imagine my surprise, when walking through Spitalfields Market, to see just such a badge – slightly different because it shows Alexandra without Edward, but in all other respects the same and around the size of a pre-decimal penny. My pal Bill, whose stall it was, told me that they were given away free at the time of the Coronation. “It’s such a cheap thing, just a scrap of paper stuck on a piece of tin, that it’s amazing it has survived,” he said, holding it up to examine it. When I told Bill the story of the badge in the photograph, he presented me with it as a gift and I agreed to bring him a copy of the book in exchange in a few weeks time.
When I read about Alexandra, I discovered that she had a scar on her neck from an operation that happened when she was a child, which led her to wear high collars and elaborate necklaces. Consequently, this style became a fashion and, when I looked back at the photograph of the girl, I wondered if she was trying to emulate Alexandra in the way she wore her necklace over the dress with its decorative collar.
If it were not for Horace Warner, I should not have looked twice at this old tin badge in the market but, thanks to his photograph, it has become a wonder to me.
Tin badge from 1902 given to me by my pal Bill, dealer in the Spitalfields Thursday Antiques Market
Tin coronation badge of King Edward & Queen Alexandra
The reverse of the badge.
This is my pal Bill, a dignified market stalwart who deals in coins, whistles, badges, gramophone needles, souvenir thimbles, magic lantern slides, trading tokens, small classical antiquities and prehistoric artifacts. “I sell quite a few things, but on a low margin because it’s more interesting to have a quick turnover.” he admitted to me, speaking frankly, “I’m here more for enjoyment really – quite a few friends I’ve made over the years. I was a shy person before, but it’s made me confident having a stall. I’ve become an optimistic person.” Bill comes to Spitalfields each week with all his stock in a backpack and large suitcase – practical, economic and an incentive to sell as much as possible.
(Pen portrait with photograph by Jeremy Freedman originally published July 22nd, 2010)
All Publication Rights in these Photographs Reserved
Click here to pre-order a copy of SPITALFIELDS NIPPERS by Horace Warner
My SPITALFIELDS NIPPERS lecture at the Bishopsgate Institute on 4th November is sold out. I shall also be showing the photographs and telling the stories at WATERSTONES PICCADILLY on WEDNESDAY 19th NOVEMBER at 7pm. Admission is free to this event and tickets are available but must be reserved piccadilly@waterstones.com
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An Astonishing Photographic Discovery
In Search of Horace WarnerEver wish you could jump in a time machine and travel back to the age of dinosaurs? What were terrifying prehistoric beasts like megalodon and T. rex really like? And what happened when these creatures battled each other to the death?
While we may not have time machines, a Canadian paleoartist, Julius Csotonyi, provides us with the next best thing. Check out a selection of illustrations from his new book, "The Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi," below.
"I became interested in drawing dinosaurs as a kid, as do many kids. I never grew out of my ‘dinophile’ phase," Csotonyi wrote in an artist's statement on his website. "Dinosaurs are members of a world that is alien to us, and my fascination with the unexplored and unknown led me to both my interest in illustrating dinosaurs and my current career path in science."
Ready to go back in time now? Just scroll down.Image copyright AP Image caption The armoured vehicles moved into the Mare slum at dawn
Brazilian security forces have moved into a slum near Rio airport, as part of efforts to drive out drugs gangs before this year's football World Cup.
The vast Mare favela is considered to be one of the most dangerous drug-trafficking areas in the city.
Authorities have been carrying out a slum "pacification" programme aimed at making the city - which also hosts the 2016 Olympics - safer.
Large quantities of weapons were reportedly seized in Sunday's raid.
It began before dawn, when more than 1,000 police backed by soldiers and armoured vehicles took up position in Mare, one of Rio largest shantytowns.
The area - close to Rio's international airport - is home to about 130,000 residents.
The BBC's Julia Carneiro in Sao Paulo says it has become a hub for drug traffickers who have been pushed out of other communities by the pacification programme.
The authorities said the whole area was occupied within 15 minutes.
But in the afternoon, clashes erupted between rival groups and a 15 year-old boy was killed.
Residents said the unrest started with teenagers hurling stones at each other but ended in a shoot-out.
At least another three people were injured and taken to a hospital nearby.
Earlier, police had seized "large quantities of drugs and weapons" hidden near the Olympic Village, GloboNews TV reported.
The favela pacification programme was launched in 2008, when Rio launched a successful bid to host the 2016 Olympics.U.K. Muslims Support Keeping Christ in Christmas
Muslim leaders join the U.K. Commission for Equality and Human Rights in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas, and not worry about offending non-Christians. The urging comes amid reports of schools cancelling nativity plays in order not to offend Muslims and students of other religions.
JOHN YDSTIE, host:
Muslim leaders have joined the head of Britain's Commission on Racial Equality in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas more and stop worrying about offending non-Christians. The calls have come amid reports that schools are canceling Nativity plays in order not to offend Muslims and students of other religions.
But as Rob Gifford reports, it is Muslims who are leading the efforts to keep the Christ in Christmas.
ROB GIFFORD: To Americans, Britain can seem a strange place when it comes to religion. There's no separation of church and state; religion can be, and is, taught in schools. And yet the number of people attending church has declined drastically in recent years.
Now a head of the government-funded Commission for Equality and Human Rights, Trevor Phillips, has - in the run-up to Christmas - caused the furor. He said that Christian Nativity plays should be performed in all schools, even those that contain predominantly children of other religions.
Mr. TREVOR PHILLIPS (Commission for Equality and Human Rights): I think schools which are deliberately shying away from the real - the true story of Christmas, are just plain wrong and that what they should do is make sure that all of their children have access to this very important, fundamental, national celebration and tradition. Otherwise they're robbing their children of really being part of what it to be British.
GIFFORD: The problem is that what it means to be British is changing so rapidly because of the waves of immigration of recent years, and many local government leaders think that Muslims and those of other religions shouldn't be forced to sit through events like |
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GARY BEDINI and JOHN BEDINI have passed on 11-6-16 by autospec · 6,451 views 27 December 12, 2018 8:46pmAs you might have noticed. EVO 2015 registration has closed down. Here are more details regarding the EVO 2015 side tournament:
You can register online (kofxiiiatevo)
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Registration is $10
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You can donate for the pot (more info on the kofxiii at evo website)
If you want to participate in other side tournaments check out AnimeEVO for the full list (not just Air Dash Games)
The Tournament will start July 17 at 12 noon, and top 8 will be Saturday (Time, and stream TBD)
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See you guys in Vegas!!!The people that time forgot: Incredible story of Russian family cut off from all human contact for 40 years who didn't know about WWII and had to eat leather shoes to survive
The Lykovs were Old Believers - members of a persecuted Russian sect
They left for wilderness after Karp saw brother killed by communists in 1936
Lived off land, ate leather shoes in harsh winter, unaware of WWII
Found in 1979 by Russian helicopter searching for spot to land geologists
The Lykovs were stupefied by modern goods like TV and cellophane
Tragically in 1981, three of Lykov children died, possibly of modern diseases
At first the helicopter pilot couldn't believe his eyes and had to fly over the spot several times just to be sure.
But there was no doubt, the small clearing in the forest, the long dark furrows in the ground, they could only have been made by human hands.
But who could be living some 150 miles from the nearest settlement?
The Siberian taiga is one of the last remaining wildernesses on earth - thousands of square miles of dense pine forest, rugged mountain valleys, white water rivers and impenetrable bogs.
New clothes: Karp Lykov and his daughter Agafia, wearing clothes donated by Soviet geologists not long after their family was rediscovered
Squalor: Agafia Lykova (left) with her sister, Natalia were found in a single room lit by a tiny window, lumps of burnt wood scattered the filthy squalor of the floor
For years, scientists believed that this vast region was home to only the wolves, the odd wandering bear and whatever other animals were capable of surviving the harsh climate.
No human beings could, or for that mater would want to, live in such a place. Or so they thought.
It was 1979 and the Russian helicopter pilot had been searching for a spot to land a team of geologists when he spotted the little clearing high up on a mountainside some 150 miles from the nearest human settlement.
Little did he know at the time but he had just discovered the home of the Lykovs - a family lost in time - somehow surviving in this brutal country without seeing another human being in over 40 years.
The Lykovs were Old Believers - members of a fundamentalist Russian orthodox sect which had been persecuted since the days of Peter the Great in the early 18th century.
Dmitry (left) and Savin in the Siberian summer. Dmitry became an outdoorsman with skills beyond compare. As he reached manhood he became an expert at hunting and trapping animals. After they were found, Savin and Natalia later from kidney failure and then Dmitry died of pneumonia
Ramshackle: The Lykovs lived in this hand-built log cabin, lit by a single window 'the size of a backpack pocket' and warmed by a smoky wood-fired stove
When the Bolsheviks swept into power following the Russian revolution of 1917, many Old Believer communities fled to Siberia to escape religious persecution.
Things were to get even worse during the Stalinist purges of the 1930s when Christianity and other religions were outlawed.
'He wore trousers made of sacking, had an uncombed beard and his hair was disheveled. He looked frightened and was very attentive…. We had to say something, so I began: "Greetings, grandfather! We’ve come to visit"' - Lead geologist Galina Pismenskaya
One day a young Karp Lykov was working in the fields when a communist patrol arrived and shot his brother dead.
It was then he made the decision to flee into the forest with his family.
So on a day in 1936, Karp, his wife Akulina, their nine-year-old son Savin and two-year-old daughter Natalia gathered their meagre possessions and a few seeds and headed off into the wilderness.
Over the years they retreated deeper into the forest, building themselves a series of wooden cabins until they found a secluded spot 6000ft up on a mountain side. It was there they made their home.
In 1940 son Dmitry was born, followed two years later by daughter Agafia. They would not see another human being for 40 years.
One can only imagine the shock they must have felt as the helicopter buzzed over their wooden shack.
And a few months later they would get an evening bigger surprise.
Isolated: A Russian press photo of Karp Lykov (second left) with Dmitry and Agafia, accompanied by a Soviet geologist. Karp made the decision to flee into the forest with his family after watching a communist patrol shoot hios brother dead
The Lykovs' graves: Today only Agafia survives of the family of six, living alone in the taiga
The geology team were being sent into the taiga to search for deposits of iron ore. They had been told about the helicopter pilot's discovery and had decided to investigate.
Lead geologist Galina Pismenskaya recalls the group 'chose a fine day and put gifts in our packs for our prospective friends '.
As they climbed up the side of the mountain they began to notice signs of human activity.
Small paths beaten into the forest floor, a staff, a log laid across a stream and then a small wooden shed containing a few potatoes and containers fashioned from birch bark.
Pisemnskaya recalls the moment they came upon the Lykovs’ home.
She told The Smithsonian : 'Beside a stream there was a dwelling. Blackened by time and rain, the hut was piled up on all sides with taiga rubbish—bark, poles, planks.
Wilderness: The Siberian taiga is one of the last remaining wildernesses on earth - thousands of square miles of dense pine forest, rugged mountain valleys, white water rivers and impenetrable bogs
If it hadn’t been for a window the size of my backpack pocket, it would have been hard to believe that people lived there. But they did, no doubt about it…. Our arrival had been noticed, as we could see.
'The low door creaked, and the figure of a very old man emerged into the light of day, straight out of a fairy tale. Barefoot.
'Wearing a patched and repatched shirt made of sacking.
'He wore trousers of the same material, also in patches, and had an uncombed beard. His hair was disheveled. He looked frightened and was very attentive…. We had to say something, so I began: ‘Greetings, grandfather! We’ve come to visit!’
'The old man did not reply immediately…. Finally, we heard a soft, uncertain voice: ‘Well, since you have travelled this far, you might as well come in.’
Shock: The Lykovs' homestead seen from a Soviet reconnaissance plane, 1980. As the geologists set foot inside the cabin it was if they had steeped back in time by 500 years
As the geologists set foot inside the cabin it was if they had steeped back in time by 500 years.
It consisted of a single room lit by a tiny window, lumps of burnt wood scattered the filthy squalor of the floor.
Then out of the darkness and gloom they heard the sobs of two terrified women - Agafia Lukova and her older sister Natalia.
'This is for our sins, our sins,' they cried at which point the geologists realised they had to leave as quickly as possible.
The team waited outside the hut and after about half an hour Karp Lykov and his two daughters finally emerged, curiosity having overcome their fear.
The geologists offered them food - jam, tea and bread but the gift was firmly rejected.
When Pisemnskaya asked if they had evener eaten bread old Karp replied: 'I have, but they have not. They had never seen it.'
Beardy: Peter the Great's attempts to modernize the Russia of the early 18th century found a focal point in a campaign to end the wearing of beards. Facial hair was taxed and non-payers were compulsorily shaved - something Karp Lykov and the Old Believers hated
The daughters themselves could not be understood, having never had conversations with anyone except members of their family before their language was distorted and blurred.
'When the sisters talked to each other it sounded like a slow, blurred cooing,' Pisemnskaya recalled.
Gradually the incredible story of the Lykovs’ survival began to emerge.
They had brought with them into the forest a small selection of possessions - a few pots and pans, a rudimentary spinning wheel and loom and their clothes and shoes.
But when after a few years these wore out. Their clothes were repaired using coarse cloth spun from hemp.
When their metal pots rusted into disrepair they were forced to live on a staple diet of potato patties mixed with ground rye and hemp seeds.
They were permanently hungry, foraging for whatever they could eat - roots, grasses and bark.
A particularly hard frost in 1961 killed everything in their garden and they were reduced to eating their leather shoes.
Tragically that year Akulina died. She had choosen to give food to her family and let herself starve.
Miraculously when the frost thawed, a single grain of rye sprouted on their pear patch - they guarded it day and night to keep mice and squirrels away. They managed to harvest a further 18 grains from which painstakingly they built up a rye crop.
Dmitry became an outdoorsman with skills beyond compare. As he reached manhood he became an expert at hunting and trapping animals.
He would spend days away from the hut trekking through the forest barefoot until he collapsed of exhaustion.
Then he would return home, with an animals slung across his shoulders, providing precious meat for his family.
Gradually the geologists began to forge the trust and friendship of the Lykovs.
The Lykovs' mountain home, seen from a Soviet helicopter: At first the helicopter pilot couldn't believe his eyes and had to fly over the spot several times just to be sure
They would be dazzled by the simplest of modern innovations. Karp, who was well into his 80s was fascinated by a pice of cellophane, declaring: 'Lord, what have they thought up? It is glass but it crumples.'
At first the Lykovs did not want any thing to do with the modern world and would only accept a single gift - salt - something they admitted it had been a nightmare living without.
But they eventually began to accept a few items knives, forks and handles to help with their farming, some grain.
Television however proved irresistible and on their rare visits to the soviets' camp, Karl would watch it, transfixed, sitting directly in front of the screen. Afterwards he would offer a prayer for forgiveness for his sins.
Tragically in 1981, not long after they had been discovered three of the four Lykov children died.
Savin and Natalia suffered from kidney failure and then Dmitry died of pneumonia.
When Dmitry's health began to fail the geologist offered to call in a helicopter but he refused to abandon his family saying: 'We are not allowed that. A man lives for howsoever long God grants.'
It is quite likely that the deaths were a result of the family coming into contact with modern diseases for which they had no immunity.
The geologists attempted to convince the remaining Lykovs - Karp and Agafia - into leaving the forest and rejoining their relatives who had survived the persecutions of the purges all those years ago.
But there was never any question of them agreeing to leave their little homestead.
Old Karp Lykov finally died in his sleep on February 16, 1988, 27 years to the day after the death of his wife Akulina.
Incredibly Agafia, now well into her 70s, lives on her little family plot to this day.GOLD COAST (Australia): India dished out a dominating show to notch up a stunning 4-1 win over former champions Indonesia to keep themselves afloat for a knockout berth in the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championship here on Tuesday.After suffering an embarrassing 1-4 defeat against Denmark in the opening match on Monday, India desperately needed to win this contest against fifth seeds Indonesia.India rode on stupendous performances by K Srikanth, PV Sindhu and the experienced Ashwini Ponnappa, who won both the mixed doubles and women's doubles match, alongwith Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and N Sikki Reddy respectively to outwit Indonesia for the first time in team events.Both Denmark and India now have won one match each and the knockout berths would be decided only after Wednesday's clash between Indonesia and Denmark.If Indonesia defeat Denmark, it will come down to the number of matches, games and points as only two can qualify for the knockout stage from Group 1 D.India, ranked ninth, have managed to reach the knockout stage of the tournament only once during the 2011 edition, while in the last two editions they couldn't even cross the group stage.Starting the proceedings, the new pair of Satwiksairaj and Ashwini produced another gritty performance to eke out a 22-20, 17-21, 21-19 over Tontowi Ahmad and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in a mixed doubles match that lasted an hour and six minutes.Former World No. 3 Srikanth, who had reached the finals at Singapore Open recently, saw off Jonatan Christie 21-15, 21-16 to make it 2-0 in India's favour.Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty then suffered a 9-21, 17-21 loss against World No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo as Indonesia gained a point.However, Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu then defeated Fitriani Fitriani 21-9, 21-19 in a 42-minute women's singles match to guide India to an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match rubber.In the fifth match, the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold runners-up pair of Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy then prevailed 21-12, 21-19 over World No. 15 Della Destiara Haris and Rosyita Eka Putri Sar to complete a 4-1 drubbing.Three weeks after setting out from Halifax, HitchBOT the talking robot completed its cross-country road trip and landed in Victoria Sunday, apparently still in one piece.
HitchBOT was conceived by researchers at several Canadian universities as an experiment in human-robot interaction. Equipped with GPS and enough trivia to keep up a conversation with strangers, the robot was sent on its merry way July 26 with the Open Space art centre in Victoria, B.C., as its ultimate location. According to PBS Newshour, the hitchhiking robot finished its 6,200-kilometre journey Sunday.
“Usually, we are concerned with whether we can trust robots,” Dr. Frauke Zeller, assistant professor in the School of Professional Communication at Ryerson University, said July 16. “This project asks: can robots trust human beings.”
Not only was HitchBOT rewarded for its faith in humanity, but the chatty robot even made some friends. Through frequent posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, HitchBOT now boasts tens of thousands of fans on social media. It may not have conclusively proved that humans and robots can co-exist peacefully, but it’s a start.
At the very least, it proved Canadians are more likely to play along with a robotic science experiment than to strip it for parts.Retirement and changing lifestyle habits
Hiroyuki Motegi, Yoshinori Nishimura, Kazuyuki Terada
It is still not clear whether the effect of retirement on health is positive or negative. This column discusses new evidence from Japan showing that it is likely positive. In Japan, elderly people reduce their smoking and drinking after retirement. People tend to smoke and drink with their colleagues, so the result is mostly due to a peer effect.
For a few decades, many developed countries have faced decreasing birth rates and ageing populations. As a population ages, the costs to social security and welfare increase, eroding the country’s budget. Japan is one of the countries that has an ageing population. To cut some of its costs, the Japanese government has changed the basic pension eligibility age from 60 to 65. However, many firms set their mandatory retirement age to around 60. As a result, many elderly people arrive at the mandatory retirement age before they start to receive their public pension. The Japanese government has recently encouraged firms to re-employ elderly people after reaching the mandatory retirement age through an intervention in the labour market.
It is possible that there are side effects of the re-employment promotion policy. One possible concern is the effect on health of elderly people as they continue to work after the mandatory retirement age. For example, if working is good for the health of elderly people, this could lead to reductions in medical expenses. On the other hand, the side effect would be ‘bad’ if working is bad for the health of elderly people; in other words, it could lead to increases in medical expenses. The effect on health after elderly people continue to work is important and we thus evaluate this re-employment promotion policy.
The impact of retirement on health
Over the past decades, a number of studies have investigated the relationship between retirement and health. However, there is no unifying view about the impact of retirement on health.
Some studies conclude that retirement has a positive effect on health outcomes defined as mental health or physical health (Charles 2004, Johnston and Lee 2009).
Others conclude that retirement has either no effect or a negative one (Rohwedder and Willis 2010).
Why are these results different?
The key to explaining these differences is the channel through which retirement influences health. It is possible that the effect of retirement on health is heterogeneous. Alternatively, these studies could be finding different results because the factors influencing the health of elderly people have changed heterogeneously after retirement in each study.
The challenge of analysing the mechanism behind the effect of retirement on health has been tackled recently. Eibichi (2015) is an important work in this regard, in which the author explains why retirement influences health. This study analyses the changes in health behaviour and time usage in Germany. We also consider that the changes in lifestyle habits, which are similar to ‘changes in health behaviour’ (Eibichi 2015), and could be an important channel through which retirement influences health.
In fact, medical research so far has confirmed the relationship between health and lifestyle habits (Jemal et al. 2008). According to the results of these research studies, if there is a causal relationship between lifestyle habits and retirement, changes in the former could be a channel through which the latter influences health, explaining why there is no unifying view about the impact of retirement on health (see Figure 1). Under the mechanism of Figure 1, if elderly people change their health behaviour after retirement, the effect of retirement on health would be different.
Figure 1. Hypothetical relationship between retirement and health
Hypotheses, research design, and results
We analysed the effect of retirement on lifestyle habits – including drinking, smoking, exercise, and sleeping – that could all influence health. Regarding the effect of smoking and drinking on retirement, we propose two hypotheses:
First, people drink or smoke because of workplace stress before retirement. If this is done because of workplace stress, they would do these activities less when they are relieved from workplace stress after retirement.
Second, people drink or smoke with their colleagues at their workplace because their colleagues want to do so. We call this the ‘peer effect’.
In Japan, we believe the peer effect is the key to explaining why people drink or smoke at their workplace. Elderly people would decrease their level of drinking or smoking after retirement if they drank or smoked as a result of the peer effect at their workplace, as they would no longer see their colleagues after retirement.
In Japan, there is a custom for businesspeople to drink with their colleagues or business partners after work. As a result, the second proposition is the key hypothesis regarding drinking behaviour in Japan. From our descriptive statistics, it seems retirement could influence lifestyle habits (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Average number of cigarettes per day, amount of alcohol intake (grams) and sleeping time (hours)
Note: F = female; M = male.
We conducted an econometric analysis to find out which hypothesis was supported by our data. Our analysis used the Japanese Study of Ageing and Retirement (JSTAR) to analyse the effect of retirement on lifestyle habits. This is a panel survey of elderly people aged 50 or older in Japan. The study has counterparts in other countries, such as the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), the English Longitudinal Survey on Ageing (ELSA), the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA), the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) and the Survey on Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We summarise the results:
First, elderly people reduce their smoking and alcohol intake after retirement.
Furthermore, they increase the frequency of exercise and sleep on weekdays although the time spent on sleeping during holidays seems unchanged, which implies that elderly people have changed their time allocation after retirement.
Second, by controlling for many factors including the level of stress at workplace, we find that the peer effect is important in decreasing the level of smoking or drinking after retirement in Japan. Therefore, we support the second hypothesis.
How elderly people will change their lifestyle habits after retirement
We find that the peer effect is the key factor that explains changes in lifestyle habits after retirement in Japan. However, we do not think that this result is universal. In many other countries, business people do not drink often with their colleagues after work. People in some countries might not change their lifestyle habits after retirement, and, as a result, health might not change post-retirement. This possibility shows that the changes in lifestyle habits might be an important channel to explain why the effect of retirement on health varies across the different studies. We will check both behavioural changes in possible channels influencing health after retirement and how health has changed after retirement in many countries. To begin with, we will compare the changes in lifestyle habits in the US, Europe, Korea, and Japan after retirement in a forthcoming study.
References
Charles, K K (2004), “Is Retirement Depressing? Labor Force Inactivity and Psychological Well Being in Later Life,” Research in Labor Economics, 23: 269–299.
Eibich, P (2015), “Understanding the Effect of Retirement on Health: Mechanisms and Heterogeneity,” Journal of Health Economics, 43: 1–12.
Jemal A, M J Thun, L A G Ries, H L Howe, H K Weir, M M Center, E Ward, X-C Wu, C Eheman, R Anderson, U A Ajani, B Kohler and B K Edwards (2008), “Annual Report to The Nation on The Status of Cancer, 1975-2005, Featuring Trends in Lung Cancer, Tobacco Use, and Tobacco Control,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 100(23): 1672–94.
Johnston, D W and W S Lee (2009), “Retiring to the Good Life? The Short-term Effects of Retirement on Health,” Economics Letters, 103(1): 8–11.
Motegi, H, Y Nishimura, and K Terada (2015), “Does Retirement Change Lifestyle Habits?” RIETI Discussion Papers 15-E-068
Rohwedder, S and R J Willis (2010), “Mental Retirement,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(1): 119–138.Getty Images
Bears outside linebacker Pernell McPhee is hoping to be much healthier this year.
But beyond staying on the field, he’s at least going to look better.
Via John Mullin of CSNChicago.com, McPhee has dropped 25 pounds since last offseason.
“I feel great,” he said. “I’m sexier, it’s a blessing and I can’t wait till the season starts.”
McPhee said there wasn’t any great secret to his weight loss, either.
“Don’t eat after 7 o’clock at night,” he said. “Just pound yourself with water. That’s the only way I did it....
“It was really important. Usually when I’d get out of bed, it’d take me about a good second to start walking, but I can get up and run right now. So it’s a blessing coming from where I was to now.”
He’s been plagued by knee and shoulder injuries since joining the Bears in two years ago, but he came back to play well when he did play last year, and they’re hoping the improved conditioning can keep him on it longer.Share. The best of video gaming's Big Bads. The best of video gaming's Big Bads.
IGN's Never-Ending Boss Battle pitted more than 100 beloved video game bosses against one another. The Face-Off match-ups are chosen randomly, leading to plenty of tough choices: Glados vs. Ganondorf, Ridley vs. Dracula, Goro vs. Master Hand, and plenty more.
After more than 2 million votes, IGN readers have helped determine who are the most beloved and badass video game bosses of all time. Below are the top 10 and bottom 10 (sorry, General Sturm!) video game bosses, as chosen by your votes.
And remember - if you don't like these picks, cast some votes! You have the power to let us know who you think are the most badass game bosses.
Unfortunately not every boss can be as memorable as Ganondorf or Psycho Mantis. Below are the 10 Face-Off bosses that bring up the rear of the list:
So what do you think? Did the IGN community get the votes right, or was a particularly beloved boss robbed of its rightful place at the top of the list? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. Or just head over to the face-off itself to cast a few more votes. After all, IGN's Never-Ending Boss Battle will technically never end
Lucas M. Thomas is a freelance writer and designer. You can follow him on Twitter, @lucasmthomas.
Justin Davis is the second or third best-looking Editor at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin and on IGN.End of the Scale To measure the level of a civilization’s advancement, the Kardashev scale focuses on the amount of energy that a civilization is able to harness. Obviously, the amount of power available to a civilization is linked to how widespread the civilization is (you can’t harness the power of a star if you are confined to your home planet, and you certainly can’t harness the power of a galaxy if you can’t even get out of your solar system). In short, according to the Kardashev scale, interstellar travelers = advanced society. In previous articles, we offered an overview of the various civilization types: Subglobal Cultures, Galactic Cultures, Multiverse Cultures, etc. We’ve already discussed a Subglobal Culture, a Planetary Culture, a Stellar Culture, a Galactic Culture, and an Intergalactic Culture. Today, we’ve reached the end of the scale. We want to talk about what it would be like to live in a Type V Civilization—a culture that can harness the powers of, well…everything.
Way Beyond Kardashev At this point, we’re way beyond anything Kardashev ever envisioned. He didn’t even add a Type IV civilization to his scale because he thought it was too advanced—that no society could ever hope to reach this level of progress. Therefore, he obviously didn’t acknowledge a Type V civilization. Kardashev thought that, surely, Type III would be the extent of any species’ ability. However, a few theorists disagree. Aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin weighed in on what could exist beyond Kardashev’s initial scale. Zubrin proposed metrics other than pure energy use that could help species excel beyond what a Type III civilization would be capable of. One classification he suggested is the ‘mastery’ of a planet, system, galaxy, galactic group, etc. Similarly, Carl Sagan suggested adding another dimension in addition to pure energy usage: The information available to the civilization. And in his book, Parallel Worlds, Michio Kaku discussed a Type IV civilization that could harness “extragalactic” energy sources, such as dark energy. But we can go beyond event that. So, let’s visit the most extreme on the scale, shall we? Beings Like Gods Imagine the most advanced civilization ever. Then go even further (by a lot). That’s a Type V civilization – a Multiverse Culture.
Such a society would have an advanced understanding of physics. In fact, it would be so advanced that they would understand literally everything about the physics of the universe. This would allow them to manipulate matter in unimaginable ways—they may even be able to create matter from the fabric of the cosmos. They would also have such an intricate understanding of genetics that they would be able to create life from non-living matter. If that’s not enough, according to Kaku, this culture will have transcended their universe of origin. Yes, their universe. These hypothetical beings would be capable of universe-scale manipulation (jumping between multiverses that contain varied forms of matter, physics, and space-time). Imagine being able to enter a universe where there are two dimensions of time or no time at all, where space has 6 dimensions or maybe just one, where light (or maybe even space itself) doesn’t exist. That would be possible for Type V civilizations. In short, they would be beings of unimaginable power and ability. Essentially, the beings would be akin to gods.
A Long Road to Travel As we pointed out in the first article, humans are a very, very, long way from ever reaching anything like this. Sagan noted we weren’t even at a Type I civilization yet. And Kaku points out that many experts assert that we are some ways from reaching even that: “Physicist Freeman Dyson of the Institute for Advanced Study estimates that, within 200 years or so, we should attain Type I status. In fact, growing at a modest rate of 1% per year, Kardashev estimated that it would take only 3,200 years to reach Type II status, and 5,800 years to reach Type III status.” But it’s not to say that Type V it cannot be achieved, as long as we take care of Earth and each other (nuclear war would set us back some ways). To get beyond our Type 0 status, the first step is to preserve our tiny home and continue to support scientific advances and discoveries. Maybe someday, we’ll be multiverse hopping.A tunnel at a French nuclear waste storage facility under construction has collapsed, killing at least one person and injuring another, French media reported, citing rescue teams.
The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon in Bure, northeastern France, at an underground laboratory of the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra), which didn't immediately comment on the incident.
The two victims, including a seriously injured person, are still trapped 500 meters below the ground, with emergency services trying to reach them, Reuters reported, citing local fire service.
Read more
Andra's Cigeo deep geological storage project is designed to ensure long term management of France's radioactive waste, and is still subject to approval.
READ MORE: Radioactive materials spreading from St. Louis landfill – report
Scheduled for an authorization decree in 2018 and industrial commissioning in 2025, the facility - if approved - is expected to bury France's most dangerous, highly-radioactive nuclear waste. The project, estimated to cost €25 billion ($27 billion), is awaiting the government's final investment decision, but testing works with deep shafts and some future installations have already begun at the site.
READ MORE: 82 contaminated waste bags from Fukushima washed away by typhoon floods
Stored in underground layers up to 500 meters deep, the waste to be buried at the site accounts of some 3 percent of the total volume of waste produced by French reactors, but concentrate some 99 percent of the radioactivity and must remain confined for around 100,000 years before it's not dangerous to humans, according to Ouest France.Trey Gowdy has told Fox News that the Hillary Clinton email scandal includes far greater crimes involving the Clinton family than the public have been led to believe.
Rep. Gowdy, who recently removed himself from the short list of possible replacements for former FBI Director James Comey, told Fox that history “will be nicer” to Comey once classified details about the Hillary Clinton investigation becomes public.
“I’ve had plenty of differences with Jim Comey, I want to be really clear about that, but I think history is going to be much kinder to Comey over his July press conference [in which he declined to prosecute Hillary] than the Democrats were when he had it,” Gowdy said. “I think he had access to information that, because he’s a stand-up guy who’s not going to decimate classified information although God know everyone else is, he’s not going to [release] it even if it casts him in a negative light.”
“…Comey had access to additional [classified] information that I am convinced that left him with no other choice than to make the decision he made in July.”
Infowars.com reports: And right after that decision, a FBI insider with “intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Clinton case” revealed the agency’s investigation into Clinton’s private email servers pointed towards greater crimes involving the Clinton Foundation.
“There is enough for her and the entire government to be brought down,” he revealed. “People do not realize how enormous this whole situation actually |
Sterling scored the opening goal in Monday night’s 2-0 victory over Newcastle
NITROUS OXIDE OR 'HIPPY CRACK' Nitrous Oxide, has been nicknamed ‘laughing gas’ due to the euphoric and relaxed feeling people who inhale it can sometimes feel. The gas is normally bought in pressured canisters, commonly transferred to a container, e.g. a balloon, from which the gas is inhaled. Nitrous oxide is not illegal to possess, but this doesn’t mean that it is safe to use. The effects of nitrous oxide vary depending on how much has been inhaled but they include: • Feelings of euphoria, relaxation and calmness. • Dizziness, difficulty in thinking straight and fits of giggles/laughter. • Sound distortions or even hallucinations. • In some people, a headache can be an unwanted immediate effect. Risks include: • Unconsciousness or death from lack of oxygen. This occurs when the available oxygen for breathing is effectively pushed out by the nitrous oxide.
A Liverpool spokesman said: ‘We are aware of the story and intend to speak to the player. Any subsequent action will be taken internally.’
Sportsmail contacted Sterling’s agent, Aidy Ward, last night. He refused to comment on the story but did not deny that it was his client. A small pocket of Liverpool fans on The Kop vented their frustrations at last night’s game, chanting ‘Raheem Sterling, your agent’s a k***’ during the first half. They were widely applauded.
Asked if he will be reminding Sterling of his responsibilities, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said: ‘I will do. He’s a young kid who has been in the spotlight now so he knows the demands of being a top class professional — it’s not just on the field it’s off the field, but I will speak with him on it and we’ll move on.’
Sportsmail columnist and former Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher said: ‘In years to come he’ll look back over this period now as a massive learning curve. When you’re a 20-year-old kid, you make mistakes. I did, I’m sure we all do. It’s just important that he learns from it because Raheem Sterling needs to be on the back pages, not the front pages and that’s a problem for him in these last few months.’
Players' union chief Bobby Barnes called for understanding after Sterling'made a mistake'.
Barnes, deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association and European president of the international players' union FIFPro, said people should not be too hard on Sterling.
He said: 'Nobody would condone the use of these types of substances whether legal or otherwise as footballers are seen as role models. It does send a message to young people that if it's good enough for footballers then it's good enough for them and that is not desirable.
The 20-year-old recently snubbed a £100,000-a-week contract offer from the Merseyside club
'But you have to bear in mind that we ask an awful lot of young players growing up in the public eye. Many of us look back at things we have done in our teens and early 20s and wish we hadn't done them.
'He's made a mistake and people are human. I am sure this will be a minor blip on his path to a fantastic career.
'Players have to be aware that there is camera on every corner - they are very much in the spotlight.
'He's a young man, growing up in public eye and he's made a mistake. Let's not be too hard on the boy. He is under a lot of pressure and people think because he has a lot of talent he's also supposed to have diplomacy and wisdom.
'In the main he's doing a very good job, he's at a good club and has a good manager and I'm sure Brendan will put his arm around him and at the same time make him aware of his responsibilities.'
Nitrous oxide has been nicknamed ‘laughing gas’ due to the euphoric and relaxed feeling people who inhale it can sometimes feel. Official figures show 460,000 16-24 years olds took it last year.
Brendan Rodgers has backed his wayward star but contract stand-off has created tension at Liverpool
It has been the cause of 17 deaths since 2006.
It costs around £2 to buy and is not illegal to possess — Sterling is not the first footballer to be caught indulging.
Drugs charity Re-Solv has called on the 'role model' player to condemn the use of the drug to deter young supporters from taking risks with their health.
The anti-drugs organisation's spokesman, Stephen Ream, told MailOnline: 'It's very disappointing from our point of view. He is a big role model and we hate to see this kind of stuff from someone of his status.
'Players in similar situations in the past have come out and apologised and we hope he does the same.
'Nitrous Oxide is not the most dangerous drug out there but there are deaths attached to it. There are risks and we would urge anyone tempted to take it not to do so.'
Tottenham defender Kyle Walker was pictured inhaling a balloon in 2013, while last year Saido Berahino was pictured doing it at the wheel of his Range Rover.
In February, Jack Wilshere faced criticism after he was pictured with a shisha pipe on a night out while recovering from ankle surgery.
But the Arsenal star, who has previously been pictured smoking cigarettes, was defended by England manager Roy Hodgson who said he'd tried the Middle Eastern pipe himself and did not think it was a problem.
The past two months have proved to be a tempestuous period in Sterling’s fledgling career and the revelations of the past two days have ensured extra scrutiny.
The England international (right) played in the Reds FA Cup quarter final win over Blackburn on Wednesday
Sterling (second right) attended the launch of the 2015-16 Liverpool kit at Anfield on Friday afternoon
There was a large turnout for the launch of the new kit, which will be worn throughout the 2015-16 season
England and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere (right) was involved in a smoking controversy in February
Sterling’s contract stand-off with Liverpool has created tension and he was heckled at the launch of the club’s new kit last week. He has turned down a deal worth around £100,000 per week and does not want to resume negotiations until the end of the season.
Sterling infuriated Liverpool at the start of the month when he gave an interview to the BBC —without permission — to talk about his contract stand-off and why he did not want to be perceived as a ‘greedy 20-year-old’.ES Football Newsletter Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account
Jan Vertonghen believes Tottenham have proved they have the credentials to be regular title challengers for years to come.
Spurs remain seven points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea, thanks to last night’s dramatic 3-1 win at Swansea, which took them to 65 points — only five fewer than they collected in the whole of last season — with eight games remaining.
While Vertonghen admits it will be tricky to reel in Chelsea, he hopes Spurs can at least cause them some “stress” along the way. More importantly, he argues that Tottenham’s performances this season and last — when they pushed eventual champions Leicester for long periods — underline they are here to stay.
“We have shown in the last year or two what we are capable of,” said the Belgium central defender, who captained Tottenham in the absence of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who was taken ill before last night’s match. “People always said Tottenham were able to beat the smaller teams but not the big ones.
“In the past couple of years, we have been doing both. Teams are now keeping us in mind when they talk about winning the league or finishing in the top four. Before, it was always ‘Tottenham will finish fifth or sixth’.
“Especially in the past two seasons, we have proved we belong where we are. We have some massive quality. I don’t know what is necessary to win the league — maybe a bit of luck — but there is something very special about this group.
“At Swansea, we were without maybe five players (Lloris, Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Victor Wanyama and Erik Lamela) who would normally play. It was unbelievable how the other guys were able to fit in. Vincent Janssen, for example, came off the bench and made a difference. We have a strong squad who can beat anyone in the Premier League.
“Chelsea are looking very strong. We won’t stop pushing for the title and dreaming about it, but they had a big win over Manchester City and the gap is still seven points. They have difficult games coming up, though, so we have to keep winning and, hopefully, they get a bit stressed.”
Spurs’ next two fixtures are against Watford and Bournemouth, both at White Hart Lane. Chelsea go to Bournemouth on Saturday and travel to Manchester United a week later.
Tottenham’s win at Swansea also cemented their place in the top four. They are now 11 points clear of Arsenal, who have a game in hand. Spurs have not finished above the Gunners since 1995, while their late-season collapse last year allowed their rivals to claim second place behind Leicester.
Vertonghen added: “We want to secure that Champions League spot as soon as we can and then see what else is possible.”On the eve of NFL unrestricted free agency in February 1998, Jaguars coach and personnel chief Tom Coughlin presented his strategy.
"We will be very, very aggressive," he said. "It’s not a question of numbers, it’s a question of getting the guys you earmark. … We’re looking for quality."
Eighteen years later, Coughlin is back with the Jaguars and has the final say on personnel.
And eighteen years later, Coughlin’s free-agent philosophy remains applicable.
When the negotiating period opened Tuesday at 12 p.m., the Jaguars were expected to be very, very aggressive … but ear-marking quality (translation: difference-makers) instead of just signing a bunch of guys.
Because Coughlin is atop the football operations’ mast-head – general manager Dave Caldwell and coach Doug Marrone report to him – it’s appropriate to look back at the last time Coughlin ran a team’s personnel efforts.
The conclusion: This month, Coughlin could use a signing season like 1996 or ‘99.
In 1996, he signed right tackle Leon Searcy, linebacker Eddie Robinson, receiver Keenan McCardell and defensive tackle John Jurkovic. The Jaguars reached the AFC title game.
Three years later, he signed defensive tackle Gary Walker and tight end Kyle Brady. The Jaguars reached the AFC title game.
Coughlin signed 29 unrestricted free agents from 1995-2002. Here is a look at Coughlin’s year-by-year journey into free agency:
1995
Players signed (12): P Bryan Barker, G Shawn Bouwens, CB Vinnie Clark, DT Don Davey, S Mike Dumas, WR Ernest Givens, DE Jeff Lageman, DT Kelvin Pritchett, DE Joel Smeenge, CB Mickey Washington, C Dave Widell and WR Mike Williams.
Hits: Barker punted six years for the Jaguars and was an All-Pro in 1997; Lageman (three years, $5.4 million) had 12 1/2 in first three years with the Jaguars; Smeenge played 84 games (47 starts) and had 34 sacks in six years; and Widell started three years.
Misses: Bouwens started only in 1995; Clark had one interception in 1995 despite starting every game and lasted only four games in 1996; and Washington had only two interceptions in two years (32 games) as a starter.
1996
Players signed (five): DT John Jurkovic, WR Keenan McCardell, QB Todd Philcox, LB Eddie Robinson and RT Leon Searcy.
Hits: All four who were signed to be impact players. Searcy (five years, $17 million) served as Mark Brunell’s blind-side blocker and missed only one game in four years; McCardell (four years, $5.8 million) caught 499 passes, including 30 touchdowns, in six years; Robinson (four years, $10.4 million) lasted two years, but had 112 tackles while starting 28 games; and played every game in 1996 and ’98.
Misses: None. The Jaguars went 0-for-3 on offer sheets to Chicago’s Alonzo Spellman, Indianapolis’ Quentin Coryatt and St. Louis’ Todd Lyght. That ended up being a good thing.
1997
Player signed (one): CB Deon Figures.
Misses: Figures (three years, $6 million) was Pittsburgh’s No. 3 cornerback and was unable to become a regular starter in the Jaguars’ secondary (only 17 of 32 games). He did have five interceptions in 1997. Figures was released after the 1999 preseason.
1998
Players signed (two): LB Bryce Paup and C Quentin Neujahr.
Hits: Neujahr started every game in 1998.
Misses: Paup, who had made the Pro Bowl the previous four years, was signed to a five-year, $22 million contract that made him the second highest-paid linebacker in the league, behind only San Diego’s Junior Seau. Paup had only 7 1/2 sacks in two years and complained about how he was used.
1999
Players signed (three): TE Kyle Brady, S Carnell Lake and DT Gary Walker.
Hits: The Jets didn’t match an offer sheet to Brady (five years, $14.4 million that included a record-for-a-tight-end $4 million signing bonus) and he played 120 games for the Jaguars, catching 241 passes and providing consistent blocking. Walker (five years, $18 million, $4 million signing bonus) started three years for the Jaguars and had 131 tackles and 22 1/2 sacks before he was picked by Houston in the expansion draft.
Misses: Lake (four years, $18 million, $5 million signing bonus) made the Pro Bowl in 1999, but missed 2000 with a foot injury and was cut after the 2001 preseason.
2000
Players signed (two): QB Jamie Martin and LB Hardy Nickerson.
Hits: None.
Misses: Nickerson, 35, signed a four-year, $16 million contract. Nickerson’s arrival as a middle linebacker allowed Coughlin to move Lonnie Marts to strong-side linebacker to replace Paup. Nickerson was limited to six games in 2000 because of a hamstring injury and knee surgery, but did play 15 games in ’01 and set a franchise record with 230 tackles. But he was cut in June 2002.
2001
Players signed: None.
2002
Players signed (four): WR Patrick Johnson, G Chris Naeole, WR Bobby Shaw and FB Detron Smith.
Hits: Naeole (seven years, $16 million) played six years for the Jaguars (2002-07) at guard, starting all 87 of his appearances.
Misses: Smith was cut in training camp when the Jaguars claimed Dan Alexander and Johnson and Shaw played only one year.You too can sell a script to the most influential TV show in the world - if you know the formula.
Let's pretend it's your job to watch Star Trek.
You start on the morning of New Year's Day. You've got to sit through every episode ever created - the 80 produced for the original series, seven seasons of The Next Generation, and the latest episodes of Voyager and Deep Space Nine. You've also got to watch the seven movies, half a dozen specials, and 22 morning cartoon episodes.
Working 9 to 5, five days a week (holidays off), you'd be punching a clock for 10 weeks - until mid-March.
Still going strong with more than 400 hours in the can, Star Trek is an insatiable maw that devours scripts and eats story pitches like popcorn. From its first episode ("The Man Trap," aired September 8, 1966, on NBC) to the current run on the Paramount network, UPN, the franchise has produced a grand total of 16 seasons - surpassing the 14 of Ozzie and Harriet, the longest-running TV show in history. Unlike the all-American Nelsons, however, Star Trek's characters have an appeal that is universal. Two years ago, sailing on a ferry from Brindisi, Italy, to Piraeus, Greece, I caught Jean-Luc Picard on screen in the ship's rec room, dubbed in Greek. The same thing could have happened in Munich, Bombay, or Perth - the show is broadcast in more than 100 countries, worldwide.
What sets Star Trek apart from its classic TV counterparts is, of course, its otherworldly venue. Science fiction is a discipline demanding lateral thinking, techno-fluency, and a sense of the cosmic joke. It's tough to come up with fresh ideas, show after show, season after season. That's why in 1989 - the third season of The Next Generation - the producers decided to make Star Trek the only show on network television willing to consider unsolicited, or "spec," scripts.
What this means is that any of the program's far-flung fans - from Cyndi Lauper to the Dalai Lama - can pitch ideas to the producers and dream of seeing their name in lights.
That's the good news. The bad news is it's a hell of a lot harder than you think. Selling a story requires a working knowledge of where Star Trek fits into our collective consciousness: what it is, where it came from, what works, and what doesn't.
Stardate 49375.4: Making its way through the Delta Quadrant, the United Federation of Planets Starship Voyager encounters a grim situation. The denizens of a double-planet system, inexorably linked by the grip of gravity and millennia of conflict, are locked in a religious war. The population of the smaller world, lacking advanced technology, is about to be mercilessly crushed. Voyager can even the balance of power, but any interference, Captain Janeway insists, would violate the Prime Directive. First Officer Chakotay, recalling how his Native American ancestors were massacred five centuries ago, violently disagrees. The two struggle for control of the bridge, and Chakotay knocks Janeway out. He then races through the ship to enlist the help of his lover - the half-Klingon chief engineer, B'Elanna Torres - but finds her in the arms of Tuvok, the Vulcan security officer. As the two men face off we cut to sick bay, where Kes - the wily Ocampa medical intern - is reprogramming the holographic doctor to synthesize a stash of highly addictive Sikarian pollen....
What's wrong with this picture? To anyone familiar with the basic tenets of the Star Trek universe, the cognitive dissonance is as jarring as seeing Nancy Reagan with a nipple ring.
That this is so testifies to how completely Star Trek and its icons have gotten under our skin. More than a prime-time fantasy, it's our fin-de-millennium mythology: a vivid and indelible tattoo upon the modern American psyche.
"I can't think of a bigger phenomenon than Star Trek," says Lolita Fatjo, the spunky, gap-toothed preproduction and script coordinator whose desk serves as a receiving platform for the more than 1,000 spec scripts that flow into the Hart Building on Paramount Pictures's Hollywood lot every year. "Sitting in an airport, a hotel lobby, wherever, if someone sees that I have anything to do with Star Trek, it's instant recognition. There are a lot of avid fans out there, and some of them are completely extreme."
Is that a good thing?
She tilts her head. "If you're going to be fanatical about something, this is a positive thing to be fanatical about."
It's an easy obsession to fall into. Touring The Next Generation stages a few years back - standing on the bridge, in Captain Jean-Luc Picard's "ready room," and behind the pulsing control panels of the transporter - I felt the giddy rush of awe and reverence that one experiences in the ruins of the Acropolis or on the corner of Haight and Ashbury: here was the spawning ground from which an entire mythos had sprung. But unlike the monuments of the Greeks or the Freaks, this one still flourishes. The Star Trek gestalt, with its credo and its characters, is infinitely more popular today than it was in 1969, when NBC - within weeks of Neil Armstrong's tentative stroll on the Moon - canceled the show after three lackluster seasons.
That strange bit of timing might hold a clue about why the original series withered - and why The Next Generation and Voyager (which premiered in 1987 and 1995, respectively) have flourished. In the 1960s, exploring the cosmic frontier was an integral part of America's destiny. We had the genuine article: from those breathless first steps at the Sea of Tranquility to the nail-biting heroics of Apollo 13 and the wacky lunar roadster rides of later missions. But the Apollo program ended in 1972, and the last dreams you and I might have nurtured of visiting outer space - at least the Moon, for chrissake - exploded with the Challenger in 1986.
One year later, Star Trek: The Next Generation - with its elegant new Enterprise, enlightened crew, and Congress-proof mission - became our surrogate manned space program.
Rick Berman, executive producer of various Star Trek shows since 1987, puts a populist spin on it. "Star Trek deals with a sense of awe. It deals with a hopeful future. And it deals with a family of people - whether they're on a space station or on one of the Enterprises or on Voyager - from all different races. Men and women who work together, who love each other, and who explore together." He nods toward his desk, a tip of the hat to the ironically blindfolded bust of Gene Roddenberry perched near its edge. "That's pretty cool stuff."
It was Gene Roddenberry, of course, who created the original Star Trek, and who ruled over The Next Generation franchise with a velvet fist. Roddenberry died in October of 1991. Today, he's spoken of with a dry reverence that indicates he might have been both a visionary and a total prick. (For 20,000 words on that theme, see the preface to sci-fi maverick Harlan Ellison's new book, The City on the Edge of Forever.) Berman ultimately received the Star Trek mantle from the man called Great Bird of the Galaxy - a moment he recalls well.
"It was a Thursday morning," Berman says, "and Gene knocked on my door carrying this huge mantle. I had no idea what he was doing in here; he just passed it to me and left."
The facts of the matter are only slightly less strange. Roddenberry took notice of Berman - then a fresh young vice president of development at Paramount - at their first formal meeting in 1987. Roddenberry liked him enough to ask him to lunch the following day. During that second encounter, Berman remarked that he'd done a lot of traveling. Roddenberry, an inveterate wanderer himself, smirked.
"Oh yeah? So what's the capital of Upper Volta?"
Berman smirked back. "Ouagadougou," he replied.
That did it. Twenty-four hours later, Roddenberry invited Berman to leave his post at Paramount and produce the new incarnation of Star Trek. It was a risk, since everything about the show (a syndicated, hour-long sequel to a failed science fiction show) spelled disaster. But Roddenberry had the last laugh - and he's laughing still.
"Gene's ghost is my greatest inspiration, and my greatest limitation," Berman admits.
"Star Trek is a formula. It's not my idea, it's not your idea, it's not Paramount's idea. It's Gene Roddenberry's idea of the 24th century, and it's very important for me to remember that. Not because I'm 'faithful to Gene's legacy,' as people love to write; it's because that's what Star Trek is. To change that is to not be doing Star Trek anymore."
Roddenberry's creation is a hopeful, idealistic, and arguably absurd view of the future: an era in which racism and poverty have been vanquished, and mankind combs the cosmos with a smile and a shoeshine. This vision is the genome that has defined Star Trek for three decades.
It's a DNA string with an infinite potential for variation - but an unwavering premise.
The "limitation" Berman alluded to isn't some theoretical conception. Everything about the formula - from the Prime Directive to the do-good chemistry among the officers - limits the arena of conflict. It's a frustration that everyone who's ever written for the show has had to wrestle with. "Gene," Berman remarks, "had incredibly harsh rules. He believed - at least when he created The Next Generation, though he didn't feel this way with the original series - that Starfleet officers didn't squabble, that they were above all that shit. That sounds great, but it's terrible for writing drama."
After years of squeezing into Roddenberry's conceptual corset, something had to give. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the "evil twin" of the flagship show, provides a narrow escape valve for stories that don't fit the mold.
"When Michael Piller and I created Deep Space Nine, we said to ourselves, 'We gotta be able to generate some conflict from inside our cast.' We wanted that, but we didn't want to break Gene's rule. We decided that the conflict would come from within our characters - but not from the Starfleet humans. So we brought along Odo, a grouchy security officer, and we brought along Quark, a shifty Ferengi. And we put all these people on Deep Space Nine, which is an inhospitable environment.
"That was a way of bending Gene's rule without breaking it. And we do that every day. We do it with the language that's used, with the way stories are told, and with what stories we decide to tell. And if we find a story that's based on something Gene felt very strongly about, it becomes a big limitation." He sighs, glancing briefly at the Roddenberry bust. The blindfold is slipping.
"I don't know, maybe there is some loyalty to Gene in all this."
The Cliffs Notes version: writing for Star Trek, easy as it may seem, is one of the toughest gigs in television. Jeri Taylor, a Hollywood-tempered idealist who co-created Voyager with Berman and Piller and now inhabits Roddenberry's former office in the Hart Building, spells it out.
"Many, many writers and producers went through a revolving door here because they simply couldn't accept the limitations and kept trying to change the concept. And Gene wasn't about to have it changed. Finally, the group that became cohesive - that's still here now - worked within those limitations."
"When people show us that they can write this show," agrees Berman, "we embrace 'em, we pay 'em a lot of money, and we put 'em on staff. Because they're so hard to find. You have to know something about science, about astronomy and physics and all that shit. You have to write within the rules of Roddenberry. And you have to write in a style that's both modern and stylized at the same time. Star Trek's a period piece; you can't write in a contemporary fashion. If a person is capable of writing a 19th-century drama, that person is probably more able to do Star Trek than somebody who can write the greatest NYPD Blue."
So, will Star Trek's producers continue to look at unsolicited scripts?
"I would love to get rid of our freelance policy," Berman declares. "I would love to have enough quality staff writers who were bringing us great ideas and turning out scripts that were rewritable without major difficulty. But it's just not the case. So, if there are people out there who are interested in writing for the show, they should stay interested. Keep the cards and letters coming."
You wanna go to red alert in scene 68? OK, why don't we have Chakotay say, 'Red alert.' Shit, then we've got everyone saying, 'Red alert'... from scene 73 through... everything, it's just going to be'red alert.' That's not a problem for you guys?"
Brannon Braga, a Voyager producer and much-decorated veteran of The Next Generation, is on the phone to the set. A huge fruit basket full of whiskey, gummy bears, and toy flying saucers - delivered that morning, when his Hugo Award for the final Next Generation episode was announced - rests on the floor.
There's no place to sit up straight in Braga's office, just a big fat sofa and the kind of chairs that swallow you whole. Disappearing into one seat is Kenny Kofax, a very nervous freelance writer waiting to deliver his pitches. Fifteen seconds later, Braga hangs up the phone and props his sneakered feet on his desk - waiting, dubiously, to be dazzled.
"OK, what've you got?"
Kofax begins talking. He's loud and he's fast. His first pitch is for an episode in which a bunch of vile Kazons infect Voyager with a computer virus that forces it to go faster and faster - much like the bus in Speed. Braga doodles space babes on a legal pad, nodding. He finally cuts Kofax off: too derivative. OK, no problem, the next idea is even better: Voyager stops at a planet for food supplies and comes across this weird object in a vegetable patch. It turns out to be the apparently lifeless carcass of Data's evil brother, Lore. The captain.... Braga shakes his head impatiently. How did Lore get out there in the first place? Impossible. Absurd.
Kofax is breathless and sweating now. Braga's leafing through his Handbook of Fish Diseases. One last chance. The warm up - the pitch.
"The crew of Voyager takes R&R on this M-class planet. Right? Really nice place. OK? Everyone has a blast. But as they're about to return to the ship, a native woman runs up and stops them, and it turns out that Lieutenant Tom Paris has gotten her pregnant...."
"Whoa, hold on." Braga swings his feet to the floor. "We didn't do a good job on Paris the first season. He came off looking like a sleaze; now we're trying to decreepify him."
"OK, say they were having, you know, a real relationship -"
"Sure, but how do we handle that? It makes Paris look awfully irresponsible if he gets an alien pregnant. He didn't use a condom?"
"Well, uh, she's an alien, maybe -"
"Of course. We could have him say, 'How was I to know that sticking my tongue in her anus would get her pregnant?'"
Ten minutes later, Kofax is out of there, older but wiser. His fate, Braga assures me, is not unusual. It's the rule rather than the exception for writers to slink out of pitch meetings with their tails between their legs. One problem, as Braga wryly puts it, is that "we've done everything." But the main stumbling block is that few writers intuit the ingredients of a great Star Trek story.
"The perfect Star Trek script," reveals Braga - who has authored or co-authored almost 30 episodes of The Next Generation and Voyager - "begins with a great science fiction concept that allows you to tell an exciting adventure, while at the same time serving as a metaphor for contemporary humanity. For instance: a Next Generation show called 'The Host.' Someone pitched a story about host bodies and worms, which was at first glance a repulsive idea. But it would turn out to be the best love story we ever did. Why? Because one of our characters is forced to confront the true nature of love. Is it the person? The body? Both? That's classic Star Trek, right there. The two-parter we did about the Borg - 'The Best of Both Worlds' - was another. A great villain, based on the concept of cyborgs with a collective mind. The Borg represent everything the future humans despise. Perfect. That's what we look for, what we strive to do week after week."
Jeri Taylor, whose Star Trek credits include such controversial, social-minded episodes as "The Outcast," expands on the theme. "Star Trek is very much a series about storytelling; at the heart of every episode, I think, is an intensely personal story. Something that shows character growth or development; some kind of emotional conflict for one or more of our people.
"Beyond that, we hope to have something that makes it uniquely 'Star Trekkian' - usually a presence or anomaly that gives it that science fiction spin. Finally, conflict being the art of drama, we need jeopardy of some sort. It's either bad guys, an anomaly that's threatening to crush us, or it can be, of course, inner jeopardy, emotional jeopardy. But I think our audience likes action, likes adventure, likes the idea of us out there against the unknown, the monsters, the evildoers.
"So, there are the elements that we look for. Not every show has all three. But when we listen to pitches, we're listening for one of those elements to emerge and knock our socks off."
The preproduction office has a sheaf of submission guidelines that are mailed to prospective writers of Voyager and Deep Space Nine. They're warned to steer clear of two-part scripts, avoid sequels, and never, ever use characters from the original series. But one thing that writers shouldn't shy away from is using the new characters in offbeat, imaginative ways.
"Contrary to popular belief, we have a pretty loose ship around here." Taylor waves her hand with a gesture that embraces all 15 decks of Voyager. "People think we know where we're going, that by the end of a season we'll have these character arcs, that this is going to happen, that's going to happen, et cetera. It's infinitely more haphazard. We sort of take a step and see where it takes us, and that leads us to another step. We let the characters evolve, we let the stories evolve, and I think it's much more exciting that way. It's a long journey - and we'll have to find the textures of that journey as we go."
"Chakotay out.... Fuck!"
At the Paramount studios on Melrose, the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tattoo" is in production. Stage 16 has been transformed into a steamy alien jungle, and three members of the Voyager crew are scanning for humanoid life signs. But Robert Beltran, the actor who plays First Officer Chakotay, has dislodged his communicator pin. They set up the scene again - for the third time.
Production of each Star Trek episode takes seven to eight days, but the process starts with an idea that may take months to germinate. If the seed of the story is a spec script, it can take far longer. Lolita Fatjo has been in that loop for more than seven years.
"A few different things can happen with the scripts," Fatjo explains. "We have union readers who do a one- to two-page synopsis, or 'coverage,' for each script that comes in. When they return those to us, somebody on the writing staff reads them. From that a determination is made on whether or not we want to do anything with the script at all. Ninety-nine percent of the time nothing's gonna happen." She shuffles around her desk. "They're gonna get this letter back with my autograph, saying, 'Thanks, but no thanks. Please try again if you would like to.'"
Just five writers over the past eight years - Ron Moore ("The Bonding"), Melinda Snodgrass ("Measure of a Man"), Rene Echevarria ("The Offspring"), and Dennis Bailey and David Bischoff ("Tin Man") - have had their freelance teleplays bought and produced. (Three of whom, true to Rick Berman's claim, have at one time been on staff.) Somewhat more likely (a 1 in 100 chance) is that the producers will decide to extract a script's basic idea and rework it.
"We'll bring the person in," Fatjo explains, "and they'll get the chance to write the story outline. For that we pay anywhere from US$6,000 to $9,000 - and their name appears on the credits."
So why ask for scripts rather than story ideas?
"Because we'd be overwhelmed. We're already overwhelmed with scripts - and it's much harder for someone to sit down and write a 55-page script than it is to beat out a 6-page story outline."
One scenario seems to occur fairly often: A writer sends in a script and, though it misses the mark, the producers like the way he or she thinks. At that point, the writer will be called back in - a la Kenny Kofax - to pitch some new ideas. It's an oral process, and notoriously nerve-racking.
"All we're interested in hearing," claims Ron Moore, "is the beginning, middle, and end. We have so many things in development and so many things we've decided not to do that we can quickly tell you what is and isn't going to work. Once people have given us a quick, salable idea, we can then say, 'OK, tell us more.' But when they're pitching, we like them to be succinct."
Eric Stillwell was the freelance writer who dreamed up the story, but not the script, for "Yesterday's Enterprise," considered by fans and staff alike to be one of the best episodes of The Next Generation ever produced. He also pitched "Prime Factors," one of the better episodes from Voyager's first season. He and Fatjo now travel the world organizing Star Trek conventions and conducting writing workshops, where they offer their wisdom to the masses.
"The best thing in pitching," Stillwell advises, sitting on the corner of Fatjo's desk, "is if you can take your entire story down to one sentence - like something you'd read in TV Guide."
The summary of "Prime Factors"?
"Members of the |
warm. Keeping future temperatures at less-than-catastrophic levels requires reductions in greenhouse gas emissions far beyond those agreed to in Paris—yet little appetite for additional cuts was in evidence at the November climate conference in Marrakech.
This already-threatening world situation was the backdrop for a rise in strident nationalism worldwide in 2016, including in a US presidential campaign during which the eventual victor, Donald Trump, made disturbing comments about the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons and expressed disbelief in the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board takes a broad and international view of existential threats to humanity, focusing on long-term trends. Because of that perspective, the statements of a single person—particularly one not yet in office—have not historically influenced the board’s decision on the setting of the Doomsday Clock.
But wavering public confidence in the democratic institutions required to deal with major world threats do affect the board’s decisions. And this year, events surrounding the US presidential campaign—including cyber offensives and deception campaigns apparently directed by the Russian government and aimed at disrupting the US election—have brought American democracy and Russian intentions into question and thereby made the world more dangerous than was the case a year ago.
For these reasons, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has decided to move the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to catastrophe. It is now two minutes and 30 seconds to midnight.
The board’s decision to move the clock less than a full minute—something it has never before done—reflects a simple reality: As this statement is issued, Donald Trump has been the US president only a matter of days. Many of his cabinet nominations are not yet confirmed by the Senate or installed in government, and he has had little time to take official action.
Just the same, words matter, and President Trump has had plenty to say over the last year. Both his statements and his actions as president-elect have broken with historical precedent in unsettling ways. He has made ill-considered comments about expanding the US nuclear arsenal. He has shown a troubling propensity to discount or outright reject expert advice related to international security, including the conclusions of intelligence experts. And his nominees to head the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency have disputed the basics of climate science.
In short, even though he has just now taken office, the president’s intemperate statements, lack of openness to expert advice, and questionable cabinet nominations have already made a bad international security situation worse.
Last year, and the year before, we warned that world leaders were failing to act with the speed and on the scale required to protect citizens from the extreme danger posed by climate change and nuclear war. During the past year, the need for leadership only intensified—yet inaction and brinksmanship have continued, endangering every person, everywhere on Earth.
Who will lead humanity away from global disaster?
A dangerous nuclear situation on multiple fronts. Predictability and continuity are often prized when it comes to nuclear weapons policy, because the results of miscommunication or miscalculation could be so catastrophic. Last year, however, the nuclear weapons continuity most in evidence was negative: North Korea’s continuing nuclear weapons development, the steady march of arsenal modernization programs in the nuclear weapon states, simmering tension between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, and stagnation in arms control.
North Korea conducted two more nuclear weapons tests, the second, in September, yielding about twice the explosive power of the first, in January. Pyongyang also relentlessly tested missiles, achieving a rate of about two launches per month in 2016. In his 2017 New Year’s statement, Kim Jong-un declared he would soon test a missile with an intercontinental range. The UN Security Council passed new sanctions against North Korea in November 2016 in an effort to further limit the country’s access to cash, but there is no guarantee those sanctions will succeed where others have failed.
Meanwhile, Russia is building new silo-based missiles, the new Borei class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, and new rail-mobile missiles as it revamps other intercontinental ballistic missiles. The United States forges ahead with plans to modernize each part of its triad (bombers, land-based missiles, and missile-carrying submarines), adding new capabilities, such as cruise missiles with increased ranges. As it improves the survivability of its own nuclear forces, China is helping Pakistan build submarine platforms. And Pakistan and India continue to expand the number of weapons in and the sophistication of their nuclear arsenals.
Elsewhere, nuclear volatility has been (and remains) the order of the day. While the US president-elect engaged in casual talk about nuclear weapons, suggesting South Korea and Japan acquire their own nuclear weapons to compete with North Korea, other countries voted in the United Nations to move forward toward a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, passing Resolution L41. In 2017, those states will convene to consider a nuclear weapons ban, presumably without the 38 countries—including the United States and a number of its allies—that voted against the ban. A ban would be merely symbolic without the participation or input of countries that have nuclear weapons. But this approach—which circumvents traditional, often glacial efforts like the Conference on Disarmament—reflects long-held frustration with the slow pace of progress toward nuclear disarmament. The world saw the 20th anniversary of the first signature on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty pass in 2016; the treaty still awaits its entry into force.
The Iran nuclear deal has been successful in accomplishing its goals during its first year, but its future is in doubt under the Trump administration. No firm plans have been made to extend the nuclear security summit process. Disputes over Ukraine, Syria, ballistic missile defenses in Europe, and election interference have the United States and Russia at loggerheads, with little if any prospect that nuclear arms reduction negotiations will resume.
Progress in reducing the overall threat of nuclear war has stalled—and in many ways, gone into reverse. This state of affairs poses a clear and urgent threat to civilization, and citizens around the world should demand that their leaders quickly address and lessen the danger.
The clear need for climate action. Global efforts to limit climate change have produced mixed results over the last year. The Paris Agreement went into effect in 2016, and countries are taking some actions to bring down emissions of greenhouse gases. There are encouraging signs that global annual emissions were flat this past year, though there is no assurance this heralds a break point. If the global economy has weaned itself from exponentially growing emissions rates, that would indeed be a major accomplishment.
But because carbon dioxide persists in the atmosphere for centuries, net emissions must eventually be put on a trajectory to reach zero if global warming is to be stemmed. The longer it takes to shift toward that trajectory, the greater the warming—and consequences—that current and future generations will face. The true success of the Paris Agreement should be measured against a strict criterion: Do the next steps in its implementation bring about the reductions of carbon dioxide emissions necessary to keep world temperatures from reaching levels that: threaten catastrophic sea level rise; change rainfall patterns and therefore threaten agriculture; increase storm severity; reduce biodiversity; and alter ocean chemistry (among the many negative impacts that unchecked global warming will cause)?
The continued warming of the world measured in 2016 underscores one clear fact: Nothing is fundamentally amiss with the scientific understanding of climate physics. The burning of fossil fuels adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere; carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, inhibiting the radiation of heat into space. The relationship between increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and increased terrestrial temperature has been researched for decades, and national science academies around the world agree: Human activity is the primary cause of climate change, and unless carbon dioxide emissions are dramatically reduced, global warming will threaten the future of humanity.
In 2016, however, the international community did not take the steps needed to begin the path toward a net zero-carbon-emissions world. The Marrakech Climate Change Conference, for instance, produced little progress beyond the emissions goals pledged under the Paris Accord.
The political situation in the United States is of particular concern. The Trump transition team has put forward candidates for cabinet-level positions (especially the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department) who foreshadow the possibility that the new administration will be openly hostile to progress toward even the most modest efforts to avert catastrophic climate disruption.
Climate change should not be a partisan political issue. The well-established physics of Earth’s carbon cycle is neither liberal nor conservative in character. The planet will continue to warm to dangerous levels so long as carbon dioxide continues to be pumped into the atmosphere—regardless of who is chosen to lead the United States or any other country.
International leaders need to refocus their attention on achieving the additional carbon emission reductions that are needed to capitalize on the promise of the Paris Accord. In the United States, as a very first step, the Trump administration needs to make a clear, unequivocal statement that it accepts climate change, caused by human activity, as a scientific reality. No problem can be solved, unless its existence is recognized.
Nuclear power: An option worth careful consideration. During the last half of the 20th century, the most profound existential threat facing the world was the prospect of global nuclear holocaust, sparked by decisions made under the pressure of the very short time required for intercontinental ballistic missiles to reach their targets. In the 21st century, another existential threat looms: global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from more than 100 years of fossil fuel use.
Ironically, the nuclear forces used in weapons of mass destruction can also be harnessed as a carbon-free source of energy. Splitting the atom provides a million-fold increase in energy over the simple chemical reactions that convert fossil fuels to carbon dioxide and energy. The scale of the energy potential of nuclear fission—and its capacity to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming—make nuclear power a tempting part of the solution to the climate change problem. Some 440 nuclear power plants already generate 11 percent of the world’s electricity.
In addition to its promise, however, nuclear power has safety, cost, waste, and proliferation challenges. One can argue that the number of deaths and adverse health effects caused by nuclear power has been minimal, even when major accidents have occurred. But a single accident can change governmental policy and public attitudes toward nuclear power. That single accident can also affect multiple countries and produce effects that stretch over decades—as the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters have shown.
Although new nuclear power plants are being built, mainly in Asia, the scale of the effort does not match the need for clean energy. Today’s 400-plus nuclear power plants are, on average, 30 years old. They displace some 0.5 to 0.7 gigatons of carbon each year, as compared to the 10 gigatons discharged annually from the use of fossil fuels.
To achieve just 6 percent of needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power would have to increase in capacity at least threefold during the next 50 years. This would mean adding 2,000 megawatts of capacity per month, the equivalent of a new 1 gigawatt-electric nuclear power plant every several weeks. Such growth in the use of nuclear power would also require concomitant commitments to nuclear safety, security, and waste management that are politically, technically, and intergenerationally responsible.
In the short and medium terms, governments will need to discourage the premature closure of existing reactors that are—as determined on a case-by-case basis—safe and economically viable. In the longer term, entrepreneurs will have to design and test new types of reactors that can be built quickly, and they will then have to prove to regulators that those new reactors are at least as safe as the commercial nuclear plants now operating.
It is likely that leaders in different parts of the world will make different decisions on whether their countries will or will not include nuclear power in their efforts to combat climate change. Where nuclear power is used, at a very minimum, leaders must ensure that truly independent regulatory systems and safe geological disposal repositories are created.
Potential threats from emerging technologies. In December, US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had intervened in the 2016 US presidential campaign to help Donald Trump in ways that highlight the vulnerability of critical information systems in cyberspace. Information monocultures, fake news, and the hacking and release of politically sensitive emails may have had an illegitimate impact on the US presidential election, threatening the fabric of democracy, which relies on an informed electorate to decide the direction of public policy—including policy relating to existential threats such as nuclear weapons and climate change. If not controlled, these types of electoral attacks could be launched against democracies around the world, undermining belief in representative government and thereby endangering humanity as a whole.
Such attacks on the democratic process, however, represent just one threat associated with the modern world’s increased reliance on the internet and information technology. Sophisticated hacking—whether by private groups or governmental entities—has the potential to create grave and large impacts, threatening financial activities and national electrical power grids and plants (including nuclear power plants) and the personal freedoms that are based on the privacy at the core of democracy.
Beyond cybersecurity, the increasing potential of autonomous machine systems—which could, for example, allow the development of efficient, self-driving cars—also opens up a new set of risks that require thoughtful management. Without good governance, including appropriate regulation, these threats could emerge in coming decades as existential—that is, dangerous to the whole of humanity or to modern civilization as we know it. Lethal autonomous weapons systems that make “kill” decisions without human input or supervision, for example, would be particularly worrisome. Advances in synthetic biology, including the Crispr gene-editing tool, also have great positive potential—and a dark side that includes the possible creation of bioweapons and other dangerous manipulations of genetic material.
Technological innovation is occurring at a speed that challenges society’s ability to keep pace. While limited at the current time, potentially existential threats posed by a host of emerging technologies need to be monitored, and to the extent possible anticipated, as the 21st century unfolds.
Reducing risk: Expert advice and citizen action. Technology continues to outpace humanity’s capacity to control it, even as many citizens lose faith in the institutions upon which they must rely to make scientific innovation work for rather than against them. Expert advice is crucial if governments are to effectively deal with complex global threats. The Science and Security Board is extremely concerned about the willingness of governments around the world—including the incoming US administration—to ignore or discount sound science and considered expertise during their decision-making processes.
Wise men and women have said that public policy is never made in the absence of politics. But in this unusual political year, we offer a corollary: Good policy takes account of politics but is never made in the absence of expertise. Facts are indeed stubborn things, and they must be taken into account if the future of humanity is to be preserved, long term.
Nuclear weapons and climate change are precisely the sort of complex existential threats that cannot be properly managed without access to and reliance on expert knowledge. In 2016, world leaders not only failed to deal adequately with those threats; they actually increased the risk of nuclear war and unchecked climate change through a variety of provocative statements and actions, including careless rhetoric about the use of nuclear weapons and the wanton defiance of scientific truths. We call on these leaders—particularly in Russia and the United States—to refocus in the coming year on reducing existential risks and preserving humanity, in no small part by consulting with top-level experts and taking scientific research and observed reality into account.
Because we know from experience that governmental leaders respond to public pressure, we also call on citizens of the world to express themselves in all the ways available to them—including through use of the powerful new tools of social media—to demand that:
US and Russian leaders return to the negotiating table to seek further reductions in nuclear arms and to limit nuclear modernization programs that threaten to create a new nuclear arms race.The world can be more secure with much, much smaller nuclear arsenals than now exist—if political leaders are truly interested in protecting their citizens from harm.
The United States and Russia reduce the alert levels of their nuclear weapons and use existing crisis stability mechanisms to avoid inadvertent escalation of conflict. Provocative military exercises increase the possibilities for accidental war and should cease.
Governments around the world sharply reduce their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions and fulfill the Paris Accord promise of keeping warming to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, or less. This temperature target is consistent with consensus views on climate science and is eminently achievable and economically viable, provided that poorer countries are given the support they need to make the post-carbon transition.
The Trump administration acknowledge climate change as a science-backed reality and redouble US efforts to limit carbon dioxide emissions and support carbon-free energy sources, including, when economically reasonable and safe over the long term, nuclear energy. It is well past time to move beyond arguments over the reality of climate change and on to solutions, including fiscal measures—such as carbon markets and carbon taxes or fees—that encourage efficiency and put a price on carbon emissions.
The United States, China, Russia, and other concerned nations engage with North Korea to reduce nuclear risks. Neighbors in Asia face the most urgent threat, but as North Korea improves its nuclear and missile arsenals, the threat will rapidly become global. As we said last year and repeat here: Now is not the time to tighten North Korea’s isolation but to engage seriously in dialogue.
Leaders of countries with commercial nuclear power programs deal responsibly with safety issues and with the commercial nuclear waste problem. Top experts disagree on whether an expansion of nuclear-powered electricity generation can become a major component of the effort to limit climate change. Regardless of the trajectory of the global nuclear industry, there will be a continuing need for safe and secure interim and permanent nuclear waste storage facilities and for ever-safer nuclear power plants.
The countries of the world collaborate on creating institutions specifically assigned to explore and address potentially malign or catastrophic misuses of new technologies. Scientific advance can provide society with great benefits. But as events surrounding the recent US presidential election show, the potential for misuse of potent new technologies is real. Governmental, scientific, and business leaders need to take appropriate steps to address possibly devastating consequences of these technologies.
For the last two years, the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock stayed set at three minutes before the hour, the closest it had been to midnight since the early 1980s. In its two most recent annual announcements on the Clock, the Science and Security Board warned: “The probability of global catastrophe is very high, and the actions needed to reduce the risks of disaster must be taken very soon.” In 2017, we find the danger to be even greater, the need for action more urgent. It is two and a half minutes to midnight, the Clock is ticking, global danger looms. Wise public officials should act immediately, guiding humanity away from the brink. If they do not, wise citizens must step forward and lead the way.A juvenile humpback whale, injured and swimming slowly off the coast of La Jolla, is being monitored closely by multiple agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and San Diego lifeguards.
“There is a lot of concern that the whale is not doing well,” said Lifeguard Lieutenant John Sandmeyer. “The concern is that it’s having trouble diving.”
The whale has large lacerations on its back and flukes, Sandmeyer said.
San Diego city lifeguards first became aware of the whale earlier in the weekend, after learning it been entangled in ropes and buoys. At the time, the animal was near Bird Rock in La Jolla and not moving well.
Monday afternoon the young humpback whale, measuring between 20 feet and 25 feet long, was still swimming slowly about a half mile off the shore of the Children’s Pool.
A team of researchers from SeaWorld, authorized by NOAA Fisheries, evaluated the whale from a distance, using poles and cameras. They determined the mammal, likely a few years of age, to be in poor condition, as the entanglement had caused severe wounds.
Members of the public had removed the lines entangling the whale prior to the team’s evaluation. No additional lines were found.
“There is potential the animal will not survive,” said Justin Viezbicke, the California stranded network coordinator for NOAA Fisheries. “There’s not much we can do.”
Lifeguards alerted the Coast Guard to the whale’s whereabouts and the agency issued a navigation hazard warning boaters to stay away.
Early Monday evening, a few nearby boats appeared to ignore the warning in the hopes of getting a closer look at the young humpback. Most visitors to the Children’s Pool on Monday, however, seemed unaware of the mammal’s presence. Those that did spot it were not aware of the whale’s condition.
“It’s kind of odd that (the whale has been) there so long,” said Ofer Shimrat, 57, who was visiting the Children’s Pool with his daughter when he noticed the whale lingering in the area. The Rancho Penasquitos resident stayed to observe the whale. “It’s staying above the surface.”
Lifeguards monitored the juvenile humpback whale from shore until sundown on Monday. They plan to resume their watch on Tuesday morning.
http://www.10news.com/news/seaworld-and-lifeguards-help-young-whale-at-windansea-beach
CAPTION Hundreds of San Diego hotel workers marched in downtown San Diego to pressure Marriott hotels to improve pay and working conditions for low wage workers. Hundreds of San Diego hotel workers marched in downtown San Diego to pressure Marriott hotels to improve pay and working conditions for low wage workers. CAPTION Hundreds of San Diego hotel workers marched in downtown San Diego to pressure Marriott hotels to improve pay and working conditions for low wage workers. Hundreds of San Diego hotel workers marched in downtown San Diego to pressure Marriott hotels to improve pay and working conditions for low wage workers. CAPTION The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a federal law that bars gambling on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states, giving states the go-ahead to legalize betting on sports. The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a federal law that bars gambling on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states, giving states the go-ahead to legalize betting on sports. CAPTION Viasat is a global communications company working to connect the unconnected throughout the world. As part of our mission, we're bringing low-cost, high-speed satellite internet to rural towns throughout Mexico. We believe that everyone, everywhere deserves the opportunity to add their voice to the global conversation. (Courtesy of Viasat) Viasat is a global communications company working to connect the unconnected throughout the world. As part of our mission, we're bringing low-cost, high-speed satellite internet to rural towns throughout Mexico. We believe that everyone, everywhere deserves the opportunity to add their voice to the global conversation. (Courtesy of Viasat) CAPTION San Diego has agreed to sell 16 lots in Nestor for $1 each, in the pursuit of affordable housing. The nonprofit San Diego Community Land Trust plans to build three and four-bedroom homes there for people with moderate incomes. That means a family of five with an income of up to $102,750. San Diego has agreed to sell 16 lots in Nestor for $1 each, in the pursuit of affordable housing. The nonprofit San Diego Community Land Trust plans to build three and four-bedroom homes there for people with moderate incomes. That means a family of five with an income of up to $102,750. CAPTION Toys R Us still sells about 20% of the toys bought in the U.S., according to an analyst at Jefferies LLC. Toys R Us still sells about 20% of the toys bought in the U.S., according to an analyst at Jefferies LLC.
jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruinWarren Entsch says he is not concerned that the penalty rates issue could cost him his seat. Credit:Andrew Meares The union movement has claimed up to 700,000 workers will lose up to $77 per week in wages, whereas the government claims about 285,000 people will be affected. The government has attempted to fight back by highlighting Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's previous pledge to support the decision of the independent commission - since reversed - and deals signed while he was national secretary of the Australian Workers Union that traded away penalty rates. ReachTEL polling commissioned by the Australian Council of Trade Unions conducted on February 27-28 in five Coalition-held seats – Page in New South Wales; Dawson, Leichhardt and Brisbane in Queensland and Corangamite in Victoria – found Page, Dawson and Corangamite could fall to Labor as a result of the decision. All of the seats recorded swings against the government.
But Mr Entsch, who has long argued for penalty rates to be cut to support business, lashed the Opposition Leader. "Shorten would have you believe penalty rates are gone, slashed, but nothing could be further from the truth," he said. "It doesn't concern me I could lose my seat. It's about time we did what was in the best interests of the country," he said. "What needs to happen and hasn't happened is the facts haven't been explained so the ordinary person can understand it. There are a lot of benefits out of this... I think it will create jobs and it will provide opportunities for business." Mr Christensen suggested Liberal Senator Eric Abetz's call to "grandfather" the decision, so workers would not see their current rates reduced - but new employees would be paid the lower rate - would "go some way to fixing the problem". He also suggested the reduced rates also be applied only to small business.
"My view there is no way we can convince the voting public that taking money away from workers is a good thing. "There is no doubt it could cost me my seat, I completely recognise it's unpopular... this is something that will drag on to election day and we need it like a hole in the head." The Prime Minister again defended the decision on Friday, arguing it would create more work, opportunity and jobs in the community. "Of course, there is the means to transition changes so that take-home pay is not affected. Again, that is set out in some detail in the report," he added, referring to the government's plan to recommend to the commission the reduced rate is phased in over a number of years. Coalition MP Trevor Evans, the former chief executive of the National Retail Association, who now holds Brisbane and who called in his maiden speech for changes to penalty rates, did not respond to requests for comment.
Nor did Liberal MP Sarah Henderson and Nationals MP Kevin Hogan, who hold Corangamite and Page. Loading Follow James Massola on Facebook Follow us on FacebookAnnie Machon is a former intelligence officer for MI5, the UK Security Service, who resigned in the late 1990s to blow the whistle on the spies’ incompetence and crimes with her ex-partner, David Shayler. Drawing on her varied experiences, she is now a public speaker, writer, media pundit, international tour and event organiser, political campaigner, and PR consultant. She has a rare perspective both on the inner workings of governments, intelligence agencies and the media, as well as the wider implications for the need for increased openness and accountability in both public and private sectors.
Despite the historic lessons Germany has bent over backwards trying to accommodate spying requests by the US, yet has done nothing so far to protect the privacy of its own citizens guaranteed by the constitution, Annie Machon, former UK MI5 agent told RT.
READ MORE: Germany to drop investigation into US spying on Merkel - report
RT:Was all that initial anger and disgust from the German leadership just a load of hot air?
Annie Machon: I think they had to make the right sounds at the time. But it is a shame that they can't follow through and have a proper investigation. Bear in mind that what Snowden disclosed was not just the fact that Angela Merkel was being snooped on and listened to, but also another 121 leaders were being spied on by the NSA. And I suppose that most of us thought, because of the German history and the sensitivity of being spied on particularly the East German Stasi regime, that there would be a proper investigation here. And it would be lovely for other countries and other leaders who have been spied on as well would also instigate such investigations. But it is a shame that in Germany it hasn't been followed through.
RT:Why aren't the Snowden revelations enough evidence to go on?
AM: Well, one would indeed think. I would recommend anyone who wants to read the raw intelligence that came out of Snowden, go to Der Spiegel and they have a whole German file in PDF form ready to download. So you can read exactly what the Americans have been doing with the German intelligence agencies. And it is vast. It is one of the biggest spy centers in Europe. And it appears to be from what we can see in the disclosures unconstitutional under the German law. Under the criminal code, section 99 I think it is, no spying is legal on people in Germany by the German spy agencies. Yet we know from Snowden that they have been very complicit working with the NSA. They have been bending over backwards over the last decade since 9/11 to facilitate the work of the NSA across Europe and wider.
RT:Are you expecting some sort of a backlash then in Germany, given that it is unconstitutional to spy?
AM: One would hope. After the historic lessons, the Germans are really much more sensitive to these sort of issues than perhaps some other countries where we still see the intelligence agencies as the James Bond glamorous good people who protect our liberties. I think what Snowden has disclosed has shown very clearly that what we're living under this surveillance, police panopticon at the moment. So it would be nice to think that the Germans will be able to push back because of their history.
And I know there has been a lot of anger. There are 80 million people living in Germany and they are not happy with the fact that the NSA and the GCHQ and the BND apparently are complicit in spying on their private communications, and rightly so, because if you don't have the sense privacy in your communications, and all use the internet these days, if you don't have that, you can't have a healthy functioning democracy. So I think the Angela Merkel phone intercept was a test case and I wish the Germans could have pushed this further.
RT:Do you think there are any signs that that Washington was exerting any pressure on Germany in this to drop the investigation?
AM: I’m sure they were. We have a situation where we know that the head of the BND, the external intelligence agency in Germany and the head of the BfV, counter-espionage internal agency in Germany, put a long list of written questions into the NSA and into the American government asking for explanations into what has been going on. This has not been answered. All that has happened is: ‘There's is no evidence around the Angela Merkel’s phone.’ What about the rest of us? What about the 80 million Germans and the rest of us, the 500 million European citizens who have been snooped on? We need answers too.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio may soon follow in the footsteps of his former teammate Andrea Pirlo. With his career at Allianz Stadium in serious doubt, reports are linking him with a move to MLS. Tuttosport claims that the oft-injured star is weighing a potential move to North America. Currently, Marchisio is out-of-favor with manager Max Allegri and sits fifth on the midfield depth chart, behind Rodrigo Bentancur.Despite immense talent, Marchisio has struggled for playing time throughout his career in Torino. Through no fault of his own, injuries and other players have consistently blocked his path to the pitch. When Paul Pogba was sold to Manchester United, it appeared the Italian’s time had come. However, injuries derailed that plan.Though a switch to MLS is not imminent, it does appear to be on the horizon for Marchisio. At this moment, his career with Juventus will largely be determined by the status of Allegri.Should Allegri leave to take another job – he’s been linked with PSG and the Italian national team – Marchisio would like to stay and prove his worth to the next manager. If Allegri remains, however, Marchisio knows he’ll need to look elsewhere for playing time.Police have charged a man in relation to the murder of Tiahleigh Palmer.
Earlier today a woman aged 54, as well as three men aged 19, 20 and 56 were taken into custody by officers attached to Operation North Mizzen – a joint Homicide and Logan District investigation.
Police have since charged a 56-year-old Chambers Flat man with murder.
He has been denied police bail and has been remanded in custody to appear in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court tomorrow.
The other three are continuing to assist police with their enquiries.
All four are known to each other.
South Eastern Regional Crime Coordinator Superintendent Kerry Johnson said detectives had been working for 11 months towards this outcome.
“A team of dedicated detectives and police officers from the Homicide Group and the Logan District have been working long and endless hours to locate those responsible for her death,” Detective Superintendent Johnson said.
“Make no mistake, this is an investigation that is close to the hearts of all officers whose sole aim was to bring her alleged killer to justice.
“The QPS values its relationship with the media and recognises that a strong two-way partnership is vital in order to appeal for public’s help in solving crime.
“We want to thank them and the public for their assistance in this matter.
I also want to particularly thank the Crime and Corruption Commission for their continuing support and assistance.”
Tiahleigh Palmer was reported missing on October 30 last year.
Her body was located at Pimpama on November 5.
If you have information for police, contact Policelink on 131 444 or provide information using the online form 24hrs per day.
You can report information about crime anonymously to Crime Stoppers, a registered charity and community volunteer organisation, by calling 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24hrs per day.How to Pitch Your Startup in Fewer Words
Dave Bailey Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 14, 2016
When it comes to pitches, everyone’s a critic. But here’s a formula to help you grab someone’s attention — and hold it.
Business summaries aren’t really summaries
The need for short summaries comes up a lot in startups. Profiles, applications, emails, social media, partners, press... anything from a full presentation to just a few sentences.
When the whole team is working night and day on complex problems, how are you supposed to sum up everything your company does?
The truth is you can’t. And you shouldn’t.
The goal isn’t to compress everything your company does, or list every benefit you offer your customers. A great summary is sales copy that effectively positions your company to your audience.
Lessons from the Pitch Guru
If you’re serious about pitching, I recommend reading The Startup Pitch by Chris Lipp. Chris outlines a comprehensive framework for crafting compelling stories based on the most effective startup pitches of all time.
My biggest take away from Chris’s book is:
In sales pitches, presenting information in the right order makes all the difference.
How to trigger the ‘solution reflex’
An effective summary answers questions in these four, ordered categories:
Problem Solution Market Business Model
I’ve used this approach to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding from angel investors and VCs. And believe me, it works really well.
When you start with the problem, you ground your business in a real-world context. You present your business as purposeful, urgent, and user-centered. But something else happens when you tell someone about a problem. It triggers a ‘solution reflex’: when people identify with problems, they instinctively want solutions. Activating the solution reflex is a powerful way to hold someone’s attention.
A great example of the power of the solution reflex
Problems and solutions come as a pair. So do markets and business models. Describing your market demonstrates the total value your business can create. But it also presents a major problem your company faces: reaching and capturing value from this market. A well-articulated market description can trigger the solution reflex as well.
Answer these 12 questions for a better summary
Answering each of the following questions in one short, clear sentence will help you formulate your business summary. Brevity and clarity are critical to creating the impact you want. This means being specific and not generalising.
What if you absolutely need two sentences to answer a question fully? Easy — don’t answer fully. Delete one of the sentences and double your impact.
In business summaries, it’s more important to be compelling than comprehensive.
Problem:
1. Description — what activity is your target customer having trouble with?
2. Pain — what specific problem do they face?
3. Key trend — what market trend is your business riding on?
Solution:
4. USP — what is your product’s unique selling proposition?
5. Benefits — what do users stop losing out on by using your product?
6. Traction — what existing data shows that customers love your product?
Market:
7. Target — what activity is your customer performing when using your product?
8. Size — how many people perform this activity in your target geography?
9. Advantages — if customers picked your best competitor, what would they miss out on?
Business model:
10. Go to market — how will you distribute your product to your target market?
11. Revenue model — how will you charge money, and to whom?
12. Next milestones — what is the nearest, most exciting accomplishment you’re aiming for?
Reducing the word-count of your summary
If you’ve got this far, you already have a powerful summary of your business in four paragraphs of approximately 150 words. But how do you make it shorter?
The trick is to cut out the sentences that are least relevant to the reader. The rule of thumb is that no matter the audience, always lead with the problem.
For example, a 30-word business summary could be just three sentences:
Pain
USP
Benefit
A 50-word summary for potential investors could be:
Description
Pain
USP
Traction
Next milestones
In summary...
As an investor, I read a lot of business summaries and, more often than not, I’m left confused. A summary is how most people will learn about your business, one way or another. Make it great — because first impressions count.Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET
Few swords have reached the iconic status of the classic samurai katana or the sizzling, glowing lightsaber from "Star Wars." It seems the two were destined to meet, bridging the gap between time and genres to become |
a concerted effort to harass older teachers, so they can hire two young teachers."
Tenure protects teachers from being fired for teaching unpopular, controversial, or otherwise challenged curricula such as evolutionary biology and controversial literature. According to Edison State College teacher David McGrath, tenure "ensures academic freedom to teach important concepts such as evolution, and classic texts such as 'Huckleberry Finn,' 'To Kill a Mockingbird' or 'Catcher in the Rye,' all of which have been banned by some school districts."
The promise of a secure and stable job attracts many teachers to the teaching profession, and eliminating teacher tenure would hamper teacher recruitment. Starting salaries for teachers are frequently lower than other occupations requiring similar levels of education and training. A Sep. 2018 report by the Economic Policy Institute found that public school teachers received 18.7% lower weekly earnings than workers with comparable education and work experience.
Tenure helps guarantee innovation in teaching. Without the protection of tenure, teachers may feel pressured to use the same lesson plans and teach directly to standardized tests. Former California Teachers Association President Barbara Kerr said, "Teachers are afraid to try new, innovative things if they are afraid of losing their job.”
Teacher tenure is a justifiable reward for several years of positive evaluations by school administrators. Administrators are responsible for evaluating teachers before granting tenure and helping to develop struggling teachers. The existence of inadequate teachers should be blamed on the poor judgment of administrators, not teacher tenure. According to a Dec. 2017 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, only four states have developed a tenure-granting process where teacher effectiveness is "the determinative factor in tenure decisions."
Tenure is a good system that has become a scapegoat for problems facing education. Eliminating tenure will not reduce class sizes or make schools cleaner and safer. If tenure is abolished, problems of underfunding, overcrowding, and lack of control over students' home lives will persist.
Tenure allows teachers to advocate on behalf of students and disagree openly with school and district administrators. Award-winning history teacher Kerry Sylvia said that without tenure, she would be afraid of being fired because of her public opposition to initiatives by administrators.
Contrary to public perception, tenure does not guarantee a teacher a job for life. Each state's tenure laws establish strict requirements and processes for removing a tenured teacher. Tenure also guarantees teachers a termination hearing before the board of education or an impartial hearing panel.
Tenure protects teachers from being prematurely fired after a student makes a false accusation or a parent threatens expensive legal action against the district. After an accusation, districts might find it expedient to quickly remove a teacher instead of investigating the matter and incurring potentially expensive legal costs. The thorough removal process mandated by tenure rules ensures that teachers are not removed without a fair hearing.
Tenure encourages the careful selection of qualified and effective teachers. Since it is difficult to remove tenured teachers, tenure encourages school administrators to take more care when making hiring decisions. Additionally, tenure prompts administrators to dismiss under-performing teachers before they achieve tenure and cannot be removed as easily.
The formal dismissal process guaranteed by tenure protects teachers from punitive evaluation systems and premature dismissal. It allows under-performing teachers a chance to improve their skills rather than be hastily fired.
Tenure allows teachers to work more effectively since they do not need to be in constant fear of losing their jobs. Without the anxiety and fear of losing employment, teachers can focus their efforts on providing the best education for students.
Teacher tenure creates complacency because teachers know they are unlikely to lose their jobs. Tenure removes incentives for teachers to put in more than the minimum effort and to focus on improving their teaching.
Tenure makes it difficult to remove under-performing teachers because the process involves months of legal wrangling by the principal, the school board, the union, and the courts. A study by the New Teacher Project found that 81% of school administrators knew a poorly performing tenured teacher at their school; however, 86% of administrators said they do not always pursue dismissal of teachers because of the costly and time consuming process. A 2018 survey by the New York State School Boards Association found that over one-third of school districts declined to pursue dismissal of poorly performing tenured teachers because of the costly and "cumbersome" process. In a study of 25 school districts, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that it can take between one and six years to remove an experienced tenured teacher, concluding that, "the line from dismal performance to dismissal has hardly been streamlined. For the most part, state and local policies create a tortuous maze of paperwork, regulations, and directives."
Tenure often makes seniority the main factor in dismissal decisions instead of teacher performance and quality. Tenure laws often maintain the "last-hired, first-fired" policy. According to a Dec. 2017 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, 30 states and DC do "not require performance to be considered" when making layoff decisions, with nine of these states remaining "exclusively wedded to a policy of seniority only." A further ten states require "performance to be considered, but not as the determinative factor."
Tenure is not needed to recruit teachers. Sacramento Charter High School, which does not offer tenure, had 900 teachers apply for 80 job openings.
With job protections granted through court rulings, collective bargaining, and state and federal laws, teachers today no longer need tenure to protect them from dismissal. For this reason, few other professions offer tenure because employees are adequately protected with existing laws.
Tenure makes it costly for schools to remove a teacher with poor performance or who is guilty of wrongdoing. It costs an average of $313,000 to fire a teacher in New York state. New York Department of Education spent an estimated $15-20 million a year paying tenured teachers accused of incompetence and wrongdoing to report to reassignment centers (sometimes called "rubber rooms") where they were paid to sit idly.
With most states granting tenure after three years, teachers have not had the opportunity to "show their worth, or their ineptitude." A study by the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education found that the first two to three years of teaching do not predict post-tenure performance.
Tenure does not grant academic freedom. No Child Left Behind in 2001 took away much academic freedom when it placed so much emphasis on standardized testing. According to a survey published in Planning and Changing, 56% of school board presidents disagreed with the statement that teacher tenure ensures academic freedom.
Tenure at the K-12 level is not earned, but given to nearly everyone. To receive tenure at the university level, professors must show contributions to their fields by publishing research. At the K-12 level, teachers only need to "stick around" for a short period of time to receive tenure. A 2009 study and a 2017 follow-up study found that less than 1% of evaluated teachers were rated unsatisfactory.
Tenure is unpopular among educators and the public. A 2017 EdNext poll of over 4,200 Americans found that 49% oppose teacher tenure while 33% support it. Among teachers, 61% support tenure while 31% oppose it. 86% of education professors favor "making it easier to terminate unmotivated or incompetent teachers - even if they are tenured."
Teacher tenure does nothing to promote the education of children. Former DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said, "Tenure is the holy grail of teacher unions, but it has no educational value for kids; it only benefits adults."
Teacher tenure requires schools to make long-term spending commitments and prevents districts from being fiscally flexible. Teacher employment contracts generally lack provisions for declining enrollment and economic turmoil.
Tenure lets experienced teachers pick easier assignments and leaves difficult assignments to the least experienced teachers. Senior teachers choose to teach more resource-rich and less challenging populations instead of the classrooms that would benefit the most from experienced teachers. Public Agenda President Deborah Wadsworth argues that teacher tenure leads to "a distribution of talent that is flawed and inequitable."
Top Pro & Con Arguments Pro
1
Tenure protects teachers from being fired for personal, political, or other non-work related reasons. Before tenure, teachers could be dismissed when a...
Pro
2
Tenure prohibits school districts from firing experienced teachers to hire less experienced and less expensive teachers. The threat of firing has...
Pro
3
Tenure protects teachers from being fired for teaching unpopular, controversial, or otherwise challenged curricula such as evolutionary biology... Pro
4
The promise of a secure and stable job attracts many teachers to the teaching profession, and eliminating teacher tenure would hamper teacher... Pro
5
Tenure helps guarantee innovation in teaching. Without the protection of tenure, teachers may feel pressured to use the same lesson plans and teach...
Pro
6
Teacher tenure is a justifiable reward for several years of positive evaluations by school administrators. Administrators are responsible for...
Pro
7
Tenure is a good system that has become a scapegoat for problems facing education. Eliminating tenure will not reduce class sizes or make schools cleaner...
Pro
8
Tenure allows teachers to advocate on behalf of students and disagree openly with school and district administrators. Award-wining history teacher...
Pro
9
Contrary to public perception, tenure does not guarantee a teacher a job for life. Each state's tenure laws establish strict requirements and processes...
Pro
10
Tenure protects teachers from being prematurely fired after a student makes a false accusation or a parent threatens expensive legal action against...
Pro
11
Tenure encourages the careful selection of qualified and effective teachers. Since it is difficult to remove tenured teachers, tenure encourages...
Pro
12
The formal dismissal process guaranteed by tenure protects teachers from punitive evaluation systems and premature dismissal. It allows under...
Pro
13
Tenure allows teachers to work more effectively since they do not need to be in constant fear of losing their jobs. Without the anxiety and fear of losing...
Con
1
Teacher tenure creates complacency because teachers know they are unlikely to lose their jobs. Tenure removes incentives for teachers to put in more...
Con
2
Tenure makes it difficult to remove under-performing teachers because the process involves months of legal wrangling by the principal, the school...
Con
3
Tenure often makes seniority the main factor in dismissal decisions instead of teacher performance and quality. Tenure laws maintain the "last-hired...
Con
4
Tenure is not needed to recruit teachers. Sacramento Charter High School, which does not offer tenure, had 900 teachers apply for 80 job openings...
Con
5
With job protections granted through court rulings, collective bargaining, and state and federal laws, teachers today no longer need tenure to...
Con
6
Tenure makes it costly for schools to remove a teacher with poor performance or who is guilty of wrongdoing. It costs an average of $313,000 to fire a teacher...
Con
7
With most states granting tenure after three years, teachers have not had the opportunity to "show their worth, or their ineptitude.” A study by...
Con
8
Tenure does not grant academic freedom. No Child Left Behind in 2001 took away much academic freedom when it placed so much emphasis on standardized...
Con
9
Tenure at the K-12 level is not earned, but given to nearly everyone. To receive tenure at the university level, professors must show contributions to...
Con
10
Tenure is unpopular among educators and the public. A 2017 EdNext poll of over 4,200 Americans found that 49% oppose teacher tenure while 33% support it...
Con
11
Teacher tenure does nothing to promote the education of children. Former DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said, "Tenure is the holy grail of...
Con
12
Teacher tenure requires schools to make long-term spending commitments and prevents districts from being fiscally flexible. Teacher employment...
Con
13
Tenure lets experienced teachers pick easier assignments and leaves difficult assignments to the least experienced teachers. Senior teachers choose...
Did You Know? Before Massachusetts introduced teacher tenure in 1886, women were sometimes dismissed for getting married, becoming pregnant, wearing pants, or being out too late in the evenings.
According to a Dec. 2017 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, only four states have developed a tenure-granting process where teacher effectiveness is "the determinative factor in tenure decisions" while 30 states and DC did "not require performance to be considered," when making layoff decisions.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called a special election for Nov. 8, 2005 that included Proposition 74, which would have extended the time before a teacher becomes tenured from two to five years. In response, the California Teachers Association increased member fees by $60, raising $50 million to fight Proposition 74. The proposition failed, receiving 45% of the vote.
The New York Department of Education spent an estimated $15-20 million a year paying tenured teachers accused of incompetence and wrongdoing to report to reassignment centers (sometimes called "rubber rooms") where they were paid to sit idly.
People who view this page may also like: Is a College Education Worth It? Should Students Have to Wear School Uniforms? College Educations of US Presidents
Notices for Teacher Tenure and Other ProCon.org Information (archived after 30 days) New ProCon.org Website! - Should Birth Control Pills Be Available Over-the-Counter?
2/21/2019 - Our new topic explores the pros and cons in the debate over making birth control pills available over-the-counter (OTC). 9.1 million women (12.6% of contraceptive users) use birth control pills, which are the second-most commonly used method of contraception in the United States. Proponents say making the birth control pill available over-the-counter would lower teen pregnancy rates, provide contraceptive access to medically underserved women, and ease access to a health-improving drug with decades of safe use. Opponents say making the Pill over-the-counter would raise the cost of contraception for women, pose a danger to teens' and women's health by removing the doctor's visit requirement, and limit what options are made available.
Our new website presents the top pro & con arguments and quotes, a history of the debate, a video gallery, the prescription status of birth control pills around the world, and a list of drugs switched from prescription to OTC status. Last updated on 12/7/2018 9:23:15 AM PST Archived Notices (archived after 30 days)Our email, info@columbiagorgeparanormal.com, is now working again. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Site updated 3/22/2015
Coming soon, Investigation Summaries
(This page is currently under construction. Stay tuned for summaries of each of our past investigations.)
March 22, 2015: CGP is going strong. We just completed an investigation at a private residence in Carson, WA. We had a wonderful investigation and gave some answers to a woman who desperately needed them. She has given up permission to post some of our audio and video findings. Stay tuned. We will be adding full conversations taped during this investigation using all our equipment including our new “Ghost Box” which gave us some fascinating results. See Audio File page. See Pics/Video page.
Now Up and Running: Listen to EVP’s and audio clips we recorded on investigations on our new Audio Files Page! Also, check out our new “Pics and Video Clips” Page!!!
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© 2015, Columbia Gorge ParanormalThe highest tides of anti-Catholic feeling in this country occurred in the 19th century. The standard explanation for this simply points to Protestant fears that the waves of Catholic immigrants, especially from Ireland, would take their jobs away.
Anti-Catholicism, as this explanation goes, was rooted in the Protestant fear that the “trying of swords” between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism which had reshaped European history was moving to the continent of North America, and that the Protestant United States was not only being outflanked and encircled by Catholic Latin America and French Canada, but that the US was itself being undone from within by Catholic immigrants, who were simply waiting until they could impose their anti-American views on the country by their hive-mind bloc voting, controlled by “priest police.” The most well-known exponent of this view of the Catholic Menace was inventor and painter Samuel F. B. Morse, who in 1835 wrote and published Foreign Conspiracy against the Liberties of the United States.
But there was certainly another aspect of the antipathy to Catholics: they were thought to be essentially alien in the sense of un-American, that is, they could not or would not be assimilated to basic American principles of freedom and the common good. Some of this came out into the open during the battles over the public schools and parochial schools—and Catholics today may still have some lingering sense of that—but the other place this particular anti-Catholic rhetoric was deployed was in attacks on the Catholics’ sacrament of Confession.
Catholic apologist James Chancy wrote in 1888, “By far the bitterest attacks of the Protestants have been directed against the Confessional. They merely scoff at the other sacraments of the Church, but of the Sacrament of Penance their condemnation is strong, their hate deep, bitter, and lasting.”
Why was their antagonism focused most especially on Confession? Chancy continued, “Instinctively they feel this is one of the greatest powers the Church wields to preserve its members from the contamination of the world, the continuance of the indulgence of passion, and the taint of heresy.” Unsurprisingly, this was not what non-Catholics offered as their reason for opposing it so strongly. Confession, to them, was the very sink of iniquity and foremost danger to the republic. Today’s Catholic surely would be surprised to learn this. Or to learn that two ex-Catholic priests carried the banners in the crusade against Confession.
William Hogan: A tare among the wheat
William Hogan, a young Irish priest who had left Ireland under some kind of cloud for “indiscretions,” arrived in America around 1810 and through almost accidental circumstances found himself placed as an assistant in the cathedral seat of Philadelphia, St. Mary’s. He was quite popular with a portion of the congregation, but resisted the discipline of his bishop, Henry Conwell. He finally entrenched himself in the church, while relying on his supporters, as trustees, to exclude the bishop, leading to years of open warfare in the parish and the bishop’s moving the cathedra elsewhere, and to Hogan’s excommunication in 1821. When challenged in the courts, his supporters argued that there was a “danger of a foreign head of an American church” and that their takeover of St. Mary’s signaled the establishment of an independent American Catholic Church. The courts decided against them, and eventually Hogan was forced to abandon his place in Philadelphia. His own behavior—his open relationships with women and his drinking—finally left him with few, if any, supporters in the schismatic congregation.
It is interesting, given Hogan’s later career, that during his time in Philadelphia he had taken it upon himself to revise, for his congregation, James Butler’s standard Catechism’s chapter on confession.
That catechism had this: “Q. Will perfect contrition reconcile us to God when we cannot go to confession? A. Yes; and it is the only means we have to recover God’s friendship when we cannot go to confession.” And Hogan added the words, “There is no actual remedy for mortal sins but perfect contrition,” which seemed to obviate the need for sacramental Confession altogether.
If Hogan could not be King of American Catholicism, evidently, he decided to consign Catholicism to Hell. He shipped south to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he married a rich widow, who died a couple of years later, and then another rich widow. His anti-Catholic writing and preaching in Protestant churches endeared him to other anti-Catholics and his connections in the South enabled him to be appointed President Tyler’s ambassador to Cuba. Tyler was working on annexing Texas, and Hogan was assigned to travel to Santo Domingo, and scout out the possibility of repeating the Texas events there—a declaration of independence, followed by a petition for annexation to the US.
That mission was opposed, even within the United States. At the end of his posting to Cuba, he settled in Boston and wrote anti-Catholic diatribes for the Boston Atlas. While there, this “Champion of American Freedom,” as his editor called him, in 1845 wrote, among his other anti-Catholic works, Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries.
Its publication coincided with that of the translation of Jules Michelet’s Spiritual Direction and Auricular Confession: Their History, Theory, and Consequence (Du prêtre, de la femme, et de la famille), which was, as one critic has called it, “a mixture of sentimentalism, communism, and anti-sacerdotalism, supported by the most eccentric arguments, but urged with a great deal of eloquence.” The French anti-clerical and anti-Catholic Michelet had published his screed in an atmosphere in France that was already being shadowed over by the coming revolutionary events of 1848, and especially by anti-Jesuit hysteria. The gist of Michelet’s book—and of Hogan’s following—was encapsulated well in a letter from a pseudonymous “John Huss,” explaining the “Methods of the Romish Church” to the readers of the Zion’s Herald and Wesleyan Journal in Boston in 1866 (this portrait of the Church would live for decades among Protestants).
First, there was the confessional’s pollution of female innocence:
Of the power of this instrumentality, Protestants have but little conception; think for a moment what a sway it must acquire over the mind of a virtuous wife and mother, to compel her to listen patiently, and answer unreservedly to the most indelicate and even obscene questions.
Second, there was an undermining of the marital institution by the replacement of the father’s and husband’s authority over the females in his family with that of the priest:
My design in referring to this is merely to show the despotic control exercised by this means, which steps in between the most sacred ties of earth, and makes the confessor a closer confidante and more intimate friend than even the husband. This is a living, breathing fact, in Protestant America, in this nineteenth century!
Related to this, there was priests’ control over the population accomplished by their sharing of confessional secrets and by the blackmail it made possible:
Nor is this power permitted to lie inert, but by its exercise is poured into the treasure-house of the church a rich fund of the most useful information, which is carefully classified, systematized, and used, as occasion may require; while the tools from whom it has been gathered are instructed in the course to be pursued from the information they have themselves imparted, catechized on their return as to their success, and thus the stream of information is kept continually flowing, while the poor dupes innocently believe it to be the zealous care of the confessor for their spiritual welfare which prompts him to manifest so deep and interest in everything which concerns them. The extent of the information thus acquired is almost incredible, and when couple with that gleaned by the indefatigable exertions of the Jesuits, makes the Romish Church the best informed in worldly knowledge of any organization on earth, and gives them an advantage in laying schemes and carrying them out not enjoyed by any other.
Then there was outright solicitation by the priests in the confessional of sexual favors from female penitents. The issue was aroused by the Protestant conviction that celibacy itself was unnatural: either it was a fraud and in fact merely hid illicit sex by so-called “celibates” or it actually fostered their sexual urges being played out in unnatural channels, such as with women with whom they were not married.
And, closely related to this, there was entrapment of young women by their confessors. This played on the already-hoary tales in Gothic novels of innocent girls kept captive in convents for the “use” of priests, such as in Ann Ward Radcliffe’s 1797 The Italian; or, The Confessional of the Black Penitents, or the ludicrous 1835 “testimony” of Rebecca Reed, Six Months in a Convent, which led to the burning of the Ursuline convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts, or the even more hysterical 1836 Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, abetted and published by the notoriously anti-Catholic Harper brothers.
“If I can satisfy Americans,” wrote Hogan in his book, “that Auricular Confession is dangerous to their liberties; if I can show them that it is the source and fountain of many, if not all, those treasons, debaucheries, and other evils, which are now flooding this country, I shall feel that I have done an acceptable work, and some service to the State.”
Why would an ex-priest write up Confession as “a man-trap, or rather woman-trap”? Why would he call it “one of the most ingenious devices ever invented by the great enemy of man, for the destruction of the human soul”? His opponents could not help but remember that the events that ultimately resulted in his excommunication by his bishop in Philadelphia began when Hogan resisted the bishop’s efforts to rein him in, as Hogan asserted his right to set up his own living quarters that would allow him to conduct his “lively” relationships with his parishioners, females included. There was certainly clear evidence of his philandering. How then is one to read Hogan’s Auricular Confession except as his own fabulistic and torturous confession of sins, displaced onto the Church as a whole, the Church that had disowned him? The result of a kind of Catholic Derangement Syndrome?
To the third generation
Hogan died in 1848 of tuberculosis. One of his main supporters—a “Hoganite”—in the schism at St. Mary’s Church had been Mathew Carey, an Irish political exile to America (due to his anti-British writings). Carey was a Philadelphia bookseller and printer, and acquaintance of Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson. His place as a leader of those at St. Mary’s who supported Hogan and opposed their bishop is probably attributable in part to his republican enthusiasm. His opposition to the British monarchy seems to have extended in his own mind to opposing any sort of European “foreign potentate,” including the pope. His son Henry C. Carey was an economist motivated especially by his desire for American independence from foreign (that is, British) economic domination, and so was a solid proponent of protectionist tariffs.
In the next generation, Mathew Carey’s grandson was Henry Charles Lea, a progressive reformer and scholarly historian of Europe, and a president of the American Historical Society. In 1892, he wrote A History of Auricular Confession and Indulgences in the Latin Church. Although Lea claimed objectivity, he was largely in the business of drawing up an historical indictment of monarchical Catholic Europe, including, of course, the Spanish Inquisition. He was in constant contact with Protestant organizations that were actively anti-Catholic, and intensely promoted Protestant “Americanizing” plans, especially by converting Catholics to Protestantism and by restricting immigration. His collected papers contain letters he saved from people who had been converted from Catholicism through his works.
The bias of his work on Confession shows through in his selection of some facts, his neglect of others, and his judgment of the relative importance of the facts he brings forward, suggesting that Confession was not practiced in the earliest Church but was a later development. He had already written An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church, in which he had continued Michelet’s tales of priestly concubines, and, like Michelet, believed that one-on-one “auricular confession” was the primary instrument by which priests entrapped women.
Charles Chiniquy: A wolf among the sheep
The career of Charles Chiniquy (1809-1899) was very similar to that of William Hogan. A Canadian priest who was a popular preacher throughout Canada and the United States on the subject of Temperance, Chiniquy nevertheless ran into repeated problems in his various posts due to his untoward predilection for young women and his refusal to submit to restraint or discipline by his bishops in the face of irrefutable evidence of his misdeeds. He left the Church in 1858, and found a market for his preaching skills among Protestants, who he regaled with “insider” stories of the Catholic Church.
He eventually became a Presbyterian minister and continued his attacks against Catholics from the pulpit and elsewhere, especially dwelling on prurient details of the supposed corruption of the confessional. These culminated in his 1875 book, The Priest, the Woman, and the Confessional, which received extravagant praise and recommendation from the Protestant press, and which repeated and expanded canards along the lines of William Hogan’s earlier work. He followed this years later with Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, in which he tried to justify his leaving Catholicism as an act of courage against the scandals he found in the Church.
Catholics pointed out that, like Hogan, Chiniquy had written—two decades after leaving the Church—about the “scandals” he encountered even before he entered the seminary, but not only did he never say anything about them at the time, but he happily made his way to ordination and administered the supposedly abominable sacrament of Confession for his entire career as a priest, meanwhile endeavoring, not to leave the priesthood, but to procure an important position in the Church, until being frustrated in his attempts.
But even aside from that, unlike Protestants, Catholics well understood what actually went on in the confessional, and, plainly speaking, neither Hogan’s nor Chiniquy’s tales had any correspondence to their own experience of the sacrament. Nevertheless, both Hogan’s and Chiniquy’s “testimonies” found a large market among Protestants, for whom the books merely confirmed and inflamed their worst suspicions. As a Google search easily confirms, the books continue to be cited and used by some: Jack Chick, for example, is apparently a fan and took the trouble to issue a comic-book version of Chiniquy’s Fifty Years in the Church of Rome.
The patriotism of Protestant America
Aside from the ludicrous tales of widespread priestly immorality in the confessional, the other point of attack on the sacrament of Confession was essentially a variation on the oldest Protestant objection to confessing one’s sins to a priest: it appears to place a mediator—the priest—between God and man, when in fact, the forgiveness (or not) of man’s sins is accomplished only by God and occurs, as one might say, in the secret workings within a man’s heart, not through any sacramental action. A priesthood, therefore, is presumed to be unnecessary. On that assumption, a Protestant looks for some other possible (and probably suspicious) motivation for Confession. The most often cited was a conspiracy of priests, under the control of Rome, exercising their own control, in turn, over their deluded congregations.
Protestants often expressed the belief that Confession allowed Catholics to lie and commit perjury and other sins unreservedly, because they knew that absolution was right around the corner in the confessional. The Catholic believed, they said, “that five minutes of auricular confession, and a shilling’s worth of absolution from his priest, will restore him at once to the favor of the Almighty, and make him again every whit a saint.” Because of this, how could a society trust Catholic testimony in a court of law? Along with this, the seal of confession was argued to allow the confessor to circumvent or ignore the civil authority’s duty to investigate criminal acts (which might have been confessed). The confessional, therefore, was a challenge to the civil society because it lay outside its jurisdiction—or at least its power of surveillance.
Many Protestants considered the Enlightenment to have been a continuation of the Reformation, especially in its fundamental political focus on individual rights and freedoms and its cherishing of “light” and “openness” and “transparency.” And it was undeniable that Enlightenment ideas lay at the foundation of American society. A distrust of secret societies (ironically, the Freemasons and other secret societies had been peculiarly active in Europe in effecting Revolutionary “freedoms”) easily stretched to include the Catholic Church, and especially to Confession.
Confession, Protestants argued, was subversive of human freedom and was therefore a threat to the American republican form of government, setting up a secret network of authority bound to a foreign power within the free and open society of the United States, whose democratic principles depended on the exercise of the Protestant axiom of “private judgment,” which depended (in theory at least) on free and unobstructed inquiry. Could Catholics ever be trusted to exercise their own judgment, and therefore act as full citizens and patriots, or were they just closeted and mindless instruments of ecclesiastical conspiracies and priestly domination? Where were their loyalties?
This line of argument against Confession as “unpatriotic” was present in America, but extended to Britain as well. There, as here, its greatest intensity coincided with a struggle in the Anglican and Episcopal churches over an Oxford-Movement inspired effort by some churchmen, led by Edward Pusey. It started in earnest around 1845, with a sermon Pusey gave, “The Power of the Keys” (the power of knowledge and the power to loose and retain), arguing for the re-institution of “auricular confession,” which horrified anti-Papists, who filled the press with the most lurid stories about priestly infamy and plots against the State.
And today
Now, well over a century after Chancy wrote of the Protestant attacks on the confessional, matters are quite different. With few exceptions, there is little public sentiment focused against the sacrament or interest in prying into it to monitor “crime.” This, in part, is because Protestants in general no longer form any kind of united front, demographically or doctrinally, against Catholics. But it is also because so many Catholics no longer frequent the confessional, but instead prefer to talk in vaguely Protestant terms about confessing their sins directly to God and about being “spiritual” but not “religious.”
But it is not impossible to imagine, given the notion now enforced by civil law that abortion is “healthcare” and homosexual behavior is a morally neutral “lifestyle choice,” that the Church or individual priests might someday soon be sued for psychological damage or “hate speech” for identifying abortion and homosexual acts as sinful and contrary to both reason and sound morality. Ask our fellow Catholics and Orthodox who lived in the Soviet bloc how easily this sort of thing was done, or how priests themselves were suborned under great pressure to pass on information, not to Rome, but to the State security bureaus.
Whatever the future holds, let us hope that the confessional will stand appreciated anew and revealed, not as a place where one’s secrets are placed under surveillance by the unworthy (as the criticism of the 19th century made it out to be), but rather as a cleansing refuge in which the sinner “looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible” (CCC 1455).BEIRUT (Reuters) - Intensifying military offensives show the Syrian government and its allies are not serious about finding a political solution to the five-year-old conflict, the new leader of a major rebel group said on Friday.
Residents inspect damage after airstrikes by pro-Syrian government forces in the rebel held Al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria February 4, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail
In his first interview since becoming leader of Syrian insurgent group Jaish al-Islam after the former chief was killed in December, Issam Buwaydani said it was clear “the regime and its allies are not convinced of a political solution.”
“The biggest proof is that they continue to bomb Syrian cities and impose sieges on hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians,” Buwaydani said in the interview with opposition activist news website Syrian Revolution Network.
United Nations-sponsored Syrian peace talks stalled this week after the opposition delegation objected to intensified Syrian government offensives supported by Iranian allies and heavy Russian air strikes.
Jaish al-Islam (Islam Army) is one of the biggest rebel factions in the Saudi-backed, opposition High Negotiation Committee (HNC) invited to the Geneva peace talks.
Buwaydani took over the leadership after predecessor Zahran Alloush — whose cousin Mohamed Alloush is the HNC’s chief negotiator for the Geneva talks — was killed in an air attack near Damascus in December.
Buwaydani also said Russian and Iranian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must be stopped.
“If the international community was serious about the success of a political solution, they would rein in Russian and Iranian aggression and ask them to leave Syria.”
“The Syrian government would have been taking its final breath” if it wasn’t for Russia’s “last minute” entry last September into the conflict, Buwaydani said.
Buwaydani said his group is fighting on many fronts in Syria despite a lack of supplies and weapons, especially anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.
Jaish al-Islam is viewed as a terrorist group by Russia, although many of Assad’s opponents view it as a legitimate part of the opposition.After a well fought comeback against Norwich City in mid-week, Fulham let themselves down after a defensive error allowed Aston Villa to take all three points this weekend.
From pre-season it was clear that Slavisa Jokanovic wanted to stamp his own style of football on the side this season, and playing a possession heavy style has seemed to put us in more danger than good in recent weeks. While, the possession dominance is pleasing on the eye, Fulham are failing to create clear cut chances in the final third and against Aston Villa they failed to record a single shot on target. In most fixtures this season Fulham have seen more of the ball than their opponents but a winless September proved that possession doesn’t win you points.
As for the Aston Villa game, it was another defensive error that allowed £15m summer signing Jonathan Kodjia to volley past the helpless David Button on Saturday. After the summer signing from Brentford failed to control a back pass, the ball fell to Albert Adomah who had all the time in the world to pick out Kodjia in the centre for him to take all three points for the home side ten minutes before time.
After Chris Martin managed to score in the two games against Barnsley and Norwich City, I was hoping it would have been the start of a fruitful run for the forward. But sadly, there was no plan B at Villa Park this |
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While everyone else is complaining that Governor Cuomo is crushing teachers with his punitive and research-less teacher evaluation plan, the New York Post complains that Governor Cuomo has capitulated to the teachers’ union by ordering a new review of the Common Core standards and assessments. Imagine that! The governor actually might have cared that 220,000 children opted out; he no doubt realized that 220,000 children might have 400,000 or so parents, and they vote. The New York Post seems unaware that in a democracy, it is usually a good idea to pay attention to mass movements.
The Post feels certain that Cuomo is kowtowing to those horrible teachers’ unions, always the enemy (the teachers’ union has now morphed into George Orwell’s Emmanuel Goldstein in “1984,” the quintessential enemy of the State).
Read the editorial. The Post will not be satisfied until there are mass firings of teachers.
Here are the closing lines:
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: The unions and the politicians they control will make sure no system ever lets schools shed rotten teachers.
The only hope for kids is to flee these failure factories — to flee to charters or private schools, or out of New York altogether.
Oh, dear, where should families flee to?
Not to Connecticut; it has teachers’ unions.
Not to New Jersey; it has teachers’ unions.
Not to Massachusetts; it has teachers’ unions.
Not to Pennsylvania; it has teachers’ unions.
Flee, families, flee!
Flee to Tennessee! Flee to Mississippi! Flee to North Carolina! Flee to the Deep South! Flee to any state without a teachers’ union.
You won’t get better education but at least you can be sure that the teachers are without any representation.
Oh, and by the way, do the writers and workers at the New York Post belong to a union? Or is it a non-union shop?(Facebook/Black Jesus) Gerald 'Slink' Johnson plays 'Pops' in the late-night TV show 'Black Jesus.'
Cable network Adult Swim recently premiered Season 2 of controversial late night TV show "Black Jesus." The new season has been met with backlash for the show's depiction of a so-called modern day Jesus, who wears a hood, smokes marijuana and loves to spew the F-word. At least one advertiser has withdrawn its commercials for the show in response to the outrage.
Christian critics have blasted the show, as well as a stream of others hitting U.S. television networks for what they call a blatant anti-Christian sentiment. Shows such as "Impastor", "Lucifer", "Scream Queens" have angered some for their controversial portrayal of Christians and faith as well as their promotion and glamorization of evil and wickedness.
Adult Swim's "Black Jesus" is a supposed satirical comedy drama about the life of a modern day Jesus called "Pops", who is portrayed by a black man who curses, and does drugs.
One group that has expressed outrage at the show's return is OneMillionMoms, which is a division of the American Family Association. It has gone on the offensive to slam Turner Broadcasting and its parent company, Time Warner, which own Adult Swim.
"The show makes a mockery of our Lord," OneMillionMoms said on Monday. "The foul language used, including using the Lord's name in vain, is disgusting. In addition, there is violence, gunfire, drugs, and other inappropriate gestures which completely misrepresent Jesus. This is blasphemy!"
"Adult Swim is not ridiculing any other religion currently and wouldn't dream of mocking Muhammad or Muslims. 'Black Jesus' is another attempt to distort the truth about Christianity," the group said.
"We need to send a loud and clear message to Adult Swim, its owner Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (a Time Warner Company), and all potential advertisers of 'Black Jesus' that this kind of programming is insulting and completely unacceptable."
As a result of the uproar about the show's content, Prestone, an advertiser on the show, has announced that it is withdrawing its TV commercials during the controversial series.
"Our company's advertising during an episode of 'Black Jesus' was an oversight and not intentional," said Steven Clancy, president of Prestone. "As soon as we were made aware of the situation, we took steps to ensure that our advertisements do not air during that show."
Responding to critics, Adult Swim through Turner Broadcasting claimed that the show — which stars Gerald "Slink" Johnson as the modern-day black Jesus living in Compton, California — actually seeks to spread "love and kindness."
In a press release, Adult Swim said, "Black Jesus' is a satire and one interpretation of the message of Jesus played out in modern-day morality tales; and despite what some may consider a controversial depiction of Jesus, it is not the intent to offend any race or people of faith."
But David Outten, production editor of the Christian media ministry Movieguide, totally disagrees.
"'Black Jesus' is not only an ugly attack on Christianity, but a horrible example of racism," he told WND.
"It implies that, if Jesus Christ were black, he would be vulgar and use drugs and alcohol. It also presents the African-American community he comes to using the worst of black stereotypes."
In the show's trailer, "Black Jesus" is seen confronted by his gang mates for smoking up all their marijuana. He defends himself by declaring, "You do realise I died for your motherf---ing sins, right?"April 18th, 2015.
The sun peaks through the clouds on a windy, yet not unpleasant afternoon in the nation’s capital. The sunlight reflects down off the red seating of TD Place Stadium’s south side lower bowl, which will be full for the afternoon’s Ottawa Fury FC match.
Though it’s been an awkward start to the season for the home side, spirits are high as fans – many of them youngsters and even more taking in their first football match – begin to pour into the stadium. Ottawa gained just one of six possible points in its first two matches, and appears to be up against it today in its home opener.
Minnesota United vs Ottawa Fury FC: A Spring Afternoon on Bank Street
Their opposition this afternoon, powerhouse Minnesota United, was recently announced as the next MLS expansion franchise, and has poured money into its squad. Donning their eye-catching light-blue kits, United are undoubtedly the odds-on favourites to win the North American Soccer League in 2015.
Among the most emphatic supporters I run into during the pre-game is Namu Yoon. Despite living in Toronto, Yoon has made the four-plus hour train trip to support Fury FC in the club’s home opener.
“It’s great to be here,” says Yoon, a footy lifer who also supports Toronto FC and Daejeon Citizen in his native South Korea. “Went out for a few pints at the Georgie, and look at this – what a day for the beautiful game, man,” he beams, referring to the Georgetown Pub, where one of the club’s supporter’s groups – Bytown Boys SC – congregates before matches.
Though Yoon can’t make it to most Fury FC home matches for obvious geographical reasons, he maintains one of the most active online presences of any Ottawa fan, keeping his Twitter and multiple forum boards up-to-date on the latest Fury FC happenings.
As we complete the customary bro-handshake and Namu turns and joins the rest of the Bytown Boys in song, the teams take to the pitch for the warm-up.
The international talent on display at TD Place on this sunny Sunday is sizeable by NASL standards, with no less than three full internationals on the team sheet.
Minnesota goalkeeper Sammy N’Djock takes the pitch early and leaves the pitch late for warmup, the Cameroonian international looking to cement his starting spot in goal for United this season.
Darting midfielder Miguel Ibarra, one of the focal points of Minnesota’s attack, has been a regular in American national team boss Jurgen Klinsmann’s camp since October. The NASL’s MVP in 2014, Ibarra has the kind of playmaking ability that makes the beautiful game so beautiful, and will undoubtedly pose a threat to Ottawa’s backline today.
On the home front, Fury FC’s new midfield general and Canadian international Julian De Guzman is set to make his debut, and the excitement amongst Canadian footy fans is palpable.
“I cried a litte bit,” admits one anonymous fan, clad in a Canada jersey, along the stadium concourse. “When Ottawa signed my country’s captain, it represented a gigantic leap forward for this club and made me take note.”
After wandering aimlessly through the concourse for the rest of the warmup, I head up to the press box, exchange pleasantries with some journalists, and take my seat. It’s gametime.
The FIFA anthem booms from the stadium speakers, and out come the players, greeted by a snapping wind and just over five thousand excited fans. Minnesota, imposing in their all-blue kits but still searching for their first victory of 2015, and Ottawa, in their black-and-red kits, also searching for their first victory.
Fury FC get off to a flying start, with Marc Dos Santos’ men buzzing in Minnesota’s half. Section W, the supporter’s section, bounces up collectively with each Fury foray forward, and never really sits down the entire match – perfect.
Then, in the 22nd minute, a ball handling gaffe from N’Djock gives Ottawa a free kick opportunity from the edge of the Minnesota 18-yard box. Section W on its toes, Nicki Paterson steps up. With the Minnesota wall pushed back closer to its own goal line than to Paterson, the Scotsman is presented with a tricky angle. He takes a short run up before drilling the ball past the blue wall – only to be denied by a cat-like dive from N’Djock, who parries well to his right.
The crowd gasps, devoted football fans and newcomers alike, and in that brief moment, the oversized stadium on the Rideau Canal disappears. The empty north side and south side upper deck stands melt away, and all that remains are the tightly-packed 5093 fans, Paterson’s wide eyes, and N’Djock’s outstretched hands. At this moment, the game could be anywhere, on any continent.
The match prattles on, and some minutes later Minnesota’s big off-season signing, Brazilian midfielder Ibson, pulls up lame on the right flank. No doubt a big loss in the scheme of today’s match, but potentially an even larger one for Minnesota’s season.
Fury FC threaten again on thirty-six minutes with a corner on the far side of the field. The ball is whipped in with pace, flicked on by Rafael Alves, and blasted home by Fury FC golden boy Oliver Minatel. While Section W erupts, the assistant on the far side rains on the supporters’ parade with a flag for off-side, nullifying Oliver’s opener.
Fury FC continue to press, but can’t find an answer to the increasingly-steady N’Djock. At the half, the massive videoboard reads nil-nil, though Marc Dos Santos’ men likely deserve a lead. In his halftime interview, Minnesota boss Manny Lagos is understandably short and frustrated.
I make my way down to the concourse at halftime to meet up with Fury FC supporter Mario Carlucci.
A season ticket holder, Mario speaks excitedly about the upcoming season.
“I’m very happy that the club was able to bring in somebody of Julian De Guzman’s calibre,” says Carlucci, a director with CBC. “It shows us fans that the team is serious about improving.”
The Fury FC gameday experience is a family one for Mario, whose young daughter Josephina tugs at his pant leg during our conversation.
“I wanted the kids to have role models in the game,” says Carlucci, who pundits say resembled a young Andrea Pirlo in last season’s Fury FC Media Game. “To have a bona fide professional team in Ottawa, that my children can watch, is a big deal.”
He adds that the friendly gameday environment is another plus to the overall Fury FC brand.
“The team itself is encouraging a family atmosphere here,” Carlucci smiles. Daughter Josephina has even found a favourite in defender Drew Beckie. “The fact that every child in this city that plays soccer can come here for free – it really feels like the start of something special.”
With that, Carlucci heads back to his seats at midfield, and I make my return to the press box, a distinct optimism in the air on this day, an optimism that was so badly missing towards the latter stages of last season.
The second half begins more timidly for the hosts, with Ibarra and 2014 NASL Golden Boot winner Christian Ramirez making dangerous runs immediately after the restart. However, Fury FC barely even bend and do not even approach breaking point defensively.
Rather, they get back on the front foot, pressing the Minnesota defenders with a vigour not previously seen in Ottawa’s first two matches.
Their persistence finally pays off in the 68th minute, as Tom Heinemann, the club’s resident GEICO caveman, runs onto a long ball. Running the ball down the left flank, Heinemann cuts outside Minnesota defender Tiago Calvano and fights off a challenge from Brian Kallman before slotting the ball calmly through N’Djock’s legs and in, sending the home fans into a frenzy.
Despite some nervous moments late in the game, Fury FC defend well in the closing moments to see out the 1-nil victory, a momentous one for the second-year club.
“We did everything right,” summarizes Ottawa boss Marc Dos Santos in the post-game media scrum.
In many ways, this scene is perfect. Just beyond the tunnel where Dos Santos is meeting with the usual journalists – all of whom are on first-name terms with the affable coach – his players are laughing and celebrating with their families.
The afternoon feels like much more than a mere three points at the beginning of a long season. It feels like the conquering of a demon that had haunted the club throughout its 2014 campaign: the expectation of late-game disappointment. Ottawa dropped two home games against Minnesota, both due to late goals, in 2014, and Fury FC had a slight penchant for allowing game-changing goals late. Thus, today’s victory against the most hotly-tipped team to win the league seems to signal the turn of a new page, and dare I say it, the dawn of a new era.
As I exit the stadium along a catwalk, I look back at the stadium. A few fans remain scattered in the stands, soaking up the last rays of sun, while players enjoy some family and fan time simultaneously.
With today’s victory, the club seems to have turned a mental corner, and as Mario Carlucci hinted with a mischievous glint that seemed to say ‘why not us’:
This could be the start of something special.
Main Photo via Author’s Collection, All Rights Reserved.Twilight by Stephenie Meyer probably won’t be read 100 years from now, argues The Prestige author Christopher Priest. But Stephen King and J.K. Rowling have a decent shot at posterity. Also: Terry Pratchett, whose final Discworld book just came out, has an excellent chance at sticking around.
Priest’s blog post is worth reading in its entirety—it’s partly a meditation on what makes authors endure after their deaths, and Priest’s own observations on why Stephen King is more likely than Dan Brown to be read by our descendants. Priest argues that although it’s impossible to predict for sure what will make an author live on for decades after death, some mix of popularity and distinctive storytelling seems to be at play—and Priest says the modern literary novel is less likely to produce very many lasting classics. “We are more likely to find literary posterity, or the possibility of it, in the genres.”
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But the second half of Priest’s blog post is a response to a silly blog update in the Guardian, where writer Jeffrey Jones confesses that he’s never read Terry Pratchett’s work, and has no interest in reading it, but he’s certain that Pratchett is not a literary genius. (People are free, of course, to read or not to read any authors they choose, but I can’t imagine what would possess someone to write a whole piece about an author they hadn’t read anything by.)
But Priest (who knew Pratchett when they were “teenage hopefuls”) writes passionately about why he thinks the Discworld author seems to be “a dead cert for long-term classic status”:
They are written for a popular audience, so fulfilling the first condition. They have been commercially successful, not just in Britain and the USA, but in languages and countries all around the world. The books are not liked by many: they are loved and admired by millions.... His work is written well – no matter what Jones says about ‘very ordinary’ prose, Terry Pratchett’s novels are stylistically adept: good muscular prose, not mucked around with for effect (except sometimes!), enlivened by wit, sharp observation, a unique take on the world at large and whatever the subject of social satire might be for the time being, a brimming sense of fun and the ridiculous, and overall an approach to the reader that feels inclusive, a letting in on the joke, an amused welcome to the world he is writing about.
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Contact the author at charliejane@io9.com and follow her on Twitter @CharlieJaneThis is the fourth installment in a series of posts about making highly concurrent software easier to write in Java. Previous entries are available here: part 1, part 2, part 3. However, I aim to make it possible to follow along even if you haven’t read the previous posts.
I Have Seen the Future…
If you have used the Java 5 concurrency API at all, you will have come across the Future class. For example, when you submit a Callable<Integer> to an ExecutorService, what you get back is a Future<Integer> which represents a computation, running concurrently, that will (hopefully) result in an integer at some time in the future. Once you have the Future<Integer> fi, you can later get the integer out of it by calling fi.get().
That’s all fine and dandy, but let’s say you want do do something like add two future integers. You could do something like this:
int sum = x.get() + y.get();
This will block the current thread until both of those integers are available, then add them together. But why wait for that? If you have an ExecutorService, you can create a new Future that computes the sum:
Future<Integer> sum = executorService.submit(new Callable<Integer>() { public Integer call() { return x.get() + y.get(); } });
Now the current thread can continue, but we’ve started a new thread that does nothing until the values of x and y have both been calculated by yet another thread.
We’re beginning to see a problem here. We want to be able to compose Futures together to form new Futures, but find that the number of threads required to compose n Future values is on the order of O(n). If we have a fixed-size thread pool, we’ll run into starvation. If we have an unbounded thread pool, then we might start more threads than the operating system can handle, most of which will be doing nothing at all but wait for other threads.
This should all sound very familiar. Threads are a space resource. What kind of processes are O(n) in their space requirement? If you said “linearly recursive processes”, go to the head of the class. Intuitively, for the same reason that we can find iterative versions of any recursive algorithm, it seems that we should be able to find an algorithm to accomplish the same thing with O(1) threads.
…and it is a Monad
In the above example, it’s like we’re giving seperate instructions, waiting for the results of each in between. Imagine if we were working in an office with Bob and Alice, and we needed work on something from both of them. We might go to Bob and say: “Bob, process this and give me the result”. Then we’d take the result to Alice and say: “Alice, here’s a result from Bob.” It would be much better, if we could just go to Bob and say: “Bob, process this and give the result to Alice.” This is the essential difference between recursive and iterative processes.
But wait! We say that kind of thing all the time, in Java:
public Work bob(Work w) {... } public Work alice(Work w) {... } public Work bobThenAlice(Work w) { Work b = bob(w); return alice(b); }
Here, we’re instructing a single thread to do some work, then use the result of that work to do more work. What’s really sneaky here is the meaning of the semicolon. In this context, what the former semicolon means is “take the stored value b from the previous statement and bind it to the free variable b in the next statement”. You can think of the second semicolon as binding a blank statement over the result of the preceding statement.
Using first-class functions from Functional Java, and using the Callables monad from the first part of this series, you could implement that same behaviour using something like this:
F<Work, Callable<Work>> bob = new F<Work, Callable<Work>>() { public Callable<Work> f(final Work w) { return new Callable<Work>() { public Work call() {... } }; } }; F<Work, Callable<Work>> alice = new F<Work, Callable<Work>>() {... }; public Callable<Work> bobThenAlice(Work w) { return Callables.bind(bob.f(w), alice); }
That’s pretty neat. Now we have a single Callable that we can run concurrently in a new thread, turning it into a Future. But wouldn’t it be cool if we could bind Futures? That would let us take already running computations and combine them in exactly this way. We want a Future monad.
The problem with combining Futures is in the nature of the future. This is a deliberate pun on “future”. Think about time for a second. What does it mean to get a value that’s in the future? By the very fact that causality is sequential, it’s a violation of the nature of reality to have something that doesn’t yet exist. It’s the future; you’re not supposed to get stuff out. But, we can put stuff in, can’t we? Yes we can. You know those corny time-capsule things where people put their mountain bikes and Nintendo games for future generations to enjoy later? We can do that with data values. And not just values, but computations.
Here’s One I Made Earlier
The Future class in the standard Java libraries doesn’t come with any methods for projecting computations into the future. But Functional Java comes with a class called Promise<A> which does have that feature. It makes use of light-weight concurrent processes (actors), and parallel strategies, as described in the previous post, to implement the ability to combine concurrent computations into larger (concurrently executing) structures.
Since it is implemented as a monad, the methods it provides are all the usual suspects: unit, bind, fmap, join, etc. Here’s a quick overview of what they do and why they’re useful. Grasping them doesn’t just help you understand the Promise class, but any monad you may come across in the (ahem) future.
The unit function, the constructor of Promises, is just called promise. It has a few overloaded forms, but here is the simplest one.
public static <A> Promise<A> promise(Strategy<A> s, P1<A> p);
The P1 class is just a simple closure with no arguments, provided by the Functional Java library. P1<A> consists of one abstract method: A _1(). Strategy represents a method of evaluating P1s concurrently. I also talk about Strategies in the previous post, but the long and the short of it is that it has methods to evaluate the P1 value according to some parallelisation strategy, like with a thread pool for instance.
Calling the promise method starts a concurrent computation, in a manner according to the given strategy, that evaluates p. The resulting Promise value is a handle on the running computation, and can be used to retrieve the value later. Promise.claim() will block the current thread until the value is available, exactly like Future.get(), but this is generally not what you want to do. Instead, you want to bind.
The essence of the monad pattern is the binding function. If you don’t think you already know what a monad is, but understand this method, then you know more than you think:
public Promise<B> bind(F<A, Promise<B>> f);
This method means that if you have a Promise of an A, and a function from an A to a Promise of a B, you can get a Promise of a B. I.e. if somebody promises you an A, and I can promise you a B for every A, it’s the same thing as being promised a B in the first place.
The mapping function:
public Promise<B> fmap(F<A, B> f);
This method means that if you have an Promise of an A, and a function from A to B, you can get a Promise of a B. In other words, you can map any function over a Promise, and fmap will return you a Promise of the result. Behind the scenes, fmap is implemented by calling the bind and promise methods. The difference between this method and the bind method is subtle but important. Calling p.bind(f) is exactly equivalent to calling Promise.join(p.fmap(f)).
The join function:
public static <A> Promise<A> join(Promise<Promise<A>> a);
Join is a lot more useful than it looks. If you have a promised Promise, it’s the same as just having a Promise. In practise, that means that if you can start a concurrent task that starts a concurrent task, you can combine those into one concurrent task. You can think of it as the semantic equivalent of Thread.join(), except that our method returns the joined Promise immediately.
Coming back to Bob and Alice for a second, we can implement bob and alice from the Callables example above, using Promise instead of Callable. Both bob and alice will construct Promises using the promise method, putting whatever work they do inside a P1. That way, when you call bob, he’s already doing his work by the time you mention Alice’s name:
final Strategy<Work> s = Strategy.simpleThreadStrategy(); F<Work, Promise<Work>> bob = new F<Work, Promise<Work>>() { public Promise<Work> f(final Work w) { return promise(s, new P1() { public Work _1() {... } }); } }; F<Work, Promise<Work>> alice = new F<Work, Promise<Work>>() {... }; public Promise<Work> bobThenAlice(Work w) { return bob.f(w).bind(alice); }
So now that we can build arbitrarily complex concurrent processes from already-running processes, how do we get the final promised value out? Again, you could call Promise.claim(), but that blocks the current thread as we know. Instead, Promise comes equipped with a method to(Actor<A>) which promises to send the value to the given Actor as soon as it’s ready. Control is returned to the current thread immediately, and the whole computation continues in the background, including the action to take on the final result. Actors were discussed in the previous post.
A Fully Functional Example
I think an example is in order. The following program calculates Fibonacci numbers using a naive recursive algorithm. This is an algorithm that benefits particularly well from parallelisation (barring any other kind of optimisation). If we were just using plain old Future instead of Promise, the number of Threads required to calculate the nth Fibonacci number is O(fib(n)). But since we’re using Promise, we can use a fixed number of actual Java threads.
package concurrent;
import static fj.Bottom.error;
import fj.Effect;
import fj.F;
import fj.F2;
import fj.Function;
import fj.P;
import fj.P1;
import fj.P2;
import fj.Unit;
import fj.data.List;
import fj.control.parallel.Actor;
import fj.control.parallel.Promise;
import fj.control.parallel.Strategy;
import static fj.data.List.range;
import static fj.function.Integers.add;
import static fj.control.parallel.Promise.join;
import static fj.control.parallel.Promise.promise;
import static fj.control.parallel.Actor.actor;
import java.text.MessageFormat;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
public class Fibs {
private static final int CUTOFF = 35;
public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
if (args.length < 1) throw error("This program takes an argument: number_of_threads"); final int threads = Integer.parseInt(args[0]); final ExecutorService pool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(threads); final Strategy su = Strategy.executorStrategy(pool);
final Strategy > spi = Strategy.executorStrategy(pool);
// This actor performs output and detects the termination condition.
final Actor > out = actor(su, new Effect >() {
public void e(final List fs) {
for (P2 p : fs.zipIndex()) {
System.out.println(MessageFormat.format(“n={0} => {1}”, p._2(), p._1()));
}
pool.shutdown();
}
});
// A parallel recursive Fibonacci function
final F > fib = new F >() {
public Promise f(final Integer n) {
return n < CUTOFF? promise(su, P.p(seqFib(n))) : f(n - 1).bind(f(n - 2), add); } }; System.out.println("Calculating Fibonacci sequence in parallel..."); join(su, spi.parMap(fib, range(0, 46)).map(Promise. sequence(su))).to(out);
}
// The sequential version of the recursive Fibonacci function
public static int seqFib(final int n) {
return n < 2? n : seqFib(n - 1) + seqFib(n - 2); } } [/sourcecode] For all you Scala fans out there, the Functional Java library comes with convenient bindings for Scala as well. Here’s the same thing written in Scala. Note that this does not use the Actor library from the standard Scala libraries, but the same lighter weight Java implementation that the Java example above uses.
package concurrent
import fj.control.parallel.{Actor, Promise}
import fj.Function.curry
import fj.control.parallel.Strategy.executorStrategy
import fjs.control.parallel.Strategy.parMap
import fjs.control.parallel.Promise._
import fjs.control.parallel.Actor._
import Integer.parseInt
import List.range
import java.util.concurrent.Executors.newFixedThreadPool
import fjs.F._
import fjs.F2._
import fjs.P1._
import fjs.P2._
import fjs.data.List._
import fjs.control.parallel.Strategy.ListPar
object Fibs {
val CUTOFF = 35;
def main(args: Array[String]) = {
if (args.length < 1) error("This program takes an argument: number_of_threads") val threads = parseInt(args(0)) val pool = newFixedThreadPool(threads) implicit def s[A] = executorStrategy[A](pool) // This actor performs output and detects the termination condition. val out: Actor[List[Int]] = actor{ ns =>
for ((n, i) %d
”, i, n)
pool.shutdown()
}
// A parallel recursive Fibonacci function
def fib(n: Int): Promise[Int] = {
if (n < CUTOFF) promise(() => seqFib(n))
else fib(n – 1).bind(fib(n – 2), curry((_: Int) + (_: Int)))
}
println(“Calculating Fibonacci sequence in parallel…”)
out! sequence(parMap[Int, Promise[Int], List](fib, range(0, 46)));
}
// The sequential version of the recursive Fibonacci function
def seqFib(n: Int): Int = if (n < 2) n else seqFib(n - 1) + seqFib(n - 2); } [/sourcecode] Here's an example run of this program using a pool of 10 threads. It runs about 7 times faster that way than with just 1 thread on my 8-way machine. The Scala version is also very slightly faster for some reason.
$ scala -classpath.:../../../build/classes/src concurrent.Fibs 10 Calculating Fibonacci sequence in parallel… n=0 => 0 n=1 => 1 n=2 => 1 n=3 => 2 n=4 => 3 n=5 => 5 n=6 => 8 n=7 => 13 n=8 => 21 n=9 => 34 n=10 => 55 n=11 => 89 n=12 => 144 n=13 => 233 n=14 => 377 n=15 => 610 n=16 => 987 n=17 => 1597 n=18 => 2584 n=19 => 4181 n=20 => 6765 n=21 => 10946 n=22 => 17711 n=23 => 28657 n=24 => 46368 n=25 => 75025 n=26 => 121393 n=27 => 196418 n=28 => 317811 n=29 => 514229 n=30 => 832040 n=31 => 1346269 n=32 => 2178309 n=33 => 3524578 n=34 => 5702887 n=35 => 9227465 n=36 => 14930352 n=37 => 24157817 n=38 => 39088169 n=39 => 63245986 n=40 => 102334155 n=41 => 165580141 n=42 => 267914296 n=43 => 433494437 n=44 => 701408733 n=45 => 1134903170
Massive win! If we had been using Future instead of Promise, we would have needed at least 55 threads (since we’re using a cutoff at 35 and 45 – 35 = 10 and fib(10) = 55). Heck, we could even remove the threshold value altogether and calculate all 45 parallel fibs, in parallel. That would require 1,134,903,170 threads in the absence of non-blocking concurrency abstractions like Promise and Actor. We can run that in just one thread if we’d like.
AdvertisementsAtlantic City is concentrating on attracting a new demographic to its offerings
Stephen Del Monte, the event director of the Challenge Atlantic City Triathlon, is hoping to bring a new crop of customers to the boardwalk.
Atlantic City had a certain type of person in mind when it decided to host the Challenge Atlantic City triathlon: someone who is married, has kids and makes good money.
In other words, the type of person who usually wouldn’t consider Atlantic City as a vacation destination.
Sure, the city is thrilled the June 29 event will attract up to 5,000 people, including more than 1,000 athletes from nearly two dozen countries who can swim, bike and run long distances.
But as the city searches for ways to bring people back to the struggling resort town, it also is putting an emphasis on targeting a new group of clientele who may be coming for the first time.
“Triathletes typically earn over $100,000 a year,” event director Stephen Del Monte said. “They’re often married with kids and represent a strong youth population.
“These are people who might not have traveled to Atlantic City otherwise, but will go for a triathlon.”
Hosting such an event is what Gov. Chris Christie had in mind when he created the Tourism District in 2011.
Atlantic City is in the process of reorganizing, consolidating and restructuring its critical state agencies and organizations in a focused effort to offer visitors more year-round entertainment, restaurant and shopping options outside of gaming.
Specifically, Atlantic City has been charged with bringing in a variety of different events to attract more diverse out-of-towners.
John Palmieri, who was hired to lead the pack as the executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority — and as of last year, the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority — knows it’s still a work in progress.
“When the government legislation was approved, everyone understood that positive changes needed to take hold and be measured within a five-year time frame,” Palmieri said. “We’re into it now a little over three years.”
Liza Cartmell, president and CEO of the Atlantic City Alliance created in conjunction with the Tourism District in 2011, says that halfway |
Small Farmers’ Loss of Land Increases World Hunger
UXBRIDGE, Canada, May 29 2014 (IPS) - The world is increasingly hungry because small farmers are losing access to farmland. Small farmers produce most of the world’s food but are now squeezed onto less than 25 percent of the world’s farmland, a new report reveals. Corporate and commercial farms, big biofuel operations and land speculators are pushing millions off their land.
“Small farmers are losing land at a tremendous rate. It’s a land reform movement in reverse,” said Henk Hobbelink, coordinator of GRAIN, an international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers, which released the report Thursday.
“The overwhelming majority of farming families today have less than two hectares to cultivate and that share is shrinking,” Hobbelink told IPS.
“If we do nothing to reverse this trend, the world will lose its capacity to feed itself.”
GRAIN’s Hungry for Land report provides new data to show small farms occupy less than 25 percent of the world’s farmland today – just 17 percent, if farms in India and China are excluded. Despite this they still provide most of the world’s food because they are often much more productive than large corporate farms.
If all farms in Central America matched the output of small farms the region would produce three times as much food, the report said.
“Every day we are exposed to the systematic expulsion from our land,” said Marina Dos Santos of the National Coordination of the Brazilian Landless Movement.
“We want the land in order to live and to produce, as these are our basic rights against land-grabbing corporations who seek only speculation and profit,” she said.
With the launch of 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and many agriculture experts acknowledged how important small farms are for feeding the world. However, they wildly overestimate how much land is being farmed by smallholders.
“I couldn’t believe it when the FAO said family farms manage 70 percent of all farmland. This contradicts all of our experience with small farms around the world,” said Hobbelink.
Researchers at GRAIN dug into mountains of data from every country as well as FAO statistics and information to find out who owns what. In many countries farmland ownership is very difficult to determine and there are varying definitions of what is a small farm or a family farm. Some giant corporate farms are family-owned.
“Our report outlines how we did our analysis. We checked our findings with other sources and this is closer to reality than the FAO number,” he said.
“It’s an important report and corresponds to our own research,” agreed Frederic Mousseau, policy director of the Oakland Institute, a U.S.-based policy think tank focused on global land and food issues.
Small farmers can feed the future nine billion people on the planet if they have the land, Mousseau told IPS.
“The current global food system is set up to provide fuels and food for western markets,” he said. “It’s not about feeding the most people.”
Zimbabwe was harshly criticised by the international community for redistributing farmland to smallholders in 2000. They now produce over 90 percent of the nation’s food crops, compared to 60 to70 percent before 2000.
“More [Zimbabwean] women own land in their own right, which is key to food sovereignty everywhere”, said Elizabeth Mpofu, general coordinator of La Via Campesina.
Since the 2008-2009 food crisis there has been a rush to buy up farmland all around the world by Wall St and financial institutions, said Mousseau.
In developing countries an estimated 250 million hectares worth of land investment, also known as ‘land grabbing’, has occurred between 2000 and 2011. The same thing is happening in the U.S.
In many areas the price of land has shot upwards pushing many farmers off their land. “U.S. farms are increasingly run by corporate farm managers who hire farm workers not farmers,” he said.
Investors see farmland as a safe and secure investment, especially in the U.S., with its multi-billion dollar farm subsidies. As a result, an estimated 10 billion dollars in capital is already looking for access to U.S. farmland, according to the Oakland Institute’s Down on the Farm report.
Over the next 20 years, 400 million acres, or nearly half of all U.S. farmland, is set to change hands as the current generation retires. Institutional investors are eagerly waiting to buy, the report said.
That will be bad news for food production, farmland, the environment and the economy. The U.S. and far too many other countries have bought into agribusiness propaganda and financial lobbying that commercial, large-scale agriculture is how to feed the world, create jobs and grow the economy, said Mousseau.
“Instead government policies need to be aligned to favour small farmers, not corporations,” he added.
The hard evidence from many studies shows that small farmers practicing agroecological farming produce more food, protect soil and water, have far lower CO2 emissions and provide better livelihoods, said Hobbelink.
“Small farmers give each hectare of their precious land far more attention and care,” he stressed.Some of the biggest problems plaguing the Blue Jays this season were on full display over the weekend in Cleveland, where Toronto was outscored 23-5 en route to a sweep: anemic offence and poor performances from pitchers they had previously been able to rely on (Marcus Stroman excepted).
But as ugly as that run differential looks, the Blue Jays might have been just one play away from salvaging a win. In the fourth inning of Saturday’s game, Edwin Encarnacion sent a sharply hit groundball toward Josh Donaldson at third base. After bobbling the ball, which cost him a chance to start an inning-ending double play, Donaldson recovered with enough time to throw out Encarnacion at first base. The bobble allowed Francisco Lindor to score Cleveland’s only run against Stroman. Cleveland went on to win 2-1 in extra innings.
If you’ve been watching the Jays this year thinking the defence has not been doing them any favours — even the usually solid Donaldson has not been his typical (healthy) self — the metrics back you up. The Society for American Baseball Research recently released the SABR Defensive Index rankings
through the first half of the season. A half season’s worth of defensive stats should always be taken with a grain of salt, but SABR’s process for computing SDI is pretty comprehensive. From SABR:
The SABR Defensive Index draws on and aggregates two types of existing defensive metrics: those derived from batted ball location-based data and those collected from play-by-play accounts. The three metrics representing batted ball data include Defensive Runs Saved from Baseball Info Solutions, Ultimate Zone Rating developed by noted sabermetrician Mitchel Lichtman, and Runs Effectively Defended based on STATS Zone Rating and built by SABR Defensive Committee member Chris Dial. The two metrics included in the SDI originating from play-by-play data are Defensive Regression Analysis, created by committee member Michael Humphreys, and Total Zone Rating.
SDI has been used for the last five years in the selection process for Gold Glove winners. It accounts for 25 per cent of the final vote.
The metric shows that the Jays’ once-lauded defence has, like most other aspects of their game, taken a step back this year. The release from SABR includes a list of the top 25 players by SDI in each league and SDIs for qualified players at each position. Toronto does not have any players among the top 25; last year centre fielder Kevin Pillar and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki made the list. The division-leading Red Sox have three players in the top 25, including major-league leader Mookie Betts.
The chart below shows how the Blue Jays stack up at each position:
(Click here for the interactive version of the chart.)
Overall, the picture isn’t great. The Jays are 13th in the AL in Ultimate Zone Rating (–16.3) and 14th in Defensive Runs Saved (–23), both of which are components of SDI. Last year they ranked fourth (27.6) and fifth (28) in those stats.
The infield has been not been too bad, for the most part, but the outfield has been awful. SDI rates Jose Bautista as the worst right fielder in the league and Steve Pearce and Ezequiel Carrera have been well below average in left field. Pillar is still above average but has taken a big step back from last year, when he ranked eighth overall in the AL with an 11.7 SDI.
Numbers like this perhaps should not come as a shock from an aging team. If the Jays hope to contend again, they’ll have to either hope that a healthier team will improve defensively — Toronto has been hit hard by injury this year — or make some upgrades.The cybersecurity expert Stuart Peck, Director of Cyber Security Strategy, ZeroDayLab, shared its view on the Equifax data breach.
For those of you living under a rock this week, Equifax suffered a major breach in their security, which led to over 143 million records being stolen by attackers. The information held by Equifax is highly sensitive, especially for US citizens, where personal and financial information including SSN (Social Security Numbers), and credit card data were stolen by the attackers. There is the possibility that over 44 million records in the UK and Canada may also be affected.
What might be news to you that this breach happened in May this year with the attackers being undetected by Equifax security teams until July 29th. Initial indications point towards the attacker(s) exploiting a vulnerability in Apache Struts, giving them access to a vast amount of information. What has not been fully confirmed by Equifax is whether the core database which includes credit file reports has also been compromised by the attackers.
So why is this the new gold standard for “how not to do Incident Response”?
There are very many ways Equifax could have handled this breach better, probably more than I can fit into a 700-word article, however, I will try to address the main points here.
If you know about a security breach come out quickly with an accurate and strong message
What’s interesting, and also disastrous for Equifax is that the business knew about a significant breach in their informational systems, for almost 2 months, before publicly announcing the incident. Now, this alone would be enough to damage any potential empathy from their customers, if they came out with we are a victim too angle.
However, Equifax performed the Incident Response cardinal sin, they protected their own interests before those of their customers they clearly let down, with key shareholders dumping their stock before publicly announcing the breach!
The fact Equifax had put their interests first (or created that perception), this meant that a potential “we’re a victim too” card from a crisis communications perspective was no longer a viable option, consequentially the business created a mob and made themselves a bigger target from hacktivism groups.
Have a clear plan for how you are going to communicate with your customers and update them.
When Equifax came out with a message about the breach in security, they created a website in August ironically called Equifaxsecurity2017.com to drive customers to, mainly to check whether their details were included in the incident and some advice on what they should do.
In principle this is a good idea, the reality is that it looked like a phishing website especially the Trustedidpremier.com site where customers could check whether they had been affected by the breach. Both causing confusion from customers who at which point were already in a heightened sense of paranoia.
What Equifax should have done, is notify all their customer by post and have clear and concise message on what the affected customers should do, and most importantly how Equifax is going to protect and compensate their customers on their main website! They had almost 2 months to prepare, so there are no excuses really.
Ensure you plug those holes! And check your IR plan is actually working.
When in a heightened state of security it’s easy to focus on the incident in hand, in fact, most breaches I’ve personally investigated have quickly led to a follow-up breach because everyone is busy trying to work out how they got breached in the first place… all hands to the pump lead to a blinkered approach were obvious holes are missed.
Unfortunately for Equifax, a site in Argentina was taken offline due to another potential breach in security or security configuration issue with the site having and admin username and admin password. With the press hot on the heels on anything related to Equifax, the business cannot afford another mistake, especially relating to PII or credit card information.
How not to undertake IR like Equifax
Equifax could have turned this incident into an opportunity to control the narrative of this breach, but short-sighted strategy and what on the outside seems to be a very immature incident response and crisis communication process has led to the media controlling the message.
When facing into the abyss of a major incident what should you be doing?
In essence training like an athlete and stress testing your incident response plan, and if you don’t have one well that the logical first step.
Having a set of relevant runbooks/playbooks that outline key steps to undertake in any given incident scenario, will reduce the inevitable impact of a major security incident
Train your support, IT/Networks, Security, and applications teams on the principles of containing incidents and supporting technical investigations.
Ensure Executives and key business people are trained on internal and most importantly external communications relating to Security Incidents. The first person speaking should be the CIO/CISO then your CEO
Run real-world desktop and technical scenarios to ensure identifying weaknesses or issues with your plan.
Do the right thing for your customers as well as your business, not coming out quickly- especially with GDPR looming can lead to exponential fines and loss or damage to reputation.
If you work in these areas you should be in a stronger position if you are faced with the perfect storm of incidents.
Finally, remember the incident isn’t over until it really is over!
About the author: Stuart Peck, Director of Cyber Security Strategy, ZeroDayLab
From a background of threat intelligence, social engineering, and incident response, Stuart Pecks heads up Cyber Security Strategy for ZeroDayLab. Stuart regularly delivers threat briefings to FTSE-level executives and directors throughout the UK and Europe. Passionate about educating organizations on the latest attacker trends facing business today and how to combat them, Stuart’s key areas of expertise include: the dark web, social engineering, malware and ransomware analysis & trends, threat hunting, OSINT, HUMINT and attacker recon techniques.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsecurity/
https://twitter.com/cybersecstu
Enjoy Stuart’s talk at Security Scotland Meet Up
Pierluigi Paganini
(Security Affairs – Equifax, hacking)
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Share OnTomorrow’s All-Ireland club hurling semi-finals may have been disrupted but for Galway champions Gort, the switch of venue is a mere detail compared to when they faced this weekend’s opponents Ballyhale Shamrocks from Kilkenny in the 1984 All-Ireland final.
“That was the year they decided to play it over a weekend in Navan,” says Matt Murphy, the former Galway minor and senior manager who played for Gort 31 years ago and is part of the current management team. “We played Midleton, the Cork champions, on Saturday and Ballyhale the next day. They’d beaten the Ulster champions.”
The match ended in a draw – Murphy scored the goal that appeared to have given Gort the title but Dermot Fennelly, one of seven brothers playing for Ballyhale, equalised and another brother Kevin came close from 60 yards to converting a late free to win the match.
Further inconvenience was caused by the replay not being played for another seven weeks, ironically, given tomorrow’s switch of venue, in Thurles.
First final
“It was our first final,” says Murphy, “but they’d won the All-Ireland a couple of years before. We had Sylvie Linnane and Pearse Piggott and had won the county in 1981 but we had to go to Kilkenny then to play James Stephens.”
The current Ballyhale team also features a share of Fennellys and has won a couple of All-Ireland titles. Murphy says Gort prefer to be aiming high in championship matches.
“I actually think that Gort, if they’re playing an ordinary team, don’t really rise to the occasion; you rarely see them beating a team out of sight but if we’re up against a very good side we’ll rise to the challenge. Portumna and Clarinbridge, who Gort beat in the recent county finals, were both All-Ireland champions at the time.”
He believes that the experience of playing an All-Ireland semi-final three years ago against Coolderry from Offaly will stand to Gort.
“I think a good bit was learned from that experience. The preparation is much more focused than it was in 2011. Back then there had been quite a gap since the last county title. Most of the younger fellas on the team wouldn’t even have been born when the club last won. There’s a feeling they didn’t do themselves justice.
“Then a year later when St Thomas’s went on to win the All-Ireland that rubbed salt into the wounds.”
Galway clubs have a great record in the championship, though. On 13 occasions the Tommy Moore Cup has gone west, which is a record for a county, as is the distribution, which has seen seven Galway clubs lift the prize.
Murphy says this acts as both an encouragement and a motivation.
The historical coincidence that pits the two clubs against each other 31 years after their All-Ireland final meeting isn’t matched in the other semi-final but Ulster champions Portaferry are making history by contesting their first All-Ireland semi-final.
Underdogs
They can also take heart from the fact that three years ago the Ulster champions Loughgiel defeated their Munster counterparts, Na Piarsaigh, before going on to win the All-Ireland.
Portaferry’s opponents tomorrow Kilmallock, are also from Limerick, a county that curiously for such a presence in the game has yet to win the club championship.
Kilmallock were one of three clubs from the county to reach three finals in four years – Ballybrown and Patrickswell were the others – between 1990 and 1993.Maybe you have heard people call Earth “the water planet.” The nickname is well-deserved. As this mosaic of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite conveys so well, the majority of Earth’s surface is covered by either liquid or frozen water. The atmosphere is awash with water as well. One satellite-based data set estimates that about 60 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by clouds (composed of water and ice droplets) at any given time.
Earth is home to yet another type of water—groundwater—which includes all the fresh water stored underground in soil and porous rock aquifers. Though groundwater is often forgotten because it’s not visible, more than two billion people rely on it as their primary water source.
With drought afflicting several parts of the world, and with aggressive use of groundwater in many agricultural regions, this precious water resource is under serious strain, warns NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory hydrologist James Famiglietti. In a commentary published by Nature Climate Change in October 2014, Famiglietti wrote:
In many parts of the world, in particular in the dry, mid-latitudes, far more water is used than is available on an annual, renewable basis. Precipitation, snowmelt, and streamflow are no longer enough to supply the multiple, competing demands for society’s water needs. Because the gap between supply and demand is routinely bridged with non-renewable groundwater, even more so during drought, groundwater supplies in some major aquifers will be depleted in a matter of decades. The myth of limitless water and the free-for-all mentality that has pervaded groundwater use must now come to an end.
Most of the major aquifers in the world’s arid and semi-arid zones—the parts of the world that rely most heavily on groundwater—are experiencing rapid rates of depletion because of water use by farms. As shown in the chart above—based on data collected by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)—this includes include the North China Plain, Australia’s Canning Basin, the Northwest Sahara Aquifer System, the Guarani Aquifer in South America, the High Plains and Central Valley aquifers of the United States, and the aquifers beneath northwestern India and the Middle East.
The situation is looking particularly grim in California, a state currently suffering from extreme drought. The extent of the drought is visible in the series of GRACE maps of dry season (September-November) water storage anomalies shown below. Red areas show the height of the water in comparison to a 2005-2010 average. California’s Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins have lost roughly 15 cubic kilometers (4 cubic miles) of total water per year since 2011 — more water than all 38 million Californians use for domestic and municipal supplies annually. Over half of the water losses are due to groundwater pumping in the Central Valley, according to Famiglietti.
The first step to managing the globe’s groundwater problem is to accept that we have one, Famiglietti recommends. And when societies are ready to look for solutions, the first place they’ll have to turn is the agricultural sector. “Agriculture accounts for nearly 80 percent of water use globally, and at least half of the irrigation water used is groundwater,” he wrote. “Even modest gains in agricultural efficiency will result in tremendous volumes of groundwater saved, or of water available for the environment or other human uses such as municipalities, energy production, industry and economic growth.”
Read the full commentary here. You can read news reports about Famiglietti’s article from Mashable, the Financial Times, and Discovery News. Read more about observing groundwater from space in “The Gravity of Groundwater.” Watch Famiglietti give a TEDx talk about groundwater losses below.Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)
Mangaluru, Oct 18: Almost 10 days after the murder of flower vendor and Bajrang Dal activist Prashant Poojary in Moodbidri, the police on Sunday October 18 revealed that four persons have been arrested in the case.
Addressing a press meet at his office here, police commissioner S Murugan said that the accused arrested are Mohammed Hanif (36), a resident of Adyapady, Mohammed Ilyas (27), a resident of Moodbidri, Ibrahim Liyaqat (26) of Bantwal, and Abdul Rashid (39) of Mulky.
Among the four, Hanif is directly involved in the execution of the crime while the other three are co-conspirators, he said,
Murugan also said that apart from Hanif, five others were directly involved in the crime, and they are presently absconding.
"We have gathered information about the other five main accused from the arrested persons and done a detailed probe. We will arrest the absconding accused soon," he added.
Asked about the arrest operation, he said it could not be revealed as it was part of the investigation.
He also said that the arrested persons confessed to the crime during interrogation.
"Hanif and the five who are absconding were also involved in a case at Handelu on September 9 and another assault case in Permude on October 3," Murugan said.
Asked about the motive behind the murder, the police commissioner said that it was out of communal grudge. "Prashant Poojary was actively involved in a pro-Hindu outfit. There were many clashes and out of communal grudge, he was attacked. However, instead of seeing this case on communal lines, we need to focus on the fact that the youths were misled. My assumption is that they were misguided."
When asked if the arrested persons belong to any outfit or organization, he declined to comment saying it was part of the investigation.
About the role of co-conspirators in the case, he said they helped the main accused by supplying information about the victim, and giving them protection and food.
To a query about a viral WhatsApp message that claimed a builder's involvement in the case, he said, "There is no involvement of any builder. We have not come across any such thing during the probe."
Regarding the death of eyewitness Vaman Poojary who was found hanging days after the murder, he said, "Vaman Poojary had not received any threat calls. We have examined his call records and we have not found any calls from overseas. But he was disturbed after the murder and his family also said that he was depressed ever since Prashant's murder. There was no pressure from police or anyone else."
"The investigation in the case is still on and we will be taking the accused into police custody for further enquiry," he added.
He also said that after Prashant Poojary's murder, three leaders - Jagadish Adhikari, Sharan Pumpwell and Somanath Kotian - had filed complaints of receiving threat calls.
When asked if he would urge religious leaders of both communities to guide the youth in the right direction, he said, "Guiding the youth is not just the work of the police. We have already spoken to religious leaders on this. Our intention is to unite people, and hence people should also support this cause. All religious leaders should condemn such incidents and criminals should be ostracised from society.""An Anonymous, Offline, Peer To Peer File-Sharing Network In Public Space"
toggle caption Aram Bartholl
Across New York City, a new kind of network is going up. You may see it. USB connections jutting out of walls at locations around the city. You can plug into, anybody can, and leave whatever they want and download what they want. The man behind the project, Aram Bartholl, describes the project he calls "Dead Drops" this way:
...An anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space. I am ‘injecting’ USB flash drives into walls, buildings and curbs accessible to anybody in public space. You are invited to go to these places (so far 5 in NYC) to drop or find files on a dead drop. Plug your laptop to a wall, house or pole to share your favorite files and data.
The allure is unmistakable. Admit, if you saw one of these, wouldn't you want to plug in? As Gizmodo puts it:
I mean, if I saw a USB stick stick out of a random wall, I'd be dying to know what's in there. I'd have to plug in. It'd also be interesting to see what people would anonymously share on the public drive, well, until some jackass decides to upload a virus to screw up everybody's computer.
Bartholl has installed five USB drives in New York, and has plans for other cities, and to encourage others to take up the project in their town.
(hat tip: Daily Dish)Boucher one away from Stamkos' mark by Eric Marin / New Jersey Devils
Reid Boucher is one goal away from joining elite company.
The Devils' left wing prospect scored four times for Sarnia (OHL) on Friday to reach 57 goals for the season – one shy of Steven Stamkos' team record. The outburst fueled the Sting's 13-3 win over Erie, helping to set a club mark for most goals in a game.
Boucher struck 15 seconds into the contest and added two assists to round out a season-high six-point outing.
“He’s really special," head coach Jacques Beaulieu told SarniaSting.com. "In my 15 years coaching in the CHL I’ve never been part of a guy who scored 57 goals. And he’s not finished. It’s a credit to him.”
Besides having 15 more goals than anyone else in the OHL, Boucher also leads the league in power-play tallies (20) and game winners (9). He's fifth in OHL scoring with 85 points.
Boucher's quest continues Friday, when the Sting visits the London Knights.
G Maxime Clermont recorded back-to-back wins versus fellow Devils prospect G Scott Wedgewood last week. Clermont made 30 saves in Elmira's (ECHL) 4-1 win over Trenton on Monday, then posted 34 stops Friday for a 5-4 shootout victory.
Clermont has four wins, a shootout loss and a no decision in six head-to-head meetings this season with Wedgewood, who's 2-2-1-1 against Clermont.
Wedgewood rebounded Saturday with his first pro shutout. He needed 29 saves to capture a 6-0 win over Reading.
D Damon Severson collected assists in back-to-back games for Kelowna (WHL) on Friday and Saturday, bringing his season totals to eight goals and 38 assists. He's tied for sixth among WHL defensemen with 46 points.
D Jon Merrill registered a season-high three assists for Michigan (CCHA) on Saturday, helping the Wolverines complete a weekend sweep of Ohio State with a 6-3 victory.
C Graham Black scored twice and added an assist for Swift Currrent (WHL) on Sunday, matching a season high with a three-point game. Black ranks third on the Broncos with 45 points (22g-23a).
Black's teammate and fellow Devils prospect D Reece Scarlett added two assists in Sunday's 6-1 win over Brandon. Scarlett, Swift Current's top scoring blue liner, is fourth on the squad with 41 points (7g-34a).
LW Ben Johnson had two goals for Windsor (OHL) on Thursday, giving him 4g-4a in 11 games this month. He's up to 18 goals and 14 assists in 60 games.
View Less“After the horrendous display of racism, bigotry, and white supremacy in Charlottesville, we, the citizens of the City of Norfolk, take a stand against white nationalism by removing one of its symbols, the Confederate monument,” the petition, which can be found here, starts.
“On top of a white, Vermont granite base stands a 15-foot figure of a Confederate soldier,” the petition continues. “The monument commemorates the last reunion of surviving Confederate soldiers and is found on Main Street in Downtown Norfolk.
“We, the Citizens of the City of Norfolk, want the Confederate monument removed from downtown Norfolk on Main Street. After it is removed, we suggest placing the Confederate monument in a museum where exhibits and conversations can occur in a thoughtful, informed manner. We recommend replacing the Confederate monument with a new monument to serve as a celebration racial and cultural diversity.”
“In the 1850s, there was a slave market at that site,” said Norfolk State University professor Charles Ford. “Then, with Reconstruction, it became Market Square — the Sargeant Room has a beautiful postcard of the street vendors — both white and black there. Then, with white supremacy and the automobile, the vendors left and the monument went up. Did the people of 1899-1902 know that the space had been used for slave auctions forty-five years or so before? Probably.”
In 2015 the Norfolk City Council decided to keep the monument at their annual retreat. All three black council members agreed that removing the monument was unnecessary, according to reporting from Tim Eberly.
“You can’t erase history just because you don’t like it,” then Vice Mayor Angelia Williams Graves, who is black, said at the time. “It is what it is. To remove it would be a mistake.”
Of course, much has changed since then, including Councilwoman Graves position on the issue.
“In 2015, I was under the impression that because of federal law, we could not move the statue,” she said. “I understand that may not completely be the case now. I support the Mayor’s idea to move the monument to the cemetery. Let the dead all rest in peace together.”
Councilman Tommy Smigiel is one who carefully listens to the will of the citizens before making his decision on an issue.
“Believe it or not, I have had very few emails from citizens in Norfolk on the issue and it has been split,” he said. “Most of those who wish to keep it, tend to state that moving it doesn’t erase history.”
Cities have dealt with their monuments in different ways. Baltimore recently tore theirs down in the middle of the night. From The Baltimore Sun:
The action comes after Mayor Catherine Pugh pledged to remove four statues linked to the Confederacy from public spaces in the city and the Baltimore City Council unanimously passed a resolution to tear them down after a national conversation was renewed following a deadly act of terror during a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday.
Protestors took the matter into their own hands in Durham. From The New York Times:
Chanting “No K.K.K., no fascist U.S.A.,” the protesters slung a rope around the Confederate soldier’s neck and pulled. The crowd stepped back, out of the way, and the soldier came crashing to the ground in a heap of crumpled metal.
Whether or not the Norfolk monument comes down or if a large amount of signage is added to provide proper historical context, clearly, in my personal opinion, something must be done.
No matter what happens, and no matter what your personal beliefs are, I pray for peace in our hearts and peace in our streets.
Facebook CommentsNearly all senior administration officials have personal email accounts that they occasionally use to communicate about work. But the officials said that Mr. Carter emailed with his closest aides about a variety of work-related matters, including speeches, meetings and news media appearances. In one of the emails obtained by The Times, Mr. Carter discussed how he had mistakenly placed a notecard in a “burn bag.” Such bags are typically used to destroy classified information.
The spokesman for Mr. Carter played down the secretary’s use of personal email, saying that he used it primarily to correspond with friends and family.
“Any email related to work received on this personal account, such as an invitation to speak at an event or an administrative issue, is copied or forwarded to his official account so it can be preserved as a federal record as appropriate,” said the spokesman, Mr. Cook.
“Secretary Carter strongly prefers to conduct communications on the phone or in person, and like many of his predecessors rarely uses email for official government business. The secretary does not directly email anyone within the department or the U.S. government except a very small group of senior advisers, usually his chief of staff.”
Mr. Cook declined to answer a question about whether Mr. Carter had violated the Defense Department’s email policies.
Mr. Carter was assigned a government email account when he became defense secretary in February but continued the use of the private account. In contrast to Mr. Cook’s statement, a former aide to Mr. Carter said the defense secretary used the personal account so frequently that members of his staff feared he would be hacked and worried about his not following the rules.
In 2012, the Defense Department adopted a policy that bars all employees regardless of rank or position from relying on personal email to conduct government business. Last year, President Obama signed a law directing federal officials not to send or receive emails on their personal accounts unless they were copied directly into their government accounts or forwarded to a government account within 20 days. A spokesman for Mr. Carter said that he had done this but did not provide any documentation to back that up.Dean Blandino, the Vice President of NFL Officiating, is finally letting us know why Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier wasn’t penalized Saturday night for his third quarter hit on Cincinnati Bengals running back Giovani Bernard that resulted in a fumble.
In his weekly officiating video, Blandino explains that Shazier wasn’t penalized because he didn’t line Bernard up following him catching the pass out in the flat. He goes on to say that the two players were moving in different directions and that Bernard had already established himself as a runner.
Blandino broke down the three elements of consideration within Article 8 of the NFL rule book and why the hit was legal.
“But there’s three elements to that rule. You have to line up your opponent, you have to lower your head, and you have to make forcible contact with the very top of the helmet. The key issue here is the line up. And when we’re talking about angles, and the players are moving at different angles, where you have Bernard is moving in this direction, Shazier is moving in this direction, then we don’t have the line up.
“You’re really dealing with the players moving in the same direction towards each other when this rule would apply. The theory being, when players are moving at angles, they don’t have as much opportunity to avoid that contact. That’s where the rule does not apply.
“You watch it here, we’re moving at angle, not a foul.”
Blandino continued: “We certainly are concerned with players lowering their head. We don’t want players to lower their head to initiate contact. That’s why this rule was in place, to coach that, and to get that out of the game. And the players have done a great job and the players have done a great job. This crown of the helmet rule has not been called very often. We haven’t had a lot of fines in this area because we’re not seeing it very often. But we have to continue to look at this technique and make sure that where we can we eliminate it from the game and we prohibit players and deter players from dropping and using the crown of the helmet.”
Early on in the video, Blandino said he thinks the remarkable touchdown catch by Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant probably wasn’t a legal catch after all but that there likely wasn’t enough replay evidence to overturn the call that was made on the field.When engineers and local officials gathered at a modest home in Flint, Michigan, they were eager to start on the long-awaited project of replacing pipes in the distressed community. Flint's residents have spent nearly two years dealing with a crisis of unmatched proportion. An emergency financial manager appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder forced the city to change its drinking water source from Detroit to the contaminated Flint River. For more than a year, and despite widespread outcry, damaged pipes carried lead into the homes and bodies of children and adults throughout the city.
After months of political wrangling, the city and the state finally chose the first home to receive new pipes. The home had tested for 297 parts per billion of lead in the water. (For reference, EPA regulations define 15 parts per billion as "actionable.") Officials prepped the homeowner for a week for the media blitz planned for a Friday morning in early March. On Thursday, they dug out the supply pipe leading from the water main to the house. To the frustration |
someone who has accomplished that. This is a big, universal, deep mind. We can all take the compassion we have now and slowly extend it until it becomes that, at which point we can protect people everywhere as our mind is everywhere. We can become like the sun, or the great earth supporting all living beings. Compassion is a very powerful force, as the article I quoted earlier says too:
The desire is that people see that kindness isn’t soft or syrupy but it’s actually a really powerful force and that if we actually started to prioritize it, not in a sentimental way but in the same way we might go to the gym to keep fit, it can really make a huge difference to people’s lives.
Eight Steps to Happiness explains a beautiful and extensive meditation on compassion, hopefully you have some time to check it out. In brief, we can bring others into the orbit of our compassion simply by thinking they matter, by loving them, by seeing how they suffer, and by wishing them to be free. We can start with the people for whom we already have an open heart, and then extend our love and compassion as widely as we wish. We can finish our meditation with the big thought:
May everyone be free from suffering and its causes. How wonderful this would be!
Imagine that! Everything starts in the imagination. The world is not fixed. Suffering is not fixed. Life without suffering is possible, and this is where it starts.
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Like this: Like Loading... RelatedFact vs. Fiction in the Movie (Film), Jurassic ParkIn Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, dinosaurs come to life on the big screen for audiences' worldwide. Millions have watched this film, but what number of them have halted to wonder at the truth behind the story? How many have stopped to think whether the dinosaurs are portrayed correctly within a scientific aspect? Unbeknownst to many, there are a number of mistakes in Spielberg's film regarding the dinosaurs, from how they were recreated to their common names.One prominent flub that is witnessed throughout the duration of the film, besides the fact that most of the dinosaurs are from the cretaceous period, is the fact that it remains impossible to bring dinosaurs back to life. Dinosaurs are extinct! They have been extinct for 65 million years. True, one would need dinosaur DNA to recreate dinosaurs, and it is indeed possible for mosquitoes with the DNA of dinosaurs to have been trapped in hardening amber, as seen in the film. However, it is impossible for scientists today to find hardened amber with dinosaur DNA in it, simply because DNA does not last; it degrades over time (even in preserved amber). Just the tiniest bit of degradation would ruin its value (UCMP 1995). Therefore, you would not have the starting point for proceeding with such an endeavor as the scientists inaccurately accomplish in Spielberg's film: the breeding of dinosaurs.Continuing on with the amber, the film claims that it was discovered in a Dominican mine. Dominican amber mines are scientifically aged at the Miocene and Oligocene epochs (French 1998). These epochs take place later than 65 million years ago, roughly from 38 to 5 million years ago, which in turn means that dinosaurs were most likely not around when this specific amber was formed. Remains of dinosaurs have only been found from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceuos periods, from 251 to 65 million years ago.Another fact of fiction in this film involves the truly terrifying velociraptors. These specific dinosaurs are nicknamed "raptors", a name that now refers to the entire family of dinosaurs, not just the velociraptor as indicated in the film. In science before the film, the name "raptor" identified birds of prey.Text size
On your mark…get ready…. GO! Two firms are racing to bring bitcoins to everyone in the form of a publically-traded fund. But the Wall Street Journal reports that the risks for investors "are extraordinary."
While some analysts expect a surge in the price of bitcoins as soon as a publicly traded fund draws new investors into the market, prospective fund investors should consider three extraordinary risks.
First, as is clear from their price history, bitcoins are extremely volatile. Second, it is still uncertain whether bitcoins—which are simply strings of numbers that have won acceptance as a payment method for some online transactions—will grow into something approaching a mainstream currency, fade into oblivion or just remain a novelty of limited use.
And third, if hackers robbed the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, as its owners allege, they might be able to pull off a similar heist in the virtual vaults of the fund.
The race to bring a bitcoin ETF to market is a faceoff between the famed Winklevoss twins and the Bitcoin Investment Trust. The SEC has been reviewing an application for a bitcoin fund from brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss – to be called the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust and carry the ticker symbol COIN for 14 months.
The Bitcoin Investment Trust, also called BIT, is already in existence with $70 million in assets, having bypassed SEC scrutiny because it launched as a private trust open only to accredited investors in September 2013. But Barry Silbert, founder and chairman of SecondMarket Holdings Inc., which manages the trust, says his firm aims to convert BIT into a publically-traded bit coin fund during the fourth quarter of this year.
For more information on the two funds, read the WSJ story here.Skrillex is letting fans take him for a ride.
As he prepares to rail across the country with his Full Flex Express Tour — an homage to the famed 1970 Canadian train tour by Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Band and others — the globetrotting DJ already believes it’s going to end as the original did: In the red.
And he couldn’t care less.
"I’m making no money on this tour," claims Skrillex — born Sonny Moore — in an exclusive national interview. "I’m losing money to do it. I’m doing it because it’s just a fun thing to do.
"I saw the Festival Express movie, and there was also the (Railroad Revival Tour with Edward Sharpe, Mumford & Sons and others) last year.
Both of those inspired us to do something similar. And if you want to do that — if you want the right artists and the right vibe and the right time and the right experience, this is what it takes. And this is what it costs.
"But it’s not about money. You’ve got to look at the bigger picture.
It’s about doing something fun and creating something that’s cool and giving people something to look forward to and making people happy. I can make money in other ways. I can fly around with a backpack and make so much money."
Especially now. In the past six months, Moore has gone from electronic dance music cult hero to bona fide star. He was up for five Grammys (including Best New Artist) this year and won three in the Dance and Remix categories. He has remixed everyone from Lady Gaga to Rob Zombie and Korn. His distinctive mug — characterized by his half-shaved noggin and oversize glasses — has graced the cover of Rolling Stone.
His girlfriend is British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding. Not bad for a 24-year-old ex-punk singer who was broke and homeless a couple of years ago — and who still hasn’t released a proper album.
Clearly, the fiercely independent Moore dances to his own beat. And during a typically hectic day in Vienna — "I’m doing this film stuff and sending a ton of emails and I just got out of the shower and rushed down to the car and now I’m on the phone with you" — he explained himself. Here’s what you need to know about his philosophy, his music and the Full Flex Express, which hits six cities this month with a cast of like-minded electronic dance music stars including Pretty Lights, Diplo, Grimes, Hundred Waters, KOAN Sound & Tokimonsta.
All aboard.
1 | Since the Grammys, life has changed — and stayed the same.
"There’s stuff that feels the same, you know. And stuff that seems a bit different. I guess the main thing I’ve noticed is the vastness of who and where this reaches out to now; the amount of people that know about it now. So you have a lot of different influences and opinions and things coming at you from all different directions. But I just try to do the same things I’ve always done — make music and work really hard. I don’t sleep much more than a couple of hours a night. There’s a ton of stuff I want to do. And it takes a lot of work to do it. And I like to work hard."
2 | He wants the Full Flex Express to be a trip for everyone.
"I don’t think there’s ever been anything like this before, what we’re doing with the festival and the site and the actual lineup. I think the experience is going to be crazy. The first few artists will be playing on big art cars that have Funktion One (sound) rigs on them.
They’ll be going back and forth in one area. Then around sundown, we’re going to light torches and open a second area. It’s just going to be this whole linear experience. The whole idea is to move from place to place during the festival. And I handpicked the lineup so you always have the vibe you want to get to the next level, and the next level.”
3 | Getting there will be half the fun.
"We have a studio car. And we’re all musicians. So we’re just going to be jamming and listening to music, getting to know one another, connecting and building the community of the Full Flex Express. That was part of the Festival Express. And I like the idea of that. When you build strong relationships and community with other artists, it can really open up other doors. it will be a lot of fun at the end of the day. I wish we had a bigger train. That’s next year. If we do well, we can get a bigger train, and expand and do stuff. But for now we’re punk-rocking it, you know.”
4 | It’s all about connections.
"I just want to build a music community. That’s the one thing that really gets me up in the morning. You have so much going on with the music business and industry that compromises what art is. I just love the integrity of people getting together because they want to get together — without this bottom line and without trying to be as big as you can be just for the sake of it, or trying to monopolize everything. That’s what destroys art and destroys movements. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I want to get together with independent artists, with people that are free thinkers and forward thinkers, people that can raise their own flags and declare their own independence but still keep community. That’s what I want to do.
That’s my whole goal.”
5 | He feels no pressure to release an album.
"I’ve released almost 40 tracks in the last two years. The normal consumer might think an album is protocol. But for most of my fans, they just go online and get songs. And they have a lot of material they can sit on for a while. So asking me about an an album is kind of like asking a painter that’s been doing smaller paintings if he should do a bigger painting. It has to be the right painting and you have to be ready to do it. I would like to do an album, for sure. But I don’t want to do anything just for the sake of doing it.”
6 | He’s still basically homeless.
"My Grammys are actually at my manager’s house because I don’t have a place yet. It’s funny; at the end of this year, I will have literally been living in hotels for two years. But by the end of the summer, I’ll be getting into my first place and I’ll be able to put them somewhere. And I’m going to take some time off of the road. I’m really looking forward to it. I really wanna have my own place and make music in a studio and try new things. That’s why it’s not discouraging at the moment, the fact that I’m working so hard and not sleeping. It’s all going toward something.”
Skrillex’s Full Flex Express Tour
Featuring Pretty Lights, Diplo, Grimes, KOAN Sound & Tokimonsta.
July 13 | Toronto | Fort York
July 14 | Ottawa | Blues Fest
July 15 | Montreal | Parc Jean Drapeau
July 18 | Winnipeg | Shaw Park
July 20 | Edmonton | Kinsmen Park
July 22 | Vancouver | PNE Coliseum
darryl.sterdan@sunmedia.ca
@darryl_sterdan
blogs.canoe.ca/turntable
facebook.com/darryl.sterdanScientists at NUI Galway (NUIG) have found a way of tailoring the chemical structure of microscopic algae in a way that could enable their use as a vehicle in the delivery of drugs and genes to the site of illnesses or diseases.
The technique uses diatoms, a type of microscopic algae found in freshwater and seawater.
They can be used to synthesise the complicated structures of tiny materials.
Details of the research are published in this month's edition of the academic journal Nature Communications.
The study was carried out by Yvonne Lang, a PhD student at the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB) at NUIG.
She collected diatoms from Galway Bay and cultured them in the lab.
Using a range of microscopy techniques Ms Lang altered the architecture and chemistry of the diatoms, tailoring them for potential applications.
Much work is currently being done on examining the suitability of nano-materials for a variety of purposes.
However, synthesising materials at nano scale can be very difficult, and so scientists are looking at the structure of existing living organisms for ideas.
Diatoms contain diverse patterns and structures at nano scale, and it is this unique architecture that makes scientists think they might be capable of being used as an efficient means of delivering drugs to their target.
The next phase of the research will see the structure of the diatoms prepared for this purpose.
Diatoms are also being explored as potential biosensors because of their large surface area and optical properties.
More than 100,000 species of diatom have so far been identified.
The work was supervised by NUI Galway's Professor Abhay Pandit and co-supervised by Dr David Finn.
It was funded by Science Foundation Ireland.Saleh became president of the Yemen Arab Republic, what is now northern Yemen, in 1978. In 1990 he incorporated southern Yemen into a unified republic, which he has presided over ever since.
He has maintained his hold on power through an extensive patronage network, which includes members of his family and tribal leaders. He's been a master at playing various factions against each other and preventing the emergence of a strong and unified opposition. Saleh’s family is part of the Sanhan tribe, which belongs to the large and powerful Hashid tribal confederation.
Saleh’s oldest son, Ahmad Ali Saleh, is head of Yemen’s elite Republican Guard and the country’s special forces, which have stood by Saleh as other military units defect. Prior to the current unrest, he was being groomed to succeed Saleh as president.
Saleh also installed several of his nephews in government positions, overseeing the country’s national security, central security, counterterrorism forces, and presidential guard. Saleh’s half-brother, Mohammed Saleh Abdullah al-Ahmar, leads the country’s air force. Dozens more members of the Saleh family have vast land and economic holdings – everything from oil and tobacco companies to Yemenia Airlines – as well as government and security positions.
Even if Saleh did opt to step down, it wouldn’t be the end of the Saleh family’s power.Petition to Stop Anti-Christian Bigotry in the Military
Sign now! Petition to Stop Anti-Christian Bigotry in the Military, submit your email address (and, optionally, your name) and click the button when done. We will also keep you in the loop on this and other important stories by sending you newsletters from Clash Daily; don’t worry, you can unsubscribe at any time if you find that it’s not for you.
THE FACTS:
A briefing held at Camp Shelby in Mississippi listed Evangelical Christian groups alongside domestic hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam.
Soldiers at Fort Hood were warned that participating in or donating money to evangelical Christian groups or Tea Party groups could result in military punishment.
Last year an Army Reserve training brief listed Catholics and Evangelical Christians as examples of religious extremism.
“Men and women of faith – who have served the Army faithfully for centuries – have been likened to those who regularly threaten the peace and security of the United States. It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of improper characterization.” — Ron Crews, Executive Director of the Chaplain Alliance For Religious Liberty
The Army repeatedly claims these briefings were isolated incidents where instructors used materials that were not approved by the military.
THE SOLUTION:
SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP ANTI-CHRISTIAN BIGOTRY IN THE MILITARY
Liberty Alliance believes these recent examples of bigotry are part of a larger alarming trend in anti-Christian bigotry at the Federal level.
Enough is enough! Sign the petition to President Obama and Secretary of Defense Hagel to stop this anti-Christian bigotry in the military.
President Obama and Secretary of Defense Hagel,
We believe that Christian men and women – who have served the Army faithfully for centuries – have been wrongfully linked to those who regularly threaten the peace and security of the United States. It demonstrates an unbelievable disregard for our Christian Heritage to single out Christianity as “extreme.” Anti-Christian bigotry is Unconstitutional and has no place in our Armed Forces. We demand that you defend religious liberty in the military and throughout the Federal government.
SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP ANTI-CHRISTIAN BIGOTRY IN THE MILITARYThere’s something fishy going on between the soy industry and new fish farming methods, and there is little news coverage of this growing relationship. A report titled Factory-Fed Fish: How the Soy Industry is Expanding Into the Sea by Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe highlights some of the potential dangers created by the unexpected relationship between soy and fish, and looks at the harm that is being caused to the global environment by this unnatural coupling.
What’s The Problem?
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As with many foods people consume, there are hidden costs to consuming fish, even fish from supposedly ‘sustainable’ sources. Roughly half of the seafood people consume is produced using aquaculture, or ‘factory’ fish farming, methods, and it’s no accident that the former term has been adopted by the bodies involved. The term ‘aquaculture’ suggests a natural approach to producing fish, while the term ‘fish farming’ indicates exploitation, and is an apt term since fish farms involve cages on huge scales in order to maximize profit. Some fish farms use small, overcrowded cages akin to battery hen method, which ‘open ocean’ or ‘offshore aquaculture’ involves growing fish in isolated large cages in the ocean, far from the coastline.
The Environmental & Animal Impacts
Both of these methods of fish farming create problems for the planet. Farmed fish escape and contaminate other sea life, spreading diseases and parasites to wild fish and marine life. Farmed fish also breed with wild fish, which contaminates non-farmed sources of fish and leads to decreased genetic pools. Farmed fish also out-compete wild fish in some cases, leading to population decline of healthy, natural fish.
There’s a less obvious problem to do with the relationship between fish and soy. The farmed fish are being fed soy, which they would never encounter in their natural environments and is likely causing them long-term damage. Soy is nutritionally poor compared to the variety of smaller fish and other sea creatures that an average fish would consume, but it’s a very cheap option for the fish farmers, who require cheap food to feed over 200 million fish in offshore cages each year. The soy industry insists that soy is ‘sustainable’, which may be true in comparison to feeding fish their natural diets, which would require more than the world’s fish and other sea life as fish feed, however the other impacts of soy-fed fish have not been explored, and the method cannot be dubbed as sustainable until more is known about the impact feeding soy to fish has on the environment long-term.
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Farmed soy-fed fish also produce more waste than wild fish, which leads to an increase in oceanic pollution and again raises contamination risks of other sea life species.
Soy farming on the scale required to feed the number of fish kept on underwater farms also requires mass deforestation. In several U.S. states, underground drainage pipes are required to dry out land needed to grow soybean crops, and the water collected by the pipes, which contains nitrogen fertilizers, and end up in the Gulf of Mexico. The nitrogen fertilizer carried by the drainage pipes is a major source of nutrient pollution in the Gulf. The fertilizer-contaminated water creates pockets of oxygen-depleted areas known as ‘dead zones’, which cause marine animals to suffocate and die.
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In addition, the soy that is being fed to farmed fish is predominantly from genetically modified sources. Sources indicate that 94 percent of the soy grown in the United States is genetically modified, and 98 percent of soybeans grown in the United States is used to feed livestock, again demonstrating that farming methods in general are unsustainable and environmentally damaging practices.
There is also evidence that consuming soybeans seriously harms fish. Soy can be indigestible for some fish and consuming it harms their digestive systems over time, and in some cases leads to an inflammation of the lower intestine. The further implications of this are not yet known. Another study found that when a group of eels was fed on soy, 11 times more eels became females than in the control group.
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The Human Impact
Mass soy farming in Argentina means that an estimated 300,000 peasant and indigenous families have been displaced front heir natural habitats, in the last decade alone. Soy farming pollutes the land people need to live on and thereby destroys local communities. Local activist groups including La Via Campesina and the National Indigenous Campesino Movement of Argentina are attempting to regain control and attain rights over their homelands.
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On soy plantations in Brazil, there have been documented cases of forced labor akin to slavery methods. A registry of agricultural firms undertaken by the government found that 6 soy companies were responsible for enslaving 241 workers.
Since soy plantations produce goods purely for export purposes, they also damage local economies. National food security in South America is compromised by the ‘soybean economy’, which diverts much-needed agricultural capacity to foreign lands.
There’s no doubt that fish farming has negative impacts on our planet’s land, oceans and the animals and communities that inhabit it, but as with other examples of big business, fortune favors the rich. There are no signs that fish farming methods, and feeding fish soy products, will come to an end in the near future.
Who’s The Culprit?
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Soy and fish farming are immensely profitable businesses for those involved. Soybean companies and trade associations benefit from soy-fed fish farming. The Illinois Soybean Association stated that fish farming that will ‘revolutionize sustainable agriculture’, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also support fish farming methods.
Large corporations have large stakes in the fish farming industry. Monsanto was involved in a study on soy diets for salmon; the company provided GM and non-GM soy for the researchers to use in the trials. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy plants are designed to be resistant to the corporate giant’s controversial herbicide Roundup, which has proven negative effects on the environment.
In 2010, Monsanto, through smaller owned companies, controlled approximately 62.5 percent of soybean seeds and seed trait licenses in the U.S.
Cargill is a soybean-crushing firm which created a team focused on fish feed products in the 1990s. A decade later, the corporate giant manages several firms which together own 178 animal nutrition factories, and its company Agribrands produces different lines of fish feed today.
What Can We Do?
Share this article on social media sites, and read the Factory-Fed Fish report. It’s essential that people learn about fish farming, the unnatural soy diets the fish are fed on, and the impact these things are having on our land and oceans.
Spread the word. Write a blog post, email your friends, write to your governor to highlight the issue. Form local focus groups to transition from fish diets to fish-free living. Together communities can press for and help to draft bills that prohibit federal agencies from allowing fish farming operations to take place in federal waters. You can also demand that U.S. farm policy is changed to stop overproduction of commodity crops like soy, and join ocean-protection organizations and those that are anti-overfishing our seas.
Use your consumer vote. The three types of omega-3 fatty acids that people obtain by consuming fish come from algae. Algae is a potentially less environmentally destructive way of meeting human nutritional needs directly that would eliminate the need for soy-fed fish and for fish farming. Instead of consuming fish from questionable sources you can consume algae in supplement form as capsules or powder, and ensure that it is from efficient small-scale growing projects, which will eliminate the need for fish in your diet altogether. The power to stop the fish farming industry and the big businesses involved lies with the consumer.
The health of the world’s oceans, animals and humans depends on individual consumers eliminating their consumption of fish, as there is simply not enough wild fish available to meet global demand. Soy-fed fish will exist so long as people continue to buy from unsustainable, unethical sources, and the human health impacts of consuming soy-fed fish are not yet known. Eliminate unknown risks by helping to end this industry, and let other people know what they are contributing to and consuming. The planet will thank you for it.
Image Source: Ivan Walsh/FlickrFollowing news of ongoing unrest in Ukraine, one tends to get the impression it is a matter of various political interests jockeying for power.
There is talk of the United States effectively carrying out a coup by supporting right-wing political parties and of Russia moving to protect its strategic interests in the region. Mainstream media disseminates images of Ukraine’s so-called political divide by showing the distribution of ethnic or linguistic groups, Ukrainian or Russian speaking, to sum up the situation. There is talk of fascists and neo-Nazis, socialists, liberals, and neocons, ethnic conflict and spheres of influence, such that the analysis begins from a perspective of established political discourse. This is a form of analysis that takes what I call a top-down approach to unrest, ignoring the underlying conditions that are the necessary context to understand the uprising in Ukraine.
Ask yourself, have you read any stories that begin by stating the cost of living in Ukraine? Have you read any stories that discuss the far-reaching and ubiquitous nature of corruption in the everyday lives of Ukrainian people? Have you read any stories that focus on the disgust Ukrainians have for the sham that is their political system with respect to all the established political parties? If not, then you have been seeing the situation in Ukraine from a top-down perspective.
An unfortunate outcome of this perspective is that it tends to mask the social conditions that precipitated the revolt, and as a consequence serves to divide and compartmentalize the uprising into reductive camps. This top-down approach provides a discourse that, once bound, can be managed, and keeps revolutionary ideas from spreading. It says, for example, if you support the uprising you are supporting the “coup” against the now-collapsed Ukrainian regime, as though it is not possible to be at once in support of the uprising and also be against the interim government. This top-down approach also says, for example, that if you support the uprising you are supporting American hegemony, or that your support for the uprising has invited and even justified Russian military intervention, as though it is not possible to support the uprising and at the same time be against American hegemony and Russian militarism.
This is the fundamental inconsistency in this top-down approach, since it situates the uprising into mutually exclusive categories. It is a wonder that so many outside observers unquestioningly accept this narrative and dutifully play their part in toeing the line rather than asking why, in the first instance, a society contained enough disaffected people that a mass popular uprising could take place at all. This undermines solidarity with the legitimate grievances of everyday people and provides a degree of dissonance such that those not directly involved in the uprising (outsiders) do not see how the same grievances may exist in their own societies (i.e. forget that the struggle of the Ukrainian people is your struggle as well).
For these reasons it is important to be wary of that discourse that starts out by speaking of geopolitics or the established left-right political landscape. Unfortunately, this post has necessarily begun from that same standpoint, if only to dispel it, since this top-down discourse is so pervasive. Next, I elaborate a bottom-up approach, one that can be applied not only to the current uprising in Ukraine but also to other current and historical uprisings whose social context has been similarly masked, and suggest some reasons why this conversion of social unrest into established top-down political discourse happens so consistently.
Bottom-up approach
I will spare you a rehashing of Marxism, anarchism, or other such bottom-up approaches to social unrest (though these are certainly instructive), and skip straight to some contemporary statistical information. The graph presented here (click to enlarge) tracks the world food price index in relation to unrest, such as riots, revolts, and uprisings. This graph is part of research conducted by a group of academics and reported in a paper titled “The Food Crises and Political Instability in North Africa and the Middle East.”
This research points out that social unrest occurs because of specific conditions to do with the everyday lives of people, with the basic premise being that the cost of food can be used as metric for making predictions. In this graph, spikes in food prices can be seen to line up with the Arab Spring and other instances of unrest. The analysis also looks at historical examples, including the revolutionary wave that swept Europe in the years following 1848, in similar terms. The report notes,
We can understand the appearance of social unrest in 2011 based upon a hypothesis that widespread unrest does not arise from long-standing political failings of the system, but rather from its sudden perceived failure to provide essential security to the population. In food importing countries with widespread poverty, political organizations may be perceived to have a critical role in food security. Failure to provide security undermines the very reason for existence of the political system. Once this occurs, the resulting protests can reflect the wide range of reasons for dissatisfaction, broadening the scope of the protest, and masking the immediate trigger of the unrest.
Global food prices have remained near the threshold identified in the report as precipitating unrest. Food prices, and other metrics of cost of living, are different in different countries, and since 2011 governments have made concerted efforts to keep costs down, recognizing the potential for widespread social unrest. (You can read more about recent trends in food prices at this link.)
In recent years, the price of food and the general cost of living in Ukraine has dramatically increased. Here are some statistics:
Average monthly wages – 3,429 UAH (345 US dollars)
Average monthly rent for 1 bedroom apt in city – 3,868 UAH ( 388 US dollars)
Average utilities – 644 UAH (65 US dollars)
Recommended minimum food for 2000 calories balanced diet – 1,429 UAH (144 US dollars)
I will not list any further associated costs of living, as it must be obvious that the situation is somewhat untenable in terms of simple math. Food costs, according to these numbers, represent ~40% of monthly income. Granted, a large number of Ukrainians own property and are not paying rent, though taking into account mortgage payments, transportation, clothing, etc., the cost of living versus wages paints a stark picture. Ukraine is listed 106 on the list of countries by GDP per capita at 7,295 international dollars, well below the 2012 world average of 11,924.
These somewhat dry statistics do no justice to the real conditions of the everyday lives of Ukrainians. This is also to say nothing of the widespread corruption in institutions, government, education, healthcare, etc. According to various reports, Ukraine is among the most corrupt countries in the world, and getting virtually anything done, from applying for a passport to graduating from high school, requires bribes and other forms of gifts to be exchanged.
Is it any wonder that such a precarious situation of everyday life should foreshadow an uprising? All that is necessary in such a situation is a spark to ignite unrest, and in the current Ukrainian example that spark was a decision by the former regime to second-guess steps toward integration with the EU. But this spark could really have been any number of things. In the example of the Arab Spring, it was Tunisia and the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. In the recent Turkish uprising, the spark was a plan for redevelopment of Gezi Park. In the current Thailand uprising, the spark was a proposed amnesty for politicians implicated of corruption and murder. But underlying all of these various uprisings are a set of untenable social conditions that create the context for revolt.
In a context of widespread disaffection and social injustice, any event that is perceived to be significant can spark an uprising. But these uprisings are not, in the first instance, explicitly about political parties or competing ideologies — the political narrative is always secondary to the seething anger that brings massive numbers of people out onto the streets. A top-down approach to uprisings masks this reality, making it seem as though the political issues are at the forefront, as though the spark itself is the fuel of the fire. And even where there is some recognition of the underlying social conditions, the political narrative quickly takes center stage, even if that narrative does nothing to address the legitimate grievances that set the uprising in motion.
This conversion of popular uprisings into top-down political narratives functions to maintain the structure of top-down politics itself. It attempts to manage the right of revolution in such a way that linkages between apparently disparate uprisings are not made. It says, the uprising in Ukraine is “this sort” of political situation and the uprising in Thailand is “this other sort” of political situation and these two are not the same at all. It is a form of reactionary subterfuge, masking the social conditions at the heart of most any uprising history has recorded. Established political systems disseminate this narrative because for people to understand otherwise is to de-legitimize those systems of authority and to see that their society, as the saying goes, is merely 48 hours and a good meal away from revolt.
Social unrest, uprisings, and revolts are dangerous to all states, and so states take particular trouble to manage unleashed revolutionary energies. One of the most effective means to do so is through discourse, evident in the consistent masking of the social conditions of unrest by converting them into established political narratives. Please, don’t drink the Kool-Aid, and don’t spread it around. By all means, be aware of the co-optation of uprisings by established political systems, but recognize it as co-optation and not as the raison d’être for the uprising itself.Today, Bethesda Softworks released The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind to patiently-waiting gamers around the world. However, what does the future hold for the title on other platforms? Well, we have some great news for customers interested in Project Scorpio. It looks like the game will receive a proper upgrade for Microsoft’s upcoming console around Holiday 2017. The Elder Scrolls Online is one of the few titles to run at native 4K on PlayStation 4 Pro so prospective Project Scorpio owners should expect the same in terms of resolution.
In an interview with Finder, Rich Lambert, the game’s creative director, confirmed that they would enhance Project Scorpio in a similar fashion. He said, “I think we’re going to be in for the same kinds of things (with the Project Scorpio version) that we did with the PlayStation 4 Pro. So visual stability will be up there. We’ll probably have the same types of visual bells and whistles. As for what Microsoft is going to release, I don’t know. I haven’t really spent any time trying to dig through what they’re doing. I’m sure they’ll have something (at E3), but as it relates to exactly what I’m focused on right now, I don’t know.”
Given the 1.8 TFLOPS difference when it comes to GPU computational power between Project Scorpio and PlayStation 4 Pro, hopefully Bethesda Softworks will push their team to offer additional enhancements on Microsoft’s console. In my opinion—despite the fact that The Elder Scrolls Online is a very pretty game on Xbox One—it could use additional lighting effects. Hopefully some of those options found on the PC and Mac versions will make their way over to the Project Scorpio version. Apart from that, stability should be a priority as the Xbox One version stutters at times during combat, and when many players are around. Hopefully Bethesda Softworks will reveal more information after E3 2017 when Microsoft officially unveils the console and many developers are allowed to discuss how their games will benefit from that added power.5 Most Outrageous and Awesome Traffic Violations
Stupid things that people have actually done.
In May 2003, a man in Texas was given the fastest speeding ticket ever at 242 MPH in a 75 MPH zone while driving a Koenigsegg, the fancy Swedish sports car. A Lithuanian man was pulled over with a blood alcohol level of.727%, about 18 times the legal limit. He was fined $1110. The driver said he had been drinking the previous night and tried to "freshen up" with a beer for breakfast. This is far more than the fatal blood alcohol level for most people and is the equivalent of drinking more than one bottle of vodka before getting behind the wheel. A car chase starting in Wrestedt, Germany ended 620 miles and 2 days later in Rivne, Ukraine passing through the entire country of Poland. The chase started after a bank robbery in Germany. Police stayed back figuring that the thieves would have to refuel. A British man borrowed his brother's Bugatti Veyron valued at over $1.6 million and proceeded to drive at over 100 MPH, crashing it into a van, then a tree, thus rendering the car a complete write off. Anssi Vanjoki, director of Nokia in Helsinki, Finland was fined $103,600 after driving his Harley at 47 MPH in a 31 MPH zone. Traffic fines in Finland are based on the income of the violator, not just the type of |
or sexually abusing their wives or girlfriends. More shockingly, 25 percent of respondents said they had raped a woman, and one in 25 admitted to taking part in a gang rape.
The findings are part of a preliminary set of data released by researchers ahead of full publication of the study in July.
Results of a gender-based violence study in China, released on Thursday, found that 52 percent of respondents have committed “an act of domestic violence” against their partners. The Chinese study interviewed around 1,000 men and 1,100 women selected at random in southern China. (Edited to clarify: this is a different study carried out by Chinese researchers, separate from the UN sponsored research quoted above.)
According to the study, women are more at risk of rape from a partner than a stranger. Among women who had been raped, 60 percent had been raped by a partner.
“The widely accepted norms about masculinity are a major driving force for the prevalence of domestic violence against women,” Wang Xiangxian, an associate professor of sociology from Tianjin Normal University who participated in the research, told China Daily.
“It’s pointless to talk about the abstract idea of gender equality if we don’t eliminate the prejudice that is accepted by individuals, communities and even the whole society,” she said.
Writing in Dissent, sociologist Leta Hong Fincher points to how China’s government has dragged its heels on enacting domestic violence legislation:
China in this regard lags behind other developing countries that have serious problems with violence against women, such as India and Bangladesh, which passed an anti-domestic-violence law in 2010.
“Judges almost never define a case as ‘domestic violence’ because the current law in China is not specific or clear enough,” Feng Yuan, a leading activist with the Anti-Domestic Violence Network in Beijing told Hong Fincher. “As a result, the courts routinely refer to domestic violence as ‘family conflict’ instead.”
In February, Kim Lee, the wife of ‘Crazy English’ founder Li Yang scored a victory for victims of domestic violence, when a Beijing court found in her favour, granting her a restraining order against her ex-husband and ordering him to pay 12 million yuan. Li was not prosecuted criminally however for his documented (and admitted) abuse of his wife.
Update 23:00 CST: Our original infographic was based on a misreading of the write up of James Lang’s presentation in the China Daily. The figures quoted from the UN survey refer to all countries in the survey. We have updated the infographic to reflect the statistics for China (which are 50 percent as opposed to 52 percent of men admitting to domestic violence, and 20 as opposed to 25 percent of men admitting to rape).Melbourne has posted its hottest day on record for the first half of September after warm, windy conditions swept across Victoria.
Wind gusts of up to 85 kilometres an hour have been recorded so far, but the gusts could reach as much as 100 kilometres on Saturday night.
Senior forecaster Richard Carlyon says northerly winds have fuelled the hot weather across the state.
"We got to 29.9 in Melbourne, we have never had a day above 29 degrees in the first half of September," he said.
"It wasn't an all-time September record - that was 31.7 degrees back in the late `80s.
"This is unprecedented.
"But there is a cold front pushing in from the west and that will bring some milder air across the state overnight.
"The temperature is not expected to be nearly as high on Sunday," he said.Audi has been a pioneer in the world of autonomous cars, having tested a self-driving TT sports car for several years and more recently becoming the first automaker to attain Nevada’s license for the use of autonomous cars on its roads.
At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, Audi gave an update on some of its autonomous car technology.
Two of the technologies showcased were a system that could enable a vehicle to find an empty parking spot and park, without the need for the driver to even be present, as well as a traffic jam assistant that could enable a car to crawl in traffic at speeds of up to 37 mph.
As previously reported, Audi will initially launch its traffic jam assistant on its A8 flagship sedan. While Audi hasn’t mentioned an exact date for the release, an article in Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, first picked up by World Car Fans, claims the A8 will offer the traffic jam assistant in 2016.
This is somewhat later than expected, as the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S Class due out later this year will feature a similar system that will be capable of driving along highways, autonomously, at speeds of up to 124 mph.
The video above gives us a good idea as to what using Audi’s traffic jam assistant will be like. In the video, the driver of this A6 prototype can sit back and relax during a morning commute. Once traffic picks up and the speed gets faster, a beep tells him to grab the steering wheel and take over as normal.
The self-parking system would likely be launched after the debut of the traffic jam assistant.
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Follow Motor Authority on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.FINAL UPDATE: Twitter lifted my suspension after one month. To learn more about how it all unfolded, you can read more about it here.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said earlier this year he was “ashamed” and “embarrassed” at how the company deals with bullying. Apparently they haven’t made much progress, because these days Twitter allows death threats to slide. Worse, if you’ve been the target of a death threat and you question how on earth the user responsible can get away with it, then Twitter Support will ban you. I know from first-hand experience.
I wrote a story for work on March 31st on Iranian aircraft that buzzed a U.S. Navy helicopter in the Persian Gulf. I often have incredibly shady people follow me or tweet strange things in response to anything I write on the Middle East, but that story actually generated a death threat.
Twitter’s policy on threats of violence seem pretty straight forward to me: “You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence.”
Perhaps my logic is lacking on this one, but I’ve always been under the impression that something like “We will find you and kill you — death to America,” is a direct threat of violence. If you agree with me, then you too are wrong! Twitter Support “could not determine” if such tweets constitute a violation of its terms of service.
Here is the email that Twitter Support sent me on Monday, April 6, 2015:
Kind of frustrating, isn’t it? To Twitter Support, my account must be suspended for publicly bringing attention to the fact that a guy making death threats is currently allowed to do so with impunity.
Question for Twitter CEO Dick Costolo: If you’re “ashamed” at how Twitter deals with online bullying, then what emotions do you feel now that your support staff are suspending the accounts of people who are the target of death threats?
If Twitter is going to be suspending accounts, then maybe it should start internally with employees who are unsure if threatening to kill someone is a violation of the company’s terms of service.
Update: It is now May 4 and my suspension began on April 6. I have put in four appeals — all ignored by Twitter. The social media manager at my place of employment sent three emails to Twitter’s press account, and all of those were ignored. A coworker of mine had a contact at Twitter who helped her with a story — Nu Wexler — but when my employer’s social media manager reached out to him the silent treatment continued. This is the weirdest situation on social media I have ever encountered. Thank you to everyone who has been sharing this story on my behalf.
Related: WND has reported on my story. Give it a read if you get a chance.Buy Extracting Hydrogen with Zero Energy Idea: * Indicates required field. Prefix: * (Mr./Ms./Dr.) Mr. Ms. Mrs. Dr. First Name: * Last Name: * Company Name, or Agency: Address: * City: * State/Prov.: * Select State/Province Alabama Alaska Alberta Arizona Arkansas British Columbia California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Manitoba Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Brunswick New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York Newfoundland North Carolina North Dakota Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Nunavut Ohio Oklahoma Ontario Oregon Pennsylvania Prince Edward Island Quebec Rhode Island Saskatchewan South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Yukon Territory Other Non-U.S. Zip Code: * Phone: * (format xxx-xxx-xxxx)
Ext. Email: * Offer Amount: * The owner of this patentable Zero Energy Hydrogen Extraction Idea for sale will be notified to contact you within 24-48 hours. See additional inventions and ideas for sale by Engineer inventor Hannah Awad: Index Target market: General Dynamics, Boeing, General Motors, and Energy companies.
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Hydrogen_Extraction_Patentable_InventionParts of a striking architectural bridge that opened on the Peninsula Link freeway in January are at risk of falling off and hitting cars, the construction company that built it has warned.
Total Building Construction has warned the state government's road and building authorities that the large, blue sheet metal panels it installed on one freeway bridge have "the high probability of a collapse".
The blue sheet metal panels have a 'high probability of a collapse'. Credit:Joe Armao
Road authorities and the consortium that runs the road under contract to the state government, though, say the road is safe and that there are no risks of bridge panels falling.
The Peninsula Link Freeway runs from Carrum Downs to Mount Martha. Built by consortium Southern Way over more than two years, it opened in January.MNT
CHICAGO (Oct. 11, 2015) – U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has called up five players to join the Men’s National Team ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against 2014 FIFA World Cup quarterfinalists Costa Rica at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.
Goalkeeper Bill Hamid (D.C. United), midfielders, Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC) and forward Andrew Wooten (Sandhausen), will join the squad upon the team’s arrival Sunday.
Following Saturday’s CONCACAF Cup match, Klinsmann released a total of eight players from camp: goalkeeper Nick Rimando, defenders DaMarcus Beasley and Matt Besler, midfielders Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley and Graham Zusi and forwards Clint Dempsey and Chris Wondolowski.
With the changes, the MNT roster stands at 21 players heading into the USA’s final match before the start of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Kickoff for the contest against Costa Rica is set for 6:30 p.m. ET, and the match will be shown live on ESPN, WatchESPN, UniMas and Univision Deportes Network.
Roster by Position: Detailed Roster
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/ENG), Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Tim Howard (Everton/ENG)
DEFENDERS (7): Ventura Alvarado (Club America/MEX), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City/ENG), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Monchenglandbach/GER), Michael Orozco (Club Tijuana/MEX), Tim Ream (Fulham FC/ENG), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City FC/ENG)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes/FRA), Mix Diskerud (New York City FC), Jermaine Jones (New England Revolution), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Brek Shea (Orlando City SC), Danny Williams (Reading FC/ENG), DeAndre Yedlin (Sunderland AFC/ENG)
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Bobby Wood (Union Berlin/GER), Andrew Wooten (FC Sandhausen/GER), Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy)ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Saint Louis FC announced on Wednesday night that former USL Coach of the Year Preki has been named as the club’s new head coach. A former MLS Most Valuable Player and Coach of the Year, Preki led Sacramento Republic FC to the USL Cup in its inaugural season in 2014.
“Preki is someone that brings the passion, the determination and the commitment to creating an environment where players are pushed to realize their full potential,” said STLFC General Manager Jeremy Alumbaugh. “His track record of winning at both the MLS and USL levels make him the ideal person to lead Saint Louis FC, but also his ability to develop players during different points in their careers is something we were attracted to. If you look at the players he has helped bring along during his time at Chivas USA, Toronto, and Sacramento, you see a history of making players better and helping them become true professionals.”
Preki's most recent coaching position was with Sacramento, where he posted a record of 33-15-5 in addition to leading the side to its USL Cup victory. Prior to his arrival in Sacramento, Preki coached in MLS for Chivas USA and Toronto FC. During his stint in Los Angeles with Chivas USA, he boasted a record of 41-36-30 while earning Coach of the Year honors in 2007, and then went 11-11-10 across two seasons for Toronto FC.
“Winning, success and an intense desire to compete are part of his DNA,” said Saint Louis FC President Patrick Barry. “We had a very clear vision for what we wanted in our next coach and Preki matches that vision. The appointment of Preki signals our commitment to building the best franchise in the USL.”35-year-old Steve Smith, Sr. came out of the gates on fire, recording 100-yard receiving efforts in four of his first six games as a Baltimore Raven.
If you had asked former-Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason to predict the outcome of Steve Smith’s first six games in purple and black, he may have came close to the 573 yards and four touchdowns the 14-year veteran accrued.
However, the key to success in a wide receiver's age-35 season — to which Mason can attest, having recorded 73 catches for 1,038 yards in 2009 at 35 — is the performance as the season wears on.
Photo Courtesy of Sabina Moran/PressBox.
"You should be [concerned about Steve Smith],” Mason said Monday on Glenn Clark Radio. "I’m not saying he’s not going to have some games where he gets back up into the triple digits when you talk about receiving yardage, but for the most part, it’s a long grueling season and in the division that he plays in, it’s a tough division.”
Mason also pointed out that, even taking into account Smith’s torrid start, a lot of those statistics belie their circumstance.
"If you look at a lot of his catches [there are] a lot of blown coverages, a few tipped balls here — he wasn’t so much just outright beating defenses,” Mason said. "I think the second half of the season, what you’re dealing with as a player, it starts to wear on you.
“So, Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursdays become very long and your body’s extremely tired quicker. And the temperature drops, so no longer are you going outside and it’s 95-degrees and your body’s automatically warm and you’re ready to go. Now you’ve got to warm up for an hour just to get your body going, and that’s what he’s going to run into.
"I’m not saying he’s going to completely shut down, but to expect him to go out there and be the No. 1 guy from this point on, I don’t think that’s going to happen. They’re going to need a lot of help from Torrey Smith for them to be very effective in the passing game."
On that topic, Mason holds a strong opinion of the younger Smith's future in Baltimore.
"The Ravens need to keep [Torrey Smith],” said Mason. “He was in a position this year where he was with a veteran guy, and as a young guy, you don’t quite know how to handle that situation. And then you see a lot of balls start going Steve [Smith]’s way at the beginning of the season, and you feel a little frustrated.
"But he’s always told me, 'I’m going to keep my head in it and I’m going to stay positive.’ Coming from a guy like that, that shows the maturity in the game, that shows that he understands what’s going on. And that’s why I believe he’s going to have a better second half than he did a first half.
"They need to find a way to make the numbers work and keep the guy, because he has one thing that you can not teach anywhere, and that’s 4.30 speed — and he’s a big guy that can go up and get the ball. So find a way to keep him, but just add another guy on the other side that can take away a lot of the double teams that he was [seeing] in the first half of the season."
For what it's worth, it doesn't appear Mason believes Steve Smith is the answer to unlocking the Ravens passing offense.
The former Tennessee Titan-All-Pro also contributed his opinions on the Adrian Peterson ordeal, saying the league has dragged their feet long enough and that Peterson has more than suffered in the form of sitting out nine games. “The game of football means more to him than a paycheck,” Mason said.
As for Mason’s Titans and their Monday Night Football matchup against Baltimore’s beloved Steelers, he was quick to point out there won’t be much Tennessee can do to stop Roethlisberger and company if they play like they did against the Ravens two weeks prior. However, if the Steelers enter their matchup lethargic, as they did last week in their loss to the Jets, "I think the Titans have an opportunity to win this ball game."
We can only hope, Derrick. We can only hope.While the British conservative base seems to have been generally pleased that Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a stop in London to speak to members of both Houses of Parliament Thursday, one shadow cabinet minister was annoyed by Harper’s partisan tone.
John Spellar, the Labour party’s shadow minister for foreign and commonwealth affairs, told iPolitics Friday he found Harper’s address to the members “distinctly partisan,” saying parts of the speech would have been more appropriate for “a meeting of the parliamentary Conservative party.”
… this wasn’t a speech from a big figure from a big country.
In particular, Spellar (along with at least one columnist) noted Harper’s references to Margaret Thatcher and his lauding of Cameron’s leadership.
In his speech, Harper told Cameron how much he has admired the prime minister’s “determined efforts and your wise and principled leadership during these last few years as we have dealt with the difficult and critical issues facing our countries and the world issues which require the best of what has always made Britain unique and strong, and which you have plainly demonstrated.”
Of Thatcher, Harper noted what he called the late prime minister’s refusal to accept any thought of inevitable decline and did so “not as an expression of good cheer, but as a matter of resolve and action and so Britain rose once more.”
“Saying how wonderful Margaret Thatcher is – he might have noticed that this was a controversial issue,” Spellar said Friday. “Now, of course he’s a conservative, but throughout the speech to be obsessing about how only Conservatives had the answer and therefore he and David Cameron were the right people, is not the way to do it.”
Spellar said it was “not prime ministerial,” and that a number of his Labour party colleagues expressed how “disappointed they were” with the address.
There were elements of Harper’s speech that Spellar said he found appropriate, but that it was the context within which those were addressed that mattered.
Harper did address the pending EU–Canada free trade deal as well as Canada and Britain’s shared history and values. All of which was “fine,” Spellar said, were it not for the partisan spin. Harper would have found that many of the things that Canada and the U.K. do together, including pushing for open societies and increasing free trade are actually shared concerns among the parties in Westminster, Spellar said.
dare to be dull – or at least consistent” like Harper. ConservativeHome, a grassroots website for the conservative movement in Britain, saw Harper’s visit as an opportunity for U.K. Prime Minster David Cameron to learn some lessons, including “– or at least consistent” like Harper.
“All of these are common issues, certainly here between parties. They would be agreed issues,” he said. “That’s what makes it sort of slightly concerning when someone just seeks to make that a narrow, short-sighted partisan issue.”
Spellar, who has held his seat since 1992 and served as minister of state for both defence and transport, also said the tone was a departure from previous Canadian prime ministers.
“Canadian prime ministers in the past have had that broader perspective, so it’s not a case of saying ‘Here’s someone from Canada, they’re bound to be parochial’. That’s not the case at all,” he said. “It is that someone’s really not speaking for Canada, which is a G8 member, a G20 member, a major player in international affairs. And this wasn’t a speech from a big figure from a big country.”
Prime Minister Harper is on a tour of the U.K., France and Ireland in advance of the G8 meeting at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland.Local people gather at the site of an October 2010 drone attack in North Waziristan/ Noor Behram
Two major investigations have provided fresh evidence that civilians are continuing to be killed in Pakistan’s tribal areas by CIA drones – despite aggressive Agency denials.
In a study of ten major drone strikes in Pakistan since 2010, global news agency Associated Press deployed a field reporter to Waziristan and questioned more than 80 local people about ten CIA attacks. The results generally confirm the accuracy of original credible media reports – and in two cases identify previously unrecorded civilian deaths.
In a further case, in which an anonymous US official had previously attacked the Bureau’s findings of six civilian deaths in a 2011 strike, AP’s report has confirmed the Bureau’s work.
Anglo-American legal charity Reprieve has also filed a case with the United Nations Human Rights Council, based on sworn affidavits by 18 family members of civilians killed in CIA attacks – many of them children. Reprieve is calling on the UNHRC ‘to condemn the attacks as illegal human rights violations.’
New casualties
The Associated Press investigation, authored by the agency’s Islamabad chief Sebastian Abbot, represents one of the largest field studies yet into casualties of CIA drone strikes.
AP’s field reporter interviewed more than 80 local civilians in Waziristan in connection with 10 major CIA strikes since 2010. It found that of 194 people killed in the strikes, 138 were confirmed as militants:
The remaining 56 were either civilians or tribal police, and 38 of them were killed in a single attack on March 17, 2011. Excluding that strike, which inflicted one of the worst civilian death tolls since the drone program started in Pakistan, nearly 90 percent of the people killed were militants, villagers said.
In two of the ten cases AP has turned up previously-unreported civilian casualties.
On August 14 2010 AP found that seven civilians died – including a ten year old child – alongside seven Pakistan Taliban. The deaths occurred during Ramadan prayers. Until now it had not been known that civilians had died in the attack. US officials told AP that its own assessments indicated all those killed were militants.
On April 22 2011, AP confirms that three children and two women were among 25 dead in an attack on a guest house where militants were staying. Three named eyewitnesses in the village of Spinwan confirmed that the civilians had died – two had attended their funerals.
Bureau findings confirmed
The AP investigation has also independently confirmed that six civilians died alongside ten Taliban in an attack on a roadside restaurant on May 6 2011.
Last year the Bureau’s field researchers in Waziristan identified by name six civilians killed in the attack by the CIA. An anonymous US official used the New York Times to mock the Bureau at the time: ‘The claim that a restaurant was struck is ludicrous.’
Now AP’s investigation endorses the Bureau’s findings, stating: ‘Missiles hit a vehicle parked near a restaurant in Dotoi village, killing 16 people, including 10 Taliban militants and six tribesmen.’
United Nations
In the second new report confirming civilian casualties in US drone strikes, Reprieve has filed a major case with the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The study details a dozen drone strikes in Pakistan during President Obama’s time in office. Each is supported by witness affidavits, mostly from family members of civilians killed.
For example on Valentine’s Day 2009, just weeks after Obama came to office, a CIA drone attack struck a village in North Waziristan. Between 26 and 35 people died in the attack, nine of them civilians. One of those killed was an eight year old boy, Noor Syed. The complaint to the UNHRC draws on evidence from Noor’s father:
Maezol Khan is a resident of Makeen in South Waziristan, Pakistan. In the early morning of February 14, 2009, he and his son were sleeping in the courtyard of their home when a missile from a drone struck a nearby car. As a result of the explosion, a missile part flew into the courtyard, killing Maezol’s eight-year-old son. In addition, there were approximately 30 people killed or injured in the attack.
Noor Syed Aged 8 (Photo: Noor Behram)
Another complaint reports that four civilians died on June 15 2011 when a CIA missile hit their car in Miranshah, North Waziristan.
Far from being Taliban, the men were a pharmacist and his assistant; a student; and an employee of the local water authority.
That attack so enraged local opinion that at the mens’ funeral their coffins were used to block the main highway in a spontaneous protest at CIA attacks.
Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve’s director, said that the CIA was ‘creating desolation and calling it peace.’
The UN must put a stop to it before any more children are killed. Not only is it causing untold suffering to the people of North West Pakistan – it is also the most effective recruiting sergeant yet for the very ‘militants’ the US claims to be targeting.
Pakistan barrister Mirza Shahzad Akbar runs the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, and prepared the UNHCR submission. He told the Bureau:
‘The US needs to address the question of a large number civilian victims, and also has to respect the well established international laws and norm. The UN is the best forum to discuss drones-related humanitarian issue as well as its far reaching impact on world politics.’
Follow Chris Woods on Twitter @chrisjwoodsThe cryptocurrency bitcoin, along with its Merry Prankster cousin dogecoin, answer to no authority. At least in design they don’t. For the time being, they’re both slaves to the protocol, beholden only to their own code. Currencies whose only central authority is their own mathematically precise designs.
But like the High Modernists who insisted form should follow function and nothing else, cryptocurrency is doomed to encounter some pretty big problems as time goes on and there’s nobody to tweak that design if and when things get ugly.
Very Money Supply
Concerning adherence to money supply ideology, Bitcoin (and by extension, its most ardent supporters) is the more militant of the two, with the total number of bitcoins that can ever exist fixed at 21 million. Dogecoin is a little less hardline. While the supply of “doge” is fixed at 100 billion, the number is set to increase by 5.2 billion a year.
Dogecoin, in many ways, addresses the central hoarding problems of bitcoin and other “altcoins” like litecoin. It recognizes the problem of deflation, and Dogecoin’s forthcoming injection of money supply will do some to encourage spending.
But for the time being, it’s still relying strictly on a protocol. A computerized response that ignores the real conditions of the market. And it’s still not enough.
Much Nullification of Positive Effects of Inflation
Since dogecoin will increase at a fixed amount, and not a fixed percentage, the effect will be essentially neutralized in about ten years. Then the problems of deflation will pop up its head again.
But let’s say the built-in inflation were different and the number of dogecoins currently in crculation did not increase at 5.2 billion a year but instead 5.2 percent of the total amount. That still creates its own problem. Suppose inflation gets out of control in relation to goods and services. You’d eventually have a currency that isn’t worth the ones and zeroes its coded on. “Shibes” would be throwing out tips like there’s no tomorrow even more than they do now.
Such Crypto Chairs
The obvious fix to this is some kind of central human authority to monitor the market and tweak the supply in response to real-world supply and demand. That, of course, would be a violation of the central “decentralized” ethos of cryptocurrency.
But the alternative is to board a ship without a captain. Well, at least that’s certainly the case with bitcoin, who despite a purported unmasking from Newsweek still hasn’t definitively located their founder. With dogecoin, on the other hand, you have Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. However, Palmer, the ostensible face of dogecoin (aside from its Shiba Inu mascot) has been clear that he is not that central authority, and doge does not “belong to me, Billy, or any single person. It belongs to the internet.”
Palmer said on Feb. 2 that the amount of dogecoins would remain uncapped; however, he has so far stayed far from saying he would personally monitor at what rate the supply increased. Or, for that matter, indicated anyone ever would become the equivalent of a Fed Chair.
Wow.
So, in that respect, while dogecoin is more classically liberal than bitcoin in its attitude towards money supply, it still adheres to the ideology of the wisdom of numbers. The question is, is there any kind of valuation swing, deflationary or inflationary, that could trigger a mass demand for a rollback of the decentralized ideal? Is there any sufficiently dire situation that could warrant the introduction of a human element to check that wisdom of the protocol and possibly alter it to adjust the predictable money supply?
Such hypotheticals. Much ideological conundrums. Very we shall see.
DISCLOSURE: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, and do not represent the views of equities.com. Readers should not consider statements made by the author as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. To read our full disclosure, please go to: http://www.equities.com/disclaimer“I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.”
– Frank Llloyd Wright
You know the situation all too well. You’ve been trying to accomplish something important to you: get to a healthy weight, workout regularly, declutter, eat better, climb out of debt – and then the holidays come around and sometimes it feels like you’re choosing between tradition and doing what’s right for you.
If you’re in the U.S., it starts with Thanksgiving dinner.
Then there are office holiday parties, family parties, friends visiting…
Buying gifts, relatives bringing gifts, Christmas, New Year’s – and before you know it, you’re back where you started:
Your eating habits destroyed
Your promise to yourself to meditate every day a distant memory
The house is filled with even more stuff you need to find a place for
The holidays are a time for friends, family and celebration – but they can wreak havoc on your personal goals.
It’s not hopeless though. Here are five strategies I employ which help me stick with my goals – even during the holidays.
#1 – Take Advantage Of Tradition
Don’t fight it – use the holidays to your advantage by accomplish goals in line with tradition
Quality Time With Family. I discovered when I researched my article about how to make more time for yourself that 90% of people wished they had more time to spend with friends and family. So why not take advantage of the holidays (children out of school, federal holidays, relatives visiting) to spend more time with your friends and family?
I discovered when I researched my article about how to make more time for yourself that. So why not take advantage of the holidays (children out of school, federal holidays, relatives visiting) to spend more time with friends and family? Volunteer Opportunities. I know I often wish I could do more for those less fortunate than myself. The holidays provide many excellent opportunities to volunteer with local groups, whether it’s serving Thanksgiving dinner or donating toys.
I know I often wish I could do more for those less fortunate than myself. The holidays provide many excellent opportunities to volunteer with local groups, whether it’s serving Thanksgiving dinner or donating toys. Donate and Clear Clutter. One of my favorites – I use winter as a time to donate my excess items (especially clothes) to charities that help the needy. Not only do they go to a good cause, but it helps me clean out my home.
Plan For Failure
I generally eat very clean and healthy – no alcohol, no sugar, lots of fresh vegetables and lean meats.
However, I know that during the holidays, I enjoy eating out with friends and family and well, with some rich comfort food.
So I plan for failure. Knowing that I’m going to eat foods I normally wouldn’t perhaps on a weekend, I make sure to eat extra strict in the week leading up to it.
The net result? Even though that meal may be off track, by planning for the failure it’s part of what I planned to do – and I can enjoy my meal without worrying about getting back on track the next day.
Get Your Family On Board
As some of you may know, I’ve been reducing unnecessary commitments as well as my possessions – and I’ve talked to my family about it and they’re on board with my goals.
Though they may not be changing their lives in the same direction as I am, just knowing my stance means I no longer receive Christmas gifts that I won’t use.
Your friends and family are supportive, and will support your goals – as long as you tell them about it and get them on board.
Be Proactive
You know there is a lot of tasty, unhealthy food at holiday meals. Rather than accept what’s going to happen, I try to proactively thinking about what a solution might be – rather than just complaining about the situation.
For example, at pot lucks I bring salads, fresh fish, healthy wraps, etc.
Even if nobody else brings something I can fit into my diet, I’m in control of what I’m going to eat – and I will often still try what other folks bring, but most of my meal ends up being a couple items that I brought and some other friends bring.
It’s A Challenge
Finally, if all else fails and the deck is stacked against you – don’t fear it, embrace the challenge!
Self-discipline, willpower is like a muscle – you can exercise and strengthen it.
So rather than dreading the holidays as a time that will wear you down with your goals, I try to mentally spin them as a challenge.
I tell myself that if I can get through December without eating cookies, for example, then the rest of the year is going to be easy.
It’s like my own personal willpower bootcamp.
Strengthening my willpower muscles at this time of year means that they can easily handle anything that is thrown at me during the other 11 months of the year.
Final Thoughts
Another perspective a friend brought up is that it may just be too much work and not worth the extra stress to try and stick to some of our goals during the holidays.
I think there’s definitely some validity to that point as well.
Me personally? I like to be as consistent as I can – but I don’t worry about it if I occasionally don’t eat well, or stay out too late due to the holidays. Enjoying my life, and spending time with people that matter to me is high on my list of priorities as well!
Take Action Today
You don’t have to go it alone. If you like what you’ve seen so far, your next step might be to join me in my advanced training program. Take a moment to read the details about my course The Action Solution and see if it’s something you’d be interested in. It is the result of decades of experience, and hundreds of hours of making dreams a reality for real people – just like you.
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Further Reading:CELEBRITY Big Brother is going to be back before you know it, and the names of the rumoured chosen housemates are already flying.
CH 5 SPEAKING OUT: Perez Hilton spills all on Celebrity Big Brother
The new series of CBB will arrive in January, and all we know of the series so far is that it will be a cast made up of All Stars and New Stars. Names like Katie Price, Lee Ryan and Bianca Gascoigne have all been thrown into the mix. The new edition of the Channel 5 show will likely be as explosive as ever, especially if rumoured returning housemate Perez Hilton has anything to say about it.
CBB 2016 most controversial moments Take a look back at the most controversial moments from the current Celebrity Big Brother 1 / 10 Channel 5 Lewis Bloor gets naked as he gets into his donkey costume in a task
CH 5 FURIOUS FIGHTS: Perez and Katie Hopkins didn't see eye to eye
Talking exclusively to Daily Star Online about CBB, Perez explained he'd only come back if the money was good, as he feels like he doesn't need the press. Perez explained: "If the price is right, I would [come back]! I clearly wouldn't be doing it for fun. And I don't need to do it for publicity either. I now know what that experience is worth. And I'd have to get paid a |
of the world where action happens. Do not believe what you read online? See for yourself how and what is taking place. When looking for best Android and iOS VR apps, you shouldn’t omit this one.
Monetization: freemium model (advertisements).
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This VR app is by JauntVR, one of the leading developers of cinematic virtual reality content. They post the updates to the app constantly, as well as add more experiences like Behind the scenes of the Rogue One of Star Wars franchise, Fifty Shades Darker in VR, The Royal Opera House, World of Tank and many more.
How it works: High-quality production plus visually fascinating scenery. This app lets you follow two North Face climbers around some peaks of Yosemite and Utah. Over 150 cinematic VR experiences go with the app. A must-see, we’d say, are “Inside Syria” and “Inside North Korea” documentaries and musical performances.
Cool features: Content from ESPN, Sky, ABC News, Paul McCartney, Ryot, Bild, GreenPeace and more media.
User tip: Some of the content may not be suitable for all audiences, as there some level of violence and use of strong language – the app creator properly warns.
Recommended for: Those who are opposite of adrenaline outdoor-going junkies and prefer to do everything staying inside homes. This VR experience will transport them to distant national parks or highest mountain peaks. Also, a great find for fans of best Gear VR games.
Monetization: subscription model (in-app purchases).
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This is the app about football, but not the American one, a classic one some of us may know as ‘soccer’. Maybe not really the app to be included in ‘Best Google Cardboard apps’, we agree, but we also love football.
How it works: Experience the play as the first person, compete against the best teams on the planet, shoot penalties, and score goals. The graphics are great, making a truly good use of VR tools so users may enjoy special effects. You just need to play moving your head.
Cool features: As a goalkeeper, you see your hands as the pointer and it moves around as you move your head. When you want to catch the ball, you literally have to use your whole body. So it can even be a kind of physical exercising, which makes the app stand out among iPhone VR games.
User tip: To set direction to kick the ball in, use the head. Or move your head faster to make your kick more strong. Also, you can play local tournaments offline, with 100 competitors at hand.
Recommended for: Users who simply want to rest their mind after a hard day at work and explore simplistic virtual reality experiences. Great VR game accessible for all ages and free Google Cardboard app.
Monetization: freemium model (in-app purchases, ads).
Image source: Apptopia
How about a fairy-tale as a VR app for free? This virtual reality Android experience was created in partnership with BBC Research & Development audio team, and is an interactive fairy-tale for all ages.
How it works: In a magical forest, a young child meets a fantastical creature, they embark on the journey…The story flows on. What is stunning here are spatial audio and visuals. With headphones you may actually hear the creature’s teeth gnawing, birds and fish, and other sounds. The makers also warn us to ‘play it safe’, meaning following safety info from the manufacturer of the device you use, like the cardboard.
Cool features: Falling auburn leaves to create a setting to chill out seamlessly. It is great to listen to as well due to the 3-D audio and a few surprises here and there. Let’ say, fans of Falkor from The Neverending Story may be in for a treat.
User tip: Do not play if you are under the age rating, pregnant, under influence, have a medical condition, psychiatric disorders, seizures or heart problems. Make sure you are in a safe place, be aware of surroundings, and stop using The Turning Forest VR if you feel nausea, eye strain, dizziness or any discomfort.
Recommended for: Family-friendly experiences, storytelling and fairy-telling, kids’ bedtime, short movie watching, cartoon watching for all ages. With Google Cardboard APK simple free Android VR apps like this one have been made easily accessible.
Monetization: none (educational purpose).
To widen a range of your experiences, we introduce one of the best Android VR games – Battle Z. It brings a multiplayer first-person shooting game to be listed as one of the best Google Cardboard apps, though it works with Gear VR too.
How it works: In the game players team up to protect themselves from brain-hungry zombies, however there’s a twist. Players can also turn their guns on each other to score bonus points. No more spoilers, okay, one more – watch out for the dragons.
Cool features: Protecting the village of survivors from blood-thirsty zombies, shooting them down, powerful arbalest at your disposal, jumping from the rooftops but zombies can try to get you down throwing stones. Additionally, there are certain bonus powers like healing, dragon breath, etc.
User tip: To fully enjoy the battle you need a Virtual Reality Viewer and a motion-tracking controller (RealViewer or RealControl).
Recommended for: Action game admirers who are seeking for VR games Android or iPhone VR games with good audio, graphics and energetic shooting.
Monetization: freemium model (advertisements).
Image source: Apptopia
Part 2: Paid Google Cardboard Apps
A library of games plus the possibility to convert any PC games into virtual reality experiences – this is what Trinus offers.
How it works: Apparently, not a game itself, but instead an access to a range of VR games. The app links Android phone to PC and streams games to your phone to experience them in three-dimensional virtual reality. So even when feeling nostalgic about some games from the past you may revisit those times.
Cool features: TrinusVR connects your Android phone to PC, so you can play games in virtual reality. Simply using phone sensors for head tracking. It is compatible with most of the modern-era games, SteamVR support for games without VR controllers. Compatible with all headsets including Google Cardboard, Homido, FreeFly, VR One, GearVR, Durovis Dive, wireless gameplay (or with USB connection).
User tip: We recommend trying out a free demo first to make sure it all works before you order a paid version. All you need is a headset of your choice, Android phone, a PC on Windows and app itself.
Recommended for: Gaming geeks with a lot of free time to spare, willing to explore VR worlds in 360-degrees without annoying wires hanging around, using Windows 7 or newer OS version. What’s great about Trinus, is that it works on Google Cardboard kit, any iOS VR headset, PlayStation VR or any other headsets.
Monetization: paymium model (w/additional in-app upgrades). Estimated revenue: $3M.
Image source: Apptopia
2. Proton Pulse
Visually amazing and rich, Proton Pulse with head tracking controls to move around the game screen.
How it works: The goal of this brick-breaking arcade is to bounce various objects back to where they came from. Direct your Proton, an energy ball, and to paddle, bounce and destroy. More than 50 levels. So far the game is ranking very favorably among players, 5-star average. The arcade looks just as good on Android (4.4 or higher) as on desktop.
Cool features: This VR game features a refined original soundtrack of 18 songs by famous chiptune genre composer Moravetz, aka Rave-TZ along with some other artists. First initial version is for Google Cardboard currently, though new and improved versions are going to be released soon for Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Rift CV1, PlayStation 4 Morpheus as well.
User tip: Use not your head but track motion controllers, and play the game in a room. Most reviewers say Proton Pulse is one of best Cardboard apps that shines on HTC Vive. You can also back down only when a paddle makes contact with a ball.
Recommended for: Fans of third person brick breaking action game in fast pace and virtual reality headsets. Anyone looking for great virtual reality games. Gameplay is mostly based on head tracking, as subtle movements dictate the position of paddle.
Monetization: paid model. Estimated revenue: $500K.
Image source: Apptopia
A treasure quest in the deep jungle? Now, that’s a good way to overcome a daily routine.
How it works: Escaping from an ancient mysterious temple before its undead inhabitants get to you, finding and collecting items, solving tricks and riddles, discovering secret chambers. Point-and-click and use motions to explore full 360-views in the middle of the adventure.
Cool features: Immersive VR adventure, detailed 3D environments, classic gameplay, intuitive controls, full 360-degrees view, complete 3D positional sounds, offline play mode, tablet support. Thrilling quest guaranteed. Hidden jewels and golden treasures await.
User tip: Hint black powder to blow up walls but be persistent with it (‘spoiler alert’ – look near old pirate remains). You should better move around slow not to miss clues and to discover every inch, it’s worth the effort.
Recommended for: Are you into adventure and exploration? Fan of solving puzzles and unearthing the ancient mysteries? This is for you exactly plus you can experience it in form of virtual reality game.
Monetization: paymium model (w/additional in-app upgrades). Estimated revenue: $1,5M.
Image source: Apptopia
Adventure time! Time for some VR apps for kids! “Play as Finn to take on righteous challenges and help discover why the Ice King is such a party pooper” – states famous Cartoon Network, the creator.
How it works: Exclusive to Android phones, you need to enter a unique code to unlock the game. A special VR viewer is included in the game package, though Google Cardboard will do the trick too. It is basically a set of mini games and puzzles to play in VR. Cartoon Network delivers the quality content as usual.
Cool features: Unlike many Google Cardboard apps that are cheap largely to only give a preview, this VR app is the actual full experience. Though it lacks in length, as it may seem.
And that’s not all so far, as certain extra features are on the way. These are going to include a puzzle mini-game, new achievements and scores, more new characters, and a whole new story line.
User tip: The task is to try to rescue characters like Jake, Princess Bubblegum and Party Pat, and find items and party food on the way. But first the sequence is the following: assemble the viewer, load the app to smartphone, insert it in the viewer, bring it to your head and see the world of Ooo-s. Use the cursor with eyes to navigate.
Recommended for: Any Adventure Time series fan will appreciate, as well as kids of 7+ age.
Monetization: paid model. Estimated revenue: $20K.
Image source: Apptopia
The title with too many ‘A’s screams right away about the breath-taking stunts that await you, and Google Cardboard kit is good enough for it. A a custom version of the game with the screaming name also, designed specifically for VR headsets.
How it works: In seriousness, this is nice immersive experience of jumping off buildings while doing stunts. Tilt controls and hands free. You jump from buildings in the US city of Boston city, you perform stunts weaving around for points. The only downside is that this is Android VR experience only, so far.
Cool features: In the process you have to make instant decisions – do you stroll around those girders to earn more kisses or glide along the side of the skyscraper for hugs? Then you fall down and can spray paint government buildings for more points.
User tip: It can be played either seated or standing. The jumps you make from buildings are all about style and timing. “Over 0 unique levels… Yes! More than zero! It’s true” – creators of this obviously have a sense of humor.
Recommended for: Seekers of adrenaline and a taste of civil disobedience, those curious about ‘What is all this hype about virtual reality is you say”, VR Android community members.
Monetization: paid model. Estimated revenue: $450K.
Image source: Apptopia
It’s a fast action VR game from Eric Froemling, a computer-graphics genius from San Francisco.
How it works: This is a great arcade game where you need to avoid bombs, capture flags, and other obstacles. Competitive spirit held up high, as you can play with up to eight players going from one level to another. User reviews point out a similarity to Super Mario but ‘with explosions’. With this VR app comes a regular version unlock option, meaning you can play the non-VR version as well.
Cool features: Throw various types of bombs at enemies, snare them in your traps and try not to blow yourself at the same time, hear the ridiculous voices of characters. It’s very challenging. Availability on various headsets – so if you search for Samsung Gear VR apps or VR games for iPhone – this is it.
User tip: BombSquad VR requires an external controller to play. You can use the app on another device, but you need a hardware game-pad. Moreover, app is quite demanding on hardware – make sure your device runs the regular version of BombSquad before trying BombSquad VR.
Recommended for: Fans of various challenges, different rules and situations, goals that keep VR gaming fresh and interesting. And explosions. We want more explosions!
Monetization: paymium model (w/additional in-app upgrades). Estimated revenue: $600K.
Image source: Apptopia
After fast-pace bombing and gaming, it will be a proper time to relax and take some time to calm down with quiet outdoor meditation.
How it works: A serene natural hideout with 360-degree videos of three gorgeous locations in Australia and Portugal. You select a natural scene, put your phone into the Google Cardboard with headphones, choose between a guided meditation or just calming music, relax in incredible beauty, relax your mind and get rejuvenated.
Cool features: The Yoga Nidra meditation along with peaceful music, instructions in both male and female voices will fill your spirit with ethereal joy. More than 100,000 people have already relaxed in virtual reality with this app, featuring 360 videos of beautiful natural landscapes in high definition.
User tip: To use Relax VR one needs a mobile phone and a compatible virtual reality headset. Beside Google Cardboard kit, these might be Samsung Gear VR or Daydream. Download the app and use the headset. In addition, game creators recommend closing the during this VR meditation. Why? They claim it has a positive physiological effect of better relaxation.
Recommended for: Anyone experiencing stress or anxiety, seeking relaxing environments and meditation techniques, those seeking to emotional and physical health, particularly those living in cities. Generally, anyone interested in Google cardboard apps.
Monetization: paid model. Estimated revenue: $200K.
Image source: Apptopia
The first-person space shooter, Minos Starfighter was previously called End Space VR. A great showcase of Android VR possibilities that can be close to PlayStation. Killer Star Wars spinoff.
How it works: Essentially, this is a wave-based shooter that places you in futuristic-looking battles against enemy starfighters, with nicely animated ships. It features one-trigger click gameplay, or if your VR headset has no button, there is option to play just with gaze navigation.
Cool features: There are three environments to explore and an upgrade system to motivate players. This VR app features fully immersive VR experience, 3D sound, 3 crafted space environments, gameplay with progressively harder enemies, detailed ship models, score sharing.
User tip: Disable VR mode in the main menu, or disable the Trigger option in case if your headset does not have a trigger button. Most Bluetooth and USB gamepad controllers are supported for shooting only. Minos Starfighter VR is best experienced with headphones. And finally, you may share scores with friends and compete across social networks.
Recommended for: Google Cardboard owners, VR Android experiences and/or VR apps for iOS searchers. Star Wars fanatics, or both at the same time, we’re sure those of you exist. If you’ve ever dreamed of trying yourself as starship captain, your dream has come true.
Monetization: paymium model (w/additional in-app upgrades). Estimated revenue: $250K.
Image source: Apptopia
Lava Inc. is currently available for as little as $0.5 at the Google Play Store for Android. And it arrives at the proper timing as Google itself has recently been making a big push for Cardboard – they announced over 500,000 units have been sold and used as of the start of 2017.
How it works: The plot goes like this – Lava Inc., a fictional organization that refines lava, has its factory closed for weekends some of employees have decided to have some fun. They’ve created a kind of roller coaster experience through the building, that is deep underground, has various puzzling rooms and contains a lot of lava…
Cool features: A roller coaster ride, full of adrenaline, speed and rapid descents, red-hot lava pools, various rooms and halls, numerous elevation changes.
User tip: Use head movements to control a roller coaster and its speed when playing with Google Cardboard or buttons with other VR headsets. To speed up a ride players only have to lean forward a bit, and similarly, to slow down or stop you have to lean back. Entirely intuitive and works nicely.
To keep it live, the game has few short track sections that can not be controllable by players. So you just rely on laws of physics instead, to hurl around corners. Those parts of the ride are of green color.
Recommended for: Anyone willing to experience virtual reality’s fun and breath-taking side for a small amount of money. Although, those twists and turns, ups and downs may cause a slight nauseous sensation, so act carefully. If you are curious about VR apps for Android you could try this one out.
Monetization: paid model. Estimated revenue: $150K.
Image source: Apptopia
This is one of the award-winning indie Google Cardboard apps, so a top-level VR game is guaranteed.
How it works: With tropical trees surroundings the mission is to drive an army tank and destroy enemy targets. Driving a tank gives you a real-time simulation similar to Battlefield 3 and 4 games. Quite unique!
Cool features: The tank itself is as realistic as it gets with modern 3D technology. Natural sounds of battle, war raids and shooting in stereo 3D will make you forget everything around.
User tip: Use headphones for immersion to the full extent. Just like many other Google cardboard apps, you can play with 360-degrees head movements and the eye focusing on targets.
Recommended for: Fighter spirits willing to experience something more grueling, realistic and thrilling, go for the battle tank action in virtual reality.
Monetization: paymium model (w/additional in-app upgrades). Estimated revenue: $350K.
Image source: Apptopia
Did we miss some of the best Google Cardboard apps? Share yours!
637 sharingsThis braided hairstyle tutorial was inspired by an Instagram photo I posted. It’s a quick and easy braided updo that anyone can do. It looks complicated but they are just basic braids (plaits) so it’s very simple to do in your own hair.
On that day, I had planned to wear my hair out, but the weather changed and my hair was a bit of a mess. I decided to wear my hair up and threw this braid together. I took a photo just to show my fave new trend – the back badge – but you loved the hairstyle and asked for a tutorial so here it is!
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Here’s the photo that inspired this post and the tutorial is below. Please note the back badge, my favourite new way to wear brooches and badges, but more on that later.
Hairstyle how-to: Easy braided updo tutorial
Step-by-step:
Leaving a section loose on either side of your face, and gather the rest of your hair back into a ponytail. Pull gently at the top of your ponytail so it’s not too tight. Braid half of the hair on the left hand side, and wrap it over your ponytail. Repeat with the right hand side. Braid the lower section of hair on the left hand side and wrap over your ponytail. Pin in place with a bobby pin underneath your ponytail. Repeat on the right hand side. Important: Stretch out your braids! Pull at the sides to make your hair look thicker and fuller. Loosely braid your ponytail and roll it under to form a bun. Pin in place with bobby pins.
If you have long hair you could leave your ponytail loose, or split it into several braids to make a large bun underneath.
Will you try this hairstyle? And more importantly, try wearing your badges on your back! It’s a fab way to draw more attention to your hair 🙂Geekologie Reader and tattoo artist Jak went and decorated a chainsaw with some extra zombie-killing flair. Because Jak doesn't just want to cut the heads off zombies, Jak wants to look f***ing good cutting the heads off zombies.
I'm a tattoo artist in Anchorage, Alaska. I did the Raptor Jesus tattoo you had on here a while back. Here's another creation I thought you'd like. I took a $70 chainsaw and painted it up so I'd look good fightin' zeds. Hope you like it!
Nice Jak, you're gonna be the best looking zombie killer out there. Well, besides me. Not to brag or anything but I DO wear a zombie slayer's kilt (+5 breezy crotch). Just sayin', you ever teabagged a zombie with no underwear on before? Not if you still have balls you haven't! (They can still bite is the thing)
Hit the jump for several more shots along with some links to high-res shots because I love you so much and want to have your babies (but not really. No babies in this ass, thank you).
High-res Shots 1, 2, 3, 4
Thanks Jak, now I'm gonna need a robot-smashing jackhammer.'Mummy went to the shops and never came back': Family's agony over mother who vanished without a trace three years ago
Esra Uryun has a husband, five-year-old boy and sister
Last seen leaving for shops from her house in Collinstown, West Dublin
Abandoned car picked up on CCTV in nearby Bray, but no footage of Esra
Sister tells how life plunged into limbo and of painstaking search for clues
A family are still desperately searching for a missing mum after she vanished during a shopping trip near her home in Collinstown, West Dublin, three years ago.
Esra Uryun was 38 years old when she disappeared leaving behind her husband of seven years, Ozgur, her then two-year-old son Emin, now five, and her older sister, Berna Fidan.
‘Has someone got hold of her? Has something horrible happened to her? It just doesn't make sense,’ Berna says fighting back tears on tonight’s Channel Four documentary, The Missing.
Scroll down for video
Berna Fidan, sister of missing mum Esra Uryun, whom she's searched tirelessly for since her disappearance three years ago
The harrowing programme delves into the mystery of the 2,000 missing people who vanish without a trace in Britain each year.
‘She wouldn't just run off on her own. That child was everything to her. I don't believe she would have taken off and left her baby behind,’ says Berna as the documentary airs touching home video footage of a doting mother kissing her little boy and saying, ‘I love you’.
Esra's distraught family is unable to continue normal life and unable to grieve, but live in hope that they will one day be reunited.
Esra Uryun, 38, has not been seen since leaving her home at Collinstown in a silver Renault three years ago
After Esra’s disappearance, her husband and son moved to London and in a heart-wrenching moment little Emin talks about the mother he hardly remembers.
'She went to the shops by herself. She didn't know the way home, then she got lost somewhere,' he says as he plays at home with his father.
Ozgur tries to describe how hard it’s been for his son, ‘I can't understand what's going on. Think about his little brain -- how he's trying to cope with the situation.’
Turning to his own experience he says, ‘You’re always fighting between your heart and your mind. Your heart is saying she's coming back but your logic is saying the probability is getting low.’
An hour after Esra left for the shops that fateful morning, her silver Renault was clocked on CCTV footage in the nearby town of Bray.
Since her disappearance Berna has gone to extraordinary lengths to bring her sister home and has visited Bray fifteen times in the hope of uncovering further evidence.
‘It hurts me to be here, but I keep coming back all the time -- because she's here somewhere and I need to find her,’ she says bravely of her search.
‘I try and block it all out my head and pretend it's not my sister. I hate putting these posters up. I see lamppost with missing dogs and cats and I'm having to put my sister's picture up,’ she says reaching breaking point.
The police found Esra’s car abandoned in the town’s parking lot, but there’s no proof Esra herself was the one who drove it there.
'There wasn't a shred of evidence she was ever in Bray because the CCTV footage is so appalling, you can't see who the driver is,’ explains Berna.
'All I want is an answer and that's when I'll be at peace. There’s a baby, who's now five years old, who's growing up without the love of his mum.'
Because there’s never been a sighting of Esra since her disappearance, police have downgraded the investigation. The detective leading the search suspects suicide.
'I know she's here somewhere -- I just have to find her': Berna Fedan with a picture of her missing sister Esra Uryun
Blurry CCTV footage showed a female walking from where the car was parked towards Bray Head, a nearby hill.
'I can't say whether that's Esra or not but I can say the CCTV does not pick up that person coming back down,’ the detective explains. But Berna is convinced the woman is not her sister.
The detective believes the passing of Esra’s father in 2010 may be linked. ‘It affected Esra more because she was living away from her family,’ he says and adds, ‘In 70 per cent of suicides, there's no note.’
But Berna is far from convinced and continues to publicise her plight. 'What damn proof do they have that my sister's dead?
BRITAIN'S MISSING Every two minutes someone in the UK goes missing.
Most are found within 48 hours.
Within a year 99 percent are located
Every year 2,000 vanish without a trace
Charity Missing People receive 58,000 calls for help a year
'How can you commit suicide and no one come across the body in such a public place. It's still a search in my eyes. She could not bear to be away from her son.’
As she prepares to leave Bray, where she will no doubt return, Berna explains, ‘It’s hard coming and it’s even harder going back. She’s my flesh and blood, my only sister. She’d do the same if it was me.’
‘I know I‘m torturing myself but how can I let it go? With no closure, how can I let it go. It’s impossible,’ she says.
Berna continues her search to bring her beloved sister home but, like thousands of families round Britain, a lifetime of uncertainty may lie ahead.Major League Baseball is taking a look at concerns that have arisen over the medical information disclosed by the Padres in at least two notable trades recently completed by the organization, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports. The swaps in question occurred with the Marlins (centered around Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea) and Red Sox (for Drew Pomeranz).
San Diego, of course, already agreed to something of a do-over in the case of Rea, sending minor leaguer Luis Castillo back to Miami and accepting the return of Rea. The 26-year-old righty departed in the middle of his first start with his new club with elbow issues, and it was just announced that he’ll need Tommy John surgery, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.
It was reported at the time that the Marlins felt they had been wronged, with San Diego agreeing to unwind that portion of the transaction while insisting on organizational innocence. Olney explains that Rea informed the Miami staff that he had been treated for elbow discomfort in San Diego, which Miami then asserted had not been disclosed.
Now, per the report, it seems that questions have been raised about Pomeranz’s health. Boston parted with highly-regarded pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza to get him, but the Sox now believe they’ve learned elements of Pomeranz’s medical history that ought to have been revealed by the Pads.
Importantly, in the case of Pomeranz, the Red Sox are not seeking any modification of the agreement. It doesn’t appear as if there’s any real ongoing issue there, then, apart from the league’s general review of San Diego’s practices. Olney notes that it’s not clear whether any sanctions could be considered.
As Olney also discusses, these swaps seemingly point to the need for a more formalized process for exchanging medical information between organizations. The question of health disclosures is also under consideration with regard to the amateur draft, and perhaps both discrete but related topics could be on the table as collective bargaining talks continue.The president has urged the police to get tough
South Africa's police watchdog has condemned the "shooting of innocent people" after a boy of three was allegedly killed by a police officer.
The officer reportedly mistook a pipe the boy was carrying for a gun. He was in a car the police thought was being driven by suspected criminals.
The family of Atlegang Phalane says the policeman showed "no remorse" about the killing, reports the Sowetan newspaper.
The policeman has been charged with murder and remains in custody.
President Jacob Zuma recently said police should get tough to deal with the country's high levels of crime, however he said they should not be "trigger-happy".
Moses Dlamini from the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) told the BBC that no pipe or firearm had been recovered from the car in Midrand, near Johannesburg.
Atlegang's mother Mapule Phalane has accused the police constable of not being remorseful about the shooting.
"I could not believe my eyes when I arrived at the scene.
"He was busy eating a lollipop. I approached him and asked why he killed my son, but he looked at me as if I was crazy," said Ms Phalane, reports the Sowetan newspaper.Adelaide United is delighted to announce Reds legend, Travis Dodd, has returned to the Club as part of Ivan Karlović’s Westfield W-League coaching staff.
Dodd amassed 183 appearances and 41 goals in all competitions for Adelaide United during his playing career with the Club.
Speaking on returning to the Reds, Dodd said: “It’s going to be an interesting time for me and I’ve spent a bit of time coaching at MetroStars in the NPL.
“This is certainly a step up in professionalism in terms of what the women’s team want to achieve.
“Talking to Ivan, the girls have genuine ambition to improve themselves, to make finals, and potentially win a championship.
“I’m looking forward to contributing to that and trying to help the team achieve that goal.
“I’m eager to work with Ivan as well because he’s a respected coach and achieved really good things in the past.
“I hope to learn from him because, whilst I’ve been a player, I haven’t had a lot of experience in coaching and seeing Ivan’s approach to the game first-hand will definitely help me too.”
Adelaide United Chairman, Greg Griffin, said he was very pleased to be welcoming back a legend of the Club.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be welcoming Travis back to Adelaide United and I’m positive he will be a wonderful addition to our W-League team’s coaching staff.
“This is a massive step in the right direction for the Club in recognising past legends and will definitely benefit everyone.”
Dodd will take his place on the Adelaide United bench this evening when the Reds take on Western Sydney Wanderers FC at the Marden Sports Complex in Round 8 of the Westfield W-League 2017/18 season.At the PGL Major Krakow, Natus Vincere lost their opening match against G2, throwing away a 12-3 lead after switching over to the Terrorist side of Overpass. The CIS side bounced back today, defeating their regional rivals FlipSid3 on Train 16-9.
Edward was saving for his nades for late in the round against FlipSid3
After the match, we chatted with Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev about their recent results and young regional talent.
I want to get a few your thoughts on the Cologne run and that event in general. You made it to the semi's but couldn't get past Cloud9, one of the surprises tournament. Leaving that tournament, what was the feeling like for you and what do you think about the result?
At the beginning, we have decided to have Cologne as a bootcamp, as practice before the Major. So it was nice to manage semi's, and Cloud9 was a little bit better than us in the semi's because we felt pressure or something, we didn't play an amazing game.
The first game you had here was against G2, you faced them in Cologne as well. It again came down to Overpass, tell me a bit about the first half, it seemed like you had their Terrorist side figured out? Tell me a bit about that.
We knew it was going to be Nuke or Overpass, which we played before in the quarters in Cologne. So we managed to win the first half 12-3 and after that, I don't know why but we started to feel overconfident. It was chaos, such a mess on our T side. We were doing so stupid, mini mistakes, and they did a comeback.
Coming into today and facing FlipSid3, first of all, tell me about the feelings facing a B1ad3 and a regional team?
It's always nice to play against them, we knew each other very well. Someone from my team told me that we won the last 11 games against them. So we have a good statistic, that is nice.
Talking about his style, the beginning of the game, their first buy rounds were very, very slow...
If I'm not wrong, they ran out of time in the first two buy rounds. (laughs) That was kind of funny to me.
So what are your thoughts on that playstyle and those rounds in particular?
I knew it was going to be like that, I knew it before the game that it was going to be like that. When B1ad3 plays on the big stage, the big events, he always plays very, very slow. We knew that, I was saving my nades because I knew that they are not going to rush anywhere and that is it.
When you played with Zeus in Na`Vi before, you used to play a similar style, to a degree. What do you think are the differences?
It wasn't the same style, we were always balancing some fast rounds, some fast game with the slow of course. So by me, it's not the same.
In the later part of the half, it seemed like FlipSid3 stepped up the pace, they got some rounds. Do you think that was maybe the plan all along, to get you used to slow rounds and then speeding it up?
There was only one round that we were supposed to win, it was a 2-on-4, they came out B and WorldEdit sniped us down. We were going out from connector and it was free kills for him. After that we saved two guns and they won three rounds in the row. But during the whole game we felt pretty comfortable and calm and we knew were going to win anyway. So it wasn't bad.
Then came the pause, how much impact did that have, did you have any problems keeping focus since it lasted about half an hour?
flamie started playing really well after the pause because he started to feel power in his PC (laughs). That was all the difference I guess.
One thing to mention, at this tournament we have two players from CIS that have been catching some attention: mir and electronic. What are your thoughts about them, you just played against electronic, I don't think you played against Vega at recent times. What have you seen from them?
We practiced against Vega many times, and mir always played well against us in practice, so I know him as a very good player. electronic as well, he is really motivated, you can see it by the games they play. So both are really good players.York Regional Police have issued a Canada-wide warrant for a suspect in connection with the disappearance of Markham woman Ying Chun (Annie) Li.
Li, 36, was last seen by her family in Markham around 6 p.m. on June 12 in the area of Denison Street and Markham Road. She has not had contact with them since.
Early last month, the force announced that the homicide unit was taking over the investigation.
On Wednesday, police said that "as a result of the investigation police have reason to believe that Annie Li is deceased."
The York Regional Police homicide unit took over the case looking into the disappearance of Ying Chun (Annie) Li, last seen on June 12. (York Regional Police)
Investigators have issued a plea for the public's help to locate their suspect in the case. He is identified as Jiarui (Jerry) Tang, 21, of Toronto. He is known to frequent the Chinatown area of Toronto and is believed to be within the Greater Toronto Area.
"Mr. Tang is urged to seek legal counsel and turn himself in immediately," police said in a news release.
Police are urging members of the public not to approach Tang and to call 911 to report any sightings.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the York Regional Police homicide unit at 866-876-5423 ext. 7865 |
was one of the six quarterbacks in the famed Quarterback class of 1983 and in 1997 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
High school and college career [ edit ]
He played for Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California.
O'Brien started his collegiate football career in 1978 at Sacramento State as a reserve.
He played at the University of California, Davis under coach Jim Sochor. In his senior year, 1982, he was a NCAA Division II All-American. He led UCD to a 10-0 regular season mark and to the Division II championship game. He was ranked #2 in total offense and #3 in passing efficiency in Division II. He also won the Babe Slater Award for being the most outstanding male athlete at UC Davis.
He was selected as All-Far Western Conference QB three times and was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
Professional career [ edit ]
The New York Jets selected O'Brien as the 24th pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft, amazing observers who expected the team to choose fellow quarterback Dan Marino, a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who was selected three picks later. The many Jets fans who attended the draft, held in New York City, were surprised and outraged by the choice; O'Brien was so obscure that New York television reporter Sal Marchiano twice mangled his name while reporting on fan reaction to the draft. (O'Brien said after his retirement, "Who blames [the fans], right? Who, in New York, has heard of Cal, University of California, Davis? Nobody... I'm not sure I would have reacted any differently. Heck, some of my cousins grew up as Jets fans. They were probably doing the same thing.")[1]
O'Brien played quarterback for over a decade in the National Football League. He amassed over 25,000 yards in his 11-year career. In 1985, he was the highest rated quarterback in the NFL, finishing the season with a rating of 96.2.[2] He also led the NFL with the lowest rate of interceptions in 1985, 1987, and 1988. He retired after spending the 1993 season with the Philadelphia Eagles where he only started 4 games and mostly served as a backup for Randall Cunningham and Bubby Brister.[3]
O'Brien was the first quarterback to pass for 400 or more yards (431) in a game and earn a perfect NFL 158.3 rating, a feat he accomplished against the Seattle Seahawks in 1986 and would not be matched until 27 years later, by Nick Foles in 2013 & Jared Goff in 2018.[4][5] O'Brien is also one of only three quarterbacks in NFL history to have a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in a game while attempting 30 or more passes.[6] O'Brien was also the holder of another NFL record that lasted for 25 years when he combined for 927 (884 net) yards and 10 touchdowns passing with Dan Marino. The new record (achieved January 1, 2012) is 1,000 yards passing with 11 touchdowns (the same amount of touchdowns with 63 more yards) in a game that featured the Detroit Lions vs the Green Bay Packers. O'Brien went to the Pro Bowl twice, in 1985 and 1991.
Quarterback Challenge [ edit ]
In 1990 the first Quarterback Challenge was introduced. Several top-rated quarterbacks competed in several events with O'Brien emerging as the champion. The following year Dan Marino would win. However, in the accuracy challenge O'Brien would more than double the points of the next best quarterback by hitting all of the targets including a near perfect 50-yard pass that was close to the bull's eye.
Notable games [ edit ]
Quarterback Date Team Opponent Result CMP ATT YDS TDS INT RATING Notes Ken O'Brien[7] November 2, 1986 New York Jets Seattle Seahawks W 38-7 26 32 431 4 0 158.3 Record for 31 years: Most yards passed with a perfect rating (since surpassed by Jared Goff [465] in 2018). Ken O'Brien[8] December 23, 1990 New England Patriots W 42-7 11 12 210 2 0 158.3 2nd career perfect rating Ken O'Brien[9] November 17, 1985 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 62-28 23 30 367 5 1 142.6 Most points since 1973 Ken O'Brien[7] July 9, 1986 Buffalo Bills W 28-24 18 25 318 2 0 140.8 Ken O'Brien[10] May 11, 1989 New England Patriots W 27-26 22 29 386 2 0 140.4 Ken O'Brien[9] September 11, 1986 Atlanta Falcons W 28-14 26 33 322 3 0 137.6 Completed 23 of his first 25 passes (92%) Ken O'Brien[11] August 9, 1988 Houston Oilers W 45-3 17 26 260 3 0 136.7 Didn't play 4th quarter. 3 touchdowns in the first half. Ken O'Brien[7] September 21, 1986 Miami Dolphins W 51-45 29 43 479 4 1 126.0 Record for 25 years: 927 combined yards passing. Marino had 448.
Top 5 games by category (Minimum 10 pass attempts) [ edit ]
Number Rating Points Yards TDs % Com 1 158.3
11/02/1986
Seahawks 62
November 17, 1985
Buccaneers 479
September 21, 1986
Dolphins 5
November 17, 1985
Buccaneers 91.7%
December 23, 1990
Patriots 2 158.3
December 23, 1990
Patriots 51
September 21, 1986
Dolphins 431
11/09/1986
Seahawks 4
September 21, 1986
Dolphins 82.6%
10/06/1991
Browns 3 142.6
November 17, 1985
Buccaneers 45
September 18, 1988
Oilers 393
11/10/1985
Dolphins 4
11/02/1986
Seahawks 81.3%
11/02/1986
Seahawks 4 140.8
09/07/1986
Bills 44
October 23, 1988
Dolphins 386
11/05/1989
Patriots 3
1985-1992
Several 78.8%
11/09/1986
Falcons 5 140.4
11/05/1989
Patriots 43
September 21, 1987
Patriots 370
12/08/1985
Bills 3
1985-1992
Several 75.0%
September 29, 1991
Dolphins
Quotes about O'Brien [ edit ]
April 26, 1983 "Who's he?" - Don Shula when the Jets took Ken O'Brien with the 24th pick in the 1983 draft, leaving Dan Marino for the Dolphins. [12]
September 23, 1991 Jets at Bears: "When (Ken O'Brien) gets the time to throw the football, no one throws it any better than he does." - Frank Gifford on ABC's Monday Night Football.
October 20, 1986 Broncos at Jets: "You wanna throw the ball deep? Ken O'Brien, he'll never under throw it." - Frank Gifford on ABC's Monday Night Football.
October 26, 1986 Jets at Saints: "Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the impious" - Al Toon, quoting Psalm 1 in a sly reference to a NY Post article questioning O'Brien's tendency to favor Toon over other receivers. (Toon caught 3 touchdown passes in a come-from-behind victory)
November 9, 1986 Jets at Falcons: "This kid is absolutely as hot a quarterback as I've ever seen in the NFL. He's so cool. He's got everything so much in control." - Bob Trumpy on NBC.
November 9, 1986: "I've been around a lot of tough, smart guys who won even though they couldn't throw the football that well. Billy Kilmer with the Redskins, Fran Tarkenton with the Giants, they didn't have a lot of physical ability, they did it by being tough and smart. But in addition to being tough and smart, Kenny O'Brien can throw the football." -Joe Walton, New York Jets Head Coach.
Coaching career [ edit ]
After retiring, O'Brien had a stint as an assistant coach for the University of Southern California, where he coached Heisman Trophy winner and former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer.[13]
O'Brien in popular culture [ edit ]
O'Brien made a guest appearance on the television show Home Improvement in the episode "The Eve Of Construction", as part of Tim Taylor's "all-star" team of home builders, building for charity. As the episode aired March 9, 1994 it was just after O'Brien had played his final game. He stated that he played for "whoever will take me", although Tim cites him as playing for the Eagles. O'Brien's daughter Paige[citation needed] is married to former sitcom star Josh Peck.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Libertarian vice presidential candidate William Weld speaks at a rally in New York, Sept. 10. Bryan R. Smith/Getty Images
When Bill Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, decided to join Gary Johnson’s campaign for the presidency, it seemed plausible that the Johnson–Weld ticket could garner 9 or 10 percent of the vote against two widely disliked alternatives. Weld had been a respected, moderate governor, and was seen as giving the somewhat eccentric Libertarian Party a dose of gravitas. But things haven’t worked out that way: Johnson has become a national punchline after displaying an inability to identify the Syrian city of Aleppo and doing little to complicate the image of the pot-smoking, Ayn Rand–reading libertarian that Americans enjoy rolling their eyes at.
Unlike Johnson, who has been a pointed critic of Hillary Clinton, Weld seems genuinely frightened at the prospect of a Trump presidency. He has attacked Trump harshly and said he would focus his energies on going after the demagogue. He has also called Hillary Clinton as qualified as anyone to be president. Which raises the question: Why exactly is Weld supporting Johnson’s bid for the presidency, which could conceivably cost Clinton the election if polls tighten? I called Weld to ask. During the course of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, we discussed what Republicans really think of Trump, Gary Johnson’s fitness to be commander in chief, and Weld’s advice for swing-state voters.
Isaac Chotiner: Why are you running as vice president on the Libertarian ticket?
Bill Weld: I have always self-identified as a small-l libertarian, and I was very friendly with Gary Johnson when we served together as governors back in the 1990s. So when he called and said, “Would you like to consider being on the ticket?” it was not a very difficult decision for me. I have long been interested in national politics. I was Pete Wilson’s national finance chair. I was Mitt Romney’s New York finance co-chair twice. I have been familiar with all the players for 20-plus years. It’s been a great ride.
OK, but why do you want to be elected vice president, and why do you want people to vote for the Libertarian ticket?
Oh, because the Libertarian platform is my platform, and neither of the other party’s is. I have run as a Republican many times, but I always carried the Republican Party position on social issues on my back as a 300-pound monkey. I never agreed with the social issues approach of the Republican Party. And it has only gotten worse. Now they want gays and lesbians to have conversion therapy. I was out there for a decade by myself in the 1990s on gay and lesbian civil-rights issues, and people said, “What are you, crazy?” I am not crazy, I just know what I think. I’m a real libertarian on social issues and I am very much a small-government conservative on fiscal issues. It is a perfect fit. I would not say the Democratic Party is small-government conservative these days. [Laughs.]
You have spent a lot of your time going after Donald Trump recently—
Well that’s right. I have been watching him closely and the campaign closely and I think it has just gotten worse and worse. When anybody confronts him or criticizes him, he behaves as a small child would. His face turns red, he waves his arms, he interrupts everybody, he stands on one leg and holds his breath until he gets what he wants. You can’t do that if you are the president of the United States.
Does the descent of the Republican Party and Trump make you think differently about third parties?
Well, yes. I think the Republican Party at their convention decided to make their platform even more mean-spirited than it already was. Both parties have gotten somewhat less appealing because of the hyperpartisanship in Washington, which is itself a product of hypergerrymandering and the fact that the two parties want to kill each other. That’s no way to get the people’s business done.
If I were a socially liberal, capitalist-friendly person, Hillary Clinton wouldn’t seem so bad. Where do you disagree with her?
Well, I do think that one of the big issues in this year’s campaign—and I wouldn’t call it the elephant in the room, I would call it the elephant and the donkey in the room—is the fact that the two-party monopoly in Washington has begun to be quite counterproductive. All anyone is worried about is getting re-elected. The only silver bullet I can see for that is term limits.
If you don’t—
Excuse me. Excuse me. Let me just finish. The exception to that is if a credible third party has a seat at the table at the national political dialogue. That would make the other parties have to be more honest.
I am sure you have heard the argument that if you have term limits, you don’t have expertise and so lobbyists and special interests actually have more power.
Yeah. I am not buying that for a minute.
What I am wondering about your ticket is whether you want Gary Johnson to be president or rather that you think the Libertarian Party has the right ideas and we need to give people a choice.
Well it’s certainly the latter, and I think Gary would be a good president. He was a good strong governor of New Mexico and I think he’d be a good, strong president. I don’t get off the bus just because Gary [forgot] a place name in Syria on national television. He worked across the aisle when he was governor.
You say it’s a place name in Syria, but he doesn’t seem like someone who has thought deeply about foreign policy. Is that wrong?
I think it is fair to say that I have had the occasion to travel a lot more widely than he has. It’s partly because I was an Eastern governor. It’s partly because my business and consulting practice has taken me all over the world. I think it is fair to say that Gary and I have influenced each other this year, just as good friends traveling a lot and talking a lot. One of the areas where I have had some impact on his thinking is in terms of constructive engagement around the world. But he was already in favor or military and naval supremacy. I’m sorry, naval and air power as a defensive matter.
Sorry, he was always in favor of naval and air power?
Wait, wait wait wait. Let me finish. And he has had some impact on me in terms of criminal justice reform, for example mandatory minimum sentencing and treating addiction matters as a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue.
Sorry, he was always in favor of naval and air power? What does that mean?
Military supremacy in naval and air power.
I just don’t know what that means. American supremacy?
Right, and have that be demonstrable all over the world. And that is a result of our discussion. So he is on board for having the United States maintain military supremacy in naval power and air power, while at the same time, he is more skeptical about boots on the ground than perhaps either of the other parties.
It seems harder to make the case against Trump when Johnson, like Trump, gives off the vibe of someone who does not think deeply about foreign policy and might not necessarily be ready to be commander in chief on Day 1.
OK, well that’s your point of view. I think Gary Johnson could be commander in chief.
Is your sense from talking to Republicans you know that they want Trump to be president—or that they don’t and just want this period to be over?
Oh I don’t think they want Donald Trump to be president at all, but that’s why I am flabbergasted that so many of them are standing around catching flies, meaning with open mouth, while this election proceeds. And I think there is a decent chance Donald Trump could win the thing. I think there is a hidden Trump vote of 3–4–5 percent of people who just don’t want to admit to a pollster that they are going to vote for Donald Trump. I don’t know if you saw the statement I put out yesterday but I addressed it squarely toward Republicans who are standing by while the Trump train chugs on. That’s why my remarks were about Donald Trump and not anybody else. I wanted to focus people’s attention on this before we do ourselves some lasting harm, and I think the election of Donald Trump would constitute lasting harm.
I don’t know if I agree with you about the hidden Trump vote but—
I hope I am wrong.
I hope you are wrong too. I just don’t know how you tell people in swing states to vote for you and Gary Johnson instead of Hillary Clinton if that’s the case.
[Nine second pause.] Is that a question?
Take it for—
I see your point of view. You know, I stand by what I said about Libertarians getting a seat at the table of the national political dialogue going forward would be very good for the country. I think the two-party duopoly has become sick.
Well, if Trump is elected we won’t have a two-party duopoly but instead a one-party state.
I completely agree.
Correction, Oct. 26, 2016: Due to a production error, an earlier version of this article was published under the wrong byline and with several paragraphs missing. The missing text has been added, and the byline has been updated.
Read more Slate coverage of the 2016 campaign.0
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La Voz de Galicia Enrique G. Souto
Lugo 12/06/2015 08:06 h
Finalmente la presión pudo con él. José Clemente López Orozco, alcalde de Lugo desde 1999, ha confirmado en rueda de prensa su decisión de renunciar a ser el candidato del PSOE a la alcaldía y de dejar su acta de concejal. «É unha decisión estrictamente personal», explicó. Orozco tira la toalla, se aparta y facilita con su salida un pacto de izquierdas entre PSOE (8 ediles), Lugonovo (3) y BNG (2) que impida que el PP (9) se haga con el gobierno de la ciudad. Todo apunta a que lo sucederá en el cargo la número dos socialista, Lara Méndez.
Emocionado durante la rueda de prensa, explicó que había tomado la decisión entre la tarde y la noche de ayer, después de hablar con muchos amigos y preocupado «pola actitude creada por aquí que leva a sacrificar a presunción de inocencia». En este sentido, recordó que no es justo que lleve imputado tantos años sin que se haya resuelto su situación.
Orozco insistió en que se retira de la vida política activa y que no cambia «un cargo por outro». Aunque insistió en que seguirá haciendo política como ciudadanos. Antes de despedirse aprovechó para pedir un cambio en la ley electoral con la imposición de la segunda vuelta.
Hacia la una y media llegó José Ramón Gómez Besteiro al ayuntamiento para reunirse con Orozco. Solo diez minutos antes, el PSdeG hacía pública una nota en la que mostraba su apoyo al todavía alcalde en funciones de Lugo. «Orozco tería o respaldo dos socialistas fose cal fose a súa decisión final, porque a súa traxectoria política e persoal merece o absoluto respecto sen condicionantes ao que el decida», aseguran desde el PSdeG
La cabeza de Orozco fue la condición que impusieron Lugonovo y el BNG para apoyar la investidura del candidato socialista el próximo sábado. Ayer mismo, el alcalde en funciones y el secretario general del PSdeG, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, mantuvieron una larga reunión, de cuatro horas, para tratar el futuro del regidor. Aunque Orozco fue muy contundente a la salida de ese encuentro -«¡Hombre, claro que sigo siendo el candidato!»-, el silencio de Besteiro permitía pensar que la situación no era tan clara como el regidor quería hacer pensar.
Dudas en la Diputación
La salida de Orozco deja en el aire también la presidencia de la Diputación de Lugo. La primera candidata a este puesto era Lara Méndez, que ahora con toda probabilidad será alcaldesa. Esta situación hace que el PSOE deba buscar un nuevo nombre. Otro que se perfilaba era Juan Carlos González Santín, pero pierde peso porque una parte del partido no lo quiere en ese puesto.
Esta situación lleva al PSOE a buscar un otro candidato al ente provincial.
El PSOE acepta el «chantaje» en el Ayuntamiento de Lugo y apenas pone condiciones a la Marea en el de A Coruña
El PSOE (8 ediles) precisa del apoyo de Lugonovo (3) y BNG (2) para sumar los 13 votos que son la mayoría absoluta en el Concello de Lugo; por tanto, los necesarios para conseguir la alcaldía. Lugonovo basó su campaña en el no rotundo a José López Orozco por su imputación en el caso Pokémon. El BNG salió del gobierno local en 2012 cuando Orozco fue imputado y se negó a sentarse a negociar hasta que se produjese su renuncia. A esta intransigencia fue a la que el PSdeG-PSOE tildó reiteradamente de «chantaje», apelando además a los resultados electorales: PSOE, 13.959 votos; Lugonovo, 5.379; BNG, 4.098. Ayer lograron la renuncia de Orozco.
Esta situación contrasta con las escasas condiciones impuestas por el PSOE coruñés, que logró en las últimas elecciones seis ediles, a la Marea Atlántica. La portavoz socialista en A Coruña, Mar Barcón, que ha decidido apoyar la investidura de Xulio Ferreiro, defendió ayer que el nuevo gobierno de la Marea devuelva al pleno municipal competencias que durante los mandatos anteriores estuvieron en manos de la junta de gobierno. Barcón no especificó a qué competencias se refiere, pero fuentes del partido señalaron que intentarán que sean «todas», incluyendo la petición de créditos bancarios por encima del 10 % del presupuesto o la declaración de lesividad de actos del Ayuntamiento. En todo caso, las competencias en materia de contratación seguirán en manos de la junta de gobierno local. Aunque la Marea respalda la devolución de competencias para reforzar la «transparencia» de la acción municipal, fuentes de esa formación señalaron que ese es uno de los asuntos que se está discutiendo.The tunnel for Ottawa's $2.1-billion light rail transit project will now go under Queen Street instead of Albert Street as part of modifications designed to keep the project under budget.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said the move to Queen Street will allow the tunnel to be built at a depth of 15 to 16 metres instead of 39 to 40 metres. The LRT station at the Rideau Canal also rises from 38 metres to 29 metres.
The cost of the project also drops to $1.74 billion in 2009 dollars, or $2.1 billion in inflation adjusted dollars.
"The plan released today proposes a new alignment and a more practical tunnel that makes a lot more sense," said Watson. "The resulting product — the first phase of our light rail transit system — will be a significant improvement and it will be less costly than the previous plan."
Shallower station saves time
The shallower station construction will have a positive impact on future LRT passengers, allowing them to reach the platform in under a minute, rather than taking longer than two minutes to descend. There will also be cost savings of an estimated $400 million for the project, and less of a need for technologically complex equipment.
The 12.5-kilometre rail line is still slated to run from Tunney's Pasture, just west of downtown, to Blair station in the east, and includes a 3.2-kilometre transit tunnel under downtown Ottawa.
According to the updated timelines, the city will put a request for proposal on construction work by December of this year, and award a contract in December 2012. The project is slated to be completed at the end of 2017.
Keeping the project's costs down has been a challenge for the city, particularly with inflation and a rise in the price of steel. The downtown tunnel has already been shortened by a third with one station originally slated to go underground now scheduled to be at street level.There was a massive police presence in Liverpool city centre overnight following what was described as a "large-scale disturbance".
Police cordons were set up in Hanover Street and Wood Street and a spokesperson for Merseyside Police confirmed they were responding to reports of a "large scale disturbance" in the area.
We’ve had unconfirmed reports that around 30 to 40 people may have been involved in the disturbance.
We've be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.
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We're also on Facebook/theliverpoolecho - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Liverpool ECHO.Seriously? Crooked Comey Quotes Scripture to Taunt Trump Over Mueller Witch Hunt
Crooked cop Comey just ‘came out’ on Twitter after hiding under the handle ‘Reinhold Niebuhr’ for years and he is taunting the Trump administration with cryptic tweets.
Comey had the nerve to tweet out Bible scripture in an attempt to taunt Trump saying ‘justice will roll down like water..’, a quote from the book of Amos.
34 sealed cases were filed in the D.C. federal court. Rumors are swirling that Mueller is about to open the floodgates and blow up Washington. What does Comey know?
Crooked Comey tweeted a picture of the Great Falls of the Potomac with a caption, ““If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly; it is light as a feather and a breath will carry it.” Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1855).”
“If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly; it is light as a feather and a breath will carry it.” Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1855). pic.twitter.com/YZf4q88wyi — James Comey (@Comey) November 11, 2017
Comey then added a quote from the book of Amos in order to take a shot at the Mueller witch hunt targeting Trump’s camp: “I included the picture of the Great Falls of the Potomac because I like it and because it reminds me of my favorite scripture verse, from Amos: “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.””
I️ included the picture of the Great Falls of the Potomac because I️ like it and because it reminds me of my favorite scripture verse, from Amos: “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” — James Comey (@Comey) November 11, 2017
Comey is quoting Amos 5:24 which is interpreted by many as a threat of chastisement-judgment will roll over the land and bring justice. The righteous will prevail and drive out the wicked.
James Comey has a lot of nerve acting holier than thou after he leaked classified memos of his conversations with President Trump to a friend in order to prompt a Special Counsel.
Comey also exonerated Crooked Hillary of her criminal email investigation before interviewing 17 witnesses, including Clinton!
The corrupt former FBI Director may have also perjured himself when he said under oath he decided to exonerate Hillary Clinton after her July meeting with the FBI when a report suggests the move was decided much earlier in the year.
You got it backwards, Comey. Our country will only heal when the corrupt Obama administration is brought to justice. This includes Comey, Clinton, Rice, Lynch, Holder, Mueller, McCabe, Rosenstein and many others.
We aren’t impressed, Comey. The Devil can quote scripture for his purpose too.Understanding Clojure transducers through types
Yesterday, Rich Hickey published a blog post, “Transducers are Coming”, which attracted a lot of attention.
I have a confession to make, which I have made before: I find it very difficult to understand ideas or code not presented with types. So I decided that the only way I could possibly understand what “transducers” are would be to actually implement them in a typed language. I ended up doing so and am sharing my findings here.
Vague types in the original blog post
Rich informally gave some type signatures in his blog post:
;;reducing function signature whatever, input -> whatever ;;transducer signature (whatever, input -> whatever) -> (whatever, input -> whatever)
This was, unfortunately, not very helpful. It is hard to make sense of this pseudo-notation for types. What is quantified over what? And what is bound to what? I’ll explain later what I mean by these questions.
First discussion thread I saw
There was much tweeting online about transducers after Rich Hickey’s initial announcement; the tweets did not help me, except for links posted to discussion elsewhere.
One of them was on Hacker News. I browsed through it but found it mostly not useful. The problem was that although a lot of interesting Haskell code was thrown around, it tended to be related to transducers but not an exact translation of the concept. I already had my own intuitions about transducers being related to well-known types such as foldables, iteratees, lenses, etc. That “ordinary function composition” was involved immediately suggested the connections, because function composition is huge in these existing Haskell libraries.
But what I wanted was to understand transducers as they are, before even thinking about generalizations and comparisons.
What are the types?
Rich Hickey informally offered some types (which he said were “a la Haskell”) to try to help out:
;;reducing fn x->a->x ;;transducer fn (x->a->x)->(x->b->x)
OK, by using type variables a, b, and x, that indicates what is bound to what. The blog post should have used this notation rather than
;;transducer signature (whatever, input -> whatever) -> (whatever, input -> whatever)
Sample Clojure code
He also posted some sample Clojure code:
Second discussion thread I saw
Then today, I saw a discussion thread on Reddit, titled “Clojure’s Transducers are Perverse Lenses”.
Actual runnable Haskell code
Rich finally posted some actual type-checked, runnable Haskell code!
-- Transducers in Haskell mapping :: (a -> b) -> (r -> b -> r) -> (r -> a -> r) -- Original was (b -> a) -> (r -> a -> r) -> (r -> b -> r) -- but Michael O'Keefe in comment pointed out this is misleading mapping f xf r a = xf r (f a) filtering :: (a -> Bool ) -> (r -> a -> r) -> (r -> a -> r) filtering p xf r a = if p a then xf r a else r flatmapping :: (a -> [b]) -> (r -> b -> r) -> (r -> a -> r) flatmapping f xf r a = foldl xf r (f a) -- for exposition only, yes, conj is gross for lazy lists -- in Clojure conj and left folds dominate conj xs x = xs ++ [x] xlist xf = foldl (xf conj) [] -- build any old list function with its transducer, all the same way xmap :: (a -> b) -> [a] -> [b] xmap f = xlist $ mapping f xfilter :: (a -> Bool ) -> [a] -> [a] xfilter p = xlist $ filtering p xflatmap :: (a -> [b]) -> [a] -> [b] xflatmap f = xlist $ flatmapping f -- again, not interesting for lists, but the same transform -- can be put to use wherever there's a step fn xform :: (r -> Integer -> r) -> (r -> Integer -> r) xform = mapping (+ 1 ). filtering even. flatmapping (\x -> [ 0.. x]) print $ xlist xform [ 1.. 5 ] -- [0,1,2,0,1,2,3,4,0,1,2,3,4,5,6]
After this post, I knew it would not take me long to figure out transducers.
Refactoring his Haskell code
Two things to notice about the original code:
It has long, low-level function types rather than types that actually name the concepts being discussed (reducers and transducers).
It uses hardcoded list types [a].
Type synonyms and higher-rank types
Defining lots and lots of types (whether synonyms or newtypes is standard practice when programming in a modern typed language. OK, so I defined a type synonym
-- Left reduce type Reducer a r = r -> a -> r
But what about transducer? This is trickier.
An invalid attempt at a type would be
-- Illegal! type Transducer a b = Reducer a r -> Reducer b r
because the type variable r is not bound in the type definition. And it would be incorrect to just randomly add r on the left hand side as an extra parameter to the Transducer type, because in fact it is critical that a transducer does not care about the underlying reducer’s return type r. How do we write the desired type?
It turns out you need higher-rank types. Rank-1 types are not sufficient; we need a rank-2 type to quantify r, to say that a transducer from a to b is a transformation that takes a reducer to a specific r and returns another reducer to the same r.
-- Here's where the rank-2 type is needed type Transducer a b = forall r. Reducer a r -> Reducer b r
Now we can see more clearly some completely generic ways to create a transducer:
mapping :: (a -> b) -> Transducer b a mapping f xf r a = xf r (f a) filtering :: (a -> Bool ) -> Transducer a a filtering p xf r a = if p a then xf r a else r
A bit of history
Higher-rank types are a powerful technique for expressing “hiding” of unnecessary details about types going on somewhere. My first recollection of the real world use of rank-2 types is from 1994 (the year I started using Haskell, although I did not actually use it in my work as a software engineer until 1995), when I was excited to read a paper by John Launchbury and Simon Peyton Jones that solved, using a rank-2 type, a specific, important, practical problem, “Lazy Functional State Threads”; twenty years later, their ST monad is still part of the standard library!
Introducing type classes
Clojure uses protocols as an abstraction mechanism, and the “magic” of transducers uses protocols. In Haskell, type classes are the major abstraction mechanism (this is true of Scala also).
So I abstracted away from the hardcoded list-oriented functions and values in Rich Hickey’s Haskell code:
foldl abstracted to a class Foldable
abstracted to a conj and empty list [] abstracted to a class Conjable
-- Left fold class Foldable f where fold :: Transducer a (f a) class Conjable f where empty :: f a conj :: Reducer a (f a)
Note our reliance on transducing and reducing from one type a to another, f a.
Foldable constraint
Unlike mapping and filtering, flatmapping is not completely generic, because it depends on something being Foldable (implementing a fold ):
flatmapping :: Foldable f => (a -> |
and we can’t wait to see how they set up what might be the show’s most impressive battle sequences yet when the White Walkers come knocking.Anderson Silva (far right), the former UFC middleweight champion, says he wants to fight Conor McGregor (third from right). (Getty Images)
There are many mixed martial arts experts who still believe that former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is the greatest fighter in the sport’s history. The records prove that.
He has 18 knockdowns, most in UFC history. He’s tied for seventh in wins (16). He’s got the most consecutive wins (16). He’s got the second-most wins in title bouts (11). He has the most consecutive successful title defenses (10). He’s got the most Knockout of the Night awards (7) and is tied for third in most fight night bonuses (13).
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His greatness is indisputable.
But during all that winning, Silva must have been hit in the head harder than we thought, because he’s yet again talking about fighting UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
Silva, in addition to his long career as a middleweight (185 pounds), has also fought as a light heavyweight (205 pounds). McGregor holds the 155-pound lightweight belt and recently surrendered the 145-pound featherweight belt.
Now, we know McGregor’s an enormous draw and his opponents usually earn the biggest paydays of their careers when fighting him. But if Silva were ever to fight McGregor (News flash: He won’t), what would be next, a bout against Ronda Rousey?
This is sheer lunacy, but it’s not the first time he’s brought it up. A couple of weeks after McGregor was submitted by Nate Diaz in a welterweight bout at UFC 196, Silva told Brazlian outlet Combate that he wanted to fight McGregor. Remember, McGregor said after his two fights with Diaz, who has been a lightweight for most of his career, “I even had to fight a guy three times the size of me.”
Silva told Combate (story is in Portuguese) last year:
Story continues
I’ve never asked to fight anybody, but I would like to test my martial arts skills against Conor McGregor. I would like that and a rematch with Nick Diaz and Michael Bisping. I think McGregor is a great striker, but he didn’t do very well in his last fight because he played into Nate Diaz’s game and that’s really hard.
Most assumed he was kidding and laughed it off. But apparently, he was not.
He recently spoke to Globo, another Brazlian outlet, and brought it up again.
Now that I’m old, I’m beginning to challenge everyone. Oh, I want to beat this dwarf… what’s the boy’s name again? McGregor. It is not provocation. It’s just that I forget, I’m old. Old men know what it’s like. I have this urge to test myself against him. I think he’s a guy who has an unusual ability. I do not know if he would reach a weight of 178.5, 180.8, which is the weight I can get to, but it’s a guy I’d like to test myself before I end my career.
Silva, who fights Derek Brunson on Feb. 11 at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, N.Y., has to let it go. Perhaps he needs the money, which would be sad considering he’s among the top-earning UFC fighters ever. But it should go without saying that a bout with McGregor is never going to happen. Silva just makes himself look foolish every time he talks about it.Preorders are now open for Google’s new Wifi routers, along with an expected release date of December 6th, as noted by Droid Life. Google is selling the Wifi in two options, either as a single $129 device or a $299 bundle of three for use in a mesh network setup.
Similar to Eero’s multi-point mesh routers, the Wifi is designed to improve your wireless internet by using multiple routers scattered around an apartment or house. And like Google’s OnHub routers, the Wifi system is meant to automatically handle things like channel management and traffic routing to optimize speeds and efficiency.
Preorders for the Google Wifi are available from the Google Store, Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, although like the recently released Google Home, the Wifi is US-only for the time being.Loading View on Instagram
Alien is coming back! And we're not talking Prometheus 2! (Whew!) Writer/director Neill Blomkamp announced via his Instagram yesterday that he will take on the 30-year-old franchise as his next movie, and we've got a lot of thoughts on the matter. (LOTS OF THEM.) Here are a few reasons why we can't wait for his take on the Alien franchise—and a couple reasons why we're just the slightest bit leery.
Why We Love Blomkamp
His Appreciation of the Xenomorph: Alien is not, nor has it ever been, a movie about people. This franchise is about one thing, and one thing only: The greatest extra-terrestrial creature ever brought to life on screen. Obviously, Ripley is a film legend, and we prostrate ourselves at the feet of Sigourney Weaver forever because of that role, but the common thread through any movie that dares to call itself a barer of the Alien standard is the Xenomorph. People can die off (farewell Dallas, Private Hudson, Clemens, and General Perez). Locations can change (we hardly knew ye USCSS Nostromo, LV-426, and USM Auriga). But no matter what, any Alien movie worth its salt has at least one, and preferably one million, Xenomorphs. Even Prometheus, which at best could call itself "Alien adjacent," got wise by the end of the movie and gave us the hell beast we waited for (sort of...it was only a Deacon). But it was too little too late, and we didn't even get a Ripley safety net to fall back on! The movie, in the hands of Grandmaster Ridley Scott, was a total let down. Blomkamp, on the other hand, posted concept art for the Xeno as his official announcement. That means he understands that without the ultimate Big Bad—even with the most perfectly-executed screenplay in history—Alien is just another space thriller.
And, um, have you seen his movies? Blomkamp creates creatures that are impossibly real. The Prawns of District 9 were at once lo-fi and incredibly detailed. They moved and gestured in such human-like ways, viewers were forced to empathize with them as a disenfranchised demographic, not just alien invaders. And if all the footage we've seen of Chappie is any indication, he's recreated the same magic with his latest effort. The original Xenomorph in Alien was played by a 7-foot tall Nigerian actor named Bolaji Badejo. In 2012, iO9 posted test footage of Badejo from the set, and just watching him slowly stalk down a hallway wearing only the creature's head gear is chilling. All the CGI paint brushing in the world can't replace the fear instilled by practical effects and a human touch, and there's no one in the movie game making more tangible and believable non-humans than Blomkamp.
His Respect for History: Two months ago, the director went on a small Instagram tear and put up renderings of Ripley in a Space Jockey mask, Weyland-Yutani Corp and The Derelict, captioning the pictures with comments like "woulda rocked," "oh shit" and "love the world." In other words: Neill gets it. Whereas Prometheus felt like a "Whatever, I'm on my own journey" from Scott with only loose connections to the source material and tons of unanswered questions, Blomkamp clearly understands what the people want when they turn out for an Alien experience. And like any good director of science fiction, he counts the seminal works of Scott as the catalysts for his entire career, saying in 2009 that "Alien and Aliens and Blade Runner are probably the films that got me most into wanting to make films." Also, come on, he put Sigourney Weaver in Chappie. She's the Alien whisperer for God's sake!
His Respect for the Future: Much like Scott himself, the early films of Blomkamp (including the upcoming Chappie) all take place in near-future timelines when humanity has stretched Earth to its limits. Garbage piles up in the streets. Society is divided starkly between the elite and the proletariat. The walled-off high rises of Los Angeles in Blade Runner are not so different from the gleaming buildings of terraformed Elysium. Blomkamp knows how to build worlds that look enough like home and present-day Earth to be relatable, but enough like jerry-rigged, hyper-technical futures to feel otherworldly. Striking that balance is what makes a Blomkamp movie so affecting and disconcerting, and it's exactly the vibe we need from an Alien movie. Sure, the Nostromo was a spaceship, but in the grand scheme of isolation-based horror movies, it could have just as easily been a cabin in the woods. You could picture yourself inside.
And philosophically, Blomkamp seems to always have one, if not both, eyes on the horizon. He's a big fan of noted futurist, author, and Google executive Ray Kurzweil, and while doing promo work for District 9, told The A.V. Club, "I think that what's going to happen is that you're going to have something like Ray Kurzweil's singularity happen within 50 or 60 years. And there will be a massive redefining of what it means to be human when we start merging with technology," and just like in his films, Blomkamp feels progress will certainly come, but in equal measure alongside destruction. “On one hand, I think people are destined for something incredible if we don’t wipe ourselves out," he's said. "But I think we're going to wipe 90 percent of ourselves out." And what is an Alien movie (or any good sci-fi thriller) if not a dance on the razor's edge between technological utopia and human extinction?
His Repeated Hiring of Sharlto Copley: That guy goes all in.
Why We Have Reservations
His Deep Hometown Roots: Elysium wasn't a bad movie, but when you go as big and think as ambitiously as Blomkamp does, anything short of a major "Wow!" ends up being a little forgettable. That was only the director's second feature, of course, but even factoring in the short film Alive In Joburg, Elysium was Blomkamp's first big project set somewhere that wasn't South Africa. His third endeavor has him going home to the familiar environs of Johannesburg, and if Chappie returns Blomkamp to Oscar-buzz form, that at once means good momentum going into Alien, but also begs the question: Can he find his footing outside of Joburg? In the same A.V. Club interview, Blomkamp explained that the inspiration for District 9 came while living in Canada. He developed a kind of fixation with his hometown, saying: "It became this insane sociopolitical interest of mine. I actually think Johannesburg represents the future. My version of what I think the world is going to become looks like Johannesburg. Every time I'm there, it feels like I'm in the future." So if Blomkamp makes movies about the future and considers Johannesburg to be the epitome of it, does that mean we're in for another movie where the location is the secret main character? Probably not. Alien would be the first movie from Blomkamp based on pre-existing material, and he clearly respects the world built within it. But that doesn't mean we aren't concerned that he might get a little lost outside of his hometown.
His Single-Mindedness: And as an extension of the Johannesburg question, we've yet to see what happens when Blomkamp isn't making a movie essentially about apartheid. Curiously, he's maintained throughout his career that his films are not politically motivated, that cinema is for fun. In an interview for District 9, he said "if you want to express ideas, films are not the place to do that. It's as simple as that. That's my personal opinion." He added that "if you have an idea to put forward, don't pick a movie. The cliches of Hollywood will make you dumb them down. Once I figured that out, I was fine making films." Then later on in 2013, he reaffirmed the point saying "I don’t really want to push any message or commentary. Science fiction allows for the delivery of that kind of commentary in an easier-to-digest form, but is that my goal? Not really." Those remarks came while promoting Elysium, a film that felt a whole hell of a lot like commentary on socio-economic disparity and racial/species-based inequality—just like District 9 and, from what we can tell, Chappie too.
We're not here to tell Blomkamp how his films work, or what his process is. If the man says they're not political, perhaps they aren't, but they sure do feel message-y for movies that are just meant to serve as escape portals from reality. And it's not even that we disagree with the messages (intentionally delivered or otherwise). Social commentary in popular art is welcome and necessary. We are all products of our experiences, and Neill Blomkamp's experience is deeply rooted in an apartheid-scarred South African upbringing that's become essential to his identity as a filmmaker. But the idea of an Alien flick too much content about socio-economic inequality gives us pause. Will this next installment of Alien be a break from Blomkamp's trend, or can we expect another trip through his mental looking glass with Weyland-Yutani nestled under a broke down spaceship docked over Johannesburg? Besides a drawing of a Xenomorph by H.R. Giger on Blomkamp's Instagram, we don't have much evidence to support any theories, but we are very, very excited to find out.Supporters of the law cited studies that they said demonstrated the safety of the additional procedures the law would require. However, medical officials generally oppose them. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said that standard dilation-and-evacuation abortions are “evidence-based and medically preferred” in the second trimester because they cause “the fewest complications for women compared to alternative procedures.”
“We don’t really know what is the next best alternative because we haven’t had to use it as a medical community for decades,” said Dr. Bhavik Kumar, medical director of the Texas Whole Woman’s Health clinics, the main plaintiffs in the case. “There isn’t any good evidence, if any evidence, to support any of the alternatives’ being viable options.”
Before the ruling came down, Dr. Kumar said, he felt panicky thinking about having to tell patients “that this is how I normally would do the procedure if I were in any other state, but because of the new state law, I now have to provide you with care that is substandard.”
Joe Pojman, the executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life, which supports the Texas law, said in a statement that the state “should have the right to protect innocent unborn babies from dismemberment abortions, in which a doctor kills a child by tearing him or her into pieces.” The fact that courts have consistently ruled against bans on dilation-and-evacuation abortions, he argued, “shows how extremely out of touch the Supreme Court precedent is with modern science, which clearly tells us that an unborn child’’ is a living human being.
In an interview on Thursday, Dr. Daniel Grossman, a professor of obstetrics at the University of California, San Francisco, said that second-trimester abortions had increased since Texas imposed a separate set of restrictions on abortion clinics in 2013. (The Supreme Court struck those down last year.) There was a 27 percent increase in second-trimester abortions from 2013 to 2014, according to a study by Dr. Grossman, which might reflect women’s having trouble obtaining abortions in a timely manner. The increase in later-term abortions occurred even as the overall number of abortions in Texas declined.
“It’s particularly ironic that the state would then be imposing a ban on the safest and most commonly used procedure in the second trimester,” Dr. Grossman said, “when there’s some indication that previous restrictions they’ve imposed are pushing women to need this procedure more.”Before he became CEO of the Donald Trump campaign, and before he took over the alt-right media outlet Breitbart, Steve Bannon made his living selling virtual gold on the Internet.
Today, an article in Mother Jones reminded us that back in 2008 we here at WIRED wrote about it. The story focuses on the World of Warcraft marketplace called Internet Gaming Entertainment, where players could pay real money for virtual goods, like gold, in the game. The company was founded by former child star Brock Pierce, and Bannon was an investor. Bannon managed to convince Goldman Sachs to plow $60 million into a company that sold imaginary goods in an imaginary world.
Surely there's a metaphor in there somewhere.
Here's a bit of the original article:
Goldman Sachs started making visits, inspecting the Asian operations and talking with Bannon and others about terms. Finally, on February 7, 2006, the deal was inked: Goldman Sachs, together with a consortium of private funds, made a reported $60 million investment in the company. Part of the money was used to buy Pierce, Salyer, and IGE's general counsel, Randy Maslow, out of some of their stock in the company. Pierce walked away with $20 million and still retained the controlling share of a company that was doing more than a quarter of a billion dollars in sales a year.
In 2007, following a major lawsuit by one World of Warcraft player, who accused IGE of "substantially impairing" players' enjoyment of the game, the company took a nosedive. It rebranded to Affinity Media, and Bannon took over as CEO. He stayed in that role until 2012, when he joined Breitbart, which, coincidentally, also peddles imaginary stuff on the Internet.
You should go read the whole story.Coach-eating president Maurizio Zamparini's tricks have finally caught up with him, with no amount of hirings and firings this season able to save Palermo. Zamparini sacked incumbent coach Giuseppe Sannino just three games into the season, replacing him with Gian Piero Gasperini. He couldn't turn things around, and was replaced by Alberto Malesani in February. Three weeks later, Malesani was fired and Gasperini returned, though was refired two games later and Sannino was brought back. Phew.
Despite a late rally under Sannino, it wasn't enough for a side that has never adequately replaced the players they've sold over recent seasons. Javier Pastore, Salvatore Sirigu, Antonio Nocerino and Edinson Cavani are just a selection of rosanero stars who've departed in the last few years, culminating in the downfall of a team that has been in Serie A since 2004.
It's hard to know what comes next for Palermo, with obvious questions to be asked about the future of their coach. Even if the talented Sannino is kept on by Zamparini, he may well be subject to interest from bigger clubs. As for the squad; the aquile still have a core of good players, including Josip Iličić, Fabrizio Miccoli and Abel Hernández. But, with their stars almost certainly going to be chasing moves elsewhere, Palermo's squad could be decimated even further.
It is an uncertain future for the Sicilians.UFC welterweight Sabah Homasi (11-6) isn’t impressed by what he’s heard from his UFC 218 opponent Abdul Razak Alhassan (7-1), lately. “I think he’s looking past me,” Homasi told Bloody Elbow. “I think I’m probably the underdog going into this fight, but it doesn’t bother me at all. A lot of people don’t know of me, but they’ll find out who I am very soon.”
In researching Alhassan, Homasi watched an interview conducted by James Lynch of Fightful. In the video ‘Judo Thunder’ explained his move to Team Takedown in Texas (home to Johny Hendricks). He also stated that he’s confident he can finish Homasi on December 2nd. The veteran of The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians was eager to respond to those soundbites.
I’ve been for sparring years with the top guys. Who has he sparred with? Johny Hendricks? Whoop-dee-doo. Johny Hendricks is at the end of his career.
“I’ve been training with American Top Team since 2008 and I know what I’m capable of doing. He thinks he’s going to knock me out – he said first or second round – I’ve never been knocked out before in my life. And I’ve been sparring for years with the top guys. Who has he sparred with? Johny Hendricks? Whoop-dee-doo. Johny Hendricks is at the end of his career. And Johny Hendricks is nothing compared to my style. I’m way more athletic than Johny Hendricks. I can strike, I can grapple, I’ve got the complete package and I’m going to show it all on Saturday. I’m looking forward to it.”
Homasi’s studying of Alhassan is not limited to media interviews. ‘The Sleek Sheik’ has also watched his opponent’s previous UFC fights. Moreover, Homasi has learned plenty about Alhassan from the only man to ever defeat him; ATT teammate Omari Akhmedov.
Alhassan faced Akhmedov at UFC Fight Night 109 back in May. That fight ended in a split decision for the Dagestani fighter. That was Alhassan’s first loss and the first time the Ghanaian had ever been fought past the first round.
“He makes a lot of mistakes and I’m just going to capitalize on them,” said Homasi when evaluating Alhassan vs. Akhmedov. “He’s a tough guy. He comes forwards. He throws big punches, but that’s nothing I’m not used to.”
Homasi’s previous fight, his UFC debut, was as a short notice replacement opponent against veteran Tim Means. That bout went down at UFC 202 in August, 2016. Homasi dropped the contest via second round TKO. The UFC sophomore admitted that taking the fight on short notice had given him an extremely tough hill to climb.
“Without a full camp and against a tough guy, it’s really hard,” reflected Homasi. “To fight an experienced guy like that, and such a tough guy, on ten days’ notice... but, no excuses; he was the better guy that night. I went out there and I gassed myself out. I believe if we do it again, with a full camp, I beat him.”
Homasi said the sense of occasion around the fight also added to its difficulty. There weren’t any ‘UFC jitters’, he said, but instead a lot of emotions connected with the hard road traveled by the 29-year-old fighter.
Homasi’s last fight before being signed to the UFC was against Jorge Patino at Titan FC 40 in June, 2016. Prior to that fight – after seven years of toiling in Strikeforce, Bellator, and Absolute Fighting Championships – Homasi was beginning to doubt whether he would ever make it to the sport’s top promotion.
“Before the Patino fight, I was talking to my brother and I told him, ‘I don’t know if I can keep chasing after this dream,’” revealed Homasi. “I’d just turned 28, and I told him, ‘I think after this fight, if I don’t get picked up by the UFC, I think I’m done fighting.’ And he kind of got mad and said, ‘What about all your hard work? You’ve got to keep chasing after your dream.’ So I stuck with it and after that fight I got signed to the UFC.”
Homasi said it was his joy of making it to the UFC that may have had a negative effect on the fight. “I was super happy. I was excited to be there. I had a smile on my face. I just don’t think I controlled those emotions as good as I thought I did. I wanted to put on a good fight for the fans, try and get a performance bonus, because I know I’m capable of doing so. It bit me in the ass.”
With that experience behind him, Homasi stated that he’s feeling more professional and assured heading into his second UFC contest. He’s still excited for the fight, but not to the point he’s lost any focus. It would be impossible for him to lose all excitement, especially since UFC 218 is happening somewhere Homasi calls his ‘happy place.’
Homasi was born in New Jersey and moved to Florida when he was 9-years-old. Some years later, Homasi’s family relocated again, to Dearborn, Michigan. It was in Michigan that Homasi first started training in MMA, at Cooper’s Gym in Detroit. A year after that Homasi went back down south to join American Top Team in Coconut Creek.
I’m going to put on a clinic, a striking clinic, a grappling clinic. I’m just going to mix it up and I’m going to look great doing it.
UFC 218 is the first time the UFC has been in Detroit since 2010. Homasi said his whole family will be in attendance and he’s excited to put on a good show for them (as well as fans of the UFC). “I believe my fight is on Fight Pass,” he said. “I don’t know how many people watch Fight Pass, but it doesn’t matter where I am on the card. It’s just a matter of time before people know who I am. I’m in the UFC now. Now I just have to make a name for myself, by going in there and starting to take names.”
And Homasi believes the first UFC name he is going to take is Abdul Razak Alhassan. “I’m going to put on a clinic, a striking clinic, a grappling clinic. I’m just going to mix it up and I’m going to look great doing it. I’m going to go in there and pick him apart and when he makes a mistake, I’m going to capitalize. He’s been out of the first round one time and that was against my teammate, so I know that he slows down. And when he slows down that’s going to be bad for him. If I land a big shot I can put him to sleep.”
Homasi vs. Alhassan, the third fight of the night, is part of the UFC Fight Pass early prelims card. That portion of the event begins at 6:15pm ET.Over A Quarter Of UK Universities Have Committed To Fossil Fuel Divestment
November 23rd, 2016 by Joshua S Hill
New research revealed this week has shown that over a quarter of all universities in the UK have committed to fossil fuel divestment, and are leading the way globally.
According to student-led campaign group People & Planet, 16 UK universities have recently committed to divest from fossil fuel investments, eleven of which have committed to full fossil fuel divestment. These 16 institutions join 27 other UK universities which had already committed to divesting from coal and tar-sands investments, or all fossil fuel investments, resulting in over a quarter of all universities across the UK committing to some form of fossil fuel divestment.
The UK is home to the first European university to divest, when the University of Glasgow agreed to divest its fossil fuel holdings back in October of 2014. In the time since, the UK has become the world’s leader in terms of academic institution fossil fuel divestment, ahead of other European countries, the US, and Australia. Big-name, world-leading universities such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University College London, Kings College London, the University of Edinburgh and London School of Economics have all announced various forms of divestment, thanks in part to student-led campaigns.
“UK universities have been world leaders on cutting-edge research into climate solutions,” said Amoge Ukaegbu, Campaigns and Movement Building Co-ordinator, People & Planet.
“They have a particular responsibility in shaping our future society’s sustainability, so it’s not surprising that they have realised that to safeguard civilisation, they must turn their backs on the morally and financially bankrupt industry. By severing their ties with fossil fuel companies, universities are standing in solidarity with the communities across the world that are on the frontline of fossil fuel extraction and climate change.
“The Fossil Free movement has grown exponentially with students and universities at its core, pioneering a new way for public institutions to be truly independent of the fossil fuel economy and in doing so, trailblazing a path for wider society to follow.”
The divestment figures come as part of People & Planet’s University League table, which audits and scores 150 of the UK’s publicly-funded universities on their policy and action for environmental and social justice. The results, though encouraging for the number of universities committing to fossil fuel divestment, also show a 4-year downward trend in carbon emission reduction across the higher education sector, with only 24% of universities in the UK currently looking like they will meet the sector carbon reduction targets of 43% by 2020.
“UK universities are now world leaders in divestment,” explained Andrew Taylor, Co-Director Campaigns and Communications Manager.
“We have an advantage over our friends in the USA as the British public hasn’t been targeted to the same extent by big-oil-funded climate denial. We don’t have Trump for President but we still have our own less blatant problems with economic arguments delaying the urgent action needed, and a revolving door between government and the fossil fuel sector. The effects of this are highlighted in our University League research where we see a funding gap leading to under-performance on campus carbon.”
The full interactive League table can be viewed here.Though an angler in one part of Australia is making news for fishing up an undetonated WWI German grenade, news of another strange catch – a fish with two mouths – has people talking in another part of the country.
Garry Warrick told Australia’s ABC News that he caught the unusual fish, a bony bream, in a net in either South Australia’s Lake Bonny or one of the creeks adjoining it.
“Both mouths are actually joined together,” he said. “The top one opens and closes but the bottom one looks permanently open. Other than that, it looks like a normal fish.”
Warrick, a commercial fisherman for 30 years, said he catches about 100 tons of fish each year and has seen fish deformities, like misshapen heads, but this is the first time he’s seen one with two mouths. He recalled a local turtle breeder that bred a turtle with two heads that ultimately didn’t survive, but said the fish was alive when he spotted it in the net.
“I normally pack them for crazy bait and fertilizer but this one I put in the freezer,” he said. “I hadn’t really told anyone about it other than my wife and she said you might as well put the photos online.”This afternoon's red post collection features Xelnath with a brief update on the Sion rework, Meddler mentioning the Skarner passive changes are something they are trying to get on the PBE "within a patch or two", Baconhawk with a note on the disappearance of River Spirit Nami, and Ghostcrawler expanding on his earlier comments of "hardcore" vs "casual".
How's Sion Coming Along?
Xelnath
"Sion is actually going quite well.
There was a long discussion thread over here:
However, now we're into that part of development where things go dark, as rapid iteration, experimentation and development means that a play-by-play forum update doesn't help as much. I think it will be fair to expect lots of interesting reveals once he's closer to showing off."
"If it were as easy to develop new art, concepts and feature as it is to write a forum post, I'd be out of a job. :)
That's OK, you don't have to believe me. The proof will be once the character is ready. Development is never as easy as you ever wish it was from the outside."
Skarner changes still in the works
Meddler
"Few details from RiotSeb a couple of weeks ago can be found here:
We're still aiming to get something onto the PBE within a patch or two. The passive changes we're trying out, aimed at giving him a bit more CC if played successfully, require that we change some visual effects. As a result it's not as simple as just adjusting some numbers in a spell, which is the case for many balance changes, hence the longer timeframe.
River Spirit Nami & Ofa:MM
RiotBaconhawk
"Hey, hey now. Let's have some peace and bacon.
swoops really low and gently lowers a basket of fresh, piping hot bacon to the ground in front of you
Quote :
It was taken down because of the battle boost (which allows u2 use any skin for that champ) all unavailable skins were removed except for skt t1
^^This is exactly why y'all aren't seeing Nami's new skin in the client at all. With a Battle Boost purchased during a One for All:MM Nami match, you'd be able to unlock it. While awesome and kawaii and beautiful, she's just not yet ready to make her appearance. Be patient just a *little* longer, bacon friends..."
Ghostcrawler on "hardcore" vs "casual"
Ghostcrawler
"I think we're all using a different definition of "hardcore" and "casual" here, which isn't surprising because those terms are pretty vague and subjective. It seems like some of you above are using casual to mean non-Diamond players or even non-LCS players. That's not what I meant at all.
League is not an easy game to learn. It certainly isn't an easy game to master. If you play League at all, chances are good that you're a pretty hardcore gamer (under the definition I am using). Someone whose primary interaction with games is tablets, or someone who buys one console game a year, or someone who don't really buy games but might play them if they visit a friend's place once in awhile, probably isn't a hardcore gamer.
Riot likes to define core gamers as folks who self-identify as gamers. If you asked me my hobbies or what I do in my free time, gaming is on those lists. I suspect the same is true of many of you.
There are games out there whose mission is to try to attract very casual or even non-gamers. There are games out there who try to appeal to everyone. That's not something Riot is interested in. We make games for gamers.
So, if the original question was "Are you interested in providing a fun experience for someone who loves messing around, playing League with friends but views it more as a social experience or a way to blow off steam, and isn't ever going to hit plat and doesn't care?" the answer is yes.
If the original question was "Are you interested in providing a more casual experience to attract players who play casual games or no games at all?" the answer is no.
Does that clear things up?"
"I posted something similar in another thread, but to reiterate, if you are the kind of League player who is posting on forums in what is the middle of the night in North America, then you are the kind of player who is important to us and we want you to have fun. These design values were crafted with you in mind.
When I joined Riot, I saw a few concerns that I would try to dumb the game down. The quote you are referring to was an attempt by me to reassure you that isn't the case. Part of the reason I joined Riot was because I found it exciting to be able to work on a game targeted at gamers (in other words, dudes like me). All of the games I have worked on before had a mission of trying to broaden the existing audience. League's mission is to provide a great experience to you guys. Pardon my language, but F yeah!"
Ghostcrawler
"Thanks! Another thing I really like about Riot is that so many Rioters are interested and encouraged to hang out with players on forums and Reddit. While I was a lead on WoW, I was just one of many leads on a very large team. Because players knew my name, I got credit or blame for many decisions that were made on the game. With so many Rioters, it's easier (I hope!) for our individual personalities and opinions to come out.
It's still fine to blame me, or any of us, for things you don't like in the game. But earning your trust is also important to us, which is why I'm making a little effort here to restate that our goal is not to "dumb the game down" in hopes of attracting a broader, more casual audience."
Continue reading for more information!In a thread asking how therework ( which will be both gameplay and visual ) is coming along,He continued, replying to criticism that it's already been too long:When asked how previously discussed changes topassive options are coming along,As a few of you have already noticed,has mysteriously vanished from the Champion Info pages and as being "unavailable" on the skin selection screen.Never fear!is here with a simple explanation scuttled on to the forums to clarify his earlier comments on LoL's hardcore vs casual demographic, elaborating on what he defines the terms as and reiterating who the target LoL audience is:He continued He continued, replying to someone praising him for these sort of discussions vs their experiences withas a WoW dev:FBI agents walk around the roof outside an apartment during an investigation at a building, Sept. 19, 2016, in Elizabeth, N.J. FBI agents are searching the apartment that tied to Ahmad Khan Rahimi wanted for questioning in the New York City bombing.
The state’s new terror-group ranking raises more questions than it answers.
As government agencies increasingly turn their attention to “homegrown terrorism,” it’s important to note who’s being targeted and who isn’t. Reuters reported this week that President Trump might be refocusing the federal “ Countering Violent Extremism ” program, which deploys resources for monitoring groups |
footwear, but Converse eventually became over-dependent on the "All Stars" brand, whose market collapsed by 1989–1990. By the year 2000, Converse was slipping repeatedly into receivership as debt piled up yearly.[9] Converse filed for bankruptcy on January 22, 2001. Not too long after, on March 30, its last manufacturing plants in the U.S., closed down, as production fully moved overseas.[10] In April 2001, Footwear Acquisitions, led by Marsden Cason and Bill Simon, purchased the brand from bankruptcy and added industry partners Jack Boys, Jim Stroesser, Lisa Kempa, and David Maddocks to lead the turnaround.[11]
Nike Edit
Shoes Edit
Causes Edit
A special collection called "1Hund (RED)", whereby fifteen percent of the profits are used to support HIV/AIDS prevention, was released by the brand. One hundred artists from around the world were chosen to create designs for the collection as part of the (RED) campaign. Professional skateboarder, Anthony Pappalardo, who, at the time, was also associated with another (RED) participant, Girl skateboards—Pappalardo was sponsored by Chocolate skateboards, a brand distributed by the Crailtap, the distribution company that owns both Girl and Chocolate—released a (RED) edition of his high-selling[30] signature skate shoe model.[31] A short video piece was published on the internet[32] and Pappalardo explains in it: I got into woodworking about two years ago, through a buddy of mine who I used to skate with every day—he turned into a woodworker. So he gave me this scrap box of wood, and, basically, I just wanted to do something with it... make something with it. It just definitely started consuming me like skating did. I wanted to read about it, you know? Go on the internet and watch videos about it, and just learn anything and everything I could about woodworking. The first thing I ever made was a bench, and that's, kinda, what I've been making ever since. the cool thing about working with Product (RED) is just by doing the two things that I love, I'm also able to help people.[32] Pappalardo's first signature shoe with Converse was released in February 2010 and it was produced in the (RED) colorway.[31] In 2012, Converse is listed as a partner in the (RED) campaign, together with other brands such as Nike Inc., Girl, and Bugaboo. The campaign's mission is to prevent the transmission of the HIV virus from mother to child by 2015 (the campaign's byline is "Fighting For An AIDS Free Generation").[33] In winter of 2018, Converse teamed up with a number of influential figures and taste-makers from the Los Angeles area to create an exclusive collection paying to those who help move the culture forward in the city. Among those selected by the Boston-based footwear brand for this L.A.-themed collection is Vince Staples, Dr. Woo, Rocket, BornXRaised, and Clot
Former Converse college teams Edit
Marquette Golden Eagles—switched to Jordan when most famous alum, Dwyane Wade, [34] signed with Jordan
signed with Jordan Western Kentucky Hilltoppers—shoes only Due to Converse withdrawing from performance basketball shoes,[35] there are no professional players or college teams wearing Converse shoes, except on occasion Asi Taulava.[36]Avanaut (aka Vesa Lehtimäki) is proof that creativity, ingenuity and photography know how, are the qualities that make an intriguing photo. With out a camera worth thousands of dollars or pencil thin models, Avanaut has turned out some dynamic shots, using primarily, Star Wars lego figures. His use of light, perspective and inexpensive props, produced some very cool dramatic scenes full of motion. See the results for yourself and check out Avanaut's Flickr Stream for more wonderful shots.
via [GeekTyrant] [Avanaut's Flickr Stream]
From Kenn:
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And don't be shy. I could use some more friends these days so hit me up on Twitter and Facebook.A scene from Reason Rally 2016 ( Photo by Joseph Stewart
Matthew Bulger is the Legislative Director for the American Humanist Association. He writes the On the Hill column for TheHumanist.com.
This desire for greater political influence was only bolstered by the excellent lineup of political speakers at the event, from government officials like US Representative Tulsi Gabbard and Representative-Elect Jamie Raskin–an open humanist—to advocacy leaders like Secular Coalition for America Executive Director Larry Decker and American Humanist Association Board Member Anthony Pinn. These speakers discussed not only their personal views of the separation between church and state (hint: they vigorously support it) but also about the growing political influence of American nontheists in the wake of the rapidly declining religious right. In addition to these speakers, political issues were on the minds of nearly every attendee I spoke to at the American Humanist Association’s exhibit table. AHA members, as well as other attendees, wanted to know how they could become more involved in the political process so that the humanist voice was as loud as possible in our nation’s legislature. Many were very interested in the work of the AHA’s sister organization, the Center for Freethought Equality, which is working to increase the number of openly humanist government officials at the state and federal levels. What I found to be most fascinating was how many of these members weren’t just concerned about the separation of church and state, but about the broader humanist political agenda, from ensuring LGBTQ rights, ending gender discrimination, combatting racial inequality, and protecting our public education system from attempts to shift funding over to private religious schools. This broadening of the humanist agenda beyond just explicit issues of secularism signifies that the nontheistic community are not single-issue voters, but a mature constituency with a broad range of policy concerns. While the next Reason Rally may be some time away, humanist advocates are unlikely to rest on their laurels. Instead, based on the many conversations I had with motivated and hardworking humanist activists, members of the nontheistic community will continue to make their voice heard, whether it’s on the front steps of their local government building or in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Photos & captions by Meghan Hamilton AHA came to the Reason Rally chock-full of free schwag!Bishop McNeill of the Freethought Equality Fund.Jamie Raskin, Democratic nominee for U.S. Representative for Maryland's 8th district, representing secular voices in government.AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt snags a selfie with CodePink founder and 2016 Humanist Heroine Medea Benjamin....he has a point.Our favorite science guy, Bill Nye, talks climate change, science denial, and creating a better future.Wu Tang finishing out the night with a bang! Shaolin Style.MAAF's Jason Torpy (right) and a supporter representing all the atheists in foxholes.Beautiful day for a wedding! Humanist Society celebrant David Williamson joyfully weds Anita Macauley and Gregg Casagrande at the Washington, DC War Memorial on the National Mall during the Reason Rally.Beautiful day for a wedding! Humanist Society celebrant David Williamson joyfully weds Anita Macauley and Gregg Casagrande at the Washington, DC War Memorial on the National Mall during the Reason Rally.Thanks to Lady Parts Justice, advocating for reproductive rights and education. You've left your golden uterus mark on us all.Tags: Reason RallyAccording to Laura Wattenberg at Baby Name Wizard Blog, 146 American-born girls were named Khaleesi last year, and another 30 were named Kaleesi. The name, for the four or five of you who don’t watch Game of Thrones and haven’t been able to pick up the gist of it through some sort of Internet osmosis, comes from the fictional Dothraki language and means “queen.” Wattenberg explains why this is notable.
Plenty of authors dating back to Shakespeare have invented names that caught on with parents. You can even find names from imagined fantasy worlds that have been used on real-world babies. For instance, hundreds of American girls have been named Eowyn over the past decade after a Lord of the Rings character. But a name taken from a word that’s not a name, from an imagined language? I can’t think of a precedent.
I’m way past yelling about what people should or should not name their children, so I’ll leave that part of this story for all of you to discuss at your next fancy dinner party at the Governor’s mansion, but I would like to reiterate one point I made back when I told you about people naming their daughters Arya: Be careful naming your child after a Game of Thrones character. George R.R. Martin has not finished writing the books yet, and he does NOT. GIVE. A. F*CK. We’ve seen that many times already. (Ahem.) There’s literally nothing stopping him from making the whole next book about Daenerys/Khaleesi going insane and cackling maniacally as her dragons torch orphanages all over Westeros. She is the daughter of the Mad King, after all. It wouldn’t even be that much of a stretch.
Think it through a little. That’s all I’m saying.Nostalgic for Nothing
It’s not every day you walk into your local newsstand and find a twelve-year-old zine written by one of your favorite musicians, seemingly abandoned behind a stack of vintage copies of Punk Planet, and way too many issues of Revolver. But I did. Call me nostalgic, but I still can’t get over it. With good reason.
When J Church vocalist Lance Hahn passed away in 2007 following a lengthy illness, I felt crushed. It wasn’t just his music, though that was obviously a huge part of it. Hahn had fronted J Church and his previous band Cringer for more than three decades, and was an instrumental member of the punk and activist scenes first in his native Hawai’i, and then in his adopted homes of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and finally Austin. His music was explosive and fun, and his lyrics as crass and biting as they were intelligent. Listening to J Church could be a lesson on jazz or anarchist history, or the simple commiseration with someone who you can tell gets just as bummed out as you do.
J Church resonated with me more than other bands exactly for those reasons. While one song would be talking about the heartache of alienation, the next would be about baseball or Bikini Kill. While Lance wouldn’t have known me from Adam – though the close nature of punk meant that we had some friends in common – he constantly went out of his way to try and connect with everyone around him. When his kidney disease was at its worse, and his time was spent in an epic loop from home to dialysis to doctors appointments and back, he was constantly posting updates to MySpace and we’d occasionally exchange messages.
The last time I saw J Church play was in Austin, during South by Southwest, in March of 2007. It was exciting to see them again, but mostly it was just amazing to see Lance playing music, especially considering everything he had been through the past couple years. The excitement and happiness that was normally so present in him was magnified ten fold that day. I went up to him after the set and told him as much. I gave him a hug and just thanked him for being there. Lance died six months later of complications stemming from his ailment. He was 40, and left behind a huge body of work.
Lance published his zine Some Hope and Some Despair for a number of years. It was never a regular thing, just something he put out when he’d collected enough writing to warrant a new issue. Lance was also a frequent contributor to Maximum Rock n’ Roll; the zine sometimes served as a launching point for his MRR articles and vice versa. But before all that was the J Church/Honey Bear Records newsletter It’s a Living But it’s Not a Life, which was in print and then online from the mid-1990s up until Lance’s death.
Those missives mirrored Lance’s life in the same way his band and label did. Everything for him was seemingly linked, and he approached his writing with the painful honesty of someone who truly felt the need to communicate with others.
The Some Hope issue I found was published in mid-2001. Reading it felt like falling down a rabbit hole to an immediate post-9/11 world of anger and confusion. It includes interviews with Joseph Porta from The Mob and Tony Barber and Danny Drummond from Lack of Knowledge, both British anarcho-punk bands. Lance had been working on a book on anarchist punk for years, and it was close to being done when he died.
While the interviews are interesting, especially if you have any interest in punk history, it’s the “Rants and Raves” section of the zine that truly stands out. In it Lance reflects on September 11th – “Americans seem to think they’re Romans in the Coliseum and historically Bush isn’t opposed to keeping the people happy with blood sports.” Palestine and the Vietnam War are also on his mind (See J Church’s Palestine LP.) He includes a few obituaries for people – and bands! – that were important to him, not to mention an article on “Commodity Fetishism and the D.I.Y. Ethic” in which he talks about the nature of addiction in the punk community.
My favorite article in the zine isn’t about punk at all. “Star Wars and the 75 World Series” relates “the two greatest moments” of Lance’s life – the first time he watched Star Wars, and October 21st, 1975, the day the Red Sox won game six of the World Series – in a way that’s completely effusive, and fun. Reading through the issue is like listening to a J Church album: a piece on Lance’s plans to celebrate Ronald Reagan’s death is followed by an article on avant-garde jazz and an interview with Steve from Kronstadt Uprising. It’s all interesting, and it’s all very relatable.
That’s what I’ve always loved about J Church, since the first time I picked up one of their 7”s in the late ’90s. While many bands implore you to go out and read about whatever tragic and terrible event they’re singing about, J Church made me want to listen to Eric Dolphy records, research the May ’68 events in France, and strive to make the world a better place, despite knowing full well that I’ll probably fail. Unsurprisingly, the lyrics to their classic “Nostalgic for Nothing” constantly get stuck in my head:
“What’s left behind
A room that’s big and undefined
A dying light
I lie awake alone at night
And I don’t care
I know that life cannot be fair
I know that life cannot be fair
I feel nostalgic for nothing
I am the pawn
I am the king”
For Lance Hahn, there was so much left behind. But even though he put out dozens of recordings with both J Church and Cringer, not to mention all the articles and zines, it still seems like there was a lot left unsaid. Six years after he died and I still can’t believe there won’t be another J Church song. All we can do is listen to old records and hope to be inspired anew.
Photograph courtesy of Katherine Strickland. Published under a Creative Commons license.This slideshow requires JavaScript.
San Elijo Life had an informative conversation with Jason and Scott Simmons. They are two brothers that have grown up in San Marcos and their company they are affiliated with are the developers of this project. Their father also has a historical footprint here in San Marcos as a developer. They are very focused in connecting with the community by providing information on this project. They want to be available to speak and/or meet with anyone to answer questions, hear your feedback and solutions. This is a preview of information on this project and a more detailed article from us is coming soon. They provided this statement below for our San Elijo Life readers to learn more about Copper Hills. The site is a treasure for local residents to hike, bike, run and play and we encourage everyone to go and enjoy the spring green hills and familiarize yourself with the site. The old dump and it’s safety along with the long history of old recycling center are important parts of this area and the history before and during the existence of San Elijo Hills. Traffic, school crowding and designated open space are topics that should be part of the community discussion.
Statement
Just southwest of San Elijo Hills town center, nestled in between Old Creek Ranch and the old recycling center, is a little know gem of a property now known as Copper Hills.
You may have hiked or biked from the old recycling center gates on this property on your way to Copper Creek trailheads or the old Copper Mines southwest of San Elijo Hills. The property is currently located in the jurisdiction of the County of San Diego, but is being proposed to annex into the City of San Marcos. This will give us in San Elijo Hills and San Marcos a voice in the proposed uses for the site.
While most of the land will remain in open space; a portion will be developed into usable residential and commercial as well as park space and recreation opportunities. This is the last spot along San Elijo Road that could fulfill some of the needs of the community that have been missing. Potential uses include community gathering facilities, trail access and parking, large park area, a Boys and Girls Club and Teen Center, a skate park, outdoor basketball courts, community pools, congregate care for seniors, family restaurants and breweries as well as a top notch residential community by respected high end builder Colrich Communities, who has built some beautiful communities in San Elijo Hills and Old Creek Ranch.
The developer is actively developing solutions for traffic concerns and while the elementary school will be Carrillo, they understand school impact concerns and will be addressing those with the public’s involvement. Your direct input to the developer is much appreciated and welcomed.
The Bieri Companies, who has owned the property since 2003; however has been working in San Marcos since the 1980’s and is responsible for CSUSM and areas around it is much appreciated developments. Local land planning firm CCI or Consultants Collaborative has been involved from the beginning and both principals live in San Elijo Hills. All 3 firms involved are local and family owned. Please visit www.ExploreCopperHills.com for more information and direct contact information.
*www.ExploreCopperHills.com will be live next week
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EmailThe Daughters of the Republic of Texas likely won’t be amused, but others may get a few grins from an over-the-top spoof of the Alamo and its defenders on Comedy Central tonight.
The season finale of “Drunk History” (at 9 p.m.) comes to San Antonio (well, a version of San Antonio). It features Matt Gourley as an inebriated storyteller who presents a highly irreverent re-enactment of events that led to the Battle of the Alamo.
Heroes William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett are portrayed as opportunistic, whiskey-swigging, card-playing scoundrels who come to San Antonio and snatch both land and the Alamo (well, a version of the Alamo) from the Mexicans.
When the Mexican army arrives to take all this back, the American defenders fire a cannon hoping to scare away Santa Anna (Horatio Sanz) and his troops. It doesn’t work.
Watch a clip from the S.A. takeoff by clicking here.
It stars “New Girl’s” Jake Johnson as Travis, Chris Parnell (“Saturday Night Live”) as Bowie (see both in top photo) and “Drunk History” creator/actor Derek Waters — in photo above — as Crockett.
Before Texas historians get too upset by this, they should know that the Battle of the Alamo isn’t the only historic event this show has picked on. “Drunk History,” which debuted on Comedy Central in July, has presented a drunken account of all kinds of historical events during its initial TV season, from the story of Lewis and Clark to the Scopes Trial to Watergate.
Photos: Comedy CentralFor a relaxed movie viewing experience, don't go near any of these theaters
Theaters in major Chinese cities have starting experimenting with “bullet screens” on which audiences can send text messages commenting on the film, which are then projected directly onto the screen.
If you're sensitive to people using their cellphones during a movie, then going to the movie theater in China would be far from relaxing experience. Rows of underlit faces and chiming ringtones punctuate the show, despite requests asking patrons to turn their phones before the movie begins.
This experience is set to become institutionalized during some movies for younger viewers who can’t spend five minutes away from their tablet or phone, according to a report in the China Youth Daily.
The inspiration behind the idea appears to be that it mimicks that of watching a movie on mobile media, which is how most Chinese people watch films, with people sending messages about what they like or dislike about the movie.
In a censored environment like China, precautions are taken to remove sensitive or forbidden words.
There are several Chinese movie websites, based on a Japanese idea of bullet screens, where viewers can spend their whole time making remarks on the film via SMS.
The experiment involves a number of theaters in China, including in Beijing and Shanghai, but also in smaller cities such as Hangzhou.
Earlier this month, the Luxin cinema in Shandong province in northeast China tried the system with a screening of the domestic 3D animated movie The Legend of Qin, a TV adaptation that has taken $9.25 million in box office in China so far.
The manager, surnamed Zhang, said the theater was 90 percent occupied and that “bullet information” was sent by SMS at 0.1 yuan, around 10 cents, per message.
“People like it right now, as it’s a new thing," he said. "In the long term, it might affect people’s concentration. We are trying to continue with some bullet screen activities and play some films that young people like. Time will tell.”
Shen Leping, director of The Legend of Qin, is very enthusiastic about it, ran a report on the Nanfang website.
“We are exploring how the response from the audience can affect the movie itself… We are, in fact, putting the director and viewer on equal terms, and I think many of the opinions of the viewers are very helpful for film makers,” he said.
Fellow film director He Ping, formerly head of the China Film Directors Guild, said that no way could what was being screened be changed by the audiences.
“A film with bullet screen must be authorized by the writer when they sign a contract with the producer,” said He.
On the social media sites, the reaction was mixed.
“I hope bullet screens don’t become big in Chinese cinemas to help save poor Chinese films,” Hesheng commented on Sina Weibo, while Riya Sang wrote: “I don’t like bullet screens. The point of watching a film in the theater is to put away whatever is in your hand and focus on the film. Sometimes, it blocks the screen.”
Jinxi Hexi WY also wasn’t a fan. “When the audience complains during the screening, it interrupts our independent thinking and affects our concentration on the film. I don’t like it.”
But others enjoyed the interactivity.
“This is a real way of watching a film. For us, it is exciting and fun,” wrote Xu Huilin. “It is a reform in terms of the commercial model. It is just like when popcorn got into cinema for the first time, a lot of people protested that it would affect the film viewing experience.”
Twitter: @cliffordcoonanSo, the International Lisp Conference is over, and I've somewhat recovered from travel, so here are a few things about it.
First, it was great to meet people in person whom I had previously only talked to online. It was nice to talk to Peter "gigamonkey" Seibel and he signed his book for me. He's hard at work getting Code Quarterly started, and you should go work on the latest code challenge.
I also wore my Quicklisp shirt the first day and several people came up to me and said nice things about it (Quicklisp, not the shirt).
On the first day I opted to sit in on and show support for the CL tutorial session instead of going to the SPLASH keynote. It was kind of a mistake, as the pace was glacial (it was scheduled for 3 hours spread out over 3 days) and as an amateur CL language lawyer it was hard not to nitpick. I think almost everyone else there already knew CL and was there for some purpose other than to learn CL. (Someone said they were there to learn how to give a CL tutorial. I'm not sure the session was a good way to learn that.)
Larry Hunter gave a talk about computational biology and the goal of producing something AI-ish to extract useful results from the tsunami of data available in the field. Though he expressed affection for Lisp, the talk was pretty high-level and was almost a recruiting pitch to get programmers to help solve big, sexy computational biology problems.
I was pleased to see a fellow Mainer, Professor Roy Turner of the University of Maine, talk about a simple literate programming system for Common Lisp. He discussed the original Knuth-style systems and how he a chose different implementation approach because of a different programming style offered by Lisp.
Faré and Robert P. Goldman talked about ASDF2, and the slides provided rationales for some of the ASDF2 design features that weren't clear to me before. For example, ASDF2 broke pathnames in existing systems in some contexts, and one slide in particular explained the unpredictable nature of ASDF1's pathname handling meant that while the systems might have worked for me on SBCL and Linux, working on other implementations was not as predictable. So ASDF2 uses an incompatible system that has the advantage of behaving much predictably across implementations and operating systems.
The first night a dozen or so of us headed off to the Great Basin Brewing Company down the road from the hotel, and managed to get split up into several tables. I dined with Dan Weinreb and Paul Tarvydas and heard a lot of interesting stories from Dan about MIT, Symbolics, Object Design, ITA, and more. It's the kind of stuff you can only get by spending some face-to-face time with people; it's just not the same reading about it on a blog or in an email.
I'll write a little bit more about it tomorrow.We all know that it takes strength to call a utility or telecom. But the patience of two customers was seriously tested recently when they had the audacity to contact Comcast and make a simple request.
Writer Veronica Belmont and her husband Ryan Block, a product manager at AOL (parent company of The Huffington Post), called Comcast last week to disconnect their service. The couple planned to switch to another cable and Internet provider, but the customer service representative who handled their call had no intention of letting them do so.
He began asking me why we switched and that he would get us a better deal. I said, again “No, thank you, we’ve already switched, I just need to turn off the service in the old place.” It went back and forth like that for another five minutes. At one point I actually pleaded with him, “Please, I don’t want to get into a back-and-forth, our minds are made up and we just need to cancel.” He wouldn’t relent.
So Belmont handed the phone to Block.
"Overhearing the conversation, I knew this would not be very fun," Block wrote on SoundCloud. "What I did not know is how oppressive this conversation would be. Within just a few minutes the representative had gotten so condescending and unhelpful I felt compelled to record the speakerphone conversation on my other phone."
(Warning: This conversation may cause anger, teeth grinding and an all-consuming sense of frustration.)
"We are very embarrassed by the way our employee spoke with Mr. Block and are contacting him to personally apologize," Tom Karinshak, Comcast's senior vice president of customer experience, said in a statement posted online. "The way in which our representative communicated with him is unacceptable and not consistent with how we train our customer service representatives."
He said that Comcast is investigating the incident.Someone slipped and hit his head on the sink between these drafts of “Back to the Future”
Back to the Future is an undeniably great movie. Go ahead, try and deny it. You can’t, can you? Of course, casting and visual effects and editing and music and everything down to the production’s craft service played no small part in making it great. But it all started with a script without which the greatness that eventually followed would have been erased… from existence.
Greatness doesn’t come in the first draft, the second, or even the tenth. And while it came for Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale by the FOURTH draft, at least we can see how the story went from being unfilmed to one of the greatest—and I do dare say greatest—movies of all time.
Back to the Future - Third Draft (7-11-1984)
Back to the Future - Fourth Draft (10-12-1984)
A lot changes between these two drafts, and I mean A LOT. Names, places, character motivations, dialogue. The best example of the all important rewriting process comes from the third act. In the third draft, Marty and Doc need to get the Delorean from Hill Valley (at this point called Elmdale) to New Mexico so Marty can drive the time machine through a planned atomic bomb test in order to harness the power needed to get home. It’s all very logical since it is established that the Delorean runs on plutonium used to create a small atomic explosion. It’s also a clear example of the writers working out the problem of getting Marty home. Except this setup drains all the energy out of the script. Once Marty leaves the dance, he and Doc have to drive miles to the atomic test site, but since we’re not going to actually watch them drive all those miles, there’s a hard cut, from night to day, and the tension of the previous sequence is lost.
The fourth draft corrects this by connecting the end of the dance with Marty racing to get the Delorean across town to meet a bolt of lightening that will strike the clock tower. Since Marty can get from the dance to the clock tower by running, the cut between the two sequences comes off as a continuous sequence. The continuity of tension between Marty’s obstacles drives the script’s plot rather than literally driving the Delorean to New Mexico to keep things moving forward.
If you’re looking for some real instruction on how to rewrite your script, pick out all the changes between these two drafts and work out why each was made. I guarantee you’ll see it was because it made the story tighter, the action tenser, and that the rules for doing so are basic and applicable to your own script.
Random observations:
From the third draft, the following dialogue eventually found its way into Back to the Future: Part III:
Marty: All the best electronic components are made in Japan.
Doc: (shaking his head) Unbelievable.
The son of Pa Peabody, the Twin Pines Ranch owner, is named Sherman. (Look it up.)
In the third draft, Doc can’t believe cars don’t fly in 1985. In the fourth, Doc returns from 2015 with a flying Delorean and one of the best movie endings ever.Anushay Hossain is a writer and media personality based in Washington. For more, visit AnushaysPoint.com. The views expressed are her own.
(CNN) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is right to be irked that it is not him but first daughter Ivanka Trump who will lead the US delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India.
The annual event is put on by the State Department and in the past has been attended by Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama.
This year, not only is the nation's top diplomat not attending but the State Department, in a widely noted snub, is also withholding high-level delegation support from what is being billed as Ivanka's most high-profile event representing the United States.
While tensions between the White House and the State Department have become apparent, what should also be clear to us by now is that Ivanka has no business representing the US on the global stage, especially at an international summit whose theme this year celebrates women's empowerment.
Despite all her claims, Ivanka is no champion for women or our empowerment, and she has the record to prove it.
Despite touting her massive portfolio of "women's issues," and aside from her pending attempt to expand the child tax credit, Ivanka has not been successful in actually implementing anything. She also stays disturbingly silent throughout her father's systematic efforts to undermine women's health and rights, standing idly by as the President supports bill after bill taking aim at women's access to everything from birth control to workplace safety.
To make matters worse, Ivanka has demonstrated that even pay equity is not a real priority for her. She backed her father when he ended the Obama-era rule on gender-gap wage data collection, which enabled the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to collect salary data from large companies by race and gender to better understand patterns of pay discrimination.
"Ivanka Trump's sporadic forays into discussions about her issue priorities, more often than not, have been largely rhetorical with few details and little concrete analysis of the economic, racial, gender, ethnic, geographic, and other differences that can influence policy needs and outcomes," said the Center For American Progress (CAP), a left-leaning public policy research and advocacy organization.
"As a result, there has been virtually no tangible progress on any of the issues Ivanka Trump claimed that she would spearhead."
The organization, which analyzed Ivanka's work on women's and working families' issues in a report card, determined that her support for the Trump administration rolling back progress on equal pay sends mixed signals about her commitment to prioritizing the needs of all women and her ability to craft the policy solutions essential to women's progress.
CAP gives Ivanka's work on entrepreneurship, her most vocal effort to empower women, a D- letter grade.
So why is Ivanka representing America to the world? Because she is Donald Trump's daughter.
Although she lacks any qualifications or credentials to represent the US on the global stage, India will not be the first time Ivanka will have led an official American delegation overseas.
Soon after her father took office, Ivanka, who is also a senior White House official, represented the US in Germany at the W-20, a summit of G-20 countries aimed at promoting women's workforce participation and equality.
Ivanka even spoke on a panel alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and was booed by the audience when she attempted to portray her father as a women's rights advocate, prompting Ivanka to state that "the thousands of women who have worked with and for my father for decades when he was in the private sector are a testament to his belief and solid conviction in the potential of women and their ability to do the job as well as any man."
But what Ivanka may have been able to (kind of) get away with in Germany is not going to work in India, because America is currently undergoing what could be a real cultural revolution when it comes to sexual abuse against women.
As the media in the US erupts with stories of sexual harassment and abuse allegations against high-profile men in virtually every industry, it is clear that the country is entering a dialogue which could impact women's rights in America and around the world for years to come.
It is also clear that Ivanka can no longer spin her father, who has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual misconduct and was caught on tape bragging about assaulting a woman, as some women's rights champion.
In addition, the President's recent backing of Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who stands accused of pursuing sexual relationships with teenagers when he was in his early thirties, does nothing to improve Donald Trump's own image as a serial abuser of women.
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In the Moore case, Ivanka did publicly break from her father by saying, "There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children" and that she has no reason to doubt the victims.
But while she may have effectively glossed over her father's misogynistic administration in the past, we are now in the #MeToo era. And the days of Ivanka being deployed as her father's most effective PR tool are over.
At a time of decreased US global engagement and diplomacy, having Ivanka represent America in any capacity on the international stage only gives the world one clear message -- that nepotism and corruption remain deeply entrenched in the Trump White House.We often hear about lawmakers in Washington, D.C. enjoying a privileged lifestyle at taxpayer expense, living in a bubble, isolated from real-world experiences that everyday Americans must deal with.
Like getting a haircut.
As it turns out, Senate Hair Care Services is there to meet the needs of busy lawmakers looking for a quick trim. The barbershop provides government-subsidized cuts, shaves and shines in a tradition that predates the Civil War.
And it has run a deficit of approximately $350,000 a year for each of the last 15 years, according the The Weekly Standard. For those keeping score, that’s $5 million.
Considering that in 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the estimated net worth of a U.S. senator stood at an average of $2.56 million, it’s fair to ask why this service is being subsidized.
The Weekly Standard noted that sequestration’s required spending cuts is providing convenient cover for efforts to “privatize” the barbershop — efforts that have met great resistance from senators who have argued “that the barbershop was an important institution passed down from the great statesmen who came before them.”
It’s also a nice convenience for “busy” lawmakers, even though for the 100th through 110th Congresses, the Senate met an average of just under 137 calendar days each year, according to the Center for American Progress.
“I don’t know when you could get a haircut with our schedule around here,” Arlen Specter once said. “You can slip in and out of the barbershop in 20 minutes. If you have to go downtown, it will take an |
athy, Dopps says he believes that the negative reaction to his product is because “a lot of the LGBT community, lesbians in particular, are furious at me because I’m a white straight man,” rather than the fact that his product is stupid and suggests a complete misunderstanding of how human anatomy even works. Dopps appears to believe that menstrual blood comes from the urethra, where urine is expelled, rather than from the vagina, and he’s designed the product based on that faulty assumption.
I’m not going to say that a “straight white man” cannot create a swell “feminine hygiene product” — anything is possible! But those who attempt it should, ideally, have at least seen a vagina in person at some point in their lives. Based on this product, I am not entirely certain that Dopps has.The first 90 texts between adulterous FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have been released by the Justice Department, revealing bias so severe as to disqualify the work performed by both government employees (who still are receiving paychecks, so far as anyone can tell) concerning President Trump and Hillary Clinton – and any politician of any stripe, for that matter. Even the New York Times and NBC News, both reliably anti-Trump, are giving the story play.
Senior F.B.I. officials who helped investigate Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign last year wrote in text messages that Hillary Clinton "just has to win" and described a potential Trump victory as "terrifying," according to texts released Tuesday night. A top counterintelligence agent, Peter Strzok, exchanged the messages with Lisa Page, a senior F.B.I. lawyer. Some messages criticized Mrs. Clinton's team, the Obama administration, Congress and other Democrats. But the two appeared appalled at some of Mr. Trump's comments during the campaign and feared that he would politicize the F.B.I.... On July 27, Ms. Page wrote, "She just has to win now. I'm not going to lie, I got a flash of nervousness yesterday about Trump." That text message was sent after the Clinton investigation had been closed. Days later, the F.B.I. began investigating possible coordination between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. The two F.B.I. officials also criticized Mr. Trump as the Russia investigation was continuing. They told internal investigators that their comments were influenced by the troubling evidence they were seeing about Mr. Trump's campaign ties to Russia, according to a person familiar with the internal investigation.
Was the "troubling evidence" contained in the tainted oppo research "dossier"?
Special Counsel Mueller removed Strzok from his team last July, after becoming aware of the texts, but made no mention of it at the time, and the public learned of the removal only after the texts were leaked to the New York Times earlier this month. Last week, FBI director Wray continued the pattern of stonewalling by refusing to discuss the texts.
Both of the illicit lovers are career bureaucrats, and it is obvious they are not committed to impartial justice. They are, in fact the poster children for the Deep State.
Update: The Washington Examiner offers more examples of outrageous bias than the NYT or NBC:
One message from Page to Strzok is a link to a story about Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, with the text "What an utter idiot." In November 2015, Page said she hopes House Speaker Paul Ryan "falls and crashes in a blaze of glory," to which Strzok replied: "Yes, And me too. At some point the Rep party needs to pull their head out of their *ss. Shows no sign of occurring any time soon."... Days after the exchange – March 2016 – Page texted Strzok, "God trump is a loathsome human," to which Strzok replies, "Yet he may win." Moments later, Strzok asked whether Trump would be a worse president than Sen. Ted Cruz, to which Page says, "Trump? Yes, I think so."... During the Republican National Convention, the two goaded each other to flip it on. "TURN IT ON, TURN IT ON!!! THE DOUCHEBAGS ARE ABOUT TO COME OUT," Strzok messaged Page on July 19, 2016. Page replied moments later: "And wow, Donald Trump is an enormous d*uche." "Hi. How was Trump, other than a douche? Melania?" Strzok replied roughly eight hours later. "Trump barely spoke, but the first thing out of his mouth was 'we're going to win sooo big.' The whole thing is like living in a bad dream," Page replied back. The two go on to say they hope Trump's "disorganization comes back to bite him hard in November," with Strzok saying he feels "Panicked" about the election. Strzok and Page also traded barbs about other Republican leaders, calling Ben Carson "crazy-ass grain storage pyramid Ben Carson," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "a turtle," and Ryan "a jerky." "This campaign is like watching a train wreck happen over and over again," Page messaged Strzok on July 21, 2016.
The lovebirds were nasty toward some Dems as well:
Just a week later, Strzok called Democratic presidential nominee Bernie Sanders supporters "stupid*ass" and "idiots," to which Page said she "really really" likes former Vice President Joe Biden.
But it is clear that the venom toward Republicans and conservatives was consuming:Photo: Getty Images
Viewers and critics can debate whether Game of Thrones is or isn’t the show it used to be, but when it comes to Bran Stark, there’s no argument. The sole surviving son of Ned Stark is not the boy we once knew. He’s now the Three-Eyed Raven, a cold and colossally powerful psychic. To hear actor Isaac Hempstead Wright tell it, the character actually has more in common with entities from science-fiction and superhero stories than he does with his old friends and family in Westeros.
Despite his emotional distance, Bran still snagged some of season seven’s most memorable moments: his uncomfortable allusion to his sister Sansa’s wedding to the psychotic Ramsay Bolton; his mic-drop quote of Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish’s signature line; his partnership with Samwell Tarly in sleuthing out the truth about Jon Snow’s parentage; and his telepathic face-off with his nemesis — or as some crackpot theories insist, his alter ego — the Night King. Below, Hempstead Wright takes us on a deep dive into Bran Stark’s strange new world.
Congratulations on creeping everybody out this season.
[Laughs.] Yeah, sorry about that. There were some cool bits to get to play, less so that creepy moment with Sansa. That was weird. I don’t think Bran meant that in a weird way; I don’t think he’s trying to freak his sister out by going, “Yeah, I know everything. Don’t fuck with me.” It’s more like Bran is processing everything he’s seen, like, “I’ve seen you there. That happened to you. I’m sorry for what happened to you.” Bran has lost that emotional connection. He just states what he sees in an almost autistic way, not really connecting with things but just saying how they are.
Saying “chaos is a ladder” to Littlefinger was so cool, though. I felt so badass in that scene, like, “Chaos is a ladder … yeeaaaah. How do you like that, Littlefinger?”
Game of Thrones is still rooted in recognizable human emotions, but Bran has so few of them now.
It was a really challenging thing to do this season. I had a meeting with David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], our showrunners, before we started filming. We had a chat about how we wanted to play Bran this season, and they suggested Doctor Manhattan from the Watchmen comic. Bran was slightly based on that, existing in all these different times at once, knowing all these various things, being this emotionless rock connecting these different timelines and the history of the universe. We wanted that, but we didn’t want a boring, monotonous character who would just go, “Yeah, I’m the Three-Eyed Raven, blah blah blah.” It becomes a bit unbelievable, and also it becomes a bit dull. Not that the whole thing isn’t completely unbelievable, but you know what I mean.
We also wanted to make sure that there was a bit of Bran left, a glimmer of a person still in there. It’s like he’s the first cyborg. We just connected a supercomputer to a human being’s brain. He’s a mainframe, but there’s a little bit of his personality. More often than not, though, Bran is a vessel for human knowledge.
Despite his power, the finale revealed that Bran doesn’t know everything. He didn’t know about Rhaegar and Lyanna’s wedding.
That was a bit confusing. The way I understand, it works like Bran has access. It’s like he’s got a Kindle library of every book of everything that’s ever happened in the world. He can access any of it in a heartbeat, but he hasn’t yet sat there and read it all. The old Three-Eyed Raven had a thousand years to sit in that cave to read every single page of everything that’s happened in the universe, and therefore be completely all knowing. Bran isn’t completely omniscient. He can look up anything he wants, but he hasn’t got it all by heart yet.
At that moment [in the finale], Bran was like, “Oh, yup, Rhaegar was [Jon’s] dad,” but he doesn’t think to explore it further. When Samwell Tarly says that [Rhaegar and Lyanna] were married, he can then confirm it. When his sisters come to him offscreen and go, “Can you look up what is the real deal with Littlefinger?” He can go, “He said this and this and this.”
I’m glad you brought that scene up with Littlefinger. When I saw Bran with Sansa at the trial, part of me was like, “If Bran’s there, Sansa can never go through with this and execute or exile Arya.” But I also thought, “Well, Bran is barely Bran anymore. Maybe this needs to happen.” He offered a lot less confidence that the right thing would happen than you’d think.
That’s the thing. Bran is not ready yet, as the Three-Eyed Raven said. Bran hasn’t had time to come to complete terms with his powers — he just has them now. He’s not going to be mistake-free. He’s not completely infallible. That’s definitely true.
At the same time, I think Bran will stick up for what is right and look up the right things at the right time. While Bran can’t necessarily look up the future, he has an idea of fate and destiny. How he played it when he first looked at [Littlefinger’s] knife and gave it to Arya … Bran can see that this knife has some kind of importance in Arya’s hands. He looked up all the connections and he can see that this knife has some kind of timeline that links to someone. In my mind, that’s why Bran was giving it to Arya like that. He knows the general arc and shape of how things have to go. I don’t think Bran would have let Sansa kill Arya had it come to that. [Pauses.] I hope not.
During Bran’s emotionless good-bye to his old companion Meera Reed, she tells him, “You died in that cave.” How much of what happened last season — Bran’s psychic crippling of Hodor, the way Hodor sacrificed himself — is Bran still carrying with him?
That’s interesting. Maybe the whole trauma of being back in time and being in someone else’s body like that and messing with it so much, maybe that’s what fried Bran’s brain. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I think mostly what’s going on with Bran is focusing on what needs to happen. Not in a callous way, but it doesn’t matter that Hodor is dead or that Meera has left. They served their purpose. Bran needed to get to Winterfell so he could be with Samwell Tarly, so he could find this out and he can do whatever in the next season.
While Bran is still grateful for the help of Meera and Hodor, he just sees it as like a math equation on a page. He’s like, “We have to take away that from that so we could get to that, and we needed that to get to there.” He’s looking at everything in a more calculated way now. He’s like a very, very powerful computer or calculator. There is a sense of some kind of personality or some vague flicker of emotion, but more than anything, Bran is just looking at this spreadsheet of equations and things that need to happen. In many ways, I don’t think Hodor and Meera are in his mind at all. He’s so dead set on what has to happen to next.
The way you describe how he’s all about doing what needs to be done reminds me of people insisting that Bran is the Night King.
Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of that.
Whether or not you buy that, which I personally don’t, there is a resemblance there between them. It’s all eyes on the prize.
Maybe. I think it’s less that they’re the same person and more that they’re two of the ancient beings of Westeros. The Three-Eyed Raven has been around for God knows how long, and White Walkers have been reported since the beginning of time. As we’ve seen, they were created by the Children of the Forest, so we can’t get much more ancient than that. Perhaps we can think of it as these are two characters with a huge amount of power, but one is a Frankenstein’s monster who is driven by nothing but hatred and violence. Then there’s Bran, who uses his powers for good. I want to find out why the Night King is so obsessed with destroying mankind. We’ll see whether they have any kind of explanations in the next season. Hopefully we’ll find out cool stuff about both of those characters.
I love when actors start sounding like fans.
Oh, I know. During shooting I have to be like, “Nope, I can’t say anything.” But this is the golden period. We haven’t gotten the scripts for the next season and this one’s just finished. I can properly theorize and chat, because I don’t know anything that’s going to happen.Mr Mosley, former president of the FIA, the Formula 1 motorsport body, effectively went to war with the tabloid newspaper after an undercover reporter filmed him engaging in bizarre sexual practices. He sued the newspaper for breach of privacy, winning £60,000 damages in 2008. It now appears he has also won a final battle, having watched the newspaper closed over the phone hacking saga.
Sources have confirmed that behind the scenes, Mr Mosley, 71, who is a multi-millionaire, has continued his campaign against the News of the World by providing financial backing to claimants whose mobile telephones may have been hacked by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator working on behalf of the newspaper.
A source told The Sunday Telegraph yesterday: “It’s true to say that Max has been funding a number of cases. Wealthy celebrities have not needed his assistance but there are a number of cases where the claimants do not have much money and could face losing a lot if News International were somehow to win some of those.
“He has been guaranteeing the court actions go ahead by putting money into an account so if somebody does lose a case against the News of the World, he will pay all the court costs. He has also paid court fees for things like lodging court papers which can be extremely costly.”
It means that claimants have been able to push cases all the way and obtain full disclosure from the newspaper group without risking massive legal costs. It is understood that Mr Mosley contacted lawyers working on cases, offering his financial support.Get the biggest politics 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
I know what it’s like to get the sack – I was banned from quite a few ships for my union activity!
I wasn’t happy but I kept positive and didn’t let it get me down.
As a politician, I lost the odd shadow minister role too. I thoroughly enjoyed being shadow employment minister.
But Neil Kinnock moved me to energy to make way for a young guy called Blair.
I disagreed but didn’t moan. I got on with being as good in my new role as I tried to be in my last.
But these days there’s almost a sense of entitlement from some of today’s politicians.
Michael Dugher says he spoke out and paid the price
I thought Michael Dugher showed very little grace when Jeremy removed him as Shadow Culture Minister.
A party leader is entitled to choose the best team.
Read more: 'Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle has been like a Christmas present to David Cameron'
Dugher’s hostile attitude on Twitter prior to, and after, his sacking undoubtedly proved Corbyn was right to remove him.
So can we stop this petty internal war? It’s highly damaging and often abusive, not only from senior MPs on the left and right but also from political advisers.
(Image: PA)
Crucial Labour attacks on rail fares and flood mismanagement were drowned out by the reshuffle and three frontbench MPs publicly resigning in protest.
One, Stephen Doughty, a former special adviser, agreed a deal with the BBC and political editor Laura Kuenssberg to quit live on TV!
We’re the Labour Party for God’s sake, not the Big Brother house! So can we please concentrate on turning our fire on the Tories and not on ourselves.
This year we have crucial elections in Wales, Scotland, London and England and possibly a vote on staying in the EU.
If these “noises off” continue we’ll be failing millions hammered by the Tories and might even exit the EU. So stop complaining and start campaigning.Nancy Nowacek has a dream: she wants to build a pedestrian bridge between Brooklyn and Governors Island. This is not a metaphor, nor is it a crazy, harebrained scheme. It began four years ago as an art project and has since grown into something larger and multiheaded: an experiment in engineering, a test of bureaucracy, a true possibility, a conversation about our relationship to our waterways.
“Citizen Bridge,” as the project is called, sprang from a simple thought: “We should be able to walk there.” This is what Nowacek told herself in 2012, staring out the window of her apartment in Red Hook and seeing, in the not-too-far distance, Governors Island. She soon found a newspaper article by Walt Whitman describing cows crossing Buttermilk Channel — the name for the body of water between the two land masses — and another from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, published on August 19, 1900, that confirmed the existence of a sandbar in the channel. “I can see making this walk again,” she told herself. “I’m just going to figure out how.”
Four years later, the “how” has involved — so far — five artist residencies for Nowacek, a team of 22 people (currently including architect Jonathan Marvel, representatives from the civil engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti and marine engineering firm Glosten), the help of two large law firms, and many kinds of insurance. It’s involved building seven prototypes, including the last one, a 32-by-16-foot, fully engineered, floating “superblock” made from modular blocks of styrofoam floats interconnected with decking pieces; tested last September in Gowanus Bay, the block withstood two simultaneous, asymmetrical loads of 3,000 pounds of sand. It will involve a proof of concept in Brooklyn Bridge Park later this year, featuring a larger test bridge constructed with a different floatation element (sectional barges instead of styrofoam) and running somewhere between 120 and 200 feet. It may involve, after that, more tests, until “Citizen Bridge” is ready to safely span Buttermilk Channel’s 1,400 feet.
Nowacek is now Kickstarting the project, hoping to raise $25,000 for the proof of concept later this year. “We’ve done as much design and engineering and regulatory diligence as we can on very little money, and now have to raise money,” she told me when we met at a cafe last week. Nowacek has a surprisingly calm and easy demeanor for someone who’s immersed in trying to pull off a project that sounds basically impossible — likely because it’s been both her passion and her work for the better part of four years. Over cups of tea, we discussed the origin, challenges, and potential future of “Citizen Bridge,” and how “incredibly powerful and incredibly intimate” it is to “just to be standing on a platform completely surrounding by water.”
* * *
Jillian Steinhauer: You’ve told me that you’re engineering this project for “one of the most difficult waterways in the country.” Why is Buttermilk Channel so difficult?
Nancy Nowacek: Somebody described it as, imagine trying to flush the entirety of the Long Island Sound through a really narrow pipe. The Long Island Sound is huge, and it starts to get funneled down, and when it gets to Buttermilk Channel, there’s a lot of pressure that’s been built up. In addition, there’s the trench and the normal conditions of the rocks that just create a— this is not the most expert description, but it basically creates a super crazy churning current. I think that’s owed to Governors Island’s proximity to Brooklyn. I mean, the East River’s coming like this [hand motion], and then it takes a hard turn, and Governors Island is basically trying to break all that pressure.
Everybody says, “You know, the currents are really tough,” or, “You know, getting insurance is really hard.” It’s one of those things where, rationally, of course this is very hard. But you have no idea what hard means until you’re in the middle of trying to do it.
JS: How could you? I feel like you could never have fathomed all of the things. If you had, you probably wouldn’t have done it — that’s the gift. You have to believe it’s possible.
NN: That is the blessing of being an artist, I think: you have no idea what will lie on the other side, but you can just see it.
JS: We talked a long time ago, but it would be nice to hear you speak again about the inspiration for and the very beginning of the project.
NN: The project really started because I moved to Red Hook. I grew up swimming. Swimming saved me as a kid.
JS: Where did you grow up?
NN: I grew up in Virginia, but I was a really fat kid, and the only physical activity I was really good at was swimming. Being in a swimming pool was my happy place. That’s the one thing I think I’ll do until I die.
I’ve felt this way when I’ve been out in LA, which is the frustration of being on a beach and not being able to get into the water. I didn’t have that feeling [in New York] until I moved to Red Hook, because everywhere else I lived, the water was a vista in the distance. In Red Hook, it was there in my face every day, and I was like, “I live on an island, and there is a beach, and I can’t get in the water. I’m afraid to get in the water.” When I moved there, I really felt like I’d come home in the city, yet there was this tension. My bedroom window looked out across Buttermilk Channel. I was looking at the water and watching the boats and feeling really disempowered.
It was in doing research around Governors Island that everything started coming together. I’ve been equally obsessed with Governors Island — I think it’s like the city’s hidden mystery backyard. When those two things came together and I started learning about them, that’s when the project was born. I was like, “It’s really close. It seems like we should be able to walk there.” Then, [I found] the Walt Whitman piece in the Brooklyn Eagle talking about the sandbar. I was like, “OK, so it’s not just me. This used to be a really accessible public space for the city.” That completely changed the way I think about the waterways, because heretofore they were a backdrop and a surface, but at that point, they became a public space like a park or sidewalk. I was like, “All right. I can see making this walk again. I’m just going to figure out how.”
JS: I feel like my brain would never go there. It’s so awesome that your brain did.
NN: I’m glad it did, but I don’t even know how I really got there. I was like, “We should be able to walk there.” Then I read that Robert Moses had proposed a bridge … and I’d been completely — I don’t even know what the word is, I’ll say “inspired” by Santiago Calatrava’s gondola. It seemed so unlikely. It just left an afterimage on my mind. Neither of those projects got built because they seemed clearly out of scale with Governors Island as a space and a place to get to. But that’s really when the project came together. It was like, “Well, what if we went at it from exactly the other end?”
JS: You’re totally right. You can’t drive to Governors Island because you can’t drive on Governors Island. You would walk there. That would be the thing.
NN: Yeah, and you don’t need like a Roosevelt Island–style gondola to get people and their sodas 1,400 feet. Nobody revealed to me, until after I had been working on this project for eight months, that they thought I was speaking metaphorically.
JS: Ha!
NN: When I started a residency on Governors Island with LMCC, we all had to go around in a circle and say who we were and what we were going to do. I was like, “My name’s Nancy. I’m going to build a bridge.” People were like, “Right on, OK. You’re going to build a bridge.”
JS: When was that?
NN: It was 2012, and I thought it would take me six months. Every project and job experience I’d had until this point, I was working in a cycle of one week, one month, or maybe four to six months for really long projects. That was just as long as I could conceive of anything taking.
What’s kept the project going is the incredible lens it is for living in the city. It is an unbelievable lens to understand how the city is built, how it operates. And to unpack the manifold layers of the waterways. Some people are like, “Why are you so passionate about the waterways?” I’m like, “Because I’ve seen up-close how amazing and important they are to our daily lives, and how we are so disconnected from them.”
What’s so interesting is that this project started as being about reclaiming this walk and the waterways as public space, but it’s really expanded to reconnecting New Yorkers to their waterways. In my mind, the bridge is a catalyst to an even larger set of events that bring together all the people I’ve met doing amazing stuff on the waterways. Citizen Bridge is going to be a daylong experience, but now it’s going to be surrounded by a month of hands-on activities where New Yorkers can spend a month building a boat and getting in the water in it, or learning how to fish, or learning how to build a houseboat — reconnecting with skills from the city’s past and future.
JS: So the concept for the project has grown to encompass much more than just the bridge.
NN: We have a much bigger vision that’s modeled on Summer Streets, where the waterways could possibly be closed for alternate uses for half a day or a day. Then, beyond that, this is not the only coastal city in America, the world, that could use a bridge to reconnect to its waterways.
JS: What’s the progression from what you tested last September to what you’re hoping to test this September, i.e. from prototype and proof of concept?
NN: The [prototype] was 32 by 16 feet. For the proof of concept, we’re looking at anywhere from 120 to 200 feet. We’re hoping to keep it up for a week or two to really test its performance — to bring people onto the bridge and learn as much as we can.
JS: Right, if you could keep it up for a while, you could learn more.
NN: The challenge with Buttermilk Channel is we can’t test anything in it, so we’re doing our best to simulate it.
JS: Why not?
NN: We’ll impede navigation. It’s funny, before you got here, I was making a list of all of the meetings we’ve had in the past year, because I just learned that all of the people I was working with at the Coast Guard got reassigned. This is my third group of people at the Coast Guard.
JS: I admire your patience.
NN: Or foolishness. I don’t know. I find it fascinating. This project is a 1,000 tiny bridges between me and everyone I’ve met.
JS: I was going to say, it’s as much engineering as it is navigating bureaucracy. I feel like the feat is as much in that as it is in building the actual bridge.
NN: Yeah, and for me, it’s the thrill. Don’t get me wrong: the real thing is going to be unbelievable. But every single conversation about the project is wonderfully fulfilling, even the new guy at the Coast Guard for the third time. I’m like, “Here’s what we’re trying to do.” There’s the pause. “OK … ” It’s wildly fulfilling to have these conversations and hear the space of possibility expanding in the mind of the person I’m talking to.
JS: And people’s minds will expand even more once they’re on the bridge. What is it supposed to feel like?
NN: It’s supposed to feel like you’re having a catch-up with an old friend, if that friend is the water. That’s what I felt this summer: I could feel the water rolling under and around me, but I also felt like I was standing in conversation with it. If “The Gates” were meant to reframe a walk through Central Park, this is reframing your whole idea of what walking in the city means —your whole idea of what the city is. For us, the city is the sidewalks and asphalt, it’s parkland. But the city is really 528 miles of coastline containing a lot of water that isn’t just a surface, it’s a volume.
JS: Has anyone ever swum the route where you’re planning your bridge? Can you swim across the Buttermilk Channel?
NN: I have never read of anyone doing it successfully. That’s how fast the currents move. There was an artist on LMCC last summer who swam from Manhattan to Governors Island. He’s a writer, and his footage is incredible. He’s a lifelong, long-distance swimmer, and he … I watched him basically dive off one of the ferry slips to Governors Island, and my stomach flip-flopped. I was like, “That is still a terrifying idea to me.”
One of the things that this past summer made me think a lot about is risk, and the current climate of risk we have in the city — how you just mention doing a project that involves people on the water, and 9 out of 10 insurance brokers will walk away.
JS: Is it because of Sandy?
NN: No, it’s because the water is perceived, in this day and age, as inherently dangerous. It’s not a part of our daily lives. One hundred years ago, when the city was at its peak waterway use, water was part and parcel of everyone’s daily experience in one way, shape, or form. When I think about the future of the city that I want this project to help catalyze, it’s a future where every New Yorker learns how to swim — because think about how the idea of what’s dangerous changes if everyone knows how to swim.
And one way to help everyone learn how to swim is to control the sewer overflow. It’s such an interesting set of interconnected issues.
JS: Although when we were using the water, we were also destroying it — so much of the use was industrial, and that’s how we polluted the crap out of it, which is why we’re afraid to swim.
NN: I know. It’s true. We have a ways to go, but the more people that can have an iota of the moment that I’ve had, where it’s just like, “Holy shit” …
JS: You’re right. Once you have a relationship to it, you think about it differently.
Nancy Nowacek’s “Citizen Bridge” is fundraising on Kickstarter through May 20.More than a year later, a former UFC champion is headed back to the Octagon.
Carla Esparza, the promotion’s inaugural strawweight champ, will fight for the first time since losing her belt in her first title defense in March, replacing injured Jessica Aguilar and taking on Julianna Lima at UFC 197 next month in Las Vegas.
Aguilar recently suffered a knee injury, forcing her withdrawal from the undercard of the main-event clash between light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and former champ Jon Jones on April 23 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The second-ranked Esparza has stepped up to take on 14th-ranked Lima (8-2). The Brazilian is 2-1 in the UFC, with unanimous-decision victories in her past two fights against Nina Ansaroff and Ericka Almeida.
Esparza (11-3), a Redondo Union High grad based out of Irvine, hasn’t fought since her second-round TKO loss to current champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 195 on March 14, 2015. During the fight, Esparza suffered a shoulder injury that led to surgery, sidelining her for several months.
The UFC crowned its first strawweight champion when Esparza, who was also the first Invicta FC 115-pound champion, picked up a dominant third-round submission victory over Rose Namajunas at The Ultimate Fighter Finale in December 2014.Story highlights State Department didn't know other hostage was South African, official tells CNN
Luke Somers "was really dedicated to Yemen," acquaintance tells CNN
Somers, a photojournalist, was captured in September last year
South African hostage Pierre Korkie was to be released on Sunday
The element of surprise was lost in a failed U.S. military raid to rescue two hostages being held by al Qaeda militants in Yemen, a senior Defense Department official said Saturday.
American photojournalist Luke Somers and South African Pierre Korkie, a "respected teacher" who was to be released on Sunday, were fatally shot in the compound by a terrorist as the secret mission unfolded, a U.S. official said.
The relief group Gift of the Givers, which was helping secure Korkie's release, had recently informed his wife that "the waiting is almost over."
"Three days ago, we told her 'Pierre will be home for Christmas,'" said the group, which identified the South African hostage as Korkie. "We certainly did not mean it in the manner it has unfolded."
He was an "innocent man, a respected teacher," Korkie's wife, Yolande, said in a video made before his death.
U.S. President Barack Obama ordered Friday's mission because "there were compelling reasons to believe Mr. Somers' life was in imminent danger," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.
A video of Somers pleading for his life was released earlier this week by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. AQAP gave the U.S. three days to comply with unspecified demands. Time was running out.
JUST WATCHED American hostage pleads for his life Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH American hostage pleads for his life 01:50
Arrangements for Korkie's release may have been missed by the White House.
The Obama administration assessed that there were two individuals at the location but did not know one was South African or that negotiations were under way for his release, a senior State Department official told CNN.
Korkie and his wife were abducted in May of last year, but AQAP subsequently let his wife go. On Friday, a team of local leaders was finalizing arrangements to reunite Korkie with his wife and children, the relief group said in a statement.
Obama's decision
The President condemned AQAP's killing of the two hostages and explained his decision to authorize the rescue attempt.
"Earlier this week, a video released by his terrorist captors announced that Luke would be killed within 72 hours," Obama said in a statement. "I also authorized the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as Luke."
Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that the President had received a recommendation to authorize the operation.
Obama offered his condolences to Somers' family.
"I also offer my thoughts and prayers to the family of a non-U.S. citizen hostage who was also murdered by these terrorists during the rescue operation," the statement read. "Their despair and sorrow at this time are beyond words."
South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation expressed its "deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mr Korkie for their loss. Condolences are also conveyed to the family and loved ones of the deceased American hostage."
'They lost the element of surprise'
The operation took place Friday at 5 p.m. ET, a U.S. official told CNN.
On Thursday, the Defense Department became aware of enough new intelligence about the location of the hostages to stage a rescue mission, the official said. A senior Defense Department official traveling with Hagel in Afghanistan said that the operation was accelerated because there was intelligence that Somers would be killed on Saturday morning, Eastern time.
Obama and Hagel were briefed the next day.
Two Osprey aircraft transported a team of about three dozen U.S. Navy SEALs, mainly from SEAL Team 6, and a combat medical team near the captives' location. There were no Yemeni forces with the U.S. commandos.
The official traveling with Hagel said that once the Ospreys landed, the team had to trek about 10 kilometers (6 miles) to the compound.
They were discovered about 100 meters from the location where Korkie and Somers were being held, according to that official. The main part of the assault lasted five to 10 minutes.
"They lost the element of surprise at the last minute as they approached the compound," the official |
more of a hybrid between Vincent Jackson, Plaxico Burress and the 6'3'' Arizona Cardinals' wideout, Michael Floyd.
Athleticism definitely matters, and it's a transferable stock that can be applied in various situations on an NFL field. But, without opportunity and production, athleticism matters less and less.
The Production Factor
Due to the NCAA’s transfer rules, Dorial Green-Beckham had to sit out the entire 2014 college football season. But we still have his 2012 and 2013 production to live by. Using past production, we can compare Green-Beckham’s situational receiving yardage gained splits to get a feel for where he lands amongst the top wide receiver prospects in this year's draft.
Keep in mind, all of the data below are career percentages. Because all of these wide receivers had different roles in vastly different schemes all across the nation, it’s hard to make a broad apples-to-apples comparison when one wide receiver is targeted more than the other. That’s where reception yardage gained splits come in.
Effectively, yardage gained splits attempts to rectify what these wide receivers did in terms of yards accumulated.
All of the data is denoted as a percentage value of receptions on the field. For example, 56.3% (49-of-87) of Dorial Green Beckham’s receptions went for first downs in his college career.
Name Rec. 1st down % 15+ yards % 25+ yards % Amari Cooper 227 63.0% 36.6% 15.9% DeVante Parker 156 75.0% 46.8% 26.3% Devin Funchess 126 61.1% 33.3% 14.3% Devin Smith 121 66.9% 41.3% 31.4% Dorial Green-Beckham 87 56.3% 31.0% 19.5% Jaelen Strong 157 66.2% 37.6% 15.9% Jamison Crowder 283 53.7% 25.1% 12.4% Kevin White 144 55.6% 33.3% 14.6% Nelson Agholor 179 65.4% 36.3% 12.3% Philip Dorsett 121 62.0% 39.7% 24.0% Sammie Coates 82 69.5% 45.1% 32.9% Average: 153 63.2% 36.9% 19.9%
Obviously, without watching every snap and target that these wide receivers accumulated in their college careers, it’s incredibly tough to know who’s yardage gained splits are inflated by scheme. Just by the mechanism of the offense, some receivers are targeted more and their reception totals may not be a direct indication of what they will do at the next level.
But, as a whole, Green-Beckham’s college production -- solely in terms of situational receiving yards -- isn’t great on the surface in this year's class. He’s fairly below average in terms of first downs gained and receptions that went for 15 or more yards. Again though -- it’s hard to find a fair barometer of total production given NCAA offenses are fairly radically different across the board.
One statistical sweet spot that we glazed over in the introduction is red zone efficiency and what constitutes a touchdown scorer. Of Green-Beckham’s 15 red zone targets in 2013, 7 went for touchdowns. His red zone touchdown rate of 46.7% means almost 50 percent of his targets inside of the 20-yard line went for touchdowns. That’s insane efficiency.
For perspective, Green-Beckham’s 47% red zone touchdown rate in 2013 rivals Dez Bryant's college rate of 50%, and it bests ex-Texas A&M wide receiver Mike Evans' 36% red zone touchdown rate.
Given Green-Beckham’s size, athleticism, production, and efficiency in the red zone, there is a good chance he will become a perennial touchdown-machine in the NFL.
Where Green-Beckham Wins
Clearly, Dorial Green-Beckham checks a lot of the proverbial on the field boxes. He had a breakout year in 2013 at Missouri, posting 53 catches for 883 yards and 12 touchdowns. But what are some of the traits that he excels at that shows up while watching his college games? Athleticism and production matter, but the final piece of the puzzle is what you see.
Being big and tall is one thing, but using your size to beat defensive backs at the next level is paramount. That’s one thing Green-Beckham did exceptionally well in college. He’s a long strider and a fairly polished route runner that can beat the corner and safety deep, or “box-out†a defensive back on a inside or outside breaking route.
Ultimately, his biggest asset is his red zone ability, but he's certainly not a liability in other areas of the field. He has the burst -- the run-after-catch ability -- to make defenders miss and wreak havoc after the catch. His hands are solid, although he has a slight tendency to let the ball get deep in to his body, which is somewhat allowable for a wide receiver of his size.
If you were building the perfect NFL wide receiver, Dorial Green-Beckham fits the prototype of unbelievable athletic prowess combined with incredible route running ability from a guy who is bigger and faster than everyone on the field. In a vacuum, he's probably the most talented wide receiver in this year's draft.
But NFL prospects don't live in a vacuum. Inherently, this fact leads to the Dorial Green-Beckham conundrum.
Despite having unbelievable football talent, Green-Beckham has major off-the-field concerns. His major infraction stems from a domestic abuse incident that led to his dismissal from Missouri. He was never arrested for the incident, but it obviously lays major question marks at the feet of an issue that is very important.
Green-Beckham has some other, far less major, mishaps that are well-known and can be seen by a simple Google search. As a football player, Green-Beckham is a top-five wide receiver talent. Off of the football field? Who knows. He’s a 21-year-old with a very checkered past. Will teams avoid him because of his major character concerns? Definitely. Should teams avoid him because of these concerns? Absolutely.
As a prospect, Green-Beckham presents a tough task. It’s likely going to force a team to spend immense draft capital on a wide receiver that has a questionable past. Maybe Green-Beckham can change as a person. Perhaps he already has. But on the field, the message is very clear: you have a wide receiver with amazing talent.Yes, dear reader, the market seems to have turned. Friday was a disaster…
“Grim Job Report Sinks Markets,” reported The Wall Street Journal.
We’ve had our ‘Crash Alert’ flag up for the last two weeks. Hope it helped.
Day after day stocks have been falling. And day after day has brought more bad news. Greece was on the verge of collapse. US growth figures revised downward. Consumer sentiment fell. House prices are still going down. Unemployment is going up.
The whole world is ‘turning Japanese.’
And then, oil closed at $83 on Friday. The Dow fell 274 points. The 10-year T-note must have thought it was already in Tokyo; the yield dropped to an unbelievable 1.45%. Was that a typo on the Bloomberg line?
And get this, gold rose $57.
Whew!
What’s happening?
The Great Correction is getting greater. And the odds that the feds will panic…in the US or in Euroland…are increasing.
Remember, the Fed works for the banks. And the bankers know who their ultimate master is. They’ll play it cool. But if stocks fall below 10,000 on the Dow…and unemployment gets worse before the November election…they’ll come in with more QE. That’s why gold is up so strongly. Investors are running scared. They know they can’t trust the euro. As for the dollar, they’re not so sure…
We can hardly wait to find out what happens today!
What’s the next industry to bubble up…pop…and collapse?
“Student loans,” said our new friend, Barry Dyke.
From the far north…well, from New Hampshire…Barry has been following the money. And he sees a lot of it going to the education.
Why?
“It worked just like subprime,” he explained.
The feds bankrolled it. Guaranteed it. Regulated it. And conveniently didn’t notice as it got to monstrous proportions… And then, when it blows up…they’ll be there again, pointing fingers and promising to “regulate” more heavily.
“When you pay for something, you get more of it,” says presidential candidate Ron Paul.
The feds paid for one heckuva a lot of education…subsidizing students and colleges…with trillions of dollars. They pay for GIs to go to school. They give grants to the schools themselves. And they hand out hundreds of billions in loans, at low teaser rates (just like subprime!) to students…often to students who are unqualified and unlikely to get much out of it.
Here’s the Washington Post story:
As the nation amasses more than $1 trillion in student loans, education experts say a vexing new problem has emerged: A growing number of young people have a mountain of debt but no degree to show for it. Nearly 30 percent of college students who took out loans dropped out of school, up from fewer than a quarter of students a decade ago, according to a recent analysis of government data by think tank Education Sector. College dropouts are also among the most likely to default on their loans, falling behind at a rate four times that of graduates. “They have the economic burden of the debt but they do not get the benefit of higher income and higher levels of employment that one gets with a college degree,” said Jack Remondi, chief operating officer at Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest private student lender. “Access and success are not linking up.” The plight of “non-completers” has grown in magnitude as student debt tops $1 trillion, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In addition, the sputtering economy has forced a growing number of students to make difficult choices between the benefits of a degree and the burden of paying for it. More students are balancing their studies with full- or part-time jobs or signing up for a reduced course load to save money, increasing the likelihood that they will not graduate.
Colleague, Justice Litle is on the case too:
We have all heard it said: “You can’t put a price on a good education.” But this is silly — of course you can. It was the thoughtless peddling of such a mantra that allowed institutions of higher learning to raise prices with impunity… year after year, at a faster rate than inflation, as costs spiraled out of control… with government-sponsored loan programs fueling the whole thing. Sound familiar? Echoing subprime, the college bubble even has its own version of the “principal-agent problem,” in which the financial interests of the college (which profits from the loan money) have no alignment with the students (who voluntarily drown themselves in debt). Soon these (literally) poor, debt-burdened waiters and waitresses of the future may realize they were snookered, and wake up angry… not unlike the legions of starry-eyed home buyers who, caught up in the rush of the American dream, chained themselves to a grossly inflated asset at a price impossible to pay.
Geez. It looks like college students have been the chumps in this story…flimflammed by the feds and the universities.
But, remember, we are grateful to the patsies. They’re the ones who keep the whole scammy economy going.
Imagine what would happen if young people decided to learn something instead of going to college? They could get a job learning from a plumber or a machinist…or apprenticing to a furniture maker…or just sitting in the library with a big stack of books and a notepad. No tuition payments…no beer parties…no orientation programs (No means no!)…no graduation programs (You can make a change!)…no research labs…no football stadiums…
…imagine if a group of them got together, hired a teacher…and learned the classics…or theoretical physics…or quantum mechanics…or linguistics…the old fashioned way? Let’s see, pay the teacher $80,000…split it among 7 students… Good teacher/student ratio…much better than sitting in a lecture hall with 150 other students. And $8,000 each.
A lot better than the $40,000 we spent to send our five children to college. Yes…we spent about $40,000 for each of them, per year. You can do the math. It adds up to $800,000. And we’ve got one more to go!
That’s why we’re still writing these Daily Reckonings…we can’t afford to stop.
And it’s kinda fun, frankly…as long as you don’t take it seriously.
But let’s not talk about us. Let’s talk about them. Those poor young people…leaving school with $25,000 in debt (approximate average)…and a punky job market.
If they got a degree in math or science, they can probably get a job. But what if they got a degree in the social sciences? Or the arts? Or no degree at all? How many baristas can Starbucks hire?
What can they do?
Go to work for the government! Or at least go to work in ZombieTown. You don’t need to know anything to work for the feds. No kidding.
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Regards,
Bill Bonner
for The Daily ReckoningAs small business owners, we know: $15 an hour entirely reasonable
Last week, the state Legislature in Illinois became the first in the Midwest to pass a $15 an hour minimum wage. Now the proposal heads to the desk of Gov. Bruce Rauner, who has the economic fate of more than 2 million working Illinoisans in his hands.
As small business owners, we see only one course of action for the governor: sign this bill to rebuild our middle-class and strengthen our economy.
OPINION
While corporate lobbyists argue raising wages will be bad for small businesses like ours, we know that businesses perform better when workers are taken care of — and that the hard- working families of Illinois deserve better than $8.25.
The Honey Butter Fried Chicken family didn’t want to wait for legislators in Springfield to give our employees a leg up. That’s why we pay all our employee’s at least $13 an hour and plan on lifting our base wage to $15 an hour by 2019 or sooner. On top of that, we offer health benefits, paid sick time and time off, paid parental leave, and profit sharing options.
When we raised wages for our team, we saw lower turnover and improved employee retention, which translated into big savings on training and recruitment. We also saw a significant boost in productivity and workplace morale, along with improved customer service.
But the benefits of higher wages go beyond our storefront: they hit Main Street too. By raising wages we’re arming our workers with more purchasing power, giving them a chance to put more money into the local economy. With necessities like rent and bills taken care of, people will spend extra cash splurging on a movie, a new pair of shoes — or even a night out eating delicious fried chicken.
We don’t have to look much farther than San Francisco, Seattle and New York for evidence of $15 an hour’s success. Each city has continued strong job growth as wages have increased. Chicago, which enacted a $13 per hour minimum wage, is driving job growth in the region — it’s time to bring this prosperity and opportunity to every corner of the state.
Industry lobbyists say the sky will fall, but consider this: the White House Council of Economic Advisors released a study in December 2016 of all U.S. minimum wage increases since the recession, and found that that they boosted pay for workers without hurting local economies.
In California, which approved and is phasing in a $15 minimum wage, Bill Phelps, CEO of Wetzel’s Pretzels with 100 stores statewide, and franchise owner Mike Jacobs report that they have already seen higher sales resulting from their customers having more money to spend.
Illinois is in the middle of a fiscal crisis, and raising the minimum wage would help take some pressure off Illinois taxpayers who end up subsidizing — through public assistance programs — employers unwilling to pay a living wage. In fact, a new analysis from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows that raising the minimum wage to $15 would generate $2.3 billion dollars in new state and local revenue to help ease the ongoing budget crisis.
This bill would be a big step forward for our state, but it can’t be the last. Tipped workers in Illinois are paid only 40 percent of the minimum wage by their employers, leaving them at the mercy of arbitrary and sometimes discriminatory tipping to cover the rest. States and municipalities that have eliminated the outdated tipped sub-minimum wage are thriving. Illinois should join them by passing One Fair Wage for everyone.
Our bottom line is that everyone who works should be able to earn a decent wage and have a decent life. More than 40 percent of the Illinois workforce are paid less than $15, leaving millions across our state locked in poverty. Raising the minimum wage isn’t just the smart thing to do for the economy, it’s the right thing to do for our communities.
We’re calling on Gov. Rauner to do the right thing and sign $15 an hour into law when it reaches his desk.
Josh Kulp and Christine Cikowski are owners of Honey Butter Fried Chicken in Chicago.JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African police said on Tuesday finance minister Pravin Gordhan may face legal action for not cooperating with an investigation of surveillance by the revenue service, escalating a public row and rattling the rand and bonds.
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan gestures during a media briefing in Sandton near Johannesburg, March 14, 2016. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
In a tussle that has raised concern about the direction of policy in Africa’s most industrialised but ailing economy, Gordhan hit back, accusing police of threatening him.
The elite Hawks police unit said it would exercise its “constitutional powers” after Gordhan missed a second deadline to answer questions about a suspected spy unit established while he was head of the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
Gordhan has repeatedly called the investigation a smear campaign aimed at tarnishing his and the Treasury’s credibility and has said he would take legal action to protect himself.
In a strongly worded statement, the Hawks said Gordhan had failed to meet a March 14 deadline to answer questions.
“This is neither a talk-show nor a soapie. We are mandated to investigate without fear, favour or prejudice,” the unit added, resorting to capitals to make its point.
“The minister, for whatever reasons, has failed to meet the SECOND deadline for answering questions and our legal team are forging a way forward which will see the Hawks exercising our constitutional powers.
“The investigations will not be stalled by an individual who refuses to comply with the authorities and demand a preferential treatment,” the statement added.
In response, the Treasury said it was “factually incorrect” that Gordhan had failed to respond to a second letter, reiterating he had not received one.
“Notwithstanding that the Hawks have not responded to the minister’s lawyers’ representations for further clarity, the minister has nonetheless instructed his legal team to prepare an adequate response,” it said.
RAND, BONDS TUMBLE
The rand fell more than three percent to 16.0400 per dollar after the Hawks statement. Government bond yields jumped more than 30 basis points.
“Investors are realising the fight is real,” Nomura emerging market analyst Peter Attard Montalto said. “Both sides are doubling down, and at some point one side will hit the nuclear button.”
Gordhan has said he could not answer questions before an initial deadline set by the Hawks because he was busy preparing the 2016 budget. On Monday, he told a news conference he had only read about a second letter in a weekend newspaper.
He criticised the leaking of the document to the media, an accusation the Hawks did not deny or confirm in their statement.
Appointed in December to calm investors spooked when President Jacob Zuma abruptly switched finance ministers, Gordhan had previously served as finance minister from 2009-2014.
He was head of SARS from 1999-2009. During that time, the unit that allegedly conducted illegal surveillance of taxpayers was set up, investigating authorities say.
Last week, Gordhan met investors and credit rating agencies in London and New York, seeking to drum up support for South Africa, which is at risk of losing its investment-grade status because of slow growth and big deficits.
“This is absolutely the last thing South Africa needs right now. The economic backdrop is challenging enough; no need to top it off with more political drama,” Anne Fruhauf, a Southern Africa analyst for Teneo Intelligence, told Reuters.
South African Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko has said the questions put to Gordhan by the Hawks do not mean he is under investigation for a crime or will be charged.
Zuma said last month he had full confidence in the finance minister and dismissed “rumours and gossip which insinuate some conspiracy against minister Gordhan”.
But the latest skirmishes could hurt Pretoria’s efforts to avert a credit downgrade. Standard & Poor’s and Fitch already have the country just one notch above junk status. Moody’s said last week it would put South Africa’s Baa2 rating, two levels above sub-investment grade, on review for downgrade. It is due in the country this week.
“This is not a great time to remind Moody’s of the civil war going on inside the government,” Capital Economics Africa analyst John Ashbourne said.Health experts blame passive overeating for global pandemic, warning in the Lancet that governments must tackle obesity now
Governments around the world need to make immediate and dramatic policy changes to reverse a pandemic of obesity which could affect an extra 11 million people in the UK over the next 20 years, public health scientists have warned.
The call to act – which includes a prediction that almost half of British men could be clinically obese by 2030 – comes in a series of papers published on Friday in the Lancet medical journal.
The journal begins with a strongly-worded editorial arguing that voluntary food industry codes are ineffective and ministers must intervene more directly.
"Without prevention and control of the risk factors for obesity now, health systems will be overwhelmed to breaking point," the editorial says. "Yet governments' reactions so far are wholly inadequate and rely heavily on self-regulation by the food and beverage industry, and the so-called nudge approach."
There was a particular need for leadership ahead of a UN summit in New York next month on preventing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer, said one of the authors, Boyd Swinburn, from the centre for obesity prevention at Melbourne's Deakin University.
"Governments have abdicated responsibility. Like a frog sitting in a pan of hot water, we haven't realised what's been happening until it's too late."
The journal carries four new research papers by academics in the UK, US and Australia on what is termed "the global obesity pandemic", charting its causes, implications, likely progression and the ways it could be reversed.
One study, by Claire Wang from Columbia University's school of public health, uses British and American data to track the possible increase in obesity levels if governments continue with current policies.
Based on around 20 years of historic data, the study says that by 2030 as many as 48% of British men could be obese – having a body mass index of more than 30 – as against 26% now. For women, the figure could rise from 26% to up to 43%.
Such a progression is not certain, particularly given slightly more positive data over recent years. But if the historic trend continues into the next two decades the UK could have 26 million obese people, up 11 million on the current figure.
Swinburn's paper comes up with a clear primary culprit: a powerful global food industry "which is producing more processed, affordable, and effectively-marketed food than ever before".
He said an "increased supply of cheap, palatable, energy-dense foods", coupled with better distribution and marketing, had led to "passive overconsumption".
Another study by Steven Gortmaker from Harvard University's school of public health, concludes that the response by governments has been a failure of will which mirrored previous struggles to tackle tobacco consumption.
Ministers knew it made sense to crack down on junk foods but did not have the political appetite to take on such a huge industry.
"I think governments get it, but don't know what to do about it, and don't think it's their responsibility. But it is their responsibility," he said.
His study lists eight cost-effective policies. Topped by a tax on unhealthy food and drink, the rest focus on shielding children from TV advertising or ensuring they exercise more.
The Lancet carries a comment by Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to the government, carried in large type across the cover: "The conclusions are unambiguous. We need collaborative societal changes in many aspects of our environment to avoid the morbid consequences of overweight and obesity."
A better-informed diet
One of the Lancet papers covers the necessary calculations to lose weight, and brings bad news for those using the long-held rule of thumb that a reduction of 500 calories per day will see a steady weight loss of about 1lb (just under half a kilo) per week.
Kevin Hall from the US's National Institute of Health, said: "This is wrong. It just doesn't happen."
Apart from the many variables of genetics and personal circumstance, this rule of thumb ignores the way the body's metabolism tends to slow down when weight is lost, the reason many diet gains soon tail off.
Hall has devised a far more sophisticated web-based model which allows people to take account of this effect, as well as factors such as exercise, to plot a more likely weight loss progression.
The new simplified rule seems to be that 10 calories fewer per day will also lose you about 1lb – but over three years.
• This article was amended on 26 August 2011. The orginal said the body's metabolism tended to speed up when weight was lost. This has been corrected.Free Stock Footage
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New Videos Added DailyThis summer, hardly a day has gone by without someone or something from Florida dominating the headlines in America.
First to hit the front page: Glenn Greenwald unveiling top-secret information. Greenwald grew up in Florida and even ran twice for political office in Lauderdale Lakes (he lost).
Then came the trial of Sanford neighbourhood watchman George Zimmerman for the killing of unarmed passerby Trayvon Martin. Jurors said afterwards that they acquitted him because of Florida’s controversial ‘Stand Your Ground’ law on self-defence.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
Then a Major League Baseball scandal broke, involving Alex Rodriguez and a dozen other players accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs at a clinic in Miami, where Rodriguez was once a star high-school athlete. Then Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who also grew up in Miami, bought the Washington Post. And on it went.
Those of us who live in Florida are familiar with this phenomenon. When a major story makes headlines, the rest of America says, “Wow!” or “What the…?” But we Floridians say, “Where’s the Florida connection?”.
We know there must be one. The 9/11 hijackers took their flight training here. The Boston Marathon bombing led to an FBI shoot-out here. Remember the Watergate break-in that brought down Richard Nixon? The burglars hailed from Florida.
To people outside Florida, our major exports appear to be citrus and sunburns. But Floridians know that our primary export is news – mostly those strange stories that set the world’s tongues wagging. Where else would school officials think it a good idea to base a children’s summer camp on The Hunger Games?
Over the years, such authors as John D MacDonald, Charles Willeford and the recently departed Elmore Leonard have well depicted the dark side of the Sunshine State. Carl Hiaasen, the Miami Herald columnist who created his own genre of wacky Florida thrillers, always boasts that he doesn’t make anything up for his fiction. He just reads the papers.
Spend some time here and you’ll see what he means. This is the state where a driver wearing a Darth Vader mask attacked the state trooper who pulled him over. This is the place where a roving rhesus monkey not only evaded capture for three years but also earned itself a profile in The New York Times. This is where a high-school student was arrested for a science experiment, where police used a Taser to subdue a runaway kangaroo, where an undercover federal agent masqueraded as a gorilla.
I love it here. I’m a native Floridian married to another native Floridian. I grew up hunting in Florida’s forests, fishing in its lakes, canoeing its rivers. I love taking my kids to the beach to swim and hunt for shells. So far we haven’t found a single swordfish eyeball or floating bale of marijuana, unlike other Florida beachcombers, but I keep hoping.
From a lifetime of reading and reporting Florida news, I know my state is full of avid nudists, armed Wiccans, ardent UFO spotters, uniformed Scientologists, python wranglers, gator-trappers and freelance buttocks-enhancers. To me, Florida is the most fascinating state of the 50. It’s a place where tragedy often wears the mask of comedy and you never suffer an irony deficiency. Just this month, a Miami man confessed on Facebook to killing his wife, even posting a photo of her body. He’s the author of a book titled How I Saved Someone’s Life and Marriage and Family Problems Thru Communication.
Florida is the Land of Flowers but also the Land of the Face-Eating Zombie. We have an abundance of natural beauty – gin-clear springs, sugar-sand beaches, glorious sunsets – and oodles of nutty behaviour. For instance, consider the bowler from Jupiter who tucked a gun in his pocket and on his backswing accidentally shot himself.
Odd things happen everywhere, but more odd news seems to happen in Florida than anywhere else. Plus, our weird news always seems weirder than anyone else’s. Other places have scammers, but only in Florida do you have the West Palm Beach con artists who raked in $1m by convincing elderly people to buy ‘special’ toilet paper. Other places have thieves, but only in Florida would you find the Gainesville man accused of swiping an entire dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia (it’s been returned). Other places have drug smugglers, but only in Florida would you find the crew who dumped cocaine from a plane only to have it land at a Homestead crime watch meeting, narrowly missing the police chief.
Florida police officers have the toughest job in America. Cops here have to be prepared for anything. A simple wreck on the highway may turn out to involve a truck full of llamas. A potential mail bomb may turn out to be a sex toy. Florida criminals have been known to steal everything from rare orchids to an entire boxing ring.
Of course, dealing with such loony scofflaws may be why so many cops go off the rails. Consider the recent sex scandal involving about half the Lakeland Police Department, where one officer allegedly asked to drink a woman’s urine.
Florida produces so much weird news that at least three blogs and five Twitter accounts now pump this precious resource to the outside world, the most famous being ‘@_FloridaMan’. All the major aggregation sites now recognise Florida stories as major click bait, so they help spread the wildest tales far and wide.
Why does so much weird news happen here? It’s a combination of factors:
OUR WEATHER
The Sunshine State’s subtropical climate has attracted everyone from voodoo priests to circus freaks to retired CIA agents looking for a warm place to chill out. With no snow to keep them cooped up indoors, Floridians are out creating mischief all year long. In the heat, tempers flare quickly and fights erupt over everything from cups of soup (jail riot) to missing shrimp (samurai sword attack and knife throwing). Our judgment clouded by the humidity, we tend to reach for any weapon handy – machetes, lawn gnomes, dead fish, even a frozen raccoon.
OUR GEOGRAPHY
Florida has long been the end of the line for people fleeing their past. We are the state of second, third, and fourth chances. But once they’re here, most folks discover you can’t really get away from your past. In the 1920s, after Carlo Ponzi was busted in Boston for running the original Ponzi scheme, he fled to Florida – where he was caught running a real estate scam.
OUR HISTORY
Floridians have been stubborn and strange right from the start. In 1845, when Florida joined the United States, the first flag that flew over our capital bore the slogan, ‘Let Us Alone’. Florida’s cattle-herding settlers didn’t cut the same romantic figure as the cowboys of the Old West. Artist Frederic Remington described them as “low-browed cow-folks” who would “shoot and stab each other for the possession of scrawny creatures not fit for a pointer-dog to mess on”.
We’ve always been a sunny place full of shady people. In the 1920s, hucksters were using everything from performing elephants to bathing beauties to sell swampland to gullible buyers. By the 1980s, when the TV show Miami Vice and the Al Pacino movie Scarface were burnishing Florida’s public image, so many Key West police officers were on the take that the FBI declared the entire department a continuing criminal enterprise.
In 2000, Florida’s fumble-fingered ballot-counting determined the outcome of the presidential election. A year later, the snarky website fark.com decided Florida generated enough strange news that it deserved its own tag. It remains the only state so honoured.
OUR PEOPLE
Since the Second World War, keeping Florida’s economy afloat has depended on maintaining a constant influx of new residents, prompting The New Yorker magazine to dub us ‘The Ponzi State’.
We went from being the least-populated Southern state in 1940, with 1.8 million residents, to nearly 20 million now – and 95 percent are crammed in within 35 miles of the state’s long coastline. This human tsunami rapidly altered the state, bringing in the young, the old, whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics and a host of other census classifications, all bumping up against each other, ramming into each other’s cars, loudly objecting to whatever their neighbours are doing.
Each year these residents are joined by hordes of tourists bumbling around. (The number of visitors may be higher than we realise, considering how many reports of flying saucers are regularly filed.) The tourists do dumb things – such as the Illinois newlywed on his honeymoon who was busted in a Polk County prostitution sting. The residents do dumb things, too – such as the burglar in Silver Springs Shores, who snorted containers full of human and canine ashes, thinking they were drugs.
Exacerbating all these conflicts is the fact that when it comes to government spending on mental health, Florida ranks 49th.
OUR POLITICIANS
A study released last year found that, from 2000 to 2010, Florida led all the other states in total convictions of officials and staff who broke federal public corruption laws.
When our political leaders aren’t breaking the rules, they’re coming up with new ways to embarrass themselves. For instance, our legislators banned gay marriage, but later discovered they had never outlawed bestiality. Our current governor, Rick Scott, gave out a hotline number for dealing with a meningitis outbreak, except it turned out to be for a phone-sex line.
The consequences of such leadership can be serious. The ‘Stand Your Ground’ law was based on a mangled anecdote about a Pensacola shooting where that law would not have applied. A newspaper investigation found it’s now being used to free gang members involved in shoot-outs and drug dealers who argue with customers, but legislators won’t even consider repeal.
Still, Florida’s politicians are more entertaining than the duly elected dullards elsewhere. We’ve had candidates who hired hit men to take out opponents, who claimed to be the target of voodoo priests, who bragged that they warded off the Mayan apocalypse by dancing on a rooftop. Former governor Lawton Chiles showed up at his second inauguration with a potato gun and began firing spuds at his mansion.
OUR SENSE OF ALWAYS TEETERING ON THE EDGE OF DISASTER
When you live in Florida, you spend half the year watching for hurricanes. Otherwise you’re watching for lightning strikes, shark bites, stingray barbs, alligator attacks, coyote packs and the occasional centenarian driver who has confused the brake and accelerator. |
GHz. As an "X" processor, the R7 1800X gets the benifit of XFR (Extended Frequency Range) that boosts the clock speed up another 100MHz when you have additional thermal headroom. The R7 1700X is clocked a bit lower at 3.4GHz with a boost clock speed of 3.8GHz and XFR boost up to 3.9GHz when you have the thermal head room. Both of the "X" processors in the product stack have a 95W TDP. The R7 1700 is the 65W TDP part and has correspondingly lower clock speeds of 3.0GHz with a 3.7GHz boost clock frequency. Even though it is not an "X" part, the R7 1700 sees an XFR boost of up to 50MHz when, again, you have the thermal headroom. Kind of a recurring theme. This lets you know that by attaching the best cooling solution you can buy will, in most circumstances, improve your boost frequency and CPU performance without overclocking.
All three processors are identical as far as pin count and the bottom of the CPU. Each of the processor heat shields are laser etched with the Ryzen logo and SKU specific information, as seen on the Ryzen 7 1700 below.
New for this launch is AMD's AM4 platform that consists of a bifurcated 1331 pin socket that is a combination of the AM3+ and FM2 socket. Therefore we see a slightly higher pin count and spacing between the cooling solution mounting screws and clip style brackets. Five new chipsets with varying capabilities are available for Ryzen processors. The X370 chipset is one of two fully unlocked parts that are built for the enthusiast and mainstream markets. I will be using an X370 board to test these unlocked processors. As the form factor drops, you can see that the capabilities and hardware availability shrink up to allow that smaller form factor.
All of the major partners will have boards available for the enthusiast using the X370 chipset. The X370 Gaming 5 Aorus was supplied with this press kit, so it draws first blood on the test bench. This board is at the top of the Gigabyte 5 series product stack and offers a bunch of gaming centric features. Equally capable are the ASUS Crosshair VI Hero and MSI X370 Gaming XPower. In the past, ASUS ROG Crosshair boards have proven to be the best at getting the most from AMD hardware. It should prove interesting to see if that holds true with this round of hardware, as all three look loaded for bear.
If all the press and rumors pan out, this should be an interesting test! Let's see if AMD has truly delivered on its goals!Rando Ayamine and Hikaru Arashima's Majestic Prince manga resumed publication in the December issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Hero's magazine on Friday. The manga's 14th compiled volume will ship on December 29.
The manga went on hiatus in August due to health reasons for Arashima.
The franchise's story follows humanity after it expanded its frontier into space in a quest for resources. Advances in genetic engineering research allow humans to adapt to the new frontier, leading to the advent of evolved children such as the protagonist Izuru. Izuru enrolls in an academy city called Gurantseere to fulfill his mission of "protecting humanity."
The franchise began as a multimedia project from Fields. Ayamine and Arashima launched the manga in Monthly Hero's in 2011, and Shogakukan published the manga's 13th compiled book volume on April 5. A television anime ran for 24 episodes in 2013. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan, and Sentai Filmworks released the anime on home video in North America in 2014 with an English dub.
Fields and Yūsuke Ozaki launched a manga adaptation titled Ginga Kikōtai Majestic Prince in Kadokawa's Newtype Ace magazine in 2012. Ozaki ended the manga in October 2013.
The franchise received a new film last November, as well as a brand-new "episode 25" for the television anime last September to bridge the plot of the television anime to the new film.Canadian Journalists for Free Expression among groups present for talks
Journalists advocating for better treatment of reporters during protests are feeling confident after a closed meeting between local journalists and the Montreal police Monday morning.
The meeting was moderated by Tom Henheffer, executive director of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and attended by members of the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
“We cannot change what happened in the past, but today we met to ensure the police and the independent press could cooperate with a mutual respect for each other’s work and each other’s safety,” said Henheffer at a press conference across the street from Montreal police headquarters on St. Urbain street. “This meeting is the start of an ongoing conversation we plan to have with the police.”
Henheffer said the members of the independent media pledged to obey police orders and not obstruct police during protests. In return, the Montreal police agreed to recognize the rights of the independent press and allow them to cover protests.
Henheffer also said the SPVM is working to create guidelines for journalists, giving reporters an idea of how far back they should be from arrests or police lines and even an idea of police tactics to ensure journalists remain out of the way of any maneuvers. While the guidelines haven’t been created yet, Henheffer said he feels the SPVM will be reasonable.
“It’ll be an ongoing conversation,” he said. “I’m sure that they will be willing to talk about them at the very least. Whether we can get them to move on [any rules], I’m not completely sure on that.”
Matt D’Amours, a journalist with The Link and 99% Media who has been covering Montreal protests for years, feels confident about the new understanding between journalists and Montreal police.
“Nobody is under the illusion that change is going to happen right away,” he said. “But we have taken a very important step towards starting a dialogue with the [Montreal police] to make sure the situation and conditions of journalists—whether they be independent, mainstream or otherwise—will improve, and also the police can do their job without us interfering.”
D’Amours said he hopes conditions for journalists improve so independent and student journalists can cover protests without the fear of retribution.Maulana Mahmood Madani said ‘the central agencies even before something is proved, is leaking things is creating problems for entire community’.
Accusing central agencies and Ministry of Home Affairs of being involved in witchhunting in the Burdwan blast case, Jamat-Ulama-e-Hind general secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani on Wednesday alleged that a conspiracy is on to “tarnish” the entire Muslim community.
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“If someone is guilty, then he should be punished. But please don’t indulge in witchhunting and tarnish the entire community. The central agencies even before something is proved, is leaking things about raids in madrasas which in turn is creating problems for the entire community,” he said.
“What was the central agencies and the Home Ministry doing when such activities were going on? If any unlawful thing is going on in madrasas and it is proved, we will fully cooperate with the agencies,” Madani said.
Madrasas operating in Bengal and throughout India work for the benefit of the masses, he asserted.
NIA, which is investigating the Burdwan blast, is probing links with suspected al-Qaeda and Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists with Simulia madrasa in the district as the accused were believed to have been indoctrinated there.
“A conspiracy is being hatched to malign the entire community. We have to fight against this community. I must say that the condition of Muslims in India is much better than their counterparts in other countries of the Indian sub continent.
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“India belongs to all communities. During partition, we had the option of leaving India but our forefathers choose to be part of India. But if such kind of vilification campaign continues against us, then it will alienate the entire community,” he added.While the ZTE Axon was launched as an unlocked phone sold straight to consumers, ZTE gave it support for T-Mobile band 12 LTE, VoLTE, and Wi-Fi Calling. Now the follow-up is official, and ZTE says that it supports T-Mo, too.
The ZTE Axon 7 is a high-end Android 6.0 phone with a 5.5-inch 2560×1440 AMOLED display. There are front-facing speakers at the top and bottom of that screen, as well as an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. ‘Round back there’s a 20-megapixel camera with an f/1.8 aperture, phase detection autofocus, and optical image stabilization, as well as a fingerprint reader.
Inside of the Axon 7’s 7.9mm-thick body lives a Snapdragon 820 processor, 3250mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support, USB Type-C, and NFC. One model of the Axon 7 will include 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, while the second version will bump things up to 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a Force Touch display, too. However, both phones include microSD slots for adding more storage.
ZTE touts the Axon 7 as being ready for Daydream, the virtual reality platform that Google announced at I/O. ZTE plans to offer its own VR headset as well.
Rounding out the Axon 7’s feature set is something that’s not a hardware feature, but a customer service one. The Axon 7 includes the Axon Passport Program 2.0, which offers two-year support with unlimited out-of-warranty repairs. ZTE will also ship you replacements or repaired devices for free, and if you want it, ZTE will give you assistance with upgrading, replacements, and setup.
The Axon 7 is launching in China today and will come to the US shortly after. In the US, it’ll be available from ZTE, Amazon, Best Buy, B&H, eBay, and Newegg for a price that ZTE hasn’t officially announced, but promises will be less than $500. ZTE does say that the Axon 7 will be compatible with T-Mobile, complete with band 12 LTE, VoLTE, and Wi-Fi Calling.Why do writers — great writers — write? We’ve heard from George Orwell, Joan Didion, and Susan Sontag. But one of the most poignant answers comes from a somewhat unlikely source: Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920–March 9, 1994) — he both cynical and soulful, and always unapologetically irreverent.
With lines like “unless the sun inside you is / burning your gut,” reminiscent of Ray Bradbury, and “unless it comes out of / your soul like a rocket,” reminiscent of Anaïs Nin, “so you want to be a writer,” from the altogether fantastic volume Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way: New Poems (public library), is a necessary reminder that, contrary to the culturally toxic tortured-genius myth, to create is to celebrate rather than bemoan life.
Enjoy this beautiful reading by Tom O’Bedlam, who also gave us Dorianne Laux’s sublime “Antilamentation”:
so you want to be a writer
if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.
if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.
don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.[si_video id="video_10A2A525-A6BA-4BA4-D0CA-C752FA251D3E" height="470"]
The Minnesota Vikings have been a football team with a quarterback problem all season, and they will turn to a third name in Week 7 to try to solve it. The team announced on Wednesday morning that Josh Freeman will start when the Vikings travel to MetLife Stadium to take on the New York Giants on Monday evening.
"I like the things that he’s done in his career along with the things he’s done since he arrived here with our football team," head coach Leslie Frazier said. "The time he’s put in, how well he’s adapting to our system and I like his work ethic. He’s done enough for us to say we want to give him this opportunity, which is something we had in mind when we acquired him. We think now is the time, and our coaching staff is going to do a great job in preparing him and making sure we have a game plan that will allow him to be successful and allow our team to be successful."
The Vikings started the 2013 season with Christian Ponder as their starting quarterback, but that was based as much on Ponder's status as the team's first-round pick in 2011 than anything he's done on the field. Minnesota signed veteran Matt Cassel to be Ponder's backup before the season, and the two have combined to complete 107 passes in 169 attempts for 1,180 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions. Ponder suffered a rib injury in the third game of the season against the Cleveland Browns, and Cassel didn't do much in Ponder's stead.
That's why Frazier and general manager Rick Spielman pulled the trigger on Freeman after he was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 3 after a long battle with head coach Greg Schiano. The Vikings acquired Freeman three days later, and signed him to a one-year, $3 million contract.
One day after the Vikings lost to the Carolina Panthers, 35-10, Frazier was asked about his plans at the quarterback position, and when he'd be able to name a starter.
"I’d like to by the time we get back and practice on Wednesday, which is a shorter practice, have an idea which guy is going to be leading our team," he said. "We’re going to talk about it today and tomorrow because we’ve got to put the gameplan together. We’re going to try to have a conclusion by Wednesday so we can go out and get that guy the reps he needs for the game."
Now, Freeman is that guy. He has two-thirds of a season to prove that he has what it takes to be the team's long-term future -- or, at the very least, up his value on the free-agent market prior to the 2014 season. In three games for the Buccaneers before he was benched in favor of rookie Mike Glennon, Freeman completed 43 passes in 94 attempts for 571 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Freeman was the Bucs' first-round pick in 2009, and rocked the Vikings' defense last Oct. 25 in a 36-17 Tampa Bay win. He threw for three touchdowns and made decisive throws in the face of pressure, while also frustrating with some head-scratching incompletions.
That's been Freeman's modus operandi through most of his career, but the Vikings are ready to see if they can turn that around.posted by Darryl on 10 Dec 2014
In this post I'm going to discuss some of the design issues encountered while implementing Language Engine, specifically the issue of plural noun phrases.
First, I need to briefly introduce some basic ideas about the meanings of sentences. Suppose that we want to interpret the sentence "Vir stabbed the Emperor" into some logical form as the meaning. A very traditional approach to this would be to assign it the meaning
stabbed(vir,emperor)
You could interpret this as a boolean expression, which is quite common in logic, or you could interpret this as just some piece of abstract syntax, or any other number of things. How you get this from the sentence doesn't really matter for my purposes here.
To represent the relationship of sentence to meaning, we'll write
[[Vir stabbed the Emperor]] = stabbed(vir,emperor)
with the double brackets indicating the function that interprets English into the logic.
This approach to meanings works pretty nicely for all sorts of sentences, and works especially well for mathematics and programming, where plurality is absent, or at least very different from in natural language. However, when we begin to consider the meanings of sentences with plural noun phrases such as "John and Susan" or "the pilots", things get a bit more interesting.
Consider, for a start, the sentence "John spoke", which we might take to mean
[[John spoke]] = spoke(john)
If we use a plural subject noun phrase instead, such as "John and Susan spoke", what could this mean? On the one hand, there's a reading in which each of them spoke separately, so that we might say something like
[[John and Susan spoke]] = spoke(john) & spoke(susan)
but there is another reading in which they spoke to one another. What would the meaning of that be? Would we need a different predicate, perhaps as in
[[John and Susan spoke]] = spoke2(john,susan)
If we took this route, things get very messy, as we add more and more people to the subject noun phrase.
But perhaps we don't need to do any of this at all. One solution that's been proposed is that the reading where they speak to each other is actually an assumption that's made. That is to say, perhaps it only has the conjunctive meaning
spoke(john) & spoke(susan)
and we simply assume, barring indications to the contrary, that they were speaking to one another. After all, they can't speak to one another without speaking-full-stop, and it's pretty common that when someone speaks, they're speaking to someone, so it seems reasonable to assume that they were speaking to one another, right? Maybe we don't need anything fancy after all. We'd still need to figure out what was going on with this noun phrase tho, but that goes back to the question of how we derive meanings from sentences, which I said we'll ignore.
Unfortunately this won't always work. While it's certainly possible to do this with "spoke", other verbs are more complicated. Consider "lift", as in "John and Susan lifted the crate". Now, this can perfectly well mean that each of them lifted the crate on their own, as in
lifted(john,crate) & lifted(susan,crate)
but it's entirely possible to say this to mean that they together lifted the crate. We probably don't want to use a conjunctive meaning for this reading, however, because unlike speaking, it might be that neither of them did, or even could lift the crate on their own. That is to say, while it's true that knowing "John and Susan spoke" lets us conclude "John spoke" — which the conjunctive meaning
spoke(john) & spoke(susan)
makes possibly with some trivial logic, it's not the case that "John and Susan lifted the crate" lets us conclude "John lifted the crate", and in fact they might not be strong enough for either of them to lift the crate independently. So what could the meaning of this sentence be, since we can't push this problem into an assumption like we did before?
Here's another sentence with similar properties: "the Starfuries surrounded the vessel". Here it's definitely not the case that any individual Starfury surrounded the vessel — that would be a pretty big Starfury! Huge even! What happened was, the group of them surrounded the vessel, encircling it or whatever.
So something has to be done to figure this out. What could be a solution? The easiest thing to do, arguably, is to just have sets of entities as the arguments to predicates. For singular noun phrases, we get singleton sets, for plurals, we get non-singleton sets. What could be simpler? Now we can just say:
[[Vir stabbed the Emperor]] = stabbed({vir}, {emperor})
[[John spoke]] = spoke({john})
[[John and Susan spoke]] = spoke({john}) & spoke({susan})
(for one reading)
[[John and Susan spoke]] = spoke({john,susan}) (for the other reading)
[[John and Susan lifted the crate]] = lifted({john,susan}, {crate})
[[the Starfuries surrounded the vessel]]
= surrounded({sf0,sf1,sf2},{vessel})
Hooray, we've got a solution to the problem! We're done, right? Well, maybe not. This solution is less than ideal for at least two reasons.
Firstly, sentences like "John lifted the crate with Susan" should mean more or less the same thing as "John and Susan lifted the crate" on the collective-lifting reading, but there is no single noun phrase that has both John and Susan, so we would need some really rather fancy way to get that single set from two distinct noun phrases.
And secondly, we want to store these predicates — stabbed, spoke, lifted, surrounded — in a database, we would need to have compound data columns, which can be rather nasty since these sets can be arbitrarily large. Logically it's no problem, but computationally it's a bit of a mess to have that.
Is there an alternative way of representing meanings that will let us avoid these two problems? In the next post, I'll introduce some tools that will let us give a "yes" answer.
If you have comments or questions, get it touch. I'm @psygnisfive on Twitter, augur on freenode (in #languagengine and #haskell). Here's the HN thread if you prefer that mode, and also the Reddit threads.North Korea's foreign minister warned Saturday that a strike against the U.S. mainland is "inevitable" because President Trump mocked leader Kim Jong Un with the belittling nickname "little rocketman."
U.S. bombers, escorted by fighter jets, flew off the North Korean coast in a show of force shortly before Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho strode to the podium to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York, capping an extraordinary week of militaristic threats from both nations before an organization founded to maintain international peace and security.
Ri said that Trump's bombast had made "our rockets' visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable" and linked it to Trump's insulting shorthand references to Kim.
Harsh sanctions placed on North Korea's trade with the outside world will have no impact on its ability to complete building a nuclear bomb capable of reaching the United States, Ri said, suggesting that stage is imminent.
[North Korea’s foreign minister is speaking at the U.N. Who is he?]
"Through such a prolonged and arduous struggle, now we are finally only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state nuclear force," he said.
"It is only a forlorn hope to consider any chance that the DPRK would be shaken an inch or change its stance due to the harsher sanctions by the hostile forces," he said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
In response to Ri's threats at the U.N., Trump tweeted Saturday night: "If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!"
A mass rally was also held Saturday in central Pyongyang to express support for "final victory" over the United States, the regime's KCNA news agency reported. The rally in Kim Il Sung square was attended by over 100,000 people, KCNA reported, "full of the spirit of annihilating the enemies." Speaking at the rally, a Pyongyang official said the people of the capital were "aflame" with the desire to wipe their sworn enemy, the U.S. imperialists, off the globe.
The rhetoric between Trump and Kim has grown exceptionally personal. At a rally Friday night in Alabama, Trump called Kim "little rocketman," magnifying the disparaging label he slung at Kim in his U.N. speech Tuesday in which he threatened that the United States would "totally destroy" North Korea in defense of itself or its allies. He said Kim was on a "suicide mission."
[Amid new sanctions, Trump calls North Korea’s leader ‘madman’ whose regime will face new tests]
Kim, in turn, called Trump a "frightened dog" and a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard." Ri echoed those sentiments Saturday, calling the president a "mentally deranged person full of megalomania" and at one point referring to him as "President Evil."
Ri emphasized that North Korea has the know-how to carry out its threat. He said Pyongyang has a hydrogen bomb that can fit on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
On Friday, Ri said Korea was prepared to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.
"Trump might not have been aware what is uttered from his mouth, but we will make sure that he bears consequences far beyond his words, far beyond the scope of what he can handle even if he is ready to do so," Ri said.
On Friday, Trump kept up his verbal fusillade against Kim, tweeting that Kim is a "madman" who will be "tested like never before."
The heated exchanges between Trump and North Korea's leader come as diplomatic pressure may be starting to bear fruit. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week that sanctions are beginning to have an effect.
China, North Korea's economic lifeline, has gradually imposed greater economic sanctions on its neighbor, including caps on oil. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order giving the Treasury Department more authority to cut off trade that helps finance North Korea's weapons and nuclear programs.
While Tillerson has insisted that diplomacy still has a chance to work, military force appears to be increasing as an option.
Just before Ri spoke at the U.N., the Pentagon disclosed that the U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flew in international airspace east of North Korea. The Pentagon said it was the farthest point north of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea that any U.S. planes have flown in this century.
South Korea's presidential office said Seoul and Washington had coordinated closely over the deployment of the U.S. bombers, calling it one of the most effective countermeasures against the advancement of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, South Korean media reported.
The bombers took off from an air base in Guam, which North Korea has threatened to target. They were escorted by F-15C fighter jets from Okinawa, Japan.
Simon Denyer in Beijing contributed to this story.[WARNING: This article features some assertions founded on cod psychology and what I like to term'reasonable speculation' – like an educated guess; it may be reasonable, but without a copy of the Bucs' offensive playbook, it is still ultimately speculation. Still, isn't every article written about football, without being privy to both a team's playbook and every interaction between the people concerned, ultimately just speculation? Anyway, obviously I believe that the assertions I will be making are correct, or as close as anyone can get to the truth without planting bugs all over One Buc Place – and I'm not Mickey Loomis]
It can't be easy, being LeGarrette Blount. I'm sure you all already know the story: at one time projected to be a high pick in the NFL Draft, he saw his draft stock plummet after 'that' incident, to the point where he went undrafted in 2010. Picked up by Tennessee, he made it through camp with the Titans before being released when the roster was cut down to 53, before being claimed by the Bucs. After spending a few games undressed, as it were, while he learnt the offense, Blount had an explosive rookie season, rushing for over 1000 yards in just seven starts, averaging 5 yards a carry and ripping off the kind of highlight-reel runs that will stay part of the random medley of big plays that NFL Network use to advertise some show or other. Entering 2011 as one of the Bucs' rising stars (whenever I need to be reminded how hindsight can make a fool of us all, I pull out the programme from that season's International Series game against the Bears and flip to the multi-page article anointing Josh Freeman, Mike Williams & Blount as the unquestionable heirs to the "Triplets" of Aikman, Irvin and Smith), it seemed LeGarrette Blount was munching down on a big ol' slice of validation cake, another sporting Cinderella story come true...
...until the Bucs collapsed in the most spectacular implosion since the Sears Merchandising Center (and no, I can never turn down an opportunity for a good implosion video on Youtube). It appeared clear that most, if not all, of the players had literally quit on the season - and yet, it seems that Blount was held up in the eyes of many as one of the main reasons the Bucs' offense was underwhelming (only exacerbated by being unduly thrown under the bus by a desperate Raheem Morris), leading to a whole swathe of the Buccaneer faithful demanding that the front office do whatever it would have taken to guarantee that Trent Richardson would be wearing pewter and red in 2012. When new head coach Greg Schiano stated he wanted a 'bell-cow' running back, many took it as read that Blount would not be that particular heifer, while admitting to the media that he did not want the Bucs to take a running back at no.5served only to further embolden those demanding his head on a platter - ok, it was poor media technique on Blount's part, but are you really blaming a turkey for not voting for Christmas (and/or Thanksgiving) with a smile on its beak? If Schiano's comments weren't enough of a sign that Blount's long-term future with the team was far, far from assured, it was telling that LeGarrette, an 'exclusive rights free agent' that offseason, received only an ERFA tender, implying that the incoming coaching staff had not seen enough of Blount to feel he figured as part of the long-term solution.
As we now know, the Bucs did end up taking a first round running back when they traded back in for Doug "No, You Will Never Escape The Nickname 'Muscle Hamster'" Martin - giving the Bucs potential for a dynamic rushing game that could have torn defenses apart. Instead, Greg Schiano stuck true to his word, and in defiance of a majority of NFL teams eschewed the 'committee' approach in favour of Martin as his bell-cow. No-one can realistically argue that Martin isn't the more talented back, nor that he shouldn't have received the lion's share of carries in 2012. Still, there absolutely could have been a valuable role for Blount in the offense, abusing worn-out defenses tired out from chasing Martin to help control the clock and dictate the pace of the game. And yet, calling Blount an afterthought in the Buccaneer offense would be generous, especially after that goal-line series in the first game against the Saints. After that game, Blount only received sixteen more touches all season. In the short term, a massive reduction in Blount's carries could easily be justified - the very next game saw Martin truly explode in a Thursday night showcase against the Vikings, followed up by a performance for the ages in Oakland before breaking Walter Payton's record for most yards from scrimmage in a three-game span when San Diego came to town. Every good coach knows to ride the hot hand, and it was clear that Martin's appendage was practically combusting; to give Blount, or any other running back, carries over Martin during that mini-streak would have been ludicrous, unless (and only unless) it would have been a measure to preserve Martin's health.
Yet, later in the season when Martin appeared to come back down to the realm of the human, there were absolutely times when Blount should have had his number called - in particular (and somewhat ironically), the away leg of the series against New Orleans, when Martin averaged only a paltry 1.78 yards a carry (though as we will go on to see, this is without doubt not all Martin's fault), was the perfect time for Schiano to unleash Blount. Yet #27 remained on the sideline until the game was far beyond salvation; as clear sign as any that Mike Sullivan, Schiano or a combination of both did not have faith in Blount's abilities. This was not a case of passing over Blount because of how well Martin was doing, clearly; this was Blount in Schiano's dog house. Come the end of the season, and there were many questioning whether Blount, due to be a restricted free agent, would be brought back at all, and after an odd rumour that the Bucs were considering placing a first-round tender on him, he ended up being offered a 1-year contract worth less than a second-round tender - and more importantly, a contract at a price that makes him a viable tradeable commodity. With reports abound that the team are actively trying to trade him just two seasons after he appeared to be the running back of the future for the Bucs, it really can't be easy being LeGarrette Blount.
So how did Blount go from the SportsCenter superstar of the 40+ yard-runs, with hurdles and trucking abound, to a permanent seat in the head honcho's pooch-pad? There's a few possible answers. One theory floated by the anti-Blount camp, motivated but some irrational and entirely unjustified grudge born of uneducated delusion, is that it was directly tied to the scurrilous and so-far unsubstantiated rumours that Blount was so bereft of study skills, or even the most basic level of organisation, that the team had to effectively hire a nanny to wake Blount up and make sure he got to OBP on time. Leaving aside my own personal opinion on such stories offered without a scrap of supporting evidence (*cough*bullsh-t*cough*), such tall tales seem hard to reconcile with the anecdote Mark Dominik relayed to the press about LeGarrette's pre-draft visit to the team facility, where he was the only one of the visiting players to wear a suit, and made sure to visit the team's cafeteria kitchens to personally thank the chefs. Now, if you wanted to take a cynical view on such behaviour - and you may be right to - you might argue that such actions were not genuine but rather a ploy to make him seem more humble than he actually is. Perhaps, perhaps not; but it left a mark on Dominik, and it at least showed Blount had the forethought to ingratiate himself with the Buccaneer organisation; would someone who either was genuinely humble on his pre-draft visit, or had the presence of mind to put on the airs of humility in order to make an impression, be so badly organised or immature that he needed a permanent carer at the Glazers' expense? Oh, I'm sure he was late on occasion - the folly of youth and the lures of fame make for an unhealthy combination - but do you really think he would have been the lone player guilty of such a crime? Let he (or she) without a single 'late' mark on the attendance sheets of the schools or colleges cast the first angrily-typed comment.
So, if we discard this theory (as I believe we rightly should), what else could explain the absence of Blount in the Tampa Bay gameplan, even when Martin was going through less-impressive performances than those we had come to expect from #22? Some will point to the career-low 3.7 yards Blount picked up per carry, or the lone reception he caught going for a mere two yards. Others will point specifically to the infamous goal-to-go downs against the Saints as to why Blount did not deserve to have a greater role on the offense. Others yet will trump up the old claims about his alleged uselessness in pass-protection likewise warrants more time spent on the bench than the field.
Reading this, you may be nodding your head with those statements, agreeing that such stats and statements should translate to Blount being but a minor part of the offense - if part of the team at all. You may even believe those baseless rumours I mentioned earlier. Alternatively, you may hold a different opinion on Blount - an opinion that remembers the excitement he brought every time he touched the ball, or the games when he single handedly became the motor of the offense and drove the team to success (such as the home game against the Panthers in 2010, or the come-from-behind victory against the 2011 Vikings in Week Two); an opinion that recognises that Blount does not exist in a vacuum, but rather that there are a multitude of factors that influence whether a player is bound for success or doomed to failure. This article is written from the second opinion. I will not argue that Blount should receive more carries than Martin - he shouldn't - or that he is a complete player (as he stands now) - he isn't. I will argue that Blount is an absolute weapon that could (and should) be deployed to devastating effect - if used correctly. I will likewise argue that many of the faults seen in his game are either at least partly |
of America in 2017, ruled by two right-wing, oligarchic parties that can and will tolerate no political opposition.
The entire premise of “Russian collusion” is made up out of whole cloth, aimed at explaining away the Democrats’ own hemorrhaging support among broad sections of the population and pinning their electoral defeat on the very existence of an alternative to the two-party system.
In her book, What Happened, Clinton fumed that “the Russians targeted propaganda to undecided voters and to ‘soft’ Clinton supporters who might be persuaded to stay home or support a third-party candidate.”
She continued, “Perhaps this is one reason why third-party candidates received more than five million more votes in 2016 than they had in 2012. That was an aim of both the Russians and the Republicans, and it worked,” resulting in Clinton’s loss.
Now, the Democrats are using their institutional power to pursue a vendetta against a party they blame for having contributed to their electoral defeat.
The reason the third party vote grew in 2016 was not Russian “meddling,” but because millions of people hated the candidates of the two big business parties. The Democratic Party is leading the attack on political opposition within the United States because it feels itself under siege from popular sentiment, which is on the whole moving to the left.
For this reason, the Democratic Party has lashed out with a series of provocations, from allegations of Russian “meddling” to the hysteria surrounding sexual misconduct. All the while, it has created the most favorable possible conditions for the Republicans to pass a massive reduction in corporate taxes, a policy that enjoys bipartisan support.
The old tropes of the most right-wing sections of the Republican Party at the height of Cold War McCarthyism—in which the foreign policy setbacks of US imperialism and all political dissent were presented as the result of a conspiracy of foreign infiltrators and left-wing agitators—have been adopted by the Democratic Party.
The Senate’s investigation of the Green Party comes as figures like Warner and House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Adam Schiff are pressing for mass political censorship by technology companies, and as the FCC has ruled to revoke net neutrality, giving internet service providers free reign to block access to oppositional web sites.
The targeting of the Green Party marks a new stage in the drive to criminalize dissent and political opposition within the United States as the ruling elite prepares yet another onslaught on the social rights of the working class and draws up plans for “great power” conflicts that threaten a new world war.
Statement of the Political Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US)
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.LAS VEGAS -- Miguel Cotto, who plans to retire at the end of the year, has big plans for his career finale, which is due to take place on Dec. 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
There's a good chance he will fight the winner of the middleweight world title showdown between unified champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) and Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs), assuming the victor is not banged up from what is expected to be a hellacious battle on Saturday (HBO PPV, 8 p.m. ET) at the T-Mobile Arena.
"It's the best way to say goodbye to boxing," Cotto told ESPN on Thursday night at the MGM Grand.
Miguel Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) says his fight in December will be his last. Rich Schultz/Getty Images
Cotto is in town for the fight and to talk to his promoters at Golden Boy about the possibility of making a deal to fight the winner in what would be a major HBO PPV event. Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy, said it's a fight the company is interested in and that Alvarez is interested as well. He also said Alvarez has wanted to fight in New York, where he has never boxed.
Further, Gomez said he and Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler, who have a good relationship, have talked, and it's a fight in which Golovkin is interested.
"Miguel has said he is going to retire at the end of the year and he wants to go out with a bang," Gomez said. "A fight with the winner of Saturday's fight would be a really big fight. Miguel Cotto has fought everyone and been in a lot of big fights. This would be a great way for him to go out."
Editor's Picks Gennady Golovkin finally gets the fight he wants against Canelo Alvarez The biggest problem throughout Gennady Golovkin's professional career has been finding a worthy opponent. Not anymore. After years of failing to get Canelo Alvarez in the ring, Golovkin is finally getting what he wants.
Alvarez outpointed Cotto in May 2015 in a popular pay-per-view fight to win the lineal middleweight title before vacating. Cotto was out of the ring for nearly two years before signing with Golden Boy and returning to easily outpoint Yoshihiro Kamegai on Aug. 26 to win a vacant junior middleweight belt.
But Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs), 36, the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four weight classes -- middleweight, junior middleweight, welterweight and junior welterweight -- said he would have no issue going back to middleweight for a chance to fight the winner of Saturday's fight in another huge event.
"No matter what happens or who I fight in the next fight, I am here to do the best I can," Cotto said. "I'm here to do whatever is the best for us, Golden Boy and Miguel Cotto."
Cotto said he doesn't much care who wins Saturday's fight. He just wants to face the winner, be it a rematch with Alvarez or a fresh fight against GGG.
"It's going to be a tough fight between them. Whatever happens, I am leaving the ring Dec. 31," Cotto said. "I will have the last fight of my career in December, and fighting the winner would be a good way to go out. I would be proud to have that fight."If you don’t know, I’m pretty excited about this. Every vegan I’ve ever met in real life has said the hardest thing to give up was cheese and every non vegan has told me that they would never be able to give up cheese. Fortunately, due to amazing chefs like Miyoko Schinner, Jay Astafa, Somer McGowan, and Skye Michael Conroy, we are able to enjoy cheese-like products, without the cruelty. I’ve made several forays into the world of vegan cheese and learned a lot of different techniques from many different recipes. The particular recipe that I drew inspiration from for this is the cashew mozzarella developed by Jay Astafa. You can watch the YouTube video here. I noticed he uses soy lecithin as an emulsifier, which aquafaba has been shown to do in recipes like Nina’s butter and Peanut Butter and Vegan’s mayo. This inspired me to make this cashew mozzarella using aquafaba as the emulsifier. It also makes this recipe soy free, conveniently, for those who are intolerant.
Vegan cheese doesn’t create casein protein strands like dairy cheeses do, which is why we use tapioca starch to create that stretchy texture. Some places may have it labeled at tapioca flour, but they should be interchangeable. I find mine at an international market for a cheaper price. You can also add a bit of xantham gum to increase the stretchiness. If you don’t have any, feel free to omit it, the cheese will still be delicious! I use vegan lactic acid powder to create that dairy-like tang in this recipe. It’s definitely worth the purchase, but if you cannot buy it, substitute a tablespoon of lemon juice instead. Nutritional yeast also adds to this cheesy flavor. Refined coconut oil helps with firmness upon refrigeration and improves the mouthfeel and melt. Please use coconut oil that is solid at room temperature. Cashews can possibly be subbed for raw sunflower seeds for those with allergies.
Most vegan cheeses use either agar or kappa carrageenan as a binder to be sliceable and shreddable. I choose to use kappa carrageenan, as I prefer the melt and mouthfeel it imparts. I am well aware that many people choose not to consume it and I completely respect that; this recipe may be possible with agar powder, but I have not tested it. If you do test it, please contact me with your results!
Edited to add: Several people have tried with equal amounts of agar and have had a hard time getting it to set. I would suggest doubling the amount of agar powder (use 1 tablespoon and 1 tsp). Xanthan gum will not replace the carrageenan, it’s not a firm binder like carrageenan is, just a thickener.
If you like this recipe, be sure to check out these other vegan cheese recipes:
Meltable Soy-based Mozzarella
Soy/Cashew Buffalo Mozzarella
Smoked Coconut Gouda
Almond Milk Pepperjack
Vegan Mozzarella
Moxarella
The Vegan Meringue group on Facebook is a great place for more aquafaba recipes as well.
Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight or boiled for 15 minutes
• 1 cup aquafaba (preferably chickpea or other light colored bean)
• 2 tbsp tapioca starch
• 2 tsp kappa carrageenan
• 1 tsp lactic acid**
• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
• 3/4 tsp salt*
• 6 tbsp refined coconut oil, melted
*You may need to adjust the salt level a bit lower if using salted aquafaba.
**You can substitute with 1 tbsp lemon juice, but the lactic acid tastes better
Directions:
For video directions by Mary’s Test Kitchen, watch here.
1. Blend softened cashews and aquafaba in a high speed blender until as smooth as possibly. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove any large particles and return to blender.
It should be very smooth after blending.
You may find there are still a few cashew particles if you’re using a lower quality blender or food processor, which is why I recommend straining.
2. Add tapioca starch, carrageenan, lactic acid, nutritional yeast, and salt and pulse in a blender to combine. *Please ignore the xanthan gum in this picture. It is not part of the recipe, but I used it in an early test, which is where this picture is from.
3. Add coconut oil and blend again very briefly. Mixture will be smooth and a little thick.
4. Heat in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat while stirring regularly. It will look like quite lumpy as the tapioca starch activates.
It will eventually turn glossy and smooth, like melted cheese. When it reaches 170°F, it is done. You will see it begin to bubble around the edges and maintain its thickness.
5. Pour into a mold, or scoop balls into ice water for buffalo style mozzarella. Refrigerate for a few hours to fully firm up the cheese before slicing or grating.
6. Alternatively, if you have a Vitamix or other high speed blender, the ingredients can all be blended together until heated thoroughly (over 170°F) and poured into a mold to set. This is currently my preferred method.
Obviously, the best uses of any cheese are either on pizza or fried into mozzarella sticks.Video and full text of President Obama's Gulf oil spill address, as prepared for delivery, appears below.
* * * * *
Good evening. As we speak, our nation faces a multitude of challenges. At home, our top priority is to recover and rebuild from a recession that has touched the lives of nearly every American. Abroad, our brave men and women in uniform are taking the fight to al Qaeda wherever it exists. And tonight, I've returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with you about the battle we're waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens.
On April 20th, an explosion ripped through BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, about forty miles off the coast of Louisiana. Eleven workers lost their lives. Seventeen others were injured. And soon, nearly a mile beneath the surface of the ocean, oil began spewing into the water.
Because there has never been a leak of this size at this depth, stopping it has tested the limits of human technology. That is why just after the rig sank, I assembled a team of our nation's best scientists and engineers to tackle this challenge - a team led by Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and our nation's Secretary of Energy. Scientists at our national labs and experts from academia and other oil companies have also provided ideas and advice.
As a result of these efforts, we have directed BP to mobilize additional equipment and technology. In the coming days and weeks, these efforts should capture up to 90% of the oil leaking out of the well. This is until the company finishes drilling a relief well later in the summer that is expected to stop the leak completely.
Already, this oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced. And unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it is not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days. The millions of gallons of oil that have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico are more like an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years.
But make no mistake: we will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy.
Tonight I'd like to lay out for you what our battle plan is going forward: what we're doing to clean up the oil, what we're doing to help our neighbors in the Gulf, and what we're doing to make sure that a catastrophe like this never happens again.
First, the cleanup. From the very beginning of this crisis, the federal government has been in charge of the largest environmental cleanup effort in our nation's history - an effort led by Admiral Thad Allen, who has almost forty years of experience responding to disasters. We now have nearly 30,000 personnel who are working across four states to contain and cleanup the oil. Thousands of ships and other vessels are responding in the Gulf. And I have authorized the deployment of over 17,000 National Guard members along the coast. These servicemen and women are ready to help stop the oil from coming ashore, clean beaches, train response workers, or even help with processing claims - and I urge the governors in the affected states to activate these troops as soon as possible.
Because of our efforts, millions of gallons of oil have already been removed from the water through burning, skimming, and other collection methods. Over five and a half million feet of boom has been laid across the water to block and absorb the approaching oil. We have approved the construction of new barrier islands in Louisiana to try and stop the oil before it reaches the shore, and we are working with Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida to implement creative approaches to their unique coastlines.
As the clean up continues, we will offer whatever additional resources and assistance our coastal states may need. Now, a mobilization of this speed and magnitude will never be perfect, and new challenges will always arise. I saw and heard evidence of that during this trip. So if something isn't working, we want to hear about it. If there are problems in the operation, we will fix them.
But we have to recognize that despite our best efforts, oil has already caused damage to our coastline and its wildlife. And sadly, no matter how effective our response becomes, there will be more oil and more damage before this siege is done. That's why the second thing we're focused on is the recovery and restoration of the Gulf Coast.
You know, for generations, men and women who call this region home have made their living from the water. That living is now in jeopardy. I've talked to shrimpers and fishermen who don't know how they're going to support their families this year. I've seen empty docks and restaurants with fewer customers - even in areas where the beaches are not yet affected. I've talked to owners of shops and hotels who wonder when the tourists will start to come back. The sadness and anger they feel is not just about the money they've lost. It's about a wrenching anxiety that their way of life may be lost.
I refuse to let that happen. Tomorrow, I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness. And this fund will not be controlled by BP. In order to ensure that all legitimate claims are paid out in a fair and timely manner, the account must and will be administered by an independent, third party.
Beyond compensating the people of the Gulf in the short-term, it's also clear we need a long-term plan to restore the unique beauty and bounty of this region. The oil spill represents just the latest blow to a place that has already suffered multiple economic disasters and decades of environmental degradation that has led to disappearing wetlands and habitats. And the region still hasn't recovered from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. That's why we must make a commitment to the Gulf Coast that goes beyond responding to the crisis of the moment.
I make that commitment tonight. Earlier, I asked Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy, a former governor of Mississippi, and a son of the Gulf, to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan as soon as possible. The plan will be designed by states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists, and other Gulf residents. And BP will pay for the impact this spill has had on the region.
The third part of our response plan is the steps we're taking to ensure that a disaster like this does not happen again. A few months ago, I approved a proposal to consider new, limited offshore drilling under the assurance that it would be absolutely safe - that the proper technology would be in place and the necessary precautions would be taken.
That was obviously not the case on the Deepwater Horizon rig, and I want to know why. The American people deserve to know why. The families I met with last week who lost their loved ones in the explosion - these families deserve to know why. And so I have established a National Commission to understand the causes of this disaster and offer recommendations on what additional safety and environmental standards we need to put in place. Already, I have issued a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling. I know this creates difficulty for the people who work on these rigs, but for the sake of their safety, and for the sake of the entire region, we need to know the facts before we allow deepwater drilling to continue. And while I urge the Commission to complete its work as quickly as possible, I expect them to do that work thoroughly and impartially.
One place we have already begun to take action is at the agency in charge of regulating drilling and issuing permits, known as the Minerals Management Service. Over the last decade, this agency has become emblematic of a failed philosophy that views all regulation with hostility - a philosophy that says corporations should be allowed to play by their own rules and police themselves. At this agency, industry insiders were put in charge of industry oversight. Oil companies showered regulators with gifts and favors, and were essentially allowed to conduct their own safety inspections and write their own regulations.
When Ken Salazar became my Secretary of the Interior, one of his very first acts was to clean up the worst of the corruption at this agency. But it's now clear that the problems there ran much deeper, and the pace of reform was just too slow. And so Secretary Salazar and I are bringing in new leadership at the agency - Michael Bromwich, who was a tough federal prosecutor and Inspector General. His charge over the next few months is to build an organization that acts as the oil industry's watchdog - not its partner.
One of the lessons we've learned from this spill is that we need better regulations better safety standards, and better enforcement when it comes to offshore drilling. But a larger lesson is that no matter how much we improve our regulation of the industry, drilling for oil these days entails greater risk. After all, oil is a finite resource. We consume more than 20% of the world's oil, but have less than 2% of the world's oil reserves. And that's part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile beneath the surface of the ocean - because we're running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water.
For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. For decades, we have talked and talked about the need to end America's century-long addiction to fossil fuels. And for decades, we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge requires. Time and again, the path forward has been blocked - not only by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candor.
The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight. Countries like China are investing in clean energy jobs and industries that should be here in America. Each day, we send nearly $1 billion of our wealth to foreign countries for their oil. And today, as we look to the Gulf, we see an entire way of life being threatened by a menacing cloud of black crude.
We cannot consign our children to this future. The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny.
This is not some distant vision for America. The transition away from fossil fuels will take some time, but over the last year and a half, we have already taken unprecedented action to jumpstart the clean energy industry. As we speak, old factories are reopening to produce wind turbines, people are going back to work installing energy-efficient windows, and small businesses are making solar panels. Consumers are buying more efficient cars and trucks, and families are making their homes more energy-efficient. Scientists and researchers are discovering clean energy technologies that will someday lead to entire new industries.
Each of us has a part to play in a new future that will benefit all of us. As we recover from this recession, the transition to clean energy has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of good, middle-class jobs - but only if we accelerate that transition. Only if we seize the moment. And only if we rally together and act as one nation - workers and entrepreneurs; scientists and citizens; the public and private sectors.
When I was a candidate for this office, I laid out a set of principles that would move our country towards energy independence. Last year, the House of Representatives acted on these principles by passing a strong and comprehensive energy and climate bill - a bill that finally makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy for America's businesses.
Now, there are costs associated with this transition. And some believe we can't afford those costs right now. I say we can't afford not to change how we produce and use energy - because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater.
So I am happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party - as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels. Some have suggested raising efficiency standards in our buildings like we did in our cars and trucks. Some believe we should set standards to ensure that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power. Others wonder why the energy industry only spends a fraction of what the high-tech industry does on research and development - and want to rapidly boost our investments in such research and development.
All of these approaches have merit, and deserve a fair hearing in the months ahead. But the one approach I will not accept is inaction. The one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is too big and too difficult to meet. You see, the same thing was said about our ability to produce enough planes and tanks in World War II. The same thing was said about our ability to harness the science and technology to land a man safely on the surface of the moon. And yet, time and again, we have refused to settle for the paltry limits of conventional wisdom. Instead, what has defined us as a nation since our founding is our capacity to shape our destiny - our determination to fight for the America we want for our children. Even if we're unsure exactly what that looks like. Even if we don't yet know precisely how to get there. We know we'll get there.
It is a faith in the future that sustains us as a people. It is that same faith that sustains our neighbors in the Gulf right now.
Each year, at the beginning of shrimping season, the region's fishermen take part in a tradition that was brought to America long ago by fishing immigrants from Europe. It's called "The Blessing of the Fleet," and today it's a celebration where clergy from different religions gather to say a prayer for the safety and success of the men and women who will soon head out to sea - some for weeks at a time.
The ceremony goes on in good times and in bad. It took place after Katrina, and it took place a few weeks ago - at the beginning of the most difficult season these fishermen have ever faced.
And still, they came and they prayed. For as a priest and former fisherman once said of the tradition, "The blessing is not that God has promised to remove all obstacles and dangers. The blessing is that He is with us always," a blessing that's granted "...even in the midst of the storm."In 2014 I was an invited speaker at the International Pelvic Pain Society (IPPS). My first day there I attended the session on research. I was excited to hear what Dr. Khalid Khan, the editor of The British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,had to say about writing a good paper. An editor’s take on what gets published, what doesn’t, and why would be invaluable for a future paper! It was clear lots of other people had the same thought and so I didn’t have the opportunity to speak with him after he spoke.
One night after dinner I was in the bar of the conference hotel networking with other doctors and physical therapists. I saw a friend, we’ll call him Dr. Smith so he isn’t bombarded at work with phone calls (although he is willing to go on the record should that be required), trailing behind Dr. Khan. We started chatting and I was really pleased to have time with Dr. Khan. Given the close confines of the bar Dr. Khan and I were separated from Dr. Smith by the push of the crowd.
We started chatting, ordered a drink, and then Dr. Khan’s arm went over my shoulder in that all too familiar manner and before I could process what was happening his hand was on my breast. I had one of those what-the-fuck-just-happened moments and instead of punching him in the face I did what most women do, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Surely the editor of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology did not just grope my breast. Surely I imagined it.
I moved his hand.
We chatted a little and I pretended he hadn’t groped me and then he started that octopus body crawl that so many women know only too well. He was nuzzling my neck and his disgusting hot breath was in my ear. He was groping my breasts, running his hands up and down my back, and putting his arm around my waist pulling me against his body. Each time I moved one hand or arm another seemed to take his place.
I told him to stop.
I removed his hands more forcefully each time. You know how it is, doing that half laugh that is part nerves and part hoping it might give the person helping themselves to your body the opportunity to back off gracefully (as if they deserve that) by pretending their groping you was just some kind of joke.
We women are trained from birth to make these exceptions for men.
I asked a man who I had seen at the conference for help and he just looked away.
I had to resort to yelling and physically pushing Dr. Khan away more than once before he got the idea that my body was not his to fondle.
And then something happened that still shames me. After receiving enough rebukes from me Dr. Khan stumbled over to a group of women who were also at the conference and instead of warning them I went to look for Dr. Smith. I was just so glad to get rid of Dr. Khan and I didn’t want to risk being next to him again.
I told Dr. Smith what happened. He has since told me that he remembers hearing me yell and seeing me upset. And then Dr. Smith told me that he had been called to a restaurant by a colleague to remove Dr. Khan because of Dr. Khan’s behavior towards a female doctor at the dinner. Dr. Smith had brought Dr. Khan back to the hotel hoping he would be embarrassed and head up to his room, but as they walked into the hotel Dr. Khan headed to the bar and so Dr. Smith followed. Dr. Smith assumed that Dr. Khan would be so mortified that he wouldn’t do it again.
I e-mailed Dr. Smith before I wrote this and he sent me his recollection. The “him” is Dr. Khan:
I was not being “hit on.” I’ve been hit on many times and I know the difference. Being hit on usually involves a glance that lingers, a touch that is reciprocated, or as Dr. Khan himself wrote in his article on how to convert online content into a first date, “A genuine smile, one that crinkles up your eyes.”
I found the acknowledgements of that paper very interesting:
I have never been groped like that at a medical conference, although I have heard that other women have suffered that way. I have also heard worse. Until 2014 my “no” was always accepted, although now I wonder if my career was affected by turning down these men who always held more power than I did?
How many women turned away from academics and conferences because the groping was just too much to bear? How many cures and therapies are we missing because women decided that “publish or perish” had a hidden price tag that was just too steep? And what of the women who paid that price?
Why come forward now?
If a man is going to grope my body without my permission he gets no say in how I speak about it. I choose now, so now it is.
I’ve been encouraged to come forward by watching the brave women in Hollywood tell their stories of unwanted sexual advances and assaults as well as the courageous women who have recounted what happened to them at the hands of politicians. I know these stories circulated for years and after hearing of recent issues at the AAGL meeting I realize there is also a whisper network for women in medicine.
The glass ceiling not only keeps women from advancing it also keeps the men at the top from hearing our stories and acting appropriately to stop abuse when it happens. I know it takes someone to start a public conversation so here I am saying what happened to me.
Everything is designed to protect men. Period. Quietly discussing this doesn’t alert other women and, quite frankly, having any conversation with the men’s club on the sunny side of the glass ceiling usually results in a woman being told she was over reacting and gets her labelled as a bitch or as a trouble maker.
Men have been taking sexual advantage of women since the beginning of time. If politely telling them in private that they should stop worked we wouldn’t be here. Anyway, we can’t tell them in private because we are afraid to be with them in private. We’re sometimes afraid to be with them in public too.
I have nothing to gain from disclosing this except peace of mind. It was uncomfortable to think about what happened, I am still ashamed for not warning the other women at the bar, and I was embarrassed e-mailing Dr. Smith. This disclosure will likely cause a lot of aggravation for me, however, the number of women who have been whispering their stories to me has aggrieved me.
I’m angry at the men who do this and I’m angry with society for conspiring to make women like me feel this is somehow our fault. I’m angry that society tells me I should worry more about what happens to the man who groped me than how his behavior has affected me.
I have written many posts that have attracted a lot of very difficult attention. I brought Ben Carson’s hypocrisy about abortion research to light and was attacked online by his supporters. I was the first to point out that Donald Trump’s medical letter was a sorry excuse that told us nothing and was similarly attacked by his supporters. For writing about abortion I’ve been smeared by right wing news sites and had to contact the FBI over threats. I’ve been smeared by the Toronto Star for calling them out on their tabloid worthy “article” on the HPV vaccine. However, I never once wavered or worried before I hit the “publish” button on any article I’ve ever written until now and yet all I am doing is telling the truth about how a man groped me. I think that speaks volumes on how women have been enculturated to accept the blame for the way men prey on us and how the partriarchy keeps us afraid of the consequences of speaking out.
(By the way, if you ask why I didn’t go to the police you can put yourself firmly in the “how poorly society treats women who speak out” camp).
This is not “my truth” this is the truth.
I am done with the network of whispers and I am so done with giving these men the benefit of the doubt.weapons-alchemist:
Men don’t understand what it’s like growing up as a woman. How our spirits our are crushed. How we get told to always cater to men. Men humiliate women so much. They talk about fucking, hitting, smashing, destroying, etc. They purposefully make us uncomfortable by talking about sexual acts. They act like women owe them something. They act so entitled. Straight men will literally get so offended if a woman is a lesbian bc that means that she will never have an interest in them. Straight men will fetishize bisexual women bc they think that we’re always up for threesomes. Men rape, murder, kidnap, beat, emotionally abuse, mentally abuse, verbally abuse, and instill fear in women yet they have the fucking audacity to claim that we are not oppressed and that they are not privileged. Fuck you. They literally have religions saying that we are the cause of sin and authorize our fucking honor killings. Men are so despicable. They will compare the radical feminist movement now to 1st and 2nd wave feminism to try to discredit us and compare our suffering to the suffering of women in the east to say “shut up before me make you have it worse”. Men are so disgusting. They will literally see that a woman was raped by two men and that her rape was uploaded to Pornhub but will say “what about consensual porn uwu”. Men are so vile. They are the reason women are told to be extra safe and walk w/ our keys in between our fingers. What do we have to be protected from?? Fucking men. I was 7 years old when I first learned about rape even before I learned fully what sex was and ever since then I walked w/ fear and getting ready to defend myself whenever I walk pass groups of men. Men are pathetic. They fear periods as if they weren’t created bc of periods. Men are unbelievable. They will only care about a woman if he can possess her i.e. sisters and daughters and mothers. Men are so emotional. They will claim that the patriarchy oppresses them bc “we can’t show our feelings” and “well we have to financially support our families” when 1) men always show their feelings and overreact and will demand full support and attention and 2) they rarely provide for the family. Men are a burden. Women have to do everything for men from cooking, to cleaning, to taking care of them, emotional support, mental support, actually do their work, etc. Men are so appalling. They literally force femininity upon women where we have to mutilate our natural bodies just to appeal to the male gaze while men literally do nothing and will stay in their natural state for their entire lives. Men are so disgraceful. They literally think that feminism oppresses them. Men are such huge pissbabies to think that a movement for the liberation of women dead oppresses them. Men are so foul. They will drive a woman to tears and still think that they did nothing wrong. Men are so immoral. Men are so repulsive. They watch porn even when it’s no consensual and child sex trafficking just for a fucking orgasm. Men are so impure. Men are so humiliating. Men are so nauseating. Men are so nasty. Men are so miserable. Men are so loathsome. Men are so fucking evilThe man who led Gotham‘s young Bruce Wayne to that batty cave will be sticking around for the aftermath.
TVLine has learned exclusively that Homeland and Newsroom vet Chris Chalk, who toward the very end of Gotham‘s freshman run made his debut as Wayne Enterprises junior exec Lucius Fox, has been promoted to series regular for Season 2.
Currently the shady conglomerate’s resident tech genius, Fox of course is fated to become the president and CEO of Wayne Enterprises, as an adult Bruce evolves into Batman.
Having already slipped Bruce the clue that led the lad to his father’s secret subterranean chamber in the season finale, Lucius “becomes another person who’s going to help Bruce on his journey to find out what happened to his parents and what his parents were doing, and also his journey to manhood and Batman-hood,” EP John Stephens told TVLine. “[Adult Bruce is] like a science genius, and some of that’s going to come from Lucius Fox.”
Chalk’s promotion comes on the heels of both Morena Baccarin and Nicholas D’Agosto also being upped to series regulars for Season 2, as Dr. Leslie Thompkins and Harvey Dent. His previous TV credits also include Sons of Anarchy and Justified.Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- Three Turkish Airlines planes carrying 466 activists and nine bodies landed Thursday morning in Istanbul, marking the end of the activists' involvement in a humanitarian mission to aid Gaza that went tragically awry, an official said.
Their numbers included several wounded people, and their arrival occurred several hours after they departed from Tel Aviv, Israel, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told CNN.
Most of the passengers were Turks, who made up the majority of the activists whose mission to challenge the Israeli blockade and deliver medicines, wheelchairs and building materials to Gaza turned into a bloodbath Monday morning in international waters off Gaza and sparked worldwide recriminations against Israel.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel's actions even as other activists vowed to carry out more such efforts.
Netanyahu said the goal of |
restitution, (4) self‐castigation, and (5) direct attempts to obtain forgiveness (p. 272). These authors explain that not all components will be used in all apologies; according to them, the consequences of the transgression play a role in the number of components included in the apology such that minimal consequences usually elicited a “perfunctory form of an apology” (p. 275), and increased severity of the predicament brought about by an increased number of apology components. In their later work, these authors state that in a “more complete” apology, “an actor recognizes the existence of interpersonal obligations, acknowledges and reaffirms the values of the rules that have been broken, promises more acceptable conduct in the future, [and] may seem to suffer remorse” (Darby & Schlenker, 1989, p. 354).
An important and yet poorly understood question that remains, however, is whether the effectiveness of an apology will depend on the structure of the apology itself. Some apologies may be simple—no more than a straightforward “I'm sorry”—while others are rich and extensive in detail. For example, Lewicki and Polin ( 2012 ) offered examples of public apology statements made by several well‐known personalities and organizations who had violated public trust: professional golfer Tiger Woods; stockbroker and investment advisor Bernard Madoff; global oil and gas energy corporate giant British Petroleum; and the management of JetBlue Airlines. The authors noted that these apologies—as well as numerous other public apologies from corporate, government, religious, sports, and entertainment personalities—were quite different from one another in structure and composition, and that these differences may account for the perceived effectiveness of the statements and their impact on beginning to restore trust in the actor. Therefore, it is appropriate to understand whether some apologies are better than others, that is, that certain components of an apology are more likely to be perceived as central to an apology's effectiveness.
There is an extensive literature on apologies, and how, why, and under what conditions they are effective; only a cursory review of that literature can be provided here. As one example, Tomlinson, Dineen, and Lewicki ( 2004 ) provided empirical support for the importance of apologies. Examining the factors which were perceived as important to a victim to reconcile a professional relationship following a broken promise, these authors found that: (a) apologies were more effective than no apologies in trust repair; (b) apologies were more effective when they were perceived as sincere; (c) apologies were more effective when they were delivered soon after the trust violation; (d) apologizers who “took responsibility” for creating the trust violation were seen as more effective than apologizers who attempted to deflect or deny the responsibility; and (e) apologies were more effective when the parties had established a strong, positive relationship and the trust violation was seen as an isolated event rather than a frequently recurring problem (see also Kramer & Lewicki, 2010 ; Schlenker & Darby, 1981 ; Scott & Lyman, 1968 ; van Laer & de Ruyter, 2010 for reviews). 1
At the outset, it should be noted that some authors have criticized apologies as a form of trust repair. For example, Farrell and Rabin ( 1996 ) have argued that apologies are one of many forms of “cheap talk”, and that such talk (e.g., accounts, explanations, apologies, etc.) has no real value to the victim when compared to the violator providing more substantive, tangible reparations for the trust violation. Other studies (De Cremer, 2010 ) have shown that apologies can be effective only as “supplements” to substantive compensation. For example, Haesevoets, Reinders Folmer, De Cremer, and Van Hiel ( 2013 ) found that a simultaneous effect exists for the benefit of compensation and apologies together and that compensation with an apology can better “facilitate relationship preservation” than compensation without an apology (p. 96). Even more broadly, some have argued that the apology has unfairly been considered as “the” best repair strategy, yet find that other repair strategies such as compensation are just as effective as apologies (Coombs & Holladay, 2008 ). But a number of other studies have indicated that providing an apology alone can be effective because, at the very least, expressing the appropriate words can reveal that the violator understands that some events have occurred which damaged trust (Baron, 1990 ; Thomas & Millar, 2008 ; see Fehr, Gelfand, & Nag, 2010 for a review) and that the problem must be addressed.
Based on the data obtained from reactions to the single‐component apologies, we next examined reactions to 3‐Component apologies to investigate whether certain combinations of apology components might be more effective than others. A repeated‐measures ANOVA showed support for a significant effect across evaluations of the 20 different combinations F (19, 1,957) = 8.56, p <.001. 5 Based on the reactions to single‐component apologies, we examined whether our more highly rated individual component apologies would yield more favorable reactions when combined as compared to when less effective individual components were combined. When looking at all the means from each of the single components, the three most effective individual components were Acknowledgement of Responsibility (A; M = 3.49), Offer of Repair (O; M = 3.34), and Explanation (E; M = 3.17). The three least effective individual components were Expression of Regret (R; M = 3.03), Declaration of Repentance (D; M = 3.00), and Request for Forgiveness (F; M = 2.68). Based on the responses of participants who evaluated all the 3‐Component apologies (Table 3 ), a repeated‐measures analysis was conducted in which we compared the relative efficacy of apologies containing the three most effective individual components (EAO) versus the three least effective individual components (RDF). Results showed support for the expectation that the three most important individual components combined together was evaluated as a much more effective apology ( M = 3.59, SD = 0.93) as compared to combining the three least effective individual components into an apology ( M = 2.80, SD = 1.13), t (108) = 6.85, p <.001. It is worth noting that when evaluating the 20 different possible combinations of 3‐Component apologies, the aforementioned two particular combinations also were the most favorably rated and the least favorably rated apologies. Taken together, these findings show compelling support for the expectation that not all apologies are created equal, and it is important to pay attention to the content components of an apology, rather than just adding more components, to maximize its potential effectiveness.
Although our earlier analyses suggest that more components are better than fewer components (i.e., 6‐Component apologies were evaluated significantly more favorably than 3‐ or 1‐Component apologies), no differences emerged when comparing single versus 3‐Component apologies ( p =.632). Some of this lack of difference may have had to do with the fact that there is a considerable variance in the efficacy of apology components when aggregated into groups of three. As such, it may be premature to broadly state that there exists no difference in the efficacy of single‐ versus 3‐Component apologies, as attention needs to be given to the specific content of various components.
Up to this point, the results suggest that more components are better than fewer, with a particular clear benefit being given to a “full apology” irrespective of whether the violation type was competence‐based or integrity‐based in nature. We next sought to more closely examine whether certain components are deemed more beneficial than others. To do so, we first investigated responses of participants who only evaluated single apology components. Within‐subjects analyses were conducted within the framework of an ANOVA, and Bonferroni adjustments were used to limit the possibility of type 1 errors. 4 Results of the overall ANOVA indicated the presence of difference between individual components F (5, 104) = 10.96, p <.001. An examination of the means showed clear differences with reactions to the quality of single components (Figure 1 ), with an Acknowledgement of Responsibility ( M = 3.49, SD = 0.94) being evaluated as the most effective component and a Request for Forgiveness evaluated as the least effective ( M = 2.68, SD = 0.99). Post hoc Bonferroni comparisons showed that the Acknowledgement of Responsibility was evaluated significantly more effective than all other components ( p's <.05) with the exception of an Offer of Repair ( M = 3.34, SD = 1.01) from which it did not differ. Moreover, a Request for Forgiveness was evaluated as significantly less effective than each of the other five components ( p's <.05). Accordingly, these results suggest that if someone can make only one statement in an apology, an Acknowledgement of Responsibility may serve the individual significantly better compared to all other components, while a Request for Forgiveness would be significantly less effective than all other components.
Given the absence of a statistical interaction, we collapsed conditions across the Violation Type factor prior to conducting analyses to better understand how the number of components affected evaluations of apologies. Bonferroni‐adjusted significance values were employed to reduce the probability of a type 2 error given that multiple comparisons were being conducted. An inspection of means (Table 2 ) by condition showed a benefit from having more components: 1‐Component: M = 3.12, SD = 0.67; 3‐Component: M = 3.26, SD = 0.82; 6‐Component: M = 3.61, SD = 0.95. Bonferroni multiple comparisons showed that the 6‐Component apology was evaluated more favorably than either the 1‐Component ( p <.001) or 3‐Component apology ( p =.004). No difference emerged between the 1‐Component and 3‐Component apologies ( p =.632).
Initial analyses were conducted in the framework of a two‐way between‐participants ANOVA where apology efficacy was the dependent variable. To maintain statistical independence of observations, when comparing the efficacy of the number of components across participants in our Number of Components conditions, a single overall apology efficacy score was used for each participant assigned to the 1‐component condition (i.e., the average efficacy score of the six single‐component apologies they evaluated) and for participants assigned to the 3‐component condition (i.e., the average efficacy score from the 20 different 3‐component combinations they evaluated).
Below each apology, participants were asked to respond to three questions on a 5‐point Likert scale (1 = Not at All ; 5 = Very ): “How effective would this statement be at dealing with the violation?”, “How credible would this statement be?”, and “How adequate would this statement be?” Responses to these three questions (α =.87) were then averaged to form the dependent variable apology efficacy.
After reading the scenario, each participant was presented with only a descriptive definition of apology components (see the Definition column of Table 1 ). Depending on condition, respondents evaluated either: each of the 1‐component apology definitions presented one at a time (1‐component condition); or each of the possible 3‐component apology definitions presented one at a time (3‐component condition); or the single 6‐component apology definition (6‐component condition). Order of presentation of components within each condition was randomized. For each apology, the participant was asked: “Imagine that the candidate's response to this situation was made up of [one, three, six] statements:” followed by the definition(s) of that (or those) statement(s).
After viewing consent information, participants read a trust violation scenario in which, depending on condition, either competence‐based trust was broken or integrity‐based trust was broken. The scenario and wording of the competence‐ and integrity‐based trust violation manipulations were adopted from Kim et al. ( 2004, 2006, 2013 ; see Appendix ). Participants were asked to imagine they were reviewing the application of a job candidate for an accounting position who had gotten in some trouble in a prior job over a client's tax return being filed incorrectly. In the competence‐based trust violation condition, the violation was said to occur because the candidate was not sufficiently knowledgeable in all relevant tax codes. In the integrity‐based trust violation condition, the candidate was said to have knowingly filed the tax return incorrectly.
Given the impact that Kim et al.'s ( 2004, 2006, 2013 ) work has had on contemporary thinking about the conditional effectiveness of apologies, we based our competence and integrity‐based violations after theirs, but we systematically manipulated the number of components of apology presented in response to the scenario. That is, the perceived effectiveness of these components was explored singly, in various combinations of three, and collectively as one aggregation of six in the context of either a competence‐based or an integrity‐based trust violation. As expressed by the apologizer, the six single components include the following (Table 1 ): an expression of regret for the offense (subsequently labeled R), an explanation of why the violation occurred (subsequently labeled E), an acknowledgment of responsibility for the offense (subsequently labeled A), a declaration of repentance (subsequently labeled D), an offer of trust repair (subsequently labeled O), and a request for forgiveness (subsequently labeled F). 3
In our first study, we set out to determine whether some individual components were seen as more effective than others, and whether various combinations of components were judged as more effective than others. Building off of the insights from Lewicki and Polin ( 2012 ), it was anticipated that the presence of multiple components would aid in apologies being seen as effective, with apologies containing all six components being seen as the most effective. However, because the type of violation has been documented as a key determinant of apology effectiveness (Kim et al., 2004, 2006, 2013 ), we examined the components in the context of both competence‐based and integrity‐based violations, namely we set the six separate components of an apology as previously discussed into the specific context scenario used by these authors, giving subjects a brief overview of the scenario context.
Following up on our exploratory findings from Study 1, we next examined 3‐Component apology combinations (Table 5 ), namely we sought to provide a confirmatory test that the 3‐Component apology of EAO would be more effective than the 3‐Component combination of RDF. To do so, we conducted a paired‐samples planned t ‐test where we compared apologies containing EAO components against those containing RDF components. Consistent with the exploratory analyses from Study 1, results confirmed that the EAO ( M = 3.22, SD = 0.71) was evaluated more favorably than an apology containing the RDF ( M = 2.95, SD = 0.84), t (69) = 2.58, p =.012. Taken together, these results provide further evidence supporting the argument that in the absence of providing a “full apology” (all six components), there is clear benefit in giving attention to which components one provides in their apology.
We next sought to examine whether individual components differed in their efficacy similar to what we found in Study 1. To do so, we conducted a within‐subjects analysis within the framework of an ANOVA on evaluations of apologies from participants in our single‐component condition. A significant ANOVA supported the expectation that our individual components would be differentially evaluated in their perceived efficacy F (5, 350) = 29.50, p <.001. An examination of the means showed that reactions differed between individual components: Offer of Repair ( M = 3.62, SD = 0.79), Declaration of Repentance ( M = 3.62, SD = 0.84), Acknowledgement of Responsibility ( M = 3.30, SD = 0.92), Expression of Regret ( M = 2.86, SD = 0.96), Explanation ( M = 2.74, SD = 1.09), and Request for Forgiveness ( M = 2.32, SD = 0.90). Although the individual component data did not exactly mirror the order of perceived efficacy for components from Study 1, there was still some consistency in order, providing confirmatory support to the exploratory findings from Study 1. Bonferoni‐corrected comparisons showed Request for Forgiveness was evaluated significantly worse than all other single‐component apologies ( p's <.001) and was marginally worse than an Explanation ( p =.057). Also similar to Study 1, Bonferroni‐corrected comparisons revealed that an Acknowledgement of Responsibility was evaluated more favorably than an Expression of Regret ( p =.016), Explanation ( p =.006), and a Request for Forgiveness ( p <.001). Acknowledgement of Responsibility did not significantly differ from an Offer of Repair ( p =.37) or Declaration of Repentance ( p =.37; Figure 2 ).
We next collapsed data across violation type and more closely examined how number of components shaped apology evaluations. More components added together in an apology tended to yield a more positively evaluated apology than fewer components: 1‐Component ( M = 3.08, SD = 0.55); 2‐Component ( M = 3.11, SD = 0.55); 3‐Component ( M = 3.12, SD = 0.45); 4‐Component ( M = 3.29, SD = 0.54); 5‐Component ( M = 3.22, SD = 0.66); and 6‐Component ( M = 3.37, SD = 0.80). Following the pattern of data observed in Study 1, planned comparison t ‐tests were conducted within the framework of a one‐way ANOVA. Results confirmed that a 6‐Component apology was evaluated as more favorable than either a 1‐Component, t (416) = 2.85, p =.005 or 3‐Component apology t (416) = 2.47, p =.014. Moreover, as in Study 1, no difference emerged when comparing the efficacy of a single‐ and 3‐component apology, t (416) = 0.37, p =.71.
A two‐way between‐subjects ANOVA was conducted where apology efficacy was the dependent variable. As in Study 1, to maintain statistical independence of observations, prior to conducting analyses to compare participants in the different Number of Components conditions, for conditions where participants evaluated more than 1 apology, we created a single efficacy score for each participant in that condition. Replicating the findings of Study 1, two significant main effects emerged (Table 4 ). Participants evaluated apologies following a competence‐based violation ( M = 3.26, SD = 0.58) more favorably than apologies following an integrity‐based violation ( M = 3.12, SD = 0.63), F (1, 410) = 6.48, p =.011. Moreover, the number of apology components also affected the evaluations of apology effectiveness, F (5, 410) = 2.64, p =.023. As in Study 1, no statistical interaction emerged, F (1, 410) = 0.683, p =.637, suggesting that the efficacy of the number of components was not moderated by the type of violation.
The procedure for Study 2 was very similar to that of Study 1. After reading either the competence‐based or integrity‐based trust violation scenario based on the Kim et al. ( 2004, 2006, 2013 ) used in Study 1, depending on condition, participants evaluated either: each of the six 1‐Component apology statements; or each of the 15 possible 2‐Component apology statements; or each of the 20 possible 3‐Component apology statements; or each of the 15 possible 4‐Component apology statements; or each of the six possible 5‐Component apology statements; or the single 6‐Component apology statement (see Table 1 for the wording of each individual component statement).
Whereas Study 1 provided insight into reactions to definitions of apology components and the perceived efficacy of those components, we sought to replicate and expand upon our findings in two ways. First, to provide a more fine‐grained analysis on the number of apology components, we now examined the relative efficacy of the following: 1‐, 2‐, 3‐, 4‐, 5‐, and 6‐Component apologies (as compared to only 1‐, 3‐, and 6‐Component apologies presented in Study 1 ). Second, whereas Study 1 participants were told to evaluate an apology which contained labels of the individual components and their definitions, to provide more realism we sought to capture the perceived efficacy of these components when they were presented as actual verbalizations from parties within the Kim et al. studies ( 2004, 2006, 2013 ), rather than as definitions (see the Statement columns of Table 1 ). That is, we created statements which contextualized the definitions of each of the six components and had participants evaluate these response(s). We did not label or define components for participants.
Discussion
Across two studies, we examined whether certain components of an apology, taken individually and collectively, were perceived as more critical for the apology to be perceived as effective. Based on the previous research, it was also important to examine whether these components might be differentially perceived if the apology were being offered for the violation of competence‐based versus integrity‐based trustworthiness. Across both experiments, strong and consistent results were obtained. First, the greater the number of designated components in an apology, the more effective it was perceived to be. In the first study, this was clear when comparing the definitions within the 6‐component apology against the definitions within the components taken one or three at a time; in the second study, this was true when comparing greater number of components to a lesser number of components. Second, the more positive reaction to the greater number of components occurred equally for both competence‐ and integrity‐based offenses, although in general apologies for competence‐based offenses were perceived as significantly more effective than apologies for integrity‐based offenses. This is in line with Kim et al. (2004), who have documented that apologies are more effective in competence‐based offenses than they are in integrity‐based offenses. Third, it appears that certain components are more critical than others, but it does depend on how many components are aggregated together and the context in which they were presented.
When presented one component at a time, we found that an Acknowledgement of Responsibility was viewed as most important, Offer of Repair second, and Explanation third; specifically, the components of Offer of Repair and Declaration of Repentance were tied for most efficacious, and Acknowledgment of Responsibility was the third most important. Thus, while there was some general consistency in the order of importance of the components, the context of the Kim et al. (2004, 2006, 2013) scenario may have downplayed the importance of an Explanation and increased the importance of a Declaration of Repentance. However, across both of our studies, the data indicated that Request for Forgiveness was least critical. When components are evaluated three at a time, the importance of certain component aggregates emerges more consistently. Both studies revealed that when an apology contains an Explanation for the offense, an Acknowledgment of Responsibility, and an Offer of Repair (EAO), the apology is perceived as significantly more effective than when it only contains an Expression of Regret, a Declaration of Repentance, and a Request for Forgiveness (RDF).
Taken together, the results illustrate that while more components are better than fewer, some components are clearly more important than others. In addition, the context of the apology matters, but only to some degree. While context appeared to affect the perceived importance of some components (such as Acknowledgement of Responsibility and Explanation), it did not affect other components (such as Request for Forgiveness, which was seen as least important in both studies).
Contributions to Theory Development The first and most important question is, how do we explain these results? The results seem to indicate that following some form of violation (of trust, of expectations, or of treatment), victims are highly sensitive since the violation most likely threatens their confidence in their own judgment and sense of personal efficacy. Uncertainty and tension are created by this disconfirmation, and the victim seeks information from the violator that works to restore their own sense of judgment and efficacy. As noted by Kim et al. (2004, 2006), this impact is not as great when a victim has misjudged the actor's competence as it is when victim has misjudged the actor's integrity. In the first case, the actor could have made a mistake which may or may not have been under his or her control, and an explanation about that mistake may be adequate for us to restore our confidence in the other. In the second case, the actor may have misread the other's fundamental character and honesty, and simple explanations or other verbal statements will not easily restore those character judgments. It is not just the nature of the violation that affects an apology's effectiveness but also the fact that the victim looks for certain specific assurances in the statements that will serve to reduce the distress and uncertainty created by the violation. While there are variations across the two studies, our results show that while more components are better in general, the presence of three particular components included in a single apology is particularly valuable (not necessarily in any specific order): An Explanation for why the violation may have occurred, which is an effort by the violator to affect the victim's sense‐making about the violation in a way that might make the violation seem more understandable, less intentional, or less dissonance‐creating to the victim.
An Offer of Repair, which may restore the tangible or economic damage that occurred as a result of the violation.
An Acknowledgement of Responsibility, in which the violator assumes responsibility for having created the violation, hence limiting the number of alternative explanations for why the violation occurred. Note that some of these findings support results from past research, while others challenge those results. Speaking to the first of these components, the importance of explanations or “accounts” has been significantly documented in research on procedural justice and trust repair. As noted earlier, Shapiro (1991) showed the importance of an explanation in repairing trust following deception, and subsequent work by Ohbuchi, Kameda, and Agarie (1989) explored how the characteristics of both the explanations and the explainer had a significant impact on whether the victim accepted the explanation. Speaking to the second of these components, the Offer of Repair offers a promise that whatever tangible or economic damage may have been done can be repaired. As noted in the introduction, there has been a significant debate in the research literature about whether apologies can be effective at all—that is, whether they are no more than “cheap talk”—under conditions when real, tangible, economic damage has been done. Our results seem to indicate that even a verbal commitment to restore damage done by the violation is seen as an important apology component by the victim but clearly would have to be followed by actual repair–restoration to assure full credibility (see Kramer & Lewicki, 2010, for a fuller treatment of these literatures). Finally, speaking to the third of these components, our results indicated that an Acknowledgment of Responsibility was deemed to be quite important. This was true even in Study 2, where the phrasing was drawn from scenarios used by Kim et al. (2004, 2006, 2013). A victim wants to know that the violator acknowledges ownership for creating the violation, even when taking such ownership may undermine the victim's perception of the violator's integrity. In Kim et al. (2004), the authors argue from their results that denial of responsibility was a more effective strategy after an integrity‐based violation. In contrast, our results tend to show that Acknowledgment of Responsibility was deemed to be important, ranked first when the definitions alone were rated, third when the actual statements were rated in context, and in the critical “top three” in both studies. Since the Kim et al. finding (and a subsequent study by Ferrin, Kim, Cooper, & Dirks, 2007) stresses the importance of “denial” or “silence” as prescriptive advise for dealing with integrity‐based trust violations, our findings raise questions about the ubiquity of this approach, and further investigation is required as to the conditions under which taking responsibility versus denying responsibility for an offense can be concluded as sound prescriptive advice. Although we did not include a denial condition in our studies, future work may examine whether a complete apology (i.e., containing all six components) may surpass the efficacy of a denial. Although our study design allowed us to examine reactions to apologies, and whether they differed, across two main types of trust‐violation contexts (i.e., competence‐ and integrity‐based violations), future work would benefit from examining whether the number of components (and specific components) depends on other potential moderators. For instance, the severity of the violation, the timing of the apology, and the cultural context in which the violation occurred are important aspects which deserve to be examined in future studies. One contextual feature which we anticipate to be particularly influential is the nature of the prior relationship between the parties. In our two studies, we placed participants into the accounting scenario between a job candidate and potential employer. From the subject's point of view (the Accounting Manager), in our scenario drawn from Kim et al.'s (2004, 2006, 2013) influential work, he or she has not directly experienced the violation (and hence been in the victim's shoes) nor heard accounts of it from anyone directly involved in the violation. Moreover, the relationship between the Accounting Manager, the HR Director and the candidate is a transactional one regarding an arms‐length hiring decision and not one in which the violator and victim have any kind of established, long‐standing history or meaningful, emotion‐based relationship. Hence, any evaluation of these apology components may significantly differ in perceived efficacy and impact if one is evaluating them directly from the victim's shoes, and if the violation has occurred in the context of a strong preestablished relationship such as a business partnership, personal friendship, or marriage. Again, future research will need to investigate the resilience of our findings when these important context elements are evaluated in subsequent studies (c.f. Chapman & Thomas, 2006). In addition to examining the role of contextual moderators, future work may also seek to adopt a person × situation framework, as optimally effective apologies not only depend on what component(s) are said, but also depend on individual differences associated with the recipient. For instance, Fehr and Gelfand (2010) argued that an apology is most effective when its contents match with the victim's specific type of self‐construal—independent, relational, or collective. These authors investigated apologies that took one of three different forms: offers of compensation, expressions of empathy, or acknowledgment of norms or rules that had been violated (note that by this categorization, offers of compensation are similar to our Offers of Repair, expressions of empathy are similar to our Expression of Regret, and acknowledgement of rule violation are similar to our Acknowledgment of Responsibility). They found that the relationship between each of the three apology types and the willingness of the victim to forgive the perpetrator depended on one's self‐construal. Thus, their work suggests that the efficacy of which components, and how many components, are stated may depend on the psychological orientation and/or values of the receiver.The media have given the misleading impression that the policies of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a self-declared socialist, are radically different than those of President Obama or Hillary Clinton. In reality, they all propose to use government power to control the economy by either confiscating the assets of private firms or running them out of business.
Technically, this may be fascism, rather than socialism. But the totalitarian nature of what is taking place is unprecedented in American history. America is becoming a socialist state that not only determines the fate of private industry, but attempts to control what people think and read about important public policy issues.
In Venezuela, which is admittedly ruled by a socialist regime, an iconic firm called Empresas Polar, which provides everything from pasta to beer, is suffering under government price controls and regulations, and has been declared an enemy of the state. The Wall Street Journal has been covering the fate of this firm in detail in a dramatic series of articles.
Here, the problem is actually worse. Rather than targeting just one firm, the Obama administration has been seeking to destroy the entire coal industry, along with the jobs of tens of thousands of workers that the old-style Marxists used to claim to represent. In their latest move, “the Obama Administration is giving the industry its last rites by halting new coal leases on federal lands where mining is still profitable,” the Journal noted.
This is not just Obama’s policy. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that if she became president, “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
The official Democratic Party policy of destroying the coal industry is being done in the name of saving the environment from alleged global warming. Toward that end, Obama signed the Paris Climate Agreement for the purpose of reducing global CO2 emissions. But he refused to submit the agreement for Congressional approval. The Global Warming Policy Foundation has published an academic paper which says the agreement is essentially a fraud, adding that it exempts countries such as China and India from undertaking any reductions.
In order to stifle debate over the job-destroying policies of the Obama regime, a group of Democratic state attorneys general are using legal tactics in an effort to criminalize and prosecute those challenging the global warming theory.
In an interview conducted by Ginni Thomas and carried by The Daily Caller, Dr. Kim Holmes, author of The Closing of the Liberal Mind, says the criminalization of dissent on climate change is “truly Orwellian” and “borderline totalitarian.” It is another sign of the decline of American democracy, documented in another important book, Democracy: And Why It Will Fail in America.
At the same time, the Portland (Oregon) Public School Board has voted to ban textbooks and other materials that do not support the theory of climate change. Patrick Wood, Editor of Technocracy News & Trends, asks, “Will they ban materials from the homes of students? What will be the punishment for being caught with such materials on Portland Public School campuses?”
The left-wing group Rethinking Schools calls this Portland, Oregon, board decision “the country’s most far-reaching policy on teaching climate justice in the schools.” It says the policy commits Portland schools to “abandon the use of any adopted text material that is found to express doubt about the severity of the climate crisis or its roots in human activity,” and requires the school district to develop a comprehensive plan to “address climate change and climate justice in all Portland Public Schools.”
This is, of course, occurring on a local level. But one could easily anticipate the Obama administration adopting this policy on a national basis, in the form of a directive to local districts, similar to the federal dictate on bathroom policy.
This agenda can be called fascism or socialism. But another “ism” also rears its ugly head.
Bill Bigelow, a former teacher and current curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools, has referred to Howard Zinn as “the great historian and activist.” Zinn, whose books are force-fed to young people on many college campuses, was not only a member of the Moscow-controlled and Soviet-funded Communist Party USA (CPUSA) but lied about it. Zinn taught in the political science department of Boston University for 24 years, from 1964 to 1988.
Bigelow is the co-editor of a textbook on environmental education, A People’s Curriculum for the Earth. It looks like his campaign is at least partly designed to get his own textbook into the schools. Indeed, the group reports that Portland’s resolution “began in a workshop” led by the book’s co-editors, Bill Bigelow and Tim Swinehart. Swinehart, who teaches at Lincoln High School in Portland, is an alumnus of the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling.
Commenting on the campaign to criminalize dissent on climate change, Dr. Kim Holmes said, “Once you break that barrier and tell scientists they will be punished, this is like the Inquisition in the 16th century or the Red Guard in the Cultural Revolution in China.”
Ironically, the Roman Catholic Church is involved in this modern-day inquisition, since Pope Francis has already issued a papal encyclical on climate change in an “unholy alliance” that includes anti-capitalist and pro-population control advocates.
The Red Guards were groups of students, formed under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, which eliminated remnants of the old order.
How different is that from what is happening in the U.S. today? The group Rethinking Schools says that what happened in Portland could inspire similar efforts around the country, leading to “millions of public school students” who would then become part of a nationwide army of activists recognizing “a climate emergency” that requires “shutting down coal-fired power plants, banning new pipelines and off-shore drilling.”
Swinehart declares, “Now the real work begins: transforming the principles of this resolution into the education of climate literate students across the district who feel empowered to work toward a more just and sustainable future.”
These new Red Guards are coming to a school district near you. Can we rescue America from mysticism and tyranny?Gleichklang Limited
Umfrage: Liebe zwischen Veganern und Fleischessern
Hannover (ots)
Das Internetportal www.vegan.eu und die psychologische Partnervermittlung www.Gleichklang.de haben 5173 vegan lebende Personen über Beziehungen zu Fleischessern befragt. Nach Mitteilung des Psychologen Guido Gebauer, der die Umfrage durchführte, ist dies seines Wissens weltweit die größte Umfrage zu diesem Thema. Die detaillierten Ergebnisse und Informationen zur Stichprobe können dem Artikel zur Umfrage bei vegan.eu entnommen werden: www.vegan.eu/kurz/liebeveganfleischesser.html
Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse:
- 60,5 % der Befragten hatten bereits Erfahrungen mit Beziehungen mit Fleischessern, während sie schon vegan waren. 60 % der Befragten legten aber zum Umfragezeitraum Wert auf eine Partnerschaft mit einer ebenfalls veganen Person.
- 21,0 % der Veganer mit Beziehungserfahrung mit einem Fleischesser sahen solche Beziehungen als kompl |
this detective’s record.”
“Here’s a man with a stellar reputation in the police department — he’s done nothing wrong,” said Torino’s attorney, John Chambers.
The city will review the legal filing, a Law Department spokesman said.Based on an evaluation of more than 1,000 previous studies, a new meta-review by an international group of 18 scientists suggests the Earth is perilously close to a tipping point where resource consumption, ecosystem degradation,climate change, biodiversity loss and population growth will trigger massive changes in the biosphere.
“The last tipping point in Earth’s history occurred about 12,000 years ago when the planet went from being in the age of glaciers, which previously lasted 100,000 years, to being in its current interglacial state. Once that tipping point was reached, the most extreme biological changes leading to our current state occurred within only 1,000 years. That’s like going from a baby to an adult state in less than a year,” explains Arne Mooers, professor of biodiversity at Simon Fraser University and one of the paper’s authors. “Importantly, the planet is changing even faster now. The odds are very high that the next global state change will be extremely disruptive to our civilization.”
The work, appearing in Nature, reads somewhat like the screenplay for a disaster movie, with the authors making urgent calls for unified global action. “Humans have not done anything really important to stave off the worst because the social structures for doing something just aren’t there,” said Mooers. “My colleagues who study climate-induced changes through the Earth’s history are more than pretty worried. In fact, some are terrified.”
The paper notes that studies of ecosystems show that once 50 percent or more of an area has been altered, the entire ecosystem can tip irreversibly into a state far different from the original, in terms of the mix of plant and animal species and their interactions. This situation typically is accompanied by species extinctions and a loss of biodiversity. Currently, to support a population of 7 billion people, about 43 percent of Earth’s land surface has been converted to agricultural or urban use, with roads cutting through much of the remainder. Current trends suggest that half the Earth’s land surface will be human-transformed by 2025.
“It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point,” warns Anthony Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of the new paper. “The data suggests that there will be a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life, including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water. This could happen within just a few generations.”
Another co-author, Elizabeth Hadly from Stanford University, thinks we may already be past these tipping points in particular regions of the world. “I just returned from a trip to the high Himalayas in Nepal, where I witnessed families fighting each other with machetes for wood – wood that they would burn to cook their food in one evening. In places where governments are lacking basic infrastructure, people fend for themselves, and biodiversity suffers. We desperately need global leadership for planet Earth,” she reports.
The authors conclude that there is an urgent need to reduce world population growth and per-capita resource use, replace fossil fuels with sustainable sources, develop more efficient food production and distribution without taking over more land, and better manage the land and ocean areas not already dominated by humans as reservoirs of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
“Humanity is at a crossroads now, where we have to make an active choice,” Barnosky said. “One choice is to acknowledge these issues and potential consequences and try to guide the future (in a way we want to). The other choice is just to throw up our hands and say, ‘Let’s just go on as usual and see what happens.'”
Mooers is more blunt, saying that “society globally has to collectively decide that we need to drastically lower our population very quickly. More of us need to move to optimal areas at higher density and let parts of the planet recover. Folks like us [developed nations] have to be forced to be materially poorer, at least in the short term. We also need to invest a lot more in creating technologies to produce and distribute food without eating up more land and wild species. It’s a very tall order,” he concludes.
Related:
Discuss this article in our forum
New DOE program aims to predict abrupt climate change
Biodiversity now a public health issue
Fossil Records Show Yo-Yo Effect Of Changing Climate
Organic farming “a luxury we can’t afford,” concludes UK reportBANGKOK — A Thai court ruled Friday that a postponement of coming elections, which protesters have worked feverishly to block, is lawful under the country’s Constitution.
The decision by the Constitutional Court was a blow to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and surprised many legal scholars, who say there are no provisions under Thai law for a delay.
Some constitutional experts described the decision as a form of judicial coup d’état because it could leave a power vacuum if elections were not held.
The court’s decision heightens the complex and debilitating power struggle between Ms. Yingluck’s governing party, which is almost sure to win the elections if they proceed, and protesters who have spent the past two months on the streets of Bangkok vowing to stop them. The protesters’ goal is to purge from politics Ms. Yingluck and her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a tycoon and former prime minister who left the country in 2008 to escape a two-year prison sentence for abuse of power.Guests: Andrew Ti Andrew Ti Guests: Jon Daly Jon Daly
Hello babies!
Summer is in full effect! Emily overdid it at Disney’s California Adventure and threw up, which ranks as the third most interesting thing to do at Disney's California Adventure. Lisa has a hot take on Josh Gadd and Ed Sheeran. Can they really be as bad as we want them to be? Also on the episode, we discuss the rules of karaoke and which fictional characters (specifically animated) were the most horny-inducing. On Chunch Chat, Lisa made some Banchunch shirts! Go buy one at lisahanawalt.threadless.com. On Wiki of the Week, we read the Wikipedia page for “Lapland New Forest,” which was a Christmas-themed park that existed for a brief period in December 2008, near Ringwood, Hampshire, UK. The park really captures the disappointment that a lot of people feel during the holidays. We welcome Andrew Ti, who spends a lot of time arguing with creationists and racists online. On Expert Hour, we are joined by television superstar and author Kelsey Grammer.
Emily Heller
Lisa Hanawalt
Andrew Ti
Jon DalyEuropean bank makes record high investment for Turkey in 2015 despite challenging environment
ISTANBUL
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has said it delivered very strong support for the Turkish economy as investments hit a record high of 1.9 billion euros in 2015 in a written statement on Jan. 13.The country reconfirmed its position as the top destination for EBRD finance, with Turkish projects representing 20 percent of the EBRD’s total 9.4 billion euros investment last year across some three dozen countries, according to the statement.The rise in financing in Turkey from 1.4 billion euros in 2014 came amid two national elections, the fallout from regional crises, escalating tensions and economic growth below potential.“The EBRD delivered a remarkable performance in Turkey despite the challenging environment, responding to an ever-growing demand for finance, especially outside large metropolitan areas,” said Jean-Patrick Marquet, Istanbul-based EBRD country director for Turkey, who took up the post in March 2015.The EBRD financed 43 projects across a number of sectors, including the construction of the country’s biggest geothermal power plant for which the EBRD provided a $200 million loan, its largest financing in Turkey to date, according to the statement.The institution was particularly successful in attracting additional funding for its projects from commercial banks. In Turkey it more than doubled external loan co-financing to over 700 million euros from last year’s level.The EBRD has in particular focused on deepening Turkey’s capital markets. It became a shareholder in 12 companies, including Borsa Istanbul with a view to preparing it for a successful initial public offering (IPO). The Bank’s equity investment in Turkey rose to a record 450 million euros last year.The Bank also joined forces with the Capital Markets Board (SPK) to promote enhanced corporate governance of companies listed on Borsa Istanbul and invested in Turkish lira-denominated bonds issued by local corporates and financial institutions, promoting longer tenor and greater transparency, according to the statement.Developing capital markets through investment, advice and support for reforms is one of the five priorities set out in the new country strategy approved by the EBRD’s Board of Directors in 2015.The need to boost the economy of south-eastern Turkey grew ever more urgent as the refugee crisis put a serious strain on the region, according to the statement.“The EBRD and partners are currently looking into ways to provide affordable financing to towns that are overwhelmed by the huge influx of refugees. The EBRD aims to channel more investments into infrastructure and utilities such as water, waste and public transport, and invest in businesses that will create employment and boost the local economy for the benefit of all,” it added.Although economic conditions are expected to remain challenging in 2016, the EBRD has begun its 25th anniversary year with a robust pipeline of projects, it said.The EBRD started investing in Turkey in 2009 and currently operates from offices in Istanbul, Ankara and Gaziantep. To date, it has invested over 7 billion euros in the country through 180 projects in infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, industry and finance.Looking for news you can trust?
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“I am a temp,” a political appointee at the Interior Department named Matthew McKeown told an annual confab of property rights activists in 2004. “I am not a career bureaucrat. I am there at the pleasure of the president, so I think that maybe puts me in some limbo category.” Bridling at what he called the “career bureaucrat mentality,” he said the president and then-interior secretary Gale Norton had been trying to “move the bureaucracy out of the way to let science govern the land again.” Through their efforts, he could happily report, “good work” was once more “on the march” in Washington. One sign of progress was the Healthy Forests initiative, a plan conservationists had dubbed No Tree Left Behind. Another involved blunting the impact of the Endangered Species Act, which McKeown described as “permanent hospice care.”
Appointees like McKeown—politically connected ideologues installed to carry out the president’s agenda—are usually swept out of power with a change in administration. But some find a way to protect their paychecks via a controversial practice known as “burrowing in.” A Washington tradition, burrowing entails transferring from a political position to a career slot (often under circumstances involving a conspicuous lack of competition) and has become such a regular occurrence that the Office of Personnel Management sends out a memo each election year warning agency heads to keep their personnel selections free from political interference. The latest version of this letter went out in March, noting that opm will review all conversions through Inauguration Day.
But this last-minute vigilance is often too little too late, says Carol Bonosaro, the president of the Senior Executives Association, whose nearly 3,000 members span the federal bureaucracy. “If you’re smart,” she says, “you do it earlier.” Such was the case with McKeown, who last year scored a $168,000 civil service job as a top legal official at Interior, a move that according to the agency “followed all of the proper hiring procedures.”
The Clinton administration left behind its own crop of ideological holdovers, and near the close of George H.W. Bush’s presidency scores of political appointees attempted to burrow, some going so far as to disguise their allegiance by taking photos of Bush off their walls. Beleaguered civil servants, meanwhile, have been known to compile “lizard” lists identifying burrowers that have a way of turning up in the hands of the incoming administration. “There’s a lot of this internal politicking that just wastes time, creates suspicion, and lowers morale,” says Vanderbilt University political scientist David E. Lewis, author of a recent book on how presidents politicize the executive branch.
There is little data on burrowing trends, but in late 2007, a team of political scientists that included Lewis and the University of Hawaii’s David Nixon conducted a survey of federal executives that asked several questions on the topic. Of the more than 2,000 officials who responded, nearly 2 percent acknowledged that they had converted from political to career jobs.
search and destroy Just how much has the Bush administration politicized federal hiring? Behold the LexisNexis search string used by Monica Goodling at the Justice Department to screen applicants, as exposed in a July report from the department’s inspector general. (In the database, “w/7” searches keywords that are within seven or fewer words from the search term; “pre/2” searches the two preceding words; an exclamation point finds word variations, so a search for “accus!” would turn up hits for “accuse” or “accusation.”)
— D.S.
According to an as-yet-unpublished paper by Nixon, reports of burrowing increased during President Bush’s first four years compared to the Clinton administration, and “more than doubled” after January 2006. But the data was gathered prior to April 2008, Nixon points out. “The administration’s not even over yet, so there could be a huge uptick in burrowing.” In addition, the Bush administration has widened the pool of potential burrowers, increasing the number of political appointees by some 12 percent.
As early as 2006, the Government Accountability Office reported that 144 employees in 23 agencies had converted from noncareer to career positions. In some cases, jobs seemed tailored to the strengths of the applicants, if not created for them outright. In others, standard competitive hiring procedures appeared absent. And in three instances, political staffers received career positions even though they lacked the requisite “qualifications and/or experience.”
One of those cases involved a Justice Department official named Francis L. Cramer, who in 2004 was selected to be an immigration judge (a career job, unlike politically appointed positions on the federal bench). Beyond a six-month stint in the agency’s Office of Immigration Litigation, Cramer’s only apparent qualification for hearing asylum cases was his longtime friendship with Karl Rove.
Overall, at least 30 of the nation’s more than 200 immigration judgeships were handed out through a flawed and illegal process that took into account the candidates’ political leanings and Bush loyalty rather than their experience in the field of immigration (and, an analysis by the New York Times found, many of those judges have turned down asylum seekers at a higher rate than their colleagues). “That’s the stuff that makes Teddy Roosevelt spin in his grave,” says Bonosaro, referring to the 26th president’s reform of the civil service to place merit over patronage.
Republican administrations, explains Vanderbilt’s Lewis, “have been more aggressive at the top about encouraging or coordinating” burrowing. “The evidence that we have from the ’70s and ’80s was that the Reagan and Bush administrations were very successful in changing the ideology and composition of the federal civil service.” The current White House has even managed a variation on burrowing that bypasses the political appointment process—directly seeding the civil service with ideologues whose influence may be felt for decades to come.
During the Bush years, agencies from the Pentagon to the National Park Service have been accused of politicized hiring practices. At the State Department, a political appointee in charge of a weapons of mass destruction program listed loyalty to the president as a requirement for job applicants. Similarly, a Pentagon official was found in 2006 to have selected some candidates for Iraq reconstruction jobs based on whether they’d voted for the president; he also asked some about their views on Roe v. Wade. One result: A half-dozen young, partisan officials—including the daughter of conservative foreign policy pundit Michael Ledeen, then fresh out of business school—were effectively placed in charge of Iraq’s entire budget.
But nowhere have attempts to stack the federal bureaucracy with committed conservatives been more evident than at Justice, where the political screening process was for a time overseen by Monica Goodling, the agency’s former White House liaison. Her team ran candidates’ names through Web searches (see “Search and Destroy,” above) designed to identify “good Americans.”
“This was an abuse beyond anything I’ve ever seen,” says a former senior Justice Department official, who spent more than two decades at the agency before retiring in 2005. “The Reagan administration came in with a real desire to change the composition of the career attorney corps, but they respected the hiring process. You were still getting merit-based hiring. Ashcroft threw all that out. And then it got even worse. Under Gonzales, it was just pure politics.” To an extent, he says, traditional burrowing “may be less of a concern than it normally is because they’ve already turned many of the career positions into political positions anyway.”
While Congress has begun to investigate politicized hiring, it has yet to launch an inquiry into burrowing—though some members, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), have expressed concern about the practice. Reports of “wholesale” burrowing among Bush appointees would be “something we’d have a hearing on in a minute,” says Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), chair of the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia. Chuckling, he adds, “Partisanship—I think there are a lot of people who play at it. I could certainly see individuals who are political appointees being concerned about what happens to them come January. The economy is tough.”Brian Collins On What It's Like to Watch a Horror Movie a Day, Every Day, For Six Years
I love a conceptual writing project. I wasn’t crazy about “Julie & Julia” but I dug the idea of the blog it was partly based on, The Julie/Julia Project, in which writer Julie Powell attempted to cook (and then write about) every recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in one year. I got a kick out of former “Mystery Science Theater 3000” producer and star Kevin Murphy’s book “A Year at the Movies,” a similarly rigorous and grueling experiment, this one playing out at movie theaters around the world, as Murphy attempted to see a publicly exhibited movie every single day for 365 straight days. There’s something so beautiful and so pure (and maybe a tiny bit crazy) about this kind of endeavor. In a world of instant gratification and constant distraction it requires intensity, focus, and extreme dedication.
Still, the intensity, focus and extreme dedication of those aforementioned projects pale in comparison to the one undertaken by Brian Collins when, in 2007, he launched Horror Movie a Day, his attempt to watch exactly that — a horror movie a day — every single day, for however long he felt like it. At first, Collins, who works as an editor by day and also contributes to Badass Digest, thought he’d quit after a year. But he enjoyed the routine so much one year became two, and then three. All told, he updated HMAD regularly for 6 years and 2500 horror movies before he finally ended the blog earlier this week (at least as a daily concern; he promises it will carry on as “Horror Movie Some Days”).
The momentous occasion — and Collins’ truly impressive archive of horror criticism — seemed like a milestone worth commemorating and discussing. So yesterday I spoke with Collins about how HMAD came about, whether he ever came close to missing a day, and how the entire project changed his writing and his attitude toward the horror genre.
Okay Brian, how long has it been since you watched a horror movie?
I actually ended up watching one the night I technically stopped! My wife threw a surprise “wake” for the site, got a whole bunch of friends to do a tribute video, ordered a cake with a tombstone on it, and then we watched a special 16mm presentation of “Halloween: H20” that lacked the matting. The movie is supposed to be matted to scope (2.35:1) but there are prints that are completely open (1.33:1), so not only can you see the boom mic throughout, you can even see the operator on occasion. But that was Sunday night. Haven’t watched one since.
So that’s about 48 hours now. How do you feel? Are you jonesing or relieved?
Definitely relieved. Work got busy today and usually I’d be like “Aw come on, I need to write!” But now once I got my real work done I could relax a bit instead of diving into my “other job.” However, I just loaded up Netflix to watch Adventure Time (which folks have been telling me to watch for almost 3 years now) and damned if I didn’t check the horror section’s new arrivals out of habit.
I know you’ve talked about it before, but can you explain how the project first got started?
Sure! I noticed one day that I had the same three Netflix rentals — this was back before Instant, everything was disc based — for like four months, meaning I could have just bought those three movies for less than I paid to just rent them and have them sit on my coffee table. And they all happened to be horror, and I started thinking “There’s no reason I couldn’t have found time for these by now.” Sleep and work only cover about 2/3rds of the day; that leaves a lot of time for other stuff if you don’t dilly dally. Plus I had just started writing the occasional review for Bloody Disgusting, so I figured I should start watching more horror movies that I had missed along the way. Long train of thought later, I decided it was possible to watch one movie every day, and after about 3-4 weeks I decided to write about them too, and secured the blogspot domain. At first it was just literally a few notes about each one; they would be like three paragraphs tops. But as the site started attracting more readers I started taking the writing part more seriously.
What made you take the jump from watching to watching and writing?
I forget, to be honest. I think there were some theatrical releases that I had to write up reviews for Bloody Disgusting, and a couple of new DVDs that he needed reviews for, so eventually it was like “Well I might as well just write ’em all up.”
Six years is a long time — nonetheless, why stop now? Was six years part of a grand plan all along?
Originally I just figured I’d do it for a year. But that time came and I was still having fun and there were still a lot of older movies I hadn’t seen, so I just figured I’d go until I got sick of it. I also came up with the finale: when I couldn’t even remember the movie I started with (“Return to Horror High,” co-starring Mr. George Clooney), it’d be time to wrap it up. And honestly, that time came in like 2010 [laughs]. I remembered like two things about it. But I kept going anyway.
However, during that time, some people got laid off from my company and I absorbed some of their responsibilities, so the time I had to work on HMAD during my downtime there was ever-shrinking, and so I started doing more and more of it from home. As a result, my non-horror free time was lessened, and it just got to the point where it’s like “My DVR is always full, I haven’t seen any of the non-horror movies that are playing, I haven’t taken my wife to dinner for a while (and, yes, I still watched horror movies on our very rare trips), my Xbox has become a Netflix Instant viewing device and nothing else….” So I realized it was time to call it a day.
That was in around February of 2012. I love even numbers and milestones and such, and I had already passed 2000 reviews, so I said I’d stop at 2500. Figured it’d be lame to just up and quit some day, so I gave everyone a year’s heads up!
You mentioned your wife. You were married before you started this thing?
Oh yeah, we got married a couple years prior.
What did she think of the project?
She probably would have liked if I didn’t take it so seriously or if I had wrapped it up sooner, but she was really great about it — watching the movies with me quite often until recently when she got a new job and didn’t have as much time to waste on horror movies. Also if I’d shout “This is the worst movie I’ve ever watched!” she’d remind me that I had just said that a week before about a different movie. Also, she threw the surprise “wake” and planned it all out, so she must have some fondness for the whole thing. Or me.
And in six years of horror movies, did you ever miss a day because of, I don’t know, an act of God? Broken DVD? Cancelled screening?
I only missed one day. My wife and I went on a trip one week after I started and I gave her one day (of the three). At that time I still wasn’t writing about each film so I could have lied, but yeah, that’s the only time I missed one. There were a few other close calls — I remember we went to Disneyland to see my family who had come out for a visit, and I had to race home because I’m a dummy and neglected to watch one in the morning before we went to the park. Got in the house at like 11:56 and threw something in just in time (the “rule” was I had to start the movie between 12:01 am and 11:59 pm). Every now and then I’d have to switch movies because of a faulty DVD or whatever, but after a while it just became second nature. I knew to watch ASAP after getting up in the morning — or starting it before I went to bed, as long as it was after midnight — so I wouldn’t have to worry about being stuck somewhere without a horror movie.
The saddest thing had to be at Comic-Con in 2009 or 2010; I didn’t have a portable DVD player yet, just a regular one to hook up to the TV. And the video input on my hotel’s TV didn’t work. So I had to ask for a new room, and explain why to a very confused hotel clerk who was probably already sick of us Comic-Con folk. “The TV is broken?” “No, the TV works fine, it’s the video input that’s broken. I have to watch horror movies every day…”
[Laughs]
Luckily, it was Wednesday and people hadn’t all gotten in yet, so they still had unoccupied rooms. I assume whoever got my first room didn’t need the video input.
Hopefully they weren’t running SciFi-Movie-A-Day.blogspot.com. A college professor of min gave me some interesting advice. When I told him I wanted to be a film critic or professor or something like that, and asked him what I needed to do, he recommended two things: 1) Go to grad school and 2) write every day. You’ve had a rather unique opportunity to test that advice in action. Would you agree with it? How did writing every day affect your writing?
Well I definitely got better, that’s for sure. It’s worth noting that I never really wrote critiques before beyond a couple of articles for my school newspaper that are probably unreadable. And I cringe whenever I look at a review from like 2007. But once I got into my groove and shed the “Look at me!” snarkiness, I found it to be pretty enjoyable, especially when I was still finding lots of gems and finally seeing classics I had missed. But after a while, I don’t know. I think maybe some time off might have helped? I don’t know if the movies started blending together or if it was just my lack of training, but I started finding it harder to write about whatever “Hostel” or “Paranormal Activity” ripoff I was watching. Not really writer’s block, because I’d still find plenty to say about “Community” or whatever else I was writing about for Badass Digest. Maybe there’s a reason no one sticks to one genre every day. So write every day, just not about the same thing!
Was it hard perpetually finding new movies to review?
It was harder finding movies I wanted to review. Netflix Instant was great in terms always have something, but it also increased how many bland, forgettable movies I was seeing. I’d never go out of my way to even queue up the disc for a lot of that junk, but when it’s right there it’s like, “OK, fine. It’ll do.” Which is part of why I wanted to stop — there’s something kind of soul-crushing about spending 90 minutes watching and then another 1-2 hours writing about why you shouldn’t watch this movie no sane person was going to watch anyway. It’s like “Oh, yeah, thanks BC, I guess I won’t watch ‘Children of the Corn 7,’ because I didn’t even know there was a ‘Children of the Corn 3-6.'” But before Instant, yeah, there were days where it was kind of tough if I was between disc rentals.
So what are some really obscure gems from that pile of who-knew-they-even-existed that you’d actually recommend?
The one I always mention is “Cathy’s Curse,” but it’s not a “good” movie — it’s a “so bad it’s good” classic that goes out of its way to keep the audience from understanding anything. In terms of real good movies, “Home Movie” is one of the best “found footage” movies, which is even more impressive when it stars a recognizable guy (Adrian Pasdar) and thus no one can be fooled for a second.
I also love “Cold Prey,” a Norwegian slasher movie that Anchor Bay put out a while ago, but apparently it didn’t sell very well because they didn’t bother with the (already made) sequel. It’s actually just coming out in the U.S. in a few weeks from Shout! Factory, and it’s just as good as the original. There’s also a ’70s movie called “Raw Meat” (a.k.a. “Death Line”) that I truly loved. It’s about a cannibal in the London subways, being investigated, very casually, by Donald Pleasence. Highly recommended. Ditto “Messiah of Evil,” another laid back ’70s movie about a girl looking for her missing dad.
And after watching 2500 of them every single day for six years do you still enjoy horror movies?
Oh hell yeah. My penultimate movie was “Stitches,” a killer clown movie from Ireland, and it was pretty great. And I’m stoked to see “Evil Dead” this Friday. If anything I’ve gotten more appreciation for the C-level movies of the world. Critics will do their “Worst of the Year” lists and put like, “Underworld 4” or “Resident Evil: Random Subtitle” on there, and I’m like “Man, you’re so lucky if you think that’s the worst. Those weren’t even the worst movies I saw that week.”
Read more of Horror Movie a Day, and follow Brian Collins on Twitter.
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Enlarge this image toggle caption Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Updated at 8:40 p.m. ET
Vice President Joe Biden is confident that Bernie Sanders is going to endorse Hillary Clinton and that the Democratic party will unify.
Biden: "Bernie's going to endorse her" 0:11
"Oh, I've talked to Bernie, Bernie's going to endorse her, this is going to work out," Biden said in an interview with Rachel Martin, host of NPR's Weekend Edition. "The Democrats are coalescing even before this occurs."
Sanders was asked about Biden's comment in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday evening and said he wasn't quite ready to endorse Clinton.
"I talked to Joe, I think it was three weeks ago," Sanders said. "Look, on that issue we are trying to work with Secretary Clinton's campaign on areas that we can agree." The Vermont senator also repeated his pledge "to do everything that I can to defeat Donald Trump."
Sanders said that the two camps are discussing issues like free public college and universal healthcare, which he says are critical to get his supporters to back Clinton. Those discussions may come to a head at a Democratic National Committee platform meeting in Orlando, Fla., late next week.
"Right now my hope is that we can reach an agreement on some very important issues and I can go forward to the millions of people who supported me and say, 'Look, this is the progress that you've made. This is where we're gonna go as a country,'" Sanders added on MSNBC. "So, I hope it happens. As of this moment, we're not there quite yet."
Last week, Sanders said he would vote for Clinton in November but hadn't endorsed her because he "hadn't heard her say the things I need to hear said." Clinton's Democratic rival is still in the race even though she has enough delegates to secure the nomination in July.
Biden will join Clinton for the first time on the campaign trail next Friday in his hometown of Scranton, Pa. at a state Democratic party event.
Biden: "I hope that I help her just by vouching for her." 0:45
Biden acknowledges that Clinton has had trouble gaining voters' trust. The best thing he can do for Clinton to try and alleviate that sentiment, he says, is "vouching for her."
"Those folks back home know me. And they know my shortcomings, and I have a lot of them, and they know my strengths."
"I understand the hardest thing to do is not writing the check. The hardest thing is vouching. When you vouch for them you say 'I'm putting my reputation on the line, I believe this person is a good person, has character," Biden told NPR, "You're putting your rep on the line, you're saying, 'I think this person has character,' and that's what I'm prepared to do for Hillary."
On the campaign trail, Biden and Clinton will discuss "their shared commitment to building an America that is stronger together and an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top," according to the Clinton campaign.
Vice President Biden's interview, including conversation about his cancer initiative, will air on NPR's Weekend Edition this Sunday.PARIS — Call it Droopy's revenge.
For five years, former French Prime Minister François Fillon worked obediently in the shadow of a man who mocked him as a "loser" in private and once berated him publicly as a mere "collaborator." Nobody cared much about Fillon, because he was there to carry out the bidding of Nicolas Sarkozy.
Now Fillon has dealt Sarkozy's career a possibly fatal blow by knocking him out of the conservative primary. The man whose phlegmatic demeanor earned him the nickname "Droopy" pulled off a stunning comeback Sunday to become clear favorite in the primary's final round on November 27. Next May, he may well end up as France's president.
All of a sudden, the world wants to know: Who is this quiet man with bushy eyebrows who has suddenly burst into the limelight?
As Fillon's ideas and policy prescriptions become known, everyone from French voters who backed him on a hunch to policy analysts in Washington may be in for a surprise. Far from being gray, Fillon is a politician who wants radical change — with plans sure to ruffle feathers at home and abroad if he is elected president.
It is in this respect, in calling for a reset of France's international alliances, that Fillon stands apart from Juppé.
He is the most economically liberal candidate the French Right has put forward since Sarkozy's 2007 run, perhaps going back even further. He is a staunch social conservative and practising Catholic who wants to ban adoption for gay couples. Perhaps of greater concern to Washington and other European powers, he is a tireless defender of Russia who blames the West for having provoked Moscow into lashing out against Ukraine.
In short, François Fillon is a man who, if elected, may well carry out his campaign vow to "Bring down the house" — for better or worse.
Thatcher's man in France
But first, there is the man himself. A commonly repeated refrain about 62-year-old Fillon is that he is basically an Englishman who happens to have been born in France. There is some truth to this.
Favoring bespoke suits and expensive Italian shoes, Fillon is a notoriously careful dresser who has moments of British exuberance (see his red socks from Italy's Gammerelli, provider to the Pope). Married to a Welsh woman, he speaks serviceable if strongly accented English, and enjoys the country life, indulging in a "sporting man" obsession for car racing. In public his manner is dry, understated, at times cutting.
But by far the most English thing about Fillon is his economic outlook. A proud admirer of Margaret Thatcher — he told the Financial Times in November he wanted a "showdown" with unions — Fillon wants to inflict the sort of tough love treatment on France that generations of French leaders have avoided due to fear of backlash in the streets and polling stations.
Instead of sugar-coating his ideas, he has taken the opposite tack, warning voters that this is going to hurt.
Only on Europe does Fillon differ with Thatcher. Proposing an overhaul of institutions, he wants to form a eurozone government, integrate EU defense capabilities and beef up protection of exterior borders.
So far, his approach has worked wonders. Fillon may have intuited that France, as some polls have indicated, is in fact desperate for reform. But there is a difference between wanting and getting, especially when he proposes to slash public spending by €100 billion and cull 500,000 civil servant jobs, far more than any of his rivals.
When such hardline proposals, which also include abolishing the 35-hour work week, become better known by the general public, Fillon |
this summer, citing the impact of the £12m January signing Daniel Sturridge as a lesson in "improving key areas if we are going to make the jumps we need to make.
"It is not something I'll talk about now," said the Liverpool manager. "Martin Skrtel came into the team against Zenit and did well. I gave him a new contract in the summer because I had faith in him. This has been a difficult but a real eye-opening period in terms of coming into a club with such ambition.". Yet with Carragher retiring, Liverpool open to offers for Sebastián Coates, and Skrtel out of favour, Rodgers could require three new signings in central defence alone.
"I don't think massive surgery is needed. Maybe if we had a few more of Daniel Sturridge's capacity in the group that could set us up. Technically we have shown we are very capable, tactically we have not been found wanting like in the recent two games against Arsenal and Man City. The condition and intensity of their work is high so that only leaves one thing – mentality.
"That is the area which needs to improve and to do that we need character."
Liverpool host Rodgers' former club Swansea in a re-arranged Premier League fixture on Sunday with Joe Allen, his £15m signing from the Liberty Stadium, admitting he is struggling to understand the first dip in form of his career.
The Wales international said: "I don't think it is a secret that I have not had my best spell in recent times. I haven't performed but I am working hard and striving to change that. I think it is the first time I have had to deal with a dip in form like this. These are things that you have to overcome. It probably takes a little longer than you would hope but it is down to myself. I am self-critical and that is why my form hasn't improved as quickly as I would have liked."Lenovo's taking the wraps off of its newest ThinkPad here at Engadget Expand, but in fact, the T431s represents more than just a minor spec bump. It's actually the first ThinkPad borne out of Lenovo's latest "clean sheet" development initiative -- an 18-month process that the company briefed me on here. Regarding the laptop at hand, the 14-incher boasts a slimmer, sexier and more understated design, all while remaining very much a ThinkPad. It's being classified as an Ultrabook, yet it still meets the Mil-SPEC 8 standard for rigidity and durability. In other words, the weight loss isn't coming at the expense of ruggedness.
As for specs, it's rocking a 1,600 x 900 matte display with 250 nits of brightness, integrated Intel HD graphics, a 720p front-facing webcam, 4GB of RAM (with optional upgrades boosting it as high as 12GB), a 47WHr (three-cell) sealed battery, an optionally backlit keyboard, Bluetooth 4.0 and built-in support for both WiFi and WWAN connections. It measures in at 13.03 x 8.89 x 0.8 inches while weighing 3.6 pounds, and it's easily one of the sturdiest Ultrabooks we've had the pleasure of wrapping our paws around.Here is an encouraging quote I read today about allowing and trusting God to use you:
“Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossip, Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody, Moses stuttered, Abraham was old,… and Lazarus was dead. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the CALLED!”
No matter where you are in your life with God, HE is qualifying you for his service because you are CALLED. He can help you overcome the mistakes you have made, and even use them to help others. Just allow Him to use you.
In God’s Love and Grace,
-ColtonYesterday, we brought you a masterful tale of love, woe and ponies, set in an underwater city. Yes, it was the very first part of our two-part series: The Untold Stories of Rapture, as read by Ken Levine, the creator of BioShock. Today, we bring you the second and final part.
Titled: "BioShock: Redemption," this is a story of family, sacrifice and unexpected friends. If it doesn't leave you in tears, you're liable to be a robot. And not one of those emotion-filled robots like Data. More like one of those cold, heartless robots like Rosie from The Jetsons.
(The true backstory is that we thought it'd be cool to get Ken Levine to read BioShock fan fiction, as written by his fans. This story was written by Max Jensen (FDaddy) on FanFiction.net. Don't worry, we asked for permission!)
Watch Part 1!
Watch on YouTube
Credits:
[Post production team: Mark Grassia (Director), Philip Pasternak (Lead Animator & Illustration Artist)]
[Video team: Jimmy Shelton, Tom Connors, Pat McGowan]
[Original concept: Justin McElroy]
[Editorial producer: Russ Frushtick]With more than 500,000 rooms available to rent on any given night, Airbnb now ranks among the largest hospitality companies in the world. But the homes and apartments on Airbnb aren’t owned by employees, so it can be tough for the fast-growing startup to control the experience being delivered to customers. In an effort to help ensure travelers get a stay suited to their tastes, it rolled out the Neighborhood Project, which charts the character of its numerous locations.
And that’s where Zach Walker, Airbnb’s lone cartographer, comes in. In little more than a year on the job, Walker has helped slice and dice more than 70 big cities into 4,500 distinct neighborhoods with their own personalities. "It used to be when you searched for places to stay in New York, the first thing that came up was a bunch of listings in Times Square, the most generic location, " explains Walker. "You could organize by price, but not much more. As we’ve rolled out neighborhoods, people are increasingly booking stays way off the beaten path. It’s opening up the whole city to them."
"People are increasingly booking stays way off the beaten path."
The impact on business, according to Airbnb, has been significant. Neighborhood listings are driving new visitors to the company’s properties through web searches for specific hot spots. And neighborhoods have become the number one criteria renters use when booking, as lesser know areas that once would have seemed unwelcoming or unsafe to travelers are transformed into hip locales in the process.
"Neighborhoods are the layering of history and culture onto geography," says Timothy Crimmins, director of the Center for Neighborhood and Metropolitan Studies at Georgia State University. This identity can have great value as a brand, something Airbnb has leveraged through Webster's maps. "When you help people to connect with the character of a neighborhood, it can be a real catalyst for business and development, or in this case for tourism."
Walker didn’t know much about map making when he first arrived in Manhattan as a newly minted college grad with degrees in physics and creative writing. But he responded to a Craigslist ad from a startup called Nabewise, a service that created detailed profiles of neighborhoods to help people decide where to move. He fell in love with charting the makeup of big cities. "Each city has its own personality, from the way it’s constructed and organized to the way people and goods flow through."
In July of 2012, Airbnb acquired Nabewise and Walker became their resident map maker. "In a way it’s a tough job because you are trying to define something amorphous," he explains. There is rarely an official boundary for where one neighborhood begins and another ends. "I try to get into the mind of the city as if it were a living, breathing thing," says Walker. He reads up on the area’s history and cross references that with the information from Airbnb’s hosts, crafting data visualizations of keywords from the listings written by users.
"Sometime they have a real argument about the dividing lines, but usually they just want to charge more."
"In an ancient city like London, where the roads turn in on themselves, it can be mind boggling to try and figure out when you’re in Shoreditch and when you’ve crossed over to Brick Lane," says Walker. "But by studying the data from hundreds of users, the descriptions they use of their own homes, I can begin to see where the shifts occur."
When Walker does his job right, a few people usually get angry. He takes neighborhood boundaries that are flexible and porous and replaces them with rigid lines. "People get upset, they write in to complain: ‘Hey my place should be in the East Village,’ when really it's not," says Walker. "Sometimes they have a real argument about the dividing lines, but usually they just want to charge more." But while a few renters are making less these days, overall Airbnb believes mapping the world is providing a big boost to its business.Saudi Arabia and Qatar have asked Algeria to participate in a peacekeeping operation in Yemen, a diplomatic source has told Middle East Eye.
“Riyadh and Doha have contacted Algiers to take part in a peacekeeping force in Yemen,” an Algerian diplomat told MEE.
In 2015, Algiers refused to send its troops to join the Arab coalition that is supporting the government of Abd Rabbuh Hadi against the Houthi rebel group.
General Ahmed Gaïd-Salah, Algerian deputy minister for defence and head of the army, was visited in October by his Qatari counterpart, Ghanem Ben Chahin al-Ghanem, and his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Abderrahmane Ben Salah al-Baniane, who both came with large delegations.
Since March 2015 Saudi Arabia has headed a coalition of nine Arab countries, which have been bombing Houthi rebel positions. Riyadh has been the subject of criticism for several months from the international community for multiple strikes on civilian targets.
According to a United Nations report published in August, the coalition bombing is suspected of being behind half of the deaths of civilians killed in Yemen. On 9 October, over 140 people were killed by an air raid led by the coalition, which targeted a funeral procession in the capital Sanaa.
“Saudi Arabia wants to bring an end to the war and implement a peacekeeping force from various countries who are trusted by Riyadh and Doha," the diplomat continued. "Algiers responded that it would consider the proposal, but for the time being, the general feeling is one of refusal.”
The political and military doctrine of Algeria, which adheres to the principles of sovereignty and non-involvement in external conflicts, prevents it from taking part in any military intervention in a third country.
At the outset of the Saudi-led campaign in March 2015, Algiers refused to take part in an Arab coalition against Yemen.
“Algeria will not authorise any involvement of its armed forces in military operations outside of its own borders, but could provide logistical support out of its own country without however engaging armed forces,” the Algerian foreign affairs minister, Ramtane Lamamra, said at the time.The off-Broadway revival of Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical Rent will play its final performance at New World Stages on September 9. Directed by original helmer Michael Greif, the revival opened off-Broadway on August 11, 2011. Upon closing, it will have played 32 previews and 450 regular performances.
Rent is the story of friends and artists struggling to make a home in the East Village in the early 1990s. Loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Boheme, Rent follows a group of impoverished friends struggling to survive and create in New York’s gritty Alphabet City. Over the course of one year, these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness, impending gentrification and the AIDS epidemic.
Rent currently features Justin Johnson as Roger, Arianda Fernandez as Mimi, Josh Grisetti as Mark, Emma Hutton as Maureen, Nicholas Christopher as Collins, Rashad Naylor as Benny, MJ Rodriguez as Angel and Shaleah Adkisson as Joanne, as well as Margot Bingham, Amber Iman, Marcus Paul James, Aaron LaVigne, Taylor Trensch, Morgan Weed, Xavier Cano, Sean Michael Murray and Genny Lis Padilla. Anthony Fedorov and Natalie Wachen are set to join the cast on July 11 as Roger and Mimi, respectively.
Watch clips of Rent below!This article is over 2 years old
Futuristic plans for a moon village proposed by the European Space Agency are winning support around the world.
Is a moon village the next step for space exploration? ESA's chief thinks so Read more
The idea is to set up a permanent human outpost on the moon as a base for science, business, mining and even tourism.
The ESA director general said the moon village was discussed by member state ministers meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, to decide space funding.
At a press conference after the two-day meeting, Johann-Dietrich Wörner said: “We are now having a list of actors worldwide who would like to participate in this moon village concept. There are ideas of companies – not only ideas, projects of companies – to go to the moon, and they want to be part of this community.
“We are joining forces. There are companies offering payloads. There are public entities going to the moon and offering payloads. Even Nasa is part of this. So therefore the moon village was a part of our discussion at the very beginning.”
Supermoon all around the world: your photos Read more
He stressed that the village was no more than a concept and did not form part of any mission programme.
Yet the first steps towards making a moon base a reality had been taken. “It’s started already,” he said. “It’s a permanent concept. If you want to create a village on Earth, you don’t need a first day – you just say ‘I do it’. And exactly this is what we are doing.”
ESA regards the moon as the next logical destination for humans beyond low Earth orbit.Toronto FC’s hunt for an attacking midfielder is over.
The Major League Soccer club announced on Monday the signing of Victor Vazquez, a 30-year-old Spaniard and former product of Barcelona’s famous La Masia youth academy.
TFC completed the move for Vazquez using Targeted Allocation Money, a special reserve of cash given to teams by MLS to spend on players who will make more than the league maximum of $480,625, but less than $1 million. Vazquez is currently with Toronto in Florida, where it is holding the final leg of its pre-season camp, and he is expected to be officially added to the roster upon receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and his Canadian work permit. He won’t count as a designated player.
“We are excited to bring Victor Vázquez to Toronto FC and provide our team with another experienced midfielder,” TFC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko said in a new release.
“Victor developed in the Barcelona youth system which is recognized worldwide. He is a creative player with experience playing in an attacking midfield role but also centrally which gives us flexibility in our system. He will be a welcomed addition to our club.”
Vazquez spent last year with Mexican club Cruz Azul. Earlier in his career he played several years for Club Brugge, where he was named the Belgian league’s player of the season in 2014-15.
Before moving to Belgium, Vázquez mostly turned out for Barcelona’s youth and reserve teams, but he did appear in few matches for the senior side, including against FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stage of the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League.
It was in the Belgian league where Vázquez flourished, scoring 25 goals and tallying 50 assists in all competitions during his five seasons with Brugge. A native of Barcelona, Vázquez also helped Brugge reach the quarterfinals of the UEFA Europa League in 2014-15 and win a Belgian Cup that same campaign.
TFC didn’t have any major roster holes at the start of training camp last month, as the starting 11 from last December’s MLS Cup final remained intact. But Bezbatchenko did publically identify the need for a playmaking midfielder—someone who can give the team a creative spark in central midfield and link up effectively with forwards Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore, and be another valuable source of goals.
Vázquez seems to fit that bill, and he gives the Reds another dangerous attacking option in a deep midfield that already boasts Michael Bradley, Jonathan Osorio, Armando Cooper, Benoit Cheyrou and Marky Delgado. The Spanish midfielder failed to make any kind of impression in Mexico last year with Cruz Azul, so TFC will be hoping he can produce the form he consistently showed while at Brugge.
His arrival probably spells bad news for Jay Chapman. The young Canadian showed genuine promise last season before picking up an injury that ruled him out for several months. There was belief among some that Chapman might be considered for a starting role this season. With the experienced Vazquez now on the team, it’s likely Chapman will be used mostly as a substitute.
TFC opens the 2017 MLS regular season on March 4, away to Real Salt Lake.by
The discussion concerning the ordination of Mormon women is a thing these days. When seeking to think about these issues in a broader context, it has been common to compare the experience of Catholic women. But I thought it might be instructive to take a comparative look at the latest development in the modern Orthodox wing of Judaism. Rachel Finegold, a 32-year old Chicago woman, is poised to become the first ordained woman hired as clergy by an Orthodox synagogue.This has already happened in the other wings of Judaism. In the Reform movement the first female rabbi was ordained in 1972, the first Reconstructionist in 1974, the first Conservative in 1985. Orthodoxy has been, and remains, a much tougher nut to crack.
In June, Rachel will leave Anshe Sholom [“People of Peace”], a modern Orthodox synagogue in the Chicago area, to join the clergy at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim [“Gate of Heaven”] in Montreal. Effective August 1 she will become the director of education and spiritual enrichment there. Among her duties will be speaking periodically from the pulpit, leading Torah text classes and visiting the sick and elderly, as well as developing programs for youth and young families.
Rachel was raised in an Orthodox family in Brooklyn, and graduated with a degree in religion from Boston University. Her twin brother studied many of the same things, but when he graduated at the same time from Yeshiva University he was ordained a rabbi, and she (obviously) was not. She wasn’t angry or resentful about it; the circumstance simply led to an awareness in her that had been lacking before.
Even without ordination she was hired by Anshe Sholom in 2007 to play a major role in the synagogue there. She could have left Orthodoxy and been ordained as a Rabba (the feminine form of Rabbi) in another branch of Judasim, but that was never a possibility for her, as she is committed to the Orthodox form of the faith. Rachel is one of three women who will graduate in June from the “Open Orthodox” Yeshivat Maharat in Riverdale, NY, which was founded in 2009 by Rabbi Avi Weiss to provide a path to Orthodox ordination of women. Although most Orthodox synagogues do not recognize this school, some modern Orthodox do, as in the case of the Montreal synagogue where Rachel has been hired.
Although she will be ordained clergy, there are some concessions she will abide by. She will not use the title Rabbi (or Rabba), but rather Maharat, which is an acronym for “manhigah hilchatit ruchanit Toranit,” which means “one who is a leader in Halakhah (Jewish Law), spirituality and Torah.” A Jewish prayer service requires a minyun, which is a minimum of 10 men, and although she will be able to call and organize such a service, as a woman she will not count toward the minimum of 10 men. She also may not serve as a witness or judge in Jewish legal proceedings, which means that although she wil be able to perform weddings, she will not be able to sign the formal marriage contract.
Part of the motivation to open Yeshivat Maharat was that smart Orthodox women were becoming lawyers, teachers and CEOs, and that tremendous source of potential leadership for the Orthodox community was not being tapped. Another part of the motivation is that these accomplished women do not feel like full participants when they walk into their synagogue, and many of them are simply leaving rather than accept that state of affairs. The yeshivah also fills a pastoral need, as many women simply feel more comfortable counseling with another woman than with a man.
Rabba Sara Hurwitz, who was instrumental in the formation of the yeshivah, comments as follows: “There is a thirst in the Jewish community for spiritual leadership with the distinct voice of a woman.” People assume that women are trying to encroach on traditionally male roles, but she sees it as a partnership. Rachel says “I see this as the inevitable next step. If you open the books to women, they are going to eventually want to share that knowledge. They’re going to want to use their talents and abilities in the noblest way.”
I would like to extend my profound congratulations to my fellow Chicagoan, Maharat Rachel Finegold, for helping to blaze this particular trail in modern Orthodoxy.
Are there lessons in the Orthodox experience and approach that might possibly translate to the Mormon world, I wonder?
(If you would like to see Rachel speak on sex in the Jewish tradition, start at about the 9 minute mark at this presentation on faith and sexuality at Catholic Theological Union.)
(This post was inspired by an article in today’s Chicago Tribune by my friend and the paper’s religion editor, Manya Brachear.)We’ve seen private establishments like bars ban glass. We’ve seen social backlash about Google Glass being for being “Glassholes” (the term is lamer than the tech). But one place Google Glass hasn’t been banned yet, although it’s in the works: your car.
Not anymore. Glass Explorer +Cecilia Abade was just issued a ticket for driving while wearing Google Glass.
There is no publicly available information discerning the legalities of driving with Glass and at most (in my opinion), Cecilia should have been given a warning, well wishes, and been on her way.
This was bound to happen at some point and the ruling on Ms. Abadie’s case could become important to the future of Glass from a legal standpoint. According to fellow Glass Explorer Matt Abdou the law being contested is called V C Section 27602 Television and technically, based on the verbage, it seems Glass could be considered legal under these circumstances.
A person shall not drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal that produces entertainment or business applications, is operating and is located in the motor vehicle at a point forward of the back of the driver’s seat, or is operating and the monitor, screen, or display is visible to the driver while driving the motor vehicle.
However, there is also a list of exceptions, and one could consider Google Navigation with Google Glass a valid exception:
A visual display used to enhance or supplement the driver’s view forward, behind, or to the sides of a motor vehicle for the purpose of maneuvering the vehicle.
Not to mention, while texting and driving may be illegal in some states, looking at your phone while driving is not. Neither are Garmins. Unless he can prove she was watching a YouTube video or doing something entertainment based, she should be able to avoid a penalty.
This opens a can of worms for Google Glass at a very important time. Google has just announced a new hardware version of Glass and is also letting Glass explorers invite 3 friends to the program. Glass is supposed to launch publicly in 2014 and far fetched rumors suggest a floating barge in San Francisco could host the first Google Glass store.
One thing is for absolute sure: Cecilia shouldn’t be subject to ambiguous laws created by the intersection of an ancient legal system and innovative technology. Let’s spread the word about this case and see if we can’t force some justice.
Just one question, Cecilia… any chance you recorded the whole thing with Glass?turn calendar
Demo
Introduction
Turn Angular is a calendar-like component for AngularJS. It behaviors are very similar to Google analytics calendar, with a few extra unique options.
Why Turn Calendar?
Use Turn Calendar if you want a native AngularJS directive that:
Behaves like Google Analytics calendar
A calendar that is able to do date range selection
Configurable prior range preset buttons
API supports for start date and end date selection
Multiple selection mode
Feature comparison
Comparison between Turn Calendar and Angular Strap datepicker, Angular Bootstrap Date picker
Feature Turn Calendar Angular Strap Datepicker Angular Bootstrap Datepicker Single date selection Yes Yes Yes Date range selection Yes No No Multiple month instances Yes No No Min/Max date selection Yes Yes Yes Restrict month movement Yes No No CSS Custom Bootstrap Boostrap Arbitrary start day of week Yes Yes Yes Date format customization No Yes Yes Weekly/Monthly Mode Yes No No Customizable starting month Yes No No Prior range preset Yes No No Settable start/end date Yes Yes Yes Multiple selection mode Yes No No
Dependencies
angular (1.0.8)
jQuery (2.1.1)
Usage
html
... < link rel = " stylesheet " href = " turnCalendar.css " > </ head > < body > < div ng-controller = " fooCtrl " > < turn -calendar calendar-options = " calendarOptions " ></ turn -calendar > </ div >... < script src = " turnCalendar.js " ></ script >
js
angular.module('foo ', ['turn/calendar']).controller('fooCtrl ', function ( $scope ) { $scope.calendarOptions = { startDayOfWeek : 1, backwardMonths : 2, minSelectDate :'9/13/2013 ', weeklySelectRange : 60, monthlySelectRange : 90, minBackwardMonth :'08/2013 ', priorRangePresets : [{value : 7 }, {value : 30, isDefault : true }, {value : 45 }], maxForwardMonth : $scope.maxMonthAllowed() }; });
Run the demo
bower install npm install grunt build grunt serve
then pop open index.html in a browser. Address is http://localhost:9000/index.html
Run the tests
bower install npm install grunt test
Documentation
An AngularJS directive that allows a calendar to be display when embedded.
Allow the following options :
Option Type Required/Optional Description startingMonth number Optional The STARTING month of the calendar, if not specify will use the current month. January is count as 0, February is 1, and so on. startingYear number Optional The STARTING year of the calendar, if not specify will use the current year. backwardMonths number Optional The number of calendar instances of previous months count from the STARTING month instance, notice the s. For example, if the STARTING month is September, and you want to display July and August in your calendar pop up, set backwardMonths=2. Maximum allowed value is 6. Minimum allowed is 1. If you don't set anything or setting values not in allowed range, there won't be any backward months to display (i.e default value is 0). forwardMonths number Optional The number of calendar instances of next months count from the STARTING instance, notice the s at the end. For example: STARTING month is September, and you want to display October and November, set forwardMonths=2. Maximum allowed value is 6. Minimum allowed is 1. If you don't set anything or setting values not in allowed range, there won't be any forward months to display (i.e default value is 0). startDayOfWeek number Optional Allow the ability to set any day of the week as the first day of week. Use 0 for Sunday, 1 for Monday, so on. Default is 0. minSelectDate string/number Optional The minimum date which any dates which are earlier than that date will not be able to be selected, accept a string in MM-DD-YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY format, or a Unix timestamp. maxSelectDate string/number Optional The maximum date which any dates which are later than that date will not be able to be selected, accept a string in MM-DD-YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY format, or a Unix timestamp. weeklySelectRange number Optional A number in which if the hovered (or selected) CURRENT date is beyond the LAST selected date, the mouse pointer will change to WEEKLY hover/selected mode. If this or monthlySelectChange is not specified, the default mode is daily. monthlySelectRange number Optional A number in which if the hovered (or selected) CURRENT date is beyond the LAST selected date, the mouse pointer will change to MONTHLY hover/selected mode. If this or weeklySelectRange is not specified, the default mode is daily. priorRangePresets array Optional An array of object that specify the range buttons to appear for user to select prior range from the CURRENT date. If you want a pre-selected range add a property called isDefault: true. The object MUST have a property called 'value' to display it. 'value' is a number. 'value' is a range that will allow the user to select date range from CURRENT date once clicked. The range will conform with minSelectDate, maxSelectDate, weeklySelectDate, monthlySelectDate parameters if these parameters are set. If you currently in a different month view, clicking on any of the prior button will reset your current view back to the CURRENT month. If your selection mode is'singleDate', this option will NOT come into effect. Example : [{value: 20, isDefault: true}, {value: 45}, {value : 90}] maxForwardMonth string Optional Setting the max month which the NEXT button allowed to work. Format is MM/YYYY. January starts as 0. This setting will override the setting in forwardMonths. For example, you set the starting month as August 2013, with forwardMonths is 3, maxForwardMonth is 10/2013, your calendar will miss the month November 2013, because it exceeds the maxForwardMonth. minBackwardMonth string Optional Setting the min month which the PREVIOUS button allowed to work. Format is MM/YYYY. January start as 0. This setting will override the setting in backwardMonths. For example, you set the base month to be March 2014, with backwardMonths to be 3. You also set minBackwardMonths to be 1/2014. The calendar will not display January 2014, and Dec 2013, since minBackwardMonths override backwardMonths. Attempt to press PREVIOUS button won't work either. startDate string/number Optional Set the start date to be selected on the calendar. Accept dateString or Unix timestamp. Set this as a directive attribute if you want to be able to set this value in real time. This is the directive to use if you want to read the current selected start date. If minSelectDate is set, and startDate falls into a date that is earlier than minSelectDate, the startDate will be pumped up until it reaches a day that is not conflicted with minSelectDate. endDate string/number Optional Set the end date to be selected on the calendar. Accept dateString or Unix timestamp. Set this value as directive attribute if you want to be able to set this value in real time. This is the directive to use if you want to read the current selected end date. If maxSelectDate is set, and this endDate falls into a date that is later than maxSelectDate, endDate will be going backward till it reaches a date that is not conflicted with maxSelectDate. applyCallback function Optional A callback function to call when the "Apply" button is pressed. selectionMode string Optional The selection behavior of the calendar. Support three options : 'twoClick', 'lastSelectedDate', and'singleDate'. Default selection mode is 'twoClick', where the selected start date and end date is cleared out every time the user try a new selection. For the mode 'lastSelectedDate', the cursor will jump based on the previous selected date. For the mode'singleDate', you can only select one date at a time.
Example:
< turn -calendar start-day-of-week = " 1 " starting-month = " 11 " starting-year = " 2013 " forward-months = " 3 " backward-months = " 3 " min-select-date = " '09/13/2013' " weekly-select-range = " 30 " monthly-select-range = " 60 " prior-range-presets = " [{value: 20, isDefault: true}, {value: 45}, {value : 90}] " max-forward-month = " '10/2014' " > < turn -calendar >
All of the above options can be set through an option object. Pass in the option object through attribute calendarOptions. If you set the same setting in attribute and in option object, the value set in attribute will used over the value in option object.
Real time update for following options are supported : startDate, endDate, minSelectDate, maxSelectDate, minBackwardMonth, maxForwardMonth, forwardMonths, backwardMonths. These options have to set through attributes for real time tracking to work. Setting through options object will not work.
The above code snippet will display 7 months instance, starting from Sep 2013 to March 2014, with Monday as the starting day of the week, the base month is Dec 2013, it will change to weekly select mode if the cursor is 30 days beyond the last selected date, monthly select mode if cursor is 60 days beyond the last selected date. It will display 3 prior buttons: 20, 45, 90, with 25 is pre-selected from the CURRENT date. Anything before 09/13/2013 is not available for selection. Any month above Nov of the year 2014 is not allowed.
Todo list
Support i18n for month name, day abbreviations, or day names
Support date formatting
Contribute
Contributes from everyone are welcomed. A few ways you can contribute immediately:
Write more specs
Feature suggestions
Code feedback
Author
Tri Pham tri.pham@turn.com
License
Apache2by
According to the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department, the nation’s capital reported 135 homicides last year. One of those homicides, the killing of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich on July 10, 2016, continues to make news ten months later.
Who killed Seth Rich, and why? We may never know for sure. On the other hand, a significant piece of the puzzle may have just fallen into place.
Fox News, citing a federal investigator as a source, reports that Rich may well — as long rumored — have been the source of DNC emails published by WikiLeaks, less than two weeks after he was shot twice in the back during a robbery in which, curiously, nothing was apparently taken from him.
That email release, which revealed an internal DNC conspiracy to ensure the nomination of Hillary Clinton for president at the expense of her opponent, Bernie Sanders, wounded Clinton’s campaign and cost US Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz her position as DNC chair.
The federal source, as well as an investigator hired by the Rich family (former DC homicide detective Rod Wheeler), claims that Rich communicated with (now deceased) WikiLeaks director Gavin MacFadyen.
WikiLeaks founder/director Julian Assange, in line with the organization’s policy against outing sources, has resolutely declined to confirm or deny Rich as the DNC leaker. On the other hand, WikiLeaks did put up reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of his killer or killers — and retweeted, without comment, the Fox News story referenced above.
For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. In the case of Bill and Hillary Clinton, the right-wing conspiracy theory project of putting every fatal heart attack and accidental traffic death in America on a constantly updated, Internet-circulated “Clinton Body Count” list tends to make the rest of us cautious about just assuming skulduggery on the part of the Clintons and their associates in any given instance.
Still, it can’t be denied that Hillary Clinton has, as what her husband called his “co-president,” as a US Senator, and as US Secretary of State, proven herself to have both a sense of political entitlement and a distinctly murderous bent. If you doubt this, watch the CBS News video of her giggling “we came, we saw, he died” response to the killing of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Clinton’s publicly flaunted attitudes lend credibility to claims, admittedly listed as “unproven” (not necessarily “false”) by pro-Clinton site Snopes.com, that as Secretary of State she once seriously proposed the assassination of none other than Julian Assange: “Can’t we just drone this guy?”
Is it really that far-fetched to hypothesize that Clinton, or officials in her campaign or party — many of whom are accustomed to exercising power of life and death in when actually in office — would quail from likewise killing in pursuit of their political interests? The DNC leak (and therefore the DNC leaker) arguably cost Clinton more than the 80,000 votes or so by which she lost the 2016 presidential election.
As the straight news types like to say: Developing.Justin Trudeau's new escalator-themed ad is raising eyebrows on social media.
In the 29-second ad titled "Escalator: Harder to get ahead," Trudeau walks in place on a downward moving elevator, in what he describes as a metaphor for "What's happening to millions of Canadians in 10 years under Stephen Harper."
.<a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau">@JustinTrudeau</a> will invest in growth to end the recession, create jobs, and make life better for Canadians. <a href="https://t.co/0iWK45RWN4">https://t.co/0iWK45RWN4</a> —@liberal_party
This ad was produced by the Liberal Party of Canada. It is embedded here for informational purposes and does not constitute an endorsement by CBC News.
There were more than a few jokes on Twitter.
Trudeau walks up a down escalator in new campaign ad. Liberals plan controversial follow-up ad with him sitting backwards on a chair <a href="https://twitter.com/has |
MacPhail’s mother, Anneliese MacPhail, told the Associated Press she was hopeful Davis’s legal appeals were over.
“I’m relieved that it’s over now,” she said. “Well, maybe. I’m not believing it until it’s over. It’s been going on for so many years now that every time we think we’re near an end, something else comes up. I just want this to end so badly, you won’t believe it. This has been a nightmare.”The Tata group is to unveil India's first indigenously developed 155 mm howitzer in New Delhi on Monday.
The 155/52 mm howitzer is mounted on an eight-wheeled Tata truck for enhanced mobility. The gun was developed by its defence subsidiary Tata Power Strategic Electronics Division (SED) this year. The'mounted gun system' can fire a six-round salvo on a target 40 km away in less than three minutes.
The truck-mounted howitzer will be displayed at an army seminar at the Maneckshaw centre tomorrow. The rollout comes even as the Indian Army and the Ministry of Defence have struggled to import howitzers over the past 25 years.
The Army acquired its last howitzers over 25 years ago, 410 FH-77B howitzers from AB Bofors of Sweden in 1987. Since then, the army's howitzer arsenal has been critically depleted.
Tata Power SED, the defence arm of the $ 100 billion Tata group, began work on its 'Mounted Gun Project' over two years ago. The prototype gun was rolled out of the Tata Power SED facility in Bangalore's electronic city this October. It will spearhead the group's bid for the Army's requirement for 814 mounted gun systems for Rs 8500 crore.
The Tata gun is India's first new howitzer since its purchase of Bofors guns. The subsequent bribery scandal torpedoed the acquisition of additional howitzers from Sweden.
The Bofors howitzers performed spectacularly in the Kargil conflict of 1999. The Indian Army wants to buy over 2200 such howitzers in five different categories but has been unable to do so because of other bribery scandals involving firms like Rheinmetall, Singapore Technologies Kinetics, Soltam and Denel.Cover-up claims as David Kelly post mortem set to stay under wraps for 70 years
Medical records which would shed light on the death of government scientist David Kelly will be kept secret for 70 years, it emerged yesterday.
The unprecedented move has been ordered by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry which controversially concluded that the mysterious death was suicide.
It means vital evidence, including the results of Dr Kelly's post-mortem examination - which have never been made public - will remain under wraps until 2073, by which time anyone involved in the case will almost certainly be dead.
Whistle-blower: Dr Kelly died after casting doubt on Government claims about Saddam's weapons
The body of 59-year- old UN weapons inspector Dr Kelly was found in July 2003 in woods near his Oxfordshire home. Days earlier he had been revealed as the source of a BBC story claiming evidence against Iraq had been'sexed up' to justify invasion.
No coroner's inquest has been held into the death.
Last night, Dr Michael Powers QC, a doctor campaigning to overturn Lord Hutton's findings, told the Daily Mail: 'I cannot understand why this extraordinary move has been taken.
Tragic: Forensic experts at work in the Oxfordshire woods where Dr Kelly's body was found in 2003
'It does give rise, perhaps unnecessarily, to a suspicion that information relevant to these circumstances was kept out of the public eye.
'The surprising thing to me is that if this report supports the conclusion that the medical cause of death was suicide, why does it need to be locked up for 70 years?
'If on the other hand it doesn't, and supports other means of death, then why wasn't this evidence investigated by the Hutton inquiry?
The move will stoke fresh speculation about the true circumstances of Dr Kelly's death
'It is very difficult to understand what is so precious and important about the medical reports and tests which stops any of us having sight of this until everyone with any knowledge or interest in the case is dead.'
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has also cast doubt on the official version of events, said: 'It is astonishing this is the first we've known about this decision by Lord Hutton and even more astonishing he should have seen fit to hide this material away.'
Lord Hutton's restrictions - which were imposed immediately after his inquiry in 2004 - came to light in a letter from Oxfordshire County Council to a group of 13 doctors, led by Dr Powers, challenging the Hutton verdict.
It revealed that an order had been imposed which placed a 30-year ban the release of records that were provided to the inquiry but not used in evidence - believed to be witness statements.
In addition, the letter said that medical reports and photographs of Dr Kelly's body would remain classified information for 70 years after his death.
Nicholas Gardiner, chief coroner for Oxfordshire, said the restriction may have been used to protect Dr Kelly's children.
Dr David Halpin, another of the group of 13 doctors, said last night: 'I am shocked but not surprised by this.
'It fits in with the subversion of due process we have seen for six years. It is extraordinary.'
Order: Lord Hutton has secretly barred the release of all medical records, including the results of the post mortem
Both Dr Halpin and Dr Powers said they would like to see the Chilcot panel ask why the ban was imposed.
Dr Powers said: 'We would like to know the part government ministers played in the decision.'
The Ministry of Justice has not explained the legal basis for Lord Hutton's order.
A spokesman said: 'Any decision made by Lord Hutton was entirely a matter for him.'
Lord Hutton was unavailable for comment.Security agencies to analyse video of Australian man fighting in Syria, Julie Bishop says
Updated
Security agencies will analyse a video featuring an Australian man who is reportedly a combat medic fighting with rebels in Syria, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says.
Channel Seven has aired the footage of the man, who says his name is Abu Ousama and describes himself as a "true blue Aussie". The ABC has not independently verified the footage.
In the video, he defends the Islamic State (IS) militant group and questions how beheading people can be wrong.
"You have these beheadings. Some people might call them barbaric," he said.
"But what is the difference between a missile that hits into a house, which kills 15 kids compared to a man dying getting cut by his throat?"
The man, who appears in the video with a face covering, revealing just his eyes, says he is not afraid to die in the conflict.
"I hope that Allah accepts the good that we've done and blesses us with his reward... of the highest of paradise," he said.
"What more could you want?"
However, he said there was no hatred between him and Australia and that he is disappointed Australian forces are carrying out strikes against IS in Iraq.
"Home is home, everybody is going to love their country," he said in the video.
"[But] I'm sad to see Australia taking that step to come into a place it doesn't need to be because it will cause a reaction, it will cause people to hate it."
Ms Bishop says such men pose a potential threat to national security and the video will come under closer scrutiny.
"We will take whatever steps we can to keep Australians safe but also prevent Australians from taking up with terrorist organisations and similar organisations so our intelligence, police, security will be looking at that video very closely," she said.
"It's unthinkable someone would think beheadings are part of a territorial aspiration.
"These are murderous cults and they are using Islam to cover up for their violent behaviour. They are using religion as an excuse for what is simply murder.
"We want Australia to be the tolerant, free, open society it always has been and the example of that video indicates why the Australian Government is taking such a tough stance against foreign fighters."
Speaking outside the Tasmanian Liberal Party Conference on Saturday, Ms Bishop indicated she would suspend the passports of people with links to terrorist organisations if she had the power to do so.
The Parliament is considering legislation that will allow passports to be suspended without notification as part of ongoing investigations.
"What we are seeking to do is change the laws so that not only will I have the power to cancel a passport, but also the power to suspend a passport in circumstances where our intelligence agencies are not quite able to meet the threshold required to cancel a passport but want to have enough time to provide the evidence that would give rise to a negative security assessment," she said.
"In this way we are seeking to stop people leaving the country to take up with terrorist organisations and to prevent them coming back into the country if they have been fighting with a terrorist organisation."
Ms Bishop said she has now cancelled 60 passports in a bid to stop younger Australians travelling to and from the conflict zones in Syria and Iraq.
Editor's note (October 13, 2014): An earlier version of this story suggested Channel 7 had not verified the footage. The story has now been amended to make it clear the ABC has not independently verified the footage which Channel 7 ran.
Topics: defence-and-national-security, security-intelligence, laws, law-crime-and-justice, federal-parliament, federal-government, australia, syrian-arab-republic
First postedFirefox Sync support will be the headline feature of GNOME Web 3.26, due for release later this year.
We reported back in March that the developers planned to let Epiphany/Web users sync their tabs, bookmarks and browser history between devices using Mozilla’s liberally licensed sync API.
One flaw mentioned at the time was that although Epiphany/Web users could sync using Firefox Sync, they wouldn’t be able to share data between Epiphany/Web and Firefox itself.
Fast forward a couple of months and that limitation is no longer in play.
In an update on the progress made since March GNOME developer Micheal Catanzaro says Web users will be able to sync bookmarks, history, passwords and open tabs between instances using Firefox Sync, as expected.
But — interestingly — he also says that sync will work between Epiphany/Web and Firefox, both mobile and desktop versions! This should mean that can pickup your open Epiphany/Web tabs in Firefox on your Android device, and potentially vice versa.
Web Firefox Sync is ready to roll in the latest beta builds of the browser where it’s accessible from the new ‘Sync’ tab in ‘Preferences’. The feature does require a (free) Firefox account, however.
I don’t have a GNOME 3.26 beta session to try this change out in, so if you do manage to get the latest beta builds up and running I’d love to hear how well this sync feature works in practice, especially across such markedly different browsers.CLOSE On Tuesday President Barack Obama presented 17 Americans with the nation's highest civilian honor. USA TODAY
President Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Barbra Streisand on Nov. 24, 2015. (Photo: AP)
WASHINGTON — The 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year are "extraordinary people" who have left their mark on politics, entertainment, athletics and the United States itself, President Obama said Tuesday.
From singer-actress Barbra Streisand to NASA mathematician Katherine G. Johnson to filmmaker Steven Spielberg to recently deceased baseball star Yogi Berra, Obama paid tribute to American originals with the nation's highest civilian honor during a White House ceremony.
"We celebrate artists, public servants and two legends from America's pastime," Obama said, the latter comment referring to Berra and fellow baseball Hall of Fame member Willie Mays.
Berra, who died in September, is as known for his use of the language as well as his baseball skill, Obama said, paying tribute to the man who said "it ain't over 'til it's over." Mays, who wore a baseball cap to the ceremony, received perhaps the loudest ovation of the ceremony.
"It's because of giants like Willie that someone like me could think about running for president," said Obama, the nation's first African-American chief executive.
The honored political leaders included the late U.S. congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman to mount a major presidential campaign; former congressman Lee Hamilton, who specialized in foreign affairs; and retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., whom Obama described as "a lioness on Capitol Hill."
William D. Ruckelshaus, the first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, also earned recognition for resigning his post in the Justice Department in 1973 rather than follow President Richard Nixon's order to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. Ruckelshaus "became known as Mr. Clean," Obama said.
In addition to Streisand, whom Obama noted has sold more albums than any woman in history, the entertainment awards included singer James Taylor. Obama praised Taylor as a good friend who makes listeners feel he is singing only to them.
Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan won honors for pioneering the Latin-flavored fusion sound in music, while composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim "re-invented the American musical" with complex and challenging themes.
Itzhak Perlman — "the most beloved violinist of our time," Obama said — also received a Presidential Medal of Freedom. So did Spielberg for films of "boundless imagination" that range from E.T. and Schindler's List to Saving Private Ryan.
Medal recipients also included social activists like the late Billy Frank Jr., an advocate for tribal fishing rights. The late Minoru Yasui made legal challenges to curfews imposed on Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Bonnie Carroll — whose husband, Brig. Gen. Tom Carroll, died in an Army C-12 plane crash in 1992 — founded the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), a program to help military families who have also lost loved ones.
Johnson, the NASA mathematician, broke barriers of gender and race as she ascended to a position tracing the paths for early space flights, Obama said.
"This is an extraordinary group," Obama said, one that demonstrates "what an incredible tapestry this country is."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1HleFiiIts name in Japanese means “future,” and more than just another new car, Toyota says the 2016 Mirai is a symbolic first step toward a “Hydrogen Society” for the “next 100 years.”
Whether the company’s first production fuel cell vehicle will be the future as Toyota has said suggesting an eventually prominent technology, or a future as Toyota has alternately and more-conservatively said, is an open question.
The mid-sized car will launch in its home country in a few months, and European deliveries are scheduled for around September 2015. Deliveries for the U.S. are to follow in late 2015 in California, and to spread from there – possibly next to five states in the New York-Boston region – then to more markets, ultimately nationwide, as infrastructure comes online over the years.
Sales will be limited to allow for yet-scant refueling stations to be built, but governments around the world are at work on this, with progress varying as the long-promised hydrogen potential appears to be starting in earnest.
Toyota’s inaugural FCV will join cars available now by Honda, Hyundai, and pending by Daimler, Volkswagen, and possible more. General Motors says it is standing on the sidelines, but if it sees success, could be ready with a product too.
Meets Customer Expectations
The Mirai is a form of all-electric car, but fueled by gaseous hydrogen which combines with air in its fuel cell stack to produce electricity and emit water vapor.
It emits no hydrocarbons or greenhouse gases thus satisfying emissions mandates and environmental concerns. Criticism has been it only shifts the CO2 upstream in the energy chain, and this is correct, said the U.S. Energy Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Energy, Steve Chalk. However, he said, compared to gasoline, producing hydrogen from natural gas yields about half the CO2.
Meanwhile, the Mirai refuels in 3-5 minutes just like everyone is already accustomed to. It may be driven up to 300 miles upon fill-up of its high-pressure hydrogen tanks, a range comparable to what everyone is accustomed to.
Yes hydrogen keeps “Big Oil” in business, but in the launch market of California it will come from 33-percent renewable sources, and 67-percent natural gas. FCV advocates say this will shift toward more renewables, and open to discussion is whether FCVs are a veritable Trojan Horse, as the most cynical might opine, or a bright new start.
SEE ALSO: Toyota Defends Its Plans For Fuel Cells
Quixotic? Because FCVs demand no perceptive operational step backwards, and require no new behaviors be learned by customers, Toyota’s top leadership says hydrogen – the “most abundant element in the universe” – is something to place their bet on. And a bet it is, with Toyota admitting as much. To help present this new solution, the automaker flew in its Chairman of the Board, Takeshi Uchiyamada, an engineer who led the original Prius project, and the present Prius project leader, Managing Officer Satoshi Ogiso. These two dignitaries led off presentations to a large conference room full of media last Monday, and began the “conversation” on why they believe Mirai is the future. Uchiyamada said hydrogen, though now mostly produced with natural gas, can also be produced with “wind, solar, geo-thermal and bio-waste.” “When compressed, it has a much higher energy density than electric batteries, and is easier to store and transport,” he said. And from history, he said the gaslight predating electric lights used hydrogen. “Hydrogen was deemed the easiest and cheapest to produce and among the safest to use,” he said, and there’s no reason we can’t bring this plentiful element back today through innovation and resourcefulness. After Uchiyamada presented the grand vision, Ogiso took a light-hearted stance, even allowing for some seeming self-deprecation for the company that’s actually quite proud of its achievements. Ogiso kidded that Toyota hears the critics, but aims to prove them wrong. “I cannot help but think that to some people, our collaboration-our adventurous road trip, must seem quixotic; idealism without regard for practicality. I, of course, would not agree with that, but at least I know who is Don Quixote and who is Sancho Panza,” said Ogiso reading a script written by Toyota’s U.S. communications team. “Uchiyamada san said earlier that hydrogen, and hydrogen fuel cell technology will be a societal and economic game changer and that it will be the fuel for the next century. Frankly speaking, I think I feel a little more optimistic than that. I believe this technology is going to change our world; and sooner rather than later.” But while Don Quixote and Sancho Panza may have been delusional, Toyota says it has its eyes open, and mind clear. And, it means business. In March it reportedly had just less than $60 billion in cash – well more than Ford, GM, or VW – and is floating this hydrogen enterprise even if its sacrificially priced $57,500 Mirai makes no real payback for well over half a decade as infrastructure and consumer perceptions begin to match the vision.
In response to debates over fuel cell viability, Toyota says it is open to the conversation – ideally with mutual respect for opposing views. The automaker’s view is battery powered cars are OK for short-distances, but rather limiting given present range, recharge times, costs, while more energy dense fuel cells bypass these issues, and will only get better.
For all those who say this is but a “compliance” car, Toyota observes it began work on hydrogen fuel cells 22 years ago, five years before the 1997 launch of the first Prius in Japan, before California’s current Zero Emission Vehicle mandates to which EVs now “comply.”
In that time it has radically improved efficiency, cut costs, and borrows much hybrid hardware from the Prius and Camry hybrids – including a nickel-metal hydride battery, not li-ion – to make it close to cost-effective. It has meanwhile accrued 10 million test miles on vehicles around the world.
SEE ALSO: Toyota Further Explains Fuel Cell Viability
Ironically, or paradoxically or both, Toyota’s $57,500 price for the Lexus-grade Toyota Mirai is just $100 more than the $57,400 40-kilowatt-hour Tesla Model S that was canceled last year due to insufficient pre-orders.
Toyota says its fully loaded $57,500 Buck Rogers mobile with a Prius twist may be eligible for up to $13,000 in subsidies bringing it to around $45,000 – assuming due-to-expire federal subsidies are renewed next year – and it will be launched before Tesla’s “$35,000” Model 3.
A 36-month lease for $499/month with $3,649 due at signing could mitigate cares for Mirai first adopters.
For now, fuel will be included, as regulators haven’t yet established a metered price. How much per mile will it cost once they start charging? Toyota is sketchy on this, but is estimating close to what a very efficient hybrid would cost – not as cheap per mile, say, as a Nissan Leaf.
Driving the Future
We drove the Mirai on two successive days when most media got in it only once for an orchestrated drive with a Toyota-approved minder. Our first drive was minder-free, and a nice hour-long loop from the Pacific Coast Highway into Newport Beach neighborhoods. There we got to see who gave a second glance in car-conscious Southern California at one of only five Mirais on the road. A few appeared to notice the unusual looking car.
As we reported last week, it’s a lot like a Prius that handles a bit better with good drivability. Instant torque of 247 pounds-feet helps it feel more stout than its 155 horsepower would suggest. Light steering and low center of gravity make it entertaining enough, but it’s no sport sedan. Weight is 4,078 pounds – about 600 pounds less than a Model S.
Dimensions are very close to the 2015 Camry. Wheelbase: 109.4 inches; length: 192.5 inches; width: 71.5 inches; height: 60.4 inches; tires: 215/55R17. Its 0-60 time is 9 seconds, top speed is 111 mph.
The operational sound is unique, with the hydrogen pump whirring away to the minor accompaniment of a quiet electric motor, wind and tire noise.
Toyota’s relatively compact, power-dense 370-cell solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell stack resides beneath the front passenger seats. Toyota has defied conventional engineering wisdom by devising a fuel cell design that does away with a humidifier, something previously considered necessary. It’s also still at work to reduce approximately 40 grams of required platinum used to convert hydrogen and air to electricity, and is researching less costly replacements for the precious metal.
The two 10,000-psi (70 MPa) carbon-wrapped hydrogen tanks with 5.0 kg capacity are made in-house, and have been repeatedly crash tested to prove efficacy and safety. These are among the most expensive components, next to the fuel cell stack and hardware, and making them itself saves Toyota some pennies.
Is flammable hydrogen a worry? Toyota has fired a 50-caliber bullet at the filled H2 tank. The gas escaped, but no explosion occurred with the gunshot wound. The crash tests proved the tanks were tougher than the surrounding car.
Under the hood it looks like an engine may be there, but that’s just the power distribution unit and related hardware under a beauty cover, and the electric motor also resides down low for the front wheel-drive car.
Say what you will about the car’s looks. Some may like it, others don’t but it may not matter, because this car is about what it is, not what it isn’t.
For those who find it less than beautiful, it does look better in person, though some angles have made people scratch their heads.
We spoke with a couple Toyota representatives who personally divulged they do not think it’s that attractive, adding the design was finalized in Japan. The flowing lines are supposed to symbolize the elegant and sustainable notion of air converting to water vapor.
But will what some detractors think of its looks make or break anything? Toyota is limiting U.s. sales to just 200 units by end of December 2015, and 3,000 more units by end of December 2017. That’s just 1,500 per year for its first two full years.
Is this quixotic? A science project? Or is there method to the madness?
The company that forecasts a hydrogen society says its Mirai is raring to go, and while Toyota did not announce it, we were told by a high-level Toyota rep about two more fuel cell vehicles also under development. It was not said what these would be, or when they’d arrive, but a crossover or SUV would be likely, and it appears Toyota is merely biding its time.
Its Mirai benefits from good-to-go technology, and will teach lessons to the automaker to begin refining the formula.
The Next Prius?
Toyota could be said to be resting on its Prius laurels. Uchiyamada observed the word “Prius” means “to go before” as though to suggest a grand plan by a master chess player, as it now makes its move with the “future.”
Toyota globally sold 1 million hybrids its first decade, despite its first generation 1997-2003 Prius having looks many (also) considered ungainly. Toyota admits it had skeptics at its corporate headquarters for the hybrid science project, and one may wonder whether the grand plan was really a happy accident.
Speaking off the record, a high-level Toyota rep observed Toyota is a company that tends to do it right the second time, citing the Prius as an unflattering example, and in a way the corporate heads did not refer to the Prius with their glowing visionary rhetoric.
It was generation-two Prius (2003/2004-2009/2010) that took off after morphing to the now “iconic” love-it-or-leave-it jelly bean shape that became a darling of Hollywood, and other enviro-conscious people. This car built on ground plowed by the original Prius, aided by significantly increasing fuel prices, and finally turned a profit for the patient company as it inspired new Toyota and Lexus hybrids. The company’s hybrid sales ballooned from 1 million in decade one to seven million by 17 years. Toyota now says it hopes the Mirai – and perhaps subsequent models – will follow a similar path, albeit hampered by presently negligible, but increasing refueling stations.
To strengthen the appeal, the Mirai is designed like a Lexus with Toyota badge and owners will get white glove treatment with a personal hotline they can call with questions or concerns. Toyota thought of making the Mirai a Lexus, but decided to put the parent company’s nameplate on instead.
Unknown is how durable the first cars will be. A rep from the U.S. Energy Department said Toyota’s 2011 fuel cell stacks were good for at least 2,500 hours or 75,000 miles. Problems such as delamination of the platinum and a couple other technical issues were cited as failure points. Toyota says it has made major strides since then, but we’ve not seen durability estimates for the Mirai’s fuel cell hardware.
It will be fully covered with an 8-year/100,000-mile fuel cell system warranty, 5-years/60,000-miles for other powertrain components, and 3-years/36,000-miles for the rest of the car.
First buyers are expected to be adventurous forward-thinking people, and it doesn’t hurt that after assumed state and federal tax credits the car will net out for what a nicely equipped 2011 Chevy Volt did. Is the Mirai the anti-Volt?
Not sure, but it is $14,000 cheaper than a Tesla Model S, it’s just as high-tech if not arguably more. Probably not helping things is it has much lower speed and performance, and most agree it’s not as pretty.
But it’s been engineered and tested by a company with a long track record for quality, with far-deeper pockets, and eyes will be on where this all goes. Toyota projects a revolution in slow motion will unfold over the next 15 years.
Bottom line: The company that introduced the Prius now offers the “future” as a catalyst for the Hydrogen Society, but many questions remain.
These include whether sufficient infrastructure will come as promised, whether myriad hydrogen viability debates may be be unequivocally settled, and perhaps also, one might ask, what would Don Quixote think?before bed nonsense
Anubis
first entry for my art project "egyptian gods redesigned
god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. Archeologists identified the sacred animal of Anubis as an Egyptian canid, that at the time was called the golden jackal, but recent genetic testing has caused the Egyptian animals to be reclassified as the African golden wolf.
Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts. Depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3100 – c. 2890 BC), Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055 – 1650 BC), Anubis was replaced by Osiris in his role as Lord of the underworld. One of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the "Weighing of the Heart," in which it was determined whether a soul would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead.Despite being one of the most ancient and "one of the most frequently depicted and mentioned gods" in the Egyptian pantheon, Anubis played almost no role in Egyptian myths.Get the biggest Swansea 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
When Aiden Martin was born on May 22, 1994, his birth certificate said his name was Aimee and that he was a female.
But for as long as he can remember Aiden has identified as a male – but he only felt comfortable coming out eight months ago.
After telling friends and family he was bisexual or a lesbian to try and stop his transgender feelings, Aiden now feels more comfortable in his own skin.
Aiden, 23, from Swansea, said: “I have always known I have been a boy and that I’m transgender.
“I was born in the wrong body. For as long as I can remember I have been a boy.
“It was really hard before I came out because I was always feeling confused and a bit strange. It was just making me really depressed and anxious.
“I thought that coming out as a lesbian or as bisexual would stop me feeling transgender but it didn’t.
“It was really tricky and hard because I felt like I had to be a girl.”
Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different to the sex they were assigned at birth.
After initially coming out eight months ago to his mum Claire, Aiden said he then hid it again and continued to have boyfriends.
Aiden said: “I just thought maybe if I said I was bisexual again that I wouldn’t be transgender but it’s not something I choose, it’s something I’ve been for years since I was born.
“Coming out now has been the best feeling. I’ve had people in my life not accept me and think it’s a phase but it’s not and I don’t expect everyone to understand.”
Despite some negative reaction to coming out, Aiden said the vast majority of his friends and family have been supportive of his decision.
Aiden said: “It took me so long to come out because I just didn’t know how to come out to my family.
“Then at first I told my mum who was pretty shocked obviously, and then I told my father who was not too happy about it really.
“When I told people that I knew some were shocked but then most were excited for me when I explained it all to them.”
Although attitudes towards transgender issues are changing Aiden said that some people continue to call him Aimee.
For more than 13 years Aiden has dressed in ‘male’ clothes and now plans to continue his transition further.
Aiden said: “I always wanted to dress as a boy and from about the age of 10 I did, which my parents were fine with.”
The next step after coming out for Aiden is to be prescribed testosterone, the primary male hormone, and to then have ‘top surgery’ to have his breasts removed.
Aiden said: “It would mean the world to me to start having testosterone. It would be the start of me becoming a man and my body matching up with my mind.”
Figures released by a specialist NHS clinic in May showed that referrals as a result of gender identity issues almost doubled from the previous year.
In 2016 around 2,000 children and young people were referred to the Tavistock Clinic, the only place offering gender identity treatment to young people in England and Wales.
The increase in referrals from Wales was 79%.James Gunn is departing for Atlanta to make Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but we won’t see that film until May 2017. That’s almost two years of casting announcements, rumors, and plot reveals before we see that film. Obsessive Guardians fans shouldn’t worry, though, because there’s still something in the first movie that no one has discovered yet. In response to a fan question about Guardians of the Galaxy easter eggs, Gunn says that one of them — maybe the biggest one — still hasn’t been found.
Gunn was asked on Facebook if all the Guardians easter eggs have been found. Indeed, there are a lot of them. We’ve got a huge rundown here. His answer to the question was fairly surprising, given what’s been found so far.
They have not all been found. No one has found the big one, really. Maybe once someone came close.
This has lead to all sorts of curiosity about what he could mean, as at CinemaBlend. By “the big one” are we talking about an important thing — maybe something that will be much more noticeable after we see the story for the sequel — or just something that is so secret that only the most dedicated Marvel fan might be able to notice it?
The film has got stuff that is impossible to miss, like the Howard the Duck post-credits scene, and much smaller details such as the carving in the temple of Morag that seems to feature an artistic depiction of the Infinity Stones along with some versions of cosmic Marvel characters.
Of course, whatever Gunn is talking about probably has been found or noticed, and just hasn’t been publicized on the internet as yet. Or maybe Gunn is just being a super-savvy promoter in a way that induces people to watch his film again, even if they’ve already seen it many times. But the director isn’t wildly duplicitous with his fans — in fact, he has a reputation for being pretty forthright in answer to fan questions. Which means he probably isn’t just pushing buttons.
Time to break out your various Marvel wiki pages and the old Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, then, to have on hand while you pore over the film one more time. Personally, I’m betting that the “undiscovered” treasure in the film will be more evident after we learn more about the characters in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when it arrives on May 5, 2017.Rankings:
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Development is a lot of fun and it doesn’t take much to get started. If you’re tempted to join the team, don’t hesitate to follow our development on http://github.com/linuxmint and come and chat with the developers at #linuxmint-dev (irc.spotchat.org).
In Linux Mint 15 Olivia, Cinnamon won’t only handle the desktop, the file browsing and the window manager, but also the screensaver and the control center. This will provide better integration and a better user experience.
All your settings will be in one place and they will all be relevant to your Cinnamon desktop:
The screensaver is also tightly integrated with Cinnamon and MDM. You can switch users (like you did with GNOME Screensaver) and you can also set an away message for people to see when you’re not there.
This message is visible on your screen while you’re away.
It’s a very simple feature which was primarily designed for companies where employees might be looking for each others and the ability to set away messages might prove useful.
Of course it’s configurable. You can turn it off altogether and you can set a default away message, which then appears on your screen when the computer locks itself automatically or when you don’t enter any message.
The artwork and layout of the screensaver itself are not final.
The goal of these two projects (known on github as “cinnamon-screensaver” and “cinnamon-control-center”), within the scope of Cinnamon 1.8 and Linux Mint 15 is to replace GNOME components which no longer fit well within Cinnamon, to provide a more coherent desktop and to improve its level of integration. Of course once we’re in control of their maintenance we also take the opportunity to innovate and enlarge the scope of the Cinnamon project. With that in mind, towards Cinnamon 2.0 and Linux Mint 16, these projects will continue to be developed, and they will gain new features. The screensaver for instance isn’t currently a “screensaver”, since all it does is locking the screen. We’re experimenting with webkit (we’ll talk more about this and MDM in a future blog post) and we’ll be looking at the possibility to make Cinnamon Screensaver compatible with screensavers written in HTML5.
News and summary:As we approach Thanksgiving, we Americans can anticipate the President pardoning one or two turkeys in advance of the festivities. The implicit premise behind the pardon is that all of the turkeys who will be slaughtered for Thanksgiving meals around the country have committed some crime for which their slaughter is a deserved punishment. What makes the ritual a lighthearted joke (rather than a true and serious extension of clemency) is that neither the turkey to be pardoned nor the approximately 45 million turkeys whose throats will be cut for this holiday are guilty of any wrongdoing. Ironically, many people justify the animals’ eligibility for slaughter on this very innocence, an innocence that reflects the incapacity of tur |
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